First a note that for pandemic delay reasons the Oscar nominations for 2020 will not be announced till March 15, with the awards ceremony delayed till April 25. I am also going to hold off on my 2020 “best of choices”. Except that my #1 drama is certain to be Nomadland which continues to earn plaudits. (It’s the top choice of the U.S. National Society of Film Critics. For more see: https://variety.com/2021/film/news/nomadland-national-society-of-film-critics-1234881999/.)
It will come as no surprise that global box-office earnings for 2020 dropped by some 80% (https://variety.com/2021/film/box-office/box-office-final-revenues-2020-coronavirus-pandemic-1234879082/) and this year’s prospects are dimmed by continuing shutdowns. The shift to online streaming will continue. Indeed the biggest spender on production Netflix aims to release a new movie a week this year and that’s not counting the flood of multi-episode series including on other platforms, all in overdrive. I’ll mention a few of the best.
CBC is now showing the six-episode BBC series Les
Misérables (A) on Sunday nights and also streaming on CBC Gem. This is
a first-rate production that does full justice to the details of the classic
Victory Hugo novel.
Also on TV, HBO recently brought
back a marathon re-airing of the 10-epsisode series The Righteous
Gemstones from 2019 (A). Created
by Danny McBride, it delights in satirizing the shameless behavior of a family
of American televangelists (led by John Goodman as patriarch Eli Gemstone, with
McBride as heir apparent Jesse Gemstone) while they rake in the cash. It’s cleverly uproarious and entertaining as
hell (no pun intended). [For insightful comment see: https://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/review-the-righteous-gemstones-is-an-uneven-but-compelling-study-of-faith/.] And in January 2021 HBO served up a
two-part/three-hour+ documentary Tiger (A-), directed by Matthew
Heineman and Matthew Hamacheck, that follows the exceptional rise of golf great
Tiger Woods and his equally dramatic fall from grace.
The surfeit of streaming series continues. Netflix has added a 7-episode French series
“Lupin” inspired by author Maurice Leblanc’s “gentleman burglar” Arsène
Lupin. Omar Sy plays the thief as a Assane
Diop, a Senegalese immigrant in Paris with a score to settle. (A) [More comment at: https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/lupin-tv-review-2021-netflix.] Netflix even has a new 6-epsiode series
“History of Swear Words” hosted by Nicolas Cage. (If you must know more see: https://readysteadycut.com/2021/01/05/history-of-swear-words-netflix-review/.)
I
do love New York City having made past regular visits to cover the Tribeca film
festival founded by Robert De Niro. So I
enjoyed the 7-episode Netflix series Pretend It’s a City (A) in
which master filmmaker Martin Scorsese engages with inimitable humorist
contrarian, stroller and raconteur Fran Lebowitz as she muses on all things Big
Apple. The mix includes amusing snippets, sequences of Fran amid the “Panorama”
scale model of the metropolis created for the 1964 world’s fair, conversations
inside “The Players” watering hole next to a pool table, the odd film clip, and
bits of Fran bantering with filmmaker Spike Lee, the late novelist Toni
Morrison and actor Alec Baldwin. A decade earlier Scorsese and Lebowitz had collaborated
on the documentary Public Speaking.
Lebowitz, in her trademark garb of bespoke men’s suit jackets and
rolled-up Levis over cowboy boots, sure has the gift of the gab and doesn’t
disappoint. [For more comment see: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/25/the-delights-of-new-york-fran-lebowitz-and-martin-scorseses-laugh.]
A
Perfect Planet (UK 2021, 5 episodes, BBC Earth, https://bbcearth.ca/) A+
So
far I’ve seen “Volcano”, “The Sun”, and “Weather” available on the BBC Earth
channel through the Amazon Prime Video platform. These deliver a constant astonishment of
striking images and remarkable facts, some truly stranger than fiction. At 94, narrator Sir David Attenborough is
still going strong and this may be his most awesome series yet. [For more info
on it see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Perfect_Planet. Watch Sir David’s introductory message here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQnDVqGIv4s and see also: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2264866-a-perfect-planet-review-attenboroughs-new-show-is-one-of-his-best/.] BBC Earth also carries superb
previous Attenborough series, such as “Dynasties” [see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynasties_(2018_TV_series)]
Pieces
of a Woman (U.S./Canada/Norway/Hungary 2020, Netflix)
A-
Directed
by Kórnel Mundruczô from a screenplay by his partner Kata Wéber, this distressing
drama quickly goes from the expectant joys of pregnancy to a lengthy wrenching
sequence of difficult birth pangs with a dire outcome. Set in Boston (actually
filmed in a wintry Montreal), Martha (Vanessa Kirby, awarded best actress at
the Venice film festival) is the mother to be who with her husband Sean (a
heavily bearded Shia LaBeouf) has opted for a home birth. When a replacement
midwife Eva (Molly Parker) gets called in to assist with the excruciating
labour there are fateful complications that leave Martha bereft. And Sean, who has battled addictions in the
past, proves to be a less than stable or faithful partner. Making matters worse is Martha’s angry mother
Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn still feisty at 88, a likely Oscar best supporting
actress nominee) who, blaming the midwife, involves a young female lawyer, a
cousin of Martha’s, in a tense court case. Elizabeth also never liked Sean,
using her financial means to try to separate him from Martha. As everything
becomes more fraught the emotional temperature rises. A tough movie to watch, it
comes with a caution about harrowing scenes and adult content. [See also: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/pieces-of-a-woman-reviewed-a-tale-of-grief-gets-lost-in-the-details.]
Herself (Ireland/UK 2020, Amazon
Prime Video) A-
This
Sundance selection helmed by Phyllida Lloyd concerns a young woman Sandra
(Clare Dunne, also the co-writer) who escapes an abusive relationship with her
two small daughters. Sandra has a
part-time job in a Dublin bar and is a carer for a sympathetic doctor Peggy
(Harriet Walter) recovering from a hip operation. Peggy gives Sandra money and land in her
large yard for a self-build house that takes shape through the efforts of a contractor
and his son she convinces to help with the project as assisted by a circle of
friends and supporters. At the same time
Sandra has to contend with tense court proceedings over child visitation. The
worst blow is a vengeful act by her ex-partner. Yet as the title suggests,
Sandra finds the resolve in herself to surmount these struggles and setbacks.
Shirley
(U.S.
2020, Amazon Prime Video) B+
Helmed
by Josephine Decker and adapted from a Susan Merrell book, the Shirley in
question is the troubled author Shirley Jackson as portrayed by Elizabeth
Moss. Jackson came to wide attention
when her short story “The Lottery”, published in The New Yorker in 1948,
achieved notoriety. An early scene has a young woman Rose (Odessa Young), after
reading the story on a train, initiating bathroom sex with husband Fred (Logan
Lerman). When Fred later becomes a teaching assistant to Shirley’s husband,
English professor Stanley Hyman (a bearded Michael Stulhlbarg, who plays the
crime boss in the Showtime series “Your Honor”), the young couple are invited to
stay in Shirley and Stanley’s Vermont home. The atmosphere gets stranger
fast. While Shirley, who seems unable to
leave the house, lives inside her perverse imagination, Stanley is openly
unfaithful. Outside the home, a girl in
the area goes missing. Inside it the
couples’ interactions become a psychodrama as disturbing as what Shirley puts
on the page.
One
Night in Miami (U.S. 2020, Amazon Prime Video) A
I
would only have been 11 back in rural Saskatchewan but I seem to remember
hearing on the radio the famous boxing match in February 1964 when underdog Cassius
Clay (Eli Goree)—soon to become Muhammad Ali—defeated Sonny Liston for the
heavyweight championship of the world. The focus is not on the boxing but on
how, as adapted by Kemp Powers from his eponymous play, Clay’s triumph sets the
stage for post-match interactions in a motel with three Black friends—Malcom X
(Kingsley Ben-Adir), “Mr. Soul” singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and football
star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Although
the mood is mostly celebratory, there are also reflective moments, arguments,
and occasional outbursts. The context
includes the continuing racism of the times, the emerging Black Power movement,
and the relationship to a troubled Nation of Islam. This is an impressive ensemble and of note is
that the all-male cast is directed by a female African American actress (and
Oscar winner) Regina King. The film, one of the year’s best, also closes with a
stirring rendition of Cooke’s 1963 anthem “A Change Gonna Come” (listen to it
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEBlaMOmKV4).
76
Days (China/U.S. 2020, https://www.76daysfilm.com/watch,
video on demand) A+
I
was able to view this astonishing and intimate documentary on January 23, the
one-year anniversary of the Covid-19 lockdown that began in Wuhan, a city of 11
million in China’s Hubei province. And
that viewing was followed by a 45-minute conversation, sponsored by New York’s
Film Forum, between Indiewire critic David Ehrlich and New York-based lead
director Hao Wu (The People’s Republic of Desire) who worked with two
Chinese co-directors, one anonymous. The title refers to the duration of the
lockdown which ended in April 2020. The
roving footage from four hospitals brings us up close and personal with the
efforts of frontline medical staff—swathed in PPE (personal protective
equipment) from head to toe—to save lives as the outbreak rages. There are last calls to loved ones and the
disinfecting of mementos from those who have passed. Individual characters also
emerge. One old guy—a proud Communist
Party member with dementia—is a real handful.
Amid so much desperation and darkness there are also deeply human
moments (including a birth by C-section).
There is also a birth among the hospital scenes (including in a
temporary emergency facility) in another recent China/U.S. documentary Wuhan
Wuhan (https://www.wuhanwuhandoc.com/
A) helmed by Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze). The focus is on a briefer period during the
lockdown but with a wider scope that extends to the city and the home life of a
volunteer driver. This adds perspective
though the effect is less intense than the constant life-threatened drama of 76
Days.
[*These
highly personal films about the early months of the pandemic in the origin
country stand out, although they will surely be joined by other documentaries
that assess the pandemic more broadly, including in terms of policy failures
and government responses.]
Nasrin
(U.S.
2020, https://www.nasrinfilm.com/,
video on demand from January 26) A+
From
writer-director Jeff Kaufman, with some narration by British actress Olivia
Colman, this excellent and engaging documentary profiles the courageous Iranian
human rights defender Nasrin Soutedeh.
In her decades-long struggles as a human rights lawyer, notably on
behalf of the rights of women and children, Nasrin has suffered periods of
imprisonment. She received another
severe sentence in 2019 and was held in the notorious Evin prison. (*As a personal note I was in Tehran in 2003
with a Canadian parliamentary delegation when relations with Iran were very
fraught after the death of Canadian dual citizen Zahra Kazemi in that prison.
For more and updated information on Nasrin see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasrin_Sotoudeh)
For this film the footage inside Iran had to be obtained through clandestine
means. There’s also a scene from acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s Taxi
in which Nasrin appears as a passenger. Together with other human rights
activists like Nobel prize winner Shirin Ebadi, Nasrin’s witness draws
attention to the continuing gross violations of human rights taking place in
Iran. Nasrin is also a truly remarkable
subject. One hopes the premise behind
this film is correct, that: “Art is the best way to take on tyranny.” The world needs more Nasrins.
My
Octopus Teacher (South Africa, 2020, Netflix) A
This
terrific documentary directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed follows the
unusual relationship that develops between a free diver Craig Foster (also a
filmmaker in his own right) and a friendly-curious female octopus in its ocean
surroundings. What the film communicates effectively, perhaps as much as any
David Attenborough documentary, is the respectful connection that humans should
feel towards our fellow creatures and the life on this singular planet we
share.
Spoor
(Poland/Germany/Czech
Republic/Sweden/Slovakia/France 2017, video on demand) B+
It’s
taken a few years for this strange drama from Polish director Agnieszka Holland
(awarded a “silver bear” at the 2017 Berlin film festival) to become available
in North America. An indication of the
dark weirdness is the title of the source material—the book Drive Your Plow
over the Bones of the Dead. The main character is an older woman Duszjeko
whose two dogs she calls “daughters” become victims of local hunters, some of
whom then start turning up dead. An
animal defender, she also attracts several human male companions. The atmosphere is a gothic brew of bizarre
elements that include astrology, traditional Catholicism (a church is set on
fire and a priest dies), and eco-revenge motivations. In the apt description of an Indiewire review,
be prepared for a “subversive animal rights horror-thriller”.
True
Mothers (Japan 2020) B
Directed
by Naomi Kawase, this intimate drama that was a selection of the 2020 Toronto
film festival is Japan’s official entry to the Oscar best international feature
competition. The birth mother is a
teenager named Hikari, pregnant at age 14, who goes to a facility “Baby Baton”
that also provides adoption services. The
other main characters are a middle-class couple, Satoko and wife Kiyokazu, who
unable to conceive are keen to adopt. They become the doting parents of
Hikari’s infant son Asato. But
complications arise when Hikari has a change of heart and goes to the couple
asking for the return of her son. It is
affecting but the drawn-out length (140 minutes) drains some of the intensity.
Dara of Jasenovac (Serbia
2020, to be released February 5) A-
Directed
by Predrag Antonijevic, this is Serbia’s submission to the Oscar international
feature competition. We still need
Holocaust dramas like this to be reminded of the danger of mass atrocities when
populations submit to totalitarian rule.
(I note as well that Slovakia’s Oscar entry is The Auschwitz Report). Drawing on survivor testimonies, this is the
first film to be made about the Jasenovac concentration camp in Croatia, known
as the “Balkan Auschwitz”, created when a formerly far-right terrorist
organization, the ‘Ustaše’, established a puppet regime allied with the German
Third Reich and carried out racial genocide against Serbian Slavs as well as Jews
and Roma. Dara is a 10-year old girl who tries to survive the camp with her
baby brother. She bears witness to searing scenes as the captors normalize
sadism and savagery. (That the latter include several nuns points to a shameful
degree of collaboration by the Roman Catholic Church.) While beyond the scope of this film to
consider, we know that the fascist menace didn’t disappear from Croatian
society and that victims can become oppressors.
History’s tragedies are sometimes repeated as in the Balkan civil wars
of the 1990s when it was Serbian leaders responsible for crimes against
humanity including genocide.
Comments
Post a Comment