THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

Liam Neeson     James Franco     Tim Blake Nelson     Tom Waits     Zoe Kazan     Grainger Hines

Harry Melling     Brendan Gleeson     Jonjo O’Neill     Chelcie Ross     Tyne Daly     Saul Rubinek

      Ethan and Joel Coen have chosen to produce a western anthology containing six stories for their latest film.  Most of the main characters in each are loners, and there is at least one death in every story, but there are surprises in every one, particularly for the victims.  Characteristic of the Coens as well, humor—even if it’s sick—pops up from time to time. The music by Carter Burwell and cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel increase the artistic quality of the western stories significantly.

     In the first story titled “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”, Tim Blake Nelson is Scruggs, a singing cowboy, who receives a dare everywhere he goes.  He’s a sharp shooter who can even hit his target looking backward through a handheld mirror—which doesn’t exactly jive with his crooning talents.

     In “Near Algodones”, Cowboy (Franco) looks up to see an isolated bank in Tucumcari, New Mexico, thinking it will be an easy target, especially with only one old man as a single teller.

     In “Meal Ticket”, Impresario (Neeson) carries a paraplegic “Thespian orator” (Melling) through western towns to deliver poems and addresses based on the Bible and Abraham Lincoln’s speeches to the local townspeople.  The two support themselves by taking up collections at the end of each performance.  Then, the impresario discovers that a chicken might be just as entertaining.

     The next two stories are the best.  In “All Gold Canyon”, Tom Waits is a prospector panning for gold.  He mumbles constantly—either to his horse or to a deity, or someone else, not sure which—but after panning doggedly for gold, he finds a mother lode.  But…someone has been following him all this time and sees what he has discovered.

      In “The Gal Who Got Rattled”, Alice (Kazan) and her brother are in a wagon train headed for Oregon, where he has a business opportunity and the hope that his partner will want to marry Alice.  Unexpected events occur, which means that Alice is on her own and must make decisions for herself.

     Finally, in “The Mortal Remains” five travelers are in a stagecoach headed for Ft. Morgan.  It’s a motley group: Two bounty hunters, a French gambler, the wife of a minister, and a trapper.  They have rather tedious arguments about humankind (“There are two types, hale and frail”, “No, there are the upright and the sinners”). The trapper says he has only one kind, the dead, “but they’re different…” he allows.  The fears of death among three in the group are readily apparent when it’s time to stop, and the “bounty” of the bounty hunters is carried out in a bag and inside and up the stairs.  They have to force themselves to go inside.   

     The “surprised by death” theme is one thing that connects all the stories, except for the last one in which we’re left with not being sure whether or not the three passengers have something to fear.  At any rate, death is on their minds.  And, by the way, the Coen meanings/points/connections between the stories are not obvious in the least.  

More quirky, thoughtful, humorous tales from the Coen brothers.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE BIG SICK

Kumail Nanjiani     Zoe Kazan     Holly Hunter     Ray Romano     Anupam Kher     Zenobia Shroff

     Kumail (Nanjiani) is a standup comedian who gets heckled one evening by a young blonde woman in the audience.  It annoys him, so he confronts her later at the bar, and she argues with him—“Well, what if I said…” and she names something he couldn’t argue with.  In no time at all, he knows she is Emily (Kazan), and they spend the night together.  What transpires after that is an on again off again connection in which they initially make it clear that they’re not dating, and they agree on a two-day rule (never see each other more than two days in a row), and of course they do become attached. 

     Enter family(s).  His parents are traditional Pakistani who are working diligently to find him a nice Pakistani wife.  He loves his family and knows that he will be disowned if he doesn’t agree to an arranged marriage, so of course he doesn’t tell them about Emily.  Nor does he tell Emily about them.  She finds out, is incensed, and dumps him.  Moreover, she’s a daughter who tells her mother everything, so her parents are well informed about Kumail.

     Some time later, Kumail receives a frantic call from Emily’s best friend telling him that Emily is in the hospital, and she and their friends can’t wait any longer because of finals at school, and would he please go to the hospital and see that she gets home.  He has been well brought up and does the compassionate thing, only to be rejected once again by Emily, but greeted by the attending physician who is sure he is the husband who must give consent for Emily to be put into a coma to treat the infection.  (This scenario wouldn’t happen in a real hospital, but for the sake of comedy, it transpires.) 

      By this time, Emily’s parents have been notified and appear at the hospital.  Emily is already in a coma, so Kumail must deal with them directly.  Initially, they brush him off and let him know he is “off the hook” and can go home.  But something keeps him there.  As time goes on, and Emily is in a coma longer than expected, they do what caring people do when they’re thrown together by life-threatening circumstances, they begin to relate to one another as humans.  The question is, how will Emily react when she is out of a coma.

     Nanjiani and his real-life wife, writer Emily V. Gordon, wrote the script based on their experiences in getting together.  He is Pakistani from a traditional family, and she is American.  They wrote it as a comedy of a couple from two cultures trying to make it together, and are successful in presenting a realistic picture that is funny as well as poignant. 

      Nanjiani (a veteran of “The Daily Show” and currently on “Silicon Valley”) plays himself well as a sincere but flawed character trying to make it in comedy, but not always able to separate himself from that and be a real person.  Comedy slips in when he is anxious, as for instance when he is asked (rudely, because of his looks) about 9-1-1, and makes a dark comedy joke about it.  Zoe Kazan adeptly portrays Emily as a young woman trying to establish her independence and maintain control over her life.  After being over-parented by a solicitous mother, she is wary of commitments, and needs space.

      Holly Hunter and Ray Romano add significantly to the drama as Emily’s parents, colorful and a little flamboyant.  Both actors make real and appealing portrayals of their characters in their fights, expressions of love, and quirkiness.  Showing the contrasting personalities and values of Kamail’s parents, (Kher and Shroff), is an essential component of the cross-cultural dynamics, and the actors and script succinctly highlight the issues involved.

    Director Michael Showalter and the writers have created a movie that is wholesome in its wit, bringing out the humor and complications involved in people from different cultures trying to make it together, along with present-day ambivalences about commitments.

Pakistani and American families trying to unite around a love relationship.

Grade:  C+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

THE MONSTER

Zoe Kazan     Ella Ballentine     Aaron Douglas     Chris Webb

          This is pretty standard horror fare by Bryan Bertino, writer/director, about a mother-daughter pair with major conflicts.  Lizzy (Ballentine) wants to go visit her father, and her mother Kathy (Kazan) agrees to take her, but she’s been up late (apparently drinking, from all the bottles left behind that Lizzy gamely clears up and washes the dishes), and doesn’t get up until the evening.  Hence, they start off hours later than planned and are on the road after dark. 

         Kathy is a terrible driver, and in a rainstorm hits an animal, which disables the car.  They call 911, which sends an ambulance and a tow truck, but since there has been an accident, the ambulance is delayed.  The driver of the truck realizes that before he can tow the car, he has to fix the axle underneath.  While he is working—with rain pouring down the whole time—mysterious sounds are heard and he goes to investigate.

          Lizzy has argued with her mother about the existence of monsters, but Kathy brushes her off, saying monsters are not real.  She has to take that back later, after there is disappearance after disappearance of their rescuers who’ve come one by one to help them. 

This film has the problem that I see in many horror films—that people do stupid things that stretch my sense of reality.  Kathy wrecks not just one car; she wrecks two.  People go out in the woods in the dark armed only with a flashlight.  Poor plans are made to retrieve a cell phone, make escape plans, etc. 

       The depictions of the mother-daughter conflicts and the actresses playing them are good and convincing.  Without actually stating what the problems are, we are able to infer the history.  The pacing and special effects are to Bertino’s and his crew’s credit, and the music by tomandandy is appropriately scary and beautiful. 

Aficionados of the horror genre are likely to buy into The Monster.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

OUR BRAND IS CRISIS

Sandra Bullock     Billy Bob Thornton     Anthony Mackie     Ann Dowd     

Scoot McNairy     Zoe Kazan     Joaquim de Almeida

          Crisis is the key word here in this picture showing the seamier (realistic?) side of politics.  The setting is Bolivia where a race for president is going on, the screenplay (Peter Straughan) of which is inspired by a documentary (same title) directed by the talented Rachel Boynton (Big Men http://texasartfilm.com/bigmen.html) about a political race for president of Bolivia in 2002.  Candidate Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozado hired an American political firm that consulted all over the world to run his campaign:  Greenberg Carville Shrum.  (That’s Carville, as in James Carville.)  Since I haven’t seen the documentary, I don’t know how much the movie reflects events in that work.

          Our Brand is Crisis the movie begins with two political strategists, Nell (Dowd) and Ben (Mackie) driving through the snow to Jane Bodine’s (Bullock) isolated cabin to talk her into joining their team in Bolivia.  Hurt by political machinations in her work as a crack strategist in the past, she has developed new interests and a new life.  Somehow, though, the thrill of a campaign is seductive, and she decides to join them. 

        Unfortunately, after arriving in Bolivia with altitude sickness and feeling rotten in general, she realizes that her prior nemesis Pat Candy (Thornton) is on the scene.  Bad news.  The movie takes a neutral stance about their past, so it is unclear who actually was responsible for the most heinous dirty tricks in previous campaigns, although, I think they want us to believe that it was Candy, who comes across as slimy as the snake in the Garden of Eden. 

        The campaign proceeds and the two teams end up going for the jugular.  It is a fascinating (at least to me) look at how political campaign strategists think and reason.  In Jane’s case, she deftly sizes up the psychology of her candidate Castillo (de Almeida) and figures out how to turn his weaknesses into strengths—clearly going against the advice he is currently receiving from his own consultant and the American team.  In view of this perceptive cogency, the filmmakers’ showing her clumsy and neurotic for comic effect was silly and an unnecessary distraction.  They should have dispensed with the “comedy” altogether and gone for dramatic effect and political illumination.

          Although we learn how the election turns out, the film ends with an ambiguity that I see as a strength.  Beneath Jane’s many “masks” (alternately crazy, tender, calculating, insightful, and—above all—perceptive), she is a thoughtful and sincere woman with convictions who will continually surprise.

       We know Sandra Bullock is a phenomenal actor, and I think she portrayed this character to a T.  Such a talent actor can make the character come alive so forcefully you forget the actor.  She was strongest in this film when Candy is speaking to her in a taunting, seductive, goading manner and she simply stares into space (and you know exactly what she is thinking) or—in contrast—when she forcefully confronts her team or the candidate with hard truths; or at the end when she is mulling over in her mind the comments of the young campaign worker and all that has just transpired.  Billy Bob Thornton is masterful in portraying a truly evil person, all while talking in the most civil and seductive manner.  His idea of coming into the filming looking exactly like James Carville was a brilliant move.

          David Gordon Green does the quiet, personally revolutionary films that I am inevitably drawn to (e.g., Prince Avalanche, George Washington).  I imagine he smiles as he thinks about the issues he has brought up in Our Brand is Crisis that will spark controversy and differences of opinion.  In discussions about this film, I expect many will have strong opinions about political consultants, political processes (particularly elections), and the marketing of candidates.

An insightful look at the underside of political campaigns.

Grade:  B                        By Donna R. Copeland