Don't Let Go

First Hit: Visually well crafted and ambitious in concept, ultimately it didn’t quite satisfy.

Films that mess with time (jump time), like “Memento” and “Frequency” have had their ways to jump time and create an engaging story. “Don’t Let Go” does this and then some.

In this story, the deep trusting relationship between a Policeman Jack Radcliff (David Oyelowo) and his niece Ashley (Storm Reed), is put to the test when Ashley, her father (and Jack’s brother) Garret (Brian Tyree Henry), and mother Susan (Shinelle Azoroh) are brutally murdered, or are involved in a murder-suicide.

The film does a great job of showing how close Jack and Ashley are through multiple telephone calls and one on one discussions. He does this because his brother has had a checkered past, and he wants the best for Ashley.

Jack gets a disturbing and interrupting call from Ashley that ends in a hang-up. He drives over to his brother’s home and finds them all murdered. Shocked, he thinks that this could be the result of Garret’s re-involvement in illegal drugs, with the intent to distribute.

Despondent, he’s in shock during the funeral which is then followed by scenes of him sitting at home, at a loss for why this happened.  Shortly after that, he gets a call from Ashley’s phone and the voice on the other end is definitely Ashley, although it is more scratchy sounding than usual. She hangs up. He calls back and gets a message that this number is no longer in use. Shocked he checks the police crime scene file boxes and doesn’t find her phone. Breaking into his brother’s murder scene sealed home, he finds the phone in the tub. It is broken and doesn’t work.

He then gets another call from Ashley from her number, and he begins to talk with her while trying to grapple with how this can be because he’s buried Ashley and yet she’s calling him.

Eventually, he determines that she’s calling him from the past and by slowly accepting that if he can change Ashley’s past actions, just before the murderous event, he is hoping to help her shift her future and his future as well, the one he’s already lived through.

That’s what this film attempts to do, have the audience believe this possible and improbably story of past and future existing at the same time. The work to make this film believable is all up to the acting of Oyelowo because he’s trying to live in three different time frames all at the same time. In doing so, he must juggle and make the audience believe the various versions and scenarios of the story. In two of them he gets shot. One he gets shot by a drive-by shooting. In another he gets shot twice, once in a warehouse and then by a fellow officer. These wounds bring him to the edge of death but also make him figure out who his brother’s murderer is and who might be corrupt in the police department. Ultimately, he’s able to help Ashley stay alive and conversely it allows him to live.

This is a complex film, and I thought the sets and scenes were well designed. The alleyways, buildings, and street scenes were not overpowering, but they brought the right tone and reality to this mystery.

Oyelowo does an outstanding job of creating belief. Less of an actor would have made this film a mess and unbelievable. He was able to use his protective love for Ashley in a most effective way. The whole restaurant gum scene was beautiful. Reed shows again (“A Wrinkle in Time” among her credits) what a wonderful actor she is becoming. Again, watch the restaurant gum scene, she’s magnificent in it. Mykelti Williamson, as fellow police officer and friend Bobby, was excellent as a trusted friend and eventually an antagonist. Jacob Estes wrote and directed this complex and challenging movie. At times, I felt I needed different clarifying touchpoints, but it was well done.

Overall: Although I really liked the components, I still don’t feel that the film finished as well as it could have.

Gringo

First Hit: This was a quirky film that I liked more than I thought I would with a few over the top scenes.

I didn’t know what to expect from this film and that was a good thing.

The premise is that Richard Rusk (Joel Edgerton) and Elaine Markinson (Charlize Theron) run a pharmaceutical company that is struggling to survive. Working for them is Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) who is a close friend of Richard.

Harold oversees their drug producing operations in Mexico. Unbeknownst to Harold, Elaine and Richard have made a deal to sell the company and a new formula to someone else. However, another group knows about this new formula that will make someone a lot of money. This formula is in a safe in the Mexican operational building.

Additionally, Harold is out of the loop about his wife, who has asked him for a divorce. He doesn’t know that his wife is having an affair with Richard.

Despondent over his impending divorce, and discovering his bosses do not support him, he quits his job and plans to disappear in Mexico.

Throughout all this, the deal with the purchasing pharmaceutical company is falling apart, the formula has been stolen and warring factions are brought into play. Then Richard hires his mercenary brother Mitch (Sharlto Copley), to find Harold, kill him if needed, and help resolve the theft.

All of this sets up situations that are both suspenseful and over the top funny. Some of the funniest scenes are with Elaine as she uses her sexuality to lure people to decide things her way.

Edgerton was good as the sex charged company man. Theron was over the top funny and bawdy in her portrayal of Markinson who wanted to get ahead using any means possible. Oyelowo was very funny as the trusting husband and employee believing that if he worked hard and obeyed all the laws, he’d be successful. The ending helps this ongoing riff. Copley was great and over the top and a skilled mercenary. Anthony Tambakis and Matthew Stone wrote this quirky screenplay that I enjoyed. Nash Edgerton did a fine job of getting the actors to engage in this film.

Overall: This film had enough laughs and engaging scenes to make it worth its’ while.

Queen of Katwe

First Hit:  Although this is a wonderful story, the film's representation did not do it justice.

Confusion is what I felt through much of the early part of this film because we go through 8 years of time, as noted by the overlays on the screen announcing each new year, without any discernible physical changes in the characters. The subject, Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nawanga), is followed from before her teens to her mid-teens with virtually no change in her looks. We all know that these are years in which a person changes a lot physically, but here there is nothing and therefore confusion in each scene because we really don't know how old she is until context is given. The story is wonderful. It is about Phiona, who comes from the poorest of the poor in Uganda, where her mother is raising 4 children by herself, finds herself in Robert Katende’s (David Oyelowo) church where he’s teaching chess to young children. She sits down and becomes fascinated by the movement of the chess pieces and soon she is spellbound by the game. Quickly she learns that she naturally understands the complexities and challenges of the game, which also allows her to escape her limited and difficult life. From this point of view, the film and story was inspirational. I loved her first plane ride scene when the camera pans to her fingers moving and griping the seat's armrests. Her mother Nakku Harriet’s (Lupita Nyong’o) surprised happiness at seeing her new home for the first time, embraced the amazing joy residing in this film. Besides the lack of clear time references with the main character, the film was too long. There were three times, I came out of being engaged in the story to wondering why it was taking so long to tell the story. It needed to be more crisp.

Nawanga was wonderful as Phiona. Although I wish they would have used a second person for the younger years, Nawanga was perfect for the later character. Oyelowo was amazing as the patient minister and chess teacher. I loved the stories he told his kids to help them with the pressures of being in chess tournaments. Nyong’o was sublime as Phiona’s mother. Her strength and intelligence shined through as she fought to keep her children fed, with a roof over their heads and safe. William Wheeler wrote a script that tried to tell too much. It made the running time of 124 minutes laborious. Mira Nair did an OK job of directing the characters, however as previously noted, the film did a disservice by having Nawanga try to play through so much time, and to not cut aspects of the story to make the film crisper.

Overall:  This is a wonderful story, but the execution, by the director and screenwriter, didn’t live up to the power of the story.

A Most Violent Year

First Hit:  The acting, especially by Jessica Chastain, is superb.

This story takes place in the 1960’s, in New York and in the highly competitive home heating oil business. Abel Morales (Oscar Isaac) has built his business with hard work and in a short period of time.

One struggle is that his drivers hurt when his trucks are getting hijacked by someone unknown to him. He’s also trying to buy a piece of riverfront property to give him a leg up on his competitors. His growth and the whole sleaziness of the industry is being monitored by a politically hungry DA name Lawrence (David Oyelowo).

Morales' wife Anna (Jessica Chastain) has a background in the mob and it shows with her attitude, actions and strength of character. She occasionally alludes to her ties to the family with threats to Abel that she wants to bring in the family in to resolve the hijacking as well as other things. The exchanges between Abel and Anna are wonderful and charged.

The scenes of Abel teaching how to sell their service is powerfully priceless. The addition of Albert Brooks as Abel’s lawyer Andrew Walsh was an amazing selection because he brings intense pointed guidance to both Abel and the film.

Isaac is very strong and he exudes drive to make it all work. Chastain is sublime, she is so strong that you know she is the foundation that makes Abel’s business (and the film) work. Oyelowo is good as the DA trying to “clean up” this industry but also seeing where his future bread could be buttered. Brooks is phenomenal. J.C. Chandor wrote a very strong script capturing the time and industry well. His direction was clear and concise and he made his script work for him.

Overall:  I’m glad the film wasn’t as violent as the title but the intensity was surely represented.

Selma

First Hit:  Not as engaging as I had hoped.

The Selma, Alabama march was a seminal moment in our nation’s history.

The film follows Martin Luther King (David Oyelowo) through the process, thoughts and actions leading to the successful decision by President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to push an equal vote for all while King led a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama securing the rights for blacks to vote.

Although I loved the story and remember it fondly, the portrayal of this story was only good at times. I thought there were long moments of waiting and indecision by the director which created a slowness in this film that wasn’t needed.

To set up the issue, the film begins with Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) trying to register to vote. The voter registrar clerk, finds ways to reject Cooper’s form. The point is the unreasonableness of the registrar’s office against blacks.

The film spends a little time with King being at home with his family. Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo) is strong willed, supportive of her husband, and also keeps the family together with her strength. There are a number of historical characters in this film from Andrew Young (Andre Holland), Presidential Advisor Lee White (Giovanni Ribisi) to Gov. George Wallace (Tim Roth) which give a fair amount of context to the story – especially Wallace.

Pacing of this film was methodically slow and, to me, it made this film much longer (by 20 – 30 minutes) than needed.

Oyelowo was good as King, but I never felt moved by the documented speeches as spoken by David. Wilkinson was good as LBJ, however I’m wondering about the dialogue used to represent him. For some reason it didn’t ring true with the same person who pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Winfrey was solid as Cooper, however in two of the closing still pictures, she seemed to be the focal point by being in the center – seemed a bit egotistical. Ejogo, as Coretta, provided the strongest acting of the bunch. Holland was good as the young Andrew Young. Ribisi was OK as White. Roth was powerful as Wallace. Paul Webb wrote a good script, but needed some trimming. Ava DuVernay directed this film which had pacing problems. However, the look and feel of the time was wonderfully represented.

Overall:  I was disappointed in the result of this film.