40 Acres is a post-apocalyptic film (my favorite!) taking place a dozen years in the future, after a fungal infection wiped out livestock, which was followed by a second civil war in the USA and the complete breakdown of government. Citizens have been left to fend for themselves, with families grouping together around any small plot of land they can farm, which they fiercely (and violently) defend against marauders, the worst of whom have become cannibals. The movie revolves around one such farm, where former marine soldier Hailey Freeman and her small family and close-knit friends have built a pretty comfortable life. It would be very comfortable if not for the occasional bad guys trying to come in and kill everyone, but the Freemans have done a good job of not broadcasting where they are, and even the youngest members of the group are well trained in firearms and hand-to-hand combat. Hailey runs the place with military precision, but when her eldest son Emanuel sees a hot young stranger bathing in a nearby river, and later rescues her when she’s being chased in the woods from some bad characters and brings her back to the barn, he puts the entirety of their existence in peril. There’s some not-so-great acting from a few of the characters, and a few silly throw-away scenes (one in particular near the end of the film, where the Freemans let some bad guys in and purposefully put the kids in danger, only to set up a joke that was referenced earlier in the film, is truly cringe-worthy), but the story is a step above the norm and there’s enough mystery and tons of trepidation built in to overcome some of the film’s shortcomings. Overall pretty good movie, which could have been great. ★★★½
The next couple films are about people eking out a life on the fringes of society. Paradise is Burning follows 3 sisters trying to survive on their own after their mother, who has suffered a lifetime of mental illness, has disappeared (as she has done before) for several months. The eldest, Laura, is finishing high school (barely, when she goes to class) and is trying to keep the secret of the missing mom from social services, who would swoop in and split up the girls to the foster care system. Th middle daughter, Mira, is around 11 or 12 and helps when she can, leaving 7-year-old Steffi to often fend for herself. The family is constantly on a knife’s edge, where any small error can explode in their faces, and they are currently facing a problem not so small. Child services does call one day after Laura’s latest unexplained school absence, needing to set up a meeting with mom to make sure all is OK, and Laura assures them that mom is just busy, but will be available to meet in a week. With a deadline looming, Laura needs to find a stand-in “mom,” and sets her eyes on a new woman in the neighborhood whom Laura hopes she can convince to act the part. Laura even goes so far as to seduce the woman, but as you know, the best laid plans… Really startling film about the bonds of sisterhood and what lengths people will go to to keep a family together. ★★★★½
Another good one in Souleymane’s Story, the most recent film (of many in the last half-dozen years) shining a light on the plight of immigrants in Europe. Souleymane escaped Guinea to France looking for a better life, but his time there may be coming to an end. His asylum petition meeting is in 2 days, and until immigrants clear that hurdle, they are not allowed to work. Obviously people need money to live not to mention help themselves on the path to asylum, so Souleymane has been “renting” the food delivery account (think Uber Eats or Door Dash) from an immigrant who has been granted asylum already, for an astronomical fee, despite Souleymane doing all the work. He’s also been paying a swindler for fake papers and a concocted “story” that he can give the asylum interviewers for a better chance of passing. But all shit breaks loose in those final 2 days. Always tight on funds, Souleymane is stiffed on a couple deliveries, gets hit on his bike by a car, and faces not having papers for his meeting if he can’t come up with the payment for his handler. Everyone continually rips him off, because he has no recourse. Add onto all of this the kinds of things that every immigrant has to go through (sleeping in a cot in a homeless shelter, which he has to set an alarm on his phone in the wee hours of the morning every day to get up and call in to reserve a bed that night, not to mention making sure to catch the bus to the shelter at night or end up sleeping on the street) and it quickly becomes apparent that Souleymane is burning the candle from both ends and can’t possibly keep going like this. Every human has a breaking point, and Souleymane is fighting a losing battle. And lest we forget, this situation is still better than what he left behind, all in the hopes of finding a better life. Pretty eye opening, anyone lacking for compassion by what the far right is spewing should watch it. ★★★★
Day of the Fight is an awesome sports film with a lot of heart (as the best ones always do). Mikey Flannigan is recently out of prison after having served nearly a decade behind bars; we don’t learn why until much later. Once the boxing middleweight champion of the world, he’s trying to make a comeback, and his trainer and a former admirer (the current heavyweight champion) pulled some strings to get Mikey on the card for a big fight at Madison Square Garden. The film begins on the morning of the match, and he spends his day making peace with himself and those in his life that led him to here: his ex-wife and estranged daughter, his abusive father, his childhood friend (now a priest), etc. It’s gritty with a very authentic feel, and not just because it is shown in black and white. Mikey is being very introspective, and we see glimpses of the past, random memories that surface here and there throughout the film, which, together, define and make up who Mikey is, on this, the most important day of his life. Michael Pitt is solid as the fighter on a redemption path, with a strong supporting cast including Ron Perlman, Joe Pesci, and Steve Buscemi. The “real critics” will poo-poo this film as just another boxing film like any other, but there’s nothing wrong with a good formula when it works, and this one is told extremely well. ★★★★★
And while I’m on the subject of real critics, look no further than Goldfish, a film that was “universally acclaimed” but which, in my view, is a total bore. Anamika (Ana for short) is a young woman who has mostly abandoned her Indian heritage, but is confronted with it when she returns to her mother’s home in England. Her mom, Sadhana, has dementia and is progressively getting worse, so Ana has come home to decide what to do with her. Sadhana lives in a predominantly Indian neighborhood, where tradition is you take care of your family as they age, and heaven forbid you put someone in a home, which is exactly what Ana was considering. Ana must also face really terrible memories of growing up under Sadhana, who openly has stated she wishes she’d never had kids, and mentally and physically abused Ana as a child. Pretty terrible stuff, to the point you wonder why Ana came home at all, until you realize she’s hoping to inherit the house. Everyone in this film is a terrible person, no one to root for, and all you get for 90 minutes is a slow crawl. There isn’t even a big “ah-ha” moment where you find some deep nugget of clarity that makes it all come together in the end. Just boring slush from beginning to end. I’d rather visit an elderly folks’ home and listen to some of their (probably much more interesting) stories than sit through something like this again. ★½
Jons Movie Takes 