Tag Archives: Drama

2023 Blindspot Pick #3: London Road (2015)

21 Thursday Dec 2023

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Have you heard? Have you heard?
There are rumors running rampant.
Have you heard that there’s a murderer whose killing is undampened
By the increase in policemen
Or the neighborhood’s unease?
There’s a chance he could be anyone the average person sees.

No immunity for anyone
From danger or suspicion.
There’s a liar in our midst who lacks the basest inhibition.
Could be him. Could be her.
I won’t sleep until we know.
Though even when they’re caught, I fear the fear may not let go.
_______________________

Rating: TV-14 (equates to PG-13)

It’s no secret that I love musicals. I just said so in my last post. But that doesn’t mean I love all musicals by default; they have to earn it. An example of that love not coming easily is London Road, a 2015 drama based on a stage musical about the 2006 serial murders by the Suffolk Strangler, or rather about their impact on the surrounding Ipswich neighborhood. With the concept of a murder mystery musical and featuring actors like Olivia Coleman and Tom Hardy, I added the film to my Blindspot list with little other knowledge about it.

The locals of Ipswich were interviewed at the time about their fears and concerns about the murders, as were the sex workers being targeted by the killer, and the songs use this verbatim testimony as lyrics. Thus, all of the songs sound like real people speaking normally, complete with “um”s and “yeah”s and pauses that go with such realism. However, to make these interviews work as songs, there is quite a bit of repetition involved, hammering in less-than-eloquent points like “it’s ‘orrible, idn’t it, eh?” and “begonias and petunias and, um, impatiens and things.” Plus, this repetition is mostly done through talking along with the tune rather than actual singing, so if you thought Tom Hardy couldn’t sing, this won’t prove you wrong. The film’s cinematography tries to inject some visual interest into the musical numbers, but the lyric style largely yields rather dull songs that feel much longer than they are.

And yet I still rather appreciate London Road as an experiment, one that isn’t quite successful but still effective in its own way. It immortalizes these seemingly mundane conversations and frames them in a way that reflects how the community as a whole responds to tragedy, from doubt and fear to a desire for better things beyond. I probably wouldn’t listen to the songs on their own, but they often begin with that awkward talk-singing and actually do sound nice by the end as voices overlap amid violin or synthesizer. It’s highly unique, and I credit the inventiveness of the original play’s creators (Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork), as well as the producers of the film version for adapting a story Americans like me might not otherwise have been able to see on stage.

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2023 S.G. Liput
785 Followers and Counting

2023 Blindspot Pick #2: Sunset Boulevard (1950)

24 Friday Nov 2023

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Before renown and everything,
I’d sit at home aspiring
And planning out my rise to fame,
To make the whole world know my name.

And as I dreamed, I followed through.
I sought the scenery to chew;
I earned the roles and accolades
And strode red carpets for decades.

I basked in viewers’ tears and laughs
And votive snaps of photographs.
I was a star, and stars will shine
Regardless of the bottom line,

Regardless of a flop or two,
Regardless of some new debut,
Regardless of unringing phones
Or dreaded birthday milestones.

A star’s above forgettably
Conveyor-belt celebrity.
Although I now more dimly burn,
A supernova I’ll return.

They’ll be reminded of my heights
When they behold my name in lights.
They may forget but can’t ignore
A star they’ve known and loved before.

They may forget but how can I
When I’m the one who’ll never die?
So, waiting for my phone to ring,
I sit alone remembering.
____________________________

Rating:  Passed (equivalent of PG)

I always try to include a few old classics in my Blindspots, since I don’t watch and review as many films from yesteryear as a cinephile probably should. Sunset Boulevard is one that has always slipped through the cracks, with Gloria Swanson’s iconic performance as washed-up starlet Norma Desmond overshadowing the film itself in pop culture. So it was worthwhile to see what else the film had to offer.

In typical film noir fashion, William Holden’s Joe Gillis delivers the story’s narration, though we see right from the start that his character is floating dead in a Hollywood pool before launching into a feature-length flashback. Gillis’s prospects as a screenwriter have dried up and, while fleeing from repo men, the starving artist stumbles upon the decaying mansion of former star Norma Desmond, cared for solely by her attentive chauffeur Max (Erich von Stroheim). Since Norma desires help with her own self-aggrandizing screenplay for a comeback film, Gillis sees her as a short-term meal ticket, but he’s unprepared for her increasing obsession with him and reclaiming her fame.

With director and co-writer Billy Wilder at the helm and boasting three Oscars out of eleven nominations, Sunset Boulevard deserves its status as a classic while also being rather overrated, in my view. Holden is an outstanding leading man, wrestling with the choice of humoring Norma’s whims or returning to poverty, and it’s no wonder his career took off after this. The Oscar-winning screenplay is also replete with good lines both clever and self-deprecating toward Hollywood, though I question the film’s Wikipedia classification as a “black comedy.” And then there’s Gloria Swanson herself, one of the titans of scenery-chewing, who was well-cast (alongside former silent director von Stroheim) for the film to have a semi-autobiographical element about ex-stars striving for relevance. As much as she fits the character and does well with the more vulnerable scenes, the ways Gloria/Norma mugs at the camera is distractingly extreme at times, which may have been the point but still comes off as utterly dated acting.

Sunset Boulevard is one of those cases where both “I get it” and “I don’t get it” apply. I can see how someone watching the film or reading the script would clap vigorously and proclaim that this is great cinema, but the most I can muster is agreeing that it’s well-written cinema. It ultimately left me with no other emotion but pity, pity for all the characters and their deluded forms of love and self-destruction. Thus, it’s not a film I can say I particularly enjoyed or would want to watch again, making the descriptions of it as one of “the greatest movies ever made” ring hollow. It’s not the first time I’ve disagreed with film critics, but I can still appreciate what Sunset Boulevard does well, now that I’ve seen its close-up.

Best line:  (Joe Gillis) “You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.”   (Norma)  “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2023 S.G. Liput
782 Followers and Counting

2023 Blindspot Pick #1: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

15 Sunday Oct 2023

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“Parting is such sweet sorrow,”
Said the bard through Juliet.
It’s bittersweet
Till next we meet
Lest you or I forget.

But sweetness fades with waiting
While bitter amplifies.
By fits and starts,
Two hostage hearts
Will wear new love’s disguise.

And when the parting’s ended
And our hearts meet again,
The memory
Still sweet can be
But only as ‘twas then.
_____________________

MPA rating:  Not Rated (PG-13 seems right)

I’ll admit that October does seem a little late to start on that Blindspot series I announced back in January, but I at least haven’t waited this long to start watching them. I have already seen five of them, but my reviews have been painfully slow in coming. I need to get better at carving out time for them and not being afraid to keep them short. Since I’ve been knee-deep in writing a musical, it seems only right to kick off the Blindspot reviews with an acclaimed foreign musical called Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, or The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Sung-through entirely in French, the film follows two young lovers, mechanic Guy (Nino Castelnuovo) and umbrella store clerk Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve), whose swooning rendezvous are kept secret from Geneviève’s busybody mother (Anne Vernon). Yet their budding romance is foiled by Guy’s being drafted to fight in the Algerian War. As Geneviève’s mother impresses on her the importance of marrying well, the young girl is faced with a difficult choice and a heartbreaking regret.

I can certainly see why The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is so beloved among cinephiles and stands as one of the quintessential bittersweet romances. While opera had its own long-standing tradition, an original, sung-through musical was quite a novelty for the time and an artistic risk that might not have paid off with lesser artists. But Michel Legrand’s haunting melodies add a tender beauty to the sung dialogue, which would be rather mundane if just spoken. A behind-the-scenes featurette was quite interesting as Legrand was interviewed about his initial struggles developing a theme for each character, an important element of musical writing. I was impressed to learn that all the actors were lip-syncing to other singers’ voices, considering how well Deneuve and Castelnuovo acted in line with their “singing.”

While the music is key to the film’s fame, even earning a Best Original Song Oscar nomination for “I Will Wait for You,” the parting song between Guy and Geneviève (also somehow getting noms for both Original and Adapted Score), the sets and cinematography deserve just as much praise. Considering director Jacques Demy’s previous two films were in black and white, the colors here are as vivid and impressive as Dorothy stepping into Oz, like an interior designer’s wet dream. The rooms and stores have brightly variegated walls that often look freshly painted, Geneviève’s yellow jacket pops against the rainy blue streets, and every choice of paint, costume, and wallpaper feels intentional for the background to accent the scene and give it an iconic look. Rarely does the use of color feel so integral to a film’s identity and success, making the lack of any technical Oscar nominations feel criminal.

If I’m being totally honest, the music tends to sound the same after a while, lacking variety that would keep the middle section from getting rather monotonous and boring. The film’s interest and emotion are highest at the beginning and end, and its final scenes especially have a superb bittersweetness that clearly went on to inspire other films like La La Land. Ultimately, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg feels like a film everyone ought to see at least once, making it a perfect Blindspot pick, but it’s not the kind of musical I’d want to rewatch often or one I would recommend to those musical-haters out there (you know who you are). Even if its narrative loses steam, it is impressive art for both ear and eye and a laudable trailblazer for musical cinema.

Best line: (Geneviève) “Mother, he’s leaving. He’ll be away for two years. I can’t live without him. I’ll die.”  (her mother, Madame Emery) “Stop crying. Look at me. People only die of love in movies.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
782 Followers and Counting

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

22 Saturday Jul 2023

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We all reach an age where a dream is our plan.
“I’ll live in a castle.” “I’ll marry that man.”
“I’ll dazzle that girl with an overpriced ring.”
But plans are a transient thing.

And little by little, our fantasies dim,
Our goals and ambitions grow cynically grim,
As reveries dwindle to traces.
It’s harder to hope in
Some window to open
With doors slamming shut in our faces.

We all have a trauma of dreams unfulfilled,
Of sand castles planned with no chances to build
Or rugs pulling out when we’re on the upswing,
For plans are a transient thing.

Although we all wish many things to undo,
All wishes aren’t false when they fail to come true.
Some comfort may be close at hand.
Where planning falls short,
We can find our support
In the good things we couldn’t have planned.
_____________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

Leave it to James Gunn to drop one of the best recent Marvel movies before jumping ship to rescue DC’s cinematic endeavors. The Guardians of the Galaxy have always seemed a little bit more separate from the main storyline of the MCU, even though the familial ties with Thanos brought them in league with the Avengers. As far as the three solo outings for the spacefaring team of Starlord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and Groot (Vin Diesel), plus Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), and others, they have gone about their intergalactic adventures without being overly tied to Marvel continuity, and many would say they are better for it. While Infinity War and Endgame may have thrown a wrench in Gunn’s initial plans for this threequel, he makes the most of his motley space crew to deliver a satisfying conclusion.

It’s easy to miss with all the cracking of skulls and jokes in the first two films, but perennial jerk Rocket Raccoon has remained a mystery up to this point, with a few hints at some traumatic past but little else. Finally, this third film gives him the spotlight, offering what might be the most tragic backstory of any Marvel character, along with an equally despicable villain in the High Evolutionary (the excellent Chukwudi Iwuji), a god-complexing scientist intent on perfecting life and society with little regard for the “lower life forms” he creates along the way. When this maniac sets his sights on capturing Rocket, the Guardians are forced into desperate measures to save his life.

First off, I was relieved that Vol. 3 actually built on the loose threads left in previous films, like the other Gamora left over after Endgame and the revenge plan of the Sovereign leader (Elizabeth Debicki) creating Adam Warlock (Will Poulter). It might have been nice if they weren’t secondary plotlines, but I’m glad they weren’t dropped the way Mordo’s villain buildup was ignored in the second Dr. Strange film. That is more of a concern the wider the MCU continuity spreads. In addition, it’s amazing how well-balanced the script is, giving every character their moment to shine, whether it’s the subtle bond between Rocket and Nebula (the only two Guardians who weren’t snapped away by Thanos) or Drax proving he can do more than fight and act dumb. Plus, it was nice to see Gunn favorite Nathan Fillion finally get a role in the MCU. In addition to the character work, there’s no shortage of outstanding, large-scale action, with better CGI than other recent Marvel entries and one tracking-shot fight scene that is a highlight of the whole franchise.

The question then is how this third film compares with its predecessors, and I’d probably consider it the best of the three. I wasn’t immediately a huge fan of the first film when it came out, but I’ve warmed up to it quite a bit, and the Vol. 2 was great fun, despite overemphasizing its own humor. In contrast to the lightweight Holiday Special on Disney+, this one takes itself much more seriously considering the grave stakes involved, and it boasts yet another fantastic soundtrack (I was ecstatic over the inclusion of Florence and the Machine). It manages to be funny without laughing at itself too much while also being the MCU film most likely to garner tears. Simply put, it’s a near-perfect capstone to the Guardians story and a satisfyingly emotional send-off for the characters and for Gunn’s involvement in the MCU. On the downside, its violence pushes the PG-13 rating, which also includes the MCU’s first needless F-bomb; while others online are rooting for the MCU’s shift into R-rated territory, I am staunchly in favor of it remaining at least somewhat family-friendly. Still, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 flies higher than any other Marvel movie in years. Time will tell if Gunn can deliver similar results for DC, but he certainly left a legacy at Marvel.

Best line: (Lylla the otter) “You still have a purpose here…. There are the hands that made us, and then there are the hands that guide their hands.”

Rank: List-Worthy (joining the other two)

© 2023 S.G. Liput
783 Followers and Counting

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

29 Saturday Apr 2023

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(For Day 29 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a two-part poem focused on a food or meal, so I took the theme of sequels and wrote about that nagging desire for seconds.)

1.
You’ve had a good helping and just about full
But still feeling slightly insatiable.
The first round was marvelous, hitting the spot,
But are you appeased? No, you’re not.

There’s room in that stomach, an empty place,
That ought to be filled, just in case.
You cannot leave hunger to scratch and bide
When it’s only partially satisfied.

“It’s lonely in here,” your firsts assert;
Indulging in seconds would hardly hurt.
They’re begging for more, I must obey
This gastrointestinal power play.

Another undoubtedly will exceed.
It’s less of a want and more a need.
Seconds is seconds away, all right?
Coming to curb that appetite.

2.
Sure, I was hungry and now I’m not,
But did I desire the gut I’ve got?
I knew there was room and now it’s filled,
And now my duodenum’s less than thrilled.

I’m starting to wonder if I’m a slave
To all of the short-term whims I crave.
Some self-control could hardly hurt.
What’s that you say? Oh, boy… dessert!
______________________

MPA rating: PG-13

I have such mixed feelings about the Avatar franchise. James Cameron’s passion project seems to be widely acknowledged as an outlet for great visuals in service to a generic environmentalist story of alien natives versus colonizers, and it had become a joke to reference the extended delay between the 2009 original and its first of four sequels. Yet Cameron’s box office power remains undefeated, with The Way of Water silencing naysayers and skyrocketing to become the third highest-grossing film ever. I personally contributed to that revenue (I left for the theater saying “Time to go pay James Cameron’s salary”), mainly just to see the film’s admittedly impressive visuals on a big screen, something I skipped with the first one. And I’m glad I saw it, while also oddly feeling like I’m missing something to explain this series’ popularity.

Set sixteen years after the first film saw the victorious Na’vi send the encroaching humans packing, The Way of Water introduces audiences to another form of Na’vi culture, that of the ocean-dwelling Metkayina clan. When the humans return to colonize Pandora, not just plunder its resources, it also heralds the return of Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the dead colonel whose memories now reside in a new Avatar-like body, enabling him to seek revenge on the traitorous Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who has been busy raising a family with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Thus, Jake leads his family away from their forest home to seek refuge with the Metkayina, learn their ways, and employ their help if and when the big bad humans find them.

One point in this sequel’s favor is that it no longer feels like an outright rip-off of Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas. With his world and backstory already established, Cameron can play with more original ideas, like the mystery surrounding Kiri, the adopted daughter who was somehow born from the corpse of Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, who also plays Kiri via motion capture). Except that seems to be a greater concern for future installments, and the time is instead spent exploring marine environments and rescuing kidnapped children. While the dialogue is generally weak, I will give credit to the film’s theme of fatherhood, with Jake and Quaritch both struggling with their military and paternal duties, which is much more characterization than Quaritch got in the first film.

While the film’s story has a little more heart to it, owing to Jake’s shift from space marine to family man, it has many of the same strengths and faults as the first. There’s much to see and little to care about, but the spectacle manages to overcome the flaws. The underwater world so carefully designed is indeed a wonder to behold, full of vibrant coral reefs and giants both gentle and fierce, all rendered with the characters in that thoroughly immersive motion-capture animation it’s taken years to perfect. Like its predecessor, the climactic battle at the end is long and thrilling, taking some cues from Cameron’s Titanic past with its large-scale water warfare.

I enjoyed The Way of Water but would be hard-pressed to say whether it’s better or worse than the first Avatar, and I still think it’s a bit hard to swallow that both were nominated for Best Picture when Avengers: Endgame wasn’t. When this much effort and detail are poured into something over three hours long, I feel like I should like it more than I do, but I’m left with mild admiration for the visual triumph of the product so far rather than a sense of excitement for more sequels to come. Even so, there are promising seeds and conflicts sown here that could develop into something special, and, as this sequel proves more than anything, I wouldn’t bet against James Cameron.

Best line: (Quaritch) “Why so blue?”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
785 Followers and Counting

Suzume (2022)

29 Saturday Apr 2023

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(For Day 28 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for an index-like poem, so I chose the word “door” as my index word for a pair of haikus, since doors are so prominent in this film.)

Opens and closes;
Keep in or keep out; slam it;
Lock it; lose the key.

Don’t dare to open;
Outside the gates; slipping through;
Miss the other side.
____________________

MPA rating: PG

In the same way cinephiles look forward to the next Christoper Nolan or Quentin Tarantino movie, anime fans eagerly await the advent of the next Makoto Shinkai film. I was excited to finally see his latest called Suzume in the theater, months after its Japanese premiere, and it had everything Shinkai does well: pouring rain, desperate running, eye-popping cataclysms, poignant reunions, all rendered in some of the most gorgeous animation this side of KyoAni. Yet it’s hard to forget that everything he creates will inevitably be compared to Your Name, the record-breaking blockbuster that put Shinkai on the international map. It’s a tough comparison, but Suzume still excels at the same kind of emotion-backed fantasy.

Suzume (Nanoka Hara), the title character, is a rural high school girl who directs an attractive visitor named Sota (Hokuto Matsumura) to some nearby ruins for which he is searching. When she follows out of curiosity, she discovers that a long-dormant evil has started breaking into our world to cause disasters, using doorways in abandoned areas as gateways that must be closed. When Sota is inexplicably cursed and transformed into… ahem, a chair, Suzume runs away from home to help him complete his mission, further complicated by a mischievous talking cat. (I loved a brief reference to Whisper of the Heart when the cat is spotted on a train.)

I’ll admit the chair part is a little hard to take seriously at first, especially since it forever labels this movie as “the one where a girl falls in love with a chair.” But if you roll with it, the object does take on greater meaning as a precious heirloom for Suzume, and there’s fun to be had with the absurdity of it. As the plot becomes a buddy road trip across Japan (a “meet-‘em-and-move-on” as I call them), it’s a little hard to believe how many people seem fine with supporting a runaway girl and letting her continue on her way. Yet it’s also an opportunity to take a peek into various lives she passes, which I always enjoy.

It’s interesting that two anime in the same year (this film and Drifting Home) both put a focus on the large number of abandoned areas throughout Japan, including a ferris wheel specifically, places that were once full of life and now have only echoes of what was. True to Shinkai form, the emotions grow with time, and even if Suzume and Sota ultimately just met, the bond and distress born from their relationship are highly affecting at the film’s emotional high points.

Even if I recognize the film’s faults, like the rather thin story fueled by contrivance, Shinkai just has a captivating style that is easy to get sucked into, aided by striking visuals and iconic music by the band Radwimps, his frequent collaborator. If Suzume had come out before Your Name and Weathering with You, I think I would love it more without the comparison, but I can’t quite say it’s better than them while sharing the same DNA. It did surpass Weathering with You to become the fourth highest-grossing Japanese film ever (right behind Your Name), so Shinkai still has enormous box office draw. It would be nice if he can step a little further out from under his own shadow, but I’m still very much a fan.

Rank: List Runner-Up (might go up with time)

© 2023 S.G. Liput
785 Followers and Counting

Dear Evan Hansen (2021)

25 Tuesday Apr 2023

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(For Day 24 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write a poem reviewing something that is not normally reviewed, so I imagined someone’s spiraling falsehoods being rated by their own mind.)

You’re doing it, dude.
You’re making it sell.
A lie gets you high
If you’re telling it well.

And there goes another!
That’s some web you weave.
It’s quite the art form
When the experts deceive.

A nine out of ten,
If I’m giving a score.
Just hold your eye contact
A little bit more.

A quick feigned offense,
And she bought it again.
There’s no way she knows
It’s a ten out of ten!

You can’t pull out now
When you’ve lasted this long.
A lie can be right
If you don’t mind the wrong.

The greatest of lies
Are built from ideals,
Which obviously
Are the hardest reveals.
____________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

I saw this movie musical in the theater a year and a half ago, and I just couldn’t quite bring myself to review it. Based on the Tony-winning musical by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul of The Greatest Showman fame, Dear Evan Hansen was yet another movie musical adaptation to flop at the box office, without even the critical praise that In the Heights had. I’ve heard people rip this movie apart and complain about how it portrays mental illness or how star Ben Platt is too old to be playing a high school student, and I seem to be in the minority in not sharing those common objections. Yet the film is rather disappointing, even for a lover of movie musicals like me, just for reasons I can’t quite pin down.

I also had the privilege of seeing a touring production of the stage musical after seeing the film, so I have something to compare it to now. The plot is fairly faithful with anxious teenager Evan Hansen (Platt) barely navigating high school as he writes daily letters to himself, according to his therapist’s advice. One of these letters ends up in the possession of the volatile Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan), who commits suicide, leaving his parents (Amy Adams, Danny Pino) and sister (Kaitlyn Dever) to believe Connor wrote the note to Evan. Evan can’t bring himself to contradict the despondent family and instead plays into the narrative of him and Connor being close friends.

I recall wryly asking one of my friends if he wanted to go see “a depressing musical” when the film came out. Dear Evan Hansen is heavy stuff, dealing with mental illness, suicide, familial resentment, and desperate grief, which is part of what made it such a powerful and relatable hit on Broadway. Clearly, the themes that worked on stage didn’t quite translate as well to film, yet the weaknesses of the film were baked into the story, in my view. Platt is a fantastic actor and singer (whose age didn’t bother me a bit), but there’s something inherently unrealistic about his socially graceless character being able to convince this family of his untruth, even if Connor’s mother practically goads him into it. It leads to some extremely cringy moments where Evan’s awkwardness is too hard to overlook. The songs are meant to smooth that suspension of disbelief, but again there’s a disconnect between him belting out “For Forever” in the Murphys’ dining room as opposed to an open stage with a large audience.

Pasek and Paul’s pop-influenced music is the best thing about the film, and I’m personally glad that Platt was able to bring the character he helped create to the big screen. His performances of the inspirational “You Will Be Found” or the devastating “Words Fail” show his incredible vocal and emotional range, and, despite not typically being a singer, Julianne Moore as Evan’s mom Heidi excels with “So Big / So Small,” a deeply poignant expression of motherly love. Amy Adams and Kaitlyn Dever are likewise only used for one song, but both deliver strong acting performances, that feel both genuine and oddly unrealistic at times. Fans of the musical were naturally disappointed by the removal of songs like “Disappear” and “Anybody Have a Map?”, especially when the new addition “The Anonymous Ones” is serviceable at best. At least they kept “Sincerely, Me” to retain the one lighthearted song in the story.

Dear Evan Hansen isn’t a bad film and in fact has a number of very powerful moments and performances, as well as an outstanding soundtrack. Its story just feels half-baked when brought from the distance of a stage to the intimacy of a camera close-up. Some rewrites and testing screenings might have benefited it, but I can’t bring myself to dislike it as much as so many do. It’s far from the strongest musical of 2021, but it still gave me all the intended feels.

Best line: (Heidi, singing to Evan) “Your mom is staying right here. No matter what, I’ll be here when it all feels so big till it all feels so small.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

Drifting Home (2022)

23 Sunday Apr 2023

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(For Day 23 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem in numbered sections about a place I no longer visit as much. The best example I could think of was my old elementary school, so I imagined the various places abandoned and nostalgic.)

I
I remember they filed in one at a time,
Students alert to the school bell’s chime.
My classroom became their knowledge base,
And I kept them all safe in my walls’ embrace.
I was their path
To history, math,
The parts of the cell, and the subjective case.
Those who I held left smarter by far,
But now I do wonder where all of them are.

II
I remember they joined me at tables so long
That both ends could easily sing their own song.
They pulled out their lunches so lovingly packed
Or else I provided whatever they lacked.
I was their meal,
Their chance to be real,
To trade and upgrade and get caught in the act.
The hungry were happy and brought up to par,
But now I do wonder where all of them are.

III
I remember they ran with unparalleled glee
To climb on my monkey bars, wild and free.
My stretches of rubber mulch, bordered by sand,
Gave them their chances to fall and crash-land.
I was their play,
The peak of their day,
A time to recess from the teacher’s command.
I was the source of both smile and scar,
But now I do wonder where all of them are.
_____________________________________

MPA rating: PG

While Makoto Shinkai and Mamoru Hosoda are the biggest names in anime films, there are plenty of other studios in the mix, such as Studio Colorido, which has an ongoing partnership with Netflix. With films like A Whisker Away and Drifting Home, they bring some welcome Ghibli-esque fantasy to the streaming service. In Drifting Home, a group of children go exploring in the abandoned apartment building where Kosuke and his childhood friend Natsume used to live with Kosuke’s grandfather. After the two have an argument, the building somehow ends up floating in the middle of the ocean, forcing the kids to survive off what they can scavenge.

While the premise could have become mere escapism for the children, the story actually puts them in real danger, with limited resources and a crumbling structure as their only refuge from the sea. The characters themselves are not anything special and sometimes grating, though the conflict between Kosuke and Natsume carries weight as they both reacted differently to the death of Kosuke’s grandfather, a loss which haunts their relationship and perhaps the apartment itself.

Beyond the survival aspects and interpersonal drama, a prominent theme involves the inherent grief of buildings and structures that were once full of life and activity but have become abandoned over time. It’s an interesting concept of a place having its own form of sorrow and passing away. Drifting Home may not stand out as much as other anime films, but it’s a lovely smaller effort highlighting how we connect to the places we grow up.

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

RRR (2022)

22 Saturday Apr 2023

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(I had a rough day yesterday and missed Day 21 of NaPoWriMo, but I thought I’d try doubling up this weekend instead. Yesterday’s prompt was for a poem describing an abstract noun, using short lines and a made-up word. I chose Strength.)

I am strong
Because
I cannot afford
To be weak.

The weight of
My people’s hopes,
The yoke
Of all my foes,
The burden of
Love to defend
Have tempered
Me
Like steel.

But still
I only wish
To wake to laughter
In the aftermorn,
To kiss with
No farewell,
To let my power
Be still.

Strength I bear
That I may not
Bear it forever.
__________________________

MPA rating:  Not Rated (should be R for violence, which is fitting, right?)

After recently watching Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy, which marked a turning point in Indian cinema back in the 1950s, it was mind-blowing to see how far the country’s filmmaking has come with 2022’s RRR. I know Bollywood has a reputation for over-the-top spectacle, but this was my first introduction to the modern wow factor that Indian films have to offer. (Considering its wide distribution on Netflix, I doubt I’m alone there.) RRR follows two real-life Indian freedom fighters in the 1920s, telling a completely fictitious what-if story about them meeting and teaming up against the evil British empire. In American Revolution terms, I like to describe it as the Indian equivalent of “What if Ethan Allen and Francis Marion became bros and singlehandedly decimated the redcoats?”

Standing for Rise Roar Revolt (in English at least), RRR is the kind of epic that Hollywood just doesn’t make anymore, if it ever did, boasting an everything-goes narrative that makes it hard to classify. It’s heavy on the action but also has room to be a romance, a historical drama, a buddy film, and a musical. The supremely handsome Ram Charan plays A. Rama Raju, a member of the Delhi imperial police force trying to rise through the ranks. N.T. Rama Rao Jr. plays Komaram Bheem, a protector of the Gond tribe who goes undercover in Delhi after the British governor (Ray Stevenson) and his cruel wife (Alison Doody) abduct a young girl named Malli. Thus, the two initially meet and become good friends, not knowing they are on opposite sides, Bheem seeking to rescue Malli while Raju aims to capture him to earn favor with the British.

RRR is a lot. Boasting superhero-level stunts and CGI animals to rival Hollywood, the film looks amazing, albeit replete with slow-motion interludes to highlight the emotion or absurdity of the action. In that vein, it is also anything but subtle. The villainous Brits are cartoonishly evil without any nuance at all, save for the kind Jenny (Olivia Morris) who somehow becomes a love interest for Bheem despite neither of them understanding the other’s language. The film relishes in its own excess, from the rippling muscles of its often shirtless leads to the extravagant and lengthy action scenes that include one man taking on an entire angry mob and a free-for-all battle with tigers and deer invading a posh banquet. Honestly, some of the coolest moments almost feel like parody with how outrageous they are.

Yet there’s something refreshing about how RRR wears its cinematic heart on its sleeve, like the montage of Raju and Bheem bonding over their shared buffness, which brought to mind the ancient brotherhood of Gilgamesh and Enkidu. That kind of epic clash of good and evil with a cast of thousands was much more common in old Hollywood when epics were a common genre, so it’s interesting to see such large-scale heroics from a foreign perspective. And the film often uses its excess quite effectively, especially in the instantly iconic dance-off to the song “Naatu Naatu,” which won a deserved Oscar for Best Original Song and was one of the best movie moments of last year.

Aside from some brutal violence, the worst thing about RRR is its length. I was able to convince my VC to watch it (and she liked it), but only by breaking it up into three parts. At a little over three hours, it can feel more like a miniseries than a movie, so I would recommend that; basically, take a break whenever someone is caught by the British. RRR is epic in every sense of the word, and its mainstream success will likely open the door for more Americans, me included, to explore further what Indian cinema has to offer.

Best line: (Raju’s father) “He [the governor] said that an Indian’s life is not worth a bullet. So how will this bullet earn its value? When it comes out of your gun and pierces an Englishman’s heart.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

Beast (2022)

19 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(For Day 19 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write about a childhood scare, like a monster. While a lion is not a personal boogeyman for me, this creature feature seemed to fit the bill.)

It’s lurking where you cannot see,
Blocking where you cannot flee,
Looming in the liminal of known and too afraid to know.
Do not breathe and do not stir.
That’s a growl and not a purr,
Growing louder by the second, growing sick of lying low.
Save your scream; it knows you’re there,
Not a dream and no nightmare.
Something hungry this way comes, and you have nowhere else to go.
____________________________

MPA rating: R (nothing overly gruesome that I recall)

Idris Elba is good in just about anything. Whether he’s playing an immortal djinn in a bathrobe or an Asgardian gatekeeper, his natural gravitas just enhances every role he takes on. That goes for the more pedestrian efforts as well. Beast can be summed up pretty easily: man vs. lion. Elba plays Dr. Nate Samuels, who takes his daughters on a South Africa safari to reconnect after the death of their mother but is forced to defend them against a rogue lion on a killing spree.

As a survival thriller, Beast is a solid entry, elevated by Elba’s lead performance and Baltasar Kormákur’s rather artsy direction, such as some outstanding tracking shots that I love so much. Yet the occasionally dumb plot is cookie-cutter standard for the genre and unlikely to surprise anyone. The plot armor of the climax even becomes a little laughable when Elba fights the beast barehanded and lasts far longer than other characters it killed within seconds. Beast is all too familiar, doing for lions what Jaws did for sharks, but its African setting and intimidating feline make it unique enough to be worth a casual watch.

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting