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No Man’s Land: Welcome

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“Sometimes you need to close your eyes and start over to see clearly.”

No Man’s Land, from director Conor Allyn, is at one level a story about borders, but at a deeper level it is about the importance of welcoming the stranger in our midst.

Jake Allyn as “Jackson Greer” in Conor Allyn’s NO MAN’S LAND. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.

The Greer family has a small cattle ranch along the Rio Grande, but south of the border wall. They have narcos, rustlers, and immigrants who come across their land. The father Bill (Frank Grillo) has to take his passport just to go to the hardware store. Son Jackson (Jake Allyn, who also wrote the script) is a promising pitcher preparing for a tryout with the Yankees.

One night, hearing activity outside, Bill and his two sons go out with weapons, worried about losing cattle. Instead it is a small group of people looking to enter the US illegally, led by Gustavo (Jorge A. Jimenez) who is bringing his son to live with him in the US. In the chaos of the confrontation, Jackson’s brother is stabbed and Jackson shoots and kills Gustavo’s son. Bill seeks to take the blame, claiming self-defense, but the Texas Ranger (George Lopez) investigating sees through it. When he goes to talk with Jackson, Jackson crosses the river into Mexico.

Jorge A. Jiménez as “Gustavo” in Conor Allyn’s NO MAN’S LAND. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.

Jackson is dealing with the guilt of taking the boy’s life. When Jackson found the boy’s wallet, it had a picture of the boy in his baseball uniform. Clearly, Jackson understands that they held things in common. But Gustavo is dealing with anger and seeks revenge. Jackson finds himself trying to avoid both the law and Gustavo. But he also wants to go to the boy’s hometown to seek forgiveness and redemption. Along the way he encounters those who would take advantage of him, as well as those who will take him in.

Jackson learns that there is much more to Mexico than he has known. Most importantly he discovers that there are people who welcome him, even though they don’t know him and he cannot speak their language. As a stranger he is often totally at the mercy of the people he meets. And he meets some very welcoming people.

Meanwhile back in Texas, his mother (Andie MacDowell) reminds Bill of the times they would take food and water to the river for those coming across. He responds, “It’s different now”, to which she responds, “but we’re different.” The contrast of the welcome Jackson finds and his parents’ choice to no longer be welcoming serves to underscore the divide we may have within us about welcoming strangers or turning away.

That same spirit plays out in the storyline between Jackson’s desire for redemption and Gustavo’s seeking revenge. When the face off arrives, Gustavo remembers a lesson he gave his son as they were walking that deadly night. He had his son close his eyes and count to ten. When he opened them, he could see better. For Gustavo, for the Greer family, for the viewers, a pause may give all of us a chance to see more clearly when we think of issues around welcoming the stranger.

George Lopez as “Ramírez”, Frank Grillo as “Bill Greer”, Andie McDowell as “Monica” and Jake Allyn as “Jackson Greer” in Conor Allyn’s NO MAN’S LAND. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release.

Jesus says in Matthew 25: “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’” No Man’s Land lives out that teaching.

No Man’s Land is available at select theaters where open and on VOD.

The 2nd: Bearing Arms with Brutal Results

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The 2nd follows Major Vic Davis (Ryan Phillippe), a former Green Beret who has walked away from his life in the military and trying to take care of his family. When he arrives to pick up his teenage son from school for a weekend to reconnect, Davis immediately senses that something is wrong when a group of suspicious strangers invade the campus. Led by the mysterious Driver (Casper Van Dien), the unknown visitors turn out to be a squad of Black Ops mercenaries hired to kidnap the daughter of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Thrust into action, Davis must fight to rescue

Directed by Brian Skeba, The 2nd feels like it has the right ingredients to create something wild and fun yet it simply doesn’t deliver. Though it contains a few memorable set pieces, the film ultimately becomes a paint-by-numbers actioner that fails to excite. While the young cast seem interested in their storylines, few other cast members seem particularly engaged, especially Phillippe. While some actors (read Cage, Nicolas) have been able to transition freely between serious drama and ‘straight-to-video’ efforts, Phillippe simply doesn’t bring the same sort of energy when he’s involved in these types of projects and his apathy shows onscreen. (Although, admittedly, Van Dien does seem to be enjoying the opportunity to play the villain, even if there’s little for him to work with in the script.)

At its heart, The 2nd wants to prove the value of the Second Amendment (more widely known as the ‘right to bear arms’). However, the script is often so muddled that even that is hard to understand for the majority of the film. For such a complicated issue, one would hope that there was some earnest discussion from both sides at various points within the film. Instead, the extent of the conversation surrounding the 2nd amendment boils down solely to the argument that ‘you’d better be ready in case you’re caught in the revolution’. Youth are handed guns with barely any consequence. One teen survives the final battle due to their skills at fencing. And, of course, Davis kills without remorse. (In fact, at one point, when his son points out that his father has just murdered a man in front of him, Davis flippantly responds by stating that ‘He was going to kill you’ and immediately moves on.) 

If there are reasons to consider the value of the right to bear arms in today’s culture, The 2nd simply isn’t interested in exploring them. Instead, Skeba’s film decides to show you the dangers of living a life unarmed in a world where no one can be trusted. This is a film which quite literally suggests that friends are foes and government conspiracies require average people to be prepared to engage. While that can work in some films (read Willis, Bruce), The 2nd uses this argument to recklessly create scenarios of paranoia and violence. Given last week’s shocking uprising at the Capitol Building, the release of The 2nd at this time feels particularly insensitive. (Admittedly, you can’t really fault the film itself for this sort of poor timing but this feels like the kind of film that everyone is just hoping goes away.)

There will be some who can revel in The 2nd for some relatively fun fight scenes and over the top acting. (For example, the fight in the gym and the final battle between Phillippe and Van Dien would be among the most noteworthy.) However, for most others, when it comes time to decide what to stream this evening, The 2nd should probably be last on the list.

The 2nd is available on PVOD and in select theatres on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.

1982 – Love and War

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Oualid Mouaness’s 1982 is a story about fear and courage, love and war, innocence and maturity. The film is Lebanon’s official submission for Best International Film consideration.

For fifth grade student Wissam (Mohamad Dalli) the end of year exams aren’t a problem; he’s a top student. What he is worried about is if he will be able to tell classmate Joanna that he loves her. He doesn’t understand the import of what is going on in the world—that Israel has invaded his country.

His teacher, Yasmine (Nadine Labaki) is fully aware of the dangerous times. Her brother is going south to fight with the Christian militia. She has an ailing father. She is in the middle of the political conflict that is represented by her brother on one side and her fellow teacher and boyfriend on the other. As the school day goes on, the contrails and sound of planes are a constant reminder of what’s happening. In time the sound of explosions rumble in the distance, then nearer. Plumes of smoke rise out of Beirut where the students live. Dogfights happen in the sky above.

The story moves back and forth between Wassim’s attempts to get the courage to talk to Joanna and the adults in the story trying to deal with their own worries and at the same time keep calm in the classrooms. It makes for a useful contrast between the innocence of childhood and the dangers and troubles of the adult world. But in time, the film wants us to understand that relationships—and love—are a key to being resilient in the times of trouble.

The childhood storyline is really the more compelling one. As he talks with his friend about his desire to make himself known to Joanna, and Joanna talks to her friend about who could have left the anonymous note in her locker, the sense of the power of childhood love is very clear. It is at once both scary and something we crave. It is a reminder that even in the midst of terrible and fearful events love has the power to transform us. It has the power to save us. For Wassim, we see that power come forth in the end with a bit of magical realism to save not just his love for Joanna, but his city.

The film triggers in me a touch of a contrast between scriptures. The Apostle Paul wrote, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, and I reasoned as a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.” That thought fits well with the adults in this story as they must deal with the realities of the war drawing close. But there is also the story, “[Jesus] called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  1982 captures both of those perspectives. And it calls us live in the light of both.

1982 is available on VOD and via virtual cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of Utopia.

One Night in Miami: History for Today

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Regina King flexes her incredible directorial skills for the first time in a feature film by bringing Kemp Powers’ stage play, One Night in Miami to the big screen (or little screen, as it were).

One Night in Miami is a fictional take on a meeting between real life friends, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) as they celebrate Clay’s title victory in 1964. At this time, these four very successful and world-renowned black men were at pivotal moments in their lives and careers.  Despite their stature, they continued to witness and experience the racism that was rampant in the 60’s, and still plagues us to this day.

Malcolm X was at a crossroads with the Nation of Islam and was in the process of pursuing his own branch of the Muslim faith.  As adversity continued to rise, he was growing weary from oppression, including numerous death threats.  Even so, he continued to be as passionate as ever about his activism and was invested in helping Cassius Clay transition to the faith.  

Clay, a confident and free-spirited man, was now a world champion boxer, and was quietly practicing as a Muslim under the teachings of Malcolm X.  He initially seemed timid about going public with his faith, and seemed to struggle when he finds out about Malcolm’s tribulations.

At the peak of his football career, Jim Brown was in the process of transitioning to acting.  We see a shocking hypocrisy with Jim’s backstory when he meets with a benefactor who is kind and welcoming to his face but then admits that they don’t welcome black people into their home.

Sam Cooke was the ultimate 60’s pop star who, according to Malcolm X, seemed to have his foot in the door of the white man.  Malcolm took issue with the fact that Sam wasn’t using his platform to speak on the civil rights issues facing the black community.

When these four men are in a room alone together, it sparks deep and passionate conversations about faith, civil rights, racism, and freedom.  As this was a stage play, we are blessed with numerous impressive monologues from each character.  This is an extremely emotionally driven piece and it certainly makes you think and compare the world they were living in with today’s culture.

One thing that Malcolm X said that struck me was that there is no reason for anyone to be on the fence anymore.  There are literally people dying in the streets everyday.  Black people are dying everyday and a line has got to be drawn in the sand.  This is so shockingly relevant to society today.  This is unfortunately the world we continue to live in and the world that we must change. 

One Night in Miami was a very impressive film that is not only entertaining but extremely relevant and important.  Each performance was incredible.  From the footage I have seen of these men in real life, the acting was spot on.  They had great chemistry on screen.  You believed their friendship but you also believed their disagreements.  And perhaps we can take a note from these men in the way that they support each other, yet don’t hesitate to call it out when there’s an issue and a potential for growth.

One Night in Miami is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Darrel’s Dozen (or so) 2020

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What a strange year for films. Most of the blockbuster films planned for the summer and awards season are hiding out from COVID-19. Maybe they’ll find their ways to open theaters sometime this year. Many films wound up going straight to streaming services. In some ways that’s good—it means that people who don’t have an arthouse nearby have had a chance to see non-megaplex films at home through virtual cinema, Netflix, Prime Video, HBO, Disney+, Apple+, etc. etc. All those streaming services represent the downside. Who can afford to subscribe to all of them? And since films go to one exclusively, it means that there are films we would love to see that aren’t really available for us. No telling what the situation with theaters will be in the post-pandemic world. Perhaps there will be some sort of synthesis of theaters and streaming that will be available for us all.

Also this year, film festivals had to go virtual, which meant that you could take part even if you lived far off. People from all over the US could watch films at AFIFest without traveling to Hollywood. (Also, I didn’t have to commute for that week or stand in lines.)

I have to admit that because so many streaming platforms were hungry for content, there are a lot of smaller films that found their way to the general public. Again. That’s both good and bad. It means some good films found audiences that they wouldn’t have reached. It also means that there was a lot of crap that made the cut. It doesn’t seem fair to give this year a grade, so I’ll just give it an incomplete.

Now to my top films for the year. You’ll notice there are a lot of docs. I’d have thought it would be a year to embrace fiction, but these looks at the real world rose to the top.

  1. & 2. A double feature of docs of youth and political involvement. Boys State takes us to one of the annual week-long camps run by the American Legion that focus on the American political process. Divided into two teams, the campers elect a state government. Political gamesmanship reflects real world politics. Crip Camptakes us back to the 1970s and a camp designed for kids with disabilities. The freedom they found there led many of them to become involved in rights for disabled people.
  2. Lovers Rock, the second “episode” of Steve McQueen’s Small Axeanthology. The film takes place at a all-night party of West Indian immigrants in London in the 70s or 80s. This film doesn’t have the social justice focus of the other films in the anthology. It is a celebration of the living. Note the ten minute (!) long scene built around the song “Silly Games.”
  3. The Social Dilemma, another documentary, this one about the ways social media platforms manipulate us as individuals and as a society. We meet some of the key people who have helped this to happen, like the inventor of the “like” button. The film issues a warning for us all to pay attention to what we are doing when we are looking at those screens.
  4. Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee’s look at the bond of a group of African-American vets who return to Vietnam to recover a treasure they stashed. Times change, people change. Perhaps the real treasure is the memories of their friendship. But that too may be buried in the jungle.
  5. Rebuilding Paradise, a Ron Howard documentary about the town of Paradise, California, that was destroyed in a wildfire. We see the cell phone videos that the people of the town made as they evacuated, then we see the trials they face in trying to reestablish their lives in the aftermath. It is a story of community, resilience, and ultimately hope.
  6. Wolfwalkers,Cartoon Saloon’s third in a Irish folklore trilogy. A young wannabe huntress encounters a girl her own age who can transform into a wolf. Meanwhile Cromwell’s army is determined to eliminate all the wolves. Beautiful hand animation that captures the Irish culture and a sense of their struggle against the English.
  7. Mangrove, another of the films in the Small Axe anthology. It tells the story of the trial of the Mangrove Nine, the court case that made the UK judicially recognize racial prejudice in the police and legal system against West Indian immigrants.
  8. News of the World, the story of a country divided in many ways. A travelling news reader strives to take a young girl, captured and raised by the Kiowa, back to her relatives. It becomes a story of what has been lost and what can be found.
  9.  I’m Thinking of Ending Things, a Charlie Kaufman film, which means it twists around on itself more than a snake swallowing its own tail. A young woman on a trip to meet her boyfriend’s parents. But she isn’t sure she wants to stay in the relationship. Sort of.
  10. Never Rarely Sometimes Always, a story of a teen seeking an abortion. She and her cousin journey from small town Pennsylvania to NYC. Although care is available, it is not easy to navigate the system, making this a wearying journey.
  11.  Another doc double feature, this time focusing on journalists facing down government power. Collective takes place in Romania as the press calls the government to task for corruption in the health care system. A Thousand Cuts shows the struggle in the Philippines to bring out the truth about a brutal and lying President. (Since that puts me over the titular limit, I may as well add in Bellingcat about a whole new model for searching for the truth.)

And sense you deserve even more good movies in this difficult year, I have a bonus double feature for you to consider. Both these films revolve around drinking—and the meaning of life. Last Call recalls Dylan Thomas’s purported day in a bar downing 18 double whiskeys before he returned to his hotel room and went into a coma. But each drink had a name—an aspect of life he wanted to consider. Another Round involves four friends who test a hypothesis that life is better with a constant alcohol level in the blood. Will they find happiness or trouble?

There are some films that might well have made the list, but they have only played festivals to this point. I hope you get a chance to see a couple films that played as part of the AFIFest. Nine Days, a story of not-yet-born souls trying to be selected for “the amazing opportunity of life”, is tentatively scheduled for a summer release.  There Is No Evil isan Iranian film about making moral choices (built around capital punishment) in an authoritarian society. It has no release date yet. Both of these films would have made my list this year.

The best older film that I viewed for the first time or revisited is one I reviewed as part of our Self Isolation Film Festival, Groundhog Day. It just seems to capture the day-after-day sameness of this year (especially the early months of the pandemic). For those who want an edgier version of that concept, you should check out Palm Springs on Hulu.

And since we all spent so much time binging everything on Netflix, Prime, HBO, and anything else we might have had access to, I think it’s appropriate to name my favorite binge viewing of the year, Money Heist on Netflix. The multi-season story of a band of criminals who execute an elaborate invasion/theft at the Spanish National Mint. Great cat and mouse cops and robbers adventure.

Another Round – Just a Little Buzz

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The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes is credited with saying, “Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.” Those of us who drink may recognize that concept. A touch of alcohol can make us just a bit more outgoing, more witty, more entertaining. Of course, too much alcohol can lead in the opposite direction. In Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round (original title, Druk), that idea is central.

Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) is a teacher who is feeling a bit of middle-aged ennui. He’s just going through the motions at school and in his family. He’s afraid that his life has become boring. When he goes out to celebrate of his friend’s fortieth birthday, the discussion comes around to a theory propounded by Norwegian psychiatrist Finn Skårderud, that people need a constant blood alcohol concentration of 0.05% to be at their best. (For reference, most states have a 0.08 BAC limit for driving.) Martin and his three friends (played by Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, and Lars Ranthe), also teachers, set about to test this hypothesis. They even treat it as a psychological experiment, making notes about their experiences.

Martin begins to want to connect with students, his wife, his sons. All of the friends find that sneaking that drink from time to time during the day has improved many aspects of life—even during the times they aren’t drinking. Since that 0.05 BAC did so well, they decide to step it up, to see if there’s an upper limit. That, of course, is when the troubles begin. What started out as making life better, turned into a nightmare.

In press notes, Vinterberg says, “We want to create a tribute to alcohol but it goes without saying we also want to paint a nuanced picture. Embedded in our examination of the essence of alcohol lies an acknowledgement that people die from – and are destroyed by – excessive drinking. An existence with alcohol generates life, but it also kills.” The film is full of examples of people from history who were known for their drinking, such as Winston Churchill and Ernest Hemingway. But even there, the film reminds us that the former led Britain in winning World War II, while the latter, in spite of great literary success, committed suicide.

I find it worth noting that the film opens with a quote from Søren Kierkegaard, and Kierkegaard comes up again later in the film as a student goes through an oral exam. Maybe it’s just because the film is Danish, but bringing a proto-existentialist theologian into the equation calls us to think in deeper terms than just watching a group of men drink. The film really asks (but knows it cannot answer) the question of if such drinking brings happiness or destruction. It holds both scenarios and reminds us that, like other aspects of life, we are in constant tension between the two.

Another Round is available on VOD

Photos courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films.

The Ultimate Playlist of Noise: Listening for Life

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One of the strangest popular sub-genres in the last decade has to be the ‘teen cancer’ genre.

Having risen to prominence in recent years, there appears to be an ongoing interest for learning to experience one’s life when faced with an often-deadly disease. From the good (The Fault in Our Stars, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) to the forgettable (Then Came You, Midnight Sun), there are countless films in the last decade that embrace the dark realities of trauma, usually with mixed results. It may seem counterintuitive but these have often become defining films for a generation of teens who are looking to experience life by staring into the face of death. In Hulu’s The Ultimate Playlist of Noise, the outcome lands somewhere in between by offering a relatively charming film that still feels somewhat lacking.

Directed by Bennett Lasseter, The Ultimate Playlist of Noise tells the story of Marcus (Keean Johnson), a high school senior who is so infatuated with music that he creates mixtapes for his friends to meet their various needs. When an unexpected seizure reveals a tumour in his brain, Marcus is stunned to learn that the impending surgery will leave him without hearing. As he grapples with his future, Marcus leaves home on a road trip with the intent of creating the ‘ultimate playlist’ of sounds that he wants to experience while he has still the opportunity to do so.

It’s worth noting that Playlist does have a certain sense of style. With its love of 70s rock (!), cassette tapes (!!) and handwritten text, Marcus is a young man who seems to yearn for tangible experiences. What’s more, the chemistry between Marcus and potential love interest, Wendy (Madeline Brewer) produces enough moments of energy to prevent Playlist from losing its way. Though it’s hardly the best example of modern teen drama, the two leads work well together, creating some fun banter and ‘life moments’ that will resonate with its target audience.

Even so, the film still feels hollow at times. It’s hard to explain but, amidst its exploration of what’s real, the film doesn’t always feel like it’s being honest. Side plots like Wendy’s ex-boyfriend and his parents ‘desperate search’ to find him never seem fully resolved. In addition, it is somewhat troubling at times to see the way in which Playlist wrestles with the prospect of deaf culture. Unlike Darius Marder’s stunning Sound of Metal, Playlist seems to wash over the concept of hearing loss for the most part. While it’s entirely understandable that Marcus would be terrified about losing the sense that he holds most dear (as exemplified by his love of music), it is somewhat surprising how little the film explores the potential of his new life.

But really, this isn’t a film about losing your hearing. 

Rather than focus on life after Marcus’ surgery, Playlist leans more heavily into the imminent nature of change. (In this way, Playlist takes more of its cues from The Fault in Our Stars than it does Sound of Metal.) As a coming-of-age drama, the film takes the time to appreciate the smallest things in life that we take for granted. As Marcus embarks on his journey, he discovers an almost lyrical quality to the smallest of sounds and moments, be it a thunderstorm, roaring chainsaw or the moo of a cow. As is often found in these sorts of stories, Marcus’ playlist is really about discovering and experiencing what’s real for himself. While his mother attempts to prepare him for the next phase of his life with ASL classes and church events, Marcus is more concerned with closing the book on his life up to this point. For Marcus, his loss of hearing is an oncoming wall to which he cannot see past. As a result, he needs to believe that he’s actively ‘lived’ before he begins to lean into the future that approaches.

While the film carries charming performances and some moments of joy, The Ultimate Playlist of Noise does play a little too fast and loose with its subject matter to ever feel like it fully rings true. Even so, though it may not be the best entry into this unique sub-genre, there’s enough to enjoy about this Playlist to give it a spin.

The Ultimate Playlist of Noise is available on Hulu on Friday, January 15th, 2021.

My Little Sister – Bonded for Life

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Switzerland’s entry for Best International Feature, My Little Sister (Schweterlein), from directors Stéphanie Chuat and Véronica Reymond, is the story of a bond between siblings. It also asks the existential question of what is life if we cannot live it out?

Lisa (Nina Hoss) is a playwright who has not been writing. Originally from Berlin, she now lives with her husband Martin (Jens Albinas) and children in Switzerland, where Martin is the head master at a private school. Lisa’s twin brother Sven (Lars Eidinger) has been battling leukemia and is now able to leave the hospital. Lisa takes him to a theater in Berlin where he was scheduled to perform Hamlet. But in his absence, another actor has been working in rehearsals. Sven’s desire to be back on stage is overpowering, but he’s not physically up to the task. Lisa is determined to give him one last chance to be on stage. But her efforts take her away from her family, both physically and emotionally.

As Sven’s health rapidly deteriorates, Lisa begins to write a play for him to perform—a monologue/dialogue based on Hansel and Gretel. The play is really about the bond between these siblings, who have been together for all their lives. But what will be left of her family once Sven is gone?

While the story of the issues facing Martin and Lisa are an important part of the story, the real emphasis is on the relationship between Lisa and Sven. They have an almost mystical bond. Both are tied to the theater. They create a kind of yin/yang. But what will happen if that bond must be broken?

The directors note that within the theater community in Germany, “An actor who doesn’t perform doesn’t exist. He is erased from memory.” That is a key understanding in watching this film. Is Lisa still a writer if she is not writing? If not, what is she? While Sven has been sick, is he “erased from memory”? And what about when he dies? Will he be permanently forgotten?

But this is not just about if we might forget loved ones who are gone. (We don’t.) It is about knowing how to live out who we are. That involves what we do and how that fulfills us. It also has to do with the relationships we have with others—family, colleagues, friends, strangers.

The irony of the story is that Lisa, in trying to give Sven life through a new play, actually finds her own connection to life in her writing. Often times it is in service to another that we can find our true selves.

My Little Sister is available via virtual cinema through local arthouses.

Photos courtesy of Film Movement.

Outside the Wire: Fighting for Our Humanity

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Set in the year 2036, Outside the Wire tells the story of Lt. Thomas Harp (Damson Idris), a drone pilot with a commitment to weighing the odds. When Harp engages his drone in an active war zone in the face of a direct order from his commanding officer, he is transferred to the Ukraine under the command of Captain Leo (Anthony Mackie). Soon after Harp arrives, he is stunned to discover that Leo is actually an advanced BioTech android, yet his captain’s love for human life may actually make him more human than his new recruit.

Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (1408), Outside the Wire is an action-packed film with a high concept that struggles to leave a lasting impact after the final credits roll. To his credit, Hafstrom creates a world of grit and intensity that offers consistent action from start to finish. Intense and focused, Hafstrom does a good job of involving the viewer in the action by keeping them (mostly) emotionally invested. What’s more, with the addition of Avengers break-out Mackie, Wire is also front-loaded with a charismatic star that can handle elaborate set pieces as well. Charming yet focused, Mackie does an excellent job as the technologically advanced Leo and provides the film’s heart. Meanwhile, relative newcomer Damson Idris (Snowfall) provides an icy counterpart to the Mackie’s more compassionate android that creates some solid tension between the two conflicting ideologies.

However, with all of these building blocks in its favour, it’s somewhat surprising that Wire simply doesn’t fully realize its potential. With a high concept and intriguing premise, the film has the opportunity to truly make a statement about the evolving relationship between man and technology. Unfortunately, a meandering script and an over-emphasis on battle scenes at the expense of character moments prevent Wire from hitting its target.

Having said this, the film does manage an interesting conversation regarding the lines between man and machine. Lt. Harp’s initial decision to break a direct order stems from his commitment to cold, hard logic. In essence, Harp’s dedication to rational judgment gives him confidence yet also causes him to weigh human life with mathematical precision. Despite being told to remove his drone from a combat situation, he concludes that, despite killing two of his own men, the fact that he could save thirty-eight others counterbalances the loss. (Incidentally, is this the first time that the military has been shown to be the more empathetic organization?) 

When he meets Leo, Harp is struck by his captain’s apparent compassion for all human life, despite his robotic existence. Leo’s desire to preserve the lives of all under his care recognizes their value, regardless of their strategic advantage. As such, Harp’s journey throughout the film becomes one that challenges him to understand what it truly means to be human, as taught by a machine. Having spent his life as a drone operator, Harp has maintained a certain level of distance from the realities of combat and human life yet his relationship with Leo provides him with the opportunity to become more intimately connected with others. In this way, Wire serves as a reminder of the importance of every human life, sometimes in defiance of logic and reason. (Though, admittedly, the film’s final twist threatens to undermine this conclusion.)

While there’s a lot to like about Outside the Wire, one can’t help but feel that there was the opportunity for so much more. Rather than focusing on the action and advanced tech, the film’s real strength lies in its characters, especially that of the more-evolved Leo. However, in the heat of too many battle scenes, it’s unfortunate that they are the ones who end up being left behind in the process.

Outside the Wire is streaming on Netflix now.

Good News: 1on1 with Paul Greengrass (News of the World)

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I recently had the chance to take part via Zoom in a roundtable interview with Paul Greengrass to discuss his film News of the World. The film tells the story of Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, an itinerant newsreader, who is tasked with returning Johanna, a young girl raised by the Kiowa, to her relatives. For more on the film see our review.

The first question dealt with the Western genre and which conventions were interesting to him.

I grew up with westerns as a boy. They played on television nonstop when I was a kid in the UK. I never ever thought I’d get to make one because they don’t make them very often and it never really occurred to me, to be honest to try. Three or four years ago I got involved in a Netflix project called Five Came Back. That was the story of the five great Hollywood directors who went to World War II from being glittering Hollywood successes and came back after their experiences in combat changed people. If you’ve not seen it, it’s very superb, I must say. I didn’t make it. They got five directors working today—Spielberg did Wyler, Coppola did Huston, I think. I did John Ford because I studied John Ford as a young man and I revered his films. So, I spent a very interesting month three or four years ago rewatching all his films. So, he was very much in my mind.

Then it’s strange how serendipitous film making is. A few years later they sent me the novel and I read it and I thought “This is really interesting because it’s The Searchers in reverse.” This is the John Ford story but turned the other way around. Instead of being the hero’s search for the girl out in the wilderness, the hero finds the girl and is going to take her home. I remember seeing that in the novel straightaway and thinking that sort of connected to John Ford. So, in my boyhood love of westerns, I thought, “I’m going to do it.”

The genre is a quintessential American genre, of course. But it’s much more than that really. It’s mythic. What is a western? A western is a kind of intimate drama, generally about identity. Who are we? Who do we want to be? Who do we fear we’ve become? Who do we wish we could be? Various questions of identity played out against a vast, unforgiving desolate landscape. That’s a western in my book. At a time when America was becoming America. That’s what I tried to do. I tried in my way to make it feel contemporary, feel as if it bore on today. It’s set in 1870. It was a time of great division in the shadow of the Civil War. I think many of the feelings of bitter division and need for healing resonate with us today.

Communication (reading the news, interpreting the news, the struggle the Captain and Johanna had communicating) is a key theme in the film. He was asked about the role of communication in the film.

I think obviously the most striking thing from the movie is this is a world before television, before radio, before social media, before movies, in a remote place where the only entertainment, probably of the year, is when the newsreader comes to town with a couple of newspapers and reads his snippets of news and stories. In that way, he’s trying in his way to heal people—to heal the wounds of his community. Because storytelling fundamentally is a healing act. It’s what I do, what I’ve always done in my life.

We’re a storytelling animal. We tell stories to each other in church, after church, around the hearth, around the kitchen table, in cafes and bars, out on street corners, in our movie houses, in our theaters, in our concert halls. That’s what we do. The stories that we tell reflect who we are and draw our audience together with us. Sometimes they can divide us, but essentially storytelling is an act of connection.

That’s why I love that character, because he’s engaged. What has he got? He’s got nothing; he’s lost everything. All he has is a small satchel and a couple of old newspapers. But he has that most precious healing power of storytelling. As he goes on, as he goes farther down the road with the little girl, you see the strength of his storytelling more and more. Of course, the communication, that at first he can’t have with that little girl, the communication grows through the film. People can transcend language, can transcend their past; people can transcend the pain of the past, the pain of division. In the end we can heal. We just have to find the road to belonging, the road to where we think we ought to be. That’s why I made the film. 

Because I’m a parent. I’ve got three daughters. I’ve got two sons too. But my daughters were very much on my mind as I made this film. I wanted to make a family film, I suppose. I’ve dealt with, in some of my films, tough subjects. And I’ve done some straight entertainment. I wanted to make a family film that you could bring your children to, and it would feel like a healing story.

Referring to his earlier comments about the western’s themes being in conversation with today, how does he see the film being relevant to the things we’re seeing in the headlines today?

I want to preface it by saying you should never start a film—you should never try to tell a story by having in the back of your mind, “I’m going to tell this story so that you think x or you think y.” If you do that, you’re not telling a story, you’re lecturing people, you know? You have to start by which character do I really love, or characters that I want to spend time with? Which characters am I really interested in their destinies and what they want and where they need to get to? What story is really going to entertain me? What can I do to make this film an experience that will reward anyone who gives you the privilege of spending two hours of their time? That’s how you have to start if you want to tell a story and engage with people. In many ways that really what brought me to the film.

In Kidd, I loved the character of Kidd, because he exists, of course, before television or movies and all the rest of it. But how he approaches his world is how I think of storytelling, in my business. When he starts, he says “I want to take you away from your hard lives, just for an hour or two.” He’s going to tell a story and he’s going to entertain them; he’s going to tell them some local news, about things they really need to know. In this case about the meningitis epidemic. Interestingly, when I wrote that, that was well before the pandemic. Now you watch the film…. Of course, in 1870 meningitis and cholera were a daily threat in many many communities. Other than war, pestilence was the next thing.

So, it did become eerily more contemporary as we went along. But you don’t start like that. You start by saying “How can I tell this story in a way that people are going to want to go on that journey with those characters?” And then you have to ask yourself, “What do I want to feel?” I wanted to feel that they got to a healing place. And they do. They were characters who suffered much in their lives separately, and had perhaps not been able to face up to it. This journey is going to enable them individually to face up to what has happened to them and then enable them to move on in this odd family shape at the end, where they’re a family unit, oddly they have become that. I love that about the film. It’s about overcoming divisions, overcoming barriers of language, barriers of experience, and making a new start.

It was noted that Captain Kidd brought the news, Greenglass was asked to comment on the scene where Kidd is in a town where the town boss only wants his version of the news to be read.

Yeah, that’s quite contemporary isn’t it, that? Let me scroll back a little bit. The newsreader is such a great character. Of course, newsreaders, guys who wandered around from town to town reading the news, that really had a gospel root really. In my country, in the UK, those were the Methodist preachers, who emerged. They didn’t go into the churches, because they were non-conforming, but they gave their sermons out in the open air outside. Or course as they went around, from community to community, then later the same in America, they brought the Good News, that’s what they did. Slowly but surely, the Good News would become the news. They’d bring bits of local news, then federal news. So, it emerged with a sort of moral element to it. That’s to do with truth, isn’t it? Reverence for the truth has been deeply, deeply present.

I’m not American, but I’ve had a life long love affair with America. I first came to your great country when I was 18 years old. I love my country and I love America as much. Our countries in a way have a deep historical reverence for the truth. It’s an important concept, I think, in your affairs and ours. Of course, in times of bitter division, as we know in 1870, in the shadow of the Civil War, the concept of the truth was contested. That’s what happened, you know? One of the themes of the piece, I suppose, is Kidd having to confront that and standing up for the truth as he sees it. I think that is true of journalism today. It’s a noble trade, the trade of journalism. It’s vital to a democracy. It’s one of the ways we exchange opinions and express our disagreements. And ideas contend with each other in the public square of our newspapers and television screens. That’s called democracy. There has to be an underlying share idea of the truth. In times of strife, that gets tested. I think it was tested then, and I think it’s being tested right now in my country and in yours—and in many other countries, too, by the way.

He was asked about the spiritual journey he imagined for Captain Kidd, who felt the things that had happened to him were a judgment for things he had done during the Civil War.

I think that Kidd is a character who’s haunted. You learn as the piece goes along that he’s been reading the news for five years since the end of the war. You learn that fairly early on. You learn that he’s got a wife in San Antonio, and you’re not quite sure what the story is with that. His whole demeanor is haunted. He’s haunted and frozen and unable to connect with anybody. He’s just like the Ancient Mariner. He wanders from place to place, doing the best he can with the power of storytelling. But his soul is broken. That’s my reading of it. Slowly, through the burden, the responsibility of this little girl and going on this dangerous journey, slowly but surely, he’s healed; he comes to realize that he has to face his past. The full story is only revealed at the end when you realize that he feels that his wife’s death, the cause of his grief, was a judgment on everything that he had seen and done. I think that’s quite a common feeling people have as they get toward the end of their lives. You reflect upon what happened, and how things went, and you repent of the mistakes you made, and you hope to get to a better place. We all hope for redemption, don’t we? And that’s what Kidd hopes for. In a movie you can give it, maybe in a way in the real life you can’t. You can have a character find the grace that they’re desperately looking for. That’s what you find when he goes back for the little girl at the end.

Continuing on the idea of grief, and including the corporate grief of Texas under Reconstruction, how does one portray the idea of coming out of grief, especially looking at the world today?

The answer is that is what I was thinking about a lot before I started to make this film. You think about your own children, you think about the world they’re coming into as young adults, and you reflect on the divisions and bitterness in the world, and you want it to be better for them. But it’s going to be their journey, of course, to get there. They have to take their own journey, don’t they, to get to their destiny.

When I read this story, of the lonely newsreader, he meets this lost little girl, the kidnapped girl, and takes her back to her surviving family, it spoke to me like the journey itself was a journey out of division into healing, out of grief into grace, if I can use that expression, where you get the opportunity to have a new start, to turn the page, to grow again, to deal with the pain and the grief and look at it in the face and move on. I loved that about the story because I think Kidd feels very much as we are where we are today, all of us. Whatever we think about the world, that doesn’t matter. I think 99.9% of it, in your great country, mine, everywhere, wants better days to come—particularly in this pandemic. So, this film, with these two characters in the middle of Texas 150 years ago seems to me to take us on that journey.

News of the World is available on PVOD now.