Film – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Filmmakers, Storytellers and The Resistance

Storytelling in conflict

Writing for Bloomberg, Mark Leydorf makes a case that movies are taking up the whistles of resistance in The Rise of Resistance Cinema in the Era of Trump. He’s right but he shortcuts the great history of storytelling.

Shutterstock 697665772.

He’s correct that there are a number of films being released, along with those already past their big screen sell by dates, featuring stories and themes that can’t help but strike resonant chords for those repelled by and rebelling against the current political moment we’re living in.

He doesn’t have to reach too far beyond his initial example of Wicked: For Good to create a long list of titles to support his thesis. A thesis I buy, even though I think it serves cinema history, and storytelling in general, a bit short in the end.

In compiling his list, Leydor says:

The list goes on:

Eddington, Bugonia, Sirāt— there’s a reason directors are digging into stories of conflict, paranoia and cataclysm. Taken together, these films, most of which were conceived and went into production during Donald Trump’s interregnum, between the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, and MAGA’s triumphant return to power, have coalesced into a troop of cinematic resistance amid the conflicts and crises defining his political era and the rightward, nationalistic turns happening broadly around the globe.

I’ll reach into that quote and point out that all successful storytelling, on the screen, on the page, on the stage, around campfires, or told sitting on bar stools involve some form of conflict, paranoia, and cataclysm. Even top rated fare on the feel good Hallmark Channel features conflict. Heck, they have to make it up on Reality TV. Without conflict you don’t really have much of a story. Goodness knows we’re overripe with enough conflict to tell thousands of stories at the moment.

While focusing on this current crop of films, Leydor is spotlighting a point in the long timeline of story telling. These current storytellers are doing what storytellers do, bringing their near term reactions to whatever is in the zeitgeist at the moment, following traditions established long before Hollywood executives ever got involved in a script conference or endings became focus group fodder.

Frankly, I’m glad to see such a strong list of filmmakers telling these stories at this moment. We need to see ourselves reflected back in the mirror we hold up to nature, before it’s all AI generated. The same is happening on stages, in late night television comedy, and from the keyboards of many authors. Given how none of us knows how this moment is going to play out, it’s fascinating.

Note that Leydor points out that most of these films were conceived and green lit after the first Trump administration and prior to this second one.

I had the privilege in the Fall of 2022 to direct three one-act plays from Ukrainian playwrights about the effects of the Russian invasion that had begun earlier that year in February. The writing was alive, fresh, and as urgent as the wounds were then. That writing still is today, even though now those stories are snippets of a longer story still unfolding to an end no one knows.

Historically few stories springing up in any current conflict, regardless of medium, retain staying power beyond almost artifact curiosity. It’s usually the stories told after the moment passes that last and define with more resilient resonances, even as their lessons are forgotten by those too eager to write what they think will be a different ending.

What will be more fascinating to watch is how many of these current films are remembered years or decades from now, once this historical moment does pass.

Whatever that turns out to be.

(Image from Skylines on Shutterstock)

You can also find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

A Trip Worth Taking: Billy Joel Documentary ‘And So It Goes’

Terrific trip down my lanes of memories.

Talk about bringing back the memories and the feels. The excellent Billy Joel documentary, And So It Goes, is a must watch if you’re a fan. Or even if you’re not. I am a fan and have been since I worked a load-in, load-out shift for a Billy Joel concert back in my college days and partied with his road crew.

82fe8509 4fdb 4308 b4ae 295cd7fb0bf9.

The excellent two-part documentary chronicles the ups, downs, and of course there’s plenty of Joel’s music, because it’s always about the music and where it took Joel and those of us who grew up with him. It’s more than a trip down memory lane, the four hours is a well spent vacation back in time. I highly recommend this.

It’s interesting, and I dare say rewarding, that two of the music artists I grew up with, Joel and Bruce Springsteen, have had excellent recent documentaries about their careers. As they and I both hit later decades of life it’s a good way to look back and dredge up memories often buried in the hurly burly of the current day to day. I consider these documentaries on HBO (or whatever it calls itself this week) gifts well received.

For those interested further, there’s a playlist of the music from And So It Goes available on all the usual music streaming services. If your library, like mine, is filled with the entire catalog of Joel’s music, it’s worth adding just to track and hear how some of his songs have matured, yet not lost any of relevance, and even gained both relevance and resonance with time.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Sunday Morning Reading

With aging comes awareness. Or at least it should.

We’re on Lake Time this weekend, but there’s still time to share some Sunday Morning Reading.

Two weeks ago I shared a piece from youngster David Todd McCarty titled When I Was Old. I’m resharing it this week since I celebrated a birthday on Friday, getting one year closer to marking seven decades on this rock. Also sharing another great piece from David, called I Was Told There’d Be More.

“Scented memories.” I like those two words put together by NatashaMH in her piece, The Fragile Geometry of Becoming.

I’ve been an Elmore Leonard fan for as long as I can remember. Anthony Lane’s Elmore Leonard’s Perfect Pitch may not be perfect, but it is damned close enough.

David Struett delivers a terrific ode to Chicago bike messengers, their culture and their jobs in Meet Chicago’s Last Bike Messengers. Here’s How They Survive.

You might notice a touch of sentimentality and reminiscing in the pieces above. Comes with the thoughts during a birthday weekend. Fair warning though that most of the links shared below are a bit darker, and yes, more political than those above. With aging comes awareness. Or at least it should.

Mathew Ingram wonders What Do We Do When The Facts Don’t Matter? I think we’re not liking what we’re finding out.

Mike Masnick’s piece Facism for First Time Founders offers the next generation a clue or two, assuming the current generation doesn’t crash it all before they get a chance to discover them.

I’ve written about the concept of enshittification in tech quite a bit. Mostly as regards the Internet. Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman take a look at The Enshittifcation of American Power.

Another big contributor to enshittification is the media who increasingly seem more and more clueless and devoid of any self awareness. Charlotte Kim takes a look Inside The Media’s Traffic Apocalypse.

Speaking of things toxic and shitty, Adam Aleksic explores How Incel Language Infected The Mainstream Internet — and Brought It’s Toxicity With It. I’ve spent almost 70 years on this planet. I have no idea why guys turned into such misanthropic, self-loathing idiots.

In a world seemingly more and more intent on criminality, there are very few surprises, but there are legacies. Jessica Winter’s What I Inherited From My Criminal Great-Grandparents. Great story.

To conclude this week I’m sharing a film review by Sonny Bunch. This one of the new film Eddington. I haven’t seen the film. I plan to. Rarely does a review encourage or discourage me from seeing a film. If it’s anything like Bunch describes one way or the other I’m sure it will be worth it as it sounds like a fun, yet conflicted, summary of lots of things we’ve all been living through since 2020, and continue to do so. I’ll leave it with this quote:

The feed never stops, the algorithm never tires. There’s always more. It never ends. Just a few more videos. You can sleep later. You can never sleep, if that’s what you’d prefer. Who knows what you’ll miss when you’re asleep?

And we wonder why everyone has gone a little nuts.

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here. If you’d like more click on the Sunday Morning Reading link in the category column to check out what’s been shared on Sunday’s past. You can also find more of my writings on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.

Sinners: A Review

Worth sinking your teeth into.

I saw Ryan Coogler’s Sinners in a movie theatre when it was released in April. I rarely go to movie theaters these days, but in this one instance I was certainly glad I did. Now that Sinners has reached streaming on the 4th of July, I hope anyone who didn’t have a chance to see it on the big screen will take time to view the fireworks it provides at home. I’m looking forward to a second watch. It is excellent. It’s not perfect. But it is sublime in its imperfections.

Sinners01 978x652. Ryan Coogler knows how to tell stories. He knows how to tell stories in big ways. He knows how to tell stories that entertain and unsettle. He knows how to weave the various strands of history, culture, and popular story tropes together in ways that spin out a fresh new cinematic delight that redefines the old and refreshes the tired. He may get a bit carried away here and there, but in the end he delivers as a filmmaker of note.

In Sinners he ties Southern-gothic, vampire horror, and depression era gangster styles together along with a musical storyline that literally burns down the house. Working with his familiar actor collaborator, Michael B. Jordan, playing a set of twins, Coogler creates something brand new, dangerous and in the end just damn dandy. I fully expect Sinners to be quite popular in the Best Picture categories when awards season rolls around. Even with its imperfections, it’s at the top of my list for best films of the year.

Jordan and all of the actors are superb. The music is red hot. The vampire gore is plenty gory. There’s a raw, violent, sexual tension throughout that’s heightened by the rawness of the blues music that infuses the storyline. The sequence when the fateful evening’s dancers are intermingled with ghosts of African and African-American pasts and premonitions of musical genres of a future yet to be is a highlight, even if it is a bit too precious.

Coogler also plays with some larger themes among the music, horror, and history. Questioning why Blacks cleave to Christianity (“Blues wasn’t forced on us like that religion,” and who counts as Black when everyone doesn’t have the same black skin or heritage, cut through many of the myths so easily consumed and assumed about the Black South.

As to the flaws, perhaps the biggest is also its biggest strength. Coogler stretches out a wide canvas to paint this story on. Perhaps too wide, and even so he often paints outside the bounds of that canvas. And once the delicious and setup is accomplished, the violent confrontation we all know is coming at times feels more rushed than we want it to, certainly when it consumes characters we’ve invested in.

Even with those flaws, Sinners yields a bounty that often borders on the rapturous. It is more than worth your time.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Is Apple’s F1 Push Ad Enshittification or Just Shitty?

Apple pushing ads push users’ buttons

As if Apple needed another kerfuffle, it appears that one of its marketing efforts for the movie F1 has raised the hackles on the necks of some. You almost have to be tuned out completely to have missed the plethora of marketing methods Apple has already been pushing around the racetrack to get this movie to the starting line. But there’s always more.

Apple started pushing out Apple Wallet notifications to users of that service announcing that they could receive a discount for movie theater tickets via Fandango by purchasing those tickets with, yep, you guessed it, Apple Pay.

I saw the notification late last night and just swiped it away the way I do the majority of these mosquito-like pests. Too bad I didn’t take a screenshot.

But Casey Liss, of The Accidental Tech Podcast trio grabbed one and posted about it on Mastodon, accompanied by a vomiting emoji.

New Screenshot.

Those who felt as ill about the promotion as Casey did quickly jumped in, condemning it and pulling out the enshittification label that we’ve all become familiar with since it was coined by Cory Doctorow in 2022.

Yes, it is advertising, but I’m not sure it was enshittification. Perhaps we’re reaching the point of shitting all over that label and diminishing, yet revealing its power in sort of a weird turning in on itself way that proves the original meaning behind the original term even while mucking it up by using it too frequently.

Granted there aren’t too many who lust for the ever increasing onslaught of advertising and marketing pitches we’re bombarded with hourly. I’m certainly not one who does. But advertising and marketing, as overused and overwrought as it has become, in and of itself isn’t enshittification, no matter how fast it grows like weeds rapidly enveloping every corner of our Internet usage.

My grandfather used to say that “a weed is anything that grows where you don’t want it to.” Most of today’s advertising certainly feels weed like. And it keeps getting worse, especially when pushed at us from sources we don’t expect it from. Amazon we expect this from. Apple not so much. Though there is a history there.

In my view of things, Apple advertising this promotion is really not that much different than a podcast advertising its latest merch to its audience or promoting a fundraiser. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not shitting on The Accidental Tech Podcast, which does both of those things. I actually pay for a subscription and occasionally buy their merch and donate when they fundraise. Captive audience marketing is an age old technique and it works. I’ve used it myself. Even so, it can grow old and tip over into enshittification.

But there’s a larger point.

Eventually most users tune out. I used to deliver a curtain speech pitching the next play or special offer before every performance at a theatre I ran. Initially they were wildly successful. Eventually returns diminished. That may be anecdotal, but I believe the more ads increase the more they become the blandest of white noise or even a turn off to the product. Again, anecdotally I had initial interest in the F1 movie, but after the inundation of advertising I’ve already decided my interest has waned. So I’m certainly not going to be contributing to Apple’s goal of finally putting butts in theater seats for one of its movies. I’ll catch it sometime down the line on streaming.

Overhyping, as a facet of enshittification can too easily create diminishing returns, gradually enshittifying the very business models of the enshittifiers. Mosquitos can’t feed when everyone within their range packs up and goes indoors and they eventually move on or die out.

We just haven’t reached that tipping point in this bloodsucking business model we’re trapped in currently. In his original post outlining the enshittification of early social media platforms Doctorow says “the same forces that drove rapid growth drove rapid collapse.”

I doubt we’ll reach that tipping point in advertising. Because there’s a whole new frontier that the enshittifiers are just waiting to exploit and that’s AI. Google’s moving away from search faster than its search rankings are dropping and there’s no secret on the path it’s choosing.

I’ve often imagined that perhaps AI could be one of our salvations in the advertising scheme of things, figuring out better than humans seem capable of doing when enough is enough. But those driving that racetrack see the possibility of too many dollar signs to make that more than just a wild imagining no matter how much sense it might make.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs Sequel Trailer Is Brilliant

Just posting this here because in the midst of all of the shit going down around us, it surfaced and made me laugh. And I needed that for just a minute.

Mel Brooks announced a sequel to his wacky sci-fi comedy, Spaceballs. It’s been awhile and he takes full advantage of that in this brilliant trailer.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Adolescence: A Review

A tough watch. A must see.

Adolescence. See it.

I’d like that to be all that I write about this sensational limited streaming series on Netflix, but there’s more I want to say.

You’ve probably heard of Adolescence. It’s become a well deserved hot topic of conversation because it’s an excellently done piece of storytelling that cuts through what seems like an impenetrable zeitgeist like a hot knife through melted butter. I’m glad to see that the hype tour surrounding its recent release ramp up after the series took off because something this good needs to be ballyhooed, bravoed, and brandished with flying banners.

For me, the bottom line, beyond just saying “see it” is that the producers and artists involved captured something we all know in our gut and make us face it. Captured it in a challenging way that they didn’t need to, but by accepting that challenge opened up those gut instincts with a rawness that touches nerves we may have all let somehow deaden. The painful intimacy of one family’s story opens up a chasm full of realizations that speak far beyond the specific issues so well portrayed.

In brief, a young boy is accused of stabbing a young girl and through the investigation we delve into a world of young boys and men influenced by Incel culture and bullying. A world not understood in this instance by the young boy’s family, or any one of the parents’ generation that we meet in the story. Watching the investigating detective’s son educate his father is a remarkable scene.

We follow the story through the boy’s arrest, booking and indictment, examination with a therapist, and the devastating conclusion as the family deals with the aftermath. Every moment is powerful. His arrest in the first episode is only the beginning of story that digs into every emotion there is when confronted with horrible moments that one would hope no family would ever have to endure. I can’t imagine any parent of young children, especially boys, watching this without wanting to take the doors off of their child’s bedroom doors and disconnect them from the Internet. It is tough to watch and it’s impossible to look away.

Toxic masculinity, patriarchy, bullying, isolation, fear, self-loathing, and the perils of social media become bigger monsters by the moment than any knife wielding attacker.

Director Philip Barantini, known for filming his stories in one take, uses that device to exquisite effect. He didn’t need to, but he and his team did and the payoff is exquisite. Each episode unfolds like a one-act play, filmed in one amazing traveling take. In later interviews it’s been revealed that they only did two full takes after a weekend’s rehearsal for each of the four episodes. The one take keeps you riveted as it ratchets up the tension, never letting you catch a visual breather from the story. How they filmed the second episode which takes place in and around a school is almost beyond imagining.

The cast is superb, especially 13-year old Owen Cooper as the young boy. In his acting debut he delivers a performance that is so outstanding that it takes your breath away. He’s not only a natural, his performance borders on the supernatural. Stephen Graham, who also co-authored the story with Jack Thorne, plays the boy’s father and strikes true in every millisecond he is on the screen. Well known for playing in-your-face tough guys, Graham’s journey through this story is like watching a rock face that has been the feature of a cliff, let go and crash into a million pieces. The rest of the cast is equally up to the task of matching these amazing performances.

The back story is that Graham, hearing about crimes featuring young boys stabbing young girls, felt that questions needed to be asked, the obvious one being “why is this happening?’ As is the case with all good drama and story telling Adolescence raises as many questions as it answers others. Certainly I imagine parents who see this, and they all should, will be asking the same questions the mother and father in the series do themselves.

On a larger scale, as we daily face an adult and supposedly mature world that seems stuck in adolescent, if not prepubescent misbehavior, celebrating toxic masculinity, bullying, and the perils of social media, this amazingly told story might at least give us a glimpse into how we looked away too often, when we knew we shouldn’t, ignoring so much at the cost of even more.

You can’t look away from this.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Jon M. Chu’s Wicked Is Wicked Good

Whether big and splashy or small and detailed, Wicked hits the right notes in telling this story.

Cutting right to the chase, Jon M. Chu has done the best job of directing a musical film I have seen since Singing In The Rain. Chu’s Wicked shows what a modern day movie musical can and should be.

Wicked cynthia erivo arrianna grande

My wife and I used to have a post-Christmas tradition. In the days following Christmas Day, we’d go to an early showing of whatever movie was the hot ticket. That carried over for most of our movie going rituals as we continued to hit the earliest (read cheapest) shows available when we wanted to go to see something on the big screen. Like everyone else we broke those habits and traditions during COVID. And, though we miss it, we’ve never started it back up again post-pandemic.

Well, this year my wife kicked the tires and got us started again by gifting us tickets to an early morning showing of Wicked, a film we both were looking forward to seeing. Great gift and great time at the movies.

Speaking of, I won’t go on about the performances, they are stunningly good. If nominated in the same category for acting, it will be tough for awards show voters to pick between Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, but they aren’t the only actors who are excellent. I also won’t go on about the production design. Again, stunningly good.

I will rave about Chu’s direction and the way he handled Christopher Scott’s choreography. For once, we get big, splashy musical numbers where the director actually wants us to see the details of the choreography and the character and small touches Scott brought to his dancers. It’s a revelation. I’ve enjoyed Chu’s previous work, especially Into The Heights, but even there the storytelling gets overwhelmed by the spectacle. Here, the storytelling is always front and center, even when the screen is bursting with spectacle.

There’s an intimacy to the story telling that I’ve often found in the music of Wicked, but have seldom seen play out on stage. That same intimacy applies to the small scenes as well, and Chu and his cast pull it off without a hitch.

Wicked is probably winding down its theatrical run as it is due to head to streaming soon, but if you can catch it in a theatre it’s quite a gift.

Highly recommended.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Red One Will Make You Wince and Laugh

Red One won’t save Christmas, but it is quite jolly.

Red One, now streaming on Amazon Prime isn’t a classic, nor is it a loser. It’s fun in all the right places, and bad in all the right places. In the end, it’s worth streaming if you’re looking for some good brainless streaming fun over the holiday.

Overflowing with familiar names in the cast including The Rock, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons, among others, it’s a romp that tosses a bunch of Christmas themed traditions into the mixer, shakes them up, and sprinkles enough one liners and almost too many special effects on top to keep it entertaining.

I’m not sure it’s quite family fare if you have wee young ones, but for an older mix of generations it’s might be worth the sleigh ride. Explaining Santa Claus might never been the same again.

The different world creation is a well done enough that the movie creates its own Christmas world view allowing a pretty insane mix of mythic magic and technology to propel the story as the characters try to save Christmas.

If you’re like my families, silly and goofy Christmas movies are a part of the holiday tradition. This one probably makes the cut going forward.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.

Breaking All The Molds: Emilia Pérez

A cross between a musical and a pop-opera, Emilia Pêrez is a unique story of transformation.

Breaking the mold is one way to describe the movie Emilia Pêrez. Breaking all of them is more apt. Imagine taking the making of movies, more specifically the making of movie musicals and creating something new, different, in the end probably not completely successful, yet you can’t take your eyes off of it.

Now imagine the story of that movie is about a ruthless Mexican drug cartel leader, who hires a lawyer to seek a sex change operation to become their true self, a woman. Put it all together and it is an intriguing adventure in story and cinematic story telling.

I won’t say it completely holds together, because I’m not sure it does. But it keeps turning in on itself and musical movie making in ways as daring as the titular character’s mission. In that lead role Karla Sofía Gascón is excellent, as are Zoe Saldaña as the lawyer, and Selena Gomez as the wife of the cartel boss.

But, it is Jacques Audiard’s work as a director that stands above all. Unfurling a story of transformation and redemption, this isn’t the first film featuring a story about a trans character, but it is certainly the one that spins out its story this way. I’d call it a pop-opera, but that too simple a definition as is calling it a musical.

The film was controversial when it debuted and won awards at Cannes, and in today’s climate I’m sure it will remain so. Quite frankly, that’s what gives the film some of its allure.

At its heart it is a story of transformation, mashed up with music, love, violence and full of surprise. Again, I’m not sure it holds together completely, but if you’re looking for something that plays around with convention while telling a surprising story, it is more than worth a watch.

Emilia Pêrez is playing on Netflix and you can watch the trailer below.

You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome. I can also be found on social media under my name as above.