Belle (2021)

16 Saturday Apr 2022

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

Tags

Action, Animation, Anime, Drama, Family, Musical, Romance, Sci-fi

(Good Friday and work obligations sadly made me miss yesterday, but I’m back on the wagon. Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a curtal sonnet, an 11-line sonnet variant from Gerard Manley Hopkins.)

In the realm of cyberspace I hide,
Comforted by anonymity.
My flesh-self is content behind its smokescreen.
Robed in pixels, I can roam with pride,
Finding other introverts to agree,
Minorities like ghosts in the machine.

Life from womb to here has left me wincing;
Life since logging on is fancy-free,
Far easier to spurn the cruel and mean.
I’m someone else, and boy, am I convincing,
As you’ve seen.
________________________

MPA rating: PG

In anime circles, a new film from Mamoru Hosoda is an event. From Summer Wars to Wolf Children to the Oscar-nominated Mirai, he’s proven to be one of the most skilled anime directors around, and Belle promised to be yet another win. A modern riff on Beauty and the Beast fusing music and social media, the film garnered a fourteen-minute standing ovation at Cannes, making me wonder if it was just a case of no one wanting to be the first to stop clapping. Belle is another strong film in Hosoda’s oeuvre, but, like Encanto, it’s also proof that a film can be good while also being deeply flawed.

In the near-future of Belle, a digital world called U has become the most popular metaverse for people across the globe to interact with avatars somehow extrapolated from their own biometrics, resulting in an array of bizarre appearances ranging from babies to superheroes to literal hands with a face on it, which no one seems to object to. Suzu is a self-conscious high school student still haunted by her mother’s death, but when she logs into U as the beautiful Bell (which is what Suzu means), she finds that the anonymity allows her to sing again and, much to her surprise, become a celebrity. As she deals with the flurry of differing opinions that come with fame, she grows curious about the aggressive avatar known as the Beast, whose unknown identity is hunted by U’s authorities.

Hosoda is no stranger to virtual worlds, having previously worked with the concept in Digimon and Summer Wars, so it’s no surprise that the world of U is dazzling, an eye-popping blend of 3D and 2D animation, thanks in part to backgrounds from Cartoon Saloon. It’s easily Hosoda’s most visually resplendent and imaginative film that still carries his calling cards (he must have a thing for flying whales). The bad thing about U is that so much of it is left unexplained. While OZ in Summer Wars had several clear real-world applications, the avatars in U are never shown doing much more than floating around and commenting, though there are concerts and fighting tournaments, I suppose. Plus, it’s never clear how the real-world users are interacting with the virtual world; at some points, it’s as if their avatars are mirroring their real body’s movements, but is it like Ready Player One-style mechanics? There’s mention of sharing the senses of their avatars, so how can they see both U and the real world when logged in? Questions like that just require a suspension of disbelief that divorces the virtual and real worlds for the sake of the story.

The virtual world is ostensibly the main fantastical draw of the film, but I honestly enjoyed the parts in the real world more. The high school romance drama is nothing unusual for the genre, but the relatable supporting characters are an endearing bunch, particularly during a laughably awkward love confession. It was also a nice subversion to reveal the usually unsympathetic popular girl as a genuinely caring friend. However, the real world is also where the story falters toward the end. The revelation of the Beast’s identity is a powerful moment that speaks to the trauma of hidden abuse, yet it’s a reality for which the film doesn’t really have an answer. One culminating sacrifice hits an emotional high, but Suzu’s efforts afterward are unrealistic and absent of any long-term solution.

Belle has a lot of impressive elements in service to a somewhat half-baked plot, and the Beauty and the Beast parallels are rather incidental to the main story. Its vision of social media feeding frenzies and the online experience are timely and well-executed, while Suzu’s journey to understand the meaning of selflessness is suitably moving as well. And though the songs sometimes feel shoehorned in, I must give props to their quality, including the English recordings for the dub, and I think that the climactic “A Million Miles Away” would have been a worthy nominee for a Best Song Oscar if the Academy would look around more. Belle may not match the likes of Wolf Children, but it lives up to Summer Wars and exceeds Mirai, in my opinion. The visual splendor on display largely overshadows the plot issues, just as long as you don’t think about it too much.

Rank: List Runner-Up

Cyrano (2021)

11 Friday Mar 2022

Posted by sgliput in Movies, Music, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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Drama, Musical, Romance

I glance at you like Moses gazing toward the promised land,
His sight the only starving sense to perish satisfied.
No such content will compensate my ears, my lips, my hand,
For God has deemed to make the gulf between us two too wide.

My covert dreams alone can see you near me, arm in arm,
The scorn of cruel reality that jostles me awake.
I cultivate my nobler traits, my eloquence and charm,
Yet never do they seem enough for your transcendent sake.

I spy so many all around, in stories and in song,
Who find their love without the threat of mockery or laughter.
I’d whisper every secret of this lonely love lifelong
If only I lived not in fear of what might follow after.
___________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

It’s so easy to associate musicals with Broadway since Hollywood usually only seems interested in adapting musicals into film if they have a reliable following that promises a decent box office. I can understand that instinct; no one wants to take a risk for a flop, especially when musicals are considered more effort with extra talents of singing or dancing required of their cast. Yet there are a host of excellent musicals out there that have never made it to Broadway, like Tick, Tick… Boom! or Frank Wildhorn’s The Count of Monte Cristo. I may never have heard of Erica Schmidt’s Cyrano stage production if not for this film adaptation, which only deepens my love of musical cinema and my desire for more like it.

Many things fell into place for the creation of this film based on a musical play based on Edmond Rostand’s classic play Cyrano de Bergerac, the original catfishing story. Schmidt’s husband Peter Dinklage played the title role on stage, along with Haley Bennett as Roxanne, and Bennett’s involvement no doubt helped convince her partner Joe Wright of Atonement and Darkest Hour to take up directing the film version. Both Dinklage and Bennett reprise their stage roles and prove how well-cast they were from the beginning, joined by Kelvin Harrison, Jr., as Christian, the soldier who loves Roxanne and is aided by the eloquent Cyrano to woo her via love letters. Instead of the traditional abnormality of Cyrano’s large nose explaining his self-loathing and hesitance to pursue his love for Roxanne, Dinklage’s short stature is used instead, yet there are only a few direct references to his height. Indeed, the songs seem to be written so that any uncommon or “ugly” physical quality could take the place of Cyrano’s nose, even down to the series of taunts he lists for himself while dueling.

Musicals come in many different forms, and Cyrano is certainly not the typical Broadway product with big showstoppers. The choreography is decent but never vies for any kind of wow factor, and some of the lyrics are less than inspired in terms of rhyme and complexity, particularly a rather drab villain song for Ben Mendelsohn. Yet the songs, provided by rock band The National, still work on a more subtle level, with layers of sensitive piano and violin seamlessly folding the musical numbers into the score. Dinklage may not have a wide range, but his baritone complements his ever-expressive face, while Bennett gets more musical highs in songs like “Every Letter” and “I Need More.” I think “Every Letter” is my favorite, achieving its goal of making the sadly outdated act of letter-writing sensual with its beautiful staging of fluttering pages falling around the three overlapping singers. I’ve listened to the soundtrack quite a bit lately, and my love and appreciation for the songs have only grown with time.

It must be said that Dinklage absolutely deserved a Best Actor nomination, and the Academy’s ignoring of him is probably the worst snub since Amy Adams was passed over for Arrival. His eyes alone convey Cyrano’s latent heartache as he pines for Roxanne, especially when he is so close to her as a friend. Heck, the film could have deserved multiple nominations – Best Actress for Bennett, Cinematography, Score, Original Song for “Every Letter” – instead of just the one nod for Costume Design. Yet despite an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, I’ve seen many articles labeling Cyrano a “failed musical” or a flop, which may be true in a purely box office sense but certainly not for the film’s quality. I don’t know what the moviegoing public wants in a musical, but their apathy toward recent movie musicals breaks my heart.

Though I may just be easier to please, I found Cyrano to be a perfect mixture of sincere and superb for any fan of tragic romance, elevated further by Wright’s elegant direction and a palpable fondness for the written word that rivals Violet Evergarden. To be honest, Steve Martin’s Roxanne was my previous touchpoint for Cyrano before this and sort of spoiled me with a happier ending than the source material had, but this Cyrano is the new gold standard for me, an exquisite film and a personal one for any sufferer of unrequited love.

Best line: (Roxanne, singing) “What is it you’re so afraid of losing?”
(Cyrano, singing) “That I might lose everything if I lose the pain.”

Rank: List-Worthy

Encanto (2021)

20 Thursday Jan 2022

Posted by sgliput in Movies, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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Animation, Comedy, Disney, Family, Fantasy, Musical

If I had a sister,
I would resist her.

If I had a brother,
“Why?” I’d ask Mother.

But since I do not,
I alone call the shots.

This child is only,
Perhaps a bit lonely.

It might have been nice
To have brothers’ advice.

I’d be a good sport
For a sister’s support.

Perhaps I’d not mind
That our lives intertwined.

To have more relations…
That’s just more frustrations!

If I had had brothers,
They’d deny me my druthers.

If I had a sister,
I’d cease and desist her.

I’d hate him, refund her…
And yet, I still wonder.
_______________________

MPA rating: PG

It’s always nice or at least assuring when you can watch a movie and know exactly how you feel about it by the end. Whether you loved everything about it or found it a waste of time or just have that all-too-common meh reaction, at least you know your own opinion. But what about the gray space where you’re torn between a film’s merits and its problems, never sure which outweighs the other to turn the thumb up or down. Encanto is just such a film for me, a Disney animation that is equal parts marvel and mess but ultimately left me glad to know that a flawed film can still be a good one.

Set in Colombia seemingly in the early 1900s, Encanto focuses on the amazing Madrigal family, whose matriarch/Abuela (María Cecilia Botero) founded the town decades before with the aid of a magical candle that granted her a sentient house to live in and later supernatural abilities to her children and grandchildren. For every child growing up, a ceremony imparts a magical “gift” for their and the town’s benefit, but young Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) was spurned and left feeling anything but special. A few years later, when the candle’s magic seems to be dying, she decides to prove her worth by saving her family’s miracle.

There’s a lot going on with Encanto and its large cast, and, like Eternals, I’ve seen some suggest that it would have been better suited for a miniseries instead of a film to help flesh out the characters. Yet the film is a wonder at fast-paced characterization, in large part due to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s outstanding soundtrack of original songs. More than any other Disney film since Tangled, the songs are deeply integrated into the storyline, with musical numbers introducing and resolving entire subplots while making the exposition catchy and fun. Miranda’s Latin-inspired beats and trademark rapid-fire rhymes are first-rate Disney tunes, as evidenced by how often I’ve replayed them, especially “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” and the surprisingly deep and relatable “Surface Pressure.”

Among the film’s other strengths are its vibrant animation that turns the often poorly depicted nation of Colombia into a land of bright colors and magic, as well as a diverse Hispanic cast that includes the first Disney musical protagonist to wear glasses. So with all these pros, what’s so wrong with the film that it left me initially torn? Well, what’s left? The plot. Encanto has a good story and themes about suppressed familial trauma, the pressure of expectations, and the ripples caused by violence and displacement, which I’ve seen struck a chord with people of Latin American descent but are universal enough to be appreciated by folks like me as well, who may not have a large, close-knit family unit.

Oddly enough for Disney, the magic is where it stumbles. Little to no clear explanation is given for basically anything magical that happens, like how the candle became magical, why Mirabel was excluded, why the magic began to fade, or why the prophetic visions of Mirabel’s uncle Bruno (John Leguizamo) become vague and hard to interpret when he foresees the events of the film. This has resulted in an abundance of headcanons and theories about the film’s open-ended elements (“maybe Mirabel’s gift is her connection to the house”, “maybe she’s meant to be the successor to Abuela, who also lacks superpowers”, etc.), which are honestly fascinating, but I would have preferred that the film itself actually answer some of these questions. (One theory I liked was that, at her door ceremony, Mirabel touched the candle and then wiped her hands on her dress before touching the doorknob, perhaps transferring the magic to herself. It’s a good theory, but the film doesn’t bring any attention to it to indicate that was the filmmakers’ intent.) I realize this lack of explanation supposedly ties into the Colombian literary genre of “magical realism” where fantastical elements are often left unexplained, but these are aspects inherent to the plot.

Ultimately, the film simply wants the audience to “go with it” and accept what it presents without overthinking, and doing so certainly helped my enjoyment on a second viewing. Many of the family members’ gifts reflect their personality and character, such as Mirabel’s sister Luisa using her super-strength to bear every family burden or their mother being able to heal injuries with her meals (mom-cooked meals have definitely helped me feel better before). So on some level, the magic could be viewed as a giant metaphor for the roles and talents of any large family, but without more explanation, it’s something of a mixed metaphor. Yet it still clearly speaks effectively to the pressures on older siblings and feelings of inadequacy in younger ones.

While I wrestled with it for a while, I eventually decided that Encanto’s strengths outweigh its weaknesses. Some naysayers have pointed out its flaws and extended them to the good parts to make the film seem like a total catastrophe, which it’s not. It’s almost surprising that Disney would be behind a comparatively small-scale, introspective feature like this, boasting largely unknown voice actors and the rarity of a large and intact family, albeit one with issues. (Some friends of mine said they ought to do a follow-up short featuring the whole cast going through a therapy session.) For both entertainment and plot progression, it relies on Miranda’s music to do much of the heavy lifting, but the songs are up to the task, and there are so many cultural details and fast-moving gags amid the gorgeous animation that it’s well worth repeat viewing. Encanto is far from perfect, but, as Mirabel’s sister Isabela finds, perfection does not define one’s worth.

Best line: (Mirabel, to Abuela) “We are a family because of you, and nothing could ever be broken that we can’t fix together.”

Rank: List-Worthy

Tick, Tick… Boom! (2021)

15 Saturday Jan 2022

Posted by sgliput in Movies, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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Drama, Musical, Netflix

We hear all these tales of unlikely success,
Of thousands of no’s that resulted in yes,
Of people achieving their triumph with less
Than anyone else could have guessed was required.

They seem the exception to that wretched truth
That work is not always rewarded, nor youth,
And even those weary and long-in-the-tooth
Have little to show for their being so tired.

But who could have guessed what those blessed ones would do?
What low expectations observed their debut?
And who says that I can’t be one of those few?
And who says that you aren’t exceptional too?
__________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

I suppose the first order of business for 2022 should be reviewing the films that made it onto my end-of-year list for 2021. Considering my fondness for animation, musicals, and superhero films, it’s not surprising that these dominated much of the list, and the only musical of last year that didn’t disappoint at the box office (since it was released on Netflix) was my favorite of the bunch.

Tick, Tick… Boom! is the other Jonathan Larson work, a one-man musical monologue that never made it to Broadway like his hit Rent did five years later. Considering I doubt anyone was clamoring for a film version of this lesser-known “rock monologue” from thirty years ago, it’s clear that this was a passion project. First-time director Lin-Manuel Miranda has written that Tick, Tick… Boom! inspired him when he saw a reworked version performed after Larson’s untimely death, and he even played Larson himself in a 2014 production. It makes sense that Larson’s semi-autobiographical take on the stresses of chasing success in musical theater resonated with Miranda, whose Hamilton shared the role of someone writing “day and night like [they’re] running out of time.” In the case of Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield), he struggled to produce his futuristic rock opera Superbia and wrote Tick, Tick… Boom! as an outlet for his creative frustration, even as the 1990s and his thirtieth birthday loomed before him.

I knew nothing about the story going in and was amazed at how fitting it was that I watched it on my own birthday. The very first (and very catchy) song “30/90” laments how quickly the years are outpacing Jonathan’s dreams of making his mark on the world, a sentiment that I can certainly relate to, along with most other twenty- or thirtysomethings out there. Andrew Garfield delivers one of his best performances yet in the lead role, demonstrating he’s a double threat of acting and singing (for the first time apparently). Whether he’s ecstatic over small achievements, harried working for every cent and every note he can muster for the sake of his workshop, or heartbroken by tragic news, he runs the full spectrum of emotions and well deserved his recent Golden Globe win.

Also outstanding are Alexandra Shipp as his girlfriend Susan and Robin de Jesús as his friend Michael, both of whom suffer being left behind by Jonathan’s mania of chasing success even as they sincerely want him to find it. Plus, like Zac Efron in The Greatest Showman, it was nice to see Vanessa Hudgens returning to her movie musical roots as one of the key singers for the show/workshop. The film also incorporates elements that would clearly go on to influence Larson’s next musical Rent, such as several of Jonathan’s gay friends falling to the AIDS epidemic.

Tick, Tick… Boom! has an unusual structure; while most of it is the expected movie musical format (drama with interspersed musical numbers), it’s mixed with scenes of Larson/Garfield narrating on stage with piano and band as if performing the show live to an audience. As a sort of blend of stage play and film memoir, it excels at folding the songs into the narrative as embellishments of the first-person storytelling. There’s really only one moment where the song seriously fails to match the tone, when a sardonically poppy song about relationship problems clashes with an otherwise very serious scene. Regardless of such minor hiccups, the quality of Larson’s music and lyrics speaks for itself, from the gentle guitar of “Johnny Can’t Decide” to the stark piano of “Why” to the full rock ensemble of “30/90” and “Louder Than Words.” In particular, “Why” struck me as an emotionally exhausting performance akin to Anne Hathaway’s “I Dreamed a Dream” in Les Miserables, so Garfield had better get an Oscar nomination.

Every now and then, a movie about creativity and chasing art comes along and speaks to me on an especially personal level, films like Whisper of the Heart or La La Land that often are appreciated by some more than others. Tick, Tick… Boom! is just such a film. I have my own latent plans for a musical that I’ve been toying with for years, and while I have yet to put full effort toward it, watching Larson’s grueling journey and eventual vindication gives me hope that my own efforts won’t be in vain, even if it seems so.

The film is a tribute to both Jonathan Larson and the creative process of musical theater, elevated by Miranda’s personal direction and lots of cameos from Broadway legends that not everyone will recognize. Some cool trivia: Bradley Whitford plays Larson’s idol, the late great Stephen Sondheim, but when Sondheim leaves an encouraging voice mail toward the end of the film, Sondheim himself recorded the lines. All these layers make Tick, Tick… Boom! a clear labor of love and, for me at least, a film to love as well.

Best line: (Jonathan, after a rejection) “So what am I supposed to do now?” (Rosa, his agent) “You start writing the next one. And after you finish that one, you start on the next. And on and on, and that’s what it is to be a writer, honey. You just keep throwing them against the wall and hoping against hope that eventually something sticks. Listen. Little advice from someone who’s been in this business a long, long time. On the next one, maybe try writing about what you know.”

Rank: List-Worthy

2021 Blindspot Pick #9: Sunshine on Leith (2013)

24 Friday Dec 2021

Posted by sgliput in Blindspot, Movies, Music, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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Drama, Musical, Romance

(Best sung to the tune of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by the Proclaimers)

If you watch this,
You should know they’re gonna sing,
They’re gonna sing their lines as lyrics and a tune.
If you hate this,
You should know it’s gonna sting,
It’s gonna sting ‘cause even cynics aren’t immune.

But I like this,
I like musicals galore,
And by galore, I mean there’s plenty to embrace.
If you don’t like this,
Then it’s better to ignore,
But you ignore what puts a smile on my face.

And I would watch this musical
And I would watch 500 more
If it means they’ll make more musicals,
No matter how the haters roar.
_______________________________

MPA rating: PG (mainly some innuendo)

When I choose my Blindspots at the beginning of each year, I usually don’t give any thought to how exactly I’ll watch them. With so many streaming options nowadays, there must be some way, right? When I decided to watch Sunshine on Leith, I realized that might be difficult, considering the Scottish musical was not on any streaming subscription and apparently had never been released on DVD in the U.S., meaning anything I bought would not be playable on my U.S. player. I was on the verge of having to change my Blindspot choice entirely, but thankfully I checked YouTube, where it happened to have been uploaded by some overseas saint. So note to self, maybe I ought to verify that I can actually find the movies on my Blindspot list before I announce them.

Anyway, I had a strong feeling that Sunshine on Leith would be my kind of movie. A feel-good romantic musical set in Scotland? Yes please! The closest analogue to this film would have to be Mamma Mia!, the jukebox musical that incorporated ABBA’s diverse discography into a mostly coherent storyline. This time, the featured music is that of the Proclaimers, a Scottish duo known for songs that tend to tow the line between rock and barroom folk anthems. Admittedly, I was only familiar with two of their songs, “I’m on My Way” and most famously “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” both of which debuted on the 1988 album Sunshine on Leith, from which the film gets its name.

So, unlike Scottish audiences, I had little internalized fondness for these songs since they were mostly new to me. Yet I still enjoyed the songs quite a bit, even if the performances often lack the wow factor of other musicals. It’s very much in the vein of Mamma Mia!, with characters sometimes breaking into goofy theatrics for an impromptu musical number, and the final rendition of “I’m Gonna Be” is undoubtedly the best, combining the romantic climax with the most fun choreography.

However, in combining songs that were not necessarily written to fit into a narrative, the plot is unfortunately thin. It chugs along in feel-good mode with hardly any conflict before suddenly dropping three different conflicts all at once and resolving one in the space of a single song that didn’t seem to actually address the problem. I’m genuinely impressed by the way musicals like this and Mamma Mia can combine unrelated songs into a cohesive plot; I’ve wished I or someone could do the same for some of my favorite artists, like TWRP, Autoheart, or Coldplay. It can’t be easy, but this is one case where the songs often don’t quite fit naturally, instead making the plot feel overly rushed at times, despite the good performances of actors like Peter Mullan, Jane Horrocks, and George McKay (years before 1917). And yet the songs are also the best parts, causing the non-musical sections to suffer by comparison.

I love musicals, and I liked this one, but I hate to admit that I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. It has the feel-good romance aspect, paired with elements that try to make it less like a predictable Hallmark movie, and it introduced me to some great Scottish tunes. And while I was concerned that the accents may be hard to understand, I was able to follow along without missing too much. I’d gladly watch it again, so perhaps it will grow on me like Mamma Mia! has. If they’ll actually release the darn thing in the U.S.!

Rank: List Runner-Up

A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

In the Heights (2021)

21 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by sgliput in Movies, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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Tags

Drama, Musical, Romance

The longer a neighborhood has stood
The more of a store of tales to tell
It has, and in all likelihood,
The narrators who are the best
Are not the visitor or guest,
I suppose,
But those who chose
Or else were born to dwell
In that community,
Who share in native unity
And from the thorn
Of foreign scorn
Have natural immunity.

The brotherhood of neighborhoods
Appeals to me more than it should,
For I was introduced
And used
To lack of that camaraderie;
It doesn’t really bother me,
And yet I get and can’t forget
A sense of admiration for
The folks who know their neighbors’ names
Beyond the first or second door,
Where every high is aired and shared
And every low is bared but shared
And more than family have cared
For all the highs and lows before.

So storytellers, tell your tales
Of neighborhoods I’ll never know
But for the struggles, wins, and fails
You share, and never let them go.
__________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

As you might have guessed with my long stretches between posts this year, I have somewhat of a backlog that’s been building up, movies I’ve seen and just didn’t have the time to give a full review. Now that school is all done (and has paid off, by the way), I can start playing catch-up. One of the Hollywood trends that I welcome with the utmost glee is the resurgence of movie musicals, which have been becoming more and more frequent since La La Land and The Greatest Showman reminded the powers that be that musicals can be awesome.

I am a huge fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the only musical I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live, but I admittedly have not paid much attention to In the Heights, his first hip hop-flavored musical to win Tony awards. In general, I have a very low opinion of rap music, but Hamilton changed my perceptions to appreciate its unique blending of complex lyrics and catchy rhythms. Thus, I can’t help but feel that Hamilton paved the way for my enjoyment of In the Heights, even if the latter predates the former. And Miranda’s musical powers are self-evident here, even if the setting is the modern-day neighborhood of Washington Heights rather than colonial America. (Plus, I couldn’t help but chuckle at a couple Hamilton cameos/Easter eggs.)

Bodega owner Usnavi (Anthony Ramos of Hamilton stepping into Miranda’s role) serves as narrator for the various stories playing out in his block before, during, and after a blackout, including his own goal of returning to the Dominican Republic, the fashion dreams of his crush Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), and the romance of his friend Benny (Corey Hawkins) and college student Nina (Leslie Grace). Also prominent are Nina’s father (Jimmy Smits), who tries to get her to return to college, and “Abuela” Claudia (Olga Merediz, reprising her Tony-nominated role), who has cared for Usnavi and his cousin Sonny and is beloved throughout the neighborhood.

It really breaks my heart that In the Heights ended up a commercial flop because I loved it, not only as an exuberant musical but as a story with clear fondness for its characters that effectively transmits that fondness to the audience. While every character is in pursuit of their personal American dream, they also revel in Hispanic cultural pride, particularly in the “Carnaval del Barrio” number. Considering how strong the Hispanic representation is throughout the movie, it’s ironic that it earned criticism for underrepresenting Afro-Latinos in the major roles, which seems like a nitpick of an otherwise landmark film for Hispanic Americans in media. I read a YouTube comment that summed up the film’s appeal better than I can, stating that they couldn’t “remember seeing this many black and brown people on screen for a solid two and a half hours where not a single storyline had to do with crime, prison, slavery, drug use, gangs, or segregation. No mention of any sort of criminal activity. No equating darker skin with malice or mischief. Just hardworking people of color trying to do their best to live their dreams.” Anyone can find something to complain about, but that seems pretty praiseworthy.

Speaking of complaints, I must reiterate that I had no prior experience with the In the Heights musical, but I understand that quite a few changes were made, from the shifting of motivations and story priorities to the addition of a Dreamer subplot to the deletion of a number of songs. Because of that, I can understand fans of the original musical being disappointed, but as a movie-only fan, I was blown away in the theater many times over. The bright direction of Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) is especially laudable, weaving seamlessly throughout expertly choreographed crowds and injecting spurts of fantasy and animation into the real world. While its profits and impact may have been diminished by controversy and a pandemic, In the Heights is an outstanding addition to the musical film genre, one that left me smiling and whose worth will hopefully become more recognized with time.

Best line: (Kevin Rosario, Nina’s father) “Ignore anyone who doubts you.”

Rank: List-Worthy

Yellow Rose (2019)

28 Wednesday Apr 2021

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

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Drama, Musical

(For Day 28 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write a poem of questions, so mine asks you to compare your struggles with those of the past.)

Did the people I admire
Throw their hands up and retire
When the world was just as rotten
As the world has been to me?

Did the heroes and the dreamers
Yield to censurers and screamers
And abandon their ambitions
To accept reality?

Was their journey less demanding
Or the road more understanding
Than the one that lays before me,
Which no protest will improve?

Did the Greats not show that hoping
Is a fruitful way of coping
And each forward step you take is one
The world cannot remove?
___________________________

MPA rating: PG-13 (for language)

Yellow Rose didn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar back in 2019, but it falls into the hidden gem category for me. Set in Texas, the film details the struggles of Filipina teenager Rose Garcia (Eva Noblezada of Broadway’s Hadestown) as she realizes she is an illegal immigrant when her mother (Princess Punzalan) is arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Suddenly without a home or a guardian, she turns to the kindness of strangers and her love of country music to give her a chance at a better life.

With immigration being very much in the news lately, Yellow Rose is both timely and heartfelt, calling out the process of immigration crackdowns while retaining empathy for all affected by it. While one might expect the story to include more anti-immigrant sentiment, the people Rose encounters are nearly all compassionate and helpful, from the kind boy she grows to like (Liam Booth) to the aging country star who recognizes her songwriting talent (Dale Watson, playing himself). On a side note, it’s interesting that both Noblezada and Lea Salonga, who plays her aunt, have played the lead in Miss Saigon on Broadway.

The drama is uniformly genuine, and both Punzalan and Noblezada give award-worthy performances as the mother and daughter who are separated by both walls and plans for the future. Plus, Noblezada (looking and playing much younger than she is) can really sing, and her music being an outlet for her woes goes back to the blues that classic country has voiced in years past. While the film goes a bit too long in the last act and oddly never fully addresses Rose’s most pressing concern of citizenship, it’s a warm-hearted tale that bemoans the system while never losing sight of the people in it.

Best line: (Rose, to Dale, turning her strong emotions into inspiration) “I’ve got some s*** to write.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

The Harvey Girls (1946)

23 Friday Apr 2021

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

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Comedy, Musical, Romance, Western

(For Day 22 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to employ metonymy and represent a time period with a symbol of it. Thus, I use the once-famous Harvey Girls as the symbol of civilizing the West.)

When the West was won,
It was not by the train,
Not by the cowboy traversing the plain,
Not by the outlaws and not by the slain,
Not by the farmers with acres of grain,
Not by the rushes for land, gold, and gain.

No, ‘twere the girls
That made civil the West,
The Harvey House ladies so formally dressed,
Who treated the pioneer more like a guest:
By breakfast and coffee and steak on request,
America’s destiny made manifest.
_____________________________

MPA rating: Not Rated (easily a G)

If you’re anything like me, you may have never heard of the Harvey Houses that sprouted up along the railroads in the late 1800s as the first American restaurant chain. Lately, I’ve been in a mood of gleeful discovery as I stumble upon bits of history I had never learned before, and this is one of them. My only knowledge of this film about the Harvey girls, who were hired and shipped west to work in these restaurants, was the famous Oscar-winning song “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” which was highlighted in the compilation film That’s Entertainment. All this to say that I was glad to finally see how this movie about forgotten history compared with other classics of the time.

The presence of Judy Garland in the lead role alone makes it a classic. She plays Susan Bradley, a would-be mail-order bride who becomes a Harvey waitress in the newly established location at Sandrock, Arizona, where the established saloon owner (John Hodiak) and his goons are less than pleased to have civilization threatening business. From the first moment where Garland and Hodiak verbally tussle, it’s obvious they will eventually fall for each other. The rest of the film is likewise predictable, albeit with a nuanced turn from Angela Lansbury as the jealous “other woman,” and the songs and choreography are rather uninspired, except for the one famous song that snagged an Oscar.

There is fun to be had, such as an all-woman bar brawl or the reunion of Garland and Ray Bolger (the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz), but The Harvey Girls is a lesser classic, to be sure. Still, I love that it spotlighted a slice of history when it was still part of the public’s common knowledge, and I wouldn’t mind perhaps a modern take on the Harvey Girls story one day. (If you like random history too, you might look up Bass Reeves, Dr. Wu Lien-teh, and the Goiania incident, all of which deserve their own movie as well.)

Best line: (Alma, one of the girls) “I sent my picture into one of those Lonely Hearts Clubs, and they sent it back, saying ‘We’re not that lonely!’”

Ranking: Honorable Mention

Over the Moon (2020)

16 Friday Apr 2021

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

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Animation, Comedy, Musical

(For Day 15 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to detail a habit picked up from a parent, which brought to mind the mooncake tradition in this film.)

I’d watch her in the kitchen,
Covered in a coat of flour,
Every movement sending clouds to scatter more.
She’d stuff the dough with filling,
Working hour after hour,
Leaving powder-stenciled footprints on the floor.

She taught me how to do it,
Find a rhythm and a cadence,
Every batch a surging wave to tempt the tongue.
She’d tell me ancient stories
Filled with animals and maidens
That thrill me still, though I am not as young.

I stand here in the kitchen,
With a flour layer ghostly
And form them each according to her spec.
They bear the same ingredients
And taste the same… well, mostly,
If only she were here to double-check.
__________________________________

MPA rating: PG

With China becoming an ever more important market for films, Chinese culture has grown more prominent in the world of animation. Some are products of China itself (Ne Zha, Jiang Ziya), while others are the result of collaborations between Chinese and American studios, such as DreamWorks’ Abominable and last year’s Netflix-produced Over the Moon, both the work of China’s Pearl Studio. As a family musical with flights of fancy and relatable themes, Over the Moon has earned many comparisons with Disney movies, and while I wouldn’t go quite that far, it’s a quality film worthy of its recent Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

While set in modern times, the story has deep roots in Chinese mythology, particularly the legend of Chang’e, the moon goddess who was separated from her lover Houyi when she took two pills of immortality and was flown to the moon with a Jade Rabbit. After learning and loving this legend, young Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) loses her mother early in the film (in true Disney fashion) to illness and is horrified when her father (John Cho) begins dating another woman (Sandra Oh) with a troublemaking son named Chin (Robert G. Chiu). In an effort to prove Chang’e is real for her mother’s sake, Fei Fei builds a rocket to the moon and, with Chin, encounters the moon goddess herself (Phillipa Soo of Hamilton).

While Over the Moon has a lot of the same ingredients as Disney classics (including direction by Disney animator Glen Keane), it doesn’t quite meet that hard-to-reach standard for me, whether because the songs are good but not great or because its tone often comes off as a “kids movie” rather than one for all ages. There’s certainly fun to be had with the eye-popping colors of the lunar city Fei Fei visits, and Soo as Chang’e herself is excellent playing the goddess as a pop star diva. And despite my earlier dig, the film actually has some surprising depth by the end concerning the pain of losing a loved one and how to move on. A poignant scene with a crane seeming to represent Fei Fei’s dead mother brought to mind how my own family takes comfort in the sight of a cardinal for similar reasons.

I guess the biggest problem for western audiences is perhaps not understanding the cultural and mythological basis of Over the Moon, making certain creative choices (giant frogs on the moon?) seem strange and random without context. I would recommend this video as a companion piece to the film; it actually increased my opinion of the movie and its many culturally authentic details that I as an American wouldn’t immediately understand. (For example, Chang’e is still so associated with the moon that China’s lunar landers are named after her, with rovers named after the Jade Rabbit. Plus, I had no idea what a mooncake was before this movie, but now I’m curious to try one.) In some ways, I could compare Over the Moon with The Polar Express as a smile-worthy journey to prove the existence of a mythological figure, but the 2020 film has enough colorful charm and cultural identity to stand on its own.

Rank: List Runner-Up

2020 Blindspot Pick #6: Moulin Rouge! (2001)

27 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by sgliput in Blindspot, Movies, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance

They say not to judge a book by its cover:
A frontispiece hater could turn to a lover,
If only you got to the end.

You may still despise it a few chapters in,
But stopping too early is almost a sin,
For still you do not know the end.

You may get halfway and still loathe it intensely,
And yet sticking with it could pay off immensely,
If only you got to the end.

Not much more to go, but you’re tempted to quit?
That’s something that nobody wants to admit,
For still you do not know the end.

You finished! I see, and your hatred’s the same?
I thought you would like it, so that is a shame,
At least, though, you now know the end.
________________________

MPA rating: PG-13 (for much sexual innuendo)

Oh, Baz Luhrmann, I don’t know what to make of you. I take pride in enjoying musicals, and I fully expected to like Moulin Rouge! if only for its status as a jukebox musical. I knew it incorporated more modern songs into its 1900 Parisian setting, so I was prepared for the requisite anachronisms. But my gosh, I haven’t watched a film that was this bipolar in tone since, well, Strictly Ballroom, also by Luhrmann.

I remember Strictly Ballroom as a wholly unique experience. It started out as an obnoxious mockumentary that I was certain I disliked after the first few minutes, but then it just kept getting better, from the romance to the dancing, until it actually won me over by the end. Moulin Rouge! attempts to do the same thing but not nearly as well. The story follows the tragic love story of young poet Christian (Ewan McGregor), who is hastily initiated into a troupe of Bohemian artists and introduced to the lovely Satine (Nicole Kidman), starlet of the Moulin Rouge cabaret and desire of a jealous duke (Richard Roxburgh). That short plot description sounds normal enough, but the in-your-face style is utterly insufferable for the first thirty minutes, with rushed character introductions, sudden tone shifts, cartoonish sound effects, lowbrow humor, choppy editing, and hard-to-decipher dialogue during the musical numbers. My VC decided to stop watching entirely, and I considered it too, though my Blindspot obligation made me stick with it. I read that Luhrmann was trying to channel the tonal rollercoaster of a Bollywood film he had seen, but all his extravagance does is make it difficult to take anything seriously.

And then, slowly but surely, the romance element grows more intense and more serious, managing to achieve the intended epic tragedy of the star-crossed lovers. Despite partaking in a few of the puerile scenes that made me wonder how this movie snagged eight Oscar nominations, McGregor and Kidman are the film’s greatest strength, sporting palpable chemistry and decent musical chops. Their bravura medley of love-themed songs was the first clue that Moulin Rouge! might have more to offer than the beginning indicated.

Yet even if the core romance works well, so much else does not. The musical numbers and the choice of who sings them are a mixed bag and brought to mind the why-not(?) silliness of Mamma Mia! Just as I didn’t really need to hear Julie Walters sing “Take a Chance on Me,” I could have happily gone through life without hearing Jim Broadbent croon “Like a Virgin.” I admired the sheer number of recognizable songs used, but how they were deployed was often cringe-inducing. And even if the tone gets more serious over time, the film still indulges in occasional sound effects that undermine the pathos.

Moulin Rouge! is a case where its substance is upstaged by its distracting style. Strictly Ballroom managed to even out its tone and become a serious feel-good romance, and I suppose that’s easier than transitioning from surreal comedy to heartbreaking tragedy. I am aware that some people are able to look past Moulin Rouge’s faults and enjoy its over-the-top stylings, such as the Oscar-winning art direction and costumes, and I’m glad they can. I’ll acknowledge it’s original and took a risk, but this is one style I can affirm is not for me.

Best line: (several characters, quoting the song “Nature Boy”) “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”

Rank: Semi-Dishonorable Mention (a rarely used ranking to reflect my mixed feelings)

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