Let me begin by noting that the film
world has lost two great actors this year—Kirk Douglas (103!) and Max Von Sydow
(90).
The pandemic has been a huge boon to
online/streaming platforms … Netflix is now worth more than ExxonMobil. (Amazon
is valued at US$1.2 trillion and rising.)
The best series on Netflix is the German
Babylon
Berlin (A+), but Tiger King (A) frenzy has been the
biggest boost to ratings:
On another Netflix series Freud
(A) check out this analysis:
Planet of the Humans revisited
On April 22 I sent around a viewing
link for this provocative documentary. My original review is below, but be
aware that the film has stirred much controversy and sparked furious
denunciations, including by Canada’s Green Party. See the following links:
Original Review:
Planet of the Humans (U.S.
2019/2020, https://planetofthehumans.com/
and YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE&feature=youtu.be)
B+
This provocative documentary narrated by
writer-director-producer and veteran environmental activist Jeff Gibbs, which
premiered at last summer’s Traverse City Film Festival (organized by Michael
Moore, who is an executive producer), is, with the addition of a few brief
postcripts, available for free viewing at the above YouTube link as of the eve
of April 22, the 50th “Earth Day”.
Its overriding message can be summed up by the end-credits quote from
Rachel Carson in 1962: “Humanity is challenged, as it has never been challenged
before, to prove its maturity and its mastery—not of nature, but of itself.”
(Early on the film also includes a clip of a 1958 warning about the threat of
global warming.)
You
might say that humans have become the ultimate invasive species, lacking in
self-restraint and becoming their own worst enemy through unsustainable
overconsumption. Population growth
contributes to that but this is not a neo-Malthusian lament. Rather Gibbs exposes what he sees as the many
flaws and contradictions in the promotion of “green energy” and supposedly
“renewable” energy alternatives which he sees as often driven by the false
promises of tech fixes and “green illusions”. (Is the electrical power for an
electric vehicle produced by burning fossil fuels? What about habitat destruction
to produce woodchips for burning?) Gibbs
especially goes after biomass and biofuels developments. He also challenges some well-known names,
NGOs, and instruments in the environmental movement (e.g., Bill McKibben, Al
Gore, the Sierra Club, ostensibly green financial funds). A speeded-up sequence attacks the mining and
manufacture of components (including rare earth elements) required for solar
panels, wind turbines, and the like. In this age of the “Anthropocene”
(although Gibbs doesn’t use the term), sustainability requires a fundamental
transformation in our systems of growth-promoting production and consumption,
not a “greenwashing” of what Gibbs calls “cancerous capitalism”. Arguing that “less must become the new more”,
he is deeply skeptical of anything less.
The Plot Against America (HBO/Crave 2020, first season complete) A
Check out:
Coronavirus, Explained (Netflix, April 2020) A
This short documentary, narrated by
J.K. Simmonds, is obviously timely.
Covid-19 is the disease caused by the virus SARS-COVI-2, which is a
“zoonotic” virus, meaning one of animal origin.
There are millions of potential viruses: Indeed it’s stated that: “Mother
Nature is the ultimate bioterrorist.”
The previous “SARS” outbreak which notably affected Canada (and Toronto
in particular) was more deadly but infected only about 8,000 people. This new virus is vastly more widespread
including through asymptomatic transmission. The world should have been, but
clearly was not, adequately prepared for this pandemic. (Compare the neglect of
public health to the trillions of dollars in military spending.) This is a good
succinct introduction that raises important concerns.
Money Heist: The Phenomenon (Spain 2020, Netflix) A+
This hour-long documentary about the
compulsively watchable Spanish series is a must-see, but only after viewing the 38 episodes of the
four seasons to date. Many thanks to
journalist and author Andrew Cohen for putting me on to it! The first two parts on Spanish TV cover the
hostage-taking robbery of Spain’s Royal Mint.
The original 2017 TV series was flagging when Netflix acquired it and then
created two more parts that have become the platform’s biggest non-English
language draw. Parts 3 and 4 involve the
takeover of the Bank of Spain and its gold reserves (though it retains the
“Casa de Papel” Spanish title, not “Casa del Oro”). The infusion of money is
apparent in multiple locations and first-rate production.
These parts also
double down on the anti-system vibe of “resistance” in opposition to the
torturing deep state and its security forces.
Symbolism includes the colour red; the recurrent singing of the Italian
anti-fascist anthem “Bella Ciao”; the Dali masks (a surrealist nod to
“Anonymous”?). Some of this has caught on as an image of popular protest (even
in Saudi Arabia!). But while I am
familiar with Spain and the Spanish left, I didn’t actually buy that suggestion
for a second. The heavily armed
hostage-taking robber gang includes psychopaths and Serbian war criminals.
Their caper may play to the crowd but they (including the occasional female
narrator “Tokyo”) are horny, selfish, and terrorizing. As well, the external
criminal mastermind, the soft-spoken “professor” (of “ethics”!), is hardly a
“Robin Hood” figure (his motives appear to be personal; he never says a word
about socioeconomic justice issues), and although he seduces the first female lead
police inspector, he proves less than omniscient. (The surprise ending of the
last episode virtually guarantees there has to be a fifth season.) Fortunately such caveats and large suspensions
of disbelief don’t detract from making the propulsive action an immensely entertaining
viewing experience. You don’t have to fall for the beguiling robber rogues to
keep watching them. More, please!
The Innocence Files (U.S. 2020,
Netflix, nine episodes) A
This is an excellent series that covers
in detail cases of wrongly conviction drawn from those which have been pursued
by The Innocence Project (https://www.innocenceproject.org/). There are three episodes each devoted to
three main areas of faulty judicial processes involving evidence, witness
testimony, and prosecution conduct. The cases raise issues that are examined in
depth, as in the feature-length seventh episode directed by veteran
documentarian Alex Gibney. For more
analysis see: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-innocence-files-movie-review-2020
I’ve waited almost a decade to see this
superb documentary which was a Tribeca festival audience award winner among
many other awards. The case involves the July 1997 disappearance, rape and
murder of two Chiong sisters on the Philippine island of Cebu. A young man Juan “Paco” Larrañaga and six
others were arrested and charged with the crime. Although the Chiong family had
ties to a drug lord, and Paco had strong alibis, he was convicted in a gross
miscarriage of justice that had political overtones. In 2004 his life sentence was also elevated
to death on an appeal, spurred by the victims’ mother, to the Philippine
Supreme Court. Paco also holds Spanish
citizenship through his father. Paco’s
case was taken up by Fr. Robert Reyes in the Philippines and internationally by
the Spanish government, Amnesty International, Fair Trials International, and
the UN Human Rights Commission.
Fortunately the Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006, and in
2009, 12 years after Paco’s arrest, under
a Prisoner Exchange Treaty he was transferred to a Spanish prison where he
remains (more details at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiong_murder_case).
This Sergio is definitely no relation
to the fictional “Sergio” that is the real name of the criminal mastermind
“professor” in the Spanish Netflix series “Money Heist”. Directed by Greg Barker, it is a dramatization
of the life and death of Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieria de Mello, a renowned UN
troubleshooting envoy who had been the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and
was a prospective candidate to be UN Secretary General. The handsome, charismatic de Mello (well
played by Wagner Moura) died in the horrific August 2003 suicide bombing of the
Canal Hotel UN mission headquarters in Baghdad, an attack carried out by
Al-Qaeda in Iraq, which subsequently became the so-called “Islamic State”. (Beyond the ravages of civil war and ISIS, the
agonies of Iraq continue. With a
dysfunctional government that has depended heavily on oil revenues it is a
collapsed failed state.)
At
de Mello’s side is his chief aide, the stalwart veteran Gil Loescher (Brian
O’Byrne), as de Mello insists on maintaining UN independence from the Coalition
Authority and its American supremo Paul Bremer (Bradley Whitford). The film alternates between agonizing scenes
of the bombing victims trapped under rubble and moments in de Mello’s public
career and extramarital private life—while in East Timor he met and fell in
love with an Argentinian Carolina Larriera (Ana de Armas) who became his
companion. The dramatization can be faulted for somewhat sentimentalizing and
dwelling too much on this romance.
It’s worth noting
that Barker directed a superior 2009 documentary, also titled simply Sergio, which drew on the book by
Samantha Power who became President Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations. I
saw it at that year’s Sundance film festival and this is what I wrote about it
at the time:
“Drawing
from Samantha Power’s tremendous 2008 book Chasing the Flame: Sergio de
Mello and the Fight to Save the World, she, producer Ben Affleck and Barker
have done wonders to bring to the screen the fast-lane life and tragic death of
this Brazilian radical turned top UN troubleshooter, whom Power describes as “a
cross between James Bond and Robert Kennedy”.
The coming of age and career background quickly builds to the film’s
focus on the dramatic events of a hot August 19, 2003 in Baghdad when a suicide
truck bomber destroyed much of the post-invasion UN headquarters. Sergio had been plucked from his post as UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights and sent there, with Bush’s blessing, to
start picking up the pieces. Instead he died after hours under collapsed
rubble, stoic and agnostic to the end.
Unsparing, engrossing, wrenching, devastating.”
The Longest War (U.S. 2020, Crave/Showtime
Also directed by Greg Barker this new
documentary does a decent job of conveying key stages in America’s troubled
relationship with Afghanistan going back to 1979 and then President Jimmy
Carter’s condemnation of the Soviet invasion of this “graveyard of empires”. The
CIA played a major role in what followed.
The U.S. supplied arms to Islamist fighters supported by Pakistan but
effectively abandoned the country during the 1990s civil war that produced the
Taliban takeover, until the country became the base of Bin Laden and al-Qaeda
for its attacks on the U.S. culminating in 9/11 and the “war on terror”. Unfortunately the 2003 invasion of Iraq then diverted
critical attention from Afghanistan and the Taliban resurgence ushered in years
of protracted conflict. There is mention
of policies under successive presidencies and the repeated desire to bring
major American military involvement to a conclusion, most recently the Trump
administration’s apparent agreement with the Taliban. While it’s obvious that a lot has gone wrong,
how and why isn’t explored in any depth.
A few specific moments are mentioned such as the brief 2015 Taliban
takeover of the provincial capital of Kunduz.
We hear from several CIA analysts, journalists (notably Peter Bergen.
Steve Coll), the founder of Tolo TV, and several survivors of a Taliban attack
on the American University in Kabul. Unsurprisingly
in a film of less than 90 minutes the troubled history is selective and
condensed. It’s also told from a solely
American perspective. There’s no mention of the role of NATO (much less Canada)
or of the United Nations (despite that Barker has also just directed the new
feature Sergio—reviewed above). It would take a much longer series to do
justice to the plight of Afghans since at least the 1970s that has resulted in so
much suffering, loss, and millions of refugees.
Writer-director Alan Yang has fashioned
a bitterwseet story about a young Taiwanese factory worker Pin-Jui (Tzi Ma) who
in the 1960s agrees to a loveless arranged marriage to the daughter of the
factory manager in order to immigrate to the United States. He abandons his mother and the girl he really
loves Yuan. But America does not bring the hoped-for success. In middle-age Pin-Jui is divorced and has a
testy relationship with an adult daughter Angela. To attend his mother’s funeral he makes a
journey of memory and regret back to his hometown of Huwei (the ‘Tigertail"
of the title). In each life there is a time to reflect on
past choices and might have beens.
Inca Island in the Sky (Episode
6 of Albert Lin’s “Lost Cities”, 2019, National Geographic on Disney+, https://www.natgeotv.com/za/shows/natgeo/lost-cities-with-albert-lin)
A+
This is a terrific series led by
intrepid scientist and explorer Dr. Albert Lin (https://www.albertyuminlin.com/) who doesn’t let losing
a right foot and lower leg in a 2016 accident hold him back. Given my postponed “charity challenge” trek
of the Inca trail, I was particularly interested in this Peruvian episode which
visits Machu Picchu and other Andean sites of pre-modern civilization. Other
episodes investigate ruins of the Knight Templar fortress in Acre, Israel, and
in Jordan the remnants of Nabatean civilization in Petra (which I visited in
2014) and earlier sites.
I have not been so impressed with a
raw drama connected to rodeo life since Chloe Zhao’s The Rider from 2017 which earned many deserved awards. This gritty Texas-set story (filmed in
Austin, Oklahoma, and Colorado) also has a female director Annie Silverstein, as
well as an unaffected naturalism and realistic rodeo scenes. The central character is not a cowboy but a
14-year old girl Kris (an amazing performance by Amber Havard) who lives with
her little sister and is cared for by their grandmother while the mother is in
prison. Their neighbor is an African American man Abe (Rob Morgan) who works
the professional bullriding circuit. It’s
not a happy arrangement. The family dog gets at Abe’s chickens. Then Kris and teenage friends break into Abe’s
place while he’s away on a weekend and leave a mess behind. Instead of having Kris charged, Abe makes a
deal with her to clean up and help out. There will be more hard knocks in store. Abe
gets injured and is reduced to working local rodeos. Kris’s
mom punches a guard and has her release pushed back. Still the
rapport that develops between Abe and Kris (she even gives bullriding technique
a try) makes coping with life’s adversity a bit more tolerable.
A Secret Love (U.S. 2020, Netflix) A
In 1947 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan,
two farm girls, Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel, met at a hockey rink. Terry would go on to become a catcher with
the Peoria Redwings of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (the
subject of the 1992 drama “A League of Their Own”). Pat would join her in
Chicago where they became a lesbian couple, their relationship hidden from
family back in Canada to whom they were “cousins” or “aunties”. The story is told by director Chris Bolan, a
grandnephew. Now elderly and frail, Terry suffers from Parkinson’s to the great
concern of Diana, a devoted niece from Edmonton
Despite initial resistance from Pat, the couple is persuaded to sell
their home, move to a retirement residence, and eventually come back to Canada
to be close to family. After some seven
decades together, they also get officially married. This is a beautiful story
of a forbidden love that endures and ends with accepting embrace. But to its
credit it is also frank about the rough patches and emotional tensions that
sometimes erupted along the journey.
Circus of Books (U.S. 2019, Neflix) B+
Director Rachel Mason is the daughter
of a now elderly couple Barry and Karen Mason who owned this once thriving bookstore
in Los Angeles catering to an LGBTQ clientele. Their business of selling
pornographic material, which started when they became distributors for Larry
Flint’s Hustler magazine, made for challenges, parental and legal. To say the least, it’s an unusual family
story. A historical footnote perhaps
(both locations had closed by February 2019), but with a personal touch that
harks back to a bygone era.
Extraction (U.S. 2020, Netflix) C+
In this violent action thriller from
director Sam Hargrave, Aussie hunk Chris Hemsworth (he plays “Thor” in the
“Avengers” superhero franchise) is Tyler Rake, a tough-as-nails mercenary hired
to extract the son of a Mumbai drug lord kidnapped by a rival crime boss. The screenplay is by Joe Russo who
co-authored the graphic novel on which the story is based, though the killing
zone has been transferred from Paraguay to the Bangladesh capital of
Dhaka. As the body count rises (but who’s counting?) Rake
is a one-man lethal weapon though not immortal. Shed no tears.
Spenser Confidential (U.S. 2020, Netflix) C+
For some reason this is apparently
the most streamed feature on Netflix.
Peter Berg helms the cops-and-crime thriller set in Boston and based on
a novel Wonderland. Mark Wahlberg is the titular Spenser, an ex-cop
from “Southie” who’s done time in prison for beating up a superior
officer. Spenser connects with old
friend Henry Simoli (Alan Arkin), an aging boxing coach to an African America
prospect named Hawk (Winston Duke). More trouble follows when a cop is murdered
and Spenser becomes a suspect amid a smell of corruption. While the action does have its moments, the
occasional female associations like the humour are mostly incidental to the
B-movie territory.
Comments
Post a Comment