American Son

July 27, 2020 at 4:32 pm | Posted in 2020 | Leave a comment
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◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ½

The voice of American theater has been a scream of rage and impotence when real lives slam up against the facade of the American Dream. A common tool has been to confine people to a place they cannot escape and then to build the pressure slowly until something explodes (think of “A Long Days Journey into Night,” “Night of the Iguana,” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” just to name a few). The fact that this film was a play first is instructional, as it definitely follows that trope. Kendra is a Black woman stuck in a police station over a very long night while she tries to find out where her son is. The entire film consists of her, her husband, and two police officers as they circle around each other while their own various needs, insecurities, and fears leak out. The play was released just last year and is a story for our times. All sorts of racial assumptions, fears, and unspoken pains are explored. And they are explored for everyone in the room. Kendra’s own biases are on display as well. This film attempts to show just how complicated race relations are, even when everyone involved in sincere. There are so many layers of messy here that I can see why some people might struggle. The person I saw it with took issue with how the white men were portrayed; they seemed over-the-top. I disagree. I think that it’s hard to look at ourselves honestly. And, if we did, we would find a lot of that same ugliness inside of ourselves. Deep down good people can have racist beliefs that they do not admit to themselves but that can come out in moments of stress. I would be willing to bet that many of the “Karens” we have been hearing about lately, would adamantly believe that they are not racist. The people in this film felt absolutely real to me. Now, theater is not Cinéma Vérité. One of the hallmarks of a stage play is the stylized language. These people all sound like characters in a play; there is something about their cadence and language that sounds uniquely theater. But, if you can look past that, there is a lot of hard truth to be had. But, be warned, this is not an easy journey. Kerry Washington is incendiary as the terrified, furious, anxious, indignant, heartbroken woman at the center of this story. She is on screen for every second of the 90 minutes and her character never rests. She is constantly kinetic and constantly emoting. It’s an amazing performance. I would like to recommend it to everyone. But, this is a harrowing story, and I’m not sure if the mother of a Black teen would find it cathartic or traumatizing. That said, if you are removed from the daily reality of race relations in this country, and you want to try and understand how complicated it has all become, watch this movie (and then check out The 1619 Project from The New York Times). I should note that the critics (the few who reviewed it) have hated this film. Some dismiss it for reasons that I think may reflect their own discomfort with the subject matter, but I do think others have legitimate points. Tambay Obenson has a fantastic review for IndieWire, but I wonder if he has a bit too much faith in how aware White Americans are about the complexity of systemic racism. This felt like the movie most Americans need to see. I do believe that good, well-meaning officers act just like officer Larkin all the time without ever knowing how their behavior is experienced. I also believe it is possible for a White man to love a Black woman and still have deep prejudices about her race and community. I did not find any easy answers in this film, but I found a lot of compelling questions. I want to make one note about the end, so SPOILER ALERT: Where I was disappointed with the film was in the final few moments, when it chose to answer the question of where Jamal was. That felt manipulative to me. We didn’t need to know Jamal was dead to know that Black people die in police encounters all the time. I wish they had left the question unanswered; maybe cut away just as the officer enters the room with the answer. We don’t need the question answered. I think the film works so much better as a parable if we don’t know. That leaves the audience uneasy and I think that is more impactful than an answer. Also, the final line of the film bugs me. It’s just too much and seems a bit presumptuous to give it to a White character. I get the inversion that the playwright is going for; it just didn’t work for me. All of that said, I think this is a film well worth seeing and even more worth talking about afterwards.

The Old Guard

July 15, 2020 at 2:14 pm | Posted in 2020 | Leave a comment
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◊ ◊ ◊

This film was, in many ways, the exact opposite of the last two I saw. It isn’t a towering work of art. It won’t win any awards. But it was surprisingly entertaining. In fact, it was a lot more fun than the two or three things I tried to watch before I gave it a go. Charlize Theron is becoming quite the action star with this, “Mad Max,” and “Atomic Blonde”. It makes me worry for her safety (apparently, she needing three surgeries after the film wrapped). I had just assumed this was another Atomic Blonde. I guess that is the advantage of living in a largely trailer-free world. I went into this film knowing almost nothing (and, if you plan on watching it, I would skip the trailer below). So, when things totally took a left turn 10 minutes in, I was pleasantly surprised. This was not the movie I thought it was. It’s actually smarter, more interesting, and more fun than I had expected. Now, don’t get me wrong; this isn’t Shakespeare (although Dudley Dursley does quote him at one point). It’s an action film, with all the plot limitations and lack of character depth that implies. But, as far as action films go, this one is pretty entertaining. And, if you enjoy it, cross your fingers, because it’s clearly set up for a sequel. And, given the character we meet in the final scene, I actually find myself just slightly looking forward to it. Who would have guessed?

Beanpole

July 13, 2020 at 12:05 pm | Posted in 2020 | Leave a comment
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◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ½

It’s hard to adequately express the brilliant disturbance that this film is. I will say upfront, it is not the film for everybody. In fact, in may be the film for very few. No part of it feels good to watch, and it is only enjoyable from the perspective of looking at it as art and analyzing directorial decisions. That said, I did not love watching it, but I love having seen it. Taking place in the Soviet Union right after the end of World War II, it follows the story of two women: Iya and Masha. One could argue whose film this is, but it’s really their relationship that is the center around which all else revolves. Both are trying to work out her trauma by using the other. And, I promise you, nothing goes well. This film is dark, and you have to like dark if you are going to get through it. This is director Kantemir Balagov second feature film. The 28 year old has a gift. I have never quite seen a film like this one. The entire color palette on screen is either orangish-reds or vibrant greens; virtually no other color exists. It’s mesmerizing and evocative. Even dark, late night rooms manage to be orange and snowy outdoor scenes manage to be green. This is really such a visually beautiful film; every scene, every location is a work of art. And, in the middle of it, pain, loneliness, heartbreak, and fury swirl around these women and everyone else. Nobody is happy in this bleak world. Let me share three amazing scenes: the first one occurs in a hospital ward as a group of wounded soldiers interact with a small boy. They want him to make a dog sound, before they realize he has never seen a dog, because they have all been eaten. They begin to show him what a dog sounds like, and we watch the timid boy be bombarded by the feral sounds of men barely containing their desperation. In another scene (the best in the film, and one of the best I have ever seen), a man who has been blackmailed fucks a sobbing woman while her friend lies next to her. The man’s thrusts repeatedly push the other woman against the wall. It’s brutal and shocking, and everything is captured is the complicated emotions on her face. And, finally, a scene at a dinner table where Masha brutally responds to a woman’s condescension, perhaps lying or perhaps telling the truth for the first time, and undoing her one opportunity in the process. The ugliness of that scene (in contrast to the beautiful white space in which it is filmed) and of what Masha is doing to herself is devastating. The scene sets up the final one that is as devoid of hope as the whole film has been. This may well be the best film I see this year, but I can’t say I enjoyed sitting through it. It was a gut-punch and left me exhausted; but what a journey it took me on.

The Assistant

July 13, 2020 at 11:34 am | Posted in 2020 | Leave a comment
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◊ ◊ ◊ ½

This film, and the next one I will review, both sit in this weird space of films I did not enjoy but really respect. Both deal with women managing in a male dominated world. Here, Jane (who is never named in the film) struggles as the assistant of an unnamed and unseen Hollywood director or producer. We know nothing about him, other than that he is powerful (we see a White House invitation) and famous (a comment is made about him being constantly recognized). The rest is irrelevant because this story is trying to be as generic as possible. This is director Kitty Green’s first feature film. Before this, she has done three documentaries, all dealing with the exploitation of women and girls. I get the sense this is a passion project for her. She wants to tell the stories of women in Hollywood who are not sexually assaulted; that is the disturbing brilliance of this film. We get one long day in Jane’s life, and we watch everything she has to put up with. It’s not the clumsy, threatening groping of monsters (as she is told at one point, she isn’t his type). Rather, this film suggests what it would be like to live on the periphery of that behavior. To have to go to work everyday, knowing what her boss is doing to other women, and feeling powerless to address it. The best scene in the film comes at about the midpoint, when she is talking to the guy from HR, who is played brilliantly by Matthew Macfadyen (“Pride & Prejudice,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Death at a Funeral”). He manages to talk around the elephant in the room, daring her to say it out loud, and making her feel so little for bringing it up. At one point, he asks, “are you saying she’s too young to be an assistant?” What he is really asking is “are you saying the girl is underage,” but because we are not openly acknowledging a sexual relationship, even that question is coded. It’s a brilliant scene that shows how women are subtly coerced into silence. The entire film boxes Jane in. It has no score and little dialogue, leaving lots of uncomfortable silence. Also, the lighting and camera angles are chosen to reinforce of sense of her feeling trapped. The end result is smothering. This is not an easy movie to watch. It’s purpose is to show how abusive men also affect the women they don’t abuse. As such, virtually nothing happens in this average day; there are just repeated small slights that wear Jane down. She’s played brilliantly by Julia Garner, who many will recognize from the Netflix show “Ozark.” If you have seen her there, then you can appreciate how well she is acting here. In “Ozark,” she is brash, foul-mouthed and explosive. Here, she is small, insecure, and feels diminished by her job. Most of what is happening on screen is happening quietly on her face. This is a subtle performance; there is nothing showy here. If you aren’t paying attention, the film can seem boring. But it is actually fraught with tension. Jane does not want to be an actress, she wants to be a producer. She will likely never be assaulted by a Weinstein, but this film is assuring us that she is still a victim. Women like her have to make dozens of choices every day to ignore evil if they want to achieve their dreams. They are made tacitly complicit and then have to live the implications of their choices. When the film ends with her starting to go home, nothing has changed. There is no story arc, no climax, no denouement. There is nothing satisfying for the audience. Green wants us to feel that way. We are not seeing a complete story. We are seeing one tiny segment of one woman’s life. She could be anybody. She could be a thousand other women who are living through this same thing, one ordinary day at a time. So, the sense of unease remains. That is not easy for an audience to watch, and I can appreciate why many people would hate this film. I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t sit through it again. But, it’s a powerful piece of art, well made. And it’s an important one as well.

The Vast of Night

July 6, 2020 at 9:21 am | Posted in 2020 | Leave a comment
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◊ ◊ ◊

If there is any benefit to not being able to see many of the films slated for 2020, it is that I get to see some that I would have otherwise missed. This film (which is now available on Amazon Prime) would be one of those. Set in a small New Mexico town some time in the 1950s, and taking place over one dark night, the story covers two teens as they try to track the source of a mysterious noise showing up on the radio. There is a palpable sense of foreboding hanging over this entire film; somethings going on. The question is does the audience care enough to find out what it is, and will they care at the end. I have a feeling this film would have scared the hell out of movie goers of an earlier generation. But don’t go to it expecting that. What you will get is a moody, atmospheric exercise in storytelling. The cinematography is the real pleasure here. Scenes are framed beautifully and manage to be both elegant and tense. The film uses several long dolly shots very effectively. My favorite one lasted just over four minutes, as the camera moved rapidly over the vacant town like a beast hunting prey (with an effective “boom-boom” beat in the background). It moved into a high school gym, where the giddy energy was contrasted effectively with the nebulous sense of menace, before the camera continued out of the gym and across town to the radio station. It’s a fantastic shot and exemplifies what is best about this film. However, the next scene, exemplifies where the film really stumbles. Starting at about the 35 minute mark, and lasting for an interminable 12 minutes, we listen to a phone conversation between the DJ (Everett) and the man who has called in with information about the sound. We never see that man’s face. Instead, we sometimes focus on Everett and sometime we get a dark screen. This is a very long time, almost 1/6th of the film, and it kills the pacing. As much as the conversation has tension in it, it goes on long enough to become dull. The shots of Everett listening (framed on the left of the screen and with the microphone almost off camera on the right) are really beautiful, but they are not suspenseful. If you are making a thriller, and I think that’s what this film is trying to be, then it needs to be thrilling. The tension should rise. But, this film was a very slow burn. That is its biggest weakness (or perhaps its strength, depending on what you want). The film never felt scary or creepy to me. But it often felt eerie, and I was very drawn in by the beauty of this little slice of 50s America. As slow as it was, I really enjoyed the film. But, again, it depends on what you are looking for.

Guns Akimbo

July 5, 2020 at 2:10 pm | Posted in 2020 | Leave a comment
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◊ ◊ ½

Let’s talk about Daniel Radcliffe. Hollywood is littered with child stars who tried and could not transition to an adult acting career (or those, like Scott Schwartz, who ended up doing a very different type of adult acting). There is possibly no bigger childhood star than Mr Radcliffe (perhaps Judy Garland and Shirley Temple excluded). His last “Harry Potter” was nine years ago; where do you go from there? To his credit, he has been diligent at carving out a robust and respectable acting career since then. I have enjoyed watching him grow along the way. When I saw “The Woman in Black” and “Kill Your Darlings,” I could see him straining to be a serious actor. Since then, both his acting and his American accent have improved. He has also shown an admirable penchant for odd, genre-busting, independent films. Some of them are brilliant, like the much maligned “Swiss Army Man.” And some are less successful, like “Horns.” But his interest in being evocative is always admirable. He’s not just interested in making money; he’s trying to build a body of work. So, “Guns Akimbo…” This film really reminded me of “Scott Pilgrim vs the World.” Like that one, this is a film for the generation(s) who were raised glued to video games. It is not nearly as successful as that one. But, there are still few enough films in that genre (can I call it a genre?) that this one was entertaining. And, I think that is the best thing I can say about it. It was fast paced, heavy on action, and sometimes funny. The rapid blitzkrieg of visuals was well suited to a gamer attention span, but could get a bit too much for my old-man brain. When it strayed into social commentary, it fell flat. “Guns” was at its best when it was simply trying to entertain me for 95 minutes. That it did reasonably well. Its now available on Amazon Prime.

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