May 2021

THE FATHER (2020)

     One of life’s great tragedies occurs after you’ve been one of the lucky ones, having lived into your eighth decade, but then your mind begins to slip away. Dementia muddles the past and the present, alters one’s personality and leaves your family and friends heartbroken.

    In shedding light on the affliction, acclaimed French playwright Florian Zeller has done the seemingly impossible. In “The Father,” he shows us the chaotic, jump-cut reality of a man suffering from dementia, made unbearably real by 83-year-old Anthony Hopkins’ performance, a shattering feat that caps this magnificent actor’s career.

     Translated into English and adapted for the screen by Christopher Hampton (“Dangerous Liaisons”) and directed by Zeller (his first feature), “The Father” consists of a series of visits by daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) as she tries to deal with her father’s erratic behavior. For the father, also named Anthony, just trying to understand who’s who and why they are in his house (there’s also Anne’s husband and a few caretakers) uses up all his energy. Frustration, anger, confusion and helplessness are just some of the emotions that this man shifts through each day as his life becomes a haze of undefined moments. That Hopkins can bring this all to the role without turning the character into a maudlin wreck is yet another reminder of the power of great acting.

    The film feels very much like a stifling, one-set play but that’s exactly what’s called for. And adding much to the film’s impact is production designer Peter Francis’ and director Zeller’s eye for detail, allowing the audience to experience the way Anthony experiences his surroundings.

      Coleman, Olivia Williams and Imogen Poots all give top-notch performances as touchstones of the world that Anthony has lost a grip on, but this is Hopkins’ stage.

      Though his reputation was earned in London’s theaters, he’s left his mark on film, with excellent performances in “84 Charing Cross Road” (1987), “Howards End” (1992), “The Remains of the Day” (1993), “Nixon” (1995) and, of course, his Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991), one of the cinema’s most memorable villains.

     But in “The Father,” which won him his second Oscar, Hopkins takes acting to another level, plumbing the depths of what makes us who we are and how easily, and without notice, it can disappear.

 

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2020)

       This incendiary look at Chicago’s Black Panthers, a 1960s organization dedicated to improving the city’s poor community through food banks and health centers, chronicles the unabashed war on the group by the FBI.

      J. Edgar Hoover (a scenery-chewing Martin Sheen) ran the FBI from 1931 to 1973 as a white supremist organization, working to crush the rights of all minorities, gays and lesbians and anyone left of John Wayne, tolerated by president after president. He was especially determined to crush every leader in the growing black power movement in the 1960s and high on his list was Fred Hampton, the 20-year-old chairman of the Panthers.

      Daniel Kaluuya (“Get Out”), who won a supporting actor Oscar for the role, gives one of the year’s most memorable lead performances as Hampton, this charismatic leader who somehow brings together rival groups to protest against police brutality (he even makes overtures to the local KKK). But at every turn, feds and local police treat the group as subversive—the real possibility that African Americans might achieve equality has the powers that be frightened to the core.

     The Judas of the title is third-rate car thief Bill O’Neal, played with jittery intensity by LaKeith Stanfield (“Sorry to Bother You,” “Knives Out”), who attracts the attention of the bureau by flashing a fake federal badge as part of his robbery scheme.  Faced with jail time, O’Neal agrees to infiltrate the Panthers and pass along info about Hampton’s activities to Agent Mitchell (the always reliable Jesse Plemons).

     O’Neal soon becomes a trusted member of the group and part of Hampton’s inner circle, admired for his sincerity and determination. Yet he keeps going back to the FBI.

     Director Shaka King, who wrote the script with Will Berson, manages to balance the parallel stories of Hampton and O’Neal but finds difficulty in maintain the film’s tone and narrative flow as the story jumps from episode to episode of the Black Panthers. It plays too much like an extended trailer and the supporting players (not Kaluuya or Stanfield—I have no idea what the Academy was thinking by putting them in that category) never become distinctive enough to make an impact.

    Yet these two fine actors and the dramatic irony of the situation make for compelling drama, superbly shot by cinematographer Sean Bobbitt.  

    The film is the perfect companion piece to “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” as both offer a stark look at the fascist nature of American law enforcement during that era and, sadly, are reminders that the same fights are staged decade after decade with little results.

 

HELL DRIVERS (1957)

     Along with being a smartly written, franticly directed off-beat film, this gritty British picture includes a gallery of actors on the verge of stardom.

     That took me by surprise as I watched it (on TCM) because of its director, Cy Endfield (credited as C. Raker here), who went on to make the classic colonialism war film “Zulu.”

    Stanley Baker, a mid-century British star best known for portraying villainous tough guys, plays a circumspect ex-con in “Hell Drivers,” who talks his way into a job as a truck driver for a gravel transport company that encourages rivalries among its employees.  Driving like madmen all day from the gravel mines to the drop-off in hopes of accumulating the most trips to win a bonus, the drivers are one sharp turn away from a fatal smashup.  

     Baker’s Tom has his eye on the flirtatious company secretary Lucy (Peggy Cummins, who played the tough-talking, sharp-shooting bank robber in the film noir classic “Gun Crazy”) while competing for the top driver’s spot with Red, a vicious bully played by Patrick McGoohan, just a few years away from becoming a household name in the TV series “Secret Agent” and “The Prisoner.”

      The cast also includes Herbert Lom (the future nemesis of Peter Sellers in the “Pink Panther” series), as an Italian driver who befriends Tom; Jill Ireland (future American TV actress) as a tavern waitress; David McCallum (the future IIlya Kuryakin in “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” who married Ireland after meeting on “Hell Drivers”) as Tom’s brother; and Sean Connery (I think you know what become of him) as one of the drivers.

    Despite all the famous faces, Endfield is the real star, staging, with great assist from master cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (Oscar winner for 1970s films “Cabaret” and “Tess”) some of the most intense, nail-biting truck driving scenes you’ll ever see. The director also creates an explosive, hot-house atmosphere in the local tavern where the drivers drink and fight.

   The script, which Endflied co-wrote with John Kruse, whose short story is the source material, was nominated for a British Oscar; it doesn’t pull any punches in both its portrayal of men pushed to their limit and the resulting sadistic violence.

    Endfield and Baker continued to work together, in action films, “Sea Fury” (1958) and “Jet Storm” (1959) and then in “Zulu” (1964) and “Sands of the Kalahari” (1965).  Also, don’t miss Endfield’s “Mysterious Island,” featuring a giant chicken along with Lom as Captain Nemo.

 

BAD EDUCATION (2020, TV)

     After spending the last 10 years as a high school journalism adviser, I savored this story of a plucky student reporter who uncovers financial fraud at the highest levels of a Long Island school district.

     But as a movie, made for HBO, “Bad Education” barely qualifies for a C.

    Hugh Jackman plays the superintendent of the district, Frank Tassone, who has quickly turned the district and its high school into one of the top schools in New York; a leader who is loved by parents, teachers and students.

    But that was before Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan) speaks to a dismissive assistant superintendent (the always superb Allison Janney) about a school construction bond measure about to be voted on. Vismwanathan has that flat-affect look of so many teens down pat as she starts digging into what she suspects is questionable bidding process. It’s not long before a million-dollar embezzling scheme is unearthed by the relentless young journalist (in real life, Rebekah Rombon, now working in education.)   

     Jackman’s performance as Tassone, which scored him an Emmy nomination, never finds that balance between tragedy and comedy. I kept waiting for him to react as his world crumbled around him, but he never did. Probably more to blame is the screenplay by Mike Makowsky (who was a student in the district when this all went down), which seemed to me about two rewrites away from working.

     Janney, at her frenetic best, hits the mark, especially in dealing with her sponging extended family. She understands satire.

      Director Cory Finley (“Thoroughbreds”) lets the movie jumps around so much--from Tassone’s personal life (he’s secretly married and living in New York City) to Bhargava’s investigation to the school board’s reaction—that the impact of his comeuppance is deflated. 

     To someone who worked in education, it also seemed unlikely that a student reporter could gain access to the superintendent office and that he would even know who she was. (In 10 years, I doubt the district has responded to my students’ emails or phone calls more than twice.) It was as if Tassone was serving as a principal, not superintendent. While that seems like nitpicking, to me it was distracting.

     Nevertheless, it’s inspiring to see high school journalism triumph while the adults in the room were cheering the criminals.

 

THE WHITE TIGER (2020)

    The most beloved English-language film about contemporary India remains the 2002 best picture winner “Slumdog Millionaire,” a feel-good story of a lower caste young man gaining fame and riches through a game show. I’ve seen harder-hitting movies on the Hallmark Channel.  “The White Tiger” serves as a dramatic correction to “Slumdog.”

    This unrelentingly sarcastic look at the obscene wealth gap follows Balram’s (Adarsh Gourav) rise from the depths of poverty to the trusted driver of the Americanized son of an Indian crime boss. Balram, though working for Ashok (Rajkummar Roa) and his flashy girlfriend Pinky (Priyanka Chopra), both of whom clumsily attempt to treat him well, still must kowtow to the big boss, Stork (Mahesh Manjrekar). Balram seems honored to perform whatever duty the family requests.

      Not until a late-night celebration with Ashok and Pinky turns ugly and Balram must take the blame, does he finally see how expendable he is in their world. He soon is devising other plans.

      The movie, from the prize-winning novel by Aravind Adiga, is deftly adapted and directed by Ramin Bahrani (best known for “99 Homes” and the 2018 TV adaption of “Fahrenheit 451”). In a rare example of voice-over narration working, the director has Balram’s running commentary—from a future perspective—through the film, which ranges from humble naivety to self-serving excuse making.

      Too many American-made pictures about other cultures and their expatriates try so hard to be solicitous and upbeat that they come off as believable as a TV sitcom. By resisting that temptation, “The White Tiger” makes important points about all societies while being one of the year’s most entertaining pictures.

 

MINARI (2020)

     This story of a Korean American family moving to rural Arkansas plays like the first act of a much more interesting, involving screenplay. It reminded me of those pastoral, 19^th Century novels in which the early struggles of a family pay off before tumultuous tragedy strikes.      

    Nothing that dramatic happens in “Minari,” other than its support from the Academy voters, awarding it nominations for best picture, best director, best screenplay and two acting nods. Oscar voters saw something I didn’t.

     Jacob (Steven Yeun of TV’s “Walking Dead”) follows his dream of becoming a farmer, much to the distress of his wife Monica (Yeri Han), who is more concerned with their young son’s heart ailment, lamenting the “hillbilly” life.

     As Jacob struggles to raise his crops, the script focuses on the relationship between son David and the grandmother (Oscar-winner Yuh-Jung Youn), who he immediately rejects as not a “real grandma.” She’s feisty and livens up the otherwise stoic film, but, even in this pandemic shortened movie season, doesn’t even make my Top 5 of supporting actresses.

     To me, the outstanding performances of the film was given by Han, whose character must deal with, emotionally and rationally, the self-centered decisions made by her husband. 

     And just in case you forgot you were in the American south, a religious fanatic (Will Patton), who befriends the family, walks down a dirt road every Sunday carrying a large wooden cross.

 

SOUL (2020)

     The latest Oscar-winning animation from Pixar starts out promising (if I had a dime for every movie I’ve said that about) as a middle school music teacher earns a shot to play piano with a well-known jazz saxophonist at a local club.

      Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), frustrated with teaching and hoping to prove himself a first-rate musician, heads off to the gig only to….well, there’s no easy way to say this, fall into a manhole and die.

      Needless to say, he’s not too pleased to find himself on the escalate to heaven and does his best to escape the inevitable. After much cajoling with various after-life executives, he finds himself assigned to prepare the unborn for life on Earth, drawing a disagreeable soul, No. 22 (Tina Fey). Meanwhile, he’s still holding out hope that his “death” can be reversed.

     It’s at this point that the film turns into every other comedy with a message, animated or not, as Joe and 22 rush from adventure to adventure, an exhausting and pointless exercise in how-can-we-stretch-this-idea-into-a-full-length-feature.

      Apparently, this is the first major animated film with an African American protagonist and the first featuring jazz music. While I applaud the effort, there just isn’t much to this film, which takes forever to get to its inevitable life lesson. And along the way, there isn’t even much jazz to make it tolerable.