FILM REVIEWS:
ABSOLUTION (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Hans Petter Moland
ABSOLUTION shows Liam Neeson once again in tough thug mode in a role with a character with no name (remember the Clint Eastwood man with no name spaghetti westerns?) but assigned the term ‘thug’ in the credits. This is another variation of Neeson’s TAKEN action flicks, but this time he is on the other side of the law, but still a good guy, but suffering from memory loss as he is diagnosed with an advanced case of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. People with CTE may experience executive function disorder, which is related to an inability to pay attention or focus. They might find it hard to remember instructions or manage multiple projects. This seems to be the case for Thug after he gets himself checked at a medical centre,
Thug was a championship boxer in his younger days, thus providing a cause for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. When one experiences a blow to the head, the brain bounces off the back of the skull, which essentially rotates the brain. People may not experience any symptoms or notice any potential signs of CTE until years later. Neeson previously portrayed a thug with amnesia in the 2022 film MEMORY. The memorable line in that movie: “Never mind what you were before (he was a hitman) but what you are from now.”
So the film is about a thug who can still beat up his attackers, but with more vulnerability. His daughter wants nothing to do with him. Thug had been in prison as he confessed to his grandson who shows interest in football and boxing. Oddly, Thug does not advise him against it because of his ailment. The only advice he gives him besides boxing lessons is: "Learn to walk away. That is how I landed in prison.”
The film seems to be mediocre in concept but as in a poster seen at a doctor’s office: ‘Don’t forget to notice the details’. The film covers all the odds and ends of the story i.e. the details, so there are at least no loose ends in the story. Details include observation of the footwork of the boxers, But before one can toss the film as another forgettable action flick, it should be remembered that the director of ABSOLUTION is Norwegian Hans Petter Moland who worked with Neeson in the 1999 film COLD PURSUIT, a mediocre remake of his original Norwegian thriller IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE with Stellan Skarsgard. IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE was one of the Best 10 films of that year, unforgettable because of the details in the story. The best segment and one that was not reproduced in the remake COLD PURSUIT was the segment in which the drug lord (who keeps claiming how much effort is required in work) had his ex-wife storm into his home to look for their son’s gym bag.
Though ABSOLUTION never reaches the heights reached in IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE, ABSOLUTION is still a gripping thriller as director Moland knows how to grab the attention of his audience.
ABSOLUTION arrives in theatres Friday, November the 1st without much fanfare. But if one admires Director Moland, ABSOLUTION would be of interest.
DAHOMEY (Senegal/France/Benin 2024) ***
Directed by Mati Diop
The Golden Bear winner at this year’s Berlinale, Mati Diop’s DAHOMEY traces the historic repatriation of 26 royal treasures from France to Benin, simultaneously forging a speculative and political reflection on cultural heritage, collective memory, and the implications of restitution. Diop directed the recent ATLANTICS which received rave reviews when screened at Cannes and at TIFF.
Benin, a French-speaking West African nation, is the birthplace of the vodun (or “voodoo”) religion and home to the former Dahomey Kingdom from circa 1600–1900. In Abomey, Dahomey's former capital, the Historical Museum occupies two royal palaces with bas-reliefs recounting the kingdom’s past and a throne mounted on human skulls. To the north, Pendjari National Park offers safaris with elephants, hippos and lions.
For centuries, the Kingdom of Dahomey, within the borders of modern-day Benin, was a central cultural meeting point in West Africa, a site of European colonial conquest and the transatlantic slave trade. In 1892, the French invaded and looted hundreds of treasures from the royal palace, alongside thousands of other works. Following years of appeals and reports, in 2021 an agreement was made for several of these artworks to be returned from France to Benin.
The doc, at the beginning, takes the view of one of the artifacts that calls itself number 26. It talks in voiceover (speaking in Don), of what it experiences while being stolen and then returned back to Benin. The star speaks in poetic prose, giving the doc an artistic feel.
A few artifacts are shown and described in detail. One of them is a statue of King Ghezo, one of the country’s rulers in the past. It is slightly damaged but was made of painted wood and steel fibre and still looks magnificent.
A large portion of the doc involves debates among the Beninese - University students. The debates open one’s eyes to the thoughts and demise of the people. Firstly, they main issue of concern is the return of only 26 figures out of a total of 7000. The important question is the reason for their return. There is a debate of whether the move is politically cultural. One person says that Francois Mitterrand just wants to improve his brand by allowing the run of the 26 figures. Another argues that there are two kinds of heritage - material and nonmaterial. The artifacts are the material ones that have been taken away from the people and the other like the dances, colour and music that stay in the country and conniver be taken away from the people. The point is also brought out of when the rest of the 7000 will be returned, if ever.
Other issues rain, making the problem more complex. Who will be responsible for looking after and preserving the artifacts? An elderly claims that he is too old and it is up to the younger generation to take responsibility. The returned figures now reside in the Palais and how can children in remote villages get a chance to view the history?
The doc also emphasizes the importance of history and the loss of the people’s native language due to colonization. The debaters in the doc all speak French and cannot communicate or speak in their native tongue.
Trailer:
DAHOMEY won this year’s Golden Bear at the Berlinale, was screened at the last Toronto International Film Festival, and opens at the TIFF Lightbox on October 18th.
HERE (USA 2024) **
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
The new film HERE puts the director Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks together, having had immense success from the past collaboration FORREST GUMP. But director Zemeckis has had misses too, and HERE, a high concept film is unfortunately one of them, but not for what of trying. HERE also demonstrates the worst of Zemeckis, sentimentality made worse with lots of segments set during the Christmas yuletide season.
HERE is a 2024 American drama film produced and directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Roth, based on the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire. It stars heavyweights Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany, and Kelly Reilly.
The story covers the events of a single spot of land and its inhabitants, spanning from the past to well into the future. The film is best described as a generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, loss, laughter, and life, but with distractions.
HERE is a concept movie and credit should be given to Zemeckis for trying something fresh and innovative. The concept is a piece of land that constitutes the term HERE and the film shows HERE from the time, it was just land that natives inhabited to the time when a house was built from colonial times to the present. There is also a frame on the screen that characters move in and out from. The film shifts forwards and backward in time, showcasing many families but concentrating on the couple Richard and Margaret played by Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, who sadly, separate because of the house.
There is also a black couple that is briefly considered in the story but then disappears. The film should have concentrated more on Margaret and Richard’s parents rather than showing the past inhabitants of the land, which tends to be distracting though one can admire director Zemeckis's ambition for a grander movie.
It is noticeable that instead of closeups of the actors, the actors move close to the camera. The cameras are placed like someone watching a play which in this case is the lace called HERE.
The question that arises is what will dominate. Would it be the story of the family of Richard and Margaret or the film concept? The answer is unclear as director Zemickis wishes both to succeed.
The story of Margaret and Richard is a complex but real relationship issue. They live in Richard’s dad’s house as they do not earn enough to live on their own. Richard promises to have their own place for their family but fate does not allow it. The result is their eventual separation. Margaret also suffers from dementia due to old age but their love survives. It is a stormy love story, but the shifts of this story in time and with other elements undermine the dramatics.
Hanks, Wright, and Bettany are nothing short of excellent in their roles. Production values are also excellent.
HERE opens in theatres on November 1st.
Trailer:
JUROR #2 (USA 2024) ****
Directed by Clint Eastwood
JUROR #2 is director Clint Eastwood's latest drama with a few mysterious bits thrown in. It is an excellent film all the way, proving Eastwood to be in fine form.
Young journalist Justin Kemp is called to serve as a juror for the case of the Kendall Carter murder, where all clues and evidence indicate that James, her boyfriend, killed her. However, the verdict becomes stalled when Justin believes James could be innocent, as he may have accidentally killed her by hitting her with his car on Old Quarry Road the same night the couple fought in a bar. Justin keeps this a secret to protect himself and his pregnant wife, Allison. But doubts of James's guilt start to grow among the jury members due to inquiries from one of them, the old ex-homicide inspector Harold—doubts that even lead the tough prosecutor Faith Killebrew to question James's guilt. As the truth comes out little by little, only Justin can make the right choice: to save his family or to save the life of an innocent man.
At best, the story blurs the fine line between good and evil while tipping the balance of the scales with justice and truth. Here, the audience sees a bad man who is innocent of the crime he is convicted of sent to jail while a good man who is guilty of the accidental killing of Kendall Carter goes free. Director Eastwood pans the camera to a statue outside the courthouse showing the scales of justice to emphasize the point, though one might argue he might be overstating the point.
The film is aided by some superb performances that include Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette, both non-Americans sporting a western accent. Not to be missed out is actor Chris Messina who plays the defendant's lawyer, he again playing a suave lawyer that he did in I CARE A LOT. J.K. Simmons also has an outstanding supporting role as another juror.
The film also reminds one of last year's excellent courtroom mystery drama, Justine Triet's ANATOMY OF A FALL. Both films involve a victim falling to death and the reconstruction of the fall to great detail by the investigators.
After his last flop CRY MACHO (made $16 million at a cost of $32 million), director Clint Eastwood at the age of 94. proves that he still has what it takes in a meticulously assembled part-courtroom drama that debates the balance of truth vs justice in a cautionary tale where a husband and father’s personal principle is at stake.
Warner Bros is releasing the film in limited theatres after Eastwood's last flop, fearing it will fail at the box office. Judging from how well Eastwood has succeeded in this film, let's hope that he will be given more projects in the future.
JUROR #2 opens in theatres this Friday.
LET GO (SLAPP TAGET) (Sweden 2024) ***½
Directed by Josephine Bornebusch
Written and directed by Josephine Bornebusch, the Swedish family relationship drama centres on a wife and mother Stella trying to keep her family together. Or perhaps, she should take the alternative and LET GO,
Stella juggles the demands of a young son, a moody teen daughter, and a distant husband. Chaos ensues until a message prompts a family trip where she must overcome challenges to reunite them.
A few fresh takes on the daily drama. In a message film, the message normally comes at the end. Still, in LET GO, the film gets preachy at the start with a voiceover touting the benefits of communication and the importance of sharing sorrow and joy, particularly joy with someone. If not, it is just as if someone is not there. The lack of communication is observed in Stella’s family - between her and her husband, her and her daughter and her husband and his mother.
When Stella finds out that her daughter has forged her signature in order to enter a dance competition (involving a pole), Stella confronts her daughter, who in retaliation accuses the mother of going through her things, At the same time, the young son does not want to eat his pasta. After all that, the husband, Gustav tells Stella he wants a divorce. It is revealed that Gustav is having an affair and intends to leave his family to be with his new lady. Stella refuses and only agrees to discuss the matter after a family trip - one taken to Skane where the daughter competes.
Skane is a southern county in Sweden, historic and has a population of more than a million, a nice area to view for Norther Americans.
This is not a “Are we there yet?” kind of comedy. LET GO is a sincere family drama about keeping a family together, and is Stella’s aim. The question of whether it would be better if she, instead, LET GO is not an option for a brave lady. LET GO is a female film all the way, with a female director and a female protagonist and with family foremost at its importance. The film once again proves that females are more prominent in films today. Gustav’s new girl is non-white, thus making the film more diverse and politically correct. Though LET GO will not make the top 10 list of the year, LET GO is still an entertaining insightful little film that should have the audience rooting for the female protagonist trying to keep her family as one.
LET GO turns out, an excellent feel-good film about both patching up relationships and keeping a family going, avoiding all the cliches, while tugging too, on the heartstrings. It also ends up being one of the most touching and moving films about family sen in a while. If Hollywood sees the film, it would not be surprising that they would want to attempt an American remake. A meticulously crafted top-notch film all the way!
LET GO is a Netflix original film in Swedish and opens Friday for streaming.
MARTHA (USA 2024) ***
Directed by R.J. Cutler
MARTHA is Martha Stewart, the perfectionist homemaker who is a household name. MARTHA is a documentary that traces the rise and fall of Martha Stewart as it examines some details while keeping the entertainment value intact. It is a somewhat insightful cautionary tale of fame and fortune.
The documentary begins with a lively introduction of Martha Stewart as a perfectionist celebrity. The question is not whether one can be perfect (or not) but at what cost. The intro is also quick to point out that Martha was arrested, with the details to be revealed in the later part of the documentary.
The film plays like a biopic while concentrating on her downfall and revealing her comeback. Martha Stewart is an American (of Polish origin) retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, merchandising, and e-commerce. In 2004, Stewart was convicted of felony charges related to the ImClone stock trading case; she served five months in federal prison for fraud and was released in March 2005. There was speculation that the incident would effectively end her media empire,[ but in 2005 Stewart began a comeback campaign, and her company returned to profitability in 2006. Stewart rejoined the board of directors of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2011 and became chairwoman of her namesake company again in 2012. The company was acquired by Sequential Brands in 2015. Sequential Brands Group agreed in April 2019 to sell Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, including the Emeril brand, to Marquee Brands for $175 million with benchmarked additional payments.[
The film contains several revealing scenes that show the true Martha. One is her chiding one helper in the kitchen who used a small knife to cut an orange. Martha tells her how much easier it is to use a big knife to cut the orange.
The magic question then should come to mind is that if Martha Stewart was sent to prison after being indicted and sentenced as a felon, why is not Donald Trump, who has committed more horrendous crimes not in prison? And still running for the Presidency?
On seeing the documentary, Steward has expressed some displeasure. She does not like the doc’s ending in which she is portrayed as a frail hunched aged woman. (She is currently 84). But she confessed that she liked the first part of the film. She also wanted a rap soundtrack though the filmmakers refused and put in a classic soundtrack instead. For all that it is worth, the doc takes Martha Stewart’s side and the audience should sympathize with this lady who did not more wrong than the average American.
MARTHA is an interesting documentary that is detailed enough to show the life and rise and fall of a celebrity while keeping up the entertaining values. MARTHA is a Netflix original documentary and is available for streaming this week
OUR DAD, DANIELLE (USA 2024) ***
Directed by S.E. King
The doc is the story of a larger-than-life IP lawyer in Sugar Land, Texas, who at 57, came out as a trans woman and is now navigating LGBTQ+ issues while fighting for trans rights, as she and her family challenge the idea of what modern love looks like. The story concept was originally conceived as a comedy series but that did not work. This doc is the result,
The subject of the film is Danielle, a trans who has transitioned. In order to understand more about Danielle, the term transgender should be understood.
A transgender person (often shortened to trans person) is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Often, transgender people desire medical assistance to medically transition from one sex to another; those who do may identify as transsexual. Transgender does not have a universally accepted definition, including among researchers; it can function as an umbrella term.
At the start of the film, the audience is introduced to Danielle. He first mentioned to another human being that he was trans when he was at the age of 44. As a kid, he had a mace or rather, female cave where he could wear women’s clothing insert. Trans people make the best CIA or FBI agents, Danielle claims, as they are very good at hiding.
Danielle speaks a lot to the camera and the film contains a lot of footage of her. Quite a bit of insight is also provided from interviews with Danielle’s wife, Becky, and her best friend, Anita. Becky talks about their first comical first date, and how they fell in love. If I had lost my wife and my kids, I would not have transitioned, says Danielle at one point in the film, showing how stronger her love for family is. Anita talks about Danielle at work and how supportive and fun she is as a best friend. These episodes show Danielle as a human being with love and compassion and as a freak of nature. Danielle is currently a little overweight after transitioning and walks with the aid of canes.
It takes a tremendous amount of energy to live a life not of oneself. Danielle was exceptionally good at hiding other family and she would not do anything to hurt the family.
Starting in 2018, OUR DAD, DANIELLE follows 4 years of Danielle’s life as she faces the unexpected adventures of transitioning alongside her wife and kids who undergo their own transition: adjusting to a new name, pronouns, and social fallout. At best, the doc shows, as do many previous docs on the subject of trans, that a trans cannot live otherwise and that transitioning is the only option. Danielle is shown as a success, but not without many trials and tribulations.
Over time, as the political landscape evolves and Danielle's world expands, she integrates into the LGBTQ+ community, using her legal prowess to help fight for the rights of her trans and queer brothers, sisters, and siblings.
OUR DAD, DANIELLE opens on Digital and VOD on Friday, November 01, 2024
Trailer:
SPIRIT IN THE BLOOD (Canada/Germany 2024) **
Directed by Carly May Borgstrom
Young 15-year-old teen Emerson Grimm (Summer H. Howell) has just moved, to her disdain to the country with her family. She hates the place and on the first day of school, is made fun of, as the new girl on the block. At the same time, a young girl is found dead in a secluded religious mountain community. What follows is Emerson, befriending an outcast in school, Delilah Soleil (Sarah-Maxine Racicot). The two lead a pack of teenage girls who decide to fight against the evil spirits they believe killed her by embracing their own dark nature. They ignite the spirit in their blood, for bravery to encounter the monster in the woods that had killed the young girl
Director Carly May Borgstrom’s film is unfortunately all over the place, touching but never going deeper into the many issues it brings up like growing up pains, teen isolation, bullying, religious cults, and family relationships. It is all difficult to identify or feel for any of the characters, all of them exhibiting bad behaviour. Emerson’s father is rash and angry, and, at one point, he ditches his daughter out of the car in the country. The daughter, Emerson also is no well behaved daughter, often angry and rebellious. Her best friend Delilah is also a rebellious teen, smoking and having underage sex with the local boys. The pastor leader figure in the town is also overzealous and not sympathetic to the younger youth,
The story also contains a lot of plot loopholes. The monster that is responsible for the killings suddenly appears at the end attacking both Emerson and Delilah. Where did this mountain man come from? The film that contains unsympathetic characters, for the most part, fails to interest for the most part of the film. The film does pick up in intensity during the last third of the film, even though it defies logic.
A co-production between Canada and Germany and shot in Canada, SPIRIT IN THE BLOOD is an ultimate failure though not for want of trying. SPIRIT IN THE BLOOD. SPIRIT IN THE BLOOD is in theatres on November 1.
Trailer:
