🤠 "All I want is to be a cowboy and wear my own pants"
This week: Destry, Minari, Carrie, and a few other things that don't rhyme.
Two weeks ago, I canceled the normal newsletter to write about anti-Asian hate in Hollywood, and last week I was just not feeling it. But I’m back! Let’s do this.
First, though … since my last normal newsletter, I’ve released three episodes of Follow Friday that I’m really proud of: One with comedian Zack Bornstein; another with /Filmcast co-host Devindra Hardawar; and today’s, with my former Recode colleague Johana Bhuiyan, who’s now at the LA Times. Check them out and, if you like them, please tell a friend! Thank you.
🌱 “This is the best dirt in America”
A few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I returned to the drive-in movie theater we’ve frequented throughout the pandemic — it’s where she saw Zoolander and Vertigo for the first time; where we revisited Wall-E and Lost in Translation; and where we both saw our first Wong Kar Wai film, In the Mood for Love. But this was our first time driving in to see a proper new movie, the family drama Minari.
The film has attracted plenty of awards buzz, for good reason: The script is powerful, the cinematography is beautiful, and the acting is a knockout — especially the lead performances by Steven Yeun and Yeri Han, playing Korean-American parents who have just moved their family from California to Arkansas. They are strangers in a strange land, but the plot refreshingly focuses on intra-family dynamics more than racial tension with the neighbors, which is what I expected.
My only big complaint with the movie is that the daughter character, Anne, is given short shrift, while everyone else in and around the family seems fully realized; I suspect there’s a longer cut of the film somewhere that gives her her due.
As you may already know by now, the film was awarded at this year’s Golden Globes — but it was deemed ineligible for the big category, “Best Picture - Drama,” instead being shunted into the less prestigious “Best Picture - Foreign Language” ghetto.
On top of the rampant corruption of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, this is yet another reason to stop treating the Globes as a relevant awards show. Most of the dialogue may be Korean, but language is a pretty meaningless criterion here. Minari is an American-produced film about a classic American immigrant story, and a “smaller” victory creates fewer opportunities for other minority voices in the future.
Deservedly, Minari is in the running for Best Picture at the Oscars, and (although I haven’t seen most of the nominees yet), I’d like think its chances are pretty good! Try to check it out if you can — if not at a drive-in like us, then by renting it on digital.
Minari ★★★★½
Other stuff I’ve watched recently
Destry Rides Again ★★★★½ - A refreshing twist on Western movie tropes, from all the way back in 1939. Jimmy Stewart plays the “stranger who comes to town,” the son of a former sherriff who is appointed as the new deputy. But he arrives with a totally foreign philosophy: Law & order, not guns & ammo. His charming folksy anecdotes and aversion to violence are tempered only by the requisite action-packed climax, which makes dramatic sense but feels a bit like a cheat. Also: Required viewing for any fan of Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles. You’ll get why after a few minutes in. Available to rent/buy on digital.
The Martian ★★★★ - A solidly entertaining adaptation of the book by Andy Weir, featuring an excellent performance by Matt Damon … and a surprisingly catchy soundtrack of 70s music. Director Ridley Scott cut his teeth exploring the terror of man vs. alien in space, but here he proves equally adept at the quieter, more melancholy task of man vs. environment. Other than some dubious choices in the supporting cast, including a Korean character who was whitewashed and an atypically miscast Donald Glover, the movie is a well-oiled machine. Streaming on DirecTV.
Unfaithfully Yours ★★★★ - A surprising dark comedy, starring Rex Harrison in his default mode of huffy but erudite. He plays a star orchestra conductor who comes to suspect his wife is cheating on him, and I’d advise against reading other plot synopses, since they will spoil the very inventive thing that happens next. The swerving tone didn’t always work for me, and the final act overstayed its welcome, but the script and performances are top-notch. Streaming on the Criterion Channel.
Carrie ★★★½ - The impact of this well-directed and sufficiently creepy Stephen King adaptation is lessened if you know the (very famous) ending. I won’t spoil it here, but even the DVD cover gives it away. The performances are almost all dialed up to 11, especially Carrie’s one-note classmates, and I was more puzzled than satisfied with how the story ended, but there’s no denying the power and inventiveness of some of Brian De Palma’s blocking and editing choices here. Streaming on Showtime, fuboTV, and DirecTV.
Pocahontas ★★★½ - Better than I remembered/expected, with lovely animation and a few stellar songs, but its many problems are hard to ignore. It applies a Disney fairy tale simplicity to real events (hmm) and, in the process, distorts the motivations of Native Americans and European colonists alike. Also, there are way too many animal antics and too much talking-tree exposition. I wish this same story had been adapted by a studio that had the courage to make an animated movie for adults. Streaming on Disney+.
P.S.
You can follow me on Twitter and Letterboxd. The latter is where you’ll also find my (ongoing) list of every movie I’ve seen in 2021, ranked.
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Leave your reactions, questions, recommendations, and Stephen King spoilers (don’t actually do that) in the comments below.