The Other Memorable Films of 2019: Part 8/Coda

Yes, I know this series was supposed to have ended with Part 7. But since there are very few new movies to watch in 2020, I decided to go back and finish off some more 2019 films that were on my watch list.

Late Night: I heard a lot about this film when it premiered at Sundance in January 2019 to strong reviews. Amazon Studios paid $13 mn just for the US distribution rights and spent more than double that for marketing and promotion, but sadly it flopped on release and lost them a lot of money. I was finally able to watch it on Netflix last month and really enjoyed it. Although it is essentially a formulaic dramedy, Mindy Kaling’s intelligent script also carries insights into gender politics at the workplace and by having women in both the boss and subordinate roles, is able to juxtapose the experiences of one versus the other. Very entertaining and some of the writers room scenes are good for multiple viewings! I really can’t understand why it didn’t do well in the theatres.

Doctor Sleep: Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Shining was one of the defining films of his career and also created one of Jack Nicholson’s signature roles. The sequel novel Doctor Sleep was published in 2013, nearly four decades after the original. The film adaptation finally came out last year, with great box office expectations for Warner Bros., given its pedigree and the megabucks the studio made with the release of another King property It, in 2017 and It Chapter Two in 2019. Although Doctor Sleep garnered decent reviews from critics, the film was a box office flop; it didn’t appeal to young horror movie-goers who were unfamiliar with the first film and may not have understood some characters or key scenes which recalled moments from The Shining. I found it reasonably entertaining, more of a thriller/road movie rather than a horror film. The casting is great – Ewan McGregor plays Danny Torrance, the emotionally scarred, grown-up son of Jack Nicholson’s character from The Shining; Rebecca Ferguson is very good as Rose the Hat, the charismatic leader of a group of ‘psychic vampires’ (the same concept as in Tobe Hooper’s 1985 cult film Lifeforce) who are hunting down young children, then torturing and killing them to consume their life essence; and Zahn McClarnon has a strong screen presence as Crow Daddy, the lover and right-hand-man of Rose the Hat. For those viewers who are familiar with the original, it’s a bit incongruous to see other actors play Jack Nicholson’s, Shelley Duvall’s and Scatman Crothers’ characters from The Shining, albeit in very brief scenes. Worth watching only if you’ve seen The Shining.

Rebecca Ferguson plays Rose the Hat, the leader of a group of psychic vampires in Doctor Sleep

Corpus Christi: This Polish film was one of the nominees for Best International picture at the 2020 Oscars, losing of course to South Korea’s Parasite. It’s a simple story of a young spiritually-inclined ex-con who is assigned to work at a sawmill in a small town, but is somehow mistaken for a priest when he arrives there and chooses to go with the flow and play the role. He quickly gets drawn into the social dynamics of the town – helping families deal with the death of their loved ones from an automobile accident, spending time with a group of youths who drink and bicker to get over their boredom, and sparring with the mayor, a local bigwig who runs the town. His unorthodox methods quickly gain him a following among the parishioners, while also alienating those who cannot deal with his divergence from accepted norms and the status quo. It’s a bit depressing, as are most films which deal with life in small towns in the West; one sees the same themes – a declining economy, disaffected youth and nepotism or graft hidden by the town elders beneath a calm veneer of gentrification. Ultimately, this movie is an acting showcase for the young actor Bartosz Bielenia, who has a magnetic screen presence, even in this grungy, de-glamorized role. You can feel the character’s love of humanity and strong sense of right and wrong shine through in Bielenia’s performance.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco: Speaking of disaffected youth, they are a key feature of this highly acclaimed drama which premiered at Sundance last year and won multiple awards there as well as at the Independent Spirit Awards (given out just before the Oscars). A young man and his friend set their sights on taking possession of a large house in an upmarket neighborhood, which he believes was designed and built by his grandfather in the 40s. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the magic in the movie; for me it was just meandering and pointless. The only reason I’ve chosen to write about it is because of the extraordinary cinematography for which director Joe Talbot and DP Adam Newport-Berra should receive credit. The lighting in some scenes, especially the interior of the house, has a magical glow the likes of which I haven’t seen since the days of Haskell Wexler shooting middle America in Bound for Glory (1976) and Days of Heaven (1978). The camera work on the skateboarding scenes have a sense of grace, fluidity and dynamism. I found myself thinking that with a good script, these guys would be able to make a genuinely high quality, entertaining movie. And that is a very real possibility; in the past few years, Disney and Warner Bros. have hired the likes Taika Waititi, Gareth Edwards, Cate Shortland, Cathy Yan and Chloe Zhao out of relative obscurity to helm their effects-heavy franchise movies. Maybe we’ll see Joe Talbot do likewise soon.

So that was Part 8, hopefully my coda for my series about the notable films of 2019! I think this is the most comprehensive effort I have ever made to watch as many highly regarded films of a particular year; it’s been an enriching experience and a lot of fun to capture my impressions of these movies in this series of posts.

The Other Memorable Films of 2019: Part 7

In this final installment of my series of thumbnails on notable films of 2019, I have four films that are all interesting and represent distinctive directorial voices. I wouldn’t recommend them as ‘must-see’ films, but for those looking for something different, they are all well-made movies that help expand our understanding of ‘the human condition’.

Harriet: This biopic of anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman earned British actress Cynthia Erivo an Oscar nomination. I did not know anything about this extraordinary woman, who was a part of the Underground Railroad and helped many slaves to freedom and so, the film was truly a revelation for me. Cynthia Erivo plays the part quite effortlessly and doesn’t really have any big emotional scenes in contrast with the more “out there” performances by the other Best Actress nominees Scarlett Johansson, Saoirse Ronan, Charlize Theron and eventual winner Renée Zellweger. In spite of the weighty subject matter, director Kasi Lemmons’ storytelling feels light and breezy, almost like a Hallmark Channel movie. And maybe this does some disservice to Harriet Tubman, making her achievements seem a bit too easy. The ensemble cast is quite good and includes notable performances from Jennifer Nettles as the high-strung plantation owner Eliza Brodess, superstar singer Janelle Monáe as a boarding-house owner, veteran actor (and Lemmons’ husband) Vondie Curtis-Hall as a pastor who helps slaves to escape and Lemmons’ son, Henry Hunter Hall as a slave-tracker.

Cynthia Erivo (as Harriet Tubman) and Leslie Odom Jr. (as William Still) in Harriet, directed by Kasi Lemmons

The Report: This is another understated film based on true events, in the same vein as Dark Waters which I wrote about in Part 1 of this series. While Dark Waters relates how corporate giant DuPont used money and influence to smother lawyer Robert Bilott’s investigations into their environmental malpractices, The Report chronicles the efforts of the CIA to stymie an investigation by the US Senate to uncover their malpractices. Adam Driver plays US Senate investigator Daniel Jones, who spent years putting together a report on the CIA’s so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques”, a euphemism for torture tactics such as waterboarding in the wake of 9/11. As with Dark Waters, it is a depressing insight into how companies and governments believe that they can get away with anything (and most often succeed in doing so). One can only marvel at the bravery and tenacity of individuals such as Bilott and Jones, who chase the truth against all the odds, when they could so easily have settled for regular corporate careers. Directed by scriptwriter Scott Z. Burns, the film has an impressive roster of character actors including Annette Bening, Tim Blake Nelson and Corey Stoll playing people with a conscience. Pretty much everyone else is the movie displays depressing levels of arrogance, ignorance, paranoia and inhumanity.

The Souvenir: This semi-autobiographical movie is based on the personal experiences of director Joanna Hogg. Set in the 80s, it tells the story of a vulnerable young woman Julie who is attending film school, and her toxic relationship with an enigmatic older man, Anthony who works at the Foreign Office. Julie is played by Honor Swinton Byrne, the daughter of actress Tilda Swinton, who in fact is cast as her mother here. Anthony is played by Tom Burke, who some may have seen on TV as detective Cormoran Strike in the mini-series based on Robert Galbraith’s (aka J K Rowling) crime novels. Theirs is a relationship that is not uncommon – he is a man of the world, widely traveled and always with a point of view; she is reserved and in awe of him, happy to show him off to her parents who are also taken with him. But eventually it becomes clear that he is living off her, using her money to feed his lifestyle and his drug habit. And instead of calling him out on his behavior, she starts becoming the one making apologies. All these events takes place in a world of subtle privilege – a farm in the country, a private club in the city, the company of artists; a world filled with intellectual conversations about foreign policy and French cinema. The film has been hailed by critics as a layered coming-of-age story, and although I found it slow-moving at times, I have to admit that the story and its images linger in my mind (similar to my experience with Portrait of a Lady on Fire). Clearly the character is very personal to director Joanna Hogg and she is filming a sequel for release later this year. I imagine this is the lowest grossing movie (just $1.7 mn at the box office) for which a sequel has been made!

Honor Swinton Byrne (as Julie) and Tom Burke (as Anthony) in The Souvenir, directed by Joanna Hogg

Booksmart: This the directorial debut of actress Olivia Wilde garnered plenty of buzz when it was released in the early part of 2019. It is a dramedy which follows the increasingly desperate efforts of two nerdy girls to crash a party and hang out with the cool kids on the night before their high school graduation. While I found it difficult to relate to the characters, the contemporary American high school setting, which comes complete with peer pressure, social media posturing and snarky behavior, was certainly familiar from countless other movies. I can’t say that I enjoyed this film, but it was an enlightening insight into the lives of these students, and it was depressing, seeing how these children have lost the best aspects of their childhood in their pursuit of coolness. Frankly, I found the two girls Molly and Amy (played by Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) to be really irritating; I’m not sure if those portrayals were exaggerated on purpose or if that is a true reflection of how kids are in high school today…probably a bit of both. The film has a satisfactory and upbeat closure however, which helps cast a more favourable light on the entire story.

So, I’m finally done, covering the 2019 Best Picture Oscar nominees, followed by 28 other notable films of 2019. I’ve really enjoyed reminiscing about these movies and trying to capture the reactions and emotions I had while watching them. I hope I’ll be able to do this all over again 12 months from now. Meanwhile, it’s time to look forward to the popcorn films of Spring and Summer 2020!

The Other Memorable Films of 2019: Part 6

I have a mixed bag of movies in part 6 of my recap of memorable films of 2019. There are two critically acclaimed international films which both left me a bit ‘cold’ and two emotionally intense English language films that had me in tears by the end.

Pain and Glory: I have loved the films of Pedro Almodovar ever since I watched All About My Mother in 1999 or 2000. I was struck by his ability to combine earthy humanity with a bright visual palette; I remember being awestruck by even the tiles in the kitchen. I would say that he had an unbroken run of brilliant and unique films from 1995 (The Flower of my Secret) to 2011 (The Skin I Live In), then lost his way with I’m So Excited before making an assured, though less flashy comeback with Julieta in 2016. Last year, Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino both released their new films at Cannes and critics were united not only in their praise, but also in their observation that both masters had entered a ‘mellow phase’ of their respective careers, with works that were nostalgic and meditative. I loved Tarantino’s film, which could be described as the ‘late summer’ effort of a director’s career, but I have to say that I was left underwhelmed by Pain and Glory, which felt very much like an ‘early winter’ work (I just realized I’m using Ozu references!). I know that the movie is autobiographical and intentionally downbeat, but I guess I just wasn’t ready to watch something so depressing. I also didn’t really ‘get’ why Antonio Banderas was nominated for Best Actor for playing director Salvador Mallo (the on-screen avatar of Almodovar). The only bright moments – literally and figuratively – were the flashback scenes with the ever-luminous Penelope Cruz. I can think of two actresses – Sophia Loren and Penelope Cruz – who have been able to look glamorous even under the grime of poverty! I also have to admit that Spanish actor Asier Etxeandia who plays the actor Alberto Crespo has a powerful on-screen presence (read…very dishy!).

(From left to right) Asier Flores as young Salvador Mallo, Penélope Cruz as his mother and Raúl Arévalo as his father in Pain and Glory, directed by Pedro Almodovar

Atlantics: One of my favourite movies of recent years is the poignant father-daughter story 35 Shots of Rum (2008), which I wrote about after I belatedly watched it in 2017 and realized it was inspired by Yusujiro Ozu’s 1949 classic Late Spring. French actress Mati Diop, who made her acting debut playing the daughter in the 2008 film, made a splash at Cannes last year at the age of 37, with Atlantics, her feature debut as a director. It’s not possible to pigeonhole this film into a single genre; shot in the West African language Wolof, it has elements of a supernatural love story, a crime procedural and a socio-political drama. Given the buzz at Cannes, I expected more from the film when I watched it on Netflix, but I struggled with the pacing and it didn’t hold my attention consistently. Neither did it have a distinctive visual style as say, Portrait of a Lady on Fire did (which also suffered from some uneven pacing). There’s no doubt that Diop should be lauded for using a form of magic realism to talk about economic inequality and female empowerment, but as an enhancement of the short film Atlantiques she made 10 years earlier, it doesn’t really have enough substance to fill out a full-length feature. Nevertheless, I believe that in years to come when we look back at the history of African cinema, this work will stand out as an important film that signposted Mati Diop’s filmmaking career.

Waves: I wrote in Part 5 about the Taiwanese film A Sun. Trey Edward Shults’ Waves is thematically very similar…a hard driving father imposes his value systems on his family until the children reach breaking point, sandwiched between the weight of his expectations and the temptations of teenage life. The shadow of racial discrimination is faint in Waves (in contrast with films like Just Mercy or Queen and Slim); even for an affluent, respectable African-American family like the Williamses, they have to work that much harder to thrive socially and economically. And it is this constant pressure that becomes their undoing. Having read the synopsis, I couldn’t really focus on the first half of the film, as I awaited the inevitable tragedy that would shatter their lives (I also found the repeated use of the ‘rotating camera pan’ a bit irritating). But then, the movie comes alive in the second half, as each of the family members deal with the tragic incident in their own way. There is a heart-breaking scene where the daughter and father finally open up to each other, as they each deal with their own feelings of guilt. In the last half hour, the different characters continue to seek ways to heal, and the emotions continue to crescendo. This is a powerful film that packs an emotional punch, which I’m pretty sure I’ll end up watching again. I also am keen to watch Trey Edward Shults’ previous two films, Krisha and It Comes at Night; I can’t think of another director whose first 3 films have been a dramedy, a horror film and a tragedy-based drama!

(from left to right) Kelvin Harrison Jr., Taylor Russell, Sterling K. Brown and Renée Elise Goldsberry as the ill-fated Williams family in Waves, directed by Trey Edward Shults

Judy: Speaking of tragedy-based dramas, another film that packs an emotional punch is Judy, which covers a short period towards the end of screen legend Judy Garland’s life in the late 60s. Renée Zellweger’s Best Actress Oscar – her second after Cold Mountain in 2003 – was most certainly deserved; I have no idea if she accurately captured the mannerisms of the real Judy Garland, but what really matters is that she was able to find the soul of this emotionally scarred woman who dredged up every ounce of willpower to stay afloat, as she was beset by health-related, financial and family troubles. I am sure this is the story of dozens of child stars (especially female actresses), who have been bullied and driven by parents and studio bosses into a becoming money-making machines, at the cost of their physical and psychological well-being. Several such incidents from Judy Garland’s childhood (especially during the filming of The Wizard of Oz) are shown through various flashbacks. Much of the film takes place during a residency at a popular club in the UK, during which Garland struggles with exhaustion, anxiety and mood swings. Astonishingly, Ms. Zellweger does all her own singing and of course, it’s not perfect, because she plays an artist whose voice has been ravaged by years of substance abuse and a recent tracheotomy…even so, the performances are amazing for their physicality. Renée Zellweger portrays Judy Garland as a person who was victim of her own destiny…and that was to bring joy to millions of people through her amazing singing and acting talent, while finding that joy elusive in her own life.

The next entry will be the last in this series as I close off 2019 and look forward to what 2020 has to offer!

The Other Memorable Films of 2019: Part 5

I wanted to wrap up this series in two more posts, but I’ve remembered some more notable films from 2019 that I had watched earlier in the year, so realistically this series may go on up to Part 7! I have 6 English language movies to cover, 5 international films and one that is an American production but takes place in China (easy to guess which one I’m referring to).  

Four of the international films are centered around family, and given that Oscar winner Parasite is about families as well, it feels right to make that the theme for this post:

Kumbalangi Nights: This film from my native state of Kerala in India was released at the beginning of 2019 and went on to become one of the biggest Malayalam hits of the year. It is the debut film of Madhu C. Narayanan, who had previously been assistant director on Aashiq Abu’s breakout films Salt n’ Pepper and 22 Female Kottayam. Through these connections, this film was set up with a solid production pedigree, backed by some of the big names from the Malayalam New Wave film community. This is an immensely engaging and ultimately, heart-warming story of four brothers living in the fishing village of Kumbalangi. Each is broken in his own way and are barely on speaking terms with each other, but they overcome their differences in a time of need. The story outline might sound cliched, but its on-screen realization becomes something special in the hands of celebrated script writer Syam Pushkaran and the ensemble cast of Shane Nigam, Soubin Shahir and New Wave star Fahadh Faasil. There are moments of conflict, humour, intense emotion and even, incongruously, a psycho killer situation! The film is available on Amazon Prime and iTunes.

Shane Nigam, Sreenath Bhasi, Soubin Shahir and Mathew Thomas as the Napoleon brothers in Kumbalangi Nights, directed by Madhu C. Narayanan

A Sun: This movie came up as a recommendation on Netflix and I decided to watch it when I discovered that it was a big winner at the Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent to the Oscars. It’s easily one of the best 2019 films I’ve watched, with an engrossing story built around a horrific crime committed by a couple of juveniles and the impact it has on the family of one of the teenagers. The acting by the entire cast is outstanding, with Yi-Wen Chen and Chien-Ho Wu winning awards as the father and son respectively, both with vary satisfying character development arcs. There’s also a chilling performance by Kuan-Ting Liu as the son’s criminal friend, Radish. I was seriously stressed out in the second half of the movie as I just couldn’t bear the thought of this family going through any more trauma; I won’t spoil the ending. Director Mong-Hong Chung also co-wrote the film and was the cinematographer, credited under the pseudonym Nagao Nakashima. The film premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September 2019.

The Truth (La Vérité): One of the most celebrated directors of contemporary Japanese cinema, Hirokazu Kore-eda, released his first non-Japanese film in 2019, co-produced with Canal Plus and set in Paris. In a superb bit of ‘meta’ casting, French acting legend Catherine Deneuve plays a fictitious French acting legend named Fabienne. Acclaimed actress Juliette Binoche plays Fabienne’s daughter Lumir, a screenwriter who lives in the US with her husband Hank, who is a struggling TV actor (and again, cheekily meta-countercast with Ethan Hawke). As with all of Kore-eda’s films, the focus is on family dynamics, this time between mother and daughter. It took a while to get going, but I was soon caught up in the cat-and-mouse game played between the emotionally distant, self-centered diva Fabienne and the affection-starved, chronically morose Lumir, with everyone else just pawns on the board. Cinematographer Eric Gautier uses the muted light of autumn, both outdoors and indoors, to reflect the inner turmoil and self-confidence issues faced by these characters. I also loved the way he composed the closing shot – symmetry and balance to signify closure, I suppose. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year and was nominated for a Golden Lion.

Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve and Ethan Hawke in The Truth (La Vérité), directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

The Farewell: This is a film that a lot of people in Asia have watched already; it debuted at Sundance more than a year ago and has had an extended run in theatres around the world. Awkwafina has been such a revelation on screen in the past year and a half, breaking out with Crazy Rich Asians and Oceans 8 in 2018 and then The Farewell and Jumanji: The Next Level in 2019. But of course, it’s in The Farewell that she showed she could shine in a dramatic role, winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy. It’s little gem of a movie and Awkwafina’s Billi is such an appealing character – hangdog and downbeat on the outside, feisty and resilient on the inside. It’s very easy as an Asian viewer to relate to the value systems and family dynamics, something I felt when I watched A Sun as well. This is indeed one of the feel-good films of the year.

Eight movies to go, including two that featured Best Actress Oscar nominees and one that was nominated for Best International Film and Best Actor Oscars.

The Other Memorable Films of 2019: Part 3

Continuing my series of notable or highly talked about (which I may not have necessarily found notable) films of 2019, in this instalment, I have 3 more films based on true events and one based on a beloved novel published 150 years ago.

It’s extraordinary what a high proportion of critically acclaimed movies are based on true events. All four movies I covered in Part 1 of this series fell into that group. And one of the movies in Part 2 – Hustlers – did too. Mark Twain said – “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”. And the ‘impossible’ situations that the protagonists of these films experience is what makes all these stories so compelling.

So, here we go:

Bombshell: Director Jay Roach became famous for the 3 Austin Powers movies and the first two installments of the Meet the Parents series. All are known for being entertaining, though politically incorrect comedies. Since 2012, he has turned 180 degrees to making ‘movies with a message’ which are closely linked to the world of American politics. Bombshell continues that trend and tells the story of how Fox News CEO Roger Ailes was sacked as a result of sexual harassment charges leveled against him by high profile news anchors Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly as well as several other employees. This is a fast-paced and well-made movie that looks and feels like a Fox News expose…think brightly lit, high definition video. Of particular note is the make-up on John Lithgow (as Roger Ailes) and on Nicole Kidman (as Gretchen Carlson), for which the film won an Oscar. Very good acting job (as we have come to expect) from Margot Robbie, for which she received an Oscar nomination, as did Charlize Theron. I know I sound naïve, but it’s difficult to absorb the fact that this kind of outright harassment and female objectification has existed and continues to exist in blue chip corporate companies…in the case of Fox News, it seems to mean that blonde hair and short skirts are a must-have for success. An important film to watch.

From left: Charlize Theron (Megyn Kelly), Nicole Kidman (Gretchen Carlson) and Margot Robbie (as a fictional composite character, Kayla) in Jay Roach’s Bombshell

Honey Boy: As Melina Matsoukas did with Queen and Slim, another female music video director, Alma Har’el has made a splash in 2019 with her debut feature Honey Boy. The script was written by Shia LaBeouf and is a fictionalized version of his own troubled childhood under the care of his erratic and emotionally abusive father. In an act of catharsis, LaBeouf plays his own father, a motor-mouthed man constantly at war with the world and with himself. Talented child actor Noah Jupe does an outstanding job as the young version of LaBeouf. The movie comes in at a very trim 93 minutes running time and director Har’el does a good job of picturizing some really dramatic moments in a non-melodramatic way. I feel like LaBeouf, Noah Jupe (and Lucas Hedges, as a grown up version of the boy) should all have received more widespread acclaim for their acting in this film.

Just Mercy: The third movie in this list based on real life events, Just Mercy shines a light on racial injustice in the deep South. We have seen enough of these films to not be surprised or shocked. If anything, movies like this and Queen and Slim are just depressing, because one wonders how society can ever overcome these social prejudices. At least in this film, there is a happy ending, but even using that term ‘happy’ is an injustice to an innocent person who had to experience the trauma of living on death row for six years. The film is produced by rising star Michael B. Jordan who also plays the lead role as Harvard lawyer Bryan Stevenson, on whose memoir the film is based, while Jamie Foxx plays the death row inmate. Perhaps one reason Just Mercy has not received much notice during the awards season is that it is a conventional, linear, formulaic narrative…no fancy camerawork or directorial flourishes. Director Destin Daniel Cretton jumps into the big league next with a Marvel Phase 4 movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, due to be released in Feb 2021.

Little Women: I missed out covering this film in my ranking of the Best Picture Oscar contenders, but finally managed to watch it this weekend. I’d watched the 1933 version with Katherine Hepburn playing Jo March, but didn’t remember much of the story. Director Greta Gerwig re-teams with her Lady Bird star Saoirse Ronan as Jo March and adds on an entire cohort of talented actresses to round off the family – Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and Eliza Scanlan – as the other March sisters and Laura Dern as their mother Marmee. Quite interesting that they got 4 non-American actresses to play the lead roles in one of the quintessential American classics. I also really loved the portrayal of wealthy neigbour Mr. Lawrence, an unusually sedate role for Chris Cooper. Director Gerwig who also wrote the screenplay, takes an interesting approach to the narrative by cutting back and forth in time, drawing parallels between events that took place when the girls were growing up in 1861 and developments in the “present day” in 1868. It takes a bit of getting used to, but one is able to figure it out especially from the lighting and the costumes, which take on dark tones in 1868 reflecting the emotions of the family. It’s a very engrossing story and using my scoring system for Oscar nominees, it would have got a score of 43, very close to the top score of 45 which I gave Parasite and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Certainly these are the 3 films from 2019 that I’ll feel like watching again.

From left: Eliza Scanlen (Beth), Saoirse Ronan (Jo), Emma Watson (Meg) and Florence Pugh (Amy) in Greta Gerwig’s Little Women

In Part 4, I’ll write about 4 extraordinary films that fall into the category of edgy, quirky or disturbing – Midsommar, The Lighthouse, Uncut Gems and Knives Out.

The Other Memorable Films of 2019: Part 2

This is part 2 of my series of thumbnails on the notable films of 2019 that I’ve watched; last week I covered A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Dark Waters, My Name is Dolemite and A Hidden Life, all biopics or stories based on true events.

Today’s set of 4 films is a more varied mix:

Hustlers: This is yet another film on the list that is based on true events. It earned a lot of buzz for Jennifer Lopez’ return to a heavyweight dramatic role for the first time since the late 90s when she had notable performances in Selena and Out of Sight. The movie itself was positioned as a major directorial achievement by actress-turned-screenwriter/director Lorene Scafaria (Metacritic score of 79) and there was some criticism that neither the Golden Globes or the Oscars recognized her with a Best Director nomination. While I agree that many outstanding female directors were not recognized by either of these award groups, having watched Hustlers, I don’t feel this movie deserved such a nomination. I felt it was a by-the-numbers “turn the tables” story, which would have been fine with me, except that all the characters on screen were equally unappealing. There’s no doubt that the Wall Street high-rollers who come into the strip clubs and literally throw money at pole dancers are being obnoxious. But the strippers who then decide to drug these men and fleece them by maxing out their credit cards were no better. Essentially, this is a movie about unappealing characters doing unappealing things to other unappealing characters.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire: At the other end of the spectrum is this beautiful love story set in France at the end of the 18^th century. Marianne, a gifted painter, is hired by a French Comtesse to paint a portrait of her daughter Héloïse, who is to be married off against her wishes to a Milanese nobleman. In protest at the marriage, Héloïse has previously refused to sit for a portrait. So Marianne is forced to resort to subterfuge; she poses as a companion brought in to lift Heloise’s spirit, and then paints her from memory at the end of each day. Over the next few weeks, after some ups and downs, the companionship transforms into a romance. This is a restrained and subtle work filled with memorable images and sounds, that requires patience to watch and appreciate (I did struggle with the pacing at times). One such scene features a hypnotic choral chant sung by a gathering of village women in the nighttime. The two actresses Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel have an exquisite on-screen luminosity, no doubt enhanced by the skills of cinematographer Claire Mathon. And if we’re talking about female directors unfairly overlooked by the Oscars, the director of this movie Céline Sciamma, is one who deserves to have been nominated. It didn’t feature in the Best Foreign Film category either as France chose to submit the latest version of Les Misérables instead. The film was nominated for the Palm d’Or and won the prize for best screenplay at Cannes; it was also nominated in virtually every category at the French César Awards.

Noémie Merlant as Marianne, the painter and Adèle Haenel as Héloïse, the Comtesse’s daughter in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Queen and Slim: The third film in today’s list is also directed by a woman. Award-winning music video director Melina Matsoukas’ debut feature film is a tense road movie that highlights the racial inequalities in American society and the sense of injustice felt by people of color today. Frankly, I found this movie depressing because it showed how deeply entrenched these divisions are and how, from my perspective, the US is increasingly turning into a ‘police state’, where the gun has the loudest voice and there seems to be no room for reason. Daniel Kaluuya is a familiar face to movie goers in the past few years after notable supporting roles in Sicario and Black Panther as well as his Oscar-nominated starring role in Get Out. Actress Jodie Turner-Smith is a new face for me and does a great job of personifying the simmering rage and helplessness of the educated African-American in the US today.

The Peanut Butter Falcon: I felt I had to end this post with an uplifting movie, and this debut film from Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz definitely fits the bill. Like Queen and Slim, this is also a road movie where the odds are stacked against the protagonists. What makes this film stand out is the performance of Zack Gottsagen, who has Down Syndrome in real life and essentially plays a version of himself with a great deal of charm and guilelessness. How wonderful to see Shia LeBeouf return to the big screen in a role that shows off his acting chops. And Dakota Johnson rounds off the trio of misfits as Zach’s caregiver tasked to bring him back to his care home, but instead inadvertently joins them on a road trip through rural North Carolina that becomes a journey of self-discovery for each of them. This is an escapist story but one which remains within the bounds of feasibility and therefore gives every one of us hope that we can each find the end of our personal rainbows. This story is very much a piece of Americana and therefore has primarily done the rounds of US film festivals with limited exposure worldwide.

Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen and Dakota Johnson in The Peanut Butter Falcon, directed by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz

I still have 14 films remaining in my year end review, so I guess it will take 3 more posts to complete the series.

The Other Memorable Films of 2019: Part 1

Ok, the Oscars are done for the year and history has been made! I am thrilled that Parasite won 4 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director and am doubly thrilled that the (subjective) scoring system I developed to rank the Best Picture nominees, threw up Parasite and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood with the joint highest scores.

But as I indicated at the end of that post, there were plenty of other quality movies worth watching besides those Best Picture nominees, some of which were recognized at the Indie Spirit Awards which took place a day before the Oscars.

In this series of posts, I’ll do a run down of the other memorable films of 2019, many of which, I now realize, are based on real people or events or are semi-autobiographical in nature.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, directed by Marielle Heller

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: I’d been waiting for this film to be released for multiple reasons. The show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a big part of my growing up along with Sesame Street. I loved the comfortable routine which bookended the show of Mr. Rogers switching between jacket and cardigan, home shoes and walking shoes; it was a revelation to me that someone would have a separate pair of shoes to wear inside the house! And of course, it was also Mr. Rogers’ soft-spoken demeanour and the very many characters (both real and make-believe) on the show that collectively made it so appealing. It’s only when I watched the 2018 documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor that I realized what an amazing human being Mr. Rogers was in real life and I came to appreciate the impact of the show on an entire generation of kids and adults. Another reason I looked forward to the movie is that it’s director Marielle Heller made Can You Ever Forgive Me?, one of the best movies of 2018 and one that I wish had been watched by more people. And last but not least, I am a die-hard Tom Hanks fan and will watch virtually anything that he is in. Suffice to say, with such a pedigree, the movie didn’t disappoint me; Marielle Heller honoured the memory of Mr. Rogers by creating a movie that artfully integrated the values and the warm-hearted tone of the iconic show into its narrative.

Dark Waters: Director Todd Haynes has made some memorable films such as Velvet Goldmine, Far From Heaven, I’m Not There and Carol. He is considered a leading light of the New Queer Cinema movement and therefore an important voice in contemporary filmmaking. With that in mind, Dark Waters is an unusual project for Mr. Haynes, because it steps away from his preferred LGBT-themed storylines. Instead it tells the equally important true story of a lawyer who took on the powerful DuPont corporation to expose their willful negligence leading to the exposure of entire commuities to toxic chemicals from the manufacture of Teflon. The movie stars one of my favourite actors Mark Ruffalo who is able to bring an ‘everyman’ sensibility to any character he plays (…even Dr. Banner/the Hulk!). This is a low key, almost documentary-style film, very much in the vein of other recent expose-based movies such as Spotlight (which also featured Mark Ruffalo) and The Post.

Dolemite is My Name: This is the 3^rd fact-based movie in this list, but as far removed from the tone and subject matter of the first two movies as it is possible to be. This movie tells the story of filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore, who made a name for himself in the 70s filming blaxploitation films, featuring himself playing the lead character Dolomite who would get into some pretty ridiculous situations involving crime and beautiful women. This is a script that is tailor-made for Eddie Murphy and you can see that he’s having a blast on screen. Rudy Ray Moore’s films were over-the-top and this film about Rudy Ray Moore follows in the same vein. Be prepared for 2 hours of politically incorrect entertainment from this Netflix production. Eddie Murphy received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor and the National Board of Review included the film in its annual Top 10 list.

A Hidden Life: This tragic story of Austrian soldier Franz Jägerstätter, who refused to fight during World War II as a conscientious objector is very different from that of American objector Desmond Doss, whose story was chronicled in 2016’s outstanding Oscar-nominated film Hacksaw Ridge. Unlike the US Army, the German Third Reich was not quite as sympathetic to Mr. Jägerstätter’s beliefs and after a period of incarceration, had him executed. Director Terrence Malick narrates this somewhat disheartening story using his lyrical, elliptical style of filmmaking. I am a big fan (as is pretty much every cinephile out there) of Malick’s first 2 films from the 70s – Badlands and Days of Heaven. After a self-imposed exile of 2 decades, Malick returned with a relatively prolific output of 6 films in the next 2 decades. The ones with the most conventional narrative structure have been The Thin Red Line and The New World, but The Tree of Life was just too “stream of consciousness” for me and I skipped his next 2 films. A Hidden Life feels like more of the same and while I can appreciate the movie as a work of art, the meandering pacing and 3 hour running time makes it tough going to watch at one stretch. I have to admit, I watched about 60% of the movie at high speed, occasionally resuming normal speed. It just felt like more of the same…monologues, slice of life scenes, lots of classical music in the background. Not really my cup of tea. But great acting performances from August Diehl (the very irritating and persistent Major Hellstrom from Inglourious Basterds) and Valerie Pachner as his wife.

I have another 19 movies to cover and I hope to finish off this series in the next couple of weeks.