First a lament for the cherished ByTowne Cinema which will be closing permanently in a few days, another casualty of this awful pandemic year. Less than 15 minutes walking distance from my house in Ottawa, its big screen will be greatly missed. Indeed, on January 1 there will be only a single theatre screen still open across the entire Ottawa-Gatineau metro area. [More comment at: https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/pearson-farewell-to-a-beauty-the-bytowne-cinemas-closing-leaves-a-hole-in-ottawas-cultural-fabric.] What theatrical presence will be left? [Have a listen to: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q/clip/15814137-straight-streaming-covid-19-changed-future-movies.]
This is the season for “best of” lists.
Usually the National Board of Review (https://nationalboardofreview.org/) is the first. But it is delaying
its announcement till January 26. Mine
will also wait till next January but for some early comment see:https://www.indiewire.com/2020/12/best-movies-2020-critics-survey-poll-performances-nomadland-riz-ahmed-1234604554/.] What will not change is my
choice of Nomadland as #1, and for a feature on its principal actor see:
https://www.vogue.com/article/frances-mcdormand-cover-january-2021.] A release is planned for
February.
I am also a huge fan of master filmmaker Werner Herzog and on his approach
see:
https://nationalboardofreview.org/2020/12/qa-with-werner-herzog-and-clive-oppenheimer/
On
the TV scene I am a devoted follower of the Turner Classic Movies channel (https://www.tcm.com/)
and recently watched 3 fine docs it presented: Marsha Hunt’s Sweet Adversity,
Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace, and For
the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism. (TCM also
recently showed the 1948 drama Enchantment, an American-British war
story in which I noted that the character played by Farley Granger wears a
Canadian airforce uniform.)
HBO
keeps adding excellent new documentaries.
First aired on December 16 was The Art of Political Murder
about seeking justice for the 1998 assassination of Bishop Juan Gerardi just
days after he delivered an investigatory report on mass human rights crimes
“Guatemala, Never Again”. [For background see: https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/05/07/bishop-gerardi-was-killed-20-years-ago-guatemala-search-justice.]
Now
on to views and reviews, starting with several Christmas movies, then series,
and more features.
Dolly
Parton’s Christmas on the Square (U.S. 2020, Netflix) B+
Set
in a fictional town of Fullerville, Kansas, this features exuberant song and
dance numbers and of course songs from Dolly who appears as both a panhandler
and sparkly Christmas angel. The grinchy
bitchy antagonist is Regina (Christine Baranski), the “Queen of Mean” who wants
to evict everyone on Christmas Eve. But
turns out she has daddy issues. As an unwed
mother he forced her to give up her baby boy. Of course, like Scrooge she has a
change of heart that involves a lost love and the local pastor named
Christian. There’s also a Christmas miracle
for a little girl named Violet. Sure it’s schmaltzy, but with a pointed spiritual
anti-capitalist greed vibe. And as the angel Dolly says: “It’s impossible to forgive
others if you haven’t forgiven yourself.”
Jingle
Jangle: A Christmas Journey (U.S. 2020, Netflix) A-
Released
back on November 13, this fable set in a Victorian era with a mostly African-American
cast provides for fine family-friendly viewing.
The storybook plot revolves around Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker), a
master inventor and owner of a toy shop.
After an assistant steals the master’s book of inventions a little girl
named Journey comes to the rescue. The
tale is enlivened by energetic song and dance sequences along with the wondrous
animation of toys come to life for a magical effect. Nothing will replace Christmas musical
classics like 1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis but this should bring some welcome
holiday cheer suitable for all ages.
The
Crown (UK 2020, fourth season, 10 episodes, Netflix) A+
The
fourth season, with Olivia Colman as Her Majesty, is the best yet. (Colman is also the narrator of the
documentary Nasrin, a compelling profile of courageous Iranian human
rights defender Nasrin Soutedeh. On the
dire human rights challenges facing women in Iran see also the searing drama Yalda-A
Night for Forgiveness (http://inter.pyramidefilms.com/pyramidefilms-international-catalogue/yalda-a-night-for-forgiveness.html).
“The Crown” has come in for criticism that it takes dramatic liberties in
exaggerating conflicts within the royal family and in the frosty relationship
between the Queen and Mrs. Thatcher … which may be so but seems very plausible.
The production and performances are first rate. [I may have already mentioned
that I met Josh O’Connor (who portrays Prince Charles) at the 2017 Sundance
festival wrap party. He was there for the premiere of Francis Lee’s (Ammonite)
God’s Own Country. O’Connor is in fact
a left -wing republican: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/the-crown-s-josh-o-connor-i-m-a-republican-i-m-not-interested-in-the-royal-family-1.4416771]
For season five there will be some new actors in key roles. And speaking of queen’s …
The
Queen’s Gambit (US 2020, 7 episodes, Netflix) A+
Netflix
keeps adding quality series and this one, deservedly drawing raves, is apparently
the most popular ever. Based on a 1983 novel by Walter Tevis, the story set in
the 1960s follows the rise of Beth Harmon to the top of the chess world. A red-haired orphan girl in Lexington,
Kentucky, she learns the game for a janitor in the basement of a home for girls.
Adopted as a teen (now played by Anya Taylor-Joy), she becomes a chess prodigy,
besting male rivals (and bedding several) on the way to becoming American
champion. Invited to Moscow she overcomes a boozy self-destructive phase to
triumph over a string of Soviet grandmasters; the climax being beating the
stone-faced world champion. It’s still
the Cold War but in a delightful conclusion Beth escapes her state Department
propaganda minder for the sheer pleasure of the game. [More comment at: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-queens-gambit-movie-review-2020.]
Small
Axe (UK 2020, 5 films, BBC and Amazon Prime Video, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08vxt33)
A
From
director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) comes this series based on the
experiences of the West Indian community in Britain. The title of the excellent first film Mangrove,
which runs over two hours, comes from the name of a restaurant that was a Caribbean
community hub in the Notting Hill area of London and became a focal point in clashes
with a racist Metropolitan police force, with raids leading to the trial of the
“Mangrove Nine”.
Your
Honor (U.S. 2020-2021, 10 episodes, Crave) A+
I’ve
just watched the 3 episodes aired to date but this is a gripping series with
Bryan Cranston in the role of the judge trying to save his son—who has killed
someone in a hit-and-run accident—from the deadly vengeance of a crime family.
First
We Eat (Canada 2020, https://firstweeat.ca/) A
This
documentary records the personal witness of Yukon filmmaker Suzanne Crocker (as
writer-director and cinematographer) to the commitment of her Dawson City-based
family of five (husband and three reluctant teenagers) to living for one year
entirely 100% local off the land, meaning without any store-bought items. That
would be a challenge anywhere in Canada.
At a latitude of 64 degrees north feeding an entire family through the
seasons including a long winter seems more like mission impossible. Crocker had previously produced the
award-winning 2014 documentary All the Time in the World (https://allthetimeintheworld.ca/)
which followed her family’s experience living through an entire far northern
winter without electricity, running water, or clocks. So she embraces what many
would consider an extreme approach. Filming
for this pursuit started in 2017. I
should add that in this case her family’s challenge doesn’t require a reversion
to only premodern amenities. Quite the
contrary as multiple electric-powered freezers were involved along with other
appliances. There’s no wood-fired oven
for example. It is also most definitely
NOT a vegetarian, much less vegan, option.
There’s lots of meat and dairy involved.
I grew up on a mixed farm with chickens, pigs, and cattle so am used to
some of the less pleasant scenes, except the moose hunting ones (although I did
have a gun at one point). The birth of a
calf brought back better memories. I
could also understand the craving for bagels. Crocker succeeds in making a “food
sovereignty” point. However, such an
effort, if followed strictly as in this case, is bound to be both complicated
and time-consuming to say the least.
Getting enough food on the table also depends on several cooperative neighbors
for some of the locally-sourced bounty. One
can applaud the evident persistence without finding it to be either practical
or sustainable except as an isolated and temporary experiment. Not just Yukoners will be impressed even if I
can’t see anyone rushing out to copy such a regimen. The aphoristic tagline which accounts for the
title is: “First we eat, then we do everything else,” from the late American
food writer Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher. When feeding a family takes so much time and obsessive
effort, one wonders how much time is left for other pursuits. Crocker relates that her blood pressure
improved as a result. I’d like to know
for how long. What about other aspects
of quality of life? Questions that are
left for another film.
Les
Rose (Canada 2020, National Film Board/ Babel Films, free
to watch on the NFB site) A- https://www.canada.ca/en/national-film-board/news/2020/07/felix-roses-highly-anticipated-documentary-les-rose-the-rose-family-babel-filmsnfb-screening-in-montreal-and-quebec-city-starting-august-21-doc-mak.html
Helmed
by Félix Rose, the son of Paul Rose, this is an insightful if problematic exploration
of a family that was centrally involved in the 1970 “October crisis” in which a
British diplomat James Cross was kidnapped by a cell of the FLQ (Front de libération
du Québec), following which another cell abducted then “executed” Pierre
Laporte, vice-premier of Quebec. The
federal Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measure Act
suspending civil liberties and the army was in the streets of Ottawa. I recall
the events well, while at home on our farm in Saskatchewan, although
preoccupied with several family tragedies (that’s another story). The FLQ members who held Cross released him
in exchange for being allowed to flee to Cuba.
The cell with Paul and brother Jacques Rose that killed Laporte was
hunted down and captured. Paul got a
life sentence but was released after 12 years and died in 2013. The film, which
includes an interview with Paul, his mother, and other archival sources,
recounts some of what happened in the febrile atmosphere of the times. But it also allows the surviving FLQ members
(Jacques Rose I believe) to justify the resort to terrorism. Most telling, and disturbing, is the statement:
“when we call the shots, maybe then we’ll believe in them (the rules of
democracy)”. In other words, this “revolutionary” vanguard asserted
the right to impose its will on the population by any means necessary,
including murdering elected politicians.
Lenin might approve. (Marx never
had the chance to implement what he and Engels meant by “the dictatorship of
the proletariat”). The FLQ cell that
murdered Laporte took collective responsibility, and this documentary which
explains their ideology, sheds no light on the actual killing. Perhaps not surprisingly given that the
director is Paul’s son, it’s also all about the Rose family, with no hint of
the devastating consequences for the Laporte family. The story is that of the
perpetrators, who clearly saw themselves as historical figures, not the
unfortunate victims. Maybe that missing
piece deserves a film of its own? [See also this commentary in The New York
Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/06/world/canada/quebec-rose-october-crisis.html?smid=em-share.]
Black
Bear (U.S. 2020, http://www.momentumpictures.net/black-bear)
B+
This
unusual drama from writer-director Lawrence Michael Levine, which premiered in
the edgy “NEXT” section of the 2020 Sundance film festival, isn’t about bears
at all although one does get a few seconds of screen time. The first part is a
three-hander set in a cabin in the woods when Allison (Aubrey Plaza) visits
Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and pregnant girlfriend Blair (Sarah Gadon). Allison
is supposedly a filmmaker or a “difficult” actress or both. She’s apparently also a jealous lush leading
to a wild and crazy climax. Then cut to
part two in which the same setting is actually that of a chaotic indie film
shoot in which Gabe is the director and there’s a Gabe lookalike for the scenes
with the two women. As the camera careens about it captures another drunken
freakout. Roles are upended if not reversed.
What is fiction and what is reality bleed into one another. Or is this just a scenario in Allison’s
imagination? No surprise that the film provokes some bearish reactions despite
excellent performances by Gadon and Plaza.
Dear
Santa (U.S. 2020, https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/dear-santa,
on demand) B+
Well
timed for the season, writer-director Dana Nachman profiles the U.S. Postal
Service’s “Operation Santa” that has been running since 1907 and is now
digitized too as it employs a small army of “elves” (there are also adopter
elves, mini-elves, and emergency elves) to respond to the letters from kids
across the country (and a few adults too).
That can include special deliveries (including a puppy and a bunny).
Kids voices and wishes add to a high heartwarming factor. The most affecting stories are of families
facing challenges—living in low incomes or having lost home to disasters like wildfires.
As a Catholic kid growing up in rural Saskatchewan I had minimal Santa exposure
(it was the Bethlehem of “baby Jesus” and “holy family” in our house, not jolly
St. Nick down the chimney). Still, as a
production from pre-pandemic times, this is a welcome touch of in-person Christmas
spirit, not to mention an antidote to Trump’s grinchy raging against the postal
service over mail-in voting that favoured Democrats. And we could all use some good cheer while
“Biden” our time to a better new year.
White
Noise (U.S. 2020, https://www.theatlantic.com/white-noise-movie/)
A
The
Atlantic’s first documentary, helmed by Daniel Lombroso, is an incisive exploration
of the far-right “white nationalist” movement, also known as the “alt-right”,
which was encouraged by the 2016 victory of Donald Trump. Indeed, at the time, one of its leading
exponents Richard Spencer exulted that “the alt-right just won!”. He has also boasted that “we willed Donald
Trump into office”. In a notorious
address to followers including neo-Nazis he exclaimed: “Hail victory! Hail
Trump!”. Other noisy extreme right figures include the
“men’s rights” advocate Mike Cernovich who glorifies rape, and sadly a young
Canadian woman Lauren Southern who fans anti-Muslim and anti-migrant/refugee
prejudices. She’s fashionably arrogant,
and despicable. She’s shown presenting her film “Borderless” to the far-right
fringe in the European Parliament. Some of these shameless characters may be
more pathetic than dangerous. But
far-right ideology, fanned by conspiracy mongering and online trolling, can have
violent consequences leading to domestic terrorism as explored in the
ProPublic/PBS Frontline documentary “Documenting Hate” New American Nazis
which is available on CBC Gem through “The Passionate Eye” documentary
program. The threat is most evident in
murderous lone-wolf attacks as incited by clandestine groups like the
“Atomwaffen Division” which draws its inspiration from fascist guru James Mason’s
manifesto Siege, and which attempt to attract followers with military
training. Interviewed for the film, Mason
insists that to make America great again it is necessary to “make America white
again”. The racist Trumpist subtext
could hardly be more explicit. As Trump and his enablers shamelessly continue
to try to subvert American democracy, these are timely reminders of the social
viruses of hate spread by hate groups that are ignored at our peril. [More at: https://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/features/right-wing-extremist-groups-and-hate-crimes-are-growing-in-canada.]
The
Midnight Sky (U.S. 2020, Netflix) B+
A
greybeard George Clooney directs himself in this sombre sci-fi dystopia,
adapted from a 2016 novel “Good Morning, Midnight” by Lily Brooks-Dalton, set
in a post-apocalyptic future, February 2049 to be exact. Earth appears to be uninhabitable for the most
part and Clooney plays Augustine, a solitary figure in an Arctic
observatory. He also appears to have a
terminal illness while self-medicating with alcohol. Actually he’s not alone as he discovers a mute
young girl named Iris who’s been left behind.
The only other humans we see are those on an elaborate space station
that suffers a series of troubles. Out
of billions of potential “exoplanets” apparently one has been found orbiting
Jupiter that’s “just right”—i.e. in the ”Goldilocks zone”. Back on planet
earth, Augustine and Iris need a plan.
At first they wear masks (oxygen?) to go outside but later they do not
when they undertake a perilous journey by snowmobile in a raging blizzard to
get to a deserted station at Lake Hazen to attempt communication with the
spaceship. (Filming mostly took place in
Iceland although Lake Hazen, which has often been used by scientific parties,
is located on Canada’s Ellesmere Island.)
At one point the pair come across a plane crash with a badly injured
survivor. At another Augustine
temporarily loses Iris in a whiteout.
Anyway man and girl make it and establish contact. No spoilers about what happens then. Let’s
just say that the storyline recedes with faint hope facing into a glowing
sky.
[More
comment at: https://variety.com/2020/film/reviews/the-midnight-sky-review-george-clooney-felicity-jones-1234848481/.]
Ma
Rainey’s Black Bottom (U.S. 2020, Netflix) A
Set
in Chicago circa 1927 this superb drama based on August Wilson’s eponymous
Pulitzer-prize winning play evokes the music of the “bound for the promised
land” great migration of African Americans from the South to cities like
Chicago. [Note that former president Barack Obama, whose political base was in
Chicago, titles his memoir A Promised Land.] That history is the
backdrop to this story which takes place during a single day in several rooms
of a recording studio where Black musicians are creating the popular bluesy
“race records” put out by companies like Paramount run by white
executives. Led by singing diva Gertrude
“Ma” Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues”, the talent includes her backup band for
a recording session during which she insists on an introduction by a stuttering
nephew. The temperamental Ma, all made
up with gold teeth, is played by Viola Davis.
It’s an astounding performance, as is that of the late Chadwick Boseman (Black
Panther, Da Five Bloods) as Levee, the upstart trumpet player with
whom she clashes in a contest of wills. Boastful
and hotheaded, Levee also rages against the Almighty in one scene; his lack of
self-control later results in tragedy. At one point he speaks of death, which
almost seems a premonition as Boseman died of colon cancer last August, making
this his final screen performance. Oscar nominations are certain for Davis and
Boseman, who like the late Heath Ledger, deserves to win posthumously for a
movie that memorably honours his talent.
And for a deeper appreciation of the source material, on Netflix be sure
to continue watching the 31-minute bonus feature on “A Legacy Brought to the
Screen”.
The
Prom (U.S. 2020, Netflix) B+
Meryl! As in Meryl Streep who has already shown she
has the vocal pipes in Mama Mia! and Ricki and the Flash. She gets to vamp it up in this glittery
fantasy of gay-friendly acceptance from gay showrunner Ryan Murphy (creator of
“Glee” and “The Politician”) as part of his huge multi-year deal with
Netflix. The scenario, drawing on an
actual incident and eponymous Broadway stage musical, involves theater stars
from a musical “Eleanor!” traveling to conservative Indiana where a high-school
prom has been cancelled because Emma (Jo Ellen Pellman) plans on taking a
lesbian romantic partner of colour Alyssa (Arian de Bosse) … horrors. Streep as Dee Dee Allen is accompanied by
funnyman James Corden as Barry Glickman and as Angie Dickinson, Nicole Kidman
(having much more fun here than as the wronged woman in the series “The
Undoing”) who can also belt it out (as she proved in Moulin Rouge!).
It’s an infectious romp on how the
gospel imperative to “love thy neighbor” triumphs over the censorious Christian
right, but see this commentary at: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/netflix-s-prom-ryan-murphy-glittery-loud-unfortunately-unsubtle-ncna1250972.]
Let
Them All Talk (U.S. 2020, Crave/HBO Max) B+
Director
Steven Soderbergh hasn’t given up on filmmaking and this amusing and very talky
trifle was apparently shot in a week on an actual voyage of the luxurious ocean
liner Queen Mary II carrying 2, 600 passengers across the Atlantic from New
York to England. It’s the Meryl show again … this time playing an authorial
drama queen Alice who has been awarded a (fictitious) British “Footling prize”
for her latest novel, and refuses to fly, so this is the only way to get there
to accept in person. And unlike grim-faced
climate change child icon Greta Thunberg, Alice insists on traveling in
style. Not just for herself but an
accompanying coterie of several friends with issues, Susan (Dianne Wiest) and Roberta
(Candice Bergen), as well as a nephew Tyler (Luca Hedges) who takes a shine to
Alice’s literary agent Karen (Gemma Chan).
Even more delightful on the page is Anthony Lane’s witty review: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/12/14/meryl-streep-on-the-high-seas-in-let-them-all-talk.
Song
Without a Name (Peru/Spain/U.S./Chile 2019) A
Director
and co-writer Melina León’s evocative drama, which premiered at the 2019 Cannes
Directors’ Fortnight, is shot in stark black-and-white using a retro squarish
(4:3) aspect ratio. The story it tells
is based on actual cases of child trafficking in Peru as told to León by her
journalist father Ismael. The setting is Peru in the 1980s—with state
corruption and repression rife at the same time as the country is menaced by
the violent extremism of the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (“Shining Path”)
insurgency. The central character is an
Andean Indigenous woman Georgina (Pamela Mendoza), heavily pregnant, who makes
trips to the city to sell potatoes in the market. We sense her husband may be a
sympathizer of the guerillas who were active in rural areas from which they
staged attacks. Lured by a radio advertisement, Georgina goes to a free clinic
to give birth. But it’s a scam as her newborn
daughter is snatched away, she’s quickly hustled out, and the fake clinic
disappears. After failing to get any help from the authorities, a desperate Georgina
finds a sympathetic journalist Pedro (Tommy Párraga) to pursue the cause of her
distress. Significantly, he also bears the
mark of a marginalized existence, with features indicating some Indigenous
ancestry, and as a closeted gay man (though the latter is only fleetingly
hinted at.) When Georgina sings a closing lullaby there’s a spark of hope suggesting
the human bonds that endure within these systems of injustice. [*We could also use some human empathy during
these dark days. And Peru has been on my
mind. I was scheduled to do a trek to
Machu Picchu in late March as a “charity challenge” to benefit CUSO, but like
so much else those dates were cancelled by the Covid-19 pandemic. Postponed several times, the trek is now set
for the fall of 2021, to be reassessed again in 2021 given that Peru has been
badly affected by the virus. My previous time in Peru was in 1977 during a
situation of martial law and strict curfews when armed forces controlled the
streets of Lima. Traveling by local transport to Cuzco and Machu Picchu I also passed
through places such as Ayacucho where the Shining Path was becoming notoriously
active. Peru is still very troubled politically and socially but I am looking
forward to an equally memorable if less fraught 2021 experience.]
Rose
Island (Italy 2020, Netflix) B+
Inspired
by a true story, director Sydney Sibilia recounts how an idealistic engineer
Giorgio Rosa, exasperated by Italian bureaucratic harassment, constructs a self-governing
“island—
actually
a floating platform—off the coast of Rimini, just far enough offshore to be
outside Italian territorial waters. He
gathers a supporting cast, and also hosts a summer party crowd. There is even a
quixotic 1968 attempt to get recognition of sovereignty by the Council of
Europe in Strasbourg. (I traveled to Strasbourg and attended Council meetings
many times when I was advisor to the Canada-Europe Parliamentary Association
and Canada had official observer status.) It’s a rather absurdist episode that
didn’t survive the Italian navy but entertaining while it lasts.
Mulan
(U.S./Canada/Hong
Kong 2020, Disney+ https://movies.disney.com/mulan-2020)
B
This
extravagantly produced $200 million+ epic fable about a legendary female
warrior in imperial China was made in the expectation of being a theatrical
tentpole blockbuster, then Covid emerged from present-day China. The release was delayed, then the film was
put on Disney’s streaming platform for a hefty additional fee, and now it’s
available for no additional charge. Mulan disguises as male to enter the
emperor’s army service and executes exceptional skills up against sinister
black-robed invaders and their witch ally. Shot in New Zealand and China, it's
somewhat of a visual feast even on the small screen, and as helmed by Kiwi Niki
Caro, is supposedly the most costly movie directed by a woman. The spectacle diverts more than the historic
wonder-woman story instructs. [Critical
reaction has been very divided ranging from a “100%” to a “25%” rating on
metacritic.com.]
I’m
Your Woman (U.S. 2020, Amazon Prime Video) B
The
best thing about this dark ‘70s-set drama directed and co-written by Julia Hart
is the performance of Rachel Brosnahan as Jean, who has to go on the lam with a
crying infant she calls “Harry” who has been given to her by her husband Eddie
who pops in and just as promptly disappears, never to reappear. Criminal
connections, vague albeit lethal, mean that she and the baby are also at risk
from pursuing thuggish elements, though Jean fortunately gets some protection
from a Black gunman Cal who shows up after hubby exits the scene. That includes bringing her and baby to his
own family. I’m not sure what the title
is supposed to mean since Jean strikes me as “nobody’s baby”. Still I sympathized with her predicament, stuck
in an underworld of danger while cradling little Harry.
Another
Round (Denmark/Netherlands/Sweden
2020, http://www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/another-round/
) B
Mads
Mikkelsen play “Martin”, the main character in this typically riotous Thomas
Vinterberg production. The wacky
premise, attributed to the theories of Finn Skårderud, is that humans have a
blood alcohol deficit. A history teacher
in a rut, Martin is joined by three middle-aged colleagues who become drinking
buddies in a boozy experiment that turns into binge drinking (including by students celebrating the end of
term). It’s all mixed with dashes of
off-kilter humour. The antics prove
diverting and ephemeral enough to not induce a hangover.
Palm
Springs (U.S. 2020, Amazon Prime Video) C
Max
Barbakow directs this silly sex farce starring Andy Samberg that premiered at
Sundance almost a year ago. Samberg’s attire for most of the movie is an ugly
untucked Hawaiian shirt paired with mustard-coloured shorts. Say what? Some might find it a charming romcom. I found it vulgar and ridiculous. Enough said.
News
of the World (U.S. 2020, https://www.newsoftheworldfilm.com/)
A
Christmas Day release. More in a next
post.
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