Race

This new crowd-pleaser biopic of African/American athletic hero Jesse Owens sees his troubled world through rose colored glasses (even the Nazis running the 1936 Olympics are not THAT bad ) as it fore-mostly focuses on his remarkable achievements of winning 4 Gold Medals, with the political ramifications taking second place. 

The movie starts with the teenage Owens leaving Alabama and his poverty-stricken family plus the mother of his daughter to go far away to Ohio University simply because of the Athletes Coach was once a great runner too. Larry Sydner is struggling to find any star athletes on his team and is in real danger of losing his job so he instead he seeks solace in a whisky bottle. He immediately sees the potential in Owens as he can outrace everybody else and as  he knows that Owen could be his path to redemption,  he quickly takes sides with the athlete and supports him through all the incessant racist bigotry that he has to face on  a daily basis. 

When Owens starts winning races and fame .... and the overtures of a wealthy black socialite who wants to bag him as a husband .... it is obvious that as he broke three World records in a single afternoon, that his selection for the Berlin Olympics is a forgone conclusion.  The trouble is the American Olympic Committee have serious misgivings about participating as they feel it will be seen as endorsing the Nazi regime which was already known for their extreme right-wing political views that were having grave consequences on the Jewish population already.

The Committee was however persuaded by  wealthy buisnessman Avery Brundage who, after a fact finding mission to Germany, said that everything in Germany was totally fine and that they should send an American Team. The movie in fact implies that Brundage had actually been bribed by the Nazis in return for his approval. The pressure on Owens to participate because of the German Reich's sheer hatred of people of color was much more pronounced than that of his white team mates. We see part of it in the movie, but apart from that occasional moment of doubt, Owens didn't really seem to struggle a great deal with his decision. In fact when he and his African/American teammate arrive at the Olympic Village they are shocked to discover they are to be billeted and fed with everyone else and not segregated like back in the US.

As the Games start and Hitler studiously avoids any possible contact  with Owens even though he greets all the other winners, we are also witness to another power struggle between Goering the Minister if Propaganda who is running these Olympics and the young filmmaker Lief Riefenstahl who's been commissioned to make a very glowing record of the Event. For some, slightly unknown reason, she is made to look a tad heroic.

Much is made of Owen's close friendship with the aryan German champion Carl 'Luz' Long which seems to be included to show that not all the citizens where supportive of their country;s government. It does however just remind one that such a relationship between a white and black man back in the US then would have been completely impossible.

Jesse Owens is admirably played by Stephan James (John Lewis in Selma)  Coach Snyder by SNL's Jason Sudekis, and Jeremy Irons put in a perfectly pitched turn as the slippery Avery Bundrage.  

Race is released at the perfect time given the present paranoia of the lack of diversity in Hollywood and should benefit from the current attention to African/American themed movies. Even though this one will not still be in anybody's minds when they think about the next round of Oscars in 2017 , it should still make its own impact with its audience.

★★★★★★★

SOUTHPAW

Billy ‘The Great’ Hope seems to have everything. He has retained his title of World Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion, albeit after a particularly bloody match.  He lives a life of sheer luxury in an enormous New York Mansion with his wife Maureen who adores him, and their cute precious daughter Leila who he totally dotes on. Not bad for someone that grew in a series of rough foster homes in the care of Children’s Services, followed by a spell or two behind bars.  It is Maureen his childhood sweetheart who is the street smart one in their relationship and who calls the shots and had, ensured that they make the most of their success.  Now she tells Billy that as he is 41 years old its time for him to take a break from boxing and maybe quit it all together before he ends up as just another old punch drunk boxer. 

She is however facing an uphill struggle convincing Billy as his manager, who sees his champion simply as a cash cow, fights back with even more lucrative offers which she insists that they reject. Then one night after a nasty public scuffle Maureen is accidentally fatally shot and soon after, a distraught grieving Billy without his wife to advise and protect him, is pressured into signing up for another match that will lead to his downfall and him losing everything. Including the custody of Leila.

Rock bottom, homeless and broke he ends up in a rundown gym in the projects belonging to a once very successful trainer Tick Willis. Billy needs a job and money to be able to get Leila back but as Tick has sworn off training professional boxers anymore, he has a tough job persuading him to take him on so that he can fight one last major match and win his 

daughter and his dignity back.

This riches to rags (and back again) melodrama had been written very specifically for Eminem almost as a follow on from his semi-autobiographical ‘8 Mile’ however when he passed on the project, the producers made the inspired choice of beefing up Jake Gyllenhaal to tie on the gloves.  He rises to the occasion so perfectly with a set of washboard abs and muscles that totally transform him for this very overly dramatic physical role that the Academy love handing out Awards for.  His performance is every bit as good as the one he gave in ‘Nightcrawler’ last year that many considered was Oscar worthy.  He is directed here by Antoine Fugua (slightly heavy-handily at the beginning) and the fact that Fugua himself was once a boxer accounts for some of the stunning staging and photography of the matches that have such a glorious intense realism to them. He does however never ever spare us from all the blood and gore at any time.

The extremely predictable story is at its best when it starts to focus on Billy out of the ring as he starts his rehabilitation with Tick (played quite brilliantly by Forrest Whittaker in his usual low-key un-showy style).  Whilst we may not be surprised by any of the plots strands, Gyllenhaal imbues Billy and his bruised and tattooed body with such ferocity and earnestness, that we cannot fail to become so completely invested in the outcome.

Credit too for Rachel McAdams as Maureen who ensured that the short time she was on screen was powerful enough that we would also share Billy’s loss when she was killed.  Also to Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, (who I had failed to recognize), in the crucial role of Billy’s manipulative manager. 

There is however only one real reason to see this enjoyable and entertaining movie and that is Jake Gyllenhaal.  We all knew that ‘Donnie Darko’ would just keep getting better and better. 

★★★★★★★★

HAPPY VALLEY

Although Amir Bar-Lev's new documentary is about the sexual abuse that infamous Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky carried out on scores of young boys over a 15 year period, the focus is less on the crimes themselves but about the whole culture surrounding them and the devastating effects on that college town.  

Initially there was a controversial wall of silence about this molester's activities that not only shielded him for many years from the authorities but allowed him to keep on molesting and raping the boys. The knowledge that Head Coach Joe Paterno simply failed to report Sandusky's actions was cause for him to be unceremoniously fired from the University, an action that was not applauded by the local community in any way, but ferociously publicly condemned.

Bar-Lev strove diligently to present his investigation in the most non-partisan manner but the sheer passion and indignity of most of the outraged  local community unwittingly painted a very biased picture. Their beloved Paterno had coached the football team for decades and had made it one of the most successful in the country with its countless wins and trophies.  As his fame and success grew he turned down countless lucrative offers to coach elsewhere but he chose to remain at Penn. and his loyalty was rewarded by the slavish devotion of seemingly the entire town.

The fact that Paterno was considered not just a hero but more like a Saint meant to all his legions of fans, he could do no wrong.  And when he was dismissed all the students actually rioted on the campus and their anger was directed completely at the media for their part in exposing the crimes, with not even a hint of disgust at the gravity of the damage that Paterno had continued to allow to happen on his watch. Football they all infer very loudly, is far more important than life.

The most devastating story is that of Sandusky's adopted son Matt. Now married and with a family of his own, Matt had initially been vocal in supporting his parents, but when the shocking details of his father's activities came to light, he decided to speak up and tell his story too.  It took a great deal of courage to go public with the fact that after Sandusky had rescued him from a poverty-stricken broken home he had ritually abused him right through his childhood.  Matt is one of the very few people that came through these events with any shred of decency.

Paterno was diagnosed with cancer and died soon after his dismissal. His family were to be sympathised with as they were now left having to deal with all the aftermath. especially as Sandusky's Trial was starting and they were very much in the public eye again. However our affinity with them is soon tested as they considered their father the actual victim of all this (and not the abused boys?) and they focus all their attention on hiring an independent investigator to try and effectively diminish Paterno's portion of the blame.

Wherever Bar-Levi's cameras went in the community they encountered sheer unbridled anger which was universally somehow pitted against the rest of the world  ....... and the media in particular. It was as if there had been a giant conspiracy simply to ruin Penn State and thus punishing them all. Not that any of them were in anyway responsibly for either Sandusky or Paterno's action, but it is odd that not once did anyone offer any words of remorse. Their unfaltering faith in Paterno seemed almost religious, but then again, there are many similarities in this story as to the constant flow of tales of Pedophile Catholic Priests.

Lest we forget, Sandusky was found guilty on 45 counts of child abuse on June 22nd 2012.  No one will ever know how many others went unreported/undetected.

Unmissable documentary.

★★★★★★★★

P.S. The title ironically is the name of the  area where the Campus is.

P.P.S. Al Pacino is already shooting a feature film based on Paterno's story.

RUSH

Close on the heels of 'Senna' one of the hot docs of 2012 that told of the bitter rivalry between the charismatic Brazilian 3-time World Champion Formula One Driver Ayrton Senna and  the French 4-time Champion Alain Proust comes this stunning narrative of a very similar battle royal two decades earlier.  In this instance, in one corner tall blond womanising ex-Public schoolboy too-handsome-for-his-own good British James Hunt and in the other the dour intensely overly-serious Austrian Nikki Lauda without a hint of sense of humor or any joie de vivre.

In this true real-life story both men had grown up in wealthy upper-class families whom both resisted when their sons announced their ambitions to become professional racing drivers. This stopped neither of them, and Hunt sweet-talked the English Aristocrat Lord Hesketh to be part of the Racing Team that the Peer was funding whereas the disinherited Lauda got himself a Bank Loan and bought his way into a Formula One team.

The nerdy Lauda slowly and diligently impressed his new team-mates with his fixation with the most minute details to improve both the car and his performance, whereas Hunt went out of his way to be a showy risk-taker on the track which made him the crowd's favorite driver. They were the very best drivers in Formula One that year and Lauda started winning races by his careful planning, whereas Hunt won his by taking dangerous manoeuvres and risky chances. 

Even off the track they led totally different lives. Hunt the playboy married Suzy Parker the most famous model of the day, whilst Lauda proposes to Marlene his long suffering girlfriend reluctantly with  'if I'm going to do it with someone, it might as well be you'.  

In 1975 Lauda now driving for the Ferrari team won his first World Championship beating Hunt who was still driving his much inferior Hesketh car.  In the next year Hunt signed on to the Maclaren team which gave him a car to match Lauda's and the fierce rivalry between the two drivers became almost deadly. In a plot that seems like it could only have been written for a movie, Lauda has a near-fatal crash and is almost burned to death, but less than two months later is back in his car for the final race of the Season that will determine the Championship between the two men.

Oscar winning director Ron Howard ('A Beautiful Mind') working from a script by Oscar nominated writer Peter Morgan ('The Queen' , 'Frost & Nixon') gives us the most thrilling motor racing movie that I have ever seen. The fact that it is melded with this very intense human drama, makes it so much more than just another fast action piece. These two highly charged men couldn't have been anymore different from each other.  Lauda may have been the one with the relentless determination to beat his rival at all costs, but Hunt also desperately wanted to be the winner that he would dangerously push both their boundaries to achieve it.

The cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle, another Oscar Winner ('Slumdog Millionaire') is nothing less than stunning, particularly of the creative way he filmed all the racing, although I could have done with a little less of the equally harrowing scenes of the up-close bloody gore when Lauda's face is being reformed under the surgeons knife.


Australian devilishly handsome Chris Hemsworth so
perfectly captured the James Hunt  I recall from the time, but Hunt never ever had that pumped up torso that Hemsworth is happy to reveal completely in one of his many bedtime romps. Both he, and the German/Spanish actor Daniel Bruhl as Lauda, gave what could possibly be career defining performances that should earn them some best acting nominations. 

I guess that most sporting championships succeed because of the passionate antagonistic clash of the two main players, but whether they are quite as lopsided or partisan as this one is questionable. At the same time that Hunt was portrayed as such a lovable irresistible bad-boy that every one wanted to succeed then the intensely boring Lauda was painted with his heavy Germanic accent as the one that no-one wanted to win.  If director Howard had been English, I would have accused him of letting our customary British teutonophobia creep through.

One of the few Hollywood blockbusters I have been tempted to see this year, and I am so pleased that I did as it is excellent.

P.S. If I had one 'but' to add, it would be for the ridiculous hair pieces all the men wore.  I know this was the 1970's but we cannot all have looked that bad.  Could we?

★★★★★★★★★

THE IRAN JOB

As a professional basketball player for hire St Croix native Kevin Shepherd was recruited to play for teams in Argentina, Venezuela, Israel and Puerto Rico before he landed his most unusual gig in 2008. He was employed by A.S. Shiraz a fledgling team who were desperate to make the Iranian Playoffs and they saw Shepherd as the key ingredient to make this happen. In fact although the terms of his employment are never discussed, it is clear that if the Team don't make the grade then Shepherd  will be terminated.

Under Iranian rules each Team is allowed to employ just two foreign players and Shepherd is joined by an enormous Serbian called Z who becomes his roommate. They are the only experienced members of A. S. Shiraz as all the other young Iranian players are woefully inadequate.  At first it seems that this 6' African American, who is an instant hit with adoring fans, will not however be able to shape these youngsters into a winning side. They lose badly and often in the beginning and it appears likely that Shepherd will soon be packing his bags and high tailing it home to his anxious girlfriend.  And then like in any fairy tale, their luck turns, they win matches and have a real chance of reaching their goal.

Sheppard is an affable charmer of a man who the locals instantly like.  Not particularly intelligent, he is careful to steer from making any comment on the political unrest and is always aware that to most of the population as an American he is very much an unwanted alien. We see him play matchmaker for one of his team mates, and on another occasion witness him lose his temper and kicking a trash can which is caught by the TV cameras and earns him a reprimand. But aside from that director Till Schauder insures that we learn little about what actually makes this man tick.

The most interesting participants in this documentary are three Iranian women who Shepherd encounters through his physical therapy, and as far as it is possible, befriends. The most fascinating aspect is that although they conform to the excessive rules that cover all aspects of women's behaviour in Iranian society, they are not in the least depressed or dejected by the state of affairs. It's through their story .... which sadly is never totally satisfactorily developed .... that we learn most about how the country is dealing with the turbulence of the times.

At the end, despite what Shepherd personally may have felt (and never really articulated) we learn that he went back to Iran the next year to play for another season.  For him though the story finishes back in the Virgin Islands with him marrying his girlfriend and becoming a father.  And in one rare moment of reflection, he says that as an African American he knows what standing up for his rights is all about ... and he knows it can lead to something. Lets hope for those three girls at least, he is right.

An interesting documentary but the perfect tension building on the basketball courts during the games is never matched with any thing significant during the non-playing hours,  which is such a pity.

★★★★★★

Available on Amazon VOD  

WIN WIN

After seeing the trailer, I had dismissed this movie as just another feel-good sitcom until I spotted its pedigree. It being the third feature film from writer/director Tom McCarthy who scored sleeper hits with ‘The Last Station Agent’ and ‘The Visitor’ which I both really enjoyed and admired.  Hence I found myself in the movie theater watching Paul Giamatti play yet anther version of his scruffy disheveled unlikely ‘hero’ at the end of his tether and on the brink of a life change that he excels at, and that we love to root for, or sometimes just get annoyed with. (Think ‘Barney’s Version’ for the latter).

This time Mr. G plays Mike a mediocre lawyer struggling to make ends meet when he hits upon a scheme to become the legal guardian of Leo an elderly wealthy client in the early stages of dementia just so that he can pocket the generous monthly carers fee. His passion in life, besides his own family, is volunteering as the Wrestling Coach for local high school team  which is having as little success as his legal practice.  Out of the blue Leo’s teenage grandson Kyle, who has run away from his druggie mother, turns up on the doorstep of the  Seniors Home that Leo has been dumped into.  Although it throws a spanner in the works of his cosy money making scheme, Mike nevertheless takes the withdrawn and sullen Kyle welcomes into his home and family until they can sort out what’s best for them all.

Turns out that this awkward young boy is actually a budding wrestling champ and by joining Mike’s team, every one’s future starts looking brighter, although not until after they have all been made to face up to deal with a few obstacles/problems that could wreck their cozy lives.

It’s a joyous gentle intelligent movie that follows the themes McCarthy’s previous movies where the protagonists lives were also turned on their heads with the arrival of total strangers. The perceptive screenplay is  well written and provides some well-rounded characters for the talented crew of actors that include Bobby Cannavale (also in 'The Last Station Agent') as Mike’s best friend Terry, Amy Ryan (who wowed us all in ‘Gone Baby Gone’) and Mike’s wife, Jeffery Tambor dryer than ever as the droll Assistant Coach.  And then there is young Kyle played by newcomer Alex Shaffer who was cast for his wresting skills but I think gave a great acting debut too.

A wonderful grown up pleasurable movie that I am so glad I saw after all.

★★★★★★★★
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