Inside plus Short Takes on Cassandro and some various other cinematic topics

Different Tales About the Need to Break Out

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, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be on the horizon.  (Note: Anything in bold blue [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)

My reviews' premise: “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)

            Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis)   rated R   105 min.

Here’s the trailer:

       (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size; 

       activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)

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.

What Happens: We begin with a cluster of exquisitely-composed/lit-shots (throughout the film also, by Steve Annis, cinematographer) of a luxurious Manhattan penthouse while in Voice Over-narration our protagonist, Nemo (Willem Dafoe), tells of when a schoolteacher asked him to name 3 things he’d save if his house were on fire; he chose his cat, an AC/DC album, and his sketchbook (no family members) but later found if he had done so the cat would eventually die, he’d loan the record to a friend but never get it back, while the sketchbook remained because “art is for keeps.”  He’s now involved in a complex art theft from that penthouse as a helicopter drops him off on the balcony, he has walkie-talkie-contact with an accomplice who gives him the access code to deactivate the alarm system, and he has just a few minutes to steal 3 expensive paintings by Egon Schiele.  The first 2 are easy, but he can’t find the most-important one, a self-portrait, so he has to get out; however, when he puts in the access code to exit the place it instead sets off a loud alarm, shutting down every door (including the one to the balcony), with his contact telling him he’s now on his own.  Nemo finally manages to get the alarm shut off (damaging the thermostat controls in the process) but soon finds there’s now no running water in the place, although the power seems to remain because when he opens the refrigerator (almost nothing there), the light and freezer still work, although if he keeps the door open too long it starts playing "Macarena" in a maddening manner.  Anger soon gives way to desperation as the days go by (the owner of the place is on a business trip to Kazakhstan, apparently on an extended stay) as he can find no way out, his water supply is limited to an automatic system that feeds some plants in the place, and the broken thermostat first sends the heat up to a scorching level, then reverts it to near-freezing-temperatures.

 Within the penthouse, there’s a multi-screen-surveillance-system of locations in the building so he can see when a maid (he calls her “Jasmine” [Eliza Stuyck]) is vacuuming outside his front door; however, his cries for help and banging on the door are useless because she’s listening to music on earphones, can’t hear him at all.  Nemo’s only hope is the furniture structure he’s constructed in order to reach the skylight where he uses makeshift-tools to try to loosen the bolts that hold the cover in place so he could climb through the opening onto the roof, but that tedious chore hasn’t yet succeeded.  In the process of his captivity, though, he comes across a hidden passage that contains the originally-sought-after-self-portrait and a copy of William Blake’s book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790); he also begins hallucinating, even has a dream he’s at a party with the owner (Gene Bervoets) of the penthouse, also dreams of puppets, kissing “Jasmine.”  Things ultimately get worse when he falls off of his structure, breaks a leg, has to fashion a splint for it but has nothing for his pain, so he distracts himself by making his own artwork on one of the walls. ⇒Finally, he sets off the fire alarm which drenches the dwelling, but no one responds to the situation.  As the film wraps up we see Nemo writing a big message on the wall for the penthouse owner, recalling the story from his childhood, apologizing for the great damage he’s caused in the dwelling, noting that he ultimately didn’t steal any art, but “there is no creation without destruction.”  (Reminds me of an insightful-refrigerator magnet in my kitchen (no joke) with a quote from musician Frank Zappa: “Without deviation from the norm, progress is impossible.”)  Then Nemo makes another ascent on his constructed-tower, keeps repeating “I’m going to Heaven on a hillside.”  The film's last shot shows the skylight with the cover panel gone so somehow Nemo managed to remove it, drag himself and his broken leg onto the roof, from where he could have finalized his escape, I'll agree to assume.⇐

So What? Before I go any further in this review with discussing Inside, though, I’ve got to clarify my chief objection to its foundational-premise that brought my stars-rating down a notch: If the guy who owns this obviously-lush-penthouse (huge in scale, high ceilings, famous art on the walls) has set up such an elaborate protection system that it even shuts off water when the alarm’s tripped, why isn’t there some alert sent by that alarm to the police, a security company, or even the building’s front desk?  The same question goes for the tripping of the fire alarm that sent the equivalent of buckets of water into the entire place without any sense from anyone (downstairs neighbor?) something’s seriously wrong up top here.  I guess you could argue that when Nemo dismantled the loud alarm response he somehow cut off any sending of a crisis signal to any intended recipient, but given the heating/cooling operations of the entire dwelling continued to operate (even if to far extremes with no way for our captive burglar to provide any control), I just can’t believe there was no outside agency being alerted to the thwarted-exit or the possible fire in the place.  Truly hermetically-sealed!  Damn!

 Yes, I know, if you take my complaint seriously enough then there may not be as much interest as I (and the filmmakers) would like for you to invest in this most fascinating (although emotionally-draining) film, but maybe you can just put my (major?) objection aside and watch it anyway because Dafoe provides a monumental performance (that’s saying a lot for someone who’s already given us a career of magnificent-caliber-acting) that continues to intensify as the narrative runs its course, making him an easy contender for me next spring for at least an Oscar Best Actor nomination, if not (depending on what else emerges this year) the actual award.  You’ve got to be superbly-skilled to carry any sort of (essentially) one-person show, which Dafoe clearly is in this instance as his character shows us how his fascination with art manifests itself as well in another aspect of the creative process as this distraught man uses every little thing at his disposal to find a way out of his unforeseen-prison.  Maybe another rationale for accepting what we’re presented with here while putting aside the concerns I’ve raised above is appreciating this story as what people in the cinema business refer to as “high concept,” where a certain unique premise is intended to give audiences an alternative to what we’ve come to expect in genre stories that dominate our screens, where rom-com situations usually always work out for the lead couple despite complications that arise, where hero warriors of various types triumph over local-to-universal-villainous-threats, where an underdog-sports-team shows how much heart they have even if they don’t emerge victorious in a major game.

 In “high concept” entities like Inside we get more-unique-situations where we aren’t sure where the plot will take us, but at least there’s the fascination of seeing something more-original, more-unlikely than what we’ve learned from past exposures or expectations (sometimes aspects of this even manifest in more-traditional-genre-movies, as [for me, at least] the basically-inexplicable, miniscule midi-chlorians in the Star Wars movies that exist in a person’s cells, with higher amounts of these things leading to stronger connections with the all-powerful Force).  Inside (as best we can overlook my noted objections) gives us a very unexpected story that mounts in intensity, clearly allowing us to understand the growing-horror experienced by Nemo as days drag by for him.  Animals don’t fare too well here either, as Nemo watches a pigeon fly through the netting around the balcony but slam into the glass door, ultimately dying as the equally-distraught-man watches; later, when his hunger is overwhelming him he eats a small tropical fish from an aquarium.  (Which brings up another plot consideration for me: If the penthouse owner is going to be away for so long, how does this fish get fed?  I don’t know of any device that would automatically dispense food for weeks, yet apparently no one was recruited to drop by occasionally for fish-duties or Nemo would have finally gotten his release, as he came in dressed in a maintenance uniform so he surely had a story ready to explain his surprising-presence.  Oh well, like I said, this is a “high concept” narrative requiring more than the usual “suspension of disbelief” to be properly appreciated, so don’t let my sour grapes spoil your attending to this fascinating film.)  An underlying theme amid all of this chaos is the relationship between art and life, both in Nemo’s personal preferences and in how what he ultimately learns from the art he encounters in the penthouse changes his perspective on life (in this vicious manner) explored in fine-but-concise-detail in this video (8:46; Spoilers) which also gives useful backstory on other art objects Nemo shares extended-time with, as he endures a literal hell-on-Earth-captivity.

Bottom Line Final Comments: With almost-simultaneous-opening dates across the Atlantic in Greece, Belgium, and Germany, Inside made its domestic (U.S.-Canada) debut on March 17, 2023, but obviously never made much impact at the box-office with total global revenues of only about $897 thousand; you won’t find much enthusiasm from the CCAL either, with Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 62%, the Metacritic average score in OCCU territory at 53%.  However, if I’ve given enough reasons to consider watching Inside you’ll have to turn to streaming where Amazon Prime Video subscribers get it free while $5.99 rental options exist at Amazon Prime (I guess for non-subscribers), Apple TV+, Vudu, etc.  If you need further incentive to watch Inside you might consult Katie Walsh in the Los Angeles Times where she says: “Katsoupis poses these probing and provocative questions about humanity but doesn’t offer any clear answers or messages. Rather, he lets his muse, Dafoe, simply inhabit this harrowing journey with his strange magnetism and sense of timelessness, in a performance that is simultaneously primitive and transcendent. Nemo becomes a figure straight out of Greek mythology, reckoning with the forces of creation and destruction, but it’s unclear whether he’s Sisyphus, Prometheus or perhaps even Icarus.”  Nevertheless, there are others who encourage you to just stay away, such as Murtada Elfadi of Variety who writes: “With this premise, there’s ultimately no place to go. As the story unfolds, the audience feels as stuck as Nemo, with no escape in sight. The film has exhausted both the premise and its leading man’s capabilities, while the audience has grown tired of pondering whatever themes it purports to examine. It’s time to part ways, and yet the images keep flickering on screen and the film keeps going. ‘Inside’ has an intriguing premise and an actor who makes whatever’s thrown at him intriguingly watchable. What it lacks is sufficient sense of who this character is, and a resonant enough narrative to justify being locked up together.”  You'll find other such clashes quite frequently.

 So, I’ll leave it up to you as to whether to seek out Inside or not, with my opinion it’s worth your time (and a small fee if needed) for what it presents on the screen, regardless of my hesitation to rate it just a bit higher due to my (possibly irrelevant) demands of plausibility within a fictional scenario.  Getting away from plausibility entirely into a realm of surrealism for my standard end-of-review-tactic of a Musical Metaphor I’ll go with Bob Dylan’s “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” (on his 1966 Blonde on Blonde album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kh6K_-a0c4 with its combination of a person trapped somewhere not desirable (“But deep inside my heart / I know there’s no escape”), ultimately haunted by unnerving-visions (“Waiting to find out what price / You have to pay to get out of / Going through all these things twice”).  Nemo’s experiences don’t precisely parallel what happens in Dylan’s song, but neither situation's likely appealing for the vast majority of us, so lets be content in letting somebody else confront all these demanding experiences.

           

SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)

              

                         Cassandro (Roger Ross Williams)

                                        rated R   99 min.

Here’s the trailer:

       Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.

 This is generally a biopic about a famous lucha libre Mexican-American professional wrestler—whose approach to these sports-entertainment-displays had developed in Mexico featuring lots of acrobatic movement, most of the participants wearing masks*—although some minor liberties are taken for usual dramatic purposes.  Cassandro is the ring name of Saúl Armendáriz, a gay native of El Paso, TX who, especially in the 1980s-‘90s (but continued to wrestle until 2013, retired due to medical conditions), made a big name for himself.  There’s much more about him if you like in this documentary, Cassandro, the Exotico! (Marie Losier, 2018, 73 min.), which is free on Pluto and Tubi, rents for $3.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu (RT rates it as 85% positive reviews [though just 13 of them]; MC says 76% average score, yet based on a mere 5 positives**); or, if you prefer, here’s  a short video (13:02 [ad interrupts at 5:00]) about Armendáriz in Spanish with English subtitles, along with a fact vs. fiction account of how this current Williams feature matches reality.

*In recent decades some have made a name for themselves in U.S. pro wrestling, such as in World Wrestling Entertainment; the one I knew best back when I paid attention to WWE matches was Rey Mysterio who apparently is still active, currently reigning as the United States Champion (although WWE titleholders can fluctuate on a frequent basis).  Way back in the 1960s when I first became fascinated with TV wrestling from Houston, TX some famous luchadores were the tag-team of Torbellino Blanco (White Tornado) and Ciclón Negro (Black Cyclone), both winners of many titles.

**Once again I’m befuddled by how MC comes up with their numbers because 4 of those 5 are listed as 80, the other at 63 yet none of the reviewers use any numerical ratings system, such as 3 of 4 stars, etc. so these numbers are just being assigned arbitrarily by MC staffers, which makes me a bit dubious about their veracity.  Although, similarly the RT scores are based on a simple “yes/no” binary with those results often, in my opinion, a choice by a staffer more so that what’s in the review.

 Returning fully, then, to the subject at hand we have the docudrama Cassandro, where the fame-hungry-protagonist is played spectacularly in a physically-excruciating-manner (no matter how much choreography goes into these bouts, the toll on the bodies is all quite real) by Gael García Bernal as a young man frequently crossing the Rio Grande river into Juarez, Mexico to wrestle as the masked El Topo, consistently losing his matches (there’s no direct depiction here of scripted encounters, but you don’t need them to see how this small guy would regularly be beaten by brawnier opponents).  He meets Sabrina (Roberta Colindrez), a successful female wrestler, who agrees to be his trainer, finally encourages him to unmask, take on the role of an exótico, a man in drag, which he hesitates to do because they also always lose, yet he determines he’ll play the role but flip the script by winning, which he does gaining the support of the usually-homophobic-crowds so he becomes managed by Lorenzo (Joaquìn Cosìo), with financial success quickly growing, along with flirtation aimed at Lorenzo‘s assistant, Felipe (Bad Bunny), who tries not to abandon his hetero roots so Cassandro instead make a successful move on another wrestler, married (but closeted) Gerardo/El Comandante (Raúl Castillo).  Ultimately, Cassandro ends up in Mexico City facing the most popular luchador in the country, El Hijo del Santo (playing himself), the Son of the Saint (Dad also famous).

 ⇒Cassandro loses via submission, but not before he wins over the crowd by running up to the balcony, jumping off to be caught below by enthralled-spectators, carried back to the ring.  After the match, El Hijo celebrates him as well, later has him as a guest on his TV show.  Sad events come to Cassandro as supportive Mom Yocasta (Perla De La Rosa) dies; then the affair with Gerardo must end by his wife’s demand; he never fully reconciles with his harsh, religious father, not married to Mom but with a wife and other kids, cared not for this son when Saúl came out at 15; but Cassandro continues on in his career, beloved by audiences.⇐  While this film opened on September, 2023 in a select number of theaters I have no info on income so your best hope of finding it is streaming, free to subscribers of Amazon Prime Video; the CCAL would back you up on the effort with RT 92% positives, while the normally-less-enthusiastic MC average score is 76%.  I enjoyed it thoroughly—especially the marvelously-choreographed-visuals, the soulful-trumpet-soundtrack—found García Bernal’s presentation to be soul-stirring too, about a man who made it easy to pick my Musical Metaphor, “I Gotta Be Me” (written by Walter Marks in 1967 for the Broadway play Golden Rainbow [music, lyrics by Marks; book by Ernest Kinoy]), the Sammy Davis Jr. version, a big hit for him (1968 album named for the song) because while he’s not a gay Chicano, Davis Jr. had enough of his own social obstacles to overcome, which he did very successfully just like Armendáriz in his career.

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:   

Some options for your consideration: (1) The Writers' strike is over; (2) Details of the new WGA contract; and (3) Actors' union authorizes potential strike against video game companies.

 

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Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 26,816 (as always, we thank all of you for your ongoing support with our hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers); below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (with appreciation for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):

Short Takes on The Little Mermaid [2023], The Blackening, and a few other cinematic topics

Big Troubles Under the Sea and In the Woods

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, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be on the horizon.  (Note: Anything in bold blue [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)

 If you’re one of the 53,899 (according to Google’s latest tally) Two Guys readers (a big thanks to all of you) who clicked onto the site this month you may have read my review of Blow-Up posted last week so you’d know I was at my blabbering-best, with seemingly nothing more to say about that significant (for some of us) film; however, my friend and academic colleague, Frank P. Tomasulo (a guy who’s had a fabulous career in the realm of film history, theory, criticism, etc.; if you’re a member of LinkedIn you can go here for an extensive accounting of his accomplishments, but if not then this site, accessible to all, has an abbreviated version) came upon that review, then offered a couple of book chapters he’s written about Blow-Up for my interest, so I’m sharing them with all of you in case you’re not aware of them yet.  In the previous posting’s So What? section I quote Brendan Gill (in The New Yorker, 1966) who claims Blow-Up devolves to “imitation Hitchcock,” echoing what some others would say later in negatively comparing this Antonioni film to Hitch’s Rear Window (1954); in contrast, Dr. Tomasulo’s extensive study of those films draws very different (positive) conclusions which you can explore at either Academia.edu if you’re a member there or, if not, the same "Download or View in browser" options are also available at this Humanities Commons site.

 Then, there’s also his exploration of Modernist (some say “alienated”) acting in Blow-Up, which you might have access at Academia.edu or, if not there’s public access at ResearchGate; however, you do need to remember these are serious academic studies (unlike my ramblings here, although I did try to be more scholarly in my journal articles I cited in my Blow-Up posting) that will take a little time to read (but they flow easily, quite clear in their serious projects, unlike a lot of academic prose that revels in obscurities) as the former is 28 pp. long, the latter’s 32 pp., both well worth reading (the Notes at the end of each one are important too).  OK, that should close the book for now on Blow-Up, which in preparation and posting took a lot out of me last week, just as my reviews of Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987), Past Lives and Dalíland (Celine Song for the first one, then Mary Harron) did during the weeks before, so I’m taking it all a bit easier this time with relatively-shorter statements (as best I'm able to do so) on a couple of entertaining diversions (with below-the-surface-serious-commentary in the latter), so let’s just plunge ahead, starting with a colorful-deep-sea-dive.

          

SHORT TAKES (well, at least they were intended that way)

                  The Little Mermaid [2023] (Rob Marshall)

                                       rated PG   135 min.

Here’s the trailer:

        (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size; 

        activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)

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.

 This version of Disney’s The Little Mermaid is the latest offering in the studio’s long-evolving-project of remaking their animated classics into live-action adaptations (here's a list, beginning in 1994 with Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book [Stephen Sommers], with even more to come), although the ones I’ve seen do depend on varying degrees of Computer-Generated Imagery so animation of another sort continues to play a crucial role in these remakes (here’s a useful video on the subject [8:46] showing shots in original photography then enhanced with CGI in this new …Mermaid).  You probably know the foundational story by now: Mermaid princess Ariel (Halle Bailey) is fascinated with the surface world, wants to know more about it but is forbidden to do so by her father, King Triton (Javier Bardem), due to Ariel’s mother being killed by humans.  Still, she’s curious, comes to the surface anyway to rescue local Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) from a burning vessel, takes the unconscious man to shore, then swims away, leaving him desperate to find her again.  Ariel’s desperate too, so much so she’s seduced by her evil Aunt Ursula (Melissa McCarthy) to become human for 3 days in order to get love’s first kiss from Eric; however, to do so she has to become mute, with failure to kiss leaving her in Ursula’s power.  Eric becomes fascinated with her, but Ursula makes sure the kiss doesn’t happen, then takes the form of a beautiful woman who supposedly was the one to rescue Eric so he becomes convinced to marry her.  ⇒Ariel’s crab and bird friends (voices of Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina) discover the ruse, help Ariel interrupt the wedding, leading to a major confrontation with Ursula which results in Triton’s demise when he attempts to intervene.  Ultimately, Eric tries unsuccessfully to battle Ursula who grows to gigantic proportions but is killed when Ariel manages to ram a formerly-sunken-ship into her.  When all is stable again (Triton’s revived upon Ursula’s death), father accepts daughter’s desires, turns her again into a human so she can marry Eric as the newlyweds blissfully sail off on their honeymoon excursion.⇐

 While … Mermaid’s been in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters since May 26, 2023, it’s now down to a mere 45 of them—after making a tremendous haul of cash: $298.2 million domestically, $569.5 million worldwide (the 1989 animated feature pulled in $211.3 million globally [which, by one calculation I did would be $524 million today factoring for inflation, which still wouldn’t put it in the Top 200 worldwide even if you compared it to those listed based on their actual incomes—everything on that list came out after 1989 so when you’d adjust those for inflation as well the older … Mermaid would surely fall even farther behind]*)—it’s now most likely to be found via streaming where you can see it for free if you’re a Disney+ subscriber or, if you’re really anxious to watch, you can buy it for $19.99 at Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu, etc.  The CCAL would marginally-encourage you to do so as the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews now sit at 67%, while the Metacritic average score in 59% (not surprising, as they’re usually noticeably lower: just for comparison, the RT positives for the 1989 ... Mermaid were 91% while the long-ago-MC average score was 88%, so it’s clear that the critical community was more impressed with the original animated version).

*For example (based on the closest illustrations I could easily find), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982) made $792.9 million worldwide after its various release/re-releases which, as of 2022, would make it #7 on the All-Time-Inflation-Adjusted-List with an estimated 2.8 billion globally in 2022 dollars, so I’d say the 1989 … Mermaid’s inflation-adjustment up to $524 million would still be left in dust by the mammoth-impact #1 Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939), whose adjusted gross is now estimated at $4.2 billion.  But, regarding more-recent-examples, we see that Avatar (James Cameron, 2009) now has an inflation-adjustment up to $3.8 billion globally, based on actual worldwide receipts of $2.8 billion, so you can see how actual ticket prices have skyrocketed exponentially over the past few decades somewhat mirroring inflation-adjustments, leaving me to reminisce about $.50 evening prices back in 1966 high-school-days in Galveston, TX [well, a bit more if I also paid for a date and all the snacks, with meandering thoughts about "Wouldn't It Be Nice" if those evenings could be more permanent, with no awareness of the realties of negotiation, compromise, and paying attention that goes into keeping a marriage stable—which my second one has been for 33 years to marvelous Nina Kindblad, largely because of her tolerance of my shortcomings—let's not bother about the first one, OK?]).  I just hope Ariel and Eric find ways to address their differences along with mutual connections, despite their vastly different backgrounds.

 If I could better remember what I saw back in 1989 (or take time to re-watch the original version, which I doubt I will) I might be easily persuaded to laud the earlier Disney version of this long-ago-Hans Christian Andersen tale as the CCAL has done, with both approaches by Disney being more uplifting for me than the long-ago (1836) original (just as my visit to Copenhagen resulted in a much-longer-walk than the tour-book-map indicted to reach the harbor for a little statue of the mermaid, a most unimpressive result after such a hike).  So, all-in-all, this new version of The Little Mermaid is a pleasant enough diversion (lots of marvelous imagery plus a return to some of the catchy-music which so-well-enhanced the original Disney classic, the Oscar-winning-Original Score composed by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman, with Menken back to score a few new tunes with lyrics by Lin-Manual Miranda), but for me it runs a little long, although the added action sequences on the sea are quite impressive, just as Ursula’s final transformation into a monstrously-huge-sea-creature is a scary sight, maybe a bit unsettling for the youngest members of the audience.  As you might know, I try to conclude each review with a Musical Metaphor that speaks aurally to what’s been previously discussed, so in this case I’ll turn to the movie’s soundtrack for the wonderfully-rhythmic “Under the Sea” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbv_huklr5E as Ariel and Sebastian celebrate the world they know, with the crab ultimately arguing to the mermaid there’s nothing in the surface world that could surpass where they live; admittedly, she finally chooses land over water (Is that a Spoiler? Do you truly not have any connection with the older Disney movie?), but ultimately this story is also out to celebrate life under the sea, especially with this Oscar-winning-Original Song (1989 movie).  Just for comparison, however, here’s the same scene from 1989, so feel free to keep singing along.

         

          The Blackening (Tim Story)   rated R   97 min.

         

Here’s the trailer:

       Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.

 College friends apart for years plan a Juneteenth-getaway-weekend at a cabin in the woods.  Morgan (Yvonne Orji) and Shawn (Jay Pharoah) come a day early, find a board game called “The Blackening” in a back room; suddenly lights go out, an intimidating voice commands they play, Shawn answers a question wrong, dies from a crossbow arrow as Morgan’s dragged away.  The 6 others arrive later, a little tension in the group augmented by inclusion of Clifton (Jermaine Fowler), says Morgan invited him.  Ultimately, they stumble onto “The Blackening” game, must correctly answer 10 questions to save Morgan, but fail due to an arguable-gamemaster-decision.  Still, they can save themselves by offering up “the Blackest,” although that becomes Clifton, who admits he’s the least Black there but is killed anyway.  Locked doors open allowing the others to run until they encounter Ranger White (Diedrich Bader) who tries to offer help but is killed too.  ⇒Ultimately, the potential-victims kill 2 White assassins (wearing black leather masks), but learn Clifton’s not dead, he’s the mastermind behind the plot seeking revenge for how he was judged by them in college, leading to his drunken killing of a woman with his car, years in jail.  He intends to finish off all of them, but they rebel, killing him instead.  Next morning they hesitate to call the cops, decide to call the fire department, but as they wait outside they’re all drenched with a firehose⇐ (reminds me of the end of Night of the Living Dead [George A. Romano, 1968] where the only survivor of a zombie attack, a Black man, is killed the next day by a hunter-patrol, mistaking him for one of the monsters).

 The Blackening was released domestically June 16, 2023 (Friday before the Juneteenth holiday), has pulled in $17.7 million domestically now, a bit more internationally, global total of $18.2 million, but since then seems to have disappeared from theaters so you’ll need streaming where there’s a $5.99 rental at Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu, etc.  The CCAL generally encourages you to do so with RT positive reviews at 87%, MC average score of 67%.  I’m more in line with the MC response as my 3½ stars of 5 is 70%, but, despite embraces from these critics’ collectives, where I see from scanning the reviews most of those aren’t by People of Color (some are), I’ll admit as a OWMTNTBAH (Old White Man Trying Not To Be A Honky)* I’m seemingly not tuned in enough to the nuances of the content to fully connect with it, or maybe I’m just not as “woke” as my colleagues are.

*Taking my cue from Richard Pryor in this NBC TV Saturday Night Live skit from 1975 where Pryor’s interviewed by Chevy Chase for a job, must take a word association test.  But I’m also aware of media-presented-allusions to discord among the Black communities in the U.S. which has been going on for decades now, as with this clip from Cotton Comes to Harlem (Ossie Davis, 1970) where Godfrey Cambridge’s cop character frequently asks of others: “Is that Black enough for you?”

 I enjoyed The Blackening but don’t feel I’m fully appreciating it as much as others might (especially many African-Americans); yet, this video (37:12 [ads interrupt at 7:45, 16:30, 26:50—out of curiosity I went back and checked, found no ads barging in, so I guess they only occur the first time you watch something on YouTube?]) presents us with the opinions of one Black woman who comments on aspects of an abbreviated version of the movie, with her ultimate approval of what she saw even though she notes a 70% (7 of 10 for her) rating, so at least I’m in some good mutual company.  Anyway, I think anyone’d find plenty to be amused by in The Blackening, plus you can test your knowledge of (or learn from) the specifics of a culture not from the White mainstream as the game voice asks its deadly questions (I’d have quickly been shot) and you can get a solid taste of how so many people feel about how they’re regarded by that White mainstream if you'll attend to the undercurrents in the dialogue/situations (such as the movie’s tag-line referring to a common trope in so many slasher movies, because this time with an almost-all-Black-cast, “We Can’t All Die First”).**

 But, we can all sing first (I guess sing along, actually) as I wrap this up with my Musical Metaphor of “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians (from their 1966 album named for the song) at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=R7uC5m-IRns as I believe it successfully captures Clifton’s fury toward his former friends: “You’re way on top now / Since you left me / You’re always laughin’ / Way down at me / But watch out now […] I’m gonna put you / Way down here / And you’ll start cryin’ / 96 tears.”  I suppose if it weren’t for my OWMTNTBAH-reality I might have been able to come up with something equally-relevant from a Black group, yet this is me so I hope you’re OK with it (or could suggest something else).  But, in an attempt to give additional recognition to minority presence in the music this week after “Under the Sea,” let me at least give you one more version of “96 Tears” from the Texas Tornadoes where Chicano superstars Freddie Fender and Flaco Jiménez join with Doug Sahm and Augie Meyers for yet another rousing rendition of this song. Is that diverse enough for ya?

**Had The Blackening not been produced/released in near-parallel with the new version of The Little Mermaid these filmmakers might have made some appropriate comments on the objections raised about Halle Bailey's starring role just because she’s Black (I didn’t note this in my review above due to my firm feeling that it has nothing to do with the quality of the movie)—an idiotic response to a casting decision on the same level as the macho rejections of remaking Ghostbusters (Paul Feig; review in our July 20, 2016 posting) with a predominantly-female-cast.  At least the wingnuts behind these previous protests haven’t found reason to complain much about the scarcity of Whites in The Blackening (although 2 of the 3 we do see are heartless killers, even as the other is 1 of the victims).

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

Some options on today's cinema you might want to delve into with some detail: (1) What we lose when streaming companies determine what we can watch; (2) Is Barbie an Original or an Adapted Screenplay?; (3) Barbie is now #11 on the All-Time Domestic Top-Grossing List.

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