Jojo Rabbit

First Hit: A fantastic black comedy that digs deep at the idiocy of the Nazi movement.

Good black comedies are difficult to come by. In recent years “The Death of Stalin” was one such film. As I wrote the previous sentence, I realized that both films are about corrupt leaders of countries. However, I digress.

In this film, Jojo Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is a lonely young boy who idolizes Adolf Hitler and his movement. He lives with his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson), while his dad is supposedly off fighting for the Germans in Italy.

To support his belief in the Nazi movement, he’s created an imaginary Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi) who visits him in his make-believe world. His version of Hitler is off the charts hilarious. Hitler struts around making outlandish statements and sings young Jojo’s praises for admiring Hitler and what he stands for.

Jojo and Rosie live in a small German town. All the young boys, like him, are signed up to be part of Hitler’s youth corps. His only friend Yorki (Archie Yates), is a slightly rotund young boy with glasses, and together they are heading off to a Hitler youth camp experience.

The boys and girls all gathered together at the camp are dressed up in their Nazi uniforms. They are led through hilarious drills by Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell), a drunken Nazi Youth Camp Leader, and his counterpart, Fraulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson), for the young girls.

One day while in his home alone, he hears noises upstairs and discovers a young woman Elsa Korr (Thomasin McKenzie) living in a secret compartment in the walls of a room upstairs. Elsa is Jewish and is being hidden there by Rosie. Why is his mother hiding a Jew in her home? Then we learn that maybe Elsa may also be a stand-in, of sorts, for his dead sister.

Although Jojo is supposed to dislike and want to kill Jews like Elsa, he discovers that she’s not a bad person and that he’s falling for her in his own 11-year-old boy way.

Discussing all this with his imaginary Hitler is hilarious at times. The absurd statements and thoughts about what Jojo should or should not do about his captive Jew make pointed jabs at Hitler’s insane ideology.

As the film moves along, we sense the end of the war is near, and the German Army is starting to lose the battle against the Russians, Europeans, and US forces. They are closing in which makes Jojo’s Hitler even funnier.

The film is quick-paced and moves rapidly from scene to scene. The quick-paced moments are exemplified when the boys at camp and when the war comes to their little town. However, this film knows when to linger. Scenes like when Jojo and Rosie are walking along the river, or when Jojo and Elsa are writing his book about Jews. The film is also deeply touching as shown when Jojo and Yorkie are shown hugging each other several times throughout the film. It was even moving when Captain Klenzendorf saves Jojo from being imprisoned by the allies. Later, when Jojo dances with Elsa, recalling an earlier time when Jojo danced with Rosie. In these moments the film glows.

I thought the sets and costumes were fantastic and really captured the heart of the film.

Davis was extraordinary as Jojo. He carried this story with a wide range of feelings, emotions, and actions. Waititi is superb as the innovative imagination of Jojo’s Adolf Hitler. He uses sarcasm, expressive physical movement, and whit to define and make this character come alive. McKenzie was sublime as Elsa. Her strength and compassion while attempting to stay alive in a country that reviled her kind was, at times, riveting. Johansson was excellent as Jojo’s mother. She embodied someone straddling the line of life and death along with survival and what’s right wonderfully. Rockwell was over-the-top perfect for this role. When he carefully validated Elsa’s papers, you knew of his heart. Wilson was well cast as Fraulein Rahm, a woman who got away with saying outlandish things. Waititi also wrote and directed this film, and it was clear he knew what he wanted, and he got it, a fun-filled touching black comedy.

Overall: This was an excellent film that also reflected the struggles of the current day.

Parasite

First Hit: I really enjoyed this story as it dives from the hilarious into the absurd.

We are introduced to this South Korean family (the Kim family) as they are getting ready to eat. The below ground level home has few street-level windows as they look up from the table to see a drunk young man peeing on a wall near their home.

We can tell the family is barely making it financially from the looks of the room, the view outside the room, and by their sparse, cryptic, and entertaining conversation. However, they seem to be engaged in their lives and hopeful because they are talking about the language of scheme making.

The family consists of the father Ki-taek (played by Song Kang-ho), the mother Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), the son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik), and the daughter Ki-woo (Park So-dam).

Ki-woo’s friend Min-hyuk (Park Seo-joon) comes by their home, wanting to give Ki-woo a present. It is a rock sculpture that is supposed to bring economic well-being. Because Min-hyuk has to leave town for a while, he tells Ki-woo about a tutoring gig he wants him to take over while he’s gone. The subject of his tutoring is a rich high school girl named Park Dye-hye (Jung Ji-so). Dye-hye’s mother, Park Yeon-kyo (Jo Yeo-jeong), Min-hyuk says, isn’t too bright, so he should easily pass the interview. Ki-woo expresses his worries that he’ll be found out and may not be good enough, but Min-hyuk assures him that even though he’s only got a high school education, he’ll dazzle the ditzy Mrs. Park.

When asking Min-hyuk why he’s giving him this offer, Min-hyuk explains that he didn’t want one of his college friends doing the gig because he loves this girl, wants to date her when she’s out of high school and knows that Ki-woo is a true friend and wouldn’t cross him in this way.

Arriving at the Park home, he’s let in by the housekeeper Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun). Walking through the house, he’s amazed at what a sizeable beautiful home it is. It’s very modern and filled with all the luxuries he’s never known and only dreamed about. The interview with Mrs. Park goes very well, and he’s hired to tutor Dye-hye. Noticing artwork around the home, he asks about it. The mother explains that it is her wild son who shoots bows and arrows around the house. But he’s also an artist and Mrs. Park thinks her son could be compared to the Andy Warhol anointed artist Jean-Michael Basquiat.

Seeing an opportunity and because the family is wealthy and pays well,  he says he may know of a young woman who is an Art Therapist that could work with the boy to become a great artist. Getting home, he tells his family about this and his sister is ready to do her part and take on a new role as Art Teacher and Therapist.

I’ll leave the rest to your imagination, but let’s just say the family all participates in this adventure.

But when the wealthy family takes a camping vacation, and the old housekeeper comes to collect something she left behind, the whole story starts to turn towards the macabre.

Parasite is a perfect name for the film, and it is not easy to pin down all the aspects this film offers the viewer. As it won the Cannes Palme d’Or for best film and I can see why.

Song, as the patriarch of the Kim family, was exquisite in embodying this character. Early in the film, when he announces that they need to leave the windows open when the street fumigators come down the street, I knew I was in for a ride. It was perfect for setting up his mindset. His silent looks while driving Mr. Park around after he learns that the Park’s think he and his family smell, are spot on. Jo was excellent as Mrs. Park. Her expressions when buying into the stories shared Ki-woo and Ki-jung were priceless. She was the perfect foil and focal point of the Park family. Choi was terrific as the Kim family young man. His wistful story at the end of the film about finding his father was excellent. Park was sublime as the Kim family daughter turned instant Art Therapist. Her embodying the story she made up for herself was funny, engaging, and perfect. Jang, as mother to the Kim children, made me laugh. Her actions and responses during the opening scenes while the family was eating were scene-stealing. Lee Sun-kyun was outstanding as Mr. Park. His command of the family as he waltzed in from work was evident and clearly identified who was in charge of the Park family. Lee Jung-eun, as the housemaid for the Park family, was engaging. Her arriving back to collect what she left in the basement under the kitchen opened the door for the film to move to another level. Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won wrote a wildly entertaining screenplay that had both funny and dark edges. Joon-ho was outstanding directing this film. Some of the shots, especially as the family tried to get back home during a major storm, told much of the story. The direct downward view of the slums in which they lived, being flooded, was telling. Just as the shots of the luxurious home where they worked were just the opposite; clean, crisp, and wonderfully shot with various angles.

Overall: This is a contender for Best Foreign Film and maybe even Best Picture.

The Whistlers

First Hit: I was, and even a day later, confused by this story and film.

We’re introduced to Cristi (Vlad Ivanov) and Gilda (Catrinel Marlon) when Gilda walks up to Cristi and asks to speak with him in his apartment. Cristi whispers into her ear that the apartment is bugged, so she kisses him and tells him she’ll play the part of a hooker, and they can whisper her request, which is to help her by getting a criminal, Zsolt, out of prison.

In an early scene, Cristi is on a ferry heading to an island where the ancient people use to communicate by whistling. Cristi is part of a plot working with other criminals to free Zsolt and to do this he has to learn the whistling language.

The language breaks vowels and consonants into seven whistling sounds. This lesson in this language was the most exciting part of the film. I was fascinated with Cristi learning how to whistle and wanted to practice, along with him, right in the theater.

As the film develops, some parts led me to believe that the story in the movie was pre-planned, and I missed something as the film progressed. At other times, I felt as though Cristi and Gilda were planning the ending along the way because they’d fallen for each other.

As an undercover detective, Cristi works for an unnamed woman played by Rodica Lazar, who is trying to play both ends of this story.

The result is a film that has the appearance of a storyline running at two different levels, but in the end, the person sitting next to me asked if he missed something about how the ending worked out, I said “I don’t know,” and I still don’t.

Ivanov was quietly compelling as the detective who was also on the take. Marlon was excellent as the woman who seemed totally in control of story behind the plot. Lazar was strong as the head of the investigation and also susceptible to corruption. Corneliu Porumboiu wrote and directed this quizzical story that left me hanging.

Overall: I either missed a critical section of this Romanian film or the story was attempting to be too elusive.

Hustlers

First Hit: It started wonderfully, but as it wore on, it really felt a lot longer than its 1 hour 50 minute running time.

How the seedy world of strippers, lap dancing, and pole dancing is presented in the opening fifteen minutes was excellent. We arrive into the film on the back of the new Asian girl Dorothy, stage name Destiny (Constance Wu) trying to find her way into making enough money to help her grandmother (Wai Ching Ho) keep her home. The first set of scenes also include Dorothy sitting dressed up in a pristine office environment being interviewed by Elizabeth (Julia Stiles), a journalist. We now know that the club and stripper scenes are a flashback.

Back in the club, after watching Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), a veteran stripper and pole dancer, give a money showering performance at their club, Dorothy asks Ramona for some tips on how to be a better dancer and use her “money maker.”

Ramona, knows the ropes, was raised with a healthy streetwise attitude, and now lives a charming place and raising her daughter independently. Dorothy sees all this and would simply like to make enough money to support her grandmother and herself - independently.

They start working together and create a gang of four girls by adding Mercedes (Keke Palmer) and Annabelle (Lili Reinhart) to maximize their money-making potential. As they all work men together in the lap dancing rooms, they start making some good money and begin to control the cut the club takes. Most all the men they work, are either independently wealthy or are in the finance trade as investment or stock brokers.

Disaster happens when the market busts in 2008 and the men, from whom they make their livelihood, lose their jobs or are squeezed too much to spend money on girls in a strip club.

The group falls apart, and now Dorothy is living with a boyfriend, and they have a child together. After she kicks her boyfriend out, she has to get a job. Not having appropriate experience, we see in a funny scene where she gets turned down for a cosmetic sales job and ends up back in the club to strip. But now, it’s filled with women who give blow jobs for $300 bucks and she just cannot stomach this kind of work.

Running into Ramona, they get the team back together and create a scheme to entice and fleece men of their money. To do this, they drug them with a mix of ketamine and MDMA to induce memory loss and causing judgment impairment. Once the girls slip this mixture into their target’s drinks, they charge a large transaction on their credit card, and split the money while the men have no idea how it happened.

The girls get greedy and start charging large amounts, $50K or more, on the men’s credit cards. Soon the men quit meeting up with them for dates. After a time, the deceit catches up with them, and in one scene, Dorothy gets a call from a client whose life is ruined because of her actions.

Dorothy is the conscience of the group and dislikes the recklessness of Ramona and some of the other girls she’s brought into the fold, so she turns witness against Ramona when they are all captured by the police.

The early scenes in the club and as Ramona and Dorothy’s friendship develops are touching and sweet. Where the film goes awry for me, was the ongoing scenes of fleecing the men. In my estimate a good half-hour could have been cut from the film and the story would have been crisp and engaging. I didn’t think Annabelle’s characteristic of throwing up at almost anything added to the film, and somehow I got the feeling this was a Will Ferrell (as producer) sort of flourish. The way this film unfolded, I kept wondering why I had to watch all this, to get to a conclusion.

Wu was excellent. I thought her portrayal of being unsure on the inside while giving the illusion of being strong and OK was well done. Lopez did a wonderful job of being the streetwise aging stripper that knew how to navigate the world of clubs and men to get what she wanted. Stiles was good as the interviewer. Palmer and Reinhart were very good as the two who rounded out this racially mixed foursome. However, as previously stated the Reinhart’s throwing up on a moments noticed, seem like it was an unneeded add-on to the character. Ho was wonderful as Dorothy’s grandmother and during the scene at Christmas, when they were telling stories, she stood out. Lorene Scafaria wrote and directed this film. I really think she wasn’t clear enough in the intent to tell a crisp good story. Some of the visual scenes, especially in the strip club, were really well shot and give the sense that you were there.

Overall: This could have been a much better film if it reflected the speed and intent of the first fifteen to twenty minutes.

Brittany Runs a Marathon

First Hit: Enjoyable at times, but I somehow think the story didn’t address the elephant in the room.

Brittany (Jillian Bell) is introduced to us as a woman who sleeps long hours, binge drinks, is overweight, and her life is slipping away from her. She resents a woman who lives above her in the building, calls her Martha when her name is Catherine (Michaela Watkins). The resentment comes because Brittany believes Catherine has money, is kind to her, is married, and runs every day.

Brittany has a social media hungry roommate named Gretchen (Alice Lee) who obviously uses her as a fat funny friend.

To show how low Brittany will go, she’s drinking in a bar, a guy tells her he’d like her to go with him to the restroom for some action, then pulls out paper cocktail napkins and says, “to protect your knees.” It is a humiliating scene and provides an emphasis on how her life is falling apart.

She goes to the doctor, who advises her that she needs to change her habits and life. One of the recommendations is to lose 45 – 55 pounds.

Up until this point, Brittany’s sarcastic, mean humor is tolerable by her friends and even her doctor, but later in the film, it changes.

Brittany goes to a gym, and when the gym representative tells her their least expensive program is $129.00 a month, she wisecracks herself out of joining the gym. Finally, she decides to try running like her neighbor Catherine does. To make extra money, Brittany decides to house and dog sit in wealthy homes.

When she goes into a home she’ll be sitting in, she discovers the night sitter, Jern (Utkarsh Ambudkar) who thinks of himself as a functional art creator.

There are several scenes where we see Brittany struggling to make smart decisions about what she eats and not going out drinking because she’s making progress in her running resulting in the loss of some weight.

There are also scenes where Catherine and Brittany’s sister Shannon (Jennifer Dundas), Jern, and Gretchen are the brunt of some very vicious comments by Brittany. Even strangers, including one scene at Gretchen’s home, when Brittany drunk, slams an overweight guest.

This brings up the elephant in the room, often when Brittany gets vicious, she does it when she’s been drinking, and unfortunately, this film doesn’t address this. However, the film does discuss the importance of learning to like yourself, respecting your body, and a willingness to receive help, support and guidance from friends, people that are showing up to you.

The film does follow Brittany in her attempt to run a marathon, but for some reason, it came across a bit haphazard. It was inspirational to a point, but at times it seemed to miss essential aspects that could have raised this film to another level.

Bell is okay as Brittany, and I appreciated that she did lose and gain weight to deliver an authentic performance. Lee was instrumental as the social media affected roommate and friend. Watkins is lovely as the sober, and inspirational, neighbor and in the end, friend. Lil Rei Howery (as Demetrius) and Dundas as Brittany’s brother-in-law and sister were excellent. They showed a supportive understanding of Brittany’s behavior. Ambudkar was funny and enjoyable to watch as Brittany’s the co-house sitter. Paul Downs Colaizzo wrote this screenplay based on his former roommate, the real, Brittany O’Neill’s adventure to start running and run a New York City Marathon. Colaizzo also directed this film, and he knew what he wanted, but I’m not sure it was enough.

Overall: This film seemed to float between wanting to be a comedy, through sarcasm, and a drama with powerful messages to share.