Sorry To Bother You

Sorry to Bother You

Director: Boots Riley Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler 

Sorry to bother you is a crazy, surreal satirical film that’s probably the equivalent of getting high on cocaine while being feverish, drinking spirits and talking with your friends about matters like racial stereotypes, corporate greed, people working on minimal wage (I say “probably” because actually I’ve never been “high” in my life… but I’m sure the makers of this did). 

It is a unique piece of work, a cross between a ‘Spike Lee joint’ (that’s how Spike himself calls his films) and a Zucker Abrahams Zucker comedy (the makers of Airplane, Top Secret! And Naked Gun), which has non-stop energy and crazy ideas coming out of every frame (some more successful than others but all of them on message!). Definitely not subtle, but it’s ambitious, as well as messy and bonkers. 

It is an undeniably original film, at times very funny too, however after a while you just wish you had a slightly more grounded story with characters you could root for. 

As it is, it’s a film that’s easier to be intrigued and amused by than actually to love.

The wacky cacophony of criticism and social commentary after a strong start begins to feel just a bit too much and loses some of its funny undertone as it becomes increasingly and unapologetically more and more preposterous, dismissing the actual storyline it has set up and consequently becoming a little bit exhausting. 

So in the end as an audience you’re left slightly bamboozled, watching it all from a distance as opposed to being involved with it. 

I admired it but I just wish it made me care a little bit more. 

On Netflix right now. 

Terminator: Dark Fate

Terminator: Dark Fate 1/2

Director: Tim Miller. Cast: David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, Billy Ray 

I lost the count of how many attempts they’ve tried to make a sequel or a reboot after the first two iconic Terminator movies. This one seems to link straight to those two originals, disregarding completely what happened since, which is probably a good thing because not only all the others were pretty poor, but I don’t think anyone can actually remember what happened in them anyway. I must confess there is a certain pleasure in seeing Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger together again. The 30 years that have passed clearly show on Linda’s wrinkled face, but her strength and energy as an 64-years-old action hero is pretty much second to none.Mackenzie Davis here used as a sort of surrogate of Charlize Theron does a pretty decent job too .The film itself follows the usual formula of the terminator sent from the future to kill somebody and preventing that person to be instrumental for the human kind… or something like that. To be honest, who cares? The moment the film stops and starts explaining things it becomes rather dull and unimaginative, but luckily most of the rest is one action scene after another and even though there is very little as mind blowing as what we’ve seen before in Judgment day, it’s entertaining enough in a disposable sort of way, to fill a couple of hours. Just about…

The Sugarland Express

The Sugarland Express

Director: Steven Spielberg. Cast: Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks 

This has always been a half forgotten one in Spielberg’s filmography. It is actually his first real feature film for the big screen (in fact, really big screen: he shoot it all in wide anamorphic), and it’s also the first collaboration with John Williams (thought this is still quite an un-williams soundtrack, with Spielberg himself playing the harmonica).

I had seen it before and while I remembered the main plot (based on bit of a “Bonny and Clyde” on the road true story: a wife convinces his soon to be released husband to escape prison so that they can kidnap their own son, who is with foster parents. In their escape they take a policeman hostage). I remembered the long lines of police cars and obviously the unforgettable ending, but I didn’t quite remember how funny it was too. The wonderfully devilish Goldie Hawn is hilarious (and infuriating at the same time), and beyond from the insanity of the story itself to ,what really works here is the relationship between the couple and the “kidnapped policeman”.

Despite the tragedy beneath the surface of the main story, Spielberg has a lot of fun with some of the most outlandish details but at the same time he manages to flesh out a certain sweetness from the characters, well beyond the simple lines of dialogue. It’s all in the looks, in the gestures in the silences. That’s when Spielberg excels in his direction. The film is not as flashy and beautifully choreographed as many of his later films (or in fact even his earlier Duel for that matter) but here and there you’ll still find some wonderful Spielbergian flourishes, some beautiful edits, if you know what to look out for: the long takes, the quick edits as the car flash by, the big close-ups, the beautiful compositions… and so on.

The film has that sort slightly slower pace so in tune with the 70s (especially in its first half), which is probably why today it is not revisited as much, but I really liked it and was glued to the screen till the very end.

The Life Ahead

The Life Ahead (La vita davanti a sé)

Directed by: Edoardo Ponti Cast: Sophia Loren, Renato Carpentieri, Francesco Cassano, Ibrahima Gueye

There is something rather beautiful about seeing Sophia Loren, now 86 years old, on the screen again! (With an added bonus of a Neapolitan accent, so reminiscent of her early films). Her presence in the film is enough of a hook and her performance is enough to earn the 3 stars seal of approval, but actually I thought that the real revelation is the little boy, Ibrahima Gueye, whose range of emotion lights up the whole film.Unfortunately both Gueye and Loren work with aslightly forced script, riddled with clichés and predictable which most likely suffers from being condensed from larger and more nuanced story in the original book.The film is directed by Sophia Loren’s own son, Edorado Ponti and it’s a remake of a French Oscar winning film from the 1977 (Madame Rosa). It’s definitely a flawed film: for example I didn’t buy the voice over, which felt like it was coming from a different character as the one I was watching on the screen, I found some of the behavior changes of the main characters a bit too abrupt and I never had a sense of time passing.There were lots of potentially very interesting characters but the film only seem to scratch the surface.However, having said all that, here and there were glimpses of pure poetry and beauty. Little gems, tiny moments which I found surprising and heart-warming which somehow made me forgive the so-so rest.

You can stream this on Netflix

DUEL

Duel

Director: Steven Spielberg. Cast: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone

Surprisingly I think I had only seen this film in its entirety once, a long time ago (I know… shame on me!) and I could hardly many of the set-pieces. Given my never-ending reverence and love for Steven Spielberg, I thought it was time to revisit his first feature (Though it had directed other stuff for TV before). Even then, in 1971, at the young age of 24, he showed an understanding of the medium and a mastery at building scenes and tension which was truly unique and quite astonishing. He was so confident about the power of his visuals that he actually cut 50% of the dialogue from the script while making the film (he said he would have cut more if the studio had allowed him to).The original story by Richard Matheson had appeared on Playboy (of all places): “It was one of the few times I ever picked up Playboy without looking at the pictures” Spielberg would later say.He took the simplest streamlined premise (a truck stalking a driver), and turned it into a nail-biting murderous game of cat and mouse, using every trick in the film-maker guide book to maximum effect: great vistas, tight close-up, handheld camera, crane shots, tracking shots, low angles, high angles, 360 degree pans and so on. In fact there are hardly 2 shots alike in this film, which is surprising given its plot.Spielberg’s technical virtuosity goes beyond just the placing of the camera. The sharp editing, the inventive use of sound, the music so reminiscent of Bernard Hermann (not the only Hitchcockian influence in this film) but also so experimental. All of these elements converge to make even the most boring and uncharismatic man on the planet (in this case Dennis Weaver) seem exciting. That’s not to say that Dennis Weaver is miscast, actually quite the opposite, his descent to madness is very believable.As a film geek, I love seeing some of Spielberg’strademarks already visible here: the unseen murderous truck driver, just like the unseen shark in Jaws, a man from a broken family, like in Close Encounter, the big close-ups of the hero’s eyes, later seeing in “Raiders”… and even extras which he would later use again and so on, all the way to more recent films like Munich.This may not be the most compelling story ever told, but the way it’s told is second to none… and at that point one of cinema’s greatest was “born”.

The Blu-ray I watched the on contains some pretty juicy interviews and documentaries too, all which made the experience of watching this even more exciting.