Up today are a few films from Japanese director Mikio Naruse, who had a long career spanning some of the biggest names in the biz (Ozu and Mizoguchi to name a couple), but who doesn’t get mentioned in the same reverence as those for some reason. I’ve got 4 of his silent films from the 30’s, and a later film from 1960.

No Blood Relation is about a woman, Tamae, who, 5 years ago, abandoned her husband and infant daughter to pursue an acting career in the United States. She has had a successful run, but has always missed her daughter Shigeko, and has now returned to Japan to try to pick up the pieces. However, her ex-husband, Atsumi, has remarried, and his wife Masako is the only mother Shigeko has ever known. The viewer doesn’t think there’s any way Tamae will find an in, until Atsumi’s business lands in bankruptcy. Unable to pay his debts, Atsumi is jailed, and his mother, Kishiyo, who has always lived in luxury, will do anything to stay away from the slums. Kishiyo approaches Tamae about reuniting her with Shigeko, in exchange for a better lifestyle for herself. Tamae, however, refuses to see the bonds Shigeko has developed with Masako. I tend to prefer silent film comedies, but as dramas go, this one is decent enough. ★★½

Apart From You packs a much harder emotional wallop. The film has 3 central characters: Kikue, an aging geisha who is hanging on, trying to keep working until her son graduates high school; the son, Yoshio, who resents his mother for her occupation and has fallen into a local gang; and Terugiku, who is a younger geisha working with Kikue, but who is like a sister to Yoshio. Kikue knows her time is just about up, as she fights gray hairs and a diminishing supply of interested men at work, where she has to compete with much younger coworkers. She’s never liked her profession, but does it to support Yoshio. Terugiku also hates the job, but she has a different reason for staying at it: her drunkard father has plans to send Terugiku’s younger sister off to be a geisha too, and Terugiku refuses to see that happen. She’ll work all the harder to make sure the family has money enough to not have to send her sister. And in the middle is Yoshio. He seems to look past Terugiku’s work but can’t do the same for his mother. This film is rapturous from the get-go and kept me spellbound until the very end. If Naruse has more films like this one coming up, how come he’s not more well known?! ★★★★

Every-Night Dreams is about a single mother, Omitsu, raising her young son on her own. Omitsu is barely scraping by and relying on help from her neighbors to watch Fumio while she works at a bar. Her husband abandoned her years ago, but one day, he just shows up at her door. Mizuhara admits that he was a coward, but that he has missed his son and wants to start fresh. Omitsu denies him at first, but finally allows it, as long as he gets a job and supports them. Finding work in the Great Depression era is difficult though, and Mizuhara is unable to find work. Desperate, he’ll turn to anything to get money for his family, but will Omitsu accept ill-gotten money? Pretty straight forward film, and short at just a couple minutes over an hour, but, like Apart From You, it is very emotional in the end. ★★★½

Street Without End continues the trend of focusing on woman protagonists, this time following a cafe waitress named Sugiko. At the beginning of the film, she has a lot of prospects: a boyfriend ready to propose, and a chance to become an actress after a scout sees her at work. However, those plans all float away when she is struck by a car one day. Her fiancé leaves and the acting job goes to another girl at her work. At first, fortune seems to smile on Sugiko, because the person who hit her, Hiroshi, is a wealthy man who becomes smitten by her charm. Hiroshi marries her, much to the consternation of his mother and sister, who believe Sugiko is beneath their station. This leads to snide remarks and open hostility at home, driving Hiroshi to drink and enter a spiral that will be his downfall. Through it all, Sugiko remains strong. I liked the overall plot in this one, but, especially in the beginning, it felt a bit too “all over the place” and didn’t really settle down until the second half. The abrupt ending also snuck up on me. ★★½

Jumping well out of the silent era, up next is 1960’s When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. An absolutely brilliant film, it is about a woman named Keiko, affectionally called “mama” by her patrons. Keiko runs a bar in the hopping Ginza district. Only 30 years old, she is already a widow, and is supporting her mother, her no-good brother, and his son, who is confined to crutches after having polio. Keiko hates her job, but at her age, she knows she’s getting too old to get a proper husband, so she’s consigned to it. The first half of the film follows her daily activities and interactions at work, and we get to know her well. Keiko knows the ins and outs of running a bar and how to deal with its patrons, every one of which Keiko makes feel comfortable and important. She sees employees come and go, including one who opens her own bar as competition, but who flames out when she goes into debt. At every turn, whenever anything opens up that may better Keiko’s situation (the chance to open her own bar, rather than work for someone else, or to actually get married so she can give it up), something happens to knock her back down. The one constant, the one time in her life when she’s alone to think, is the climb up those stairs to the bar every day. Beautifully acted by Hideko Takamine in the lead, it’s a heart-wrenching film that will stick with you when its over. ★★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Mayans M.C. (season 4)
• Book currently reading: Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis & Hickman

Cha Cha Real Smooth is a romcom written and directed by, and starring Cooper Raiff, with a supporting cast including Dakota Johnson and newcomers Evan Assante and Vanessa Burghardt. After a truly heartwarming scene where a 12-year-old Andrew asks out the party host at a bar mitzvah, only to be rejected due to their age difference, the film kicks off 10 years later. A now 22-year-old Andrew is still living at home, working at a fast food joint, and has no job prospects. His girlfriend has just moved to Barcelona and seems to be living it up away from him. Andrew’s little brother, David, is now at the bar mitzvah age, so the summer is full of those parties for all of his classmates. At the first one, Andrew goes along (because he has nothing else to do) and becomes the life of the party, as he goes out of his way to get all the young boys and girls to dance with each other and have a good time. As such, he gets invited to host all the bar mitzvahs of the summer. Andrew sees a way to make money, but maybe more intriguing to him, he sees a young mother that interests him. Domino loves that Andrew stands up for her daughter, Lola, when she is picked on at a party for having autism. Lola takes an instant liking to Andrew, and he endears himself to Domino as well when he helps her out of a tricky situation. Unfortunately for Andrew, Domino is engaged to a busy lawyer who, while often out of town for work, seems to have a stranglehold on Domino. Andrew hopes to break that grip and get her to go for him, but he may not know what he is asking for. It’s a cute enough movie, with some good chuckles (Andrew not getting along with this mother’s new husband is a highlight), but as a whole, the film is fairly forgettable. The writing is just OK and the editing is pretty shoddy honestly. I do applaud the team for casting a girl with autism in that role (Vanessa as Lola) rather than Forrest Gump-ing it up, but while the cast gives it their all, the end result is nothing more than an average romcom. ★★½ 

I initially thought Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache would be the kind of slow, contemplative film that I often really get into, but for whatever reason, this one didn’t do it for me. It follows an entrepreneur in Nepal named Tenzin, who seems to anger some spirits when he visits an abandoned temple with the idea of turning it into a cafe. An earthquake set the temple and surrounding buildings to tumbling, and Tenzin knows he can buy it up cheap and turn it around. But now he has holy men, including a “cool” monk sporting large red headphones and California style sunglasses, telling him that his actions will bring about his fall. Unless Tenzin can hunt down a female spirit called a dakini, he will die in a matter of days. At first, the non-religious Tenzin scoffs, but as he starts to have visions that other people do not see, he starts to believe, and goes on the lookout for his spirit. I didn’t mind the buildup (and yes, it crawls at a snail’s pace), but the payoff at the end just wasn’t rewarding enough to warrant the journey to it. ★★

The Bad Guys looked like a good family film when it hit theaters, but I was busy seeing the latest Nick Cage film that weekend, and missed it. I’m glad I finally got a chance, because this one is a blast. The in-film “bad guys” are a group of bank robbers in a Zootopia-like city of animals, comprised of all the villains you see in children’s stories. There’s Ms Tarantula, Mr Snake, Mr Shark, Mr Piranha, and their leader, Mr Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf himself. Everywhere they go, people shrink away in fear, and rightfully so, as they have a reputation to uphold as being dastardly. However, during their latest heist, Wolf is reaching for an old lady’s purse when she begins to fall down some stairs. Wolf’s hand on her purse saves her from a tumble, and she gives him a friendly hug, and “thanks,” and calls him a good boy. Unexpectedly, and for the first time ever, Wolf’s tail starts to wag, and he likes this feeling of being a “good boy.” He and his crew are nabbed in the robbery anyway, but a motivational speaker, a guinea pig named Marmalade, steps forward to offer them a chance: let him prove they can be redeemed, and all will be forgiven. Wolf convinces his cohorts to “go along with his scheme” when in reality, he is hoping for redemption for them and himself. But even if they get it, there’s a surprise waiting down the road for everyone. Fun movie, with an animation style different than your typical Disney/Pixar flick, and lots of laughs for the whole family. I’m not sure it is one of those movies that I’d watch multiple times, knowing all the surprises, but it is definitely worth an evening in with the fam. ★★★½

I’ve been looking forward to seeing Belfast since it was the darling of the film festival circuit in late 2021. It does not disappoint. The film follows nine-year-old Buddy living with his family in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as The Troubles begin in 1969. Little Buddy doesn’t know what’s going on, but he hears plenty of talk from neighbors and friends. His family is protestant and his dad works across the channel in England, so naturally they are targets by those who want to see a united Ireland. There is violence on the streets, but Buddy’s parents urge him and his older brother to keep their heads down and avoid confrontations. It sounds like it could be a heavy film, and there are somber and frightening moments for Buddy, but there are plenty of moments of brevity too. Buddy has a crush on a girl in his class, but worries that his parents won’t approve of their future marriage because she is Catholic. And Buddy’s grandparents provide humor as well as wisdom, telling Buddy that, while times seem hard now, things always turn around eventually. This is a genuinely funny movie with a lot of heart; highly recommended. ★★★★★

Compartment Number 6 is another one of those quiet, international dramas that I so often love. This one is about a Finnish student, Laura, who is in a relationship with a college professor in Moscow. Laura and her girlfriend Irina had plans to travel by train to Murmansk to see some petroglyphs there, but at the last minute, Irina says she can’t get out of work, and Laura, who always seems to be the odd one out anyway among Irina and her friends, goes alone. On the train, Laura finds herself bunking with a rough-and-tumble Russian miner named Lyokha, who is going to Murmansk for work. Laura is immediately put off when Lyokha makes a crude, ill-timed joke, and though the trip is only a couple days, she doesn’t know how she’s going to make it. When the train stops for a couple hours in St Petersburg, Laura calls back to Irina hoping she’d get an invite to turn around and come back, but Irina already seems to have moved on and is having fun with friends. Getting back on the train, Laura finds a quiet corner to grab a couple hours of sleep, and only returns to the compartment the next morning. However, things do turn around, and eventually, Laura and Lyokha begin to warm up to each other. An unlikely friendship develops, and what follows is a funny and endearing film. The two are from completely different backgrounds, and Lyokha is at times uncomfortable, afraid to come off as uncouth to the “college girl” Laura, but by the end, each is able to set aside their initial impressions and let their friendship grow. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Obi-Wan Kenobi (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Elvis is the newest from director Baz Luhrmann, and is (obviously) a biopic on the life of “the King,” portrayed by newcomer Austin Butler. The story is told from the viewpoint of Elvis’s longtime manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks, donned in a distracting fat suit). I’m not a big Elvis fan, but I was hoping to be entertained or at least learn something. Unfortunately, while not a terrible film, I left the theater with a shrug of the shoulders, and a bit disappointed.

The film starts on the road, where Parker is managing country singer Hank Snow. Snow’s son tells the group about this new singer on the radio that is taking the area by storm; his song is basically on loop on the radio due to all the requests. Parker goes to see Elvis perform, and immediately sees someone that he can turn into a star. Parker gets Elvis and his parents to agree to a short tour through the south, and in a whirlwind of events, it isn’t long before Elvis is signed to RCA and is headlining Parker’s tour. The ladies are swooning to Elvis’s hip thrusts and gyrations, but the same thing that made him popular lands him in hot water. A senator threatens legal action against Elvis unless he can perform in a more “proper” manner. When Parker tries to tone Elvis down and get him to showcase a “new Elvis,” Elvis rebels and goes back to what made him a hit.

The movie goes along like this, showing various moments in Elvis’s life as well as his interactions with Parker, and later, his wife Priscilla and others in his band. It shows his time in Hollywood doing movies, and his return to music later, as well as his run of Vegas shows at the end of his life. It never falls into the trap of a “paint by numbers” biopic, where it just presents facts, and manages to stay entertaining through most of the film. However, Elvis did a lot in his short time on this planet, and the movie is long at 2 hours 40 minutes, and I started to feel it by the end. And that’s not the only thing I felt. Unfortunately I felt some boredom by the end too.

As I said earlier, I think I was expecting more from this film. For one, Baz couldn’t help but “Baz it up.” Some of the fast camera work and short cuts that made Moulin Rouge so fun just don’t work in the telling of a real-life person. I seriously don’t think there was a single camera shot that lasted more than 3 seconds in the entire film; the camera zips around, cuts to different angels continuously, and never settles on anything or anyone for too long of a time. This may work for the young tik-tok’ers in the audience, but it was way too distracting for me, and I never settled into it. I think Austin did a fair job as Elvis, but honestly I couldn’t tell you if it was a great acting job or not, because the camera never stayed on him long enough to showcase his talent. And there are other odd choices in the movie, like a visit down famous Beale Street in Memphis, with the sounds of rap music playing over the film. Was rap around in the 1950’s (/sarcasm)? It may sound like I’m ragging on the movie. That’s not my intention. Again, not an awful movie, but I think it could have been so much more. ★★★

These are a trio of Mexican-born directors who are among the most popular of the country’s directors today (I’d obviously put Alfonso Cuarón here too, but I think I’ve seen all of his films already). I’m starting with Guillermo del Toro. I’ve seen everything he’s made since Hellboy in 2004, but today I’m going back to his first three films, starting with 1993’s Cronos. After an introduction setting up the invention of a mechanism by an alchemist in 1536, an item which made the guy immortal until his house collapsed on him in 1937, we see that the mechanism was lost to the world until it showed up in Jesús Gris’ antiquities shop in the late 90s. Jesús stumbles upon the item completely by accident, but when he starts playing with it, tiny pincers emerge and stab into his hand, freaking out his young granddaughter Aurora. Jesús pulls it off and throws it in a box. The next day, getting ready for work, Jesús notices in the mirror that he looks quite a bit younger than the day before. Knowing now the secrets of the item, he guards it, even as a sickly rich man, who has long sought this mythical item, sends his goons after it. Unfortunately for Jesús, long life isn’t the only gift given by the gold piece; he also begins to crave blood. This modern reimagining of the Dracula story is quite good. It is low budget, but well acted (with actors including Ron Perlman, beginning his long relationship with del Toro, and Claudio Brook, who was extremely prolific in his career) and engaging to the end. Even in this first film, del Toro knew how to set a scene. ★★★½

Del Toro followed with Mimic, a Hollywood film (everyone needs to make money, right?) that spurred a series of sequels. As I learned in The Shape of Water, not everything del Toro touches turns to gold, but Mimic may be the worst. In New York, cockroaches are spreading a sickness that is killing and maiming children. Hotshot scientist Susan Tyler (Mira Sorvino) develops a genetically mutated roach which she dubs the “judas breed,” which is meant to go into roach hives and release an enzyme which will kill the colonies. This new breed is supposed to be sterile and die out in 6 months, but 3 years later, Susan will learn that things have gone very bad. It takes awhile to get there, but eventually, we learn that the ol’ roaches have learned to mimic their next prey: humans. Human-sized roaches are ready to kill! While del Toro still sets a great mood for his scenes, this movie is pure schlock. Events take too long to develop, and the whole thing is way too predictable and boring for a horror film. Save your time, watch almost anything else from this director. ★

The Devil’s Backbone takes that style and, thankfully, adds substance. Filmed in Spain and taking place during the Spanish Civil War, the film follows Carlos, a young boy newly orphaned, who is left at a remote orphanage by his parents’ former employees. The orphanage is run by Casares, a doctor, and Carmen, a duo who are secretly supporting the Republicans against Franco’s Nationalists. As it is looking increasingly likely that Franco is going to win this war, their position is tenuous at best, but they are currently scraping by, getting just enough food to keep the boys from starving. The only staff members are the groundskeeper, Jacinto, who has a mean streak, and his fiancée Irene. Carlos is thrust into this setting, and he quickly learns the building is housing a secret: a young ghost. The other boys talk openly about the ghost, though the adults seem to be unaware. Upon Carlos’ arrival, the ghost immediately seems to be reaching out to him, trying to tell him something. Can Carlos overcome his fear to listen? And what happens when the war comes to their doorstep? This movie is creepy (downright scary at times), and has a compelling story in one of Spain’s darkest days. I was chilled, exhilarated, and moved. ★★★★½

Up next is Alejandro González Iñárritu. Again, I’ve seen most of his stuff (Birdman was one of my favorite films of 2014), but not his debut, 2000’s Amores perros (“Love’s a Bitch”). The movie starts in the middle, so to say, with Octavio and his buddy fleeing in a car. In the back seat, their big black dog, Cofi, is bleeding out. The chase ends in a disastrous wreck, and then we rewind to see how we got here, and the movie is divided in three parts. In the first, Octavio is in love with his brother’s wife; Ramiro and Susana married when she became pregnant, but don’t seem to have much love for each other. Ramiro is out having affairs and his only source of income is robbing drug stores. Octavio decides to make some money and run away with Susana; to do so, he enters their dog into the local dogfighting ring. Cofi does well, but once the money starts coming in, Ramiro wants his cut, not to mention Cofi’s success puts a damper on a rival dogfighter’s pen, the same man who is chasing Octavio at the beginning of the film. At the same time, the movie is also following an older man as he tries to reconnect with this estranged adult daughter, after the daughter’s mom (man’s ex-wife) dies. A third storyline revolves around a businessman having an affair. The film plays out for an hour before we “catch up” to that opening scene. From there, we get the other 2 parts, which follow the businessman and his affair, and finally, the vagrant and his story around his daughter. All of their lives intersect the day of the car wreck. I generally liked Octavio’s storyline the most, and the film started to drag in the second half, but still, there are a lot of sublime moments, and not just because you are connecting dots along the way. Very well acted across the board (including by Gael Garcia Bernal, as Octavio, in his first leading role). ★★★½

Lesser known by most but with a lot of acclaim in film circles is Carlos Reygadas. His debut feature film, Japón, was released in 2002, and from the outset, I could tell this was going to be a beautifully shot movie. Talk about some gorgeous vistas! With a 2:88 aspect ratio, the ultra widescreen shows off some impressive landscapes in the barren Mexico countryside. The movie follows an unnamed man who walks with a severe limp, who has come to a remote, Godforsaken land, in order to commit suicide. He stumbles upon a tiny town in the mountains and asks for a place to stay for a couple days. The villagers point him to an old widow’s shack halfway up the mountain. She lives alone and has an empty barn, which our traveler finds will be perfect for his needs. All he wants is a quiet place to contemplate and set things right in his head before he does the deed. Unfortunately for him, he grows fond of the widow, who has to fight nature and her own family (her nephew wants to tear down the barn to reuse its stone, though the lack of the barn will expose her shack to devastating winds down the mountain) just to survive. It’s meant to be very contemplative, but I was bored out of my mind. It all seemed sort of pretentious, and, yes, it is a beautifully made film, but be prepared to fight to keep your eyes open. ★½

Reygadas’ third film, and probably his most heralded, is Silent Light. Filmed in Mexico but revolving around a Mennonite community there, it is in the Plautdietsch language. The film follows Johan, a man struggling with balancing his deeply religious upbringing/life and a newfound love of a woman outside of his marriage. Johan has long been married to Esther, who has given him a house full of children, but he is now attracted to Marianne. Esther is aware of the affair, but her love for her husband and faith that things will turn out well in the end is keeping her silent. Johan does not know what to do: follow his faith or follow his heart. This is a slow-moving, deeply introspective film, and by the ending, if you have the patience to go along for the entire ride, a profoundly moving one as well. The director lets the scenes breathe, and nothing is rushed, so many may grow bored. Somehow I avoided the fate of Japón, and was entranced. The payoff in the end is worth waiting for. Rushing to the end would not have left much of an impact. ★★★★

• TV series currently watching: Batwoman (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Yes, it’s as bad as you’ve heard. Morbius is the latest from Sony’s little corner of the Marvel universe, which they are trying their damndest to tie into the “official” Marvel Cinematic Universe and its money-making machine. But with two Venom movies and now this one, none have been nearly as good as even the average Marvel film. This one stars Jared Leto as sickly doctor Michael Morbius, who is intent on finding a cure for his debilitating illness, a sickness that is about to claim his life. He’s been experimenting with mixing some bat DNA in with a human’s, something about blood clotting, and when he think’s he’s found the solution, he injects it into himself. While it does “cure” him and make him strong, it also turns him into a bloodthirsty monster intent on drinking blood. With new bat-like superpowers in hand, he wages a battle against an old friend who also took the “cure.” The plot is nonsensical; the bad guy goes from trying to “awaken Morbius’ powers” to wanting to kill him in less than a minute. While the action scenes are passably entertaining, the story doesn’t make any sense. The movie is chuck full of what seems to be writers throwing various elements against the wall to see what sticks (and very little does). And the end credit scenes? Dropping a big cameo for no reason at all isn’t exciting to me in the slightest, especially when it was heralded in every trailer leading up to the movie. ★½

Operation Mincemeat tells the compelling, based-on-true-events story of Britain’s deception of Germany in leading to the Allied invasion of Italy in World War II. D-Day and the landings at Normandy get a lot of deserved attention, but USA’s war in Europe started in Sicily nearly a year before. However, Germany was expecting a fight there, so it was up to a team of Brit’s to pull off an act of subterfuge to make sure the Allied armies weren’t heading into a death trap. Their idea: plant a dead body in the water off Spain, with supposed secret letters detailing an Allied attack at Greece. Obviously they’ve got to make it look convincing if Hitler is going to believe it, so the movie details all the little nuances they go through to pull off perhaps the biggest episode of trickery in the war. It’s a very wordy drama, and that may not be for everyone, but it is extremely well executed and lead by the always exemplary Colin Firth. I did not know about this operation and was fascinated. ★★★½

The Woman Who Ran, a South Korean film from director Hong Sang-soo, is an interesting film. It’s short, at just 77 minutes, and the whole film is dialogue. Gam-hee is a woman out to visit some friends for the weekend, friends she hasn’t seen in awhile. Married for a few years, she reveals at the first visit that this is the first time she’s been away from her husband since marrying; he’s on a work trip, thus giving her some free time. You don’t think much of it at first, and Gam-hee is fairly reserved at this first friend’s house. But she opens up a bit more at her second friend’s, and then more so at the third’s. As the film goes along, the director paints a portrait of a woman who has seen her freedom evaporate once she got married. In not-so-subtle other interactions between various characters, Hong doesn’t show men in general in a very good light, pointing to their power in relationships and the need to always be “right” and not expect pushback. For what seems to be a subtle movie, at times it was pretty over-the-top. I generally like a film like this, but this one seemed to go a bit too far in hammering the message home. ★★½

It’s been a long time since Adam Sandler delivered a comedy that I really enjoyed, but when he steps away from his bread-and-butter and goes for a more dramatic role, I’m almost always pleasantly surprised (Uncut Gems, Reign Over Me, and Punch-Drunk Love are examples). Hustle is the newest, a film about a longtime basketball scout who has dreamed of landing a job in a coach’s seat. Stanley is not just a scout, he’s a great scout, and he’s been doing the international circuit for a decade, working for the Philadelphia 76ers (fictitious) owner Rex Merrick. Stanley’s advice has always paid off, but some unknown event in Stanley’s past has kept him from getting the promotion he’s wanted. Rex loves him though, and is on the eve of finally making Stanley an assistant when Rex suddenly dies. His son, Vince, reneges on his dad’s promise and tasks Stanley with finding one more good international star-in-the-making. Stanley hates Vince, and the feeling is mutual, but Stanley hopes that a delivered player will get him that coaching job after all. He finds an unlikely star on the streets of Spain, where he sees a 22-year-old dazzling spectators at one of your typical asphalt courts. Wearing work boots instead of sneakers, Bo Cruz shows he has talent, but it is up to Stanley to prove to Vince he has what it takes. Vince will not be easily swayed, and it’s going to be a long struggle with a lot of bumps in the road if Stanley (and Bo) are going to realize their dreams. There’s plenty of laughs, but none of your typical Sandler goofball stuff. Just a solid sports drama. This film has a lot of sports people behind it (including Lebron), and is chuck full of basketball stars from today and yesteryear, playing themselves or versions of themselves. Good film for sports fans, but you don’t have to be a basketball nut to enjoy the story. ★★★½

I’ve never played any of the Uncharted video games, but I do like a good treasure hunter movie, so I was in for this film adaptation. It stars Tom Holland as Nate Drake, a boy raised, with his older brother Sam, at an orphanage, growing up on Sam’s stories of buried gold. As an adult, Nate still receives occasional postcards from Sam, who left years ago to find glory. In this setting, Nate is recruited by Sully (Mark Wahlberg), who is seeking the legend of a vast sum of gold. Back in Magellan’s day, apparently the crew had been funded by a wealthy Spanish family to find gold and bring it back, but the treasure never returned with Magellan’s crew after their route around the world. The living descendants of that Spanish family, led by a devilish Antonio Banderas, are hunting the gold too, so Nate and Sully have their work cut out for them. Their hunt takes them through ancient crypts in Barcelona to the islands of the Philippines. Based on a video game, there are plenty of moments where you have to suspend belief, but no more than your typical Indiana Jones flick (though there are action scenes that defy the laws of physics). Still, it’s a light hearted adventure with a charismatic lead in Holland, and is plenty of fun. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Station Eleven (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

The Northman is the latest from director Robert Eggers, whose last movie, The Lighthouse, was awesome. The Northman continues that awesome-ness(?) streak. The movie follows a Viking warrior named Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård), and his quest for vengeance. As a boy in 895 AD, he witnesses his uncle, Fjölnir, murder his owner brother (Amleth’s father, and the king of their small territory) and then abscond with his brother’s wife, Gudrún. Amleth himself escapes murder and grows to be a strong fighter, harboring revenge in his heart. When he hears of a group of slaves to be sold to Fjölnir, Amleth brands himself a slave and boards the ship. In the intervening years, Fjölnir has lost the kingdom he stole, and is now a glorified sheepherder, though he still has wealth enough to pay for a group of loyal fighters and slaves to work his lands. Gudrún is now his wife, and she’s given him a son. Amleth knows she is little more than a slave herself, and he wants to rescue her while also taking down Fjölnir, so he works his ass off to gain Fjölner’s trust. Only when he is close enough to his prey does he show his intentions, though he may not like the result he gets in the end. Steeped in Viking traditions, lore, and mysticism, I loved this move through and through. Fantastically bloody, with harrowing battles and wonderful intrigue, it is a thrill ride from the opening scene until the ultimate climax. A wonderful cast helps too (Skarsgård of course, but also Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, and Willem Dafoe). ★★★★½

I avoided Michael Bay’s latest, Ambulance, when it hit theaters. It looked like your typical Bay “thriller,” which means lots of explosions, lots of background lights/sun/bright spots in the camera view, and crazy fast, sweeping closeups, jumping from character to character in a frenetic pace. When it hit Peacock during my free trial, I thought, “what the hell, why not.” Should have listened to my gut. This is the most boring thriller you’ll find, and it has every bad Bay trope under the sun, including some new fast-paced arial camera work thanks to his discovery of drones. A man needs money for his wife’s operation, and, desperate, he goes to his criminal brother for a loan. Rather than give a loan, the brother recruits him for a bank heist that day. Police break it up, so an easy getaway turns into an all-day chase across town, as the robbers try to make a getaway in a stolen ambulance, housing a cop shot by one of the two during the robbery. Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds, but not nearly as ridiculous as everything else that happens in this flick. Cops that ram themselves into everything EXCEPT the ambulance they are chasing (and how is a bulky ambulance running circles around these guys anyway?!?). The lead cop calling off the chase, not due to the dangers to the civilians nearby, but because he finds out his dog is in the backseat of one of the cop cars. The hostage EMT in the ambulance having to use a hair clip to tie off an artery in the hurt cop. C’mon Mike, you running out of ideas here. No redeeming value that I can find. ★

Lamb was a much-talked-about film from 2021. Out of Iceland, it was directed by newcomer Valdimar Jóhansson and starred Noomi Rapace as the only recognizable face stateside. She plays Maria, a woman who, with her husband Ingvar, lives on a remote sheep farm. Birthing season is here, and after a couple normal births, an odd baby is born to an otherwise normal sheep. The baby is born with a human body, but with a sheep’s head and one sheep arm. Rather than be repulsed, Maria, who has lost one child previously, decides to take “Ada” in the house and raise her as her own. Things would probably go on normal if not for the return of Ingvar’s brother, Pétur. He sees Ada, who is by now up and walking around on two legs, and wanders if Maria and Ingvar have lost their minds. The film is marketed as a fantasy horror flick, but it isn’t your typical horror movie. No jump scares, just a lot of ominous sounds over slow camera work, building tension until you are as taut as a wire. Most fans of this genre aren’t going to like the snail’s pace, but I dug it, though there weren’t any real surprises to be found. It does make you think a bit, which is always good. ★★★

Ted K is a biopic about Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber, and his reign of terror sending bombs through the mail in the late 70s until his arrest in 1996. Ted is portrayed by Sharlto Copley, most famous as the main character in the awesome film District 9. In this film, he is front and center and damn near the only person we ever see on screen. The film is told completely from Ted’s point of view. In the beginning of the movie, he has already given up on society and is living off the grid in a tiny one room cabin in rural Montana. As he sees encroachers into his quiet space (loggers, airplanes flying overhead, or kids just joyriding motorcycles on his land), Ted decides to do something about it, and begins shipping his bombs to people involved in technology, computers, or left-leaning college professors. Throughout it all, he writes constantly, and we the viewers get a peak into his notebooks. It would be easy to dismiss his writings as the ravings of a lunatic, but the film does an excellent job of pulling you into his world. As it goes along, I started seeing where he was coming from. Even while I still detested his bombings, hearing him talk about society’s complete reliance on technology, and how we are losing our humanity, I couldn’t help but nod a couple times. Kaczynski is (not was, he is still alive in jail as of this writing) a psychopath, but he’s not an idiot; in fact, he’s a math genius and undeniably bright. Copley does an outstanding job as the unhinged serial killer (who, as Ted reminds us, did not see himself as a serial killer; killers get joy from the act of killing, whereas he claims that it was only to bring attention to his goals). ★★★½

Every now and then I’ll throw one of these not-quite-classic-, not-quite-modern-films into the rotation, usually because it’s something I should have seen by now but never did. Today’s example is The Untouchables, featuring an all-star cast and telling the story of the takedown of Al Capone in 1930s Chicago. Kevin Costner plays Eliot Ness, with a team made up of Malone (Sean Connery), Stone (Andy Garcia), and Wallace (Charles Martin Smith). In a corrupt city where everyone from the mayor on down pays secret allegiance to Capone (Robert De Niro), Ness and his team are tasked by the government to put an end to his underground rule as king of the city. Having recently watched a handful of director Brian De Palma films, I knew what style to expect. It has the look and feel of a low budget flick, with Hollywood dollars behind it, and with De Palma at the reigns, there’s nothing subtle to be found. Not to mention he plays loose with the facts. It is mildly entertaining, but the overacting is a bit much (I can practically hear De Palma in the background shouting, “Give me more!”), and I would have preferred a lighter hand at the controls, not to mention on the editing table. ★★½

• TV series currently watching: Star Wars The Bad Batch (season 1)
• Book currently reading: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

Love in Kilnerry is a cute little romcom if you, like me, are into dad jokes. The premise is simple: a tiny town New Hampshire, whose biggest employer is a chemical plant, is thrown into turmoil when the chemical produced at the plant is changed by the higher ups, and the new chem has a purported side effect: it raises the sexual libido of those who interact with it. The community, mostly made up of middle aged and elderly folks who never moved away, are in a tizzy over what “sexual improprieties” may now arise from drinking the water. And things do start to happen. The staid sheriff arrests a couple for public fornication, the long-time mayor (and bar owner) makes moves on a local divorcee, an elderly couple of singles start dancing together (in a very risqué manor), and a young storeowner sets her eyes on the sheriff himself. And lets not forget the town priest… The wordplay is funny in an old-timey sort of way; I can see my parents laughing pretty hard. And I did too, though my wife (who did not watch the whole thing) was just rolling her eyes. To each his own. It’s definitely low budget, low production, and not great acting, but the dialogue is fun. ★★½

Minamata is the telling of photojournalist W Eugene Smith and his work in Japan, telling the story of the mercury poisoning of the village of Minamata by a local factory. In 1971, Smith is already an established photographer for Life Magazine at the start of the film, but he’s getting up there in years and has pretty much given up on the world. He doesn’t like the direction journalism has taken, and he’s decided to drink away what days he has left. However, he is visited by a Japanese woman named Aileen, who begs for help to spread the word about Minamata. After digging a bit, Smith sees that stories have popped up here and there over the last few years about the village, but no one has ever gone there and done a deep dive into what is actually happening. With the go-ahead from his editor, Smith does just that, and what he finds is alarming. A whole generation has been born crippled from the poison the company is dumping in the water. Children and adults are born disfigured or with serious developmental deficiencies. The people are angry, but at the same time, shame has kept them from letting others see their disfigured family members. Smith knows that he needs to convince the locals to allow him to share their stories with the world, if help is ever going to come. Smith is portrayed by Johnny Depp, which is probably why you’ve never heard of this film. It was definitely buried after all the allegations came out against him, and it was very quietly released in various countries over the past couple years. The film is a bit uneven, though it is certainly moving at various points. Say what you will about Depp, but he’s undoubtably a great actor, and he draws you in to the struggle onscreen, even as his character deals with his own demons. ★★★

The Secrets of Dumbledore is the latest from the Harry Potter world and the third film in the Fantastic Beasts series (and maybe the last; it did pretty poorly in theaters, so we shall see). I wanted to give this film every benefit of the doubt despite the reviews, but it’s just not very good. For one, no plot developed for a solid 30-45 minutes, and that’s too long for a film of this type. Other than “Grindelwald is bad” and “Dumbledore & Scamander are good,” the movie doesn’t advance the overall story of the series either. Grindelwald (with Mads Mikkelsen replacing Johnny Depp) has a goal to be elected Supreme Mugwump (head of the wizard world) in order to advance his goals of making war against all non-magic muggles. (Again, we don’t know of this election for a long time into the movie.) Dumbledore must overcome personal history with Grindelwald if he is battle him, and he is aided by Newt Scamander and friends. For a movie about magic, this movie is awfully light on wonder. It fails to capture the imagination as the old Harry Potter films did. Back then, you may have had the overarching plot of Voldemort gaining power and setting up his ultimate duel with Harry, but each film still had a subplot to develop and keep the film moving. This one had none of that. It is like one big prologue to a fight that is yet to come. A fight that we may never see if Warner Bros doesn’t do something to right this ship. ★½

Didn’t know what to expect from The Outfit; seems some people loved it, and others called it overhyped. After a viewing, I think I lean more towards the latter group, but there are good moments. The movie takes place over a single long night in 1950s Chicago. Leonard Burling runs a men’s tailor shop. The shop is frequented by the Chicago mob, who use it as a safe house. Leonard, called “English” by the mobsters due to his British accent, allows it, as the men are all good customers. On this particular night though, events go sideways. First, Francis and Ritchie show up, with Ritchie having been shot in the abdomen. Ritchie is mob boss Roy’s son, and Francis threatens Leonard unless Leonard sews him up. The shooting was from a rival mob, over a supposed tape recording implicating Roy’s mob family in criminal activity, a tape provided by Al Capone’s “Outfit,” a group tasked with protecting crime families from the law. The rest of the film plays out as a who-done-it search for the rat leaking info to the FBI, as the two local crime families target each other (and just as often, themselves). Solid acting, in particular by longtime stage actor and star Mark Rylance as Leonard, but there were a few too many “gotcha” moments for my liking. When a film drops a plot bomb on the viewer once, it hits hard, but whey they do it 3 or 4 times over the course of a movie, it loses luster by the end. Fun enough for a single viewing, but that’s about it. ★★½

A darling of the critics, very rarely does director Paul Thomas Anderson deliver for my tastes. The only film of his I really liked was Punch-Drunk Love, but somehow his movies always wrack up the nominations (though if you look at audience reviews instead of critics, you get a different story). His latest is Licorice Pizza, a story about a 15-year-old boy, Gary, who falls in love with a 28-year-old woman, Alana. While young, Gary is a go-getter and entrepreneur, who’s taken some money earned from a few acting gigs to start several businesses whenever he sees an opportunity to get rich quick. Alana is the opposite: at 28, she doesn’t have a goal in life and is aimless. Despite her age and the restrictions of societal norms, she can’t help but be attracted to the charismatic Gary. However, despite attraction on both sides, the film mostly takes a meandering path on their relationship, as the two continually attempt to make the other jealous, or to move on to other relationships that never pan out. The movie has one thing going for it: it is a wonderful time capsule to the early 70s period in which it takes place. Other than that, it is a huge bore with only a handful of compelling moments, and unfortunately, it is far too predictable to be enjoyable. ★★

• TV series currently watching: Star Trek Picard (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Back in January I dipped my toes into director Jacques Rivette’s films. I liked a couple very much, but others didn’t do a thing for me. Longtime readers of my blog know I love a good, long film, and Rivette has one of the longest. His Out 1: Noli Me Tangere clocks in at nearly 13 hours long, broken up into 8 feature-length episodes. This film is not for the easily distracted, but if you invest into it, it is an ultimately rewarding experience.

If a 90 minute film takes 20 minutes to introduce the characters and “set the table” so to speak, imagine how long that takes in a 13 hour film? For Out 1, it takes over 3 hours before I started to get a sense of where we were going. Even then, when real plot elements start developing, I mostly came up with more questions than answers. To begin, we are introduced to two theater/acting troupes (one led by a lady named Lili, the other by a man named Thomas), each prepping a performance of different plays by Greek playwright Aeschylus. Each play is very esoteric, full of almost-improved moments, and frankly very out-there takes. Much of the first two episodes are made up of these rehearsals, which seem to have little to do any kind of overarching plot, but, I think, very necessary to getting to know the various characters. If you are paying attention, you really get a sense of the personalities of the various characters (and there are a lot in this film).

Two other characters, not involved in the acting, are also introduced, in short scenes early on, but with bigger roles as the film progresses. Frédérique cons men out of money to get by in her bohemian lifestyle, and Colin plays deaf and dumb to beg money from diners at local cafés. One afternoon though, Colin receives a mysterious letter under his door, referencing published works by Lewis Carroll and Honoré de Balzac; specifically, Colin begins to believe there is a secret group in the city known as “the thirteen” who have some unknown goal in mind. Colin sets out to find this clandestine group. This mystery continues to build through the fourth episode, when Colin believes he has found at least one member of the thirteen, a shopowner named Pauline. As the viewer knows, but Colin does not, there are connections between Pauline and at least one of the actors in the two troupes.

As the film plays out, other connections between various characters are discovered, and subtle mystery is sometimes abandoned for real suspense. For example, a chance encounter between Frédérique and her latest target nets her a pile of old letters, stolen from his armoire. She reads them, and sees they are full of plots to do harm to the city (the man is also a member of the thirteen). When Frédérique contacts a person on the return address of several letters, in an attempt at blackmail for money, it turns out to be Lucie, a lawyer who had previously been in contact with Lili from one of the above acting troupes. Frédérique’s and Lucie’s interaction on a rooftop presents the first very real sense of danger and intrigue to the viewer; Lucie throws some not-so-subtle threats at Frédérique and tells her she is in way over her head, before walking off with the letters without paying.

In the 6th episode, this tightening of circles between the various characters becomes more transparent, and we see there are a whole lot of connecting lines between these dots. I don’t think many will sit down for a 13 hour film, but in case you do, I don’t want to say any more, to ruin some of the great surprises that come in the final 2 episodes.

Ultimately what this long film boils down to is human connection, and the lengths people go to to be “part of the group.” The Thirteen, the two acting troupes, etc., are all just just reasons to get together, to feel a part of something. I enjoyed the journey for the most part, and applaud the scope of the project, even if at times there seemed to be a lot of filler. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Servant (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

Returning today to one of Japan’s greatest directors, Yasujirō Ozu, and specifically, five of his post-World War II films. First up is 1952’s The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. While there is a subplot involving a modern niece wanting to escape the tradition of an arranged marriage and pick her own husband, the main focus of the film revolves around longtime married couple Taeko and her husband Mokichi. Their’s was an arranged marriage, and despite being together for years, they’ve never found common ground. Taeko is a city girl, who likes to hang out with her girlfriends and go to spas, whereas Mokichi, from a country background, likes the quiet and is at peace away from the hustle and bustle. Taeko regularly lies to her husband to go out with her friends, and makes fun of him behind his back, talking about how slow and dim he is. But Mokichi is not an idiot; he may like the slow life, but that doesn’t mean he’s slow, and hopefully, before the end, the couple can talk about their differences and put their longtime simmering animosities to bed. A lovely film, looking at one of Ozu’s favorite topics: the modernizing of Japan’s society and its affect on the family unit. ★★★½

Tokyo Story is often considered one of the finest films ever made. It follows the Hirayama family and shows what can happen to the traditionally tight family unit as Japan continued down the path of western modernization. Shukichi and his wife Tomi are in their 60s and live in a rural community with their youngest daughter Kyoko, who is a school teacher. Their two eldest children, Koichi and Shige, live with their spouses in Tokyo, a day’s journey away. A fourth child died in the war, and his widow, Noriko, also lives in Tokyo and keeps in touch. It has been some years since Shukichi and Tomi saw their adult kids, so they make the trek to visit, perhaps for the last time as they are getting up there in years. They envisioned a warm welcome with kids (and grandkids) happy to see them and spend the week or more together, but their kids have busy lives of their own, and the grandkids are shy, as they don’t know their grandparents. Koichi and Shige keep trying to pass the parents off to someone else to “take care of;” only daughter-in-law Noriko takes time off work to go sight-seeing with the elder couple. When all the travel takes its toll on Tomi, her children can barely make time to see her in her final days. It’s a sad film to be sure. You want to dislike the two eldest children for being selfish, but Noriko tells her parents (and the viewer) that this is just the way things are these days, and to forgive them their lives. In typical Ozu leisurely fashion, the film plays out slowly with great import given to every exchange. Very touching movie. ★★★★

Good Morning, released in 1959, is a loose remake of Ozu’s 1932 silent film I Was Born, But… I really liked that movie, but this one didn’t connect with me as much. It’s a pretty loose remake; the two brothers are still present, but the film focuses a lot more on the antics of their parents and neighbors. A comedy (much different than the dramas Ozu is more well-known for), there are lots of funny moments, especially revolving around the rumor mill as the chatty mothers in the neighborhood gossip about each other. The main story about the boys is their temper tantrums in order to get their parents to buy them a television. They go so far as to go on a hunger strike and refuse to talk to adults until they get their way. For a director who is known for sometimes being a bit staid and serious, it was funny to see his characters engage in continuous fart jokes throughout the film. Outside of that though, the overall presentation just didn’t do much for me. I missed the heart of I Was Born, But… and the kids, while amusing, often come off as just spoiled brats. ★★

Floating Weeds is another remake, this time of A Story of Floating Weeds, and this one is a fairly faithful remake. Traveling theater troupe owner Komajuro has brought his group to a tiny seaside town, one that doesn’t seem large enough to give his troupe a good long run of performances, but Komajuro has a reason for coming here: to visit his son, who he hasn’t seen in 12 years. Many years ago Komajuro had an affair with a local girl, Oyoshi, and they had a boy, Kiyoshi. Komajuro didn’t want his son to know that his father was an itinerant actor, so Kiyoshi thinks Komajuro is his uncle, and that his “father” is dead. When Komajuro’s current girlfriend, fellow actor Sumiko, learns of this, she is chased off by Komajuro, who warns her to stay away as his son, a hard working young man with a bright future, is too good for any of them. To prove Komajuro wrong, Sumiko hires a young beauty in the troupe, Kayo, to seduce Kiyoshi. She does not plan on the young couple actually falling in love with each other. At times, a very funny film, but also with Ozu’s trademark heart, love, and loss, and all of it very well acted. ★★★

An Autumn Afternoon ended up being Ozu’s final film, released in 1962 (Ozu died a year later of throat cancer at the age of 60). He probably didn’t mean for it to be his last, but since it is, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness that added to the emotional heft of the movie. Hirayama is an aging man with 3 adult children. His eldest boy, Koichi, is married, but his daughter, Michiko, and younger son, Kazuo, still live at home. Michiko is 24 and, in traditional Japanese culture, should be looking for a husband, but neither she nor Hirayama seems to be in a hurry, despite urgings by Hirayama’s friends. His drinking buddies include coworkers, former war friends, and one man who is teased relentlessly for having a new, young wife the same age as their kids. It isn’t until Hirayama hangs out with an old teacher, and sees that the teacher’s daughter never married and is still living at home as a middle-aged woman, that he decides he needs to finally see his daughter married. Though Tokyo Story often gets lauded as Ozu’s masterpiece, and it is great, I thought this film was even better. The final scenes, of Hirayama sitting alone at a table at home, juxtaposed with views around the house that feels very empty without Michiko in it, are beautifully delivered. It’s a lovely farewell to one of film’s best. ★★★★★

• TV series currently watching: The Stand (2020 miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

It is so rare that a hyped movie lives up to expectations. As you probably have heard, Top Gun: Maverick is one of those rare breeds. Who knew that a sequel released 35 years after the original would actually be good? And not only good, but I think, in many ways, it surpasses the first film.

Despite all the time that has gone by between films, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is still just a captain in the navy. As one superior early on in the movie quips to him, if it weren’t for his attitude and lack of respect for his commanders, Maverick should be an admiral or at least a senator by now, but instead he is barely scraping by. The only reason he hasn’t been kicked out long ago is that his old friend Iceman (Val Kilmer) did play by the rules and rose in the ranks, and continues to use his sway to keep a job open for Maverick. It is in this setting that a job suited for Maverick’s special talents opens up.

An unnamed foreign adversary is enriching uranium for future weapons, and the USA needs to put a stop to that. Unfortunately the underground base where the work is being done is heavily guarded by both ground and air. It is going to take a suicide mission by some of Top Gun’s best of all time to even have a whisper of a chance to take out the base, much less make it back alive. Maverick is brought in to teach the best of the best and make them even better. Unfortunately for Mav, his old buddy Goose’s son, Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw, is in the class. Rooster has never forgiven Maverick for getting his dad killed, even though it is known that the event was not Maverick’s fault. It is up to Maverick to keep his personal feelings bottled up and teach this class how to complete the mission, even when his own superiors have their doubts.

This movie is the complete, total package. The action scenes are spectacular, and there are a lot of them. I think they spend more time in the cockpits than the first film, and all of it is edge-of-your-seat thrills. But there’s a lot of heart too, with Maverick needing to find personal redemption with Rooster. Lot’s of touching moments involving the two of them, a love interest for Maverick, and his longtime friendship with Iceman. It doesn’t get any better than this. And it deserves to be seen on the big screen. You will not regret it! ★★★★★