THE VIRUS AND LONELINESS IN THE MEDIA

     There are many coronavirus issues that the media have been responding to, but  there is one which this critic found  a bit overlooked, if this is possible. It's the idea of loneliness that many people who shelter - in - place must contend with. A particular "More We Know" Public Service Announcement (PSA) on TV brought this to the forefront when Ted Danson and  Mary Steenburgen suggested," We might be lonely but we are not alone." 

     Watching films on TV to pass the time seems a common practice, but what's not common is the large amount of recent or semi - recent movies/ TV series about loneliness. At least on NetFlix. Most likely, it's probably just a coincidence, but it could even be the result of our preoccupation with the subject. (No doubt many documentaries will be coming out about our real-life experiences staying at home.)

     Consider some  electronic media examples with themes of loneliness, all of them containing outstanding scripts,  ensemble acting and excellent directing. Again, coincidentally, they are all autobiographical and/or derived from real life  events / experiences. Take, for example, "Marriage Story" by Noah Baumbach, with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a couple going  through a divorce. There's no doubt that Baumbach had a personal knowledge of the pair's experiences; the film is that incredibly authentic in all its aspects. Or it could be the actors' contributing their own encounters to the characterizations. Although the couple's problems did not focus on loneliness, per se, we get the idea that initial  togetherness had faded as they went their separate professional and physical ways.

     "The Two Popes" is another film where true life loneliness plays a part: Jonathan Pryce as Pope Francis and Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict show their friendship  not only through spiritual matters but also through their common connection with music and culture. Pope Benedict, particularly, after spending the afternoon playing the piano for the man who would become his successor, notes that he wished  he could be with people doing similar things more often.  There's also a sense of being alone that Pope Francis confronts during his days as a priest in Argentina when he has little support for his ideology. Yet isolation exerts somewhat of a subtle presence.

     Conversely, loneliness is very much a potent theme in the TV series, "The Kominsky Method," with Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin as two  friends who must face living without a spouse. They are men who have ambiguous relationships with everyone, including their daughters, but who cling to each other for comfort and camaraderie. And for help with growing old. The events are also true-to-life, their relevance strongly applicable to the male gender. After all, how many films feature older men  versus female bonding, the latter a more popular topic nowadays? But it is the subject of aging that really hits the mark when it comes to loneliness in the movie. The two concepts make a perfect pair, establishing an inevitability that is often sad to witness: we can beat loneliness, but never getting older.

    Yet, loneliness is also equated with cinema itself, according to the director Alfonso Cuaron in his Oscar-winning movie, "Roma." While it may be difficult to figure out why, this one purely autobiographical film among those mentioned traces the life of Cuaron and his nanny living in an affluent Mexican neighborhood. In the process, it both recreates  memories  and enhances cinematic art: often stark black and white cinematography features impressive objects, diverse shapes and camera pans, yet at other times and places, images fill the screen with people and poverty. Thus, Cuaron's movie is one of opposition, aesthetically-speaking, as well as theme-wise when Cuaron confronts the county's social changes and his own personal growth. 

     But it is the contradictory nature of loneliness as Cuaron's nanny goes from stasis to movement that gives the work its greatest potency and lasting effect: from washing the  floor in the opening shot to entering her living quarters in the final shot.