'Petite Maman' A Review

Petite Maman is fantasy/drama about a girl Nelly(Joséphine Sanz) who, while helping her parents clean out her grandmother's house after her death, travels back in time and befriends her mother when she was a little girl. 

The two leads, twins Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz are wonderfully understated, emotionally present, and authentic. There is none of the child actor pretention or posturing with either of them and they are both startlingly assured with the interpersonal intricacies within the simple narrative. The few adult actors are equally grounded and real but the focus is, almost exclusively, on the two girls.

Simply shot, basically all on one property, the film has a gentle, soulful momentum and clocks in under 80 minutes. It's impressive and thematically generous(loneliness, grief, motherhood, childhood etc.) but so narratively unembellished further description would lessen the impact. 

Emotionally rich yet tender. Potent but breezy.

Currently in theaters coming soon to VOD.

See It.

'Senior Year' A Review

Senior Year is a comedy, not quite a romcom, about a 90's teen who falls into a coma after a cheerleading injury only to awaken 20 years later and attempt to reinsert herself into high school life and complete her goal of becoming prom queen.

Rebel Wilson plays the lead Stephanie and brings her always reliable magnetism and physical comedy to the role and its nice to see her in the lead, her second after Isn't It Romantic, her characterization allows for a lot of comedy but doesn't belittle the stunted 17 year old she's portraying, similar to Vince Vaughn's recent turn in Freaky, it's a complicated piece of performance and she may not get that much credit for it given the movie is a broad comedy. Unfortunately the younger supporting cast, Stephanie's classmates, aren't given much screentime or development but the older supporting cast- Sam Richardson as Stephanie's friend Seth, Mary Holland as Stephanie's friend Martha, Chris Parnell as Stephanie's dad- all give really nice turns, comedic but with heart.

There's some wonderful late 90's costuming going on but other than that the production design is functional if not particularly inspired. The camera work equally serviceable if not in anyway artful. The idea is a solid one and Wilson holds the story together admirably with her charm and ability. It may tie up too neatly, too quickly, at the end, back loading all the pathos that might have been better served dolled out throughout but still its a fun, breezy, piece of entertainment.

An unabashed comedy with a terrific lead falls a short in its character arcs but delivers on laughs.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Rent It.

A Wish

If I had a time machine
I would go back to 1990
and sit with my grandfather
as he lay dying
listen to

the story of his life
tell him tales
of the world to come

and be with him

as he passed into the clearing

at the end of the path.

'Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness' A Review

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is a superhero sequel, the latest in the MCU saga. Strange(Benedict Cumberbatch) runs into America(Xochitl Gomez) who has the power to travel within the multiverse. She's on the run from monsters directed by a nameless threat that is quickly revealed to be Wanda(Elizabeth Olsen). Strange must save America at all costs because the fate of not only our world but all worlds depends on it!

The cast are all great actors but the is simply too much plotting to give them time to do much, if any, acting. There are few actual scenes between characters and the ones that are in the movie are seldom over 30 seconds. This is a problem because despite the all-universes-are-in-peril stakes this actually translates to almost no stakes as the people inhabiting the story, across the board, have little to no dimension. It's great to see Gomez(excellent in the Babysitters Club) the return of Ejiofor and Wong not to mention some fun multiverse cameos but it is simply not enough, there is virtually no depth or humanity involved to any of the characters and therefore all the CGI glitz and glam is kind of pointless. This is not the fault of the talented cast but the script. 

There is also some regressive character motivations at play that seemed to have been used exclusively for narrative efficiency. Wanda's heel turn is solely motivated by her not being a mother, she's driven literally insane and homicidal by the idea. This was handled in WandaVision with some nuance but here it is rendered as an offensive sterotype. Equally regressive is Dr. Strange's pining over Christine(the always excellent Rachel McAdams) which is, seemingly, the only arch his character has in this movie. He operates like a narcissistic and potentially dangerous ex-boyfriend and its played out as if its reasonable. Not to say this kind of movie needs to focus on character the same way an indie drama would yet the filmmakers have a responsibility to portray healthy human emotion given the reach of the MCU and regardless of all the spectacle real people have to inhabit it in order for it to be engaging.

Visually the movie is uneven, with some inspired sequences- the Illuminati, the music note battle, the multiverse travelling- but also some really clunky CGI- the fight with the one-eyed octopus monster at the beginning is laughable. The rest of the production design is servicable but suffers from the MCU's slick homogeny, it simply all feels the same. There is too much plotting and not enough fun going on and the idea of the multiverse is hardly actually utilized, its a wasted opportunity.

A bland disappointment, especially given the available multiverse alterative.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't See It.

'The Survivor' A Review

The Survivor is a biographical drama about Harry Haft(Ben Foster) who survived Auschwitz by boxing fellow inmates. The film opens on Haft in 1949 where he is working as a professional boxer in New York. He struggles with survivors guilt, PTSD, and with the loss of Leah his childhood sweetheart who he is engaging various chartiable organizations in order to track down. In order to up his exposure(and contact Leah via headlines) he angles for a fight with Rocky Marciano. While he prepares for the fight, tells part of his story to a reporter(Peter Sarsgaard), and works with Miriam(Vicky Krieps), there are flashbacks to his time in the camps where he is taught to box and then forced to box by a SS officer(Billy Magnussen).

Foster, as he always does, gives everything he has to the role and totally transforms. With make-up, weight fluctuation, and in the nuance of his performance. It's grounded, emotional, and dynamic. The rest of the cast doesn't have much to do, although there all very good, but overall there's a sense of tidiness about the script- characters speaking too clearly and directly their subtext- that feels if not quite anachronistic then certainly too clean for the complicated life and dynamics being portrayed.

Beautifully shot but perhaps a bit too calculated. Using black and white for the scenes in the camps feels a bit uninspired, a bit rote, given the long shadow of Schindler's List. The boxing scenes and those in NYC are more dynamic but there is overall a feeling of unnecessary restraint with a lot of the film. The Hans Zimmer score is effective if, again, perhaps too obvious. All taken together it works, it investigates some interesting and vital ideas, its complex without being despairing, but its just too neat to pack the punch you would expect.

Anchored by an incredible lead performance, the film is good but not great, constrained by a need for narrative coherence that is somewhat incongruous with the story being told.

Currently streaming on HBO Max.

Rent It.

I Am Grateful For My Body

I am grateful for my body

for we have come a long way
in the beginning 

I punished it with food
then I punished it with drink

for I hated it and myself
and yet it bore me
uncomplaining
yet it held me

never waning

at times

it persisted

when I could not.

We have since

developed an easy truce

an amiable affinity

I take care of it

best I can

and as always

it takes care of me.

Go Gas

Electric stove got no feel
no personality

no melody

no vibe

Gas stove got a life to it

a flow to it

a rhythm

a beat

Someday gas will become extinct

and that day

will be a sad one

not for Mother Earth

but for the stove

as culinary collaborator