SYNOPSIS: Taking its inspiration from an ancient text, “The Return,” a new historical drama starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche now playing in theatres, is the story of a disgraced king returning from the disastrous Trojan War.
CAST: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer. Directed by Uberto Pasolini based on Homer’s Odyssey.
REVIEW: A story of loyalty and vengeance, “The Return” is a stripped-down version of the Greek poem “Homer’s Odyssey.” Epic in its themes if not in its execution, the story derives much of its power from the performances of Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche as lovers separated by the ravages of war and time.
Director Uberto Pasolini, who co-wrote the script with John Collee and Edward Bond, skips past the more fanciful parts of Homer’s poem. There’s no cyclops, divine intervention or multi-headed monsters. Instead, it skips to Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes), the legendary Greek king of Ithaca, returning home after twenty years at war. Assumed dead, unrecognizable and mistaken for a beggar, he finds his former kingdom in disarray.
His wife Penelope (Binoche) never remarried, despite the dozens of suitors who vied for her hand. As she is pressured to choose a husband to take the throne, her son Telemachus (Charlie Plummer) is threatened with death by ambitious wannabe-kings.
Before he can return home to his wife, son and throne, Odysseus must come to grips with his past as a warrior responsible for his vanquished army. “What will the people say when they see I have returned alone?” he asks. “That I led all their men to their deaths.”
Fiennes embraces this more earthbound adaptation. His Odysseus is a man beaten by war, scarred mentally and physically. “It’s everywhere,” he says of war. “It’s in everything you touch.” Just as the movie is stripped down, so is his performance. Divested of the formality and archaic language that frequently comes along with adaptations of ancient stories, “The Return” allows Fiennes to concentrate on what fundamentally makes the character interesting, his humanity.
Weary from war, he is defeated, but we still get a sense of the warrior he once was and the guile that helped him survive. It’s a terrific performance that showcases the character’s duality, at once sorrowful and frail and yet, able to muster the power that made him a king.
And, at age 61, Fiennes is ripped, sinewy and shredded, as revealed by his loose-fitting toga and a full-frontal nude scene.
Binoche is regal, displaying the kind of dualism that makes Fiennes’s Odysseus so compelling. She’s mournful at the loss of her husband, the wreck her kingdom has become and the political maneuvering that threatens the life of her son. And yet, she persists, using her wits to control the situation.
“The Return” is not a spectacle by any means. The sets and wardrobe are kept to a minimum, but the simplicity works, bringing focus to a story that could easily have been distracted by flashier design or a load of CGI.
“The Return’s” slow-ish pace and conversations with more pauses than dialogue may take some getting used to, but they are all in service of building tension, which eventually explodes in the film’s fiery climax.
SYNOPSIS: In “Close to You,” a new family drama now playing in theatres, Academy Award Nominee Elliot Page stars as Sam, a trans man visiting his family for the first time in four years. The trip home is a journey of self-discovery as Sam confronts the past and reconnects with Katherine (Hillary Baack), an old flame.
CAST: Elliot Page, Hillary Baack, Peter Outerbridge, Wendy Crewson, Alex Paxton-Beesley, Janet Porter, Daniel Maslany, David Reale, Andrew Bushell, Sook-Yin Lee. Directed by Dominic Savage.
REVIEW: Led by strong performances, “Close to You” is emotional, therapeutic and just a little bit messy. It feels intimate, up-close-and-personal, as tensions grow in Sam’s family and a past romance rekindles.
There’s an immediacy to director Dominic Savage’s work as he captures the fraught interactions between Sam and his family. With no formal script, the actors improvise, bringing a naturalism to the scenes of Sam’s homecoming.
Unfortunately, while some of the movie sounds natural, much of the dialogue meanders around in search of a point. The improvisational nature brings with it unfocussed scenes as the actors look for a way to forward the action. There’s lots of repetition, as the characters speak in circles, and yet the important stuff, like motivations, are left unsaid.
There are exceptions. A scene between Sam and his father Jim (Peter Outerbridge) is tightly focused on their relationship and Jim‘s acceptance of his son. It’s beautifully performed, with passion, but also with restraint. As mother Miriam, Wendy Crewson navigates difficult waters, misgendering Sam in a heartbreaking conversation.
A later scene at the dinner table is a climatic high in terms of the film’s story and Sam’s journey, but its cathartic effectiveness is muted by histrionics.
The stand-out is Page who radiates the apprehension and anxiety Sam feels in subtle and interesting ways. It’s a raw and real performance that helps smooth over some of the film’s rough patches.
SYNOPSIS: In “Good One,” a new drama now playing in theatres, Chris (James LeGros), his 17-year-old daughter Sam (Lily Collias) and his best friend Matt (Danny McCarthy) take a weekend backpacking trip in the Catskills. When tensions arise, Sam is caught in the middle, between her bickering father and his oldest friend.
CAST: Lily Collias, James Le Gros, Danny McCarthy, Sumaya Bouhbal, Diana Irvine, Sam Lanier, Peter McNally, Eric Yates. Directed by India Donaldson.
REVIEW: You could be forgiven for expecting something more from “Good One.” The in-the-middle-of-nowhere set-up seems familiar, as though there is danger lurking around every corner, but this is not that movie. Not really, anyway.
The low-fi debut from director India Donaldson defies expectations with a movie that takes a simple coming-of-age idea and amplifies it with slow burn intensity. This is not a horror film, a cabin in the woods deal, this is an emotional tale about the dread of being belittled and unappreciated.
Sam, the youngest but perhaps most mature of the member of the hiking trio, learns valuable life lessons as she confronts her father’s controlling nature and microaggressions and Matt’s loutish, inappropriate remarks.
Not that she elucidates them.
She doesn’t need to because Collias, in her biggest role to date, does a remarkable job of allowing us to read the thoughts written on her face. Her expressions portray the complexity of the performance, but the beauty of her work is in its simplicity as she effortlessly (or so it seems) acknowledges the hard truths about her relationship with her father and Matt. The look on her face when she unburdens herself to Chris, only to have him respond “C’mon… can’t we just have a nice day?” tells us more than any lines of dialogue could.
She is the “good one” of the title; younger but wiser.
Instead of simply painting LeGros and McCarthy as oblivious older guys, Donaldson, who also wrote the script, gives them something to work with. They have backstories, insecurities and quirks that make them human, and not just avatars for clueless behavior. LeGros and McCarthy are excellent, handing in naturalistic, relatable performances.
“Good One” takes its time to get where it is going. The bucolic backdrop, with its gently rolling hills and babbling brooks, sets the tone. It can sometimes feel like nothing is happening, but somehow, Donaldson delicately ramps up the tension, one crossed boundary at a time.
I join Shane Hewitt on his Bell Media Radio Network show to talk about Maya Rudolph returning to “Saturday Night Live” to play Kamala Harris in the show’s upcoming, landmark 50th season, the impact of pop stars like Ariana Grande on the upcoming American election and why Hollywood now says, “Our movies are for everyone!”
Then, I returned to the show for “Boozwe and Reviews.” This week we talk about the up-lifting prison set movie “Sing Sing” and learn how to make “toilet wine.”
SYNOPSIS: Based on real events, “Sing Sing,” a new drama starring Colman Domingo, and now playing in theatres, sees a group of Sing Sing Correctional Facility prisoners, members of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, stage their own original play, the time travelling comedy “Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code.”
CAST: Colman Domingo, Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin, Sean San José, Paul Raci, David “Dap” Giraudy, Patrick “Preme” Griffin, Jon-Adrian Velazquez, Sean “Dino” Johnson
REVIEW: The unusual story of a group of prisoners who discover the power of art as a vehicle to break the self-imposed stereotypes that have shaped their lives, is a powerful, moving one. Dripping with empathy, “Sing Sing” has a theatre kid vibe, in an unconventional setting, that is infectious.
“Oz,” this ain’t.
Leading the charge is Domingo, hot off an Academy Award nomination for “Rustin.” His John “Divine G” Whitfield is an erudite character. In prison for murder, he writes plays, always has words of encouragement for fellow inmates and believes in the power of art to build community. But under a serene façade is boiling resentment and anger, disguised by a broad smile or studious look. It’s a lovely performance, filled with heart and hope, but also a hint of anguish for a life spent behind bars.
The rest of the cast, almost entirely made up of former Sing Sing Correctional Facility convicts, adds not only authenticity, but proof that the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program works. Their natural, committed performances show the inmates in a different light than we’re used to seeing in prison films. These are people who have made mistakes, no question, but who are much more than their mistakes and intimidating face tattoos. They are real people, who, as one of them says are in the group “to become human again and enjoy things that are not in our reality.”
The uplift and empathy on display is such a departure from prison set movies, it would be easy to be cynical about a movie like “Sing Sing.” But in its specificity the story becomes a universal story of the redemptive power of art and community. It’s a crowd-pleaser, and if you are prepared to give yourself to it, you may want to bring along some Kleenex.
LOGLINE: In “Daddio,” a new drama starring Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson, and now playing in theatres, a woman taking a late-night cab ride from JFK strikes up a revealing and soul-searching conversation with the cab driver as they head toward Manhattan.
CAST: Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn. Directed by Christy Hall.
REVIEW: A two-hander between passenger and driver, with no supplementary characters, “Daddio” has a stage-bound feel. From front seat to back seat with the meter running, the two strangers speak in monologues, detailing their lives, revealing deeply hidden secrets. It is, if nothing else, a showcase for Penn and Johnson’s ability to hold the screen. Each are in top form, subtly and sincerely inhabiting their characters as they reflect on their lives.
It is an intimate, simple film that focusses on the connection between the actors. Do I think this is a realistic exploration of the way complete strangers converse? I do not, it’s over-share central in this cab, but I do think it is an interesting look at the way people can find a rapport with someone they’ll likely never see again.
The characters, Clark and “Girlie,” lay themselves bare, and it is both tragic and tender. Life advice is offered and absorbed, and power dynamics shift, as their journey through the streets of Manhattan, and their personal histories, takes some unexpected turns.
Penn plays Clark as a hard-edged, old-school Hell’s Kitchen New Yorker. He’s opinionated, a know-it-all, unafraid to use his personal experiences to make sweeping generalizations on the dynamics between men and women. He hasn’t always been a great guy, but Penn gives Clark the world-weariness of someone who has actually learned from his mistakes. There is compassion in his eyes, even if many of his ideas about gender politics and relationships are old-fashioned. Still, when “Girlie” asks if he ever misses his ex-wife, the bravado fades and his one-word answer packs an emotional punch.
Johnson makes the confines of the cab her stage. Shot, by necessity, in close-up, the subtleties of her performance fill the screen. Like her work in “The Lost Daughter,” “Cha Cha Real Smooth” and “A Bigger Splash,” she allows the internal work to tell the tale. “Girlie” is strong, but without emotionally firm ground to anchor the character, Johnson allows a deep, ever present hurt to seep through.
“Daddio” was apparently partially inspired by the reality show “Taxicab Confessions,” but writer/director Christy Hall uses the genre to strip away the tawdry aspects of that series to reveal more about humanity than any backseat sex or nudity could.
LOGLINE: DJ, drummer, writer, director, and web series creator D.W. Waterson makes their feature directorial debut with “Backspot,” the story of a cheerleader (Devry Jacobs) whose perfectionism manifests itself with compulsive behavior. When she and her girlfriend (Kudakwashe Rutendo) are selected to be part of an elite squad, under the eye of an uncompromising coach (Evan Rachel Wood), the anxiety attacks intensify.
CAST: Devery Jacobs, Kudakwashe Rutendo, Evan Rachel Wood, Wendy Crewson, Shannyn Sossamon. Elliot Page is listed as one of the film’s producers.
REVIEW: Like a riff on “Whiplash” set against the rigors of elite cheerleading, “Backdrop” is a choppy examination of the pursuit for excellence. With a restless, jittery camera, Waterson captures the “no apologies, no fear” intensity of the training sessions and the frenetic excitement of the cheerleading performances, even if their fondness for close-ups over establishing shots gets in the way of showing those performances to full effect. But it’s in the actual storytelling where the film fails to stick the landing. Issues of respect, body image and abusive relationships are broached, but never meaningfully examined. Instead, the movie skims along the surface, leaning into its maximalist style, entertaining the eye, at the expense of engaging emotionally.
A study in friendship, family and community, “We Grown Now,” a new drama now playing in theatres, combines reality and fantasy, hope and joy, to create a moving coming-of-age story that gently tugs at the heartstrings.
Set in 1992, against a backdrop of gang warfare in Chicago’s violent Cabrini-Green Homes housing project, “We Grown Now” tells the story of tweens Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez), best friends who grew up in Cabrini-Green. Malik lives with his mother Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) and grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson), while Eric lives with his dad (Lil Rel Howery) across the way.
“Me and Eric have done everything together since we were born,” says Malik. “We grew up together. Our place is the people. This is where we’re from.”
They’re good kids who do the things kids do. They tell bad jokes—“How do you make a tissue dance? You put a little ‘boogie’ into it.”—get lost in their imaginations and even when they play hooky, do it so they can check out the Art Institute of Chicago.
But trouble is closing in on their neighborhood.
As drugs, gangs and violence are slowly taking over Cabrini-Green, Dolores looks to get a new job, hours away in Peoria. It’s better money and, most importantly, hours away from the neighborhood’s trouble.
Trouble is, Eric is being left behind.
“How do you say goodbye to somebody?” Malik asks his mom.
“I don’t know that you ever do,” she says. “You carry them in your hearty wherever you go.”
A mixture of nostalgia and hard-edged reality, of bittersweet poetry and heartfelt relationships, “We Grown Now” is a nuanced look at the ties that bind and their importance, even when those ties begin to fray. The story is told against a bleak backdrop, but the veneer of social decay infused into the neighborhood does not extinguish the light emanating from the characters.
James and Ramirez hand in lovely, natural performances, despite a script that sometimes gives them an emotional intelligence that seems far beyond their tween years. Even then, the two are never less than charming, funny, and sometimes, a little heartbreaking. Both are gifted with expressive faces, and director Minhal Baig understands how to make their small, quiet interactions into big emotional moments.
“We Grown Now” is a stylized, haunting portrait of childhood, and the power of dreams to provide hope in an ever-changing world.
A vivid portrait of an urban dystopia, “The Kitchen,” now streaming on Netflix, is sci fi that sets up a troubling vision of the future, while finding room to emphasize the humanity at the core of the story.
Set in the near future, the story takes place in a dystopian, “Blade Runner-esque” London. The divide between the 1% and everybody else has widened, with the effects of rising home prices, an AI workforce and a dismantled Welfare State turning the city into a playground for the rich, with no regard for people living in poverty.
The last remaining block of social housing, The Kitchen, is a dilapidated set of North London towers and home to hundreds of Black and brown residents. Scheduled to be demolished by the authoritarian government, its inhabitants live in constant fear of their power and water being shut off, or worse, being evicted in a violent police raid.
Izi (Kane Robinson), a funeral home worker whose company, Life After Life, composts the bodies of those who cannot afford a traditional burial, lives in The Kitchen, but has no plans of waiting around to be forced out of his home. Tired of lining up at the communal shower, and uncertainty of life at the crumbling estate, he has an eye on getting out. Saving his cash, he hopes to move into Buena Vida, a glitzy new development far away from The Kitchen.
His life is changed when he meets Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), a youngster left to his own devices in the wake of his mother’s death. Izi knew the mother, and may, or may not, be the boy’s father. After a rough start, the two bond as Izi offers him a place to stay and steers him away from bad influences that live with the housing project.
As the two become close, Izi asks Benji to move in with him at Buena Vida, but doing so means he will have to reapply for a double occupancy apartment. That means waiting, and spending even more time wrapped in the uncertain embrace of The Kitchen.
“The Kitchen,” written by Daniel Kaluuya (the actor best known for “Get Out,” “Black Panther” and “Judas & The Black Messiah”) and Joe Murtagh, and directed by Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, is set in 2040, but feels vital and timely. In an increasingly besieged world, the gap between rich and poor, the breakdown of community and the pressure marginalized communities feel under the thumb of an authoritarian state, as presented in the film, doesn’t feel like sci fiction. It feels more like a humanistic portrait of a community under fire.
It’s not all doom and gloom. The co-directors inject moments of joy with scenes set in a roller disco and a pirate radio voice named Lord Kitchener, played by former Arsenal-and-England footballer Ian Wright, who maintains morale in The Kitchen with music and spiritual advice.
Ultimately, for all its elaborate world building, “The Kitchen” is a personal story. Like most speculative fiction, the background sets the scene, but the meat of the story is anything but speculative. In this case, it is a father and son story that details the pressure and responsibility Izi feels to do the right thing for himself and Benji.
Robinson is effective in portraying Izi’s worldview. The character is aspirational but tethered to his reality, made more complicated by his relationship with Benji. It’s the storyline that grounds the film, and provides the most interesting moments.
“The Kitchen” brims with ideas, but they are sometimes muted by an episodic presentation. Kaluuya and company juggle a great many storylines, but the film works best when it gets up-close-and-personal with Izi and Benji.
