OT: “The Bear” episode 7

by MattG, Friday, February 17, 2023, 09:27 (1214 days ago)

20 just brutal minutes, done in one shot, on the 5th take.

But stuck with me was the intro. Lin Brehmer over footage of the city waking up… just a knife to the heart if you lived there in your twenties.

From the Vulture review:

“Review” opens with a voice-over from Lin Brehmer, the longtime morning host of the alt-rock station in Chicago, WXRT. It’s hard to explain WXRT if you haven’t heard it, but it’s an unholy blend of ’90s Chicago heyday stuff (Smashing Pumpkins, Local H), modern indie rock that’s not too too out there, and a lot of longtime personalities like Brehmer. They support local bands fiercely, they’re always at shows, and people have listened to Brehmer every day for the better part of their entire adult lives. He’s florid and effusive, like in this intro where he talks about “Christmas Unicorn” Sufjan Stevens, but if you’re into it, you love him.

The same can be said for Chicago as a whole, which Brehmer introduces with Stevens’s cut. The Bear aims to celebrate the city with an opening montage that uses a mix of archival footage and B-roll shots out on the town, giving the unfamiliar a glimpse of what life in Chicago is like. Yes, there’s a big beanlike statue down in Millennium Park or whatever, but life in Chicago is actually about neighborhoods and buses, pizza from Pequod’s (not Uno’s), and a brisk dash along the el tracks in the morning on the way to work.