Weekly Watch: Dead Pigs Review, Cathy Yan Appreciation, and Harley Quinn Spiral

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn in DC’s *The Suicide Squad*

This week, I watched Shang Chi and the Ten Rings, The Suicide Squad, Dead Pigs, and seasons one and two of HBOMax’s Harley Quinn.

I started my week in entertainment on a plane. Usually, I am someone who sleeps on planes; however, due to my 6:30pm flight time and entirely messed up sleep schedule, that just was not happening on this flight. I ended up watching two films— Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and The Suicide Squad. Lately, I haven’t been as in tuned with superhero movies. Outside of my fondness of Simu Liu, I really had no motivation to see Shang Chi in cinemas. However, I had heard good things and the plane seemed a good place to get it out of the way. Overall, it was basically what I had expected. There wasn’t anything necessarily special about the film in terms of plot (daddy issues are a well tread topic in the marvel cinematic universe); however, Simu Liu and Michelle Yeoh definitely upped the film’s enjoyability considerably. I’m excited to see more of Liu in the Marvel universe and watching Yeoh in this film only heightened my excitement for A24’s upcoming Everything Everywhere All at Once. The main aspect of this movie that held me from an “I enjoyed that” to “wow, so fun!” was Awkwafina. I’ve never found her very funny (even outside of her obnoxious use of AAVE) and thought the movie relied too much on her in the film, not letting Liu and other actors get enough comedic moments.

After finishing Shang Chi and still not being at all tired, I decided to continue on my superhero run and watch James Gunn’s rendition of The Suicide Squad. I was both excited and skeptical for this one because DC’s first attempt at Suicide Squad was just about the most boring two hours of my life. I really enjoyed this movie but honestly don’t really have much to say about it that hasn’t already been said dozens of times. My main takeaways were twofold— James Gunn should have just been given this film in the first place and Margot Robbie is a comedic genius.

Meng'er Zhang, Simu Liu, and Awkwafina in Marvel’s *Shang Chi and the Ten Rings*

My next movie of the week seems like a real departure but actually ended up pushing the week’s viewings into a superhero circle. After two superhero movies, I ventured over to Mubi to get a bit of an indie kick and finally decided to watch Cathy Yan’s debut film, Dead Pigs. Dead Pigs ended up fulfilling whatever random indie itch I wanted to scratch. The 2018 film follows the lives of a handful of characters in Shanghai at a moment in which large numbers dead pigs have been appearing in the city’s rivers. The film touches on a lot of topics such as class privilege, success in family dynamics, and housing rights and balances them on a mix of thoughtful drama and colorful comedy. This film felt fresh in a way that, by the end, I wasn’t as much concerned with the plot but more just wanted to learn more about characters and just see where Yan took me. Yan does something you don’t see very often in which the movie is not plot driven but the premise plays such a crucial role in developing both the characters and the world of the film (in this case, Shanghai).

I will say, however, that I felt that the film needed more time with a few of its characters, namely the heiress. Her character feels slightly detached due to the majority of her screen time involving her boyfriend’s storyline. With most, if not all, of the other characters, when you start to connect the dots between them it tends to deepen their development. Though she does get a few individual moments of character building, it’s difficult to place her within the larger ecosystem of the film.

But any “problems” I had with this film had more to do with wanting MORE and its primary effect was simply to give me an appreciation of Cathy Yan as a filmmaker.

Which brings me to our full circle moment. If you didn’t already know, Cathy Yan’s second directorial effort was DC’s 2019 film, Birds of Prey. I watched Birds of Prey about a year ago and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. After watching Dead Pigs, I understand why Cathy Yan got tapped for Birds of Prey. Dead Pigs gives the impression that the Yan could clearly handle a large-scale blockbuster— an impression not often found in debuts. After watching Dead Pigs, I fell down a rabbit hole of Cathy Yan interviews and can very much confirm that I am now obsessed with her. In one interview specifically, Cathy (we’re pals now I can call her that) talks about how Dead Pigs prepared her for Birds of Prey in terms of aesthetics, costuming, and perspective. The interview got me thinking a bit more about how we portray women in superhero media and, of course, sent me down another rabbit hole of videos about the portrayal of Harley Quinn, through which I learned a lot. For example, I learned that Harley is the only popular DC character who first appeared in an animated series rather than a comic. I’d really encourage anyone who’s interested to look more into her evolution as a character. I’d also encourage everyone to bow down to Margot Robbie who has clearly put so much effort into playing this character and has undoubtedly left her mark on the character.

For my last watch of the week, my Harley Quinn spiral led me to HBOMax’s animated series, Harley Quinn. I didn’t know much about this show and, to be honest, definitely thought it was a kids show (which wouldn’t have stopped me from watching it, but made my initial viewing experience pretty memorable). I’m a fan of adult animation, specifically shows like Bojack Horseman and Disenchantment and, at first, was honestly not entirely into Harley Quinn. But looking back, I think part of my initial hesitation came from my being so enamored with Margot Robbie’s version that the lack of consistent accent bothered me a bit. But as I kept watching the show, it really grew on me and I’m coming out of this week a definite fan. I love the characters, the tone, and the animation. It’s just all around a good time and the one segment which made fun of DC bros was brilliant.

All in all, my stream of consciousness week of viewing was a fun ride and may give a peek into how I often go about consuming media.

See you soon,

Sofia