Tag: Spain

ROBOT DREAMS – Review

So it’s been long established that the Summer season is the “go-to” release time for animated features (along with the year-end holidays). Kids are out of school and parents need an air-conditioned refuge for the whole family. This season has begun at the multiplex with a fully CGI’d version of the “funny papers” feline, and we’ll soon get an ’emotional” reunion with a Pixar sequel and another visit from Gru and his minions. Ah, but “in between” we’re getting treated to something special and somewhat unique as it’s not part of a franchise, rather it’s based on an acclaimed graphic novel. Plus it’s done in the “classic” animation style, often referred to as 2D, much like the “hand-drawn” shorts and features (and TV shows) of the past. Oh, and it’s an Oscar nominee…from last year. Yes, it was one of the five nominated films in the March ceremony. And though THE BOY AND THE HERON took home the gold, this little gem more than deserved to be “in the race”. Now, at last, everyone will get a chance to be dazzled and delighted by some heart-tugging ROBOT DREAMS.


This story’s “waking life” begins in an anthropomorphic (much like ZOOTOPIA) version of NYC nearly forty years ago. The canine hero (known only as “Dog”) spends his nights in a walk-up one-bedroom apartment (perhaps in Brooklyn or Queens) in front of his tube TV. It’s hooked up to a “home gaming system” enabling him to play the classic “Pong” by himself (each hand holding a joystick makes it a new spin on Solitaire). Dog then switches his set over to basic cable, and pops a frozen “mac & cheese” dinner into the microwave. Setting up his “TV tray” he notices the windows of buildings across the street revealing happy couples enjoying life. And then a commercial inspires him. It’s an ad for the “Amica-2000” robot companion. Dog grabs the phone along with his charge card and places an order. After days of listening for a delivery truck stopped on his street, the big package arrives. After the driver (a bull) leaves, Dog quickly assembles his new mechanical buddy. Its steel noggin sports wide quizzical eyes and a broad smile. Soon Dog and “Robot” are inseparable, strolling down the street, watching TV (THE WIZARD OF OZ is a fave), playing video games, sharing a pizza, and even roller skating in the nearby park. As the temps rise, Dog decides they should hop on a bus to “Ocean Beach Park”. After some fun and food on the “boardwalk”, the duo ventures into the water. After a bit of trepidation, the pals finally engage in some undersea exploration. Afterward, they grab a bit of blanket space on the sand and bask in the sun. They doze off and awaken to a nearly deserted beach at dusk. Dog hastily begins gathering their things and takes Robot’s hand. But he can’t move. perhaps the seawater damaged his inner workings (could be rust). Dog then leaves his friend (assuring him he’ll return) and heads back into the city for his tool kit (and an oil can). But when Dog returns, a fence has been erected because the beach is now closed for the season, the sign stating it will be re-opened in June of next year. He tries to squeeze through the fence but the police gorilla hauls Dog away. Can these “best buddies” survive the separation? Could something happen to either one during the long months of waiting?

This is quite an emotionally complex story for an animated feature, though told in a seemingly simple way. As I mentioned earlier, these aren’t digitally shaded characters with “pixel’d” strands of fur and whiskers. Sure there’s a “double color layer” to suggest a light source and guide the shadows, but the main duo would be right “at home” with the Flintstones, Jetsons, or the first seasons of the Simpsons, though Robot could be a distant cousin to Futurama’s Bender. The backgrounds also benefit from a smooth, slick design, with meticulous detail to the time period (from a couple of pop culture nods, I’m zeroing in on 1986). Plus the fact that Spanish craftsman could so convincingly recreate the Big Apple is most amazing. And the movement is quite impressive, as there’s no real spoken dialogue other than some “chirps”, grunts, and growls. Through body language we know exactly how the heroes are reacting and their “inner life”. Which touches on the universal adult feelings of loneliness and the joy of finally connecting with someone, even if you did have to build him. There’s a sense of that even as the duo are kept apart for months. Dog has a brutal “dust-up” with two nasty twin aardvarks, and later he begins a romance with an athletic duck. Even as he lies on the beach, Robot has some encounters, including a rabbit rowing team and a bird seeking a safe nest for its eggs. And he does dream, drifting into shattering fantasies of reunion and whimsy. It all builds to something beyond the usual cartoon “happily ever after” ending, instead, it’s a warm interlude bathed in melancholy. Surprising that these simple shapes could elicit “all the feels”. Even more startling is the director’s resume, as Pablo Berger is mainly known for live-action comedies and dramas (talk about hitting a homer the first time at bat). But then the source material he adapted, from graphic novelist Sara Varon, has plenty of both. So even though this is technically from 2023, ROBOT DREAMS is one of the best films, animated or live-action, that you’re likely to view, and be moved by this year.

4 Out of 4

ROBOT DREAMS is now playing in select theatres

THE GOOD BOSS- Review

Just in time for the big labor day holiday weekend comes a highly praised film set in the world of…, well, work. A big hustling factory to be precise. Now, while other films have focused on the folks on the “line”, the “cogs’ if you will. the working “stiff” average “Janes and Joes” punching the time clocks in dramas like NORMA RAE and comedies like OFFICE SPACE, well, this one’s very different as it takes a long look inside the ‘executive suite” and its occupant. This “big cheese” wears many hats, owner, manager, supervisor, but the tag he hopes that most of the workers bestow on him is “papa”. Really, he thinks of the business staff as a family with himself as the surrogate father (who gives out an allowance in the form of a paycheck). He knows that his position has gotten a “bad rap”, so he wishes to be thought of as THE GOOD BOSS.


Now, this tale doesn’t start during the work day. On a dark night in a city park in Spain, a group of Arab immigrant teenage men, laughing, teasing “shooting the breeze” suddenly are viciously attacked by a local gang who quickly emerged out of the shadows. Luckily the police arrive and pick up a young man who is separated from his violent pals. Cut to the next day, as the sun rises over a town mainstay, Blanco Basculas, a factory that manufactures all manner of scales. If it needs to be weighed, they’ve got the right product. It’s a longstanding family business, now run by the “latest-in-line”, fifty-something Julio Blanco (Javier Bardem). This morning he’s delivering a “pep talk” a few feet above the “work floor”, In ten or so days a team of local judges made up of business moguls, will inspect the factory to see if it’s worthy of a prestigious award. Later in the board room, several execs share a celebratory bottle of wine, though Julio’s eyes are glued to the work floor as a group of young interns is getting the “shop tour”. Actually, he’s fixated on one, the alluring young beauty called Liliana (Almudena Amor). Then this lovely day is spoiled by the unexpected arrival of recently discharged worker Jose (Oscar de la Fuente), who has brought his young children to embarrass Julio. He’s quickly ushered out, but Jose insists that he’ll “have his day”. The next morning Julio and his wife Adela (Sona Almarcha) enjoy a quiet breakfast by the pool while long-time factory worker Fortuna (Celso Bugallo), who has given up his Saturday, toils away at the pool’s faulty heater. Julio notices sadness in the older man’s withered face. After some prodding, Fortuna tells him that his teenage son is in jail (that opening sequence). Julio says that he will get him released and arrange employment at his wife’s dress shop. But that decision doesn’t free the factory from a flood of other problems. Production manager Miralles (Manolo Solo) is distracted due to his worry that his wife is having an affair. Julio thinks he can fix this, but he also sees that Jose has set up a “protest camp” in a public vacant lot just across from the plant’s entrance. Can Julio get things running smoothly, and keep Liliana out of his brain, to impress the judges and snag that coveted major award?

As he’s in the title role, the power of the film rests on Bardem’s broad shoulders. And to say he doesn’t falter is a bit of an understatement. Though most of the accolades for BEING THE RICARDOS were directed at her co-star, Bardem reminded us of his versatility, that he can play a smiling singing TV star as well as any cold-blooded killer. His Julio is well in the middle (well, maybe closer to Desi) since he projects an image to the people, and especially his staff, of a caring, overseeing daddy, one that always has the time to nudge someone back on to the “straight and narrow”. Bardem brings us “in”, to show the manipulator under the “mask” of patriarchal warmth. His irritation at his “unbalanced” life compels his passive-aggressive remarks to ease into seething threats. When his “gentle pushes” don’t work, he’s quick to use the “hammer”. His desire to have it “all” extends to his interest in the much-younger Liliana, who’s given a naive allure by Amor until her mask drops to reveal a ‘climber” who’s eager to use her “power”. This is unlike Fuente’s Jose, whose moral outrage quickly veers into obsession, as he sees himself as an “avenger of the oppressed”. Much of that mania is shared by Solo as Miralles, who believes his quest to find his wife’s lover will not affect his work, a mission that leads to his downfall. Also worth noting is the great comic work of Fernando Albizu as the bumbling security guard at the front gate, Roman, who becomes an unwitting alley to Jose while adding to Julio’s escalating frustration.

Writer/director Fernando Leon de Aranoa has crafted a most compelling comedy/drama that explores the way that “work-life: collides with “real life”, or “off hours”. Julio believes he can “mold” his workers into loyalty and efficiency by getting personally involved and leading them down the “right path”. But he finds out that these “family members aren’t the calibrated machinery, and will “go off the track” despite his best efforts. In the end, it’s his lust for glory, that award that has a spot on his display wall already reserved, and his lust for younger conquests, like the newest intern (an early scene hints that this is a habit for him), destroys the affable father figure persona he wants to project. All the sweater ensembles and sports jackets can’t contain or restrain the ruthless beast inside him. His method to “even out the antique scale sculpture at the factory entrance reveals the bad, bad man inside THE GOOD BOSS. Some of the balance allegories can get a bit heavy-handed (sorry), but Bardem’s terrific performance truly “tips the scales”.

3.5 Out of 4


THE GOOD BOSS is now playing in select theatres including Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas in St. Louis, MO

UNCHARTED (2022)- Review

Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) and Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) look to make their move in Columbia Pictures’ UNCHARTED. photo by: Clay Enos

So getting those winter blues, stuck inside for days due to the weather (and lingering travel restrictions) making you a bit stir crazy? The perfect “cure” might be a virtual “vacay”, namely a globe-spanning adventure starring two actors representing the “next-gen” of action heroes. Hey, one of them is still dominating the box office (and probably playing in the auditorium next door or down the hall). But this is no mere travelogue “romp”. It’s an adaptation (and a hoped-for new franchise). Another comic book, maybe a novel, or perhaps a classic TV show? Get with it Gramps’, this is a computer game that hopes to make as big a splash as Sonic did two years ago. Rather than a CGI speedy critter, here’s the tale of a team who’ll face any danger in their quest for gold and glory hidden in territories still UNCHARTED.

Much like another beloved action franchise, this movie’s opening sequence has the intrepid Nate Drake (Tom Holland) in seemingly unescapable peril until…a flashback. We then meet him as a teen when he and his older brother Sam try to raid a museum in the dead of night. Try is the operative word as the two are hauled back to the orphanage. Before Sami s sent off to “juvie’ he promises Nate that he’ll keep in touch, then disappears into the night. A dozen or so years later adult Nate is mixing cocktails and tossing off historical explorer nuggets as he relieves spoiled “trust funders” of their trinkets and cash. But somebody’s on to his “game”: worldly “collector” Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Mark Wallberg). He approaches Nate and tries to recruit him into his plot to grab to golden jeweled crosses that would unlock the lost treasure of Magellan. Nate’s not onboard till Sully reveals that he worked with Sam. Actually, they just need the cross that’s part of a big “high-end” auction nearby (Sully insists he’s got the other one). The duo sneaks into the swanky event and are immediately spotted by the slinky Braddock (Tati Gabrielle), Sully’s rival and a ruthless retriever for multi-billionaire Santiago (Antonio Banderas) who believes the treasure is part of his family legacy. After the auction ends in chaos Sully and Nate are on the run, first to meet up with a shady operative in Barcelona, Chloe (Sophia Ali), leading to an all-out showdown on a Pacific island. Can the lowly trio get to the loot before Santiago and Braddock’s army scoops it up?

Aside from its gaming roots, this film’s biggest ‘draw” may be Holland, fresh off of last year’s biggest box office hit (now the third biggest domestic B.O. of all time). Here he brings the same infectious energy and boyish charm as Peter P., but offset with a devious, rascally grin as he breezes off with “ill-gotten booty”. That’s tempered with his sense of loss and longing to reunite with his mentor, older sibling. Part of that role is taken up by Wahlberg whose Sully oozes with layback cool mixed with lots of snark, as he tries to suppress a grin as Nate reminds him of his early blunders. Both actors can pull off the dapper and the dirty inherent in their roles. Always looking suave is Banderas who now seems to be the “go-to” guy for the sinister international mastermind (much as he did last year in THE HITMAN’S WIFE’S BODYGUARD). Well, at least he’s not stroking a cat as he reveals his nefarious schemes. One of those listening in would be Gabrielle who makes Braddock both sinister and sexy, an exotic dangerous beauty who will “kiss you deadly” without a moment’s hesitation. On the flip side, there’s Ali as Chloe who has tart chemistry with Nate, though she can’t quite be fully trusted since her past with Sully has made her much wiser…and wiley.

The action sequences are strung together with a manic pace by director Ruben Fleischer, who has jettisoned the subversive satire of his ZOMBIELAND films for gravity-defying (and physics-ignoring) set pieces to keep kids glued to their seats. Unfortunately, these CGI-enhanced stunt exercises are exhausting and eventually monotonous as the film tries to “top” itself and forgo more character development to keep moving to the next exotic locale. Plus the three (!) screenwriters should know better than to namedrop Indiana Jones and Jack Sparrow which reminds the audience of much-better adventure extravaganzas. Holland’s tossed around here as much as the wallcrawler, but he, like most of the characters, may just be made of pixels as they bounce back quicker than the Looney Tunes troupe. At least Indy had some “mileage” as Nate doffs his shirt baring a chest free of scrapes and bruises. And like most thrillers, they don’t know how to wrap things up as they sprinkle in mid-credits “bonus’ scenes to tempt us with future sequels (oh they surely hope). Aside from the future software exploits, this will probably end the big screen capers of Nate and Sully. It’s a shame since Holland and Wahlberg have an easy-going rapport. They’re deserving of a better outing than this “kiddie-spin” (aside from the patricide and some throat-slitting) on the modern swashbucklers that’s more uninspired than UNCHARTED.

2 out of 4

UNCHARTED opens in theatres everywhere

PARALLEL MOTHERS – Review

Penélope Cruz as Janis and Milena Smit as Ana in PARALLEL MOTHERS.
Photo Credit: El Deseo D.A. S.L.U., photo by Iglesias Mas. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

Pedro Almodovar is famous for Oscar-winning dramas like TALK TO HER and ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER but the brilliant Spanish writer/director alternates those dramas with lighter fare, soapy melodramas, sometimes with a campy mystery/thriller side. In his latest, PARALLEL MOTHERS, Almodovar re-teams with favorite collaborator Penelope Cruz for a drama that combines these two film types running on parallel tracks, in which a drama about the devastating impact Spain’s political history on families serves as a kind of framing story for another one, a soapy mystery thriller about two mothers, although the two threads come together in the end.

It begins with two expectant mothers, one older and the other younger, sharing a room in a maternity hospital. Both are single and their pregnancies are accidental but while Janis (Penelope Cruz), a successful photographer approaching 40, is delighted by the prospect of motherhood, 17-year-old Ana (Milena Smit) is terrified. An unexpected bond forms between them, with the older one offering encouragement and support to the teen mother, who seems to get little of that from her narcissistic mother, Teresa (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon), an actress more focused on her career than her daughter. When the two new mothers part, each with a newborn daughter, they exchange phone numbers with promises to stay in touch.

Penelope Cruz gives one of her best performances as Janis, a photographer at a high-end women’s magazine run by her best friend Elena (frequent collaborator Rossy de Palma), played with de Palma’s usual bold flare. During a photo shoot, Janis meets a handsome forensic anthropologist and archaeologist, Arturo (Israel Elejalde). After the shoot, Janis asks him to exhume the mass grave where her great-grandfather, an early victim of Franco’s death squads, is buried, and he agrees to push for the project with the non-profit he works for, which is investigating the history of the mass killings under Francisco Franco’s fascist rule. The disappearance of her great-grandfather and others in the small village where she was raised by her grandmother has haunted both her and others in the village for decades and they want the right to recover and properly re-bury the bodies. Janis and Arturo also start an affair but when she becomes pregnant, she breaks it off, as he is married and his wife is battling cancer at the time.

The story about Janis’ missing great-grandfather and, more broadly, Spain’s legacy from Franco’s fascist regime, starts the film but then recedes as we focus on the story of the two mothers. That central story is both a soapy mystery/thriller and a drama exploring the challenges of motherhood, balancing work and family, and the connections between women. The more political framing story also explores family connections across generations, particularly between women, and the importance of history.

The soapy thriller starts after the two women leave the hospital. When Janis gets home, Arturo gets in touch with her, asking to see the new baby. She agrees but when he does see her, reacts to the baby’s swarthy appearance with questions. Although Janis quickly attributes the baby’s looks to the Venezuelan grandfather she never saw, and is offended by Arturo’s questioning, it still raises doubts in her mind, eventually leading to a shocking discovery.

Although Janis and Ana eventually lose touch, they reconnect when Janis spots Ana working at a nearby cafe. While Cruz is marvelous, young Milena Smit holds her own, with a finely crafted performance as Ana. One reason for the lack of connection between Smit’s Ana and her ambitious actress mother Teresa is that Ana has been living with her father, mother’s ex-husband, but he sent their daughter to her when she became pregnant. While Cruz’ character is emotional, confident and optimistic, Smit’s performance is more understated. Yet Smit masterfully takes the character from a frightened teen dependent on her emotionally-distant mother, to a more confident young woman, ready to face the world on her own.

While the central thriller story is soapy, it is never campy, handling the story’s twists and surprises as drama. Like all Almodovar films, strong color and design elements suffuse this film. Cruz often appears in red, signaling boldness, while quieter Ana is often in green or blue. The string-heavy music soundtrack, by composer Alberto Iglesias, frequently recalls Hitchcock films, particularly VERTIGO, as does the use of color in the central mystery story, The film also has one of the best uses of Janis Joplin’s “Summertime,” as Janis, who was named for the singer, describes her complicated family history, including the death of her hippy mother from an overdose at age 27, like Joplin.

While the mystery is not very hard to figure out, it does create a dilemma for Cruz’s Janis, a situation that is resolved in a pivotal scene in the second half of the film. However, that scene begins with Janis confronting Ana about Spain’s troubled history, after Ana, parroting her presumably-conservative father, says that the past does not matter, leading a fiery Janis to tell her to find out what her father did during that time. The scene is a crucial moment in the central story but also serves to tie the personal drama and the historical themes together by the film’s end.

Almodovar’s films are always about his unique, striking characters, which is true for this film as well. Almodovar’s ability to tell women’s stories is remarkable as always, and he puts that message right out there, on a tee-shirt Cruz wears in one scene, reading “we should all be feminists.” However, in PARALLEL MOTHERS, the director uncharacteristically dips a toe into the political, by focusing on the lingering pain of Francisco Franco’s fascist regime, during which 100,000 people went “missing,” a regime under which Almodovar grew up. But it is just a toe in the those troubled waters, raising the topic rather than exploring it deeply, and more focused on human rights than anything. Still, the film ends on a strong image of the opened mass grave, and a powerful quote on screen: “No history is mute. No matter how much they burn it, no matter how much they break it, no matter how much they lie about it, human history refuses to shut its mouth.”

This dual film, with serious and soapy sides, is usual for Almodovar but it is a strong, striking drama which might win the director both audience and award attention. In a funny way, it is DNA which ties both tracks of the film together, as a technology that makes discoveries like family connections possible and as the stuff of those family lines, as the past and the present come together in this fine drama.

PARALLEL MOTHERS, in Spanish with English subtitles, opens Friday, Jan. 28, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema and at other theaters nationally.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

PAIN AND GLORY – Review

Center: Antonio Banderas as Salvador
© El Deseo. Photo by Manolo Pavón. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics.

Making a film about a movie maker is a tricky thing but thankfully, Pedro Almodovar gets it right in the Spanish-language drama PAIN AND GLORY. Get it wrong and you have a self-absorbed mess right but get it right and you have something luminous like 8 1/2. In PAIN AND GLORY, an aging Spanish film director, with a long, storied career, reflects on his past life, particularly a childhood in poverty, as he copes with the pain and physical ailments that keep him from continuing to do what he loves – make movies.

The Oscar-winning Spanish director/writer/producer Pedro Almodovar has had his own storied career, with films ranging across genres with dramas like Oscar winner ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, thrillers like THE SKIN I LIVE IN, and comedies like his breakout WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. Many Almodovar films have an element of drawing on the director’s own life but it is much more pronounced in this film about a director, of course.

Almodovar has made a number of great films, and can add one more with PAIN AND GLORY. For any great director, some films turn out better than others but PAIN AND GLORY is one of Almodovar’s successes. Almodovar frequently casts the same actors in lead roles in his films, particularly so with Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, and favorites Banderas and Cruz return in this one.

Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas) is a Spanish film director who has had a lot of cinema glory in his career but now he lives in a world of pain. Unable to continue making films due to a host of physical ailments coupled with depression, the aging director lives a nearly reclusive life, spending time remembering his past life, particularly his childhood and his beloved mother. Penelope Cruz plays his mother Jacinta, who takes her son from her their rural village to a small town hoping for a better life, a village where Salvador’s father has gone seeking work. Rather than wait for him to send for them, his wife and small son arrive unannounced, and she is dismayed to find the appalling conditions in which her husband as living. Undeterred, she struggles to make life better and give her bright son a future.

In the present, the director’s manager Mercedes (Nora Navas) tries to draw him out of his hermit-like life, and finally persuades him to appear at a retrospective featuring one his old films. A chance meeting with an actress he had not seen in years sparks him to reconnect with the star of that now-classic film. The director and actor had parted ways over the actor’s portrayal of the main character but the director has reconsidered his reaction to the film on re-watching it these many years later. Meanwhile, the actor, Alberto (Asier Etxeandia), has fallen on hard times, in part due to his heroin addiction, and the high-profile retrospective offers a chance to revive his sagging career.

Like all Almodovar films, there are a lot of complicated, often edgy things going on around this plot and with these equally complicated, flawed people. As in most Almodovar films, the strong characters, the ones with will and focus, are the women. In this case, it is both the director’s mother, in his memories of her from his childhood and in her later years (where she is played by Julieta Serrano ), and his manager Mercedes who help Salvador find his way.

The script is more introspective and universal than one might expect. Although this particular character is a film director, his experiences and situation could be any person of a certain age, remembering the childhood that shaped them, remembering first loves, first heartbreaks, and re-evaluating one’s work with the perspective of time, and contemplating the later part of life, as Salvador.

But this film is not all seriousness, by any means. There are elements of humor, particularly in the scenes with the actor Alberto, played winningly by Asier Etxeandia. When Salvador waffles about inviting Alberto to speak along at the film retrospective, Alberto tries to persuade him, as if he is auditioning, and Salvador unconsciously slips into directing, telling him not to cry at the event, and commenting the “actors always want to cry,” with exasperation. The film also has moments of romance, sweetness and poignancy, as well as struggle, indecision and bad decisions, making it a warm and emotionally engaging experience.

The acting is superb, as it always is in Almodovar’s films. Antonio Banderas turns in one of his best performances, as a man in emotional and physical pain, trying to find his way in late life and reconciling the past while contemplating the future. Penelope Cruz glows as young Salvador’s mother, displaying iron determination, showering him with love while working tirelessly to build his future. Other supporting actors strengthen and deepen the narrative too. Leonardo Sbaraglia is warm as Frederico, a long-lost lover who reconnects with Salvador, and César Vicente is touching as Eduardo, an artistically-talented and handsome young man, who sparks the early stirrings of sexual attraction in young Salvador (Asier Flores).

The film is visually vibrant, filled with bright colors, sunlight, and bold graphic shapes, giving the images on screen energy. The attention to the beautiful composition and color in nearly every scene gives the feeling of being inside a painting, and in fact, paintings and artists are a motif running throughout the film. But everything is masterfully integrated in this film, the story, the imagery and performances, so that it draws into its world fully and involves us deeply in Salvador’s dilemma grappling with the aches and regrets of late life but resolving them to find a path to keep living.

PAIN AND GLORY is a impressive but of cinema but it is, more importantly, a rich film experience for thoughtful audiences, both warm, bittersweet and satisfying.

PAIN AND GLORY, in Spanish with English subtitles, opens Friday, Oct. 25, at the Plaza Frontenac and Tivoli theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

EVERYBODY KNOWS – Review

Penélope Cruz stars as Laura and Javier Bardem as Paco in Asghar Farhadi’s EVERYBODY KNOWS, a Focus Features release. Photo credit: Teresa Isasi/Focus Features

Penelope Cruz plays a Spanish-born woman who returns with her two children to the rural Spanish village where she grew up for her younger sister’s wedding. Among those who greet her are her childhood friend Paco (Javier Bardem), now the owner of a successful vineyard and winery. But this joyful family event is disrupted by a crime that brings to the surface long-simmering resentments and suspicions, ripping away the pleasant veneer of the modern world to reveal old class divides, in the gripping psychological thriller EVERYBODY KNOWS.

While the Spanish thriller/drama EVERYBODY KNOWS (Todos lo Saben) was not nominated for an Oscar, it did win the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year. The film seems deeply Spanish, and it features two of Spain’s biggest stars, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. However, it actually was written and directed by Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, whose past films include the Oscar-winning films A SEPARATION and THE SALESMAN. Like those dramas, a family crisis is used to reveal deeper divisions and issues within that society and provide social commentary, as the drama also explores complexities of human relationships.

Penelope Cruz plays Laura, the woman returning to her family’s little village for her sister Ana’s (Inma Cuesta) wedding. Laura’s businessman husband Alejando (Ricardo Darin) is a model of globalized affluence who has donated generously to the restoration of the village’s historic church but he has not come on this trip, with Laura saying he needed to remain in Buenos Aires due to business. As Laura and her children, teenage daughter Irene (Carla Campra) and young son Diego (Ivan Chavero), arrive at the small inn owned by her older sister Mariana (Elvira Minguez) and her husband Fernando, they are also greeted by her childhood friend and former love Paco (Javier Bardem), now one of the town’s most prosperous citizens along with his wife Bea (Barbara Lennie). As they all celebrate the wedding into the night, a tragic event strikes, sending the family into a morass of secrets, long-hidden resentments and accusations as they struggle to rescue one of their own.

The crime is the kidnapping of Irene, and the kidnapper leave threatening clippings about an earlier kidnapping that ended badly when the family broke the instructions not to contact police. The instructions means the family must try to figure out on their own how to get her back alive.

Secrets are exposed and the past comes back to haunt everyone in the crime/psychological thriller EVERYBODY KNOWS. It is a big cast, which provides plenty of room for intrigue. The title suggests gossip, and that does play a role, as the accusations fly. Red herrings abound, as do secrets and shifting suspicions. The film seems a pot boiler with a dash of soap opera, at least on the surface.

This complex film works on several levels. On the surface, it is a crime thriller, a mystery to be solved. At times the twisty plot verges on soap opera, as family secrets and long-buried resentments boil up. But beneath that the drama explores the impact of old class divides, the resentments and lingering attitudes of privilege even as fortunes are reversed. Past romantic history emerges as well as cracks in veneers of prosperity. “Everybody knows” becomes a reoccurring refrain, as assumptions that “everybody knows” are exploded or nearly forgotten events of the past come to light.

At first, everything looks the idealized picture of a modern globalized world. When Laura returns to her family’s ancient estate home for the wedding, she is the picture of affluence from abroad, the success story in her once wealthy family. Her older sister and her husband are just getting by running a little inn in the rural village but the wine-growing region which is bustling. Laura’s childhood friend and youthful love Paco was the son of the family servant, but now owns a prosperous winery. When impulsive teenage Irene takes off with a cute local boy on a motorcycle, her mother is not overly worried, as everyone knows everyone in the village. The whole town seems to turn out for the wedding and the wine-fueled, dance-filled celebration that follows. As the celebration goes on into the night, the festivities take a dark turn, when Irene goes missing.

Forbidden by the kidnappers to contact police, the family is forced to figure out what to do on their own. Fernando secretly contacts an old friend, a retired policeman (Jose Angel Egido), who offers some advice but also unleashes secrets and suspicions.

The events of the film rip away the thin layer of modern social equality to reveal deep class divisions rooted in ancient aristocracy. Laura’s aging father (Ramon Barea), once the local patrone and major landholder, drunkenly rails that everyone in the village, claiming they owe him and implying he was swindled out of the land, although everyone knows he lost it gambling it away. While the family treats Paco almost like a member, the old patriarch lashes out to remind everyone it was not always so. In the end, it seems like Paco who pays to biggest price.

The plot is full of twists and with so many characters and switch backs it is easy to lose track. The director uses a familiar formula of doling out information in pieces, building suspense and doubt.

With all its twists and subtext, EVERYBODY KNOWS reaches a satisfying but poignant conclusion. Not everybody will like this very twisty thriller but fans of complicated psychological thrillers will be onboard for this wild ride. EVERYBODY KNOWS, in Spanish with English subtitles,opens Friday, February 22, at the Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars

2019 Oscar Nominated Film Shorts Programs

Once again the general public will have to opportunity to view something that was a regular part of the movie experience for many decades, the short subject. Throughout the “Golden Age” of Hollywood, the studios produced these smaller films (generally under an hour) that were usually shown in between two films (the great double feature). There were the cartoons made by the studio animation departments (Bugs Bunny from Warners, Tom and Jerry at MGM, and so forth), and the live-action shorts, often comedy (Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges) mixed with some closer to documentaries like the newsreel (pre-TV filmed events) and the travelogue (a film tour of world locales). With the advent of TV, most theatres stopped showing them and the major studios closed their divisions. The shorts then became the primary domain for independent filmmakers and continued to vie for Oscar nominations. Now, with the increasing streaming platforms and cable outlets, shorts are becoming more accessible now than in many years. Still, big screen programs, aside from film festivals, is a real rarity. With the Oscar ceremony just weeks away, film fans can indulge in a “cinema smorgasbord” and indulge in a buffet from three categories.

The most popular may be the films selected as Best Animated Short, though, like their live-action narrative brethren, most of these films share a theme, call it “parents and children”. Well, there one exception, of course, that would be the witty entry from the National Film Board of Canada (producer of many wonderful award-winning animated films for nearly 70 years) called “Animal Behavior”. Rendered in a magazine (New Yorker mainly) style, it looks at a group therapy session (chairs in a circle) for animals (a pig, a leech, a praying mantis, etc.) with a dog in charge trying to deal with a new member, an annoyed gorilla. The rest fit squarely in the “theme”, the best known being “Bao” which did run in theatres last Summer paired off with INCREDIBLES 2 (Pixar nearly always runs a short before each new feature). It’s a fable (the only one in the group told in rounded 3D CGI style) in which a lonely woman is stunned when a dumpling she has prepared for Dinner, suddenly springs to life. Naturally, she raises it as her child (a son), and we see them dealing with the whole maturing cycle from infant to teen. A very different look at parenting is shown in “Weekends” in which a grade-school aged boy lives with his harried single mom during the week and is picked up on Friday by his fun-loving pop and whisked away to his high-rise apartment/funhouse. There’s almost no dialogue and the art has a “scratchy” rendering looking like ballpoint pen scribblings in a school notebook. The program’s two highlights are “Once Small Step” which begins with a young Asian-American girl watching that famous newcast, fueling her dreams of exploring space. The dream is encouraged by her single dad who works below their home as a shoe repairman (hmmm, another fairy tale nod). Again no dialogue, but with slick multicolored outlined characters that seem right out of a polished children’s’ book. The parent/child roles are flipped in the final entry “Late Afternoon” which centers on an elderly woman enjoying her visit from a caregiver (but is she more than that). While the lady sips from her tea, each image around her triggers distant memories (running along the beach, writing in the sand,etc.) until her fog is lifted in the heartwrenching final moments. The art is a lively mix of simple line drawings, bright vibrant colors, and gorgeous watercolor-like backdrops. Each film has something to entertain and recommend (I’d have a tough time choosing if I were in the Academy).

For the Best Live Action Shorts, the previous theme is a twisted variation, you could say (with a nod to the classic Who rock anthem) “The Kids are Not All Right”. Indeed they are in dire, deadly danger in all but one entry. that one is the sweetly nostalgic “Marguerite”, Like “Late Afternoon”, it’s a French-Canadian tale of an elderly woman and her visiting caregiver/nurse. Their conversations sparks her mind to recall a forbidden, unrequited love from long. long ago, reminding us that the “good ole’ days” were not so “good” for so many. Now, on to the “rough stuff”. From the same land comes “Fauve” about a lazy day in the country (climbing an old train car. running around a construction site) turns into a race against doom for two pre-teen boys. Speaking of a “race to doom”, that sums up most of the Spanish entry “Madre”. As the title infers, the main subjects are mothers (yes, the plural). The main setting is an apartment where a woman and her mother pop in to bicker and change for Lunch. Things take a turn when the home owner’s six-year-old son makes a frantic phone call to her, which puts both mother and grandmother nearly into hysterics. Like the recent films LOCKE and THE GUILTY, the story is told via one part of the phone conversation (leaving us to imagine the caller’s dire straights just as the main characters). But where’s the USA, why represented by “Skin”, which centers on a young boy of eight or nine, the only son of a young couple who are, as said in LADY BIRD, from “the other side of the tracks”. Though they dote on the lad, we soon find out that the couple (the dad particularly) are violent racists. After a horrific attack ( a true hate crime), a “Tales From the Crypt”-like revenge plot is put into motion, resulting in an “O Henry” twist at first funny then whiplashing into true tragedy. The real standout of this batch comes from Ireland. “Detainment” is the controversial docudrama whose dialogue is directly taken from Police interview tapes of the two ten-year-old suspects in the infamous 1993 “Baby James” crime in Bootle, England. Though difficult to watch (I can’t imagine a full-length feature). the film hits with the impact of cinematic sledgehammer aided in great part by the two young lead actors: Ely Sloan as the emotional, terrified Jon and Leon Hughes as the cold calculating Robert. Never exploitive of the crime, the film is a testament to the police officers quest to learn the truth while having to deal with the parents , who were required to be on hand for the questioning (it’s quite the tightrope walk as they must navigate carefully). All of these films are compelling, even as the viewer is put through the “emotional ringer”.

Finally, the Best Documentary Shorts also share a theme (well four of the five) as they profile people battling against overwhelming forces, in short, “struggle”. Most unusual may be the entry from India, with a title ripe with many meanings, “Period. End of Sentence”. It begins with an overview of a subject not really discussed in that society: menstruation. Interviews bring home the lack of knowledge (it’s a mystery to most men on camera) and the problems facing young women. The film shifts gears as we meet a man determined to bring hygiene to the villages via sanitary pad vending machines by hiring local women to produce the pads and be traveling suppliers. It’s an engaging look at a culture that’s finally changing. The majority of this program comes from the USA. “Lifeboat” follows a German barge that helps rescue fleeing refugees at sea (many don’t survive on the makeshift rafts, barrels, and tubs). There’s a message of hope despite the near unending stream of desperate, nomadic peoples. Those rescue crews are heroes, as much as the staff of the Zen Hospice Project we meet in “End Game” as they ease terminal patients into their last days. We meet four or five of these residents, but the film’s heart may be with one that decides to stay in the hospital, in hope of new treatments. The intimate scenes of Mitra with her family (her husband and mother often clash) and doctors are quite moving. A brief (seven minutes) history lesson shines a light on a now unthinkable incident from 1939. “A Night at the Garden” documents (using black and white home-movie-like footage and audio recordings) a pro-Nazi rally attended by 20,000 in New York City (the title “Garden” is Madison Square). Though touted as a night celebrating “American patriotism”, there are lots of swastikas on stage (on both sides of Old Glory) to frame the speakers spewing anti-semitic rhetoric. Hatred is a big topic in the most compelling of the program, UK’s “Black Sheep”. In stark close-up, Cornelius Walker tells the story of his Nigerian family who moved from their London high rise apartment (after the high-profile murder there of a schoolboy from their homeland) to one of the”safer” remote villages. Walker relates his shock at the casual bigotry he faced, which led to a brutal beating by a local teen gang. With great emotion, Walker then tells us of his shocking response. Rather than retaliating, he believed that in order to survive he needed to join them, even bleaching his skin, spiking his hair, and wearing bright blue contact lenses. The tale is both compelling and heartbreaking, with Walker’s monologue illustrated with dream-like recreations. All five are engrossing while sharing a similar spirit among different times, locales, and subjects.

Any or all of these programs are well worth any film fan’s time.

The 2019 Oscar Nominated Short Films Programs are screening in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre

THE TRIP TO SPAIN – Review

 

Hmmm, just a few more days until the last Summer holiday, so there’s still time for a vacation, or at least a vicarious one with a very funny duo. Here’s their third cinematic excursion together, so let’s just go ahead and call it a movie franchise. And a most welcome, entertaining one at that. As long as there are countries that cook, it could go on for a long, long time (if we’re lucky). Under the pretense of a newspaper writing assignment we first got to accompany Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as they traveled their native Britain, dashing from one splendid restaurant, while enjoying very plush accommodations at first class inns and hotels, in 2011’s THE TRIP. The two played heightened versions of themselves (much like Larry David in HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and the celeb guests on the much-missed “The Larry Saunders Show”), with Coogan as the egocentric ladies man while Brydon was the easy-going affable family man (a running joke was Steve’s dismay and disgust at the affection shown to Rob by folks on their journey). Three years later they took THE TRIP TO ITALY. In between heaping plates of pasta, Coogan settled down and devoted more time to his teenage son, while Brydon finally scored a big movie role as he tested his marriage vows during a “rough patch”. Sure the sightseeing and meals are spectacular, but the best part of these travelogues are the delightfully witty conversations between the men, rife with inside show biz stories sprinkled liberally with uncanny vocal impressions.

 

It’s three years and the fellows are hitting the road once more. Steve has been hired by the Observer to write a gastronomic tour of Spain, so he naturally calls Rob. His marriage has stayed strong (so strong they’ve produced a little brother for their daughter), but Rob’s been contacted by the New York times for the same type of gig, and he’s ready for a break (close-up of his screaming lil’ boy), so he’s ready for THE TRIP TO SPAIN. Steve picks him up in his rented Range Rover and they hit the road…then the sea via a luxury ferry. The other big news over the past couple years, aside from the Brydon heir, is Steve’s acclaimed work on the multi-Oscar nominated 2013 drama PHILOMENA. Its success has somewhat reverted him back to his old pompous ways (and Rob is sick of him repeating stories about the flick). He’s frustrated that the studios aren’t eager to pounce on his new film script “Missing”, and he’s fuming that his American agent has left his agency without trying to “poach” him (a young upstart has been assigned to Steve). Oh, and Steve has taken up once more with his old American girlfriend Misha (Margo Stilley), despite the fact that’s she has married since last they met. Well, at least his son Joe (Timothy Leach) is taking a break from college and is joining them during the last few days of the assignment. Meanwhile Rob is his usual jovial self, spending lots of “face time” via Skype with the wife and kids back home. And of course, he and Steve are taking in the superb scenery, exploring the country’s rich history, and devouring meals that look so good you’re glad the movie’s not in 3D!

 

 

Director Michael Winterbottom continues to orchestrate the dinners and conversations expertly, knowing when to cut from the casual duo to the precisely choreographed “dance” happening in the kitchen (these chefs and their crew are superb artists and craftspeople). As for our hosts, Coogan really gets to stretch his acting muscles this time, by presenting a talented man who doesn’t deal well with people some of the time. He’s short with his agents during phone calls and downright surly to a street musician who offers some eatery suggestions (leaving Rob to clean up his mess). As for the impressions, a few icons are revisited briefly, namely Michael Caine and Sean Connery. In some scenes Steve and Rob pay tribute to some recently departed stars, with much time awarded to Roger Moore. When the pair are visited by Coogan’s manager Emma and her photographer Yolanda (Claire Keenan and Marta Barrio once more), he tries to give them a history lesson about the Moor invasion as Brydon (still a flirt around Emma) will not stem the flow of nearly non-stop Roger rumblings. A few sequences fall a bit flat (the Brando riff as a vicious inquisitor is not helped by a fantasy reenactment), or don’t really pay off (Mick Jaggar springs to mind), but when the guys are really in the groove (meshing a torture session on the rack with a game show is inspired) we’re swept up in the masterful off the cuff brilliance. And there are the show biz insights as when the two try to convince each other that age 50 is “the prime of life” (not in Hollywood, for certain). Thanks to a misguided ending that tries for a statement (or an action film-style cliffhanger), this installment is not as strong as the previous two, but it still has more wit and punch than any two recent studio comedy misfires. After THE TRIP TO SPAIN, I’m eager to get my multiplex passport stamped once more…right after a tasty meal. of course.

 

4 Out of 5 Stars

 

THE TRIP TO SPAIN opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinemas

 

SLIFF 2014 Review – THE LIBERATOR

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THE LIBERATOR screens as part of the 23rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival on Sunday, November 23 at 6 PM at Landmark’s Tivoli Theatre. For ticket information go here

For any film fans nostalgic for the kind of sweeping, historical epic that Cecil B. DeMille and William Wyler created for the big, BIG screen, than look no further than this work from Venezuelan director Alberto Avelo. It’s the story of South American hero, Simon Bolivar (Edgar Ramirez). When we first meet the man, he’s on the run from assassins after re-uniting with his lover/ freedom-fighting partner Manuela (Juana Acosta). But what led him to this point? Flashback to his visit to the court of Spain several years before. The plantation owner from across the Atlantic bests the King and romances future wife Maria (Maria Valverde). But when the newlyweds return to his homeland, things have changed. The King’s troops rule the land with an iron fist. Soon his bride and a childhood mentor open his eyes to the injustice. After tragedy strikes, Simon utilizes his fortune and mobilizes militias from many different lands to drive out the European oppressors and restore freedom to all the native peoples.

Working from a screenplay by St. Louis native Timothy J Sexton, director Avelo has crafted a lavish true life swashbuckler set in lush jungles and beachfronts. But the talented cast makes it more than a lavish South of the Border travelogue. Ramirez soars as a steely, square-jawed man of action whether leading the charge, leaping on to the battlefield, or romancing Acosta and Valverde. There’s even a familiar face for US audiences: none other than Danny Huston of the famous film dynasty. He plays a mysterious investor from the states, eager to invest with Simon and develop the land. With his sly as a fox grin, Huston’s Torkington entertains every time he turns up through the story. There’s also glorious period costumes, props, and sets on display. THE LIBERATOR introduces Northern movie audiences to a most compelling world leader.