Death is something we are all confronted with throughout our lives; it's one of the few things that can freeze time around you, halt your ambitions and plunge you into a state of deep remorse. We see many deaths up on the screen, but the vast majority of them carry no weight, no impact. The hundreds of faceless goons who die in our action films have lives, ambitions, dreams. Sadly, fiction never takes the time to explore the nature of death because it is a somber subject, and it is not a topic too many people are eager to seek out. Cinema, after all, is escapism, and being reminded of our mortality isn't really the escapism we seek.
But Manchester by the Sea handles loss beautifully, and is a stark character study in what remorse and grief can do to a person. Opening on a boat where Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is playing with his young nephew Patrick (Ben O'Brien as a lad, Lucas Hedges as a teen), the film starts with a rather light tone. Suddenly we cut to Lee as a janitor, moving from tenant to tenant dealing with different plumbing issues and the like, we see a man who seems a shell of his former self, empty and lost, willing to throw a punch at a random guy at a bar simply for looking at him wrong.
Events are set in motion when Lee's brother, Joe (Kyle Chandler), passes away; while not an unexpected event (Joe is later revealed to have been diagnosed with a degenerative heart disease), it still halts Lee's life, forcing him to travel from a Boston suburb to Manchester, where his brother and nephew reside. There, he discovers that his brother has named him the guardian of Patrick, but Lee isn't necessarily ready to take on this responsibility. Much of the rest of the film details the process of dealing with the death, Patrick's way of coping (surrounding himself with friends and juggling two girlfriends who are unaware of each other is one way to keep your mind of your father's death), and the sadness of another tragedy that is revealed around halfway through the film.
Writer/director Kenneth Lonergan, whose past credits include You Can Count on Me and Margaret, is an incredibly skilled storyteller. Flashbacks are organically woven into the story that help illustrate the characters and explain their pain. We see Lee in various flashbacks when he was happily married to Randi (Michelle Williams), as well as Patrick's alcoholic mother Elise (Gretchen Mol). Nothing is ever stated obviously, and you are always aware of what the characters are feeling or thinking.
The film's tone is another strong point; although somber, it does contain flares of comedy layered into the sadness. Little moments like exchanges between Patrick and Lee, to sadly comic moments like the formality of signing paperwork for one's deceased relative. In one of the saddest moments of the movie, a gurney is having trouble collapsing fully to put a distraught person into an ambulance. This moment is the absolute nadir of this persons' life, yet life does not stop to forgive. And yet the drama comes through strongly, never feeling melodramatic. It would be so easy to for this film to feel like a Hallmark movie, yet it feels real.
The character of Lee is a rather unlikable person; you understand him by the film's end, but that doesn't make him forgivable. Even in flashbacks where he is a more animated person, he is no more likable. And where the film really excels is it doesn't offer up any redemption for him. This may be getting into minor spoilers, but one might expect a film like this to let Lee reconcile with his nephew and redeem himself. Yet there's a soul crushing line late in the film that let's you know that some things are irreparable. Some people can never come back.
Manchester by the Sea must be seen, if at least once. It's not really a good time; in fact, it will probably devastate most audience members. But its skill as a drama, its characters, everything about this movie is fantastic. It trusts the audience to know what is happening without holding their hands. That's a rare quality for a film in this day and age.
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first in what is set to be a series of spin-off films in the ever-expanding universe that is Star Wars. Since Disney bought Lucasfilm over four years ago, we have been promised a new Star Wars feature every year. Kicking off with Episode VII last year, we now have at least two more episodes and a Han Solo spinoff to look forward too. No telling how many more of these films Disney is cooking up but rest assured, there will be no shortage of Star Wars for the foreseeable future.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Star Wars, after all, is a galaxy-wide universe, so the amount of characters and stories that inhabit it are infinite. The storytelling possibilities are limitless, unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe where everything must eventually satisfy the overall plan at hand.
Rogue One details the events that lead to the acquisition of the Death Star plans that are central to A New Hope, the first of the Star Wars series. There's Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a rebellious young woman whose father (Mads Mikkelsen) has been recruited back into the empire after he tried to escape. As a young girl, she witnesses her mother gunned down by Imperial Troops and her father whisked away by the evil Orson Krennic (a good but underused Ben Mendelsohn). The rest of the crew includes the rebel soldier Cassian (Diego Luna), the sarcastic robot K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), an imperial pilot (Riz Ahmed), and two random characters that somehow became involved, Chirrut (Donnie Yen, awesome as ever) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang).
How these people all come together to steal the plans is somewhat confusing and really not worth breaking down here. What matters is that everyone turns in a fine performance in their respected roles, and while no one delivers the end-all-be-all performance, they are better than, say, the prequels and, dare I say, many members of the original trilogy.
Where the film will get real mileage from fans is the return of many familiar characters. Darth Vader (James Earl Jones again supplying the voice) returns for a brief cameo, and the actor Peter Cushing, who passed away in 1994, has been digitally resurrected to play the role of Grand Moff Tarkin, a role he played in A New Hope. It really is a feat of CGI that this character looked very convincing, and I admired how well they had recast the role until I learned after that it was all CGI.
The film itself is competently directed by Gareth Edwards, from a script by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy. It sets a dark tone that fans will probably love, and stays true to the spirit of hopelessness for the rebellion, who haven't acquired Luke Skywalker yet. While the Force does enter the proceedings, lightsabers are for the most part absent as the art of the Jedi is extinct. The film even addresses, rather brilliantly, a plot-hole from A New Hope, now tied up and given extra weight and meaning.
One thing that does irk me is the peddling in heavy nostalgia these movies employ. Say what you will about the quality of the prequels, but for the most part they tried and offered up something new. We got pod racers, the federation ships, the federation robots, the Naboo fighters, and several other fresh designs. At least George Lucas was always thinking about how he could make the universe bigger.
The nostalgia factor isn't a hindrance here; in fact it makes perfect sense, given the movie's setting. But coming off the heels of The Force Awakens, which also featured heavy callbacks, I'm starting to worry these will revel in nostalgia too much.
Another shortcoming of the film is that, despite the actor's best efforts, the characters just aren't very interesting. Sure Jyn gets a backstory, but otherwise everyone is fairly underwritten and unmemorable. In a Star Wars movie, you should know the names of all the characters after a first viewing. The Force Awakens established it's three leads well (even Poe Dameron, who doesn't do much, is more interesting than anyone in this movie). Chalk it up to the more dour tone, but in the end I had no idea who most of the characters really were beyond the main heroine and villain.
It's a decent flick, and if you're a Star Wars fan, you'll love it. Casual fans will probably enjoy it too, but they will miss the references that will tickle the more devoted. What I fear, though, is that getting one of these every year is going to dilute the impact these films have. Once every two or three years and they become something truly special, but I worry that soon enough we won't care to see them because, well, it's just another Star Wars movie.
I guess that means the pressure is on Lucasfilm to give us a reason to keep coming back. I'm all for the Star Wars universe; it's a fun, exciting place with a rich mythology with many great stories to be told. But the nostalgia factor, at some point soon, is going to have to go. I want a Star Wars movie that isn't tied to the central conflict of the Empire vs. the Rebellion, or the Skywalkers. I want something that has nothing to do with that. Eventually, nostalgia is going to have to give for some original stories.
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Star Wars, after all, is a galaxy-wide universe, so the amount of characters and stories that inhabit it are infinite. The storytelling possibilities are limitless, unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe where everything must eventually satisfy the overall plan at hand.
Rogue One details the events that lead to the acquisition of the Death Star plans that are central to A New Hope, the first of the Star Wars series. There's Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones), a rebellious young woman whose father (Mads Mikkelsen) has been recruited back into the empire after he tried to escape. As a young girl, she witnesses her mother gunned down by Imperial Troops and her father whisked away by the evil Orson Krennic (a good but underused Ben Mendelsohn). The rest of the crew includes the rebel soldier Cassian (Diego Luna), the sarcastic robot K-2SO (Alan Tudyk), an imperial pilot (Riz Ahmed), and two random characters that somehow became involved, Chirrut (Donnie Yen, awesome as ever) and Baze Malbus (Wen Jiang).
How these people all come together to steal the plans is somewhat confusing and really not worth breaking down here. What matters is that everyone turns in a fine performance in their respected roles, and while no one delivers the end-all-be-all performance, they are better than, say, the prequels and, dare I say, many members of the original trilogy.
Where the film will get real mileage from fans is the return of many familiar characters. Darth Vader (James Earl Jones again supplying the voice) returns for a brief cameo, and the actor Peter Cushing, who passed away in 1994, has been digitally resurrected to play the role of Grand Moff Tarkin, a role he played in A New Hope. It really is a feat of CGI that this character looked very convincing, and I admired how well they had recast the role until I learned after that it was all CGI.
The film itself is competently directed by Gareth Edwards, from a script by Chris Weitz and Tony Gilroy. It sets a dark tone that fans will probably love, and stays true to the spirit of hopelessness for the rebellion, who haven't acquired Luke Skywalker yet. While the Force does enter the proceedings, lightsabers are for the most part absent as the art of the Jedi is extinct. The film even addresses, rather brilliantly, a plot-hole from A New Hope, now tied up and given extra weight and meaning.
One thing that does irk me is the peddling in heavy nostalgia these movies employ. Say what you will about the quality of the prequels, but for the most part they tried and offered up something new. We got pod racers, the federation ships, the federation robots, the Naboo fighters, and several other fresh designs. At least George Lucas was always thinking about how he could make the universe bigger.
The nostalgia factor isn't a hindrance here; in fact it makes perfect sense, given the movie's setting. But coming off the heels of The Force Awakens, which also featured heavy callbacks, I'm starting to worry these will revel in nostalgia too much.
Another shortcoming of the film is that, despite the actor's best efforts, the characters just aren't very interesting. Sure Jyn gets a backstory, but otherwise everyone is fairly underwritten and unmemorable. In a Star Wars movie, you should know the names of all the characters after a first viewing. The Force Awakens established it's three leads well (even Poe Dameron, who doesn't do much, is more interesting than anyone in this movie). Chalk it up to the more dour tone, but in the end I had no idea who most of the characters really were beyond the main heroine and villain.
It's a decent flick, and if you're a Star Wars fan, you'll love it. Casual fans will probably enjoy it too, but they will miss the references that will tickle the more devoted. What I fear, though, is that getting one of these every year is going to dilute the impact these films have. Once every two or three years and they become something truly special, but I worry that soon enough we won't care to see them because, well, it's just another Star Wars movie.
I guess that means the pressure is on Lucasfilm to give us a reason to keep coming back. I'm all for the Star Wars universe; it's a fun, exciting place with a rich mythology with many great stories to be told. But the nostalgia factor, at some point soon, is going to have to go. I want a Star Wars movie that isn't tied to the central conflict of the Empire vs. the Rebellion, or the Skywalkers. I want something that has nothing to do with that. Eventually, nostalgia is going to have to give for some original stories.
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