Frybread Face and Me is a wonderful little indie film about a boy learning where he came from. Benny is 11 or 12, living in San Diego with his parents, when they announce that he’s going to spend the summer in Arizona with his grandmother. Grandma lives on a Navajo reservation and has refused to learn “the white man language,” so she and Benny can’t even communicate with each other, but thankfully there are a couple translators. Benny’s uncle Marvin still lives there, but he looks for ways to belittle Benny as he thinks Benny is soft. Benny’s one friend is his cousin Dawn, who everyone calls Frybread Face. She too jokes at Benny’s expense at first, since he knows no Navajo customs at all, but the two begin to bond over the ensuing weeks. Dawn is there because her dad’s in prison and her mom is uninvolved, and, as Benny eventually learns, he himself is there because his parents are getting a divorce in San Diego. It’s a sweet film about learning your roots, but also the passing of a way of life, as Grandma is the only one he still clings to the old ways. She drops subtle and not-so-subtle hints that she wishes some family would continue their way of life, but everyone has already moved on. Funny and endearing, it’s a very cute film. ★★★½
Under the Fig Trees is a quiet, unassuming film out of Tunisia, and sometimes it is films like this that come out better than they have any right to be. That is the case with this delightful film. All it is is a day in the life of the workers at a fig farm. Most are younger, and we see their relationships with each other, as well as the older (more staid) women who do the counting, and the bosses who lord over it all. There’s friendships, rivalries, love (and lost love), and all of the dynamics of a people bonded by work, but at odds with each other over other trappings of life. There’s not much of a plot other than the normal things you run into in your daily life, but it is enchanting. As the film was ending after just 90 minutes, I wanted more. Much better that than the other way! ★★★★
I’ll admit, as the The Holdovers was getting going, I didn’t think much of it. Taking place as 1970 is winding down, it follows a curmudgeonly ancient-history teacher at an all-boys boarding school outside of Boston. Everyone is getting ready to go home for the Christmas holiday, but there’s always a few boys stuck at school, and it is up to this old professor, Paul, to watch them this time. Paul is the least-liked teacher at school (what student would when he gives homework over the holiday and promises a test when they come back?), so not one of the students are exactly thrilled. Most are saved when one of the boys’ fathers picks them up (in a helicopter no less) to take to a ski resort for the rest of the break. That leaves just Paul and student Angus, whose mother is off honeymooning with her new husband and couldn’t be reached to give permission to leave. Angus is a bright kid, but he’s at risk of flunking out, and knows that his mom will send him to military school if he does, even though the country is currently fighting in Vietnam, all-but assuring Angus of ending up in battle upon graduation. Paul starts to see something of himself in Angus; a boy who goes to a well-to-do high school, with problems at home that may prevent him from reaching his full potential. Over the remaining break, the two bond, and (hopefully) come to terms with a lot of the emotions they have pent up. Seemed hokey in the beginning, but only because the film has a bit of a throwback kind of feel. It definitely grows on you, until you really care for these characters by the end. ★★★★½
Not exactly sure what to think of Maestro. A tale about the life of American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, it stars Bradley Cooper in the title role (who also directed), with Carey Mulligan costarring as Bernstein’s wife Felicia. The producer’s credits feature heavy hitters too, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. I don’t know, but with a group like that, I think I was expecting to be blown away. It’s good, but certainly not earth shattering. It follows Bernstein’s career rise and covers pivotal moments in his personal life. When he’s a young nobody in New York just making his way, he’s in a gay relationship, but knows that that lifestyle won’t fly once he starts getting a name for himself (in the 1940’s). So he “settles down” and marries Felicia and has a few kids. She is pretty wise to his closeted life early on, but (at least appears to) doesn’t care, as long as Lenny is discrete. As the decades go by, discrete is something he isn’t always, leading to fights at home, but when Felicia comes down with cancer, Lenny does drop everything to be at her side. The film has some nice moments and the acting by the two stars is fantastic, but I still felt that, at the end of the movie, I didn’t know Bernstein any more than I did at the beginning. Doesn’t seem like I got into who he really was or what made him tick, or what mattered to him most. And honestly, I’m getting a little tired of moviemakers who feel like they can put a film in black and white with a 4:3 aspect ratio and all of a sudden it is “artsy.” Decent, not spectacular. ★★★
Story Ave follows a teen named Kadir (Asante Blackk) who is dealing with the recent death of his younger brother. Kadir’s mother has understandably lost her footing, leaving Kadir to fend for himself. With no guidance, he falls in with a graffiti gang calling themselves Outside the Lines. Kadir, a budding young artist, is in it for the art, but he doesn’t realize that the gang will violently defend their turf, and it isn’t long before Kadir is in over his head. As luck would have it, the first person Kadir tries to steal from, as part of his initiation, is a man named Luis (Luis Guzmán). Luis doesn’t take Kadir at face value, that of a thug who is too far past saving, but instead sees the lost boy Kadir is. Luis takes him under his wing, opening his eyes to a life that isn’t yet worth giving up on. I wasn’t moved much by Blackk’s performance, thought it was a bit wooden, but the seasoned pro Guzmán drives this film and delivers as he always does. The film does a good job of, as Luis does with Kadir, turning the viewer’s thoughts on him from a hopeless wannabe gangster to a young man worth saving. ★★★½
- TV series recently watched: For All Mankind (season 3)
- Book currently reading: Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
Jons Movie Takes 