The Shape of Water

The Shape of Water

Guillermo del Toro is one of my favorite directors. He is a master of fantasy story telling. His oeuvre includes Pan’s Labyrinth, Hell Boy and The Devil’s Backbone. This is a tender love story between a lonely mute woman and an Amphibious man (merman) captured by the government for nefarious research. The mute is played by Sally Hawkins who is a janitor at the governmental facility. In contrast to the cruelty inflicted by Michael Shannon, who plays a military officer who found the “asset” in the Amazon, Hawkins affectionately secures the creature’s confidence and affection.  Since the creature cannot speak sign language becomes their common bridge.

The movie is set in the 60’s. Dresses, cars, music and bigotry all 60’s. Racial discrimination, homophobia and disparaging the handicapped were all prevalent. The creature is an avator for these derogations and his loving relationship with Hawkins is a repudiation of blind hate.

Sally Hawkins plays a difficult role as a mute, but this constraint does not limit her expressive performance. The signing was an interesting feature of the film (in real life Hawkins is not mute). Octavia Spencer is also a janitor and Hawkins’s friend. She helps to facilitate the romantic affair between Hawkins and the merman. She gives her usual understated performance which belies her strength and guile.

Michael Shannon has created on a franchise of being mean. His sadistic performance as Colonel Strickland is over the top and intense. He torments Hawkins and Spencer which in turn makes them cohorts to protect the merman. Richard Jenkins plays a terribly lonely middle aged closeted commercial artist who is Hawkins’s neighbor and close friend. Their mutual loneliness bonds them together and Jenkins is very supportive of the burgeoning romance between Hawkins and the merman. He puts himself in peril for their love.

Some parts of the movie are quite brutal. There is also magic, but I refrain from revealing it. One benefit, by the end of the movie you will be able to sign F… You.

Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures 

                                                                                           January 7, 2017

What a joyous and uplifting movie; but this is not a Disney movie. The movie tackles hard topics like racism, segregation and sex discrimination.

 This is a true story about three African-Americans mathematicians who worked on the space program at NASA Langley field Virginia in the 1960’s.They are: Taraji P. Henson as Katherine Johnson-mathematical genius , Octavia Spencer as Dorothy Vaughan, IBM programmer, Janelle Monáe as Mary Jackson, engineer.

This movie is referred to as a biographical comedy-drama film. It is humorous but certain parts are serious and historic. It never occurred to me there was discrimination NASA, but why not? It was in Virginia in the 1960’s where discrimination was accepted.   Mathematicians were called computers. These ladies were referred to as the colored computers. 

Henson is outstanding in her role. She could be submissive and stay in her place to advance but she had the courage to confront prejudice. She had to wrestle respect from her co-workers and bosses.  Her advantage was her mathematical genius, she even impressed the astronauts.  

Spencer was the over worked supervisor without a title or appropriate pay. In a quiet and relentless manner, she became the first Afro-American IBM programmer. She surreptitiously learning Fortran on her own. Spencer’s outward calmness underlies her tenacity and intelligence.

Monae was the squeaky wheel. Of the three she pushed the boundaries using moxie and her beauty. Through hard work and undiscouraged she became an engineer.

Kevin Costner played the director of the Space Task Group. Seemingly oblivious to racism until he needed his colored computers. He played a hardened bureaucrat with a heart deeply buried in his chest. Jim Parsons played the peevish head mathematician who was a racist and misogynistic. At every turn, he put up obstacles which Henson knocked down.

This movie is the flip side of The Right Stuff. These women boosted the space program with their No. 2 pencils. Hidden Figures shines a much need light on a neglected part of our history. Stick round for the credit roll to see the real-life people.

Get On Up

For a movie with fancy choreography, there are some missteps. However, Chadwick Boseman was fabulous. To go from the stoic and reserved Jackie Robinson role to the extroverted James Brown is the ultimate definition acting range. Boseman’s embodiment of Brown was so complete his mimicked speech pattern made it difficult to understand him. His role is more than just an impression but is rather very challenging and encompasses the spectrum of Brown’s life from the back woods shack of his birth to the private jet of the Godfather of Soul. The hardest working man in show business had a very hard life and as a result was not the nicest person. James Brown constantly uses the first person to describe himself. In this a way he reaffirms his success and keeps the ghosts of his past at bay. James Brown was a force of nature and his signature showmanship defined him.

The movie benefited from other great actors. Viola Davies plays his mother and even in her brief appearance gives a touching and forceful performance. The movie would have been stronger with her character longer on screen. She is very influential in the development of Brown. Octavia Spencer played a warm comforting auntie type. She is a proxy mother, but she too is relegated to a brief appearance. Dan Aykroyd is a national treasure. He has the acting range of a pimple, but you gotta love him. Nelsan Ellis plays James Brown’s wingman, Bobbie Bryd. This is a classic love hate relationship engendering pity, arrogance and resolution. Ellis was perfect for the role.

The dancing is signature James Brown. I hope Boseman already has children, since those splits are lethal. Boseman lip syncs the songs but he does it with such bravado, sweat pours down his grimacing face. Boseman’s make up is dead on.

The movie has some problems; flash backs and asides. Flash backs are valuable if used sparingly. In this movie the flash backs give you motion sickness and are very distracting. They bounce back and forth in a non-liner manner. Asides are annoying. If the actor has to tell the audience what is going on followed with a big wink, something is lacking. If the script is written correctly the audience gets it. Another sore point is the use labels in the movie.  They looked like exit signs on a highway and were silly for a drama.

This movie is imperfect. Boseman’s chameleon performance of James Brown deserves at least an Oscar nomination. All round there are wonderful acting gems, but sometimes the settings are not quite good. Go see it, but bring Dramamine.