Tag: 2020

So many great movies were released in 2020 that I had to create a Top 40! I already posted #’s 21 – 40, and #’s 11 – 20. Now we get to my Top 10 films of 2020!

#1 – AND THEN WE DANCED – I’m very hard on my gay, coming-of-age films, but writer/director Levan Akin’s powerful story of Merab, a young man in conservative Georgia, who has been training for years for a spot in the National Georgian Ensemble. When a new male dancer arrives Merab starts to see a whole know way of living. There are so many reasons why AND THEN WE DANCED is an outstanding film, from the sensitive and passionate screenplay, to the artful direction and cinematography, but much of the success lies in the hands of the young lead actor Levan Gelbakhiani, a dancer by training, whose every emotion washes over his open, beautiful face so transparently that your heart is always with him. And while this is a gay coming-of-age story there is so much more going on in this film, from Merab’s challenging home life, the rigors of his dance training, but central to it all, that rush of first love and first heartbreak. This one took me by surprise in so many ways, and has stayed with me strongly.

#2 – LIGHT FROM LIGHT – While Paul Harrill’s lovely film is sort of marketed as a paranormal investigation story (and it is that) it’s more about a pair of folks who are haunted by their own circumstances and how they are able to help each other. As a child, Shelia had a couple of visions that came true, and from there she went on to investigate paranmoral occurrences. A widower whose wife died under unusual circumstances hires Shelia to see if his wife’s spirit is still lingering in the house they shared. This is a truly slow burn, but once it’s got its hook in you, you’ll be glad you’re dragged along. The power of these quiet scenes took me by surprise, and the acting by Marin Ireland and Jim Gaffigan is just gorgeous. Josh Wiggins does great as well, as Shelia’s son, who is struggling with some big decisions that are colored by his mom’s history. Lovely cinematography in the Appalachians, and through the potentially haunted house cap things off beautifully. A powerfully and unexpectedly moving film.

#3 – NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS – Eliza Hittman follows-up the impressive BEACH RATS with a somber character study about a young woman from Pennsylvania who travels to New York City with her cousin to get an abortion. Things don’t go quite as planned, and the pair end up having to stay longer than expected, with no money to afford them a place to stay. Hittman found her lead actress in fist-timer Sidney Flanigan and effectively uses tight close-ups where the gifted young woman conveys her doubts and anguish through facial expressions alone. The sequence where the film’s title is explained took my breath away. Eliza Hittman is clearly a director to keep an eye on.

#4 – PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE – It’s so rare in a film to actually watch two people fall in love. It doesn’t happen set to a sweeping score, or in a delightfully sweet montage. It doesn’t happen all at once, with locked eyes, or a catching of breath. It happens slowly, over time, starting perhaps with admiration, then intrigue, perhaps desire, and slowly, that first blush of love. Céline Sciamma, already notable for her films WATER LILLIES and GIRLHOOD, creates an exquisite portrait herself, of a female painter in late eighteenth century Brittany, who is hired to paint the wedding portrait of a very unhappy… and unwilling young woman. As the painter paints, she peers, she gazes, she examines her subject, and in doing so, becomes the object of her subjects gaze as well. Stunningly beautiful, intensely engaging, a technical marvel, Sciamma’s PORTRAIT is a work of art.

#5 – SOUND OF METAL – I went into this film knowing nothing… in fact, I went into it with misinformation. I assumed, from the photo I saw, that it was a documentary about a heavy metal drummer who develops tinnitus. Instead, this stunning narrative follows the difficult path of a young man, a recovering addict involved in a slightly co-dependent relationship with a woman with whom her performs in a quasi-punk, quasi-art due, who damages his hearing to the point of deafness. Featuring a bravura performance by rising star Riz Ahmend, this drummer is entirely focused on a cure, while the community around him works tirelessly to help him to accept his lack of hearing and to adjust to a new way of living. First time director Darius Marder has created s powerful exploration of a man facing a challenge that shakes him to his core identity, and follows him through the arduous journey he must take to adapt.

#6 – SORRY WE MISSED YOU – Ken Loach tackles serious subject, and often his characters are struggling, working-class folk. In this film, he focuses on a family who’s just barely getting by in London: Ricky (Dad) drives a delivery van (think Amazon), Abbie (Mom) does home health care with horrible hours, Seb is technically in high school, but he’d rather be out spray painting some graffiti, and Liza Jae is the youngest, trying desperately to keep everyone happy. Despite best intentions and potential opportunities, things the Proctor family just can’t catch a break, and things just get worse and worse. Arguments turn into fights, things are done that can’t be taken back, but the incredible power of this film is through it all, Loach shows us by the actions of his characters that there is deep, familial love here, despite everything. It’s a tough film that broke my heart.

#7 – FIRST COW – Kelly Reichardt returns to an historic era, this time the 1800’s and the Westward Expansion, to tell a tale of friendship and early entrepreneurship during a rough and tumble time. An out of work cook helps a fugitive Chinaman, forging a quiet friendship then dreaming of what they could do to become successful in a frontier settlement. A number of things come together, the chef’s baking skills, the lack of interesting bread and sweets on the frontier, and the introduction of the first cow in the area, owned by a wealthy landowner who needed some cream for his afternoon tea. Reichardt has evolved into one of my favorite filmmakers, and her attention to detail, her skills with portraying friendships, and her comfort with silence create some beautiful cinematic tales.

#8 – SONG WITHOUT A NAME – Late 80’s Peru, on the precipice of being overwhelmed by terrorism by a group called The Shining Path. First-time feature director and co-writer Melina León paints a portrait of life in both the City, and the outskirts where the indigenous communities live in poverty. She focuses on one young woman, Georgina, who is about to give birth, but is too poor to cover the costs of the clinic. When she hears an ad on the radio of a clinic helping people avoid these costs, she takes the opportunity. Unfortunately, she becomes part of a growing newborn kidnapping movement, and as a poor, migrant woman, she is ignored by both the police and the judicial system. Her only hope is an eager young reporter who is assigned to dig into her story and uncover the truth, even while he is concealing his own truth that could put his life at risk. This grim story is told with powerful visuals the both highlight and counter the harsh life that Georgina faces.

#9 – CAT IN THE WALL – Illustrating both the strong bonds of family, and the gritty, harsh reality of current day life for some in London, CAT IN THE WALL follows a family of Bulgarian immigrants whose lives are thrown into disarray when a conflict with their neighbors over a cat escalates. This artfully written film that feels like improv, but must surely be carefully scripted, gives us a look into a housing development with a mix of residents, and a decision made to renovate the windows despite none of the tenants asking for it. The cost is borne by those who have long-term leases, and lead character Irina, struggling to find work as an architect but making ends meet working in a pub, tries to rally her fellow tenants in protest. Meanwhile, her conflict with her neighbors around the cat, puts her entire family in jeopardy.

#10 – KAJILLIONAIRE – Miranda July is consistent with her quirky characters that deliver powerfully moving messages from both her debut, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, and its follow-up, THE FUTURE. In KAJILLIONAIRE, she steps out of the performance aspect of the film sticking to the writing and directing, but allows Evan Rachel Wood to bring to life an amazingly strange, yet wonderful character in Old Dolio, daughter of an aging couple who decades ago stepped away from capitalist society to live a life off the grid, making their ways through cons and grifts. It’s amazing how July can weave such odd and off-putting characters into a narrative that not only reveals, but redeems them with heart and soul.

So many great movies were released in 2020 that I had to create a Top 40! I already posted #’s 21 – 40… here are #’s 11 – 20, and I’ll finish up with the Top 10 soon.

#11 – THE VAST OF NIGHT – After reading a rave review from a fellow Chlotrudis member, Brett, I was mightily intrigued to see this film. Essentially a radio play in consummate 1950’s style, with remarkable visuals added (the cinematography is astounding), each element of Andrew Patterson’s film is sheer perfection. The scattershot dialog, the long opening tracking shot through the gym, the parking lot and down the street, the intimacy of the telephone operator’s office, to the glorious final moments of the film. In any other year, this would have been Top 5!

#12 – TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH – Yoko is the host of a popular Japanese travel show. While filming at various cultural landmarks in Uzbekistan, we see Yoko shooting hip deep in a lake supposedly filled with large, mysterious fish, repeatedly riding a nausea-inducing, carnival ride, and eating not quite cooked food at a local eatery. On camera, she does this all with a smile and a perky, upbeat demeanor, but off-camera, Yoko is brooding and withdrawn, missing her boyfriend in Japan, and putting up with her dismissive, male director and cameramen. Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known for his more chilling, horror-themed films, and he uses some of those talents to highlight Yoko’s isolation and fear at being a woman alone in a foreign city. Beautifully understated with some striking moments of musical magic.

#13 – MOUTHPIECE – A marvelous return to form from Patricia Rozema, who adapts a uniquely challenging play bringing all her strengths to bear: a feminist perspective, an intellectual analysis, and an emotional heart. It helps that the playwrights, and lead actresses from the play also star in the film. Having two people play a single character, representing her different aspects is greatly aided by the pair that have lived in her skin for so long. Another beautiful analysis of the affects of grief, and another film with startling moments of musical magic.

#14 – HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD – Despite its roots in actual events (the film feels very autobiographical) the central coming-of-age focus makes it less historical and more personal. 14-year old Eun-hee is searching to find her place in the world as she enters into that adolescent period were every decision seems both completely irrelevant and life-changing at the same time. Her family is caught up in the middle-class struggle to improve. Casual neglect, abuse by her brother, misunderstandings in adolescent love, and a tragedy involving a true historical event add up to make writer/director Bora Kim’s narrative film debut something really special.

#15 – MONSOON – Kit returns to his birthplace in Saigon after fleeing post-war Vietnam over thirty years ago with his parents. Nothing seems the same, as he struggles with his heritage. Hong Khaou’s film is another story about grief that resonated with me strongly given my mothers Filipino heritage. She never went back after coming the America after World War II, and now I feel if I visited, it wouldn’t be the place she knew. Henry Golding does a great job as Kit, and the opening scene contains some spectacular imagery that inspires both calm and tension. A later scene that depicts a family harvesting lotus flowers for tea is similarly outstanding.

#16 – BEANPOLE – The setting is post World War II Leningrad, and when we’re watching a Russian film after World War II, you can count in it being pretty grim. The central characters are Iya and Masha, two young women who experienced the war first-hand. Iya, toweringly tall and eerily pale, fought on the front lines until a concussion sent her back to the City where she now serves as a nurse tending men, many of whom have had their lives permanently shattered. She’s also taking care of a young, preternaturally cute toddler. Problem is, her concussion also sends her spiraling periodically into numbing fugue states where her body seizes and she becomes unaware of what’s going on around her. One such moment, early in the film, sets the devastating tone for much of the rest of the film especially after Masha returns.

#17 – THE TRUTH – In a normal year, Hirokazu Koreeda’s English language debut would be in the Top 5, but the competition is fierce this year. Koreeda goes to France and assembles an international cast including Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, and Ethan Hawke, but sticks close to his favorite theme of family. In this case it’s the strained relationship between a mother, Fabienne, star of French cinema, and a daughter, Lumir, a screenwriter, now living in New York with her husband and daughter. You see, Fabienne has just published her memoirs which has caused some additional friction in the relationship. She’s also starring in new science fiction film where her own mother never grows old, unearthing her own insecurities about aging and her relationship with her own daughter. Another triumph for the master!

#18 – THE NEST – Sean Durkin (MARTHA, MARCY MAE, MARLENE) has created a simmering drama modeled on the classic haunted house horror story, but where the supernatural element that is haunting the unfortunate family within is represented by wealth. THE NEST tells the story of a family that is falling apart due to the pressures and excesses of the late 1980’s culture. Led by outstanding performances by the always exciting Carrie Coon, and a surprisingly mature Jude Law. This one stuck with me and my appreciation of it grew with the passage of time.

#19 – HAM ON RYE – High School children from all across town ritualistically prepare for a big event then travel in small groups to a common destination. Is it prom? It’s hard to tell, but when the destination appears, the town deli, and the rituals continue, from everyone touching the entryway sign as they arrive, or the amusing dance sequences, we understand there’s something else going on. For anyone who has ever grown up… which is pretty much all of us, this surreal and beautifully shot film is for you. Writer/director Tylor Taormina’s feature debut makes its mark boldly and beautifully.

#20 – SHE DIES TOMORROW – A fascinating premise reveals a psychological malady spreading from person to person that causes them to believe with certainty that they will die tomorrow. Actress Amy Seimetz wrote and directed this film after going through a bout with severe depression, and she captures the isolation and foreboding perfectly. What makes this film so fascinating is how each person so afflicted responds quite differently. Jane Adams is that standout in a quirky but realistic supporting role.

Perhaps it’s due to the pandemic and quarantine that are forcing people to stay home, but it sure seems like there are way more really great movies that were released in 2020 than usual. I think streaming services were picking up everything they could to give people enough to see while stick at home. Regardless the cause, I ended up seeing a slew of really great movies and I’ve ranked my Top 40 for you here. I will start with #’s 21 – 40, and only films that were eligible for Chlotrudis consideration this year, so while some of these films might have a date of 2019, or even 2018 on it, they were technically “released” in 2020. (I also saw some great festival films that won’t be technically “released” until 2021 and will appear on next year’s list, I suspect.

#21 – BULL – Annie Silverstein’s sobering coming-of-age tale of a high-school girl living in a West Houston subdivision, whose mother is incarcerated, and falls in with a crowd selling drugs to overcome poverty. Fortunately, she runs afoul of, and eventually becomes friends with, her neighbor, a former black rodeo rider who is facing retirement. Rob Morgan and Amber Harvard give natural, winning performances as the two leads, and Sara Allbright is fantastic as the imprisoned mom.

#22 – BLACK BEAR – Aubrey Plaza owns this fascinating and intense film that also shows off the talents of her co-star Christopher Abbott. Two tales in one, actually, where the cast plays two entirely different sets of characters in the same space. The first sees a writer take some time at a remote home that a young couple are renting out AIRBnB-style, as tensions build between the three, a wandering bear emerges from the forest. The second half shows the grueling shooting of a final scene of a film, where the director manipulates the lead actress to get the performance he wants.

#23 – THE PLANTERS – Written, directed, and starring Alexandra Kotcheff andHannah Leder, with a heaping teaspoonful of Wes Anderson stirred in, THE PLANTERS is a quirky, somber tale that features daring production design and cinematography that highlights the unusual actions of the characters. While some may find this film to be a bit twee, I adored Kotcheff’s character, Martha Plant, adopted by older adults who have since died, living alone in the desert of California, telemarketing for an air conditioning company, and “planting” gifts she shoplifts from the general store, then leaving coordinates on a public bulletin board where someone finds them and leaves her some money in exchange. When she stumbles upon a young woman (Leder) struggling with Multiple personality Disorder, who has a fixation with Catholicism, her life is forever changed.

#24 – GHOST TROPIC – Dreamy and somnambulistic, directed by Bas Devos in Brussels, this film follows Khadija (a sublime Saadia Bentaïeb) on an overnight journey through her city. When Khadija falls asleep on the bus after her long shift cleaning an office building, she wakes find herself at the end of the line with no more buses running that night. She has no choice but to make the long walk home as she doesn’t have the money for a cab. Along the way she encounters the denizens of Brussels’ late night, including a security guard, a dogwalker, a homeless man and his dog, a convenient store clerk, and her daughter. A lovely and poignant commentary on an immigrant’s look at a changing city.

#25 – I’M NO LONGER HERE – Daniel Garcia is terrific in his first film role as Ulises, leader of a a young street gang in Mexico that spends their days dancing to slowed-down cumbia and building a bit of a following, until a mix-up with a local cartel, forces him to migrate to the U.S. Ending up in Brooklyn, Ulises finds it nearly impossible with his extremely limited English to find his place in the USA, even with the help of a high school girl who has a crush on him. The wonderful dance sequences lift the film which could have been remorselessly grim. Nice work from wrtier/director Fernando Frias.

#26 – RED, WHITE AND BLUE – Director Steve McQueen did something amazing in 2020, he released a British miniseries made up of 5 feature films chronicling the bigotry faced by West Indian immigrants to London from the 1960’s – the 1980’s. This third installment tells the true story of Leroy Logan, who decides to try to affect change internally by becoming a London police officer after his father is unfairly and brutally arrested for no reason. John Boyega is outstanding as Leroy, and Steve Toussaint give him strong back-up as his father. Really powerful stuff here.

#27 – SHITHOUSE – If had told me a year ago that there would be a film in my Top 40 that focused on a freshman in college struggling to adapt to the constant partying atmosphere, the girl who dissed him, and the roommate he hated, and it was called SHITHOUSE, i would have laughed in your face. But writer/director/star Cooper Raiff has created a film about, what no doubt many kids going to college experience, missing their families, feeling friendless and adrift, and struggling to adapt to a College lifestyle. I only watched it because it features past Chlotrudis Breakout Award winner and guest, Logan Miller as the hated roommate, but I’m sure glad I did.

#28 – FISHBOWL – Small-town America can be difficult when you become the center of attention, and when three sisters lose their mother in a car accident, and their father grows increasingly obsessed with the Rapture that he thinks is forthcoming, they must cling together to get through their own traumas if they want to emerge whole on the other side. This was one of the many wonderful films I saw this year about dealing with grief. Brother and sister directing team Alexa Kinigopoulos and Stephen Kinigopoulos bring a hazy atmosphere similar to Sofia Coppola’s THE VIRGIN SUICIDES that enhances the eerie tale.

#29 – THE TWENTIETH CENTURY – Borrowing heavily from Guy Maddin, both in temperament and style, writer/director Matthew Rankin tackles Canadian history in a way that is outlandishly outrageous, and skewers Canada’s perceived good manner in a beautiful fantasia satire. Dan Beirne plays Prime Minister-wannabe, Mackenzie King, who must compete against other candidates for the position in absurd contests, all while keeping his own dark fetish — huffing women’s shoes — firmly in secret. While his mothe has had a premonition of the woman he will marry, a young nurse played perfectly by Sarianne Cormier throws everything-off kilter by catching Mackenzie’s attention. All this and an orgasming cactus!

#30 – FAREWELL AMOR – Relationships are hard enough without 17-years apart to put a wrinkle in things. Walter gets out of Angola as a refugee after enduring trauma and hardship during the war, and then immediately begins looking for a way to bring his wife and newborn daughter to New York City to join him. That efforts takes 17 years to see fruition, and he faces a wife converted to devout born-again status, and a daughter he has basically never met, all while ending a relationship with a woman that he had fallen in love with. Writer/director Ekwa Msangi tells this powerful story gently yet without holding back, refraining from placing blame on anyone and instead detailing the harsh realities faced by immigrants.

#31 – MISS JUNETEENTH – With hints of MISS FIRECRACKER and THE NEW YEAR PARADE, both films from past years that I have loved, MISS JUNETEENTH is about someone pinning a whole lots of hopes and dreams on an outdated tradition that they once succeeded with on someone else who may or may not want those same things. Turquoise won the Miss Juneteenth pageant back in her day, and got the chance for a scholarship to any black college of her choice. Something happened, which we’re never quite sure of, and she missed out on that chance. Now she wants the same for her teenaged daughter, right down to having her win using the same poem that Turquoise recited to win. It’s a beautiful and powerful look at missed opportunities, and wanting what you think is best for your child without stopping to ask.

#32 – SAINT FRANCES – Can you come of age in your thirties? That’s what this film is all about, as Bridget, adrift and aimless comes to terms with her life and moves forward in this beautifully structured film that sees women talking about subjects they don’t usually talk about… or at least that they don’t make films about. Bridget meets a guy at a party, they have sex, and she has an abortion, just as she’s takes a job as a nanny for a young girl parented by two women who have just welcomed a new baby into the home. As Bridget becomes friends with her new charge, Frances, she learns some lessons about life that don’t come easy, nor do they seem packaged for a movie. Lovely writing and directorial work.

#33 – CODED BIAS – This film couldn’t have been released at a better time as it explores the problematic uses and misuses of facial recognition, applied algorithms, artificial intelligence, and bias. But best of all it introduced me to Joy Buolamwini, a graduate student who discovers that facial recognition doesn’t work that well on black faces while developing a project at the MIT Media Lab. From there, Joy goes on to become a founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, a movement towards equitable and accountable AI. What a phenomenal woman, and what a well-crafted, illuminating documentary. 

#34 – FIRE WILL COME – While the inevitable fire provides some rather compelling filmmaking, it’s the first half of FIRE WILL COME that captivated me. Not a whole lot happens, a man, imprisoned for a couple of years for allegedly starting a fire that burnt down much of the forest, and part of the village where the film takes place, returns to live with his mother for a while. Together they sit out by the forest and discuss the invasive eucalyptus trees, tend to their cows, shelter in giant tree trunks from the rain, and maybe flirt a little with the local vet. It’s a quiet look at life and perhaps trying to earn a little redemption. Sadly that inevitable fire disrupts everything. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the most visually spectacular and surreal opening scenes of massive conifers toppling in silence before some massive beast.

#35 – GUEST OF HONOUR – In a step back to a return to form, Atom Egoyan explores familiar themes as a father and daughter explore hidden truths kept secret to gain a better understanding of each other. David Thewlis is terrific as a restaurant inspector who can shut down even the most popular restaurants with the flourish of his pen. His relationship with his daughter, a music teacher, is challenging at best, especially after the passing of his wife. When his daughter is imprisoned for sexual assault on a student, which she did not due, but insists on serving, the mysteries deepen. It’s Atom’s strongest film since CHLOE for sure.

#36 – LOVERS ROCK – In the opening film of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, we see a late 60’s community of Jamaicans who gather together for a house party for some delicious food, communal dancing, and some loving, and somehow it’s also a political act. The music and motion are hypnotic, and McQueen creates a visual and aural experience that really feels like immersive theater. First time feature actress, Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, is a wonderful protagonist to lead us through the various challenges faced by a West Indian woman in late 60’s London.

#37 – THE FORTY YEAR OLD VERSION – This terrific film written, directed, and starring Radha Blank, is worth it just to spend time listening to its creators unique and hilarious voice. After being voted one of New York’s 30 Under 30, she has spent the next ten years as a playwright with nothing to show for it in terms of productions. Radha is desperate for a breakthrough before 40 so she reinvents herself as rapper RadhaMUSPrime where she meets Beats-maker D. Before she can fully realize her potential as a rapper, she gets sucked into a potential production of one of her plays that promises a Broadway debut, but she might have to sell her soul to get it. Will she? This one is a lot of fun.

#38 – BABYTEETH – Based on successful Australian stage play, director Shannon Murphy has created a fully-realized film version that sees a young girl who is terminally ill, fall in love with a drug dealer, much to the consternation of her parents, who want only to give her everything she wants during her all-too brief life. Milla, played by Elizabeth Scanlen, has a strong voice and as is often the case in Australian movies, is surrounded by a quirky pack of supporting characters, from her mother, addicted to prescription drugs, and her therapist father, who numbers his own wife as one of his patients, to the young man who she falls for despite the fact that their introduction was just a con he was playing to make some quick bucks. BABYTEETH avoids sentimentality with a sharp script and strong performances.

#39 – DATING AMBER – Charming Irish film about a gay lad and a lesbian who decide to start dating to keep their mates off their backs. Despite 17-year-old Eddie’s plan to follow his Dad’s footsteps into the Irish army — in part to persuade himself of his masculinity, and in part because there aren’t a lot of alternatives in his little Irish village of a hometown when you can’t even admit to yourself that you’re gay. Amber, on the other hand, is just biding time to get past the sorrowful looks of her neighbors and the caring yet restricting grip of her Mom, after the sudden death of her Dad. The leads are so appealing, and the script strong enough that we are really rooting for these kids, not only to sort out their own relationship, but to make it past their difficult adolescences and come into their own.

#40 – A WHITE, WHITE DAY – Another strong entry into the serious, not-quirky Icelandic dramas. Ingimundur is devastated by the death of his wife and loses himself into a surly funk that is only broken by his beloved granddaughter Salka. Ingimundur deals with his grief by not dealing with it, a classic male response, burying his emotions so deep that when the erupt, you know it’s going to be explosive. When he discovers that his wife might have been having an affair before she died, he finds a target for his rage. Ingvar Sigurdsson is powerfully convincing as Ingimunudr, portraying a loving grandfather, a former police officer, a vengeful, wronged-husband, and a man incapable of expressing the grief that tears him up inside. Young Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir does a great job as Salka as well, clearly devoted to her grandfather, but worried about him as well, and dealing with her own grief. It’s their relationship that forms the core of the film, and it is presented as unshakable as granite, weathering even the harshest climate.