Drama – Page 14 – We Are Movie Geeks

BRUISED (2021) – Review

So, did last week’s big release, KING RICHARD, spark your interest in “female-centric” sports flicks? Maybe just a bit, eh? Well, we’ve got one just in time for the holiday weekend. Oh, but there’s a couple of differences here, It’s a fiction film, though it’s set in the very real world of Women’s Mixed Martial Arts competitions. Feels like the last time we saw ladies squaring off was in 2004’s Oscar-winner MILLION DOLLAR BABY. Speaking of the golden statue, the star of this new film has one for acting. Plus she’s making her feature directing debut with this tale of an aging fighter whose body and psyche are almost broken and achingly BRUISED.

Without a big “backstory” (or even an “origin”), we’re immediately dropped into a terrible day for MMA fighter Jackie Justice AKA “Pretty Bull” (Halle Berry). It’s a big championship bout and she’s being so brutally pummeled that she climbs over the barricades of their ring, referred to as the “octagon”. With her career pretty much toast, she’s reduced to cleaning the homes of “rich folks”. But an altercation with the son of one of her clients squelches that. On the way home, she tries to drown her sorrows before facing the wrath of her ex-manager and current beau Desi (Adan Canto). He’s peeved alright, though he decides to take her away for the night. But it’s a surprise to Jackie when they end up at an “underground’ fighting club. Desi’s hoping to sign up some new “talent’ as many of the patrons recognize Jackie. Then one of the fighters challenges her which unleashes her fury, impressing gym owner/fight promoter Immaculate ( Shamier Anderson). He hands his card to a dismissive Jacke and implores her to get down to his gym and contact a trainer named Buddhakan. When the couple returns home they’re surprised by a visit from Jackie’s insulting pill-popping mother (Adriane Lenox) who drops off Manny (Danny Boyd, Jr.) the seven-year-son Jackie had left with her ex soon after he was born. He was an undercover cop who was “found out” and murdered in front of the boy which literally left him speechless (not a word to anyone). Since she’s a mother again, Jackie decides to take the offer to return to fighting. At the gym, she meets that trainer, who prefers Bobbi (Shelia Atim). So can the aging (for the MMA bouts) Jackie balance her training with her new paternal responsibilities and deal with her physically abusive boyfriend and her verbally dismissive mother? She’s gotta’ stock up on aspirin and ice packs.

Berry convincingly transforms into the battered, but still standing Jackie J. She looks confident and more than a bit dangerous in the “octo” projecting a fierce attitude we’ve never seen, even in her “hero” roles like Storm, Jinx, and…ahem…Catwoman. But as tough as she is in a bout, out in the “world’ Berry shows us that JJ is unsteady even a bit fragile as her personal battles (with Desi, with her mama) almost put her down for the count. Her ‘rescuer” may be the “little” man she’s got to rescue and raise. Berry expertly portrays every facet of this complex character. Luckily Jackie’s got great support and rapport with Atim’s Bobbi, who proves to be a great scene partner to Berry. Akim goes from “out there” sage (we first see her chanting a mantra) to a tough taskmaster with Jackie and a very cool “big sister’ to Manny. And later we see her vulnerable side as things get more intense away from the gym. Canta has a brutish charm as Desi while building to the moment when he unleashes the ugly beast straining to burst forth. Young Boyd proves to be a superb pantomimist as the silent manny, while Lenox sells the role of Jackie’s passive-aggressive drug and booze-addled mama, though she’s secretly proud of her offspring.

And yes, this is Berry’s behind-the-camera debut, doing double duty with a confident storytelling skill (with a script by another first-timer Michelle Rosenfarb). Berry captures the hopelessness and squalor of life in the shabby mean streets (mainly Newark here) making us feel the cold and the grime (and almost smelling the sweat and filth). Much of that sweat covers the gym, while the fighters seem to slide in the blood at the bouts. We feel Jackie’s frustrations (Manny’s wall of silence can’t be shattered) and her triumphs (the Atlantic City hotel suite is almost a palace). It does go to the training montage “well” too often, and the near-constant hip-hop-infused score can be numbing. Plus a third-act romantic tryst feels tossed in for titillation (aren’t fighters supposed to, y’know, abstain before a big match). But it’s a splendid first feature helmed by Berry and for those who are curious about the subject matter, it’s a great way to get really close to the action without ending up BRUISED.

2.5 Out of 4

BRUISED streams exclusively on Netflix starting on Wednesday, November 24, 2021

BELFAST – Review

(L to R) Jamie Dornan as “Pa”, Ciarán Hinds as “Pop”, Jude Hill as “Buddy”, and Judi Dench as “Granny” in director Kenneth Branagh’s BELFAST, a Focus Features release. Credit : Rob Youngson / Focus Features

Kenneth Branagh gives us one of his best films, and his most personal, with BELFAST, a partly autobiographical tale of a boy in North Belfast in 1969. It is more a year-in-the-life story rather than a coming-of-age one but it is a pivotal year in many ways.

Mostly, BELFAST is a child-centric comedy but it does take place in the shadow of the Irish “Troubles.” Branagh both wrote and directs BELFAST, which is filled with distinctive Irish humor, biting quick-witted wordplay and colorful characters, along with childhood memories of a working class neighborhood where everyone knows everyone. This 1969 tale is mostly both funny and warm, happening against the wonder of men walking on the Moon, but while thoughts of the Irish Troubles dog the parents and danger sometimes looms, viewers need not worry about graphic violence in this film.

BELFAST opens with 9-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) and his friends playing in an alley, having mock battles with wooden swords and trash can lids as shields. As Buddy’s mother (Catriona Balfe) is calling him in for dinner, an angry mob shows up at the end of their street. A driver-less car is rolled on to the street and blows up. With that car bomb, children’s mock battles give way to the real battle of the Irish Troubles.

Buddy’s family is Protestant, as are most of his neighbors, but a few Catholics have moved in too, and it is the Catholics the radical mob was hunting. But the tight-knit neighborhood is not having it, and everyone pitches into to build a barrier at the end of the street to keep out the mob, tearing up the paving stones on the sidewalk to build it.

Buddy’s parents grew up here, and he is surrounded by family and friends in this street of row houses and little shops. Buddy is particularly close to his charming, talkative grandfather Pop (Ciaran Hinds), and his no-nonsense Granny (Judi Dench), who is quick to call out her husband’s more outrageous yarns. Buddy’s father, Pa (Jamie Dornan), often is gone for a week at a time as he works in construction in England, leaving Ma to watch over the 9-year-old and his older brother Will (Lewis McAskie).

Shot mostly in gorgeous black and white, the film follows Buddy’s adventures, his crush on a blonde-haired girl in his class, being goaded into shoplifting candy, working on an assignment about the Moon landing and other childhood adventures. The family watch Westerns on TV, go to the movies and the theater, where we get little flashes of color. While Buddy’s world revolves around childhood concerns, his parents try to shield their sons from the dangers of the Troubles, often led by a local radical that Buddy’s father calls a “jumped-up gangster.” It doesn’t always work, and the worried father wants to leave Ireland, but his wife resists leaving the only place she has ever known.

The acting is excellent, starting with young Jude Hill as the stand-in for a young Branagh. The scenes with him, Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench as the grandparents are among the best, funny and touching. Catriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan as the parents are both passionate and fiery. The kid-centric scenes are pure delight, with the brothers and cousins engaging in a series of misadventures that are sure to bring a smile, but there are times when we see the danger of the upheaval going on around them, when it intrudes on their child’s world.

The film is impressive visually, with a mix of beautiful black and white images, occasionally interrupted with startling dashes of color. There are creative camera angles and some lovely gasp-inducing shot compositions. Time and again, an emotionally-pivotal scene is further enhanced by artistic framing, striking enough to make you note the beauty of the shot, but also adding to scene’s dramatic impact. The pacing and editing are perfect, stylishly supporting and advancing the story. The music is striking, using some pop tunes of the era – often by Van Morrison – along with selected Western movie music, some of which is both comic and spot-on dramatically, in a weird way.

This is an impressive film, working both as cinematic art and movie entertainment, powerful dramatically while warm, funny and sentimental in its childhood remembrances. BELFAST is sure to be a crowd-pleaser and an award-contender.

BELFAST opens in theaters on Nov. 12.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

BETA TEST – Review

In 1973, Erica Jong wrote FEAR OF FLYING, a wildly popular erotic novel that introduced us to the term “zipless f**k” – an anonymous, one-time, spur of the moment boink. No names. No thought of repeating the experience. BETA TEST gives a teched-up variation on the concept, raising more questions than answers for those who participate. Each lucky (?) tryster receives an engraved invitation to meet an unknown admirer in a posh hotel. We follow the course of a few who go for it.

The suspenseful drama opens with a woman confessing her recent adventure to her spouse. The disclosure is not at all well-received. We switch quickly to the main story, involving Jordan Hines, a smarmy Hollywood agent (are there other kinds?) played by co-writer and co-director Jim Cummings. He’s scrambling to save his agency in a showbiz era that threatens their relevance. He’s also six weeks away from marrying Caroline (Virginia Newcomb), who seems almost saintly in her patience for his manic, erratic actions. After wrestling with his conscience, Hines meets the mystery lover for a masked roll in the luxury hay, and becomes obsessed with finding out who she was, and why the unknown arranger decided to extend the offer to him.

The rest of the movie focuses on Hines’ quest to find the woman and reasons for what appears to be a large-scale operation with unknown motives. He turns to his agency partner and best bud, PJ (also the other half of the writing/directing tandem, PJ McCabe) to help learn the how and why of this bizarre bit of matchmaking.

Maybe it’s a cult on the order of the masked-and-robed hedonists in EYES WIDE SHUT. Maybe it’s a blackmail scheme. A few references to Harvey Weinstein and the current climate for sexual harassment raise the question of whether it’s the work of one or more grudge holders from perceived peccadilloes past.

The setup is fine, but following its execution is almost exhausting. Director Cummings should have reined in actor Cummings on the level of histrionics deployed to present his character’s growing frustration and paranoia. Actor Cummings should have urged writer Cummings to pay more attention to the coherence of his screenplay. Writer McCabe shortchanged actor McCabe on his share of screen time. The movie is a long way in before some disparate plot lines start fitting into the picture; some never really do. The very attractive cast and upscale sets collectively give us the glamour of Hollywood’s slice of showbiz, complete with the shallowness of everyone’s dreams and tactics for “making it.” What we learn about those whys and wherefores is reasonably satisfying but investment in the characters – especially Hines – may well fade for others as it did for me. Pay attention to teeth. They’re more significant than you’d expect.

BETA TEST opens Nov. 5 in theaters in some locations and streaming on Amazon Prime and other platforms.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

MASS – Review

*Martha Plimpton and Ann Dowd in MASS. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.*

Is there anything harder for a parent than the loss of a child? That heartbreak is at the center of the drama MASS, in which one couple who suffered such a loss meets years later with the couple whose child was responsible for that loss. Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton play one of the two couples, Gail and Jay. who have agreed to meet with the other parents, Linda and Richard (Ann Dowd and Reed Birney). The meeting is to take place in around a table in a small room of an Episcopal church, in a town in a Western state. The meeting has been arranged by a therapist who has been working with Gail and Jay. It has the look of a “truth and reconciliation” meeting to help both couples get past what happened.

That is not giving away any more than is in the film’s trailer. Exactly what did happen, and even which son is the killer and which the victim, is not clear at the film’s start, a deliberate choice by first-time director, but long-time actor, Fran Kranz. The carefully written script, also by Kranz, slowly brings out details of the events, as the actors develop and reveal aspects of their characters, giving the drama much more suspense than if the film had laid all cards on the table to start. The therapist and the couples know the facts but the audience does not. The meeting of the two couples is tense, even wary, and a sense of anger and sorrow permeates the room.

Eventually it is revealed that the killing happened during a school shooting six years earlier. The four parents have dealt with the aftermath in differing ways, and one couple, Richard and Linda, have divorced, although they are still cordial to each other. Most of the drama takes place in the church meeting room with a lead-in sequence, in which the therapist inspects the room while a hovering church worker makes too many helpful suggestions, which serves to pique our curiosity.

Of course, it is hard to avoid the sense of a stage play with a drama set largely in a single room. What makes for searing drama on stage does not always translate to the big screen. But director Franz deals with this problem first by shifting angles and moving the characters about the space, but largely by revealing the information, about what happened and who these people are, in carefully paced bits. The drama also rests heavily on the skill of the cast, who exceed expectations as each slowly reveals their characters. Who they seem to be in the scene where they first meet changes over the course of the shifting drama, as new facts are revealed.

Martha Plimpton’s Gail is seething with barely suppressed anger even before the meeting, anger we glimpse in a scene with her and Jay before the two couples meet face-to-face in the church room. It looks at one point as if she will back out at the last minute, and the couple have an exchange about something she has come to say. By contrast, Ann Dowd’s Linda seems more open, even eager to reach out, offering Gail flower arrangement as a gift. It leads to the first of many awkward moments as Gail politely thanks her but does not reach out to accept them, a fore taste of the back-and-forth emotional dance to come.

The scene also illustrates the careful construction of each moment in the film and the skill of the performers. Eventually, the ice breaks and bit by bit, facts and feelings come out, as one side seeks to know if there were a hints that could have prevented what happened and the other struggles with the answers.

Richard seems the most wary and reserved at the beginning, speaking about agreed to contracts and seeking to avoid acknowledging anything or sharing details that could lead to legal action. By contrast, the more open Jay has devoted his life to activism on school shootings. As the meeting goes into deeper emotional depths, Richard’s surface gradually cracks a bit, exposing raw unspoken feelings, and Jay begins questioning what his work really has accomplished in the ensuing years. Questioning and self-doubt, admissions and denial all swirl through the charged atmosphere.

Outstanding performances are the key to MASS, which it has in abundant. All the actors are excellent but Ann Dowd is the standout. The discussions thoughtfully explore the variety of issues that have been raised by school shootings, such as debates over guns, violent video games, and the political aspects that have grow up around them. At the same time, these characters grapple with their own complex, sometimes conflicting emotions – anger, regret, guilt, grief – all of which are on both sides in some fashion, leading slowly towards forgiveness and acceptance.

The subject matter, and the film’s structure as a drama built around discussion, means there is a limit on the kind of audience MASS will draw. But the drama offers much, with its thoughtful, complex discussion of difficult subjects, its delving into human nature and the human heart, and its stellar, multi-layered performances. There are no easy answers and there are no uncomplicated people nor personal stories in MASS.

MASS opens Friday, Oct. 22, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and other theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK – Review

(L-r) BILLY MAGNUSSEN as Paulie Walnuts, JON BERNTHAL as Johnny Soprano, COREY STOLL as Junior Soprano (in back), JOHN MAGARO as Silvio Dante, RAY LIOTTA as “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti and ALESSANDRO NIVOLA as Dickie Moltisanti in New Line Cinema and Home Box Office’s “THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo credit: Barry Wetcher / Warner Bros. Courtesy of Warner Brothers Studios

The highly-anticipated “Sopranos” prequel THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK finally arrives in theaters and proves that it was worth the long wait. “The Sopranos” was the influential, award-winning television series that likely started the binge-watching phenomenon, but one of the nice things about this mobster drama is that there is no need to be a fan of the long-running series, or even to have seen a single episode, to fully enjoy this film and be drawn into its well-rounded world and thrilled by its surprise-around-every corner plot. There is plenty here for any fan of mobster movies or twisty thrillers generally. But if you are a Sopranos fan, there are plenty of extra thrills in seeing characters only talked about in the series or younger versions of favorites like Paulie Walnuts and Silvio Dante, and discovering how New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano and his world came to be.

Focusing on the Soprano-Moltisanti branch of New Jersey’s DiMeo crime family, the film gives an introduction to the world of “The Sopranos” and every major figure from the series at an earlier time. However, if you are a Sopranos fan expecting this film to deliver you right to the doorstep of Tony’s home, with the late James Gandolfini as the grown mob boss trundling out in his robe to get the morning paper, this ain’t it. The story ends with Tony still young but with a brilliant script by series creator David Chase and Lawrence Konner and strong direction by Alan Taylor (whose work included episodes of The Sopranos and Game of Thrones), THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK has creator David Chase’s fingerprints all over it and fully sets up how Tony Soprano and his world came to be, setting the stage for that iconic shot that opened every show but with room to fill in more details.

Set in the turbulent late ’60s and early ’70s in Newark, New Jersey, the story incorporates real historical events, as rival gangs challenge the powerful DiMeo crime family and racial tensions and changing times rock the city of Newark. The film’s striking cinematography by Kramer Morgenthau brings the turbulent times to life, while production designer Bob Shaw (who was with “The Sopranos” for five seasons), effectively recreates the period and the feel of the Sopranos’ world.

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK introduces us to 11-year-old Anthony Soprano (William Ludwig) and then 16-year-old Tony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini, son of the late Sopranos star). But the young Tony is less the central figure in this tale than his Uncle Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), who was the unseen, but often spoken of, mentor to crime boss Tony’s in the series, as well as the evolution of this world into the world of the Sopranos series. Although young Tony Soprano is in the opening scene, the narration that introduces it comes not from him but from an unseen Christopher Moltisanti, Uncle Dickie’s not-yet-born son. Dickie isn’t really Tony’s uncle but a close friend of Tony’s father and a fellow member of the DiMeo crime family. Dickie, also known as “Gentleman Dick” for his nice manners and smooth style, is a father figure to young Tony while his father Johnny Soprano (Jon Bernthal) is in prison, also serving as Tony’s role model with the approval of Tony’s mother Livia (Vera Farmiga). Dickie’s own father, “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti (Ray Liotta), a crime boss who once rubbed elbows with stars, has stepped back from running things, turning them over to Dickie. But his hot-tempered father still brings lots of stress to Dickie, after he and his new young Italian wife Giuseppina (Michela De Rossi) move into a shared duplex with his son and his family.

You might wonder who the “saints” are in this crime tale. Moltisanti means “many saints” in Italian but it is not the only reference the film slyly reveals throughout. The first of these “saints” are a street gang of Black youths named the Black Saints, who are stepping on the toes of this established Italian American crime syndicate in Newark. To deal with them, Dickie has brought in childhood friend and former high school football team mate Harold McBrayer (Leslie Odom Jr) to deal with one particularly bold Black Saint. Harold and Dickie are friends but Harold does not find a warm welcome from the rest of Dickie’s Italian American crime family. Both Harold and Dickie are ambitions but circumstances of the times are frustrating Harold’s ambitions.

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK is an ensemble film that blends many story lines as it weaves a picture of its times and the world young Tony Soprano is growing up in. Yet, the film is very cohesive, never losing us as it brings the various thread together, thanks to the well-crafted script. We are kept on the edge of our seats by every unseen turn in the plot but the film effectively mixes family drama and psychological character studies with crime film action and violence.

The crime family is on the verge of change and all their maneuvering is set against the changes and upheaval of Newark in the 1960s, particularly the race riots of the summer of 1967. The time period allows the introduction of a subplot about Harold McBrayer, played marvelously by Leslie Odom Jr., and an emerging Black crime syndicate. Early on, McBrayer’s experience with the Italian Americans parallels the path of Jewish and Irish mobsters in an earlier era, but the changing social and racial landscape alters that path and deepen the story.

Racial tensions are a big part of the story, not just historical backdrop, and some pivotal scenes take place during the summer 1967 Newark riots, which set large parts of the city aflame. In 1967, Newark is undergoing changes, as migration from the South brings increasing numbers of Black people into its working-class Central and North Wards, neighborhoods once dominated by Italian immigrants, cause clashes. The summer of 1967, the Summer of Love, sees the explosion of race riots, setting large portions of the city on fire, as changing times roil this branch of the DiMeo crime family.

Like the original show, the casting is superb, the characters striking, and the clever script provides drama, humor and mob thrills in satisfying measures. As Dickie Moltisanti, Alessandro Nivola is superb as a man torn by maintaining the smooth veneer of his family persona and coping with burning ambitions to discover his own path. All the characters in this tale are complex and multi-layered, chief among them this central one. Leslie Odom Jr has the character, Harold, who undergoes perhaps the greatest shift, and Odom handles the role masterfully.

Two of the most pivotal roles go to Ray Liotta, who plays both boss “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti, a flashy, egotistical character with a short fuse, and his imprisoned brother Salvatore “Sally” Moltisanti, a looming figure who has embraced jazz, Buddhism and honesty in prison while still maintaining the requisite mob silence. A standout on the comedic side is John Magaro as the younger balding consiglieri Silvio Dante (played memorably in the original by Steven Van Zandt) – before the wig. The gifted John Magaro (who really should have been nominated for an Oscar for his moving performance as Cookie in last year’s unjustly-overlooked FIRST COW) is both delightful and unrecognizable in this role, capturing Silvio’s vanity and distinctive mannerisms while missing none of his underlying menace.

A standout on the drama, and psychological, side is Vera Farmiga’s performance as Tony’s troubled mother Livia, a role played so masterfully by Nancy Marchand in the original and matched here in intensity by Farmiga. Corey Stoll likewise shines as Junior, a character we meet in his dotage in the series but here a conniving striver with a penchant for accidents. Tony’s associates Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri, played by Billy Magnussen and Sal “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero, played by Samson Moeakiola in his screen debut, are also well-drawn and help craft that evolving Soprano world. Italian actress Michela De Rossi plays Hollywood Dick’s much younger Italian trophy wife, a figure that evokes thoughts of THE GODFATHER in a different form.

Shot on location in New Jersey and New York, the film also perfectly captures the period look and feel, with portions of Patterson and other New Jersey towns along with areas of the Bronx, Yonkers and other parts of New York standing in for an earlier Newark. While the mobsters are playing out their operatic dealings, the landscape around them is in flames. The camera work is breathtaking and the framing of the crime family dealings against the historic backdrop is stunningly jarring. All the costumes and props are properly vintage but so are the mannerisms, the racist undercurrents, and sense of seismic shift at work. Period music individually suited to each character compliments each scene.

Whether you are a fan of The Sopranos or never saw an episode, THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK delivers as a satisfying experience, a crime tale set in a volatile period, packed with depth, striking characters, drama and action, sprinkled with sly humor and crackling dialog.

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK opens Friday, Oct. 1, in theaters nationally.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

OLD HENRY – Review

*Tim Blake Nelson in the Western OLD HENRY. Courtesy of Shout! Studios and Hideout Pictures.*

The classic Western rides again, with Tim Blake Nelson playing a quiet widowed farmer with teen-aged son on a hardscrabble Oklahoma farm, who takes in a wounded man found with a bag full of money and soon finds trouble follows. Writer/director Potsy Ponciroli’s low-budget indie Western action film OLD HENRY sports a much better than expected cast, and is elevated greatly by Tim Blake Nelson in a rare lead role.

OLD HENRY evokes classic Westerns, with its tale of an aging widowed farmer with a teen-aged son, defending his homestead when a group of armed men come looking for the wounded stranger they took in, and the bag of loot he had with him. Both the stranger and the men who have come looking for him claim to be lawmen, leaving the farmer to decide who to believe. But this farmer proves to have both more determination and surprising skills once the shooting starts, raising questions about his identity.

It is the classic lone man against many Western. In 1906 Oklahoma, Henry (Nelson) and his son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis) are working their little farm alone, struggling to get by without the help of a then-new invention, a tractor, but with a little help from the farmer’s late wife’s brother Al (Trace Adkins) who has the neighboring farm. Young Wyatt is itching to go off and leave farming behind, and chaffing under his stern, Bible-quoting father’s over-protectiveness. When the farmer spots a rider-less horse with a bloody saddle wandering onto his property, Henry feels bound to investigate. In an nearby creek bed, he finds an unconscious, nearly-dead stranger with a bag full of cash. Old Henry knows it is trouble as soon as he sees that money and his initial impulse is to walk away. Instead he slings the unconscious man across his saddle and brings the wounded man and the bag of loot back to his homestead.

Back home, Henry quickly hides the loot. He tends to the stranger’s wounds with skill but ties him to the bed, showing a level of wariness that surprises his son. When the wounded man, Curry (Scott Haze) awakes, he tells them he is a lawman but Henry remains suspicious. Soon a posse of three men show up, led by a man named Ketchum (Stephen Dorff) sporting a badge, and also claiming to be lawmen, looking for the wounded man.

Earlier violent scenes have raised our doubts about the claims of Dorff’s Ketchum and his companions Dugan (Richard Speight Jr.) and a Mexican tracker named Stilwell (Max Arciniega) to be the law. But it is the farmer’s cool, steely nerves and skilled response suggesting a hidden past that really intrigues. When the shooting inevitably starts, Henry’s skill with a gun raises questions about who he really is.

The heart of the film is about the father and son, although there is plenty of action too. There is a lot of classic Western here, including the combination of gruffness and tenderness in the father-son relationship and the son challenging his underestimated father, but also a touch of “a special set of skills” contemporary action thriller. However, it takes awhile for director Ponciroli to get around to the action, despite the film’s fairly brief running time.

The story is set in Oklahoma but looks more like Tennessee, where it was actually shot. It is not the usual movie image of Oklahoma’s dry grassland plains, although eastern Oklahoma is a likely match. The director reportedly found this location in Watertown, Tennessee, and was taken with how hidden and forlorn the old homestead looked, and took the location as the inspiration for the story. However, the writer/director decided to relocate the story in Oklahoma. Mismatched location aside, the cinematography by John Matysiak is strong, effectively giving a sense of isolation to the farmstead and a kind of rough beauty, while the costumes and production design gives the proper period feel.

The director seems to go out of his way to make the slight Nelson look even smaller, with an over-sized hat and casting a young actor as his son who fairly towers over him. It just sets up the audience to further underestimate the quiet unassuming farmer before the fireworks begin. Once unleashed, Nelson is masterful in the shootout sequence against the even-larger group that eventually shows up to the fight, surprising his son most of all.

What is not surprising is that Tim Blake Nelson’s performance makes this film, supported well by Stephen Dorff as the principle baddie and the other cast members. A long-time character actor, whose breakout role in the Coen brothers’ O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU brought him a level of stardom, Tim Blake Nelson truly delivers in this too-rare lead role.

OLD HENRY opens Friday, Oct. 1, at theaters in select cities.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

BLUE BAYOU – Review

Is it fair that a small child, legally adopted from another nation, is responsible for paperwork errors about citizenship, which puts the now-grown child’s immigration status in jeopardy? It sounds ridiculous but, in fact, that legal loophole does exist for some adoptees. BLUE BAYOU is Justin Chon’s powerful, winning drama about this subject, in which writer/director/producer Chon both directs and plays the lead character, Antonio LeBlanc, a struggling New Orleans tattoo artist who was legally adopted at age 3 from South Korea but now faces deportation due to paperwork left incomplete by his adoptive parents. This powerful drama features nuanced, appealing and realistic performances by Chon and Alicia Vikander, as his pregnant wife, and a wonderful performance by Sydney Kowalske as her seven-year-old daughter Jesse. BLUE BAYOU mixes a warm, realistic portrait of a family, with a particularly close father-daughter bond, with searing emotion in scenes where Chon’s character faces the immigration legal system that could change his life.

Antonio (Justin Chon), now in his thirties, is trying hard to support his family and be a good husband to wife Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and father to stepdaughter Jesse, the only father she has ever known. Jesse’s biological father, a cop called Ace (Mark O’Brien), abandoned Jesse and her mother when Jesse was small, but now wants to be part of his daughter’s life. On the other hand, Antonio has always been there for both Kathy and her daughter, despite his own troubled childhood which included abuse and youthful criminal record for the theft of motorcycles. Although they struggle financially and Antonio worries about money once the new baby arrives, the family is solid, happy and enjoying life together. When an ordinary parental disagreement while shopping in a grocery store gets a bit loud, Kathy’s ex, a cop called Ace steps in, along with his racist partner Denny. There is a scuffle, and Antonio is arrested. While that charge is dropped, Antonio is taken into custody by ICE over his immigration status.

We do get that famous song in the title, sung by Vikander, a nice moment in the film. BLUE BAYOU is a real tour-de-force by Chon, handling both his roles as director and lead actor with impressive skill. Long before Antonio faces his immigration crisis, the family wins our hearts. Chon is charismatic on-screen and we can’t help but like Antonio and cheer on a young man trying so hard to do the right thing. Much of the film’s appeal is in its the relationships, and particularly Antonio’s relationship with his stepdaughter.

Although Antonio even has a friend who is an ICE officer, who tries to help, the law limits what he can do. It is a completely unfair situation but one that is not rare for international adopted children, and in fact Chon’s script was inspired by a real-life case of a Korean-born adoptee. Chon has dealt with issues faced by Asian immigrants before, including in his film GOOK. Being Asian makes it harder for internationally adopted children to quietly blend in, despite being culturally American, something Chon highlights in a telling opening scene. Antonio, interviewing for a better paying job, faces skepticism about his identity despite his Louisiana accent and politely answers racist questions about his name and where he is from. Once immigration steps into his life, Antonio’s settled life is imperiled particularly by his youthful criminal record for stealing motorcycles, a past he has been struggling to overcome as a upright family man.

The film does a nice job with the accents, which sound authentic for New Orleans but are never overdone and distracting. Before Chon’s Antonio faces his unfair legal situation, the character wins our hearts, as does the film’s little family. Much of the film’s appeal is in its characters. One of the joys of the film is how realistic relationship is between the couple is portrayed by Chon and Vikander, with all the back-and-forth of real life parents and daily disagreements between any couple but with the underlying love between them. It is a realism few films get so right. The chemistry between Chon and Vikander is strong, and Vikander turns in one of her best performances here.

Likewise, the relationship between seven-year-old Jesse and Antonio, the only father she has ever known, is realistic and charming, and completely wins our hearts. Young Sydney Kowalske is cute, sweet, and believable in her role as Jesse, and the appealing scenes between father and daughter are among the film’s best.

Chon does have a message he wants to get across, and the film is sometimes heavy-handed in how it does that, although by the film’s end, his pull-no-punches approach feels justified. In 2000, Congress passed a law granting citizenship to children adopted from overseas but, oddly, excluding those who turned 18 before the law was passed. It makes no real sense, and drawing attention to that legal flaw may correct it.

The film is a bit slow to start, with a few too many scenes where Antonio revisits the same memory of his birth mother, and there is a side plot about another Asian immigrant, a cancer patient who immigrated with her family from Vietnam, which seems to add little to the story, other than portraying a different Asian American experience.

However, the film kicks into a higher gear once Antonio gets entangled with the immigration system, and leads to some emotionally searing scenes, ones that might leave the audience emotionally moved and also angry at the film’s end, with a few real-life examples of this unfair system shown with the end credits.

But any flaws in this film are well counterbalanced by the warmth and charm BLUE BAYOU creates around this family. Chon sparkles with on-camera as Antonio, creating a lead character we can’t help but like and cheer for, as the dad and husband who is trying to do the right thing. The wonderful acting performances by Chon, Vikander, and young Kowalske especially, go a long way to support this worthy drama.

Supporting performances are also strong. Vondie Curtis-Hall plays as immigration lawyer Barry Boucher who tries to help the family and Mark O’Brien plays Jesse’s biological father Ace, who develops more layers than we expect as the man who now regrets abandoning his daughter. Linh Dan Pham is touching as Parker, the cancer patient Chon meets, who introduces him to her family and a represents a different Asian immigrate experience. Emory Cohen plays Ace’s racist partner Denny, an all-round jerk, the one character who is a bit too over the top.

Despite a few flaws, this is a strong film that blends an appealing family drama and charismatic lead character with a hard-hitting message about an absurd technicality with the potential to ruin lives. Overall, BLUE BAYOU is a powerful film, filled with strong performances and delivering an important message with a punch, a drama that warrants to trip to the theater and also might be one watch come awards season.

BLUE BAYOU opens Friday, Sept. 17, in theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

SMALL ENGINE REPAIR (2021) – Review

Although the sun’s squeezing the last drop of sweat from the Summer season, this week’s new release reminds us of the cooler temps and the upcoming Winter holidays when family and friends will be getting together for celebrations and more than a few homecomings. The latter is the main theme of this tale of a trio of best buds. And their relationship has its fair share of ups and downs, running hot and cold. But somehow, despite their often volatile history, a bond is formed. On a dark windy night, that bond is tested, perhaps stretched to its breaking point. And it all happens under a flickering sign that proclaims SMALL ENGINE REPAIR.

It all begins at that backyard garage shop in Manchester, New Hampshire as lifelong pals ‘Swaino’ (Jon Bernthal) and ‘Packie’ (Shea Whigham) greet the owner, Frank (John Pollono) upon his return from an “extended stay” in the “Greybar Hotel”. Ah, but it’s also a “father and child reunion” as the guys have brought along Frank’s toddler daughter Crystal, who’s more comfortable in the arms of Terry than her almost forgotten papa. The story springs ahead a dozen years or so as Frank, now the main parent of teenage Crystal (Ciara Bravo), hosts a pre-Christmas dinner for her and her former caretakers. The mood is elevated when Crystal finds out that she’s been accepted to a distant college. But the high spirits are somewhat deflated by the arrival of Frank’s ex, and Crystal’s mama, the abrasive Karen (Jordana Spiro). She’s just in from the West Coast and wants to whisk her gal away for a night of shopping. So, how do the guys restore their holiday spirits? They continue the party at a nearby “watering hole”, naturally. But the merriment is shattered when Swaino and Packie try to talk up some young lovelies. Which leads to a big barfight with some younger “townies”. As the sirens’ wail gets louder, the trio escapes into the night. We then fast forward a couple of months as Frank decides to repair the rift between his two “best buds”. He invites both (without each other knowing) to his garage shop for a day of booze, steaks, and a big “pay-per-view” fight on the big screen TV. After some trepidation, the two estranged “bros” reconnect. As the sun sets, things take a darker turn with the arrival of a local preppy college “dealer” named Chad (Spencer House), who Frank has befriended. Ah, but there’s more than “Molly” on the menu as the true purpose of the day is finally revealed. Will these “three amigos” do anything in the name of friendship?

The “alpha dog” in this motley pack of mutts is Bernthal as the boasting blustery Swaino. He’s pure confidence with little to back it up. We can almost hear the gears turning in Swaino’s brain as Bernthal squints his eyes and amplifies his tone as Swaino tries to con the ladies while also bluffing himself as his younger “pursuits’ scoff and roll their eyes. At the opposite end of the canine spectrum is Whigham’s Packie, who seems to always “bare his belly” in submission to his superiors. Whigham’s confused stare projects a child-like vulnerability as he tries to “keep up” but his socially awkward behavior puts him back in his “place”. The least “showy” of the three leads is Pollono’s Frank, whose quiet demeanor tries to hold his furious violent temper in check. In many scenes, he’s merely observing as he waits to unleash that inner beast. His two pals talk a “big game” but Pollono’s glare tells us that he will follow through on any threat. A big source of his anger is his toxic, belittling ex Karen, played with brassy bad-girl spunk by the energetic Spiro. She makes Karen a true tornado of chaos. It’s easy to see where Crystal gets much of her “tough chick” attitude. Bravo has the “stones” to spare, but she’s also the real glowing beacon of optimism for the group so battered by life. She’s got a chance to escape, and Bravo conveys that hunger for a brighter future. And as a flip on that, House’s Chad is the poster boy for pampered privilege as his smug smirk oozes with condescension while dealing with those out of his social status.

Oh, I didn’t mention that Frank…er..Mr. Pollono actually wrote and directed this, based on his stage play and short film? And he does a fairly decent job with the pacing, knowing when to focus on one of the principals and when to capture the big action set pieces. Unfortunately, some of the film’s stage roots are showing as many indoor exchanges are abruptly curtailed so that the camera can get some of the exterior scenery. Sometimes it helps to bust up the long conversational exchanges, but more often it makes us wonder why they want to “brave the chill”. And there are a couple of fantasy sequences inserted for more cinematic effect, though a nostalgic memory is given a bizarro slant when ten-year-old boys play young Frank and Terry while the adult Whigham is his “kid-self”. And some of the dialogue just doesn’t ring true, especially Chad’s snarky threats, or Packie’s “out of nowhere” “c#*%-blocking” of Terry (what guy would do that). It doesn’t help that these lines are smothered with thick dialects that seem somewhere between Seth Meyer’s “Boston Accent” movie trailer parody and SNL’s recent “Murdur Durdur” spoof. It all leads up to a convoluted crazy “slap-dash” conclusion that feels all too tidy. But mostly we’re just worn out by the macho “preening” which makes SMALL ENGINE REPAIR a big loud letdown.

1.5 Out of 4

SMALL ENGINE REPAIR opens in select theatres on Friday, September 10, 2021

TOGETHER – Review

*(l-r) Sharon Horgan and James McAvoy in Stephen Daldry’s TOGETHER.*
*Photo credit: Peter Mountain / © Arty Films Ltd. 2021. Courtesy of Bleecker Street.*

Pandemic lock-down was such a universal experience that it was inevitable there would be a film about it. James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan star in TOGETHER, award-winning director Stephen Daldry’s (BILLY ELLIOT, THE HOURS) take on that. The film follows a British couple from the beginning of lock-down to the present, as they shelter in place with their young son, taking us through the many shared experiences of the pandemic and the particular personal struggles of this family. The problem is that the unnamed couple McAvoy and Horgan play are notably irritating people who hate each other and complain vehemently to us, the audience, about their mutual dislike. Daldry’s film is being billed as a comedy but it is more of the uncomfortable humor type in this lock-down tale with a couple who acknowledge they already hate each other even as the door slams shut.

There is a kind of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” vibe to this tale and it also quickly becomes clear we, the audience, are in for a bumpy night, or at least for the hour and a half of the film’s running time.

What makes this film worth watching are the sterling performances. McAvoy and Horgan are put through their actor’s paces, as they go through a year of pandemic, experiences that changes them individually and their relationship. Although McAvoy is the better known actor, he is well-matched with Horgan, who gives as good as she gets, balancing their fiery, snarky back-and-forth. At first the complaints are all about each other but slowly they turn their focus to the pandemic itself, brilliantly conveying the fears, the anger, the pressures, the anguish and the all the subtle changes wrought by lock-down and the pandemic. In the hands of lesser actors, this immersion in their toxic relationship would have been unbearable but McAvoy and Horgan create an appeal beyond the crusty surface.

Stylistically, TOGETHER startles us from the start. As almost as soon as McAvoy reaches the couple’s kitchen, he turns and addresses the camera, reeling off a list of things he hates about her. At first, we don’t know if this is an internal dialog we are hearing, as she ignores him, but soon Horgan turns to the camera with her list of reasons she hates him. They then alternate between complaining to each other about the other, or appealing to us for support of their viewpoint. They seem only to agree on how much they despise the other. It leaves the audience feeling like the friend listening to a couple he/she knows bickering, a couple who take turns appealing to the friend for validation. A decidedly squirm-inducing situation.

TOGETHER is a very dialog heavy film, basically a filmed play, but that seems appropriate for its subject. With that much dialog, good acting is critical but fortunately James McAvoy, using his little-heard natural Scottish accent, and Sharon Horgan are excellent. Although essentially a filmed play, clever photography and colorful set decoration and costuming help distract us from that, keeping the focus on the actors and the unfolding crisis or moment.

Why would you agree to lock-down with someone you hate? The unnamed couple claim that they are staying together for their son (Samuel Logan), who is called Arthur by his mother and Artie by his father, but that seems unconvincing. They are mismatched from the start. She is a liberal who works for a non-profit doing social aid work, the daughter of a dentist and a mother she describes as “old school communist.” He is a conservative, who came from the working classes but is now a successful entrepreneur, who brags about his Mercedes and wealth and disparages those who do not pull themselves up by their bootstraps as lazy. He accuses her of being “holier-than-thou” and she accuses him of being cold-hearted. Why they are together is a mystery but it quickly becomes clear that this couple has co-exited in this state of mutual loathing for some time, and we suspect they both get something out of this hostile relationship.

As the lock-down starts, the couple tell us they have made the decision not to include their son’s sole surviving grandparent, her mother, in their sheltering-in-place pod .They argue her mother, who has multiple health issues, she is better off with her visiting caregivers. They hope to move her to a nursing home, called a care home in Britain, where she “will be safe.”

Even though this film is set in Great Britain, the shared experiences of pandemic are much the same as here. We start with the rush to lock-down, toilet paper shortages and store shelves picked clean, The film then takes us through the unfolding pandemic chronologically, in periodic vignettes, each starting with a text showing the current number of COVID cases in Britain, and later vaccinations. At first all their venom is directed towards each other, along with shock at empty grocery shelves and similar shortages. They don’t know how long lock-down will last but seem to believe it can’t last that long, As the COVID horror unfolds and cases soar, they become more fearful, and more anger shift towards government’s poor response, the breakdown in supply chains, and then devastating decisions about nursing homes, as they are soon able to move her mother to one.

While the couple continue to complain about each other and over-share about their sex lives, eventually the sheer weight of all that is happening during the pandemic shifts their viewpoint, and they start to think more beyond themselves. James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan are excellent and riveting in this film, fiery and caustic to start, outraged at the situation and the lack of preparedness on the part of government, and heartbroken and helpless as the pandemic reaches into their lives. There is a heartbreaking scene where human touch would matter so much but the need to self-isolate prevents it. McAvoy subtly shifts his character from hard arrogance to a more human, emotional view, a moving and touching transformation. Horgan likewise softens her judgementalness, forced to face that not all is in her control and that she has flaws like anyone. There is a moment of elation as the vaccines are distributed, before frustration emerges when vaccine refusals stymies hopes to quickly get back to normal. The film ends with the characters feeling that the pandemic experience has changed things, although there is a lingering suspicion it hasn’t.

Stephen Daldry’s tale gives us a high-energy recap of our shared pandemic experience, spiked with incisive insights, through the evolving relationship of a sharp-tongued couple, an experience greatly enhanced by shining performances by James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan. TOGETHER opens Friday, August 27, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and other theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

NINE DAYS – Review

*Left to Right: Winston Duke as Will, Zazie Beetz as Emma in NINE DAYS.*
*Photo by Michael Coles. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. © Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.*

In the Sundance hit NINE DAYS, a serious, melancholy man interviews candidates in a nine-day process to pick one to be born, in a supernatural drama. NINE DAYS takes a different, more existential approach to a concept that has long fascinated Hollywood, movies about reincarnation, rebirth and other worldly characters watching over people on earth. NINE DAYS leaves any theological or philosophical interpretation of who, what or where these characters are up to the audience, only providing some basic information, and focuses on questions of humanity and life itself, an exploration it grounds in a real-world, contemporary situation, as candidates are put though an extended job interview in which souls are put through a series of tests to determine who gets to be born.

Will’s (Winston Duke) job is to keep an eye on a group of people on Earth. He lives alone in a little house that is isolated in a desert-like expanse, and spends his days watching old-fashioned TVs with POV feeds of these people’s lives. Serious, reserved and slightly sad, Will meticulously takes notes on what he sees, makes VHS tapes of parts of their lives, and carefully files those tapes and notes in folders in steel filing cabinets. The buttoned-down Will has a frequent visitor, chatty Kyo (Benedict Wong), whose friendly demeanor contrasts starkly with Will’s quiet reserve. Kyo shows up with supplies and a request to watch Will’s TVs. They chat about the people on the TVs like they are characters in TV shows they enjoy, particularly anticipating upcoming highlights like one woman’s wedding and another’s concert, which they watch together.

When one of Will’s charges, a favorite named Amanda, suddenly dies in an auto accident, it hits him hard. It also creates an opening in Will’s charges, which he must fill with a new soul. Will gets to work quickly, selecting seven candidates, newly-born souls, to fill the slot.

This is writer/director Edson Oda’s first feature film and it is an impressive debut. The intriguing premise and the characters draw you in immediately, and Oda presents these diverse personalities in a kaleidoscope fashion framed by the interviews and Will’s discussions with Kyo. The Japanese Brazilian writer/director uses the extended job interview premise as a way for people to connect with the story and get to know the characters. The primary focus of the film is on the characters, especially Will, exploring human dreams and human differences, with gentle, indirect reflections on life and human nature in all its form.

Will selects seven candidates to interview and test over a maximum of nine days, new-born souls whose existence will end shortly if they are eliminated from consideration. Each is told he/she will be born into a loving family and a comfortable life, so these are prime life assignments. We later learn that others are doing work similar to Will’s, making their own selections from pool of souls, like picking from a group of job applicants.

The seven candidates, Emma (Zazie Beetz), Kane (Bill Skarsgård), Alexander (Tony Hale), Maria (Arianna Ortiz), Mike (David Rysdahl), Anne (Perry Smith) and Colleen (Geraldine Hughes), are a wide range of personalities, which director Oda uses as a kind of snap shot of humanity. The mix and their differing reactions are fascinating, as is how Will responses, while maintaining his poker-face demeanor.

Most of the invited candidates are on time but one, Emma (Zazie Beetz), shows up much later. Will does not even want to talk to her, but Kyo lets her in, forcing Will to consider her. She is so unique, always inquisitive and with an independent streak, that he adds her to his list anyway.

One of the few things we learn about Will is that he was once alive, a requirement for his job. Kyo, we learn, has never been alive but is Will’s supervisor, overseeing his work and advising occasionally but the decision is ultimately Will’s. The candidates, the souls, are a variety of types and most, but not all, present as younger adults.

The candidates are winnowed down over the nine days, though a series of tests and assignments. One big assignment is to watch the POV feeds of other lives and take notes, and share thoughts with Will. The candidates do not interact with each other, just Will and sometimes Kyo, until very late in the film. Will does not share with any of them what he is looking for, telling them only “there are no right or wrong answers” in the manner of psychologist, But his conversations with Kyo reveals he is looking for a certain resilience to face life and also perhaps uniqueness.

Will’s own existence is very circumscribed, limited to his house and the immediate surroundings. It is a comfortable little house with a sort-of 40s decor and a little white picket fenced yard, but it is isolated, with no other buildings in sight on the flat desert-like landscape. People walk to the house from unseen locations. The house seems to act like a protective shell for Will, as does his reserved demeanor and rigid routines, and there is a sense of mystery and melancholy around him. We learn little of Will’s previous life but the quizzical, curious Emma challenges and upends Will’s well-worn pattern, forcing him to reflect on his life and reveal a bit.

Oda draws on observations of life and humanity for his innovative, involving film, He edits it masterfully, cutting from candidate to candidate as Will goes through his interview questions and challenges, which gives us a glimpse of each person’s reaction to the problem. Some characters we get to know better than others, as the group is narrowed every day. As candidates are winnowed down, some just disappear but for others, we get to see a final experience drawn from what they have watched of life, a kindness provided by Will. These final thoughtful gestures reveal a deep sensitivity beneath Will’s reserved, formal manner.

Some are eliminated quickly, and we don’t really get to know them much. But Will offers each a chance to experience a little of the life they have observed on the POV feeds but will not have, a kindness that other interviewers don’t offer. We witness a few of those, some of the drama’s most poignant moments.

The acting is impressive to say the least, particularly Winston Duke as Will, but extending to all the cast. Duke slowly peels back layers of the closed-in Will, showing us hints of the reason for the pain and sadness we sense beneath his rigid veneer. Benedict Wong provides the perfect foil for Will’s reserve but it is the questioning Emma who really cracks his glassy surface.

While the whole story takes place in various rooms of Will’s house and the surrounding barren but bracing landscape, the film is opened up by beautiful, sweeping photography by cinematographer Wyatt Garfield which creates the perfect setting for Oda’s thoughtful, involving drama.

NINE DAYS offers an intriguing premise to explore human life, featuring impressive acting performance, skillful direction and striking photography, all woven into an affecting, thought provoking drama, in an impressive directorial debut. If you like good drama, good acting, and are intrigued by how differently people see the same thing, this excellent film should be on your list of ones to see.

NINE DAYS opens Friday, August 6, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and other theaters.

RATING: 3.5 out of 4 stars

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