Cannes Film Review: The Mission (dir by Roland Joffe)

Posted on May 19, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(With this year’s Cannes Film Festival coming to a close, I figured that I would start of today by looking at some previous winners of the Palme d’Or. We start things off with 1986’s The Mission.)

The Mission opens with a man stoically plunging over a waterfall. That man is a priest who, in the 1740s, has been sent to convert the natives of the Paraguayan jungle to Christianity. The natives’ reaction to the priest’s arrival was to tie him to a wooden cross and send him over the falls. It’s an opening that perfectly captures one of the main themes of The Mission: the contrast between the beauty of nature and the savagery of man.

The majority of the film deals with two men. Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) is the Spanish Jesuit who replaces the martyred priest. Father Gabriel is a pacifist who manages to win the trust of the natives through a shared love of music. Gabriel plays the oboe and, when it is snatched away from him, reacts not with anger but with acceptance. With the help of Father John Fielding (Liam Neeson), Father Gabriel builds a mission and works to educate the natives. This brings him into conflict with the local plantation owners, the majority of whom just see the natives as being potential slaves.

That’s where Mendoza (Robert De Niro) comes in. A brutish and violent man, Mendoza makes his living kidnapping natives and selling them into slavery. When Mendoza discovers that his fiancée, Carlotta (Cherie Lunghi), has fallen in love with his younger brother, Felipe (Aidan Quinn), Mendoza snaps and, in a moment of anger, kills his brother. Seeking forgiveness for his violent past, Mendoza travels to Father Gabriel’s mission, dragging all of his armor and weaponry in a bundle behind him. When Mendoza finally reaches the mission, he is not only forgiven by the natives but he also eventually ends up becoming a Jesuit himself.

And, for a while, everything is perfect. That is until the Spanish turn over their land in South America to the Portuguese and the new colonials decide that having a mission around will make it a little bit too difficult to enslave the natives. When Father Gabriel is ordered to close the mission, he refuses to do so. He says that he will stay and that he is willing to be martyred if the Portuguese forces attack. Gabriel believes that violence is a sin against God. Mendoza, on the other hand, announces that he will stay and he is prepared to once again pick up weapons to defend the mission…

Dramatically, The Mission is uneven. While Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson are both believable and sympathetic as Father Gabriel and Father Fielding and fit right in with the film’s period setting, Robert De Niro seems miscast and out-of-place. As good an actor as De Niro is, he just doesn’t belong in the jungles of South America. Whenever he shows up or speaks, your mind immediately goes to New York City. The film tries to juggle so many theological and political issues that it can get a bit exhausting trying to keep up with it all. Watching the film, it was hard not to wish for a chance to see what a director like Werner Herzog or Terrence Malick would have done with the same material.

That said, The Mission is a visually impressive film, one that captures the beauty, the innocence, and the danger of the jungle. The scenes of both Gabriel and Mendoza climbing the waterfall are stunning to watch and, in the end, the film does have a sincere message about the ongoing fight for the rights of indigenous people. That counts for something.

The Mission received an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, though it lost to Platoon. It also won the Palme d’Or, beating out such films as After Hours, Down by Law, Mona Lisa, Runaway Train, and The Sacrifice.

4 Shots From 4 Films That Won The Palme d’Or: Wild At Heart, Barton Fink, The Piano, Pulp Fiction

Posted on May 19, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Shots from 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots from 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

All four of these films have one thing in common: they all won the Palme d’Or at Cannes!

4 Shots From 4 Films

Wild At Heart (1990, dir by David Lynch)

Barton Fink (1991, dir by the Coen Brothers)

The Piano (1993, dir by Jane Campion)

Pulp Fiction (1994, dir by Quentin Tarantino)

Film Review: Anonymous 616 (dir by Mike Boss)

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Anonymous 616 opens with the camera panning over a fairly upscale living room. It’s tastefully decorated, with a nice white couch and a coffee table and even a painting of the house’s owner. Unfortunately, all of the furniture and decorations are now splattered with blood.

It doesn’t take long to realize that we’re looking at the aftermath of something terrible. There are four people in the room. One is lying naked on the couch. One is slumped in a chair. Another has literally been nailed to the wall. One person wanders through the scene, in an apparent daze. Is that person a survivor or was that person the perpetrator?

The film flashes back to the hours before the massacre happened. The room is now clean and happy. Four friends are having a reunion. The owner of the house is Eric (David Abramsky), who is very proud of his possessions and his money. (The fact that Eric is so open and honest about his materialism makes him far more likable than you might originally expect.) Eric’s girlfriend is an artist named Monica (Lena Roma). She’s the one who painted the picture of Eric that decorates the living room. And then there’s Jason (Daniel Felix de Weldon) and his girlfriend, Jenna (Jessica Boss). Jason is in the Army and will soon be going to Iraq for his third tour of duty. Jason is proud of his service. He also proudly states that, unlike so many others, he’s never suffered from PTSD.

The reunion starts out friendly enough, though there’s an undercurrent of tension from the beginning. Whenever a group of characters all claim to be happy with their lives, you know that something bad is going to happen. While Monica’s 12 year-old daughter (Bella Shepard) relaxes in her room, the four adults talk. There are hints of dark secrets lurking in the past and flashes of paranoia. After passing around a joint, Eric explains that there’s a new drug, one that’s described as being like DMT with “an extra kick.” Everyone gives it a try.

And the reunion continues. One person steps into an office and finds an anonymous message waiting on a computer. “i’m the one who knows everything about u,” the message reads before suggesting that it’s time for the person to finally do what they truly want to do. “B like God!” the message reads. “Don’t deny your impulses for the next 4 minutes.”

Anoynmous 616 is a low-budget but effective horror film, one that will keep you guessing whether the messages are real or fake, supernatural or just a reflection of a drug-addled psychosis. The violence is bloody and disturbing but, at the same time, it’s not just violence for the sake of violence. There’s a lot of going on underneath the surface, much of which I can’t reveal without running the risk of spoiling the film. In the end, Anonymous 616 is about more than just blood. It’s about guilt, anger, repression, and betrayal. It’s a film that invites you to wonder how well you know your best friends. Well-directed and acted, It’s not always easy to watch (I had to avert my eyes during a scene involving a mallet) but it definitely makes an impression.

Anoynmous 616 is currently available from Amazon.

Here’s The Trailer For Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman!

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Earlier today, Spike Lee’s BlackkKlansman was screened at the Cannes Film Festival to enthusiastic reviews and a ten minute standing ovation.

Not coincidentally, the first trailer was released today as well. And here it is:

Amazingly enough, this film is based on a true story. In Colorado, an African-American cop named Ron Stallworth really did manage to not only infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan but also eventually became the head of the chapter. In the film, Stallworth is played by John David Washington, son of Denzel. His partner is played by Adam Driver, who seems to be destined to get an Oscar nomination at some point in the near future. And David Duke is played by Topher Grace, who has certainly come a long way since That 70s Show.

BlacKkKlansman is due to be released in August of this year. Both Awards Watch and Awards Circuit currently have it listed as a probable Oscar contender and, going by the initial reaction for Cannes, it very well may be.

Lisa Marie’s Too Early Oscar Predictions for May!

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

It’s time for me to post my monthly Oscar predictions!

As always, the usual caveats apply. It’s way too early for me to try to make any predictions. Most of the films listed below haven’t even been released (or screened) yet and it’s totally possible that a big contender might come out of nowhere in the fall. That seems to happen almost every year.

So, take these predictions with a grain of salt. These are my guesses. Some of them are based on instinct. Some of them are just there because I think it would be a really, really neat if that movie or performer was nominated. However, I will say this: I do think that if a comic book movie is ever nominated for best picture, it will be Black Panther.

(I actually preferred Avengers: Infinity War to Black Panther — sorry, Ryan — but, much like Get Out, Black Panther has gone beyond being a movie. It’s become a cultural signpost, in a way that Infinity War never will.)

The Cannes Film Festival is going on right now and one potential Oscar contender — Spike Lee’s BlackkKlansman — is due to make its debut in the upcoming days. Right now, I don’t have BlackkKlansman listed in my predictions, mostly because the Academy hasn’t exactly embraced Lee in the past. But I will be interested to see how Cannes reacts to the film.

(Check out my predictions for January, February, March, and April!)

Best Picture

At Eternity’s Gate

Black Panther

Boy Erased

First Man

If Beale Street Could Talk

Mary, Queen of Scots

The Other Side of the Wind

A Quiet Place

Widows

Wildfire

Best Director

Damien Chazelle for First Man

Ryan Coogler for Black Panther

Barry Jenkins for If Beale Street Could Talk

Steve McQueen for Widows

Josie Rourke for Mary, Queen of Scots

Best Actor

Steve Carell in Beautiful Boy

Willem DaFoe in At Eternity’s Gate

Ryan Gosling in First Man

Lucas Hedges in Boy Erased

Robert Redford in Old Man and the Gun

Best Actress

Viola Davis in Widows

Felicity Jones in On The Basis of Sex

Melissa McCarthy in Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Saoirse Ronan in Mary. Queen of Scots

Kristen Stewart in JT LeRoy

Best Supporting Actor

Russell Crowe in Boy Erased

Sam Elliott in A Star Is Born

Oscar Isaac in At Eternity’s Gate

Michael B. Jordan in Black Panther

Forest Whitaker in Burden

Best Supporting Actress

Claire Foy in First Man

Nicole Kidman in Boy Erased

Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk

Margot Robie in Mary, Queen of Scots

Sissy Spacek in Old Man And The Gun

4 Shots From 4 Sofia Coppola Films: Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette, Somewhere, The Beguiled

Posted on May 14, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is Sofia Coppola’s birthday!

Sofia Coppola has long been one of my favorite directors. Unfortunately, she’s also a director who is frequently misunderstood and underestimated. No one captures romantic ennui with quite the skill of Sofia Coppola. At the same time, she’s also shown a rare ability to make films that feel at home in both an art house and a commercial theater. If the MCU ever gets around to doing that Black Widow solo movie, I demand Sofia Coppola be hired to direct it.

This edition of 4 Shots From 4 Films is dedicated to her.

4 Shots From 4 Films

Lost in Translation (2003, dir by Sofia Coppola)

Marie Antoinette (2006, dir by Sofia Coppola)

Somewhere (2010, dir by Sofia Coppola)

The Beguiled (2017, dir by Sofia Coppola)

Cleaning Out The DVR: Party Mom (dir by Michael Feifer)

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(I recorded Party Mom off of the Lifetime Movie Network on March 30th.)

Party Mom tells the story of two moms who live in Los Angeles.

Jackie (Krista Allen) is a party mom! She has a nice house in Beverly Hills, where the party never ends. She’s always quick to point out that she looks young enough that she could pass for being Ashley’s sister instead of her mother. For her part, Ashley (Amber Frank) kinda wishes that her mother would be a little more traditional. Of course, Jackie’s usually too busy trying to get Ashley’s friends drunk to really worry about what her daughter wants.

Caroline (Megan Ward) is definitely not a party mom. Instead, she’s a hard-working, no-nonsense mom who lives in the Valley with her husband, Gary (Brian Krause), and her two daughters, Brittany (Elise Luthman) and Emma (Savannah Judy). Caroline just can’t understand today’s teenagers, with their social media and their iPhones and their lack of interest in hanging out with their boring parents. In Caroline’s day, teens would have loved a chance to spend a night watching TV and eating popcorn with mom and dad! Now, they just want to sneak out of the house and take selfies.

Brittany thinks that Jackie is the best, though Caroline isn’t quite sure that she wants her daughter hanging out in a mansion where all of the adults are just as stoned and drunk as the kids. Caroline even attempts to put her foot down and ground her daughter. Of course, that doesn’t really work. Instead, Brittany simply sneaks out of her bedroom window and heads for Beverly Hills!

Of course, since this is a Lifetime film, it all leads to the usual combination of underage drinking and tragedy. When Brittany and a group of drunk friends leave the mansion, a terrible car accident leaves only one survivor. Jackie finds herself on trial for involuntary manslaughter. Caroline and Gary are determined to see Jackie pay for being a party mom but Jackie’s rich enough to afford a slick attorney. In fact, Jackie doesn’t even seem to feel that bad about the car accident or almost anything that happens afterward. As she explains it, all of the tragedy is due to people from the Valley coming into Beverly Hills, where they don’t belong. It all leads to murder, arrests, and one final confrontation.

I liked Party Mom, largely because, in high school, my best friend’s mom was a party mom and watching this movie brought back a lot of memories. At the time, it was always fun going over to my friend’s house and literally getting to do anything that I wanted to do. Looking back now, of course, it’s easy to say that my friend’s mom was incredibly irresponsible and probably should have been forced to go on Dr. Phil or something. But, at the time, I was a lot like Brittany. I just thought it was cool that there was an adult around who refused to care what was being done in her house.

Krista Allen does a really good job in the role of Jackie, tearing through the film like an irresponsible, perpetually drunk tornado. She especially does well towards the end of the film, when Jackie really goes off the deep end. Like all good Lifetime film, the melodrama in Party Mom is over-the-top and we’re all the better for it.

What Lisa Watched Last Night #180: Mommy Be Mine (dir by Sean Olson)

Posted on May 12, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On Friday night, I watched the latest Lifetime premiere, Mommy Be Mine!

Why Was I Watching It?

Finally, I’m healthy again! After spending two freaking weeks getting my ass kicked by allergy season, I finally feel as if I can start writing about and reviewing movies again. Obviously, after being knocked out for two weeks, I’ve got a lot to get caught up on so I decided what better way to start than to watch the Friday premiere of the latest Lifetime film, Mommy Be Mine?

What Was It About?

It’s Cara’s (Sierra Pond) first day at school and she already has a friend! In fact, Cara has decided that Summer (Ava Locklear) is her best friend, despite the fact that 1) Cara has only known her for a day and 2) Summer already has a best friend, the wonderfully sarcastic Tori (Megan McGown).

Still, Cara is determined to not only make Summer like her but to also become a surrogate daughter to Cara’s mother, Lianne (Arianne Zucker). In fact, Cara even starts to call Lianne “mom.” Everyone agrees that’s kind of creepy but Cara seems like such a nice girl. I mean, it’s not like she’s actually a psychotic killer who has killed in the past and who is planning on killing again…

Or is she!?

What Worked?

Sierra Pond did a good job as the scheming psycho. It was obvious that she was having fun playing the role and, as a result, it was fun to watch her perform. As well, Arianne Zucker was sympathetic as the overprotective mother. When she finally snapped and told off Cara, it was a great moment.

What Did Not Work?

Usually, I have little trouble suspending my disbelief when it comes to a Lifetime film. Lifetime films are specifically designed to be melodramatic and just a little bit silly. That’s what makes them so much fun. If the characters didn’t always do the stupidest possible thing, the viewer would miss out on the fun of yelling, “Oh my God, you’re so stupid!”

That said, even by the standards of Lifetime, Cara was a bit too obviously insane. That’s not to say that Seirra Pond didn’t do a good job playing the role. She appeared to be having a lot of fun with the role. But, as a character, Cara was so obviously messed up that it was hard to sympathize with anyone who would actually be stupid enough to allow her into their house. The minute she started calling Lianne “mom” should have been the minute that both Lianne and Summer announced, “Okay, time for you to go away now!”

As good as the rest of the cast was, Ava Locklear sometimes seemed to be lost in the role of Summer. This was her first leading role and, in some scenes, her inexperience definitely showed.

“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments

As always, I totally related to the sarcastic (if obviously doomed) best friend. From the minute that she first met Cara, Tori not only knew that she was up to no good but she had no hesitation about sharing that opinion. Unfortunately, characters in Lifetime films never seem to listen to their sarcastic best friend until it’s too late. Sarcastic best friends always end up dying a little after the one hour mark and it’s a shame.

Lessons Learned

Seriously, if your oldest friend in the world says your newest friend is a psycho bitch, don’t question the conclusion. Trust the voice of experience.

Here’s The Teaser Trailer For The Predator!

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Despite featuring Jacob Tremblay, this is apparently not a sequel to The Book of Henry…

To be honest, the trailer is kind of bleh. Then again, it really doesn’t have to be anything spectacular. Most people who see this film are going to see it because of The Predator name, as opposed to anything that may or may not be in the trailer. Predator is a bit like Alien and The Terminator. There’s always going to be, at the very least, a curiosity factor whenever a new chapter in the franchise comes out.

That said, the film is directed by Shane Black, who is a freaking genius, and the script was co-written by Fred “Night of the Creeps” Dekker. So, I’ll give it a look.

Cleaning Out The DVR: The Hoodlum Priest (dir by Irvin Kershner)

Posted on May 3, 2018 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(I recorded The Hoodlum Priest off of TCM on January 6th of this year.)

“I’m not trying to change the world. I’m just trying to keep the world from changing me.”

— Anti-Death Penalty Activist in The Hoodlum Priest (1961)

The Hoodlum Priest tells the story of two men who have far more in common than may first seem apparent.

Billy Lee Jackson (Keir Dullea) has spent the last few months in prison and seems to be destined to return as soon as possible. Though he was convicted of armed robbery, the truth was that Billy was little more than a mugger and a petty thief. It only takes one look at him to see that his tough exterior is largely an act. Billy is angry, bitter, and often scared but tough he definitely isn’t. As soon as Billy’s released back onto the streets of St. Louis, he teams up with his friend, Pico (Don Joslyn), and the two of them plot to crack a safe.

Father Charles Dismas Clark (Don Murray) is a Jesuit who has dedicated his life to trying to rehabilitate ex-cons like Billy. As Father Clark explains it, he is the son of coal miners, a descendant of the original Molly Maguires. He knows what it means to be on the fringes of society. As opposed to his colleagues, Father Clark speaks the language of the streets. (Of course, we’re talking about the streets of 1961 here, which means that Father Clark spends a lot of time saying stuff, “Hey, I ain’t no square!”) Father Clark’s dream is to open up a halfway house, a place where those released from prison can stay as they try to reintegrate into society. Helping Father Clark is a famed attorney named Louis Rosen (Larry Gates). Opposing him and suggesting that Clark is as much a hoodlum as those he claims to be helping is a supercilious journalist named George Hale (Logan Ramsey).

At first, it appears that Billy could be one of Father Clark’s greatest success stories. After convincing Billy and Pico to abandon their criminal plans, Father Clark arranges for Billy to get a job. Billy even begins a rather unlikely romance with a wealthy socialite named Ellen (Cindi Wood). However, no matter how hard Billy tries to resist, the temptation to return to his old ways remains. While Father Clark struggles to convince people to support his halfway house, Billy finds himself drawn back into a life of crime…

The Hoodlum Priest was based on a true story. The real Father Clark personally approached Don Murray and told him the story behind the founding of Dismas House. Murray felt so strongly about Clark’s story that he not only starred in and produced The Hoodlum Priest but also wrote the screenplay. (The script was credited to Don Deer, which was Murray’s nickname when he was a high school track star.)

That this film was a passion project for Murray is obvious in the intensity of his performance. As played by Murray, Father Clark is hardly an intellectual. Instead, he’s frequently as emotional and, at times, as angry as the people that he’s trying to help. When Billy fails to show proper gratitude after Father Clark rescues him from being sent back to jail, Clark refuses to excuse the snub. Clark may be sincere but he’s not going to let anyone push him around. Director Irvin Kershner and cinematography Haskell Wexler bring a gritty realism to the film’s visuals, which keeps the film from getting overwhelmed by its own sincerity.

The Hoodlum Priest is a well-done piece of social commentary, one that features a still relevant message about the struggle of ex-cons to reintegrate into society. Don Murray brings the same righteous authority to this film that he would later bring to Twin Peaks: The Return. This is a good one to keep an eye out for on TCM.