October is movie month for me--I saw 15 new films at the Vancouver International Film Festival including advance screenings of CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, THE SQUARE, HAPPY ENDING, QUEEN OF SPAIN, BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE), A FANTASTIC WOMAN, VALLEY OF THE WOLVES--these were the best ones, plus a couple that I did not care for. I will write about them as they open up around the country. First up in opening is THE SQUARE, from the director of FORCE MAJEURE. It won this years best picture at Cannes, and is now playing in New York. The Seattle opening is in another month or so. In the meantime, here are some of the current films now playing that I saw this month.
The title is rather generic and the trailer seemed hokey and contrived, but ONLY THE BRAVE, based on the true tragic story of fire fighters who meet their Waterloo in an Arizona mountain wild fire is packed with naturalistic, likeable performances from Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Connelly, Taylor Kistch and many others. The film strives to enlighten viewers on the training each firefighter receives, the conditions they must work in, and gives some dramatic insight into their personal lives, and by carefully avoiding any sentimentality, delivers the most heartfelt tribute to a group of heroes that I've seen on screen in a long, long time. I was pleasingly surprised and very moved throughout this excellent film. GRADE-----------------------A
Another film based on a true story, and one that I remembered from the early 1970's, was the silly challenge that sexist, desperate aging tennis player Bobby Riggs delivers to the professional top woman tennis player Billie Jean King, trying to drum up interest in a male vs female match for big bucks, and to prove that men are better than women in this growing sport. It's all there---the Virginia Slims cigarette tie ins, the Sugar Daddy candy spoofs, the Riggs struggle for a comeback, the King sexuality crisis--the film BATTLE OF THE SEXES is perhaps the most entertaining comedy-drama of the year, with Steve Carell and Emma Stone nailing their characterizations. GRADE-----------------B+
The film is definitely pro-British in it's politics and social drama, and there's a nasty bias towards the Hindus that counters the charm and humor of seeing this relationship of an obese and elderly Queen Victoria as she gets to know her new Indian servant and teacher and opens her eyes to parts of the British empire that she had little knowledge of, but the film VICTORIA AND ABDUL gets a lot of mileage from the regal artistic presence of 82 years old Judi Dench and handsome newcomer Ali Fazal that makes the film a diverting and thoughtful entertainment. The well made film is another in the extraordinary canon of films from director Stephan Frears--just contemplate some of his greatest films:
FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS 2016, PHILOMENA 2013, THE QUEEN 2006, PRETTY DIRTY THINGS 2002, HIGH FIDELITY 2000, DANGEROUS LIAISONS 1988, THE GRIFTERS 1990, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDERETTE 1985---and a dozen others!!!!! GRADE---------------B+
A more than competent action director, Doug Liman made SWINGERS 1996, GO 1999, BOURNE IDENTITY 2002, MR AND MRS SMITH 2005 and EDGE OF TOMORROW 2014 among others. His latest is AMERICAN MADE with Tom Cruise, based on a true story about a pilot who becomes entangled in nefarious dealing with gun running, drug and immigrant smuggling, and all at the direction of the FBI, CIA and other government officials. At one point he has made so much cash money that it bulges out of boxes, bags and closets. The film is engrossing in the way that life is stranger than fiction, and the Tom Cruise smirk is kept in check because the plot gallops on before him. My main complaint is that nearly half the film features that chaotic hand held camera look that some directors seem to think makes the picture cool, but mostly gives viewers a head ache. I'd give AMERICAN MADE a higher grade if the photography were calmer. GRADE----------B
Here's an effective, straightforward biography film on the early career of Thurgood MARSHALL, about the first major case that he won. A wealthy white woman accuses her black chauffeur of rape, and the film is mostly a court room drama with some back story scenes enacted. Even though the film takes place in the early 1940's, and does not include the major achievements of MARSHALL's
life (including taking on school discrimination and other major wins, and he later becomes the first black man to become a Supreme Court Judge), the film clearly illustrates that times have not changed legally for black defendants today. Chadwick Boseman, who stars next in the new superhero film BLACK PANTHER gives a fine, low key portrayal, Gosh Gad plays his white Jewish assistant, Kate Hudson is the sympathetic, confused rich socialite, and Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens is the prosecutor, all very excellent. GRADE--------------------B
It played several international film festivals earlier this year, but you can see OUR SOULS AT NIGHT now on Netflix. The main attraction of this modest romantic drama is the fourth reunion (THE CHASE 1966, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK 1967, ELECTRIC HORSEMAN 1979) of two stalwart actors: the always effective team of Jane Fonda and Robert Redford. They play neighbors, a widow and widower, who decide to try living together, and we find ourselves rooting for them in spite of this simple story line. GRADE---------------B
Viewed earlier this month at the Vancouver International Film Festival, THE DEPARTURE had a brief run in Seattle last week, but it is certainly worth tracking down. Filmed in Japan with subtitles, but produced and directed by Americans, this tells the story of a very modern Buddhist monk who rides a motorcycle, dances to electronic and techno music in clubs, and tries to dissuade his depressed clients from suicide. This job is growing heavy on his mind, and when a health crisis occurs, he must learn to swallow his own medicine. This thoughtful, subtle and moving film deserves a wider audience. GRADE----------B
I saw this last June at SIFF, and it played at VIFF, and is currently opening around the country, and it has been a popular choice for foreign film audiences, but this engrossing true story about Norway's reaction to Nazi occupation during WWII, called THE KING'S CHOICE left me with a headache, because EVERY SINGLE SCENE IN THIS FILM (check out the trailer if you don't believe me) is hand held--sometimes excessively so. (It didn't help that I was sitting in the third row looking up!)
If you can sit in the back and a jiggly camera doesn't bother you, there is an effective narrative and good acting and other pleasures to distract you, but I will never see this one again. GRADE-------------------C+ (I would rate it higher if the photography was calmer.)
VIEWED ON TV/DVD
PATERSON 2016--Here's a modest but effective gem--a small independent film by director Jim Jarmusch about a bus driver poet who lives in the small town of Paterson (and that's his name also) and systematically follows routine daily, all the while composing poems in his head and/or committing them to a notebook based on people he sees or the conversations he overhears. He lives in nearly an altered state--his sweet loving wife is an artist of sorts--she decorates and paints the house in various versions of black and white. Even her cupcakes are black and white. DO NOT WATCH THIS FILM if you are tired and prone, as the pacing is slow and carefully drawn, and you might just slip off to sleep (guilty!) but I adjusted my seating and suddenly the film becomes curiously engrossing--it's a poetic and beautiful poem vision, and even though it's set in a modest (and rundown) part of Paterson NJ, the diverse characters are all portrayed as loving and thoughtful--the perfect utopia of humanity, something of a fantasy--an unusual departure from realism that makes you hopeful and happy. GRADE-------------A
PURGE: ELECTION YEAR 2016--I saw the first PURGE 2014 and thought it was an interesting idea to attempt----one night a year, any crime and murder is legal, and the suspense comes when some family members get caught outside their safe home when the chaos begins. ELECTION YEAR is the second sequel, and a senator running for President wants to discontinue the purge because it discriminates against the poor and black neighborhoods, and decreases the need to help the disadvantaged people since their numbers are reduced during that horrible night. Of course, she is targeted by the politics of the purgers (a not so subtle political party made up of rich and white--Republicans!?! and much tension is created as she finds herself (with her security guard) out on the street at the mercy of the punkish killers and other enemies. Although the film deals with some low brow violence, there are some interesting ideas and situations to make the film worthy of cult status. I, so far, missed the first sequel (PURGE: ANARCHY) and just read that a fourth PURGE film will be a prequel, to show just how the PURGE situation came about. GRADE-------B
BROADCHURCH 2013--Just finished binging on the first season of this British TV murder mystery mini series (nearly 500 minutes!) and my main concern is that every hour long episode (there were 8 in the season) felt rather protracted about 15 minutes more than it needed to be. By the start of Episode 6 I became exasperated that the rather incompetent two main detectives on the case (an insecure first time woman and a sickly man who collapses on nearly every episode from a heart problem!) never followed up on obvious clues that were introduced several episodes earlier. By the start of Episode 7 my spouse and I both decided who the murderer was (independently of each other) and unfortunately we both were correct, although the motive remained murky. They even managed to make the last Episode 8 drag on for more than 30 minutes more than was needed. Still (!!!!!!) I liked the setting (reminded me of a cross between GEORGE GENTLY which I've seen all of, and perhaps some VERA--also a favorite) and hopefully this series will grow on me in seasons 2 and 3. GRADE--------B-
THIRTEEN FOR DINNER 1985--This made for TV movie features Peter Ustinov as famed Belgium detective Hercule Poiret, created in novels by Agatha Christie, and also featured David Sachet, who shortly thereafter became the definitive Poiret on several years worth of PBS shows about the famous detective. I've seem most of the Christie productions, and thought this might be a new one, but 10 minutes into the film, which also features Faye Dunaway, I realized that I'd seen the Sachet version of this story called LORD EDGWARE DIES. Neither version is particularly memorable. GRADE-----------C
