CAPTIVE STATE

John Goodman     Vera Farmiga     Ashton Sanders     Jonathan Majors

     Writer/director Rupert Wyatt and his co-writer Erica Beeney have boasting rights for a movie that leaves the audience mystified until the very end.  In the meantime, viewers sit and wonder what the h--- is going on and try to figure out who the characters are. This takes place on a darkened screen where much of the action is hidden, just like the characters. By the time it starts to become clear—as one viewer observed—you’ve become disengaged and have little investment in the outcome.  There’s a major twist after the fog, but it’s too little too late to be exciting or satisfying.

     The beginning scenes and text inform the viewer that Chicago has been taken over by aliens and that everyone has an identity chip and is followed constantly by cameras with monitors behind them.  

     We see more of John Goodman in the Chicago police station as a district commander than anyone else.  He clearly has an investment in Gabriel (Sanders), the son of his deceased partner, but this kid doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.  Gabriel and his older brother Rafe (Majors) have had a hard time after their father’s death, but clearly don’t see the commander as any kind of mentor.  The commander has been studying and following events closely for nine years since the invasion, and he is convinced that something major is about to happen. No one seems to take him seriously, including his supervisor, who sees him as a little crazy.  

     Another thing we see is a group of characters who have united together with plans to escape (to where, we’re not told). Much of the story involves their various ruses to become anonymous and get out of Dodge...Chicago.  They’re seen as insurrectionists by the police, who have been cooperating with the aliens in a compromised position.

This leads up to the twist, which I will not reveal.  

     I generally admire John Goodman’s performances, which are almost invariably excellent; but in Captive State, the script shows him to be something of a gumshoe, uninteresting and run-of-the-mill. He sometimes seems to have a conscience, sometimes not; and to genuinely care, sometimes not.  So as the lead actor, it’s not easy to get behind him and cheer him on.  Vera Farmiga is wonderfully mysterious—as she is supposed to be—making enigmatic pronouncements that are worth paying attention to.  Ashton Sanders (Moonlight) is a young actor to pay close attention to; he captures all the nuances shown by a young man being pulled in different directions and learning about the paradoxes of life.  These performances are about the only aspect of the movie to savor; otherwise, there is not much. 

     Captive State had potential for being a provocative, currently relevant story; however, the execution failed to deliver, mostly by keeping the audience confused and in the dark most of the time.

If you want sci-fi, you won’t get it here.  If you want thriller, it comes too late for you to care.

Grade:  D+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

MOONLIGHT

Mahershala Ali     Alex Hibbert     Ashton Sanders     Trevante Rhodes     Naomie Harris     Janelle Monae     Andre Holland

           This is an artfully rendered film in which the viewer participates by filling in details that are omitted from the storyline, which proceeds from the main character’s childhood to adulthood.  Little/Black/Chiron is the character named differently, depending on his age and the section of the movie.  (The three very fine actors are Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes.)  Little is picked on as a child because he’s not “hard”; he gets bullied and teased for being a “faggot”, and rarely stands up for himself.  His only friend Kevin (Jadon Piner, Andre Holland, Jharrel Jerome) tries to help him by telling him to fight back, but even in high school, he remains passive.  He’s a boy/man of few words, although the considerable turbulence inside shows on his face to an astute observer.

            When a kind-hearted drug dealer Juan (Ali) finds Little in a “drug hole”, he makes an effort to befriend him, find out where he lives, and who his parents are.  But Little is mostly mute, and it takes Juan’s girlfriend Teresa (Monae) to draw him out enough to find out where he lives.  When Juan takes him home, much is gradually revealed, and we begin to sort out the relationships in the community and why Little’s life is so hard.  We see Juan taking him under his wing, realizing he needs a father figure (which shows up later when Chiron adopts the appearance and occupation of this most important man in his life).

            The switching of actors (three for Chiron and three for Kevin) makes following the story a bit difficult, especially since Chiron says so little, but the actors are so skilled it doesn’t take long to sort it out.  The pace of the film and Chiron’s reticence is skillful in eliciting our empathy, and will hopefully have the effect of helping more of us understand and have sympathy for those caught up in the drug culture in poorer neighborhoods and the trials that gay people undergo even at a young age.  This is a picture of a segment of society that few of us have seen so tenderly portrayed.

            Co-writer with Terell McCraney, director Barry Jenkins has created a portrait of a boy and his milieu that is evocative while being so quiet, eloquent while making the main character Chiron so mute, and heartwarming in its highlights of kindnesses shown toward Chiron.  Its style and form seem groundbreaking to me.

             

An Impressionist painting of a gay child growing up in a black drug culture that elicits our empathy and sympathy.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland