Documentary Shorts

I have just spent the morning getting emotionally pummeled by these little gems of film making called the documentary shorts.  Join me on a tour of them, won't you? I'm going to spoil them all for you. Most people have no plans to watch these, right?

Joe's Violin - Joe grew up in Warsaw in the 1930's. Need I say more? Are you already crying? You should be. He survived by escaping to the Russian held side of Poland and spending six years in a siberian labor camp. When he was freed the first thing he did was trade a carton of cigarettes for a violin, because he used to love playing violin with his mother, who didn't survive. Now Joe is donating his violin to a school and gets to meet the girl who will now play for him the song that most reminds of his mother.

Extremis - This one is all about the doctors that have to help their patients and the patients' families decide whether or not to get hooked up to a breathing machine at the end of life or just die. A couple of families let you in on their talks with one another as they navigate these difficult waters. Are your eyes leaking? Mine sure were!

4.1 miles - This one starts on a boat and I thought for a second this would be about a sailing race or something. Its about time I got a break, here! But, no! This is a boat captain in Greece who spends every day pulling Syrian refugees, alive and dead out of the water. Have you ever watched people try to resuscitate a four year old drowned child? I have. And I'm sobbing about it.

Watani, My Home - So back in Aleppo, we meet a family that is living in a bombed out building so their dad can be close to the resistance fight. Shocking what these kids have become accustomed to. Their dad is taken by ISIS and believed to be dead and their mother doesn't really care to go on but recognizes the kids need something more so she manages to get them out and accepted into a German refugee program. There is hope for the children but the mom continues to insist she is a dead person. Weeping.

The White Helmets - Hold on, you can't leave Syria, yet! There is more to tell! The White Helmets spend their day rushing to each newly bombed building and pulling people out of the rubble. These guys are brave and optimistic and inspiring with very little reason to be from my weak and coddled perspective. They say every child is their child, every brother, their brother.  Their greatest achievement is pulling a one week old out of the rubble of a building 16 hours after the building fell. They have it all on film thanks to helmet cams they wear. You'll never see anything more tragic and wonderful. I'll never stop crying.

I'm exhausted and frankly, I am one lucky jerk of a person. Maybe I can tone down my complaining a little bit, huh? Just for a couple of days.

Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea is all about loss and grief and family. You've probably heard this movie is very sad. It is sad because of what it has to say, not because it manipulates you with its choices or because it is pushing the drama to heighten any sense of tragedy.

The movie nails its tone and is filled with such spot on choices! I love the scenes that play out without sound. Several times throughout we watch things unfold without hearing the conversation, without experiencing the particulars. We watch from a distance and listen to the music play out and we get everything we need from those scenes. So much is held back in terms of exposition or on-the-nose dialog and it strikes a great balance between feeling real and getting all the essential information to the viewer.

I also love the use of flashbacks to reveal the past, a past which echoes into the present and informs every choice and action made by the main character.

Much has been said about Casey Affleck's portrayal in this film and for good reason. He too strikes a balance, showing us a person who is never far from falling apart, who feels an intense love and warmth for his family and yet noting at all for himself.

The music at first perplexed me in this film. In an early scene I was watching Casey Affleck clean toilets with a serene, choral piece of music as score. I couldn't figure out why that was the choice until a couple scenes later when I realized that we are basically listening to a mortuary mix tape. The whole movie is a funeral when you judge it by its music! It's kind of chilling.

This is the kind of movie that sticks with you for days, where you will be sitting and apropos of nothing you start musing on what a particular scene meant or suddenly hearing a conversation between characters in a new way. It's certainly worthy of the honors it is receiving.

As a post script, it sure sucks that Casey Affleck allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted those two women a while ago. You can read about the allegations here. Is it possible that was just a mistake during a bad phase in his life? Or is he just always a creep and no one talks about it? Whatever the case, I'm sure it is not much fun for those women to sit back and watch him lauded for his brilliance this time of year. I don't know that I agree that denying him the Oscar helps their cause at all, but I support you if that feels right to you. I just know we need to keep talking about it. It doesn't do any good for anyone to stay silent.

Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins is a little lark! The movie and the story, actually. Meryl Streep plays a society woman who loves music and can't sing. She tries anyway, and her adoring husband goes to great lengths to keep her from understanding how bad she really is.

The film is competent and well done. The acting is great from all involved and as a period piece it is especially lovely to look at. 

I couldn't quite figure out how I felt about it for the longest time.
Is it wonderful that this woman's dream was so unwaveringly supported by her husband? Is it just a terrible bore that a rich woman's entitlement allowed her to find some success where she had no particular skill? Is it tragic that this woman was self deluded and lied to by everyone around her only to become a laughing stock? I couldn't decide and so I was ill at ease watching it and never really felt connected to the story.

It took to the last line of the film before I finally felt at peace with it. Florence says on her deathbed, "People will say I couldn't sing, but no one can say I didn't sing." Well, crap! Isn't that lovely? Now I almost wish I had spent more time enjoying this movie. Because I pretty much love that message. 

Let people say I couldn't write! No one will say I didn't! Thanks, Florence.

Toni Erdmann

I do not know what to say about Toni Erdmann. This movie both confused and enchanted me.

It was nearly three hours long and I didn't know that when I went in. I watched the film and felt completely engaged the whole time and when it was over I was so confused! I had lost an hour of my life! How did it get to be so late? Was I abducted by aliens? Or was I simply watching a foreign film? Now that I think about it...is that really the same thing?

Toni Erdmann is about a jokester of a dad with a very serious daughter and his attempts to get closer to her and understand her better. The story wanders, the objectives aren't clear. I kept trying to figure out what the movie was going to be about because I am an American, trained by Hollywood and I can't let go of all of my rigid expectations! 

But that's not true! I did let go. Despite my confusion, the movie held my interest as it meandered from one direction to another. So many awkward situations arise between dad and daughter and that carries a kind of ever-present tension that kept me from getting bored. I was rooting for him and rooting for her and I had no idea what success for either one of them would look like!

There are touching moments, sad moments, hilarious moments, weird moments. It's all in there! And then without warning, there was a moment at the end that broke my heart. I felt it breaking and I felt myself soaring through an out of body experience and I felt at one with this crazy jumbled up ride of a movie.

Ah, that's probably too much. I don't mean to oversell it. And I swear I wasn't high, despite the legality of such substances now.  I'm just trying to define my relationship with this movie. Maybe it was the three hour time commitment but I did feel like I had a relationship with this film...something that seems far more common with foreign films than American ones. It was utterly unexpected and truly unique. I am glad we shared that Sunday afternoon together...I'll always remember it fondly...

Viggo Mortenson in Captain Fantastic

Here's what you need to know about Captain Fantastic, folks! My friend Trin Miller is in it! You know what Trin does? She makes beautiful, dreamy, kissy faces at Viggo Mortenson! How crazy cool is that??? She is the muse of his world and she lives in his memory and his dreams and she inspires him and motivates him and makes him so...well, fantastic! Trin does that! She's so lovely and so good in this movie!

Is there anything else I need to talk about? Viggo is the one nominated for it, strangely. He did a good job, too. Mostly because Trin gave him such a solid anchor, I'm guessing.

The film asks interesting questions about the "system of civilization" that we have all bought into and whether it really works toward achieving the greatest of human potential. Spoiler: it doesn't! But even so, choosing an alternate system creates its own challenges, as it does for the family in this film and compromises and adjustments must be made. I appreciated that the film was able to ask me these questions and push me to think about these issues without turning judgmental or angry. It's a very enjoyable look at one very interesting family trying to make its own choices! And also? Trin is great! Did I say that yet?

Ruth Negga in Loving

The good news: Loving is the true story of the interracial couple whose court case became the Supreme Court test case that eventually legalized interracial marriage. This movie does not try to be overly dramatic and overdone. It is a simple, quiet story about two shy people. It is beautiful to see that these are the last people you would expect to push a cause all the way to the national level and yet their straightforward love for one another, combined with the particulars of their court case led them to be the couple that broke the ban!

The bad news: This is a simple, quiet story about two shy people. Almost too much so. While I respected the lack of over-dramatization, I did wonder if it suffered from a little under-dramatization? I'm not saying it was boring, exactly, and I wouldn't want the film makers to manufacture drama just to keep me interested (which in fact they did in a couple of smallish suspense sequences to pretty good effect) but the film did flat line for me a bit.

More good news: The two main actors turn in really great performances. They were subtle and nuanced and sincere and real. I have no complaints about the acting in Loving. Congrats to Ruth Negga!

Lion

Lion was full of tough situations. It made me say out loud, "Ugh, it's hard being a human you guys!" It's about baggage and unfinished business. It's about being lost and being found and how we never stop being either one of those.

Lion is the story of a five year old boy who is lost in India and through no particular fault of anyone simply cannot get home again. He is adopted and raised by an Australian family and inevitably one day must resume his search for his first home.

The entire depiction of his childhood is terrifying and well told. The viewer knows as little about what is happening as the child on the screen. We are disoriented, confused, scared and sometimes left to guess about what might be going on. It is very effective, suspenseful and engaging. We even feel the same jolt that Saroo must feel when meeting his new mom played by Nicole Kidman with her dreadful nest of bright red 1980's hair!

The second act drags a bit for me. It is fascinating that Saroo is able to find his family only through the power of the internet and Google Earth, but we do have to endure a lot of indecision on his part. There are many repetitive scenes of him staring at the computer and maps yet he is not quite ready to pull the trigger and commit to the search.

The ending is quite emotional and I don't want to say more about that for those that haven't seen it.

The film is kind and gentle and treats everyone in it with respect, which I love. You can grow up feeling lost in the world or lost within your own mind or lost within your own suburban family. Nevertheless, we all deserve to be found, by our loved ones and by ourselves. The message to never give up and to keep searching is powerful and worthwhile.

And also? They make you wait FOREVER for the title to have significance! For. Ever.