The Sandman (2022, Netflix) ****

 

I was introduced to the Sandman comics in college, and quickly was drawn into Neil Gaiman's dreamworld of magic and philosophy. It seemed like the most profound thing ever at the time, although looking back, aspects of the series seem pretty sophomoric. I mean, it's a story about a family of anthropomorphic beings who personify the supposedly most basic aspects of existence: Death, Dream, Destiny, Desire, Despair, Delirium (formerly Delight), and Destruction, all basic, eternal concepts that happen to start with a “D” in the English language. (What about their cousins, Building, Bravery, Boredom, Bitchiness, and Bombasticity? Or Marriage, Mercy, Misery, Malice, and Mendacity?) Despite the essential silliness of some of his concepts, Gaiman made it work, inspired by a rich trove of worldwide mythologies blended with a deeply-perceptive brand of humanistic storytelling. There were no villains in Gaiman's stories, just people (human and otherwise), each flawed and driven by their own agendas.

Now “The Sandman” has been translated to the screen, streaming on Netflix, and it's been a long road getting here. Dream was never as famous as Batman or Superman, but “The Sandman” was, by the end of its run in 1996, a highly successful and influential comic. People have been trying since the early '90's to cash in on that and make a film or TV show, and Gaiman has been busy the last couple of decades preventing bad Sandman adaptations from seeing the light of day. There's a short story by Gaiman about a writer going to Hollywood, where everyone loves his story, and everyone has ideas about how to change it for the screen. I imagine that short story was informed by Gaiman's Sandman experiences. Fortunately, Gaiman finally found a show-runner he trusted in Allan Heinberg, along with co-writer David Goyer. The result is a bit uneven, but still thrilling for a long-time Sandman fan like myself.

Tom Sturridge plays Morpheus, the tall, thin duke of dreams, in charge of shaping our dreams so that they instruct and inspire us. A rogue nightmare called The Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) has escaped to haunt the waking world, and Morpheus/Dream goes to collect him. Before he can, Dream is summoned and imprisoned by a mage (Charles Dance). Spoiler alert: Dream eventually escapes that trap and has to go reclaim his magical weapons, a journey that literally takes him to Hell and back.

Season 1 includes the stories from the first 2 graphic novels in the series, Preludes and Nocturnes (Issues 1-8) and The Doll's House (Issues 9-16). This may seem like a bit of trivia interesting only to people like myself, who spent the '90's buying and reading the comics as they came out, but I say it to make a point about how much story is packed in here. In just 10 episodes, they cover essentially 2 novels' worth of material, which may be why the series feels oddly-paced at times. Sometimes it feels like things are dragging, while there are times when it feels we are racing to a conclusion. Reading the comic, you had the opportunity to linger on a page, and to go back and re-read, and I think this series will benefit from some re-watching, which should be easy, since it is on Netflix.

The great news is that if you have the patience to put up with a few quirks, this series does some tremendous world-building, which lays the foundation for some terrific storytelling to come. “The Sandman,” after all is a story about stories, and how they shape us as much as we shape them. If you can hang on for a few confusing episodes, Gaiman has some amazing stories to tell us, as evidenced by the bonus episode they dropped on Netflix August 19, 2 weeks after the first 10 episodes debuted. The first part of the episode is an animated version of the comic issue “Dream of a Thousand Cats,” which is just OK. The 2^nd half, however, gets back to live-action with the story of “Calliope,” and it is outstanding! I think they actually managed to improve on the comic with this one!

If you are already a fan of The Sandman, then you will have already watched the series and made your own judgments. If you are even a fan of Neil Gaiman's many other works, like Coraline, Good Omens, or American Gods, then you should definitely watch. The series adheres strongly to Gaiman's vision. Some episodes are almost straight off the page of his comics, and where they have made changes, they respected the source. I think any Neil Gaiman fan will be happy with this series, although I will admit that it was uneven enough that I did not find it quite as good as the first season of “American Gods” or the movie “Coraline.” Now that the world-building is done, however, I have high hopes for the next season, if we are lucky enough to get one. The big question is whether someone who is completely new to Gaiman's work will like the show. You should be warned that it is unlike any other show. You have to be open to something that is weird and magical, something that will be confusing at times. This is, after all, a show about dreams!

4 stars out of 5

The Day The Music Died (2022) ***

 

If there ever was a song that is worthy of its own movie, Don McLean's 1971 classic “American Pie” is it. Inspired by the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, the song is so much more than an elegy. It is the Great American Novel, condensed into an 8 minute song with the most sing-alongable chorus in Rock-n-Roll. Each verse is a treasure trove of artistic references and symbolism, and millions of person-hours have likely gone into parsing the lyrics in college dorm rooms across the U.S.

Currently streaming on Paramount+, the documentary “The Day The Music Died” explores the tragedy behind the song, and it attempts to plumb the secrets of the song itself. It succeeds more at that first part than the second.

We all are vaguely aware that Buddy Holly and some other musicians died in a plane crash. Quite a few musicians have died in plane crashes, however, and I knew few details of the crash that killed Holly. For example, country singer Waylon Jennings was a member of Holly's band at the time, and was supposed to be on that fateful flight. He gave his seat to Richardson, who had the flu, an act of kindness that saved Jennings's life and cost Richardson his. “The Day The Music Died” does assume that you know who these artists are, spending very little time on their music. That's fine for those who are up on early rock-n-roll, but I couldn't tell you who the Big Bopper is or name one of his hits for you, and “La Bamba” is the only song I know by Ritchie Valens. So, the film provides exquisite detail about the crash, its location in Clear Lake, Iowa, and its legacy, but you have to already know a little background about the musicians, themselves.

The documentary is hit-or-miss when it comes to exploring McLean's song. There's a lot of material here, and I learned a lot about the writing of the song, and a lot more than I cared to about McLean, himself. What I was really hoping for was a blow-by-blow of what each verse in the song means, and you only get a taste of that. McLean denies, for example, that “the king” refers to Elvis or “the Jester” to Bob Dylan, but he does not elaborate, and I'm not sure I take him at his word. Truth be told, McLean comes off as something of a pompous jerk, and he ultimately obscures more than he reveals. Likewise, interviews with artists who have covered the song, like Garth Brooks, are somewhat interesting, but they do not ultimately reveal much about the song itself.

In the end, “American Pie” may simply be too much song for any one examination. Like the Grand Canyon, it is too big to look at the whole thing and also get into the details in one sitting. “The Day The Music Died” can be forgiven for failing to completely illuminate the song in an hour and a half. For fans of the song, it is still well worth watching.

3 stars out of 5