Your Name Engraved Herein (2020)

If you've seen one gay film you've seen them all... sort of. Your Name Engraved Herein does follow the typical formula for the prototypical gay romance. Young lovers in a repressed world meet, find joy together, face the backlash of their homophobic environment, resist their love (usually one more than the other) before each realizing they can't be whole without each other, yet often still ending in a tragic separation. It's played out a hundred times in gay movies in every culture and in 2020 Taiwan had a huge hit with this take on the same old story. Queer people can attest to the need to see narratives like this affirming their emotions on screen. But perhaps it does get tired after some time, and the desire to see queer stories which are as varied as heterosexual ones  becomes stronger. still, when a beautiful film like this comes along, you go with it, even if you know where it's taking you.

Your Name Engraved Herein is beautifully shot and performed. It is filmed with a lovely golden hue to most scenes that give it a sense of warmth, especially when its leads are together. The story is paced well, engaging us with the subjects arcs and delivering on the needed emotional pay off at the end. There is a sweetness to the love scenes that is powerful, evoking the kind of passion which helps express the passion between the characters, making its rather recycled story line feel honest and beautiful.

There is also the historical context that is specifically Taiwanese, and the film very effectively tells the history that this romance is set in. It handles the specifically Taiwanese queer context that helps it stand out from other films with this story. There is a reference to long time LGBTQ activist Chi Chia-wei in the film, paying homage to one of the real people who've done the work which allows a film like this to not only be made but become as popular as it was.

So in the end Your Name Engraved Herein is a lovely little film, if a bit predictable, that fits into a certain moment in queer cinematic history, and tells a beautiful love story.

Your Name Engraved Herein

Starring: Edward Chen, Tseng Jing-Hua, Fabio Grangeon, Leon Dai, Jason Wang, Mimi Shao

Director: Patrick Kuang-Hui Liu

Writers:  Yu-Ning Chu, Jie Zhan, Alcatel Wu

 

Nomadland (2020)

Everything about Zhao's film Nomanland is beautiful. It is a visually stunning piece with McDormand's singular performance at its centre and its narrative is a hauntingly lovely little story about people who have chosen to live differently. Zhao has sprinkled the music of Ludovico Einaudi throughout highlighting the melancholy glory of such a tale. All of it is truly gorgeous. 

Zhao films her story with a lyrical style, keeping her camera moving slowly throughout so there is always a sense of movement. She eschews too many scenes of conflict, focusing more on her individual subjects and their passion for their lives, especially McDormand who always is able to fill a screen with her incredible face that gives us so much to watch. Nomadland is like that, so much to watch as we just look at it as rarely is much happening.

There isn't much plot per se to Nomadland. Much of the film is situational. We're just seeing what happens, and not so much a strung together series of events. Instead the story here comes through moments, not played out for dramatic effect, but just laid before the audience for us to experience.

And as it comes to and end you'll just want to sit there with what you've seen and let it wash over you. Perhaps it won't all mean much at first but it will certainly stick with you.

Nomandland

Starring: Francis McDormand, David Strathairn, Peter Spears

Writer/Director: Chloe Zhao

 

Unpregnant (2020)

Unpregnant has it's heart in the right place but never quite finds a good groove. It starts out right from the gate as a series of cliches. Popular girl has an unwanted pregnancy. Her so called "friends" are no help and neither is her clueless boyfriend with whom she has absolutely zero chemistry so you can understand exactly why they are together. She can't tell her parents and the only place she can get an abortion without their consent is 3 states away. So she turns to her childhood best friend, from whom she is now estranged, and who has become a nerdy outsider, for a road trip to get to the clinic to do what she needs to do.

Framed as a comedy, Unpregnant looks for laughs, often to the point of forcing them. It takes some absurd turns along the way as it explores the rather predictable narrative of the friends reconnecting over this untenable situation. It manages to be entertaining enough and its two leads are both charismatic making it more watchable than it should be. Despite making the obvious choice at every turn the film still makes you smile occasionally. But only occasionally. More often than not it feels like it's going through the motions.

Unpregnant never finds honest kernels of truth. Every emotional moment seems trite. It really felt like they were trying, and I wanted to buy into these young women's stories, but the film kept making them 2-dimensional the whole way. So by the end, the film feels like it's telling us instead of showing us.

Unpregnant

Starring: Haley Lu Richardson, Barbie Ferreira, Alex MacNicoll, Breckin Meyer, Giancarlo Esposito, Mary McCormack, Denny Love

Director: Rachel Lee Goldenberg

Writers: Jenni Hendricks, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, William Parker, Ted Caplin, Rachel Lee Goldenberg

 

Promising Young Woman (2020)

Carey Mulligan has been one of the most incredible actors on screen since her debut in An Education. Her turn in Shame is one of the best performances I have ever seen. She has found what could be a career topping role with Promising Young Woman, but that being said with this actor, she'll likely top it again in a few more films. But regardless her Cassie is going to be memorable.

Writer/director Fennell has crafted an intricate, clever subversion of every film dating trope, clearly exposing the violence in the ways our culture has set up courting rituals, making the totality of our cultural violence against women explicitly clear, in a way that is clearly unnerving and awakening. Part of its brilliance is how it does this by making it entertaining, almost seductive itself, only to pull the rug out from under us again making the point even more real. Fennell's story is brilliantly laid out, working on so many levels, and just when you think you have it figured out, she ups it one more time. Watch the way she plays us, gives us many opportunities to think things are okay, or that our whole way of understanding romance isn't messed up, and then reveals to us a difficult and uncomfortable truth.

Promising Young Woman is shocking, because of just how much it makes clear what is right before our eyes, and how much of that we are willfully blind to. Our complicity is on display and she's made it all delicious in a way so that we can't look anywhere but at ourselves to blame. 

Promising Young Woman shows us just how great the toll of violence against women is, how pervasive, how much its ripples permeate all aspects of our culture. It never blinks in limiting things to "good" or "bad" people, never falling in to gender binary traps, it even begins a racial analysis related to these issues, although it really could have done more on that front. But it is fearless in its take, a slap in our faces and the promise that maybe we'll wake up.

Promising Young Woman

Staring: Carey Mulligan, Laverne Cox, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Connie Britton, Adam Brody, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Sam Richardson, Alfred Molina, Molly Shannon, Chris Lowell, Max Greenfield

Writer/Director: Emerald Fennell

 

Funny Boy (2020)

Mehta's adaptation of Selvadurai's novel is beautiful and lush and heartbreaking. The story of Arjie, a young Tamil homosexual man is both classic in its narrative of queer people finding their peace in a world that won't accept them, and uniquely Sri Lankan, in its attention to detail of the specific culture of this man. 

I understand the film makers had trouble telling a gay Tamil story both in terms of where they could physically film the movie and in finding a Tamil cast. The topic remains so taboo, even a Canadian film maker cannot find a cast willing to tell it. It is that queer by definition and that dangerous.

But with Mehta's experienced and gentle hand, Funny Boy becomes a beautiful story. I can be a bit jaded towards coming out stories like this as it feels like a narrative that has played out time and again, and we've had to suffer through it time and again. But in some ways that's the beauty and importance of these stories, and the universality of them. Still, there is much for western audiences to learn about the specific nature of this Tamil story which adds more colour to the queer rainbow of narratives.

Funny Boy

Starring: Arush Nand, Brandon Ingram, Agam Darshi, Ruvin De Silva, Nimmi Harasgamma, Rehan Mudannayake

Director: Deepa Mehta

Writers: Shyam Selvadurai, Deepa Mehta

 

Soul (2020)

Soul is peak Pixar, the kind of film only they make. It's like Inside Out or Wall-E, the sort of story that could only properly be told through animation. Soul reaches into emotional spaces that the average film (not just animated) never even attempt. It explores the sort of existential questions that mainstream movies rarely successfully tackle. And while Soul is doing that it tells a captivating story that is both hilarious, thrilling, and packs an emotional punch that will bring you to tears. Pixar is heading back into a bit of a renaissance with this and Onward after some weak years and Soul is a triumphant return to form.

Pixar has often been able to achieve the holy grail of film making, telling a truly original story that isn't just a retelling of some familiar narrative we've all seen a hundred times before. Soul is another example of this, perhaps one of their better ones. Even if you've seen the trailer you won't know what to expect. And once the story gets going, it will take you places you do not see coming. But once it all plays out it all feels so honest and real that it will just overwhelm you. Writer/director Doctor, who is responsible for the amazingly original Monsters Inc. ups his game even more with this original story.

And then there is the music. Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor provide a score that isn't like anything they've done before. They might not be the choice you be thinking of for a film like this but they have done some amazing work here. But the heart of it is Jon Batiste's exquisite jazz, which even in a year of great jazz scores (The Photograph, Ma Bailey's Black Bottom), Soul hits the right groove. The film works as a jazz song, allowing the rhythm and notes that may start out familiar to riff on unexpected themes and take us in deliciously random journeys which end up being well worth the ride. Just like Baptiste's music.

Soul may be the most adult film Pixar has produced. Many of their films work on duel levels, appealing to both children and adults in differing, and sometimes similar, ways. Soul though takes a new approach by focusing almost entirely on adult themes. I wonder if it will speak to children much at all. The story here is very much a mature story that doesn't spend time introducing the sorts of hooks, characters, and story beats that appeal to younger folks. Soul may be the first adults only Disney/Pixar film.

Visually the film is dreamy, hitting both the perfect note for this story and living up to a studio which has upped the animation game again and again. I fell in love with this animation studio years ago and lately I've felt a little cold to its product. Soul is reminding me what made me love Pixar in the first place, one of the most original animations studios perhaps rivaled only by Ghibli. It is the sort of cinematic experience that transports me, heart and, yes, soul.

Soul

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Questlove, Phylicia Richad, Daveed Diggs, Angela Bassett, Graham Norton, Rachel House, Alice Braga, Richard Ayoade, Donnell Rawlings, Wes Studi, June Squib, John Ratzenberger

Director: Pete Doctor

Writers: Mike Jones,  Kemp Power, Pete Doctor

 

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

In one of the most influential comics I read as a teen, just as I was starting to look for more meaning in my media and comics, Wonder Woman saved the world from the evil villain, not by defeating him in battle but by showing him truth. It was rather revelatory for me at the time. Superhero stories were always about overpowering the "bad" guy. The hero won through a contest of strength. Here was something different, something new to inspire me and my young idealistic world view. This story was a big part of why this hero specifically went on to be meaningful for me. As Wonder Woman 1984 played out I realized I was experiencing that again and it not only brought me back to a rush of emotions of my younger self, but also renewed much of those feelings for me. 

 

Wonder Woman 1984 starts out showing us some typical superhero movie tropes, but through the course of the film it transforms that, subverts that, showing us something different. Jenkins takes the "superhero" movie and shows us that heroism often doesn't look like saving people from crime but from bringing people to truth, transforming how we live our live our lives, and bringing us into a new world. The film starts out with a cool traditional "superhero" style scene, played by leaning quite hard into its cliches, only for the film to eventually subvert these ideas into examining what heroism might truly need to be beyond stopping criminals. That's the kind of superhero movie maybe we need right now, but it is often not what we are expecting and often it's not what we want.

Sequels often give us more of the same. What was refreshing right off the bat with 84 is that it is completely new movie. While it is connected in many ways to the first Jenkins Wonder Woman film it is clearly not trying to make lightning strike twice in the same spot. It is saying it will give us something new. Are we ready for it or do we want the more traditional, beat-em-up action movie that we're used to seeing? Jenkins starts us there, in familiar superhero territory, but takes us on a very different journey. So many superhero sequels just reproduce what happened in the previous films, but with a new villain. This one avoids that entirely. 

Jenkins wastes no time. We get thrown into the story. Diana has lived into a new era, more than 60 years after the events of the first film. But she hasn't moved on. She is alone. She has lost most of the passion and spark which motivated her in the first part of the century. All of this is established efficiently and effectively right away allowing this story to begin. We are in the 80s, an era that encapsulates the themes of this tale so well, the greed, the selfishness, the precipice of self destruction the world rested on. And the film is shot with 80s stylings, making it feel like a film of the era. We're all there in a moment and the story is set in motion quickly.

 

And this manages to be both action film and character study. The nature of this story is one of self examination as much as it is of set pieces. Jenkins uses this story to build a narrative of personal accounting. Wonder Woman is needing to decide who she is going to be, and who she really is. And I was taken right back to that comic of my childhood, coming to a new understanding of what heroism means, what doing what is right means. Seeing it play out again on the big screen was a moment of affirmation for me. 

Technically this is a great film. Zimmer's score is fantastic. The visuals are impeccable. The film mimics 80s action movie film style, evoking the era classically, not only visually but in the way its story plays out as well. Catch little easter eggs like a photo of Diana and Etta Candy (as an old woman) showing they remained friends well into the latter's late life. Catch no-so-little easter eggs like the film finding a way to introduce the invisible jet. The cast each do great work but for me the standout was Pascal, walking a delicate tightrope of over the top 80s villain and the melodrama needed to sell this story. that just clicked for me in all the right ways. It just came together like a lovely treat. My only wish was more Cheetah. Wiig was fantastic in all that she did, and her character, like Diana's spent more time wrestling with her sense of self than fighting in spectacular set pieces. But her design was amazing and a part of me wanted to see her kick more butt. But then I was reminded that 84 isn't trying to be that film and it has different plans for this character. What we do get is worth it, as is the whole ride.

There are some parts where the film stumbles. There is a problematic plot device involving Steve Trevor's return in the body of an unsuspecting man which never feels like it's resolved well. I have to sort of head cannon it to be that Steve swaps places and the other man isn't there until he returns to make it okay. There is an action sequence set in the Middle East which is visually spectacular but has some issues with it. So the film never quite reaches the greatness of the film it follows but still manages to overcome these to be quite rewatchable. 

And long time fans need to stick around for a worthwhile post-credit scene, a scene that simply needs no explanation.

 

Wonder Woman 1984

Starring: Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Neilson, Lilly Aspell

Director: Patty Jenkins

Writers: Geoff Johns, David Callaham, Patty Jenkins

 

The Midnight Sky (2020)

The Midnight Sky is two movies at once. One is the story of a dying man connecting with a young child who inspires him to find hope again. The other is about an isolated spaceship crew desperately trying to get back to earth. For me Sky never quite successfully connects the stories nor makes either as compelling as they need to be. This is further complicated by the fact Clooney's character's storyline keeps flashing back to him as a young man, adding almost another story within a story.  I kept feeling it would have worked better if they had picked one narrative and really got into the chosen one. However, having said that, none of the stories are bad and for the limited run time each gets they don't overstay their welcome. The Midnight Sky therefore ends up being entertaining enough if rather forgettable.

Nothing in The Midnight Sky feels that fresh. The storylines hit the expected beats. Each story has been told before and nothing here is surprising. Again, to be fair, the cast does well with what they are given and Clooney doesn't drop the ball on how he tells the stories. There just isn't much new the film explores. These stories have been told before. They feel overly safe, giving us what we are looking for. I guess there is really no crime in that but perhaps I was hoping for more.

The Midnight Sky tries to end on a bit of a profound note, and perhaps how you react to how it ties everything up will speak to your own embracing of sentimentality. For me the ending felt forced and a little trite. Yet even so I found it moving enough that I can't condemn the whole film. I think there might have been a time in my life when I responded more to this sort of a story than I do now. But perhaps for others it will strike the right note. Either way, The Midnight Sky is not a waste of time it just may be more of less satisfying depending on how it speaks to you.

The Midnight Sky

Starring: George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Owelowo, Damian Bichir, Kyle Chandler, Tim Russ, Ethan Peck

Director: George Clooney

Writer: Mark L. Smith

 

A Midwinter's Tale/In The Bleak Midwinter (1995) REVISIT

Branagh is known best for his film adaptations of Shakespeare plays, so there is something touching about this small little film he did between bigger productions about a misfit production of Hamlet on Christmas Eve, a love letter to  the Bard and to theatre itself. Filmed like a British Woody Allen film, Branagh mixes his visual style with the black & white esthetic and out of all that comes something unique and inspiring, about finding the joy in what we do.

Branagh wrestles with the tension between our passions and our business, the pressures and demands of the industries we build around what we pursue, but that's mostly an undercurrent. Honestly the film is about the sense of family and connection that comes from a production. Theatre people will recognize this, and perhaps the film is a bit too specific in its centre, but there is a universality to a story about people forced together to achieve a shared goal. And the heart of the story is how well he captures that overwhelming passion. 

 

There is something wonderfully romantic about a production of Hamlet on Christmas Eve, and this madcap tale of such a thing is a little Christmas gift that always makes me smile. 

A Midwinter's Tale/In The Bleak Midwinter

Starring: Michael Maloney, Richard Briers, Joan Collins, Jennifer Saunders, Julia Sawalha, John Sessions, Hetta Charnley, Nicholas Ferrell, Celia Imrie, Mark Hadfield, Gerald Horan

Writer/Director: Kenneth Branagh

 

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

There is a magic to making a film adaptation of a stage play, especially the sort of play that is primarily set in one location, a conceit that works well on the stage but can feel limiting on the screen. But director Wolfe has tapped into that magic, making an electrically alive, lush film about a group of folks spending an afternoon in a room, making music, struggling with each other, and discussing the world. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom is fast paced, powerful, and goes far beyond the four walls it is set in.

Wolfe crafts a cinematic, operatic, and grand film with this story about a moment in time, a moment that sums up so much about the American experience. He's blessed using August Wilson's words and a cast that delivers a home run with those words. Wilson's play has set up a delicious battle of wills that examines power, gender, race. It's all a perfect storm of gloriousness. It's a treat from star to finish.

At the centre of this film are two stellar performances (not to distract from how wonderful the supporting cast is). Davis gives us another of her knock down, drag em out performances. Her Ma Bailey is a force of nature but also vulnerable and angry. She is an insurmountable talent and she is a black woman in Chicago who expresses herself and she is a queer force. All of this complicated humaness is personified in Davis' excellent work. And then there is Boseman in his much celebrated final role, a role that takes him to a new level. He has given outstanding performances but there is something here that is just.. lightning striking. The right role, right actor, right moment. He will be so missed.

When a film all comes together like this, the script, the performances, the direction, the music (from another amazing talent, Branford Marsalis with one of the best scores of the year) the art direction/costumes... everything, it is a luscious feast for audiences hungry for great film making.  

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Starring: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Coleman Domingo, Michael Potts, Taylor Paige, Jonny Coyne

Director: George C. Wolfe

Writer: Ruben Santiago-Hudson

 

The Prom (2020)

The Prom wasn't one of Broadway's brightest lights and it turns out it's not one of the better film adaptations either. Forgettable songs, a cringey script, and syrupy sentimentality doesn't do it any favours. The cast is top notch and rises above the material but still can't save this show which should likely close on opening night. 

This is highlighted most prominently in a scene in the middle where Meryl Streep reminds us that she's the world's greatest living actor by knocking a corny scene out of the park and Cordon, not as notable for his acting chops, holds his own. It was then it really struck me just how much better this cast deserved. 

But then the film got back to its truly boring music and I nodded off again. 

Every character in The Prom is a caricature who go on a character arc about 5 feet long only to end up exactly where we expected them to. Or in the case of Kerry Washington's forced villain character, to a truly unearned redemption that feels as phony as the rest of the story.  By the way Washington is also way better than her material should allow. 

They all are. Kidman (whose character really has no place in the play and keeps you wondering why the fuck she's there) has one great dance number (to another forgettable song) and makes you wish you could just see her do Roxy Hart in Chicago instead. Corden, despite the criticism he gets for playing a sassy gay man with a campy sassy flare (??) is also better than I've seen him in most things. And Key is funny as always even a bit more restrained than he often can be (for the best). There is even a walk on by Tracey Ullman where she does more in her 5 minutes than a lot of actors do in a whole movie. Rannells is wasted in another character who seems to serve no purpose. 

But none of them can save this trainwreck. It is all fake emotion, like the idea of tolerance and civil rights without any of the substance. It is all second rate tunes that evoke much better musicals. And no matter how flashy Murphy shoots his Glee revisit it isn't even Glee.  

The Prom

Starring: Meryl Streep, James Cordon, Nicole Kidman, Keegan-Michael Key, Andrew Rannells, Kerry Washington, Ariana Debose, Jo Ellen Pellman, Tracey Ullman, Mary Kay Place

Director: Ryan Murphy

Writers: Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin

Wolfwalkers (2020)

The Breadwinner and The Secret of Kells are two of the best animated features of the past few years, so when Cartoon Saloon produces a new film, I'm there to check it out, and once again they did not disappoint with Wolfwalkers. 

First thing you'll notice is that Wolfwalkers doesn't look like the animated features that dominate screens these days. Its 2D animation (which is a rare treat in this day and age), a mix of woodblock aesthetic and expressive line drawings, is a thing of beauty, not just for bucking the trend and not looking like anything else you'll see out there, but also for its incredible use of colour and art to tell a story. Frame by frame Wolfwalkers is a gorgeous film.

But a film isn't just how it looks. The essential part of any film is having a story that will captivate you and take you on an amazing journey. Wolfwalkers delivers. It's about a girl who doesn't listen or follow the rules. It's about outsiders. It's about a world bigger than our understanding. It is magical.

I'm so disappointed in most animated features these days it is a lovely surprise when one is as glorious as Wolfwalkers is.

Wolfwalkers

Starring: Honor Kneafsey, Sean Bean, Eva Whittaker

Directors: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart

Writer: Will Collins

 

Let Them All Talk (2020)

Unlike some film makers (*cough* Nolan, Spielberg *cough*) Soderbergh has been embracing the idea of producing and releasing his films in new ways. As with any experiments, some are more successful than others. I haven't enjoyed all of his work but I appreciate his willingness to take chances. This time the experiment is to take three of the greatest actresses working today, put them on the actual Queen Mary 2 as it crosses the Atlantic (for real), follow them around with a camera while they improvise much of their dialogue, and release the whole thing through streaming while other film makers are resisting such a release strategy. 

So does it work?

Audiences might struggle with the look of the film (as in the the lighting, blocking, cinematography) as the film was just shot following these actors around a real ship as it was in the middle of a real cruise. But maybe not as we're so used to Tik Tok and viral videos, so watching shot-on-the-fly film is something we're more comfortable with than we may have been before. And Soderbergh certainly knows what he's doing making it all watchable while also using this as a way to add authenticity to the story.

Admittedly the story is a bit contrived. It follows in a great history of plays and films that skimp on realism when setting up it's premise so that it can do the story it wants to tell. But it doesn't cross an unforgivable line. I was fully onboard (no pun intended) with whatever reason they came up with for these ladies to be on a cruise. And that's the secret to this film.

Really the magic here is its three stars (and Hedges holds his own with these masters) as they create their characters before our eyes. They are funny and moving and touching and for me they made the runtime worth it. They walk through the plot but in reality what's interesting is their exploration of coming to terms with their lives, at their stage of life. Their insights are fascinating, their conversations punchy and enjoyable. There is real humour and pathos in what they offer us.

Let Them All Talk is satisfying for the chance to see these actors reflect on their experiences as well as interact together. I found them together to be very compelling and in the end quite enjoyable.

Let Them All Talk 

Starring: Meryl Streep, Diane Wiest, Candace Bergin, Lucas Hedges, Gemma Chan

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Writer: Deborah Eisenberg

 

Black Bear (2020)

So writer/director Levine's latest film Black Bear starts out as one thing, takes some twists, and ends up being something else. But through those meanderings I'm not sure it ever becomes much of anything. Despite a wonderful cast who I enjoy despite what they are given to work with here, Black Bear never amounted to much except what feels like a wink wink at the end, one that was telegraphed rather plainly from the first scene.

 

Aubrey Plaza and Christopher Abbott are both really strong here, and in the earliest moments of the film, I felt they were both fascinating to watch. The film's plot (or where it starts at least) felt gleefully awkward and uncomfortable. Both actors played this brilliantly, creating a true sense of discomfort and eeriness. Perhaps it was this start which made me expect something. And as the film started to turn they both stayed the course while the story didn't do them any favours. Their performances became a bit intentionally campy in a way that just wasn't satisfying.

The film starts to play out its tricky little plot but by the time it circles around I'm not sure what ends up happening is satisfying at all. There is a big question at the end of why? Not what is motivating the characters, but why did this story need to be told? It just never felt impactful. By the end it just feels like random musings and not a tale of any import or significance. Maybe this would have worked if the middle had been engaging enough to make me not care that it all amounts to nothing but the plot itself is on the boring side so the fact that the ending didn't deliver was even more frustrating.

 

The film ends where it starts. Honestly I guessed that from the beginning (or the film rea and I guess that disappointed me, that the film didn't' take me anywhere new. But even at that, the film doesn't offer me a reason for having taken this particular journey, nothing that made it's runtime worthwhile, perhaps except to watch some actors do a pretty good job with very little.

Black Bear

Staring: Aubrey Plaza, Sarah Gadon, Christopher Abbott

Writer/Director: Lawrence Michael Levine

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (2020)

Representation matters. Seeing all sorts of different people, especially those excluded from centering movies (even the tradition of holiday movies) starting to be the centre of these films is important. What we're seeing in 2020 is a rush of holiday films telling holiday tales about those who have been sidelined from the staring roles in these sort of tales. Jingle Jangle is one of those, and like many of the others, such as Happiest Season, they are showing us that mediocre holiday films know no boundaries and can be inclusive of all. 

Jingle Jangle is all pretty much all art direction and spectacle. Filled with a predictable and standard plot and forgettable music, Jingle Jangle looks really good but is rather forgettable. It's cute and cheery and its visual effects are quite magical, but the story lacks the sense of magic needed to sell such a holiday tale. It is unlikely audiences will be humming these run of the mill tunes long after the credit roll. Little about Jangle stuck with me after it was over.

But

Jingle Jangle does give audiences the chance to see their own faces reflected back at them over the holidays, not just in the supporting roles and sidelines that we are used to seeing ourselves. And despite Jangle's overly vanilla plot, it's not bad. It's enjoyable enough to pass an evening, even if you won't remember it next holiday season. But what it will do is remind us that there are many story tellers out there and they can all spin an average story. And there is something to that. So while it may not become an enduring classic it certainly shows us there should be more black lead holiday movies.. and maybe one of these days one will knock it out of the park.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Starring: Forest Whitaker, Keegan-Michael Key, Madalen Mills, Hugh Bonneville, Anika Noni Rose, Ricky Martin, Lisa Davina Phillip

Writer/Director: David E Talbert

 

 

The Godfather: Coda The Death of Michael Corleone (2020)

My first exposure to the Godfather saga was the unfairly maligned Part III. I was too young to make a point of seeing the first two chapters but when the third came out I was just old enough (and cinemaphile enough) to want to see this new chapter in the theatre. I was mesmerized by the operatic drama played out by this legendary cast. I was hooked and wanted to see more. I gobbled up the first two chapters (on VHS back then) and the entire thing for me ended up being one experience, one long film epic. So I have always defended Part III as a fitting conclusion to one of the best cinema sagas ever.

So when I heard a recut was coming I was both curious and trepidatious. Sure the film isn't perfect but I didn't think it needed reworking. Still, a chance to see if again on the big screen was one I didn't want to pass up. And in the end this version once again justifies my love of it, and the whole series. Still I was surprised that there were as few changes as there were. Essentially this is the same film, with minor tweeks here or there, ones that I felt had mixed results.

This version is leaner and more streamlined. It also holds your hand through it a bit more. There are voice overs explaining what's going on, and the plot is set up more plainly. The story just gets going and keeps going without some of the meandering the original cut does. It's a more straightforward film. Until it's slightly more ambiguous ending. Still the story is still there, the visuals are still there (cleaned up even) and everything that made me love it is still present. There are a few little "fixes" like trimming a few of Sofia's scenes so that her performance feels a bit tighter. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, especially in light of the title of this cut, but I'm going to sit with it a bit and perhaps it will resonate for me a bit more.

I'm not a purist and I can enjoy different takes on films, especially good ones, ones that deliver such great pathos and drama. Michael's story is a great American tragedy, in both the classical and modern senses of that word. Coda gives us a clean telling of the story. For me I'll likely turn to the original cut more often as I rewatch this trilogy as I do every few years. But I might just pull this version out too from time to time.

The Godfather: Coda The Death of Michael Corleone

Starring: Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, Sophia Coppola, Andy Garcia, Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, Franc D'Ambrosio

Director: Francis Ford Coppola

Writers: Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola

 

Happiest Season (2020)

Happiest Season gave me a lot of mixed emotions, and not all of them good. For a big part of the movie it was just frustrating to me, watching a rather toxic family and relationship be milked for laughs. But then there would be these moments when there would be something quite moving, something that felt quite insightful. But the movie ended up disappointing me by playing through to an ending that it didn't earn and frankly lets us all down.

Happiest Season plays on the TV Christmas movie tropes we're all familiar with so I was willing to give it a pass on some of its cheese factor. But the rom-com formula was faltering as the closeted plot just didn't feel like something to be laughing at, at least not in the way the film was presenting it. There just weren't enough laughs, and they weren't crafted in a way that felt overly funny. If anything it felt sad, not funny. And while melancholy and tristesse can be sources of deep humour, Happiest Season wasn't getting there with its holiday film sensibilities. 

But also star Kristen Stewart wasn't pulling off the comedy aspect. She looks unhappy to be here the whole time. Co-star Mary Holland keeps trying to pull the rest of the cast into the comedy she's in but the rest of them (even Dan Levy who shockingly only has a few funny moments) just don't want to play along. The laughs are just not that common or strong. 

But it's the WASPy cruelty of the family that just keeps hitting you as you watch Happiest Season. I just kept getting angry at them and I didn't want the kind of happily ever after ending I knew the film was careening towards. I hoped, deep down, Stewart's character would leave for a a better relationship, a better life. They even tease us with Plaza's character being available to sweep Stewart away from the madness, although she never does, or Levy coming to support her and offer her a queer chosen family to be far superior to the biological one she is thrust into. But I knew, deep down, the film would redeem the rest of them and that it would be, well... disappointing. And when the film makes its attempt to redeem this family, it does so quickly, like it's running out of time. So it never feels real or honest. It just feels like all the characters change suddenly and we're supposed to forgive them all.

But

There are moments. There is a sequence where the film compares this small town's gay bar, with their fabulous drag queens and communal spirit, with a yuppie straight lounge that feels pretentious and phony. The film's subtle ways of expressing those feelings and contrasting them was quite impressive. Later there is a moment Levy has where he touches on some insightful commonalities of the queer experience and it was quite moving. But these moments come and they go and the film returns to a formula that just doesn't feel authentic.

So as the film reached its rather disappointing finale, I wished that it could have had a more affirming climax, one that had Stewart's Abby take no BS and march herself back to Pittsburgh into the arms of a beautiful proud out Lesbian who had all of her shit together.

Happiest Season

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis, Dan Levy, Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Mary Holland

Director: Clea DuVall

Writers: Mary Holland, Clea DuVall

 

Sound of Metal (2020)

There was a moment in Sound of Metal where I realized this film was the opposite of an inspirational story. I don't mean it's dark or nihilist, I mean it doesn't look for cheap disability story cliches. Instead it tries to tell a human story. Sound of Metal wasn't about a man's tragedy. It was about his rebirth. This story of a rock drummer who loses his hearing in the process discovers who he can be avoids all the cliches about "disability" movies and becomes about something else. 

There were two aspects of the film which truly struck me. First, the remarkable performance of Ahmed, coming into his own as a leading man and as an A-list level actor. His performance here is well rounded, layered, and complex. He is captivating to watch and his Ruben is a fully developed character. So much of the movie hinges on him inhabiting this role and he does so completely. He is a revelation.

But next is the work of first time feature director Darius Marder. He finds a way to tell his story both visually and through sound. There is a lot of talk about the sound in Tenet but this film takes the cake for some of the most creative use of sound I have heard in a while. He tells so much story through sound, or the lack of it, or the distortion of it. The film, which uses closed captions, is also told visually. The film forces its audience to use its eyes to get much of what is being expressed and communicated. All of this together creates a truly remarkable film unlike most others.

Together these artists have put together a film that is truly unique and fundamentally an inspiration.

Sound of Metal

Starring: Riz Ahmed, Olivia Cooke, Matthew Amalric

Director: Darius Marder

Writers: Abraham Marder, Darius Marder

 

Mank (2020)

Mank appears to be a bit of a passion project for director David Fincher. It was written almost 20 years ago by his father who later passed away never having seen it come to fruition. David Fincher now followed through and brought it to the (2020's version of the) big screen. Filmed in black and white in an obsessively and self-awarely retro style which apes how films were shot in the 30s and 40s, it is talky and stylish. But now that we've seen it does what does it deliver?

The alcoholic writer of Citizen Cane, Herman Mankiewicz is a cinephile's dream subject. Damaged, talented, underappreciated, sassy, and smart, Mank as he was called appeals to the filmy folks, especially due to his connections to classics such as Cane and The Wizard of Oz. But is he really that interesting as realized in Mank? Sure Gary Oldman, an undisputed talent, uses this role to show us just how amazing he is. And the elder Fincher's script is punchy and clever, filled with wonderful, rapid, smart dialogue that is delivered wonderfully but a great cast. And the younger Fincher masterfully recreates the look, feel, and style of 30s cinema. He fills his story with an energy which is quite watchable, especially for anyone who has a deep love of film... I mean "cinema."

But...

 

I found myself having a hard time caring throughout. No matter how masterful the work of Oldman and his costars, or the Finchers, I just never connected to this man whose worst case was that he was under appreciated while getting paid and credit. It all felt like all sizzle no sausage. It's all about the movies, dousing itself in golden age of cinema images so much that it forgets to tell us a story that we can care about, unless we are obsessed with Hollywood history. It's like loving movies is all you are supposed to care about. Similar to something like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood it becomes so focused on the nostalgia, a sort of cynical, wink wink nostalgia, that still is obsessed with Hollywood history, that its narrative remains rather dull and neutral. Little of any consequence happens. Little of any risk to the artiste happens.

 

So we watch Mank as he navigates the classic studio system, with all its hypocrisy and it all just feels a bit safe. So often the film is so on the nose it pulls you out.  For example, he has his character state outright "you cannot capture a man's entire life in two hours, you can only hope to leave the impression of one." Insightful! But I never once worried for the central character. Sure it was entertaining to watch the smartest man in the room out wit his room-mates but there really isn't much more to this story than that.

Still, the film is gorgeous and it's filled with so many cinemaphile treats that one, if that one is a cinemaphile, can't help but enjoy. But it doesn't offer much more than that.

Mank

Starring: Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tuppence Middleton, Charles Dance

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Jack Fincher