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The Iron Claw: *arguably* 2023's most brutal (and re-watchable) film

Whether you like wrestling or know nothing about it, The Iron Claw is for you. Need me to prove it to you? Here are my 2 reasons:

1. Zac Efron

2. Jeremy Allen White

If reason 1 peaked your interest, that means you like hot muscular men doing hot muscular things (valid), and if 2 was what convinced you, you've already proved you like to watch things with complicated messy and devastating family relationships with a hint of depression. You're welcome!

The Iron Claw, for those unaware, follows the true story of the Von Erich family, a famous wrestling family that supposedly carried a curse after a series of extraordinarily tragic events occurred.

If you know nothing about this story, I won't spoil it for you, especially when the best education on it comes from this film. Not only do you of course witness the lives of each Von Erich brother, but you get wrestling explained to you via a conversation between Zac Efron and Lily James, who really does play the ultimate girl next door turned strong supportive wife so well here.

At its core, this film is about family, and more specifically, about siblings. When you really think about it, siblings have such unique relationships, seeing as they are raised often in the same environment, yet can branch into such individual and vastly different people. But that bond, whether it be a product of nature or nuture, good or bad, sticks with siblings their entire lives. In that way, this film does an excellent job exploring the feeling of protection you feel over a younger sibling as well as the indescribable pain of not being able to provide that protection when a sibling starts on their own independent life path.

It's an emotional watch and one that at times had me speechless at the way this family operated for unfortunately too long. Shrödinger's guns correlated to each tragedy are laced through the film, making this true story feel like a perfectly crafted fiction; there are so many signs pointing to what will go wrong, it doesn't feel like a real human being wouldn't spot them. Along with the writing, where some single lines burn themselves into your brain due to the strength of your weeping, the film proves itself an outstanding tragedy crafted under the "based on a true story" sports film banner.

And I'd be amiss to not go back to my reason 1 and reason 2 of why to watch this film: the incredible actors and their stellar performances. While I think Efron really takes the cake here as the lead of the film, Allen White is excellent, as are Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons as the other Von Erich brothers. And of course, there's the spectacular Holt McCallany as the Von Erich partiarch. Their performances really deliver the dramatic and emotional impact of the film, and I can't stress enough how their portrayal of a family wrecked is something to behold.

It's so good, you may have to watch it twice, just to fully feel The Iron Claw's one-two punch (this is a boxing joke being made by a film nerd to make it seem like I know about wrestling; clearly, I do not).

[assembledpress]

I binged Heartstopper and now I can't stop crying 🍂

After a recommendation from a friend, I started Heartstopper. When I started the first episode, I expected to discover a fun binge-watch with cute characters. What I didn’t expect was a series that would consume my entire weekend and lead to an emotional breakdown on a Saturday evening. 

For those unaware, Heartstopper tells the love story between Nick and Charlie, two teenage boys who are learning to navigate school, friendships, and love. While the first season of the show came out last spring, I was too distracted by Bridgerton’s second season. As a former teenager myself, I have long been a fan of teen dramas of all different varieties; from The Vampire Diaries to High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (HSMTMTS) to Never Have I Ever to The Summer I Turned Pretty to Euphoria. I love the music montages, the fashion, and often, the drama. However, after season three of HSMTMTS, I found myself a bit disillusioned, as the show felt in many ways to be throwing random storylines to the wall to see what might stick. It ended up leaving a bit of a bad taste in my mouth for the entire genre.

But then, my trusted friend’s recommendation of Heartstopper led me to sit for nearly eight hours straight in my papasan chair wondering how I functioned for so long not having this show, its characters, and its storylines in my life. You may be thinking “So you found a show you really liked that is quite popular right now and had a proper binge of it. So what?”. 

For context, I’m a woman nearly two years post-grad who recently married her high school sweetheart, and therefore, I find myself at a point in life where I greatly miss my college friends and am super sensitive to any trope or story about first love or high school romance. What do you mean Peter Parker doesn’t stay with Gwen Stacey forever? In my head, she survives that fall and no one ever mentions MJ. Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez? Definitely happily married living in the suburbs with their athletic singing kiddos. Despite that hopeful romantic side of me, I’ve been informed throughout most of my life by almost all media and a variety of different statistics that first love doesn’t last. During the first several years of my relationship, I felt like people around me were waiting for the other shoe to drop, wondering how long we’d last before breaking up. Needless to say, I approached Heartstopper with a pocketful of caution and an expectation for the show to be just like any other melodramatic teen soap I’d seen before. 

Boy was I wrong. Heartstopper approaches its main relationship with the utmost respect for how genuine those teenage butterflies are. It builds slowly, allowing time to focus on the sparks felt when your finger touches your crush’s at lunch, or when you brush shoulders in the hallway. It never takes the cheap way out, never having a character reconnect with a toxic ex, or forcing a drawn-out love triangle. Instead, the show opts to dissect the wholesome nature of a crush turning into an early relationship and eventually, through commitment and care, evolving into a deep love.

Almost as importantly though, Heartstopper emphasizes the love not just in Nick and Charlie’s romantic relationship, but within their friend group. Charlie and Tao’s deep friendship spans years and has equally as deep ups and downs, and the two friends, despite never having any romantic connection, talk about their feelings openly, never being afraid to say “I love you” to one another. 

And thus, my emotional breakdown. I realized through the show’s supportive and loving friend group how much I missed the people who know me best. I found myself reminiscing over the early days of my relationship rather than being present over dinner with the same person. Piled on with the nostalgia and butterflies, I found myself crying with the littlest of provocation, and just feeling in a funk. 

It wasn’t until I finished my first re-watch of the show that I properly processed that it was okay if the show deeply impacted me, and I didn’t need to feel guilty for feeling all those emotions. Despite there being a near-infinite amount of quality content available at my fingertips, this show spoke to my heart, which is an undeniably special thing. Further, Heartstopper is the first show in a while that has prompted me to want to create - to create videos, sketches, paintings, short-form content, playlists, and this written piece. 

To be fair, maybe I’m biased toward the show because my compulsive nature led me to read all the graphic novels and research everything I could about the cast and creator to learn that *spoiler* Nick and Charlie canonically stay together forever. It feels comfortable and safe and representative to me to see a relationship start with a first glance in a classroom and end with 'til death do us part. Regardless, I feel that the show exists to honor how pure first love is, and how much that can impact and shape a person for the rest of their life. Whether it lasts decades or only a few months, first love has a way of irrevocably changing you. It’s something I’ve experienced firsthand and something Heartstopper reminded me of - for that, I couldn’t be more grateful.