What You Gonna Do … ? – Movie Review

Recently at Film At Lincoln Center, I attended the opening of the new documentary by Roberto Minervini , “What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire?”.

Synopsis

Given the current social climate, what is life like for members of the Black community in the southern portion of The United States?

Story

Ronaldo and Titus are brothers; Ronaldo, being the older of the two, is very protective of his younger brother Titus.  It’s unclear what other friends these kids have because it seems as though they only play with each other. They lack a consistent male influence in their life because their father is currently locked up.  Since nature abhors a vacuum, Ronaldo desperately tries to fill that void for Titus while still trying to balance that role with continuing to be a child himself. Unfortunately, given where they live, both boys are at risk of being shot because of the high crime and easy availability of guns.  

 

Judy is a New Orleans entrepreneur.  She owns and runs a popular bar in the neighborhood and when not working, takes care of her elderly mother.  Despite its frequent regular customers, the business is in danger of closing. A good deal of the problem can be traced to the gentrification that seems to be running rampant throughout.  Many long-time residents are being forced to move as the area becomes more upscale. Not only that, but Judy herself is feeling the pinch since her landlord is raising the rent on her bar.  With an ever-shrinking customer base, will Judy be able to make enough money to keep her establishment viable?

Crystal is an activist for Black causes.  She runs the local chapter of The New Black Panthers.  With news reports of lynchings and police shootings of Black men throughout the deep south, Crystal is understandably and justifiably disgusted.  She takes her small loyal army-like group to various protests of police headquarters and government offices, despite great risk of arrest. In addition, the group attempts to inform and educate others in the community about their reason for existing in the first place.  Racism is alive and well in this political era and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end any time soon.     

 

Review

Perhaps the most heartwarming part of “What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire?” is watching the relationship between the two brothers, Titus and Ronaldo; these two boys genuinely love and adore each other.  Titus truly looks up to his big brother Ronaldo and gets visibly upset when he is disappointed by him. Ronaldo, with their absentee father, assumes a role that combines both older brother and father; despite his own youth and inexperience, he does his best to mentor Titus, take care of him and look out for him.  It is one of the few bright spots in what is an otherwise grim documentary.

All of that having been said, the imperfections of the documentary are unavoidable to the point of distraction.  Presumably, the choice of shooting in black and white is to illustrate the bleakness of the situation. Although it illustrates both necessary and valuable stories to share, it doesn’t necessarily do a terribly good job of telling those stories.  There is no voice-over narration or use of on-screen titles to provide context (e.g., Who are we seeing? Where are they? What period of time has passed since the previous scene?). As a result, there is very little in the way of either shape or structure to the film.  From a narrative standpoint, it’s a bit flat

. 

Following the screening, there was an interview with Director Roberto Minervini and two of the movie’s subjects, Judy Hill and Crystal.  Minervini said that he originally set out to do a shoot about the music tradition of the Black community – specifically, his interest was the African influence on Jazz.  However, he got sidetracked when he visited Judy’s bar and wound up spending a great deal of time there. As he got a chance to meet more members of the community, he realized that there was a completely new and different story he could and should be telling.

“Where’d You Go, Bernadette”– Movie Review

This week at The New York Times Screen Times series, I attended an advance screening of the new comedy-drama, “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” starring Cate Blanchett and directed by Richard Linklater.

Synopsis

When a woman decides to go on a journey of self-discovery, will this drive her away from her family or only serve to make them closer?

 

Story

Bernadette (Blanchett) and her husband Elgie (Billy Crudup) have promised their daughter Bee (Emma Nelson) a family vacation in Antarctica before she heads off to boarding school.  But just as they start making plans, things begin to unravel for Bernadette. Miserable in an immense, dilapidated house in Seattle, she agreed to move there when Elgie got a job with Microsoft. She is no longer able to hide her disdain for the house, her obnoxious neighbors or the city itself.  Feeling trapped in an unyielding situation, Bernadette starts heavily self-medicating.

Noticing his wife’s strange behavior, Elgie tries to intercede, but Bernadette is having no part of this.  As a result, Elgie secretly hires Dr. Kurtz (Judy Greer), a therapist, whom he sees without Bernadette’s knowledge.  In his session with Dr. Kurtz, Elgie reveals a great deal about his wife, citing numerous setbacks, both personal and professional.  It turns out that Bernadette gave up a successful career as an architect in order to take care of the family and provide emotional support to her husband and daughter.  Dr. Kurtz recommends an intervention where they confront Bernadette with her unusual conduct and attempt to make the next steps to get her the help that she so desperately needs.

During the intervention, Bernadette becomes enraged when she discovers that Dr. Kurtz and Elgie both want her institutionalized.  Unwilling to relent to their wishes, Bernadette escapes. Following an extensive search, Elgie and Bee learn that Bernadette has headed to Antarctica by herself.  Determined to find her, they both head off to the continent themselves, knowing full well that Bernadette may be in something of an unstable state. Once they believe they have tracked her down, Elgie and Bee decide to confront Bernadette with the intention of convincing her to return home.  But when Bernadette is startled by her family’s presence, will their intentions drive them further apart or will they support Bernadette’s endeavor to resurrect her career?      

Review

Even if you haven’t read the novel on which the movie is based, it’s not hard to appreciate the level of difficulty adapting such a sprawling story from book to screen.  What might work on the printed page (e.g., several pages of a description of something or a rant about one thing or another) usually never translates well in a film. This is the case with “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” as it seems all over the place much of the time.  Also, while it tries to bill itself as a comedy (or, at least, a comedy-drama), it takes so many dark and serious turns that it’s quite a stretch to consider it a comedy. The film is more quirky than funny.

The characters prove a bit problematic as well.  While Bernadette is supposed to be the protagonist here, her destructive behavior makes it something of a challenge to root for her.  It is not until we are about three-quarters of an hour into the movie that the audience gets more background about Bernadette which has caused her current state of emotional distress.  Although it’s never a good idea to dump too much exposition on the viewers all at once, the problem with layering out the character’s backstory, at least in this instance, is that by the time we can appreciate her situation, the behavior we have already observed by her thus far makes it difficult to see Bernadette as a sympathetic character. 

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Richard Linklater.  Linklater said that he spent a year editing the movie; the result was a two and three-quarter hour running time.  Realizing this was too long, he went back to the editing room and cut some more. He said that his approach to editing was essentially like sculpting the film down to find its story; Linklater feels it is character-driven and the spine of the story is the relationship between the mother and the daughter.  As a result, he wound up cutting out anything that did not serve that story well. Examples of what he removed were the TED talk (it was originally much longer) and the documentary about Bernadette (more of that was actually in the first cut of the motion picture).

“Fiddler: Miracle Of Miracles”– Movie Review

This week at Film At Lincoln Center, I attended an advance screening of the new documentary, “Fiddler:  A Miracle Of Miracles”. 

Story

The background of “Fiddler On The Roof” -- how both the musical and the movie were adapted.

Synopsis

The musical “Fiddler On The Roof” originally opened on Broadway in 1964.  Amazingly, it is still performed on stage to this day. Perhaps even more amazingly, despite being about the Jewish pogrom in eastern Europe during the early 20th Century, it is performed in many different languages and by many different cultures and countries around the world.  Some of them are professional productions, others are of an amateur nature (e.g., school plays). In fact, there was once a high school production in Brooklyn that did non-traditional casting in the sense that Black and Hispanic students were cast in the roles; Jewish teachers complained, fearing that the students would use this opportunity to make fun of their religion.

When the original Broadway production opened, it starred Zero Mostel as Tevye, the patriarch and protagonist; the production was directed by Jerome Robbins, who previously worked on “West Side Story”.  Robbins was hired in part because he himself was Jewish (his real name was Rabinowitz) and because having directed “West Side Story”, he knew how to tell a story where the characters did a great deal of moving, especially dancing.  Robbins’ hiring turned out to be problematic because he didn’t get along well with Mostel. What was behind their animosity towards each other was that Mostel resented Robbins for testifying before the House Un-American Activities Committee and giving them names of people who were alleged communists. 

Early in its life, the book for the musical was titled “Tevye” because it was based on short stories about this character by author Sholem Aleichem; specifically, the inspiration was the story titled, “Tevye and His Daughters”.  As the play developed, it was later re-titled “Fiddler On The Roof”, based on a 1912 painting by Marc Chagall called “The Fiddler”. Sheldon Harnick was the composer and lyricist of the songs in “Fiddler On The Roof”; he said that if anyone ever read Aleichem’s stories, they would realize that Harnick “borrowed” many of his lyrics directly from Aleichem’s own language in the various tales about Tevye.             

Review

This passion project by director/producer Max Lewkowicz is informative for people who have enjoyed “Fiddler” in various forms over the years, even if you only have a passing familiarity with the play, movie or songs.  While it contains a great deal of talking heads combined with old footage and photographs, where you get drawn into the documentary is when Lin-Manuel Miranda appears; he manages to modernize it a bit (he appeared in a stage production as a schoolboy) and also conducts some on-screen interviews with one of the creators of the original musical.  His interest and enthusiasm can make this more palatable for younger audiences. 

One thing that’s somewhat curious is the fact that there is a writing credit.  There aren’t too many documentaries around where you will see a writing credit.  Presumably, this refers to the voice-over narration that is used in certain segments rather than the interviews themselves.  This, however, must be done after the fact – until you have thoroughly researched the subject of the documentary, you won’t know what to write or why it needs to be written.  Obviously, this differs from feature films in the sense that the writing is typically done prior to the commencement of the shooting. Depending on the time and/or budget, documentaries can sometimes develop their narration during the editing process (and are occasionally improvised rather than formally written). 

Following the screening there was an interview with the filmmakers, Lewkowicz and his co-writer Valerie Thomas.  Thomas said that the documentary began with talking to Harnik about how the musical came to be; they then started filming him about three and a half years ago because he had so much information and was a terrific storyteller.  Lewkowicz observed that the story of hatred for someone’s race/religion is sadly one that still resonates to this day, citing the recent mass shootings over the past weekend as an example.  Originally from Montreal, Lewkowicz said that his first experience with “Fiddler” was the movie version which he saw as a boy; it wasn’t until he saw the Broadway version a decade later that he had an emotional reaction to it because he is the son of a Holocaust survivor.       

IMDB

“The Nightingale”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a sneak preview of the new drama “The Nightingale” at Film At Lincoln Center; it was written and directed by Jennifer Kent. 

Synopsis

When a woman is dehumanized by a military officer, she seeks revenge – but can she track him down in a trek across dangerous terrain?

Story

In 1825, England deployed its military to the Australian island of Tasmania.  The intent of their occupation is colonization; in order to do so, however, they believe they must effectively commit genocide by killing The Aborigines, the island’s native inhabitants.  The English demonize the Aborigines and in so doing, are reciprocally demonized by the indigenous people themselves. This period in history came to be known as “The Black War”. Accompanying the military are Irish convicts; they are basically indentured servants waiting for their sentence to be completed so they can be freed.

One such convict is Clare (Aisling Franciosi), who works as a barmaid and singer to entertain the troops; she lives there with her husband and their infant.  Clare suffers under mistreatment by the soldiers – not only by the enlisted men, but especially by their leader, Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin), a man who is both sadistic and ambitious in equal measure.  After finding herself the victim of multiple horrifying crimes at the hands of Hawkins and his men, Clare has had enough. When she tries unsuccessfully to seek justice, Clare becomes determined to mete out her own form of justice. 

Hawkins starts off on a journey to the northern part of the island where he will meet with his superiors in order to entreaty them for the promotion he feels he has earned and deserves.  After Clare learns of this, she decides to chase after him. But in a foreign land that for the most part hasn’t been settled, she cannot traverse the hazardous jungles and forests alone.  As a result, she winds up hiring Billy (Baykali Ganambarr) a young Aborigine who reluctantly serves as her guide. Despite Billy being an expert, the two encounter numerous challenges along the way.  Will they both survive the voyage in order for Clare to exact her revenge on Hawkins?

Review

Screenwriter/director Jennifer Kent’s previous effort (her debut as a feature director) was “The Babadook” from five years ago.  It was an extremely well-received horror film. Although “The Nightingale” is an historical drama, it is equally if not more horrifying than “The Babadook”, largely because it is in fact based in part on an ugly part of world history, and English history in particular.  You certainly come away from this movie viewing the English a bit differently and having tremendous sympathy for the indigenous Aboriginal people of Tasmania. This motion picture serves as an excellent reminder that both racism and vengeance have survived over the centuries.

Kent’s outstanding screenplay draws its characters perfectly:  each is unique and their individual motivations for either doing or not doing something are crystal clear.  Heroes and villains are painfully obvious. The protagonists have a perceptible arc, but not so much the antagonists.  Many movies can have a second act that drags but “The Nightingale” is able to add so many twists in its second act that you still feel a sense of a forward momentum in the story; where it becomes a bit of a slog is in its third act (more on that below).  While we may come away feeling educated and with greater insight, it can seem like more of an endurance contest the further along we get; it is difficult to imagine watching something more chilling or more devastating..   

If there is a criticism of “The Nightingale”, it would be its length; at two and a quarter hours, it feels much longer because of the relentless cruelty seen throughout and from different sources.  The audience is basically visually assaulted with scenes of brutality so extreme and so frequent that one almost wants to give up on the movie. While the film has somewhat of a satisfying ending, it could’ve come sooner.  It’s almost as though Kent wants to torture her audience as a punishment for watching the motion picture. Once it is finally over, it’s understandable that a feeling of great relief overcomes you.