Author: LaurenDolceVita

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 44

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

There’s so much snow outside; I woke up to a window of nothing but white. The perfect setting for some extended movie watching. While wanting to stay toasty under the covers for all of the morning ate into my movie watching time, I still managed to make today my first multi film day of the month.

Timbuktu (2014, Dir. Abderrahmane Sissako)

Image result for timbuktu film

I started the snow day out with a film set entirely in the desert. Timbuktu was a film which managed to blend graphic and depressing imagery with absurdity in a way that enhances the message rather than distract. In the film, the city of Timbuktu has been occupied by extremist jihadists. The film has little respect for the occupiers, much of the film is made of scenes of Timbuktu citizens resisting the archaic sharia law. A dozen young men pantomiming a football game without the forbidden ball stands out as a farcical gag at the jihadist’s expense. Unfortunately, as is reflective of reality, rule by religious extremists often ends in tragedy, and Timbuktu is no different as many lose their lives to the strict laws.

While everything that I had watched up to this point this month has been by a Black filmmaker, I made the decision that movies after the first for a day I’d allow a little more flexibility to. In particular, the next film was one that I have been waiting for since the end of last year but just became available recently.

Saint Maud (2021, Dir. Rose Glass)

Image result for saint maud

From one film about religious extremists to another, Saint Maud is another excellent offering in the A24 horror film collection. Were it not for the opening image of a blood covered Maud (Morfydd Clark) and one flashback near the hour mark, the film’s last second horror turn would have been completely unexpected. That’s not to say that director Rose Glass failed at making a horror film, far from it. The film is immaculately paced. Hints that not all is right with Maud are sprinkled routinely enough that when the film takes a graphic turn it’s not surprising, but rather a poignant payoff to subtle story telling. While I wouldn’t call it one of my favorites of the A24 horror offerings, it’s still an excellent viewing.

I mentioned early in the year that I make a goal of watching every film nominated for an Oscar each year. This year’s Oscar nominations are still a way out, but the short lists were announced recently, so I set out to get a head start on the animated shorts.

Burrow (2020, Dir. Madeline Sharafian)

Image result for burrow 2020 -joe

This short was really cute. A relative minimalist bunny sets out to dig their home only to be greeted by many other animals make their underground homes in the same area. The increasingly elaborate housing systems of the animals underground remind me of the visuals from Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and the teamwork between the animals is just as sweet. Most importantly, I now also share the bunny’s want for a disco bathroom.

Kapaemahu (2020, Dir. Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu)

Image result for Kapaemahu

Kapaemahu is a beautifully animated story of Hawaiian folklore. While I mostly enjoyed it, I worry that the eight-minute short attempted to do a bit more than the very short runtime afforded. The short begins with it’s strength of telling the story of the legendary mahu who brought their healing arts to Hawaii. And while that story, told in the native Hawaiian language, was fascinating, with only a couple minutes remaining the film jumps to present time to lecture on lost heritage. While not necessarily a mistake to do so, the film ended up feeling rushed by attempting to staple that coda on the end.

Out (2020, Dir. Steven Clay Hunter)

Image result for out 2020

I know I should be happy that Disney finally made something so gay that it would be impossible for them to cut it in a way to get past the censors in China, but they relegated it to a short, and it falls into the same tired cliché of an adult afraid to come out to his parent. Just because Disney is only now accepting the existence of gay people doesn’t mean I’m ready to pretend it’s the 90s for them.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 42 and Day 43

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Day 42 – It’s snowing today, and I lost power, so today will be the first day I don’t watch something. Making this quick post by phone and I’ll be back tomorrow with at least two movies to make up for today.

Day 43 – I woke up to some lovely snow outside, and lights that worked. I fought my way through the last day of work this week and was anxious to kick off my weekend. Like I mention yesterday, I was committing to watching two movies today to make up for a power outage requiring my first missed day yesterday. Since the second movie of the day is not a bonus movie but a catch-up movie, I’m making sure that both are directed by Black filmmakers.

Girls Trip (2017, Dir. Malcolm D. Lee)

Image result for girls trip movie

First film of the day was Girls Trip, a comedy from 2017 that I didn’t watch at the time, but that received enough praise that it had been lingering on my maybe to-watch list since then. I really enjoy Regina Hall as a comedic actress. She wonderfully blends dramatic acting with comedy to make scenes that are emotionally resonate and deeply funny at the same time. On the other hand, while I respect Tiffany Haddish, her comedy is not for me. I find it too brash and loud for my personal tastes.

Unfortunately, as I somewhat anticipated, Hall’s more quiet and nuanced comedic style was overpowered by Haddish’s loud and in your face persona. I don’t think the film was unfunny; rather I acknowledge that the film just wasn’t for me. I still really appreciated Hall’s performance, but it alone couldn’t keep me engaged. The film was a loud and generic comedy, not bad, but not something I tend to go out of my way to watch.

Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask (1995, Dir. Isaac Julien)

Image result for Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask documentary

To follow up the comedy film that wasn’t for me, I returned to the Criterion Channel’s Black Voices collection to find something more my speed. Chosen at random was a Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Maska documentary playing with experimental tendencies about a man I had never heard of before pressing play.

In contrast to Girls Trip, this movie really worked for me. As a documentary, it is built primarily with talking head interviews and stock footage, but director Isaac Julien cast Colin Salmon to play Frantz in extremely stylized recreations. These recreations play with visual perspective and create a dreamlike setting for telling the life story of the psychoanalytic theorist. Being completely unaware of who Frantz Fanon was, the evolution of the man from psychiatrist to decolonization revolutionary was unexpected, but kept me intrigued throughout.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 41

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

This has been the week that will not end. Once again, I’m writing up my post on only one movie at 11pm when I really want to go to be, but thankfully I’m at least feeling a little better. And not only am I feeling better physically, but I can’t wait for it to be the weekend so I can binge a bunch of films each day. One day at a time until then though.

The Old Guard (2020, Dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood)

Image result for the old guard

I know I’m six months behind the times on this one. When it came out, I was in the middle of my coronavirus-induced, no-movie-watching depression, so that combined with it not being the type of movie I gravitate to caused me to pass up on it. Fortunately, it fits neatly into my February viewing theme, so it became tonight’s film.

As I mentioned above (and when I watched John Woo’s The Killer (1989) earlier this year), action films are not my go-to genre. So, when I say that I thought The Old Guard was fine, that’s a good sign from me. The immortal warrior is a concept that I feel has a lot of potential if played correctly, and while the film didn’t delve into lore too much, it clearly baited a sequel that I have hope will explore that aspect more. Unfortunately for me, the film felt a little to generic action film for me to really embrace it. That said, there was one thing about the film that absolutely worked for me, the lead.

At this point, it seems that Charlize Theron has attained Keanu Reeves level of cool in action films. When up against unsurmountable odds she sells making the miraculous look effortless. And while Reeves’s dramatic chops have grown with time, Theron has genuine dramatic chops that play just as well in the quieter scenes as her physical presence does stabbing an unnamed soldier through the gut with a sword. This film wouldn’t work without Theron, but thankful she is the lead and elevated a rather routine action film.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 40

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

I feel like a broken record, but I spent most of today nursing a fever, so forgive me if today’s post is on the short side. Illness aside, I got out of bed this evening long enough to watch a film and write this post. And like every other day this month, I made sure to watch a film by a Black director for Black History Month.

Clemency (2019, Dir. Chinonye Chukwu)

Image result for clemency

Well, that was bleak. Going into the viewing my only real knowledge of the film was that the film received some Indie Spirit nominations last year and what the word clemency means. While I was prepared for the film to be about death row, I wasn’t prepared for it to be that dark.

Director Chinonye Chukwu does something interesting with the subject in Clemency. When telling the story of a death row inmate hoping to be spared execution, the inmate would be the standard choice for a protagonist. This viewpoint decision forces the audience to grapple with sympathizing with a violent criminal inducing inner turmoil. Chukwu instead focuses on the warden, Bernadine (Alfre Woodard). While this should ostensibly be an easier character to support, it proves to be harder. By the time the film begins, Anthony (Aldis Hodge) has been in prison for 15 years. Whether he is guilty of murder or not is almost irrelevant from an audience point-of-view; what matters is that he is fighting to stay alive while Bernadine, our protagonist, is doing her job preparing to kill him. While she may be following the law and just doing her job, as the one doing the killing in the timeframe in which the film take place her internal struggles mimic our own upon viewing. An interesting take on the subject that I do not plan on visiting again. At least not for a long time.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 39

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Still not feeling particularly good today, so after a full day of work followed by a much-needed nap, there was only time for one quick movie and a short post. Today’s movie was a 2020 film that was on my shortlist to watch before putting together a year end list. While it unfortunately fell through the cracks then, it thankfully fit in perfectly this month for Black History Month.

Miss Juneteenth (2020, Dir. Channing Godfrey Peoples)

Image result for Miss Juneteenth

While Turquoise (Nicole Beharie) may be forcing her daughter Kai (Alexis Chikaeze) into the same beauty contest she won as a girl, Turquoise is not a traditional pageant mom. First time director Channing Godfrey Peoples uses the Miss Juneteenth pageant less as a symbol of glitz and glam, but instead as an escape route away from a life of poverty. Unfortunately, in the words of her boss, “ain’t no American Dream for Black folks.”

While invariably, some of the past Miss Juneteenth winners have gone on to great things, even a full ride scholarship to a historically Black college doesn’t guarantee a flawless future. Turquoise never even finished high school, so her scholarship went unused. And yet Kai is pushed into attempting to follow in her mother’s footprints in hopes of finding the mythical escape from a working-class life.

Miss Juneteenth is by and large a solid if not remarkable low budget indie flick. The kind of film that tends to get lost on a streaming service, but if you find it and put it on you end up very pleasantly surprised. The film had a budget of less than $1 million, so while I think it’s merely good not great, it shows a lot of skill from Peoples, and I hope studios will agree and give her a nice budget increase for her second feature.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 38

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Just another one movie weekend day. Like yesterday I slept in much later than I’m used to and today it all makes more sense: I’m getting sick. So even though it was the weekend, I spent most of the day in bed rather than watching a bunch of new movies. And while I did manage to watch one film, I’m still exhausted and am going to cut today’s entry short.

Boyz n the Hood (1991, Dir. John Singleton)

Image result for boyz n the hood

Coming-of-age films are a giant soft spot for me, but far too many of them focus on the coming-of-age of white boys. I’m always looking for a film to tell that type of story but for different people, be they young women, or in the case of Boyz n the Hood, young Black men. The late John Singleton’s first feature works as a brilliant entry into the coming-of-age canon.

The film is broken into two time periods, the first taking up the opening third of the film shows the main characters as young boys. After steeling ends one of the children in jail, the film takes a seven-to-eight-year time skip where the now young men are preparing for their post high school futures and learn what it means to be a Black man in the US. By splitting the film in two, Singleton is able to tell a more complete story about what it means to grow up Black. The country is telling Black people that they are criminals from such a young age that it’s no wonder that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Laurence Fishburne plays Furious Styles, the father to Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and father figure to Ricky (Morris Chestnut) Fishburne provides the standout performance for the film, and the monologue against the terrors of gentrification resonate just as strongly today as it must have in 1991. Ricky is shot dead, it’s Fishburne’s acting that sells the potential that Tre may calm down and not seek revenge. And when Tre sneaks out to join the now out of jail Doughboy (Ice Cube) to go out for vengeance, it’s the reminder of Furious’s impassioned plea that see’s Tre return home before it’s too late.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 37

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Happy weekend. I was much more tired than I thought after last week. I ended up sleeping in significantly later than I have in months. A combination of being busy at work and pandemic fatigue is getting to me. With my morning a complete wash, it cut into the time I had available for a movie today. That combined with the film I did watch’s length meant that even though it was a weekend, I only have on movie to talk about today.

Malcolm X (1992, Dir. Spike Lee)

Image result for malcolm x 1992

Biopics have an inherent flaw that needs to be addressed in their creation: the subjects of the film live long lives with countless important moments to explore. Even for subjects like Malcolm X who had their life tragically cut short, there’s no way to do them any service while compacting them into a 100-minute runtime. This leads many biopics to feel like a string of major events with little through line. The best biopics tend to work by embracing the limited time and telling a shorter story. Spike Lee decided to address the shortcoming in a different direction. Instead of telling a smaller, representative story, he took over 200 minutes to give X’s story the time it deserved.

In theory Malcolm X still succumbs to the issue with biopics. Even at the extended runtime, it’s still not possible to do the man’s entire life the justice it deserves, but the film’s length does give it more power than the alternative. The film feels like more than just a sequence of vignettes in the man’s life. While after watching it, I may only have a surface level of knowledge of where Malcolm the man comes from, I feel like the film succeeds in it’s telling of where Malcolm’s beliefs come from. For a man like he was, that’s the greatest thing Lee could have accomplished.

As important as Lee’s directorial voice was to the success of Malcolm X, the film could not work without a standout performance in the titular role. Thankfully a peak young Denzel Washington was available to play the civil rights icon. Washington was three years removed from his first Oscar win in Glory (1989, Dir. Edward Zwick), and I’m convince the proximity to it is the only reason that he didn’t win his second portraying X. Washington’s impressive range was a necessity to tell the full story of X’s life. He is equally believable as an 18-year-old coke dealer and 39- year-old Muslim minister. Lee as a director can tend to feel a little overstuffed, but Washington’s depiction of one of the greatest and most important men in history keeps even the three and a half hour epic feeling tight and important.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 36

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

For all the fluster I’ve been making about finding Black helmed films on streaming services, I’ve had a handful that I’ve been keeping in my back pocket. Not enough to get me through the month unfortunately, but I find films elsewhere. And for tonight I have a film I’ve been looking forward to since it caused some controversy in its country of origin.

Rafiki (2018, Dir. Wanuri Kahiu)

Image result for rafiki 2018

Late last year when I watched Happiest Season (2020, Dir. Clea DuVall) I told myself that I was kind of done with scared to come out/ unsupportive parents plotline in queer cinema. Gay marriage has been legal in all 50 states for five years now; that story is well trodden and doesn’t need to be rehashed to into oblivion. I’m looking for something new in my queer cinema. That stance needs an important appendment: I’m looking for something new in my US queer cinema. Because in other parts of the world, like Kenya where gay sex can land you in prison for years, this is still the story they need to tell.

Rafiki at first seems to be the exact kind of paint by numbers romance that I’ve grown tired of. An initial conflict is hinted at for our two lovers when Kena’s (Samantha Mugatsia) friend makes homophobic comments against a known gay man. This combined that Kena and Ziki’s (Sheila Munyiva) fathers are political rivals sets up a completely predictable star-crossed lovers’ story.

It’s when the film’s climax hits that Rafiki develops in a way more locally specific. Director Wanuri Kahiu pulls no punches with her depiction of the oppressively anti-gay culture. When Kena and Ziki are caught kissing they attempt to run away in vain. When members of the community find them, it’s not to ridicule them, or to sensationalize their relationship for political gossip, but to attack the girls and leave them in a bloody mess on the ground. When the police arrive, it’s not to arrest their assailants, but to arrest the girls for being in a same-sex relationship. It’s in this moment that Kahiu asserts her purpose in making this film. She forces the audience member in a more accepting world to understand that the fight for equal rights is not over, and to help viewers in her home country to work on changing.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 35

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Another late night tonight as I couldn’t get my head into a movie until late. Tonight I further complicated things by picking a movie in excess of two hours, but it was at least on my list and I knew where it was so I didn’t have to repeat the last two night’s struggle of trying to find a Black helmed film.

The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020, Dir. Radha Blank)

Image result for the forty year old version

Watching The Forty-Year-Old Version, I kept thinking of Spike Lee’s first feature She’s Gotta Have It (1986), and low and behold writer, director, and star Radha Blank produced 2019 TV Series of the same name. Knowing that the influence is likely intentional, helps to clarify my thoughts on the film. Blank is a wonderfully talented creative, but at times the talent needs another voice to reign it in. At a hair over two hours, the film feels a bit overstuffed for the content (something that also frequently plagues Lee). Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed 90% of this film, that just makes the last 10% all the more tragic.

Blank is a brilliant creator, and her fingerprints are all over the film. Not only did she write, direct, and star in the film, but the film feels especially personal given that she shares a name with her character (for clarity I’ll be using Radha to talk about the character and Blank to talk about the person). Writing her character as a playwright allows Blank to take many artistic flourishes with the film. While the film is shot in black and white, it includes quick slideshow-esque cuts to explain Radha’s thoughts.

Another example of Blanks artistic flare is her depiction of the white characters involved in the making and watching of her play. They are portrayed as awful. This was distracting for most of the film, but eventually I think the purpose unlocked for me. Much like Radha’s initial rap, it’s not supposed to be a realistic depiction, but rather a comment on white people’s tendency to fetishize Black suffering. The decision is another example of Blank’s significant talent but also of the film’s need for a second set of eyes.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 34

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Today was the closest that I’ve come to not making my goal for the day as part of this project. I had to work a couple hours late tonight, and afterwards I was struggling to focus on anything at all. It wasn’t until 8pm until I forced myself to start looking for a movie to watch, and I was immediately reminded of how difficult it is to find a film by Black voices. I mentioned that briefly yesterday, but the fact that most films in streaming services’ Black History Month sections are directed by white people is appalling. I don’t want to use this as an excuse, and I will endeavor to watch as many Black helmed films as possible this month, but it was just an added frustration to a day that was already going rough. Regardless I found a film that met my criteria and then some and finally sat down to watch it.

Cane River (1982, Dir. Horace Jenkins)

Image result for cane river

While it took me a while to find a Black made film, the one I found was one of the most Black made films possible. Cane River was made not only by a Black director, Horace Jenkins, but by an all Black crew. The film itself has a very low budget, made-with-your-friends-in-the-backyard feel to it; that doesn’t make it a bad film in anyway, it just requires some recalibration in viewing. The less than stellar sound mixing is to be expected without a major studio to edit the excessive diegetic sound out but dismissing the film because of that is nothing but gatekeeping Black creators out. Instead of fixating on those deficiencies, I choose to evaluate the film on the aspects that were in its control.

What Cane River is, is a tightly crafted romance between two young people in a Romeo and Juliet influenced story. Peter (Richard Romain) comes from a wealth Black family that may or may not have been slave owners while Maria (Tommye Myrick) comes from a working-class family. Despite the different upbrings, the two quickly fall for each other. While love at first sight stories can frequently seem farfetched, Romain and Myrick have a natural chemistry of individuals who love each other but must be guarded in their feelings, a perfect match for the story.

A unique aspect to Cane River is that it has an almost musical quality to it. While the actors themselves never sing and the music is strictly non-diegetic, when a song comes on the plot is paused and the music is brought to the forefront. Each song is played nearly as a music video and less a continuation of the film, but in a movie so dedicated in portraying a Black story, highlighting Black New Orleans singer Phillip Manuel makes sense with the film’s exploration of Black culture.