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Jake Lacy

Being the Ricardos – Wanting a home

December 29, 2021 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“Lucy, I’m home.”

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez were the biggest TV stars (by far) of the 1950s. Their show I Love Lucy was seen by up to 60 million people a week. That show took us into the home of Ricky and Lucy Ricardo, a small apartment filled with hilarity. But of course what is on TV is not always the same as real life. Being the Ricardos is Aaron Sorkin’s look at what might have been the reality behind the scenes.

NICOLE KIDMAN and JAVIER BARDEM star in BEING THE RICARDOS Photo: GLEN WILSON © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

The film is set in one week as the TV show goes from a script reading on Monday to the filming of the show on Friday. As is common in Sorkin’s films, plays, and TV, this is very much and ensemble piece. We meet most of the key players in that first reading. Lucille (Nicole Kidman) and Desi (Javier Bardem) are the stars and the power behind the show. William Frawley (J. K. Simmons) and Vivian Vance (Nina Arianda) played their neighbors the Mertz’s. The show’s writers, Jess Oppenheimer (Tony Hale), Madelyn Pugh (Alia Shawkat), and Bob Carroll (Jake Lacy) are also at the table as the group starts the work on this week’s show. But this is not a normal week. It is beset with a number of stresses that could bring an end to the show—and the marriage.

There are three main stressors that complicate this week, all of which were actual events that threatened the show, but not all in one week as we see here: accusations that Ball was a Communist, Ball’s pregnancy, and Arnez’s philandering. This leads to a number of meetings with the network and sponsor about keeping the show on the air. Here we see Arnez much more in control of the business aspects of the show.

NICOLE KIDMAN, JAVIER BARDEM, NELSON FRANKLIN, and CLARK GREGG star in BEING THE RICARDOS Photo: GLEN WILSON © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

There is also a great deal of rivalry among the other players. Frawley and Vance really don’t get along. Vance is resentful at having to play the older, frumpy Ethel Mertz.  Pugh and Carroll carp at each other over how the show should be. In the writer’s room, Pugh pushes for the character Lucy to have a bit more feminist influence. She doesn’t want Lucy to seem stupid. (Ball certainly was not.) Ball is constantly wanting to rework the show—all the way up to Friday.  All of this is brought out in the witty and acerbic dialogue that is Sorkin’s trademark.

This is not a film that tries to capture the comedy of I Love Lucy. It would be a disservice to the actors to expect them to recreate such icons, in part because we associate Ball and Arnez so much with their onscreen personas. Instead, this is a story about the real Ball and Arnez and the stress they had to work through as a married couple. As the story unfolds we learn a bit of their history together—their meeting, early marriage, conflicts of schedules that kept them apart until Ball demanded that Arnez play her husband on TV so they could be together (and hopefully save their marriage).

JAVIER BARDEM, J.K. SIMMONS, NINA ARIANDA, and NICOLE KDIMAN star in BEING THE RICARDOS Photo: GLEN WILSON © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

Ball and Arnez, as portrayed here, are a complex couple. At one point they’re described as “either tearing each other’s heads off, or tearing each other’s clothes off.” Arnez was very much in charge of the business side, Ball much more on the creative side (although they both took part in both). Arnez, who had been successful in acting and as a band leader, is now a second banana to his wife, and that may have caused resentment. Much of what drives Ball goes back to their meeting. At one point, Arnez asks Ball what she wants. Her answer is, “a home”. She doesn’t care about a large house. She wants the warmth and security and love of a home.

All through this difficult week, we see Ball struggling not just with all the threats to the show, both internal and external, but even more with the threats to her marriage. That marriage is in large part the reason for the show even to exist. And when we know that, it gives a new meaning to that line that Ricky Ricardo spoke so frequently.

NICOLE KIDMAN and JAVIER BARDEM star in BEING THE RICARDOS Photo: GLEN WILSON © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

Being the Ricardos is in general release and available on Amazon Prime Video.

Photos courtesy of Amazon Content Services.

Filed Under: Amazon Prime Video, Featured, Film, Reviews Tagged With: Aaron Sorkin, Alia Shawkat, Being the Ricardos, classic television, Desi Arnez, J. K. Simmons, Jake Lacy, Javier Bardem, Lucille Ball, Nicole Kidman, Tony Hale

Diane – Broken Saintliness

March 29, 2019 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“When you serve me…, I feel sanctified.”

In Diane, from writer/director Kent Jones, we watch the title character (Mary Kay Place) spend her days selflessly trying to help others. Diane is constantly in motion, driving between visits to her dying cousin Donna (Deidre O’Connell), trying to help her drug addicted son Brian (Jake Lacy), and working at her church to serve dinner to the homeless.

It may seem that this is a saint, quietly doing what she can for others, but as the film progresses, we discover a brokenness within her. The first inkling may be that we almost never see her smile. But soon we see cracks begin to appear in her image. And we learn about a past sin—one that haunts her, that she has never quite forgiven herself for.

The mood for the film is set by the winter landscape. Trees are bare. There are always patches of snow on the ground. Characters are encompassed with layers of clothing. Although this is actually more the result of the filming schedule than design, the grayness and coldness fit perfectly with this story and impact the way viewers may experience it.

This is a film that is permeated with spirituality, usually unspoken, but at times it is openly religious. It is the more muted spiritual tones that are more meaningful and touching. When the film ventures into overtly religious scenes, the religion portrayed is a bit extreme and off-putting. But even those scenes feed Diane’s underlying spiritual journey.

One of the key spiritual issues Diane must deal with is forgiveness. We learn about half way through the story of an event that touched her life, her son’s life, and her cousin’s life. Even though Donna has told Diane she has forgiven her for what she did, Donna still brings it up from time to time. It is not so much that Donna has not forgiven Diane as much as Diane has failed to forgive herself. She carries her guilt and shame with her each day. It shapes her self-image. It holds her in a place that is as cold and gray as the world around her.

So it is something of a shock to her when one of the clients she serves in her church’s basement says that he feels “sanctified” when Diane serves him. It is such a contrast to the way Diane feels within her own soul.

Often when we think of saints, we picture those with extreme virtue—Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, Jr. But even these great souls often had places within themselves of brokenness, shame, or doubt. In reality, the saints I have gotten to know through the years are much more like Diane. They give themselves to others, but they also have their own torments and spiritual struggles. They are people who do their little bits to sanctify the world even when traveling through the winter landscapes of life.

Photos courtesy of IFC Films

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: deidre o'connell, glossalalia, Jake Lacy, Kent Jones, Mary Kay Place

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