Category Archives: Romance

Better Days

Better Days         4 stars

The movie Better Days, released in 2019 is a representation of the high stress levels on high school students in China combined with the prevalence of bullying among peers in the schools. Based on actual events it follows the life of Chen Nian, a high school girl going through final exams which determine the fate of millions of Chinese every year. Nian is from an impoverished home where she lives with her mother and where they are being hounded by creditors. As if this isn’t enough Nian is being bullied by some of the girls at her school, but the level of bullying is much more extreme than what kids experience here in America. It rises to the level of criminal behavior, and for poor Nian the police and her teachers are completely ineffective in dealing with the problem, so she turns to Xiao Bei, a local street punk who himself is constantly beaten by local gangs. Bei vows to protect her from the abusive classmates. It is then that the movie turns into more of a doomed romance story between the two main characters. There are more aspects of the story including a police investigation and deaths of some students that I won’t go into, but it is a very compelling story with some good performances. The story does get a little confusing as some of the editing is done with flashbacks and because of the unfamiliar Chinese names the characters have. It helps to be able to do a little rewinding to follow the plot. The movie is significant as the real events led Chinese authorities to examine the problem of bullying in their schools that resulted in reforms that successfully reduced the problem. Be warned that the level of violence toward these kids is more than we would expect in a story concerning high school students. Better Days was nominated for Best International Feature Film in 2021.

Your Monster

Your Monster    3 stars

Once again, I had the chance to see a film in the theaters that I missed this year at Sundance. Your Monster by first time director Caroline Lindy is a sort of rom-com horror movie for women coming out of a bad relationship. In the movie Laura (Melissa Barrera of 2021’s In the Heights) is an actor and musical theater geek who has been dating Jacob (Edmund Donovan), a theater director for five years and has been helping him with developing his musical production. That is, until Laura is diagnosed with cancer and the douchebag, Jacob decides to leave her. (It is reported that Lindy came up with the story based on her own experience with a douchebag; hence the movie trailer claim: “based on a true-ish story”). With the help of her only friend, Masie (Kayla Foster), Laura moves into her mother’s house and becomes an emotional wreck (an understatement to be sure). It is there that she discovers that there is a rather fearsome looking monster living in her bedroom closet and that he has been there since Laura was a child. The monster is played by Tommy Dewey who is also the executive producer of the movie. At first, Laura is scared to death of this creature, and he wants her out of the house. But since she has no place to go, they tolerate each other and try to work out a living arrangement. As the two become more familiar, the monster, who sports a beard and has a catlike appearance, encourages her to audition for a part in Jacob’s musical and she gives it a try, landing an understudy role for the part that was originally intended for her. Then as things progress, she finds that this monster also has an interest in literature and theater, so the two become a little too close. Eventually, the monster becomes like an inner voice to Laura, making her realize how she has been wronged by Jacob and should find a way to express her feelings. Naturally, things go a little too far with some brutal and bloody consequences, a requirement of most horror movies even if it is a romcom. Most of the movie though has a light feel to it thanks to the numerous musical numbers that could come out of a forties or fifties musical comedy. I thought it was an interesting take on the comedy horror genre, but I found the monster to be a little too perfect for Laura to really buy it. (If he spends all his time in the closet and under the bed, why should he know so much about the outside world after all.) For a better performance by Tommy Dewey, you should see the movie Saturday Night where he plays the head writer of Saturday Night, Michael O’Donoghue. For a more entertaining comedy horror movie I recommend Ginger Snaps which I reviewed last year.

West Side Story

West Side Story                5 stars

We’ve had a few movie musicals hit the theaters in the past year to great acclaim such as In the Heights and Tick Tick Boom. But December brought us the big one, Steven Spielberg’s remake of the classic 1961 West Side Story. This updated version has all the same memorable musical numbers of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim performed to perfection. Add to it the free flowing dance numbers done by ethnically correct actors and an updated take on the racial tensions between the white gang called the Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks and you have a sure hit on your hands. The Romeo and Juliet story brought to the blighted streets of New York requires a young cast and it was filled out with very talented actors. They include Rachel Zegler as the love struck Maria and Ansel Elgort (of Baby Driver) as her lover Tony who have some great chemistry between them. The gang leaders, Bernardo (David Alvarez) and Riff (Mike Faist) bring their race hating contempt to reality in their roles. Ariana DeBose as Anita, the girlfriend of Bernardo has some very energetic performances in “America” and her preaching to Maria about the dangerous path she is taking. Of course the presence of Rita Moreno cannot be missed with the specially created role of Valentina made for her. She was the original Anita in the 1961 version sixty years ago. At the age of 90 she shows that she has still got it. Other than the music I could not remember that much of the original movie (based on the Broadway musical), but the story of the doomed lovers in the setting of a racially tinged gang war is something that is relevant across multiple eras. I hope it is finding a wide audience.

Girl Picture

Girl Picture                                         4 suns

We end on a positive note with Girl Picture, a sort of coming of age movie from Finland. It features three teenage girls who exploring their feelings about love and sex. Two of the girls, Mimmi and Emma, form a new romance with each other without the knowledge of their parents, while the third, Ronkko, is checking out the teen parties in search of satisfying sex. I thought it was a positive portrayal of female relationships where the girls do not depend on the approval of males and are not in threatening situations that are common in so many teen movies. The three actresses in the lead roles has admirable performances.

Licorice Pizza

Licorice Pizza                      5 stars

Over the past decade or so filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson has brought us such memorable and entertaining films as Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread. This year he has done it again with Licorice Pizza, a comedy romance set in early seventies Encino, California, concerning an on again, off again romance between 15 year old Gary (Cooper Hoffman, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman) and 25 year old Alana (Alana Haim). This may sound as inappropriate and implausible but Anderson makes it work and keeps us rooting for Gary in his quest for romance. It is not only Gary’s pursuit of Alana that keeps our interest, but also the many other exploits and situations this unlikely pair find themselves in. Somehow, 15 year old Gary starts a business selling waterbeds with Alana’s help as well as that of his 15 year old friends and later opens a pinball machine arcade. Gary has a mother who occasionally appears, but he is largely on his own in his various pursuits. He is even a frequent customer of a restaurant visited by Hollywood figures. Young actor Hoffman pulls off the part making you love his character, pimply face and all. Alana, who lives with her Jewish family (with her own real life family playing the part) at first finds Gary’s proposals ridiculous but later is drawn in by his persistence. The film is also noteworthy for the choice of music taken from artists of the sixties and early seventies including The Doors, Gordon Lightfoot, Wings and Blood, Sweat and Tears. There are some special supporting roles that deserve mention, especially Bradley Cooper as a narcissistic movie producer with a bad temper. His performance is worthy of an Academy Award nomination. Sean Penn makes an appearance as what seems to be a porn movie producer and John Michael Higgins is a Japanese restaurant owner who makes some very offensive racially insensitive remarks toward Asian women in some controversial scenes. Apparently the film is loosely based on the life of a friend of Anderson’s giving it an element of truth. Through much of the movie I had the feeling that this is completely ridiculous but it is still funny. Maybe in 1973 things like this could have happened. I have no doubt that Licorice Pizza will be nominated for Best Picture and it very well could win the Oscar.

The Worst Person in the World

The Worst Person in the World                  3 stars

The subject of The Worst Person in the World is not a war criminal but a young woman in Oslo, Norway who is trying to manage her love life and find a career that has meaning and that she can stick with. The film is by acclaimed director Joachim Trier, this being the third film of a trilogy. Not having seen any of her earlier work I have only this film to go by. It is billed as a romantic comedy though I would have to say it is untraditional. The actors are first rate and believable, but I did not find them to be very likable. Julie wanders from one career to another including medical student, psychology student, writer and photographer and meets and falls for Aksel, a popular underground comic book artist who draws a catlike character that many women find offensive. At first I found him annoying and needy, but later on I came to empathize with him. Julie is apparently the title character and some of her actions made her deserve it, especially the way she treats Aksel when things get tough. There are also instances where the film veers into fantasy sequences that I could not see the need for. Why does the filmmaker have to get so cute and go in such a weird direction? Also, you should be warned there is some rather graphic sexual talk. The film has created a stir in the film festivals, but I can’t say I shared in the enthusiasm. The film is from Norway and is nominated for International Feature Film.

Turning Red

Turning Red                        4 stars

Pixar’s 2022 animated film Turning Red takes a different twist on the coming-of-age theme. This first full-length Pixar film to be directed by a woman (Domee Shi) tackles the subject of puberty and menstruation in a teen-age girl by using a metaphor in the form of a giant red panda. 13-year-old Chinese Canadian Mei lives with her immigrant Chinese family in 2008 Toronto and is a normal kid, though anxious and an overachiever in school. Her mother, Ming (Sandra Oh) is very controlling and likes to keep a watchful eye on her only daughter. Mei likes to hang out with her girlfriends and talk about their favorite boy band. Things seem perfectly normal, that is until she experiences a sudden change in her mood and finds herself very attracted to a certain boy in school. It is then that she discovers that feeling strong emotions makes her transform into a giant red panda with extraordinary strength. This is symbolic in movie terms of something powerful going on in her body, making her temporarily lose control of her emotions, a common occurrence in teenagers. Naturally, she tries to hide the transformation from her friends; that is, until she finds it can be a way to be more popular. Then the trick is to hide the change from Mom and her family. The girls secretly scheme to use Mei’s gift to raise money so they can attend a concert of their favorite boy band, 4 Town. (Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell wrote much of the original music that makes the boy band seem genuine.) But then there is more to the story when it is revealed that the giant red panda is really a sort of family curse that is visited upon all the female members of this family. Traditionally, they must perform a ritual that will keep the panda in check. The movie is a tactful yet amusing way of presenting the change that will relate to teenage girls while likely be over the heads of, yet be fun to much younger viewers. Turning Red adds to Pixar’s list of successful films dealing with certain human conditions that includes Coco, Soul and Inside Out. In a way, Inside Out 2 addresses the same subject as Turning Red but is a little more abstract. Unfortunately, for Pixar, they were forced to remove the movie from theaters and show it exclusively on streaming platforms because of pressure put on them from concerned parent groups who found the subject matter too controversial for their sensitive tastes. But at least young audiences have a way of seeing this colorful, action-filled film from Pixar. Domee Shi is an Academy Award winner having previously made the animated short film, Bao, about Asian parents becoming empty nesters.

Cyrano

Cyrano                  4 ½ stars

In Cyrano we get a reimagining of the classic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac, the poetically gifted man who thought himself too hideous to be loved by the woman he adored. This latest version stars Peter Dinklage as the man of wit who is also an expert swordsman able to fight off ten men at once when challenged. The story has been done on film innumerable times with the title role taken by Jose Ferrer, Christopher Plummer, Gerard Depardieu and Kevin Kline among them. There have been adaptations such as Roxanne, The Truth About Cats and Dogs, Megamind and most recently The Half of It. Usually the story is told as a romantic comedy, but here director Joe Wright tells it as a tragic love story with dire consequences for all those involved. We get the added feature of it being a musical with melodious songs sung by Dinklage and Haley Bennett as Roxanne, the object of affection. The singing really adds a new dimension to the story especially with the rich voice of Dinklage, who also has one of the most expressive faces I have seen in the movies. Bennett, previously known for The Girl on the Train and Swallow is effervescent as the woman who is smitten by Christian (Kelvin Harrison, Jr.), a common soldier, but is forever just friends with poor Cyrano. One of the opening scenes at the theater introduces us to Cyrano and the mood of the film where he ridicules a popular actor on stage to the point of humiliation and then proceeds to kill another man in a duel in a sword fight on the stage. We know then that this is no light comedy. Besides the musical numbers there are some interesting dance numbers with swordplay by soldiers to music. Cyrano is a welcome addition to the musicals of the past year that includes West Side Story and tick, tick…BOOM! Without giving too much away the movie is tragic, but with a ray of hope by the time we get to the end.

Mr. Malcolm’s List

Mr. Malcolm’s List                            3 ½ stars

In Mr. Malcolm’s List we travel back to the London of the 1810’s in a Jane Austen-esc period comedy romance about beautiful people of high society. I understand this type of thing is on TV now in Bridgerton, but Mr. Malcolm’s List is a much lighter version that should appeal to a variety of audiences. Mr. Malcolm (Sope Dirisu) is rich and single and is London’s most sought after bachelor who is on a mission to find his perfect mate. One candidate for Malcolm’s affections, Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton) has accompanied him to the opera and was embarrassed to have answered a question about local politics in a peculiar way and is ridiculed in a local publication. She is incensed to discover from her silly cousin Lord Cassidy that Mr. Malcolm has a list of traits that must be met for any potential mate. Julia must get her revenge and the perfect plan is to enlist her poor childhood friend from the country, Selina Dalton (the beautiful Freida Pinto) to fulfil the list’s requirements and then reject Mr. Malcolm. What a dastardly plan! The movie has all the features of a romantic story for this period: the grand balls, the polite conversation, the horseback rides and the secret meetings. It has a nearly all female production staff and a very diverse cast that gives a different look to London high society of the early nineteenth century. Previously, it was a short of the same name featuring the same two main actors, Dirisu and Pinto, in the main roles. It’s not quite Jane Austen but it will do for one and a half hours of light entertainment.

Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing                             2 stars

I have not read the book that Where the Crawdads Sing is based on, but judging by the talk about it the book by Delia Shannon it must be a real page turner. It’s too bad that the feel of the book did not translate very well in Olivia Newman’s on-screen adaptation. The movie follows the life of young Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones of Normal People) who must live on her own in the swamps of North Carolina after suffering the abuse of her father and being abandoned by her entire family. Kya is considered a pariah by the local people and is referred to as swamp-girl. She has few friends as she must fend for herself starting at age seven. The story involves a possible murder when a body is found at the bottom of a fire tower so naturally it is assumed that the loner Kya must have been the murderer despite a total lack of evidence. Enter retired lawyer Tom Milton (a very lawyerly David Strathairn) who volunteers to defend the accused Kya for no pay. One should not think of this movie as a murder mystery as doing so will leave them disappointed. The less said about that the better. Rather it should be viewed as a story about surviving against all odds and as a love story. Even so the story was not all that convincing perhaps because of some of the supporting performances or not taking full advantage of the southern setting of the movie. The abusive Chase (Harris Dickenson) who Kya initially falls for is very two dimensional. I saw it as so much melodrama that did not grab my full attention. None of this is the fault of the lead actress, Edgar-Jones who gives a creditable performance as Kya.