Tag: memoir

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BFI Flare Festival 2021: Firebird

The last film on my BFI Flare Festival watchlist was Firebird, a period drama based on a true story set in Estonia during the Cold War. Following Private Sergey Fetisov (Tom Prior) who is serving the last few weeks of his military service and finds himself in a relationship with Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), a fighter pilot visiting the base. Based on Fetisov’s memoir The Story of Roman, Firebird follows the author’s story as he finds himself in a love triangle with Roman and his best friend, Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya). The military setting provides the contrast with the men’s desire to be free with each other as the threat of punishment looms over throughout the film.

Directed by Peeter Rebane from a script cowritten by Rebane and Tom Prior, this is clearly a passion project and the respect and love for the film’s subject and story is evident from start to finish. Rebane utilises the setting of the film through beautiful use of location. The standout in this film’s production is how Rebane makes an open space feel incredibly claustrophobic to a point where we can physically feel Sergey’s entrapment as he has to deal with the reality of the situation. The film feels split into two parts with the first half exploring life on the military base and the love between the men blooming and the second half follows Sergey to Moscow where he is attending drama school and his reconnection with Roman.

Cowriter Tom Prior also leads this film as Sergey Fetisov. Capturing Sergey’s conflict as he tries to figure out what he wants from life to the revelation that he has fallen for Roman. Prior’s performance is clearly well researched and brings Sergey’s struggle to the surface. His perspective is the audience’s way into this world and the clash between the strict regime that he is living which contrasts against his own artistic leanings. Clearly an outsider from the beginning, we see him breaking the rules at the start of the film as he goes for a midnight swim with Luisa and a friend. The scene in which Sergey attends Roman and Luisa’s wedding is heartbreaking as he knows that he has lost the love of his life. Prior’s performance in this scene as he sees Roman after a long time is a revisit to the trauma that he experienced having to leave all over again. Prior provides a great leading turn that portrays the subject with passion and respect.

The second lead in the film is Oleg Zagorodnii who really captures Roman’s plight. Whereas Sergey is fulfilling his compulsory service to the military, Roman has established himself and risen in the ranks to Lieutenant. When Sergey suggests the two of them leaving for Sweden, Roman doesn’t even consider the thought because of his loyalty to his country. The irony in this is that the country he is so loyal to forbids him from being with the person he wants to spend his life with. Zagorodnii’s performance is full of heartbreak in a subtle way. Because of his high ranking position in the military, there is more intensity when a report is filed stating that he is gay. The scene in which the Colonel searches his room to find his unknown lover is horrific and highly intense as we know Sergey is there. The moments in which Roman has to publicly reject Sergey and lie to protect both of them is where Zagorodnii shines in his performance.

In support, Diana Pozharskaya is a star in the making as Luisa, Sergey’s best friend who was initially set on planning their future together. Diana isn’t in the film nearly as much as I would have wanted her to be as she is such an intriguing character. We get to see different sides to her through brief scenes such as when she encounters a childhood friend in the street who has recently married and had a baby. Luisa finds herself unknowingly trapped in a love triangle as she diverts her attention from Sergey to Roman. Pozharskaya plays Luisa as a character with strength rather than a typical passive character that we are so used to seeing from female characters in war time dramas. In particular, her performance in the final scene of the film sums up the torment and heartbreak that has lingered through the film.

Overall, Firebird is more traditional in its topic and structure but still packs a punch. Delving into the heartbreak and trauma that comes with being an outsider in a society where people will do anything for their country. The conflict between doing what is expected from society and what the individual wants to do creates a story that is heartbreaking, gripping and unpredictable. Featuring a slew of great performances, this film is sure to strike a chord with many audiences, especially those who like their period dramas.

Firebird is showing at the BFI Flare Festival.

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Hillbilly Elegy (2020)

Hillbilly Elegy is based on the memoir of the same name by J. D. Vance (Gabriel Basso) and follows his story as a Yale law student who faces issues when he is called back to his childhood home in Ohio after his mother, Bev (Amy Adams) overdoses on heroin. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker, Ron Howard with the screenplay written by Vanessa Taylor (who has received an Oscar nomination for co-writing The Shape of Water). The film flits between the present day J.D. who is having to travel to Ohio to help get Bev back on track and flashbacks showing J.D. as a child growing up in a broken home as Bev’s lack of stability leads to him being put in the care of his grandmother, Mamaw (Glenn Close). Hillbilly Elegy has been the subject of much controversy from the release of the book and even more so with the release of the film.

Ron Howard is a director who has a clear passion and love for filmmaking. His strongest deliveries are when he focuses on biopics with Apollo 13 (1995), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Frost/Nixon (2008) proving to be his most successful. What makes these films so strong is the connection Howard brings with the source material. On paper, Hillbilly Elegy should have proved to be a success for Howard and bring him his most critically successful film since Frost/Nixon. The memoir contains a lot of political subtext as it delves into his own Republican tendencies and attacks on Democrats, particularly under the Obama administration. This is where much of the controversy lies and with Howard being hugely Democratic himself, he decided to take any political context out of the film altogether. I think this is a huge mistake and a reason why the film doesn’t reach its full potential. Of course Vance and Howard clearly have different political values which is absolutely fine, but taking away Vance’s own political point of view in a story that is hugely ruled by its politics is taking away a big part of his own identity and characterisation. Howard needn’t direct the film in a light that “favours” the political party he opposes but I think the context should have been included even in the background.

Now to discuss the acting performances. Amy Adams has been touted as the lead in this film and I have to say that in my opinion, that is purely a tactic to win more awards. Do not be fooled, Amy Adams is in a supporting role in this film and it should be categorised as such. This isn’t anything against Adams or her performance but it is a very misleading top billing. The true lead performances in this film come from Owen Asztalos and Gabriel Basso as young and adult J.D, respectively. Both do a really decent job capturing J.D’s struggle to fit in and his determination to do well in school and work towards a career in law. Asztalos, in particular, does a great job with the conflict scenes in which he sees his family life breaking apart without fully understanding what is going on.

In support, we have Amy Adams as Bev and Glenn Close as Mamaw. Clearly the stars of the show, both give it their all and do their best with the script. However, I do think Adams was miscast (a statement I never thought I would ever say). Adams is clearly trying so hard to convey Bev’s drug addiction and inability to lead a sober and stable life but the writing doesn’t do much for the character. We don’t feel any sympathy for Bev as she succumbs to her addiction and her behaviour seems to come across as erratic without reason or explanation. In the end, she is dropped off at a motel by J.D who has to leave to attend an interview. There doesn’t seem to be any closure to her issues in a way that feels substantial enough. Close, on the other hand, pulls off a more convincing performance that is subtle and captivates when she is onscreen. She isn’t onscreen a lot but I do think out of the two, she does give the better performance. Gaining a lot of favour for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, my personal support for now is actually going toward Amanda Seyfried in Mank. Close is going to get her Oscar but I really hope it is for an even better performance.

Overall, Hillbilly Elegy is a film that does fall into the Oscar bait category. With Adams and Close being the living actresses with the most Academy Award nominations without winning one, the film is clearly driving the agenda to add that Oscar to their collections. However, I am a firm believer in giving awards to the performances that deserve it and both women have carried off performances that should have won in my opinion (Amy Adams for Best Supporting Actress in The Master and Glenn Close for Best Leading Actress in Fatal Attraction). I think giving either one an Oscar for their performances in Hillbilly Elegy would be a huge disservice to the phenomenal careers the two of them have had. They do the best with the material and direction they have been given but neither performance is in the top 5 (even top 10) for either actress. When summarising Adams or Close’s careers, it’s highly doubtful that Hillbilly Elegy is going to be discussed among their greatest films.

What did you think of Hillbilly Elegy? Let me know in the comments below!

Hillbilly Elegy is available to view on Netflix.

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Marielle Heller: Film Ranking

Marielle Heller is one of the most exciting filmmakers working in the industry. Although she is not a household name in the mainstream yet, she has proven her talent and range in the three feature films she has directed so far. All three are adaptations of different mediums which also shows Heller’s skill as a writer. Starting with The Diary of a Teenage Girl in 2015 thrust Heller as an emerging writer/director thanks to its controversial and unflinching portrayal of its subject matter of underage sex. Following this, Heller made a dramatic star out of comedienne Melissa McCarthy in biopic Can You Ever Forgive Me? in 2018 followed by 2019’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood which follows a journalist writing a piece on American icon, Mister Rogers. Her absence from major award nominations has been subject to controversy with stars such as fellow director Greta Gerwig and Natalie Portman using their platform to promote her work.

Here are my mini reviews and rankings for the films by Marielle Heller:

The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

Heller’s debut is the perfect scene stealer opening up with 15 year old Minnie (Bel Powley) walking in the park with her confident voice over stating “I had sex today. Holy shit!” Heller’s script and direction follows Minnie from a distance allowing her life to play out with the complicated relationships she has with her mum, Charlotte (Kristen Wiig) and Charlotte’s boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård). Powley’s breakout performance is nothing short of perfection. She comes across as confident and all-knowing, even recording audio diaries. Based on a hybrid novel combining novel and graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner. Minnie winds up in a sexual relationship with Monroe and believes she is in love blind to the realities of the situation. As the affair goes on, Monroe is dismissive of Minnie’s satisfaction and is aware what he is doing is wrong. The film is a unique look into the sexual mistreatment of women and girls and how society expects them to act in order to satisfy the patriarchy. It is a film about personal and emotional growth with Minnie eventually learning to become independent and satisfied in herself and her talents as an artist. Despite her flaws and mistakes, she thrives above what society thinks of her and does what makes her happy.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Heller’s follow-up Can You Ever Forgive Me? is based on the 2008 memoir of the same name by writer Lee Israel. Following Israel (Melissa McCarthy) as she forges letters written by famous writers and sells them off to earn extra money, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is a film about the writer and artist desperation. At the beginning of the film, Israel is experiencing a career slump, unable to secure an advance for her book and is forced to sell her possessions to pay her bills. What starts from selling a personal letter from Katharine Hepburn spirals into forging letters from celebrities with scandalous details. Enlisting the help of her friend, Jack (Richard E. Grant), the two begin stealing letters from libraries and archives as well as forging other letters. McCarthy and Grant bring career best performances and earned them Oscar nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Grant’s first and, to date, only Oscar nomination!).

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

One of my favourite films from last year, this underrated gem stars Tom Hanks as American treasure, Mister Rogers and features Matthew Rhys as a skeptical reporter who is asigned to write on Rogers. I have written a longer review for A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood here which you can read. Bringing Tom Hanks his first Oscar nomination in years, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood utilises wonderful puppetry in a film that is heartwarming with a deep message. Among a film landscape that is full of fear and dread, it’s nice to see a film about kindness and love being made.

Each film has its strengths and they are all so different which makes it difficult to rank them even though there are only three. Here is my ranking for Heller’s films:

1) The Diary of a Teenage Girl

2) A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

3) Can You Ever Forgive Me?

I really recommend giving each of these films a viewing at least once. Heller has a knack for drawing out brilliant and unexpected performances in films thay serve as flawless examinations of its characters.

Have you seen any Marielle Heller films? Which ones are your favourites? Let me know in the comments below!

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Steve McQueen: Film Ranking

One of the most revolutionary film directors to emerge this century so far is Steve McQueen. A Turner Prize winning artist who has turned his attention to feature films, McQueen’s realistic and fearless approach to exploring serious topics such as domestic abuse and slavery as well as taboo subjects such as sex addiction. When it comes to mcQueen, nothing is off limits and he isn’t afraid to expose the realities of the film’s subjects. He is also the first black filmmaker to win the Acaemy Award for Best Picture for 12 Years a Slave. I also think he should have been rewarded the Best Director Oscar as well although Alfonso Cuarón did a great job with Gravity.

Given the current landscape, I think it is now more important than ever to highlight the talent and calibre that people of colour bring to the film industry. The film industry is so important when it comes to representation and sadly, it just isn’t where it should be. Film is a fantastic medium to express personal stories, provide escapism and bring relevant topics and subjects to the forefront as point of discussion. I thought it best to take a look into McQueen’s amazing filmography and do a ranking of his films. There are only four films but each one is a standout in their own right so as usual, it will prove to be a challenge.

Here are my mini reviews for each McQueen film follows by the ranking:

Hunger (2008)
McQueen’s feature debut stars Michael Fassbender as IRA protestor, Bobby Sands, who takes part in a hunger and no-wash strike. This is a fantastic debut for McQueen and deservedly won him a BAFTA for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer for their First Feature Film. We watch as Sands figuratively and literally begins to fade away as he becomes the symbol for the strike. McQueen doesn’t hide the dirtiness and the discomfort in watching Sands lose the majority of his weight to the point where he can’t function. Technically, the film appears simple but it is comprised of many brilliant shots, one in particular being a 17 minute non-stop conversation between Sands and Father Moran (Liam Cunningham). By bringing a minimalist and realistic angle to the film, it actually exemplifies the horrors of the strike. Hunger put both McQueen and Fassbender on the map and it made way for the former’s unapologetic point of view approach to filmmaking.

Shame (2011)
For his second feature, McQueen reunites with Fassbender who plays Brandon Sulliven, a business executive who has an addiction to sex. Much like Hunger, McQueen does not flinch away from the realities that sex addiction has. There is nudity, both male and female, in abundance as well as underlying issues of family conflict and self-harm. This is not a film to be watched lightly as it is even more uncomfortable than its predecessor but it talks about a topic that people consider taboo. It also explores classism and the idea of the untouchable rich white male. During his usual work day, Brandon religiously watched pornography on his computer and when this is discovered, it is automatically assumed that his intern is the one who has been downloading and watching it. The idea that someone like Brandon couldn’t be associated with sex addiction is an idea that McQueen rejects in Shame. Brandon surrounds himself with sex to avoid the fact that he is lonely and unfulfilled.

12 Years a Slave (2013)
The film that propelled McQueen to the major awards circuit, 12 Years a Slave is possibly the most explicit and “real” feature film about slavery in mainstream cinema. Based on the memoir of the name same by Solomon Northup, a New-york born black man who was kidnapped and sold as a slave in Louisiana. Northup is played by Chiwetel Ejiofor with Lupita Nyongo’o as fellow slave Patsey and Fassbender in his third McQueen film as slave owner Edwin Epps. It’s a star-studded cast but what McQueen does so well is focus so much on the characters and their development that the audience forgets which actors they are watching and it becomes almost documentary like. McQueen does not hold back on the brutality that the slaves face and it goes beyond daily beatings as we see Epps rape Patsey and Epps’ wife feel resentment for Patsey rather than her husband. It’s a film that demands conversation and McQueen refuses to allow the film to be whitewashed or edited to appeal to white audiences in the way that films such as Song of the South does.

Widows (2018)
The latest feature film released by McQueen is an amazing tour de force starring Viola Davis as Veronica, a woman recently widowed after her bank robber husband, Harry (Liam Neeson) and his cohorts are killed when their car blows up. Veronica along with the other widows of the men who died must work together to get some money that is owed to a crime boss. The team comprises of Veronica, Linda (Michelle Rodriguez), Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo) and it’s so empowering watching such a huge film led by women and more importantly such a diverse cast of women. Anyone who claims that women cannot lead a film because it doesn’t bring in money is mistaken as the film was a critical and commercial success. What makes the film so engaging is how well-rounded each of the women are. We get a grip of their backgrounds in a few scenes and yet the audience understands their story and motivations to get the money. Even when Belle, who wasn’t one of the original widows is brought into the plot, is introduced, her backstory as both a beautician and babysitter is made clear highlighting her struggling financial position.

Although it is not the longest filmography, McQueen has proven why he is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today. I have included discussions of each of the films above when talking about Michael Fassbender and Viola Davis’ best roles which you can read here and here, respectively. I think that only demonstrates McQueen’s talent as director that he is able to create career-best films for his stars. His ability to create characters that are well-rounded is flawless and he has only demonstrated improvement as we go from a single standout performance in Hunger to four equally developed characters in Widows where he allows women to take the lead.

Here is my ranking of McQueen’s film:

1) 12 Years a Slave (2013)

2) Widows (2018)

3) Hunger (2008)

4) Shame (2011)

Do you agree with my ranking? Which McQueen film is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!