Category Archives: Drama

Queer

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Queer                   4 stars

It’s hard to adequately describe Daniel Craig’s new starring role in Queer, the new film by Italian director, Luca Guadagnino. It’s a journey of searching and suffering as the main character, Bill Lee (Craig) wanders the bars in 1950’s Mexico City looking for sex with social outcasts like himself and ways to hide his pain with tequila and heroin. The role is about as far away from James Bond as you can get. The film is based on a book by William S. Burroughs that is said to be somewhat autobiographical. Lee, who is in his forties spends his days seeking the company of other “queers”, while denying that he is one, until one day he spots a young twenty something man who captures his imagination. The man, named Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) is attractive and self-assured and is comfortable with men and women alike. It doesn’t take long for Lee to get Eugene in the sack, where the two get more than a little intimate. If you have seen Guadagnino’s earlier works, Call Me by Your Name, Suspiria and this year’s Challengers, this will come as no surprise. They all feature very intense sex scenes. Despite all the sex though, Eugene is still very distant when it comes to an actual relationship, leading to desperate measures by Lee. If the film stopped there, it wouldn’t be exceptional, but it goes on from there when Lee convinces Allerton to travel with him to South America in search of a hallucinogenic drug that he believes has telepathic powers. He can’t stop talking about it. What follows I describe as Indiana Jones appearing in 2001: A Space Odessey, only like it was directed by David Lynch. Things get very weird for these two as they journey through the jungle to find a woman scientist who is studying this drug. This segment I found to be surrealistic. It has images that are disturbing yet fascinating at the same time. The movie will keep you thinking about it after leaving the theater and will at least change your view of Daniel Craig. Look for him to get an Oscar nomination for the performance; that is, if the Academy can tolerate homosexual roles like this. In addition, two actors appearing in the movie are completely unrecognizable. I was surprised to see they were Jason Schwartzman and Lesley Manville. Manville especially gives an outstanding performance.

The Piano Lesson

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The Piano Lesson             4 stars

Denzel Washington acting in the role of film producer has helped bring us the third film adaptation of an August Wilson stage play. Previously, he brought the plays Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom to the screen. This year it is the dramatic family drama The Piano Lesson, a story of conflict involving a decades old family heirloom, retribution over a crime and a ghost story. The conflict is between siblings Boy Willie (son of Denzel Washington, John David Washington reprising his stage role) and Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler of Till and I Saw the TV Glow). He has travelled from his home in Mississippi to 1936 Pittsburgh to try to convince Berniece to let him sell the family piano so he can buy farmland back home. She treasures the musical instrument, seeing it as a connection to family members who have passed on and will never allow it to be sold. The land that Boy Willie is after was owned by a white man whose family employed Boy Willie’s family as sharecroppers for generations. The man recently died when he fell into his well, so the land is now available. His death is part of a legendary ghost story we often hear of in the movie, referred to as the Ghosts of the Yellow Dog. Most of the movie takes place in a couple of rooms in the small house owned by Uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) where other family members and friends gather and fill in the story. These include Lyman (Ray Fisher), Wining Boy (Michael Potts) and aspiring reverend Avery (Corey Hawkins) (who shows up to court Berniece). Berniece’s young daughter, Maretha also inhabits the house. The various characters engage in friendly conversation, intense arguments and one very lively musical performance that serves to slowly reveal a dark story of the past going back to slavery times that continues to haunt this family. The movie demonstrates that the past never dies, and the memory of long dead family members lives on as symbolized by the piano that has depictions of the family carved into it. First time director Malcolm Washington, and son of Denzel Washington, faithfully reproduces the play, but has probably gone overboard with his inventive shots and embellishing the movie with too much focus on the supernatural. John David Washington is a talented actor, but he overdoes the intensity of his character, I thought. The most praise should be given to Deadwyler as Berniece who expresses the emotions she goes through with her words and her face. As usual she is completely convincing in this role of a suffering woman determined to protect the piano and keep her daughter safe. The Piano Lesson isn’t the best of the August Wilson adaptations, but it deserves to be seen. I will be looking forward to the next one that Denzel Washington brings to film.

A Real Pain

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A Real Pain                          5 stars

I caught up with a truly memorable movie that was first shown at Sundance this year. A Real Pain is Jesse Eisenberg’s second time directing and he does a remarkable job of it. This is a sort of travel movie with two cousins who were very close when they were growing up but have since grown apart. David (Eisenberg) is the serious one who has a family in Brooklyn and takes life very seriously but is full of anxiety, even taking meds. His cousin, Benji, (Kieren Culkin of Succession) on the other hand is the polar opposite. You probably know someone like him. He is the guy who never really grew up. He lives in his mother’s basement. He has to be the life of the party, always oversharing, inquiring into the life of strangers, but quick to take offense at remarks he disagrees with. People often feel the need to apologize after seeing his reactions. But he is good for sharing his prize weed at the opportune moment. David loves him, sometimes trying to get him to tone it down and apologizing to others for his antics. The movie takes the form of a travel movie when David reserves a tour for the two of them who are both Jewish in Poland to see locations associated with the Holocaust. Their grandmother, who grew up in Poland and escaped the Holocaust has recently passed away, so David wants to honor her by visiting what was her home. Benji, who was very close to his grandmother, is excited at the idea and meets David at the airport for their flight, only in a rather irresponsible manner, by not taking any of David’s phone calls. Once they join the tour, Benji engages well with the guide and other travelers sometimes. (In one scene he encourages the group to pose in front of the Warsaw Uprising Monument.) At other times he gets overly emotional and critical of the poor guide, saying whatever comes to mind. You could say that he is a lot. (I should also mention that one of the tour guests is played by Jennifer Grey of Dirty Dancing fame.) Culkin really goes all in for the role and is a perfect fit for the character Eisenberg created. Later, we find there is a family history that helps explain the actions of both cousins. The film’s title is very appropriate both for the cousins’ relationship and for the historical tragedy faced by the Jewish people. After going through the painful experience of the trip we get the feeling that some healing has begun for these two.

Annette

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Annette               4 ½ stars

The minute I read the description of Annette I knew I had to see it. It is “a dreamy delicate dance between farce and fantasia” and “a magnificently ludicrous rock opera”. This musical by French director Leos Carax is an opera in the sense that almost all of the dialogue is sung and that from the first scene there can only be tragedy for the characters in the film. The film is set in modern Los Angeles with Adam Driver as the very dark and successful comedian Henry McHenry who performs in a broody belligerent manner wearing a bath robe on stage while the audience sings in unison to him. Henry meets the popular opera soprano Ann (Marion Cotillard) and the two instantly fall in love and become a media sensation. But we see trouble is coming when several women all come forward with accusations of abuse against the narcissistic Henry in a MeToo moment. But then everything changes when the pair give birth to their daughter, Annette, a baby girl who has a unique gift to put it mildly. (I can’t say any more than that without giving away the magic of the film.) To say that the movie is unusual and weird is an understatement. The interaction and tension between the two leads are integral to the story, but it is really the performance of Driver as well as the bizarre premise of the story that will keep your attention throughout the film. The music of the band Sparks is also quite special to the movie, though there may not be any tunes that stick with you long after viewing it. Another key role is filled by Simon Helberg as The Accompanist who is devoted to Ann, but can’t get close to her. I understand that Helberg wanted to be in the film so much that he actually moved to France and learned French (even though the film is in English). So come see it for the story of love, hate, jealousy, exploitation, and murder or come see it for the music. Whatever you do, come and see Annette.

For a preview of the opening number of the film go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWb3KpvAz8s

The English Teacher

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The English Teacher        1 ½ stars

Today we go back eight years to find a well hidden comedy called The English Teacher, starring Julianne Moore as a high school English teacher in a small town in Pennsylvania. Linda is single and has a passion for instructing her students in the great literary works, but has little else going on in her life. Enter Jason (Michael Angarano, who played young Uncle Nicky in This Is Us), a former student, now in his twenties who tried the theater scene in New York, but has given that up to study law (since that is what his father has encouraged him to do). Things start to get interesting when Linda finds out that Jason has written a play that she likes so much she insists that it be this year’s production by the Theater department. It is then that all the hijinks begin with the lies, broken promises, the fooling around involving the vice principle, the drama teacher and various students in the production. The movie can be described as a light comedy that runs short on the comedy and never gets to any very interesting relationships. At one point it seemed like every character was miserable and the high school production was a hopeless mess. Then, within the hour and a half time frame of the movie everything was settled in time for a happy but implausible ending. Julianne Moore, who has had an amazing career over the last three decades, was given a character that is little more than a stereotype. Much better from the same time period were her characters in What Maisie Knew and Still Alice. Seek out those titles instead as The English Teacher gets a failing grade. Or look for the new movie Dear Evan Hansen coming in September.

Minari

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Minari                   5 stars

I first heard of the film Minari at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. I did not see it there but I heard that it was very well received by the audience. The movie, about a Korean immigrant family who move to Arkansas in the eighties was finally released about a year later, no doubt delayed by the pandemic. The movie was written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, himself a Korean immigrant who came to America as a child with his family, so the film is semi-biographical with the young son David in the role of the writer. It is the father, Jacob’s (actor and executive director, Steven Yeun) dream to own his own farm growing vegetables native to Korea to sell to the local growing Asian community. This is of course very challenging and unfortunately, Jacob’s enthusiasm is not shared by his wife, Monica, who resents leaving California; thus, this becomes a source of tension in the family. There are a few references to racist attitudes from the locals, but for the most part the immigrant family is accepted in the community including at a nearby church they choose to attend. Probably the most interesting relationship is between young David and the grandma who travels from Korea to be with the family. At first he does not like her, saying things like she smells like Korea and doesn’t know how to be a good grandma. There are some funny scenes between the two and they eventually grow closer especially as grandma comes to know him and stands up for how he is treated. Grandma Soonja is played by Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung who would go on the win the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for the role. The film is about the immigrant experience in America, but it is also about how a family deals with tough circumstances and the strain the relationships have to face. The film deserves its Academy Award nomination for Best Film, but some people may be put off by the ambiguous ending. The name Minari comes from a plant native to Korea that is used in many Asian dishes. It was part of the writer/director’s memory growing up and is known to be able to grow almost anywhere, making it a metaphor for the film.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

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The Eyes of Tammy Faye               3 ½ stars

It’s back to the seventies and eighties to the time of big hair, polyester pants and expensive furs with The Eyes of Tammy Faye. To say that Jessica Chastain stars as the iconic fallen Tammy Faye doesn’t bring justice to her performance. The actress known for her strong woman roles in Zero Dark Thirty, Miss Sloane and Molly’s Game transforms herself into the cheery, high-pitched, almost comic wife of the high powered TV evangelist, Jim Bakker as we follow her life from the sixties where the pair meet in college, to their creation of the massive PTL Network and to their ultimate downfall. Andrew Garfield takes on the role of Bakker, matching the enthusiastic personality of the televangelist, bringing his message of God’s love and prosperity to the faithful. To those of us who remember that time it is fascinating to see their origin, their rise to power and their ultimate fall as the couple’s marriage crumbles under the weight of unfaithfulness and greed. The film was a personal project of Chastain’s who has been working to bring the story to the big screen for years. While much of the movie might seem like a cliché, Chastain’s performance may be one of the best of her career. It is such a departure from her earlier roles that I had to check if it was really her when she first appears on screen. The movie serves as a reminder of how success can lead people astray, causing them to forget their true mission and pursue fame and riches instead. The Eyes of Tammy Faye brought back memories of the headlines of the late eighties of the corruption and extravagance of the PTL Network that ultimately lead to bankruptcy and prison for Jim Bakker. And who could forget the excessive eye makeup and tears on Tammy Faye’s face?

The Legend of Bagger Vance

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The Legend of Bagger Vance       2 stars

Twenty years after its appearance in theaters I had the chance to see Will Smith and Matt Damon in The Legend of Bagger Vance, the movie that brings the fantasy world to golf. The fantasy character appears as Bagger Vance (Smith), some sort of deity who has come to earth to save local golf legend Rannulph Junuh (Damon) from destroying his life. Following his traumatic experience in World War I, Junuh has the opportunity to play in a golf tournament against two legends of the game, but has to regain his swing and confidence in himself. Bagger Vance has all the right words to get Junuh to understand the game and himself. Most of the movie centers on the game itself, spanning a 72 hole match over the course of two days. Like most sports movies there is plenty of drama in the event with missed opportunities and miraculous comebacks. Since it is golf and not horseracing, auto racing or baseball, the dramatic moments focus on balls landing on fairways and bunkers and the occasional long putt into the cup. I like a good sports movie, but I prefer homeruns and galloping horses to flying golf balls. For a good sports fantasy movie you can’t beat The Natural starring Robert Redford. If you haven’t seen that, I recommend seeing it over Bagger Vance. On a movie trivia note, Jack Lemmon has an uncredited appearance in the movie.

Dear Evan Hansen

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Dear Evan Hansen           3 ½ stars

Welcome to the world of teen anxiety, depression and suicide attempts. This is the theme of the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen which won multiple Tony awards a few years ago. There is much to like here if you can accept the premise of characters breaking into song to express their dilemmas. All of the actors give convincing performances even if lead actor Ben Platt at 28 is far too old to reprise his role as the teen with social anxiety, Evan Hansen. They include Julianne Moore as Evan’s mother, Kaitlyn Dever of Booksmart as Zoe, the sister of suicide victim Connor, Amy Adams as Connor and Zoe’s mother, Danny Pino of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as their step-father and Amandla Stenberg as the overachieving classmate Alana. The movie deals with the touchy subject of teen suicide with a story of Hansen pretending to be a friend of Connor after he is told of his suicide by Connor’s mother. It seems a letter that Hansen wrote to himself as a therapy assignment was found on Connor’s body, so it was assumed that Connor was the writer. It is then that Evan goes along with the misunderstanding and constructs a lie making him a friend of the troubled teen before his death. The spreading of the lie seems beneficial at first with a fundraiser being started as a way to remember Connor, but things ultimately get worse for all involved. I believe I liked it more than most critics, but it is certainly not one of my favorite musicals. Maybe making a musical about teen depression and suicide is asking too much.

Mass

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Mass                     4 ½ stars

I had the chance to see a 2021 Sundance release in the form of Mass which has just been released in theaters. This is a heavy drama written and directed by Fran Kranz in his debut effort. I remember Kranz from his character on Doll House, the TV series, but he has had several other more significant roles since. The film mostly takes place in a single room in a small town church where two middle aged couples are to meet here for a purpose to be revealed. Before the meeting we see some of the arrangements being coordinated by a pastor’s wife and a woman counsellor. After the four arrive some cordial comments and small talk are made between them. Jay and Gail are portrayed by Jason Isaacs of Star Trek: Discovery and The Death of Stalin and Martha Plimpton of Raising Hope, while Richard and Linda are portrayed by Reed Birney from House of Cards (but I know him from Strawberry Mansion) and Ann Dowd who I remember from many films, but she may be best known for The Handmaid’s Tale. Finally the purpose becomes clear when we find their common experience is losing their children in a horrific school shooting that happened several years before. What follows in an intense outpouring of raw emotion, sorrow and rage as the characters relive the tragedy and the aftermath and seek some kind of explanation for what happened to their children. Not many movies try to tackle this weighty subject, but the performances given here are top notch and completely believable. The film doesn’t try to present an opinion on the subject except to show the level of pain that the loved ones experience in such a tragic event that has become all too common in America. I understand that Kranz has been working on the film for many years and I am glad that he finally succeeded in completing this much needed project.