Quick takes on 5 films

I started out with an emotional bang, with Leave No Trace. It stars Ben Foster and newcomer Thomasin McKenzie as a father and daughter living extremely off the grid. The dad suffers from PTSD from his time in the military, and is uncomfortable being around people, so he has been raising his daughter deep inside a public park in Oregon. When they are discovered, they are forced to live in a house under supervision to make sure they are playing by the rules, under threat of being separated. The girl gets used to being around people and enjoys the change, but the father cannot adapt, and it isn’t long before he forces them to leave for the woods again. It becomes apparent that the daughter wants to be a social human being, but we wonder if the father can ever be that again. A soft and poignant film, I think it portrays a very real problem facing our returning military men and women, without overemphasizing it. And while the film moves at a leisurely pace, it is gripping with tension in all the right spots. Also, a film with the rare rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, and not from a small sample size (200+ reviews).

From a small indie film to a blockbuster, next I went with Crazy Rich Asians, based on the popular book. It is a tried-and-true tale of a rich young man who falls in love with a poor girl, whom his family obviously does not approve. While it does contain more than a handful of movie tropes, it isn’t a bad film. In fact I rather enjoyed it. It is beautifully shot, has just the right amount of laughs for a romantic comedy, and the usual satisfying ending. I do think that if you supplant the Asian characters with white people, it probably gets lost in the shuffle and isn’t as popular, but it works as it is set up. A fun date night movie.

At the recent Golden Globes, Roma won best foreign film and best director for Alfonso Cuarón. It is a profound and powerful film, filmed in Mexico City, and is semi-autobiographical about the director’s youth, taking place in the early 1970s. Around the main character, housekeeper/servant Cleo, the world is falling apart. In a larger sense, the country is facing violent political riots in the beginnings of the Mexican Dirty War, but even in the household, the husband has abandoned his family to have an affair. Cuarón chooses to focus though on Cleo, a woman from a poor background who cares deeply for the family who employs her, and especially the children, even as she is facing a crisis when she becomes pregnant by an uncaring rogue. Having viewed (and loved) other Cuarón films such as Gravity and Children of Men, I expected a slower pace, but the first half of Roma is practically glacial. It will test your patience, but if you can just sit back and enjoy the nuance of the family, the intricacies of the time and setting of the film, you will enjoy a masterpiece.

Very rarely do I not finish a movie. Books, yes, occasionally, but rarely do I quit a film. Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot beat me. Based on the life of cartoonist John Callahan, it shows his struggle as an alcoholic, which lead to a car in accident in which he was paralyzed through much of his body. I got a little more than halfway through before calling it quits, up to a point where John was in a wheelchair, attending AA meetings, but having a hard time accepting the idea of a higher power in which to have faith that life will, if not get better, at least be OK. I only got as far as I did because of my own faith in Joaquin Phoenix, an actor I respect a lot, but this film is rough. Rarely funny for a comedy-drama, and it just felt like it was going nowhere fast. Even Phoenix couldn’t keep my attention, and when I found myself browsing my phone more than watching, I finally gave up. I do usually appreciate character-driven dramas, so perhaps I’ll give it another chance one day and hope I’m in a different mindset.

Eighth Grade is one of those tremendous movies that you may not want to watch more than once. It stars Elsie Fisher as Kayla, an extremely introverted girl who longs for friends, but due to her shyness and awkwardness around others, finds herself completely alone. Whereas some people her age long to be popular, she just wants to be normal. When around anyone except for her single dad, she clams up, and if she does start to talk, everything that comes out of her mouth is nails-on-the-chalkboard cringe-worthy. What made this so difficult for me to watch, is I think most people can relate to Kayla, maybe not to her extremes, but, I for one, was that shy, nervous, anxious teenager that saw everyone else fitting in. It wasn’t until college, where I was in a new environment where no one knew me, that I was able to start fresh and gain confidence. The director of Eighth Grade does a superb job of getting us inside Kayla’s head, and feel incredibly anxious with her, and we want to scream at the other kids that this is a great person if you just give her a chance. We keep watching, hoping, that Kayla is able to come out of her shell and be accepted. A very endearing, affecting film.