Tag: civil war

Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR Screens At SXSW – Reactions And Reviews

Having it’s World Premiere at SXSW on March 14 was Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR.

The Hollywood Reporter says, “The audience reaction to the film has been very effusive, with viewers calling it a riveting, disturbing, masterful piece of filmmaking (read the audience and critic first reactions).”

The consensus of many of the reviews out of the film festival in Austin say the film is brilliant:

“With the precision and length of its violent battle sequences, it’s clear Civil War operates as a clarion call. Garland wrote the film in 2020 as he watched cogs on America’s self-mythologizing exceptionalist machine turn, propelling the nation into a nightmare. With this latest film, he sounds the alarm, wondering less about how a country walks blindly into its own destruction and more about what happens when it does,” says Lovia Gyarkye in her review over at The Hollywood Reporter.

“Alex Garland’s “CIVIL WAR” is an absolute ________ MASTERPIECE. A riveting, unflinching, visceral cautionary tale that’s scary as hell. Watching it, one can’t help but feel how close we are to this actually happening, making it a MUST SEE to stop it before it actually does,” wrote Scott Mantz.”

“How utterly bizarre, you might think. And in the abstract, it is bizarre. But “Civil War” is a furiously convincing and disturbing thing when you’re watching it. It’s a great movie that has its own life force. It’s not like anything Garland has made. It’s not like anything anyone has made, even though it contains echoes of dozens of other films (and novels) that appear to have fed the filmmaker’s imagination,” says Matt Zoller Seitz of Rogerebert.com.

It sits at 89 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The THR article goes onto say that the day after the film’s world premiere screening, the Ex Machina and Annihilation filmmaker broke his silence at the SXSW panel on the comparisons to the film and today’s politics.

“America’s divisions are echoed almost precisely in many countries around the world,” the British filmmaker said. “In the case of America, there’s an extra danger given its power and importance in the world. America has an internal concept in its exceptionalism that means it feels it’s immune to some kinds of problems. One of the things history shows us is that nobody is immune. Nobody is exceptional. And if we don’t apply rationality and decency and thoughtfulness to these problems, in any place, it can get out of control … I’m not trying to locate [these problems] to America, that would be factually wrong. I can take you back home [to Britain] and can show you the same stuff happening in my country. But the implications here are much greater.”

Before seeing the film on April 12, two must-see films that covers the same topic are:

  • BUSHWICK (2017), starring Dave Bautista and Brittany Snow, “as the unlikely pair who navigate through a hail of gunfire and lethal explosions and learn they are in the middle of a civil war as Texas attempts to secede from the US.” (trailer).
  • LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND (Netflix) starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la and Kevin Bacon effectively shows the U.S. as a country being disabed by an unknown enemy in a three-stage campaign resulting in a coup d’état, accompanied be a foreboding score from composer Mac Quayle.

CIVIL WAR official synopsis: From filmmaker Alex Garland comes a journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

Rogerebert.com review: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson drive to Washington, D.C. in hopes of interviewing the president (Nick Offerman) before he surrenders to the military forces of something called the WA, or Western Alliance. The WA consists of militias from California and Texas (with secondary support from Florida, which is apparently a different separatist group that shares the WA’s values).”

The CIVIL WAR score is by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow.

(L-R) Kirsten Dunst Credit: Murray Close Courtesy of A24

Kirsten Dunst Stars In First Trailer For Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR

In 2017, the film BUSHWICK was released starring Dave Bautista and Brittany Snow. (Trailer)

BUSHWICK tells the story of twenty-year- old Lucy (Snow) and war veteran Stupe (Bautista). Texas, and other states (mostly Southern) are trying to secede from the U.S., and NYC is being used as a negotiation tool. Lucy meets Stupe after coming up from the subway into the military invasion of Brooklyn. Together they decide to cross the treacherous five blocks of Bushwick – littered with looters, local militias and the invading forces, in order to get home and be reunited with Lucy’s grandmother.

In December 2023, Netflix released a similar, dystopian movie, LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND. (Trailer) After a series of coordinated attacks on the United States from within, a series of bizarre events leaves most of the population isolated from their phones, internet and communications, and leads to a state of confusion. The film stars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Kevin Bacon and Mahershala Ali. It’s Ali’s character, G. H. Scott, who breaks the bad news that this entire thing could be part of a three-stage process meant to destabilize the United States and start a Civil War. https://www.netflix.com/title/81314956

Hitting theaters this spring is writer and director Alex Garland’s CIVIL WAR and, you guessed it, another foreboding film of what could be coming down the pike next year after the presidential election.

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Cailee Spaeny, check out the trailer below.

Garland is the director of EX MACHINA and ANNIHILATION, and the writer of NEVER LET ME GO, 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE, so it should be no surprise as to what kind of film is coming from the Oscar-nominated filmmaker.

“19 states have seceded.” “The three-term president assures the uprising will be dealt with swiftly,” and the most chilling, “We’re American, okay? Okay, what kind of American are you? You don’t know?”

Definitely a film not to be missed, CIVIL WAR opens in theaters April 26, 2024.

EMANCIPATION – Review

Will Smith and Ben Foster in “Emancipation,” now streaming on Apple TV+. Courtesy of Apple Studios

An unrecognizable Will Smith stars as an enslaved man in Civil War era Louisiana, who decides upon hearing about Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation to escape from a labor camp through the bayou in an attempt to reach Union forces in Baton Rouge, in Antoine Fuqua’s EMANCIPATION. Will Smith’s character was inspired by a real person, the man with the heavily scarred back in the famous Civil War photo, who really did escape slavery to reach an Union encampment. The photo, known as “Whipped Peter” or “the Scourged Back,” was widely circulated during the Civil War and was instrumental in convincing Northerners of the truth of the brutality of slavery.

EMANCIPATION is a true-story inspired tale of the Civil War South without the mint juleps and “Gone with the Wind” fantasy. As the film opens, we see enslaved blacksmith Peter (Will Smith) living a hard life on the plantation of Captain John Lyons (Jayson Warner Smith), along with his wife Dodienne (Charmaine Bingwa) and their children. It is two years into the Civil war when Confederate forces arrive to conscript him and other enslaved men to work building a railroad track, much to the dismay of the plantation owner. In an emotional scene, Peter is taken from his family and shipped off with others in a prison cart. Arriving at the muddy labor camp, he and other enslaved people are worked until they drop, with bodies thrown into a common grave. All the time, they are under the watchful eye of a renowned slave-catcher named Fassel (Ben Foster) and his two employees, one of whom is a former slave, and the camp is encircled by hanged bodies and heads on pikes as warnings of the risks of escape. Rumors about Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation are overheard and, when an opportunity arises, Peter and three others, Gordon (Gilbert Owuor), Tomas (Jabbar Lewis), and John (Michael Luwoye) escape to cross the treacherous bayou in a bid to reach the Union forces fighting at Baton Rouge.

That chase makes up the bulk of the film, as the escapees are pursued by Fassel and his henchmen. One of the escapees is killed and the others decide to split up, making Smith’s character a man alone in a dangerous wilderness of swamp, venous snakes and alligators, pursued by a blood-thirsty fanatic, giving the film a propulsive thriller urgency, as it races towards its moving, inspiring conclusion.

Not a lot is known about the real man in the photo but director Antoine Fuqua and scriptwriter William N. Collage have taken what is known and crafted an inspiring story of determination to reach freedom amid the violence of slavery. It is also a violent story, as Fuqua does not blink in showing the true brutality of slavery, nor the relentlessness and cruelty of slave-catchers. The film is shot in a highly-desaturated color, so much so that at times it appears to be black and white, a visual choice that tamps down the visceral effect of the violence. Many on the characters in the film are based on real people, including Peter and his ruthless pursuer Fassel (in a chilling portrayal by Ben Foster), the plantation owner Captain Lyons, and a Black officer Captain Andre Cailloux (an excellent Mustafa Shakir), a legendary heroic figure of the Civil War.

The story is admirable and the film is inspiring and heroic, but it is not a film without flaws. The desaturated color tends to come and go scene to scene, which proves more distracting than if it was consistent. Smith’s character and his wife speak with Caribbean accents, sometimes in French creole, and other enslaved people have those accents too, and although there is some historic basis (some French plantation owners fled the Haitian Revolution for Louisiana), the accents seem likely to puzzle at least some audience members, raising questions that go unanswered. As said earlier, Smith is nearly-unrecognizable with his face covered in a beard and his stoic character also damps down his unusual on-screen charm. Scenes are often very dark, which is appropriate to the tone, but in the low light of the swamp, it makes it difficult to discern nuances of expression on Smith’s face. The character’s steely demeanor also limits the range of expression, although Smith does a fine job with what the director allows.

It is a great subject for a film but the film tries perhaps a bit too hard to fill in the blanks of the little-known actual person in the famous photo, which raises questions the film doesn’t answer. In many ways, the film feels like a bold Oscar bait reach and while it has admirable aspects, Will Smith feels miscast. Following up his Best Actor Oscar win for “King Richard” and all the uproar around “the slap,” Will Smith seems determined to take another bite at that apple with a dramatic role. But while his role in “King Richard” allowed him to show some of the charm that had made him an audience favorite, this role does not. Smith’s Peter is determined to be free and committed to his faith and the family he loves, but he is a rather steely, remote character, inspiring and determined rather than likable or warm. It doesn’t feel like the right character for Will Smith, although as noted he does as a fine job as possible with it.

This inspiring story has a lot of potential, enough that one can’t help wanting it to succeed, but the inconsistent desaturated color, puzzling details that go unexplained, and Smith’s iron-jawed character work against it. It is not as strong as cinema or as successful narratively as 12 YEARS A SLAVE. Still, it is beautifully shot and deserves credit as a heroic story that is far different from most Civil War tales.

EMANCIPATION opens Friday, Dec. 9, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars

SWORD OF TRUST – Review

(l-r) Jon Bass as Nathaniel, Marc Maron as Mel, Michaela Watkins as Mary and Jillian Bell as Cynthia in Lynn Shelton’s SWORD OF TRUST. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films release.

There’s a sword but not much trust at the start of Lynn Shelton’s oddball indie comedy SWORD OF TRUST but it does have comic surprises and a lot to say about how appearances can be deceiving and the dangers of assumptions and stereotyping. And, yes, trust becomes a central factor in this tale of conspiracy theorists and strangers joining forces.

A curmudgeonly pawnshop owner named Mel (Marc Maron) and his nearly-useless, web-surfing employee Nathaniel (Jon Bass) are eking out a thin living in a small Southern town, but Mel find an unexpected opportunity when out-of-towners Cynthia (Jillian Bell) and her wife Mary (Michaela Watkins) stroll in hoping to sell a Civil War-era sword. Mary was expecting to inherited her grandfather’s house when the couple traveled to this remote spot, but got the sword instead,. The Civil War relic came with a rambling letter detailing a convoluted tale and a claim that the sword proves the South really won the Civil War.

The pawnshop owner, a transplant from New Mexico by way of New York, is as out of place in this sleepy, dusty little Southern town as this out-of-town same-sex couple. Nathaniel tips them off that the sword is a hotly-sought object among conspiracy theorists, a long-rumored “prover” artifact that supports their cause. Seeing a mutually beneficial opportunity, the four form a partnership to cash in by selling it to the highest bidder. What could go wrong, right?

Plenty, of course, as that plan plunges them into the strange world of Civil War conspiracy theory extremists in the Deep South, a situation filled with both tension and comic potential. But director/co-writer Lynn Shelton (HUMP DAY, YOUR SISTER’S SISTER, OUTSIDE IN) also uses it to uncover emotional truths, and hits the mark on all counts.

Shelton, who has directed both comedy and drama, co-wrote this South By Southwest breakout hit with Mike O’Brien, a surprising, funny, unexpectedly beguiling film, where appearances can be misleading and assumptions often mistaken. Both writers take small roles in the film and SWORD OF TRUST has plenty of indie comedy quirkiness. Some of the scenes are improvised, which is often a formula for disaster, but in this case, it creates magic, thanks to this remarkable cast. The cast, all experienced comedic actors, excel as an ensemble, mining comically outlandish situations for laughs while simultaneously crafting unusual, fascinating characters who have unexpected depth. Trust is indeed a running theme, in a tale where assumptions and stereotypes are often way off the mark.

SWOED OF TRUST is comedy but also partly a thriller and drama. This is a film where you never know what will happen next, but you are eager to see what’s around that next bend. Even more, these are people we come to care about, despite silly first impressions, as Shelton and the cast offer revelations step-by-step.

The cast is outstanding, working seamlessly in improv and balancing humor and character development but particularly impressive is Marc Maron as Mel, the central character in this crazy web. Maron’s performance as good comically as it is dramatically as the de facto leader of this unlikely partnership, but he brings an extra level of emotional depth with Mel’s complex backstory. All the cast is good, and that praise extends to include supporting roles by Al Elliott as cafe owner and Mel’s best buddy Jimmy and Daniel Bakkedahl as a would-be buyer and conspiracy-theorist powerbroker Kingpin.

Director Shelton does a masterful job. She draws us in with the humor then throws us off balance, upending assumptions and turning things around every time we get too comfortable. But she also makes us love this twisty, head-spinning, edge-of-the-seat journey and the people on it, despite expectations at the start. Meanwhile, the actor’s characters win us over with their personal stories. The hidden story behind the characters, and the sword, are revealed in this wonderful film, which creeps up on you with humor and suspense to steal your heart.

SWORD OF TRUST opens, Friday, August 2, at the Tivoli Theater.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

THE RETRIEVAL – The Review

retrieval-nate-will

It’s unusual to experience both a deep sadness and feel uplifted at the same time, but THE RETRIEVAL manages to accomplish this flawlessly. There is no shortage of well-made films to make us happy and inspired, there is even a great selection of stellar films that leave us feeling depressed and miserable, but how many films have you seen that actually, in some strange way, leave you suspended in an emotional juxtaposition between the two extremes?

Written, directed and produced by Chris Eska, this gem of last year’s SXSW film festival (2013) stands as a beacon of powerful storytelling shining brightly through the dark veil of history from which it is born. THE RETRIEVAL takes place in 1864 in the midst of the Unites States Civil War. This is the story of Will, a 13-year old boy left behind by his father to be exploited by Marcus (Keston John). Marcus works as a bounty hunter, employed by an unstable white man named Burrell (Bill Oberst, Jr.) to retrieve runaway slaves and return them to their masters for cash rewards.

Will, played by Ashton Sanders, is quiet and innocent with a good heart, but is surrounded by terrible influences and without a true father figure. When Burrell sends Marcus out to retrieve a man worth more than several of their usual targets, he takes Will with him to serve as bait to lure their mark into a trap. Nate, played by Tishuan Scott, is a big, strong man gone north to work and live as his own man, free to do as he pleases but still haunted by his past, keeping him from returning home to the south. Will is fully aware that his and Marcus’ actions are wrong, but has succumb to the tell-tale symptoms of someone abducted becoming attached to their captor for survival and security. This all slowly changes for Will the moment he first meets Nate.

THE RETRIEVAL is a tale of morality, intimate and personal. The film feels small in comparison to the scale of violence and hatred that make up the backdrop to the story. Eska remains diligently focused on the relationship that builds between Will and Nate, despite the horrible things we all know are occurring around them. Eska understands we are well aware of those more visceral, disturbing details of the Civil Ware era, instead choosing to leave that mostly to imagination. With that said, there are still a few moments when Eska throws in a shot or a brief scene just to keep us properly grounded in the reality of the world in which Will must develop into a young man.

From the very first shot of the film, THE RETRIEVAL is saturated with a melancholy resignation. Visually, the film is constructed of simple, geometrically straight-forward shots. There are an abundance of static shots and long takes. Color is nearly absent from the film, washed out and nearly monochromatic. Much of the film seems hidden within a shroud of fog or smoke, literally or figuratively. This sense of loneliness and resignation carries over into the film’s sound as well, with frequent pauses and long moments of silence built into the dialogue, masterfully integrated by the cast for maximum effect. One secret drives the film’s plot. On that note, much of the story is driven not by what is spoken but by what needs to be said and is kept silent. Distant gunshots and cannon fire occasionally break up the deafening silence that invades Will’s universe, where he’s torn between his fear and curiosity about the war that rages around him.

At its most primal core, the film is about a young man learning right from wrong and that life is not black and white, but muddled forever within an endless swamp of gray area that has no true boundaries. Will is without his true father, is manipulated into seeing Marcus as his surrogate father for the wrong reasons, but is symbolically adopted by Nate, a man seen by most as a criminal. As the two journey together to an uncertain end, Nate grows ever more fond of Will as the son he never had and Will discovers a new view of life through Nate that will stay with him and change the course of his life forever. The relationship between Nate and Will is nourishment to the soul. Hardship, misunderstanding, fear and anger. All of these things make up Nate’s life but he instills none of this in Will, instead seeing him as a young man in need of the teaching of a good man, a side of himself Nate may damn near have lost sight of if not for Will entering his life, even by misguided intentions. Ultimately, and in very different ways, Nate and Will save each other.

THE RETRIEVAL is quite possibly one of the most intelligently conceived, beautifully and truthfully rendered films about life during the United States Civil War and the culture of slavery in America ever made. Overshadowed by similar films with bigger budgets and higher caliber star power, THE RETRIEVAL succeeds on the back of a thoughtful, visionary filmmaker with an independent spirit and a devoted cast of wonderfully talented actors who put an emphasis on connecting personally to their characters.

THE RETRIEVAL opens April 2nd, 2014 in NYC with an expanded theatrical release on April 18th, 2014.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

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