#movie reviews
Starring John Reddy and Jashaun St. John
Directed by Chloe Zhao
The film follows Johnny Winters (Reddy) and his younger sister Jashaun (St. John) as they navigate life on their reservation after the sudden death of their absentee father. Johnny bootlegs alcohol in order to provide for his family, but he plans on escaping to Los Angeles with his girlfriend. After finding out Johnny plans to abandon her, Jashaun is heartbroken, seeking friendship in a tattoo artist and former convict named Travis. As Johnny begins fighting with rival bootleggers, his urgency to escape intensifies. However, Jashaun is still struggling with her impending loneliness. Johnny must decide if he should escape the life-sucking rez (what they call the reservation) and leave his sister completely vulnerable, or if he should stay back and raise his sister.
Johnny is in constant battle. He’s repeatedly faced with conflicts and dilemmas throughout the film. Primarily, he must choose between a better life with his girlfriend in Los Angeles and the safety of his sister. But we also see Johnny struggle with his bootlegging. He needs the money to provide for his family, but he also understands how getting caught and incarcerated will destroy his future. On top of this internal strife caused by self-interest, he also sees how alcoholism plagues their community and ruins lives. In one scene, Johnny walks through a home full of crying, young children on a delivery to a negligent mother. The viewer witnesses Johnny’s struggle as he realizes his role in the destruction of his community. He also gets caught up in a turf war, only causing more external pressure. Johnny’s pastime as a boxer symbolizes his constant internal fighting. In the one match we see, Johnny loses, perhaps indicating he’s losing the battle against his own woes. We also see his teaching Jashaun how to box, advising her to protect herself and run from people bigger than her. This interaction reveals his hopes for his sister. Johnny wants her to escape, so she never has to suffer as he does.
Without Johnny, Jashaun would have to grow up too fast. At the start of the film, she is completely innocent. When Johnny is selling alcohol in another room, Jashaun is childishly finger painting, completely oblivious to her brother’s actions. As the film progresses, she begins to lose this innocence. She tries a cigarette, the thing that killed her father, while wearing a fake mustache. While the mustache adds comedic relief, it’s also symbolic for how she is forced to grow up too soon. Jashaun begins hanging out with a friend who dresses scantily, lies about her age, and takes Jashaun to concerts with alcohol. We also see Jashaun try on makeup when she’s alone. Evidently, with Johnny’s increasing absence, she is being thrown into adulthood too quickly.
However, this isn’t always portrayed as a bad thing. She essentially becomes a caretaker. We see Jashaun collect and throw away the empty cans and bottles her mother and brother have littered their home with. In this way, she is cleansing their life and environment of alcohol’s impact. She helps Travis with his business, offering her assistance with bookkeeping. Although he is her elder, Jashaun is keeping him out of trouble. After he is sent back to prison, Jashaun cleans up Travis’ house, bringing her friend with her. The friend just wants to goof around and play, but Jashaun refuses, focusing only on helping Travis. The disparity between the girls’ behavior in this scene highlights Jashaun’s personal growth and maturity.
I picked up on some racial themes in the film. Right in the beginning, we see a poster showing all of the “hometown heroes” from the characters’ area. Every single person on the poster is white, illustrating how the narratives of the people on the rez have are completely overlooked by the white community outside. At the rodeo, a white emcee explains how America is the greatest nation because of freedom and opportunity. We see how the speech is well received by his largely white audience, but the children of the rez aloofly cling to fence. The “American dream” imagery the emcee is trying to elicit doesn’t hold true for these kids.
The viewer feels a great deal of empathy for the protagonists. The camera work is shaky, making us feel as though we’re there with Jashaun and Johnny. Also, the narrative is driven by minute personal interactions, giving us a whole understanding of the characters’ emotional state.
This film is, above all, gorgeous. The writing and storyline hold strong, but the beautiful great plains setting is really what makes it great. The main fault I see in Songs My Brothers Taught Me is the acting. Many of the cast are new to the big screen, and it really showed. But while their performances fall short, this movie is still worth a watch.
17/20
Starring Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, and Kevin McKidd
Directed by Danny Boyle
Scottish heroin addict Mark Renton (McGregor) introduces the audience to his four best friends: Spud, Sick Boy (Miller), Tommy (McKidd), and Begbie (Carlyle). At the start of the film, Mark decides to go clean. He soon finds the pressure from his friends, the reality of his life, and withdrawal symptoms to be all too much to bear and turns back to the needle, dragging Tommy down with him. After getting arrested, Mark is forced into a rehabilitation program. Worried by his friends’ continued trouble with the law and HIV risk, Mark tries to start over with a clean life in London. Just when Mark finally thinks he’s escaped his former life, an old friend returns to drag him back.
Boyle (dir) hints at the cyclical nature of heroin addiction throughout the film. For instance, at the start of the movie, Mark is explaining all the things such as “washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers” that come with “choosing life” over heroin. At the end of this film, Mark explains he’ll give up heroin forever and lists the exact same things in a description of his new life, essentially making the screenplay one big loop. Heroin is also cyclical because going clean fills their lives with problems, and the only way they know to cope is with mre heroin. First, Mark is hit with horrible pains and hallucinations associated with withdrawal. Next, he must deal with secondary physical problems such as diarrhea and increased sex drive. Lastly, Mark explains, “Once the pain goes away, thats when the real battle starts.” He is implying that the “real battle” is actually adjusting with the real world. He’s also made awful friends on heroin that he has to stick with once he’s clean. All of these factors create immense pressure for Mark, eventually submitting him to his addiction.
Boyle also illustrates how everybody is an addict in their own way. Mark’s mother takes Valium regularly, which he regards as a “socially acceptable” addiction. Begbie, who abstains from heroin, is addicted to fighting, which is even more destructive than the drugs. I also found it interesting how Mark says its the feeling that his job in real estate gives him that makes it to appealing, as if that is an addiction of its own. When Begbie is stressing Mark out, we see a pile of cigarettes accumulate outside of his apartment, yet another “socially acceptable” addiction. Also, it is important to mention how the boys get most of their drugs from scamming medical professionals, drawing attention how these drugs are used by the public. By pointing out the addictions we are all used to seeing, Boyle humanizes the boys.
One of Mark’s characteristic quirks is how articulate he is. He speaks with a vocabulary and candor that clearly indicates high intelligence. This highlights how he’s “wasted potential.” All of the addicts show this in some way. Sick Boys’ extensive and nuanced knowledge of James Bond prove he’s quite smart and intellectually curious, and could have amounted to more with proper education. Spud has a strong moral compass corrupted by his need for a score. Tommy is the clearest example of this idea, since we witness his entire downfall; he went from the gentle, successful one to the first to die.
Mark tells the audience that Sick Boy’s theory to life is that “at one point you got it, then you lose it and its gone forever.” Essentially, your life could be perfect, but the moment something goes wrong, it’s all downhill from there. For the guys, this moment is the death of Baby Dawn. Before then, Mark makes it clear that their heroin use is for the “pleasure of it” rather than escaping some dark feeling. However, in the scene following Dawn’s death, he explains that heroin not only no longer feels good, but it’s actually “misery on misery.” They’re now facing the reality of the hole they’ve dug for themselves, which is the beginning of their “downward trajectory.”
This film is another longtime favorite of mine. Boyle creates a fun vibe without sugarcoating the darkness and severity of the boys’ situation. He creates humor with outrageous, exaggerated moments while still keeping artistic integrity.
19/20
Another from the vaults of my horror loving memories is an off-the-beaten-path gem. ‘The Nightmare’ isn’t technically a horror I think it’s more of a documentary with a horrifying subject. The film digs into the accounts of multiple people and their similar experiences with sleep paralysis.
It doesn’t sound like much (if you’re a psycho) - but it’s a condition where people are unable to move speak or react kind of a state between awake and sleep. It’s pretty freaky and I’ve experienced it a couple times when I was a kid. Thankfully never to the level of these people in the movie.
(From #rottentomatoes):
“A documentary-horror film exploring the phenomenon of 'Sleep Paralysis’ through the eyes of eight very different people. These people often find themselves trapped between the sleeping and waking worlds, totally unable to move but aware of their surroundings while being subject to frequently disturbing sights and sounds. A strange element to these visions is that despite the fact that they know nothing of one another, many see similar ghostly 'shadow men.’ This is one of many reasons many people insist this is more than just a sleep disorder. This documentary digs deep into not only the particulars of these eight people’s uncanny experiences, but it also explores their search to understand what they’ve gone through and how it’s changed their lives.”
And that’s where it goes from “oh this is an interesting documentary about a common experience“, to, “these people are clearly being tormented by demons”. There’s literally no middle ground. We go from actual sleep studies to way out there existential theorizing. At the end of the thing I didn’t know what to think anymore. Are they seeing demons? Aliens? Multidimensional brings? And how are all their “visions” so similar? This movie actually scared the living crap out of me and I was afraid to sleep for a few after I watched it.
It’s creepy because perhaps we’ve all felt the sensation of sleep paralysis at least once. When I was a kid, they said that it was the devil sitting on your chest. That’s a pretty messed up thing to say to a kid. However, considering the shared visions these total strangers have, it all makes me kinda believe that old saying now.
I actually could not watch this film a second time. It still kind of haunts me when I think about. This is a really good scary film, one that will definitely have you keeping one eye open at night. Don’t let the devil sit on your chest.
