Lives Out of Balance
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): As I continue with my hesitation about returning to in-theater-screenings until I see what will happen because of all this increasing-loosening-up of COVID-restrictions, I remain on the lookout for streaming options that might be difficult to find in a theater anyway (whereas, if I were willing to go theatrical I could easily locate A Quiet Place Part II [John Krasinski; 3,726 domestic—U.S.-Canada—screens] and/or Cruella [Craig Gillespie; 3,892 screens], both of which made a pile of bucks in their holiday-weekend-debuts, but, honestly, neither of those draw me in all that much—the first Quiet Place [Krasinski, 2018] gets the concept across to me easily enough; I really don’t need to know more about Cruella de Vil, or if I do she’ll be on Disney + in August 2021 for free whereas right now I’d need the Premium version at $30 [no, thanks]). What I did come up with is a completely unrelated pair except for protagonists in awful situations, the more prominent being The Killing of Two Lovers, a stark drama about a marriage-enduring-separation in a rural town in winter (it doesn’t get much bleaker than this), which may not be the most enticing storyline but it’s well-crafted, honest in its intense emotions. In the Short Takes section I’ll turn to comedy in Eat Wheaties! with Tony Hale as a well-meaning-yet-socially-clumsy-guy chosen to co-chair a Univ. of Pennsylvania reunion, has to join Facebook, notes former classmate Elizabeth Banks (yes, the actor), inundates her with (unrealized) public messages leading to a string of problems for this hapless guy until he teams up with an Internet-trained-lawyer (Paul Walter Hauser) in hopes of turning his life around. (The former film's in a few theaters but both can be found on several streaming platforms.) Also in that section I’ll offer suggestions for some choices on the Turner Classic Movies channel (but too much extra text for line-justified-layout like you see here [Related Links stuff at each posting’s end is similarly-ragged], at least to be done by this burned-out-BlogSpot-drone—oh, ye tedious software!) along with my standard dose of industry-related-trivia.
Here’s the trailer for The Killing of Two Lovers:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $. To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid those important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters like this:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: We’re immediately thrown into deep fright in this film as the opening shot’s a tight close-up on the troubled face of David (Clayne Crawford), followed by a slightly wider CU of his wife, Niki (Sepideh Moafi), asleep in bed with her lover, Derek (Chris Coy)—she’s in separation-mode with David, although it’s immediately clear she’s in the process of exploring the possibility of moving on while David’s on the verge of a tragic response as the next shot shows him standing over the bed of the sleeping couple, pointing a gun at them. Fortunately, he doesn’t fire, instead runs out of the house through the desolate winter streets of his rural town (shot in Kanosh, Utah), jogs back to where he now lives close by (camera mostly follows him in real time, for a long time; odd sounds come and stop in the background, used in a complex manner by effective-sound-designer Peter Albrechtsen) with his father (Bruce Graham), an old man whose frequent coughing indicates the usual cinematic-trope of ill-health, possibly potential death, so everything we experience even in just these opening minutes is bleak, providing a clear indication of what’s to follow. Later, David’s back at Niki’s house where their 3 young sons (actual brothers Arri, Ezra, Jonah Graham) are off to school on the bus but teenage daughter Jess (Avery Pizzuto) doesn’t want to go today; nevertheless, David drives her there anyway, acknowledges she’s upset about the separation and Derek, leaves it at that.
As the story goes on we get lots of intense CUs of David’s brooding face, along with little to cheer him up as when he asks Mrs. Staples (Barbara Whinnery) if she has a happy marriage to which she replies it’s “functional” (those strange, unsettling sounds continue throughout in the background). Later, David and Niki go out on an attempted date; however, she simply wants to circle back to make sure babysitter Jess doesn’t have company, although Derek does come by but there’s nothing to be concerned about. Despite David’s attempt to connect with Niki through a song he’s written about losing her (he’s a singer/songwriter; she’s a lawyer) they continue to argue as our story progresses, with David and Jess at loggerheads as well (she’d rather be with her friends than get caught in the family trauma), David often snapping at Dad for good measure (his temper hovers at the boiling point frequently, made manifest when he takes the torso mannequin off the back of his truck [why was it there to begin with?], shoots at it). Tensions continue between David and his daughter, his wife, and Derek. ⇒At one point Derek tries to apologize for these rising troubles but tempers flare again, the men fight, a bloody David drives off (those weird noises return, then abruptly stop) but still has his gun. Someone drives up behind him, he gets out and shoots wildly, not at Derek as it turns out to be Niki, seemingly ready to reconcile. As this tense story ends, we see David, Niki, and the kids buying a new washing machine so this all just concludes in a state of ambiguity (she’s ready to forgive and forget so easily?), leaving it to us to assume what fully has occurred, what’s likely to happen next.⇐
(This is what the actual 4 x 3 format looks like; I edited other photos here for size to the text layout.)
So What? Despite this film's title, no one dies, at least physically, although David probably feels dead inside emotionally as his marriage is slipping away while Niki might be in that position as well given how difficult David’s making it for her to truly find out if she might be better off with Derek.* There’s also no clear explanation relative to this story as to why the image format is in the old 4 x 3 ratio (how films looked until widescreen began to come into use in the 1950s, with TV continuing that boxy-shape until we more recently moved into similar wider layouts), although it does provide a more confining space for the characters so that might be intentional just to increase the sense of emotional claustrophobia that dominates this film (just as the barren backgrounds, winter setting give no sense of comfort either). One interesting twist that I was able to get clarity on, though, comes from Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times who notes the director-screenwriter’s full name ends in Graham with his father playing David’s Dad while his sons play David’s male kids, so there’s a strong sense of family support off-screen to balance that frayed-family we spend this nearly-90-min.-narrative with.
*Maybe Machoian’s title is intended to imply the same sort of metaphorical-meaning as is the case with Francis Ford Coppola’s new title for his recent revision of The Godfather Part III (1990), now known as The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (2020; review in our December 17, 2020 posting) not because it focuses on Michael’s (Al Pacino) physical death from old age as we see at the end of the first version of … Part III but instead it spends a bit more time on the emotional death he’s suffered over the years as a result of taking command of the family business, culminating with the unintended murder of his daughter, Mary (Sofia Coppola), from a bullet intended toward him.
(David and his daughter, Jess, in one of their frequent somber moods.)
While critics in general are quick to praise The Killing of Two Lovers (see the next section of this review just below for CCAL details), with its brooding-Realism-approach, I wasn’t as immediately enthralled with what I saw as they were, just finding this to be a well-written, well-acted presentation of a marriage in distress with more burden at this point in the breakdown on one partner than the other (although it’s clear Niki’s the one with the most pent-up-frustrations about how this union’s heading for a dead-end; David’s showing more overt dissatisfaction as boiling-over-anger seems to be inherent to him to his detriment), yet, except for appreciating the seriousness with which this marital-misery is presented, I wasn’t all that enthralled with what I saw (maybe I’m too far removed from frequently watching such human-heartache in Ingmar Bergman’s masterpieces to respond to a more-toned-down-version of a failed interpersonal connection as quickly as all those critics who are so enthralled with The Killing …). In retrospect, though, I was better able to come to a more useful understanding of what Machoian’s intending to accomplish here, especially as I remind myself of my appreciation for those rare films daring to end on an ambiguous note, leaving final ruminations about what happens and why to us rather than clarifying every plot point. With all that in mind, I’ll just encourage you to consider it on its overall merits, rather than finding me applauding its every aspect.
Bottom Line Final Comments: For a change I’ve streamed something also in theaters but not many of them (opened in 36 domestic venues, now down to 22) so its box-office total is miniscule, about $64,000; therefore, if you want to see The Killing of Two Lovers—which the CCAL encourages you to do, with a hefty 93% positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, an impressively-high 84% average score at Metacritic (their tops for 2021 releases both they and I have covered; you’ll find more details on these critics-accumulation-sites for everything I review each week far below in the Related Links section of these postings)—you’ll most likely choose a streaming option: plenty at JustWatch for a $5.99 rental (I used Amazon Prime because there’s a button for it on my LG TV remote, don’t even have to search on my Roku box). Admittedly, the content here may not draw you in especially if you’ve ever been in such an emotionally-fraught-relationship, may not care to relive it through the traumas David and Niki endure, but if you’re able to expose yourself to this interpersonal battle or if you’ve never been embroiled in such a challenge you could at least get some advice on how to avoid such conflicts, see the warning signs to help prevent your life from spiraling out of control as is the case here (mostly with David, but Niki’s got plenty of misery too; see the interview connected to this film in Related Links to hear similar concerns from director Machoian about how his own stable marriage might inadvertently veer off-course by getting too staid). Further, if you haven’t seen it yet but can deal with spoilers (including mine here) before making a decision, have seen it and want further insights into what’s occurring, or even just want to know enough to move on without renting it yourself, you might enjoy what’s discussed in this video review (11:29) where 2 guys bring up many valid points (although their site’s description of them as “Gay homosexuals” seems redundant), even as they’re not fully in agreement on the ultimate value of this film (I tend to be a bit more in line with Joseph, on the left, whereas the other one, Nick, better represents the CCAL embrace, although they both side with me [smart men!] on choosing ratings of 3½ of 5 stars).
OK, enough babble; on to closure with my usual tactic of a Musical Metaphor, which for The Killing ... I think should be Jackson Browne’s “In the Shape of a Heart” (1986 album Lives in the Balance) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWIJ8RAcsHQ, even though this song's clearly about a fully-broken-love-affair (“I guess I never knew What she was talking about I guess I never knew What she was living without […] You try so hard To keep a life from falling apart And never know What breaches and faults are concealed In the shape of a heart”) whereas this film kindles hopes (at least in David) of reconciliation, although he’ll need to restrain himself from any form of “a hole left in the wall […] About the size of a fist” if he thinks Niki will acively welcome him back into their home again.
SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)
An earnest guy largely devoid of effective social skills at least has a stable life until appointed co-chair of a Penn student reunion whereupon he must join Facebook; once he's there he discovers he now has an easy connection to former-coed-Elizabeth Banks, tries incessantly to make contact (not realizing his posts are all public), leading to rapid turndown in every part of his life (yet it’s a comedy).
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.
Sid Straw (Tony Hale), in Scottsdale, AZ, leads a basically humdrum, socially-inept life (later he even gets an unemployment check made out to “Sad,” indicative of his ongoing reality) which perks up when he finds he’s been named co-chair of a U. of Pennsylvania West Coast alumni reunion, although it requires him to join Facebook (he’s a social media novice, yet in Marketing?) where he sees he can Friend noted actor Elizabeth Banks, also a Penn grad (as she is in real life), so he starts leaving her messages about their undergrad time, also requesting a signed photo for his brother Tom’s (David Walton) upcoming birthday (his pregnant wife, Janet [Elisha Cuthbert], is barely civil to Sid because he stepped on her dress at the wedding, noticeably tearing it—he somehow also brought his friend, baseballer Darryl Strawberry, taking attention away from the newly-marrieds); however, Sid’s constant entreaties for Banks to reply causes a chain of woe (he doesn’t realize his comments are on her public wall, not in private Messenger) as general responses to his posts go viral leading to a restraining order from her L.A. talent agency head, Frankie Riceborough (Sarah Chalke), Sid being fired from his job, unable to get new work due to background checks, dismissal as reunion co-chair (as well as barred from the event so he won’t potentially bother Ms. Liz), his bank refusing to cash that typo-ed unemployment check, and a general refusal by anyone to believe he actually knew Banks back then nor corroborate his story of her encouraging catch-phrase being “Eat Wheaties!” In desperation, he moves back in with parents Earl (Phil Reeves) and Edna Straw (Mimi Kennedy), tries to find a lawyer he can afford to lift the restraining order, finally ends up with James Fisk (Paul Walter Hauser), who got his degree online, but Sid finds out he’s not accredited leading to Sid helping out with babysitting duties for the Fisks as James crams to pass the bar exam.
⇒He’s successful, so they’re off to court in L.A. but aren’t very effective with the judge (Gita Reddy) until Fisk makes a sympathetic closing argument; Riceborough’s forced to admit Sid never made any sort of threats, his entreaties were just annoying, so the restraining order’s lifted, allowing Sid to at least attend the reunion where Banks never shows up, everyone avoids Sid, and old friend Duncan Lambert’s (Alan Tudyk) upset with him because Sid’s children’s book, Fred Smells—inspired by Duncan’s son, Fred (Chase Ryan Friedman), smelling a barbeque gas leak at Duncan’s cookout with Sid—is now a best-seller; Dad's mad because he understands “smells” as an adjective about his boy rather than a verb about the kid’s ability to recognize odors. On a more positive note, inspired by their court victory Sid and James confront Sid’s old boss, his at-one-time-potential-new-boss, and others about how Sid was defamed for no true reason, just Internet gossip, so he gets some hefty settlement checks which he refuses to deposit at his old bank, setting up a new account elsewhere. As the story ends, Sid reverses his romantic draught (early on he seemed to have started well with Kate [Sarah Burns], but she went back to her former boyfriend) by asking out his friendly waitress, Wendy (Danielle Brooks), then they rush to the hospital to see Janet’s newborn with Sid asked to be godfather after Tom encourages a rethinking of her feelings toward his brother.⇐ As credits roll we hear Elizabeth Banks’ voice returning Sid’s calls (she’s been in Europe making a film, completely unaware of all the crazy Facebook drama); she fondly remembers him, is eager to get reacquainted.
This Canadian production plays as consistently funny (Hale keeps Sid as endearing rather than a miserable mess), cheap to rent ($6.99 on several platforms; I used Amazon Prime [I must note, though—unless it was just my connection—at times the visual quality of this download was terrible]), works efficiently in its short running time, yet for some reason is largely dismissed by the OCCU—63% positive reviews at RT, a miserable 38% average MC score (but just 7 reviews so you might check back later in this posting's Related Links for possible updates). Maybe I can brighten up those sourpuss attitudes with my Musical Metaphor of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Rainy Day People” (1975 Cold on the Shoulder album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phcDgM2Mazk as Sid seems to be one of those “Rainy day lovers [who] Don’t lie when they tell ‘ya they’ve been down like you Rainy day people Don’t mind if you cry a tear or two […] Rainy day lovers don’t hide love inside They just pass it on,” trying to uplift themselves and others. I also considered (and will include, to keep brightening the mood) The Beatles’ "Fixing a Hole" (1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band) as Sid’s “fixing a hole where the rain gets in And stops my mind from wandering Where it will go […] I’m taking the time for a number of things That weren’t important yesterday” in response to Tom’s plea to ease up, not try so hard at everything (especially making contact with the elusive-Ms. Banks).
Suggestions for TCM cablecasts
At least until the pandemic subsides Two Guys also want to encourage you to consider movies you might be interested in that don’t require subscriptions to Netflix, Amazon Prime, similar Internet platforms (we may well be stuck inside for longer than those 30-day-free-initial-offers), or premium-tier-cable-TV-fees. While there are a good number of video networks offering movies of various sorts (mostly broken up by commercials), one dependable source of fine cinematic programming is Turner Classic Movies (available in lots of basic-cable-packages) so I’ll be offering suggestions of possible choices for you running from Thursday afternoon of the current week (I usually get this blog posted by early Thursday mornings) on through Thursday morning of the following week. All times are for U.S. Pacific zone so if you see something of interest please verify actual show time in your area for the day listed. These recommendations are my particular favorites (no matter when they’re on, although some of those early-day-ones might need to be recorded, watched later), but there’s considerably more to pick from you might like even better; feel free to explore their entire schedule here. You can also click the down arrow at the right of each listing for additional, useful info.
I’ll bet if you checked that entire schedule link just above you’d find other options of interest, but these are the only ones grabbing my attention at present. Please dig in further for other possibilities.
Sunday June 6, 2021
1:00 PM Lilies of the Field (Ralph Nelson, 1963) Sidney Poitier is a wandering laborer who agrees to help a group of European nuns, led by Mother Maria Marthe (Lilia Skala) living in the Arizona desert, but pay’s delayed as he takes on new tasks, culminating in building a chapel for them, with help from nearby folks. Nominated for 5 Oscars (including Best Picture, Supporting Actress [Skala], Adapted Screenplay [James Poe]), won Best Actor for Poitier (a first for an African-American in this category).
Monday June 7, 2021
2:30 PM Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959) Praised as one the greatest westerns, it features John Wayne as a sheriff who arrests a local honcho for murder, then has to hold off his gang—helped only by Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan—trying to free him from prison (Angie Dickinson, Ward Bond are there also). It was made as a counterpoint to High Noon, which Hawks and Wayne saw as un-American given how no one in that film was willing to help out an outnumbered lawman.
Wednesday June 9, 2021
If you wish to indulge yourself in a day-long-feast of Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy in his various family escapades (9 movies made from 1936-1940) you can begin at 3:00 AM, watch until 5:00 PM.
7:15 PM Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, 1952) Beloved-musical (a standard for achievement in its genre) starring Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Donald O’Connor, Jean Hagen, and Cyd Charisse about Hollywood’s clumsy transition into sound movies, plus romance between a male star and a female newcomer with great potential; features the fabulous “Broadway Melody” sequence, one of the grandest of all MGM spectaculars, along with many songs from previous MGM musicals.
9:15 PM It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934) Hailed, sometimes as origin of screwball comedy, as a desperate-reporter (Clark Gable) chases a big story when an heiress (Claudette Colbert) elopes (Dad’s mad), then disappears until Gable encounters her. 1 of 3 (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest [1975], The Silence of the Lambs [1991]) ever to win the top 5 Oscars: Best Picture, Director, Actor (Gable), Actress (Colbert), and Screenplay, Adapted in this case (Robert Riskin).
If you’d like your own PDF of ratings/summaries of this week's reviews, suggestions for TCM cablecasts, links to Two Guys info click this link to access then save, print, or whatever you need.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: In quick fashion, here are some extra items you might like: (1) Next Oscars will be given on March 27, 2022; (2) AMC, Cinemark, Regal theaters no long require masks for COVID-fully-vaccinated-patrons; (3) A Quiet Place Part II rakes in $57 million in debut Memorial Day weekend; (4) Will audiences return in droves to theaters?. As usual for now I’ll close out this section with Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” "Big Yellow Taxi" (from her 1970 Ladies of the Canyon album)—because “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone”—and a reminder that you can search streaming/rental/purchase movie options at JustWatch.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts.* Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage. If you’d like to Like us on Facebook please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it!
*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problems’ been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.
Here’s more information about The Killing of Two Lovers:
https://neonrated.com/films/the-killing-of-two-lovers (shows by city where you can find it in a theater) and there's also https://www.sundance.org/projects/the-killing-of-two-lovers
(additional useful information)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AuNiPLpMiA (40:04 interview with director-screenwriter-editor [as well as 1 of 3 executive producers along with Crawford and Oden Roberts] Robert Machoian and actors Clayne Crawford, Sepideh Moafi on a range of topics including
relationships, chosen image ratios, complex sound design)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_killing_of_two_lovers
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-killing-of-two-lovers
Here’s more information about Eat Wheaties!:
https://screenmediafilms.net/productions/details/3273/Eat-Wheaties
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDcJRLGivco (3:25 quick interviews with actors Tony Hale, Sugar Lyn Beard, Hayden Szeto, Rizwan Manji, producer David J. Phillips, and director
Scott Abramovitch)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eat_wheaties
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/eat-wheaties!
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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker. But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion, lover, and wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"
—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest,
a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes and wanes over the months/years to come. But, just as we can raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand"
(19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never tire of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this good).
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