TV Review: Mr. Corman Has An Existential Crisis On Apple TV
Okay, whomever is choosing Apple TV originals is clearly into the many ways a person can have a breakdown to hopefully gain a breakthrough. From Ted Lasso to The Morning Show, even the Billie Eilish documentary, the platform is picking up steam by capturing how people can feel steamed out. Whether successful or not, “burnout” is a very real thing that even I struggle with as I write this during Covid 21. Coming out August 6, Mr. Corman is one of the realest looks into depression and the embitterment that can take over a man’s life when he refuses to check his reality anymore because his dreams got checked.
Joseph Gordon- Levitt writes, directs, and stars as Josh Corman; the epitome of any Zellennial realizing that that if dreams ever come true again, it probably won’t be for their generation. A music teacher, his dreams of rockstar stardom are evident and dashed. He is living the remnants of what he thought life would be, and Gordon-Levitt makes Josh’s sad inertia palpable. He is STUCK in his devastation because life never became what he wanted it to be, but he doesn’t realize it did not become that for those surrounding him, as well.
Depression is self-centered. While depressed people are unbelievably, tragically sad, they can also be selfish, mean, and draining. Their inability to control their darkness can lead them to dump it on anyone close by, without realize, and Josh, for better or worse, does that to his mother (Debra Winger’s Ruth), his sister (Shannon Woodard’s Elizabeth), and a will-be fan-favorite Victor (Arturo Castro). The latter for me is the perfect juxtaposition to Josh’s mean despair. He is a loving single-dad to a teenage daughter that hates him, a hopeful roommate to Josh’s dark-cloud tendencies, and an exhausted UPS worker to his beloved LA. In essence,Victor is the ying to Josh’s yang, and comes off like a breathe of fresh air.
Frankly, I think the series would thrive more if itamplified the emotional juxtaposition of Victor and Josh. They are like an “odd couple” facing a very real sadness that too many know: “unsuccess.” Most of us don’t know what it is to have a dream come true and most people will go through so many failure to, fingers-crossed, get to one triumphant place/ business. This means that most people are trying to survive and do what they can with what they have. Victor takes his lemons and tries to make the lemonade, while Josh would rather throw the lemons out and stay thirsty because they weren’t the ones he wanted. Both are valid reactions to problems that don’t have solutions but only one is virtuous. Frankly, when your biggest problem is your life… you have to resolve it. Josh may not be likable, but the people around him are, and Mr. Corman saves itself from its darkness by showing how ugly depression can get if you don’t have some beautiful people to throw you a life-line. Mr. Corman comes out on Apple TV Plus on August 6.
