The White Tiger

 Full upfront confession, I didn't read the book. I believe there were at least two copies kicking around my house. Shame on me. However, I did watch the movie. And I loved it. What's it all about? It's about class relations in India. It's about a Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) who wants to escape the poverty of his small town life and does so by becoming the driver for a rich family. One night, when the lady of the house insists on driving home, when she is drunk, she manages to kill a kid. There are no witnesses and Balram insists they leave the scene. They do. Later, the husband gets Balram to sign a legal document to say he was the one behind the wheel, just in case this comes back on his employers, just in case they get caught. It's a dark film. The film's canvas is big and it explores the Indian caste system juxtaposed against the moral American superiority spewed by Pinky (Priyanka Chopra) - the wife. Textured in is the American dream - rising up from nothing with hard work and determination - Vs the moral bankruptcy of those in power when the shit gets real - kill a kid, get the poor schmuck to take the blame. Lots going on. Adarsh Gouray should be nominated for an Oscar in my opinion. All that and it's a beautifully shot movie. Catch it on Netflix.  

The Mauritanian

Like The Report, this film is about all the horrible shit America did at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It's based on the true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Mohamedou was taken from his home in Mauritania and ended up serving 14 years in Guantanamo - held without charges. He was tortured by the Americans until he confessed to terrorist actions he never did. So we know the story, this film makes it personal, makes you feel it more than The Report. Tahar Rahim plays Mohamedou and he really is the film, and the film is excellent. Jodie Foster plays his pro bono lawyer who stands by him, even when she may have had doubts to his innocence. I like Foster a lot and this is a great role for her - tough as nails and she plays like the pro she is. It one of the best films I've seen come out of 2020 and it's an important film. Catch it on streaming services. 

Ginny and Georgia

This new Netflix teen drama, which feels like part Desperate Housewives and part Dawson's Creek is the most important thing happening on TV. Taylor Swift apparently got pretty mad over a sexist joke made on this new series at her expense. Fair enough Taylor. However, the show is more important to let this one bad joke ruin what I think might be the most important show since Star Trek first came out. Now that's a BIG statement. But please hear me out. When I went to high school (mid to late 80s), it was a pretty white place to be. It was also the time when the Vietnamese boat people were coming in. These immigrant kids often and naturally hung out together/had their lockers together in a hallway we (the white prevailed kids) dubbed The Great Wall of China. I had one Chinese friend and his parents barely spoke English. I had one black friend who was adopted by Chinese parents. Many of the white kids I knew, their grandparents had immigrated to Canada as did mine (from Denmark) from usually white European countries. When John Hughes released "The Breakfast Club" it was a revelation for me. It felt like the first movie I had seen where the teenagers spoke and acted like real teenagers. I was represented on the screen. Think about that, a white kid thinking he is finally being represented with accuracy in a movie. Can you imagine all the Asian kids, all the black kids, who haven't seen themselves? I think it's vastly important to have depictions of yourself being reflected in the art around you. It means you are important, your life is valued. This is why Martin Luther King told actress Nichelle Nichols not to quit Star Trek, that the character of Lieutenant Uhura, a black woman working right alongside her white colleagues was so so important. Little black girls could see themselves on TV in a way like they had never before. And this is why I'm telling you Ginny and Georgia is doing the same thing and why that's so important. The dialogue feels as honest as anything John Hughes could have written and it's got so much going on in terms of representation - Ginny's best friend is an out of the closet lesbian looking for love, Georgia's co-worker is gay and seems to like to cross dressing on his nights off and he has gotten involved with a gay Asian private investigator who is looking into Georgia's past. The dad across the street is deaf (who is the dad of the lesbian best friend) so there is lots of signing going on. Ginny herself is half black/half white and she dates a half white/half Asian (Damian Romeo - who is Canadian by the way!). So representation is off the chart. And the show is just jammed with plot and mystery - I won't even bother to try. Go watch the best thing happening for teens, for representation of so many diverse groups of people on TV right now. Catch this on Netflix.

Greenland

 

Another end of the world disaster movie is exactly what Greenland is. Maybe this and a film like The Midnight Sky might not be everyone's cup of tea during the pandemic, but for me, I'm good with it. The premise: a comet known as Clarke (maybe a Superman nod) is going to strike Earth and kill us all. The government has selected important people, like structural engineers, to help rebuild society after everything is wiped out. I don't know if you every played that game with friends or maybe just in your own head, who would you need to rebuild society if you could only take a couple of hundred people to rebuild the planet? Gerard Butler would of course be on top of the list! You have seen all this before with films like Armageddon, San Andreas, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, etc. There are literally dozens of this type of movie. But Greenland is surprisingly good. And the special effects for Clarke - well done special effects people, well done. If you want to forget about the pandemic for a while and get into the death of the planet (mix it up people!) for some action and adventure, then take a trip to Greenland! Catch it on Amazon!

The Midnight Sky

 

To be honest, I didn't get around to watching this movie until just recently because the reviews were so awful. Reviewers! What do they know - ha! This is George Clooney's third mission to space (although in this movie his role is firmly on the ground); Steven Soderbergh's remake of Solaris being the first and Gravity being the second. The Midnight Sky is is by far my favourite of the three. George also directed this one - so to make better films than Alfonso Cuarón and Steven Soderbergh, good on you George. What's it all about? End of the world baby! Earth is in trouble (sound familiar?) and it's basically about to end from a ecological point of view - everyone on the planet is going to die. Luckily for us Earthlings, we already sent a reconnaissance mission to one of Jupitar's moons to see if we could all move there. So those folks are coming back - little do they know the earth is already cooked. George's character is Augustine, and he is the last man standing in the arctic. Well turns out there is a little girl who got left behind with him, Iris (played by Caoilinn Springall - this kid was pretty darn great). Iris and Augustine must race to another arctic station to warn our returning crew that the Earth is kaput. And in space, there is all kind of action happening as space debris smashes into their ship. I won't tell you any more. I found it all very exciting and surprisingly emotional - maybe the pandemic is getting to me. Catch this on Netflix.

Shithouse

Cooper Raiff wrote, directed, and starred in the remarkable film, Shithouse. It's about an overly sensitive and shy boy, Alex who is living away in residence for his first year of college. His roommate gets blackout drunk and Alex feels disconnected to his environment - he hasn't made any friends. Then he manages to sleep with the dorm supervisor, Maggie (Dylan Gelula - she is amazing). For Alex, this is world altering. Alex has fallen hard for Maggie hard and expects she is feeling the same way about him, except she isn't. This isn't a typical rom-com. It has a real authentic feel of emotions, dialogue, and pacing. Shithouse reminded me Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles. Raiff perfectly captures what it is to meet someone at Alex's age, what is it to form friendships at this time in your life. Alex is far from a perfect character; there are times I wanted to give him a smack for being an overly emotional baby. At the same time, everything Alex does seems so real and his action and reactions are wonderfully consistent to the character's nature. The is Cooper Raiff's first full length feature and it's rather remarkable. Catch it on streaming services.  

The 40-Year-Old Version

It's a black and white comedy set in New York about a failed theatre playwright, Radha Blank. It was written, directed, and stars, Radha Blank in this semi autobiographical film which reminded me a little of Woody Allen when Allen was at his best. It also has the pacing of a Jim Jarmusch film. If you ever saw Curtis's Charm, The 40-Year-Old Version borrows a bit from this too. I loved it and I loved Radha Blank. The story goes she was once a promising up-and-coming black star of the theatre world - she even got a plaque naming her one of the 30 under 30 most promising talents - but now she is 40 and hasn't produced anything in a decade. She teaches theatre to a bunch of foul-mouthed horny teenagers as her gay agent friend tries to revive her career by bringing back one of her works to the stage, but with artistic compromising edits. Blank deicides to go all 8-Mile and become a rapper. This sounds ridiculous but it's the best parts of the film. The 40-Year-Old Version is one of the warmest, charming films I've seen all year. Catch it on Netflix.