Category Archives: Mathematician

2015, Ambiguous Conclusion, Bloody scenes, Boxing, Brother-Sister relations, Cocaine, Complicated, Confusing Plot, Crime, Dysfunctional Lives, Extramarital Affair, False Imprisonment, Family Conflict, Forensics, Gay theme, Illegitimate Child, Imperfect, Italian, Italian detective, Love Triangle, Mathematician, Medical Theme, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Muslim Culture, PBS Masterpiece Streaming, Police Culture, Rape, Reconciliation, Romance, Short-lived suspenseful episodes

Thou Shalt Not Kill (2015)

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From IMDB:

Detective Valeria Ferro investigates crimes motivated by jealousy, vendettas and repressed anger to seek the truth and justice.

From PBS Passport you can stream two seasons of this Italian detective series.  Each season offers 12 episodes. Each episode lasts between 45 and 50 minutes.  Spoken Italian with English subtitles.

At the very start of the series Valeria’s mother Lucia is released from prison after 17 years. Lucia supposedly killed Valeria’s father.  Throughout the entire two seasons the continuing theme is what really happened 17 years ago.  For the most part Valeria is estranged from, angry at, and suspicious of her mother.  Valeria’s brother Giacomo takes the mother into his home.

Valeria is unmarried and is undecided about where to live, whom to love, and what the future holds.  Valeria’s lover is her current police boss Giorgio  whose orders she repeatedly countermands because of her stubborn nature.  Meanwhile her co-worker Andrea is in love with Valeria.

Every two episodes tell one complete crime story while the above mentioned themes continue.

Both Kathy and I found the plots confusing with too many characters. Additionally we did not find  the conclusion in episode 24 to be in any way satisfying.  It would seem that the producers intend further seasons.

Notice how at the end of each pair of episodes the guilty party simply confesses (often with indifference) with no attempt to cover up.  That is just plain too easy a conclusion.

Still,  the 24 episodes were not bad at all.

2017, Amazon Prime, America of the 1950s, American Jewish Culture, Amusing banter, Comedy, Cooking and food, Crude Talk, Dancing, Divorce, Eccentric cast of characters, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Father-son relations, Flirting, French Culture, Lot's of Fun, Love Story, Mathematician, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Nudity, Remarkable Costumes, Romance, Sex Scenes, Vulgar

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017)

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From Amazon Prime:

Winner of 8 Emmy Awards. In 1958 New York, Midge Maisel’s life is on track- husband, kids, and elegant Yom Kippur dinners in their Upper West Side apartment. But when her life takes a surprise turn, she has to quickly decide what else she’s good at – and going from housewife to stand-up comic is a wild choice to everyone but her. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls).

From IMDB:

Set in 1950s Manhattan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a 60-minute dramedy that centers on Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a sunny, energetic, sharp, Jewish girl who had her life mapped out: go to college, find a husband, have kids, and throw the best Yom Kippur break-fasts in town. Soon enough, she finds herself exactly where she had hoped to be, living happily with her husband and two children in the Upper West Side. A woman of her time, Midge is a cheerleader wife to a man who dreams of a stand-up comedy career, but her perfect life is upended when her husband suddenly leaves her for another woman. Utterly unprepared, Midge is left with no choice but to reevaluate her life. When she accidentally stumbles onto the stage at a nightclub, she discovers her own comedic skills and decides to use this newfound talent to help her reinvent her life. The series follows the trajectory of Midge’s journey as she pursues a career in the male-dominated, stand-up comedy profession, and transforms from uptown.

From Amazon Prime you can stream two seasons of this wacky soap opera.  Season 1 offers 8 episodes. Season 2 offers 10 episodes. All of the episodes vary in length but all are more or less close to one hour.

Upper middle class Jewish life centering around the Upper West Side of New York city was a new experience and revelation for me.  For awhile I was skeptical that Midge’s father (played to riotous perfection by  Tony Shalhoub ),  a university math professor, could earn enough to support a large and gorgeous apartment in which the only woman in the production who did not wear an entirely different and obviously expensive outfit at every appearance was the family cook.  Eventually I learned that the university owned the apartment, but THOSE CLOTHES!!! If nothing else, if you want to see a living catalog of the fashionable garments of the 50’s, you will appreciate this funny fantasy.

Rachel Brosnahan who plays Midge is strikingly beautiful. (And those clothes don’t hurt!)  Her rapid delivery is astounding. How much did the cast have to practice to be able to do that? In fact that is the hallmark of the entire series: the rapid fire deliveries are almost a challenge to keep up with. When I finished an episode I would find myself thinking faster.

Don’t get me wrong: many of the other actors deliver their lines well. But Midge and her father Abe Weissman are standouts.

In the plot Midge, in her quest to become a famous comedienne, interacts with the famous comedian Lenny Bruce. You are hereby warned that throughout the series much of the language and the gags are vulgar. You will hear the F word very often. Recall that Lenny Bruce was often indicted (and jailed) for lewd comedy. There are still things you cannot say in 2019 on cable TV.

My suspicion is that you will either love or hate this show. For my part I LOVED THIS SERIES!

 

2017, Acceptable for children, Child custody, Could Be Sad, DO NOT MISS, Dysfunctional Lives, Family Conflict, Mathematician, Mother-daughter relations, Mother-son relations, Psychological Drama, Suicide, Uncle-Niece relations

Gifted (2017)

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From IMDB:

In this wonderfully moving film, a single man (Chris Evans) strives to give his child prodigy niece (Mckenna Grace) a normal life, despite interference from the girl’s grandmother.

British Airways offered this gem of a film on a flight to London.

Chris Evans, in a break from adolescent action films, gives a sensitive performance as a higher education drop-out, Frank Adler,  who scrapes by repairing small boats.  His sister was a brilliant mathematician who committed suicide, leaving her equally brilliant young daughter Mary without a mother.  Evelyn Adler, Frank’s mathematician mother, is a grandmother from hell who wants her granddaughter to do nothing but develop her prodigious abilities in mathematics. Trying to provide Mary with a normal happy childhood means Frank must engage in a constant tug-of-war with Evelyn.

Not only because this is a positive well played film, but also  because it has a happy ending (for a change),  I am recommending this film.  However, expect to shed a few tears before you reach the happy conclusion.

DO NOT MISS!

 

 

 

2012, Bad Acting, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, Corny at times, Crime, Detective, Divorce, DNA, Father-son relations, Forensics, Gay theme, Homophobia, Imperfect, Italian, Italian culture, Italian detective, Made For TV, Mathematician, Mediocre, Melodrama, MHz Choice, Mother-son relations, Murder Investigation, Police Politics, TV Series, Various Romances

Inspector Vivaldi (2012)

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From MHz Choice:

MYSTERY | ITALY | ITALIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES |
Inspector Federico Vivaldi is an old-school cop in a new world: his son is gay, his wife has left him and he’s got an ambitious colleague nipping at his heels to take over his position. He may be old-fashioned but he’s resilient enough to find his way in the new reality. His son, Stefano, is also a cop, and father and son make a good team solving crimes together in the northeastern Italian city of Trieste.

From MHz Choice you can stream Season 1 consisting of 8 episodes, each about 1.5 hours. All 8 episodes are dedicated to one continuing mystery with lots of side distractions.

If you want to hear understandable Italian, this detective soap opera is for you. Sometimes the acting is terrible. Sometimes the presentation is corny (can you hear those violins?) Finally I decided I could not stand Inspector Vivaldi as a person. But his son and his beautiful former wife are appealing.

Somewhat mediocre but it is ITALIAN!!! (Who is prejudiced?)

2016, Acceptable Science, Astronauts, Based on a Book, Based on true facts, Black History, Civil Rights, Docudrama, Human spirit, Love Story, Mathematician, NASA, Netflix DVD, Race Relations, Racism, True Story

Hidden Figures (2016)

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From IMDB:

The story of a team of African-American women mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the US space program.

For a synopsis of the film read the Wikipedia account.  Recall that the events take place in the 1960’s and that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 supposedly ended racial segregation. If anything, this film is exactly about racial segregation in the government. For example, the main character, Katherine Goble, worked in a NASA building which had no bathroom for non-whites so that in order to go the bathroom, she had to leave her building and travel to another building.  Black Katherine’s calculations were project-saving whereas white John Glen received all the admiration. Be sure to read the final screen notes which explain how Kathering was finally honored. For example, to quote Wikipedia:

In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and a new 40,000-square-foot Computational Research Facility at the Langley Research Center was renamed the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility in her honor the following year.[

Here the facts are more important than the entertainment value of the film.

 

2015, Abduction, AIDS, Alcoholism, British, Clever Plot, Complicated, Conspiracy, Creepy, Dark, Drama, Drugs, Emotional child abuse, Explicit sex, Gay theme, Harmful Medicine, Improbable details, Made For TV, Mathematician, MI5, Mother-son relations, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Suspense, Wonderful acting

London Spy (2015)

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From IMDB:

A chance romance between two men from very different worlds, one from the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess, leads into mystery after one of them is found murdered.

From Netflix you can stream this 5-episode one-season series. Indeed Wikipedia confirms that there are only 5 episodes. Why would I doubt this? Read on to find the answer.

Give this series a 10 for originality, sinister plot, and great actors. But WARNING: Do not expect to live happily ever after.

In the novel “1984” Big Brother is always watching. Here also, the character Danny (played by Ben Whishaw) is up against an unbeatable conspiracy which only seems to be more malignant with each attempt by Danny to fight back.

Danny, a young promiscuous gay man, meets Alex (played by Edward Holcroft) a seemingly repressed and virginal gay man. After the two become lovers (there is one scene of the two men making love) and genuinely fall in love,  Alex disappears. Danny spends the rest of the series exploring this disappearance.

Along the way Danny teams up with a remarkable set of well-known actors:

  • Jim Broadbent (if you have ever watched British entertainment, you will recognize this famous and seasoned actor) pays Scottie, Danny’s aging gay mentor and friend.
  • David Hayman (again an instantly recognizable British actor) plays as one of the conspirator’s servants Mr. Turner.
  • Charlotte Rampling (need I say more?) is one of Alex’s mothers. How’s that for intriguing?

As swept up as I was (i.e.  “binge watching”), I have to qualify:

The Good:

  • Acting is as superb as it is really, really slow. This story is a monument to sad, mournful pondering. But Ben Whishaw can just stand still and emote. No action required.
  • As a mystery story, it just sinks deeper and deeper.

The Bad:

  • Story speed is really, really slow.
  • Too many times the details seem to be too improbable. Can any conspiracy be that all-powerful and airtight?
  • One of the plot twists prompted my response “Give me a break!”
  • Do not expect to live happily ever after, but rather hopefully ever after.

Clearly, this film will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It just worked for me despite any plot disappointments.

 

 

2015, Based on a Book, Based on true facts, British, British History, Cambridge University, Culture of India, DO NOT MISS, Docudrama, Drama, Mathematician, Racism, Religious Theme, Wasp Snobs

The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)

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From IMDB:

The story of the life and academic career of the pioneer Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and his friendship with his mentor, Professor G.H. Hardy.

Dev Patel (who played Sonny Kapoor in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) as Ramanujan and Jeremy Irons as Hardy team up to present a wonderful screen telling of the emergence of one brilliant mathematician with the help of another.

For a definitive discussion of Ramanujan see the Wikepedia article. For information on G.H.Harding Wikepedia again offers an article. From this last article on Harding I found the important quote:

Hardy was extremely shy as a child, and was socially awkward, cold and eccentric throughout his life. During his school years he was top of his class in most subjects, and won many prizes and awards but hated having to receive them in front of the entire school. He was uncomfortable being introduced to new people, and could not bear to look at his own reflection in a mirror. It is said that, when staying in hotels, he would cover all the mirrors with towels.[

This quote captures the tone of the film. Harding did not relate to people. For Ramanujan this was another difficulty on top of his unhappy social position at Cambridge where the British racist snobs sneered at the “wog”.

As regards Ramanujan, one essential point is that he was very intuitive and had brilliant insights but was unable or reluctant to provide proofs. It took years to verify his results. Hardings task was to persistently demand proofs for the Indian’s assertions.

For you adults out there, this film is a MUST SEE!