AMERICAN FICTION-Writer's Fictitious Depiction Evokes Woke Constrictions

Elon Musk stated, "At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary, and hateful. It basically gives mean people a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue." AMERICAN FICTION maintains the conviction that being woke is counterproductive with the feigned intent of being open minded.  This entertaining film takes a fresh satirical look at the arrogance of honorable wokeness. It's a topsy-turvy spoof cashing in on derogatory stereotyping. To call AMERICAN FICTION tongue-in-cheek is an understatement. It shortchanges the film's clever writing, brilliant acting and effectiveness at portraying a loving, albeit dysfunctional family. The family at the heart of the film has three highly successful siblings: Monk, an erudite author and Ivy League, Lit. professor, (Jeffrey Wright) his brother, Cliff (Sterling K Brown) and sister, Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross) both medical doctors. The squabbling siblings live spread apart but share a deep connection and a penchant for self-destruction. Monk's ire is meted out at his writing students and co-workers with acrid wit. His most acerbic rhetoric is directed at authors who write "trashy novels" stereotyping blacks as illiterate thugs who routinely murder each other or police. Meeting with his book agent, Arthur (John Ortiz) Monk rants against best-selling author, Sintara Golden (the always magnificent Issa Rae) as a sell-out for writing a novel that plays to racial stereotypes. Arthur agrees with Monk but reminds him he needs to write something that will sell. Monk get's called back home by his sister, Lisa, to help out with their mother (beautifully portrayed by Leslie Uggams) who is suffering from dementia. Unexpectedly, Lisa suffers a fatal heart attack which leads to Cliff returning to Boston for their sister's funeral. Monk channels his grief and frustration into dashing out a quick novel that appropriates the material he vehemently abhorred in Sintara's novel and sends it to his agent. No surprise the manuscript titled "Fuck" sells quickly along with a bidding war for its movie rights. Monk gets selected as a judge on a small literary panel to merit the year's best novel. Sintara was also selected as a judge. Monk's novel "Fuck" written under a nom de plum is one of the submissions. The only two dissenting votes against the "pandering" novel Fuck are from Monk and Sintara. The three white panelists all praise the novel's rawness. The exceptional ensemble cast radiates intelligence within absurdist situations. In addition to a best picture nomination, Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K Brown received nods for acting.  The movie deservedly came away with its win for best original screenplay in part for making a mockery of grandstanding liberals. The film delights in skewering societal hypocrisy. And, there are tender moments of familial affection and attempts at human connection. "This idea of purity, and you're never compromised, and you're always politically 'woke' and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly. The world is messy; there are ambiguities."(B. Obama)

The LAST REPAIR SHOP-Takes Home Oscar Gold

For those who watched this year's Oscars, the Oscar for best short documentary went to The LAST REPAIR SHOP. Walking up to accept the award with the movie's producers was a beaming young girl who appears in the opening and closing of this delightful film about a handful of people whose vocations are maintaining musical instruments made available without charge, to students in the LA Unified School District. Seeing her on stage gave me the impression the focus of the film would be on the young people who benefited from the musical programs. However, in keeping with the movie's title, most of the time was spent on the employees of the shop. Even though I anticipated a feel good film attributing to the positive impact playing instruments has on students this film steered me into another, altogether pleasing direction. Porsche, the young girl on stage donning a layered, blue taffeta dress and an updo, is seen in braids and barrettes brandishing her violin while attesting to how much she loves playing. We also met several other student musicians including a pianist and a euphonium player. They eloquently share their passion for playing and performing for an audience. These delightful but sparingly interspersed interviews are interwoven with longer vignettes of shop employees tending to battered instruments, tuning pianos and soldering of wind instruments. As the film narrows in on the employees of working in the shop, we are swept up into incredibly fascinating individuals from various backgrounds. The shop's manager, Steve Bahmanyan survived ethnic persecution in Azerbaijan as young boy. He escaped to the U.S. with his mother and brother following the murder of his father. Bahmanyan, gives us a run down on the haphazard records for the instruments needing repair with an irrepressible smile. His effervescent demeanor is all the  more surprising as the details of his harrowing childhood are revealed. The family who sponsored Bahmanyan's family owned a piano repair/tuning business where Bahmanyan was first mentored. He spoke on behalf of the shop, "The work that we do is important and needs to be passed down, but people who do what we do are a dying breed. Children are our future, and yet we're cutting arts and music programs around the country."  Paty Moreno repairs woodwinds at the shop. She crossed into the U.S. illegally in her 20s and raised two small children as a single parent.  Moreno shares how life changing  her job has been for her and children.  The film plucks at the heartstrings for an inspiring documentary without sounding cloying. The technician varnishing a cracked cello reminds us, "Music is the best thing that mankind does." 

ASLEEP in MY PALM-Tim Blake Nelson's Film that Gets under Your Skin

Tim Blake Nelson is not your typically handsome Hollywood hunk. But, his nondescript looks have served him well as an actor. In numerous films Nelson has assumed a role in which he delivers a compelling and credulous character.  Oftentimes, the character portrayed by Nelson is quirky or on the outside fringes of society. ASLEEP in MY PALM was made with TIM Blake Nelson's son, Henry Nelson who wrote and directed the film. Henry wisely showcases Nelson in a role that plays to his father's strengths. Here Nelson stars as a single father of a 16 year old girl (Chloe Kerwin in a virtuoso performance.) The two live inside a storage unit in a small, rural college town in OH. It's winter break, there's snow on the ground and Christmas lights strewn  about in a desolate looking town. We meet Nelson while he's telling his daughter a story about Chicken Little with a philosophically bent. Little is construed as a distrusted profit who perceived a cataclysmic disaster when no one else did. There's an apparent warmth and tenderness that exists between the father and daughter. As he's about to leave after bundling up in multiple coats and hats, he instructs his daughter to lock the door behind him. He leaves while it's late at night with no about in order to steal bicycles on the campus which he sells to his accomplice, a deranged young man (a convincing Jared Abrahamson). Abrahamson tries to engage Nelson in conversation and companionship despite being coolly rebuffed. Nelson's backstory is not revealed til the end of the film but he's perceived as intelligent, resourceful loner except for his daughter. Nelson is only focused on getting paid by Abrahamson and a ride back to his daughter.  This film parallels "Leave No Trace" starring Ben Foster. Foster lives in the forests of WA with his teenage daughter as he too wants as little to do with society as possible. In both movies, the daughters have been sheltered from living amongst other people or in a conventional home. The awakening of the girls to their isolation and budding desires cause the films to ache with loneliness and unrequited longings. ASLEEP in MY PALM hints at a sinister look at those living outside the fray and poses a repugnance for the frivolousness of the fortunate with their advantages. The cinematography is haunting and the acting by its three leads give the film its power and grace. Still, it is confusing along the way and the startling, twist ending felt contrived.  However, along the way it's captivating as an inside look at the overlooked in society and a poignant plea for being seen.  I recommend seeing ASLEEP in MY PALM screening on APPLE TV. It's a dazzling debut film by a promising filmmaker and Henry Nelson in another outstanding performance from Tim Blake Nelson. 

SF Ballet MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Turns into a Nightmare

The premiere production of San Francisco Ballet's MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM in March of 2022 had an inauspicious opening. As noted in today's program, "A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM now holds a prominent, if notorious, place in San Francisco Ballet's history. On March 6,2020, the opening night of MIDSUMMER also became its closing night. Midway through the performance, the mayor's office announced that the War Memorial Opera House complex would be closed to public performances because of a troubling new coronavirus.... Although no one knew it at the time, the rest of the 2020 season as well as the 2021 season would be cancelled, and MIDSUMMER wouldn't return live until 2024. Now, March 16th, 2024 portended one of San Francisco cherished spring days with sailboats in the bay on a clear, sunny day. The well attended performance included families with children dressed in their best and ushers coiffed with wreaths of flowers in keeping with the magical allure of George Balanchine's ballet adapted from Shakespeare romantic comedy of unrequited love. The long overture of Felix Mendehlssohn's composition set an exhilarating tone. The Opera House curtains rose revealing a faintly lit scene in a lush forest, Huge trees cascading slowly downward creating a densely layered set. The stunning costumes were created by powerhouse fashion designer Christian Lacroix. The royal lovers were draped in rich velvets in ruby red and emerald green. The happily paired couple wore matching green costumes while unrequited lovers were donned in red. Costuming for young dancers portraying sprites were in earth shades of amber and moss with tattered hems and headgear sprouting antennas. Puck's costume lent an ethereal shimmer adding to the whimsy and nimbleness of the character. Balanchine, arguably the most important ballet choreographer of the 20th C, created versatile movements lending angst to despondent lovers with nubile movements. Puck's dancing was agile and lofty. His dancing dazzled with musicality and comedic aplomb.  I along with the audience was swept up in the grandeur of the dancing, music and staging when theater house lights started flashing which was disruptive and confusing. As some patrons started to exit an announcement was made to remain seated and wait for further instructions. Not heeding to stay seated, I rose without further adieu. I flew the coupe, making it out just before the alarms sounded again and the entire house poured out the doors. The ushers in their floral headdress shut and barred the entrance doors.  Fire Trucks soon pulled up in front and alongside the building. While some guests waited patiently and optimistically to be allowed to reenter, many departed.  The pranks inherent in MIDSUMMER are welcomed, bomb threats are not only frowned upon, they're illegal. Puck is a prankster but a real prick is the gangster who spoiled a promising foray, making it another fiasco. 

LOVE on the SPECTRUM is a Serious and Triumphant Reality Series Where Love Lies Waiting

It's frightening to consider that one in 36 children born in the US are diagnosed with autism. For today's parents planning a family this poses a daunting statistic fraught with worry for achieving a successful pregnancy and giving birth to a healthy child.  Watching the Netflix reality series, season 3 of LOVE on the SPECTRUM, I was humbled by the ease of experiences I've taken for granted that are fraught with strain and yearning for those diagnosed with autism. Furthermore, I was awed by the loving support  provided by family members, the value of kindness and the human emotions that unite all of us.  Companionship and romance are things we cherish, nurture and hope to find for ourselves as well as wish for others to have. Remembering the trials and tribulations of dating can recall feelings of awkwardness or  the pains of heartbreak. Hopefully, there are also memories of exhilarating times and profound happiness. This thoroughly delightful series follows adults in their 20s with autism who are dating or looking to find  someone to form a romantic relationship with. There's an overriding sense of goodwill attributed to those featured as they strive for connections despite compounding stress and difficulties. Watching the series had me rooting for everyone. There's much to learn from observing how people in the show treated each other with patience and kindness. I took away lessons in how to be a more effective listener and how to better communicate. There's a social worker who's an expert in counseling people with autism. The coaching she provides deals with dating questions and possible scenarios or responses to try to exude empathy and offer support.  For skeptics who think the show will invoke discomfort or deeply sympathetic feelings for the participants, I assure you the emotional impact is pure happiness as you observe as love lives waiting to be nurtured. LOVE on the SPECTRUM broadens an awareness for the vast array of personalities. More importantly noted are the scope of commonalities that bind us.  I found David and Abbey's relationship especially touching to watch as they travel on safari in Africa to see their favorite animals. Dani is the individual in the series I was most smitten with as she possesses a rye wit and an unflappable determination to find romance. I'm rooting for her and the entire cast to connect with someone special and form a lasting companionship.  The show's irresistible charm and consideration for its participants with disabilities puts this reality show in a range that is far and away superior on any spectrum.     

Poet Jesse Nathan Recites Poetry at 222 for a Fortunate Few

Jesse Nathan's poems have appeared in The Paris Review, the Yale Review and The Nation. He was named winner of the 2024 New Writers Award in Poetry. Nathan's a prof. of literature at UC Berkeley. Luckily for me, I heard him recite from his debut poetry collection, "Eggtooth" with an intimate few at The 222 last evening. Saturday night in the town of Healdsburg had a lot going on, including a free concert by the Healdsburg Symphony in a tribute to the music of John Williams. I sneaked in late to hear the last few selections from the all brass and percussion orchestra conducted by Ken Collins. I was already jubilant from Nathan's poetry reading. Nathan shared his split childhood, having been born and raised in Berkeley and then moving at 11 with his parents and brother to rural Kansas.  His mother's Mennonite family has lived on farmlands in Kansas for several generations. The culture shock made Jesse a bit of an oddball outsider with his long hair and city garb. Thankfully, life was filled with unsupervised exploration with his brother and cousins as they roamed freely along the creeks and rural fields. The wide open spaces were a welcome if not daunting adjustment to his new life in farm country. Nathan's mother and her family are all Mennonite and his father, Jewish. "This gave me another duality in addition to splitting my time between Berkeley and my family in Kansas which made art out of not, not being able to create art." Nathan read with his rich, soothing voice, from his poems elaborating upon his immersion in nature and an affinity for the sparse array of trees. I found his lyrical poetry resplendent with wonder.  I've captured several phrases from the various poems that resonated with me which I have spliced together to create a whole from fractured fragments. 

As if a shadow had a shadow - Her breasts went flying and froth became her hair - To eat one's fortunes raw - Words pay not all, speak so I can see your arguing voices - light appears cuspid - His noiseless blooming mouth open to the murk - Where sleep doesn't house sleep beyond the trees - The grass is hissing to breath that sigh - Dinosaur bones got planted by God just to amuse us - Always bit parts he asks, Always - there's an accuracy but no precision - Use me like an eggtooth, use me sustained to sing and fly - each message returned to the ether, our alcove of meanwhile. 

Japanese Film PERFECT DAYS-A Slow Burn with Much to Yearn

The Japanese language film PERFECT DAYS won a halcyon of awards and nominations including an Oscar nomination for this year's best foreign film. Interestingly, this is a joint Japanese/German film and the only Japanese film not to have had a Japanese director at its helm. The protagonist, Hirayama (Koji Yakusho), is a middle-aged Japanese man who lives alone in a minuscule and sparsely furnished space.  He toils as a public toilet cleaner but toil doesn't quite describe what many would find menial if not demeaning. Hirayama rises before dawn, folds and puts away his sleeping mat and purchases a beverage from the vending machine outside his flat before getting in his van and driving to his first latrine with the a waking city scape. Before setting out, Hirayama selects from his eclectic cassette collection which illicit life to the film and animation to Hirayama's stoic expressions.  At work, Hirayama is meticulous leaving  behind an immaculate place for others to place their behinds. Subtitles are almost obsolete as Hirayama engages in little if any, daily dialogue. On some job sites he is joined by a much younger, and much more garrulous man, Takashi. Takashi tries to impress his attractive, wanna-be girlfriend, Aya (Air Yamada) and begs Hirayama to lend him his van. Hirayama lends Takashi the van with himself in tow. Takashi tells Aya that he rarely hears Hirayama speak. Aya is intrigued by the cassette collection. She surreptitiously pilfers one of Hirayama's prized cassettes. When she returns the "borrowed" tape, Hirayama is surprised and seemingly hurt by her deceit but agrees to let her listen once more to the tape inside his van. Upon departing, Aya places a kiss on his cheek which elicits an expression that can be interpreted in a myriad of ways: shock, tenderness, longing and an overall sense of feeling bereft. The camera captures Hirayama bathing in the communal baths at the end of the day and savoring a meal at one of a few places he frequents. He's observant of others and his surroundings.  We follow him navigate his days and nights of solitude with an eye that finds harmony where most tend to overlook. He fills his time with literary pursuits, listening to music, photography and tending to his numerous plants. The enigma of his prior life are somewhat answered when he's visited by his vivacious niece (Nari Salto) who ran away from home. His niece badgers her beloved uncle about his life but aimiably accepts his ambiguous responses.  This languorous film's powers are buried treasures that abound in mundane things that drizzle through one's daily life and shimmering magical moments are ephemeral gifts in resplendent shades of perfect days. There are  several takeaways for me this film. I pondered the alluring grace and simplicity of living a very spartan lifestyle. Nevertheless, I submit to the overshadowing yearning for tangible experiences which only comes when engaging directly with others.  PERFECT DAYS is a nearly perfect film. 

Geffen Playhouse BLACK CYPRESS BAYOU-A Bloody Mess

BLACK CYPRESS BAYOU is set in Deep East Texas in August of 2020, during the COVID pandemic on the heels of the murder of George Floyd and the social unrest it unleashed. COVID neurosis plays a heavily sanitized hand in the play's plodding plot but prescient, social unrest not a lot. The underlying messages keep being buried under sisterly squabbles, a murder mystery and spiritual apparitions which doesn't pan out in a satisfying Jambalaya dish. There's too many piquant tastes in the mix to savor any one flavor for long. And, there's enough stentorian shouting on stage to make one's head roll. A white man's head minus the rest of the body is battered about between the mom, Vernita (a lively Kimberly Scott) and her two daughters, LadyBird (Brandee Evans, Starz's "P-Valley") and RaeMeka (Angela Lewis, F").  LadyBird is under the impression she and her mom were going to do some night fishing together. Vernita has other plans. Vernita insists Ladybird call her sister to come join them before she lets on what's hidden under the linen in the laundry basket. The gruesome reveal is the bloody head of a corpse. How it came to be beheaded is a mystery that turns into a stream of explanations and accusations. It appears everyone knows more than they're letting on.  No one's holding their cards closer to their chest than mom. What little comic relief there is in this historic depiction of whites persecuting blacks comes from the physical comedy of Vernita's salty, know it all attitude. We learn the dead head belongs to the wealthy, modern day overseer who keeps the local black community living in poverty. Turning to the police is not a consideration as the police only brutalize and terrorize their community. Racial injustice and suffering are central memes that resonate with mistrust and oppression. The play might have reached its head built on a body of racial hatred but it's circumvented with the arrival of a fourth black woman, Tasha (Amber Charade Robinson) makes claims that are shocking to the sisters but don't seem to be as incredulous to their mother. The new reveals projected a phantom trajectory that washed away any trenchant socio/political messaging. BLACK CYPRESS BAYOU has a lot of good ideas but they are bogged down by too much mumbo jumbo. Less would've been more and we're left instead with a bloody mess.    

POOR THINGS-Poor Excuse for the Accolades and Awards Bestowed

The Emperor has no clothes. Neither does Emma Stone as she saunters around from a newborn babe to a hot babe exploring her sexual awakenings as a nubile maiden without any hangups. Bella (Emma Stone) is brought to life in a Frankenstein appropriated plot.  Godwin (Willem Dafoe) is the skilled but deranged surgeon/mad scientist who retrieves a woman's body from the canal immediately after she leapt to her death. Back in his laboratory, Godwin removes the fetus from the pregnant corpse and the brain from the fetus which he implants into the woman's body and then brings the body to life. Godwin names the woman Bella (Emma Stone) and raises her from a nascent incarnation through her excelled maturation from infancy, through childhood,  into young adulthood. While Frankenstein was naive to the ways of mankind, Shelly spares us the tedium of watching the man made monster struggle as if an infant or developing through puberty and growing sexual awakenings. POOR THINGS is purely off-putting in its focus on Emma's self-discovery of the pleasures of masturbation and fornication. This is not clever or daring movie making. It's cringeworthy, droll and a poor excuse for witty social commentary.  Bella willingly runs off with the near-do-well gigolo played by Mark Ruffalo.  The art direction is a fantastical kaleidoscope somewhere between Alice Through the Looking Glass, a morass Salvador Dali painting and 19th C Europe. The bewitching cinematography attempts to divert one's attention from the patchwork of assembled scenes that are as disjointed as Godwin's hackneyed face.  Director Yorgos Lanthimos ("The Lobster") is known for bizarre plots with biting social commentary. However, an uninhibited woman discovering what gives her pleasure sexually and otherwise is neither a revelatory, shocking or clever mocking of social norms.  POOR THINGS is schlocky even with its trifecta of talented actors: Stone, Ruffalo and Dafoe. None of whom deserve all the accolades they've earned.  Could the public be swept up by propaganda and led to believe the film is incredible because the movie borders on being terrible.  Who's afraid to say the Emperor and Emma are butt naked but this alone does not make for great movie making except me?