Category Archives: Drama

I’ll Be Gone in June

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I’ll Be Gone in June          3 ½ stars

One more film showing at The Chicago International Film Festival was I’ll Be Gone in June from first time feature film director Katharina Rivilis. The film premiered at Cannes and is produced by Wim Wenders, the highly regarded German filmmaker known for The Buena Vista Social Club. The subject is that all too common character of American comedies, the visiting foreign exchange student. In this case we are not dealing with a comedy and the student is 17-year-old Franny (Naomi Cosma), from a small town in Germany. Franny was assigned to Las Cruces, New Mexico by lottery for a year and is paired with a highly religious, conservative foster family. She experiences culture shock with her host family who don’t approve of her more secular background. She disapproves of Franny speaking German to a fellow German student and of her revealing clothing. Inexplicably, the parents leave Franny and two other girls in the parking lot of a casino while they are inside gambling for hours. The story is complicated by the fact that it is set in 2001, with the terrorist attacks of 9/11 occurring near the outset of Franny’s stay. Thus, while the country is going through the shock of the attack, Franny feels even more like an outsider, experiencing the talk of revenge and seeing the increased security of check points. But she is here for a year and soon finds a good social group to hang out with. The movie wouldn’t be complete without a love interest, and this is provided by Elliot, a depressed musician who is suspected by some of being a drug user. The pair hang out occasionally and become close, but we can see the coming clash between someone with a bright future and another who will be sentenced to a life devoid of opportunity. There are many beautiful scenes featuring the mountainous and desert landscape of New Mexico. The camera work is quite good. The director draws on her own experiences as a German exchange student, being in New Mexico at the time of the 9/11 attacks. While engaging and thoughtful, there was a lot packed into the more than two hours of running time. The film could have easily been shorter without losing much value.

I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming

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I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming         4 stars

At this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, I took in a most unusual war time drama. German director Isabelle Stever’s I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming tells us the LGTBQ story of Olya and Oleh who are in a long-term transgender relationship. This story happens to be set during the opening months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the suburbs of Kyiv. Not only does the young couple have to live in the shadow of war, but they also have to deal with the transphobia of their fellow countrymen. Ukrainian screenwriter Anna Melikova set out to write about what happens when one partner in a lesbian relationship decides to transition into a man. (In the movie it is Oleh who becomes a trans-man.) But then the invasion happened, so she decided to write these events into the screenplay. The couple and Olya’s parents find they must evacuate their home due to the threat of the invading Russian army at the same time that Olya is feeling resentment toward Oleh because she now must be in a heterosexual relationship. When the couple reaches the border and tries to flee the country to go to Germany, they are prevented from crossing since able bodied men may not leave and must serve in the military. As they ponder their situation things get worse when it is reported what the Russians did in their town of Bucha. The movie is one of only a handful of dramatic productions set in the tragedy of the Ukraine war. Plus, it makes viewers aware of the challenges of being LGBTQ in a culture unsympathetic to their issues. The movie is filmed in a very static fashion with still cameras and shots at indirect angles from the subjects, making it appear like we are peering into their world. Amazingly, the director who does not speak Ukrainian was able to pull off this feat. I recommend I Rarely Wake Up Dreaming especially if you haven’t seen a dramatic portrayal of transgender people before.

Operation Finale

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Operation Finale                               3 ½ stars

Operation Finale is the newly released film by director Chris Weitz that tells the true story of the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the mastermind of the final solution by Nazi Germany, the killing of the Jewish population in Europe during World War II.  Eichmann had fled to Argentina after the war along with many other German Nazis where he started a new life with a new Spanish name and family.  The agents of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency have been tirelessly hunting down these former Nazis since the war and in 1960 believe they may have located the long sought after Eichmann in Buenos Aires.  Eichmann, masterfully portrayed by Ben Kingsley maintains that eternal defense that he was merely “following orders” and was but “a cog in a machine”.  Oscar Isaac is Malkin, one of the agents of Mossad who manages to connect with the captured Eichmann in the many conversations with him as the agents are awaiting their opportunity to smuggle him out of the country back to Israel where he is to stand trial.  Isaac does his usual creditable acting performance as the Israeli agent.  Most of the movie focusses on the time that the Israelis have Eichmann in captivity where they attempt to get him to confess his role in the killing of the Jews.  Only in the first part of the movie do we see how the agents find and suspect they may have found the elusive Eichmann.  This part of the film seems unconvincing to me as they seem to have only the thinnest of evidence that they have found the right man.  (Early in the film we see Malkin involved in the killing of a man mistakenly thought to be Eichmann.)  Also, there are flashbacks to scenes of mass killings during the war that are shown as memories of what happened that may or may not be accurate.  What is interesting is Kingsley’s portrayal of the way Eichmann goes from admitting little of his involvement to outright pride of what he accomplished in the face of his captors.  By the end of the film there is no doubt that the agents have found a true psychopath who embodies the phrase “the banality of evil”.  Director Chris Weitz has had a hit and miss career as director, giving us hits About a Boy and A Better Life, while also delivering disappointments like The Golden Compass and the Twilight Saga: New Moon.  Operation Finale was good but not the greatest of his work.

The Breadwinner

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The Breadwinner                             4 ½ stars

The Breadwinner has to be one of the most enthralling and fascinating animated films I have seen in quite a while.  It takes us into the world of Afghanistan during the time when the Taliban have taken control while focusing on one eleven year old girl and her family.  We live through the suffering that this family goes through as the young self-righteous soldiers of the Taliban inflict unimaginable cruelty on those who cannot defend themselves.  Parvana’s father is forced into prison for nothing more than matter of factly addressing a soldier.  When the family is left with no male adults the women are beaten for the crime of walking alone in public trying to buy food.  Parvana then cuts her hair and passes as a boy to go on a quest to free her father from jail.  The story is aided by the stories Parvana tells about a young man trying to save his village by confronting the monsters that have stolen their seeds for crops.  The movie is done with very expressive and colorful animation and treats its characters as very real and believable.  The Breadwinner is suitable for adults and children, though perhaps not for the very young because of the acts of cruelty portrayed.  The Breadwinner is done by the same studio that made The Secret of Kells and The Song of the Sea, two of the best animated films of the last several years.

Searching

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Searching                            4 stars

One of the most original movies to come along lately is Searching which is in theaters now.  It stars John Cho as a widowed father whose teenage daughter has mysteriously gone missing and it is up to him and one police detective to find out what happened to her.  The hunt leads him into the world of his daughter’s social media stored on her computer where he finds out he did not know his daughter very well.  The original aspect is that the movie is told entirely on the screens of computers, smart phones and cameras.  We never see any of the characters in the normal way seen in most movies.  Though there have been many films centered around phones and social media, Searching takes it a step further and does an admirable job of it.  The method of presentation is also aided by having an interesting story that slowly unfolds in front of us as well as some excellent acting from John Cho and Debra Messing who plays the police detective.  I hope it’s not giving anything away if I say things are not what they appear in this movie.  This is a first effort by Screenwriter and Director Aneesh Chaganty.  This 25 year old quit his job in order to make this movie after making commercials for Google.  It looks like he has a promising career ahead of him.

Juliet, Naked

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Juliet, Naked                      4 ½ stars

For a pleasant change I took in a romantic comedy, Juliet, Naked which is recently released and stars Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O’Dowd.  This was not your typical silly derivative romantic comedy, but one that has a more real feel to it, one that has several laughs that can be described as low key, but still very amusing.  O’Dowd is Duncan who lives with his long time girlfriend Annie (Byrne) in a quiet British coastal town and is obsessed with Tucker Crowe, an American rock star who made a splash twenty five years earlier and hasn’t been heard from since.  Duncan even has a website dedicated to his favorite artist and one day receives a recording of an early unfinished version of a Crowe album called Juliet, Naked.  Duncan of course thinks this is a fantastic find, but girlfriend Annie is not so impressed so she writes an anonymous review dismissing the recording as nothing very special, much to the disgust of Duncan.  Well, eventually who should find the review but Tucker Crowe (Ethan Hawke) himself.  Crowe actually agrees with Annie and the two set out to have a regular ongoing correspondence of everything going on in their lives.  We find out that Crowe has made a mess of his life having several children by different women, all of whom he has declined to take responsibility for.  Of course you can see that these two internet friends will have to get together and explore how they can relate in person.  This is when things really start to happen and life gets much more complicated.  The movie works well with its genuine writing and some outstanding performances by all three main characters.  It is also aided by the contributions of two young actors as two of Crowe’s children.  Juliet, Naked is based on a novel by Nick Hornby and works well as a comedy that deals with some real relationship issues, but also delivers its share of comedic moments.  The movie is made even better when you consider it has original music actually sung by Ethan Hawke!

Verity

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Verity    1 ½ stars

Verity is Latin for the word truth. It is also the title of the new psychological thriller by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You, The Eyes of Tammy Faye) based on the novel by Colleen Hoover. Truth can come in many forms, it may not be shared by different people, and it may be very hard to find. This is especially true in Verity. The movie stars Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh, a published yet not very successful fiction writer, Anne Hathaway (who is in about half of the new movies this year) as Verity Crawford, a highly successful writer of fiction and Josh Hartnett as Verity’s husband, Jeremy. Now, do you remember my advice of what to do if a billionaire invites you to their private mansion/island/compound? Apparently, the same applies if a famous writer invites you to their secluded house in the woods. At the outset of the movie, Lowen is walking to a meeting with a publisher when she happens to meet Jeremy at a street corner where she witnesses a bicyclist get killed by a passing car and she ends up covered in the cyclist’s blood. (What a way to introduce a character.) Sympathetic Jeremy helps her get cleaned up and lends her his shirt so she can still make it to her meeting. (Never mind how traumatized she must be.) When she asks him about his reaction to the tragedy, his response is “I’ve seen worse”. Who says that? But then, Jeremy shows up at her meeting as the one making the offer to Lowen for her to be a ghost writer for his wife, Verity to continue writing her wildly successful book series. After some convincing from her agent (Ismael Cruz Cordova), Lowen accepts, but first she must move into the couple’s isolated luxury home so she can research Verity’s materials on her books. Upon arrival she meets their son, Crew, who is about five and finds out that Verity is paralyzed and in a comatose state, requiring round-the-clock care. Lowen is told that this is the result of a recent car accident. (The creepiness expands.) Lowen continues with her mission, delving into Levity’s notes and books that show that Levity writes about some very dark stuff, always from the point of view of the villain. Things take a long time to get going, but eventually we find out that these are some really fucked up people that have an extremely twisted view of things. (One thing though, with this group of actors there is no shortage of steamy sex.) Without giving too much away, Lowen is drawn into a world of deceit that will consume her. The audience too, will become uncertain of what to believe as each layer of complexity is revealed. The more I thought about what I saw, the less I liked it. The actions of the characters are so convoluted and absurd you will leave thinking that no one could think like that. By the final reveal, I was thinking why did I come see this movie. The critics mostly panned it, but it was a box office success. The author, Colleen Hoover has had three other books made into movies: “It Ends with Us”, “Regretting You” and “Reminders of Him”. I have not seen any of them. The movies are described as dull by critics but have made billions of dollars. Now I know that I don’t need to see any of them.

Victoria & Abdul

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Victoria & Abdul                               3 stars

Victoria & Abdul brings actress Judi Dench and director Stephen Frears together again for the telling of the story of Queen Victoria, who in her later years develops an attachment to a young Indian clerk named Abdul Karim.  Abdul has been summoned from India to participate in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee where he finds the old queen seeks to consult with him on a variety of matters and he becomes a teacher of sorts.  All of this is very troubling to the Queen’s staff and in particular, her son Bertie, the Prince of Wales.  They consider it demeaning that a man from a poor family of color could find his way to a position of honor among the royal family.  We are told that this is all based on a true story, but it is one that has gone largely untold. Presumably the family at the time had tried to keep it hidden.  The film is based on a book that was recently published.  Much of the film is done in a comic fashion as it finds comedy in how differently the cultures involved find one another.  Therefore, I have to wonder just how much of the story is true.  But putting all that aside, the film is still quite enjoyable and gives us two fine performances from Judy Dench and Ali Fazal.  Victoria & Abdul was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Costume Design and Best Make up.  Stephen Frears is a very prolific director in Hollywood having directed such outstanding works as Florence Foster Jenkins, Philomena, The Queen, Mrs. Henderson Presents and Dirty Pretty Things.

The Wife

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The Wife                              4 ½ stars

In what is sure to be one of the most critically acclaimed movies of the year, The Wife, Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce star as a couple who have been married for nearly forty years who are about to face the greatest test of how solid their marriage is.  Joe Castleman (Pryce), a famed novelist has just been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature so he and his wife Joan (Close) are about to travel to Stockholm, Sweden to accept the award.  It will be on this trip, also with their son that everything about their marriage will come out in the open causing the full gamut of emotions to be released by these people.  Their son David has been doing some serious writing as well and is very troubled at not receiving the attention from his father that he thinks he deserves.  Flashbacks to the late fifties and sixties show us the early relationship between Joe and Joan, how he had an affair while married to his first wife and how he struggled as a writer at first but became more successful after being married to Joan.  As I watched Glenn Close’s reaction to events and the expressiveness of her face I felt I was viewing a true master of acting.  She will make you feel what the character is feeling.  The story is rather slow moving at first but is well written and I think it is safe to say there will be some Academy Award nominations for this film including Best Actress for Glenn Close (to add to her six previous nominations).

Digger

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Digger   3 ½ stars

Have you been wondering what Tom Cruise has been up to since his last two installments of Mission: Impossible? It’s not another stunt-filled action movie like we have been used to. We found out this past weekend with the release of Digger, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman and Biutiful), a political satire about a southern billionaire oilman who may be responsible for the end of human civilization. Cruise has left his usual action star routine and transformed himself into a bombastic bigger than life tycoon who lives in a mansion and wears silk pajamas and snakeskin boots. It’s hard to recognize him under the makeup and the fat suit, but he makes himself known through the most over the top performance we have seen from him. The movie starts with bubbles emerging from the ocean floor. Then we find Digger Rockwell (Cruise) in bed attending to his sick cat, which appears to be an animatronic creation and not the real thing. (This is a hint as what will come later.) When he gets an emergency telephone call from an employee and is visited by some of his technical experts, it becomes apparent that there has been an explosion at the company’s oil rig in Greenland that resulted from a giant crack in the earth’s surface and a massive methane release. A large chunk of the ice shelf has broken free and may be headed to the coast of northern Europe where it would cause the greatest environmental disaster in history. A meeting of the President of the United States (John Goodman in a performance that matches his Big Lebowski role in intensity) and his cabinet is called at Digger’s mansion where the problem is presented and possible responses are considered. In discussions resembling our current state of affairs, possible options range from military strikes to calling for a spiritual revival to absolving those responsible of guilt and blaming the Russians. Later, in the master set piece of the movie, the leaders of the world are gathered in a large amphitheater like room where Digger makes an over-the-top speech with plenty of stomping and yelling taking blame for the catastrophe but also making himself out to be the hero as he was just satisfying the world’s unquenchable appetite for cheap energy. There is nothing subtle about Iñárritu’s intent here. Through all the satire and insane scenes, he is saying that we are our own enemy. Though we want to blame a few powerful men, we really must blame ourselves. Besides the loud performances, the story probably won’t land with many audiences used to Tom Cruise’s more conventional action movies. And it hasn’t been well received with critics either. It doesn’t quite match the humor of Don’t Look Up, that other comedy about an environmental disaster. This was a swing for the fences attempt for the moviemakers and for Cruise. The production though is top notch. It is apparent there was a lot of money behind this effort. Other notable cast members are Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) as the scientist warning Digger about the disaster, Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall), Digger’s sister, a scientist working on renewable energy, Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name) as the US Vice-President and Jesse Plemons as a big tech billionaire. I can’t say what to expect when awards season comes, but it looks like a big swing and a miss. If you see it, watch for the big plot twist!