Tag: Sundance Film Festival

Review: ‘Luther: Never Too Much,’ starring Fonzi Thornton, Robin Clark, Carlos Alomar, Clive Davis, Jamie Foxx, Mariah Carey and Richard Marx

November 27, 2024

by Carla Hay

A 1980s archival photo of Luther Vandross in “Luther: Never Too Much” (Photo by Don Hunstein/Sony Music/Giant Pictures)

“Luther: Never Too Much”

Directed by Dawn Porter

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Luther: Never Too Much” features a predominantly African American group of people (with a few Latin and white people) discussing the life and career of R&B singer/songwriter/producer Luther Vandross, who died from stroke complications in 2005, at the age of 54.

Culture Clash: Vandross had public and private battles over racism, his weight and his sexuality.

Culture Audience: “Luther: Never Too Much” will appeal primarily to his fans and people who are interested in documentaries about famous singers.

A 1980s archival photo of Luther Vandross in “Luther: Never Too Much” (Photo by Don Hunstein/Sony Music/Giant Pictures)

Conventionally made but still enjoyable, the documentary “Luther: Never Too Much” tells a very laudatory version of Luther Vandross’ life. More insight was needed for what he liked to do when he wasn’t working, but it’s an overall competent biography. The movie is an expected mix of archival footage with exclusive interviews filmed for the documentary. The interviewees are mostly Vandross’ friends and colleagues.

Directed by Dawn Porter, “Luther: Never Too Much” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and made the rounds at several other film festivals in 2024, including Hot Docs and the Tribeca Festival. The movie focuses almost entirely on Vandross’ career and has the bare minimum of information about who he was apart from being an entertainer. “Luther: Never Too Much” has an impressive group of interviewees, but die-hard Vandross fans will not learn anything new about him from this documentary, except maybe seeing some rare archival footage.

Vandross was born in New York City on April 20, 1951. He was the fourth and youngest child of Luther Vandross Sr. (who was an upholsterer and singer) and Mary Ida Vandross, who was a nurse. Luther Sr. died of diabetes when Luther Jr. was 8 years old. According to the documentary, Mary Vandross believed that Luther Jr. inherited his father’s musical talent.

And like his father, Luther Jr. had diabetes, which caused Luther Jr. to have health issues for his entire life. Luther Jr. was a child prodigy in music and knew from an early age that he wanted to be a singer. He learned to play the piano by ear at the age of 3. As he grew older, he became a prolific songwriter, but he wasn’t able to fully showcase his songwriting talent until he became a solo artist.

“Luther: Never Too Much” skips over most of Vandross’ childhood. Don’t expect the documentary to reveal what types of relationships he had with his siblings or what he was like in school. Instead, there is brief archival interview clips of Vandross saying that he had a happy childhood where he never felt deprived, and he felt safe and loved.

His singer idols when he was a child were Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick. As a famous artist, he produced two albums for Franklin: 1982’s “Jump to It” and 1983’s “Get It Right.” Vandross produced Warwick’s 1983 album “How Many Times Can We Say Goodbye.” Vandross also did backup vocals for Ross and was a guest performer at two concerts (one in New York City, one in Philadelphia) that Ross did in 2000. Vandross said in many interviews that the music and culture of Motown Records had a huge influence on him as a child.

The documentary’s stories about Vandross before he became famous are mostly when he was a teenager. As an aspiring singer who lived in New York City, Vandross was able to regularly attend and learn from shows at the world-famous Apollo Theater in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. Musicians/singers Fonzi Thornton, Robin Clark and Carlos Alomar (who are all interviewed in the documentary) were friends and collaborators with Vandross, beginning from their teenage years and through their adulthoods.

Vandross became known for his suave and soulful vocals and his romantic songs, but he didn’t start out as a solo artist. He got his earliest experiences as a professional singer by being a member of singing groups. As a teenager, Vandross was in a group with Thornton and Alomar called Shades of Jade, which performed once at the Apollo. Even in these early years, Vandross had a clear vision of the stylish image that he wanted as an entertainer.

Thornton tells a story about how Vandross insisted that the members of Shades of Jade wear a certain type of green shoes that cost $23 per pair at the time. Thornton says that Thornton’s mother initially refused to pay that amount of money for the shoes. But somehow, after Vandross had a conversation with Thornton’s mother, she changed her mind. Thornton says with admiration: “He was a boss from the beginning.”

Shades of Jade didn’t last. But as a young adult in the late 1960s, Vandross went on to get his first big break as part of a theater singing group of men and women called Listen My Brother, which had many songs about Black Pride and was managed by Apollo Theater leaders. Thornton, Clark and Alomar were also members of Listen My Brother, which had 10 to 16 members. One day, “Sesame Street” puppeteer Jim Henson saw Listen My Brother perform and was so impressed, he got the group booked on “Sesame Street” for several episodes during the show’s first season in 1969. It was the type of exposure that led to Listen My Brother getting bigger and better gigs.

Even though Vandross clearly had a unique voice and exceptional talent, Vandross was prevented from being a frontman in the confines of Listen My Brother. “He wasn’t the top dog,” according to Alomar, who blames it on the entertainment industry’s tendency to give preference to slender entertainers who fit conventional beauty standards. Alomar candidly says that Vandross had limitations put on his career aspirations because of bias against Vandross’ physical appearance: “He was too black and too heavy.”

After Vandross graduated from William Howard Taft High School in New York City in 1969, he attended Western Michigan University, but he dropped out after less than a year to pursue a career as a professional singer. According to Thornton, Vandross’ mother wasn’t too upset about him being a college dropout because she believed that her youngest child had a special talent as a singer and he was destined to become a star.

Unfortunately, “Luther: Never Too Much” doesn’t say much else about Vandross’ family during his formative years as a professional singer, particularly when it comes to his mother, who seemed to be his biggest supporter at this time. Vandross’ niece Seveda Williams is interviewed in the documentary, but she makes mostly generic comments about Vandross’ work ethic and talent.

During the 1970s, Vandross became an in-demand backup singer and a singer for commercial jingles. As an up-and-coming artist, he was influenced by 1970s Philadelphia soul music, as exemplified by hits written and produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff for artists such as the O’Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, and Teddy Pendergrass. It was during this time that Vandross began to hone his skills as a musical arranger and producer.

Vandross’ first “crossover” hit as a backup singer was working on David Bowie’s 1975 “Young Americans” album, where Vandross can be heard prominently on the album’s title track. Vandross met Bowie through Alomar, who was Bowie’s longtime guitarist/backup singer. Clark and Alomar (who have been married since 1970) are among the backup singers on Bowie’s “Young Americans” album. The documentary includes some rare archival footage of Vandross and Bowie in these recording sessions.

Ava Cherry, who worked with Bowie as a backup singer on the “Young Americans” album and other collaborations, is one of the people interviewed in the documentary. Bowie encouraged Vandross’ songwriting talent and co-wrote the “Young Americans” album track “Fascination” with Vandross. “Fascination” was originally a Vandross song called “Funky Music (Is a Part of Me).”

Vandross also had success as a backup singer for numerous other artists, including Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Chic and Sister Sledge. But he made even more money as a singer/songwriter for commercial jingles for company brands such as Juicy Fruit, Miller Beer, Gino’s and Löwenbräu, just to name a few. As seen in archival interviews, Vandross said he used a lot of the lucrative income that he made as a jingle singer/songwriter to fund his own demo recordings, with the hope of getting a record deal where he could perform songs that he wrote, arranged and produced.

Vandross eventually got record deals as the frontman for a group named Luther and later for a group called Change, while still maintaining a career as a backup singer. Flack is the person who is credited the most with encouraging Vandross to make the leap to become a solo artist. It wasn’t easy because he got rejected by every major label. But after getting a second chance from a different person at Epic Records, Vandross signed with Epic as a solo artist. And that’s when his career took off and never looked back.

His first solo album—1981’s “Never Too Much”—was a hit and featured the title track as his breakout solo single. The cadence of the song was unusual for R&B hits at the time and was an example of Vandross’ determination to stand out from other R&B singers. Most of Vandross’ songs were about the joys and heartbreak of love. Don’t expect the documentary to reveal the inspirations for most of these songs, since Vandross was secretive about his love life.

Nat Adderley Jr., who was Vandross’ music director at the time, comments in the documentary about the first time he heard the “Never Too Much” song: “It sounded so different than anything on the radio, but I didn’t [think] it would be a hit.” The documentary has some commentary on how Vandross created and recorded his music. But considering all the great songs that he wrote and produced, “Luther: Never Too Much” does not have enough information about this aspect of his artistry as a songwriter and a producer.

Several people in the documentary also say that in addition to his recordings, Vandross was very particular and specific about every aspect of his live performances. He personally chose the elaborate costumes for his backup singers and the type of theatrical-inspired productions he wanted to bring to his concerts. His own personal fashion sense on stage can be described as being a Vegas performer and cabaret singer.

Vandross had a steady string of hits for the rest of his solo career. His best-known songs include 1986’s “Stop to Love”; 1989’s “Here and Now” (for which he won his first Grammy Award in 1991, after previously being nominated nine times); 1991’s “Power of Love/Love Power”; 1992’s “The Best Things in Life Are Free” (a duet with Janet Jackson); a 1994 cover version of “Endless Love” (a duet with Mariah Carey); and 2003’s “Dance With My Father.”

With all of this success, Vandross still had deep insecurities about his physical appearance. In several interviews, he said he was an “emotional eater” who used food to cope with anxieties and stresses in his life. His weight drastically fluctuated and was the topic of many jokes and interview questions. (The documentary includes a 1980s clip from an Eddie Murphy stand-up comedy show where Murphy pokes fun at Vandross’ weight.) Publicly, Vandross mostly took this type of scrutiny in stride. Privately, it all bothered him immensely.

There was also gossip abut Vandross’ sexuality. Although he never publicly stated his sexual identity, Vandross (a lifelong bachelor with no kids) was a mostly closeted gay man who was afraid to come out of the closet because he knew it would upset his mother and hurt his career. “Luther: Never Too Much” doesn’t mention anything about anyone whom Vandross dated, although some of that information is publicly available elsewhere. It was only after Vandross died that people who knew him felt comfortable to publicly admit that he was gay.

Vandross usually ignored or refused to confirm or deny media reports about his sexuality. People he dated when he was famous also kept quiet about his sexual identity by not talking to the media about their experiences with him. However, one rumor that he vehemently denied was that he had AIDS. The documentary mentions that Vandross sued a British magazine in 1985, because the magazine claimed that AIDS, not dieting, was the reason for his weight loss that year.

A huge reason for Vandross’ reluctance to publicly admit his homosexuality is because so much of his image was about being a singer whose songs were the soundtracks of many heterosexual people’s love lives. Jamie Foxx (one of the documentary’s producers) comments on the effect that Vandross’ music had on people’s romances: “Back in the day, if you wanted to fall in love, you let Luther do the work for you.”

The only thing that anyone in the documentary will say about Vandross’ personal life as a celebrity was that he was unlucky in finding lasting love with a romantic partner. Vandross’ former personal assistant Max Szadek says that Vandross’ 1988 song “Any Love” (a bittersweet ballad of wanting any love that is offered) was Vandross’ favorite song because it was autobiographical for Vandross. Vandross co-wrote “Any Love” (the title track from his 1988 album) with Marcus Miller, a frequent collaborator with Vandross as a songwriter and bass player in Vandross’ band. Miller is one of the people interviewed in the documentary.

Szadek says he saw firsthand how lonely Vandross’ life was behind the scenes, which is why Szadek says “Any Love” became difficult for Szadek to hear the more he got to know Vandross. As for Vandross being coy and vague with the public about his love life, Szadek will only say, “I think he couldn’t share all of himself.” Szadek gets tearful later in the documentary when he remembers finding Vandross unconscious from a stroke in Vandross’ New York City home in 2003. The documentary gives almost no information—aside from brief archival interview clips of Vandross—about Vandross’ recovery process after he had his stroke, such as how he lost and regained his ability to walk.

Racism was another struggle that Vandross had, according to singer/songwriter Richard Marx, who collaborated with Vandross on “Dance With My Father.” Marx says in the documentary that Vandross would privately confide in him about how record companies that had contracts with Vandross would give him lower budgets and less support than white artists who were at the same level of celebrity as Vandross. Vandross also had frustrations about being pigeonholed as being an artist for mostly black audiences, when Vandross believed that his music appealed to people of all races.

Music mogul Clive Davis signed Vandross to Davis’ now-defunct J Records in 2000, after Vandross left Epic Records and had a brief one-album stint with Virgin Records. Davis is interviewed in the documentary but only comments on the race issue by saying an obvious fact: Radio can be very racially segregated. It’s a missed opportunity that the documentary did not get Davis to comment on how record-company racism affects artists, especially since Davis was in charge of one of the record companies that signed Vandross.

Even though people in the documentary explicitly say that Vandross felt he got racial discrimination from record companies, you get the feeling that Davis didn’t comment on this issue in “Luther: Never Too Much” because the documentary filmmakers were too afraid to ask Davis. “Luther: Never Too Much” has a reluctance to dig deeper and reveal uncomfortable truths about Vandross’ life. It’s a celebrity documentary that stays in the comfort zone of having interview soundbites that do nothing but praise the celebrity.

Some of the soundbites are nice but utterly bland. Vandross’ “Endless Love” duet partner Carey says predictable things about Vandross such as, “I was really honored when he brought me out to sing with him.” Warwick says in the documentary about Vandross’ tribute to her at the 1986 NAACP Image Awards, where he performed “A House Is Not a Home” and she got tearful in the audience: “He really showed out that night.” These are perfectly pleasant soundbites but ultimately say nothing interesting or informative.

Other people interviewed in the documentary include Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers, singer/songwriter Valerie Simpson, music journalist Danyel Smith, music executive Jon Platt, commercial producer Deborah McDuffie and backup singer Kevin Owens. Rodgers gives credit to Vandross for helping shape Chic’s catchy disco sound. “Luther Vandross’ vocals played a big part,” Rodgers comments in the documentary.

Even when “Luther: Never Too Much” mentions a big tragedy in Vandross’ life, the documentary leaves out important details. On January 12, 1986, Vandross was driving a car in Los Angeles, with two passengers in the car: his then-protégé Jimmy Salvemini (a singer who was 15 years old at the time) in the back seat and Larry Salvemini (who was Jimmy’s older brother/manager) in the front seat. Vandross was speeding (driving 50 mph in a 35 mph zone) when he crossed over a double line and collided with another car going in the opposite direction.

Larry was killed in this accident, while Vandross and Jimmy were injured. Vandross’ most serious injuries were a broken hip and three broken ribs, while Jimmy had bruises and cuts. Vandross was facing a charge of vehicular manslaughter, but it was reduced to a charge of reckless driving, after no evidence was found that drugs or alcohol were involved in the accident. Vandross pleaded no contest to reckless driving. His driver’s license was suspended for a year.

The documentary’s brief mention of this car accident is mostly about how Vandross felt guilty about the accident and had to take a hiatus to recover from his injuries. The documentary does not mention how this tragedy affected the Salvemini family. That doesn’t mean anyone in the Salvemini family had to be interviewed for the documentary. However, the documentary definitely downplays or ignores how this accident affected anyone other than Vandross.

What “Luther: Never Too Much” doesn’t mention is that the Salvemini family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Vandross. The case was settled out of court with a reported $630,000 payment to the Salvemini family. There is no reason for a documentary to omit this big fact about the accident except to deliberately leave out unflattering information about the celebrity who’s the subject of the documentary. It’s really unnecessary to try to gloss over or pretend that this lawsuit didn’t exist when it’s public information and part of Vandross’ life.

In interviews, Vandross admitted that food was his biggest addiction. Some of the people who knew Vandross say in this documentary that he was also addicted to work. Lisa Fischer, who was a backup singer for Vandross from the mid-1980s until his 2005 death, remembers him as a “taskmaster” who was inspiring to work with as an artist but who demanded that his subordinates have grueling work schedules with very little free time.

Vandross’ workaholic tendencies no doubt affected his personal life. But because this documentary refuses to give or discuss any information on how Vandross liked to spend his free time, it leaves noticeable voids of unanswered questions. “Luther: Never Too Much” works best as a documentary for people who want an overview of Vandross’ public persona and his extraordinary talent as an entertainer. But for people who want a complete story of who Vandross was as a person, “Luther: Never Too Much” is not that documentary, even though it offers a few glimpses into some of his private pain.

Giant Pictures released “Luther: Never Too Much” in select U.S. cinemas on November 1, 2024. CNN will premiere the movie on January 1, 2025.

Review: ‘Your Monster’ (2024), starring Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster and Meghann Fahy

November 9, 2024

by Carla Hay

Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey in “Your Monster” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

“Your Monster” (2024)

Directed by Caroline Lindy

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy horror film “Your Monster” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An actress, who is living with a cancer diagnosis, is pining over her playwright/director ex-boyfriend, when a beast-like monster from her past comes back into her life to comfort her.

Culture Audience: “Your Monster” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Melissa Barrera and don’t mind quirky movies that are unfocused and dull.

Tommy Dewey and Melissa Barrera in “Your Monster” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

Horror and romantic comedy are genres that often do not mix well. “Your Monster” is proof. The movie’s tone is erratic. The “beauty, man, and beast” love triangle story is quite boring, even with good efforts from the cast. The musical subplot falls flat.

Written and directed by Caroline Lindy, “Your Monster” (Lindy’s feature-film directorial debut) had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The movie’s concept could have been intriguing if it had a much better screenplay. Sometimes, “Your Monster” wants to be cute and whimsical; other times, the movie wants to be dark and edgy. The end result is a movie that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be.

“Your Monster” (which takes place in New York City) begins by showing protagonist Laura Franco (played by Melissa Barrera) being discharged from a hospital where she had surgery for her cancer. “Your Monster” (which was actually filmed in New Jersey) never details what type of cancer Laura has. It’s one of many unanswered questions in the movie’s disjointed plot.

Laura and her best friend Mazie Silverberg (played by Kayla Foster) are both actresses, mostly in local theater productions. Laura is introverted, reserved and passive. Mazie is flamboyant, extroverted and ambitious. When Mazie arrives at the hospital to bring Laura back to Laura’s home, Mazie is still wearing her nightclub clothes from the night before (a shaggy jacket and tight maroon leather pants) and immediately starts flirting with a hospital orderly.

Laura is feeling depressed not just because of her health problems but also because her former live-in boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (played by Edmund Donovan) left her about a year after she got the cancer diagnosis. A flashback shows their breakup, where Jacob tells Laura that he can no longer handle her health issues and he says to her: “You need a caretaker.”

After coming home from the hospital, Laura doesn’t have a caretaker. She’s all alone and wallows in self-pity about it. She cries so much, there’s a montage in the movie about her re-ordering boxes of tissue from Amazon. And what a coincidence: The same Amazon delivery guy (played by Jake Nordwind) is the one who shows up at her door every time for these deliveries. It’s all just a way to have a scene of Laura making the delivery guy uncomfortable when she hugs him and literally cries on his shoulder.

And where is Laura’s family? Apparently, she doesn’t have any family members who live near her. When she arrives home from the hospital, her mother (who is never seen in the movie) has sent packages of food and $5,000. Laura’s mother is never mentioned again. It’s one of many inconsistences in the movie’s screenplay. What kind of parent sends care packages to an adult child with cancer but then never contacts the child to check in on that child’s well-being?

Laura’s cancer eventually gets forgotten about in the movie when the cancer goes into remission and the story shifts to her obsession with being in the musical that Jacob wrote for her to star in, but because of her cancer diagnosis, Laura will no longer get to star in this musical. The musical, which Jacob is directing as his Broadway debut, is titled “House of Good Women,” but don’t expect to see a coherent plot for this musical. It’s another missed opportunity that “Your Monster” didn’t have a good “musical within a movie” storyline.

Before Laura got cancer, she was not only the inspiration for “House of Good Women,” she also helped Jacob develop this musical, whose main character is named Laurie. Laura played this character in workshops of this musical. And she feels that she has a right to at least try out for the role.

There are a few awkward scenes where Laura shows up unannounced and uninvited to audition for Laurie. Her audition is a flop. The role of Laurie goes to a well-known TV actress named Jackie Dennon (played by Meghann Fahy), who is flirtatious with Jacob.

Laura is disappointed in losing out on the role. And she’s predictably jealous of Jackie but tries not to let this jealousy show. Out of pity, Jacob offers Laura the role as Jackie’s understudy. Jacob is surprised when Laura say yes.

Mazie gets a supporting role in the musical. Laura, Jacob, Jackie and Mazie are the only people on the musical’s team to get any significant dialogue or insight into their personalities. There’s a flaky stage manager named Dan McBride (played by Ikechukwu Ufomadu), who is briefly seen for short moments of comic relief.

What exactly does all of this have to do with the monster in the movie? The name of this creature (who looks like a wolf man) is literally Monster (played by Tommy Dewey), and he’s been a figment of Laura’s imagination since her childhood. A flashback scene shows that Laura and Jacob have known each other since they were kids. (Kasey Bella Suarez has the role of Laura at about 8 or 9 years old.) Jacob treated Laura like a doormat even back then, much to Monster’s disapproval.

Monster suddenly re-appears in Laura’s life when she’s still pining over Jacob, and her cancer hasn’t gone into remission yet. Monster’s personality is every romantic comedy stereotype of a platonic friend who will inevitably turn out to be more than a friend for the lovelorn protagonist. Monster cracks jokes and uses sarcasm to mask his true feelings. He’s dependable and always ready to give advice to Laura, who’s so caught up in trying to impress Jacob, Laura can’t see that her “soul mate” is right in front of her.

However, since Monster is part of Laura’s imagination, things get weird when Monster and Laura actually develop a sexual attraction to each other that is consummated. Monster, who has a bit of a bad temper, gets jealous when it’s obvious that Laura isn’t completely over her romantic feelings for Jacob. “Your Monster” is trying to make some kind of statement about how women should be allowed to have self-love and feminine rage after a heartbreaking end of a romantic relationship, but the way this movie goes about this messaging is chaotic and dull at the same time.

The scenes in “Your Monster” look like mini-skits and don’t flow very well as part of one cohesive story. The movie’s comedy is also uneven. For example, a scene at a Halloween party—where Laura is dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein and Monster shows up as himself—should have been hilarious but isn’t.

One of the big problems with “Your Monster” is that it never shows enough of the good times in the doomed relationship of Laura and Jacobm in order for viewers to understand why Laura is willing to put herself in embarrassing situations, just so she can be in the same room as Jacob after they broke up. Jacob is a one-dimensional villain in the story, so viewers won’t know what Laura saw in him in the first place. The movie does an inadequate and incomplete job of showing the musical collaboration that Laura and Jacob had before their breakup.

Of course, Monster is the “voice of reason” when Laura makes a fool out of herself for Jacob, but this Monster character is ultimately shallow. Monster’s smugness also gets irritating after a while. The person who evolves the most in the story is Laura, but her personality change (especially in the movie’s last 15 minutes) just never looks natural or genuine. Barrera and Dewey have fairly good chemistry in their scenes together as Laura and Monster. However, much of the dialogue in the movie sounds more like conversations between underage teenagers, not adults.

As for the musical scenes, they’re not terrible, but they’re not special. Barrera (one of the stars of the 2021 movie musical “In the Heights”) has good singing talent, but the original songs she performs in the movie—the solo tune on “My Stranger” and the ensemble number “Little Miss Polka Dot,” both written by the Lazours—are somewhat forgettable. Barrera also performs a cover version of Leon Russell’s “A Song for You.” “Your Monster” has sporadic moments of eccentric charm, but the movie’s identity crisis is ultimately too big to overcome.

Vertical released “Your Monster” in U.S. cinemas on October 25, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on November 12, 2024.

Review: ‘A Real Pain,’ starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy and Daniel Oreskes

November 4, 2024

by Carla Hay

Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin in “A Real Pain” (Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

“A Real Pain”

Directed by Jesse Eisenberg

Culture Representation: Taking place in mostly in Poland and briefly in New York City, the comedy/drama film “A Real Pain” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: Two American cousins with opposite personalities bicker and bond with each other during a trip to Poland, to pay tribute to their recently deceased grandmother, who was a Holocaust survivor from Poland.

Culture Audience: “A Real Pain” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and well-acted dramedies about family relationships.

Kieran Culkin, Jennifer Grey, Jesse Eisenberg, Kurt Egyiawan, David Oreskes and Will Sharpe in “A Real Pain” (Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures)

“A Real Pain” is actually a real pleasure to watch because of this comedy/drama’s skillful performances. In this story about two American cousins visiting Poland together, it uses a familiar movie formula of two opposite people who go on a trip, but this journey remains engaging. Don’t expect “A Real Pain” to be an action-adventure film or a movie with extremely shocking dramatic scenes. It’s a movie about the ups and downs of middle-class Americans as tourists in Poland, their education about the Holocaust, trying to heal fractured family relationships, and how these experiences affect the ways that they view themselves and others.

Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain” (his second feature film as a director) is a vast improvement from 2023’s “When You Finish Saving the World,” his feature-film directorial debut, which he also wrote. “When You Finish Saving the World” is cynical and frequently dull, compared to “A Real Pain,” which is much more interesting to watch and has better pacing. With sharp-minded dialogue and appealing direction, “A Real Pain” has characters that viewers wouldn’t mind seeing more of if the story continued, whereas “When You Finish Saving the World” has the type of characters that most viewers won’t ever care to see again.

“A Real Pain” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where Eisenberg won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for the movie. “A Real Pain” also screened at the 2024 New York Film Festival. Eisenberg and filmmaking duo/spouses Emma Stone and Dave McCary were among the producers of “When You Finish Saving the World.” These three filmmakers also re-teamed for “A Real Pain.” (Stone and Eisenberg co-starred in the “Zombieland” movies.)

“A Real Pain” begins by showing the two cousins arriving separately at an unnamed New York airport so that they can go on their trip together to Poland. (“A Real Pain” was filmed on location in Poland.) The cousins are related because their fathers are brothers. The cousins, who are in their early 40s, were born three weeks apart and grew up together. They have a relationship that is more like brothers than like cousins.

David Kaplan (played by Eisenberg) is a digital sales executive who lives in New York City. David is nerdy, uptight and a happily married father of a son named Abe (played by Banner Eisenberg, Jesse Eisenberg’s real-life son), who’s about 4 or 5 years old. David is the type of person who likes his life to be as orderly and scheduled as possible. David constantly worries, but he doesn’t want his anxiousness to get in the way of any of his plans or relationships. He also dislikes over-sharing or getting too emotional in front of strangers.

David’s cousin Benji Kaplan (played by Kieran Culkin) lives in Binghamton, New York, which is about 178 miles northwest of New York City. Benji is a freewheeling bachelor with no children. Benji is an unapologetic pothead who is often unemployed and makes money by getting odd jobs (such as working in construction) whenever he can. Benji is the type of person who hates corporate capitalism and thinks it would be hell for him if he worked in an office job. Unlike emotionally reserved David, Benji has frequent curse-filled outbursts where Benji rants about how he feels, even if the way he expresses these emotions are rude and disruptive.

David and Benji had a beloved grandmother named Dory Kaplan, who was a Holocaust survivor originally from Poland. Dory, who recently died, was the mother of the fathers of David and Benji. In her will, Dory requested that Benji and David use part of the inheritance money that she left for them to visit her native Poland together, so that the cousins could better understand her personal history before she immigrated to the United States. David and Benji willingly go on this trip as a tribute to her, but this trip is also a way for Benji and David to reconnect because they haven’t seen each other in months.

Within the first 10 minutes of “A Real Pain,” it’s easy to see that these two cousins have very different personalities and contrasting lifestyles. David thinks Benji’s lifestyle is too immature and unstable, while Benji thinks David’s lifestyle is too boring and restrictive. These differences predictably cause a lot of friction during the trip. However, some of their conflicts and resentments have been brewing for months or years before the trip even took place.

When they arrive at the airport, Benji thinks he can sneak his marijuana stash on the plane in his carry-on luggage. David vehemently disagrees and persuades a reluctant Benji to throw away the marijuana in an airport garbage can before they pass through the airport’s X-ray machines and metal detectors. When the two cousins arrive in Poland and check in at their hotel, David sees that Benji found another way to have a marijuana stash in Poland: Benji secretly mailed himself a packet of marijuana to be delivered to him by the hotel’s front desk.

During conversations in the movie, it’s revealed that although Benji can be abrasive and argumentative, he is actually very sensitive deep down inside. Benji is taking his grandmother Dory’s death a lot harder than David is coping with the death. Benji says that Dory was “my favorite person in the world.” Benji expresses admiration for how Dory, who did not have a formal education beyond elementary school, was able to go from being an employee of a small real-estate company to becoming the company’s owner.

David and Benji signed up to be part of a small tour group to visit Polish landmarks, particularly those that have to do with Jewish history and the Holocaust. David told the tour in advance that the cousins would leave the tour group a day early so that Benji and David could visit the house where Dory used to live in Poland. The interactions with the other people in the tour group also show how David and Benji are different from each other.

The tour guide is a friendly and intellectual Brit named James (played by Will Sharpe), who tells the members of the tour group up front that even though he isn’t Jewish or Polish, he has tremendous respect and passion for Jewish history and Eastern European cultures. James mentions that he was an Eastern European scholar at Oxford University and is “obsessed” with Eastern Europe. James is very mindful of not doing anything to offend people, which is why he’s genuinely shocked later in the movie when Benji unleashes a torrent of harsh criticism against James for what Benji thinks James is doing wrong as a tour guide.

All the other people in the tour group are Jewish. Marcia Kramer (played by Jennifer Grey) is a divorced homemaker, who has recently moved back to New York City after living for about 20 years in Los Angeles. Married couple Mark Binder (played by Daniel Oreskes) and Diane Binder (played by Liza Sadovy)—who are from Shaker Heights, Ohio—are retired and easygoing, although Mark is much more opinionated than Diane. Eloge (played by Kurt Egyiawan) is a Rwandan immigrant/genocide survivor who moved with his mother to the Canadian city of Winnipeg when he was a child. As an adult, Eloge (who is thoughtful and philosophical) converted to Judaism.

“A Real Pain” has no interest in being a slapstick comedy. The movie’s story unfolds in a naturalistic way, where not much happens except further insights into the personalities of the two main characters. Benji and David get up to some minor mischief—at Benji’s urging, of course. It’s Benji’s idea for them to sneak up on the hotel rooftop to smoke marijuana. In another scene in the movie, Benji shows David how they can avoid paying the fare for an unexpected train trip that the two cousins end up taking separately from the rest of the tour group.

Fairly early in the movie, there’s an example of how different David and Benji are when it comes to interacting with others. While on a walking tour with the group, Benji notices that Marcia seems to be sad and lonely. Benji wants to start a conversation with Marcia to keep her company, but David doesn’t think it’s a good idea because David thinks Marcia might want to be left alone. Of course, Benji doesn’t listen to David. Benji walks over to Marcia and says to her jokingly, “Why are you walking alone? Are you a big fucking loser?”

Even though Benji and David get on each other’s nerves, each cousin has qualities that they admire about each other. And there’s obviously genuine family love that these two cousins have for each other. David is in awe of how Benji has the type of charisma that can “light up a room,” and people can still like Benji, even when Benji proverbially “shits all over everything the room.” Benji looks up to David’s intelligence. In a tender family moment in their hotel room, Benji says to David, “You look wise. It’s beautiful.”

The scenes where the tour group visits Holocaust sites are handled with sensitivity and care. And although deceased grandmother Dory is never seen in the movie, her presence is very much felt in the conversations and interactions that David and Benji have with each other. David feels a little bit envious that Benji had a closer and more special relationship with Dory.

“A Real Pain” mostly excels in how the movie lets viewers get to know these characters during this trip. The comedy flows through seamlessly in little moments, such as when Davd and Benji find themselves in awkward situations. Viewers can imagine how these two cousins might have interacted in similar ways when Benji and David were children.

The movie also realistically addresses the issues of people who used to be very close but who drift apart because of lifestyle changes. Benji has a lot of lingering anger because married father David doesn’t have as much time to hang out with Benji, compared to when David was a bachelor with no children. David has some pent-up fury over something shocking that Benji did that happened (but is not shown) six months before this trip to Poland took place.

If there’s any criticism of “A Real Pain,” it might have to do with the character of Benji, who is depicted as a not-so-lovable rogue, but he gets off the hook a little too easily for how he sometimes cruelly behaves to other people. Benji isn’t occasionally cranky. He often seems to go out of his way to hurt people with his insults. And he makes several comments that he dislikes seeing other people being happy. On the other hand, Benji is extremely moody: One minute, he could be berating someone, and within seconds he could also be praising the same person.

Benji is obviously emotionally troubled, but there’s a lot of enabling of Benji that might not sit right with some viewers. Anyone with basic knowledge of psychology can see that Benji appears to have an undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and he’s probably abusing marijuana to self-medicate. And although David smokes some marijuana too, David is obviously not dependent on marijuana to cope with life.

“A Real Pain” isn’t trying to be a movie that has the answers to Benji’s mental health problems. Rather, this movie authentically shows the helplessness that people can feel when they or their loved ones have a mental illness. By the end of the movie, some questions remain about what will happen next between these two cousins, but these are questions that are just the movie’s reflection of the real-life unpredictablity of ever-evolving relationships.

Searchlight Pictures released “A Real Pain” in select U.S. cinemas on November 1, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on November 15, 2024.

Review: ‘Black Box Diaries,’ starring Shiori Itō

October 26, 2024

by Carla Hay

Shiori Itō in “Black Box Diaries” (Photo courtesy of MTV Documentary Films)

“Black Box Diaries”

Directed by Shiori Itō

Japanese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Japan from 2017 to 2019, the documentary film “Black Box Diaries” (based partially on the 2017 non-fiction book “Black Box”) features an all-Japanese group of people representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy who are connected in some way to the rape case of political journalist Shiori Itō.

Culture Clash: Itō, who accused a fellow journalist of raping her in 2015 while she was too intoxicated to consent, faced many obstacles in getting justice, including her accused rapist having a close alliance with Shinzo Abe, who was Japan’s prime minister at the time.

Culture Audience: “Black Box Diaries” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in highly personal documentaries about getting justice for crimes.

Shiori Itō in “Black Box Diaries” (Photo courtesy of MTV Documentary Films)

“Black Box Diaries” is director Shiori Itō’s courageous and harrowing chronicle of getting justice for her rape case. The documentary is a blistering takedown of a very flawed legal system that Itō battled in her case, against seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s also a story of how rape survivors are further harmed by victim blaming from people who don’t know all the facts and are quick to assume that rape survivors are usually lying. “Black Box Diaries” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (where “Black Box Diaries” won the Human Rights Award) and also screened at the 2024 editions of the SXSW Film & TV Festival and CPH:DOX.

Itō (who was born in 1989) is a Tokyo-based political journalist who says she was raped by TV journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi (who was born in 1966) at the Sheraton Hotel in Tokyo’s Ebisu part of the Shibuya ward, on April 4, 2015. At the time, Itō was a Thomson Reuters intern, and Yamaguchi was Tokyo Broadcast System’s Washington bureau chief. Itō says she was too intoxicated to give consent. Yamaguchi denies the accusations and say that he and Itō had consensual sex that night.

“Black Box Diaries” has hotel security video from that night that gives more credence to Itō’s side of the story. Itō and Yamaguchi are shown emerging from a taxi outside the hotel in the hotel’s front driveway. Yamaguchi is forcefully pulling Itō out of the back of the taxi, while a male hotel employee stands by and looks unsure of what to do. (This hotel employee, who is not named in the movie, later makes an impactful statement to Itō that brings her to tears.)

The video shows that Itō can barely walk and has to be almost propped up by Yamaguchi. Security video from inside the hotel shows Yamaguchi walking Itō trhough the lobby and to an elevator. According to court testimony, Itō says that Yamaguchi took her to his hotel room and raped her while she drifted in and out of consciousness and was too physically weak to fight back. Itō says she didn’t remember much of the encounter until hours later. She suspects that she had been drugged without her consent and gained back her memory after the effects of any alleged drugs wore off.

Itō reported the crime to the Tokyo Police Department, which discouraged her from filing charges because they told Itō that her case would be hard to prove. “Black Box Diaries” includes secret recordings that she made during her interview with an uncaring police investigator who is only identified in the documentary as Investigator A. This callous investigator says a lot of things that aren’t supposed to be said by a responsible and professional investigator of rape/sexual assault, such as suggesting that Itō might be partially responsible for this reported crime because she was intoxicated when it happened. It’s typical victim blaming.

Itō did not have a choice in pursuing justice in a criminal court because Tokyo Police Department decided to close the investigation. Instead, Itō held a press conference to speak out against this injustice. Footage from the press conference footage is included in “Black Box Diaries.”

In the press conference, Itō says she’s using her work as a journalist to protect herself against those who will accuse her of lying. When asked why she’s giving a press conference to talk about this rape accusation, she says the typical expectation of a rape victim is for the victim to be sad and hide from embarrassment. “I had a problem with this norm,” Itō says in the press conference. “I have nothing to hide. If I don’t speak now, the law will not change. That’s why I’m coming forward.

In 2017, Itō wrote a non-fiction book called “Black Box” and to document the ongoing investigation of her rape case as she pursued legal action against Yamaguchi by filing a civil lawsuit against him. Itō also became an activist to change Japan’s outdated rape laws, whch stated at the time that Japan’s legal definition of rape had to include assault and intimidation. The title of the book is based on how a prosecutor stonewalled Itō about her case by making this comment: “Because it’s a black box, we don’t really know what’s happening.” Itō says of this comment: “It tells everything about our justice system and how it’s not working.”

“Black Box Diaries” (which was filmed from 2017 to 2019) is an extension of the “Black Box” book, by having entries from the book (often as handwritten captions on the screen), as well as a lot of behind-the-scenes and personal footage of Itō quest for justice. She also has to deal with bullying and hate from many different people (usually online and in the media), who shame her because they don’t believe she’s telling the truth. Itō keeps her dignity throughout, but there are times when she understandably reaches her emotional breaking point when things look particularly bleak, and there are obstacles in her way. A low point happens when Itō ends up in a hospital for a reason that is revealed in the documentary.

Itō believes that the Tokyo Police Department discontinued the investigation into her rape because Yamaguchi had a close alliance with Shinzo Abe, who was Japan’s prime minister at the time. Abe was a close associate of Itaru Nakamura, who was the acting chief of Tokyo Police Department at the time. Yamaguchi wrote a flattering biography of the politically conservative Abe, and this book was published two weeks before the prosecutors dropped the rape case against him Yamaguchi for “insufficient evidence.” In addition to often getting privileged media access to Abe, Yamaguchi had other high-ranking political connections that Itō believes shielded Yamaguchi from being arrested and prosecuted in criminal court for this case.

Itō couldn’t help but feel paranoid when she found out that she was being spied on and followed by unnamed people. The documentary shows how she temporarily moved out of her apartment because of this stalking. She has some close friends who are her support system. These friends are shown in the documentary but are not identified by name.

Itō admits that her family members (who are not in the documentary) were upset when they found out that she wrote the “Black Box” book, which Itō’s book publisher warns her could be blocked by Yamaguchi from being published if real names are used in the book. Itō admits that by writing this book, “I know I’m putting them [my family] in danger.” Itō also got backlash from strangers who accused her of trying to cash in on her accusations by writing the “Black Box” book.

“Black Box Diaries” has an intimate and deliberate tone that might be too slow and too quiet for people who expect true crime documentaries to be slick and fast-paced. There are no crusading attorneys or tabloid media spectacles in this documentary. It’s a vividly candid look at one woman’s emotionally painful journey to seek justice, which involves a lot of suffering—but it’s suffering that is not done in silence, and it’s suffering that can lead to the greater good for any other rape survivors who also seek justice.

MTV Documentary Films released “Black Box Diaries” in New York City on October 25, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cities on November 1, 2024.

Review: ‘The Remarkable Life of Ibelin,’ starring Robert Steen, Trude Steen, Mia Steen, Lisette Roovers, Kai Simon Fredriksen, Xenia-Anni Nielsen and Rikke Nielsen

October 20, 2024

by Carla Hay

Ibelin Redmore (pictured at left) and Mats Steen in “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin”

Directed by Benjamin Ree

Norwegian, Dutch and Danish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark, the documentary film “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” features an all-white group of people who knew Mats Steen, a Norwegian video gamer who created a heroic online persona for himself called Ibelin Redmore, in order to make friends.

Culture Clash: Steen, who was 25 when he died of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in 2014, was a loner and mostly a shut-in but was a very popular extrovert in the online gaming world where he was known as Ibelin.

Culture Audience: “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in well-made and fascinating documentaries about people who live double lives.

Trude Steen, Robert Steen and Mia Steen in “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” is a highly unique documentary about how a lonely, disabled young man created a heroic online persona named Ibelin in order to make friends. The story is about the power of imagination, but online addiction is acknowledged. “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” includes animated recreations of what Ibelin said and did in a world that was kept hidden from the young man’s family until after he died.

Directed by Benjamin Ree, “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” had its world premiere under the title “Ibelin” at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where the movie won the Directing Award and the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary. The movie’s title was changed to “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” after Netflix acquired this documentary. “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” was filmed in Norway, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

It’s revealed in the very beginning of the documentary that Mats Steen, the young man who had the online alter ego Ibelin, is now deceased. Steen, who was born in Norway in 1989, was 25 when he died of Duchenne muscular dystrophy in 2014. Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which only affects males, is a rare genetic disease (with the gene carried by the mother) that destroys muscles over time. “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” shows Steen in archival footage that consists most of family home videos.

Mats lived with his father Robert Steen, mother Trude Steen and younger sister Mia Steen in an unnamed city in Norway. Robert, Trude and Mia are all interviewed in the documentary, but Robert Steen is the documentary’s main narrator. He says in the beginning of the movie: “Before Mats passed away, he left his password for us. I think this was deliberate. It was something he had hoped we would find because behind the password was a world we knew nothing about.”

“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” then flashes back to home videos and family stories, beginning when Mats was born, to show how his slow and painful physical deterioration affected his life. As a toddler, he would often stumble while walking. His muscular disabilities eventually required him to use a cane, leg braces and eventually a wheelchair.

Trude comments in the documentary: “It’s painful to watch your child growing weaker. He was born with a perfectly functioning body. But then, slowly but surely, he was robbed of everything.”

By the family’s own admission, Mats became addicted to playing video games. Robert says, “We agreed to let Mats play a lot because of the other things he missed out on.” By the time he reached his teen years, Mats had become a withdrawn loner who lost interest in a lot of outdoor activities.

Robert describes how Mats’ physical decline (he became tired easily and lost his appetite) affected Mats’ mental health: “He wasn’t as bubbly and happy as he used to be.” Robert adds, “We did worry about Mats spending so much time in front of his computer. I often tried to encourage him to go out more.”

Although Mats occasionally went outside the home for family gatherings, these outings became less frequent for him as he got older and became more defiant about not wanting to participate in family activities. In high school, he had some friends. But as an adult, he lost touch with those friends and eventually moved to separate living quarters on the first floor of the family home. Mats was a talented artist who liked to draw. He also started his own blog.

Mats would always turn down invitations to have conversations by phone or video chats with the people he knew online. He also declined offers for in-person meet-ups with the people whom he met through his online activities. Mats went to great lengths to hide his real name and what he looked like from his online friends.

“He loved his independence,” Robert says. As for the friends that Mats made online, Robert comments: “We thought these people didn’t know Mats because they never met physically and they never [verbally] talked.”

The Steen family was about to find out how beloved Mats was online as his alter ego Ibelin Redmore. Mats passed away in his sleep. And after the Steen family announced his death on social media, messages began pouring in from all over the world from people who knew Ibelin/Mats online.

Ibelin existed in World of Warcraft’s online fantasy roleplaying guild called Starlight, where people could create avatars for however they wanted to present themselves in Starlight. Some people presented themselves as humans, while others presented themselves as non-human creatures. Ibelin was a tall, muscular and heroic nobleman who was a natural leader and also had a charming way with other Starlight residents, especially women. It was the complete opposite of Mats, who never had a girlfriend in real life.

Ibelin was greatly admired, but he also had flaws. He was known to have a quick temper. And his ladies’ man ways could sometimes hurt the feelings of the women/female characters who were attracted to Ibelin. He also had a tendency to be arrogant and sometimes selfish. But overall, he was considered generous and helpful to those who were in contact with him.

“The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” interviews four of the online friends who got to know Ibelin in Starlight. They all describe how Ibelin affected their lives and the lives of other people involved in Starlight. Their stories are heartful and emotional.

Lisette Roovers, a Dutch woman with the online persona Rumour (a black-haired attractive maiden), was Ibelin’s love interest, and she says Ibelin/Mats helped get her out of a deep depression. Roovers said she developed real feelings for Mats too, but he kept her at a certain emotional distance by not telling her how he really felt. As Ibelin, he heavily flirted with Rumour, and they had a chaste romance of just kissing. In real life, Mats wrote in a journal that he had strong feelings for Roovers, but he was afraid to tell her.

Kai Simon Fredriksen, a Norwegian man with the online persona Nomine, was the leader of Starlight. He describes Ibelin as someone who had a talent for bringing people together and inspiring them to be their best. Ibelin was also considered to be very dependable, so when he took a hiatus without warning, his presence was sorely missed.

Xenia-Anni Nielsen, a Danish woman with the online persona Reike, had a platonic relationship with Ibelin that can best be described as being an older friend to him. At the time she knew Ibelin, she was having family problems in real life with her then-teenage autistic son Rikke Nielsen, who has the online persona Nikmik. “I felt like a bad mother because I couldn’t help my son feel good,” Xenia-Anni remembers.

Xenia-Anni and Rikke often had arguments each other, but they both say that Ibelin helped repair the relationship between this mother and son. Rikke adds, “I went from the most negative person in the world to the sort of person who can tolerate people.” The documentary includes a recreation of how Ibelin affected this mother and son.

You don’t have to know much about online gaming to appreciate “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin.” It’s a story about how human connections that are made entirely online can be just as “real” for the people involved as connections made in person. The animation in the documentary is thoroughly engaging, but admittedly the aesthetic will be the most pleasing to people who are familiar with video games that take place in fantasy worlds. And there are some tearjerking moments. Most of all, “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” is testament to how one person can make an impactful difference in the lives of an untold number of people.

Netflix released “The Remarkable Life of Ibelin” in select U.S. cinemas on October 18, 2024. Netflix will premiere the movie on October 25, 2024.

Review: ‘Exhibiting Forgiveness,’ starring André Holland, John Earl Jelks, Andra Day and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

October 19, 2024

by Carla Hay

André Holland and John Earl Jelks in “Exhibiting Forgiveness” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“Exhibiting Forgiveness”

Directed by Titus Kaphar

Culture Representation: Taking place in the 2020s, with flashbacks to the 1990s, mostly in New Jersey, the dramatic film “Exhibiting Forgiveness” features a predominantly African American cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A successful and talented painter artist has his emotional well-being thrown into turmoil when his estranged father comes back into his life and wants to reconcile.

Culture Audience: “Exhibiting Forgiveness” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and impactful dramas about generational trauma and family relationships.

André Holland in “Exhibiting Forgiveness” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions)

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” presents an authentically raw and poignant story of a painter artist navigating different emotions when his estranged father comes back into his life. This well-acted drama skillfully shows various perspectives. Some of the narrative is a little jumbled in the beginning, but the movie gets better as it goes along.

Written and directed by Titus Kaphar, “Exhibiting Forgiveness” is his feature-film directorial debut. “Exhibiting Forgiveness” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The movie (which was filmed location in New Jersey and in New York) is largely inspired by experiences from Kaphar’s own life. All of the artwork for the movie’s protagonist is Kaphar’s own artwork.

In “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” protagonist Tarrell Rodin (played by André Holland) is a talented painter artist who lives in his native New Jersey and seems to have it all: He’s happily married to his singer/songwriter wife Aisha (played by Andra Day); they are loving and devoted parents to an adorable and intelligent son named Jermaine (played by Daniel Michael Barriere), who is about 4 or 5 years old; and Tarrell’s career is on the rise, thanks to a recently critically acclaimed exhibit of his art.

But underneath this seemingly middle-class bliss, Tarrell is struggling with trauma and emotional damage from his childhood. Throughout the movie, it’s shown that Tarrell has used his art (which consist mostly of “slice of life” portraits of people and things in his life) as a form of therapy, in addition to being a way to express himself. The main cause of Tarrell’s unhappy childhood is his estranged father La’Ron (played by John Earl Jelks), nicknamed Ronnie to some people.

Flashbacks show that when Tarrell was about 12 or 13 years old (played by Ian Foreman), he worked part-time with La’Ron, who had his own lawn care/landscaping business. Tarrell was La’Ron’s only “employee,” although the movie implies that Tarrell probably wasn’t paid much if he was paid at all. La’Ron was seriously addicted to crack cocaine for almost all of Tarrell’s childhood. La’Ron was verbally and physically abusive to Tarrell and to Tarrell’s mother Joyce (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), who worked in an unnamed service industry job.

One of the heart-wrenching scenes in the movie is when young Tarrell accidentally steps on a nail while working with La’Ron. It’s a deep injury that causes a lot of bleeding and pain. Instead of taking Tarrell to a hospital for medical care, La’Ron shouts at Tarrell to toughen up like a man and keep working. He forces Tarrell to mow a lawn and do other work with this injured foot.

While Tarrell is a passenger in La’Ron’s truck, Tarrell then sees La’Ron take the money they made that day and drive to a drug dealer to buy crack cocaine. A disgusted and anguished Tarrell then decides to walk home while limping from his foot injury. His mother Joyce finds out what happens and takes him to a hospital.

Tarrell, who is now in his 40s, shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. He has nightmares but won’t talk about it with Aisha, who has grown frustrated because Tarrell is reluctant to take her advice to seek therapy. “I can’t do this with you anymore,” Aisha says in exasperation after Tarrell wakes up from another bad dream but won’t talk about it. “Call a doctor,” she adds. Tarrell says not-very-convincingly: “I will.”

After his current art exhibit gets a glowing review from an influential art critic, Tarrell’s agent Janine (played by Jaime Ray Newman) is ecstatic because she thinks this review can boost his career. “You got a fucking brilliant review from a critic who hates everything,” Janine says. Tarrell’s reaction seems to be that he doesn’t really care because he has other things on his mind.

The first time La’Ron is seen on screen, he is homeless and is in a convenience store that gets robbed. La’Ron tries to stop the robber, whose name is Tommy (played by Justin Hofstad), but Tommy beats up La’Ron and flees. La’Ron then finds a place to stay at a halfway house for recovering addicts. The halfway house has a strict 8 p.m. curfew for residents, who are also required to attend recovery meetings.

Because the movie introduces La’Ron in this way, he might generate automatic sympathy from viewers who see him as a down-on-his-luck vagrant/recovering addict who is trying to get his life together and on a path to recovery. And when La’Ron tries to reconnect with Tarrell at Joyce’s house, viewers might wonder why Tarrell is so angry at La’Ron and so resistant to forgiving him. “Exhibiting Forgiveness” reveals there’s more to La’Ron than what he appears to be in the movie’s first few scenes of him.

The flashbacks then show why Tarrell is so resentful toward La’Ron. These flashbacks might or might not change viewers opinions of La’Ron. These two sides of La’Ron will make viewers wonder if he deserves forgiveness or not. “Exhibiting Forgives” also invites viewers to ponder this question: “Who’s the best person to judge if La’Ron has really changed?”

Meanwhile, Joyce (who is very religious) has already forgiven La’Ron and wants Tarrell to do the same. Joyce acts as a mediator between La’Ron and Tarrell. “He’s trying,” Joyce pleads to Tarrell. “He’s changed.” She tells La’Ron: “You need to make peace with your son. You’re not going to back out on your promise this time.”

La’Ron insists that he’s been clean and sober, but that isn’t enough to convince Tarrell. Aisha meets La’Ron for the first time during this uncomfortable reunion. Later, Tarrell comments about La’Ron to Aisha: “I just thought the first time you would meet him would be in his casket.”

Finally, Tarrell agrees to have a one-on-one conversation with La’Ron and tries to connect with him in the best way that he knows how: through art. Tarrell brings a video camera and starts interviewing and filming La’Ron like a documentary filmmaker. Tarrell asks questions to La’Ron about La’Ron’s life story. And for the first time, Tarrell hears about La’Ron’s childhood (La’Ron also had an abusive father and a “saintly” mother) and how La’Ron got addicted to crack.

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” is also a movie about how denial and blocking out bad memories are ways that some people cope with trauma. Joyce is an example of this type of coping. In one of the movie’s most emotionally charged scenes, Joyce has a visceral reaction when Tarrell reminds her of a low point that he witnessed as a child during her troubled relationship with La’Ron.

It’s never made clear if La’Ron and Joyce officially divorced or have remained legally separated. But now that La’Ron is back in the neighborhood, Joyce almost seems giddy and ready to rekindle whatever romance that they had. She repeatedly tells people that La’Ron was her first love, as if that’s reason enough to welcome him back into her life. Joyce doesn’t want to be reminded that “first love” doesn’t always mean “healthy love.”

“Exhibiting Forgiveness” gets so wrapped up in the story of Tarrell and La’Ron, it somewhat falls short in having interesting details about Aisha and how she’s being affected by this family reunion. Because singer/actress Day first became known as a singer, “Exhibiting Forgiveness” at times seems more like a showcase for Day’s singing talent rather than character development for Aisha. Day performs an original song called “Bricks” in the movie.

The written words of James Baldwin and Maya Angelou are featured intermittently in the movie. These quotes come across as arty or pretentious, depending on your perspective. Holland, Jelks and Ellis-Taylor give compelling and very believable performances of three people who are flawed in their own ways and are trying to find a way to heal with dignity. “Exhibiting Forgiveness” doesn’t get preachy or too sentimental. Rather, it shows in unflinching ways that people can take different paths and have different versions of forgiveness that don’t always guarantee a happy ending for everyone.

Roadside Attractions released “Exhibiting Forgiveness” in U.S. cinemas on October 18, 2024.

Review: ‘The Outrun,’ starring Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Nabil Elouahabi, Izuka Hoyle, Lauren Lyle, Saskia Reeves and Stephen Dillane

September 29, 2024

by Carla Hay

Saoirse Ronan in “The Outrun” (Photo by Anne Binckebanck/Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Outrun”

Directed by Nora Fingscheidt

Culture Representation: Taking place in the United Kingdom, the dramatic film “The Outrun” (based on Amy Liptrot’s memoir of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Middle Eastern people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A 29-year-old woman recovering from alcohol addiction moves back in with her mother, who lives on a farm, and there are flashbacks to what led her to this point in her life.

Culture Audience: “The Outrun” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Saoirse Ronan and well-acted movies about people coping with addiction and mental health issues.

Saoirse Ronan and Stephen Dillane in “The Outrun” (Photo by Anne Binckebanck/Sony Pictures Classics)

“The Outrun” has a narrative that is told in non-chronological fragments, but collectively, the story is an impactful portrait of alcohol addiction and recovery. Saoirse Ronan gives a devastatingly realistic performance. This thought-provoking drama also has authentic portrayals of how mental illness in families can leave generational trauma.

Written and directed by Nora Fingscheidt, “The Outrun” is based on Amy Liptrot’s 2015 memoir of the same title. “The Outrun” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival. The movie was filmed primarily in Scotland’s Orkney islands, but some parts of the story take place in London.

In “The Outrun,” the main character is named Rona (played by Ronan), a 29-year-old who has a master’s degree in biology but whose life is in spiral of alcohol addiction. It’s briefly mentioned that Rona also does psychedelic mushrooms, but alcohol is her main drug of choice. Because the movie’s timeline jumps all over the place, viewers have to put the pieces of the story’s puzzle together.

What emerges is Rona’s story of self-loathing that’s intertwined with her addiction. Her hair is different colors in the film. During her worst addiction periods, her hair is bright pink or aquamarine. During her period of recovery, her hair is mostly her natural blonde. In the beginning of the movie, Rona is seen being aggressive while she’s drunk at a pub and is eventually forced to leave the bar.

Rona grew up in Scotland’s Orkney islands but has an Irish accent because her mother Annie (played by Saskia Reeves) is Irish. For the past 10 years, Rona lived in London, where she was living a party girl lifestyle with her best pal (played by Izuka Hoyle). But a turning point came when something happened that made Rona go back home to Orkney islands and live with her mother while Rona recovers from her alcoholism.

A clue about this turning is shown early in the movie in a scene where Rona (who has a bruised right eye and lesser injuries) is being interviewed by a female counselor who asks unemployed Rona what’s her age, occupation and if her family has a history of mental illness. Because this scene takes place right after the scene where drunk Rona got thrown out of a pub for being too rowdy, it might be easy to assume that Rona got the bruised eye from a pub fight. However, “The Outrun” eventually reveals the real reason for Rona’s injuries.

Rona has a tense relationship with Annie, who is very religious and thinks that praying for Rona will help Rona on her rough road to recovery. Rona has a lot of anger and resentment over Annie’s religious beliefs and drunkenly tells her in a scene where Rona has relapsed: “They [Annie’s religious friends] have you brainwashed. That’s why dad left you … All that praying didn’t help.” Rona is immediately remorseful over these cruel remarks and sobs when she tells Annie, “I’m sorry.”

Rona’s father is named Andrew (played by Stephen Dillane), who has a sheep farm, where Rona goes to visit him. (She also helps in lambing, the birthing of lambs.) Andrew is bipolar, so Rona’s feelings about him are complicated. She clearly likes spending time with Andrew more than she likes spending time with Annie. But Andrew is unpredictable. When he’s having a manic episode, Rona often has to act like she’s his psychiatrist and parental figure to calm him down.

“The Outrun” also has some flashbacks to Rona’s childhood when 11-year-old Rona (played by Freya Lexie Evans) witnessed some horrific events because of her father’s mental illness. For example, she saw her father being airlifted by helicopter because he was being involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility. In another scene, Andrew smashed windows in their home during a storm because he wanted to let the gusty winds to flow throughout the house.

When she was living in London, Rona was dating a man who’s about her age named Daynin (played by Paapa Essiedu), and they fall in love. However, Rona’s alcoholism gets worse during their relationship. The movie shows what happened to Daynin and Rona as she starts to get more and more out of control.

The scenes between Daynin and Rona are among the best in the film in their raw realism. For example, after Daynin has protectively come to Rona’s rescue during an alcohol-induced low point in her life that put her in a hospital, he sits with her outdoors on a street, where a pub is nearby. Rona is so deep in her addiction, she nods toward the pub asks Daynin, “Do you want to get a drink?” The incredulous expression on Daynin’s face says it all.

“The Outrun” also has scenes of Rona is Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, led by no-nonsense Julie (played by Lauren Lyle) and where she meets a goofy jokester named Samir (played by Nabil Elouahabi), who is one of the few people who can make Rona laugh. Rona finding some tranquility when she watches seals swimming in the ocean. Swimming and outdoor scenes represent Rona’s respite during the inner turmoil that she experiences during her addiction and recovery.

“The Outrun” is not an easy film to watch for certain scenes that show the painful and damaging results of addiction. Some viewers who are expecting a more traditional narrative might also be put off or confused by all how the story is told in bits and pieces instead of as a continuous storyline. However, the acting “The Outrun” is superb, with Ronan (who is one of the producers of the “The Outrun”) being entirely compelling throughout the movie. “The Outrun” might not have a traditional narrative structure, but it’s a more honest movie about addiction than many of those that follow a familiar formula.

Sony Pictures Classics will release “The Outrun” in select U.S. cinemas on October 4, 2024. A sneak preview was shown in select U.S. cinemas from September 26 to September 30, 2024.

Review: ‘A Different Man’ (2024), starring Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson

September 28, 2024

by Carla Hay

Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve and Adam Pearson in “A Different Man” (Photo by Matt Infante/A24)

“A Different Man” (2024)

Directed by Aaron Schimberg

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the sci-fi/drama/comedy film “A Different Man” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An aspiring actor, who has a severely disfigured face, undergoes an operation that gives him a handsome face, but he starts to psychologically unravel when a play is made about his life, and he is upstaged by a disfigured man who is cast to star in the play.

Culture Audience: “A Different Man” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Sebastian Stan and movies with social commentary about how physical appearances can dramatically affect people’s lives.

Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan in “A Different Man” (Photo by Matt Infante/A24)

“A Different Man” is an interesting social satire about the superficiality of being judged by physical appearances, and how good looks aren’t necessarily synonymous with confidence. However, the film’s concept runs out of steam in the last 30 minutes. “A Different Man” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and its European premiere at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival, where Sebastian Stan won the prize for Best Acting in a Leading Role.

Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, “A Different Man” takes place in New York City, where the movie was filmed. “A Different Man” begins with a scene of aspiring actor Edward Lemuel (played by Stan) acting in a filmed scene in a room, where he is directed to act less like he’s freaking out over having a brain aneurysm and act more like as if he’s woozy. Edward has a very disfigured face that he developed for unknown medical reasons. A scene later in the movie shows a childhood photo of Edward, who did not have a disfigured face when he was a child.

Edward is a loner who lives in a small apartment, where he has a leaky roof that he delays getting fixed. The leaky roof later becomes a symbol of how Edward handles his life before and after he has facial surgery. Based on what is shown in the movie, Edward doesn’t work much as an actor. The most recent gig he’s been able to get is doing a corporate workplace video on how to treat disfigured co-workers, but the video is very tone-deaf and condescending. Viewers can assume that Edward lives off of government disability payments since he is obviously not wealthy and he seems to be mostly unemployed.

One day, someone moves into the apartment across the hall from Edward. This new neighbor is an aspiring playwright/theater director named Ingrid Vold (played by Renate Reinsve), who seems to be friendly and is very curious about Edward. When she comes over to Edward’s apartment to borrow laundry detergent, it just happens to be right after he has accidentally cut himself with a knife while slicing some onions.

Ingrid immediately applies bandages to Edward’s wounded hand. He is visibly affected by this stranger showing him kindness when he has become accustomed to most people insulting him, staring at him rudely, or trying to avoid looking at him. Ingrid notices that Edward has an antique red typewriter where he has written: “They taunt me and beg me to show my face, only so when I do, they can turn away in horror.” Later, Eward gives the typewriter to Ingrid as a gift.

Ingrid is curious about Edward and seems to genuinely want to be his friend. But it turns out she has an ulterior motive. Meanwhile, Edward undergoes radical surgery to get a new face that isn’t disfigured. He is told that this surgery is risky, but the rewards could outweigh the risks. After the surgery, his hand wound disappears, his disfgured face painfully peels off, and his new handsome face is underneath. Edward keeps the outer skin of his old face as a mask memento.

Edward decides he wants a new identity with his new face. He tells people, including those in his apartment building, that Edward suddenly died by committing suicide. Edward pretends to be a bachelor named Guy Morantz (also played by Stan), who now lives alone in the apartment unit. The movie’s narrative then kind of sloppily fast-forwards to Guy being celebrated at his job as a hotshot real-estate agent, where the company uses him to be a spokesmodel in its advertising.

“A Different Man” never bothers to answer questions about how Edward/Guy was able to get this real-estate job and how he was able to establish this new identity so quickly without anyone (such as his landlord) finding out the truth. The movie also doesn’t explain why “Guy” has kept all of Edward’s belongings and why there are no records of Edward’s death. In other words, there are plot holes in this part of the movie.

Guy/Edward is a little overwhelmed by but enjoying his new life as a good-looking, available bachelor. The attention he gets from women when he’s out in public is obviously very different from when he had a disfigured face. Guy/Edward is still very much attracted to Ingrid, who seems to be distracted by something else.

Even so, Guy/Edward and Ingrid strike up a flirtation and eventually become lovers, as Guy/Edward keeps his secret about his fake Guy identity from her and everyone else in his life. Guy/Edward then finds out something shocking to him: Ingrid is writing an off-Broadway play based on Edward’s life. The play is holding auditions for the lead role of the disfigured man. Guy/Edward auditions for the role using his disfigured face mask, even though he is uncomfortable with Ingrid exploiting his life story for her own personal gain.

In rehearsals for the play, Guy/Edward makes criticisms about Ingrid’s choices for the play. He also isn’t a very good actor in this role. Things start to go awry for Guy/Edward when a British man named Oswald (played by Adam Pearson) auditions for the role and is clearly a better actor. Ingrid decides to cast Oswald in the role instead, especially since he is authentically disfigured.

Oswald has an outgoing personality and charms many people, including Ingrid, although he can be a little pushy in how he barges in on people’s social circles. The rest of “A Different Man” shows how Guy/Edward becomes increasingly unstable as his jealousy over Oswald takes over Guy/Edward’s life. Ingrid also shows that she has a sexual fetish for men with disfigured faces. Whatever her kink is, Ingrid ultimately only cares about exploiting Edward’s life story to make it into a play that she wants to be financial hit and for the play to be a means get accolades for herself.

Stan gives a very watchable performance about a man leading two different lives because of having two different faces. However, what Guy/Edward eventually figures out is that he’s still the same person inside with the same personality flaws. Pearson provides much of the comic relief in his performance as the effervescent and confident Oswald. “A Different Man” shows in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that having a physical appearance that society considers “better” than another can only get someone far enough if they don’t have healthy self-esteem and are constantly seeking approval from people based on physical appearances.

Although “A Different Man” has good acting and solid cinematography, the movie’s portrayal of the concept gets wobbly and weak toward the end of the film. The satirical situations that make Guy/Edward a buffoon start to wear thin and become tiresome. The movie also lets duplicitous Ingrid off the hook way too easily. However, if people want to watch a dark satire where there are no heroes or villains as main characters—just deeply insecure people who make questionable decisions—then “A Different Man” can pass the time but ultimately doesn’t have anything profound to say.

A24 released “A Different Man” in select U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024, with the movie going into wider release on October 4, 2024.

Review: ‘Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,’ starring Will Reeve, Matthew Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens, Gae Exton, Michael Manganiello and Steven Kirshblum

September 21, 2024

by Carla Hay

Christopher Reeve in “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story”

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui

Culture Representation: The documentary film “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” has a nearly all-white group of people (with one African American) who are connected in some way to actor Christopher Reeve and who talk about his life and career.

Culture Clash: American actor Christopher Reeve (who died in 2004, at the age of 52) achieved worldwide fame as the star of four “Superman” movies, but his life took an unexpected turn when a horse-riding accident left him with paralysis from the neck down, and he became a disability rights activist.

Culture Audience: “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Reeve, superhero movies, celebrity biographies, and documentaries about inspirational people.

Christopher Reeve in “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” (Photo by Herb Ritts, courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is a moving tribute to his life and legacy, not only as an actor but also as influential activist for disability rights and medical care. This well-made documentary is sure to inspire repeat viewings. The movie doesn’t sugarcoat or downplay how difficult it was for Reeve to transition to being a disabled person after a horse-riding accident in 1995 left him with paralysis from the neck down. He died from infection complications n 2004, at the age of 52.

Directed by Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui, “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The movie is told in mostly chronological order and features archival voiceover narration from Christopher Reeve and his wife Dana Reeve, who died of lung cancer in 2006, at the age of 44. There is also a lot of expected archival footage of Reeve from his career and his personal life. The movie features interviews only with people who were close to him. Don’t expect any talking-head “expert” interviews examining the sociological impact of the “Superman” movies starring Reeve.

Even though Christopher was best known for his title role in four “Superman” movies that were released from 1978 to 1987, this part of his life is only a fraction of what’s covered in “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story.” Instead, this documentary is more interested in presenting a well-rounded portrait of a complicated man with an unpredictable life—someone who, with support from loved ones, chose to make the best out of a situation that would crush the souls of many other people who might experience similar things.

“Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” also acknowledges that Christopher’s fame gave him certain privileges in medical care, although he was not as financially well-off as many people would assume that he was. More importantly, he used his fame to help others in his ongoing quest for civil rights, accessibility and medical care for disabled people. This activism included establishing the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which launched in 1982 as a funding center for spinal cord injury research and resources. In 2007, the non-profit group’s name was changed to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

People interviewed in the documentary include Christopher Reeve’s three children: Matthew Reeve, Alexandra Reeve Givens and Will Reeve. Other people interviewed include Christopher Reeve’s British former live-in girlfriend Gae Exton, the mother of Matthew and Alexandra; Christopher’s longtime friend/foundation executive director Matthew Manganiello; Christopher’s half-brother Ken Johnson; Christopher’s primary care provider Dr. Steven Kirshblum; “Superman” movie producer Pierre Spengler; politician John Kerry; actor Jeff Daniels; and actresses Glenn Close, Whoopi Goldberg and Susan Sarandon.

Most of the people who are interviewed describe Christopher Reeve (who was born in 1952 in New York City) as someone who was haunted and emotionally damaged from growing up in a fractured and dysfunctional family. His parents—Franklin (an intellectual scholar/writer) and Barbara—divorced in 1956 and went on to get married and divorced twice to other people. Christopher craved approval from his demanding father, who was never really impressed with Christopher’s work as an actor, even though Christopher graduated from the prestigious Juilliard School for performing arts.

A story told in the movie is that when Christopher told Franklin that he got the role of Superman, Franklin seemed to show rare approval because Franklin mistakenly thought that the role was for George Bernard Shaw’s play “Man and Superman.” When Franklin found out that the role was for a Superman movie based on the DC Comics character, his approval turned to disapproval and derision. Several other people looked down on the role and told Christoper that starring in a “Superman” movie would damage his artistic credibility and ruin Christopher Reeve’s career. One of those naysayers was William Hurt, who was co-starring with Christopher and Daniels in an off-Broadway play when Christopher found out that he got the role of Superman.

The 1978 “Superman” movie turned out to be a groundbreaking blockbuster hit, long before superhero movies became a regular part of any year’s movie release schedule. It was also somewhat of a typecasting boundary for Christopher, who went to great lengths to play very different roles in non-“Superman” movies, such as a time-traveling playwright in 1980’s “Somewhere in Time”; a murder victim in 1982’s “Deathtrap” and a corrupt journalist in 1987’s “Street Smart.”

As a result of not having any good role models for a lasting and healthy marriage, Christopher spent years being suspicious of marriage and refused to get married. Exton (who was Christopher Reeve’s partner from 1978 to 1987) describes their whirlwind and passionate courtship soon after they met at a movie studio cafeteria in London. Christopher and Exton lived in England but his long-distance work schedule and entanglements with other women eventually took a toll on their relationship until Christopher broke up with her. Exton gets tearful in the documentary when she describes the end of their love affair.

Christopher changed his mind about marriage with Dana, a singer who was the mother of Will. Christopher and Dana’s courtship was very different from the courtship that Christopher had with Exton. In archival comments, Dana says she was reluctant to get involved with Chrstopher at first because of his playboy reputation. However, the spark between them was undeniable, and they ended up becoming soul mates.

Dana and Christopher Reeve’s marriage was a true testament to sticking to the marriage vows “in sickness and in health.” After the horse-riding accident (which nearly severed his head from his body) it was uncertain if Christopher would live or die. Christopher’s mother thought he should be taken off of life support. Dana wanted Christopher to live but said he could make the final decision. And, as he says in an archival voiceover, Dana told him the words that made him want to live: “You’re still you. And I love you.”

As a father, Christopher went from being someone who put a lot of emphasis on athletic activities for family time (just like his own father did) to having to adjust to the painful reality that he couldn’t participate in the same physical activities that he was used to doing with his family. Instead, he learned to be more emotionally present for his family, who never abandoned him during his most difficult times, when shortly after his paralysis, he fell into a depression and wanted to be isolated from a lot of people in his life. Will’s perspective is perhaps the most heart-wrenching of Christopher’s three children because he lost both of his parents while he was still an underage child.

Perhaps one of the most poignant aspects of “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” is how it details the longtime friendship of Robin Williams and Christopher, who became fast friends while they attended Juilliard and who both achieved worldwide fame around the same time. Through the ups and downs of their lives, this friendship endured. Robin Williams and his second wife Marsha Garces Williams (who were married from 1989 to 2010) are given a lot of credit for helping the Reeve family during some tough times. Robin Williams had his own personal issues (substance abuse and depression), and he committed suicide in 2014, at the age of 63. Mutual friend Close says in the documentary that she believes Robin would still be alive if Christopher were still alive.

There are plenty of tearjerking moments throughout the documentary, but there are also many moments of joy and hope. The most important takeaway from “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” isn’t what fame, wealth and good luck can do for people but rather what people’s true characters are like when they are at the lowest points in their lives. They can ether wallow in self-pity and misery or do what Christopher Reeve did and turn his pain into something positive that helped other people. With or without a celebrity name, that is the definition of a true hero.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Fathom Events released “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” in U.S. cinemas for a limited engagement on September 21, September 25, 2024, and will re-release the movie on October 11, 2024. The movie will premiere on HBO and Max on a date to be announced.

Review: ‘Speak No Evil’ (2022), starring Morten Burian, Sidsel Siem Koch, Fedja van Huêt, Karina Smulders, Liva Forsberg and Marius Damslev

September 14, 2024

by Carla Hay

Sidsel Siem Koch and Morten Burian in “Speak No Evil” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder)

“Speak No Evil” (2022)

Directed by Christian Tafdrup

Danish, Dutch and English with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Netherlands (and briefly in Italy and in Denmark), the horror film “Speak No Evil” features an almost all-white group of people (with one person of Middle Eastern heritage) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: While on vacation in Italy, a Danish family of three meet a Dutch family of three, and later experience terror as guests in the Dutch family’s home.

Culture Audience: “Speak No Evil” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of psychological thrillers and don’t mind if there are some lapses in logic in the story.

Sidsel Siem Koch and Morten Burian in “Speak No Evil” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films and Shudder)

“Speak No Evil” rips apart the false sense of security that people have when they think strangers are instant friends. The horror in this thriller isn’t delivered until the movie’s last third, but it packs a very bleak wallop. “Speak No Evil” has some noticeable flaws and plot holes, but the movie’s message is loud and clear: If something doesn’t feel right, don’t be passive because you’re afraid people will think you’re being rude for standing up for yourself.

Directed by Christian Tafdrup (who co-wrote the “Speak No Evil” screenplay with his brother Mads Tafdrup) had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The movie begins by showing a foreboding scene that takes place at night. A grim-looking man and woman are driving a car in an isolated wooded area into the driveway of their farmhouse. With them is a boy who’s about 11 years old. Viewers of “Speak No Evil” will eventually find out who this family is and that the area is in an unnamed part of southern Holland.

The next scene shows a seemingly idyllic and sunny scene at a swimming pool at an unnamed resort in Italy. It’s here that two married couples with children, who are all about the same age as each other, will meet and have their lives collide under tragic circumstances. One of the couples at this resort is the same couple seen in the beginning of the film , but instead of looking somber, they look very cheerful.

Patrick (played by Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (played by Karina Smulders) are visiting from Holland. They have an 11-year-old boy named Abel (played by Marius Damslev), whom they introduce as their son. Abel is mute because, as Patrick explains, Abel has congenital ankyloglossia, which is the medical term for being born with a very short or stunted tongue. Patrick says he’s a medical doctor. The movie never mentions details about any job experiences that Bjørn, Louise and Karin have had.

Patrick is the first to introduce himself to the other couple in the story. Bjørn (played by Morten Burian) and Louise (played by Sidsel Siem Koch) are visiting from Denmark and are accompanied by their daughter Agnes (played by Liva Forsberg), who’s about 11 years old. Patrick meets this family when he asks if they are using an empty lounge chair next to them because he would like to take the chair over to his family and use it. Bjørn and Louise politely tell Patrick that the chair is available for him to take.

This vacation resort is the type that has long dining tables for several people to eat at the same table. Bjørn and Louise notice that Patrick is an “alpha male” extrovert type because he leads a toast at the table. Karin is less talkative and seems to be the type of wife who will do whatever her husband tells her to do. Bjørn and Louise have the opposite dynamic in their relationship: Bjørn is much more passive and less inclined than Louise to speak up if something is wrong.

Agnes is unusually attached to a stuffed bunny rabbit toy named Ninus that she has brought with her on this trip. One day on this trip, Agnes announces with distress to Bjørn that she can’t find Ninus. Bjørn goes looking for the rabbit toy and eventually finds it left on a stone barrier overlooking a scenic area.

Bjørn, Louise, Karin and Patrick eventually strike up another conversation with each other when Bjørn returns from finding Ninus and sees that Patrick and Karin are talking to Louise and Agnes. The couples and their children eventually hang out together for the remainder of their time in Italy.

When Bjørn and Louise are back in Denmark a few months later, they get a postcard from Patrick and Karin. The postcard photo is a picture of the two families on vacation in Italy. The postcard is a welcoming invitation for Bjørn, Louise and Agnes to visit Patrick, Karin and Abel and stay with them at Patrick and Karin’s home in southern Holland. The invitation says that Abel misses Agnes and would like to see her again.

Louise has some doubts about staying at the house of people they barely know, in a country they aren’t very familiar with either. But after Bjørn and Louise discuss the matter with another married couple who are close friends, they decide to accept the invitation from Patrick and Karin. It’s a decision that Bjørn and Louise will eventually regret.

Bjørn, Louise and Agnes arrive at the remote house by starting off with good cheer because of the warm welcome they receive from Patrick and Karin. But eventually, Patrick and Karin start testing the boundaries of what Bjørn and Louise will find acceptable. First, Patrick insists that Louise eat the red meat that he prepared for a meal, even though he knows that she’s a pescatarian. Louise uncomfortably obliges. In return, Patrick mocks Louise for calling herself a vegetarian when Louise says that she eats fish.

Another moment of discomfort comes when Patrick and Karin plan a family outing at a restaurant, but Bjørn and Louise are surprised to find out that Patrick and Karin don’t want the kids to come along for this outing. Instead, Patrick and Karin surprise Bjørn and Louise by telling them that Agnes and Abel will be looked after by a “neighborhood babysitter”: a scruffy-looking man named Muhajid (played by Hichem Yacoubi), who doesn’t speak Danish, Dutch or English.

Louise is very uneasy about this arrangement because she doesn’t know anything about Muhajid and is wary of leaving her child alone with this stranger. Patrick and Karin insist that the kids will be safe with Muhajid, whom they say gives cheap babysitting services. Bjørn is much more accepting of this explanation and tries to make Louise feel like she’s overreacting. Not wanting to be rude, Louise goes along with this arrangement.

Without giving away too much information, it’s enough to say that Patrick and Karin (especially Patrick) keep pushing boundaries that make Louise uncomfortable. Some of the boundary crossing is very inappropriate (such as Patrick watching Bjørn and Louise have sex without the couple’s consent) and some of the boundary crossing has blurred lines of inappopriateness, such as Karin scolding Agnes on what type of manners to have while eating.

All of the acting in “Speak No Evil” is competent, although the scenarios might frustrate some viewers who think they would act very differently from all the passiveness and indecisiveness exhibited by Bjørn and Louise. The movie doesn’t tell much about Bjørn and Louise beyond the fact that they are from Denmark. The last third of “Speak No Evil” is the most suspenseful and terrifying, but when a major secret is revealed, it’s handled a bit clumsily. The end of “Speak No Evil” is horrifyingly dark and raises questions that are never answered, which is the intention of making the ending so unsettling to viewers.

IFC Films released “Speak No Evil” in select U.S. cinemas on September 9, 2022. Shudder premiered the movie on September 13, 2022.

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