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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.

Disenchantment Part 3: Seeing the Present in the Past

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After a season of self-exploration and dynamic worlding building in Part 2, Disenchantment has finally returned to Netflix. With the release of Part 3, the story picks up immediately after Bean, Luci and Elfo have fallen underground. After confronting her evil mother Dagmar and her army of Trogs. Bean and her crew must somehow escape and clear her name in order to reclaim Dreamland. 

Similar to previous seasons, Part 3 continues to follow Bean’s journey of self-discovery. With an impeding war coming and her father incapable of leading, Bean is pushed out of her comfort zone as more responsibility falls upon her. Spending less time in Dreamland than ever, Bean’s journey gives her the opportunity to get to know the outside world more. However, at the same time, she also learns more about herself, becoming a more confident person. In doing so, this season is able to lean much more heavily into Bean’s ever-expanding role in Dreamland. Suddenly having to take the throne from her father, Bean’s transition to queen also sees her facing potential doom from both Steamland and her own mother. As Bean unlocks her magical powers, the danger continues to build, potentially leading to a climatic showdown similar to other hero stories. 

Spending less time in Dreamland compared to previous seasons, Part 3 also greatly expands its world-building by exploring new areas such as Mermaid Island and continuing to develop previous cities such as Steamland. In doing so, this season allows the creativity of the writers to really flourish as each area’s citizens, species and environments are unique and vibrant.

Even so, what I found most disappointing was the sidelining of Luci and Elfo throughout the season. Once a major character, Luci sees very little growth in Part 3 and seems to just kind of ‘be there’ in the many scenes. In fact, he’s even become predictable in the way he acts. By merely saying something evil or helping Bean with her tasks, Luci now feels like a one-note, robotic pet. Similarly, Elfo’s character sees little growth as well. Getting a new girlfriend ever couple of episodes, it’s seems as though he’s been religated solely to comic relief as the stereotypical ‘hopeless romantic’. (At one point, he’s even in love with a ship…)

Despite its medieval setting, Disenchantment continues to tackle modern, real-world issues. Set in a time where female opportunity and mental health were at societal lows, the Bean we’ve grown to love is usually portrayed as a tough, confident fighter. However, in the episode “Last Splash”, we get a very different look into Bean’s psyche and her view of herself. In a therapeutic rant, we get to see how Bean’s difficult journey has taken its toll on her mentally, especially her parents’ toxic relationship. She believes that, over time, Dreamland has enabled her own self-abuse as she self-fulfills the toxic opinions of her mother and the town about her. Ultimately, in the end of her rant, Bean completely dismisses her own feelings and reinforces her belief that she is her own worst problem. By reinforcing her metaphorical emotional wall, Bean subsequently refuses to acknowledge the pain within her that is caused by others, choosing instead to lean once again into the culture’s poisonous worldviews about women and power. This moment of openness and honesty shows the toxic effects of abusive family relationships, especially in a culture of power. Powerful and moving, this is easily one of the best moments of the new season, and one of the many gems throughout Part 3 that dives deeper into the characters of Dreamland. 

Overall, Part 3 is a great addition to the Disenchantment story. Filled with eye candy in its world building and some solid progression in the larger narrative of Dreamland’s survival, the season works well. Meanwhile, Bean shows some tremendous growth in the spotlight as she tackles more complex issues regarding her own self-image, helping her to develop as a leader and hero. A fun ride that is worth watching, Part 3 proves that Disenchantment still knows how to cast a spell on its audience.

Disenchantment Part 3 begins its journey on Friday, January 15th, 2021.