MEDIA REVIEW

Pop the kettle on and grab your snacks, Respect content creator and member Sean has bravely volunteered to hunt down some entertainment to share, review, and recommend!

By Sean Walsh

Mae Martin: Sap – Netix

‘Sap’ marks Mae Martin’s first comedy special, although they have been writing and performing comedy for many years. ‘Sap’ is a true tour-deforce, offering laugh out loud comedy as well as thoughtful and heartfelt messages. Martin talks about being trans/non-binary and how the experience was for them being young but also, as with life, it is a part thatmakes up the whole.

It is a great show and filled with so many wholebody laughs that I was in tears! The opening credits are funny in themselves and its only with watching the show you understand them - I thought they had lost their minds!

The special touches on growing up in Canada with a truly magical sounding father, ‘life’ during the pandemic and even snow-globes, it is guaranteed tohave youcackling throughout!

I wholeheartedly recommend this show to anyone who enjoys comedy. I have been watching Mae on Taskmaster, which perfectly coordinated with ‘Sap’s’ release. I can honestly say I am thrilled I have watched it and will be watching it many more times I can assure you!

Your Name Engraved Herein (刻在你心底的名 字) - Netix

This 2020 film starring queer actor Edward Chen is set in 1987 Taiwan in an all-boys school. JiaHan and Birdy become friends in a new Taiwan –martial law is lifted after decades and there are many changes in society. Their blossoming friendship becomes stronger as they try to understand the feelings they have for each other, whilst struggling against the rampant homophobia throughout the country, as well as the religious pressures they feel from their beloved teacher-priest.

Things progress on a trip to Taipei to pay respects to the deceased leader Chiang Chingkuo, when Birdy kisses Jia-Han and later they discuss what their life would be like together. As society changes, so does their school and girls are now brought in. Birdy gets a girlfriend –BanBan - which makes Jia-Han incredibly jealous. The result of all this leads to a breakdown of the friendship for many years. We then meet up with Jia-Han decades later at a reunion, and we find out what happened to him, Birdy and BanBan and the teacher-priest.

‘Your Name Engraved Herein’ is one of the best films I have seen for a long time. It is beautifully written and very well-acted. There are a lot of emotional twists and turns that keep you guessing, and it shows the struggles that people deal with when dealing with religion, homophobia and how repression of your true nature can affect more than just yourself.

Wranglestone – Darren Charlton

In a post-apocalyptic America, survivors live in national parks, on lakes and cliff faces to keep safe from the Dead. However, when winter comes and the lake freezes, there's nothing to stop them.

Peter is a kind and gentle soul who has never left Wranglestone, the group of little islands of that he calls home. One day a stranger comes ashore, and he puts the whole community in danger. In an attempt to toughen him up against the outside world, Peter is forced to leave the islands for the first time. With the help of Cooper, the boy he's always watched from afar, Peter herds the Dead away from the shores of the lake before it freezes over.

Wranglestone is a love story between two young men in a world where you would imagine love is the last thing on people’s minds. But love prevails, no matter what the circumstances, even in the darkest of times. Plus, zombies.

I did not realise this was a YA (Young Adult) novel when I bought it, and having read it, I would definitely say it is more geared towards the younger market. I found the language a little hyperbolic and overly exaggerated – I know, coming from me, that is saying something! However, the story is intriguing and anyone who is a fan of the zombie or post-apocalypse genre should definitely give ita go.