Salvation’s Not Always Found in a Bible
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) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, even though I’ll have to sacrifice seeing such wonders as Cocaine Bear (Elizabeth Banks).
For this posting far into 2023, streaming has allowed me to catch up on a few more notable films from last year so here’s my list just below of some of the best, acknowledging I haven’t seen others which might also be worthy, just as I had a tough time leaving some off the final tally. I know I’ll find little agreement on the Leonard Cohen documentary over all the others, but it really feels amazing to me. Further, you can go here if you’d like to see a larger perspective of critics’ thoughts about triumphs of last year (where it will likely come as no surprise that only 4 of mine overlap their collective Top 10). Next week, I'll offer all my Oscar predictions & favorites for these 2022 releases.
Ken Burke’s Top 10 of 2022 Releases (with links to my reviews)
1. Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller)
2. Tár (Todd Field)
3. Everything Everywhere All at Once (Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert)
4. The Whale [reviewed in this posting just below] (Darren Aronofsky)
5. Elvis (Baz Luhrman)
6. All Quiet on the Western Front [2022] (Edward Berger)
7. Till (Chinoye Chukwu)
8. Aftersun (Charlotte Wells)
9. Thirteen Lives (Ron Howard)
10. Nope (Jordan Peele)
Now, on to the reviews which this week are 2 Oscar contenders in various categories (I've finally seen them on streaming), so I’ll give each one equal attention rather than putting one in Short Takes.
Here’s the trailer:
(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 $ (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.
In The Whale we find Charlie (Brendan Frasier) teaching an English Lit class remotely with his camera off so students won’t see him as a 600-lb. man who at times struggles to breathe, can barely haul himself onto his walker, has no one in his life except his caretaker, Liz (Hong Chau), the adopted-sister of Alan, Charlie’s lover, who committed suicide due to being disowned by his overly-religious-father. 8 years ago, Charlie became so enamored with Alan that he left his wife, Mary (Samantha Morton), and 8-year-old-daughter, Ellie (played by Sadie Sink as a 17-year-old [Jacey Sink’s the younger Ellie seen in flashback]), resulting in strained, infrequent contact with either of them until Charlie invites Ellie for a visit in which she spouts her anger at him, not only for leaving but for not being part of her life since (she doesn’t know Mom told Charlie to stay away from his daughter). Further, she’s about to flunk out of high school—her anger (plus “evil” actions, according to Mary) extends to everyone and everything around her—so Charlie offers to rewrite an essay for her to help pass her English class as well as give over the $120,000 he’s saved for her (infuriating Liz, who knows he should be spending such cash on medical treatments, insurance, etc. because he’s likely to soon die of congestive heart failure) if she’ll write directly to him in a notebook he gives her. She barely scribbles anything—just 3 negative statements—but he does give her an essay for her class (which she doesn’t even bother to look at, let alone read). The only other visitor we see to Charlie’s home (besides pizza-delivery-man Dan [Sathya Sridharan] who talks briefly to Charlie through the door, takes his money from the mailbox) is a young missionary, Tom (Ty Simpkins), representing the local branch of the New Life Church, determined to help Charlie accept Jesus for his salvation although Liz and Ellie (separately) forcefully tell him not to bother, nor does Charlie seem interested anyway. Liz brings him a wheelchair for better mobility; later Ellie comes over, makes him a sandwich but slips in some Ambien so he’s soon dozed off when Tom comes by again.
They smoke some pot, he admits his sternly-religious father caught him with weed, put him into missionary work, but Tom just stole $24,000 from his youth group, ran far away to wherever they are now, continues his work of trying to save souls as penance but isn’t officially connected to the church any longer. Ellie secretly records his confession on her phone, takes a couple of incriminating shots of Tom blowing smoke, but then Liz comes in with Mary so Tom’s quickly gone, followed by Liz and Ellie after Charlie wakes up. Charlie and Mary haggle over their failed marriage, Mary admits her alcoholism doesn’t make her a fit mother. After she leaves, Charlie goes on an eating binge, sends word to his students to write something honest; he does so as well, telling them the school will soon replace him, turns on his camera so they can finally see what he looks like, then smashes his laptop.
Tom stops at Charlie's place for a last visit as he’s going home, due to Ellie sending his confession to Tom’s family who, surprisingly, forgive him, welcome him back, even as Charlie chastises Tom for assuming, quoting scripture, God punished Alan for being gay. ⇒In the finale, Ellie comes in angry that what Charlie gave for her to turn in was what he considers the finest student essay he’s ever read, simply her 8th grade take on Moby-Dick in which she expresses sorrow for the whale with no awareness of why he’s being hunted, along with sorrow for Ahab for wasting his life on such a revenge mission. Even though Ellie’s furious she won’t be graduating she agrees to read her essay aloud to Charlie who, with great effort, stands up and walks over to her (he failed at such an attempt earlier), leading to ending shots implying his death.⇐ It’s easy to see this film adapted by Samuel D. Hunter from his 2012 play of the same name because it all takes place in the rooms of Charlie’s home (it’s also given a distancing from more-standard-cinematic practice, shot in the old 4x3 ratio which is what you’d see in a 1940s moviehouse or on a 1970s TV set, yet it’s set in 2016 as we see Presidential primaries footage in the background on Charlie’s TV), but that may make it even harder to watch, for there is so much anger, regret, hopelessness confined in that excessively-sad-dwelling.
As you know, I find The Whale as among 2022's very best, with an astounding performance by Frasier (hauling around a 300-lb. fat suit), easily award-worthy as Oscar’s Best Lead Actor, possibly following his recent win of such from the Screen Actors Guild, with its 122,000 members, all of them actors, many also in the large actors guild within Oscar’s Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences (although, for me, he still has to contend with Austin Butler in Elvis for that honor, yet the Academy’s full voting membership—about 9,500—can weigh in here, so producers, directors, screenwriters, technicians all contribute to the Oscar choice, making winners from the other major organizations likely front-runners but no guarantees), yet the CCAL is just marginally-supportive of this fine film, with the Rotten Tomatoes reviews at a surprising 65% positive, the Metacritic average score weighs in at 60% (a more common response from them, but trending toward OCCU territory).
Maybe Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post can convince you of the reasons she sees for this film’s failures: “Darren Aronofsky’s adaptation of Samuel D. Hunter’s play is a murky-looking, claustrophobic exercise in emotionalism at its most trite and ostentatiously maudlin. […] Aronofsky’s facility with both gritty realism and visionary fever dreams can’t elevate material that wants to bear witness to suffering but reflexively reverts to manipulative spectacle.” But I’m more in tune with Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times—“an empathetic, haunting, beautiful, heartbreakingly moving story of a broken man in the throes of addiction who has a huge heart and believes people can be really and truly good — but has landed in a place in his own life where he lacks the energy and the will to remain in this world. […] Front and center, of course, is Brendan Fraser, who proved he could be a commercial star in mainstream adventures such as ‘George of the Jungle’ and ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ and demonstrated he could be a fine actor in films such as ‘Gods and Monsters’ and ‘Crash, and now delivers the finest work of his career”—who picks The Whale as best of the year (we agree on only 4 of his Top 10, though). The Whale opened domestically on December 9, 2022, but hasn’t been a big box-office-attraction (only made it to 1,721 theaters, now 363) taking in so far a mere $16.7 million, $28.4 million globally. You might be able to find it in your area; however, if you’re willing to buy it on streaming for $19.99 (it's not available for rental yet) you can consult JustWatch for options from Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, etc.
As always, I’ll wrap up with a Musical Metaphor, this time The Beatles’ “I’m a Loser” (on their 1964 albums, U.K.’s Beatles for Sale, U.S.’s Beatles ’65) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TssB4J 4MrJI; yes, it’s about a breakup, yet also alludes to Charlie’s self-image: “I’m a loser / And I’ve someone who’s near to me / I’m a loser / And I’m not what I appear to be […] What have I done to deserve such a fate? / I realize I have left it too late.” Charlie’s ready for his own demise, overeating on a high-calorie-diet, but maybe he finally found some consolation within his long, difficult process.
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.
Similar to The Whale, Women Talking is an adaptation, in this case from Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name, itself a bit of an adaptation based on real events that occurred in the early 21st century, culminating in 2011, in remote Manitoba Colony, a Bolivian Mennonite community. From what I’ve read of the summaries of the book (and its foundational events in South America), the basic situation is the same in all cases. In some isolated Mennonite colony (seemingly in the U.S. on screen, but vague logistics are noted) some of the men have been spraying a cow tranquilizer into the rooms where women are sleeping to further knock them out so the men can rape them. Somehow (not sure), the perpetrators are discovered, jailed by authorities from the local urban area with the other men going there to post bail. The women, left alone at the compound (except for August [Ben Whishaw], teacher of the boys in the colony), now have 2 days to collectively decide their fate, with none of the 3 options they have appealing enough to quickly form a consensus: (1) Stay in the colony, oppose any further violent actions by the men, establish new rules (this goes against the tenets of their religion, so only the most radical among them are in favor); (2) Stay in the colony, offer forgiveness to the men, hope such inhuman acts won't continue (as the Bible has been interpreted to them—these women can’t read or write, so August takes notes at their debates, puts flash points on large pieces of paper on the wall of the barn loft they’ve gathered in—this option seems to be what’s expected of them); (3) Leave before the men return (but their understanding is such action would be blasphemy, denying to any who did so from access to Heaven in the afterlife).
A vote results in a tie between options 1 and 3, so 11 women continue to debate on behalf of all the others, with the strongest voice for option 2, from Scarface Janz (Frances McDormand), leaving the discussion in disgust with opinions of the others. The most vocal proponents of option 1 are Salome (Claire Foy), Mejal (Michelle McLeod), and Ona (Rooney Mara); Mariche (Jessie Buckley), disagrees, pleading for option 2. As time ticks away, they learn that Klaas (Eli Ham), Mariche’s abusive husband, is returning that evening to collect more bail money, ⇒so, after some more arguments all of the women agree to leave, taking the girls and any boys 15 or younger with them (although no one over 12 will be forced to leave). August declares his love for Ona, gives her a map because none of them have ever been away from the colony, don’t know where they’re going. They slip away at sunrise before drunken Klaas awakens, watched by August and Scarface as they go.⇐
Despite being in total agreement these women must find an agreeable tactic to prevent further harm to themselves from the worst men in their colony, along with applauding their ultimate decision, I have no support for any interpretations of Christianity which sanction misogyny and deny salvation in the afterlife to those who would challenge the rigid rules they live by, all of which I join Karl Marx in rejecting such forms of religion as a deadly “opium of the people.” (Full disclosure: I was raised Roman Catholic, now find much of its theological justifications of church dogma to be equally appalling/dehumanizing as what we see in this film [despite some present efforts by Pope Francis to challenge some of that crap, even as he gets blowback from many conservative bishops], leading to my present position of agnosticism-leaning-toward-atheism, so I’m not an objective viewer of this content). The title of this film tells it all, though, as I can’t remember anything on screen with so much dialogue (non-lethal at that, plus no depictions of the rapes so this story is more about contemplation than action, a drastic difference from much of what’s in our current theaters) since My Dinner with Andre (Louis Malle, 1981); further, part of the horror for me of what I saw is it looks and feels like mid-19th-century but takes place in 2010, with people choosing to live in such conditions—although I admit I know little about Mennonites, except for their pacifism and that there are many versions of their denomination, so maybe others of their religion aren’t as harshly-sexist as this one.
Overall, this is a quite intriguing film, one worth paying close attention to if you choose to watch it (which many in the industry must have as it’s been nominated for Oscar’s Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay along with the Best Ensemble Cast of a Motion Picture by the Screen Actors Guild [their version of Best Picture]), but I must admit its arguments and desaturated palette intrigued more than moved me; also, don’t see it if you’re expecting a lot of Frances McDormand as this multi-Oscar-Best Actress-winner’s barely on screen here at all (but she’s one of the producers), although you'll find others in this large cast give consistently solid performances. Women Talking has been in release domestically since December 23, 2022 but has only made it to 707 venues, reduced now to 487 (so its grosses are quite low at $4.6 million, a worldwide total of only $5.6 million); as with The Whale, your best option for seeing it is on streaming where you could buy it for $19.99 from those same platforms you'd find at JustWatch (somehow I got a discount at Prime down to $18.49 last weekend), but you'll also find rentals in the same places now available at $5.99 (damn it!). Certainly, the CCAL encourages you to do so with the RT positive reviews at 91%, the MC average score at notably-high-for-them-79%. I’ll just leave you with my Musical Metaphor, The Monkees “Daydream Believer” (on their 1968 album The Birds, The Bees, & The Monkees) at https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=xvqeSJlgaNk, although I really don’t know what “Cheer up, sleepy Jean / Oh, what can it mean / To a daydream believer / And a homecoming queen?” has to do with Women Talking; yet, if it’s good enough for director Polley to use it both in the story and under the final credits then it must be more relevant than I can comprehend. Nevertheless, I’ll also tack on Paul Simon’s "Peace Like a River" (on his 1972 album of the same name) because “You can beat us with wires /You can beat us with chains / You can run out your rules / But you know you can’t outrun the history train” seems a quite-plausible-consideration in the overall-context of this bold, emerging-feminist narrative.
SHORT TAKES
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
Some options: (1) Why watch a film's closing credits?; & (2) Oscar nominees for 2022 releases.
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