Dogs Bark

Woman On A Bubble - - Deux Jours, Une Nuit [Two Days, One Night] (2014, Belgium, Color, 95 min) - - 18 September 2016

Recommended. It’s clearly a coincidence, but the last two movies reviewed herein have been immersed in lefty politics. For Two Days, One Night, the message is the medium. Academy-Award winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) gives another Oscar-nominated performance this time as a woman attempting to keep her job with for a vile company. The Dardienne brothers (The Child) use the petit bourgeoisie of Liège to document the way high-tech management successfully isolates and ruthlessly exploits non-union workers. Much as it does in the US. Cotillard’s talented expression needs no dialogue to indicate her motivation as she desperately tries to keep her job and sanity, even her life. The only misstep of this film is why she would cling to such a cruel employer, even out of economic desperation . . . a case which is never made.  Fabrizio Rongione (The Words of My Father) also excels as her fiercely loyal husband.

Fargo On The Brazos - - Hell And High Water (2016, USA, Color, 102 min) - - 11 September 2016

Recommended. From the starting gate, this movie sets sight on the popularity of No Country For Old Men. That’s a high bar to jump. In addition to a tense, crafted plot, standard Cohn practice requires both authentic rural color and actors that can perfect, then transcend that drawl. This legerdemain is UK(!) director David Mackenzie’s (Starred Up) strongest contribution to Hell And High Water. The plot is basically a cop chase between two Texas Rangers and two younger, white-trash brothers. The interaction of the Rangers, Jeff Bridges (True Grit) and Gil Birmingham (The Lone Ranger) and the brothers, Chris Pine (Star Trek) and Ben Foster (3:10 To Yuma) is outstanding, particularly Pine and Foster. It’s the baggage of the Bernie messages in Hell And High Water that keep the movie from soaring, for example, the clunky Native American asides. The story has sufficient populist props without such a heavy hand.