Category Archives: 2024

Sasquatch Sunset

Sasquatch Sunset             3 stars

I first heard about Sasquatch Sunset at Sundance where it premiered earlier this year. There was a lot of talk about this movie which follows a family of Sasquatches in the North American wilderness, so I naturally had to see it when it was released in theaters. I know that I previously said The Beast was the most unusual movie of the year so far, but I now must award that title to Sasquatch Sunset. This movie by the Zellner brothers (Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter and Damsel) imagines what it would be like to observe a quartet of these mysterious creatures in their natural habitat, following them for a full year. The movie is imaginative and frequently comical but is a little short on plot. But you must be warned that many filmgoers reportedly walked out early in the film. The actors are covered head to massive toe in hairy costumes that are certainly convincing, communicating through grunts and waling. The movie has the distinction of having a complete absence of dialogue in any language. Without getting too graphic, imagine going to the zoo and observing monkey behavior for a whole day and you might begin to understand what you will be in for. At some point the creatures engage in just about every bodily function you can imagine including sasquatch sex and childbirth. (There is even the rebuff of sexual advances.) As in their previous films, the Zellner’s provide plenty of comedic moments as well such as an encounter with a turtle and the consequences of consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms. This odd family consists of a papa sasquatch (Nathan Zellner), a mama (Riley Keough), and two juveniles (Jesse Eisenberg and Christophe Zajac-Denek) who spend their days munching on leaves and berries and encountering various wildlife in their lush green environment. There are times when you feel they are marveling at the natural world around them by their staring and the expression on their faces. (One of them struggles with the concept of counting when he looks at the stars or a handful of berries but finds he can’t express the idea of numbers.) We also sense that they were once part of a larger community when they try to signal others by pounding on trees with sticks and then listen for a response that will never come. Combine this with their reaction when encountering evidence of humans and you get a feeling of doom for this hairy bunch. Sasquatch Sunset is certainly not for everyone but can be a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

God Save Texas

God Save Texas: The Price of Oil. 4 stars

God Save Texas is a series of episodics produced by Richard Linklater with three of them showing at Sundance. All are directed by native Texans and reflect some subject about conditions in Texas that affect the entire country. The Price of Oil was directed by Alex Stapleton who is from the Houston area and is Black. The focus of the episode is on the black population of Texas, their contribution to development of the oil industry, and the marginalization they have suffered for its profits. The doc goes back to the 1830’s when Texas won its independence but followed the practice of slavery. It shows how blacks were left out of the history of the state. With the discovery of oil in the early twentieth century, blacks did not receive their share of employment in the oil industry, but have suffered from the environmental dangers of having the refineries placed next to their neighborhoods. The director made it personal by showing how some of her own relatives were impacted by these practices. The episode was largely made during the pandemic. I recommend seeing the series. It was inspired by the book God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright.

Between the Temples

Between the Temples 4 stars

I happened to accidentally find one of the better comedies of the festival with director Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples. Jewish Cantor Ben (Jason Schwartzman of Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited) has a lot on his mind. It has been a year since his wife died tragically and he is living with his two moms (Caroline Aaron and Dolly de Leon (who was brilliant as the Philippino worker on the doomed luxury yacht in Triangle of Sadness). He is depressed and is unable to sing in temple. And one of his mothers is trying to set him up on dates. But he is still guiding his bat mitzvah students as they prepare their studies. Then he gets a new student in Carla (a hilarious Carol Kane (Annie Hall and Taxi)), a widowed woman in her seventies who never had her bat mitzvah before and wants to correct that omission. Only there is something familiar about her as Ben remembers her as his music teacher when he was a boy. So Ben must navigate this new situation while not fully revealing the circumstances to all the interested parties. It’s a sweet screwball comedy with perfect leads in Schwartzman and Kane. I found it similar in style to Moonstruck especially when it came to a certain dinner scene with all the characters gathered together. The director and writers were present for Q & A and told how a real story provided the idea for the movie’s premise. We also learned that they did three versions of the final scene over two days. Nathan Silver is an accomplished director with many credits only I was unfamiliar with his movies. Maybe I will see more of them now.

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.