Film Reviews
John Boyega Walks the Thin Blue Line in the Astounding Red, White and Blue: NYFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: Continuing his probing look at the lives of the West Indian immigrant communities of 1960s-1980s London, Steve McQueen concludes his Small Axe anthology with the real-life tale of Leroy Logan (John Boyega), who’d eventually become one of the Metropolitan Police’s most decorated superintendants. Before he got there, though, he was a young research scientist who decides to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a police officer — much to the chagrin of his father Kenneth (Steve Toussaint), a proud Jamaican who’s experienced the racism and brutality of the British bobbies firsthand. As a young recruit, Leroy excels; he’s top of his class, physically fit, and immensely principled. But the minute he str...
Netflix’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 Gives Aaron Sorkin a Timely Bully Pulpit: Review
The Pitch: In 1968, a coalition of anti-Vietnam War and counterculture protestors took to the streets in Chicago to protest outside the Democratic National Convention, rallying to end the Vietnam War and bring our boys back home. Predictably, the police retaliated with overwhelming force, greeting them with beatings, tear gas, and scores of arrests. Five scant months later, one of the most infamous trials in American history took place, charging seven of the organizers with conspiracy and incitement to riot — YIPpies Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Jerry Rubin (Jeremy Strong), Mobe leaders Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Rennie Davis (Alex Sharp), David Dellinger (John Carroll Lynch), John Froines (Danie Flaherty) and Lee Weiner (Noah Robbins). Black Panther Bobby Seale (Yahya A...
Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks Finds Bill Murray on a Pure Charm Offensive: NYFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: Laura (Rashida Jones) is in crisis. From the outside, it might not seem so: She’s a published author with another book deal on lock, she’s got a handsome husband named Dean (Marlon Wayans) and two beautiful girls, and they live in the kind of well-furnished Manhattan apartment you only see in sitcoms. But Dean’s started to spend more time outside of the home, ostensibly to work on his social media startup with his tall, gorgeous colleague Fiona (Iron Fist‘s Jessica Henwick), and his excuses for his absence have grown increasingly flimsy. Hence, the crisis: She can’t concentrate on her book, she’s increasingly aloof to her school pickup mom-partner Vanessa (Jenny Slate), and she can’t quite get Dean to c...
Steve McQueen’s Mangrove Revolutionizes the Courtroom Drama: NYFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 New York Film Festival. The Pitch: In 1968, Notting Hill was a slowly-growing hub of Black culture in London, filled with West Indian immigrants of various stripes who congregated at Frank Crichlow’s (Shaun Parkes) Mangrove Restaurant for spicy food, pumping beats, and a sense of community. But when sustained police interference with the restaurant — constant raids, fines and charges for prostitution and drug possession — led to a protest that turned violent, Crichlow and eight other defendants were brought in front of the Old Bailey on charges of incitement to riot. But this trial wouldn’t be like Black Power trials of the past: the Mangrove Nine, including Crichlow, Black Panther activist Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright), Darcus...
Alone Is Cold, Rainy, and Muddy Survival Horror: Review
The Pitch: Recently widowed Jessica (Jules Willcox) attempts to leave her past by absconding into the Pacific Northwest wilderness. Unfortunately for her, those plans are literally derailed after a harrowing run-in with a cold-blooded killer. Following a series of very unfortunate events, Jessica finds herself kidnapped, beaten, and locked away in a remote cabin. But there’s hope! She manages to escape her captor, only to find herself in the middle of nowhere … completely alone … except for her pursuer. Bare Bones: Screenwriter Mattias Olsson adapts his 2011 Swedish thriller Gone for American audiences with Alone. He keeps things lean and mean, though, eschewing any of the fat that traditionally comes with Hollywood remakes. Instead, subtlety is survival with this reimagining, and that’s p...
Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock Is a Reggae-Filled Celebration of Black Joy: NYFF Review
The Pitch: In London’s West Indian community in 1980, a house party brews. The men haul furniture out to the backyard and bring in huge speakers to replace it, while the women crowd into the kitchen, cooking goat curry and plaintains while singing and laughing with each other. Men and women file in one at a time, paying the bouncer while the DJ pumps in the songs of Carl Douglas, Sister Sledge, Janet Kay — romantic reggae, “Lover’s Rock”. This is the setting for Steve McQueen‘s Lovers Rock, a glimpse into the Blues parties that served as an important space for Black Londoners of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s to find community, solidarity, and love, as a rotating ensemble of characters sing and scrub throughout the evening. And in the middle of it all, a young woman named Martha (Amarah-Jae...
Viggo Mortensen’s Falling Offers Repetition and Expletives, But No Payoff: TIFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. The Pitch: In Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, gay Air Force pilot John (Mortensen) struggles to care for his ailing conservative father, Willis (Lance Henriksen). Malcontent and never afraid to shy away from a racist, homophobic or sexist rant, Willis offends everyone from John’s husband Eric (Terry Chen) to his daughter Sarah (Laura Linney), all while he slips in and out of flashbacks, including his two marriages to wives Gwen (Hannah Gross) and Jill (Bracken Burns). Grumpy Old Man: Early in Falling, as the relationship between John and Willis is being established, it’s clear that Henriksen is exceptional in the role. Willis is the kind of curmudgeonly character whose edges are too often softened in ...
Antebellum’s Message Overshadows Its Story: Review
The Pitch: The elevator pitch for Antebellum was probably quite simple: Veronica Henley is an enslaved woman on a cruel plantation and must stay silent until she can find the perfect moment to escape. But there’s a twist: It’s a story about the Antebellum South, updated for modern audiences and designed to speak to the present moment. While this sounds great on paper, all of these elements culminate into a forced, muddled mess that’s less than the sum of its parts. It’s not that Antebellum is bad — there are many things it does well — it’s just trying so hard to be the perfect movie for this moment in time. Because of this, the film winds up losing control of its message. The Past Is Present: Antebellum is trying to make a commentary on white obsession with Southern “heritage.” It’s trying...
Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf Stand Out In the Shrugworthy Pieces of a Woman: TIFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival . The Pitch: Pregnant couple Sean (Shia LaBeouf) and Martha (Vanessa Kirby) go through a dangerous labor with a new midwife, Eva (Molly Parker), only for the worst possible outcome to occur. In the months that follow, they each process their grief and anger in different ways. Meanwhile, Martha’s mother, Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn), pushes for legal justice that may or may not offer the closure that the family needs. Labour Pains: When people discuss Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman, the discussion will inevitably be broken into two parts. Most will focus on the film’s first 33 minutes, which takes place entirely on September 17th and follows – in one long, mostly uninterrupted take – the night that Martha...
Frances McDormand Walks Right Into the Oscars With Nomadland: TIFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival . The Pitch: Based on Jessica Bruder’s 2017 non-fiction novel, Nomadland follows 60-something Fern (Frances McDormand) over the course of a year as she moves from place to place, working odd jobs and living in her van. Throughout her journey, Fern comes across a multitude of communities: some who accept her as she is, others who try to pin her down and keep her stationary. These series of experiences offer a character study of a head-strong, mature woman working through her grief and searching for herself. Authentic Experiences: Over the course of four features, director Chloé Zhao has repeatedly returned to stories of marginalized people, living on the fringes of conventional society. She favors stories of...
Netflix’s The Devil All the Time Is a Messy Southern Gothic Stew: Review
The Pitch: Set against the mud-covered backdrop of southern Ohio and West Virginia in the ’50s and ’60s, we see the ways that faith, violence, and lost innocence play out against an interconnecting web of characters. There’s Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård), whose experiences in WWII haunt him even as he tries to make a life back home with a sweet waitress (Haley Bennett). There’s also Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough), who get their kicks picking up hitchhikers, photographing them, then slaughtering them. There’s Sandy’s brother, Lee (Sebastian Stan), a portly, corrupt sheriff constantly gunning for re-election and turning a blind eye to his sister’s wrongdoing. Caught in the middle of it all is Alvin (Tom Holland), Willard’s orphaned son, trying to navigate his way throug...
Spike Lee Captures a Celebration and Calls for Action With David Byrne’s American Utopia: TIFF Review
This review is part of our coverage of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival . The Pitch: With American Utopia, director Spike Lee brings his eye to David Byrne’s critically-acclaimed Broadway show. Part concert documentary, part contemporary dance performance, and part social commentary, Lee’s latest feature is a call to action about embracing human connections, social responsibilities, and change across the world. Uniform-ity: Unlike conventional concert documentaries — and not too dissimilar from Jonathan Demme’s iconic Talking Heads feature Stop Making Sense — the stage of the Hudson Theatre is kept almost completely bare. Byrne remains under the spotlights for nearly the whole runtime, decked out in a visually bland grey suit and bare feet. Over the course of the first few song...
