Saying The Thing

At the Sox game
a special place for us
my dad said
"I should have helped you with baseball more"
I said
"Naw, baseball was never my game"
he said
"I was kind of an absentee father"
I said
"Yeah. Sometimes."

'Fremont' A Review

Fremont is a drama about Afghan refugee Donya(Anaita Wali Zada), a former translator living in Fremont a city outside San Francisco. Donya works at a small fortune cookie factory in SF with her friend Joanna(Hilda Schmelling), goes to sessions with her therapist Dr. Anthony(Gregg Turkington), and searches for companionship while grappling with insomnia and survivors guilt.

Zada holds the center of the film with a grace and melancholic wistfulness, not doing a lot overtly but through situation and presence conveying a lot. Turkington is the best he's ever been towing the line between comedy and authenticity, he's surprisingly(for him) emotionally connected and compassionate in the role which is a real surprise and treat. Schmelling serves a very necessary function and the character is fun and relatable with a stand out karaoke scene. Jeremy Allen White has what amounts to an extended cameo but he too brings a gentleness and gravitas the film needs. Eddie Tang as Donya's boss is also wonderful and has a couple really fun engaging monologues. All the supporting cast, at times, convey their dialogue in a somewhat stilted manner, there's an affect. Whether its intent is one to underscore Zada's isolation as a refugee or as a comedic choice it works and functions to give the film more style, more identity.

Shot in a rich, striking monochrome with a boxy aspect ratio, on location in Fremont the film has a vibrant, thrumming life to it. The plot isn't much to speak of, more slice-of-life, and as a result the breezy narrative is able to convey its complicated themes with an ease and beauty that is effecting but never not thoughtful, and never long without some absurd or pointed humor. There is a wryness and hopefulness that comes through along with the solitude and searching. Similar to Jim Jarmusch in aesthetic and in content(thinking of my beloved Paterson specifically). It's a triumph in indie filmmaking and a film that speaks directly and poignantly to the America we live in today.

A must see. A definitive counterpoint to those claiming that the days of cinema are numbered.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Don't Miss It.

'They Cloned Tyrone' A Review

They Cloned Tyrone is a scifi comedy about Fontaine(John Boyega) a drug dealer in a suburban neighborhood called The Glen. After seemingly surviving a fatal shooting Fontaine enlists pimp Slick(Jamie Foxx) and sex worker Yo-Yo(Teyonah Parris) to help investigate. What they uncover is a conspiracy that extends way beyond The Glen.

Boyega is wonderful and totally assured in his multiple roles, he's always been a talent but as his career has matured he's turned into a full blown movie star. His ease on screen is a delight and he's able to ground and center the movie in a crucial way that allows the comedy and the genre stuff around him to really land. Foxx and Parris are having a lot more fun, playing broader more loquacious characters, and they're great. The three have great chemistry and navigate the tricky Blaxploitation come They Live tone perfectly.

Visually the film is rich and dark, full of neon and fog, juxtaposed with the bleakness of a depressed neighborhood. The soundtrack is infectious and weaves in consistently but mostly subtlety to further heightened the tone. Clearly inspired by Us and Sorry To Bother You as well as 80's John Carpenter the film is a riff on a couple things we've seen before but is not derivative. The humor, the commentary(not always clear or effective but certainly evocative), the well paced plotting, it all works together into something fresh and fun that makes you think. 

A unqiue tone and an incredible main trio make for an energetic film kind of wasted straight-to-streaming.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

See It.

The Feels

A lesson I learned the hard way
the way many good lessons are learned

through struggle, through mistakes

was to feel my feelings

to accept them

move through them

fear, anger, anxiety

these things must be felt

but they need not dictate terms

sit in the driver seat 

and decide direction and destination

but they most be acknowledged, understood

not one of us is immune to fear

but it passes as all things must

that is the lesson hard won.

'Bottoms' A Review

Bottoms is a high school comedy about PJ(Rachel Sennott) and Josie(Ayo Edebiri) two lesbian high school rejects who start a women's fight club in an effort to hook up two of the cheerleaders.

The cast is an impressive list of tomorrow's who's-who Sennott and Edebiri are unarguably up-and-coming powerhouse talents, its great to see Ruby Cruz as Hazel in a role a bit more fun and weird than her decent but mainstream turn in the Willow show, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, they're all great but they aren't given much to do or much in the way of actual character. A lot of the performances amount to simply hitting marks and saying lines and as a result the overall impact is lessoned whether the intent be comedic or commentary.

Tonally the movie is wildly inconsistent, in some ways its absurdly, astronomically, over-the-top in the realm of Not Another Teen Movie style parody, in others it attempts to be a grounded emotional dramedy, its bizarre and although some sequences are great(the ending fight scene in particular) the wild modulation of what it is and its focus on plotting rather than story or character leaves it, in total, as pretty anemic. It's impactful for its representation and for the talent of the cast who will, without a doubt, make big Hollywood waves in the years to come but in and of itself its not particularly funny or raunchy and seems unsure of what it actually wants to say or be. 

An intriguing premise and excellent cast are mostly overshadowed by a relentless conventional plot.

Currently in theaters, coming soon to VOD.

Stream It.

Renn Faire

I return
and in returning

am I reminded

of what this place meant

to the preteen chubby nerd

who first came here

the wonder and belonging

it offered, the balm

and that feeling of acceptance

is undiminished

I am once again

renewed

'The Last Voyage Of The Demeter' A Review

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is a period horror movie based on a chapter in Bram Stoker's Dracula. The movie opens with constables investigating the wrecked Demeter on the British shoreline, it then flashes back to show its voyage from Bulgaria and what happened.

The cast is solid particularly the bigger names Corey Hawkins as Clemens the defacto ships doctor, Liam Cunningham as Captain Elliot, and David Dastmalchian as Wojchek the first mate. They all give grounded dimensional performances and the mood and pacing work build and gain momentum expertly.

Visually the film is moody and dark and rich, its impressive, the kills gruesome, the monster grotesque. It works. Especially as a creature feature. But perhaps because the story holds little surprises, not only because of how well known the source material is but because the movie itself foreshadows it, there's not much to lock into other than the horror/action. There's no real time to get invested much in any of the characters emotionally or for them to develop. What you're left with is a gorgeous looking B level horror flick. It succeeds in that but can't quite go beyond it.

Entertaining and effective but a little thin.

Currently available for rent on most VOD platforms.

Rent It.