Tiefland: A Review (Review #2130)

TIEFLAND

Tiefland (Lowlands) is the final film from Leni Riefenstahl. Now damned for her work during the Nazi era, Tiefland gives viewers a glimpse of what could have been Riefenstahl's cinematic output if not for her now-notorious connection to the Third Reich. Visually rich if melodramatic, Tiefland will almost never be judged on its own merits for good or bad. 

There could be no more two different men than Pedro and Don Sebastian, Marquis of Roccabruna. Pedro (Franz Eichberger) is a simple shepherd living in the mountains. He cares only for his sheep and his flute. Don Sebastian (Bernhard Minetti) is haughty, arrogant and powerful. He cares only for his prized bulls. Don Sebastian cares so much for his prized bulls that he redirects the water from the villagers to his cattle. As Pedro lives in the mountains, this does not affect him. 

It does affect the villagers and has an unintended consequence. Don Sebastian depends on the villagers bringing in good crops so he can make money off them. However, because he is taking up all the water for his cattle, which he oddly does not sell, he ends up creating the financial situation that he is facing. Creditors are starting to come after him. In desperation, the Marquis turns to Dona Amelia (Maria Koppenhoffer), the Mayor's wealthy daughter. Amelia would like to be a Marchioness, but she and Sebastian loath each other.

Enter into this maelstrom the mysterious traveling dancer Martha (director Leni Riefenstahl). She entrances the innocent, virginal Pedro and the dastardly sexually voracious Don Sebastian. The former returns to the mountains. The latter orders her to his castle and forces Martha to become his mistress. The Marquis' financial straits increase, and he comes up with a dastardly scheme. He will marry Amelia while keeping our Gypsy queen as his mistress. Martha, who has tried to help the peasants, runs away after a brutal beating and flees to the mountains. Pedro is again enchanted by this beauty. She is eventually found and returned to Don Sebastian. Now, circumstances bring Pedro and Martha into a forced marriage. Will Sebastian get his cake and eat it too? Who will triumph for Martha's love? 

I do not know if Tiefland will ever truly be judged for itself. It will always have much outside negative elements that will make it hard viewing. Just having Leni Riefenstahl as director, screenwriter and lead is a bridge too far for many given her role in directing the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will. No project of hers will ever be seen separate from her involvement in the Third Reich. 

Then there is the question of the film's extras. The peasants, especially children, were Roma (then known as Gypsies). They were brought in from concentration camps. Exactly what Riefenstahl knew about both where Tiefland's extras came from or what their fate was is still, per my understanding, a subject of fierce debate. Knowing that the working conditions on  Tiefland for some of the extras was the result of war crimes makes viewing a hard thing. 

I think only someone who has no prior knowledge of Riefenstahl and the extent of the Gypsie persecution would be able to fully judge the film on its own merits. 

I will do my best to judge Tiefland on those merits. There is much to admire in the film in terms of its visuals. Riefenstahl is a mistress of the visual art of filmmaking. Some sequences and scenes are impressive to look at. Of note is when Pedro sees Martha in the clouds. This is quite a clever shot that catches the viewers' attention. The montage of the melting mountain ice to a gushing waterfall is equally impressive. The last shot too is very poetic. 

Riefenstahl loved moving the camera. There was a great deal of flow in Tiefland, as if she were averse to keeping things still. There was a great effort to keep things moving, to create a sweeping manner in the film. 

In terms of its look, Tiefland has much to be admired. In terms of acting and story, Tiefland is a little weak. Granted, Riefenstahl adapted the film from an older opera and play. Therefore, there was something a bit old fashioned to the narrative. One also has to consider that Tiefland began work in 1940 but by its release in 1954 there had been many hurdles in its production. The war and post-war eras had prevented Riefenstahl from working on the film in a straightforward manner. 

The best thing that one can say about the acting is that it kept to Tiefland's melodramatic manner. Leni Riefenstahl, I suspect, let her vanity get the best of her. It is interesting seeing her dance again on film. She had started out as a dancer, and Tiefland gives her that opportunity to showcase her dancing. However, she was 38 when Tiefland began filming. It is a terrible thing to say, even to someone as notorious as Leni Riefenstahl. However, she was too old for the part of this temptress.  

That aside, I thought Riefenstahl handled herself well as the sympathetic Martha. She has a soft voice that fits the character. She gave a mostly credible performance. She also directed her cast quite well. Minetti was short a mustache to twirl as the evil Marquis. He was, I found, appropriately melodramatic without going over the top. Franz Eichberger made Pedro into a believable innocent. He was capable of battle, especially in the final confrontation with the Marquis.

Tiefland loved going into symbolism. We start with a ten-minute dialogue-free sequence, where all we hear is the beautiful music and the shepherd fighting off a wolf. That makes Pedro's climatic declaration to the Marquis, "You are the wolf", all the more on-the-nose. 

It will be a long time before Tiefland can be judged separate from Leni Riefenstahl's notorious legacy. Visually impressive if a bit dull in story, Tiefland can be appreciated in its overall look. The film is mercifully short, so one can watch without feeling drained at the end. 

Would people think better of Tiefland if perhaps another director had filmed it? I think so. Leni Riefenstahl had a great eye for visual splendor. Whether that artistic eye could or should have been used for moral clarity is something only the viewer can answer for him/herself. 

DECISION: C+

Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story. The Television Miniseries

LIZ: THE ELIZABETH TAYLOR STORY

Dame Elizabeth Taylor simply hated the nickname "Liz". She especially hated when she and her fifth and sixth husband Richard Burton were referred to as "Liz and Dick". Such a detail would not matter to the production crew of Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story. While the lead performance is effective, Liz fails to capture the full scope of her stardom and genuine talent.

Young Elizabeth Taylor is set on being an actress and not a movie star. Her mother Sara (Christine Healy) has a powerful ally in movie gossip queen Hedda Hopper (Katharine Helmond). It is Hopper that brings Taylor to MGM. While Elizabeth is American by citizenship, she was born and spent her early years in the United Kingdom. As such, Elizabeth speaks with a British accent, which is perfect for the role of an English girl in National Velvet. Her violet eyes and elegant manner help too. 

Soon, Taylor (Sherilyn Fenn) blossoms into a glorious, ravishing beauty. She becomes good friends with two other young actors. One is the sweet-natured Debbie Reynolds (Judith Jones). The other is brooding and gloriously ravishing beauty Montgomery Clift (William McNamara). Monty loves Liz, but only platonically. She is slightly disappointed but accepts him for himself. She also listens and studies his acting methods. 

I do not think that Clift ever gave her marriage advise. If he did, it did not work. We go through two marriages in Liz quickly. The first is to young Hilton heir Conrad "Nicky" Hilton (Eric Gustavson), a bullying and abusive drunk. The second is the older English actor Michael Wilding (Nigel Havers). He is steady but a bit dull. He also is convinced that Taylor is getting too close to her Giant costar Rock Hudson (Dan McVicar). 

Now on her second divorce, third time seems the charm with outrageous film and theater producer Mike Todd (Ray Wise). Sadly, Todd leaves her a widow. For comfort, she turns to "that Fisher man" as Mama Sara calls him. Eddie Fisher (Cory Parker) comforts the Widow Todd a little too intimately and slips from Debbie Reynolds' first husband to Elizabeth Taylor's fourth.

Now comes Husband Number Five: Richard Burton (Angus MacFayden). This lusty lush Welshman wins her during the filming of Cleopatra. Their extramarital affair became the greatest public scandal of the age. As the Battling Burtons boozed their way through life, something eventually had to give. A few more marriages, a few stints in rehab, and a new mission as an AIDS activist all conclude our story.

I genuinely do not know if Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story can be called "the Elizabeth Taylor Story". I say this because so much of Liz is really about Liz and Dick. Husband Number Seven, Senator John Warner, gets pretty much ignored. Granted, we do see their relationship. However, the end of it came from seeing a newspaper headline. Come to think of it, her second divorce from Richard Burton, I think, also came via headline. 

Taylor's first marriage to Conrad "Nicky" Hilton also went pretty fast in Liz. It went from marriage to spousal abuse to divorce probably within ten minutes if that. 

As I think more on Liz, I think that the film did Dame Elizabeth a terrible disservice. There is so much focus on her myriad marriages that one forgets that Taylor was more than her many romantic escapades. I figure that there was a reason why director Kevin Connor and screenwriter Burr Douglas opted not to touch on Taylor's screen performances. Taylor remained a star for decades. However, I do not think we got a hint of any of her performances. We saw her in costume for Giant, Cleopatra and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but apart from that, Liz was all about glitz. We never saw her actually act save for perhaps a bit of Cleopatra. Even that was just set-up for the Burton-Taylor affair. 

Liz does not make a case for what exactly made Elizabeth Taylor such a legendary figure within her own lifetime. We never did get what made Taylor tick. What we got was beautiful people wearing beautiful costumes and sometimes making spectacles of themselves. 

Curiously, Liz is an adaptation of C. David Heymann's biography Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor. I say "curiously" because Liz left off some vital moments. During Cleopatra's long production, Taylor came dangerously close to dying when a viral infection turned into pneumonia. A last-minute tracheotomy saved her life. Yet I do not remember that being part of Liz. It might have been mentioned. However, if it was, it left little impression.

As stated, so much of Liz revolves around Burton and Taylor that one is surprised Liz just didn't stick with that. Two other television biopics were built entirely around the Burton-Taylor marriages: one being good, the other being dreadful. Liz is somewhere in the middle. Nowhere near as tawdry and laughable as Liz & Dick yet not as intelligent as Burton and Taylor. 

In terms of acting, Liz is all over the place. I have long considered Sherilynn Fenn one of the most beautiful women that I have ever seen. She is simply gorgeous as Elizabeth Taylor. Fenn astonishes the viewer with her beauty and grace on screen. Her Elizabeth Taylor comes across as both strong and vulnerable, a woman carried by passion. She also has a moral core despite her reputation as a black widow and femme fatale. 

Taylor early in her liaison with Burton says that she will willingly be his mistress. Later on, though, she is enraged when a still-married Burton proposes to her. "You can have a wife and a mistress. You cannot have a wife and a fiancée", she angrily tells him. Fenn as Taylor portrays a woman who comes into her own. A particularly surprising moment is when attempting to campaign for Warner, she takes offense at some of his positions. Taylor audibly boos his stump speech, shocking the donors. 

Sherilynn Fenn elevates Liz. Some of her fellow actors match her in acting. Some do not. William McNamara's role as Montgomery Clift is small. However, he does well even if McNamara does not look much like Monty. Nigel Havers' Michael Wilding was fine. He was not particularly great nor was he embarrassing himself. To be fair, there was an unintentionally amusing moment when Wilding storms onto the Marfa, Texas Giant location. He says that he flew in from El Paso to see what was going on between Taylor and Hudson. On his arrival, Havers' Wilding looks like a British butler.

Husband Number Three was played by Ray Wise. I found his take on Mike Todd to be really broad bordering on cartoonish. I give a little leeway in that Todd in real life was rather flashy. "You've been married to a kid and an old man", Todd tells Taylor when he first pushes himself into her life. I do not know if Liz intended to echo Rhett Butler's line to Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. 

Wise at least was better than the actors who played Rock Hudson and James Dean. They did not look or sound like either of her Giant costars. They looked and sounded like random men that just wandered onto the Liz set and got thrown in there. 

And then there is Angus MacFayden's Richard Burton. As stated, the bulk of Liz centers around this notorious relationship. Therefore, MacFayden gets the lion's share of attention in the television miniseries.

MacFayden sounds fine, approximating Burton's luxurious Welsh tones. However, he also seemed to relish devouring the scenery at every single scene. There was no calmness to MacFayden's Burton. He was broad no matter what the situation. To be fair, Richard Burton could also devour the scenery with naked abandon both on screen and in real life. As such, I cannot fault Angus MacFayden for sometimes going over-the-top.

There was one moment when it looked unclear whether MacFayden and Fenn were playing their characters or the actors. It is during the section that covers the Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? production. MacFayden and Fenn are dressed as George and Martha from the film. However, Liz soon starts blending things to where one is unsure if they are attempting to rehearse Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or actually live it out. It is interesting viewing. It is also a bit muddled.

"There's only one Elizabeth Taylor", her eighth and final husband Larry Fortensky observes at the end of Liz. Replies Taylor, "Thank heaven for that". Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story wanted to cover the breath of her life from her National Velvet appearance to 1992 (Taylor dying in 2011). With so much attention focused on her relationship with Richard Burton, something got lost in the miniseries. 

Elizabeth Taylor. 

1932-2011

5/10

Crime 101: A Review

CRIME 101

Crime 101 might mislead people into thinking that it is more action-packed than it ultimately is. 

Gentleman jewelry thief Mike Davis (Chris Hemsworth) has everything in his heists planned to the millisecond. He takes care never to harm anyone and leave no physical evidence, including DNA. His latest heist where he robs two men transporting a cache of diamonds has a near-miss when one of them pulls a gun and grazes Davis. He tells his fence Money (Nick Nolte) that he won't be pulling another heist, probably to recover from the shock of his near-miss.

Money appears to go along with that. However, he opts to bring in Ormon (Barry Keoghan), a young and reckless up-and-coming thief, to pull the aborted heist. Ormon is volatile, angry and undisciplined. He also harms people in the robbery. This puts a damper on a longstanding theory from Detective Lou (Mark Ruffalo). While the rest of the LAPD dismisses his idea, Lou is convinced that various thefts are from one person. The physical assault in the latest heist does not fit the pattern.

Something that does not fit the pattern is how insurance broker Sharon (Halle Berry) keeps getting pushed aside by her employer for others, mostly men, who have less experience and time with the company. Her latest efforts to land a big client, shady billionaire Monroe (Tate Donavan) are floundering. Davis hires someone to find information on Sharon, whom he thinks can help him in one last heist. He also is starting to see Maya (Monica Barbaro) who ran into the back of his car. 

The various threads connecting Lou, Sharon, Mike and Ormon all meet at the lavish wedding Monroe has set up for himself. He will give the wedding guests expensive watches and diamonds. He will also have millions of dollars in ready cash. Various disguises and deceptions take place for everyone to get into Monroe's hotel room. Who will make it out alive? Who will get ahead of everyone else?

Crime 101 runs a very lengthy two hours and twenty minutes. This is surprising in that Crime 101 is based on a novella by Don Winslow. One would think that a novella would not have so much material as to require something of this length. I wonder, never having read the Winslow novella, if screenwriter/director Don Layton added more to the final product. 

I think that Crime 101 might have benefitted from shortening the runtime. The subplots of Davis' romance and Lou's marriage troubles might have been trimmed. I would not necessarily advocate to remove them entirely. After all, Lou met Sharon through the yoga class, which he would not have taken up had he not been forced to move out. However, we also had a surprisingly long section where Lou's fellow cops faked the presence of a gun to justify a fellow officer shooting a jewel thief. We also had long scenes involving Sharon and Monroe, Sharon and Davis, Davis and Money, Davis and Ormon and so on.

I think one of my big issues with Crime 101 is that most scenes went on too long. I understand what Crime 101 was going for. It seemed to want to bring in elements of Pulp Fiction, Drive and Heat into it. The film is not entirely unsuccessful in that endeavor. It just seemed to me that far too many scenes dragged. 

Here is one of the complaints about Crime 101 has merit. I think there were people who thought that Crime 101 would have more action. This is a fair idea given that Crime 101 involves jewel theft. However, I think a lot of Crime 101 felt a bit more cerebral and philosophical. That is not necessarily, again, a bad thing. It just felt as if it were slightly out of place in a movie that could have used a bit more action.

Crime 101 is filled with talented performers. They did mostly well. The continuing efforts to push Chris Hemsworth as an actor or action star continue to meet resistance. One has to give Hemsworth credit in that here his Australian accent was not as prominent as it usually is. Perhaps he has been in the United States long enough to pick up how American English sounds and attempt a good approximation. One could still pick up a bit of his native Aussie tones, however. It makes Mike's backstory a bit hard to accept. 

I will have to give him credit in that Hemsworth is playing slightly against type. Davis is not a man of action. He is more a man of thought, someone who is methodical and mostly calm in his various heists. When he is not calm, he is often more agitated than angry. 

That agitation is handled by Barry Keoghan as the live-wire Ormon. I think Keoghan went slightly overboard in showing Orman to be a loose cannon. There seemed to be something exaggerated, almost cartoonish, about his efforts to play tough and crazed. Keoghan came across as someone trying too hard to play crazed, intense and dangerous. He might have done better trying to play Lou, though it would make it look odder. Ruffalo was a standout as Lou, weary but dogged. He was somewhere in the middle of Hemsworth's cool detachment and Keoghan's wild intensity. Halle Berry too was in good form as Sharon. This is a woman who struggles against the sexism and ageism around her. This motivates, in part, her actions. You can see the frustration of waiting for a promotion to partner that she accepts will not be forthcoming.

Monica Barbaro as Mike's love interest and Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lou's estranged wife Angie seemed lost in the shuffle. They are more plot devices than characters. I will give them credit in that they did what they could. I figure Nick Nolte could have been a bigger part of things. However, I think he was there for two to three scenes and always felt as if he were in an earlier draft that got put into the final film. 

Crime 101 has a Michael Mann feel with its cool California manner and visual style. I was reminded of Manhunter while watching drive (minus the serial killer). The focus on the city streets and Blanck Mass' electronic score also add to the sense that Crime 101 drew inspiration from Mann's body of work. 

Crime 101 was not bad. It could have been better if it were shorter. It is a bit slow, which weakened the film to me. I was reminded of George Lucas' primary direction on Star Wars. Crime 101 would have done better had it been "faster and more intense".

DECISION: C+

Solo Mio: A Review

SOLO MIO

There is a distinct pleasure in seeing a movie that is unapologetic and open about itself. Such is the case with Solo Mio. Simple, sweet and direct, Solo Mio charms the viewer with its story of love lost and found.

Matt Taylor (Kevin James) is over the moon when his elementary school teacher girlfriend Heather McNally (Julie Ann Emery) accepts his marriage proposal. It is off to Rome for a great wedding. Unfortunately, Heather has become a runaway bride. She leaves a Dear John letter along with Matt's engagement ring when she flees. Matt is understandably shocked and devasted. Worse, he cannot exchange or get a refund on the Two Become One travel package. 

He stays in Rome, convinced that Heather will return. He also opts to keep using the Two Become One package despite the obviousness of him being alone. Two couples soon note this and attempt to take Matt under his wing. One is Julian and Meghan (Kim Coates and Alyson Hannigan). They are on their third marriage to each other. The other is Neal and Donna (Jonathan Roumie and Julee Cerda). They met when Donna was Neal's therapist. Matt is flustered but accepting of the other couples' well-meaning though to him eccentric efforts. 

One person who does help is Gia (Nicole Grimaudo). She is the local cafe owner whose coffee shop is the starting point of the various Two Become One tours. Gia offers an understanding ear and a bright smile. She takes a shine to this bald American and soon whisks the reluctant and reticent American through Rome. Matt still pines for Heather but ultimately is convinced by his impromptu bros that he needs to move on.

The best way to do that is to invite Gia to Tuscany, the next leg of the Two Become One package. Gia, who is having difficulty with her landlord/ex, thinks it is the perfect opportunity to visit relatives in the area. Among them is none other than her Uncle Andrea, as in Andrea Bocelli. Will Matt and Gia find that they are meant to be?

Solo Mio is like a Tuscan sun. It is warm, bright and joyful. The script by John and Patrick Kinnane along with star Kevin James, knows that Solo Mio is intended as a sweet, slightly goofy romantic comedy. The film is something of a Kinnane family project, as Solo Mio is directed by Charles and Daniel Kinnane. 

The script is surprising in how there is nothing truly objectionable about it. It has one of the best subversions of expectations that I have seen in recent years. There is a subplot of Matt attracting the unwanted attention of Claudia (Caterina Silva). She is a lusty and usually drunk Italian woman who first bumps into Matt at the bar the other Two Become One couples take him to. As she keeps hitting on a still-shellshocked Matt, he tells him, "I like your hair". At first, it is suggested visually that Claudia and Matt will hook up due to their mutual drunkenness. In a clever twist, we find that this is not the case. In fact, it is a sight gag at Matt's expense.

Solo Mio takes some traditional tropes and upends them somewhat. Our two couples are eccentric and slightly silly. Julian's continuing insistence that Matt go after "the coffee lady" and Neal's meeker manner are presented in slightly broad ways. However, we also see that Julian and Neal have their own issues. A nice moment is when Julian and later Neal both walk into Matt's suite. They offer their own wacky comfort while also taking jabs at Matt. A slight argument about Matt wearing an Ed Sheeran t-shirt is played well. The Kinnane Brothers do not let the actors go over-the-top here in zaniness. In fact, it is surprisingly underplayed. It is nice to see these three couples (counting when Gia joins them) bond.

We see this when the couples and Matt go to a rooftop party. One would not expect that Julian and Neal's sincere but whacked out version of Dobie Gray's Drift Away would be the setting for a nice romantic scene between Matt and Gia. That in itself is oddly charming. That Claudia pops up to put her own mark on the scene makes it funny. 

Solo Mio is fully aware as a mix of sincere and slightly absurd. This carries over into the performances. While best known as a stand-up comic and sitcom star, Kevin James is called here to play something like the straight man. He makes Matt into a sympathetic figure without making him a tragic one. We do get a nice bit of dramatic acting from James when he reflects on his loss. He talks to a slightly uninterested and drunk Claudia about how he thought that he never thought he'd have a chance to marry, how he felt that Heather was a miracle only to have it blow up in his face; it is hard not to feel for him.

James also keeps to Solo Mio's slightly goofy nature, such as when attempting to downplay Julian and Neal's ideas of what he and "the coffee lady" might get up to in Tuscany. He makes Matt's curious plight a bit humorous in his stumbling manner. Attempting to make puns with Gia, he says, "I was trying to be funny". Without missing a beat, Gia replies quite cheerfully, "Keep trying". 

In this scene, we see Matt as a genuinely nice guy. We see Gia as equally pleasant, almost amused by this American. Grimaudo's delivery shows that there was no malice or sarcasm in her statement. She was actually trying to be helpful. Nicole Grimaudo is a standout in Solo Mio. She plays Gia as mostly cheerful and optimistic. It makes it easy to believe that she would eventually be enchanted by Matt. She does have some good dramatic moments. There is a scene in her cafe after the rooftop party where it is just Gia and Matt. Here, Gia also talks a bit about her background. The way it is both played and directed reveals a soft touch. We end up caring about the characters.

This extends to the supporting cast. Other actors perhaps would have made Julian a bit creepy or sleazy. Kim Coates makes Julian more clueless but well-meaning. At heart, Julian wants Matt to heal from this awful heartbreak. He goes about it by suggesting random hookups and pursuing "the coffee lady". Those might be poor choices. However, they come from a good place. Jonathan Roumie's Neal is the counter to Julian's more aggressive manner. He makes Neal's meeker manner pleasant but equally misguided. 

While Alyson Hannigan and Julee Cerda as Meghan and Donna have less to do, they also add to the overall charm. They are combative and dominant towards their husbands. However, they also love them and like everyone else, are well meaning. It is always nice to see Andrea Bocelli play a version of himself. It is also nice to hear him sing a few songs. Who would imagine that Bocelli and James dueting on Nessun Dorma would work?

Well, work as reasonably as it could considering that Matt does not know all the words. 

Solo Mio runs a brisk 96 minutes. Short, simple, sweet, amusing, delightful and self-aware, Solo Mio hits all the notes of a successful romantic comedy. The more I think on it, the more I am delighted with Solo Mio. Vincero indeed. 

DECISION: B+

Ella McCay: A Review

ELLA MCCAY

Ella McCay and Ella McCay are a disaster. Ella McCay seems to have been engineered into being one of the worst films ever made. That is the only explanation that I can find to describe how awful, how cringe inducing, how so wildly and spectacularly wrong Ella McCay went. 

Told in voiceover by Estelle (Julie Kavner), we learn all about Ella. Despite being a mere 34 years old, Ella McCay (Emma Mackey) is the Lieutenant Governor of "the Valorous State" (I initially thought that it was New York State). She is surprised when the popular Governor Bill Moore (Albert Brooks) tells her that he is going into the President's Cabinet as the new Interior Secretary. This will require his immediate resignation, elevating Ella to the governorship.

This new position puts her in an awkward position with her family. Her estranged father Eddie (Woody Harrelson) wants to reconnect with both Ella and her brother Casey (Spike Fearn) because his newest girlfriend Olympia tells him to. Olympia is a psychiatrist, so she puts the pressure on Eddie to mend his relationship with his adult kids, or she will cut off their relationship. Ella's husband Ryan (Jack Lowden) is initially thrilled to be the incoming First Gentleman. As the owner of a series of pizza restaurants, he imagines that he will now move into the big time.

One person who is not thrilled by Ryan is Eddie's sister, Aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis). Helen has never liked Ryan ever since he hooked up with Ella when both of them were teens. Another person who is also not thrilled about incoming Governor McCay is Casey. He is a reclusive bookie who never makes contact with the family. Ella has more contact with her loyal state trooper guard Nash (Kumail Nanjiani) than she does with Casey.

Governor Moore switches to Governor McCay despite her inability to gladhand either the public or political donors. Ella gives a lengthy inaugural speech where she pushes for "the Mom Bill" which will give government aid to expectant and new mothers. It will also have "tooth tutors". This is where toothpaste companies will provide free toothpaste products to poor people. It will also bring dentists or dental students to poor and rural areas that have too much soda and too few dentists.

There is a scandal brewing, however. Ella and Ryan have been, shall we say, cavorting, in an unused apartment in the Capitol building during her lunch hour. Somehow, this can be construed as using government property for non-governmental use. An unnamed reporter has learned of this and wants "exclusive access" to the new Governor. Ella balks at such a thing. She is more appalled when Ryan not only admits to being the source but gives this reporter a $7500 check to make the story disappear. How long will the McCay administration last? Will Ella bring Casey around? Will they reconcile with Eddie? Will Casey reconcile with his ex, Susan (Eyo Edebiri)?

One watches Ella McCay in sheer astonishment that something so mind-numbingly stupid and incoherent could have come from James L. Brooks. The man behind Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets created something that seems to come from someone unfamiliar with movies, with people, or with logic. Ella McCay is idiotic from the word go. It is as if Brooks threw in various bits of half-formed ideas and sketches that did not work independently and thought that he could force them into working if he blended them all together.

It did not, not by a long shot. It is cringe-inducing seeing how Ella McCay flounders and flops about from Plot A to Plot W to Plot G to Plot Q before even remembering Plot A. Let us look at a few examples. In Ella McCay, Governor Bill is beloved and extremely popular (as Estelle's narration tells us). He is excited that he will be joining the Cabinet. Already something is wildly off with this plot point. Ella seems taken aback by the news, as if this came out of nowhere. She has to suddenly rush into being Governor. 

That makes no sense. You have to first be nominated by the President to a Cabinet post. You then go through a Senate confirmation hearing. That takes weeks to happen. As such, Ella would have known that Moore was being considered for a Cabinet appointment. She would not be caught off-guard. A sane person would have been prepared to assume office under the circumstances. 

Later in Ella McCay, however, Bill comments that Ryan's interview saying that Ella approved of a payoff would affect his Cabinet chances as he hadn't been confirmed yet. Does that mean that Moore resigned the Governorship BEFORE he was formally confirmed and appointed? That just does not make sense on any level. You have to be shockingly ignorant of how Cabinet appointments or government work. 

Granted, the minutia of Cabinet appointments may not matter overall in what is billed as a romantic comedy. Ella McCay, however, has other elements that are just stupid. We spend a long time on a subplot involving Casey and Susan. We frankly do not care about Casey and Susan. We never get a setup about Casey and Susan. We never get a reason to care about Casey and Susan. Once Casey, who denies being agoraphobic despite struggling to leave his apartment, goes to Susan, we get a very tedious scene with them. It is so dreadfully acted that one watches in pretty much horror than in anything else. Once Susan bizarrely agrees to start up their relationship, they pretty much disappear from the screen. 

They are not an interesting couple. They are not necessary in terms of the plot. They are just filler for a long movie (almost two hours). There is no set-up for their story. There is no interest during the time they are sucking up screentime. Fern and Edebiri look uncomfortable on screen. It is almost like watching an audition video than an actual performance.  

Jack Lowden's Ryan is a very contradictory character. Shown primarily as a goofball and idiot, we are supposed to believe that he turned evil after talking to his bitchy mother. He initially was delighted in the trappings of power, down to thinking that he could use the helicopter. Once his mother berated him for not saying anything when Ella failed to mention him in her inaugural address, he suddenly wants a political appointment. Put aside how a sane person with an ounce of intelligence would know that is not how appointments work. Why this sudden shift from dimwit to malevolent?

Ella McCay wants to have it both ways. On one hand, Ryan (who never got a last name on screen) is so moronic that he tells Ella that he gave this mysterious reporter a $7500 check because, "nobody likes carrying that much cash". On the other hand, he is so evil that he goes to a local reporter and says "Uh, well, my wife was the one who thought a payoff would be the way to handle it. And...it was her decision to end our marriage". He uses the term "payoff". Even a dolt like Ryan would know that he was saying that his wife, whom he apparently wants to divorce in a pique, was trying to bribe someone. Then again, perhaps he does not realize it. 

I do not know if Brooks realizes that closing Ella McCay by showing local health inspectors and police retaliate against Ryan paints Ella as corrupt and abusing her own power. 

Also, the "scandal" of Ella and Ryan having a little nookie during office hours does not strike me as the scandal Ella McCay pushes us to think that it is. I think most people would be more amused by a married couple schtupping in an unused Capitol room than appalled. Ella, had she any sense, would probably not fret about such insignificant matters. The unnamed and unseen reporter attempting to use this information as leverage would be an idiot for thinking this innocuous information was akin to Watergate.

Then again, I think everyone in Ella McCay is an idiot. Brooks should have the lion's share of blame for this total fiasco. His plot is all over the place, with story threads that go hither and yon, colliding with each other with no rhyme or reason. Over and over again plots and gags that are introduced are either never resolved or forgotten altogether. There is a bizarre subplot of Ella's security detail. State Trooper Nash, usually a cheerful and supportive fellow, is dismayed that his new partner Trooper Alexander (Joey Brooks, son of director James Brooks) hopes that now-Governor McCay's long stay at Casey's home means that they will get overtime. We are treated to this exchange.

Alexander starts sobbing when Nash insists that they should leave and not get overtime. "Sorry. I just could have used the extra money. The divorce is...the divorce is chomping me up". Replies Nash in a very calm tone, "She's getting what's fair, man". Alexander looks around and meekly replies, "Yeah". Later on, once Ella emerges to find both troopers asleep, she does not apologize to them for never formally releasing them. Instead, she berates Alexander for thinking of his overtime and half-pay during "The Great Recession". When they return to Ella's home, Nash takes his turn berating Alexander, telling him that there are many things that he can do with his kids that are free.

I was absolutely gobsmacked at all this. Nash and Ella show themselves as thoroughly unsympathetic to a character we are not introduced to and who pretty much again disappears. Who is Nash to decide if the former Mrs. Alexander "is getting what is fair"? Who is Ella to be so thoughtless and uncaring that she never formally permits the men assigned to protect her to leave?

Moreover, this comes after Ella, in a state of marijuana-laced speechmaking, tells Casey her economic stimulus plan. She will push to "jack up" license and registration fees, especially on commercial vehicles, to cover the cost of fixing substandard roads and ports. 

It is simply astonishing that Ella McCay would have been elected dogcatcher with such a proposal. It is simply astonishing that Ella McCay thinks that this woman would have even come close to being elected to even dogcatcher. One moment we get a lecture about how commercial vehicle owners/drivers should pay more. The next, a poor state trooper is told that he should have left his post because others are struggling financially. 

As the kids say, "make it make sense".

Put all that aside. Ella McCay is simply bad because it is so terribly acted. I do not know who Emma Mackey is. She was in the 2002 Death on the Nile remake and was dreadful in it. Here, she is I think attempting to be a weird mix of quirky and intelligent. Perhaps someone like Anne Hathaway could have made it work. Here though, Mackey came across as an obnoxious idiot who is the Queen of Failing Upward. No one in their right mind would think that Ella McCay would have achieved high office short of literal bribes being given and taken. This is a woman so dumb that she literally does not notice a poor staffer literally drooling next to her; said staffer is asleep and exhausted after the oblivious Ella has kept them locked in a staff room late into the night. That staffer is suddenly awakened when Ella has this kind of peppy cheer that she lets out.

There are no performances in Ella McCay. Everyone bar none is bad. Jack Lowden is directed to make Ryan goofy and evil. He is unconvincing either way. Jamie Lee Curtis attempts to liven things up by being almost unhinged in the faux cheeriness. Woody Harrelson has nothing to do but be the equally dumb father, unaware of his self-centeredness. I think that was meant to be funny. It just wasn't. Spike Fearn and Ayo Edebiri do nothing, except perhaps look deeply uncomfortable being anywhere near this debacle. Kumail opted to play Nash as eternally calm. That is a choice, I guess. Everyone thinks that by mugging for the camera they will make whatever they think is comedy work. It does not.

We also have Kavner popping in to be our narrator. Why is she the narrator? Why does she start by speaking directly on camera only to transition to straight voiceover we do not know. Why she, who plays Ella's secretary, get to be the narrator we do not know.

The state motto in the mythical state Ella McCay is set in is "Verum est Difficile" or "Truth is Difficult/Hard". Here is a hard truth: Ella McCay is a total, unmitigated disaster of a film. It is another sign that the man behind the dreadful How Do You Know can make something even worse than that monstrosity. 

There are movies that I have disliked. There are movies that I have hated. And then there is Ella McCay, perhaps the worst movie of 2025.  

DECISION: F

A Streetcar Named Desire: A Review

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

In the American South, they are proud of their crazy people. So commented Julia Sugarbaker on an episode of Designing Women. I wonder how proud Ms. Sugarbaker would be of Blanche DuBois, the ultimate crazed Southern belle. Both Blanche and her A Streetcar Named Desire antagonist have become legendary. The filmed adaptation of Tennessee Williams' sordid song of the South may have been watered down from the original stage production. However, A Streetcar Named Desire still has immense power owing to its brilliant performances and direction.

Fading beauty and English teacher Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) has come to New Orleans' French Quarter to visit her sister Stella (Kim Hunter) for an indefinite stay. Stella is happy to have Blanche back. One person who is at most disinterested and at most irritated at having the Grande Dame of Belle Reve back is Stella's husband. As Blanche is refined and proper, Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) is coarse and brutal. 

Blanche does not understand why Stella puts up with Stanley. It helps that Stella is fixated on Stanley's animal magnetism and incredible body. It also helps that Stella is pregnant. Stanley is convinced that Blanche has squandered the DuBois estate and thus stolen from what should be his due to the Napoleonic Code. It is doubtful that he knows what the Napoleonic Code actually is. It is doubtful that Stanley's poker buddies know either. One who might know is his best friend Mitch (Karl Malden). He is more respectful and sophisticated than Stanley but not as refined as Blanche. 

Mitch and Blanche begin seeing each other socially. Blanche is a widow after her sensitive husband killed himself. What exactly drove her husband to end his life is as shadowy as the fog Blanche seems to live in. So is her sordid past at the Flamingo Hotel and the true reason she left her teaching position. Stanley has contacts who know what's what. Stella won't believe the stories. Mitch believes them. Blanche, whose mixture of lies and fantasy start blending, is teetering on emotional and mental collapse. Stella's now given birth, leaving Stanley and Blanche alone together. Blanche has lost touch with reality. A shocking act from Stanley pushes her over the edge. Will Blanche find refuge from her many disasters? Will Blanche continue to depend on the kindness of strangers?

A Streetcar Named Desire brings back almost everyone from the original stage production to recreate their roles on film. That includes director Elia Kazan, who keeps things well-paced for a two-hour runtime. The only performer who was not from the original Broadway production was Vivien Leigh. She however had played Blanche on the London stage. As such, everyone in the cast, it could be argued, was recreating their original stage performance. 

A Streetcar Named Desire has one of the finest acting in film. Brando, Leigh, Malden and Hunter were all nominated for their performances. Three of the four won in their respective categories, the first time that had happened in Academy Award history. Only Brando lost, with Humphrey Bogart beating him for The African Queen. Each performance is extraordinary. I will start with the winners.

I think it would be difficult to not compare Vivien Leigh's second Oscar for Best Actress to her first for Gone with the Wind. In both, she plays Southern belles gone wildly wrong. However, I think Leigh gives a simply brilliant performance as Blanche DuBois. If one listens to her, we see how Leigh captured Blanche's mix of mania and melancholy. She starts off speaking in a rapid-fire manner. Her voice is very high, and her manner seems almost exaggerated in its graces and airs. Late in the film, however, her pitch changes to a lower, huskier tone. This is when she is forced into talking about her sordid, sleazy past as the town nympho. 

This to me shows that Blanche was somewhat aware that she was putting on an act. I say "somewhat aware" as part of me thinks that Blanche is the type to will something to be true even when it isn't. She is a deeply tragic and traumatized figure. Censorship would not allow her late husband's truth to be fully revealed (she remarks that he was sensitive and wrote poetry). However, Leigh's performance made me think that Blanche carries a bit of guilt about his condition. We see her as already fragile, high-strung and frankly a bit loony when she emerges from the train station. 

When she is forced to relinquish the fantasy world of "magic" to the harsh light of reality, there is more than symbolism there. Blanche struggles between her ideas of refinement and her carnal desires. This is a person at war with themselves. Blanche at heart, I think, wants to be that refined, sophisticated lady. She is also not deliberately cruel, which she says is the one unforgivable thing that she is not guilty of. 

Leigh does an absolutely brilliant job as Blanche DuBois. Her final scene is filled with deep tragedy and a touch of grace. One cannot help being moved by her famous last line. It is a confession to herself and others that unlike Scarlett O'Hara, Blanche DuBois hasn't the strength to stand on her own.

Kim Hunter and Karl Malden also do excellent work as Stella and Mitch. Hunter shows Stella to be drawn to someone like Stanley. It is not openly stated, but it is sex. She, unlike Blanche, has no shame in giving in to the temptations of the flesh. She also is different from Stanley in that her loves can be emotional as well as physical. She accepts Stanley for the man that he is. She may even like how mean he is. However, she also sees the fragility in Blanche and wants desperately to care for her. Hunter is a perfect supporting actress. She supports Brando and Leigh without either overshadowing them or fading in their shadows. Hunter is able to go toe-to-toe with them without taking attention away from them. Hunter manages that balance exceptionally well.

Malden plays Mitch as someone who is between Stanley and Blanche. Stanley, for example, would simply balk at the idea of having to bow to any woman upon greeting them. We see Mitch, albeit reluctantly, do such a thing. The smile on his face is not that of someone who expects a bit of something-something. It does hint that he would like some, however. 

Mitch treats Blanche like the refined lady that she sees herself as. Malden makes Mitch into something of an innocent. He is able to play rough-and-tough poker with the bros. He is also able to fret about his ill mother and marvel at Blanche's elegance and sophistication. His scene where he confronts Blanche about her wicked past is a strong scene. As he forces Blanche to literally enter the light, we see a man both enraged and heartbroken.

Now we turn to Marlon Brando. He is absolutely brilliant from his first scene as the brutal, brutish Stanley Kowalski. Stanley is boorish, animalistic and filled with rage at the slightest hint of mockery. This is a man who is surprisingly similar to Blanche in one way: he too is a man of passions. His cries of "HEY STELLA!" may now be something of a cliche and ripe for parody. However, it is a credit to Marlon Brando's performance that he makes Stanley's intensity and ferocity look natural and not silly.

We still end up finding him repellant given how he tortured Blanche at the end. Stanley is not a good man. When he tears into the refined DuBois sisters for constantly mocking him as a "Polack", one feels that immense chip on his shoulder tearing at him. He acts out like an uncaged, unhinged man. 

It is curious though that for how much Brando as Stanley Kowalski is, few have noted that Brando managed to get a bit humor into his performance. Hearing him constantly go on about both the Napoleonic Code and the various people who will examine things for him is amusing. After his intense and frightening slamming of the dishes, he calmly says that his side is clear and offers to clean Stella and Blanche's side. Brando made that if not laugh-out-loud funny, at least a wryly amusing moment.

Tennessee Williams received credit for the film's screenplay. I suspect that "adaptation by Oscar Saul" did most of the heavy lifting. There are aspects from the original production that would not pass muster in the Hays Code era. Blanche's late husband being gay would be a firm no. The open nature of Stanley's assault on Blanche would never be filmed. Even now, such a thing would still be pretty shocking. I think that the forced changes work in A Streetcar Named Desire. The smashed mirror is already suggestive enough both to what Stanley did to Blanche and the smashing of Blanche's mind. The shall we say more optimistic ending with Stella resolving to reject Stanley's call is one that I like more than her surrendering to him. Granted, that is a personal thing, but I prefer it.

Elia Kazan brought a great deal of passion out of his actors. He also brought in excellent elements, such as the Oscar-winning Production Design of this run-down French Quarter apartment complex. Alex North's Oscar-nominated score was also excellent, a mix of dramatic and sultry to match the chaotic world.

A Streetcar Named Desire is an excellent adaptation. Whatever changes occurred work. Standout, if not iconic, performances capture this dark tale of the seedy South. Haven't we all at one point depended on the kindness of strangers? 

DECISION: A+

Sight (2023): A Review (Review #2125)

SIGHT (2023)

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord". So begins The Battle Hymn of the Republic. That could also encapsulate Sight, a deeply moving and effective film. Sight is based on a true story. If there are any deviations from fact, it would not lessen Sight's emotional impact.

Sight flips from Nashville in 2007 and 1960-70's China. Dr. Ming Wang (Terry Chen) is a pioneer in eye surgery. He is able to give sight to those with deeply damaged eyes. Dr. Wang and his Wang Vision Institute partner Dr. Misha Bartnovsky (Greg Kinnear) have had great success with their surgeries. Dr. Wang now has the biggest challenge of his career. Sister Marie (Fionnula Flanagan) is Catholic nun who has brought an Indian girl named Kajal (Mia SwamiNathan) for treatment. In a shocking act, Kajal's mother blinded her so that she could be a legitimate beggar.

Dr. Wang is reluctant to take the case, knowing the immense damage done to Kajal's eyes. However, he takes the chance. However, Dr. Wang is a haunted man. He continues to struggle with the aftereffects of the Cultural Revolution which he and his family barely survived. Young Ming (Ben Wang) wants to follow in the footsteps of his father and mother (Donald Heng and Leanne Wang) into medicine. He also fancies pretty Lili (Sara Yi), the proverbial girl next door. However, these are dangerous times for educated people. The Cultural Revolution is in full force. Red Guard thugs push everyone around and demand that Ming and Lili join them.

The dangers eventually put them all at risk. It is through sheer good luck and the Cultural Revolution petering out that the Wangs manage to survive. Ming's brilliant mind allows him to return to his education and even go to America to continue them. He is also eventually able to bring his family to America, including his lazy brother Yu (Garland Chang).

What he is not able to do is restore Kajal's sight. Ming is bitter and reproachful. No one can get him out of his funk. Misha cannot. His family cannot. Not even pretty bartender Anle (Danni Wang), whom Ming is too shy to approach at first. He feels great guilt about his medical failure. He feels greater guilt over Lili's fate, which is still unknown to him. Approached to try again with another patient, Ming at first declines. However, when he finally finds peace through another meeting with Kajal, Dr. Ming Wang is ready to try again. Will he be able to exorcise his private demons? Will he be able to see internally the way he helps others see externally?

At the end of Sight, the real Dr. Ming Wang appears to tell us that everything that we saw is true. We see footage of Dr. Wang dancing with Kajal at the EyeBall fundraiser. We see pictures of the real Misha and his wife, June. We also see Dr. Wang with the real Arle, whom we discover did end up married. This stays close to a standard biopic. 

What sets Sight apart from other biopics is that we get moments of lightness and humor that play closer to a fictional film.

Dr. Wang opted to name the fundraiser with the deliberate pun of "Eye Ball". In Sight, Misha chides him for choosing such a silly and cliched name. The interactions with his family also have humor, such as his brother Yu's continuing efforts at business that always sound eccentric. Arne and Ming have one of the best "meet-cute" moments. She is working at the hotel bar where Ming is having a drink after an event. The man next to him asks if the food there is good. After Ming tells him that it is, that patron says that "the green stuff" looks great. Before Ming and Arne have a chance to warn him, that patron swallows a massive amount of wasabi. As the poor misguided patron is taken away by ambulance, an immediate bond comes between Ming and Arne. In one of Sight's flashbacks, we see Ming and two other Chinese students arrive at college. The three immediately realize that their suits are inappropriate for the setting. They have little money for new clothes. Enter a scene at the Salvation Army thrift store, where they marvel at jeans for fifty cents. 

Let's just say that their new threads are not exactly the latest styles either.

Moments like these make Sight into a nice, charming film. The audience is not drowned in misery or tragedy or seriousness. However, director Andrew Hyatt does not shrink from showing us particularly dark moments. Hyatt adapted Dr. Wang's autobiography From Darkness to Sight along with John Duigan and Buzz McLaughlin. The various Cultural Revolution scenes shock the viewer with their terror and brutality. They are not graphic. However, the scene where Wang, having been severely beaten, is unable to help a terrified Lili is deeply moving. Sight does not shrink from showing how the Cultural Revolution did great damage both culturally and individually.

It also gives us an insight into Dr. Wang's current dark night of the soul. In Sight, we see a haunted man, privately tormented by what he went through and what he failed to do. This carries over into his work. He is devastated when Kajal does not regain her sight. However, in time he, thanks to people like Misha, Arle, Sister Marie and Kajal herself, is able to forgive himself.

Sight is beautifully acted all around. The film floats between past and present, so we get two Wangs. Ben Wang leaves a very strong impression as the young Ming Wang. He is smitten with Lili, respectful and loving towards his parents, and able to display both courage and fear whenever facing against the Red Guard bullies. Wang shows a wonderful range throughout Sight. After a positive turn in Karate Kid: Legends, Ben Wang shows that he is fast becoming a solid actor in both English and Mandarin. Terry Chen as the adult Ming Wang also displayed moments of almost naïve charm. He also showed Dr. Wang's commitment and tenacity along with his fears and doubts. 

Most everyone else had smaller roles. Even Greg Kinnear, ostensibly the biggest name in Sight. The various figures flowed and ebbed throughout the film. Kinnear was asked to play the loyal, slightly goofy sidekick. He did that well. Danni Wang also was not a major part of Sight as Anle, the woman who eventually agrees to date Ming. She however is both charming and intelligent, a break from the usual portrayal of potential love interests as nothing more than supportive (though she is that). 

Sight blends humor and heart to tell this truly inspirational story. It shows our characters as flawed but ultimately good people, always attempting to do what is right. Dr. Ming Wang is a person of faith. "There is more to life than what we see", the real-life Dr. Wang tells us at the end of Sight. On that, we agree.    

 

DECISION: B+