KING IN THE WILDERNESS: an icon, foundering

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KING IN THE WILDERNESS. Photo by Flip Schulke Archives – ©. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

The superb documentary King in the Wilderness follows Martin Luther King, Jr., through his turbulent final two years. Although King had already become an icon, he was facing the challenges of a new political and societal landscape that King himself had helped create. And he was foundering.

  • King’s approach, which overcame the overt cultural racism and statutory segregation in the South, was not working against the de facto segregation and urban riots in the North. Nor was King gaining traction to expand the movement against bigotry into a movement against poverty.
  • His leadership in the Black community was being usurped by younger, more militant, leaders. Stokely Carmichael and his peers were quick to discard longtime White Civil Rights workers and to alienate White America with a message of Black Power, which resonated in the Black community. King refused to use the weaponized term, while trying to hang on to his base.
  • King was under pressure to make public his opposition to the Vietnam War. King’s strong anti-militarism came naturally from his study of Gandhi and his commitment to non-violence. But campaigning against the War would be seen as a betrayal by King’s most effective ally and benefactor, President Lyndon B. Johnson. King was genuinely grateful to LBJ, and LBJ was famously vindictive.

King was just off the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the two greatest legislative Civil Rights victories since the 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery one hundred years before. In King in the Wilderness, it’s only a year later, and Martin Luther King, Jr. is facing a big fat case of What Have You Done For Me Lately?

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Stokely Carmichael in KING IN THE WILDERNESS. Photo by Flip Schulke Archives – ©. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

It’s easy for us to forget just how young King was:

  • He was only 26 when he led the Birmingham Bus Boycott.
  • King wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail and led the the March on Washington at 34.
  • He won the Nobel Peace Prize at 35.
  • He led the march from Selma to Montgomery at 36.

After a great historic victory, it can be difficult to find a new objective. It’s hard to gain political power, and it can be just as hard to keep it. It’s difficult for a public figure to remain relevant in changing times. These are the challenges of leadership.

By focusing on this period of King’s life and career, director Peter Kunhardt and writer Chris Chuang have made an inspired choice. They have also sourced it brilliantly, with the remembrances of King intimates, most notably Andrew Young and Henry Belafonte, along with Stokely Carmichael’s fellow SNCC leader Cleveland Sellers. King family confidante Xernona Clayton bookends the movie with the two most poignant anecdotes.

King in the Wilderness was originally aired on HBO and won an Emmy for best historical documentary. It’s now widely available on streaming platforms.

PALE FLOWER: bracing neo-noir

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Ryô Ikebe in PALE FLOWER

Coming up on Turner Classic Movies on June 18, the Japanese neo-noir Pale Flower is a slow burn that erupts into thrilling set pieces. This is pioneering neo-noir. Pale Flower is writer-director Masahiro Shinoda’s masterpiece; its look and feel is as different from classic noir as are Elevator to the Gallows and Blast of Silence.

Maraki (Ryô Ikebe) is a fortyish Yazuka hit man, just released from loyally serving a prison term. He went away for offing a gangland rival, but now the two gangs have become allies. Out gambling with fellow Yakuza, he encounters the much younger woman Saeko (Mariko Kaga). The stoic and completely self-contained Maraki becomes fascinated by – and then obsessed with – Saeko, who lives her life seeking thrill after thrill.

PALE FLOWER

Maraki and Saeko meet gambling on the Japanese card game of hanafuda (flower cards). She is the only woman at a table surrounded by male gangsters. Shinoda makes the tension of card games resemble that of walking into a hostile bar or waiting an Old West quick draw gunfight. The card games are silent but for the ritual betting and the players clicking their cards. The film’s title refers to both hanafuda and Saeko.

Mariko Kaga in PALE FLOWER

Just who is this mystery woman? Muraki is snagged, but he is too cool to search out her background. His obsession is more complicated than sexual passion alone, although there is a sexual element (watch whether he acts on it when he can). The mystery makes Saeko (the then 20-year-old Mariko Kaga in only her fourth movie) all the more captivating.

In another gripping set piece, Saeko races her sports car through Tokyo’s tunnels and overpasses at 2:30 AM. In the passenger seat, Muraki is transfixed by her recklessness. He’s not thrilled by the careening wild ride, he’s thrilled by Saeko’s compulsion to seek the thrill.

Mariko Kaga and Ryô Ikebe in PALE FLOWER

The ultimate thrill might be to accompany a hit man on the job. The climactic three-minute scene is a mob hit in a church, set to an aria, Henry Purcell’s Dido’s Lament. It is operatic – and remarkably similar to Francis Ford Coppola’s later montage in The Godfather where Michael Corleone’s assassins kills all his enemies while he is standing in church at the christening of his sister’s baby. Muarki’s murder-for-hire is up-close-and-personal.

When Maraki and Saeko are on-screen, Pale Flower is dramatically and stylistic Stylistic – the card games, the car race, the final killing, In contrast, we see the mundane plotting of the Yazuka bosses (but not their crimes) as they kibbitz at the horse races. Their underlings go bowling.

Does it all matter? is a central theme in film noir. Pale Flower’s powerful final prison scene is the the ultimate neo-noir ending.

Pale Flower is included in Roger Ebert’s Great Movies. Pale Flower is challenging to find; it can be streamed with a subscription to Criterion Collection or Kanopy, and it plays occasionally on TCM, including on June 18.

Ryô Ikebe in PALE FLOWER

ELECTRICK CHILDREN – magical Mormon runaways in Vegas

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Julia Garner in ELECTRICK CHILDREN

With Electrick Children, a first-time feature filmmaker has created an entirely unique teen coming of age story. Electrick Children employs an element of magical realism that requires the audience to accept a premise which cannot be real. The result is a highly original success.

A 15-year-old Utah girl has been raised in a remote fundamentalist Mormon enclave where everyone dresses as 19th century pioneers. She has been immersed in Bible stories, but hasn’t been exposed to any modern culture or to the facts of life. She happens upon a hidden cassette tape and finds her first rock and roll song revelatory – so revelatory that she thinks that the song has moved her to pregnancy. Here comes the magical realism – she really is a virgin, and she really is pregnant.

Because of her faith, she doesn’t find immaculate conception to be the least bit implausible. Not so with her parents, who wrongly blame her 17-year-old brother. Their answer is to kick the boy out of the home and to marry off the girl to a neighboring fundamentalist. Facing the unwanted shotgun wedding, the girl commandeers the family pickup and flees; her brother, seeking a way to prove his innocence, stows away.

The kids surface in Las Vegas, where they fall in with a band of runaway teens. Of course the Mormon kids are completely unprepared to navigate any modern city, let alone Vegas. Their guides, the more streetwise kids, are more comfortable with the glitz and sleaze of Vegas, but are just as untethered. The Mormon kids and the suburban runaways have life-altering adventures on the streets.

The girl embarks on a quest to find the singer who she thinks has fathered her child through song, not understanding that there is more than one rock band in the world (or that Blondie’s Hanging on the Telephone has not made her pregnant.) Central to the film’s success is that the girl is naive but never silly. The young actress Julia Garner shines in a performance that is never ironic and always completely sincere. The girl is determined and devout, seeking teen independence in ways that are logical for someone with her isolated upbringing.  Garner is currently the best thing about the Netflix series show Ozark.

As good as Garner is, the real talent here is writer-director Rebecca Thomas, who went from growing up in Mormon in Nevada to earning an MFA from Columbia. This is her first feature film, and I can’t wait for her next one. 

Electrick Children can be streamed from Amazon (included in Amazon Prime) and can be purchased from several other VOD platforms.

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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THE LOVEBIRDS

This week: a Hollywood buddy documentary, an all-on-screens horror film, a current Netflix rom com and a sweet, heartfelt indie. Plus the most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find anywhere.

ON VIDEO

Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham in THE BANDIT. Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society.

The Bandit: The buddies in this buddy documentary are mega-star Burt Reynolds and his stuntman/friend/roommate Hal Needham, who directed the enormously successful Smokey and the Bandit franchise. The Bandit is a hoot, and features some amazing movie stunts., Stream it from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Unfriended: Teenagers convene via webcams on social media. But their computers are hijacked by an Unknown Force who starts wreaking revenge. It’s a perfect little horror film for a time when we are living our lives on Zoom. Unfriended is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

The Lovebirds: Issa Rae (Insecure) and Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) star in this rom com. The plot is playful, but the relationship is truthful. It’s streaming on Netflix.

Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie. The more I think about Driveways, the more I admire it. It also features the final performance – so genuine and subtle – by Brian Dennehy. Driveways is available to stream on all the major platforms.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

ON TV

On June 18, Turner Classic Movies will air the hard-to-find Pale Flower, one of my Overlooked Noir This Japanese neo-noir is a slow burn that erupts into thrilling set pieces. Writer-director Masahiro Shinoda’s masterpiece is pioneering neo-noir. Don’t miss it.

PALE FLOWER

UNFRIENDED – run from your webcams!!!

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UNFRIENDED

In the very satisfying horror film Unfriended, it’s the one-year anniversary of a teenage girl’s suicide, and her bullying peers convene via webcams on social media. But their computers are hijacked by an Unknown Force who starts wreaking revenge. The kids become annoyed, then worried and, finally, panicked for their lives.

Here’s something I had never seen before this 2015 film: the entire movie is compiled of the characters’ screenshots. The critic Christy Lemire says that “Unfriended is a gimmick with a ridiculous premise, but damned if it doesn’t work”, and she’s right. Writer Nelson Greaves and Director Levan Gabriadze came up with this device, and their originality pays off with a fun and effective movie.

And, just like all-on-screens Searching, it’s perfect for a time when we are living our lives on Zoom.

It’s on both my 2015 lists of I Hadn’t Seen This Before and Low Budget, High Quality Horror. Unfriended is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Flixster.

Movies to See Right Now (at home)

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Lucas Jaye and Brian Dennehy in DRIVEWAYS

The best 2020 movie I’ve seen is the profoundly authentic Driveways. Yes, The Movie Gourmet is finally recommending a movie that can be described as “heartfelt”.

ON VIDEO

Driveways: I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than this charming, character-driven indie. The more I think about Driveways, the more I admire it. It also features the final performance – so genuine and subtle – by Brian Dennehy. Driveways is available to stream on all the major platforms.

The Lovebirds: Issa Rae (Insecure) and Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) star in this rom com. The plot is playful, but the relationship is truthful. It’s streaming on Netflix.

Wind River: a smart, layered and intelligent thriller and another success from one of America’s fastest-rising filmmakers, Taylor Sheridan. “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.” It’s available to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

Jeremy Renner and Gil Birmingham in WIND RIVER

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

John Cho in SEARCHING

ON TV

On June 9, Turner Classic Movies presents the character-driven thriller Woman on the Run (1950). This film is notable for its San Francisco locations, making it a veritable time capsule of the post-war City By The Bay. It’s a taut 77 minutes of an insolent, mouthy Ann Sheridan, the life-or-death manhunt and stellar period San Francisco. Woman on the Run is on my list of Overlooked Noir.

Deenis O’Keefe and Ann Sheridan in WOMAN ON THE RUN

WIND RIVER – another masterpiece from Taylor Sheridan

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Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner in WIND RIVER

With the contemporary Western thriller Wind River, screenwriter Taylor Sheridan has delivered another masterpiece, this time in his first effort as director. Wind River was probably my most anticipated film of that year because I pegged Sheridan’s previous movie Hell or High Water as the best movie of 2016. Wind River doesn’t disappoint and was one of the best movies of 2017.

The story is set in and around Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation. Cory (Jeremy Renner) is a professional hunter who finds the body of a native American teenage girl. To find out what happened to her and who is responsible, the tribal police chief Ben (Graham Greene) calls for help from the feds. That assistance arrives in the form of FBI agent Jane (Elizabeth Olsen), an inexperienced city slicker who has no clue how to survive in the lethal elements of the wild country. She is canny enough to understand that she needs the help of Cory, who knows every inch of the back country. He has his own reason – very important to the story – to solve the mystery, and the unlikely duo embark on a dangerous investigation, which they know will end in a man hunt.

The man hunt leads to a violent set piece that Sheridan directs masterfully. There’s a sudden escalation of tension, then apparent relief and then an explosion of action. Deadly chaos envelops several characters, but we’re able to follow it all clearly, while we’re on the edges of our seats.

Jeremy Renner’s performance as Cory is brilliant. Cory is a man whose life has been redirected by a family tragedy. He’s a Western stoic of few words, but – unusual for his type – an individual who deals with his grief in a very specific and self-aware way. Playing a character who reloads his own rounds, Renner is able to deliver hard-ass, determined efficiency along with some unexpected tenderness.

Olsen is also very good as Jane who understands that she may appear to be the bottom of the FBI’s barrel because she is a woman and very green and tiny. Resolute and spunky, she moves past what others might take as a slight because no unaided outsider is going to be able to navigate the harsh environment and the culture of the reservation. She isn’t trying to make a name for herself, but just to take responsibility in the old-fashioned way that we would expect from characters played by Glenn Ford, Gregory Peck, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. She’s got to do the right thing.

As Martin, the dead girl’s father, Gil Birmingham (Hell or High Water) has two unforgettable scenes. His first scene is phenomenal, as he processes the worst possible news with an outsider, Jane, and then with his friend, Cory. Graham Greene and Tantoo Cardinal are also excellent. Kelsey Asbille and Jon Bernthal are also stellar in a flashback of the crime.

Sheridan and cinematographer Ben Richardson (Beasts of the Southern Wild) make great use of the Big Sky country, with the jagged topography of its mountains and the feral frigidity of its forests. Wind River opens as Cory hunts in spectacular postcard scenery; when we first see the reservation, we are jarred – this is a very bad place.

Taylor Sheridan has a gift for writing great, great movie dialogue:

      “Who’s the victim today? Looks like it’s gonna be me.”

and

     “This isn’t the land of backup, Jane. This is the land of you’re on your own.”

When Cory says, “This isn’t about Emily”, we know that this is precisely about Emily. When Cory says, “I’m a hunter”, we know exactly what his intentions are – and so does Martin.

Sheridan hates that, in much of our society, people are disposable. He has explored that theme in Sicario, Hell or High Water and now Wind River. Wind River begins with a title explaining that the story is inspired by actual events, and ends with a particularly horrifying non-statistic.  I’ve also written an essay on Sheridan’s filmmaking signatures, the films of Tayler Sheridan.

Smart, layered and intelligent, Wind River is another success from one of America’s fastest-rising filmmakers. It’s available to stream from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

THE LAST FULL MEASURE: pedestrian, except for the oldsters

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Christopher Plummer and Diane Ladd in THE LAST FULL MEASURE

The Last Full Measure tells the true story of a slain military hero who, due to the efforts of those who survived the battle, finally get a deserved Congressional Medal of Honor decades after his death. It’s a pedestrian movie periodically enlivened by excellent supporting performances.

The Last Full Measure is set in 2000, 32 years after the battle, when a selfish Pentagon career-climber (Sebastian Stan) is stuck with the unwanted assignment of validating the act of valor (it ain’t going to help him advance his career). He bitterly visits geezer after geezer to find out why the medal is deserved and why it wasn’t awarded earlier.

I’m not convinced that Sebastian Stan brings anything to non-action movies, and his parts of the film drag (which is bad, because he’s the main character).

Remarkably, the supporting cast of William Hurt, Christopher Plummer, Diane Ladd, Samuel L. Jackson, Amy Madigan, Peter Fonda and Ed Harris have combined for two acting Oscars and sixteen nominations. Christopher Plummer ia absolutrly radiant here; it’s some of his best work. Peter Fonda, in his final movie, also gives an indelible performance. Amy Madigan’s part is perfect matched to Madigan’s piercing eyes. And every Social Security-eligible actor is very, very good.

The battle scenes in the flashback are well-crafted, and Jeremy Irvine is very good as the hero. But this won’t make any list of top 20 Vietnam War films.

If you must watch The Last Full Measure, which is available on most of the streaming platforms, just fast forward until you see somebody old.

THE LOVEBIRDS: plot playful, relationship truthful

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Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani in THE LOVEBIRDS

In the Netflix comedy The Lovebirds, Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani star as a couple, once passionately in love, who have reached the breaking point. At the very moment that they call it quits, they are plunged into a dire situation – to clear themselves of a murder, they must evade the cops and find The Real Killer.

This is a rom com where the characters have ALREADY met cute. As they endure ever more outrageous indignities, they remember why they fell in love in the first place, despite the other’s foibles. The plot is playful, but the relationship is very truthful.

Rae (Insecure) and Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick), both so appealing, are pitch perfect.

The Lovebirds is successful as a light diversion with plenty of LOL moments, and it’s streaming on Netflix. Here’s the trailer.

Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani in THE LOVEBIRDS

Movies to Watch Right Now (at home)

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Lucas Jaye and Brian Dennehy in DRIVEWAYS

I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than the charming, character-driven Driveways . The more I think about Driveways, the more I admire it – it’s one of the Best Movies of 2020 – So Far. It also features the final performance – so genuine and subtle – by Brian Dennehy.

Moment after moment of authenticity keeps Driveways from being corny. There’s not a hint of manipulation from director Andrew Ahn. That’s why Driveways is that rarity, a recommendation from The Movie Gourmet that can be described as”heartfelt”. Driveways is available to stream on all the major platforms.

ON VIDEO

TOUCHING the VOID

The gripping documentary Touching the Void the worst quandary a mountain climber can face – what happens if you must cut your partner’s line to survive yourself? Touching the Void can be streamed from Amazon and iTunes.

The excellent ticking clock thriller Searching captures the Silicon Valley vibe. And, perfect for a time when we are living our lives on Zoom, the movie is entirely on the character’s screens – those of his computers, but also on smartphones, television, a security video and a live funeral cam.  Searching can be streamed from Amazon (Starz channel), iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

RADIO DREAMS

ON TV

On June 3, Turner Classic Movies presents the documentary Peckinpah Suite (which I haven’t seen), followed by the Sam Peckinpah movies, Ride the High County, The Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and The Getaway. You can’t go wrong with any of these, but the best is the iconic and influential The Wild Bunch, with stellar performances by William Holden, Robert Ryan and Ernest Borgnine.  Watch for two of my favorite character actors, Warren Oates and Ben Johnson, as the Gorch brothers.  Other beloved members of Peckinpah’s repertory company in The Wild Bunch include L.Q. Jones, Dub Taylor and Strother Martin. The great Mexican director Emilio Fernández plays the villain con mucha fuerza.

Peckinpah tells the story of men who have outlived their time, as the Old West gives way to the 20th Century. These are men who Lived By A Code, which leads to the finale, featuring the slow motion bloodletting for which Peckinpah was renowned.

Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, William Holden and Ernest Borgnine in THE WILD BUNCH