Over eight episodes of “Wednesday”, the lead character is forced to be the new girl at a fancy boarding school after getting caught torturing boys who bullied her brother
Updated 02 December 2022
Jasmine Bager
As the weather cools and the sky darkens earlier, Netflix has the perfect macabre mood piece: “Wednesday,” centered on the sullen 16-year-old daughter in the Addams family.
Jenna Ortega, who the feisty girl next door in season two of the streaming service’s “You,” gives the performance of a lifetime. She delivers deadpan one-liners and executes slow burns and calculated revenge plots with determination
Wednesday the character first appeared in New Yorker magazine in the late 1930s in a comic strip created by Charles Addams. Since then she and her kooky family — Gomez and Morticia, young son Pugsley, Uncle Fester and a disembodied hand, Thing — have become pop icons.
Catherine Zeta-Jones plays Morticia in this new adaptation by director Tim Burton. Christina Ricci, who took the character Wednesday to another level in the Addams Family films of the 1990s, is in the new series but in a different role.
Ortega makes the gloomy girl her own in this new show.
Over eight episodes of “Wednesday”, the lead character is forced to be the new girl at a fancy boarding school after getting caught torturing boys who bullied her brother. The school has a place in Addams Family’s history — her parents met there decades earlier.
Trying to carve out her own niche within the student body, Wednesday goes on quests, attempting to solve mysteries while keeping her own identity as a novelist and musician.
Murder, betrayal, friendship and deep family connections that never seem to die are all carefully dissected and explored.
While the costumes and the cinematography are stunning, some of the plot lines leave gaping holes and some of the writing is stunted and predictable. It seems like a clumsy stab of reviving a watered-down version of the original.
However, “Wednesday” masterfully tackles topics including generational trauma caused by toxic family members. The teen characters are allowed to explore ways in which they were masters of their own destinies, regardless of what — or who — stood in their way.
Some sharp pop culture nerds will notice the many Easter eggs sprinkled in from across the decades, including lyrics to Taylor Swift songs and a version of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black.”
Perhaps the best update was how many of these teenagers strived to be independent thinkers — and that’s a future worth dying for.
Actor Asser Yassin takes us behind the scenes of his new Ramadan hit ‘Battalion 101’
The actor has won awards at Sweden’s Malmö Arab Film Festival, the Festival International de Cinéma Méditerranée Tétouan and the Carthage Film Festival
‘I’m thinking about the kids whose fathers are gone,’ says the Egyptian star
Updated 31 March 2023
William Mullally
DUBAI: Egyptian actor Asser Yassin had heard the stories. For much of the last decade, Wilayat Sinai — a radical terrorist organization aligned with Daesh — had turned Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula into hell on earth for many, as they staged attack after attack, leaving scores dead as the group attempted to reshape the country in their image. The people that stood in their way, and ultimately overcame the threat, were the soldiers of the Egyptian Army’s Battalion 101.
Yassin had heard the stories, but how could he have known how deep their sacrifices went? Their struggles and triumphs remained relegated to news briefs and statistics. No one had really explored what really happened out there.
“Our nation does not realize the sacrifice given in this sector — how much of their own blood they spilled to protect their country. I feel it’s my duty to be a part of telling those stories, so the world knows exactly what happened,” Yassin tells Arab News.
Asser Yassin and Amr Youssef in ‘El Keteeba 101.’ (Supplied)
With “Battalion 101,” airing on MBC Shahid throughout Ramadan, that story will finally be told. For Yassin, who stars as a military intelligence officer tasked with undermining Wilayat Sinai — and procuring the knowledge needed to do it, getting into character first required him to learn the real stories of what happened, the human stories, so that he could give this series his all.
“The thing that has touched me the most while making this show is that, in the intelligence world, you will never hear these stories, because people cannot tell them without risking the lives of others. You cannot say how an intelligence officer died defending his country. His kids may know that he’s a hero, but they can’t put it out to the world because their father died on a secret mission,” says Yassin.
“I met some of the families, and they know the men their fathers were. They know he was their champion. But they can’t tell the media. But I can put those fathers into my character. I can’t say their names, I can’t say the details, but I can put their spirits into this, in appreciation for the people who secretly died fighting these evils,” Yassin continues.
Asser Yassin (R) on the set of ‘El Keteeba 101.’ (Supplied)
While Yassin is an accomplished action star, his character in the series, for the most part, is not on a battlefield dodging bullets, or swinging from helicopters. To better understand the intelligence world, Yassin met with officers to learn about the particulars of things such as interrogation, finding that many of the tropes that are present in most films and television are pure fiction.
“It’s all in the particulars. There’s no fans or distractions in the room, there’s no two-way mirror. The setting is not nearly as dramatic. Usually, the officer, for example, stays sitting behind a desk in a room that’s as basic as can be, with only certain shades of gray because it’s psychologically important,” says Yassin.
After diving headfirst into the details, the challenge for Yassin was to dramatize this world. When there was so much dedication to telling the story as it actually happened, and following the events to the letter in order to properly honor the people that went through those situations, it was important to keep in mind that the show was being made for an audience looking to be entertained, not to be studied as part of a history course.
Asser Yassin (L) prepares to shoot a scene for ‘El Keteeba 101.’ (Supplied)
“We had a responsibility to give a proper image of what we were portraying, of course. There are so many facts for us to deliver, but we couldn’t just be informative, we had to be engaging, we had to also make it an Egyptian drama. That can be a huge challenge,” says Yassin.
Yassin worked closely with the writers and supervisors, including people from the military who were on set as consultants, in order to make sure that the audience was always first and foremost in their minds.
“We would ask ourselves questions like, ‘Can we not talk about that part? Can we make this terminology simpler?’ It could get very heavy if we didn’t. People don’t care about how you build the rocket, they care about whether the rocket is going to fly, and where it’s flying to. When you focus on that, then you have something suitable for people to watch,” he says.
Yassin also did that by focusing on his character Khaled, who, as a composite of the many intelligence officers he learned about, was also ripe for drama.
“Khaled is a guy who manipulates everything with the utmost skill. He gives you the sense that he’s always awake, he’s always around, and he can even be in two places at once,” says Yassin.
“What made him work as a character though, is not the high level of skill he possesses. Yes, he’s always doing his job right — he never makes a mistake. But that doesn’t mean that things will always work out. Sometimes you can do everything right and things still won’t go the way they’re planned, and his frustration in that gap was fascinating to explore,” Yassin continues.
Starring opposite Yassin is Amr Youssef, who became one of Egypt’s biggest stars after his turns in projects such as “Sons of Rizk,” 2015’s “The Prince,” and the highly regarded 2016 Ramadan hit “Grand Hotel.”
“Amr and I have known each other a long time, but we never worked together. It has really been fun, as we have a nice chemistry and we’re really becoming better friends as we work through this challenge together. I can see a lot of collaborations happening in the future, as, even though we’re on similar levels, we’re completely different types, which creates an interesting contrast,” says Yassin.
Everyone involved was interested in telling the story right, which involved breaking with the usual structure of Ramadan series — they avoided stretching it out to the standard 30 episodes, instead keeping it to 20, so the story could be exactly what it needed to be, and no more.
“It’s much better for everyone involved. The quality is better, and you can focus more on production, rather than rushing things out. It’s still tight, but compared to the torture of hitting 30 episodes that will air night after night, the pain is a lot more livable,” says Yassin.
Mainly, though, as Yassin speaks to us from set in the final days of filming, he is most focused on how the real story resonates with audiences now that they can finally learn the truth.
“I hope that people can appreciate the people who died, and the people who are still out there risking their lives. That’s what touches me most about all of this. I’m thinking about the kids of those fathers who are gone now, and I hope people watching at home will think about them too, and how much they gave so that they could watch a series like this comfortably in their homes all these years later.”
Lebanese singer-songwriter Karl Mattar discusses the new record from his project Interbellum
The artist has performed in multiple countries in Europe including Prague and Berlin
Updated 31 March 2023
Adam Grundey
DUBAI: Lebanese singer-songwriter Karl Mattar was in Berlin writing songs for the third album from his project Interbellum (Mattar and a revolving lineup of his peers from Beirut’s music scene) — “Our House Is Very Beautiful At Night” — when his hometown of Beirut was rocked by a massive explosion at its port on Aug. 4, 2020.
Inspired by the writings of Nicolas Abraham and Maria Torok, Mattar was already exploring the theme of intergenerational trauma as a phantom (“indistinct and blurry, but familiar,” he says) and he notes that some works created by Lebanese artists, including himself, before the blast have become almost premonitory in retrospect. Interbellum’s previous album, for example, included a track called “Some Ghosts.”
“(The explosion) wasn’t the genesis of the record, but it definitely informed it,” Mattar tells Arab News. “It’s weird how much everything we wrote about before still fits within what’s happening now. And I think it’s because that event didn’t happen out of the blue; it emerged from things that had happened before, almost like a symptom. It’s sad, but it’s almost like it was inevitable. And that’s one of the themes of the record — the cycle of things always repeating and ghosts that have always been there being unlocked.
“I’ve always been interested in themes of memory and the past and nostalgia. I have my own baggage from childhood that I carry around and I’ve been exploring the idea that we have to learn to live with our respective ghosts,” he continues. “And there is a dimension that personal trauma is mirrored by — or is a microcosm of — societal trauma and the state and society reflecting the nuclear family. It’s like a Russian doll thing.”
Lead single “Partners” encapsulates these themes, and the haunting instrumentation — with sounds fading in and out throughout, giving the music a patchwork, collage-like effect that is evident across the record — echoes the ghosts Mattar has been talking about.
“That song’s about an abusive, dysfunctional relationship,” he says. “I was moved by this notion of people who are in such a relationship being tied by this intimate bond. It’s almost beautiful, if it weren’t so horrifying (because of) this idea of how we perpetuate abuse that we lived through and kind of pass it on, and can subconsciously choose a partner to re-enact something we went through. It’s a really sad song, but there’s a beauty to this intimacy that I found poignant.”
“Our House Is Very Beautiful At Night” will be released April 7.
Cast of ‘Succession’ talk the beginning of the end of smash hit show
It’s one of the most-acclaimed shows of the century, but the dark comedy’s fourth season will be its last
Updated 30 March 2023
William Mullally
DUBAI: There’s a regular lifecycle for a television masterpiece. At first, it’s a sleeper hit, adored by critics and early adopters. As the years go on, if it’s good enough, it grows into something much greater — a phenomenon that becomes so embedded that its quotes and characters become cultural touchstones. All of this has happened with HBO’s “Succession,” which just began its fourth season on OSN+. There’s one step in the cycle, however, that creator Jesse Armstrong is still hoping to avoid — the one where a great show carries on past its prime. And so, with this season, “Succession” will come to an end.
As they filmed this latest season, however, no one knew this (except Armstrong). The cast and crew were shocked and heartbroken. All, that is, except actor Brian Cox, who plays Logan Roy, the domineering and acerbic business mogul whose ‘succession’ plan for his media empire carries the show’s central conflict.
Brian Cox. (Supplied)
“I’m delighted. I’m very happy that it’s coming to an end,” Cox tells Arab News.
This isn’t to say that Cox is not a fan of the show, or not grateful for the experience. Rather, in his eyes, stories should have endings, no matter how much the world may demand a next chapter.
“Jesse implied to me that it was going to be coming to an end. Everyone else was hopeful that it was going to go on, but I was fine about it. I don’t hang on to things. It wasn’t really decided until around episode six or seven that it was going to be wrap-up time, but in the end, that’s the discipline of (Armstrong),” says Cox.
“A lot of shows go well past their sell-by date. This show will never do that. It’s a good thing that people are mourning the fact that it’s coming to an end. It’s like a death in the family. But I think that’s healthy, and that’s what’s so extraordinary about Jesse — that he had the courage to do it. Never outstay your welcome,” Cox continues.
Nicholas Braun and Matthew Macfadyen. (Supplied)
For his co-stars of course, it wasn’t just a matter of trying to milk out more story. Over the show’s run, while it is often merciless in its portrayal of the Roy family, from its patriarch to his four children and the many hangers-on beyond, it’s also open-hearted to them. The magic of the series is that it takes some of the most unrelatable and unlikable characters ever put on screen and, by focusing on their family dynamics, makes it impossible not to relate to them in some way — and impossible not to wonder who will actually succeed Logan Roy.
“Jesse and the writers realized in the first season, when they had storylines that took the central characters away from each other, that it dissipated the tension and the energy. This family is so addicted to each other and so worried about what the other ones could do behind their back. They don’t fit in anywhere else in the world except with each other. Because of their wealth and elitism, they have no one else to relate to, so it’s family or bust,” says Sarah Snook, who plays Logan’s daughter Siobhan Roy.
The close ties between the characters mirrors the real-life bond between the actors, says Alan Ruck, who plays Logan’s eldest son Connor.
“With all the outlandish things that the writers have asked me to say or do, I think it all comes back to how you relate to the people you're working with,” he explains. “I just have to key into the energy of Sarah Snook, or Kieran Culkin, or Brian Cox or Jeremy Strong, and how much I like them. It keeps me in the room, and in the situation, no matter what crazy things (my character is) saying or doing.”
While Culkin, who plays youngest son Roman, has been in the limelight since he appeared opposite his older brother Macaulay in 1990’s megahit “Home Alone,” what he’ll miss most about the show is the rest of the cast, knowing that it’s unlikely he’ll be working with them again because the show’s popularity would make it difficult for people to get past their character associations. The whole phenomenon thing, though, is a bit lost on him.
“I don’t really have a sense of what a ‘global phenomenon’ is, exactly. My life is small. I do the show, then I’m home with my kids. I never see the scope. I’ll occasionally see a giant poster and go, ‘Oh cool, people are watching it,’” says Culkin. “When we filmed the pilot, I had a lot of fun doing it, but I didn’t know who the heck was going to want to see this show. I still don’t, but I’m glad they did, because we got to do this together.”
Review: Netflix’s ‘Soy Georgina’ season two highlights moments in Dubai amid tepid reality footage
Updated 30 March 2023
Gautaman Bhaskaran
CHENNAI: The second season of Netflix’s much-hyped “I Am Georgina” debuted on the streaming platform over the weekend; and while it does have its fair share of magical and poignant moments, its biggest drawback may be the fact that it was directed by Georgina Rodriguez herself, with a little help from Spanish director Victor Rins.
The long-time partner of Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo and mother to their several children, Rodriguez is her own celebrity these days – helped by a vast social media following and her influencer status.
The six-episode, sophomore season – filled with potential – took the monotonous and predictable route, however, following Rodriguez as she travels to movie festivals like Venice and Cannes and other cities, such as Manchester and so on.
The series, also predictably, shows very little of the legendary sportsman Ronaldo, which could have made the work far more interesting for a certain section of viewers.
However, episode one does feature Ronaldo and is set almost entirely in Dubai – following an emotional and touching moment as he surprised Rodriguez by lighting up the iconic Burj Khalifa with a special message on her 28th birthday.
“It was a very emotional day. Well, it was and it still is, because in the end, those moments and those positive experiences stay with you,” she said in the show. “And day after day, it’s like a thrill, like a spark that keeps you happy and active and alive.”
The show also touches on a more poignant and darker moment in her life – losing one of her twin babies, son Angel. It is heart-breaking to see her pine for the child, but Rodriguez says she pulls herself together thanks to her other children and Ronaldo. And we soon see her jetting off again in her private plane as she spends time with her close friends.
Even a bit about the fact that she was the daughter of a cocaine kingpin growing up in Argentina is so carefully crafted that it feels whitewashed and drained of any significance.
What else does the series offer? Rodriguez talks about how she was a ballet dancer, but could not pursue her dream, and this is shown more in the passing. The appearance of Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalia is also interesting, but nothing beats Ronaldo’s romantic birthday gesture at the Burj. More of this in season three, please.
Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad strikes again with second custom look for Taylor Swift on ‘Eras’ tour
Updated 26 March 2023
Arab News
DUBAI: After revealing that he designed US pop sensation Taylor Swift’s showstopping ballgown for the “The Eras Tour” just last week, Lebanese couturier Zuhair Murad is back with yet another unique look for her latest stop in Las Vegas.
The 33-year-old wore a shimmering dark blue outfit, with embellishment and fringe detailing, paired with knee-high boots.
“@TaylorSwift wore for The Eras Tour Las Vegas Opening Night a custom #ZMCouture midnight blue crystal embellished bodysuit, overflowing with richly beaded fringes and a matching garter,” posted the label’s official Instagram account, sharing a picture of the glittering outfit.
The Grammy Award-winning singer -- who kicked off her first trek in more than four years at Glendale, Arizona's State Farm Stadium last weekend -- belted out her top hits at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday in a three-hour show that ran through hits from every era of her 17-year career.
