WOLF

 George MacKay     Lily Rose Depp     Paddy Considine     Marten McCann     Terry Notary

            Wolf implies that “species identification disorder” is common, when in fact “species dysphoria” is a very rare condition.  I found this movie misleading and distasteful in so many ways.  First of all, the “hospital” staff treat the humans like animals, expecting them to become human, e.g., shaming them into compliance.  The filmmakers appear to know nothing about proven behavioral principles and therapy.  Progressive approximation is a common technique used by certified psychologists, whereas shame used by The Zookeeper (Considine) gets one nowhere or into something worse.  When the “patients” began to rebel at one point, my thought was that if you treat humans like animals, they will begin to show animalistic behavior.

            That is also shown in individuals, such as Jacob (MacKay) who is demonstrably tender-hearted, but when The Zookeeper in particular treats him more and more like an animal, he becomes ferocious.

            Jacob’s and the other residents’ parents have brought them for therapy, and have high hopes that they will get better.  But we don’t see any of them getting better, only worse, which shows the staffs’ techniques are wrong.  It may be that the filmmaker’s (writer/director Nathalie Biancheri) intention is to show the abuse and ill intentions for all to see, but there is no indication of that in the film.  Appropriate ways of treating people with mental disorders is never apparent.

            In contrast with the staff, when Jacob and his new-found friend “Wildcat” (Depp) confide in one another, they become more human in their sympathy, empathy, and attitude toward their peers.  Mackay’s performance is noteworthy, especially when we see him moving in the forest; he must have studied the movement of wolves enough so that his form looks convincingly feral.

            One comment made by an inmate suggests that the staff uses technology (like an iPad game) to connect them with their human side.  (Staff apparently don’t read today’s claims about technology possibly turning us into automatons.)  Other ludicrous interventions include a hopping dance with forced smiles (not emotionally based), shocks delivered to the abdomen, and placing disobedients gagged and chained into a cage.

 

There is nothing to redeem this psychological disaster of a movie.

 

Grade:  F                              By Donna R. Copeland 

THE HAND OF GOD

 Filippo Scotti     Toni Servillo     Teresa Saponangelo     Marlon Joubert     Luisa Ranieri

 

The impressionistic nature of this film transports you to the streets of Napoli, writer/director Paolo Sorrentino’s hometown, and introduces his large rambunctious family, most apparently living in the same apartment building.  It’s a reflection on his life and about his personal qualities and experiences that led him into filmmaking as a writer, director, actor, and book author.  But the first part of the film is a bit overwhelming and confusing with the introduction of tens of characters and no orientation as to what we will be seeing.  We just observe a family in motion, with no idea as to who is who.

In this touching memoir, Sorrentino names the main character young Fabietto/Fabio Schisa skillfully played by Filippo Scotti who expresses the personality of a curious boy who takes in and pays attention to all the people, sights and sounds around him.  He is a compliant child, willing to please and firmly attached to his mother Maria (Saponangelo), whom he reveres, treasuring all the loving care she gives to him.

We meet members of his colorful family in a situation of abuse, on a noisy picnic, and on a boat ride that involves nude sunbathing and police chasing a smuggler’s boat.  Some of the characters are pranksters, and many are reminders of Fellini’s penchant for odd looking, strange people.  It’s especially striking when we see an auditorium sized room of decked-out people in all kinds of garb there to audition for a film.  But also among family members, some are grossly obese, one has lost his voice to cancer and must use a battery-operated device, one can juggle oranges like a pro, and presiding over all is a matriarch who mainly sits in a chair by herself gorging on food and making hostile remarks.  Although these are humorous at times, the attitude toward everyone is one of acceptance and resignation—that’s just how they/things are.  Their caring and interest in one another is obvious throughout, as are their passionate writhing in the face of infidelity.

Fabio’s own life includes a number of traumas, with one major setback almost derailing him.  He has a plethora of people around him to guide him and give him advice, including the baroness upstairs whose way of asking for help is to bang on the floor (the Schisa’s ceiling) with her cane.  When visiting, she doesn’t stay for long because she is bored with, in her view, plebian trivialities.  Her assistance to Fabio will have you scratching your head.  This is one of those instances where the vastness of the differences between Italians at that time and Americans at this time is so pronounced.

I can’t think of a more artistic and meaningful way of telling one’s story than Paolo Sorrentino’s here.  The Hand of God as the title is puzzling until one sees the film.  It was inspired first by a soccer game in which a star player makes a goal using his hand rather than his foot, saving the game; but the later reference is to Fabio’s not being in a certain place at a certain time, which was his salvation—the hand of God.

As part of a description of Sorrentino’s path toward filmdom, The Hand of God is also about dealing with being alone and with managing reality.  Both issues can be overcome and transcended with a vivid imagination, which is what cinema is all about.  

 

How a thoughtful talented filmmaker came to be—by watching and always wanting to see.

 

Grade:  B+                            By Donna R. Copeland

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

THE POWER OF THE DOG

 Benedict Cumberbatch     Kirsten Dunst     Jesse Plemons

Kodi Smit-McPhee     Thomasin McKenzie     Keith Carradine

            This well-conceived and crafted film is so evocative, you are likely to be talking about it and figuring it out with others after you see it.  That means, it’s necessary to watch and listen closely—even at the very beginning when there is a monolog spoken by Peter (Smit-McPhee).  

            The setting is a cattle ranch in 1925, but this won’t be like a typical American western.  The ranch is owned by two brothers who couldn’t be more different from one another.  Phil the older (in a stunning performance by Cumberbatch) is macho, glib, and sarcastic, lording over everyone—even to the point that in the local saloon when he thinks the party at the next table is too loud, he shuts them and the piano player up.  Everyone seems to kowtow to him.  His brother George (Plemons also at his personal finest) is his opposite—diffident, unexpressive, and self-effacing.  He clearly feels antagonistic and disapproving of his brother, but quakes in his boots when he feels forced to confront him.

            But George is man enough (and this film is clearly about manhood and how it’s achieved.  George manages to woo childhood friend Rose (Dunst) who is a widow now with a son, Peter, and marry her on the sly outside of Phil’s presence and control.  Of course, this does not sit well with Phil, and he disparages her and her son loudly and clearly.

            He is especially dismissive of Peter, who is artistic and studying to be a doctor like his deceased father.  Modeling themselves after Phil, the ranch hands yell out “faggot!” when Peter walks by, and when Phil takes it upon himself to teach Peter manly things like riding a horse, everyone is surprised.  Not Rose—she is horrified.  The antagonism between her and Phil is palpable.  

            The film is expert in bringing the viewer along with little puzzles to think and hypothesize about along the way.  It’s a study in personality types and how they might function within a family.  It’s an incredibly thoughtful movie with subtle references and signs.  Writer-director Jane Campion based it on Thomas Savage’s novel of the same title, The Power of the Dog, a biblical reference to Psalms 22:20, “But be not thou far from me, O LORD…haste thee to help me.  Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog…”  [power of the dog as a symbol of gluttony, a scavenger, something evil].

            The actors are so well cast, and Cumberbatch put himself through all kinds of training exercises to learn ranching, an American western accent, and so on.  I would think he is at the top of award lists for best actor, even though he is a bit of a villain.  Plemons is in more and more films these days, and in the past seemed rather unremarkable; but in this film, he pulls off being a sympathetic character with authenticity.  Dunst herself disappears into a complex, troubled—yet vengeful—woman who lacks self-confidence except in the case of her son, whom she will defend to the end.

            As in her previous major work, The Piano, Jane Campion brings to life real people and real struggles to create a psychological drama in which the ending remains ambiguous, at least as far as the main characters are concerned.  We get attached to Peter, Rose, George and others, wondering what happened to them.

 

A psychological study of personality types and how they might function in a family.

 

Grade:  A                              By Donna R. Copeland

ENCANTO

Voices of:  Stephanie Beatriz     John Leguizamo     Maria Cecilia Botero

Diane Guerrero     Jessica Darrow     Ravi Cabot-Conyers

             Encanto starts out being charming and a bit too much like a typical Disney movie.  It’s rather sugary and hypomanic.  Many of the words in the rap singing will go over many people’s heads, but the viewer easily gets the impression that the household is a most happy place, and that the Madrigal family’s powers to do good for the community make them beloved.  Abuela (Botero) is especially proud of what she established after she lost her husband.

            But there are some sad notes—young Mirabel (Beatriz) is the only one who has never received her “door” unlocking a special power as everyone else has.  One of them can lift remarkable loads, one can make flowers grow, one has healing powers, for instance, but Mirabel is not known for any special gift, even though she is told over and over that she herself is special.  She is sharp enough to sense that people are covering up something.

            Blessed with a big heart and always wanting to help, Mirabel is also rambunctious in her efforts, and may leave destruction in her wake, which is sad because her aim is always to help and make her family proud of her.  Family members identify her with an uncle named Bruno (Leguizamo)—whose name is not to be mentioned.  As one song says, “We don’t talk about Bruno, no no no!”  

            And this is key to one of the messages of the movie—not talking about things is often an indication of their importance.  When Mirabel chases after Bruno—who is said to have moved away from town—she is told not to look for him.  But cousin Luisa (Darrow) has let it slip that Mirabel should go to Bruno’s Tower to find answers to her questions after certain powers seem to be slipping away from some family members and Mirabel has received warnings about the magic of the house disappearing.

            It did this psychologist’s heart good when Encanto begins to reveal that family secrets often hold the key to whatever might be ailing it.  It’s at this juncture that Encanto becomes so much more engaging and more than simply an entertaining animation.  Because despite family remonstrances, Milabel forges ahead and learns valuable information that—although painful and disruptive—heals wounds that no one in the family wants to acknowledge.

            So, what for me started out as mere fluff and almost boring turned into something that caught my attention and made me smile and respect the film so much more.  Many psychological insights and moral principles tumble out in the last half of the story, which then illuminate the first half.

            Production design (Ian Gooding and Lorelay Bove) and the other crafts of animation and effects make Encanto a first-rate story of magical realism, and Lin Manuel Miranda’s stamp on production and music is apparent.  It puzzles me that the filmmakers elected not to put in subtitles for the Spanish-speaking/singing parts, unless perhaps to make the point that Americans need to learn the language, considering that Latinos will be the dominant ethnic group in the USA sometime soon.  It would actually be helpful for some of us to see subtitles for the rap portions as well, which go by so rapidly they’re not understood by many.

            Encanto is likely to appeal to general audiences who will be fascinated by the crafts, appreciate the emphasis on the value of family, and recognize some of the traits of families that cause problems or make them successful.  This movie is more than fluff.

 

Family secrets once aired can be healing and even be a salvation.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

HOUSE OF GUCCI

 Salma Hayek     Jared Leto     Adam Driver     Lady Gaga

Al Pacino     Madalina Ghenea     Jeremy Irona     Jack Huston

            This is a colorful film with a complex plot that begins light-heartedly romantic and interesting.  Mauricio Gucci (Driver) is a reserved young man without much of a social life and still living in his family home with his father Rodolfo Gucci (Irons).  Patrizia (Lady Gaga) is an ambitious, sexy woman who, when he tells her his name at a party, flirtaciously picks him up, in a way, and he is instantly attracted to her.  They seem to mesh well together; she draws him out and he offers her stability and dependability.

            After a short time, when Mauricio introduces Patrizia to his father, although the older man is charmed by her, he is suspicious as well and warns his son not to get involved.  This creates such harsh disagreement, Mauricio moves out of the home and shows up at Patrizia’s, where he is taken in and begins working at her father’s trucking company (which Patrizia affectedly refers to as “land transportation”).  

            Mauricio is modest, belying his wealthy background, and thoroughly enjoys the physical labor.  Their love continues to grow, resulting in marriage and a child.  Many events transpire after that, with the couple remaining very much in love.

            Although skirmishes had always been a part of the family’s existence, major trouble begins to brew around running the business and financial disagreements brought on partly by the introduction of Rodolfo’s brother Aldo (Pacino) in New York City, to Patrizia and her not being able—or willing—to resist getting involved in the business and pressuring her husband to take certain actions.

            What transpires is heightened intrigue and shifting loyalties and how far people in families will go when bonds weaken and their circumstances begin to change.  

             Ridley Scott directed the film based on a book by Sara Gay Forden, with screenplay by Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna.  The pace goes along nicely, giving the viewer time to absorb who all the players are and mete out the twists and turns as in a good crime story.  Scott is better known for his scripts than for his direction.  And it is probably the case in this film that his reputation is borne out.  For those who are not familiar with the story, there are major surprises as all the different elements unfold, a positive of the script.  Direction, however, may be lacking in the cohesiveness of the cast in the story.  

            That being said, along with the script, the cast is one of the film’s strongest points, beginning with the two leads, Adam Driver and Lady Gaga.  Driver is on a roll this year, with three of his movies on wide-ranging subjects being released.  Here, he is his most laid back, slow to burn character until he is pushed too far.  Lady Gaga is good at playing an ambitious woman who uses her sexiness to her advantage.  Her performance may be a bit “over the top”, but I enjoyed her young enthusiasm and craftiness in the beginning.  Later on, as the plot thickens, she is showing more of her naivete, and she relies more and more on her fortune teller (Hayak—who doesn’t quite fit the role), one’s sympathy for the character (and perhaps for the house of Gucci and The House of Gucci the movie) wanes.  

            In the mix is the uncanny performance of Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci, the “idiot son, but he’s my son” son of Aldo.  Leto shows the man as one with questionable talent who is a bit of a changeling, trying to adapt himself to whatever he thinks is expected.  

            Some may think this film is more about the fashion industry, but it is actually a chronicle of an international company whose direction failed in the face of conflicts within its leadership, a family.

 

Go and see this as a film about a family business rather than about fashion.

 

Grade:  B                              By Donna R. Copeland

C'MON C'MON

 Joaquin Phoenix     Gaby Hoffmann     Scoot McNairy

Jaboukie Young-White     Molly Webster

            I can see why so many people are taken with C’mon C’mon, a tender story about a man who has never been around children is suddenly charged with taking care of his nine year-old nephew while the parents deal with the father’s mental illness.  What was supposed to be a few days turns into weeks, so the two males get to know each other quite well.

            Johnny (Phoenix) has an interesting job as a radio journalist in New York interviewing children of all types/races/nationalities about what they think about the future.  He tries this out on his nephew Jesse (Young-White), who will have none of it, even though he is a bright imaginative kid whose mother has fostered his creativity and inquiring mind.  Jesse is not keen on necessarily doing what is expected, but he is into technology and the media, so Johnny wisely engages him in recording all kinds of urban and beach sounds on the huge microphone he uses for his interviews.  

            As time goes by, Johnny’s patience is tested by the child—who might suddenly disappear from sight—and has definite opinions about what he will and won’t do.  Still, the kid is interesting, and comes up with questions about Johnny’s personal life that take him off guard and force him to express himself in ways he has never done before.  Periodically, he speaks on the phone with Jesse’s mother Viv (Hoffmann) and is able to get advice from her as well as great understanding of the trials and frustrations of taking care of children.

            Joaquin Phoenix is gifted in portraying all kinds of roles, and he fits perfectly into this one, showing his playful side, psychological vulnerabilities, and anxiety when he feels at sea.  It’s realistic the way he might show a sudden urge to quash the child while still clearly being charmed by him.  He and Young-White appear to have a real affinity for one another, just as Phoenix and Hoffmann do.  It’s easy to imagine them all in the same family.  And the arc of Johnny’s and Jesse’s loving relationship is one of the best features; it shows an initial interest that gradually blossoms into a connection between them that will be valuable for both.

            Some of my reaction to this film of writer-director Mike Mills comes from my years of experience of talking with children and parents during my professional career as a psychologist in a pediatrics department.  I loved that job, but I think because of it I do not have the same fascination with the material as would those who are less familiar with children’s minds.  I certainly do still find children enormously fascinating, but what frustrated me about the stories here is that they are all like snippets that pique my interest without much follow-up or antecedent information.  It’s a bit like having a meal of appetizers; which can be enjoyable, but is not likely to be memorable or inspiring.  Because of this, C’mon C’mon borders on the prosaic.

 

C’mon C’mon presents slices of daily life in the dynamic relationship between an emotionally detached man and his clever nephew.

 

Grade:  C                                 By Donna R. Copeland