The Trial of the Chicago 7

The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday and, like last year, there are only two that I haven’t seen yet (you can read my commentaries for The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Nomadland, and Promising Young Woman by clicking on the titles).  Luckily both movies that I haven't seen are available on streaming platforms that I subscribe to.  Since I always like to see all of the nominees before the big ceremony, I watched The Trial of the Chicago 7, which is streaming on Netflix, last night (look for my review of Sound of Metal, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, tomorrow).  I didn't see this movie when it had a limited release in theaters last year because I am not a big Aaron Sorkin fan.  I know this is an unpopular opinion but I find his movies to be way too dialogue-heavy and that is actually my biggest complaint about this particular movie despite having an all-star cast, including a few stellar performances, and a compelling story that is incredibly relevant for today.  The year 1968 (the year I was born) is a time of violence and tremendous social unrest and the movie begins with several groups planning to protest the Vietnam War at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  The leaders of these groups, including Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp) of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong) of the Youth International Party (Yippies), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch) of the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE), and Bobby Seale (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) of the Black Panther Party, as well as Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins) and John Froines (Daniel Flaherty), are arrested for trespassing and destruction of property after a riot breaks out during their demonstration.  Five months later, the new Attorney General, John N. Mitchell (John Doman), wants to make an example of the so-called Chicago Seven and directs the federal prosecutor, Richard Schultz (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), to charge them with the federal crime of inciting a riot across state lines.  The counsel for the defense, William Kunstler (Mark Rylance) of the ACLU, argues that it was the police who started the riot, even calling the former AG Ramsey Clark (Michael Keaton) to testify about the lack of evidence, but Judge Julius Hoffman (Frank Langella) shows an obvious prejudice for the prosecution, including jury tampering, dismissing eyewitness testimony, and mistreating Seale.  After spending most of the more than two hour runtime on the trial, the movie ends with a dramatic moment before the verdict is even read and then provides information about it, the sentencing, and the subsequent appeal almost as an afterthought in a series of titles during the epilogue.  It was very anticlimactic.  I can see why this movie has generated so much buzz because it definitely taps into the zeitgeist of our time by depicting an assault on free speech and I concede that it does have a powerful message.  I was also impressed by the performances, particularly Redmayne who displays a volatility I don't think I've seen from him before, Baron Cohen who steals every scene he is in, and Rylance who vividly portrays Kunstler's escalating rage at the injustice shown by the court.  However, I just couldn't get past the dialogue because it sounds so manufactured with monologue after monologue about idealism.  The characters may be saying the perfect words at the perfect time but it is not very organic, especially during a time period as emotionally charged as the 1960s, and I never really felt any kind of connection to them as people.  Does anyone really talk like a character in an Aaron Sorkin movie?  This is one of those movies that most people will probably end up liking more than I do!

The Lost Apothecary

My Book of the Month selection for March was The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner (the other options were The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton, What's Mine and Yours by Naima Coster, Too Good to be True by Carola Lovering, and In a Book Club Far Away by Tif Marcelo). This novel combines elements of historical fiction, mystery, and fantasy and I absolutely loved it. In the present day, Caroline Parcewell is in London by herself, on what should have been a ten year anniversary trip, after finding out that her husband has been unfaithful. Feeling lonely and at loose ends, she spontaneously joins a tour group of mudlarkers on the banks of the Thames River in search of relics from the past brought in by the tide. She finds an old vial with a marking of a bear on it and this reawakens a long dormant passion for historical research as she unravels the mystery of its origin. In 1791, Nella Clavinger is the proprietor of an apothecary who, motivated by her own tragedy, secretly dispenses poison to desperate women who have been wronged or betrayed by the men in their lives. She meets the twelve-year-old Eliza Fanning when the latter requests a poison on behalf her mistress for her to use on her husband. Their interactions inadvertently expose Nella's activities and put both of their lives in danger. The narrative alternates between the two timelines as Caroline uncovers events in the present as they happen to Nella in the past and I found this device to be very compelling. I was surprised by the fact that I enjoyed Caroline's story just as much as Nella's (even though I particularly loved all of the period details that transported me to 18th century London) because I am such a fan of historical fiction. Their experiences mirror each other in that they are both victims of duplicitous men and they struggle to take action according to the social norms and attitudes of the time but I loved that Caroline is inspired by the process of investigating Nella's life and that it informs the resolution to her situation. I was fascinated by the concoction of the poisons (the epilogue with recipes for the more innocuous potions is a lot of fun and I would actually like to try some) and I was very intrigued by the introduction of magic into the narrative.  I read this novel in just two sittings because I was so invested in both of the main characters and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of historical fiction or fantasy!

The Father

I had a suspicion that The Father would generate a lot of buzz at the Sundance Film Festival last year because it stars Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman who are both absolutely brilliant.  I was correct because tickets proved to be impossible to get!  I finally had a chance to see it now that it is in wide release and the hype is real.  Anthony (Hopkins) is in the late stages of dementia but he adamantly refuses to leave his flat and refuses to have a nurse care for him.  His daughter Anne (Colman) has been struggling to cope on her own but things become critical when her partner Paul (Rufus Sewell) wants them to move to Paris.  The narrative is told from Anthony's perspective so the audience is able to experience all of his confusion first-hand.  Just like Anthony, the audience is never entirely sure what is real as his perception of his environment and the people who come and go becomes jumbled.  The production design is incredibly clever because the differences between Anthony's flat and Anne's are very subtle and there were moments when I actually wondered where Anthony was (I am really looking forward to watching this again so I can pay more attention to the details).  The introduction of Olivia Williams and Mark Gatiss into the narrative also keeps things off-kilter and at one point I really did wonder which Olivia was actually playing Anne (this is a brilliant bit of casting because both actresses have similar features and it is completely plausible that someone suffering from dementia might mistake the two of them).  The script is really compelling because there are a few elements that keep recurring in various forms and in various timelines, such as Anthony's missing watch, the chicken that Anne is baking, and the conversation about Anne's move to Paris, which show the extent of his ongoing deterioration.  Hopkins gives a tour-de-force performance (one of the best in his long and storied career) in which he is simultaneously imperious, cruel, charming, and heartbreaking (sometimes in the same scene!).  Colman is also outstanding as a daughter who loves her father but is crumbling under the weight of the responsibility for caring for him.  There is one scene, in particular, where Anne is trying to paint an optimistic picture for a potential new caregiver (Imogen Poots) but her concern is betrayed by the welling of tears in her eyes.  It is so powerful!  This movie is devastating in its portrayal of dementia and I sometimes found it difficult to watch but I highly recommend it.

My Salinger Year

I read The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger when I was a junior in high school and it pretty much rocked my world (I really relate to themes of alienation in books and movies) so I was incredibly intrigued by the premise of My Salinger Year and went to see it last night.  It was not what I was expecting and I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.  Joanna (Margaret Qualley) is an aspiring writer who decides to leave a graduate program at Berkeley to move to New York and live her dream.  She takes a temporary job as an assistant to a curmudgeonly literary agent (Sigourney Weaver) who represents the reclusive writer.  One of her duties is to respond to all of the fan mail written to Salinger with a standard form letter but she is moved by some of the letters and begins writing personal responses to them with varying degrees of success.  She also interacts with the author himself on the phone and, despite the fact that she is becoming more and more successful at the agency, he inspires her to leave to pursue her dream.  This outcome is a foregone conclusion and, even though the narrative takes its time to reach it, there is not a lot of dramatic tension.  The process by which Joanna finds her voice is very subtle and there are quite a few lesser subplots, such as a toxic relationship with another aspiring writer (Douglas Booth), a visit from a former boyfriend from Berkeley (Hamza Haq), and a best friend (Seana Kerslake) who gives up on her dream of being a writer to get married, that go nowhere and take away from the main conceit.  I also found the characterization of Salinger to be incredibly far-fetched because he is portrayed as a grandfatherly figure willing to give advice to a young writer rather than the idiosyncratic and enigmatic person he was.  I did, however, enjoy the production design because the literary world of New York in the 1990s is exactly how I pictured it with mahogany wood paneling, dusty bookshelves, portraits of authors hanging on the walls, and anachronistic equipment (I loved all of the typewriters).  Finally, both Qualley and Weaver give charismatic performances (even if their interactions are not as humorous as those of Andy and Miranda Priestley in The Devil Wears Prada) and I liked how the fans who write to Salinger are portrayed.  This movie, based on the memoir of the same name by Joanna Rakoff, is fine but I wish it had delved further into how she was inspired by Salinger.  It is really just a chronicle of a year in Joanna's life, which happens to include a few interactions with the author intermingled with other random events, that culminates in a decision to become a writer.  I was hoping for more.

Raya and the Last Dragon

Last night I saw Raya and the Last Dragon and I absolutely loved it!  In the mythical land of Kumandra there are evil spirits known as the Druun turning people into stone.  The dragons of Kumandra use all of their magic to create a gem before they are turned to stone and one dragon named Sisu (Awkwafina) is chosen to use it to defeat the Druun and revive everyone.  Many years later, the tribes of Kumandra are divided into lands known as Fang, Heart, Tail, Spine, and Talon over their jealousy to possess the gem which resides in Heart.  Raya (Kelly Marie Tran), a guardian of the gem, is betrayed when she befriends Namaari (Gemma Chan) of Fang who tries to steal it.  The resulting fight splits the gem into pieces, which are taken by each tribe, and reawakens the Druun who turn her father, Chief Benja (Daniel Dae Kim), to stone.  Six years later, Raya and her sidekick Tuk Tuk (Alan Tudyk) find Sisu and learn that all of the pieces of the gem might give Sisu the power to defeat the Druun once again.  Raya goes on a quest to retrieve the pieces and encounters Boun (Izaac Wang) from Tail, Noi (Thalia Tran) from Talon, Tong (Benedict Wong) from Spine, and her nemesis Namaari from Fang.  They must learn to trust each other to defeat the Druun and unite as Kumandra once again.  The animation is absolutely dazzling and I loved the distinct world-building for Fang, Heart, Tail, Spine, and Talon, especially the bustling street markets of Talon and the terraced rice paddies of Fang.  The character design of the dragons is so beautiful.  When I first saw the trailer I thought Sisu looked too cartoonish but, when all of the dragons take flight together, it is absolutely magical.  The theme of unity is brilliant and one that is needed right now because of all of the division in the world.  The stakes are surprisingly high for a Disney animated movie and there were actually three different times when I had tears in my eyes (I did laugh out loud many times, too).  Raya is an incredibly dynamic character because her motivation at the beginning of her journey is merely to revive her father but she ultimately applies his wisdom of trusting an enemy to bring about his dream of a unified Kumandra.  I love flawed characters who find redemption so Raya just might be my favorite Disney princess of all time!  Tran does such a good job in portraying Raya's strength and vulnerability and Awkwafina provides some welcome comic relief as the always optimistic Sisu.  I loved this movie so much and, whether you decide to see it in the theater (my screening was packed) or on Disney+, I highly recommend it!

Note:  I actually really liked the character of Rose in The Last Jedi and I was horrified by all of the abuse directed at Tran by fans who didn't.  I am so happy to see her receive some well-earned praise for this role!

Chaos Walking

As a huge fan of both Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland as well as the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness (I think it is a brilliant examination of colonization, the treatment of indigenous peoples, resource allocation, the abuse of power, loss of innocence, and the futility of war), I have been looking forward to the movie adaptation of the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, for what seems like forever.  I was so excited to see a Thursday preview last night but I ended up being very disappointed.  I know that a movie adaptation cannot possibly include everything from the source material because of time constraints but it seems like the big ideas of the novel are excluded in favor of very generic action sequences.  Viola Eade (Ridley) is a member of a scouting expedition for a larger group of settlers from Earth on their way to a planet called the New World.  Her ship crashes on this planet and she is the only survivor.  She encounters Todd Hewitt (Holland) in a settlement of earlier colonizers called Prentisstown, where all of the women have mysteriously disappeared and the men have their thoughts on display in a phenomenon called the Noise. The Mayor, David Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen), and Aaron (David Oyelowo), a mysterious preacher, view Viola and the new settlers on their way as a threat.  Todd wants to help her so his adoptive fathers Ben (Demian Bichir) and Cillian (Kurt Sutter) tell him about other settlements on New World and they go on the run so Viola can contact the mother ship.  However, Todd's Noise makes it difficult for them to hide leading to an epic confrontation and revelations about what happened to all of the women in Prentisstown.  Todd is very one-dimensional without any of the coming of age and loss of innocence character arcs from the book and his only motivation seems to be getting a kiss from Viola but Holland is appealing enough in the role.  Viola is a bit more interesting with a few throwaway lines about the indigenous species (there is a random scene involving the Spackle that makes absolutely no sense) and the abuse of power but she is mostly reactionary.  Ridley is also very appealing and she does what she can with the role but watching someone run from Point A to Point B gets boring after a while.  The Mayor's motivation is a bit unclear (although he has some great costumes) and there isn't any development of how he is able to rule over everyone or of his connection to Todd beyond a few throwaway lines.  The other characters don't have much to do and I was really disappointed with how Davy Jr. (Nick Jonas) and Hildy (Cynthia Erivo), in particular, are underutilized.  The action sequences are surprisingly bland but I did really like the visual representation of the Noise.  Finally, I really hated the conclusion (the biggest deviation from the book) because it is very rushed and certain events make the adaptation of the next two books impossible (which might be a good thing).  Fans of Holland and Ridley will probably really enjoy this but fans of the books will be disappointed.  Ugh!

My Zoe

Last night I saw the movie My Zoe and, while it is a fascinating and thought-provoking portrait of a mother willing to go to extraordinary lengths to keep from losing her child, I found it to be very anticlimactic.  It begins as a domestic drama as Isabelle (Julie Delpy) fights an acrimonious battle with her estranged husband James (Richard Armitage) for custody of their daughter Zoe (Sophia Ally).  Then it completely shifts gears and becomes a futuristic science fiction thriller as Isabelle requests an experimental procedure that is both illegal and possibly unethical after her daughter suffers a devastating brain injury.  This involves such a strange tonal shift that it almost seems like two different movies (the screen even fades to black in between the two).  I enjoyed the first act, particularly the passive aggressive bickering between Isabelle and James as they both try to prove that they are the better parent, because both characters feel very authentic in their love for their daughter and their situation is incredibly intense and compelling.  The final act is less compelling because it requires an almost comical suspension of disbelief despite the fact that the movie is set in the near future (with some really interesting tech gadgets).  Several new characters are introduced and their actions lack any sort of motivation.  Dr. Thomas Fischer (Daniel Bruhl), a fertility specialist to whom Isabelle turns in her desperation, adamantly refuses to help her because the experiment is morally wrong and almost certain to fail but then he inexplicably changes his mind and, of course, the experiment is a success.  His wife Laura (Gemma Arterton) is horrified that he has risked everything to help a woman he barely knows but even she eventually becomes sympathetic for no discernible reason.  In my opinion, the resolution is very disappointing because the timeline jumps several years into the future without an examination of the provocative questions that have have been posed about the outcome of the experiment.  Delpy gives a passionate performance as a mother on a relentless quest but it isn't enough to keep this movie from derailing in the end.  

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.