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AFIFest

Farewell Amor – Hard Reunion

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“We don’t even know each other anymore—or ourselves.”

Among the sacrifices many immigrants face is long separation from the people they love. In Ekwu Msangi’s Farewell Amor, a family is reunited in the US after many years apart. There are cultural differences for those coming now, but even more, there is a struggle to see if the family is still the family they were.

Walter (Ntare Guma Mbabo Mwine) and Esther (Zainab Jah), along with their daughter Sylvia (Jayme Lawson) are reunited at JFK airport after being apart for 17 years. They had been displaced by the strife in Angola. Walter came to the US to establish a place for them, but because of visa issues, Esther and Sylvia were in camps in Tanzania. Walter has been driving a cab and lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn.

Certainly they are happy to see each other, but there is great awkwardness from the time apart. Walter is now very settled into American culture. Esther, on the other hand, is very much a fish out of water. During their time apart, Esther has become very religious with the zeal of an evangelical Christian. Sylvia, as a teenager, easily begins to fit into ‘the culture, and becomes attracted to expressive dancing. But the kind of dancing she is doing goes against her mother’s understanding of proper behavior. The film is divided into sections that feature each person’s journey in rebecoming a family.

There are other issues besides learning to fit in to the culture that create problems. Esther’s ties to the church, to which she sends large donations, create friction between her and her husband. Walter was not faithful to Esther through all those years; he has created a home with another woman.

A key activity in this film is dancing. For Sylvia, dancing becomes her source of identity and belonging. Between Esther and Walter, dancing has always been a source of intimacy and togetherness. That makes it all the more troubling when we know that part of Walter’s life in the US was going to dance clubs where he would meet his other woman. At times dancing becomes the focal point for the conflicts within the family, but it is also the place where they might find healing and hope.

Farewell Amor is available in theaters (where open) and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of IFC Films.

Sound of Metal – A Place of the Kingdom?

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Is healing a return to what came before, or is it finding life anew? In Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, a man has to decide what he will accept in his life that has been turned upside down. He discovers that what he thinks will make him whole may not be as good as he hopes, but he also discovers that there are gifts that he can tap into that will bring him peace and joy.

Ruben (Riz Ahmed) and Lou (Olivia Cooke) travel the country as the band Blackgammon, a punk metal band. Ruben plays the drums. Their trademark is that they are LOUD. Yet, when in private, they listen to much softer music. One day Ruben suddenly loses his hearing. When he goes to a doctor, the news is not good. It will not be coming back.

When Lou sees that he is beginning to return to an addict’s behavior pattern, she takes him to a farm where there is a community of deaf addicts in recovery. The community is led by Joe (Paul Raci), an alcoholic who lost his hearing in Vietnam.  It is a hard transition for Ruben. When he comes into the community, he is hyper-isolated. He can’t understand them when they sign. They can’t understand him when he speaks. He is more interested in getting his hearing back (through very expensive cochlear implants) than adapting to the world as a deaf person. His goals are different than those around him.

Riz Ahmed as Ruben in SOUND OF METAL Courtesy of Amazon Studios

In time, Ruben begins to learn to sign. He also begins teaching deaf children to play drums. But all the while, he wants more. He is always busy. He fixes things around the farm. But all of that is a way to avoid his feelings. Joe notes that his refusal to accept his situation is very much the behavior of an addict. Joe gives him an assignment: to go into a room with just a pencil and paper and write. He can write anything. It doesn’t have to be a story or even sentences. Just write and write and write.

The addictive behavior that Joe notes is interesting. It is not only the danger of drugs that Ruben must deal with, but the hearing life that he is trying to hold on to. It is hard to move forward when tied to the past. His desire to hear again—at any cost—is a barrier to finding something new.

I need to admit that when I first read the synopsis of the film as I prepared for AFI Fest, it wasn’t high on my list. But when I heard others who had seen it earlier rave about it, I made sure in include it in my schedule. It turned out to be one of my favorites of the festival. It is extremely engaging on an emotional level. Ruben struggles throughout the film, not just with his hearing loss and his addictions, but against a future he cannot see. Even as he begins to have some growth, he continues to be deeply troubled.

We also learn that this is in reality a spiritual struggle. That epiphany comes when Joe tells Ruben that he too needs to spend time writing and writing. When he can write no more, and there are moments of stillness, “that place is the Kingdom of God”.

That idea reminded me of the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. When the prophet felt overwhelmed by his struggle with King Ahab, he went to the wilderness to find God. He wanted to whine a bit. As he waited for God a mighty wind that could break rocks came, but God wasn’t in the wind. Neither was God in the great earthquake or the fire that followed. But then there was “a sound of sheer silence. There the voice of God spoke to him.

We often overlook the spiritual aspects of the struggles we have—whether it is addiction, illness, or the emotional struggle of the COVID pandemic. We want things to be “normal”. We want our pain to end. We think if we do something, or try harder, things will get better. But sometimes, what is really needed is to stop and wait for the voice of God that comes in the stillness.

Sound of Metal is available on Amazon Prime Video beginning December 4th, 2020

Uncle Frank – The Person You Decide to Be

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Family can be a place of pain or a place of healing. It can be the place we try to escape from or the place we need to return to. It is where we hear words that are like a knife in the heart or like the warmth of a hug. In Alan Ball’s Uncle Frank, it is all of those things.

The story is told from the perspective of Beth (Sophia Lillis), in high school when we first meet her. But the focus is really her Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany). During one of his rare visits to their southern family, Beth is fascinated by Frank and how different he is from the rest of the family. He lives in New York City where he teaches. Beth has no idea why her grandfather (Frank’s father) is so rude to him. When Beth talks with Frank he tells her, “You get to be the person you decide to be or the person everyone else tells you you are. You get to choose.” That conversation changes her life.

(L-R) Sophia Lillis and Paul Bettany star in UNCLE FRANK Photo: Brownie Harris Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Beth heads off to New York for college. When she crashes a party at Frank’s apartment, she discovers that he’s gay and has a long-time partner, Walid (Peter Macdissi). When Frank gets a call to tell him his father died suddenly, he and Beth drive down to South Carolina for the funeral. Frank doesn’t want Walid to come because he doesn’t want his family to know he’s gay. Walid, knowing that Frank will need his support, rents a car and follows them. In time the three of them are on a road trip.

As Frank talks with Beth on the trip, he recalls his youth and the discovery of being gay. It was young love, but it also carried a great deal of condemnation from church and home. After the death of his first love, Frank has carried guilt and shame all these years, even though outwardly he seems comfortable with his life (at least while he is in New York). But when his father’s will surprisingly and cruelly outs him, his emotional turmoil overwhelms him.

SOPHIA LILLIS, PAUL BETTANY and PETER MACDISSI star in UNCLE FRANK

It all goes back to that conversation between Frank and Beth about choosing who you will be. In New York, Frank is the person he has “decided to be”, but does not live that out when he comes home. His father has always looked at him with shame and loathing—that is what society says Frank should feel. When at home, that is who he becomes. That serves as a kind of demonstration of the way pride and shame often play out for LGBTQ people. They may go to gay pride events, but remain closeted to the people closest to them.

(L-R) Lois Smith and Margo Martindale star in UNCLE FRANK Photo: Brownie Harris Courtesy of Amazon Studios

However, Frank may be surprised by how his family responds to his sudden outing. The revelation may be hard for them, but these are people who have loved him his whole life. They may not be able to put that into words well, but it comes through clearly. There is a nice supporting cast that makes up this family, including Margo Martindale and Stephen Root as Frank’s parents, Steve Zahn as Frank’s brother and Beth’s father, Judy Greer as Beth’s mother, and Lois Smith as Frank’s Aunt Butch. While not everyone is welcoming to this news about Frank, there is grace that comes out in various ways.

Uncle Frank is available on Amazon Prime.

Photos courtesy of Amazon Studios.

Collective – The Press, the State, and Trust

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“The way a state functions can crush people sometimes.”

In 2015 a fire broke out in Colectiv, a Bucharest nightclub. Twenty-seven people died because there was only one exit. The corruption that allowed that to happen enraged the populace and led to the fall of the Romanian government. But after four months, thirty-seven other victims died in hospitals because of infections. Collective, from German-Romanian director Alexander Nanau, takes us into the controversy, the investigation, the governmental response to these new deaths, and the reasons behind those deaths.

We learn that while Romanian officials were telling their people that their hospitals were as good as any in Europe, in reality, they were a disaster. The main problem, we discover, is that the disinfectants that were being sold to hospitals were extremely diluted, making them completely ineffective. The company that made the products provided bribes and kickback to administrators and officials. As the investigation is underway, the owner of the company dies under mysterious circumstances.

Nanau has brought us an observational documentary. There are no interviews or voice overs. Rather the camera allows us to be present for a variety of events. It takes us into the newsroom of Sports Gazette (Gazeta Sporturilor) where Cătălin Tolontan leads a group of investigative reporters. We meet a burn victim who models for art photographs. We go to press conferences with the Minister of Health as he tries to defend the corruption being discovered in hospitals and the government. When a new Minister of Health takes over, he allows Nanau access to his meetings as a way of being transparent.

It may seem a bit strange that the investigation seems to be led by a sports journal. Tolontan had experience with investigative stories dealing with the government, mostly with the Ministry of Sports. His expertise was an important part of why the story ended up in that newspaper, which is among the most read in Romania.

One of the key issues involved in the film in many ways is trust. Whom can we trust? The government spokespeople? The reports from labs who test the disinfectants (those labs are accredited by the government)? The doctors who run the hospitals? The press? The filmmaker?

When Vlad Voiculescu becomes the new Minister of Health halfway through the film, he shows a great amount of trust by allowing Nanau to bring his cameras into his offices. Voiculescu, as an outsider, wants to establish transparency so that the people can have a sense of trust. The idea is that trust will beget trust. Voiculescu seeks to bring reforms to the health care system, but he is challenged by some who want to undermine his efforts.

I should note that the film doesn’t end on a hopeful note. As the new election looms in Romania, Voiculescu is faced with the idea that the reforms he was beginning could vanish when the next government takes over. That election, in 2016, reflected the populism that was also taking place in other countries, including the US and the UK. It may make us wonder about where we place our trusts—as individuals, and as a society.

Collective is the winner of several awards from film festivals around the world. It is Romania’s official submission for Best International Film consideration.

Collective is available in theaters and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

Wolfwalkers – Natural Freedom

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“I’m afraid one day you’ll end up in a cage.  “I’m already in a cage!”

Wolfwalkers is the third offering from Cartoon Saloon that focuses on Irish folklore. Like the earlier films, Secret of the Kells and Song of the Sea, this is a brilliantly artistic animated film. The film is directed by Tomm Moore (who also directed the earlier films) and Ross Stewart. All three of the films are visually beautiful, as well as stories that engage and speak to our spirits. The artwork in the film draws on the art history of the time period, such as Celtic artwork.

Robyn Goodfellowe (voiced by Honor Kneafsey) in “Wolfwalkers,” premiering globally later this year on Apple TV+.

Set in 1650, young Robyn Goodfellowe (a bit of a Shakespearean reference?) has come to Ireland with her English father. He father is a great huntsman, and he has been tasked with clearing the woods of wolves. Robyn fancies herself a huntress as well, but she is forbidden by her father from leaving the fortress/city. But Robyn is determined to head out, following her father at a distance. In the woods she comes across another girl, Mebh, whose behavior is more lupine than human. Mebh, we discover, is a wolfwalker—human when awake, but when asleep her spirit roams the world as a wolf. He mother, a wolfwalker who leads the wolves, has been asleep for a long time. After a bite from Mebh, Robyn discovers that she too has become a wolfwalker. As her father and the Lord Protector’s soldiers seek to destroy the wolves, Mebh and Robyn must try to find and rescue Mebh’s mother’s wolf body so she can lead the wolves to a safe area.

As in the other films in this series, there is a strong connection to nature—and the supernatural aspect of the natural world that is grounded in Irish folklore. There is a very clear difference between life in the town and life in the outside world. One of the key differences is freedom. It is not inconsequential that the Lord Protector, a sort of royal governor, is there to assert English rule. English flags are seen frequently. A reminder that Ireland spent a great deal of time in the “cages” of English oppression. Inside the city, everything is ordered. Everyone has their place and they are expected to act accordingly. The role that Robyn is assigned as a girl does not fit with the role that she believes is really hers. All of that is very different than the life in the woods. Mebh is able to roam freely. The animals live lives in harmony with all around them. We see that freedom in a series of scenes as Robyn and Mebh frolic in the woods while we hear Aurora’s song “Running with the Wolves”.

Robyn Goodfellowe (voiced by Honor Kneafsey) and Mebh Óg Mactíre (voiced by Eva Whittaker) in “Wolfwalkers,” premiering globally later this year on Apple TV+.

A key element of the oppression that the Lord Protector brings, is the idea that it is God’s will that order is maintained, including the taming and destruction of the natural world. This view of religion is very different from in The Secret of the Kells. The first film, set in a monastery, saw Celtic Christianity as one of the keystones of Irish identity. In Wolfwalkers we see that Christianity (or any religion) can also be an oppressive force. The kind of God the Lord Protector invokes is quite different than the God who is celebrated in Secret of the Kells.

Robyn Goodfellowe (voiced by Honor Kneafsey) in “Wolfwalkers,” premiering globally later this year on Apple TV+.

While the film reflects certain political and spiritual aspects of freedom, like the other films in the series, the key is to discover the freedom within oneself and in our own nature. For Robyn and her father, the demands of the Lord Protector clash with their own sense of who they are. Even as a hunter Robyn’s father is deeply connected to the natural world. He is only following orders—orders he doesn’t feel capable of disobeying. It is only when Robyn, through her disobedience, leads him to a new understanding that he is able to stand for what is right.

An additional element is added to that concept of freedom when we consider that a bite from a wolfwalker changes the nature of someone who is bitten. Even before being bitten, Robyn was headstrong and independent. But after being bitten (and healed) by Mebh, she has a whole new understanding of the world she lives in. That bite and its transformative power is truly a gift that is bestowed on her. Perhaps another part of freedom is also being able to see the world as others do—to see our world in new ways.

Wolfwalkers won the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at AFIFest. It will be released in select theaters Nov. 13, and be available soon after on Apple TV.

Photos courtesy of GKids.

Thursday at AFIFest 2020

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As AFIFest 2020 Presented by Audi comes to an end, I want to thank the festival for allowing me to cover it again this year. This is always one of the highlights of my cinematic year. It is always an enormous task to put on a festival, especially one like AFIFest. This year has presented festivals with many challenges. AFI has come through with a tremendous event.

The Argentinian film Piedra Sola, from director Alejandro Telémaco Tarraf, is an ethnographic fiction film. In the highlands of Argentina we meet a llama herder as he and his son make a long journey to sell meat and hides. At home his herd is being killed off by a puma he cannot find. Other herders convene to discuss the need to be in harmony with Pachamama (Mother Earth) by sacrificing some llamas to the puma. As he journeys to satisfy the puma and the natural order he also must confront his own mortality. Much of the film is made up of long, meditative scenes. This is the kind of film that takes viewers into a very unfamiliar world. The lives of the people we meet are very different than our own. We often may not understand what they are doing, but we do find a common sense of the human condition.

Rival, from German director Marcus Lenz, is the story of Roman, a Ukrainian boy who is smuggled into Germany to be reunited with his mother Oksuna, who has been serving as a caregiver for the last three years. Now that the woman she has been caring for has died, she has stayed on with the woman’s husband Gert. Oksuna and Gert are in a relationship, and young Roman is not happy about it. He is always sullen when Gert is around. Roman clearly has some Oedipal feelings towards his mother. Roman continues to act out in various ways. But when his mother takes ill and is hospitalized, Gert takes him to a country house to avoid authorities since Oksuna and Gert are not in the country legally. Awaiting Oksuna’s release, Gert and Roman begin to bond a bit, but then Gert too is stricken, leaving Roman on his own not really knowing where he is and not speaking German.

I also took in a few shorts to round out my week.

Blocks (11 minutes), by Bridget Moloney, is the story of a mother of two small children struggling to keep up with it all. And they she begins vomiting Legos. Eventually, those Legos will provide her with a bit of an escape.

In Heading South (13 minutes), by Yuan Yuan, an eight year old Mongolian girl is taken from her home on the grasslands into the city for her father’s birthday. She learns that his father has remarried. She is very much an outsider at the raucous celebration filled with loud voices and drinking. We sense that the only relationship between father and daughter is what is forced upon them.

Dustin (20 minutes), from Naïla Guiguet, follows a young transgendered woman through a night at a nightclub. As she interacts with her friends, we sense her unhappiness as the story moves from hysteria to melancholy. The kindness and love she longs for are hard to find.

Wednesday at AFIFest 2020

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My cat has enjoyed AFIFest 2020 Presented by Audi a great deal this year. She rarely has a chance to spend a whole afternoon on my lap when I actually have to go to movies. I doubt she realizes the qualities of movies she’s sleeping through. She’s missing out on some very good stuff.

The documentary Collective, by German-Romanian filmmaker Alexander Nanau, arrived at AFIFest with a load of festival awards. It takes place in the aftermath of a tragic 2015 nightclub fire that claimed 27 lives. The corruption that that fire exposed led to the fall of the government, and a new temporary government of technocrats. Yet, another 37 victims of the fire died over the next four months, mostly from infections. All the while the Minister of Health claimed the hospitals were among the best in Europe. When journalists discovered that the disinfectants being sold to hospitals were blatantly diluted, a new scandal erupted. This film takes us inside the controversy, the investigation, and the attempts at the new Minister of Health to create a better medical system.

The key quote I found in the film: “The way a state functions can crush people some of the time.” This is one of many films I’ve seen this year that portray the need of an independent and trustworthy press for democracy to function. Collective not only speaks to that need, but is clear that the power of government can be overwhelming. This film is Romania official submission for Best International Feature Film Oscar consideration.

In Ekwa Msangi’s Farewell Amor, an Angolan immigrant in New York is reunited with his family after seventeen years apart. Walter came to America following the Angolan Civil War, his wife Esther and daughter Sylvia went to Tanzania. It has taken all this time for Walter to get permission for them to join him. Meanwhile, their lives have gone in different directions. Esther has become quite religious. Walter has made a life for himself—with another woman. Sylvia, in high school, has her own dreams. There are chapters in the film that give us the perspective of each of these characters. It is interesting how dancing keeps coming into play within the film. The characters find identity, both separately and as family, in dancing. At times that dancing may be a source of conflict, but it can also be the beginning of healing.

You may wonder if there are ever any comedies at festivals. Yes, in fact I took one in yesterday with My Donkey, My Lover & I by Caroline Vignal. Antoinette, French fifth grade teacher, is having an affair with Vladimir, the father of one of her students. When he cancels a romantic getaway to take a hiking trip with his wife and daughter, Antoinette decides she will do the same hiking adventure and surprise him. Totally unfamiliar with hiking, she hires a donkey for the journey. Naturally, it becomes a comedy of errors as Antoinette must deal not only with Patrick the donkey, but with her total lack of hiking ability. When she does manage to run into Vladimir and his family, the awkwardness and revelations become a bit more than she expected. The trip turns out to be a way for Antoinette to come to better understand herself and opens up new possibilities for her.

Tuesday at AFIFest 2020

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AFIFest 2020 Presented by Audi has teamed up with NBC News to present the Meet the Press Film Festival, programs of short documentaries about issues facing the world. Today I took in the program entitled “Justice for All” which included three shorts.

My Brother’s Keeper (22 minutes), directed by Laurence Topham, is the story of Mohamedou Slahi, a Guantanamo detainee for 14 years, and Steve Wood, who as a Marine was assigned to guard him. In their time together, they developed a friendship. After Slahi was released (he was never charged with a crime), he went home to Mauritania. In this film Wood makes the trip to visit his friend.

Laurence Ralph uses animation in The Torture Letters (13 minutes). The film is a series of open letters to various victims of police violence in Chicago. That violence ranges from intimidation and harassment to violence that can lead to death. The use of animation makes it possible for us to better understand that such abusive behaviors by police are indeed torture. An interesting connection to My Brother’s Keeper: In the Q&A after the films, Ralph noted that one of the people who tortured Slahi was a Chicago police officer.

Can fight solve problems? In Lions in the Corner (9 minutes) Paul Hairston introduces us to Chris Wilmore (known to most as Scarface), a past felon with a very difficult childhood who runs Street Beefs, a backyard fight club in which people with issues come and fight it out rather than solving problems with guns of knives. In the process he has created a community of people who have found a place where they can find respect. Often the battles in the ring serve to vent the anger, but also create a bond between former enemies.

Twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri bring us Eyimofe (English title: This is My Desire), the stories of two people seeking a better life away from Nigeria. Set in a Lagos slum, the stories of Mofe and Rosa are told sequentially (although their paths cross at a few points). Both are trying to gather the necessary paperwork (all of which requires money) to emigrate to Europe. But events do not work well for them. Mofe loses his family and then his job. Rosa, who is seeking to take her younger sister Grace with her, struggles to fend off the advances of her landlord, while navigating an unscrupulous woman who will pay for their trip (but at a great price). The film shows us the struggle, the hope, and the desperation of those in or near poverty. The colors and customs we observe provide a sense of ethnography set within the narrative.

Jacinta and Rosemary at Maine Correctional Center, 2016. Photo © Jessica Earnshaw.

Jacinta is a heartbreaking documentary from Jessica Earnshaw. We first meet the young woman named Jacinta as she has a month left on a nine month sentence in the Maine Correctional Center, where her mother Rosemary is also incarcerated. It follows her after he release through times of hopefulness and despair. Jacinta is an addict who isn’t able to fight her addiction very long. The first trigger is when she reconnects with her daughter Caylynne. The emotions are too much for her so she retreats into getting high. The spiral continues. But all this is tied together by mother/daughter relationships—Rosemary and Jacinta, and Jacinta and Caylynne.

Earnshaw has incredible access both inside the prison and in the personal lives of Jacinta and her family. It creates a very honest film about addiction and its consequences. That can be heartbreaking in itself, but it is even more so as we learn about Jacinta’s youth and her relationship with her mother (whom she still loves and idolizes) and also see the bond that Jacinta has with Caylynne and how Caylynne deals with all the things in her mother’s life. A very moving and powerful film.

Heidi Ewing is better known for documentary filmmaking (Jesus Camp, The Boys of Baraka, and Detropia), but brings her first narrative feature, I Carry You with Me, to the festival. It is based on the story of Iván and Gerardo, to young men who fall in love in Mexico. Iván has a son, but when it is discovered that he is with another man, he is forbidden to see his son. Iván works in a restaurant and is trained as a chef, but cannot get past dishwashing. He decides to “cross over” to the US. He expects to find good work, but only can get the most menial of jobs.

Eventually Gerardo joins him and they struggle together until luck gives Iván a shot at his dream. Through the years Iván and Gerardo eventually find a good life in New York City. They are even able to be openly gay and share in Gay Pride events. But they are cut off from their families. They can never go back, or they may not be able to return. This is at once a decades-long love story and a commentary on the lives that many people are living in our midst.

Monday at AFIFest2020

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Monday was a light day for me at AFIFest 2020 Presented by Audi. But even though I only have two films to report on today, the films themselves were not light.

“Inanimate object, do you have a soul that sticks to our soul and forces us to love?” Belgian director Zoé Wittock brings her premier feature Jumbo to the festival. Inspired by a true story, it tells of a young woman who falls in love with an amusement park ride. Yes, it sounds strange, and it is. Jeanne (Noémie Merlant) is an extremely introverted young woman who works after hours at an amusement park. When a new ride arrives, it seems to be in tune with her emotionally. Her boss is attracted to her, but her heart belongs to the ride she has christened Jumbo. Her mother, who was abandoned by Jeanne’s father only wants for Jeanne to find love and happiness, but not the kind of love one has for a machine. The stress of such an forbidden love is destroying Jeanne’s relationship with those around her, and threatens to leave her in a severe depression. Such attractions to inanimate objects is a condition that some people really do have. But if someone like Jeanne finds their joy in fulfillment in such love that does no harm to others, should it be challenged or accepted for what it is?

There always seems to be a doc showing at AFIFest that I know I’ll resonate with because of its left of center subject. This year’s version is The Big Scary “S” Word, from Yael Bridge. Perhaps the theme phrase is said by Cornell West: “Socialism in as American as apple pie.” This film gives a bit of the history of socialism in the US (including its role in the founding of the Republican Party [!]). Socialism, as it is found in this documentary, is the idea that society works best when it works to serve everyone. Among the ways this is highlighted in the film is teachers in Oklahoma fighting for more school funding, a socialist elected to the Virginia legislature, and the Bank of North Dakota (state-owned, the very definition of socialism). The emergence of people like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in recent years has brought socialism into out field of vision again. Socialism is indeed a “big scary word” in US politics. The term has been rolled out since the time of Teddy Roosevelt to disparage anything progressive. Things like trust busting, Social Security, and Medicare were all branded as socialism.

Given that I have a strong affinity for the subject, I hate that I found the film wanting. The title of the film identifies the emotional response to socialism. This film is far too cerebral to combat that emotional response. I would concur with Cornell West about socialism being part of the very nature of the American dream. But to make others see it that way can’t be just a matter of reason alone. The film lacks (for the most part) any real passion or any sense of the moral rationale for socialism. The film alludes at a few points to the idea that we need a broad social movement to bring socialism into the fore, but no practical information as to how to being that about. Probably my biggest disappointment is that the film doesn’t confront what may be the hardest to bring socialism to the US, the political system that is so dependent on money (especially corporate money). Sanders and AOC continue to be on the outer edges of politics. A few faces of socialism will never overcome the might of money.

Sunday at AFIFest2020

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As AFIFest Presented by Audi continues to unfold, each day new films are being opened for viewing. During normal years, most films would play a couple times during the week. That challenge was to find the day and time that you could fit things. This year, I get to pick and choose the order I see films in each day. The lack of a rigid schedule is a plus for having a virtual festival. On the negative side, you don’t get to hear people saying how good something was so you can add it to your list to see.

Writen and directed by David Carbonier and Justin Powell, The Boy Behind the Door is a taut thriller. It is the kind of film that might, in normal years, be presented in a selections of Midnight films. Bobby and Kevin are best friends and dream of growing up to head off to someplace different from their home. They dream of California. But then the two boys are kidnapped. Bobby manages to escape, but he cannot leave Kevin behind. He is soon playing a cat-and-mouse game with the kidnappers as he tries to locate and free his friend. The film maintains a constant tension, with a few moments that make you jump. There is a fair bit of blood and violence, which for some people would be a plus, for others a turn-off. Bobby is the more resourceful of the boys, but he must also rely on Kevin for them to succeed. When one needs the other, these friends will do whatever is needed to save the other.

Japan’s Under the Open Sky, directed by Miwa Nishikawa, tells us of a man who, after spending the last 13 years in prison, is trying to adjust to the outside world. Masao Mikami has served his sentence for murder and returns to society. He vows that this time he will go straight. A lawyer serves as his sponsor and helps him get set up with welfare and a place to live. Mikami wants to make his own way, but there are challenges for an ex-con trying to find work. He is contacted by Tsunoda, a TV director, who is interested in helping him find his mother, who abandoned him as a child. The producer of the story wants something more interesting—using his gangster background to set him up to fail. Mikami was known as a brawler and has trouble keeping his temper in check. But he also manages to collect a group of people who care about him and help him find the chance of success in the outside world.

The dangers of recidivism as common for those who are released from prison. If they do not have access to jobs and help, the life of crime seems like an obvious choice. Tsunoda wants to write about Mikami as “an ordinary man” The world may not pay much attention to ordinary people, but for Mikami to fit into the role might actually be extraordinary.

(L-R) Paul Bettany as “Frank,” Sophia Lillis as “Beth,” and Peter Macdissi as “Wally” in UNCLE FRANK Photo: Brownie Harris/Amazon Studios

Family can be the source of pain or healing—and often both. In Allan Ball’s Uncle Frank, Beth Bledsoe (Sophia Lillis) has grown up in rural South Carolina, where she doesn’t really feel like she fits in. On the rare occasions that her Uncle Frank (Paul Bettany) visits from New York City, she is drawn to how different he is from her family. He counsels her to be who she wants to be, not who others tell her she is. She heads to New York for college, and to get to know Frank better. Crashing a party at Frank’s home, she discovers that he is gay. His partner Walid (Peter Macdissi) is the embodiment of kindness.

When Frank’s father dies suddenly, Frank and Beth drive together to the funeral. Walid follows separately because Frank doesn’t want the family to know about him. The three of them will have to face many of the pains of Frank’s past, especially after he is involuntarily outed. Those demons include a sense of guilt about who he is, which has led him to live with his self-loathing all these years. The film is set in 1973 when such closeting was even more prevalent than it is now. Frank’s advice to Beth to be who she wants to be was much harder for him to live out himself.