Billie (2020) offers a riveting look at the jazz icon

In 1971, high school teacher and journalist Linda Lipnak Kuehl set out to write a biography of iconic singer Billie Holiday. After spending the next eight years collecting over 200 hours of rare interviews, Kuehl's work went released until now. Billie adapts her unfinished book to showcase an inexplicable thread between two women across racial barriers.

Similar to Marilyn Monroe or Judy Garland, Holiday's legacy sometimes outshines her humanity. As much as she's known as an incomparable talent, her reputation remains complicated for the challenges she endured. 

Holiday sang as if she survived every sorrow the world could throw at her. Her graceful voice was a part of her survival as she sang heartbreaking anti-lynching anthems that also highlighted inequalities of the time. While the documentary's main story runs linear from her upbringing until her death, it dives into what makes Holiday a formidable figure today. Kuehl was more than willing to ask tough questions about Holiday's experiences as a teenage prostitute, her fiery sexuality, breaking into the music business, and a drug addiction that made her the target of the FBI. In return, Kuehl was able to get raw answers from dozens of eyewitnesses – the pimps who made her work the street, producers who signed her and then couldn't protect her from racist audiences and reactions, high school friends, and fellow singers – and provide a critical view into Holiday’s life that doesn’t cut corners. 

What sets Billie apart from most documentaries is how unflinching the story unfolds and how relevant it is to the racial climate in the United States. Director James Erskine doesn't aim to filter the challenges she endures, postulate her reputation, or pass judgement. Using Kuehl’s audio as a timeline, he creates an overall portrait of Holiday by piecing together stock, archival footage, and televised performances to match Kuehl’s interviews. Though the outlook of Holiday is told from direct sources closest to her, and can sometimes be skewed based on their own recollection or memories, the visceral insight from the likes of Count Basie and drummer Jonathan “Jo” Jones explores her perseverance while the world and music industry criminalized her as a Black woman.

Since the documentary primarily focuses on Holiday, Kueh’s personal life doesn’t take center stage as much as it could. We are offered insight into Kuehl such as how she became interested in Holiday initially and what drove her to continue with the project even when self-doubt crept in. After she started the project and the years waned, her passionate involvement in digging for more insight led to an uncertain death riddled with unanswered questions. Her mysterious passing subtly opens the film as a marker, but it's not a consistent topic throughout. Though the full extent of her death is not fully delved into, her dedication lays a part of the foundation for the film. 

Rating: ★★1/2☆ Please Note: I was provided with a screener and provide an honest review. Billie is in select theaters and available on streaming on December 4th, 2020.

Happiest Season (2020) Misses the Point of Queer Holiday Joy

With Christmas right around the corner, Harper (Mackenzie Davis) hopes to treat her longtime girlfriend Abby (Kristen Stewart) to a special weekend getaway with her family. There’s just one problem: Harper hasn’t come out to her parents yet. To save face until she’s comfortable enough to own her sexuality, Abby goes along with pretending to be a straight roommate while hoping to seek her family's acceptance to eventually propose.

Tis the season to be jolly and gay. At least, that’s what Happiness Season would like a lot of us to believe. Marketed as a holiday movie for the gays (and straights) – yay! – it’s hard to believe how much nuance is packed into the first major studio backed lesbian holiday flick – another yay! – and yet makes a total ba-humbug mess of this coming out tale. 

(This review contains spoilers)

The Nest (2020) Proves The Family Makes A House into Home-Sweet-Home

Rory O’Hara (Jude Law) has everything going for him – healthy and happy kids Samantha and Benjamin (Oona Roche and Charlie Shotwell, respectively), and a wife Allison (Carrie Coon) who challenges him. Their life seems like paradise from the outside looking in, but an endless nagging of unfulfilled potential convinces Rory otherwise. Despite the challenges of uprooting his family across the world to start over, he takes a chance on a job opportunity in the United Kingdom even though it could potentially cost him the peaceful life they already have.

Quick Reviews: Shows I Watched In Lockdown (Part 2)

Since the Coronavirus lockdown started earlier this year, there's been more time to watch new television shows and revisit some of my older faves. I didn't think there would be so much time to watch as many series as I have so far, or that we'd be eight months later since March still trying to get control of the Coronavirus fall-out. 

Below are my quick (mostly disappointed) reviews of shows I watched over the summer. Spoilers are included for The Office, Ratched, The Boys, Lovecraft Country, and Watchmen.

Once Upon A River (2020) Unleashes A Promising Debut

Based on the novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell, 15 year old Margo Crane (Kenadi DelaCerna) lives on the Stark River bank with her father Bernard (Tatanka Means). After she endures a family scandal that leaves her ostracized from the community and other relatives, she goes in search of her mother who left a year earlier. As she winds down the river, she encounters strangers who help her heal and start over.

As Once Upon A River is told from Crane’s perspective, the film primarily belongs to Kenadi DelaCerna. She occupies almost every frame from beginning to end, which is a tall order for an actress making her screen debut. Crane is a quiet and thoughtful heroine who internalizes her experiences, leading most of DelaCerna’s performance to rest in subtle expressions, and to do so without losing your attention of what she is thinking and feeling. DelaCerna possesses a mature presence that brings Crane to life. A solid round of supporting actors also strengthens DelaCerna’s presence on-screen from a gentle teacher who takes her in as a hitch-hiker (William) Ajuawak Kapashesit to a trailer park dweller Smoke (John Ashton) who becomes one of Crane’s greatest allies and glimpses of hope.

A Call To Spy (2019) Celebrates Women-Led Resistance

Inspired by true stories Vera Atkins (Stana Katic) helps lead Winston Churchill’s new secret army of spies known as the Special Operations Executive. Two of her newest recruits – Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas) and Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Apte) become the first “lady spies” of a resistance network in German-occupied France as Hitler poises to cross the English channel. 

History has a way of repeating itself in Hollywood. When the same old stories are told, we’re stuck believing that the same people save or revolutionize the world over and over again. As female filmmakers look more between the lines of the past and its forgotten trailblazers, we begin to see just how much entertainment has scratched the surface. In a recent bout of solid female-driven World War II films, A Call To Spy continues to turn the tide of how cinema defines the “the greatest generation.”

Salute to a King - Chadwick Boseman (1976 - 2020)

photo by Neil Krug

Very few stars in Hollywood shine so brightly. After a handful of roles under his belt, Chadwick Boseman accomplished more in his massive skyrocket to fame than many are ever able to. It's only fitting that Esquire once declared, "Chadwick is telling America's greatest stories." But how these stories were told is just as illuminating and important as Chadwick being the chosen one to tell them.

Tesla (2020) struggles to bring the inventor's life to light

History's made up of pioneers who have transformed the world as we know it. Too many remain overlooked, forgotten to time and standards or traditions that now seem archaic today. And, movies often a way to shine a light on those whose stories are recognized by their peers and admirers. Engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla, who continuously mounts a resurgence in film and television, finally gets the biopic treatment, but it's difficult to discern if it isn't as garbled as his own legacy.

Outside of his own inventions, the Serbian-American scientist Tesla (Ethan Hawke) is perhaps most recognized for his feud against his former boss and American inventor Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan). Here, the film loosely explores Tesla's life from the 1893 World’s Fair and onwards, marking the differences in their career and their war on electrical currents - Tesla's alternating current sytem vs Edison's direct current electric power.

Director Michael Almereyda doesn't generate the most conventional films - if you've seen his work before, you'll go in knowing how off-beat his perspective can be from the plot to the production choices. If you haven't, it's a challenge to piece together his myriad of choices to tell this singular story - one that admirably steps out of the box from traditional biopics but fails to know when to air restraint.

Though the story itself should be expectantly straight-forward, Almereyda's approach will be the most divisive aspect. Its plot is unlike even the most surreal dramas, practically starting in the middle of Tesla's life and his immediate rivalry with Edison, and then expanding all over the map. While films in a non-linear fashion aren't always challenging to watch, Tesla doesn't hold back with directing its focus between Tesla, his acquaintances, partners, romantic interests, etc. Primarily, the plot is intermittently interrupted by daughter of JP Morgan Anne Morgan (Eve Hewson) who acts as a tour guide of who's who in Tesla's world. Once you get a hold on your bearings on the main story, the film switches the direction or Morgan drops by to clarify which scenes are fact or of Almereyda's artistic license. Her inclusion feels less like the film is making room for an observer giving you the scoop of Tesla's work and more as a diversion from adhering to a A to B to C, etc. biopic.

It's difficult to call this film quirky, or unique, in comparison to other films and leave it at that. Almereyda offers enough curiosity to pique your interest and see what he has up his sleeve next. He regularly interjects the film with little details that step out of the traditional mold, and even the time period it's set in - a scene with Sarah Bernhardt entering a club comes more like a scene out of John Wick than a late 1900s period piece; Morgan using a laptop to show pictures of Tesla, Edison, and other supporting characters on Google; Tesla crooning to a Tear for Fears song at karaoke. It's little nods like these that give the film its edge, but blurs the line between an extraordinary vision and throwing everything at the wall.

Where the film gets its bearings the most is Hawke's performance. Not much is known about Tesla - that's perhaps that the internet is for - and Hawke manages to encompass an emotional insulation about him that you want to follow. Kyle MacLachlan is steady as Thomas Edison, but in regards to both characters, the film struggles to dive deep beyond the loose personalities you may have heard of online or in social studies class. Though their frenemyship is the central thread of the story, and each have their own artistic and capitalist demons to face, the stakes don't feel high as they could, making them both as much of a mystery before you see the film as much as you do afterwards.

Similar to the real Tesla and the mystique his legacy has endured over the years, the film can be given its due by how it blazes its own trail. The latter aspires to be a visionary, becoming one of the few that tackles the microscopic 'anti-biopic' biopic genre. As its plot makes daring detours, it's free-wheeling approach hinders more than amplifies. Hawke's performance ties the film together on his own, but it's a flickering portrait that struggles to fully illuminate Almereyda's subject.

Rating: ★1/2☆☆

Please Note: I was provided with a screener to watch this film and provide an honest review. Telsa is available in theaters and watch at home via digital or cable.

folklore (2020) offers an enchanting escape from the dumpster fire that is 2020

When it comes to Taylor Swift, her most devoted Swifties always expect something to pop up around the corner. Known as the queen of meticulously dropping hints of what’s to come, she always manages to keep fans on the edge of their seat. With her seventh album Lover dropping less than a year ago, and a massive pandemic sweeping the world, very few could’ve expected to hear new music after a cancelled summer tour. The next era of her music felt like an eternity away, but only Swift could drop her eighth studio record out of nowhere and blast more of our expectations out of the water. 

Summerland (2020) Infuses the Wartime Genre with Magic and Love

Hollywood too often tells a familiar history of World War II. War stories are mostly reserved for heroic tales of the men behind some of the world’s greatest combat missions to defeat Adolf Hitler and establish support for the Allies. Rarely exploring the expansive experiences of women and minorities at the time, a few films are turning the tide of how cinema recollects history. In the similar vein of Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest or Mike Newell’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Summerland makes for a refreshing escape of self-discovery and fantasy during one of the world’s darkest periods.

Set in the English coastal countryside of Kent, academic researcher Alice Lamb (Gemma Arterton) becomes the guardian of a refuge child Frank (Lucas Bond) whose parents are fighting in the war. Despite the nearby town treating her as the “beast on the beach” for her unladylike behavior, Lamb and Frank develop an unlikely connection that helps unveil a lost romance with a former lover (Gugu Mbatha-Raw). As research about a fantastical island in the sky brings her closer to Frank, their time together draws more parallels between them than they ever could’ve imagined.

Relic (2020) Adds A New Twist to 'Haunted House' Classics

Age creeps up on us steadily. One second we're young and free, and the next we're burdened with too many responsibilities or we don't want to be a burden to our loved ones. What becomes of us when we age and those around us is at the heart of Relic - a horror film that makes us come face-to-face with the shock, confusion, and (hopefully) understanding aging inevitably causes.

After their grandmother Edna (Robyn Nevin) is reported missing, her daughter and granddaughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and Sam (Bella Heathcote) journeys to her house to find out what happened and discover signs of disarray that makes them realize how severely she's been struggling on her own. When Edna mysteriously re-appears as if nothing happened, her erratic behavior forces them to realize there might be more to her dementia than meets the eye.

Hamilton (2020) Rises To The Hype

Hamilton has been more than just a moment since it took the theatre world by storm in 2015. Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical premiered off and on Broadway, mainly stationed in New York City and then a subsequent tour abroad. For almost five years, fans have clamored to get premiere tickets to the groundbreaking show that won 11 of its 16 Tony Award nominations. Looking to the future, the musical-powers-that-be director Thomas Kail and Lin-Manuel Miranda decided to capture the magic of the initial Broadway cast. Their film, originally slated for theatrical release in October 2020, premiered on Disney+ early to entertain fans and subscribers at home during the pandemic. The result is a continued example of Hamilton as an inspiring and unforgettable movement.