'Blow The Man Down' A Review

Blow The Man Down is a black comedy thriller about two sisters in a small Maine port town dealing with the aftermath of their mother's death. The film opens on a stirring and vibrant scene of fisherman singing the titular song, it cuts to a woman fleeing a man with Enid(Margo Martindale) watching from her window, then cuts to the memorial for Mary Margaret the mother of Mary Beth(Morgan Saylor) and Priscilla(Sophie Lowe) presided over by town Matriarchs Susie(June Squibb), Gail(Annette O'Toole), and Doreen(Marceline Hugot). That evening Mary Beth meets up with local criminal Gorski(Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and gets in over her head.

Across the board the cast is stupendous, relative newcomers Saylor and Lowe have great chemistry and an addictive frenetic energy that make both performances really sing. It's wonderful to see Squibb, O'Toole, and Hugot together, almost in an archetypal Fates role, three astounding character actors in concert. But the pièce de résistance, no surprise, is Martindale giving an incredibly delicious performance with a couple really revelatory operatic scenes as the town's madam and the defacto heavy. Easily an Oscar worthy turn that will no doubt be overlooked come awards season. She has a wide ranging career but rarely gets to exert her full potential in film(see her joyous turns on TV in Justified season 2 and The Americans) so it's a pleasure to see her here and she clearly relishes the opportunity. There's also a very effective figurative, and literal, fishermen as chorus that underscores and weaves throughout the film.

Visually the film is sharp, transportive, and immersive conveying this small regional town with beauty as well as menace. The near ever-present pumping score paired with the diegetic chorus elevate the film and viewers pulse to great effect. A stunning, authoritative, and assured debut from writer/director pair  Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy.

Currently streaming on Amazon.

Don't Miss It.

Badlands Boots

A good pair of boots
can take you anywhere
firm but pliant
function over form
waterproof but
breathable,
a good pair of boots
paired with
a steady, even stride
can glide you over miles
through dunes and desert
caves and canyons
mountains and marshlands
the keystone of adventure.

I say goodbye to another pair of boots
that served me well over miles and years
purchased at Wall Drug outside The Badlands
when my fiance and I rode West.

'My Darling Vivian' A Review

My Darling Vivian is a documentary about Vivian Liberto the first wife of musician Johnny Cash, compromised of archival footage and exclusive interviews from her four daughters Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara.

Although in a conventional talking-head form the extensive personal footage, in addition to regular historical footage, as well as the limited and personal interview subjects make for a particularly moving portrait of a woman mostly relegated to the background in the life and legend of Johnny Cash. Positioned in counterpoint to her portrayal in the 2005 biopic her daughters given Vivian voice and dimension. Necessary viewing for any Cash fan but perhaps more engaging as an investigation of the personal and familial cost of fame and addiction.

Her daughters obviously take issue with Walk The Line, some more than others, although the film in and of itself shows not a hectoring wife but someone at the worst ignored by a drug addict womanizer at best completly justified in their behavior. Towards the middle of My Darling Vivian we see repeated footage form the 70's and 80's where June Carter Cash claims the four daughters as her own and the press ignores or outright demonizes Vivian and perhaps this is more where this resentment comes from rather than the limited, if fair in this critics opinion, portrait in Walk The Line. Whatever the basis there are many layers to this complex familial entanglement with various daughters recalling and interpreting the past differently especially when it comes to the subject, their mother. All the daughters have engaging and interesting perspectives but Rosanne seems to have the most impartial view and seems to have done the most internal work to grapple with all the fallout of their childhood.

Although ostensibly about Vivian Liberto the film is a fascinating look at memory, trauma, and how the past informs who we become. It's also, perhaps unintentionally, a pretty compelling recommendation for programs like Al-Anon.

Currently streaming on Amazon as part of the digital SXSW festival.

See It.

'Extraction' A Review

Extraction is an action/thriller about a tortured pill-popping booze-slurping former special forces mercenary Tyler(Chris Hemsworth) who gets hired to extract a kidnapped drug dealers son from a rival drug dealer being held in Bangladesh. An extravagant body count ensues.

Like many straight-to-Netflix action movies the cast has more talent than the project warrants or has any right to have. This is the type of movie that, before streaming, would have been permanently shelved or quietly dumped in January. Hemsworth's charms and charisma or muted to the point of non-performance, casting him in this if the intent was for an emotionless terminator style performance is kind of baffling. The supporting cast are all fine actors but the derivative script, brutally violence, and unrelenting(pointless) pace leave little room for actual entertainment.

It attempts to hit a lot of the same notes as Tony Scott's brilliant Man On Fire but with none of the artistry in production, the exciting action with actual stakes, or the heart it fails virtually any cinematic signpost other than "something to watch". Which, I guess, right now is at least something. Unfortunately there are many many movies of a similar mold that have done this substantially better like Man On Fire mentioned above or the 1987 adaptation of the same name or Equalizer or Taken or The Transporter.

Hurtles past negligible to forgettably banal. Now streaming on Netflix.

Don't See It.

Frost Quote

Our great American poetry daddy
Bobby Frost once said
"A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense
of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness."
which is true by not all-inclusive
a poem can also begin during a shit,
the tortuous limbo before sleep,
a sticky post-coital embrace,
the onset of hypothermia
or meditative mise en place
a poem can begin from nothing at all
coaxed and cuddled
kneaded and nudged
it's ambition need not be so grand
as love and death and the promised land
but what it must be is true
whether it begin with God or stew.

Social Media

Our Great Grandparents knew quiet,
knew stillness, knew solitude
even were they city dwellers
there was a boundary to their scope
life has since accelerated, entwined
broadened in it's reach and ambition both
but perhaps it's time to think back
to the lives who have gone before
and emulate a simpler course
in order to foster grace and growth.

'Tigertail' A Review

Tigertail is a family drama about the life of Pin-Jui(Tzi Ma/Hong Chi-Lee) a Taiwanese boy who immigrates to the United States as a young man making personal sacrifices to make a better life for his family. The film opens on Pin-Jui as a young boy living with his grandparents in rural Taiwan, the film flashes forward to Pin-Jui as an old man being picked up at the airport by his estranged daughter Angela(Christine Ko). The story cuts back and forth throughout Pin-Jui's life as he reflects in old age and attempts to connect with his daughter.

Given the structure and multiple actors playing the central characters none of them are given quite enough time to really dig in. Ma is wonderful as the oldest Pin-Jui but many of his scenes are simply set up for flashbacks where he sits silently reserved. Chi-Lee as young adult Pin-Jui comes across a little green and isn't quite able to get to the nuance required but part(if not all) of that is a result of the scope of the narrative which clips through a lifetime. Both Kunjue Li and Fiona Fu as young adult and older Zhenzhen(respectively) Pin-Jui's wife-by-necessity are both wonderful and have more of an arc to play but both essentially exit the film right when their performances start to bloom. Pin-Jui's first love Yuan is played by Joan Chen and Yo-Hsing Fang who are also dynamic but again constrained by the amount of the story that's being told. The cast sound confusing? It isn't but it does hamstring the emotional umph of the film by having 8 actors play 3 characters across 60 plus years.

Alan Yang's directorial debut(also writer and producer) has scope and ambition and heart but unfortunately it's not particularly cohesive. In attempting to encompass the entire life of the main character it almost falls into the trap many biopics fall into, it becomes formulaic. Yang's talent isn't in question and here's hoping he's already working on a sophomore film. Tigertail doesn't offer much in the way of innovation or surprise but it is a thoughtful, affirming look at the Asian-American immigrant experience.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

Stream It.