Reviews for November 15th, 2024
All We Imagine as Light centers on three women in Mumbai: Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), roommates who work at the same hospital, and Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), an elderly woman who works as a cook at the hospital and faces eviction. Anu comes from a Hindu family, so she's reluctant to introduce her Muslim boyfriend to them. Prabha, who's married, deals with a doctor who flirt with her. Writer/director Payal Kapadia has woven a slice-of-life drama that's understated and gently moving without any schmaltz or heavy-handedness. Occasionally, the film meanders and feels lethargic with too many static shots of characters staring off into the distance during a long or medium shot. Why not at least show the audience what they're looking at? Why not show their face in a close shot so that the audience can try to decipher what they're thinking about? A lot remains unsaid throughout the film and there aren't any powerful, emotionally resonating scenes that stand out. Nor does Kapadia include enough levity. The cinematography, though, is exceptional with some shots that add visual poetry and, in turn, become part of the film's substance. The very thin plot moves at a slow pace, so patient audiences will be rewarded the most. At a running time of 1 hour and 55 minutes, All We Imagine as Light opens at Walter Reade Theater and Film Forum via Sideshow and Janus Films.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes is an illuminating, well-edited and fascinating documentary biopic about legendary actor Humphrey Bogart. Director Kathryn Ferguson combines archival footage, clips from Bogart's films, archival interviews with Lauren Bacall and John Huston, among others who worked with him. Unlike the recent documentary My Name is Alfred Hitchcock, Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes actually uses the words of its subject as the narration (voice of Kerry Shale) which makes it more authentic. To be fair, Ferguson covers a lot of ground and bites off more than she could chew, but the solid editing helps to avoid making it feel overstuffed or exhausting. She follows a linear structure starting with Bogart's childhood to his struggles to become a big star in Hollywood until Casablanca put him on the map to his protests against Hollywood's treatment of filmmakers and actors during the MCarthy era to his battles with cancer. The film also sheds light on his toxic relationships with his three wives, his hot-temperedness and his alcoholism, so it's not a hagiographic documentary like the overrated Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story At an ideal running time of 1 hour and 39 minutes, Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes opens at Quad Cinema via Freestyle Digital Media.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Two INTERPOL agents, Chase (Alex Zhang Hungtai) and No (Esther Garrel), arrive in Mexico to investigate a mysterious death that might have something to do with coral in Dream Team. Co-writers/directors Whitney Horn and Lev Kalman have made a zany and elliptical, but painfully dull experimental film. Very little makes sense as the plot becomes increasingly bizarre and convoluted. If it were witty, campy or funny in some way, it could've been a guilty pleasure. The performances are mediocre at best and the dialogue is often stilted. The stylish visuals aren't enough to invigorate the film, unfortunately, so it begins to lose steam around the 30-minute mark and never recovers. At a running time of 1 hour and 31 minutes, which feels more like 2 hours, Dream Team opens at Metrograph via Yellow Veil Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
Elton John: Never Too Late is an electrifying, poignant and illuminating documentary biopic about legendary singer/songwriter and pianist Elton John. Co-directors R. J. Cutler and David Furnish, Elton's husband, combine archival footage, contemporary footage, photographs, interviews and concert footage to chart Elton's rise to fame, his traumatic childhood and his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour. You'll learn a lot about Elton's emotional struggles, but the film doesn't dwell on them; it's more about his resilience and how he has managed to conquer adversities despite coming from an abusive home. He candidly discusses his sexuality and how he didn't even explore and discover it until he was in his early 20s. The pace moves briskly, the editing is smooth, and there's just enough of Elton's music included to satisfy his many fans who are watching this wonderful documentary. Bravo to Cutler and Furnish for effectively capturing Elton's warmth, vulnerability, kindness and emotional maturity to provide the audience with a glimpse behind the curtain, so-to-speak. And bravo to Elton John for grasping the message behind the Pablo Neruda poem: "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming." At a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, Elton John: Never Too Late is a triumph. It opens in select theaters via Disney+ and would be a great double feature with The World According to Allee Willis about a lesser known songwriter, Allee Willis.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
In Ghost Cat Anzu, 11-year-old Karin (voice Noa Gotō) and her father, Tetsuya (voice of Munetaka Aoki), move in with her grandfather, Oshô (voice of Keiichi Suzuki), a monk. Tetsuya owes money to lone sharks, so he leaves her alone with Oshô. Soon enough, she meets and befriends Anzu (voice of Mirai Moriyama), a ghost cat, that helps her to travel to the underworld where she meets her deceased mother. Screenwriter Shinji Imaoka and co-directors Yôko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita have made a mildly diverting, sweet and amusing, but unfocused and ultimately forgettable animated film that heavily channels the classic films of Miyazaki. The plot has a lot going on and also juggles many different tones. There's some tragedy because Karin has lost her mother and has a father who leaves her alone while he deals with his money problems. The attempts at humor are lowbrow and more goofy than funny or witty, i.e. fart jokes that go on for too long. Anzu is initially an interesting character, but his cuteness and goofiness become repetitive and even a little bit annoying. The hand-drawn animation looks bright and colorful while providing some much-need warmth, so the film's warmth comes from the visuals, not from the screenplay. At a running time of 1 hour and 34 minutes, Ghost Cat Anzu opens in theaters nationwide via GKIDS.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza is a timely, suspenseful and profoundly moving documentary about director Mohamed Jabaly's desperate struggles to return home and reunite with his family while he's stateless and stranded in Norway when his artist's visa expires. Gaza's border has closed and Norway wants him out of the country imminently, so he's in a quagmire. Jabaly records his repeated attempts to get out of that quagmire. He encounters setbacks, including rejections to renew his artist visa, but he doesn't give up. In the meantime, he has the support of colleagues, legal help from his lawyer, and communications with his beloved family back in Gaza. Some of the footage from Gaza is quite hard to watch because it's so heartbreaking. However, Jabaly's persistence pays off in ways that won't be spoiled here. The ending will bring tears to your eyes unless you're made out of stone. At a running time of 1 hour and 37 minutes, Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema via Watermelon Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Nathan-ism is a mildly engaging and occasionally provocative, but myopic and incomplete documentary about Nathan Hilu, a lesser known artist who draws what he remembers from the time he had guarded Nazis during the Nuremberg trials. Director Elan Golod benefits immensely from his direct access to Nathan Hilu who makes for a lively, complex and interesting subject. After introducing the audience to Hilu and his drawings, it's then that Golod questions Hilu's credibility---as a journalist, he grasps the concept of "trust, but verify." So, he spends some time trying to do just that: to verify Hilu's claim that he was a guard at the Nuremberg trials by finding concrete evidence. Is Hilu completely lying, partially lying or telling the whole truth? What ensues is a by-the-numbers series of dry talking heads as Golod tries to find the evidence while continuing to interview Hilu. Unfortunately, he squanders an opportunity to delve into Hilu's past so that the audience could get a better sense of him beyond his work as an artist. Hilu begins as an enigma and ends as an enigma which makes the documentary feel ultimately underwhelming. At a running time of 1 hour and 19 minutes, Nathan-ism opens at Cinema Village via Outsider Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
When Santa Claus (J.K. Simmons) gets kidnapped, Callum (Dwayne Johnson), the North Pole's Head of Security, joins forces with Jack (Chris Evans), a bounty hunter, to rescue him in Red One, directed by Jake Kasdan. The screenplay by Chris Morgan is a painfully unfunny, witless, over-produced and tonally uneven mess with an uninspired and convoluted plot that's too silly for adults and too dull for kids. There are too many characters, too many subplots and, on top of that, very clunky exposition. None of the jokes land and the villains, which includes Gryla (Kiernan Shipa), are underdeveloped and boring. It's frustrating to watch a talented ensemble cast wasted with an often lazy and asinine screenplay. Even the CGI effects and action sequences are mediocre at best. Moreover, Red One overstays its welcome as it clocks past the 2 hour mark. If it were 90 minutes, it would be a merely harmless misfire instead of an exhausting one. At a running time of 2 hours and 13 minutes, Red One opens nationwide via Amazon MGM Studios. It's one of the worst Christmas movies since Jingle All the Way
.
Number of times I checked my watch: 5
State Organs is an alarming, gripping and engrossing human rights documentary about how practitioners of a religious movement, Falun Gong, in China were imprisoned, tortured and had their organs harvested by the Chinese government. Director Raymond Zhanga follows Zhang Qingfa and Dr. Will Huang as they desperately search for their missing relatives. China's Communist Party saw Falun Gong as a threat because it was exceeding their political party in the number of followers. The Chinese government banned Falun Gong in 1999 and, soon enough, rounded up its practitioners in prisons. Family members who protected their loved ones who practiced Falun Gong were threatened with imprisonment if they didn't cooperate with the government. The numbers of kidney donations rapidly increased during that time. Hospital patients could suddenly receive new kidneys in a matter of weeks which is a huge red flag because it usually takes much longer to receive a transplant. Prepare to be devastated, enraged and disturbed by the testimony of a doctor who witnessed a Falun Gong practitioner's eyes getting gouged out after his abdomen was cut open while he was still alive. The doctor could see the fear in the practitioner's eyes and refused to perform the gouging, so someone else did it despite the fact that the practitioner was not even 18 yet. The film does provide some hope in the fact that the U.S. government introduced a bill called the H.R. 4132 Falun Gong Protection Act which means there would be sanctions for organ harvesters in China. State Organs ultimately feels like a horror film and a cautionary tale that's palpably terrifying because it's real. At a running time of 1 hour and 15 minutes, State Organs is a triumph. It opens at Cinema Village via Archstone Entertainment.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
The World According to Allee Willis is a captivating and heartfelt warts-and-all documentary biopic about Allee Willis, a songwriter/artist who deserves to be better known. Did you know that she co-wrote the iconic theme song "I'll Be There for You" from the TV show Friends? Or Earth, Wind & Fire's songs "Boogie Wonderland" and "September."? With slick editing, director Alexis Spraic combines archival footage of Willis and interviews with her colleagues and friends. She doesn't just shed light on Willis' work as a songwriter, but also puts it within the context of Willis' life at the time to provide the audience with a greater sense of her mindset while writing the songs. In terms of its structure, this documentary is pretty conventional. However, it offers a lot of revealing insights about Willis while capturing her warmth, intelligence, sense of humor and candidness as well as her complexities and flaws which make her interesting as a subject and relatable as a human being. The first 5 minutes of the film are so fast-paced and choppily edited, though, that they feel nauseating and overwhelming, but, fortunately the pace slows down a bit after that. Spraic's ultimate triumph is that she manages to find just the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them intellectually as well as emotionally. At a running time of 1 hour and 37 minutes, The World According to Allee Willis opens at Angelika Film Center via Magnolia Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
