It was a busy weekend! Saw St. Vincent and James Blake at the Hollywood Bowl (two different nights). Then went to the zoo yesterday to take movies of the animals. It's Monday, and I'm back at work. Going to see Wicked Woman (an aerialist show set to Princess Bride) tonight.
Something I'm wrestling with is empathy. During the last few years, people have been using empathy as a blanket prescription for all of society's ills. Here's the definition: "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another." Actually, as an ability it's totally great. Framing it like that suggests that whoever has empathy can deploy it at will. When it's appropriate, useful, etc.
My problem with it is that it places the importance on reception instead of communication. On feeling instead of action. Reception and feeling are definitely important. But it's clearly a mistake to think empathy is going to fix everything. The primacy of empathy negates taking responsibility for our own feelings and responses. Saying empathy is the be-all-end-all means we're not on the hook for problem solving and practical action. To some extent, we've made feeling bad an accomplishment, as long as you're feeling bad on behalf of other people. That's silly. It's a tool, but it's only one tool.
Under the definition of empathy are these further search terms:
Somehow, I feel like that strengthens my point.
MLog Time!
**SPOILERS**
THE INVITATION
2015
Directed by: Karyn Kusama
Written by: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi
Watched: 9/24/21
Will and his girlfriend Kira drive up to the Hollywood Hills for a dinner party at the house of Will’s ex-wife, Eden. Eden and her new husband, David, have been MIA for the past two years. Will and Eden split up after the sudden death of their son. We see in flashbacks that Will stopped Eden from slitting her wrists, as a result. The two are still in intense grief. Eden met and connected with David because David was also grieving. He had lost his wife in a traumatic way. Eden has gathered all their old friends for this dinner party. Will is on edge. He’s creeped out by things like how the house has bars on all the windows now, and how David has locked the doors and removed the key. Will feels unsafe. It turns out that Eden and David have joined a grief cult. They show a video from the founder of the cult, it contains footage of a young healthy-looking person peacefully dying. It’s creepy, but some of the friends try not to be judgmental. They want to support Eden and David in whatever’s working for them. Will is suspicious that one of their friends hasn’t shown up. He got a voicemail that the man, Choi, arrived early. Will thinks that Choi has been harmed. He accuses David and Eden, but then Choi does show up. He had been called back into work, hence his delayed arrival. Oh! Also, there’s two other creepy cult people in the house. Will sees David hang a red lantern in the backyard and finds barbiturates in Eden’s bedside table. They all eat an elaborate dinner. Afterwards they make a toast, Will hits the glasses of wine out of people’s hands. One of the cult guests attacks him, and in their struggle, she hits her head. The group tries to administer to her wounds, when they realize that Gina, who drank the wine, is dead.
David and the cult members try to kill everyone. They believe that they’ll all be together in the afterlife. Eden is overwhelmed. She wanted them to all die together peacefully. She shoots herself in the stomach. Will, Kira, and one other friend end up fighting the cult members off – although all of their other friends have died. They realize that dogs are barking and police sirens are sounding. A ton of red lanterns are hanging throughout the Hollywood Hills.
I feel like you can tell I liked this movie based on my lengthy plot summary. It was a slow burn. Definitely creepy. Beautifully lit. And so so Los Angeles. The makeup of the friend group, their clothes, their looks, their reactions, and their concerns fit LA to a T. They want to be open minded and supportive. They feel it’s imperative to be polite. They see pain as a thing to be irradiated. (I went to the Hollywood Bowl after seeing the movie and felt like I was surrounded by possible Invitation casts.) I felt this whole movie worked really well – and it was shot for a budget of $1 million. Crazy. Directed by the same person who did Jennifer’s Body. Someone to watch for sure.
Rating: ★★★★
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