Pope Francis: A Man of His Word

— With Wim Wenders behind the script and direction, you know this is probably worthwhile and, most of the time, this documentary is well worth seeing. Evidently the Vatican wanted a film that was more intimate than a standard biography and contacted Wenders about the project giving him unprecedented access to the pope and creative freedom. The result is definitely not a biography, but more a look at a philosophy and a phenomenon. This is Pope Francis as humble rock star! It’s also Pope Francis speaking his thoughts without detractors, about topics like poverty, the environment, refugees, and family. Coming through, time and time again, is a message of tolerance and inclusion from a man who doesn’t seem at all naïve or out of touch. There were only two things about the film I found off-putting. The first is a peculiar desire on Wenders’ part to bring emphasis to St. Francis of Assisi’s life even down the path of old-fashioned re-enactments. The second is a disturbing failure to understand how colons function as evidenced by how they are used in the subtitles. Both are minor and shouldn’t overshadow what, otherwise, is a fine film.

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[2018. 96 min. Drected by Wim Wenders. Featuring Pope Francis.]
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-spiritual-nearness-of-wim-wenderss-pope-francis-a-man-of-his-word

Baywatch

— What was I thinking? There’s hardly anything good about this film unless you’re wondering how many times male genitalia can be mentioned in one film or have an interest in how a traditional tank suit can be altered to display the female anatomy leaving less to the imagination. There’s barely a plot and casting was certainly done based more on physique rather than acting skill. The direction is about what you’d expect for a “B” movie with a bloated budget. It’s one of those films where the cast is having fun and doesn’t really care if there’s anything for the audience. It is just bad. I’m glad I didn’t pay to see it in a theater and I’m sorry I streamed it from Amazon.

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[2017. 116 min. Directed by Michael Berk. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Priyanka Copra, and Aexandra Deddario.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/baywatch-2017

Deadpool 2

— If you liked “Deadpool,” you stand a good chance of liking “Deadpool 2”, and I liked both of them. The first one was unexpectedly adult, edgy, bloody, and darkly funny. The second one may be slightly less edgy, but it’s everything else and filled with enough pop culture nods to challenge the most ardent fan of “The Verge” and “Entertainment Tonight.” It’s willing to poke fun at anything and anyone, while everyone’s dying around an anti-hero who can’t be killed. This one works a little too hard to add a sappy love story to the mix, maybe only to remind us that Ryan Reynolds is talented enough to tug at our heart strings for a moment before returning to irreverency. By number 2, it seems a little formulaic, but it also is smart enough not to mess with a good thing. Some of the credit also goes to Josh Brolin and to the choice of music. The Deadpool franchise remains in the top tier of the bloated Marvel universe, along with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, and Black Panther.

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[2018. 119 min. Directed by David Leitch. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, and Zazle Beetz.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/deadpool-2-2018

Paterson

— Sometimes I instinctively know to hold off on seeing something because it’s going to want to access parts of my head used too long ago. Maybe that’s why I held off on seeing “Paterson” for a couple of years. Maybe I knew a film about creativity and art, about moving from images and sensations to words, wasn’t going to be easy. Adam Driver’s Paterson lives in Paterson, NJ, a city bus driver by day and a 24-hour poet, evidently inspired by his muse/partner Laura. As each day of the week begins, Paterson rises, leaving Laura in bed, and heads to work. As the days progress, his words are written across the screen, read with quiet precision as he writes them in his notebook, striving to elevate the everyday to art. He communicates the color in the world using black-and-white words while Laura spends her days embellishing everything, from curtains to cupcakes, with black-and-white pattern. Each evening he takes their dog and his nemesis, Marvin, for a walk, stopping at a bar to chat with the bartender. Home, sleep, repeat. It’s a slow pace and Driver goes through it with the perfect cadence. It is, of course, a nod to William Carlos Williams, a luminary in the Imagist movement and an inspiration for the Beat Generation, who left most of my generation thinking differently about red wheelbarrows and plums. The pace is almost agonizingly slow, but Paterson’s creative spirit needs a steady rhythm, not a fast one. Somehow, a week where one day seems nearly identical to the next ends up conveying the extraordinary calm and beauty of an everyday life, and it ends up being a fairly extraordinary film, imparting a feeling more than a storyline. [DVD]

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[2016. 118 min. Directed by Jim Marmusch. Starring Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/paterson-2016

Western

— It’s easy early on to enjoy the storyline parallels between this Eastern European story and a classic American western. A group of German contractors end up in rural Bulgaria to build a hydroelectric plant, setting the stage for a confrontation with nearby villagers. The Germans aren’t particularly likable and have too much time on their hands when water and gravel are in short supply, letting them spend their time mostly drinking, exhibiting alpha dog behavior, and alienating the locals. Meinhard is the only German who stays on the sideline and doesn't join their activities. Instead, he ventures into town, building friendships in spite of an understandable wariness and the obvious language differences, and becomes something of a bridge between the two groups. It’s not an easy task and at one point, as a climax seems imminent, the head of the work crew even demands Meinhard choose a side. The film unfolds with a wonderful precision and with characters whose depth of feeling unfolds with every glance and look. Even as the “western” conceit is working, it serves to shake things up too. Tensions are simmering through much of the film and, experienced viewers that we are, we ready ourselves to the inevitable violence, often only to find ourselves led in another direction. It’s hard not to ask about motivations, to wonder how Meinhard’s past brought him to this point and what he’s searching for. It’s also hard not to wonder how similar or dissimilar we all our, what had really changed in the 70 some years since the Germans had occupied Bulgaria in the war, and what really constitutes power and strength. Its one of the most interesting films I’ve seen in a while and, although I’m not sure the resolution was adequate for the story, I’m certainly going to keep an eye out for what Valeska Grisebach does next.

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[2017. 121 min. Written and directed by Valeska Grisebach. Starring Meinhard Neumann, Reinhardt Wetrek, and Syuleyman Alilo Letifov.]
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/apr/12/western-review-pastoral-culture-clash-makes-for-years-best-film

Kedi

— If you’re a cat lover and missed this documentary (DVD), it’s worth seeing. The subject is interesting—it’s about the cats in Istanbul who came from other countries on ships and have roamed the city for centuries. They’ve become a part or the city and they move freely from person to person, inserting themselves into the fabric of individual lives, bringing luck and love with them. Although a potential threat looms as the city center is developed, replacing parks and neighborhoods and cat habitats with high rises, the joy of the film is in the stories relayed by the people who interact with the cats on a daily basis.

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[2016. 79 min. Directed by Ceyda Torun.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/kedi-2017

Lean on Pete

— Sometimes a slow reveal is worthwhile and Andrew Haigh knows what he’s doing when he writes and directs. If you saw “45 Years” you probably remember it as much because of Haigh’s skill as Charlotte Rampling’s incredible acting. This time, Haigh focuses on 15-year-old Charlie, already living in the fringes, but who just can’t get a break. Through life’s twists and turns we see Charlie’s depths, fears, loneliness, perseverance, and hopes, and along the way also get a good sense of a few of the people with whom he comes into contact. It’s a wonderful “coming of age” film and, halfway into it also becomes something of a road trip, and maybe a buddy film too—Charlie takes a Quarter Horse named “Lean on Pete” who is about to be sold and ends up on foot going across the desert I wasn’t completely happy with the ending, but the journey was wonderful and beautiful.

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[2017. 121 min. Written and directed by Andrew Haigh. Starring Charlie Plummer, Travis Fimmel, Steve Zahn, and Chloe Sevigny.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/lean-on-pete-2018