Pieces of a Woman [Netflix]

Vanessa Kirby was brilliant and the highlight of an otherwise slightly uneven film about grief and loss.  She is a sure lock-in for a Best Actress nomination. Shia LaBeouf and Ellen Burstyn were both good too, the former highly underrated, pity about his personal life though. Nonetheless, they were both excellent scene partners that allowed Kirby to bounce off against. 

This film was really a showcase for Kirby, hence it was a bit unfortunate that director Kornel Mundruczo and writer Kata Wéber decided to not solely focus on Kirby's character and her journey. I do wonder what had been lost in the translation of their play from stage to screen. Because other than the home-birth scene and the final act, which seemed very stage-appropriate, the intervening vignettes depicting the passages of time just seemed falsely deliberate and fleetingly shallow. This scattered narrative only then served to dilute the emotional resonance after that amazing - utterly harrowing - home-birth sequence. 

Equally, and personally, as a supporter of hospital-based delivery, the emotional disconnect in the middle act was at times confusing and disconcerting. 

If Mundruczo and Weber had wanted to explore more of LaBeouf's and Burstyn's characters then they should have used the immediate post-tragedy period to elucidate each of these characters' drive and motivations, instead of diverging the narrative and emotional-weightage away from Kirby. Although, it was good that they chose to do a lot more showing than telling, but that did not take away from the uneven-ness of the film. 

Thankfully, they managed to stick the ending and the resolution was both satisfying and appropriate. It provided the necessary closure and did not seemed too false or saccharine.

Once again, Kirby was fantastic. She was riveting throughout as she fully committed to the role and especially that home-delivery sequence. Her navigation through her grief, her disconnect with her partner and family, and her longing desperation of a child lost was palpable and visceral. But, like I said, the film should have really focused on her; Kirby definitely had the goods to carry the whole 120 minutes on her shoulders. 

Looks like the race for Best Actress is likely settled. My bet for nominees will be Kirby, Carey Mulligan, Viola Davis, Frances McDormand and Sidney Flanigan, with only McDormand's performance still sight unseen. And my favourite to win would be Mulligan (for now, and even then, McDormand already has two Oscars). 

The music was by Howard Shore and was beautiful and elegiac if sometimes a bit too on the nose. Cinematography was by Benjamin Loeb and there were some really gorgeous interior shots and outdoor lighting captured.

Pieces of a Woman was a beautiful piece of film that unfortunately, after a terrific, standout opening sequence, did not fully live up to its potential to be unreservedly great despite Kirby giving a career-best performance and a standout supporting cast.

One Night in Miami [VOD]

 

An assured feature film directing debut for Regina King that continued this year's award trend for translating projects from stage to screen, from Netflix's Ma Rainey to the upcoming Anthony Hopkins/Olivia Colman's The Father. Adapted to the big screen by Kemp Powers from his own stage play, this was a powerful film that mediated on the themes of racism, equality, societal justice and personal duty and obligations. It also featured a breakthrough performance by Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X and supported by a well-cast Leslie Odom Jr doing a great Sam Cooke impersonation, Eli Goree as the young, cocky Cassius soon-to-be-Muhammad-Ali Clay and Aldis Hodge as the steady rock of the quartet, Jim Brown.

King's direction was graceful as she weaved the camera in and out and around these four men in a space as they talked, fought, laughed and debated. And when they split up into pairs for deeper - more personal communication - King choreographed the separations naturally and leaned in closer with her camera to capture the more intimate conversations and more subtle nuances.

Powers - in his second screenplay of the year, following Soul - fictionalised what happened behind closed doors in this real meeting of the four men. His screenplay spoke the truth but also tried to portray both sides of the coin but it was clear which side Powers (and perhaps even King) leaned towards. 

Comparisons with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom will be inevitable. Although both films dealt with similar themes, "One Night in Miami" was more overt in its presentation. However, where Ma Rainey's best it was in its acting and writing. The powerhouse performances by Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis anchored the film, and the very strong supporting actors that surrounded them capably lifted the strength of the ensemble as a whole. In addition, August Wilson's words had a more lyrical cadence and elegance that provided an hauntingly beautiful narrative.

Direction wise, both George C. Wolfe's and King's were comparable in that both films did not feel too stage-y despite the limited set pieces, but King attempted more versatility with more varied shots and angles whereas Wolfe opted for more close-ups and tightly composed shots to amplify the sweltering heat and heated emotions.

But where both films did well in were the music choices. It was 20s Ma Rainey blues with saxophonist Branford Marsali vs. the King of Soul, Sam Cooke, and jazz musician Terence Blanchard. Odom Jr might also be getting an Oscar nomination for his original composition, "Speak Now", played over the ending credit.

Ben-Adir was a revelation. His Malcolm X was a quiet, resolute man that belied a fiery passion that would erupt and engulf, but he was also fiercely compassionate, deeply religious and genuinely loving. Ben-Adir portrayed him with all these layers that slowly unpeel and unfurled and re-folded unto itself. 

Odom Jr had the next showiest role and although he did a great impersonation of Cooke, he did tend to veer towards over-acting. Perhaps it was a choice - director's or actor's - to elucidate Cooke's success with a more exaggerated performance, but it was a tad distracting.

Hodge and Goree had a little less to do but at least they each had one showcase scene. 

An engaging film by King that will surely remained in the awards conversation this year, but lacking  any powerhouse acting performances, it might be tough for it to break into the race proper. It's closest bets will be Best Song and Best Adapted Screenplay and a long shot for Best Actor and Best Director (never underestimate the love for Emmy and Oscar-winner Regina King).

Promising Young Woman [VOD]

A timely and bitingly smart revenge thriller that showcased a Carey Mulligan in a career-best performance that will surely propel her towards the front of the Best Actress race. Mulligan was smart, gorgeous, vulnerable and sympathetic all rolled into one, and each little gesture, glare and tick of the  lips conveyed so much knowingness and depth. This was a complex character brought amazingly to riveting life by the subtle nuances of Mulligan and it is hard to imagine another actress playing this role (maybe except a young Nicole Kidman during To Die For which this film clearly related to). 

In addition, this was also a tremendous feature film debut for writer/director Emerald Fennell that clearly portends an exciting future ahead. The writing was smart and clever, and the directing assured albeit a bit derivative but the potential was clearly there. Fennel amassed a great supporting cast around Mulligan, especially Bo Burnham, Laverne Cox, Jennifer Coolidge, Clancy Brown, Connie Britton and Alison Brie. They all brought their own individual distinctiveness to their characters that allowed them to shine. In particular, Burnham and Mulligan had great chemistry together and it was easy to ship them. 

Fennell created a Wes Anderson-esque film filled with symmetry and awashed in pastel hues. The pacing was smooth but overall it could have been just a bit tighter. At just under two hours, Fennell could have trimmed another 10 minutes off to really tighten up the story and focused a bit more on showing than telling to get the exposition across. Regardless, she did peppered the script with a lot of great one-liners, delivered with dry aplomb by Mulligan mostly. There is a real possibility that the smart script, coupled with the originality and timeliness of the film could score Fennell a nomination for Best Original Screenplay.

Another highlight of the film was Fennell's music choices. Together with Anthony Willis, they have curated a pop-soundtrack filled with girl-powered themes and remixes of classic hits that drove and teased the narrative. Britney's Toxic had never sounded so titillatingly ominous. 

Mulligan's Best Actress Oscar nomination is a sure thing, and for now, she is definitely my front runner. An utterly entertaining and intelligent film that just went slightly beyond expectations which made it exciting and satisfying to watch. 

Small Axe: Red, White and Blue [Amazon]

The third film in Steve McQueen's Small Axe anthology was as different to the preceding two films as it was equally absorbing with a nuanced performance by John Boyega in a role that he deserved after the fiasco that was Finn in the latest Star Wars trilogy. 

As usual, McQueen and cinematographer Shabier Kirchner shot an immersive film with lots of handheld footages and one-takes that placed the audience into the situation. Regardless whether it was a nail-biting chase-and-capture scene or a simmering, laden-with-subtext, family meal, the audience were made to feel part of the moment. 

However, to be clear, this was not a "cop film" nor was it an origin story of Leroy Logan (see his wiki), instead and, unexpectedly, this was more a film examining the father-son relationship between Logan and his father. Tellingly, the film bookended with scenes of the pair and how they have changed but yet, ultimately, more or less still the same. 

Kudos to Steve Toussaint for a passionate performance that effectively conveyed Leroy Snr's anguish and pride. 

However, this film was really a showcase for Boyega who was wrought through a gamut of emotions through the film's brief 80 minutes. His was a study in restrain and control, such that when he finally let loose, the impact was stark and resounding, and you could absolutely see it all over his face. Similarly, even in the quieter final moments, his facial and body language conveyed the weight within those simple words.

Distinctively different from the righteous anger of Mangrove and the hopeful joy of Lover's Rock, but thematically in the same vein, Red, White and Blue expressed the quiet indignation of the oppressed. 

刻在你心底的名字 (Your Name Engraved Herein) [Netflix]

A typical Taiwanese romantic drama that focused on the Romance of a first love and the devastation of unrequited love. However, unlike most films of its genre, director Patrick Liu (柳广辉) seemed restricted by its central LGBTQIA+ story to fully tell a realised love story. Therefore, instead of getting deep and personal with each of its main characters, what we ended up getting was a series of beautiful and lovely - and occasionally touching - vignettes that only managed to outline the story of the two protagonists without allowing a full colouring and characterisation of them as individuals. 

That being said, the second half of the Second Act was its strongest and most involving. Lead actors, Edward Chen (陈昊森) and Jing-Hua Tseng (曾敬骅) really submitted to their characters in those scenes which helped to sell their relationship. 

The Third Act, on the other hand, was not really necessary and seemed to serve more as a wish-fulfilment for Liu than any real dramatic purposes. Nothing showed in those final few scenes could not have been implied in the preceding hour and a half. Even the beauty of the final scene could have been transposed to that gut-wrenching, heart-tugging closure of the Second Act. 

Now, that scene - classic Taiwanese melodrama - was the pièce de résistance of this film and should have been the end of the film.  Coupled with the ear worm that was its title song, that scene was powerful, effective and simple, and if it served as the film's ending would have devastated the audience and allowed the film to linger within them.

Liu's choice to use flashback to delineate the story in the first two acts was a double-edged sword. It helped to hook the audience into figuring out why Chen's character was bleeding and confiding in the school's priest but yet his confessions also served to provide the string where Liu strung on the vignettes of the boys' relationship and hence hamstrung (all pun intended) the characterisations of them as individuals and them as best friends/couples/whatever-they-were. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of religion and homosexuality was only given lip service and should have either been fully explored or just laid aside. Liu tried to juggle too much and lost focus. 

Chen's portrayal of a boy coming to terms with his sexual identity deserved praise regardless of his own sexual preferences. Chen's melancholic reflections and eventual unabashed affection for the boy of his desires appeared natural and unforced. 

Tseng, being the aforesaid object of desire, was more of a cipher. Maybe it was done purposefully, but Liu and Tseng had crafted a character's whose identity that seemed inscrutable, and that made him a difficult character to want to root for. 

Your Name Engraved Herein had a beautiful love story in its core that was unnecessary complicated by the ambition of its director. But, thankfully, the charismatic and capable leads still managed to capture the complexity of the central relationship and that served to keep the audience invested and engaged. 

Death to 2020 [Netflix]

Netflix's mockumentary to the bizarro year that was 2020 could not have came at a better time. With faux sincerity and high sarcasm, Death to 2020 was a blackly funny look at how real life just could not be faked. With a cast of talking heads that tried to make sense of the year that passed, or in the case of Lisa Kudrow's politico making sense was equivalent to Trumpian denial, Charlie Brooker et al skewered both the Americans and the British, but knowingly spared the Chinese. 

And therein laid the show's biggest fault, it did not know who its targetted audience was and could not really go all out in roasting that group to be the full-on black satire that it so wanted to be. 

Ultimately, as funny and as dry as Tracey Ullman, Leslie Jones, Cristin Milioti, Samson Kayo and Kudrow were, the humour never got pushed to beyond a few chuckling or sniggers. The two biggest names, Samuel L. Jackson and Hugh Grant, tellingly one American and one British, may have had the most screen time, but neither were given material piercing enough to matter. Jackson, seemingly was there to add gravitas to the BLM segment, and Grant was just playing another iteration of his bumbling English guy. 

There were some good bits like Ullman's Queen Elizabeth II and the skewering of Netflix shows, Jone's behaviour psychologist speaking truth to seemingly absurd human behaviour, and Diane Morgan's "average citizen" bit, but then there were also segments that were initially funny but ran to the ground by Booker with its incessant repetition, like Kudrow's fake news subplot, Milioti's "Karen"-esque behaviour and Grant's confusion of pop culture references with the real world. 

And of course we had the whole Kumail Nanjiani tech-giant bit which fell flat and Joe Keery's millenial which could have been relevant but just ended up being tiresome. 

Thankfully, the mockumentary only ran for 70 minutes, and it did give a brief, albeit jumbled, summary of the year that was. Who knows what 2021 will bring.

Small Axe: Lover's Rock [Amazon]

As bleak and unflinching as Mangrove was, Lover's Rock was a total tonal shift. An intensely intimate, passionately sensual and yet honestly realistic short film, at just a slim 68 minutes long, Lover's Rock told the story of the first meeting between Martha and Franklyn and gave us an hopeful glimpse into the couple's future despite the potential danger that lurked around. Not only from outside their community but also within. 

Nonetheless, this film was transfixing not only for its central romance but also for its authentic and honest depiction of a reggae house party. Again, together with cinematographer Shabier Kirchner, we are absolutely immersed into the party and made to feel like a part of the crowd. McQueen and Kirchner's languid camera lingered within the crowd as they danced and sang and raged. 

And then it was daybreak. The end of the revelry brought along with it the truth of their situation but also the hopefulness of the future, the intoxication of love and the joyfulness of a new experience. 

Kudos to McQueen for so beautifully eliciting all these feelings from a simple story of boy-meets-girl. He had, in efficient strokes, painted these two fully-realised characters with whom we can easily relate to and therefore allowed us to immerse ourselves into their lives and story and relate to them. It was difficult not to want these two lovebirds to succeed amidst the terrible truth of their situation.

Of course, all of that would not be possible without the right actors, and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn and Micheal Ward inhabited their characters fully. They had an electrifying chemistry that translated beautifully through the screen. St. Aubyn was beautiful but imbued in her Martha a toughness and strength that clearly informed us that she was a smart, strong woman. Ward's Franklyn on the other hand was suave and charming gentleman that knew how to respect women but yet had a quiet sense of vulnerability that made him human and real.

Those party scenes were one of the best shot dance/party scenes that I have seen. The visceral energy was palpable. Regardless of whether it was sensual and erotic, or tribalistic and raging, it never felt false. You are really transported into the party, an active participant and not just a casual voyeur. Amazing.

Lover's Rock was on the other end of the spectrum compared to Mangrove, but yet they fit together. Both of them told stories of singular experiences that were universal truths.

Small Axe: Mangrove [Amazon]

 

A singularly powerful and utterly passionate film that was easily one of the best films of the 2020. If it was submitted for the Oscars, this film would have my vote for the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematographer. Absolutely gut wrenching and infinitesimally hopeful, this was a timely story told by a director who understood the nuances and history of the movement. Steve McQueen's direction was powerful yet intimate, beautiful yet harrowing, lived-in and realistic without being histrionic or preachy. Aided by the gorgeous cinematography of Shabier Kirchner, the music of Mica Levi and the powerful performances of its actors, especially Letitia Wright, Malachi Kirby, Shaun Parkes, Rochenda Sandall, Mangrove - the first of five stories in the Small Axe anthology - was simply put, stunning. 

Comparison with Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago Seven will be inevitable and although Sorkin's courtroom scenes were stronger, undoubtedly given Sorkin's gift of writing dialogue, McQueen's Mangrove Nine was the more powerful drama overall. It provided an inescapable sense of being in the moment and an immersive empathy that highlighted the plight of the oppressed and the disgusting bigotry faced. Institutional racism had never looked so bleak and honest and absolutely revolting. 

Co-written with Alastair Siddons, McQueen had created an unflinching look into a piece of history and the players involved that may not be as well known as the American counterparts. Frank Crichlow, Altheia Jones-LeCointe and Darcus Howe should be names as well as known as that of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X and Rosa Parks. 

Parkes led this astounding ensemble and his portrayal of Frank Crichlow was captivating. His evolution from restaurant owner to reluctant activist and finally to a leader of the movement was the backbone of the story, and Parkes held it all together. The unjustness he faced and the despair he experienced was as acutely felt by the audience as his victory and relief. Simply riveting.

Equally passionate was Wright. Her undiluted passion poured out of the screen and enveloped the audience. She was the heart of the film as Parkes was the soul. 

Kirchner's cinematography was outstanding. He captured the mood and the atmosphere throughout, may it be the jubilation of a street-side party, the confusion and madness of a protest gone violent, the stark glare of a Court stacked against the defendants, or the loneliness and hopelessness of solitary confinement. Although this paled to his even more immersive cinematography in the next chapter: Lover's Rock.

Mangrove was a must-watch. It was unflinching, powerful, passionate and unapologetic. It reminds us that the past should be a reminder for the present and a blueprint for a better future. Alas, sometimes, especially in 2020, it seemed so distant. But that it is why Small Axe is so relevant.