"Beirut": B+. Although the Lebanese Civil War did not technically start until 1975, the vibe in the capital city of Beirut three years before was not one of peace and tranquility. The uneasiness stemmed from a combination of a weak central government and several revolutionary factions who were biding their time waiting for the most opportune moment to strike a match. Those factions had their roots in political, religious and ethnic causes. Lurking in the background were the Israelis, who many felt were just looking for an excuse to invade. Even without an invasion, the invisible Mossad was never far away. The scene in 1972 Beirut was described by Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm), the main character in the movie Beirut, as "a boarding house without a landlord."
Yet, to a casual observer or even a tourist, life in the Mediterranean city went on undisturbed. When we are introduced to Skiles, an American diplomat stationed in Beirut, he and his wife, Nadia, are hosting a sophisticated party in their upscale residence. Skiles is dashing, eloquent and at ease making the rounds, graciously catering to his guests. He is helped by a thirteen year old Lebanese orphan, Karim, whom Skiles and Nadia have rescued off the streets.
The first sign of trouble occurs midway through the party when Skiles' best friend and colleague, Cal Riley (Mark Pellegrino), confronts him with the shocking news that one of the terrorists behind the recent Munich Olympics massacre is Karim's brother, Rami (Ben Affan). An incredulous Skiles is slow to react. Moments later the worst fears as planted by Riley come true.
We leap ahead ten years to Act Two. Skiles is back in the States, his life as a rising star in the world of diplomacy long gone. When bad things happen on your watch, that is the end of the line. Instead, he is a depressed alcoholic, working as a labor contract mediator trying in vain to get union reps and management "suits" to meet in the middle. It is as far removed from his previous exciting career as possible. While sitting alone at a bar, his usual haunt, a former acquaintance, Sully, drops an envelope in front of Skiles and tells him his presence is requested in Beirut to deliver a lecture at the American University. Inside the envelope is a passport, $6,500 and a plane ticket. Skiles correctly figures the lecture is just a pretext for getting him back to Lebanon, now in the midst of its civil war, but he takes the bait anyway.
Things move fast when he arrives in Beirut. The city is a shambles, armed military personnel is everywhere, and keeping a low profile is the order of the day. At the U.S. embassy Skiles is greeted by three male State Department officials, Gaines, Muzak and Shalen, plus their apparent subordinate, Agent Sandy Crowder (Rosamund Pike). Skiles wants to dispense with the niceties and cut right to the chase. Why was he needed in Beruit, a place from which he'd been professionally exiled a decade ago? The foursome advises Skiles that he's there to negotiate and facilitate the release of an American hostage from his militant captors. Skiles' background as a labor mediator and his fluency in Arabic will come in handy. It soon becomes apparent to Skiles that the Americans are less interested in the welfare of the hostage than they are about the possibility of him divulging under duress highly classified information. The identities of the captive and the chief captor may surprise you -- but probably not.
Beirut was written and produced by Tony Gilroy, who also wrote the scripts for four Jason Bourne movies plus Michael Clayton, my highest-ranked film from 2007. I had heard that the story line for Beirut was complex, so I brought some insurance with me to the cinema, viz., Momma Cuandito, whom I sometimes rely on for post-viewing explanations. It turns out the story, while a little tangled at times, is not as complicated as I'd feared. An expert writer, Gilroy surely does know how to spin a tale.
John Hamm was a splendid choice to play Skiles. He is mostly known as a television actor, particularly for his work in the hit show Mad Men, which ran for seven seasons, an almost unheard of feat in that medium. Mason Skiles is by far the best movie role in which Hamm has ever been cast, a fearless go-between who is willing to walk into volatile environments without packing a weapon. As AARP Magazine might say, Beirut is a movie for grownups. Put it on your Must See List.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Movie Review: "The Shape Of Water"
"The Shape Of Water": A-. I had decided not to see The Shape Of Water unless it won the Best Picture Oscar this year. The genre in which the media and advertisers placed it, science fantasy, is not attractive to me, although I am a big fan of the leading female actress, Sally Hawkins. As luck -- good luck it turns out -- would have it, the film did win the top prize, so I dragged Momma Cuandito, who was also somewhat reluctant, to the theater. We both loved it.
Hawkins plays Elisa Esposito, a mute custodian who works in a secret government building along side her co-worker and interpreter, Zelda (Octavia Spencer). The building is a high security facility, where secret experiments are conducted with the aim of giving the United States an edge in the Cold War. One of those experiments involves the incarceration of a man-like aquatic creature who is restrained by chains in an indoor salt water pool. Like Elisa, the creature does not speak, but through gestures, body language and facial expressions, he obviously is keenly aware of her kindness toward him. Secretly, Elisa finds time to visit the creature, while her friend, Zelda, covers for her. Elisa did not have a man in her life, but now she does... sort of.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Elisa and Zelda, two chains of action are in the works which will spell trouble for the creature and his new-found friend. Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), the army officer who captured the creature out of a South American river, is ordered by his superior to perform a biological experiment which will result in the captive's death. Ordinarily one would think that receiving such an order would give a man, even a military officer, pause, but not Colonel Strickland. He does not put up an argument, partly because of his rank and partly because he is probably psychopathic. An objection to the planned demise of the creature is raised, however, by a scientist, Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), which leads us to the second "chain."
Hoffstetler, although he works in the facility's secret lab, is actually a Soviet spy named Dimitri Mosenkov. He is the most conflicted character in the story, having to take orders not only from Strickland but from his Soviet handlers who also want the creature killed for their own competitive militaristic reasons. In quick succession, Elisa learns of the U.S. Army's sinister plans for her amphibious friend, and with the help of Zelda, Mosenkov and her next door neighbor, Giles (Richard Jenkins), she frees the creature with a daring escape and hides him in her apartment.
The stage is now set for the budding romance between Elisa and the amphibious "man" to evolve, but how long can she successfully hide him before he is either recaptured or perishes due to absence from his natural habitat?
At first blush a story of a romance between a woman and a non-human being sounds creepy, if not disgusting (not to mention illegal). But hats off to writer-director Guillermo del Toro for keeping things on the up and up. Doug Jones, the actor who plays the amphibious creature, certainly deserves more than a nod too. If the viewer is willing to accept that the movie is, indeed, a fantasy, the love story will probably not pose a problem. Actually, I had a harder time accepting that a bathroom could completely fill up with water merely by turning on the bathtub faucet, stuffing a washcloth in the drain and plugging the gap between the bottom of the door and the bathroom floor with a towel or two!
Hawkins turns in another first rate performance, as I knew she would. The combination of her entrancing eyes and smooth delivery of sign language enables us to guess with a high degree of confidence what she is feeling and communicating in her own way. On the other end of the spectrum, Shannon makes a terrific villain, one of the most sadistic in recent memory. His use of a taser stick in a couple of scenes is hard to watch. Even the side characters, those portrayed by Spencer and especially Jenkins, add beneficial supplements to the story, although a certain scene with Jenkins sitting at the counter in a pie shop should have landed on the cutting room floor.
Two of the Academy Award Oscars went to del Toro for direction and Alexandre Desalt for his amazing score. The latter wrote twenty of the twenty-eight songs sprinkled throughout the movie. I find it interesting and disappointing to compare the performances of Sally Hawkins, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar but did not win, with Frances McDormand, who did for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (reviewed here on December 23, 2017; B+). Without uttering a single word, Hawkins' Elisa conveyed love, curiosity, kindness, concern and bravery. McDormand's Mildred Hayes was a foul-mouthed, aggrieved, monotone and mostly boring woman. Apparently that is what the Academy voters were looking for.
Hawkins plays Elisa Esposito, a mute custodian who works in a secret government building along side her co-worker and interpreter, Zelda (Octavia Spencer). The building is a high security facility, where secret experiments are conducted with the aim of giving the United States an edge in the Cold War. One of those experiments involves the incarceration of a man-like aquatic creature who is restrained by chains in an indoor salt water pool. Like Elisa, the creature does not speak, but through gestures, body language and facial expressions, he obviously is keenly aware of her kindness toward him. Secretly, Elisa finds time to visit the creature, while her friend, Zelda, covers for her. Elisa did not have a man in her life, but now she does... sort of.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Elisa and Zelda, two chains of action are in the works which will spell trouble for the creature and his new-found friend. Colonel Richard Strickland (Michael Shannon), the army officer who captured the creature out of a South American river, is ordered by his superior to perform a biological experiment which will result in the captive's death. Ordinarily one would think that receiving such an order would give a man, even a military officer, pause, but not Colonel Strickland. He does not put up an argument, partly because of his rank and partly because he is probably psychopathic. An objection to the planned demise of the creature is raised, however, by a scientist, Robert Hoffstetler (Michael Stuhlbarg), which leads us to the second "chain."
Hoffstetler, although he works in the facility's secret lab, is actually a Soviet spy named Dimitri Mosenkov. He is the most conflicted character in the story, having to take orders not only from Strickland but from his Soviet handlers who also want the creature killed for their own competitive militaristic reasons. In quick succession, Elisa learns of the U.S. Army's sinister plans for her amphibious friend, and with the help of Zelda, Mosenkov and her next door neighbor, Giles (Richard Jenkins), she frees the creature with a daring escape and hides him in her apartment.
The stage is now set for the budding romance between Elisa and the amphibious "man" to evolve, but how long can she successfully hide him before he is either recaptured or perishes due to absence from his natural habitat?
At first blush a story of a romance between a woman and a non-human being sounds creepy, if not disgusting (not to mention illegal). But hats off to writer-director Guillermo del Toro for keeping things on the up and up. Doug Jones, the actor who plays the amphibious creature, certainly deserves more than a nod too. If the viewer is willing to accept that the movie is, indeed, a fantasy, the love story will probably not pose a problem. Actually, I had a harder time accepting that a bathroom could completely fill up with water merely by turning on the bathtub faucet, stuffing a washcloth in the drain and plugging the gap between the bottom of the door and the bathroom floor with a towel or two!
Hawkins turns in another first rate performance, as I knew she would. The combination of her entrancing eyes and smooth delivery of sign language enables us to guess with a high degree of confidence what she is feeling and communicating in her own way. On the other end of the spectrum, Shannon makes a terrific villain, one of the most sadistic in recent memory. His use of a taser stick in a couple of scenes is hard to watch. Even the side characters, those portrayed by Spencer and especially Jenkins, add beneficial supplements to the story, although a certain scene with Jenkins sitting at the counter in a pie shop should have landed on the cutting room floor.
Two of the Academy Award Oscars went to del Toro for direction and Alexandre Desalt for his amazing score. The latter wrote twenty of the twenty-eight songs sprinkled throughout the movie. I find it interesting and disappointing to compare the performances of Sally Hawkins, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar but did not win, with Frances McDormand, who did for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (reviewed here on December 23, 2017; B+). Without uttering a single word, Hawkins' Elisa conveyed love, curiosity, kindness, concern and bravery. McDormand's Mildred Hayes was a foul-mouthed, aggrieved, monotone and mostly boring woman. Apparently that is what the Academy voters were looking for.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Quarterly Cinema Scan - Volume XXXI
In 2016 Ron Howard, a former childhood actor who is now one of Hollywood's most admired directors, made a documentary titled The Beatles: Eight Days A Week -- The Touring Years. Although volumes have been written about the Beatles phenomenon, there have not been many films, especially full length feature films, on the subject. It is hard for many baby boomers to relate to the younger generation just how crazy things got musically and even culturally during the so-called British Invasion, which started in 1964. Thank you, Ron Howard. You have made our task much easier.
Howard's documentary starts in England in late 1963. The Beatles were fast becoming the number one music group in the UK, if not in the entirety of Europe. Yet in the United States, the band was unknown. On December 17, 1963, Washington, DC radio station WWDC became the first outlet in our country to play a Beatles tune, I Want To Hold Your Hand. But it wasn't until the famous Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 that American teens were introduced to the mop tops.
Howard has assembled an amazing collection of interviews with all of the Beatles, including modern day dialogues with the two surviving members, Paul and Ringo. There are press conferences, concert footage and television broadcasts, as well as perspectives from historians, music critics, and contemporary musicians. Howard also includes reflections of a handful of celebrities like Sigourney Weaver and Whoopi Goldberg on how the Beatles impacted their lives. The concert footage is excellent, considering it was recorded over fifty years ago. The movie's viewers definitely get a true sense of what it was like to be present among the screaming fans.
Being a linear guy, I appreciate the construction of this documentary. Scenes proceed in chronological order, from the Liverpool days to the famous Apple Corps rooftop concert on January 30, 1969, the last time the lads played together in public. But as you'd guess from the film's title, the emphasis is on the period from the Sullivan show to the Candlestick Park concert on August 29, 1966. As most Beatlemaniacs know, that was their final gig on their last-ever tour.
There has been much written on how the Beatles formed as a group and what led to their 1970 breakup. Howard's documentary focuses on a less-examined question: Why did the Beatles, at the pinnacle of their popularity, cease touring after Candlestick? There is no one reason; in fact there are several, some obvious and some more nuanced. The Howard film shows us not merely "the what and when" but "the why" as well. It also examines how the voluntary cessation of touring affected their subsequent artistry as song writers, musicians and arrangers.
***
Here are the movies I watched on the tube during the first quarter of 2018.
1. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week -- The Touring Years (2016 documentary covering roughly the period starting with the early '60's Cavern Club/Hamburg days to the 1969 Apple Records rooftop concert in London.) A
2. The Firm (1993 drama; new Harvard Law School grad Tom Cruise accepts an offer from a Memphis law firm, after which his wife Jeanne Tripplehorn's suspicions about the firm's partners, including Gene Hackman, become reality.) A
3. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009 comedy; Kevin James, a hapless mall security guard, risks his life to save his crush, Jayma Mays, when bad guys take over a huge suburban mall.) C
4. A River Runs Through It (1992 biopic; two brothers, Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt, grow up with a love for fly fishing in Montana, but as adults choose disparate paths.) B+
5. Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017 drama; Denzel Washington is an idealistic, introverted criminal defense lawyer in LA who, following his senior partner's death, reluctantly accepts an offer from a silk stocking mega-firm headed by Colin Farrell.) B
6. Splendor In The Grass (1961 drama; Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty are small town Kansas teenagers who seem perfectly suited for each other, but things start to fall apart when Beatty's eagerness to take things to the next level sexually do not mesh with Wood's strict upbringing and fragile mental state.) C+
7. The Usual Suspects (1995 drama; US Customs Agent Chazz Palminteri grills con man Kevin Spacey about a ship explosion which occurred after a former dirty cop, Gabriel Byrne, had led a small group of ex-cons on board.) B+
8. The Year of Living Dangerously (1982 drama; during the initial stages of Indonesia's civil war in 1965, Australian reporter Mel Gibson relies heavily on local photographer Linda Hunt, and romances English foreign service insider Sigourney Weaver.) B+
Howard's documentary starts in England in late 1963. The Beatles were fast becoming the number one music group in the UK, if not in the entirety of Europe. Yet in the United States, the band was unknown. On December 17, 1963, Washington, DC radio station WWDC became the first outlet in our country to play a Beatles tune, I Want To Hold Your Hand. But it wasn't until the famous Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 that American teens were introduced to the mop tops.
Howard has assembled an amazing collection of interviews with all of the Beatles, including modern day dialogues with the two surviving members, Paul and Ringo. There are press conferences, concert footage and television broadcasts, as well as perspectives from historians, music critics, and contemporary musicians. Howard also includes reflections of a handful of celebrities like Sigourney Weaver and Whoopi Goldberg on how the Beatles impacted their lives. The concert footage is excellent, considering it was recorded over fifty years ago. The movie's viewers definitely get a true sense of what it was like to be present among the screaming fans.
Being a linear guy, I appreciate the construction of this documentary. Scenes proceed in chronological order, from the Liverpool days to the famous Apple Corps rooftop concert on January 30, 1969, the last time the lads played together in public. But as you'd guess from the film's title, the emphasis is on the period from the Sullivan show to the Candlestick Park concert on August 29, 1966. As most Beatlemaniacs know, that was their final gig on their last-ever tour.
There has been much written on how the Beatles formed as a group and what led to their 1970 breakup. Howard's documentary focuses on a less-examined question: Why did the Beatles, at the pinnacle of their popularity, cease touring after Candlestick? There is no one reason; in fact there are several, some obvious and some more nuanced. The Howard film shows us not merely "the what and when" but "the why" as well. It also examines how the voluntary cessation of touring affected their subsequent artistry as song writers, musicians and arrangers.
***
Here are the movies I watched on the tube during the first quarter of 2018.
1. The Beatles: Eight Days A Week -- The Touring Years (2016 documentary covering roughly the period starting with the early '60's Cavern Club/Hamburg days to the 1969 Apple Records rooftop concert in London.) A
2. The Firm (1993 drama; new Harvard Law School grad Tom Cruise accepts an offer from a Memphis law firm, after which his wife Jeanne Tripplehorn's suspicions about the firm's partners, including Gene Hackman, become reality.) A
3. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009 comedy; Kevin James, a hapless mall security guard, risks his life to save his crush, Jayma Mays, when bad guys take over a huge suburban mall.) C
4. A River Runs Through It (1992 biopic; two brothers, Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt, grow up with a love for fly fishing in Montana, but as adults choose disparate paths.) B+
5. Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017 drama; Denzel Washington is an idealistic, introverted criminal defense lawyer in LA who, following his senior partner's death, reluctantly accepts an offer from a silk stocking mega-firm headed by Colin Farrell.) B
6. Splendor In The Grass (1961 drama; Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty are small town Kansas teenagers who seem perfectly suited for each other, but things start to fall apart when Beatty's eagerness to take things to the next level sexually do not mesh with Wood's strict upbringing and fragile mental state.) C+
7. The Usual Suspects (1995 drama; US Customs Agent Chazz Palminteri grills con man Kevin Spacey about a ship explosion which occurred after a former dirty cop, Gabriel Byrne, had led a small group of ex-cons on board.) B+
8. The Year of Living Dangerously (1982 drama; during the initial stages of Indonesia's civil war in 1965, Australian reporter Mel Gibson relies heavily on local photographer Linda Hunt, and romances English foreign service insider Sigourney Weaver.) B+
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