This Week In Film (4/19/2021 - 4/25/2021)

April 19, 2021 - April 25, 2021


Hello readers. The big night has come and gone. 41 features and 15 short films competed for an eight-pound statuette. We did not complete the so-called Oscar death race. We finished at 26 features and 11 shorts, that's a 66% overall grade. We just got fatigued. Once you see all the contenders for best film, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, director, adapted screenplay, original screenplay, editing, and throw in a couple shorts, you feel confident going into Oscar night. But no one was ready for what happened, or were they? 

I knew Nomadland would win best picture, it has won across the board. The same can be said for Chloé Zhao winning best director. Which, can you believe this is only the second time a woman has won a director award? But the upsets came first when Sound of Metal won best film editing an award that should have clearly been the only award for The Father. But The Father won best adapted screenplay which should have gone to One Night In Miami. Those were small issues. The major upsets came to the awards for best actor and actress. Frances McDormand won out over Andra Day for Actress which is unfathomable. McDormand is McDormand wandering a barren landscape while Andra Day is Billie F*cking Holiday. As if the Oscars were a corporation the night of a big verdict against people of color, they boarded up their windows and closed early. You ask even an unseasoned viewer of the order awards are handed out and they will tell you it is some combination of the following: Director, Actor, Actress, Film or Actor, Actress, Director, Film - with best film always at the end of the night. No, this year because the Academy knew it chose the wrong winners, they decided to place the best actor award last and cut the broadcast quick. A boarded up Walgreens along the march path towards the mayor's home. Was Anthony Hopkins great in The Father? Absolutely. But Chadwick Boseman was transcendent in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. And to know how sick Boseman was while Levee's monologues stirred a storm in the band room, makes his performance the true winner. But that's not what I came here to tell you about...

This Week In Film where I create a weekly rundown of the random sh*t I watch. There’s a HIGH / LOW at the end of this entry, so if words aren't really your thing, you can scroll quickly, look at pictures, and skip to my favorite viewings of the week.

Lets begin...

OVERVIEW:

 

 

THE HUSTLER (1961)

dir: Robert Rossen

The Twilight Zone season 3 episode 5, "A Game Of Pool." This episode aired in 1961, the same year as the release of The Hustler. Both stories feature a battle between legendary pool sharks and a battle over one's own soul. In the episode, Jackie Gleason was originally considered for the role of Fats Brown but ultimately it went to Jonathan Winters. The story features a pool shark, Jesse Cardiff who would give anything to play a game of pool against the legend 'Fats.' In true Twilight Zone fashion, Jesse gets his wish. Fats, who's been dead for more than a decade, appears and sets the stakes: If Jesse wins he will be known as the greatest pool player ever and if he loses he will forfeit his life. The twist is: Jesse wins but will now have to spend eternity returning to be played by every great challenger through history until his own loss.

The idea of Minnesota Fats vs. Fast Eddie has been etched into the American hive-mind. But Minnesota Fats and Fast Eddie were created by novelist Walter Tevis. But, maybe Tevis tapped into something that was needed in American culture. As Fats in The Twilight Zone or Fat Man in The Hustler, there was a need for this person. The ultimate pool shark. A distinguished billiard hustler. And poof, along comes Rudolf Wanderone. A real-life pool player who made the false claim that he was the inspiration for Minnesota Fats so many times it became a reality. And poof, along comes Eddie Parker, known in pool circles as 'Fast Eddie,' and again falsely claimed he was the inspiration for Paul Newman's character. Again, he became reality's Fast Eddie. But these hustlers missed the point of the film.

The center of the film is Bert Gordon (George C. Scott). He's the equivalent of the devil searching for souls he can siphon, and he finds a willing alcoholic duo in Fast Eddie and Sarah (Piper Laurie). All Eddie wants is to beat the fat man, but it is not until he's lost himself / 'built character' that he can even come close. This is one of those film that every time it's on, has to be watched until the end. What a classic? And a young Piper Laurie is a sight to behold.

WHITE BOY RICK (2018)

dir: Yann Demange

White Boy Rick tells the story of a white trash family living in 1980's Detroit. White trash are their words, not mine. I'd just describe them as a motherless family living below the poverty line as a result of the lack of opportunity. Rick Sr. is a gun buyer that forces his son into gun selling. This gets the attention of certain FBI agents who want to use the Ricks to gain information about the local drug trade. Little Rick accepts, starts selling drugs for the government and becomes gangster rich. But when he gets shot playing the drug game started by the feds, he decides to continue to play the game on his own. When the Ricks are ultimately caught, they agree not to testify against the FBI for a reduced sentence. However, little Rick is handed the maximum of life in prison.

The film feels like a paint-by-numbers portrait of poverty stricken youths turning to drug sales to keep their families afloat. All Rick Sr. wants in life is to own a video store. He will hustle until he can make his dream come true. His lifestyle leads to the destruction of his family. There's a moment after little Rick has been shot where his father tells him life is looking up. Rick Jr. replies, "Your daughter is a junkie and I'm sh*tting into a bag." Rick Sr. says, "I'm a glass half-full kinda guy." It is Daddy Rick's optimism that allows his son to rot in prison for life.

Richard John Wershe Jr. was finally released after 32 years in prison. He was a victim of Michigan's 650-Lifer Law which penalized anyone in possession of more than 650 grams with life imprisonment. Upon his release, Rick speaks out against the unfair system. One in which non-violent offenders spend more time in jail than rapists and murderers. The war on drugs has always been a war on those in poverty.

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI... (2020)

dir: Regina King

Fun fact - Regina King appeared in many of the great black representation films of the nineties: Boyz N The Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993), Higher Learning (1995), Friday (1995), A Thin Line Between Love and Hate (1996), and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998). King spent the 2000's and 2010's mostly in the TV world with little known shows like Shameless, The Boondocks, The Strain, The Leftovers, American Crime, Big Bang Theory, and most recently Watchmen. Her recent return to film came with Barry Jenkins' If Beale Street Could Talk (2018). Regina King utilized her years in TV as a way to learn how to direct, as her directing credits are scattered among the shows she was in. And in a circular fashion, King has made One Night In Miami that serves to question black representation in media and the utilization of that representation.

The historical figures in One Night: Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke were all widely famous by the time they met at that hotel room, that fateful night. While no one knows exactly what was discussed in that room, it is widely known that instead of an after-championship party, the four men met in that room for the evening. And the next morning Cassius Clay converted to Islam. The film, as I'm sure the play, focuses on questioning what these titans are contributing to the early stages of the revolution. As their friend Malcolm X has poured his entire self into the cause, he cannot understand why his important friends aren't using their status to promote their race.

We learned recently while watching U.S. Vs Billie Holiday that Holiday, the godmother of civil rights, recorded "Strange Fruit" in 1939. One Night is set on February 25, 1964 after Clay's victory against Sonny Liston, winning him the heavyweight championship title. On August 13, 1963 Bob Dylan released The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan which featured "Blowin In The Wind." On November 22, 1963 John F. Kennedy was assassinated. These dates play a prominent role in the film as the discussions all revolve around what these men have done for civil rights.

Sam Cooke released the album Ain't That Good News in February of 1964 and featured the song "A Change Is Gonna Come." The song inspired by an incident in Shreveport, LA where he was not welcome at a hotel and arrested for disturbing the peace. Prior to this incident, Cooke worried about losing his white fan base. But after hearing Dylan and his own incident, and maybe a little of what his friend Malcom X had to say, he released his most important creation. Cassius Clay converts and becomes Muhammad Ali. Jim Brown gives up football and goes on to become the greatest blacksploitation star the world has ever seen. With great monologues and even greater performances, Regina King evokes to perfection these towering titans of history without letting them overshadow the film itself.

 

THE WHITE TIGER (2020)

dir: Ramin Bahrani

I appreciate narrative rule breakers. Bahrani's film breaks a cardinal rule when it comes to a protagonist. Our hero murders an innocent person to get ahead. This murder allows our hero to steal a large sum of money and build a business. This is unheard of in film. A murderer normally gets their comeuppance either through the law or via the loss of their own soul. Neither of these things happen to Balram.

Balram describes the two Indias. India of the lightness and India of the darkness. He literally means one side has electricity and can be progressive while the other has no electricity or opportunity for education or advancement. This is a representation of a two caste system the narrator discusses; however, there were over 1,100 castes in the last designation.This is hyperbole for sure. Balram discusses he is in a lower caste, and we (dumb westerners) understand he's from poverty. We watch as Balram, described as a White Tiger (only one is born in a generation) moves from nothing to a driver for a wealthy family. He is treated as a servant. Balram knows no better. He has reached the apex of his life. That is until he realizes he is disposable. When this realization sets in, Balram will do anything to prevail. Even if it means murdering his master and having his entire family murdered in retaliation.

As I initially believed this would be another rags to riches story, I wasn't excited to see it. But when you learn the story breaks all conventional rules, you're hooked. Also, the cinematography is mesmerizing.

TIME (2020)

dir: Garrett Bradley

This project began as a short film between the two women. Bradley met Sibil Rich while creating a short film, "Alone." When the two of them started working on the idea for Time, Sibil dropped a bag of tapes for Bradley to comb through. With a hundred hours of footage spanning 18 years, Bradley knew she had a feature documentary on her hands.

The footage is intimate. It shows the progression of Sibil/Fox as she awaits her husband's release from prison. A moment she's been waiting 18 years for. We see her right after her own stint in jail. She's pregnant with twins and speaks directly to her husband. We see her fight for his release. We see her fight for prison reform. We see all these ways she's matured and the power she now holds. When you look at reviews online, you'll find people stuck on the facts of her husband's incarceration. He was convicted for armed robbery, shots fired, possibly jury tampering, and maybe an outstanding warrant in another state. Nobody is saying that he didn't deserve to go to prison. He did and so did she for being an accomplice. He's serving a sixty year term, but due to appeal after appeal and finally a parole hearing he is released. In this documentary, none of that matters. We focus on the strength of Sibil/Fox. We focus on her hard-working twins Justus and Freedom. We focus on her unwavering love of her husband and family. And the director compresses and expands time through the poetry of montage. We live Sibil's life along with her through the ups and downs. When she is reunited with her husband, we feel it with our whole being. And we realize in that moment that empathy is one hell of a drug.

MY OCTOPUS TEACHER (2020)

dir: Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed

Meet Rosetta the octopus, she's a wildly inventive lady who forges a bond with a human over the course of a year. She attempts to show him the ropes of living just under the surface. She survives through intelligence. Sometimes she uses two of her tentacles to walk the ocean floor like a human would, or she'll wrap herself in the cloak of algae and sea shells. After a while of this human bothering her she decides to see what that person is like. She touches his fingers with her thousands of independent suction cups and swims with him. She shows him how she eats, sleeps, and protects herself against those evil Pyjama Sharks. Rosetta even shows off her regenerative skills after losing an arm in battle. But ultimately she shows him that life is fragile, and every moment requires the instincts of a survivor. Hopefully the human can use this knowledge to stop spending all his time looking at underwater life and get out of the ocean so he can start caring for his own child.

JAKOB'S WIFE (2021)

dir: Travis Stevens

I think Adam Wingard was correct earlier this year when he disclosed his belief that Barbara Crampton is actually a vampire who doesn't age. Crampton became cult sensation 1980s. After getting her start on Days of Our Lives as Trista Evans for 83 episodes (1983-1984), she moved on to a small role in Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), and a Stephen Geoffreys starring summer film Fraternity Vacation (1985). She finally hit her winning streak. Crampton's 80's trifecta includes Re-Animator (1985), Chopping Mall (1986), and From Beyond (1986). Her other cult titles included Puppet Master (1989) and Castle Freak (1995). Crampton kept working in film and TV, but her resurrection to genre cinema came in 2011 with Wingard's You're Next and Rob Zombie's The Lords Of Salem (2012). Since her return, Crampton is everywhere and unstoppable.

In Jakob's Wife we get a vampire story that dives deeper into relationships and the so-called archaic roles of men and women. Crampton's Anne Fedder has been stuck in an oppressive relationship with Pastor Jakob Fedder (Larry Fessenden) for thirty years. We learn that Anne wanted to travel and find excitement, but after caring for her dying mother she found comfort in the stability of Jakob. But all that comes to an end when an old flame comes back to town. While Anne is undergoing her vampiric transformation, she is also coming into her own power as a woman. It seems Jakob can come to terms with the vampire side of his wife, but that side that has opinions and desires is too much for him. The gore, make-up effects, and Crampton are all first-rate. Jakob's Wife is a refreshing rehash of the vampire tropes in film. The film even features its master - Nosferatu-type - played by a woman. Hell yeah!

STALKER (1979)

dir: Andrei Tarkovsky

Where do you begin when talking about Stalker? It's a cop-out to say Tarkovsky's films need to be experienced instead of described. No sh*t. To describe any of the master's works one needs to only look a the title of his book on filmmaking: Sculpting in Time. This is what his films do. It is difficult to describe but some speak of time as a construct of memory. A happy moment is fleeting and speeds time up. When your having fun, time flies or gets away from you. Inside sadness, time slows. Our perception changes the flow of time itself. If we felt every second of every hour, life would seem infinite. Tarkovsky plays with this notion. By slowly moving the camera or having the actors stand still or holding on water flowing he is manipulating the time you spend with his film. He is pulling you into a trance-like state so you may immerse yourself into the experience he has created.

Stalker is my favorite of Tarkovky's films. The dense philosophical debate on desire, the labyrinthine complexity of The Zone, the sepia-tone disdain for the Stalker's normal life, and the endless questions the film sparks make for more than a satisfying experience. Don't let the 2h42min runtime fool you. Your experience of time will fall away, and you'll feel a day has passed between the first and last frame of this masterpiece.

THE FOG (1980)

dir: John Carpenter

"11:55, almost midnight. Enough time for one more story. One more story before 12:00, just to keep us warm. In five minutes, it will be the 21st of April."

Not only does April 20th have national marijuana day going for it, but its Crispin Glover's birthday, Clint Howard's birthday, and Hitler's b-day. Now we can also chalk up 4/20 as the day we all spent an hour and a half in anticipation, between the jury coming back with a verdict and finally reading the verdict that Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts of murdering George Floyd. And if that doesn't pack your 4/20 with enough to celebrate, there's time enough for one more story.

If you play John Carpenter's The Fog at 11:54 pm on April 20th you line up John Houseman's words perfectly. Then as the first scene plays and the town of Antonio Bay goes haywire, Adrienne Barbeau will announce that it is 12:06 am. You will instinctively look at your phone and find that it is indeed 12:06. As if we actually need another reason to watch The Fog. But we're always on the lookout for new traditions.

Can we take a moment to recognize Carpenter? It's 1980, Carpenter's Dark Star (1974) and Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) had yet to become cult classics. Halloween (1978) had brought his name into the spotlight. He created Someone's Watching Me! (1979) and Elvis (1979) as TV movies until the full impact of Halloween had given him a chance at a bigger budget film. His first big film since Halloween is The Fog. Here, Carpenter is on the precipice of his career. In the next eight years of his life he would create 7 films that would solidify him for lifetimes over: Escape From New York (1981), The Thing (1982), Christine (1983), Starman (1984), Big Trouble In Little China (1986), Prince of Darkness (1987), and They Live (1988). This means in a decade of Carpenter's career from Halloween (1978) to They Live (1988), he provided us landmarks in the genre that we will be influenced by for generations to come. Thank you for your service.

AUDITION (1999)

dir: Takashi Miike

Hey everybody have you heard the news? Joe Bob's season 3 episode 2 opener was Audition. With the live stream viewing, it's fun to hop on Twitter and follow #TheLastDriveIn. It was incredible to see the amount of people who hadn't seen Takashi Miike's first dive into extreme cinema. That's what makes The Last Drive-In so much fun. It's the feeling of being part of a cool kid cult... finally.

Audition may not be the most atrocious of Miike's films, but it does hold one of cinema's best pay-offs from a slow burn. The final act is unlike anything you've seen before it. Sure, David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) took you down a rabbit hole of investigation and depravity. And, yes, Lynch's Lost Highway (1997) flipped its narrative on its head for the second half. But horror had never seen a coupling of Lynch's sensibilities and dream logic mixed with cutting off legs with piano wire and puke eating.

Let's get the normal questions out of the way. Is Audition feminist or misogynistic? I've always seen it as feminist as it exploits inherent misogyny and commits acts of revenge against it. This leads to question two: does the male protagonist deserve what happens to him? In a word, yes. He deserves it in as much as he follows misogynistic traditions and thusly must pay. If we view the protagonist has a symbol of man rather than the character of Ryo Ishibashi, it's easier to see that he clearly needs to be punished for the continued treatment of women as objects. You can read our longer review here if you're interested.

CLASS OF 1984 (1982)

dir: Mark Lester

The Last Drive-In S03E02 second film of the evening was Mark Lester's Class of 1984. I remember hating this film as a kid. You rented it thinking it was going to be something between Class Of Nuke Em' High (1986) and Rock N' Roll High School (1979) but instead it's an exploitation version of Lean On Me (1989), The Principle (1987), or Teachers (1984). I know Class of 1984 predates those films and even predates Stand and Deliver (1988). Does this mean the hammy-ness of Mark Lester's film influenced all teacher vs. student films of the 80's and 90's? Obviously, all of these films lead to the poignant High School High (1996) with Jon Lovitz.

Class of 1984 was co-written by Fright Night maestro Tom Holland. Most likely, this film directly put Roddy McDowall on Holland's radar for his brilliant performance as Peter Vincent. McDowall absolutely rules this film. Who cares about the music teacher, Andrew Norris, being framed for assaulting a student? No one, especially when McDowall's science teacher brings a gun into the classroom and forces punks to answer questions. Then, in a later scene, decides to rundown the punks with his car. I guess once McDowall's character is out of the picture, we can resume our previous plot involving a music teacher. But all that matters with Mr. Norris is his vengeance against the punk gang that rapes his wife. He uses a table saw to cut off an arm, drops a car on another one, but his last act of vengeance is the most important.

I'm going to make the assumption that Holland wrote the final murder. This assumption comes as he is was a fan of genre cinema way before becoming a prominent creator or horror cinema. The final kill is a perfect homage to Dario Argento's first kill in Suspiria (1977). The last punk, played by Master Ninja's Timothy Van Patten, has fallen through a skylight and grabs onto a rope. Our teacher tries to help, but the punk would rather die. The rope breaks, somehow ties a noose around the punk's neck, and tightens as he falls through a secondary skylight. His corpse dangles over a gathered assembly in the high school gymnasium. A perfect ending to an uneven film.

 

MORTAL KOMBAT (2021)

dir: Simon McQuoid

Let's start with the writing team of Greg Russo and Dave Callaham. This is Russo's first script so the only seasoned talent behind the initial creation of this film is on the back of Dave Callaham whose writing credits include: The Expendables (2010), Godzilla (2014), Zombieland: Double Tap (2019), and Wonder Woman 1984 (2020). By looking at Callaham's prior scripts we see a trend where action can be fun and over-the-top but characters and their development is non-essential. That's okay, we can work with that. As long as the action is a centerpiece. Long takes, real Kung-Fu, practical effects, and non-stop action filmed by someone with decades of action experience can turn around a blasé script. Enter, Simon McQuoid, filmmaker extraordinaire.

Let's look at McQuoid's long list of action film credits that led him to the Parthenon of studio tent-pole films. There must be some mistake. All I see on IMDB is a short film, The Night-Time Economy (2014). Why would New Line Cinema, NetherRealm Studios, Atomic Monster, Broken Road Productions, and Warner Bros. pour $55 million into a film with a first time feature filmmaker? Do they hate their audiences so much that they believe as long as the title says MORTAL KOMBAT we will see it, love it, and tell every one of our friends to give money to it?

I'm not mad at Simon McQuoid. For a first film, he did a magnificent job. I have nothing but appreciation for what he did with what he was given. I'm angry at the audacity of the studio system. They thought they could show a few fatalities, thrown in a few F-bombs, and we would drool for this drivel. Well, we're not. No one is impressed. There was an upside to the whole endeavor. The studios released the first seven minutes online and they are an impressive seven minutes. And they are the only seven minutes you need to see.

******

Best viewing of the week. So many great films this week. So many first time viewings. Being able to watch The Fog at the right time is awesome. White Tiger blew me away. Audition and Class of 1984 on The Last Drive-In was everything. Jakob's Wife would be the ultimate winner, but nothing compares to Tarkovsky.

HIGH: STALKER

Worst viewing of the week. Easiest choice ever.

LOW: MORTAL KOMBAT

TV CORNER: