Rafiki follows two young women: Kena is an athletic tomboy who is treated as “one of the guys,” and Ziki is the polar opposite, who dresses up and goes dancing with the girls. However, the two have an immediate physical attraction to each other, in spite of each of their political parents running against each other for local office. This attraction is very dangerous in Kenya, where being gay isn’t just socially persecuted, but is still criminally punishable. Kena need look no further for evidence than the local openly gay man, who walks around getting called names and, every now and then, sports new bruises and scrapes from being beat up. When others start to notice Kena’s and Ziki’s growing relationship, there are explosive consequences, even from their own families. The film was unsurprisingly banned in Kenya due to its nature, but has received acclaim elsewhere. As a whole I thought it was just OK, good but not spectacular. Samantha Mugatsia is very good in the lead as Kena though; this is an actress that I hope can find future roles to show off her chops to a bigger audience.
All Creatures Here Below features a couple recognizable faces as its co-leads, neither of which have been the main attraction before, to my knowledge. Gensan (David Dastmalchian, in Ant-Man, among other things, and also the writer of this film) and Ruby (Karen Gillan, Nebula in MCU and the hot action girl in the new Jumanji films) are a couple living in poverty and with no prospects. When both lose their jobs in a short amount of time, they each make decisions that send them down an unalterable course. Gensan attends a cock fight and ends up killing a man for his winnings, and Ruby kidnaps the neighbor’s baby. Gensan is the brains but he is quick to anger, Ruby has maternal instincts for the baby but honestly isn’t very bright. With money and a baby, they head out on the lamb, driving cross country. If that’s not dark enough for you, it gets pitch black before the end, in more ways that one, with twists no one would see coming. It’s a powerful film (I admittedly was pretty emotional at the end), with a pair of people who do terrible things, but ultimately are painted as a tragic couple living with the hand life has dealt them. Like Rafiki, the leads, and in particular Dastmalchian, are really allowed to shine.
The Public is written and directed by, and stars, Emilio Estevez. It has other recognizable faces such as Jena Malone, Michael K Williams, Alec Baldwin, Christian Slater, and Jeffrey Wright. Estevez plays a man named Stuart Goodson, the head librarian at the Cincinnati Public Library. He is liked by his staff and the patrons of the library, including many of the city’s homeless who come there every day in the winter to stay warm. There is one particularly bad cold spell going on at the moment, and the city’s shelters are full, leaving people out in the cold, literally freezing to death at night. When one of the homeless men organizes his fellow to occupy the library one night in protest of the city’s lack of shelters, Goodson sides with them, and spends the night talking to the cops and the city prosecutor. Throughout the evening, we learn Goodson’s story, and some of the others’ as well. The film shines a light on the plight of the homeless, including the personal struggles many of them face with mental illness. It brings up good points, but the film itself feels roughly made and suffers from poor writing, and isn’t nearly as gripping as it could be. Not a bad film, but very average.
The Third Wife is proof that a great story and superb, subtle acting can create magic in the most unlikely of places. From first-time director Ash Mayfair, this Vietnamese film was made on a low budget, which you could never tell from the beautiful cinematography thanks to today’s available technology (and an eye for the sublime, obviously). The title refers to May, a 14 year old girl who has become the newest wife to a local landowner. May quickly sees how the politics of the house lay out: of the two older wives, the one who has given sons to the husband is definitely higher up on the totem pole than the wife who has only had girls to this point. May prays to give birth to a son, and becomes pregnant soon enough. The house is full of secrets too, apparent when May sees wife # 2 (the one with daughters) sleeping with one of her husband’s sons in the woods. May herself feels no physical attraction to her husband, and instead we learn she is attracted to wife # 2 as well. This little love quadrangle gets murkier when the son takes his first wife, but refuses to lie with her because of his secret love for his for the popular wife # 2. After such a soft-spoken film throughout, don’t expect an explosive conclusion or anything, in fact, it is almost frustratingly enigmatic, but it is a beautiful film, especially visually.
Papi Chulo follows Sean (Matt Bomer), a weatherman in LA who is put on leave when he has a breakdown during the telecast. He’s been upset because he was dumped by his long-time boyfriend 6 months ago, and he still hasn’t moved on. When he needs to paint his deck, he hires a local Mexican immigrant named Ernesto (Alejandro Patino), who speaks as much English as Sean does Spanish, which is almost nothing. However unlikely though, the two begin to develop a friendship. He continues to pay Ernesto every day, but mostly just to hang out with him: to hike, to go to gay parties, etc. Lots of humor, even dark humor, like when Sean is complaining about what he is scared of, which is mostly mundane things, and when he asks Ernesto what he is scared of, he replies, “Immigration authorities.” We wouldn’t know Ernesto’s thoughts at all if it weren’t for his daily calls home to his wife, which are some of the funniest moments as he explains the zany things he’s been doing with Sean. A revelation in the final third of the film really starts to put things in perspective, and turns what is a decent movie into a very good one. There were some uncomfortable moments for me involving some sequences after this bombshell, where I didn’t know if I should laugh at Sean’s situation or feel bad for the tragedy he’s found himself in. Bomer is great as a depressed, nearly hopeless man unwilling or unable to move on. I found the journey of the film better than the ending, which was a bit cliché, but still a pleasant experience.
Jons Movie Takes 