The Handmaiden (Amazon Prime)

 

The Handmaiden (Amazon Prime)

This is a wonderful movie. It is a 2016 South Korean erotic psychological thriller by the director Park Chan-wook. It is a multi-layered  story of deception, betrayal, love and revenge. It is a story within a story with dramatic reversals. The story is told in three parts and some of the plot points are not obvious. Part 2 is  flash backs explaining part 1.You may wish to read the plot in Wikipedia before or after. It is in Korean and Japanese subtitles. The Japanese subtitles are shown in yellow and the Korean in white, this is important. Normally I do not like watching movies with subtitles but this is a worthwhile exception.

The movie takes place in Japanese occupied Korea and involves a noble Lady played by Kim Min-hee, her Uncle played by Cho Jin-woong , her maid played by Kim Tae-ri and a fake Count played by Ha Jung-woo. The story has numerous story elements which are cohesive but complex. The story is about an elaborate swindle with unexpected twists and turns. The intentions of the characters are not obvious and there are dark secrets. The acting is excellent especially with the two female leads transcending language and conveying the character’s purpose.  The film’s erotica (not pornography) is fashioned on Japanese Shunga art. It is an integral part of the main characters’ development. There are some graphic torture scenes.

This is a female centric movie. They are victims but eventually victorious. The two female actors are controlled and mistreated by the men  but prove to be more clever and resourceful. This is an exception for an Asian film.

Three cultures are represented in the film: Japanese, Korean and Anglo; they maintain their individuality. The film is set in an English manor attached to a traditional Japanese minka house, with sliding doors and tatami mates. The costumes  include  beautiful traditional Japanese kimono  and Korean handok dresses and English period formal clothing.

The film won numerous awards and received a Rotten Tomato rating of 95%.

 

Judas and the Black Messiah (HBO Max)

 

Judas and the Black Messiah (HBO Max)

This is a powerful and emotional movie. In part it is a violent movie, but the entire story is compelling. The film features some outstanding performances worth watching.  This is a true story of the Black Panther’s Chicago chapter in the 1960’s and its chairman Fred Hampton. The Panthers were a militant organization which were the antithesis of Dr. King’s nonviolent movement. The movie gives a  balanced view of the Panthers displaying their civic initiatives of providing lunches for school children and medical clinics for the local community.  They were also militant and had armed confrontations with police. 

The chairman of the Chicago chapter is Fred Hampton played by Danial Kaluuya (“Get Out” and “Black Panther”). Hampton was confronted with many challenges. Besides organizing the local chapter, he was seeking an alliance with local gangs and his organization was harassed and under surveillance by local authorities and the FBI. Kaluuya gives an impassioned outstanding performance as the Black Messiah. He displays many emotions as a driven revolutionary leader and as a vulnerable young man (he was only 21)  starting a relationship.

Lakeith Stanfield is Bill O’Neil the FBI informant who infiltrated the Panthers. Stanfield’s role is more complicated than Kaluuya’s since to infiltrate the Panthers he has to participate in their activity and at the same time act as an informer. His role is equivocal showing signs of empathy for the Panthers and the self-preservation of a low level hood cooperating with the FBI to stay out of prison.

Jesse Plemons plays Roy Michell the FBI handler of O’Neil.  He is pressured by Edgar Hoover to infiltrate the Panthers. Plemons plays O’Neil as a manipulative FBI agent but shows signs of disdain for the manipulation of O’Neil at the urging  of J. Edgar Hoover.  

Dominique Fishback is Hampton’s girlfriend. She played a strong role as a prostitute in the HBO series the “Duce”. She brings the same high level of acting to this role. She is shy but strong willed and forms a bond with Hampton humanizing his character.

This is a tough movie. It covers important social material of our history. I had no idea the level of carnage the Chicago police and the Panthers engaged in. See it for the history, see it for the acting.

The Little Things (HBO Max)

The Little Things (HBO Max)

If you have three academy award winning actors in the same crime thriller and two of them are cops, who do you think is the bad guy? So much for tension. The best I can say about the movie is I found it disappointing. There was not enough meat on the bone for these stars and a poor script.

This is about unsolved murders of a serial killer in the Los Angeles area. I think they wanted to recreate the mood of the Zodiac and Night Stacker killers. One cop  is a demoted  detective,  who teams up with cocky young detective. They work together to solve what they think is the same case. The story could have been more developed with greater interaction with the killer and the killers motivation. Too much was left to the end of the film where there were some important reveals. One ending scene was just not credible.  

Denzel Washington has  bulked up. He plays his usual cool self with a crocked smile. This is a cake walk for him. Rami Malik was  miscast for the role as a tough L.A. detective. With those big dewy eyes he resembles Bambi more than a L.A. cop. His toughness is dubious. He plays the role too hard and was not convincing. Jared Lato wears his creepy Jesus face on a caffeine high. Of all of them Lato plays a good role.

I think this was a well intended effort that missed the mark.

The Trial of the Chicago Seven (Netflix)

 

The Trial of the Chicago Seven (Netflix)

The Chicago Seven trial was about 52 years ago (1968). I remember some parts but not to the detail of the movie. The historical and cultural significance of this event is enough reason to watch the film. Chicago of 1968 belonged to Mayor Richard Daily and he was not going to tolerate “hippie anarchists” demonstrating in his city. The police were his private l tug force. The protests were against the Vietnam war.

The film is written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. The film’s excellent production is as a result of his detailed and emotional script. Trials can be as dry as toast but here the film is engaging and tense. The movie uses cuts from actual news footage of the riots and beatings which are edited into the film. As to the authenticity of the movie I am sure there was some poetic license  but from what I read most of the events were true. The production went out of its way to have the actors reassemble the actual people.  Abie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin were quite accurate. Abie Hoffman is played by Sasha Baron Cohn, of “Borat” fame. I can not watch any of the Borat movies, they are cringe worthy and in poor taste. But Cohn was outstanding in this role. Not only did he mimic Hoffman but he displayed sincerity to Hoffman’s beliefs. Another outstanding performance was presented by Mark Rylance as William Kunstler, the main  defense lawyer. He sported Kunstler’s ubiquitous glasses atop he forehead. What he  lacked in appearance he made up in his passionate performance. Frank Langella was brilliant as the autocratic Judge Julius Hoffman. Langella used a modified Nixon voice and some of his repartee was almost  Vaudevillian.  Obviously, there were no cameras in the court room so Langella did a lot of over the top ad-lib acting.  He must have had great fun.

This is an ensemble performance with a talented cast too many to list. Sorkin has directed a master peace. For all you kids below 40 this film is a required civic lesson. For the rest of us it is a bittersweet through back. In 1969  I was eighteen and required to register for the draft. In the lottery I had a low number which increased my chance of being inducted. I was not picked.

 

 

The White Tiger (Netflix)

 

The White Tiger (Netflix)

This is a hard movie to watch but absolutely worthwhile. The film depicts extreme poverty and brutality which are over come by determination and cunning. The white tiger is that rare creature rising  above brutal obstacles to ruthlessly achieves its goals.  

This film is a combination of a great script, great acting and great directing. This is an American movie, not Bollywood,  but the actors, director and story are all Indian. The story is about a boy with talent and promise but is chained to poverty and caste discrimination. His obstacles include his family, his village and his tyrannical employer. The depiction of Indian society and culture is harsh. Socialism is a sham  driven by graft. Poverty is desperate and is a motivation to escape. The main character says at one time there were a thousand castes in Indian now there are only two.

The protagonist is Balram Halwai played by Adarsh Gourav. His performance was outstanding. He is ambitious and clever but is  capable of reprehensible actions to escape his lot. The dark evolution of his character is the heart of the movie. His sins are camouflaged by a corrupt society. The introduction of Priyanka Chopra as Pinky and Rajkummar Rao as Ashok add  complexity to the film.  They are married and return to India from America. Ashok is the son of the brutal landlord of Barlram’s village and a businessman. Ashok wants to bring American business techniques to his father’s operation but is blocked by implacable graft.  Whereas Ashok tries to straddle two societies,  his wife Pinky is decidedly more American and finds the treatment of Balram cruel. In the end Pinky’s higher morals are tested but she fails. At the point of being discarded like a piece of trash Balram becomes the white tiger again.

The supporting actors do a great job and the movie could not have succeeded without them. I am not certain but I assume locals were also caste. The cinematography was gritty, there were no postcard shots of India. Warning some of the scenes are hard to take.

The movie is entirely shot in India and the poverty is not glossed over. Slumdog Millionaire had brutal scenes, but also redemption. The white tiger does not seek redemption only success. I would not be surprised if this film in nominated for best foreign film. Thanks Marie.

 

The Climb

 

The Climb (Amazon Prime)

I have to stop reading the posters at the Angelica movie theater on Houston Street. The critics lauded this movie with accolades: humorous, smart, great bromances flick etc... The poster was plastered  with laurels from a number of film festivals. At best I found the film annoying.

The main characters are relatively unknown, at least to me. Mike is played by Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle is played by Kyle Marvin. It is written by  Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin, produced by Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin and directed by Michael Angelo Covino. Is there a pattern here? The film was made in 2019 but released in 2020 with several push back dates. So the box office of $710,000 is a victim of COVID. Mercifully, it cost only $5.99 to watch.

The film is sectioned in chapters with titles like “Lets Go” and “I’m Sorry”. So there is no continuous story line. Acting is not a hallmark of this film. Mike is an alcoholic jerk who betrays Kyle more than once and although Kyle is the victim he stays loyal to Mike. Emotions never reach a boiling point, although flabby punches are thrown. Mike is reprehensible and Kyle is made of play doe. It is hard to relate to someone who just lets themselves be dumped on.

There are some recognizable names. Gayle Rankin plays Kyle’s wife, Marissa,  and George Wendt (Norm from “Cheers”). The movie takes place wherever they do ice fishing (is that a thing?). The funniest scene of the movie is when Kyle’s friends give him a bachelor party in a tiny  icehouse on a frozen lake and they hire a stripper. There is also a scene which is a total rip off from the “Graduate”. At Kyle and Marissa’s wedding Mike barges into the chapel wearing a white dinner jacket and shouts, “I object”. Dustin Hoffman did it better.

There have been numerous cycling movies, this one is in the back of the pack.  

One Night in Miami (Amazon Prime)

 

One Night in Miami (Amazon Prime)

One Night in Miami is a fictional drama of a meeting among four black icons in 1964: Malcom X, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), James Brown and Sam Cooke. The gathering is in celebration of Cassius Clay’s  defeat of Sonny Liston to become the heavy weight champion. It takes place in the Miami motel room of Malcom X.

The subject matter is quite heady encompassing race relations, religion, life changing decisions  and prejudice. The movie is based on a play of the same name and the majority of the film is discourse  rather than action. The main interaction is between Malcom X and Sam Cooke and they are  polar opposites regarding the black experience. Malcolm X’s  focus is on black nationalism while Cooke was seen as pandering to white audiences. Not only is Cooke a successful singer but also a businessman and in a heated argument Cooke tells Malcom X  real power is economic power. The film covers other major events; the conversion of Cassius Clay to Islam and changing his name to Muhammad Ali and James Brown making the decision to leave the NFL and pursue his acting career.

Some of the actors are better known than others. Lesli Odem Jr plays Sam Cooke, Kingsley Ben-Adir is Malcom X, Eli Goree plays Cassius Clay and Aldis Hodge as James Brown. Lesli Odem played Aaron Burr in Hamilton. The best and most intense performances were between Sam Cooke and Malcom X. I was not too impressed with the Cassius Clay performance. Actors try to mimic Clay but they just do not get it right. James Brown made the least contribution.

The tension of the film is more philosophical than physical, although arguments do get heated. At times, the film is more about their differences rather than what they have in common.  This is  social commentary worth watching and remembering.

This is the directorial debut of Regina King (Watchmen). This film is a novel way of capturing  the black movements of the 1960’s. It would have been interesting to include Martin Luther King Jr. in the discussion or maybe a black female perspective such as Angels Davis or Sherley Chisholm .