Director Dominga Sotomayor’s TOO LATE TO DIE YOUNG screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) Friday August 30th, Saturday August 31st, and Sunday September 1st. The screenings begin at 7:30 each evening. Facebook invite can be found HERE.
Set in 1990 Chile at the end of Pinochet’s reign, Too Late to Die Young focuses on 16-year-old Sofía (Demian Hernández), who, like most leads in coming of age stories, is itching to be a little bit older than what she is. Sofía has a clear, age-appropriate suitor in Lucas (Antar Machado), but she’s drawn to a cool older guy named Ignacio (Matías Oviedo) instead. Director Sotomayor has a keen eye for visuals, calling to mind recent independent touchstones such as Beasts of the Southern Wild.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Admission is:
$7 for the general public $6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools $5 for Webster University staff and faculty
The legendary Academy Award nominee Sylvester Stallone (2015, Best Supporting Actor, Creed) returns to his most explosive character yet when Rambo arrives on 4K Ultra HD™ Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray™ and Digital) and Digital 4K Ultra HD September 3 from Lionsgate. Just in time for Stallone’s reprisal of the role in Rambo: Last Blood (in theaters September 20), re-relive the fourth movie in the franchise set 26 years after Rambo made his big screen debut in First Blood. Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone, the film also stars Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, and Graham McTavish. Experience four times the resolution of full HD with the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, which includes Dolby Vision®, bringing entertainment to life through ultra-vivid picture quality. When compared to a standard picture, Dolby Vision can deliver spectacular colors never before seen on a screen, highlights that are up to 40 times brighter, and blacks that are 10 times darker. Additionally, the 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack and Blu-ray feature Dolby Atmos® immersive audio mixed specifically for the home, to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. Available for the very first time in this absolutely stunning format, the Rambo 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack will include both the theatrical cut and unrated extended cut and will be available for the suggested retail price of $22.99.
The ultimate American action hero returns – with a vengeance! After spending several years in northern Thailand operating a longboat on the Salween River, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) reluctantly agrees to carry a group of Christian missionaries into war-torn Burma. But when the aid workers are captured by ruthless Nationalist Army soldiers, Rambo leads a group of battle-scarred, combat-hardened mercenaries on an epic, last-ditch mission to rescue the prisoners – at all costs.
4K ULTRA HD SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary with Sylvester Stallone (Theatrical Cut Only)
“It’s a Long Road: Resurrection of an Icon” Featurette
“A Score to Settle: The Music of Rambo” Featurette
“The Art of War: Completing Rambo” Multi-Part Featurette
“The Weaponry of Rambo” Featurette
“A Hero’s Welcome: Release and Reaction” Featurette
“Legacy of Despair: The Real Struggle In Burma” Featurette
“Rambo: To Hell & Back” Director’s Production Diary
Deleted Scenes
Theatrical Trailer
CAST Sylvester Stallone Rocky, Creed, The Expendables Franchise Julie Benz TV’s “Dexter,” “Hawaii Five-O,” “Defiance” Matthew Marsden Black Hawk Down, Resident Evil: Extinction, Bounty Killer Graham McTavish Aquaman, The Hobbit Franchise, TV’s “Preacher”
“Well, sir, I ain’t a f’or real cowboy. But I am one helluva stud!”
Golden Anniversaries: Films of 1969 features 6 classic films celebrating their 50th anniversaries. This second edition focuses on 1969 and features a half-dozen films, all screening for free at the St. Louis Public Library (1301 Olive Street St. Louis)over 3 weekends in late summer. This series kicks off this Saturday August 31st at 1pm with MIDNIGHT COWBOY. There will be an intro and post-film Q&A with Andrew Wyatt, editor and film critic for Cinema St. Louis‘ The Lens. Admission is FREE. A Facebook invite can be found HERE
The superb and sad MIDNIGHT COWBOY deserved the Oscar for Best Picture in 1969 and was the first and only “X” rated movie to get the prize. Jon Voight’s performance as the naive Joe Buck made you believe that he believes he can go anywhere. But Dustin Hoffman’s performance as Ratzo Rizzo, the ‘Pimp with a Limp’, was one for the ages. Hoffman transformed into a squalid character that is equal parts repulsive and sympathetic. Bob Balaban and Sylvia Miles were memorable in small roles. The ending showed that everybody has a dream, but it just might not be in your reach.
Here is the rest of the schedule for Cinema St. Louis’ Golden Anniversaries: Films of 1969 Series
Djibril Diop Mambéty’s HYENAS (1992)screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) Thursday August 29th, The screening begin at 7:30. Facebook invite can be found HERE.
Alongside fellow countryman Ousmane Sembène, director Djibril Diop Mambéty put Senegalese films on the world cinema map in the 1960s and beyond. Perhaps best known for his 1973 work Touki Bouki but making great short and feature films right up until his last one (1999’s The Little Girl Who Sold the Sun), Hyenas still manages to stand out as one of his best. An adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play The Visit, in Hyenas we find the return of a woman named Linguere Ramatou to her hometown, for she has a score to settle that has haunted her since her teenage years.
In Wolof with English subtitles.
Admission is:
$7 for the general public $6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools $5 for Webster University staff and faculty
“I wish the goblins would come and take you away! Right now! “
LABYRINTH screens midnights this weekend (August 30th and 31st) at The Tivoli Theater as part of their ‘Reel Late at The Tivoli’ Midnight Series. Nothing like a crummy day of babysitting your little brother to make you wish him away to the Goblin King! What’s that, you didn’t mean to? Well…time is of the essence…you have 13 hours in which to solve the labyrinth, before your baby brother becomes a goblin!
LABYRINTH, the charming 1986 fantasy helmed by the late Jim Henson is lovely to see and a joy to experience. Taking its visual cues from Henson’s THE DARK CRYSTAL and its story from a mix of Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard of Oz, this is a classic story about growing up without relinquishing your childlike wonder. Jennifer Connolly leads a cast of 5 humans, 1 Dog and more puppets than you can shake a stick at. In the role of Sarah Connolly does a splendid performance of an introverted yet willful teenager put through the challenge of surviving her own imagination. But what everyone remembers about LABYRINTH is the Goblin King himself, played by David Bowie, probably one of the few people on the planet who could pull off ’80s hairstyles.
If you’re a Bowie fan and have not seen this movie, what on earth are you waiting for!?
Like THE DARK CRYSTAL, the visual design for this film was handled by illustrator Brian Froud, and like that film does a wonderful job of creating a strange, eerie, and beautiful fantasy world. Sarah’s principal companions–a cowardly dwarf, a gentle Bigfoot-like creature and a quixotic canine—are most appealing. Bowie turns in the best performance of the humans, creating an antagonist who is less of a classic villain and more of a trickster, both charming and unsettling.
Light and sweet, LABYRINTH will not be for every taste, but for those whose appetites run to fantasy it’s worth seeing again. And what better way to watch LABYRINTH than on the big screen at The Tivoli Theater (6350 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63130) at midnight!?!
Here’s the line-up for the other films coming to ‘Reel Late at The Tivoli:
Sept. 6-7 HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH New 4K digital re-master
Reel Late at the Tivoli takes place every Friday and Saturday night and We Are Movie Geeks own Tom Stockman (that’s me!) is there with custom trivia questions about the films and always has DVDs, posters, and other cool stuff to give away. Ticket prices are $8 . We hope to see everyone late at night in the coming weeks.
A scene from the documentary ONE CHILD NATION. Courtesy of Amazon Studios
Sundance’s grand jury prize winning documentary ONE CHILD NATION examines the impact of China’s brutally-enforced “One Child” policy, from the viewpoint of people who experienced it. This is an eye-opening documentary about a policy that shaped modern China in many ways, but told from a very personal and human perspective. Director Nanfu Wang was born under China’s One Child policy, which restricted families to one child only from 1979 to 2015, but has lived in the U.S. as an adult. Growing up, she thought little about the policy which seemed a part of ordinary everyday life – until she had a child of her own.
Returning with her infant son to visit
family in China, director Wang began to peel back the layers of this
pervasive policy by talking to people directly impacted by it –
doctors and local officials that enforced it, and family and
neighbors who experienced its devastating effects. What Wang
uncovers, through personal experiences, is something much darker and
deeper than we expect, far beyond an idea for family planning.
While any documentary might have taken
a straight-forward historical approach to the one-child policy,
Wang’s ONE CHILD NATION focuses on individual people, both those
impacted by the policy and those who carried it out. That choice
makes this documentary more harrowing and gut-wrenching than a
conventional documentary might have been.
As Wang notes, the policy was
instituted at a time when China’s large and growing population was
sparking fears of famine among Chinese Communist government
officials. The policy included a propaganda campaign promoting the
“One Child” policy, public social pressures to reinforce
that and a host of local government officials and doctors to see that
it was strictly enforced. Those enforcement efforts went much further
than many suspected, as Wang’s investigation reveals.
Wang takes a very warm and personal approach, starting off by noting that her family was a bit different that most Chinese ones under the One Child policy in that her parents were granted permission to have a second child, an exception sometimes given to rural families like hers. Wang talks about how as a child in China under the policy, it was a source of social embarrassment at school that she had a younger brother. The consequences for having a second child without permission were severe.
The director’s return home with her
baby sparks her curiosity about the One Child policy. Wang starts out
with just questions for her family about how the now-abandoned policy
might have impacted them directly. Her questions reveals a lingering
reluctance to discuss the topic, one tinged with fear perhaps, and
also lead her to discover a long-held family secret.
She interviews a retired local official
who reveals some of the harshness of the policy before her inquiry is
shut down with implied threats from the official’s wife. The official
describes talks with people and admits that families who violated the
policy by having another child often had their houses knocked down
but the interview sparks her journalistic curiosity about other
consequences. She tracks down a doctor who participated in enforcing
the policy, who now helps families with infertility as a form of
atonement, and finds that enforcing the ban extended far beyond talks
or the destruction of houses the official described.
This is shocking, bracing stuff that
makes clear the reason for the reluctance to talk about it. Wang
delves into what happened to pregnant women, to babies born in
violation of the policy, and the rise of the international adoption
industry, which has a darker side than one might expect.
Wang’s focus on person stories and
first-hand experience brings home the way this policy impacted
people, with more emotional impact than a drier documentary approach
would. Wang also expresses her opinion that this restrictive,
strictly-enforced government policy limiting families has parallels,
through the common theme of government dictating decisions on
child-bearing to women, to forces in the U.S. pushing to pass laws
restricting access to abortion. Some viewers may disagree but Wang
notes that in her opinion both are cases of outsiders intruding in
making family decisions.
This deep dive into the One Child
policy uncovers how it transformed Chinese society and impacted
individuals, an impressive piece of investigative journalism from a
personal, human perspective. This is an eye-opening revelatory
documentary n
The results of Wang’s inquiry are
startling. Her personal investigation takes us deep into this
strictly-enforced edict which had a profound impact on the lives of
all Chinese people, revealing heartbreaking, even horrifying details
about this how this family planning policy was carried out and its
consequences. Wang’s skillful, probing style makes us feel like we
are going down a deep rabbit hole of secrets long held, connecting
dots unsuspected between the one-child policy and its legacy in the
present. The searing documentary gives us insights on the people who
endured it and the Chinese government that enforced it. ONE CHILD
NATION is a revelatory documentary no one should miss.
ONE CHILD NATION opens Friday, Aug. 23,
at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.
Left to Right: Michelle Williams as Isabel, Julianne Moore as Theresa Young. Photo by Julio Macat. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics.
AFTER THE WEDDING cleverly switches the genders on the Oscar-nominated Danish film of the same name, transforming it into a terrific showcase for two powerhouse actresses, Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
Director Bart Freundlich decided to
flip the genders in his remake of Susan Bier’s 2006 Oscar-nominated
Danish film, which turns out to be a brilliant choice,thanks to the
wonderful casting of Williams and Moore. . Often remakes of European
hit films for American audiences fall far short of the original but
Freundlich’s enjoyable, thoughtful drama is the exception, and may
actually be an improvement.
The characters that Michelle Williams
and Julianne Moore could not be more different. Williams plays
Isabel, an American idealist who runs an orphanage in India. The
orphanage is in shaky financial shape so when a wealthy American
businesswoman named Theresa Young (Moore) offers to donate two-
million dollars, it seems like an answer to prayers. But there is a
small catch: Isabel herself must travel to New York to meet with the
donor first.
Isabel is not eager to return to the U.S., which she left long ago, but she is even more unhappy about the timing, as it is only a few days until the birthday party for seven-year-old Jai (Vir Paschisia), an orphan boy to whom she feels particularly close. Still, she has no choice if the orphanage is to survive.
When Isabel arrives, Theresa puts up in
a luxurious suite in a posh hotel, a setting in which Isabel is
thoroughly uncomfortable. She is scheduled to meet with Theresa at
her office but is surprised to find that the donation is not yet a
done deal. Further, the wealthy businesswoman wants her to stay over
until the following Monday before she decides, citing her daughter’s
wedding that weekend. She then further surprises Isabel by inviting
her to the daughter’s wedding taking place the next day. Isabel is
annoyed but has no choice but to comply with both requests.
At the wedding, Isabel makes startling
discovery that sends them all down an unknown path filled with
long-held secrets and life-changing decisions.
Freundlich’s intelligent adaptation of
Bier’s original script is one reason that this remake is such a good
film, creating a family drama that goes beyond the expected, creates
complex characters and complicated choices, and prompts reflections
on life. Another reason is the sterling casting, not just putting the
talented Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams at the forefront and
remaking this into a femme-centric drama.
Moore and Williams are wonderful in
their scenes together and in their individual ones as well. These two
stars shine at the center of it all in this engrossing drama, but the
supporting cast is good as well. Billy Crudup lends good support as
Theresa’s artist husband Oscar, and Abby Quinn is touching as their
daughter Grace. But it is really these two female stars who run this
show.
Director Freundlich places this story
in beautiful settings which invite a contemplative mood. Much of the
action takes place at Theresa’s gracious home in the countryside or
sophisticated New York spots, but even the orphanage in India is
surrounded by lush color and ancient historic sites, now overgrown.
The director has a deft touch in unspooling the story, which plays
out a bit like a mystery, but one where at every turn, we are going
deeper into an exploration of the human experience. It is a family
drama but one filled with complicated people and difficult choices,
where there are no good guys or bad guys, just flawed people striving
to make the best of the circumstances. It is a refreshing approach.
AFTER THE WEDDING opens Friday, Aug.
23, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.
Enough with Summertime frivolity, time to get serious. Really, here’s a real thought-provoking, and debate-provoking, drama featuring some award-winning actors and a fresh new actor who could be up for several of those with this work. Though set in the world of high school, this film focuses on the parents and teachers as much as the students. Yes, it is a drama, but it’s also a mystery, as loyalties change and evolve, and unlikely alliances are formed. Throw in explorations of class and race and you’ve got a compelling tale that swirls all around the title high school student, the young man named LUCE.
The story opens at the start of his senior year as Luce Edgar (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) delivers a speech to a most appreciative audience of fellow students, faculty, and parents including his folks, Amy (Naomi Watts) and Peter (Tim Roth). Ten years ago the Edgars brought Luce over from the war-torn African nation of Eritrea where he was a “child soldier”, and after months of therapy, adopted him. The only one not enthralled with the speech is Luce’s taciturn history teacher Harriet Wilson (Octavia Spencer), who meets the Edgars post-speech along with Principal Dan Towson (Norbert Leo Butz). Shortly after the event, Ms. Wilson calls in Amy for a private meeting at the school. Harriet was alarmed by Luce’s recent essay. It was to be told in the voice of a historical figure (some students chose FDR). Luce picked the violent revolutionary West Indian radical leader Frantz Fanon. The brutal rhetoric of the paper alarmed Harriet so much that she searched Luce’s locker and found a bag of illegal (and very dangerous) fireworks. Amy is shocked by the violation of her son’s privacy at first. Breaking the news to Peter, the parents are conflicted over what to do next. This sets off a chain of events that lead to secrets concerning sexual assault, drugs, and the whole social class system of the school and eventually threatens this “model family” and “shining example” son.
This film derives much of its impact from this talented cast lead by the star-making performance of relative newcomer Harrison in the title role. He makes Luce a wily chameleon, ready to switch personas as if he were donning a mask from an almost bottomless bag o’ tricks. Harrison effectively uses his eyes and body language to go from confident crusader to a clueless victim, sometimes jumping back and forth in the course of the same conversation. This puts us in much the same position as his co-stars. Except for Spencer’s Harriet, who is an unyielding rock, a solid wall that Luke can’t break through with his charm or eagerness to “please’. But Spenser also gives us her softer side as she tries to deal with an unstable sibling, showing us that the teacher must have order in the classroom as her home life is in chaos. Harrison and Spenser are superb sparring partners especially as Luce toys with her during a trivial talk about holidays. Caught in their crossfire is Watts, torn between devotion to her son and worries about the ghosts of his past life. At one point she becomes an internet sleuth, desperate to set her mind at ease while fearful of what she may digitally “dig up”. All this while trying to maintain a “united front’ with her hubby Peter, played with a gritty “low key” edge by Roth. Pete wants to think the best of their boy but refuses to “walk on eggshells” around him. And as he sees other families, Roth shows us the man’s deep regrets over “mutual decisions”. Butz is quite good as the usually easy-going administrator who strives to please faculty and parents using his good-natured sense of humor. And special kudos to the heart-wrenching performances by Marsha Stephanie Blake as Harriet’s mentally ill sister Rosemary, whose inner demons figure into the final act, and Andrea Bang as Luce’s loyal, needy and confused classmate Stephanie.
Director Julius Onah, working from the screenplay adaptation he co-wrote with J.C. Lee (based on his play), maintains a most somber tone, filling the school hallways with a sense of dread and tension. He captures the awkwardness of that setting along with the Edgar dinner table. This is particularly true when Pete veers away from Amy’s planned reveal to Luce about the essay and the fireworks. Onah’s eschews fancy camerawork and effects to find the impact of dialogue. The “cat and mouse’ exchanges between Luce and Harriet are as riveting as any high-speed car chase. He sets the horrific within the most casual of settings as when Amy talks to Stephanie about a “party game”. This story takes unexpected turns and twists, but never feel contrived. That may be because of the flawed characters, no 100% “good guys and bad guys”, just human beings trying to do right, but often coming up short. The overall mood is aided by the hypnotic score by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury. And, once again, the movie soars on this talented cast. They make LUCE a complex morality tale perfect for these troubled times.
3.5 out of 4
LUCE opens everywhere and screen exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas and Tivoli Theatre
As the start of school snatches away a good chunk of the moviegoers, the Summer blockbuster annual carnival is rolling up their cinema canvas midway. The superheroes have sent their spandex to the dry cleaners, that really, really “fast and furious” duo have put their super-charged vehicles in storage, and those raunchy R-rated comedies are circling the Red Boxes (last weekend ya’ dun’ GOOD, BOYS). Ah, but one guy’s not ready to leave the multiplex and make room for the award contenders. Why, it’s that growling, “movie macho” triple-alpha male Gerard Butler in his own “franchise” role (300 did spawn a sequel, but he…well). Or perhaps this is more of a trilogy (or “hat-trick” or triple play for you sports geeks). Let’s follow the “domino” line of the series. In 2013 OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN, three years later LONDON HAS FALLEN, and now ANGEL HAS FALLEN (“…and they can’t get up”…well with GB on the job…).
This new installment begins with “super” Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Butler) in full tactical gear going through a “battle” exercise put together by his old combat buddy Wade Jennings (Danny Huston). Mike’s as sharp as ever, but he’s now prone to headaches, dizziness, and quick “blackouts”. When all alone he’s gulping down the meds he’s getting from the doctors that he’s conning (“All these injuries from an auto accident while selling computers?”). And he’s also not being truthful with his wife Leah (Piper Perabo). Oh, since his dust-up “across the pond”, Mike’s married and started a family with Leah (they’ve got an adorable curly-haired one-year-old girl). Perhaps his ailments will lesson by taking a rumored promotion by President Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman whose character from the previous films is now in the Oval Office). But does Mike really want to be the head of the Secret Service? But before he can decide, the President’s fishing getaway is attacked by an unknown entity with access to some deadly high tech weapons (the ones that outgunned Spidey a couple of months ago). When the smoke clears, all the evidence points to Mike. Soon he’s on the run, pursued by a determined FBI investigator, Agent Thompson (Jada Pinkett Smith) and his only chance at justice may be a shadowy figure from his distant past (Nick Nolte). Can Mike clear his name while tracking down the real attackers and preventing more carnage-filled chaos?
Really, are you truly pondering that last question? Once again Butler embodies the completely competent and resourceful man of action. This time out we get to see a glimpse beneath the tough outer armor. Butler shows us how Mike’s body has finally “had enough” and the “chickens (injury trauma) are coming home to roost” in his scrambled almost dented “noggin”. Plus he’s got a light sense of humor, thanks to the easy rapport with the always delightful Ms. Perabo as his life and verbal “sparring” partner. Their “leaving for work’ sequences add much-needed humanity to the Banning “action cyborg”. It’s a shame that Perabo’s Leah is reduced to being the worried wifey’ at home, flanked by the press vultures (and some more deadly intruders), and, that now action flick cliche” the “spouse on the phone”. The marketers are more than a bit deceitful by giving Freeman co-starring billing with Butler. His Trumbull, though essential to the story, is “sidelined” for most the flick, then regulated to being the fragile item that is to be safely hidden. Happily, the film’s last act allows Freeman to indulge in his smooth, laid-back line delivery. Most of the flick’s second act is stolen by Nolte’s paranoid curmudgeon in the woods, whose barking reflects a lifetime of regret. Good seeing him on screen again, though this role recalled much of his work in Ang Lee’s HULK. Huston’s effective as the reglar’ fella’ billionaire whos infectious smile is more of a mask. The same could be said of the horn-rimmed glasses worn by Tim Blake Nelson, who uses them to effect as a “mild-mannered” VP. tossed into the “big chair”, but seems to really like the feel of it. Pickett-Smith has a terrific interrogation showdown with Butler, but for most of the action, she’s too many steps behind, and staring at monitors in frustration (just like Joan Allen in the Bourne flicks). And right from the hotel desk in the John Wick series, Lance Reddick gets to bark orders and consult the Prez as the current Secret Service head honcho.
Former stuntman turned director Ric Roman Waugh keeps the action sequences moving along, knowing when the story needs the extra jolt of gunplay, explosions, and careening, flipping autos (and there are enough to fill many junkyards). Unfortunately, the script and dialogue (credited to five writers) is so clunky and trite that it distracts from the chases and escapes (one villain actually quotes the signature expression of a cartoon icon, with not an ounce of irony). The mystery of the attackers is obvious early on ( that some garbled-voice nonsense seemed tired a few weeks ago with Hobbs & Shaw), and the final showdown is both ludicrous and lethargic (so much dust and smoke). This is still an improvement over the last couple of films for the aforementioned humor and the lightened brutality (I recall someone saying of OLYMPUS that there were more “headshots” than the walls of a talent agent’s office), but with as many “F-bombs” as bullets. This should please fans of the first flicks. As for those of us that can’t “check our brains at the ticket booth”, it’s a welcome goodbye to Banning (the title “A”, though when I first heard of the movie, I thought it was for Los Angeles) with ANGEL HAS FALLEN.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks provide a unique, Southern setting for PEANUT BUTTER FALCON, a predictable road movie that benefits from one outstanding performance at its center. Zac (Zack Gottsagen) is a young man with Down Syndrome who has been situated in a senior care center by the state since he has no family or money. Popular with the elderly residents, Zac’s passion is wrestling and every day he watches a decades-old VHS tape featuring ‘The Salt Water Redneck’ (Thomas Haden Church), an old wrestler who once ran a wrestling school that Zac thinks still exists and wants to attend. Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a kind woman who works at the facility considers Zac a ‘flight risk’. Zac shares a room with old Carl (Bruce Dern), who’s not happy about having to watch that same obnoxious wrestling video all day but understands Zac’s desire to break fee. One night, Carl helps Zac bend back the window bars, greases him up with soap, then watches him escape into the dark, barefoot wearing just his tightly-whiteys. Zac hides out on a boat belonging to Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a crabber on the run from Duncan (John Hawkes) a rival whose business he’s just torched. Tyler and his stowaway bond while being chased by Duncan. At the same time, Eleanor must find Zac before her superiors can lock him away in a state hospital. Tyler and Zac set off on foot through a swampy landscape to get Zac to Salt Water Redneck’s wrestling school. When Eleanor finally catches up with them, they have built a raft and convince her (after tossing her car keys into the water) to join them on their ‘Huck and Jim’ journey down the coastline.
The best thing about PEANUT BUTTER FALCON is the casting of the surprisingly charismatic Zack Gottsagen, an actor with Downs Syndrome. (Gottsagen was discovered by writer/directors Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz at a camp for young performers). His Zak is dimensional and likeable without being overly sympathetic. With hilarious deadpan delivery, he gives as good as he gets in his exchanges with LaBeouf’s Tyler. Gottsagen has a natural way, transcending the familiar story and making it feel more sincere.
Shia LaBeouf is miscast as he always is in any movie meant to be taken seriously. With his constant fist-pumping, macho howling, and bro-hugging, LaBeouf overdoes it in every scene. The baby-faced actor constantly seems to be trying to upstage Gottsagen, who acts circles around the more experienced LaBeouf with barely a change of expression. Despite all the forced bonding, Tyler’s really a jerk. John Hawke’s Duncan (with a heavily tattooed Yelawolf as his scary henchman) is nominally the film’s villain but the fact is, Tyler had stolen his crabs and burned up all of his crabbing equipment, depriving the man of his livelihood, so his quest for revenge hardly seems irrational. Dakota Johnson’s Eleanor is beautiful and smart and conveniently widowed but the romantic subplot between her and Tyler seems forced and implausible. They first meet at a backroads store, where he rudely harasses her, and then before you know it, this stunning babe is swooning for this immature and unwashed crab-poacher on the run who looks like he washes his clothes in motor oil. It doesn’t add up and Ms Johnson lacks the acting chops to convince. As Tyler’s doomed brother, John Bernthal shows up in several flashbacks, each which serve the exact same purpose. Better is Thomas Haden Church, a scene stealer as the retired wrestler affected by Zac. The entire adventure ends with a wrestling move so silly I can only assume it was supposed to be a fantasy but it hardly fits the film’s tone.
PEANUT BUTTER FALCON is a decent and good-looking movie. Its heart is in its right place, but the story gets too precious and often meanders. At only 93 mins, it felt much longer with slow pacing, pointless scenes (an encounter with a blind backwoods preacher is especially ridiculous), and predictable clichés.
