The Courier

I saw The Courier at the Sundance Film Festival last year (although when I saw it the name was Ironbark in reference to the code name used by the Soviet agent) and I really enjoyed this taut and suspenseful spy thriller so I decided to see it again last night.  Tensions are escalating between the United States and the Soviet Union over the build up of nuclear weapons.  Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a high-ranking science officer in the Soviet government, believes that Khrushchev is erratic and looking for any excuse to go to war with the U.S. so he goes to great lengths to contact the West about providing secret intelligence.  Because Penkovsky is so prominent, Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) of the CIA and Dickie Franks (Angus Wright) of MI-6 don't want to compromise him by using known agents.  They recruit Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), an unassuming middle-aged businessman with accounts in Eastern Europe, to make contact with him.  After meeting with Wynne, Penkovsky is impressed with his grace under pressure and insists that the CIA continue to use him as a courier even though he is an amateur.  Wynne is initially reluctant because it will be dangerous and, more importantly, his behavior will make his wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) suspicious because of a previous infidelity but, after a crash course in spy craft, he eventually smuggles in thousands of pieces of intel and develops a close friendship with Penkovsky.  The stakes are raised significantly when Khrushchev places missiles in Cuba and when Penkovsky comes under suspicion.  I really love spy movies and this is a good one because it focuses on the humanity of both characters and their desire to make the world a better place by their actions.  It is moody and atmospheric with lots of Cold War intrigue that had me on the edge of my seat (even upon a second viewing).  Cumberbatch gives a riveting performance (one of his best) that is sometimes amusing, especially when he attempts to get in shape, and sometimes quite affecting, especially in a late scene with Ninidze.  The fact that this is based on a true story makes it even more compelling and I highly recommend it, especially to fans of the genre.

Sound of Metal

Because I watched Sound of Metal last night, I have now seen all of the Academy Award nominees for Best Picture (click on the titles for my commentaries on The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Mank, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, and The Trial of the Chicago 7).  I'm not sure why I waited so long to see Sound of Metal but I found it to be incredibly moving.  Ruben (Riz Ahmed) is a drummer for a heavy metal duo with his girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke).  One night during a performance, he realizes that he is having trouble hearing and this is soon confirmed by a specialist who tells him that it is likely to get worse if he doesn't limit his exposure to loud noise.  Ruben is in denial about the diagnosis, thinking that expensive cochlear implants will fix the problem, and continues to play until it becomes impossible.  Lou is worried that this setback will cause Ruben to relapse so she seeks out a program for recovering addicts who are deaf run by a man named Joe (Paul Raci) who lost his hearing in Vietnam.  Lou realizes that Ruben won't commit to the program as long as she is in his life so she decides to leave him.  Joe is able to help him but Ruben continues to struggle because he sees his deafness as something he needs to fix rather than something he needs to adapt to and eventually sells everything he owns, including his drums, to get the implants.  While the implants allow Ruben to hear they also cause a strange distortion which might derail his plans to resume the life he once had.  What really resonated with me about this powerful character study is Ruben's attempt to downplay the seriousness of his situation and his refusal to accept a reality that conflicts with the identity he has created for himself because I think that is a very human reaction to adversity. Ahmed gives a captivating performance that is also understated and restrained.  There is nothing showy about it but you know everything that Ruben is feeling simply by the look in his eyes.  The closeup on his face when he realizes that he can never go back to the life he once had with Lou is absolutely devastating.  Raci is also incredibly affecting as someone who tries to help Ruben envision another life for himself.  The innovative sound design is brilliant because the harsh feedback and muffled sounds really allow the audience to experience everything that Ruben is hearing (I especially enjoyed how the sound of vibration is portrayed because that is such a turning point for Ruben) and the use of silence is also very powerful, particularly in the final scene.  I usually get really distracted when I watch movies at home (it is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video) but this held my attention from beginning to end and I highly recommend it!

Note:  Now that I have seen all of the nominees, my pick for Best Picture is Minari!  Have you seen any of the nominees?  Do you have a favorite to win?

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.