A Victory March? Let's Discuss That
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.
“You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): I’m still avoiding movie theaters due to the damn COVID bugs, but even though I didn’t get to see Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a DC superhero (a villain at times as well?) in Black Adam (Jaume Collet-Serra) I may not have missed all that much according to the OCCU (Rotten Tomatoes 39% positive reviews, Metacritic 41% average score), although many others rushed to see it at 4,402 northern North America venues where it racked up a whopping $67 million in receipts (with a lot more overseas for a worldwide total of $210 million after just 1 weekend). I was in more ethereal territory, though, in my streaming options by finally getting to see a marvelous documentary about songwriter/singer (also poet, novelist) Leonard Cohen and his elegant ode to much of humanity’s complex situations in his most-famous-tune, “Hallelujah” (film released in theaters back on June 30, 2022; just now come to Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, other streaming platforms for a $5.99 rental), one of the most soul-affirming-films I’ve ever seen, a marvelous biography of this now-departed-man that, I hope, can entrance you with what he was pursuing throughout his long career, even if you haven't paid much attention to his music previously.
I was also intrigued with To Leslie (Michael Morris) because it’s a story set in west Texas, an area I’m quite familiar with, even though the setting turns out to be not all that specific to the “wilderness” beyond Ft. Worth (“Where the west begins”), but the performance of lead actor Andrea Riseborough should rustle a few feathers for Oscar consideration, yet I’m sure the obscure nature of this film won’t draw much attention when awards nominations come out later this year, into 2023, so even though it popped up in a few theaters on October 7, 2022 your best option for finding it will likely be for a $6.99 streaming rental on Apple TV+, but I sincerely hope you’ll consider watching it because of Riseborough‘s terrifically-mesmerizing performance. Yet, given the Cohen doc needs to be watched more than written about while I doubt many will wander out into the west Texas wilderness to find To Leslie I’m putting both clusters of comments under my SHORT TAKES rubric because I don’t see the need to elaborate much more than that on either of them, despite my supportive ratings (plus, I’ve had a lot of usual blogging time taken up recently with watching basketball and baseball games, medical appointments, and doing some historical reclamation work for an organization I used to be actively involved with). Also, here are links for the schedule of the cable network, Turner Classic Movies, which gives you a wide selection of older films with no commercial interruptions and the JustWatch site which offers you a wide selection of options too, for streaming rental or purchase. Or, if you want to see what reigned at the domestic (U.S.-Canada) box-office last weekend, go here.
SHORT TAKES (in intention, maybe not fully in reality)
Here’s the trailer for Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song:
(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.)
There are no spoilers within my review of this documentary because everything in it could easily be found in detailed sources such as this one or even more so this extensive one, so if you want to know more than what I’m briefly summarizing here about Leonard Cohen’s life, his music, his legacy I encourage you to read more deeply into the details of his contributions not only to contemporary music (and a lot of poetry, along with some novels) but also to inspirations about how to use what he painstakingly produced in his eloquent constructions of the English language as guideposts for searching our own souls, seeking to make the most of our individual existences. While I’ve long admired what I know of his work, I’ll admit the only album of his I ever bought was his debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967), but I did have the pleasure of seeing him perform in person (Austin, TX, sometime in 1970?) and was quite taken with Robert Altman’s use of 3 of those early songs in the soundtrack of McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), part of an impactful deconstruction of the American western (which reached its zenith [in my opinion] with Clint Eastwood’s fabulous Unforgiven [1992]).
So, what do we get with Hallelujah … as it traces a bit more than half of Cohen’s adult life when he turned from writing other forms of expressive language to haunting songs in 1967 (those other creative manifestations would continue with posthumously-published-poetry until 2018, a final novel and other writings in 2022, although Cohen died in 2016 at age 82). Hallelujah … (inspired generally by Cohen’s life and works, but also directly by Alan Light’s book, The Holy or the Broken [2012]), briefly covers the musical aspects of his public years but also provides a parallel focus on the evolution/impact of his most-famous-song, “Hallelujah,” first recorded by him on his Various Positions album (1984), then continued to evolve into a staple of the humanities’ musical canon even as he continued to write verses for it, with interviewee Larry “Ratso” Sloman in this film estimating there may be anywhere from 150 to 180 of them (we get images of Cohen’s many notebooks of lyrics, along with shots of individual pages of some of those verses), so even though his “candle burned out long before [his] legend ever did” (to borrow a line from Elton John’s "Candle in the Wind" [on the 1973 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album]), "Hallelujah," especially, will likely keep Cohen’s presence alive in our culture for decades to come, as evidenced by short clips in this film of many singers performing it as part of their professional repertory or as amateurs in talent competitions or even at weddings (that frequently-chosen-second-verse about being tied to a kitchen chair while hair’s cut off would seem a bit odd for those latter occasions, though, except for those specific types of nuptials).
Accordingly, Hallelujah ... begins with a clip of Cohen performing the song at his final concert in Auckland, New Zealand in December 2013, then we shoot back to his public singing beginnings in the mid-1960s, first on Canadian TV (he grew up in a financially-secure-Jewish-family in Montreal) where we get a clip of his rendition of "The Stranger Song" (I’ll include videos of his versions of a couple of early songs, although the film covers a much wider range over the years), but when Judy Collins included his "Suzanne" on her In My Life album (1966),* then encouraged him to join her in large-audience-live-concerts, awareness of Cohen by music lovers really took off, leading to his debut album, followed by an ever-growing career with growing adulation from the multitudes of fans.
*While this doc and my review are centered on the remarkable life/career of Leonard Cohen, I just can’t avoid including Collins' version of this song, which made an impact early on because her angelic voice has its own ramifications, in the deeper aspects that would come to be in “Hallelujah.”
The film Hallelujah … continues with historical info about Cohen, many comments from interviewees (including Collins), footage of various events across the decades of Cohen’s life, photos of him that increasingly look like a younger Al Pacino (maybe Al could be convinced to do a biopic of Cohen someday, as long as proper computer technology can shift his image successfully back to those younger days decades ago, though Dustin Hoffman could properly portray him as an older man); a clear chronology about how he was taken into Columbia records by producer John Hammond; featured in a 1974 Rolling Stone article; had many successful tours in North America and Europe; made an album, Death of a Ladies’ Man (1977), with “wall of sound” producer Phil Specter which he didn’t care for afterward; was stunned when his Various Positions album was nixed for U.S. release (but allowed for Europe); became aware of how other singers—Bob Dylan, John Cale, Jeff Buckley—were bringing awareness to “Hallelujah” on stage and in recordings, followed by, of all things, inclusion in the animated feature Shrek (Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, 2001); then as depression and drinking began to overtake him he went off to a Buddhist monastery in the 1990s to regain his spiritual focus. When the depression lifted he was back in the studio and on the road, continuing to find meaning in countless new songs while never feeling he’d successfully finished “Hallelujah," so he kept working on it, singing it by drawing on that immense collection of verses, sometimes altering ones he chose to use on a given night, so we can never really say there’s a definitive version of this now-monumentally-famous-song, which is frequently referenced in the first hour of this doc, then begins to take more prominence in the remainder. You can tell from interview clips of Cohen plus testimony from a wealth of others about his influence he took all of his work seriously, never looking for pop hits just to bring in income. Toward the end of this film he sums up what he feels he was all about: “You look around and you see a world that cannot be made sense of. You either raise your fist or you say hallelujah. I try to do both.” We should admire such advice.
Simply recounting more of what’s on screen is hardly worth your time or mine; this is a film you have to see to appreciate, especially to glean some deeper understanding of why this song, “Hallelujah,” resonates so passionately not only with Cohen but also with millions of his listeners (including my wife, Nina, who plays it frequently, and now even more so with me after seeing how these filmmakers have explored the combination of this man’s spiritual journey along with the consciousness-raising-experience of listening to his music). I’ve seen a lot of documentaries, but this one verges on the realm of the transcendent, so I highly encourage you to watch it, with further encouragement from the CCAL where the Rotten Tomatoes evaluators offer 89% positive reviews while those at Metacritic contribute a (high for them) 70% average score. While this film came out way back on June 30, 2022 it never was much of a presence in theaters, making only a little over $1 million domestically, just up to $1.4 million globally; it seems to be gone from the big screen by now, but it’s still available for a $5.99 streaming rental from Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and other platforms, well worth your investment even if you’ve never known anything about Cohen previously. As always, I’ll wrap up here with a Musical Metaphor, which of course must be “Hallelujah,” with its mesmerizing lyrics some of which I’ll offer as this verse (as best one set of words can stand for such a powerful song) speaks to me of what the whole somewhat-religious/somewhat-secular experience is about: “You say I took the name in vain / I don’t even know the name / But if I did, well really, what’s it to ya? / There’s a blaze of light in every word / It doesn’t matter which you heard / The holy or the broken Hallelujah.” Of course I’ll give you (one of) Cohen's version(s) at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=YrLk4vdY28Q which seems semi-ecclesiastical (but Judeo-Christian, not just New Testament); however, I’ll also close, just as the film did, with k.d. lang’s powerfully-emotional version at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE which led to a worthy, lengthy standing ovation, as Cohen came to feel that she’s the one who ultimately owned the song.*
*Want to know more from the directors of Hallelujah? Then you can read their interview in this press kit PDF; you'll probably have to use login: press, then password: sonyclassics to access it.
To Leslie (Michael Morris) rated R 119 min.
Here’s the trailer:
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 $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
As I had briefly noted above, my interest in To Leslie was based on its west Texas setting—which I became aware of through a very short review in The Week magazine (a marvelous package of news about national and international politics, business, the arts, travel, noted obituaries, etc., with commentary from a wide variety of publications so you get a range of opinions without concluding decisions; consider a subscription, no kickback to me if you do)—so I've spent some time out there first with one of my grandmothers, then my parents after Dad retired (specifically in the very small town on Clyde, about 15 miles from Abilene toward Ft. Worth on I-20; there’s even a brief reference in the dialogue about some place “just outside of Abilene,” so maybe the filmmakers are also aware of that quiet little wide spot in the road). A little research got me considerably more interested because this largely-unknown-film is a CCAL celebration with the RT results at 98% positive, while the normally-more-reserved-MC folks come up with a hearty 85% average score (highest number they’ve given to any 2022 release both they and I have reviewed), so at least a few people in the critical world have been paying attention to it (admittedly, the RT number’s based on only 49 reviews, quite meager for them, while only 15 of those MCers have weighed in so far [links to these critics-accumulation-organizations are always in the Related Links section of any Two Guys posting for anything we review, so you might want to check back later to see if any further results did trickle in]).
To provide some context about the CCCAL response, here’s Variety’s Owen Gleiberman: “[…] to give a truly remarkable performance as an alcoholic, you have to make good on the old line about it — that someone who’s drunk is working hard not to act that way hard. They’re trying to fool the world in the same way they fool themselves. […] For two hours, we don’t know where Leslie is going to land next any more than she does, and that lends the film a searing, unvarnished quality. […] But the movie belongs to Riseborough, who in the second half comes alive, scene by scene, like a flower slowly uncrumpling. It’s still a scarred and wounded flower, with its glory days behind it. But now, at last, it can breathe, and the audience, in response, lets out a sigh that feels like mercy.” Similarly, The Hollywood Reporter’s Sheri Linden says: “A stirring character study captured in intimate 35mm by DP Larkin Seiple and sensitively edited by Chris McCaleb, To Leslie recalls the grit of 1970s American indie cinema at its most indelible. […] That theme might be a celebration of female gumption, resilience and humor — qualities that the title character of To Leslie embodies, against the odds and against expectations. Riseborough digs deep and takes no shortcuts in tracing a hard-won path to redemption, the rage that holds Leslie back transformed into the energy that fuels her survival.” I haven’t been able to find much about the making of this film (except screenwriter Ryan Binaco wrote it as a tribute to his mother, who may have also dealt with some of Leslie’s demons), nor do I know if it’s actually shot in west Texas. (A cropped sign in an early shot indicates Lubbock as Leslie’s home, but it’s not definitive; if that’s where she’s supposed to be, I can say from experience this city features [at least some years ago] the most pungent stockyard smell I’ve ever encountered on a hot summer day, so this location would be appropriate for this horrible tale of woe.)
As the story opens we get a montage of shots of Leslie (Andrea Riseborough) with her husband and small child, then one of her with a black eye so we quickly surmise when the action starts she raised the kid as a single mother (he’s 19 when we’ll meet him later, gone away to do construction work somewhere else), suddenly becomes a local celebrity along with being wealthy due to winning $190,000 in a lottery; however, a few years later most of the money’s gone (bad choices, bad investments, we’re never given a clear answer as to where it went), clearly a good portion of it boosted the profits of the nearby bar where she’s been enough of a regular customer to have had the place named after her. By now, she’s so broke she can’t even afford to live anywhere so she buys a bus ticket to her son, James’ (Owen Teague), new location, although he’s not happy to see her, has lots of reasons to want to forget as much as possible about his childhood, so he sets down rules which include no drinking, but while he’s at work she searches his home for any cash she can find (even in the pocket of a pair of his jeans) so she can slip off to buy some booze. James tries to get telephone advice from Grandma Nancy (Allison Janney), which irritates Leslie to no end, ending up with James sending Mom back home to live with Dutch (Stephen Root) and his wife, due to some past connection, maybe Leslie giving them some money when they needed it. Dutch is just as harsh as James about rules, so when she once again wanders off that bar to see if she can pick up some guy (no luck), Dutch responds by locking her out, putting her suitcase outside. She wanders to a local motel but is chased away, gets picked up by Pete (James Landry Hébert) who tries to force himself on her but she resists, then sleeps in an abandoned building. The next day she returns to the motel where manager Sweeney (Marc Maron) seems to take pity on her, gives her a job there as a maid, even though his partner, Royal’s (Andre Royo), not impressed with this new hire. ⇒While she begins poorly, drinking at night at the bar (where she has a confrontation with Nancy), showing up late next day, she makes a sincere effort to clean up her act with encouragement from Sweeney (his alcoholic wife ran off with their preacher) who takes her to a town dance, but feeling no one really wants her around she pushes Sweeney away, continues to feud with Nancy, backslides some, then reconciles with Sweeney who buys the abandoned ice cream shop across from the motel for her to start a business as they connect. By 16 months later she’s reconciled with James as well.⇐
You might find the ending here a bit too upbeat given all that’s gone before (hard to even elude to it without stumbling into a Spoiler reveal, but please try to appreciate my vagueness as the whole purpose here is to show how difficult it can be to break out of a cycle of self-destruction, finally find the willingness to make needed changes even when setbacks seem to scuttle those attempts). Sure, this isn’t a pleasant story to watch and may even prove triggering for anyone who’s having difficulty trying to stay sober after indulging for far too long, but if you can bear with it I think you’ll find Riseborough’s performance to be astounding, clearly Oscar-worthy when nominations are due in a few months. Seemingly, it was in some theaters as of October 7, 2022, but I find no account of it except on Apple TV+ streaming for $6.99 rental, nor can I say it clearly evoked what I know of west Texas (if you want that for sure, watch Hell or High Water [David Mackenzie, 2016; review in our August 26, 2016 posting; available to stream for a $3.99 rental from Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, other platforms], but just be sure before ordering at the T-Bone Cafe that you know what you don't want), with a setting that could be anywhere on the Great Plains, but what you will want after seeing this film is more of Andrea Riseborough, whose performance is nothing short of magnifcent.
Further, seeing how this excellent actor explored the role of battered-Leslie gives me another opportunity to bring Leonard Cohen back on stage for this final Musical Metaphor with his brooding “Bird on the Wire” (on his 1969 Songs from a Room album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGvwvxA83Cs (as usual, some words are different from the recording, but they’re all still marvelous to hear) because I can easily hear Leslie singings lyrics such as these: “Like a baby, stillborn / Like a beast with his horn / I have torn everyone who reached out for me / But I swear by this song / And by all that I have done wrong / I will make it all up to thee. I saw this beggar leaning on his wooden crutch / He said to me, ‘You must not ask for so much’ / And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door / She cried out to me, “Hey, why not ask for more?’ “ Leslie’s obviously had a hard life, made bad decisions, fallen deep into alcohol addiction while attempting to maintain some semblance of a positive self-understanding; her journey (like some aspects of Cohen’s actual life) is often hard to watch, but I encourage you to make the effort to find this small film (along with the great Cohen doc), not like much else that you’ll encounter in most current theatrical or streaming options.
That’s all for my critical commentary this week (which usually reminds me of some parting lyrics from Pink Floyd’s "Time": “The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say,” or maybe R.E.M. knows me even better [from "Losing My Religion"]: “Oh no, I’ve said too much / I haven’t said enough”), but whether you agree with any of that stuff or not I’ll offer you one more opportunity to be in unity with an attitude that would benefit all of us, James Taylor’s "Shower the People" (on his 1976 In the Pocket album), because we should “Shower the people you love with love / Show them the way that you feel / Things are gonna be much better/ If you only will.” We’re now sailing through divisive times; it could be a smoother ride if we’d only help each other a bit more.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Henry Cavell says, gladly: "I am back as Superman."
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Here’s more information about Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song:
https://www.sonyclassics.com/film/hallelujah/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KUxXQzHGBI (42:08 discussion of the film with directors Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine, executive producer/head of the Cohen estate Robert Kory)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hallelujah_leonard_cohen_a_journey_a_song
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hallelujah-leonard-cohen-a-journey-a-song
Here’s more information about To Leslie:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8129806/ (best I could do for an official site)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evu4t4y0lHs (2:58 interview with actor Marc Maron)
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/to_leslie
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/to-leslie
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