Crisis

There are not a lot of new releases this weekend (the new Tom & Jerry movie gets a hard pass from me) so I spontaneously decided to see Crisis even though I didn't know a lot about it.  This gritty crime thriller about the opioid epidemic is actually quite riveting and I'm glad I saw it.  DEA agent Jake Kelly (Armie Hammer), motivated by a younger sister (Lily-Rose Depp) addicted to heroin, is working undercover to bring down a multi-cartel operation smuggling fentanyl from Canada into the U.S.  Claire Reimann (Evangeline Lilly) is a recovering addict investigating the suspicious death of her son (Duke Nicholson) from an oxycodone overdose.  Dr. Tyrone Brower (Gary Oldman) is a university professor who conducts tests on prospective drugs for a large pharmaceutical company in return for grant money to fund his other research.  He has a crisis of conscience when he discovers irregularities in the test results for a non-addictive pain medication about to receive FDA approval.  The movie alternates between these three narratives until there is a loose, but incredibly thought-provoking, connection between them.  I found all three stories to be very compelling and my only criticism is that each of them could have been (should have been?) expanded and developed more for a deeper analysis because they each had the potential to stand alone.  Characters such as a university dean (Greg Kinnear), pharmaceutical company executives (Luke Evans and Veronica Ferres), the head of the DEA task force (Michelle Rodriguez), members of the Armenian drug cartel (Michael Aronov and Adam Tsekhman), and an FDA official (Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi) get a bit lost in the shuffle.  Hammer (I like him as an actor despite his recent troubles in the media), Lilly, and Oldman give powerful performances and I was always invested in each character's arc.  There will be the inevitable comparisons to Traffic (which is, admittedly, a better movie) but I think seeing this is an entertaining way to spend a Saturday night and I recommend it.

Blithe Spirit

Last night I went to see Blithe Spirit and, while it was a nice change to see a comedy after all of the serious dramas of late, I didn't like it as much as I hoped I would.  Successful crime novelist Charles Condomine (Dan Stevens) is trying to write a screenplay based on one of his books but he has been suffering from writer's block ever since his first wife and muse, Elvira (Leslie Mann), died seven years ago.  He is desperate for inspiration because he is facing a deadline imposed on him by his father-in-law.  While attending the stage show of Madame Arcati (Judi Dench), a fraudulent spiritualist and medium, he decides to incorporate the supernatural into his screenplay and invites her to perform a seance at his house to learn the tricks of the trade.  Instead, Madame Arcati inadvertently summons the ghost of Elvira, much to the dismay of Condamine's second wife Ruth (Isla Fisher), and chaos ensues.  I really wanted to like this movie because it is based on a hilarious play by Noel Coward and includes an outstanding cast with a stylish Art Deco production design and glamorous period costumes.  Despite all of this I think it lacks a certain spark.  There are changes to the source material, particularly in the final act, that make the narrative unnecessarily convoluted in the service of promoting a feminist message and the inclusion of Madame Arcati's sentimental backstory creates a strange tonal shift.  While there are moments of physical comedy that are really funny, most notably during scenes where Charles is the only one who can see Elvira, they are few and far between and the slapstick is a poor substitute for the usual witty back and forth banter that this play is known for.  I was really struck by the fact that the large crowd in my screening didn't seem to laugh very much.  Finally, Mann is the only one who delivers her lines with the charm and sophistication necessary for a Noel Coward comedy.  Everyone else seems bland in comparison.  The best thing that I can say about this movie is that it looks good (I found myself paying more attention to the details of the set design than to the action).  I was a bit disappointed in this adaptation and I would definitely recommend seeing this on the stage instead of the screen.

The Mauritanian

I finally checked the last movie off my must-see list with a screening of The Mauritanian last night.  This movie tells the true story of how Mohamedou Ould Salahi was held for fourteen years in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp without being charged with a crime.  Soon after 9/11, Salahi (Tahar Rahim) is apprehended by the U.S. government on the basis of suspicious activity and loose associations with people responsible for the attacks but no direct evidence.  Several years later, defense attorney Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster), with the help of her associate Teri Duncan (Shailene Woodley), decides to take his case because holding him is a violation of habeas corpus while Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch) decides to prosecute him for very personal reasons.  When Hollander and Couch begin their separate investigations, they both uncover the same disturbing details of his detention.  This information causes Hollander, who only wanted to protect the rule of law, to become personally invested in freeing Salahi and causes Couch, who wanted someone to blame for the death of a friend, to question the legality of the case.  In my opinion, The Report, another movie which exposes the enhanced interrogation techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration, has a much better narrative structure than The Mauritanian because the latter is very slow and meandering with flashbacks that are sometimes confusing within the timeline.  However, I was much more emotionally invested in this story because it focuses on the plight of one man (rather than the investigation of several cases as in The Report) who, despite the fact we are not really sure of his guilt or innocence until the final act, is portrayed very sympathetically.  As with The Report, I found this movie to be incredibly upsetting with many scenes that made me angry, several that moved me to tears, and several that caused me to look away (the torture scenes, especially the waterboarding, are very difficult to watch).  Rahim and Foster give outstanding performances and, while I was very moved by Cumberbatch's portrayal of Couch's disillusionment, I didn't really buy his Southern accent.  Despite a few flaws, The Mauritanian has an important and compelling story to tell so I would recommend it.

Minari

I took a little break from seeing the movies on my must-see list last week because my area received a ton of snow and I didn't feel like driving in it!  I resumed my quest once again last night by seeing Minari.  This has been one of my most anticipated movies of 2021 and I was not disappointed because I loved this incredibly moving story.  Korean immigrants Jacob (Steven Yeun) and Monica Yi (Han Ye-ri) leave the West Coast and move to rural Arkansas with their daughter Anne (Noel Kate Cho) and son David (Alan Kim) in the 1980s.  Jacob is thrilled to be following his dream of farming his own land but Monica is horrified to be living in a mobile home, concerned about borrowing so much money for a risky investment, and worried about living so far away from a hospital because of David's heart condition.  The two of them argue incessantly but, as a compromise to keep Monica from moving back to California, Jacob agrees to have Monica's mother, Soon-ja (Youn Yuh-jung), come from Korea to live with them and help with the children.  David struggles with his free-spirited grandmother and all of her old-fashioned ideas but he bonds with her when they plant minari seeds, which grow anywhere and have many uses.  The minari plants eventually become a metaphor as the Yi family endures hardship after hardship in this unfamiliar place while David thrives.  This is such a beautiful movie about the American dream as seen through the eyes of an immigrant family, particularly those of a seven year old boy, and Kim gives an absolutely enchanting performance. In fact, all of the performances are brilliant.  I loved the relationship between David and his grandmother and I just about cried my eyes out when she tells him not to worry about dying and then sings him to sleep.  It is a meditative, yet powerful, narrative told through the accretion of tiny details that eventually come to have enormous significance and my attention never wavered.  The cinematography is gorgeous, particularly the use of light, and the haunting piano score creates an evocative mood that had me feeling so many different emotions.  After anticipating this movie for so long I can honestly say that the hype is real!  It is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time and I highly recommend it!

Girl A

My Book of the Month selection for February was Girl A by Abigail Dean (the other options were The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson, Infinite Country by Patricia Engel, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, and Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers). I read it in one day because I found it so compelling! Alexandra "Lex" Gracie escapes from what the press dub the "House of Horrors," where she and her six siblings were held prisoner and abused by their religiously fanatical parents for years, when she is fifteen. As the oldest daughter, she is given the designation "Girl A" in the press and, after extensive medical and psychological treatment, she is eventually adopted, as are the rest of her siblings. Her father commits suicide when the truth is discovered but her mother is given a lengthy prison sentence. Fifteen years later Lex is now a successful attorney in New York when she learns that her mother has died in prison and has made her the executor of her will. This necessitates a return to England in order to dispose of her childhood home and it also necessitates contacting her siblings, who have all coped with their trauma in different ways, to get their approval. This causes all of her memories of the abuse to resurface. The narrative is told from Lex's point of view and alternates between the past, when the siblings are going though the abuse, and the present, when they are dealing with the effects of it. It is a fascinating exploration of what happens during a high-profile case as well as what happens after the media attention dies down. I found the discussions about the people who profited from the tragedy, such as the psychologists who lobbied to work with the siblings to bring attention (and new clients) to their practices, the family who adopted a sibling as a way to further their own cause celebre, and a relative who did nothing to help the siblings but wrote a tell-all book about the family, to be incredibly interesting and thought-provoking. I was also very intrigued by the sibling dynamic in this novel because it was not what I was expecting. Just because a group of people go through a traumatic incident together doesn't mean that they will all view it in the same light (Delilah is an especially fascinating character). Finally, it was very eye-opening to read that, while the public wants to believe in a happily-ever-after scenario for the victims once they have been rescued from their abusers, it is only the beginning of a lifetime of healing from the trauma with no easy solutions. This is a difficult novel to get through but I honestly couldn't put it down (I suspected a major plot twist with one of the siblings but, when it was revealed, it was not at all what I imagined). I highly recommend it!

A Tale of Two Cities at HCT

If I had to pick a favorite Charles Dickens novel it would definitely be A Tale of Two Cities and I count HCT's 2011 production of this classic tale as one of their best. HCT is producing this stirring musical again and I had the chance to see it last night. I loved it so much and I was absolutely thrilled to see Kyle Olsen, my favorite actor from the earlier production, reprise his role as Sydney Carton. Lucie Manette (Brittany Andam), a young woman in London who believes that she is an orphan, learns that her father Dr. Alexander Manette (David Weeks) is still alive after having been wrongfully imprisoned in the Bastille by the Marquise St. Evremonde (Josh Egbert). She travels to Paris to bring him home to London and meets Charles Darnay (Ren Cottam), the nephew of Evremonde who has renounced his ties to the aristocracy, on the journey and they fall in love. Darnay is wrongfully accused of treason upon arrival in London but the dissolute lawyer Sydney Carton (Olsen) clears his name. Carton is also secretly in love with Lucie, but when she marries Darnay, he remains a friend of the family and becomes attached to her daughter Lucie (Leilani Walker). In Paris, Evremonde is responsible for the death of a child when his carriage runs him over in front of the Defarge's wine shop. Madame Defarge (Adrien Swenson), who has a grudge against Evremonde, encourages the boy's father, Gaspard (Alix DeBirk), to murder him which ultimately leads to revolution. Darnay feels that he must return to Paris to rescue Evremonde's household but he is immediately arrested as an aristocrat, denounced by Madame Defarge who wants to wipe out all descendants of Evremonde, and sentenced to the guillotine. This prompts Carton to make the ultimate sacrifice to save Darnay and show his love for Lucie and her daughter. The story is a bit convoluted (it is Charles Dickens, after all) but I was really impressed with the clever use of projections to denote the various locations in London and Paris and this really helped me follow the action. This show is also very complicated technically with set pieces coming up from the pit, down from the rafters, and in from the wings during every scene and these transitions happen seamlessly. One of the things I liked best about the 2011 production was the set featuring cobblestone paths and a large wooden guillotine. The set for this show is very different, with large glass panels and metal grates in the floor that are illuminated with red and blue lights, but no less dramatic. All of the performances are wonderful and I especially loved Swenson's version of "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," Andam's version of "Without a Word," and her version of "Now at Last" with Cottam. However, I was absolutely captivated by Olsen's portrayal of Carton. He brought me to tears during his emotional rendition of "If Dreams Came True" and then once again as he walks up the steps to the guillotine in the final scene. I really loved this incredibly moving show and I highly recommend it. It runs on the Young Living Stage through March 20 but tickets are very limited (go here) so act quickly!

Note:  Don't miss HCT's hilarious production of The Play That Goes Wrong on the Jewel Box Stage (go here for tickets).

The World to Come

Yesterday afternoon I checked another new release off my list by seeing The World to Come.  I have been looking forward to this movie ever since I saw a trailer a few weeks ago because it is exactly the type of period piece that I love.  Abigail (Katherine Waterston) and her taciturn husband Dyer (Casey Affleck, in a quietly moving performance) are mourning the recent death of their young daughter on the frontier in the mid-19th century.  She begins the new year by recording the details of her lonely and mundane life of hard work in a ledger and continues each day.  Everything changes when Tallie (Vanessa Kirby) and her husband Finney (Christopher Abbott) begin renting a nearby farm.  Tallie visits Abigail every afternoon and they find fulfillment in their friendship which slowly becomes an all-encompassing passion.  Eventually their husbands start to suspect that their relationship might be something more.  Dyer is sad because Abigail only seems to smile when Tallie is around but Finney is angry that Tallie is not performing her wifely duties.  When Finney forces Tallie to move to another farm miles away, Abigail does not know if she can return to her empty and isolated life.  This story of forbidden love is moody, atmospheric, and restrained.  Waterston and Kirby are absolutely smoldering on screen and convey so much longing with with just a glance or the briefest touch of their hands so, when they finally do give in to their feelings, it is incredibly powerful.  I loved the juxtaposition between the dark and muted landscape whenever Abigail is with Dyer with the warm glow of lanterns inside the cabin and the sun-dappled picnics outdoors when she is with Tallie.  Just like Abigail, I eagerly anticipated the moment when Tallie would appear and light up the screen.  The dialogue is so poetic and I often felt like I was watching an adaptation of a classic 19th century novel that I read in high school.  I especially loved the reference to King Lear when they talk about being caged birds who can still sing.  The score, heavy on woodwinds, is extremely evocative and adds so much to the mood while the cinematography is almost hypnotic.  The resolution is heartbreaking but I absolutely loved this movie and I recommend it to fans of period dramas.

Judas and the Black Messiah

The next new release on my must-see list was Judas and the Black Messiah and I went to see it yesterday.  It is an amazing movie but it was also deeply upsetting to me.  Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), the Chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, works to unify the disparate groups in Chicago in a Rainbow Coalition to protest against police brutality in the late 1960s.  FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) believes that the Black Panthers are a security threat to the United States and fears Hampton's power, dubbing him the "Black Messiah."  He encourages his agents to take him down through whatever means necessary so Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) coerces William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), a car thief who is facing a lengthy jail sentence for impersonating an agent, into infiltrating the Black Panthers.  O'Neal eventually rises to become Hampton's chief of security while providing information to the FBI which, among other things, is used to facilitate the assassination of Hampton in a police raid.  The story is so compelling.  It is obviously a dramatization of actual events (I don't know a lot about the Black Panthers beyond the propaganda I’ve been taught all of my life) but I found the portrayal of Hampton to be incredibly sympathetic, especially in scenes where he takes all of the weapons from his followers before meeting with a rival gang, when he refuses O'Neal's offer of C-4 to blow up city hall, and when he allocates money given to him personally for a community medical center.  This characterization makes his assassination even more disturbing and I had an almost visceral reaction to its portrayal, particularly the close-up of Hampton's pregnant girlfriend Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback) as he is shot.  It was also very difficult to watch scenes involving altercations between the Black Panthers and the police in light of recent events because they highlight the fact that we still have so far to go in the fight for racial equality.  All of the performances are stellar!  Kaluuya is absolutely electrifying as the revolutionary, especially during his speeches to crowds.  Stanfield does a brilliant job of portraying O'Neal's growing disillusionment with his role as he comes to believe in what Hampton is doing and Plemons gives a highly nuanced performance, particularly in an incredibly poignant scene where Mitchell realizes, just for a moment, that what the FBI is doing is wrong.  Finally, I loved the cinematography and the score which call to mind the gritty crime dramas of the 70s.  This is a powerful movie that is, unfortunately, so relevant for today and I think everyone should see it.

Land

There are so many new movies out right now and I want to see them all!  I began last night with Land, which I have been anticipating for what seems like forever, and I really liked it.  Edee (Robin Wright) is mourning the unexpected death of her husband and son and has lost the will to live.  She buys a cabin and a piece of land in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains and retreats from the outside world.  She is clearly unprepared for the harsh conditions, possibly by design, and is near death when she is found by Miguel (Demian Bichir) and Alawa (Sarah Dawn Pledge), a hunter and nurse, respectively, who live in the nearest town.  They nurse her back to health and then Miguel offers to teach her how to trap and hunt along with other survival skills.  As he teaches Edee how to live in the wild, he also teaches her how to live with her grief.  The narrative is slow and contemplative but my attention never wavered.  Retreating into nature in order to heal is a familiar theme, and this movie doesn't really have anything new to say about it, but it is one that I particularly enjoy because I also find a great deal of solace in nature.  I found Edee's story to be particularly compelling because, while she yearns for solitude after the world becomes too much to bear, it is ultimately a human connection that helps her to heal.  I also really loved Miguel's journey to redemption because he needs Edee to help him deal with his own trauma as much as she needs him.  Both Wright and Bichir give understated but powerful performances and often convey more emotion in the silences that permeate this movie rather than through dialogue.  The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous and I loved all of the shots of the stunning scenery, in all four seasons, that are interspersed throughout.  This has a few flaws (in my opinion Into the Wild and Wild tell the same story much better) but I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Little Fish

Last night I saw the independent film Little Fish and I found it to be deeply affecting (I was an emotional mess by the end of it).  In the near future Emma (Olivia Cooke), a veterinary tech, and Jude (Jack O'Connell), a photographer, meet each other, fall in love, and get married in the midst of a global pandemic (this movie was written and filmed before our current pandemic).  A mysterious virus known as NIA (Neuroinflammatory Affliction), which causes people to lose their memories all at once or little by little, is spreading rapidly and, since it has no cure, it is causing the breakdown of society as people suddenly forget who they are and how to do their jobs.  Jude and Emma are devastated when they see the virus destroy the relationship between their two best friends Ben (Raul Castillo) and Samantha (Soko) and they fearfully look for the signs in each other.  When Jude gets the virus, Emma does everything she can to get him into a controversial clinical trial for a possible cure and, when that option falls through, she does everything she can to keep the memory of their love alive.  The narrative involves a series of haunting and beautifully composed vignettes (including one that informs the title) about their life together in the past interspersed with attempts to remember these events in the present and this device is especially effective at portraying the ephemeral nature of memory.  The twist at the end is absolutely heartbreaking and I know that I will be thinking about it for a long time.  Cooke and O'Connell give incredibly touching performances, especially in the scenes where Jude can't remember Emma, and their chemistry together makes their love story even more poignant.  The hazy cinematography and evocative score also add to the lyrical tone.  I really loved this movie and I definitely recommend seeking it out (it is a little bit under the radar in my neck of the woods).

Malcolm & Marie

Even though Malcolm & Marie is now streaming on Netflix, I went to see it on the big screen last night because I think movies are always better the way they were meant to be seen.  At first glance this movie is a brutally honest portrait of a relationship coming undone but upon closer examination it is actually a commentary on film criticism which, in my opinion, lessens its impact.  Filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) return home from the premiere of his film which has been very well received.  He is triumphant with success but she is silently seething with resentment.  He eventually realizes that something is wrong and, when he presses her for an explanation, she reveals that she is hurt because he didn't thank her during his speech.  This leads to a knock-down, drag-out battle between them in which she accuses him of appropriating her life for his film, thus questioning his authenticity as a filmmaker, and he taunts her with all of the other women used as inspiration for his main character, which diminishes her importance in his life.  It goes on and on with both characters delivering showy and bombastic monologues about life and art but, in my opinion, this movie is at its best in the quieter moments when they talk about their relationship, such as when Malcolm tells Marie that she deserves to be loved for who she is and when Marie tearfully begs Malcolm to appreciate her more.  Washington and Zendaya give fully committed performances but their interactions are just so exhausting to watch because there is never a resolution and, ironically, the dialogue sometimes lacks authenticity.  While the black and white cinematography is really striking and the camera work is interesting (especially the use of windows and mirrors), this movie isn't really either of those things.  I wish I liked it more because I am a fan of both actors but I would recommend giving it a miss.

Saint Maud

I like horror movies to be genuinely scary rather than shocking and, lately, A24 has produced some really good ones (The Witch and Hereditary come to mind).  I saw their latest release, Saint Maud, yesterday and it was incredibly unsettling from the first image until the shocking conclusion.  Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a hospice nurse who has recently converted to Catholicism in response to a traumatic incident from her past (hinted at in an ambiguous prologue).  She is assigned to care for Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a former dancer and choreographer who has stage four lymphoma.  Maud is incredibly devout and, when Amanda expresses a fear about what happens after death in a moment of weakness, she becomes obsessed with saving her soul because she believes that it is God's will.  Amanda, filled with rage over her situation, openly mocks Maud's attempts at salvation and eventually has her dismissed which makes Maud increasingly desperate.  Is she in the grip of a religious fervor or is she having a mental breakdown?  Is there a difference?  This is an absolutely brilliant character study of a young woman who is so completely alienated from everyone and everything that she fills the void with God.  I loved the scenes where Maud tries, unsuccessfully, to make a connection and then has a series of hallucinations that can either be interpreted as religious ecstasy or a descent into madness.  Clark gives a stunning performance because she is both sympathetic and frightening as she weaves seamlessly between Maud's inner and outer worlds.  The low level lighting distorts every image, the production design featuring a Gothic house on a hill sets a sinister mood, and the atmospheric score kept me on edge throughout the entire runtime.  There are also some really intense scenes, particularly the ones involving self-flagellation, that are difficult to watch and I don't think I will forget the ending any time soon.  This is one of the best horror movies I've seen (definitely up there with The Witch and Hereditary) and I highly recommend it to fans of the genre.

Nomadland

The movie Nomadland won top honors at both TIFF and the Venice Film Festival last year and it is currently generating a lot of Oscar buzz so it has been on my must see list for quite a while.  It is now playing in IMAX theaters for a limited engagement (it will get a wider release and begin streaming on Hulu on February 19) so I went to see it yesterday.  After her husband dies and the US Gypsum plant where she has worked for many years closes down, Fern (Frances McDormand) is forced to put all of her belongings in storage and live in her van while working a seasonal job at an Amazon fulfillment center.  There she meets a woman named Linda who travels all over the U.S. in a van while working seasonal jobs and she invites her to a gathering of like-minded people in the desert.  She turns her down but when the weather gets too cold to live in her van she finds the group.  She meets other nomads who teach her basic survival skills and extol the virtues of this lifestyle.  She decides to travel through the Western states to accumulate as many memories as she can while working jobs such as a camp host at an RV park, a cook at Wall Drug, and a laborer on a beet farm.  She frequently encounters a man named Dave (David Strathairn) on her travels and they form a close friendship.  Both Dave, after deciding to move in with his son, and her sister encourage her to settle down with them but she ultimately decides that she likes the freedom of the road.  This is an incredibly powerful character study that is told very slowly through a series of vignettes which illustrate both the joys and the hardships of this lifestyle.  Just as she did with her previous film The Rider (which I loved), director Chloe Zhao has real people play fictionalized versions of themselves and this lends a certain credibility to the narrative.  McDormand gives a quietly affecting performance and I especially loved the scenes where she is overcome by nature.  The cinematography is simultaneously beautiful with wide shots of the landscape as Fern travels and gritty in the accurate portrayal of her circumstances.  I really loved this movie because, while Fern is forced into this lifestyle because of the Great Recession, there is something enchanting about giving everything away and leaving society behind to live more authentically.  I highly recommend it!