The Curse

⭐ 9.5/10

(Originally written by Tim)

This may not be the best show I've seen, but its easily one of the most interesting. Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone play Asher and Whitney, a couple trying to create an HGTV show where they move into a community and gentrify it with these garish "passive homes" to help save the environment and revitalize a neighbourhood. I am totally in the bag for Fielder, so I loved this. He has a cringey brand of comedy, but usually it is loosely scripted, where as this is fully scripted. He certainly is trying to say a million things, and every episode has takes on virtue signaling, influencer culture, gentrification, celebrity, privilege, racism, all our modern issues. This show is unexpected in a million different ways, and if using all those words is a turn-off I can guarantee this isn't what you think it is.

Nathan is great as this awkward husband trying to be funny and constantly being emasculated. He is really playing the same guy he always does, but its turned up to 11. He is always a lonely guy looking for connection, and now he's a married guy trying to be a good person. Emma Stone as Whitney is the standout here though, she is the worst person imaginable. She is so shallow and deluded, thinking that what she is doing is artistic and helpful to those less fortunate, when really she only cares about her image and getting out from the image of her parents, who are of course funding the whole thing. There are so many layers to this show its hard to get in to, but every episode has a stand out moment that will make you crawl out of your skin, and more often than not its Emma and not Nathan doing it. Where as The Rehearsal is hard to believe, I found this situation so believable. They are so earnest and tone deaf it likes how I imagine every influencer couple to actually be. They both bring so much depth to these characters, and I loved how information and character traits were doled out throughout the series. So many layers to these people, with any redeeming qualities being either completely discounted or actively mocked by the other.

The third character is Benny Safdie as the director of this show, and he is an agent of choas between the couple. He is a strange dude with a strange arc, but the show probably doesn't work without him. He also wrote and directed this with Fielder, and I love the way this show is shot. It is so sinister, as if we are spying on this people, with tons of shots through reflections and distorted lenses. It is super bold, reminding me in a lot of ways of Lynch and Twin Peaks, but much more modern feeling. It really is hard to explain what this show is about, but also why its so good.

The finale is the most insane thing I have maybe ever seen, a final 30 minutes that no one on earth could have predicted. Its maybe visionary, maybe artistic, maybe complete BS. I respect the shot it takes, and I was floored the whole way. The series is always unnerving and the finale completely embraces that, turning everything on its head and leaving me completely uncertain.

There are a hundred standout moments in this show, too many scenes to count where I was laughing while wishing I could live in a world where people like this don't exist. I have no idea what the legacy of this show will be, but I hope more people check it out. In a just world Emma Stone would win every single award and be proclaimed the actress of a generation, but this is too weird to ever get that kind of love. This and Poor Things in the same year is incredibly bold, and she forever has my devotion. As for Nathan, I always knew he was a genius, and this was the most perfect ejection of everything in his crazy brain. He is our greatest Canadian export.