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where faith and film are intertwined

Reviews

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters

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“Don’t give up on the crazy; that’s what makes love love.”

Dennis Dugan’s Love, Weddings & Other Disasters begins with a spectacular breakup during a skydive, which ends up sweeping a wedding party off a dock, which becomes a viral video that earns florist Jessie (Maggie Grace) fame as “The Wedding Trasher”. Soon, she gets her first job as a wedding coordinator and is determined to make it wonderful for the couple.

The wedding really isn’t the focus of the story. It serves as the background for various stories of people falling in love. They include Lawrence Phillips (Jeremy Irons), an overly finicky caterer from whom Jessie has taken over for this wedding, and Sara (Diane Keaton), a blind date he’s been fixed up with who really is blind; Captain Ritchie (Andrew Bachelor), a Duck Boat tour guide who has fallen in love with a woman he’s only seen once on a tour and is searching for her; nerdish Lenny (Jesse McCartney), who happens to be the brother of the groom, and Olga (Melinda Hill), a Russian stripper, who are chained together as part of a reality TV dating show.

Naturally, all the plans for the perfect wedding begin to fall apart, but when all the stories converge, we discover that it is not perfection that brings happiness, but finding the joys within another person that brings completeness to our lives together.

The various stories are somewhat uneven, but the “Love Boat” style construction does manage to bring us some interesting situations and gags along the way. The film also includes some interesting and appropriate songs by Elle King, who serves as the Greek chorus bringing the stories into focus.

It is said early on of Jessie that she is busy working on weddings rather than getting married herself. That gives us a hint into the target idea of the film, that we can often lose ourselves in our work in ways that keep us from finding the happiness of love. That is expanded most clearly in the story between Lawrence and Sara. In fact, I’d have been content for most of the film to be their story (but that may be in part because I identify with the age of the characters).

The film is also a statement about the concept of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. The perfect wedding can easily be something that takes all the joy out of the celebration of love that should be the real focus.

Love, Weddings & Other Disasters is showing in theaters (where open) and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Saban Films.

Esau – Sibling Rivalry with Biblical Echoes

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We didn’t need psychologists to tell us about sibling rivalry. Any parent with two children will be familiar with the concept (as will anyone with brothers or sisters). It is certainly present in biblical stories, starting with Cain and Abel. The sibling rivalry story that is most involved  in the Bible is that of Jacob and Esau (beginning in Genesis 25). That story echoes throughout Esau, a English language film from Russian-French director Pavel Lungin based on a novel by Israeli author Meir Shalev.

Hearing that his father is ailing, Esau (Lior Ashkenazi), a writer living in the US, returns to Israel to visit his family he left 20 years ago. There he must confront his embittered twin brother Jacob (Mark Ivanir), who has taken over the family bakery. Their father Abraham (Harvey Keitel) is in failing health and deteriorating mentally. Esau begins to write about his family history, flashing back to their youth when both brothers (played by Yoav Rotman and Lion Ravich) were in love with the same girl, Lea (Shira Haas), who eventually marries Jacob. Jacob’s daughter Romy (Omer Goldman) finds in her uncle someone to appreciate her as Jacob does not, which adds to the tension the brothers are dealing with.

We also see the troubled family life the two boys faced with their stubborn and angry father (played in the flashbacks by Omri Raveh) and their mother Sara (Yulia Peresild) who tries to placate him. The two boys have different personalities. Esau is bookish and favored by his mother, while Jacob is more like his father. (Those familiar with the biblical narrative may note that this is a reversal, one of many.)

The dissonance between this story and the biblical one could in part be explained by this being Esau’s story. The biblical account is really a pro-Jacob story. But the way this both is and is not a biblical story reminds us that the stories we read in the bible are not just moral lessons or legends. They are very much our stories. We can see ourselves in the stories of the patriarch, the kings, the prophets. Watching Esau and Jacob navigate their family and personal barriers, we know that we have lived through such times.

Bread is very much a part of this family and the story. Jacob is continuing the family bakery business. The book Esau has written before the story begins is a book about bread. (But he tells someone at a signing that he’s not a baker, he just writes about bread.) When we see the family during the boys’ youth, we see the whole family working dough and making bread. Bread is not just their business, it is their lives. So it is appropriate that when reconciliation between Esau and Jacob becomes a possibility, it is shown by them breaking bread together

Esau is available on VOD.

Photos courtesy of 2-Team Productions and Archstone Distribution

The Loss Adjuster – Job lite

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“It’s only when you’ve lost everything that you realize what you’re really missing.”

In Vincent Woods’s film The Loss Adjuster, a modern-day Job is having one of the worst days of his life. It begins with his wife leaving him and goes steadily downhill.

Martin Dyer (Luke Goss) is an insurance adjuster who spends his day dealing with other people’s bad days—burglaries and property damage. He is a kind and gentle man who tries to bring comfort to the people he deals with. His day begins when his wife, no longer satisfied with their financial issues (which we learn are her fault), abandons him. As he is sits in shock and grief, his office calls and loads him with calls to make, paying no attention to his anguish. As he goes from one meeting to the next, those he meets impart small bits of wisdom. But also at each stop there are additional revelations and suffering that he must deal with.

The film begins with a voice over about a wealthy man who falls out of a plane. As the falls the wind strips him of all his possessions. The opening of the book of Job tells of a wealthy man who is stripped of everything of value in his life. The bulk of the book is made up of theological/philosophical discussions between Job and three friends about the justice of God and suffering. There is a touch of that here, but never really seeking any depth to such serious questions. Martin doesn’t really reflect on how all this misfortune came to him.  And like the man who fell out of the plane, but the end of the day, he is near naked, stripped of everything he has valued. It is when he has given up his attachment to his past that he becomes able to move on to new possibilities.

The film is set in the Christmas season, but it isn’t really a Christmas movie. However, it does evolve into an ending that is based in hope and grace, but even that is a cheap knockoff of hope and grace.

What I find unfortunate about the film is that, like the ending of the book of Job, there is a miraculous restoration of love and wealth.  I should note that I struggle with the ending of the biblical story as well, as do many. The ending of the book of Job is sometimes seen as at odds with the overall story. There is certainly a good deal of dissonance between the last chapter and all that came before. The deus ex machina ending of this film actually makes all the struggle that Martin has been through seem unimportant. The basic of the Job story is that Job is existentially changed by what he has gone through. Martin just has a bad day, then gets a great reward.

The Loss Adjuster is available on iTunes.

Photos courtesy of Trinity Creative Partnership

7.05 The Sound of Stillness in SOUND OF METAL

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In Sound of Metal, Riz Ahmed plays Ruben, a heavy metal drummer who’s left traumatized when he suddenly loses his hearing. Unable to perform and looking for answers, Ruben becomes a part of a Deaf Community that welcomes him in as he struggles with his new reality. This week, we welcome Catherine Erskine and first-time guest Deb Whalen to talk about what it means to be ‘fixed’, dealing with trauma and the difference between silence and stillness.

You can stream the episode on podomatic, Alexa (via Stitcher), Spotify or Amazon Podcasts! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts!

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

7.05 Sound of MetalDownload

Princess of the Row – Love on Skid Row

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In Van Maximillian Carlson’s Princess of the Row, the model of familial loves is boiled down to a teenage girl and the love she has for her father. That may not seem a very difficult concept, but the father in this instance is problematic.

Alicia (Tayler Buck) has been bouncing around the foster care system. Not because she hasn’t been placed in good homes, but because she constantly runs away to join her father Bo (Edi Gathegi) who lives on L.A.’s skid row. Alicia loves her father unconditionally. But to the rest of the world Bo (actually Sgt. Beauregard Willis) is the kind of person we avoid at all costs. While the homeless in films are often shown as noble, unlucky, or kindly, Bo is threatening and even a bit disgusting. He suffered traumatic brain injury in Iraq and also suffers from severe PTSD. He mutters to himself, stares off into the distance, and suddenly erupts into violence. But for Alicia, he is the only family she knows.

When Alicia is with her father, she has to assume the parental role, making sure he is safe and has food. There are brief moments when he recognizes her and says something loving to her. She tells him, “I love it when you come back to me”, but those times are fleeting. Alicia, who wants to become a writer, has written a story about a unicorn that expresses something of her feelings for her father. That metaphor is really about her own dream, a dream that may be as unlikely as a real unicorn.

When Alicia tries to get help for Bo at the VA, the foster care people try to separate them. They go on the run. The one person they find willing to help, ends up being a child trafficker. In time, Alicia will need to find a way to live her own life without being tied to her father.

The film has won a number of festival prizes, both for the film itself and for the actors. It is an interesting coincidence that the film is coming out on Thanksgiving weekend in the midst of a pandemic in which we are being asked to forego family gatherings. This is a film that can remind us that the bond of family is something that is precious, but also may require letting go of each other for life to grow into maturity.

Princess of the Row is available at select theaters and on VOD.

Photos courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

Stardust: The Charismatic Enigma of David Bowie

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Who is David Bowie?

Though many of us are familiar with the iconic performer and his body of work, the true soul of the charismatic enigma that became Ziggy Stardust largely remains mysterious to the general public. Known for his unique style and poetic lyrics, Bowie carved out his own place within the music scene of the 70s and 80s, using creative expression as a weapon to challenge social norms. 

But that still doesn’t answer the question.

In his new film Stardust, director Gabriel Range delves into the mind of the legend in an effort to understand his musical genius. Set in 1971, Stardust explores the challenges of a young David Bowie (Johnny Flynn) as he attempts to break into the US music scene. Travelling with his US manager, Rob Oberman (Marc Maron), Bowie experiences culture shock as he travels through America’s more puritanical culture while wrestling with his own insecurities about fame and mental health. As a result of his trip, Bowie would emerge as one of his most well-known incarnations, Ziggy Stardust.

Unfortunately, Stardust is a film with lofty ambitions that doesn’t fully make it into outer space. A blend of the fantastical whimsy of Rocketman and the more realistic (but playful) look at history of Bohemian Rhapsody, Stardust never completely embraces either style and feels as though it’s treading much of the same ground. Instead, the script suffers from the lack of cohesion and the film never manages to float in the peculiar way that one would expect from any Bowie narrative. 

Even so, the film can be engaging, primarily due to solid performances by its cast. Anchoring the film with their relationship, Flynn and Maron have genuine chemistry onscreen together. Portraying Oberman with an ornery likeability, Maron provides the film with a much-needed energy and enthusiasm that balances out Flynn’s quieter portrayal of Bowie. While Bowie may be the spark, Stardust wants you to believe that Oberman is the kindling that keeps the fire going. As the two men attempt to bring out the best in each other, the relationship between them grounds the film and provides the foundation for some intriguing moments together.

By focusing on Bowie’s initial failure to break into the American market, Range has selected a unique period in the iconic singer’s career where he appears to be caught between the now/not yet. Though he had enjoyed success with his debut album, this particular moment finds Bowie frustrated that others do not seem to understand or embrace his musical exploration of madness. However, at the same time, this period of struggle in his life becomes necessary to give birth to Ziggy Stardust shortly thereafter. As a result, Stardust seeks to highlight this segment as his life as the watershed moment for Bowie, languishing in an identity crisis before he ultimately re-emerges as his most iconic incarnation.

Having said this, identity becomes a central theme within Stardust as the young musician struggles to fully embrace himself (and his inner demons). In a fascinating contradiction, Bowie embraces his sexuality and bizarre personality yet dreads the creeping history of mental illness that afflicts his family. At the same time, Bowie is also constantly reminded that his European expression of sexuality is unwelcome in the more traditional United States, leaving him to further question his value and persona.

By creating a new public image, Bowie seemed finally able to both discover his true self and embrace the madness that he feared so deeply. (“If you don’t know who you are, be someone else,” Oberman counsels.) However, in doing so, Stardustmay be admitting its greatest truth: that no one—potentially even Bowie himself—really understood who the musician truly was. Strangely, underneath the ‘space alien’ persona, Bowie never seems more at peace with himself yet he also never seems more distant. 

Who is David Bowie? While Range may not have the answer, Stardust certainly wants to lean into the question itself. In this way, there’s an ambition to the film that is both admirable and enchanting at times. Sadly, unlike Major Tom’s famed spaceship, Stardust never really knows which way to go.

Stardust is now available in theatres and on PVOD.

Nimic – Short and Deep

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We may not expect an Oscar nominated writer/directorto bring us a short film. But then we don’t often know what to expect from Yorgos Lanthimos (three nominations between The Lobster and The Favourite). Nimic is twelve minutes worth of the kind of surreal weirdness that makes Lanthimos’s films attractive to some (including me) and off-putting for others.

Matt Dillon plays a cellist and father. One day coming home on the subway, he asks a young woman (Daphne Patakia) for the time. A strange connection takes place which will affect their lives in a very bizarre way. The film could be categorized as either dark comedy or light horror.

Lanthimos often seems to deal with people who are losing their sense of identity and their place in the world. (Or maybe it’s really about finding a new place in the world.)  In that way, this is very much in line with The Lobster and The Favourite. The surrealism of Lanthimos’s films leads us to some very existential questions of what it means to be who we think we are and who we are if we are not that person. Of course, such depths often surprise us in short films. Just as we settle in for a brief entertainment, we have to ask ourselves what it all means.

Photos courtesy of Mubi.

Nimic can be seen on the streaming service Mubi.

Fear of Dancing: You Can Dance… If You Want To

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“It’s not lost on me that, if robots learn to dance, they may be more human than I am.” – Michael Allcock, Fear of Dancing

Written and directed by Michael Allcock, Fear of Dancing follows his trek around the world to understand why so many others are terrified of expressing themselves through dance. In a touching and funny documentary, Allcock challenges his own inhibitions and explores the roots of this fear in himself and others. In the process, his journey brings him into contact with celebrities, scientists and other chorophobes as he delves into a world of sexuality, spirituality and virtual reality.

What Fear of Dancing does very well is highlight the importance of dance at a cultural level. From the First Nations communities of North Bay to heart of African villages to the salsa energy of Little Havana, dance seems to have always been embedded within certain social groupings as a way to communicate with one another, whether sexually or otherwise. However, does that create expectations that everyone should be able to dance? Or is it simply an optional recreational choice? Fear of Dancing seems to indicate that both statements are true at some level. There’s an almost divine importance to the creative expressiveness that stems from dancing that both gives life and provides an emotional release to those who are willing to join in. However, at the same time, the quality of one’s ability to dance often can itself towards awkwardness and even create further social distance.

There’s an honesty embedded within Allcock’s work here that makes it endearing. With each new testimony that ‘dancing is life’, Allcock’s greatest fear increases and seems to be that his lack of ability means there is something intrinsically wrong with him. He wants to ‘let himself go’ and experience what others speak about yet he seems… stuck. (One hilarious but poignant scene where he dances alone in the wilderness shows his earnestness, yet wields mixed results.) As he genuinely explores his fear of dancing, his inner quest seems like it could be anyone’s who does not feel like they meet the standards of accepted social practices. As a result of his authenticity and openness, the film becomes much more than a study of the impact of dancing. 

It becomes an inquest into what makes us human.

Interestingly, it’s this sense of human identity that seems to be on trial here. Meeting people from around the world who are embedded within rhythmic culture, Allcock is genuinely interested about the experience yet appears resistant. However, as he encounters more people who fear the dance floor, Allcock seems to find a new community and discovers as much beauty within those who don’t dance as those that do.

While Allcock may not look to become a contestant on Dancing with the Stars anytime soon, his openness and willingness to step onto the dance floor are admirable. Though dance may be one of the key manners of creative expression throughout history, Fear of Dancing shows that it is not the defining form for humanity. As his subjects grapple with their own fears, it becomes apparent that dance may be ubiquitous within our culture yet it may not necessarily be for everyone either.

And maybe, that’s okay too.

To hear our interview with director Michael Allcock, click here.

Fear of Dancing is now streaming on CBC Gem. 

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.

Happiest Season: Everyone’s Story has a Place

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I’ll get right to the point: if you’re looking for something charming and funny as we cautiously look to the end of 2020, Happiest Season is everything you could possibly need.

Personally, I can handle about zero angst in movies right now. Call it a casualty of 2020, but my tolerance for anything overly serious or dramatic is essentially nonexistent, especially if it’s in a movie I’ve never seen. Now granted, there is the relational angst that is often the central conflict in holiday films, and Happiest Season totally has that covered. But it was a good angst, and I’ll explain why.

But first, let’s start with the cast. I have two words for you: Dan Levy. Yes, THAT Dan Levy of sweeping Emmy wins for Schitt’s Creek, one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men of Alive, and all around beloved by basically everyone these days. I don’t even know if he’s considered a main character or not as best friend John, but his presence alone is a reason to watch. Of course, stars like Kristen Stewart, Victor Garber, Mary Steenburgen, Aubrey Plaza, Mackenzie Davis, and Alison Brie (what a cast, amiright?) elevate this heartwarming story into something special.

Perfect couple Abby and Harper (Stewart and Davis respectively) make plans to visit Harper’s family for Christmas. But there is one *major* wrinkle in the plan – Harper’s parents don’t know she is gay and in a relationship with the “orphan roommate” she has brought home.  Compounded by her parents’ stress surrounding Ted’s bid for major (Ted and Tipper are played by Garbor and Steenburgen), Harper keeps Abby at arm’s length and back in the closet. Naturally some old flames of Harper’s show up, including her first girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza). Between sisterly competition, pressure to impress, and secrets uncovered, everything compounds on Christmas Eve, and this seemingly perfect family explodes into disarray.

I’m going to leave it there as far as plot, because I’m hoping you will watch the film. (Make sure that you watch the credits too for the pictures that continue the story.) From here, I’m going to get a bit personal, so I hope you’ll stick around and indulge me for a moment or two.

Representation in film is something that I am becoming increasingly aware of because I believe that film is for everyone. Everyone should be able to look up or at a screen and see themselves. As a straight, Christian woman, I am not at all offended by a lesbian-centric storyline. It’s about telling the stories that are happening every day all over the world. It’s totally ok for good stories to be just that – good stories. And those stories aren’t limited to heterosexual relationships.

Maybe there wasn’t necessary anything “new” per se in Happiest Season but it was genuine and sweet. But, most importantly, the film is about loving your own story and those who are a part of it. And that’s a lesson we can all embrace. 

Happiest Season is available on Hulu now.