Sirat

These two don't belong here!

Movie: Sirat

Running Time: 1:55

Nominated for: International Feature

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Uncool dad looking for cool daughter

When it lost me: Too much explosiveness

What systems does it challenge: War 

This is a hard movie to review! I'm already intimidated. How do I tell you things and not give too much away?

Okay. Deep breath.

Sirat is about a middle aged dad and his tween son who go looking for an adult daughter that hasn't been responding. She's maybe kind of a wild child so they are looking among counter culture rave-goers in Morocco. 

They circulate through the crowds of dancers, hippies and drug users with photos of the missing woman. They are completely out of place but still essentially welcome. The thinnest of leads is offered to them; no one has seen her but perhaps she will go to the next rave.

After an army arrives, they face a split second decision to follow the army's orders or flee into the desert with rave goers. They choose to follow these random people into the desert in order to hopefully find the next rave and the daughter. I've explained all of this to say, this moment of choice was done so well. You feel the urgency, the weight and the woeful lack of time to really think through your actions. And this choice dictates everything that comes after.

The sense of danger and tension and dread in this film builds with a ferocious intensity. The acting is strong from all parties. The cinematography is both beautiful and disorienting. The sound is oppressive at times and always feeding into your anxiety about what's to come. 

The movie masters dread, terror, shock and despair throughout its second and third acts. It's really impressively handled. 

Until the end. Some may find it was compelling all the way through but for me they tried to hit the same note a few too many times and it took on a note of absurdity that overshadowed the drama. It's a shame to end that way after so much really great work. Still it's a compelling and astounding film.

The Voice of Hind Rajab

May there be a beautiful afterlife for this soul.

Movie: The Voice of Hind Rajab

Running Time: 1:29

Nominated for: Best International Feature

How I watched: Landmark Cinemas

When it had me: A six year old needs help!

When it lost me: It didn't

What systems does it challenge: Genocide, Extremist Zionism

I left the theatre grappling with the cruelty of the moment. How are we as humans so unforgivably cruel? How can the government of Israel all agree that it is worth it to use a tank to kill a six year old girl who loves the beach? How can the American right stand by and cheer while a five year old in a bunny hat is abducted, transported and detained for being from another area on a map? How can allegiance to one group, one ideal, one fantasy, fill you with enough hate to want children to suffer? How did Nazis round up children and send them to be shot, gassed, starved, stacked like cord wood? How did border patrol steal babies from their parents, lock them up and then essentially auction them off? How do pedophiles and their traffickers even exist?

sigh. 

I'm having a REALLY hard time with all of this.

This movie was interesting because it felt like a documentary. It uses the actual audio files of the child, Hind, as she called for help while being attacked by the Israeli army. Actors are reenacting the real life call center workers who talked to her and tried to coordinate her rescue. Whether it is a doc with dramatizations or a drama with documentary aspects, it is a powerful choice to blur these lines.

The story is gut wrenching but I didn't feel like they were trying to make it sad for me. They didn't have to. They only have to tell it exactly as it happened. I'm glad they understood that.

This was a hard one that I assume most people will want to skip but I think sitting with this child's story for 89 minutes will help me to remember the very real lives that are lost when nations and ideologies become more centered than they should be.

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Rose Byrne at her most disheveled and what I look like (or hope to?) everyday.

Movie: If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Running Time: 1:53

Nominated for: Lead Actress

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: Ominous stakes in first scene

When it lost me: I stayed confused but not lost

What systems does it challenge: Modern Motherhood aka Parenting Without A Village

First off, they did it to me again. For a Comedy/Drama, I definitely expected more laughs than I got. This movie is a fever dream of mother panic. I watched it with another mom and when we did find laughs they were the uneasy chuckles you get from recognition of really hard times.

This movie nails the isolation that moms feel when times are tough, the self doubt, the exhaustion, desperation and disassociation. I read the whole thing as a very exaggerated depiction of what it feels like in those moments where you are another and you have to be a mother but you literally feel like you CAN'T do the job.

There is a medical affliction impacting the child in the movie. As much as I could see my own parental challenges magnified in the movie, I feel for moms of high needs children or kids with grave illnesses who sit down to this movie. The triggers are everywhere and Mary Bronstein*, the writer and director, does not hold back. 

It is tense and uncomfortable throughout. The stakes are high and only seem to get more impossible. Rose Byrne is incredible, wrenching sympathy and solidarity from you even as she repeatedly demonstrates that she may not be worthy of it. Conan O'Brien and ASAP Rocky are both unexpected and great in their own non-supporting roles. 

I spent the whole time wondering what on earth was happening but heavily invested in the journey nonetheless.

*Mary Bronstein is married to Ronald Bronstein a writer, director, producer who produced Marty Supreme this year. They have worked with both Safdie brothers and apparently all four of them make films that feel like panic attacks.

Blue Moon

Also, Lorenz Hart was short!

Movie: Blue Moon

Running Time: 1:40

Nominated for: Leading Actor

How I watched: Prime

When it had me: How did he die at 48?

When it lost me: It's presented as a stage play

What systems does it challenge: Conformity

Ethan Hawke plays Lorenz Hart, seen here as a tragic creative who can't find acceptance because he can't practice conformity. He is bisexual (actually omnisexual, as he asserts all writers must be) refusing to conform to either acceptable heterosexuality or artistic homosexuality. He wants to write about deep, complex topics that challenge an audience and can't be seduced into the more comforting, mindless entertainment that audiences are craving, (like Oklahoma!). He's too bawdy, too needy, too satirical, too much in seemingly so many ways. I liked his character.

The whole movie was presented like it was a play. One set, minimal setups, a handful of characters and a very small feel overall. In addition to the somewhat claustrophobic feel, the acting style felt a bit affected. The actors were ready to perform on a big stage instead of a studio set. I understood the choice but I don't think I preferred the outcome.

Ethan Hawke does a good job delivering wit and moroseness in equal turns. Margaret Qualley brings charm and false modesty and a piano player treats us to more Rodgers and Hart music than we realized we knew.

The movie left me with questions about Lorenz Hart and I appreciate being left with more curiosity than boredom.

Song Sung Blue

Low cut man blouses and hair that waves in the wind! Look out!

Movie: Song Sung Blue

Running Time: 2:13

Nominated for: Best Leading Actress

How I watched: AMC

When it had me: Unexpected Story Turn

When it lost me: Neil Diamond Songs!

What systems does it challenge: Unsure, it really just tells a story

Instead of talking about Song Sung Blue, I want to reflect on my category above, listed as "What systems does it challenge?"

I added that category a couple of years ago because it felt like a topic that was coming up in every review. At first I thought it really wasn't going to work as a general question for every movie. Not every movie sets out to be a work of activism or make a lofty statement. But as time went on, I found it more applicable than not. In fact, in cases where I was struggling with how to review a film, it is this question that often brings clarity where before I was feeling uncertain. 

All of that being said, I can't think of an answer for that question for Song Sung Blue and I think that explains why I feel so tepid about this film.

This film is upbeat and charming. Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman play real life tribute performers that amass a pretty good following. They sing Neil Diamond songs. (I am NOT a Neil Diamond fan so I'm already needing to be won over.)

There is a big left turn in their lives and careers after an accident. I didn't see it coming and it definitely reinvigorated my interest in the film. At its heart, it's essentially a family drama. They face challenges with midwestern fortitude and cute accents and for the most part I'd say it's a feel good flick. Why is it so long if it's a feel good flick? Good question. As always, I object to it.

This movie just rolled off of me, like proverbially water off a duck. It was completely inoffensive and well made but nothing sunk in or stuck in any noteworthy way. Kate Hudson was good in this role but I don't think the odds are with her in this race at all. She does her own singing in the film, which honestly she made look so easy that I don't think I'm giving her enough credit for the feat.

If you ignore the real life son of the main character and his complaints, there is nothing wrong with this movie. I just think I'm conditioned to watch movies that are taking some kind of stand, especially at this time of year. 

If you like singing and charm and movies that aren't too heavy, go check this out!

Weapons

Run, kids, run!

Movie: Weapons

Running Time: 2:09

Nominated for: Best Supporting Actress

How I watched: AMC x 2

When it had me: Initial Mystery

When it lost me: It did not

What systems does it challenge: Lack of community

Weapons is about a town where a whole classroom full of children go missing overnight. They simply get up and run outside and vanish. There is grief and searching and blaming and raging but no one gets any closer to the truth for the first month.

Amy Madigan plays Aunt Gladys in Weapons and became a cultural icon doing so. She could be the merciless mastermind behind a town's suffering but also a sweet befuddled old lady who I swear will remind you of at least one relative you knew as a kid. She was so great she got nominated for a horror film! That is usually a rare occurrence for the Oscars but as the nation slips further into fascism, it seems that horror has found a more prominent place in our collective hearts.

What's really great in this movie is the story telling style. We follow one character at time and learn their piece of the puzzle. I think there are five perspectives that we follow and slowly each of the stories begins to interconnect with the other characters and a broader picture begins to form.

They took that trope in horror films where everyone is so scared but if they just talked to each other and shared what they knew they might be able to work together to get out alive, and expanded it to be the whole movie and it works beautifully. I was so engaged in the mystery I forgot to be frightened. (I told my kid it wasn't that scary so they watched it and disagreed with me whole-heartedly!)

The depiction of the supernatural is so mysterious and specific and diabolical. I love how creepy the vibes are throughout. The ending is too gruesome for most viewers I know but it is a very satisfying watch for me from start to finish.

Train Dreams

It's a pretty movie!

Movie: Train Dreams

Running Time: 1:42 (Is there an award for being under two hours?)

Nominated for: Best Picture, Cinematography, Original Song, Adapted Screenplay

How I watched: Netflix

When it had me: Golden Hour!

When it lost me: Lack of trains?

What systems does it challenge: Hustle Culture. Maybe.

This movie was heavy on the dreams but light on the trains. I think I expected it to be about the railroad and it really isn't at all. 

The first thing I noticed was that most of the first half of the film is shot at magic hour. That is both gorgeous and quite a feat. The affect of all these many colored skies and golden light filtering through trees is a very romantic one. It serves the story of Joel Edgerton's character building a life with Felicity Jones and it also serves a larger theme.

Overall there is a quiet and contemplative feel to the film. It's a kind of meditation on a time when life had less noise and bustle and perhaps more freedom to forge your own path. Edgerton works as a logger and once as a railroad worker (there's the train!) and builds a homestead with his wife. While the work appears difficult there is also a sense that you a shape your life however you want. You can build or maintain, you can lounge among the trees and exist with nature. There are fewer templates and expectations in place.

So for me the movie really asks, what defines a life or a person without the more rigid expectations that we live with today? Is it your work? Is it your family? Is it what you are proud of or the moments that haunt you? Or is it some deeper connection to everything around you that you might discover when you have the time to do so?

It's dreamy and languid at times, dark and lonely at other times but it feels like a worthwhile thought exercise. It's a unique and lovely little movie. And it happened in under two hours! You KNOW how highly I approve of this!

P.S. I called this film a meditation and then found out that the calm app made a meditative sleepstory based on this movie! Have you heard of this? It's a 22 minute retelling of the film with nature sounds and soft music. Check it out here.