Category Archives: 2024

Girls Will Be Girls

Girls Will Be Girls 4 1/2 stars

In Girls Will Be Girls we find a coming of age story set in India in the Himalaya mountains. In a strict boarding school, Mira has just earned the title and responsibilities of Head Prefect. She has the pressures of keeping her grades up and dealing with a strict mother, but then a new boy arrives at the school that takes an interest in her. It’s a story of discovering desire and romance for the first time from first time writer-director Shuchi Talati. Mira has to be very careful about what she reveals to her mother about the relationship, but the mother takes an interest in the boy’s wellbeing too, setting up a conflict between mother and daughter. It is a well told story done with slow building tension. Both of the young actors were present for the Q & A. It was one of the best movies of the fest I have seen so far.

Love Machina

Love Machina 4 stars

How would you like to transfer the consciousness of a loved one into a robot so that they could continue to exist and be with you after they passed away? It sounds unimaginable but that is the aim of futurists Martina and Bina Rothblatt. Marina has been conducting this project since 2006 so that his beloved wife can continue to love as a machine. The robot consists of only a head and can listen and speak with the help of AI and it is named Bina48. Martina has been gathering data that defines Bina’s thoughts and digitizing them. The result at this point is regarded as a simulation but it is quite remarkable what has been accomplished so far. It seems like the stuff of science fiction, and would seem to be something we couldn’t have dreamed of only a few years ago. The movie presents other great advancements that have been made in technology recently and shows the hope that we have for the future. It gives a very positive picture of what the future holds.

Agent of Happiness

Agent of Happiness 4 stars

One of the more unusual government functions I have heard of is the measurement of happiness. In Agent of Happiness the filmmakers follow a pair of government agents through the mountains and villages of Bhutan as they survey the population with a series of questions to find out the state of happiness of their citizens. Its purpose is to help guide the government in the future development of the country. The film focuses mainly on one agent named Amber who is about 40 years old and actually has his own story to tell. The survey asks questions about people’s possessions like refrigerators, TV’s and farm animals, but also how they rate their own happiness. Like any of us, the people have misfortunes they talk of like deaths in the family, abusive mates, alcoholism and even living as a transgender person. But they also reveal the hopes they have for the future. Amber’s own story is about caring for his aging mother and of a girl friend that he wishes he could marry. Unfortunately, Amber is not a Bhutanese citizen being of Nepalese descent, thus he cannot leave the country. And that is enough to deny him of his dream of a wife and settling down. Thus behind all the beauty of this land and the optimism lies the stories of pain and loss and how like people everywhere, they find a way to carry on.

Never Look Away

Never Look Away                             4 stars

The documentary Never Look Away tells of the extraordinary life of CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth who spent 16 years going to war-torn countries to record the conflicts on film and bring the reality of war to our screens back home. The documentary is directed by first time director Lucy Lawless who is widely known from her TV character, Xena on the show Xena: Warrior Princess which she played for six seasons. Lawless, a native of New Zealand jumped at the chance to direct this film as Margaret Moth was a fellow New Zealander and Lawless was highly motivated to have this story told. Through interviews with old boy friends, colleagues at CNN and family members we learn how dedicated and fearless Moth was in entering such warzones as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon and various African conflicts. She believed it was critical that people should know just how terrible it is for the local people living in warzones. Footage from the conflicts is shared showing how perilous the locations were. For some especially significant locations 3 dimensional dioramas were created to the bring the impact of the events to life. The documentary is an impressive achievement for Lawless. She appeared at the theater for Q and A where she said the movie was finished just in time to make it to Sundance.

Dune: Part Two

Dune: Part Two                 5 stars

Do you remember back in 2021 when we saw the movie adaptation of Frank Herbert’s famous science fiction novel Dune, but then were disappointed to see that it only covered the first half of the book? At the time it wasn’t known how well it would be received or whether there would be another movie. Well, after waiting on the actors and writers strikes last year that delayed several movies’ releases into this year, we finally have the second half, Dune: Part Two by director Denis Villeneuve. This epic presentation of the classic book is truly a spectacle. The viewer gets his fill of action filled battles on a wide expanse, a reluctant hero seeking to find his true path, mysterious characters who talk of mysticism, a budding romance, some truly evil murderous villains, and those giant sand worms that roam the desert. In Dune (Part One) we left off with the dreaded Harkonnen’s invading the planet Arrakis and wiping out House Atreides, killing the Duke, so that they could control the spice, the most valuable substance in the galaxy. But unknown to Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgârd), the Duke’s wife, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) (who is pregnant and is able to talk telepathically with her unborn daughter) and son, Paul (Timothée Chalamet) have survived the invasion and are under the protection of the native people of Arrakis, the nomadic Fremen. The story is far too involved and there are so many characters for me to adequately describe here, but I can say that the movie captures the feel of the novel as we watch Paul Atreides grow from a confused young man to become the foretold messiah of the Fremen, known as Muad’Dib. He and his mother, Lady Jessica gradually win over the confidence of the Fremen with the help of a hallucinogenic substance called The Water of Life administered by the Bene Gesserit, and the belief of the Fremen leader, Stilgar (Javier Bardem). Along the way we learn that the Emperor (Christopher Walken) was behind the plan to annihilate the Atreidis family all along. And that the mysterious Bene Gesserit through their control of genetics for centuries have been manipulating these characters from behind the scenes. The central theme of the book is successfully portrayed in the movie and that is how the need for absolute power can corrupt and become destructive, a lesson that is especially relevant even today. Besides those portraying the characters I have mentioned so far there is a long list is A-list actors in Dune. Zendaya returns as Chani, the Fremen woman of Paul’s dreams, and Florence Pugh puts in a performance as Princess Irulan, the Emperor’s daughter. From House Harkonnen, there are the two nephews, Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban and Austin Butler as the psychotic Feyd-Rautha, who brags about killing his own mother. Léa Seydoux appears briefly as one of the Bene Gesserit and Anya Taylor-Joy makes an even shorter appearance as the adult daughter of Lady Jessica. The use of special effects is truly amazing in that an entire new world is created on screen with everything appearing immense in size. The gladiator arena on Giedi Prime filled with cheering bald headed male spectators is especially impressive and of course there are those giant sand worms. I recommend that you see the movie on the largest screen possible to get the total effect. Villeneuve’s movie bears no resemblance to the David Lynch 1984 movie called Dune which in my opinion was incomprehensible. It should be the standard for measuring all future science fiction epic movies.

Bob Marley: One Love

Bob Marley: One Love                    2 stars

Bob Marley: One Love by director Reinaldo Marcus Green brings the legendary reggae artist to the big screen, focusing on the singer’s rise to fame during the two years from 1976 to 1978. So instead of doing the standard musical biopic we start and stop with two important concerts in Marley’s life, a free concert in Jamaica intended to quell the violence in the country over which political party would be in control, and the One Love Peace show when he returned to his home country. In between we see an attempt on his life, how he and his wife, Rita, had to leave the country for their own safety with Marley going to London, the creation of the Exodus album and their European tour. Of course, we also get plenty of performances of the music of Bob Marley and the Wailers with that distinctive reggae sound. The thing I didn’t get was a sense of anything special about Bob Marley, or his vision for peace. It feels a little too much like a standard music biopic with flashbacks to his childhood growing up poor and having a father who didn’t care for him. The actor playing Marley, Kingsley Ben-Adir (who previously has portrayed Malcolm X and a Ken doll) does a creditable job with the performances, but the whole film felt rather ordinary. One criticism that I rarely make of movies is how the dialogue is very difficult to make out. The heavy Jamaican accents really call for the use of subtitles. Without them there were many points in the film that I just couldn’t understand. In particular, there are conflicts within the band and between Bob and Rita that didn’t make sense to me because I couldn’t understand what they were saying. And there is a frequently used word, Rastafar that is important to Marley, but I have no idea what it is. Director Reinaldo Marcus Green previously did much better with King Richard in 2021. It was good to hear the music and to remember Bob Marley’s impact in the world, but overall, One Love was a miss for me.

Limbo

Limbo    4 ½ stars

Limbo is a film noir set in the Australian desert that follows the investigation or “review” of the murder of an indigenous girl that occurred 20 years earlier. Director/screenwriter Ivan Sen has created something very stark and bleak in this film depicting the disregard for indigenous people’s lives by the white population of Australia. Besides directing and writing, Sen was also responsible for the cinematography, the music, the editing, and the casting. He doesn’t star in the movie though. That is up to Simon Baker who plays Travis, the officer who must question those originally involved and affected by the case 20 years earlier. If you remember Baker from the TV show The Mentalist, you won’t recognize him. He has a buzz cut, is sporting a beard, and has glasses and many tattoos. Travis arrives in the town of Limbo where the crime occurred. He takes up residence at the Limbo Motel, an isolated building dug out of the earth. The town has few buildings and is sparsely populated with some indigenous and some white inhabitants, all of whom are poor. Many live in homes that are carved out of the earth like the hotel in order to escape from the heat of the desert. The name of the town is symbolic of the conditions they live in, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Travis, who besides being a cop is a heroin addict, sets out to question the murdered girl’s relatives and others who were originally questioned years before. There is a brother and a sister of the girl who resent that so little was done by the police after the disappearance. It would have been very different if it were a white girl. There are others who were questioned by the police before, but that investigation went nowhere. Travis with his drug use and way of speaking, appearing distant makes him seem very aware of what this world is like. The movie isn’t so much about solving the crime as it is about exploring the hopelessness of these characters and how they have to struggle to survive. The landscape appears vast and barren using wide shots, including drone footage with everything filmed in black and white. It makes the people of the town appear small and insignificant. Don’t expect there to be any justice realized in this case. None of the characters do, including Travis. I have seen other Australian movies depicting the divide between the races in the country and this one is among the starkest and most unnerving among them. Ivan Sen is noted for directing a crime drama TV show set in the outback called Mystery Road. Judging by his work in Limbo that would be a series to check out.

The Beast

The Beast (La Bête)         4 ½ stars

The Beast by director Bertrand Bonello (Titane) has to be one of the most unusual films of the year so far and can be described as surrealistic. Based on a novella by Henry James, this science fiction drama is set in the near future at a time when AI has taken over society. Unemployment is very high as most available jobs are menial and meaningful jobs are hard to get. Technology also allows people to erase their feelings from past experiences that they find painful. Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux of Midnight in Paris, The Grand Budapest Hotel as well as the James Bond movies) applies for a better job, but in order to do so she must undergo a procedure that will make her relive and confront her past lives. (Yes. Reincarnation exists here.) It is while undergoing the procedure that she finds she is destined to be linked to Louis (Adam MacKay of 1917), a young man who pursues her both in the past and in the present. Louis is also present for a procedure so the two meet and find that they may or may not share memories of the past. For the rest of the movie this pair relive their past lives together, first in France in the early 1900’s when Gabrielle is married to a less interesting man and the couple run a doll making company and Louis is a sophisticated Englishman. Later, they meet in the early 2000’s when Gabrielle is a model in Los Angeles trying to get into acting. But Louis is a disturbed misogynist vlogger who is out to make women pay for his lack of success with women. Both actors give excellent performances in this movie that is about love (but only sort of). Seydoux plays each role very distinctly and often is on screen alone but makes each scene quite emotional. There are some interesting devices used in the film including pigeons, dolls, and fortune tellers and even a Roy Orbison song! I was never sure where the movie was headed but it kept my interest throughout. The dialogue is in both French and English. (Both actors are fluent in French.) At the end of the movie instead of rolling credits, a QR Code appeared on screen giving the audience the chance to view it on their phones instead of on the screen, but I wasn’t fast enough to catch it. Is this something we will see more of?

The American Society of Magical Negroes

The American Society of Magical Negroes             2 stars

The American Society of Magical Negroes by screenwriter/director Kobi Libii has one of the oddest titles I have seen in years. I heard of the movie at Sundance Film Festival where it was first screened this year but didn’t see it then. It was just released so I took it in at a local theater and I have to say the premise is just as odd as the title. In the movie we learn that there is a secret organization of Black people whose mission it is to rescue white people in America who feel uncomfortable around black people. The society has existed since before the American Revolution and its members have magic powers that allow them to detect this feeling in white people and track them throughout the country. They occupy a secret section at Monticello and can transport themselves in an instant. This idea of Magical Negroes was first expressed by director Spike Lee in reference to movies that have fictional black characters that support white people, such as Driving Miss Daisy and The Green Mile. Lee found this concept to be offensive and I find I agree with that view. The movie is considered to be a satirical comedy and ultimately counters the whole magical negro concept but takes forever to get there. As far as the story goes, it concerns a young Black man, Aren (Justice Smith) who is an artist and always seems to be apologizing around white people. A member of the Society, Roger (David Alan Grier) watches him, rescues him from some white thugs and recruits him into the Society. There, he learns of the mission, how Black people can be saved by their rescuing of white people from their own feelings through compliments and encouragement. Aren gets an assignment to help a young white man at a tech company, so gets a job there as a designer. But the plot loses its way as it turns into more of a rom com with a love triangle involving a young woman within the startup company. After a while I found the movie boring. I thought maybe this would have worked better as a short instead of as a two-hour movie. Though it was meant as satire, I still found the whole view to be racist and demeaning to Black people. While I was at Sundance, I had heard that Black audience members at the premier largely felt this way as well. The film falls flat and I don’t look for the film to gain much popularity.

Love Lies Bleeding

Love Lies Bleeding           4 stars

Love Lies Bleeding from second time director Rose Glass first played at the Sundance Film Festival this year and was one hot ticket that I could not score as the movie was so popular. It was just released this past week and it is as hot and violent as it is reputed to be. As the title suggests, there is a lot of love based on the steamy sex scenes, many lies are told and there is a whole lot of bleeding. “Love” is a classic B movie sexual thriller where you just know the characters are doomed and bad decisions will be made from the moment you see them. I thought of 1990’s Revenge starring Kevin Costner as I watched it. Kristen Stewart (Twilight Saga, Clouds of Sils Maria, Personal Shopper and Spencer) is in her queerest role yet as Lou who passes her days managing a gym in a small town in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico in 1989. The film begins with Lou cleaning a clogged toilet, telling you this is a dead end existence. One day, Jackie, a young pumped up body builder (who dreams of competing in the women’s World Bodybuilding Championship in Las Vegas) enters Lou’s life and judging by the hot sex scenes that follow, the two hit it off immediately. Jackie is played by Katy O’Brian whose bulging muscles, ripped abs, and raised veins practically pop out of the screen at us. She has managed to land a job at the local gun range that is owned by scumbag number one, Lou’s father (Ed Harris who looks like a decrepit hippie from Tales from the Crypt) and who has become rich by running illegal guns to Mexico. Over the years anyone who dares to stand against him has a way of mysteriously disappearing. Of course, it helps that the local cops take orders from him. Also, the FBI has been sniffing around asking questions of anyone including Lou. We learn that the only reason that Lou has stayed in this unnamed godforsaken town is for her sister, Beth (Jena Malone) who has a family and is married to scumbag number two, JJ (Dave Franco in a mullet) who likes to take out his frustrations on Beth’s face. One more character in the mix is Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov), a young woman who frequents the gym and finds Lou very attractive and forces her attention on Lou. With this mix of characters, criminal behavior, and bad judgment it is only a matter of time before things spiral out of control and the bodies begin to pile up. The feel of the movie is enhanced by the filming of most of it at night, the intense musical score and satanic looking images of Lou, Sr. in red. Add some hallucinatory images that give Jackie a fantasy-like appearance and you have a thrillingly hot and sexual B movie. I am hoping that Love Lies Bleeding has a good run and that Rose Glass has some more plans for such movies in her future. It will also be interesting to see what is next in Kristen Stewart’s career.