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Two film reviews and a fanfic rec
Feb. 19th, 2021 08:28 amNews of the World: essentially: a Western/odd couple road movie directed by Paul Greengrass starring Tom Hanks as a Civil War veteran Captain Kidd who accidentally during his travels through post war Texas comes across Johanna (played by Helene Zengel, an excellent young actress who made her film debut in Systemsprenger), daughter of German settlers whose parents were killed while she was taken in by Kiowas; more recently, her Kiowa family was killed as well. Initially, the two don't understand a word the other says, and the emotional plot of the movie is of course these two people who are for different reasons grieving and traumatized forming a bond and adopting each other. The movie takes its time for this, and the occasional action interlude - a chase scene, a shootout, a sandstorm - is the aberration, not the norm. What the title refers to is Kidd's post-war job, travelling from place to place armed with a lot of newspapers and reading selected passages from them to the still largely illiterate population. It also allows the director and scriptiwriters to make a point about storytelling; at one point, Kidd and Johanna are in a very dangerous situation where only his ability to play Sheherazade get them out of it.
On the downside: for a movie which keeps earnestly highlighting racism, and making the connections to how it's used to gain power, complete with parallels to the present (no sooner do some ruthlessless powermongering ruffians appear that the phrase "Texas First" is uttered), this one is utterly white. Early on, there's a lynched black man; we don't see the body, we just see enough to know this has happened. Late in the movie, we see a silent black man - and that's it for African Americans. And while Johanna speaking only Kiowa (with some half forgotten German words) and considering herself Kiowa is a big plot point, we don't actually see any Kiowa until two thirds in, and then at a distance; we don't ever hear them speak. It's clear that Kidd in the current day is horrified by racist actions and doesn't stand for them, but the movie vagues on how he felt when, you know, he was part of the Confederate army.
All this said: if you're in the market for what is essentially a gentle chosen-father-chosen-daughter story, with Tom Hanks putting his decent-man-even-in-dark-times persona to good use, and a good hurt/comfort story to boot, then it's suits very well for the purpose.
My Cousin Rachel: starring Rachel Weisz in the title role and Sam Claflin (whom I last saw as Finnick in The Hunger Games) as Philip the narrator. (Holiday Grainger and Ian Glen in supporting roles.) I have never seen the first cinematic take on this from the 1950s, with Olivia de Havilland as Rachel and a young Richard Burton in his first Hollywood role (which famously did not lead to a career in Hollywood; after a few more attempts, he returned home to Britain and didn't try again until Cleopatra), but I did read the Daphne du Maurier novel both are based on. As opposed to the recent Netflix Rebecca, about the less said the better, this film from 2018 actually turns out to do justice to du Maurier's strengths - the deeply neurotic characters, the moral ambiguity, the suspense building, the Cornish setting. Rachel Weisz is fantastic as Rachel; if you haven't read the book, the essential "gimmick" if you like is the "is Rachel a femme fatale/black widow, or is she an independent woman in Victorian times on whom the narrator is projecting his fears and desires?" question. I've seen complaints that Claflin as Philp isn't her equal, but that's part of the story. Another part of the story is that it reverses the Gothic formula that's used (but also twisted) in Rebecca - if you believe his own narration, Philip is essentially the young Gothic heroine enthralled by a mysterious stranger and then in fear of their life. Since, however, Philip, who changes his mind about Rachel repeatedly, going from one extreme to the other, is also a less than reliable narrator, you can also read the entire story as Philip trying to justify himself (and failing). Since first person unreliable narrators generally work better in a book than in a movie, I was curious how and whether the film would pull this one off. It did by mostly staying in Philip's pov, with the very, very rare moment of the camera showing us something he can't see (such as Rachel's expression at a key point, which, however, can be interpreted completely differently depending on whether you believe her or Philip later re: what is going on thiis particular scene), but with Rachel Weisz' performance exuding all those layers where you as the audience are made aware that you're projecting as much as Philip. And the end, the film leaves you unsettled, as it should.
Finally, a Black Sails fanfic rec: The Putative Earl is an excellent post finale healing and hurt/comfort story for ( spoiler cut just in case ), with flashbacks to earlier times. It's that rare gem, a Black Sails story without a villain, and ideally if you want to read about lovers who've been through hell finding each other again in more than one sense.
On the downside: for a movie which keeps earnestly highlighting racism, and making the connections to how it's used to gain power, complete with parallels to the present (no sooner do some ruthlessless powermongering ruffians appear that the phrase "Texas First" is uttered), this one is utterly white. Early on, there's a lynched black man; we don't see the body, we just see enough to know this has happened. Late in the movie, we see a silent black man - and that's it for African Americans. And while Johanna speaking only Kiowa (with some half forgotten German words) and considering herself Kiowa is a big plot point, we don't actually see any Kiowa until two thirds in, and then at a distance; we don't ever hear them speak. It's clear that Kidd in the current day is horrified by racist actions and doesn't stand for them, but the movie vagues on how he felt when, you know, he was part of the Confederate army.
All this said: if you're in the market for what is essentially a gentle chosen-father-chosen-daughter story, with Tom Hanks putting his decent-man-even-in-dark-times persona to good use, and a good hurt/comfort story to boot, then it's suits very well for the purpose.
My Cousin Rachel: starring Rachel Weisz in the title role and Sam Claflin (whom I last saw as Finnick in The Hunger Games) as Philip the narrator. (Holiday Grainger and Ian Glen in supporting roles.) I have never seen the first cinematic take on this from the 1950s, with Olivia de Havilland as Rachel and a young Richard Burton in his first Hollywood role (which famously did not lead to a career in Hollywood; after a few more attempts, he returned home to Britain and didn't try again until Cleopatra), but I did read the Daphne du Maurier novel both are based on. As opposed to the recent Netflix Rebecca, about the less said the better, this film from 2018 actually turns out to do justice to du Maurier's strengths - the deeply neurotic characters, the moral ambiguity, the suspense building, the Cornish setting. Rachel Weisz is fantastic as Rachel; if you haven't read the book, the essential "gimmick" if you like is the "is Rachel a femme fatale/black widow, or is she an independent woman in Victorian times on whom the narrator is projecting his fears and desires?" question. I've seen complaints that Claflin as Philp isn't her equal, but that's part of the story. Another part of the story is that it reverses the Gothic formula that's used (but also twisted) in Rebecca - if you believe his own narration, Philip is essentially the young Gothic heroine enthralled by a mysterious stranger and then in fear of their life. Since, however, Philip, who changes his mind about Rachel repeatedly, going from one extreme to the other, is also a less than reliable narrator, you can also read the entire story as Philip trying to justify himself (and failing). Since first person unreliable narrators generally work better in a book than in a movie, I was curious how and whether the film would pull this one off. It did by mostly staying in Philip's pov, with the very, very rare moment of the camera showing us something he can't see (such as Rachel's expression at a key point, which, however, can be interpreted completely differently depending on whether you believe her or Philip later re: what is going on thiis particular scene), but with Rachel Weisz' performance exuding all those layers where you as the audience are made aware that you're projecting as much as Philip. And the end, the film leaves you unsettled, as it should.
Finally, a Black Sails fanfic rec: The Putative Earl is an excellent post finale healing and hurt/comfort story for ( spoiler cut just in case ), with flashbacks to earlier times. It's that rare gem, a Black Sails story without a villain, and ideally if you want to read about lovers who've been through hell finding each other again in more than one sense.
