HBO Max: “We Are Who We Are”
(originally reviewed in late 2020)
If you can take your mind off the depredations of Donald Trump for a moment, and have a few hours to kill while all the votes are being counted, you might do well to investigate what may be the most fascinating, haunting, and downright sexy new TV series around: "We are Who We are" on HBO.
Those who are familiar with the work of Luca Guadanigno ("A Bigger Splash" "Call Me By Your Name") will not surprised by the audacity of his filmmaking here. What all his works seems to share are an affinity for Italy, and a fascination with sex--two of my own favorite topics.
In this show, set in a U.S. army base just outside Venice, Sarah, a lesbian army colonel (Chloe Sevigny) comes over to run the show, along with Maggie, her Brazilian wife (Alicia Braga, niece of Sonia) and her 15-year-old son (Jack Dylan Grazer, nephew of Hollywood biggie Brian Grazer).
They move next door to a Black family, which includes a truculent dad (Kid Cudi), an African wife (Faith Alibi) and a 14-year-old daughter, Harper (Jordan Kristine Seamon), who besides being a terrific actress, may qualify as the most striking-looking creature on this planet or any other.
Sound like the beginning of a teenage boy-meets-girl romcom? Um, maybe. But maybe not. Since boy seems to like boys, and girl may want to be a man.
The two kids' explorations of their sexuality leads to Harper's lesbian experimentation with a local Italian girl as well as her best friend (Francesca Scorsese, daughter of Martin), as well as Fraser's flirtation with his mother's hunky Israeli aide-de-camp (Tom Mercier). The beauty of these explorations is that nothing gets too explicit. That's because the kids are not even sure they're "that"...after all, they're only 14!
Luca has a master's eye for a scene--whether it is jogging through a rainstorm, having a slice in the PX, hitchhiking to Bologna on a busy highway, or Fraser and their friends' destruction of a Russian oligarch's vacation villa to act out their grief over a friend's death. The portrayal of bored, young kids stuck on an army base in the middle of nowhere is spot-on, as are the music and dialogue that accompany every scene.
Basically devoured all eight episodes. Could be just the tonic for forgetting the ugly and remembering the beautiful in life. Especially now. (Wednesday)