"The Inspection" -- Movie Review

 

On the closing night of the 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended the U.S. premiere of the drama “The Inspection”.

Synopsis

When a gay Black man joins the Marines, will this help to repair the relationship with his mother?

Story

Ellis French (Jeremy Pope) is a young Black man who has been homeless for nearly a decade – this is because his mother (Gabrielle Union) has disowned him for being gay.  As a last resort, he decides to join the Marines, hoping that will finally give his life some meaning and value.  Boot camp is brutal, but when French’s sexuality is discovered, it becomes even worse.  Determined to make a go of it no matter what, French takes the abuse and stands up for himself whenever necessary.  What he doesn’t know at first – but eventually learns – is that there are many like him already in the military.

While French’s fellow recruits are anti-gay (and specifically anti-French), his drill sergeant Laws (Bokeem Woodbine) is openly anti-Muslim as a result of serving shortly after the events of September 11, 2001.  As a result, Laws is particularly harsh on a recruit who is a devout Muslim when he spots the young man praying.  The other recruits decide to gang up on French and try to sabotage his training so he will be discharged from boot camp.  This doesn’t stop French from having an attraction to some of the other Marines, with whom he believes he has found some affinity. 

As boot camp draws to a close, it is beginning to look like French might successfully graduate, despite the lack of support from either his fellow recruits or his own mother.  But will French’s mother be proud of him?  Will she even attend the final graduation ceremony when he actually becomes a Marine?  For weeks now, he has been writing her but hasn’t gotten any response.  Not knowing if she is alright or simply ignoring him, and despite knowing she may be irked, French decides to call her to find out why she hasn’t corresponded with him.  Eventually, he summons up the courage to beg her to attend his graduation ceremony.  Will she attend or continue to ostracize her son?  

Review

As Elegance Bratton’s first narrative feature film, “The Inspection” is certainly meritorious, albeit flawed.  One might assume that the expectation and intention of the film is for the audience to feel that this mistreated character has a triumphant conclusion to his story; however, under further scrutiny, this inference might be questionable.  For one thing, French does not find his own way – it takes the grueling discipline of the Marines (i.e., the federal government) to transform him into a killing machine in order to provide structure in his life and convince him he has purpose.  French’s change is not of his own doing; he doesn’t change himself, the Corps forces the transformation on him. 

It would not necessarily be unfair to characterize “The Inspection” as the gay version of “An Officer And A Gentleman”; in the latter movie, the Zack Mayo character declares, “I got nowhere else to go!” – the exact same thing can be said for Ellis French.  Unlike “An Officer And A Gentleman”, there is no romantic subplot – instead, there are moments where there are allusions to sexual situations.  On a positive note, there are good performances by both Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union.  Pope is quite successful at making French a sympathetic character for whom an audience can root; Union’s performance as a cruel homophobic mother is courageous. 

In a post-screening conversation, writer/director Elegance Bratton discussed the autobiographical nature of “The Inspection”.  He said that the portions of the movie concerning his mother were true but most of the other incidents are not.  Bratton regrets that he was never able to actually reconcile with his mother in real life; the film was green-lit in mid-February of 2020 and she passed away just four days later.  Following his time in the Marine Corps, he went on to study at Columbia University, then took filmmaking courses at New York University’s Tisch School of The Arts; while there, he made a short film which got him some television work, essentially launching his career. 

"Armageddon Time" -- Movie Review

 

For the 60^th Anniversary of The New York Film Festival, there was a special screening of the new semi-autobiographical drama by James Gray, “Armageddon Time”, featuring Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins. 

Synopsis

Will a boy be able to overcome societal and family issues to achieve his lifetime dreams?

Story

At the age of 11, Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) began 6^th grade at a public school in Queens, New York in the year 1980.  Not particularly interested in the education they offered him, Paul’s goal in life was to become a comic book artist.  Similarly apathetic about academics is his classmate, Johnny (Jaylin Webb), who is a year older than Paul because he’s had to repeat the 6^th grade.  Although Paul is Jewish and Johnny is African American, their mutual disdain for schooling renders them kindred spirits and they soon become the very best of friends.  Sadly, it is this friendship that ultimately leads to the two boys being separated.

When the two boys are caught sharing a marijuana joint at school, Johnny is punished and Paul’s parents (Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway) transfer him to the same private school that his older brother attends.  Although Paul is having difficulty making friends at his new school, he can always rely on one member of his family to be both his friend and confidant – his grandfather, Aaron Rabinowitz (Anthony Hopkins).  Together, they bond through sharing secrets and embarking on their own adventures to the exclusion of others.  They are virtually inseparable until the point when circumstances dictate otherwise.      

Despite attending different schools, Paul and Johnny somehow manage to maintain contact, although not without great difficulty and inconvenience; both unhappy at home and in school, they concoct a scheme to run away.  The plan is to flee to Florida, where Johnny’s older brother lives.  Once free of both their academic and familial obligations, they fantasize that they will be able to live the life they want and deserve.  Before they can actually get out of town, their little scheme is abruptly scotched and once again, both Paul and Johnny find themselves in serious trouble.  Will this event change the course of their life forever?

Review

The track record of James Gray combined with a great cast is enough to garner interest in seeing “Armageddon Time” – unfortunately, it doesn’t quite deliver the impact that one might have expected.  For one thing, the ending is somewhat up in the air; it seems that the main point of the story is essentially summed up in a conversation between Paul and his father in the family car.  Additionally, Gray appears dead-set on offending as many people as possible who subscribe to a politically conservative philosophy – specifically, he takes shots at the late former President Ronald Reagan as well as the entire Trump clan. 

By setting this story in the 1980’s, Gray is apparently expressing his discontent with the current state of society and suggesting that we got on the road to where we are some forty years ago or so.  While there may be a point in showing that many of the class and race issues from then persist today, it seems somewhat unfair and simplistic to pin it all on one group and that another was not in any way complicit.  Were some seeds planted in our society back then?  Absolutely.  The focus seems to be only on what has not changed instead of acknowledging what has changed – including and especially things that have changed for the better, in some cases. 

Post-screening, there was a conversation with writer/director James Gray and some of the cast members (Jeremy Strong, Anne Hathaway, Banks Repet, and Jaylin Webb).  Gray said that he wrote the screenplay for “Armageddon Time” from September to November of 2019 – point being that not only was it pre-Covid, but also, prior to the events of January 6, 2021 and also before the George Floyd case.  His inspiration for writing this screenplay came when he took his children to visit the house where he grew up in Queens; he was saddened to find that there were precious few memories to be found of the major incidents in his life.  By making this film, he sought a way to preserve them. 

"Decision To Leave" -- Movie Review

 

Midway through The 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended a screening of the new Korean crime drama, “Decision To Leave”.

Synopsis

When a detective is assigned to investigate a man’s death, what happens when he falls in love with the suspect?

Story

When an older man is found dead near a mountain, Detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) is assigned to investigate.  Was it murder?  Suicide?  Accident?  Once the Detective begins interviewing, what starts out as clear eventually turns muddy.  The most obvious place to start is with his wife, Seo-rae (Tang Wei), a beautiful young Chinese woman who apparently was in a marriage of convenience.  Were the two happily married?  It would seem so, at least on the surface.  But the more time Hae-jun spends with his investigation, the more attraction develops between the two – further complicated by the fact that he’s married.

Detective Hae-jun is very suspicious of Seo-rae – and with good reason.  As the detective proceeds with collecting evidence, much of the widow’s alibi does not add up.  He becomes obsessed with this case, which causes both his insomnia and the relationship with his wife to deteriorate to the point that he moves into a different apartment.  The more his relationship with Seo-rae turns more personal than professional, the more Hae-jun’s judgement becomes clouded.  His supervisor sees that he’s spending far too much time on this case and orders him to wrap it up as soon as possible.  He shortly thereafter closes the case and Seo-rae is off the hook.   

Eventually, Hae-jun and his wife move to another city for his health, where he transfers to the local police department.  About a year later, when he and his wife are shopping at a market, they run into Seo-rae, who has since remarried – another older man, but this one is something of a television celebrity.  He’s a professional stock market analyst who offers investment advice, so she once again finds herself living a rather luxurious lifestyle.  Things become quite complicated when Seo-rae’s new husband also mysteriously turns up dead at their mansion.  Is this merely a coincidence or can Hae-jun prove Seo-rae is a murderer?    

Review

If you are a lover of the genre known as film noir or a fan of Hitchcock’s movies, then “Decision To Leave” is most definitely for you.  Be assured that you are in good hands with Park Chan-wook as the director of this film; he’s clearly a master at his craft and makes some rather amazing choices in order to tell his story visually.  His characters are obviously seriously flawed, broken human beings, which makes you empathize with them; ultimately, they are just looking for love in life – and tragically, that love turns out to be with each other.  Without giving away spoilers, the denouement of this motion picture is both original and heart-rending for the main characters. 

Now might be a good time to discuss South Korean film.  If you are new to movies from this country, you’ll be in for quite a treat.  If possible, try to see as many as you can, either in theaters or via streaming.  Clearly, the South Korean filmmakers have been immersed themselves in motion pictures from other countries, most notably the United States; they have been studied them well and learned a considerable amount.  Many of them have a look and feel – at least thematically – of some of the best American-made motion pictures.  The success of films like “Minari” and “Parasite” prove that they may soon exceed movies from this country.    

Through interpreters, there was a post-screening conversation with Director Park Chan-wook and star Park Hae-il.  When the director was asked if “Decision To Leave” was a detective story with a romance or a romance with a detective story, he replied that he first wanted to do a detective story, then the idea of the romance came later because at first, he had no plot.  The song “Mist” is used crucially in the story; it is an old Korean song which everyone in that country knows.  Since he wanted to also do a movie about this song, that’s when he realized that it needed to include a romance.  The original version was sung by a woman, then it was remade with a male vocalist; the director reunited the two (who are now in their 70’s) to sing it as a duet for this motion picture.

"All The Beauty And The Bloodshed" -- Movie Review

 

For the Centerpiece of The 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended a screening of the new Laura Poitras documentary, “All The Beauty And The Bloodshed”. 

Synopsis

As a result of the opioid crisis, can a group of activists bring about change to a system that celebrates the family that’s caused many thousands of deaths?

Story

For decades, Nan Goldin has been known in New York City as a photographer, having many of her photographs either published in books or shown at various galleries.  After surviving a beating at the conclusion of an abusive relationship, she was hospitalized for her severe injuries and prescribed OxyContin.  Upon her discharge, she continued to take the medication in order to deal with her physical pain.  This introduced her to a new nightmare when she became addicted to her medicine.  Her addiction caused both her professional and personal life to become completely derailed. 

Over time, Goldin eventually overcame her addiction, but she was left emotionally scarred by the experience.  She began to educate herself about the drug, which was manufactured by Purdue Pharma, a pharmaceutical company owned by the incredibly wealthy Sackler family.  It turned out that the Sacklers were highly regarded in the artistic community for their philanthropic endeavors; many museums around the world had accepted huge financial contributions from them, resulting in a wing or other structures being named after them.  Goldin’s research uncovered the manipulative and misleading marketing of the medication to physicians, who then over-prescribed. 

As a result, Goldin formed a group called P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), an activist group made up of recovering addicts and surviving family members who died from their addiction.  P.A.I.N.’s goal is to serve as patient advocacy against big-Pharma because of how they become wealthy at the cost of human lives.  They decide to target the Sackler family who have become billionaires by pushing doctors to prescribe a drug that has ruined lives through addiction and overdose.  But when their public protests gain media attention throughout the country, will the Sackler family turn to ruthless means to silence them?    

Review

In “All The Beauty And The Bloodshed”, Laura Poitras has interwoven two documentaries into one – and that may or may not be a good thing, depending on how you view this movie.  One the one hand, there is this utterly triumphant story of activism to shame and defeat the Sackler family; also, there is the fascinating story of Nan Goldin herself which covers not only her professional life but also her personal life (including a rather painful suburban upbringing).  It became rather obvious that two films could have been made here – and arguably, they should have.  The problem with the twin paths here is that the documentary as a whole becomes more diffuse. 

Often, negative movie criticisms have the tone that they wish the filmmaker had made a different motion picture or made it in a different way.  Unfortunately, that’s the situation here.  A documentary about the life and career of Nan Goldin would have been great.  So would a documentary about Goldin’s activism (she also championed the AIDS cause some thirty years prior).  Combining the two into a single film results in an unfocused final product that lacks a single narrative thread.  As it is, the running time of “All The Beauty And The Bloodshed” comes in at just around two hours; two 90-minute documentaries might have been better.

In a post-screening conversation, Director Laura Poitras said that after meeting with Nan Goldin, she learned that many of the P.A.I.N. meetings were documented – once she discovered this, she decided that she had to be involved in making the documentary.  At one point, Goldin was introduced to the producers and pitched the idea of the documentary to them, asking if they would consider raising money to make the film; they decided that they were in, but only if they could hire Laura as the director.  Goldin added that she gave Laura full access to all photos and documents about her entire family – including some footage of home movies. 

"Stars At Noon" -- Movie Review

 

At the end of the opening weekend of The 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended the North American Premiere of the new thriller by Claire Denis, “Stars At Noon”. 

Synopsis

When a journalist is trapped overseas, her sudden relationship with a mysterious stranger may help her find a way out – but when the government intercedes, will they suddenly find their life in danger?

Story

In the height of the global Covid pandemic, Trish (Margaret Qualley) finds herself stranded in Nicaragua.  An American, she aspires to a career in journalism, but has been encountering tough going trying to get her career started.  When she originally arrived in Managua, she had press credentials – but they were revoked when she wrote an unflattering piece about the government.  She’s been trying to pitch freelance travel pieces to various publications, but thus far, no takers.  At this point, she’d like to return home to America – unfortunately, the Nicaraguan government didn’t take too kindly to her journalistic style and has withheld her passport. 

Stuck in a country on the verge of revolution with an unstable government, Trish does just about the only thing she can do to survive:  this hard-drinking woman sells her body to anyone who can pay.  In some cases, she’s selective – offering herself up to men in powerful positions with the government who might be able to pull some strings for her.  In other cases, she pursues men of means who might be able to afford a little bit more – and that’s how she met Daniel (Joe Alwyn), a British businessman who works for an oil company (so he claims).  Despite his professional dealings in this country, he also wants to leave but the Costa Rican authorities are making it difficult for him to do so.

When things become untenable for both Trish and Daniel, they sneak out of Managua and try to make their way to the Costa Rican border – they appear to be well on their way to succeeding until they are confronted by a CIA Agent (Benny Safdie) who is intent on derailing their plans.  Specifically, they don’t really care about Trish – Daniel is their main target because they believe he’s trying to interfere in the upcoming Nicaraguan elections.  The U.S. government knows that he’s up to something that will be problematic when it comes to America’s relationship with the Nicaraguan government – whoever that turns out to be after the upcoming elections.  Will both Trish and Daniel be able to make it out of Nicaragua alive? 

Review

“Stars At Noon” has an intriguing concept, but its abstract nature makes the story hard to follow.  Instead, perhaps the most satisfying quality to it is its atmosphere; basically, you’re watching a spy drama with overtones of a romance doomed to fail in a mysterious, potentially dangerous environment.  If that’s enough for you, then you might enjoy this movie because keeping up with the plot can be something of a challenge here.  Whom to root for and when can change from moment to moment; this can be equally confusing and interesting, but ultimately frustrating to the point of making you want to give up on the film.    

On a positive note, “Stars At Noon” is fun not just because of the espionage element to it but also because it’s quite sexy.  As Trish, Qualley oozes a licentious nature that is absolutely intoxicating; the character of Trish is rather free with her body – both in terms of showing it and sharing with others.  This isn’t slut-shaming; if anything, it’s slut-praising because unable to make a go of it in her preferred career as a journalist, she is in survival mode and does whatever she can in order to get by from one day to the next.  She succeeds more on guile than anything else, which proves her intelligence.       

Director Claire Denis and stars Joe Alwyn & Benny Safdie participated in a conversation after the screening.  The film is based on the 1986 novel by Denis Johnson.  When the Director heard of him, she began reading much of his work in English (rather than a French translation, which is her primary language).    In the book, none of the characters have a name, so this is one of the changes she made; another is the fact that the novel has the female character as the narrator; Claire Denis felt that this would not work quite as well as in a movie version of the story, so that was another divergence.  Although the story takes place in Managua, Nicaragua, it was actually shot in Panama.  The reason for this was because Nicaragua was somewhat politically unstable at the time. 

"Triangle Of Sadness" -- Movie Review

 

On the second half of the opening weekend for The 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended a screening of the new comedy, “Triangle Of Sadness”. 

Synopsis

Question:  What can go wrong when the rich and beautiful take a vacation on a luxury cruise?

Answer:  EVERYTHING!

Story

Carl and Yaya are a young and attractive couple, befitting the requirements of their chosen profession as models.  Additionally, Yaya is profitable as an Internet Influencer – as such, she has been gifted with a free trip for two on a luxury yacht.  When she and Carl embark on their trip, they have the opportunity to meet many other guests – quite a few of them being incredibly wealthy people considerably older than they are.  A great chance to network?  Sure.  But mostly Carl is looking to relax and Yaya is focused on building her brand by taking selfies and posting them to social media. 

One of the many highlights of the cruise is supposed to be the night when the passengers have dinner with the Captain (Woody Harrelson).  Unfortunately for all concerned, the Captain is an alcoholic who remains cloistered in his stateroom, refusing to leave.  His alcohol-addled brain causes him to schedule the Captain’s Dinner for Thursday – despite the fact that he has already been advised that weather reports indicate that night the ship will encounter a severe storm which will result in choppy waters.  The night of the dinner is, as expected, a disaster – the rocking of the boat causes all of the guests to become seasick, abruptly ending the evening. 

After the storm ends, things only get worse – the ship finds itself under attack by a rogue group of pirates who wind up blowing up the ship, causing it to sink.  While many perish during their attempt to abandon the ship, a lucky few are able to make it to shore via a lifeboat – among them being Carl and Yaya.  The land on which they find themselves appears to be deserted with wild animals being the only other occupants.  Unequipped to fend for themselves in such a situation, a small bit of good fortune occurs when one of the ship’s maids washes up in an escape vessel; she immediately takes charge by finding and preparing food for them.  But with provisions limited, will they be rescued before their food supply is exhausted?    

Review

Whoa!  What a wild ride this one is!  If you’ve been waiting for a laugh-out-loud comedy then this one is got to be at or near the top of the list – provided, of course, that you don’t mind gross-out humor based on bodily functions.  It’s difficult to pick a best scene or best line from “Triangle Of Sadness” (the title gets explained early on), but the Captain’s Dinner and the Captain’s remark to the Russian oligarch (quoting Karl Marx, “The last one we hang will be the one who sold us the rope”) would have to be considered.  The entire movie is brilliantly conceived and carried out by the ensemble cast. 

Based on the story – in particular, the third act – there will likely be inevitable comparisons with the classic 1974 movie “Swept Away” by the late Lina Wertmüller.  This is certainly a valid point given the similarities in both the setting and theme.  There are, however, differences that make the two rather distinct from each other.  For one thing, in “Swept Away”, when the two become stranded a contentious relationship turns romantic; that does not happen in “Triangle Of Sadness”.  Another, is that there are only two stranded people in “Swept Away” while “Triangle Of Sadness” has quite a motley collection of castaways. 

A conversation took place after the screening, which included director Ruben Östlund and cast members Dolly de Leon (Abigail), and Zlatko Burić (Russian Oligarch).  Östlund said that having grown up as a Socialist, he wanted to set the island scenes as a turning of the power structure.  As a film teacher, he was describing the screenplay to his students when one of them suggested that it might be better if the power structure fell into the hands of a woman; that’s when he got the idea to make that character the cleaning lady rather than a maintenance man.  Suddenly, the Toilet Manager becomes the Captain. 

  

"Till" -- Movie Review

 

On the opening weekend of The 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended the World Premiere of the new biographical drama, “Till”, directed  by Chinonye Chukwu. 

Synopsis

When a teenage boy is lynched in Mississippi, can his mother find justice?

Story

In 1955, the northern city of Chicago was just as bigoted and racist as the southern state of Mississippi – the only difference was the racism in Chicago took on a more subtle approach whereas the racism in Mississippi was more overt.  That summer, a 14 year old teenager named Emmett Till would learn that lesson the hard way.  Emmett grew up in Chicago and was naïve when it came to the ways of the south and his mother Mamie tried hard to shield him from it – she had known it first hand because that’s where she lived before moving to Chicago with the rest of her family. 

Young Emmett’s extended family invited him to visit them in Mississippi so he could become acquainted with cousins he had never met up to that point.  The thought of a trip to the deep south excited Emmett and despite Mamie’s concerns, she consented.  Once there, Emmett soon learned just how different Mississippi was from Chicago.  Encountering a shopkeeper while buying some candy, he remarked that she was quite attractive, even whistling at her.  Little did Emmett know it at the time, but that one act pretty much sealed his fate.  A gang of local white men took him from his relative’s house, then lynched him. 

When the boy’s body was sent back to Chicago for burial, Mamie insisted not only that the casket remained open, but also that the media see what was done to her only son.  Once pictures of the disfigured, bloated and badly beaten Emmett were published nationally, outrage quickly grew throughout the country.  The NAACP became aware of it and joined forces with Mamie to bring charges against the people responsible.  From the outset of the court case, it became apparent that the whole thing was rigged against the Till family;  every single witness for the defense outright lied on the witness stand.  With all odds against her, would Mamie Till ever expose the fraud?

Review

The advance word about “Till” is that its star, Danielle Deadwyler in the role of Mamie, Till’s mother, is expected to get nominated for multiple awards – and may very well win at least one of them.  Based on her performance, there is no doubt this will occur.  As for the film itself, “Till” feels like it plods along and at over two hours, probably could have been trimmed by a good 15-20 minutes.   At a length of two hours and ten minutes, it seems considerably longer than that.  In retrospect, perhaps too much time was spent on ancillary events and activities that could have been either condensed or cut altogether. 

Despite flaws in “Till”, it is useful as an instructional tool and should be shown to students in order to familiarize themselves with the story.  For some, this may cross the line of teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT).  However, the argument should be made that in order to accurately tell the history of the United States, the ugly side must be included with the heroic side.  A similar argument could be made for a classic like “The Godfather”; the history of this country includes organized crime.  In the Coppola movie, it happens to be people of Italian descent; many Italian-Americans objected to this depiction, despite the fact that Coppola and Puzo (the author of the book on which the film was based) are both Italian-Americans themselves.

A post-screening discussion took place with Director Chinonye Chukwu, star Danielle Deadwyler and Executive Producer/cast member Whoopi Goldberg.  Chukwu said that when she was approached by the producers to direct this project, she had several conditions that had to be met.  First was that the film had to be told from the perspective of Emmett’s mother Mamie because without her advocacy, the nation would never know her son’s story.  Another was that she didn’t want to portray violence on any Black bodies – she wanted to make this for a Black audience.  Lastly, was that she insisted the movie end with joy – it is ultimately a love story of Mamie and her child.  She was careful about what was contained in each frame, stating, “Where the camera focuses is its own act of resistance”.  

"Master Gardener" -- Movie Review

 

On the opening weekend of The 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended the North American Premiere of the new thriller by Paul Schrader, “Master Gardener”.

Synopsis

When a wealthy dowager with an extensive garden orders her horticulturalist to look after her grandniece, what impact will this have on everyone’s life, both professionally and personally?

Story

Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver) owns a huge Louisiana mansion with an impressive garden that’s envied and admired by many in the area.  She takes pride in its upkeep but in reality, owes it all to her gardener Narvel Roth (Joel Edgerton) and his team of apprentices.  Narvel has worked for Norma for many years – and has engaged in an affair with his employer for almost as long.  That’s their arrangement and both seem quite comfortable with it, despite Norma’s naturally overbearing nature.  It seems that she considers Narvel her property almost in the same way as she views her home or garden. 

Narvel’s latest instructions are to work on the garden so that Norma can win recognition of first prize while raising money for charity.  This is not new for him, but now it comes with a catch – he has to hire Maya (Quintessa Swindell), Norma’s grandniece, as one of his apprentices; he is to teach the finer points of gardening to her so that she will develop something of a career.  Although Norma was never very close to Maya, she is doing it as a favor to her sister; Maya’s mother passed away and her life went into a tailspin shortly thereafter, turning to drugs and dropping out of school.  Hopefully, this will turn around the life of the 20-something. 

Maya is not the only one with a regrettable past.  Narvel, it turns out, spent time in prison; in his former life, he was a White Supremacist who murdered several people.  After turning over evidence to the authorities, he was given a lighter sentence and released early – he studied horticulture in order to have a legitimate way of making money and start a new life.  As a result, he can understand where Maya is coming from.  Although Maya turns into a good student, she loses her job -- Norma resents her presence when she believes Maya’s developing an attraction to Narvel.  But when Narvel learns that Maya’s former drug dealer is now making life difficult for her, can he intercede to save her life? 

Review

“Master Gardener” is the quintessence of Paul Schrader’s filmmaking; arguably the best he has ever done to date.  Dark undertones that are gradually revealed are perhaps the best part of Schrader’s storytelling ability. The screenplay has well-drawn characters who are clearly imperfect and are not proud of their past.  In their own way, they are seeking redemption; they realize that they cannot completely erase their past but they do control how they can change their future.  Who the protagonist is/are may not necessarily be obvious at the outset, but evolves through the course of the story.  There are some really great performances here, particularly by Weaver and Edgerton.

If you are looking for likeable characters, then “Master Gardener” may not be for you.  True to form, Schrader gives us an ominous story with characters of questionable moral codes.  Who among them are the least objectionable?  That’s where you find the one for whom you root.  The evolution of how the characters interact with each other is also quite fascinating:  the cool, aloof and imperious Norma has both a professional and inappropriately personal relationship with Narvel – one which she only feels comfortable having because of her power over him.  Thus her outrage when he develops an intimacy with someone else who lacks that kind of power.     

After the screening, there was a conversation with Schrader and cast members Sigourney Weaver and Joel Edgerton.  Schrader characterized “Master Gardener” as something of a fable – in other words, it’s not a story that could really happen – “don’t believe it, just imagine it” was his description.  He saw similarities between the character of Narvel Roth and Travis Bickle, from his screenplay “Taxi Driver”; both of them experience feelings of guilt and self-punishment because they have done wrong.  The film, he sees, has a life-enhancing conclusion without the specter of death or prison.  

"White Noise" -- Movie Review

 

On the opening night of The 60^th New York Film Festival, I attended the North American Premiere of the new comedy-drama by Noah Baumbach, “White Noise”. 

Synopsis

When a family grapples with various personal and societal crises, can they ultimately find happiness?

Story

In 1980’s Ohio, Jack Gladney (Adam Driver) and his wife Babbette (Greta Gerwig) work together to raise their four children – a blended family largely consisting of previous marriages.  He works as a college professor and she is a physical therapist at a facility for the elderly.  On the surface, things appear to be fairly normal and pleasant, yet there seems to be a foreboding sense of an ever-present and impending danger right around the corner.  To some degree, the urge is to ignore it and pretend everything is just fine, not wanting to overreact to every situation.  Unfortunately, that soon becomes impossible. 

After a truck carrying a gas tank crashes with a train, a huge plume of toxic smoke arises, blanketing the entire area.  While The Gladney clan monitors the situation, it becomes something of a struggle to remain calm as news reports update the situation.  Soon, residents are instructed to evacuate; The Gladneys pile into their station wagon and attempt to leave town, but they run into a significant traffic jam and remain stuck.  As a result, everyone is forced to take refuge in a small setup on the outskirts of town, hoping that they haven’t been exposed to the toxic chemicals.  Nine days later, people are instructed to return home. 

Once things have appeared to return to normal, Jack becomes aware of Babbette’s reliance on some type of experimental medication that she’s been using in an attempt to alleviate her anxiety over death.  Jack investigates this thoroughly and discovers this is all a hoax – it was the idea of a scammer trying to make money off of desperate people who are willing to do just about anything to be able to overcome their fears.  Eventually, Jack learns that the perpetrator has coerced Babbette into an intimate relationship in order to replenish her supply of pills.  Will Jack ultimately resort to desperate measures to resolve this?

Review

Over the years since the Don DeLillo novel was originally published, it was generally believed that it would be impossible to turn into a movie.  Baumbach’s ambitious attempt to do so results in something of a mixed bag.  While there are certainly some amusingly absurd moments, it might be a bit of a stretch to describe them as comedic; the drama portions of “White Noise” are closer to what might be better thought of as horror.  The motion picture seems to be saying that life is a miserable fright-fest so you better just get used to that and ride out the storm.  If you are considering watching it, be prepared to expect an episodic, non-linear story. 

Much of “White Noise” feels like something of a fever dream – which apparently is the intent here, particularly with respect to the closing musical scene in the supermarket; the idea presumably being to convey the overall sense of anxiety in modern-day society.  Thematically, it attempts to deal with worries over our own mortality, environmentalism and interpersonal relationships.  The degree to which film succeeds waxes and wanes at various points; some of it is quite over the top and far too disturbing to find funny.  Again, this may be purposeful on the part of the filmmaker, but the motion picture is definitely not for everyone.   

Following the screening, there was an interview with writer-director Noah Baumbach and his cast.  The book came out in the 1980’s and Baumbach read it when he was 17; it stuck with him over the years because he loved the author’s voice.  This originally started out as an exercise during the lockdown period of the Covid pandemic; following his film “Marriage Story”, Baumbach was feeling a bit frustrated because he didn’t know what he wanted to work on next.  In the midst of the pandemic, he began reflecting on what was going on in the country at that moment.  This is his first adaptation; Baumbach said that his intent was to say how he felt about modern life (although the story is set in the mid-1980’s).  He said that he didn’t want to set the story in modern times because he wanted to remain true to the book and also that’s when his childhood was. 

"My Best Friend's Exorcism" -- Movie Review

 

This week, I streamed Amazon Studios’ new horror-comedy, “My Best Friend’s Exorcism”, now available on Prime Video.

Synopsis

When a teenager suspects her best friend is possessed, will she be able to save her with an exorcism?

Story

In the late 1980’s, teenagers Abby and Gretchen are best friends.  One of the many things they have in common is that they both think the religious teachings at their strict Catholic high school are ridiculous.  When they join some friends to spend a weekend in a cabin by the lake, things do not quite go as expected.  One night, the two go exploring in a deserted cabin; when they get spooked, Abby makes a run for it, with Gretchen close behind – until she isn’t.  Once their friends find Abby in the woods, they all go searching for Gretchen – but when they find her, Abby is immediately suspicious. 

Once they return to school, that’s when things get really weird.  Not only is Gretchen behaving strangely, but also, other odd things start occurring around them as well.  Is Gretchen trying to steal the boyfriend from one of the other girls?  After Margaret samples a special “diet” drink, she gets sick and is no longer able to eat.  Then, when Glee can’t find her EpiPen after coming into contact with some nuts, she also falls ill and comes close to dying.  By now, Abby becomes convinced that Gretchen is behind all of this; once she shares this with her other friends, they ostracize her. 

Abby decides to consult with someone connected to her school; he convinces her that all of the signs point to Gretchen being possessed by Satan.  The only thing that can resolve the problem is an exorcism.  Unfortunately, this is easier said than done -- Abby cannot go to a priest because she has become something of an outcast at her school.  Since the person recommending the exorcism has in fact witnessed one before, he suggests that he perform the ceremony.  However, once the exorcism begins, things take an unexpected turn and he is unable to complete the process.  Can Abby alone save her friend?

Review

Not to be diplomatic, but perhaps the best way to summarize a review of “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” is to fall back on an old quote (often attributed, perhaps spuriously, to Abraham Lincoln):  “People who like this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like.”  The movie is based on the Quirk Books novel by Grady Hendrix, so it’s clearly geared towards the young adult audience; that said, for folks old enough to remember the film “The Exorcist”, you will be glad to know that there is the obligatory pea-soup-vomit scene included in “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” (not to mention a hat-tip to “Alien” when a serpent-like creature emerges from one of the characters). 

While the horror aspect of this movie is immediately apparent, its comedic elements are less so; essentially, it’s supposed to be funny because the characters are so incredibly goofy – that is to say, they aren’t quite smart enough to know how silly they are.  As a result, we, the audience, can feel comfortable looking down upon them and laugh at them in a condescending fashion.  None of them are trying to be humorous because that would imply some degree of cleverness on their part; they can be thankful that not a single one of them is encumbered by such sagacity.  If one of them surprisingly does something remotely intelligent, just chalk it up to “the devil made me do it” (another quote, this one by the late comedian Flip Wilson, who himself was indeed quite clever). 

If you’re going to recommend this to either a teen or “tween”, have them watch (or better yet, read) “The Exorcist” first; otherwise, they might think that “My Best Friend’s Exorcism” inspired “The Exorcist” rather than the reverse.  Having said that, it might be better to not recommend this motion picture to them in the first place; from a cultural nutrition standpoint, it’s empty calories.  This film occasionally seems to be deriding organized religion (Catholicism in particular) until that same religion apparently comes to the rescue to save the day after all.  Don’t be misled – these characters are devout only to their own narcissism.