Category Archives: 2021

Nightmare Alley

Nightmare Alley                                                4 ½ stars

Four years after creating the weirdly romantic film about a woman and her fish man lover, The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro brings us a gritty, lurid film based on the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham that shares the same name, Nightmare Alley. When you see the famed Mexican director’s name associated with a film, you know you are in for something unusual and disturbing. We can sense that this is a story of betrayal and doom. We first meet Stanton Carlisle, a man down on his luck in 1939 as he is burning a body inside an old house. The mysterious Stanton played by Bradley Cooper in one of his best roles to date manages to get hired at a carnival by the boss (Willem Dafoe). The carnival features a very seedy collection of freaks and sideshow performers in scenes that capture the feel of the depression. Stanton is immediately drawn to the carnival’s mentalists Zeena (Toni Collette) and Pete (David Strathairn) and finds he has a gift for reading people, eventually leaving and creating his own act, teaming up with another of the performers, Molly (Rooney Mara), whose beauty makes her stand out from the carnival freaks. As the pair perform their craft in high end clubs, Stanton encounters Lilith Ritter, a wealthy psychoanalyst whose clientele includes politicians, judges and business tycoons. Cate Blanchett plays the role expertly as her very presence commands our attention. She was born to play roles like this. Soon enough this pair devises a plan to separate the elite from their money with an elaborate scheme that is bound to lead to ruin, (though I won’t say whose). The film gets the feel of forties film noir movies that is aided by an astounding collection of gifted A list actors. Nightmare Alley was previously made into a movie in 1947 starring Tyrone Power, but I am sure del Toro did it with a much bigger budget. I am expecting it will receive a few Academy Award nominations later this week.

The Tragedy of Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth               4 stars

Joel Coen does his take on Shakespeare’s play Macbeth in an unusual style. Oscar winner Denzel Washington is excellent as the power hungry Macbeth who is driven to be the king of Scotland by the combination of his wife, Lady Macbeth (Francis McDormand) and the three witches who help him hatch his murderous plan. Of special note is Kathryn Hunter who portrays the three witches in a scene where she seems not human as she contorts her body into odd shapes and utters the scheming words of all three parts. Brendan Gleeson is very appropriately cast as the loved king who is doomed to die by the hand of Macbeth. The scenery is very stark and minimal with the filming all done in black and white. It serves to bring all the viewer’s attention to the performances on the screen by the very talented actors. Some parts of the film have a fantasy like quality to show how Macbeth seems to be losing his mind as his mad plans fall apart. It has been a while since I heard the story of Macbeth, that is, when I was a senior in high school so I confess I could not follow the whole story. The movie uses the Shakespearean manner of speaking so it will be tough to get used to. If that doesn’t turn you off you would be well advised to see The Tragedy of Macbeth. I have to agree that Washington is deserving of his Oscar nomination for this role.

The Worst Person in the World

The Worst Person in the World                  3 stars

The subject of The Worst Person in the World is not a war criminal but a young woman in Oslo, Norway who is trying to manage her love life and find a career that has meaning and that she can stick with. The film is by acclaimed director Joachim Trier, this being the third film of a trilogy. Not having seen any of her earlier work I have only this film to go by. It is billed as a romantic comedy though I would have to say it is untraditional. The actors are first rate and believable, but I did not find them to be very likable. Julie wanders from one career to another including medical student, psychology student, writer and photographer and meets and falls for Aksel, a popular underground comic book artist who draws a catlike character that many women find offensive. At first I found him annoying and needy, but later on I came to empathize with him. Julie is apparently the title character and some of her actions made her deserve it, especially the way she treats Aksel when things get tough. There are also instances where the film veers into fantasy sequences that I could not see the need for. Why does the filmmaker have to get so cute and go in such a weird direction? Also, you should be warned there is some rather graphic sexual talk. The film has created a stir in the film festivals, but I can’t say I shared in the enthusiasm. The film is from Norway and is nominated for International Feature Film.

tick, tick…BOOM!

tick, tick…BOOM!             4 ½ stars

tick,tick…BOOM! takes us into the world of Broadway musical theater in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s movie directorial debut. We are introduced to aspiring playwright Jonathan Larson played exuberantly by Andrew Garfield (who we just saw portray Jim Bakker in The Eyes of Tammy Faye). This musical was actually written by Larson about his own life when he was writing his first musical, Superbia, a futuristic never produced play he has been working on for eight years. Larson went on to write the musical Rent, the hugely successful production but unfortunately he died just before it was performed. tick,tick…BOOM! captures the ambition and desperation of Larson as he struggles to become a success at age 29, hoping not to be just a waiter with a music writing hobby. His behavior is so manic he puts off his girlfriend Susan (Alexandra Shipp) and alienates his childhood friend Michael (Robin de Jesus) who recently left the theater to pursue a successful career in advertising. The performances and music nearly rises to the level of In the Heights, the Miranda creation from last year. The joy and inspiration of the movie is balanced by the tragedy of many of Larson’s friends dying of AIDS. This is 1990, during the height of the epidemic, so there is plenty of sadness going around. There are some very well staged musical routines here with Andrew Garfield being worthy of his Academy Award nomination. I have enjoyed every role I have seen him in including the first film I remember him in, 2010’s Never Let Me Go.

Cyrano

Cyrano                  4 ½ stars

In Cyrano we get a reimagining of the classic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac, the poetically gifted man who thought himself too hideous to be loved by the woman he adored. This latest version stars Peter Dinklage as the man of wit who is also an expert swordsman able to fight off ten men at once when challenged. The story has been done on film innumerable times with the title role taken by Jose Ferrer, Christopher Plummer, Gerard Depardieu and Kevin Kline among them. There have been adaptations such as Roxanne, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Megamind and most recently The Half of It. Usually the story is told as a romantic comedy, but here director Joe Wright tells it as a tragic love story with dire consequences for all those involved. We get the added feature of it being a musical with melodious songs sung by Dinklage and Haley Bennett as Roxanne, the object of affection. The singing really adds a new dimension to the story especially with the rich voice of Dinklage, who also has one of the most expressive faces I have seen in the movies. Bennett, previously known for The Girl on the Train and Swallow is effervescent as the woman who is smitten by Christian (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.), a common soldier, but is forever just friends with poor Cyrano. One of the opening scenes at the theater introduces us to Cyrano and the mood of the film where he ridicules a popular actor on stage to the point of humiliation and then proceeds to kill another man in a duel in a sword fight on the stage. We know then that this is no light comedy. Besides the musical numbers there are some interesting dance numbers with swordplay by soldiers to music. Cyrano is a welcome addition to the musicals of the past year that includes West Side Story and tick, tick…BOOM! Without giving too much away the movie is tragic, but with a ray of hope by the time we get to the end.

CODA

CODA                    5 stars

I finally found the movie CODA being shown at a local theater and had the chance to see it before the Academy Awards. It has been showing on Apple TV+ and before that it was at Sundance where it won multiple awards. For those who haven’t heard of it before, this is the movie about a young girl who is a CODA; that is, Child Of Deaf Adults. Ruby, played by Emilia Jones loves to sing, but she only does so privately, such as when we first see her singing “Something’s Got a Hold On Me” on her father’s fishing boat. Her parents, (Troy Kotsur and Marlee Matlin) as well as her brother Leo are all deaf leaving high schooler Ruby as the only hearing person in the family making her indispensable as a way for the family to communicate with the world. The conflict is set up when Ruby joins the high school choir and the music teacher recognizes her talent and encourages her to try for entrance in an elite music school. The question then becomes whether her family can recognize Ruby’s desire to pursue something they cannot even hear and allow her to leave the family and the fishing business, something she has been a part of her whole life. It is a story using a formula that makes it a family hit and is aided by fine performances including those of Jones, Kotsur and Matlin. Eugenio Derbez is also effective as the music teacher who spends time coaching Ruby after school. Derbez is a well-known actor in his native Mexico. Everyone should see this favorite from Sundance that many have predicted to be the Academy Award Best Picture winner. And surprise! Last night CODA went on to win the Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor in a Supporting Role Oscars.

The Lost Daughter

The Lost Daughter                           4 stars

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s new movie, The Lost Daughter is not one that is easily understood or for that matter one I can relate to well. It’s an adaptation of a novel by one Elena Ferrante about a middle-aged woman, Leda (Olivia Colman, a favorite of mine) who is on a summer vacation on a Greek island resort by herself. The movie is not one that is driven by plot, but is more about creating a feeling. Leda’s career is in the literary field which brings her to large lecture halls where she meets men with great academic minds. She also happens to be a mother, having raised two daughters, largely by herself. It is these two worlds that collide causing her to make some choices most of us would not approve of. Most of the movie happens in and around the villa where she is staying, the beach and small shops that she visits. She meets and makes acquaintance with Nina, a young American mother (Dakota Johnson), and her extended family that seemingly invade the beach with their loud antics creating uncomfortable situations. There is Will (Paul Mescal), a much younger man who isn’t above spending time with the older Leda. And there is the local older groundskeeper, Lyle (Ed Harris) who seems to wonder if he can make a connection with Leda. So we can tell that Leda is a popular person. The rest of the movie takes us back twenty or so years earlier, when the young Leda (Jessie Buckley) is very frustrated at the task of raising her two daughters, ages 5 and 7. It is older Leda’s meeting with Nina, who has her hands full with her own young daughter, that gets Leda to remember her own experiences with her children, an experience that apparently includes some bad memories (and questionable choices). All of the actors are excellent in their roles making the characters believable while contributing to the audience’s feeling of unease. It is a film that was very well received by critics, but as I said, perhaps not one that some of us can relate to. The Lost Daughter had Academy Award nominations for Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and Adapted Screenplay for Maggie Gyllenhaal. The movie can be found on Netflix.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)       5 stars

Probably the movie of last year that most needs to be seen by everyone is Ahimr “Questlove” Thompson’s documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The film takes us back to the summer of 1969, a very tumultuous time in America, when a series of concerts were presented in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park where many well known black and ethnic artists came to perform in front of thousands of spectators. The concerts were free and open to the public featuring some amazing performances that included B. B. King, The 5th Dimension, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson and a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder. The performances were all professionally recorded and preserved by Hal Tulchin who hoped to show the recordings to the world as what he called the “Black Woodstock”. Sadly, he found little interest in the project in a country that was reeling from assassinations, riots and the Vietnam War in the past year. So the footage sat in his basement for 50 years until it was recently discovered. Questlove has put together a beautiful documentary that shows us some of these performances and puts them into the context of the events of the late sixties. Included are many eye witness accounts from some of the people who attended over 50 years ago and who describe what the concerts meant to them. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in what had to be one of the easiest choices of the awards. If you haven’t seen it look it up on Hulu.

Oxygen

Oxygen                 3 stars

Oxygen is a new sci-fi horror thriller from director Alexandre Aja that has one of the most limited sets I have ever seen. It opens with a young woman (Melanie Laurent of Operation Finale and Now You See Me) who awakens inside a futuristic cryogenic pod with only a computer voice named MILO for company. She is told that her oxygen supply is running out and to make matters worse she has no memory of where she is or even who she is. To say the movie is thin on plot is a colossal understatement. The woman slowly pieces together who she is through visual clues provided by MILO who is not always very helpful, and phone calls she is able to make to the authorities who it seems have something to hide. The hidden secrets eventually do get revealed but the events seemed to take forever to get there. It helps not to think about the situation too much or you will start to see some holes in the story. The movie is aided by a great performance by Laurent who puts plenty of energy into this very limited role. In fact the entire movie depends on how convincing she is. The movie could have been significantly shorter without losing any of the story. The director is known for other stylistic horror thrillers like Crawl, Horns and Piranha, so if you have seen any of these you have some idea of what to expect. The movie is in French with subtitles. If you ever saw the French horror film High Tension (also filled with plot holes) you will know what I mean. Oxygen is available on Netflix.

Official Competition

Official Competition        4 ½ stars

Official Competition by Argentine directors Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat brings together the great talents of Penelope Cruz, Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez in a satirical comedy that absolutely skewers the filmmakers of “art” movies and the mega-wealthy. Cruz plays internationally renowned film director Lola Cuevas who has a curly head of hair that must be seen to be believed. She is hired by a millionaire owner of a pharmaceutical company to make a movie based on an award-winning novel called Rivalry, though the millionaire is clueless about art or movies. Lola decides that the two greatest actors in Spanish cinema must be a part of this great venture: the legendary actor Ivan Torres (Oscar Martinez) who despises the movie industry and the star of mega-hit blockbusters Felix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) who is obsessed with his own stardom. The book being adapted concerns the conflict between the two brothers played by Ivan and Felix where one of them blames the other for their parents’ death. Most of the movie (Official Competition) focuses on the rehearsal process which takes place in the wide open spaces of a modern architectural marvel that epitomizes great wealth. As the two starring men begin rehearsing under Lola’s direction we get a taste of their eccentricities and how differently the two view their craft. Lola has her own methods that sometimes make the actors endlessly repeat their lines until they are perfect and makes them participate in “exercises” that cause them tension and pain to the point where a normal person would just walk away. (In one scene the two actors must bombard one another with the most vile insults they can think of.) Their remarks and actions reveal how much Ivan and Felix despise each other. Their acts of one-upmanship get increasingly absurd as each is determined to show just how “great” they really are. Eventually the absurdity turns to an unexpectedly dark level. In its satirical fashion, the movie never deviates from the theme of showing how pretentious and narcissistic those in the art world can be. The movie belongs mostly to Penelope Cruz who brings her acting to genius levels as she conveys emotion with the slightest stare. Despite the focus of the movie on the art world, it can be enjoyed by all audiences. This is the kind of movie I think of for my favorite kind of comedy.