Banel & Adama (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Being dried and suffocated

Posted on October 4, 2024 by kaist455

“Banel & Adama”, which was chosen as the official submission to Best International Film Oscar by Senegal in last year, is a sad story about a young rural woman getting dried and suffocated by the harsh reality of her isolated world. While she tries to be defiant as much as she can, it seems that she cannot stop the inevitability of her grim situation, and even her passionate love cannot help her much in the end.

At the beginning, everything looks fine for Banel (Khady Mane). She and her young husband Adama (Mamadou Diallo), who is incidentally the younger brother of her first husband who died not so long ago, are a lucky couple who has really loved each other, and they also have been planning to live outside their little rural village just because, well, they want more freedom and privacy. Whenever they have some free time, they go outside to dig up an abandoned house buried deep inside a mound of sand, and they do not care that much about whether it is really cursed as others in their village have said.

We also get to know a bit about the conflict between Adama and several town elders including his mother. Because he is the only surviving son of his father due to his older brother’s recent death, he has been expected to succeed his father as the new village chief, but Adama does not want that role at all even though he prepared for that role for some time, because he has felt rather burdened by this expectation.  

Meanwhile, the movie slowly lets us feel how things are getting gloomy for everyone in the village due to the ongoing drought. As they suffer more and more due to the serious lack of water and food, Adama and other men in the town naturally come to spend more time on how to maintain the village, and Banel is not so pleased about this change to say the least. Her dear husband becomes more like many other guys in the village as being frequently absent around her, and we observe how much she feels alone for refusing to conform to the patriarchy system of her village. Unlike the other young women in the village, she is determined not to become a mere wife and mother, and it is even suggested to us later in the film that she did something terrible for getting real love and freedom for her.

However, just like many others including her husband, she begins to wonder whether she and others in the village are cursed due to her and her husband’s little transgression. There are a series of brief but unnerving moments as her mind sometimes gets disturbed by some ominous vibe around her, and the circumstance becomes more despairing for her as her husband, who also experiences one very disturbing incident around that point, comes to bend himself under more pressure from his mother and others in the village. Although Adama still cares a lot about his wife, he and Banel become more distant to each other than before, and Banel consequently gets more frustrated than before as reminded again that she may eventually end up being stuck in a traditional role expected to be filled by her right from when she was born.  

Vividly conveying to us its heroine’s growing desperation and frustration along the story, the movie emphasizes more of how much the village is isolated in the middle of its vast remote area, and cinematographer Amin Berrada skillfully captures the stark beauty of the dried landscapes surrounding the village and its people. With any sign of rain to come, the village gradually feels static and lifeless as its residents become more restless and exhausted, and we are not so surprised as Banel looks more like being under some influence.

I wish the screenplay by director/writer Ramata-Toulaye Sy fleshes out the story and characters for more interest and understanding, but she did a solid job of immersing the audiences into a small, isolated background inhabited by its main characters, while never losing the focus on Banel and her increasingly deteriorating state of mind. Although you may get baffled by the rather ambiguous finale, this ending somehow makes sense considering what has been steadily built up to that point, and we all can agree that Banel comes to have some peace of mind regardless of what really happens to her in the end.

Sy also draws the good performances from her main cast members, most of whom are evidently non-professional performers as shown from their unadorned natural acting. As the center of the movie, Khady Mane is often heartbreaking as her character is driven more into despair and anxiety along the story, and she and her co-star Mamadou Diallo are convincing in the slow but inevitable implosion of their characters’ supposedly strong relationship. In case of the supporting performers, they simply seem to come and go around Mane and Diallo at first, but they look believable with a real sense of life nonetheless, and that is one of the main reasons why the movie kept holding my attention despite its decidedly slow and opaque storytelling.

In conclusion, “Banel & Adama” is a modest but interesting debut work from Sy, who previously made several short films before making a feature film debut here in this film. Although it will require some patience from you at the beginning, the movie is filled with the mood and details to be appreciated thanks to Sy’s competent direction, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from this promising African female filmmaker.

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The Lives of Others (2006) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): As he’s monitoring upon them

Posted on October 3, 2024 by kaist455

German film “The Lives of Others”, which was re-released in South Korean theaters in this week, takes us into a certain historical period which deserves to be described as “Orwellian”. For more than 40 years, the communist government of East Germany oppressed and monitored most of its citizens as thoroughly and ruthlessly as possible before it was collapsed along with the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the movie chillingly takes us into that grim period via its somber but undeniably powerful fictional story.

The center of the story, which is set in East Germany in the middle of the 1980s, is Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), an officer of the East German national security agency. During the opening scene, he interrogates some recently arrested dude, and we observe how he systemically does his job without any hesitation. As a well-experienced interrogator, he surely knows how to break his target step and step, and he does extract a valuable confession from his target in the end.

Not long after he finishes a lecture for a bunch of young officers, Wiesler is approached by Anto Grubitz (Ulrich Tukur), an old friend/colleague of his who is incidentally one of the high-ranking officers in the agency. Grubitz simply wants Wiesler to check on a prominent playwright named Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch), and, as observing Dreyman and his actress girlfriend Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck) at a local theater where their latest play is performed, Wiesler gets intrigued for sensing something about Dreyman. Although he has not had done anything illegal or subversive unlike some of his colleagues, Dreyman also looks too good to be true, and that is why Wiesler is determined to get to the bottom of his latest target.

What follows next is a frightening sequence how Wiesler and his men swiftly and meticulously work on Dreyman’s apartment while Dreyman and his girlfriend are absent. Within less than half an hour, a number of small microphones are installed here and there in the apartment, and we get more chilled when Wiesler sternly and effectively warns a close neighbor of Dreyman who happens to witness too much.

Once everything is set and ready, Wiesler patiently monitors Dreyman during next several days, and, to his little surprise, Dreyman turns out to be not so different from him in many aspects. While he does not like much of how the East German government has oppressed some of his colleagues, Dreyman is also a believer who has lots of faith in his government and its ideology just like Wiesler. As a matter of fact, the main purpose of Wiesler’s secret mission is finding anything to ruin Dreyman’s life and career for an influential government minister, who wants more than sexually exploiting Dreyman’s girlfriend behind his back.

In the meantime, we gradually sense that something is changing behind Wiesler’s seemingly unflappable appearance. As he listens upon Dreyman and his girlfriend much closer than before, he somehow becomes a lot more curious about their life, and, what do you know, he even finds himself reading a little poetry book he stole from Dreyman’s apartment.

The beauty of the screenplay by director/writer Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck is that it never spells out whatever is going on inside its dry and taciturn hero while clearly conveying to us his gradual inner transformation along the story. Regardless of whether Wisler has actually yearned for any kind of human connection for years (That seems evident when we look at a small, barren apartment where he lives alone), Dreyman’s human decency and rather innocent idealism clearly affects Wiesler’s heart, and he eventually becomes a hidden guardian angel for Dreyman and his girlfriend – especially after he comes to learn about the main reason of his secret mission.

Of course, the situation soon becomes trickier when Dreyman decided to do something quite courageous against the East Germany government. Having already made us immersed deep into the vivid and realistic presentation of the East German society during the 1980s, the movie adds more tension to the story from that narrative point, and we get all the more engaged as observing how its main characters are pushed to make a choice by their increasingly dangerous circumstance.

Everything eventually culminates to the melodramatic finale followed by no less than three epilogue scenes, but the movie firmly sticks to its calm, restrained attitude as before, and so does Ulrich Mühe, whose subtly masterful acting feels all the more poignant considering that he died not long after the movie came out then won a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. While never signifying anything on the surface, Mühe gradually reveals a deeply lonely professional who comes to care about his target much more than he ever imagined, and he is also supported well by several good performers including Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck, and Ulrich Tukur, who provides some humor and sleaziness to the story as required by his despicably opportunistic character (He is particularly good when his character jokingly scares a certain junior officer for telling a rather irreverent joke about their leader).

On the whole, “The Lives of Others” still moves me a lot although it has been more than 15 years since I watched it early in 2007 and later chose it as one of the best films of that year. Yes, as some critics pointed out at that time, its epilogue part is a bit too long as neatly wrapping up everything in the story, but, boy, it still works enough to touch me as much as before, and I will just let you see it for yourself if you have not watched this wonderful movie yet.

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The Wild Robot (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A robot in the wild

Posted on October 2, 2024 by kaist455

Animation feature film “The Wild Robot” may feel quite familiar in case of what it is about, but it will surprise you a lot for how it is about. Here is an animation film which is not just merely well-made and entertaining but actually quite thoughtful and poignant, and that is surely something we do not see at movie theater everyday.

The story premise of the film is deceptively simple and straightforward. A highly developed AI robot, ROZZUM unit 7134 (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o), happens to be washed onto a remote forest island during the opening scene, and the first act of the story mainly revolves around how it gradually gets itself adapted to this new environment. Although it is quite clumsy at first as attempting to communicate with those various animals living in the island, the robot soon gets to learn how to communicate with them, so the animal characters in the film can talk while we stick closer to the robot’s viewpoint.

As looking for any assignment during its rather rocky first days, the robot, which is eventually called “Roz” in short, comes upon the little egg of Canada goose after it inadvertently causes the death of one female Canada goose and her other offsprings. Roz becomes more flabbergasted when a runt eventually comes out of the shell, and it reluctantly takes the role of mother for this little runt as advised by a red fox named Fink (Voiced by Pedro Pascal), who becomes the robot’s best friend despite their rather unpleasant first encounter.

What follows next is how Roz comes to reprogram itself bit by bit for its accidental motherhood. Along with Fox, it tries its best for raising up that little runt, and that prompts it to find some loopholes in its command system for staying longer with that little runt, who is later named Brightbill (voiced by Kit Connor). During next months, Brightbill comes to grow up and up under its constant care, and then there comes a point where he must join many other Canada geese in their upcoming migration before the arrival of winter.

As simply letting the story and characters roll from one point to another, the screenplay by director/writer/co-producer Chris Sanders, which is based on the children’s book of the same name by Peter Brown, steadily builds up its emotional narrative with surprisingly moving moments to remember. Yes, Roz surely comes to have and feel more emotions as trying to raise her adoptive son, and this character development is a lot more engaging than expected as the story effortlessly balances itself between humor and gravitas. While Roz’s frequently unflappable attitude is the main source of amusement throughout the story, we come to sense more of her emotional development as she devotes herself to another assignment for her adoptive son, and the movie also thoughtfully handles the serious sides of the story with lots of honesty and sensitivity. For example, when Roz must be very honest to her adoptive son about what happened to his biological family, this crucial moment is presented with enough emotional complexity, and that is certainly appreciated a lot by both young and adult audiences.

Furthermore, the film is a sheer visual pleasure to be cherished for its rich background and character details. While it often looks quite realistic as you can expect from its digital animation, it also feels breathtakingly gorgeous with a number of distinctively stylish touches to be admired, and I particularly enjoyed many of background details in the film which sometimes evoke that lovely cell animation style of Hayao Miyazaki’s animation films.

During the part where Roz and Fink must teach and train Brightbill a lot for the upcoming migration, the film surely serve us several exhilarating flying sequences. This is no surprise at all considering that Sanders was the co-director of animation film “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010), but the result is still superlative on the whole, and it is further energized by Kris Bowers’ terrific score, which deserves to be Oscar-nominated like John Powell’s great score for “How to Train Your Dragon”.

Although its last act feels a bit jarring as going for more dramatic intensity, the film remains anchored well by the excellent voice performance by Lupita Nyong’o, which is inarguably the heart and soul of the story. While sounding as robotic as required all the time, Nyong’o subtly infuses emotional nuances to her character without making any misstep, and we come to like her character as much as that endearing robot hero of great Pixar animation film “Wall-E” (2008) or that hulking but ultimately lovable robot character in criminally overlooked animation film “The Iron Giant” (1999).

Around Nyong’o, the film assembles a bunch of colorful voice performers including Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, and Catherine O’Hara, and they also have each own moment to shine as bringing extra personality to the story and characters. A friend of mine recently told me that he got really tired of watching talking animals in animation films, and I understand that to some degree, but I can willingly tell him that “The Wild Robot” is an exception mainly because its robot character’s ability to communicate with animals not only is crucial but also feels organic in the context of the story.

Overall, “The Wild Robot” is a considerable achievement in many aspects while also reminding us that this year has been a rather exceptional year for animation robot characters. After we got “Robot Dreams” (2023) early in this year, and there recently came an unexpectedly solid surprise via “Transformers One” (2024), and now we have “The Wild Robot”. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best animation films of this year, and I wholeheartedly urge you to check it out at movie theater as soon as possible.

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Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Joker in Love – and Repentance

Posted on October 2, 2024 by kaist455

Todd Phillips’ new film “Joker: Folie à Deux” is something bound to happen after all the controversies caused by his previous film “Joker” (2019). Like Martin Scorsese made a sort of apology in “The King of Comedy” (1982) after “Taxi Driver” (1976) or Brian De Palam did a similar thing in “Carlito’s Way” (1993) after “Scarface” (1983), Phillips willingly shows some repentance here even though the result is not wholly successful, and that is a sort of improvement compared to the hollow and virulent aspects of the previous film.

The story is set in around two years after the finale of “Joker”. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is now incarcerated in a facility for the criminally insane due to killing several people as shown in the previous film, and not only Gotham city but also the whole American society are still struggling with the toxic consequences of his evil crimes. As the first day of his trial is approaching, the city is rocked by more unrest and disturbance, but Fleck does not care much about that while looking quite miserable and troubled as usual, though he seems less manic and violent compared to how he was in the previous film.

Although there is no possible way for Fleck to avoid the inevitable sentence for those serious criminal deeds he committed as “Joker”, his lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener), has a little strategy for his upcoming trial. While making Fleck look more sympathetic, she is also planning to argue in front of the jury that he is too insane to be responsible for his crimes, and Fleck is willing to go along with that because, well, he somehow found some will to live during his incarceration period.

However, there comes an unexpected change to him on one day. Thanks to a little generosity from one of the guards, Fleck is allowed to participate in a music therapy program in the facility, and that is where he comes across a woman named Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga). This lady, who is clearly a fan of Joker, actively approaches to Fleck more as showing more sympathy and interest to him, and, what do you know, Fleck finds himself falling in love with this apparently troubled woman. Although things are still grim and gloomy for him in the prison, he becomes a bit more brightened up as often singing and dancing during a series of delusional moments of his, and, of course, he naturally becomes more tempted to wield his notorious criminal persona in public again.

Again, Philips and his crew members make sure that the movie is drenched in stark despair and misery. While being less blatant and oppressive than before, the score by Hildur Guðnadóttir, a rising Icelandic female composer who won the Oscar for the previous film, still feels bitter and bleak as usual, and cinematographer Lawrence Sher, who was Oscar-nominated for the previous film, constantly fills the screen with barren gloominess as much as possible.

This glum atmosphere is often intercut with the occasional musical moments as Fleck gets more delusional along with Quinzel along the story. We often see them sing alone or together, and this trend is continued even as the trial is eventually started. Even though this is not exactly refreshing if you have ever seen Rob Marshall’s Oscar-winning musical film “Chicago” (2002) or Las von Trier’s “Dancer in the Dark” (2000), the musical sequences in the film are mostly slick and competent with some vicious amusement, and Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix look committed enough to swing back and forth between the two contrasting modes of the film.

However, the most surprising thing in the film comes from when it attempts to confront and reflect on the consequences of its hero’s heinous actions. As several characters from the previous film appear as the witnesses for the prosecution (Guess who the prosecutor is?), the movie keeps emphasizing how petty and pathetic Fleck really is behind his grandiose criminal persona – how toxic and devastating his actions have been to not only several others around him but also the whole society. As his trial is being turned into a big media circus, more supporters of his gather around the courthouse, and you may be reminded of how millions of incel dudes out there got empowered and intoxicated with the previous film when it was released a few years ago.

In fact, the movie even makes an indirect self-criticism from time to time, and you may wonder whether Philips and his co-writer Scott Silver intend to give a big middle finger to those pathetically ardent fans of their previous film, though their result feels as thin and superficial as their previous film. Despite the good chemistry between Pheonix and Gaga, the romance between their characters does not always work as being riddled with clumsy plot contrivance, and Gaga is often under-utilized even though she ably fills her role with her strong presence as much as her co-star. The movie also criminally wastes several notable performers just like its predecessor, and Catherine Keener, Steve Coogan, and Brendan Gleeson do not have much thing to do except merely functioning as counterpoints to Phoenix. 

In conclusion, “Joker: Folie à Deux” succeeds in cleaning up the mess of its predecessor to some degree, but it still feels rather empty and shallow although you may appreciate its several strong assets including the commendable efforts from its two lead performers. I do understand that it wants to repent along with its hero, but, folks, isn’t that too late?

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Wolfs (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Two fixers stuck with each other

Posted on October 1, 2024 by kaist455

“Wolfs”, which was released on Apple TV+ in a few days ago, works best whenever it simply focuses on whatever is exchanged between its two charismatic star actors. Having actually worked together more once in several notable films, they constantly click well with each other with considerable chemistry, and that is why it is rather disappointing to see that their good efforts are not supported well by the movie itself.

George Clooney, who still can be engaging even though his acting career has been relatively less prominent during last several years, plays an unnamed professional fixer who is called by a very well-known public figure played by Amy Ryan at the beginning of the story. Ryan’s character happens to have a very serious trouble while having a little naughty fun with some younger man in the penthouse suite of an expensive hotel located in the middle of New York City, and she desperately wants Clooney’s fixer character to sweep up all those incriminating things in the penthouse suite including the body of that young man, who looks dead due to a very unfortunate accident. 

It seems at first that things will be quickly handled within a fairly short time, but, of course, there comes a trouble via the unexpected appearance of another professional fixer, who is played by Brad Pitt. Both of these two professional fixers are naturally quite perplexed by this weird situation, but they have no choice but to work together as instructed by whoever hires Pitt’s fixer character, and Ryan’s character soon steps out of the ongoing situation because she now has to cover up her own trace as swiftly as possible.  

As they work together for a while, our two fixer characters frequently clash with each other in one way or another, and that is the main source of amusement for us during the first act of the film. Pitt and Clooney, who appeared together in not only Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy but also the Coen Brothers’ “Burn After Reading” (2008), are effortless as their characters frequently bicker with each other for handling their joint assignment, and Clooney’s weary appearance, which may take you back to his effective low-key performance in Anton Corbijn’s “The American” (2010), is complemented well by Pitt’s casually sardonic attitude.

While it could actually be developed into a standard two-hander between its two lead actors, the movie subsequently takes a left turn in the middle act instead as adding several additional characters into the story. For example, that lad is later revealed to be involved with a serious case of drug business, and that surely leads to more things to be handled by our two fixer characters. They eventually go to someone who may give them some help, and we get a bit amused as they are reminded again that they are not so different from each other in many aspects. Both of them firmly believe that a person of their criminal profession must work and live alone just like a lone wolf, but, what do you know, they only come to find more of common things between them even though they are reluctant to admit that to each other. 

As these two guys keep conflicting with each other, their situation keeps getting more and more complicated. Due to several packs of drug supposed to be delivered by that lad, our two fixer characters come to get involved with more than one criminal organizations in the town. At one point, they must enter a big party held by the boss of one of these criminal organizations, and they have to be quite careful because, well, the boss happens to know both of them.

While its two main characters bounce from one narrative point from another, the movie provides several competent sequences including the one where they chase after a certain substantial character. As shown from his breakthrough independent film “Cop Car” (2015) as well as the three Spider-Man movies including “Spider-Man: Homecoming” (2017), director/co-producer/writer John Watts knows how to shoot action scenes, and he skillfully dials up and down the level of tension and humor during that impressive chase sequence.

However, Watt’s screenplay stumbles more than once in case of character development. Its two main characters’ relationship arc along the story is pretty obvious from the beginning, and they remain to be rather bland archetypes even though Clooney and Pitt try their best for filling their respective roles. Around the end of the story, the movie tries a few plot turns for surprise, but we already saw them coming from the distance, and the final scene, which is clearly influenced by that iconic last scene of George Roy Hill’s classic film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), feels perfunctory instead of being dramatically impactful.

Around Pitt and Clooney, the movie place several notable performers, but most of them are under-utilized on the whole. While Amy Ryan simply exits even before the first act is over, Austin Abrams, Poorna Jagannathan. Zlatko Burić, and Richard Kind manage to have each own moment, and Frances McDormand. who incidentally appeared along with Clooney and Pitt in “Burn After Reading”, provides a brief voice performance early in the film.

Overall, “Wolfs” is not a total waste of time mainly thanks to the solid joint efforts from its two lead performers, but it is often hampered by thin narrative and superficial characterization. Although I was mildly entertained during my viewing, it is already getting faded out in my mine, and I do not bother at all as being ready to move onto what I am soon going to watch next.

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Will & Harper (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): On the road with his transgender friend

Posted on September 30, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Will & Harper”, which was released on last Friday, follows a little road journey of one famous American comedian and his transgender friend. Simply focusing the frank and earnest interactions between them, the documentary gives us a series of poignant personal moments to observe, and these touching moments will probably make you reflect more on the civil and human rights of many transgender folks out there.

That American comedian in question is Will Ferrell, who incidentally participated in the production of the documentary as one of its co-producers. For many years, he has been a close friend to a writer named Harper Steele, who was crucial for Ferrell’s early stardom when they were the employees of “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) during the 1990s. During their first years at SNL, nobody paid much attention to Ferrell, but Steele, who was Andrew during that period, saw the considerable comic potential from Ferrell as one of the SNL staff writers, and that eventually led to the beginning of Ferrell’s stardom in TV and movie.

Not long after when “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” (2020), which was co-written by Steele, was released on Netflix in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Steele sent an e-mail to Ferrell and several other close friends of hers. For many years, Steele had been quite conflicted about her sexual identity (She even married and had two daughters, for example), but she eventually came out of her closet as being quite open about her true sexual identity, and she subsequently took the first step of her following gender transition in addition to changing her first name to Harper.

While being surprised and then gladly accepting his friend’s true sexual identity just like her other close friends, Ferrell was willing to get to know more about his friend, and that was how they came to plan a road trip across the US continent. Quite willing to support his friend, Ferrell also had the crew members of the documentary accompany them during this special road trip, and Steele did not object to this at all while appreciating a sincere and generous gesture of friendship and support from her close friend.

Where they are going to pass or drop by are actually very familiar places to Steele, because she frequently had a road trip across the US continent when she was Andrew. Nevertheless, she cannot help but become nervous at times because she is now an openly transgender woman, and that is the main reason why she is thankful to her friend (and his documentary crew) accompanying her from the beginning to the end.

At the beginning, everything mostly feels fine for both Ferrell and Steele. After Steele picks up Ferrell, they go together to New York City, where they naturally visit several notable SNL figures including Tina Fey and Ron Michaels, who all wholeheartedly greet their old friend without much awkwardness even though she looks quite different from when she presented herself to them as a male. As they casually talk with her and Ferrell, Steele feels a bit better about being herself in public, and she and Ferrell become more relaxed as they are about to go through several more conservative states including Indiana.

And, what do you know, their road trip turns out to be less eventful than expected. While they surely draw a lot of attention as shown from when they go to a National Basketball Association (NBA) game held in Indiana and then watch the whole game on the front row, many of people they come across during their journey are mostly nice to them, but it must be pointed out that Ferrell and his documentary crew often functioned as a sort of public protection for Steele. For instance, they encounter the governor of Indiana in the middle of that NBA game, and the governor does not say anything mean or hateful in front of the camera even though he is an openly anti-transgender Republican politician.

While honestly recognizing the frequent examples of hate and prejudice against Steele and many other transgender people out there, the documentary sometimes surprises us with a number of moving human moments of acceptance and tolerance. Steele’s older sister shows some genuine understanding and support to Steele just like Steele’s two daughters, and there is also a lovely scene where Steele and Ferrell come to have an unexpected moment of hospitality at a bar located somewhere in Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, Steele comes to show more of personal feelings and thoughts insider herself, and Ferrell, who can be often jolly and goofy but is also quite sincere and caring about his friend nonetheless, wisely steps aside for listening more to his friend. Not long after they eventually arrive in California, they drop by a shabby abandoned house bought by Steele several years ago, and Steele quietly and bitterly confides to her friend on how this house could have been a little private place where she could be a lot more comfortable with who she is.

In conclusion, “Will & Harper”, which is directed by Josh Greenbaum (He previously directed “Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar” (2021), by the way), presents Steele and her longtime friendship with Ferrell with lots of care and respect. Although this is a rather modest personal documentary which shows nothing new for the members of LBTGQ+ communities like me, it succeeds as much as intended in my trivial opinion, and I sincerely wish that Steele and Ferrell’s beautiful friendship in the documentary can actually change the mind of many people in the serious need of watching it right now.

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The Mountain (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): The Call of the Mountain

Posted on September 29, 2024 by kaist455

French film “The Mountain” impressed me a lot for a number of breathtaking shots to behold, but then it baffled me a lot as taking a sudden left turn in the middle of the story. While several audiences including a friend of mine were not so pleased with this when we watched it at a local movie theater yesterday, I will not deny that I was rather amused by this sudden narrative turn, which will be remembered along with its many stunning visual moments in my mind for a long time.

At first, the movie looks like a modest character study as introducing Pierre (Thomas Salvador, who also served as the director/co-writer of the movie), a Parisian engineer who is about to go to some resort spot in the French Alps for demonstrating the latest prototype machine developed by him and his co-workers. Not long after successfully finishing his presentation, he cannot help but notice those tall mountains outside the window, and, what do you know, he decides to stay a bit longer for seeing more of the mountains.

However, Pierre only ends up spending more time around the mountains. At first, he simply tries to spend a night on the mid-slope of one mountain, but that does not feel enough for him at all. He later goes to the peak of that mountain via a cable car, and he looks around the surrounding landscapes covered with lots of snow and ice, but, no, that is not still enough for him at all. He soon goes to the peak of a higher mountain, and then he comes to stay at a nearly snowy slope area for exploring more of the surrounding area.

Not so surprisingly, Pierre’s sudden change flabbergasts others. As he keeps being absent during next several days, his company has no choice but to fire him. Not long after he sends a postcard to his family, his mother and two brothers come to see him, and his older brother shows some understandable concern, but his mother and younger brother do not feel concerned that much once discerning that Pierre seems happy and content to stay there. 

Steadily maintaining its calm and restrained attitude, the movie slowly gets us immersed into its pensive mood, and we come to have more questions on what actually drives Pierre to the mountains. Although never clarifying whatever has been going on inside Pierre’s mind, the movie simply observes whatever he explores here and there day by day, and that is surely something worthwhile to watch from a big screen. Cinematographers Alexis Kavyrchine and Victor Pichon did a commendable job of vividly capturing all those coldly crisp and beautiful sights of nature on their cameras, and, to be frank with you, I sometimes wondered how they actually shot several key scenes on those rather challenging locations shown in the film.

Around the middle act of the story, the screenplay by Salvador and his co-writer Naïla Guiguet, who incidentally received the SACD award together when the movie was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022, begins to develop an accidental relationship between Pierre and a woman who works at the restaurant in the observatory at the peak of the mountain. At first, he simply requests her to buy some groceries for him, but then we sense some mutual feeling between them as they interact more with each other along the story.

However, the movie unexpectedly changes its narrative direction not long after that, and that is where it becomes really, really, really strange to our surprise. I will not go into details for avoiding any spoiler, but I can tell you instead that Pierre comes to experience something very odd when he later attempts to explore a certain place not so far from his staying spot, and you may not be totally sure about what he goes through next. Is it just a mere delusion in his mind? Or, is it something truly extraordinary?

Anyway, I admire how the movie pushes the story and character more as uncompromisingly maintaining its calm and distant attitude as before, and I also appreciate how much Salvador throws himself into his committed efforts behind and in front of the camera. I have no idea on how much he actually endured during the shooting, but Salvador, who previously made a feature film debut with “Vincent” (2014) after making several short films, looks fairly believable in his low-key performance which subtly suggests a lot behind Pierre’s phlegmatic appearance, and that is the main reason why a certain key sequence later in the film works even though it looks rather outrageous at times.

In case of Louise Bourgoin, who plays the sole substantial character in the story besides Pierre, she brings little precious warmth to the story, and she and Salvador click well together during their several scenes in the film. Later in the story, they must play one important scene as straight as possible in addition to generating enough sense of intimacy between them, and the result never looks ridiculous at all even though it feels quite baffling at times.

On the whole, “The Mountain” brings a bit of surprise and interest to its seemingly simple and familiar story while also often making us marvel at all those gorgeous sights unfolded across the screen. As far as I can from its result, Salvador demonstrates here that he is a skillful filmmaker who knows well how to interest and engage audiences, and it will be interesting to see whatever will come next from him.

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Band of Outsiders (1964) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): When Godard was really cool

Posted on September 29, 2024 by kaist455

Jean-Luc Godard was at the height of his artistic creativity when he was young and bold in the 1960s. After making a huge milestone spot in the cinema history with his great film “Breathless” (1960), he gave us a number of other interesting films including “Vivre sa vie” (1962) and “Weekend” (1967), but then, alas, he began to go down around the 1970s as becoming less cool than before, and the rest of his filmmaking career was filled with deliberately impenetrable experiments such as “Film Socialisme” (2010).

I still remember how much I was frustrated with Godard’s two last works “Goodbye to Language” (2014) and “The Image Books” (2018), so it is rather heartening to observe the lightweight charm and style of “Band of Outsiders”. Here, Godard was just a young ambitious filmmaker who simply tried something new and different while being less serious about himself compared to what he eventually became later in his career and life, and I was delighted by its several charming moments before being a bit saddened by the inevitable ending waiting for its main characters.

The story, which is an adaptation of the 1958 novel “Fools’ Gold” by American author Dolores Hitchens, mainly revolves around three young people who happen to get involved with each other via an English class they have attended for a while. The opening scene introduces us to Franz (Sami Frey) and Arthur (Claude Brasseur), and we come to gather that these two lads are planning something criminal because, well, they are just bored with their uneventful daily life.

Their target is a certain house located somewhere in Paris, which belongs to some rich man who may have lots of cash inside his house. This rich man in question lives with his wife and his wife’s young niece, and that young niece, Odile (Anna Karina), is the one attending the English class attended by Franz and Arthur. During another lesson time for them and several other students, Arthur attempts to seduce her a bit without getting noticed by their teacher, and it looks like Odile is also drawn to him even though her beautiful face does not signify much on the surface.

Anyway, Odile lets herself get more involved with Franz and Arthur after the class, because she is also frustrated with the ennui of her daily life just like them. She willingly looks for any cash in the house later as requested by them, and, what do you know, she does discover a considerable amount of cash hidden in a certain room. How the cash is hidden will probably remind you of that famous short mystery story by Edgar Allen Poe, which is incidentally mentioned in the middle of the film.

As these three young people prepare a bit for their little act of crime, the movie sticks to its dry and distant attitude with Godard’s frequently phlegmatic narration, while also often upending the expected genre clichés and conventions. They do not plan much about how they are going to steal the cash from the beginning, so there is not much tension around their rather simple plan, and the movie simply rolls along with them as they spend their time together in one way or another. At one point, they suddenly decide to dance a bit together at a local cafe, and, as many of you know, this impromptu moment of fun has been quite iconic while influencing a number of notable films including Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” (1994). Yes, that famous dance scene between John Travolta and Uma Thurman is an indirect homage to this scene, and Tarantino even named his production company after the title of the movie.

Of course, there comes a point later in the story where the situation becomes far less fun for Odile and her two friends, and this eventually culminates to the finale filled with some bitter irony. In my humble opinion, the following epilogue feels rather artificial, but Godard does not lose any of his wit at all even during this part, as closing the film with his sarcastic narration.

While revisiting the movie, which happens to be re-released in South Korean theaters in this week (It is probably for its 60th anniversary, I guess), I noticed how the movie overlaps with François Truffaut’s “Jule and Jim” (1962) to some degree, another notable work of the French New Wave during the 1960s. Like the heroine of “Jule and Jim”, Odile’s heart often seems to go back and forth between the two different men she happens to be associated with, and we are frequently uncertain about her thoughts and feelings. Yes, she looks like enjoying her time with Arthur and Franz, and she seems to be more drawn to Arthur, but she looks like being also attracted to Franz, though she never clarifies that to him or herself even when they happen to be together without Arthur. As Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur steadily hold the ground for her, Anna Karina, who was Godard’s first wife and also his frequent leading actress during the 1960s, fills her archetype role with enough charm and beauty, and the constant romantic tension generated between her and her two co-stars steadily holds our attention even though the movie remains dry and distant as usual even during the finale.

Overall, “Band of Outsiders” may not be as great as “Breathless” or “Vivre sa vie”, but it is packed with enough style and charm as well as some youthful energy to be cherished. To be frank with you, I usually prefer Truffaut’s films to Godard’s, but I admire a lot many of Godard’s early works nonetheless, and “Band of Outsiders” reminds me again that there was indeed a time when Godard and his movies were really cool.

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All the Long Nights (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): As they help and support each other

Posted on September 27, 2024 by kaist455

Japanese filmmaker Shô Miyake’s latest film “All the Long Nights” is a calm and somber character drama between two different troubled people who come to help and support each other more than expected. Although it feels predictable at times, the movie leisurely takes its time in building up its main characters along the story with considerable sensitivity and realism, and it surely earns a little sign of hope and optimism around the end of the story.

At the beginning, we are introduced to a young woman named Misa Fujisawa (Mone Kamishiraishi), and we get to know a bit about her longtime medical problem. Since her adolescence period, Misa has often suffered Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS), and the opening part shows us how she becomes quite stressed out due another severe incident of PMS. At least, she has received considerable support from her caring mother for years, but things still do not get better at all despite her efforts, and she eventually quits her new job as getting stigmatized for the troubles caused by her medical problem.

Five years later, Misa is now working at a little company which manufactures a number of scientific instruments for kids, and she seems a bit more well-adjusted than before. While she still suffers PMS from time to time, she is mostly on good terms with her co-workers, and they surely appreciate her generosity when she hands out sweets to them.

However, one particular employee does not respond that much to her generosity. That person in question is a lad named Takatoshi Yamazoe (Hokuto Matsumura), and we observe how distant he is to others at the workplace. Although he is a fairly nice employee who works as much as required just like others around him, but he is usually quiet and introverted, and Misa becomes more curious about him especially after a rather awkward interaction between them.

It soon turns out that Takatoshi has a really serious problem behind his back just like Misa. He has often had a serious bout of panic attack for a while, and we come to learn that he quit his previous job mainly because of that. While his former boss and co-workers are willing to take him back at any time, his panic attack problem has not been alleviated at all, and he has an embarrassing moment in front of others when he happens to be overwhelmed by another incident of panic attack.

After getting to know more about Takatoshi’s panic attack problem, Misa comes to care more about him as a person who has had a fair share of difficulties due to a medical condition beyond control. As approaching to him with more care and empathy, she comes to show more of herself to him, and he appreciates that while also giving some valuable help to her PSM problem. When she happens to have another bout of PSM on one day, he takes her outside, and that is followed by an unexpectedly calm moment between them as they focus on doing something together for a while.

Now this sounds like the setup for a typical romance tale, but the screenplay by Miyake and his co-writer Kiyohito Wada, which is based on the novel of the same name by Maiko Seo, does not force its two main characters into a romantic relationship at all, while simply adding more human details to the story as its two main characters try to go on day by day. We observe how Misa tries to remain close to her mother as before despite her mother’s recent illness, and there is a little touching moment when her mother gives Misa a little gift she made for herself. In case of Takatoshi, he is visited by a young woman who is also a former co-worker of his, and we see how much she still cares about him even though there is now considerable distance between them due to his current medical problem.

We also get more engaged in the mundane daily business of Misa and Takatoshi’s workplace, which later happens to be enlivened a little by two local kids occasionally visiting the company for a little school project of theirs. During the interviews conducted by these two kids, Misa and her co-workers have to explain a bit about their work, and that naturally leads to a few humorous moments to tickle us.  

As they interact more with each other as well as others around them, Misa and Takatoshi slowly come out of their respective shells. Later in the story, they actively participate in a local event planned by their company, and we get a lovely sequence where Misa eagerly gives a bunch of people a little presentation on the constellations in the night sky. Although we can only see the faces of Misa and others around her in dim light for a while, the mood is surprisingly soothing nonetheless, and we cannot help but notice how much Misa looks and feels different compared to how troubled she was around the beginning of the story.

Ably complementing each other throughout the film, Mone Kamishiraishi and Hokuto Matsumura diligently carry the film together, and they are also supported well by a number of good supporting performers in the film. They all look convincing in their unadorned natural acting, and that is particularly evident from what is casually but touchingly shown around the end of the film. The camera simply watches from the distance, but we are quite touched nonetheless, as watching the characters going through another day as usual.

Overall, “All the Long Nights” is another interesting work from Miyake, who previously drew my attention for “Small, Slow But Steady” (2022). Although it is relatively milder compared to his previous film, the result is still realistic and intimate enough to impress us, and I guess I can have more expectation on his promising filmmaking career.

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A Confucian Confusion (1994) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A cheerful confusion

Posted on September 27, 2024 by kaist455

During last several years, I and South Korean audiences have been fortunate to watch the works of Edward Yang (1947 ~ 2007), who was one of the leading figures in the Taiwanese New Wave during the 1980s alongside Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang. While “A Brighter Summer Day” (1991) and “Yi Yi” (2000) came first, “That Day, on the Beach” (1983), “Taipei Story” (1985), and “Terrorizers” (1986) happened to be released in local movie theaters one by one not long after the aforementioned two movies were re-released, and now here comes “A Confucian Confusion”, whose recent 4K restoration version was released here a few days ago.

The movie is a contemporary satiric comedy about the confusions and conflicts among a bunch of young people living and working in Taipei, and it will probably take some time for you to get accustomed to how the movie busily juggles and shuffles its many main characters. While you may be initially baffled a bit about what and how it is about (Full Disclosure: I was during my viewing), the movie will gradually let you to discern the whole picture of the rather complicated relationships and interactions among them, and you then will be quite amused for good reasons.

The center of the story is a small entertainment company run by a young woman named Molly (Suk Kwan Ni), which has been incidentally financed by her wealthy fiancé Akeem (Bosen Wang). Although Molly’s company looks pretty successful on the surface with the two main ongoing projects, it actually is pretty problematic to say the least as Akeem’s accountant Larry (Danny Dun) notifies to Molly later in the story, and Molly does not know what to do about that while maintaining her feisty appearance in front of others as usual.

At least, Molly has Qiqi (Chen Shiang-chyi), her faithful assistant who has also been her best friend. Qiqi is always the one who takes care of any latest trouble for Molly and her company, and their latest trouble turns out to be rather tricky. They have been promoting a cocky young playwright named Birdy (Yeming Wang), but Birdy, who is incidentally an old college colleague of theirs, was recently accused of plagiarism, and this potentially serious circumstance happens to be involved with the novelist husband of Molly’s older sister, who has been enjoying her success as hosting a popular TV show promoted by Molly’s company.

Meanwhile, Qiqi has a few serious issues behind her back. She has been close to a young public servant named Ming (Weiming Wang), and they are expected to marry soon, but Ming, who has incidentally known both Ming and Qiqi since their college years, also turns out to have some personal issues to handle. We see how much he dislikes his father because his father left his mother for some other woman who is simply called “Auntie” (Elaine Jin), and there is also a subplot involved with his co-worker.

Frequently showing its wry comic attitude via a series of intertitles, the screenplay by Yang and his co-writer Hung Hung, who also played a crucial supporting character in the film, cheerfully hops from one humorous moment to another. As the main characters of the film come to clash with each other due to their silly misunderstanding as well as their apparent failure to communicate, the movie makes some sharp points on human nature and relationship, but it also gradually fleshes out its seemingly broad main characters, who may all live fairy well on the surface but are not so happy in addition to being confused and conflicted. While Molly becomes more uncertain about whether she can keep running her company as before, Qiqi may have to choose between her boss/best friend and her boyfriend, and several other main characters also come to have each own conflict in one way or another.

As taking time in developing each of its multiple plotlines more, the movie immerses us more into their lives and their society, and the movie often comes to function as the realistic presentation of the Taiwanese society during the early 1990s. As he did in his other films including “A Brighter Summer Day”, Yang did a deft job of filling the screen with vivid mood and details to be appreciated, and it is often engaging to observe how he and his cinematographer Longyu Li effortlessly achieved that. In many of the key scenes in the film, the camera often looks like statically observing the characters and their situations without much interruption, but it actually makes some subtle moves here and there for indirectly drawing more attention from us, and that is especially evident during a hilarious sequence where Akeem’s pathetic attempt to confront one certain character leads to a series of unexpected comic happenings. Again, the camera is calm and observant, but it does not overlook the absurdities surrounding the characters at all, and we become all the more amused as a result.

The main cast members of the film are all effective in their well-rounded acting. While Suk Kwan Ni and Chen Shiang-chyi hold the center as required, several other performers including Bosen Wang, Chen Limei, Yeming Wang, Danny Dun, and Weiming Wang, have each own moment to shine along the story, and Elaine Jin is particularly good when her busybody character shows more human depth than expected around the end of the story.

In conclusion, “A Confucian Confusion” is a funny human comedy to be admired for its witty and thoughtful storytelling, and it surely demonstrates well the more lightweight side of Yang’s masterful filmmaking. Although he only made seven feature films before he died in 2000, his achievements are quite impressive as far as I can see from “A Confucian Confusion” and his several other works, and I am already ready to revisit them someday for more appreciation and admiration.

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