Corey Hawkins Archives

Review: ‘The Piano Lesson’ (2024), starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Skylar Aleece Smith, Danielle Deadwyler and Corey Hawkins

December 6, 2024

by Carla Hay

John David Washington and Skylar Aleece Smith in “The Piano Lesson” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

“The Piano Lesson” (2024)

Directed by Malcolm Washington

Culture Representation: Taking place in Mississippi and in Pittsburgh (mostly in 1936, with some flashbacks to 1911 and the 1800s), the dramatic film “The Piano Lesson” (based on August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name) features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A brother and a sister have a family feud because the brother wants to sell the family’s antique piano, but the sister does not want to sell the piano, and her house appears to be haunted because of the piano.

Culture Audience: “The Piano Lesson” will appeal primarily to fans of August Wilson, the movie’s headliners, and dramas about family tensions and generational legacies.

Michael Potts, Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Ray Fisher “The Piano Lesson” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

The 2024 version of “The Piano Lesson” gives a well-acted and dynamic cinematic retelling of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. This solidly made drama effectively conveys the story’s themes of how family legacies can haunt or inspire people. It’s the type of movie that enriches the stage version of the play with very good artistic choices in cinematography and production design. “The Piano Lesson” had its world premiere at the 2024 Telluride Film Festival and its Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

“The Piano Lesson” is the feature-film directorial debut of Malcolm Washington, the youngest son of Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington. Malcolm Washington and Virgil Williams co-wrote the adapted screenplay for “The Piano Lesson,” which is based on August Wilson’s 1990 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. Denzel Washington is one of the movie’s producers. John David Washington (Denzel’s eldest child) is the main star of the movie. Katia Washington (Denzel’s second-eldest child) is one of the movie’s executive producers. In a movie about a family, the production of “The Piano Lesson” was obviously a family affair too.

This isn’t the first movie version of “The Piano Lesson.” There was a 1995 TV-movie of “The Piano Lesson” (starring Charles S. Dutton and Alfre Woodard) that was part of CBS’s Hallmark Hall of Fame and was nominated for nine Primetime Emmy Awards. Netflix’s 2024 version of “The Piano Lesson” movie clearly has a larger budget that went into making the world in the story feel more expansive with several locations.

The 2024 version of “The Piano Lesson” begins on July 4, 1911, in an unnamed city in Mississippi. It’s during a time in U.S. history when slavery was outlawed but Jim Crow racial segregation laws still existed. (The U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 made these segregation laws illegal in the United States.) The effects of racism against black people in America are seen and heard throughout the movie.

In this opening scene of “The Piano Lesson,” a group of white people in the community are gathered to watch fireworks. Meanwhile, a 31-year-old man named Boy Charles (played by Stephan James) has decided that he’s going to take a family heirloom that he thinks is rightfully his: a piano, which has images of many of his ancestors that are carved on the piano. The piano is in the possession of the wealthy Sutter family, a white clan who enslaved Boy Charles’ ancestors. Boy Charles works for the Sutter family as a farmhand and handyman.

The members of the Sutter family are not at home because they are attending a Fourth of July celebration. Boy Charles has brought his son Boy Willie (played by Isaiah Gunn), who’s about 10 years old, to be the lookout for this reclaiming of the piano. Boy Charles has two accomplices—his brother Doaker Charles and their friend Wining Boy (played by Tony Fox)—who are both with Boy Willie in the truck that transports the piano away.

Boy Charles decides to stay behind near the house. It turns out to be a fatal mistake because he dies that night. The details of Boy Charles’ death are revealed later in the movie. However, it’s easy to predict what happened to Boy Charles as soon as horse-riding men with torches race through a field to look for Boy Charles, who is an obvious suspect for this theft.

“The Piano Lesson” then fast-forwards 25 years later to 1936. Boy Willie (played by John David Washington) is still living in Mississippi and is a farm worker. Boy Willie’s mother has been deceased for an unnamed number of years. He notices that the Sutter family has put up for sale the farm land where Boy Willie’s ancestors used to work. Boy Willie has decided that he wants to buy this farm. The Sutter family’s patriarch James Sutter (played by Jay Peterson) has recently died by falling down a well.

Boy Willie thinks the only way he can get the money to buy this farm land is to sell the family’s antique piano. The piano is currently thousands of miles away in the Pittsburgh home of his sister Berniece (played by Danielle Deadwyler), who has been estranged from Boy Willie for a number of years. Berniece, who is a single mother, lives in the house with her 11-year-old daughter Maretha (played by Skylar Aleece Smith) and Doaker (played by Samuel L. Jackson), who tries to keep the peace when Boy Willie and Berniece quarrel. (Jackson played the role of Doaker in the 2022 Broadway revival of “The Piano Lesson.”)

Boy Willie travels to Pittsburgh with his close friend Lymon Jackson (played by Ray Fisher) so that they can sell watermelons and hopefully take back the piano. Boy Willie (who is talkative and cocky) and Lymon (who is friendly and a bit slow-witted) arrive at Berniece’s home at around 5 a.m. without telling any of the people in house in advance that they would be visiting. Not surprisingly, Berniece isn’t happy about this unannounced arrival. (Fisher played the role of Lymon in the Broadway revival of “The Piano Lesson.”)

At first, Boy Willie is optimistic and overconfident that he can convince Berniece to sell the piano when he tells her what he is going to do with the money from selling the piano. However, Boy Willie soon finds out that Berniece is just as stubborn and strong-willed as he is because she refuses to sell the piano. Berniece was very attached to her mother, who treasured the piano, which is why Berniece believes that selling the piano would disrespect her mother the family’s legacy. Wining Boy (played by Michael Potts) has some survivor’s guilt that he and Doaker got away with taking the piano, while Boy Charles lost his life over it.

At one point in the movie, Doaker tells the piano’s origin story of how it became connected to the Charles family: James Sutter’s grandfather Robert Sutter (played by David Atkinson, in flashbacks), nicknamed Old Man Sutter, was the “slave master” of the Sutter family who got the piano by trading some of his enslaved people for the piano. Those enslaved people were ancestors of Boy Willie, Berniece, and Doaker. Boy Charles’ grandfather Willie Boy (played by Malik J. Ali) was a carpenter who was hired to carve the images of these family members in the piano because Robert’s wife Ophelia missed seeing the enslaved people who left because of the trade.

Adding to the family tensions, superstitious Berniece thinks that Boy Willie has brought some bad omens with him when she hears that Boy Willie is a person of interest in the death of a Mississippi man named Crawley (played by Matrell Smith), who also died from falling down a well, just like James Sutter. Were these deaths accidents or murders? It’s a mystery that doesn’t get necessarily solved by the end of the story. Soon after Boy Willie and Lymon arrive at the house, Berniece is convinced that the ghost of Old Man Sutter is haunting the house because of the piano. She claims to have seen this ghost.

“The Piano Lesson” has a subplot about Berniece being courted by an ambitious preacher named Avery (played by Corey Hawkins), who tells her that he loves her but he also admits he’s more likely to get his own church if he’s a married man. Avery barely interacts with Maretha, which is an indication that Avery probably doesn’t love Berniece as much as he says he does because he doesn’t seem too interested in being a caring parental figure to her child. Avery appeals to Berniece’s religiousness, but she’s not entirely convinced it would be right for her to marry Avery. Meanwhile, Lymon shows a romantic interest n Berniece too.

“The Piano Lesson” might frustrate some viewers who are expecting more ghostly action in the story, which tends to get repetitive in showing arguments between Boy Willie and Berniece. Erykah Badu has a memorable cameo as a singer named Lucille, who performs at a nightclub/bar where the men in the story like to carouse. However, the nightclub scenes could have been taken out of the movie and would not have any effect on the story’s outcome.

What makes this version of “The Piano Lesson” noteworthy are the performances from the talented ensemble cast, although the character of Maretha could have been developed better. John David Washington and Deadwyler have sheer magnetism in their scenes as feuding siblings, who both have convincing motivations for what they want to do with the piano. Jackson and Fisher also have notable scenes where their characters have various effects on the tumultuous relationship between Berniece and Boy Willie. The movie’s screenplay is a little jumbled in telling the story in a non-chronological timeline, but it shouldn’t be too confusing if viewers are paying full attention.

“The Piano Lesson” is not about learning how to play this musical instrument. It’s about a life lesson of learning how much of the past can or cannot affect the future. “The Piano Lesson” excels when showing that “family legacy” can mean different things within a family. For Berniece, her definition about famly legacy is about honoring the past. For Boy Willie, his definition of family legacy is about securing a better future. What “The Piano Lesson” wants to teach (and do so very well) is to not take loved ones for granted in the present.

Netflix released “The Piano Lesson” in select U.S. cinemas on November 8, 2024. The movie premiered on Netflix on November 22, 2024.

Review: ‘The Color Purple’ (2023), starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi

December 19, 2023

by Carla Hay

Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks in “The Color Purple” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“The Color Purple” (2023)

Directed by Blitz Bazawule

Culture Representation: Taking place in Georgia and in Tennessee, from 1909 to 1947, the musical “The Color Purple” (which is inspired by Alice Walker’s 1982 novel of the same name) features a predominantly African American group of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An oppressed woman named Celie endures horrific abuse and a forced separation from her beloved sister, but she meets certain people who change her outlook on life.

Culture Audience: In addition to appealing to the obvious target audience of fans of “The Color Purple” book and its various adaptations, the movie musical version of “The Color Purple” will appeal primarily to fans of the movie’s headliners and filmmakers, as well as to people who don’t mind watching musicals that shows extremes in human emotions.

Colman Domingo in “The Color Purple” (Photo by Ser Baffo/Warner Bros. Pictures)

The movie musical “The Color Purple” creatively blends emotional highs and lows in this glitzier version of the book and the 1985 dramatic movie. More comedy and joy balance out the trauma and abuse, but the overall theme of resilience remains the same. Some fans of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” novel and some fans of director Steven Spielberg’s 1985 “The Color Purple” movie might not warm to this movie musical if they’re offended by the thought of putting song-and-dance numbers in the most upsetting parts of the story, or if they don’t like how the musical alters key parts of the original story in the novel, including the ending. However, fans of the “The Color Purple” stage musical will be pleased by how the 2023 version of “The Color Purple” is faithful to the stage musical while bringing a vibrant cinematic life of its own.

Directed by Blitz Bazawule and written by Marcus Gardley, the 2023 movie musical version of “The Color Purple” astutely depicts the movie’s most fantastical and elaborate production designs as being manifestations of the imagination of protagonist Celie (played by Fantasia Barrino) during moments in her life when she’s dreaming of escaping from her grim circumstances. It’s a manifestation that is ideal for the visual medium of cinema, which has the benefit of film editing that a stage production does not.

The Tony-winning “The Color Purple” stage musical had its first Broadway run from 2005 to 2008; has gone through various touring incarnations; and experienced a successful Broadway revival from 2015 to 2017. Barrino played the role of Celie on Broadway from 2006 to 2007. Marsha Norman wrote the book for the stage musical, whose music and lyrics were written by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. The songs range from expressing the depths of despair of a mother who has a child taken a way from her (“Somebody Gonna Love You”); the defiant declaration of not putting up with abuse (“Hell No”); the sultry seduction of adults freely expressing their sexuality (“Push Da Button”); and the triumph of independence and self-acceptance (“I’m Here”).

What “The Color Purple” stage musical and movies have in common are the involvement of Oprah Winfrey and Quincy Jones. Jones was a producer and composer for the 1985 “The Color Purple” movie, and he continued in the role of producer for the stage musical and the 2023 “The Color Purple” movie. Winfrey made her Oscar-nominated movie debut as an actress in 1985’s “The Color Purple,” and she’s a producer of the stage musical and the 2023 “The Color Purple” movie. Spielberg is a producer of “The Color Purple” movies, while Scott Sanders is a producer of “The Color Purple” stage musical and the 2023 version of “The Color Purple.”

“The Color Purple” movie musical (which takes place in Georgia and Tennessee) begins in 1909 in an unnamed rural area of Georgia, where 14-year-old Celie Harris (played by Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) has given birth to her second child: a son. Celie’s father Alfonso (played by Deon Cole) snatches the child away and cruelly tells Celie that she will never see this child again. He did the same thing when Celie gave birth to her first child, who was a daughter. Both pregnancies resulted from Alfonso raping Celie. It’s implied that Alfonso sold both children to be illegally adopted.

The only happiness that Celie experiences in her life is from her close relationship with her younger sister Nettie (played by Halle Bailey), who is very protective of the more insecure Celie. Nettie is the person who teaches Celie to read. They spend hours reading together, often in a tree, where they can’t be seen by their horrible father.

Alfonso isn’t done selling members of his family. A widower farmer named Albert “Mister” Johnson (played by Colman Domingo) is an abusive bully who is looking for a new wife. He insists that most people call him Mister. Mister is attracted to Nettie, but Alphonso will only allow Mister to marry Celie, who is sold into this marriage by her father when Celie is 18 years old. Barrino portrays Celie as an adult. The rest of the movie shows what happens to Celie through a period of time spanning to 1947.

In the first year of Mister and Celie’s miserable marriage, he lets Nettie live in the same household. But when Nettie rejects Mister’s sexual advances, he evicts her from the house and tells her that she can never come back. This forced separation scene isn’t as heart-wrenching as how it was in the 1985 “The Color Purple” movie, but it’s still one of the more emotionally difficult scenes to watch. Nettie promises to write to Celie every day, but Mister intercepts the letters because he tells fearful Celie (who has been beaten into submission by Mister) that he is the only person in the household who is allowed to handle the mail.

During the worst parts of Celie’s life, she meets certain people who have different effects on how she sees herself and others. Shug Avery (played by Taraji P. Henson) is a Memphis-based jazz and blues singer, who is open about her fluid sexuality. Shug is considered the “morally wayward” daughter of Reverend Avery (played by David Alan Grier), the leader of the local church attended by African American people in Celie’s area.

Mister has been in love with Shug for years. He acts like a giddy schoolboy, every time she visits the area. However, she treats him more like a sexual plaything, and she refuses Mister’s wish to make him her only lover. Mister and Shug openly carry on an affair when she’s visiting. What Shug doesn’t expect is to befriend Celie, who sees life from an entirely new perspective when she gets to know confident and sassy Shug. The connection between Celie and Shug goes beyond friendship into sexual intimacy.

Harpo Jackson (played by Corey Hawkins) is Mister’s sensitive adult son, who falls in love, marries, and starts a family with a feisty and outspoken woman named Sofia (played by Danielle Brooks), who doesn’t hesitate to get involved in physical brawls if anyone tries to pick a fight with her. The marriage of easygoing Harpo and domineering Sofia goes through ups and downs. At one point, they break up, and Harpo moves on to having a live-in girlfriend named Squeak (played by H.E.R.), who gets caught in the middle of the volatile relationship between Sofia and Harpo.

With a cast this talented and with breathtaking musical numbers (including dazzling choreography from Fatima Robinson), it’s hard to go wrong in this musical version of “The Color Purple.” This version of the story puts more emphasis on the “sisterhood” of Celie, Shug and Sofia, compared to the original story that makes Celie much more of a loner character much longer in the story. All three women have their own trials and tribulations in a society that expects them to allow their lives to be dictated and controlled by men.

Barrino, Henson and Brooks are standouts in their own right in this movie. Barrino’s Celie is often downtrodden but never completely pathetic, as she maintain her dignity during all much emotional and physical abuse that is inflicted on her. Barrino depicts Celie with slightly more intelligence than Whoopi Goldberg’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of Celie in 1985’s “The Color Purple.” (A plot development in the last third of the movie shows Celie getting a life.

Henson puts a more comedic and lively spin on Shug, who has more comeback quips than Margaret Avery’s more understated, Oscar-nominated version of Shug in 1985’s “The Color Purple.” Henson’s Shug (especially during the musical numbers) is bold, brash and not at all interested in being subtle. In this movie, Shug’s signature song “Push Da Button” is every bit the decadent extravaganza that is should be.

Brooks, who had the Tony-nominated role of Sofia in the Broadway revival of “The Color Purple,” is a scene stealer not just with her acting but also with her powerhouse singing. She’s arguably the strongest vocalist in this entire cast. Beyond the vocal theatrics, Brooks brings a swagger to the role of Sofia, whereas Winfrey’s version of Sofia had more stomping. Sofia is lovably flawed with a fiery temper that gets easily triggered, because she’s lived her life constantly being on the defensive from personal attacks.

The original “The Color Purple” novel and movie got some criticism for its portrayal of African American men as being either abusive or wishy-washy. In this version of “The Color Purple,” Mister is not depicted as an irredeemable villain. There are glimpses of his vulnerability, such as his fear of his cantankerous and misogynistic father Ol’ Mister (played by Louis Gossett Jr.), who scolds Mister for not being controlling enough of Celie.

Some viewers might have a problem with a certain turning point in Mister’s story arc that’s very different from the novel, but the intention seems to be to make Mister more human and less of a one-dimensional villain. Domingo as Mister handles this balancing act with considerable skill. The father/son relationship between Mister and Harpo is explored in more depth in addressing issues of how toxic masculinity can be passed down in a family for generations, unless someone in the family is willing to stop the cycle.

Even in settings where many of the characters live in poverty, “The Color Purple” is rich in its depiction of African American culture at this particular time in this region of the United States. The scenes that take place in Celie’s imagination are entirely consistent with how Celie dreams about how her life could be more glamorous and happier than it really is. An inspired set design shows Celie giving Shug a bath, while the bathtub revolves on a giant gramophone turntable.

“The Color Purple” can certainly spark debate about whether or not the world needs another version of Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. And there are definitely worthy discussions to be had about why so many “awards bait” movies centered on African Americans have a lot of violence, poverty and/or trauma. But for what it is in depicting a specific group of African Americans during a time in American history before the U.S. civil rights movement, this version of “The Color Purple” is a worthy adaptation that gives each of the principal characters clear and distinctive personalities and varied ways to better understand who they are.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “The Color Purple” in U.S. cinemas on December 25, 2023. UPDATE: The movie will be released on digital and VOD on January 16, 2024.

Review: ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter,’ starring Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham and David Dastmalchian

August 10, 2023

by Carla Hay

“The Last Voyage of the Demeter”

Directed by André Øvredal

Culture Representation: Taking place in 1897, mostly on a ship sailing from the Carpathian mountain range in continental Europe to London, the horror film “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” (based on a chapter in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” novel) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with one black person and one Asian person) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: The people on a ship that’s carrying livestock for a sales transaction find out too late that a vampire named Dracula is on the ship.

Culture Audience: “The Last Voyage of Demeter” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of stories about Dracula or other vampires, but this violent flick drags on with underdeveloped characters and lot of boring repetition.

Martin Furulund and Javier Botet in “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

Considering the large number of vampire movies that exist, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is as creatively comatose as a vampire victim drained of blood. It takes entirely too long to get to any real action in this story, which is a dull mess of clichés. The movie has a talented cast, but they can’t save this disappointing movie that’s the equivalent of a sinking ship.

Directed by André Øvredal and written by Bragi F. Schut and Zak Olkewicz, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is based on the chapter “Captain’s Log” in Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel “Dracula.” Making an entire movie based on only a book chapter can either limit the movie when mishandled or open up a lot of innovative possibilities from filmmakers with enough imagination. Unfortunately, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is hampered by a limp plot that’s essentially just a checklist of people on a ship getting attacked by the evil vampire Dracula on the ship. This vampire (played by Javier Botet) looks more like the alien-like Nosferatu as it was orginally conceived, rather than the elegant Count Dracula.

The movie begins in Whitby, England, on August 7, 1897. On a stormy night, two coast guard men in raincoats find a deserted schooner, with a dead man tied to its wheel. The man has a crucifix in his hand. In his pocket is a bottle, with a rolled-up piece of paper inside. It’s a journal entry log that warns of danger. Suddenly, an unseen force attacks the two coast guard men.

The movie then does a flashback to July 1897. A cargo ship called The Demeter is about to set sail from the Carpathian mountain range (which spans from Bulgaria to the north and Romania to the south), with the final destination to London. The cargo consists of several livestock animals, such as goats, pigs and chickens. Viewers soon find out that the schooner with the dead man originally came from The Demeter.

Right before The Demeter is about to set sail, several men who were hired to be crew members on the ship end up quitting when they hear that the ship will be leaving after the sun sets. The leader of this superstitious group says that the group will only leave if the ship sails before sunset. The ship’s first mate Wojchek (played by David Dastmalchian), a Polish immigrant who grew up as an orphan, tries to convince the men to change their minds, but they stand firm and then leave the harbor.

The Demeter then leaves with a very understaffed crew, which will soon find out how dangerous this voyage will be. The evil vampire Dracula starts attacking people on the ship, one by one. Everything that you think will happen in this movie does happen, because it’s a rote rehash of other vampire flicks, except it takes place on a ship in 1897. And if there’s a lone survivor in the story, you can easily predict who it will be.

In addition to first mate Wojcheck, the other people on this fatal voyage of The Demeter are intelligent British physician Clemons (played by Corey Hawkins); level-headed Captain Eliot (played by Liam Cunningham); Captain Eliot’s curious 8-year-old grandson Toby (played by Woody Norman); and a mysterious stowaway named Anna (played by Aisling Franciosi), who is found in a comatose state with bloody welts and bites all over her body. Clemons has to give her blood transfusions to keep her alive.

Other people on the ship are four crew members: a dependable Romanian named Olgaren (played by Stefan Kapicic); reliable second mate Larsen (played by Martin Furulund); loudmouth Petrofsky (played by Nikolai Nikolaeff); and youngest crew member Abrams (played by Chris Walley), who has a special bond with Larsen. All four of these crew members don’t say much that’s worth remembering after watching the movie. During a meal around a dining table the men talk about going to a brothel, and they have a laugh when Toby tells them that a brothel is where women take off their knickers.

Also on the Demeter is the ship’s ultra-religious cook Joseph (played by Jon Jon Briones), who is originally from the Philippines. Joseph gets very offended when he hears people curse, because he thinks cursing is a serious sin. Someone should’ve told Joseph that he picked the wrong job, working with a bunch of sailors. He is also highly superstitious.

Not much happens for the first 20 minutes of the movie. Viewers find out that Toby is in charge of looking after the animals. This voyage is going to be Captain Eliot’s last voyage before he retires. Soon after The Demeter sets sail, Captain Eliot tells Vojchek that he wants Vojchek to be his successor. Vojchek, who sees Captain Eliot almost like a father figure, is flattered by this decision.

Captain Eliot keeps the ship’s log. His written entries are occasionally read aloud as voiceovers in the movie. These entries start off as very routine, but then the entries become more alarming as more disturbing things happen on the ship. It’s all so formulaic.

It’s explained early on in the movie that Clemons, who is a graduate of the University of Cambridge, is on the ship because he had been hired for a physician job in Eastern Europe. But once the employers saw Clemons in person (he’s black), they withdrew the job offer. Clemons decided to go back to England and needed a ride, which is how he ended up on this ship of strangers. Other than this backstory, Clemons mostly has a blank slate of a personality.

The issue of racism is briefly mentioned, in relation to Clemons getting a job taken away from him because of his race and a few other racist incidents that he’s experienced outside of this ship. No one on the ship treats Clemons with overt racism. However, he sometimes has to remind some of the crew members of his education to convince them that he’s capable of making certain medical decisions.

There could have been so much more done with the Clemons character, in terms of his character and his life experiences, but “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” filmmakers gave Clemons a cardboard cutout type of character: He’s there, and he’s noticeable, but he doesn’t have much depth. By the end of the movie, viewers will literally not know much about Clemons except that he’s a compassionate doctor who experiences racism.

Likewise, the Anna character and her life story also remains largely unknown. When Anna emerges from her coma and warns that Dracula is on the ship, the crew barely asks her any questions about who she is and what she knows about Dracula. Part of this lack of curiosity is because, at first, most of the crew members think that Anna is hallucinating from her medical injuries. “The Last Voyage of Demeter” has a lot of gore, but it avoids the messy and realistic issue of what it means to be a physically vulnerable woman who’s the only female on board a ship with some coarse sailors.

One of the more idiotic scenes in the movie is when Joseph finds out that something on board is killing the crew, he doesn’t leave during the day when he as a chance—in other words, when things on the water will be much easier to see. Instead, Joseph waits to leave by himself on a rowboat on a very foggy night. Although nothing is wrong with the cast members’ acting in “The Last Voyage of Demeter, ” none of it is special either, because the screenwriting makes all the characters fairly hollow.

Visually, “The Last Voyage of Demeter” is just a dump of mediocrity. This movie is bloody, but it’s not very scary. The best Dracula movies show the glimmers of humanity in Dracula. “The Voyage of the Demeter” just makes Dracula a drab monster who’s on the loose, with no concern in telling anything interesting about Dracula. For a movie about a vampire icon, “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” is bloodless and toothless when it comes to telling a good story.

Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Pictures will release “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” in U.S. cinemas on August 11, 2023.

Review: ‘In the Heights,’ starring Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Jimmy Smits

May 21, 2021

by Carla Hay

“In the Heights”

Directed by Jon M. Chu

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood, this movie version of the Tony-winning musical “In the Heights” features a predominantly Hispanic group of characters (with some African Americans and white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A young Dominican American man living in New York City’s Washington Heights is torn between staying in the neghborhood or moving to his family’s native Dominican Republic to re-open his late father’s tiki bar.

Culture Audience: “In the Heights” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in Broadway musicals with contemporary music and movies about Hispanic American culture.

Corey Hawkins and Melissa Grace in “In the Heights” (Photo by Macall Polay/Warner Bros. Pictures)

The movie adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning musical “In the Heights” brings a cinematic vibrancy that makes it a joy to watch on screen and an instant crowd-pleaser. The movie keeps the main storyline and themes intact from the Broadway show but adds some memorable set designs, eye-popping choreography and impressive visual effects that couldn’t be done in a theater stage production. And this well-cast movie also has standout performances that will be sure to charm fans of the Broadway show as well as win over new fans. The “In the Heights” movie is set to have its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

Directed by Jon M. Chu, “In the Heights” has an adapted screenplay written by Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote the book for Broadway’s “In the Heights,” which takes place in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood. The movie version of “In the Heights” keeps the same songs from the stage musical, whose music and lyrics were written by Miranda. The movie is updated to include more social-awareness themes related to Dreamers, the nickname for undocumented children of undocumented immigrants living in the United States.

The “In the Heights” movie, just like the stage musical, combines several character storylines in a tale that ultimately adds up to love in many different forms. There’s the love that 29-year-old protagonist/bodega owner Usnavi de la Vega (played by Anthony Ramos) has for his family, his Washington Heights neighborhood and his family’s native Dominican Republic. During the course of the story, he also falls in love with aspiring fashion designer Vanessa (played by Melissa Barrera), who also lives in Washington Heights. Usnavi is somewhat shy around assertive Vanessa, who plays hard to get, but eventually Vanessa falls for Usnavi too.

Romance is also in the air for car dispatch operator Benny (played by Corey Hawkins) and college student Nina Rosario (played by Leslie Grace), who has come home to Washington Heights while on a break from her studies at California’s Stanford University. Benny is easygoing and respectful, while Nina is intelligent and compassionate. Nina’s strong-willed and doting father also happens to be Benny’s boss: Rosario’s Car Service owner Kevin Rosario (played by Jimmy Smits), who is immensely proud that his daughter is a Stanford student, and he will do what it takes to pay her university tuition.

The beloved “grandmother” of the neighborhood is Abuela Claudia (played by Olga Merediz), who doesn’t have kids of her own, but she has a nuturing, maternal attitude toward many people in Washington Heights. Claudia is particularly close to Usnavi, whose parents are deceased. Usnavi, who is an only child, moved to the U.S. with his parents when he was 8 years old. And since his parents’ death, Usnavi has become even closer to Claudia. Meanwhile, Usnavi has also known Nina for several years, and he treats Nina like she’s his younger sister.

Usnavi is a mentor to his smart and wisecracking teenage cousin Sonny (played by Gregory Diaz IV), who works part-time in Usnavi’s bodega. Sonny needs a mentor because he has an alcoholic father named Gapo (played by Marc Anthony), who is the brother of Usnavi’s father. A local attorney named Alejandro (played by Mateo Gomez) plays a key role in facilitating what becomes Usnavi’s dream: to move back to the Dominican Republic and re-open a beachfront tiki bar called El Suenito that used to be owned by Usnavi’s late father.

Rounding out the story’s main characters are “The Salon Ladies,” a trio of sassy and opinionated beauty salon workers: Daniela (played by Daphne Rubin-Vega), who is the salon’s owner; Carla (played by Stephanie Beatriz), who is Daniela’s much-younger live-in lover; and Cuca (played by Dascha Polanco), who is their loyal sidekick friend. Vanessa works in the salon too, but she’d rather be a fashion designer. A graffiti artist named Graffiti Pete (played by Noah Catala) is one of Usnavi’s friends. There’s also a character named Pike Phillips (played by Patrick Page), who owns a dry cleaning business next door to Rosario’s Car Service, and he plays a role that affects the fate of a few of the characters’ fortunes.

“In the Heights” creator Miranda has a small role in the movie as a sarcastic street vendor named Piragüero, who sells piragua/shaved ice. Keep watching through the movie’s ending credits to see a comical scene of Miranda’s Piragüero getting into a spat with a Mr. Softee ice cream truck driver, played by Christopher Jackson, who is Miranda’s best friend and longtime Broadway co-star. It’s an example of the touches of humor in an otherwise dramatic story.

The movie begins with Usnavi in a tropical beach setting, telling four kids (about 4 to 6 years old) the story about his life in Washington Heights. The four children are Iris (played by Olivia Perez), Rosa (played by Analia Gomez), Sedo (played by Dean Vazquez) and Migo (played by Mason Vazquez). The kids are very attentive and adorable. But it’s clear that Iris is the most intelligent and inquisitive out of all of them.

Usnavi’s story is about the sweltering summer when he decided he was going to move back to the Dominican Republic and re-open El Suenito. What follows is an immersive, rollercoaster ride of a story, with plenty of joy, heartbreak, fear and love. It begins with various cast members performing “In the Heights,” in an epic sequence where viewers are introduced to Usnavi’s life in Washington Heights and all the people he’s close to in the neighborhood.

Other tunes performed by cast members in the movie are “Benny’s Dispatch,” “Breathe,” “You’ll Be Back” “No Me Diga,” “It Won’t Be Long Now,” “Cuando Llega el Tren,” “96,000,” “Piragua,” “Always,” “When You’re Home,” “The Club,” “Blackout,” “Paciencia Y Fe,” “Carnaval Del Barrio,” “Alabanza,” “Champagne,” “When the Sun Goes Down,” “Home All Summer” and “Finale.” Some of set designs for “In the Heights” are a visual treat and enhance these musical numbers. Two examples that are highlights are the massive synchronized swimming scene in a public swimming pool for “96,000,” and when Benny and Nina (with the help of visual effects) duet on “When You’re Home” with some gymnast-like moves on the side of an apartment building.

An electrical blackout happens in the middle of this summer heatwave. The movie has a timetable of events before and after the blackout. It’s a blackout that changes the lives of the characters, some more dramatically than others.

“In the Heights” is rich with Hispanic culture and doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable topics. Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Mexicans and people from Central and South America are celebrated in some way in the movie. And Usnavi’s desire to move back to the Dominican Republic is indicative of not only honoring his family but also reconnecting with his Dominican roots.

Nina represents the experience of people from Hispanic families who are the first to get a chance to graduate from a prestigious university in the United States. On the one hand, Nina is considered an exalted role model for the community and has all the pressures that come with it. On the other hand, Nina describes the pain of racism and not feeling like she fits in a privileged, predominantly white setting such as Stanford.

During a few of the movie’s more poignant scenes, Nina describes how her Stanford experience isn’t as glamorous as people in Washington Heights might think it is. Nina talks about how she was wrongfully accused of theft by her white Stanford roommate. And on another occasion, Nina attended a diversity dinner at Stanford, and someone wrongfully assumed that she was one of the servers.

All of the cast members are admirable in their roles, but the standouts are Ramos, Grace and Merediz, whose characters go through the biggest emotional arcs in the movie. Merediz’s performance of “Paciencia Y Fe” will simply give people chills. It’s the type of scene that will have audiences moved to applaud and cheer loudly. Grace is also a very talented singer/actress who can convincingly portray feelings without over-emoting like someone performing on a theater stage.

And as the story’s protagonist/narrator Usnavi, Ramos carries the movie with charm and vulnerability. He’s not super-confident when courting Vanessa, and he’s often teased about his insecurities by his observant cousin Sonny. For the two big romances in the movie (Usnavi and Vanessa; Benny and Nina), it isn’t about whether or not these two couples will get together. It’s more about if they can stay together, considering that they have long-distance issues that could wreck their relationships.

Whether or not people got a chance to see “In the Heights” on stage, the movie is a lively celebration in its own right. It’s a story with universal and relevant themes that can be understood by people of any generation. And the movie brings new dimensions and nuances to the story that will inspire people to see it multiple times, preferably on the biggest screen possible.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “In the Heights” in U.S. cinemas and on HBO Max on June 10, 2021. The release date was moved up from June 11, 2021.

Review: ‘Survive,’ starring Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins

April 14, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Survive”

Directed by Mark Pellington

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed remote mountain area (and briefly in Oregon), the plane-crash drama “Survive” features a predominantly white cast with some African Americans representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A pessimistic woman and an optimistic man struggle to survive and find help in a remote mountain area after they become the only survivors of a plane crash.

Culture Audience: “Survive” will appeal primarily to fans of actress Sophie Turner (a former star of “Game of Thrones”) and tearjerking, suspenseful disaster dramas.

The streaming service Quibi (which launched on April 6, 2020) has set itself apart from its competitors by offering only original content, and each piece of content is 10 minutes or less. Therefore, content that Quibi has labeled a “movie” actually seems more like a limited series, since Quibi will only make the “movie” available in “chapters” that look like episodes. The compelling drama “Survive” is one of Quibi’s flagship movies that began streaming on the service on Quibi’s launch date.

“Survive” takes a simple concept—two plane-crash survivors (a man and woman with seemingly opposite personalities) try to find their way out of a remote mountain area—and turns it into a suspenseful thriller and a poignant love story at the same time. Although “Survive” might draw comparisons to the 2017 Kate Winslet/Idris Elba film “The Mountain Between Us,” which had the same concept, “Survive” is more emotionally genuine and more artistically filmed than “The Mountain Between Us.” It’s a shame that “Survive” won’t be released in theaters like “The Mountain Between Us” was, because some of the scenes in “Survive” are worthy of the biggest screen possible.

Directed by Mark Pellington and written by Richard Abate and Jeremy Ungar, “Survive” begins with female protagonist Jane (played by Sophie Turner) about to be discharged from her stay at a mental-health facility for young people (ages 14 to 22) called Life House, which is located in the woods somewhere in northern Oregon. Jane has a history of suicidal thoughts and cutting herself. She’s also haunted by the fact that suicide is not uncommon in her family. Jane’s father (played by Jo Stone-Fewings, in flashback scenes) committed suicide when she was about 7 years old, by shooting himself while she was in the next room.

Jane is still angry about the way her father died, and she’s also struggling with feelings of guilt and self-hatred over her father’s suicide. Although Jane has a very loving and supportive mother (played by Caroline Goodall), Jane tells her mother that she feels like a loser. Needless to say, Jane has a very pessimistic and cynical attitude about life.

One of the last things that Jane does before she checks out of Life House is steal a lot of medication from the facility’s pharmacy. (Jane was able to get the security code to unlock the large glass cabinet containing all the drugs.) She plans to overdose on the drugs in the bathroom of the plane that she’s taking back home to New Jersey.

While in the airport seating area, waiting to board the plane, Jane strikes up a conversation with a friendly man named Paul (played by Corey Hawkins), who is on the same flight. At first Jane is a little standoffish to Paul, but she eventually warms up to him a little bit. He’s eating a frosted snack and she nicely tells him that he’s got some frosting on the side of his mouth. They have a laugh over it.

When they board the plane—surprise, surprise—Jane and Paul find out that they are seated right next to each other. Paul has no idea that Jane is planning to commit suicide in the airplane’s bathroom. While Jane is in the bathroom, laying out all the pills and capsules that she plans to take for the overdose, the plane suddenly goes into emergency mode and ends up crashing in a snow-covered mountain area.

Jane and Paul are only slightly injured but discover to their horror that they are the only survivors of the plane crash, and they have no idea where they are. Paul thinks it’s best to try to find help (there’s no cell phone service in this area), but Jane refuses and tells Paul that she’d rather stay in whatever is left of the plane.

Paul tells Jane that people don’t know where they are and that Jane will probably die if she stays there, because it’s very likely that snow coming down the hilly embankment could bury her. Jane stubbornly tells Paul that she doesn’t care about dying and yells at him to go ahead without her. As Paul starts to walk away, Jane changes her mind and decides to go with Paul in their quest to find help.

The rest of the story chronicles Jane and Paul’s nightmarish fight for survival. There are the expected tropes that disaster movies have where people are trapped on a snowy mountain with no food and only the clothes on their backs: The torturous treks through the snow, the near-death experiences on cliffs, the scary encounters with wild animals.

During this ordeal, Jane and Paul naturally get closer to each other. Paul opens up to Jane about the emotional scars he has from his mother’s death. Just like Jane lost her father at a young age, so too did Paul lose his mother before he became a teenager. Paul later confesses to Jane that he was attracted to Jane the minute he saw her.

One of the best things about “Survive” is the cinematography from David Devlin. There are some truly majestic views as well as terrifying shots of this remote mountain area. Turner and Hawkins are utterly believable in their roles and do an excellent job of portraying the life-or-death journey of these two strangers who end up relying on and trusting each other in ways that they didn’t expect. The emotional connection that Paul and Jane have will keep viewers hooked as much as the question of whether or not they’re going to survive being trapped on this mountain.

The weakest aspect of “Survivor” is that it could have used more realism in showing how the harsh, subzero weather would have had an effect on Paul and Jane. Because they are not dressed in clothes that can withstand this type of weather over a long period of time, Paul and Jane definitely would’ve had hypothermia at some point.

And there’s no indication of what kind of food they were eating. In the middle of a snowy forest, there’s no fruit growing on trees. And there are no scenes of Paul and Jane being able to get any animals to eat. Paul and Jane are trapped on the mountain for several days, but they don’t show any signs of starvation. However, some injuries do occur, which are portrayed realistically.

Despite the flaws in “Survivor” that overlook showing realistic effects of starvation and long-term exposure to freezing temperatures, the story has a life-affirming message that will emotionally touch people and probably bring tears to some people’s eyes. “Survivor” also shows that trusting someone with your heart is all the more meaningful if you love yourself too.

Quibi premiered the first three chapters of the 12-chapter “Survive” on April 6, 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0aU0BzlBtI