Tag: 1920s

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA – Review

Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s live-action YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA. Photo courtesy of Disney. © 2024 Disney Enterprises Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Daisy Ridley stars as Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim the English Channel, in the inspiring, true story-based YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA. Today, few know of Trudy Ederle and her accomplishments but this uplifting film may change that. At the time of her swim in 1926, it was said that women couldn’t swim the notoriously difficult, storm-tossed 21-mile stretch of water separating England and France, but the 19-year-old American swimmer, the daughter of German immigrant parents, proved them wrong – and bested the men’s record by more than 3 hours.

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA is a Disney film, based on Glenn Stout’s 2009 book “Young Woman and the Sea: How Trudy Ederle Conquered the English Channel and Inspired the World,” is a must-see for families with daughters interested in sports and especially swimming. The gripping, inspiring scenes swimming the Channel are worth the ticket price alone.

Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle was born in 1905 in New York, to poor German immigrant parents, at a time when there was a lot of prejudice against German immigrants, something that was heightened by World War I. We meet the family when Trudy is a child suffering with a severe case of measles, so severe that she is not expected to live. But survive she does, and then goes on use that will to survive in her career in sports.

In the early 20th century, women had few rights and faced many restrictions imposed by male-dominated society, but women also were fighting for the vote and pushing the boundaries of those restrictions. However, all Trudy’s mother Gertrude (Jeanette Hain) wanted was for Trudy and her sister Meg (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) to learn to swim, even thought is was thought unsuitable for girls and possibly harmful to their bodies. Like most men of the era, Trudy’s father Henry (Kim Bodnia) thought women should only be wives and mothers, and anything else was laughable. But Trudy’s mother, whose sister drown as a child, was just as strong-willed as her daughter, and insisted that both girls learn to swim as well as their younger brother. Dad gives permission for his daughter Meg to have swimming lessons but refuses to let Trudy go – until Trudy badgers him into it, relentlessly singing the song “Ain’t We Got Fun” until he agrees.

Even with her father’s permission, Trudy faces a new barrier. She may have survived measles but she is denied entry to swimming lessons because it was thought that it might cause her to lose her hearing, a concern that did have some basis. So, Trudy’s father teaches her to swim, at the pier on Coney Island, where Trudy reveals she has a natural gift in the water. Soon, she and her sister are winning contests swimming around the pier. The sisters bond over swimming and when they decide to join one of the first girls’ swim teams, coached by the ground-breaking Charlotte “Eppy” Epstein ( a wonderful Sian Clifford), Trudy again must prove herself just to get in the pool. Her talent and hard work earn her a spot at the Olympics on the first American women’s team to go to them.

In the early 1920s there is great craze for all kinds of athletic accomplishments, including swimming the English Channel, a notoriously difficult and dangerous swim, beset by storms, changeable currents as well as sharks and jellyfish. Many have tried and few had made it. Only five men have succeeded, including the colorful Bill Burgess (Stephen Graham), and it is thought that no woman could do it. Of course, Trudy wants to prove that wrong.

Daisy Ridley is splendid as Trudy, and hopefully this role will go away towards lifting the actor’s profile with audiences and casting directors. While the film isn’t always perfect, she generally is, playing a truly winning version of this amazing, courageous young woman athlete, someone who should be better known than she is now. The rest of the cast are good as well, with particular standouts being Tilda Cobham-Hervey as her sister, Jeanette Hain as Trudy’s strong-willed but tight-lipped mother, and Stephen Graham as the eccentric champion swimmer Bill Burgess. In smaller roles, Sian Clifford is striking as coach Epstein, and Alexander Karim as another would-be Channel swimmer Benji Zammit.

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA is a Disney movie, and while it is still a worthy family film and great for young female athletes, it has some Disney-fying. It puts a great deal of emphasis on Trudy’s close relationship with her sister, and also on the patriarchy that weighed heavily on their lives, and spends little time showing Trudy training or working with her coach Eppy Epstein. The film showcases Trudy’s relentless determination, but her relationships with her sister and her family, while sweet, is kept more on the surface. An overly-emotional, excessively-loud and obvious score comes on too strong at times, overwhelming any real feeling the audience might have, and is the film’s biggest flaw.

The film focuses quite a bit on the father’s plan to arrange marriages for his daughters, and her sister’s acquiescence. The film accurately portrays the oppressive patriarchy of the time, and many things that seem unreal now – like the belief that exercise was harmful to women’s bodies and their inability to do certain things – were very real then, although these prejudices were often reinforced by men making sure they were the case. Still, a number of men in the story are crafted into one-note villains, given larger roles as a way to simplify that, particularly James Sullivan (Glenn Fleshler) and coach Jabez Wolffe (Christopher Eccleston), who attempted the Channel swim 22 times without success and may actually have wanted Trudy to fail.

This is an inspiring true story but the film itself plays loose with some of the facts, which is really unnecessary considering Ederle’s very impressive real accomplishments as a champion swimmer and Olympian. The film downplays some of her accomplishments, failed to mention her gold medal as part of the relay and only talks about her individual bronze medals. The film also reduces the real role her coach Epstein played in her accomplishment, instead elevating some male figures to play a larger role as villains. The film puts emphasis on the very real barriers and discrimination women faced in sports and life, in the early 20th century, but less on Trudy Ederle’s success in smashing through them. Another odd thing is the repeated refrain that she survived measles, at a time when it was a common childhood disease (there was no vaccine until 1963) that most people between the ages of 5 and 20 survived. Trudy was one of those who had a more serious case but saying “she survived measles” would have been met with a lot of “so did I” back then.

Still the film really excels and reaches its highest point, when it gets to swimming the channel. The dramatic seascapes energize the film and the focus is finally truly on the young woman and the sea. Daisy Ridley gets to really shine here. Swimming the channel is a thrilling sequence, with the feel of authenticity. Stephen Graham comes to the fore as the eccentric Bill Burgess, one of five male swimmers to have already conquered the Channel, but who steps forward to help Trudy in her quest.

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA is an inspiring true-story sports movie that is highly recommended for girls and young women and for families, with thrilling scenes of the Channel swim itself and a chance to get to know something about an American champion swimmer who deserves to be better known – Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel.

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA opens Friday, May 31, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

YOUNG WOMAN AND THE SEA – © 2024 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

WICKED LITTLE LETTERS – Review

Olivia Colman as Edith Swan in ‘Wicked Little Letters’ Image: Parisa Taghizadeh. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

WICKED LITTLE LETTERS is one of those truth-stranger-than-fiction tales that remind us that people are weirder than we might think. Director Thea Sharrock opens her comedy/mystery tale with text informing us “more of this is true than you might think,” a comic mystery about on the sudden appearance of anonymous obscene letters sent to various residents of a quiet of early 1920s little British seaside town. The first victim is Edith Swan (Olivia Colman), prim and proper religious spinster who still lives with her parents, and who embodies the last-gasp of the Victorian era ideal of a quiet obedient woman against those uppity women demanding the vote. Suspicion quickly falls on Edith’s neighbor, a foul-mouthed new arrival from Ireland, Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley), who has a daughter Nancy (Alisha Weir), and a live-in Black boyfriend Bill (Malachi Kirby), but who also frequents pubs, listens to jazz, and pretty much does and says what she likes.

While the male police force are only to happy to assume the foul-mouthed Irishwoman is behind the letters, the one woman on the police force,Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan), is more suspicious. For one thing, the letters using more educated language than one might expect from the plain-spoken Rose, and the fancy handwriting seems not to fit either. However, Moss’ doubts are dismissed by the sexist, dim-witted male police, and she is told to stick to her assigned duties, providing emotional support for female crime victims or witnesses.

WICKED LITTLE LETTERS is a comic romp in a 1920s little village where part of the fun is in its true-story basis and the early feminist tables-turning. We actually do hear several of the “wicked little letters” read aloud, and they are funny, quirky, and surprisingly more obscene little personal insults than you might expect, and of a nature we won’t repeat here. They get a laugh, at least the first few times we hear them, which is often enough to get a bit repetitive.

The biggest delight are Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, who are deliciously funny in all their scenes together. Colman and Buckley play off each other brilliantly whenever these two characters encounter each other. Despite what you expect, the characters actually kind of like each other, and even started out as friends, when the lonely, religious Edith decides to befriend her new neighbor Rose, thinking to bring her into her church circle, but instead discovers the strong-willed Rose’s capacity for salty language and humor.

The cast is filled with other gems, including Emma Jones as Edith’s devout, meek and kindly mother, and her more overbearing, bullying father, played by Timothy Spall in a rare more negative role. Edith’s father rails against the suffragettes fight for the vote as if it is a personal insult to manhood and demands complete obedience from his daughter. Among the women joining the police officer in her investigation are a trio of the over-looked and off-beat, Mabel (Eileen Atkins), Kate (Lolly Adefope) and Ann (Joanna Scanlan).

The comedy is broad, all the men are dumb and all the women are smart, but it is a lot of fun to watch, especially any time Colman and Buckley share the screen. Anjana Vasan as “Woman Police Officer Moss” as she is always called, is good too, a real expert at eye-rolling, and the rest of the cast add their bits too. Solving the mystery is less the problem than gathering the proof, which the script by British writer/comedian Jonny Sweet milks for humorous switches and near-misses.

WICKED LITTLE LETTERS is just a romp of a comedy, based on a true story set in a time when gender roles were bending and new possibilities opening, and featuring hilarious performances, especially from Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley in hilarious verbal sparring matches.

WICKED LITTLE LETTERS opens Friday, Apr. 5, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON – Review

Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” premiering in theaters around the world on October 20, 2023. Courtesy of AppleTV+

In the 1920s, the people of the Osage Nation became the richest people on earth after oil was discovered under their supposedly worthless land. The money drew ambitious white men and not long after, Osage began to die in a series of suspicious deaths, some of which were clearly murder. Based on journalist David Grann’s bestselling non-fiction book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” Martin Scorsese’s KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON turns that non-fiction book into drama that combines elements of romance, mystery, and the history of the 1920s Osage murders, in an epic Western thriller starring Leo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.

Grann’s non-fiction book details these killings and suspicious deaths, which occurred as fortune-hunting white men found that marrying Osage women was a way to access the Osage Nation’s wealth. Their arrival was followed by a series of brutal, mysterious deaths, first noticed in 1921, but continuing for a long time with little investigation by the local authorities charged with overseeing law enforcement on tribal lands.

Scorsese turns this horrendous bit of history into an epic tale of evil, greed and deceit set in a sweeping Western landscape with one of unexpected love, in a visually lush, moving, tragic film. The film was a hit a Cannes, where it debuted out of competition. The film has resonated with both critics and audiences, but the most positive responses seem to come from those who read the bestselling non-fiction book. There is no need to have read the book to follow the story but it seems that having done so might deepen understanding of the Osage Nation’s plight. Scorsese’s film focuses primarily on this one story, while the non-fiction book takes a broader view.

Scorsese’ movie follows the deaths in one particular Osage family, of which Mollie Kyle is one daughter of the ailing matriarch, played by legendary Native actresses Tantoo Cardinal. Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) returns from World War I with a war injury that limits the kind of physical work he can do, and comes to stay with his uncle William Hale (Robert DeNiro), known as King, hoping to find work. The uncle has a prosperous ranch within the Osage reservation but his land has no oil. Having lived there so long, King Hale has established friendly ties with the Osage Nation, and even speaks the language, but he is also a powerful man some fear. King sees an opportunity with his handsome but not-too-bright young nephew, and before long he is hinting that his nephew might want to marry one of the Osage women, and even offers some advice when speaking to them.

Ernest listens politely but doesn’t entirely buy his uncle’s idea. Still, in addition to doing odd jobs for his uncle while living in his mansion, Ernest also drives an informal taxi service since most of the Osage don’t drive. While richer Osage have chauffeurs but others just hire taxis like Ernest’s. Waiting for potential fares, he spots and taken by one pretty young Osage woman, Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone). She coolly rebuffs his offer, and his flirtatious advances. Yet, later when she does need a ride and he again badgers her to let him drive her, she begrudgingly gives in.

She remains stand-offish during the ride but over the next days, his persistence and good humor start to amuse her, and she softens. “He’s dumb but he’s handsome,” she tells her sister, shortly before she invites him to dinner at her home, a mansion she shares with her aging mother Lizzie Q (Tantoo Cardinal).

Ernest is truly smitten almost from the start and Mollie eventually falls for him too. The love match certainly is convenient for the uncle who has his own plan for his nephew’s new wife and her family.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro are excellent, essentially playing against type with DiCaprio’s dimwitted Ernest manipulated by DeNiro’s Machiavellian uncle. But the big revelation is Lily Gladstone, in what may be a star-making performance. Scorsese cast Native actors in several roles as Osage, including Lily Gladstone, who is of Piegan Blackfeet and Nez Perce heritage and grew up on the Blackfeet reservation, but she is also a cousin of British former prime minister William Gladstone. She gave standout performances in small roles in two Kelly Reichert films, CERTAIN WOMEN and FIRST COW, but this larger starring part gives her a chance to really shine. And shine she does, nearly stealing the movie from her more famous costars.

Robert DeNiro’s uncle King is all sweetness and solicitousness when dealing with the Osage, and even his nephew Ernest, most of the time, but he can forcefully, frighteningly pivot if he doesn’t get his way. Even in his smiling mode, DeNiro’s King has an underlying current of menace. The Osage deal with him as a friend in public but when just among themselves, there is fear and growing suspicion. Ernest isn’t the only white man to marry into Mollie’s family, and the family trait of diabetes means that Mollie, her mother and one sister are often sickly, in this pre-insulin era. DiCaprio’s Ernest gives mixed messages about who he is and his true motives, seeming to truly waver between good and bad, although we are never certain, and perhaps Ernest isn’t either.

But as people start to turn up dead, even in Mollie’s family, in freak accidents and even clear murdered but with no suspect found, things grow tense and then frantic. The Osage leaders know the community is under attack but are powerless to stop it.

Several messages and messengers are sent to the federal government back east, alerting them to the murders, with little effect. Finally a representative of the newly-formed FBI appears, in the form of seemingly mild-manner official, played well by Jesse Plemons.

Epic is the right word to describe this drama, as this film runs about three and a half hours. However, the film is so well structured, so involving and gripping, and so perfectly paced, that one does not feel the running time.

The photography is stunning, as are the costumes and careful attention to period details, making the film both an immersive experience and visually pleasing. In an opening scene, oil gushes from the ground, spewing over some Osage men transversing the windswept plain, symbolicly covering them. In another moment, a huge fire fills the screen in a nighttime scene, creating a horrifying image that mirrors the growing panic of the Osage people under attack by the hidden foe. Eventually tTension is so thick as the drama unfolds that both the characters and the audience are on edge.

Scorsese also skillfully uses a number of period-appropriate techniques to give us a strong sense of time and place for this moving drama. These include written text in a form that resembles title cards in silent movies of the era, newspaper headlines and newsreel footage in movie theaters referencing the Tulsa Massacre, which overlapped these events, and period appropriate jazz, blues and old-time country music. Towards the end, Scorsese uses a radio drama format in a thrillingly effective scene.

One does not have to have read the excellent non-fiction book to follow this tale of love, betrayal and murder, but having read the book deepens one’s understanding of the history it depicts. The film only lightly touches on details such as that Osage were among the peoples relocated to what would become Oklahoma in the Trail of Tears tragedy. Like the Cherokee, the Osage had made a decision to partly assimilate while retaining parts of their culture, in their own fashion, trading with the white economy and adopting some of white culture such as a written language. The hope was to avoid the annihilation happening to other Native peoples, by becoming “civilized” and working in partnership with whites.

The drama unfolds in stages, smoothly shifting at each step, first a romance and family drama, then a crime drama and mystery, then a courtroom drama. At each pivot point, the characters develop and transform, revealing more of their true nature or being changed by events. The end is both heart breaking and exactly as it should be. It all adds up to a stunning piece of cinema on a unjustly forgotten moment of in the long history of injustices toward Native peoples. KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON is a masterpiece movie by a master filmmaker, which seems a likely Oscar winner.

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON opens in theaters on Friday, Oct. 20.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

THE POWER OF THE DOG – Review

THE POWER OF THE DOG BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH as PHIL BURBANK in THE POWER OF THE DOG. Cr. KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX © 2021

Just a few weeks after THE HARDER THEY FALL, Netflix gives us another sprawling Western. Ah, but there are a few big differences. The West is still pretty wild, though the entry is a tad “milder’. The former was filled with desperate shoot-out and showdowns, I don’t believe anyone in this story “throws down” on anybody, other than some “target practice. Yes, there’s lots of violence but it’s more of the verbal and psychological nature. Oh, and the new one is set nearly fifty years after FALL, so them “new-fangled” cars are spookin’ the horses. Its gorgeous cinematography highlights the “wide-open spaces” which helps to amplify the big distance between the two brothers, with one of them channeling THE POWER OF THE DOG.

In 1925 Montana we meet the Burbank brothers, who have taken over the sprawling cattle ranch from their parents. Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch) prefers to get down and dirty with the hired cowhands. His brother George (Jesse Plemons), who Phil dismissively calls “Fatso”, quietly does the books and tends to the big house that they share. He does join Phil for the big cattle drive to the market, perhaps because of a stop on the trek. In the tiny town of Beech, young widow Rose Gordon (Kirsten Dunst) runs the inn and restaurant, with help from her lanky intellectual son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Settling in there for Dinner, Phil is miffed that George is late for his toast to the memory of their mentor, the late ranch foreman “Bronco” Henry.. George is back in the kitchen conversing with Rose. Phil takes out his anger on Peter, their server, and amuses his men by taunting the lad for being “soft’ and “dandified”. Weeks later, George stuns Phil with the news that he has married Rose and he’ll be bringing her there to live with them in the estate. After sending Peter off to medical school, Rose arrives and is given an icy “welcome” by Phil. Thus begins their war over the stoic George. When Peter arrives during his Summer break, it seems that Phil has another target for his cruelty. But when Peter accidentally stumbles upon Phil’s secret “retreat’, the tables are turned. A friendship slowly begins to build. Does Phil really like the lad, or could he have an ulterior motive?

Anchoring this near-century old saga is the masterful performance of Cumberbatch, playing the type of role we’ve never seen from him. Truly going “against type”, Phil gives us a hint of the actor’s versatility. We’re told that Phil dropped out of Yale, which gives us a hint of his inner conflict. He rejects the “book-learnin'” to become one with the dirt, grime, and sweat. Cumberbatch conveys that self-loathing which strikes out at others, instead of internalizing. He wants to be one with “the help”, but can’t indulge in their basest pleasures. Perhaps Cumberbatch’s most telling moment happens when George tells him of his secret nuptials. In those few seconds, Phil’s face is a mix of anger, resentment, and sadness. His Phil should repel us but instead draws us in. Nearly as compelling is Dunst as the “wedge” between the Burbanks. Rose is worn down, not only from kitchen drudgery but from the source of her widowhood (Mr. Gordon hung himself). Her need to survive, to fend for her and her son, has superseded her psyche’s need to heal. The attention from George is a lifeline, letting her feel desired once more. Dunst shows us the inner light shining through those dark, tired eyes. And with meeting Phil, we see those eyes dimming, as she plunges back into despair. Plemons gives George quiet dignity, much like his recent role in ANTLERS. He’s eager to start his own life, away from his suffocating brother (his taunts of “Fatso” seem to pierce him like tiny poisoned darts). George’s quiet demeanor masks an inner strength, as Plemons shows us in his body language, lifting his posture and quickening his lumbering step. The other part of this quartet is Smit-McPhee who imbues Peter with an aloof unfazed bravado, not wishing to hide his “smarts’ in order to blend in. The same can be said of his sensitivity, though his later actions show that his pursuit of knowledge truly guides him. But there’s more to him than his thirst for a doctor’s degree, though Smit-McPhee plays him often as a “blank slate’. In smaller roles, we’re treated to work from one of our busiest young actresses and an Oscar-winner who’s part of an acting dynasty.

The scope of the breathtaking scenery never overwhelms the intimacy of this family dynamic thanks to the skillful, subtle direction by Jane Campion, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation of the novel by Thomas Savage. She perfectly captures the eerie quiet of the old West, almost making the rolling hills and flat plains another character in the story. The mundane everyday tasks are captured which gives extra power to the unexpected confrontations (piano vs, banjo). In some sequences, it appears that Phil is almost an avenging ghost, banished from his home by the “schemer” Rose. We’re almost lulled into a languid pace until the third act throws us a “curve”. Being unfamiliar with the source material, I can honestly and enthusiastically say that I did not know where the plot was going. How refreshing. And what a rarity, indeed. Coupled with the superb performances by the gifted cast, THE POWER OF THE DOG holds us in its own powerful grip.

3.5 Out of 4

THE POWER OF THE DOG opens in select theatres on Wednesday, November 17, 2021

PASSING – Review

(L-R) Ruth Negga as Clare and Tessa Thompson as Irene in PASSING. Credit: Netflix © 2021

In 1920s New York, two women, once childhood friends, meet again accidentally one hot summer day. Both are Black but one of them, Clare (Ruth Negga), is “passing” as white, married to a successful white banker (Alexander Skarsgard), who has no idea his wife is Black, while the other, Irene (Tessa Thompson), is married to prosperous Black doctor (Andre Holland) in Harlem. Set during the Harlem Renaissance and based on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel of the same name, PASSING is actor-turned-director Rebecca Hall stunning directorial debut, in a drama that explores not only race but identity, feminism, personality clashes and the dynamics of women’s friendships in a tale that borders on psychological thriller.

Shot in gorgeous black-and-white, with a 4:3 aspect ratio that mirrors films of the 1920s time period, PASSING is an impressive, involving and thought-provoking film. It is, of course, not the first film to focus on “passing,” meaning the ability of some light-skinned Blacks to be taken as white, which allowed them during the era of segregation to cross the color line, whether temporarily for shopping or work, or by living under an assumed white identity. Previous Hollywood films, such as IMITATION OF LIFE, have address the practice, although they tended to punish the transgressor crossing the color line, but PASSING takes a more complicated look. Author Nella Larsen had some direct experience with passing, as she was mixed race but raised in a white neighborhood, and had a foot in both worlds as an adult. PASSING explores issues of race and “passing” but also delves into other questions of identity, of women’s satisfaction with their lives, the dynamics of friendship, and contrasting personalities, in a drama that almost borders on psychological thriller.

Director Hall draws fine performances from Negga and Thompson, and shows a firm hand as the story unfolds from the heat of summer to the chill of winter, and finally to its devastation conclusion. But one may wonder why a white English woman is directing this story about racial passing but things are not always what they seem, to paraphrase a character in the film. Hall recently revealed that she had learned at some point that her maternal grandfather, who she never met, was a Black man passing as white. So when Hall read Nella Larsen’s novel, it resonated with her, leading her to adapt it for the screen, and eventually make this film.

In a sense, both women are passing when they meet as film opens. The story is set in New York during the flourishing of the Harlem Renaissance, but it is also the time of Jim Crow and lynchings in the South, as the film notes at one point, Even in New York, segregation is in place and crossing the “color line” is risky. But it is a hot summer day, and Irene (Tessa Thompson) has taken refuge from the heat in a whites-only hotel restaurant, where she knows that with her light-toned skin means she is likely to be take as white. Irene’s awareness of that passive deception, and her nervousness about it, is revealed by how she hides much of her face under her cloche hat, as if looking people in the eye will give her away. But the day is hot, and she knows he can find a cool spot and a cool drink in that hotel. She does not expect to find Clare.

When a blonde-haired woman approaches her table, Irene tenses up, and does not recognize her old friend Clare. When Clare suggests they move to her hotel room to chat, Irene quickly agrees, uncomfortable with the public attention they might draw.

Both the women appear happy with their choices and both have comfortable lives, with husbands, children and financial stability. But Clare longs to reconnect with her friend, and her black identity, while Irene is cool to the idea. While Irene dotes on her two boys, Clare has sent her daughter to a boarding school in Switzerland, far from the racial attitudes of the U.S. When Clare asks her if she’s never considered passing, Irene bristles and reveals her disdain for what Clare is doing. She also expresses a fear for Clare’s safety, if she tries to reconnect with her black past, as well as worry about being too near that risk herself. When Clare’s husband appears, and reveals both that he is completely clueless about his wife’s identity and a confirmed racist, Irene can’t get out of there fast enough.

Irene has no intention of seeing Clare again. As we learn shortly, back in Harlem, Irene is active as a volunteer with an organization working to advance rights for Black people and a prominent member in the community. She is a devoted mother to her two boys and fully confidence in her own world, with none of the nervous we saw as she moved through the white part of town. Although she is not interest in renewing her friendship with Clare, Clare shows on her doorstep nonetheless

As charming, charismatic Clare slowly inserts herself into Irene’s life, Irene’s settled, quiet life becomes unbalanced, and cracks in the happy facade of both women begin to appear. Irene has built her life around devotion to her sons but now that seems to occupy her life yet she resists her husband’s suggestion they move to another country, as they once planned, raise the boys in a less racist environment. Irene seems to both resent and envy Clare’s freedom, moving between white and Black worlds and free from husband, who is often traveling, and child. There is a frisson of attraction between her and vivacious Clare but Irene senses a worrying similar frisson between Clare and her husband. Clare, on the other hand, seems to becoming bolder as she crossing between worlds, ignoring the risks she is taking.

There are personal dynamics between these two very different women, which plays out against the backdrop of Irene’s world, the one Clare wants to be part of while keeping her privileged one in the white world. The acting is excellent, and Hall explores the complex issues and the personal dynamics as the film builds tension, as the season change. Hall used the period details, the black-and-white images, and skillful mis-en-scene to both create the time period and the specific world of these women, While the focus is on the two women, the men are fully rounded characters and neither one-note villain or hero. All the ideas are gray areas, in contract to the film itself. t ends with with a shocking scene, where there is a flurry of action where it is not clear what happened, although we kind of know.

PASSING is a thought-provoking film, a well drawn view of the historical time period but a timeless look at interpersonal dynamics and the nature of some friendships. Hall has made an impressive start with an intelligent, gripping drama that also keeps you on the edge of your sear, and hopefully will follow up with another soon.

PASSING opens Friday, Oct. 5, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM – Review

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020): Viola Davis as Ma Rainey. Cr. David Lee / Netflix

Chadwick Boseman’s last performance is opposite Viola Davis in a gripping drama based on August Wilson’s play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Boseman gives a fiery, heartbreaking performance in this excellent film. It is as fine, and fitting, a final performance as one could hope for from the late actor.

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM is set during a recording session in 1927, with blues legend Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) and her band, including new horn player Levee (Chadwick Boseman). As the band rehearses apart from the star, the conversation is wide-ranging, touching on human ambitions and the treatment of Black musicians by the white-dominated music industry in the 1920s. Meanwhile, the cagey star engages in power plays with the white recording studio manager and her own business manager, as well as her band, to stay in control of her career.

The title is actually the name of one of the songs they are recording, although there is plenty of shaking posteriors and not just by Ma. There are comic moments, lively dialog, and memorable characters but the heart of the film is realistic, thought-provoking, even challenging drama which comes to the fore as the tale unspools.

While many fans know Boseman from his star-making turn in BLACK PANTHER, the gifted actor has a string of outstanding performances in dramas, often historic ones where he portrays iconic figures such as Jackie Robinson (42) and James Brown (GET ON UP). This film fits in with that body of work, but the raw, emotional performance will grab any audience, in a serious drama that touches on the human longing and particularly the experiences of African Americans in the earlier part of the 20th century, as many of August Wilson’s powerful plays do.

This film is yet another fine screen adaption of an August Wilson play, which are noted for their skill in blending African American history and gripping personal stories. Denzel Washington serves as producer, on this beautifully-crafted, authentic period drama from director George C. Wolfe with a screenplay by Ruben Santiago and lush photography by Tobias Schliessler. It is a perfect setting for the raw, wild, intelligent and hard-hitting drama and the excellent performances the cast deliver.

As August Wilson plays often do, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM blends historical references with the characters personal stories, with references to the Great Migration of blacks from the South to the North, seeking jobs and escape from segregation, in the early 20th century, and to wild popularity of jazz and its adoption by white musicians. The play also deals with the daunting restrictions and dangers, including lynching, that all blacks faced in the 1920s. The playwright’s ability to blend frank history with charismatic, realistic characters and emotionally powerful (and equally realistic) personal stories is why he is such a legend.

Boseman and Davis actually have few scenes together, as the drama explores its subjects mostly on parallel tracks. One is focused on the young, ambitious Levee and the more jaded band members, and the other focused on the experienced star as she warily negotiates with both her white business manager Irvin (Jeremy Shamos) and the recording studio manager Sturdyvant (Jonny Coyne).

Both Boseman and Davis deliver amazing, emotional performances that while rivet audiences with gut-punching scenes laced with the playwright’s deep, spot-on, real-world observations. Davis is unrecognizable as Ma Rainey, whom she portrays as a hard, cynical performer who knows her own worth and means to stay in charge of her own career. Her seemingly temperamental behavior reveals a realistic self-protection based on past experiences with both the recording industry and the tough touring life. Rainey is sharp-witted and cunning as she maneuvers through dealings with both the white men and her band.

Rainey regards her band as back-up and largely interchangeable, but does have a special link with long-time member Cutler, who communicates her wishes to the band. For this session, she is accompanied by her nephew Sylvester (Dusan Brown), who has ambitions to be a recording star despite his stutter, and Ma’s pretty young girlfriend, Dussie Mae (Taylour Paige) a perfect 1920s flapper, dancing through the session but with her own dreams.

Ma Rainey plays the star to the full, including arriving late. The band rehearses while waiting for her, which reveals them as an interesting, amusing assortment of characters. They are fun to watch as they tease and argue in rapid-fire colorful period patter. Coleman Domingo plays Cutler, the self-styled leader, with Boseman’s Levee and Michael Potts’ Slow Drag as more recent additions from the South.. Glynn Turman’s Toledo is the old hand, and they make up an entertaining ensemble.

There is a comic subplot with nephew who Ma Rainey wants on her record despite his stutter, a power play with the white producers. Power struggles are running theme, and not just with her, that helps drive the plot. Ma Rainey appreciates Levee’s talent but resists his efforts to shift her traditional blues style to the more modern jazz. Jazz is firing up both black and white audiences in the 1920s and ambitious Levee recognizes the economic potential, particularly in the North, to which so many southern blacks are migrating, while Rainey is happy to rely on her base of Southern black rural audiences, who love her. She has also noticed, disapprovingly, Levee’s interest in Dussie Mae.

There are moments of humor, plenty of snappy, fast-paced dialog and well-drawn charismatic characters, but the film had serious things to say underneath that, things that are sometimes hard to hear, all of which are classic August Wilson. Boseman gets to show off his considerable acting chops especially in a few searing, emotional scenes, scenes that are both heartbreaking and explosively angry. Often his adversary in these scenes is Cutler, who acts as a kind of enforcer of Ma Rainey’s wishes. Colman Domingo is the perfect foil for Boseman’s dramatic fireworks, sharpening the crackling tone. When Boseman’s Levee talks about his ambitions, he strays into childhood experiences, scenes where the actor glows red-hot and vibrates with brilliance, seizing the audience with his heartbreaking performance. Boseman is so brilliant in this role, so emotionally powerful, that it further underlines what a tragedy it is to have lost this talent so young.

This excellent adaption of a gut-punching, realistic August Wilson play is an outstanding drama as well as a showcase for two great talents, Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman. It is hard to imagine a more perfect farewell to Boseman, a towering talent gone too soon.

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM opens Friday, Dec. 18, in theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

DOWNTON ABBEY – Review

Elizabeth McGovern stars as Lady Grantham and Hugh Bonneville as Lord Grantham and in DOWNTON ABBEY, a Focus Features release. Credit: Jaap Buitendijk / © 2019 Focus Features, LLC

Fans of the highly-praised British historical TV series will welcome the return of DOWNTON ABBEY but this return to the lavish, high-fashion1920s and the entertaining aristocratic Crawley family, and their equally-entertaining resourceful servants, delivers delights for those who are not familiar with the popular show as well. The movie picks up not too long after the end of the series, as the Crawley family prepares for an overnight visit by the king and queen, a treat that sends everyone, upstairs and down, scrambling to make sure everything is perfect. The royal visit creates a focus to revisit the characters, and once again experience the show’s mix of snappy dialog, colorful personalities, and social commentary in a time of momentous change.

A lot could have gone wrong in translating this beloved British historical series to the big screen but creator/co-writer Julian Fellowes gets everything right. Rather than recapping the whole series in a movie, he just builds on where the series left off, revisiting the memorable characters as they continue their journeys, but adding just enough background to bring newcomers up to speed without slowing things down for long-time Downton Abbey fans.

Julian Fellowes built on ideas he introduced in his film GOSFORD PARK in creating the original DOWNTON ABBEY television show, which aired in the U.S. on PBS. The original series combined elements from earlier BBC class-divide dramas like “Upstairs, Downstairs” with a focus on the enormous social, political and economic changes that Britain experienced in the early 20th century, as the old aristocratic system gave way to a more democratic one, women asserted their rights, Ireland clamored for freedom, and technology and fashions entered a period of dazzling change. But the series spiked these serious changes with the some sparkling, pointed dialog and memorable characters, making it an enjoyable and fascinating journey.

The show followed one aristocratic family, the Crawleys, headed by a minor earl of a country estate and the family’s servants as the household of grand Downton Abbey weathers the tumultuous social and political changes of the early 20th century following World War I. While the family faces some economic challenges as the old aristocratic economic model fades, the story ends in the economic boom of the 1920s, before the Great Depression that followed the 1929 crash.

The Crawley family – and their servants – always were an independent, even prickly, bunch, with sibling rivalries and clashing personalities keeping us amused. The TV series’ story started shortly after the sinking of the Titanic, and follow the upstairs and downstairs residents of Downton Abbey in the daily lives against the backdrop of historic changes, The Earl of Grantham, Robert Crawley (Hugh Bonneville), his American heiress wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern) and their daughters, saw their leisurely lives of fox hunts and formal dances are transformed into a more active, participatory one demanded by new economic realities and costs of running their grand estate. At the same time, there was a family saga of conflicts and change, romance and tragedy. Of course, it is not all about the aristocratic Crawley family but the lives of their servants, anchored by butler Mr Carson (Jim Carter) and head housekeeper Mrs. Hughes (Phyllis Logan), as they all face changing times, with plenty of clashes, romances and heartbreak of their own.

Sharp, clever dialog was always part of the fun of this series,, as well as memorable characters and outstanding story arcs. The series dealt with serious matters like women’s issues, Irish independence, gay issues, and the breaking down of old class barriers, but it also offered a bunch of great characters and a fair dose of clever, often humor-twinged dialog, so it was just fun to watch. Maggie Smith became a fan favorite in particular, with her famous zingers as the family’s matriarch, the sharp tongued Dowager Countess.

The series’ blend of history, social commentary and family drama proved a potent mix that drew in millions of viewers but it did not hurt that this story takes place in the 1910s-1920s, a period filled with some of history’s most gorgeous fashions, plus elegant cars, and opulent mansions. Period sets were posh and the series was filmed in some wonderful British locations, not the least of which is Highclere Castle, the real country estate that plays Downton Abbey in the movie and series.

All that good stuff, and the cast, are back in this movie version. While the series often dealt with serious topics, alternating with indulging in sheer period lushness, the movie keeps things on the lighter side, focusing on giving the audience all the glittering 20’s fashions, stylish roadsters, and posh settings you could want. Still, a few social topics crop up and the beloved characters return to work out those issues and their relationships, just as fans hope.

The film gives just enough background to help newbies catch on, without bogging down the story in too much detail. The preparations for the royal visit creates enough conflict and tension to bring old battles to the fore, while also giving the family and their loyal staff something to rally around, in support of the grand house. And Highclere Castle is still ready for its close-up, as are all the folks in Downton Abbey.

It is not just the amazing Maggie Smith who shines again in this movie version, but the whole returning cast. Back in high style as the Earl and Countess of Grantham are Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern, who like her character is an American ex-pat who long has lived in England, Also back are sniping sisters Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery), sharp-tongued like her grandma, and milder Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael), now finally enjoying some personal happiness in her marriage to an influential aristocrat. As in the series, Lady Mary is often in charge upstairs but the servants run much of the real show.

Returning are Brendon Coyle as manservant Bates and Joanne Froggatt as lady’s maid Anna, whose romance electrified several seasons, and so are the wonderful butler Carson (Jim Carter), now retired, and the complicated, gay Barrow (Robert James-Collier), now butler, who butt heads over the royal visit. Feisty cook Mrs Patmore (Leslie Nicol) and her rebellious assistant Daisy (Sophie McShera) are back to heat up the kitchen, while Branson (Allen Leach), the Irish chauffeur who married a Crawley daughter, still grapples with conflicted feelings about his place in the world. Adding to this rich stew is Imelda Stanton as a Crawley cousin who is a lady-in-waiting to the queen, and who has long-running beef with Smith’s dowager countess. Meanwhile, worthy opponent Penelope Wilton, as in-law Isobel Merton, still trades barbs with the incomparable Smith. You know sparks, and zingers, will fly. All this talented cast shine, as does the film’s writing.

A DOWNTON ABBEY movie was not really needed, as the series was tied up nicely at the end, nor is this any kind of ground-breaking film, but it is a pleasant, entertaining experience, one well worth the time. The return visit is nice for fans, and the movie was perfectly crafted for that purpose, but the film was enjoyable enough that it might draw a few new fans to the old series. Filled with great characters crafted by talented actors, sparkling snappy dialog, a brisk pace and delightful period settings, DOWNTON ABBEY is pure delight for fans of the award-winning series and any audience who enjoys period films. DOWNTON ABBEY opens Friday, Sept. 20, at the Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 4 stars