MOVIE: Escobar: Paradise Lost

Escobar: Paradise Lost: The paradise that is lost is a surfing spot near Medellin, Columbia.  The Escobar reference is to Pablo Escobar, the Columbian drug lord.  The years are 1983 and 1991.  A young Canadian named Nick (Josh Hutcherson) and his brother, Dylan (Brady Corbet), come to Columbia to run a surf camp.  Nick becomes infatuated with a woman named Maria (Claudia Traisac) who is opening up a medical clinic for the poor.  The clinic is paid for by her uncle, Pablo Escobar (Benicio Del Toro).  I had forgotten that Escobar was an elected Columbian senator.  In the early scenes when you see Escobar interacting with his extended family, you start to wonder whether the storyline is going to present Escobar differently than his media image.  Andrea Di Stefano, who authored this fictional script, is also the director.  He has an interesting idea and, with Del Toro as Escobar, a superb actor giving a superb performance.  Unfortunately, part of the potential suspense was lost by opening the film in 1991 and then returning to 1983.  The second and larger problem is Nick as played by Hutcherson.  You have no idea why Maria is attracted to Nick nor do you have any idea why Escobar takes Nick under his wing, even knowing that Maria is a very favored niece.  Dylan, the brother, is more complex a character, but he virtually vanishes from the film once Maria and Nick start living at the Escobar compound.  Hutcherson has some strong scenes towards the end of this 120 minute film, which leaves you wondering where this guy was earlier when he could have listened to his brother’s warning.  The film is in English and Spanish.  While there is an undertone of violence, there is no on screen violence during the first two-thirds of the movie.  The film kept me involved, but Nick was just not a believable character.  If, like me, you are a fan of Benicio Del Toro, you won’t be disappointed.  Del Toro’s performance is the primary reason for seeing this movie.

 

The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed OUt the Window

 

The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared: a Swedish comedy.  I have no experience with Swedish comedy or even knew it existed.  The underlying premise of this delightful film is that things happen and, in the spirit of Forest Gump, you just flow with it.  The movie opens with plans to celebrate Allan Karlsson’s 100 birthday.  Allan is ensconced, unhappily, in a retirement home.  Instead of joining in his birthday celebration, Allan escapes by climbing out his bedroom window.  He walks to the bus station where he purchases a ticket for as far away as his money will take him.  While waiting for the bus, a biker crosses Allan’s path.  The biker needs to use the bathroom but the suitcase he’s carrying won’t fit; he tells Allan to hold the suitcase.  The bus arrives but the biker is still in the bathroom so Allan boards the bus with the suitcase.  As things happen, the suitcase is full of drug money.  The nominal storyline is that both the drug traffickers and the police are looking for Allan.  I’m not familiar with any of the actors, but a character named Benny  (David Wberg) merits special mention as the most indecisive individual I’ve ever seen portrayed.  There is also a scene involving an elephant that is hilarious.  The real story, however, is the life of Allan.   As he embarks on his road trip we learn that since he was a kid, Allan has had a propensity for pyrotechnics, and his fetish  for explosives has lead him to an interesting life.  The flash backs include drinking scenes with Franco, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin as well as scenes with Ronald Reagan and J. Robert Oppenheimer.  Robert Gustafsson plays Allan, a person who simply tells everyone exactly what he’s doing and who embraces life in a free flowing dance.  You will be amused for most of this 115 minute film.  While the majority of the dialogue is in Swedish, there are transitions to English when Allan is in America working on the Manhattan Project, Russian while with Stalin, and in Spanish when with Franco.  There are also dialogues in French, German and Italian.  The subtitles are very readable.  I’m told the novel upon which the movie was based is even more delightful.   Felix Herngren is the director.  Remember:  “Life is what it is and does what it does.”

Movie: Ex Machina

Ex Machina: an expertly done artificial intelligence themed film.  The movie opens with a software company employee winning an employer sponsored contest.  The employer is a Google-like search engine company owned by an individual named Nathan, played by Oscar Isaac.  As the prize for winning the contest, employee Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) gets to spend a week with Nathan.  The next sequence shows Caleb flying via helicopter to Nathan’s estate.  Caleb asks the pilot how much longer until they arrive.  The response is that they have been flying over the estate for the past hour.  We learn that Nathan’s home is also his laboratory and research facility.  We also learn that Nathan has created Ava, a strikingly beautiful female A.I. being.  Nathan wants Caleb to assist him in testing Ava to find out whether she really can think for herself.  The central concept of this film is the Turing test:  If you don’t know you are talking to a computer, would you think the computer is an intelligent being?  A series of conversations occur Ava and Caleb and a separate set of conversations between Nathan and Caleb.  The fact that Nathan’s home is designed as a  “man cave” helps retain your interest pending the start of the action segment.  For most of the movie there are only four characters, with the 4^th character being Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno), who is the cook and Nathan’s sleep mate.  By stepping beyond just a voice, as in Her, writer and director Alex Garland establishes a more intricate A.I. character and a more complex film.  During the film’s 110 minutes, a fascinating set of relationships develop.  Part of the reason the film works so well rests with the character of Ava.  Alicia Vikander is superb.  There is a violent scene towards the end of the movie and, after seeing the movie, you may question whether the development artificial intelligence is a good idea.  This is Garland’s first film as a director.  I think we will see more.  I found the film to be fascinating and enjoyable.

 

Movie: Wild Tales

Wild Tales: a film from Argentina that received an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign film.  It is the most-viewed locally produced film in Argentina.  The praise Wild Tales has received is well deserved and the film is a delight despite some violent scenes.  The movie consists of six short stories, each dealing with vengeance.  While most of the stories have a tragic ending, they are each told with humor.  The closing story, “Til Death Do Us Part”, is hilarious and like no wedding dinner you have ever seen.  The interaction that occurs when the bride discovers her husband had an affair with a female co-worker whose been invited to the wedding dinner – this alone makes the film worth seeing.  Unfortunately, the opening story, “Pasternak”, is a variation on the recent Germanwings tragedy.  There is, however, an important distinction between “Pasternak” and the real event which you will recognize as the story unfolds.  After “Pasternak” is an episode in a diner.  You will immediately like the waitress and despise the customer whose retort to the waitress’ inquiry about whether he is dining alone is to compliment her mathematical skills.  The diner scene is followed by “Road to Hell” which elevates road rage to an entirely new level.  Episode four is “Bombita” which opens with a car being towed.  “The Deal” involves lawyers and is the only story lacking a wicked comic kick.  The six stories comprising this 114 minute film vary in length, each with a different cast.  I am not familiar with any of the actors.  This masterpiece is written and directed by Damien Szifron.  It is in Spanish with very readable subtitles; the comedic scenes often do not need subtitles.  I highly recommend this movie.

Movie: Timbuktu

Timbuktu: a French-Mauritanian drama.  The year is 2012.  Islamist extremists have taken over the ancient Malian city of Timbuktu.  The director and co-writer Abderrahmane Sissako does an excellent job of showing the day to day life of people trying to survive when Shariah law is imposed on them by outsiders.  Sissako tells his story primarily through a married herdsman, Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed), who has a young daughter (11) and a wife whose opinion he seeks even though he doesn’t always follow it.   Ahmed’s blissful, simple life goes very bad.   Ahmed’s performance is remarkable.  During the opening sequence, there are scenes of jihadists who cannot successfully shoot an animal running for its life.  There are also men entering a mosque toting guns and, when asked what they are doing, state that they are carrying out jihad.  The resident Imam has to tell them the obvious - that is not what one does in a mosque.  There are a series of scenes showing the town crier announcing various prohibitions: music is not allowed; adultery is particularly bad during Ramadan.  There are brief scenes of a woman receiving 40 lashes for singing and a couple, accused of adultery, buried to their necks in sand then stoned to death.   Even the leaders of the extremist group are unable to live up to the absurd standards dictated by Shariah law.  The movie shows that faith is not the problem but rather people who believe they are God’s messenger acting in the name of God.  The city’s traditional Imam tries to explain the local customs and common courtesies to the jihadists.  The jihadists’ response is that everything is done in the name of Allah.  The reality is that the jihadists have the gun and the gun controls all.  Although Timbuktu was under the jihadists’ control for a relatively short time, much damage occurred.  The film is subtitled as the characters speak in their native tongues.  I think 6 different languages are spoken including a few words in English, however, there is not a lot of dialogue.  The city and its surrounding geography are part of the story.  This is a remarkable film.   

 

Movie: Leviathan

Leviathan: a Russian movie with subtitles.  The film is 141 minutes long and feels even longer.  It is not a good sign when you are displeased with certain scenes because you know they will only prolong the film.  Liviathan was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign film and received the 2014 Cannes Best Screenplay award.  Clearly, some people have a different view of this movie.  Perhaps something was lost in the translation.  The film is set in the present and takes place in the Northern Russian coastal town of Pribrezhny.  It focuses on an individual who is losing his home in an eminent domain battle.  In addition to the injustice of losing his property by force, life with his family, which consists of a second wife and a teenage son from a prior marriage, is not good.  The mayor of Pribrezhny, the main character and virtually everyone else in the film spends an inordinate amount of time drinking vodka.  The film’s title is interesting; during the middle ages, leviathan was a Christian symbol for Satan and in the Satanic Bible, it represents water.  The film opens and closes with water.  Near the end, there is a long scene in a Russian Orthodox church and there are two major scenes with the mayor, who is clearly evil, and a priest.  There  are also references to Job.  Considering that Liviathan portrays a corrupt political society, I found it interesting that it received the financial sponsorship of the Russian government.   The bleakness of the society is portrayed along with the corruption.  But it is a long film.

 

Movie; McFarland, USA

McFarland, USA: a Kevin Costner film.  This feel good story is based on real events that occurred in McFarland, California, a town in the Central Valley, which is a farming community with a predominantly Mexican-American population.  The events take place in 1987.   Kevin Costner plays Jim White, a high school football coach who has had issues with his temper.  He is hired as a physical education teacher and an assistant football coach.  In the opening scenes, White, his wife and two daughters, are moving to McFarland.  After he starts teaching, White notices he has the talent pool for a cross-country team. White had never taught cross-country.   As the team develops, White and his family become involved with the community.  The seven runners who comprise the team are presented as individuals and certain of their family members are integral to the story.  This movie works because it goes beyond stereotypes.  The screenwriters, Christopher Cleveland, Bettina Gilois and Grant Thompson, are to be praised as the story could have become quite condescending but never does.  The director is Niki Caro, a New Zealander, who brings a fresh approach to what could have been just another Hoosiers tale.  This is more than just a sports story and Adam Arkapaw’s cinematography during the cross country races are excellent.  After watching this 128 minute movie, I left the theater feeling real good.  Part of the reason was Costner’s excellent performance.  Also, the writers allow you to see a community working well together in spite the poverty and difficult environment.  I could see this film a second time.