Free Solo (IMAX Version)

First Hit: This past year there were two documentary films about climbing El Capitan, and this one, Free Solo, scared me more than the other movie Dawn Wall, and both are worth a watch.

The fear factor in Free Solo is high because Alex Honnold climbs the 3,000 foot El Capitan wall at Yosemite using only his hands and feet, there are no ropes. In Dawn Wall, which I didn’t write a review of because it was a special presentation, was about climbing a part of El Capitan that’s never been scaled.

Alex has a different trigger level for fear than most people. We learn this because of his belief in his abilities, the neverending training schedule, his physical prowess, and the results of his brain MRI. The film does dive into his past, and we get some explanation about his perceived non-engagement with other people and where this fearlessness emanates.

How Alex was raised, and his diving into climbing as a way to engage with the world and express himself is told in flashbacks and interviews by his mother, girlfriend, and a few friends. The closest we get to see under the layer of his polite, engaging, yet perplexing personae is through his conversations with Stephanie McCandless (“Sanni”) who becomes Alex’s girlfriend and one who can stay with Alex’s aloofness and inward self-focus to find her place in his heart.

When the movie begins we learn that Alex has been living in a van for nine years and this lifestyle suits him as we get farther into the film – it is congruent with his personality. We watch him train; we watch him go up, and down El Capitan, with his closest friend Tommy Caldwell (Dawn Wall climber and star) who works with Alex to figure out and understand the pitches he’ll use on the climb.

Of course, we all know he makes it because there wouldn’t be a film about his falling off the mountain, but when he bails on one attempt, we wonder will he make another effort to do the climb. The climbing shots led by Jimmy Chin were fantastic.

Directors Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi directed this film with patience and elegance because it shows in the end product.

Overall: I felt his strength, joy, and fearlessness through my being afraid for him during the journey.

Miss Bala

First Hit: Although there’s a twist at every turn, it is predictable, but has enough of a twist at the end to make it interesting.

The film begins with Gloria (Gina Rodriguez) doing makeup for some fashion models in a Los Angeles fashion show. After the show, she gets in her car and heads to Tijuana Mexico to visit a close friend, whom she considers family. Suzu’s (Cristina Rodlo) family took Gloria in when she was small, and they spent their young years together. Gloria is headed there to help Suzu get ready for the Miss Baja California contest.

To introduce Gloria to Chief Saucedo (Damian Alcazar), who has some sway over who wins the contest, Suzu takes Gloria to a nightclub. What we also learn is that Saucedo is slowly taking over all the illegal trade that goes across the U.S – Mexico border. He’s attempting to take this unlawful business away from a gang called Las Estrellas.

Las Estrellas is led by Lino (Ismael Cruz Cordova). To shut down the Chief’s attempt to take over the border trade business from Lino, the Las Estrellas gang steals into the nightclub and starts to shoot it up. In the process they kidnap Suzu.

Gloria spends the rest of the film trying to find and rescue her close friend.

The storyline takes Gloria through being captured and used by the DEA, Las Estrellas, and the CIA. It is how the story weaves its way through all this that makes the film both work and not work. There’s too many tricks, story twists, and plot turns.

One thing that wasn’t very believable was the apparent age difference between Gloria and Suzu. This difference made me wonder about how they were friends when they were young. I also thought the some of the scenes were overly staged.

Rodriguez was good as an intense person who wanted to find her friend. Rodlo was OK as Gloria’s friend. Cordova was OK as the heavy leader of the gang. Alcazar was appropriately manipulative and arrogant as the crooked police chief. Anthony Mackie was OK as the undercover agent. Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer wrote an overly trick-filled screenplay. I didn’t engage with all the twists and turns. Catherine Hardwicke did a reasonable job of directing through all the storylines. 

Overall: This was an overly complicated film, and it didn’t need to be.

Capernaum (Chaos)

First Hit: This is an incredibly powerful film about the state of children and their survival in Beirut.

The tale told in this film holds up a mirror to share the reflection of what happens when ill-informed beliefs, the devastation of war, and the lack of order (chaos) creates a society not equipped to deal children born into it.

Zain (Zain Al Rafeea) is twelve years old, but nobody knows because his parents, Souad (Kawsar Al Haddad – as the mother) and Selim (Fadi Yousef – as the father), failed to document and register Zain’s birth with the government, so he has no ID and is unknown to the government. Souad and Selim follow tradition and have lots of children, and as the oldest, Zain takes care of himself, brings home what money and food he can steal or hustle and is protective of his 11-year-old younger sister Sahar (Haita ‘Cedra’ Izzam).

He’s in court facing a judge while serving a 5-year jail sentence for stabbing a “son of a bitch.” Zain is now suing his parents. The judge asks, “Why are you attacking your parents in court?” He responds with “For giving me life.”

Hearing this from a twelve-year-old boy was heartbreaking. And from this opening moment, we delve back into how Zain ended up stabling someone and in court suing his parents for giving him life. Not only is he mistreated, the family lives in abject squalor.

We follow Zain as he tries to protect his sister Sahar when their parents attempt to sell/trade her to Assaad (Nour El Husseini), the family’s landlord for chickens. When Sahar has her period for the first time, Zain, helps her wash her pants, and folds up his own shirt to catch and absorb her menstruation. Zain doesn’t want his parents to know because then she’ll “be ripe” for sale.

Finally fed up Zain leaves his home and journeys out only to find Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) who is barely 17, has a baby named Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole) and is illegally in Lebanon from Ethiopia. Being the incredibly responsible person he is, because she provides a place to sleep and food, he takes care of Yonas. When she gets caught by immigration and doesn’t return, what Zain does is beyond remarkable. His ability to survive, protect, and take care of this baby is impressive.

However, equally as powerful, is the way this film is shot. Extraordinary. The actors are not professional actors by trade. As in another of this year’s nominees, the film Roma, the roles are filled with everyday people. Screenwriter and Director Nadine Labaki elicited sublime performances from everyone, even the baby. Her camera angles were not looking down on the children but making their view of the world the primary focus. The sound, especially at the beginning, has a deep rumble as if bombs are still exploding in the far distant background. This noise added an edge to the film that haunted me. Lastly, the camera work, including the movement, was excellent.

Rafeea as the boy Zain was beyond amazing. The look in his eyes, the sad face, and his evident intensity to do what it takes to survive were ever present. Shiferaw as the Ethiopian mother of Yonas was divine. I loved how she was able to navigate and figure out how to survive while continually being aware she needed to get papers to stay in the country. Bankole, the baby - Yonas, was perfect. Haddad and Yousef as Zain’s mom and dad respectively, were powerful components of this film’s intensity. Izzam was sweet as the sister. Labaki wrote an extraordinary screenplay that highlighted the plight of children in this war-torn city. Her ability to envision and capture the deep mistrust children have of the world around them, and their ability to continue fighting was terrific.

Overall: If this film were up for the Best Picture award, it would be a great choice.

Update On Academy Award - Oscar Picks

Last night I went to my neighbor’s home to watch a Best Foreign Language Film nominee. My neighbor is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences having once been President of LucasFilms Ltd. In one of our discussions, he mentioned that the film Capernaum (Chaos), regardless of category, was one of the very best films of last year.

He was right, it is a fantastic film, and my follow-up blog on this film will reflect this. However, I must alter my choice for Best Foreign Language Film to Capernaum. And if it were up for Best Picture, I’d put it in a tight race with Blindspotting (not nominated) for this honor.

Cold War (Zimma wojna)

First Hit: I liked the quality of sets, the black and white photography, and the feel they gave for the time this film covers.

I like good period pieces, and the timing of this story is smack dab in my childhood days. Although it begins before my birth, in the 1940s, it moves through into two additional decades in Poland, Russia, and France.

The feel of the stage shows, the night clubs, and the music really stood out for me. The oppression of the Polish and Russian governments are what the characters played against in choosing their path and livelihoods.

The story is about a Zula (Joanna Kulig) who finds herself auditioning to become one of the state-sponsored singers in a Polish youth group.

The beginning is touching in that a small team of people is combing the countryside looking for authentic voices to sing traditional songs. We follow them as they record these untrained voices in their homes and the fields.

Zula is not one of these country voices. We learn that she has been recently released from jail because she took a knife to her father. And paraphrasing her words when she speaks to Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), one of the school’s music teachers, about why she was in jail; he was mistaking me for my mother, so I took a knife to him to remind him of this.

This statement along with the way Zula teams with another girl to sing a traditional song shows something about her will to survive and the myriad of ways she’ll do it.

Wiktor is the pianist for the music dance school and is impressed with Zula, her voice, and mostly her extra special something. He supports choosing Zula to become part of the stage act. He’s also attracted to her and begins to fall for her romantically. She, in turn, during a walk in the countryside, falls for him as well and here begins their love story for the next twenty or so years.

The film then shows how the stage show moved from being a taste of traditional Poland to a tool used by Stalin and the Polish quasi-government to promote communism. Wiktor cannot take it and decides to defect to France where he can use his musical talents in arranging and musicianship to make a living. He hopes that Zula goes with him.

However, she’s playing it safe and stays with the group but they both pine for each other.

Their love, how they meet up multiple times throughout the film, and the inability to keep their love alive is what this film is about. The oppressiveness of the Cold War is the backdrop for the challenges Zula and Wiktor navigate to stay together.

What didn’t work for me in this film was the editing. Scenes end abruptly, and a new scene begins with little context. It isn’t that the scenes are not within the scope of the film, it was the harsh and jarring way it was cut from one to another.

Kulig was excellent as the strong, apparently aiming to survive, girl/woman who loved Wiktor more than anything because he supported her. Her passion for him on the screen was palpable. Kot as Wiktor was outstanding. His performance as a musician was perfect. I fully believed him as a pianist and his love for Zula. Borys Szyc as Kaczmarek the promoter who was always looking for the angle while being politically on the side that was winning was perfect. He carried the right look and feel for the role. Paweł Pawlikowski wrote and directed this film. As I mentioned, I didn’t like the scene edits, but the writing and overall look and feel to the film was outstanding.

Overall: I can see what this was an Academy Award nominated foreign film from Poland.