Armageddon Time (2022) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): So he grows up…

Posted on November 24, 2022 by kaist455

James Gray’s new film “Armageddon Time” is a somber and melancholic coming-of-age drama which feels rather uneven and superficial despite some good moments to be appreciated. Mainly revolving around a young boy of one stable middle-class Jewish family in New York City during 1980, the movie closely observes how its young hero comes to open his eyes more to the harsh reality surrounding him, but it only seems to scratch the surface at times as mostly stuck inside its genre conventions, and there are also some glaringly distracting moments which do not mesh well with the rest of the film.

During the opening part of the movie, we get to know how things have been not so good for its young hero. Although he has considerable artistic potential, Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is not regarded that well by his parents Irving (Jeremy Strong) and Esther (Ann Hathaway) just because he is not focusing on study. At least, his grandfather Aaron (Anthony Hopkins) does not hesitate to encourage Paul’s growing artistic aspiration, and Paul is always delighted whenever Aaron comes to see him.

Unlike his older brother who studies at a prestigious private school, Paul has been attending a local public school just because his parents cannot afford to send him to that private school, and he does not expect much as he begins the sixth year, but then he meets Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb), an older African American boy placed in Paul’s class because he is held back by a year. Right from their first day in the class, they become quite friendly to each other because both of them hate their class teacher, and Paul soon finds himself spending a lot of time along with Johnny.

However, their jolly time does not last long mainly because Johnny frequently clashes with the class teacher while also inadvertently getting his friend into big troubles. At one point, they get themselves caught for smoking marijuana in a school bathroom, and Paul’s parents are certainly furious when they learn of what their son did.

In the end, Paul’s parents decide to send Paul to that private school, and Paul is certainly devastated, but there is nothing he can do – especially when he realizes that his grandfather wholly supports his parents’ decision. On his first day on that private school, he cannot help but feel awkward as sensing how much it is different from his previous school, and he also feels quite uncomfortable when his new schoolmates do not hesitate to show their prejudices against colored people.

As his older brother advised to him in advance, it seems all Paul has to do is just keeping himself low and quiet, but he becomes more aware of not only how privileged his world is – and how his world is unfair to those less privileged people like Johnny. Not long after Paul is transferred, Johnny eventually drops out, and we clearly see troubles on the horizon when Paul later gets himself involved with Johnny more than expected.

Naturally, Paul asks for some advice from his grandfather, and there is a quiet but poignant moment as Aaron gives Paul what may be his last advice to his grandson. Although Paul does not say a lot about his recent troubles, Aaron clearly sees through his grandson as usual, and he does not pull any punch at all while telling his grandson about why he should stand up against prejudice and injustice.

Around the last act, the movie becomes a bit tense as Paul tries something risky along with his friend, and that is when the movie begins to stumble a lot. Mostly sticking with Paul’s viewpoint, the movie does not delve much into whatever Johnny feels and thinks, and it does not even seem to try to understand his position except a very brief flashback scene showing his private life. Despite young performer Jaylin Webb’s strong presence, Johnny remains to be more or less than a mere plot device to be exploited for Paul’s gradual maturation along the story, and that is the main reason why his last scene with Paul lacks necessary dramatic impact to linger on our mind.

In addition, Gray’s screenplay, which is inspired by his own childhood memories, is curiously distant to several other crucial figures in Paul’s life. While Paul’s mother is a merely neurotic housewife who is not so good at cooking, Paul’s father frequently swings back and forth between being abusive and thoughtful, and Paul’s older brother usually remains in the background just like several other family members besides Aaron. We never really get to know and understand any of them, and the movie ultimately wastes the diligent efforts of Ann Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, who often struggle with the uneven depiction of their respective roles.

Anyway, the movie is carried well by the earnest performance from young performer Banks Repeta. He is wonderful especially during his several key scenes with Anthony Hopkins, and Hopkins subtly holds the ground for Repeta while never overshadowing him at all. In their cameo appearance, John Diehl and Jessica Chastain are effective as certain two real-life figures associated with not only Paul’s private school but also that orange-faced scumbag, and you can easily see how the movie attempts to connect its period background with our time.

In conclusion, “Armageddon Time” is one or two steps down from Gray’s better works such as “The Immigrant” (2013) and “The Lost City of Z” (2016). It is not a total waste of time thanks to several good performances and its authentic period mood and details, but I still think it could go deeper into its story and characters, and I let you decide whether you will check it out or not.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Strange World (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Into a familiar but fun world

Posted on November 24, 2022 by kaist455

Disney animation feature film “Strange World” is a standard product which turns out to be more spirited and enthusiastic than expected. Sure, this is another familiar family adventure drama besides reminiscent of a number of other adventure films ranging from “Journey to the Center of the Earth” (1959) and “Fantastic Voyage” (1966) to “Innerspace” (1987) and “Avatar” (2009), but it has at least enough style, energy, and imagination, and that is certainly more than enough to compensate for the conventional aspects of its story and characters.

During the opening scene which skillfully and amusingly sets the pulpy tone of the film, we are introduced to a bold and mighty adventurer named Jaeger Clade (voiced by Dennis Quaid) and his less adventurous son Searcher (voiced by Jake Gyllenhaal). They and several expedition members, who are from a little isolated country named Avalonia, have been searching for a route which may take them beyond those big mountains surrounding Avalonia, but they have not had much success yet while having more dangers during their journey. After he discovers a mysterious plant which may benefit Avalonia a lot because of its ability to generate electricity, Searcher comes to clash with his father, and his father eventually goes alone by himself while letting his son and the other expedition members return to Avalonia.

25 years later, Searcher is now running a big farm where he grows hundreds of that mysterious plant, which was incidentally named Pando by him. Thanks to Pando, life has been quite more convenient for him and others in Avalonia during last 25 years, and he is certainly happy as beginning his another usual good day along with his wife Meridian (voiced by Gabrielle Union) and their adolescent son Ethan (voiced by Jaboukie Young-White).

However, there soon comes a big trouble which threatens not only Searcher’s business but also the whole country. Something disturbing seems to be happening to some of Pandos in his farm, and Callisto Mal (voiced by Lucy Liu), who was one of the expedition members and is now the president of Avalonia, later visits Searcher’s farm to tell him how bad the situation really is. It seems that many of Pandos in Avalonia have been infected with some sort of disease, and Mal and her expedition team are going to go down into a big hole which may lead them to the underground center of the massive root network among those Pandos on the ground.

As a guy who prefers farming to adventure, Searcher is naturally reluctant when he is asked to join the expedition, but he eventually agrees to join Mal and her expedition team, and then the situation becomes a little more complicated than expected. Despite his objection, his son and a family dog sneak into the big flying ship for the expedition, and, not so surprisingly, his wife later joins them after finding out her son is gone with the dog.

When their flying ship passes a certain perilous point, Searcher and others come across a hidden underground world, and that is where the film becomes more interesting. While it shows a lot of influence from “Avatar” in many aspects, the fantasy underground world in the film is colorfully presented with a considerable amount of awe and wonder on the screen, and you will also enjoy a number of many various odd creatures such as a certain elastic entity nicknamed “Splat”.

In the meantime, Searcher encounters his father (Is this a spoiler?), and the film has some fun with the personal conflicts among Searcher, Jaeger, and Ethan. Watching Ethan so eager to know more about his grandfather, Searcher becomes rather uncomfortable, and that naturally leads to more tension between him and Jaeger. Still obsessed with finding a route to the outside world, Jaeger reminds Searcher again of why Searcher has distanced himself from his father for many years, and that consequently leads to more strain in Searcher’s relationship with Ethan.

While never overplaying the conflicts among its main characters, the film steadily gives us one wonderful visual moment to another. There are several busy action sequences as expected, but director Don Hall and his co-director Qui Nguyen, who previously worked together in Oscar-nominated animation film “Raya and the Last Dragon” (2021), never let their film lose its vibrant sense of awe and wonder. I was particularly amused by the scene involved with a big acid lake just because it took me back to a similar scary moment in “Innerspace” (That was the first movie in my inconsequential life, by the way), and I also appreciate how the film pulls off a surprising moment of revelation which somehow reminded me of a certain highlight moment in “Dark City” (1998).

The voice cast members of the film have each own fun with their archetype roles. While Jake Gyllenhaal demonstrates more of the comic side of his talent, Dennis Quaid, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu, and Jaboukie Young-White bring enough life and personality to their respective roles, and you may appreciate how the film plainly presents the homosexuality of Young-White’s character without much pretension. Since Gyllenhaal appeared along with late Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) 17 years ago, there has been indeed some progress in the depiction of sexual minority characters on the screen, and I guess the film is another example.

Overall, “Strange World” is often conventional to the core, but it is fairly entertaining enough to hold our attention from the beginning to the end. To be frank with you, I did not expect much at first, but I found myself more engaged and amused as forgetting some little troubles of mine for a while, and I felt recharged a bit when I walked out of the screening room after it was over. That is what a good animation film can do, you know.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Spirited (2022) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A Christmas Carol with song and dance

Posted on November 22, 2022 by kaist455

“Spirited”, which is currently available on Apple TV+, attempts something different with that famous classic short story by Charles Dickens, and the result is mildly engaging on the whole. As frequently serving us song and dance numbers, the movie generates some jolliness with its two lead actors, but it eventually becomes rather tiresome because, well, we all already discern how the story will end, and there is much surprise or poignancy for us.

Rather than starting with the viewpoint of someone to be redeemed, the story begins from the viewpoint of the current Ghost of Christmas Present, played by Will Ferrell. Along with not only the Ghost of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani) and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (voiced by Tracey Jordan with Loren G. Woods playing on the screen) but also hundreds of good ghosts working under a certain familiar ghost figure, Ferrell’s character prepares a lot for their single target to be redeemed every year, and we see how they pull off another success from their latest target.

Once their latest job is done, the Ghost of Christmas Present and his colleagues naturally look for the target of the next year, and he comes across an obnoxious dude who looks quite challenging while they observe their actual target. Compared to their target, Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds) seems to be utterly “unredeemable” to say the least (After all, he is running a big public relation company specializing in digging dirt and manipulating public opinions for his clients), but the Ferrell’s character believes that changing Briggs will bring more goodness to the world, and he eventually manages to convince his boss despite his boss’ understandable skepticism.

Once he gets the permission, the Ghost of Christmas Present and many other ghosts diligently prepare that three-stage dream for Briggs, and, of course, Briggs turns out to be much more challenging than expected. Quite jaded and cynical to the core under his charming appearance, he does not even hesitate to dig some nasty dirt for his little niece who wants to get elected as the student president of her school, and that brings more self-hate and self-doubt to his longtime assistant Kimberly (Octavia Spencer), who somehow happens to be able to see Ferrell’s character when he and his two fellow Christmas ghosts are monitoring Briggs during their last preparation step.

Anyway, Briggs soon experiences a spooky prelude before his carefully manufactured dream as sleeping earlier than usual during Christmas Eve evening, but things do not go that go well for the Ghost of Christmas Present and his fellow ghosts from the beginning. In the end, Ferrell’s character has no choice but to appear in front of Briggs much earlier than planned, and he surely comes to see more of what a hopeless case Briggs seems to be in many aspects. While Ferrell holds the ground with his usual earnest comic presence, Ryan Reynolds often wields his usual sarcastic persona with gusto, and they click together a little better than expected.

As their characters push and pull each other throughout the story, the movie provides a series of well-made musical sequences, but they are not particularly impressive in my trivial opinion. Often looking quite stagy and artificial, these musical sequences does not have enough wit and spirit to hold our attention, and the songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are mostly forgettable compared to their more impressive works in “The Greatest Showman” (2017) and, yes, “LaLa Land” (2016). Their songs are certainly effective during these musical sequences with some wit and humor, but you will probably not find yourself humming any of these songs in the movie after watching it.

Thankfully, the movie is not entirely joyless on the whole. I enjoyed the naughty Victorian mood of an extended sequence where Ferrell’s character shows his little hidden personal story to Reynold’s character, though you may easily guess that from the very beginning. I was also amused by several nice variations of those key moments in Dickens’ original short story, and I liked a little comic moment involved with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who wants to do more than merely looking grim and menacing without saying any word.

To my disappointment, the main cast members surrounding Ferrell and Reynolds are often under-utilized due to their underdeveloped supporting parts. While Sunita Mani, Patrick Page, and Tracy Morgan have some fun with their more colorful roles, Aimee Carrero, Joe Tippett, and Octavia Spencer are stuck in their bland thankless supporting characters, but Spencer acquits herself well in addition to demonstrating here that she can sing fairly well, which is incidentally one of a very few surprises in the film.

Directed by Sean Anders, “Spirited” will be quickly forgotten around the next Christmas season, but it is not a total waste of time at all, and you may enjoy getting some holiday cheer from it. Yes, Dickens’ original short story is memorable not because of its holiday cheer but due to its ghostly darkness, and I must point out that the movie does not have much of darkness to compensate for its cotton candy sweetness. If you want less holiday cheer, there are many other darker movie versions of Dickens’ original short story including Robert Zemeckis’ “A Christmas Carol” (2009), and you may have better time with any of them.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Falling for Christmas (2022) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An average Christmas product from Netflix

Posted on November 21, 2022 by kaist455

I am old enough to remember how Lindsay Lohan was a promising actress around the early 2000s. After “Mean Girls” (2004), it looked like she was ready to move onto the next step of her burgeoning acting career as shown from her fine supporting turn in Robert Altman’s poignant last film “Prairie Home Companion” (2006), but, alas, she unfortunately became a notorious troublemaker/laughingstock due a series of big and small problems in her life and career, and she actually appeared in only two movies since Paul Schrader’s “The Canyons” (2013).

Anyway, it seems she has been climbing up from her personal/professional bottom these days, and Netflix film “Falling for Christmas”, which was released early in this month, shows that she is still a good performer who can be funny and delightful. While she is not so supported well by the movie itself, she carries it to the end through her fairly commendable efforts, and the overall result is not as terrible as I feared at least.

In the movie, Lohan plays Sierra Belmont, a spoiled and superficial daughter of one wealthy businessman who owns and runs a big ski resort in Aspen, Colorado. She is recently employed as the “vice president of atmosphere” of the resort, but everyone including herself knows well that her father simply wants her to keep her around him during the Christmas season, and she is usually more occupied with interacting with her boyfriend, who is equally superficial as your typical social influencer.

Not long after he arrives in the ski resort, Sierra’s boyfriend pulls off a little surprise for her just because that will draw more attention to them from those countless online followers of his out there. He takes her to a remote spot outside the ski resort, and then he blatantly proposes to her with a big wedding ring which incidentally does not fit with her little finger that well.

Sierra says yes without much thought, but then something unfortunate happens. She and her boyfriend happen to be on a high spot covered with lots of snow, and they accidentally tumble down from that spot in opposite directions. In case of Sierra, she is not injured much on the whole, but she gets her head hit by a tree. After she is fortunately rescued and then sent to a local hospital, she wakes up to find herself totally incapable of remembering who the hell she is, and she has no choice but to stay in a small local ski resort run by Jake Russell (Chord Overstreet), a nice (and handsome) dude who kindly rescued her at that time.

Jake and Sierra, who is now called “Sarah”, actually came across each other before, though neither of them cannot remember well even though that happened not long before Sierra’s accident. Because his little ski resort business has not been going well, Jake attempted to approach to Sierra’s father for some financial help, and that was when he had a rather unpleasant encounter with Sierra, who just looks vaguely familiar to him as “Sarah” at present probably because she does not wear all those fancy clothes and accessories.

Anyway, Sierra agrees to help Jake’s ski resort business a bit as a temporary employee, and the movie certainly gives us a series of silly comic moments showing how woefully inexperienced she really is. It looks like there is not any other employee besides her and Jake’s hearty mother-in-law Alejandra (Alejandra Flores), and Alejandra gladly helps “Sarah” get accustomed to her new job although “Sarah” will stay for just several days.

While often being around Jake, Sierra gets to know more about Jake, and, what do you know, she comes to care about him and his ski resort business more than expected. His ski resort actually came from his dead wife’s family, and he has really tried a lot to prevent it from being shut down because he knows how much it means to not only himself but also his mother-in-law and his cute little daughter, but, alas, it looks like he may have to close it down once the current Christmas season is over.

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that our heroine eventually finds a nice solution for Jake and his sky resort – and that she also falls in love with him while wholeheartedly supported by Alejandra and her granddaughter. After all, her granddaughter wishes her daddy to be really happy, and the movie even has a certain supporting figure who may be a sort of Christmas spirit or an undercover Santa Claus.

The movie is often distracting whenever it focuses on a comic subplot involved with how Sierra’s boyfriend struggles to survive out there in the meantime, but it surely feels warm and cheerful when it is focusing on Sierra’s expected growth along the story. Lohan is often amusing and charming in addition to fitting very well to her role mainly due to her current public image, and she demonstrates here that she deserves the second chance as much as, say, Robert Downey Jr. In case of several other main cast members, Chord Overstreet and George Young are sadly stuck in their respective thankless cardboard roles, and Alejandra Flores and young performer Olivia Perez acquit themselves well as bringing some decent holiday cheer as required.

Directed by Janeen Damian, “Falling for Christmas” is not particularly recommendable for being a bit too familiar and predictable, but it is mostly passable as another safe Christmas product from Netflix. Yes, there are much better movies for Christmas out there, but it will probably not disappoint you much if you simply want to spend your free time without much expectation.

F
Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Bantú Mama (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A small interesting film from the Dominican Republic

Posted on November 20, 2022 by kaist455

“Bantú Mama”, which was released on Netflix in US a few days ago and also recently selected as the Dominican Republic’s official submission to Best International Film Oscar, is a small film too good to be overlooked in my inconsequential opinion. Although it simply presents a modestly shabby human drama on the surface, it handles its story, background, and characters with considerable care and thoughtfulness, and it may be regarded as a solid breakthrough for its promising director who will probably impress us more in the future.

At the beginning, the movie succinctly establishes how a young African woman named Emma (Clarisse Albrecht) gets herself into a big trouble shortly after leaving her current residence in France. She initially seems to be merely enjoying a vacation in Santo Domingo she could somehow afford, but it gradually turns out that she got herself involved with a local criminal organization, and we soon see her nervously attempting to smuggle a considerable amount of drug as demanded at the airport.

Unfortunately, Emma is arrested by the local police right before getting on the airplane, and then she becomes a fugitive once she manages to escape thanks to a sudden accident in the middle of her transfer to the jail. She happens to be within a very notorious slum neighborhood in Santo Domingo, but she is fortunately rescued by T.I.N.A. (Scarlet Reyes) and $hulo (Arturo Perez), two adolescent siblings who have struggled to earn their living for themselves in the absence of their parents.

T.I.N.A. and $hulo willingly take Emma to their little shabby residence where they have lived along with their little young brother Cuki (Euris Javiel). Because T.I.N.A. and $hulo are usually busy with earning money by any means necessary outside, Emma naturally comes to take care of Cuki at their home, and we observe how she gradually comes to function like a mother figure in the house as she stays longer than expected.

Quite grateful to Emma for her little but precious help, T.I.N.A. tries to help Emma go back to France as much as possible. Because the local police is still looking for her, Emma should be really careful especially when she is outside the house, and she surely has a tough lesson when she almost gets arrested and then exposed later in the story.

Meanwhile, the movie also pays attention to how things have been desperate for T.I.N.A and $hulo. Expecting to earn some money sooner or later via some drug dealing, $hulo thinks things will soon get a bit better for him and his two younger siblings, but T.I.N.A. knows better as clearly discerning lots of despair and desperation in their slum neighborhood. As she bitterly admits at one point, she and her older brother will probably be stuck there for the rest of their life even if they are lucky enough to avoid jail unlike their prisoner father, and that is why she is really concerned about Cuki’s life.

At least, things do not look bad for now thanks to Emma’s presence in the house. When she does some African dance along with Cuki and his two older siblings, the mood gets lightened up a bit in the house, and the movie subtly makes an interesting point on the racial and cultural background of its main characters. While Emma is quite different from Cuki and his two older siblings in many aspects, she and they make some human connection via their shared racial background, and that eventually motivates T.I.N.A. to make a hard but necessary choice around the end of the story.

These and other soft and sensitive moments in the film are often contrasted with the gritty realism of the slum neighborhood surrounding its main characters, and director/co-writer/co-producer Ivan Herrera, who previously made a feature film debut with “Pueto Pa’ Mi” (2015), and his crew members including cinematographer Sebastian Cabrera Chelin did a commendable job of imbuing the screen with a considerable degree of verisimilitude. According to the IMDB trivia, they used only one camera lens during their shooting, but the movie does not look cheap or shabby at all, and it even has some sublime poetic moments including the recurring ones involved with a kite in the sky.

In case of the small main cast of the film, they are quite natural in their unadorned ensemble performance. Clarisse Albrecht, who wrote the screenplay with Herrera, gracefully conveys to us her character’s gradual development along the story, and we can really sense how much her character is true to herself in the end. Euris Javiel and Arturo Perez are effective as two very different siblings who have no choice but to stick togeher for not only themselves for their dear little younger brother, and Euris Javiel is also fine as another crucial part of the story.

In conclusion, “Bantú Mama” is fairly impressive in terms of mood, storytelling, and performance, and Herrera shows here that he is another interesting new filmmaker to watch. Although it surely requires some patience as your typical arthouse movie, the movie will engage you more than expected once you give it a chance, and you may even come to wish that it is a little longer. That is surely something not many movies can do, isn’t it?

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Falling for Figaro (2020) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Following her dream

Posted on November 19, 2022 by kaist455

“Falling for Figaro” is a mild and pleasant comedy film which will probably not leave much impression on you when it is over. While it is buoyed a lot by the charming natural presence of its lead actress, it is also pretty predictable and conventional to the core, and I must confess that I simply observed its story and characters from the distance even while getting some entertainment from time to time during my viewing.

Danielle Macdonald, a likable Australian actress who previously drew my attention via her enjoyable lead performance in Netflix comedy film “Dumplin’” (2018), plays Millie Cantwell, a young female American fund manager who suddenly decides to give up her promising professional career just for pursuing her personal dream. After watching a fabulous opera performance during one evening, she becomes quite determined to try on becoming a professional singer, and that certainly perplexes her boyfriend a lot, who is also incidentally her direct supervisor in their workplace.

Surely well aware of how inexperienced she is in many aspects, Millie looks for any good teacher who may be interested in helping her improve her singing skills, and she subsequently approaches to Meghan Geoffrey-Bishop (Joanna Lumley), a former diva who has focused on teaching since she left stages many years ago. Millie is warned about how harsh and cranky Meghan can be, but she is not daunted at all, and we soon see her driving up to a small Scottish village where Meghan has resided since her retirement.

Of course, things do not look that good right from when Millie arrives at the village. There is only one inn which is also the only pub in the village, and the room given to her is not exactly ideal to say the least. Although she has to stay there for next several weeks at least, Millie remains optimistic as before, and she also draws lots of attention from the crusty innkeeper and several other villagers who certainly welcome a little unexpected change in their mostly uneventful village.

However, Millie’s singing teacher is not so impressed or charmed by Millie at all. Right from their first singing lesson session, Meghan sharply points out how horribly amateurish Millie is, and Millie actually comes to consider quitting after her first grueling experience with Meghan, but she soon regains her plucky spirit nevertheless while also trying as hard as possible. Still strict and acerbic as usual, Meghan comes to discern considerable raw potential from her new student, and Millie consequently becomes more professional bit by bit under Meghan’s guidance.

Meanwhile, the movie also focuses on a local lad named Max Thistlewaite (Hugh Skinner), who was incidentally Meghan’s only student before Millie came. As Meghan’s attention is drawn more to Millie, Max cannot help but become jealous a times, but he also finds himself more motivated than before. Both he and Millie are going to participate in the upcoming nationwide singing competition, so Meghan has them practice together for enhancing each other, and, what do you know, we sense certain mutual feelings gradually developed between them.

After taking some time in establishing its main characters during its first half, the screenplay by director Ben Lewin and his co-writer Allen Palmer hops from one expected moment to another during its second half. Yes, our heroine surely becomes quite nervous and vulnerable during a local preliminary contest, but it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that she will eventually overcome, though I must say that there is a little surprise from what she sings during this part. Yes, our heroine becomes a bit conflicted when her boyfriend comes to show some support while she feels attracted to Max, but you can clearly see how this situation will be resolved in the end.

Anyway, the movie does not disappoint us at all in case of its several performance scenes. The arias from many different famous operas ranging from “La Traviata” to “The Barber of Seville” are performed on the screen, and, yes, that famous aria from “The Marriage of Figaro” also appears during one showstopper moment later in the story.

The solid performance from the three main cast members in the film overcome the conventional aspects of the story and characters at times. While Macdonald’s spirited comic performance ably carries the film to the end, she and Hugh Skinner, whose singings are respectively done by Stacey Alleaume and Nathan Lay, have nice low-key chemistry between them, and it is a shame that the movie often pushes their good efforts into distracting plot contrivance instead of going for more development on their characters’ rocky relationship. Around Macdonald and Skinner, Joanna Lumley has some juicy fun with her cantankerous character, and she is especially funny during her several scenes with Gary Lewis, who holds his small place fairly well as a supporting character who was probably quite close to Meghan some time ago.

On the whole, “Falling for Figaro” mostly works as a casual crowd-pleaser for general movie audiences, and I was not surprised when an acquaintance of mine told me later that she actually watched it twice. I can now think of several better comedy films about opera singing such as “Florence Foster Jenkins” (2016), but it is not boring at least, and I think you will not waste your time and money if you just look for some lightweight fun.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Stutz (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Meet his therapist

Posted on November 18, 2022 by kaist455

Jonah Hill’s Netflix documentary film “Stutz”, which was released a few days ago, is a modest but interesting work to admire. As Hill and his therapist Dr. Phil Stutz are talking and discussing about many personal things besides Dr. Stutz’s unconventional therapy philosophy, we come to discern more of their respective human aspects, and we also come to appreciate how Hill sincerely and thoughtfully presents himself and his therapist without any vanity or pretension.

The early part of the documentary shows Hill and Dr. Stutz in one cozy space, and we see them going through an interview/therapy session between them. As Hill expresses his eagerness for introducing Dr. Stutz and his therapy philosophy, Dr. Stutz willingly explains a bit about that as occasionally talking about his life. While his early life was not that happy due to many things including his parents’ considerable personality difference, he was a natural listener with considerable empathy, and that was probably one of the reasons why he became a therapist.

Dr. Stutz’s therapy philosophy is pretty simple, but it is still interesting besides being quite helpful according to Hill himself, who frankly tells Dr. Stutz (and us) about his serious personal problems. Even after he became a major Hollywood actor with considerable professional success, Hill often felt lots of insecurity and anxiety in fact, and it seems that his sessions with Dr. Stutz really helped him cope with these mental problems during last several years.

According to Dr. Stutz, we all have each own personal demon to deal with, which he calls “Factor X”. In his viewpoint, we should deal with Factor X in one way or another while also accepting that life is never free from pain, uncertainty, and constant work, and he emphasizes a lot on how we should pay more attention to a number of important things one by one as trying to deal with Factor X instead of ignoring it.

Now this sounds like your average self-help book humbug, but Dr. Stutz comes to us a decent man really serious and passionate about his therapy philosophy. First of all, he does not intend to give us the solution for everything in our life, and, as far as I can see from the documentary, he really understands how messy life and people usually are. Nobody is perfect, and life will continue to be messy as usual, but, in his opinion, we keep trying to live another day nonetheless. Yes, this surely sounds clichéd, but, as a man who has had his own depression and anxiety problem for many years, I know too well that it is indeed one undeniable fact of life.

As requested by Hill, Dr. Stutz is candid as much as possible, and he does not hesitate to talk about a number of personal problems in his life. He is still haunted by the early death of his younger brother who was very ill at that time, and he has also been coping with his incurable illness which may terminate his professional career someday. He is mostly casual about that in front of the camera, but he looks regrettable when he subsequently talks a bit about how his illness affected a certain personal relationship of his.

On the opposite, Hill responds to his therapist with much more candidness than expected. In addition to revealing more of his personal vulnerability in front of the camera, he also shows a lot of his production process behind the camera, and that is where the documentary becomes more interesting than before. Without resorting to any kind of narcissism, Hill seriously discusses with Dr. Stutz on how he should shape his ongoing personal project, and the mood becomes a bit more amusing when Hill’s mother joins them at one point. Like her son, Hill’s mother is pretty candid and forthright as talking with her son on their personal issues, and Dr. Stutz is effortless while smoothly functioning as an unobtrusive mediator between them.

This moment later resonates with when Dr. Stutz reminisces about his mother, who also had her own personal issues just like her son. Besides being often unhappy with her life, she was not exactly a good mother to her son, but she eventually came to live her life more fully than before as overcoming her personal demons during her later years, and Dr. Stutz certainly admires her a lot for that, though he also recognizes that her mother’s personality problem was probably the main reason why he did not get along that well with women.

As he and Hill talk more and more with each other, we come to feel more of the deep friendship between them, and we also sense some bittersweet feeling as they talk more about the approaching end of Dr. Stutz’s life. At least, he has peacefully accepted that for years, and Hill provides a little poignant moment as he has his therapist have some little therapeutic comfort around the end of the documentary.

In conclusion, “Stutz” works as a respectful personal tribute to its interesting human subject, and Hill impresses us again as showing another side of his multifaceted talent. Besides being capable of going back and forth between comedy and drama as shown from his Oscar-nominated turns in “Moneyball” (2011) and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013), he also made a solid directorial debut via “Mid90s” (2018), and “Stutz” shows that he is indeed a good filmmaker to watch besides being one of more interesting performers working in Hollywood. I do not know what he will do next, but, considering what I saw from “Mid90s” and “Stutz”, I guess I can have some expectation.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Fall (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Stuck at the top of a 600-meter tower

Posted on November 18, 2022 by kaist455

“The Fall” often made me wince and cringe for good reasons. As I said several times before, I have considerable aversion to high places, and I must say that the movie did a pretty good job of unnerving me as frequently emphasizing how its two main characters are helplessly being stuck at the top of a very, very, very tall TV tower. Although I also must point out that it is often rote and conventional in terms of story and characters, the movie still works thanks to not only admirable technical aspects but also some committed acting to be appreciated, and that may be good enough for you if you have some free time to spend.

During its opening part, the movie quickly establishes the very troubled status of one of its two main characters. Since she saw her dear husband falling to his death in the middle of their very risky rock-climbing attempt, Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) has struggled a lot with her loss and grief during several months, and that certainly affects her relationship with her father. He is genuinely concerned about his daughter, but they argue with each other when he confronts her not long after her another morose drinking evening, and that adds more estrangement to their strained relationship.

Meanwhile, Becky is approached by her friend Hunter (Virginia Gardner), who was incidentally with Becky and her husband at the time of that unfortunate accident. Unlike Becky, Hunter has busily been doing a series of risky climbing activities for her online fans out there, and she suggests to Becky that she really should try climbing again for herself. As a matter of fact, she is soon going to climb to the top of an abandoned TV tower in the middle of some remote area, and she wants Becky to accompany her.

Becky is naturally reluctant at first, but she eventually joins her friend because she does feel that she needs the closure for her immense loss along with some healing. Once they succeed in climbing to the top of that TV tower, she is going to spread the ashes of her dead husband up in the air, and her friend will gladly record everything for entertaining her online fans later.

When they come to that remote area, everything looks fine and well to them, and they subsequently begin their climbing along that TV tower, which looks quite unreal in contrast to the sheer flatness of the surrounding landscape. Believe or not, this TV tower, which is around 2000 feet (600 meters), is actually based on the KXTV/KOVR Tower radio tower in Walnut Grove, California, and I learned from Wikipedia that it is really around 600 meters besides being much taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Around the point when Becky and Hunter are almost close to the top of the TV tower, there come some small warning signs as expected, but they keep climbing, and then they eventually arrive at the top as enjoying the breathtaking view surrounding them. While it is clear that lots of CGI was used for the production of the film, the result of the technical efforts from director/co-writer/co-producer Scott Mann and his crew members including cinematographer Miguel “MacGregor” Olaso is vivid and striking to say the least, and we can really believe that the two main characters of the film are taking considerable risk as they climb higher and higher.

Of course, things go quite wrong around the time when Becky and Hunter are about to climb down the TV tower, and they consequently find themselves stuck at the top of the TV tower without any possibility of getting help. While nobody knows where they are right now, they cannot use their smartphones to call anyone, and, to make matters worse, they do not even have anything to eat or drink at present.

This is surely a nice setup for solid survival drama, and the screenplay by Mann and his co-writer Jonathan Frank diligently supplies one danger after another along the story, but it stumbles more than once when it attempts to develop its two main characters and the drama between them. While Becky is mostly defined by her grief and desperation, Becky’s estranged relationship with her father feels artificial and redundant, and Hunter’s certain complicated personal situation with Becky will not surprise you much without bringing much to the story on the whole.

Anyway, the movie works best whenever it simply focuses on danger and survival, and you will seldom be bored during this part. I particularly like the scene involved with vicious condors (This is not much of a spoiler because they appear early in the film in advance), and I also appreciate the believable acting from Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner. I am sure that they took much less risk than Tom Cruise in his recent Mission Impossible flicks, but, boy, they still look pretty convincing nonetheless as their characters deal with one peril after another on the screen.

Overall, “The Fall” is relatively less satisfying that recent survival drama films ranging from “Gravity” (2013) to “The Shallow” (2016), but it does its job fairly well in its very limited main background. Despite its several notable flaws, it surely reminds me again that I really do not like going up to high places at all, and I guess that is enough for recommendation for now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Causeway (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A modest character drama starring Jennifer Lawrence

Posted on November 16, 2022 by kaist455

“Causeway”, which was released on Apple TV+ early in this month, is a modest character drama which will engage and then touch you a bit more than expected. Although it is quite familiar in terms of story and characters, the movie gradually holds our attention as calmly focusing on the genuine human interactions between its damaged heroine and several other main characters around her, and, above all, it is also strongly anchored by another good performance from its wonderful lead actress.

Jennifer Lawrence, who quickly rose to stardom after her Oscar-nominated breakthrough turn in “Winter’s Bone” (2010), plays Lynsey, a female US military soldier who has been going through her difficult recuperation period since she got badly injured in her brain during her tour in Afghanistan. The early part of the film focuses on how she struggles to get better bit by bit under the care of a kind old caregiver played by Tony-winning actress Jayne Houdyshell, and Houdyshell’s warm supporting performance functions as a good counterpoint to Lawrence’s unadorned embodiment of her character’s physical and mental damages.

When it seems that she is recovered enough to leave, Lynsey returns to her hometown New Orleans, Louisiana. Although her hometown is the last place she wants to go for some personal reasons, she has no choice but to wait there while being ready for any chance of redeployment, and that means she will have to stay at her old family house where her mother Gloria, played Tony-nominated actress Linda Emond, is still living alone. Although Gloria is glad to for her daughter’s return, it does not take much time for us to sense the considerable estrangement between them, and we can easily guess the reason as observing how Gloria is more occupied with her current relationship with some guy (We never see him on the screen, by the way).

Anyway, Lynsey decides to be a little more active about her ongoing recuperation process. After a brief online job searching, she goes to a swimming pool cleaning service company, and she soon gets hired. While she does not get paid much, she is happy to do something outside, and that is certainly better than doing almost nothing inside her family house.

Meanwhile, she also happens to befriend James (Brian Tyree Henry), a local auto mechanic who helps her a bit shortly after her old truck had some problem. When Lynsey later asks more help from him, James kindly helps her without hesitation, and then they find themselves spending more time together as sensing loneliness from each other.

Now you may have some idea on what may happen next between them, but the screenplay by Ottessa Moshfegh, Luke Goebel, and Elizabeth Sanders wisely does not hurry itself in addition to avoiding clichés. Yes, Lynsey and James surely come to open themselves more to each other along the story, and James even suggests at one point that they should live together in a house where he lives alone at present, but this suggestion comes from kindness and compassion rather than romantic feeling. In case of Lynsey’s mother, she may not win the mother of the year award, but she does cares about her daughter nonetheless, and there is a nice intimate scene as she and her daughter become a little more honest about their flawed relationship.

During its last act, there eventually comes a point where our heroine comes to face not only her current problems but also some personal issues in the past, but the movie sticks to its calm and sensitive storytelling approach as before, and we are served with several small but undeniably touching moments to be appreciated. When the camera closely looks at our heroine’s face around the end of the film, we can feel how she feels a bit better than before, and that is why the following last shot leaves considerable impression on us.

Of course, the movie depends a lot on Lawrence’s presence and talent, and she demonstrates here that she has not lost any of her acting talent despite her recent brief break. Never showing off her character’s damaged status, she subtly conveys to us her character’s inner thoughts and feelings, and it is really engaging to see how she still can be as natural and unaffected as she did in “Winter’s Bone”, which is still at the top of her acting achievement list in my inconsequential opinion.

Furthermore, Lawrence is supported well by several recognizable character performers including Emond and Houdyshell. Bryan Tyree Henry, who has never disappointed us since his Emmy-nominated supporting turn in TV comedy series “Atlanta”, is simply wonderful as his character slowly and tentatively approaches closer to Lawrence’s character, and I enjoy their effortless interactions throughout the film. Stephen McKinley Henderson, a Tony-nominated actor who has been more notable thanks to his stellar recent supporting performances in “Fences” (2016) and “Lady Bird” (2017), is also fine as Linsey’s caring doctor, and Russell Harvard, a deaf actor who was memorable in his guest performance in the first season of TV drama series “Fargo”, shines in his single crucial scene with Lawrence later in the story.

In conclusion, “Causeway”, which is incidentally the first feature film of Lila Neugebauer, did its job as much as it can with its plain but intimate character drama, and the overall result is much better than “Raymond & Ray” (2022), another recent character drama from Apple TV+. While I came to almost nothing in case of the latter, the former let me get to know and understand its main characters more than expected, and that is certainly enough for recommendation.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Raymond & Ray (2022) ☆☆(2/4): As they bury their father

Posted on November 15, 2022 by kaist455

“Raymond & Ray”, which was released on Apple TV+ in last month, merely trudges along its very familiar plot with its two ever-reliable lead performers who deserve better than this disappointing mush. While there are some good moments whenever they share the screen, the overall result is too rote and clichéd as filled with superficial sentimentality, and we are only left with rather hollow impressions when it eventually reaches to its lackluster ending.

Ewan McGregor and Ethan Hawke, who have been admirably steady during last three decades with each own talent and presence, play Raymond and Ray, two estranged stepbrothers who have been quite miserable in their respective lives. While Raymond is about to fail in his third marriage, Ray is a recovering addict who lives alone by himself without much care, and he is not so pleased at all when Raymond suddenly visits him with an unexpected news. Their father, who has been absent in their life for many years, died recently, and Raymond wants Ray to attend their father’s upcoming funeral with him, even though both of them do not like their father much for good reasons.

Because he still remembers how terrible their father was in many ways, Ray refuses to attend the funeral along with Raymond, but Raymond is persistent because he really needs some help from Ray. Besides needing someone else to drive for him instead (He has a little driving license problem, by the way), Raymond is afraid of becoming too emotional at the funeral, and Ray eventually agrees to accompany Raymond while also providing some emotional support for him.

However, not so surprisingly, Raymond and Ray do not get along that well with each other from the beginning. While both of them surely feel hurt as remembering those good and bad moments involved with their father, they often argue with each other during their journey to their father’s funeral, and McGregor and Hawke did a good job of embodying their respective characters’ damaged souls. Here are two man who were hurt and broken in one way or another in their shared past, and Hawke and McGregor ably establish not only their characters but also the long history between them.

I wish the movie would simply trust McGregor and Hawke more and then delve into their characters more, but, alas, it begins to lose its focus when Ray and Raymond eventually arrive at a town where their father lived during his last years. It tries some humor as Raymond and Ray are often perplexed by how his father were regarded well by several people who knew him before his death, but that becomes rather tiresome as it tries that again and again, and we never get to know that well who their father really was.

As a matter of fact, Raymond and Ray’s father feels like more like a plot device especially when his instruction on his own funeral is notified to Ray and Raymond. He requested that Raymond and Ray should bury his dead body for themselves as a part of the funeral ceremony, and that is surely the last thing both Ray and Raymond want to do right now.

Nevertheless, they follow their father’s instruction anyway as wondering what their father really wanted to do via that odd instruction of his, and they also come to spend some time with a few persons who were close to him around the time of his death. There is a Latino woman who turns out to be more than a merely close friend to him, and there is also a local pastor who is certainly ready to lead both Raymond and Ray to reconciliation and forgiveness.

And there is also a female hospital nurse who nursed Ray and Raymond’s father during his final days. Although their accidental encounter was not exactly pleasant, Ray finds himself attracted to this nurse, and she seems to be really interested in getting closer to him when she comes to see the burial of his dead father’s body, though he still has lots of emotional burdens besides his complicated feelings toward his dead father.

All these and other story elements could be handled well enough to engage us, but the screenplay by director/writer Rodrigo García often meanders without generating enough narrative momentum to hold our attention. Simply moving from one predictable moment to another, the story feels more tedious and hollower, and it even does not deliver well a certain expected payoff moment involved with a gun shown during the first act (Remember a term named Chekhov’s gun?).

Furthemore, the movie does not utilize well several good supporting performers surrounding McGregor and Hawke. Maribel Verdú and Sophie Okonedo surely do as much as they can do with their respective supporting roles, but they do not have much to do except functioning as possible love interests for Hawke’s and McGregor’s character, and the same thing can be said about Vondie Curtis-Hall, who manages to acquit himself well despite his woefully underwritten character.

On the whole, “Raymond & Ray” is not a total dud at least thanks to its good main cast, but it is a major letdown compared to García’s much better films such as “Nine Lives” (2005) and “Mother and Child” (2009). While these two films really surprised and moved me, “Raymond & Ray” just bored me without much satisfaction, and I am already ready to move onto whatever I am going to watch next.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment