Made it through another Monday, friends!
This is somewhat antithetical to the spirit I try to bring to this newsletter, but ... if you are at all intrigued by the concept of a movie starring Tom Hardy as Al Capone that drops on VOD tomorrow, please don't be. Here's a pretty brutal C- review that I had to file last night on Capone, which I'm primarily sending as a PSA to save you 100 minutes of your life.
For something more worth a watch (besides today's recommendation, obviously), one of New York's best filmmakers gave us a 3 1/2 minute tribute to the city. Check out Spike Lee's New York, New York. Full disclosure: I choked up a bit.
I've shared a few articles before about specific instances of racism in the healthcare system, both blatant and implicit, but this latest New York Times article takes a really helpful holistic view. I'd recommend reading this piece that's heavy on both facts and humanity.
And if you feel compelled to play some part in helping ameliorate this crisis, this site has a number of places you can donate to help black Americans, particularly in the South where the legacy of structural racism has compounded the prevalence of chronic health conditions. (Scroll to the bottom and you'll see these organizations.)
Now, what you came for...
DAY 60: The Full Monty (available on Hulu)
Before Magic Mike, there was ... The Full Monty. OK, I'm struggling with how to introduce this one and finding a single similarity between the fact that both are about male strippers was the lowest hanging fruit. Beyond that, the commonalities largely end, although they're both rousing fun times.
You probably would never smuggle a bottle of champagne into The Full Monty, though (as I heard countless stories of during rowdy Magic Mike screenings). Peter Cattaneo's film, a Best Picture nominee from the year Titanic cleaned house at the Oscars, circles some very tough issues of financial stability, body positivity, masculinity and more. The story starts from a situation that's become far too familiar in the post-industrial world: a factory town hollowed out after the largest employer departs, leaving a cohort of jobless citizens unclear how to provide for their families. In the post-Thatcher shell of working-class Sheffield, a group of six unemployed men in need of some dough team up to form a striptease act. The only problem? They can't dance particularly well, and many of them struggle with the fact that they don't look much like Chippendale's dancers.
A version of The Full Monty made now would likely be even more attuned to how the performance of gender, class and body image affect the story. But for 1997, this is a fairly progressive treatment of the issues it raises. From a storytelling perspective, too, it's impressive to see a story introduce six key characters and do justice to their personal struggles in under 90 minutes. It's a funny, engaging and toe-tapping watch ... and it wraps up with a crowd-pleasing dance number!
Be good to yourselves and to each other,
Marshall
P.S. - Happy GoodFellas day!