Week Ending 3/29/24
Happy Easter!
I’m still getting over whatever has been ailing me the past two weeks, so I don’t have much to write again here. April is at least shaping up to have more intriguing titles to request like THE PEOPLE’S JOKER, THE BEAST, SASQUATCH SUNSET, and ARCADIAN, so hopefully I’ll be able to shake this thing and get watching.
Maybe I’ll get moving on the TV front too now that the Sabres season is (un)officially over. Finally started season four of FOR ALL MANKIND and I’d like to catch-up on a bunch of things I’ve missed the past couple years too. We’ll see how things go.
What I Watched:
CABRINI
(in theaters)
It’s wild to me that anyone could think “from Angel Studios, the deep pockets that put SOUND OF FREEDOM into theaters and then took conservative money to ‘give’ people free tickets en route to becoming #1 at the box office despite empty theaters” is a selling point, yet that’s exactly what was used on me both at the theaters during trailers and via publicists emailing (and calling) me to watch Alejandro Monteverde’s latest CABRINI. All those things are actually why I made the conscious choice to skip the film regardless of the fact it was filmed in Buffalo. I simply couldn’t care.
And yet, there it was in my inbox. The other screener I had planned to watch this week never came, so why not fire up this tale of America’s first saint? Because it is an intriguing story on the surface. Mother Cabrini (a very good Cristiana Dell'Anna) hopes to begin her quest to open orphanages across the world, starting in China, only to have the Vatican shut her down in large part because she’s a woman. The fact she’s been given five years to live doesn’t help her case, but the tenacity such a sentence imbues within her to make a difference anyway does sway the Pope to finally approve her request—if she starts in New York City instead.
That’s where the drama lies as she and her nuns land ashore to discover Five Points a cesspool of filth that provides rats a better home than the Italian immigrant children America sees as unworthy of life. Cabrini’s tenacity reigns supreme again as she befriends people with sway (those not so far removed from their own immigrant status like Patch Darragh’s Dr. Murphy) to stand at her side against the real white power players who, as too many still do today, consider themselves “true” Americans (like John Lithgow’s Mayor Gould). And then there’s Archbishop Corrigan (David Morse) stuck in the middle trying not to rock the boat and thus sabotage his stature in both the eyes of God and government.
The story is an inspirational one with Cabrini definitely proving worthy of a bio-pic. I question a lot of Rod Barr’s script’s motivations considering this is a Christian film bolstered by conservative backers (making the “message” more about assimilation than tolerance—both easy sells anyway considering everyone shares a common religion), but there’s enough drama and ambition to warrant the shoehorned feminist angle that ends the whole with “a man couldn’t do the things I’ve done” moment. That line between eye-rolling farce and historical relevance is always thin with these types of productions, but I will say I was impressed by how good CABRINI looked. It goes a long way towards bridging that gap of legitimacy—especially since most films shot in Buffalo lack the same polish.
So, in the end, I’m glad I watched the film. It’s better than I anticipated even if it also proves to be exactly what I thought it would be from its trailer and pedigree. Dell'Anna delivers a wonderful lead role with Romana Maggiora Vergano adding a nice supporting turn. The stunt casting doesn’t play as distracting as it seemed from the marketing (Lithgow isn’t really in it much at all) and I thought Morse, Jeremy Bobb, Giancarlo Giannini, and others rounded things off nicely as allies and villains alike. Would I have liked more personality and less “Christians can be woke too” themes trying to court audiences across the aisle? Yes. But I won’t deny the opposite probably would have been worse.
- 6/10
THE DEVILS
(streaming on Criterion Channel)
Hard not to go into something as talked about in film circles like Ken Russell's THE DEVILS without expectations. I guess mine were that it would be crazier? More unhinged? Worthy of that X-rating? To find that it's actually just a well-made, well-researched piece of history documenting the horrors wrought by a powerful and controlling church almost makes it seem ... quaint by comparison.
It is a fascinating tale (based in part on John Whiting's play as well as Aldous Huxley's novel, which the former was also based). A priest whose sin is that he loves too much (Oliver Reed's Urbain Grandier)—and by love I mean he sleeps with any attractive woman in his congregation no matter who her parents are—stands in the way of a Cardinal (Christopher Logue's Richelieu) throwing his weight around in King Louis XIII's court. So, he sends his lackeys (Dudley Sutton's Laubardemont and Michael Gothard's Father Barre) to frame the priest as a sorcerer to be burnt at the stake.
Add Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave), a hunchback Mother Superior whose lust for Grandier lets her play along with the ruse despite her own torture and blasphemy, and the whole story really becomes a trial of faith. Will Grandier let his desires of the flesh and ego lead him astray for personal salvation? Or will he stand tall for God and his own piety by refusing to give in to the accusations?
We kind of feel for his plight. We kind of have fun when Richelieu's foot soldiers go wildly off-book to retrieve their confessions through S&M tactics they are obviously enjoying way too much. And we sit through a somber conclusion that shows how it was all just for petty revenge.
I guess I get why people love it so much (and I do wonder how much is lost without the infamous "Rape of Christ" scene), but it just feels like a solid piece of cinema vaunted for its inherent controversy.
Via Letterboxd - 7/10
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES
(streaming on Prime)
This was a lot of fun. Better than expected even considering I haven’t been too hot on most of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s works. Probably their most complete film so far amongst the three they’ve directed with surprisingly great production value and an even better cast to help things along.
Never tries to outsmart us (or the characters). Leans into the weaknesses of everyone on-screen rather than their strengths (the sort of role-playing that I find most fun to watch). And it stays honest to its emotional beats even though those beats possess zero nuance or stakes. It’s “found family saves the day” version infinity, but who cares when it works?
Regé-Jean Page = MVP.
Via Letterboxd - 7/10
IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS
(in theaters)
The trailer for Robert Lorenz’s IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS is more than a bit misleading. It tells us of Finbar Murphy’s (Liam Neeson) life as an assassin who’s made a home in a sleepy Irish village and how age is weighing on him to perhaps hang up his gun and try to do something good in the time that remains. Before he can, however, it appears his past has come back to haunt him. Something he did, something he’s been running from, has finally caught up with him in the form of Doireann McCann (Kerry Condon).
Except that’s not what’s happening in Mark Michael McNally and Terry Loane’s script. If anything, the past proves to be the one thing Finbar doesn’t have to worry about. He’s been careful. He’s had his reasons. And those he works for (Colm Meaney) and with (Jack Gleeson) respect him. The village calls him a friend and will do whatever is necessary to stand by him, regardless of the mystery of who he is, because they know he’d do the same. That’s ultimately why he’s in this mess. By helping a little neighborhood girl, Finbar places a target on all their backs.
Doireann is hiding out in this village with her IRA crew after a bombing gone wrong and her brother (Desmond Eastwood’s Curtis June) proves himself a liability by doing the opposite of lying low. He puts himself on Finbar’s radar, earning whatever retribution the latter decides to impose. And, being who she is, Doireann can’t simply let his demise go regardless of its necessity. She needs to know who “ordered the hit.” She needs retribution. And once Finbar sees that refusing to give it to her means she’ll burn the whole place down, he has no choice but to let it play out. Even if it means destroying his final wish to be “good.”
The result is thus much quieter than you might have been told by the marketing. This isn’t your usual Liam Neeson revenger with explosions and murders everywhere you turn. Finbar would love to just call it a day. He’d love to win a ceasefire knowing both he and Doireann have too much to lose and have already lost. Whereas she has proven she won’t bat an eye at collateral damage in her mission (the politics of this time and what the IRA is doing could have used a more delicate touch here), he will not let good people die in a wake of his making. And, perhaps, they won’t let him die trying to save them either.
Don’t therefore be surprised to find IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS at its best in its character-driven moments. The conversations between Finbar and Meaney (not to mention Anne Brogan’s kindly Josie). The more-than-meets-the-eye Gleeson earning a punch to the face as well as the endearing quality he imbues via Kevin Lynch. And, of course, the always wonderful Ciarán Hinds and Niamh Cusack adding a wealth of humanity to a tale that could have easily devolved into arbitrary bloodshed. These are real, innocent people caught in the crossfire of a personal grievance. So, maybe Finbar gets his chance at redemption after all.
- 7/10
THE MONSTER SQUAD
(Digital HD/VOD)
Did it age poorly? Woof. Did it ever. Between Fred Dekker and Shane Black's script being a lesson in Homophobia 101 and the very archaic notion that being a "virgin" must mean also being a girl, MONSTER SQUAD is very cringy ... and that's without the misogyny.
It's also quite heartwarming and fun and exciting too, though. The relationship between Phoebe (Ashley Bank) and Frankenstein (Tom Noonan) really stuck in my memory most (I watched this film a lot as a kid). Love the rug pull of Scary German Guy's (Leonardo Cimino) pies and the undercurrent of melancholy that goes straight through Noonan's portrayal into Jon Gries' "Desperate Man".
And boy is there zero excess. My nostalgia brain truly thought there was a story here that was more than just "read about amulet, discover the end of the world is tomorrow, and montage your way to saving the day." I think the speed helps things, though. Stops us from questioning what's happening and really lets Sean (Andre Gower) and company do what no one else is willing to do: believe.
Via Letterboxd - 7/10
STEVE! (MARTIN): A DOCUMENTARY IN 2 PIECES
(streaming on AppleTV+)
I’ve always been a big Steve Martin fan. The energy. The excitement. The facial expressions. And, perhaps most notably, the pathos. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to therefore discover the man behind the act was very often lonely. A theme that carries through both halves of Morgan Neville’s STEVE! (MARTIN): A DOCUMENTARY IN 2 PARTS.
The first 90-minute episode is entitled “Then” and follows a lot of what Martin talks about in his great autobiography Born Standing Up. This is a familiar archival documentary with clips and anecdotes and still photography showing the stories being told by the voices in our ears. We never see an interviewee, just their names. Everything is Martin. His failures and successes being weighed and measured by his evolution as a personality and the world’s evolution as an audience who finally “got it.”
The second episode is “Now.” This one is done in a memoir documentary style of following Martin around present-day as he and his family/friends talk about his legacy. It touches on his film career (part one ends with his retirement from stand-up as THE JERK premieres to spark a new chapter of show business for him), but only as it relates to his psychology and current state of happiness as a husband and father. It’s vastly more personal, but also feels much more incomplete.
Neville tries to get there in the end with the notion of solitude and how protective Martin is of a personal life you don’t quite know exists because he’s so animated and open about his public life. I loved a talk show clip where he’s asked about his art collection and how quickly and severely he shuts it down. That’s a subject for him. We don’t get to share that. And hearing him acknowledge as much later when finally opening up his private collection with the admission that a family gave him something precious to take that art’s place, really says a lot about how he ticks.
As such, we’re always held a bit at arm’s length. Whereas his book only touches on what he wanted to express, this outsider lens ultimately tries to mine for more, albeit with varying success. That’s not to say Martin should be more forthcoming. I respect the heck out of any celebrity who is willing and able to keep something sacred for themselves. In the context of introducing these threads and scratching surfaces, however, it does feel like a lot is left on the table despite three-hours.
The whole is still entertaining and informative, though. It delivers enough to be worthwhile even if—like many of Apple’s documentaries—it’s really just a glorified puff piece trying to be as inoffensive and congratulatory as possible.
- 6/10
YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME
(streaming on Shudder)
Patrick (Brendan Rock) doesn’t look too hot. Is he wallowing in guilt? Regret? Is he contemplating suicide? Simply trying to sleep? He’s definitely not expecting company. You don’t just yell, “F— off” to the closed door in the middle of a downpour if you’re seeking a friend. But he opens the door anyway at the sound of a woman’s voice. It’s not the neighborhood kids. It’s not some drunk picking a fight. It’s someone in need of help. Not that he has any intention of letting his guard down just in case.
Directors Josiah Allen and Indianna Bell (who also writes) are very deliberately setting Patrick up to be our protagonist. He’s cautious. Paternal. Skeptical. Here’s this woman (Jordan Cowan) drenched from the storm and barefoot who’s somehow standing inside his mobile home despite the property locking its gates two hours previously. Did she run from the beach? Does she just want a ride home? Can anything she says be believed when it all seems so far-fetched—enough so that even she seems confused by some of what she says?
Yet YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME can’t help giving her the benefit of the doubt. It can’t help but acknowledge her place in this story as a woman seemingly trapped by a strange man whose nice demeanor can easily be proven an act. So, why shouldn’t we also consider her the protagonist? Why shouldn’t we feel the tension when she wonders if he might harm her just as we wondered if she might hurt him at the start? They are both obviously hiding from something. Both are obviously not telling the whole truth. Where might it all lead?
Sadly, I’m still not quite sure even though I literally just watched its conclusion. Not because it’s confusing. Not even because it’s necessarily unbelievable or bad. No, I’m unsure about what Allen and Bell have done because they’ve sought to tie-up the loose ends of both characters without fully realizing the impossibility of the task. Why? Because the scenario isn’t quite “real.” What we’re seeing is in some respects a manifestation of one of their psychologies fracturing to the point of no return. So, even if the first instance of closure satisfies, it’s not the last. And the more ends we receive, the less impactful the whole becomes.
I don’t think the filmmakers shoot themselves in the foot so far as to render everything moot, but I wouldn’t blame others for thinking they might. Because while the production value is high with some great sound design and excellent tension, the release comes via revelations and actions that are too loud and convenient to work in the context of that mood. That those instances are then also shown to be that way for a reason—to subvert the subversion and dig deeper for a more rewarding second end—attempts to clean up the mess cause more mess.
We do finally get the conclusion this tale deserves, but only after pretending what we’ve watched wasn’t quite what we watched despite it ultimately proving that, no, it was exactly what we watched. There’s a way to do that that feels smart both via the script and the audience figuring it out, but YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME instead chooses a path of distraction and overload that hopes we’re so caught up in the game of it all that we won’t realize how the dynamics are transparently being manipulated. It so desperately wants to be everything all at once that it finds itself flirting with becoming nothing at all.
- 5/10
Cinematic F-Bombs:
This weekend sees BATMAN: HUSH (2019), FAILURE TO LAUNCH (2006), THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS (2009), THE MAN (2005), and THAT EVENING SUN (2009) getting added to the archive (cinematicfbombs.com on Sunday, Twitter on Monday).
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 3/29/24 -
AADUJEEVITHAM at Regal Elmwood
ASPHALT CITY at Regal Transit
A CAT'S LIFE at Dipson Capitol; Regal Galleria & Transit
CREW at Regal Elmwood, Galleria & Transit
A FRAGILE FLOWER at Regal Galleria
GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE at Dipson Amherst, McKinley, Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Galleria, Transit & Quaker
IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS at Dipson Flix & Capitol; Regal Galleria, Transit & Quaker
Thoughts are above.
PROBLEMISTA at AMC Market Arcade
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER at Regal Elmwood & Transit
“The animation is great. The music is better. And the story is fascinating if only to ensure this revered yet unknown artist outside of the memories of legends doesn't become completely lost to time.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
TILLU SQUARE at Regal Elmwood & Transit
Streaming from 3/29/24 -
LISA FRANKENSTEIN – Peacock on 3/29
MADU – Disney+ on 3/29
STEVE! (MARTIN) A DOCUMENTARY IN 2 PIECES – AppleTV+ on 3/29
Thoughts are above.
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME – Netflix on 3/29
HEART OF THE HUNTER – Netflix on 3/29
THE WAGES OF FEAR – Netflix on 3/29
MÚSICA – Prime on 4/4
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
HISTORY OF EVIL (3/25)
DRIFT (3/26)
FINESTKIND (3/26)
“There's no better Father's Day gift than streaming an example of their stunted emotions and stubborn failures via a thriller-adjacent plot that ultimately lets them off the hook to rousing fanfare.” – Full thoughts at The Film Stage.
ORDINARY ANGELS (3/26)
THE PEASANTS (3/26)
“Besides the gorgeous time-lapse transitions between the seasons, the whole simply looks like a rotoscope pass of an already shot live-action movie. What does that layer of paint therefore add?” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
THE TASTE OF THINGS (3/28)
“A gorgeous love story marked by the smiles and stares [Binoche and Magimel] share in the background of what proves a 19th century dramatic symphony of food porn.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
CARPET COWBOYS (3/29)
IMAGINARY (3/29)