Arrival

First Hit:  A very inventive and powerful film effectively illuminating the complexities of non-liner time.

This was my kind of film; it had suspense, was beautifully presented, the sound, including the music, was dynamic, and was it intellectually challenging. However, none of this would work without a clear commitment from the actors and the production team. They are to be commended.

The basic story is that 12 alien ships arrive on earth and hover in different countries. Each country having a ship assigns a team of people to try to figure out why they are here on Earth. Heading the military led team for the United States is Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker). His focus is to communicate to the US Government and the rest of the world what his team has learned. Looking for experts he approaches Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams) who is a professor of communication and linguistics at an unnamed College/University. She has certain criteria of how she will work on this project and when Weber rebuffs her, he searches out others. However, a short time later he has a change of heart, she is the best.

This scene, for me, sets the tone of the whole film. How Weber's team picks her up, the noise of being inside the helicopter, the tense excitement of the assignment ahead of them, had me ready for an adventure. The filming and sound were perfectly industrial and presents a sense of realism, the kind that tells you that you are in good hands under the direction of Director Denis Villeneuve. In each scene he beckons the audience, to sit back, open your mind, and enjoy the ride because this will be like no other alien invasion film you’ve ever experienced.

On the helicopter ride she meets her working partner Dr. Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who is a physicist. Although their ways of finding out and interpreting the information is they gain from the aliens is very different, they both agree it starts with communication.

There are a number of amazing scenes when they enter the alien ship; how gravity is upended, how they view the aliens through a glass like structure, and the fascinating scenes of Ian and Louise learning the alien’s language. All through this film we are treated to Louise’s memories of her daughter and little do we know how all of this comes together until the very end when she and Ian “get” the picture the aliens want to share with all of us.

Although I cannot say more about the plot, I will say the screenplay, cinematography, the concept, the acting and directing are top notch. But what really got me, was the ability of everyone who worked on this film to commit to the vision and present an amazing way to help people think more about understanding non-liner time.

Whitaker is the kind of man and actor that elevates every film he is in. For me he is one of the very best living actors and in this movie he's no different. He knows just how much of his intensity and kindness to put into every role and every scene. Adams is sublime. She plays a very complex character and there are few that could have pulled it off as well as Adams. I’m not sure how she felt about the role, but for me it was a role of a lifetime. Renner did a fantastic job in support of Banks. He led when he needed to and buttressed Banks inroads to the science of communicating with aliens. Eric Heisserer wrote an extraordinary screenplay. His ability to create a cohesive, engaging, entertaining and intellectual story while tackling the concept of time was amazing. Villeneuve had a clear vision of what he wanted and how this film was going to get there. From the odd look of the alien spaceships (they looked like large contact lenses), to the music striking the perfect background sound and mood, to how he got so much from each actor, his clear deft hand took us on an amazing journey for which I applaud him.

Overall: This was an extraordinary film and based on all the movies I’ve seen this year, this one is one of the top three.

The Handmadien

First Hit:  Extremely provocative, well made, and engaging film about deception and love.

This movie was lusciously filmed. Each frame was mesmerizing and had the potential to hypnotize the audience away from the intrigue that builds throughout its entire 2 ½ hour length.

Count Fujiwara (Jung-woo Ha) is a con man and recruits Sook-Hee/Tae Ri Kim (played by Kim Tae-ri) to ingratiate herself and become a Handmaiden to a wealthy Japanese woman, Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim). His goal is to have her help Hideko fall in love with him. The objective would be to marry Hideko for her money, and then hopefully break her heart so much that she gets put into a mental institution, thereby giving him both freedom and money. The payoff for the pickpocketing Sook-Kee, is a nice sum of money, jewelry, and freedom from her current theft oriented life.

She is brought to Lady Hideko’s house where she lives with her Uncle Kouzuki (Jin-woong Jo) who deals in rare books and fakes of rare books. He also wants his young niece intimately along with her money, but is waiting for her to begin to open to him. He’s grooming her for himself by teaching her to read sexually explicit books to his favorite friends in his beautiful personal library. Her readings are engaging and everyone in the room, including her uncle, has an erotic experience. With Sook-Hee in place, Fujiwara’s plan begins to unfold.

Just as I think I’ve got the concept of the film and plot, Part II starts and we begin to view this whole experience from a different perspective. More from the perspective of Lady Hideko. Watching this unfold I found myself feeling bad for Sook-Hee because I wonder if she’s been tricked.

Then Part III unfolds and another perspective shows itself. However, this perspective is aimed at love and brings up what the audience witnesses during Parts I & II. Here the dynamics of the truth unfolds itself with each of the characters and roles begin to pay for their truth and deceit.

The longer this film goes the more engaging and interesting it gets. As I previously stated, this film is filled with luxurious and luscious scenes. The photography is fantastic and the graphic sensuality only adds to its intrigue. The way each part unfolds a version of the story, each character becomes more evolved and continues to create audience engagement.

Ha is fun and appropriately ego centric as his part calls for. I thought he was really good at this. Tae-ri is fascinating as the girl who survives on street smarts, and when she is giving Hideko a bath she (and we the audience) see realizes she's capable of being touched humanly and deeply. It is a great scene. Kim, as Lady Hideko, is beautiful beyond compare. She carries the right amount of arrogance, fragility, and privilege as a woman who has never traveled away from her home. She wants to experience more than what she has, yet is both curious and afraid of breaking down her current life's boundaries. Jo is oddly interesting as the somewhat perverted uncle who is also a deceiver. Seo-Kyung Chung and Chan-wook Park wrote a wonderfully complex screenplay that only reveals itself as the film moves along. Park’s direction was great and it was clear he had a clear vision of what he wanted because the stories were intriguing and engaging.

Overall:  I got more than I thought I would, a very engaging film.

Hacksaw Ridge

First Hit:  A very powerful and graphic film about a conscientious objector’s selflessness to save lives in a horrible battle.

This film is not easy to watch as many of the graphically violent scenes may make you cringe, close your eyes, or turn away from the screen as I did. Although the number of war torn bodies in this film was far greater than what I saw in Vietnam, the point wasn’t lost on me: “war is hell” as William T. Sherman in 1870 said and Director Mel Gibson wanted us to see. As he did in “Passion of the Christ” and “Apocalypto”, Gibson shows us man’s inhumanity to man.

Here he shows us Desmond Doss (Darcy Bryce and Andrew Garfield), whose belief in God, as a Seventh Day Adventist, won’t allow him to take another man’s life. We also see the lessons he learns from a difficult childhood. His father, Tom (Hugo Weaving), is an alcoholic which began with his own suffering from the loss of his childhood friends in WW I. The beatings his mother Bertha (Rachel Griffiths), brother Hal (Roman Guerriero and Nathaniel Buzolic) and he take, affected him deeply and as an audience member, were difficult to witness.

Because he has a sense of duty, despite the objections of his mother and father, he signs up to join the WWII effort as a medic Conscientious Objector in the US Army. Prior to his induction he meets Dorothy Schutte (Teresa Palmer) whom he charms with his wholesome, caring and kind nature. She sees the depth of his integrity and they agree to marry on his first leave.

When his platoon Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughn) announces to the rest of his platoon that Desmond won’t be carrying a gun to protect his peers, they make him a pariah. He's beaten and disowned by his fellow soldiers and they even try to Court Martial him out of the Army.

Gibson painstakingly develops the backstory so that when Desmond enters the battle for Hacksaw Ridge the audience is ready for him to become the hero he became. As the first of only three Conscientious Objectors to receive the Medal of Honor, Desmond amazes his fellow soldiers. Alone he saves 75 wounded men by saying to himself and to his God, “give me the strength to save just one more”.

The battle itself is one of the most graphic you’ll ever witness and it is important to know this going in. For me it triggered huge sadness because of the memory of piling up dead Viet Cong soldiers after an all-night firefight.

Although this film is long at 2 hours and 11 minutes, the elongated battle scenes are extremely well orchestrated giving the audience a sequence of stories all tying together.

Garfield was spectacular and amazing in this performance. His embodiment of Doss was deeply heartfelt. I would predict that he may receive an Oscar nomination, along with a real chance to win. I’d definitely give him a vote. Weaving was powerful as the father who was gutted by his involvement in WWI along with how this, and his alcoholism, affected his life. The last scene where he reaches out to help his son was deeply heartfelt. Vaughn was in the best non-comedic role I’ve ever seen him in. In my view, this role brought a new dimension to his acting abilities. Bryce and Guerrieo were wonderful as the young Doss brothers. Palmer was fantastic as Desmond’s one true love. Griffiths was very good as Desmond’s suffering and faithful mother. Andrew Knight and Robert Schenkkan wrote a fantastic screenplay. This screenplay is Oscar worthy and the dialogue is amazing in its range. It contained humor, military order and strictness, romanticism, and spiritual beliefs all wrapped into one film effectively. Gibson, regardless of how you may think of him as a celebrity and person, his direction of this film is truly amazing. Like Spielberg, he knows how to craft scenes of war in a way that can make an audience feel the experience. He deserves to be given consideration for an Oscar as well. If you see this film, make sure you watch the short clips during the credits of the real Desmond and others who knew him.

Overall: Although this film can be hard to watch at times, it clearly makes a strong point about the power of one man living his truth.

Doctor Strange (3-D)

First Hit:  I fully enjoyed the film and Benedict Cumberbatch is perfect as Dr. Stephen Strange.

What makes this film work and hold together is the acting of Cumberbatch. In fact, one could take out some of the special effects and this film still works.

Strange is a compulsive, arrogant, and a larger than life self-aggrandizing surgeon. His surety and cavalier way of performing surgery are displayed in opening scenes. He’s listening to music and then challenges one of his assistants to change up the music and give him a music quiz. The song his assistant hopes to trip him up on is Chuck Mangione’s “Feels So Good” which the assistant says came out in 1978 while Strange argues correctly that it was released in 1977. This was a superb way to display who he is.

Then, to solidify the point, Dr. Christine Palmer (Rachel McAdams), rushes into the OR and asks Dr. Strange to look at a patient who they are about to harvest for organs. Her claim is that the patient can be saved and isn’t brain dead. Strange looks at the medical x-rays, scans and diagnosis documents, moves the patient to ER and pulls a bullet out of the patient’s head, thereby stopping the organ harvest, keeping the man alive. He only cares about his success at being right and competent and sort of rejects the patient's family's thanks. Lastly Dr. Palmer shows a deeper than friendship interest in him but he just sluffs it off putting his needs ahead of everything.

However, he gets hurt in an accident and destroys his hands. Without having his surgical skills available he ends up with nothing and takes one last trip looking for Kamar-Taj, a place that may be able to provide him help in getting his hands back. While in Kathmandu he ends up meeting “The Ancient One” (Tilda Swinton). She calls him out on his arrogance and self-centeredness and demonstrates that there is more to life than the physical world. She demonstrates alternate realities and it shocks Strange into curiosity and then wanting to become a student. As The Ancient One points out, Strange still thinks of only himself but takes him on as a student because he’s got abilities and really wants to learn.

The film ultimately is about two things: First, the fight between good (light) and evil (darkness). And two, about how to live by putting others first. To this end, the film is interesting, however, I do believe that the number of spectacular visual scenes to represent the fragility of most peoples’ perception of reality were not needed. At first the spinning of the streets and buildings into different spatial realities were cool and interesting to watch. But after a while it took away from the story and acting which was very strong.

Cumberbatch was extraordinary good in this fantasy film. He brought a serious, adventurous and human context to the character regardless of the topsy-turvy visual convolutions. Swinton was much better than I thought she would be. I struggled thinking that it needed to be an Asian spiritual leader because the film felt like it was sharing ancient Asian wisdom. However, from the get go, Swinton owned the role. Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mordo, The Ancient One’s right hand person, was excellent. He put an edge into the film that made it better. McAdams was wonderful as Strange’s co-surgeon. Her humanness towards a difficult Strange was perfect. Benedict Wong (as Wong) was delightful. His protective seriousness of the spiritual path and library worked well against Strange’s behavior. Jon Spaihts, Scott Derrickson, and C. Robert Cargill wrote a wonderful screenplay, which was enhanced by the use of humor and interesting dialogue among the characters. Derrickson had a strong hand on the tiller of this film. I only thought that he used CGI more than needed.

Overall:  Although the film is not Oscar worthy, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and that is the point.

Certain Women

First Hit:  A very thoughtful film that deepens and, at times, darkens with feelings just as the Montana winter closes in.

This film is, in essence, three separate yet interrelated stories of three women and their relationship with their inner self, work and the world about them. The film opens with Laura Wells (Laura Dern), as an attorney, having an affair with Ryan (James Le Gros) who happens to be Gina Lewis’s (Michelle Williams), husband. The strength and intelligence of this film is displayed in this opening scene. Long camera shots letting scenes play themselves out with words being a secondary communication device. The camera focuses on the faces letting the audience peer within the character. Of particular beauty was the stark motel room, only seeing Ryan, through the oval wall mirror, while Laura laid on the bed, contemplating the events, her life and her feelings about it.

Laura finds herself enabling a client named Fuller (Jared Harris) who is lost after a work event that left him disabled and unable to continue working. He’s confused and refuses to believe that he gave away his rights for a tort suit against his former employer as explained by Laura. These scenes of enabling build up to where she finally changes the situation.

Gina is introduced to the audience as she is warming down from a run, smoking a cigarette, and walking through a forested path. She’s serious and thoughtful in her look as she enters a campground. We soon learn she’s the powerful one in her family consisting of her husband Ryan and daughter Guthrie (Sara Roder). There is a moment when Gina indicates she dislikes being made the villain in the family. She feels undermined by Ryan which shows up as they discuss obtaining sandstone for the home they are building from Albert’s (Rene Auberjonois) yard. The long shots on her face left me feeling haunted by the weight she is bearing.

We meet Jamie (Lily Gladstone) working on a horse ranch. She leads a quiet life tending horses, watching TV, and eating. The scenes of her existence were made more lively, and funny to the audience, by the Corgi that always chases her as she puts hay into the corrals for the horses. The darkness of where she lives and the barn mirrors the loneliness of her life. One evening she gets into her truck and ventures to a school where she quietly takes root in the back row of a class with four other adults. The others in the class know each other, she’s an outsider. Into the classroom walks a young lawyer named Beth (Kristen Stewart) and we learn she’s a newly minted lawyer and has driven 4 hours to teach a class on Student / Educational Law. She acknowledges she knows little about this but has been studying. All the students, except Jamie, ask questions that directly affect themselves and try Beth’s patience. By going to a diner after class Jamie and Beth learn more about each other. Again, the long camera shots on their faces was extraordinary in giving the audience a glimpse of what is going on within them. What is going on with Jamie is that she is falling in love with Beth.

This is what made this film strong. In male oriented films there are quicker camera movements and more cuts. There is more of an overt purpose in directing the story in a particular direction, here the audience finds their way into the story by studying these women through their faces and movements.

Dern was amazing as someone who is alone, competent, caring and struggling to not be an enabler. Williams was sublime as a beautifully powerful strong woman that is finding her way through family life and what it is she wants her home to be. Harris is interesting as the man who is confused and dismayed at his current predicament. His reliance on Laura is interestingly dependent. Le Gros is good as the detached husband who is dependent on his strong wife. Gladstone was amazing. I loved her quiet depth, her aching heart, and pragmatic persistence. She was so powerful in this film by saying so very little. Stewart was wonderful as the object of Jamie’s affection. One of my favorite exchanges was when Beth said that in her family, the highest job they could attain was being a shoe salesperson. That she became a lawyer was something she held on to with tenuous hope and the audience feels this. Auberjonois was exceptionally sweet as a man slowly losing his memory. Kelly Reichardt wrote and directed this with an eye for letting the characters show what is going on with themselves by letting the camera see them. A job well done.

Overall:  This film is not for everyone, but if you want to gaze into the depth of certain women, see “Certain Women”.