Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia (2018)

Trevor Noah is very good. For his latest comedy special, he takes us to his childhood. Noah grew up in South Africa.. A biracial man, Noah's very existence was illegal under the Apartheid regime. He manages to be poignant and funny. My favorite thing about Trevor Noah has always been his voices. They're not necessarily impressions, but he does a real good French accent. And his white man voice gets me every time.

American Son (2018) (Broadway)

I had a really incredible experience at the Booth Theater last week. A big thanks to American Express for making it possible by bringing together a selection of employees and students at a really special performance. In the audience was Eric Garner's mother and coincidentally Shaun King's daughter was one of the students. This groups of students, mostly studying theater and performing arts, were inspiring. They gave me hope for humanity by showing us their love and support for each other in the face of adversity. The post-show discussion was full of displays of emotion. Your heart breaks for them. I don't know why Steven Pasquale skipped the Q&A but he missed out on an event as powerful as the show itself. Kerry Washington was there sitting cross-legged and barefoot. She is extremely intelligent, a great speaker and a real down to Earth leading lady.

The play is brilliant. It's a must-see for our time, getting at the heart of a system that is stacked against African Americans. It illuminates the unique challenges faced by black people in America. It takes place in a Florida police station in the middle of the night. The rain pours down backstage outside the windows. Kerry Washington's son is missing. And the policeman on-duty is not providing her information about her son's whereabouts. The one thing we know is that his car was involved in an "incident". That incident could be anything, as we are frequently reminded, but we have our suspicions. Knowing our society, our mind goes to the darkest place without hesitation because it is all too common that young men of color are stopped by the police. The writing is excellent. The plot points reveal themselves with precision, every word is chosen carefully and delivered perfectly. Go see American Son.

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Goosebumps. This movie gave me goosebumps in a way the book did not. Simultaneously beautiful, breathtaking, and tragic, this James Baldwin adaptation is a bold follow-up to Moonlight for Barry Jenkins. His direction is meticulous. He takes small brilliant liberties in acting out scenes undescribed in the novel (moving furniture), and sticks closely to the book in tense scenes of despair (and one big liberty in changing the ending). The cinematography and lighting are stunning. The centered head-on shots in which the audience is confronted by the helpless gaze of our protagonists are heartbreaking.

The soundtrack by Nicholas Britell is achingly beautiful. You could feel the audience in the packed theater all holding our collective breath in anxiety. The horns and swelling strings cue the viewer to exhale a sigh of brief reprieve to celebrate the love at the center of the story. The music slowly pulses the audience along to the tragic fate we know awaits. And I'd like to say that it is because I read the book that I know how it ends, but that's not it. We implicitly know how this story ends because it is the story of being black in America, in the 70s and in the 21st century just the same. The film opens with a passage from James Baldwin explaining the title. The eponymous Beale Street is a stand-in for any main street in an American city where the Fonnys and Tishes survive.  Fonny is a noir-ish character, helpless to change his fate. This is most devastating in the moments we get to soak in their joy and love (of partner, of family, of community), in the character of Daniel foreshadowing what fate lies ahead, and when the baby finally arrives.

The entire cast is superb. The leads have perfect chemistry. Kiki Layne is absolutely radiant. Regina King is gripping. The whole supporting cast, the ones with just one scene each, Brian Tyree Henry, Dave Franco, Pedro Pascal, Diego Luna, etc are all scene stealers. You have to let this one simmer a bit, that slow burn is unlike anything else this year.

First Reformed (2017)

Ethan Hawke stars as a reverend of a very old church for tourists who begins to question his faith. The philosophical musings of the reverend in his journal are fascinating. Here's the gist: two of his few congregants are about to have a baby, and the father is questioning the morality of bringing a child into a world destined for environmental destruction. Aren't we destroying God's creation? This is a movie for our time. Ethan Hawke is superb. And I love the cinematography; the frames-within-frames are Wong Kar Wai-esque. The movie does get weird. The first hint is the creepy eye-of-god lamp in the living room. Well, actually, I guess the first hint is the constricting aspect ratio. Then there is the magical mystery tour with the jarring digital images of environmental destruction. First off, what the hell is that magical mystery tour? And then I was very unsatisfied by the ending. If they had just cut ten seconds earlier, it would've been fine. She could theoretically save him without the awkwardly long kiss.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)

This is a landmark moment for Netflix. They made a good non-prestige movie. Thus far, Netflix had mostly been operating on a quantity over quality basis. That ends with this rom-com, a genre that's hard to do well and fresh. It's not perfect, but it's refreshing. Let's start with the elephant in the room...why is this Korean girl named Lara-Jean? There is some Asian specificity to her story, but she's not that Asian, nor are any of her crushes. The plot is like a Shakespearean comedy. There are a couple minor things, I didn't like. The music is tacky and the sound mixing is a little quiet on the soundtrack. The cinematography is a little jarring. And...Josh's character doesn't really serve his purpose. Every decision Lara-Jean makes is motivated by her relationship with her sister. The movie could be about Josh alone, forget Peter. But he ends up just being her confidante, but Lucas is already her confidante. Josh's story line doesn't really get properly played out. Maybe it does in the book. Lana Condor, though, is delightful. Keep an eye out for her.

Schindler's List (1993)

It's the twenty-fifth anniversary of Schindler's List and Steven Spielberg introduces his masterwork as a story for modern times. And it is a behemoth of a movie, running over three hours. I'm glad to have seen it, but I never have to see it again. It is hard to watch. Not an easy movie to revisit, but now is as good a time as any as anti-semitism seems to never go away.

I find it daunting to comment on such epic films. I could maybe tackle small parts of it. John Williams's score, brought to life by Itzakh Perlman, is hauntingly beautiful. The liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto is a brutal scene, filmed with such horror and control. The scene in the showers at Auschwitz is extremely powerful for turning the audience's anticipatory expectations on its head. And there is so much emotion in the final scene when the war finally comes to an end. The directorial choice to close the film with the Schindlerjuden at Schindler's grave at Yad Veshem is striking, pulling the audience to the "present". It continues to evoke emotion twenty-five years later, during which I'm sure many of the film's characters have since passed away. Holocaust survivors are few today, but it's important for their stories to live on. The black-and-white cinematography contributes to the documentary-feel of the movie. It tells the audience that even the most unbelievable atrocities are not exaggerations.

Creed II (2018)

Boxing may be the most solitary sport other than tennis (or maybe diving?). In boxing, you minimally have your team in your corner (Serena Williams learned at the last US Open that you you do not have your team in your corner, in spectacular fashion). But otherwise it is just you in the ring dueling your opponent. That's why I find it so curious that boxing movies are traditionally not about solitude but family and relationships.  The hyper masculine topics of boxing and cars (a la Fast and Furious) center around family. And that's what makes them interesting. It humanizes their subjects, the brutish and self-destructive journeymen (think Raging Bull).

Creed II cannot avoid the elephant in the room, that is the iconic status of Rocky. Perhaps no other movie in American history is so emblematic of a city. Without having to properly explain why, the audience inherently understands why Rocky cannot leave Philadelphia. Drago's first stop in the US is naturally the iconic steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The shot opens with the statue, arms raised, and a tracking shot of tourists following Rocky's path running up the steps. The self-reference only works because Rocky has indeed achieved iconic status in our culture.

Creed II was not directed by Ryan Coogler, but Steven Caple Jr. steady hand does a fine job with enough style and pizzazz and tracking shots to satisfy the eyes. Boxing is visceral and we feel that. Our first glimpse of Rocky is through a mirror in a doorway (a frame within a frame within a frame), with Creed on the far right side of the screen. And only when Rocky moves out of the mirror does the camera pan to him. Though the movie can feel predictable at times, it is well done, engaging, emotional and ultimately enjoyable. Michael B. Jordan is electric and Sly in his later life has discovered a penchant for hats. They suit him.