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.