ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Steve McQueen

5.05 The Roar of the WIDOWS

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When four men are killed on a failed bank heist, their widows are drawn into the criminal underworld to complete the job. Featuring an all-star cast, Steve McQueen’s WIDOWS is a gripping tale of betrayal, courage and power… but why isn’t it making any money? This week, Steve welcomes Julie and Paul Levac to talk about the strength of women and the truth behind the lies.

You can also stream the episode above on podomatic or on Spotify! Or, you can download the ep on Apple Podcasts, Google Play or more!

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.

5.05 Widows

Thanks Julie and Paul for joining us!

Widows: When Lionesses Roar

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What happens when those that are left behind are forced to clean up the mess of those that have left us?

Directed by Steve McQueen, Widows tells the story of a police shootout that leaves four thieves dead during an explosive armed robbery attempt in Chicago. Their widows — Veronica (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo) — have nothing in common except a debt left behind by their spouses’ criminal activities. Hoping to forge a future on their own terms, Veronica joins forces with the other three women to pull off a heist that her husband was planning.

Though Oscar-winner McQueen is best known for slower paced dramatic fare such as 12 Years A Slave or Shame, he brings a surprising depth to a film which could otherwise dwell in the sub-basement of pulp action films. Co-writing the script with acclaimed author Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), McQueen’s thriller proves to be both gripping and engaging from the outset. Though on paper some may liken the film to this year’s ‘other female heist film’, Ocean’s 8, thankfully the comparisons end there. Widows is a smart, energetic thriller that makes use of an extremely talented cast led with ferocity by Oscar-winner, Viola Davis.

A tight, well-written thrill ride, what is most interesting about a film such as Widows is where it falls in the cultural spectrum. As female-led films have finally begun to be recognized for their success, there seems to have been a theme building momentum where women are encouraged to ‘find their voice’. Recent films such as A Star is Born, The Hate U Give to, yes, Ocean’s 8 have all provided opportunity for women to offer their stories in a male-driven culture. However, if these films serve as cries from the desert, Widows roars like a proud lioness. There is a beautiful but wild energy permeating Widows that reveals the strength, courage and power that women can wield when caught in a world dominated by male-oppression. When we first meet our leads, their identities are tied closely to the men that they love (especially Veronica). However, when threatened by mob boss Jamal Manning to recover the money that their husbands stole from him, they are forced to learn who they are apart from their spouses.

As a result, there is a complexity to these women as they both grieve the loss of their loved ones yet also begin to step out into the light and discover who they are.

From Davis to Debicki (in what may be her breakout role), each female character finds different ways to stand-up against the emotional and physical barriers that have been placed on them by men misusing their power and authority. (With this in mind, it’s no accident that Davis’ Veronica growls that ‘no one thinks [they] have the balls to pull this off.’) Although they find themselves trapped in a ‘man’s game’, these widows prove that their identity and inner strength aren’t decided by a man’s world.

Armed with a whip-smart script and excellent cast, Widows is a film that will surprise you with its depth and emotional punch. Though more popcorn flick than Oscar-fare, the film shows the power of discovering who you are when you’re forced to start over.

Widows is in theatres now.

Steve McQueen Director Wants to Tell Game-Changing Stories

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In the upcoming documentary, Steve McQueen: American Icon, director Jon Erwin shares the story of the legendary actor with audiences in a Fathom Event on September 28. From his hardscrabble upbringing to his stardom in Hollywood, the story of McQueen is recounted by his family, friends, and colleagues. But even more surprising, the film shares the details of McQueen’s late-in-life conversion to Christianity.

Erwin shared how Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship approached him with a story about how McQueen had discovered faith through the ministry of a stunt pilot named Sammy Mason. Thanks to his parents’ appreciation for the old Hollywood films of Frank Capra and John Wayne, Erwin had already been exposed to The Great Escape, over and over again. With a nostalgic look at the golden age of cinema, Erwin’s crew aimed to tell the first “complete, cradle-to-grave look” of the movie star who had once eclipsed them all.

“There are things you just can’t write,” Erwin explained. “That Billy Graham gave McQueen his preaching Bible before he died, that McQueen once avoided being murdered by Charles Manson at a party because he went home with a different girl instead. This man who climbed up from nothing by his sheer force of will wasn’t perfect but he found redemption.”

This story is the latest in a line of films like October Baby and Woodlawn (and the upcoming I Can Only Imagine) that blur lines between Christian industry features and broadly accepted mainstream fare. It’s no accident, said Erwin, but a desire to use known talent to appeal to audiences and to provide an incubation and training to up-and-coming directors.

“My brother Andrew and I have always wanted to pass on what we know and help other people avoid the things we went through,” he shared. “We’ve always wanted to emulate what Lorne Michaels has done with Saturday Night Live, to empower the next generation, to take people under our wing.”

Pursuing the craft of moviemaking, Erwin says he’s grateful to people like Mel Gibson and the Kendrick Brothers, for what they’ve shared and taught. He’s clear that it takes years to learn the craft, more so than creating art in a fixed moment. And he says that like everything in life, it’s about applying one’s gifts to what God has in mind.

“Our gifts and our talents – we just have to serve God in the way we’re supposed to,” he mused. Then, chuckling, he added, “It’s not about conformity. In the Christian market, it’s like the Hunger Games with death and alliances!”

The Erwin brothers attempt to adhere to core values, to putting forth the best quality film they can and using the best options available to them.  In that effort, Erwin realizes that he’s on the outskirts of two worlds, looking in. He shared that Sean Astin told him that he was on the edge, a frontiersman of a new thing in entertainment and faith, which Erwin took as a compliment. Then Astin reminded him that frontiersmen often died!

“We have come to a place of conviction about knowing where we fit, whether it’s Woodlawn or Steve McQueen, telling stories that are authentic,” he said. “We want to learn the message of the gospel, not use it as a crutch for making movies. Seriously, the price of the ticket for the consumer doesn’t vary with who is making the movie, whether it’s us or going to see Transformers! We want to try and entertain on the same level, and also recapture the imagination of a generation through the gospel.”

In that regard, the brothers are trying to do a new thing in an old way, having been challenged by both Gibson and the Kendricks to find their story and stick to it. Longing to be storytellers, these brothers are attempting to “plow an unplowed field,” while also empowering other storytellers.

With Steve McQueen: American Icon, they’re telling a story we’ve only ever seen bits and pieces of before, framing it in a new way and revealing a surprise ending. The Erwin Brothers are beginning to hit their stride, and the movie industry is recognizing that a new thing is on the move.

Story Still Matters: Race, Film, & the Oscar Nominees

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straightouttaI’m a reluctant writer.  It’s a gift.  It’s a curse.  It’s a gift because God has given me the voice to express myself.  It’s a curse because of the toll it takes and the burden I have to carry.  Your fearless leader Jacob has been nudging me to write film commentary like we used to do at Hollywood Jesus.  The gift kept calling.  The curse kept weighing on me.  So I ducked and dodged him.

And then the Oscar nominations came.  

There was one nomination for the white screenwriters of Straight Outta Compton.  One nomination for the white superstar supporting actor in Creed.  Zero/nada/zip for Beasts of No Nation, Chi-Raq and the other African American centric films/actors/etc.  The question of diversity within the Motion Picture Academy is now on the table.  Blacks across America are furious.  Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee are calling for a boycott.

I can feel most of you sharpening your knives because you think you know what I’m going to say.  Allow me to disappoint you.

Sorry, Jada.  Nothing but love for you, Spike.  But I won’t be boycotting anything. I will spend my Oscar night in front of the TV like I do every year cheering the winners I loved and booing the winners I didn’t want to win.

creed-movieAnd while I’m being honest…here’s more of my $0.02 regarding the lack of diversity in this year’s nominees.

  • Creed was good…but it was nothing more than Rocky 7. The notion that Sly Stallone is nominated  for playing Rocky is a joke to me…but, hey…strokes for folks.
  • A note to filmmakers: if you’re using Netflix to launch your movie in the Oscar race, you’re a TV movie. Beasts Of No Nation getting snubbed is not a statement against Black actors. It’s a statement against a TV distribution system that  is attempting to destroy the motion picture theatrical experience. The video on demand industry is dedicated to shrinking theatrical release windows to the point of non-existence.  Within the next few years, movie theaters will be few and far between due to the fact that everyone can watch movies on their tiny smartphones.  I still love going to the movies.  Nothing beats sitting in the theatre with popcorn in hand and watching a story be told on a sixty-five-foot (NOT INCH!) screen.  Cry all you want about Idris Elba getting snubbed, but I’m doggone proud that the Academy chose to preserve my favorite national pastime!
  • Had Universal received the memo that Steve Jobs wasn’t playing to audiences and the guilds like it had hoped – and repurposed their 2015 awards campaign to ride behind Straight Outta Compton as they should have, Spike wouldn’t be boycotting and Jada wouldn’t be ranting. Harvey Weinstein does the same thing every year, which is why his films bag a gazillion nominations and wins year after year. Don’t blame the Academy. Blame Universal for betting on the wrong horse.

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  • And, as much as I loved Chi-Raq…and as much as I admire your body of work, Mr. Lee, you can’t call a major Hollywood studio a “plantation” and not expect any fallout or blacklisting. Yep.  Back in 1992, out of his frustration with completing his classic biography of Malcom X, Spike Lee called the film’s distributor Warner Bros. those very words.  Twenty-something years later, he’s expressed in news outlets his difficulties in getting the major studios to finance his projects.  I wonder why.  Yeah, we have freedom of speech, but that freedom ain’t necessarily free.  God Himself through the inspiration of Scripture reminds us to be wise, slow to speak and, by all means, watch that flaming inferno called The Tongue.  Unfortunately, many have not heeded this warning – Mr. Lee included.   Speak your mind…but be willing to pay the price!
  • As I shared my thoughts on my Facebook page, I undoubtedly received my fair share of dissention – particularly from an old buddy from my old South Central LA neighborhood.  This particular gentleman called me a sellout because I wanted to see films that were off the beaten path.  I will never forget how he read me the (uncensored) riot act because I wanted to see the U2 documentary Rattle & Hum in the 80’s.  Dude lost his mind back then…and lost his mind again today as I took my anti-boycott stance.  He’s not the only one who gave me grief in  our “hood.” I got ridiculed for saying that Clint Eastwood was a better actor than Eddie Murphy.  My constant pleas to see a movie at the larger than life Hollywood movie theatres were ignored.  While everyone else was living the 70MM life, I used to take the bus to a piece of crap three-screen shoebox across the street from USC’s campus. Once I got a driver’s license, I made my way to Hollywood Boulevard and haven’t looked back in thirty years! I still march to the beat of my own drum.  I don’t explore EVERY film that’s off the beaten path, but I take pride in the fact that I will have seen every one of this year’s Best Picture nominees.  I will not allow my old pal, or anyone else, to use my color or race to define who I am as a person. The fruit of my life transcends my color. I am a child of God and a lover of cinema FIRST!  That’s never gonna change.

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  • Lastly…there’s one way to fix the diversity problem at the Oscars: make a film SO DOGGONE GOOD that the industry can’t take their eyes off of it. Make a work of cinema so decadent and impactful that it simply will not be denied. Steve McQueen did in 2013. The result: 12 Years A Slave. Winner of Best Picture…and many Black folks refuse to even watch it because we won’t grieve the pain and scars of slavery. In order to heal, we must go back to the pain and discover that, in spite of what we went through, we must first realize that we WENT THROUGH – and SURVIVED. Props to the writers/directors/actors taking number one spots from Star Wars. But I’d rather see Sam and Denzel taking shots at each other as opposing attorneys in a courtroom judged by James Earl Jones than Cube and Kevin Hart shucking and jiving across the streets of Miami!

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  • That same sentiment goes to the world of Christian film, too.  I have ZERO INTEREST in the US vs. THEM mentality set forth by stories like God’s Not Dead.  The success of War Room was based on the fact that the story was centered in actual reality.  Like 12 Years A Slave, War Room was so doggone good that it would not be denied.  Let’s see more stories like that!  Yes, we as Christ followers stand for what is right in pure in the eyes of God.  But we need to see more gritty and real stories of transformation through His power.  Let’s see the story where the lead starts out as a foul mouthed, train-wrecked mess of a man and, two hours later, we see the spirit of God upend his life and transform his soul. Let’s see the story about the sister who uses sex to gain acceptance from the world only to discover that, through Christ’s love, she has the acceptance that she longs for.  And please don’t make it PG rated.  That’s not real.  

We live in an R-rated world (X…if we wanna be truly honest).  Are we too proud to take the Apostle Paul’s example of becoming all things to all men in order to save some?  Or are we too concerned about our image?  I don’t know about you, but my journey with God has been decidedly R-rated.  I was the foul-mouthed trainwreck.  I was the one who used sex to gain acceptance from the world.  But His love continues to transform me.  My story of redemption is not pretty…but I know He has taken my ashes and made them beautiful.  Can we get more stories like that on screen instead of incessant preaching to the choir? God doesn’t need us to create sanitized classroom scenarios to prove that He’s not dead.  The harvest is in the muck and mire of the world.  And that harvest is sho-nuff ripe.  But the laborers are few.  Hopefully, in this artform that I love, that will one day change for the better.

Editor’s note: Chris Utley is a forty-something writer, director, (sometime) actor, songwriter, singer (only at church!), husband, and father to three beautiful children. Hailing from Los Angeles, he shares his love for film and Jesus Christ with everyone he can.