Good Riddance to 2020

 Nobody should be sad to see this pandemic infested year pass. Before it is gone, here is another list, with some award nominees and winners continuing to straggle in from the library and TV. Between the pandemic and the election, one might have thought diversion to entertainment would be in order, but the stakes in the real world are so high that most all attention is concentrated there.

1917 – 2019 (3.0). Phenomenal cinematography literally follows the two heroes of this WWI picture as they run through the trenches and over the no man's land on a mission to warn British troops that they are heading into an ambush. The production values and special effects are fantastic. The only limitation is that the script is so focused on the action of the mission that there is no time for any character development. At the end of the movie however we do learn that one of the heroes shares his name with the writer of this movie blog.

Call the Midwife Holiday Special 2020 – 2020 (3.0). With a theme based on yet to be fulfilled aspirations of the characters, this special touches on hopes of some regular characters, but we also again meet new characters, expectant mothers whose stories provide emotional impact on the regulars and on the audience. We are also teased that instead of closing their practice, the midwives may in fact be expanding in the coming season.

Jojo Rabbit – 2019 (2.9). A 10 year old German boy is part of the Hitler Youth and so enamored of the Fuhrer that he has him for an imaginary friend. He does not realize his mother is involved in the underground, but he does discover the Jewish teenage girl his mother is hiding in the attic. Seen through the eyes of a 10 year old, the Reich appears as ridiculous as it actually was, but the horror is real. Roman Griffin Davis ably carries the load as the boy and Thomasin McKenzie as the girl once again impresses with her screen charisma.

The Way I See It - 2020 (2.9). Pete Souza was White House Photographer for Obama. He previously was on the White House photography team for Reagan. This documentary gives some of his biography including a little about his Reagan years, but primarily focuses on his eight years covering Obama with whom he bonded as a friend. Post Obama, we see Souza on the speaker circuit and learn that he has moved from his non-partisan stance to be a vocal opponent of Trump as a disgrace to the White House.

Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles – 2019 (2.8). Multiple interviews (perhaps too many) with people involved in the original production of the musical Fiddler om the Roof and with performers who have acted in various stagings through the years are interspersed with archival footage of rehearsals and performances to create this documentary homage. The universal appeal of the themes of the story across cultures and generations is pointed out effectively. And ultimately the songs and dances are quite memorable.

Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn - 2017 (2.8). This filmed stage performance is not the greatest rendition of the 1942 classic movie musical, but the songs are welcome favorites and the dancing in particular is vigorously joyful.

Knives Out – 2019 (2.8). The script for this original whodunit was nominated for an Oscar which means it holds interest for viewers not enamored with the genre. Acting, direction and such are not distracting. Tepid praise but worth a watch when there is nothing better.

River – 2015 (2.8). This Brit detective miniseries set in modern London has the expected fine acing and production values and the story starts out with some unusual surprises as we learn it is as much about the interior life of the main detectives as about the crimes they are investigating. Twists and turns and developments ensue over six episodes which hold interest but by the end are starting to wear a little more thin as the solving of crimes accelerates to a conclusion.

Vernon Jordan: Make it Plain – 2020 (2.8). This documentary about the civil rights attorney who became adviser to powerful politicians and corporate executives is just short of one hour but unfortunately also short on personal information about the life of this fascinating man. We follow him on his rounds as a celebrated and influential racial pioneer and we hear from powerful people who laud and than him, we are treated to his plain but powerful words of wisdom, but we learn very little about his personal adult life. Perhaps someday that documentary will be made.

Welcome to Chechnya – 2020 (2.8). The Russian Muslim enclave is criminally hostile to LGBTQ individuals and this documentary follows some of the victims and their families and activists for rescue groups seeking to et the victims oout of Chechnya and if possible out of Russia as refugees.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – 2019 (2.7). The skeptical journalist assigned to write a few paragraphs about Fred Rogers gets legitimately hooked in the first half of this drama about the icon of shows teaching children how to deal with their feelings. But the script in the second half does not ring as true as Mr. Rogers lands his catch. The documentary “Won't You Be My Neighbor” is must watching for anyone who wants to know about Mr. Rogers.

Black Narcissus – 2020 (2.7). An over 70 year old novel about Christian nuns setting up a school mission in a former harem building on a Tibetan mountaintop does not seem like a top prospect for treatment as a TV miniseries, but the BBC gave it this try. As expected, production values and acting are tops. The script is the weak link, indulging too much in flashbacks of the doomed princes who haunts the place and the young lover experience of the sister who became the young nun leading the mission. The vibrant dynamic between the nun and the embittered Western man who is resident troubleshooter for the Tibetan royalty and the exploration of the differences between the Eastern and Western cultures and religions are unfortunately underdeveloped.

Toy Story 4 – 2019 (2.7). The franchise rolls on with the same great animation and another script about connections between toys and children. One wonders if young children actually understand the script all that well and it does seem much of the content is intended to keep adults entertained enough to finance the endeavor. There is a surprisingly evocative scene near the end of the movie where a very young girl is despondently separated from her parents, which I think plays into the feelings any empathetic person should have about refugee children separated from their parents.

Schitt's Creek (Season One) – 2015 (2.6). This comedy series apparently really caught on after the first three years, once Netflix took it over. Sort of a Beverly Hillbillies in reverse, the premise here is that a wealthy family loses it all and is forced to move to a small town the father had bought as a joke. They live in a motel and awkwardly try to relate to the locals. The father and son are played by series creators and the real life father son Levy team. The mother is supposed to be a one time soap opera star. The young adult daughter and son as expected are spoiled snobs, she a loose vamp and he a sexually confusing fashionista. After a few episodes the excessive obscenities are reduced and the over the top characters start to get a bit more relatable, but watching multiple seasons would seem to require a unique type of taste.

Joker – 2019 (2.2). A muddled meaningless mess provides a vehicle for an actor once again to play a real wacko and win prizes. What nonsense.

First List During Pandemic

 Months in to the Covid Pandemic and one month away from the opportunity to dump the worst American President in history, the list of movies and shows watched has gotten fairly long. Award winners are starting to come in from the library, but the three list toppers are Great Performances from PBS.

Ann- 2020 (3.0). Taylor Holland absolutely becomes Ann Richards in this witty and appropriately irreverent one woman play about the former Governor of Texas and her life. Holland wrote it also. Shown on PBS Great Performances.

She Loves Me – 2016 (3.0). Great Performances on PBS presented this filmed version of the theatrical musical based on the story first brought to screen as The Shop Around the Corner in 1940. Good film direction and spirited performances make for a fun experience, as yet again we anticipate the lonely heart letter writers finally coming together in person.

Gloria: A Life – 2020 (2.9). Christine Lahti plays Gloria Steinem in this biographical play, ably supported by a cast of women who play various roles as they frequently enter and exit the stage. Gloria herself appears at the end to take audience questions. Shown on PBS Great Performances.

Little Women – 2019 (2.9). Greta Gerwig takes a run at the classic for a new generation. Her script idea is to start when the girls are young adults and then jump back and forth with their late childhood, but the technique is disorienting at first and then settles down. Saorise Ronan plays Jo and is definitely a very good actress, because she never seems to be acting, but rather always seems to be the character. Laura Dern seems miscast as Marmee. Meryl Streep does a bit as Aunt Marsh, once again looking like Meryl acting a character. Florence Pugh does a good job with the troublesome Amy. Rightly, this legitimate classic will never die.

Parasite -2019 (2.9). This multi award winning Korean movie about a family of grifters moving in on an affluent younger family has some funny moments and holds attention as a drama but then takes a turn into thriller territory, which did not stop it from winning prizes, though for some audiences it may be a turn that detracted. As the story unfolded a viewer had to wonder how it would be ended, with some hokey possibilities coming to mind, but none were like the actual film. Maybe that is what appealed to some audiences. Even after watching an interview with the filmmaker, it does not seem that any great depth of meaning was intended.

She Could Be Next – 2020 (2.9). Shown on PBS POV, this two part documentary follows the 2018 primary and general election campaigns of several progressive female candidates of color for Federal, State and local office. The inspiring motivation and tenacity of the women and their diverse army of volunteers in pursuit of elected public office is inspiring. The only talking heads in this documentary are the hard working people on the campaigns and some voters, not academics or political pundits, so the movie captures the emotion and vitality of the pursuit.

Building the American Dream – 2019 (2.8). The Texas construction boom is facilitated by the use of undocumented laborers who are not protected by even the most basic labor laws, as shown in this documentary which follows the stories of a couple families, one whose son died of heat exhaustion on the job and who fight hard to get a Dallas city ordinance passed to require contractors to give their workers a 10 minute break every four hours. The other family are victims of wage theft and even with the help of activists lawyers it takes years to get even a small part of what they are owed.

Honeyland – 2019 (2.8). This Turkish documentary about a fifty something woman who ekes out a living keeping bees and selling their honey is a very intimate portrait of her meager existence living in a hovel in the hills of Macedonia with her 85 year old mother who is basically bedridden. Her life changes a bit when a couple with a herd of cattle and a herd of kids move in nearby and provide socialization. The bee lady particularly bonds with one son who is totally fed up with his dysfunctional parents. She teaches the man how to raise bees to sell honey, but he is too greedy to do it properly and his malpractice disrupts her beekeeping. If only we could have learned more about the back story of this woman. She has appeal in spite of being brutally physically unattractive. If this were a drama, once the screwed up family left the area, the boy would have run away and come back to live with the bee lady.

Succession (Season One) – 2018 (2.8). Another take on the Trump horror of a family dynasty of obnoxiously pathetic people, this HBO series presents a media conglomerate regime. One cannot root for anyone other than for fate, hoping they will all meet the downfalls they deserve – unless you are naïve enough to think someone will see the light and change. Being HBO, there is requisite drugs, vulgar language and sexual degradation, though the sex is more talk than action. One has to wonder why on top of living through such a nasty family trying to destroy our government we need to see a series about more such people. Unfortunately it is well enough done to marginally entice watching the second season. [Update September 2021: After suffering through the last two years of the Trump catastrophe, an attempt to watch the second season of this show was terminated after the first 15 minutes].

The Vote – 2020 (2.8). This two part PBS American Experience documentary uses much archival footage and commentary from historians to tell the story of the fight for the vote for US women. It covers the decades long struggle but concentrates on the end with the WWI era crescendo which squeaked the amendment to the Constitution into being. It passed by one vote in the US House and then by 2 votes in the Tennessee State House for ratification. The treatment of women picketers in front of the White House has sad echoes in the gas attack on the Lafayette Park picketers by the Trump administration.

We Are the Radical Monarchs – 2019 (2.8). In Oakland two women organize and lead a troop of young girls of color in an alternative program to the Girl Scouts, emphasizing empowerment and activism built around social issues such as gender, race and poverty. This documentary follows the troop over a few years as the girls develop and the leaders try to obtain funding and start more troops. The leaders met in college and became fast friends. One is African American and the other a child of Central American immigrants. They share the exact same birthday and are both lesbians.

About Love – 2019 (2.7). A female Indian filmmaker trains her camera on her multi generational Mumbai family and is hit in the face with the patriarchal dynasty that is India in general and her family in particular. The men are terrible chauvinists, except perhaps for the soon to be married brother of the filmmaker who she never once asks how he feels about the patriarchy and whether he expects to perpetuate it. The women have succumbed their lives to this, grandma for 68 years of abuse, and Mom for 32. Mom escapes into writing stories of Indian women from the past who time travel to the present. Filmmaker daughter has resisted marriage for 14 years of a relationship because, as she tells her brother, she does not want to end up like Mom.

The Kominsky Method (Season One) – 2018 (2.7). Michael Douglas executive produced and plays the lead in this series about a seventy something acting coach and his eighty something agent played by Alan Arkin. They are best friends in an acerbic relationship. The first season has a wife dying, a daughter addicted, a business in major tax debt and the predicted bedding of a younger woman by Douglas and many cameos by older actors. There are some things here that older audiences can relate to, but it would be more relevant if the lead characters were not in show biz. One season may be all it is worth.

Beecham House – 2019 (2.6). Unfortunately great production values, an exotic locale in India, creative talents in conception and expected great English acting are not enough to make this miniseries come together effectively. The story line never seemed to be headed in a clear direction and the dynamics between the characters often changed for no apparent reason other than change itself. In fact, after the last episode aired one could not be sure the story was supposed to be over.

A Hidden Life – 2019 (2.6). Movies from Terrence Malick have beautiful cinematography especially of expansive natural wonders. They are also way too long. The style of somewhat poetic, but often like an epic created from what should have been a sonnet. This one is about an Austrian man with deeply personal religious beliefs who refuses to take an oath to Hitler and fight in his war which the man believes is immoral. He is so sure of his position that he will not listen to reason or accept sensible compromises for the good of his wife and children. It is true that nobody was likely to know about this “hidden life”, but not really also true that his act of conscience was worthwhile. Hidden martyrdom seems like an oxymoron.

Fosse/Verdon – 2019 (2.5). This miniseries about the dancer choreographer duo jumped around so much in time back and forth through the episodes that I mistakenly watched the final episode, skipping the three before it, and it still seemed to fit together about as jumbled as the first episodes. The dancing scenes are moderately enjoyable but the drama of these two people devoted to their careers is hard to relate to, especially since the womanizing Fosse is a real jerk. At some point we are given a brief view of the difficult teenage lives of these two people, apparently to explain some of their later failings, but it is not enough to make either of them more appealing.

Once Upon a Time in Iraq – 2020 (2.5). Archival footage and interviews with a handful of Iraquis who have lived through the turmoil in Iraq since the US led invasion of 2003 should have made more impact than they did in this documentary. There did not seem to be much organization to the presentation and the individuals selected did not capture the attention one would have expected. Sadly, the resulting movie seems more tedious than informative or affecting.

Yellowstone (Season One) – 2018 (DNF). Kevin Costner tries to blend some sort of Sopranos with the Trump Organization running the biggest ranch in the US, but the resulting hodge-podge of unappealing characters does not whet the appetite for more. The only saving aspect here is the beautiful Montana scenery. A travelogue would be better,

Covid 19 Watching

During this time of sheltering in place, with the library closed for DVD pickup, streaming and TV watching provide the fodder, with two previous favorite series topping the list and a couple newcomers as runners-ups. This will probably be the program for at least the next several months.

Call the Midwife (Season Nine) – 2019 (3.0). Creator and writer Heidi Thomas deserves major credit for researching the time and place for each new season of this series and creating new characters from time to time to flow in and augment continuing characters. The dedication of these medical professionals is always moving and inspiring and particularly relevant in this time of corona virus.

This Is Us (Season Four) – 2019 (3.0). The central characters, especially the big three and their mother, continue to hold our attention, even as new characters are tried out and some are not missed when they disappear while others have potential to maybe be more involved. In addition to the usual effective flashbacks, we start to get more flash forwards giving a glimpse of what the future holds, and particularly in the season finale, introducing us to new characters that seem destined to become central players.

Chernobyl– 2019 (2.9). This miniseries about the Soviet nuclear disaster won the Golden Globe for best miniseries with a good script that moved along, good acting and special effects that were quite authentic but never over the top. The parallels between that time of Soviet lies and scientists pushing for the truth to be told, and the way the Trump Administration and its followers in the States is trying to lie away the truth being told by the scientists is quite revealing.

Ramy – 2019 (2.9). Ramy Youssef won the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of an Egyptian American young man in northern NJ living with his parents and sister and running around with three buddies including one with muscular dystrophy confined to a wheelchair. Ramy believes in God and struggles to live up to the standards of Islam, while easily succumbing to his hormones. The humor is a natural part of his personality and his laid back approach to the series issues he confronts as he tries to figure out what is a good life for him to live.

The Loudest Voice – 2019 (2.8). Roger Ailes built the noise machine inaccurately called Fox News and made lots of money for Rupert Murdoch. In addition to the ruthless disregard for the truth and paranoid pseudo conservatism masking underlying pandering to white entitlement angst, Ailes personally mentally and sexually abused many of the women who worked for Fox. This miniseries ably tells that story, considerably enhanced by the Golden Globe winning performance of co-producer Russell Crowe as Ailes.

One Child Nation – 2018 (2.8). Born in Chine near the end of the 35 year one child policy, a woman who has come to the US goes back to her village to get a better understanding of how the policy worked in practice. She interviews family members and villagers including a local man charged with implementing the policy in the village. At first this documentary is slow, but after a while it gets into the issue of forced abortions and sterilizations and seizing of children to sell to orphanages for international adoption. The oppressiveness of the communist regime is manifest in this film.

Rainman Twins – 2011 (2.8). What makes this documentary interesting and fun is the identical twin sisters who are autistic savants. The movie follows them closely as they impress with their memory skills and interrelate with people who love them, including their younger sister who lets them enjoy being who they are and some celebrities like their idol Dick Clark.

The Farewell– 2019 (2.8). In this drama the matriarch of a Chinese family is dying of lung cancer but her family keeps the news from her so that she does not have to live her last months in unhappy fear of death. The burden of sorrow and worry is taken on by the family which is hard for the young granddaughter brought up in the US to understand and accept. The characters are interesting and the Chinese cultural differences from the west are not overplayed even though they are significant.

Pain and Glory – 2019 (2.8). Pedro Almodovar delivers a drama about an aging film director (Antonio Banderas) suffering from many physical ailments as well as writer's block. He experiences reunions and has flashbacks to his childhood and earlier life. Interesting enough in style to hold attention, but has nothing particularly interesting or new to say about life.

World on Fire (Season One) – 2019 (2.8). Expected good production values and acting are present in this Brit series following a few local English characters, some Germans and Poles and a couple American civilians as WWII comes to Europe. The writing has highs and lows but the central dilemma of an appealing young man in love at the same time with two desirable women, one English and one a Pole, maintains a hold. The widowed mother of the young man is so cold that it seems she has at some point to warm up, but she has not done so yet. There has to be a second season since the first ends with what could be called a hilltop hanger.

Jacob– 2019 (2.7). This short documentary follows a quirky, humble highly educated man with genius abilities. Interviews with people who know and admire him provide supplement.

Missing Link- 2019 (2.7). Years of skilled craftsmanship and artistry go into making a stop action animated puppet movie. Such films are designed to hold the visual interest of young children (not really hard to do in the age of the smart phone), while at the same time keeping the parents mildly entertained by using the voices of known actors [do kids realy get excited to know that Hugh Jackman is voicing the hero the the story?]and by incorporating humor which adults can relate to and action and violence which play to the short attention span of kids. A better than average story elevates such films, but the story of this opus was only average.

Raise Hell: The Life and Times ofMolly Ivins – 2019 (2.7). Political humorist and columnist Ivins was smart, well-educated and a fearless political critic, especially of the politics of her home State of Texas. This documentary puts a lot of her political performances on display through archival footage and reflects on her impact via interviews with family, friends and contemporaries. But we are left feeling we never quite got to know the woman on a personal level and why she allowed alcoholism to play such a large part in her life.

Sneaky Pete (Season One) – 2015 (2.7). Bryan Cranston co-created this series for Amazon. A con man needs to hide from a bad dude he owes money to and so he steals the identity of his cell mate and goes to the home of his grandparents who have not seen him for twenty years, since he was ten years old. Lots of characters and plot turns keep things moving and it could be passable with sufficient suspension of belief, but it gets too cute for itself and too hung up on impressing the audience with con man terminology, Cranston also made sure he got a couple of tedious monologues. For those who think a second season is worth giving a try, encouragement is offered with a minor spoiler alert – the Cranston character does not return.

East Lake Meadows – 2020 (2.6). From Ken Burns productions, this documentary tells the story of a public housing project in Atlanta with archival footage and with interviews of families who lived there and from experts in related fields. Particularly in the first half, the movie seems scattered. It is not clear whether we are going to be following families or buildings or maybe getting into exploring public housing policy. By the end, we find we did a little of each, without feeling particularly satisfied.

The Windermere Children– 2020 (2.6). The true story of Polish Jewish children who survived the horrors of the holocaust and were granted refugee status by the UK and put in a four month resident program at Lake Windermere in Scotland for counseling, language training and other preparation for their new lives is a fascinating subject. Unfortunately this movie drama does not do it justice. The script is the problem, trying to cover too much ground in a disjointed and uneven treatment. The girls are totally ignored except for one young teenager who is relegated to a minor supporting role for her boyfriend, and one very young street girl who is the leader of her band of urchins, but is only shown in two or three brief scenes which tell us nothing about her. A half dozen or so of the actual boys are shown in their old age at the end of the film and we then realize they are the ones we followed in the movie. There is a one hour documentary that might give better coverage.

Baptiste – 2019 (2.5). The best thing about this Brit crime series is Amsterdam. Under the guise of first looking for a girl sex trafficked by an Eastern European gang, our retired French detective is called in by a former lover who is a police commander in Amsterdam and we embark on too many episodes of wandering around with a swelling cast of characters who come and go with no great rhyme or reason juntil we have killed so many people it is time to surprise us with who is going to be the last main character to die and who is the last to go to jail – as if we cared.

An Elephant Sitting Still– 2018 (2.4). Despite positive reviews from movie critics, four hours of slowly following a handful of characters as they struggle with depressing lives in a contemporary northern Chinese industrial town is a lot to ask of an audience for this Chinese drama. Long tracking shots follow characters closely from behind and then focus on their facial profile as they talk to someone who remains out of focus. These are not happy people and there are a couple suicides along the way. We are being shown over one day the intimate impact of the economy on people at lower levels, though not slum dwellers or the homeless. Hu Bo, the young writer-director received an education in his field and this was his first feature film, after he wrote a few novels. Sadly it was also his last, as he committed at 29.