I’m grateful to have been able to see 5 of the movies reviewed on the big screen at my cherished Ottawa independent repertory theatres: Mank, Sound of Metal, and Jimmy Carter: Rock &Roll President at the ByTowne Cinema (https://www.bytowne.ca/) and Percy and Zappa at the Mayfair Theatre (https://mayfairtheatre.ca/) which opened its doors during the Depression in 1932. Cinema can shine a light during difficult times. (Indeed it’s worth noting that Hollywood’s greatest year was in 1939.) So it is with great regret that today the owner of the ByTowne announced that it will be closing permanently on December 31. I have found it to be a cinematic treasure for over 40 years. It’s big-screen atmosphere cannot be replaced by the proliferation on online streaming options. This is a truly sad loss and it means that there will not a single theatre left in the entire central area of the nation’s capital. The ByTowne will be greatly missed! I’m going there tomorrow to see the New York Cat Film Festival (https://catfilmfestival.com/).
That
said, online streaming available at home 24/7 is impossible to ignore. And some of it is very good. I’ve managed to get through 4 of ten episodes
of The Crown’s excellent fourth season on Netflix. The fourth episode includes a scene setting
up Thatcher’s Falklands war in which Argentine forces seize remote subantarctic
South Georgia Island which I visited 20 years ago in December 2000, and is the
most remarkable place I’ve ever been to.
In this season Olivia Colman plays Queen Elizabeth magnificently. She is also a narrator of the documentary Nasrin
which profiles courageous Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh (find
out more here: https://www.nasrinfilm.com/). I’ve
also managed to watch several of the seven episodes of another hit Netflix
series The Queen’s Gambit about the American girl who becomes a chess prodigy. And HBO’s miniseries “The Undoing” came to a
sensational climax last Sunday.
Read
on for reviews of more titles.
Mank (U.S. 2020, in theatres and on Netflix from December
4) A+
I’m a big fan of the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) TV
channel, a main host of which is Ben Mankiewicz who happens to be a grandson of
the legendary screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz whose greatest achievement was
collaborating with enfant terrible Orson Welles on Citizen Kane (1941),
the Hollywood classic that regularly tops polls of the best movies of all
time. “Mank” did so while bedridden with
a broken leg, and he was an alcoholic as well. “Kane” was modelled on the mogul
Randolph Hearst (played here by Charles Dance) and there’s a great scene of an
inebriated Mank at a dinner party in Hearst’s San Simeon castle. Gary Oldman is
superb in the role of Mank (deserving of a second Oscar after the one he
received for playing Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour). Also Oscar-worthy is Amanda Seyfried as
Marion Davies, the hapless actress for whom Hearst was a sugar daddy. David Fincher directs from a script by his
father Jack, and the picture is gloriously lensed in silky black and
white. Although “Kane” is often cited
for cinematographer Gregg Toland’s masterful use of deep focus, the movie’s
only Oscar was for the screenplay. This
backstory of how that came about will surely be a strong awards contender in
its own right.
The Real Right Stuff (U.S. 2020, Disney+/National Geographic) A
Coming on the heels of the Disney + dramatized “Right
Stuff” series, with its sometimes soap opera elements, this documentary helmed
by Tom Jennings is an absorbing profile of the actual seven Mercury astronauts
who paved the way for the Apollo program.
None are still living and only one ever walked on the moon. [More
details at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Seven
and more commentary at:https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4076/1 and https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/20/movies/the-real-right-stuff-review.html]
Sound of Metal (U.S./Belgium 2020, in theatres and Amazon Prime
Video from December 4) A
This debut feature from writer-director Darius
Marder benefits from a strong performance by Riz Ahmed as the driven heavy
metal drummer Ruben coping with progressive hearing loss. (See: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/riz-ahmed-sound-metal-oscar-buzz-exploring-diverse-roles-n1248176) Ruben, who’s been living a typical hard rock
lifestyle with girlfriend and band member Lou (Olivia Cooke), has to come to
terms with major acceptance and adjustment issues. He enters a deaf community that
includes a school for the deaf and has to learn sign language. An especially impressive aspect is the sound
design (muffled, distorted, muted) that evokes what Ruben is experiencing. Ruben’s hearing is not coming back and that
means having to live as a deaf person (including in his relationship with his
father played by Mathieu Almaric, a tangent that seems rather tacked on but
does not undermine the central story of overcoming personal challenge.)
Jimmy Carter: Rock &
Roll President (U.S. 2020, https://www.jimmycartermovie.com/) A
*in theatres and through HotDocs at Home
If you didn’t already love and admire former
one-term U.S. president Jimmy Carter before seeing this marvelous documentary
helmed by Mary Wharton you should after.
As the Trumpian darkness comes to a disgraceful close, it’s also a
timely reminder of the dignity, and yes grace, that has been missing from the
White House the past four years. The archival footage shows Carter’s
appreciation for and friendships with musical icons like Willie Nelson and Bob
Dylan; and not just rock stars but also greats of the jazz, blues, classical,
and country genres. (Bono reads a Carter poem. Garth Brooks is among those
interviewed.) Carter, the first and only
president from Georgia, was dedicated to peace, justice and human rights at
home and abroad. I hope he will be at
the forthcoming inauguration of President Joe Biden who flipped Georgia blue.
The film doesn’t avoid the rough spots, covering Carter’s political downfall—the
Iran hostage crisis—as well as his diplomatic achievements (the Camp David
accords between Egypt and Israel). Still the emphasis is on a commitment to
service that includes the Carters’ exemplary humanitarian work after leaving
office. We hear from Carter himself and his son along with some musical
greats. These are genuine heartfelt
reflections that mark an inspiring legacy.
It’s a fitting music-powered tribute to a decent man. And with Georgia on my mind, a blessedly
welcome relief from Trump’s deranged self-absorbed deceit. Rock on!
Louis van Beethoven (Germany/Czech Republic 2020, coming to Film
Movement Plus) A-
Thinking of deaf musicians the most famous is
undoubtedly Ludwig van Beethoven, affectionately called “Louis”, one of the
greatest classical composers of all time.
This December marks the 250th anniversary of his birth and this
historical biopic helmed by Niki Stein benefits from fine performances as well
as sumptuous production design evoking the atmosphere in Beethoven’s native Germany
of a turbulent era that spanned the French revolution and its aftermath. Ludwig is played by Colin Putz as a child piano
prodigy, Anselm Bresgott as a young man, and Tobias Moretti as the mature
acclaimed composer who had moved from Bonn to Vienna where he met Mozart and
Haydn, studying under the latter.
Beethoven was inspired by the revolutionary spirit of the times. It is astonishing that he was already mostly
deaf by the time he composed the famous Fifth Symphony and the Ninth Symphony
which includes the “Ode to Joy” that has become the anthem of the European Union.
Hillbilly
Elegy (U.S. 2020, Netflix)
D+
This
is a pretty terrible movie notwithstanding its apparent popularity on Netflix,
and defense by an admired director and lead actresses (see: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/amy-adams-glenn-close-criticism-netflix-hillbilly-elegy). The source material is the eponymous 2016
book by conservative author J.D. Vance which carried the subtitle “A Memoir of
a Family and Culture in Crisis”. Vance,
who rose above his Appalachian “white trash” upbringing through Yale law
school, is also an executive producer on this dramatization by liberal
filmmaker Ron Howard. I have read the book which was hailed at the time as
providing insight into how Trumpian populism appealed to the anxieties and afflictions
of lower-class less-educated whites in rural and small-town middle America. Howard has cast prominent admired actors in
key roles: Glenn Close as the crusty salty-tongued grandmother “Mamaw”, and Amy
Adams as J.D.’s addict mother Bev. But
the scenario verges on caricature … more deplorable parody than elegy. [More withering
comment at: https://www.vox.com/culture/21547861/hillbilly-elegy-review-netflix
and https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hillbilly-elegy-caught-between-hollywood-and-a-hard-place.]
Percy
(Canada
2020, in theatres and on demand) C+
That
would be Percy Schmeiser, the Bruno, Saskatchewan farmer who engaged in a notorious
legal battle with multinational giant Monsanto after being accused of using its
GMO “Roundup Ready” canola in his fields without a license. This is a
Saskatchewan story from an area in which I grew up on a family farm, but was
filmed by director Clark Johnson in Manitoba and casts Hollywood actors in key
roles, notably Christopher Walken as Percy, Zach Braff as his lawyer Jackson
Weaver, and Christina Ricci as the anti-GMO activist Rebecca Salcau who enlists
Percy in her organization’s crusade, even bringing him to India as part of the campaign
against big bad Monsanto. (Canadian
Indigenous actor Adam Beach has a small almost incidental role as Percy’s son.)
It’s a somewhat awkward role for Percy
who claims to be a simple “seed saver” to be thrust into the role of anti-GMO
folk hero. After losing in the Saskatchewan courts, the case was taken on
appeal all the way to the Supreme Court which rendered a 5-4 split decision in
2004, that ruled in Monsanto’s favor on the infringement of its patent but did
not award damages. (For the details see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_Canada_Inc_v_Schmeiser) The protracted legal battles were obviously costly. At one point we see Percy having to sell a
new combine and revert back to the old green one. (We had John Deere equipment on our farm and
I recall operating the combine when still a kid in my early teens. Those were the days!) Presenting Schmeiser (who died in October) as
a salt-of-the-earth David up against a corporate Goliath, the film evades those
complexities. Never mentioned is that
Schmeiser had been Bruno’s mayor and also a Liberal MLA for the area. It only hints that Schmeiser had less than
fulsome community support. (I’m told
that some called him “Percy Shyster” due to a reputation for less than honest
dealings.) But that would not fit the
film’s halo effect of a small farm family’s fight for justice.
Zappa
(U.S.
2020, http://www.zappamovie.com/)
A
That
would be Frank Zappa, the subject of writer-director Alex Winter’s engrossing
in-depth documentary, six years in the making, about the legendary rock
musician and disturber of the peace who morphed into a more mainstream anti-establishment
figure who even testified before Congress. Back in the 1960s Zappa, the iconoclast
and guru of Laurel Canyon, fronted the “Mothers of Invention” rock group.
(There’s a brief archival clip of the “Mothers” playing a 1969 gig in Ottawa.) Zappa,
who also dabbled in film and later composed orchestral works, accumulated a
huge personal archival trove before his death from prostate cancer at age 52 exactly
27 years ago to this day. Winter has rich sources to draw from in addition to
interviews with contemporaries and Zappa’s widow Gail who died in 2015. Zappa was an unusual character to say the
least. His recording of “Valley Girl”
with first child, a daughter named Moon Unit, became a hit in 1982. We also hear a bit from son Dweezil. Zappa famously spoofed the cover of The
Beatles Sgt. Pepper album and, as the Cold War came to an end, he was greeted
as a hero in Czechoslovakia and appointed the new democratic government’s cultural
and trade representative to the U.S. For
more on everything Zappa see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Zappa.
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