LEE DANIEL'S THE BUTLER

The epic domestic drama of how Cecil Gaines a young negro slave from a Southern cotton plantation evolved into a Butler to a string of US Presidents in The White House also serves as a backdrop for the birth and survival of the Civil Rights Movement through the last century.  It's a powerful tale that doesn't shrink from any of the violence and the sheer inhumanity of the struggle that African/Americans went through simply to stay alive. 

The tale, based very loosely on Eugene Allen's own story when he had several decades of service on The White House staff, starts with the coldblooded killing of Cecil's father who had dared to complain to the Plantation Owner after he had just raped his wife. The Owner's elderly mother takes pity on the fatherless child and sets him to work inside as a 'house nigger' : a much easier life and the start of young Cecil developing skills in serving but also servitude.   Another couple of lucky breaks through the years and he goes from being a waiter in a fancy Hotel to be invited to be one of the junior Butlers at the White House. 

The first President he serves is Dwight 'Ike' Eisenhower who at the time is debating whether to send Federal Troops to Arkansas to desegregate the schools. Cecil, now married to Gloria an ex hotel maid, and living with their two sons in their own home in a Washington suburb, pays little heed to all the political unrest that is rapidly unfolding around the country.  Each President that follows 'Ike' has to deal with the violence that engulfs the fight for civil rights from The Freedom Riders to the Black Panther .... some like LBJ do well, and others like Nixon just exasperate the problem more.

Cecil, always trained to be present but totally silent when serving his white masters wants to keep his head down and hope that all the troubles will find a way of working themselves out peacefully. Louis, his eldest son, now a student at Frisk University the pre eminent African/American college in Tennessee is a hot-headed motivated young man who starts to get passionately involved in full time activism.   He ends up getting arrested and beaten up several times, and Cecil, like so many black men of his generation, is bitterly opposed not just to his son's activities but what he and his compadres are fighting for.

Cecil's younger son chooses to fight another way and enlists in the US Army, also to his father's chagrin, and ends up as yet another Vietnam War fatality.  

For most of his life Cecil's devotion to being 'in service' and waiting on the different Presidents is at the expense of his own life and that of his family. Not only has he lost one son, and he is estranged from the other, but his neglected wife has taken to the bottle and the arms of the man next door.

It's all highly emotional charged : both the domestic life and the changing political map ....but filmmaker Lee Daniels (with a great script from Danny Strong) strikes a good balance with his bi-partisan approach to the opposing stances of father and son. The generational differences were an important aspect to the story as it wasn't just the racially bigoted white people who had trouble accepting society's eventual acceptance of the outcome of the civil right movement, but also older African/Americans who were quite rightly petrified of making any demands on anyone.  

Outstanding casting with a whole phalanx of major major movie talent playing cameo roles really helped seal the deal on this movie. Various Presidents were played by Robin Williams, Liev Schreiber, John Cusack, Alan Rickman, James Marsden and there was even five minutes on screen of an unlikely Jane Fonda as Mrs Reagan ..... back in the plantation, Vanessa Redgrave played the Plantation Mistress, and Mariah Carey (almost unrecognisable) was Cecil's mother.....plus Lenny Kravitz and Cuba Gooding Jnr as his fellow White House Butlers

Young David Oyelowo was terrific as Louis, and this was capped with an outstanding performance by Forrest Whittaker in the title role.  Gloria was played by the world's richest and most famous woman who proved she can also turn in another possible Oscar Nomination : Miss Oprah Winfrey.

Lest I forget (and without detracting from the important heavy core of the movie), heads up too for the Set & Costume Designers : in particular for dressing Gloria throughout the decades told its own colorful 'history' story and was a sheer visual delight.

This impressive and dynamic movie has Mr Daniels back to the remarkable stunning form he showed with the unforgettable 'Precious', and confirms his status as one of most important and influential contemporary African/American filmmakers today. It is a significant and impressive insight into how this country almost didnt succeed with its struggle for equality, and a tacit reminder that even with an African/American President in office, the fight is hardly over yet. It should be compulsory viewing for so many of us.  

★★★★★★★★★★

OLD CATS

Isadora and Enrique are an elderly couple living in a large comfortable apartment in Santiago with their two old cats. The bane in their life is their highly strung daughter Rosario and her butch girlfriend Beatrice (who insists on being called Hugo)  who want them to bankroll their latest hare-brained money-making scheme. However Isadora who has always been somewhat of a cold fish, is in the early throes of Alzheimer's and she does something quite unexpected, and everything changes.

This enchanting and engaging movie was written and directed by Sebastian Silva and Pedro Peltrano, the talented pair of Chilean filmmakers who bought us the Award Winning delightful hit 'The Maid'  and for some unknown reason has been sitting away on a distributors shelf since its Sundance Premiere in 2011. They like to use many of the same actors, and the rather wonderful Catalina Saavedra who took the title role in 'The Maid' puts in another fine performance playing Hugo.

Highly enjoyable

★★★★★★★★

FRUITVALE STATION

In the opening sequences using grainy footage from onlookers cellphones we see how this story is going to end.  Not long after 2009 has just been welcomed in by this happy boisterous New Year crowd travelling on the BART train in Oakland, California when Oscar Grant, a 22 year old African-American is shot in the back by a white Transit Police Officer.  Oscar and his friends had been hauled off the train at Fruitvale Station as suspects in a fight that had just occurred .... the fact that the men who had antagonised them were all white and were not pursued by the angry and aggressive police presence was no accident.

In this stunningly powerful narrative the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant III is sadly a very true fact. What follows next is a dramatization of what Oscar was up to the day he was killed.  

He was apparently no Saint, but after a short time behind bars for dealing in marijuana, he was determined to make a go of things. When he loses his grocery store job and is almost desperate enough to start selling pot again, he throws away his stash as he knows that another arrest would take him away from his girlfriend and young daughter who is totally devoted too.  It is in fact the women in his life, including his church-going mother, that are his driving force but in his determination to be the 'man' of the family he hides his financial struggles from them all behind a web of lies.

It is a totally compelling movie on every level and even more so when you appreciate that this is the debut of writer/director Ryan Coogler, a 27 year old African-American from Oakland fresh out of Film School. What Coogler does so brilliantly is show that behind the statistic of another black man needlessly killed by an undisciplined white authority figure, that this was a very real person just at the start of what should have been a long happy life. There is plenty of emotion in his take on events, and very noticeably, no rage at all.

Michael B Jordan ('The Wire') turns in a terrifically sensitive portrayal as the good-natured Oscar, Melonie Diaz ('Be Kind Rewind') is his supportive girlfriend Sophina, and in a powerhouse performance Octavia Spencer as Mum proves that her Oscar win last year ('The Help') was no fluke. And credit to Forest Whittaker for taking this project on and producing it.

In the light of the aftermath of the recent Trayvon Martin killing, this heartbreaking story has even more resonance now. The saddest aspect of all is that we know that many more young men will still needlessly lose their lives simply because of the color of their skin.

Winner of Awards at both the Sundance & Cannes Film Festivals, this is totally unmissable, and easily one of the best 'real life' movies you will see this year.

★★★★★★★★★★

PRINCE AVALANCHE

This unlikely synopsis of two loners spending the summer painting the yellow lines on a deserted highway in the backwoods of Texas turned out to be quiet wee gem of an oddball movie.  Set in 1988 when time really seemed to stand still, it is the most gentlest of buddy movies where a budding relationship between the two men unfurls at the same slow pace that the road gets painted.

Alvin, the lead man, is the more serious and worldly of the two. He deliberately chose to take this job which, as it entails camping in the woods at night, keeps him isolated from people most of the time.  He spends his downtime writing long letters to Madison his girlfriend back home and learning to speak German for a vacation he is planning for the two of them in the Fall. Young Lance is a mis-placed drifter, and Alvin only gave him the job because he is Madison's brother.

Alvin considers himself worldly and is horrified at how little his companion knows especially about living in the wild.  He has a point as even when the younger one escapes to the nearby town to spend a weekend away, he fails to hook up with a girl and returns still totally frustrated.  

The fact that there is very little in the way of plot hardly hinders the piece, and yet the way that these two men start to bond after they have both been disappointed seemed so natural and apt.

There are just two other characters involved.  A charming old truck-driver who immediately took a shine to the guys and started plying them with drink ... and a lost elderly woman who is found combing through the remains of her burnt out house looking for possessions ..... but on her second appearance it's inferred that she may just be an apparition.  But why I could not fathom out.

This movie marks write/director David Gordon Green's return to indie filmmaking after his last few Hollywood studio movies.  Slightly paranoid, as the movie was shot in secrecy in 15 days before word was released about its existence.  He really had no need to worry, its definitely as good as his early ones such as 'Undertow' and 'George Washington' and got him a Silver Bear Award at this year's Berlin Film Festival.

The fact that this movie succeeds is not just down to the sheer visual beauty of the location ..... and the directing naturally ..... but to the casting of the two leads as well.  Seeing Paul Rudd play an uptight character like Alvin for a change was a delight, and he was well matched with Emile Hirsch as the charming but dim Lance.  The wonderful veteran character actor Lance LeGualt who played the truck driver, died soon after shooting this movie, and it is dedicated to his memory.

If you like understated observational wry comedy then you will really love this one.  Its playing in US Theaters right now and is also available on AMAZON VOD.

★★★★★★★★

ONLY GOD FORGIVES

There's an awful lot of violence, and a great deal of red, and hardly any screenplay and just a mere hint of emotion in Nicolas Winding Refn's controversial new movie that the Critics have either vehemently panned or praised lavishly: there is no sitting on the fence on this one.

Julien, a man of very few words, runs a kickboxing club in Bangkok with Billy his older brother. They have a troubled past which is rarely alluded too, but accounts for the fact that they are now far from home. Julien seems in a perpetual trance drifting through the city and relying on strippers and prostitutes for some sexual relief. Billy is just the same but he obviously is deranged and so ends up viciously raping and murdering one.  With the complicity of the police the father of the victim then kills Billy and starts off an unending avalanche of bloody brutality.

Crystal, the siblings mother, and a highly successful drug dealer flies into town from the U.S. to avenge her eldest son's death when it is apparent that Julian is reluctant to do so.  She is not reluctant to get her hands dirty .... not literally as she is bewigged and decked out like one of the cast of the Real Housewives ..... but she will ensure that the thugs she employs get revenge for her.

She, and everyone else, are up against a sword-wielding retired policeman who has resolved to single-handedly scourge the city of it's corrupt underbelly of brothels and fight clubs.  When he is not relentlessly slicing off body parts and cutting them up, he loves to croon pop songs in karaoke bars.

This Danish/Thai production reunites director Refn with Ryan Gosling but this is really not in the same league as their 2011 smash-hit 'Drive'.  With such a sparse screenplay the movie relies on its dramatic visuals to carry the story ..... and its highly-stylised sets and beautiful cinematography are stunning ..... but it lacks a real soul.   I had read somewhere that Refn was quoted as saying that he wanted to make a film about a man who wanted to fight God.  Hmmm somehow that's not what he ended up with.

I'm still unsure what to make of Gosling's performance as so much of it was internalised, but Kristin Scott Thomas's rather outrageous turn as the domineering trashy Crystal was nothing short of a sheer delight. For me she was a refreshing breath of fresh air in this dark heavy plot, and was an inspired piece of casting.

P.S. I've never professed to be anything less than subjective in my reviews, so as I cannot abhor such an excessive use of violence it's impossible for me to be objective about a movie like this which completely overdoses on it.  For some reason (that even I have trouble fathoming out) I found the use of it in 'Drive' much more acceptable.

In US Theaters now and also on AMAZON VOD 

THE ACT OF KILLING

The subject of Joshua Oppenheimer's fiercely compelling documentary is definitely one of the most evil and sadistic acts of genocide that I have ever seen on the silver screen.  It tells some of the stories of the Indonesian death squads of the mid 1960's who tortured and killed over one million 'communists' at the behest of the Military Dictatorship of that period.  Oppenheimer invited a couple of the lead executioners to re-enact how they went about their murderous activities, and these Hollywood-obsessed gangsters leaped at the chance of making their own movie with themselves in starring roles.

The end result is a movie about the making of their movie when  two of the most notorious of the thugs, Anwar Congo and his sidekick Herman, go back into the same areas where they annihilated most of the residents, and now get the present-day inhabitants to take part in their re-enactments. It would seem that no-one, including the petrified locals dare refuse these infamous killers anything. Now some 50 years after the events, with the complicity of corrupt powerful businessmen and an ineffectual Government, the gangsters are not only universally feared but they feel completely safe from any threat of possible International Criminal Court charges.

Oppenheimer filmed this over six years from 2005 - 2011 so the continuity is tad awkward at times especially with Anwar's changing hair coloring, but it gave the Director the opportunity to not only involve other Death Squad Members  but also to cover some events of the reactionary right-wing paramilitary organisation the Pancasila Youth.  It makes you realise the fact that although the genocide may be a thing of the past, the Country is still effectively controlled by these several million uniformed thugs who bare more than a passing resemblance to Hitler Youth.

When the first cut of the movie was shown to Werner Herzog the Executive Producer (along with Errol Morris) he said it was the most frightening and surreal film that he had ever seen, and he was not exaggerating.  As the thugs revel in talking about the countless atrocities that they enjoyed committing and were unmitigatingly proud of, the silent audience in the theater is numb with sheer disbelief. Each obscene fact they reveal never seems to prepare you for the fact that there is even worse to follow.  And when they are embraced by the Vice President of Indonesia who claims in a speech to a packed stadium 'we need gangsters to get things done', you realise there is no morality at all.

There is a scene towards the end of this harrowing movie when Congo is with his young grandsons watching  the rushes of the re-enactments, and he begins to understand something of the horror he put his victims through. It is, as Oppenheimer forces him to admit, far too little and far too late.

The man and his cohorts were/are monsters. Whatever reservation I had about the format of this movie and giving these killers a platform was soon dispelled as I really needed to know the history and the full impact of this genocide, and why the perpetrators are not only free but so proud of their record.  This is one of the toughest movies to watch, and I know the memory of it will haunt me for a very long time yet, but I am grateful for the experience.

When Steven Boone of The Guardian in the UK reviewed this movie he summed it up so succinctly 'It's often said of documentaries that they deserve to have as wide an audience as possible. This doesn't deserve; it demands.'

★★★★★★★★★★

UNREAL

What starts out as yet another reality TV show which follows three 20 year-old-something couples who have just broken up and are about to enter the dating scene again, turns into something a little more complex.  At first some of them seem a tad uncomfortable having their own camera crew tag behind them 24/7 (but no nudity/bathroom/sex scenes as the contracts state) but soon they get used to them and start playing up to the cameras.

Jake, the most interesting of the men, was 'dumped' by Rachel when he was caught cheating on her.  He felt trapped in their relationship thinking all his peers were single and having fun.  Now that he is back on the market again, after a few rebuffs from girls he approaches, he is panicking thinking that everyone else is already paired off.  Kate the 'lead' girl is still sharing an apartment with her ex and is trying to hook up with a somewhat reluctant Derek, and is almost as frustrated as Jake.  The two accidentally bump into each other with their camera crews in tow, and as there is an obvious spark, decide to go on a date with each other.

Chris on the other hand, another of the subjects of the film, is still having the occasional bedroom romps with his ex, and not going on any new dates at all, until he meets the stunning Natalie who hits him up at the Pool where he works.  She's clearly out of his league, but its not until their third date that he discovers she has been been paid by the Producers to go out with him just to add some color to his rather boring life.

That's when the penny drops for us all.  This is not actually a reality show at all but a fictional parody about one.  It's a cute premise and works as well as any rom-com could do on a micro-budget like this one had.  The deceit played on them (even one of Rachel's dates was a set-up) was funny to watch, but I feel that the reality of their reactions would have been much angrier in real life after being duped like this.

An attractive and young cast add to make this an easy and enjoyable 'date night' movie  which does at least have a happy ever after ending for some of them.  'Unreal' is I guess, about as real as any situation like this can be.

P.S. I have just come across this DVD although is was made in 2004, and it  looked like it could have been filmed this year...... except for the fact that Kate was a Supervisor at Tower Records in Soho, NY ..... one of my favorite haunts that is sadly long gone.

★★★★★★★

Available at Amazon

MUSEUM HOURS

There is very little plot in this intriguing wee movie from writer/director Jem Cohen although it is billed as a drama. Essentially it is this. Anne, a middle-aged Canadian woman, rushes off to Vienna after she gets a call that a distant cousin of hers who has no other family is in a coma.  In between her daily visits to the hospital to kill time she takes to visiting the grand Kunsthistorisches Art Museum and befriends Johann one of the guards there.  The two form an easy non-sexual friendship after he offers his services as a translator and local guide. 

We learn very little about the pair beyond the fact that Anne has very little money as she only works occasionally, but nothing else is revealed about her obviously lonely life. Johann we discover went from being a Road Manager for a Rock Group, to teaching woodwork in a school, to ending up in his quietest job to date ostensibly guarding the art but in reality just observing the visitors.

The movie, like the Museum itself, centers around the famous Bruegel room which has the largest collection of his work in the world.  As we listen to the conversations between Anne and Johann, and to the words of an Expert Guide, the movie evolves into an Art History Lecture of sorts.  As they talk, Cohen's cameras dart from one minute detail to another examining the often overlooked facets of Bruegels multi-layered pieces. It is quite an eyeful ..... and a visual treat .... but at the same time it leaves you up in the air wondering if you are indeed watching an Open University Lesson or an episode of the Discovery Channel on TV.

I still cannot decide what to make of this docu-drama and hybrid American/Austrian movie. It was shot in the winter, when Vienna looked very cold and bleak and most uninviting. And as for the cast .... Anne was played by Mary Margaret O'Hara a Canadian singer/songwriter and occasional actress, Johann was played by Bobby Summer a non-professional actor BUT the Museum that the movie was based in and around was very much the real McCoy.  It, and the art, took their starring roles very seriously.  

This is one for dedicated cinephiles and/or art history buffs .....currently showing in selected US theaters, but you may want to wait for it on DVD as it is a tad too long and you will want to have your remote in your hand!

★★★★★★