All Forms of Art

The Sinner is a “crime drama mystery” show that you can watch on Netflix .  It has a good plot, deep characters, and the right amount of mystery that clues you in every now and then, without ever revealing too much.  Unpredictable outcomes and good cliffhangers at the end of each episode will keep you hooked on this show for hours. One Season, One Story You have different stories for each season, and both of them are a little disturbing in their own way.  In the first season, we meet a woman (Jessica Biel) with a hard past, filled with psychological abuses, surrounded by hypocrisy and, from my point of view, some madness.  Dark trauma, repressed memories, that may recall you from  Sharp Objects . Despite that, she kept herself strong until a single event blew everything out. The detective of the case, Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman), the actual connection between both seasons of the show, is a very interesting and peculiar character himself....

In  The Story of a New Name , we continue to follow the story of Lenu and Lila, the two childhood friends from My Brilliant Friend .    Time passed for them, not a lot, but enough to widen the abyss between these two friends even further. Growing Up Hurts In this book, we feel like Lenu’s life doesn’t just revolve around Lila anymore, but that makes her feel lost and inappropriate.  This really caught my attention: she’s not the perfect hero we’re used to seeing or envisioning. In The Story of a New Name , we see a girl with an ever-growing sense of not belonging, which hurts her and almost hurts us, even though, rationally, this feeling was completely expected.  Not Here, Nor There Lenu no longer belongs to the misery and violence of her neighborhood, yet she’s still not a part of this new world she is now engulfed in. Her insecurities are glaring, and it almost hurts us readers who have been following each step of her journey to get here, k...

When Sense8 first opens, it deliberately disorients you — much like it did me when I began watching it years ago. The early episodes feel like fragments, jumping between eight strangers scattered across the globe.  At first, it’s confusing, seemingly random, and hard to piece together. But that’s by design. The show’s very heart is connection — not just within its narrative, but in the way it asks you, the viewer, to lean in and connect the dots personally. Characters That Make You Care — A Shared Humanity Where Sense8 truly shines is in its characters. Each one is distinct, carrying a world of struggles, memories, and dreams that feel real. The magic isn’t just their telepathic link — it’s the authenticity of their struggles and how they mirror our own. We begin to care not because they’re flawless, but because their flaws and triumphs feel familiar. Their connection isn’t about powers — it’s about empathy. This idea — that really seeing someone else’s life can de...

Sierra Burgess is a Loser is a teen-comedy drama movie, a Netflix original, which, when I first saw the trailer, seemed to me like it would be a lovely movie about transformation and self-esteem, where some characters would learn to look beyond appearances… It would be kind of a cliché, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem. Not What It Looks Like When you start watching the film, Sierra (Shannon Purser - Barbara from Stranger Things ) seems very confident, even when she is mistreated by her colleagues, but it’s obvious she is putting on a mask. And, in less than 10 minutes, the whole idea of a lovely story turns out to be a huge mistake. Let me explain. This movie is NOT romantic; it’s all about lies and lack of respect. She betrays this one boy’s trust, she lied to, kissed him without his permission (while he actually thought he was kissing someone else)… I’m sorry, but if it were the boy doing it, every woman who calls themselves a feminist would be stand...

After finishing watching this show, it’s hard to talk about it and its pros and cons without giving away any spoilers.  So, let’s start with the plot: three students from a poor neighborhood receive a scholarship to the best private high school in the country, where the sons and daughters of the Spanish elite study.  The clash between these two different realities is inevitable, and, as you might imagine, many problems and questions arise with it. The resident students didn’t like the newcomers, and, in turn, the newcomers mistrusted their colleagues. Tension raises and everything seems to collapse. Just Teens While watching the show, I couldn’t avoid noticing how sarcastic it might seem, as you realize that, besides the cultural shock, they weren’t that different after all. I believe that’s the real point in this story. The interactions between the characters are like those in any other teen show, but despite the different context, they reminded me a lot...

My Brilliant Friend is the first book in a series of four ( the second of which is already sitting on my bedside table) from an author who kept her identity in secret for many years. I had no idea of that, or even any hint of the story, when I started reading it. The book was a birthday gift from a person who seemed to really love it. Since I know she likes good literature, I started reading with confidence, and let me tell you: I was not disappointed! Childhood Friends The story is about two really different friends, living in a poor neighborhood near Naples. They grow up dealing with poverty, lack of education and money, violence surrounding them, and, like any other person, they have their own egos to deal with.  Throughout the book, we’ll see them deal with both forces that unite them and those that tear them apart. The atmosphere around them reflects a reality I had only heard about in my mother’s or grandmother’s stories, but I think that actually helped...

Atypical was a great surprise for me, a quite positive one at that.  The way they show and present autism, and a person on the spectrum with their own struggles, but also with every bit of usual teenage problems, just like everyone else, was for me a big step in moving forward.  It makes its contribution toward creating a more tolerant society and more informed people when it comes to autism. Family The whole story has a good structure. The way that this family, especially the mother ( Jennifer Jason Leigh), has her life revolve around her son’s problem is quite realistic. However, this is not just a show about disabilities. It’s a show about a family that happens to have a person on the spectrum in it. And most importantly, it shows us a realistic yet optimistic point of view, full of hope for many families out there. What does it feel like? By watching this show, you can have a closer idea of what a person on the spectrum might feel and think, an...