REVIEW: “Lovers Rock” (2020)

January 22, 2021 by Keith Garlington

About midway through Steve McQueen’s compact “Lovers Rock” is a scene sure to be written about in nearly every review you’ll read. Let’s just call it the “Silly Games” scene, a long ten-minute slow dance that encapsulates the entire movie. A room full of young West Indian men and women intimately dance to Janet Kay’s reggae hit “Silly Games”. The camera takes a seductively observational role, slowly weaving between dancers, capturing the euphoria that keeps them singing and dancing well after the song ends. Clearly the characters and the filmmaker are lost in the freedom of the moment and the music. I wish I had been.

If the “Silly Games” scene works for you then I can almost guarantee “Lovers Rock” will too. The film, part two of McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology series for Amazon’s Prime, is all about observing and immersing. Its aim is to lose its audience in the sumptuous experience of the people we see. Not in a story or even the characters for that matter, but in the experience itself. It’s pretty audacious and at times intensely romantic. But if you aren’t fully in-tune with what McQueen is doing “Lovers Rock” may lose your attention despite only clocking in at a lean 68 minutes.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios

In its most basic form the story is about a group of friends who throw a house party. That’s it. But McQueen is a crafty filmmaker and he fills in the margins with meaningful subtext and a 1980 London setting that’s ripe for social commentary. Still the movie leaves most of that outside, instead focusing on the party as a place of freedom and release. It’s almost experimental in its disregard for plot or structure. Instead its focus is on simply moving from room to room, soaking in the atmosphere and swaying to the steady reggae beats from the DJ. At times McQueen’s camera creates such an intimacy that you can feel the heat on the dance floor and smell the pot of boiling curry goat in the kitchen.

The camera familiarizes us with several faces and checks in on them from time to time. A young woman named Martha (Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn) is about as close as we come to a lead character. Early in the film we see her sneaking out of her parents’ house and meeting up with her bestie Patti (Shaniqua Okwok). The two hit the house party where Martha meets a charmer named Franklyn (Micheal Ward). Several other thinly-sketched but intriguing partygoers come in and out of the roaming camera’s view, revealing just enough personality to leave you wishing you knew them better.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios

But fleshing out characters isn’t what McQueen is after. It’s not that he isn’t interested in them. Quite the opposite. But he’s content with implying certain things about them, both individually and communally, and leaving the rest to us. It’s a welcome trust of a filmmaker with his audience, but considering how little we’re given it’s a case where filling in the blanks isn’t as satisfying as it should be.

“Lovers Rock” is an easy movie for me to admire but a tough one for me to love. Sometimes it’s sweet and sumptuous. Other times it plays like a music video. The intense closeups and slow pans, the dance floor vignettes, the almost sultry love for hemp and harmony – it all helps create a realistic setting that’s almost tangible to the senses. And you have to appreciate the film as an exploration of cultural identity during a very distinct time in London’s history. But it reached a point where the “experience” began to wear off and the lack of plot grew more and more noticeable. It ended up being like the “Silly Games” scene, bold and heartfelt but stretched well beyond its limits. “Lovers Rock” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “No Man’s Land” (2021)

January 21, 2021 by Keith Garlington

Brothers Conor and Jake Allyn grew up Dallas, Texas and made frequent trips across the southern border into Mexico with their father. The many visits opened their eyes to a much different side of Mexico and ultimately helped inspire their new film “No Man’s Land”. This modern-day western uses a reverse migration story of sorts to explore the human element at the center of the border crisis, bypassing the politics and looking straight at the people. It may not have the most clear-eyed vision, but it’s heart is definitely in the right place.

“No Man’s Land” was shot in Mexico over the course of 28 days with a predominantly Mexican cast and crew. Conor directs the film with Jake starring and co-writing with Mexican co-screenwriter and executive producer David Barraza. The title is a reference to a gap between the Rio Grande River and the border fence further north. That space in between is commonly referred to as No Man’s Land for migrants attempting to slip into the United States.

Image Courtesy of IFC Films

Bill and Monica Greer (Frank Grillo and Andie MacDowell, both really good and underused) own a ranch near the Texas/Mexico border. They work it with their two boys Lucas (Alex MacNicoll) and Jackson (Jake Allyn). The youngest of the two, Jackson has a promising baseball career ahead with the New York Yankees already showing interest. In addition to managing cattle and horses, the Greer’s are increasingly forced to fend off migrants who are crossing their property and getting into their barns looking for food and water.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Rio Grande a widowed father named Gustavo (Jorge A. Jiménez) works as a coyote for the church, helping people intent on crossing the border by providing a way other than through the cartels. Known as “the Shepherd” by the many people he has helped, Gustavo is ready to leave that dangerous life behind. He sets out on a final crossing, this time bringing his mother and two sons, with plans to stay in America to start a better life for his boys.

Image Courtesy of IFC Films

The film sets up its pieces nicely and there is an ominous air of tragedy hanging over these early scenes. It inevitably comes in the dark of night as Gustavo and his family are passing through the Greer family’s property. There’s a confrontation and amid the chaos Jackson panics and fatally shoots Gustavo’s youngest boy. The migrants escape into the night while Bill works up a story to protect his son. But Texas Ranger Ramirez (George Lopez) doesn’t buy what they’re selling. Overcome by guilt, Jackson flees across the river into Mexico, avoiding arrest and hoping to find a way to make things right.

It’s here that “No Man’s Land” reshapes into a much different movie as Jackson becomes the migrant in a foreign country relying on the kindness of locals to survive. The underlying meaning behind the role-reversal is pretty obvious and the movie definitely has some meaningful points it wants to make. Thankfully it does so without standing behind a bullhorn or a pulpit. There’s also a “Fugitive” element to the story as Jackson is pursued by the determined Texas Ranger, the Mexican federales and a grief-stricken father thirsty for revenge.

Image Courtesy of IFC Films

There is one character the movie could have done without. Andrés Delgado plays a young hoodlum named Luis whose tattoos, bleached mohawk and switchblade knife shows he’s bad news. Delgado does the best he can, but his character is trapped in that irredeemable ‘bad guy’ void. And he ends up being a loose string that is unfortunately tied up at the worst possible time. I’m keeping it vague due to spoilers, but the character takes away from the story far more than he adds to it.

Still, there’s much to admire about this well-meaning indie. It’s made by a diverse group (both in front of and behind the camera) who set out to emphasize our similarities with our southern neighbors while still acknowledging our differences. The story plows worthwhile themes of guilt, regret, forgiveness, and accepting the consequences for your actions. And it looks great thanks to cinematographer Juan Pablo Ramírez and production designer Liz Medrana. It has some rough patches and it tries to cover too much ground. But the Allyn brothers tell their story with heart and conviction, and it’s hard not to appreciate their ambition. “No Man’s Land” premieres January 22nd on VOD.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

First Glance: “Dara of Jasenovac”

January 20, 2021 by Keith Garlington

No faithful movie about the Holocaust is going to be an easy watch. But they have long served as powerful reminders of unbridled human evil and they have testified to the resilience and bravery of many who suffered and died as a result of the atrocities. The upcoming Serbian historical drama “Dara of Jasenovac” tells a unique story from the Holocaust, one concentrated on the genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia. The film is directed by Predrag Antonijević and is the Serbian entry for Best International Film at the upcoming Oscars.

Antonijević and writer Nataša Drakulić tell their harrowing story through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl named Dara played by the expressive Biljana Čekić. With their country crumbling and the majority of local Serbs being rounded up, Dara along with her mother and two brothers are sent to Jasenovac concentration camp. The new trailer shows the horrors of the death camp but also a young girl’s willingness to give her all to survive. It’s tough material but the period design looks fantastic and its unflinching perspective looks powerful and immersive.

“Dara of Jasenovac” is set to premiere in the US on February 5th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

REVIEW: “The Marksman” (2021)

January 20, 2021 by Keith Garlington

Let it be known that no pandemic is going to keep Liam Neeson down, especially when there is yet another batch of prefabricated villainy to deal with. This time it’s a drug cartel set along America’s southern border. This time there’s a young boy to save. This time Neeson has yet another helpful set of ‘skills’. But this time he’s far from the usual gravelly-voiced one-man-army we’re accustomed to seeing. Well, he still has the signature gravelly voice, but he’s not the impervious imposing force from so many of his other action thrillers.

With “The Marksman” Neeson teams with writer-director Robert Lorenz who is best known for producing several Clint Eastwood films including the Oscar-nominated trio of “Mystic River”, “Letters From Iwo Jima”, and “American Sniper”. It’s probably safe to say “The Marksman” won’t be joining those three esteemed films and that’s okay. These sturdy Neeson thrillers are built with a particular fan-base in mind which is both a strength and a weakness. If you’ve watched a number of them you can’t help but notice some similarities. But there’s often just enough nuance to set them apart. And Neeson brings a certain gravitas to these rather familiar exercises that make them somewhat of a guilty pleasure.

Image Courtesy of Open Road Films

In many ways “The Marksman” feels like a movie Clint Eastwood could have made a few years ago (there’s even a funny little reference to the 90-year-old legend that I’ll let you discover). Neeson plays James Hanson, a decorated Vietnam veteran struggling to hang onto his dusty old ranch that sits on the Arizona/Mexico border. James is a lonely man still mourning the death of wife to cancer. Now he spends his days watching over a few scrawny heads of cattle and radioing local border patrol whenever he spots immigrants illegally crossing the border.

Fresh off an encounter with a bank executive who gives him 90 days to pay his loan and save his ranch, James runs into a migrant mother named Rosa (Teresa Ruiz) sneaking through the border fence with her son Miguel (Jacob Perez) and a bag full of money. James’ first inclination is to call border patrol, not out of some cold disdain or political ideology. He’s not that type of character. Instead he’s a broken shell of a man unplugged from society; lost without his wife and self-sentenced to a life of loneliness. So when the frantic mother pleads for his help his first response is more mechanical than emotional.

But things quickly escalate when soldiers from a Mexican drug cartel led by the overtly menacing Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba) pull up on the other side of the fence. They demand James hand over Rosa and Miguel, he promptly refuses, and gunfire is exchanged. When it’s over Mauricio’s brother is dead on one side of the fence and Rosa is mortally wounded on the other side. In her dying breath she asks James to take her son to a relative in Chicago and offers him all of the money in the bag as payment. Before long James is reluctantly driving the young orphaned Miguel from Arizona to the Windy City.

But if there’s one thing we’ve learned from action movies, it’s that you don’t kill the brother of the main bad guy. It always makes them meaner, madder, and more dogged in their pursuit. That apparent thirst for vengeance is all we get with Mauricio. He’s basically a one-note villain who’s stuck in one gear for the majority of the film. Lorenz tries to open him up a little bit at the end, but it’s not enough to give the meanie any real weight.

Image Courtesy of Open Road Films

The relationship between James and young Miguel is handled better but still has rough spots of its own. There’s almost a natural attraction to the whole ‘sweet young boy bonds with a surly grizzled misanthrope’ storyline. It’s been done countless times and still we find ourselves drawn to it’s inherent charms. It works here in large part because Neeson makes James sympathetic enough that we root for him to rediscover the warmth and inner joy of human attachment. And there’s the unshakable connection as both are grieving souls who find themselves all alone after losing the persons closest to them.

But it’s how their relationship plays out that’s lacking. For example we’re teased with a compelling conflict after Miguel blames James for the death of his mother. It’s a weighty, emotionally-driven charge and there is a lot the movie could have done with it. Instead that animosity just up and vanishes after a few miles and a couple of hamburgers, never to be discussed or touched on again. Their relationship ends up going a much more routine route which actually sums up “The Marksman” as a whole. There’s enough to keep you involved but it’s nothing you haven’t seen before. It leaves you wanting to see it through even though you know how things are going to turn out. In other words, it’s pretty standard, middle-of-the-road fare. “The Marksman” is now showing in theaters.

VERDICT- 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Our Friend” (2021)

January 19, 2021 by Keith Garlington

In May of 2015 journalist Matthew Teague wrote an essay for Esquire magazine titled “The Friend: Love is Not a Big Enough Word“. This deeply personal piece told of his late wife Nicole who had died from ovarian cancer eight months earlier. She was only 34-years-old. It told of the dignity and courage she showed through two years of suffering. It spoke of the physical, emotional, and psychological burden on both of them and their two daughters. The award-winning essay also spoke of Dane, a dear family friend who left his life behind and for fourteen months cared for the Teague family and stood by them through it all.

The new film “Our Friend” attempts to tell this heartbreaking yet inspiring true story while avoiding the overused devices and platitudes that too often accompany movies about terminal illness. These kinds of films are already tricky since they come with their own baked-in set of challenges. But then you toss in the aforementioned ‘deeply personal’ element attached to real-life stories like this. It adds a certain pressure to be honest and faithful (to a degree) while keeping your film from become some mushy Hollywood weepie.

“Our Friend” manages these challenges surprisingly well and gives us a character-rich drama with moments of levity that (thankfully) keeps it from becoming a humorless death march. At the same time it takes a sober and sincere approach that focuses more on the emotional toil than the physical. You won’t find the wrenching details from Matthew Teague’s essay about how the cancer ravaged Nicole’s body. Mercifully we aren’t forced to see the half-digested food oozing from the wounds on her abdomen or the stomach acids that would burn through adhesives and eat away at her flesh. But what you will find is a movie saturated in authentic emotion; one that takes an earnest and clear-eyed look at cancer but doesn’t allow the disease to outshine the characters.

Image Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

The film is helmed by director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, perhaps best known for her 2013 documentary “Blackfish”, and screenwriter Brad Ingelsby who also penned last year’s terrific Ben Affleck vehicle “The Way Back”. “Our Friend” premiered at the 2019 Toronto Independent Film Festival and now finally getting its full release by Gravitas Ventures and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Cowperthwaite opens with one of the film’s most gripping scenes – a prologue where Matthew and Nicole Teague sit in their bedroom preparing to deliver some bad news to their two daughters. The camera rests on Matt (Casey Affleck), his terminally ill wife Nicole (Dakota Johnson) barely out of the frame to our right. As he prepares what to say he rules out certain phrases that might mislead or offer false hope. He breaks down, quickly composes himself, and then walks out to get their daughters. The camera moves to Nicole, sitting in bed and putting on her best face for her girls. It’s an elegantly shot and quietly devastating introduction.

From there the story bounces back-and-forth across the timeline, covering fifteen years of life before and after Nicole’s diagnosis. The fractured storytelling isn’t as seamless as it could be, sometimes shuttling you from one moment in time to another with a jolt. Yet it’s tone is managed remarkably well and the time jumps keep the story from drowning in morbidity, ensuring that this trio of friends are defined by more than a disease.

Image Courtesy of Gravitas Ventures

Jason Segel is the piece that sets the movie apart – the titular friend in the film’s title (or is he). Segel brings slices of that ‘lovable loser’ charm he’s known for, but his character Dane is more than an outlet for humor and buoyancy. He’s surprisingly layered; compassionate beyond comprehension yet aimless and full of self-doubt. Before Nicole’s diagnosis we see him stuck in the perpetual ‘nice guy’ trap. You know, the guy most people like but who always loses out on the girl. After the diagnosis he goes to stay with and help Matt and Nicole in Alabama, leaving behind a girlfriend in New Orleans who’s crazy about him. For him it’s as much running from commitment and searching for self-fulfillment as it is helping friends in need.

The three central performances are terrific with Affleck, Johnson, and Segel showing off a strong organic chemistry. All three are able to flesh out their characters through material that allows them to be more than just victims. Affleck is strikingly subdued playing a man repressing his pain for the sake of his family. Johnson gives a penetrating performance full of life but also vulnerability and pathos. And Segel brings a good balance to the witty, ever-faithful Dane – a character slyly burying his own problems but always by Matt and Nicole’s side even as other friends begin distancing themselves one-by-one.

Aside for some wobbly structuring and a few weird song choices, “Our Friend” is a moving and distinctly human study of love, friendship, commitment, and of what it takes to come out on the other side of such a life-shattering trauma. It’s an effective tearjerker that slightly diverts from Matthew Teague’s crushing essay by delving more into the characters. It still shows the ravaging effects of the disease, but not in the Michael Haneke “Amour” sense. Instead it has a broader aim and features three sublime performances that breathe life, empathy, and inspiration into this true-life story of love and friendship. “Our Friend” opens January 22nd in theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “The Dig” (2021)

January 18, 2021 by Keith Garlington

English journalist, television critic, and author John Preston’s 2007 historical novel “The Dig” was a reimagining of the 1939 excavation at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England. It’s the site of two early medieval burial grounds, one of which contained a mostly undisturbed Anglo-Saxon ship along with numerous artifacts and treasures fit for a king’s burial. Preston built his own drama around the discovery but for the most part kept his focus on the amazing find.

Netflix’s upcoming film adaptation of Preston’s book comes from Australian director Simon Stone, written by screenwriter and playwright Moira Buffini. The movie adds even more dramatic layers (some more effective than others) while still trying to do justice to the Sutton Hoo excavation. It also brings together an intriguing cast of stellar English talent including Carrie Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, and Lily James. I was instantly onboard.

Image Courtesy of Netflix

The film’s first half is magical, both narratively and cinematically with Stone capturing the awe, wonder, and mystery of such a magnificent discovery. Through his story and his camera, Stone introduces us to his characters and builds our anticipation for what waits to be unearthed. There’s an almost Malickian beauty to how cinematographer Mike Eley shoots these early scenes. The fluidity of his camera movements, the striking angles, the way nature is admired through his lens – its absolutely gorgeous filmmaking.

The story gets off on a similarly impressive foot. Mulligan plays Edith Pretty, a widow who owns the estate where the burial grounds lay. Mulligan breathes elegance into her character, but there is also an unmistakable sadness that Edith works to hide from her precocious young son Robert (Archie Barnes). It’s this sadness and grief that drives her interest in what lies underneath the ancient mounds on her property. So she hires a local excavator Basil Brown (Fiennes) to handle the dig. He’s an odd but capable sort – a kind man who has buried sorrows of his own.

Unfortunately the story loses some of its zest in the second half when the head of the British Museum (Ken Stott) arrives with his entourage. This leads to wrangling between museums, each trying to convince Edith that they are better suited to house something of such cultural and historical value. This also introduces Peggy (Lily James), a young archaeologist whose cold and indifferent husband clearly has eyes for another. It’s yet another good performance from James who sadly ends up with a character trapped in the more unimaginative machinations of the plot. This ultimately leads to an undercooked and completely telegraphed romance that feels more convenient than natural.

Image Courtesy of Netflix

Strangely even the camerawork is more subdued in the second half, losing much of its artful style and creativity. It still looks good but hardly as eye-popping as in the earlier scenes. While the shift in focus isn’t nearly as absorbing, Stone keeps his audience attached through the performances and with some thoughtful subtext about the coming war. Airplanes overhead, a passing truck full of soldiers, brief audio from a radio broadcast – it all points to what’s boiling on the world stage. And those subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) reminders bring an alluring stillness to the film as the characters (and the audience) grasp the significance of their archeological discovery while slowly facing the reality that their nation is about to be thrust into war.

It’s hard to put into words both the love and frustration I have for “The Dig”. I was enraptured by the first 45 minutes or so – caught up in it’s mystery, its beauty, the period detail, and sweeping visuals. I loved Stefan Gregory’s graceful score which oscillates between vibrant piano chords and more soulful aching strings. And I loved Mulligan and Fiennes, both their characters and their performances. But the movie loses its footing once the fiction begins overshadowing the facts and it dives into a much less interesting and lesser developed side-story. As it is, I quite like “The Dig” even as I find myself longing for what it could have been. “The Dig” premieres January 29th on Netflix.