movie – The Movie Gourmet

WE THE ANIMALS: not a feel-good

August 27, 2018 by movie gourmet

The coming-of-age drama We the Animals is decidedly NOT a feel good movie. It’s about a working class Puerto Rican family in rural up-state New York. The mom has a factory job, and the dad works night security. The couple sleeps on the couch so the boys get the only bedroom. The youngest boy sneaks under the bed at night and draws; in We the Animals’ most inventive aspect, his drawings are animated throughout the film.

The dad hits the mom and leaves. The mom is disabled by depression. Without adult guidance, the boys become feral. As we watch them roam wild, we worry about their immediate safety and welfare; and we worry about what they’ll become.

We the Animals has its moments, including two very compelling scenes, the first when the dad is prone on the floor and the boys let their feelings about him explode. The second involves the youngest son’s drawings. And the most poignant scene is when the mom asks her youngest to stay his current age.

Raúl Castillo and Sheila Vand play the parents, and both deliver excellent performances. The non-actor kids are remarkable, too.

This film has won festival awards and received very good reviews. But, only 93 minutes long, We the Animals feels longer. Ironically, the movie’s success in making you care and worry about the kids also makes it a grind for the audience.

When I’m writing about what’s up on the screen, I usually consider it bad form to compare it to another movie. But I realized why We the Animals just didn’t work for me – it is clearly inferior to Sean Baker’s The Florida Project, which is an oft-thrilling movie from just last year, also centered on free-ranging poor kids. So there.

coming up on TV: DOWNHILL RACER

September 1, 2016 by movie gourmet

On September 2, Turner Classic Movies is airing 1970’s Downhill Racer, set in the world of competitive Alpine skiing. Robert Redford plays a handsome and talented, but insolent, ski star with daddy issues and a tendency to self-sabotage. As he strives to make the US team, he clashes with the no-nonsense coach (Gene Hackman). Downhill Racer came at a pivotal point in the careers of Redford, Hackman and the director Michael Ritchie.

As a filmmaker, Ritchie was comfortable telling a story without much dialogue – very spare, Hackman’s character is terse, and Redford’s is a sphinx. Redford’s character, especially, is often quietly observed as he goes about his business, emphasizing his self-isolation. The ski races are classic, with soundtrack adorned only with the swishing of the skis and the crunching of the snow.

Downhill Racer remains at the top of the ski movie genre. The great sound is matched by beautiful mountain visuals and groundbreaking camerawork.

To most Americans, alpine skiing was pretty new and sexy in 1970. We had become familiar with the sport through ABC’s Wild World of Sports and the 1968 Olympics, dominated by the handsome Jean-Claude Killy. The sport’s American stars were not from the among the affluent Americans who took ski vacations, but from workaday kids who grew up in the Rockies – just like Redford’s character.

When they made Downhill Racer, the three principals were each at the cusp of stardom. Ritchie had directed lots of TV, but this was his first theatrical feature. He followed it with his masterpiece The Candidate, still the best film ever about American politics. He followed that with work that included The Bad News Bears, Semi-tough, Fletch, The Scout and The Positively True Adventures of the Cheerleader-Murdering Mom; note that, except for Fletch, those films centered on competition in sports and politics.

Redford became well-known for Barefoot in the Park in 1967 and then a huge star with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). In 1970, he was poised for an amazing run with The Candidate, Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, The Sting, The Great Gatsby, The Great Waldo Pepper, Three Days of the Condor and All the President’s Men – all made in the FIVE years 1972-1976

Gene Hackman had a memorable supporting turn in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde and then starred in The Gypsy Moths (1969). He made Downhill Racer just before his career exploded with I Never Sang for My Father, The French Connection, The Conversation and his two Oscars.

Robert Redford and Gene Hackman in DOWNHILL RACER

DVD/Stream of the Week: THE SAPPHIRES

March 15, 2016 by movie gourmet

In honor of the recently concluded Cinequest, here’s a nugget from the 2013 fest: The Sapphires is a triumph of a Feel Good Movie. Set in the 1960s, a singing group from an Australian Aboriginal family faces racial obstacles at home, but blossoms when the girls learn Motown hits to entertain US troops in Vietnam. Remarkably, Tony Briggs based the screenplay on his mother’s real experience – make sure you stay for the Where Are They Now end credits.

The ever amiable Chris O’Dowd (one of the best things about Bridesmaids) is funny and charming as the girls’ dissolute manager. Jessica Mauboy, who plays the lead singer, has a great voice for soul music. A surprisingly beautiful song by the girls’ mom, played by veteran actress Kylie Belling, is an especially touching moment.

The Sapphires is not a deep movie, but it is a satisfying one. It’s predictable and manipulative, but I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t enjoy it. The Sapphires is a guaranteed good time at the movies.

The Sapphires is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, GooglePlay and Flixster.

DVD/Stream of the Week: The Sapphires

September 24, 2013 by movie gourmet

The Sapphires is a triumph of a Feel Good Movie. Set in the 1960s, a singing group from an Australian Aboriginal family faces racial obstacles at home, but blossoms when the girls learn Motown hits to entertain US troops in Vietnam. Remarkably, Tony Briggs based the screenplay on his mother’s real experience – make sure you stay for the Where Are They Now end credits.

The Sapphires is available on DVD from Netflix and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, GooglePlay and other VOD outlets.

The Sapphires: irresistible

April 4, 2013 by movie gourmet

The Sapphires is not a deep movie, but it is a satisfying one. It’s predictable and manipulative, but I can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t enjoy it. I saw it at this year’s Cinequest, and predict that it will become a word-of-mouth hit. The Sapphires is a guaranteed good time at the movies.

Red Hill

January 12, 2011 by moviegourmet

There’s not much original in Red Hill, a contemporary Aussie Western, but it is stylish and well-made – and we don’t see a lot of Westerns these days. Some critics has remarked on the violence in Red Hill, but it is not extreme.

At 95 minutes, the story moves along quickly. There is a lot of subtle humor, not from gag lines, but from the absurdly relentless persistence of the rookie cop, the facial scarring that makes the outlaw even scarier and the inopportune appearance of a very hungry panther.

2010 in Movies: Documentaries

December 27, 2010 by moviegourmet

As usual several documentaries made my list of Best Movies of 2010: Inside Job, The Tillman Story, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, and Sweetgrass.

And there were still more excellent documentaries. Ken Burns augmented his brilliant Baseball with The Tenth Inning. PBS’s Earth Days told the story of the modern environmental movement through the voices of key players. The Most Dangerous Man in America brought new texture to the story of Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers. The fine PBS series Independent Lens brought us Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas), in which filmmaker Monika Navarro trailed an uncle deported to Mexico and discovered secrets in her own family.

Here’s the trailer for the magical Sweetgrass.