Café Society (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“Café Society” Another Nostalgic Woody Allen Film

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Allan Stewart Konigsberg (that’s Woody Allen to you) has delivered his annual film, another bittersweet romantic comedy.

Titled “Café Society,” it’s set in the 1930s. Woody Allen is at his best when he’s being nostalgic. Over time, his older films have taken on a past-tense patina. But many of his newer films deliberately turn back the clock, like an older man reminiscing about his younger days.

In “Radio Days,” Allen shared memories that might have been from his childhood. With “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” he waxed on about movies during the Great Depression. “Bullets Over Broadway” explored that same halcyon time frame. And “Madness in the Moonlight” performed its magic in the late ‘20s.

Sure, “Play It Again Sam” was set in present tense, but Allen was humming “As Time Goes By.” And “Midnight in Paris” took an interesting twist: Viz-à-viz the enchanting use of time travel, Allen transported us back to the Lost Generation of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

With “Café Society,” he returns (as the old-time radio announcer used to say) to those thrilling days of yesteryear. In fact, Woody Allen himself provides the voice-over narration.

“Café Society” is playing at Tropic Cinema.

Now in his 80s, Woody Allen is too old to act the leading man in his films, so for this one he uses Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”) as his surrogate. Eisenberg embodies the socially awkward autobiographical character Woody Allen has been delivering from his stand-up comedy days to himself in “Annie Hall” to Owen Wilson in “Midnight in Paris.”

Here, we meet Bobby Dorfman (Eisenberg), a nice young Jewish boy from the Bronx (note: Allen was born in the Bronx) who goes to Hollywood to work with his uncle Phil (Steve Carell), a high-powered agent who name-drops all the big stars of the ‘30s. There Bobby meets Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), his unc’s secretary and falls hard for her. However, Vonnie is snared in a love triangle and therefore does not go back to New York with Bobby. In the Big Apple, he winds up in the nightclub business with his gangster brother Ben (Corey Stall) and gets wrapped up in … café society.

And this is how Bobby ends up, a Bogart-like figure in a white tux, hiding a broken heart, trapped in the wrong marriage.

Always the ventriloquist, Woody Allen drops plenty of funny insights through his character’s dialogue. “Live every day like it’s your last and some day you’ll be right.” Or, “Life is comedy, but it’s one written by a sadistic comedy writer.” That would be Woody, of course. Still rhapsodizing about the meaninglessness of life.

“Café Society” is quintessential Woody Allen -- a montage of elegant imagery and jazz music, intellectual witticisms and nervous anxiety, plus a certain predictable cynicism about romance. Here you will encounter all his familiar tropes -- life, chance, fate, love, guilt.

May as well say, Play it again, Woody.

srhoades@aol.com

NYFCS Presents “Five Nights In Maine” (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

NYFCS Presents “Five Nights In Maine” At Tropic Cinema

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

One of the neat things about being a film critic is that I often get to see movies before you do. But don’t despair -- the New York Film Critics Series allows fans to slip in a side door (so to speak) and enjoy previews of movies prior to their national debut. Or at least before they come for a regular run at your local theater.

Tropic Cinema is one of a number of nationwide theaters that present these sneak previews in association with NYFCS.

For instance, this coming Wednesday night you can catch “Five Nights In Maine,” a new film written and directed by Maris Curran.

It’s the story of two people working through their grief following the death of a young woman in an automobile accident.

David Oyelowo stars as the distraught widower. Two-time Oscar-winner Dianne Wiest co-stars as his estranged mother-in-law. Rosie Perez plays the terminally-ill woman’s nurse.

Sherwood (Oyelowo) travels from his home in Atlanta to rural Maine to seek answers from his wife’s mother (Wiest). Although not close, both Sherman and Lucinda must confront their personal guilt over the death. Can they find a resolution?

You will remember Oyelowo from his riveting portrayal of Martin Luther King in “Selma.”

Born in England, he is a classically trained stage actor who attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 2016.

As it happens, Oyelowo’s father was a member of a royal family in Nigeria. His last name (pronounced “Oh-yellow-oh”) literally means “a king deserves respect.”

Oyelowo takes his royalty with a grain of salt. “Now don’t get me wrong,” he laughs. “Royal families are a dime a dozen in Nigeria. It’s more like being the king of Sherman Oaks, really.”

Here his over-the-top performance carries a certain majesty. He is one of the producers of the film, indicating a personal commitment to the project.

Meet David Oyelowo for yourself. The screening of “Five Nights In Maine” will be accompanied by a Q&A. Peter Travers’ on-screen guests include Oyelowo, Rosie Perez, and the film’s director.

srhoades@aol.com

Jason Bourne (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

Jason Bourne

In "Jason Bourne" our favorite amnesiac agent is back. He is square-jawed, resolute and better than ever. As we might expect, Bourne (Matt Damon) is still trying to piece together his past, as he did in previous outings but thanks to the deft direction of Paul Greengrass (United 93), this is a satisfying and outright nerve-tingling episode of the popular franchise, where the action never stops.

Here CIA Director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) is seething over the hack of their computers and immediately thinks Bourne is behind it. But Bourne is on the Grecian border, doing some soul searching of sorts as a hired prizefighter. Bourne's buddy, Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) is responsible for the hack and wants to help  Bourne through his crisis. They agree to meet at Syntagma Square but trouble awaits.

Everyone, literally everyone, is out for him.

While fans have seen this all before, (as Bourne brings down man after man with Dewey getting steamed), it is Damon's icy calm, balanced against his torment that makes this chapter watchable. The action is first rate with car chases that turn the crunch and speed of metal into a near fetishistic intensity. Greengrass's shaky camera, a trademark, becomes a teenager's tongue, hungrily capturing every rip and rape of steel upon steel. Adrenaline rules over all.

Bourne has a Euro-foe, a shadowy man generically known as Asset (played by the inimitable Vincent Cassel). This figure is as scary as they come, because he is faceless.

Under Greengrass's direction, one sees small details that loom large in the mind. Protestors attacking police who resemble metal insects. Pedestrians running for their lives as the cypher Asset moves through the chaos, unmoved. A few scenes later, Trump Casino is visible looking like a blind and defiant finger rising from the desert.

The gray humor of Bourne's cat-and-mouse game against Dewey with his iconic wrinkles turns into an almost macabre study of revenge and all of the the work it takes to hate and stay alive for years on end. Some might see these vein-straining  tumbles as a WikiLeak's version of something previously re-Bourne and they would be right, but some tense and moody direction by Paul Greengrass keeps the anxiety at the apex. As the melancholic agent who is more authentic on screen than Jack Reacher, "Jason Bourne" still manages to  please with his punches.

Write Ian at ianfree1@yahoo.com

The Music of Strangers (Brockway)

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble

Music is an almost primal universal language and an exchange of communication. The documentary "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" by Morgan Neville is a colorful and rolling testament to this universality. Right from the start of this film, a variety of sounds hit you in great undulations: here is a tapestry made from the pulses of China, Spain, America and The Middle East.

Around 1990, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma was at a kind of standstill. Making music was becoming rote. He questioned the quest for originality, his place as a musician and yearned to do something spontaneous.  On an appearance with interviewer Charlie Rose, he said he was going to seek out the  African Bushman. He went to the Kalahari Desert and learned of their trance ritual.

It was a step towards the combinations of possibility that Ma sought. Then in 1998, an idea hit him. Why not try a collaboration? This led to the creation of a group of sonic explorers known as The Silk Road Ensemble, who use their home instruments to make music and fuse with one another to create a fluid tapestry. Depicted in the film are Yo-Yo Ma, Wu Man with a pipa -- a lute instrument, Kayan Kalhor on his kamancheh -- a type of fiddle with a long neck, Cristina Patos on her Galician bagpipes, and Kinan Azmeh on the clarinet, to name just a few members.

Many musicians have endured years of tragedy and violent revolution resulting in displacement or the loss of family members due to distance or murder. Still each person makes music and becomes inseparable from the other.

The film does a fine job of illustrating the group's journey, its wishes and its fears. Every artist has a story. Patos has green hair like The Joker and wants new fans to see bagpipes with the colors of Rock & Roll. Kalhor lost his family and always felt he had to look over his shoulder, be it in America or Iran, and Azmeh worries about war-worn Syria. No less heartfelt is the plight of Yo-Yo Ma himself, who is in an existential crisis. Will his next composition be his last, and how lasting will his output be in the ears of others.
This documentary makes a vibrant kaleidoscope of imagery that matches an exotic soundtrack. Most striking is the interior of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Once a cathedral, a mosque and twice burned to the ground, it is now a museum where half-erased frescoes stare out in Catholic defiance. Similarly, the ensemble of musicians are defiant in the face of violence and xenophobia that looms in the distance like a dense but half formed cloud. The musicians are uncertain of any future projects, yet they continue their rhythmic and bracing cultural exchanges, adapting along the way.

Though this film begs for more actual music, the musical passages that are featured will have you jumping from your seat. "The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble" delivers a holistic meditation on the process of music making and the connection between crushing obstacles and  expression.

Write Ian at ianfree1@yahoo.com

Week of July 29 - August 4 (Rhoades)

Tropic Overview

A Pinch of Everything on Tropic Screens

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Film Critic, Key West Citizen

Spies, musicians, New Zealanders, fashionistas, and funny animals -- that’s the varied selection at Tropic Cinema this week.

Matt Damon returns as our favorite spy in the eponymous “Jason Bourne,” a James Bond for today’s harsh geopolitics. Bourne is still on a mission to uncover his forgotten past -- and Julia Stiles is on hand to help him. MovieWeb says, “‘Jason Bourne’ is a swift actioner that never lets up for a second. Whatever political statement it attempts to make is negligible under the action onslaught. Matt Damon hasn’t forgotten how to beat bad guys to a pulp.” And Filmink calls it “a continuation of a truly superior action franchise.”

“The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble” is as much an earful as an eyeful. This documentary follows the famous cellist along a musical trail from China to the Mediterranean in a celebration that features some 50 diverse musicmakers playing native instruments. Washington Post sees it as “an inspiring look at creative people from very different walks of life who nonetheless communicate beautifully with one another.” And Film International opines, “Music and cinema are both universal languages. I can't think of another film that blends the best of these audio and visual worlds into a most enjoyable adventure about mixed cultures and disparate lives that becomes the sum of much more than its parts.”
 
“Hunt for the Wilderpeople” gives us a delinquent Māori boy and a quarrelsome old outdoorsman (Julian Dennison and San Neill) who go on the run through the woods of New Zealand while pursued by an army of police and an overzealous social worker (Rachel House). Minneapolis Star Tribune describes it as “the kind of adorable, coming-of-age dramedy that Pixar would proudly create if it made live-action movies and not cartoons.” And Newsday tags it, “a lopsided gem full of off-kilter humor, hard truths and real emotion.”

“Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie” is based on the hilarious British TV show about two over-the-top wags (again played by Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley). This time they’re hiding out in the South of France after accidentally offing supermodel Kate Moss at a fashion show. Cinemaclips.com tells us: “Based on the popular British television comedy series, this big screen version is an overblown barrage of jokes, sight gags and fashion.” And Patriot Ledger reminds us, “It’s what ‘Ab Fab’ fans have been waiting for ....

Still bringing a smile to the faces of all pet lovers, “The Secret Life of Pets” is an animated comedy about two pooches off on a misadventure while their owner is at work. Louis C.K. and Eric Stonestreet join a pack of celebs in voicing these cute city animals. ChristyLemire.com calls it “an incredibly simple yet irresistible idea for a movie.” And the Atlantic sums it up, “There’s something quietly therapeutic about spending 90 minutes with some nutty, heroic furballs on a hero’s journey with very low stakes.”

Yes, it’s a good week at the Tropic.

srhoades@aol.com

Jason Bourne (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“Jason Bourne” Comes Up With New Idea for Damon

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

Jason Bourne is a fictional spy, a CIA assassin suffering from memory loss. Troubled by hints of his past, he is driven to figure out exactly who he is.

Created by author Robert Ludlum, Jason Bourne appeared in three of his novels and nine more by successor Eric Van Lustbader. That has led to five action films, counting the eponymous “Jason Bourne” which is now playing at Tropic Cinema.

Matt Damon (“The Martian,” “The Departed”) starred in all but the fourth film in the series. Jeremy Renner stepped in for that one, playing a fellow spy.

After the third film Damon had stated that he would not do another Bourne film without Paul Greengrass as director. Damon had worked with him on the second and third Bourne film, as well as ”Green Zone.”

Damon said, “I think in terms of another one, the story of this guy’s search for his identity is over, because he’s got all the answers, so there’s no way we can trot out the same character, and so much of what makes him interesting is that internal struggle that was happening for him, am I a good guy, am I a bad guy, what is the secret behind my identity, what am I blocking out, why am I remembering these disturbing images? So all of that internal propulsive mechanism that drives the character is not there, so if there was to be another one then it would have to be a complete reconfiguration, you know, where do you go from there? For me I kind of feel like the story that we set out to tell is has now been told.”

But he hedged his bets. “I love the character, and if Paul Greengrass calls me in ten years and says, ‘Now we can do it, because it’s been ten years and I have a way to bring him back,’ then there’s a world in which I can go, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ We could get the band back together if there was a great idea behind it.”

You guessed it, Greengrass returned to direct “Jason Bourne.” Apparently, he and screenwriter Christopher Rouse came up with that great new idea.

In addition to Matt Damon, Julia Styles is returning to play Nicky Parsons, the character she did in the first three films. Alicia Vikander signed on as a CIA agent, with Tommy Lee Jones joining the team as the CIA Director. Vincent Cassel took the role of an assassin who is stalking Bourne.

In this one, Bourne resurfaces just as a new program has been created to hunt him down. But there are still things to learn about his past.

Jason Bourne: “I know who I am. I remember everything.”

Nicky: “Remembering everything doesn’t mean you know everything.”

There you go, the new idea is the same as the old idea.

But we love seeing Damon bash heads with baddies as his signature spy, Jason Bourne.

srhoades@aol.com

The Music of Strangers (Rhoades)

Front Row at the Movies

“The Music of Strangers” Melds Diverse Musicians

Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades

The Silk Road was an ancient network of trade routes that connected China with the Mediterranean Sea. That’s why cellist Yo-Yo Ma chose that name for The Silk Road Project, a loose collective of over 50 musicians, composers, and storytellers from Eurasian cultures.

Filmmaker Morgan Neville has stitched together a feature-length documentary titled “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble.” This film is now showing at Tropic Cinema.

Neville knows music. Among his previous docs and biopics are “Keith Richards: Under the Influence,” “Johnny Cash’s America,” “American Revolutions: The Highwaymen,” “Brian Wilson: A Beach Boy’s Tale,” “Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n Roll,” and the Oscar-winning “20 Feet from Stardom” (a tuneful doc about backup singers). His American Masters TV offerings included “Troubadours: Carol King/James Taylor & the Rise of the Singer/Songwriter,” “Hank Williams: Honky-Tonk Blues,” and “Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied.”

Pop, rock, country, blues -- but “The Music of Strangers” conjures up a different style of music.

The Chinese cellist has been playing classical music since he was four. Now at 60, his distinguished career has produced over 90 albums, 18 of them winning Grammies.

However, along the way he has recorded Baroque pieces, bluegrass ditties, tangos, traditional Chinese music, a collaboration with jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin, Beatle tunes, even Hollywood soundtracks. Critics describe his repertoire as “omnivorous.”

The idea behind the Silk Road Project was to bring together diverse musicians from countries historically linked to the Silk Road. The Ensemble performed at locales along the spice route, countries that include Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, India, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan.

“I’m always trying to figure out, at some level, who I am and how I fit in the world,” Yo-Yo Ma says in the film.

Ma plays a cello built in 1733 by Domenico Montagnana, an instrument valued at $2.5 million. He affectionately calls it “petunia.”

But the musicians in this documentary highlight a variety of instruments ranging from a Chinese short-necked plucked lute to an Armenian double reed woodwind, a Japanese bamboo flute to a Mongolian horse head fiddle.

Featured are such musicians as Kayhan Kalhor, a kamancheh player from Iran; Kinan Azmeh, a clarinetist from Syria; Cristina Pato, a Spanish bagpiper; and Wu Man, a Chinese pipa player.

This melding of musicians and instruments has been called “The Manhattan Project of Music.” It’s a movie that’s beautiful to hear.

srhoades@aol.com