Io capitano shines a light on the dangers immigrants face when they decide to make the voyage for a chance at a new life. Seydou and his friend Moussa are teens living in Senegal in western Africa, and they’ve been saving every dime for an opportunity to get to Europe. They live in squalor, but Seydou’s mother forbids it when Seydou lets it slip, as she knows the perils they would face. However, he and Moussa are determined, even after someone who has been to Europe warns them that it isn’t like they see on TV (they refuse to believe there are homeless living on the streets in Europe). The two friends get on a bus and start their trek, but almost immediately they become prey for people looking to rob them. They get fake passports, which don’t fool the authorities at the Mali border, who demand an exorbitant bribe or face jail. Then, they join up with the first person in Niger advertising safe passage to Italy, only to find the reality of a dangerous passage across the Sahara on foot, with a mafia-run prison at the end, where their captives demand more ransom. Out of money and too ashamed to give his mother’s phone number back home to the ransomers, Seydou is tortured, but finds salvation in an older man who takes him under his wing, who even gets Seydou “bought” by a slave trader to come build a wall and fountain for a wealthy estate owner. When Seydou does finally make it to Libya, just across the Mediterranean from Italy, it might as well be on the other side of the world, for the continued obstacles he faces. Not going to be a popular movie for the growing number of anti-immigrant nationalists in the world, but even so, it is a stark reminder that, even if you believe immigrants shouldn’t be “invading” your country, they often have no real choice in life, and are brave for facing the dangers in making their decision. ★★★★
Dev Patel has received critical and commercial acclaim since his breakout 15 years ago in Slumdog Millionaire, and Monkey Man is his next step professionally, as he stars and directs, for the first time. Following a man named Kid in India who is trying to infiltrate a tight-knit high-end hotel that caters to the politically and socially elite, Kid is obviously holding on to some secrets and desperately wants to get on “the inside” for some as-yet unknown goal. In flashbacks, we start to piece together his reasoning: as a child, his mother was attacked by a police officer for not forfeiting her land to the politically powerful. Kid is old enough and ready now for his revenge on that officer, who has since moved up in the ranks, and those who empowered him. There’s an early scene where Kid goes to buy a gun and the seller references a certain piece as “the John Wick model.” Appropriate, as the action in this movie borrows from those great fighting flicks, but there’s a lot of heart here too. Kid is standing up for the oppressed, in an Indian society that still remains to this day very divided on social classes. Outstanding movie with a surprising amount of emotional heft. ★★★★½
Perfect Days is the newest from director Wim Wenders, and if you know anything about his oeuvre, then you know to expect a quiet, tranquil film that will satisfy those with patience. This film is a minimalist picture without being a minimalist picture, if that makes any sense. It follows a man named Hirayama who works as a public restroom cleaner in Tokyo, and follows him over the course of a week or 10 days as he goes about his business. Soft spoken doesn’t live up to the definition for Hirayama; you don’t hear a peep from him in the first 30 minutes of the film, and only sparingly after that. You get occasional dialogue from those around him, such as his talkative coworker, but this is a film about what is not said, more than what is. Some would say it is also a film where nothing happens, but they would be missing the point. “Stuff” does happen, like Hirayama’s niece running away from home and living with him for a couple days, leading to a confrontation between Hirayama and his estranged sister, or Hirayama’s coworker’s girlfriend ending up with one of Hirayama’s cassette tapes and being moved by Patti Smith, or his encounter with a friend’s ex-husband, who is dying from cancer. No great movers or shakers, but all contemplative moments in Hirayama’s everyday life, reminding him to stop and smell the roses. Throughout it all, Wenders knows where to set the camera, so even if “little is happening on screen,” lots is actually happening, from the vibrant colors to the busyness of the metro to the sun-dappled wind-tossed leaves in the trees overhead. Gorgeous film that will move you, hopefully as much as Hirayama is moved by the life he has purposefully chosen to live. ★★★★★
Maidaan is an Indian film based on the first few years of the country’s soccer program in the late 50s and early 60s. India as a country hasn’t been independent for all that long still, and is trying to build up their sporting programs on the international stage. After being blown out at the Olympics in 1952, the soccer division decides to give coach S.A. Rahim more control over the program, to recruit the players he wants and to hopefully build a better team. Over the course of the movie, we see their ups and downs, but culminating in a gold medal at the 1962 Asian Games. Based on a true story, the film unfortunately is a bit too formulaic and way too melodramatic, there’s even a “win one for the gipper” moment at the end when the coach is fighting lung cancer. The soccer matches are entertaining for sports and sports film lovers, but even those start to grow stale by the end. The movie has its moments, but overall is very average. ★★½
Someone told me recently that I watch a lot of “heavy” films, so why not break up the pattern with a light romcom? The Idea of You stars Anne Hathaway as a turning-40-year-old single mom, Solene, raising a teen daughter, Izzy. Solene’s ex-husband Daniel is the kind of dad who thinks money makes up for absence, and has recently bought Cochella tickets and backstage VIP passes for Izzy and her friends, to meet the boy band August Moon, a band that Izzy isn’t even in to anymore (“they’re so 7th grade”). When Dad bails at the last minute, Solene takes them, and accidentally walks into the lead singer’s trailer behind the stage. As “the mom,” Solene doesn’t recognize the singer, Hayes, and he finds it endearing, since he is always surrounded by people who want something. Finally, he can be genuine, and he is drawn to Solene despite their age difference (40 and 24). With Izzy going to summer camp, Solene has the house to herself, and she and Hayes begin a whirlwind romance, even bouncing around Europe when Hayes goes back on tour. Ultimately though, the couple is spotted by the paparazzi, and Solene (and Izzy’s) life is picked apart by fans and haters, so that when Izzy comes back from camp, it all blows up. Solene has to make the hard choice between her daughter’s and her own happiness. There’s some cliches for sure, but some deeper thoughtful ideas about what it means to have your private life on display for all to see and how that can change a person. And, no surprise, Hathaway shines. She’s got this kind of role locked up. ★★★★
- TV series recently watched: Star Trek Discovery (season 5)
- Book currently reading: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
Jons Movie Takes 