Elemental (2023) Review

Title: Elemental
Year: 2023
Director: Peter Sohn
Country: US
Language: English

The advertising for Elemental makes the picture seem like a Romeo and Juliet affair. While there is romance, the main plot of the film involves bureaucracy and familial expectations, weaved together with racial prejudice analogy that evokes Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (1967)  

Elemental follows  Ember (Leah Lewis) and Wade (Mamoudou Athie) as they try to save her fathers' business from being shutdown. 

 I wanted to like Elemental, but unfortunately I didn't. The characters didn't have much chemistry together; it was hard to feel invested in their budding relationship. The characters weren't well written. Ember runs through emotions so quickly that she becomes off-putting and dislikeable. 

The computer animation in Elemental lacks harmony and can be jarring at times. The characters look very cartoon-ish, but the objects & environments around them look photo-real. The contrasting styles feel like they belong in different pictures. 

Though the themes in Elemental are important to show a developing mind, one can show their child better films like Zootopia (2018) or Frozen (2013), 

The Life of Emile Zola (1937) Review

Title: Life of Emile Zola
Year: 1937
Director: William Dietrie
Country: US
Language: English

 The Life of Emile Zola won the coveted Best Picture Oscar in 1937 and...nobody talks about it anymore. It is a pretty difficult film to find as it isn't on any streaming service and the dvd version is out of print. I gave up trying to pay for a copy & found the entire version on Youtube. I didn't expect much from this film, but I was quite surprised. 

A fictionalized account of the life of famed French author Emile Zola, the majority of the picture deals with his involvement in the case of Captain Alfred Dreyfus who was falsely convicted of giving secret military information to the Germans and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devils Island.

Although the dialogue can be a bit pedantic, the screenplay of Emile Zola is brilliant in the way it tells two compelling stories  (Zola's Life & The Dreyfuss affair) and eventually weaves them together to create a compelling climax. The courtroom scene near the end of the film is Cinema at its best. 

The costuming, lighting, editing, cinematography are all excellent, but the main standouts are the performances of Paul Muni (Zola) and Gale Sondergaarde (Dreyfus). When Gale screams that he is innocent we are fully invested in the character and our heart pains to see the character in such trouble. 

Apart from a brief shot of a jounral entry (Religion: Jew?) it's unfortunate that the film couldn't explore the anti-semetic side of the Dreyfus Affair. Life of Emile Zola is mportant and entertaining; I can certainly see why it won Best Picture. 

Norma Rae (1979) Review

Title; Norma Rae
Year: 1979
Director: Martin Ritt
Country: US
Language: English

In his book Stayin Alive, History professor Jefferson Cowie writes about Norma Rae (1979) saying, "Norma Rae was thus a distinct oddity in seventies popular culture: an optimistic message about the capacity of working people and one of the very few unabashedy, pro-labor movies of the decade." 

Based on a true story, Norma Rae is about a young single mother and textile worker agrees to help unionize her mill despite the problems and dangers involved.

Norma Rae was ahead of its time with its bold pro-union message. Even in present day, the topic of Unionizing is quite controversial & isn't overtly present in Hollywood pictures. It's quite relevant, especially as, at the time of this review, Writers Guild of America are striking for better working conditions. 

Sally Field deserved her Best Actress Oscar for making her character. an average Southern woman, so endearing. She makes the subject of Unionizing quite compelling. The film does a great job at depicting racism in the workplace; how management uses race tension to keep their workers in-line. It surprised me, because this we are not often shown this side of the workplace.

It's unfortunate that Norma Rae's advertising is so off-putting. The poster evokes Sex and the City vibes and will deter most cinephiles from watching. This is a very important film however, Norma Rae should be viewed for decades to come. 

Gimme Shelter (1970) Review

Title: Gimme Shelter

Year: 1970

Director: Maysles Brothers

Country: US

Language: English

"If you build it, they will come." is a famous line from Field of Dreams (1989) that would most appropriately apply to Woodstock; the free counter-culture hippie festival held in August 1969. That event showed the best that the 60's revolution had to offer. The Rolling Stones' event at Altamont in 1970 would show the ugly side of that generation. 

This documentary shows what happens when 3,000 members of the "Love" Generation collide with the Hells Angels at an event held by the Rolling Stones. 

Gimme Shelter was made in an innovative, seemingly spontaneous style, similar to the French Concept of Cinema Verte. The Maysles brothers and Zwerin bind together the shows' formulation, execution and aftermath in riveting fashion. It's a film that organically builds to a boil as an uneasy tension permutes the atmosphere. /

The concert, much like the previous decade, began with naive optimism before everything seemed to fall apart. The Rolling Stones provided a soundtrack that fit the overal mood at the time; hedonistic, violent, and volatile. It spoke to the dislushionment Americans had about their own country during Vietnam. 

Gimme Shelter is an important documentary; a time capsule that captures the social and political tensions of the era. It is an entertaining picture, even if you don't like The Rolling Stones' music.