Archive for category: Reviews

A portrait of the (superhero) artist as a young man, set in 1980 Queens instead of 1914 Dublin. Our hero is likable but not commendable, and the one we feel sympathy for is his Black friend, Johnny Davis. Paul’s family, notably Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong don’t mesh, but maybe that’s the way Paul saw them. Anthony Hopkins, as his saintly grandfather, is a bit predictable. I feel a little sorry for this great actor who is now reduced to playing old men who are dying or have dementia. This movie is a snapshot in time, not quite a bildungsroman; and if there’s a moral, it’s that to get ahead in life, a) you shouldn’t be Black and b) it helps if Fred Trump is your father.

There is little in the way of dramatic arc or suspense in this documentary about the discovery of the last slave ship in Mobile Bay in 2020. Rather, the film should be seen as a portrait of the community of descendants from that ship’s cargo still living in the Africatown district of Mobile. The film is provocative, whether intentional or not, in exploring the expectations of the descendants: their desires to get relief from the surrounding chemical plants, or reparations, or even apology or acknowledgement from the descendants of the ship owner. Most interesting to me was the fact of this community of descendants from slaves who were brought over illegally in 1860, and were slaves for only five years before they were emancipated.

The setting: how many dramas are set in and around a symphony orchestra?
The dialogue: starts as a New Yorker interview and remains at that lofty level.
The acting: Cate Blanchett is a lock for an Oscar nod, and the great German actress Nina Hoss (Barbara, Phoenix) is just as good in a subtler featured role.
The directing: Todd Field’s stamp is all over the film, predominantly shot in close-up with lots of negative space in a wide-screen format, and I can’t even remember if it’s in color or black-and-white.
The score: in a movie about a conductor, there is zero background music, making the orchestral bits stand out.
The story: Even the most guarded review unfortunately gives away the ending; so the suspense is how it happens, not what. The ending: Whaaa? It’s a close call as to which goes furthest off the rails, Lydia Tar or the movie she’s in. In sum: powerful and gripping, but unresolved and frustrating.

A charitable view sees this as a Marvel super-hero tale, ignoring the “inspired by true events” prologue, for there is not a believable action or bit of dialogue in the entire film. The battles are bloody and one-sided and the moral message is simplistic: “palm oil good, slavery bad.” A mature Viola Davis is rather a stretch as the Kirk Douglas/Chris Hemsworth figure, but two of her lieutenants are more appealing, and John Boyega does what he can in this orgy of Black woman triumphalism.