Four Recent Films

SPOILER ALERT! The plots will be discussed.

Each one of the following four 2018 films deserves a detailed post, which may happen at a later date. Right now, here are some brief impressions of these thoughtful motion pictures:

Vice

Writer and director Adam McKay’s take on the political career of former Vice President Dick Cheney (Christian Bale, completely immersed physically and psychologically in the role) contains some fun and flashy techniques that he used in his previous work, the satire on Wall Street, The Big Short. Characters break the fourth wall as they address the audience directly. There is a fake ending, showing how Cheney exited politics and led a rather pastoral life breeding dogs, with credits running prematurely. To show how Cheney and his wife, Lynne (Amy Adams) don’t reach the level of Shakespearean tragedy, McKay has the two of them quoting from the great Bard, thus creating a mock-epic scene. Perhaps the most ironic device in the movie is having the character of Kurt (Jesse Plemons) narrate the story. He is a decent, regular guy who served in the Middle East and wound up, after his untimely death, being the heart donor for the Machiavellian Cheney.

The film is mostly one-sided in its view that men like Donald Rumsfeld (a terrific Steve Carell) and Cheney had no scruples in undermining political adversaries and stretching the U. S. Constitution to enhance the power of the executive branch of the government. However, there are some humanizing elements in this portrait of Cheney. He, with the forceful urging of Lynne, elevates himself out of a state of drunken apathy to use his intelligence and cunning to change the country for what the couple felt was for the better. He stands up to Lynne’s father, an abusive and possibly homicidal father, after Lynne’s mother drowns under suspicious circumstances. He mostly stands behind his daughter, Mary (Alison Pill), after learning she is gay. However, he later gives permission to his other daughter, Liz (Lily Rabe), who was running for her father’s old Wyoming congressional seat, to do whatever she had to do to overcome her lagging poll numbers. Liz eventually comes out against gay marriage. At the end of the movie, Cheney delivers a speech directly to the camera, affirming his ends-justify-the means way of doing things, in the wake of 9/11. He says, with total honesty, “I will not apologize for keeping your family safe. And I will not apologize for doing what needed to be done so that your loved ones could sleep peacefully at night. It has been my honor to be your servant. You chose me. And I did what you asked.” Basically, he is telling the American people that if they didn’t like what he did, it was their fault for putting him in a position of power.

Green Book

Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen, putting on weight and adopting a New York accent) is a bouncer at the Copacabana nightclub in 1962. After the venue closes temporarily, he gets a job being the driver, and more importantly, a bodyguard, for accomplished African American pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) as the musician tours the Deep South of America. Mortensen’s character is considered the lead here, because we see his change from joining in with the covert bigotry of the North (as he throws away glasses used by black workers in his home) to questioning racial bigotry as he observes the institutional racism in the southern states. But, Mortensen’s Italian tough guy relies on many stereotypical traits that we have seen several times before. For me, Don Shirley (Ali gives another Oscar-worthy performance) is the more interesting of the two. Shirley makes a good living, but while having the ability and desire to perform the classics of the great composers, he has become an entertainer that plays more popular forms of music because he can’t be accepted commercially as a serious pianist due to the color of his skin.

At one point, because Tony is more aware of African American performers than is Shirley, the musician says, “So if I’m not ‘black’ enough and if I’m not ‘white enough,’ then tell me, Tony, what am I?” His anguish over this point is at the heart of the story. He plays well enough and earns enough money, but can’t perform at Carnegie Hall; the closest he can get to that stage is to live in an apartment above it. The various establishments want him to perform, but he’s not allowed to eat at their restaurants. Even though he is good enough to entertain white audiences, he must keep the “colored” curfew and not stay out late in certain towns in the South. He must use the Green Book which lists safe, black-designated motels and hotels to stay at. Toward the end of the film, he finally feels at home, first at a black club, where he plays African American music enthusiastically and is accepted passionately by members of his own race. Then, Tony, who has become not only his defender, but his friend, welcomes Shirley into his home to celebrate Christmas with Tony’s family and his white friends.

The Favourite

Director Yorgos Lanthimos has given us some darkly humorous and absurdist films in the past, such as The Lobster. This movie also contains that quirky satirical thrust, but the story is not surreal and there is empathy for at least the character of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman). Yes, she has been spoiled by being born into royalty. But, here she is a very vulnerable person, subject to physical ailments, and is the object of manipulation by various people pushing their own selfish agendas. She has several pet rabbits that substitute for a lack of children. They mirror her meek and almost fearful reaction to other humans. If you are an animal lover, as I am, you will find the scene at the end of the movie with Abigail and one of the bunnies very disturbing (though not anywhere near as bad as the one in Fatal Attraction).

The film takes place in eighteenth century England, which is the Neoclassical period. There was a strong belief at that time in the “chain of being.” This concept held that life was based on a hierarchical system that put the most spiritual at the top of existence. Thus, God came first, followed by the angels, and as one moved down the ladder, there was less spirituality and more emphasis on the bestial. Hubris (a Greek term), or exaggerated pride, which led one to believe that he or she should be exalted above one’s station, was the ultimate sin. The great writers of the time, Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope, attacked those that succumbed to this failing. As I watched this movie, I thought of Swift, (and when the writer's name was mentioned in the story, I felt that I was on the right track) whose works always tried to remind us that no matter how much people tried to pass themselves off as superior, humans had ugly, animalistic aspects. The characters in this film, such as Abigail, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and Harley (Nicholas Hoult) may dress in the finest of clothes, and inhabit grand palaces, but they are ruthless, and in some cases, disgusting individuals. Lanthimos has his actors dress in exaggerated costumes, dance absurd steps, and engage in antics that satirize their pretentiousness. (Stanley Kubrick, in Barry Lyndon, had a similar take on the eighteenth century by showing the chaos that existed beneath the facade of art and manners).

The performances here are very good, especially those of Stone and Weisz, as their characters compete to become the Queen’s “favourite.” But, Colman’s Queen Anne is the standout here. She’s already won the Golden Globe, and look for her to be a top contender for the Oscar.

If Beale Street Could Talk

Barry Jenkins adapted the famous novel by James Baldwin for the screen and directed this movie which is significant for not emphasizing overt racism, but instead showing how the bigoted environment in which decent people of color exist permeates and endangers their lives. Set in the 1970’s, the main characters, Tish Rivers (Kiki Lane) and Fonny Hunt (Stephen James) have been sweethearts since childhood. Tish becomes pregnant, and all the two want is to get married and share a normal life together. However, some man rapes a Puerto Rican woman by the name of Victoria Rogers (Emily Rios), and she identifies Fonny as her attacker. We later learn that the police basically pressured her into identifying Fonny, which we assume was based on prejudice and expediency. Victoria is left in a state of emotional precariousness, and her escape back to Puerto Rico is a metaphorical one, too, as she wants to flee the frightening world she encountered on the mainland.

The unjust arrest and conviction create a domino effect that impacts the main characters and their relatives. Because Fonny is imprisoned, the fathers of the two young people, Joseph Rivers (Colman Domingo) and Frank Hunt (Michael Beach) turn to crime, selling stolen goods to pay for Fonny’s legal defense. Tish’s mother, Sharon (Regina King, in a superb performance) goes all the way to Puerto Rico in an attempt to get Victoria to reverse her signaling out Fonny as the perpetrator. Because among some in power at the time who felt that black lives don’t matter, Fonny must accept a plea and has to spend several years in prison, only seeing his wife and child during visiting hours at a prison.

Except for a confrontation between the Hunt and Rivers families over the union of the two lovers, and a scene showing Fonny protecting Tish from a sexual harasser, and his subsequent confrontation with a bigoted cop, the movie is a quiet one. If there is any fault in the movie making here is that it attempts to be too artistic with some scenes running too long with little action, no dialogue, and only moody music.

The next film is The Edge.