The Farewell

First Hit: Wonderful story about how this Chinese family deals with a prognosis of death.

I cannot tell you that it’s factually correct that Chinese families often do not mention one of their older members that they have cancer and are going to soon die. The reason for not telling is to let them enjoy the time they have left without worry. If it is true, it’s understandable and if not, it might be worth exploring as a way to deal with such a prognosis.

In this film, we are introduced to Billi (Awkwafina) who lives in New York City talking on the phone with her grandmother Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao) who lives in China. We learn that Billi was born in China but left when her parents, Haiyan and Jian (Tzi Ma and Diana Lin respectively), went to explore an opportunity in the United States. She was two years old.

The film does a great job of showing the audience their closeness.

Nai Nai has cancer, but she doesn’t know it. She believes she still has a bad cough from an early bout with pneumonia. Nai Nai’s grandson Haohao (Han Chen), from Nai Nai’s other son Haibin (Jiang Yongbo), has announced a wedding to Aiko (Aoi Mizuhara) after only dating her for three months.

It is unsaid but understood, that the reason for the wedding is that Nai Nai will be dead soon and it would be joyous for her if she got to host this one great event before she dies. Nai Nai is shown happily planning the event.

Under the guise of this wedding, everyone is traveling to China to partake in the celebration. What Nai Nai doesn’t know is that they are also coming to say goodbye to her.

It is recommended by Billi’s parents that she not come because they fear she will tell Nai Nai the truth about her illness. Billi decides to go anyway, and because she’s the main character, we go with her.

This Chinese family’s situation and dynamics are explored as are other Chinese traditions. The dialogue is smart and often in Chinese, so the audience has to read subtitles on the screen. It is kept within the confines of when Nai Nai is in conversation because she doesn’t understand or speak English and actually adds to the flavor of the film.

The preparations for the wedding have some funny moments like when Nai Nai tries to understand why the chef has changed the lobster meal to ta crab meal. I also loved how Nai Nai teaches Billi how to do morning exercises.

The scenes in China are durable and reflective of life in some parts of China today. I thought the way the film allowed each of the characters to express their impending grief and current love for Nai Nai to be lovely.

Awkwafina was excellent as Billi. Generally known as a comedian, she handles this serious role with studied excellence. Ma and Lin were as wonderful as Billi’s parents. The dialogue between Billie and her mother in the car about expressing emotions was particularly touching and pointed. Zhao was sublime as the matriarch grandmother. Chen, as the groom to be, was very effective at showing a certain reticence and honor for the actions he was about to participate in. Lulu Wang wrote and directed this film and showed she had a deft touch for creating a realistic storyline.

Overall: I like this film, and it did remind me of some of the behavior and language inflections of Chinese families I’ve known.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

First Hit: I was transported back in time and thoroughly enjoyed this film.

For me, what makes a good film is if I am moved intellectually or emotionally and I’m learning from, or interested in the story. What makes a great film is when I’m transported into another place and time, I’m fully engaged and curious about each character, and I’m riding the crest of anticipation about the story as it unfolds.

Great films start with a great story, followed by great acting; however, it is the director who puts this all together in scenes that capture the color, time, place, and essence to make the story great.

Quentin Tarantino as writer and director has delivered a great film. One of the best he’s ever done and, so far, easily the best film of the year.

This story is about a fading actor named Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is used to playing the heavy in his films. He’s played in westerns and Army characters as shown in black and white flashbacks. This technique of using dated-looking footage to create backgrounds was used for both Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).

While Dalton is dealing with his fading career, we learn that Cliff is more than just his stunt double, he’s also Dalton’s closest friend and chauffeur. As they travel from set to set together, we learn more about Cliff with a flashback that he may have killed his wife. This is part of the setup to show that Booth is no pushover and maybe a ruthless hombre. One of the funniest scenes exemplifying this power is the scene with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh). Lee’s squeals as he prepares to strike Booth are hilarious — just an extra-level above the real Bruce Lee. As they begin to square off in a fight to prove who is the toughest, we see the inner power of Booth and his intelligence and physical prowess.

At one point Booth and Dalton are driving through Hollywood, and they encounter a group of “hippy” women digging through a trash bin, these are Charles (Charlie) Manson’s (Damon Herriman) girls. This scene combined with one in which Charlie is confronted by Dalton as he attempts to get up to the former home of Brian Wilson, introduces the audience to the weirdness of and story of the Manson Family. The house he’s trying to go to is next door to Dalton’s and is now occupied by Sharon Tate (Margo Robbie) and Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha). This sets up the tension of what we all know is history.

But that’s what’s impressive about this film. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” shines a new and different light on history as we know it. Although the movie does have violence, it changes the outcome of the original Manson murders in a way that left me reflective of the actual murders and the era in which they took place.

The effectiveness of the sets, as this film is set in the late 1960s, is phenomenal. I grew up in Southern California and outside of one freeway exit sign, which was too new, everything was just as it was in the Hollywood area back then. The Cinerama theater, the restaurants, the business signs, and the street scenes were all fantastic. But it was the cars that touched my heart the most when I think of the time. Dalton’s caddy, Polanski’s MG, Mustangs, Volkswagens, all of them, perfect. All the cars, whether on the freeway, parked, or driving the streets, were accurate to the time and, for me, cemented the moments.

DiCaprio was phenomenal. Showing Dalton’s insecurities and strengths all within moments of each other – perfect. I especially loved two scenes; when he returned to his trailer after flubbing a couple of lines and he berates himself with mercilessness self-flagellating dialogue. The other scene is when he’s talking to a young actor Trudi (Julia Butters). Their back and forth dialogue was sublime. Pitt was amazing as Booth. This is one of the best roles I’ve seen Pitt in, and it felt like the culmination of all the different parts he’s played, from heavy to a supportive, nice guy. Here he is all of them. Robbie, as Tate, was excellent. She captured the wonder and starry-eyed sense of a young woman finding her place in the world of acting. The theater scenes when she’s watching herself on the screen were powerful. Butters was incredible as the young actor who was serious about her job. Margaret Qualley as Manson girl “Pussycat” was terrific. She captured the free love feeling of the time so very well. Dakota Fanning as Manson girl Squeaky Fromme was powerful. She exemplified the focused control of the situation she put herself in. Moh captured the essence of Bruce Lee plus a little more. Bruce Dern was perfect as a grouchy and funny George Spahn, owner of the ranch that Manson and his followers took over. There are a ton of actors in this film in various sized roles, and I won’t name them all here but suffice to say everyone was outstanding. As I said earlier, Tarantino has peaked, for now, this was his best.

Overall: I was fascinated by this story and the way it unfolded — easily best film of the year so far.

The Art of Self-Defense

First Hit: Oddly compelling, crudely violent, and situationally funny are my takeaways from this film.

Jesse Eisenberg is an intense person. One look at his eyes, the way he moves them, the way he looks at anything, the intensity is the primary projected feeling.

In this story, Jesse plays Casey, a quiet accountant, working at a somewhat sizeable innocuous firm. We see Casey make awkward attempts to talk with three other men in the break room. These men talk about things in a silly testosterone way: “Let’s do some pushups,” and talking about their sexual exploits. In these gatherings, Casey has nothing to offer, stammers, and leaves the break room with a tail between his legs sort of way.

He goes home to his dachshund, his closest friend. One night, needing to get dog food, he walks to the store and is attacked by a group of people on motorcycles. They almost kill him. Having lots of sick time and unused vacation time, he stays home to heal. Hesitantly he ventures out of his home and walks into a Karate dojo run by a Sensei (Alessandro Nivola).

Casey finds that taking classes helps his self-esteem, and he begins to gain confidence. However, there seems to be an underlying agenda in the dojo. Anna (Imogen Poots), who is a brown belt (one under black), teaches the children classes but appears to be in disfavor with sensei. We don’t know why.

This disfavor is very pronounced when sensei gives awards out (new colored belts and stripes) on a celebration day. Favoring brown belt Thomas (Steve Terada) over Anna for black belt, Anna eventually gets revenge by beating Thomas to a pulp in one of their dojo practice sessions.

Eventually, Casey feels the power of his newly acquired yellow belt and takes over the testosterone boys club at work, punches his boss in the throat, and puts female breasts on his computer screen’s desktop. Of course, he gets fired from his job. In addition to this, by prompting from sensei, he changes the language he’s learning from French to German. French, says his sensei, is a loser feminine language and German is more powerful and masculine.

Then, Casey, prompted by sensei, kills an unsuspecting stranger because sensei tells him he’s sure that this man is one of the people who mugged him months earlier. This and the killing of his dog leads Casey to start investigating sensei and his cohorts.

This is where the film spins slightly different from its original axis and heads in a somewhat different direction. The question becomes, will Casey find his strength by standing up for his version of truth and justice, or will he go his own way and become a law-abiding citizen?

Eisenberg is always interesting to watch. I don’t often relate to his intensity, but he never holds back on being someone who is thinking and thinking deeply. He does this well in this story. Nivola is rather good as sensei. He brings a required level of force, making this role believable. Poots was excellent as the women who wouldn’t be denied in her quest to live unafraid. Terada is outstanding as sensei’s favorite student. Riley Sterns both wrote and directed this film. I thought the concept was good and some of the scenes superbly funny and intense.

Overall: I didn’t leave the theater with a positive feeling.

Maiden

First Hit: An extraordinary and heartrending film about women banding together to prove how amazingly powerful they are.

I grew up near boats. My dad and his best friend Frank Schultz built a 32’ cabin cruiser in our driveway so that they could dive for abalone together. My first memories as a month’s old baby are the warm sun, rocking waves, and the sound and vibration of the motor as I lay on the dark green engine cover.

My dad then bought a Mercury class day sailor, and it is here that I learned to sail. It was always exciting to head the boat as close to the wind as possible eking speed wherever possible, and having the boat heal over with water spilling over the rails both scared and excited me.

This film is about two things; sailing the most incredible boat race on earth —The Whitbread, and the first all-women crew to ever sail The Whitbread.

Tracy Edwards was always independent and driven, which is what she learned from her parents. When her dad suddenly died when she was 10, her mother, a new abusive stepdad, and she moved from Pangbourne England to Wales.

Rebelling in high school and eventually dropping out, at age 16 she became a stewardess on a yacht. This became her first introduction to sailing. Loving the independent life of being on boats, she began to learn the different positions by crewing on different ships. Wanting to be a part of the Whitbread race, the most dangerous and prestigious in the world, she sought out a crew position on one of the racing boats. However, the only spot any skipper would let her have was the cook.

Taking the job, she learned three things about this male-dominated sport and race, women were thought of as inferior, she hated how she was treated by the male crew, and she wanted to sail Whitbread again, but this time as an integral crew member.

Realizing this wasn’t going to happen on a boat skippered by a man, she brought together a team of women who would crew a ship that she would captain. Because she couldn’t find a sponsor, she mortgaged her home to purchase a used boat and did a second mortgage to fix it up.

She and her team re-built the boat by hand and got it ready to sail. Finding a sponsor to support the expensive logistics of racing in the Whitbread, she called her old friend King Hussein of Jordan. He said yes, and financed the remaining part of this excursion.

The press and all the other male crewed boats in the race predicted that this all-female crew would give up and turnaround before the end of the first leg of the event was completed. However, they finished the leg in third place, and because this wasn’t enough for Tracy and her crew, they pushed on and won the second and third legs of the Whitbread. Their results gained the respect of all sailors and the press, they were a crew to be contended with. It also created a wave of enthusiastic public support. And as they entered each port, crowds of people were cheering on this women’s team.

That was the real power of this team. The team’s ability to stay together, work hard, and succeed as a top-notch sailing team. The scene when the Maiden pulled into Southampton, England after completing the race brought tears to my eyes and the eyes of Edwards, who, despite her own acknowledged failings, let go and allowed herself the deep joy of doing a fantastic job.

The film used current time interviews with the crew as they recalled the power from completing the race as a team. There were also archive interviews of the Tracy and her team. Along with those clips, there was terrific footage of the race, the crew on the boat, and the power of the ocean.

Alex Holmes did an excellent job of splicing together the archival footage and giving the audience enough historical context of both the race and Tracy to make this story compelling. Tracy and team members Jeni Mundy and Mikaela Von Koskull were the main interviewees of current footage, and it was beautiful to get a sense of their view on the accomplishment.

Overall: Witnessing this sublime slice of sailing history helped to solidify the importance of the women’s movement worldwide.

Stuber

First Hit: Poorly conceived and acted, there were some funny moments, but that’s all.

The concept could have been good. Policeman hires an UBER driver and car to help him solve a significant crime.

The opening sequence attempts to establish that Detective Victor “Vic” Manning (Dave Bautista) and Detective Sarah Morris (Karen Gillan) are ready to capture Oka Teijo (Iko Uwais) a ruthless cop killer and drug trafficker. Entering a large downtown LA hotel, they go up to Oka’s room to make an arrest and are met by Oka’s bodyguards. Fisticuffs and gun battle ensue between Sarah, Vic, Oka and his men.

This opening scene struck me an unrealistic because there wasn’t any backup police and because Sarah and Vic were wearing bulletproof vests with “Police” imprinted signage, this appears to have been a planned raid and should have had a backup.

The impressive battle moves from the hotel room to the lobby, to the street and the firing of pistols by the police in crowded public areas was probably not realistic. Then Sarah gets killed by Oka and Vic is devastated.

Then we meet Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) who works at a goods store and to make extra money he drives for UBER. His longtime friend Becca (Betty Gilpin) and he are working together to open a women’s only cycling exercise studio called “Spinsters.” It’s evident that Stu has more than just friendship on his mind with Becca.

The story moves six months into the future and Vic is getting Lasik surgery, where he is told that he’ll have a hard time seeing for a few days and he’s not to drive a car. This is the set up for him to hire an UBER to get around. His daughter Nicole (Natalie Morales) sets it up on his phone so that he can get to an Art Opening featuring her sculptures. On the afternoon of his daughter Nicole’s opening, he gets a call from an informant that Oka is going to be getting a new shipment of drugs and he can nail him.

Scrambling to his car, he tries to drive, but the car ends up in a construction hole. He calls an UBER, and this is where Stu and Vic meet up.

They are opposite types of people. Vic is brutish, pushy, and very aggressive in his behavior. Stu is focused on pleasing people, he wants 5 Star reviews, and is very accommodating. He’s also unassertive and is unable to tell Becca what he wants out of their relationship and hopes to just sneak into her life somehow.

From here the Stu and Vic spend their time together pursuing the whereabouts of Oka so that Vic and get his revenge.

Added to this story is that Vic’s boss Captain Angie McHenry (Mira Sorvino) is not one of the good guys and hinders Vic’s capturing the terrorist Oka.

As one might expect from sticking two very different types of personalities together, there are out loud funny moments during their escapades. Although predictable, the ending scene when Vic shows up at his daughter’s house for Christmas was sweet. Also, using the reference to the UBER pool feature as an issue in their chase was cute.

I thought the fight scene in the sporting goods store to be of little value to the film. The hot sauce warehouse scene almost as bad.

Nanjiani’s acting was overwrought and overdone. There was a constant smirk on his face, which made this film seem like it was a joke for him as well. Bautista was overzealous in his brutishness towards Stu. The well-worn trick of not using Stu’s correct name (kept calling him “Steve”) as a way to demean him, lacked punch or relevance. Sorvino’s role as the crooked cop was uninspired and had no background to make it realistic. Morales was a bright spot in the film as her even-keeled approach made her role work. Gilpin as Stu’s love interest was good as well. She was able to make me believe her. Uwais was okay as the uncaring, ruthless drug dealer and cop killer. Tripper Clancy wrote this script and its failings as a cohesive story showed up in multiple places. There was little need to have the manager of the sporting goods store change from jerk to longing for a friendship with Stu during the fight scene in the store. There are many such scenes in this film. Michael Dowse directed this with little concept of how to put together these scenes into a story that is believable, funny, and interesting. It didn’t engage well.

Overall: Stuber was stupid.