MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN

Lily James     Amanda Seyfried     Meryl Streep     Dominic Cooper     Pierce Brosnan     Stellan Skarsgard

Christine Baranski     Colin Firth     Cher     Julie Walters     Jeremy Irvine     Andy Garcia

     I think the best things about this film are ABBA’s songs from the first Mamma Mia and Meryl Streep’s reprise at the end.  Oh, well, and yes, the local woman telling a young man where to get off after he “did a woman wrong” and then wanted to return to her arms. She is a lovable, wise character who makes you chuckle at her and cheer her on at the same time.  Although Benny Andersson, a member of ABBA, and two colleagues, Anne Dudley and Bjorn Ulvaeus (also involved in the first production), supply most of the music here, it doesn’t have the draw the earlier rendition had.  Part of the responsibility may lie with the director and co-writer, Ol Parker.

     The filmmakers have valiantly tried to recapture the moods, atmosphere, and humor of the first Mamma Mia! (2008) and even 2016's La La Land, but never quite achieve the lyrical magic of those productions.  Instead, I found it to be jarring in its disjointed cuts from one scene to the next without natural transitions; the songs appear to be inserted haphazardly, even though they’re clearly intended to wedge the viewer into an emotion of the moment.  The dialog is unnatural and even vacuous at times, such as, “Nothing is that simple.” “Everything is, when you break it down.”  Everything: really?  People fall in love instantaneously, and sometimes when they break up, the songs reflect a much deeper relationship than could possibly have occurred. 

     The story is a continuation of the first Mamma Mia!  Donna (Streep) has died, and her daughter Sophie (James, Seyfried) wants to refurbish Donna’s villa and stage a party that will honor her mother. She is still grieving her mother’s passing, and invites her three fathers (Brosnan, Skarsgard, Firth) and Donna’s closest friends (Baranski, Walters) to come to the villa on a Greek island for the special occasion.  Sophie is engaged to Sky (Cooper), whose business has stationed him in New York, leading them to the decision to suspend their engagement.  The party is all set up, but in the interim, there will be a storm that damages the villa and other distractions, namely, Sophie’s becoming involved with various suitors ([her engagement to Sky (Cooper) has been suspended.]  Somehow, even though Sophie goes on boat rides and long walks, she still manages to keep the villa intact, perhaps because of the efforts of one of her fathers, Sam (Brosnan).

     At any rate, the party does take place, old acquaintances/loves are renewed, and a surprise guest (Cher) suddenly appears, with a touching rapprochement between her and Fernando (Garcia).  In the end, Donna is duly honored, and everyone present feels gratified.  

This is a musical without the exquisite blending of fantasy, reality, and art that some of its predecessors (e.g., La La Land) have achieved.

Grade:  D+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

OUR KIND OF TRAITOR

Ewan McGregor   Damian Lewis   Stellan Skarsgärd   Anomie Harris   Mark Gatiss   Jeremy Northam

          This is a thriller with all the assets of a John le Carré novel—complexity, ambiguity, sharp sleuthing, and heroism—Our Kind of Traitor will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you want to take breaks to relieve the gripping tension.  It begins mysteriously in Moscow at the Bolshoi Ballet (featuring former Houston Ballet dancer, Carlos Acosta), cutting away from time to time to elsewhere where a sober man is seen signing papers under the watchful eyes of a team of sinister men, then he and his friend rejoin their wives and head home.  However, they will never make it.

           The setting then switches to Marrakesh in Morocco where Perry (McGregor) and his wife Gail (Harris) are on holiday, when by chance Perry meets a gregarious Russian named Dima (Skarsgärd) who takes him to a wild party with fellow Russians.  Dima seems to be taken with Perry, and invites him to play tennis the next day at his club where they meet each other’s wives, and Perry meets Dima’s children, an older girl and younger twins.  Unbeknownst to him, Perry is in deeper than he would ever imagine.  He is a fairly typical young English professor of poetics, far removed from Dima’s circles in the Russian mafia.

        The plot involves the British intelligence service when Dima’s underlying motive for friendship with Perry emerges:  Fearing for his life, knowing he is the target of the Russian boss’s threat, Dima wants to defect with his family to London in exchange for giving MI6 incriminating information about high level officials in the British government.  Hector (Lewis), an MI6 agent, is willing to run with it, but his superior sees it as “You have no proof”, and more as a personal vendetta on Hector’s part to go after his rival Aubrey (Northam), another agent, so advises against it.

          The director of the film, Susanna White, keeps the action of the story at a pace similar to one’s sense in reading a le Carré novel—fast and steady with spikes of intrigue and fear.  The fine casting of McGregor, Lewis, Skarsgärd, and Northam in the principal roles contribute much to its quality, complemented by the engaging music of Marcelo Zarvos and intelligent and beautiful cinematography of Anthony Dod Mantle.  I like the way the Perry character is shown at first to be kind of wimpy and easily led on, but as the story proceeds and he gets more and more attached to the fatherly Dima, he transitions into something resembling heroic.  Despite his being a mafia figure, we’re made to admire Dima’s hutzpa, likeableness, devotion to family, and strength in combat, beautifully evinced by the talented Skarsgärd.  Lewis is at home playing a shrewd agent with a moral compass that compels him to seek justice for corrupt individuals.  Naomie Harris as Perry’s girlfriend/wife and a lawyer is valuable as a support and advisor.

         In the past I have not been a Le Carré fan—I find his plots very dense, tedious, and sometimes hard to follow (except for the TV adaptation of The Night Manager, which I loved), but Hossein Amini’s screenplay maps the plot very clearly while maintaining ambiguity and excitement.  I liked it as much as I did The Night Manager.

Another John Le Carré thriller.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland