BLACKKKLANSMAN

John David Washington     Adam Driver     Laura Harrier     Ryan Eggold     Topher Grace

Ryan Eggold     Jasper Paakkonen     Paul Walter Hauser     Harry Belafonte     Alec Baldwin

     Spike Lee has given us a chilling, eloquent picture about race relations in America, based on an autobiographical account by Ron Stallworth, a former police officer in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who led an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970’s.  It plays like a suspense-filled thriller, with the viewer sweating through many scenes where it is uncertain whether cover will be blown and whether characters will be killed.

     Ron Stallworth (adeptly played by Washington) is the first black police officer in Colorado Springs; to be a policeman was always his dream—particularly if he could be an undercover agent.  His first assignment is as a records clerk, which he loathes; then the opportunity comes to cover a speech by a controversial figure at a local campus, Stokely Carmichael, who has changed his name to Kwami Ture, a name that sticks in the throats of the law enforcement community.  Ron does such a good job, he is assigned to the intelligence service when he comes up with a plan to go undercover in the just-forming Ku Klux Klan in Colorado Springs.  

     After answering an ad for recruiting members for the local KKK by telephone, he convinces his police captain to send in a white police officer, Flip Zimmerman (Driver), to pose as “Ron Stallworth” and learn what the Klan is up to in the area. Stallworth actually calls David Duke (Grace), “Grand Wizard” of the Klan, to expedite his membership card. Duke is so impressed with Stallworth, he goes to Colorado to induct him personally into the Klan.

     In addition to the tension surrounding the undercover operation and maintaining anonymity, there is also conflict in the romantic relationship Ron has rather naively formed with one of the black protestors, Patrice (Harrier), who looks exactly like Angela Davis, and who is constantly trying to find out who he really is. There is also the Klansman Felix (spookily played by Paakonen) who is suspicious of Flip, (he thinks he has spotted him as a Jew) and performs tests of his identity and commitment. We’re also on edge, waiting to see if any of the threats picked up by the police department and the FBI(?) will come to fruition.

     BlacKkKlansman will most likely come to be considered as Spike Lee’s best film so far.  It won the Gran Prix at Cannes this year, and Lee received a standing ovation at its premier.       This seems well deserved in consideration of the overall production including screenplay, direction, actors, music, and cinematography—and its topical relevance.  One of the jewels is the juxtaposition of a Klan meeting showing a disgusting racist film and a black protest meeting, in which an account delivered by Harry Belefonte tells about the horrific mistreatment of a black child.

     As stunning as the film is, it is long; and there are a few scenes that could have been shortened, and one at the end that could have been cut altogether; it’s a telephone call informing a major character about the law enforcement subterfuge.  Perhaps this actually occurred (I have not read Stallworth’s book), but it looks more like the filmmakers simply wanted to vent their spleen.

BlacKkKlansman is a meritorious addition to the films that are making statements about us that we should take seriously.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland

TRUTH

Cate Blanchett   Robert Redford   Topher Grace   Dennis Quaid   Elizabeth Moss   Bruce Greenwood   Stacy Keach

          This Truth does need to be told to remind us of the importance of solid investigative journalism at a time when so much news has become infotainment.  The film is based on a book written by its lead character Mary Mapes (Blanchett) entitled Truth and Duty:  The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power.  It gives Mapes’ account of a story she researched and produced on television’s “60 Minutes”, which questions President Bush’s service in the Air National Guard.  The first half of the film shows the painstaking efforts made by the CBS team to fact check their data to assure its veracity.  They sincerely think they are doing the best job they can as journalists.  Little do they realize the power of those who have competing interests in squashing such a newscast.  

          The coincidence of the story being aired during a Presidential election turns out to be meaningful.  Needless to say, it creates a firestorm of controversy.  Dan Rather (Redford), CBS’ news anchor reporting the story, is criticized, but nothing like the vitriolic attacks on Mapes, his producer.  Was it at least partly because she was a woman?  She had a reputation for aggressively going after stories, but initially CBS patted her on the back for this.  The film does a good job in showing that some of the things she is criticized for actually make her a good reporter. 

       But when CBS’ parent company, Viacom, enters the picture and begins to exert a strong arm over CBS—because of a competing interest—the writing is on the wall.  Rather sees it.  He bends to the forces and goes out gracefully.  Rather and Mapes are the best of friends/colleagues, but with very different personalities and backgrounds.  Having been abused by her father and well supported by her husband, she cannot resist a final major defense of the story (against her lawyer’s advice to mollify a committee stacked against her), which is not in her own self-interest.  But that’s a hero for you.

        Blanchett is clearly a star in this production—as she is in so many—by capturing the essence of the Mapes figure and empathically rendering it.  Her co-star Redford—while he does not physically resemble the newscaster—easily conveys the essence of Rather.  The actors’ chemistry onscreen is a valid reproduction of the deep connection between Rather and Mapes. 

        This is a film that will not receive its due primarily for political reasons, I think.  But it is well told even-handedly by writer/director James Vanderbilt (The Amazing Spiderman, 2012, 2014; Zodiac) and the actors. 

I am glad this account of Dan Rather’s undoing is being told, although it is a sad story.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

AMERICAN ULTRA

--> Jesse Eisenberg   Kristen Stewart   Topher Grace   Connie Britton   John Leguizamo   Tony Hale

           We meet Mike (Eisenberg) and Phoebe (Stewart) when they’re at the airport waiting to board their plane for a vacation in Hawaii.  That is, we meet Phoebe waiting intently; Mike is in the men’s room in the midst of a panic attack.  It’s clear he’s a bit of a wuss and a stoner, but Phoebe is incredibly patient with him until they get back home and the trip has been aborted.  Then he begins to fray on her nerves.  Without knowing much about the film beforehand, one would think this is going to be a love story in which he learns to step up to the plate.

          But soon after, mysterious (dangerous) things begin to happen.  A strange older woman comes into the cash and carry store where he works, and seems to be giving him a warning, but it’s all gobbledy gook to him, and he just thinks she’s strange and needs to go—which she does, leaving behind the soup and drink she had picked up to buy.  Then he sees two men messing with his car, and he goes out to run them off, but they have guns and his life is in danger. 

           Obviously, there is more to this than a simple love story; it involves the CIA’s secret operations and revelations about Mike’s own past, as well as others’.  It’s a bit disorienting to notice that he often seems clueless, but somehow he knows how to handle himself in a fight, and has background knowledge about things he has no recollection learning.  Through it all he is resistant to take action except when he is threatened, and uppermost in his mind is getting to go back home with Phoebe.

           As the revelations keep coming, and his life is threatened more and more, he learns something about Phoebe that makes him question even her and her motives.  And you really wonder whether this man is going to survive at all.

           But Eisenberg, who has received high marks in a number of hits (The End of the Tour, The Social Network, Zombieland, The Squid and the Whale) is a wonder in pulling off his character in American Ultra.  At times, addled, neurotic, and clumsy, he still is able to make Phoebe laugh at his humor (he even draws cartoons) and see him as the kindest person alive.  And then you the viewer watch him in combat, and go “Whoa!”

           Stewart is impressing most viewers with her talent recently (namely in Clouds of Sils Maria and Still Alice), and she is just as good here, merging into a more and more complex role as the story proceeds.  She is essential in helping us see Mike’s character.

           Smaller, but critical roles are played by Connie Britton, Topher Grace (ah, how you’ll love to hate him!), John Leguizamo (as a colorful paranoid drug dealer with good intentions), Walter Goggins (who ever heard of a bad guy who breaks out in peals of laughter?), and Bill Pullman (who gives an ugly twist to government insurgence.

          Although this film directed by Nima Nourizadeh is clearly meant to be a fun caper—which it is!—it does make serious statements about the U.S. government and its recent history of overstepping boundaries and keeping tabs on American citizens.  So with the spoof, maybe we need to keep a vigilant eye on its workings.

Surprises keep unraveling in this “love story” within an action film.

Grade:  B                        By Donna R. Copeland