Yasujirō Ozu is a highly recognized director who, for my tastes, has had more average films than great ones. I’m beginning with one of his from the silent era, A Story of Floating Weeds. When most people hear “silent film” they think slapstick comedy, and there is a lot of that in this genre, since the visual gags can help carry the picture, but this particular film has a lot of heart too. It is about a traveling acting troupe who comes to a tiny town for a set of performances. The shows start off rocky and get worse when rains settle in, forcing low crowds and cancellations, but that is fine with the head of the group, Kihachi. He’s got other business in the town too: visiting his old mistress and seeing his son, who is now all grown up. The boy, Shinkichi, doesn’t know Kihachi is his father, only thinking him as a kind uncle who would visit every few years. Kihachi visiting his old flame makes his current mistress, a fellow actress, jealous, and she gets a younger member of the troupe to flirt with Shinkichi for some revenge. All plays out well in the end, though Kihachi does need to come clean for healing to begin. A fine film, and one that Ozu remade 25 years later, one that I’ll visit at some point in the future. ★★★½

Moving on to “talkies” with some Ozu films from the later 30s through the 50s. The Only Son was his first sound film, released in 1936. In a rural town, a young boy, Ryosuke, shows promise in grade school, but his single mother wasn’t planning on sending him on to middle school, as she just doesn’t have the money. His elementary teacher visits though, and persuades her to do so, as Ryosuke’s future will be a lot brighter with higher education. She vows to work hard so that Ryosuke can go to school in Tokyo. When we see them next, he is a grown man and his mother is coming to visit him in Tokyo for the first time. She’s struggled her whole life, but fulfilled her vow. When she gets to Tokyo, she finds that Ryosuke’s life has not been easy, despite his education. He got married, had a child, and is struggling to pay bills from his low-paying job as a night school teacher. For awhile, Ryosuke and his mom put on airs and try to pretend all is well, but it is obvious that she is disappointed in how his life is turning out, and he is ashamed that he didn’t amount to more. However, we soon learn that monetary success isn’t the only way to measure achievement. Beautiful film, and though it is Ozu’s first talkie, you can immediately see his mastery over both sound and silence, letting scenes breathe and not hurrying through the motions. Its pace may challenge some, but it isn’t a long movie and I loved it. ★★★★

There Was a Father has a very similar plot element to the above film, but this time it is a single father instead of a mother. Shuhei is a teacher raising a boy on his own, but quits teaching when a student accidentally drowns on his watch while on a school trip to a river. Shuhei becomes a laborer to pay for his son’s schooling, and as the years pass, the boy, Ryohei, goes to high school and then college, becoming a teacher himself. Like the above film, the two family members spend their entire lives apart; Shuhei works hard and never misses a day, only making the train trip to see his son here and there. Released in 1942, this sense of “doing your best for the greater good, even to the detriment of personal relationships” was applauded during Japan’s war times. Maybe because it was too similar in feel to The Only Son, which I’d just viewed, or perhaps it just wasn’t as good, but I wasn’t feeling it. ★★½

It’s very odd how some of these Ozu films just resonate with me. Such is the case with Late Spring, a quiet film (aren’t all Ozu movies?) about a single father, Shukichi, who raises a daughter, Noriko, to adulthood. She’s 27, and while their neighbors and friends all agree she should be married by now, Noriku has no desire to do so. She adores her father and wishes to stay in his household forever. With urging from an aunt (with a huge matchmaker syndrome), Shukichi devises a plan to get Noriku hitched: he tells her that he would like to remarry, but that he can’t do so with his daughter living under his roof. She takes the news hard, but wants to please her father and ultimately see him happy, so she agrees to find a man. Long, thoughtful takes, lovely scenes, and sharp dialogue all contribute to a joyful, moving experience. There’s also some sharp humor that often came out of nowhere, which was a pleasant surprise. Like I’ve said before, Ozu’s pacing may test some (and even me at times, despite my patience when it comes to movies), but this one’s a good one. ★★★★½

Much like two of the above films are similar, so too are Late Spring and Early Summer. This one also revolves around an unmarried daughter, with the same actress (Setsuko Hara) playing a character of the same name, Noriko. The 28-year-old Noriko has a loving family and an extended set of friends, some married and some single, and they all tease each other. Her parents though are done teasing: they want to see her married. They start to set her up with a single, never-married man, but they wonder if his age (40) will turn her off. Meanwhile, Noriko may find love in an old friendship, a person she never considered before. There are some truly great moments in this film; touching scenes that will move you as only the great films can. However, there are also some silly moments, attempts at brevity provided by various family members (but usually involving the two youngest boys), that come off as distracting and unneeded. I would have preferred to trim the fat and make a more direct family drama. It would have been more of a tear-jerker and a better piece on the whole. ★★★

• TV series currently watching: Top of the Lake (season 1)
• Book currently reading: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Asia is a very nice little film out of Israel, focusing on a mother-daughter relationship. Victoria, Vika to her friends and family, is a 16- or 17-year-old girl with a wild streak. She is being raised by her single mother Asia, who also likes to party. Asia had Vika when she was very young and is still in her mid-30s herself. She’s a loving mom, and works hard as a nurse, but is maybe a bit too loose in her parenting, oftentimes taking the path of “friend” instead of “parent.” Vika likes to skateboard but has been having a hard time with her balance lately. When Asia takes her to the doctor, they receive the heard-rending diagnosis of ALS. The doc says Vika could still life years, but unfortunately the disease hits quickly, and it isn’t long before she is confined to a wheelchair. Wonderful acting from both women, and a great story about love, care, and growing up, and not just from the teenager. ★★★

The Lost Daughter (actress Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut) stars Olivia Colman as Leda, a middle-aged woman on vacation in Greece. She’s there alone and looking to have a relaxing working vacation (she’s a college professor and well respected in her field for her research), but those plans go awry when the beach resort she frequents is bombarded by a large and rambunctious local family. The curious and nosy Leda focuses most on Nina (Dakota Johnson), a young mother who seems to have little patience for her daughter. The little girl’s doll goes missing, throwing the whole family in a tizzy, but it was Leda who took the doll, because it reminded her of her own little girls. We start to see flashbacks of a younger Leda raising two girls, and Leda too was often very distracted and uncaring towards the girls, only playing with them with it was convenient for herself. The full picture of Leda’s life plays out over the course of the film, leading to feelings of guilt but also acceptance of who she is as an adult. Strong acting from Colman, Johnson, and Jesse Buckley as the younger Leda, and smaller roles for Ed Harris and Peter Sarsgaard. The acting is the best part of the film, as the story itself is on the weaker side. Leda is a complicated woman, and a self-proclaimed selfish person, and it’s hard to root for selfish people. Much of her anguish is self inflicted. ★★½

Blue Bayou is the latest in a string of films I’ve seen in the last few months to shine a light on the current immigration problems facing our nation. Down near New Orleans, Antonio LeBlanc talks like a country boy, dresses like a country boy, but a look at his face tells you he was born somewhere else. Adopted by American parents and legally brought here from Korea at the age of three, Antonio is married and has a child on the way when he is targeted for deportation. He checks a lot of the boxes that ICE is looking for: he is no longer here legally since he turned 18 and never got a green card, and he is a convicted felon for stealing a motorcycle when he was young and stupid. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t even speak Korean and only knows America as home, nor that his adoption was legal and that he is married now with a family, the government wants him gone. As he gets a lawyer and tries to fight the system, Antonio once again turns to crime to try to come up with the funds to support his case. At the same time, his wife is dealing with an ex-husband who did something wrong in the past but who is trying to make amends so he can see his daughter more, a daughter who only knows Antonio as dad. Lots to unpack there, and it is a solid film with great performances from Justin Chon (who also wrote and directed, this being his followup to 2017’s standout Gook) and Alicia Vikander. A couple knocks against the film are it sometimes tries too hard to tug at the heartstrings, when the story itself does a good enough job on its own, and from a production standpoint, there are way too many hairs in the gate on different scenes. Pretty tough to forgive this in this day and age; I’ve seen less hairs in films from the 30s. Ever heard of check the gate? Minor quibble, but it was distracting. Still, its an eye-opening piece about a problem facing a lot of young adults who didn’t even know they weren’t here legally after being adopted as children. ★★★½

Disney does it again with Encanto, a charming family film taking place in South America. The Madrigal family was saved by a miracle 2 generations ago, when a young wife with three newborn babes fled death and destruction in their previous village. While the husband sacrificed himself so his family could escape, the rest of the family made it out safely and started a new village in the mountains. A magic house named the Encanto sprang from the earth, and since then, every new child born into the family has had some magical gift. One has enormous strength, one can control the weather, one can shape change, and so on. That is, until Mirabel. At her coming-of-age party, she did not receive a gift, and now, 10 years later, she’s the only young woman in the family without a magical gift. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else is happy instead of her. The family is cracking at its seams, and so if the magical house that has blessed them all these years. Mirabel takes it upon herself to find out why, and hopefully make things right before the magic in the village disappears. It’s from Disney, so you can expect plenty of bright, beautiful colors, and the movie delivers. It is also extremely funny for all ages. The only knock maybe is the soundtrack, which does have a couple standouts, but seemed a bit weak as a whole, with less catchy, memorable tunes than what they typically deliver. Still, very fun film with a high rewatchability factor. ★★★★

The Dry is an Australian film starring Eric Bana (who gets to use his native accent; usually we see him mask it in Hollywood films). He plays a federal agent named Aaron who leaves the big city to return to the tiny town of his birth after his childhood best friend, Luke, murdered his wife and son before killing himself. After the funeral, Luke’s parents approach Aaron about investing the murder-suicide, as they simply cannot believe Luke would have done this terrible deed. Aaron goes around town asking questions, meets up with an old flame, and starts unearthing secrets long kept buried. In flashbacks, we see Aaron’s teenage years in the town, and the mysterious circumstances that led to the death of a girl back then too. In that death, it seems Aaron gave Luke an alibi, but the town didn’t really believe it, and there are people still who don’t want to see Aaron poking around in the present. This film has the feel of a classic mystery drama, light on thrills but heavy on riddles. The clear picture of both the present and past crimes doesn’t open up until the very end, and it is a fun ride to get there. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Wakefield (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

One Sings the Other Doesn’t is a not-so-subtle feminist film about a friendship between two women during the women’s rights movement in France of the 1960s-70s. When the film begins, Pauline is a teenager who is ready to unshackle herself from her parents. While roaming stores one day, she wanders into a photographer’s shop and recognizes an old neighbor amongst the photos. Turns out the girl, Suzanne, is the photographer’s mistress. Kicked out by her parents when she got pregnant as a teen, she now has a second kid with this man and has a third on the way. When Suzanne and Pauline get together to reminisce, Suzanne admits she is scared to death to have the third baby, as she is dirt poor as it is, and her man will never leave his wife for her. Pauline begs money from her parents and gives it to Suzanne to get an abortion. 10 years go by before they meet again, and they’ve individually grown up to be staunch supporters of woman’s rights, going to rallies not much different than are still being held today, with chants of “my body my choice,” etc. Pauline, who now goes by the name Apple (Pomme in French), followed her childhood dream and sings in an avant-garde sort of group, always about furthering women’s causes. The two continue to stay in touch over the rest of the film, even when one travels far away. The movie is very well shot, but a bit too political for my tastes. I’d rather a filmmaker not be coy and just say what it is (à la Goddard’s political films) that try to pretend there’s a story there when there really isn’t. ★★

Vagabond is light years better. Released in 1985, it follows a young woman who has clearly chosen a homeless lifestyle. The movie begins with her dead body being found by a passerby, and then backtracks to see her final weeks up to that point. A road movie without a road, this film follows Mona around the area as she bounces from place to place. Sometimes she finds an abandoned house, sometimes she’ll sleep with a man to get a bed or couch on a cold night, but more often she’ll pitch a tent in some field somewhere. It’s a dangerous life, and she faces all kinds of hazards on the way, but the film is clear: this is her choice. When Mona finds the occasional kind person who doesn’t want something in return, she’ll tell them what she left behind: a job and the probability of a secure future. But she didn’t want that, she wanted to be free. The blue collar worker in me wants to see Mona as nothing but the dregs of society, as she scoffs at work, even turning down a longterm, safe place to stay when it means she’ll have to work the farm, but you can’t help but cheer her decision to live her life her way. The story is told several ways: we see Mona move about and interact with others, but we also have intermittent interviews by police with those she ran into, and sometimes people will even break the fourth wall in mid-scene and tell the viewer their thoughts on Mona at the time. Knowing the end she meets is a harsh thought throughout. It’s a brilliant film, which leaves a lasting image. ★★★★★

Jacquot de Nantes is part drama, part documentary, about the young life of Agnes Varda’s husband, Jacques Demy. As he neared death in 1990 (at the time they said it was cancer, years later Varda admitted it was AIDS), Demy was telling stories of his childhood and Varda said it would make a good movie. As he was too weak to make it, he got Varda to do it instead. The film plays out as a love story, with scenes showing him as a little boy up through high school, as he fell in love with cinema, started making his own small films in the attic of his house, and so on, all against the backdrop of World War II in his French town of Nantes. Much of the film is shown in black and white, but in scenes that were particularly inspiring to the young Jacquot, they were shown in color, and often we’d get the corresponding scene from the films he made as an adult. For example, when his aunt visits the family and talks about her love of gambling, we see a short scene from Demy’s film Bay of Angels, showing Jeanne Moreau gambling away. Interspersed throughout are interviews of present-day Demy, discussing various moments that we are seeing on camera. A wonderful ode and send-off to Varda’s husband; he died 10 days after shooting wrapped and never saw the final product. ★★★½

If Jacquot de Nantes is a love story to Varda’s husband, One Hundred and One Nights is a love story to her passion of film. The premise is that of an aging film star with the congruous name of Simon Cinema (played by Michel Piccoli) who, nearing his 100th birthday, hires a young beautiful film student named Camille (Julie Gayet) to spend a couple hours a day just talking film, to keep his mind fresh. The overall plot of the film involves Cinema’s vast estate without an heir, and Camille’s idea to “bring back” his long-lost grandson Vincent (setting up on imposter to play the part) in order to get access to Cinema’s money to fund her filmmaker boyfriend’s films. That’s the comedic aspect of the movie, and it’s a bit zany, but the truly great part of this movie is the discussion of great films. Cinema (the person) and Camille love film and reference it non-stop. Along the way, they are visited by a who’s who of European cinema stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Amiée, Alain Delon, Jeanne Moreau, Hanna Schygulla, Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Catherine Deneuve, and many more, and even some cameos for American viewers (Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him Clint Eastwood). As the stories fly, we see clips of so many great films from the 30’s to present. If I had seen this movie 5 years ago, before I really got into classic films and especially European classics, all of it would have gone over my head, but now, though I’ve maybe seen only half the films they talk about or show, at least I’m familiar with all the directors and actors they share stories about. Based on the story of this movie, it’s nothing special, but all of the actors in it, all the behind-the-scene stories, the totality of it all makes this an irresistible and engrossing picture. ★★★★

• TV series currently watching: Stargirl (season 2)
• Book currently reading: Boundless by RA Salvatore

Swan Song (a much different one) takes place in the near future, and stars Mahershala Ali as Cameron, a dying husband and father, who has kept his condition from his family. His wife Poppy is only recently getting over a 2 year depression after the death of her twin brother, and Cameron doesn’t want to send her back down that spiral. Instead, Cameron has turned to a controversial new science that will replace him with an exact clone, a “new” Cameron who will be a physical copy with all of his memories, who can step into his role without his family or job knowing any difference (no one will be made aware of the swap; even the new Cameron will think he is the real thing). Cameron is hesitant to do it, but as his condition gets worse, and Poppy announces she is pregnant again, he decides to have it done. However, when he comes face to face with himself, he can’t help but feel jealous that this man, even if it just a new Cameron, will be sleeping with his wife, raising their kids, etc. It’s a sci-fi movie with a lot of introspection, and gave off an Ex Machina kind of vibe. Excellent cast too, with Ali, Naomie Harris, Glenn Close, and Awkwafina, as another terminal patient who previously went through the process. ★★★½

The Last Duel is a much better movie than that other Ridley Scott film of 2021. Based on a true story, it is the tale of a woman, Marguerite de Carrouges, who was raped in the 14th century. She accuses Jacques Le Gris, a former friend of her husband Jean de Carrouges, but he denies the charges. To let God show who is right, Jean challenges Jacques to a public duel. It sounds cut and dry, but the film is anything but. The movie is split up into three parts. Chapter One is “The Truth According to Jean de Carrouges,” and begins with battles shared by he and Jacques, and what lead to the deterioration of their friendship. Jean is painted as a hard but fair man, who has little patience for the court but has supreme faith in his king and country. Chapter Two is Jacques Le Gris’s truth, and of course much of the blame of their failing friendship is laid on Jean. Even in his own truth, Jacques is not painted as a good man. The final chapter is of course the one truth who matters most: Marguerite’s. In each chapter, the unfolding of the rape and its ramifications are very different. The film can’t help but be a little repetitious, since you see some events three times (albeit from different perspectives), but the director does a good job of only revisiting key moments that paint the picture as a whole. I have no idea how accurate the actual story is, but some of the details, especially how women were treated and how voiceless they were, should be enraging to all modern viewers. ★★★★

Two good movies, unfortunately followed by a couple duds. The Card Counter has a strong cast including Oscar Isaac and Tye Sheridan (and a completely miscast Tiffany Haddish; I’m sorry, she’s just not good in serious roles) and focuses around a man with the not-so-subtle name of William Tell. Tell is a former soldier who went to military jail for his role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner torture scandal. A very smart man, he taught himself how to count cards in jail, and is now a gambler. He mostly sticks to himself until he crosses paths with a young man named Cirk. Cirk’s father was in Tell’s unit, but the father was unable to escape his demons after his own release from jail. He ultimately killed himself, and Cirk is out to get revenge on the private contractor who trained Tell and Cirk’s father in those torture techniques, but who got off scott free when the scandal broke. Tell decides to try to raise money in his gambling to help Cirk set his life straight and convince him to give up on his vendetta. I don’t mind a slow movie as long as something comes of it. Nothing does in this one. I think it is trying to deliver some deep introspective thoughts but it went over my head. Great acting from Isaac, and there’s a strong sense of trepidation pervading in the first half of the film, but it doesn’t lead to anything. ★½

I don’t give up on many movies, but I had to turn off Holler about 40 minutes in. It’s about a small-town girl and her brother struggling to get by on their own. Raising themselves while their mom is in jail, Ruth and Blaze only have each other. Ruth is smart but college seems like a pipe dream until her brother secretly mails in an application for her, and she is accepted. But in a house where they are facing eviction and all the utilities have already been shut off, they have no money to send her. So they team up on a scrap metal crew, working for a man who has no problems breaking into vacant buildings to gut. Again, I don’t know how it turned out, but honestly I don’t care. I don’t know if the no-name actors are really bad, or if it is just the terrible script and dialogue, but the lines are delivered so woodenly that it felt like a bad school play. No investment in the characters, and I have a hard time rooting for people who do stupid shit and use the excuse “I’m poor.” ½

During a large portion of Small Engine Repair, and I’m talking nearly an hour of its 103 minute runtime, I was wondering if it was going anywhere at all. The setting is thus: a trio of life-long friends from working class New Hampshire have been through all of life’s ups and downs together, and there have been a lot more downs. Frankie spent some time in jail, while his wife ran around on him, leaving their daughter Crystal to be looked after by Frankie’s buddies Terry and Packie. The three of them have been friends since grade school, and have the stereotypical rough-and-tumble attitudes of the blue collar class. This gets them in a bar fight one night, and they storm off mad at each other. Three months later, Frankie lures the two to his workshop one afternoon, ostensibly for drinking and hanging out, to make up, but Frankie has a more sinister motive, and he’ll need his friends more than ever to bring his plans to fruition. The payoff isn’t worth all the set up it takes to get there, but it isn’t a terrible movie. Jon Bernthal plays Terry and he’s perfect for roles like this. Unfortunately as a whole though, it’s not the kind of movie that you’ll remember when it’s over. ★★

• TV series currently watching: The Doom Patrol (season 3)
• Book currently reading: Boundless by RA Salvatore

I recently got a bug to visit more films from the Merchant Ivory team, from the late 80s and early 90s. At this time, the production company was churning out films, and while James Ivory had directed the vast majority of this team’s movies to this point, they now turned to others for a few productions. Based on a book producer Ismail Merchant had previously read, The Deceivers was directed by Nicholas Meyer and stars a young pre-Bond Pierce Brosnan. Supposedly based on a true story, it takes place in 1825 in India, and is about the uncovering of a local cult who has been robbing and murdering for years. Captain William Savage is a young idealist officer in the East India Company who will not ignore what is going on around him, even when ordered to do so. He goes undercover to join the cult, and ends up doing some awful thing while with them, before he is able to bring them down in the end. The movie is a lot like your typical 80s cop films, albeit in a much different setting obviously. The film received fairly poor reviews when it came out in 1988, but honestly I didn’t think it was horrible. The story isn’t new, but there’s good action, well developed characters, and I was wrapped up in the telling of the tale. What more could you ask? ★★½

The Perfect Murder was released the same year. Directed by Zafar Hai and starring a young Stellan Skarsgård (in only his second English language film I believe), this one is sort of a comedy murder whodunit. You know you are in for some cheesy jokes right from the beginning when “perfect murder” isn’t a murder at all, but an attack, and “perfect” applies only because the victim’s name is Mr Perfect. Perfect is a rich man’s secretary, and the wealthy boss is all over the police to find who attacked his man (and he insists in calling it a murder, since that was obviously the intent). The local police in India bring in a crime forensics expert from Sweden, and supposed hilarity ensues. Supposed because you won’t laugh as much as they want you do. Lots of dad jokes and a mildly interesting murder plot can only take you so far. ★★

James Ivory came back to direct Mr & Mrs Bridge, and with him (and an all-star cast), they righted this ship for me. This is a wonderful portrait of a family in upper middle class Kansas City in the 1930s and 40s. Walter Gene Bridge is a rags to riches lawyer, who came from a humble background to build a successful firm. He’s been married for all of his adult life to India Bridge, and together, they’ve raised 2 daughters and a son. Though they didn’t come from money, the parents share old school values, which are at odds with their increasingly worldly kids, especially the wild eldest daughter. Between the parents is a bit of a rift as well; Walter is all business all the time, and India, as she sees her kids falling in love, and friends sharing tales of love and life, she realizes that her and Walter have little romance in their life anymore. This isn’t a hard-hitting film; it is a subtle piece about changing times, changing relationships, and the changing of the individual. The two leads are Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, with supporting roles from Kyra Sedgwick, Simon Callow, Blythe Danner, and Robert Sean Leonard, one year removed from his breakout role in Dead Poets Society. Newman and, in particular, Woodward shine, as you’d expect. ★★★★

Fresh off acting in the above film, Simon Callow took the director’s chair for The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, which remains his only directed film to this day. The film stars Vanessa Redgrave as Miss Amelia, a country girl who runs an empty cafe in a tiny town in Georgia. She makes moonshine outside the town where no one can see her operation, and brings it in to sell to workers at the end of the day, which seems to be her only source of income. Amelia is despondent about her life until Lymon shows up. Lymon is a stunted man with a hunchback, and claims to be a distant relation. Despite his physical impairments, he is full of energy and always cheery, and his relentless energy naturally buoys Amelia and makes him popular to the townsfolk. He gets her to clean up the cafe and start serving booze by the glass, as well as food for families. It becomes an instant success. This newfound boon is put in danger when Amelia’s no-good ex-husband (Keith Carradine), who’s been away serving time in jail, shows up wanting to put Amelia in her place, after she mistreated him during their short time together. The movie has some quirky, funny moments in the first half or so, but is otherwise a hot mess. Some weird twists and turns, and you never get any kind of idea of what makes the three main characters tick. The finale is a clusterfuck that makes absolutely no sense. Redgrave gives it her all, but the talent is wasted here. ★½

The Remains of the Day is the most celebrated film out of today’s batch, receiving 8 Oscar nominations when it was released in 1993 (including Best Actor/Actress for Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, best director for Ivory, and Best Picture; many had been nominated/won the previous year for Ivory’s Howards End). The movie takes place in both the late 50s and, in flashbacks, the mid to late 30s. In the former, Mr Stevens is head butler to an American, Jack Lewis, who lives at the vast Darlington Estate. Lewis recently purchased the estate and saved it from the wrecking ball, as the property had been sitting vacant due to a sordid past. The past, as we soon learn, involved the former Lord Darlington, and Stevens original employer. Lord Darlington had some German friends before the war, and went out of his way to broker peace between Germany, France, and England, with many dignitaries from all those countries visiting Darlington. After the war, Darlington was accused of treason, leading to the house’s current predicament. Stevens oversaw everything as the head butler, and he often butted heads with the head housekeeper, Ms Kenton. It is this relationship that is front and center to the film. They clash a lot in the early going when Ms Kenton is hired, but often only because they each have the best intentions over the welfare and upkeep of the estate. In the later timeline, Stevens is on his way to see Kenton, years after she left Darlington, in hopes of bringing her back on board. This is not a film for the average moviegoer, as while on the surface not much happens, the devil is in the details as they say. The wordplay, the glances, and the inner turmoil of our characters are what drives this movie, and it is wonderfully acted by the leads. Ultimately nothing happens as you’d expect, and sometimes those make the most memorable films. ★★★½

• TV series currently watching: Supergirl (season 6)
• Book currently reading: Boundless by RA Salvatore

After the first Sing film was a surprise box office hit in 2016, you had to figure a sequel was inevitable. Usually, this type of film would breed awful followups, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only is it as fun as the first, but in many ways, I enjoyed it more.

The first film took a bunch of misfits and made them stars at the local theater, but theater manager Buster Moon sees bigger things for his cast. He is initially turned down for an audition at a Redshore City (aka Las Vegas) hotel/theater, but Moon isn’t going to let that stop him. He packs up his crew and they take the bus, eventually sneaking up to the audition stage. Just when they are about to be booted out, a member of his troop casually mentions Clay Calloway’s name. Calloway was a huge rock star once upon a time, but hasn’t been seen in public since his wife died 15 years ago. The hotel owner says he will finance their show in 3 weeks if they can keep their promise of producing Calloway on stage. You’d think that would their biggest hurdle, but as in all things showbiz, he may be the lease of Moon’s worries. Getting his crew trained up for the new show, finding a part for the hotel owner’s privileged daughter, and getting through the volatile owner himself are all road blocks to be passed.

This is a true all-family film. There’s jokes for kids and adults alike, and the story is fun and engaging from the opening moments. At the theater where my wife and I saw it, there were young kids laughing and clapping, which was infectious to us older folks too. The story shows good values of working hard to achieve your goals and caring for those around you along the way. Full of catchy songs, great performances, and a very entertaining movie. ★★★★

In our pop culture-influenced society, many think that the popular social influencers have it easy. Sweat shows that it may not always be so. Sylvia is a fitness trainer who has built her brand to a 600k+ following on the various social sites. She has the looks, and her bubbly personality and constant instagram posting keeps her fan base growing. But on the inside, she’s lonely. She sees her friends getting married while she can’t even keep a boyfriend, and she has to deal with stalkers and online trolls. Anything she does or anything she says is poured over. Case in point: she recently made a genuine post where she was upset that she is single, and got emotional, and people called her out, saying she should stick to workout videos. The film stars Polish actress Magdalena Koleśnik in her first leading role, and she is eye-arresting, and not just because she’s a pretty face. The viewer rides the ups and downs of her emotional roller coaster with her. Solid film. ★★★½

Azor is, I guess, a thriller, but it’s the most low-key thriller you’ll ever find. It takes place in the late 70s in Argentina, where the government has just been overthrown by the military, which is cracking down on dissidents while trying to keep everything running. People, and sometimes whole families, are disappearing, while everyone else is trying to go along like nothing has happened. Into this chaotic scene comes Ivan de Wiel, a Swiss banker who’s come to wine and dine Argentina’s wealthy. The bank had previously sent a man named Keys, who has also mysteriously disappeared, and de Wiel is there now to make sure money isn’t lost (not to see what happened to Keys, oddly enough). De Wiel is greeted by soldiers checking ID’s, and the view of a couple young men held at gunpoint just off the street; the viewer thinks they’ll be shot down at any moment. De Wiel starts meeting with various people, trying to gain their business for his bank. Everyone talks about Keys, with either reverence, friendship, or animosity. Keys was either the life of the party or the scum of the earth, depending on who you ask. De Wiel is able to work his way down Key’s left-behind schedule with one exception: a cryptic meeting labeled “Lazaro.” When he attempts to make inquiries as to who or what Lazaro is, de Wiel is met with blank stares, or abrupt changes of subject. Throughout the picture, there is a subtle but growing sense of trepidation. The people de Wiel talks to are rarely forthcoming, leading to a continued sense of mystery. A lot of dialogue (in French and Spanish), but it is a (quietly) wild ride. ★★★★

I did not get Ghost Tropic at all. The whole plot of the film is a 50-something woman, a cleaner, falls asleep on the subway ride home after getting off from the late shift, and sleeps past her stop, only waking at the end of the line. It being late at night, the subway won’t run anymore, and she has no cash to call a cab. She sets out for the long overnight walk back to her home. The film is her encounters along the way. She finds a homeless man freezing to death and calls emergency services. She gets a cup of hot tea from a kind convenience store clerk just before closing. She visits a home she used to clean years before. That’s it. Maybe the film is about being kind to your neighbors, but if so, it was a bit too obtuse to nail it down for me. I don’t mind a slow movie (see above), but this one brings crawling to a whole new level. ★½

Holy cow is Prayers for the Stolen a great film. It follows three girls in Mexico, best friends, as they navigate the terrors brought to their rural village. The men of the village work either work in the dangerous mines on the other side of the mountain, or in the USA, and while they are supposed to be sending money home, few do. This leaves the women and children to make do as well as they can, which often means working for the local drug cartel. The “safe” job is harvesting morphine in the poppy fields, because as a worker there, they have a level of protection from the cartel when they come to the village to do a different kind of harvesting: looking for young women to sell into human trafficking. As young girls, the film’s protagonists are unaware of the evils around them, and their questions to their parents go unanswered. When two of them have their hair cut short, they are told it is because they have lice, but we all know it is so they look like boys. The girls are jealous of the third friend who is allowed to keep her long hair; little do they know that it is because, with her cleft pallet, her parents aren’t worried about her getting carried off in a raid (when she later gets the defect corrected by visiting doctors, she gets her hair chopped off right away). After awhile, the film fasts forward a couple years, to when the girls are now young teens, and the short hair will no longer hide their developing bodies. A scary, harsh, and eye-opening film about the evil in our world, with really strong acting from the young cast, and beautifully shot and wonderfully told. ★★★★½

The Hand of God is another great one for those with patience. It takes place in Naples in the 1980s, and is a coming-of-age film about a teen named Fabietto. He’s shy and withdrawn, with no friends, so spends his days and nights with his family, who are plenty of fun actually. Fabietto’s big passion is soccer, and the talk of the town is whether Napoli can land big star Diego Maradona. The first half of the film features plenty of laughs from Fabietto’s large extended family, full of interesting characters. There’s the aunt who sits alone mouthing obscenities whenever someone checks on her, another aunt who suffers from mental illness and keeps taking her clothes off in front of everyone (much to the chagrin of Fabietto and his raging hormones), or Fabietto’s own sister, who is never seen on camera because of the running joke (to the audience) that she’s always in the bathroom. Fabietto’s mom delights in playing pranks on people, and no one is off limits; there’s no limit to what she’ll do for a laugh either. Into this joyous setting comes tragedy, which rocks Fabietto to the core. The viewer feels this blow just as deeply, because by the time it comes, I was was really invested in this characters and felt I knew them all well. Masterfully told and gorgeous shot along the Italian coast, this is a fantastic film-lovers kind of movie. ★★★★★

• TV series currently watching: Hawkeye (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Boundless by RA Salvatore

Call it a reboot, call it a sequel, whatever you want to name it, The Matrix Resurrections is the newest film in the series, after an 18-year break. I don’t know why the filmmakers and actors were so coy about labeling it, but after seeing it, it is most definitely a sequel, and one that plays best to fans of the original films, and maybe playing to those fans a bit too hard.

As you’ve probably seen in the previews, Thomas Anderson is back inside the Matrix. We don’t know why, he doesn’t know why, and learning those answers is obviously one of the goals of the film. In typical Matrix-y fashion, the movie is most fun if you don’t try to second guess everything, ponder over every little plot hole or annoyance, and just go with it. There’s plenty of action, and while a lot of the stunts that made the first film so unique have now been used a million times, director Lana Wachowski and her team have cooked up a few new surprises that play well.

Unfortunately some of those surprises are about all you can expect. There’s no big “ah-ha!” moment in this movie like there was in the first, and in tone it feels more like the second and third movies, for better or worse. Much of the movie rehashes the prior three movies, which I don’t get, as no one who watches this will be going into it blind. The movie is really a love story between Neo and Trinity, wrapped up in an action film, but it never does a good job of explaining why. The first movie was just so groundbreaking, and had such a great feeling of “us vs them,” and this newest sequel is lacking that. Still, there were some amazing moments, some touching ones, and it wasn’t a total letdown. I just wanted to be blown away, and I wasn’t. ★★★½

Don’t worry, this’ll be spoiler free. If you haven’t seen it yet, and managed to avoid the major spoilers (as I was, thankfully), you’ll enjoy this ride a whole lot more.

No Way Home is the latest, and until (if?) a new deal is reached between Sony and Marvel Studios, final Spider-Man film in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. If it is the last, at least they went out with a bang. Although seeing’s how it is raking in the dough, I can’t see how they would let this cash cow go.

Anyway, it picks up right where the last Spider-Man film ended. With his dying breath, Mysterio has just outed Peter Parker as Spider-Man to the world. If it was just the news helicopters outside Aunt May’s apartment and the constant looks at school, Peter could deal with it, but unfortunately the news is hurting his friends too, namely his best friend Ned and girlfriend MJ. Their lives are thrown in turmoil too, and even get denied to their college choices because of the controversy surrounding Peter, and what they knew or didn’t know beforehand. Peter can’t live with this, and he goes to Doctor Strange for help. Strange submits an idea: if the world forgets that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, then Peter’s friends will be OK. However, Peter interrupts the spell when he realizes that this would also mean that the friends themselves would forget. His meddling causes the spell to have some serious side effects.

If you’ve seen any trailer, none of this is new to you. And neither is the appearance of a couple villains from Spider-Man films of the past. The most-shown trailer focused on Otto Octavius, the bad guy in the second Tobey Maguire film. Others were hinted at, but I’m not spoiling anything here. All I will say is this movie shattered all my expectations. You can’t think big enough; whatever you think you can imagine, they up the ante from there. As such, it’s a fantastic point of entry for a lot of moviegoers. Saw the first trilogy of Spider-Man films from the early-mid 2000’s? Come on in! Missed those, but saw the “Amazing” duo of movies from the early 10’s? There’s something for you here too! Or even if you saw none of those, this movie stands on its own. Obviously if you’re a big nerd and seen them all, there’s Easter eggs a’plenty for you, but they aren’t necessary to enjoy this one.

And enjoy it I did. It hits on all cylinders: huge action, the extremes of all emotions (including plenty of laughs!), and lots of heart. If you regularly read my blog, you know I can geek out over these movies sometimes, but this one does not disappoint. I think you can go in completely blind, and while you won’t be in on all the inside jokes, you’ll still have a great time. Tomorrow night: Matrix 4. As far as sequels go, it has a high bar to meet. ★★★★★

My first experience with Japanese director Kon Ichikawa was The Burmese Harp, which is an incredibly moving film. Wanting to explore more of his oeuvre, I’m looking at five more of his pictures today, and he’s got plenty to choose from: his career spanned 70 years. First up is 1959’s Fires on the Plain. It focuses on a Japanese soldier, Tamura, in the waning days of Japan’s loss in World War II. In the Philippines, Japan has suffered huge losses, and Tamura and his fellows have pretty much stopped fighting, and are now just trying to survive. Cast out of his unit because he has tuberculosis, Tamura heads off across the countryside in search of a rumored port city where soldiers are being evacuated off the island, but his journey there is fraught with peril, and not just from American soldiers and local guerrilla fighters. Tamura faces off against starvation, insanity, and even his fellow countrymen in his trek across a war-blasted countryside. It’s about as bleak of a movie as you’ll see, and I was enraptured through all of it. ★★★★½

Ichikawa moved to the family drama genre with 1960’s Her Brother. The “her” in the title is Gen, a young woman who is forced to run the household due to an uninvolved father and a rheumatic (and not very pleasant) stepmother. Gen cooks and cleans, and looks after younger brother Hekiro, who is the family’s problem child. Hekiro is always getting into trouble, and his antics have progressed to the point of damaging others’ property, getting kicked out of school, etc. Their dad indulges him, throwing money at the problems as a solution, and the stepmom just throws her hands up at the whole thing; only Gen tries to really guide him. But you have to want to help yourself. When Hekiro gets really sick, Gen visits his sickbed daily, and tries to raise his spirits, putting off her own life, even while the stepmother urges her to find a husband while she’s still young. The movie gazes upon a lot of subjects of early 20th century Japan, such as a modernizing family unit, changing stereotypes, and other things, but seems to lack focus on any one theme. I felt little sympathy for Hekiro after the pain he caused, and Gen never did the one thing I wanted her to do: leave his ass behind. ★½

An Actor’s Revenge, from 1963, is a daring film much different than the two above pictures. Taking place in the 19th century, it is about a man, Yukitaro, who is a successful stage actor in kabuki theater, portraying a woman. As was the custom at the time, Yukitaro continues to dress and speak like a woman, even off stage. His androgynous look catches the eyes of women (and men too, though the director plays that a bit lightly due to sensors, I’m sure), and Yukitaro uses that to his advantage, because he has a secret and a life-long goal: he is out for revenge. When he was 7 years old, a trio of wealthy and powerful men did something to cause his parents to go mad and commit suicide. Now grown and under a stage name, Yukitaro seeks vengeance on those men, but he doesn’t just want to kill them. He wants them to suffer as he did. The film is put together like the plays Yukitaro performs, with obvious sets and Yukitaro himself often providing narration to the viewer, sometimes in mid-scene (further narration is provided by a local Robin Hood-type thief named Yamitaro, portrayed by the same actor). This blend of stage and outside-the-room discourse is very different than we’re used to seeing in a film, and is done so well that you just have to see it to enjoy it. The play-within-a-play style brought to me thoughts of another similarly done film, Keisuke Kinoshita’s The Ballad of Narayama, and I loved that one too. Yukitaro’s final revenge is classic cinema. ★★★★★

Jumping ahead a couple decades to 1983’s The Makioka Sisters, based on a famous Japanese novel. The quartet of sisters are from a wealthy family with a storied name. Eldest Tsuruko and second sister Sachiko are married, so up next is the third sister, Yukiko, and the youngest, Taeko, will marry last. But the family has been fighting a scandal for the last few years, making finding Yukiko a quality husband troublesome. The willful young Taeko tried to run away with a boy, and because of the Makioka name, it made the papers. However, the local paper inadvertently printed Yukiko’s name instead of Taeko at the time, and Tsuruko’s husband made it worse when he tried to get them to print a redaction. The whole ordeal, and its fallout, has left bitter feelings inside the family. Adding to this, Taeko hasn’t turned into a meek woman as she’s gotten older; she wants to get her hands on the dowry left for her marriage so as to build a business, for the freedom that her own funds will give her. As the film progresses, we see suitor after suitor fail Yukiko’s expectations, and a parade of men try to wrestle Taeko out of the household. There’s some inner family drama involving the elder sisters’ husbands as well, often hinted of their feelings for the younger girls, though never explicitly stated. The film moves along at a stately pace, and it reminded me of some of the classic Merchant Ivory films (I may need to visit some more of those soon). A decent enough film, though its pace tested my patience. ★★★

Princess from the Moon is a silly movie, which is exactly what the title says it is. I thought I’d be up for a little sci-fi/fantasy for a change of pace, but this movie is awful. An aging bamboo cutter (Toshiro Mofune) and his wife have just lost their 5 year old daughter Kaya to sickness when the man finds a baby in the woods. The child is housed inside a golden cocoon, and within minutes of finding it, the baby grows 5 years and looks the spitting image of his lost child. He brings her home to an ecstatic wife, and they decide to raise her as Kaya. Her growth spurt doesn’t end there: a few days later she looks like a grown woman, and is the most beautiful in the country. The man sells the golden carriage Kaya was found in, and with their new wealth, the family builds a lavish home, attracting the attention of nearby nobility. Whey they see Kaya, they stumble over themselves asking for her hand in marriage. To find the right person, Kaya presents three men with impossible quests, missions to hunt down mythical items to present to her as gifts. But as the full moon approaches, her real people are calling her home. Silly sci-fi film typical of the 80s fascination with the space drama (spoiler: the spaceship at the end of the film is awfully reminiscent of Close Encounters…). ★

• TV series currently watching: Maid (miniseries)
• Book currently reading: Boundless by RA Salvatore