ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Miguel Arteta

Yes Day: Saying ‘Yes’ to Life

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When life demands that you constantly say ?no?, what can happen when you let yourself finally say ?yes? again?

In Netflix? Yes Day, Allison (Jennifer Garner) and Carlos (Edgar Ramirez) are a couple that used to live their lives saying ?yes? to adventure. However, as youthful energy gives way to children and responsibility, the couple find themselves increasingly on the ?no? side of life. Now, with their kids growing up and pressures mounting, their world feels like an endless road of planning, restrictions and discipline for their family. When they are encouraged to give their kids a ?Yes Day? that would give their children the opportunity to make the rules for 24 hours, they reluctantly agree. However, as the day goes on, Allison and Carlos find it more and more difficult to keep saying ?yes? to their children?s crazy plans.

Directed by Miguel Arteta is a charming (but ultimately forgettable) family film that knows what it wants to be and leans into the concept with enthusiasm. Playing out like a strange mix between the work Jim Carrey and 90?s John Hughes films, Yes Day is a (mostly) upbeat, cheery ball of fun that simply leans into the silliness of the concept and lets loose. While there?s not much particularly ?new? in the film, Yes Day has enough warmth and silliness to keep families entertained.

While the film has some fun cameos and side characters, there?s little doubt that the spark to the film is Garner who seems like she?s having a blast as the tightly-wound Allison. Even in lesser material, Garner has always shown her ability to invest a certain likeability into her characters. As Allison, she really lets herself has fun and it benefits the film as a result. With each progressively outrageous activity, Garner feels present (and even enthusiastic) in the moment, giving Yes Daythe jolt of energy that it needs to keep moving.

At its heart, Yes Day is a call for balance. As the children learn that consequences come from a life led only by ?yes?, their parents understand the ramifications of a world of ?no?. For example, though Allison once lived a life of ?yes?, she now takes her responsibilities as a parent so seriously that she keeps her children on a short leash. Modeling an attitude of ?no?, she has become a helicopter parent who obsesses about her children and their well-being. When she and Carlos are introduced to the concept by the kids? guidance counsellor, they are apprehensive at first but opt to take the challenge in order to prove that they too can be ?fun?. However, as she leans into the ?Yes Day? experience, she revives a part of her soul that she has kept in check. For her, this experience becomes a day to reconnect with her playful side and, as a result, her children as well.

At the same time, the children also come to understand the need for boundaries (and even discipline). At first, their children are thrilled at the chance to be ?in charge?. Always feeling under their parents? thumb, the ?Yes Day? gives them a chance to finally do the things that they have always wanted to do. Even so, as their day of fun devolves into an overwhelming madness, they soon discover the fact that the discipline of their parents stems from a place of love and necessity. Though they?ve viewed their mom and dad as the villains, they come to understand how responsibility requires the ability to say ?no? every now and then in order to keep everyone safe.

Bright, bubbly (pun intended) and heartwarming, Yes Day benefits from an animated performance by Garner. Though the film admittedly works better on Netflix than it would in a theatre, Yes Day is surprisingly silly and fun enough to say ?yes? to on your next family movie night (especially for younger viewers).

Yes Day is available on Netflix on Friday, March 12th, 2021.

Beatriz at Dinner – Visions of the American Dream

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F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, ?Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.? That pretty well sums up the thesis of Beatriz at Dinner. I?ve read some reviewers who call this the first film to deal with the Trump era. There are certainly elements of the film that make it applicable to today?s political situation, but this film?s social commentary is really much more about the divisions that exist in society and the visions that compete for the soul of our culture.

Beatriz (Salma Hayak) is a holistic healer who spends most of her time dealing with sick and dying patients. One afternoon she drives a significant distance for an appointment with Cathy (Connie Britton), the mother of a patient Beatriz had worked with in the past to give a massage. When Beatriz?s car breaks down, Cathy invites her to stay for dinner, even though it is a business dinner at which her husband is hosting Doug Strutt (John Lithgow), a very wealthy developer who is starting a new project that has taken some political manipulation to gain approval.

While there are others at the dinner (all in the upper one percent), the real conflict is between Beatriz and Doug. They represent very different ways of seeing the world and how we are to relate to it. Beatriz is a very spiritual person, in a New Age manner; Doug is the embodiment of materialism. Beatriz views the world as needing healing; Doug feels comfortable destroying environments for his own gain or pleasure. Doug represents all the privilege that the wealth represents. Beatriz came to the U.S. as a child, in large part because a new resort displaced her family from their beautiful seaside town.

One might think this set up is destined to be a comedy, especially since director Miguel Arteta and writer Mike White are known for comedies (and it is listed as a comedy on IMDB). However, this is so dark that the term ‘comedy’ hardly seems to fit. It is uncomfortable to watch at times because the nerves of this film are so close to the surface. Beatriz is something of an empath and brings the suffering of all the people and animals she has comforted into the mix. Doug?s smugness seems to make him immune from any criticism.

This is really a film about the American Dream and two different ideas of what that means. For Doug (and the others who depend on him for their own fortunes), the American Dream is about the accumulation of wealth and being able to enjoy all the pleasures that wealth can afford. But for Beatriz, the American Dream means the ability to bring goodness into a world that is filled with pain and suffering. This American Dream is seen in her relationship to the goats she keeps (one of which was killed by a neighbor). It is about connections and care.

The election of Donald Trump did not create this conflict in our culture, but it certainly has brought it to the fore and perhaps even exacerbated the differences. This film is clearly on the side of Beatriz?s vision of the Dream. But Doug and the others are not just straw men set up as targets. Cathy in particular seems to want to be a good person, but is at a loss trying to understand what is bothering Beatriz. This is after all her dream life, how can others not want the same? That is really the crux of our societal struggle: how can others not see the American Dream as we see it? Beatriz at Dinner provides us a chance to think about the Dream and how we should bring it to reality?and for whom.