Short Takes on LaRoy, Texas, Girl Upstairs, and some various other cinematic topics

Extremely Troubled Relationships

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 song’s name)

As with our posting of April 10, 2024, this week has been busier than I anticipated so the reviews will have to be abbreviated.  With LaRoy, Texas I was able to keep to my intentions of focusing on actual 2024 releases, but with Girl Upstairs (just like with Nobody Is Crazy [Federico J. Arlioni] in that previous posting) I’m back to something that was made in 2019; however, it’s also another special request from an independent filmmaker for a review which I was happy to oblige given the fine quality of the work. (But, indie folks, please don't storm the Two Guys site; we can't do this too often.)

             

SHORT TAKES

        

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.

                              LaRoy, Texas (Shane Atkinson)

                                          Not Rated  112 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.)

 This tale takes place in a (fictional) small Texas town where we first meet Harry (Dylan Baker) killing someone, then struggling private investigator Skip (Steve Zahn)—constantly harassed by the local cops because he doesn’t have a badge—tells Ray (John Magaro)—who runs a hardware store with his brother, Junior (Matthew Del Negro)—that while he was on a stake-out at a local motel he took some photos of Ray’s wife, Stacy-Lynn (Megan Stevenson), who seemed to be there for an affair; Ray tries his best to deny this but knows Stacy-Lynn’s lately showing little interest in him, especially because he can’t help her get a massive loan to open a beauty parlor.*  Despondent Ray buys a pistol, drives to that motel one night, is about to kill himself when a stranger (we later learn he’s Brian Tiller [Brannon Cross]), gets in his car, mistakes him for an arranged hitman (Harry, of course), gives him several thousand dollars and the address of an intended victim, insists the kill must be tomorrow.

 Ray’s horrified by all this but goes on the job anyway (as he drives away from the motel Harry pulls up, has no idea what happened to his mysterious contact) in order to collect enough for Stacy-Lynn’s salon, trails the guy the next day and night to a bar, but the man (lawyer James Barlow [Vic Browder]) surprises Ray, knocks him out.  When Ray comes to they get into a scuffle, Ray accidently kills him, dumps the body by the road in the countryside but mistakenly drops a Stacy-Lynn photo (from Skip) there so the cops take her in for questioning next day, after they find the body, but release her.  (On the night before, Ray stopped at Junior’s but he wasn’t home; Junior’s disgusted wife, Kayla [Emily Pendergast], tells him Stacy-Lynn’s affair is with Junior).  By this point, Skip seems to be with Ray most of the time, is determined to solve the murder to enlarge his credibility with the law.  Meanwhile, Brian confronts Ray because when he went to clean out Barlow’s safe of $250,000 he found it empty, thinks Ray’s got the cash, gives him a day to return it.  When Ray and Skip go to Barlow’s office they intimidate an employee (Skip keeps waterboarding him in a toilet) to learn Barlow was aiding client Adam Ledoux (Brad Leland), car dealership owner, in paying off a blackmailing demand 9f $250K due to an affair.  Harry meanwhile finds out Brian was his intended employer, demands cash from him, Brian has none so he’s killed in front of his wife, Angie (Galadriel Stineman)—who’d been involved with separate scams (Brian, Adam) regarding the missing money.

*She once won a beauty contest (still has the crown) and now Stacy-Linn's convinced she could aid others in enhancing their appeal, reminds me of a line from Paul Simon’s "Was a Sunny Day" (1973 There Goes Rhymin’ Simon album):  “She was a high school queen / With really noting left to lose.” 

 Ray suddenly realizes Barlow had a briefcase when he was being tailed but didn't take it into the bar so it’s probably still in his (impounded by now) car; Ray and Skip find the briefcase, Skip wants to take it to the cops to further his image, but Ray keeps it for Stacy-Linn’s beauty parlor (he still hasn’t given up on her).  But when he finds his wife and Junior (who’s been embezzling money from their store for a long time) at his home he finds out they’ve informed the police about Barlow’s killer, so they show up, arrest Ray.  However, on the way to the jail Harry stops them, kills both cops, but Ray slips away, finds Junior and Stacy-Linn (and the money) at a motel, surprises the intended-escapees in the shower, shoots Junior, tells his wife he wants a divorce so she leaves.  ⇒Then Harry calls Ray, says he has Skip, wants the money, so they’re on the way to the motel.  When he arrives, though, Ray refuses to hand over the briefcase, gunfire’s exchanged, Ray convinces Skip to run away with the cash (to give to the cops, finally earning their respect) with it clear both Ray and Harry will soon die from abdominal wounds.  As it all ends, Skip slows down to give Stacy-Linn a ride which she decides to accept.⇐  At the start of Blood Simple (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1984), E. Emmit Walsh’s character gives us some voiceover-narration: “Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else...that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here...you're on your own.”  Chilling words, indeed, yet true all too often in the Lone Star state.

 Those thoughts not only set the proper tone for the Coen brothers’ cinematic debut, they also resonate well with the events of LaRoy …, especially with this current film having clear overtones with not only Blood Simple but also aspects of Fargo (Coens, 1996), Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974), and North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959), maybe others that I don’t recall right now.  Therefore, a needed question about rating this current film arises regarding holding back a bit because the impact here is too derivative of the various references I’ve just noted (especially the Coens’ overall body of work, as you could easily mistake this one for part of their output, or at least one of the TV series that have spun off from the original Fargo in recent years) or praising what’s on screen as an example of filmmakers learning so well from their influences that they’re produced something notable on their own (with Atkinson as screenwriter too).  Ultimately, I went with the second option, as does the CCAL with 39 current reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes who're 100% positive, although, for those who don’t agree they can always turn to Metacritic where the average score is just 68% (but based on only 6 reviews; you might check later to see if any of this changes).

 So if what you’ve read here or at either of those critics’ sites intrigues you to seek out this lives-of-misery film—which has a lot of morbid humor in it, along with consistently-effective acting, especially from Zahn, though Magaro’s on-target with his Sad Sack-persona—you’ll find it on streaming where in 4K quality you can rent it for $6.99 from AppleTV+ or Vudu, in HD you can also get it from those sources plus Amazon Prime Video and Spectrum, which I encourage you to do from whichever platform you prefer, if the body count doesn’t turn you off to the experience (even there, though, the deaths are handled in a modified manner, no gory homicidal actions).  I suppose one last aspect of this film could have put me off more than it did, and that’s the reality it’s set in Texas (my former home state, which can deport many of its politicians to Mexico and let the legitimate asylum-seekers keep crossing the border as far as I’m concerned, although I’m sure many I still know in Texas would respond to that idea by sending me down south of the Rio Grande) but shot somewhere around Albuquerque; yet, I’ll admit there’s much of eastern NM that looks a lot like what you’d find over the border into the panhandle of Texas, so I won’t complain there either.  Instead, I’ll just finish with my usual tactic of a Musical Metaphor which in this case is a song I heard a lot back in Austin in the mid-1970s, one that connects with the C&W tunes on LaRoy …’s soundtrack and focuses, like the film, on miserable lives offering scant hope for improvement.  What I’m talking about is David Allan Coe singing “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” (written while drunk by Steve Goodman, John Prine [although Prine asked to not be connected to it; none of these guys are from Texas, but so what?]; Coe’s version’s on his 1975 Once Upon a Rhyme album) at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=s4pZFsEdP3Y.  Even if you just read about what goes on in this film, I think you’ll find  compatibilities with this mournful song (or at least better understand what sick tastes I usually have).

     Girl Upstairs (Kevin Stevenson)   PG-13   91 min.

Here’s the trailer:

 Based on info sent to me from the director in his request for a Two Guys review, this film (also referred to as A Girl Upstairs)  was completed in 2019 (end credits show a 2022 copyright, needed for international festivals), but I’m considering it a current release because it’s just coming to other festival competitions and streaming, currently on Tubi for free (ads will likely interrupt, though), then soon you’ll find it on other platforms; given that, you’ll just have to trust my response because you won’t yet find anything on Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, or IMDb, but very soon you’ll likely have further access to it on those sites as well as streaming so check JustWatch for the particulars on where and how much.  In the meantime, I’ll tell you what I found in this most unique, fascinating film.  It’s focused on Dulce (Holly Blair), a young woman with a severe case of agoraphobia, which we later learn is brought on by the horrible experience when she was a child making chalk drawings on the sidewalk outside her home, then was suddenly abducted, mostly kept in a car trunk (although we see one shot where the trunk is burning) until she was rescued; she never saw the face of her abductor so she became fearful of whatever might be lurking in the world around her, withdrawing to her closet or under her bed, until now where she never leaves her apartment/studio where she apparently supports herself through her paintings, handled by telephone with an art dealer, Gianna.

 Early on in this story, she gets a delivery from Gianna (I guess Dulce also has food delivered, as she never leaves her secured dwelling, seems to eat a lot of pasta) with some vellum (normally a writing material made from animal skin) for the artist to paint on (when she’s not having troubling dreams, while also mildly choking herself).  Dulce has a vicarious interest in her downstairs neighbor, Benji (Gustavo Cintra), whom she spies on through a peephole in her wall, paints an Expressionist portrait of him,* along with constructing a “bed partner” from clothes and newspapers seemingly inspired by him, until she sees him with another woman so she slaps a lot of blue paint on his picture, goes to bed angry.  However, the portrait falls off the easel onto some of the vellum resulting next day in a nude young man in her apartment.  Initially, Dulce’s terrified but comes to accept her new companion who seems to have the mind of a child as she has to teach him some vocabulary, how to eat, etc.  Ultimately he becomes a bedtime “cuddle buddy,” yet it’s all platonic, no sex with this guy she decides to name Webster.  Then, we have faint overtones of Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935) as this odd man wants a companion more like him so Dulce takes the portrait of fictional Mimi she often talks to, pairs it with vellum, and—lo and behold—actual Mimi (Catt Bellamy) comes to life.

*Reminds me of Bob Dylan's self-portrait on the album cover of the same name (1970), a song-cluster he’s called a joke; critics generally dismissed it as did I, disappointed in its odd collection.

 However, Mimi has more of a personality, more independence, which soon leads to trouble because she wants to go down the stairs, out the front door to see what awaits her.  ⇒Dulce begs her not to go, confesses her fear of the world to Webster and Mimi in hopes they’ll understand why she just wants to live with them in isolation.  Mimi’s not convinced, though, so she takes action by setting fire to Webster’s portrait, which kills him, leaves Dulce in a state of hysteria.  In the next scene we see Dulce (without bangs, in a dress instead of her usual paint-stained overalls), go out into the sunlight, enter a coffee shop where Benji’s the barista, introduces herself as Mimi, so apparently the 2 women have merged.⇐**  This film is a marvelous blend of what in literature is called Magic Realism with a bit from the Psychological Horror genre added as well, topped off by a dramatic confrontation intended to purge ingrained, interior terrors.  Blair is terrific in her role which carries the whole film, while her castmates are equally effective with Cintra able to stay believable as an organic-entity without much inner substance (in that Dulce knew virtually nothing about Benji so she had little background to inspire her portrait) just as Bellamy in her few scenes creates more of a presence than Dolce ever intended (likely the result of talking to this portrait so frequently, sharing her inner thoughts which gave more of a personality to Mimi—yet, without the fears that so haunted Dulce); further, Dulce always signed her paintings with her own blood so that probably also helped bring aspects of her into her mysterious human creations.  The cinematography is effective as well (also by Stevenson), with lots of well-framed closeups and mid-shots constantly giving a sense of extension, even within the confines of Dulce’s marginal dwelling.  Finally, speaking as a former painter (BFA, U of Texas at Austin, 1970) I had lovely sensual memories from those shots of globs of paints on Dulce’s full palette, making me wish it hadn’t been so long since I’ve put a brush to canvas.

**I have no assumption that director Stevenson nor screenwriter John Gee have any connection to this, but I can’t help but think of another fascinating tale of transferred identities, the short story "Axolotl" by a brilliant Argentine writer, Julio Cortázar, first published in his book Final de juego (1956), translated into English as End of the Game and Other Stories (1967), which also contained the tale inspiring Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966; after-the-fact review in our September 14, 2023 posting) with the book title later changed to Blow-Up and Other Stories (1985).  Nor do I think the team behind Girl … intends any reverse-allusion to the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde, 1891), although such a consideration is something so interesting to contemplate.

 And—one last off-screen element here—this is an astounding cinematic result from a tiny $8,000 production/post-production investment (info supplied by Stevenson); over those years when I haven’t been painting I’ve seen hundreds of movies that don’t work as well as this one in its tight impact (running time feels just right), despite those others costing enormous sums more than Girl Upstairs, so keep an eye on JustWatch to learn how you can also take advantage of seeing this stunning work.  As usual, I’ll close with a Musical Metaphor (which may seem a bit silly considering the seriousness of this film, yet it still works for me), the Beach Boys’ “In My Room,” (on their 1963 Surfer Girl album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3OuxCbFrEw where Dulce also can be somewhat secure, “lock out all [her] worries and [her] fears […] do [her] crying and [her] sighing,” although she hasn’t been able to “Laugh at yesterday” until Mimi enters her closed world.  I hope you’ll join me in appreciating the enormous struggles Dulce must endure which ultimately lead her to a resolution she never would have imagined (but I’m glad some worthy filmmakers did, as they’ve constructed a consistently-creepy atmosphere with haunting aspects, in both the images and music).

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:   

Options for you: (1) Updated 2025 Oscar rules; (2) Quentin Tarantino won't direct The Movie Critic as his finale (3) Universal and Rotten Tomatoes partner for "Seen on Screen" podcast.

We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll to the bottom of this Summary page to see additional info about your wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list).  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 (yes?) please visit our Facebook page.  We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!  Please also note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow register with us there in order to comment (FB procedures: frequently perplexing mysteries for us aged farts).

*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.

If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here at the blog please 

use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.

            

OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.

        

Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 14,425 (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):

Drive-Away Dolls plus Short Takes on various other cinematic topics of possible interest

SNAFU: A Normal Coen Brother’s Story

(SNAFU’s military shorthand for “Situation Normal All F****d-Up”; the next level after that

is FUBAR which means “F****d Up Beyond All Recognition.”)

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 song’s name)

      Drive-Away Dolls (Ethan Coen)  rated R  84 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: This movie is set in 1999 Philadelphia just before the dawn of what many considered to be the new millennium in 2000 (precisionists insist it didn’t start until 2001 due to there being no year 0, just year 1, when this record-keeping began), with the first scenes of a distraught man, Santos (Pedro Pascal), in a bar clutching a metal briefcase.  He leaves but is followed by the bartender who catches him in an alley, kills him (we later find out he was decapitated).  In the parallel scenario of this narrative we’re introduced to Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) and Jamie (Margaret Qualley) who’ve just broken up due to Jamie’s frequent infidelity (apparently, she never lets an opportunity for another orgasm pass her by).  Jamie the extrovert then learns her close friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), the introvert, is headed to Tallahassee, FL to visit her aunt and go birdwatching.  Jamie insists on tagging along, so they rent a car from Curlie’s (Bill Camp) Drive-Away service where you can just travel one way, drop the car off at your destination, not bother returning it to Philly.  The only problem is that the car they take was intended for some thugs—Arliss (Joey Slotnick), Flint (C.J. Wilson), and Chief (Colman Domingo)—who do great bodily damage to Curlie (surprisingly, they don’t kill him) but still can’t find any avenue for learning what route these women will be taking to FL.

 Now, about that trip: Marian, of course, wants to go straight to Tallahassee, but Jamie keeps insisting they re-route to various famous lesbian bars along the way both for her own delight and in an attempt to get Marian laid (sadly for her, hasn’t happened for several years) to try to loosen her up somewhat, get her interested in doing something besides reading Henry James’ The Europeans (1878).  As they go about their diversions, in Marietta, GA they encounter a women’s soccer team (with all of them apparently lesbian) which leads to a hook-up for Jamie while Marion just grumbles off to the motel lobby to keep reading her book.  When our travelers finally get to FL, they’re stopped by a flat tire so they open the trunk to surprisingly find Santos’ briefcase along with his severed head in a bowl of dry ice or liquid nitrogen; when they open the briefcase they find it contains several dildos made from the casts of various men’s penises, so Jamie’s overjoyed.  Arliss and Flint have been clumsily-trying to track our protagonists, finally get a lead when they learn about the GA motel through Jamie’s use of her credit card.  Meanwhile, Jamie’s determined Marion needs to have sex so she initiates it, much to Marion’s delight (we also get a flashback of young Marion peeking through a hole in a fence at a woman in a bathing suit lounging by a pool); later, Jamie uses a dildo on herself.

 Just as she finishes, though, the 2 thugs burst into her hotel room having figured out where Jamie and Marion are staying, retrieve their missing items, abduct Jamie and Marion, take them (tied up) to the back room of a dog racing track where they’re joined by Chief who explains the dildos are from notable public men including Senator Gary Channel, who’s fearful of his reputation being ruined if anyone finds out about his penis-likeness (that’s the one Jamie used) so he’s willing to pay a ransom to keep it all quiet (hmm, sounds strangely similar to a criminal trial going on in NYC right now).  The usual lack of honor among thieves, however, leads to an argument where Flint shoots his colleagues dead, runs away, leaving the women to somehow untie themselves, then contact Sen. Channel for their own ransom demand (Jamie also had earlier phoned Sukie, a Philly cop, about what they’d discovered in their trunk, offering her a chance for great recognition in solving whatever’s been going on so she’s on her way to Tallahassee as well).  ⇒Jamie and Marion meet Channel (Matt Damon) at a lesbian bar, give him his dildo in exchange for $1 million, but as they leave the bar Sukie shows up, Channel tries to kill them all, is shot by Sukie.  He survives, but news of his sordid life hits the media so his reputation’s ruined just as he feared.  Jamie and Marion then meet with Marion’s aunt where they tell her they’re off to MA where same-sex marriage is legal, but as they drive away from their hotel a bellhop races out to try to catch them because Jamie left a bag that contains 2 plaster casts Jamie had made (by uncredited Miley Cyrus as Tiffany Plastercaster) of Channel’s desired-dildo.⇐

So What? Well, what do you expect from a Coen brother’s movie (Ethan’s first fictional-feature directorial effort [previously did Jerry Lee Louis: Trouble in Mind documentary in 2022] without brother Joel [who also had a solo direction, The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021; review in our January 20, 2022 posting])—screenplay by Ethan and his wife, Tricia Cooke—where you find a beheading, lesbian sex, and a bunch of dildos in a tale played as a comedy?  I assume you wouldn’t expect anything in the vein of a traditional romance like the famous Love Story (Arthur Hiller, 1970), although maybe the tag line for this current movie should be something like “Obvious opportunities mean you never have to say you’re horny.”  In typical Coen fashion we also get unexpected interludes at times of wavy psychedelic imagery that seems to have wandered into this pre-millennium era from 30 years earlier, along with odd acts such as Jamie spray-painting “Love is a sleigh ride to Hell” on the trunk of the rental car, knowing full well that would result in some sort of fine whenever they finally deliver the car to wherever badly-beaten Curlie might tell them to go next.

 For that matter, I understand how Curlie was confused when the women showed up at his establishment to pick up a car for Tallahassee after such a reservation had been made previously by the crooks (I guess Sen. Channel was from FL, would most likely agree to meet there, otherwise why were Chief and his goons going to Tallahassee?), but why did the crooks apparently go to Curlie’s place previously to put the briefcase in that specific trunk?  Along that line of inquiry, why was Santos’ head part of the deal?  I realize this is not the type of movie where you expect to get clarity on such questions, but generally speaking when Ethan works with his brother I don’t find myself making such fundamental inquires when the end credits roll.  Nevertheless, there are plenty of laughs in … Dolls (originally conceived as Drive-Away Dykes, but that seems to have produced marketing hesitations)—even if some are rather macabre—with the overall absurd situation obviously intended to be taken at face value just so one odd event could find a way to lead to the next.  I can see why there could be numerous reasons why various potential viewers could say quickly from the plot description that this is a movie to avoid (a good number of critics have made that decision already after having seen it), but overall I found it pleasantly quirky (and somewhat grotesque in that odd, familiar Coen manner) enough to recommend at least to consider watching it.

Bottom Line Final Comments: Some might say I painted myself into a corner by insisting I stop returning to 2023 releases in order to focus on 2024, if that means the best thing I could come up with is Drive-Away Dolls; this guy, Adam (6:05 video, Spoiler-free), certainly thinks so, calling it the “Worst Coen Movie Ever!” (with lots of comments agreeing with him), which I certainly don’t embrace, but I must admit there are plenty of reactions that have little support for Coen’s effort, with the CCAC heading toward OCCU territory as the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are just 63% while the Metacritic average score is unsurprisingly-lower at 56%.  Absolutely, … Dolls isn’t in the realm of such previous Coen successes as Blood Simple (1984, Joel Coen’s listed as director, but it’s known Ethan was the uncredited co-director [due to Directors Guild of America rules prohibiting co-directors until 2004] on all that I’m about to cite [except the last one where they’re both listed], just as Ethan says Cooke was his uncredited co-director [regarding Blood … though, Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic 1985 Sundance Film Festival, R.I.P. E. Emmet Walsh]), Raising Arizona (1987 [on Spike Lee's "Essential Films" list]), Barton Fink (1991 [Palme d’Or, Best Director, Best Actor—John Tuturro—at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival]), Fargo (1996 [Oscars for Best Original Screenplay—Coens—and Best Actress—Frances McDormand]), The Big Lebowski (1998 [2014 selection for the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress]), No Country for Old Men (2007 [Oscars for Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Adapted Screenplay for the Coens, Best Supporting Actor for Javier Bardem), and others, but I don’t find it nearly as useless as its harshest critics say it is, while again admitting the subject matter itself may be a turn-off for some audiences (excluding frequent lesbian sex, of course; not that there’s ever anything wrong with that).

 Drive-Away Dolls opened in domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters February 23, 2024, grossing about $5 million since (global $6.8 million), but you likely won’t find it on the big screen anymore, so if you’re interested you can explore streaming where you’ll find it’s free on Peacock Premium or rental for $19.99 on Google Play, YouTube (you can also buy it for that price from AppleTV+, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, or Vudu [at least that's the info on JustWatch today when I'm posting, but it was a bit different yesterday, so make what you will of this evolving (I guess) website, where its cluster of data is now considerably enhanced]; of course, when I looked it up last weekend it was only for sale on 3 of those platforms, so I’m now a proud [?] owner of it for more future viewings [?]).

 However, even if you’re not inspired to watch … Dolls (with some marvelous scenery-chewing acting by Qualley, able accompaniment from Viswanathan and Feldstein, an enjoyable cameo from Damon) you might make-do with my usual review finale, the Musical Metaphor, which in this case will be Ben E. King’s version of “Stand By Me” (written by him, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller; a hit for King in 1961, on his 1962 album Don’t Play That Song) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d Td2ylacYNU in honor of the growing relationship between Jamie and Marian as they come together (so to speak) during the course of the plot.  (This particular video was a promo for [what became the beloved film] Stand By Me [Rob Reiner, 1986]), about 4 pre-teen boys and the mysterious death of a friend, with 2 of the actors—River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton—also in the video [seemingly getting a little bromance going, which could also allude to a female version of such in … Dolls].)  Yet, this song’s been notably recorded by many others over the years, so in case you’d rather just listen to more versions of it rather than spend money on … Dolls I’ll give you a couple of them, first by John Lennon (on his 1975 Rock ‘n’ Roll album), then followed by Tracy Chapman (live 2015 performance on Late Show with David Letterman, included on her 2015 Greatest Hits album).  I see such lyrics as “If the sky that we look upon / Should tumble and fall / Or the mountains should crumble to the sea / I won’t cry, I won’t cry / No, I won’t shed a tear / Just as long as you stand, stand by me” as plausibly-reflecting (metaphorically, remember?) on what Jamie and Marion endured on their East Coast journey, with conclusions neither expected as these circumstances continued to intertwine their lives.

            

SHORT TAKES

             

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:   

Some options for you: (1) Writers Guild of America award winners are finally announced (see our March 7, 2024 posting for comparison to the Oscar nominees and winners where you will find some differences); (2) Top 10 highest-grossing horror movies; (3) 10 old Disney movies that have aged poorly (at least in this person’s opinion of their contents—click on the screen image to play the short video [1:55]; I thank my friend Barry Caine for connecting me to these latter two links).

We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll to the bottom of this Summary page to see additional info about your wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list).  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 (yes?) please visit our Facebook page.  We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!  Please also note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow register with us there in order to comment (FB procedures: frequently perplexing mysteries for us aged farts).

*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.

If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here at the blog please 

use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.

           

OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.

           

Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 14,425 (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 Joan Baez I Am A Noise, Nobody Is Crazy, and some other cinematic topics

Moving Actively Through the Years

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 song's name)

Similar to my situation regarding my previous posting (Freud's Last Session), once again I found myself last week with a good number of non-blog-activities so my comments here will be in Short Takes mode (but a with a couple of fine films), with no Spoiler alerts in the first review because it’s a documentary about a well-known subject; also, while I have a goal of focusing on 2024 releases that won’t happen this week either, but I intend to make that connection from here on out (maybe ...).

              

SHORT TAKES 

                             Joan Baez I Am A Noise

       (Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle;

                            2023)   rated R   113 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.)

 “Everyone has three lives: the public, the private, and the secret,” says the first graphic we see on screen.  When you watch a documentary about a person(s) you’d usually expect it to be like a biography where you’re given information on the subject, often with testimony from various others who knew/know about the film's focus.  In the case of … Noise it’s more like an autobiography (well, not fully; Baez isn’t the director here) as most of what we learn about her comes from contemporary interviews with this well-known singer/activist, born in 1941, now in her early 80s; passages from her diaries and audio tape cassette recordings over the years; old family photos and footage of her childhood with her parents, Albert Baez (died 2007) and Joan Chandos Bridge Baez (died 2013), sisters Pauline (born 1938, died 2016), Mimi (born 1945, died 2001—best known as the wife/musical partner of Richard Fariña) when they were Quakers as Joan faced discrimination/ isolation as a child due to her Mexican heritage from her father; concert footage and interviews from the early 1960s when she soon became known as the “Queen of Folk” (even made the cover of TIME magazine); footage of her singing with her early lover, Bob Dylan, then an interview with Dylan during his 1965 U.K. tour (captured in Don’t Look Back, D.A. Pennebaker, 1967) where he dismisses her as not a girlfriend, breaking her heart (captured marvelously in her "Diamonds & Rust" hit song, on her 1975 album of the same name [essentially revived her career at the time], with the great closing line “I’ve already paid”); then ongoing footage of her life and career since then, including marriage (1968-’73) to anti-war activist David Harris, which failed with her difficulty to maintain a close relationship (panic attacks), then more recent concerts as she continued to champion many social causes, although she retired from touring performances in 2019 (there’s also some footage of Pauline, obviously shot before she died, so this production’s been in progress for quite some time).*

                   

*One aspect of her irregular off-and-on connections with Dylan which didn’t make it into this doc is her joining him on his Rolling Thunder Revue concerts, 1975-‘76, which I saw in January 1976 at the Houston Astrodome as a benefit for jailed boxer Rubin “Hurricane “Carter, found guilty of murder in 1967 until his conviction was finally overturned in 1985.  Also on that bill were sets by Isaac Hayes and Stevie Wonder, while the Revue included Dylan, Baez, and a large group of others including Carlos Santana, Stephen Stills, and Ringo Starr; that was my only time seeing Baez live in concert.

 However, in addition to all of this musical chronology (with the more-recent interviews interspersed with aspects of all that earlier material, so we’re constantly moving from present to past, then back again) there’s lots of current discussion about the decades she’s spent in therapy, not only examining that lingering trauma of isolation—along with competition with her sisters, especially Mimi—but also accusations of being molested as a child by her father (and others), although there are recordings of him where he flatly rejects it despite Joan’s counter-statements that it happened, he was in denial about it at best.  These private revelations add an extensive dimension to a person I’ve known about, listened to, respected for many years without knowing of the ongoing turmoil in her life, so I find these additional, honest inclusions to bring greater depth to what could have been merely a sincere celebration of a respected, famous career in the public eye.  (Similarly, I got a lot of useful background insight into another of my favorite singers in another documentary I saw last year, Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind [Martha Kehoe and Joan Tosoni, 2019; review in our May 24, 2023 posting].  You could make a nice double-feature for yourself of two 20^th-century musical icons by viewing this one and … Lightfoot …, with the latter streaming for free on Amazon Prime Video and other platforms or a $3.99 rental from Apple TV+, etc.)  Joan Baez … is available on streaming where you can see it for free on Hulu (preceded by a few ads, then a few more about 20 min. in; seemed like there would be other interruptions but those were somehow skipped over when I saw it) or pay $4.99 for a rental from Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu, etc. if you wish.

 As with the Lightfoot film, your best experience with … Noise is watching it rather than reading about it so I’ll just close with a strong recommendation that you do so—the CCAL joins me as the Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews are at a delightfully-strong 96%, with the usually-more-hesitant Metacritic average score at 75%—leaving you with my usual finale of a Musical Metaphor, this time Joan Baez singing the traditional spiritual “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=OWkceywm9Co from her performance at the famous 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, an audio-only version of her entire song, connected here with a shortened video version (2:25) of that performance, probably from the magnificent Woodstock documentary (Michael Wadleigh, 1970).  This song captures the underpinnings of her social-justice-oriented life, still speaks to her sense of time spent as best she could in hopes it has inspired others to do such good likewise.

             

               Nobody Is Crazy (Federico J. Arioni, 2019)

                                    rated TV-PG   105 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.

 Normally, I wouldn’t review a film that’s been out for a few years (unless it was a re-release of something in my estimation of a 4½ or 5 stars-level classic), but Two Guys in the Dark is also a site where requests for reviews from independent filmmakers are taken seriously so when we have the time and space—and the film’s of the high quality that this one represents—we’re happy to accommodate these inquiries, as is the case with Nobody Is Crazy (a very clever title once you’ve got the full context of the film), so I thank director/screenwriter/actor (well-accomplished in all of these roles) Arioni for making me aware of his most-unique cinematic experience.  Set in Argentina (dialogue in Spanish, so, monolinguists, deal with the subtitles as it’s worth the effort), this story is about Rafael (Manuel Gutierrez)—often called Rafa—a 16-year-old with OCD who was orphaned, then adopted, but his new parents split up so he lives with his mother (Paula Arioni [sister of the director; further, Gutierrez is her son, several other relatives are also in minor roles, confirmed to me by Federico J., so this whole film is quite a family affair]) who’s tired of his inabilities to function in school so she’s ready to send him off to a military academy unless he can bring about some drastic changes (he’s already met with several psychologists but either tells them what they want to hear or ignores them completely), with a last attempt by joining a OCD self-help group.  After his initial session he meets Nobody (Arioni, the director)—Nadie in Spanish—who was supposed to be in the group that day but missed it, a young man in his early 20s who wears a mask and gloves, claims to be a time-traveler from the 1980s, says he’s been jumping around in various eras for the last 10 years through the magic of a guy called the Mute (Miguel Buteler), who appears without  prior notice.

 Soon, Rafa and Nobody are spending a lot of time together, with the latter constantly passing on attitudinal-wisdom in an effort to get his new friend to focus on the present, overcome his obsessions/insecurities; then they’re joined by Daria (Lara Ammi Wheeler) who takes an immediate liking to Nobody (later he says they’ve been interacting through his various time travels).  Rafa isn’t convinced Nobody is who he says he is, does some Internet research to find this strange—but highly-optimistic—man may be Lisandro (Juan Barceló), a frequent escapee from a local mental hospital (yet that’s not true, as he later meets Lisandro, who ultimately gives Rafa his own mask).  Rafa thinks Nobody may be delusional, but this upbeat stranger says everyone is crazy; he also says that, despite scenarios like what we see in Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985), the past, present, and future are all set, can’t be altered so that even if you did change something via time-travel you’d just be carrying out what’s predetermined.  ⇒As the story progresses (it seems to me to be an intentionally-ambiguous-manner, leaving it up to us to reach our own conclusions), Nobody implies that he’s actually an older version of Rafa, then Rafa encounters the Mute (who does talk), appears to initiate Rafa’s own time-travel adventures as he wakes up wearing a mask.⇐

  This is a fascinating film: we’re never really sure what’s up with Nobody—or Rafa for that matter, as maybe everything we’re seeing is a fantasy projection of his own muddled-mind—which gets us back to the title.  Maybe Nobody is insane or, conversely, none of us are despite the craziness that so often surrounds us, making us feel like we must have taken leave of our senses (watched any TV news lately?).  Nobody …’s been seen/won at film festivals for the last few years, but now you can watch it for free on Tubi TV, although you do have to put up with ads (1-3 or 1-6) roughly every 15 min. for the first hour, then just once more after that, although it’s also available on YouTube (I used Tubi, don’t know if this other site has any ads) or you can rent it from Amazon Prime VIdeo for $2.99 where you’re guaranteed to be commercial-free.  What you won’t find are the standard review clusters with no listing at MC, only 1 at RT, but that one's positive (9 of 10).  However, if you go to IMDb you’ll find 12 reviews (plus mine), all of which are supportive, some completely so, a few with minor reservations (I found the ones by Reba Chaisson and Gabriella Foor to be the most useful).  In addition to highly recommending Nobody …, I’ll leave you with an (assumed) appropriate Musical Metaphor, Jimmy Buffet’s “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” (from his 1977 album of the same name) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7JpxavO9NE providing these words of wisdom: “Nothing remains quite the same / With all of my running and all of my cunning / If I couldn’t laugh I just would go insane / If we couldn’t laugh we just would go insane / If we weren’t all crazy we would go insane.”  I think Nobody would agree, if for no other reason than how Buffet’s energetic performance here implies a kind of high emotional release Rafa so desperately needs within his life.

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:   

Just one option for you: (1) Broadcast date and nominations deadline are set for 2025 Oscars.

We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll to the bottom of this Summary page to see additional info about your wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list).  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 (yes?) please visit our Facebook page.  We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us!  Please also note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post.  You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow register with us at that site in order to do it (most FB procedures are still a perplexing mystery to us old farts).

*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.

If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here at the blog please 

use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.

            

OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.

           

Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 14,425 (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):