Cadejo Blanco is a Spanish language film out of Guatemala. It is marketed as a thriller/drama, but is light on the thrills which I think turned some people off, as reviews are sort of middling. I really enjoyed this one though, with one caveat (more on that later). Sarita is a young woman who doesn’t enjoy the party scene—the exact opposite of her sister Bea. Bea begs Sarita to go to a club one night because she (Bea) is going to break up with her boyfriend and wants support. Apparently Bea’s boyfriend is involved in the local gang, though this is all news to Sarita, who’s never met the guy. Before the night is out, Bea and Sarita get in a fight and Sarita goes home alone. The only problem is Bea never returns. Sarita promises her grandmother that she’ll find Bea and return safely, but it seems the only way to accomplish this is to infiltrate the gang. Sarita has to prove herself, and she is willing to do anything to find her sister. She better be willing, because the gang will make her do it all before the end of the movie. So, the only problem I have with the movie is the very uneven acting. Karen Martinez (in her first leading role after a couple small parts) is fantastic as the lead, but everyone else… not so much. If you can get past the wooden acting, where it seems actors are literally reading their lines, the movie offers a strong story about the lengths Sarita will go to for her family. Also has an excellent feel of the seedy underbelly of criminal Guatemala, and offers gorgeous camera work. Three stars, but should have been four if they could have gotten any kind of supporting cast. I absolutely loved the ending, but here too, may not be everyone’s cup of tea. ★★★
All it takes for me to like a Guy Ritchie movie is for him to make a very un-Guy Ritchie like kind of movie. The Covenant is that; it’s a straight up war movie with none of the theatrics that seem to plague Ritchie’s oeuvre. The movie takes place in 2018 Afghanistan. Our soldiers have been fighting there since the towers went down in 2001, and the men are definitely giving off vibes that they are tired of the whole business; no one wants to be there anymore. Master Sergeant of this particular company is John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal). He and his team have been tasked to find who is making bombs for the Taliban, and they face danger everywhere they go. Aiding them (and other soldiers all around the country) are locals who have been hired as interpreters. For their cooperation, they’ve been promised VISA’s to take themselves and their families to the USA, as they’ll definitely be hunted by the Taliban. Helping Kinley’s team is Ahmed, a smart man who knows the lay of the land and has a good intuition for when people are lying. One mission goes sideways and Kinley’s team isn’t able to get out fast enough, being set upon by the Taliban. Kinley is wounded, and Ahmed saves his life. In and out of consciousness, Kinley is carried on a litter by Ahmed over 100 miles across open country, avoiding the roads and the Taliban, until they can get to an American base. When Kinley comes to, he is in a hospital in Los Angeles, and he realizes Ahmed has been left behind. The Taliban are furious that they let an American soldier out of their grasp, and have put a huge bounty on Ahmed’s head. Kinley is not about to leave a man behind, a man who saved his life. Unable to get the brass to help, Kinley returns to Afghanistan as a civilian, and will not leave until he gets Ahmed and his family to safety. High power action and thrills, with fantastic acting by our two leads, and thank God, Ritchie is able to let them do their thing without putting in (too many) laughs or zany camerawork. ★★★½
Unidentified Objects is a road film (nearly) like every other road film that has ever been done. I say nearly because we do have a new twist: not only are the two people strangers, and completely opposite people at that (in personality), but they are each individuals who are often ostracized by society. Winona is a sex worker, and Peter is a homosexual little person. Winona must get to a secluded area in Canada because she is convinced that aliens will meet her there to abduct her; she knows this because she claims to have been visited by them before. She has no car, so she pays her apartment neighbor, Peter, to drive her up there. Peter, with chronic health problems and the bills to match, agrees. Despite his small stature, he has a giant chip on his shoulder, so much of the humor is supplied by him in this little trip up north. The banter is good, and Matthew Jeffers is fantastic as Peter, a man who has built a wall around himself for protection from all those who would hurt him, but unfortunately the film can’t help but visit every road film trope that has been done before, and often better. It has its moments, especially when Peter and Winona finally begin to let each other in, but there’s not enough to make this movie stand out from the crowd. ★★½
When it comes to long movie titles, I can’t help myself; when I hear of one, I have to see it. Doesn’t get much longer than The Cow Who Sang a Song into the Future. Unfortunately the title is about the best part of this movie. It starts out well though: on a riverbank littered with dead fish, a woman emerges from the water. Turns out it is Magdalena, who supposedly killed herself in the river 30+ years ago, though her body was never found. She hasn’t aged a day, but her 2 kids are now grown and her husband is an old man. Magdalena walks into town and is spotted by her husband, and he nearly has a heart attack. Fearing for his health, daughter Cecilia returns to town with her own kids (Magdalena’s grandchildren). They and Magdalena’s other child, a son, don’t think Dad actually saw his long-dead wife, but simply had a vision or a dream in his poor health. That is, until weird things start happening around the farm. Anywhere Magdalena goes, which is usually out of sight from the others, electrical gadgets go strange, or animals behave oddly, or if she starts to giggle, others nearby break out in uncontrollable laughter as well. Her presence does other things as well: Cecilia and her brother start talking about buried hurts between them and their father, and Cecilia’s son Tomás, who is transitioning to a woman despite Cecilia’s wishes, also finds peace. And then, in the midst of all this, the movie just ends. It happened so fast that I had to rewind and see if I missed something. Maybe the whole thing is just over my head, but I just didn’t get it at all. ★½
I just can’t catch a break here with these last couple movies, because it doesn’t get any better with Rise. A French film, the movie follows a classically trained ballet dancer named Élise, who is rattled at a performance when she sees her boyfriend making out with another girl backstage. During her dance routine, Élise falls and seriously injures her ankle. The doc tells her they’ll reevaluate in 3-4 months, but that she most likely will need surgery, and a 1-2 year rehab before she’s ready to dance again, and if it doesn’t heal right, she may never dance at a top level again. Élise obviously takes it hard, but before long, starts envisioning life without dance. She joins her friend and friend’s husband (an entrepreneurial chef) in their new business, as a food preparer at a hall out in the country. The place rents itself out for various functions, and one such new group is a contemporary dance troupe. Of course, being around them, Élise starts to feel the bug, and though she may no longer have the dexterity for ballet, she may be able to dance a new way. Will she succeed? You’ll have to tell me, if you ever watch it, because at this point, with 45 minutes to go, I gave up. The filmmakers chose to go with a real dancer in the lead role as Élise: Marion Barbeau, who is a première danseuse with the Paris Opéra Ballet. Great dancer, but she can’t act on camera, and it is rough to watch. Add to that lame humor, wooden dialogue, and a plot that goes nowhere fast, and I was bored to tears. ★
- TV series recently watched: Mayans MC (season 5), Bupkis (season 1), Its Always Sunny (season 16)
- Book currently reading: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Jons Movie Takes 