Drama

STRANGE WEATHER (2014)

March 12, 2021

(YouTube) [Anna Calvi & David Byrne] I first saw Anna Calvi perform at Chicago’s Schuba’s back in 2011. If you haven’t been to Schuba’s, it’s basically a local bar with a bolted-on small stage and a fantastic sound system which, as it turned out, was perfect for Anna Calvi.

If you aren’t familiar with Anna Calvi, she’s a belter with a guitar. If her voice doesn’t bowl you over*, her prowess with her axe will. She’s fond of spaghetti western noodling, but also can craft a damn fine hook. Seeing her in such a small venue with her larger-than-life voice was a revelation, and I was eager to repeat the experience when she was scheduled to return to Chicago on April 2nd, 2020.

You know where this is going.

The show was canceled due to the pandemic, so I did what I’ve done so many nights before and since: watched the video of her cover of Keren Ann’s STRANGE WEATHER. Directed by Alan Del Rio Ortiz (who has also directed music videos for Ice Cube, Elle Fanning, and Solange) and featuring Kate Lyn Sheil (SHE DIES TOMORROW, YOU’RE NEXT), the video perfectly captures a specific sort of urban ennui: the surreal hollowness of frustratingly meandering through a city at the dead of night while trying to beat back the voices in your head.

  • STRANGE WEATHER isn’t exactly the best showcase of her vocals, as she’s rather restrained here. If you really want to hear her give her all, check out her JEZEBEL video.

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (2021)

March 11, 2021

(HBO MAX/VOD) JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH leaves HBO MAX after March 14th*, so you only have a few more days to stream it, and it’s goddamn it’s well-worth your time.

I’ll try to keep this brief, because every hour I dilly-dally writing this is an hour you’ll miss out on the streaming window, but JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH is the rare docudrama that would’ve been just as rich as fiction. Despite being shot in Cleveland, it feels like midwest Chicago — they nailed the molding! — the cast is amazing, and it resonates in a way that say, TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 does not.

  • Again, not shilling. Just trying to get folks to watch a quality film.

NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS (2021)

March 10, 2021

While I wouldn’t say I’m extremely online, I’m certainly more online than most people I know. Patricia Lockwood’s novel — which is primarily concerned with self-reflecting on being extremely online, until it isn’t — may come across as utterly obnoxious to anyone who isn’t familiar with the litany of terms, memes, and bluntness that being ‘extremely online’ entails, but I’d like to think that her artful prose and peculiar framing supersedes the need for that sort of knowledge. It’s an array of vignettes that weave in and out of each other, until her sister’s unborn child tips the balance. I loved it but, as you may guess, I have a high tolerance for extremely online behavior, and I don’t mind sad tales about babies, two factors that you should consider before picking it up.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634158/no-one-is-talking-about-this-by-patricia-lockwood/

MIKEY & NICKY (1976

March 9, 2021

(Criterion/HBO MAX/kanopy/tubi/VOD) Elaine May’s exploration of two desperate NYC mobsters (Peter Falk and John Cassavettes) trying to save themselves while using each other is as good as any take on weathered, toxic male friendship as you’re going to get on film.

There are two versions of it out there, but the one streaming is May’s director’s cut which is streamlined, but far more ramshackle (see: https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2020/06/mikey-and-nicky-liner-notes/ for more details). Watch whichever one you can wrangle!

THE TURIN HORSE (2011)

March 4, 2021

(kanopy/Mubi/VOD) THE TURIN HORSE is the last film from Béla Tarr (probably best known for WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES or, if you run in my circles, for the approximately seven hour long SATANTANGO). I tend to doubt it’s the last, as he’s still directing documentaries and producing shorts, but the film — which was co-directed by his wife Ágnes Hranitzky — certainly has a sense of finality to it.

It’s a gorgeous black-and-white piece, told over the span of roughly two-and-a-half hours, totals 30 shots and it moves at a glacial pace. It’s about a father and daughter, and the father happens to own the horse that was whipped so many times it made Nietzsche have a breakdown.

It’s an existential marvel, but, well, that’s not exactly what I remember it for. What I really remember are the boiled potatoes and, when I see a boiled potato, I think of this film.

If you don’t have the time for this masterpiece, may I suggest this 1m44s edit?

TIMER (2009)

March 2, 2021

(N/A) Unfortunately, TIMER is difficult to watch via traditional means: you can’t stream it, it’s been out-of-print for a while, and copies sell for far more than I would expect. Consequently, I haven’t seen it in a number of years. However, I’m recommending it because, not only do I recall it being very charming, but Jac Schaeffer wrote and directed it, and she just happens to be the head writer of WANDAVISION.

TIMER (explicitly spelled as TiMER) is a high-concept romantic drama that would be an immediate Netflix success today, but barely found an audience when it was released. The trailer does a perfect job of succinctly summarizing matters, but I’ll still try: in the future, you can get a visible wrist implant that ticks down the moment to when you meet your soulmate. The lead, Oona (Emma Caulfield Ford, who also appears in WANDAVISION, but is best known as Anya from BUFFY) gets her implant and it’s blank, and the film is about her coping and navigating her love life with that uncertainty.

It’s winsome and smart, without completely leaning on a lot of traditional romantic drama tropes. Folks have their own agency and expectations and insecurities!

Again, I haven’t seen it in a number of years, but it makes sense that the writer/director of this film would do something interesting with a Marvel Cinematic Universe series.

SMOOTH TALK (1985)

March 1, 2021

(Criterion/DVD/BR) Unfortunately it’s currently not available to stream, but Criterion recently released a newly restored edition of SMOOTH TALK, a very dark coming-of-age tale from documentarian/director Joyce Chopra based on Joyce Carol Oates’ short story WHERE ARE YOU GOING, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? It’s vintage 80s, very sun-kissed, featuring Laura Dern in one of first roles, plenty of mall shopping, bangles, and teen girl sexuality.

It’s also worth noting that the new Criterion release also contains a copy of Oates’ short, well-worth reading after watching the film, if you haven’t read it already. (Or you can read it here.) I simply love it when Criterion does this sort of thing. For instance, my Criterion copy of PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK has a bundled copy of the source material.

SELAH AND THE SPADES (2020)

February 28, 2021

(Prime) Tayarisha Poe’s debut SELAH AND THE SPADES can be described as DEAR WHITE PEOPLE meets BRICK and, while I can’t argue with that — it’s full of teens scheming in a neo-noir underworld of their very own making — it’s more than a mashup of those two, partially because it focuses predominantly on girls and power. Also, while it’s Jomo Fray’s first feature as a cinematographer, his experience with short films is wisely executed, providing a strikingly visual film while still keeping a steady hand on SELAH’s framing.

AWAY FROM HER (2007)

February 27, 2021

(peacock/VOD) AWAY FROM HER is Sarah Polley’s (THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN, DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)) directorial debut, based Alice Munro’s short story THE BEAR COMES OVER THE MOUNTAIN. It’s a heartbreaking piece about a married couple, Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona Anderson (Julie Christie, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) dealing with Fiona’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. Fiona moves to a nursing home where she starts to find herself attracted to another man in the home, and Grant has to cope with the repercussions of this new stage of their lives.

Polley keeps a light touch with the melodrama, letting the story breath and sit with you as opposed to amping up the tone. The end result is a marvelously confident first effort, marking the beginning of a new career.

CLEAN, SHAVEN (1993)

February 26, 2021

(Criterion/VOD) A character profile of a man suffering from schizophrenia by writer/director Lodge Kerrigan (also the co-creator of Starz’s adaptation of Soderbergh’s THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE). Immaculate sound design, a strained, soulful performance from Peter Greene (PULP FICTION’s Zed) and a dearth of dialogue really make this film shine but, despite all of that, I’ll never forget it because of one scene featuring fingernails.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aInRjIwjpU