Movies

WE THE ANIMALS: not a feel-good

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WE THE ANIMALS

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.

LET THE SUNSHINE IN: exquisite performance, pointless movie

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Juliette Binoche in LET THE SUNSHINE IN

The French drama Let the Sunshine In is a pointless movie with a great, great performance from Juliette Binoche. Binoche plays a divorced artist who, yearning to be in a relationship with a guy, has sexual encounters with a range of them. She churns a series of men who are not good-relationship material for a variety of reasons. And she is aiming way too low. All of this is obvious.

Finally, she finds herself listening to counsel from a character played by Gérard Depardieu; I really lost track of whether the character is a therapist or some kind of guru, whatever. But in this scene, the movie’s final 10-15 minutes, we can appreciate the most exquisite acting of the year. Depardieu is doing 90% of the talking, but the camera is on Binoche as she listens and internalizes what is being said. I really couldn’t tell you whether his advice was sound or empty psychobabble.  I was just too entranced by Binoche’s reactions.

This is the GOOD part of the movie, but there’s a problem here, too. Just when the audience is enraptured by Binoche’s face, the giant letters J-U-L-I-E-T-T-E-B-I-N-O-C-H-E run across it. It’s so distracting that my first thought was that the movie’s projection had become garbled.  But no – it’s the CLOSING CREDITS scrolling across the most profound performance of the year. Unpardonable.

It should be noted that this story of a woman’s yearnings is told by the woman writer-director Claire Denis. I liked, but don’t otherwise remember much about her 2008 35 Shots of Rum; I was dismayed by her 2013 Bastards.  Let the Sunshine In is another whiff.

THE LINES OF WELLINGTON: plodding through Portugal, glimpsing John Malkovich

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Nuno Lopes (left) and Afonso Pimentel in THE LINES OF WELLINGTON
Nuno Lopes (left) and Afonso Pimentel in THE LINES OF WELLINGTON

The Lines of Wellington is an epic about Wellington’s repulsion of the French invasion of Portugal during the Napoleonic Wars – but without very much about Wellington or his lines.  Because this is an epic – with lots and lots of characters – we do get the flavor of how war affected civilians and troops of all ranks in the early 1800s; hint – as war has been before and since, it has its unpredictable moments, but is predictably harsh for all concerned.

Wellington spent a year-and-a-half secretly building an ingenious series of defensive fortifications just north of Lisbon, scorched the earth in front of them and then lured in the French Army.  The scale of the fortifications is mind-boggling – lines of 126 forts with miles of walls  – and he even re-directed rivers.  When the French arrived, already weakened by the march to get there, they were baited to attack the impregnable defense.  The French suffered more heavy losses and completed the fiasco with a painful retreat.  Unfortunately, we don’t see the Lines of Wellington until only 26 minutes remain in The Lines of Wellington.  And even then we don’t get to appreciate the scale and connectivity of the fortifications – we might as well be watching Fort Apache.

We don’t see much of Wellington either.  Played by John Malkovich, Wellington struts around for a few minutes scowling impenetrably and once advises a painter on how to better glorify Wellington in oils.  Lots of other big name art house favorites wander through The Lines of Wellington.  If you don’t blink, you’ll catch glimpses of Catherine Deneuve, Michel Piccoli, Isabelle Huppert, Mathieu Amalric, Marisa Paredes and Chiara Mastroianni.  But The Lines of Wellington focuses more on the story of two Portuguese soldiers, one of whom is charismatically played by the Portuguese actor Nuno Lopes.

Because The Lines of Wellington aspires to tell the stories of the many affected by this military campaign, it is a series of vignettes.  The effect is a disjointed and mildly interesting slog through 1810 Portugal that takes 151 minutes (the miniseries cut).  Maybe, the 135 minute theatrical version is tighter, but it would still lack the depth and cohesiveness that I didn’t find here.

I really would only recommend The Lines of Wellington to a military history buff (like my friend Bob).  It is available streaming on Amazon Instant Video, Vudu and Xbox Video.

CRAZY RICH ASIANS: heckuva date movie

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Henry Golding and Constance Wu in CRAZY RICH ASIANS

Crazy Rich Asians is wildly popular for a reason – it’s damn entertaining and probably the year’s most appealing date movie.  Nick (the hunky Henry Golding) is getting serious about his New York girlfriend Rachel (Constance Wu) and wants to take her to meet his family in Singapore.  Now Rachel, being a beautiful NYU economics professor who is fluent in multiple languages, is just about anybody’s ideal daughter-in-law.  What Rachel doesn’t know is that Nick’s family is super, super rich – so rich that their set puts on $40 million weddings.  The family matriarch, Nick’s mom Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh – the leading lady in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), is never going to approve Nick marrying an American, even a Chinese-American rock star like Rachel.  As the lovers try to win over the formidably stern Eleanor, comic situations ensue.  Will love prevail?

As you can tell, this story follows a familiar arc for a romantic comedy, but with an Asian cast, an Asian location and lots of Asian cultural references.  But his isn’t a just rom com with a gimmick.  Director John M. Chu keeps the pages turning quickly all the way through the two hours running time (a little long for this genre) without any slow spots.   The three main characters are surrounded by wacky friends and family, and most of the biggest laughs come from the foibles of the supporting characters.

I saw this film in a heavily Asian audience, and Ken Jeong’s scenes in particular drew howls from the Asian crowd.  The rapper Awkwafina, who has gotten good notices for her performance in Oceans Eight, is hilarious as Rachel’s zany friend.  We’re going to be seeing a lot more of Awkwafina in the movies; she has Lucille Ball’s lasered-in earnestness.

Awkwafina in CRAZY RICH ASIANS
Michelle Yeoh in Warner Bros. Pictures’ and SK Global Entertainment’s and Starlight Culture’s contemporary romantic comedy CRAZY RICH ASIANS, a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

The Asians in my audience also responded knowingly to the references to Chinese family traditions and parents’ relations to their adult children, much of which is, of course, also universal.

Crazy Rich Asians has some fine set pieces, including an over-the-top wedding where the bridal party wades down a flooded aisle – and a reception so decadent that it makes Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby look Amish. There’s also a mouth-watering street food scene in Singapore.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. Here’s the teaser (not the trailer because the trailer gives away two of the most impactful lines).

BLACKKKLANSMAN: funny and razor sharp

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Adam Driver and John David Washington in BLACKKKLANSMAN

In BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee takes the stranger-than-fiction story of Ron Stallworth and soars. Stallworth was a real African-American rookie cop in Colorado Springs who infiltrated the local Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.

Stallworth (John David Washington) seduces the KKK with a racist rant on the telephone, and then has his white partner Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) impersonate him at the KKK meetings. Stallworth and Zimmerman race against the clock to quash KKK violence. Along the way, Stallworth tries to romance the comely cop-hating militant Patrice (Laura Harrier).

All of the actors are excellent, but it’s Spike Lee who is the star here, taking this oddball novelty story and transforming it into an exploration of hate in America – then and now.

The local KKK is a bunch of clowns. Paul Walter Hauser (Shawn in I, Tonya) plays a member of the Colorado Springs Klan posse, which tells you all you need to know about their efficacy. Suffice it to say that this gang who can’t burn a cross straight will get their comeuppance. Even their media-slick national leader, David Dukes (Topher Grace), is ripe for an epic prank.

As the moronic Klansmen bumble around and even name Stallworth their leader, BlacKkKlansman is riotously funny. But Spike makes it clear that racial hatred is not going to be wiped out in the 70s with the Colorado Springs KKK. When David Dukes lifts his glass to “America First”, it’s chilling.

At the end of the film, Spike lets go with his patented dolly shot, and we are sobered by a racist symbol unbowed. Then, Spike takes us seamlessly into the present with some actual scenes from contemporary America. It’s very powerful, and, when I saw it, many audience members wept.

John David Washington and Topher Grace in BLACKKKLANSMAN

Spike is inclusive – inclusive with intentionality – and this goes beyond the Ron/Flip buddy partnership. The Civil Rights movement benefited from Jewish support, and Black leaders like Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King Jr. worked hand-in-hand with Jewish colleagues. But Jews (and all whites) were less welcome in the Black Power age. In BlacKkKlansman, Spike makes it clear that African-Americans and Jews are natural allies in the struggle against bigotry, and seeks to revive the alliance.

Spike also celebrates the Afro.  BlacKkKlansman boasts the most impressive assembly of Afros, perhaps ever, especially Harrier’s.   Oscar Gamble, Franklyn Ajaye and Angela Davis would be proud.

Spike also masterfully employs period music to tell this story: Ball of Confusion, Oh Happy Day, and, of course,  Say It Loud -I’m Black and I’m Proud.  Somehow, he even found a place for Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).  But Emerson Lake and Palmer’s Lucky Man may be the most perfectly placed song.  It’s all pretty stellar.

Spike Lee has made two cinematic masterpieces: Do the Right Thing and 25th Hour.  BlacKkKlansman may not be a masterpiece, but it’s right at the top of Spike’s other films and it’s perfect for this age in America.

THE THIRD MURDER: legal procedural turns philosophical

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Masaharu Fukuyama and Kôji Yakusho in Hirokazu Koreeda’s THE THIRD MURDER. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Film Society (SFFILM).

The Third Murder opens with a killing, and the audience gets a clear full-face view of the killer.  Then the mystery begins – not about who done it, but about why and who will be held accountable.

A high-powered defense lawyer (Masaharu Fukuyama) has been called in to take over a challenging case; it’s potentially a death penalty case, and the defendant (Kôji Yakusho) has confessed. Moreover, the defendant has previously served thirty years for an earlier murder, he’s an oddball and he keeps switching his story.

Nevertheless, the lawyer thinks he can avoid the death penalty with a technicality about the motivation for the crime. He gets some good news from forensic evidence and then discovers one startling secret about the victims’ family – and then another one even more shocking – one that might even exculpate his client.

The Third Murder is a slow burn, as the grind of legal homework is punctuated by reveal after reveal. Eventually, there’s a shocker at the trial, and this legal procedural eventually gives way to philosophical questions. Finally, there’s an edge-of-the-seat epilogue – a final lawyer-client face-to-face where the shell-shocked lawyer tries to confirm what really happened and why.

Masaharu Fukuyama in Hirokazu Koreeda’s THE THIRD MURDER. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Film Society (SFFILM).

Yakusho (Tampopo, Shall We Dance?, Babel, 13 Assassins) is quite excellent as the defendant, a man who seems to be an unreliable mental case, but who might have a sense of justice that trumps everyone else’s.

The Third Murder is the work of director Hirokazu Koreeda, who made the 1995 art house hit Maborosi and one of the best movies of 2008, Still Walking.  Koreeda’s Shoplifters just won the Palm d’Or at Cannes, and will be released in the US by Magnolia Pictures on November 23.  I saw The Third Murder at the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM).

 

DARK MONEY: following secret money

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John S. Adams in DARK MONEY

The gripping documentary Dark Money exposes our new political environment, with unlimited secret money unleashed by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. Writer-director Kimberly Reed takes us to her native Montana as conservative (but independent) Republican legislators find themselves deluged by massive and monstrous attacks from some even more conservative out-of-state sources. Intrepid small-town reporter John S. Adams and the understaffed state regulators follow the money and try to hunt down who is pulling the strings.

As the mystery unfolds, Dark Money also takes us to Wisconsin, where dark money has assaulted an unexpected branch of government. And we go to Washington, DC, to the Federal Elections Commission, where Ann Ravel, the Obama-appointed chair of the FEC, has resigned in disgust after Republican commissioners have blocked all enforcement of federal campaign finance regulation. (Disclosure: I have worked with Silicon Valley native Ravel in my day job.)

Here are some of Dark Money’s most disturbing revelations:

  • While it’s bad enough that we don’t know the extent of wealthy Americans like the Koch Brothers trying to buy elections, neither do we know about the secret election participation of FOREIGN players.
  • Dark Money sources are not stopping at trying to buy legislators and governors, but are also trying to take over state supreme courts!

And just when we need MORE scrutiny of the attempts to buy the legislative and judicial branches of state governments, we are witnessing the death of statehouse journalism.

In one particularly nasty nugget, we witness GOP FEC Commissioner Don McGahn unashamedly grinding the FEC’s gears of enforcement to a stop.  Today, McGahn is the Trump White House Counsel, with major responsibility for the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanagh.

Dark Money keeps us on the edges of our seats throughout and culminates in a real-life courtroom drama.

I attended the sold-out Bay Area premiere of Dark Money, co-sponsored by Silicon Valley’s Cinema Club and by Santa Clara County. Both Ann Ravel and John S. Adams appeared at the post-screening Q&A.

PUZZLE: that final puzzle piece is self-discovery

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Kelly MacDonald in PUZZLE

In the self-discovery drama Puzzle, Kelly MacDonald plays a wife and mom who has subordinated all of her own needs and desires to those of her husband and two sons. Utterly selfless, she prepares every meal, performs every task, organizes every event so her husband and two sons and their church community can hum along smoothly – and without appreciation. The phrase “taken for granted” applies to every breath she takes. She receives what seems to be the most random gift, a jigsaw puzzle, and learns that she is a jigsaw puzzle savant. Suddenly, she has found herself something that she does for herself – and she is stunningly good at it.

At this point, she happens into the hitherto unknown world of jigsaw competitions (who knew?) and becomes the teammate of an unhappy divorcee (Irrfan Khan) who appreciates her and opens up new possibilities. With another experience to compares to her domestic drudgery, she realizes that she  has grown to be deeply unhappy.

The screenplay was co-written by Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Rampart, Love & Mercy, The Dinner) and Polly Mann, based on Natalia Smirnoff’s 2009 Argentine film Rompecabezas. It’s an intelligent script, filled with telling bits (she has to make her own birthday cake) and authentic interactions to portray the family dynamics. Her hubbie (David Denman) is not really mean; he’s just satisfied with the routine that they have slipped into.

There’s a wonderful scene when the mom is partway along on her road to self-realization. She suggests that the family take a major financial action. The husband says that he’ll think about it. A few days later, without circling back with her, he announces to the family that they will take this action. She is infuriated; he doesn’t understand why – after all, it was her idea. For those of you who haven’t lived this, I can assure you that this is a realistic scenario.

There’s an especially fine thread in which the mother perceives a son’s unhappiness and draws out his real aspirations.

Of course, the audience can see that the protagonist will have choices at the end.  She can stay with the husband who has finally come to appreciate her.  Or she can go off with the new guy who adores her.  What happens at the end defies the conventions of a romantic drama – it’s smart, satisfying and affirms what it is to be your own person.

Puzzle takes its time.  I suspect women will stay with its deliberate pace more willingly than will men.  That being said, it’s original and cliche-free.

THE MOSSAD: epic cloak and dagger

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Subject Peter Malkin in a still from THE MOSSAD. Photo courtesy JFI

Anyone with an interest in historical cloak-and-dagger will appreciate the documentary The Mossad, about Israel’s legendary foreign intelligence service. We meet some current and recent Mossad officers, who are extremely tight-lipped.  But decades of intervening history have freed their older colleagues to spin first-hand tales of the Mossad’s most legendary operations:

  • The kidnapping of Nazi death camp czar Adolph Eichmann (and we hear from the guy who physically grabbed Eichmann in Buenos Aires).
  • The cultivation of a longtime mole at the highest level of the Egyptian government.  The mole is identified.  We hear how the Israeli military reacted to the advance warning of Egypt’s 1973 invasion – you may be surprised.
  • The methodical hunting down of the Palestinian terrorists who kidnapped and murdered Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.

The Mossad is a natural bookend to the The Gatekeepers, about another Israeli intelligence agency.  The Gatekeepers is centered around interviews with all six surviving former chiefs of Shin Bet, Israel’s super-secret internal security force. We get their inside take on the past thirty years of Israeli-Palestinian history. What is revelatory, however, is their assessment of Israel’s war on terror. These are hard ass guys who went to the office every morning to kill terrorists. But upon reflection, they conclude that winning tactics make for a losing strategy.
The Gatekeepers is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and for streaming on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

You can find how to watch The Mossad along with the entire SFJFF program at San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

THE TWINNING REACTION: research playing with lives

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From L:R – Subjects Doug Rausch and Howard Burack in a still from THE TWINNING REACTION. Photo courtesy JFI.

The startling and moving documentary The Twinning Reaction tells the story of a Mad Men-era research project and its profound human impact. To perform a longitudinal study of nurture vs. nature, researchers INTENTIONALLY separated identical twins and placed them with families that the researchers kept in the dark. The placements occurred AFTER the twin babies had bonded together in the crib for many months. Legally and ethically sketchy at the time, this is monstrous by today’s standards, and, in fact, caused harm to the adoptees.

Somehow, some of these twins learned the truth as adults and located their birth siblings. In The Twinning Reaction, we meet three sets of separated identical siblings. Because we meet the subjects of the study, the effects of separation are clearly apparent and highly personalized.

Writer-director Lori Shinseki has found an amazing story and source material to match. In a gripping 52 minutes, she weaves it into a coherent and compelling story.

THE TWINNING REACTION
THE TWINNING REACTION

The most astonishing set of sibs are triplets which are the subject of a film in current theatrical release, Three Identical Strangers. The Twinning Reaction focuses on the study; we meet several sets of twins, and the triplets are the jaw-dropping final act.   Three Identical Strangers focuses on the triplets and then takes a more current dive into the study.

The Twinning Reaction’s world premiere was at Cinequest two years ago. The Twinning Reaction is not yet available to stream, so your only chance to see it will be at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival this July and August.