Mercenary (Mercenaire) (2016)

I missed this one at Cannes. But I'm glad Netflix picked it up for American distribution. It follows a rugby player named Soane from the French island of Wallis in the Pacific. He's a big guy, but a little smaller than he should be. The story is told from his point of view and it has emotional depth. Being placed in his shoes makes you really feel for him. He is put in some very tough situations and you just want to see him succeed. You want things to go right for him. And just when it looks like they are, his past catches up with him. It is beautifully shot and Toki Piloko is excellent in the lead role. I must say one of the most powerful things you can see on film is a haka. And we get two! The title is a brilliant metaphor--the rugby players are hired bodies. And the ending is poignant. An excellent first feature by Sacha Wolff. 

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)

The Planet of the Apes trilogy has actually been surprisingly strong. This film has continued the streak of good visual effects, the best motion capture technology and acting in Andy Serkis, and a morally complex and emotional story. The moral dilemma is always slightly different. But always interesting. There are some really brilliant moments in this movie. However, I don't think the last death in the movie was really necessary. There was a very satisfying end that they then messed up. The power of the story comes from the perspective of the apes. We are put in their point of view. We come to root against the humans. The soundtrack by Michael Giacchino is also spot on. 

20th Century Women (2016)

1970s Santa Barbara is an idyllic setting for a film. The subject is Annette Bening's Dorothea but it's really about the period. Mike Mills captures a time. He does this with costumes, punk music, old cars, and psychedelic colors in traveling scenes. What makes the movie particularly beautiful is the atmospheric music, the calm and poetic narration, and the heart of the story. A single mother raising her teenage son with a little help. It's not exactly a coming-of-age story. It's not about Jamie, but about Dorothea's experience raising her son. Annette Bening is phenomenal. She is allowed to shine without being too showy. You come to care about the characters. We watch them develop, getting their background and their future over the course of the film. It's a truly beautiful pleasure to experience their lives for a couple hours.

La Dolce Vita (1960)

A few words come to mind. Malaise. Melancholy. Seduction. In a sprawling 3-hour episodic film, Fellini managed to capture a moment in time, postwar Italy.  Sorrentino's The Great Beauty did the same for contemporary Italy, yet we experience the same decadent emptiness. Maybe Italy hasn't changed so much since then. Though film has come a very long way. Black-and-white photography is beautiful in its own way. But sound in some of these old Italian films is just terrible. They were very poorly dubbed. It's almost hard to take it seriously.

There are some really breathtaking scenes in this film. I think some episodes are better than others. I was particularly entranced by the first few episodes. The physical emptiness of the Roman streets, and the now-iconic Trevi Fountain, is striking. It provincial-izes the city in a way that I think actually probably reflects reality. When I roamed the streets of Venice at night, it was similarly empty. I tried to capture that emptiness in words in my blog, but obviously film does that a little better.

It's the episodic structure that is so unique about this film. Seemingly non-linear moments in Marcello's life. Characters come and go, some recur and some never return. I thought Anita Ekberg would be in more of the film being top-billed, but she actually features in only one episode. It is not immediately obvious how each episode relates. And I think for me to really understand and fully appreciate this masterpiece, it will take additional viewings and more life experience.  

Neruda (2016)

Neruda is a really interesting take on the biopic genre. It pits the titular Colombian poet (who lived a fascinating life) against the inspector chasing after him for the anti-Communist government. Here's the question, what is history and what is a story? Much of the production design leads you to believe that they are living out a story--the obvious moving backdrop (make no mistake, it was not just a budgetary restraint, every choice was made quite purposefully: the Senate meeting in the bathroom, the quick changes of scenery, and the cinematographic coloring). Gael Garcia Bernal may have top billing, but is he the main character? He does not play Neruda, but the inspector. Is he merely a supporting character in the life of Neruda? He fights for himself to be the protagonist of his own story. The climactic escape scene through the snowy Andes Mountain pass is wonderfully cinematic. It gave me an ominous McTeague kind of feeling, though it doesn't quite end like that. It does look like the snowy landscape of The Hateful Eight. I love Bernal in everything he does. This is no exception.

Oh, Hello: On Broadway (2017)

It's not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but I love John Mulaney. John Mulaney and Nick Kroll star in this limited engagement run on Broadway as ultimate New Yorkers Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland. They have thick accents, often mispronounce words, and go off on ridiculous tangents. Basically, if you were already aware of them, you are predisposed to like it. But the comedy is very niche. It's not going to attract newcomers. There isn't too much of a story, but just enough to make it funny. They're being evicted from their rent controlled apartment on the Upper West Side. There are tons of insider New York jokes that play to their audience. And they host a show on NY1 called Too Much Tuna, featuring a different celebrity guest each night. Steve Martin was featured in that particular performance and he fit in splendidly. Final verdict: I thought it was funny, but I'm kind of weird.

Okja (2017)

Okja has a very niche plot, but it is a story that can easily resonate with everyone. It'll forever be known as the super pig (slash hippo) movie. It's a risk that pays off handsomely for Netflix, which has already conquered the medium of television. This has the potential to be Netflix's big break in the original narrative film side of the business. Beasts of No Nation was very good but it never really broke through. Okja, though shunned by the cinematic tradition at Cannes, is the future. Netflix is desperate to catch Amazon, already with a Best Picture Oscar nomination for last year's Manchester by the Sea. What makes this film so important? It demonstrates to auteur filmmakers around the world that Netflix is willing to take risks. It will produce artistic films that no one else will. And if not with Okja, it eventually will strike a Best Picture nomination with this model. And leave it for crazy Bong Joon-ho to lead the way for Netflix.

The acting in Okja is quite over the top. I'm looking at you, Jake Gyllenhaal. I'm not sure how I feel about it. He's really insane. But somehow, the over exaggeration fits because it has dramatic and funny moments. Because his foil is a slightly less crazy Tilda Swinton. And the more subdued crazy of Paul Dano. The little girl, Ahn Seo-hyun is very good too as she embarks on a quest to rescue her super pig Okja. I guess that requires a little explanation. The genetically modified super pigs are produced by an evil company, given to farmers around the world to be bred for 10 years, then to be put into food production.  It's a charming simultaneously disturbing story with a moral. That moral will inspire people to become a vegetarian, or at least to not eat pig, after all Mija's favorite food is chicken. It's not a totally anti-meat movie per se, but there is a moral that you can discern for yourself.