Viewing Log

Friday, March 17, 2017

Elle

— Well, this one took me by surprise. I had some vague notion of what it would be based on the previews and the rave reviews Isabelle Huppert was getting for her performance. What I got was a complicated thriller that only Paul Verhoeven could put together making full use of Huppert’s subtle talent. It isn’t at all fair to describe it as about a woman who’s raped, isn’t sure what she thinks about the rape, finds out who the rapist is, and then takes her time figuring out her own feelings and what, if anything, she should do about them. There’s a lot more going on with plenty of unspoken looks and uncomfortable feelings, eventually coexisting with an undertone of awkward perversities and power struggles. It’s mostly a very dark comedy in a world of self-absorbed, privileged, neurotics with complicated relationships and fantasies. If you missed it when it was in theaters, see it now that it’s on DVD.

[2016, 130 min. Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Starring Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny, Charles Berling, and Virginie Efira.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/elle-2016

Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Founder

— Michael Keaton does a good job in this biopic about Ray Kroc, the salesman from Illinois who saw the franchise possibilities of Mac and Dick McDonald’s burger joint in San Bernardino, and then wrestled the business away from them. It’s an American story and the maneuverings associated with Kroc’s rise to fame are certainly interesting and darkly humorous, perhaps even more so in an age of alternate truths, rewritten history, and instant gratification. I enjoyed Keaton's abilities as well the story itself, which placed Kroc as the protagonist who manages to take someone else’s idea and turn it into a 8 billion dollar company. Now that's the American dream!

[2016. 115 min. Directed by John Lee Hancok. Starring Michael Keaton, Nik Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, and Linda Carrdellini.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-founder-2017

Saturday, March 11, 2017

The Finest Hours

— A retelling of what may be the greatest small-boat rescue ever, when a nor’easter broke apart two oil tankers. The aft half of one of them, the Pendleton, managed to maintain power for a while until the hull flooded. All available cutters were trying to rescue the other tanker so 4 crewmen took a 36’ wood boat with an official capacity of 12, maneuvered through rough waters with waves cresting at nearly 70 feet, lost their compass, rolled over twice while crossing the Chatham shoal, and still managed to take on 33 stranded sailors and make it back to shore. It’s a Disney film, reminding us of 1950’s values and of miracles that can bring tears to our eyes. It’s well done even if it’s also something of a throw-back to earlier times. (Netflix.)

[2016. 115 min. Directed by John Lee Hancok. Starring Michael Keaton, Nik Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, and Linda Carrdellini.]
http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/the-finest-hours-review-1201682105/

Southside with You

— Here’s a film (DVD) that should have been a short. There’s really only fifteen minutes of content in this re-imagining of the first date between Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson. It’s cute and nostalgic. Actors do an adequate job and the direction and editing are also adequate but there’s just not much meat on these rose-colored bones.

[2016. 84 min. Written and directed by Richard Tanne. Starring Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/southside-with-you-2016

Sunday, March 5, 2017

I Am Not Your Negro

— In the mid-1970s, James Baldwin wrote thirty pages, outlining a book about the lives and deaths of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Those notes, and words from Baldwin’s other writings, form the narration for this excellent film. I’m reluctant to admit it but part of me has started turning a blind eye to the recurring images favored by most recent documentary films aimed at diminishing my white filter when considering current black perspectives. The discussion has been inundated with images of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and, as with the larger political climate, focusing as much on blame and anger as on the larger picture and solutions—the narrative has narrowed its focus. The good news is that “I Am Not Your Negro” steps back a bit, thanks to James Baldwin’s eloquent pen, and really does make me think about race in the United States and why there is the anger. Looking at how blacks were depicted in the 1960s reminded me of ways racism was hard-wired in all of us, blacks and whites alike, and listening to Baldwin as he considers the American identity puts things into perspective. Sadly, while my white mind wants to think much has changed in forty years, much still remains to be changed. It's amazing how Baldwin's ideas resonate all these years later. This is a very good film. (Shown at True/False Film Fest 2017.)

[2016. 93 min. Directed by Raoul Peck. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Featuring James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and many more.]
http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/i-am-not-your-negro-review-new-york-film-festival-james-baldwin-1201876756/