Filmmaker Roger Ross Williams, the first African-American to win an Oscar for directing and producing a film, is adding to the buzz of his documentary “God Loves Uganda” with an Op-Doc video on The New York Times website. Williams writes:
The American evangelical movement in Africa does valuable work in helping the poor. But as you’ll see in this Op-Doc video, some of their efforts and money feed a dangerous ideology that seeks to demonize L.G.B.T. people and intensifies religious rhetoric until it results in violence. It is important for American congregations to hold their churches accountable for what their money does in Africa.
The “dangerous ideology” he refers to is the imposition of Biblical law in Africa that includes undermining condom programs to fight HIV in favor of abstinence and the criminalization of homosexuality. We posted a review of “God Loves Uganda” here.
It might come as a surprise that the CIA agents who tracked down many of Al Qaeda’s top leaders, including Osama Bin Laden, to be captured or killed were a group of women who look more like your kid’s second-grade teacher than female leads in a spy thriller.
Known in the CIA as the “Sisterhood,” a team of female intelligence analysts have worked for two decades to piece together shards of information from around the globe to not only track individual terrorists leaders, but to get to know how they think and react.
Their story, including their scapegoating by Congress after the 9/11 attacks, is the subject of Greg Barker’s documentary “Manhunt.”
As one of the team explains, “Women make the best analysts,” because they are better than men at seeing patterns in a sea of ambiguous information gathered from hundreds of sources. They were often criticized by their male superiors for being obsessed with their work and emotional.
“How can you do something like this without being passionate?” says one of the team. “We were trying to protect the United States. It’s a big burden.”
To make them more effective after 9/11, the analysts were teamed with field agents “down range”—in combat zones. A member of the Sisterhood was killed by a suicide bombing. But soon their CIA colleagues were referring to their amalgamation of information and intuition “magic.”
A team of Navy Seals landed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and gunned down Osama Bin Laden. But it wouldn’t have been possible without the Sisterhood that painstakingly tracked his favorite courier across the Middle East.
If you’ve seen “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Manhunt” is the true-life prequel. You’ll be seeing more of “Manhunter” this year.
Bleak.
The Brooklyn projects setting of this sweltering survival story is nothing if not bleak. And in terms of taking an audience to a distinct and specific place–albeit an almost overwhelming harsh place–The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete delivers. But that doesn’t make it worth 120 minutes of your time.
Director George Tillman, Jr. (Soul Food, Notorious) doesn’t shy away from the gritty details of the kind of life endured by 14-year-old Mister and a tag-along 9-year-old named Pete, who lives nearby under the same horrific circumstances. Both boys’ mothers are scuffling through addictions, and the situation outside their homes isn’t any better, the neighborhood full of dealers, bullies and desperation on all fronts.
That desperation for Mister and Pete kicks into overdrive when Pete’s mom goes absent and Mister’s mom (an almost unrecognizable Jennifer Hudson) is arrested. Having heard tale of how awful the children’s home is where they’ll be sent, the boys run from the police and end up on their own for weeks in the middle of summer. Dangers lurk in all directions, from local thieves, dealers and thugs to the police who seem to make regular visits. The boys somehow forge a friendship through the trials, keeping their eyes on an upcoming audition for child actors that Mister knows will end up with him moving to Los Angeles to be a star.
Thankfully, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete doesn’t take that “Hollywood-ending” route. Rather, the audience is given a look at remarkable perseverance from two young actors who deliver strong performances in the title roles, Sklyan Brooks as Mister, and Ethan Dizon as Pete.
The two young actors are the reasons the rather straightforward narrative and unsatisfying ending aren’t as annoying as they might have been. Brooks’ beyond-his-years performance in particular paints him as an actor to keep an eye on. Able to veer between stubborn tough guy and emotionally overwhelmed adolescent with ease, Brooks was excellent.
The downfall of the film is that, simply put, not much happens. Once the boys are on their own, the movie devolves into a series of episodes that don’t really take the story anywhere–they simply further illustrate the boys’ harsh surroundings, and their growing friendship. Once those points are established, we’re left waiting for too long to have the movie resolve. The 120-minute run time felt a lot longer.
Will Mister get the role in the audition? Will Mister and Pete continue to elude the police? Will the youngsters be able to survive the onslaught of soaring temperatures, dangerous characters, no money and constant bad luck?
By the time The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete started answering those questions, I had stopped caring.
Remaining screenings:
Jan. 25, 9:45 p.m., Eccles Theatre, Park City
Jan. 26, 8:30 a.m., Library Center, Park City
Jan. 27, 3 p.m., Tower Theatre, Salt Lake City
As a character study of an almost-30-something going through a midlife crisis a few years early, The Lifeguard offers some strong performances, but ultimately lacks buoyancy as a fulfilling drama.
Kristen Bell does a fine job carrying the film as Leigh, the crisis kid in question, who finds her aspiring journalism career and relationship status lacking and decides to simply walk away from her life in New York City and return to her parents’ Connecticut home. The folks’ are happy enough to welcome their former valedictorian and swimming star at first, but it quickly comes clear that Leigh has no plans of moving on any time soon.
Indeed, Leigh’s only plan seems to be retreating into her high school past, taking her old lifeguard job and striking up a friendship with some local teenage skaters. She manages to reconnect with some of her old friends and drag them into her personal devolution for a while, but even they eventually realize that Leigh’s judgement is seriously misguided.
Alex Shaffer as Leigh’s teenage lover is noteworthy, as is Martin Starr as Leigh’s closted gay friend. But as the story unfolds, the audience is left searching for anything satisfying to hold on to. Writer/director Liz Garcia gives short shrift to the setup of Leigh’s breakdown in the city, and while watching Leigh cut loose is okay for a while, there’s no redemption coming. There’s just bad decision followed by bad decision as Leigh manages to screw up the lives of virtually everyone she cares about. Hence the irony of her job title.
Sadly, that’s probably the most clever thing about The Lifeguard.
Remaining screenings:
Jan. 25, 3:15 p.m., Eccles Theatre, Park City
If there is going to be one sure-fire commercial hit to emerge from Sundance 2013, I’m putting my money on The Way Way Back.
That’s not the riskiest of bets, I know, given that co-writers/co-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash won an Oscar for adapting the screenplay of George Clooney hit The Descendants. But you’d be hard-pressed to find another movie at the festival that is as funny from beginning to end, or as full of winning performances, as this story of 14-year-old Duncan’s trip to a beach town with his divorced mother Pam (Toni Collette) and her boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell).
Duncan (an excellent Liam James) does not much like Trent, or how his mother acts around him, but when he arrives in the little beach town for the summer, he finds relief from the family drama in a pretty neighbor girl (AnnaSophia Robb) and in a summer job at a local, run-down waterpark offered by a friendly local named Owen (Sam Rockwell–never better).
If Duncan’s coming-of-age tale sounds like “been there, done that,” you need to see The Way Way Back, and how well Faxon and Rash infuse it with real heart and nonstop humor. Rockwell, Allison Janney as a bawdy neighbor, and Rash himself as a nebbishy co-worker of Duncan’s all elicit laughs with virtually every line they utter. And Carrell, playing against type as a real jerk, is a pleasant surprise as well.
Word is The Way Way Back has landed a fat deal, and it’s well-deserved. While the movie doesn’t have the so-called “edge” many look for in an indie flick, it has more going for it than most movies that ever see the light of day. I’m glad America’s theaters will get a chance to show this gem–the sooner the better.
Remaining screenings:
Jan. 24, 6:30 p.m., Peery’s Egyptian Theater, Ogden
Jan. 27, 1 p.m., Sundance Resort
In A World… is a rare Sundance treat–a genuine comedy with heart, but most importantly, more laughs than a good 50 festival flicks combined might provide.
The movie is the feature directing debut of Lake Bell, who also wrote the script and stars in the role of an aspiring movie-trailer voice-over artist who also happens to be the daughter of one of the legends of the form, Sam Sotto (Fred Melamed). Bell is Carol, who makes a living as a vocal coach before accidentally stumbling into voice-over work when she records a temporary spot for her recording engineer friend (and maybe more) Louis, played with charming awkwardness by Demetri Martin.
When a studio exec finds Carol’s reading of the trailer appealing, Carol suddenly finds herself with a hot career, despite being relegated to her sister’s couch when her father gives her the boot so his 26-year-old girlfriend can move in. Carol’s sudden success leads to her “stealing” some jobs from her dad’s anointed successor Gustav (Ken Marino–excellent as always), and inspires her father to delve back into the business that he sees as strictly a boys’ club.
Bell’s sharp script skewers Hollywood sexism, ageism and egos running rampant, but is never mean-spirited. Even the characters that come off as unmitigated buffoons are later proved to be more than the audience is expecting. Bell is excellent in her role, and she wisely surrounds herself with comedy all stars like Marino, Martin, Rob Corddry, Nick Offerman and Michaela Watkins. High-powered cameos from the likes of Cameron Diaz and Geena Davis add to the authenticity of the Hollywood world Bell creates, albeit a strange little Hollywood subculture the public is rarely privy to.
In A World… is remarkably adept at juggling its comedy, some family drama and a little romance in a pleasing stew that had the screening I saw–full of jaded media types–laughing throughout. While Bell has honed her directing chops working on adultswim’s Children’s Hospital, her feature debut proves she’s just as skilled at a more subtle brand of comedy.
In the end, you won’t just be cheering for Carol to score the big job over the macho men surrounding her. You’ll be rooting for Bell to continue producing movies this winning for years to come.
Remaining screenings:
Jan. 22, 2:30 p.m., The Marc, Park City
Jan. 23, 3:30 p.m., Eccles Theatre, Park City
Jan. 26, 9 a.m., Egyptian Theatre, Park City
Daniel Nailen 