As the year closes, the election
has concluded (we think) and the weather
turns cold, I have had more opportunities to see more films and there are three
currently playing in theaters that I highly recommend. All three wrestle with fundamental human
experience in a very direct and raw way.
Two of them use humor very appropriately to cushion some of the hard
drama that the characters are experiencing.
Here are three brief capsules and why you should see them. The main character in each film captures
life crises at different stages of life: A Man Called Ove at the end of life,
Manchester by the Sea at midlife, and Moonlight is a coming of age story.
Manchester by the Sea
Ken Lonergan’s film starring
Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges, and Kyle Chandler (of the TV series Friday Night
Lights) captivated me entirely. I
confess that after hearing Lonergan’s interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh
Air, I was compelled to see it. One word
captures this film—authentic. From the
cold, dreary New England harbor scenery to the blue collar Irish pub to the
family interactions, it has all the feel and language of a working class family
enmeshed in drama. Lonergan opens the
film with Lee Chandler’s (Affleck) quotidian existence—as an apartment
maintenance man, fixing leaks, repairing shower heads, and unplugging toilets
in a frank and businesslike way. Having
suffered one tragedy, his life gets upended again when his brother dies and he
is left to become the guardian of his 15 year old nephew, played by Lucas
Hedges. Hedges does a wonderful job of
playing a typical teenage boy experiencing his typical teenage boy life—self-centered,
and focused on girls, sports and his band.
He fiercely tries to hold on to his life while simultaneously processes the
loss of his father, who was a single dad because of the mother’s substance
abuse problems. Despite the terrible
sadness that pervades the film, there is humor sprinkled in as Affleck adapts
to his new role as a surrogate father and Hedges adapts to him. Lonergan masterfully portrays these very
ordinary human beings as they struggle with the aftermath of human
tragedies. Yet he does not permit the
dramatic to devolve into the melodramatic.
His attention to detail makes Manchester by the Sea the most authentic
film I’ve seen since Saving Private Ryan.
A Man Called Ove
A Man Called Ove is a delightful
Swedish film, which, like Manchester by the Sea weaves comical scenes throughout
a film that, like Manchester by the Sea,
is centered around loss. It is a
in a film that confronts the theme of aging and purpose. Ove is the main character who lives in a
little housing cooperative. On the
surface, he is an old crank, the self-appointed enforcer who polices the
homeowers association regulations in a most imperious and obnoxious way. We warm to him and empathize with him as we
learn that he has recently lost his adorable, vivacious wife to cancer. He then
loses his job at the company that employed both he and his father at one time. His personal despair finally deepens to the
point where he makes several suicide
attempts. A young couple moves in next
door, however, and he helps them integrate into the neighborhood sometimes
funny results, and we see that underneath the surface of this grumpy old guy is
a man with a heart of gold that he keeps well hidden. Every time he gets close to doing himself in,
the doorbell rings with someone that needs his help for something. Before our eyes, the incorrigible old crank
turns into an endearing character and he finds purpose in the life he has left
in helping others. A Man Called Ove is a
redemptive, sweet little film that should not be missed.
Moonlight
Moonlight is a film that has
received critical acclaim and follows the maturation of the main character, Chiron
through three distinct phases of his life in black inner city Miami, growing up
in a fatherless home with a drug addicted mother. Although played by three separate actors
through these separate phases of his life, the acting is good enough that it is
seamless – sort of like an inner city version of Boyhood. Chiron is an outsider in both grade school
and high school as his peers detect his gay inclinations early. Partially as a consequence of his sexual
orientation, the neglect by his mother gets magnified and he is abused and
bullied mercilessly by his peers throughout his youth. Moonlight is sometimes an uncomfortable film
to watch as you see this boy struggle with a harsh family and social life, his
sexuality, and his separateness and loneliness, and his attempt to be his
authentic self. The film reaffirmed my theory that there is often a person that fits with you like a lock and key and that fit doesn't diminish over time. Unlike A Man Called Ove
and Manchester by the Sea, there is no comic relief in this film. It is a must see but I would wait until the
holidays are over.
Manchester by the Sea was my
favorite among these films, but all three have something profound to say about
the human experience.
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