Category Archives: Drama

Halloween

Halloween          4 stars

Halloween night is approaching and the kids are out trick or treating in their costumes and the teenagers are having a party. In the small town of Haddonfield that can only mean one thing. Michael Myers is about to unleash terror with a bloody murder spree on the town’s inhabitants. In a freak mishap the insane killer has escaped from the mental institution where he has resided for the past forty years. But Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis, the Scream Queen) who somehow survived the slaughter all those years ago has been obsessed with Myers and has prepared her house to serve as a fortress with a safe room and an arsenal that matches that of the most devoted survivalists. This version of Halloween is the first of a trilogy made by director David Gordon Green with John Carpenter, the director of the original 1978 Halloween and it stays true to that original movie. You should forget all those other sequels made over the years, most of which are dreadful. This time we get a real feeling of the psychological damage done to Laurie with her obsession being responsible for her losing custody of her daughter Karen (Judy Greer) at age twelve, who now has her own teenage daughter Allyson (Andi Matichak). After the first few victims meet their fate, being battered and slashed (including a pair of unfortunate podcasters from England hoping to research Michael Myers as well as a psychiatrist who only wants to understand what drives this killer) the inevitable showdown will occur with the three women of this damaged family and the man in the white mask. With its camera shots of the killer’s view, the suspenseful scenes of impending doom and the updated theme music, this version of Halloween captures the style of the 1978 classic. Of course we know that the threat didn’t end with this film despite the climactic ending. There are still two more sequels to come!

Till

Till           4 ½ stars

In this season of Halloween when children become little monsters begging for candy, a film has come along that reminds us there are real monsters in the world that bring terror greater than what we see portrayed in the movies. Till brings a retelling of the all too true and familiar story of the kidnapping and murder of teenager Emmett Till who was visiting cousins in 1955 Mississippi and made the mistake of whistling at a white woman in the Jim Crow south. The well-known crime and the trial of the men responsible is told primarily this time from the point of view of Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler (from The Harder They Fall as a male character!)), the boy’s mother, who went from grieving the loss of her son to becoming an icon of the Civil Rights Movement of the fifties and sixties. The screenplay is a straight forward telling of the events that shows us her concern for her boy’s safety and her historic decision of putting Till’s battered body on display for the world to see. We are fortunately spared any scenes depicting the actual torture and murder, but do see the terror of the family when Till was kidnapped during the night by the two men who committed the act. The importance of the event becomes clear when the NAACP becomes involved and Mobley is encouraged to go to Mississippi to testify at the murder trial. The heartfelt performance of Deadwyler is absolutely engaging as she expresses the pain and resolve of dealing with the overwhelming situation. I definitely look for an Academy Award nomination for Deadwyler. Other than young Jalyn Hall as Emmett the rest of the cast is not nearly as memorable. The highly accurate sets and the use of the popular music of the time evokes the feeling of what fifties were like. As a reminder of where we have come as a country and where we are today, Till needs to be seen. Also, for a good documentary on the history of lynching in the US, I highly recommend Always in Season from 2019.

Triangle of Sadness

Triangle of Sadness         3 ½ stars

If you go to see Ruben Ostlund’s new comedy Triangle of Sadness be ready for a series of excrement related scenes and that means literally. This movie by the maker of Force Majeure and The Square takes aim at the superrich and the world of high fashion and does some serious well-deserved damage. In the early scenes we meet Carl and Yaya (Charlbi Dean who passed away only a couple of months ago), a young celebrity couple who are trying to define their relationship over the payment of the dinner check. Carl sees himself as a feminist while Yaya seems to want a traditional relationship despite the fact that she makes more money than Carl. The pair then receive a cruise on a luxury yacht as a gift where the action among the superrich plays out. We meet several of mega-millionaires and get a dose of how they treat the ship’s crew and see how they can do damage to the common working people without even realizing the pain they cause. The wealthy passengers include a British couple in the arms manufacturing business, a tech genius and a Russian oligarch who sells fertilizer (or shit as he puts it). We also get a dose of the different sociological classes among the crew from the always cheerful servers down to the toilet cleaners. Then there is the captain, Thomas Smith (Woody Harrelson) who is more interested in entertaining the guests and drinking than he is in running the ship. The movie’s centerpiece (a literal shitshow) is the Captain’s Dinner which takes place in the dining hall where gourmet meals are served to the guests. Only it is happening in the middle of a violent storm. This is where seasickness takes over among the passengers resulting in the misery brought on by projectile vomit and overflowing toilets. Through all this the American captain who sees himself as a Marxist and the Russian fertilizer capitalist get into a drunken duel quoting well known figures over the struggle between capitalism and socialism. (You see the irony?) The point of the movie really hits the audience over the head as it skewers the superrich no matter what economic system it is under which they acquired their wealth. Eventually the movie shows that there are situations where having great wealth does not work to the characters’ advantage. Having the skillset of a common laborer can be very valuable, though even that can be abused. Don’t look for much in the way of plot in this movie. In that respect it is similar to Ostlund’s The Square from 2017 which also concerned the behavior of the ultrarich. While I completely approve of the subject matter of the film, it did tend to get repetitive and at two and a half hours, it was too drawn out. Even so, look for it to be talked about when the awards season comes to us.

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan   3 stars

The One and Only Ivan was brought to us in 2020 by Disney and stars Sam Rockwell as a silverback gorilla, Ivan who is kept in a cage and serves as the main attraction at a small-time mall, video-arcade managed by Mack (Brian Cranston). This combination live action-CGI film is intended primarily for children and is told in a quiet manner, focusing on how the animals feel about their situation. The computer animation is excellent, but the movie lacks the action one would associate with the usual Disney style for children’s movies. Also included among the mall animals are an elephant named Stella (Angelina Jolie), a chicken named Henrietta (Chaka Khan), a glam poodle named Snickers (Helen Mirren) and Bob, a lovable mutt (Danny DeVito) who provides the comic effect. This unlikely crew vacillates between wanting to put on a good show for a dwindling audience and longing for a better life away from captivity. But it is only when owner Mack tries to get Ruby (Brooklynn Prince), a very young elephant to perform on her own that Ivan feels driven to action. The movie is based on a popular children’s novel by Katherine Applegate which itself is based on a real life gorilla named Ivan who lived for 27 years in a cage in a mall and was ultimately moved to the open spaces of Zoo Atlanta after getting the attention of protesters decrying the living conditions of the ape. The script is by Mike White who also did School of Rock. The movie is a good one for the kids but may go a little light on its subject of animal captivity. It is available on Disney +.

Passing

Passing                 4 stars

In 2021 one of the most sought-after tickets at Sundance was for the movie Passing. I couldn’t get one then but recently saw this offering written and directed by the actress Rebecca Hall (The Prestige, Vicki Christina Barcelona, The Town). The name of the movie comes from the practice of light skinned Black Americans passing as white to escape discrimination. This first effort of Hall’s tells of the relationship between two former classmates, two young Black women who meet by chance one day after twelve years at an upscale hotel dining hall in New York. It is the 1920’s so Jim Crow is very alive in this setting. Irene (Tessa Thompson (the Creed movies and the Avengers movies)) is light skinned so can be mistaken for being white, though that is not her intention. The other, Clare (Ruth Negga (Loving)), blonde and appearing to be white, gets Irene’s (Rene) attention and introduces herself. Rene finds out that Clare now has a white husband and a daughter and that the husband (Alexander Skarsgärd) has no clue that Clare is actually part black. (He also has severely racist views!) Rene lives in a nice Harlem brownstone and is married to a black man (André Holland) who is a doctor. They have two sons and a live-in maid. After some time, Clare works her way into Rene’s life saying she misses her old life. Rene lives comfortably, volunteering for the Negro League, attending balls and tea dances and associating with a white novelist (Bill Camp). All of this is very intriguing to Clare who recklessly finds a way to join in the fun. Clare even flirts with Rene’s husband who insists that he doesn’t care for her. It is clear that Rene is uncomfortable with Clare’s actions but puts up with the behavior for the sake of being civil. While Clare is the one who is pretending and playing with fire, the movie is really about Rene’s reaction to this new presence. Rene has a comfortable life but is forced to face the presence of racism that brought these circumstances to reality. Both actresses are superb in their roles with Thompson getting credit for an emotionally subdued performance. The feeling of the story is aided by the black and white filming, the old fashioned 4:3 aspect ratio and a great jazz score accompanying the film. I recommend it as a drama that will make you think.

The Banshees of Inisherin

The Banshees of Inisherin            5 stars

One has only to look at the credits of writer/director Martin McDonagh that include In Bruges and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to know that we must be in for a great story in the movie The Banshees of Inisherin and he certainly does not disappoint. This is a simple story about a friendship between two friends that ends and turns into something tragic. It is one that has been brewing in McDonagh’s mind going back decades. The two friends, Colm (Brendan Gleeson) and Padraic (Colin Farrell) live on an isolated island off the coast of Ireland and have shared conversations over a pint for many years when Colm suddenly wants nothing to do with his friend anymore because as he puts it, “I just don’t like ya no more.” The poor dull Padraic has no idea what it is that he could have said or done to upset Colm and is determined to make things right again. His smart sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon) and the local lovable dimwit Dominic (Barry Keoghan of The Killing of a Sacred Deer) also get involved in the conflict all to no avail. Colm is just as determined to avoid Padraic because he doesn’t want to waste his time on more meaningless chatter, and ultimately issues an ultimatum to show just how serious he is. The setting of the story in 1923 during the Irish Civil War is also significant as it serves to show just how dire the situation has become. The movie is described as a comedy which is true because there is plenty of witty and amusing dialogue between the two great actors as well as among the other actors. And there is plenty of use of the word “feck” in many contexts. But the movie is also a very serious drama in which the director manages to gradually raise the level of tension to the point where things are about to explode. Neither character can be labeled as the bad guy here but that doesn’t mean that things can’t get very tragic. This is actually the second time the pair of Gleeson and Farrell have worked with McDonagh to great success, the first being In Bruges back in 2008. Based on what I have seen The Banshees of Inisherin should be considered a strong contender for Best Picture of the Year. You should not miss it.

The Vast of Night

The Vast of Night              4 ½ stars

I first heard of The Vast of Night in the early days of the pandemic and finally saw it recently. This is a very low budget science fiction thriller set in a 1950’s small town in New Mexico. Two nerdy teenagers, Everett (Jake Horowitz) and Fay (Sierra McCormick) are not interested in the night’s high school basketball game, preferring to spend the evening talking about their technical pursuits like recording conversations on Fay’s new tape recorder and going to their night jobs as a radio DJ for Everett and a switchboard operator for Fay. But this is a night unlike any other when they hear strange sounds over the telephone and learn of bizarre reports of something in the sky. Things are slow through the first half hour of the movie but pick up as the pair track down older people who have stories from their past about strange happenings involving government UFO projects and disappearances of people. The film pays homage to some of the science fiction movies of the 50’s and uses some interesting techniques like filming with a camera soaring through windows and through the streets of the town. McCormick performs magnificently in one scene where she works the switchboard for what seems like ten minutes gradually picking up clues from callers that something is amiss. The scene is done in one continuous take. The film really picks up the pace in the final twenty minutes as the two get closer to the truth about what could be an alien invasion. This is the first movie made by Andrew Patterson who filmed it in Texas on a shoestring and came up with something that is truly original.

The Fabelmans

The Fabelmans                 4 ½ stars

Steven Spielberg brings his magic to filmmaking once again, this time in a personal way in The Fabelmans. This is the movie of this season that I have been waiting for. Based largely on Spielberg’s own experiences of learning to love making movies when he was a child, the film follows the childhood of Sammi Fabelman starting with his parents taking him to a showing of The Greatest Show on Earth in 1952. Sammi starts to film an electric train set using his dad’s 8mm camera and in doing so finds his passion. He is strongly encouraged to pursue his interests by a loving mother, Mitzi (Michelle Williams) who gave up a career as a concert pianist to be a suburban housewife. His father Burt (Paul Dano) is a computer genius in the days when computers were in their infancy. Burt is a committed family man devoted to his wife and children, but doesn’t quite understand Sammi’s obsession with making movies. He often refers to it as a hobby. Sammi may not understand it that well himself; that is until Mitzi’s uncle Boris (a wild-haired Judd Hirsch) shows up one day and tells him how his love of art will tear him apart! Then there is no stopping Sammi as he puts together stories on film using his local boy scout troop to make movies about the Wild West and World War II (his Daddy’s war). But the film is about more than Sammi’s love for movies though. At the core of it, it is about his family and about his mother’s love for him and their family. It is also about Sammi coming to realize that his parents are people too and that they come with all the imperfections of people. He must learn to love them in spite of all their faults, which I believe is the main message that Spielberg is telling us. Look for Spielberg’s personal look at moviemaking to make a run for a Best Picture Oscar and for another nomination for Michelle Williams for her portrayal of the mother. You should not miss seeing this one in the theaters where it is currently playing.

The Persian Version

The Persian Version  4 1/2 stars

The Persian Version has to be one of the funniest comedy-dramas at the festival.  It is the story of an Iranian-American family in New York City as told by daughter Leila who has seven brothers.  The story begins with the family gathering when the father has to have a heart transplant.  The movie is about the difference in cultures between the US and Iran and how the characters have to adapt to it. It spans a time from the sixties up to near the present.  As far as the story itself,  it is an amusing way of showing the conflict between mother and daughter,  done brilliantly by actors Layla Mohammadi and Niousha Noor. There are many funny moments including times when the main characters directly address the camera.  Despite their differences we see how mother and daughter are both determined to do things their way and to survive in a foreign culture.  The Persian Version won the Audience Award for US Dramatic and is one of the favorites among fans.

Animalia

Animalia 3 1/2 stars

Animalia is an unusual science fiction story set in Morocco about some strange happenings that lead to an alien presence that affects the natural world and humans.  Itto is very pregnant and is to be left alone in the family’s opulent mansion while husband,  Amine is away on business.  A state of emergency is declared because of odd weather happenings and Itto is forced to evacuate with some help from the local peasants, but the locals resent her expensive trappings and she is stranded in a village far from her husband. There she sees animals that behave strangely. We never actually see the aliens.  We only see the effect they have on people as those affected become blissful and content giving us the feeling that the world is about to change.  The movie is hopeful,  but exposes the distinction in people based on class differences.  The filmmaker,  Sofia Alaoui is French-Moroccan and previously made the sci-fi short,  So What If The Goats Die which I saw at a previous Sundance. The French title is Parmi Nous which means Among Us. Animalia won the Special Jury Award: Creative Vision.