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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 08 February 2022

Drive My Car has been slowly building its support base since it premiered last July in competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.  The jury, headed by Spike Lee, gave it the award for best screenplay.  In the months that followed, it won the top prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and was named best movie of the year by critics’ associations in Los Angeles, New York and Boston.  It’s now a short-priced favourite to win the Oscar for best international feature in late March.

I love the irony that a movie which such a simple, innocuous title could offer up such complexity.  It’s a Japanese drama about an acclaimed theatre actor, Oto (Gorô), staging an unorthodox production of Anton Chekhov’s acclaimed play, Uncle Vanya.  Across the film’s epic three-hour run-time, he interacts with a curious assortment of people including his wife, fellow actors, and a person employed to be his driver.  Oto cannot drive himself due to having a damaged optic nerve in one eye.

There’s some strange, head-scratching stuff in this.  You couldn’t accuse of it having stale, cliched characters.  You’re unlikely to forget the unusual “creative process” employed by Oto and his wife when coming up with new ideas.  Equally memorable is a young, attractive male actor who becomes part of Oto’s latest production but carries both secrets and baggage.

So what’s the point of it all?  If the finale is anything to go by, Drive My Car may be a tale of grief above all else.  Oto is like a character is one of his stage shows – a tortured artist who has made mistakes and is stuck in an endless search for redemption.  His work serves as both a help and a hindrance.  He cathartically opens up to those around him (that’s good) but his mental scars limit the flexibility and creativity he brings to the rehearsal room (that’s bad).

Drive My Car is adapted from a 2014 short story authored by Haruki Murakami.  That itself wasn’t enough material for a full-length feature film and so writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi pulled from other Murakami works to create a more substantial drama.  Audiences with knowledge of Chekhov’s work will also pick up on the intermingling of themes between the characters in Drive My Car and the characters they play on stage in Uncle Vanya.

Parts feel unnecessarily long and drawn out (I wished there was a fast-forward button) but there’s much to digest and much to like here.  An interesting offering.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 January 2022

They say you should never talk about politics and religion… but since both are covered in The Eyes of Tammy Faye, I’m in a position where I have no choice.  It’s based on the true story of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, played in the film by Andrew Garfield and Jessica Chastain, who rose to fame in the late 1970s when they created a successful evangelical Christian television network called PTL (the acronym for Praise The Lord).

At the height of their success, the pair would raise roughly $100 million USD per annum for the Assemblies of God church, but as we see in the film, deserved questions were asked about where the money ended up.  Waterfront mansions, expensive clothes, lavish holidays, large salaries and even larger bonuses were questioned by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice.  It’s amazing what they were able to get away with for so long with such little scrutiny.

I wish we had a chance to see part of this story told from the other perspective, that of the investigating authorities, to fully appreciate the gravity of what went down.  Instead, we things largely through Tammy Faye’s deluded eyes (no pun intended) where she thinks this is all “above board” given the magnitude of the donations they generate and the value of their preaching to the community.  She truly believes she’s doing God’s work – there’s no doubt about that.

Using a 2000 documentary of the same name as the source material, The Eyes of Tammy Faye is the creation of screenwriter Abe Sylvia (Nurse Jackie) and director Michael Showalter (The Big Sick).  It’s clear that they want to tweak the public’s opinion and portray Tammy Faye as a misunderstood woman who deserves a level of compassion and sympathy.

A key sequence highlights the work she did for the gay community in destigmatising AIDS, much to the disgust conservative preachers and the influential Republican Party.  There’s another moment where she displays her feminist qualities by loudly pulling up a chair and, despite the lack of an invite, sitting at a table of influential men.  Even when Tammy Faye strays from her own righteous path, like a scene where she has a quick fling with a young music producer, justification is offered – it’s her husband’s fault for not loving her enough, or to hedge your bets, maybe he’s gay? 

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) picked up her sixth Golden Globe nomination in the past decade for her leading performance.  There’s no question that she’s done a great job recreating the voice and extraverted personality of the real Tammy Faye Bakker.  Showalter drums this home in the film’s final scene by putting the two side-by-side.  It’s just a shame the screenplay doesn’t place more scrutiny on the character or the messed-up world of evangelicalism in general.  That would have made it a far more interesting production.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 30 January 2022

Set in 1969, Kenneth Branagh’s new film begins with Protestant rioters attacking the homes of Catholic residents on a small street in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  It’s a strong opening, and having seen other powerful films about The Troubles such as In the Name of the Father, Bloody Sunday, Hunger, and ’71, I expected this to be an equally gritty, in-your-face drama showing the conflict in gruesome and precise detail.

I was wrong.  Branagh has done the old “bait and switch” trick.  We don’t see much more in the way of violence and the film transforms into a moving family drama about the place we identify as “home” and how it can vary over time in a changing world.  It’s a worthy theme that reminded me of Brooklyn, the stunning Oscar-nominated release from 2015 starring Saoirse Ronan – my favourite film of the last decade.

The family in the movie is fictional but the story is based on Branagh’s own upbringing.  He was born in 1960 as the son of working-class parents living in north Belfast and, at the age of 9, they had to make the tough decision whether to stay in an increasingly troubled city or to move overseas and start afresh.

The semi-autobiographical nature of the tale is also the reason why Branagh has told it from the perspective of 9-year-old Buddy, wonderfully played by newcomer Jude Hill.  There’s tension in the family and riots occurring outside his front door… but significant chunks of the movie are dedicated to the regular things that would concern a tween such as impressing his teacher at school, befriending a girl he likes, and stealing chocolate from a corner store.  You could describe it as a coming-of-age tale where The Troubles is merely the backdrop.

Belfast has a big heart and much of the credit belongs to the cast and their stellar performances.  Buddy spends time with his two grandparents, played by Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love) and Ciarán Hinds (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and it’s hard not to be moved by the interaction between them.  Granny and Pop shower their grandson with love and wisdom… while also trying to shield him from the world’s harshest realities.  Again, you don’t need to have lived in Northern Ireland in the 1970s to appreciate the situation and understand their actions.  Many will relate.

I’m not sold on everything about the movie.  Branagh has explained the predominant use of black-and-white gives it a “poetic quality” while the splashes of colour are like “explosions of the mind.”  I found it distracting more than value adding.  A big movie buff as a child, Branagh also includes several scenes where the family goes to the local picture theatre.  It’s overdone.  These moments feel more like Branagh is “name dropping” his favourite movies and TV shows as opposed to adding something meaningful to the narrative.

Winner of the lucrative People’s Choice Award at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival (the last three winners being Green Book, Jojo Rabbit and Nomadland), Belfast is a likeable crowd-pleaser that also provides a few plot points to reflect upon.

You can see/read my interview with 11-year-old star Jude Hill by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 19 January 2022

You can’t have everything you want in life… but that hasn’t stopped Stan Carlisle (Cooper) from trying.  When the film opens, he’s accepting a job as a carny for a travelling carnival show and within two years, he’s become a wealthy, successful clairvoyant who is dazzling well-to-do audiences in New York City.  He also has a devoted wife (Mara) who, despite her own unhappiness at times, continues to offer love and support.

Stan is a “glass half empty” kind of guy.  Many would be comfortable with the career he’s built but, just like a thief who is chasing one big “last score”, he sees a risky opportunity to increase his wealth further and decides to take it.  He teams up with a psychologist (Blanchett) and, for a substantial fee, they try to fool a renowned judge into thinking he can communicate with their dead son.  Given the judge’s reputation in the community, it’s a job that could backfire in a big way if Stan’s fraudulent methods were to be exposed.

Nightmare Alley is based on a 1946 novel from American author William Lindsay Gresham.  It was made into a movie one year later by director Edmund Goulding but that film was a critical and financial failure.  Oscar winning director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) was introduced to the book in the 1990s by friend/colleague Ron Perlman and after a long wait, he teamed up with his soon-to-be wife, Kim Morgan, to create a fresh adaptation for filmgoers who enjoy a good drama-thriller.

The film is somewhat of a departure from del Toro.  Having built a reputation making strange fantasy movies with monsters, ghosts and other strange creatures, Nightmare Alley sticks to the realms of reality.  In fact, while some of the gullible characters in the movie are led to believe in the existence of something supernatural, we know from the outset that Stan is a confidence trickster.  Some of the best scenes in the movie are where he learns his trade from an experienced, booze-loving veteran (Strathairn) and his kind-hearted wife (Collette).

A few parts to the story feel contrived (to forcibly push the narrative in a certain direction) but for the most part, this is a likeable effort where you’re never quite sure what’s around the next corner.  It’ll keep you interested.  It’s bolstered by a terrific cast headlined by Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born) and Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine).  The exchanges between the pair, with each trying to sneakily get the upper hand over the other, are fun to watch.  Blanchett recently earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her worthy performance.  She’s having a great year on the back of her scene-stealing endeavours in Don’t Look Up.

Nightmare Alley is an old-school tale told with precision.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 January 2022

Two heavily pregnant women share a room in the maternity ward of a Spanish hospital.  The paths leading them to that spot have been decidedly different.  Janis (Cruz) is a 39-year-old fashion photographer who, having had a short fling with a work colleague, is excited to become a mother for the first time.  Ana (Smit) is an apprehensive teenager who doesn’t believe she has the skills and finances to care for a child, the unwanted result of a one-night stand.

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar (Talk to Her, All About My Mother), Parallel Mothers is the kind of movie you’d expect from him – a female-centric drama with a few twists.  Janis and Ana exchange phone numbers at the hospital and the film is centred around key moments in their newfound friendship in the year that follows.  The pair become close and while there are things they reveal, other things are kept hidden.

I’ll forever be a fan of Almodóvar’s work (just seeing the words “un film de Almodóvar” is exciting) but this is one of his weaker efforts.  Very obvious hints are splashed around in the opening act and so when the film does reveal its true dramatic nature, many be surprised by the lack of surprise.  I’ve also a few concerns about the semi-contrived nature of certain events which are necessary to push the storyline in a direction that doesn’t always seem like the right fit.

All of that said, Parallel Mothers is redeemed by a terrific subplot, not connected to the babies, where Janis secures archaeological support to exhume a mass grave in her town which dates back to 1936 and the Spanish Civil War.  It contains the remains of her great grandfather and she would like to provide him with a proper burial.  There are some heartfelt moments when townsfolk open up about their past and the mental wounds carried forward by their families over the past century. 89-year-old Julieta Serrano gets a fleeting amount of screen time but is extremely moving as Janis’s elderly aunt.

Penelope Cruz, collaborating with Pedro Almodóvar for the seventh time, relishes the chance to play a character consumed by turmoil.  She doesn’t express every thought but you know what she’s thinking.  Cruz has picked up several prizes already over the current awards season, including the best actress gong at the Venice Film Festival, and is a decent shot of earning an Oscar nomination next month.  She’s good.  I only wish the script was a little better.