Month: February 2020

Torrid Beauty

Portrait of a Lady On Fire – 2019 – R

Set in the late 18th century on a remote windswept island off the coast of Brittany, this French-language film, released in France in 2019, tells the story of Marianne (Noémie Merlant), a beautiful young mainland artist commissioned to paint the portrait of equally beautiful young islander Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). Héloïse was called home from a convent to step into an arranged bride-to-be lineup because her older sister stepped off a cliff rather than be given away in matchmaker’s nuptials. Héloïse’s mother, La Comtesse (Valeria Golino) needs a portrait for the Milanese nobleman who is now considering marrying her second daughter. Ironically termed the Age of Enlightenment, marriages of the nobility in this era were finalized via life size painted portraits delivered for review to the potential suitor. Defiant, strong willed Héloïse isn’t having it. No portrait, no wedding. This is where Marianne comes in. No portrait, no commission. Rounding out the all female cast, a third young woman, Sophie (Luàna Bajrami), the house maid is befriended by Marianne and Héloïse and when Sophie gets pregnant, in solidarity they accompany her to the village to get an abortion.

Personal female power and choices are exercised despite living in an era of negligible to no options for women. The film’s powerful ending—of enduring yet unrequited love, contained in requisite yet intolerable cultural norms—is as understandable as it is unfathomable. The story’s resolution will linger long after you’ve left the theater. There is no tragedy here but there is an empty ache for more, more of what simply can’t be.

It’s not a spoiler to disclose that Marianne gets her commission, the mother-daughter arranged marriage plot is simply a period piece vehicle for the mysterious, erotic, forbidden fruit romance to emerge between Marianne and Héloïse. Their mutual attraction so sensual, so exquisitely luxurious that this love story is already mentioned as one of the best 100 movies of the decade, indeed a masterpiece.

The cinematography is beyond stunning with an intoxicating palate of colors framing every scene. Art and literature merge as readings from Ovid’s version of Orpheus and Eurydice foreshadow a poignant, heartbreaking exchange between the lesbian lovers. 

The music is electrifying, euphoric. The third movement of “Summer” from Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” plaintively ties together the hope and hopelessness of taboo love. A late night bonfire gathering of island women transcends into a haunting, masterful choral number of Latin chants, “fugere non possum,” “I cannot flee” and “Nos resurgemus,” “We rise.”

It’s a shame that France submitted Les Misérables for the Academy’s Best International Film category because  Writer/Director Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady On Fire would have certainly challenged Parasite for Best Picture. Aside from a few jarring male appearances, the cast consists entirely of women and was written, directed and filmed by women. Nos resurgemus. We rise.

Portrait of the Past

The Photograph – 2020 – PG13

The Photograph parallels two couples along a multi-narrative romantic storyline, moving fluidly between the 1980s and present day; and between New York City and Pointe á la Hache, Louisiana, a small fishing village on the eastern banks of the Mississippi River near New Orleans.

We learn through a soft spoken, gently unfurling narrative and a soothing jazz and rich R&B score that young, handsome Isaac Jefferson (Rob Morgan), content as a crab fisherman in his humble Louisiana abode, falls in love with restless,“I don’t want the most exciting part of my day to be cooking your dinner” Christina Eames (Chantè Adams), an aspiring photographer. After a sultry tryst in a New Orleans jazz club—and despite Isaac’s refurbishing a shed into a darkroom—Christina chooses adventure over matrimony and unbeknownst to family, friends and Isaac, buys a one-way bus ticket to Manhattan where she starts a new life. 

Thirty years later journalist Mike Block (Lakeith Stanfield), pursuing a human interest story on the demise of *post-Deepwater Horizon Gulf fishing, interviews a balding and bespectacled Isaac and is drawn to a vintage black & white photo on Isaac’s mantle, Pointe á la Hache’s hometown Mona Lisa. The haunting portrait leads Mike from the luxuriant, verdant Louisiana countryside hugging the mighty Mississippi River, to vibrant, energetic, metropolitan Queens where he tracks down museum curator, stunning Mae Morton (Issa Rae), estranged and grieving daughter of recently deceased, highly acclaimed photographer Christina Eames, the subject of Isaac’s photograph. 

The movie weaves the promising yet ultimately unrequited love story of Christina and Isaac with the blossoming yet cautionary romance of Mae and Mike. Flipping roles, Christina sought new horizons in cosmopolitan New York while Mae latches on to the predictable and practical. Isaac was satisfied with the Louisiana known while Mike yearns for London change. Will generational lessons be applied and wisdom taken to heart or will a new generation of broken hearts prevail, like mother like daughter?  Mae inherits two confessional letters penned by Christina, one for Mae and one for Mae’s father. Will the mysterious contents shed new light on decisions past and future? Will the rueful 1989 words of Christina prove prophetic for Mae, “I wish I was as good at love as I am at working. I wish I didn’t leave people behind so often”?

Only time will tell. 

*The 2010 BP Oil Spill, one of the largest environmental disasters in American history, destroyed the fishing industry along the Louisiana coast. For a closer look into the environmental destruction and corporate cruelty, sign up on IMDb’s Watchlist to see the 2014 documentary, Vanishing Pearls: The Oystermen of Point à la Hache.

Pole Plant

Downhill – 2020 – R


Pete (Will Ferrell) and Billie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) with their two pre-teen sons, Finn (Julian Grey) and Emerson (Ammon Ford) are settling into a family ski vacation in the Austrian Alps. From the get-go Pete and Julia’s relationship appears strained but then explodes into a no doubter when, as an avalanche roars down the slopes, Pete saves his phone and abandons his family. The avalanche turns tame, harmlessly dusting Billie and the boys with a coat of snow but burying fleeing Pete under a stigma of weakness, negligence and cowardice. The harder poor Pete tries to dig out, the deeper he sinks, Billie icing him and the boys preferring screen time to father-son time. Pete’s best shot at making amends is a surprise, heli-skiing family outing, earning an enthusiastic thumbs-up by the boys, but a Billie brawl over a missing $2 mitten forces pathetic Pete to forfeit the $2,000 adventure. Pitiful. Ugh. Remind me, why is this film billed a comedy? 

Frankly, the film falls somewhere between downer and snoozer. I was an okay downhill skier in days of yore so, instead of tracking the Staunton family feud, I found myself marveling at the different styles of skis, now and (way back) then. Wow, how equipment changes over 30 years! Instead of rooting for more than a kiss between Billie and Guglielmo, her ski instructor gigolo, I reverted to sweet memories of taking my two young sons skiing in the Sierra Nevada. My meandering thoughts eventually morphed into full blown daydreaming. To be fair, at regular intervals I’d snap back from California to Austria, give the film another chance, only to mentally bail, despairing at Downhill’s glacial pace, akin to  snowploughing down a Black Diamond run. If I weren’t fighting a nap, I’d grow weary of Billie’s contorted facial expressions or shrieking diatribe. Ugh. She was cold, rude and genuinely unpleasant. I expected much more from Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Epic wipe out. Will Ferrell, not one of my favorite actors anyway, lived down to my expectations. If there were an award category for best performance as a cardboard cutout, he’d win uncontested. Dull, dull, dull. Ugh. Again.

I’d advise director Nat Fazin (Charlie’s Angels) to grab a rope tow to the bunny slope and stay there. Myself, I’ll drift back to my four decade old youthful escapades at Heavenly Valley or Badger Pass or China Peak, finding more entertainment in the ghosts of ski slopes past than Downhill could offer in it’s mercifully short 85 minutes. My final word. Ugh.

Birds of a Feather Fight Together

Birds of Prey – 2020 – R

The last time I was motivated by a movie to go total badass was in 1969. True confession, right after seeing Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, I started shooting up the parking lot with my imaginary six-guns while scanning the shopping center for a bank to rob. Forgive me, I was young and impressionable. Five decades later, leaving the theater after watching Birds of Prey, I started practicing spins, kicks and jabs walking to my car. Good thing there was no one near the theater to head butt or leg sweep or Karate Kid Crane Kick! Forgive me, I’m old and impressionable.

Females dominate Birds of Prey. It is written, directed, and produced by women; features a ridiculously brilliant soundtrack that includes 15 exclusive new tracks, all from female artists; and stars five diverse women who clearly relish their roles. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) exudes the confidence and sheer brassiness of a reigning D.C. moll except she’s on her own. Jilted by Joker, her madman oasis of security is now a mirage and maniacal Gotham City revenge-seekers are gleefully closing in for the kill. Most of the film is Harley thrashing these foes with cartwheeling, catapulting, take-no-prisoner maneuvers until she’s sadly sold out by her one and only friend, Doc, the elderly owner of a Chinese restaurant who delivers Harley into the hands of psychopathic crime boss, Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). Her life literally hanging in the balance, Harley is one knife slice away from losing face before she cuts a deal to recover a prized diamond that landed in the possession of teenage pickpocket extraordinaire Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). Cassie lives in the same tenement as Harley, mostly exiled to the stairwell escaping abusive foster care. Harley offers Cassie a semblance of sisterhood, the first revealing peek at Harley’s liberated joker-less heart.

Cue three other colorful female characters that, with Harley and Cassie, dominate the last part of the film, a female quintet of empowerment and redemption. Helena Bertinelli, aka Huntress “The Crossbow Killer” (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is out to even the score with Gotham mafia men who executed her family when she was a child. Dinah Lance, soulful lounge singer, aka Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) is about to find her voice after turning away silent one too many times as her bar boss, Black Mask, sexually assaults female patrons. Gotham City detective Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), done losing hard-earned recognition to a police force ruled by misogyny, crosses over to embrace her feminist wild side. Uniting these five as Birds of Prey is the common purpose of reaping righteous havoc on the villains of Gotham, bringing a testosterone track record of destruction, perversion and exploitation to a deliciously satisfying, rip-roaring, raucous end.

The most compelling moments of this comic-book-come-to-life movie were two occasions when self-interest prevailed over friendship. First Harley confronts Doc and then Cassandra confronts Harley about trading their lives to Black Mask for personal gain. Doc listens, shrugs, pockets his bounty and drives off. Harley tries to blow Cassie off with a ho hum, “I’m just a horrible person” but clearly is affected at a level that will ultimately be revealed late in the film. Definitely worth the wait.

Don’t shy away from this movie or misjudge it as gaudy graphic novel schlock because you will miss an entertaining cinematic bonanza. The music is a blast. The action is crazy fun! The bad guys lose, the good gals win. The fight sequences outrageous, outlandish and awesome. The female cast, after months of training and practice, performed most of the fight scenes themselves, no stunt doubles need apply. Definitely time to enroll in a martial arts class! Who’s with me?!