At nearly two hours in length, we could’ve still watched it in one sitting, but the pandemic, and maybe our age (70s) has given us the sometimes-patience to have watched this brilliant Cold War movie (of events Sheila and I lived through in our youth) piece by piece; in-between free exercise videos from Essentrics, a grocery run, good meals, walking (only in the early mornings) and staying out of the heat and air warning days of heat & pollution of course 😊

With, as wife and I call them, Sherlock and Mrs Maisel both in the film, we expected this Amazon original to be good, but it’s way good, lol!

The acting, as to be expected, is superb. Sets seem authentic – I mean what do I know what Russia looked like then or now 😊 The dreariness of the times is less dreary than usual movies of the era, and the haunting words of John F. Kennedy echo with the power and authenticity of purpose Sheila and I remember from our childhoods. And the danger is brutal, cold-blooded, and riveting.

I personally chose to watch mostly because of Rachel. Besides Mrs. Maisel (one of our favs) we also saw her a bit back in another Amazon Original, I’m Your Woman, and it was clear how far this young lady is gonna go with her talent. But even I gotta admit, Cumberbatch is outstanding beyond my expectations!

And that was the 1st half, or just over half.

The remainder shifted from tense, to brutal, heart wrenchingly brutal.

And carried The Courier from top notch entertainment, to a film within us, a film of us.

A film of the nature of human character in the face of sheer brutality, to the light of day again.

Based on true events, the final segment features a short actual video interview with Benedict Cumberbatch‘s real character after the events in the film.

For a film about what’s at stake for any working man or woman, or unfortunately, many children, this is truly at the heart of what Labor Day probably is about – though I personally would not recommend for small children to watch. My wife and I lived through those days ourselves, as children, and for better or worse, were in many ways innocent and fortunate to not know or feel the full extent of those early 1960s, when our president stood for and defended our country with every ounce of vigor in his being.

Happy Labor Day everyone – we may be sad about many things; but this film reminds us of so much we can be happy and grateful for ♥️

Adan

ps – I’d be very much remiss not to also say that Merab Ninidze‘s Russian character is easily the supporting actor in this film and handily deserves an award nomination 💕

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• September 25, 2021 – Walking in Dappled Light Study 1, #Watercolor on Paper, CompletedSeptember 25, 2021
  Not much difference between the previous post’s study version and the completed version above. As you can tell, from the 2nd duo sets of contrasts below, all I did was soften the upper slanting line separating red and white on the lady’s back. But for me, it….
• September 24, 2021 – New Most Viewed Image For the Week @FineArtAmerica, Ridges of Spring Light, #watercolor, painted late 2019September 24, 2021
  I’ve recently been including Ridges of Spring Light in several of my blog posts about dappled light and masking fluid, not because it was meant to “be” dappled light, or that I used masking fluid creating it, though it does have three distinct areas of canvas (coated with absorbent ground to accept watercolors). No, Ridges of Spring Light contains a sense of dappleness, often created with masking fluid, and I used that image here to illustrate the idea that a variable sense of light sometimes just comes about, even in an abstract.
• September 23, 2021 – Walking in Dappled Light Study 1, #Watercolor on Paper, Masking Fluid RemovedSeptember 23, 2021
  There’s a lot I like about how this looks with the masking fluid gone (removed prev night and slept on the shock of seeing the changes, lol!) – which doesn’t mean though I’m not looking at what to try to improve how I feel about this work 😊 Initially, 1st impression, I was determined to restore & “correct” some of the changes —
• September 22, 2021 – Walking in Dappled Light Study 1, #Watercolor on Paper; 1st Paint Lay-in with Masking FluidSeptember 22, 2021
  At 9×12 on 140lb x watercolor paper, I was able to use my brushes fairly effectively where I wanted them, and applied some Turner masking fluid (with a thin palette knife) “fairly” easy. And yes, some foot proportions are off a bit, lol, and her back blouse almost looks like it’s the front, but all in not too bad toward my primary priority – quickly achieve some degree of dappling look. Once the masking fluid comes off though, it could be very different….
• September 21, 2021 – Initial Review of “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” by James NestorSeptember 21, 2021
  I’d been doing a day to day posting of a continuing study-sketch project with figures in a watercolor landscape and ran into a time roadblock – grandchild, groceries, fitness (walking, yoga, Essentrics), picking up line art to practice-paint at my printer, etc 😊 and wasn’t able to wiggle any more time to work on that project and write about it, so… I took a deep breath and picked up a book (virtually, via my Kindle Reader, lol!) The editorial reviews often mentioned this read like a novel & my intro and beginning pages already confirm that.
• September 20, 2021 – Dappled Light, “Figures in a Landscape Study” Still Not Done, But, Already a Learning Tool For Me!September 20, 2021
  “Learning Tool for Me” is part of my blog title today simply ’cause I’ve looking at this post as specifically geared to get me where I wanna go – keeping in mind my destination is a generalized abstraction of image / feeling / and intuitive aspiration (hopefully including figurative work) & it’s reached a point of development over my previous renditions that I now need to put my resolve into concrete, hopefully creative, useful thoughts for my future directions. Lot of contradictions. Like life. Like me 😊 Here goes (for now) —
• September 19, 2021 – Dappled Light, “Figures in a Landscape Study” ContinuedSeptember 19, 2021
  Just a quick post updating yesterday’s release showing what I’ve changed/added on to a watercolor on paper I’d 1st posted about on Sept 7th…A bigger factor in today’s image update is the addition of more “white”.

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Thanks again, everyone! 😊

Adan

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