The Referee (orig. L'Arbitro) [2013]

MPAA (UR would be PG-13)  FilmTv.it (3 Stars)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
FilmTV.it listing*

 L'Espresso.it (R. Escobar) review*
 Storiadeifilm.it (A. Pascale) review*

The Referee (orig. L'Arbitro) [2013] [IMDb] [FT.it]* (directed and cowritten by Paolo Zucca [IMDb] [FT.it]* along with Barbara Alberti [IMDb] [FT.it]*) is a comedy about the only sport, indeed "for many," the only thing that really matters in Italy -- calcio (soccer ;-).  The film played recently as part of the 1st Chicago Italian Film Festival organized by the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago and held at the Music Box Theater here on the North Side.

As the film is about "the only thing that really matters" in Italy, though thoroughly contemporary, made only a year ago, the film was made in solemn / crisp "black and white" -- the "colors of truth" ;-).

The film actually tells two stories:

The first of a young, fit, indeed "cut like a God" Italian "Premier League" Referee (L'Arbitro) named Cruciani (played with magnificent bordering on beatific sublimity by Stafano Accursi  [IMDb] [FT.it]*).  When we meet him in the opening sequence of the film, pregame, in the locker room ROSARY IN HAND, gracefully tying his shoelaces and then along with the other refs, solemnly combing every last hair on his head into perfect place, before trotting out, together, with dispassionate yet determined focus onto the field before AN ARENA FILLED WITH _SUPREMELY_ PASSIONATE FANS, one immediately knows THAT HE KNOWS that the Destinies of teams, the destinies of cities and, DARE ONE DREAM ... the destinies of ENTIRE NATIONS NATIONS, HANG IN THE BALANCE of HIS AND HIS COLLEAGUES' EVERY CALL ;-)

THE OTHER STORY is, then, about the small town of Parabile somewhere in the hinterlands of SARDINIA ... with a horrible curse: IT has a TERRIBLE soccer team.  It's been TERRIBLE for years, bringing shame and ridicule upon its residents, especially at the hands of the arrogant a-holes from the town of Montecrastu up the road.

'Course it doesn't help that the coach (played magnificently in his hopelessness by Benito Urgu [IMDb] [FT.it]*) IS BLIND.  But he's been Coach for years, and besides, ... HE'S BLIND ... So how can one POSSIBLY BE SO CRUEL AS TO TAKE THAT ROLE AWAY FROM HIM? ;-).  So the town feels CONDEMNED BY CRUEL, CRUEL FATE to suffer the indignity of having the worst team in the region (mind you, the worst team in the Sardinian "THIRD" League), perhaps the worst team on the Island ... UNTIL ...

...One morning a YOUNG, LONG FRIZZY HAIRED, STYLISHLY BEARDED (in a "confident" even mildly "Bad Boy" sort of way) MAN, perhaps 25 or so years in age ... walks into town.  Yes, the film does feel like a Western at times ;-) ...

Who is he?  Nicknamed Matzutzi (played by Jacopo Cullin [IMDb] [FT.it]*) apparently a former "son of this (God-forsaken) town," his family, dirt poor, had emigrated to Argentina fifteen years earlier in hopes of finding a better life.

Why was he back?  To look for "his girl" who he left in Parabile as a ten year old (!) ;-).  Does he find her?  Yes!  She's Miranda, the still single, somewhat frustrated, Miranda (played by Geppi Cucciari [IMDb] [FT.it]*) DAUGHTER OF THE BLIND COACH, working as a cashier of the grocery store that her parents own (and since her father's blind, she probably runs...).  Does she recognize him or even remember him?  Of course not!  He tries to jog her memory.  He tells her his family's story, how they were dirt poor when they left Sardinia, that they emigrated to Argentina and how he had vowed to his 10 year old ragazina (little girl friend) that he'd come back for her.  (How can she NOT remember? ;-)

"Well did you make it?  Did you come back with a "sacco di soldi" (lit. a sack full of money)?" she asks, kinda hoping.  Of course not ... ;-)  BUT ... as the news spreads of his return to this small town, and the various townspeople scratch their heads trying to remember his family, and what precise word among something like 10-15 specific regional words for "loser" that they used to call his dad ... ONE THING BECOMES CLEAR: Matzutzi may have left Sardinia dirt poor and may have come back to Sardinia ... still dirt poor... BUT ... he was one damned good soccer player ;-) ;-)

And so Parabile's Atletico's fortunes begin to improve:  In a series of matches against various other tiny and ancient towns in the area, played on pitches that honestly COULD HAVE BEEN "fields of battle" WAY WAY "BACK IN THE DAY" ... during Neolithic / Bronze Age times ;-) ... Parabile bests one team after another to the point that arch-rival, a-holes up the road, Montecrustu becomes worried.  Much, much ensues ...

... Among that which ensues, of course, is the tying-in of the two stories.  After all, they seem SOOO FAR APART.  And yet, L'ARTITRO Cruciani, introduced to us as "A little less than a God" has to somehow make an Icarus-like plunge to fall-back the level of Sardinian campagna.  And ... of course, he does.  How exactly?  I'm not gonna tell you ;-)  But it's very, very current ...

... especially since I have Mexican parishioners here at my parish in Chicago who are still angry (and mostly sad) over how at this year's World Cup, Mexico WAS AHEAD OF The Netherlands 1:0 in a crucial elimination game, when time had unofficially run-out.  Then during the extra 3-4 minutes that ONLY THE REFEREES KEEP TRACK OF, the Netherlands SCORED A GOAL and 15 SECONDS LATER a VERY QUESTIONABLE "PENALTY" was called _against Mexico_ giving the Netherlands A PENALTY KICK that they used to SCORE AGAIN TO "WIN" THE GAME 2:1. 

Now poor Cruciani didn't necessarily do something _that_ stupid / flagrant ... After all, he's introduced to us as a decent and serious guy.  BUT ... does it necessarily matter? ;-)

A great film!  About, again, "the only thing that (often) really matters" in Italy ;-)



ADDENDA (how to find / play this film in the U.S.A.):

This film albeit in European PAL format is available with English subtitles for a reasonable price through Amazon.com. 

Further, DVD players capable of playing DVDs from various regions (North America, Europe, etc) are no longer particularly expensive (costing perhaps $10 more than a one region DVD player).

Finally, a simple program called DVDFab Passkey Lite (downloadable FOR FREE from Softpedia.com) allows one to play DVDs from all regions on one's computer's DVD-Rom drive. 



* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

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Penguins of Madagascar [2014]

MPAA (PG)  CNS/USCCB (A-I)  ChicagoTribune (2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (B)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (G. Cheshire) review
RogerEbert.com (C. Lemire) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review  

Penguins of Madagascar [2014] (directed by Eric Darnell and Simon J. Smith, screenplay by John Aboud, Michael Colton and Brandon Sawyer, characters by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath) gives the scene stealing penguins of the DreamWorks Animations' Madagascar franchise a goofy, dare one say "Looney" feature film of their own, And ... well, if you grew-up loving Warner Bros' old Looney Tunes cartoons (Bugs Bunny / Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Cayote / Roadrunner, etc) in this film, IMHO you'll have something to share with your little ones (kids, grandkids or beyond).

The film offers basically the "origin story" for the Madagascar franchise's penguins, who we come to discover are both (hopefully a bit) "smarter than the average penguin" and at least as "cursed" by their "cuteness" as they are blessed. 

The story begins out in Antarctica where a human film crew is shown enthusiastically filming a seemingly endless -- horizon-to-horizon -- procession of unbelievably cute, single-file arrayed, waddling penguins (documentary film-maker Werner Herzog providing the solemn March of the Penguins [2005]-like human voice-over) waddling to ... where exactly?  Not even the penguins know.

And that BOTHERS at least a group of three penguins -- Skipper (voiced by Tom McGrath), Rico (voiced by Conrad Vernon) and Kowalski (voiced by Chris Miller) -- who'd prefer to think of themselves as being "far cooler" (and somewhat "smarter") than the others.

So when they see a penguin egg rolling down a slope past them (and none of the other penguins seem to be particularly concerned about the probable impending death of a baby penguin, because they were all "busy" waddling to ... "Somewhere" ...), the three use the rolling egg down the hill as an excuse to "break ranks" and set themselves free from this tyranny of mindless if perhaps impossibly cute conformity.

They find and save the egg, it hatches, and Private (voiced by Christopher Knights), the "D'Artagnan" of this "Three-Musketeer-ing" group (of Penguins...) is born.   Fancying themselves as a "Band of Brothers [2001]-ish" / "Trio-plus-One" of "ninja super spies" much then ensues.

And much of what ensues is GLEEFULLY "looney" ... In an early exploit, the four break into Fort Knox, NOT to steal gold (what would gold be to a Penguin?) but instead to gain access to a "rare vending machine" that still sells really unhealthy (but to a Penguin, apparently irresistible, gold colored) "cheese puffs" ;-)

But the story really begins when the four come across villainous shape-shifting Octopus, his zoo-name being "Dave" (voiced by John Malkovich), who had a real grudge against Penguins.  Why?  At zoo after zoo, aquarium after aquarium Penguins' simple, even stupid "cuteness" ALWAYS trumped the INTELLIGENCE and ACROBATICS of "his kind" (honestly Octopi are very intelligent creatures, and actually often quite cute as well ... just NOT as cute as Penguins ;-).   Well, "Dave" a very intelligent Octupus with a "chip on his shoulder" (do octopi have have shoulders?) comes up with a plan to spray all the Penguins that he can get his tentacles on with a serum that would render them into ugly mutant-like "zombie penguins"... And it's up to these three-plus-one "super-spy" / "ninja" penguins to stop him!

And it would actually go easier, if not for the not-exactly asked-for intervention of an "elite squad" of "far smarter / stronger" animals (than the "cute but not particularly bright" Penguins) getting in the way.  The squad, calling itself "The North Wind" is led by a solemn British-accented Wolf (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) who's sooo undercover that he goes by the name "Classified" ;-) and it includes a Baby Seal (if not a NAVY SEAL) nicknamed "Short Fuse" (voiced by Ken Jeong), a Russian accented White Owl called Eva (voiced by Annet Mahendru) and a brawnish Polar Bear nicknamed Corporal (voiced by Peter Stormare).  They, of course, dismiss the Penguins as "amateurs" (which they are ... ;-).   But who will "save the day" ...?

Guess ;-)

Folks, this is a very goofy movie.  But if you liked the antics of the Looney Tunes Characters of old (Elmer Fudd's "Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit...") then honestly you'll probably love this.  Just about every one of the characters in this story is funny, and just about everyone of them could have a story built around them.  And that, of course, bodes very, very well for a "franchise" ;-)


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Rosewater [2014]

MPAA (R)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (C)  Fr. Dennis (3 Stars)

IMDb listing
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (G. Cheshire) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review  

Rosewater [2014] (screenplay and directed by Jon Stewart [IMDb] based on the book "And then They Came For Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival" by Maziar Bahari [IMDb] and Aimee Molloy [IMDb]) tells the story of Iranian-born, London residing journalist Maziar Bahari [IMDb] (played in the film by Gael García Bernal). 

Bahari was back home in Tehran in 2009 to cover Iran's presidential election in which the state supported President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is widely believed to have won re-election only by resorting to fraud.  There were widespread street protests following the disputed election, Bahari covered some of those protests.  Eventually, the Iranian authorities came "knocking at the door" of his mother's apartment's where he was staying.  And he was taken away "for questioning" for any number of possible charges ranging from "pornography" to "espionage." 

In the authorities' "defense", he did apparently have an FHM magazine in his possession with a scantily clad and quite "acrobatically posed" Megan Fox on the cover ;-), and he did "publicly admit" on this film's director Jon Stewart's Daily Show segment that aired in the run-up to the election that he was in Iran AS A SPY working for any number of (take your pick ... CIA, Mossad, MI6) Western intelligence services ... ;-)

Bahari also came from a "family of troublemakers."  Both his father and sister had been "taken away" (his father by the Shah of Iran's government in the 1950s, his sister by Ayatollah Khomenei's Islamic Government in the late 1970s-80s) for similar "questioning" (and torture ...) for being "Communists."  Both were apparently "eventually released."  By family lore, they came out of their imprisonment (and torture...) perhaps physically damaged, but "with their integrity intact": THEY TOLD THEM NOTHING!

So midway through the film, there's Bahari, in a solitary confinement cell and, the ghost of his dad (played by Haluk Bilginer) comes visiting, telling him to "Tell them nothing (!)"  And Bahari has a pretty good question to ask his dad: "Dad, you and [sister] were jailed and tortured, one by the Shah the other by the Islamic Regime, because you were Communists.  Does it bother you that both regimes and even the one that's torturing me now learned how to do those things from the Gulags?  You were not all that different from what they are."  

Later, when his quite methodical and convinced of the fundamental rightness of his cause interrogator (played by Kim Bodnia), who Bahari comes to think of as "Rosewater" for the cologne that he seemed to use, keeps hammering away at Bahari trying to get him to admit that he was a spy, Bahari asks him: "What kind of 'a spy' would go ON A COMEDY SHOW and PROCLAIM TO THE WHOLE WORLD THAT HE'S A SPY?"  But "Rosewater" doesn't flinch: "You may think we're paranoid, but the Western Intelligence Services have infiltrated all kinds of news organizations.  And so a journalist, a spy (and even a comedian) could be the same thing."

And so Bahari, shaking his head (he was no spy), realizes that good ole, somewhat simplistic, and often brutal "Rosewater" may actually have a point, or AT LEAST "A POINT" THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DISPROVE ...


What then to do, when faced with an interrogator (and at times torturer) who's convinced that you're "guilty" and your explanations / alibis just "prove" that you're "really good" at what he believes that you're guilty of?

That then is the rest of the film.  And there will certainly be people who will not like Bahari's solution. 

For myself, being a son of political refugees (who fled then Communist Czechoslovakia) as well, and now as a priest (a "functionary"...) in the Catholic Church KNOWING A THING OR TWO about subtle (and at times not particularly subtle coercion) to embrace one or another "Party line" (even if that "Party Line" is that of one or another Pastor... ;-) ... I've come to believe that Andy Warhol may provide a solution: If the "Powers that Be" insist that you put up a picture of "Chairman Mao" in your office ... then put up FOUR, one in each of the primary colors ... and be done with it.

It's not a perfect solution, but it does kinda fit Jesus' saying: "Render onto Caesar what is Caesar's and then to God what is God's" (Mark 12:17).  Telling "THEM" "NOTHING" ... ESPECIALLY IF THERE'S NOTHING TO TELL ... can be, IMHO, a waste of time.

In any case, an interesting and thought provoking film!


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Foreign Body (Obce ciało) [2014]

MPAA (UR would be R)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
Filmweb.pl listing*

Avvenire.it (L. Pellegrini) interview w. director*

film.onet.pl (A. Sterna) review*
film.org.pl (P. Jalowski) review*
wnas.pl (A. Majewski) review*

HollywoodReporter (T. McCarthy) review
Variety (D. Harvey) review

Foreign Body (Obce ciało) [2014] [IMDb] [FW.pl]*(written and directed by Krzysztof Zanussi [IMDb] [FW.pl]* [Culture.pl] [en.wikip] [pl.wikip]*) played at both the 50th Annual (2014) Chicago International Film Festival and more recently the 26th Annual (2014) Polish Film Festival in America held here in Chicago. 

And this is appropriate as this renowned half-Polish, half-Italian film-maker, began his career in his native Poland under the influence of the Polish Film School [en.wikip] [pl.wikip]*(itself heavily influenced by Italian Neo-Realism [en.wikip] [it.wikip]*).  Later, during the Papacy of John Paul II / the Solidarity Era, he spent much of the 1980s in the West.  Even under Communism, the themes of his films had often religious / philosophical themes.  Several of his films were featured in Martin Scorsese's series: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema: [MSP Website] [Culture.pl].  When the series played here in Chicago, I reviewed his film The Constant Factor [1980] here on my blog.  As such, while certainly Polish, Zanussi's career has been marked by a transcendence of his roots to a truly world stage.  And yet, he does bring both Poland and his Catholicism with him in a way that those among the world's intelligencia today "who would have eyes and ears" would find both interesting and challenging.

Such then is the case of this thoroughly "international" or at least "European" film being reviewed here:

The story is about two mid-to-late 20-somethings, both still young, educated and attractive, he Italian, named Angelo (played by Riccardo Leonelli [IMDb] [FW.pl]*), she Polish, named Kasia (played by Agata Buzek [IMDb] [FW.pl]*).   They apparently met at an international gathering of one or another Catholic young-adult oriented movements (one thinks of Opus Dei, Focolare, Sant'Edidio or perhaps even the French-based Taize) quite popular among young people in Europe today. 

Though becoming friends and certainly attracted to one other, she decides to return back to Poland and explore the possibility of entering the Convent.  He, though certainly in love with her, as _a good Catholic_ respects her decision to explore this.

To most of the other characters in the story (as perhaps to many readers here) THESE DECISIONS (she to explore the possibility of entering the Convent, he letting her explore it) SEEM INCOMPREHENSIBLE.

Kasia's well educated (and quite well connected) Polish father (played by Sławomir Orzechowski [IMDb] [FW.pl]*), in fact, looks up Angelo and even finds him a job (with some multinational energy firm) up in Poland in hopes that Angelo would talk Casia out of her decision.  Though honestly hoping that Casia will leave the Convent (she enters the Convent as part of a year of postulancy/discernment), Angelo refuses to do this.

IN THE MEAN TIME, several very attractive / well educated women at his work at the "Energy Company" in Poland, notably Kris (played by Agnieszka Grochowska [IMDb] [FW.pl]*), his boss, and Mira (played by Weronika Rosati [IMDb] [FW.pl]*) his colleague and Kris' best friend at the office, SIMPLY DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY the very intelligent, very good-looking, very eligible Angelo would be "waiting" for Casia to make-up her mind, and, more to the point "not indulging in the other fish in the sea."  Eventually Kris simply tells Angelo: "I know that you're not gay, but ... you're apparently very Catholic, which is almost as unfortunate as being gay." 

Kris and Mira spend much of the rest of the story making Angelo's life "a living Hell" even as Angelo hopes that Casia will decide to leave the Convent but _only_ if Casia decides that this is God's will.

NOW CASIA'S POSTULANCY PERIOD IN THE CONVENT IS ABOUT AS WELL PRESENTED AS I'VE EVER SEEN IN A CONTEMPORARY FILM. 

In my review of Ida [2014], I lamented actually that its portrayals of both Ida herself and life in her Convent remained quite cliched (the young "naive nun-to-be" who didn't even know where she came from is sent-out into the world to "find-out who she really is..."). 

In stark contrast, Casia is presented in this film as a thoroughly intelligent young woman who is, very consciously, eyes open, discerning whether to commit her life IN THIS WAY to God.  AND HER MOTHER SUPERIOR IS PRESENTED AGAIN AS A WISE AND QUITE SECURE / SERENE MENTOR FIGURE TO HER: When Casia asks to leave the Convent for a period of time, "No problem."  When Casia "assures" the Mother Superior that she'll be back, the Mother Superior responds serenely, "Don't worry my Child, the world will not come to an end if you don't."  In this way, Casia was being reminded that her decision whether to stay, go or return was to be free.  (And she would do NO ONE any favors, if she made her decision to stay, go or return without such freedom).

Does Casia stay to become a nun? (Mild spoiler alert) ... YES.  It's a decision that many, many people in this world would not understand.  But she does, and freely.

So then, did Angelo waste a year "waiting" (and often suffering ridicule) in out there in Poland?  The film has an interesting and perhaps surprising answer to that as well.

All in all, an excellent and UNAPOLOGETICALLY CONTEMPORARY CATHOLIC FILM that for those "would have eyes and ears" would be worth-the-while to look-up when it becomes available on DVD or services like Amazon Instant Video to see. 


* Reasonably good (sense) translations of non-English webpages can be found by viewing them through Google's Chrome browser. 

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Beyond the Lights [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-III)  ChicagoTribune (2 1/2 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (4 Stars)  AVClub (B+)  Fr. Dennis (2 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (R. Moore) review
RogerEbert.com (O. Henderson) review
AVClub (K. Ulrich) review  

BET coverage
Ebony coverage
Essence.com coverage
TheSource.com articles

Like many films of its type, the teen (teen) / "young adult" (early/mid 20-something) oriented film Beyond the Lights [2014] (screenplay written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood) tries really hard to be "hip", even to the point of resorting to the hyper-sexualized imagery that the film actually seeks to criticize.  In any case, it is absolutely clear that the _intention_ of the filmmaker is to invite the audience to SEE "Beyond the Lights" even as those lights are, well, quite DISTRACTING and OFTEN VERY, VERY BRIGHT.  Still, if one can get "beyond" the "Bright Lights" then there are actually a surprising number of themes in this film that young people could certainly relate to.

The story is about mixed-race, part African-descended singer named Noni (played briefly as a girl by India Jean-Jacques and then, for most of the film, as a 20-something-young-adult by Gugu Mbatha-Raw).  And she has a perhaps loving but certainly insecure "helicopter mother" named Macy Jean (played by Minnie Driver). 

The film begins with 10 year old Noni winning second place in some neighborhood talent contest in some random city somewhere in England, with mom Macy Jean telling her afterwards to throw away her second place trophy asking her: "Do you want to be a runner-up all your life or do you want to become a winner?"  That's kind of a tough lesson to teach a 10 year old who's probably holding the first trophy that she's won in her life ...

Well, Noni grows-up to be "a winner" !!  Does she ever!   She becomes a hyper-commercialized HIP-HOP SENSATION.  Strategically positioned suspenders or, even more tellingly, GOLD SHACKLES AND CHAINS often serve as her "top."  HER RACE becomes all but UNKNOWABLE, her skin being "kinda tan," her hair a straight, purple-died weave, her voice remaining somewhat "british-y" in accent.  She also has a made-to-order white head-to-toe tattoo-covered bad-boy rap-star (keep 'em talkin' about you...) celebrity "boyfriend."

Well how much "makeup" can one possibly bear?  So ... after _winning_ some random music award at some random glitzy Los Angeles music awards show, Noni takes a few swigs of some kind of champagne, she comes back to her hotel room, asks the guard, an off-duty LAPD cop named Kaz (played by Nate Parker) to "let no one pass" and ... (actually) if not for her pushy mom, not letting officer/security guard Kaz "keep her out of her daughter's room" ... nearly throws herself-off the balcony ... A "cry for help"??   Ya think?

In truth, while ma' forced Kaz to let her in to her daughter's room, allowing both her and Officer Kaz to see Noni there on the balcony, it was actually Kaz who was able to save her.  (Ma' just froze).

Now what the heck to do?  Kaz (looking from the outside) immediately understands Noni to be one troubled young woman.  Ma' who's been super-involved in Noni's life (to the point that she was her "manager") honestly doesn't see.  Perhaps she's just "too close," perhaps like the manager husband of the (falling) "Country superstar" in Country Strong [2010] she's just too invested in her loved one's "success" to see clearly, perhaps she just doesn't have a clue.  In any case, a few hours after Officer Kaz literally pulled Noni, dangling, off the balcony, a preemptive "press conference" is called (in case "anybody saw" what actually happened) where Noni "confesses" to the incident, blames it on "a few too many celebratory drinks," thanks Kaz for pulling her to safety ... and ... well, did you know that we're coming new, super hot album, that'll be in stores in a couple of weeks ... (business as usual)."

But business is, of course, not as usual.

In the midst of a life of so much glitz and nobody, nobody, nobody being honest ... Kaz, becomes the first "normal" person that entered (okay, randomly...) into Noni's life in a long time.  And Noni, virtual demi-Goddess that she is, decides that she's going to look him up and bring him into her life.  That's probably the smartest (early) thing that Noni does in the story.  But, in truth, she's actually pretty lucky.  It turns out that Kaz is available to come into Noni's life (this could have become a far more tragic story if Kaz had been quite married with two kids living "in the valley").

Even so,Kaz has his own story/issues.  It turns out that he has a "helicopter parent" of his own.  His dad, LAPD as well (played by Danny Glover) had some ambitions for his son as well.  He wanted him to eventually become a politician.  As such, Kaz' life has been quite scripted as well -- science degree apparently in college, then instead of going into industry, "deciding" to "go into service" as a police officer "on the beat in LA," then after some years of that "gig" find some political office to run for.  Dad sees "strung out Hip-hop star with issues" Noni as not exactly "First Lady potential..." AND CERTAINLY NOT THE KIND OF GIRLFRIEND THAT WOULD ENGENDER CONFIDENCE FROM THE AFRICAN AMERICAN PASTORS whose support Kaz was going need if he'd ever really enter Politics.  (But does Kaz really want to be a politician? ... Or is this just dad's dream ...?)

What to do?  Well ... eventually THE TWO RUN AWAY (TOGETHER).

This (not altogether surprising) "plot twist" becomes (more or less correctly) the primary criticism of the U.S. Catholic Bishops' office's review of the film: Why show (once again...) a young couple (more or less obviously) sleeping together first before getting married?  This a not-at-all-surprising (and again more-or-less clearly correct) criticism of the film by a major and quite authorative voice of the Faith community.

I would suggest the following, however: Yes, probably the two probably would have slept together, BUT GIVEN their emotional states at the time PROBABLY NOT ALL THAT MUCH.  Noni, in particular, was a total mess.  Is there anything particularly revelatory or beautiful about sex (1) when one's a total mess, or (2) one's having sex with someone who's a total mess?  In the first instance, sex comes akin to desperately getting bombed on alcohol or stoned on some other drug.  In the second, it's akin to knocking-out and date-raping somebody.  In either case, there's not much particularly "beautiful" about it.  Perhaps there's another option, (3) "celebratory sex" after "drying out."  But that's then akin to "going to the tavern to celebrate two weeks of 'sobriety.'" 

So regardless of what the film implies, I just don't believe that there'd actually be a whole lot of sex going on between the two when they run off to Mexico.  Nani simply had too many issues to sort through, and even Kaz had to make some decisions and sort through some issues as well (including how involved would he have wanted to become with a young woman who really did need some time to figure things out). 

So I'm not surprised that they would have run off together.  But I don't think that there'd really be all that much (sexually) going-on until they did "sober up" and when they did ... then the real questions would begin: Do I even like you?  Do I want to have children, spend the rest of my life with you?  The answers could be yes.  But ... it'd be slower than perhaps the film'd imply.

So the film does tell an interesting and current story.  But the Bishops' office here is right.  The imagery is perhaps needlessly sexualized and that makes it hard, even for the viewer, to get "Beyond the Lights."

Still as a 20-something discussion piece, at a distance, the film might not be bad.


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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay -- Part 1 [2014]

MPAA (PG-13)  CNS/USCCB (A-II)  ChicagoTribune (3 Stars)  RogerEbert.com (2 1/2 Stars)  AVClub (B-)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
CNS/USCCB (J. Mulderig) review
ChicagoTribune (M. Phillips) review
RogerEbert.com (M. Zoller Seitz) review
AVClub (A.A. Dowd) review  

The Hunger Games Mockingjay -- Part 1 [2014] (directed by Francis Lawrence, screenplay by Peter Craig and Danny Strong based on the novel by Suzanne Collins [IMDb]) is the third cinematic installment of Collins' Hunger Games [wikip] [Amzn] trilogy.  The first two installments The Hunger Games [2012], and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire [2013] were reviewed on this blog earlier.  As with the previous cinematic adaptations of the Harry Potter and Twilight book series, the film-makers here have decided to split the final book in the series into two parts, making the cinematic adaptation of Collins' original trilogy comprise ... four films. 

Yes, one's tempted to "roll one's eyes" and inevitably images of money / Hollywood enter one's mind ... But truth be told, as I wrote in my review of the first of the recent Hobbit movies (all based on and reasonably faithfully following Tolkien's relatively tiny 100 page book that Hollywood's stretched-out into a series of three two-hour-plus movies) if one finds the worlds created in these stories to be compelling, then one probably won't mind spending a little more time in them as a result of an extra film (or two...).

And so it is then with the world, or the post-Apocalyptic North America called "Panem" of the Hunger Games.   By this third installment, one is pretty much "accustomed" to the place and to the conflict playing out  (Panem being dominated by a radically imperialistic/exploitative central Capitol extracting resources from and holding sway over thirteen outlying/subordinate Districts).

To the story ...

This third installment begins with the story's teenage heroine Katniss Everdeen (played with ever increasing familiarity and ease by Jennifer Lawrence) arriving a bunker carved deep into a mountain somewhere in previously thought to be disastrously "unlucky" District 13.  (At the end of the second installment, she was "rescued" / "taken away" by a seemingly ad hoc group of rebels seeking to finally organize a (new) Rebellion against the oppressive power of Panem's central Capital).   Previously, even Katniss believed that District 13 had been obliterated by the reigning Capitol's forces at the end of the last Rebellion against it.  Indeed, the annual "The Hunger Games" in which Katniss participated (twice) were organized by "The Capitol" each year to "celebrate" that "final victory" of the Central "Capitol" over its previously rebellious Provinces.

So it was indeed something of a shock for Katniss, who certainly had no love for the Capitol, to arrive at said bunker in District 13 and to discover that not only was it _not_ dead, but instead was a "beehive of life/activity." Yes, perhaps it was "burrowed deep underground" but it was ready now, indeed itching now, to start a new fight against the Capitol's forces to gain its dignity and independence.

And indeed (almost) everybody seemed to believe that Katniss (!) as a result of her defiance at those two Hunger Games would be the perfect "Poster Child" ("Face") for the New Rebellion.  But was she?  And if so, HOW, would she be(come) "The Face" of the New Rebellion of the Districts against the Capitol? 

These questions become the fodder for this third installment of the story.  And IMHO, this installment becomes the most interesting (and most current) of the installments to the story thus far.  I believe this because the central question being asked is "What makes for a Rebellion?" or even more simply "What makes for a Campaign of any sort?"     

District 13's no-nonsense President Alma Coin (played by Julianne Moore) has been organizing her residents in a very Spartan-like martial manner, waiting for a moment when they could finally "leave the hive" to strike at the Capitol.  She honestly doesn't understand the non-District 13's rebel commanders, including various defectors from the Capitol's, fascination with Katniss.  How can a "pretty" or even pretty DETERMINED "face" CARRY a Revolution??  She seems to ask. 

But the previously Capitol-spin-guru now defector-to-the-Rebel-side Plutarch Heavensbee (played by Phillip Seymour Hofmann) along with a cadre of idealistic "film school people" (again defectors from The Capitol) seems convinced that a Cause (ANY CAUSE) NEEDS a "Face" indeed a multipronged "media campaign" complete with slogans, and symbols, and songs, and finally even short-pithy-30 second "propaganda-info-mercials." 

Like the no-nonsense, healthy-and-fit President Coin of District 13, the down-to-earth (and often drunk...) Haymitch Abernathy (played again, wonderfully, by Woody Harrelson) of Katniss' own (blue-collar / Appalachia-like) District 8 is unconvinced by the Capitol-defectors' insistence on "media glitz," counseling instead that "What makes Catniss, Catniss is her AUTHENTICITY."  Yes, he believes that Catniss could "RALLY the Revolution" but only because she is "one of the people" / "one of the oppressed."  Put too much make-up on her, make her "talking points" too stilted ... and SHE'D LOSE _THE PEOPLE_, he tells the well-meaning, mic and camera toting, makeup carrying, Capitol-defector "media" people.

Add to that a cyber/technology wiz or two, personified here by another defector from the Capitol, named Beetee (played by Jeffrey Wright)... and this third installment of The Hunger Games series BECOMES A GREAT "POLY-SCI" DISCUSSION PIECE for high schoolers and college kids: How would you organize a campaign for something that you would believe in?

In truth, perhaps there are TOO MANY key players in the story who come "from the Capitol" ("from the Elite") to my liking.  But this installment certainly does offer much to think about as one tries to figure out how one would plan a rebellion against a force as oppressive (and as initially dominant) as the Capitol in the Hunger Game series.

So then, having set-up the story ... much ensues ... ;-) ... and I now eagerly await the fourth and final installment!   Good job folks, good job!


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The Immigrant [2013]

MPAA (R)  RogerEbert.com (3 Stars)  AVClub (A)  Fr. Dennis (3 1/2 Stars)

IMDb listing
RogerEbert.com (D. Callahan) review
AVClub (I. Vishnevetsky) review  

The Immigrant [2013] (directed and screenplay cowritten by James Gray along with Ric Menello) is a visually striking, critically acclaimed / award winning "New York in the 1920s" immigrant "period piece" / "Melodrama" [TM] that made the festival rounds last year (including the 2013 Chicago International Film Festival).  Since it's main protagonist was a recently arrived 20-something Polish immigrant woman named Ewa Cybulska (played magnificently throughout by Marion Cotillard), the film played again recently at the 2014 Polish Film Festival in America held here in Chicago.

The film begins with Ewa and her sister Magda (played by Angela Sarafyan), tired but smiling, just having arrived on Americn shores, standing in the "inspection line" at Ellis Island.  Very quickly it goes bad.  Magda, looking more tired and sweaty than Ewa, coughs a few times.  Unfortunately, that's _exactly_ what the inspectors are looking for.  So she is quite rapidly removed from the line to be quarantined in case she has tuberculosis (which, let's face it, she probably has ...). 

That leaves Ewa, and it quickly goes downhill for her as well.  Above all, with Magda having been taken away, she's arriving now to the States "unaccompanied" (with nobody).  She has an address of an uncle and aunt in New York.  But the custom's official, without looking particularly hard at the paper with their address, declares the address invalid.  How would he know that so quickly?  Perhaps he was jaded (anybody could come with simply a paper saying anything), perhaps he didn't care, perhaps he didn't particularly like immigrants (after all, they were coming from some "new/strange part of Europe again," and American residents have never particularly liked "newcomers" anyway), perhaps, he even could have been bribed to give Ewa, a young woman arriving INCREASINGLY DESPERATE and ALONE, a hard time.  In any case, he tells her "The United States does not accept 'unaccompanied women' to our shores."  He further questions her moral character based on some random "report" of something that (could have) happened on the ship on which she and her sister were arriving.  So he summarily puts her into a line AWAITING DEPORTATION.

While waiting in this line ... IT JUST HAPPENS that a "nice man" (or perhaps/almost certainly not a particularly "nice man") named Bruno Weiss (played again remarkably well in superbly "complex" / "conflicted" fashion by Joaquin Phoenix) comes by the line of young women awaiting deportation and ... since Ewa is young, fairly attractive and actually speaks some English ... "helps her."  In any case, he gets her "off the island."  How?  Guess ...

Now obviously this "nice" or "not particularly nice" or frankly "quite evil" if perhaps "conflicted about it" man named Bruno ... has an agenda.  And perhaps not particularly surprisingly, Ewa is soon groomed into prostituting herself to both "pay for his care (of her)" and with the vague hope that HE might actually help her sister (afflicted with tuberculosis ... or not...) eventually get off of Ellis Island as well.

Sigh ... so what does Ewa do?  Well the rest of the story, more-or-less obviously quite melodramatic, but certainly WELL PLAYED, plays out.  Yes, she does find herself in a kind of sexual slavery (Seriously though playing out in the early 1920s, this film touches on SO MANY ISSUES of today).  But she is not without her inner resources -- both her pride AND HER FAITH -- and she's soon not without friends, including a 1920s era "Magician" (played again WONDERFULLY, attuned to the time of the story, by Jeremy Renner) who to varying degrees are able to "kinda help."

Does she find her way out of this horrible mess?  Well, find the film when it eventually comes out on DVD to find out ;-).  Honestly, this is a very well made film that though quite melodramatic has some very well drawn, and often quite nuanced characters (including the troubled, conflicted, Bruno).  In any case, the film reminds us that EVERYBODY has a story.

So good job folks, good job!


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