Jojo Rabbit

November 10, 2019 at 3:08 pm | Posted in 2019 | Leave a comment
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Even 80 years after the fact (or perhaps specifically because of the times we now live in), if one is going to make a satire of Hitler, one has to broadcast very clearly what side of the fence we are on. To that end, director and writer Taika Waititi (“Thor: Dark World,” “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” “What We Do in the Shadows”) broadcasts the intentions of his film very loudly right from the start: hate bad/ love good. That message is hardly subtle. But, don’t be fooled. There is a lot more going on here than that. The story is built entirely around 10-year old Jojo, played incredibly well by Roman Griffin Davis in his first film (you can expect to see more of him). Jojo is concerned with what it takes to become a man. His father is absent and all he has is the most dominant male figure in Germany at the time, so Hitler becomes his imaginary friend. Along his incredibly complex road to manhood, Jojo is forced to reconcile Nazi values with his growing world view and underlying decency. Davis had to play this whole complicated journey and also do it against the thematic backdrop of broad satire, absurdism, and physical comedy. That said, he was an absolute joy to watch from the beginning to the goofy final scene. Along the way, we are given moments of such surprising audacity that they feel dangerously close to truth. The film ends with a quote by poet Rainer Maria Rilke, “let everything happen to you. Beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” One might be excused for wondering at the use of this quote in a film that is ostensibly about the Holocaust. I can understand people finding this film to be flippant about something too painful, too monstrous to not tread carefully. But, I appreciate Waititi for being daring enough to tell a complicated story in an interesting way. Rilke’s quote is about the power of perseverance and resilience. Can we endure the horrors in life? In the lightest way possible, Waititi is attempting to explore this topic. But, for all the humor, this film is not without its devastations. It made me laugh. It moved me. And it made me think about love it all its forms. No feeling is forever. I believe that. Beauty, terror, love, rage, fear, joy… Understanding the transience of those things has been a cornerstone to my personal human development. As such, this film spoke to me deeply. It may not be for everyone, but I did find something awfully close to truth in it.

Leave No Trace

December 2, 2018 at 5:52 pm | Posted in 2018 | Leave a comment
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Director Debra Granik burst on the scene in 2010 with “Winter’s Bone.” The grim tale about Appalachian poverty also launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career. This is her first film in almost 9 years, and she has returned to Winter’s Bone’s emotional landscape, though this one is several shades less dark. Set in the woods around Portland, Oregon, the film covers the story of a single father (Ben Foster) and his adolescent daughter (relative unknown Thomasin McKenzie). They are living way off the grid, until their discovery, and subsequent government involvement, forces them to try and integrate back into society. Foster is an undervalued actor and he gets the opportunity here to really shine. His thoughtful, caring, but wounded father is an effective performance and helps to give weight to his daughter’s struggle. McKenzie’s character is the center of the film. Her struggle, and how she resolves it, is essentially the story arc. Though not the natural that Lawrence is, McKenzie does have a gift. She displayed her character’s anxiousness and ambivalence quite effectively. She is the core of the film and it works because the audience can’t help but root for her. But this film lacked Winter’s Bone’s bite. It was not nearly so dark or fraught. Though there were similar themes of worrying about/protecting family, McKenzie’s character never had to risk too much and her adversaries were well-meaning government employees, not the evil Lawrence’s character encountered. As such, this film was an enjoyable journey but never fully landed with me in the way “Winter’s Bone” did. I might have enjoyed it more, had I not been aware of the comparison to make.

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