Martin Scorsese’s cinematic genius is one of Hollywood’s greatest treasures. From Raging Bull to The Irishman, from Casino to Goodfellas and The Departed. This talented laureated New Yorker manages to keep creating films, scripts, and documentaries. After his first work with streaming giant Netflix with The Irishman, Scorsese is back. This time he paired up with Jewish liberal democrat author Fran Lebowitz for a docuseries focused on life on the big apple. This is Everything we know about Pretend It’s a City season 2.
Fran Lebowitz has several qualities, but one of them is not shy. It’s fitting, therefore, that the 70-year-old cultural critic and quintessential New Yorker’s new Netflix documentary series. Pretend It’s a City, a six-episode collaboration with Martin Scorsese, probes unflinchingly into hot themes ranging from the Metropolitan Transport Authority to vaping to fitness culture. Lebowitz is one of those endearing people who could make a half-hour recital of the phone book sound relevant, but hearing her opinion on the future of her hometown while it battles a pandemic is extremely rewarding.
Pretend It’s a City season 2 release date
Pretend It’s a City season 2 will release on January 7, 2022, on Netflix. Firstly, after the success of the debut season, which consists of a series of conversations between Martin Scorsese and Jewish author Fran Lebowitz about life on New York City. The series returns to see Fran talk about her likes, dislikes, opinions and thoughts, and everything in between about all things NYC. We’ll get to see how the pandemic morphed and shaped both the city and Lebowitz’s opinions. Season 2 will depict a transformation of the city that never sleeps.
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Who is Fran Lebowitz?
Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950) loves doing nothing and being at home. She is very well acclaimed for her constant aversion of work and technological advancements. Moreover, she does not own a mobile phone nor a computer. On another point, Lebowitz began her literary career when she moved to New York City from Morristown, New Jersey in 1970. Shortly after, she quickly became one of the city’s most distinctive personalities. With her characteristic grouchiness, compulsive cigarette addiction, trademark fashion style composed of boots and jackets, and cultural separatism.
Soon after arriving in New York City, she worked her way into a position writing for Andy Warhol’s Interview. And her astute observations on city life were published in two volumes, “Metropolitan Life” (1978) and “Social Studies” (1979). She has not been a productivity model since then. But her well-known writer’s block—or, as she refers to it, “writer’s blockade”—hasn’t prevented her from writing. Furthermore, Lebowitz identifies as a liberal democrat, always contesting the political status quo, regardless of republican or democrat.
Where to stream Pretend It’s A City
The only place to stream Pretend It’s a City is the streaming platform giant Netflix. Because it’s a Netflix Original production. Firstly, given the current state of streaming wars, and with Netflix sitting at the top of the food chain, it’s impossible that the platform would lend any of its content to a competitor. In that sense, you won’t find this material anywhere on Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, or any other. On the bright side of things, Netflix is one of the most accessible platforms in the market. A basic subscription costs US$ 8,99 a month. And gives you unlimited, ad-free access to Netflix’s vast catalog of movies, series, and documentaries. Well worth your investment!
Pretend It’s A City premise
The show depicts circumstances in which the fabulously stylish Lebowitz ( elegantly communicates her decisive and contentious ideas on anything from contemporary technology and the #MeToo movement to the pleasure of reading and being pursued by a bear. Anecdotes about jazz musician Charles Mingus, regular Scorsese partner Leonardo DiCaprio, and her former employer Andy Warhol are interspersed throughout. The show’s outspoken protagonist, a 70-year-old Jewish gay lady who regularly injects laughter into the core of her missives, is a persistent thread.
For instance, consider Lebowitz’s views on people who walk and type — that is, 99.9 percent of the world’s population, with the exception of Lebowitz, who does not own a laptop or smartphone. “I honestly believe that if I had a phone and texted, I would never have thought to text while walking,” she remarks to Scorsese. She remembers witnessing “a kid riding a bike down 7th Avenue—he was texting with one hand, eating a piece of pizza with the other hand, and driving the bike with his elbows” before almost colliding with her. “He didn’t notice,” she jokingly says. “It amazes me that so many people aren’t slain every day on New York’s streets.” “Throughout the whole city,” I’m the only one watching where she’s going.
Lebowitz on fitness in Pretend It’s a City
This devoted smoker is well aware that cigarettes are harmful to one’s health. She believes, though, that you may eat vegetables and exercise every day and yet die of a brain tumor in your fifties. “Now we have something I can’t stand: wellbeing and fitness. What exactly is fitness and wellness? More health? To me, wellness is synonymous with avarice. It’s not enough that I’m not ill. I also need to be healthy.” Don’t even get her started on folks with yoga mats. “New York used to be a lot more trendy.” For some, it makes you wonder if she’s joking or serious, because of her tone. But you have to watch it for sure. It’s a Scorsese movie after all.
Fran Lebowitz and the Subway
In episode three, an enraged Lebowitz describes how her local subway station was closed for five months for “station upgrading.” Not necessary rail and train maintenance, but rather aesthetic work. “At the bottom, the final line was ‘art installation,’ and I’m not making this up.” To Lebowitz’s chagrin, when the station reopened, there were no obvious improvements—”the shattered tiles, still there”—aside from artist William Wegman’s mosaic murals of dogs, commissioned by the MTA Arts & Design program. “Do you believe having these dogs at the train station is necessary to the lifeblood of New York?” she sputters. “Perhaps they’re thinking it’s for the spirit,” Scorsese speculates. “They’ve battered it out of us,” she retorts, “no one in the public transit system has any spirit anymore.” It would just take one subway journey for the Dalai Lama to transform into a rager!”
On Scorsese’s and Lebowitz’s friendship
Scorsese and Lebowitz have been friends for a long time and both believe that New York City was once greater than it is today. Each one of the seven episodes is based on a broad topic, such as “metropolitan transportation” or “sports and health,” but the goal is to exhaust Lebowitz so she may go go go, spewing her thoughts as she always does. The B-roll consists of of legendary footage of her wandering about Manhattan, stopping every now and again to read a street monument or arch an irritated eyebrow at a passerby. These quiet moments indicate that her walk has somewhat slowed—easy to ignore while her sunglasses, boots, and tailored suits fascinate as usual—and the extended sit-down segments of each episode disclose that her smoker’s cough is a little more bothersome than it used to be. Her hands and voice retain their steadfast familiarities with remarkable speed.
Pretend It’s a City demonstrates that Lebowitz’s humor at 70 remains every bit as quick and as incisive as it was when she was 19. She is a natural critic–not a comic or a misanthrope, but a critic nevertheless. Her disapproval ranges from irritated to outraged, coloring her words and body language with varying degrees of disapproval. When she grins, her lips can’t help but curve sideways in an iconic display of smugness, since the thing that makes Lebowitz smile the most is when she’s just said something that everyone in the room knows is really smart. She’s still in awe of her own wit, and she’s well aware of how aggravating both the cleverness and the pompousness about it can be toward others.
Final Thoughts
Scorsese directed Public Speaking, a feature film on Lebowitz, in 2010. The fact that they’re reuniting for a Netflix series a decade later says a lot about screen culture and screen commerce. Scorsese’s use of movie snippets and a varied soundtrack is as digressive and insightful as Lebowitz’s remarks. While acclaimed filmmaker Ellen Kuras shoots Lebowitz in her Manhattan home, his needle drops range from a Velvet Underground tune to Luchino Visconti’s 1963 film classic The Leopard.
Netflix aspires to be all-inclusive. Its desire to be all-encompassing has shown itself in scripted series such as The Crown, Russian Doll, and The Witcher, which attempts to cover every significant quadrant, and the introduction of its 2021 movie slate last week hinted it would resemble a multiplex with new releases every Friday. Docuseries will be no different as a valued niche. It’s simply that the plan isn’t quite as far advanced yet, which means we’re still at the point when the contrasts are noticeable.