Reviews

Four African American veterans return to Vietnam to hunt for gold and the lost remains of their fallen leader, Stormin' Norman. From the beginning it is clear that this is no return to glory, but a story of unfinished business.

The film jumps through time creating a dichotomy between what the Bloods were fighting for and what they've been left with. A very affecting scene sees them listening to Viet Cong propaganda, sympathetic to the injustice towards Black GIs. Any sense of patriotism or American glory normally found in war films is conspicuously absent. Lee instead shows the war as a complex mess, reflected in the lives of the four men.

Lee's imagery of Norman is particularly powerful, as he teaches his comrades about black history, encouraging them to use the gold to advance black liberation. He is an almost mythic figure (strong parallels are drawn between his death and the assassination of MLK), and when in his company the past, ironically, feels safer for the Bloods than the present.

Lee inserts real footage and photography of Black activists, soldiers and icons. While the film has moments of levity and a sense of adventure the constant presence of history reminds the audience that this is not a work of fiction. It gives a huge weight to the film; the Vietnam war becomes a single moment in a struggle hundreds of years old. The Bloods do not seek to defend America but fight for the America that does not yet exist.

A timely and a timeless film. As entertaining as it is informative and emotional, bolstered by consistently strong performances. Lee directs with his usual flare and style, but with a driven sense of purpose. An inversion of the war genre, changing Vietnam from a mindless horror to an obvious injustice.

As part of its promotion, Coffee & Kareem released a number of posters that paid homage to films past; Die Hard and 48 Hours, among others. Presumably meant to reflect the levels of action and comedy they were aiming for, so it's a great shame then that the film fails spectacularly on both fronts.

Ed Helms plays Officer Coffee, a Detroit cop who is not only bad at his job but would rather spend his time with his new girlfriend Vanessa (Taraji P. Henson). Unfortunately for Coffee, Vanessa's son Kareem (whom he has never had time for), has put in a request with local gangsters to kill him. As the inevitable chaos ensues, Coffee and Kareem must go on the run from gangsters and crooked cops and, hopefully, resolve their differences along the way.

The film is at once both too short and too long. It will race through story points and character development, with characters often just randomly announcing their new motivations whenever a bit of plot is required. It then lingers on excruciatingly long improvised scenes which run the tone-deaf gamut of racist, sexist and homophobic jokes.

Ed Helms is a very fine comic performer, but here he just comes across as snivelling and unsympathetic. Academy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson shows up at the beginning and is then knocked out for the majority of the movie, for no reason whatsoever. The only saving grace is Betty Gilpin who, as the crooked cop, is both genuinely funny and scary.

Coffee & Kareem sacrifices plot for poor jokes and boring action sequences. Much like its characters, by the time it's over the audience will have learned nothing. It may have started life as a decent one-line pitch. Clearly the trouble started when it had to be turned into a 90-minute film.

Elia Suleiman is trying to make a film about his native Palestine. It'll be about the conflict, but with a focus on the people living through it, and it'll be a comedy. To get it financed he must travel to Paris and then New York. The result is It Must Be Heaven, an absolute treat of a film.

Suleiman places himself at the center of the film as an (almost) silent spectator. There's a touch of Buster Keaton about him as he passively observes small vignettes from life: farmers tell him stories; combatants run past him; neighbours help one another. However, what Suleiman is really doing is lending us his eyes. He's inviting the audience to see what he sees, and then reflect, while he stands by silently.

As he travels across the globe the scenes vary in nature, but throughout there is a recurring presence of both kindness and aggression. Movements are also repeated and mirrored. While the action is exaggerated there is still a strict precision to the framing. Characters move in straight lines, or circles, always keeping the frame balanced. This is all designed to catch our eye and encourage us to really look at what we're seeing. The film may present caricatures but in reality, it's a reflection on how the West is seen and it questions how the West sees itself. Suleiman finally brings the attention back to Palestine where, despite everything, there is just as much life here as anywhere else.

At once very gentle and thoroughly engrossing, this is a film that's both funny and thought-provoking and, like the mark of all good films, the more you watch it the more you will see. Utilising the universal language of silent cinema, Suleiman has made a film about Palestine that is universally relatable. A small, understated gem.