A very good documentary streamed on Netflix shares top
honors with a library DVD by way of Iran on this list. After getting some newer
Hollywood films from the library, this time around Netflix streams make up more
than half the listings.
Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The
ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on
the sidebar. Clicking on a movie title will open a new browser tab with the
IMDb page for the movie.
Inequality for All
– 2013 (3.5). Robert Reich is the star of this documentary about the widening
gap between the richest Americans and the rest of us. A Rhodes Scholar who has
served in Government since the Ford Administration, Reich is most famous for
his work as Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton. He left that job after the
first Clinton term because he felt his insistence on consideration of the
impact of administration economic policies on working class Americans was being
ignored in favor of the policies advocated by Secretary of the Treasury
Geithner. Reich is a charmingly fascinating man who is able to express ideas
very clearly. Born with a genetic defect, he is extremely short, a matter which
he is adept at using as a conversational ice breaker. In this stylish movie he
manages to bring dry and depressing data to life as demonstrated by the
standing room only lectures he gives as a Berkeley professor, the enormous auditorium
audience listening in rapt attention to his dynamic presentation, mixed with
just the right amount of personal history. Reich clearly gives the answers to
how we got into this inequality mess but freely admits that there is no magic
prescription to get us out. Political will needs to be changed and he
challenges his students to make that a goal of their career. We should have
followed Reich instead of Geithner.
The Past – 2013
(3.5). Asghar Farhadi is an Iranian film maker of perceptive intelligence. He
writes his own scripts, directs and oversees the editing. This French language
drama is set in a Paris suburb, but in spite of being so near the beautiful
city, we never see any tourist sites. Instead we see very real feeling
locations such as the modest home of the French woman who is finalizing her
divorce from her estranged Iranian husband who has just flown in for the
process. He is expecting that she has booked him a hotel as he requested, only
to be told that he is going to be staying with her so as to more easily pay his
farewells to her two daughters from a prior marriage. But the teenage daughter
is having problems with Mom and maybe he can have a talk with her. And so the
story starts to develop, all in the present, for in spite of the title, the
movie contains no flashbacks. There is lots of talking but all the
conversations are so real and engrossing that nothing feels theatrical or
gratuitous. There is plot and drama with other characters becoming involved,
but the story develops like most of our real lives have and are and will, in
spite of our efforts to be in control. This film makes us ask questions about
our motivations and those of others and whether we even understand our own,
much less those of the others. The ending may be a little subtle, just as in
real life, and dependent on perspective. And that very realistic house in the
suburbs was actually designed and built under the supervision of Farhadi. This
is a film maker who knows exactly what he is doing in all regards.
Steve Jobs: The LostInterview – 2012 (2.9). Not big on being interviewed, Jobs did allow one in
1995. Long thought to have been lost, a VHS copy was found years later and
released as a documentary movie, with only minor bridging narration by the
interviewer. Ten years before the interview, Jobs had been forced out of Apple,
the company he cofounded. He had started his own company but was still feeling
the hurt of what had happened. He talks about his early interest in computers
as a twelve year old and how he came to be involved in the formation of Apple.
His answers are very reflective and seem quite honest as he shares his ideas on
the technical creative process and the teamwork involved in working ideas
through transformative stages to fruition. Jobs was as interesting as the
products he was part of bringing into being, just as Bill Gates is as boring as
most Microsoft products. A year after the interview, Jobs sold his company to
Apple and was soon hired to bring Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy, a
task he accomplished with unprecedented success.
Gravity – 2013
(2.8). Viewing this movie as I did on from a library DVD meant no 3-D and no
special features explaining the special effects employed. This is the kind of
film for which 3-D makes sense and watching it that way might well result in a
higher rating. Winning many technical Oscars as well as best cinematography and
director awards reveals the strength of the film as an extraordinary technical
accomplishment, beautifully photographed and cohesively directed. But the
script and acting were no match for the technical achievements.
The Moo Man –
2013 (2.8). The British organic dairy farmer followed in this documentary works
valiantly with every aspect of his business for long hours, losing money but
managing to hang on by distributing his raw milk directly to customers, and
being salvaged by taxpayer funded subsidies. The upbeat farmer talks to the
camera throughout the film as he goes about his business, always centered on
his personal relationship with each member of his herd. We see the sloppy nitty
gritty of dairy farming in great detail and in the process we become
surprisingly emotionally involved with cows and their different personalities.
At the end, we understand his wistful sadness about some aspects of what he
does for a living.
The Way Way Back
– 2013 (2.8). A 14 year old boy comes of age on a vacation at the beach house
of his divorced mother’s jerky boyfriend after being mentored by a charismatic
man working at the local water park in this pleasant comedy with overtones of
the pain of broken homes.
Ping Pong – 2012
(2.8). Several individuals over eighty years of age from various countries are
shown discussing how they became involved in international ping pong
competition in this quick moving documentary. Then they are shown competing at
a tournament in China. This movie is more about how some people handle the
health related issues of advanced age rather than about how they play ping
pong. But the fact is, especially considering their age, these people are quite
good players, both of ping pong and life.
Unfinished Song –
2012 (2.8). An upbeat terminally ill woman loves singing in the senior choir.
Her grumpy husband is perennially depressed and now doting on his wife in fear
of losing her. Their son is pained by the cold relationship he has with his
father. The eight year old granddaughter is appropriately cute as is the young
woman volunteer who joyously leads the choir, even as her personal love life is
a mess. Formulaic as it is, this Brit movie accomplishes its task without being
too smarmy.
Miss Representation
– 2011 (2.8). Without telling us anything particularly new, this documentary
does bring the stats together and provide lots of interview commentary and
archival footage to show how the American media and cultural norms treat women
unfairly. The movie is a good reminder but is short on actual suggestions for
meaningful change.
About Elly – 2009
(2.8). A happy getaway to the beach by
several couples and their small children turns sour when a last minute invitee,
the teacher of the child of one of the couples, is uncomfortable and wants to
go home early. A newly divorced man was apparently intended as a possible match
for her, but before that has a chance to develop, the young teacher vanishes.
Mysterious disappearance is a theme that runs through the movies of Iranian
director Asghar Farhadi, as is the undependability of taking what people say at
face value. Trying to understand the present in the context of an as yet
unrevealed past with an eye on the future is a tricky task. Yet that is a
common task in our everyday life and relationships and the truth of that
struggle is what makes , as is the undependability of taking what people say at
face value. Trying to understand the present in the context of an as yet
unrevealed past with an eye on the future is a tricky task. Yet that is a
common task in our everyday life and relationships and the truth of that
struggle is what makes Farhadi’s films so relevantly watchable.
Fireworks Wednesday
– 2006 (2.8). From Iran Asghar Farhadi directs this story of a middle class
Tehran couple whose marriage is in trouble. The wife suspects the husband is
having an affair and he vehemently denies it. A young house cleaner is hired
and soon gets caught in the middle. Honest dialogue about lies and lying in
personal relationships is quite watchable. We are in the present like the newly
hired house cleaner and we can only guess about the past of these people and
what the future may hold for them.
House of Cards
(Season Two) – 2014 (2.6). The original British miniseries was just three
episodes, but this American takeoff has now logged 26 episodes. Season one
offered an interesting mix of devious politics, questionable journalism and
outrageous violent crime. But with the second season the cuteness of Kevin
Spacey’s character is wearing thin, the political issues are spread around too
much and the journalists are relegated to second string. The machinations
become ludicrous, the personal sex scenes gratuitous, and the gullibility of
many of the characters hard to swallow. This Netflix series is too stuck on
itself and should have been one season max.
Child’s Pose –
2013 (2.6). A sixtyish architect has only one child, a man in his thirties who
is finishing up getting his chemistry degree, in this Romanian drama. The son
lives with his single mother girlfriend, whom the mother dislikes, because mom
wants to control her son’s life and keep him close to her. He resents this very
much and is nasty to his mother. There is a father who seems to have pretty
much given up on both his wife and son. When the son is a driver in a fatal
accident, the mother makes it her job to save him from the consequences. The
script is not as clear as this summary. None of the characters has any appeal.
But the older actress plays her role to the hilt.
Sarah Palin: YouBetcha! – 2011 (2.4). Nobody realistically expected Palin to run for
President in 2012. In 2008 she proved herself to be a political joke, totally
unfit for any public office. So this Brit documentary going to Wasilla to
interview family, friends, enemies and maybe Sarah herself had to be a little
tongue in cheek. Amateurishly made, it covered some old ground and left many
interesting angles uncovered. The depth of her childish us versus them back
stabbing vendetta mentality was fairly interesting as documented in interviews
with some of her previous acolytes who she threw under the bus.
The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though
some of the streaming rights may now have expired):
Inequality for All
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview
The Moo Man
Ping Pong
Unfinished Song
Miss Representation
House of Cards
Sarah Palin: You Betcha!
