The Broken Leg Diaries

 Hi readers! I broke my leg in late March because I'm a klutz! Here's what I watched as I healed:

***

Summer of Soul

This documentary, directed by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, is a joyous celebration of Black music. The film, which just won the Oscar for Best Documentary in March, contains never-before-seen footage of the 1969 Harlem Music Festival--aka "Black Woodstock". Thompson gives us long takes of performances by Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson, The Fifth Dimension, and many more, in between interviews with festival goers and musical artists about what the festival meant to them and the importance of Black art.

The film also gives historical context to the festival, and Black music in general, which is helpful for someone like me who is more of a history buff than a music buff. 

I can't recommend this excellent documentary enough! 

Grade: A

***

The Rental

I was pleasantly surprised by this Dave Franco-directed thriller. Two couples--Charlie (Dan Stevens), his wife Michelle (Alison Brie), Charlie's brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White), and his girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand)--rent a large house overlooking the ocean for a weekend getaway. Mina is suspicious of the host, Taylor (Toby Huss), right off the bat because she believes he is racist (she's middle-eastern). But despite the awkwardness of Taylor handing off the key, the couples get right to partying--in fact, all of them except Michelle take ecstasy the first night.

The next morning, a hungover Mina discovers a tiny camera in the showerhead in one of the bathrooms. This leads to a confrontation with Taylor, culminating in hot-tempered Josh beating Taylor unconscious. As the group scrambles to decide what to do, they descend further into violence and chaos.

The Rental is not exactly award-worthy, but it is fun, especially if you like thrillers that depend of group dynamics which involve people keeping secrets from one another. Definitely good for a night's entertainment.

Grade: B

***

Master

Master, directed by Mariama Diallo, follows three Black women at an elite, extremely white, university in the Northeast. Zoe Renee plays Jasmine Moore, a freshmen struggling to fit in with her preppie classmates. Regina Hall play Gail Bishop, a professor and "master" of one of the dorms (I was a little unclear about the role of "master" in this movie. I wasn't sure if Gail was a glorified RA or Dean of Students or what). And Amber Gray plays Liv Beckman, a beloved literature professor going up for tenure.

Master was marketed as a horror movie, but the film is light on supernatural horror. However, it is not light on real-life horror, and contains many instances of microaggressions, macroaggressions, and all manner of cruel and stupid racial snobbery.

I found Master to be a mixed bag. It is beautifully shot and the acting is excellent (Regina Hall is never not great). However, there were so many ideas--too many, in fact, to fill a 90 minute film. The movie wanted to be a ghost story, a witch story, a story about racism in academia, a story about mental health...and it didn't really address any of these stories fully. I felt that the movie would actually have made a very compelling limited series--it needed the time to explore each of the three main characters fully, as well as time to develop the lore around Margret Millet, the witch who supposedly haunts the dorm Jasmine is in, as well as the first Black student at the university who was driven to suicide. 90 minutes is simply not enough to give each of these threads the attention they deserve.

Master is streaming on Prime, and I do recommend it if you like slightly creepy (but not TOO scary) movies, especially those that address racism. But be warned that there are depictions of suicide.  

Grade: B-

***

The Sound of Music

So, I technically have seen The Sound of Music before, but not for over two decades. I watched this classic film about a governess (Julie Andrews) who brings music and joy back into the house of a widower (Christopher Plummer) in late-1930s Austria when I was suffering a bout of depression. And though the movie is DEFINITELY TOO LONG (don't @ me!), it is truly is great. Not just because of the music, but because it's a strongly anti-fascist film. 

Kids today don't know that it used to be really cool to hate Nazis. They didn't have bullshit "decorum" back when the movie was filmed, only two decades after the end of WWII. Ok, I'm being a little facetious, but it is so gratifying to see a film in which the Nazis are 100% called out as the scummy lowlifes they were/are. That scene where Plummer rips a Nazi flag in two? *Chef's kiss*

The music in The Sound of Music is good, although not all the songs are winners ("The Lonely Goatherd" is a real low point in the movie). But classics such as "My Favorite Things", "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", and the sentimental "Edelweiss" will get stuck in your head and you won't be mad about it. This movie genuinely made my heart sing with joy when I needed it the most.

Grade: A-

***

The Wedding Singer

Another rewatch for me. I LOVED this Adam Sandler/Drew Barrymore romcom when it came out in 1998. I decided to rewatch it and see if it held up. Well...it really doesn't. Not only is there a "Boy George" type character (a character perceived as male who wears makeup and women's clothes) who is used for humor like, once every 10 minutes, the overall humor of the movie feels incredibly dated. 

However, both Barrymore and Sandler pull their weight as two sweet people who need to leave the assholes they're with and be together. The soundtrack is pure 80s pop perfection (I own both volume one and two of the soundtrack on CD). I'd say about 20% of the jokes still land, although most of them (including the non-homophobic and non-transphobic ones) are groan-worthy as hell.

If you're in the mood for nostalgia, by all means rewatch this once very popular film. But otherwise feel free to let it live in your memories.

Grade: C+

***

The Cider House Rules

Another rewatch for me, The Cider House Rules remains one of the warmest, snuggliest films about abortion, father-daughter incest, child death, and addiction to ever exist. Based on the (stone cold excellent) novel by John Irving, the film stars Michael Caine as Wilbur Larch, a doctor who runs Saint Cloud's--an orphanage (and secret abortion clinic!) in Maine. Tobey Maguire plays Homer Wells, a young man left at the orphanage as an infant who was adopted but returned twice as a baby and informally adopted as Dr. Larch's son and apprentice. Homer is trained in obstetrics by Dr. Larch, and is happy to deliver babies, but refuses to perform abortions, much to the chagrin of Larch who knows that some women absolutely need to end their pregnancies (the film takes place in the 30s and 40s).

After a young, unmarried couple--Wally (Paul Rudd) and Candy (Charlize Theron)--come to Saint Cloud's for an abortion, Homer decides to leave with them and explore the world outside of the orphanage. He takes a job as an apple-picker on Wally's family's orchard. There, he meets Arthur Rose (Delroy Lindo) and his daughter, Rose (Erykah Badu). The racial politics of The Cider House Rules are a liiiiiitle dicey (white boy learns about life from working class Black folks...but also saves their asses in a moment of desperation!), especially since the turning point of the movie is when Homer performs an abortion on Rose who was impregnated by...her own father. Still, the fact that this PG-13 movie so squarely looks at incest and abortion in the eye, yet remains humane with grace given to all the characters, is truly remarkable. Not to get cheesy, but it's a pretty spiritual film in many ways.

The saccharine musical score will get stuck in your head, but I doubt you'll be able to resist the charms of this unique film. In fact, I'm going to reread the book (which is even better than the movie).

Grade: A-

***

What We Do in the Shadows (TV show)

While convalescing at my parents' house, I rewatched FX's What We Do in the Shadows with my mom (she loves Colin Robinson). This infinitely rewatchable show is so good and so hilarious, I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Do I even need to outline the plot? Come on, if you don't already watch this show or know about it...what are you, some kind of fucking guy? Get with the program and watch this excellent show. 

Grade: A+

***

And some stuff I rewatched, which I've already reviewed on this blog.

Midsommar-A+

The Ring-A+

It Follows-A

La La Land-A-

Titanic-A-

The Babadook-A-

Running with the Devil

Movies: The Exorcist

It's unbelievable that a horror fan like me took this long to watch The Exorcist, one of the most famous--and terrifying--horror films of all time. But with so many new horror movies coming out all the time, it's easy to forget to catch up on the classics.

So I sat down and watched The Exorcist all the way through for the first time and was blown away by it. It's not the "scariest" movie I've evert seen, but it's pretty dang scary! And it's surprisingly hard-hitting in the feels!

You probably know the story: Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) is an actor and divorced mother, raising her daughter Regan (Linda Blair), who is about 12 or 13 years old, in Georgetown while she films a movie. Very abruptly, Regan has a huge personality change and becomes angry and violent. Chris has her undergo a series of medical tests, but nothing seems physically wrong with her. After trying everything, and with Regan getting more and more grotesque by the day, Chris turns to the Catholic Church for help.

Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), is a priest struggling with his faith. Chris asks Father Karras about exorcisms, but Karras says that they are rarely performed in modern times. However, after he visits Regan, who is doing things like projectile vomiting, shaking the bed violently, stabbing a crucifix where the sun don't shine, etc, Karras knows something is seriously wrong. 

A more experienced priest, Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), is recruited to help Karras perform the exorcism. During the physically and emotionally exhausting process, Merrin dies and the demon enters Karras' body. In a final act of sacrifice, Karras throws himself out a window. He dies, but he saves an innocent child from the demon in doing so (and leaves the film open to a sequel!).

The Exorcist is a very interesting film because it shocked many people and royally pissed off the Catholic Church. I mean, having a 12 year old girl say "your mother sucks cocks in hell" and force her own mother's head between her legs is, uh, a hard sell to most people. But this is a fucking demon we're taking about here. Demons are not going to use PG-rated language. 

If you can get past the shock factor, The Exorcist is a story about faith. Chris MacNeil, a non-religious woman, has to take a leap of faith in order to save her daughter. Father Karras, who is haunted by his own doubts and shortcomings, still comes through when it counts and even sacrifices his own life to save a little girl. I'm not going to lie, y'all, I kind of teared up at the end. 

There is a reason why The Exorcist is considered one of the greatest horror films of all time: it is genuinely horrific, and it is genuinely good. It's shocking, but not schlocky. It's disgusting, but not (in my opinion) exploitative. All the aspects that take a movie from ok to great--acting, music, cinematography, pacing, story arc--are on point. Jason Miller's performance is especially good.

If you haven't seen The Exorcist, I highly recommend it. Even if you're not a horror lover. You might just need to step out in faith on this one.

Grade: A+

Stuff I watched in...March 2022, Pt. 2

X

This slasher, directed by Ti West, is a really fun homage to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with a twist. In 1979, a small group of filmmakers working on an adult film rent a bed and breakfast out in the boonies from an elderly man. They don't tell the old codger that they plan to film a fuck movie using his guest house, barn, etc. 

All seems to be going well until night falls. Turns out the old man has a wife who has "sundown syndrome"--basically, she suffers from dementia and it gets much worse after dark. And by "worse", I mean that she kills people. 

On the one hand, X is just a straight-forward slasher where each nubile young thing gets picked off by the oldsters one by one. On the other hand, it's a meditation on aging and death, and how it really sucks to be physically old (and considered unattractive by most people), but still feel young (and horny) at heart.

The cast is really great: Mia Goth plays Maxine, the main protagonist; Martin Henderson plays Wayne, Maxine's much older boyfriend and director of "The Farmer's Daughters"; Brittany Snow captures the essence of a late-70s porno starlet perfectly as Bobby-Lynne, and Scott Mescudi (better known as Kid Cudi), is smooth as silk as Jackson Hole. Plus there is a surprise casting stunt which I won't reveal here.

Overall, this fun and unique slasher is recommended to all horror lovers. 

Grade: A

***

The Batman

My biggest complaint about Matt Reeves' latest take on Batman is that it tries to cram way too much into one movie. Jokes have been made about the 3 hour run time, and I have to agree that it is excessive. The film begins almost as a crime procedural, in which a bad guy (The Riddler, played by Paul Dano) is killing people and leaving behind messages and riddles for The Batman (Robert Pattinson). But instead of being satisfied with a tight cat-and-mouse game, there are like 12 subplots and multiple endings that make the film kind of forgettable (or, rather, difficult to remember) in the end. In fact, I originally graded this film as a "B", but I have downgraded it to a "B-" because, looking back, I don't remember much about it. 

The positives of the movie include the many excellent actors in it. Pattinson is very good as the titular Batman--he is macho and gruff when in costume, but kind of a pathetic, reclusive kid out of it, which makes more sense than Christian Bale's playboy take on Bruce Wayne. Jeffrey Wright, who elevates every movie and TV show he stars in, is a cool, collected cat as Commissioner Gordon. Zoe Kravitz captures Catwoman's whole deal as a thief with a heart of gold. Rounding out the cast, we have Colin Farrell, unrecognizable under an entire suit of makeup as The Penguin, John Turturro is another Big Baddie, and even Peter Sarsgaard as a hapless victim. 

Overall, The Batman is a fun popcorn movie but it's no Dark Knight. Despite the somewhat controversial politics of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, and the second of the three films in particular, in my opinion they're just way fucking better than most other Batman movies. 

Grade: B-

***

Euphoria

Euphoria is...a lot. The HBO show about teens in California struggling with drug addictions, bullying, and all manner of high school drama is going to be straight up disgusting to many people. Despite all the actors being over the age of 18, seeing teens engage in sex and nudity is still quite disturbing for many folks. For me, though, the bullying and violence are much more difficult to watch. I mean, a guy literally strangles his girlfriend and she immediately goes back to him. It's fucked up, y'all.

The cinematography is transcendent, often making the show look more like a religious painting than a teen dram, with the use of beautiful color and light. The acting is tremendous and vulnerable, especially Zendaya's turn as the pill-addicted Rue and Hunter Schafer's role as Jules, a trans teen who gets caught up in the sexual mind games of Cal and Nate Jacobs--a father and son who are beyond fucked up. 

I think Euphoria will naturally filter out people who don't want to watch it. It's very much a soap opera and quite unrealistic, even though some aspects of it are real as hell. I think it's a very well done show that is excellent on all technical levels, but still leaves me feeling empty and unfulfilled. 

Grade: B+

***

No Country for Old Men

This was a rewatch for me, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that No Country for Old Men remains one of the best Coen Brothers' films of all time. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, NCFOM follows Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), an average Joe living in a trailer in 1980 Texas, who comes across the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad. He discovers a briefcase filled with 2 million in cash and of course takes it home.

For his incredibly stupid act, Llewelyn becomes the target of hired hit man and certified psychopath Anton Chigurh (Javer Bardem, playing one of the most terrifying villains in cinematic history). Moss sends his wife away to stay with her mother and he flees to the border, with Chigurh hot on his heels. Meanwhile, both Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) and hired investigator Carson Wells (Woody Harrelson) are trying to track down both Moss and Chigurh. Will anyone make it out alive? 

I say this without a hint of hesitation: No Country for Old Men is one of the greatest films of the 21st century. It is excellence in film form: adapted from an excellent novel, directed by excellent directors, acted by excellent actors, and firing on all cylinders. It is also a deeply cynical story with what some consider a very unsatisfying ending. But not all art makes you feel happy in the end.

Grade: A+

***

There Will Be Blood

Here is another deeply cynical (perhaps moreso than No Country for Old Men) movie, also released in 2007. This was a rewatch for me and each time I watch it, I am both impressed and...a little bored, to be honest. Paul Thomas Anderson's epic film about a ruthless oilman, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), is a bit slow at times. But despite the slowness, it's a very meaty movie. 

One interpretation of There Will Be Blood is that it's about the eternal struggle between American greed and American religion. Plainview cares about money and power, period. He is a sociopath who does not believe in God. His enemy is Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a preacher whose family originally sold Plainview the land on which Plainview discovered oil. Sunday is always bothering Plainview to come to church, donate to the church, etc. Plainview delights in humiliating Sunday.

And yet, despite their differences, the two men are more alike than they'd ever admit. They're both self-focused, greedy, and obsessed with power and control. Eli Sunday is a just...wimpier...than Daniel Plainview. Similarly, religion and capitalism in America are two symbiotic parasites battling it out--but, in America at least, the love of money will always win out. 

There Will Be Blood, like many of PTAs movies, is a tough, uncomfortable watch. But it's highly rewarding, if for no other reason than to watch a master (Day-Lewis) at the height of his talent.

Grade: A

***

Walk the Line 

Another rewatch for me! And this time, it's a very UNcynical movie about the life of Johnny Cash. Played by another acting great, Joaquin Phoenix, the film follows Cash from his poverty and tragedy-stricken childhood, to his rise to fame, to his battle with addiction, and finally to his proposal to June Carter while onstage in 1968. 

Released in 2005, there are a lot of things that feel dated about Walk the Line--namely, the depiction of Cash's first wife, Vivian (played by Ginnifer Goodwin). Vivian is portrayed as a shrew who doesn't support Cash's music and resents his rise to fame. From the little I've read, Vivian Cash was not the bad guy she is shown to be in the movie and was actually very supportive, as well as a good mother to Roseanne, Cindy, Tara, and Kathy. But in Walk the Line, the focus is on Johnny and June's love affair, not the inconvenient facts of his first marriage.

Despite the imperfections, Walk the Line is a solid movie with very good acting and toe-tapping music. The life of Johnny Cash (and those around him) can't be adequately summed up in two hours, so no biopic was going to hit the mark with a perfect bullseye. But this film does its best to show both the light and dark sides of The Man in Black.

Grade: A-

Stuff I watched in...March 2022, Pt. 1

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

This biopic about Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, televangelists who swindled their followers out of millions of dollars, is anchored by strong performances by Jessica Chastain as the tarantula-lashed Tammy Faye and Andrew Garfield as the soft-spoken Jim.

The film is at its best in the early years of their courtship, when they met at North Central Bible College in Minnesota. Tammy Faye came from an emotionally abusive family where she was treated like a black sheep. She found her (literal and figurative) salvation in the church and in her very real love for God (and for Jim).

The movie really focuses on Tammy Faye, presenting her as a True Believer who really did love God and believe that God loves everyone. Jim, on the other hand, is portrayed as someone who is driven by a desire for money. Who perhaps also was sincere in his faith, but let money, power, and image rot his foundational beliefs. 

The fact of the matter is that even if Tammy Faye was a friend to queer people and AIDS patients at a time when the evangelical church was hostile to the same (and still is, frankly), she was still culpable in her role in the fraud she and her husband committed. The film lionizes her just a bit too much for my taste. That said, it's a good--if not great--film with excellent actors portraying the imperfect and complex larger than life televangelists at its center.

Grade: B

***

Unsane

Unsane is a Steve Soderbergh-directed film which was notable when it came out in 2018 for being filmed entirely on an iPhone 7 Plus. 

The film stars Claire Foy (slipping into her British accent embarrassingly often) as Sawyer, a woman who moves across the country after a man she meets while volunteering in a hospice begins stalking her. David (Joshua Leonard, who is DEAD ON as a dangerously creepy man) becomes obsessed with Sawyer after the passing of his father, whom Sawyer would read to in the hospice.

After Sawyer confides in a therapist that she is struggling and has even had thoughts of suicide, she is given "boiler plate" forms to sign that actually place her under a 24 hour hold in the behavioral health center in which she met the therapist. She--understandably--freaks out and ends up attacking an orderly who looks like David to her. Due to her erratic behavior, she is kept for another week in the hospital.

There are two parallel stories going on here: one about involuntary commitment to psychiatric wards and one about being stalked. Turns out that David, Sawyer's stalker, has fabricated a backstory about himself in order to get a job as an orderly at the institution in which Sawyer is confined.

The whole premise is ridiculous. Involuntary commitment does happen, but not in the way it's portrayed in the movie. And stalking is, of course, all too common. But what David does in the movie is incredibly unrealistic. For one thing, how did he know that Sawyer was going to see a therapist at that particular behavioral health center and end up signing the forms without reading them? He would have to set his plan in motion long before Sawyer even considered seeing a therapist.

Despite the film's ridiculous plot, it does a good job as a thriller. Joshua Leonard is especially effective at playing the type of man women have nightmares about. 

Unsane is one of Soderbergh's weaker films, but if you're looking for a movie to get your heart rate up, you could do worse.

Grade: B-

***

The Last Duel

I was skeptical of Ridley Scott's multi-perspective film about the last officially sanctioned trial by combat in France and the rape the precipitated it. First of all, a movie that centers on whether a rape did or did not happen directed by an old-ass man? Recipe for disaster.

However, I was pleasantly surprised as how compelling and well done the film is. Matt Damon stars a Jean de Carrouges and Adam Driver stars as Jacques Le Gris, two squires in late 1300s France. They both swear loyalty to Count Pierre (Ben Affleck), but Le Gris is especially friendly with the Count, as both he and the Count are the equivalent of medieval fuck boys, whereas de Carrouges is a tiresome stick in the mud.

De Carrouges marries Marguerite de Thibouville (Jodie Comer), but when the Count takes part of Marguerite's dowry--a parcel of land--that was promised to de Carrouges and gives it to Le Gris, de Carrouges' anger and resentment towards Le Gris grows. 

When de Carrouges is out of town on business and his mother-in-law takes the servants into town for some errands, Marguerite is left alone at their castle. Le Gris shows up and tricks her into opening the door. He then professes his love to her, chases her upstairs, and rapes her against her screams and sobs of protests. When she tells her husband, he knows he can't go through the courts to get justice because he'd have to go through Count Pierre, who hates him and loves Le Gris. So he challenges Le Gris to a trial by combat, where God decides the winner. The duel is approved by the King and commences in the final section of the film. More is at stake (literally) than just de Carrouges' life...if he loses, Maguerite will be burned alive at the stake. 

The film shows the events through Jean's perspective, then Jacques', and then Marguerite's. Jodie Comer and Adam Driver do especially great work in the rape scene, which is shown twice. To our modern eyes, ears, and sensibilities, it is clear in both scenes that this is rape, and Marguerite is not consenting. However, Comer does a terrific acting job in making her tone of voice, body language, and even the pitch of her cries just ambiguous enough in the Le Gris' perspective to show how Le Gris deluded himself into thinking she "wanted it". In Marguerite's perspective, there is no ambiguity at all. She is sobbing from fear and pain. 

The Last Duel is about how the petty vanity of men makes life hell not only for the women in their lives, but for the men themselves. This was true in 1386 and, though things have obviously improved, is still true today. Toxic masculinity, like anything toxic, poisons all it comes in contact with. Ridley Scott's medieval take on #MeToo may be a little on the nose at times, but I found The Last Duel to simply be an excellent movie starring excellent actors.

Grade: A

***

Fresh

Released on Hulu a week ago, Fresh is a horror-comedy starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan. Directed by Mimi Cave, Fresh is about how modern dating is a meat market. LITERALLY. Edgar-Jones plays Noa, who is trying to meet guys but has the same experiences we all have while kissing our frogs. She meets Steve (Sebastian Stan) in a supermarket and, after some light joking around, he asks for her number.

The two start dating and it seems too good to be true. Steve is a plastic surgeon who also seems gentlemanly and funny. He invites Noa on a trip and when she agrees and the two go to his home to spend the night so they can get up early to catch their flight the next day...well, lets just say the fairytale ends very abruptly for Noa.

(SPOILERS KINDA)

Steve drugs Noa's drink and she wakes up chained in an admittedly pretty nice basement. Turns out that Steve harvests young women's flesh and sells it to wealthy clients. He keeps the women alive for as long as possible so the meat is fresher and also gives them some comforts of home (i.e. a nice cell with magazines to read and really delicious meals) since reducing stress means the meat will taste better.

The fact is, the metaphors in the movie are so obvious that they're a punch in the face. Women are treated like MEAT, amirite ladies!? The fact that Steve is a plastic surgeon and also a straight up misogynist who tells women to smile more and wear pink and stuff is not lost on me. Fresh is fun and funny, but it's not exactly subtle. 

The gore in this movie is kept within a reasonable limit, so Fresh is safe for folks who like horror, but don't like excessive bloody gore. I mean, your mileage may vary and my shock-o-meter is destroyed from years of increasingly violent horror movies, but I think this one is safe for the "average" horror fan. So if you're looking for a funny, stylish horror movie without a TON of substance, look no further.

Grade: B

***

Encanto

I generally don't watch "kid's movies", but I could not escape the pull of Encanto. Now, to be fair, I watched Encanto at my friend's house with her 2 year old and husband as she (the friend, not the toddler) made dinner and we were all talking constantly throughout the movie as one does, so my attention was not strictly on the film 100% of the time. But what I saw and absorbed, I liked.

Between the original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the incredible animation, and the strong message about family and how special gifts can be their own kind of curse, Encanto is a clear winner. I don't need to say much more.

The basic plot is that the Madrigal family lives in an encanto--a "magical realm bordered by mountains" (thanks, Wikipedia). Within this encanto they live in a magical house, casita, and each member of the Madrigal family has a special power. For example, Julieta can cure all ailments with her food, Pepa's mood controls the weather, and Bruno....well, we don't talk about him (he can see the future and that was too scary for the Madrigals so they shunned him and he disappeared). 

However, young Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) is the only member of the family who was not granted a special power on her 5th birthday, like all the other Madrigals were (um, except Abuela...but she like, gave birth to the first generation of magical people, so I guess that's her power?). Despite not having a power, Mirabel loves her magical family...and when she suspects that something is happening within the house to diminish the family's powers, she starts snooping around and asking about Tio Bruno, since she suspects he knows something about what is going on...and how to fix it.

Encanto is a delight, whether you're a child or an adult. And I really need to watch more "kid's movies"!

Grade: A

Stuff I watched in...February 2022

Titane

Titane, directed by French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, is pretty much the definition of a provocative, subversive film. The only thing I knew going into it is that it had been compared to David Cronenberg's Crash, a film in which people are sexually aroused by car crashes (not the racist monstrosity Crash directed by Paul Haggis).

In Titane, protagonist Alexia is in a car crash at a young age and has to get a titanium plate put in her skull as a result. She grows up to be a model who, um, fucks cars. But if you think the car-fucking is the weirdest thing about this movie, you are dead wrong.

I'm going to post spoilers below, because some people who read this blog don't want to actually watch the freaky movies I talk about but still want to know the juicy details. However, if you're a cinephile, just trust me and watch the movie without knowing anything else.

Spoilers...

Spoilers...

As a result of fucking a car, Alexis becomes pregnant. Also, Alexis is basically a serial killer who kills random people for fun. After murdering a house of people, she flees her town, disfigures her appearance by shaving her head and breaking her nose (in one of many "watch through your fingers" moments in the movie) and claims to be the 17 year old missing son of a fire captain named Vincent. The missing son disappeared 10 years ago, so there is some plausibility that a woman in her 20s could make herself appear as a 17 year old boy. But the fact is, Vincent doesn't give a shit. He is on board that this person is his son. He needs to believe his son is back, just as Alexis needs someone to take her in.

/End spoilers

/End spoilers

Titane is one of the most unique movies I've seen and I was astonished by it. It's not a movie I'm going to rewatch often, if ever, and it is absolutely brutal in many scenes. But, my god, is it creative and batshit. Definitely worth the watch for fans of subversive cinema.

Grade: A

***

Benedetta

Now, here's a movie that had the potential to be subversive and ended up...not so much. Director Paul Verhoeven takes on the true story of Benedetta Carlini, a nun who lived in the late 16th/early 17th centuries. Benedetta was a mystic who claimed to have visions of Jesus. She was also a lesbian who had an affair with a fellow convent-dweller, Bartolomea. 

Unfortunately, Verhoeven takes this incredibly interesting story and turns it into a softcore porno where a woman fucks another woman with a dildo carved out of a statue of the Virgin Mary. 

Now don't get me wrong: I love a good blasphemous dildo-fucking! I am not offended, and, indeed, am into explicit sex and explorations of sexuality on film. But the kind of sex Benedetta (played by the angelic-looking Virginie Efira) and Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia) is 100% male gaze-y 100% of the time. We're talking rough boob-grabbing, and orgasms from penetration alone (from a wooden dildo no less). I've never had sex with a woman, but I've had sex AS a woman, and this ain't it. And I know enough about queer sex to know that queer people are going to watch this and fucking laugh their asses off at how ridiculous it is. Queer people reading this--please correct me if I'm wrong! 

Now, as for the non-sex parts of the film, which involve Benedetta claiming to have stigmata and visions of Christ...it's not too bad. I mean, everyone is way too pretty and clean to look like they're living in a 1600s convent, but other than that, the politics of the convent, the ways the various women vie for power in a deeply patriarchal society--that shit is actually interesting. So I can't judge the movie TOO harshly. 

Do I recommend it? Suuuureee. It's fun, it's campy, it's got a lot of tits in it. So there are definitely reasons to watch this film. But don't expect to have your mind blown.

Grade: C+

***

The Beta Test

Last year, I watched an excellent horror-comedy film called The Wolf of Snow Hollow. It was written by, directed by, and starring Jim Cummings (not to be confused with the well-known voice actor). Not only is Cummings hot in that really annoying alpha male way, he's insanely talented! So when I heard that a new film, The Beta Test, written, directed, and starring the very same, I was so excited to watch it.

And while The Beta Test is good...it also feels deeply unsatisfying. The film focuses on a man named Jordan Hines (Cummings), a Hollywood talent agent who is incredibly good looking (seriously guys, Google this man), successful, rich, and also engaged to a lovely woman, Caroline (Virginia Newcomb). This dude is white privilege personified. So, of course, when he gets an letter in the mail inviting him to a rendezvous with an "anonymous admirer" in a fancy hotel, he immediately throws the card away, knowing no good will come of it!

LOL, of course he RSVPs "yes"! During the hookup, he is required to wear a blindfold, as is the woman he is meeting. From our perspective as the viewer, the hookup seems straightforward enough. But as soon as the post-nut clarity sets in, Jordan becomes increasingly paranoid: what if this is a blackmail scheme? What if he gets "MeTooed"? What if someone else was in the room with him and the woman? What if they have photos? Jordan is already a dick, but his paranoia causes him to become insufferable and put his job and relationship in jeopardy.

The ending, in my opinion, is incredibly anti-climatic. I feel like Jim Cummings had the opportunity to say something profound about Hollywood, sexual harassment, and white, male privilege--especially as he, Cummings, is in Hollywood but also doing his own shit. He's an auteur and presumably beholden to no one. But he kind of fumbles whatever message he is trying to get across in the end. In fact, it's not clear what the message or moral of The Beta Test is.

I will say, the movie is funny and entertaining. It also has a very triggering opening scene where a woman is brutally murdered...so be careful with that. I am inclined to be forgiving of this movie because I think Cummings has a lot of talent and promise...I hope his next film is closer to The Wolf of Snow Hollow than The Beta Test. 

Grade: B

***

Cherry Falls

Cherry Falls is a 2000 teen slasher film starring the late, very missed Brittany Murphy. Though the film has many teen slasher cliches, the premise has a huge twist: the serial killer on the loose targets virgins. Murphy plays Jody, the (yes, virginal) daughter of the town sheriff. After multiple teens are killed, the sheriff calls a town meeting and reveals the killer's modus operandi--they carve the word "virgin" into the victim's body...and the female victims are, uh, intact. We're not going to get into a hymen/anatomy lesson here, so for the sake of staying on topic: yes, all the victims, male and female, have never had penis-in-vagina heterosexual intercourse. 

Well, as soon as the teens find out, they immediately plan a "pop your cherry" party to make sure they don't make the killer's shortlist. Jody, meanwhile, is attacked by the killer but escapes. She is able to describe the attacker: a person with long, stringy black hair with a gray streak, dark nail polish, and combat boots. She overhears a private conversation between her father and the high school principal saying that the artist's sketch based on Jody's description looks strikingly similar to a woman named Lora Lee Sherman. Who is Lora Lee Sherman? Is she indeed the killer? What is the relationship between this woman, the sheriff, and the principal? And will Jody lose her virginity before it's too late? You'll have to watch to find out!

Cherry Falls absolutely has a ton of regressive stereotypes about men and women, and the queer-coded individuals...well, let's just say the movie completely blows any decent queer representation. Still, there is a streak of subversion within this otherwise cliched teen scream of a film. Cherry Falls represents a slightly edgier take on the teen slasher and is delightfully campy. If you're in the mood for a retro throwback (or millennial nostalgia), Cherry Falls is a really fun slasher pic.

Grade: B

***

Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice is a neo-noir comedy directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It's based on the book by Thomas Pynchon and I can barely tell you what it's about because the film has so many characters, so many twists and turns, that you pretty much have to accept that you're going to get lost in the whole mess. It's a prime example of a "shaggy dog tale". And the "dog" in question is Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix, playing an extremely chill dude for a change), a private eye living in the early 70s in Los Angeles. Doc's ex-girlfriend, Shasta (Katherine Waterson), tells him about her new lover, a real estate tycoon named Micky Wolfmann. She asks Doc to help prevent a scheme in which Mickey's wife and her lover plan to commit Mickey to an insane asylum and, I guess, take control of his money.

There are also multiple sub-plots where Doc is hired by different people to find different missing persons...but all threads seem to lead to drug-smuggling operation called "The Golden Fang" who use "vertical integration"--i.e. they sell their drugs and then when those drugs cause negative physical and mental health side effects, they sell the cure (dentistry and a rehabilitation center in this case). It all turns out to be very clever in the end, but the journey there labyrinthian. 

I didn't love Inherent Vice, though it certainly had some hilarious moments and it has a huge cast of great actors. I will likely try watching it again because Paul Thomas Anderson movies never seem "good" the first time I watch them, but upon repeat viewings, they sometimes skip right over "good" and into the "great" category. Until then, I would say that Inherent Vice is a sometimes delightfully muddled film...and sometimes just a muddle.

Grade: B-

***

Cyrano

So, I went into Joe Wright's musical adaptation the Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac only knowing the first half of the plot: a witty, intelligent, yet "unattractive" man, Cyrano, agrees to write love letters to the woman he loves--Roxane--on behalf of a not-so-witty, but handsome man, Christian, who also loves Roxane. I mean, if that plot doesn't scream FRENCH FARCE I don't know what does!

Uh, but it turns out that Cyrano is a tragedy with a heavy moral lesson. In the original play, Cyrano's big imperfection is that he has an abnormally large nose. In Joe Wright's version, Cyrano is a dwarf, played by who else but Peter Dinklage. Unstated, but definitely in the subtext, is the fact that Peter Dinklage is very handsome--and he plays the talented, snarky, witty Cyrano so easily because Dinklage is talented, snarky, and witty. But is he any match for Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian de Neuvillette? Harrison Jr. is devastatingly handsome any way you slice it. He has kind eyes and a warm smile. But unfortunately, he is terrible with words. And Roxane's (played by fresh-faced, angelic Haley Bennett) love language is verbal affirmation, bitch!

So the farce part of the movie plays out with Cyrano writing letters on Christian's behalf. In one scene, Christian stands below Roxane's balcony while Cyrano whispers the words he so dearly wishes HE could say to Roxane.

But the second half of the movie is a stone cold tragedy. Roxane has yet another admirer--De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn), a classic villain. He is a nobleman, he is rich, he is old and ugly, and he is a predatory prick. When he finds out that Roxane has her heart set on Christian, he sends the King's Guard (of which both Christian and Cyrano are part) to the front lines of the war their country is battling, knowing that survival is unlikely. 

The moral lesson at the heart of Cyrano is that Cyrano loves his pride more than he loves Roxane. He is so scared of being rejected that he never even tries to tell her his feelings. There's definitely a lesson here about "the friend zone" and men projecting their own self-resentments onto women, but I doubt the incel and red pill crowd is going to see this movie. 

Cyrano has great acting and a hell of a final scene. The musical aspect...meh. I found the songs stilted and hackneyed. Many of the songs did that thing where they just describe what's happening. Like, Cyrano will just straight up sing "I love Roxane/but I am not a fool to think she'll ever love a man like me/so I will write these letters/signed by another" (I just made that up, but that's literally what the songs sound like). A Lin-Manuel Miranda production this is NOT!

That said, if you like romantic tear-jerkers/Peter Dinklage, you're probably going to find something to appreciate about Cyrano. And the cinematography is stunning. Stun. Ning.

Grade: B-

Stuff I watched in...January 2022

Yellowjackets

If you haven't heard of Showtime's news series, Yellowjackets, you must be living under a rock. This series has caused a feverish obsession in almost everyone who has watched it.

The show has two timelines: 1996 and present day. In 1996, a plane carrying a girl's soccer team who are traveling to a national tournament crashes in the Canadian wilderness. Many of the girls, as well as the assistant coach and the two sons of the head coach, survive. But their trials and tribulations are only beginning and there are horrors untold lurking in those woods...

...in the modern day timeline, four of the women who survived the harrowing 18 months of being lost in the wilderness try to live their lives. Those women are Shauna (Melanie Lynskey), an unsatisfied housewife and mom; Taissa (Tawny Cypress), a Black and openly gay woman running for senate; Natalie (Juliette Lewis), an addict and alcoholic fresh out of rehab and back to drinking and drugging; and Mistry (Christia Ricci), a nurse who works in an elder care facility and is probably a sociopath. 

When the adult women receive postcards that have a symbol on them that is tied to their year and a half in the woods, they get scared. They did things to survive in the woods that they don't want people to know about. Is their past coming back to haunt them?

The series has been picked up for five seasons and, sure enough, by the end of season one we have some answers, but many, many more questions. Yellowjackets is just as good and just as disturbing as you've heard and it is definitely worth paying for or bumming a Showtime login from a friend to watch.

Grade: A

***

Nightmare Alley

Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Nightmare Alley is a noir film about a man, Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), who takes a job as a carny at a traveling circus. The year is 1939, so many people are down on their luck and no one really cares about Stan's past. He makes friends with a fortune teller, Zeena (Toni Collette), and her alcoholic husband, Pete (David Strathairn), who teaches Stan the tricks of the "mind-reading" trade. He also falls in love with young beauty, Molly (Rooney Mara). He eventually convinces Molly to leave with him and start their own mind-reading act together.

They do, and are enormously successful. One night, they encounter a very skeptical woman, psychologist Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who attempts to expose their act in the middle of it. Stan is able to save the situation, but he is very intrigued with Lilith and vice versa. Stan and Lilith meet and come up with a plan to swindle customers: being a psychologist to very wealthy clients, she knows the private details of their lives. Clients who wish to contact dead relatives come to Stan, who claims he can communicate with the dead. Using Lilith's knowledge, they can make big money preying on grieving rich people.

I bet you can guess where this is going to end up, given that the film is a hard boiled noir. Stan gets his comeuppance. The ending is actually REALLY great, even if you can see it coming a mile away. It's nasty and poetic. Cooper is excellent at playing a very attractive con man whose biggest sin is greed, and the entire cast, stacked wall-to-wall with talent (I haven't even mentioned that Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, and Mary Steenburgen are in it), truly embodies the noir genre down to their very bones.

This is a really fun movie and well worth the watch.

Grade: B+

***

Rose Plays Julie

This is an emotional drama from Ireland about a young woman, Rose (Ann Skelly), finding out about her birth origins. Adopted at birth, Rose contacts her birth mother, Ellen (Orla Brady). After a little light stalking on Rose's part, Ellen agrees to talk to her about her origins. It turns out that Ellen was raped and became pregnant as a result. She couldn't go through with an abortion, so she had Rose (named Julie at birth) and put her up for adoption.

Rose then becomes obsessed with finding her bio father, who turns out to be a very successful archeologist. Rose tracks down Peter (Aidan Gillen) and is disturbed to find out that he is "living life as though nothing happened". Simply by talking to Peter, she is able to get close to him because Peter is still very much a predator. But Rose, now donning a wig and going by "Julie", has some lethal plans for Peter.

One random thing: this whole movie I was like "who is the guy who plays Peter?? He looks SO familiar!" Turns out it's the same actor who played Littlefinger on Game of Thrones. He's perfect for the role of the attractive and covertly violent predator.

Rose Plays Julie is more heavy on the emotions than on the violence, though there is indeed violence. It's not an I Spit on Your Grave or Last House on the Left type rape-revenge movie. It's much more subtle and thoughtful and, at it's heart, is about a woman reconnecting with her mother. Only recommended for people who are ok with themes of rape and violence.

Grade: B

***

The Vigil

The Vigil is an interesting and unique horror film about a man, Yakov (Dave Davis), who lives in Brooklyn and has recently left the Orthodox Jewish community. He is in a very vulnerable position, both in terms of culture (he is learning how to live outside the very conservative and cloistered community he grew up in) and in terms of finances. 

In order to make rent on time, he takes a gig as a shomer, which is a person who keeps vigil over a dead body before it is buried. A prominent man, Ruben Litvak, who was a Holocaust survivor, has died and his wife who is in the early stages of dementia, cannot keep vigil. So Yakov agrees to do it for a few hundred bucks.

Well, it turns out that some kind of demonic or ghostly entity attached itself to Ruben in life and is now haunting his home. This leads to some excellent scares throughout the movie as Yakov keeps seeing shadows and other creepy things throughout the house. It turns out that this entity is a Mazzik--a malevolent spirit that attaches itself to people who are vulnerable. It attached itself to Ruben when he was forced to kill a girl while in a concentration camp...and now that its host is dead, it's looking for another vulnerable person to haunt.

The Vigil mines Jewish culture and folklore for inspiration. I can't tell you if it's done in a way that honors Jewish people and culture rather than exploits them since I myself am not Jewish (and I don't think the director is Jewish either, but I'm not sure). But I can say that it's a very solid horror film. The imagery is very frightening without being gory or gross, and I liked how Yakov's unique situation (being in limbo between two cultures) added a lot of dimension to his character and his motivations.

Grade: B

***

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

This is a strange little comedy directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by (and starring) Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. It's about two Nebraskan women (the titular Barb [Mumulo] and Star [Wiig]) who, despite being middle-aged, have never left their tiny, midwestern town. So after hearing about a friend's trip to Vista Del Mar, Florida, they decide to book a trip themselves.

Now, that plot alone could carry the movie. But there is a very strange b-plot where a woman, Sharon Fisherman (also played by Wiig), develops a strain of venomous mosquitos that will kill anyone they bite. She plans to unleash the deadly insects onto the citizens of Vista Del Mar during an annual seafood festival. Why? Revenge, of course.

So, Sharon's henchman/boyfriend, Edgar (Jamie Dornan, a joy in this absurdist comedic role), is scoping out Vista Del Mar ahead of the mosquito doomsday, and ends up partying with (and sleeping with) both Barb and Star. Edgar's budding relationship with Star makes him reconsider being the evil henchman to a woman he loves who clearly doesn't love him back.

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is no Bridesmaids, but it is pretty funny. Dornan, who usually plays psychopaths (The Fall) or kinky assholes (Fifty Shades of Grey) goes all in playing against type as a bad guy with a secret heart of gold. He even has his own musical number! 

Barb and Star won't blow your socks off, but it's worth a watch.

Grade: B

***

Archive 81

Archive 81 had a lot of promise, but didn't quite pan out the way I hoped. Starring the magnetic Mamoudou Athie as Dan Turner, a film archivist who is hired to restore a collection of video tapes burned in a fire, Archive 81 has been compared to The Ring, Rosemary's Baby, and other horror films that delve into the occult and/or ghostly media. 

The tapes that Dan restores were filmed by a young woman named Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) in 1994. Melody is doing an oral history project on the Visser building. It turns out that this building eventually burned down, which is why the tapes have the fire damage. Dan is intimately familiar with such tragedies as his house burned down when he was a kid, killing his parents and sister. Dan is disturbed to see that his own father, a psychiatrist, pops up in the videos. And he wonders why the fuck he was chosen to restore these tapes.

Archive 81 is good, if convoluted. There are seances, cults, demons coming through TVs, paranoia, drugs, and more. I do think the series would have benefited from a tighter focus and a clearer story. It's hard to tell what the point was by the end of the 8 episodes (which definitely leave room open for another season). I wasn't really left with a message that I could digest. So I'll just say that Archive 81 is good, but not great.

Grade: B

***

Kingdom

Created by controversial (yet genius, in my opinion) filmmaker Lars von Trier, Kingdom is a Danish television series about a haunted hospital. It's usually talked about as if it's a horror series, but it's actually closer to a comedy/soap opera with a few light scares. 

I only watched the first season, which is 4 episodes, but man, enough wacky shit happens in just over 4 hours that I felt pretty satisfied by the end of it. The show follows various doctors and patients of Kingdom Hospital. An elderly woman keeps checking herself into the hospital (always with questionable symptoms) so she can help other patients commune with the dead. A doctor is pregnant with a fetus that grows at about 10x the normal rate, making her look 30 weeks pregnant in only 11 weeks. An insanely arrogant visiting neurosurgeon from Sweden makes life hell for everyone, but is still inducted into an "Old Boys" type society of doctors despite being a shitty surgeon and a shittier human being. A resident steals a corpse's head. You know, #JustHauntedHospitalThings

And at the end of each episode, von Trier himself comes out in a tuxedo during the closing credits to muse over what we just watched and the nature of life and death. I absolutely lost it the first time this happened and it was never not hilarious. Lars von Trier is basically if an internet troll was also a very talented--if deeply troubled--filmmaker. Y'all don't have to love him, because I love him enough for all of us. Even when he's on his bullshit, which is all the time.

Grade: B+

***

Love Machine

 Movies: I'm Your Man (2021)

Maria Schrader's film I'm Your Man, much like Spike Jonze's Her, explores the concept of a human having a relationship with a computer. Although the computer is much more attractive in I'm Your Man.

Alma, played by Maren Eggert, is an archaeologist who specializes in researching instances of poetry and metaphors in ancient cuneiform. She's also single as a pringle and NOT ready to mingle. She's married to her work. However, her boss is on the ethics committee for a new technology: humanoid robots who are programmed to be ideal life partners for humans. He asks Alma to test one of the robots out for three weeks and write him a review. In exchange, he'll grant her funding for a trip to Chicago for her research (just LOL at this guy serving on an ethics committee and bribing his underling into testing a sex robot out).

Alma reluctantly agrees and is introduced to Tom (Dan Stevens), programmed to be her perfect partner in every way, right down to the fact that he speaks German with an English accent because Alma likes men who are a little foreign...but just a little.

Hijinks obviously ensue. Alma is put off by how perfect Tom is (he tidies her apartment and makes a huge breakfast their first morning together) and yet how "off " he is (he can recite poems by Rilke at the drop of a hat, but he doesn't understand sarcasm or metaphors). One night after getting drunk, Alma yells at Tom and throws wine on him, and then kisses him and tried to sleep with him...but he simply puts Alma to bed and refuses to have sex with her, despite her screeches of "I command you to stay! You were built for me!". Clearly, even though Tom is a robot, he's not Alma's slave and he is able to make "the best" decision in the moment, even if it's not what Alma wants.

The film plays out like a rom-com, but the subtext of the movie is much, much deeper and doesn't really take a stance on whether or not humanoid companions would be good or bad for humans.

(ending spoilers)

***

***

I found the final 20 minutes to be especially interesting in how contradictory the movie's message seems to be. Alma breaks up with Tom and makes him leave. Later that night, she gives a lecture and meets an older man with a companion robot. The man explains to Alma that all his life, people seemed to "run from him" and not treat him kindly, and he didn't know if it was his looks or pheromones or what. But now this robot has made him so happy and given him love and kindness no human ever did. The female robot looks at him and says "you deserve to be treated kindly". It's a very sweet moment.

...and then Alma writes her evaluation to her boss, warning him that humanoid robots would NOT be good for society and would create a "society of addicts" who would be wary and depressed after having all their needs met at the push of a button.

...and then she goes and finds Tom. End of movie.

Watching it, I felt mad at Alma for writing that negative review, which might lead to that old man losing his robot companion...but I also AGREED with assessment of the robots. But also, like, I kinda disagreed! I love movies that make me feel this way (like Midsommar), where I kind of see both sides to something. I don't always like it when a concept is spoonfed as either "good" or "bad" to me. I was also annoyed at Alma being a hypocrite and going after Tom...but I also understood! So many conflicting feelings!

***

***

/Spoilers

I really respected that Schrader captured the undeniable and innate ambiguity in the issue at the heart of the movie. It's not so much a question of CAN a human love a robot (to me, that answer is obviously yes, since humans can love many non-human and even non-animal things) but rather, would it be healthy for a person to be given their ideal partner and wouldn't doing so make it easy for people to never change, never improve, and never question themselves? Relationships can bring out the worst in us, but they can also inspire us to be better. I know that in the best relationships I've had, I've genuinely wanted to be a better version of myself for the other person--more loving, more kind, more patient. If my partner were a robot tailored to my needs, why would I ever seek to improve?

But on the other hand...wouldn't such robots help prevent loneliness and even reduce instances of suicide? Hmmm...no easy answers to be had here!

The only easy answer is to watch this movie! I can't recommend it enough. I'm You Man is funny, thought-provoking, sweet, and poetic. Never schmaltzy or preachy. It's just a really great film that makes you ponder the nature of love and what makes a human, well, human.

Grade: A