Category: Narrative

By Joe Bendel. Academics have long debated just how many children Lady Macbeth had and lost, because they don’t hand out tenure for nothing. Justin Kurzel’s new cinematic take on the Scottish Play is willing to go on record positing one child, whose tragic death will psychologically torment her and her noble husband unremittingly. Kurzel also more fully embraces the blood and carnage of battle than politely prestigious productions past in his vivid adaptation of Macbeth, which opens this Friday in New York.

You might not recognize the scene of Macbeth, Thane of Glamis and Lady Macbeth burning their young child on a funeral pyre, but from there on, it is business as usual. However, Kurzel does not skimp on hack-and-slash action when Macbeth and his faithful comrade Banquo vanquish the forces of the treasonous Macdonwald. Just as the three witches promise, Macbeth is promoted to Thane Cawdor following the traitor’s execution. That gives Lady Macbeth ideas about the rest of the witches’ prophesy, particularly the part about Macbeth becoming King of Scotland. However, they had an addendum hailing Banquo as the forefather of future kings that somewhat vexes the childless Macbeth.

Although Lady Macbeth does indeed prompt her husband to commit murder, Kurzel’s conception of the Scottish Play is remarkably forgiving of this often vilified noble woman. Again, the explicit grief for her child humanizes her subsequent sins to a considerable extent. On the other hand, Malcolm the heir apparent is portrayed in unusually shallow and cowardly terms.

Casting Michael Fassbender as Macbeth is so logically self-evident, it seems strange nobody tried to do it sooner. He does not disappoint, completely committing to Kurzel’s highly physical conception of the Thane. One look from him can make the heather on the hills wilt. In contrast, Marion Cotillard’s Lady Macbeth is unusually sensitive and guilt-ridden. Unlike memorably ferocious Lady Macbeths (Rosanne Ma in the Pan Asian Rep’s Shogun Macbeth is still a favorite), she is almost delicate, which makes the contrast between her and Macbeth all the more dramatic. Paddy Considine and Sean Harris also add considerable grit and heft as Banquo and Macduff, respectively.

Visually, cinematographer Adam Arkapaw work is just as bold, deliberately evoking blood and fire with his vivid color palette, while (brother) Jed Kurzel’s minimalist score gives the film a contemporary vibe. Kurzel somewhat overindulges in symbolic imagery with his over the top closing sequence, but that is a minor misstep. In general, his fearlessness pays dividends.

Frankly, all the best Shakespearean films take some liberties with their source material. Arguably, Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood remains the greatest cinematic Macbeth, with its completely original but utterly iconic death scene. Kurzel’s Macbeth is a worthy follower in its tradition. Like Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus, Kurzel is very much in touch with the manly, action-driven side of Shakespeare, while also ruthlessly plumbing the dark psychological depths of his flawed characters. Highly recommended, Macbeth opens this Friday (12/4) in New York, at the Landmark Sunshine.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on December 2nd, 2015 at 10:50am.

By Joe Bendel. Estonian fought Estonian, but it was not a civil war. Fifty-five thousand men from the small Baltic nation were shanghaied into service with the Red Army during the first Soviet occupation. When fortunes on the Eastern Front temporarily tilted Germany’s way, another 72,000 Estonians were drafted, primarily by the Waffen-SS, because the Wehrmacht maintained a strict German national identity. The Estonian wartime experience becomes the stuff of high dramatic tragedy in Elmo Nüganen’s 1944, Estonia’s official foreign language Oscar submission, which screens as part of the AFI’s 2015 EU Film Showcase.

Like most of his Estonian comrades, Karl Tammik has little hope of living through the war. Although he has no love for the National Socialists, he is resigned to his service in their army, in part because he holds such a grudge against the Soviets. Tammik also bitterly blames himself for not moving quicker to prevent his family’s exile to Siberia. He is particularly haunted by the memory of his baby sister. Under his leadership, the ragtag Estonian unit will temporarily help hold the Tannenberg Line.

When momentum swings back to the Soviets, Nüganen and screenwriter Leo Kunnas shift their focus to an Estonian Red Army platoon. In a twist of fate worthy of Sophocles, Tammik will face Jüri Jõgi in the heat of battle. It was Jõgi’s collaborator father who denounced Tammik’s family to the Communists. However, the son has none of his father’s ideological zeal, at least not anymore. Yet, since he has the right sort of family background, the ruthless political officer is determined to recruit him as an informer against his unusually competent commander.

Nüganen stages some of the best trench warfare scenes ever filmed. He also convincingly portrays the confusion and arbitrariness of warfighting without letting the film descend into random bedlam. Basically, viewers can tell exactly how doomed the characters are, in ferociously realistic terms. Yet, there is also a sweeping irony that somehow seems to flow naturally out of the fundamental absurdity of the Estonians’ situation. Kunnas structures the film with almost perfect symmetry, escalating the grief and sorrow with each reprise.

As Tammik, Kaspar Velberg broods like a man possessed, despite his natural Baltic reserve. Likewise, Kristjan Üksküla’s Jõgi quietly wears his angst and guilt on his sleeve like badge of dishonor, until he finally explodes (by Baltic standards). Peeter Tammearu is also profoundly loathsome as Kreml the political officer. Not surprisingly, there are not many roles for women in 1944, but Maken Schmidt makes the most of her screen time as Tammik’s sister Aino. It is a heartbreaking but complex performance that will knock the wind out of you.

Nüganen’s battle scenes can hang with anything Hollywood has produced in recent years, but it is the massive micro and macro ironies that make 1944 such a powerhouse. Based on its graphic depictions of the Red Army’s brutal tactics, the Russians are sure to have Nüganen and Kunnas’s names on a list if they ever invade Estonia again—and if you find that scenario highly unlikely then you really need to see 1944. Very highly recommended, 1944 screens this Saturday (12/5) as part of the AFI’s EU Film Showcase.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on December 2nd, 2015 at 10:49am.

By Joe Bendel. Harry Pearce is about to become the James Jesus Angleton of MI-5. He is convinced there is a mole deliberately sabotaging the intelligence agency. Unfortunately, his efforts to expose the traitor might do even greater damage to British national security. Decommissioned operative Will Holloway will be tasked with stopping him. They have some complicated history that will get even thornier in Bharat Nalluri’s MI-5, the feature continuation of the MI-5/Spooks series, which opens this Friday in New York.

Adem Qasim is one of those smooth talking mass-murdering terrorists the media loves to give a platform to. MI-5 had captured him, but he will escape during the opening action sequence. This leaves the Americans (or the “Cousins” as Smiley called us) somewhat perturbed and Pearce on the outs, since it happened under his watch. Learning the escape was facilitated by a mysterious high level command preventing air support, Pearce goes rogue to uncover the truth. It seems he will even make a deal with Qasim, the Devil himself, to uncover the high level turncoat.

Holloway was maybe not such a great agent, but he knows Pearce. Reluctantly, the top Tinkers, Tailors, and Soldiers bring him back to play Pearce’s game, but they keep him on a short leash. At least they will try. Inevitably, Holloway’s loyalties will be pulled in every which direction. Of course, there is also a ticking clock, since Qasim is imminently planning a spectacularly bloody terror attack.

In the UK, the MI-5 feature was released with the subtitle “the Greater Good,” which reverberates throughout the film, but rises to a crescendo during the third act. Jonathan Brackley & Sam Vincent’s screenplay makes it bracingly clear what sort of grim, difficult choices counter-terrorist services must necessarily face. This is not a vocation for timid or the simplistic. You can definitely see the influence of Smiley and le Carré, but they stop short of positing a moral equivalency between the spooks and the terrorists.

In fact, the MI-5 feature treatment is surprisingly well written, taking several twisty turns in between some sharply resonant dialogue. To paraphrase Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson’s War, Kit Harington (John Snow in Game of Thrones) doesn’t look like much of an action star as Holloway, but that is kind of the point. He is supposed to be a misfit.

It hardly matters anyway. Peter Firth takes complete ownership of the film, reprising his role as Pearce from the series. He brings a Shakespearean element to the film not completely unlike Dame Judi Dench in the admittedly superior Skyfall. It is a deliciously Machiavellian anti-heroic turn. Eleanor Matsuura is also convincingly poised and intelligent as relatively straight-shooting agent Hannah Santo. Returning Tim McInnerny is aptly pompous as agency chief Oliver Mace, but he unleashes some stone cold hardnosedness in the climatic showdown.

As a motion picture, MI-5 is almost entirely self-contained, requiring almost no foreknowledge from viewers besides a rudimentary understanding of the current geopolitical realities, which basically means anyone who doesn’t work in the White House should be able to follow it. Yet despite the presence of several new characters, it serves as a perfect capstone to the series. If you have invested time in MI-5 or Spooks, you will appreciate where it takes the remaining cast, while newcomers should find it a lithe and muscular espionage thriller. Recommended pretty enthusiastically by straight-up movie standards, MI-5 opens this Friday (12/4) in New York, at the Village East.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on November 30th, 2015 at 10:54pm.

By Joe Bendel. The Searles household limo is no James Bond vehicle. It might be well-fortified, which will come in handy, but it also sinks like a stone, which will be a problem. The intrepid family retainer-bodyguard-driver will have to think fast to save his boss’s daughter in Steven C. Miller’s way-better-than-you-expect Submerged, an IFC Midnight release screening this weekend in New York.

Initially, it looks like Matt is not doing such a great job protecting Jessie Searles, but as we soon learn from flashbacks, he fought off a large contingent of armed would-be kidnappers rather efficiently. He reasonably assumed she and her club kid friends would be safe once they reached the new limo, considering it is basically a tank with a wet bar. However, when the gang forces them off the bridge, things quickly get dire. While battery power keeps the lights on, the rest of the electrical system is kaput, freezing the doors and windows. Unless they figure a way out, the undertow will drag them out to sea, where they are likely to never be heard from again. Of course, the bad guys are also still out there.

Despite the frequent flashbacks (always a dangerous proposition), Submerged is a surprisingly lithe and economical thriller. Matt’s Army Ranger background is a double blessing, making him a credible action figure as well as a cool and collected (but not particularly talkative) protagonist. His ambiguous relationship with Jessie Searles rather works in context, but the backstory involving his kid brother’s suicide gets a little melodramatic.

What is really bold about Submerged is the villains’ explicit class warfare rhetoric. Frankly, the limo might as well have been attacked by Bernie Sanders. Matt’s boss Hank Searles is also refreshingly positioned as a conscientious boss, forced to initiate a round of layoffs to protect the rest of his employees and the community, but for the conspirators, that is reason enough for him and his daughter to suffer and potentially die.

While his restraint is appreciated, Jonathan Bennett’s Matt is almost too understated for an action lead. However, Tim Daly (yes, from Wings) is quite charismatic and even compelling as the decent but naïve Hank Searles. Mario Van Peebles also adds some vigor and attitude as the Q behind the Searles limo.

Miller juggles the various revelations relatively well and manages to make a film about six people trapped in a sinking limo never feel stagey or narrowly focused. One of the better commercially-conceived American thrillers released this year, Submerged screens round midnight Friday and Saturday (11/27, 11/28) in New York, at the IFC Center.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on November 27th, 2015 at 1:50pm.

By Joe Bendel. Shamans are all well and good for minor spirit infestation, but if you are facing a 5,000 year old arch-demon, you need to go to the Roman Catholic Church. However, you can’t settle for a skeptical, hip and modern priest in the Pope Francis tradition. You need someone old school like Benedict XVI. It also helps if he is a little ornery. Father Kim Bum-shin definitely fits the bill. Unfortunately, he has trouble keeping assistants once they experience the long, perilous exorcism of Lee Young-sin. Good will battle evil short-handed in Jang Jae-hyun’s The Priests, which opens this Thanksgiving in Los Angeles.

Deacon Choi Joon-ho is the twelfth assistant deacon sent to help the maverick Father Kim in his epic mission. If that sounds vaguely familiar than perhaps you saw or read about Jang’s award winning short film, 12th Assistant Deacon, which he remade and expanded as the feature length The Priests. It might be longer, but you still will not find much padding here.

Lee Young-sin was once a member of Father Kim’s congregation, but she is no longer the innocent girl he knew. Frankly, the demon would prefer to possess a boy, which is why it tried to force her into committing suicide. However, even in her now vegetative state, Lee’s spirit is strong. Still, she is no match for the beast within her. Nor were Father Kim’s previous eleven assistants. The guilt-ridden Choi does not inspire much confidence either, but at least he was born in the year of the tiger, which apparently counts for a lot when you’re tangling with demons.

Jang stays faithful to the essence of his massively atmospheric short film, while expanding the scope rather effectively. The climatic exorcism remains the film’s signature scene and it is still all kinds of tense. However, Jang has added one wrinkle—the use of a pig as a temporary vessel for the exorcised spirits, in accordance with the Biblical exorcism of the Gerasenes demoniac (a.k.a. Legion). Presumably he had more budget available for animal wrangling this time around.

Regardless, The Priests is a gripping horror thriller that treats themes of good, evil, Catholicism, possession, and sacrifice with life-and-death seriousness. It is hard to top the original Exorcist from 1973, but the two films definitely share a close kinship. Along with his prior short, The Priests suggests Jang could be the next major genre filmmaker to emerge from Asia. Yes, they are that good.

Oddly enough, the lesser known cast of the short film might just take the honors over the famous stars of The Priests. As always, Kim Yun-seok has a big presence as Father Kim, but at times his uber-gruffness borders on the perverse. Likewise, Gang Dong-won’s Deacon Choi is frustratingly callow and shallow before he gets his rude demonic wake-up call. However, Park So-dam will scare the pants off you as the slightly disturbed Lee Young-sin.

There is hardly any blood or gore in The Priests, because it runs deeper than that. Jang masterfully controls the mood, steadily cranking up the suspense and dread. He integrates a great deal of Catholic imagery and demonic archetypes alongside distinctly Korean elements, such as Father Kim’s shaman colleagues (they are on refreshingly good terms). Altogether, it is a highly distinctive, metaphysically unnerving horror film that will be perfect for family viewing this Thanksgiving night. Enthusiastically recommended for genre fans, The Priests opens tomorrow (11/26) in Los Angeles at the CGV Cinemas and next Friday (12/4) in New Jersey at the Edgewater Multiplex.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on November 25th, 2015 at 12:19pm.

By Joe Bendel. Turkey is delicious. It is no accident it has become the traditional Thanksgiving meal. Anyone serving beets instead should be deported. However, Ron Emmerson and his young son and teenaged daughter are guests of his hippy granola Aunt Cly, so they will have to make do. Fortunately, they will get so sidetracked with the monsters in the forest they will not have time to worry about food in Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow, an original Lifetime movie produced by Lisa Henson, based on an idea the Muppet creator once developed with his writing partner Jerry Juhl, which premieres on the cable network this Saturday.

Emmerson basically lost everything in his recent divorce except his dignity—and even that is debatable. Unexpectedly stuck with his kids, the snotty social media-obsessed Annie and the geeky Tim, Emmerson invites them all over to his Aunt Cly’s hoping she would look after them while he finishes a presentation for his corporate slave-master. However, when gawky Timmy inadvertently lets loose evil Eldridge Sump’s gaggle of genetically juiced turkeys into the wild, Aunt Cly stands to lose her organic sustainable farm to Scrooge McTurkey.

To redeem himself, Tim heads out to take a snap of the local Big Foot-like legend and hereby claim a longstanding reward. Instead, he and Annie encounter a quartet of musical, rock-eating monsters and a pair of Sump’s goons.

Frankly, the villainous agri-business baddie is just a tediously dull cliché. It would have been much more interesting and realistic if the bad guys were the hippies, trying to frame an industrious Aunt Cly for reasons of ideology. However, the whole point of Hollow are the monsters and they are rather cute. They definitely follow in the Muppet tradition, except maybe bushier around the eyes. Youngsters who are already fans of the Muppets and the Fraggles should be charmed silly by the Turkey Hollow quartet.

Even with her character’s annoying eccentricities, Mary Steenburgen is wonderfully acerbic as Aunt Cly. Believe it or not, this is quite a nice role for her. Jay Harrington also exceeds expectations as the not-as-square-as-he-sounds Emmerson. However, the kids are just sort of okay and the bad guys are a shticky embarrassment. Yet, the real wincing comes from Chris “Ludacris” Bridges’ supposedly hip and ironic walk-on narration sequences. Let’s just say he is no Rod Serling.

You’ve got four endearing monsters in Hollow and if you are under thirteen that is more than enough. Despite the environmental organic blah, blah, blah, the film still has a nice message regarding the importance and resiliency of family. Director Kirk R. Thatcher, a Henson veteran, keeps it moving along at a good clip, powering through the shortcomings of Chris Baldi and Tim Burns’ ultra-conventional script. Worth checking in on to see the latest creations of the Henson workshop, but not worth rescheduling your weekend for, Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow airs this Saturday (11/21) on Lifetime.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on November 20th, 2015 at 1:47pm.