By: Henry J. Fromage –
This week I focused on 2021 releases that were on my radar, but fairly far to the edges of it. Turned out I was sleeping on some quality.
787. Golden Arm
This is the kind of indie comedy that’s both made by and chock full of “hey, I know that face” comedians who populate the margins of studio comedies and network TV shows, stealing every scene they’re in. Betsy Sodaro plays an arm-wrestling champ to be who gets her arm broken by her nemesis, Brenda (Olivia Stambouliah) and then recruits her old college roommate and current meek baker (Mary Holland), who just may be a fabled ‘golden arm’- a pure natural. I won’t go further, but trust me when I tell you this crew and director Maureen Bharoocha know how to wring every laugh out of a scene or setup- a true hidden gem this year. Two Beers.
788. Small Engine Repair
This small adaptation of a stage play by and starring John Pollono is an ode to the kind of friendship forged by a long and fucked up shared history, which his character has with his two buddies, played by Jon Bernthal and Shea Whigham. At least until they have an epic falling-out. Now several weeks later he calls them back together to have steaks and watch the game, but he’s got an ulterior motive… All told I can see why this clearly played well on the stage, and Pollono does a great job of expanding it into a full-fledged film with the help of some all-timer character actors. It felt a bit pat in the end for me, but that’s a quibble- well worth the ride. Two Beers.
789. Worth
Netflix just dropped this Sundance 2020 contender, and cynically it probably was related to the upcoming 9/11 anniversary, although it may also be a bit of an overall quality concern, too. Not that this film isn’t quality- the performances of Michael Keaton as a lawyer who takes on the untouchable job of quantifying the worth of each life lost in the tragedy to be paid out to their families in a ploy to keep them from suing and bankrupting the two major airlines involved, and of Stanley Tucci and Amy Ryan among others of a solid supporting cast, are certainly that. Director Sara Colangelo just keeps driving up the middle stylistically, though, hitting the fairway consistently, but a long ways away from the hole. Three Beers.
790. Bolden
This is a music biopic of Buddy Bolden, held by many including Louis Armstrong (played pretty convincingly by Reno Wilson) to be the creator of jazz, and it’s told by director Dan Pritzker in a freewheeling style alright, one enabled perhaps a bit too much by Bolden’s ultimate fate of being imprisoned in a mental asylum. The performances and production values are all quite good, but the overall effect doesn’t gel as much as it should. Three Beers.
791. Murder, Bury, Win
This well-produced indie comedy thriller is about three young men who believe they’ve created the next big thing in board games- a mystery game in which you’re the killer, and need to plan the perfect murder. When their Kickstarter (equivalent) fails fairly hard, they are about to give up- until they get an anonymous phone call from a man who wants to meet them about the game. A lot of the fun of this one is in following along as things go from bad to worse for them (will there be murder? you guess), but it also wraps up with a bit of a sordid taste in your mouth due to an unexpected, but pretty damn dark ending that’s only half-heartedly set up. Three Beers.
792. Boys from County Hell
This Irish horror-comedy on Shudder about a small town that knocks over the cairn that per legend keeps an undead scourge at bay feels like a lot of other horror comedies out there for the most part. What sets it apart, though, is the specificity of its folklore, and where the comedy really hits is when the poor townsfolk try to apply zombie and or vampire movie logic to stop it, then see that fail every time. That’s a pretty great idea more horror (and horror comedy) directors should riff on. Three Beers.
793. Mission: Possible
This Korean action comedy about spies and evil gangsters and stuff starts out with the comedy, and it is just truly godawful – like sped up running and mugging reaction shots and casual sexism bad. And then the action really kicks in, and… it’s pretty fucking great. So I’m really stuck on whether to recommend this or not, but if you choose to skip around to just the action scenes, there are some excellent John Wick-level ones in here. Four Beers.
794. The Song of the Butterflies
This PBS POV documentary caught my eye because it’s set in Peru, and specifically Iquitos- the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon at about half a million despite it not be accessible by roads- it’s either plane or boat in those parts (and yes, it’s an awesome place to visit). Anyway, this doc is about a young indigenous artist who strives to capture the splendor of his grandmother’s storytelling in his paintings. It’s a bit elliptical, but the art and environment are both fascinating. Two Beers.
795. All Cats are Grey in the Dark
This short film playing PBS POV is about an Austrian man with a bit too intimate of a relationship with his awful-darn-gorgeous cat, who he mates with a tomcat a long journey away and then nurtures through her pregnancy and birth. He’s the kind of guy who walks around with his two cats on his shoulder while bystanders gawk, and I’m not sure I would be a very different person if I’d not gotten married (minus the mating and birthing stuff- be like Bob Barker and get those pets spayed or neutered). Two Beers.
796. I’m Your Man
This German dramedy stars Maren Eggert as a scientist from Berlin who agrees to participate in a study to get funding for her research, in which she lives with an android (played with surprising German-speaking acuity by Dan Stevens) who’s been tailored to be her perfect mate. Sandra Huller is great as the if not android, at least android-like administrator of the program. This feels almost like it could be a lost Yorgos Lanthimos joint, with it’s bone-dry sense of humor and the absurd as well as preoccupation with dissecting human emotion and connection. Two Beers.
797. Sunflower
Don’t let the cheery still above trick you- this is your typical Korean crime melodrama amped up to 11. Kim Rae-won stars as a young man returning to a different world after 10 years in prison, who has sworn to renounce the life of violence he once led. He bonds with the mother and sister of his deceased best friend… and that’s when a Job-ian succession of misfortune ensues. It’s just this side of ridiculous, until you realize that director Kang Seok-beom is building up to the mother of all final confrontations, which, yes, totally redeems everything that came before, and then some. Is it Park Chan-wook or Bong Joon-ho type of masterpiece? Nope, but it slays when it’s time to. Three Beers.
