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Film Review: THE GOLDFINCH (USA 2019)

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The Goldfinch Poster
Trailer

A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy Upper East Side family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Director:

John Crowley

Writers:

Peter Straughan (screenplay by), Donna Tartt (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Oakes Fegley, Ansel Elgort, Nicole Kidman

Based on the Pulitzer Price Winning book by Donna Tartte, one wishes the film would contain a more solid and credible story, but what transpires onscreen is mired by two glaring flaws (two incidents that are totally inconceivable that they destroy the entire film.

John Crowley directs with the same care and over-caution as he did in his last BROOKLYN but goes off with the pacing.  For a crime caper, the film moves more like his BROOKLYN romance drama.

Decker (Ansel Elgort) was only 13 when his mother died in a museum bombing, sending him on an odyssey of grief and guilt, reinvention and redemption. Through it all, he holds on to one tangible piece of hope from that terrible day: a priceless painting of a bird chained to its perch, The Goldfinch – that he had kept from the bombing.

The film is a coming-of-age tale with criminal plots, personal secrets, and the transformative power of art thrown into the story.

The film opens with the mysterious and introverted Theodore Decker (Elgort) holed up in an Amsterdam hotel, desperate and facing a lethal threat.  His story since childhood then unfolds in layers of rash decisions and sudden betrayals.  Young Theo (Oakes Fegley) saw his privileged life with his mother shattered one day on a visit to an art museum.   In the aftermath of an attack among the masterpieces, one priceless 17th-century oil painting goes missing. What happened to the The Goldfinch? And how will its disappearance follow Theo across America throughout his whole youth and on to his Dutch hideout?  Clues are provided to the audience and it does not take a genius to put two and two together that Decker has the painting.

The two coincidental plot flaws are:

  • the coincidental re-meeting of Theo and Boris as adults in a bar out of the blue in NYC.  Just how many bars are there in NYC and how big is the city?  And the timing?
  • the over tidy Hollywood-Style happy ending where all comes too neatly in place to bring the film to a conclusion

Elgort is perfect in the role, showing both the charm and darker shadows that have marked his best work. Kidman is as compelling as ever in every frame. And a stellar cast of actors — Finn Wolfhard, Jeffrey Wright, Sarah Paulson, Luke Wilson — turn up as characters who further complicate Theo’s jagged path.

The big plus of the film is that Goldfinch was shot by the legendary, Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, who gives it a polish appropriate to its high-stakes, high-crime story. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcG06hZooHM

Film Review: DOWNTON ABBEY (UK 2019) ***

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Downton Abbey Poster
The continuing story of the Crawley family, wealthy owners of a large estate in the English countryside in the early 20th century.

Director:

Michael Engler

Writers:

Julian Fellowes (characters), Julian Fellowes (screenplay by)

Stars:

Matthew Goode, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery

DOWNTON ABBEY is a British historical period drama/comedy written by Julian Fellowes and directed by Michael Engler.  It is a continuation of the television series of the same name, created by Fellowes, that ran on ITV from 2010 to 2015.  Much of the original cast returns, including Hugh Bonneville, Jim Carter, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton.   If nothing is known of this series, all is not lost.  The film stands on its own.  However, for those familiar and for those with a keen admiration for the series, a lot of nostalgia will be in place.

DOWNTON ABBEY works as the kind of pompous British fare that common audiences (like myself) like to look up to and to admire the British wealthy and royalty.  

The film is set in the fictional Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey in 1927, where it depicts the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants in the post-Edwardian era—with the great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy. 

TV series transitioned to film need a particular special event.  For the majority of TV series transitioned to film, a vacation abroad seems the most common excuse to warrant a full length feature film outing, examples being MUNSTER, GO HOME, HOLIDAY ON THE BUSES, KEVIN AND PERRY GO LARGE and most recently, ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS.  The excuse here for DOWNTON ABBEY is a royal visit to Downton Abbey by King George V and Queen Mary.

The film is grounded by the main plot of the King’s visit and the extensive preparations that go with the visit.  This main plot is not sufficient to hold the entire movie and several subplots are quite obviously inserted to support the story.  Among them are the gay exploits of the butler as he grows brave enough to eventually find romance in the times when gays were outlawed, the abuse of the Abbey household at the hands of the over-prude royal staff, the attempted assassination of the King, the quarrel of the Smith and Wilton characters and of course, some romance thrown in for good measure.  All work quite well just as the cooperation of the DOWTON ABBEY staff.

Academy Award Winner, Maggie Smith (way back when from THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE) is given the script’s best comical punch lines and thus steals the show.  The apt supporting cast do not fare much badly either.

This reviewer who sees more than 350 films annually with no time left for television, has not seen a single episode on TV, so take this review with a grain of salt.  However, a fellow film critic who is a total fan of the series was pleasantly pleased with the full length feature.  DOWNTON ABBEY is a pleasant enough feature on the TV series and with some luck, should win over a few converts as well.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu3mP0c51hE

Film Review: FREAKS (USA 2018) ***

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Freaks Poster
Trailer

A bold girl discovers a bizarre, threatening, and mysterious new world beyond her front door after she escapes her father’s protective and paranoid control.

Directors:

Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein

Writers:

Zach Lipovsky, Adam B. Stein

Stars:

Emile Hirsch, Bruce Dern, Lexy Kolker

FREAKS, which premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival features an impressive low budget dystopian apocalyptic scenario that though runs into familiar territory.  Still, it has a unique feel to it.  The film looks good in its production values.  Writer/directors Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky craft a creepy tale that keeps the audience guessing what is happening especially in the first half.

Everyone loves a good thriller, especially when one knows literally nothing about the plot.  FREAKS is that thriller provided you have not read anything about it.

The film opens on the insides of a dilapidated house where a man (Emile Hirsch) and a daughter (Lexy Kolker) reside away from anyone else.  This immediately brings the recent dystopian father and daughter drama LIGHT OF MY LIFE which Casey Affleck starred and directed where the father and daughter live on their own away from strangers after some plaque has destroyed most of the females in the world.  But nothing is initially stated at the starting of FREAKS except of what one hears from the father.

Chloe’s father (Hirsch) prevents her from leaving their dilapidated house or from even looking outside their board-up windows. It is not clear if there are actual dangers outside, as “Dad” believes, or if there is something psychologically wrong with him.  This is where the film works really well.  There is an image on the television with the words: “Drone targets house in Seattle”.  What does this all mean and why is dad warning Chloe of evil men outside.

It is right after the father returns from getting supplies that he gets wounded and passes out.  Chloe escapes through the front door to meet a strange Mr. Snowcone (Bruce Dern) who entices her with a chocolate ice-cream cone.

When the elderly Mr. Snowcone takes Chloe to the park, he scare hers by pushing her too high on the swing.  When a cop arrives, it turns out that she can make the cop go away by her sheer will.  Nothing is what it seems and the film takes a brilliantly chilling turn.

At this point, one can hope that the film gets better as the script also written by the two directors have put in many odd set pieces in the first 30 minutes that need to be explained.  For one, Chloe is locked up in the closet where she meets her apparent sister.  The people outside the house seem to know Chloe’s name and Chloe’s mother, though the audience have no knowledge  where or who Chloe mother is.  The neighbour appears to resemble the mother too.

It is right at the half way mark that everything is explained.  The film turns into action mode and this is where the film turns less interesting once the mystery is revealed. 

To the directors’ credit, they still keep a few surprises of the story for the second half, which though not as absorbing as the first half still makes not a bad sci-fi thriller.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qdr8sbhz30

Film Review: IT CHAPTER 2 (USA 2019) ***

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It Chapter Two Poster
Trailer

Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.

Director:

Andy Muschietti

Writers:

Gary Dauberman (screenplay by), Stephen King (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader

It takes close to 3 hours for 7 adult-children to take down the killer clown Pennywise.  

If you can stomach that together with more gore, loud noise and other excessiveness, then IT CHAPTER 2 might be a treat.  Director Andy Muschietti who helmed the first IT returns tothe director’s chair providing more of the formula that works in the original movie.  

(Reviewer’s note: I sat next to a lady that kept texting throughout the film, which was so annoying that I had to say something.  Worse of all, she was a Warner Bros. publicity employee, which made matters worse.  This is something that is way beyond my understanding why she, of all people would be doing the no-no! This might be a reason I had little tolerance for annoyance in the film).

The film opens with the 8 original children played by Jaeden Martell, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Wyatt Oleff as the younger Losers reprising their roles.  They had left the town of Derry after destroying the evil of Pennyswise but they swear to come back to the town if the evil re-appears.

The evil re-appears.  This is right after a brutal gay bashing (one of the victims is played by Quebec gay director Xavier Dolan).  This segment is the most horrific of all the horror segments put together and makes a  good clear the message regarding the gay cause.  But the segment is unclear as to the story’s significance.  Did the deed bring back the evil or the evil bring about the bashing?

The film moves forward to the year 2016, 27 years after the events depicted in the first film.  Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgard) returns to create havoc in the town.  The film traces each of the children (now grown ups), leaving their current place of dwelling to return to their childhood town to take down Pennywise.  Each grown up still behave like children.  They hilariously meet at a Chinese restaurant where their fortune cookies turn into little monstrous creatures.  The adults are portrayed by a competent cast comprising James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, and Andy Bean.

At its worst, the script by Gary Dauberman contains inane dialogue which makes no sense like: “We are what we forget…”.  with lots of opportunities for car crashes and puke jokes (the Bill Hader character pukes no less than three times in the film).  The film has impressive horror set-pieces such as: the creatures from the fortune cookies; the attacking spider with the human head;  the monster corpse having from the railings and more but often than not, these are not really connected to the story.  If one is a huge fan of horror or if one consumes a bit of weed before or during the show, it does not matter and the film should be a delicious delight.

IT CHAPTER 2 is the only new big Hollywood film opening these few weeks usually a slow time while the Toronto International Film takes place.  With little competition and a huge fan base, IT CHAPTER 2 should scare up a hefty sum at the box-office.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhJ5P7Up3jA

Film Review: TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID (Mexico 2016) ***

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Tigers Are Not Afraid Poster
A dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war.

Director:

Issa López

Writer:

Issa López

Stars:

Paola Lara, Juan Ramón López, Hanssel Casillas |

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID is a Mexican supernatural fairy tale horror fantasy thriller that comes with the stamp of approval of Mexican horror Master Guillermo del Toro.  It is easy to figure the reason.  TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID bears many traits and look of his early films like PAN’S LABYRINTH, CRONOS, THE DEVIL’S BACKONE and THE SHAPE OF WATER.   Besides the look of CRONOS, TIGERS bears a young female protagonist as in PAN’S LABYRINTH stuck in a horror fantasy.  Again the protagonist has to outsmart the authorities as in THE SHAPE OF WATER to escape certain danger.

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID has a beautifully dark setting of a coastal Mexican town where drug cartels battle that results in many orphaned children. As Mexico is famous for its many festivals of the dead, the orphaned children rise from the dead seeking revenge from the bad drug people who caused their deaths.  One of the dead happens to the the protagonist’s mother, who Estrella wants to be re-untied with.  But as they say, be careful of what you wish for.  The mother materializes as a ghastly corpse commanding her daughter, Estrella to bring the dreaded corrupt official to the labyrinth of tunnels where the dead are buried so that they can kill him in revenge.

Poor Estrella.  Not only is she orphaned but is ostracized by the largely male group of boys who run around her old residence like a gang.  It is in a male world that the filmmakers and the female director Issa Lopez weave a tale where the female gender rises above the males.  The protagonist is female who has to prove her worth to the boys.  The ghost is female too, the mother who has a big impact on the story.  The story could also be told with he genders switched but the story this way has more dynamic impact.

The story also serves as a coming-of-age tale of Estrella who grows up to be a fine woman.  Her character is also not perfect, she having to lie in order to get ahead.

Director Lopez’s script cleverly blends the fairy tale element into the story.  Estrella is doing an exercise in school of writing ones own fairy tale when a shootout occurs.  Her teacher gives her 3 pieces of chalk granting her 3 fairy tale wishes, which she uses.  As most fairy tales have a dark element, so does the Estrella’s tale, taking an especially dark side she never imagined.

Director Lopez’s film is rich in period atmosphere (2006) and she creates a sold horror piece.  But this being her first feature, TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID is linear – one straight story told in a grim setting.  With experience, her films will be more layered (as in the del Toro films) with more unexpected turns and twists with the setting playing a greater impact and influence on the story.

TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID is currently playing at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLKT0gML-oc

2019 TIFF Film Review: THE MONEYCHANGER

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The Moneychanger Poster
Trailer

Director:

Federico Veiroj

Writers:

Arauco Hernández Holz, Martín Mauregui |

Stars:

Dolores Fonzi, Benjamín Vicuña, Daniel Hendler

THE MONEYCHANGER, based on the novel of the same name by Juan Enrique Gruber begins with a scene of Jesus in Biblical times overturning the tables of the moneychangers at the market place with the voiceover underscoring the evil of men be derived from the deed of moneychangers.  

The film setting is 1970s Uruguay (beautifully shot) centred on Humberto Brause (Daniel Hendler), who furiously throws himself into the buying and selling of currency, a rapacious endeavour supported by his father-in-law, a veteran in the business of capital flight.  He learns and become expert at this business, controlling everything except his unflappable, tough-as-nails wife, Gudrun (Dolores Fonzi). 

 Trouble arrives when he launders the largest sum of money he has ever seen.  Director Veiroj tells his tale in a deadpan style emphasizing each incident with increasing oddness.   At the end of it all, Brause questions his wife if she loves him when she offers a reply that is equally deadpan.  An intriguing and gripping tale.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN0uTlynHYI

2019 TIFF Film Review: 37 SECONDS (USA/Japan 2019)

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37 Seconds Poster
Trailer

Yuma is a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, she struggles to lead a self-determined life.

Director:

Hikari

Writer:

Hikari

Stars:

Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Shôhei Uno, Shizuka Ishibashi

37 SECONDS without breathing at birth has caused the now 23 year old Yuma (Mei Kayama) to have developed cerebral palsy.  Now, the physically restricted 23-year-old, wheelchair bound Yuma is over-pampered by her mother (Misuzu Kanno) while working drawing manga for Sayaka (Minori Hagiwara), who passes Yuma’s work as her own. 

 Director Hikaru traces the steps taken by Yuma, with the help of an assortment of friends in the sex industry, gain her independence from her mother and work while discovering sex and other pleasures (like getting pissed).  Yuma also discovers through her uncle that she has a missing twin sister teaching in Thailand.  

Director Hikaru’s film on harsh reality is given the fantasy treatment while blending manga and pop which just does not work.  The audience is to believe that this wheelchair bound girl can fly to Thailand on a whim to meet up with her twin sister with her Japanese friend who suddenly is able to speak Thai.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jyOHL_zgu4

2019 TIFF Film Review: INCITEMENT (Israel 2019) ***1/2

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Incitement Poster
Details the year leading to the assassination of Israel’s Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin (1922-1995), from the point of view of the assassin.

Director:

Yaron Zilberman

Writers:

Ron Leshem, Yaron Zilberman

Stars:

Yehuda Nahari Halevi, Amitai Yaish, Anat Ravnitzki |

INCITEMENT is a rigorous psychological thriller by American-Israeli director Yaron Zilberman that leads up to the 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin through the worldview of his assassin, Yigal Amir (Yehuda Nahari Halevi).  Yigal is an ultranationalist, right-wing Zionist who opposed the leader’s signing of the Oslo Accords.  Zilberman includes lots of newsreel footage to add authenticity to the story.   

Rabin’s murder is held to be a definitive — and infamous — moment in the struggling peace process with Palestinians and also in Israel’s charged history.   The film is entitled INCITEMENT because the film concentrates on Yigal’s motivations (arising from family, friends and protestors) that led to Rabin’s death.  Unlike other films about assassins like THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, INCITEMENT is based on true facts. 

 Director Zilberman has crafted a truly disturbing and chilling period piece while emphasizing the fact that there is no easy solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict.

Trailer: https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/evideos.php?movie_id=543486

Film Review: BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON (USA 2019) ***

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Brittany Runs a Marathon Poster
Trailer

A woman living in New York takes control of her life- one block at a time.

Director:

Paul Downs Colaizzo

Writer:

Paul Downs Colaizzo

Stars:

Jillian Bell, Jennifer Dundas, Patch Darragh

The easy going sounding title captures the easy going spirit of the new inspirational comedy BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON where he protagonist Brittany does run a marathon.

The film has a cliched plot – a sort of romantic comedy type in which through an overweight is shown that beauty is not alway on the outside and that she can win romance while getting the message across.  The plot comes complete with the typical best gay friend.  The good thing about it is that director Colazzo still manages to steer his movie out of these cliched traps into something unexpected while still squeezing some surprise while at it.  This is what make BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON stand out and end up so entertaining.

The story concerns Brittany Forgler (Jamie Bell), a hilarious, friendly, hot mess of a New Yorker who always knows how to have a good time,.  A 27, her late-night adventures and early-morning walks-of-shame are starting to catch up to her. When she stops by a Yelp-recommended doctor’s office in an attempt to score some Adderall (the film contains drug use), she finds herself slapped with a prescription she never wanted.  Forced to face reality for the first time in a long time, Brittany laces up her Converse and runs one sweaty block. The next day, she runs two. Soon she runs a mile. Brittany finally has direction–but is she on the right path?

The film would not work if it had not been for its lead actress Jamie Bell who plays Brittany.  Besides charmin her audience, she is totally believable in her role.  The actress reportedly lost 40 pounds as the film progressed and it shows on screen.  She manages to hook up with two extremely hot guys as well, particularly her short-term one that she dumps out of insecurity.  

The film also demonstrates the work both physically and emotionally that goes into the preparation of running a marathon.  And running well as well as completing the marathon are two different things.  Brittany is shown almost to give it up as she endures physical deterioration due to exhaustion. 

The film also pokes fun at social mores of the city be it NYC or any other city.   When told of the fees of joining a gym, she correctly states that one can run outside for free instead of paying to run inside on a track.  She finally joins a gym in the end, though, which is what most city dwellers do after running outside for a time – myself included.

As Brittany’s physical appearance changes, so does the emotional.  The script shows two emotional outbursts – one good one bad.  The bad one has her lash out at an overweight friend at a party to the shock of all those around her.  She is totally wrong but the script lets her go off easy.  The other has her, deservedly telling off her Asian roommate, for treating her as a convenient fat best friend.

For those unconfident of their body weight, BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON offers a reality check as well a the necessary dose of inspiration that goes with it.  Having a few laughs while watching the film is an additional bonus.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks_HSj1UqKI

2019 TIFF Film Review: THE AUDITION (Das Vorspiel) (GERMANY/FRANCE 2019) ****

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The Audition Poster

Director:

Ina Weisse

Writer:

Daphne Charizani (screenplay)

Stars:

Nina Hoss, Simon Abkarian, Jens Albinus

An intense study of how obsession can not only destroy the person concerned but those around the person.  A stern, particular violin teacher, Anna (Nina Hoss) becomes fixated on the success of one of her pupils at the expense of her family life,  from acclaimed German actor Ina Weisse who co-wrote the script with Daphné Charizan.  

 It all starts at the school’s annual entrance exam, and despite the opposition of the other teachers, Anna promotes the admission of Alexander (Ilja Monti), a boy in whom she detects a remarkable talent.  Her relationship with Philippe (Simon Abkarian), her charming, violinmaking French husband, with whom she has a 10-year-old son Jonas (Serafin Mishiev), is in slow decline.  

Besides the brilliantly acted drama, the violin concertos are extremely well orchestrated.  Hoss carries the film just as well as a violin virtuoso captures an audience.  Director Weisse steers the intensity a terrifying climax.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCGuMKbrASw