film – Just Giblets

March 27, 2022

My Top 50 Movies of 2021 – #’s 11 – 15

Relationships of all kinds are under fire in this batch of my Top 20. Whether it’s the complicated relationship that develops between a serial killer and an FBI analyst, a mother who will do anything in her power (or even beyond it) to protect her family, or a war veteran struggling with PTSD and a volunteer recovering dead bodies after a brutal war, relationships are at the heart of these films. It’s a tough group, but that’s how I like them.

#15 – No Man of God, directed by Amber Sealey (Canada) – I’m not a fan of movies about serial killers, and I have no interest generally, in getting into their heads to see how their minds work. However I was drawn to Amber Sealey’s NO MAN OF GOD, a film focusing on his last years in prison before he was executed, and the relationship he developed with FBI Analyst Bill Hagmaier, because a favorite of mine, Canadian actor Luke Kirby, played Bundy, and I was curious to see how that went. Elijah Wood played Hagmaier. Needless to say I was very pleasantly surprised at this film, which not only featured terrific performances, but was thoughtfully written and directed, to focus nearly exclusively on the two central characters and their relationship, and avoided any glorification of the heinous murders Bundy had committed. Much of the film is set in the interview room where Bundy and Hagmaier conducted their conversations, and many of these conversations played out like a cat & mouse game with each trying to draw the other out to play their hand. As the film progresses, however, you start to sense that some sort of relationship develops between the two, with Hagmaier possibly developing a deeper understanding of a man capable of committing such atrocities not being all that different than many other who never commit a crime, and Bundy developing a respect and even friendship with Hagmaier due to his honesty, and evident curiosity to understand him. It’s to Kirby’s credit that we are never quite sure if Bundy is genuine in this relationship, or if he is a master manipulator to the end. Still with hours to go until his execution, Hagmaier does get what he wanted: an admission from Bundy on many of the unsolved crimes he’d been suspected of.

Some have criticized the casting of Woods for being too youthful in appearance to play the FBI analyst, but I thought it worked well for the role. His large eye taking in Bundy’s storied, but just as carefully examining the mans every moves. Both actors play it low key, and Bundy’s occasional outbursts seem natural and well-handled. Credit must go to Sealey as well for her use of the female supporting or background characters, for representing, sometimes with just actions, the female point-of-view in this drama. Aleksa Palladino is strong as the defense attorney representing Bundy for his stay of execution and has a great scene when she explains why she does this to Hagmaier. Other women, such as a production assistant in a recorded interview between a clergyman and Bundy, convey their disgust and horror by simply staring stonily at him, flickers of emotion barely registering across her face while he speaks. Intense, dramatic, and very well handled.

#14 – Nomadland, directed by Chloé Zhao (USA) – Chloé Zhao’s follow-up to multi-Chlotrudis nominee THE RIDER is sure getting a lot of well-deserved acclaim. Zhao applies an inventive yet assured directorial hand in this melancholy tale about modern-day nomads, living out of their vehicles, traveling from place all cross, in this case, the American West. The story centers on Fern, played with the usual skill by Frances McDormand, a widow from the town of Empire, Nevada, that was basically eradicated by the shut-down of a factory that scattered its residents apart. Fern is making ends meet by living in her van and working for Amazon during the holiday rush, but when that ends, she finds herself at loose ends. She follows the advice of a woman she befriends in the RV park, who spends time in Arizona, with a nomadic guru. Fern is doubtful, but she travels there and discovers a community of like minds. Linda May (from whom she gets the tip), Swankie, David and the like. The film follows Fern for over a year, as she moves from place to place, making connections, finding herself briefly at her sister’s home, considering setting down roots with a new family, and ultimately making the decision to follow the path that is right for her life.

Zhao keeps things real in a number of ways. She fills the cast with actual nomads whose stories she tells, she keeps her direction direct and low-key, letting emotional moments burble up quietly with impact, reveling with her cinematographer, Joshua James Richards, in the beauty of our country, from the deserts of Arizona to the rocky terrain of the Dakota’s Badlands. She doesn’t try to make anyone feel a certain way, but allows Fern to make the decisions that are right for her. She adapted Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book of the same name to tell authentic stories and they resonate strongly in the film. McDormand read the book and optioned it as a film, and her performance anchors it perfectly, and gives it it’s driving force, but it’s the three main supporting characters, Linda May, Swankie, and nomad-guru, Bob, who provide the authenticity as these non-actors play versions of themselves in the film. Truly powerful.

#13 – Quo Vadis, Aida?, directed by Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Austria, Romania, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, France, Turkey, Norway) – Films about the Bosnian War in the 90’s are pretty tough, and QUO VADIS, AIDA? is no exception. The story of a woman desperately trying to keep her family safe and caught in the middle of an increasingly hopeless situation is what we get with this film. Based on true events, it’s 1995, and the town of Srebrenica has been designated a safe haven by the UN The Dutch peacekeeping force assures the town that air strikes will occur if The Serbs try to invade. Instead, the UN leaves the Dutch out to dry and their base is overrun by Bosnian refugees fleeing the violence. Aida works for the UN as a translator for the Dutch Army. When her family, a husband and two grown sons, don’t make it onto the base after it reaches max capacity, and are left outside the locked gate with about half of the town, she desperately tries everything she can think of to get them in. She is ultimately successful, but that is only the first of a series of hardships Aida must face as the horrors of this war begin to escalate.

The film is very strong, with gripping direction by Jasmine Zbanic, who directed the haunting GRBAVICA: LAND OF MY DREAMS, which garnered a Chlotrudis nomination for its lead actress, Mirjana Karanovic. We know the story arc Zbanic creates is leading us to a devastating finale, but she keeps the tension high and hope, even just a slim strand, present. But you must see QUO VADIS, ADIA for the lead performance by Jasna Djuricic. Aida basically drags the viewer through this film, whether willing or unwilling. Her determination practically leaps off the screen compelling you to follow her on her desperate journey. There is no obstacle that she won’t try to sumount, no matter what the consequences. It’s compelling and powerful, but somehow she retains her humanity through it all, and Djuricic and Zbanic show this is small ways: a moment of respite where Aida gets high, a flashback to a happier time that reveals the guilt that Aida is feeling. Best Actress nomination for sure… possibly direction, movie, and editing.

#12 – Atlantis, directed by Valentyn Vasyanovych (Ukraine) – ATLANTIS is the Ukraine’s 2021 entry to the Oscars. A simple, straight-forward story that tells a grim tale set four years in the future with glimmer of hope in the form of love. While efforts are underway to keep Eastern Ukraine running after a particularly devastating war with Russia, there really isn’t that much left to salvage. Former soldiers Ivan and Sergei suffer from PTSD, and blow off steam with some target practice that escalates into a startling conclusion. The next day, Ivan commits an act that gets the factory they work at shut down. Sergei is a survivor though, and he gets a job delivering water across the blasted out, barren countryside because potable water is now incredibly scarce. On one of his sojourns he assists Katya, part of a project seeking to exhume the thousands of dead soldiers from the wars to identify and bury them. Sergei and Katya’s story starts off slowly but ultimately it’s the whole point of the film, and how even after the most damaging experiences there is hope.

Writer/director Valentyn Vasyanovych has created a film that is bleak and difficult to watch at points, but there are moments of sudden beauty as well. Vasyanovych acted as cinematographer as well, and his post-war landscape is as post-apocalyptic as any I’ve seen. The pace of the film is slow, with static shots and slow pans. The building Sergei lives in is a hollow wreck, and he seems to be the only person living there. Later in the film, an ecologist that Sergei rescued tells him that he needs to leave Ukraine, that the country is literally dead and will take decades if not centuries to become inhabitable again. ATLANTIS is really a tale about what could cause a person to chose to stay in that type of environment.

#11 – Test Pattern, directed by Shatara Michelle Ford (USA) – This chilling, or perhaps sobering film leaves quite a lasting impression. Renesha is out dancing at a bar with her girlfriends. Evan starts to dance with her at at the end of the night he asks asks for her phone number, which she supplies, much to her friends surprise. From there the unlikely pair embark on a lovely and sweet romance that starts with them learning about each other (she is a corporate drone living in an elegant apartment in a money-making job that doesn’t make her happy/he is a tattoo artist who has not drive to make a million bucks or take over the world, but is happy in his life) and moves to them committed to one another, buying or renting a cute little house together. Life and love seem pretty good for them, as two young people making it work in Austin, TX.

“All of that is mainly set-up for the main thrust of the film, which sees Renesha and Evan going to the Emergency Room to find a rape kit and report a sexual assault after Renesha spends a night out dancing at a local club with a girlfriend. In a sequence of events that play out like a horror film, the pair are shuttled all over the city trying to find a rape kit and someone who can adminster it, all while their relationship undergoes some intense testing. Without going into details, let’s just say that the film doesn’t end on a high note, but one that ponders the social injustices around gender and race and the how easily a trauma can upend a life or lives.

“Shatara Michelle Ford’s directorial debut, also written by her, navigates this excruciating experience with agonizing patience that results in a slow-burn drama filled with unspoken pain. Unspoken perhaps, but not invisible, as the body language of the two leads, particularly Brittany S. Hall’s Renesha is exquisitely displayed and tells a story that makes words unnecessary. Ford and Will Brill do a really great job with Evan as well, making him sensitive and loving, but also susceptible to the systemic racism and ingrained sexism that many straight, white men face. He’s a sympathetic character just trying to do do the right thing for the woman he loves, but can’t help stumbling in hurtful ways. Ford also plays with time, inserting a scene about 3/4 of the way through the film that makes you pause to place it in its proper moment, that illuminates the ongoing storyline to devastating effect. There are interesting parallels between this film and last year’s Chlotrudis Awards Best Movie winner, Eliza Hittman’s NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS in the way it examines the societal and systemic problems with women’s healthcare, particularly for those with less privilege (black women, and underage women).

March 20, 2022

My Top 50 Movies of 2021 – #’s 21 – 25

#25 – Nine Days, directed by Edson Oda (USA) – Creative, powerful and affecting, Edson Oda’s NINE DAYS takes a metaphysical approach to examine what it means to live. Will spends his days monitoring a dozen of so TV screens depicting every action of a select group of people’s lives. When Amanda, one of Will’s favorites, a promising violin prodigy drives her car into a wall, either accidentally or on purpose, Will is shaken. While trying to understand what happened with Amanda, Will begins interviewing a series of souls who are each given the chance to live by being born into a human life. Only one of these souls will be selected after a series of tests that Will conducts over the next nine days. Will’s process is regimented but is thrown off not only by the impact Amanda’s death has had on him, but on one soul who behaves unlike any other soul he has interviewed in the past. His only support is Kyo, a rare soul who has never moved on to life on earth, but was granted a spot to help monitors/interviewes like Will to do their job.

Brazilian/Japanese Oda has fashioned an emotionally powerful debut feature, with a stark yet beautiful look, Will’s well-lived solitary home in a harsh desert landscape. The juxtaposition of otherworldliness, anachronistic technologies, like the VCR’s Will uses to monitor people’s lives, and the homey, mundane surrounding come together to create a strange, otherworldly atmosphere. In a beautiful touch, reminiscent of Hirokazu Koreeda’s magnificent AFTERLIFE, those souls who do not make the nine day process are granted one experience that Will creates for them before they are gone. There is one major flaw for me in the basic premise of the film, which if I dwell on for too long would ruin the meditative beauty of the story. Why would a man who is so broken be put in charge with the determination of a soul’s existence? It seems harsh and almost barbaric, coupled with the distasteful reality-show style competition these souls must endure. However setting that aside and just enjoying the film as an experience is truly remarkable, and it has one of the strongest, beautifully acted conclusions I’ve seen in a while.

#24 – Passing, directed by Rebecca Hall (USA/UK/Canada) – This assured directorial debut from actor Rebecca Hall reveals a practice that many people will be unaware. Set in 1920’s Harlem, a chance reunion of two high school friends poses moral and ethical challenges to a black woman who finds herself becoming entangled in the life of her friend who is living her life passing as white. I loved the performances in this film, particularly from Tessa Thompson who plays Irene. Thompson wraps herself in manners and poise, as a doctor’s wife who is living a life of means while nursing a fiery, intellectual passion for the civil rights of her black brothers and sisters. Her fascination with her high school friend Claire is mixed with revulsion at the way she endures the casual bigotry of her husband. From the opening moments of the film, where Irene herself, whether unknowingly, but more likely shamefully out of necessity, is shown passing as a white woman while doing some Christmas shopping, every movement, every glance, every tensing of her face is Thompson’s way of telling Irene’s story. It’s a masterful and restrained performance even as things start to unravel around her. Ruth Negga, ironically also first came to my attention through a Marvel production, this time television’s ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ before showing her dramatic stuff in LOVING, plays the more flamboyant Claire with glorious abandon. She too hides a conflicting longing deep within, while living her life to the fullest, taking every advantage with seemingly little concern for her safety. She weaves a captivating spell on those around her, but conceals a quiet torment that sees her secretly envious of her friend Irene.

In addition to the beautiful character exploration of these two women, Hall captures a moment in time during the Harlem Renaissance, when artistry and intellectualism flourished in the black neighborhood on New York City. Where dances, and dinner parties flourished in the neighborhood, and questions of racial discrimination seemed distant, although limited in its geography. Costumes, settings, and the gorgeous black & white cinematography all support Hall’s fine directorial debut, where her strength is clearly from her background as an actor, and revealing the strongest performances from those acting around her.

#23 – Identifying Features, directed by Fernanda Valadez (Mexico/Spain) – This Mexican feature is a slow burn as a mother, Magdalena travels from her tiny village in Guanajuato to the Mexican/US border to find out what happened to her son. Along the way she encounters resistance, danger and mounting terror, as well as Miguel, a young man deported from the US who helps her on her quest. Throughout the film we must wonder whether the main character’s search is fruitless… all signs point to her son being dead. Director Valadez unspools the story slowly in darkness and visions of terror. But Magdalena finds herself similarly drawn to the plight of Miguel, who faces a tragedy potentially as large as her own.

Director Fernanda Valdez shows the grim determination in Magdalena, who only wants the truth, and the extraordinary lengths she will go through to find the truth. The bureaucracy, the horror, the uncertainty, but perhaps in helping Miguel, she finds another path. The incredible sound design that melds discordant music with droning sound effects underscores the terror that people are living through every day. The bleakness of the cinematography seems dark even in broad daylight. This devastating film paints a horrific picture of the challenges suffusing rural Mexico today.

#22 – Les Nôtres, directed by Jeanne Leblanc (Canada) – The English translation of the harrowing film from Quebec is OUR OWN, which darkly conveys the complicit nature of the tight community in s small town in Quebec. After a traumatic factory fire that is responsible for the death of a pivotal character, the town’s Mayor steps up, receiving accolades for supporting the town and creating a park in memory of those who died. One of his biggest supporters is Isabelle, whose husband perished in the fire, and whose daughter Magalie is the focal point for the film. Isabelle lives across the street from the Mayor, and his good friends with his wife, Chantal. Magalie is best friends with the older of two of the Mayor’s adopted, immigrant sons. When we discover that Magalie is pregnant, a victim of the manipulative abuse that is far too prevalent among young girls, we also discover how the tangled interpersonal relationships of those involved make this film all the more harrowing. It is not a spoiler to reveal that the abuser is the town’s Mayor, and his deft and sinister manipulation of Magalie make for some uncomfortable and horrific viewing. The townsfolk, already mistrustful of those who are different, look to the Mayor’s immigrant son, and in a devastating moment, Magalie’s frightened victim makes a decision that changes lives.

The film is tightly constructed and well-written, and if you find yourself getting frustrated with characters’ behaviors… that’s the point of Leblanc’s film. She co-wrote the screenplay with the actress who plays Chantal, whose character’s story arc is surprising and full of depth. The mother/daughter relationship shared by Isbelle and Magalie is remarkably realistic and adds to the frustration. It’s a small, quiet film, that one review i read criticized for not being more operatic due to its su object matter. I for one and grateful that it avoided that Hollywood-spawned pitfall and kept things low-key and simmering. The film also avoids a sunny ending, but keeps things firmly on the side or dark realism.

#21 – This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese (South Africa/Italy/USA/Lesotho) – Mantoa is an 80-year-old widow who has lost everything. Living in a small village in the Southern African country of Lesotho, she has buried her husband, her children, even her grandchildren, and is just waiting to die herself, despite her strong health and indomitable will. When the nearby city officials decide to create a reservoir by damning a nearby river that will require Mantoa’s village be relocated, it ignites a fiery resistance within her and she begins a crusade to prevent the relocation, knowing that the burial grounds of her family will be left behind.

Lesotho director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese weaves a powerful tale like so many other recent films about progress representing a death of the old ways. His camerawork, both illuminating the harsh but gorgeous African bush, and in close-up to Mantoa’s determined, age-lined face tell the story so effectively even with the scarcity of dialogue. Actress Mary Twala is the real key to this film’s success. Twala worked on dozens of films in her lifetime, and she sadly died at 81 last year, but this tour de force performance is quite a legacy to leave behind. Whether she is in despair at the loss of her family and her continued existence, or struggling against a faceless government whose only concern is progress. she is a forceful presence on the screen and you can’t take your eyes off her.

March 17, 2022

My Top 50 Movies of 2021 – #’s 26 – 30

As we enter my Top 30, we get to the transition from 4 star movies to 4 1/2 star movies, and that transition takes place right at the documentaries, which anchor my 4 1/2 star movies. I admit it, I prefer narrative features to most docs. Every once in a while, a doc comes along to simply blow me away (Stories We Tell, The Gleaners & I, Protagonist, Honeyland) but those are few and far between. This is also a very U.S. heavy segment, with only one non-domestic film represented, from Hungary

#30 – The World to Come, directed by Mona Fastvold (USA) – It’s only natural to compare Mona Fastvold’s sophomore narrative directorial effort, THE WORLD TO COME to the other recent historical, forbidden love flick, PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, and there are worse comparisons. But while the two woman in PORTRAIT explore the gaze, Abigail and Tallie’s connection is more cerebral… although there’s plenty of gaze there as well.

This 19th century tale finds Abigail running a farm with her husband Dyer, struggling through a harsh upstate New York winter after losing their only child to diphtheria. Her grief is overwhelming, and she writes about it in her journal with a lyricism that betrays her hunger for knowledge. When new neighbors, Tallie and Finney move in the two woman turn to each other in their loneliness. Abigail’s language and knowledge turn her inward, while Tallie moves through life like a flower, straining for the sun, reaching for the breeze, her entire body vibrating with tactile awareness, even as her agile mind responds to Abigail’s intellect. Ultimately the cruelty and power of men leads this story to an expected conclusion, but the time Fastvold spends drawing these two women out to become who they were meant to be is beautiful and revelatory. As portrayed by Katherine Waterston and Vanessa Kirby, the two women become real as individuals, but also real as symbols of womanhood in a time when women had little agency or control of their lives. Their chemistry is lovely.

#29 – Dimland, directed by Peter Collins Campbell (USA) – For his feature directorial debut, music video director Peter Campbell chose a quiet, fantastical tale that could be looked at as the perils of nostalgia, the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood, or the way we deal with mental illness, depending on how deep you want to look. Brynn is a young woman out of sorts. Slightly depressed, she seeks a change of scenery, so she and her boyfriend, Laika, head out to the woods to stay in a family cottage and recharge. When they arrive, Brynn is dismayed to find the cottage recently-renovated into a fancy vacation home for the AirBnB crowd. Yet as they settle in, she finds that not everything has changed, and a dear friend from her childhood comes a calling. Brynn doesn’t recognize the oddly named Rue at first, as he is bundled in winter clothes and his face is concealed with an odd, wooden mask. Laika things Rue is awfully strange, but Brynn starts to remember him from her childhood and begins o spend more and more time with him, until it becomes clear that Rue is not simply a childhood friend, and Brynn is in danger of losing herself to another world.

DIMLAND is a fairly straight-forward, yet spiritual look at a fragile woman’s psyche, and the challenges she and many of us face in dealing with the transitioning responsibilities of adulthood. While Brynn may be suffering some deeper mental illness, DIMLAND was reminiscent to one of my favorite recent films, ANNE AT 13,000 FT. in the way it doesn’t seek to paint their lead characters as victims, nor as sources of unwarranted sympathies, but shoes the challenges their mental states pose to those around them. The acting in DIMLAND is quite strong, particularly Martha Brown as Brynn, and Nate Wise, who adopts a somewhat otherworldly voice, and odd shamble as Rue.The settings beautiful, with misty woods and rolling hills, but the strongest part of this thoughtful debut is certainly Campbell’s script.

#28 – Preparations to Stay Together for an Unknown Period of Time, directed by
Lili Horvát (Hungary) – As I play clean-up to this year’s batch of Chlotrudis nominations, I’m always thrilled when I stumble across one that I missed, that if I had seen, I would have nominated! Such is the case of Lili Horvát’s Hungarian drama/romance, PREPARATIONS TO BE TOGETHER FOR AN UNKNOWN PERIOD OF TIME. Anchored by a remarkable performance by Nastasa Stork, our heroine may or may not be somewhat delusional. A native-born Hungarian working in the U.S. as a neurosurgeon, Marta meets and is drawn to Janós (Viktor Bodó) a fellow doctor at a conference. While she claims that it wasn’t quite love, it was enough to cause her to give up her glitzy job in the U.S. and return to Hungary where the two said they would reunite a month later by a particular bridge. When she finally finds him, not quite at the appointed time or place, he claims never to have seen her before. Whether the world is a little off, or Marta is doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, and in the end, we are never really certain, but it’s fascinating to watch Marta’s cool response to the curveballs her life throws at her, rebuilding a life in Hungary while trying to win Janós back to her (or possibly win him over for the first time?)

*Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time*

I love the fact that Marta is a highly-skilled neurosurgeon, and that we also question her mental faculties as she struggles with possible delusions, or obsessions. I also love a film where you’re not really sure if things are happening in reality as they appear, or if things are skewed by the main character’s post of view. Horvát’s screenplay does that adroitly, and never swings too far in either direction. If I had seen this film before nomination time, I would have also nominated it for Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and possibly Best Movie. A real winner.

#27 – The Velvet Underground, directed by Todd Haynes (USA) – I loved this documentary. It took a subject I new relatively little about, and structured it like an indie, art-house film with talking heads, clips past performances, still images, and more to create a collage of a band, a movement, and a place in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Ostensibly this documentary told the story of legendary avant-garde rock band The Velvet Underground, known for its inclusion of Lou Reed, John Cale, and Nico. What I didn’t know was how instrumental Andy Warhol and his Factory were responsible for the launch of the band (or that they had a female drummer!) Nor was a terribly familiar with their music, other than the fact that the original version of Sweet Jane was from them. Their music intrigued me, as did their larger-than-life, diverging personalities. Haynes focuses on Reed’s and Cale’s childhoods to start, thereby painting a revealing picture of the time and what made them into the men they became.

The fascinating Nico swept into and out of the documentary, much the way she did the band. I was also fascinated by the deliberate placement of this art/rock crowd as distinctly anti-hippy despite their concurrent development. It was an outlook I had never thought about among the youth of the late 60’s. It’s not surprising that THE VELVET UNDERGROUND turned out to be such a compelling and fascinating film given its writer/director. Todd Haynes has already shown an interest in the music of a near time with his narrative feature VELVET GOLDMINE.

#26 – Wojnarowicz: F**k You F*ggot F**ker, directed by Chris McKim (USA) – Queer 80’s artist David Wojnarowicz was a contemporary of Robert Mapplethorpe and Keith Haring, but with a decidedly different outlook and more in-your-face attitude. Documentaries about art are not really my thing, but WOJNAROWICZ is an exception: a very well-made documentary that actually caught and held my attention, and made me ponder things beyond the scope of the film. Oh, and did I neglect to mention? The full title of this doc is WOJNAROWICZ: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER, which should give you a clue as to the temperament of the film’s subject. Born in New Jersey, and physically abused by his father, Wojnarowicz fled to Manhattan as a teen and hustled to make money. From this rough background, he emerged as an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist and AIDS activist prominent in the East Village art scene. Sadly, like so many men in the 80’s, he died of complications due to the AIDS virus in 1992.

Filmmaker Chris McKim was able to sidestep the whole talking head form of doc because David documented much of his life on audiotape, both himself and his conversations with others. By marrying images of David’s artwork, and archival footage of New York in the 80’s with David’s recorded ruminations and conversations, you really got to know that scene and the artist. Interviews with gallery owners, other artists, and friends of David’s and just using the audio over older footage maintained the tone and style of the film successfully.

Two things truly resonated with me. First was the inherent dichotomy that David wrestled with where he was driven to get his art out there, and wanted it to be seen, but he loathed rich people, and the more well-known he became, the more he struggled with his success. He certainly appreciated not having to scrounge for his next meal, and his artwork benefitted from a stable home, but there was a part of him that was angry that it was all beholden to the wealthy. I was also struck by how this doc told a portrait of a young man who came of age in a radically different way than I did, due to his background and where he spent his teens and twenties, and it struck me how much environment, especially as a gay man coming of age in the 80’s, really shapes your personality. It also made me think quite about about Bruce’s life in Manhattan during the 1980’s. It’s been at least two weeks since I watched the film and it’s still lodged firmly in my brain. That’s the sign of a good documentary, how it makes you ponder your own life and the world around you. In that, and in many other ways, WOJNAROWICZ: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER was a big success.

March 2, 2022

My Top 50 Movies of 2021 – #’s 31 – 35

It pains to see films that I thought would be in my Top 20 or even 10 when I saw them, barely make the Top 40. That speaks to the number of quality films I saw in 2021. And while the U.S. grabs another spot on the Top 40 (as well as one shared with Canada and Hungary) we’ve got representation in this batch from Mexico, Israel, and and Irish/UK co-production. Of course, what not-surprising characteristic do all these films share? A strong female protagonist.

#35 – Pieces of a Woman, directed by Kornél Mundruczó (Canada/Hungary/USA) – The English-language debut of Hungarian, Chlotrudis-nominated director Kornél Mundruczó (WHITE GOD) is a powerful if uneven portrayal of devastating loss and grief, and how that can create emotional chasms between people who love each other. The film opens spectacularly, with a nearly half-hour, real-time sequence with nary an edit to be seen. It’s a tense, slow-build sequence as Martha and Sean, are faced with the home birth they’ve been planning for for months. Of course, there’s always a hitch, and their midwife is unavailable, so a sub arrives, with calm assurances, to deliver their baby. As one might suspect from the title of the film, things do not go well, and the remainder of the film deals with how this situation affects Martha, Sean, and those around them.

“To start with, Vanessa Kirby (who I was not familiar with) really sold it for me. Her emotional reserve seemed so much more real than hysterical wailings, or outward signs of grief. Oh, the struggle is there, and Kirby lets us see it in her eyes, or in quiet outbursts aimed at those she loves. Ellen Burstyn as Martha’s mother, is the icy, emasculating mother-in-law, who definitely rises above the script (the screenplay is the films weakness) even manages to pull off a rather clumsily written and shot monolog through her skills alone. Most memorable (no surprise if you know me) is Molly Parker’s supporting role as Eva, the midwife, who ends up on trial for her actions. Her first appearance is a beautiful example of subtlety in acting, as she capably handles the home birth situation, and when things start to go a little awry, you can see it in the tiniest ways even as she calmly keeps the situation well in hand… until she doesn’t. Ultimately, despite the clumsy, heavy-handedness of parts of the screenplay, I give PIECES OF A WOMAN high marks, based on performances, Martha’s throughout and powerful story arc, and the deft filmmaking from Mundruczó and cinematographer Benjamin Loeb.

#34 – Los Lobos, directed by Samuel Kishi (Mexico) – LOS LOBOS (THE WOLVES) is a semi-autobiographical story of Lucía, a young woman who emigrates to Albuquerque from Mexico with her two children, Max, age eight, and Leo, age five. After struggling to find a trashed studio to live in, Lucía must work long hours to make money for the family to survive. Her children are given strict rules to follow, the first being they must never leave the apartment. As Lucía’s hours grow longer and longer, the boys find ways to keep themselves occupied, watching other children play in the apartment complex courtyard, speaking occasionally to the Asian landlady who shows them kindness after an initial brusque introduction, and ultimately, venturing out and making some friends, to disastrous results. With the promise of a trip to Disney hanging in the air, Lucía’s struggles threaten to overwhelm her. Through it all, the boys show remarkable resiliency, but what they need the most is love and parenting.

This is Kishi’s second feature film, and it’s spare look and feel, much of the film set in a single room, clearly demonstrates the claustrophobia and powerlessness of a young family thrust into this type of situation. The performances are very strong, from veterans actor Cici Lau (PING PONG PLAYA; LEGALLY BLONDE) as the gruff, yet kindly landlady, to both children, played by brothers, Maximiliano Nájar Márquez and Leonardo Nájar Márquez. But it’s Martha Reyes Arias who truly shines as Lucía, quietly exemplifying the near impossibility of a life with no support, huge responsibility, and no means to get through. It’s a very powerful little film, Kishi has constructed.

#33 – Holler, directed by Nicole Reigel (USA) – Poverty is a major problem in the United States, and recent films exploring people struggling without means to live a fulfilling life have shown how little hope exists in these cases. HOLLER follows the difficult path of a high school girl, her older brother, and their mother who is incarcerated after becoming addicted to pain-killing medication. Ruth has promise. Gifted with a natural intelligence that sees her excelling in school, Ruth could use the stability that seems like a minimal need in growing up successfully. Her brother, Blaze, watches out for her, and also tries desperately to keep up with the bills as mortgage foreclosures mount threatening to take their home. What little care and attention they get comes from Linda, their mom’s best friend and their boss at the scrap metal factory at which they both work. When Ruth finds out that Blaze had secretly submitted a college application on her behalf, and she has been accepted, she is initially upset and unwilling to leave. They don’t have the money, and despite the harsh living conditions, this film ably shows how ties of family and familiarity create an environment where leaving a bad situation seems more difficult that staying.

“Some critics have mentioned Debra Granik’s WINTER’S BONE as a touchstone for this film, which I definitely understand, but I see more recent films such as Nia DaCosta’s LITTLE WOODS or even last year’s BULL by Annie Silverstein. It’s interesting that all of these films are helmed by women, and perhaps that’s why family is such a strong component in the telling of these stories. Ruth and Blaze have a typical brother sister relationship, often superficially at odds with one another, but the love and care these two display by their actions is powerful and drive this movie forward. Riegel does a great job in spinning out a bleak tale, with the threat of violence all around, and little chance of a positive outcome, and leaving a glimmer of hope that is small, but surely not far from the dim reality faced by families such as this. Young actress Jessica Braden has already had a lengthy career in television and film, (including playing the Nosebleed Woman in THE LOBSTER), and handles the complex situation face by Ruth beautifully, with the just right amount of intelligence, resentment, and youthful bravado. Kudos too to Gus Halper as brother Blaze, and TV veteran Pamela Adlon as their imprisoned mother. And like Chris, I will call out well-known character actor Becky Ann Baker for bringing fire and experience as Linda. Her scenes are all strong. HOLLER is a strong film, and it will hopefully get a release this year.

#32 – Asia, directed by Ruthy Pribar (Israel) – Mother/daughter stories. We’ve seen a lot of them, and at first, ASIA seems like it might be a bit of a daughter taking care of an irresponsible mother reminiscent of a favorite film of mine, OR (MY TREASURE). ASIA sidesteps that path, and suddenly we think we might heading in more of a TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, or STEEL MAGNOLIAS direction. Writer/director Ruthy Pribar’s too smart for that as well. Instead, we meet Asia, a hard-working, hard-partying woman in her mid-thirties, who works long hours as a nurse, then takes private jobs doing home healthcare, to keep food on the table, and perhaps good medical insurance for her daughter, Vika. The two seem to have little in commons, as Vika hangs out at the skate park with her best friend, the more experienced Natalie, flirting with the boys and doing some teen-aged smoking and drinking. When Asia gets a call that Vika is in the emergency room in the hospital where she works, we learn that the teenager suffers from a degenerative disease, most likely muscular dystrophy (although never stated) and drinking alcohol doesn’t mix well with her medication. Once the set-up is revealed, the heart of the film begins, as the two women are forced to discover the heart of their familial relationship despite fits and starts, anger, frustration, sex, silliness, and a true bond of love that was always there, but emerges as Vika’s health continues to fail.

Pribar has written a great script, and her direction is assured, with nothing extraneous, producing a compact 85 minute film. It’s the acting that really lifts ASIA above the expected melodrama. Alena Yiv perfectly balances a young woman who had a child far too early, struggling to care for her ailing child, all while desperately trying to enjoy her own youthful needs. We never think ill of Asia, and Yiv brings her completely and three-dimensionally alive. Shira Haas, well-known for the TV miniseries ‘Unorthodox’ comes across as defiant in the face of a physically debilitating disease, yet accepting her shortened life with dignity and struggling to live every second that goes by whether it’s giggling with her mother, or watching a movie with the visiting nurse she’s attracted to. Yiv and Haas convey their loving bond so clearly with a glance, or a movement, and as the inevitable conclusion draws hear, it’s just beautiful.

#31 – Rose Plays Julie, directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy (Ireland/United Kingdom) – Upon reading a synopsis of ROSE PLAYS JULIE it would be tempting to try to shoehorn it into a ‘revenge-thriller’ genre. And while there is that element that inherent in the plot, it plays out more like a Greek tragedy involving parents and a child. In this case, the child is question is Rose, a young woman living in Ireland, and studying to be a vet (be warned animal lovers, there are some tough scenes in here relating to animals) who is also fully aware that she was adopted, and has a strong, loving relationship with the couple who raised her, but there has always been a curiosity of the person she would have been had the woman who gave birth to her, and put the name ‘Julia’ on her birth certificate been in the picture. Although the adoption was closed, Rose now has a name and a phone number that leads her directly to her birth mother, Ellen, a successful actor living in England. To say Rose is disappointed when Julie wants no connection with her daughter, is a bit of an understatement, so Rose actually goes to England, posing as a prospective buyer for Ellen’s home which is on the market. There she meets Ellen’s other daughter, a few year’s younger than her, and Ellen herself, where she learns that Rose was born out of a violent act that Ellen only wants to put behind her.

This revelation puts Rose on a different path, one where she tracks down her birth father, an archaeologist, and poses as an actor named Julie, who has been cast as an archaeologist in a play, to get a spot on one of his digs. As the pieces all start to come together — everything from Rose’s academic work studying euthanasia in veterinary medicine, Rose and Ellen slowly developing an actual relationship while Ellen is shooting a show in London, and ‘Julie’ becoming friendly with archaeologist, Peter — it seems pretty clear where things are heading, but things don’t go quite as planned, bringing us to a dark conclusion.

The writing/directing team of Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor have delivered a elegant, well-structured fourth film together, and one that by all accounts is their most accessible. That may be true, but the pace is still deliberate, and the camera work a little on the artsy side, and it revels in the taut writing, and the strong acting by the three principals, Ann Skelly as Rose, Orla Brady as Ellen, and Aiden Gillen as Peter. This is one intriguing #MeToo drama that was actually conceived before the movement, but is handled beautifully and powerfully in a way that doesn’t take away from the horror and violence of the story, but doesn’t sensationalize it either.

February 27, 2022

My Top 50 Movies of 2021 – #’s 36 – 40

Entering the Top 40, it’s getting harder and harder to rank these films. #’s 38, 39 and 40 all should have been ranked higher, except for a few noticeable flaws that pushed them further down that offset the amazing work featured in each of them. For a few of these films there is also an inherent tension of my immediate reaction after seeing the film, and how well they have sit with me as time has passed. I try to capture that immediate feeling, but the longer-term affect a film has on me is important as well. At any rate, here we go with #’s 40 down to 36.

#40 – I’m Your Man, directed by Maria Schrader (Germany) – Reading the premise of this film, which I will try to not to reveal here, you immediately thinks of some hokey, 80’s romantic comedies, that can’t compare to the emotional exploration that I’m Your Man tackles with its main character, and the interesting pathways she must follow. One particularly interesting examination comes when a research project that Alma and her team are working on is upended when another researcher half a world away publishes an article on a similar theme before her work is completed. A character, unfamiliar with human emotions wonders why this occurrence upsets Alma, as the theory she was researching was proven to be true. He wonder why this isn’t a cause for celebration as it validates her work. That competitive drive to be the first is lost on him. It’s an interesting philosophical rumination that is not often tackled in a romantic comedy.

The acting on display also elevates I’m Your Man, with British actor, Dan Stevens (so good, and so different in the television series, Legion) tackling the male lead, Tom, a character that would have been easy to take in a direction to completely derail the film, and making it somehow work. Popular German actress Sandra Hüller, plays a similar supporting character for laughs, and is utterly delightful. Where the film runs slightly off the rails, is the inevitable denouement. Director and adapter Schrader treads lightly where Alma must come to a realization that runs counter to much of what makes her character what it is. Schrader sets this up nicely and leaves it hanging, and for the viewer to decide, which is as best a conclusion that we can ask for. Just who is Alma’s man, is something for us to decide.

#39 – Adrienne, directed by Adrienne Ostroy (USA) – I am a huge admirer of the work of actor/director Adrienne Shelley, so was naturally drawn to this documentary directed by her husband. As a celebration of her life, and career, this film excels. Shelley got her start as an actress in the early films of Hal Hartley, starring in The Unbelievable Truth, and Trust. From there she went on to act in a string of mediocre or bad films throughout the late 80’s and 90’s. She had the waifish look for those films, but she was too smart to do that for long, and she eventually followed her true passion, directing. Her first feature, released in 1996, was Sudden Manhattan, a quirky, low-budget Woody Allen pastiche that showed some promise but didn’t really make much of a splash. Her subsequent short film, Lois Live a Little, received considerable acclaim and led to her next feature, I’ll Take You There, a more accomplished romantic comedy that showed what she was capable of. She was on the cusp of major success, with her third feature, Waitress, when she was tragically murdered in her Manhattan office, but a construction worker who tried to make it look like a suicide.

It’s here where Adrienne stumbles a bit. I understand director Ostroy’s need to explore the event that upended his life and that of his daughter, but at times it borders a little too closely to one of those tabloid news shows. Ultimately finds his closure when he is allowed to visit Shelley’s murderer in prison. The assortment of friends, family, and co-workers who are interviewed for the film paint a beautiful picture of this remarkable woman. From those took on her legacy to create the hit Broadway musical based on Waitress like Sara Bareilles, to Hal Hartley, who helped her get her start.

#38 – Mass, directed by Fran Kranz (USA) – Right from the very beginning there’s something vaguely stilted and manipulative about MASS. Maybe it’s the way they try to build up so much tension using extraneous characters just to make the film more than just four people in a room. It’s a meeting of two couples, one pair of whom lost their son in a school shooting, and the other pair whose son was the shooter. I’m not sure how you write a 110 minute film on that kind of meeting and not make it a little manipulative and stilted. What you do to make it all work, is hire some really strong actors who can carry the audience through the awkwardness and the emotional manipulation on the convincing power of their acting. These actors do not shy away from the intensity — they embrace it. The emotions these characters are feeling are so complex, so tangled, and the four powerhouse performers convey all of that. I was expecting a lot from the women. Martha Plimpton isn’t used enough, and she’s like a secret weapon when she’s given a good part. She brings it home beautifully here, and for her performance alone, i would have thoroughly enjoyed this film, but Ann Dowd has proven over the past 5 – 10 years that she is a force to be reckoned with, and she does so again here as the mother of the shooter — the most openly emotional and shattered in many ways. The men surprised me. Jason Isaacs has the showy role. He’s one of the guys, and he’s the one who veers toward anger, all the while strangling on the emotions he can barely restrain. Isaacs does a pretty good job reigning things in to a simmering, but powerful level, and only succumbs to showiness briefly. Reed Birney, often stealing attention as a character actor in the Beth Grant way, is the surprise for me in MASS. His tightly wound, restrained delivery can come across as cold, but look at his eyes, and the haunted, haggard look he’s sharing with the audience. This is a man who’s broken inside.

“It’s an interesting tale for a first time feature writer/director to tackle, and Kanz gets away with it largely because he is first and foremost, an actor, with dozens of TV and movie credits on his resume. He clearly knows what an actor needs to work in a film like this, and he gives it to his cast. If it is a few of the choices he makes in the writing and direction that you want to quibble with, so be it. My only real problem with the films comes right at the end, where there is some spirituality forced into play for little reason. Kanz, for the most part, stays out of the way, and allows his actors to take us on an intense journey for nearly two hours, and i must say I was with them all the way.

#37 – Two Of Us, directed by Filippo Meneghetti (France/Luxembourg/Belgium) – I saw this film over two years ago, an the fact that it has stayed with me for so long is a testament to the skill and power it has to tell it story. Two older, retired women who have been romantically involved for the past twenty years live in neighboring apartments. They plan to move to Italy to live out the remainder of their lives together now that Madeleine has become a widow. The problem is, she hasn’t told her adult son and daughter yet, and she’s having trouble with it. When a change in circumstance threatens to tear them apart, both defy incredible odds to be together. Powerful script, great direction and wonderful acting. Much praise has been lauded justifiably upon Barbara Sukowa, but I was particularly impressed by Martine Chevallier, in a very challenging role, who had to convey so much without speaking. Like Twilight’s Kiss, it’s nice to see a film about gay older adults.

#36 – The Outside Story, directed by Casimir Nozkowski (USA) – Charles is a Brooklyn video editor who creates memorial videos about people who have the potential to die soon, for TMC. He’s also stuck. He just found out his girlfriend, Isha, cheated on him with a woman, he’s asked her to move out, and he hasn’t really left the house in a while. When he accidentally locks himself out of his 2nd story apartment in his socks, he realizes that he has to interact with the people in his neighborhood to navigate the rest of the day until he is able to get a key dropped off by the landlord. Naturally the people that make up his community are quirky, but they are also generally good people. Whether it’s the pre-teen girl who lives above him, or the police officer handing out parking tickets up and down his street. He gets reluctant help from his catty, third-floor neighbor for whom Charles interrupts a threesome with a visiting Swedish couple, and he in turn helps out the 70-year-old recent widow who lives next door to sign up on a dating app. Ultimately, he learns form his community and moves onto a hopefully better life.

THE OUTSIDE STORY, from left: Sunita Mani, Brian Tyree Henry, 2020. © Samuel Goldwyn Films Courtesy Everett Collection

It’s a simple story, and honestly, sometimes the simplest stories are the best stories. This is a film that I really wanted to be higher on my list, but it’s just that good a year for films. Bryan Tyree Henry is a lovely Charles. Known for his comedic work, which he excels at here as well, he’s also a great dramatic actor, and able to shed a tear when needed. He’s slightly irritating, but in an amusing way that makes him fun to spend time with. His beautiful, soon-to-be-ex, Isha, is played calmly, and beautifully by Star Trek: Discovery’s Shonequa Martin-Green, who builds on her great television work to great effect. Other strong performers include Sunita Mani’s Officer Slater, Olivia Edwards’ upstairs neighbor Elena, and Michael Cyril Creighton. First time feature director Casimir Nozkowski has written an effective character study that is funny and rings true He really hits all the right notes. And Brooklyn looks gorgeous… warm and inviting like any good community should.