A nightclub janitor discovers the personal effects of a magician and uses them to become a popular magician himself. Tampering with the secrets of the beyond has its price, however, as he soon learns when he is confronted by voodoo, vampirism, and an eviscerated ghost.
Though often underwhelming as a whole, Nevertheless is worth the watch because of the relationship between Sol and Jiwan. It is a stunning, refreshing take on the friends to lovers trope that LGBTQ media has been missing.
By undermining the appeal and credibility of black characters, the show compromises the very idea of diversity and representation it sets to promote.
From its visually stunning opening credits, which show women dancing through a forest to musical rhythms that sound almost primal, to its quiet, heartbreaking final frame, Mona Fastvold’s historical rendering of the Shaker religious movement is an experience that will stay with me for a long time.
The 2019 film, Vai, takes us through eight stories across the islands of Oceania. The settings are unbelievably beautiful, the cast is beautiful, the languages are beautiful, and the stories are beautiful…but heartbreaking.
Every movement becomes a question of identity. To become who we are meant to be. In order to reach that we often have to shed who we once were, and that shedding can sometimes be so brutal it’s ungraceful.
The film reminds us to remember the people who had the courage and dignity that had made the world better, even when the memory was absent.
