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The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)
The French Dispatch Review - An Entertaining Homage to Publishing
The French Dispatch, from Searchlight Films, brings to the screen the avant-garde bohemian life of 1960s Paris, as told by journalists on assignment for the magazine The French Dispatch, as they present the story behind the words.
As the film begins, we see the staples of a writer's life, during that unconventional time, come to life, with caffeine, coffee and cigarettes and all combinations of adrenaline producing beverages being delivered in typical French fashion with a flourish and a finely dressed waiter balancing his tray with finesse as he bounds up the staircase, five flights up to the offices of The French Dispatch.
Throughout we meet the writers, staff, and others, those strays like wandering cats, who have found a home among the books, smell of stale smoke and the thrill of publishing. We meet the publisher, a tough but tender American born Kansas native Arthur Howitzer, Jr., played by Bill Murray, who for reasons known or unknown left the cornfields of middle America, the life he was born into, for the dream or fantasy, of the life he wanted.
Told in four vignettes, the words on the page are resuscitated to celluloid, as the memories of the journalist and the subjects, flow into the creation of the four stories. With each section of the magazine receiving a frontispiece, the sketches focus on the absurd, the unusual, the unconventional, the stories which made it to print.
A travelogue of the seediest sections of the city itself from "The Cycling Reporter," played by Owen Wilson who rides through the streets of the French city of Ennui-sur-Blasé documenting the changes from old ways of the peaceful countryside town to the rise of the 1960s revolution and the explosion of freedom.
"The Concrete Masterpiece," about a criminally insane painter, played by Benicio Del Toro, his guard and muse, played by Léa Seydoux, and his ravenous dealers, led by Adrien Brody and the Culture and Arts editor, played by Tilda Swinton.
"Revisions to a Manifesto," a chronicle of love and death on the barricades at the height of student revolt features Timothée Chalamet and Frances McDormand.
And from the Fine Dining Section, "The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner," a suspenseful tale of drugs, kidnapping and fine dining with journalist Roebuck Wright, played by Jeffrey Wright recounting the story to talk show host, played by Liv Schreiber.
As the stories are weaved together, we travel with them as Howitzer interacts with his writers and staff, with his drool humor and attempts at bottom line pitches, at heart his journalistic skills supersede as he gently leads his writers to bring the best stories. Part publisher, part confessional, he hears all and see all and understands the humanity is the special ingredient that sells the magazine.
Director Wes Anderson delivers with The French Dispatch a homage to the thrill of publishing and the notion that an audience somewhere actually finds the work appealing, interesting even, serves to energizes and rejuvenates writers to push the envelope.
An ensemble cast of well-known talent inhabit each of the vignettes. His cast of characters are made up of the familiar, those we have seen in many of Anderson's films and those who are new to his avant-garde style and humor.
The French Dispatch is slightly unusual and filled with oddities which pull the audience into these mini stories of life in a quickly changing world. Attention grabbing and distinctive Director Wes Anderson puts his unique signature on the world of publishing. It's a page turner.
The French Dispatch opens Friday, October 22, 2021, exclusively in theaters. See it.
Country: USA.
Language: English.
Runtime: 107minutes.
Director: Wes Anderson.
Screenplay: Wes Anderson.
Produced: Wes Anderson, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson.
Cast: Benicio Del Toro, Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton, Léa Seydoux, Frances McDormand, Timothée Chalamet, Lyna Khoudri, Jeffrey Wright, Liv Schreiber, Mathieu Amalric, Stephen Park, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Christoph Waltz, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Elizabeth Moss, Anjelica Huston.
Materna (2020)
Materna Review - A Gritty, Razor-Sharp Indictment of Metropolitan Life
Materna, from Utopia and Vortex Media, presents four unique stories pulled from lives in Manhattan, and its mosaic of tradition, innovation, hopefulness, and challenges as four women, unconnected, meet on the subway when a stranger pulls a gun.
The film begins on Manhattan's underground maze of transportation, where anything goes, miles of track that move millions every day in and around the city that never sleeps.
Tonight, as we see, an angry white man is venting, the usual ranting that is common on the subway, where straphangers can see just about everything from single aggressive panhandlers to those who offer a bit of entertainment between stops to the violent, rages of the mentally unstable.
Tonight, as the females who seem to be the object of his discourse, are plugged into their own worlds, the man, continues to talk, loudly, to himself or whomever is within hearing distance, as the film fades into the life of our first stranger, a motion capture animation executive.
Her vignette is filled with the the angst of an unusual life. She simulates sex with motion capture, and re-watches her reactions. She lives in a loft, practices knife throwing, has frequent phone calls with her mother, who explains her lifestyle is not normal, working from home, you should be out, have your eggs frozen, time waits for no one. Our executive is essentially the connected disconnected modern worker.
Switching back to the subway we see a second female, Mona, played by Jade Eshete, who becomes the target of the man's venting. She moves to another part of the train and sinks back into her own world. A television actress, her show has recently been cancelled and she is estranged from her mother, a nation of Islam follower uses withholding as a manipulation to pull her daughter back to her "chosen place" to the life her mother feels is best for her and to leave the nonsense of the entertainment world behind.
Perizad, played by Assol Abdullina, is also on the train. Silently living in her own world, she recently returned to Manhattan from the Middle East, where between the war which destroyed their homeland and the internal war that destroyed their family, she, as a daughter is not enough to cover for the devastation of losing their son to suicide. The harsh words that fly like bullets between the daughter and mother are as damaging deep wounds, scares, that one hopes will heal over time, but the rawness of the recent trip make that day look distant and unattainable.
Our final vignette features Gabe, played by Rory Calkin and Ruth, played by Lindsay Burdge, a brother and sister who each pursuing a life the others believe is a falsehood. Neither have come to the place where they accept the other's choices as they are, right, wrong, good, or bad.
Ruth and her husband, David, played by Michael Chernus and son, Jared played by Jake Katzman, live in a brownstone near 72nd and Central Park West, they have heated debates on race, sexual orientation, the change in the fabric of America which appears to leave some out while disproportionately offering others a bigger slice in a guilt driven reparation over actual or perceived crimes which those receiving the giftings had no direct involvement.
The heated debate causes a shocking reacting by Gabe who is ordered out of the home. Ruth decides to go to her brother's home and jumps on the subway, which puts her right in the middle of the same debate as she becomes the target of the white man's rage.
Materna Director David Gutnik seamlessly weaves the journeys of these four unconnected New York women who are isolated by city life, separated by class, politics, race, and religion, and yet bound by a shared desire for identity and connection into a moment in New York City lives, where the anonymous stranger become intrinsically connected to each other's survival.
Materna is a Tribeca 2020 winner for both best actress in the U. S. Narrative competition for Assol Abdullina and a Tribeca 2020 winner for Best Cinematography in the U. S. narrative for Greta Zozula, Chananun Chotrungroj, Kelly Jeffrey.
A razor-sharp indictment of modern metropolitan life. Gritty, authentic, Materna is in theaters in New York and Los Angeles August 6, 2021, and is available on TVOD August 10, 2021.
Country: USA.
Language: English.
Runtime: 105minutes.
Director: David Gutnik.
Writer: David Gutnik, Assol Abdullina, and Jade Eshete.
Producer: Emily McEvoy and Liz Cardenas.
Cast: Jade Eshete, Assol Abdullina, Kate Lyn Sheil, Lindsay Burdge, Michael Chernus, Rory Culkin, Cassandra Freeman, Sturgill Simpson, Kaili Vernoff, Jake Katzman, Kara Young, Zhamilya Sydykbaeva, Jamal Seidakmatova.