Stuff I watched in...February, 2023

Severance

AppleTV's Severance blew my mind. The TV show, produced by Ben Stiller and starring Adam Scott, is a mix of genres and themes: workplace satire, dark comedy, drama, horror, and science-fiction all rolled into one. 

The show is about a group of people who have undergone a procedure called "severance", where their memories are split, so that while at work, they have no recollection of who they are outside of their job, and while at home, they have no idea what they do at work. In theory, this "fixes" the work-life balance issue by making it literally impossible to think about work while at home. But in reality, it means that a person's work-self, or "innie" as they call it, never leaves the workplace. They get on the elevator to go home at the end of the day and then the elevator opens and they're at work again. It's like going under anesthesia--they simply have no concept of time passing.

We learn that Adam Scott's character, Mark, decided to try severance as a way to deal with the grief of losing his wife in a car accident. Obviously, the show has a lot to say about grief and how, basically, it's healthy to allow yourself to grieve and not healthy to try and avoid it. Scott is just transcendent in his nuanced portrayal of a man who has not allowed himself to feel his feelings and is now on the verge of alcoholism and is suffering so greatly, despite literally not thinking about his wife for 40 hours a week. He takes that grief with him to work, even if his "innie" doesn't understand what's going on.

All the actors in this show, including veterans like John Turturro, Christopher Walken, and Patricia Arquette and lesser known actors, like Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, and Trammel Tillman, give top-notch performances. The characters all feel three-dimensional, with complex and sometimes conflicting motivations. The acting and writing make Severance a show that is both intellectually fascinating and deeply humane and empathetic. It's one of the best shows I've seen in a while and I can't recommend it enough. 

Grade: A+

***

Desert Hearts

I actually watched this delightful sapphic romance at the end of January, and failed to include it in my last monthly round-up. Many thanks to my friend Kyle for suggesting this wonderful film!

Directed by Donna Deitch, Desert Hearts is a 1985 drama-romance which takes place in 1959 (which is like if a movie that came out this year was set in 1997, which is bizarre to think about...but I digress). Professor Vivian Bell travels to Reno, Nevada for a quickie Reno divorce (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, here is some more information). She rents a room at a ranch owned by a woman named Frances. 

Uptight Vivian meets free-spirited Cay, a younger woman who works at a casino and is a lesbian. Since this is 1959, the fact that Cay is gay is an open secret, but not really discussed. Over the course of her six-week stay in Reno, Vivian falls for Cay and the two begin a relationship. The film captures Vivian's reluctance, which almost verges on non-consent, making this a movie that is at odds with modern sensibilities but probably historically accurate. Vivian says "no" to Cay multiple times, but Cay gently pushes Vivian out of her comfort zone and the two women begin a sexual relationship.

The film ends on an ambiguous note that feels right for the story. There is no clear "happily ever after" ending, but rather an ending filled with hope and potential. It reminded me a lot of Carol in that way, another sapphic romance that ends with possibility and ambiguity. 

Desert Hearts is a bittersweet film: bitter in that these two women can't live life as openly as they deserve, but sweet in that they still have the courage to try. 

Grade: B+

***

Piggy

This Spanish film, directed by Carlota Pereda, follows Sara (Laura Galán), a fat teenager who is mercilessly bullied by three popular girls, including Claudia, her childhood friend. After a particularly traumatic run-in with the girls, Sara later witnesses the kidnapping of her bullies. Timid Sara is too scared to tell anyone what she saw, but still tries to find out what happened to the popular girls.

Piggy is a difficult watch and takes a lot of unexpected turns, not all of which I liked. Be warned that the bullying scenes in this movie are BRUTAL. Galán gives a truly vulnerable performance that is almost...too vulnerable at times. I thought this would be a movie where a weak character becomes a badass and, well, that's not quite what happens. Despite being brave enough to try to track down the whereabouts of the kidnapped girls, Sara has this overall vibe of passivity and victimhood which--though completely understandable based on what the character goes through--got old by the end of the movie. I kind of appreciate that Piggy does not have a generic and pat "every body is beautiful!" message. But I just wanted the character to be, like, 10-20% stronger.

Like Carrie, Piggy is a brutal movie about bullying and violence. It's definitely original and features an actress who is actually fat (and cute as a button, in my opinion), which is awesome. Although Sara is the butt of the joke to her tormentors, the movie itself does not make a joke of her, which is refreshing.

Grade: B

***

Swallowed

Directed by Carter Smith, this queer body-horror movie about a drug deal gone horribly wrong should not be watched by those with weak stomachs. Cooper Koch plays Benjamin, a young, gay man about to move to L.A. to become a porn star. His friend, Dom (Jose Colon), wants to send Benji off with some extra cash, so he offers to do a drug run for his cousin. But his cousin is passed out and the mid-level dealer is a very mean woman named Alice (Jena Malone) who ends up forcing Dom to swallow condoms filled with drugs at gunpoint. She then directs the young men to meet her at a rest stop over the border (maybe I'm dumb, but I couldn't figure out if this was at the Canadian border or the Mexican border...I think Canadian, since someone mentions being from Maine at one point). 

After Benji and Dom have a run in with a homophobic redneck at the rest stop and Dom gets punched in the stomach...things go awry. Alice has to take the ill Dom and concerned Benji to her boss's house, and her boss is one mean sonofabitch. And he wants those drugs out of Dom's system right now. No matter how much, uh, vaseline it takes. Yeah...when you swallow drugs, they have to come out the other end sooner or later. 

Swallowed is very much a queer horror movie in that the characters are queer, the actors are queer, the director is (I think?) queer, and the themes of the movie are queer. So if you are pissed that They/Them sucked as a queer horror movie, Swallowed might be more up your alley...or down your hatch, as it were.  

Grade: B+

***

Barton Fink

My friend encouraged me to watch this Coen brothers movie for the first time in...20 years? I saw Barton Fink in late high school and wasn't a huge fan of it, but this time around I really enjoyed it. It has that classic Coen bros fast-and-furious dialogue and characters that feel simultaneously cartoonish and lived in. 

John Turturro (so young!!) plays the titular Barton Fink, a New York-based playwright who moves to LA to start working in movies. He is given an assignment to write a script for a wrestling B-movie (the is the early 1940s, by the way) and immediately becomes blocked...probably because he thinks the material is beneath him. Fink moves into a weird, dilapidated hotel and befriends his neighbor, Charlie Meadows (John Goodman, just wild in this movie), a cheerful--almost too cheerful--and loquacious man. 

Barton Fink isn't super plot-driven. It's more about the many colorful and strange people Fink meets out in LA, including the perpetually drunk writer W.P. Mayhew (John Mahoney) whom Fink worships, even though the man is clearly a hack and a piece of shit. 

Barton Fink is one of those movies that's very, very sad...but also hilarious. The film is closer to the Coens' A Serious Man than to their more light-hearted comedies like The Big Lebowski. It's a movie about a man (Fink) who is almost willfully naive and ultimately doesn't know what he wants, so instead of adapting to his circumstances, he just flounders and then fails. If you're in the mood for a brainier, more intense Coen brothers movie, you can't go wrong with this one.

Grade: B+

***

Insomnia

This early Christopher Nolan movie is...fine? A remake of a Norwegian film, Insomnia follows veteran detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) and his partner Hap Eckhart (Martin Donavan) as they travel from Los Angeles to the small fishing village of Nightmute, Alaska to solve the case of a dead 17-year old girl. 

It's summer in Alaska, and so it doesn't get dark at night. Dormer can't sleep and the insomnia (we have a title!) is causing him to freak out. It doesn't help that he knows that his partner, Eckhart, is going to testify against him in an Internal Affairs investigation about whether or not Dormer planted evidence at a crime scene years ago. 

I don't think it's a spoiler to say that the bad guy is played by Robin Williams. In the early 2000s, Williams began playing more villains and, honestly, it's always been a little hard to see him as the bad guy. He's not super believable as a killer in Insomnia, though he definitely comes off as creepy. 

Insomnia is not Nolan's strongest work. Hell, it's not the strongest work of anyone involved in the movie. If you like hard-boiled detective stories, you'll probably enjoy it. Otherwise, feel free to skip this one.

Grade: B-

***

Wayne's World

My friend wanted to watch a funny, chill movie one night so we decided on Penelope Spheeris' classic, Wayne's World. I hadn't seen the movie in years and I was struck by how much of the movie focuses on a woman (Cassandra--played by the lovely Tia Carrere) and her journey. Like, obviously Wayne (Mike Meyers) and Garth (Dana Carvey) are the main characters, but Cassandra (Wayne's love interest) has a lot of screen time too. In fact, I'd say that you can tell this movie was directed and co-written by women because, even for it being 1992, there are not a ton of cheap jokes about women. 

I have to admit I don't find Wayne's World to be the funniest movie of all time--probably because I don't really find Mike Meyers all that funny--but it's still got some great moments and Garth is sweet as all hell. It's just a goofy, fun comedy that goes down real easy and is a perfect movie for when you're feeling stressed out or down in the dumps. 

Grade: B

Sicko Mode

Movies: Infinity Pool

Brandon Cronenberg's latest movie is wild as fuck. As Stefon, Bill Hader's SNL character, might say, this movie has it all: executions, cum-shots, creepy masks, Alexander Skarsgard led around naked on a dog leash. It truly is a sick, twisted, and fucked up movie and, brother, I was here for it.

Skarsgard plays James, a writer vacationing in the fictional country of Li Tolqa with his wealthy wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman). Because Li Tolqa is a very poor, very crime-ridden country, James and Em are staying at a resort where tourists are not allowed to leave the resort compound. The couple meets Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban (Jalil Lespert), a rich couple who regularly travel to Li Tolqa. They convince Em and James to borrow a car, leave the resort, and go to the beach for a day. On the drive home, a drunken James hits and kills a local. The next morning he is arrested and told that the punishment for murder--even accidental murder--is death.

BUT! Since Li Tolqa relies so heavily on tourism they have a workaround for when a tourist commits a crime: James can pay "a significant sum" to be doubled. Like, literally, they create a copy of James that is identical in every way and even shares James' memories. The double can be executed in James' place. After watching his double get stabbed to death by the 13 year old son of the man he killed, James is...intrigued. Em decides she wants to go home immediately, but James claims to lose his passport and encourages Em to leave without him. He then gets invited to a party where Gabi and Alban introduce him to a group of friends who have all experienced the doubling process themselves. They basically treat it as a "get out of jail free" card...only it's not free. But these folks are wildly rich, so they can pay to have multiple doubles created and killed in their stead.

What follows is a fever dream of drugs, crime, violence, and debauched sex. The group, led by Gabi, push and pull James deeper and deeper into their fucked up games of dominance and submission. Infinity Pool is kinky. And in a way that only people who are actually into kink would understand. One comment I read said that this is an entire movie about a man with a humiliation fetish, and that's pretty accurate. Alexander Skarsgard plays James as a man who allows himself to be pushed around, insulted, and peer-pressured by other people--in particular, by beautiful women. His own wife acts cold and dismissive around him--even insulting him in front of others. Despite seeming to be bewildered by it all, James never really pushes back. One might even say that he...enjoys such treatment. 

The 6'4" actor walks with a hunch, even before all the crazy shit goes down. He has bags under his eyes. He looks like shit the entire movie--quite an accomplishment, given that Skarsgard is considered to be a supremely good-looking man. But this handsome giant is brought low by the tiny Mia Goth...yelled at, mocked, teased, and even lead around on a dog leash. This movie is definitely someone's fetish. 

But putting aside the kinky elements for just a moment...what is this movie actually *about*? Well, it's not exactly ground-breaking: it's about how rich people get away with everything. How indulging in life-ruining activities are just a bit of vacation fun for the super-wealthy. There's a great scene at the end of the movie where they're all taking a bus to the airport and talking about mundane shit like rearranging the furniture at home and picking up the house key from the nanny. This very normal conversation comes after some batshit crazy behavior, highlighting the fact that for these people even the most heinous crimes are nothing more than a trifle, soon to be fun memories as they return to their normal lives.

The use of both doubling and masks (Li Tolqa has a cultural thing for masks, and the group wears some really creepy ones while committing crimes) is pretty obviously symbolic of "shadow selves"--how we can compartmentalize our actions when we do bad things and convince ourselves that we're not bad people. Wearing a mask lowers our inhibitions (this is an actual psychological phenomenon) and in the world of Infinity Pool, a double is like a mask on steroids. Imagine what you would be capable of if you knew that someone else--another version of you--would pay the penalty and you would get away scot-free. 

I don't really think Infinity Pool says anything new or groundbreaking. It's the same old story: "the rich are different than you and me". But damn if it isn't a fun ride. Not to be an edgelord, but this movie is not for the faint of heart. It's got buckets of cum, blood, and piss. It's got mind-boggling hallucinogenic imagery (it even has a flashing lights warning at the beginning of the film). But as a certified Sicko, I enjoyed the hell out of it. 

Grade: B+

Stuff I watched in...January, 2023

Readers--I watched a lot of movies in January! The theme of the month seems to be "dark" as most of these films fall into the dark comedy, intense drama, or straight-up horror categories.

***

The Apartment

This 1960 comedy is directed by Billy Wilder and stars Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Lemmon plays Baxter, an office worker who allows his bosses the use of his apartment as a place where they can go to cheat on their wives. He develops a crush on Fran (MacLaine), the elevator operator, who is the mistress of Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray), a bigwig who uses Baxter's apartment. The movie takes a very dark turn when Sheldrake takes Fran to Baxter's apartment on Christmas and basically treats her like a whore--giving her a "Christmas present" of $100 before leaving to be with his wife. Fran attempts to overdose on Baxter's sleeping pills and Baxter finds her before she dies and manages to get the doctor next door to revive her. As Fran recovers over the next couple days in Baxter's home, the two grow closer.

Damn y'all, this was a good movie. And I was not expecting the suicide scene to be so intense. Jack Lemmon is known for playing goofballs, but he really brings out the dramatic acting chops during the suicide/recovery scene. The Apartment reminds me a lot of Mad Men--but the parts of Mad Men where the characters suffer for their poor choices. If you're looking for a movie that doesn't romanticize the mid-twentieth century and shows that people were just as horny, drunk, sad, and cruel back then as they are today, this is your movie!

Grade: A-

***

In the Heat of the Night

Speaking of people being cruel in the mid-twentieth century... In the Heat of the Night is a 1967 crime movie directed by Norman Jewison and starring the indomitable Sidney Poitier as Virgil Tibbs, a homicide detective from Philadelphia traveling through Sparta, Mississippi to visit his mother. When a rich local man is murdered, Tibbs is arrested for basically being Black and near the body. When Chief of Police Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger) realizes Tibbs is innocent and also, like, really really good at being a homicide detective, he asks him (with the insistence of the dead man's widow) to stay and help them with the case.

Only problem is that Tibbs is Black and this is Mississippi in the 1960s. So Tibbs is constantly in danger of being killed by the hicks in town. Poitier has this badass scene where they visit this rich racist and the racist slaps Tibbs and then Tibbs slaps him back and the rich racist basically cries like a little piss-baby about it. I just wish that Tibbs had slapped him harder.

Gillespie, who is also a racist, grows to respect Tibbs and protects him as best he can from the racist trash losers in town. However, don't go thinking this movie is super progressive. It's doing the best it can in 1967. Tibbs has to be THE BEST at his job to even get begrudging respect from Gillespie. And art reflects life: Poitier had to play dignified, intelligent, nearly angelic characters to get respect in Hollywood as a Black man. 

In the Heat of the Night is an interesting film, in that it is both dated and forward-thinking simultaneously. It's worth watching for Poitier's stellar performance. 

Grade: B+

***

Fire of Love

Fire of Love is a documentary about a couple, Katia and Maurice Krafft, who were volcanologists and captured unbelievable footage of active volcanoes before the were both killed by...you guessed it...a volcano in 1991.

The footage in this doc is truly amazing. I only wish I had a larger TV to watch it on. The rest of the movie about Katia and Maurice is not as compelling, so I found the movie beautiful but boring. Definitely recommended for fans of nature documentaries, though.

Grade: B-

***

Some Like it Hot

There's a good chance I've reviewed Some Like it Hot on this blog already because I watch it every couple of years. What can I say? It's a classic, and for good reason. Directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, and Marilyn Monroe, Some Like it Hot is one of--if not the--best comedies of all time. 

Also, this movie is SUPER GAY. I mean, there's the cross-dressing aspect, obviously. But even the straight parts of the movie are queer AF. The movie is also funny AF and in a way that still feels fresh over 60 years later. 

There's really nothing more to say. If you haven't seen Some Like it Hot, what are you even doing with your life. Go watch it immediately. 

Grade: A+

***

The Slums of Beverly Hills

This low-key coming of age comedy was my jam when I was a teenager. Directed by Tamara Jenkins and starring everyone's crush, Natasha Lyonne (as well as Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin, and Jessica Walter), The Slums of Beverly Hills takes place in 1976. Ne'er do well Murray Abromowitz (Arkin) is a poor man who hustles, lies, and cheats for every penny (and has a gambling addiction, which doesn't help). He drags his three kids from cheap apartment to cheap apartment, always staying within Beverly Hills for the good schools. 

His daughter, Vivian (Lyonne), is 14 years old and hates this lifestyle. When Murray takes in his niece, Rita (Marisa Tomei), a fellow fuck-up who has been in and out of rehab and has never held down a job, Rita serves as a feminine--and questionable--influence on Vivian.

Although the movie is hilarious, it has a very dark streak. Vivian is surrounded by unstable people right when she needs stability the most. The film has a "family--even fucked up family--is important" message, but that message is shot-through with sadness, given that Murray is not that great of a father. When I was younger, I didn't really feel the heaviness of The Slums of Beverly Hills, but as an adult...woo, baby. Still, it's a great movie with a ton of excellent actors.

Grade: A-

***

Jawbreaker

Jawbreaker is a very dark teen comedy that was panned when it came out in 1999, but I think has cult status potential today. The movie stars Judy Greer, Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart...and freakin' Pam Grier (Coffey herself!) as a detective. McGowan, Gayheart, and Julie Benz play Courtney, Julie, and Marcie--popular girls with deep mean streaks. Their clique is rounded out by Liz Purr (Charlotte Ayanna), who is very kind--in addition to being beautiful, rich, and smart--thus universally beloved at Reagan High School, much to the chagrin of Courtney. 

On Liz's 17th birthday, the girls kidnap her to take her out for breakfast. However, because Courtney shoves a huge jawbreaker candy in Liz's mouth, Liz chokes to death and the girls have to cover up the accidental death. When deeply unpopular Fern Mayo (Judy Greer) finds out what happened, Courtney offers to make Fern beautiful and popular in exchange for her silence and Fern reluctantly agrees. But when Fern--renamed "Vylette" by Courtney--becomes even more popular than Courtney, things get rough.

Jawbreaker is campy, brutal, and candy-colored. It also has a wicked good soundtrack, with Imperial Teen's "Yoo Hoo" as the cherry on top of this poison pastry of a film. This movie straight up scared the hell out of me when I saw it as a teen because of all the bad behavior and mean girl shenanigans, but as an adult I see the dark humor of it all.

Grade: A-

***

Pet Sematary

This 1989 adaptation of Stephen King's horror novel about an indigenous burial ground that resurrects whomever is buried in it is wildly campy, but also has some truly upsetting moments. Directed by Mary Lambert, the movie begins with the Creed family--doctor Louis, wife Rachel, and kids Ellie and Gage--moving to a small town in Maine where Louis takes a job as a physician at the University of Maine.

The family makes the incredibly bad choice of moving to a house near a busy road that a lot of trucks barrel down. Their neighbor, Jud Crandall (played by Herman Munster himself, Fred Gwynne), warns the family to be careful of the road and takes them to a nearby "Pet Sematary" where children have buried their beloved pets over the decades. 

When Rachel, Gage, and Ellie are away on a trip, Louis discovers that the family cat, Church, has been run over. Jud takes Louis to a second cemetery hidden beyond the first one and explains that it is the traditional burial ground of the Mi'kmaq people and if you bury an animal in the ground, it will come back. Louis, who can't bear to tell Ellie that Church is dead, buries the feline in the enchanted (or cursed) ground and...sure enough...the cat comes back. Only it's a mean sonofabitch now.

Surprise fucking surprise, can you guess who dies next? That's right--toddler Gage gets hit by a truck, which leads to one of the most honest and devastating scenes in the movie: Louis' father-in-law, who already hates him, insults him at his own son's funeral and Louis punches the motherfucker. Even though Pet Sematary is filled with campy special effects and make-up, I have to say that its approach to death and grief is on the money. People react to grief in pretty wild ways, so this funeral-punching scene, while dramatic, felt pretty honest.

Of course, dumbass Louis puts Gage in the burial ground and Gage comes back as a little monster who wants to kill everyone. Whatever animatronics or effects they used for killer Gage was...not great and inadvertently made the final part of the movie hilarious. But I feel like the horror of Pet Sematary isn't the killer zombie toddler, but about how people CANNOT deal with death. There is a conflict that sets off the entire chain of events between Louis and Rachel: Rachel doesn't want to have an honest conversation with their daughter Ellie about death, which inspires Louis to bring Church back to life (thus, learning about the power of the Mi'kmaq burial ground) rather than, um, teach a 7 year old about death. 

So, the real horror of Pet Sematary is bad parenting and adults not facing their own trauma, thus passing it on to their children. King is really good at writing about trauma and bad parenting. It doesn't always translate well to the big screen, but the overall idea behind Pet Sematary is excellent. The movie is...ok. But I think I'm going to check out the book.

Grade: B-

***

The Advent Calendar

The Advent Calendar is a Shudder original film about a wheelchair-bound woman who is gifted an old, wooden advent calendar that a friend stole from a German flea market. When they open it, the calendar presents them with a set of rules: if you dump the calendar, you'll die. If you eat the first piece of candy, you have to eat all the candy in the calendar. And you have to follow the commands of the calendar or you'll die.

Main character Eva discovers that by following the rules of the calendar, wonderful things happen: she gets immediately rich through investing, she is able to make a man fall wildly in love with her, and most importantly, she can walk again. Since Eva was a dancer before her accident, the ability to walk again is truly a miracle to her. But--no shocker here--it all comes at a terrible, murderous price. 

This was a fine movie to while away an evening, but it's nothing to write home about. Like most Shudder originals, it's good, but not great. 

Grade: B-

***

The Special

The Special is a movie where a guy, Jerry, is dragged to a brothel by a friend and given "the special"--literally a box you stick your dick into. Whatever is in that box is SO amazing and insanely orgasm-inducing that Jerry is willing to commit crimes--including murder--to put his johnson in it again. He steals the box and what follows is some of the most disgusting body horror I've ever seen. It's kind of like David Cronenberg's The Fly, if The Fly was a very bad movie about a guy sticking his junk into a box. 

This is a TERRIBLE movie. The acting is laughable, the dialogue is horrendous, the plot is ludicrous. The whole thing is so amateur, it hurts. But it's also entertaining because it's about a guy sticking his hog into a mysterious box. How would that not be entertaining? 

Watch at your own risk of either being disgusted by the body horror or the bad dialogue.

Grade: D+

***

The Apology

Another Shudder original, The Apology stars Anna Gunn (better known as Skyler White from Breaking Bad) as Darlene, recovering alcoholic whose daughter went missing twenty years prior. She is preparing to host Christmas at her house for the first time since her daughter's disappearance, but Darlene is far from ok. She is still holding out hope that her daughter will someday be found.

Just as Darlene is about to break her 19 years of sobriety with a good bottle of vodka, she hears a knock on the door. It's her ex brother-in-law Jack (Linus Roache) who claims his car broke down a few streets over. He was planning on coming to Christmas as a surprise. As Jack and Darlene catch-up, the conversation takes a dark turn when Jack reveals that he knows something about Darlene's daughter's disappearance and wants to alleviate some of Darlene's suffering by telling her what he knows. But will the revelations break Darlene? Or empower her to move on? You'll have to watch to find out!

The Apology is a solid thriller that rests entirely on Anna Gunn and Linus Roache's shoulders (Janeane Garofalo has a wonderful supporting role as Darlene's neighbor and best friend, Gretchen). Gunn is just wonderful as a woman whose guilt and complicated grief have held her back for 20 years. She portrays emotional agony and rage so well (I've always been annoyed at how viewers hated her character in Breaking Bad while loving Bryan Cranston's character. That's misogyny, folks!). Roache is perfect as a selfish scumbag. The Apology is not a feel-good movie at all, and in fact my anxiety was palpable throughout the whole movie. So watch at your own emotional risk!

Grade: B