Category Archives: Drama

Fences – Director, Denzel Washington

Drama, Good, Oscar 2017, Oscar Stuff, Uncategorized

fences

This film is all about Denzel Washington. He produced, directed and acted the lead role. He managed to capture three Oscar nominations: Himself as Best Actor, his co-star Viola Davis for Best Supporting Actress and for August Wilson for the screenplay based on his Broadway play of the same name. Wilson passed away in 2005 and I have to assume the script for the film is very close to the original. Both actors performed the same roles in a Broadway revival a few years ago earning Tony awards for their portrayals. The movie covers a few months in the lives of a black family in Pittsburgh in 1957 and, like Manchester by the Sea, is difficult to watch as the family self destructs around the actions of Washington’s character who plays the father but comes together again at the end by the strength of the mother. Her soliloquy at the end of the film as she confronts her son’s anger reminded me in power at least of Linda Loman at the end of Death of a Salesman. The knock on the film has been that it fails to adequately transform the story from the stage to the screen but this is picky. The performances are all very good and while I do not expect them to win Oscars to put beside the Tony awards, they are compelling. I hesitate to recommend films like this because it is not escapist entertainment but will leave you thinking and if you are up for that kind of entertainment don’t hesitate to have a look.

Birth of the Dragon, Director — George Nolfi

Drama, Great Trash, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

The only martial arts film of the festival this year. The film a really fun, very typical martial arts film about a match between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man in the early 60’s. Lee had come to San Francisco to bring the ancient Chinese art of Kung Fu to North America much to the resistance of the traditional Chinese. The story is that Kung Fu Master Wong Jack Man was sent to shut him down. That is the legend. The movie however takes a somewhat different tack and is just based on this historic and mythic match but has a more complex story of a blossoming friendship between the two as they fight evil Chinese criminal gangs in San Francisco. It was totally fun and while martial arts purists are critical of the film they just really lack any sense of fun. If you like martial arts and like the films you will really enjoy this movie. For those of you who are purists I suggest you avoid it or be prepared to suspend disbelief and just relax. Totally fun, totally without redeeming social importance and some great fight scenes. Which is what its all about anyway. Right!? Yeah!

LBJ, Director — Rob Reiner

Drama, Loved it, Oscar Stuff, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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I was not sure what to expect from this movie and it really surprised me. Woody Harrelson plays Lyndon Johnson and its an academy award performance. He sure has come a long way from the days of Cheers. The film I am not Your Negro was critical of the white leadership of the day including JFK and Johnson and with some justification. Still it was Kennedy who conceived of the Civil Rights bill and it was Johnson (previously opposed to any civil rights legislation) who pushed it through congress and who introduced the voting rights act and medicare and other similar legislation. Reiner’s film paints a picture of a complex time and a complex person. For all his positive acts he was also the president who took the US into the Vietnam War and left it to others to resolve. The film is however very fair while sympathetic to the man. It covers his time from losing the Democratic nomination to JFK, becoming a reluctant and not very popular VP and then tragically president when Kennedy is assassinated. It focuses on the successful passing of the Civil Rights act as his first act and ends in 1964 prior to his running for president and his defeat of Barry Goldwater. Harrelson is perfect in the role, evoking the very human side of Johnson, his frailties, his strengths and his sense of humour. A very moving portrait of a very interesting leader. Reiner’s Q and A was great. He noted his age and that he opposed Johnson as a young man when he might well have been drafted and sent to fight a war he disagreed with. Still after all these years he has come to recognize both the good and bad sides of the man. The film will not be released until next year, long after the horrendous election in the US is over. This is too bad because the film might well remind American voters of some of its more intelligent and sophisticated leaders.

Deepwater Horizon – Peter Berg

Drama, Meh!, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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I had some trepidation when I ordered tickets to this one but it had Mark Wahlberg and it was about one of the worst oil spill disasters in history and maybe, just maybe they would do a good job. I was sadly disappointed. Although they do try in a minor way to pin this on British Petroleum there is absolutely no message here about environmental issues or the irresponsibility of the oil industry to prevent these kinds of situations. Instead it is literally all about the night of the blow out and the desperate acts of the men and women on the rig to escape. The film is very confusing. Dialogue is hard to make out over the simulated din of the machines, you have no idea who the characters are, what their roles are, what the relationships are between the workers or why the disaster happened at all.  No attempt is made  to explain how all the systems on board would fail simultaneously. And the film is loud, wear ear plugs if you go. The attempts at escape are also very confusing and we have two hours of screaming, shouting, explosions, fire and gross injuries. I left the film feeling angry and stressed and I usually can handle an action film like Jason Bourne but this was literally just stupid. If you get the impression I was not impressed you are picking up the right vibes. Stay away or if you must watch it – wait for it to show up on Netflix or iTunes.

Goldstone, Director — Ivan Sen

Drama, Great Trash, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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Yes I know the picture looks like a traditional American Western but this is really anything but. Instead it’s an Australian police drama set today in the desert of the Australian outback. It is the second film from Aussie director Ivan Sen about a indigenous federal detective who arrives in the desert and woe begotten town of Goldstone. He is there to track down a missing Chinese girl that he suspects of being a victim of human trafficking. Goldstone harbours a very private and protective mining operation that is causing pollution and local violence by its miners. The company also imports indebted Chinese girls to serve as prostitutes and has bought off the town’s mayor and many of the local indigenous population. Besides our hero (who is himself a deeply flawed individual) there is a local cop who has been keeping his eyes closed but who is essentially a good cop. A murder and finding of the missing girl’s body gets the story rolling ending in a bloody gun fight between the good and bad guys. The indigenous detective appears in an earlier film – Mystery Road – which I fully intend to watch next week. The story is exciting and while not really Oscar worthy is definitely worth seeing. I have become a big fan of Australia cinema and this film did not let me down. If there is an award worthy aspect to this film that puts it in a class by itself, it’s the cinematography which is absolutely stunning. The shots of the desert taken with drone mounted cameras take your breath away. Seriously.

Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, Director – Joseph Cedar

Drama, Meh!, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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I am not yet sure how to review this film. It tells the story of Norman Oppenheimer, a Jewish middle man or fixer in NYC. The character also called a macher in Yiddish is not an uncommon character in the city. He is a person who connects people with money and sets up deals of which he will take a cut. In this film Norman gets out of his comfort zone when he tries to set up deals with visiting Israeli politicians and local businessmen. The problem with the film is that pretty much everyone sees Norman as a bit of a con man and clearly have little or no respect for him. His lawyer nephew and his rabbi give him a bit of a break but otherwise he appears pretty pathetic. The film and the plot are in my opinion completely unbelievable. The moderate rise is about him making friends with a deputy minister from the Israeli government who later manages to become prime minister. Norman has a real connection with the man but the difference between their worlds means that nothing Norman tries to set up will ever work and in fact he becomes a threat to the PM by his machinations. Again all this seems totally unbelievable for a penny ante operator like Norman. Richard Gere is very good in the role and in introducing the film the director warned us the character of Norman will stay with us long after the film is over. Sadly, Norman is already fading from my memory and I am grateful. A film that I thought had great potential when I got my ticket but is now the weakest film of the week and really a very disappointing experience.

Denial, Director – Mick Jackson

Drama, Loved it, Oscar Stuff, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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In 1993 Deborah Lipstadt, a Jewish Holocaust historian published a book Denying the Holocaust and in that book took aim at one particularly obnoxious and vociferous UK based denier named David Irving. To gain some attention Irving sued her and her publisher, Penguin Books. This film is a dramatization of that trial which dragged out over several weeks and about which the judgement was in doubt. Under UK law it was incumbent on Lipstadt to prove she had not libelled Irving and not on Irving to prove he was libelled. It made a challenging situation. Lipstadt could have settled out of court but she wanted to confront this challenge head on. If she lost, then Holocaust denial would be lent legitimacy it did not deserve and her own historical work put in doubt. Although the story was true and the outcome was known (I will keep that to myself for now) the drama is tense and the themes of dealing with holocaust deniers are emotionally packed and explored. The cast is great including Tom Wilkinson (the barrister), Timothy Spall (David Irving), Rachel Weisz (Lipstadt) and Andrew Scott(the solicitor). Andrew Scott may be known to more of you for his very scary and creepy portrayal of Moriarty in the Sherlock series. I had trouble separating him from that role which actually made his role in this film even more effective. You are never sure where he stands or what he is up to. Spall puts in another incredible acting performance as the evil Irving and you really want to reach into the screen and throttle him. Wilkinson is the supreme brilliant understated performance. I did not look at my watch once in the two hours.

So bottom line: this is a very very good movie and deserves large audiences and awards. The theme is important and presented powerfully. I saw this at the Winter Garden and the director got a standing ovation from the whole crowd. It was very much deserved.

Birth of a Nation, Director – Nate Parker

Drama, Oscar Stuff, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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This review is hard to write. The film is controversial because of issues around the director’s past which includes allegations of rape 15 years ago when he was 18 and at College. While he was originally acquitted his friend at the time was convicted. The victim of the rape renewed charges but declined to testify and the case was dropped. The actors and others involved in the film have asked critics and audiences to separate the film from Parker the man and let the rape allegations evolve separately. The film itself needs to be judged on its merits alone. I agree with this and wonder at the timing of the release of the story about the rape at this time. It is not clear how the story broke. The victim herself committed suicide in 2012 nearly four years ago but the timing of the controversy re-emerging at this time seems deliberate and at this time all just allegations.  This is not to justify Parker or see him as an innocent but the film is important on its own merits and deserves to be judged on its own. That said, I am not sure the film deserves all the praise it is receiving. Parker is the producer, director, writer and lead actor and it is clearly a work of some passion for him. It is based on a true story of a slave revolt in the US South prior to the Civil War. I was disappointed with the acting, particularly Parker’s, and the film is long and not well constructed.  Again, this is not to say it does not carry an important message. I found myself tying the oppression it portrays and the anger of the response, to our own treatment of First Nations people here. The dehumanizing actions and co-opting of the oppressed to support their own suffering is common to all such situations and the angry but tragic response of the oppressed and its ongoing effects is well illustrated in the film. That is the message and worth seeing, hearing and reflecting on not only for Americans but for any who try to justify or dismiss the dehumanizing of others. This film is worth your time and it is OSCAR material – no question but the controversy surrounding its artistic lead is troubling and may impact a film that asks many important questions.

The Journey, Director – Nick Hamm

Drama, Loved it, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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This is the best film I have seen so far and likely the best for the rest of the week. It is a dramatic recreation of an encounter between Ian Paisley played by Timothy Spall and Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein played by Colm Meaney. The encounter happens during the 2007 meeting that brought The Troubles in Northern Ireland to the end with a dramatic peace treaty between Catholics and Protestants. The two men literally hated one another and had both been committed to the struggle for nearly two decades. The director is Irish as is Meaney and they have a great deal invested in the story. The film focusses on the two men who are compelled to travel together in a van on the way to the airport. The meeting or situation has been set up by British and Irish politicians who had a great deal invested in having a peace accord completed. The situation is entirely fictional but it is not entirely unimaginable. It was not uncommon for representatives of the two sides to travel together to discourage assassination attempts by agents of either side. No one would attack the plane or train for fear of killing their own people. Also, after the treaty was signed, these two men became close friends from being sworn enemies. They came to be called the Chuckle Brothers for their obvious friendship and good humour. How this could have happened is imagined by the director and the writers and recreated brilliantly by these two gifted actors. The film is funny, moving, and carries an important message. The Troubles are complex and deeply emotional. A violent time that many cannot forgive or forget. The film has been criticized by some for over simplifying the situation and making light of a serious period in history or trivializing it. This is unfair and I think is done from the perspective of those who will never be satisfied with any attempt to describe the time or the issues. We had the virtue of a Q and A with the Director and Colm Meaney. While focussing on the Irish situation and this significant time in history they told us that the film is really about the need for politicians and us all to find our way to compromise as these two enemies were able to do. We need to understand each other as persons and reach for solutions rather than stay rooted in our own perspectives and ideologies. They see quite rightly that the inability to do this in our current times lies at the root of the failure of our democracies. I think the film is brilliant, well written with a critical message and beautifully acted. It was two hours long but I did not notice the time nor did I want it to end. I found the characters entirely absorbing. Try to see this film when it is released.

Snowden, Director – Oliver Stone

Drama, Oscar Stuff, TIFF 2016, Uncategorized

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This was the first dramatic film I attended and even it has to be described as a docu-drama. I am incurable I suppose. At any rate, being totally intrigued with Edward Snowden and having seen and loved Citizen Four and John Oliver’s interview with Snowden I had to see how Oliver Stone would treat the topic. I have to say he did a great job. I attended the screening at Roy Thomson Hall the day after the gala opening and it was still packed. What was exciting was that Oliver Stone (much the worse for wear after the night’s parties and after parties showed up to introduce the film which was much appreciated by the audience. The film itself has received mixed reviews including a very negative one from the Guardian (which stars in the movie) and a very positive one in Variety. So take your pick. I liked Variety’s version. I found the film suspenseful, exciting, insightful and really well acted with a superb cast that included Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Snowden, Tom Wilkinson, Melissa Leo, and Spock…er, Zachary Quinto among others. There is not much point in going over the plot but suffice to say, Stone has done a great job and challenged the US in particular to reconsider its treatment of whistleblowers. Whatever you might think of Snowden’s actions, he has had an immense influence on curbing the NSA and CIA at least temporarily and done us all a great service by opening our eyes to the new surveillance world we all live in now. Good film, Oscar worthy, and highly recommended.