The Distancer: Thursday, February 25, 2021
DAY 350: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Happy Thursday and happy Purim! It’s a great day to watch Home for Purim — or, sorry, Home for Thanksgiving. (Watch For Your Consideration, please. Sadly it’s no longer streaming on Hulu.)
Another big streaming guide of mine has landed! For Decider, I listed the top 50 titles available to watch on HBO Max.
Here’s some good news that points to just how effective vaccines are — per NYT, “Nursing Homes, Once Hotspots, Far Outpace U.S. in Covid Declines.”
This won’t be an easy read, but it may be the most important thing you read today. Journalist Andrew Kaczynski, who tragically lost his infant child last year, pens an opinion piece for The Washington Post: “My baby daughter died of brain cancer. Here’s what we can do to save other kids.”
Finally, can’t say I’m always the biggest fan of Colin Jost, but this interview with Seth Meyers last night was unhinged in all the best ways thanks to some surprise interventions by Andy Samberg:
Now, what you came for…
DAY 350: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (available for free with ads on Peacock)
This is the best Harry Potter movie, and I’m not really even opening up the floor for debate. Prisoner of Azkaban delivered the franchise from being a kids’ series to being a (young) adult series, and in a way that organically responded to the characters turning 13. Director Alfonso Cuarón brings some artistry and edge to the material, making it both moodier and funnier for the better.
Beyond being a satisfying stepping-stone, Prisoner of Azkaban is also one of my favorites to rewatch because it’s almost like a standalone movie within the seven-part series. This is the only installment that does not directly involve Voldemort, and that lack of a looming archvillain frees up the story to go deeper into Harry’s character. This is the movie that really begins to get into his psychology as he begins to understand why he is, not just who he is. Things stop just happening to him — Harry begins to take agency in his own journey.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is also a film about family, both the one we make and the ones that made us. It’s here that Harry begins to realize the way that friends like Ron and Hermione sustain him like loved ones. It’s also in this film where he begins to feel the avuncular support from a network of his late parents’ friends, such as Professor Remus Lupin. Amidst the quirkiness and the darkness, there are some poignant emotional grace notes that really stand out in Cuarón’s astute direction.
Be good to yourselves and to each other,
Marshall