Category Archives: Drama

Kajillionaire

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Kajillionaire         4 ½ stars

Miranda July’s third feature as director, Kajillionaire, is a real treasure featuring a very odd performance by Westworld star Evan Rachel Wood. Her previous features The Future and Me and You and Everyone We Know were well received, but I never managed to see either one. Her movies are described as quirky with some very oddball characters and Kajillionaire fits right in. Wood exchanges her robot acting to play a young woman named Old Dolio, who has been raised by her parents Robert (Richard Jenkins) and Theresa (Debra Winger) to participate in their con games to rob people of their money and valuables. They aren’t really that good at what they do and are barely getting by. This leads to some very funny scenes. Old Dolio (don’t ask about her name) obviously has never known affection and doesn’t know how to behave around people. Wood has been made to look about as unattractive as possible in the role and masters the part. The trio spend their time stealing from post office boxes and visiting elderly people in order to rob them. They live in an old office building that is very cheap on the condition that they remove the soap suds that leak into the space on a daily basis. (Don’t ask.) Things change for Old Dolio when the trio are joined by Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), a young woman who likes the idea of being a grifter, but has a different take on it. Kajillionaire displays a wide range of emotions for its characters and gets to the point of what life is about, though in a very amusing way. Now I feel that I need to check out Miranda July’s other movies.

Motherless Brooklyn

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Motherless Brooklyn      3 ½ stars

One movie that has long been on my list to see is Motherless Brooklyn which came out about a year ago. It is a real pet project of Edward Norton who wrote the screenplay, directed and stars in the picture going back to 2001. The movie is about a gumshoe detective, Lionel Essrog (Norton) in 1950’s New York City whose boss and mentor is murdered, so Lionel spends the rest of the film trying to solve the crime. The movie is based on a 1990’s crime novel, but Norton set the story in the fifties after he acquired the rights to it. The movie is in the style of a fifties Film Noir and has a plot that is quite complicated. I will give some background without giving too much of the plot away. Lionel’s investigation takes him to a story of corruption within the city government involving a city official named Moses Randolph (Alec Baldwin) who has made it his mission to remake the city into his vision of a world class city at the expense of the poor and working-class people that inhabit it. The Randolph character is based on the actual city planner in the fifties, Robert Moses, who tore down black neighborhoods to build his parks and bridges and interfered with mass transportation like buses and trains because they were used by poor people and blacks. Alec Baldwin is brilliant as the character who craves power and despises those who care about the welfare of disadvantaged people. (Remind you of anyone?) Lionel has a condition, Tourette syndrome, that causes him to blurt out annoying and offensive remarks, but is otherwise and intelligent person. Sometimes this gets to be distracting from an interesting plot, but otherwise Norton gives an excellent performance. The rest of the cast is pretty amazing, including Bruce Willis, Willem Dafoe, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bobby Cannavale, Cherry Jones, Josh Pais and Michael Kenneth Williams. It’s clear that Norton was out to get the best actors he could. At 2 hours, 24 minutes, the film tends to drag at times and you may have to pause the movie and back up to catch some of the key plot points, but it will be worth it. The jazz score written by Thom Yorke and performed by Wynton Marsalis is also amazing to hear helping to give the movies a very fifties feel.

Okja

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Okja                       3 ½ stars

I went back a few years to see an earlier film by Korean film director Bong Joon Ho. Ho is probably best known for the 2019 Academy Award winning film Parasite, about greed and class discrimination. His earlier movies that I have seen are The Host and Snowpiercer. His imaginative films typically contain elements of science fiction or fantasy with dark undertones, and this is certainly true of Okja, a tale about a genetically engineered super-pig that is loved by a Korean girl named Mija. Mija has been raising Okja from a piglet with her grandfather in the mountains of Korea for ten years and the two are quite close. But Okja is actually a genetically engineered animal intended to be a new food source along with hundreds of other such animals that was created by the conglomerate Mirando Corporation, led by the villainous Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton). One day the face of Mirando arrives at the farm in the form of Dr. Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal), a comically self-absorbed TV show host, who is there to take possession of Okja and take her back to New York where she will participate in a sort of beauty contest for the giant pigs before they are taken to slaughter. This doesn’t sit well with young Mija, so she sets off to free Okja before she is shipped to New York. But along the way she encounters a group of animal rights activists, called the ALF, or Animal Liberation Front, led by Jay (Paul Dano), who has some personal issues with violence. This sets off plenty of action and comical situations that are amusing, all created with some ingenious special effects. The movie is enjoyable to watch, though due to language it probably is not suitable for young children. This was Bong Joon Ho’s second English language movie, his first being the manga inspired Snowpiercer. Since that earlier movie didn’t do well in the foreign markets, he decided to go the streaming route teaming up with Netflix. When it was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, the audience booed the Netflix logo, showing their disapproval of the streaming platform. Though overall, the movie was well received. The movie is somewhat predictable and lighter than Ho’s other movies, especially the award-winning Parasite that came out two years later.

The Phoenician Scheme

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The Phoenician Scheme                 4 stars

If you’ve seen a Wes Anderson movie before you already have an idea of what to expect. His best includes The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Asteroid City. (Also, remember The Fantastic Mr. Fox). Anderson has a unique style identified by faded colors, stationary cameras, and characters with stilted and rapid fire speaking that is instantly recognizable. His new film, The Phoenician Scheme, is no different and shares themes as well as actors from previous films. Common devices he uses are espionage and parental challenges, both of which are present in this one. There are two main characters that cover the entire film. There is the shady industrialist, Zsa Zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro of Sicario and The French Dispatch) who has an uncanny ability to survive multiple plane crashes and his estranged daughter, Liesl (Mia Threapleton who is a newcomer) who he wants to leave his empire to and who happens to be a nun. Korda is in the process of setting up a vast infrastructure project to secure his legacy, but he needs the cooperation of a series of odd characters to “cover the gap”; that is, to help fund his project. Thus, his travels to various parts of the globe to try to secure their cooperation by doing odd things like having a basketball shooting contest in a railroad tunnel. It’s also clear that these various businessmen have not been treated all that well by Korda. There is also an assembly of rival industrialists who are trying to thwart Korda’s plans, thus the assassination attempts. The all-star supporting cast includes Jeffrey Wright, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed and Scarlett Johansson. Bill Murray, a Wes Anderson regular even makes an appearance as God in what appears to be scenes of the afterlife. Throughout the movie it’s the great pairing of Del Toro and Threapleton with a little help from Michael Cera as Bjorn, a Norwegian tutor that really makes the movie. They have a good sense of comic timing while applying Anderson’s trademark style of deadpan delivery. Amid all the zany happenings lies a message of the care of a parent for their child even if it’s not delivered well. Considering all the movies that have been made by Wes Anderson over the past thirty years, The Phoenician Scheme is one of the better ones even if the style is very familiar.

Night of the Kings

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Night of the Kings            3 suns

Night of the Kings is in the category of Spotlight meaning that it has been appearing at a number of film festivals prior to reaching Sundance. The story occurs inside a legendary prison in the Ivory Coast known as MACA. Though the army keeps the prisoners locked inside, the prison is really run by a prisoner known as Blackbeard. He and his friends use this control to profit from the prisoners. There is a tradition observed among the prisoners that during a red moon a “Roman” or storyteller is named who must entertain them with a great story told verbally. Thus, Blackbeard chooses a young prisoner who has just arrived and names him as the new Roman, so he gets the unenviable job. He is up to the task and weaves a fantastical story blending reality with legendary fables that enthralls the prisoners, sometimes to a frenzy. It is amazing that the filmmakers were able to pull this production off with a huge number of cast and extras. As a Westerner it is difficult to understand the beliefs being expressed here including the worship of someone who appears to be a common criminal.

Fire in the Mountains

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Fire in the Mountains                     4 suns

Although I didn’t fully understand it Fire in the Mountains was one of my favorites of the international films. Set in the Himalayan mountains of India, we follow a couple trying to eek out a living in a poor village. They have a young son who cannot walk and there is no road to their part of the village, so the boy must be carried down a trail for trips to the doctor. The mother pleads with officials to get a road built and listens and trusts in the doctors who use Western medicine. The father however, wants to believe in the local religion as preached by the shaman with its folk remedies involving animal sacrifices and elaborate rituals. Funding both views puts enormous stress on the finances of the family leading to conflict. (There is also the threat of being attacked by a leopard in the woods!) The performances were completely convincing and the expansive mountain views were great to look at. Since this movie deals with a culture I know little about there are aspects about it that made little sense to me, but I still found it to be a fascinating story.

Prime Time

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Prime Time         4 suns

The Polish drama Prime Time portrays a fictional hostage situation in a TV studio on live TV om New Years Eve, 1999. A young 20 year-old, Sebastian (Bartosz Bielenia) takes control of the studio with a gun and demands that he be allowed to read his statement to the nation on live TV. The situation becomes a standoff between Sebastian and the television staff and police. The tension between the parties is realistically represented as the police struggle with ways to handle the situation without getting people killed. We also see how the relationship between hostage taker and his two hostages changes as the hours pass by. The actor Bielenia is especially talented with his range of emotions. I saw this same actor only a few months ago in the Polish drama Corpus Christi with his character impersonating a priest in a small village. The producer of Prime Time said he needed to place the film in the nineties to show the importance of television at that time and to avoid the widespread availability of the internet and social media.

The Pink Cloud

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The Pink Cloud                  4 suns

In The Pink Cloud a young couple, Giovana and Yago who have just met are forced to live together in a city apartment in Brazil after the world has suddenly been enveloped by a deadly pink cloud that can kill almost instantly. The two can only communicate with others through their laptops and phones and have to order food and supplies shipped to them through tubes. The circumstances lead them to starting their own family and raising a son which goes on for several years. The interesting thing is how one of them adjusts well to the involuntary confinement and isolation while the other faces a level of anxiety that puts stress on the relationship. There are some interesting games played with neighbors through the apartment windows! The film was written and filmed well before the pandemic so it’s interesting how some of the character’s experiences are the same as what we have been going through. The filmmakers said that the only change they made was in the news casts changing from a cloud covering only Brazil to one covering the whole world. I have to give a big hand to the actors that carried out this job and made the movie believable and realistic.

One for the Road

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One for the Road              4 ½ suns

The road trip romance One for the Road from Thailand was quite a pleasant surprise. Set in New York city and Thailand, Boss, a young Thai bar owner in New York gets a call from his long time friend, Aood who has cancer and doesn’t have long to live. He wants Boss to come back to Thailand to help him see his former girlfriends one last time so he can return something to each one. It then becomes a road trip with the two of them making the journey to each very reluctant girlfriend. Through flashbacks we gradually get more of the story of the past relationships, with each encounter having an American pop song to go along with it. Eventually, the story gets even more interesting as we find out more about the past and the secrets begin to come out. I was very curious about how it would turn out in the end. This is a topnotch romance drama out of director Baz Poonpiriya, who may be new to directing. (Have not heard of him before.) The performances are all excellent as well. See it if you get the chance.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

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Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris               4 stars

2022’s Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, directed by Anthony Fabian, is about as light a movie as they come while being completely charming. Starring Lesley Manville (who commanded her role in Queer last year) as Ada Harris, a middle-aged housekeeper for wealthy clientele, it is like a fairy tale for older women. The movie is based on a novel and is set in 1950’s London. Mrs. Harris is kind, does her work diligently and likes to spend time with her friends (Ellen Thomas and Jason Isaacs). One day at the house of one of her employer’s she spies a genuine Christian Dior dress and falls in love with it, but it is like a dream that can never be realized. Later, Harris, whose husband was killed in the war, suddenly comes into some money and there is no doubt what she must do. Fly to Paris and buy one of those Christian Dior dresses! She charms her way into a Paris Dior fashion show where she is very out of place with the high society crowd but manages none the less to form friendships with company employees and acquaintances of Christian Dior while butting heads with the boss (Isabelle Huppert). There are a few bumps along the way as she manages to buy the dress, lose it and then get it back again. But the charm comes into it as she performs selfless acts for those around her, making their lives better, as well as changing the course of the company, Christian Dior. It’s all very light-hearted and unlikely and a pleasant break from the serious dramas, horror and action movies I’ve seen lately. You won’t be disappointed.