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Articles about movies

Review: ‘The Blackening,’ starring Antoinette Robertson, Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins and Sinqua Walls

June 14, 2023

by Carla Hay

Melvin Gregg, Grace Byers, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jermaine Fowler, Dewayne Perkins and X Mayo  in “The Blackening” (Photo by Glen Wilson/Lionsgate)

“The Blackening”

Directed by Tim Story

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Los Angeles area, the horror comedy film “The Blackening” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Nine people gather at remote house in the woods for a Juneteenth weekend and are targeted by a serial killer or serial killers demanding that the house guests answer questions about African American history and pop culture in a bizarre, race-baiting board game.

Culture Audience: “The Blackening” will appeal primarily to people who want to watch a frequently boring comedy full of racist jokes that are corny and stupid.

Yvonne Orji and Jay Pharaoh in “The Blackening” (Photo by Glen Wilson/Lionsgate)

“The Blackening” tries very hard to combine the parody of “Scary Movie” and the social commentary of “Get Out,” but the results are mostly cringeworthy, unimaginative and not very funny. The ending of the movie also drags and has no suspense. Worst of all, the so-called “jokes” sound like they would’ve been rejected from a Wayans Brothers movie in the 1990s. “The Blackening” filmmakers tried to make this dreadfully empty movie look more “modern” by adding in some social media references as part of the plot, but it’s all just a smokescreen for this disappointingly lackluster and stale film. “The Blackening” had its world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and its U.S. premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Directed by Tim Story, “The Blackening” was written by Tracy Oliver and Dewayne Perkins, who is one of the co-stars of the film. It should come as no surprise that Perkins wrote the most well-rounded and most believable character for himself in the movie. All of the other characters in “The Blackening” are hollow stereotypes. And that might be acceptable if most of the scenes “The Blackening” were genuinely funny.

Unfortunately, the movie is just one flat soundbite after another, which usually has one of these three themes: (1) the characters comment on or react to white supremacist racism; (2) the African American characters try to prove who’s the most “authentic” in being black; (3) relationship tensions involving mistrust.

“The Blackening” (which was filmed on location in the Los Angeles area) focuses on nine African American friends who have gathered for a getaway at an Airbnb rental house in a remote wooded area for Juneteenth weekend. Morgan (played by Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (played by Jay Pharoah) have arrived ahead of their friends at this house. Inside the house, Morgan and Shawn find an unusual-looking board game called The Blackening that has a racially offensive Sambo face at the center of the board.

Morgan and Shawn start playing the game when the Sambo face begins talking and says that they have to answer trivia questions about black people in history and pop culture. If Morgan and Shawn get any of the answers wrong, then they will die. The Sambo face starts cackling menacingly. None of it is really scary, of course, and the board game looks completely phony and amateurish, like an art project that a child could have made.

An example of a trivia question that Morgan and Shawn get is to name a black character from a horror movie who didn’t die first in the movie. It’s “The Blackening’s” way of poking fun at the cliché that the first person to die in a horror movie is a black person. “The Blackening” over-uses this “joke” to the point where it becomes obvious that the writers ran out of ideas. At any rate, something bad happens to Morgan and Shawn. Morgan and Shawn have gone missing by the time the other seven people arrive at the house.

The other seven people on this getaway trip are neurotic attorney Tracy (played by Antoinette Robertson); her sassy gay best friend Dewayne (played by Perkins); Tracy’s smooth-talking ex-boyfriend Nnamdi (played by Sinqua Walls); crude loudmouth Shanika (played by X Mayo); spoiled diva Allison (played by Grace Byers); laid-back stoner King (played by Melvin Gregg); and socially awkward misfit Clifton (played by Jermaine Fowler), who’s not really a friend, but he says he got a last-minute invitation from Morgan.

During Shanika’s road trip to the house in the woods, Shanika actually meets Clifton at a gas station convenience store, where they debate over which type of phone is better: an Android (Clifton’s preference) or an iPhone (Shanika’s preference). It’s just one of many examples of how the movie’s ideas are often painfully dull and lack creativity in time-wasting dialogue.

“The Blackening” also has the predictable depictions of racially charged encounters with white people being openly hostile to the black travelers. A convenience store clerk (played by James Preston Rogers) gives a hateful stare to Shanika while she’s a customer in the store. A white park ranger with the last name White (played by Diedrich Bader) stops the car that Tracy is driving with Dewayne, Allison and King as passengers. This detainment is for no other reason than Park Ranger White isn’t used to seeing black people in this area, and Tracy has to show proof that she has a legitimate rental for the house.

It’s not long before the seven people are all gathered in the house and find The Blackening game and are subjected to answering a barrage of African-American oriented questions. The disappearance of Morgan and Shawn is often forgotten as the seven house guests get caught up in playing this game. Just like Morgan and Shawn, the seven house guests are threatened with death if they get any of the questions wrong. Some of the questions include “Who is Sojourner Truth?” Viewers might be asking themselves, “Is this a horror comedy or a history test?”

One of the questions asked is: “Name five black people who were in ‘Friends.'” The Sambo face answers that question itself by saying, “I don’t know. I don’t watch that show. I watched ‘Living Single.'” It’s a very outdated joke that would have worked better in the mid-to-late 1990s, when both of those shows were on the air.

“The Blackening” takes a while to get to any real horror in the story. Instead, the movie stretches out its very thin plot with some backstory information on some of the characters. All of these backstories involve a lot of bitterness. Tracy and Nnamdi had a bitter breakup because he cheated on her. Tracy is bitter because Nnamdi has a new girlfriend. Nnamdi is bitter because Tracy was the one who broke up with him.

Dewayne is bitter because he thinks Tracy takes their friendship for granted and only seems to need him after she’s broken up with a boyfriend. Shanika is bitter about being discriminated against for being for a large-sized black woman, even though she lacks self-awareness that her obnoxious attitude is really her problem. Allison is bitter because she’s biracial and always feels that she has to prove to her black friends that she’s “black enough.” King is bitter because he feels he’s misjudged for being married to a white woman, who is never seen or heard in this movie.

“The Blackening” is obviously not meant to be taken seriously. But the movie has so many missed opportunities where it could have been funnier. The friends have a debate about “who’s the blackest person in the group,” in terms of attitude, not physical appearance. This debate drones on and on until it loses its intended impact.

When nerdy Clifton blurts out that he voted for Donald Trump twice and says that “Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance made me feel unsafe,” the other people in the group are horrified and immediately question if Clifton is really black. This type of racial stereotyping for comedy could have been handled in a wittier way. Instead, it just lazily rehashes jokes that have been done in one form or another in a lot of stand-up comedian routines.

The action scenes in “The Blackening” are poorly staged and insult viewers’ intelligence. The acting performances range from mediocre to irritating. And the answer to the mystery of who the killer is could have been intentionally obvious, but it still drains a lot of the intrigue that “The Blackening” could have had.

“The Blackening” is the type of low-quality movie that is neither great nor the worst of the worst. As far as race-based comedies go, it has nothing new or interesting to say about African American culture or race relations. “The Blackening” just sinks into a cinematic version of noxious quicksand, where weak and unremarkable movies go and are quickly forgotten.

Lionsgate will release “The Blackening” in U.S. cinemas on June 16, 2023.

Review: ‘Enter the Clones of Bruce,’ starring Bruce Le, Dragon Lee, Bruce Li and Bruce Liang

June 13, 2023

by Carla Hay

Mars and Phillip Ko in “Enter the Clones of Bruce” (Photo courtesy of Severin Films)

“Enter the Clones of Bruce”

Directed by David Gregory

Some language in Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in Hong Kong, the documentary film “Enter the Clones of Bruce” features a predominantly Asian group of people (with some white people and one African American) discussing how the legacy of martial-arts actor Bruce Lee spawned imitators and a low-budget action films that have some connection to Lee’s history and persona.

Culture Clash: Many actors who became known as Bruce Lee knockoffs experienced exploitation and typecasting.

Culture Audience: “Enter the Clones of Bruce” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Lee and action movies inspired by him.

Dragon Lee (pictured at left) in “Enter the Clones of Bruce” (Photo courtesy of Severin Films)

“Enter the Clones of Bruce” is a breezy and fascinating deep dive into Bruce Lee-inspired movies and actors who tried to continue the legacy of Lee after his tragic death. The movie’s commentary is superb and includes some people who rarely give interviews. Martial-arts star Lee died of a cerebral edema in 1973. He was 32 years old. This documentary explores how far-reaching his influence was by showing how Bruce Lee imitators and ripoffs flooded the movie industry after his death.

Directed by David Gregory, “Enter the Clones of Bruce” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival. The documentary shows how the enduring popularity of Lee helped fuel a renaissance of Hong Kong-based filmmaking in the 1970s and 1980s. Shaw Brothers Studio, a Hong Kong-based film company that existed from 1925 to 2011, is mentioned frequently in the documentary as the biggest generator of Bruce Lee imitation movies. Although Lee was an American who was born in San Francisco, his parents were from Hong Kong, and they raised him there shortly after he was born. He maintained homes and had dual citizenship in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

Lee’s breakthrough to international audiences was co-starring as Kato in the American superhero TV series “The Green Hornet,” from 1966 to 1967. Movie stardom soon followed. Lee’s best-known films are 1971’s “The Big Boss,” 1972’s “Fist of Fury,” 1972’s “The Way of the Dragon” and 1973’s “Enter the Dragon,” which remains his biggest hit movie. Lee died six days before “Enter the Dragon” was released on July 26, 1973.

“Enter the Clones of Bruce” makes a case in proving that Lee’s sudden and unexpected death left a void that others rushed to fill in the 1970 and 1980s. The overall mindset was that people believed Lee would have soared to even greater movie-star heights if he had lived. Why not make the types of movies that he would have made if he had been alive? In addition to action flicks with fictional Bruce Lee-inspired characters, there were numerous sequels, prequels and spinoffs to biopics about Lee.

The documentary doesn’t sugarcoat that most of the imitation Bruce Lee movies and imitation Bruce Lee actors were fueled by greed. In the documentary and elsewhere, it’s called Bruceploitation. But many of those involved in Bruceploitation also had genuine admiration for Lee and wanted to continue his legacy in some way. A lot of Bruceploitation merchandise came out of this era, but “Enter the Clones of Bruce” focuses mainly on the Bruceploitation movies and the people who made them.

One of the best aspects of “Enter the Clones of Bruce” is how the movie has an impressive array of interviews with people who were involved with or are experts in Bruceploitation. It’s obvious that the documentary filmmakers took a lot of time and care in tracking down many of these people, in order to make the documentary as complete as possible. Although this low-budget movie’s film editing and other production values are little rough around the edges, the documentary’s research is impeccable, while the narrative is easy to understand.

Almost all of the best-known Bruce Lee-inspired, low-budget actors from the 1970s and 1980s are interviewed in the documentary. Bruce Li (real name Ho Chung-tao), who is originally from Taiwan, comments in the documentary about his Bruce Lee-like persona: “It was really a gimmick.” Li starred in movies such as 1975’s “Dragon Dies Hard” and 1976’s “Bruce Lee: The True Story,” also known as “Bruce Lee: The Man, The Myth.” In the documentary, actor/writer Eric Tseng says that Li was good at what he did, but Li’s career would have been better if he hadn’t been typecast as a Bruce Lee imitator. Li says in the documentary that he didn’t think he ever really looked like Bruce Lee.

Dragon Lee (real name: Moon Kyung-seok), also known as Moon Lee, is a native of South Korea. Just like Li, Dragon Lee relocated to Hong Kong for his Bruceploitation career. Dragon Lee says that he met with Bruce Lee’s widow Linda to consult with her about how to portray Bruce. Dragon Lee also says that Bruce Lee’s signature move of thumbing his nose mainly came from a need to wipe sweat from his face. Dragon Lee’s Bruceploitation movies include 1976’s “The Real Bruce Lee,” 1978’s “Enter Three Dragons” and 1981’s “The Clones of Bruce Lee.”

Bruce Le, whose heritage is Chinese, grew up in Macau as a refugee from Burma. He moved to Hong Kong for the Bruce Lee phase of his career. Le, who was a contract player for Shaw Brothers, says of movie producer Bruce Randall, who was behind many Bruceploitation films: “He was like my godfather.” Le’s film credits include 1976’s “Bruce’s Deadly Fingers,” 1977’s “Return of Bruce” and 1977’s “Bruce and the Shaolin Bronzemen.” In archival footage from a TV talk show interview, Le is shown making the far-fetched claim that he drinks snake blood to stay strong.

“Enter the Clones of Bruce” also includes interviews with two martial-arts actors whose careers flourished because of Bruce Lee’s legacy but who aren’t Asian men: Angela Mao, who retired from acting in the 1990s, was considered the “first lady of kung fu” during her heyday movie career. In a rare interview for a documentary, Mao says of how Bruce Lee impacted her life: “I’m very grateful to him.” Meanwhile, Ron Van Clief (who is African American) tells the story in his documentary about how Bruce Lee was the one who gave Van Clief the nickname the Black Dragon.

Other actors interviewed in the documentary include Bruce Liang, Sammo Hung, Lo Meng, Casanova Wong, Eric Tseng, Caryn Wade, David Chiang, Long Ko, Roy Wade, Yasuaki Kurata, Phillip Ko and Mars. Bolo Yeung (also known as Yeung Sze), who is from Hong Kong, is described in the documentary as the actor who did more Bruceploitation movies than anyone else. Yeung isn’t interviewed in the documentary, but his son David Yeung has a short interview clip in the film.

Experts interviewed in “Enter the Clones of Bruce” include Mike Leeder, a Hong Kong expert who has some of the most insightful commentary in the film; Valerie Sou, professor of Asian studies at San Francisco State University; “Bruceploitation Bible” author Michael Worth; and “Fists of Bruce Lee” author Stephen Nogues. Nogues is from France, which is mentioned along with the United States, as the biggest markets for Bruceploitation outside of Asia.

It’s mentioned that many of the Bruceploitation actors were exploited themselves by having to work extremely long hours in non-union jobs, often while injured. Several of the Bruceploitation actors interviewed in the film say that the contracts they signed did not include getting royalties from the movies that they made. In other words, if people got rich from these Bruceploitation films, they weren’t the actors who starred in these movies.

Jackie Chan is mentioned as a next-generation beneficiary of Bruce Lee’s legacy. Unlike the Bruceploitation actors, who portrayed skilled action characters in all of their movies, Chan created an action-hero persona where his character often bumbled his way through fights that he lost until the very end when his character would emerge victorious. As for other action stars directly influenced by Bruce Lee, there is curiously no mention in the documentary of Chuck Norris, whose work with Bruce Lee kickstarted Norris’ career.

The filmmakers interviewed in the documentary include director Godfrey Ho, director Lee Chiu and producer Andre Morgan. Morgan is formerly an executive with Golden Harvest Films (now known as Orange Sky Golden Harvest Films), a company that co-produced several Bruce Lee films, including “Enter the Dragon” and 1978’s controversial “Game of Death.” The movie was controversial because it promised more than it delivered in unreleased Bruce Lee footage. In “Enter the Clones of Bruce,” Morgan doesn’t deny how disappointing “Game of Death” is to many Bruce Lee fans, but Morgan makes no apologies for it either.

There are two different versions of “Game of Death,” both of which cobbled together unreleased footage (about 15 minutes) of Bruce Lee and substituted other actors in scenes that were supposed to have the Billy Lo character portrayed by Bruce Lee. The quality of the filmmaking in “Game of Death” is so low, a cardboard cutout of Bruce Lee’s face was used over another actor’s real face in one of the scenes. Many scenes were badly lit and had terrible film editing. Numerous fans have complained that “Game of Death” is an insult to Bruce Lee instead of it being the fitting tribute to Bruce Lee that it should have been.

Morgan insists in the documentary that there is no hidden Bruce Lee movie footage anywhere that could be released in another movie. Based on everything shown in this documentary, if any of that footage existed, then it would have been exploited and re-exploited years ago. Although there’s no secret treasure trove of Bruce Lee archival movie footage, “Enter the Clones of Bruce” is a gem of a documentary for any fans of Bruce Lee and martial arts films.

UPDATE: Severin Films will release “Enter the Clones of Bruce” in select U.S. cinemas with a tour that begins in Los Angeles on April 12, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on April 30, 2024, and on Blu-ray on May 21, 2024.

Review: ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?’ (2023), starring Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabama Azmi and Emma Thompson

June 7, 2023

by Carla Hay

Shazad Latif and Lily James in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” (Photo by Robert Viglasky/StudioCanal SAS and Shout! Studios)

“What’s Love Got to Do With It?” (2023)

Directed by Shekhar Kapur

Some language in Urdu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in London and briefly in Pakistan, the romantic comedy/drama film “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” features a white and Pakistani cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A white British documentary filmmaker, who is cynical about love and committed relationships, does a documentary about her close male Pakistani British friend having an arranged marriage, and she struggles with admitting that she might actually want him for herself. 

Culture Audience: “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” will appeal primarily to people who like capably acted romantic movies where friends could turn into lovers.

Pictured from left to right: Pazika Baig, Mim Shaikj, Iman Boujelouah, Shabana Azmi, Shazad Latif and Jeff Mirza in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” (Photo by Robert Viglasky/ StudioCanal SAS and Shout! Studios)

“What’s Love Got to Do With It?” gets its title from the hypothetical question about what is really the key to a successful marriage. Are compatibility and respect more important than love, in order for a marital union to last? This romantic comedy/drama follows a very predictable formula, but the engaging lead performances by Lily James and Shazad Latif make the movie watchable. It’s a rare Western-studio film that explores the South Asian culture of arranged marriages.

Directed by Shekhar Kapur and written by Jemima Khan, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” (which takes place in London and briefly in Pakistan) is a mixed bag of a film that has dialogue that is sometimes witty, sometimes cringeworthy. The movie’s perspective of contrasting cultures keeps everything from sinking into forgettable blandness. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, it’s all very easy to predict how it will end.

In the meantime, most of the characters have enough appeal to be interesting but not enough uniqueness to be outstanding. A movie about two longtime best friends who could end up being lovers usually makes these two would-be lovers have opposite personalities. That’s certainly the case with documentarian Zoe Stephenson (played by James) and her longtime best friend Kazim “Kaz” Khan (played by Latif), who is a medical doctor.

Zoe and Kaz have known each other ever since their childhoods, when Zoe’s family (who are native Brits) and Kaz’s family (who are mostly Pakistani immigrants) used to be neighbors. Kaz is 32, and Zoe is about the same age. Zoe is impulsive, sometimes tactless, and has a messy love life. Kaz likes to plan ahead, is very diplomatic, and usually has stable relationships with the women he dates.

Zoe’s parents got divorced when Zoe was a child because her father left the family to be with a younger woman. Zoe’s mother Cath Stevenson (played by Emma Thompson) is still bitter about it. And although Zoe doesn’t really like to admit it, Zoe has also been negatively affected by the divorce, because she doesn’t think having a loving and committed relationship is going to happen to her.

Zoe is very close to her sister Helena (played by Alice Orr-Ewing), who is not as cynical about love and commitment as Zoe is. Helena and her husband Harry (played by Peter Sandys-Clarke) have two children together: Lily (played by Grace Askew) and Maud (played by Lolly Askew), who are about 7 to 9 years old. Zoe sometimes babysits her nieces, whom she adores. The movie uses a narrative technique of Zoe telling fairytales to Maud and Lily. The fairytales are really based on what Zoe is currently going through in her love life.

Kaz has two happily married siblings. His brother Farooq Khan (played by Mim Shaikh) is in an arranged marriage to Yasmin Khan (played by Iman Boujelouah), who is also of Pakistani heritage. Kaz’s sister Jamila (played by Mariam Haque) is married to a white Brit named David (played by Michael Marcus) in a non-arranged marriage. The parents of Kaz are well-meaning but domineering Zahid Khan (played by Jeff Mirza) and Aisha Khan (played by Shabana Azmi), who are also in an arranged marriage. Zahid’s mother Nani Jan Khan (played by Pakiza Baig) lives with Zahid and Aisha.

The Khan family is very close to each other, for the most part. The biggest rift in the family is that Zahid and Aisha do not approve of Jamila being married to someone who isn’t Muslim. Zahid and Aisha are also upset because Jamila did not take their advice to have an arranged marriage. As a result, Jamila has become estranged from the rest of the family.

The beginning of “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” shows the Khan family at a traditional Pakistani wedding, with Zoe and Cath also in attendance. At the moment, Zoe is feeling lovelorn because she hasn’t had any luck finding true love. She tells Kaz that at this point in her life, she’d be happy to settle for someone she likes instead of a grand love affair: “Someone I could commit to watching a whole TV series would be nice.”

And then, Kaz surprises Zoe with the news that he’s agreed to his parents’ wishes to get an arranged marriage to someone whom he hasn’t met yet. Kaz doesn’t like to call it an “arranged marriage.” He prefers to call it an “assisted marriage.” Zoe isn’t happy about this news because she thinks it’s a big mistake for Kaz to be in this type of marriage. She says out loud to him that she thought he had more independence to make his own decisions on whom to marry.

Shortly after getting this news, Zoe has a meeting with two movie producers named Olly (played by Alexander Own) and Sam (played by Ben Ashenden), two fast-talking filmmakers who have a “film bros” attitude tinged with sexism. Olly and Sam tell Zoe that they’re not moving forward with her pitch to do a documentary about honor killings. Sam and Olly think the subject matter is too depressing and not something that they think a woman filmmaker should do.

Zoe is desperate to get financing for her next project, so she impulsively tells Olly and Sam that her next documentary will be about arranged marriages, with her friend Kaz as the main subject. She also spontaneously thinks of the documentary’s title: “Love Contractually,” in a cheeky nod to the title of the 2003 romantic dramedy “Love Actually.” Olly and Sam like this idea and give the go-ahead to Zoe to do the movie.

Zoe lies and says that Kaz and his family have agreed to be in the documentary. Luckily for her, she quickly persuades Kaz and his family to do the documentary by promising them that she will be respectful of their Pakistani and Muslim customs. Kaz is reluctant at first, but he changes his mind when Zoe convinces him that she will make everyone look good. And as soon as she makes this promise, you just know that something will go very wrong.

“What’s Love Got to Do With It?” then goes back and forth between showing Zoe working on the documentary and trying unsuccessfully to find her next boyfriend. Cath, who has a dog named Barney, asks Zoe to take Barney to a veterinarian named James (played by Oliver Chris), a nice guy who just happens to be an eligible bachelor. It’s all a matchmaking setup from Cath. Zoe resists it at first, but she eventually agrees to date James out of sheer loneliness and desperation.

Meanwhile, Zoe gets more irritable as Kaz’s wedding date gets closer. Kaz’s bride-to-be is a 22-year-old aspiring human rights attorney named Maymouna (played by Sajal Ali), who is seemingly quiet and reserved. Kaz and Maymouna like each other, even though their conversations are awkward, as they get to know each other better. Kaz doesn’t quite understand why Zoe isn’t very happy that he’s getting married. You know where this is all going, of course.

To the movie’s credit, “What’s Love Got to Do With It” doesn’t portray the principal characters as ideal human beings. Zoe is not a perfectly likeable heroine. She’s got some big flaws, including having horrible judgment when it comes to dating, as well as a tendency to let her pride get in the way of being honest about her feelings.

Zoe’s mother Cath can be very prickly and difficult. Cath also has a racist side, such as in a scene where Cath privately tells Zoe that Cath is amazed that Kaz’s Pakistani family is sophisticated because the family is Pakistani. As for Kaz, his main personality flaws are his stubbornness and his reluctance to admit to his mistakes. Kaz’s tendency to be a people pleaser sometimes leads him to be deceptive in ways that can hurt people, including himself.

“What’s Love Got to Do With It?” doesn’t clutter up the movie with too many characters, but parts of the film lack focus, such as when it goes off on a tangent by showing some of the things going on in the marriage of Helena and Harry. Asim Chaudhry has a brief but hilarious supporting role as Mohammad “Mo” Bagri, a London-based matchmaker whose specialty is matchmaking for people of South Asian heritage. He has a company called Mohammad Bagri’s Matrimonial Bureau that is featured in Zoe’s documentary, because the Khan family is a client.

Although some of the characters occasionally come close to being caricatures, the principal characters (the Kaz’s family and Zoe’s family) all retain realistic qualities. “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” benefits from having a talented cast that can portray these characters with a certain level of believability. James and Latif have good-enough chemistry, but it’s not great. Thompson, as Zoe’s mother Cath, is always a delight to watch, even when she’s portraying a character who says and does off-putting things.

What isn’t as believable is some of the inevitable, contrived mush that gets crammed into the latter part of the movie, in order to deliver the resolutions that most audiences expect for this type of romantic film. “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” shows flashes of clever satire, such as in how Olly and Sam represent the smarmy side of the film industry. But in the end, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” succumbs to conventionality. Considering the subject matter, it’s not a surprise, but it’s handled capably enough for it to deliver some genuinely funny scenes amid the romantic fluff.

Shout! Studios released “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” in select U.S. cinemas on May 5, 2023. The movie was released on digital and VOD on May 26, 2023.

Review: ‘Pareshan,’ starring Thiruveer, Pavani Karanam, Bunny Abhiran, Sai Prasanna, Arjun Krishna, Raju Bedigela and Ravi

June 11, 2023

by Carla Hay

Pictured clockwise, from left: Thiruveer, Bunny Abhira, Raju Bedigela, Arjun Krishna, Balaji, Anji and Ravi in “Pareshan” (Photo courtesy of Annapurna Studios)

“Pareshan”

Directed by Rupak Ronaldson

Telugu with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in India, the comedy/drama film “Pareshan” features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An unemployed, college dropout spends his days and nights partying with his friends and getting into various mishaps, while his parents and girlfriend want him to live a more mature and responsible life.

Culture Audience: “Pareshan” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching a repetitive movie that consists of a lot of people yelling and fighting with each other, with no real purpose to the story.

Pavani Karanam and Thiruveer in “Pareshan” (Photo courtesy of Annapurna Studios)

“Pareshan” is a badly edited mess of a film that has more screaming and crying from adults than a nursery full of hungry babies. There’s too much of this time-wasting comedy/drama that is absolutely pointless. The only thing that might be more miserable than the characters in this long-winded, 131-minute film is the dreadful experience of having to watch “Pareshan” until the very end.

Written and directed by Rupak Ronaldson, “Pareshan” has no real plot. It’s just a series of scenes showing the shenanigans and conflicts of a group of five young men who are best friends in an unnamed city in India. The movie’s main protagonist is Isaac (played by Thiruveer), an unemployed, college dropout who lives with his parents. Isaac’s four closest pals are Pasha (played by Bunny Abhira), Aagam Sathi (played by Arjun Krishna), Maidak (played by Raju Bedigela) and Balaji, nicknamed RGV (played by Ravi), who all gave the same main interest as Isaac: getting drunk and partying.

Isaac’s parents (played by Muralidhar Goud and Padma) and his girlfriend Shireesha (played by Pavani Karanam) are unhappy that he is living such an aimless life and want him to clean up his act and live more responsibly. Isaac just thinks that they are being nags. Expect to see Shireesha do a lot of crying and whining, since that seems to be the main purpose of this character, who is desperate to settle down and get married. Somehow, Shireesha thinks that Isaac will magically turn into the suitable husband that she wants if she just loves him enough. It’s a pathetic cliché.

Isaac and his friends live in a city where the government-run coal company Singareni Collieries is a major employer in the area. His parents encourage Isaac to get a job at the local Singareni Collieries coal mine, but Isaac doesn’t show much interest in finding a job, especially a job that requires grueling manual labor. There’s much stalemate arguing back and forth between Isaac and his parents. It all quickly becomes tiresome to watch.

Meanwhile, Sathi (who has a chubby body size) is berated by his girlfriend Rajitha (played by Sai Prasanna) about his body size. She expects him to lose weight in order for Sathi to be considered “worthy” of her love. “Pareshan” accepts this horrible and shallow attitude as perfectly acceptable, when any adult with healthy self-esteem would walk away from a partner who makes this superficial demand.

Sathi dutifully goes to a gym to try and lose weight. Later, he gets into trouble with a local thug named Rakesh Master (played by Sai Kiran) over an unpaid debt. Sathi’s other four friends get dragged into this mess, which leads to a lot of tedious fight scenes and chase scenes. Sathi is the biggest male crybaby of the five pals. Instead of being with Rajitha, maybe he should have been with chronically tearful Shireesha, and they could have self-pitying cryfests together.

Isaac and his friends have another friend named Tiger Seenu (played by Anji), who gets married at one point. The wedding is just another excuse for the movie to show people getting drunk and acting stupidly. Isaac and his friends don’t have cars and get around mainly by scooters or motorbikes. Tiger has a car though. Isaac, Maidak, RGV and Pasha borrow the car to go on a road trip, which is another poorly conceived part of the movie.

The last third of “Pareshan” becomes particularly annoying with several physical and verbal fights over some missing money. The physical abuse in “Pareshan” is constant, with people slapping and punching each other for the slightest of reasons. The movie’s tone is that all of this abuse is supposed to be hilarious to watch. It’s not. There’s nothing impressive about the movie’s acting performances either. “Pareshan” is essentially an irritating showcase of empty characters and an even emptier story.

Annapurna Studios released “Pareshan” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on June 2, 2023.

Review: ‘Milli Vanilli,’ starring Fab Morvan, Brad Howell, Charles Shaw, Ingrid Segieth, Linda Rocco, Jodie Rocco and Ken Levy

June 11, 2023

by Carla Hay

An archival photo of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus in “Milli Vanilli” (Photo by Ingrid Segeith/Paramount+)

“Milli Vanilli”

Directed by Luke Korem

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Milli Vanilli” has a group of black people and white people, mostly with ties to the music industry, discussing pop duo Milli Vanilli, whose career peaked in 1989 and 1990, before the duo was exposed for not singing any of the songs on Milli Vanilli’s blockbuster debut album.

Culture Clash: Milli Vanilli members Rob Pilatus (from Germany) and Fab Morvan (from France) say that they were exploited by German music producer Frank Farian, who came up with the idea for this fraud.

Culture Audience: “Milli Vanilli” will appeal primarily to people who used to be fans of Milli Vanilli and anyone who wants to watch a documentary about how the music industry was in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Fab Morvan in “Milli Vanilli” (Photo by Luke Korem/Paramount+)

“Milli Vanilli” is a riveting, must-see documentary that goes deeper than any “Behind the Music” episode because it exposes the exploitation behind the scandal. Music producer Frank Farian, the story’s chief villain, is absent, but the damage he caused is on full display. The movie is a scathing indictment of not just Farian but also other people behind the scenes who knew that Milli Vanilli was a fraud but went along with it because they were personally profiting off of this fraud. Some of those people are interviewed in the documentary, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Even though former Milli Vanilli member Fabrice “Fab” Morvan has told his story in interviews many times since Milli Vanilli was disgraced in 1990, the documentary allows Morvan to have more of a voice than previous Milli Vanilli documentaries. Rob Pilatus, the other member of Milli Vanilli, died in 1998, of an overdose of alcohol and prescription medication, after years of battling substance abuse. Pilatus’ year of birth has been disputed, but he was believed to be 32 or 33 when he died.

Directed by Luke Korem, the “Milli Vanilli” documentary fills in some of the blanks that were noticeable in VH1’s “Behind the Music” episode on Milli Vanilli, the artist profiled in the very first “Behind the Music” episode in 1997. Pilatus was still alive and participated in that “Behind the Music” episode, but there were some unanswered questions in the “Behind the Music” episode that the “Milli Vanilli” documentary mostly answers, such as record company involvement in covering up the scam. (MTV Entertainment Studios, the production company behind the Milli Vanilli documentary, is owned by Paramount, which also owns VH1.)

Morvan (who was born in 1966 in Paris) says he wanted to be a singer and a dancer from an early age. He describes his childhood as being an “abusive environment.” Morvan adds, “So, I ran away.” Morvan met Pilatus at a dance seminar at a club in Munich, Germany. The two immediately bonded over similar backgrounds and shared goals.

Morvan says of Pilatus, “Just like me, he was looking for family.” Pilatus, who was biracial, was adopted by a white family in Germany. His white biological mother was a stripper, while his black biological father is unknown.

In the documentary, the story is retold about how Morvan and Pilatus, both struggling and desperate, met German producer Farian in 1988. Morvan had relocated to Germany by then, and he and Pilatus were getting small gigs as DJs and dancers. Pilatus also worked as a model. At the time, Morvan and Pilatus were part of a short-lived trio called Empire Bizarre, whose other member was a woman named Charliene. Morvan says that he and Pilatus were living together in poverty and were close like brothers.

Farian’s main claim to fame at the time was Boney M, a pop/R&B group that had a string of hits (mostly in Europe) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, such as “Daddy Cool,” “Ma Baker,” “Belfast,” “Sunny,” “Rasputin,” “Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord” and “Rivers of Babylon.” Just like Milli Vanilli, Boney M was later exposed to be a group that had other people recording the vocals on the songs.

Morvan and Pilatus had been getting some local publicity in Germany, which is how Farian heard about them. Farian invited them to his recording studio in Frankfurt, Germany. Pilatus and Morvan recorded a demo with Farian, who dictated what his vision for them would be. He said that we would sign them and give them all the funds that they needed to launch a music career but they could not sing on their first album.

After Milli Vanilli was exposed as a singing fraud, Morvan and Pilatus (when he was alive) repeatedly said in interviews that at the time they signed the contract with Farian, he had promised them that they could sing on Milli Vanilli’s second album, but Farian reneged on that promise. This dispute ultimately led to the downfall of Milli Vanilli. Morvan and Pilatus said that before they became famous and had signed with Farian, they had regrets about the contract and tried to back out of it, but Farian threatened to sue them for all the money he had already invested in them.

Milli Vanilli’s rapid rise to success is a well-known story that is repeated here. Milli Vanilli’s 1989 debut album, “Girl You Know It’s True,” was an instant smash, first in Europe (where the album was released in 1988, under the title “All or Nothing,” with a slightly different track listing) and then in several other continents. The album had major hits, including “Girl You Know It’s True,” “Blame It on the Rain,” “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You” and “Baby Don’t Forget My Number.” In 1990, Milli Vanilli won the Grammy for Best New Artist. In the end, it was Farian who exposed the Milli Vanilli vocals fraud when Morvan and Pilatus threatened to expose the fraud because Farian wouldn’t let them sing their real vocals on Milli Vanilli’s second album.

Farian, who now lives in seclusion, is not interviewed in the documentary. He did not respond to the filmmakers’ requests for an interview. However, the “Milli Vanilli” documentary has interviews with several people who knew the truth behind the scenes, including Ingrid Segieth, whose nickname Milli was the inspiration for the Milli Vanilli name.

Segieth was Farian’s secretary and girlfriend at the time. She says she was very close to Pilatus, although she denies that she and Pilatus ever had a romantic relationship. The most she will admit to is that she and Pilatus would platonically cuddle and sleep in the same bed on many occasions. “We loved each other without the sex,” Segieth comments.

Segieth was the person who found Pilatus dead of an overdose in Friedrichsdorf, Germany. She cries in the documentary over this memory and says she is ashamed of any part she played in his downfall. She denies any claims that Farian threatened to sue Morvan and Pilatus if they backed out of the contract. Segieth also says in the documentary that Morvan and Pilatus willingly signed the contract and didn’t object to having other people sing Milli Vanilli songs on the first Milli Vanilli album.

Morvan admits it, up to a point, because he still claims that he and Pilatus regretted the contract soon after they signed it, but they tried to justify those regrets after success came quickly for them. Morvan says that he and Pilatus “got sucked into the fame, power and adoration … We embraced the lie … It was difficult not to say no to this new life … That became very addictive.”

Other people interviewed in the documentary who knew the truth from the beginning are the people who sang on Milli Vanilli’s first album: Brad Howell, who did the vocals that Pilatus lip synced in public; Charles Shaw, who did the vocals that Morvan lip synced in public; and twin sisters Linda Rocco and Jodie Rocco, who both did backup vocals on the album. They don’t have much to say that they haven’t already talked about in other interviews.

Shaw was the first to go public (in 1988) about Pilatus and Morvan not singing on Milli Vanlli’s first album. But by his own admission, Farian paid him off, and Shaw retracted his statements at the time. Shaw was replaced by John Davis, who died in 2021, at the age of 66.

And what about people at Milli Vanilli’s record companies? This is where the “Milli Vanilli” documentary gets interesting. Milli Vanilli was signed to Arista Records (led by Clive Davis at the time) in the United States. Davis is not interviewed in the documentary.

However, Ken Levy, who was a senior vice president at Arista at the time, is interviewed and essentially admits that high-ranking people at Arista (including Davis) knew that Pilatus and Morvan didn’t sing on Milli Vanilli’s first album, but only after the album was released in Europe and after Milli Vanilli had signed with Arista. Thomas Stein, who worked for Ariola Records (Milli Vanilli’s record company in Germany), denies knowing that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing on Milli Vanilli’s first album before the album was released in Europe.

Richard Sweret, who worked in artist A&R at Arista, says that people from the record company weren’t allowed in the studio for Milli Vanilli sessions, which he says were under Farian’s tight control. Mitchell Cohen, another former A&R executive for Arista, echoes that claim and says that although it was weird not to see Morvan and Pilatus do any recordings in the studio, Arista took the album “on faith” from Farian that everything was legitimate.

Arista had signed Milli Vanilli after Milli Vanilli’s first album was a success in Europe, so these former Arista executives say that they didn’t question the validity of the vocals at the time that Milli Vanilli had completed the album. The “All or Nothing” album released in Europe actually didn’t have the names of Morvan and Pilatus on it, but the former Arista executives interviewed in the documentary say that they didn’t notice that detail at the time.

When it came time for Milli Vanilli to do live performances, that’s when more people behind the scenes found out that Morvan and Pilatus didn’t sing the vocals on the album. The former Arista executives say that by then, Milli Vanilli was a success for a lot of people, and it would’ve been too embarrassing for the secret to be exposed. When Milli Vanilli went on tour or performed on TV, it was common for several artists to lip sync to recordings, so there were many people behind the scenes who didn’t question when Pilatus and Morvan did that too.

However, Mill Vanilli’s backup touring musicians knew the truth early on. Keith Yoni, the bass player for Milli Vanill’s backup band, says in the documentary that he knew something was “off” in their first rehearsals when the backup musicians were there but the “singers” were not. It’s easy to see how these backup musicians would not tell this secret because they wanted to keep their jobs.

The documentary mentions the infamous incident on July 21, 1989, in Bristol, Connecticut, when Milli Vanilli was performing on stage for the Club MTV tour. The recording that Pilatus and Morvan were lip syncing to got stuck and repeated loudly. Pilatus and Morvan ran off stage in embarassment. The crowd got angry and rowdy, not because of the lip syncing but because Pilatus and Morvan cut their performance short. “Downtown” Julie Brown, who was a VJ on MTV at the time and was on the Club MTV tour, says in the documentary that Pilatus had a meltdown backstage over this incident.

However, this public glitch didn’t slow down Milli Vanilli, since many people who saw this mishap assumed that Morvan and Pilatus still recorded the songs on Milli Vanilli’s first album but were lip syncing to the songs in concert. Lip syncing in concert is a common practice that is looked down on by critics but accepted by most fans. Lip syncing in concert was less accepted then as it is now. Artists in pop music tend to get a more leniency about lip syncing in concert, compared to other genres where artists are expected to have more authenticity.

The usual perils of sudden fame are detailed in the documentary. Morvan says that he and Pilatus indulged in a lot of drugs and promiscuity. Pilatus’ ego began to get out of control, as he began making statements in interviews that Milli Vanilli was better and more talented than legendary artists such as Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger.

The beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli was winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Shaw comments, “Once they won the Grammy, they hung themselves.” Documentary interviewees who knew Farian at the time say that that Farian did not want Milli Vanilli to be submitted for any Grammy Awards consideration, out of fear that the vocals fraud secret would be exposed.

However, Todd Headlee, who was the assistant to Sandy Gallin (Milli Vanilli’s manager at the time) didn’t know that. (Gallin died in 2017. He was 76.) Headlee went ahead on his own initiative and submitted Milli Vanilli for Best New Artist and other Grammy categories. Headlee says in the documentary that he thought he was doing a good thing for Milli Vanilli with these Grammy submissions and was confused when many people in Milli Vanilli’s inner circle were upset over Milli Vanilli being submitted for the Grammys.

The Recording Academy, which was then known as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), is the industry group that votes for the Grammys. NARAS had a policy at the time that any artist performing at the Grammy Awards ceremony had to perform live. However, Segieth says in the documentary that people at Arista Records (she doesn’t name names) bribed Michael Greene, who was NARAS CEO from 1988 to 2002, to let Milli Vanilli lip sync on the Grammy Awards in 1990. Twelve years later, Greene resigned from NARAS in disgrace over allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault.

After Farian exposed Milli Vanilli for being vocal frauds, Pilatus and Morvan did a notorious press conference in November 1990, when they gave back their Grammy Award trophies that they won in February of that year. The media people at the press conference asked tough questions, and many of the reporters were visibly angry. However, the documentary does a very good job of pointing out that while most people in the media and the general public focused their wrath on Pilatus and Morvan, the person who masterminded this fraud (Farian) escaped relatively unscathed. There are also racial implications to what Farian did, since he built his entire career on exploiting black artists.

Farian would go on to produce a band called the Real Milli Vanilli, with members that included Davis and Howell, but that band flopped. And so did comeback attempts by Pilatus and Morvan, who renamed their act Rob & Fab, which released a self-titled album in 1993. Pilatus died before doing a promotional tour for Rob & Fab’s “Back and in Attack” album, which was never released.

Morvan has been a solo artist for several years (he says he no longer lip syncs when performing live), and he seems content with his current life, although he’s still obviously affected by Pilatus’ death and the highs and lows of Milli Vanilli. The documentary includes an interview with Morvan’s Dutch partner Tessa van der Steen, who is the mother of Fab’s children and who works as a health coach/orthomolecular therapist. She says she didn’t know who he was when she first met him.

Carmen Pilatus, Rob’s adoptive sister, comments on what led to Rob’s downward spiral: “He sought attention that he didn’t get as a child.” She also describes Rob in his youth as someone who would make up elaborate stories about himself. She says that Rob felt tremendous guilt about the fraud from the beginning of Milli Vanilli.

Morvan comments on how Rob dealt with the guilt: “He drank and took more drugs to black out.” Carmen says that Rob could be “vicious when he was on drugs.” Most of her disgust is for Farian, whom she says showed up at Rob’s funeral, after the service was over, just so he could be photographed by the media.

Other people interviewed in the documentary include recording engineer Tom Gordon, who worked on the “Fab & Rob” album; songwriter Diane Warren, who wrote “Blame It on the Rain” and says she didn’t know about the lip syncing until after the song was a hit; music producer/songwriter Timbaland; former BET executive Stephen Hill; music producer/songwriter Toby Gad; and music journalists/critics Rob Sheffield, Hanif Abdurraqib and Gil Kaufman. “Milli Vanilli” is a documentary about one of the biggest scandals in the music industry, but it’s also a cautionary “be careful what you wish for” tale for entertainers who want to be rich and famous at any cost.

UPDATE: Paramount+ will premiere “Milli Vanilli” on October 24, 2023.

January 23, 2024 UPDATE: Frank Farian died in his Miami home on January 23, 2024. He was 82.

Review: ‘The Good Half,’ starring Nick Jonas, Brittany Snow, David Arquette, Alexandra Shipp, Matt Walsh and Elisabeth Shue

June 11, 2023

by Carla Hay

Nick Jonas, Matt Walsh, Brittany Snow and Elisabeth Shue in “The Good Half” (Photo courtesy of The Ranch Productions)

“The Good Half”

Directed by Robert Schwartzman

Culture Representation: Taking place in Cleveland, Ohio, the comedy/drama film “The Good Half” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Latinos) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A 28-year-old aspiring comedy screenwriter returns to his hometown of Cleveland, as he struggles with grief over his mother’s death, as well as tensions with his sister and his stepfather. 

Culture Audience: “The Good Half” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and comedy/dramas about complicated family relationships and the effects that a terminal illness has on a family.

Nick Jonas and Alexandra Shipp in “The Good Half” (Photo courtesy of The Ranch Productions)

In the comedy/drama film “The Good Half,” the movie’s “good half” is the latter half, which shows the most emotional depth. Led by Nick Jonas’ admirable performance, it’s a capably acted story about grief, hope and family tensions. “The Good Half” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Directed by Robert Schwartzman and written by Brett Ryland, “The Good Half” jumps back and forth in the story’s timeline to show life in a family before and after the death of the clan’s matriarch. The movie (which takes place in Cleveland, Ohio) is told from the perspective of her son, who had a close relationship with his mother as a child, but as an adult, he drifted apart from the family after he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a comedy screenwriter. In some ways, “The Good Half” resembles a sitcom with a serious side, but the movie improves when it starts to dig deeper into some realistic family dynamics.

“The Good Half” opens with a flashback scene that takes place when protagonist Renn Wheeland (played by Mason Cufari) is 9 years old and with his neurotic mother Lily Wheeland (played by Elisabeth Shue) near a shopping area. Renn is upset because Lily accidentally left him in a store and didn’t return until about two hours later. A remorseful Lily promises Renn that she will never leave him in a store again. This childhood memory is brought up again later in one of the movie’s most emotionally intense scenes.

Renn (played by Jonas) is now 28 years old and somewhat estranged from his family. He has returned home to Cleveland because Lily has died of a terminal illness. (“The Good Half” was actually filmed in New Jersey and Los Angeles.) On the plane to Cleveland, Renn has a “meet cute” moment with a psychotherapist named Zoey (played by Alexandra Shipp), who tells Renn that she’s visiting Cleveland for a psychotherapist convention. Renn tells a partial lie of omission by saying to Zoey that he’s going to Cleveland for a family reunion. He leaves out the detail that the reunion is under the sad circumstances that it’s for his mother’s funeral.

There’s another airplane passenger sitting in between Renn and Zoey, who have a friendly and flirtatious conversation, while the man in the middle looks slightly uncomfortable. Zoey says that she’s afraid of flying. She jokes that she wishes their flight would turn into the 1997 airplane hijack movie “Con Air.” Zoey adds that all the action movies of the 1990s are great films.

Zoey is very talkative and curious. She asks a lot of questions and finds out from Renn that he is an available bachelor. Renn is a little more guarded and won’t disclose much about himself, except basic information, such as Cleveland is where he was born and raised. After the airplane lands, Zoey and Renn exchange phone numbers, because it’s obvious that they feel an attraction to each other.

When Renn takes a rideshare from the airport, he tells the driver to take the longest way to the destination. It’s an obvious sign that Renn is dreading seeing his family again. Renn has a cordial but emotionally distant relationship with his father Darren Wheeland (played by Matt Walsh), who is mild-mannered and easygoing. Darren and Lily got divorced years ago. Darren has not remarried, and he lives by himself.

Renn’s relationship with his married older sister Leigh (played by Brittany Snow) is much more volatile. Leigh is an uptight control freak who has deep resentment toward Renn for a number of reasons. One of the things she’s angry about is that Renn avoided her numerous attempts to contact him when she needed Renn to help make decisions about their mother’s funeral and other after-death arrangements. It also irritates her that Renn doesn’t seem to care about keeping in touch with anyone in his family.

For now, things will be awkward between Renn and Leigh because he’s staying at the house of Leigh and her husband (who doesn’t say much and barely in the movie) while Renn is visiting Cleveland. On the evening that Renn was supposed to arrive in Cleveland, Leigh had a get-together of Lily’s friends and colleagues. However, Renn showed up too late, and everyone has already left.

“We had a lot of people over here paying their respects,” says a grim-faced Leigh, who can barely hide her disgust that Renn was late. “I’m sorry you missed them.” Renn replies sullenly, “I’m not.” There will be more tension-filled scenes like this between this brother and sister, until the inevitable emotional confrontation where long-held resentments erupt to the surface. Renn and Leigh’s big reckoning with each other has more sorrow than anger.

Renn and Leigh don’t agree on a lot, but there’s one thing that Renn, Leigh and their father all agree on: Lily’s second husband Rick Barona (played by David Arquette) is an annoying jerk. Rick is legally considered Lily’s next of kin, so he’s made a lot of decisions about the funeral that Renn is sure that Lily would not have wanted. Lily wanted to be cremated, but Rick has arranged for her to buried. Lily was Jewish, but Rick has arranged for a Catholic priest to officiate at the funeral.

“The Good Half” has a very effective subplot about the eulogy part of the funeral service. The eulogy is symbolic of the power struggles and disagreements in the family over how Lily wanted to be remembered at her funeral. Needless to say, Rick has very different ideas from what Renn thinks should be said in the family’s eulogies.

Rick wants to hire his eccentric spiritual guru Father Dan (played by Stephen Park), who never met Lily, to officiate the funeral and help family members craft their eulogies. (Father Dan, who teaches piano lessons to children out of his cluttered and messy house, doesn’t appear to be a real ordained priest.) Leigh and Darren try not to get into confrontations with Rick, but Renn has no such qualms. Rick wasn’t exactly a devoted husband during the last months of Lily’s life. And you can bet that the question over who really cared about Lily the most will come up in any arguments between Rick and Renn.

There’s a lot of family drama in “The Good Half,” but the movie seamlessly includes the subplot about Renn and Zoey’s possible romance, which is where some (but not all) of the movie’s comic relief occurs. Renn and Zoey see each other again when he calls her and invites her to meet up with him in a bar. Zoey eventually reveals that she has her own personal issues: She’s going through a divorce.

Zoey says that one of the reasons why she broke up with her soon-to-be ex-husband is because he cheated on her. The Zoey/Renn relationship starts off looking very formulaic. But to the credit of “The Good Half” filmmakers, not everything about this possible romance is predictable.

Anchoring the emotional center of the film is Jonas’ memorable performance as Renn, who is more devastated by Lily’s death than he cares to admit. Shue’s performance as Lily in the flashback scenes is heartfelt and compelling. Lily had her share of quirks (including a habit of stealing table utensils every time she went to a restaurant), but there’s no doubt that she truly loved her children, and they loved her.

In one of the flashback scenes, Renn is spending time with Lily, and he knows that she’s in an unhappy marriage with Rick. Renn advises Lily to end the marriage, and he offers to move back to Cleveland to help her with the divorce. It’s an offer that Lily firmly declines because she says that Renn shouldn’t interrupt his life because of her own personal problems.

And then, Lily blurts out the real reason why she doesn’t want to divorce Rick: “I’ll be a 56-year-old, twice-divorced woman living in Cleveland.” It’s a simple sentence, but it speaks volumes about how some women of a certain age feel when society often treats them like their age is an expiration date for desirability.

“The Good Half” has expected tearjerking moments in scenes showing Lily’s medical treatment and the effects that her illness have on Lily and her loved ones. Despite this depressing part of the movie, “The Good Half” still brings moments of comedic whimsy—some of it is better-placed than others. A subplot about breaking into a home looks very much like it belongs in a sitcom; it turns out to be a set-up to end the scene in a sentimental way.

The movie fares much better with its drama, which is the basis for the best scenes in “The Good Half.” A heart-wrenching monologue by Renn has a line in it that explains why the movie has this title. Does “The Good Half” get a little too sappy in the drama and a little too cutesy in the comedy? Sure, it does. But these are minor flaws that don’t get in the way of this mostly authentic-looking story of how a family can be ripped apart or can come together because of grief.

UPDATE: Utopia Films and Fathom Events will release “The Good Half” in U.S. cinemas for a limited engagement on July 23 and July 25, 2024.

Review: ‘Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive,’ starring Gloria Gaynor

June 10, 2023

by Carla Hay

Gloria Gaynor in “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive”

“Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive”

Directed by Betsy Schechter

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the world from 2015 to 2020, the documentary film “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” features a group of African American and white people, including Gloria Gaynor, commenting on the life and career of Gaynor.

Culture Clash: Gaynor, who transitioned from being a disco icon to a gospel artist, gets candid about surviving sexual abuse, a crippling back injury, an unhappy marriage and ageism.

Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the obvious target audience of Gloria Gaynor fans, “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching a documentary about longtime artists in the music industry.

An archival photo of Gloria Gaynor in “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” (Photo courtesy of Fathom Events)

“Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” is a traditional documentary that is not exactly groundbreaking, but it is uplifting, and it has the benefit of Gloria Gaynor’s candid participation. Most viewers will learn something interesting about Gaynor from watching this movie. “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival, where Gaynor performed a five-song set after the movie was shown.

Directed by Betsy Schechter, “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” (which was filmed from 2015 to 2020) was clearly made by people who are fans of Gaynor. However, the movie isn’t an overly fawning, glossy portrait of the singer, whose main claim to fame is the Grammy-winning 1978 disco anthem “I Will Survive.” Gaynor is open about very painful aspects of her life. She also shows an endearing self-awareness about her fame and legacy in the music business. Her combination of strength and vulnerability are what make this documentary worth watching.

Born as Gloria Fowles in Newark, New Jersey, in 1943, Gaynor admits in the documentary that she’s had lifelong insecurities and abandonment issues because her father Daniel Fowles abandoned her mother Queenie Mae Proctor when Proctor was pregnant with Gloria. Despite coming from a financially disadvantaged broken home, Gaynor (who grew up with five brothers and one sister) says of the childhood that she and her siblings had: “We were very happy. Kids don’t know that they’re poor if they’re loved.”

Gaynor says that she was very close to her mother, who encouraged Gaynor to become a professional singer. Proctor was also a talented singer, but she never got to become a professional singer because of having to work other jobs as the head of a single-parent household. “She was wonderful,” Gaynor says of her mother. “She was my best friend, my confidante.”

When Gaynor was 25 years old, her mother died from health issues. Of course, Gaynor was devastated. In the documentary, Gaynor talks about how she handled her grief: “I threw myself into music, which was an outlet for my pain.” She began to perform in nightclubs in the Newark area.

In the 1960s, Gaynor had very modest success as the lead singer of the jazz/R&B band Soul Satisfiers. In the early 1970s, she became the lead singer of a pop/R&B group called City Life, which essentially disbanded after Clive Davis signed Gaynor to a solo artist deal with Columbia Records. Tony Tarsia and Bill Cireua are two former City Life members who are interviewed in the documentary.

Gaynor’s first single for Columbia Records was 1974’s “Honey Bee,” which flopped. She got dropped from Columbia Records, but was then quickly signed to MGM Records. In 1975, she had her breakthrough single with a cover version of the Jackson 5’s 1971 hit “Never Can Say Goodbye.” Her dance version of the song became a success, just as disco was becoming a major force in pop culture. Gaynor was considered the first queen of disco before Donna Summer came along and took that title with a string of hit singles and albums.

Gaynor freely admits that her career was never the same after the “Disco Sucks” backlash in the early 1980s. This backlash was spearheaded mainly by rock fans who didn’t like how disco was taking over radio airwaves and music charts. In the 1980s, she became a born-again Christian and eventually made the switch to gospel music. These days, Gaynor’s concerts are a mixture of her old hits and her newer gospel songs.

It would’ve been very easy for this documentary to be mostly a nostalgia trip. The movie does have a lot of great archival footage from Gaynor’s secular music years, but most of the documentary’s narrative is in showing the recording of her gospel album “Testimony,” which was recorded in Nashville and released in 2019. What many viewers probably won’t know is that it took several years for the album to be made.

“Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” chronicles this journey, including showing the frustrations of Gaynor and her team (including her sassy manager Stephanie Gold) in trying to get Gaynor a record deal at an age when most people are expected to be retired. In the documentary, Gaynor says she has no plans to retire anytime soon.

In addition to ageism, another obstacle that Gaynor has in getting a record deal is her image as a disco diva, which still looms large, because “I Will Survive” is her biggest hit. She is told that, realistically, many people don’t know or don’t care that Gaynor is now a gospel singer. The documentary shows a series of rejection letters that Gaynor gets from record companies.

Gaynor and members of her team are shown in a conference room meeting with Jackie Patillo, president/ executive director of the Gospel Music Association. Patillo gives Gaynor this crucial advice: Form “strategic alliances” with well-known hit artists in gospel music and contemporary Christian musc, and make song collaborations with them.

And sure enough, artists such as Yolanda Adams, MercyMe singer Bart Millard, and the Crabb Family singer Jason Crabb end up collaborating with Gaynor on the “Testimony” album. The documentary has some very entertaining footage from these recording sessions that show immense vocal talent on display. (Crabb also performed “Singing Over Me” with Gaynor at the Tribeca Festival premiere of this documentary.)

Also in these recording session scenes are musician Mike Farris, music producer F. Reid Shippen and music producer Chris Stephens, a self-described Gaynor superfan who used to have his own disco group. Far from Gaynor having to beg these younger artists to perform with her, these artists are immensely flattered that they have been asked and seem to be a little star-struck by Gaynor too. Over time, it’s easy to see that Gaynor was recording a very special album.

The documentary weaves the making of the album into Gaynor’s memories of her past that she shares in interviews for the movie. She details how, at the height of her success for “I Will Survive,” she was actually very lonely. But then, she met and fell in love with Linwood Simon, the brother of her backup singing group the Simon Sisters. At the time that Simon and Gaynor met, he was a police officer, but he quickly became her manager, even though he had no previous experience in the music business. Gaynor and Simon got married in 1979.

Gaynor describes the courtship and early years of their marriage as Simon being her “knight in shining armor” in a “fairytale romance.” That fairytale eventually turned into a nightmare. Gaynor says that Simon was very controlling and chronically unfaithful to her. His controlling ways and his tendency to send her on grueling tours chipped away at her self-esteem and her health, Gaynor says.

Because she was afraid of being abandoned, Gaynor admits that she stayed longer in the marriage than she should have. Simon and Gaynor divorced in 2005. Concert agent George Leightner, who worked with Gaynor in 1980s, has this observation of Gaynor’s marriage that turned miserable: “It’s ironic that she did the song ‘I Will Survive,’ because she was barely living.” Gaynor admits, “I allowed myself to be controlled.”

Gaynor also gets candid about her health issues, particularly a serious back injury that she got when she fell down on stage during a concert in New York City in 1978. She experienced paralysis from the waist down for three months. And she had the first of many back surgeries that left her hunched over and in constant pain in her elderly years. The documentary includes Gaynor’s journey to getting a transformative back surgery. Dr. Hooman Melamed, a New York City-based orthopedic back surgeon who performed the operation, is interviewed in the documentary.

Most documentaries about entertainers include descriptions of drug or alcohol use. Gaynor says that in her 1970s and 1980s heyday, she and Simon liked to party. She says that she drank alcohol and occasionally smoked marijuana, but she never had any addictions. She describes a vivid memory of a party in the 1980s where she tried cocaine for the first time because she suspected that her husband was going to have a tryst with one of the women at the party, and Gaynor didn’t want to fall asleep.

After snorting the cocaine, Gaynor says that she felt something grab her chest and tell her that it was enough. And she says she never did cocaine again. In the documentary, Gaynor says she believes that God was speaking to her in that moment. It had a profound effect on her and motivated her to strengthen her faith in Christianity. Alfonso R. “A.R.” Bernard Sr., pastor of the Christian Cultural Center, says that Gaynor joined his church around this time.

Gaynor’s 1997 memoir “I Will Survive: The Book” covers some of the same topics that are in “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive,” but this documentary is obviously much more focused on Gaynor’s 21st century life. She’s able to look back on some of her biggest mistakes (including staying too long in a toxic marriage) with candor and wisdom.

One curious aspect of the documentary is that none of Gaynor’s siblings is interviewed in the movie. However, Gaynor’s niece Hosanna Proctor is briefly featured in the documentary, which shows her choking up with tears when she described Gaynor as the “rock” and the “matriarch” of the family. “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” mentions the 1995 murder of Gaynor’s only sister, Irma Proctor, who was kicked to death in Elizabeth, New Jersey, because she tried to stop a fight. Her murderer was convicted and sent to prison.

Gaynor’s grief over this murder is too painful for her to discuss at length in the documentary. A subject that isn’t discussed at all in the film is Gaynor’s regret over not having children, because her then-husband didn’t want any children. It’s a regret that Gaynor has expressed in other interviews, but not in this documentary, which doesn’t mention the parenting issue at all.

The documentary shows that Gaynor’s manager Gold is the non-biological family member who’s the closest to Gaynor. “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” has several sometimes-comedic scenes of the sisterly relationship that Gaynor has with Gold, who was originally hired at Gaynor’s personal assistant. Gold says that she went to work for Gaynor in 2004, during a low point in Gaynor’s life.

“I came to help her,” says Gold. “She didn’t have any money. She was struggling.” Gold also describes their relationship as mercurial, saying that she and Gaynor can “fight like cats and dogs” and then “forget it three seconds later.” Gaynor says that even though Gold is much younger than Gaynor, her managerial role often makes it feel like Gold is the “older” sister.

Gaynor says that she decided to go public about her sexual abuse because Gold told her Gaynor’s story would help other survivors of sexual abuse. In the documentary, Gaynor mentions that the first time she was sexually abused was when she was 12 years old and sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend at the time. The second time she was sexually abused was at age 17, and the abuser was the cousin of her boyfriend at the time.

The documentary includes footage that show the impact and legacy of “I Will Survive,” including the song being added to the U.S. National Recording Registry in 2016. One of the movie’s highlights is footage of Gaynor paying an emotional visit students and employees of Luis Vives School in Valencia, Spain. In 2016, Valencia was reeling from a tragc bus accident that killed 13 exchange students. The tween students of Luis Vives School did a performance of “I Will Survive” in a video that went viral.

Some music stars secretly hate their biggest hit, but that’s not the case with Gaynor. She says it’s because she knows “I Will Survive” has helped countless people, including herself, through difficult times. (ABC News anchor Robin Roberts, a cancer survivor, is a Gaynor fan and is shown briefly meeting Gaynor and telling her how much “I Will Survive” means to her.) “I feel a great sense of responsibility,” Gaynor says of the impact that her music has had on people. “I am flattered that God would trust me with this.”

At her advanced age, Gaynor says she can no longer do the type of extensive touring (more than 300 shows a year) that she used to do. These days, Gaynor says she does about 40 to 50 concerts a year. “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” doesn’t have much footage of Gaynor at home (the documentary mentions that she lives in Green Brook Township, New Jersey), but that’s probably because she still travels a lot.

A fascinating thing that most people don’t know but is mentioned in the documentary is that at the age of 65, around the same age she was when she got divorced, Gaynor decided to fulfill her longtime dream of going to college. An epilogue in the documentary shows what the outcome was for this academic pursuit. Watching “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” is not only a testament to her talent and durability but it’s also proof that someone’s age should not dictate how much personal growth that someone can continue to have.

UPDATE: Fathom Events will release “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” in select U.S. cinemas on February 13, 2024.

Review: ‘Rule of Two Walls,’ starring Lyana Mytsko, Stepan Burban, Diana Berg, Bob Basset, Kinder Album, Bohdana Davydiuk and Iryna Hirna

June 9, 2023

by Carla Hay

Lyana Mytsko and Stepan Burban in “Rule of Two Walls” (Photo courtesy of New City/Old City)

“Rule of Two Walls”

Directed by David Gutnik

Ukrainian with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Ukraine from April to November 2022, the documentary film “Rule of Two Walls” features an all-white group of people who were affected by the Russian invasion war that began that year.

Culture Clash: Several artists show resistance to the Russian invasion in various ways as their lives remain in danger.

Culture Audience: “Rule of Two Walls” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in watching a documentary about the horrors of the Ukrainian war from an artist perspective.

Lyana Mytsko in “Rule of Two Walls” (Photo courtesy of New City/Old City)

Harrowing and inspiring, the documentary “Rule of Two Walls” sometimes gets unfocused in its cinéma vérité style of showing how some Ukrainian artists responded to and were affected by the war that began in 2022. It’s still very insightful filmmaking. “Rule of Two Walls” had its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Festival.

Directed by David Gutnik, “Rule of Two Walls” was originally going to be about Ukrainian refugees in Poland, according to Gutnik’s statement in the “Rule of Two Walls” production notes. He adds, “But by the time I crossed the border into Ukraine, it was clear to me that I was going to make a film about Ukrainians who stayed.” Gutnik is American, but he says most of his family members are from Ukraine.

“Rule of Two Walls” (which was filmed in Ukraine from April to November 2022) opens with a seemingly idyllic scene of two live-in lovers in their 30s waking up together in bed at their home in Kharkiv, in April 2022. They are artist Lyana Mytsko and musician Stepan Burban, who are featured prominently in the movie. Stepan says his gall bladder hurts. Lyana jokes that Stepan must be getting old, “Little Stepanko, 95 years old.”

But this domestic bliss soon gets a harsh reality check, because the Russian invasion war on Ukraine had begun in February 2022. Mytsko comments that in these times, it’s important that the couple’s “windows haven’t been blown out yet.” Later, Mytsko (who describes herself as an “activist” and a “feminist”) is the director of the Lviv Municipal Arts Center, which features some of her own artwork. The fate of the arts center is in jeopardy because of the war. The National Art Museum of Ukraine is also featured in the documentary.

Throughout “Rule of Two Walls,” artists are shown talking about how their lives and their art have been affected by the war. Burban performs industrial rock music and is the lead singer of his band. He begins writing more protest songs. Burban is shown performing with his band to an enthusiastic crowd of mostly young people who are angry about the war.

Photography artist Bob Basset shows his collection of photos of people wearing gas masks. Two young women are shown putting up a handmade poster that reads, “We are not afraid of you, Russia. We hid our monument because we don’t want you to see our shame.” In the documentary, Mytsko explains that since the war began, what she expresses in her art is “to regain some control over all this crazy shit.” Bohdana Davydiuk and Iryna Hirna are two other Ukrainian artists featured in the documentary.

A female artist, who did not want her face shown on camera, seems to have a specialty in painting nude people. The movie’s end credits identify her as Kinder Album. She shows the paintings she made of real horrors of war that she witnessed.

One of her more disturbing paintings shows a naked woman kneeling, with her hands tied behind her back. She is surrounded by standing soldiers, who are seen from the neck down. One of the soldiers has his pants down, as if he is about to rape or just raped the woman. Another painting shows a woman cleaning a large pool of blood on a street.

The overall sentiment of the Ukrainian artists interviewed in the documentary is one of defiance in refusing to let Russia erase or take over their land, their lives and their culture. Art curator/manager Diana Berg, who is also an artist, comments in the documentary: “No war can deprive us of our culture and traditions. When [Russian president Vladimir] Putin says we [Ukrainians] have no culture, we have no nation.” She adds sarcastically, “Does that mean everything we create is Russian?”

Sensitive viewers should be warned that “Rule of Two Walls” also has several scenes of murdered bodies (most are human and some are animals) on streets. In one scene, bodies that were set on fire are seen with smoke still coming out of the ashen remains. It’s a jolting but necessary look at the tragedies and incalculable loss of lives during this terrible war.

Not all of the imagery and subject matter in “Rule of Two Walls” are completely depressing. Mytsko tells a heartwarming story of how people teamed up to rescue a cat that happened to be fairly well-known in the area because of the cat’s Instagram following. It seems that fame has privileges, even for animals in a war. An unidentified man talks about bringing food and other aid from Lviv to Kyiv. He had to send his wife and son away, for their own safety.

Gotnik has a “no frills” approach to this film and only inserts himself into the movie in the last third of the documentary, when he briefly shows himself on camera and talks about how all of his bank accounts have been frozen (he suspects the Russian government is behind it), so he is temporarily stuck in Ukraine. “Rule of Two Walls” sometimes has a rambling tone that occasionally makes the movie look disjointed and in need of tighter film editing. However, the documentary succeeds in its intention to juxtapose the damage of the war with the resilience and vibrant spirit of the Ukrainian people.

Review: ‘Falcon Lake,’ starring Joseph Engel and Sara Montpetit

June 8, 2023

by Carla Hay

Joseph Engel and Sara Montpetit in “Falcon Lake” (Photo courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures)

“Falcon Lake”

Directed by Charlotte Le Bon

French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Canada’s Laurentides, Québec, the dramatic film “Falcon Lake,” loosely based on Bastien Vivès’ 2017 graphic novel “Une Sœur (A Sister)”, features an all-white cast of characters representing the middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: While spending time at a remote lake house compound with their families, two teenagers have a tentative romance amid stories that the nearby lake might be haunted by a menacing ghost. 

Culture Audience: “Falcon Lake” will appeal primarily to people who like watching dramatic movies where the intended impact isn’t immediately apparent and slowly sneaks up on viewers.

Joseph Engel and Sara Montpetit in “Falcon Lake” (Photo courtesy of Yellow Veil Pictures)

“Falcon Lake” is an atmospheric drama that effectively shows the parallels of experiencing mysterious horror and experiencing teenage angst over love and romance. It’s a ‘”slow burn” movie with good acting performances from Joseph Engel and Sara Montpetit. “Falcon Lake” had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Written and directed by Charlotte Le Bon (who has an established career as an actress), “Falcon Lake” is loosely based on Bastien Vivès’ graphic novel 2017 “Une Sœur (A Sister),” which was set in France. “Falcon Lake,” which is Le Bon’s feature-film directorial debut, takes place in a remoted wooded location in Laurentides, Québec, Canada. It’s not the type of movie that should be considered a real horror flick, just because there’s a ghost story element to the film. There are hints of horror that are left purposely vague, until the mystery is solved at the very end.

The more unsettling tone in the “Falcon Lake” isn’t about the paranormal but about the frustration felt by the teenage male protagonist, who is kept on edge over how he’s going to handle his crush on an older teenage girl. “Falcon Lake” is told from his perspective. His name is Bastien (played by Engel), who is 13 years old and will soon turn 14.

In the beginning of the movie, Bastien has arrived at a vacation rental home compound with his mother Violette (played by Monia Chokri), his father Romaine (played by Arthur Igual) and Bastien’s brother Titi (played by Thomas Laperriere), who’s about 4 or 5 years old. It’s the first time that the family is staying at this vacation place. This family of four will soon meet two other people who are sharing living quarters at the compound: single mother Louise (played by Karine Gonthier-Hyndman) and her 16-year-old daughter Chloé (played by Montpetit), who is rebellious and eccentric.

Bastien is immediately smitten with Chloé, who shares the same bedroom as him in this compound. Chloé knows that Bastien is attracted to her, but she doesn’t quite know what to do about her burgeoning relationship with this younger boy. As so, Chloé resorts to teasing Bastien by playing harmless pranks on him, such as sneaking up and startling him when he’s at a dock by the lake. In another incident that’s much more disturbing, Chloé pretends to drown, just to see how Bastien will react.

Chloé and Bastien spend a lot of time together at the lake, by themselves and with teenagers who are closer to Chloé’s age. The lake is a symbol for the uncharted waters that Bastien is feeling for the person he hopes will be his first girlfriend. It’s also a symbol for Chloé’s fascination with local folklore that there’s a ghost living in the lake. This ghost supposedly grabs swimmers in the lake and especially likes to target young people.

Not long after they meet, Chloé tells Bastien this ghost story, and she seems disappointed when he barely reacts. Chloé asks Bastien: “Are you scared the ghost might grab you?” Bastien replies, “I don’t believe in ghosts.” He also says that he’s not swimming in the lake because he doesn’t like swimming, due to a near-drowning incident he had when he was younger. But as soon as Bastien says he’s not swimming in the lake, you know that Chloé will get him to change his mind.

Chloé also has a dark side of dabbling in self-harm. She tell Bastien that she sometimes likes to bite her hand until it bleeds. And she shows him how she does it. Later, as a way to impress Chloé, Bastien takes up this habit too. Much of “Falcon Lake” is about Bastien, who is somewhat shy, trying to win over bold and brash Chloé without looking too desperate. The mild flirtation between Chloé and Bastien (such as taking a bath together with their clothes on) might eventually turn into something more.

Bastien is new to the Laurentides are, but Chloé is not. She introduces Bastien to other teens she knows, such as 19-year-old Oliver (played by Anthony Therrien) and Paul (played by Lévi Doré), who smoke cigarettes and drink wine with Chloé. Oliver’s father Bryan (played by Jeff Roop) owns the lake house and is one of the few people in the movie who speaks English only, not French. Bryan, who is seen briefly in the movie, is outgoing and talkative.

The adults in “Falcon Lake” mostly fade into the background of the story, but there are multiple scenes that show Chloé and her mother Louise have a tension-filled relationship. Chloé thinks her mother is a promiscuous gold digger and doesn’t respect her. Louise thinks that Chloé is a rude brat. Chloé’s father is not seen or mentioned in the story.

Chloé’s negative feelings about her mother’s sex life affects her self-esteem in ways that Bastien can’t fully comprehend until he makes a very big mistake. He isn’t emotionally mature enough to pick up the clues, such as when Chloé tells him that Chloé broke up with Chloé’s most recent boyfriend because she wouldn’t do certain sexual things with him, but the ex-boyfriend lied to other people by saying that she did. There’s a pivotal scene where some local teens are having a loud, unsupervised house party, and Bastien gets an unwanted glimpse of Chloé’s life before she met him.

The “horror” aspects of the movie are very subtle and intermittent. Shadowy figures occasionally appear then disappear in a room. There are a few incidents where a teenager in the lake claims to feel unknown hands grabbing the teenager, but the movie shows whether or not it was just a teenage prank. “Falcon Lake” keeps people guessing about what could be supernatural until the last 10 minutes of the film.

“Falcon Lake” director Le Bon capably handles the moody tone of the film, which is a mixture of carefree teenage playfulness and a constant foreboding that something could go terribly wrong at any moment. Engel and Montpetit impressively bring much of the realism required for their roles, but viewers should be warned that “Falcon Lake” might be considered too boring for anyone expecting a typical “people being haunted in a remote area” ghost story. Viewers with the patience to watch “Falcon Lake” until the very end will see the movie in an entirely new way when a secret is revealed.

Yellow Veil Pictures released “Falcon Lake” in select U.S. cinemas on June 2, 2023. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on June 13, 2023. “Falcon Lake” was released in Canada on October 14, 2022.

Review: ‘The Flash’ (2023), starring Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú and Kiersey Clemons

June 6, 2023

by Carla Hay

Ezra Miller, Ezra Miller and Sasha Calle in “The Flash” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics)

“The Flash” (2023)

Directed by Andy Muschietti

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the fictional Central City (in the United States), in Russia, and in a fictional multiverse, the superhero action film “The Flash” (based on DC Comics characters) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latinos and African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Barry Allen, also known as the superhero The Flash, goes back in time to try to prevent the death of his mother, while the evil General Zod hunts for members of the exiled Krypton family that includes Superman and Supergirl. 

Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the obvious target audience of comic book movie fans, “The Flash” will appeal primarily to people who like watching imaginative multiverse movies that don’t get too confusing.

Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton and Ezra Miller in “The Flash” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics)

Bold, creative, and with some appealing quirks, “The Flash” lives up to expectations and offers some jaw-dropping surprises. Viewers who are new to the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) won’t get too confused, while ardent fans will be constantly thrilled. Some movies with multiverses can get too convoluted with messy plots, or overstuffed with too many characters. However, “The Flash” (which is based on DC Comics characters) wisely sticks to less than six principal characters that get the most screen time. The movie’s plot (which has some fantastic twists) is easy to follow, although people who’ve seen previous DCEU movies will have a better understanding of everything. Viewers with extensive knowledge of pop culture will also appreciate some of the jokes in the movie.

Directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Christina Hodson, “The Flash” takes place mostly in the fictional Central City, a sprawling U.S. metropolis that is currently under attack by General Zod (played by Michael Shannon), a supervillain whose chief nemesis is Superman, the superhero who has the powers to stop Zod. Superman, who has an alter ego as journalist Clark Kent, has gone missing. Faora-Ul (played by Antje Traue) is a fearless warrior who is General Zod’s second-in-command.

As superhero fans already know, Superman (whose birth name is Kal-El) is a refugee of the planet Krypton, which was destroyed by Zod. Superman’s parents died in this massacre but sent him to Earth as a baby while the attack on Krypton was happening. Did other members of the family survive? All of this background information is useful for what happens later in “The Flash.”

The title character of “The Flash” is man in his 20s named Barry Allen (played by Ezra Miller), whose superhero alter ego is The Flash, who has phenomenal speed. The movie’s opening sequences shows The Flash saving babies from a hospital maternity ward when the building’s hospital was destroyed by Zod and his army. The movie foreshadows what type of comedy it will have by showing that during this crisis, The Flash took the time to eat and drink from a falling vending machine to boost his energy.

In other early sequence, a criminal with a briefcase is apprehended on a bridge by The Flash, Batman (played by Ben Affleck), also known as billionaire Bruce Wayne, and another member of the Justice League (whose identity won’t be revealed in this review) help The Flash. The briefcase contains a weapon that can “wipe out half of Gotham by lunchtime,” warns Bruce’s trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (played by Jeremy Irons), who has a quick cameo appearance in “The Flash.”

When he’s not being The Flash, shy and insecure Barry is a forensics lab employee at the Central City Research Center, which does a lot of work for the Central City Police Department. Barry is preoccupied with proving the innocence of his father Henry Allen (played by Ron Livingston), who is in prison for the murder of his wife/Barry’s mother Nora Allen (played by Maribel Verdú), who was stabbed to death in their kitchen at home. (Livingston replaces Billy Crudup, who previously played the role of Henry Allen, but Crudup was unavailable to be in “The Flash” because of work commitments on Crudup’s Apple TV+ series “The Morning Show.”) Henry was wrongfully convicted of Nora’s murder and is appealing the conviction. In “The Flash,” Henry is awaiting a court hearing for this appeal.

A flashback shows that Barry at 11 years old (played by Ian Loh) was home and upstairs when the murder happened. Henry had been at a grocery store getting a can of tomatoes at Nora’s request, because she had forgotten to buy the tomatoes earlier. Henry came home to find his wife murdered. However, he doesn’t have a solid alibi. The grocery store’s video surveillance has images of Henry, but he’s wearing a baseball cap, and his face can’t fully be seen in the surveillance video. Henry was the one who discovered Nora’s body, and with no solid alibi, he became the chief suspect in the murder.

Through a series of events, Barry finds himself going back in time and interacting with his 18-year-old self (also played by Miller) in a multiverse that includes the Bruce Wayne/Batman (played by Michael Keaton) of the 1989’s “Batman” and 1992’s “Batman Returns.” When the two Barrys first meet this version of Bruce, he is a bearded and disheveled recluse who denies he was ever Batman, but then he admits it. This Batman grumpily and reluctantly comes out of retirement to help Barry.

The movie makes it easy for viewers to distinguish between the two Barrys: The younger Barry has longer hair, is goofy, and has blue light rays surrounding him when he becomes The Flash. The older Barry has short hair, is more serious, and has red light rays surrounding him when he becomes The Flash. The younger Barry has a homemade Flash superhero suit, while the older Barry’s Flash suit is the “official” Flash superhero suit.

Along the way, these three superheroes encounter Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El, also known as Supergirl (played by Sasha Calle), who has been imprisoned somewhere in Russia. Because it’s already revealed in the movie’s trailers, Supergirl joins both iterations of The Flash and Keaton’s Batman to team up to fight Zod. Central City journalist Iris West (played by Kiersey Clemons) returns in a supporting role as Barry’s love interest. Iris just happens to be covering Henry’s court case.

Although “The Flash” has a lot of dazzling images throughout the film, the movie’s visual effects fall a little short in scenes where Barry goes to stop time and pick a multiverse to enter. These scenes show flashbacks to other versions of the DC Comics-based movies and TV shows, with the visual presentation looking a little too much like the computer-generated imagery that it is. It’s a little distracting, but it doesn’t ruin the movie.

Miller excels in their performance as the dual Barry Allen/The Flash. (Miller identifies as non-binary in real life and uses the pronouns they/them.) Calle’s performance is a little stiff, but her Supergirl comes out of coma in the movie, so her personality is aloof and more than a little shell-shocked. Keaton steps back into his Batman role perfectly. It’s a performance that will delight fans of the first two “Batman” movies.

“The Flash” has some clever comedy about alternative castings for movies, including a running joke about Eric Stoltz being the star of 1985’s “Back to the Future” in an alternate universe. In real life, Stoltz was fired from “Back to the Future” and replaced by Michael J. Fox. Only people who know this pop culture trivia will really get the jokes. There’s also some surprise and sometimes hilarious references to other actors who were cast or could have been cast as superhero characters in other DC Comics-based entertainment.

“The Flash” is a rollicking adventure that earns its total running time of 144 minutes. The movie has an end-credits scene that is there for pure comedy and has no deep meaning to any sequels. If “The Flash” is the first DC Comics-based movie that a viewer will see, it’s best to know what happened in 2013’s “Man of Steel” and 2021’s “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” DC Comics-based movies have been hit and miss, in terms of quality, but “The Flash” leaves no question that it’s a “hit” on a storytelling level.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “The Flash” in U.S. cinemas on June 16, 2023.

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