Being the Ricardos

Being the Ricardos (2021)

Written and Directed by: Aaron Sorkin
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. 

It's classic Aaron Sorkin. It's based on a power couple back in the 50s - Lucille Ball, an actress and Desi Arnaz, an actor and a musician. They both star in a popular TV show and the film is set in the writer's room and the BTS of the show. Sorkin goes all out with the witty dialogue, musicality in the dialogue - especially in the scenes of table reads where Lucy gives some suggestions after imagining scenes. It's so snappy and fast, you can't help but admire the Sorkin-ish style at play there. I wonder if Sorkin talks like this in real life, but if he does, it'd be challenging to keep up a conversation with him. I like art which is stylish, and is not so realistic and Sorkin is one of the very few writers who has created a distinct style in writing. The modern writing style with a lot of stream of conscious stuttering, mumbling, self referential banter is being done by a lot of people. Tarantino popularized it, and people have made their own spins to that style after that. Sorkin's style is so tough to replicate and probably that's why we don't see much of that stuff. 

Being part of a writer's room myself - I really enjoyed the conflicts they capture in the writer's room in the film. I like how the film opens up various layers of conflicts as it keeps going. Initially, it's about Lucy being unnecessary hard on the writers, and later it goes into Lucy trying to save the marriage, by making Desi feel important too. Sorkin does this not only within the course of the film, he does this within a scene too. For example, the scene where Vivian confronts Lucy about her sending over breakfast - it's a beautiful way of opening up about how Lucy is concerned about her popularity. I didn't see that coming. I wouldn't say it's a great film, but it's a good Sorkin film and that's enjoyable right there. My favorite of Sorkin's directorials is still Molly's Game.