This is more like it. We’re back leading with a big one. The Incredibles has a chance of topping everything Pixar has done before. If that’s too noisy, check out Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood for sincere, caring thought about what children really need in their entertainment. Ava muses similarly about teens and Italy and Atlanta send lurid crime stories. All in all a good, diverse selection. Plus two I haven’t seen
Here’s the list:
The Incredibles 2: 3 ½
Won’t You Be My Neighbor: 4 ½
Ava: 4
The Girl in the Fog: 3
Superfly: 2 ½
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THE INCREDIBLES 2: It’s 14 years since the first one came out and it’s still a family favorite. An Oscar winner too. Better catch this new one because it’s going to be just as big. It entertains mightily; the story is again as much about family life as the travails of super heroes and is delivered in exquisite animation with a manic energy that keeps it moving along. You’ll hardly notice it’s too long and too crowded with ideas. Yes ideas, and they feel more than a bit subversive.
The story picks up almost immediately after the first film. Super heroes have been outlawed because of the destruction we saw back then (and see reprised here). The Incredibles (Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, a son, a daughter and baby) have to live normal lives as best they can. They’re aimless until a media mogul offers to help restore their reputation. He (Bob Odenkirk) and his brainy sister (Catherine Keener) suggest a promotional campaign to convince the politicians to make super heroes legal again. The catch is that it’ll feature only Mrs. Incredible, aka Elastigirl, because women are more media friendly.
So while mom gets to chase and ride and save a speeding train, dad has to stay home and tend to the kids. There are some very funny scenes there, especially when the baby starts exhibiting a variety of unexpected super powers. A confrontation with a raccoon is a standout. Dad has to explain the concept of civil disobedience, because, after all, mom is out violating the law for a higher purpose. There’s also talk about truth in politics and personal responsibility and a most radical idea espoused by a new villain. He rails about consumer culture, social media and relying on super heroes. “They make us weak,” he warns. The film, again written and directed by Brad Bird, is always busy, frantic at times and because of that weakens on the way to a big reveal at the climax and that cuts back our emotional connection. Excellent voice acting, though. (International Village, Dunbar, Scotiabank, Marine Gateway and many suburban theatres) 3 ½ out of 5
AVA: My wife says this film reminds her exactly of what life was like at the Catholic school she attended. The nuns were strict; the rules were tight, the atmosphere was stifling. That comparison is a strong endorsement of the power of the milieu that Sadaf Foroughi has created here. It’s a very moving personalstory, set in Iran, where she’s from (she lives in Montreal) and the society is Muslim. Religion isn’t mentioned, though. Obedience, respect for parents and social norms are spoken of a lot; hypocrisy and youthful rebellion are the real matters in play.
Ava, played by Mahour Jabbari, chafes under all the rules she has to live by. Dad is sort of sympathetic; mom is not, and the head mistress at school is a creepy scold. Ava feels she’s controlled and talks openly with her friends at school about it. They sound like any teens we’re used to seeing in the movies, or on TV. But when she takes a walk in the woods with a boy, mom sends her to a gynecologist to have her checked out. That’s a major insult and a trigger for rebellion. It also uncovers a stark backstory: her parents had to get married. “You did all those things and thought I would too,” she shouts in one of those arguments. The film is more than one family’s story. It’s intended as a condemnation of a whole society and the effects brought on by repression. It does that very well, although Ava herself is a bit icy and remote and the film, though imaginatively directed, feels too static in some early scenes. It won a couple of awards in Toronto and had several nominations at the Canadian Screen Awards. (VanCity Theatre) 4 out of 5
WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? It’s pretty rare to come out of a movie feeling this elated. You’re reassured that there are good people in the world because you’ve just spent an hour and a half with one. Fred Rogers wanted only to entertain and teach children and make them understand that they are special. “I like you just the way you are,” he’d say as a way to help them through what he called the “modulations” of life. He’s seen at a piano using that musical analogy to explain the fears and doubts that children feel and must be helped to overcome. He did it with his long-running and very popular TV show where he took their feelings seriously, spoke to them directly and as the film shows sometimes had to explain harsh reality for them.
Sharing a footbath with a black man was actually a strong statement against laws that segregated swimming pools. He talked about divorce, death and after MLK and RFK were killed, assassination. Even the make-believe land at the end of the toy trolley line illuminated issues, isolation for instance, as when King Friday wanted to cut himself off by building a wall. (No contemporary reference stated, but I couldn’t help thinking of one.) Rogers created a gentle ambience on his show because he saw that most children’s entertainment on TV was loud, abrasive and even violent.
This documentary by Academy Award winner Morgan Neville gives us many clips from the show, from interviews he gave and affectionate memories from people who worked with him and from family members, his wife, sister and two sons. It seems he was just as nice in real life as he came across on TV. Nothing negative comes up. Just a bit of bossiness, somebody mentions, like King Friday. We see some spoof parodies and, at his 2003 funeral, some misguided protesters. No mention of his Toronto connection, though. He created his show at the CBC there and after three years took it back home to Pittsburgh for another 33 seasons. The film is a moving tribute to his achievement. (5th Avenue, adults only remember) 4 ½ out of 5
THE GIRL IN THE FOG: Here’s what can happen when an author adapts his own novel and directs the film version. There’s not enough actual adaptation and the director thinks the audience knows what he knows and what he’s trying to communicate to them. This story from an Italian novel, a best seller by Donato Carrisi, is complicated and easy to lose. It takes twists, opens up new revelations along the way and doesn’t show some important incidents, only alludes to them. I had to watch it twice to get it straight. See it, but pay attention. It’s subtitled and very complex.
A young woman disappears one foggy night from a mountain village in northern Italy. Tourists don’t come there anymore but when a celebrity cop (Toni Servillo) arrives to investigate, people and media flock in. He seems to have a TV show, hence his fame, and a know-it-all air about him. He’s also got a cautionary message for the local police: the reporters are going to be much more adept than they at digging up facts. They don’t even have to be true. It’s an intriguing view of the effect that a hustling media can have in a small town. He provokes it himself to stir the pot and dredge up information. But with a teacher as a possible suspect, rival investigators and reporters, echoes of two previous investigations getting in the way (one decades old) and a psychiatrist (Jean Reno) hearing about all this in an elaborate flashback, you’ll be challenged to follow it all. Give it a try, though. As a puzzle. (VanCity Theatre) 3 out of 5
SUPERFLY: Blaxploitation is back. There are new films like Proud Mary, remakes like the upcoming Shaft and this one, a repositioning of one of the key films of the genre. It’s not set in Harlem, like the 1972 version, but in Atlanta. The music is different, more rap and only one of Curtis Mayfield’s classic songs. But the plotlines of crime, violence and sex are intact, though with far less actual drug use shown because the director, who calls himself Director X, didn’t want to glamorize it. (He’s Canadian-born, maybe that’s why).What he does do is interesting: he brings the images full-circle. The clothes, the bling, the power strutting came from these movies to rap videos and are back in the movies.
X is known for the videos he’s made for Drake, Rihanna and others and he shows flamboyance here with party scenes, flashy living quarters and lots of tossing of money up in the air. Our main character takes a shower with not one, but two women. Now there’s a status symbol. He’s a young drug dealer named Priest, played cool by Trevor Jackson. Along with his best pal played by Jason Mitchell he works hard selling cocaine, growing his territory and then makes a direct connection with a Mexican cartel boss to get the supply. A rival fights him and two crooked cops come after him. They’re white, of course and the worst is a woman. (Two contemporary cocerns in one movie). The film is violent (wait’ll you see the second last scene), lurid and grandiose. But a meaningful fantasy too, for some. (International Village and some suburban theatres) 2 ½ out of 5
Also now playing …
TAG: Here’s a true story: first reported by the Wall Street Journal and now a movie with Ed Helms, Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner. They’re grown men who every May for over 30 years have played a game of tag. Company boardrooms, weddings, whatever, wherever, the game resumes. I haven’t seen it (the previews conflicted with important movie screenings) but I have two interim impressions. One man tells me it’s somewhat funny; another wrote that it’s “vulgar”, “grotesque” and not funny. Take your pick.
BEAST: Haven’t seen this one either but am more interested. Suspicion and desire play off against each other for a young woman on the Island of Jersey when two young outcasts fall in love. For her, he represents a potential escape from her controlling family. He comes under suspicion as a serial murderer. She defends him, but is she right? The reviews have been quite positive, like at The Stranger in Seattle which calls it “intoxicating and claustrophobic—a swirling vortex of desire and denial.” It’s also been popular at film festivals. (International Village)