Little Richard: I Am Everything (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Beyond his legendary flamboyance

Posted on January 14, 2024 by kaist455

Documentary film “Little Richard: I Am Everything” looks around the life and career of Little Richard, who has been regarded as the ground-breaking pioneer of American Rock and Roll music. As looking beyond his legendary flamboyance, the documentary illuminates an energetic but conflicted man who had a fair share of ups and downs as struggling with his sexual identity in addition to being often underappreciated throughout his lifetime, and you will surely come to appreciate more of his significant artistic contribution to the American pop music of the 20th century.

Little Richard was born to a poor African American family in Georgia, 1932. Even when he was very young, Richard, who was Richard Wane Penniman during that period, often demonstrated his considerable musical talent, and he surely helped his minister father a lot at not only his church but also his little illegal business spot, though his father sternly disapproved of how he often looked feminine and flamboyant.

In the end, Richard eventually left his family home for working along with a various number of traveling black musician groups, and he became more comfortable with his sexual identity as he and many other black queer musicians were accepted more inside their free-wheeling artistic community. As a matter of fact, Richard even willingly performed as a drag queen at times, and that was certainly an interesting part of his early career period.

Meanwhile, Richard came to draw more attention as a young and talented musician to watch, and then there came an accidental breakthrough which boosted his career much more than he and others ever imagined. In 1955, he recorded “Tutti Frutti” with his own free style, and, what do you know, this became an immense hit not only inside but also outside black community. As a result, his name and music were widely spread around the whole country, and he soon found himself receiving the feverish adoration of thousands of black girls as well as white girls.

Ironically, Richard was allowed to be pretty and flamboyant on the stage during that time mainly because of his race and sexual identity. While intensely exuding sexuality in front of his audiences all the time, he was mostly regarded as a non-threatening oddball to white people, and that was how he could freely ride on his big success during the 1950s. When he eventually found his music and style being appropriated by major white musicians such as Pat Boone or, yes, Elvis Presley, he intentionally dialed up his performance for more intensity, and the result was pretty astounding to say the least.

However, behind all the exaggerating flamboyance of his, Richard was frequently conflicted about his sexual identity. He subsequently presented himself as a born-again Christian, and he also tried on married life as marrying Ernestine Harvin in 1959. Nevertheless, his sexual confusion, mainly fueled by his Christian upbringing, always followed him throughout his life, and the documentary details on how he often swung back and forth between his Christian background and sexual identity during next several decades. As one interviewee in the documentary points out, it is really ironic that he could not liberate himself that much even though his music has liberated so many LGBTQ+ people out there.

Anyway, Richard’s music continued to influence numerous different musicians ranging from the Beatles to David Bowie, whose flamboyantly androgynous appearance certainly owes a lot to Richard’s. When he made a comeback in London in the early 1960s, Richard actually met the Beatles when they were just newcomers who still had to prove themselves more, and he surely impressed and inspired these British lads a lot as showing the way toward their eventual success.

During the 1980s, Richard became less prominent than before, but he often reminded others that he would not just go away at all. Due to a very unfortunate accident, he missed the opportunity to attend a very special ceremony for him and several other giants of American Rock and Roll music, and he surely felt hurt about that, but he kept going like a trouper. In the end, he came to receive some overdue recognition in the 1990s, and there came a touching moment when he eventually received the American Music Award of Merit in 1997.

Around the time before his death in 2020, Richard got swung back to his Christian background as being aware of his imminent mortality, but several interviewees in the documentary including Billy Porter and John Waters still appreciate Richard’s considerable contribution to their LGBTQ+ community. He might never be totally comfortable with being himself, but he inspired and motivated other queer people a lot instead, and that deserves to be regarded as one of his significant legacies.

Overall, “Little Richard: I Am Everything”, directed by Lisa Cortés, presents its human subject with enough care and respect, and I enjoyed some nice visual touches for vividly conveying to us how Richard often electrified stages and audiences during his prime period. While it could show more, the documentary is still fairly engaging in addition to giving us a good overview on Richard’s life and career, and it is certainly worthwhile to watch if you are not so familiar with his music.

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No Bears (2022) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Another interesting work from Jafar Panahi

Posted on January 14, 2024 by kaist455

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s latest film “No Bears”, which won the Special Jury Prize when it was premiered at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival, is fascinating for how the director willingly pushes his artistic vision further despite lots of obstacles and challenges around him and his work. While deliberately blurring the line between reality and fiction, the movie freely explores and examines its several main subjects including the ethics of filmmaking, and the result is surely another highlight in Panahi’s admirable filmmaking career.

The movie opens with the introduction of a couple who has been political exiles from Iran. Stuck in a Turkish city near the border between Turkey and Iran, they have been waiting for any chance to leave for Europe together, but only one of them can leave now, and that causes a serious conflict between them. While Bakhtiar (Bakhtiar Panjeei) sincerely wants his spouse Zara (Mina Kavani) to go first, she adamantly refuses to be separated from him because of her considerable emotional dependence on him during all those hard years of them.

This dramatic moment of theirs soon turns out to be a part of the filmmaking process directed by Panahi himself, who has been trying to make a docudrama film based on that couple’s personal story. Incidentally, he has to handle the shooting from a little rural village on the Iranian side of the border because he is not allowed to leave Iran due to his longtime conflict with the Iranian government, and we get a little amusing moment when he later attempts to reconnect with his crew and cast members after their communication line happens to be cut off.

Meanwhile, a big engagement ceremony is being held outside the village. When Panahi asks him to shoot this ceremony, Ghanbar (Vahid Mobasheri), a villager who let Panahi stay in his residence, agrees to do that job for Panahi, though, to our little amusement. he is quite clumsy in handling Panahi’s digital camera as shown from the following result. As almost everyone gathers at the ceremony, the village becomes a little quieter, and Panahi casually takes some photographs outside his current staying place.

However, this casual act of Panahi later gets himself involved with an unexpected trouble in the village. Many of villagers including the village chief somehow come to believe that one of his photographs contains the sight of a lad and a young woman who has actually been engaged to some other guy in the village, so they demand Panahi to give them that particular photograph. Panahi insists that he did not shoot anything involved with those two young people, but the village chief and many other elders in the village keep pressuring on him, and this certainly makes him less welcomed in the village than before.

This situation eventually culminates to where Panahi is requested to make an oath in front of the village chief and many other villagers. While he is allowed to record his oath on his video camera, Panahi comes to express his personal opinion on the absurdity of the old traditions of the village, and this certainly leads to another unpleasant moment between him and the villagers.

In the meantime, things get more complicated for Panahi’s ongoing filmmaking process. When he has a brief meeting with one of his crew members near the border, he learns more about how the shooting becomes more difficult for his crew and cast members due to his absence. He actually considers crossing the border for directly handling the shooting, but then he comes to change his mind for understandable reasons.

Deftly alternating between these two narratives, the movie gradually engages us as Panahi tries to handle some ethically tricky matters along the story. For example, we are not entirely sure about whether Panahi’s camera actually captured the sight of those two young people, so we cannot help but observe his following actions with some reservation. He certainly does not want to cause any more trouble, but he inadvertently comes to cause to more troubles in the village, and it seems there is nothing he can do except observing and recording. In contrast, he attempts some manipulation on the two leading performers of his film, and this consequently leads to an emotionally painful scene where one of his leading performers finally decides that enough is enough.

As many of you know, Panahi was limited a lot by the Iranian government in one way or another during the production of “No Bears” in 2022, but the overall result feels more fluid and effortless than his previous film “Taxi” (2015), whose entirely narrative is unfolded inside a taxi driven by Panahi. While I admired Panahi’s defiant spirit behind “Taxi”, I also frequently noticed the inherent limits inside and outside that little film, and that was the main reason why I was less enthusiastic about it than others. In case of “No Bears”, Panahi demonstrates more artistic freedom and dexterity than before in addition to drawing good natural performances from himself and many other main cast members of his film, and the movie surely reminds us of how talented artists can sublimate their artistic challenges into golden opportunities for pushing themselves more.

While he was arrested right before the premiere of “No Bears” at the Venice International Films Festival, Parani was eventually released early in last year, and he is probably planning on making another work behind his back now. He is certainly one of the most important Iranian filmmakers at present, and I sincerely hope that he will keep going as before.

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Wish (2023) ☆☆(2/4): You will wish for a better one

Posted on January 12, 2024 by kaist455

The most surprising thing about new Disney animation film “Wish” is how dull and uninspired it is. Often lacking in spirit and personality, the film merely serves a run-of-the-mill fantasy tale which does not engage us much due to its flat storytelling and thin characterization, and the result is one of the most forgettable products from Disney during last several years. Seriously, I came to wish for a better one as coming out of the screening room with lots of grumpy disappointment, and so will you, probably.

The most disappointing thing about “Wish” is that it is not even effective during its several key musical scenes. The original songs by Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice are not that awful compared to that deliberately horrible torch song in “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (2023), but you will not find yourself humming any of these songs after watching the film. Sure, many of the main voice members of the film do try as much as possible with these rather unremarkable songs, but most of the musical scenes in the film still feel artificial and forced, instead of functioning as the organic part of the story itself.

In addition, as watching the film in the Dolby screening room of a big local theater, I could not help but notice how “Wish” looks bland and lifeless in terms of visual aspects. Yes, the end credits of the film surely show that there are indeed lots of efforts of numerous animators and technicians behind it, but their overall result is somehow unconvincing while also lacking something to engage and enliven us. For example, its computer animation figures often look awkward in the curiously static backgrounds shown on the screen, and they do not even feel like really living inside their little fantasy world.

And the film also seems weirdly disinterested in building up its little main background with mood and details to distinguish itself from many other similar products out there. It simply establishes a magic island kingdom where personal wish can be granted by its powerful wizard king, but it does not develop this potentially interesting story promise much on the whole, and we are merely served with another your average tale about good and evil. Sure, the wizard king turns out to be a bad dude, and it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that the fate of the kingdom and its people now depends on our plucky young heroine who can occasionally sing for winning our heart.

Her name is Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose), and her big wish is making her dear old grandfather’s wish come true via the routine ceremony held by the wizard king. Having gathered a lot of true wishes from his people for years, the wizard king has them under control as granting some of those wishes from time to time, and Asha is certainly willing to do anything for persuading him to grant what she has wished so much.

After coming to realize how mean the wizard king really is behind his supposedly likable appearance, Asha becomes quite depressed, and then there comes something quite unbelievable when she simply wishes upon those stars on the night sky. A little but bright star falls on the ground, and, what do you know, this star turns out to be have some awesome magical abilities. For instant, it can make animals and plants talk, and that is how Asha’s pet goat becomes your typical wise-cracking sidekick.

Of course, once he senses how much his dominion will be threatened by the magical power of the star, the wizard king becomes quite determined to catch the star and then extract its power for becoming all the more powerful than ever. As the main villain of the story, Chris Pine is certainly willing to go over the top when his character becomes nastier and meaner along the story, and he manages to succeed to some degree, though his own musical moment in the film cannot possibly top Melissa McCarthy’s deliciously diabolical delivery of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” in “The Little Mermaid” (2023).

As the story trudges toward its expected ending, we get a number of references involved with several classic Disney films, but they mostly feel redundant without contributing much to the story itself. Sure, we cannot help but think of “Snow White and Seven Dwarfs” (1937) as observing Asha’s seven different friends, but any of them does not have much life and personality to distinguish themselves. To be frank with you, I personally think Hayao Miyazaki’s recent animation film “The Boy and the Heron” (2023) did a much better job of variation via those seven colorful old ladies around its young hero.

In case of Ariana DeBose, who has been more prominent thanks to her feisty Oscar-winning supporting turn in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of “West Side Story” (1961), she certainly sings well in addition to bringing some pluck to her character, but she is limited by her weak role from the very beginning. Several other notable voice cast members of the film such as Alan Tudyk, Victor Garber, Harvey Guillén, Evan Peters, and Ramy Youssef are mostly under-utilized, and Tudyk, who has been one of the dependable voice actors for many notable animation films such as “Wreck-It Ralph” (2012), sadly has to handle many lame one-liners throughout the film.

In conclusion, “Wish”, directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, is quite dissatisfying for its sheer lack of originality and energy, and I am still wondering how this dud can happen despite the steady quality control on Disney animation films during last several decades. Nonetheless, I will not hastily declare that the end of an era is coming, and I sincerely hope that we will be more charmed and entertained in the next time.

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Migration (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A Mallard Tale

Posted on January 12, 2024 by kaist455

Animation feature film “Migration” is not as bad as I feared, but it is also not as good as I wished. As many of reviewers have pointed out, last year was a curiously weak year for animation films without much to remember, and “Migration” only reminded me of that again although occasionally amusing me at times. Happening to sit alone in the middle of the big Dolby screening room, I did chuckle several times for its silly gags and jokes, but I also noticed how shallow and predictable it is in terms of story and character.

As your typical entertainment for family audiences, the movie is about a mallard family who has resided near some rural pond for years. Quite anxiously protective about his kids, Mack (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) often warns them about any possible danger outside their little world, but his kids are eager to explore the outside world someday, and the same thing can be said about Mack’s loving wife Pam (voiced by Elizabeth Banks).

On one day, a bunch of migrating birds happen to drop by Mack and his family’s pond. After meeting a young member of the bunch, Mack’s son becomes interested in going to a certain tropical place where these migrating birds are heading, and, of course, Mack objects to his son’s wish, but, not so surprisingly, he eventually comes to change his mind because, well, he also does not like to be stuck in their place for the rest of his life.

As Mack and his family members fly high toward the sky, the mood becomes a bit more exciting than before, and the film surely provides some entertaining moments to enjoy. The score by John Powell, who is no stranger to the excitement of flying as shown from his great scores for “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010) and the following two sequels, naturally soars along with the avian main characters of the film, and that makes us ready for more adventures to come for Mack and his family.

However, alas, what we get is a series of broad comic episodic moments which do not bring much substance to the main narrative. At one point early in the film, Mack and his family happen to stay at a swampy residence belonging to an aging heron couple who may have an insidious motive behind their back, and this will only take you back to the memories of that weird heron figure in Hayao Miyazaki’s recent animation film “The Boy and the Heron” (2023). Although I am not so enthusiastic about “The Boy and the Heron” unlike many others, I must point out that the heron figure and a bunch of big parakeets in “The Boy and the Heron” are much more interesting and memorable compared to any avian character in “Migration”, and, to be frank with you, now I am more willing to recommend it more than before.

Around the middle of the story, Mack and his family fly into a huge city which is apparently New York City. Feeling quite lost in the middle of this big city, they certainly need somebody who can help them going to their final destination, and this avian figure turns out to be a tropical bird which has been caged by some nasty local chef. As Mack and his family attempt to help this tropical bird’s escape, we get a busy action sequence where Mack and his wife must evade many dangers in front of them, but you will not be amused or surprised that much as observing how flat and predictable this sequence is in one way or another. While the main villain of the story surely looks mean, this evil dude, who incidentally does not speak at all, is not as funny or vicious as that wordlessly despicable villain of “Shaun the Sheep Movie” (2015), and he is no more than a mere plot device just like the little conflict between Mack and his son along the story.

Anyway, the main cast members of the film try their best with their respective parts, although their considerable talents are not utilized well on the whole. Kumail Nanjiani and Elizabeth Banks are good comic performers who can bring some humor and personality to their characters, but there is not much chemistry between their voice performances mainly due to their rather colorless characters. In case of several notable voice cast members including Keegan-Michael Key, Awkwafina, Carol Kane, and Danny DeVito, they have some little fun with their more colorful roles, but they are also often limited by thin characterization, and DeVito is particularly wasted as only demanded to sound grumpy or goofy throughout the film.

In conclusion, “Migration”, directed by Benjamin Renner, is not a total waste of time at all, but its short running time (83 minutes) merely passed by during my viewing without much impression left in the end. At least, its technical aspects are not bad at all, and I enjoyed its bright color scheme which was vividly shown to me in the Dolby screening room, but good animation films need much more than that in my humble opinion.

Will young audiences enjoy “Migration”? They will probably enjoy it to some degree, but their young curious minds will eventually go for something really fresh and interesting. A few months ago, one of my colleagues told me that he and his young son watched “The Boy and the Heron” together, and, though they did not wholly get what exactly it is about, they had a pretty enthusiastic conversation about its themes and messages after watching it. That is what a good and interesting animation film can usually do, and I think you should watch “The Boy and the Heron” if you have to choose between it and “Migration”.

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Society of the Snow (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Under that unimaginably extreme condition

Posted on January 8, 2024 by kaist455

What would you do under a situation as grim and extreme as whatever the survivors of the Andes Flight Disaster experienced in 1972? This is surely a hard and difficult question, and Netflix film “Society of the Snow”, which was released on last Friday, throws its thought-provoking main question with full respect and no compromise. While never overlooking a certain disturbing choice made by these survivors during that gloomy period of survival, the movie goes for something nearly impossible, and it accomplishes its daunting goal mostly well with enough mood and intensity to hold our attention during its rather long running time (144 minutes).

The opening part of the film shows how everything seemed fine and well to the passengers of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 on October 13th, 1972. Along with a bunch of families members, friends, and supporters of theirs, the team members of an Uruguayan rugby team were supposed to have a good time once they arrived in Santiago, Chile, and the passengers were not concerned that much when their airplane was about to pass the Andes, because they were already told about how risky their flight could be due to the frequent turbulence over those high mountains of the Andes.

Unfortunately, mainly because of the inexperienced its co-pilot, the airplane crashed onto a wide and remote field in the middle of the Andes, and the movie jolts us with a terrifying sequence which vividly presents the crash course of the airplane on the screen. It is quite evident that the movie uses lots of special effects here, but the overall result is pretty intense and scary to say the least, and we come to brace ourselves more because we are already well aware of what will happen next to the survivors, who gradually come to face how hopeless and despairing their situation is in many aspects.

The screenplay by director/co-producer J.A. Bayona, who is mainly known for his Oscar-nominated film “The Impossible” (2012), and his co-writers Bernat Vilaplana, Jaime Marques, and Nicolás Casariego, which is based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Pablo Vierci, slowly and steadily rolls its characters’ increasingly desperate circumstance. Although some of the initial survivors died due to injury and extreme cold weather, the survivors kept hoping for the best while trying to survive day by day in addition to searching for any chance for getting rescued. As they stuck together under a guy who became their de factor leader, there seemed to be some possibility for rescue, and they managed to acquire a radio which would tell them what was going on outside, but, alas, they later became quite despaired when a radio news told them that the following search would be suspended for a while.

In the meantime, they kept getting hungrier in addition feeling colder, and something quite unthinkable inevitably came to their mind. The movie handles the characters’ ghastly inner conflict over their impossible situation with enough thoughtfulness and restraint, and it thankfully does not delve too deep into their following act of cannibalism on those dead people while never looking away from their horror and shame about that. They surely felt disgusted and conflicted at first, but, once they set their own moral lines for their exceptional circumstance, they soon got more accustomed to that in the name of surviving a few more days at least.

Nevertheless, the situation remained as grim as before, and Bayona and his crew members including cinematographer Pedro Luque did a commendable job of filling the screen with the overwhelming sense of isolation and despair. Although the film was mostly shot in Spain, its background details look pretty convincing enough on the whole, and the main cast members of the films, most of whom are newcomers from Argentine and Uruguay, really look like living through the extreme conditions surrounding their characters – especially when their characters are suddenly attacked by a couple of avalanches in the middle of the story.

In the end, the remaining survivors decided to try more when the weather on the Andes got milder a few months later, and two of them eventually succeeded to rescue not only themselves but also other survivors after enduring an arduous journey across the Andes. Even at that narrative point, the movie restrains itself from any cheap sentimentalism, and the score by Michael Giacchino sticks to its low-key attitude as before. They survived, and they were certainly glad and relieved for that, but, as reflected by the bittersweet reflective tone of the last scene of the film, they had to live with the cost for their survival while sharing the real understanding on their extreme experience only with each other.

As many of you know, the story of the survivors of the Andes Flight Disaster has been the main subject of a bunch of movies and documentaries before “Society of the Snow”. The most famous one is Frank Marshall’s 1993 film “Alive”, and there was also René Cardona, Jr.’s Mexican exploitation flick “Survive!” (1976) before that. I still remember Gonzalo Arijón’s excellent documentary film “Stranded” (2007), and it reminded me that the Andes Flight Disaster is more suitable for documentary than movie for several good reasons.

While it may not be better than “Stranded”, “Society of the Snow”, which was selected as the Spanish submission to Best International Film Oscar in last year (it was recently included in the shortlist, by the way), is more compelling than “Alive” at least for its vivid and effective docudrama approach. Yes, it is indeed a tough stuff to watch, but the movie surely tries its best for handling its tricky story materials, and I admire its considerable achievement even though I cannot possibly say that I was, well, entertained.

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Crescendo (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): As they try their best to the end

Posted on January 7, 2024 by kaist455

Documentary film “Crescendo”, which was released in South Korean theaters a few weeks ago, works best whenever it does not pay attention to the main attraction for South Korean audiences. As far as I can see from the documentary, Yunchan Lim, a South Korean pianist who has been building his burgeoning artistic career since his exceptional achievement in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition of 2022, is the least interesting figure in the documentary despite his immense skill and talent, and this promising wunderkind is unfortunately eclipsed at times by his more colorful competitors who willingly and casually show more of themselves in front of not only the piano but also the camera.

For anyone not particularly familiar with the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (Full Disclosure: I am one of such persons), the early part of the documentary gives some brief background information on this prestigious competition. After achieving a historical victory in one famous international piano competition in Moscow in 1958, a young but prodigious American pianist named Van Cliburn quickly rose as one of the greatest classic pianists of the 20th century. He also contributed a lot to promoting and supporting young and talented pianists, and that was how the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was started in 1962. During next six decades, this prestigious competition has steadily gained more and more reputation, and it has been the equivalent to Mount Everest for any young ambitious pianist around the world.

Of course, the selection process by the jury of the competition is pretty tough to say the least. First, they receive more than 300 applicants, and then they must select 30 candidates after carefully evaluating each of these applicants. Once these 30 candidates are gathered at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, they will go through the orientation before a series of rounds to be held at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall, and they all will have to do their best to the end, regardless of the eventual outcome for each of them.

Because everything must be as ideal flawless as possible, the staff members of the competition are ready to help and support the candidates in one way or another. For example, the candidates are allowed to choose between two grand pianos prepared for them, and they are also permitted to check and adjust a number of minor things for their individual performances. We see one of them trying several different chairs before eventually choosing the most ideal one for him, and you may be a bit amused to observe some other candidate thoroughly checking on the acoustic conditions of the concert hall.

Right from the first round which will eliminate 12 candidates, the mood becomes quite tense to say the least. Each of them has each own challenge to face, and the jury members, who are incidentally led by Marin Alsop (She is a prominent conductor who is regarded as the main source of inspiration for Todd Field’s Oscar-nominated film “Tár” (2022), by the way), must be careful and discreet on their eventual decision on who is more interesting or talented to them.

Nevertheless, the candidates have a fair share of joy and excitement even though being pressured a lot from time to time. As shown from a brief scene in the middle of the documentary, they can have each own free time whenever they are not practicing, and there is a little humorous moment when a young Ukrainian candidate attempts to drive a car under the guidance of his American host.

Due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, there was actually a serious discussion on whether the competition should deny several Russian candidates in the shortlist, but the Russian candidates were eventually accepted because it was eventually concluded that art comes first before politics as an important tool for communication and empathy. As a matter of fact, one Russian candidate, who is incidentally a 31-year-old pregnant mother, expresses her indirect objection to what is going on in Ukraine during her interview, and we later see her casually and comfortably interacting with a couple of Ukrainian candidates selected along with her for the final round.

Because the documentary already showed the eventual winner of the competition at the beginning, there is not much suspense for us, but we come to sense more of how most of the candidates become quite agitated whenever the jury announce the decision on who will be selected for the next round to come. Many of those unselected candidates surely feel quite disappointed, but they are now more relaxed at least, while also readying themselves for whatever will come next for their life and career.

Compared to many of his fellow competitors to beat, Lim somehow looks relatively flat and plain as responding to a number of questions with humble platitudes. To be frank with you, this gently introverted lad often feels to me as awkward as Dustin Hoffman’s character in “The Graduate” (1967), and, considering that he is only 19 at present, I guess he needs to grow up a bit more for having more character to distinguish himself and his artistic talent further.

Anyway, “Crescendo”, which is directed and produced by Heather Wilk, is still worthwhile to watch for the fairly entertaining presentation of its main subject, and I surely appreciated the considerable talent and skill of those candidates in the competition. They all surely did their best, and I can only hope that all of them keep going in one way or another.

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Àma Gloria (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): The last summer with her nanny

Posted on January 7, 2024 by kaist455

“Àma Gloria”, which was released in South Korea on the first Wednesday of 2024 as “The World of Cléo”, is a little but intimate coming-of-age drama revolving around the close relationship between a six-year-old French girl and her dear nanny. As they are spending what will be the last summer between them, we observe more of how much our little heroine is emotionally attached to her nanny, and the movie delivers some bittersweet moments while she comes to face the inevitable end of her good time with the nanny.

The early part of the film succinctly establishes the strong emotional bond between its little heroine and her nanny. Since her mother died when she was very young, Cléo (Louise Mauroy-Panzani) has been raised by a foreign nanny named Gloria (Ilça Moreno Zego) for next several years, and Gloria has been pretty much like a mother to Cléo. Although he is often busy and absent due to his work, Cléo’s single father sincerely appreciates what Gloria has done for him and his daughter, and it is apparent to us that she has been accepted as a crucial part of their daily life.

However, there comes an unexpected change via a phone call from Gloria’s hometown in Cape Verde. Gloria’s mother, who has taken care of Gloria’s two children during her absence, died suddenly, and Gloria must return to her hometown for her two children. When she hears about this change from her nanny, Cléo is not pleased to say the least, but at least she tries to be casual about Gloria’s imminent departure on the surface.

Before Gloria leaves for Cape Verde, Cléo is promised that she will be able to visit Gloria’s hometown during the upcoming summer vacation, and, mainly thanks to her stubborn insistence, she is eventually sent to Cape Verde under her father’s agreement. Right from her arrival in Cape Verde, she is warmly greeted by Gloria, and then she is also introduced to Gloria’s two children, who are rather distant to both Gloria and Cléo for understandable reasons.

While quite happy to be with Gloria again, Cléo gradually comes to sense the growing distance between her and Gloria, who now has several matters to deal with as trying to settle down in her hometown. Her older daughter is going to have a baby sooner or later, and her young son is quite resentful about her long absence, though he does not mind Cléo hanging around him from time to time. Gloria has been planning to run a little hotel for tourists, but its construction has been seriously delayed due to some financial problem, and she is relieved to get some help from an old friend of hers, who clearly wants to get closer to her if she allows that.

Naturally, Cléo becomes more and more agitated as her time with Gloria is about to be over. When her grandson is eventually born, Gloria comes to pay more attention to him because he is the one who matters to her most now, and Cléo cannot help but feel angry and jealous as facing this ongoing change of her dear nanny. We are not so surprised when she comes to have a little nasty wish after observing a local spiritual ceremony on Gloria’s grandson, and then things get a bit more intense when she lets herself driven more by her anger and jealousy later in the story.

Mostly sticking to its young heroine’s limited viewpoint, the movie closely and sensitively captures the emotional undercurrents swirling inside her innocent mind, and this is accentuated further by the broad but strikingly colorful animation interludes. Besides giving us some background information on Cléo’s relationship with Gloria, these animation interludes illuminate more of Cléo’s confused state of mind along the narrative, and everything in the story eventually culminates to a dramatic scene where Cléo comes to accept what will inevitably happen between her and Gloria in the end.

As the little but indelible emotional center of the film, young performer Louise Mauroy-Panzani is fabulous as effortlessly embodying her character’s small but dynamic emotional drama, and she is also supported well by the warm and understanding presence of Ilça Moreno Zego. Whenever they are together on the screen, we can sense the considerable affection and intimacy between their characters, and that is the main reason why the expected finale works with considerable emotional power. In case of several other main cast members in the movie, Fredy Gomes Tavares, Abnara Gomes Varela, and Arnaud Rebotini are also effective in their substantial supporting parts, and Tavares, who is a non-professional performer with no previous acting previous just like many of the main cast members of the film, is especially good as a boy who turns out to have his own emotional issues just like Cléo.

“Àma Gloria” is the second feature film of director/writer Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, who previously won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival for her first feature film “Party Girl” (2014). I have not watched “Party Girl” yet, but “Àma Gloria” shows that she is another talented filmmaker to watch, and it will be interesting to see what may come next from her after this solid coming-of-age drama movie. While its story and characters may feel quite familiar, they are presented with enough mood, detail, and personality to engage us, and you may come to hope that its little heroine will still remember her dear nanny even after growing up a lot during next several years.

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Good Grief (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): After his husband’s death

Posted on January 7, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix film “Good Grief”, which was released a few days ago, attempts to present a sincere and humorous drama about personal grief, and it mostly succeeds in my trivial opinion. While it has some notable flaws including its predictable narrative and a number of underdeveloped supporting characters, the movie is fairly engaging mainly thanks to the good efforts from its main cast members, who often hold the film together even when it lags or stumbles from time to time.

At the beginning, we see how things have been going well for Marc (Daniel Levy) and his husband Oliver (Luke Evans) during the annual Christmas party being held at their apartment in London. While Oliver is a writer currently enjoying the big success of some popular young adult novel series, Marc has collaborated with his husband as the illustrator of his husband’s books, and they look like a pretty happy couple to not only themselves but also many others at their party.

However, Oliver soon has to leave for Paris due to a little job to do there, and then an unexpected incident occurs not long after his departure. He dies due to a very unfortunate car accident, and Marc naturally becomes quite devastated to say the least. During next several months, he silently copes with his immense grief while not knowing what to do next, and his two best friends, Thomas (Himesh Patel) and Sophie (Ruth Negga), are willing to provide comfort and support to him as much as possible.

In the end, Marc decides to accept Oliver’s death more as opening a little letter left by Oliver right before his death, but he only feels more hurt because of what Oliver wrote in his letter. It turns out that Oliver had been having an affair behind his back, and he was seriously considering leaving Marc for some guy at that time. In addition, Marc finds out that Oliver bought an apartment in Paris, which was apparently for him and his new lover.

Without telling anything to Thomas and Sophie, Marc subsequently goes to Paris along with them for getting to know more about what Oliver was doing behind his back. As reminded more that Oliver was really ready to leave him at that time, he comes to feel more anger and sadness, and he is not cheered much even when his two friends try to have a little fun evening along with him.

Marc later decides to have an impromptu date with some handsome French guy he met some time ago, and that is where the mood becomes a little more serious than before. Although they do not know that much about each other, Theo (Arnaud Valois) shows some care and interest to Marc as opening himself more to him, and he even generously lets Marc express more grief as giving him a brief but precious private moment involved with several famous paintings by a certain French painter.

I think the movie could be better if it simply strolled along with Marc and his unexpected friend during the rest of its running time, but the screenplay by director/writer/co-producer Daniel Levy, who incidentally made a feature film debut here in this film, tries to handle some other things in the story, and that is when the movie gets less interesting as only ending up scratching the surface. For example, we never get to know much about the personal issues behind Sophie’s frequently exuberant attitude, and the movie also seems to hesitate to delve more into the past relationship between Marc and Thomas, who was once his lover before Marc met Oliver.

At least, the movie keeps its heart intact as anchored well by Levy’s earnest low-key acting, which feels a bit more serious than his flamboyant Emmy-winning turn in his acclaimed TV comedy series “Schitt’s Creek”. While generating a convincing sense of intimacy with Luke Evans in a few scenes between them early in the film, Levy is also believable as Marc struggles with his mixed feelings about his dead husband along the story, and we come to care more about his emotional struggle even though he is often pathetically self-absorbed as pointed out later in the movie.

In case of several other main cast members of the film, they dutifully fill their respective supporting parts, and they manage to leave some impression even though their supporting characters feel rather perfunctory at times. While Ruth Negga demonstrates a more lightweight side of her considerable talent compared to “Loving” (2016) and “Passing” (2021), Himesh Patel, who has steadily advanced since I noticed him via “Yesterday” (2019) and “Tenet” (2020), is solid in his understated comic role, and Arnaud Valois, who was memorable in “120 BPM (Beats per Minute)” (2017), clicks well with Levy during several key moments between them. Emma Corrin, Kaitlan Dever, and David Bradley simply come and then go to my disappointment, but Bradley, a dependable British character actor who is still working despite being 81 at present (Remember that cantankerous caretaker in Harry Potter movies?), makes the best of his brief appearance as Oliver’s father at least.

In conclusion, “Good Grief” is the modestly enjoyable first feature film from Levy, who may move onto better things considering his competent handling of mood and performance. I still think it could be improved in one way or another, but I and a friend of mine had a mostly good time with it yesterday, so I will not grumble for now.

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20,000 Species of Bees (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): The rural summer story of a trans kid

Posted on January 1, 2024 by kaist455

Spanish film “20,000 Species of Bees” is a little but intimate coming-of-age tale of one trans kid who becomes more serious and conflicted about her sexual identity during one summer. As gradually immersing us in her confused emotional state, the movie emphasizes with not only her but also several adult figures around her while each of them try to deal with her gender issues, and we become more touched as it calmly observes and depicts her emotional journey with lots of care and sensitivity.

At first, the movie slowly lets us gather the situation surrounding its 8-year-old trans heroine and her family. Not long after she caused some unspecified trouble with one of those neighborhood kids, she and two older siblings of hers go to their mother’s hometown located in Spanish Basque Country, but they are accompanied only with their mother because their father seems to be too busy with his job at present.

When our young heroine, who will name herself as Lucía later in the story, arrives along with her mother and siblings in their mother’s hometown, their relatives wholeheartedly welcome them all, and they all look forward to having a good time after the upcoming baptism ceremony for the young baby son of Lucía’s aunt. We soon see Lucía hanging around with a bunch of local kids, and she presents herself as a girl to them without much problem, though there is one brief moment when she has to hide her physically sexual identity from others.

Lucía’s mother is certainly well aware of what Lucía has been doing, and so does Lucía’s grandmother, who can only tolerate the sexual identity of Lucía to some degree. When she walks along with Lucía outside at one point, Lucía’s grandmother is not so pleased to see that Lucía is regarded as a girl, so she instantly emphasizes to others that Lucía is a boy, and that certainly hurts Lucía’s feelings to say the least.

Compared to Lucía’s grandmother, Lucía’s mother is more tolerant of Lucía’s emerging sexual identity, though she does not know much of how to deal with these serious issues of her kid. When they go to a local swimming pool, she generously allows Lucía to use the locker room for women, but she does not hide Lucía’s physically sexual identity at all, and this causes another conflict between her and Lucía.

In case of Lucía’s two older siblings, they turn out to be more tolerant of her sexual identity than they seemed at first. While they sometimes annoy Lucía, they become more accustomed to her sexual identity as their summer days go by, and the same thing can be said about a local girl around her age who comes to befriend Lucía later in the story. As a matter of fact, the girl is not so shocked at all when Lucía shows more of herself to the girl during their little private free time, and this actually deepens their friendship.

The most accepting figure in the story is Lucía’s great aunt, who has always dedicated to beekeeping with admirable diligence and passion. As she often takes Lucía to her little workplace outside the town, Lucía finds herself become more relaxed and comfortable with herself, and Lucía’s great aunt accepts Lucía exactly as who she is without any judgment.

While steadily following Lucía’s emotional narrative, the screenplay by director/writer Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren also pays some attention to what is going on among several female members of Lucía’s family including her mother and her great aunt. As a woman reaching for a chance to revive her old artistic career, Lucía’s mother cannot help but feel frustrated while still feeling like being overshadowed by her late artist father’s reputation, and that causes some tension between her and her mother, who probably tolerated a lot from her husband during their marriage. In addition, they also clash a lot with each other for their different viewpoints on how to handle Lucía’s gender issues, and an attempt of intervention from Lucía’s great aunt only comes to add more tension to their conflict.

In the end, the story culminates to an expected melodramatic moment, but the movie still holds itself well under Solaguren’s skillful direction, and it is also supported well by the good natural performances from its main cast members. Young performer Sofía Otero, who deservedly received the Silver Bear award for Best Lead Performance when the movie was premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival early in last year, is utterly unforgettable in her effortless illustration of her character’s emotional confusion and conflict along the story, and it must be said that Solarguren closely worked with a local association for the families of transgender minors for guiding Otero’s acting. In case of several adult performers surrounding Otero, Patricia López Arnaiz, Ane Gabarain, Itziar Lazkano, and Sara Cózar are well-cast in their respective supporting parts, and Arnaiz is particularly convincing in her character’s frequent struggle to understand and support Lucía as a flawed but fairly decent mother.

Overall, “20,000 Species of Bees” is another excellent coming-of-age queer drama to watch, and I admire its sensitive and thoughtful handling of the story and characters. To be frank with you, I do not know that much about transgender people, but a number of recent good films have given me some understanding and enlightenment on how they often struggle to understand and accept who they are, and “20,000 Species of Bees” is certainly one of such good films to recommend.

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The Teachers’ Lounge (2023) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A trouble at one school

Posted on December 30, 2023 by kaist455

German film “The Teachers’ Lounge”, which was selected as the German submission to Best International Film Oscar then was recently included the shortlist, is a dry but riveting school drama about how one small matter becomes quite complicated for everyone involved with it. No matter much how its good-willed heroine tries her best for handling this increasingly tricky situation, things keep getting messier thanks to not only others but also herself, and we come to brace ourselves as observing the growing tension and pressure around her and others.

At the beginning, the movie gradually lets us know an ongoing circumstance inside one school. There have been a series of theft incidents, and Carla Nowak (Leonie Benesch) and several other teachers come to suspect that one of their students is responsible for these bad incidents, so Carla and the principal have a little private meeting with her two students who might give any information on whoever is behind these bad incidents. Not long after that, Carla’s male students suddenly get their possessions examined in the middle of their lesson, and then one of these male students comes to draw attention for having a substantial amount of money in his possession.

This student in question explains where that money comes from, and his parents, who are incidentally immigrants, confirm their son’s claim. Mainly because she does not want to get this student suspected more, Carla decides to take care of the problem for herself. She sets up a little trap for the culprit at the teachers’ lounge, and then, what do you know, her laptop video camera captures another incident of theft during her absence, though the identity of the culprit remains unknown as before.

Just because of a little detail shown from the video clip, Carla comes to suspect one of the teachers in the school. She later confronts this teacher in question, but this teacher vehemently denies everything, so Carla decides to report to the principal, who promptly takes an action which comes to ignite a chain reaction of unpleasant happenings. It initially seems that the matter will be resolved sooner or later, but, unfortunately, the actions of Carla and several others around her are followed by the serious consequences beyond their control, which also lead to more problems and headaches to everyone in the situation.

One of these consequent problems is involved with the young son of that suspected teacher, who happens to be one of the smarter students in Carla’s classroom. Strongly believing in his mother’s innocence, he embarks on his little campaign against his teacher, and Carla cannot help but more exasperated even while trying to maintain her appearance and authority in front of her students, who come to regard her with more anger and defiance. No matter how much she tries to calm them down in one way or another, things only get worse and worse, and she even finds herself not getting much help or support from many of her fellow teachers.

Steadily dialing up the level of tension on the screen, director İlker Çatak, who also wrote the screenplay with Johannes Duncker, keeps the story and characters rolling under his skillful direction. Shot in the screen ratio of 1.33:1 by cinematographer Judith Kaufmann, the movie effectively builds up the sense of suffocation around its heroine, and we are not so surprised when Carla is eventually driven up to the point where she really needs any kind of mental ventilation. The score by Marvin Miller often feels jarring with deliberate discord, and we get unnerved whenever Miller’s score subtly announces something to happen sooner or later. While mostly sticking to its heroine’s viewpoint, the movie wisely does not vilify any of its main characters, and we come to understand and emphasize more with not only Carla but also several other main characters in the story – even while watching how they often make the situation all the more complicated and exasperating than before.

The movie is anchored well the strong performance of its lead performer. Leonie Benesch, a German actress who started her movie acting career in Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” (2009), is compelling as quietly conveying to us whatever is churning behind her character’s doggedly patient attitude, and she is especially fantastic when her character belatedly comes to realize her big error later in the story. I am not that sure about whether this moment is real or imagined, but Benesch is simply devastating as her character is reminded more of the growing trouble inadvertently caused by her.

In case of the other adult main cast members of the film, Michael Klammer, Rafael Stachowiak, Anne-Kathrin Gummich. and Eva Löbau are solid in their respective supporting parts. The special mention goes to a bunch of young performers in the film including Leonard Stettnisch, who are certainly another crucial part of the story. Their good natural performances function well as the counterparts to Benesch’s acting, and that is particularly evident during one tense scene where her character comes to face the growing distance between her and her students.

On the whole, “The Teachers’ Lounge” is often tough to watch, but it holds our attention thanks to its deft storytelling and convincing performance, and you may be relieved a bit when it arrives at an unexpectedly calm but powerful moment to remember. While nothing is certain for everyone even at the end of the story, there is some possibility for hope and harmony as suggested by what is played so harmoniously on the soundtrack during the following end credits – and we can only wish for the best for all of them.

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