THE DEAD DON'T DIE

Bill Murray     Adam Driver     Steve Buscemi     Danny Glover     Selena Gomez

Rosie Perez     Iggy Pop     Chloe Sevigny     Tilda Swinton     Tom Waits     Carol Kane

     Normally, I love Jim Jarmusch films (Only Lovers Left Alive, Paterson, Coffee and Cigarettes, e.g.), but although The Dead Don’t Die starts out rather interesting—primarily because of the characters introduced and the wry humor—but when the zombies arrive…and stay on and on…the script becomes repetitive and surprisingly boring, even though the low-key humor is still sprinkled liberally throughout.

     The most entertaining part of the movie is the group of small-town Centerville characters that include Chief of Police Robertson (Murray), his deputy Ronnie Peterson (Driver), hermit Bob (Waits), farmer Miller (Buscemi), and hardware store owner Hank (Glover); but the standout is Zelda Winston (Swinton), the Samurai sword wielding funeral director of the Ever After Funeral Home and computer expert.  

     All is quiet and the usual peaceful in Centerville until strange things start happening.  It stays light more than usual, electronics don’t work like they’re supposed to, the same song keeps playing on the radio…and then zombies start appearing and proliferating, doing their thing. 

     It seems to be a well-known fact of zombie lore that to rid yourself of a zombie, you must “kill the head.”  Zelda has nothing to fear when she goes outside because of her unfailing aim. Ronnie is the only other one to have had some training in the past, but he can also wield a sword effectively. Robertson is good at blasting heads with a shotgun.  So how will it all turn out when zombies—even those recently departed—start appearing everywhere?  To quote Ronnie, “This is all gonna end badly”, but is he right?  Will everything turn out OK?  With some prompting, Robertson reassures dispatcher Mindy Morrison (Sevigny) of just that.

     Writer/director Jarmusch’s intention may be to highlight the narrator, who happens to be the hermit Bob.  From his comments on what he observes through his binoculars, we get the impression that Bob is fully informed about what is going on in the world—including in nature—and comes to certain conclusions.  He makes pronouncements from time to time that could be seen as a commentary about contemporary society, with its penchant for material acquisitions at the expense of environmental and humane values.  

     Which prompts us to ask,  “Are we the people the zombies of today who have the potential to kill off whole species—including our own—because of misplaced desires?  If so, does Jarmusch mean that “the head” must be dealt with for us to save ourselves?

     This is a film that doesn’t seem to amount to much on the surface, but thoughtful reflection may turn up seeds of wisdom.

Not your usual zombie move, but one that provides food for thought.

Grade:  C+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

LEAN ON PETE

Charlie Plummer     Travis Fimmel     Steve Buscemi     Chloe Sevigny     Steve Zahn     Alison Elliott

     At first in this story, Charley (Plummer) appears to be a hapless teenager whose mother has disappeared and whose father Ray (Fimmel) womanizes (“The best women have all been waitresses at some point.”), makes enemies, and hasn’t much of an idea about how to parent, although it is clear that he loves Charley.  Quietly appealing, Charley clearly has some sense of responsibility as he realizes money is tight in the family and looks for a job.  He happens upon the Portland horserace track and Del (Buscemi), a grumbling horse trainer and quarter horse owner who puts the few horses he has left onto the track, and who takes a chance on Charley.  He hires him for a day to see how well he can do, then takes him on for a little longer when he sees that Charley is different from “most teenagers nowadays” in that he’s an able and willing worker.

     Del is a colorful, cantankerous type who forbids people around him to talk very much—especially if they get into personal topics.  Yet, he manages to find out that Charley has not been taught much in the way of manners, doesn’t have a mother, and lives with his father.  That’s about all he wants to know, but it does make him at least slightly sympathetic toward the boy.

     Despite the jockey Bonnie’s (Sevigny) warning Charley not to think of the horses as pets, he does get attached to the horse “Lean on Pete”, a not very good racer who might eventually be sold to someone in Mexico for its meat.  Charley does his best to see that doesn’t happen in all the ways he can think of, but it looks like the inevitable is very near.  

    Charley has had major losses in his life, and when he experiences another one, he decides he can fulfill two purposes in saving Pete and in finding the woman Margie (Elliott) who was a mother-figure to him long before.  The last he heard, she lives in Wyoming, so he has a some distance to go to find her.  He sees no other way out for him and Pete.

     Most of the story is about that journey and the tremendous degree of determination and fortitude Charley brings to bear on his situation.  A fine balance is maintained between Charley’s appealing personality (a number of people along his way reach out to help him) and pure and simple bad luck, mean people, and the limitations of anyone this age. 

     The drama is well told by British Director Andrew Haigh (45 Years) with fully formed characters and keeping up the suspense with only a slight slow-down in the middle.      Plummer does an extraordinarily fine job of giving a realistic view of this unusual teen as he did as wealthy J. Paul Getty’s grandson in All the Money in the World. Critical roles played by Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Zahn, and Alison Elliott round out the cast to make this an independent film well worth going out of your way to see.

A boy growing up in life without a niche is determined to find one, one way or another.

Grade:  B+                                                By Donna R. Copeland

BEATRIZ AT DINNER

Salma Hayek     Chloe Sevigny     John Lithgow     Connie Britton     Amy Landecker     Jay Duplass     Dave Warshofsky

     Still waters run deep, and Beatriz (Hayek) is a fascinating combination of a diffident but fearless woman whose passions burst out in full force when she is outraged.  After a turbulent childhood in Mexico and losing her family, she has devoted her life to the healing arts, working in a cancer center.  She is revered by the mother of one of her teenage patients who is alive and well, and Cathy (Britton) continues to have her come to her elegant home for massages after her daughter has gone to college.  Cathy is very gracious, and when Beatriz can’t start her car one day after an appointment, she urges the therapist to stay for dinner.  Her husband, Grant (Warshofsky), thinks this is not a good idea for a business dinner, but accedes to her wishes.

     What no one realizes is that the evening will be a huge, head-on clash of values and cultures.  When the evening starts, it’s a little awkward, with the society women showing their squeamishness about a medical condition and treating it as a gossip item (off-putting for someone working at a cancer center), and incredulous about Beatriz having a pet goat (“Did she say ‘goat’?), but all are trying very hard to be understanding and politically correct. 

Unfortunately for the evening, one of the guests, Doug (Lithgow), pushes every button in Beatriz’ psyche.  He is dominating, condescending (asks Beatriz to bring him another drink after mistaking her for one of the help, probes her status as an immigrant), boastful about his riches, and openly advocates going for whatever is best for oneself.  He is a businessman to the core, and to h--- with anyone (protesters, regulators, environmentalists) standing in his way.  He has and will handle them all.  This doesn’t sit well with someone who lost her family and her whole town in Mexico when American developers came with empty promises of jobs and wrecked the village and its environment. 

   One of the things I loved about this story is a humble person being fearless in circumstances where she is among very wealthy people.  The art of the creative team of writer (Mike White) and director (Miguel Arteta) here is in taking a neutral stance between two deeply divided sides.  We don’t just have empathy for the immigrant health care worker filled with compassion, whose life has been so difficult, we also come away with some understanding and identification with the privileged guests and hosts as well.  They’re clearly shown to be trying to do the politically correct thing, and trying to understand what Beatriz stands for and is advocating.  [This excludes Doug, whom I saw as a big blow-hard with little capacity for appreciation of anything beyond his self-interest.  The most he can do is shake his head in reaction to Beatriz.  Despite her confrontation and a tender touch (massaging his tense shoulders, did impress him), nothing she says ever really gets through to him.]

     In all this seriousness, there is great comedy.  It is the best of comedy, that which has substance underlying it.  We chuckle at the words of both Beatriz and Doug; they have a ring of truthfulness in their absurdity.  And the ending of the film is truly creative in its loyalty to the gist of the story, its grounding in reality, and its surprise.

   Salma Hayek does a bravura performance, with her intense focusing eyes, her engagement with the other characters with different emotional valences, and her range of states of being—at home, meditating, doing therapy, friendliness, encountering strangeness, and experiencing outrage.  Supporting actors add to the colorful mix of personalities, and the experienced, talented Lithgow is especially good in counterpoint to Hayek.

     Cinematographer Wyatt Garfield follows the story visually to enhance every scene, then he goes into wonderful artistry when he shows a flock of white birds suddenly flying out over a waterway enclosed with greenery and when he gives us an image onscreen of what Beatriz is visualizing when she is fantasizing/meditating toward the end.

An artful film about a clash of cultures and values, but with much appreciated humor.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland