“Icarus”– Movie Review

This week at The Film Society Of Lincoln Center, I attended a special screening of the Netflix documentary “Icarus”.

Synopsis

When a documentarian tries to make a film about performance enhancing drugs, he accidentally stumbles upon a secret that creates a worldwide scandal.

Story

Bryan Fogel, long time documentarian and cycling fan, was for years fascinated by the many achievements of famed Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.  When it became public knowledge that Armstrong had cheated by using PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs), Fogel became intrigued and thought it would be interesting to make a film about the extent to which these drugs could actually impact an athlete’s ability to compete.  In order to have a baseline against which to measure, Fogel participated in a multi-day cycling competition for amateurs called Haute Route.  It was no surprise to him that he finished with rather mediocre results. 

Fogel then sought out experts from the Olympics who had experience with checking for these types of drugs and knew which ones were best.  His goal was to then take the drugs and race Haute Route again to compare the difference.  Although he was able to collect a considerable amount of useful information, Fogel ran into a dead end when he tried to get their assistance to effectively serve as a “doping coach” – none of them wanted to touch a situation like that.  One productive outcome from this was that he was referred to Grigory Rodchenkov, a scientist who was the director of a Russian lab that was approved by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), an organization that vetted laboratories such as this to test for drugs that Olympic athletes might use.

Grigory was glad to share his knowledge and experience with Fogel and agreed to help him with the little experiment for his documentary.  Over time, however, it became clear that Grigory was sitting on information that would soon become an international incident once it was uncovered:  the Russian athletes had been getting away with doping their Olympic athletes for many years.  Fogel not only recorded many interviews with Grigory about what the Russians did and how they got away with it, he helped Grigory get in touch with the American news media to report what he knew.  But will the Russian government let Grigory get away with this or would they exact revenge?

Review

“Icarus” is one of the most draw-dropping documentaries of our time and needs to be seen immediately.  It is easy to see why this has been nominated for awards.  Obviously, its relevance goes far beyond merely the Olympics, although it’s quite a fortunate coincidence that the 2018 Olympics are ongoing at the time of this screening.  The doping scandal is just a microcosm of typical Russian behavior and illustrates a larger issue of the depths of dishonesty to which they will sink.  After seeing this movie, you don’t need the U.S.A.’s Intelligence Community to tell you that they meddled in the 2016 Presidential campaign. 

As Grigory himself said in the movie, if the Russians deserve a gold medal in anything, it’s cheating.  He fully admits his complicity as well as that the government has been doing this long before Putin took over – they estimate doping goes back at least as far as the 1968 Olympics, if not earlier.  The film is very endearing, both in terms of Grigory’s sincerity and his friendship with the filmmaker, which seems equally genuine.  What makes the ending even more tragic is the fact that the two men are unable to communicate directly any longer because the federal government placed Grigory in the witness protection program in order to keep him safe from any Russian government operatives who may be out to do him harm.

Following the screening there was an interview with producer Dan Cogan and director Bryan Fogel.  Fogel said they deliberately made the choice to omit any reference to the 2016 election because it would appear to be pontificating.  It seems getting one over on authorities gives the Russian government the feeling of power; in the case of the Olympics, it was soft power, but in the case of the Presidential Election, it was hard power.  He mentioned that they can only communicate with Grigory through a lawyer for his safety.  The whirlwind promotion schedule that he has been on has kept him from giving any thought to his next project.  Although saying he was a cyclist for 30 years, he admitted that he had quit the sport for quite some time before taking it up again solely for the purpose of this movie.

“Western” – Movie Review

Recently, I attended the opening night screening of the new foreign drama “Western” at The Film Society Of Lincoln Center.

Synopsis

When a German travels to Bulgaria for construction work, can he cope with the hostility of the locals?

Story

Meinhard (Meinhard Neumann) is so desperate for work that he’s even willing to leave his home in Germany for an assignment in a small rural area of Bulgaria.  There, he will join a team of other men who will spend the next couple of months trying to enhance the town’s infrastructure by building a hydro-electric foundation that will, in time, improve the life of everyone in the vicinity.  That is, if they are able to complete the project.  It seems that the residents aren’t too keen on having a bunch of Germans come in to perform this work, no matter how much better off they will be as a result.

Seeing this, Meinhard makes an effort to befriend the locals, which does not go over terribly well with the project’s foreman, who takes a more antagonistic view toward these people and goes out of his way to make enemies rather than ingratiating himself.  One thing that turns off the townspeople to these workers is when the foreman winds up harassing some of their young women.  While he may think he’s flirting, he instead comes off as intimidating and threatening, causing everyone to be wary of this group of German construction workers who may be there to make trouble.

Meinhard’s own background, however, remains something of a mystery.  Generally a reserved and quiet type, he is believed to have a background as a solder in Iraq.  While this impresses some of the crew, others are skeptical and they ostracize him.  Eventually, his attempts to befriend the residents pays off as he unexpectedly bonds with one of the town’s leaders and manages to attract a young woman who is the daughter of one of the townspeople that has been brought in to translate between the two groups.  But will the Germans be able to finish their work or will the Bulgarians drive them out before the project can be completed?

Review

In many ways, “Western” is deeply relevant to Trump’s America because it shows a form of nationalism that can tend to poison a culture.  The Bulgarians are resentful of these Germans who come in to perform work that they themselves are ill-suited to do on their own because they lack the expertise in this particular area.  Yet they do need the Germans, just as the Germans need the Bulgarians for the work itself.  For this reason alone, it is a sensational idea.  The execution, however, is something else altogether.  Its two hour running time seems to drag along.

At its essence, “Western” is an episodic tale rather than a narrative; the problem with this is that these sort of slice-of-life movies feel very much like a documentary in the sense that there is very little if any dramatic momentum that thrusts the story forward.  As a result, one gets the sense while watching “Western” that you are just meandering.  The filmmakers give you the feeling that they have no particular place to go and aren’t in any kind of a hurry to get there, either.  Instead, you are left with scenes of watching a slender man smoking, drinking and occasionally either fighting or bonding with other men.

It is disappointing because “Western” could have been so much more.  Not just a timely political fable, but one that could have had the capability to respond to the current climate where men are generally being made out to be inhuman and unfeeling.  There is precious little in this film that gives you the sense that men are bonding with each other and if you are looking for anything remotely resembling a romance, well, good luck with that.  Ultimately, this rudderless movie will have you going around in circles with one of those non-ending endings that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. 

“A Fantastic Woman”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a screening of “A Fantastic Woman” at The Film Society Of Lincoln Center. 

Synopsis

When a transgender woman’s lover dies, can she cope with the open hostility from his family and society as she mourns? 

Story

Marina (Daniela Vega) could not be happier; she is celebrating her birthday with her lover, Orlando (Francisco Reyes), a much older man.  The two are very much in love with each other despite the fact that Orlando’s family – and much of society – consider their love to be of the forbidden kind.  Not because he, at 57, is old enough to be Marina’s father, but because Marina is a transgender woman.  Everyone – including Orlando’s ex-wife and his adult offspring – find the whole idea both revolting and completely unnatural.

Complications develop on the night of Marina’s birthday celebration.  Overnight, Orlando suddenly falls ill and Marina decides to take him to the emergency room of the nearest hospital.  Before she can get him into the car, Orlando falls down some stairs and incurs some bruises.  By the time Marina can get him to the hospital, it is too late; he has succumbed to his illness, which turns out to be an aneurysm.  Not technically being part of his family, Marina has to summon Orlando’s brother to take care of the details.  It turns out that he is the only member of Orlando’s family that is sympathetic to Marina’s situation.

Orlando’s ex-wife meets with Marina and informs her that she is not welcome at Orlando’s funeral.  As if to make matters worse, the police suspect Marina as being complicit in Orlando’s death; after inspection of his corpse, they believe that the bruises on his body may have been the result of a beating given to him by Marina.  Although she is innocent, they don’t believe her story and the scrutiny upon her only increases.  Lonely and feeling victimized by both the police and Orlando’s family, will Marina be able to mourn her loss and continue with her life? 

Review

There is no doubt that “A Fantastic Woman” displays a considerable amount of heart.  This is evident from beginning to end and at all points in between.  But to regard it as one of the Best Foreign Language Films (as the Academy has it nominated) is something of a stretch.  Perhaps the most honest explanation for this is merely the fact that there is an effort (which may or may not be earnest) to be politically correct.  After all, this is a story about the lack of humanity displayed towards a transgender woman as she copes with her loss and it has occurred during the time of the #MeToo movement as well as the response to #OscarsSoWhite from a couple of years ago.

Is “A Fantastic Woman” a good movie?  Yes.  Is it a great movie?  Maybe not so much.  However, it is definitely an interesting and an entertaining movie, made all the much more compelling as a result of the performance by Daniela Vega, who makes the character of Marina all too real to us.  That said, the fact that it has been nominated for Best Foreign Film this year speaks more to the fact that there is a paucity of truly extraordinary films from outside of the United States (in fact, the United States itself may have had a paucity of extraordinary films this year as well, but that may be another conversation altogether).

“A Fantastic Woman” is certainly a motion picture worthy of viewing and discussing as our society – not just in the United States, but worldwide – changes in terms of its viewpoint toward acceptance of the LGBTQ community.  It is important to confront the bigotry and hostility toward a transgender woman who engaged in a non-traditional (albeit mutually consensual) relationship with a man who has a history of heterosexual preferences.  If any good comes of this film, it will be to continue that conversation in order to arrive at some kind of understanding so our culture can move forward.