Monthly Archives: April 2016

“If you’re going to tell a story, come with some attitude man.”
Don Cheadle as Miles Davis

So begins this semi-factual, dream like story about Miles Davis. Don Cheadle acts, directs and co-wrote this film and, man, does he bring the attitude. This was obviously a love project for Cheadle that was 10 years in the making. Cheadle is a fine actor and he plays the hell out of this part. Just as it was with the Chet Baker bio pic Born To Be Blue, that came out last month, this is another attempt to capture the ‘spirit’ of a musical icon and pay homage to a musical great. Miles Davis was a mystery man, always guarded and protective of his private life. He was a difficult person to deal with and he didn’t suffer fools gladly. He also had trouble with drugs and with being an abusive husband but he was also a musical genius and his music is timeless. Does on excuse the other? This is the question that is always brought up about many artists that may have lived less than ideal lives or were even downright assholes. Some can’t separate the two. For myself, I can. Cheadle seems to embrace both sides in his presentation of the man, the artist and the icon.

“Don’t call it jazz man, that’s some made up word. This is social music.”

While Cheadle the actor delivers on attitude, Cheadle the director also brings some attitude. He chooses to make the year 1979 the present. Davis spend the late 70s’ holed up in his apartment, not making music or even picking up his horn and spending $500 a day on cocaine. He was in a tailspin and his label, Colombia was desperate for a new album. He had supposedly recorded a session but wouldn’t let anyone listen to it. Enter journalist Dave Braden (Ewan McGregor) who claims to have been sent by Rolling Stone and his label to do a story on his comeback. Davis refuses to deal with Braden but as fate (or the script) would have it, they become uneasy allies as David battles studio execs, gadfly girlfriends, agent/gangsters, rising new jazz trumpeters, and the memory of one of his ex wives, Frances Taylor (Emayatzy Corinealdi).

“Studied piano too, huh?
“Naw, just woke up black. Knew how to play.”

Cheadle creatively weaves in flashbacks to his relationship with Frances which the film insinuates he was at his career peak when he was with her and started to fall into a dark hole when they finally parted ways. It’s obvious he regrets losing her. He mistreats her the whole time they’re together not only physically but emotionally. In once scene he is on the phone with her, begging her to quit her dancing job in Paris to come back and be with him. Once she agrees, he hangs up the phone and returns to the two naked white women in his bed to continue their love making or maybe ‘sex session’. He was not a nice man.

In the present (1979) Davis is a coke head with degenerative hip issues and suffering from sickle cell anemia. The plot line here is a little comic and is the weakness in the film. Cheadle’s Davis with Braden in tow, spends 24 hours in a madcap series of events that culminates in a car chase and shoot out! Miles Davis actually gets shot! Did any of this happen? No. But the idea is that it captures the ‘spirit’ of where Davis was at this time in his life. It leads him to a reawakening of his need for music as saving grace and Davis would make a big comeback in the 80s with a whole new sound that brought him back to public attention before his death in 1991.

“It takes a long time to sound like yourself.”

I give Don Cheadle a lot of credit here. He puts Miles Davis on screen warts and all. His performance alone is worth the price of admission. After this year’s Oscars So White uproar there would be a riot in the streets of Los Angeles if his name is not said when the nominations are announced next January. His directorial debut is also promising and I hope he takes more time from his ‘Avengers’ gig to direct more films. He’s got a sure touch.

Jane Rosenthal and Robert DeNiro strolled onto the stage at The Beacon Theater. DeNiro began to speak, with a real energy in his voice, which is usually a rare thing indeed. “40 years. Every day for 40 fucking years one of YOU have walked up to me and said….what do ya’ think?” And with that cue the audience said in unison, “YOU TALKING TO ME!!”. Soon after this little interaction with the audience the 40th anniversary screening of Taxi Driver began.

Taxi Driver is a seminal 70s film and a time capsule of New York City circa 1975. It also happens to be one of my favorite films. It personifies the quintessential 70s film: character driven, highly intense and personal, unafraid to delve into difficult places, emotionally charged, the human condition laid bare. Travis Bickle, from the very start, is a troubled person. He keeps a journal and we hear his voice as he writes and it provides a narration through the film. He pulls us along on his journey and we hear his darkest thoughts. He can barely communicate with other people, unable to express himself or perhaps afraid to really say what he’s thinking. He comes close with Betsy (Cybil Shepard) but he is so socially inept and awkward he scares her away. His chance meeting with a twelve year old prostitute (Jodie Foster) gives him another opportunity to connect with someone. His isolation takes a bigger and bigger toll until he snaps.

In the Q and A that followed the screening, writer Paul Shrader explained that he wrote the script as a form of “self therapy”. He was afraid he was becoming like the character of Travis Bickle and that if he could write about him he could channel those feelings into the script and away from himself.

Producer Michael Phillips reflected on receiving the script from neighbor Brian DePalma and described his feeling after reading it as ‘looking into a naked soul.”

When Martin Scorsese was asked what his reaction upon reading the script was, he seemed as at a loss to describe it now as he says he was then. “ I can’t describe it in words.  It just had to be done. That was it.”

The way Scorsese explains it, the film was something they not only wanted to do but had to do and they had to do and quick because all of their careers were starting to take off and other projects were set so time was running out. “Bobby was working with Bertolucci and Kazan, Paul (Shrader) was about to direct his first film, Blue Collar with Harvey (Keitel), we had to do it to get it out of the way!”

Jodie Foster revealed that she had to take a four hour psych test to get The Board of Education to approve her work permit which they were denying her. They felt the film was too violent and the subject matter to adult for Foster, was thirteen at the time, to be a part of. Obviously she passed the test. She also said she hated the clothes she had to wear and feared she would be made fun of from her friends. She especially hated the hot pants, platform shoes and silly glasses. “The first day, when I saw that outfit, I cried.”

Cybil Shepard was very enthusiastic about being at the screening and very proud to have been a part of the film. She has been in The Last Picture Show (1971) and The Heartbreak Kid (1972) which were two big hits but her next films (Daisy Miller and At Long Last Love) directed by then boyfriend Peter Bogdonavich were both big flops. Shrader admitted he had her in mind as he wrote the part of Betsy and let Scorsese and Phillips know that but they never thought she would do it. When super agent Sue Mengers, who represented Shepard, heard that they were casting the part and looking for a ‘Cybil’ she asked Shrader, “How about Cybil?” Shrader said he didn’t think she’d do it.  Mengers pushed “Have you asked her?”  Shepard was more than happy to be in the film.  She saw it for what it was, an opportunity to be in a quality film and a career boost.  Unfortunately, the career boost didn’t transpire.

Shepard also talked about how working with Elaine may on The Heartbreak Kid helped her prepare to improvise on Taxi Driver, specifically the scene in the diner with DeNiro. Her scenes with Albert Brooks most certainly were also improvised as Shrader admitted Brooks’ character was underwritten. “Marty likes to cast a comedian in parts that are underwritten to make them more interesting”, Shrader said.  But, of course, the most famous scene in the film is DeNiro talking to the mirror and playing with his guns. “You talking to me?”. All DeNiro improvising as Scorsese encouraged out of frame.

Harvey Keitel was asked if it was true that he worked with an actual pimp to learn how to do it.  Keitel was not willing to talk about it and instead went into the story of how he and Scorsese first met, when he auditioned for Scorsese’s first feature film while at NYU. After he finished the story, which was great, Scorsese yelled, “Talk about the pimp!” It took a little more prodding but then he finally relented.

They didn’t take questions from the audience but one of the ones I had was brought up by the moderator and discussed. In the climactic barrage of violence as Travis goes to ‘save’ Iris (Foster) he lays waste to everyone in his way and ends up shot and bleeding out in Iris’s room surrounded by dead bodies and blood. The cops come in, guns raised, to find he him there, blood pouring out of the gunshot in his neck and Iris curled up in a corner scared out of her mind. Scorsese cuts to a shot from above the room, surveying the carnage and tracking out of the room and into the hallway. How did they pull this off with a small budget and short shooting schedule? Scorsese explained that they were shooting in a condemned building so when they discussed the overhead shot they just decided to remove the ceiling and shoot down from the apartment above. Scorsese said it took three months to prepare but when it came down to shoot the scene they only had twenty minutes because the Board of Labor wouldn’t allow thirteen year old Jodie Foster to work longer than that on that night.  Foster apologized to Scorsese 40 years after the fact. She also said that she really enjoyed shooting that violent scene and was fascinated by the prep that went into it. Clearly a sign that she would later became a director herself.

The subject of Bernard Hermann then came up. Hermann had worked with Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) and most famously with Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo, Psycho) and Scorsese was a long time admirer. He sought out Hermann who promptly said to him, “I don’t do films about cabbies!”. Once he had read the script he liked it. He especially liked the scene where Travis pours peach brandy over his cereal. He agreed to score the picture. “I hear brass”, he told Scorsese. Producer Michael Phillips said Hermann was very difficult to work with and would constantly threaten to quit but he finished scoring and recording the score for the film on December 23^rd, 1975.  He died later that night. The score is magnificent and is very much a character in the film. Shrader said he was surprised that Scorsese sought Hermann to do an actual score for the film since, as he put it, “Marty is a needle drop man.” Meaning he used a lot of songs in his films.  Scorsese slightly protested and responded that he grew up listening to a lot of music so it felt natural to use songs in his films. “But Travis never listened to music.” So it didn’t fit to populate the film with songs of the day. Shrader said that Scorsese did want to use two songs: “ Late For The Sky” by Jackson Browne and a Barry White song, meant to be used for the scene where Keitel seduces Foster and they dance. “There is No other music in a film I score!” Scorsese said Hermann told him. But he did manage to get the Jackson Browne song in. It’s playing in the scene where Travis is watching American Bandstand. “You won that one but you weren’t getting Barry White”, Shrader told Scorsese.

One of my favorite bits in the film is at the very end.  Travis has dropped off Betsy at her home and is driving away. As he does you see his eyes in the overhead rear view mirror. Travis thinks he sees something and the film is sped up as he moves to adjust the mirror to take a better look.  It’s a very unsettling moment and one that is intended to signal that Travis may still be a danger. Scorsese mentioned this scene and that he asked Hermann for a little something extra, musically at that moment. “You mean a ‘sting’” Hermann told him. “Ok, yes, a sting, if that’s what it is.” Scorsese told him.  Hermann then instructed someone to hit a note on the xylophone. He did this a few times and then they  recorded it. Scorsese didn’t quite think this was enough or what he was after.

“Play it backwards!” Hermann yelled and left the studio.  That was it. And that’s what you hear in the film.

“We never had long existential discussions. It reflected who we were at the time, what New York City was at the time.”  Scorsese said, when asked how he and DeNiro, Shrader and Phillips approached making the film. Hell, isn’t that best way to describe any artistic endeavor? “It reflected who we were at the time”.  May we all be so lucky to capture reflections that beautifully.

The Tribeca Film Festival is going on and I always try to see two or three films each year because it’s such a great festival and I love the energy. Last night I saw this film which is about loss, grief and redemption. It’s a highly emotional film and I found myself laughing, crying and physically reacting to what was happening on screen. Movies that compel us to feel this way are movies that we have positive feelings about. This is not to say that they are great films, “Oscar Caliber’ or classics. Hollywood used to churn out hundreds of films like these. They used to populate the airwaves and can now be found on Turner Classic Movies. They were called ‘dramas’ and they were intended to draw you in for 90 minutes and make you relate to the characters plight and cry and sometimes feel good at the end and sometimes feel sad. They offered a release. They were cathartic. And we loved it.

Today the most popular films and the ones that play on most theater screens are big Marvel films (The Avengers), animated films (Inside Out), comedies (Trainwreck) , high concept-big name cast films (The Big Short). There’s little space for the ‘dramas’. Most ‘Indie’ films are these type of movies. They are made on low budgets with a short shooting schedule and they are about people. They are small stories about love, loss of love, grief, overcoming obstacles, finding yourself. You can call them corny. You can call them self-important. But, when done well, they move you. They leave you feeling something. That’s what this is all about whether it’s film, theater, paintings, poetry, novels, etc. It’s whatever you’re open to.

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is about Henry (Jason Sudekis), an earnest young man, who’s married to the most lovely, spirited, loving woman, Penny (Jessica Biel). She’s 8 months pregnant, they’re redecorating the house and he’s up for a promotion. All signs that something awful is about to happen to them. It happens to her. He’s devastated. He doesn’t know how to go on. One night he runs into this young girl, Millie (Maisie Williams), who Penny had noticed wandering the neighborhood with her dog, gathering scraps of wood and metal and lugging it around in a shopping cart. Henry feels the need to reach out to her, to help her. He feels that Penny would have wanted him to. She’s living with her uncle since her father took off on a raft 8 years earlier and never returned. She’s gathering material to build her own raft and sail away. Henry begins to help her and in the process the two of them help each other grieve and heal and find a way to move forward.

The story may sound familiar and of course, the film hits familiar notes; the main characters don’t trust each other, they begin to like each other, they find a common cause, they grow close, there’s a late in the story twist which challenges their relationship and then they patch it up and finish what they started. That’s storytelling. The film is telling a story.  And, like a lot of stories, it deals with basic human nature. The trick is telling it well.

I was moved by this movie. There is some narration from Millie who talks about the stories of people who took to the sea on rafts including Thor Heyerdahl’s 8000 mile Pacific Ocean crossing on his hand made raft. Does she think she’ll find her father? No, but maybe she wants to see what he saw before he died, experience what he felt was worth leaving her for. Henry not only lost his wife but also their unborn child. His boss (Paul Reiser) keeps encouraging him to get back to work and his mother in law (Mary Steenburgen) also tries to lure him back to a normal routine.  She has her own issues accepting her daughter’s death. It’s too bad they never connect or talk about it until the very end when there just isn’t much left to say. Henry’s made his decision by that point. Henry and Millie both feel they have nothing else to live for but the memory of who they’ve lost. The ending is quite ominous and left me perplexed. It should lead to an interesting conversation with the person you watch this with.

Jessica Biel is wonderful in her short screen time as Penny. She has not done much in the last few years but seems to be getting back to work. She also co-produced the film which must have led to Justin Timberlake doing the soundtrack. It’s very different for him and works for the film though not memorable.

Maisie Williams is very good as Millie though I wondered about her accent from time to time. She decided to go with only the hint of an accent which was probably wise but it came and went. She conveys a lot with just a look. Much like her character from game Of Thrones, Arya, she’s strong and defiant and can still be vulnerable.

Jason Sudekis’ performance was a little more problematic. He tries very hard and he’s very likeable so you’re sympathetic to Henry. But he hits the comedic notes a little too broadly and he doesn’t have the chops to go to the real deep dramatic levels required for the part. I read that Jeffrey Dean Morgan was originally cast and I could see that being a better fit. Sudekis is trying to stretch beyond the wise ass comedic roles. This is a good step and hopefully we’ll see him even stronger in future dramatic turns.

Mary Steenburgen, Paul Reiser and Orlando Jones give solid support.

The film was shot in New Orleans but doesn’t rely on the usual shots of the French Quarter or any known landmarks which is refreshing. The film was directed by Bill Purple also co-wrote the screenplay with Robbie Pickering. This is Purple’s first feature and it was a project that took 8 years to complete. He does a fine job and we’ll see where he goes from here. These small films are tough to sell. A lot of work goes into them and they may not even get a run in the theater. This one may go directly to On Demand. But keep an eye for it and catch one afternoon. It may remind you of someone you know. While I was watching the film, Jessica Biel’s character immediately reminded me of the person who went with me. It was funny because she felt that, too. It’s fun when you’re watching a movie and say, “I know someone like that!”. It’s funnier when they’re sitting right next to you.

I’ll leave you with the two words I remember most from this film. Two words which Penny lived by and inspired Henry to be. Two words which should be how we all should live. “BE BOLD”. I take it as good advice.

“I bet your parents taught you that you mean something, that you’re here for a reason. My parents taught me a different lesson, dying in the gutter for no reason at all… They taught me the world only makes sense if you force it to.” Batman

“All this time I’ve been living my life the way my father saw it. Righting wrongs for a ghost, thinking I’m here to do good. Superman was never real. Just the dream of a farmer from Kansas.” Superman

Yes, Batman and Superman are not happy campers. They are downright morose. They have daddy issues and mommy issues. They have butler issues and girlfriend issues. They have anger issues and PR issues. They have a lot of issues. Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) tries to present these two super heroes warts and all and is hoping by the end of the film you will understand them better and root for them to be pals. Super Friends, if you will! But the film is long and clunky, thick with many characters and trying to set up the many sequels to come that by the time you reach their final duel you’ve kind of lost track of why they were mad at each other in the first place.

Batman vs Superman presents a world that is very much rooted in reality. When super heroes and super villains battle in the middle of a huge city a lot of damage occurs and also a lot of innocent people are killed. This is never usually addressed in these types of films. Although, when it is, as in the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy, it usually ends with the hero protecting the city from massive destruction and innocent deaths. The upcoming Captain America: Civil war purports to deal with this notion as well and I will be interested to see how deal with it. But when Bruce Wayne witnesses the destruction caused by Superman as he battles General Zod in the streets of Metropolis at the beginning of this film and sees the cost in human life, naturally he sees Superman as a reckless extraterrestrial that is a danger to the planet.

The film sets up the conflict between these two very believably and the more they interact the more they dislike each other. In their early battles it’s obvious Superman has the upper hand. He’s an alien with super human powers! But we all know Superman has a weakness. Kryptonite. Enter Lex Luther (Jessie Eisenberg), who convinces a US Senator (Holly Hunter) concerned about the danger that Superman represents, to allow him access to some kryptonite discovered in the Indian Ocean to be used a means to keep Superman in line. Of course, Bruce Wayne gets his hand on this as well and weoponizes it use against the Man Of Steel in battle.

There is a lot going on in this movie and a lot of it is very interesting. I wish it was less busy so it could have spent more time concentrating on some of the smaller details. Even at two and a half hours you feel like you’re being very quickly ushered through a tourist attraction without being able to take a good look at what you’re seeing. It’s also a very dark, depressing film. I like dark and I don’t mind depressing. The Dark Knight Trilogy was also dark and rooted in a sense of reality. The difference comes in the script, the direction and the performers.

The script is written by Chris Terrio and David Goyer. Terrio won an Oscar for writing Argo and is also writing the upcoming Justice League films. Goyer co-wrote The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. How could you go wrong? One thing it could have used is a light moment here and there. A scene or two of the characters smiling or at least not being so morbid. Director Zach Snyder has a certain style, he has his signature touches that fans of 300 or Watchmen will see here. But Snyder’s style doesn’t leave much room for humanity. It’s cold and calculated. Perhaps his previous films worked better because the stories they told begun and ended within the one film. Batman vs Superman is at once a sequel to Man Of Steel and the set up film for the Justice League franchise so you had to get Wonder Woman in here and find a way to introduce The Flash and Aquaman. It was a lot to juggle and never quite meshed into a strong momentum building film.

This brings us to the performers. There was a lot of skepticism about Ben Affleck as Batman but Affleck delivers the goods. He’s not given a whole lot as Bruce Wayne other than he’s old and miserable and the deaths of his parents are still an open wound. There is a short scene where we see him look at what seems to be Robin’s uniform with graffiti written on it. It’s insinuated that Robin was killed. By the Joker? It’s never discussed and over before you have a chance to think about it. Affleck as Batman does deliver the most exciting action sequence in the film. The only time I smiled. Henry Cavill physically looks great as Superman but he’s a cipher. He has little personality and there are moments in the film where I just think he’s a jerk. Jesse Eisenberg brings his manic energy to the part of Lex Luthor. Amy Adams is always reliable and strong as Lois Lane. Kevin Costner is brought back for a short scene as Superman’s step dad. Diane Lane returns as Martha, Superman’s step mom who is integral in Lex Luthor’s plot to kill Superman. Holly Hunter is wasted as Senator Finch as is Jeremy Irons as Alfred. Then you have Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. She kind of floats in and out of the film until the grand finale when she joins the boys to do battle with the unholy creature that Lex has created using the dead body of General Zod (a life sized sex doll version of Michael Shannon. I wonder if he got as paycheck?). Gadot is beautiful but not who I would envision Wonder Woman to be. Maybe I am still stuck on the sight of Lynda Carter in her Wonder Woman garb.

I can understand why some were disappointed in the final product. The Marvel films are bright and vibrant. Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans are incredibly likeable. There is plenty of humor injected in those films. B vs S is not like those films. The Dark Knight Trilogy films were not like the Marvel Films either but it did include some levity and likeable characters as well as perhaps the greatest movie villain performance of all time in Heath Ledger’s Joker. They were also co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Zach Snyder is no Christopher Nolan.

I don’t expect the Justice League films to be much better though I will see them and hope to be surprised. I am looking forward to the Ben Affleck stand alone Batman movie that is in the works. I think there are plenty of ideas to mine from this older Batman and Affleck is a talented writer-director. Something really good could still come out of something that was just okay.

Over the years, many stand up comedians have made the next step to being in the movies, some more successful than others. The ones that were successful making comedies eventually try to expand their range and fan base by making a ‘dramedy’ or even go full on drama. Robin Williams and Steve Martin were successful in becoming thought of as more than just comedy actors. Adam Sandler did not, although I really liked Punch Drunk Love. Tina Fey is a unique case. She started out doing improvisational sketch comedy with Chicago’s Second City then joined SNL as a writer and sometime performer. She won several Emmys as a writer for SNL but she really catapulted into the limelight when she took over doing Weekend Update, first teamed up with Jimmy Fallon and then Amy Poehler. She turned that new found popularity and got a sitcom deal with NBC which turned into 30 Rock. Her fame and Emmy wins started growing. Of course, movies would be the next step.

Her film career has been ‘sketchy’. Fey is incredibly smart and clever and funny but that hasn’t always translated into completely successful films. In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Tina Fey may have found her “Private Benjamin’. Fey plays a TV journalist Kim Baker, who is offered an opportunity to go to Afghanistan as a correspondent, mostly due to the fact that she is single with no children. She does have a live in boyfriend played by Josh Charles (The Good Wife) who is not too thrilled about her new assignment but with the understanding that it is only for a few months he supports her. Before you know it she’s in Afghanistan and living in a compound filled with war zone experienced correspondents, photographers and interpreters. It’s the perfect set up for your traditional ‘fish out of water’ scenario. Kim quickly becomes friends with Tanya, a gorgeous Australian correspondent (Margot Robbie) who tells her that back in New York she was probably a ‘4 or 5’ but in Kabul she’s an ‘8 maybe a 9!’. She slowly adjusts to the rigors of the job as well as well as the restrictions placed on a woman in that society. She is greatly aided by her Afghan helper, Fahim, played nicely by Christopher Abbott (Girls).

As she gets better at the job and comfortable in the manic environment of the correspondent’s compound, she decides to stay longer than planned which puts a strain on her relationship and eventually leads her to start an affair with a lecherous Scottish journalist, Iain, played with incredible charm by Martin Freeman. Kim also develops interesting relationships with a Marine general (Billy Bob Thornton) who gives her a hard time but comes to respect her tenacity and Ali Sudiq, a local Afghan government official (Alfred Molina) who develops a crush on her which Kim uses later on to assist her in a daring rescue mission. Kim embraces her new life and newfound strength and purpose. She is good at this and the nervous awkwardness that Fey plays so well becomes confidence and fearlessness. But, as movies do, there’s a third act twist that forces Kim to face some tough choices both concerning her job and her newfound friends.

Fey brings her comic charm and timing to the role but also gives her character a real vulnerability. This is a real person in a dangerous situation and the movie doesn’t pull back from this. The movie shows some hard realities of war and the film moves deftly into that area without feeling forced. The script is based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker about her reporting experiences. Writer Robert Carlock, making his feature film debut wrote the adaptation. Carlock wrote for SNL and 30 Rock under Fey’s tutelage and obviously knows how to write for her and bring out her strengths. Credit also goes to the director team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa whose previous films, Crazy, Stupid Love and Focus were also sharp, funny films with strong performances.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is not Salvador or Live From Baghdad. It’s not trying to be. It’s a film about someone who thinks their life is going to be one thing and then makes a bold decision that leads her to find that her life could be different. In fact, it could be better than she imagined. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s touching. It’s a journey. It’s what a good movie should be. And it could be a turning point for Tina Fey’s film career. I’m interested to see where it leads.

I’m not big on horror films. I’ve seen parts of the original Friday The 13^th and I’ve never seen Halloween or Nightmare On Elm Street. But I loved the original Alien (1979) and John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) and I’m a big Walking Dead fan so I do like some work in the horror genre.  The Witch is a dark fable, a low budget, low broil horror story. It quietly ratchets up the suspense almost as if we’re watching a documentary. It’s more unsettling than horrific. The devil is involved so we call it horror but it’s not a gore fest or built just to shock and scare. It’s a slow burn. I found it quite effective and while I wasn’t jumping out of my seat it did give me ‘the willies’.

The film was written and directed by Robert Eggers and filmed in Ontario, Canada. While this is an American production the film definitely has a European flavor. The acting is realistic as is the setting. It’s very spare. The film takes place in 17^th century New England territory. A farmer has angered the community he and his family live in and they are exiled.  The farmer, his wife, young daughter Thomasin, son Caleb, and their twins, a boy, Jonas and a girl, Mercy, journey out into the middle of nowhere until they come to a clearing that the father deems is the perfect place to build a farm and start a new life. The wife soon gives birth to another son and things seem to be going fine until, that is, Thomasin, while looking after the baby, encounters a stranger near the woods. Thomasin looks away for a moment and the baby is gone!

Things progressively go from bad to worse. The mother blames Thomasin for the disappearance of the baby.  The twins claim that the black goat they tend to, Black Phillip, speaks to them. Strange happenings start to pile up. It’s really as much of a psycho-drama as it is a genuine horror film. The family starts blaming each other. Their isolation drives them further apart from clear thinking. There’s also a religious aspect. The father, in committing the sin of pride, gets his family cast out of society and makes them all vulnerable to dark influences. Even as they cling to their beliefs for comfort and safety, they begin to feel the hopelessness that they have been abandoned by God. It builds very nicely to a shocking and surprising conclusion.

The Witch, is well made, well acted and tells its story clearly and with chilling moments. Anna Taylor-Joy is especially good as Thomasin. It’s the kind of horror film I can appreciate. It offers more than cheap scares. It’s a camp fire scary story. And that’s scary enough for me.

Chet Baker is a fascinating person. I grew up knowing his music without knowing him as a person. I just heard the smooth sound of his voice and the cool notes of his trumpet. When I watched the 1988 Bruce Weber documentary Let’s Get Lost, I really got a sense of the tragedy of Chet Baker. In the 1950’s he was in his early twenties, he was beautiful with the voice of an angel. He was the James Dean of jazz cool. He was West Coast jazz royalty. He had a sound that was unique and different from the hot be-bop East Coast vibe. But Chet Baker got addicted to heroin. He was addicted for the rest of his life. But, like many talented artists, he continued to create and create beautifully, heart achingly, sadly despite his many faults and self destructive nature. The fact that he was able to create music so thrilling and timeless and soul piercing was his triumph.

Born To Be Blue, written and directed by Robert Budreau, is like a Chet Baker song. It’s all emotion with reality being something in the background. It opens in a jail cell in Italy. Baker is a mess, going through withdrawals on the floor of the cell, looking at his trumpet. He sees something coming out of the mouth of his trumpet, a tarantula. The guard comes in and announces he is being released. A man in a suit is there to take him out of the cell.

The film cuts to New York City, 1954. The film has gone from color to black and white now. Baker is on top of the world and making his debut at Birdland. He’s on a bill with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. His beautiful girlfriend, Elaine, is also there, giving loving support. He ends up back at his hotel room with a different woman. They’re drunk. She pulls out a spoon, a rubber tube, a bag of heroin. This is Baker’s first time injecting the stuff. He hates needles. As Baker and this woman writhe on the sofa, high and half dressed, Baker’s girlfriend walks in and throws the other woman out, yells at Baker. The director yells cut. It’s a movie set. The woman is an actress, Jane, playing Baker’s former girlfriend. Baker is playing Baker. She’ll soon be his new girlfriend. He’ll soon be at the lowest point in his life. The movie is mostly about how he works his way back. Back to his music.

It’s a familiar formula in musical bio pics. But Born To Be Blue doesn’t profess to be strictly autobiographical. It takes liberties with Chet Baker’s story. It’s trying to find the emotional truth and convey that. I think it does a very good job. A lot of credit has to go to Ethan Hawk and Carmen Ejoga (Selma). Hawk is still pretty enough to have that hint of matinee idol that Baker was in the 50s but also a little worn which fits well into the time period the film is portraying Baker (the late 60s). He captures Baker’s incredible vulnerabilities and his intense passion for music which equals his own identity, his reason for existing. It doesn’t feel like an impersonation. He’s playing a character named Chet Baker. His singing is also impressive. You think you’re going to compare his voice to Baker’s but you don’t. It feels honest and it’s effective without being affecting. Ejoga plays the women in Baker’s life, both past and present. She is a fictional character, a composite of several real women that tried to love Baker. They have great chemistry and you want them to succeed, together and separately.

I really liked the feel of this film. I liked the scenes on the beach, Baker meeting Jane’s parents for the first time. The scenes in the studio, Baker wearing a mariachi outfit and doing session work just to keep his probation officer happy. The scenes between Baker and his father (Stephen McHattie) tell a lot very quickly. Even if you don’t know much about Chet Baker you will find yourself caught up in this story. If you are a Chet baker fan, you will appreciate Hawk’s performance and you will get what Hawk and Budreau were trying to achieve. They’ve written a song for Chet Baker and it’s sad and beautiful.