TV Highlights of the week: Bruce, Ofra and Lovecraft
Springsteen wrote in his autobiography about his struggles with depression and his demons. In Western Stars, he continues to explore his self-destructive impulses and the emotions they inspire.
By HANNAH BROWNBruce Springsteen performs at the 72nd Annual Tony Awards in New York Sunday(photo credit: LUCAS JACKSON / REUTERS)
Country music with symphonic backing plus philosophical musing equals Western Stars, a film of Bruce Springsteen’s latest album.It will be shown on August 17 at 10 p.m. on Yes Docu (as well as Yes VOD and Sting TV), from August 18 on Cellcom TV, and on Hot Cinema 4 on August 22 at 11 a.m. (and on Hot CinemaTime from August 23).It’s a performance film, where the Boss plays the tunes from his 19th studio album in a barn near his house in New Jersey, accompanied by a classical orchestra, with backup from his wife, Patti Scialfa. These country-style songs tell stories, like so many of the Boss’s songs. Springsteen wrote in his autobiography and spoke in his one-man Broadway show about his struggles with depression and his demons. In Western Stars, he continues to explore his self-destructive impulses and the emotions they inspire.Springsteen directed the film with Thom Zimny, and frames the songs with scenes of him walking through Western landscapes talking about his feelings, interspersed with home movies. He projects a real sense of despair, and if his face weren’t so well known, it seems he could simply slip into some roadside diner in a working-class town and fit right in.At the end there is a treat, though, and a hint that perhaps he has worked through some of his issues: He plays a cover of Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy.”Hot 8 is showing Ofra, a new documentary series about Ofra Haza, the beloved Israeli pop star who died of AIDS at age 42, starting on August 16 at 9 p.m., and on Hot VOD. It’s been 20 years since her death, and the three-part series details her rise to success, from her childhood growing up in a poor Yemenite family in Tel Aviv, to her life as an isolated star who many felt was overly dependent on her Svengali-like manager, and finally to her tragically early death. But it also celebrates her music, particularly her embrace of the traditional Yemenite songs she grew up on, which she popularized, as well as her collaborations with musicians from around the world.Lovecraft Country is an unusual hybrid series from HBO that mixes the story of an African-American family in the 1950s with the kind of supernatural creatures and evil villains inspired by the fiction of HP Lovecraft, hence the title. It starts running on August 17 at 10 p.m. on Hot HBO (and Hot VOD and Next VOD), Yes VOD and Cellcom TV.Based on a novel by Matt Ruff and created by Misha Green, it has two very big-name executive producers: JJ Abrams, who made Lost, Westworld and the last few Star Wars movies; and Jordan Peele, who is best known for two recent movies that mix social commentary and horror, Get Out and Us. If you enjoyed either of Peele’s movies, then Lovecraft Country could be a great series for you. It has slow-burn pacing, but when things get horrific, they get very horrific, very fast. It’s also a bit like Stranger Things.Lovecraft Country starts out like another take on Green Book, as Korean-War veteran Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors, who recently appeared in Da 5 Bloods) heads cross-country with his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) and friend, Letitia (Jurnee Smollett, who had an arc on Parenthood as a campaign manager), to find his father (Michael Kenneth Williams, who played Omar on The Wire), who has gone missing somewhere in Massachusetts. On the way, they encounter chilling racism, which George, who writes the Green Book, a guide for black travelers on where it is safe to visit, records in his notes. But when they get to their destination, they encounter a vicious sheriff who seems bent on killing them, along with something otherworldly, and it’s hard to know which is scarier, which is an effective metaphor.The leads are terrific and the special effects are extremely high quality for television, but you have to be able to roll with the over-the-top scare-fest that is at the center of the plot to enjoy it.
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