12 Years a Slave

In this stark and boldly oppressive tale, the only thing perhaps more harrowing than the protagonist's journey to survive false enslavement and torture is director Steve McQueen's brazen way of depicting it in the most honest and, quite often, deeply uncomfortable, yet cinematically applaudable manner.

12 Years a Slave is based on the memoir of the same title by Solomon Northup - an African American, living in New York, who was born free, kidnapped, sold into slavery, and kept in bondage for 12 years in the antebellum South.

In the film, Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a talented violinist, is hoaxed by two men claiming to be searching for musicians, who escort him to dinner and take advantage of him in his inebriated state. Solomon wakes up chained to a wall and told that he is no longer a free man. The rest of the film follows his journey working under the ownership of different slave-holders for the next 12 years of his life.

Solomon's survival is fueled by his desire to reunite with his wife and two children in New York but is tested by his own intelligence and often fool-hardiness. Solomon is an intelligent man, who has to hide his literacy from each master. At times, his intelligence gets the best of him and challenges a vapid-minded white man for faulty instructions -- this scene is cheer-inducing in the short run, but breath-holding-ly painful in the long run.

McQueen (Shame, Hunger) is not shy with his depictions of slavery; Beatings, whippings, rapes, hangings and other tortures are shown explicitly and unapologetically. Like Shame and Hunger, McQueen employs the long-take to capture such heinous acts in the most realistic and uncomfortable manner. There's nothing docile or, in the opposite extreme, overtly-gratuitous for the sake of it in these scenes -- they just...are.

McQueen's camera is often poetic, even ironic, capturing the enticingly open Louisiana sky. In one scene, Ejiofor breaks the fourth wall, by looking at the camera in a slow sweeping gaze - Ejiofor's haunting and pleading eyes gaze at us for a few seconds, before looking off camera again. This is similar to a scene in McQueen's Shame, where his sex-addict protagonist stares at the camera during an unemotional three-some. It's heartbreaking.

The film lacks on exposition and characterization in the beginning. We only see a few scenes of Solomon with his family, before he is surreptitiously whisked away. That's expected, though, with a film encompassing a long narrative time frame. Solomon's sorrow and bereavement, however, are not lost on us, which is the crucial part.

What is astounding, however, are the gritty performances. Ejiofor has a solemn and serious disposition, disrupted by weighty outbursts. He is completely vulnerable - physically and emotionally. By the end of the film, he appears as a man who's been through Hell and back, but maybe that's his settlement. "I don't want to survive," he states. "I want to live."

Paul Dano plays Tibeats, a hot-headed slave driver who has it out for Solomon and sings a deplorably nasty song (that I hope doesn't catch on). Tibeats' volatile and creepy persona draw comparisons to Dano's performance in There Will Be Blood, where he played a God zealot with greedy intentions. Here, Dano's portrayal of such an abominable character is superb. Somehow, we've come to love to hate him.

Among the many wonderful performances, none come close to Michael Fassbender's portrayal of Edwin Epps, a cotton plantation owner and a drunk who takes joy in waking his slaves in the middle of the night and making them dance, tiredly, in his lavish Southern home. Fassbender's magnetic off-screen charm is completely lost here. Epps is a deranged man with little self control and his uneasy physical proxemics to his slaves make him all the more creepy.

Unfortunately the soundtrack is not as memorable. Hans Zimmer's score is, in the moment, potent but tragically forgettable thereafter. At best, it appropriately ornates the story without overpowering it. Sometimes the most powerful scenes are ones accompanied by deafening silence, because they're usually a cacophony of emotions.

At its worst, the film is long and depressing. At its best, it's emotional and unnerving. There's little sense of resolution or cause for joy at the end. There's nothing uplifting about this film but that's the point, isn't it? The melancholic ending demonstrates that there is little to erase the tragedies that have occurred.

There's no forgetting this film either. Each scene is like sipping a cold pint of Southern-brewed sobriety. By the end, we're intoxicated with our country's shameful history.

Rating: A

Movie Review: Only God Forgives

Winding Refn Delivers another Art house-Style Crime/Drama

The film's opening scene establishes the viewer in a shady Bangkok underworld, effusing with drug smuggling, under-aged boxing matches, little to no dialogue - sans some Thai subtitles - and heavily under-lit shots. It's disorienting, rather than establishing. But director/writer Nicolas Winding Refn has already made a name for himself, cultivating independent films designed for a niche audience with an interest in aesthetic camera work that very often strays from mass market appeal.


Only God Forgives is no exception.

Winding Refn's last film Drive (2011) exemplifies the director's versatility, enveloping genres of a love-story and crime/drama in what many dubbed "art cinema." Or take, for example, his 2008 film Bronson, a violent tale of a convict in solitary confinement, with an alter ego who enjoys opera. While his films are arguably stylish, they have often been labeled as "style with no substance." However, it is not to say the former does not produce the latter. Though Winding Refn is often accused of focusing on aesthetics for lack of thought-provoking substance, his films speak visual volumes.

Only God Forgives is visually arousing. It pulsates with saturated colors - reds, yellows, greens - that bleed from the walls and room decor; the shadows are so dark and infinite, they lend an oddly nightmarish serene-like vibe as the film's protagonist walks past them in long tracking shots; and the sculptured masculine motifs help us illustratively arrive at the film's plot-line.

Julian (Ryan Gosling) and brother Billy (Tom Burke) are drug smugglers, running a drug ring in Bangkok, Thailand. When Billy is killed for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, Julian and his crew pursue the men responsible to avenge Billy's death. Julian's mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), a degenerate person in her own right, flies in from the states to watch her son take revenge for the murder of her first-born.

The film is a silent spectacle of meticulously staged sets, an easily unobserved supernatural and religious element, a stoic protagonist who eerily glides out of the shadows without word or, more apparently, context, and, we the audience, are forced to surrender a part of understanding or even identifying a narrative structure for being desensitized spectators watching sadist acts and having great patience in watching them slowly play out. But it's usually worth it.

Winding Refn has crafted a true villain with Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), the corrupt cop who ordered Billy's murder. Winding Refn creates a Bangkok-noir type of climate, where officials like Chang have as deep a blood lust as the criminals they torpedo after (His motto should be "to protect and sever"). The director makes a point to juxtapose Chang's violent exhibits with poignant karaoke sessions. Chang's stage spotlights him like a suspect lineup as suited officers watch with a restrained disposition. But, as the title of the film implies, he's ultimately in control.


To convey Julian's character, Winding Refn indiscreetly plants macho paraphernalia everywhere - the workout stations, the murder tools, the fist-clenching and well endowed statues - that serve to remind Julian, and us, of his masculinity and tests his mental and physical limit to uphold it. His lack of facial expressions and the film's lack of close-up shots create an emotional distance that is perhaps necessary for such a film that lacks a true sense of the word "hero." Julian doesn't truly seek revenge; he seeks forgiveness for his past.

Winding Refn, focuses on extended arms and hands throughout the film - a symbolic reminder of sin - i.e.: fighting poses, clenched fists, mundane acts like hand washing, or just awkwardly outstretched as if searching for meaning. This representation may reflect religious struggles Gosling's character faces in understanding his environment. He is consumed by his peccadilloes.

The film, as mentioned, is mostly silent. To attempt to answer the underlying question of "style over substance" might be rudimentary at this point, but necessary. Winding Refn's images narrate themselves. The film's gritty and dapper mise-en-scene create it's own text. The film's story-telling lies in the dexterous hands of cinematographer Larry Smith, production designer Beth Mickle and the rest of the art and costume crew. The film's tale of revenge, masculinity and Freudian motivations reads clearer off the decor than the subtitles.

To some this might come across as an unfinished film (such as the guy sighing throughout the whole move which made me want to pull a Chang on him), but to a pair of diligent eyes, it comes across as something to examine. It's work, but the studying pays off if one wants to try to understand the plot.

This is not to say the film reserves its nugget of knowledge for an elite few. Only God Forgives is far from cinematic gold and may come across as presumptuous at times. Does Winding Refn fail to introduce Gosling's character and develop his arc or does he bravely entrust in us the challenge of figuring it out ourselves?

Winding Refn is no pioneer in the screenwriting department, but at least his films are always entertaining, if not, at least, pictorially rewarding. Only God Forgives won't be rewarding for everyone, but to say a lack of substance is the main flaw of the film, might mean a second watch is necessary.

Rating: B+

'The End' Kicks off Summer with Laughs

Summer has just begun and This is the End may have already locked best summer comedy. With cheeky pop-culture references and an A-list cast who play exaggerated and slightly demented versions of themselves, the film may be the comedy audiences have been anticipating this summer.*

Although the plot is expectedly absurd and dismally present, it offers plenty of laughs and high-spirited fun during moments of stagnation with neon hued drug effects, enactments of fictional sequels, verbal confrontations over magazine entitlement and (not so) private video confessionals.

Jay Baruchel arrives in L.A. and meets up with pal Seth Rogen. When Seth gets invited to James Franco's house party, he drags along a reluctant Jay who doesn't want to mingle with other Hollywood-ians - especially not the insufferably affectionate Jonah Hill. All is going well; blunts are shared, Craig Robinson starts singing "Take Yo Panties Off," and the value of phallic art is appreciated. But when mysterious phenomena occurs, some of the party-goers lock themselves up in James' house. As they try to clarify the events that are taking place, they learn a lot about one another and how their life-styles have contributed to their predicament.

The party in the film brings together many familiar faces from past comedies and a few famous names, such as Rihanna and Emma Watson.

If This is the End brings to mind a Judd Apatow film, it's because it contains almost every major actor Apatow has worked in his past few films.** The only, yet quite noticeable, difference is a lack of a well-structured story in the former's case.

To say that this is where the film blunders is to erroneously underestimate writer/director team Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's - and the rest of the cast, especially - talent. Such as in many of Apatow's films, Rogen's comedic craft works best in an environment where improvisation and meta-humor drive the film, rather than the script.

Whether the actors stuck to a very authentic-feeling script or were allowed to ad-lib (which seems like the most likely case), the humor felt fresh and the characters catered to the actors' both on and off-screen persona.

The film makes reference to Rogen and Franco's early career on Freaks and Geeks (which Apatow directed and wrote a few episodes), with wall art of the series in Franco's home and a deep-rooted friendship between the two that visibly bothers Jay throughout the film.

Seeing Baruchel step up to the forefront of the group he usually blends into was a refreshing change, if, however, not as compelling to watch as some of his co-stars.

Most notable was watching Franco play a vain, materially-oriented version of himself. Most of us have heard a story or two of Franco coming off as self-absorbed. Seeing him take on this version of himself was an appreciated gesture.

Danny McBride offered the same profanity-spewing, (most) immoral character of the bunch. His magazine hogging ways may not have been that different from past roles, but his cocky rebuttals were arguably some of the best lines in the film.

Also worth mentioning are Jonah Hill and Michael Cera for playing characters we're not used to seeing. Hill for not reverting back to his pompous, (although fake) Hollywood elite attitude (like he did when he hosted SNL earlier this year) and Cera for departing from his polite, good-guy image and playing a memorable drug-using party boy (Caprisun anyone?)

However, without the hilarity of such moments the film would collapse on a barely-there plot and over-the-top theme given the realist approach from the actors to such events.

It's not the conventional story-line we're used to seeing from some of Apatow's films - and the sharing of actors is the only cause of comparison - but the laughs it elicits are in the same ball park.

Seth Rogen returns to the director's chair, alongside longtime collaborator Evan Goldberg (who made his directorial debut with this film) who co-wrote and co-directed with Rogen.

The duo previously worked on films, such as The Watch, The Green Hornet, Pineapple Express, Superbad and the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy series Da Ali G Show together.

The film also stars Mindy Kaling, Aziz Ansari, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kevin Hart, David Krumholtz, Martin Starr, Jason Segel and others.

This is the End is not for everyone. It caters to a sharp-witted, young demographic that's old enough to know a show like Freaks and Geeks existed, but young enough to still laugh at celebrated male body parts. For anyone who lands as an outlier of this targeted audience, it's at least worth checking out.

Rating: B

*Although The Hangover Part III has already earned over $275 million worldwide, according to boxofficemojo.com, since its release last month, it has earned dismal praise from both critics and fans. The film has a critic rating of 20 percent on rottentomatoes.com and an average of 6/10 star rating on IMDb.com. Currently, This is the End has an average of 8/10 star rating on IMDb.com, an 84 percent critic rating on rottentomatoes.com and, most importantly, a B from this amateur critic.

** For fun, here is a list of Judd Apatow films (directed, written, created, produced, etc.) and other projects This is the End actors have co-starred in:

• Freaks and Geeks: Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and James Franco.
• Undeclared: Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Kevin Hart and David Krumholtz. 
• The 40-year-old Virgin: Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Mindy Kaling and Kevin Hart.
• Knocked Up: Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr, Craig Robinson and James Franco.
• Superbad: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen, David Krumholtz, Martin Starr and Danny McBride. 
• Pineapple Express: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson.
• Funny People: Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Aziz Ansari.

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