Skip to main content

New March Movies Post


Who knows what’s next as the viral panic spreads?  It may increase the popularity of streaming services that can be enjoyed safely in home isolation.  From among what’s available I highly recommend the phenomenal third season of the Netflix German series Babylon Berlin.  I got so hooked I ended up binge watching through the 12 episodes into the wee hours.  Major movie releases are already being postponed, among these the 25th James Bond epic which was the cover of the March/April Cineplex magazine, carrying the rather unfortunate title “No Time to Die”.  You’ll have to wait for to see 007 again until November, if we all survive till then.  Sorry for the gallows humour. However at my most recent multiplex visit the noisy trailers for coming releases all seemed to have a horror angle … dystopia sells apparently.  Just as long as it stays on the screen!  Below I review three films starting with an updated and fuller commentary on one of my best of last year.  Read on.
Corpus Christi (Poland/France 2019 https://www.filmmovement.com/corpus-christi)
[updated March 9]
It’s taken several full viewings of this remarkable film—among my 10 best films of 2019 and an Oscar nominee for best international feature—to fully appreciate its depths. Director Jan Jomasa’s third feature draws inspiration from actual instances of priestly impersonation in Poland, which doesn’t lessen its unusual moral force. We are introduced to the central character, a young man Daniel (Bartosz Bielenia who gives an exceptional performance), through the hard knocks of a juvenile detention centre.  Daniel assists the prison chaplain Fr. Tomasz at mass who tells the inmates: “Each one of us is the priest of Christ”.  That connects with Daniel although he knows that his criminal record rules out admittance to a seminary. How to hold on to the spiritual side he feels? When released on parole, Daniel first lets off steam, indulging sins of the flesh. For a lark he dresses up in clerical garb with a Roman collar. The impulse takes a serious turn after he’s sent to the workshop of a country sawmill and before reporting enters the nearby town’s church.  There he meets the daughter of the parish priest’s housekeeper and seizes an opportunity to be a “priest”, telling her that more important than where you come from is where you are going.  Claiming to be a recent graduate from the seminary, Daniel takes the identity of “Father Tomasz” and quietly becomes a temporary replacement for the aging and ailing pastor. With that comes the challenge of addressing the parish’s burden of suffering and ill will resulting from a trauma that is still raw; its focal point a memorial to a group of young people killed in a head-on collision.  Among the dead, the housekeeper’s son, and brother to the young woman who never attended his funeral.  The townsfolk blame the accident on a lone older driver, refusing him burial rites and ostracizing his widow. With layers of hurt to be overcome, Daniel rises to a pastoral role. Even if he has to “google” how to perform certain functions, he somehow finds the right words to express the struggle and hope of faith, in doing so ministering to a grieving, troubled, and divided flock. It’s as if by divine intervention his spiritual needs and theirs overlap.  As director Komasa puts it: “For Daniel, spiritual guidance is the only pure thing left in his life. I see his actions as a desperate attempt to tell the world what he would do if he were given a second chance.”
That’s not the end of the story of course. To its credit the movie doesn’t leave us with some improbably blissful outcome.  Things start to unravel when the mayor who also owns the sawmill invites Daniel to bless a new wing before the feast of Corpus Christi. That leads to a blackmail attempt in the confessional and a dramatic confession from the altar. There’s more to follow. Daniel hasn’t taken any vows and the real Fr. Tomasz arrives. Daniel returns to a violent reality. But not before leading the Corpus Christi procession; not before becoming an instrument for effecting forgiveness and reconciliation. Beyond the penance that befalls him, that is blessing enough.  A+
This latest screen version of the eponymous 1815 Jane Austen novel, directed by photographer Autumn de Wilde, certainly dresses up in the costumes of the period’s mostly idle landed gentry as they swan about their great houses and contemplate marriageable matches.  Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy), in frilly frocks and ringlets, is a sweet young thing described as “handsome, clever, and rich”.  The main worry of her doddering dad (Bill Nighy) seems to be catching a chill.  Emma will eventually fall for the dashing George Knightley (Johnny Flynn), exuding confidence while generously easing the romantic troubles of comparatively homely Harriet (Mia Goth).  The necessary religious rituals are provided by a milquetoast simpering Church of England vicar Mr. Elton (Josh O’Connor) who acquires a bride almost as annoying.  Watching this feckless, foppish and often frivolously indulgent affair, one wonders how Britannia ever “ruled the waves”.  As an aside, O’Connor has more to work with in the role of the hapless Prince Charles in the new season of the Netflix series “The Crown”.  And he was brilliant in the 2017 drama God’s Own Country as a young farmer into gay rough sex.  The Emma cast also includes several of the actors who play much edgier sexually fluid (or hormonally confused?) teenage roles in another Netflix series “Sex Education”.   Perish the thought.  This Emma is all very proper, and also it must be said, a bit of a bore.  B- 
The Way Back (U.S. 2020 http://www.thewaybackmovie.net/)
Directed by Gavin O’Connor, this is another sports redemption story, so you know the drill.  The central character is Jack Cunningham who works construction, is separated from his wife, and is a regular boozer.  The role is played by Ben Affleck who’s had personal experience with celebrity addiction and rehab, so that part’s maybe not a stretch.  Jack was also a star basketball player back in the day at his Catholic Bishop Hayes high school and, despite a night of drunken negativity, is enticed back to take over as substitute coach of its current team.  It isn’t a surprise that the team will go from being losers to contenders. (America’s school sports mania is on full display.) Jack gets a talking to from the team’s priest chaplain about swearing, and from the assistant coach about leaving empty beer cans. A couple individual player issues add minor wrinkles to the team’s transformation.  Add in a child cancer death, sorrowful tinkly piano music, and a slo-mo pivotal game sequence to boost the melodrama. I’m not sure Jack was ever on the wagon but there’s bound to be a cathartic episode as well.  So this Ben is “back”.  Will he make it? Will they make it?  Is the Pope Catholic?  C+   



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

First New Year Movies Post

First, a few comments on the 77 th “Golden Globes”.   Netflix had no less than three of the five nominees in the major category of best dramatic feature— The Irishman , Marriage Story , and The Two Popes .   Yet these collectively scored only one minor win—Laura Dern in a supporting category for Marriage Story .   (I still expect all three to be in the running for the Oscar best picture nominations to be announced January 13.)   The biggest surprise was the big-screen epic 1917 taking the top award of best drama as well as best director for Sam Mendes, giving it an undeniable boost ahead of a January 10 North American wide release.   Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood took three Globes including for best musical or comedy.   When it comes to movie awards, the streaming services have yet to catch up to these made-for-theatrical-release features.   Series are another matter as streaming increasingly dominates.   I was glad to see Olivia Colman win for her superb portrayal of Queen Eliza

New Year Post: Best Movies of 2019 and Best Movies of the Decade

The Ten Best Movies of 2019 Below are very brief descriptions of my favorite films of this past year. Most have been the subject of longer reviews.   For reference to these I have indicated both the blog post dates and the page number(s) in the 2019 collected reviews document.   I have also added a list of a dozen documentaries that most impressed, with information links and review dates and page numbers if applicable.   Parasite South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s savage satire of his society’s class divides earned the Cannes film festival’s top prize Palme d’Or and should be the favorite for the best international feature film (previously best foreign-language film) Oscar to be announced February 9.   Don’t be surprised if it also makes it into the main best picture category, nominations for which will be announced on January 13.   (Reviewed 30 October, p. 67) The Two Popes Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles’ insightful imagining of this unusual relationship features

The Holiday Edition: New Views from the Big Screen to Home Viewing

The Holiday Edition: New Views from the Big Screen to Home Streaming 27 December 2021 Recently in a Cineplex theatre I went to see Guillermo del Toro’s carnivalesque Nightmare Alley (B) which has tons of psycho-noirish atmosphere over its 150 minutes. It’s definitely lacking the Christmas spirit so be warned.   (I had somewhat of a nightmarish time after as I got stranded with car engine failure.) In “Alley” Willem Dafoe has a small role as a creepy carny. That evening the “Crave” channel featured Dafoe in the lead role as a tormented soul in Abel Ferrara’s nightmarish 2019 psychodrama Siberia (C).    If anything, it’s even more grotesque and ghastly.   So bring on the heartwarming holiday favorites! As usual there is a vast amount of content being added to streaming platforms. Netflix seems to add another series almost every day. Worth checking out is the four-episode docuseries Animal (A) that starts with the predatory world of big cats.   And speaking of large cats and the murde