More BAM for the buck, and a true hidden gem in Andrew Dosunmu’s Mother of George
Welcome back toThe 300, a recurring feature that chronicles my attempt to see 300 movies in theaters in 2018. I’ll be watching new releases, classics, and hidden gems as a way to explore the wide world of cinema in all of its forms.
As always, there are three rules for The 300:
While I’ve already spent a lot of time atMetrograph, I wound up atBAM Rose Cinemasa bunch in the last week. In the lead up toBlack Panther, they had a great film series on black action heroes and black superheroes, and a new series going on right now celebrating the work of Oscilloscope Laboratories. As the year goes on, expect to see BAM show up a bunch more on these features.
And again, I’m staying away from the Alamo Drafthouse giventheir history of sexual assault and harassment issues. The local franchise owners are probably good people, but I won’t be back until Tim and Karrie League step down.
48 of 300: Trans-Europ-Express (1966)
Director: Alain Robbe-GrilletStarring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Marie-France Pisier, Christian Barbier, Catherine Robbe-GrilletCountry: FranceSeen at Quad Cinema (New York, NY)Thursday, February 15th
Three people on a train make up a crime story, revising as they go along; the story plays out on screen. That’sTrans-Europ-Expressin a nutshell, the cinematic equivalent of reading one of writer/director Alain Robbe-Grillet’s novels. Trintignant is railroaded in absurd fashion, an existential figure totally adrift, and a meta commentary on the fate of fictional characters determined by forces outside a text. That explains the BDSM and sexual play throughout—roles people fulfill in games of dominance and submission. Like Robbe-Grillet’s novels, I like the ideas contained in the work more than the work itself.
49 of 300: Sleight (2016)
Director: J.D. DillardStarring: Jacob Latimore, Seychelle Gabriel, Dulé Hill, Storm ReidCountry: USASeen at BAM Rose Cinemas (Brooklyn, NY)Friday, February 16th
Sleightis frustrating. An orphaned magician hustles to raise his little sister in LA. He’s got a strange object embedded in his shoulder, like some RadioShack Iron Man. Rather than explore that,Sleightis saddled with a cliched “drug dealer wants out of the game” story. While it’s a commentary on the lack of opportunities for young black men, it’s also a case of Chekhov’s object in the shoulder: I wondered for most of the film when will our hero a) finally explain what the heck that thing is and b) use it to do stuff in the drug dealer plot. The performances and direction are good at least, with Dillard getting the most tension he can from a clunky script.
50 of 300: Yeelen (1987)
Director: Souleymane CisséStarring: Issiaka Kane, Aoua Sangare, Niamanto SanogoCountry: MaliSeen at BAM Rose Cinemas (Brooklyn, NY)Saturday, February 17th
Yeelenis mythic, and its presentation feels drawn from an ancient oral storytelling tradition. A sorcerer leaves home to avoid his murderous estranged father. The flight from home becomes a magical odyssey/passage into adulthood. Magic is depicted as small-scale shamanistic rituals, and they are remarkable to watch unfold. Cissé’s imagery is rich in earth tones, which adds brilliances to any greenery on screen as well as the color blue. AsYeelenwinds down, the storytelling moves into symbolic territory, with imagery that reminded me of Alejandro Jodorowsky’sEl Topo.
51 of 300: Strange Days (1995)
Director: Kathryn BigelowStarring: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette LewisCountry: USASeen at BAM Rose Cinemas (Brooklyn, NY)Sunday, February 18th
Strange Daysis peak 1990s: there’s Y2K fatalism, VR as a heroin analog, and some of the worst grunge you’ve ever heard. The film works when it addresses Rodney King and the LA riots; some of the dystopian imagery feels a like a cross betweenChildren of Menand Ferguson, Missouri. Yet the movie’s at least 20 minutes too long, and crummy dudes get in the way of interesting women. Fiennes is our dirtbag protagonist rather than Bassett’s capable, compelling heroine; James Cameron’s indulgent script gets in the way of Kathryn Bigelow’s direction. The film includes an excessively misogynistic rape scene, like something out of a Lucio Fulci movie.
52 of 300: Black Panther (2018)
Director: Ryan CooglerStarring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai GuriraCountry: USASeen at UA Court Street Stadium 12 (Brooklyn, NY)Monday, February 19th
From its mostly black cast to its big-budget afrofuturist aesthetic,Black Pantherfeels like next-level blockbuster filmmaking. This is blackStar Warsand blackJames Bondin terms of its importance: a movie that marks a new cultural moment in representation that may inspire a generation of artists to come.
Newly crowned king T’Challa wants to connect the technologically advanced kingdom of Wakanda to rest of the world. But what’s the balance? The price of utopia seems to be reverting to isolationism or succumbing to imperialist urges.Black Pantherfeatures some of the best women in the MCU, the standouts being warrior Okoye and scientist Shuri. They’re more than just sidekicks, they feel like they have identities outside of this film.Black Pantheralso features the best villain in the MCU by far in Killmonger. He’s got strong personal motivations for his goals, which explore notions of what W. E. B. Du Bois called double consciousness; there’s also the colonial mentality finding a radical path to revenge through the mentality and tactics of colonizers. Killmonger is the Magneto to T’Challa’s Professor X.
My only gripe withBlack Pantheris that most of the action was poorly shot and edited. Camera placement, camera movement, and choppy editing obscured the fight choreography; foreground movement blended into the background too much, muddying the action. It’s the equivalent of someone mumbling a brilliant speech. The best action seemed to be any scenes shot using natural daylight. Even when the camera was too close and the editing spotty, I could at least figure out what was happening. I harp on this because Coogler had such crisply executed action inCreed, and the rest of Rachel Morrison’s cinematography is splendid.
53 of 300: Mother of George (2013)
Director: Andrew DosunmuStarring: Isaach de Bankolé, Danai Gurira, Bukky Ajayi, Tony OkungbowaCountry: Nigeria/USASeen at BAM Rose Cinemas (Brooklyn, NY)Tuesday, February 20th
Mother of Georgeis a hidden gem, beautiful and rare and extremely human. The film centers on a Nigerian couple’s difficulties having a baby, and the strain it places on their marriage. The performances are all wonderfully complicated, and they’re elevated by Bradford Young’s breathtaking cinematography. Color, texture, focus, and negative space emphasize the emotional undercurrent of each shot. Dosunmu enhances the visuals by isolating his performers or piecing together disparate images to convey some hidden truth. Whatever a character leaves unspoken, the imagery communicates.Mother of Georgeis a must see if you enjoy reading the text and subtext of images.
I wish I saw another movie this week featuring Danai Gurira or Angela Bassett. Was close to an actress hat trick.
