Category: 2010s

Posted on 2022-03-31 | No Comments |

The Price (2017)

Aml Ameen is a Harvard graduated, Nigerian born trader working on Wall Street, caving under the pressure of the job and his immigrant family’s expectations. When the tension brings him to process an illegal trade, his carefully structured life starts to break down. While the Black immigrant experience of the protagonist is a bit of a new one, the rest of the film regarding young traders and the pressure they feel isn’t. I found myself more interested in Hope Olaide Wilson’s role as the protagonist’s sister. Instead of balking against their family’s expectations, she maintains them and tries to be a bridge between the other family members, but her motivations for doing so are less clear.

Posted on 2022-03-26 | No Comments |

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019)

On the fourth of his mandated five years of teaching training, slacker Sherab Dorji is sent to the remotest part of Bhutan to teach at a small mountain village school when he’d rather be playing music in Australia. He arrives completely unprepared but quickly finds inspiration in the local culture. I commend the Bhutanese happiness ideal that leads them to ensure the education of even its most remote citizens. Unfortunate the film is not a particularly original take on a fish out of water tale. The setting is gorgeous at least and provides a view into a charming, lesser seen culture.

Oscar Nomination: Best International Feature Film

Posted on 2022-03-25 | No Comments |

Dumbstruck (2010)

I am a sucker for checking out documentaries on quirky subjects. The subject here is ventriloquism, featuring participants with a wide range of ages and experiences with success. I’m picky about the standup comedy I find humorous and ventriloquism is just too bizarre for me to get beyond the whys of someone choosing the hobby/career. There’s just something missing in this film that brings me to empathize with most of the subjects. Nothing else in the film is elevated enough to make up for that.

Posted on 2022-03-24 | No Comments |

Five Nights in Maine (2015)

When his wife suddenly dies in a car accident, David Oyelowo travels to Maine to spend time with her cantankerous dying mother Dianne Wiest. I wish the relationships between the three of them was explored much more. While both of the main characters are obviously racked with grief, the audience isn’t given a chance to empathize as the dead woman is mostly a blank slate. Oyelowo and Wiest are both great actors, so it’s not a waste of time watching them work their craft, but I expected more.

Posted on 2022-03-14 | No Comments |

Jackie Robinson (2016)

This Ken Burns documentary two-part miniseries chronicles the life of the barrier-breaking baseball player from his early life through his baseball career and his continued activism and political involvement. It’s a typically strong Burns documentary that provides many details the casual baseball fan may be unaware of that doesn’t rest on simply discussing Jackie’s sports career. Including narration by Keith David and voice work by Jamie Foxx, it includes insight from many of Robinson’s family members and other people who knew him.

Posted on 2022-03-13 | No Comments |

All the Way (2016)

This film follows the first year of Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency from the assassination of Kennedy to his own election almost a year later. Much focus is spent on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the pressure that MLK and other Black leaders placed in getting it passed. It’s a fairly standard biopic made much stronger by an embodying performance by Bryan Cranston. The film covers many of LBJ’s well-known quirks and also goes far in connecting the passage of the Act with the Democrats’ loss of their former Southern stronghold.

Posted on 2022-03-13 | No Comments |

My Love, Don’t Cross That River (2014)

This documentary follows the approximately last year of a South Korean couple’s 75+ year marriage. Jo Byeong-man and Kang Kye-yeo are beautifully sweet together and their relationship was obviously one filled with love, laughter, and perfect companionship even as they experienced some real tragedies. It’s somewhat of a blessing to be able to witness two people lucky enough to find a lifelong love. My only complaint of the film would be the inclusion of their adult children. Their bickering and emotions disrupt the gentle playfulness the couple had when it was just the two of them.

Posted on 2022-03-12 | No Comments |

The Missing Picture (2013)

In 1970s Cambodia, eleven year old Rithy Panh and his family were among the millions rounded up by the Khmer Rouge and sent to reeducation work camps. As an adult director, Panh uses a mixture of clay figures, animation, and archival footage to work through the atrocities he experienced, including the deaths of his entire family. The result is a somewhat dull, but unconventional documentary on an important part of world history, told from a first hand perspective. The figures are the most powerful part, but they are presented in static dioramas with very slow, drawn-out narration.

Oscar Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Posted on 2022-03-10 | No Comments |

Omar (2013)

After he and two of his childhood friends carry out a sniper attack on an Israeli soldier, Adam Bakri’s titular character is captured and coerced into becoming a collaborator. His situation is further complicated by his love for one of his friends’ sister and finding the traitor in their group who tipped off the authorities. I hadn’t intended to watch so many films on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but it was one of those weird coincidences in my library check-outs. This was rather similar to the same director’s Paradise Now . I think I prefer Paradise Now as a film, but this one does have a more multi-faceted story and also includes a more thorough look at the hopeless situation of collaborators which was referenced in that other film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Posted on 2022-03-08 | No Comments |

Almost Christmas (2016)

Recently widowed Danny Glover reunites his four adult children and their families for the five days leading up to Christmas. I’m a sucker for Christmas movies, willing to at least check out almost any of them. Unfortunately this particular one isn’t worth it. Even with a pretty good cast, it’s just another dysfunctional family getting together for the holidays that doesn’t stand out from a very large field of similar films. It reminds me a lot of a lesser Soul Food, but set at Christmas.