"Earth Mama" -- Movie Review

 

On the opening night of the New Directors/New Films Festival, I attended a screening of the new drama, “Earth Mama”, written and directed by Savanah Leaf. 

Synopsis

When a single mother with children in foster care becomes pregnant, will she choose to keep the baby?

Story

Gia (Tia Nomore) is struggling.  She’s a young single mother whose history of substance abuse and inability to maintain a sufficient job has resulted in her son and daughter in foster care.  Further complicating matters is the fact that she’s in the third trimester of her pregnancy and given her history, Child Protective Services may want to take the baby away from her.  The system demands that she work as well as take classes that she must pass in order to even be considered for returning her children to her.  Unfortunately, taking classes means that she can’t work enough hours to make a subsistence living, so it’s a vicious circle. 

She misses her children and they miss her – or at least her son does.  He tends to be more affectionate towards Gia than his sister, who grows increasingly distant, especially when her mother shows up late for their supervised visits.  Gia’s sister can only provide emotional support for her (and sometimes barely that); other than that, there’s no family on which she can rely.  The relationship she’s had with friends up until that point are frayed to say the least.  Finding herself at the end of her rope – and attempting to work within a system that’s trying to defeat her at every turn – Gia finally has to rely on her caseworker for help.

The caseworker presents the option of putting the baby up for adoption.  Reluctantly, Gia makes the difficult decision to do so, even though she would rather keep the baby.  Once the caseworker introduces Gia to a middle-class family that has been looking to adopt for the past few years, she decides they are the right fit for her child.  Also, letting another family who’s economically better equipped to care for the baby will come across as a responsible decision when she petitions the court for the return of her son and daughter.  But when Gia’s daughter is born and tests find that she has illicit drugs in her system, will Gia still be able to get her children out of foster care?

Review

Writer/Director Savanah Leaf certainly proves her talents in “Earth Mama”.  Clearly, she has an eye for how to visually tell a story and her screenwriting capabilities put on display her skill for telling a narrative story in the long form.  However, with this being based on a documentary short she directed previously, it definitely remains to be seen if or how she will be able to tell a feature-length film that is an original fictional story, whether or not it is from her own screenplay.  Hopefully, she will get a shot and doing so before too long and if “Earth Mama” is any indication, she will knock it out of the park. 

Although Leaf takes an unflinching look at the systemic racism in society’s treatment of single mothers and those recovering from substance abuse, her non-judgmental approach appears to fall short after a while when we see the character of Gia making the same mistakes and bad choices over and over again.  She only succeeds in digging a hole deeper for herself until the point where it is almost – if not completely – impossible for her to realistically climb her way out.  Gia seems to have passing moments of responsibility but in the end, remains too immature to take care of herself, much less her children.

Gia seems to get beaten down by the system rather constantly, which contributes to the audience wanting to root for her.  However, the fact that she seems to consistently get in her own way makes it quite the challenge for the viewer to do so.  After a while, one wonders at what point does this young woman learn a lesson and realize that the way she’s been living her life isn’t working for her or anyone else close to her?  What detracts from the film somewhat is there is very little in the way of a character arc for Gia.  We want to see her go from a bad place to a good place, but in order to do so, she has to make an effort – whether she does or not by the end is up for grabs. 

"A Good Person" -- Movie Review

 

This week at Lincoln Center, I attended an advance screening of the new drama by writer/director Zach Braff, “A Good Person”, starring Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman.

Synopsis

When a tragic accident seriously disrupts a young woman’s life, will she be able to kick the drug habit she developed during her recovery?

Story

Allison (Pugh) and Nathan (Chinaza Uche) seem headed for a bright future together – following their engagement party, they begin planning their wedding; Nathan’s sister Molly (Nichelle Hines) and her husband are helping – but their estranged father Daniel (Freeman) is being completely left out.  On the way to try on wedding gowns, Allison gets into a disastrous traffic accident.  She is seriously injured and her passengers – Molly and her husband – are killed, leaving their teenage daughter Ryan (Celeste O'Connor) orphaned.  As an elderly widower, Daniel finds himself trying to raise her by himself.

After spending an extended period in the hospital followed by physical therapy, Allison now finds her life turned upside down.  She has broken things off with Nathan and to make matters worse, she is now addicted to Oxycontin – an opioid prescribed to her by her physicians in order to help her deal with the physical pain she was forced to endure during her recovery from the accident.  With her doctors refusing to renew her prescription, Allison becomes desperate and tries to score the pills any way she possibly can.  As a result, she winds up ruining a great many of her personal relationships over time. 

When Allison finally relents and tries to seek help through a 12-step program, she runs into Daniel, who himself is a recovering alcoholic.  Despite blaming Allison for the loss of his daughter, the two eventually wind up forming something of a kinship in order to help each other get over their grief as well as their individual addictions.  Over time, Allison meets Ryan; while Ryan initially harbors hard feelings towards Allison for causing the death of her parents, she eventually softens and they become friends.  When the two spend a night on the town together, a series of events cause things to spiral out of control for all involved – but will they be able to prevent any further tragedies or will things go too far? 

Review

Writer/director Zach Braff has set out on an ambitious effort with “A Good Person” (although the title is a bit nondescript and may not attract people to see it in a theatrical release, which is planned before moving to Amazon’s streaming service).  Part of the problem, however, is that the movie is a bit of a slog – even though it’s only a little over two hours, it feels much longer because of the intensity of the story being told.  The infrequent attempts at humor aren’t terribly funny and quite often feel misplaced.  While Morgan Freeman gives his usual steady performance, it is not worth recommending this film. 

Another issue here is that the conclusion of “A Good Person” stretches the concept of deus ex machina beyond its reasonable limits, requiring the viewer to substantially suspend disbelief.  There arise far too many coincidences as the movie attempts to drive towards a dramatic climax, to the point where you feel like you’ve been hoodwinked into watching a completely different film.  Ultimately, the emotional response we’re supposed to have is somewhat tempered by virtue of the fact that there have already been too many demands on the audience by this point and you are simply left exhausted. 

A post-screening interview was conducted with co-producer Pamela Koffler from Killer Films.  After discussing the history of her production company and her association with it, Koffler talked about the movie itself.  She was originally emailed a copy of the script, being informed that both Pugh and Freeman were attached to the project and that it had already been financed.  The entire production was shot in Braff’s home of New Jersey, which provided considerable tax credits for the project.  Koffler then went on to explain in detail exactly how these tax credits work in that for every dollar that is spent, the state gives it back in the form of a tax credit. 

"Smoking Causes Coughing" -- Movie Review

 

As Lincoln Center’s French Film Festival winds down, I attended a screening of the comedy, “Smoking Causes Coughing”.

Synopsis

When an alien attempts a plan to destroy the planet, can a team of super-heroes prevent the apocalypse?

Story

The Tobacco Force – a collection of super-heroes assembled to stop smoking – is now facing a difficult foe:  a giant tortoise who’s able to fight them off one-by-one.  Unable to beat him individually they team-up against him to release various chemicals that will induce cancer.  It works!  The tortoise is blown to smithereens and a nearby family on vacation who witnessed the battle asks if this famous group will take a photo with them.  Tobacco Force is like rock stars with the common folks.  But despite their seeming success, it turns out that all is not well with this team, at least according to their boss, Didier – a rat-like being that constantly drools some kind of green goo whenever he speaks.

Didier conducts a video call with the team in their mini-van to discuss their overall performance.  It turns out that they have been behaving in a way that is too individualistic; they are lacking in cohesion as a unit.  As a result, Didier informs them that they will be taking some time off to go on a retreat – basically, this will serve as something of a team-building exercise that should help them learn how to better work together.  Off they travel deep into the woods near a lake where their trusty robot, Norbert, is soon replaced with an updated model that will better address their needs. 

Tobacco Force gets comfortably ensconced in an underground bunker that has been updated with not only personal space but also a fully-equipped kitchen that has a store for their various dietary needs and desires.  Enjoying all the comforts of home, the Force proceeds to re-acquaint themselves with each other instead of conducting the expected team-building exercises.  This takes the form of sitting around a campfire and telling a variety of scary stories – which quickly turns competitive as they each try to outspook each other.  Just then, Didier warns the team that an evil-doer from another planet has enacted a plan to destroy earth – but can Tobacco Force react in time to thwart the worst from happening?

Review

If you are a fan of absurdist comedies, then “Smoking Causes Coughing” should prove to be a deeply satisfying experience.  It sometimes seems that the entire movie is something of a non-sequitur.  “Smoking Causes Coughing” not only is a parody of the super-hero genre, it is also somewhat of a critique on society in terms of how smoking has become rather politicized and a cultural quagmire.  Yet the film seems to move away from that rather quickly as the focus of The Tobacco Force shifts rather abruptly from an anti-smoking squad to fighting causes of a much broader scope. 

Don’t look for “Smoking Causes Coughing” to make much sense because it’s not designed to do that; instead, it is merely reflects the nonsense in a world that is clearly based on the premise of nonsense – so in that regard, perhaps it makes perfect sense.  Sit back and prepare to be entertained by a delightfully wacky non-story, the point of which seems to be that the people who are in charge haven’t got a clue as to what they are doing and we shouldn’t depend on them to be able to help us.  Watching this, one might wonder if the filmmaker was high when he initially conceived of the story – it really does have that look and feel.

As goofy as “Smoking Causes Coughing” may be, its trip into weirdness is miraculously tied together by all of the stories that are told throughout the movie.  It would not be unreasonable to expect that such detours would slow down the film or take you away from the main plot; it does not slow it down at all, in fact it just expands on the absurd premise.  Also, as far as being distracted from the main plot … well, really there isn’t one.  Or at least there isn’t one that is essential to the greater point of the motion picture.  It is truly rare that you see a French movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but this one truly hits the spot.

 

 

 

 

"Revoir Paris" -- Movie Review

 

On the opening night of Lincoln Center’s French Film Festival, I attended the screening of “Revoir Paris” (AKA, “Paris Memories”), starring César Award winner for Best Actress Virginie Efira. 

Synopsis

When a woman survives a terrorist attack, will she also be able to survive the post-trauma stress?

Story

Unmarried and childless, Mia and Vincent have been living together for quite some time; since both are career-centered – she as a translator, he as a physician – it’s been a full and rewarding life.  One night, when he has to work at the hospital, she goes out to a restaurant near their Paris home.  The relaxing night is interrupted by a terrorist attack – a gunman bursts into the dining room and opens fire on both customers and employees alike.  Almost everyone is shot and many die before the shooter finally leaves.  Although injured, Mia survives, but remains seriously psychologically scarred by the incident in its aftermath. 

In the months after the shooting, Mia still hasn’t returned to work and she’s been growing increasingly distant from Vincent to the point that their relationship is starting to fray.  He notices that she’s not the same person anymore and that she is having considerable difficulty turning the page, quite possibly due to survivor’s guilt.  Upon learning of a support group that meets weekly at the restaurant, she attends but doesn’t find it entirely healing – one teenage girl is now orphaned because both her parents were murdered and one woman accuses Mia of hiding out in the bathroom during the shooting and selfishly locking the door so no one else could escape.    

One good thing that comes of this support group is Mia meeting Thomas, a man who was severely injured at the restaurant and still requires hospitalization for continued surgery and physical therapy for his damaged legs.  Together, they discuss the night in question and try to help each other.  But in recalling the events of that night, Mia remembers someone holding her hand during the shooting – a mysterious stranger with a tattoo on his wrist.  Who was this man?  Where is he?  Is he or was he a restaurant employee?  Did he survive the evening?  Mia becomes obsessed with finding this man in order to thank him for providing emotional support during their mutual travail – but can she find this needle in the haystack that is Paris?

Review

Perhaps the best part of “Revoir Paris” is Virginie Efira’s portrayal of Mia.  A sensitive, intelligent woman, Mia struggles to hold herself together after this incident and Efira makes this evident in many of her acting choices throughout the movie; Mia's dedication to self-care is seen as selfish by some, but is a necessary part of her recovery process.  The challenges she faces not only include resolving open issues after the attack but also dealing with the relationships she had before.  From the outset, she is obviously a sympathetic character and that never changes for the remainder of the film. 

While the central focus of the movie is Mia dealing with her grief so she can effectively move on with the rest of her life, it morphs into something of a mystery or detective story.  If there’s one criticism of the film, it is that there’s very little if any reference to the attack itself insofar as who did it, why and if the guilty were ever brought to justice.  Perhaps this is because filmmaker Alice Winocour made a choice that doing so might turn this into something of a crime drama and take the story into a different direction; that said, allusions to the follow-up by the police probably would have been helpful. 

One annoyance – albeit slight – is the fact that Mia easily finds herself in a new romantic situation when the relationship with her long-time partner seems to be winding down, largely because of the result of the assault.  Although somewhat complicated by virtue of Thomas being married, the romance with Mia is telegraphed almost from the beginning – and the reveal of his wife is deliberately held off until late in the game. In all likelihood, he probably doesn’t bring it up because it’s not relevant to any of the discussions they have been having – and of equal convenience, Mia never bothers to ask.