ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

based on graphic novel

Days of the Bagnold Summer – Nothing Important, Just Life

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For most of us life isn’t like the movies. We seem to go day by day without a great deal of drama. And yet those days that seem so ordinary are what life is made of. Days of the Bagnold Summer, directed by Simon Bird, is that kind of movie. The drama and the comedy are just the kinds of things that may not seem like much at the time, but they are bricks of life.

Sue Bagnold (Monica Dolan) is a single mom raising her 15 year old son Daniel (Earl Cave) in the English suburbs. Daniel is your typical metalhead wannabe. He dreams of being in a band, but he’d have to be the front man since he doesn’t play an instrument. He’s scheduled to visit his father and his pregnant young wife in Florida that summer, but when his dad decides it’s not a good time, Daniel is left with an open summer. Daniel, the personification of ennui, is set to sleep the summer away, but Sue isn’t having it. She sends Daniel out to apply for jobs (which he does in a manner that is doomed to failure). And she tries to do things with him to rekindle the fun they had together when he was younger. Daniel just wants to listen to Metallica.

Sullen teenagers just don’t want to have fun, though do they? Daniel is at an age where he hasn’t really discovered who he is or even who he wants to be. That metalhead persona is really just a form of holding pattern. And so the summer goes, through “early days”, “salad days” and “dod days”. Along the way Sue gets asked out on a date by Daniel’s former teacher, which only complicates things for both of them. But basically, the two struggle to find a way to coexist in the new world teen nihilism.

It’s interesting the way Bird has found to show the distance between the two visually, like the clothesline with black on one side and pink on the other, or Daniel in the foreground eating and Sue in the background a room away eating separately). But as the summer moves forward, they come together more often, even though each is also finding a new understanding of themselves in the process.

There is not big event or blowup that summarizes the summer. And yet, we seem to understand that this summer is in its own way an important time in their lives. As such, this is a movie that captures the kind of lives most of us live. Little by little all these days add up into a life.

Days of Bagnold Summer is available on virtual cinema through local theaters and on digital platforms.

Photos courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment.

Snowpiercer – Dantesque Train Ride

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All of life has been reduced to the inhabitants of a 1001 car long train that continually circles the earth where the outside temperature is -119° C. In TNT’s new drama series Snowpiercer, that train becomes a microcosm for society. The series is based on the 2013 Bong Joon Ho film (Bong is one of the Executive Producers) and a series of graphic novels starting with La Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, Jean-Marc Rochette, and Benjamin Lagrand. The stories of all these manifestations differ. What they all have in common is this train traveling through a post-apocalyptic frozen world. I’ve had a chance to watch the first five episodes of the first season. The series has already been renewed for a second season.

The TV series takes place seven years after the world was frozen by scientists seeking to end global warming. But it went terribly wrong. The prescient Mr. Wilfort designed and built this train to save some of the people—mostly the rich and those needed to take care of them.

As the series opens, seven years after the train set off, some of those in charge come to the Tail of the train, where the dregs of this society are housed, to find Andre Layton (Daveed Diggs), who is one of the leaders planning a revolt. He is also a former police detective. There has been a gruesome murder on the train. Although the regular order keepers (The Brakemen) on board don’t really trust anyone from the tail, they need his expertise. It is through the investigation of the murder that we discover this rolling world. And what we discover is a world that is full of the same injustices and inequalities of our own society.

There is a very rigid class structure on the train, which corresponds with the closeness to the front of the train. The engine is the realm of Mr. Wilfort, who is something of a benign god who is the supreme authority. With a touch of almost religious reverence, authority is sometimes said to come from “the eternal Engine”.  People are told at one point that “the Engine will provide”. The engine’s decrees are mediated through Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly), a sort of high priestess of the “faith” of Wilfort. She is the day to day hands on ruler of the train. (Although, [minor spoiler] by the end of the first episode we discover that Mr. Wilfort is a convenient fiction.)

Just behind the engine is the First Class area, where the people who had money to invest in the train live in the luxury, entitlement, and privilege they are used to. Think of them as the 1%. Next comes Second Class, the middle-class, white collar section of the train. This is life akin to the suburbs—comfortable but not luxurious. Third Class is the blue collar section of the train. Here is where all the workers who keep things going are housed. It’s a harder life here. They survive, but live in cramped quarters.

At the very rear is The Tail. These are people who forced their way on to the train without tickets. The rest of the train considers them freeloaders. They live in utter squalor. They have no windows, no privacy, and no rights. They are fed some gelatinous protein bars. And they want something better. As Layton moves uptrain, it seems almost a Dantesque ascension from hell to paradise (with a few glimpses of purgatory).

Because the story is told in all parts of the train, the series becomes a multilayered narrative with an large ensemble cast. In addition to the two main actors, Connelly and Diggs, look for Alison Wright as Ruth, a stick-up-her-butt assistant to Melanie; Mickey Sumner as Bess Till, a young brakeman who slowly warms to Layton and begins to sees him as a mentor; and Annalise Basso as LJ Folger, a First Class teenager who, well, spoilers should be avoided, but keep an eye on her.

The murder mystery is solved after a few episodes, but it lays the groundwork for the story of class struggle that is bound to erupt. Certainly the Tailies are being pushed to the point of insurrection. Layton had hoped to see enough of the train that he would be able to pass word back to the tail to aid in that insurrection. When the investigation is finished, however, he knows too much to be allowed to return to the Tail.

For those running the train, order is of the highest importance. This is not a democracy. It is more like a theocracy (but remember we know that the seemingly divine Wilfort is not what everyone thinks). In the film, this desire for order took on an almost Calvinistic sense of predestination. It is less so in the TV series. Still everyone has their assigned role and place in this society. But everyone wants more. The Tailies want access to the rest of the train. Those in Third Class want a voice. Even those in First Class are dissatisfied and are looking for their own advancement.

The injustice inherent in these class distinctions is especially evident in the episodes I’ve screened. Justice is shown to be subjective. The train has been set up as a trickle-down society. Each level has not only less comfort, but less influence. But even the one percenters don’t have control. They are also looking to get more, even though it seems they have all they could want. I expect, as I continue on in the series, to see this class struggle take on more and more importance. This inequality was also evident in the film, but was more centered on the Tail. In the series, this dissatisfaction is spread throughout the train. The revolution that seems to be coming will not have a single source, but will likely come from many sides.

You may have noted various somewhat religious references throughout this review. While this is not an overtly religious series, there are definite spiritual undertones. However, much of what sounds religious is in fact a façade to provide authority to those uptrain to maintain the social order as they see fit. That is not unlike the way some in our society confuse social structure with religion. But just because semi-religious authority is improperly used, doesn’t mean that the spiritual nature of the series is only about the misuse of religion. There are spots, even early on, that we see the spiritual side of come of the characters. This becomes most evident when we discover The Night Car—ostensibly a brothel, but in reality it provides something much deeper. This is at base a humanistic spirituality. It is in the way people relate to one another that brings out their spiritual natures. And it is those natures that will be essential to the unfolding story.

Snowpiercer airs on TNT beginning on May 17th, 2020.

Photos courtesy of Warner Media.

Kingdom – Japanese Telling of Chinese History

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If you strip away the sex and dragons from Game of Thrones you have the story of trying to unite warring factions into a single kingdom and bring the period of warfare to an end. Kingdom (based on a seinen manga series of graphic novels, and later a seventy-seven episode  anime tv series) is a fictionalized telling of such a story based in the Warring States Period  (3rd century BCE) of Chinese history as the Qin dynasty seeks to unite the many kingdoms that have been at war for five hundred years. As in GOT, this film is filled with intrigue (although not as complex as GOT), heroes who rise to the occasion, individual fighting, and grand battles.

The story is told through the eyes of Li Xin (Kento Yamazaki), an orphan reduced to a life of a slave. A fellow slave, Piao (Ryô Yoshizawa), convinces him that the only way out of slavery is to become great warriors, so they train with stick-swords for years, awaiting the day when they can achieve glory. One day, a general sees them sparring, and chooses Piao to go to the palace to serve the king. The two long to be together, but when Piao must leave, Xin continues to train, knowing that some day they will fight together.

Then one night, Piao arrives wounded and dying. He gives Xin a map that will lead hm to someone in need of his fighting skills. When Xin follows the map, he finds… Piao! (Actually, it is the king, Yang Zheng [also played by Yoshizawa]). Piao was recruited to serve as a double for the king, and when a coup was attempted, Piao lead the assassins away while Zheng escaped. Now Zheng must find a way to regain his throne. Xin is torn between fulfilling his friend’s desire to aid the king and avenging Piao’s death because he blames Zheng. Xin agrees to help Zheng find his loyal general and connect with the mountain tribes to have enough strength to overcome his opponents. Xin uses his self-taught skills to share in the fight to restore Zheng and become “the greatest general under the stars.”

As the story progresses issues of classism play a key role. That a slave might rise to become a general is only a part of this. The usurper king, Zheng’s half-brother Jiao (Kanata Hongô, who often seems to be channeling Joffrey Baratheon), justifies the coup by pointing out that Zheng’s mother was a commoner, making him unworthy of the throne. In that sense, the ideals of equality (or superiority) form the foundation for conflict throughout the film. Zheng, who must convince the mountain clan to join with him, shares his dream of a more diverse nation which gains strength through coming together in peace.

But that is not an easy task. Zheng concedes, “Different ethnic groups with their own beliefs and cultures can only coexist after blood has been shed. Years of discrimination and resentment can be erased. A look at history shows how hard it is to overcome.”

Xin continues to seek vengeance for his friend, but that vengeance takes a backseat to the larger goal of restoration of Zheng to the throne and the bringing together of a nation. Along the way he learns that vengeance is not a fitting objective. He learns “When a king takes up the sword motivated by hatred or grudges, his kingdom will parish.” The nobility of Zheng and his followers becomes the building block of the new nation—and Xin is on his way to finding greatness by sharing in that noble cause.

Ethel & Ernest – Extraordinary Ordinariness

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“There was nothing extraordinary about my Mum and Dad. Nothing dramatic. . .. But they were my parents and I wanted to remember them by doing a picture book.”

British author and illustrator Raymond Briggs told his parent’s very ordinary story in a graphic novel, Ethel & Ernest, which has now been made into an animated film. The film is as simple and unassuming as the two people at its heart. And that is where the emotional power of the film comes from—just seeing the story of people who lived their lives, as nearly all of us do, without fanfare, but still find happiness and love.

Ernest (Jim Broadbent) is a milkman who is both affable and outgoing. Ethel (Brenda Blethyn) was serving as a maid when she met Ernest, and having learned upper-class manners never likes to think of the family as working class. They have very different outlooks. Ernest, a socialist, favors the Labour Party; Ethel supports the Tories. They needle each other about this through the years. Ernest is always up-to-date on world affairs; Ethel usually looks no further than the family needs.

Although the Briggses are very typical, the times they lived in were certainly dramatic. They have a chance meeting in 1928, which leads to courtship, marriage, family. They live through the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war social shift and spreading affluence. They died within months of each other in 1971. The film leads us through this history, but it is always focused on the love and relationship that gave meaning to their lives. Even when they have a child, the real focus of the film is the relationship of Ernest and Ethel. (After all, it is that child who created the story. He is intent on celebrating these two loving people and has managed to keep himself a minor character in their story.)

When I got the promotion about this film, I thought it sounded like an animated “Masterpiece Theatre”. And it would be a good fit for that PBS series. But unlike the cultural voyeurism of Downton Abbey, Ethel & Ernest is very much the story of everyday people. It is the story of the people who are around us. It is the story of us. Raymond Briggs did not tell their story because they led extraordinary or dramatic lives, but because of the love they shared with each other and with him. That may seem ordinary, but in reality it is the most extraordinary kind of life.

Photos courtesy Ethel & Ernest Productions

Our Little Sister – Is Kindness What the World Needs?

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Hirokazu Kore-eda has frequently made films about families and communities and what holds them together. Often times those films have great beauty and show us how love plays out in various ways, but they usually come with a bite as well. Our Little Sister (based on the graphic novel Umimachi Diary) has all the beauty, but it has skipped the bite we may expect in dramatic films. Rather, we get a film for which I think the best descriptor is “sweet”. I don’t say that in a pejorative sense, but with a respect for what Kore-eda has accomplished in this film.

our little sister 1

The story revolves around a group of sisters. Three of the sisters live in the home of their deceased grandparents. Their father abandoned the family many years earlier for another woman. Their mother likewise left a few years later. Now in their twenties, Sashi, Yoshina, and Chika have a happy life. When they learn that their father has died, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their teenage half-sister Suzu. They quickly bond and Sashi invites Suzu to come and live with them.

The sense of community within the film is not limited to the sisters. It included neighbors, but also those who are no longer living. Death is a presence within the film as well. There are various funerals or memorials along the way. The sisters have an altar in the house to honor their grandparents and spend reverent time there. Sachi, a nurse, is becoming interested in becoming a hospice nurse.

our little sister 3

This is a set up that is fraught with possibilities for conflict. Will the sisters continue to get along? Are there animosities hidden under the surface? As one neighbor tells the older sisters, “She’s the daughter of the woman who destroyed your family.” When the older girls’ mother comes for a visit, will they accept her after she abandoned them? Is Sachi’s relationship with a married man a repetition of a family pattern? As I watched the movie I kept waiting for one of these possibilities to flare up and create crisis. But I waited in vain. That is not to say the conflicts didn’t arise, but they were always met with kindness. The sisters, their mother, their neighbors don’t exactly avoid conflict, but they respond in ways that are edifying rather than destructive.

our little sister 2

That (along with the beautiful cinematography) is what makes the film into something “sweet”. It is a celebration of life that is lived with kindness. It recognizes that there are trials in life, but they need not overwhelm. The kindness that is manifest in the sisters and in their community does not seem forced, but rather, for them, a natural reaction to the conflicts that begin, but because of the kindness never really grow.

Kindness may strike us as a word without much strength or substance. However, the Apostle Paul included it in his list of fruits of the Spirit. When the Prophet Micah told us the three things God requires, to love kindness is included with doing justice and walking humbly with God. We may not really be used to a film that doesn’t revel in the crisis of conflict. But for those who want to spend their time seeing a world where kindness reigns, Our Little Sister is a very good alternative.

Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics