Dogs Bark

Nature Boy - - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019, USA, Color, 109 min) - - 28 January 2020

Recommended. The sad loss of Fred Rogers in these dark days of America is perhaps a Captain Obvious moment. The 2018 documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? first postulated this, asking ‘What Would Fred Rogers Do?’ But just like the original name used in that speculation, all three are about doing things that make this world a more loving place. The plot of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is what Rogers did to reporter Tom Junod, here called Lloyd Vogel and played by Matthew Rhys (The Post), and how it changed his life for the better. And hats off to director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) that she kept the focus on the process Fred Rogers used to disarm and to treat people in emotional pain. Credit also to Oscar nominee Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan), whose skills met the challenge of not sliding into maudlin caricature.

Ripped Off From The Headlines - - Hustlers (2019, USA, Color, 110 min) - - 25 January 2020

Not recommended. I’m on a mission to review this year's - - critically praised but NOT Oscar-nominated- - female-directed movies. But if Hustlers is the foundation of that grievance . . . I may burn my Wonderbra. This movie is awful! Every stereotype of the heart-of-gold, working-mother stripper's sisterhood is pranced across the runway with Jennifer Lopez (Selena), leading the line-up. Julia Styles (Silver Linings Playbook) is a stand-in for reporter Jessica Pressler, who wrote the ‘based on real events’ article. Her look of incredulity as she probes Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) about her multiple felonies is a pale mimicry of the horror of the viewer. Basically, Hustlers is the girls-of-color version of this year’s ‘white male rage’ movie, justifying their predation on club customer’s Visa cards through female empowerment and a backhand swipe at Lehman Brothers. Considering JLo’s current income - - $40-mill - - she should spend her money at a less hypocritical strip club.

Too Noble To Curb, Too Lofty To Bend* - - Little Women (2019, USA, Color, 135 min) - - 24 January 2020

Strongly recommended. I suspected this going in but now it can be stated: Greta Gerwig (Francis Ha) was robbed. When a movie gets nominated for two acting Oscars but not the director’s nod . . . something stinks. Little Women is brilliant and clearly staged as a directorial ensemble. Also, the storyline (Oscar nomination, Greta Gerwig) is both unique and narratively sound. The wonderful costumes (Oscar nomination, Jacqueline Durran, Pride and Prejudice), music (Oscar nomination, Alexandre Desplat, The Queen), and photography (Yorick Le Saux, Only Lovers Left Alive) suggest someone knew what they wanted. For example, the non-linear narrative, ironically triumphant ending and the characterization shift in Amy March (Oscar nomination, Florence Pugh, Lady Macbeth) are all singular twists on this old story.  Gerwin still might have lost the Oscar; there are legends nominated this year.  But Gerwin’s efforts certainly do better than the nimrod who helmed Joker. No, Greta was definitely robbed.

*from a letter written by Louisa May Alcott’s mother to her daughter  

A First-Rate Gershwin - - An American In Paris (1951, USA, Color, 114) - - 22 January 2020

An essential. An American In Paris just might be the purest musical ever made. It was the fever dream of producer and songwriter Arthur Freed (Singin’ In The Rain) as a showcase for the music of George Gershwin (Shall We Dance?), focused on the 1928 orchestral composition. Freed teamed with Gene Kelly (Singin’ In The Rain) to develop the project and although Vincente Minnelli (Meet Me In St. Louis) was the director of record, Kelly was the true helmer. Its second distinction was the triumphant debut of Leslie Caron (Gigi). Caron’s ethereal beauty makes the famous 17-minute ballet fantasy at the end the third essential component. This viewing, courtesy of TCM’s Big Screen Classic program, caused me to appreciate all of that and Nina Foch (Executive Suite) too, who’s wonderful as Kelly’s wealthy patroness. Foch seems largely forgotten now just as she is - - sadly - - at the end of the story.

 

And Ecstasy - - Dolor Y Gloria [Pain And Glory] (2019, Spain, Color, 113 min) - - 20 January 2020

Strongly recommended. It’s glorious when a very good actor becomes very great in communion with a very great director. We’ve been treated to several such this year but none so reflective of glorious agony as this movie. For thirty-four years (eight movies) Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her) and Antonio Banderas (Matador) have developed a facultative mutualism, able to survive alone but arguably best together. Herein, the pain is the agony of living this weary life . . . no more, no less. The aches and indignities, the missed opportunities and lost ambitions, recalled at the end of that life.  The glory is subtle but thanks to the strong acting of Banderas - - and the space that his mentor and friend give him - - it’s written on his face. The glory of survival, with an intact artistic vocation. Shockingly, this is Banderas’s first Oscar nod. The rest of the cast, including Penelope Cruz (Volver), also shines.

A Glasgow Frown - - Joker (2019, Canada/USA, Color, 122 min) - - 18 January 2020

Not recommended. Joker may be the most cynical seeming movie ever nominated as a Best Picture. I throw in the ‘seeming’ because I have no idea what director Todd Phillips (The Hangover) intended besides a rather simple-minded back-story for a character that deserved none. Heath Ledger’s (The Dark Knight) take on the Joker seem perfectly adequate . . . an insane cipher for our degenerate age. So beyond this, what do we have? Yes, Joker is technically stunning but it’s an ugly, blood-sodden picture filled entirely with vile characters.  So is it . . . A cackling satire of some sort? A mockery of Scorsese (Taxi Driver, The King Of Comedy and Cape Fear are all clumsily quoted)? A plea for understanding by murderous lunatics? Speaking of which, Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here) has done much better criminal insanity than this. The best bet is a studio con-job. So far, they certainly fooled Oscar.

Secrets and Facts - - Marriage Story (2019, UK/USA, Color, 137 min) - - 13 January 2020)

Strongly recommended. Be forewarned, this is a sad movie. The title is misleading. It's is really a divorce and there is a relentless, grinding awfulness to this story. Despite my failed marriages, I never went through the courtroom nastiness suffered by Charlie (Adam Driver, BlacKkKlansman) and Nicole (Scarlett Johansson, Her) but there is a more subtle agony that we did share.  Marriage is a secret place, even if you are both public people. But getting divorced invites everyone into your most painful closet. And Marriage Story is all about this and well acted, too. Unlike Oscar, I wasn't as taken with Laura Dern (Wild), who just extracts her Big Little Lies bitchiness. My initial reaction, however, was that we don’t know enough about why Nicole was so miserable; her dialogue leaves many gaps. But sometimes even those in the middle of it don’t know for sure why things went wrong.

Not A One Take Pony - - 1917 (2019, UK/USA, Color, 119 min) - - 10 January 2020

Strongly recommended. Going in, I was concerned that Sam Mendes’s (American Beauty) intention to simulate a two-hour, single-take movie - - ala, Hitchcock's Rope - - was just too gimmicky. Probably a slight of the Oscar-winning creativity of Mendes, cameraman Roger Deakins (Fargo) and editor Lee Smith (Inception) and their ability to blend technique and narrative in service to a story . . . and an even greater - - though understandable - - underestimation of the two leads, newcomers Dean-Charles Chapman (Game of Thrones) and George McKay (Defiance), as the cantering couriers. In fact, the fluid point-of-view is almost a third protagonist . . . like Athena pushing Odysseus ever onward. McKay, in particular, is astonishing, notably in the final scenes. It’s the kind of casual plot twist that is simultaneously plausible and profound, given the horror he’s just traversed. Kinda like life.  

Fiat Chats - - The Two Popes (2019, UK/Italia/Argentina/USA, Color, 125 min) - - 1 January 2020

Recommended. So . . . let’s ignore the casual inaccuracy (and downright fabrication) scattered throughout The Two Popes. Focus instead on a tale of two, deeply spiritual, clergymen, equally devoted to a vision of a categorically opposed future. Then ask, is The Two Popes a reasonable picture of such high-ecclesiastical drama? Put this way, The Two Popes succeeds admirably. Perhaps it's director Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardner) narrative strengths but I think more likely it’s the instincts of two wily old pros, perhaps having played this out before. Jonathan Pryce (Evita) - - the more charismatic, soon-to-be Pope Francis - - hides a guilty doubt that, as leader of the Argentinean Jesuits, he failed to adequately oppose the Junta. As the more ritualized and authoritarian Pope Benedict, Anthony Hopkins (Nixon) wins us over with his surprising conciliation to progress. Their exchange reminds us of a time when shepherds cared more about their flock . . . than harvesting the lambs.