ENCOUNTER

 Riz Ahmed     Lucian-River Chauhan     Aditya Seaton

Octavia Spencer     Rory Cochrane     Janina Gavanker

            Viewers’ expectations are set up immediately by opening scenes of comets flashing across the sky and close-ups of microorganisms that look like aliens.  But then we’re introduced to a typical American family—mom, stepdad, and two young boys.  The older child Jay (Chauhan) shows resentment toward the “new” dad and sits at the dinner table drawing pictures for his own father Malik (Ahmed).  He’s had frequent correspondence with him, in which Malik indicates that he has an important job fighting for the country.  And it is true he has been in the Marines, but that is only part of the story.  

            It’s best not to know much more than that before seeing the movie because it is packed with ambiguities, tension, and fear.  Suffice it to say that the dad appears suddenly to take his boys on a road trip, which he calls a “secret mission.”  His imagination charms them and they look forward to a big adventure. 

            This is a well-conceived movie directed by Michael Pierce and co-writer Joe Barton.  It leads you along from the set-up to something much more frightening, in a way, and to something that will prompt your thinking about some relevant and important truths.  As you see it, you ask questions, consider hypotheses, and do a bit of nail-biting when the action gets hairy.  But afterwards, you ponder the fundamental ideas the filmmakers want you to think about.

            The acting is superb; Riz Ahmed again proves his talent as he did in Sound of Metal playing a musician confronting deafness.  Here, he plays a devoted father—albeit one who lacks some parenting skills—whose intention is to rescue his children from an impending threat.  The young actors (Lucian-River Chauhan and Aditya Seaton) playing his children are also uncanny in their portrayals of real children put in threatening, sometimes traumatic, situations.  One is an eight-year old, the other a four-year old, and the scripting for them is outstanding in its accurate depiction of the way children those ages think.  It’s clear the two actors grasped what they needed to do, and they did it admirably with apparent precociousness.  

            Enter Octavia Spencer as the parole officer who lends common sense, genuineness, and perspicuity to all situations.  These are the attributes Spencer is so gifted in portraying, as seen in The Help, Hidden Figures,and The Shape of Water.  She shows that she is the only one in government who truly understands Malik, and appropriately asserts her presence in helping to resolve an incredibly tense situation.

            This is a movie about so many important subjects—parenting, children, guns, mental health, and governmental approaches to enforcement.  It dramatizes all of these in a suspenseful high-tension script that engages your value system as you assess the drama.  

            Director and co-writer with Joe Barton, Michael Pearce has been recognized for his 2017 movie Beast, as a promising filmmaker.  He lends credence to that accolade in his portrayal of a family drama that informs about parenting, mental health, and law enforcement in a manner that is realistic and compassionate.

Encounter thrills and chills, but also makes you think about important considerations in looking at families and human behavior.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

SOUND OF METAL

Riz Ahmed     Olivia Cooke     Paul Raci     Mathieu Amalric

     This is a story written by writer/director Darius Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines), and has all the emotional pull of his previous films.  Sound of Metal is co-written and directed by Darius Marder—his frequent collaborator.  Their films invariably have such substance it’s always a special treat to see them—not a treat in the sense of a confection, but in their ability to present major life situations and dilemmas in a way that is emotionally sound and recognizable as a real-life event.

     We meet Ruben (Ahmed) and Lou (Cooke) in the midst of a punk rock performance with Lou (Janis Joplin-esque) on vocals and Ruben pounding away on drums.   The crowd goes wild, and it’s clear they have a huge following. But yo!, it turns out that after one performance Ruben suddenly stops hearing sounds.  A visit to a doctor informs him that he is going deaf (cause unclear).  

     This is a real shake-up, and the filmmakers are skilled in demonstrating to viewers what this must be like.  There is the initial denial, followed by a sense of grief that creeps in. The filmmakers are so adept in having viewers identify with the main character, we almost feel at the end that we’ve actually gone through the experience.

     These scenes segue into a deaf community where Ruben has been sent to accommodate to his loss of hearing.  Lou can’t stay with him—no one can—so returns to her father in Paris. They’re so much in love, it’s wrenching to see them have to separate, but Lou insists on his going to the camp as a life-saving effort when he throws a tantrum in their mobile home and threatens suicide.

     Abrupt shift.  The film does an excellent job in portraying a place where the deaf learn not to see themselves as handicapped and figure out how to live in a hearing world.  Ruben has little talent for introspection, so is befuddled many times by the concepts presented to him; but Joe (Raci) the kindly head of the community is like the father he never had, which makes him stop and think and be willing to do the exercises Joe recommends.  Indeed, Ruben does well and is something of a hero in the community, particularly with the kids.  

     Now comes another major dilemma.  Ruben can pursue the cochlea implants he has heard about or stay within the deaf community imparting his talents for the benefit of the residents.  Does he reconnect with his wife and try to resume his music career?  Or does he accept Joe’s proposition about accepting deafness as a normal condition and continue to inspire others?

     Riz Ahmed gives an award-worthy performance in his ability to inhabit a character, give it charisma, and show agonizing decisions that have to be made. Olivia Cooke is very good, but she is really in only a few scenes.  Kudos to Paul Raci for so accurately and convincingly showing what deaf people face and how they can cope with it optimally.  

     Sound of Metal is a film for everyone. None of us know when a major physical change in ourselves might take place.  But here is a hopeful way that one can deal with it.

 

This is another film for contemporary times that pulls for empathy and understanding of the trials some must undergo in their lifetimes.

 

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland 

JASON BOURNE

Matt Damon   Tommy Lee Jones   Alicia Vikander   Vincent Cassel   Riz Ahmed   Julia Stiles

          Matt Damon is back again as the unstoppable, hunted and haunted Jason Bourne.  In this journey, he is still off the grid, earning a living in physical fights.  Tommy Lee Jones is the current Director of the CIA playing his usual double-dealings with his agents.  New on the scene is Agent Heather Lee (Vikander) as a computer whiz who can spot and track targets and assets all over the world.  The terrifying, ruthless CIA asset is played by Vincent Cassel who carries a grudge toward Bourne from way back and pursues him relentlessly, impervious to the scores of bodies he leaves behind as collateral damage.

       In addition to searching for Bourne, the CIA has proposed a secret surveillance program (Iron Hand) that it desperately wants Aaron Kalloor’s technology company to agree to.  The proposal is highly relevant today in light of the U.S. Government’s recent efforts to get Apple to allow it to look at terrorists’ e-mails and search for anti-government hackers who have invaded the government and U.S. companies’ websites. The CIA wants Kalloor’s social media platform, Deep Dream, to allow it to search its posts, but Kalloor is having the same response as Apple, saying that privacy is freedom and we need to protect that.

         Bourne learns about this from Nicky Parsons (Stiles), in addition to her finding out more about his history and about his father.  She and others have pulled an Edward Snowden maneuver and gained access to the CIA’s data set about black ops. She wants him to help them bring the CIA’s operations to light.  When the Director of the CIA learns of this, he goes after Bourne and Parsons with a vengeance, sure that they intend to expose his department.  He then sends out the asset to kill them by whatever means necessary, and when that is not entirely successful, his plan gets hopelessly convoluted.

        Damon puts his all into this role as in all the previous Bourne films, and pulls off superhuman feats in planning ahead and evading the pursuers with clever strategies and all kinds of vehicles; he’s always one step ahead, startling his adversaries with his acumen.  I must say, though, that I much prefer seeing him as the quirky botanist in The Martian. Jones can play a mean, double-crossing s.o.b. easily, giving the appearance of an all-knowing father.  There is probably no better actor to play the calculating, vindictive killer than Cassel. 

         It’s refreshing to see Alicia Vikander again take on a completely different role from those she has excelled in previously, and here she comes across as extremely intelligent and accomplished, but with feminine intuitions that serve her well.  She has read Bourne’s file and thinks she has such a keen sense about his psychology that she can “bring him in” again. 

          Riz Ahmed is an up and coming actor to watch; he is winning high marks for his roles in Nightcrawler and the current television drama, “The Night of.”

Paul Greengrass directed this production of Bourne and helped write the screenplay with Christopher Rouse.  They have succeeded in making the pace fast and furious, with nerve-wracking close calls and scenes of high suspense.  I only wish the car chase and hand-to-hand combat at the end had been shortened by half.  The camera is so jumpy, it’s hard to follow the action, and it ultimately becomes simply boring.

Another Jason Bourne thriller that hits the same high points.

Grade:  C                        By Donna R. Copeland