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< Back Talk to Me tackles peer pressure and the effects of witnessing violence A24, 2023 95 minutes Director/Writer: Danny Philippou / Michael Philippou Reading Time: 5 minutes Talk to Me A Most Sinister Kind (LQSZUBJOBXALHA5N) 00:00 / 05:00 📷 : Used with permission, Agustin R. Michel https://www.instagram.com/agustinrmichel https://twitter.com/AgustinrMichel https://www.behance.net/agustin_rmichel Dandelion: Movies and TV shows with heavy subjects Ginseng: Suspenseful and intense thrillers Chris Chaisson 2023-08-11 The phrase “elevated horror” has been thrown around in cinematic circles over the last few years, as horror directors aim for more depth in their stories. The term is meant to refer to horror stories that tie in to social or psychological issues. Many younger creators have touched on topics like social media addiction, grief and generational trauma with their works, a change of pace from the costumed villains of decades past. I recently re-watched a ‘90s film Menace II Society , an unflinchingly violent film about the final high school days of two friends growing up in Watts, California. What struck me most about the film was how every brutal moment had an innocent bystander who would likely face permanent emotional damage due to what they had just witnessed. Though part of a much different genre, Australian YouTubers Danny and Michael Philippou tackle this theme in their new A24 flick, Talk to Me . Talk to Me revolves around a group of high school aged students who use an embalmed hand cased in ceramic to conjure up spirits. After lighting a candle and holding the hand, they say, “Talk to me,” and a ghost appears to whomever is holding the hand. They then recite, “I let you in,” allowing the ghost to possess their body. The caveat is that after 90 seconds, the spirit will want to remain in the body, so they must let go of the hand and blow out the candle before the time is up. When the younger sibling of one student partakes, the spirit possessing his body causes him to inflict violence on himself, putting him in critical condition and ending the group’s enjoyment permanently. The A24 project, created by two brothers who own the popular YouTube channel “RackaRacka,” is certainly not the first horror movie to feature kids contacting spirits from beyond the grave. There have been several Ouija board-adjacent horror flicks in which the game goes terribly wrong. Where Talk to Me diverges from the others is its tie-in to contemporary pop culture trends. The teenagers do not partake in the activity to rebel against strict parents; they do it to fit in and gain attention. An unfortunate trend in recent years has been adolescents succumbing to dangerous challenges on social media that bring them harm and, in some cases, death. Though letting ghosts possess your body sounds, um… ill-advised , so does consuming laundry detergent or running across a series of large stacked crates. The film points out the intoxicating effects of fame and popularity, whether in a local or global community. As we see repeatedly, all that is needed to encourage foolish behavior are a couple of examples where nothing bad happens. The more individual sub-plot of Talk to Me is the stages of grief its protagonist, Mia (Sophie Wilde, The Portable Door ), experiences. Having witnessed her mother’s overdose, Mia struggles to come to terms with the loss of a loved one, as does her father. She lives with her friend Jade’s family, as her relationship with her father has been strained. With both having witnessed the life leave her mother’s body two years prior, Mia and her father both struggle to come to terms not only with the loss of life, but what they saw with their own eyes. They each carry the guilt of believing that she could have been saved. Mia’s infatuation with contacting the spirits compromises her judgment. Not only does Mia play along but encourages Jade’s little brother, Riley, to join in, putting him in a perilous situation against Jade’s wishes. After the teens all witness a violent, horrifying and consequential moment, the fun ends and the ancillary characters drift out of the story. While this puts even more focus on grief-stricken Mia, it also highlights how trends among youth come and go once a sobering and catastrophic moment occurs. Though Talk to Me mirrors Menace II Society in its depiction of young people witnessing death and violence, the two films hail from completely opposed dramas. Talk to Me ventures into the supernatural while Menace II Society is very grounded in the reality of its time period. A better comparison in the same genre would be the early 2000s thriller Joy Ride . Paul Walker and Steve Zahn play brothers on a cross-country trip who prank a truck driver on a CB radio, leading him on to think they are a woman that is interested in him. Once they reveal themselves, the truck driver wants vengeance and goes on a violent rampage. What the films do have in common is young people seeking attention, letting a game go too far, and having to cope with the horrifying, irreversible results. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Dark Night of the Soul compels us to let it go Trick Candle Productions, 2024 80 minutes Director/Writer: SJ Creazzo Reading Time: 6 minutes Dark Night of the Soul Pour it Slow (J2QO8N7X2VQATPQ1) 00:00 / 07:29 📷 : Used with permission, Trick Candle Productions Sage: Movies and TV shows with low-key characters Ginger: Thought-provoking movies and TV shows Reba Chaisson 2024-11-06 I suppose we all have unresolved issues. You know what I mean; things that still don’t sit right on our minds and our hearts decades into adulthood. Sibling rivalry: Mom was mean to me; Dad liked you best. The high school gossip started by your best friend. The betrayal of a lover we’d only known for six months. Even that slight by a passerby on a train or in a passing car can be added to the list. Some of these things just roll off our conscience, but others stay with us and mess us up more than we realize. Think about our work for instance. When faced with a problem, sometimes we need to walk away from it to gain some clarity. There’s something about getting some distance from our work that loosens the tension in our brain so disparate connections can naturally occur, murkiness can give way to lucency, and logic can begin to flow freely. Time constraint, though, is often the impediment to such clear thinking. We need more than just a 15-minute break for this to happen. Like a snack is insufficient to satisfy a dinner-sized hunger, giving our brain the space to think requires much more than a tea break or even a regular afternoon siesta. SJ Creazzo’s Dark Night of the Soul brings the importance of rest and reflection into focus by stranding its protagonist after a serious car accident. Dark Night of the Soul centers on Dr. Alex Waldan, a brilliant CDC (U.S. Centers for Disease Control) scientist tasked with finding a cure for a deadly virus that has led to a global pandemic. The state of emergency becomes even more complicated when she crashes her car in an isolated area near the Catskill Mountains while reviewing her notes, examining test data, and listening to cynics on a talk radio station. Interestingly, Dr. Waldan crashes her car while engaged in a non-digital form of distracted driving. Played by Kristanna Loken of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines fame, Alex wakes to find herself severely hurt in a deserted clearing. Her gruesome injury contrasts sharply with the backdrop of a bright day, complemented with surrounding trees freshly bursting with reds, browns, and yellows signaling the nascent stages of fall. Noticeably absent from the movie is any form of digital technology, which plays only about a five second role as her call to 9-1-1 on her cell phone immediately fails. What do you do, then, when you have none of the modern technological conveniences? Whereas Cast Away focuses on Chuck Noland’s (Tom Hanks) survival and self-entertainment on an island when his cargo plane crashes, Dark Night of the Soul hones in on Alex’s mandate: developing a cure that can save lives and end the pandemic. Undoubtedly, the urgency of the matter and the stress of being “singularly tasked” to find a cure contribute to her feeling compelled to multitask behind the wheel. From her point of view, she has no time to waste. Ironically though, the accident gives her the gift of time to rest and reflect. Alex’s reflections manifest as memories of people in her life. The most vivid of which consists of contentious conversations with her deceased father, exquisitely played by Martin Kove, best known for the Cobra Kai and Karate Kid franchises. In one memory, she vents to him about a time when he forced her to sleep on a bed in the woods after telling her there was a bear nearby. He calmly responds that she did well and thought she was smart to raise the bed to a height the bear couldn’t reach, adding that there really was no bear. Writer/director SJ Creazzo’s technique of memory triggers for Alex conveys the need for us to sometimes draw on adversarial experiences to motivate us to survive dangerous or challenging situations. For instance, after several such memories with her dad, Alex angrily asks him, “How can you possibly help me at all?” He responds, “By being here.” Not all survival must necessarily be drawn from challenging times. Among Alex’s other memories are conversations with her sister, Lori, played by Courtney Warner ( McVeigh , Valentine’s Town ). The two discuss their remembrances of their parents, particularly their father. During one of their talks, Alex lets it slip that their dad loved Lori more than he loved her. Surprised, her sister explains that they were treated differently by their dad because he knew they had different strengths and talents. She adds, “Treating people equally is objectively crazy because not any one person is the same.” Lori’s statement serves the purpose of calming Alex’s latent angst about her father’s feelings for her given how she was raised by him. As worded though, the statement renders like a political opinion rather than Lori’s personal assessment of the way her father operated. The U.S. is still undergoing its centuries-long struggle with treating people equally under the law, without regard to their race, gender, class, or religion. As such, Lori’s line would land much more impartially had it been phrased, “Treating us the same when our aptitudes and interests differed would have been ludicrous.” This keeps the matter personal and family-related rather than what seems like a pronouncement about a broader political issue. Dark Night of the Soul reminds me in some ways of Challengers , the 2024 theatrical release about Tashi, a tennis phenom played by Zendaya, who injures her knee and misses out on the opportunity to play professionally. In my review of the film, I talk about the emotional weight we carry from loss when we don’t reach the point of acceptance. Indeed, Alex is also dealing with loss with which she has yet to reconcile. In Challengers , I discuss the damage we inflict on others as a result of not dealing with loss. What is never addressed, though, is the damage we do to ourselves. I like the creativity of Dark Night of the Soul with respect to its use of Alex’s memories of loved ones to remind her that she has a larger purpose and must survive to fulfill it. SJ Creazzo’s calm and thought-provoking story convinces not only Alex but also us that staying closed in our anger and blinded to truths keep us in the dark, stunting our growth and preventing us from seeing things clearly. While I wouldn’t recommend getting into a car accident to realize this, I agree that we have to find ways to let the emotional baggage go so that we can fulfill the promise of our lives. Dark Night of the Soul will debut on Amazon Prime on November 12, 2024. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back Thelma prompts us to reconsider our roles in others’ lives Bandwagon, 2024 97 minutes Director/Writer: Josh Margolin Reading Time: 6 minutes Thelma Ante (JASJU1U0XPTXNIPM) 00:00 / 06:12 📷 : Pixabay White: Movies and TV shows that make you laugh, or involve urgency, like chase scenes or other physical activity Chamomile: Family dramas Chris Chaisson 2024-07-09 Getting scammed absolutely stinks. Being set back financially is often not even the worst part. The most regrettable aspect of it is feeling both that you are too gullible and maybe even that you lack the necessary survival skills to take care of yourself. If you’re fortunate, you rebound and get a good story out of it. For some people, it may be a breaking point or an opportunity for others to write them off entirely. Regardless, anyone who’s been bamboozled wishes they can recoup their losses, and Josh Margolin’s newest comedy Thelma allows them to live vicariously through a 93-year-old woman doing just that. Played by June Squibb ( Nebraska ), Thelma is a widow in her nineties holding on to her autonomy despite her family’s concerns. She remains very close with her grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger, The White Lotus ), who visits her frequently and looks after her. When Thelma falls for a scam and sends $10,000 to someone pretending to be Daniel, she hatches a plan to get her money back despite Daniel and his parents (Parker Posey and Clark Gregg) attempting to dissuade her. She pairs up with an old friend, Ben (Richard Roundtree, Shaft ), at a local retirement home and goes on an adventure to track down the scammer. As more roles open up for underrepresented demographics (in this case older adults), there has been a tendency to portray them as victims who need protecting. Often, older adult characters in movies get scammed or robbed and are rescued by a younger heroic figure. Similarly, many LGBTQ+ characters are portrayed as victims of hate crimes in ways where the story abandons character development and zooms in on the violence they endure. And, as has been frequently pointed out about the 2010s, moviegoers experienced a heavy dose of films surrounding slavery and civil rights. While the increased representation is a positive for marginalized groups, a common thread is them being defined by their suffering and in need of saving. Despite being a goofy comedy with the primary objective of providing a few chuckles, Thelma bucks this cinematic trend. Rather than chalking the scam up as a loss or letting someone else track down the perpetrator, Thelma takes matters into her own hands. Aside from the understandable anger that comes with being scammed, Thelma gains motivation from overhearing her family suggest that this incident proves it is time to put her in a home. In a sense, her goal is less to retrieve $10,000 than to retain her independence. Thelma’s plan requires some ingenuity, as she must first sneak away from her overprotective family, convince Ben to tag along, and even borrow (without asking) a weapon from a doddering friend who lives alone. Through Thelma’s actions, it is clear that she is of sound mind and physically capable enough to look after herself. After all, even most young and healthy people never go through the trouble to track down their scammers (I sure as hell didn’t). Not only does Thelma have to overcome the expectations of her family, she must rebel against the ideas of those in her own age range as well. Ben feels perfectly comfortable being supported by others and tries to convince Thelma that she will be better off surrendering to her family’s perception of her. His character illustrates that just like other demographics, older adults are not a monolith. Some welcome the chance to be cared for while others actively reject it. Additionally, Daniel struggles with the concept of “acting his age.” While it is clear that he genuinely loves his grandmother, he also takes great pride in caring for her. As a young adult who recently experienced a break-up, he carries with him an insecurity that he is not growing up fast enough and assuming adult responsibilities. He views looking after Thelma as a way of establishing his self-worth. His conundrum shows how our behavior and decision-making surrounding our aging relatives can sometimes be more about us than them. Much of the film’s humor comes from poking fun at the action genre, frequently through the use of its soundtrack. Several scenes invoke music that we have gotten used to hearing in fast-paced car chases or hand-to-hand combat. Yet in Thelma , the speeding sedans and shootouts have been replaced by slow-moving motorized scooters. While the music brings to mind scenes from cult classic thrillers that contain life-and-death stakes, there is no such threat when Thelma is simply trying to bust out of Ben’s retirement home or exit the gas station unseen. Mixed in with these “action” sequences are scenes where Daniel teaches Thelma how to use social media and recurring gags involving other members and staff at Ben’s retirement home. In addition to inducing several laughs from its audience, Thelma challenges our perceptions of those we view as feeble or incapable. While it is often out of love and concern, our assumptions can quickly become patronizing or ultimately about what we want. The film serves as a reminder to not be so quick to define what our loved ones are or decide what they should desire, but simply be there for them when the time comes. A decent comparison for Thelma is another June Squibb film from 2013, Nebraska . While less humorous, the film revolves around an older character (played by Bruce Dern) taking a road trip with his son to reclaim a prize and dodging predatory people who learn of his good fortune. Both films show how aging may make you a target but it does not have to render you helpless. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Dope Thief shares important lessons about family < Back Dope Thief shares important lessons about family Apple Studios, 2025 50 minutes Creator: Peter Craig Reading Time: 6 minutes 📷 : Apple Studios Dope Thief Survive (PNTD034EZSCMMHXD) 00:00 / 08:12 Coca Movies and TV shows about drugs or with disorienting presentations Rosemary Movies and TV shows with intense action Reba Chaisson 2025-09-04 Many years ago, I read a book called All Our Kin , penned by Carol Stack and based on her research in The Flats, a working-class neighborhood in a major city in the Midwest. In the book, she reveals how she used participant observation to gain entrée into the community and get to know her new neighbors. Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed is similar, as it is based on her time living in several poor communities and working in nearby diners and hotels, so she could experience life and living as her neighbors did. Participant observation allows for researchers to gain a deep appreciation for residents’ hardships, triumphs, and everyday survival strategies. One of the big takeaways from both studies is how people in the communities rely on kinship networks, that is, support from people who are not related by blood but are considered family nonetheless. I mention all of this because the limited series, Dope Thief , stirred these themes in my head once again. Apple TV+’s limited series is about two best friends who front as federal agents to steal money and drugs from dope dealers in Philadelphia. Donning shell jackets with bright yellow DEA lettering and phony badges around their necks, the duo look legitimate as they invade dealers’ homes, intimidate the occupants, and help themselves to money and drugs. The scenario is reminiscent of the character Omar in the HBO series, The Wire . Omar (Michael Kenneth Williams), with the help of a shotgun hanging from his shoulder and tucked under his long coat, made his living robbing dope dealers—without the use of a DEA jacket! In one episode, Omar simply stood under the window of an apartment and the dealer just dropped the drugs down to him. Brian Tyree Henry ( Class of ’09 , Atlanta ) leads the cast of Dope Thief as Raymond Driscoll, an early 30-something who has never left home but tells his mother, Theresa Bowers (Kate Mulgrew), that he works all day as a painter. Theresa, who is not Ray’s biological mother, is not as gullible as Ray seems to believe, as she casually queries him about such things as his odd hours and how he is able to paint houses in the cold weather. Still, she surprises him with a birthday treat with a candle on top. “You thought I forgot. Happy Birthday you piece of sh**,” she says with a smile. He looks at her with much appreciation. Wagner Moura ( Civil War , Shining Girl ) is Ray’s best friend, Manny Carvalho, and the two are quite literally thick as thieves. Ray’s and Manny’s business continues as usual until they learn that they can get a big haul in a rural area on the outskirts of Philly. On a rundown piece of property, according to their source, the owners manufacture and sell large quantities of dope. Excited about their potential take, the two rush their usual surveillance and planning. The heist goes awry, and the cartel-linked, biker-gang-affiliated property owners inform them through an anonymous, raspy voice on a walkie talkie that they know they are the perpetrators, adding “You think you’ll be tough to find in your Scooby Doo van?” The call puts Ray and Manny in fear for their own and their loved ones’ lives, forcing them to leave their homes to evade the cartel, the biker gang, and the real DEA that is now investigating the crime. Ray has quite a contentious relationship with his dad Bart, played by Ving Rhames. We realize this when he confronts his dad for convincing Theresa to fund his release from prison on a medical discharge. “Ain’t one part of my life that you didn’t [mess] up,” says Ray. This is a chilling exchange. That Ray’s words spew with such clarity and vile in the moment, as if oblivious to his existing cartel/DEA problems, indicates he still carries raw emotional scars from his childhood experiences. From this scene, we get a strong sense of why Ray seems determined to rely only on himself to protect his mother and Manny. The days are always overcast, cool, and seemingly wet in Dope Thief . Perhaps this is why Ray and Manny’s situation seems perpetually hopeless throughout much of the series, suggesting that the weather plays just as much a role in the show as the human characters. Theresa, however, brings levity to this intense story by acting independent of Ray’s demand to not pay for Bart’s lawyer, for instance, and challenging Ray in ways that come across as humorous, as she did with his claims about being a painter. She is undeterred and unflustered by Ray’s obvious untruths, self-imposed hardships, and even his efforts to dictate certain demands. When he is fiercely adamant, for instance, that he is not to be taken to the hospital for a serious injury, Theresa ignores his protests and implores the group to stop letting “this lunatic” run the show and get him to the hospital. Unable to go to the police given the crime they were committing at the time, Ray and Manny have to duck and cover on their own and ultimately fend for themselves. Sometimes, however, help comes from the most unexpected places. We see this when Bart’s lawyer, Michelle Taylor (Nesta Cooper), meets a reluctant Ray in a bar outside of Bart’s prison. Ray, using verbal cues and body language, signals to her that the people after him are in the bar waiting to follow him outside. Suspecting all along that he was in some kind of trouble, she helps him out of the situation rather than leaving him at the mercy of his would-be killers. The old saying that blood is thicker than water means there is nothing like the bonds of blood relations, but Dope Thief challenges this. The series has an ethnically diverse cast, with characters similar in social class and not related by blood. Yet, they are all connected to one another in ways traditionally conceived as a family unit. Manny and Ray have been best friends since high school, and while they butt heads like friends (and even biological brothers) do on occasion, each repeatedly risks his life for the other. Theresa, though not Ray’s biological mother, is loyal and strong-willed, both of which serve her well in protecting her son from himself and others. Michelle, albeit a lawyer and not a part of the social network, bonds with Ray and his family, despite the risks to her career and life in doing so. Hence, family is more than blood relations; it is a mutually supportive kinship. And as Stack and Ehrenreich showed in their studies, shared biology is not a prerequisite for gaining entrée to it. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Queen Sono brings a spy thriller from a different part of the world < Back Queen Sono brings a spy thriller from a different part of the world Diprente Films, 2020 43 minutes Creator: Kagiso Lediga and Karabo Lediga Reading Time: 6 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix Queen Sono Adrenaline Rush (0F2JDLS3MEXST1KL) 00:00 / 07:04 Masala Chai Movies and TV shows about toughness and athletic competition Matcha Mysteries or whodunnits Reba Chaisson 2023-10-30 Cinematic representations of spies are usually of U.S., European, or Israeli descent, predominantly male, and between 40-60 years of age. Think Eric Bana as Avner in Munich , Gary Oldman as George Smiley and John Hurt as Control in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy , George Clooney as Bob Barnes in Syriana , and Leonardo DiCaprio as Roger Ferris in Body of Lie s . There are a handful of female spies but unlike the subtlety of their male counterparts, they are usually presented as action characters with a lot of sass and pop. Think Helen Mirren as Victoria in Red , Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt in Salt , and Charlize Theron as Lorraine Broughton in Atomic Blond . Queen Sono presents an interesting departure from these stories and depictions. First, rather than a film, it is a six-episode Netflix series. Second, the story is set in South Africa and features a little-known Black actress, Pearl Thusi ( Quantico , Catching Feelings ), as Queen Sono, a South African spy who kicks her antagonists’ tails as she gathers intel from countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe. Queen Sono is the daughter of Sofia, a celebrated militant and activist who was killed when “Q” was a child, an event which haunts her to this day. Raised by her scrappy paternal grandmother, Mazet, and supported by Dr. Sidwell Isaacs, intelligence director and close friend of her mother’s, Q joins the government’s security agency (SOG) with aspirations of doing field work. She becomes a part of the South African president’s secret service detail and eventually moves into the country’s intelligence ranks. The story contains parallel plot lines, one of which consists of Q’s private mission to learn who was behind her mother’s assassination and hold them responsible. This operation allows us to see beyond Q’s tough veneer, exposing the deep hurt she masks from the loss of her mother. It makes her actions appear reasonable, as she uses her elusiveness to enter a prison to confront the man accused of the crime, and later takes on a fictitious identity to gain access to a family to casually extract information she needs. The other storyline involves Q’s legitimate job, which is to dismantle an organization headed by eKaterina Gromova. Played by Kate Liquorish ( Still Breathing , Eye in the Sky ), eKaterina is a ruthless corporate leader from Eastern Europe who wants to take over the security and communications infrastructure for all the African governments. While Q has many occasions to show off her fighting skills, she bleeds a few times during her physical confrontations and even loses one of them. Combined, the two storylines make the character a realistic portrayal of a spy – making her human versus automaton-like. One of the things I like about the series is it forces us to distinguish the countries in Africa. Too often, we view Africa as a monolith rather than a continent of 54 nations, each with its own set of languages, customs, cultures, sociopolitical systems, and economic challenges and priorities. In media, women and children in Africa are typically depicted as poverty-stricken, malnourished, and without shelter or living in huts. The preponderance of the images leads us to generalize this reality to all countries on the African continent. In Queen Sono , people live in homes and apartments in urban areas, not huts in rural areas at the edges of towns where movies about Africans tend to be set. And as we see in the series, even countries rife with problems have spectacular views of forestry and waterfalls. But urban areas and landscapes are rarely if ever depicted in Western cinema set in African nations. So, in this sense, Queen Sono is an exception. The scenes across several African countries help us to appreciate the distinct systems, cultures, and even problems of each. Although Black people have been in the U.S. for over 400 years, our past and present experiences continue to shape our sense of belonging in the country that has been our home longer than most Europeans and all people of color, except Indigenous Peoples. It is interesting to see so many patriotic Black people in South Africa who take ownership of it and view it as “[theirs] to protect.” For example, they carry a high level of disdain for President Malunga, the current leader of the country, because of the depths of his corruption and greed. Yet, they still respect him because he is the elected president. This mix of commitments comes through as Q’s aunt, Nana, played by Connie Chiume ( I Dreamed of Africa , Black Panther ) who is well-connected and active in politics, hosts a luncheon for the president at her home. Before carrying a tray out to the patio, she says to her daughter, “It’s not every day we get to host a president. Let’s go and put on a show for that a***h***.” This thread runs throughout the show as we observe “Q’s” commitment to her role at SOG to “keep South Africa safe.” We also see it in her lover, Shandu, played by Vuyo Dabula ( Invictus , Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom ), who is vocal and active in his commitment to freeing Congolese, South Africans, and others on the continent from being exploited by white diamond miners, other outside groups, and the corruption of political leaders like President Malunga. Queen Sono is similar to the 1970s films, Coffy and Foxy Brown , each about a Black woman pursuing vigilante justice. Both films feature Pam Grier as an early 30-something African American woman who seeks revenge for an attack on her sister ( Coffy ) and boyfriend ( Foxy Brown ). The films contain a lot of action for a time when it was rare to see Black women on screen as leads, let alone in such strong and active roles. The Queen Sono character is a modern-day blend of Coffy and Foxy Brown. Each work is even named for the lead characters. It is refreshing to be presented with a strong lead character of color from a part of the world we rarely get to see so broadly and extensively. Queen Sono is a substantive piece about a woman dealing with a personal struggle while fighting publicly sanctioned battles. The presentation passively breaks down our ideas of countries in Africa as similarly impoverished and rife with instability, and of the people who live in them as poor and apathetic. While I understand the pandemic interrupted Netflix’s plans to continue this series beyond the first season, my hope is that the company revisits this decision with the goal of completing the narrative. It is a visually entertaining presentation bolstered by a solid story. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

River of Grass makes us consider the predicaments of young veterans < Back River of Grass makes us consider the predicaments of young veterans Skinny Lee Productions, 2024 17 minutes Director/Writer: Derek Magyar / Jon Bloch, Chad Christopher, and Derek Magyar Reading Time: 3 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Skinny Lee Productions River of Grass All that Remains (DMK19LKPHWVEQWLA) 00:00 / 04:25 Dandelion Movies/shows with heavy subjects Honeybush Nonfamily dramas with strong adult and/or socioeconomic themes Derek Magyar 2024-08-22 There is a kneejerk tendency to decontextualize people’s lives. This can lead to rash uninformed judgments about some of the decisions they make. But it isn’t always apparent what folks are dealing with nor the level of support cradling them. When youth and limited social experience are layered in, it becomes even more difficult to appreciate the challenges they face. Derek Magyar’s short film, River of Grass , encourages us to critically consider the predicaments of young veterans and perhaps young people in general. Starring Dylan McTee of Roswell, Mexico fame, River of Grass presents 20-something year-old Larry Johnson, who arrives home in the Florida Everglades after serving in the Vietnam War. In reuniting with his family, Larry does not react to being called the usual nicknames, like “war hero” and “Golden Boy.” His older and hostile brother Robert, played by Victor Webster ( Mystery on Mistletoe Lane , Workin’ Moms ), teasingly but jealously tells him “You almost look like a man now.” These labels convey the commonsense idea that Larry is tougher as a result of experiencing war. But this is a superficial assessment based on Larry’s physical fitness and the significance of his uniform. While he looks more fit and upright than when he left, surely, he has been shaken to his core in ways that are not readily apparent. As I wrote in the review of Lonesome Soldier , I suspect the stirrings beneath the surface are, at least in part, veterans’ efforts to reconcile who they are with what they’ve done and seen. Compounding this for Larry is a family whose business is crime, and their explicit and tacit expectations that he rejoin their underground enterprise. Although other options are available to Larry given his veterans benefits, his freedom to exercise them is constrained by his circumstance. As if the weight of the family business isn’t heavy enough to bear, Larry is limited by his mother Betsy’s sentiments (Marceline Hugot) that college “[feeds] kids that liberal hippie crap.” So, Larry’s freedom to do what is right for him is suppressed due to the pressures exerted by his family. Adding in his young age, his ability to freely decide what is right for him becomes even more difficult. When we think of military veterans, we often imagine them as older adults, and the news largely portrays them as such. It is true that nearly three-fourths of military veterans are in this age group, but River of Grass has me wondering if younger veterans are being overlooked in the smaller but significant slice. In any case, responses to their predicaments cannot be simplistic, rectified with labels and platitudes to help them feel seen. There is a need to more fully appreciate the context of young veterans’ lives in order to understand how best to support them given their age and familial constraints. So, I am left wondering if the needs of younger veterans are perhaps more nuanced than those of their older counterparts, who have wider and deeper life experiences and are more likely to have families of their own providing unconditional comfort and affirming support. A Vietnam War-era piece, River of Grass is a dark story in a southern rural setting, where streetlights and landscape lighting typically do not exist. The effect of this is the film’s ominous tone, reminiscent of the 1986 feature length movie At Close Range , with Sean Penn as Brad Jr. and Christopher Walken as his father, Brad Sr. The elder Brad heads a violent crime business in rural Pennsylvania and is eventually joined by his unsuspecting son. Like River of Grass , At Close Range is shot mostly in the dark, and the subject matter is seedy and ominous. Note that River of Grass contains language of the period that some might find offensive. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Beef illustrates the snowball effect of insecurity and stubbornness < Back Beef illustrates the snowball effect of insecurity and stubbornness A24, 2023- 30 minutes Creator: Lee Sung Jin Reading Time: 5 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix Beef Heist (BRYFFHN6ZQAN9Q4K) 00:00 / 04:50 Chamomile Family dramas White Movies and TV shows that make you laugh, or involve urgency, like chase scenes or other physical activity Chris Chaisson 2023-04-18 “It is selfish for broken people to spread their…brokenness.” Few experiences encapsulate displaced anger as clearly as road rage incidents. Whether they act on it or not, most people see a road rage incident in the news and can recall being that infuriated. I’ve always perceived this anger as being confined to that specific moment. Driving a vehicle is the most dangerous activity most of us ever do, and a close call due to someone’s negligence can bring that to the forefront of our minds. As I get older, I realize that the close call itself is likely the straw that broke the camel’s back. Sometimes, frustration from our personal lives boils over, and we use a stranger who (in theory) we will never see again as the outlet. Cooler heads usually prevail, but every now and then pettiness wins. Danny (Steven Yeun, Blue Bayou ) and Amy (Ali Wong, Big Mouth ) in the new Netflix series Beef show us the catastrophic results of such an instance. Beef ’s inciting incident, a close call in a parking lot, serves as a gravitational pull into a game of one-upmanship for the two protagonists. After unsuccessfully attempting to return supplies to a department store, Danny nearly hits Amy’s SUV as he reverses out of his parking spot. She honks and flips him the bird before heading off. It is clearly the wrong day for Danny, who pursues her for no apparent reason other than sheer frustration. After a dangerous back-and-forth of trying to run each other off the road, they go their separate ways without having caught a glimpse of each other. Unbeknownst to either of them, the incident was caught on tape and goes viral. What ensues is a series of escalating pranks and sabotage attempts between the two that begin to involve loved ones, culminating in darker and darker consequences. Danny and Amy play off each other perfectly, as they do not appear to have anything in common. Amy is a wealthy business owner in Calabasas with her own family, on the precipice of a deal that will make her even richer. Danny is a single, down-on-his-luck contractor taking care of his aimless younger brother Paul (Young Mazino, Fish Bones ). He resents Amy’s financial status, profiling her and going on several tangents about what he assumes her background to be. As it turns out, they both have similar frustrations with how their lives are going. Danny is strapped for cash and cannot seem to impart his wisdom or work ethic onto Paul. Amy feels disconnected from her husband, her plant business and a wealthy potential investor (Maria Bello) that she must continually schmooze to win her over. The repressed anger and depression of both characters fuel their childish pranks and quests for vengeance on one another. After a few episodes, Beef makes it obvious that the back-and-forth between Amy and Danny provides each with a strange catharsis. Even though they are both engaging in juvenile and, at times, criminal behavior, it grants them a departure from what is unsatisfactory about their personal lives. Their petty endeavors are not only selfish but eventually begin to put their loved ones in harm’s way. Neither of them is wise to the repercussions because they have gotten swept up in their own adrenaline rushes. In a way, Danny and Amy have developed a contentious, unorthodox romance. Beef consists of a predominantly Asian cast, with Danny and Amy playing Korean characters while Amy’s husband is Japanese. The series differs from many others in its representations of such characters by allowing them to be individualistic, angry and petty. Often, Asian characters are depicted as docile and adhering to a collectivist mindset. For many decades, Asian-Americans have been referred to as the “model minority,” a back-handed compliment that subtly characterizes them as being subservient. Beef deliberately depicts Danny and Amy as selfish and fueled by an inner rage, showing that diverse representations do not always have to be based around positive attributes. The protagonists are not perfect, endearing or admirable; they’re simply flawed in a way that we are not used to seeing. While not a TV series, the project most similar to Beef from a premise standpoint is the early 2000’s thriller Changing Lanes . Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck play two members of a road rage incident who let a feud develop between them. Though it does not hit on the same class, gender, or race differences as Beef , both involve flawed characters who let petty emotions take them down dark paths. The message in both stories is to always let go of your fleeting road rage before it devolves into a much bigger issue. Or just Uber everywhere (shrug). Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

Florida Man adds hilarity to parallel and seemingly disconnected plotlines < Back Florida Man adds hilarity to parallel and seemingly disconnected plotlines Aggregate Films, 2023 50 minutes Creator: Donald Todd Reading Time: 6 minutes 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix Florida Man Another Round (TFTXNDKQV3RPRF6U) 00:00 / 07:03 Oolong Movies and TV shows that make you laugh or involve physical activities like dance and exercise Peach Movies and TV shows with a springtime feel or with images of the season Reba Chaisson 2023-05-18 My guitar teacher talks a lot about the importance of gradually building the music during a performance, especially when you are a solo act playing acoustic guitar. Start a song off deliberately, for example, with simple Travis picking, build it to a light strum maybe adding a 4 th to a couple of the main chords, and move into the end with a serious strum that puts all these together and gets people moving – or at least their heads shaking to the rhythm. The new Netflix mini-series, Florida Man , brings this to mind. What is interesting about the 7-episode series is rather than laying out maybe two or three main plots in the first few episodes, it develops several parallel plotlines as the story moves along. While each seems random to some degree, once converged, they fit the characters and existing storylines like a glove. Florida Man stars Edgar Ramirez ( Yes Day , Gold ) as Mike Valentine, a reluctant and unconventional mobster. In contrast to portrayals of gangsters where underlings do as they are told and go about their “business” donned in slacks, polos, and suits, Mike frequently argues with his boss and dresses in jeans and a casual untucked print collared shirt. He also hates Florida, a place where gangsters are rumored to retire, describing it as “[the place] that provided [him] with the opportunity to leave, and [he’s] not going back.” Originally “employed” by his boss’s late father, Mike wants out but Moss Yankov, who now heads the Philadelphia-based “family business,” refuses to let him go. In the absence of an emotional connection with Moss, who is also her fiancée, Delly West becomes close with Mike, as he drives her around town to nightspots and on coffee runs. One morning, Moss awakens to find her gone. She has taken the BMW he gave to her the night before and is heading towards Florida. Moss, played by Emory Cohen ( Lords of Chaos , The OA ), orders Mike to go to Florida to bring her back. Begrudgingly, Mike makes the trip and reunites with his family, which includes his seemingly well-grounded sister, Patsy, played by Otmara Marrero ( Clementine , Yoshua ), who he is very close to, and his father, Sonny, who he is not. At this juncture, the show peels back the layers of Mike’s disdain for Florida, suggesting that something is amiss between him and his father, played by Anthony LaPaglia ( Without a Trace , Halifax: Retribution ). But this is only a teaser, as the source of this tension still has not been revealed. Meanwhile, Deputy Ketcher is a detective on vacation with his family in Florida. He lost his gun somewhere in transit, and he is feeling uncomfortable without one. Frustrated at his difficulties buying a replacement at a firearms store, Deputy Ketcher, played by Clark Gregg ( Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , The Avengers ), rants, “This is Florida. The g**damn state is shaped like one. I can’t go to a mailbox without tripping over 3 of ‘em, but God forbid you sell me one.” Desperate, he buys one illegally, adding another seemingly disconnected but hilarious plotline to the story. Upon finding Delly, Mike observes her faking her own death, which makes Florida’s television news. When he confronts her, he learns that she is in pursuit of a large cache of gold, one that Moss talked about incessantly but still believed to be a myth. Mike is hooked both on Delly’s quest and Delly herself, so much so that he lies to Moss about Delly’s fate – adding more layers to the plotline. Moss is so heartbroken, he even holds a repast for Delly at his home in Philadelphia, where Tyrone Davis’s 1970 R&B hit, “Turn Back the Hands of Time,” is heard playing in the background at the all-White gathering. Things become complicated when Delly, played by Abbey Lee ( Mad Max: Fury Road , The Dark Tower ), grows impatient and invites Sonny to help in searching for and recovering the treasure. However, Sonny, who is the retired chief of police in town, turns out to be a bit unsavory and develops his own plans. All of this is occurring while the FBI is investigating a gangland style murder, which they believe was committed by Moss’s crew in Philadelphia. They need Mike and/or Delly’s help to make their case. But they, like Moss, bought the news that Delly is dead, and they cannot seem to locate Mike – whose ex-wife is one of the investigators. To sum, the numerous and parallel plotlines and characters culminate in a fun and entertaining story. Florida Man brings to mind the 1984 film, Against All Odds . Besides a terrific soundtrack by Phil Collins, the movie stars Jeff Bridges as Terry Brogan, an injured and broke former professional football player who owes favors to Jake Wise, a shady nightclub owner played by James Woods. Jessie Wyler is Jake’s girlfriend played by Rachel Ward. When she leaves Jake and heads to South America, Jake forces Terry to go find her and bring her back. Terry finds her and the two fall in love. While the stories are nearly identical, the look, tone, and feel of Against All Odds and Florida Man differ dramatically. The former is heavy and dark with adult themes, violence, and menacing characters. The latter, on the other hand, is colorful and light. While it has adult themes, they are not presented in scary and intimidating ways. Even the violence in Florida Man is tough to take seriously because it is embedded in such hilarity. What I also like about this series is that Mike speaks in a Latino dialect, and his father and sister do not. That this is never highlighted nor explained in the series suggests the filmmakers, and perhaps Edgar Ramirez himself, insisted on bringing his ethnic identity to this role and proving that it can indeed be pulled off for this character. For the first half century of cinema, White actors played people of color using makeup and wigs to modify their appearance to resemble the groups they were portraying, or sadly, present caricatures of some others. No special makeup or dialect is used for Mike Valentine’s character in Florida Man . Ramirez brought his full authentic self to the role. I wonder about the implications of this for actors in portraying characters of different racial and ethnic groups. Does this have the potential to work for or against making more on-screen roles available for people of color? This is something to ponder. But regardless of which side you come down on, Florida Man pulls this off without a hitch. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back VP Product Apply Now San Francisco, CA, USA Job Type Full Time Workspace On-Site About the Role This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own content or import it from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, and videos. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Requirements This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. To manage all your collections, click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. About the Company This is placeholder text. To change this content, double-click on the element and click Change Content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click on the Content Manager button in the Add panel on the left. Here, you can make changes to your content, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. You can create as many collections as you need. Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own, or import content from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, videos and more. You can also collect and store information from your site visitors using input elements like custom forms and fields. Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Preview your site to check that all your elements are displaying content from the right collection fields. Apply Now

< Back Anton Deshawn A Conversation with The Untold Story of Mild Sauce Writer/Director Anton Deshawn Writer/Director Anton Deshawn joins COTC for a deep dive into his short film Chris Chaisson 2023-05-03 Reading time: 11 minutes After completing his first feature film Call Center , writer/director Anton Deshawn switched gears and created The Untold Story of Mild Sauce, a short film shot and edited during the pandemic. The short serves as a parody of 90s R&B groups, managers who swindle artists out of their earnings, and frequent in-fighting that leads to their breakups, told in the style of a VH1 exposé. Cup of Tea Critiques sat down with Anton to learn about his filmmaking process, Mild Sauce , the challenges he faced while shooting during the pandemic, and his personal tastes in music and movies. Mild Sauce is shot mockumentary style and tells the story of a 90’s R&B group through a VH1 bio-pic style. Anton shared his inspiration for the short film and the group itself. I am a big 90s R&B music fan, so I'm a big fan of Jodeci, Boyz II Men, H-Town, Dru Hill. Also too, I am a huge fan of shows like Behind the Music … So I'm a nerd when it comes to stuff like those biography-type shows. I just thought you know what, what if I made a film about a fictional R&B group that had the sound of the 90s, that I made sure I touch on the new jack swing, the freaky R&B type sound, and the traditional love songs and then throw in like, the more pop-sound R&B. So that was mainly the inspiration. If I had to give a couple movie examples, This Is Spinal Tap, The Five Heartbeats, The Wedding Singer . The reason why I say The Wedding Singer is because it has that 80s nostalgia to it that I really love. I wanted to get that spirit and just move into more of just the 90s instead of more 80s that The Wedding Singer did. One other inspiration was a film called Fear of a Black Hat . [Mild Sauce] is like a combination of Jodeci, Dru Hill, and probably like H-Town; H-Town was one of my favorites too. But more so Jodeci if I had to get one more group. But Jodeci didn't really dance like that. Dru Hill did. But I wanted to kind of highlight that cheesiness in it. And not to go too far ahead. One of my cheesiest favorite videos from the 90s was the Az Yet song “Last Night.” So that was the whole inspiration for that video [in the film], “Could You Be the One,” the last music video, that was just entirely blue screen. The Az Yet song was where that video came from. “Last Night,” which was like, their only hit. That kind of inspired me. But if you go back and look at that song where they were dancing in the tank tops and stuff. I kind of did bits and pieces not just with male R&B groups, but some of the lighting I kind of stole from TLC's "Red Light Special." So if you go back and look at that video, where part of is in black and white and part of is in color, I kind of use that same color scheme with my cinematographer and my set designer to where I wanted to highlight that "Red Light Special" video where they had that red dim light to it. So I didn't just limit it to male R&B. I also wanted to kind of highlight some female groups from the 90s too, because I was a fan of those as well. Anton shared his plans for the concept moving forward. …I always had it in mind to make it a feature film… and I originally wrote the first draft as a feature film. …I finished that draft in probably 2017. Then I went back in 2019, 2020 and minimized it to make it more like a short film. Mild Sauce contains several original songs and music videos. Anton shouted out the artists who wrote and produced the music in his short and discussed how their collaboration came about. I actually went to school for music business. That was actually my first love before I even got into filmmaking. I wanted to own my own record company. And I have my degree in Arts and Entertainment Media Management. I still keep ties with folks that are artists, songwriters and things like that. So [for this film] I had a total of three songwriters and two producers. So basically, I knew in my head the sound I wanted for this film… I had great producers, who actually gave me what I wanted it to sound like. A friend I went to college with…her name is Sherry Amour. She wrote two of the songs. She wrote the female group song, “Makes Me Want to Dance” and she wrote “Could You Be the One.” [My wife’s cousin in Atlanta] wrote the Stony Mack song “Funk”. And my cousin who was the co-writer [of the film], one of his roommates from Gary, Indiana wrote “Big Willie” and “Be a Super Freak.” So it was just a collaborative effort where either I reached out to folks, or my cousin reached out to the one songwriter. I told him what I was looking for and boom, it didn't take too many takes for them to send me back what they came up with. I was like, “Hey, I like this. We're gonna go with this.” Many filmmakers draw inspiration from another hobby or discipline that they have. Given this, Anton revealed whether he plans to make his background outside of film into his signature. I don't really limit myself on that. I didn't think of it like that. It's funny because the most recent script that I'm writing is a story based off one of my favorite freestyles that I heard, so [music] is a lot of times inspiration for a lot of my work, but I have other stories that I just haven't put pen to pad on yet that really don't have anything to do with music. As artists you get inspired from any and everything. So it doesn't take much to inspire me. But I will say music probably plays a pivotal influence on a lot of things that I do. Anton listed some of his favorite filmmakers and what he enjoys about their work. I like Martin Scorsese. I like the Coen Brothers. I actually like their versatility. No Country for Old Men is one of my favorite movies, and so is The Big Lebowski . As far as Black filmmakers, I like Ryan Coogler. Spike Lee for the most part, I mean more so his older stuff… Did I say Quentin Tarantino yet? Yeah, I like Quentin’s work as a director. He's [influenced] some of the stuff I've done as far as storytelling. The Hughes brothers. I like mostly all their work they've done. Yeah, so those are some of the ones that [come] to mind. Directing encompasses a lot of different responsibilities, from composing shots to coaching up the on-screen talent. Anton divulged his favorite aspect of the job and why. Conversing with the actors, just giving them direction on what I envision. It's a collaborative effort, because even though I write the material, I'm not so tied to it that it has to be my way or the highway. A lot of times, actors will have questions or come up with suggestions, like, ‘Hey, how about, [or do] you think [I can] do it like that?’ So, and then also, too, I've done quite a few comedies as well. I also give my actors freedom to ad lib. So a lot of times, if they feel like, hey, this line doesn't really flow, [they’ll ask] can I say it like this? I give them that room. So I think that's one thing I kind of take pride in is that I give my actors freedom. But I know when to reel it back in if I need to. … Basically, I let people do their jobs. I'm hiring you, if I cast you, I'm gonna let you do your job. You know, if I hire you, as cinematographer, as set designer, to do sound, I'm gonna let you do your job. Productions can be very fragile and take a lot of planning and good fortune to reach completion. Anton shared his biggest challenges to shooting The Untold Story of Mild Sauce and how he navigated through them. Well, the biggest challenge was that we actually shot this in the middle of the pandemic, in the fall of 2020. And it was a SAG project (Screen Actors Guild). So they had new guidelines in place. Safety was number one. … It's always the top thing, but it was even more so… We had to walk a fine line, because everyone had to get tested. So that was challenging. And the vaccine wasn't even out yet. So you had to get tested, and then actors wearing their masks on set, and also we couldn't have normal craft services. So everything had to be in prepackaged bags for individuals. That was the biggest challenge. Just trying to make sure we were in COVID protocol. And this was a big production with crew and with actors too. So this was literally a two-day shoot, believe it or not. I was crazy enough to think I could do this in one day. I don't know what I was thinking. The other crazy thing is one of my actors dropped out, literally two days before we shot. So thankfully, I went back to a person that auditioned for a different role. And I was like, oh, this person can do that. They were available, and it worked out. After finishing a short, filmmakers spend a lot of time submitting to festivals, scheduling screenings, and marketing the finished product. Anton reveals his perspective on whether or not he was exhausted by the process and the value of feedback. Oh, no, man, I was looking forward to it. I couldn't wait, that was an exciting thing. I was just thankful to make the film festival, any film festival that we submitted to and we were able to get in. So even to this day, somebody accepts the film, and they're gonna screen it in person, I'm gonna be there. Because you never know who you're going to meet. Just a prime example, when we were in Black Harvest for my first feature film, Call Center , I had actors come up to me. And one of the actors that came up to me during that screening was one of the actors I ended up casting in Mild Sauce . So you never know who you're going to meet. I'm all about networking. So that's actually the fun part is actually seeing that, and seeing that audience reaction like okay, did this joke work? Okay, this joke worked in the Chicago crowd, but it didn't work here. So it's almost like a focus group; you kind of know what works and doesn’t work. Like other directors Cup of Tea Critiques has talked to, Anton enjoys the social aspects of directing the most: working with actors, networking and getting feedback from audience members. Anton’s experience coming up with the music for The Untold Story of Mild Sauce serves as a reminder that some of the best helping hands already exist in our social circle. Watch The Untold Story of Mild Sauce on kweliTV , available on the web or any smart TV, or watch Anton’s feature film Call Center on kweliTV or Amazon . Follow Anton on the following social media for updates: FB: Anton Deshawn Twitter: @AntonDeshawn IG: @anton_deshawn Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!

< Back A Beautiful Life adds the human dimension to pop stardom SF Studios Production, 2023 98 minutes Director/Writer: Mehdi Avaz / Stefan Jaworski Reading Time: 5 minutes A Beautiful Life Dreams to Reality (XZ5GCXZ3C4EKRARA) 00:00 / 05:21 📷 : Used with permission, Netflix Ginger Thought-provoking movies and TV shows Jasmine Movies and TV shows with heart, positive vibes, and warm messages Reba Chaisson 2023-06-16 Entertainers, or more specifically music artists, are rarely viewed as being invested in anyone other than themselves. They are often begrudged by less successful people for their wealth and talent, and frequently objectified by fans as icons that churn out likable tunes but who are void of humanity. This seems like a harsh assessment, but one need only pick up any pop star magazine or check out the number of celebrity Twitter followers to realize this is the case. What is interesting about A Beautiful Life is its depiction of pop stardom as all these things, with the added dimension of the human element. Set in Denmark, A Beautiful Life follows Elliott, a late 20-something who works as a fisherman, saves his pay, and lives alone on an unseaworthy, small wooden boat. A gifted musician, he has no aspirations to perform professionally. His best friend, Oliver, however, does, so Elliott performs the guitar accompaniment for him at a local club in Ebeltoft. But on a night when a major music producer is expected in the audience, Oliver is unprepared and goes cold mid-performance, forcing Elliott to play and sing to cover for him. Predictably, Elliott gets noticed for his talent and Oliver, played by Sebastian Jessen ( While We Live, 4Reality ), is shunned for his lack of it, leading to friction between the two friends. Played by Danish pop star Christopher, Elliott, who was orphaned at a young age, initially resists demonstrating his range of musical talents, so much so that his producer Lilly, played by Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas ( The Last King, Women in Oversized Men’s Shirts) , considers giving up on him. Guilt-ridden, Elliott needs to be cajoled into seizing the opportunity in front of him, but indulging it is like punishment. It is as if he feels undeserving of the chance to become hugely successful at something he loves. A Beautiful Life brings to mind the 1997 film, Good Will Hunting , with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as best friends from a working-class area of Boston. While both work alongside each other in building demolition, Matt’s character, Will, is a math genius who insists on staying with his friends and busting bricks for life, rather than exploring opportunities readily available to him in math and engineering. Like Elliott in A Beautiful Life , this reluctance is a part of his deeper issues around loyalty, fear, and sense of guilt. In Good Will Hunting , Will’s therapist, Sean, played by Robin Williams, gets him to understand why he won’t take this step. Elliott has proxy therapists, so a good portion of the film is spent with him brooding while those around him offer sage advice and tough love. Also, unlike Will, whose best friend Chuckie insists he seizes his opportunities — telling Will “If you’re still around here in 20 years, I swear to God I’ll kill you” – Elliott’s best friend is too jealous to do such a thing. Instead, Oliver asserts that Elliott’s limelight should be shared with him “since [Elliott] is living [his] life.” The similarities and nuances between the two films are not meant to suggest that A Beautiful Life is a potential Oscar contender, let alone winner, like Good Will Hunting . The film does not spend enough time letting the audience get to know Elliott before he shifts into the world of music. It is as if the film wanted to get to the frenzied life of being a professional musician with pressures all around to wear a mask of happiness and perform on cue. With no family, what did Elliott do in his spare time? What comprised his social life with friends other than Oliver? How is it that Oliver is so important to him when they are only shown bickering with one another? What kinds of things did he enjoy other than music? Additionally, Elliott’s insistence that he lacks interest in pursuing music professionally is at odds with his level of talent that surely took time to develop. Who doesn’t pick up a guitar and imagine him– or herself performing on stage? Even accepting this, what drove him to hone his musical talents – and how did he become so good? It is as if the film tried too hard to fashion Elliott as a unicorn. Elliott’s high level of talent suggests that music did indeed matter to him and that he aspired to play professionally. The omissions and inconsistencies in the film make the story seem disingenuous. But the film’s theme that deeply personal issues keep us stuck in the mud rings strong and true. Moreover, the film adds the dimension that while loss can lead to inertia and dampen aspirations, it can also instill strong will and determination if you keep company with people who care about you and vice versa. These elements get at the depth and breadth of humanity that move Elliott’s celebrity from icon to being just human like the rest of us, dealing with hardship. Previous Next Sign-up for new reviews, exclusives, deep dives, and more First name Last name Enter your email here I agree to the terms & conditions Sign-up Thanks for joining us!