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lngwstx
(*Some of these events are still in production).
Reviews
American Son (2019)
This review is intended to balance the scales.
I very rarely take the time to review movies here, but I came to look at the info and was shocked to see such a low rating for such a poignant piece of work. Predictably, it's a bunch of people who either don't understand the material or don't want to understand it. I have genuine critiques of a few things I'd offer if it weren't necessary to set all of that aside and set the record straight and tip the scales as far back as my one tiny review has the power to tip them.
I was gripped the entire time. It was incredibly that a movie that takes place in one room with two people onscreen for most of it (four total in the whole film) could have me riveted. In part it's because I understand the nuances the film set out to portray. No wasted dialogue, no wasted plot points. The complexity of the interracial relationship in the setting of (possible? You don't find out until the end) blue-on-Black violence, the older vs younger generation of Black people, the race of the officer involved in the incident, the "nice" white people getting frustrated with justified Black anger. It hit so many points and it ends the only way it could. I felt it in my body, and that was the goal. Mission accomplished.
I might change a couple of things for storytelling purposes - things that might have played a little bit too on the nose to support the nuance and complexity I think they tried to convey in parts. But what do I know? I'm white. As a white person who is unlearning racism, I feel that regardless of any nitpicks any cinephile might have for the artistic choices, this movie should be mandatory viewing for any white person who wants to have an opinion on the policing of Black bodies.
And anyone who wants to have an opinion on a film like this, which is a social commentary of a real and urgent problem in society, should have to demonstrate their understanding of the issues before offering a garbage critique. This is not just any film, and it deserves more respect because of the theme and the people behind it, no matter its artistic merits. It's not just art and that deserves recognition.
Not Cinderella's Type (2018)
Four stars because I don't want to be mean, but...
Remove the sticky-sweet soundtrack and you remove every vestige of human emotion, which is weird considering the subject matter. The aunt and uncle are burnt potatoes, and every single other character is basically dry pasta. The whole thing is inedible.
I gave it four pity stars because while it was painful to watch, I felt like I was reading a mediocre $0.99 YA novel - one to which you bring your own imagery and emotions and fill in the gaps the author left hanging open everywhere. You keep reading because it was cheap and you're looking for anything positive to encourage the fledgeling writer to build on, but in the end you kinda know they just don't have it.
It's a shame, really; I can imagine this story as a moderately entertaining YA novel. I don't know if it was adapted from one, but if so, they played out way out of tune.
Torn (2013)
Seriously underrated here. Sad.
A movie doesn't need to be all adrenaline and witty dialogue to be seriously good. I'm disappointed with these other reviews. They're just wrong. The acting is adequate, if unremarkable, but the acting is not the point. This is a well-written, thoughtful film with no throwaway scenery. Everything is meaningful without being obvious.
This movie explores two kinds of terrorism (well, three or four, actually): the kind we name and wage wars against, and the kind(s) we excuse and justify. It manages to weave the narrative together with very little dialogue or action. Just little snippets that give insight into the motivations and prejudices of people, most of whom ought to know better. It manages to show relentlessly bullied youth and radicalized Muslim youth in the same light, which is a fair comparison when you consider that both can lead to the exact same kinds of terror (acts of mass murder).
The film's message is subtly delivered. It's a quiet, introspective film, and that's its power. It insists that you examine your own assumptions and sit uncomfortably with the comparisons it offers. It delivers a satisfying ending (in my opinion) which doesn't leave anyone free to justify their biases. It is also bittersweet, because
SPOILER
it seems nobody left behind will ever know what really happened, or, heartbreakingly, that the boys were not the monsters people needed them to have become. The actual culprit is never seen onscreen beyond an ambiguously-colored hand dropping off a backpack, which is the perfect solution to the plot's efforts at peeling open assumptions and leaving them to air out.