Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King (2017)

This might just be the best stand-up set so far this year. It is loads better than Minhaj's uneven White House Correspondent's Dinner set. One of the main reasons is I think he comes off a little awkward is because he doesn't laugh at his own jokes. Maybe only twice in the whole set did he laugh. Is he taking himself a little too seriously? Maybe I've just been watching too much SNL where a little bit of breaking is encouraged. But I think he would benefit from a little bit of laughing.

The set is excellent. It's really poignant, personal, hilariously brilliant and simultaneously touching. He tells stories about the immigrant experience. I love how he breaks into Urdu/Hindi without always bothering to translate. He's really unapologetic about being an immigrant. Why should he be? That's the whole point, isn't it? He is a proud Indian-American. His stories are expertly crafted to bring you up and up and then to take you down with a sad part tinged and then a raucous punch line. And the magic questions that pervade his set: Are we entitled to equality? Is equality a privilege? Is racism the price we pay as immigrants?

Really quickly, I'd like to point out the good camerawork. These stand-up specials usually have pretty standard camerawork but the more emotional moments of his set zoom in pretty close to his face. It's much more intimate than the big room he's actually performing. And in the room itself, great lighting.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2017)

Oprah is powerful as ever, but for some reason she was snubbed of an Emmy nomination. Oprah can do no wrong. I actually thought Rose Byrne was kind of charming. The movie isn't just about Henrietta of course, but about Rebecca Skloot's research process. The story of the Lacks family is as much Henrietta's story as her own life for in death she continues to bear influence on them. Johns Hopkins has done some horrible things, especially to the local African American population, in its history in the name of science and otherwise. And this film begins to tell us about some of them. What they did with Henrietta Lacks was ethically dubious but official policy is not well-defined. Though I think they were certainly wrong to draw blood from her descendants without properly informing them.

The opening scene in black-and-white, as if on an old film reel, is slickly edited to a drumming soundtrack. It tells you everything you need to know and the drums give it a sense of direction. The rest of the film however, to be totally honest, is a little boring. They have very short cuts to Henrietta Lacks and her life. These scenes serve little purpose because the real drama is in the present. I don't think Renee Elise Goldsberry even has a speaking role. Goldsberry has a very small role in the film, but she actually bears a surprising likeness to Henrietta Lacks. Good casting or good make up.

The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)

I saw an advance screening of The Hitman's Bodyguard. It's decently funny but not nearly as funny as the loud man in the movie theater would have you believe. It kind of works. Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds have this buddy chemistry because this genre of film, that is ridiculous action comedy, suits them both. Ryan Reynolds will never get away from this genre post-Deadpool. And Samuel L. Jackson is well known for yelling profanities in a forceful manner thanks to Quentin Tarantino. It's funny enough to be entertaining and bloody violent. We're in a John Wick-era of violence nowadays--it's becoming rather normalized I think.

The film does do a ridiculous disservice to international law. It has a terrible understanding of the purpose of international law, which I took some offense to as a student of international law. It also does not feature the actual ICC, which I went to in the Hague. The real deal has much more intense security than the movie version I know it's not the point of the movie, but they could've done some research.

Holy Motors (2012)

I've seen a lot of strange films but this might just be the strangest--downright insane. You have literally zero idea what you're watching until about halfway through the movie. And even then, you can only guess. Here's my best guess. Denis Lavant plays an actor, who plays out his assigned scenes not on a set but in the real world, followed by a small unseen camera. He is driven around to the various locations in a limo that doubles as a dressing room. He makes total transformations. Despite the oddness of this movie, it is totally mesmerizing and actually hilariously awkward.

The limo represents the only refuge from the outside world in which he must be someone he is not, even when that is not so obvious. It's a commentary on modern celebrity. Celebrities wear a persona for the outside world. Whenever they exit their limo, they are constantly being watched by unseen eyes. And so they must put on a facade to be the person society expects them to be. It's all fake, dramatized. It's kind of genius.

I just want to pick out a few scenes of note. One follows the character Merde, who also features in Tokyo! We watched this film in Professor Mason's class. It is another crazy character who abducts a silent Eva Mendes. He lives in the sewers and bites a woman's hand. It is probably the most raucously disturbing scene.

Then there are two musical scenes. One is a musical interlude. It is entirely out of place, literally an intermission. Denis Lavant leads an accordion band through a church. It is actually infectious. I've never liked accordion more. His expressions are dispassionate giving nothing away. I'm really unsure what to make of this scene, other than it just being kind of fun. The other musical scene features Kylie Minogue marvelously singing "Who Were We." We are originally led to believe that this is not a scene, but two former lovers meeting by chance. But there is no chance. Everything is scripted, including relationships. Isn't that true in real Hollywood? 

Do the Right Thing (1989)

Do the Right Thing is just as important and poignant today as it was in 1989. Obviously, nothing has changed. Race relations are still tense and police brutality is still rampant. This didn't all of a sudden come out of nowhere and Barack Obama was not a cure-all. Spike Lee sends a powerful message to America.

It's a scorcher. The coloring of the film is tinted a hot red. Everyone is feeling agitated and you feel it too thanks to the reds and oranges. You know that someone is about to erupt. But let's start from the beginning with Rosie Perez dancing the opening credits to an aggressively bold Fight the Power by Public Enemy. Her moves are sharp, sensual, expressive, and absolutely magnetic. It does not glorify violence. But it does beautify it--beauty and fighting are not mutually exclusive.  Violence can be justified, it can be the titular right thing. It's a little more Malcolm than Martin.

Samuel L. Jackson is the radio host who acts as a narrator of sorts. We set the scene in Bed-Stuy on a street shared by African Americans, Puerto Ricans, a Korean grocery and an Italian pizzeria. This itself is beautiful. Not everyone necessarily gets along, but Brooklyn is such a uniquely American locale that all these different cultures could have the opportunity even to clash here. There is the very famous scene of the character staring down the barrel of the camera yelling racial slurs and insults. Even though they are pitted against each other, they are written in such a rich and complete way that the audience can empathize with all of them. We get it. We understand where they're coming from.

Spike Lee is a student of film. There is a very obvious allusion to Night of the Hunter directed by Charles Laughton. Radio Raheem wears LOVE and HATE knuckles and recites Robert Mitchum's monologue. Radio Raheem is perhaps the most symbolic character--his knuckles, his boom box (symbolic of his culture which he wears for all to hear unabashedly), and the ultimate fall of a strongman.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't address the ending. Does Mookie do the right thing? The privileged may see incitement of a riot. But that is wrong. Mookie starts an uprising. Think of the 2015 Baltimore uprising. An oppressed people rising up in self defense a la Malcolm X. Oppression: Why do the majority African American and Puerto Rican population not own any of the businesses on their street? They point out the Koreans are new immigrants and yet they somehow opened their own business. It's not personal. And we see in the final scene that Sal understands that. Sal feels betrayed, but he reconciles with Mookie. The movie is so powerful because it's so real. And it's so real because it is drawn from real society experience.

Wizard of Lies (2017)

There are two cool scenes of note in the latest HBO movie. The first is a dream sequence, or rather a nightmare sequence. It features some really slick editing, cutting in faces of Madoff's many victims. The other is a drumming sequence--drums remind me of Whiplash or Birdman. Drums give you a sense of urgency, of continuity, of panic, and of style. Madoff is at a dinner party, panicking as his clients are asking to pull their money out of the fund. In another instance of cool editing, the drums drive the action in this scene, not the dialogue. Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer are both quite good. The acting keeps the movie afloat during some admittedly boring scenes.

Donnie Darko (2001)

I saw the Director's Cut at a screening at the MoMA. Donnie Darko is weird--that's a compliment. It's a very fitting quote pulled straight from the movie, but in reference to Donnie himself. Weird is perhaps even an understatement. I can't imagine how anyone could possibly have interpreted the ambiguity of the original version. I know there have been criticisms about the Director's Cut engaging in too much hand holding in providing the director's interpretation. But I think I otherwise would have been quite lost. Cause it's just so darn strange.

I think there is an excellent use of music throughout the use of the movie. It really places it in the time period and it is quite stylish. Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal  acting together as siblings is kind of neat. I never realized it before, but I think Jake has kind of gotten typecast-ed as a weirdo (a la Nightcrawler). The plot is kind of brilliant. There is a fantastic combination of comedy and darkness and science fiction alternate universe's and philosophy about religion. It's trippy.