The following is a review of the first three episodes of Showtime and A24’s The Curse.
“Why do you rich f**king white people insist on seeing every socio-political conflict through the myopic lens of your own self-actualization?” This line from Socko, Bo Burnham’s hypermarxist sock puppet alter ego featured in Inside, rang true in 2020 and continues to ring true in 2023 – and likely will for many years to come.
It especially rings true (though maybe not in those exact words) as you watch the first three episodes of The Curse, the latest cringe-inducing comedy from the mind of Nathan Fielder. Co-created and co-written by Benny Safdie, half of indie filmmaking golden boys The Safdie Brothers, and co-produced by Emma Stone, this year’s queen of the New York Film Festival with this alongside Poor Things and Bleat, the alt-comedian has concocted yet another series that is wholly it’s own.
Fielder and Stone are Asher and Whitney Siegel, an entrepreneurial couple producing a pilot for what they hope will be a successful HGTV house-flipping series. Described as a “holistic home philosophy,” their obnoxiously eco-conscious homes are a way of giving back to the community of Española, New Mexico, all being captured on-camera by Safdie’s sleazy producer Dougie and his skeleton crew.
Their intentions may feel genuine at first, but it’s quickly surmised that both the homes and the show itself are mostly an attempt to generate wealth outside of Whitney’s parents and their controversial real estate dynasty. The community, already struggling with poverty and rising property costs from gentrification, fails to see the value in the Siegels’ contributions.
One day, after an attempt to capture a staged act of kindness leads to a misunderstanding between Asher and Nala (Dahabo Ahmed), a young unhoused Black girl, Nala “curses” Asher and, by extension, the rest of his team. We say “curse” in quotes because, throughout the first three episodes screened at the festival, it’s unclear whether or not the curse is actually real.
The team comes up against several challenges following the curse, however, the show’s writing masterfully toes the line between playing into the mysticism and simply portraying these consequences as the characters’ own doing. We plainly see our core trio as advantageous, both intentionally and as a result of their own recklessness, but the show’s trippy score (supervised by longtime Safdie collaborator Daniel Lopatin) and voyeuristic cinematography suggest other forces are at play.
Though it begins as a scathing parody of reality television, it ultimately makes for a stronger jumping-off point than an entire conceit. When you strip that admittedly funny juxtaposition away – the series is mostly shot anamorphically but cuts to 16:9 when showing the reality series – you’re still left with a trio of achingly well-realized characters who go to great lengths blaming anybody other than themselves for their own problems.
Asher and Whitney have clear marital difficulties, aided by Asher’s anger issues and Whitney’s obsessive need to be liked, while Dougie is still in arrested development after killing his wife while drunk behind the wheel. None of them are willing to admit their own problems, so they ceaselessly suppress their emotions while attempting to cover them up through their own vanity.
Through just three episodes, Safdie and Fielder prove to be a showrunning match made in heaven. Fielder, previously successful off of docu-styled semi-scripted shows like Nathan For You and The Rehearsal, seamlessly blends into Safdie’s familiar territory of fully scripted narrative storytelling (though there surely is some improv sprinkled in). In fact, not having to commit to the basic coverage style of documentary pushes Fielder’s sensibilities to their fullest, allowing the show’s aesthetic to match the show’s off-kilter nature.
The majority of the cinematography is captured from faraway distances, sometimes even through the glass of windows or doors. One hilarious moment takes place partially through a door peephole. By creating distance from the characters a la Matt Johnson, Fielder and Safdie allow viewers to observe ineptitude from a distance while still feeling implicated in their laughter. The two’s writing is laugh-a-minute, sacrificing its characters’ dignity for sharp takedowns of white saviorism and capitalist ignorance.
The two touch several other subjects, including the world of performance art, the Siegel’s half-baked observance of Judaism, and the inner lives of Nala and her father, the long-awaited return of Captain Phillips breakout Barkhad Abdi. Though not every bit is a total zinger – one extended joke about Asher’s penis size feels too easy – the sensibility feels right on the money. With only three episodes, The Curse has proven to be one of the fall’s most exciting shows and a strong addition to our current era of prestige television.
The Curse will premiere on-demand for all Showtime and Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers on November 10, 2023, before making its on-air debut on Showtime on November 12, 2023, at 10pm ET. New episodes will air every Friday and then Sunday respectively. Beginning in November, Film at Lincoln Center will screen full episodes of The Curse in pairs before they air on Showtime.
Within just the first three episodes of their new series, Fielder and Safdie prove to be a match made in heaven.
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GVN Rating 9
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Larry Fried is a filmmaker, writer, and podcaster based in New Jersey. He is the host and creator of the podcast “My Favorite Movie is…,” a podcast dedicated to helping filmmakers make somebody’s next favorite movie. He is also the Visual Content Manager for Special Olympics New Jersey, an organization dedicated to competition and training opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities across the Garden State.