Pressure

I always enjoy a well-made movie about a topic I find interesting featuring an actor I like and that is exactly what I got with Pressure last night.  It is June 1944 and General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) is preparing for the D-Day invasion of Normandy which could change the tide of World War II.  Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery (Damian Lewis) is pushing for a launch on June 5 so the Allies do not lose the element of surprise but Eisenhower wants a report from his meteorological team, which consists of Colonel Irving P. Krick (Chris Messina), an American who has successfully advised him during several battles in North Africa, and Group Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott), a Scottish meteorologist recommended by Churchill, because the operation depends upon a favorable weather forecast.  Stagg is distracted because is wife Liz (Tamsin Topolski) is heavily pregnant and immediately runs afoul of Eisenhower, his personal assistant Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon), as well as the entire team with his prickly behavior.  Frick relies on historical weather patterns and predicts clear skies for June 5, which is what Eisenhower wants to hear, but Stagg uses barometric pressure data from weather stations all around Normandy in real-time and predicts a severe storm system.  Eisenhower reluctantly calls off the invasion on Stagg's recommendation, which is ultimately proven correct, but will he believe Stagg when he forecasts a window of calm on June 6?  Even though I knew the date of the invasion as well as its outcome, I was on the edge of my seat when Eisenhower is making the decision to go or not go and when the officers are waiting for the results of the battle because the editing, which features fast cuts between images of the officers at Allied HQ, the atmospheric conditions, and the soldiers preparing to deploy and then storming the beaches, builds so much tension.  I have always been fascinated by World War II so I really enjoyed seeing the events leading to D-Day from a new perspective (I knew about Allied efforts to deceive Germany about the location of the invasion but I never considered the importance of the weather) and, as nerdy as it sounds, I found the process of collecting weather data to be strangely compelling.  Finally, I really like Scott as an actor and his understated performance as Stagg is one of his best, especially when juxtaposed with Fraser's brashness as Eisenhower and Messina's arrogance as Frick (one of the biggest highlights is seeing Frick and Stagg go toe-to-toe).  I thoroughly enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

Harmony at HCT

HCT is the first theatre company to get the rights to produce Harmony after its run on Broadway so I was really looking forward to seeing this new musical last night. It features music by Barry Manilow with lyrics by Bruce Sussman and tells the true story of a vocal ensemble who found great success in Germany during the 1920s but were forced to disband after the rise of the Nazis. It is one of the best productions I've seen at Hale and I loved it! Josef "Rabbi" Cycowiski (Ric Starnes) reminisces about when his younger self (Landon Horton), Bobby Biberti (Brandon LaMar Buckner), Erich Collins (Anson Bagley), Erwin "Chopin" Bootz (Jonathan Avila), and Ari "Lesh" Leshnikoff (Ben Hahn) answer an advertisement placed by Harry Frommerman (Tanner Sumens), form a six-part harmony group, practice in the empty subway, get their first gig singing back-up for Marlene Dietrich from behind a curtain, get their big break singing at a club (a mishap forces them to go on stage dressed as waiters and this gives them their name the Comedian Harmonists), and achieve international success. At the same time, Rabbi, who is Jewish, falls in love with a Christian seamstress named Mary (Megan Yates), Chopin, who is Christian, falls in love with a fiery Jewish revolutionary named Ruth (Tearza Leigh Avila), and the two couples marry despite the challenges. While the group is on a world tour, the Nazi Party and Adolf Hitler come to power in Germany and they briefly consider staying in New York but Bobby convinces them to return home. Eventually, the group must take drastic steps to protect the three Jewish members in the group and the older Rabbi laments their decision to return to Germany in hindsight because he is the only one left who remembers the Comedian Harmonists. The story is moving and surprisingly funny but, more than anything, it is a powerful reminder of what happens when good men stand by and allow evil to happen. I enjoyed the music, especially "Where You Go" when Mary and Ruth tell their husbands that they will follow them everywhere they go (one literally and one figuratively), and the performances are incredible, particularly the tight vocal harmonies in "Harmony," "Lost in Shadows," "How Can I Serve You, Madame?," "Hungarian Rhapsody 20," and "Stars in the Night." The staging is absolutely riveting and I loved the use of multilevel metal platforms, which are configured and reconfigured throughout the show, in "This is Our Time" as Ruth and her revolutionaries protest with signs and red flags while the group simultaneously celebrates an audition above them, the use of projections in "The Wedding" when a rock is thrown through the synagogue window (this is very dramatic), and the use of archival footage in "Tour of the World" as the Nazi Party comes to power while the group performs (this gave me goosebumps). The choreography is also very compelling and I was particularly struck by the use of silks when the group performs as marionettes in "Come to the Fatherland!" The period costumes, especially the Nazi uniforms and evening gowns cut on the bias, are incredibly striking as are all of the Art Deco elements used in the set design. I was so impressed by every aspect of this production and I cannot recommend it enough! Tickets may be purchased here for performances that run on the Sorenson Legacy Jewel Box Theatre through August 1.

Note:  Don't forget about HCT's loverly production of My Fair Lady on the Young Living Centre Stage through July 11 (go here for tickets).

Backrooms

Last night I went to see Backrooms at a late night screening and I found it very interesting and quite unsettling.  Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an alcoholic who is angry about his recent divorce and his failed ambition of becoming an architect.  He frequently rants to his therapist Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve) and she tries to help him see how his patterns of behavior have created an endless cycle of unhappiness from which he cannot escape but she is also suffering from her own never ending loop of trauma stemming from a childhood spent with a mentally ill mother.  Clark, who is now living in the discount furniture warehouse where he works, notices flickering lights in the basement and goes to investigate which leads him to a portal to another reality filled with an endless space that reflects whoever enters it.  He wanders through a maze of rooms that are connected by long hallways before he is chased out by an unseen entity.  When Mary is skeptical about what he has experienced, he starts spending more and more time in this alternate reality and eventually becomes trapped.  Mary gets a disturbing message from Clark which prompts her to go to his warehouse to find him and she ends up in the space as his hostage.  Can she escape?  While the metaphor is a bit on the nose, I liked the exploration of how you can get trapped inside your head by memories that can be warped by time and a skewed perception.  Both Clark and Mary encounter malformed objects and people within the space because they can't remember them correctly and I was particularly struck by how Mary's experience becomes increasingly more distorted as she moves down through the levels because she has buried her trauma so deeply within her subconscious.  The visuals, which feature a drab monochromatic yellow color palette, uncanny architecture, and harsh fluorescent lighting, are incredibly disconcerting and the sound design evokes a sense of dread that is almost unbearable (I hate the buzzing of fluorescent lights so this just about drove me crazy).  The camerawork is very effective at building tension because it is from each character's POV, especially when grainy found footage is used, and you are never entirely sure what will be lurking around the corner.  Both Ejiofor and Reinsve give highly restrained performances that ground the dreamlike sequences in reality and this kept me engaged even with so much repetition in the space (see also Exit 8).  This might not be for everyone (some might find it too ambiguous) but I can't stop thinking about it!

Note:  I enjoyed this more than Exit 8 (movies about liminal spaces are having a moment) because my attention never wavered.

Tuner

I was so excited to see Tuner with my nephew at the Broadway last night because the trailer reminded me a lot of Baby Driver, a movie I absolutely love, and it definitely did not disappoint.  Niki White (Leo Woodall) was once a promising pianist but hyperacusis, a condition which makes him extremely sensitive to loud noise, forced him to stop playing.  He now works as an apprentice to a piano tuner named Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), a friend of his late father, and he begins a relationship with a student named Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu) after he tunes a piano at her conservatory.  When Harry has a heart attack and is faced with mounting medical bills, Niki reluctantly starts working for the group of thieves, led by Uri (Lior Raz), who manipulated him into opening a safe using his heightened sense of hearing at a wealthy client's house.  While Niki is able to pay all of Harry's bills and impress Ruthie with a meaningful gift, the heists become more and more dangerous and this threatens his relationships and, eventually, his life.  I think the screenplay is very clever (there are similarities to Baby Driver but it definitely has its own vibe), especially when Niki uses Uri's criminal philosophy against him to pull a heist of his own and when he uses the music he has denied himself for so long to form a real, if bittersweet, connection with Ruthie (the final scene is exhilarating).  I loved Niki's character arc (even though it is a suspenseful heist movie with some fun romantic elements, it is mostly a compelling character study about a young man who has lost himself) and I also loved Woodall's performance because the juxtaposition between his detachment and his joy in the final scene is incredibly powerful.  Finally, I enjoyed seeing all of the moving cogs in the safecracking scenes and hearing much of the action from Niki's POV (the sound design, in both the loud and quiet moments, is incredible because it is so immersive).  This is one of my favorite movies this year and I highly recommend it!

Passenger

The second movie in my double feature yesterday was Passenger and I am definitely happy that I saw it after my most recent solo road trip!  Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Jacob Scipio) are a couple who leave everything behind to live the so-called "van life" but it soon becomes apparent that Tyler is more enamored with the lifestyle than Maddie is.  When they are unable to stay at a planned camping spot, they end up driving on an isolated road late at night and witness a car crash.  They stop to help the driver but are unable to save him.  When Maddie looks at their dashcam footage of the crash, she sees a mysterious figure in the passenger seat of the car and then imagines that this same figure is following them.  Tyler thinks that Maddie might be making excuses to quit living on the road but, when they participate in a van life gathering, they learn about a malevolent entity known as the "Passenger" who is believed to be responsible for the disappearance of many people over the years and a woman named Diana (Melissa Leo) warns them about stopping on the road at night.  It ultimately becomes a fight for survival when the Passenger (Joseph Lopez) starts attacking them wherever they go.  There are definitely some issues, most notably the lack of a backstory to explain the origin and defining characteristics of the enigmatic Passenger and a resolution that feels rushed, but I found this to be incredibly atmospheric and scary.  The cinematography uses light and shadow to great effect to evoke a sense of dread about what might be out there in the dark.  There are also several well-composed set pieces that are almost unbearably tense, including a scene in which Maddie hears someone following her while walking through an empty parking lot to get to the van which seems to get farther and farther away, a scene in which Maddie and Tyler use the light from their movie projector to locate the Passenger stalking them at their campsite (seeing Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn's faces, as their characters from the movie Roman Holiday, superimposed on the Passenger's face is incredibly creepy), and a scene in which Maddie and Tyler have to stop to change a flat tire knowing that the Passenger is out there in the dark.  Both Llobell and Scipio do a great job communicating their terror and I liked the dynamic between their characters, especially that he believes her before he actually sees the Passenger.  I enjoyed this, and recommend it to fans of the genre, mostly because I was reminded of all the times I have driven on isolated roads by myself late at night!!