Schmear Hunter's Brainwash [87]
Unpacking the Hype, Elevating the Unknown: 'Secrets We Keep', 'Sly Lives!', and 'Sunshine'
Thanks for reading The Schmear Hunter! If you like this newsletter, consider supporting it with a paid subscription: $5/month or $50 a year 🥯🎞️
Hunters,
On the SchmearCast this week, I was joined by my White Lotus S3 recapper Alison Sivitz (Bald Ann Dowd) for a fierce and fiery debate about Materialists, Celine Song’s latest film starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans. We duked it out before diving into why its reception has been so divisive.
After that, I was thrilled to be joined by Stick creator Jason Keller for a fun conversation about one of the summer’s best feel-good shows. We discussed working with Owen Wilson, golf, and what makes a good “dad movie.”
Before you ask, I have seen 28 Years Later; I’ve even already reviewed it, but that will go out to subscribers Sunday morning because I ended up going long about the film, its themes, where it succeeds, and where it maybe comes up short.
Do seek it out, though!!
Let’s get into today’s edition:
The Unknown
SECRETS WE KEEP (TV) might be the best “eat the rich” show of the year and certainly TV’s best-kept secret
SLY LIVES! (Movie): what better way to honor the recently departed Sly Stone than firing up Questlove’s excellent new documentary
The Rewind
SUNSHINE (Movie)—this Danny Boyle / Alex Garland psychological Sci-Fi collaboration shines brightly nearly 20 years on
Secrets We Keep (Netflix)
What’s it about? When her neighbor's au pair goes missing, Cecilie is compelled to personally investigate, but as she uncovers the truth, her perfect world falls apart.
Who it’s for? Fans of European prestige TV, if you’re into character-driven thrillers, if you like strong, morally complex female leads, fans of series like The White Lotus and Big Little Lies
Who should avoid? If you’re over “eat the rich” stories, if you like clear heroes and villains, if you like fast-paced and twisty mysteries, if you find domestic dramas too small stakes
Watch if you like: Big Little Lies, Your Friends and Neighbors, The White Lotus, Adolescence, Force Majeure
News and Notes:
Released May 15th
6-episode limited series
Schmear’s Verdict: One of the year’s most overlooked gems, Secrets We Keep is a taut, elegant Scandi noir that probes class and racial tensions with quiet force and striking performances.
Move over, Adolescence, to the back, Your Friends and Neighbors—this is the show I was looking for: a mesmerizing, glassy, extremely compelling 220-minute Scandi noir that touches on race, class, and power structures.
Set in a wealthy Danish enclave, Secrets We Keep follows the aftermath of a tragic accident that lays bare the uneasy, often unspoken power dynamics between a group of Filipino au pairs and the affluent families they work for. It’s a sleek, tightly wound character drama that builds tension through shifting loyalties and quiet betrayals rather than flashy twists.
Seriously, this is one of the most slept-on shows of the year. (Almost) equal footing is given to both sides—I would’ve liked even more time with the Filipino community, as I was even more fascinated by that than the goings-on of their rich employers. To that end, Excel Busano, who plays Angel, is wonderful, bringing so much emotion and complexity to her performance.
This is anchored, though, by Marie Bach Hansen, who is really something else. She’s our protagonist, but not without her own hang-ups. Her severe appearance covers up a woundedness, but also a real beating heart that is actualized over the course of these events in a moving, never didactic way. Danica Curcic is also amazing in every scene as a fellow wealthy den mother who vacillates between friend and foe, and from top-down to even the kid actors, everyone delivers.
There’s a version of this that’s even deeper and richer than what’s presented. I could’ve watched at least two more episodes of this easily to glean more nuance—but that might’ve sacrificed the efficient, appreciated run time (six episodes of about 35 minutes each).
You’re not going to learn anything new from Secrets We Keep, but it’s a stylish, thought-provoking, mature window into pervasive corruption and hypocrisy—not with world-changing stakes, but something sadly quotidian.
Sly Lives! aka The Burden of Black Genius (Hulu)
What’s it about? Focuses on the life and legacy of Sly and the Family Stone, telling the story behind the rise, reign, and fadeout of one of pop music's most influential artists.
Who it’s for? Music lovers, fans of Sly and the Family Stone, those interested in race in the music industry, fans of American pop cultural history
Who should avoid? If you dislike music docs or biopics, if you don’t like Sly and the Family Stone’s music (which…come on),
Watch if you like: Summer of Soul, OJ: Made in America, The Defiant Ones, What Happened Ms. Simone?
News and Notes:
Released February 13th
Premiered at Sundance 2025
Schmear’s Verdict: A soulful, sharply focused tribute that honors Sly Stone’s genius while indicting the industry that never knew what to do with him.
Between Summer of Soul and now Sly Lives, it's clear Questlove is not just a genius musician but one of the best documentarians working right now. I watched this in the wake of Sly Stone’s recent passing, and though it hits some of the cliché beats of a VH1 movie, there’s a real tastefulness to it and a strong focus on the music—thanks to Questlove truly understanding and caring about the specifics of how these intricate songs were written and produced.
Most importantly, and it’s right there in the subtitle—”The Burden of Black Genius”—this feels like an investigation by Questlove with a clear thesis. How deep can you really go in under two hours? Not all the way, and I kept thinking about Ezra Edelman's Prince documentary (9 hours!) that we’ll never get to see, which continues to make me beyond irate.
Between the sharp focus and impressive talking heads—especially D’Angelo, who’s incredibly perceptive—Sly Lives really gets at something: how Black artists are treated versus white artists, the way the industry then and now grinds down brilliance, and how different the expectations are for artists of color.
The music is also eternal and transcendent, and I’ve been bopping Sly since.
Sunshine (2007)
What’s it about? A team of international astronauts is sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.
Watch if you like: Interstellar, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, Ad Astra
I watched Sunshine this week, wanting to complete Danny Boyle’s oeuvre ahead of 28 Years Later. This is just so thrilling and impressive, containing a whole world of story within less than two hours. Screenwriter Alex Garland is a sly dog—remaking sci-fi classics and putting modern twists on them. He riffed on Stalker for Annihilation, and for Sunshine, it’s Solaris mixed with Apocalypse Now.
The film follows a team of scientists and astronauts on a last-ditch mission to reignite the dying sun and save Earth from a deep freeze. They’re aboard the Icarus II, a spacecraft carrying a massive nuclear payload, and as they approach the point of no return, the pressures—cosmic, psychological, and interpersonal—begin to take their toll. It’s a high-concept premise executed with eerie restraint and escalating dread.
The cast is stacked. Sunshine features Hiroyuki Sanada (an Emmy Award-winning Best Actor), Michelle Yeoh and Cillian Murphy (Best Actress and Best Actor Oscar winners), my love Rose Byrne, Captain America himself Chris Evans, and Benedict Wong—in a movie that honestly reminded me a lot of Three-Body Problem (an underrated show and great book).
When I finished this fantastic movie, I knew exactly what people would be harping on: a variation of “I hate the Mark Strong role.” In this, he plays a demented scientist who makes a—let’s call it—strange appearance in the film. While it doesn’t fully work literally, taken impressionistically, as a figment of the crew’s imagination and a manifestation of psychological breakdown, it’s brilliant.
A Nietzschean figure, he represents an Amun-Ra-level sun worship. His ego exists in each of the characters to different extents. That could definitely be an overread. He could just be a big fucking fourth-degree burn ghoul that fucks people up.
The film drops us in media res, and I did find myself wondering if Sunshine would’ve been helped or hurt if it began on Earth and we witnessed the mission prep and surrounding context. Some of the best parts of Apocalypse Now, a comp for Garland and Boyle, are the Saigon hotel scene and the mission overview with Harrison Ford.
What I do know is that this is an awesome film, like Interstellar on MDMA. The score is beautiful. I love psychological horror and how it’s drawn from human emotions—not from some big, scary xenomorph. It’s what gives Sunshine immense staying power, almost 20 years on.
Thanks for reading!