Authors Posts by Jeffrey Sanzel

Jeffrey Sanzel

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Gabriel Afolayan in the role of Kossi the Bear in a scene from the film. Photo from FilmOne

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Released in 2019 and now available on Amazon Prime, Coming from Insanity is the true story of Kossi the Bear, the notorious currency counterfeiter. 

The film was much anticipated and is considered a major addition to the Nollywood film world. (The controversial term “Nollywood” was coined in the early 2000s, traced to several possible New York Times’ origins. While there are several meanings, it most specifically refers to the film-making activity in Lagos, Nigeria.)

In 1995, Kossi, age twelve, was trafficked from Togo to Lagos, a common fate for thousands of children. The majority of these victims became servants, with approximately one percent involved in criminal activity. Sold into domestic slavery by his parents, Kossi serves as a house boy for the Martins, whose treatment ranges from disinterestedly kind to emotionally brutal. The film quickly jumps fifteen years to his ejection from the house. The family gives him severance and a plane ticket back to Togo, where he knows no one and has no connections.

Instead of returning to his birthplace, he embarks on a career as a counterfeiter. His obsession with making money leads him to the actual concept of “making money.” He masters the ability to create almost undetectably realistic American one hundred dollar bills. He sets up shop in a well-appointed apartment with three ragtag assistants and begins to produce huge quantities of the faux cash. At the same time, they begin living the high life, with drinking and clubs and partying of all sorts. Eventually, they run afoul of both Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and a dangerous and violent band of illegal moneychangers.  

After the extended exposition, the simple plot kicks into high gear. The characters are fairly broad sketches, with the most depth reserved for Gabriel Afolayan’s Kossi, whose focus and genius contrast with immaturity and an almost painful innocence. Watching him try to find the right paper for printing the false bills is one of the stronger stretches in the film’s earlier parts. “Practice makes good,” he states. “Obsession makes perfect.” And yet, his limited life experience leads him into cavalier and, ultimately, deadly choices. His passion for Sonia, whom he calls Mama Bear, is more high school crush than an adult connection.

Most of the actors have been given one tonal quality, but they make the most of this. Udoka Oyeka’s Detective Toye is described as being brilliant but having a personal life on-the-rocks. The latter is only revealed through him occasionally drinking from a hip flask; it is more indicating than inherent. But he has an ease and clarity that reads strongly in his drive to bring down the counterfeiters. 

Adeolu Adefarasin is gentle and wise as an older house boy who comes along and is often the voice of logic and wisdom. Entering later in the film, Bolanle Ninalowo brings depth to the bouncer-turned-bodyguard Rocky. Sharon Ooja, as Sonia, the object of Kossi’s affection, manages to balance the mercenary with the kind. Odunlade Adekola has a brief but memorable scene as a loquaciously aggressive cab driver. As a whole, the cast does its best, but the film leans towards plot rather than character-centric.

Writer-editor Akinyemi Sebastian Akinropo makes his directorial debut with this feel which feels like a sketch for a more complicated and deeper exploration of the topic in some ways. 

While it has the feeling of a low-budget film and multiple plot holes must be overlooked, Akinropo has created an intriguing and entertaining crime thriller; he tells the story with sympathy and humor and a true sense of humanity. The gritty reality juxtaposed with some surprising and almost eccentric touches raise the film above the average. 

Coming from Insanity is a fascinating story told unevenly but with honesty and just enough originality to keep the viewer engaged. The film is rated PG-13.

Above, the remnants of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial from the 6th century are unearthed in a scene from the film.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Perhaps it is odd to explain a film as methodically heartfelt, but that best describes The Dig. Based on the 2007 novel by John Preston and the true story of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo (outside of Woodbridge, in Suffolk, England), the film explores the personalities involved with the undertaking and the quest for the truth. It also addresses both the purist of and the validity of credit.

With a lifelong interest in archeology, widow Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires local Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. Brown, self-taught and self-effacing, first rejects the position because of the amount of money offered — the same small fee that the Ipswich Museum had paid him. It is less about small sums and more about the value that he sees in the work. She immediately relents, raising the salary by 12% to two pounds a week.

Carey Mulligan in a scene from The Dig.

What follows is a painstaking project that leads to an extraordinary discovery. Given Brown’s lack of formal education — he left school at twelve — his initial claims that the mounds are Anglo-Saxon and not Viking are easily dismissed. His uncovering proof of his supposition results in outside interest, first from the Ipswich Museum and then the British Museum. Throughout, Brown is praised for his work and then pushed aside. 

His true champion is Pretty, dealing with a heart-related illness and caring for her son, Robert (Archie Barnes). The young boy is fascinated by the dig but caught up in the skies above. He is obsessed with both the Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilots training nearby and a world of fantasy in the stars. 

Like the work they have undertaken, the film is focused but with a rich and rewarding purpose. Brown digs with shovel and pick and spade; he covers the area in tarps when it rains. He jots in his notebook. Pretty reads of archaeology in her library. Robert plays. It is a film of landscapes, sunrises and sunsets, and slow and purposeful work done with great care as the British nation prepares for war.

Soldiers gather on the roads as the planes become more frequent. The looming war drives an immediacy to finish, but the process and progress cannot be rushed. It is all measured, but it is grounded in the breathing of the world. 

One of the most interesting moments comes when a small shift in the soil buries Brown. His two helpers and the manor staff, along with Pretty, claw in the mud and dirt to get him out. It is a perfect synthesis of tension and cooperation as they resurrect him from a burial site.

A scene from ‘The Dig’

Once it is clear that the unearthed treasures are significant, the battle is over control of the site. Pretty is reluctant to turn it over and brings in her cousin, the untrained Rory Lomax (Johnny Flynn). Lomax’s introduction provides a sliver of romance to the story, as he becomes involved with Peggy Piggott (Lily James), the wife of archaeologist Stuart Piggott (Ben Chaplin). The Piggotts, both respected in their field, are caught in a repressed and possibly sexless marriage. It is a diversion from the main plot that only finds its strength when Lomax is called-up for service

The journey relies on a strong cast and Mike Eley’s lush cinematography. Stefan Gregory’s beautifully melancholy score elegantly punctuates the highs and lows. It soars appropriately but, for the most part, remains as a subtle heartbeat in the background of the action.

Mulligan is luminous is Mrs. Pretty. Both gentle and tightly wound, she bears her pain with great dignity, all for love for her son. Another actor would most likely fall into a maudlin caricature; Mulligan is real, sad, but not without humor. It is a delicate, thoughtful performance, an extraordinary contrast with her bolder, edgier, and dynamically impressive work in the recent Promising Young Woman. 

Fiennes is equally gentle, his simplicity masking a more enigmatic individual. At fifty-eight, there is no trace of his breakout performance as Amon Göth, the Nazi monster of Schindler’s List. His Brown is all softness, bringing deep honesty to a man frayed around the edges but whose center is strong. Mulligan and Fiennes don’t so much spark as join as a single flame. 

Johnny Flynn and Lily James in a scene from the film.

Lily James turns in a small, subtle performance. Unlike her vivacious Lady Rose of Downton Abbey or her energetic Cinderella, this is a delicate, introspective performance. She wears her pain and hope hidden behind large spectacles. 

Monica Dolan is strong as Brown’s supportive and shrewd wife. At first, she comes across as vague and disconnected, but she has a true understanding of who her husband is and, even more importantly, his potential. Flynn’s Lomax is likable but a bit of a cipher. As the British Museum’s Charles Phillips, Ken Stott skirts the blustery; he brings a touch of humanity and wonderment to the final breakthroughs. 

The Dig is not Howard Carter and the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. (And those looking for Brendan Fraser in The Mummy should seek elsewhere.) It is not grand discoveries that make headlines. Director Simon Stone and screenwriter Moira Buffini have worked seamlessly to tell an intimate story that shows how a small discovery can make a big difference, both to the individuals and the world. In the end, The Dig’s moral is not about who finds the answers but that the answers are found.   

Rated PG-13, The Dig is currently streaming on Netflix.

All photos courtesy of Netflix

 

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Carey Mulligan in a scene from the film. Photo from Focus Features

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Writer-director-producer Emerald Fennel makes her feature film debut with the bold and disturbing Promising Young Woman, currently streaming on Amazon. This hybrid of a revenge thriller, psychological drama, and black comedy is one of the most relentless and riveting films of the past year.

Cassandra Thomas (Carey Mulligan) is a friendless thirty-year-old who hates her job and, seemingly, everything in her life. She lives with her parents (Jennifer Coolidge and Clancy Brown) in a home that seems never to have moved on from her adolescence.  Having dropped out of medical school seven years earlier, Cassandra has become the most reluctant and abrasive of baristas. She is absent in her own life to the point that she forgets her thirtieth birthday, revealed in a strangely hilarious and disturbing scene with her parents. Their gift is a suitcase, a less than subtle signal that they want Cassandra to move on or, at least, out.

Unbeknownst to her parents, Cassandra goes to clubs and bars, pretending to be drunk and allowing herself to be taken home by random men. As they are trying to taking advantage of her, she soberly confronts them with their behavior. She keeps track of them in a notebook hidden under her childhood bed.

Cassandra’s life derailed after the rape of her friend Nina by a fellow medical school student, Al Monroe (Chris Lowell). Nina and Cassandra had been friends from childhood, both the “promising young woman” of the title. Nina was both top of her class and a “party girl.” Her claims against Monroe were dismissed both by the other students, including friend Madison (Alison Brie), and the college itself. The case never came to trial due to the machinations of a vicious lawyer. While it is never specifically stated, Nina committed suicide shortly after the incident.

Things shift when a former classmate, Ryan (Bo Burnham), happens into the coffee shop. Now a pediatric doctor, Ryan recognizes Cassandra from school and asks her out. Ryan remains connected to the soon-to-be married Al. Cassandra is awakened to the possibility of real revenge and begins to set things in motion.

At the same time, she realizes that she is developing feelings for Ryan. After a chance encounter and a complication, what ensues is a rom-com with all common elements, including a montage set to a Paris Hilton song, and an uncomfortable meet-the-parents dinner. It is a clever diversion that skillfully boomerangs with the surfacing of a video of the rape. This change in course drives the remainder of the film.

Promising Young Woman is an intentionally messy film. Everything is skewed, from its saturated bright blues and cotton candy pinks to the soundtrack that provides startling commentary. The use of The King & I ballad “Something Wonderful” is hideously memorable. The constant off-centeredness makes for a tense, enthralling ride. The action is wound so tightly that the unraveling is all the more engaging, vacillating between deadly earnest and poisonously funny.

The film’s ensemble is first-rate. While most have only a single scene, there is a focus, detail, and reality in every performance. Coolidge and Brown hit just the right/wrong notes as the exasperated parents, a comic mix of disparity and depth. Gradually, they reveal that they are not as oblivious to their daughter’s struggle. Alison Brie’s Madison becomes the catalyst of a good deal of the later action. Brittle and self-absorbed, she is handily maneuvered during a drunken lunch, one of the ugliest and best-crafted scenes. 

As beau Ryan, Bo Burnham has that aw-shucks quality that masks hidden regrets and responsibilities. His genuine quality makes certain revelations all the more acute. Connie Britton is the dean who refused to validate Nina’s accusations; when the table is turned, Britton’s fears are palpable. Laverne Cox finds her usual easy charm as Cassandra’s boss. Molly Shannon has only the briefest appearance. As Nina’s mother, she tells Cassandra, “Move on, please … for all of us,” as she closes the door. (It is interesting to note that both Coolidge and Shannon are known for their broad comic portrayals; Fennel has drawn out beautifully understated performances.)

Alfred Molina plays Jordan Green, the perpetrator’s lawyer whose guilt over this case and many others like it has driven him to the edge. “On sabbatical” after a psychotic break, he is looking for redemption or at the very least forgiveness. It is an excruciating scene, both unique and resonant. 

But the heartbeat of the film is Mulligan. In her gifted hands, Cassandra is a spectrum of anger, hurt, and wry humor. It is a performance of unusual and awe-inspiring dimension. She finds the damage and the pride, never neglecting the smallest moments or details. She brings out the arch manipulator but does not neglect Cassandra’s underlying desire for some peace. Mulligan’s Cassandra is not so much a puzzle to be assembled but a shattered mirror:  even in its unlikely reconstruction, it is forever scarred and distorted.

Fennel skillfully keeps the violence off-camera until the last possible moment, never resorting to graphic imagery. Instead, the brutality lies in our imaginations. Fennel’s restraint heightens the moment when the visual savagery is unleashed.

Throughout the film, there are the horrifying refrains of “I did nothing wrong” and “boys will be boys” and “we were both drunk.” Fennel eviscerates the blame-the-victim culture. Promising Young Woman is a #MeToo treatise that never references the movement. Instead, it brilliantly tells its story with the darkest of humor and the cut of the sharpest scalpel.

Promising Young Woman is rated R for strong violence, language and drug use.

Author Brian Muff visits the inspiration for his new book on a frosty Jan. 30. Photo by Heidi Sutton

By Jeffrey Sanzel

Brian Muff’s debut novel combines elements of horror with the everyday challenges of being a teenager. Set on Long Island, Lady of the Lake (Thewordverve Inc.) tells of a high school student’s rescue of her boyfriend from the clutches of an angry spirit.

Brian Muff

For the first time in her life, Miley Monroe is feeling good about herself. Having struggled with body image issues, she has managed to find a sense of self. She no longer has braces, her acne has cleared up, glasses have been traded for contact lenses, and, most importantly, she has found the perfect partner in the kind and handsome Braden. 

The novel begins with the couple swimming in Lake Ronkonkoma. In a surge of teenage love (and hormones), she loses her virginity. Following this aquatic tryst, they pay for the moral transgression in a traditionally leaning trope: Braden is dragged under the water by a demonic entity, the figure of a woman with red eyes and a “devilish grin.”

Miley awakens two weeks later having been in a coma. Her parents, and, in particular, her police chief father, believe she was raped by Braden, who has now disappeared to avoid pursuit and prosecution. Of course, her claim that Braden was carried away by a demon from the depths is met with expected incredulity. This is exacerbated by her parents’ dislike of Braden along with their conviction that he was a distraction and a negative force in her life. 

She returns to school where she faces anger on all sides. The students refuse to accept the rumors that her father has circulated about Braden’s assaulting her. There is an interesting Scarlet Letter element that overlaid on the traditional thriller plot. The student body — clearly “Team Braden”— turns against her.  The reaction is a complicated one that raises issues of victims, accusers, and perception. In the midst of this, Miley is emotionally damaged and retreating into herself. With no support, she is living in a place of grief and roiling anger. “Instead of saying ‘Woe’s me,’ Miley was now asking ‘Why me?’”

She unburdens herself to Quentin Maxwell, a geeky, awkward, but well-meaning intellectual. Quentin and his scientist father Quincy are both well-versed with the legend of the Lady of the Lake and believe in “things that go bump in the night.”

‘Lady of the Lake’

It began in 1665 with English settlers colonizing Long Island and interacting with Native American tribes who had been indigenous to the area for thousands of years. The lore swirls around the Ronkonkoma tribe that held the northern side of Lake Ronkonkoma, where Lake Shore Road is today. Quentin relates the ill-fated romance of Princess Tuscawonta and Englishman Hugh Birdsall. The illicit affair ended up with Birdsall’s murder and the Princess’s suicide in the lake where her spirit now seeks revenge by imprisoning hapless males who make the mistake of coming too close.

Miley joins forces with the Maxwells, who formulate a plan which goes incredibly wrong. From this point on, the action accelerates into a blend of body snatching and resurrection, morality versus mortality. There is also just enough of the hint of mad science: “Pandora’s Box transformed into a solved Rubik’s Cube, and the solution’s pathway was illuminated. The answer was all in the DNA.”

In addition to the looming supernatural stresses that are invading both her waking and sleeping existence, Muff gives an added dose of reality with Miley’s pregnancy that further strains her already tenuous home life. This shade of reality contrasts with the more fantastical actions.

Muff’s writing is uncluttered: it is brisk and succinct. He also provides enough detail to flesh out the characters, making Miley a dimensional and honest portrait. He strives to explore interpersonal family dynamics but never loses sight of the driving arc of the narrative. 

For all of the magic and myth, Lady of the Lake is ultimately not about vengeance but reconciliation. It is a tale of love, both for the Lady of the Lake and for Miley.

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A resident of Port Jefferson Station, author Brian Muff’s love of books began when he started reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn aloud to his parents at age five. Throughout his teenage years, Brian developed an interest in writing – specifically scary stories – that would continue to grow as he entered college. After graduating Farmingdale State College as valedictorian and obtaining an MBA from Stony Brook University, he put his career on hold to finish working on Lady of the Lake.

Pick up your copy at Book Revue in Huntington, thewordverve.com, Amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.

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Helena Zengel and Tom Hanks star in the film adaptation of Paulette Jiles's 2016 novel. Photo by Bruce Talamon/Universal Pictures

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Set in 1870, Paulette Jiles’s 2016 novel News of the World is the story of a ten-year-old girl released after four years in captivity. Kiowa raiders had murdered her family, and she had been taken hostage, with the girl raised as one of the tribe. A freedman, entrusted with the girls’ return to her family, turns her over to his acquaintance, seventy-one-year-old Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd. Thus begins Kidd’s journey of reuniting the girl with her only remaining relatives. 

The screenplay, by the film’s director Paul Greengrass, in collaboration with Luke Davies, follows the basic premise. However, in the film, Kidd comes upon an overturned cart. The freedman charged in taking the girl back is hanging from a tree, a victim of a lynching in the still roiling post-Civil War Texas. Kidd attempts to shelter the girl with an army comrade until the Bureau of Indian Affairs representative can deal with the situation. After this fails, he takes it upon himself to see the girl home.

Helena Zengel and Tom Hanks star in the film adaptation of Paulette Jiles’s 2016 novel.
Photo by Bruce Talamon/Universal Pictures

In the novel, Kidd was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. One of the major changes from page to screen is that Kidd is now a guilt-ridden veteran of the Civil War, plagued by what he had seen and what he had done. This shift gives immediacy to the story as well as lowering Kidd’s age to in his 60s. In both book and film, Kidd travels from town to town giving live readings from newspapers, working for nickels and dimes.

The drive of the film is the unlikely pair finding common ground and understanding. The girl, whose given name is Johanna, was given the Kiowa name Cicada. She speaks no English and is almost feral. Having been orphaned twice, she is appropriately wild and untrusting. Throughout their time together, Kidd and Johanna strive to communicate, and a growing understanding arises. Ambivalence gradually gives way to a deep bond.

The narrative becomes a series of encounters, each one bringing them closer together. When three ex-Confederate soldiers offer to buy the girl, it sends the action into high gear. It is a chilling moment.  (It would have been stronger had it not been present in every single promo for the film.) This horrific offer culminates with an extended shootout that is well-staged if a bit too long. What is revealed in this deadly encounter are the girl’s ingenuity and resourcefulness. 

There are further confrontations, including a radical band of militia working to “cleanse” the country from “outsiders.” In addition to keeping the tension high, it shows Kidd’s more liberal and healing view of the world. This element, along with a handful of other moments, are more than a nod towards current political divides.

Tom Hanks is one of American cinema’s most beloved actors. His name is a  guaranteed box office success and, most of the time, critical praise. His career is a roster of exceptional performances — Cast Away, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, and many others. His recent portrayal of Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood showed him at his best. Much like Jimmy Stewart, allowing Hanks’ persona to come through is what has made him an enduring star. It is the ability to see Hanks through whatever role he is playing that gives him uniqueness. Even as the child in a man’s body in the comedy Big, we were aware of Hanks, the actor, and embraced that awareness.

However, with Kidd, something more is required. As the damaged Confederate Civil War veteran, there is a sense of the dress-up about his performance. He is, as always, thoroughly engaging, but somehow it seems superficial. He is watchable but never quite transcendent. One must wonder if the producers, the director, and the writer didn’t just say “let Hanks be Hanks” and called it a day. 

Tom Hanks in a scene from the movie.

Part of the problem lies with the character itself. He is a struggling but inherently good man. He never once flinches from taking on the responsibility of returning this girl to her family. A more interesting choice would have been some vacillation or even resentment with the charge or that his primary interest had been fiscal rather than altruistic. This would have provided contrast and allowed for more arc and texture. Hanks is never less than very good, but he doesn’t achieve the level of greatness we have seen in so much of his work.

Helena Zengel, as Johanna, is remarkable. Both rough and insightful, willful and cowed, we watch her watch the world. With a tragic history, she is as wounded as Kidd. There is the spark of fire that never masks the deep pain. Greengrass has brought out a range of shades in her performance, enhancing a remarkable and burgeoning young talent.

Elizabeth Marvel is the hotel owner Mrs. Gannett who turns in a sensitive performance. She makes the most of her two brief scenes, reflecting both Kidd’s past and the world in which they live now. 

The rest of the cast is not given a great deal to play. As Almay, who attempts to purchase the girl, Michael Angelo Covino represents pure evil. Likewise, Thomas Francis Murphy’s racist Mr. Farley makes a clear statement. Both do well in what are one-note roles.

In many ways, News of the World is a traditional western with all the standard expectations. It is episodic, stringing scene after scene, event after event. It is entertaining, but the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. The journey is predictable, leading to a conclusion that mostly satisfies the need for a happy ending.

Rated PG-13, News of the World is now streaming on demand

Photo courtesy of Hulu

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

One of the most fascinating public figures of recent years is Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental activist. At the age of fifteen, Thunberg began a solo protest of climate change by sitting outside of Swedish Parliament. Beginning in August of 2018, she spent the days she should be in school with a sign reading “School strike for climate.” 

Thunberg’s quest to bring attention to climate change has sparked a worldwide movement, bringing both support and harsh criticism to her and her cause. The documentary I Am Greta tells this story. Director Nathan Grossman followed Thunberg from her early protests in 2018 to her testimony at the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis the following year. Whether Grossman was prescient or just lucky is hard to judge.

The film chronicles Thunberg’s rise in fame: from people on Stockholm streets questioning why she wasn’t in school to meeting European heads of state. Furthermore, it touches on how she became a target of derision from deniers across the globe. At the heart of Thunberg’s message is her belief that the adults of the world have failed to stop what is the most dangerous and most immediate threat to the future. She calls out this failure to act: “Adults always say one thing and then do something completely different.” She has no hesitation in citing hypocrisy

Presented early in the film is Thunberg’s Asperger’s, a syndrome that places her on the autism spectrum. She has not seen this as restrictive. “Sometimes, it seems that we who have Asperger’s —autism — are the only ones who see through the noise.” She believes that this condition has allowed her the ability to give climate change her complete focus. When asked by a reporter if she suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome, she replies, “I wouldn’t say I suffer from … but I have it.” Further, she states: “I don’t see the world in black and white. It’s just the climate issue I see in black and white. “Sometimes I feel that it might be good if everyone had a tiny bit of Asperger’s … at least when it comes to climate.”

Thunberg’s obsession with what she considers “the defining issue of our time” began when she was eight years old. The showing of a film in school on the topic sent her into a deep depression. She stopped eating and suffered from selective mutism. Until that point, her family led a “high consuming” life, as demonstrated in a handful of home movie clips. Thunberg explains her insistence that her family converted to lives that were simpler and environmentally friendly: no flying, using an electric car, giving up meat and dairy, etc. 

The film is a wealth of footage of her crusade across the world. Starting with the passing out of flyers in Stockholm to her speaking to 30,000 people at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Poland to a string of engagements throughout Europe, she continues to spread her message. Thousands of students have taken up her #FridaysForFuture. 

Throughout, Thunberg confronts leaders for going forward with the same bad ideas to remain popular; she makes clear that popularity is not her concern. This view has made her a lightning rod for petty politicians who dismiss her as “mentally ill.”

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the film is the title: I Am Greta. It would have been better titled Greta’s Journey or Greta Thunberg, Activist. There are no interviews with people who know her or have worked alongside her. There are glimpses of who she is but many of these moments have a disingenuous feel. There is a good deal of footage of day-to-day life with voiceovers — in class, in the car, in the lunchroom — but nothing that adds up to a better understanding of her as a person. There are a few moments of her dancing that seem inorganic. Thunberg’s struggle to finish writing a speech and her father arguing with her to stop feels strangely staged. And yet, perhaps it is this absence of personal details that gives a stronger sense of her preoccupation.

In a revelatory moment, she says, “I don’t like making small talk … socializing with people …” which can explain the stretches of silence and the lack of her interaction beyond the driving passion. She indicates that she grew up with other children being unkind; she was not invited to parties and was always left out. She spent most of her time being with her family and her dogs. Her father is the most present in the film, with her mother appearing briefly and her sister not at all.

One of the joys is her spontaneous laughter that pops up in unexpected moments. In particular, this is Thunberg’s response to those attacking her on social media; her ability to see their smallness and inconsequentiality are telling. She laughs hysterically in reaction to a photo of herself with Pope Francis. Another personal moment is her mother teaching her to bake. Again, the laughter indicates this is a genuine event.

The climax of the film is her address to the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on September 18, 2019. Since she refused to fly, she took a harrowing fifteen-day journey in a sailboat from Plymouth, England, to New York harbor, where she was greeted by hundreds if not thousands of supporters.

Her eight-sentence statement to the committee — spoken in her nearly flawless English — is scathing and resonates in its directness. “How dare you?” The message is summed up with “You are failing us.”

“The world is waking up and change is coming whether you like it or not.” Thunberg has inspired the largest strike for climate in history — more than seven million people. And yet, the world is still not on track to meet the Paris Agreement. She still goes on strike every Friday. And hundreds of thousands still support her. “Once the climate crisis has gotten your attention, you can’t look away.” Ms. Thunberg has our attention. The rest is up to us.

I Am Greta is currently streaming on Hulu.

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Photo from Netflix

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

The world of cinephiles divides between those who think Citizen Kane is one of (if not the) most brilliant films ever made — and those who think it is over-rated. Hundreds of thousands of words have been written about the film, dissecting its structure, cinematography, symbolism, background, and place in moviemaking history. 

The American Experience produced the documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996). It chronicled the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over the creation and release of the film. It was followed in 1999 by the historical drama RKO 281, which covered the same material and starred Liev Schreiber as Welles, James Cromwell as Hearst, and John Malkovich as screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz.

Netflix now offers David Fincher’s Mank. Fincher, best known for thrillers (Seven, Panic Room, Alien 3, Fight Club), has directed his late father Jack Fincher’s fascinating screenplay, less exploring Citizen Kane but instead focusing on the man behind the screenplay, Herman Mankiewicz. This is a piece of high style, evoking the noirish films of the 1940s; in essence, it tells the story in the way in which Welles himself would have. 

The film alternates between 1940 when Welles is eagerly waiting for Mankiewicz to finish the screenplay, and the early 1930’s where Mankiewicz is struggling to find a foothold. The screenplay, which would become Citizen Kane, is a thinly veiled and vicious take on the life of newspaper mogul Hearst and his relationship with his lover, Marion Davies. Mankiewicz is to receive a large fee for the screenplay but no credit. Laid up with a broken leg, he embarks on meeting Welles’ deadline.

Those looking for an account of the making of Citizen Kane should look elsewhere. Mank is instead an exploration of Hollywood, specifically the politics of show business and show business’ involvement in politics. A good deal focuses on the California gubernatorial election of 1934 and how the Republican MGM hierarchy ran a smear campaign against left-wing author Upton Sinclair.

Presented is a Hollywood of hedonism and an old boys’ network, of backroom deals, demanded loyalty, and the unchecked intersections of film, power, and money. In the midst of this is Mankiewicz who is battling his demons, both in his career and with his alcoholism. It is a story in which the protagonist is Quixote and Cervantes, an intriguing and demanding drama that requires full attention.

If the definition of being a great actor is to lose oneself in the role to the point of being unrecognizable, then there is no finer actor than Gary Oldman. He is a true chameleon. It is hard to measure his performances against each other because no two are alike in any way. His Mankiewicz is unique: charming, insightful, dissipated, conflicted, and inscrutable. It is one of the best performances of 2020.

Amanda Seyfried brings charisma and depth to Marion Davies, in contrast with Citizen Kane’s Suzanne Alexander Kane, a spoiled and unaware gold digger; Seyfried’s Davies has a core of honesty and a surprising self-awareness. Arliss Howard is effective as the volatile studio head Louis B. Mayer, a monster manipulator with no conscience. Charles Dance finds shades in his portrayal of Hearst that humanizes the character but in no way detract from the man’s ability to destroy. Tom Burke’s Orson Welles hovers around the periphery, more seen than heard (which is a good thing as he has successfully recreated Welles’ voice as his resemblance is only passing). Sam Troughton makes for a fussy John Houseman, sent by Welles to watch over Mankiewicz. Tuppence Middleton finds warmth and intelligence in Sara, Mankiewicz’s tolerant wife, as does Lily Collins as Rita Alexander, the willful secretary who assists him. The film is populated with cameos of icons of the era (Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Ben Hecht, George S. Kaufman, etc.) that enhance the epic feel.

The film is shot in rich black-and-white; Erik Messerschmidt’s cinematography deserves high praise. Equally credited should be Kirk Baxter’s spot-on editing. Donald Graham Burt’s production design complements the art direction of Chris Craine and Dan Webster. Trish Summerville’s hundreds of costumes perfectly reflect the era. 

Fincher’s collaboration with these artists has resulted in a vision of the darker Hollywood of another era. Mank is not so much a film about a film. It is instead a thoughtful portrait of the construction of art in the face of warring forces. 

In the end, Mankiewicz (who did not attend the ceremony) receives the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Mankiewicz’s career would never reach another high of this proportion, and he would die thirteen years later from complications due to alcoholism, a genius dead at the age of fifty-five. This tacit and disturbing ending is an appropriate coda to an introspective and absorbing film.

Rated R, Mank is currently streaming on Netflix.

Viola Davis in a scene from the movie. Photo from Netflix

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

August Wilson, one of the foremost American dramatists, created the ten-play cycle The Pittsburgh Plays. The pieces explored different elements of the African-American experience, each work set in a different decade. The second play (and third chronologically) was Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Inspired by blues singer Ma Rainey, it was set in a fictional recording session in Chicago. It opened on Broadway in 1984, receiving strong press and running for 276 performances.  

Netflix now offers an excellent film that enhances the stage production. George C. Wolfe has skillfully and sensitively directed a screenplay by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Santiago-Hudson has wisely drawn the majority of the script from Wilson but has opened it up, most notably with a prologue showing Ma Rainey’s southern performance roots and the shift of African Americans from south to north in the Great Migration.  

The action shifts to the studio where the musicians await the arrival of Ma Rainey. The artists smoke, drink, and banter, and philosophize. But what seems like random chatter is a reflection of social injustice then and now. The men offer stories and anecdotes, with this slice of life elevated by Wilson’s honest and poetic words and exceptional performances.

Serving as the leader is guitarist and trombonist Cutler (Colman Domingo); Toledo (Glynn Turman) is the pianist and eldest of the group; Slow Drag (Michael Potts) plays double bass and Levee Green (Chadwick Boseman) is the rebellious trumpeter with big dreams. This quartet offer a glimpse into the challenges of being both black and musicians in the Chicago of the 20’s. The studio is run by Mel Sturdyvant (Jonny Coyne), whose mercenary tactics are slowly revealed. Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) is Ma’s anxious manager.

Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) arrives an hour late, setting off various complications. She is accompanied by her girlfriend, Dussie Mae (Taylour Paige), who has eyes for Levee, as well as her stuttering nephew, Sylvester (Dusan Brown), who she insists introduce the recording of “Black Bottom.”

What ensues is a battle of wills that represent issues of both music and race. While Ma appears to be difficult, it is really a matter of survival. She knows that she is being used by these white men, and they only cater to her as far as their needs. Viola Davis, possibly the finest actor working today, completely loses herself in Ma Rainey’s frustration and triumph. It is a flawless and mesmerizing performance of a woman who understands the nature of an unfair world.  

The film also marked the final performance of Chadwick Boseman, who sadly died of colon cancer at the age of forty-three. His performance is nothing less than brilliant, bouncing between Levee’s energetic and monomaniacal determination to create his own band and his inner demons. These lead to clashes with both Ma and his fellow musicians. His relating of his mother’s rape and his father’s revenge is one of the most chilling and raw moments in this or any film. 

The entire cast deliver dimensional and wholly present performances, easily drawing us into this world where they face both petty and large demands at every turn. Their stories take different shapes, some metaphoric and others brutally and vividly real. There is not a false or wasted moment. It builds to a harrowing climax and an equally brutal and telling coda. 

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom celebrates the power of the blues, chronicling an important part of African American history. It is a reminder of art and of exploitation, of defiance and disappointment. It is also an exceptional film. Rated R, the film is currently streaming on Netflix.

Photos courtesy of Netflix

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Center, from left, Ariana Rose and Jo Ellen Pellman in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of Netflix

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

In 2018, the musical The Prom made its Broadway debut at the Longacre Theatre.  With music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and book by Bob Martin and Beguelin, it dealt with a group of narcissistic Broadway actors who are trying to change their unlikable images. Looking for a cause, they select a lesbian high school student who is denied the right to take her girlfriend to the prom. The quartet of Broadway performers travel to the conservative Edgewater, Indiana, where, in an attempt to help, they wreak havoc. Ultimately, it all works out in the way that musical comedies do.

There was a great deal of feel-good material and a lot of messages about understanding and tolerance in the show. Casey Nicholaw strongly directed the production, if leaning a bit into the over-the-top humor alternating with easy sentimentality. His choreography was engaging and vigorous, often leaning towards the athletic. The original cast was made up of Broadway veterans who brought out the best in the material. For the most part, the reviews were good but it failed to find an audience and closed within the year.

James Corden, Nicole Kidman, Andrew Rannells and Meryl Streep in a scene from the film. Netflix photo

Ryan Murphy, who was one of the Broadway producers, has now directed a film version which has been released on Netflix and is also currently playing in movie theaters. Murphy recruited Martin and Beguelin to write the screenplay with the majority of the score intact. They have opened it up, taking advantage of a range of locations to give it more variety and a more kinetic energy. There are also some good flashbacks that enhance the story as well. Murphy has shown the same care and whimsy here that he did with the recent Netflix miniseries Hollywood, and the result is an entertaining two hours.

Murphy has replaced the entire Broadway company with well-known film and television personalities. So many cinematic stage transfers have been ruined by stunt casting that fails to preserve the integrity of the source material. That said, Murphy has assembled an excellent company who deliver. 

Meryl Streep is delightful as the Broadway diva, Dee Dee Allen. She is outrageous but grounded in her own selective reality and manages to make Dee Dee both insufferable and likable, often simultaneously. Her singing voice is solid, and she manages the big numbers well enough. Andrew Rannells is a younger, edgier take on the Julliard-trained Trent Oliver; he has real musical theatre chops (The Book of Mormon) and a hipper approach to the character.

Keegan-Michael Key evokes the right balance of controlled concern and star-struck fan as the principal who is enamored with Dee Dee. Kerry Washington brings snap and spark to the outraged PTA president who is doing all she can to keep the prom “straight.”  Kevin Chamberlin is charming as the long-suffering agent.

Only Nicole Kidman seems lost as the perpetual chorus girl, Angie Dickinson. Her vocals are adequate but she never finds her way with the character. It is also clear that she is uncomfortable with the Fosse style and it undermines her big number — “Zazz” —  and ultimately the character’s core.

Jo Ellen Pellman has a beautiful voice and winning presence as Emma Nolan, the girl who just wants to go to the prom. She shines through the entire film — one just wishes she wasn’t smiling the entire time; the absence of angst makes the final moments not quite as cathartic. Ariana DeBose as Alyssa, the daughter of the crusading PTA president, ably shows her internal conflict as Emma’s closet girlfriend and delivers in her musical number, “Alyssa Greene.” The ensemble of young singer-dancers handle the big numbers well and have a nice ease about them.

But if the film belonged to any one performer, it would be James Corden as Barry Glickman, Dee Dee’s costar in the failed Eleanor Roosevelt musical that incites the entire plot. He is warm and funny but truly vulnerable. He is completely at home as both a singer and a dancer, making his numbers some of the best moments. In many ways, it becomes just as much his story as Emma’s.

The film has a strong start, moving quickly from place-to-place and song-to-song, everything cast in a musical comedy glow. There are many excellent production numbers that are hilarious — “Changing Lives,” “It’s Not About Me,” and “Love Thy Neighbor” — and just plain joyous —“Tonight Belongs to You.” Murphy wisely retained Nicholaw as choreographer.

It is unfortunate that the second half of the movie sags a bit with dramatic scenes that have been introduced to give both weight and extended background to Barry and Dee Dee. While it gives the two actors an opportunity to emote, the tonal shift and the additional time do nothing to drive the action forward.

These additions necessitated the trimming of several numbers, most notably “The Acceptance Song,” done at a monster truck rally.

This is a minor quibble in an overall enjoyable outing. The Broadway quartet learn and grow, just as we know they would.  Emma and Alyssa celebrate their love with the exuberant “It’s Time to Dance” — as celebratory here as it was on Broadway.

If people take exception to the ease with which minds are changed and bigotry is overcome, it should be reminded that this is the world of fantasy. Just as with his Hollywood, Murphy offers us not necessarily the world we have but perhaps the world we can hope for — and some really terrific production numbers along the way.

Rated PG-13, The Prom is currently playing in local theaters and on Netflix.

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Glenn Close and Amy Adams star in film adaptation of best-selling memoir by J.D. Vance. Photo courtesy of Netflix

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

In 2016, J.D. Vance published Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. In it Vance examined his family’s Appalachian roots and values and how they affected their lives in Middletown, Ohio. He highlighted the contrast of loyalty and love of country with a history of violence and abuse. The book was an immediate but controversial bestseller.

So overwhelming was the response to his view on what were perceived as myths about poverty, the book Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy was brought out in 2019.  This collection of essays criticizes Vance’s opinions and generalizations. Over the years, Vance has become a vocal social conservative.

From left, Haley Bennett, Gabriel Basso and Amy Adams in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of Netflix

Netflix now offers a film adaptation that basically eschews the more direct political elements of the autobiography and instead focuses on his struggle both as a teenager and a student at Yale. With an engaging if narrow screenplay by Vanessa Taylor and focused direction by Ron Howard, they have chosen to tell a personal story that will still raise many of the questions and complaints resulting from the book.

The film alternates between 1997 and 2011, with the teenage Vance struggling with his home situation and the older Vance working three jobs while attending Yale and attempting to land a summer internship with a law firm in Washington. What ensues over the next two hours is the unwinding of his childhood history along with his present struggles as Vance returns home to once again deal with his volatile mother. In some ways, the film is a blending of the traditional coming-of-age story with the well-trodden dysfunctional family saga.

The film’s strength lies in its performances. Gabriel Basso plays the older Vance with a mix of stoicism and vexation as he tries to navigate his familial responsibility while trying to go advanced his life and career. He believably conveys the battle between past and future. Owen Asztalos, as the younger Vance, is the right mix of hope and disappointment. Both actors appear to be playing the same person which does not always happen in film.

Haley Bennett, as Vance’s sister, shows her love and commitment that is overwhelmed by a sense of weariness. Freida Pinto is fine with the rather unexplored and undeveloped Usha, Vance’s Yale girlfriend (and later wife).

But the film belongs to two compelling performances. Amy Adams is raw and fearless as Vance’s drug-addicted, mercurial mother, a nurse with both substance abuse and mental issues. She alternates between expressions of unconditional love and brutal physical and emotional attacks. It is unlike anything Adams has done prior, with truly visceral pain and rage. (If it all seems a bit too much, that responsibility should be attributed to Taylor and Howard.)

Glenn Close is a gifted actor with technical skills rivaled by very few (Meryl Streep, being one of them). Her performances are usually complete but sometimes there is a sense of the mechanics behind them. In this case, she has completely subsumed herself in the role of Vance’s grandmother. She is unrecognizable as the calculating matriarch with an ugly history (that is only alluded to once) and a presence focused on her grandson’s survival and growth, most importantly through education. In this cold and disconnected woman, Close has found a strange warmth. In stillness and action, when she is on screen, the film is hers.

Many will take exception to Vance’s —and hence the film’s — point-of-view and its simplistic and dubious portrayal of the causes and results of poverty. This is a valid and legitimate concern. However, Hillbilly Elegy is worth watching for the performances of two great American actors.

Rated R, Hillbilly Elegy is currently streaming on Netflix.