Drive-Away Dolls

I have been looking forward to Drive-Away Dolls ever since I saw the first trailer (I thought it looked fun and quirky) so I went to see a matinee at the Broadway yesterday.  Unfortunately, I was really disappointed because I was expecting something much better from one of the Coen brothers.  Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) are lesbians and unlikely best friends living in Philadelphia in 1999.  The free-spirited Jamie has just been dumped by her girlfriend Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) so she invites herself along when the uptight Marian plans a trip to Tallahassee to visit her aunt.  Jamie suggests getting a car from a driveaway service (where someone is paid to drive a rental car one way to a specific destination) but they are inadvertently given the wrong car, one with a mysterious case inside that is also headed to Tallahassee for a criminal organization headed by the Chief (Colman Domingo).  When the Chief discovers the mistake, he sends his bickering associates, Arliss (Joey Slotnick) and Flint (C.J. Wilson), after the girls to retrieve the case but they have taken various detours to lesbian bars to help Marian loosen up.  Chaos ensues.  Qualley and Viswanathan, especially, do what they can with the material but I didn't like either of their characters (I enjoyed Feldstein, Domingo, and a cameo from Matt Damon so much more) and their actions quickly become tedious because they are so meaningless.  The humor, in my opinion, is very juvenile rather than quirky and I did not laugh even once (no one in my audience did, either).  The editing is an absolute mess with transitions that look like they were created with iMovie and there are also several really strange, and jarring, psychedelic sequences with Miley Cyrus that have absolutely no context until the very end.  The best thing I can say about this movie is that it is only 84 minutes long (I don't think I could have listened to Qualley's obnoxious accent for much longer).  I highly recommend giving this a miss.

The Boys in the Boat

I was really interested in seeing The Boys in the Boat when it was first released on Christmas Day but then I got busy and eventually forgot about it.  I noticed that it was still at my local multiplex when I was there on Tuesday and decided to see it last night.  It is a very serviceable underdog sports movie based on a true story but, as I am a huge fan of that genre, I absolutely loved it (and even had a tear in my eye at the end).  Joe Rantz (Callum Turner) was abandoned by his family at the age of 14 during the Great Depression and is now fending for himself while attending the University of Washington.  He is behind on his tuition payments and is unable to find work so he, along with hundreds of other students, attempts to win a spot on the men's eight crew because the team offers financial support and a place to live.  Despite having never rowed before, Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton), who is under tremendous pressure from the school and the booster club to win, is impressed by his hard work and determination and gives him a spot on the J.V. boat.  Overcoming tremendous odds, the team has a successful season and the J.V. boat is given the opportunity to compete at the Poughkeepsie Regatta (an Olympic qualifying race) over the senior boat.  They face even more obstacles (so many obstacles!) when they reach the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and I was literally holding my breath when the final race has a photo finish!  This story is told in a very conventional way (there is even the requisite training montage) but it is still incredibly compelling and I was riveted for the entire runtime.  Turner is very appealing (he looks good as a blonde) and sympathetic in the lead role, especially in a scene where is is reunited with the father who abandoned him.  I have never been interested in rowing before but it certainly looks beautiful portrayed on screen, particularly the overhead shots of the oars slapping against the water in unison.  I loved the 1930s period detail in the costumes and production design as well as the stirring score by Alexandre Desplat (one of my favorite movie composers).  This doesn't do anything new but it doesn't have to because it is so entertaining and inspiring.  I enjoyed it a lot and I recommend it now that it is available on VOD.

Bob Marley: One Love

Now that I have seen all of the new releases at my favorite art house theater I decided to see Bob Marley: One Love last night and, even though I am am only a casual fan, I liked it.  The narrative follows Bob Marley (Kingsley Ben-Adir) for two tumultuous years from 1976 to 1978 and is book-ended by two concerts in Jamaica.  Political turmoil, which brings Jamaica to the brink of civil war, prompts Marley to organize a free concert promoting peace.  However, he, his wife Rita (Lashana Lynch), and another band member are shot in an attack that is thought to be politically motivated and, even though they recover enough to perform at the concert, Marley and the Wailers soon flee to London.  While there he is inspired by his situation and records Exodus, widely regarded to be his most popular and influential album, and embarks on a successful European tour.  It is only when he is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer (which eventually ends his life) that he is able to face his fears and his past to return to Jamaica for another peace concert.  This is little more than a surface level exploration of Marley's life and music because, even though there are brief flashbacks to his difficult childhood (Nolan Collignon portrays Marley as a child), his early relationship with with Rita (Quan-Dajai Henrique portrays Marley as a young man and Nia Ashi portrays Rita as a young woman), his introduction to Rastafari, and his early days with the Wailers, I really wanted to know more about all of the above.  The biggest positives for me are the performances of Ben-Adir, who disappears into the role and nails Marley's physicality on stage, and Lynch, who is incredibly compelling as the only character who really challenges Marley.  I always enjoy seeing a musician's creative process so I really loved the scene where Marley and the Wailers improvise an early version of "Exodus" and the scene where he plays "Redemption Song" for his children and tells Rita that he has been writing it his whole life is incredibly moving.  The use of Marley's amazing music is also a highlight (I am really happy that my favorite song, "No Woman, No Cry," was included and I especially loved that it was performed live).  This could have been more comprehensive but I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

The Taste of Things

The second foreign film in my double feature at the Broadway last night was The Taste of Things.  I was really excited to see this because of everything I had heard about it and it certainly didn't disappoint.  Dodin (Benoit Magimel) is a French landowner in 1885 who meets regularly with a group of his fellow gourmands for a meal he prepares with his cook Eugenie (Juliette Binoche) with whom he has been having an affair for over twenty years.  She refuses to eat these meals with him and his friends and refuses his frequent proposals of marriage.  When Dodin and his friends are invited to an elaborate eight hour meal prepared by the distinguished chef of a visiting prince, they are all disappointed because they prefer the artistry of Eugenie's cooking and Dodin makes plans to invite the prince to his chateau for a simple meal consisting of a pot-au-feu.  However, Eugenie begins having fainting spells that worry Dodin so, while she rests, he prepares an exquisite meal for her after which she finally accepts his proposal.  This is a beautiful and moving story about how the purest form of love is preparing food for someone!  The vast majority of the runtime involves the meticulous preparation of gourmet meals featuring many different courses followed by people eating them with pleasure and there is very little dialogue (and no score beyond the sounds of nature from the open windows) but these scenes are absolutely captivating because the food looks amazing and you can almost smell the aromas through the screen.  Binoche (who is luminous as always) and Magimel give lovely performances because, not only do they have insane chemistry with each other (this is one of the most romantic movies I've seen in a long time), but they also really seem to be cooking all of the food!  The cinematography, whether the camera is panning over simmering and sizzling pots or the sun-dappled garden where many of the ingredient are freshly picked, is simply gorgeous.  I loved everything about this delightful film and highly recommend it.

The Teachers' Lounge

Last night I decided on a foreign film double feature at the Broadway and I began with The Teachers' Lounge.  I had an almost visceral reaction to several scenes because I am a former teacher and this is an incredibly accurate portrayal of what teaching sometimes feels like.  Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) is an idealistic first year teacher in a middle school that has been experiencing a series of thefts.  When one of her students (who is Muslim) is accused, she objects to the way in which her superiors abuse their power to single him out and decides to investigate the thefts herself.  She surreptitiously gathers evidence that seems to lead to an administrative assistant as the culprit but her accusation puts her at odds with the administration, her students (especially the son of the accused who is in her class), the parents, and the other teachers.  What I found fascinating is that Carla is initially very well-liked by her colleagues and is a great teacher with a lot of participation and engagement from her students but, as an unintended consequence of her well-meaning action, they all quickly turn against her and events spiral out of control.  The school becomes a microcosm of society where everyone is looking for someone else to blame and misinformation abounds.  All of the action takes place within a few areas of the school and this really heightens Carla's sense of claustrophobia when she finds no support.  The tension slowly escalates until it is almost unbearable and a scene where every student in her class refuses to comply with her directions gave me a panic attack.  Benesch gives a brilliant central performance, which is enhanced by an unnerving score, and I often found it very difficult to watch.  My only criticism is that the ending is a bit anticlimactic after all of the build-up but I highly recommend this thought-provoking film.