chong_an Reviews

My Old Ass (2024)

OK, but not great in an "advice to younger self" story.

[7/10 · 9 June 2024]

This is Elliot's last few weeks at home, where her parents run a cranberry farm handed down for generations, before fleeing to university and the freedom of the big city. She celebrates her 18th birthday with a couple of gal pals, and trying out magic mushroom tea. Elliott's trip has her conjuring up her 39-year-old self, who she calls "my old ass", and they remain in sporadic touch after older Elliott puts her phone number into younger Elliott's phone.

Older Elliott gives younger Elliott generic advice, and refuses to give specific information, such as "What is the next Apple". One specific piece of advice OE gives YE is to avoid "Chad", which YE scoffs at, since she self-identifies as Lesbian. However, Chad does arrive - a temporary farm worker with ancestors in the area, seeking his roots - and YE falls for him, despite anticipating that something bad will happen.

The question of what advice you should give your younger self is always interesting. YE's confusion is palpable. The chemistry between YE and Chad is great. The drone-shot footage of boating in Lake Muskoka is wonderful, beating the sunsets of The Burning Season.

This was the opening gala film of the Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ film festival, and I presume that it was chosen to be non-threatening to a general audience. The story arc seems natural to go from F to M attraction, but politically I wonder about the implications of "all she needs is a good man". I also keep wondering what gender preferences Elliott would have after Chad.

Spark (2024)

A good gay Groundhog Day

[7/10 · 9 June 2024]

Aaron is on his way to his birthday party, but has an afternoon pre-party detour, which turns out to be a blind date with Trevor. Along the way, he is given a choice of 3 options: have sex, hug, or talk. After choosing the sex option, he wakes up the morning where this begins. After multiple rounds of the time loop, trying hugging just defers the inevitable, to sex during the party. While Aaron finds snippets of information about Trevor over these time loops, they never have a deep discussion. Only when he fails to have sex with Trevor that the loop seems broken, but he enlists the help of his roommate / best friend / onetime lover to get back into the loop and find Trevor again.

I saw this at a film festival with the writer / director present. Besides the obvious Groundhog Day, his inspiration for the story came from 500 Days of Summer, a story of attraction / rejection. Despite Aaron's various attempts to curry favor with Trevor, the relationship does not seem to develop beyond sex - and the time loop. Aaron has to break out of that particular time loop to finally reach Trevor.

The principals are hot, and have chemistry, but the psychological wall between them is well-maintained. However, the ending jumps out in a rather sudden manner, which I am not keen on.

Dalton's Dream (2023)

Justified journey of a Jamaican singer

[8/10 · 9 June 2024]

This is a documentary about Dalton Harris, a singer from Jamaica. He won a rising star competition in his teens, but his big break was winning The X Factor UK in 2018. The show was so popular that it was broadcast in Jamaica, and he was invited to perform at Reggae Sunsplash, Jamaica's biggest music festival. The performance went well, but the airwaves were full of accusations that he was a "Batty Boy", the epithet for homosexual. With Dalton separately estranged from each of his parents, it was a quick trip home before he went into exile.

The win came with a recording contract (and presumably the documentary film team). While Dalton dreamed of filling big arenas, he did not want to do the typical songs written for contest winners. When he finally released a self-written single, it flopped. Outside the singing contest bubble, he was in danger of being forgotten. It seemed that he might, like lesser contestants, be relegated to the cruise ship circuit, singing covers rather than original material.

The lack of success led to mental health challenges. It was not until 2020, when he came out as pansexual, that he finally discovered his voice, and his role in life.

The documentary is well-made, covering the major aspects of his career, including flashbacks where the material was available. He is shown in performance, working with his team, his self-doubts, and one scene where his boyfriend suggested that, if Dalton joined a cruise ship, he could try to get a job as a bartender on it.

Extremely Unique Dynamic (2024)

Meta meta Asian movie

[7/10 · 9 June 2024]

Two long-time friends and actor wannabees are about to part ways. The more successful Ryan is leaving L. A. to follow his fiancee to Canada, leaving Daniel behind. On their last weekend together, they shoot videos of Ryan's favorite places in L. A., but when they try to wrap a narrative around it, they come up with the idea of making a movie about 2 guys making a movie about 2 guys making a movie.

The process is chaotic. They are supposed to be stoners, but Daniel actually consumes an edible, and becomes difficult to direct. Wanting a secret to come out, Ryan suggests that Daniel's character be secretly in love with him, but Daniel's performance suggests that he is actually in love with Ryan. Ryan also is looking for a celebrity cameo, which they get in the form of Hudson Yang (from Fresh Off the Boat).

This ends up being rather amusing, but does not lead to anything deep, so it would not be recommended to everyone.

I saw this at a film festival with the writers / directors / stars present for a Q+A, and they explained that they belonged to a tight-knit young Asian community, and knew Hudson Yang, who agreed to join the project during his spring break.

Desire Lines (2024)

A good documentary of F-to-M trans, with a narrative wrapper

[8/10 · 9 June 2024]

This is a documentary about gay female-to-male, and female-to masculine transgender people. It mostly deals with life after the transition, with low emphasis on the transitioning process itself. It also deals with those whose physical orientation leans male.

There are two main subject categories. One is Lou Sullivan, a F-to-M trans activist who also pioneered identifying as gay. He is represented by multiple excerpts from the interviews he gave on TV, plus the writings of one correspondent to him. The other are a series of interviews with various trans people of different presentations and anatomies - one masculine-identified subject insisted on keeping his vagina. They often have trouble finding intimacy partners, though Trans Night at gay bathhouses are a big help, in their not having to explain themselves.

This is wrapped in a narrative drama. A masculine trans Iranian-American (who left Iran soon after the revolution) goes to a queer archive in Chicago to do research, and is befriended by a younger, boyish trans staffer. The Iranian angle is enhanced with the to discussions about an Iranian "omelette" dish. This hybrid approach added interest, and made it feel more than the dryness of a plain documentary.

I saw this as part of a film festival, with cast and director present. The director mentioned that the Iranian actor helped do a short "proof of concept" to solicit funding, and was kept on, with Iranian touches added to the script. The other actor was an activist in his own right, and his part was written with him in mind.

All Shall Be Well (2024)

A heartfelt story of legal uncertainties for Hong Kong lesbians

[9/10 · 9 June 2024]

Angie and Pat have been together for decades, and just hosted a mid-autumn festival dinner for Pat's biological family, who is less financially secure than Pat. The younger generation speak fondly of "Auntie Angie".

However, when Pat passes away in her sleep, Pat's family considers Angie to be just "a friend", ranking lower than family, overrides her wishes, and gradually pushes her out. Their lawyer friend points out all Pat's errors of omission. Refusing to sign a will (Pat is thinking of starting a new business in fashion retail, rather than acknowledging the possibility of death), executorship defaults to Pat's brother. Not leaving written funeral instructions means that the biological family takes charge. Not getting married abroad means that Angie has no moral standing, and not the little legal standing that such a paper could provide. Having the apartment only in Pat's name means Angie has no claim. The best Angie can do is to claim a dependency allowance from the estate.

As Angie loses battle after battle, it is her chosen family who provides emotional support.

This is allegedly based on real-life events, and shows the problems of not being prepared. Films with this theme showed up in North America a decade or two ago, but the problems mostly ended when same-sex marriage became legal. This is a reminder that the fight for rights still has to continue, but, before rights are established, care should be taken about legal issues.

Bonus Track (2023)

A teen coming-of-age romance, set as "tracks" of music

[7/10 · 9 June 2024]

In small town 2005-6, George is in his last year of high school, and dreams of being a music star. However, he has failing grades, including music class, where he can only plunk out the same few notes that will form the rhythm track of his barely-started song. He holds out hope of being noticed at the year-end Leavers' Talent Show, though a kindly teacher warns him that, after the show, he will be leaving.

Along comes new student Max, son of a famous music duo (who recently separated, both professional and marital). Even if faulty, Max's rendition of a piano sonata is far above George's efforts. Despite being mobbed by girls, Max has his eye on George, and they work on his song together. While on an overnight trip to a challenge camp, Max gets George to sneak out with him to drink and have a kiss - which is captured by a paparazzo, making them big local news.

Max decides to leave for London, where he could be lost in the crowd, leaving George to perform alone at the Talent Show.

This film has an interesting concept of being divided up into "tracks", each part introduced with a different song. With his disinterest in them, the girls at school has already pegged George as gay, while lesser experience with Max means he is still not typecast - until the photo comes out. As the audience, we are waiting to see if the Bromance becomes something more.

Toll (2023)

Not sure of the film's intended audience

[6/10 · 9 June 2024]

Suellen is Brazilian, the single mother of teenaged Antonio, who loves to sing and dance, and make music videos of his performances to post online - much to Suellen's embarrassment. When her toll booth co-worker / religious best friend suggests gay conversion therapy led by a renowned visiting foreign pastor, she enrols Antonio before he turns 18. To cover the high cost, she has her boyfriend introduce her to a gang of car robbers, and she plays scout at her toll booth to message the robbers of potential high-value targets. Meanwhile, the therapy has fairly typical "scientific" claims, and the group is fertile ground for those seeking same-sex hookups. Eventually, things go awry.

It seems strange that the gang could do repeated robberies in the same stretch of highway, without the police noticing. Antonio's gayness seems rather stereotypical - besides dressing flamboyantly for his videos, he seems to do occasional drag. And while the boys are seen kissing, Suellen has scenes where she is nude or semi-nude. So I wonder what audience the filmmakers had in mind for this film.

Cora Bora (2023)

A decent portrait of an unlikable person

[6/10 · 9 June 2024]

Cora left her girlfriend Justine in Portland Oregon, to go to L. A. to pursue her music career, while calling for an open relationship. (Early on, the has sex with a man she just met.) She decides to go home, and finds that Justine is living with a new girlfriend Riley. Cora's parents show up to celebrate Riley's birthday (the betrayal!). Cora takes their dog for a walk and loses it, and more chaos ensues. This includes going to an out-of-town pansexual orgy with strangers, to try to cheer herself up.

Cora is self-centered and self-obsessed. Her songs reflect that obsession. On the flight, she just plunks herself into a 1st-class seat, asks for a whole bottle of champagne, then refuses to show her ticket. Overall, she is plain unlikeable, and a late reveal of an earlier tragedy is too late for me to give her much sympathy.

Sebastian (2024)

A daring semi-meta film about gay sex workers

[9/10 · 9 June 2024]

Max is a young aspiring writer in London, who does freelance work for a literary magazine, has had some short stories published, and is working on his 1st novel. He is inspired by some interviews with graduate students about being gay sex workers for money, but he is too conscious about possibly appropriating their voices, so he decides to go into the business himself, ignoring the irony of most 1st novels being autobiographical.

This he does under the name Sebastian, posting pictures online of his bare torso, but with his face obscured by his cellphone. He gets customers, and some call him back for more encounters. But his sex work starts interfering with his job at the magazine, while his publisher / editor is trying to shape the novel into a "marketable" story.

I do have a couple of minor quibbles about the script. While there are multiple sex scenes (with no cast members' members showing), they seem to be all straight-up penetration, No oral, no hand jobs, no spanking with a magazine or other kink. The other is the sequence where Sebastian is on an overnight assignment, has drunk too much, but still manages to sneak out of bed to immediately write down his activities, given that his research is for a work of "fiction", and inaccuracies / omissions / embellishments are fair game.

Close to You (2023)

An OK film about a trans person returning home

[6/10 · 9 June 2024]

Sam has left home - the small town of Coburg - moved to Toronto, and has transitioned from female to male. He now takes a trip home - the 1st in 4 years. On the train, he happens to meet Katherine, his best friend from high school.

The reason for the return is his father's birthday party, which allows the writers to populate the family with a selection of attitudes about the transition. His father is mostly relieved that Sam has found himself, and is no longer in pain. His mother will always remember him as her little girl, consistently misgenders him (not necessarily maliciously), and is concerned about his well-being, compared to his sister who stayed in Coburg and got married. His sister wonders why he never confided in her, when they shared a bedroom growing up. And his brother-in-law is transphobic.

Escaping the family, Sam seeks solace with Katherine.

This is a Elliot Page vehicle, inspired by his life. The direction allows him to casually show off his boy bod. This answers the question "where are they now"? However, after this autobiographical-inspired story, I am wondering what other projects he will appear in.

Using available-light photography lost one star by me. Too often, the subjects were shot with a background of a bright window, making it to hard to see facial expressions.

We Forgot to Break Up (2024)

Good mockumentary of an indie band

[8/10 · 9 June 2024]

Formed in high school, the members of the band The New Normals graduate and head to Toronto, where they live together, play gigs, and pursue different jobs to support themselves. One interesting job was for a sex phone line, voice-acting like someone having phone sex. They make it big enough to have a 30 U. S. cities added to their Canadian tour, just as the band blows up, caused by a pregnancy and a transgender, pansexual love triangle.

Set at the turn of the century, the film is a tribute to the Canadian indie bands of that era, as their music forms most of the soundtrack. The New Normals also play "their own music", specifically written for them. The film is vaguely chaptered, with song titles or events being the chapter titles.

I was at the Canadian premiere, with producer, director, cast and crew present. The director (of a younger generation), gave tribute to their music supervisor for assistance in getting the music, giving the cast a playlist of 90s music to listen to (to set the mood), and to get the composer on board. The cast lived together for some weeks before shooting began, to get the "living together" vibe. The cast were also given a video camera to record themselves, and some of that footage made it into the film.

This is an interesting film, which will have special appeal to fans of indie bands, or indie music of that era.

A House Is Not a Disco (2024)

Decent documentary about Fire Island Pines

[8/10 · 9 June 2024]

This is a documentary about Fire Island Pines, the homo-normative community on the barrier island east of New York City / Long Island. It shows one year in the life of the community, bookended by a couple who live there year-round, and sub-bookended by the liquor store's opening and closing for the season.

Characters of all ages appear in the film, but there is a bias towards older folks, who can reminisce about the 70s freedom followed by the losses due to AIDS. This allows various archival material to be introduced. The community has gotten more diverse, with Black and trans members, led by a Black trans activist. There are still questions of social class, as to who can afford to own or rent there. However, the most visible are still the younger partying crowd.

Today, what threatens Fire Island most are the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels are less of a concern than storms. Sandy is mentioned as washing away most of the beaches. Just before the annual big beach party, a piece of beach disappeared overnight, requiring a reconfiguration of the dance floor, and an abrupt stop to ticket sales. However, there is mention of government support in rebuilding the beaches, knowing that if Fire Island is allowed to wash away, Long Island will be exposed to the full force of the Atlantic.

The is one brief scene with a guy wearing a tank top with the movie title on it. I don't know if the title was taken from the shirt, or that was a planted scene.

Hit Man (2023)

An interesting romance wrapped in hints of action.

[9/10 · 29 May 2024]

Gary is an unassuming professor of Psychology and Philosophy. For excitement, he joins a team of cops who monitor people who are trying to hire a hit man. The excitement takes a leap, when the cop pretending to be a hit man is suspended, and Gary is pushed into the role of hit man Ron. With his background and research capabilities, he does a better job than his predecessor in playing that role convincingly.

This starts to unravel when a woman asks for help to be freed from a suffocating husband, and he talks her into simply leaving him. Sometime later, "divorced", she seeks him out and they have an affair. But then the other cop comes back from suspension and wants his job back, while one outing too many has the couple discovered by the "ex-" husband.

I found the fake hit man angle interesting, since it is in the news - an agent from India tried to hire a hit man in the U. S. to eliminate a Sikh separatist living there. There are interesting scenes of the professor talking with his students about good and evil, crime and punishment. There are also court scenes where defense attorneys effectively accuse him of entrapment. But the central romance is hot, accompanied by the mandatory secrecy and threat of danger.

The Fall Guy (2024)

Awesome action movie muddied by love story

[7/10 · 29 May 2024]

Ryan Gosling stars as a stuntman who left the business after an accident. But he is recalled into action by a producer, who flies him to Australia to fill in in a sci-fi / action / romance movie. It turns out that the star and his stuntman have both disappeared, and the jet-lagged replacement is also tasked with finding them. So besides the on-stage stunts, there are multiple fights, shootings, car and boat chases, etc. There are Knives Out moments where the weapons may have been movie props. There is one irrelevant meta moment, where the director (Emily Blunt) inexplicably discuss with the stuntman the use of split-screen between the human and alien leaders, who are also the romantic leads, which then has the director and stuntman shown in split screen.

There is romantic heat between the Gosling and Blunt characters. Apparently they were in love, but after his accident he withdrew from the movie world, and she was hurt that she, too, was excluded. But this takes up a minority of screen time, and I don't think those who come for the romance would welcome that much action, while those who want action could tolerate it. Somehow, it does not balance as well as the Top Gun movies.

Gosling earns his place as an action star, but action stars don't win Oscars. Indeed, this movie is a tribute to the stunt men who do the dangerous work in movies, but there is no Oscar category for them.

The Burning Season (2023)

Same Time, Last Year

[9/10 · 12 May 2024]

Alena and husband Tom take an annual 2-week vacation in a adult / family camp in woods, arriving at season's end when they are the only guests. Alena has a childhood connection to the camp, and is having a once-a-year affair with the camp's owner / operator JB. Tom seems to like the solitude and is supportive of Alena. Despite Alena's question about open relationships, Tom is blind (or wilfully so) about Alena's activities.

The story is mostly told in reverse, with each year's actions being labelled with a chapter number. Hints of history are dropped, which are resolved when chapters of earlier events show what happened. It is like peeling off layers of an onion, until the core truth is revealed. The intrigue of this sequence of exposition is required for the story to have effect.

There are gorgeous sunset vistas, the heat between the lovers is undeniable, and the fire scene is stunning (the one seen in the posters). What I find tricky to accept is the end-of-season premise, with no fall foliage, and JB bringing on a new hire (which should be at the start of the season).

I saw this at the early evening show of opening weekend, and the writers, cast, producers, and crew were present for Q+A. (The director was in another city doing the same.)

A poll of the audience showed that the chapter numbers were very helpful in understanding the film. For an independent film, getting financing, etc. Was relatively easy, with a script-to-screen time of only 2 years. A live bat was actually involved. And the fire scene was shot in front of the fire, not green-screened, with firefighters adding fuel for each take.

I Don't Know Who You Are (2023)

A good movie about someone warding off HIV

[8/10 · 6 May 2024]

Benjamin is a gay musician, and is, in various ways, a mess.

Physically, he got raped by a stranger who had been cruising him, originally accepting his overtures, then trying to break it off. Beyond physical injuries, he has the possibility of being infected with HIV. That requires a moderately expensive 28-day supply of drugs to act as a prophylactic against permanent infection, something that should be taken within 48 hours of exposure, and useless after 72.

Financially, he is broke, with little in his bank account and a maxed-out credit card. Part of the reason is that he is sending money "home", living an exaggeration of success. Self-employed, he has no drug plan, and so cannot afford the drugs. So he spend most of the weekend trying to round up the money needed.

Psychologically, he is prone to self-medication with alcohol, may not have fully processed his being raped, and is too embarrassed or reticent to fully explain why he needed the money, so at most people would offer whatever cash was on hand. The situation somewhat started with an encounter with his new boyfriend, which ended on an iffy note. He also never got around to asking the pharmacist to give him a partial fill of the prescription, to give him time to raise more money, or to get government assistance.

This is a good portrait of someone who is sometimes frantic, and sometimes in a passive state of despair / seeking distraction. It also promulgates the current reality that HIV is now a manageable disease.

The Beast (2023)

Evergreen Love, or a coincidental triptych?

[8/10 · 2 May 2024]

In 2044, AI is running the world, most humans are redundant, and strong emotions are suspect. Hoping to land a meaningful job, Gabrielle is encouraged by her friend Louis to undergo DNA repair therapy, which involves reliving past lives to remove hidden traumas. It seems that those two have quite a bit of history.

In 1910, Gabrielle is a famous musician in Paris, married to an industrialist. However, she strikes up a relationship with another man, Louis. In 2014, Gabrielle is a lonely young struggling actress in L. A., housesitting a home way beyond her means. Louis is a 30-year-old incel who stalks her from her favorite dance club. Louis has sex only in his dreams, and, with his experience of being rejected by women, has trouble relating to Gabrielle when she gives him an invitation. In both cases, there is foreboding of disaster and death (the beast), something that consulting a psychic does not materially help.

The actors play different characters with different personalities, and acquit themselves well. The main stories (1910 and 2014) are well fleshed out, though the 2044 action seems to be more of an excuse to show the earlier ones.

Some reviews complain about the length of the movie, but, with the multiple stories, I find it acceptable, far more than the longer Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, showing at the same multiplex at the same time. This movie is shortened by skipping the final credits - they put up a QR code, so if you are interested, have your cellphone ready near the end.

I'm not too fond of the scientific / Freudian mumbo jumbo that backs the stories, but I will give it a pass, since the plot depends on it. There is, however, one sex scene (or fantasy) that is bewildering.

With the action moving back and forth between 3 time periods, it can get bit confusing. At times I wished I was watching this on video, so that I could re-wind and re-view certain scenes.

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023)

Overlong story of 1-1/2 days in the life of a P.A.

[6/10 · 28 April 2024]

Angela is a movie Production Assistant in Bucharest, overworked and underpaid. Romanians seem to be suffering from inflation, blamed on the Ukrainian war. In this story, she is part of the team shooting a workplace safety video for a multinational compamy.

In day 1, she is frantically racing around (on streets where the other drivers are crazy), interviewing injured workers who are potential subjects, doing other errands, and squeezing in some personal time as well. This part is shot in black and white, to distinguish it from the color sequences, which illustrate the back story of some of the characters of the day, and also her alter ego, a sex-obsessed bald man. However, at 2-3/4 hours I find this extraneous, plus there is an overlong sequence of the crosses along a road memorializing traffic accident victims. Deduct one star for this "creativity".

For day 2 (before lunch break), the selected subject (and selected family members) are assembled at the site of the accident for the shoot. Contrasting with the previous day, this is basically a fixed camera situation, assuming that this is the camera that is shooting the actual corporate video. Complications happen, including the "big boss" demanding his own creative idea - not prevously expressed.

The film is a moderately interesting slice of life in Romania, and it is up to the viewer as to whether the creative touches add (according to some critics) or subtract (according to me) to its enjoyment.

Housekeeping for Beginners (2023)

Interesting ongoing story of "my rainbow blended family"

[7/10 · 27 April 2024]

Dita is a white woman with a gypsy lesbian lover Suada, and Suada's daughters by different fathers - Vanessa in grade 9, and Mia aged 5. Also in the apartment is Dita's white gay friend Toni, and his new boy-toy, the gypsy Ali. Both Suada and Ali hail from Shutka, the gypsy (Roma) municipality, and at times Ali manages to play fixer.

Aware that she may die of cancer, and having experienced racial discrimination in earlier life, Suada tries to get her girls to recognize Dita as mother and Toni as father, and even gets Toni's name on their birth certificates. But when she dies, Mia bonds with Ali, while Vanessa rejects this family, wanting either to "go home" to grandma, or to marry a boy who is going abroad.

This film likely hits themes that are more relevant in North Macedonia than in Canada, but still is an interesting exposition of the life of minorities. There are dual themes of discrimination by ethnicity and sexuality. There is a brief scene where Dita "straightens out" her living room and Toni, expecting police to show up after Vanessa acts out. But the scenarios are believable, and the performances good, especially Mia, whose role was written well for her.

The dialog in Shutka is tricky, as there is Romany mixed in, and the subtitles don't show the language differences, making me scramble to try to figure out what language was being spoken. Also, some of the hand-held camera work was a bit shaky.

Io Capitano (2023)

A benign look at an African migrant's odyssey

[8/10 · 3 March 2024]

16-year-old Seydou, with his cousin Moussa, takes "a trip" from Dakar, Senegal, to Europe. There are roadblocks along the way. There is a trek across the sand dunes of the Sahara. (I believe that is because the trucks can't get thru, but that is not explained.) There is a ride in an overcrowded boat that takes longer than advertised. There are fake ids that cost more than expected, bribes to be paid, and sophisticated robberies There is a post-robbery robbery, where the migrants are threatened with torture or death, unless they give phone numbers of family members to shake down for ransom. Seydou is lucky to be befriended by a man old enough to be his father, where they manage to be only sold as slaves, and manage to impress their owner enough to be freed.

Seydou eventually reunites with Moussa in Tripoli, and, needing to cross quickly, ends up agreeing to steer the migrant boat in return for passage. Because he is a minor, he can't be prosecuted by European authorities. His instructions: " Just go north, keeping the compass at zero". This is where the title "Me, Captain" comes from.

This is alleged to be a composite story from actual successful migrants, so it comes across as the Biblical trials of Job, as everything possible seems to happen to them. Also, by keeping the film to 2 hours, the audience does not get the experience of the arduousness of the journey. Every event is over in 10-15 minutes, while in the hands of another director, this could be a 3-hour epic.

The dangers of the journey are mentioned - partly by a shaman before he eventually blesses their trip, and partly from the instructions on how to steer if the boat hits rough waters. I kept thinking of episodes of Star Trek Classic, where new officers or crew members are introduced, only to be killed off soon after. However, I consider the overall effect to be "benign", and not the unrelenting horror story it could have been.

I have seen other films about migrants before, though this is the 1st I have seen about the African experience. There is no overall "snakehead", who orchestrates the whole journey. But the route is sufficiently well-known, that at each step along the way, there is someone who solicits passengers, to arrange passage to the next point.

While this is illuminating in the context of the journey, unlike other migrant stories, it does not make me sympathetic to the participants. They are migrants in search of fame and fortune, seduced by images of life in advanced countries, fantasizing about "White people asking for our autographs". At 16, by working as casual labor without family knowledge, they have managed to earn sufficient money (they think) for the trip. Seydou tells his mother that he can send money home from Europe to help the family, when he could have done so immediately with his local earnings.

Suze (2023)

All the lonely people

[8/10 · 26 February 2024]

Suze is a successful professional woman, divorced, feeling possessive of their only child, daughter Brooke. She has been pressuring Brooke to drop her boyfriend, ne'er do well musician Gage, who is unable to finish high school. Suze is planning on Brooke to attend a local university while staying at home, and is shocked when Brooke heads off to McGill, a 6-hour drive away. Brooke proceeds to break up with Gage by text message, then ghosts both of them.

After a suicide attempt, Gage ends up under the care of Suze, whose dislike grows into a bonding experience, as both miss Brooke, and both turn out to be otherwise lonely people. That part of the plot has a parallel with the teacher-student duo in The Holdovers.

There is smart writing in the events and vignettes that flesh out the characters, with the theme that life happens, and you just have to deal with it.

The Zone of Interest (2023)

The life of a successful executive's family

[8/10 · 26 February 2024]

Rudolf Hess is a successful executive in Germany. He runs a large institution efficiently, and lives right next door with his family. While he does plan family time, his wife Hedwig considers him a workaholic, and, besides raising their children, has built a nice garden and greenhouse on empty land adjacent to their house. Upon being promoted to head office in Berlin, Rudolf at least manages to keep the family in the home they lived in.

The institution is the Auschwitz concentration camp, Hess is the commandant for most of its existence, and what might be banal gets an undertone of horror. We barely see more than the entrance to the camp, but we occasionally hear trains and prisoner noises. Hess impassionately discusses a proposal to build a continuous crematorium, with chambers in rotating use. The family discusses the open spaces in the East that Germany is expanding to. They get gifts of clothing and other items from the dead, with Hedwig recounting her dislike of a rich Jewish woman who had lorded it over her. Meanwhile, industrialists are looking for free labor from the camp. Hoss also gets to have sex with a servant girl.

But the winds of change are coming. In Berlin, there is reference to a funeral of those who died in an air raid. And Hoss is returned to Auschwitz, which will become the focal point of Operation Hoss, the deportation of Jews from Hungary.

This is a very interesting take on the Holocaust, but viewed from the other side. I am just puzzled by some black-and-white scenes in the movie, that does not seem to have anything to do with the main plot.

Saltburn (2023)

Summer with the landed gentry

[7/10 · 26 December 2023]

Felix is a popular student at Oxford, from an aristocratic background. Oliver is a scholarship student from more humble roots, who may be too intellectual to make friends. Still, Oliver manages to befriend Felix, and gets invited to stay for the summer in Felix's family mansion / estate Saltburn.

There, he meets the family - quiet father, inquisitive mother, sexually-forward sister, intimidating butler, and a couple of other houseguests. They "dress for dinner", but somehow also wear their formal clothes to play tennis. On the flip side, when the siblings invite Oliver to join them in a field of tall grass, the dress code is nudity.

As Felix's sister lusts after Oliver, Oliver lusts after his only friend Felix, who lives next door and shares a bathroom. There is a certain pan-sexuality in many characters, with his mother declaring "I was a lesbian once, but found women too wet". However, after Felix finds out Oliver's secret - which Oliver rejects - things start to unravel.

Even before I saw the film, I envisioned Oliver as Jack in Titanic, a non-aristocrat living among aristocrats, and I was correct. There is some awkward editing near the end, where happeniings have to be inferred. Like the contemporary film The Holdovers, which takes a long time to get down to the main characters, Saltburn takes a bit long (30 minutes) to get to the titular esttate.

Enjoyable, but sometimes I wish I could have turned on closed captioning, as I seem to be missing parts of the dialog.

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Gorgeous animation, holes in plot

[7/10 · 25 December 2023]

During World War 2, the young boy Mahito lives in Tokyo, and is traumatized when a big fire occurs, which burned down the hospital his mother was working in. His father takes him to a small town, and introduces him to his pregnant "new mother", who bears a physical resemblance to his deceased mother. They live on her estate, where his father owns and operates a factory on the edge of it. When his New Mother disappears into the woods , he finds a path that leads to a mysterious forbidden mansion, where he ends up in a world that has the living, the dead, and the unborn. As he searches for his mothers, he finds his potential destiny. He is helped along the way by a talking heron, who has been stalking him ever since his arrival at the estate, along with some human characters.

The animation artwork is gorgeous, but I find parts of the plot dubious. Starting the story in WW2 Tokyo, any big fire invokes the American firebombings, which did not happen until the final months, so the time line seems compressed. There is no explanation as to why the family would leave a large traditional Japanese house in the estate to the elderly servants, and live in a modest western one. The relationships between some of the characters seem to be telegraphed early in the film. A couple of times, there is a blackout, and Mahito finds himself in a totally new situation, with no explanation as to how he got there.

This is a film that fans of Hayao Miyazaki can rave about. For others, it is slightly less rave-worthy,