Sleeping With the Enemy

Movies: Allied

I really love movies and books about WWII. There's just something about the era: the music, the clothes, Rosie the Riveter, handsome American soldiers fightin' Nazis.

About that last one...hmm, it's a little weird watching a movie about the evils of Nazism when the call is coming from inside the house nowadays.

But I digress.

At its heart, Allied isn't actually about WWII or about fightin' the Nazis. It's about trust and whether or not you can truly know someone even if you sleep next to them in bed every night.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, Allied has a distinctly old-fashioned feel. It recalls 1940s film noir: dames in silk dresses wielding guns; men in uniform meeting in underground bunkers; lovers stabbing lovers in the back (psychologically, at least). Allied received mixed critical reviews, but I found it to deliver on its promise to thrill and entertain.

If you've seen the preview, you know the plot: Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard play Max Vatan and Marianne Beausejour, spies put on assignment in French Morocco in 1942 to play a married couple and Nazi sympathizers so that they can gain entry to an elite party and assassinate the German ambassador. Marianne is especially good at playing her role, explaining the cultural customs of Casablanca to the less detail-oriented Max. She also tells him, after giving him a very convincing smooch in front of friends, that she "keeps the emotions real. That's why it works."

In a completely unpredictable twist, the two fall in love and decide to marry after their assignment is carried out. They move to London and Marianne gives birth to a little girl. All's swell in paradise.

Until Max is called into work one day and taken by his commanding officer, Frank (Jared Harris--yay, Mad Men cameo!) to meet with a high-ranking officer who informs Max that they have reason to suspect that Marianne is a German spy. They've discovered messages being delivered to the enemy from the vicinity of Max and Marianne's neighborhood and they also have reason to believe that Marianne took the identity of a French resistance fighter to infiltrate even deeper into Allied territory.

They inform Max that he will be given false information during a late-night phone call and he is to leave it where his wife will see it. If the false information is leaked, they'll know Marianne is indeed a spy and Max will "dispatch her" with his own hand. Now, that last part seems a little...not right? As my mom pointed out after the movie, wouldn't it make more sense for them to arrest Marianne and torture her for more information? That's the American in me--wondering why they'd waste a perfectly good opportunity to waterboard someone until they squeal, right? But I guess forcing a man to put a bullet in his own wife's head or be hanged for treason just has more dramatic *oomph* to it.

I thought Allied did a pretty good job of keeping you guessing about Marianne until the end. Half of the movie is Brad Pitt disobeying orders and trying to find out on his own whether or not Marianne is who she says she is by doing some hugely shady (and likely treasonous) stuff. But every time it seems like he might have an answer, something throws a monkey wrench in his way.

I admit that while Allied is certainly elegant in its cinematography, it's not particularly elegant (or believable) in its plot. But it really does have its moments--two excellent scenes take place during parties: the first when Max and Marianne carry out their assignment to assassinate the German ambassador and the second during a party at their home in London, after Max has been briefed about his wife's possible double life but before he knows for sure.

Allied isn't a ground-breaking film. Quite the opposite, in fact: it's old-fashioned, a throwback to films of earlier eras. It sucks you in and offers, despite it's suspenseful plot, a measure of comfort and assurance. And I was all too happy to tune in and drop out of reality for a couple hours.

Grade: B

Born a Poor, Black Child

Movies: Moonlight

We live in a racist society. When the president-elect appoints a known white nationalist as his Chief Strategist, we can without a doubt say that these are dark, troubled times indeed. Seeing Barry Jenkins' lovely, dreamy, moving film Moonlight under these circumstances was a unique experience and I hope that anyone reading this blog will consider seeing the film, which is the coming of age story of a black, gay man shown in three parts: as a young boy, a shy teen, and a full-grown man still angry and still hurting from his difficult childhood.

For those of you who don't like sad or difficult films, especially during sad and difficult times, I can assure you that the main theme of this movie is not despair, but love and hope. It's not a film that offers escapism, but it's one that tells a story rarely seen on screen: a black man's coming of age.

The first third of the film is titled "Little", the nickname of Chiron, a nine-year old boy growing up in Miami with a crack-addicted mom. Alex Hibbert plays young Chiron--a quiet, meek child with large, observant eyes. Naomie Harris plays Paula, his mother, in a fully fleshed out portrait of a woman who feels love for her son but can't pull herself out of her own addiction long enough to truly be there for him as a parent. Instead, she yells at him when he doesn't behave, despite being unable to model good behavior herself. Harris does an amazing job with a character who isn't cruel, just very weak and deeply flawed.

After running away from bullies, Chiron is discovered hiding in an abandoned home by Juan (Mahershala Ali, who is on the verge of stardom after his turn as Cotton Mouth in Marvel's Luke Cage), a crack dealer with--yes--a heart of gold. He lets Chiron stay the night with him and his girlfriend, Teresa (Janelle Monae). Teresa becomes a mother figure in Chiron's life, giving him a place to sleep and a warm meal when things are hard at home. Juan, too, becomes a parental figure to Chiron--in a beautiful scene, he teaches the boy to swim, supporting him in his arms in the lazy, Floridian waters. The scene reminds one of a baptism:

Additionally, when Chiron asks Juan and Teresa what a "faggot" is after he gets called one at school, the two adults explain that it's a word to "make gay people feel bad". Chiron asks "Am I a faggot?" and Juan answers "No", indicating that while Chiron might be gay, he should not feel bad about it. 

The second act is titled "Chiron" and takes place during Chiron's teen years (he is now played by Ashton Sanders). Chiron has a close friend from childhood, Kevin (played by Jharrel Jerome as a teenager). Although Chiron continues to be bullied, he and Kevin remain close. Their relationship culminates in Kevin giving Chiron a hand job on the beach one night. The scene is much more emotionally deep than you would think given the phrase "hand job". I liked that the two young men engaged in this lower stakes form of sexuality since it seemed more realistic than two teen boys having full-blown intercourse. The scene feels more like a passionate expression of friendship instead of horny fooling around (at least to me; others may have different feelings about the scene).

The next day, however, Chiron's main bully, Terrel (Patrick Decile), goads Kevin into punching Chiron until he falls down. Chiron keeps getting back up, forcing his friend to keep hitting him until the bullies jump Chiron. The day after the beating, Chiron comes to school and breaks a chair over Terrel's head and is carted off to prison.

The final chapter is titled "Black" and takes place when Chiron is probably in his late 20s/early 30s (played by Trevante Rhodes). After his stint in juvie, Chiron turned to drug dealing (much like his father figure, Juan) and has been successful at it. Chiron is tall and jacked--no longer a skinny boy who is easily picked on. He is rich with a gold mouthpiece and a nice house. His mother has since entered rehab and now works at the rehabilitation center. It seems like (other than the less than legal career path he chose) Chiron has moved beyond his tough childhood. But when he receives a call from Kevin (played by Andre Holland, who is sexy as hell, let me tell you), who works at a diner, Chiron can't help traveling to visit his old friend. They share dinner and wine at Kevin's diner and then go back to Kevin's place. You might expect a hot sex scene, but the two just talk about how their lives turned out--Kevin reveals he has a child (but isn't married to the mom) and he also went to prison. This revelation is so casual, as if all black men expect to go to prison in their lives. After being tight-lipped most of the evening, Chiron reveals that Kevin is the only man who ever touched him sexually and that he hasn't been with anyone since. The film ends on this meaningful note.

Ok, I just realized I basically laid out the entire plot. But the plot is simple enough to allow those meaningful moments of everyday life shine through: when Juan teaches Chiron to swim; when Kevin and Chiron kiss on the beach; when Kevin and Chiron reconnect years later. And all the little details that reveal how hard life is when you're a black man--especially a gay black man and especially a poor, gay black man. But life didn't destroy Chiron. As he gets older, he gets more power, through money and physical strength. But on the inside, he's still "Little"--quiet, meek, unsure of himself. The more things change, the more they stay the same, right?

There is so much to praise about Moonlight: the excellent performances (not a single bad one in the entire film), the gorgeous cinematography (I was reminded of Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls, also a film with dreamy cinematography and also about a gay man of color, poet Reinaldo Arenas), the humanistic attitude toward the world that the film takes where there are no heroes and no bad guys--only people doing what they can despite tough situations. 

But I guess what I like most about Moonlight is that it exists, it's in theaters, and people are seeing it. We need stories about black people, gay people, poor people, etc now more than ever. And not The Pursuit of Happiness type movies about the one guy who beat the odds. We need stories about people  who didn't beat the odds. We need stories about people who are doing their best and whose lives are valuable even if they aren't minority success stories. The trick to ending racism/sexism/homophobia/etc isn't putting down white, straight people--it's getting those white, straight people to see people who aren't like them as human. That's all there is (well, not really, but it's a start). When you humanize someone, it's hard to see them (and treat them) as fairytale monsters.

I used to walk down the street and feel that stab of fear I was taught to feel when a large, black man passed me by. That's my inheritance as both a woman and a white person--you are told to fear two groups: men and people who look different than you. But during the past couple weeks, I've been feeling differently. I've been thinking that the people I instinctively fear are not the real enemies. It's my own people--white people. Straight people. Middle class people (men are still scary, tbh). Maybe not *me* and maybe not my friends, but people like me. The group I'm part of. We've been sold some lies about who is scary and who is safe in this world. But I'm starting to see those lies for what they are, and I'm starting to see the people who are different from me as the ones I owe something to. 

No one is perfect. Everyone is human. Movies like Moonlight show the beauty--and struggle--of being human.

Grade: A

Gifted Hands

Movies: Doctor Strange

Hello readers! I'm sorry to be reviewing Doctor Strange so late in the game, but in case y'all are unaware, America decided to go to shit over the past couple weeks and elect an outrageous fuckhead as its leader, so I've had other things on my mind.

And I realize the irony of giving this review the same title as Ben Carson's memoir. Hey! It fits with the themes of Doctor Strange!

And onto the review.

***

While I enjoyed Marvel's latest big-budget superhero flick and have nothing bad to say about it, I also didn't love it. It's the movie equivalent of a turkey sandwich: yummy and filling, but not exactly anything to write home about. That said, comfort food in the form of movies is nothing to knock, especially in these troubled times.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays Dr. Stephen Strange, a neurosurgeon with exceptionally gifted hands who is a minor celebrity in the world of surgery. Stephen apparently enjoys being a cliche because, like all surgeons, he's arrogant as hell. And why wouldn't he be? He's wildly talented, fantastically wealthy, and he literally plays God everyday, saving the lives of thousands of people with his mad surgery skillz. Well, fate has a little shit-kicking in store for Stephen.

While driving to a party, Stephen is in a car accident (he's talking on the phone! Don't talk and drive! He's using Bluetooth, but still...). The accident destroys the nerves in his hands to the point where he will likely never perform surgery again. Because his hands are his life and identity, Stephen falls into a deep depression while also seeking cutting edge medicine to bring his hands back to their former glory. Along the way, he hears tell of a man named Jonathan Pangborn (Benjamin Bratt in a nice cameo) who fully recovered from a severe spinal cord injury. When he finds Pangborn, the man tells him to head to Kathmandu and seek out Kamer-Taj, a secret compound.

Having nothing to lose, Stephen makes the journey. He meets a sorcerer, Mordon (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and a master sorcerer known only as the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). After scoffing at the idea of magic, the Ancient One reveals her (should I say "her"? Ancient One would probably identify as agender on Tinder) powers, shocking Stephen to the core. Although the inhabitants of Kamer-Taj reject him for his arrogance, Stephen grovels long enough to be given a chance to learn the secret ancient arts of...all kinds of shit. One thing the sorcerers do is create portals that let you jump around all over the earth. They're also able to play with time--but that is forbidden to everyone except the Ancient One because of its inherent danger (y'all saw The Butterfly Effect, right?). Of course Stephen, who is a fast learner and thinks rules don't apply to him, wants to uncover and learn the forbidden knowledge.

Meanwhile, a traitorous ex-pupil of the Ancient One, Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen), is gathering minions and planning to overthrow the Ancient One and tap into a dimension where time does not exist, thus granting him and his followers immortality. Once you actually get to see this timeless dimension you're like, "well, this is a piece of shit. Who would want to live here for a day, let alone eternity??" But I digress. One cool thing about Kaecilius is that he's a bad guy who doesn't think he's bad. In fact, he believes that the Ancient One is a liar who disavows the timeless dimension and its dangerous powers to her pupils while also utilizing energy from it to give her a long life. So Kaecilius loses faith in the Ancient One for good reason.

If this all sounds really woo-woo, well, it is.  Doctor Strange definitely has a very different feel than many of the other Marvel films. It feels strongly embedded in fantasy, whereas some of the other films, such as Iron Man, are more embedded in science-fiction. But like other Marvel films, it's very well made, funny, and has great actors showing up and doing a great job (unlike *cough*DC movies*cough). Benedict Cumberbatch is delightful with an excellent American accent in that deep voice of his. His famously weird-but-sexy looks work well in a movie filled with characters who all have otherworldly looks, from the dark makeup around Kaecilius' eyes to the Ancient One's bald head. Truly, the film is as much character driven as it is plot driven.

The central message is about gifts, talents, and purpose. Stephen Strange, like so many characters in literature and movies, must fall hard and be humbled before he realizes his true potential (which was...*sniffle* inside him all along). And he has to accept that the closing of a door might mean the opening of a window that, hell, you didn't even know existed in your house. It's a very positive message in an overall positive (but not sentimental) film. The only thing that annoyed me was the not great gender ratio. There is one clearly female character in the movie--Stephen's ex-lover and fellow doctor, Christine (Rachel McAdams, sweet and strong as she always is), who gets some screen time, but her character is there to prop up Stephen's and doesn't really have her own story. And then I guess you could consider Tilda Swinton's Ancient One as female, but she's really more agender as I mentioned above. Which is cool in its own right I guess. Still, Doctor Strange is one more on a long list of superhero movies that tell a (usually white) man's story with women and minorities bolstering that man up.

But other than that quibble, I found Doctor Strange to be a solid, fun movie. In the wake of this election, where it feels like we're living in an alternate reality--and not a good one--Doctor Strange is ideal escapism: it gives you the escape you need with side helpings of hope and heroism. It's important to remember than good can still destroy evil.

Grade: B