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Reviews
West Side Story (2021)
First theater experience in TWO YEARS
OK, my wife and I braved the Omicron plague to venture to our local cinema to see West side story and I was just blown away. I work in a tangential business, commercial photography, so I am somewhat familiar what is involved from the production side of film making and I was impressed. Lincoln Center came down over 60 years ago and its CG reconstruction was quite impressive. Aside from the technical acumen that Spielberg has brought to the screen, there are the bright new faces that have appeared. The story is an old one. Shakespeare gave it a turn in the 15th Century and I have a guess he was rewriting a story that had been around before him. That being said, Leonard Bernstein's score is as fresh as it was in 1957 and Toni Kushner's update of the of the original felt very real. As much as people think we have solved our issues with race, ethnicity and class, we clearly have not. Unless you are a Navajo or Hopi, you are an immigrant. Your people may have gotten off the boat a generation ago, but you are still an immigrant. Other than meaningless racial animosity, the Jets and the Sharks are fighting over turf that is disappearing. The Westside was a multi-ethnic melting pot of recently arrived immigrants that city planners, in their infinite wisdom, decided to iron ball to make way for progress (think the rich). Their struggle is clearly pirick. There are clearly no winners here as officer Krumpky announces in the first scene, but that is not going to stop the head strong protaganists from fighting to the death for their vanishing percieved empires. Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort are delightful. Rita Moreno, who lives just over the hill from me, was absolutely stunning. Spielberg is a masterful story teller and he does it once again with a well worn tale of acceptance, passion and love. Think of cinema as allegory. This is one that was created two generations ago that is painfully relevant today as when it was written.
Fruitvale Station (2013)
Too close to home
Well, let me see, to the critics of this film, this is not a documentary, it is a film. Did Coogler take artistic license? Of course! Was Grant a choir boy, certainly not! But the film is an artistic and cultural achievement that should be recognized. We live in neither a just or fair society. Anyone who argues differently is either ignorant or a fool. The beauty of our society is that we can argue about it. There are many places in the world where you cannot.
In a very even handed way, the film portrays a somewhat troubled ghetto kid who is trying to get his life together. Coogler does a masterful job of portraying Grant as a multifaceted character. I think he succeeds. It is important to understand that cops are indeed human and have emotions and short fuses like many of us. They also have license to use lethal force. And when they do, they can act in devastating and unlawful ways. The key message of this movie is that cops can unwittingly snuff out lives for no valid reason. People often forget that the function of police is to maintain order and apprehend offenders. It is not to punish them. That is the job of the courts and the penal system. When a cop becomes an executioner, he has overstepped his authority. I think we have lost sight of this basic tenant of our society. This film tries to make us aware of that. Last year police killed over 1100 people in the U.S. using lethal force. In the U.K., it was 10. In Japan it was 1.
On a personal note, I work a mile or two from this BART station. I ride BART regularly. One of my sons was at Fruitvale Station returning from a party just after Grant was shot. If my son had left his party ten minutes earlier, it could have been him on the platform. The only difference is my son is white. This film is too close to home.
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Strumimg our way through irony
If I go now to the basement and look real hard, I can probably find the vinyl from that era: Dylan, Ochs, Van Ronk, Peter Paul and Mary. This film certainly has some personal nostalgia wrapped around it, even though the Coens were probably in grade school when this music was produced. Inside Llewyn Davis is a touching portrait of a musician down on his luck, a recurring Coen brothers theme. Llewyn (Oscar Issac) is a true talent, but a handful of unfortunate incidents have left him hamstrung emotionally, artistically and financially with just about everyone in his personal and professional world fed up with him.
The music is beautiful, the acting excellent, the script tight and disciplined, but the movie just doesn't go anywhere. Unlike most other reviewers, I find Llewyn a warm and sympathetic character, even though most of the characters he interfaces with show anger, contempt, and hostility toward him, he perseveres. Unlike the harsh critique of Albert Grosman (F.Murray Abraham) his music is evocative and strong. The creative marketplace is both ruthless and fickle. The brilliant and talented are often looked over for the shallow and facile. Llewyn is often reminded of this at key points in the film, but can do little to remedy it.
This is a movie about failing. It is depressing and unfortunately very real. Llewyn Davis should be judged not for his character flaws, but the caprice of the creative world he has chosen to live in.
Starlet (2012)
Overexposed in The Valley
This movie is about relationships. Everything else is a framework to color in the lives of two lonely people who are a mere 60 years apart in age. The "deus ex machina" of finding a small fortune stuffed in an old thermos at a garage sale is just a device to bring these two people together. The San Fernando Valley is a very curious place where nothing seems nailed down and appearances can be more than deceiving. Porn stars live next door to orthodox Jews and octogenarians, all isolated in their own worlds and oblivious to their neighbors just feet away. Hemingway is isolated by her profession (porn star) unable to have a meaningful relationship and Johnson is isolated by her age and past losses that have caused her to withdraw to her quaint bungalow. Slowly and fitfully, a relationship between the two grows.
The movie is well paced and well directed. The porn theme is handled creatively and tastefully. It is a full half way through the film that Hemingway's profession is revealed. I do have a problem with the every scene being overexposed by about 2/3 stops and seriously desaturated. It is a cinematographic technique that has its limits. There are a few continuity issues that should have been resolved in the editing process, but overall, this film is a poignant and sensitive view of life in L.A. in the 21st Century.
The Lifeguard (2013)
Good Idea, but a little rough around the edges
I basically liked the movie. I just wonder how much money they spent to make this indie film. Lots of things could have been better: script, cinematography, continuity, locations, but the basic ideas came through. There were all kinds of story development that was left to one's imagination. Too bad, because the basic idea was a good one: YOU CAN'T GO HOME AGAIN. It is a an old theme, but one that has legs. Most of the characters were pretty believable, but just a bit too stereotypical. The best scenes were the sexual liaisons between between Leigh and the boy who was a boy in name only. Whew! His sexual prowess was closer to a 30 year old than a 16 y.o. which was one of he problems with the movie, why were these folks in their late twenties hanging out with a bunch of dysfunctional high school boys? A question never quite adequately answered in the film.
Leigh needs a break from her crazy life in the fast lane and gets one, but it is not what she bargained for. Some deus ex machina tragedy and some hot sex really don't make a complete story, but it is a small town slice of life thing that many of us can understand.
The Iron Lady (2011)
Life's mirror image
If most of you are lucky enough to live to 80 a very large portion of you will suffer from the effects of dementia. This film makes a valiant if flawed attempt to deal with this aspect of life many of us will face if we live that long. In the film, Thatcher knows she is losing her mind and struggles to keep it. Streep's portrayal as the middle aged and elderly Lady Thatcher is remarkable. While not a fan of Thatcher's politics (or Reagan's for that matter) the script does go to great lengths to accurately and sympathetically reveal Thatcher's motivations and her personal history. Many of Streep's soliloquies are verbatim quotes from Thacher herself. In a way, one can think of this film as the remarkable woman who jumped so many hurdles trying to jump the last one in her final days. The opening scene when she goes to the corner market to buy a pint of milk and no one recognizes her says it all. Life's ravages are inevitable, whether we are great or small. The only difference is how we chose to deal with them.