Tag: Movies

THE GOOD WHITE IS THEATRE THAT TELLS IT LIKE IT IS, WHICH IS THE MIKE VAN GRAAN WAY

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DIANE DE BEER reviews the latest Mike van Graan play

THE GOOD WHITE

DIRECTOR: Greg Homann

PLAYWRIGHT: Mike van Graan

CAST: Shonsani Masutha, Russel Savadier, Vusi Kunene and Renate Stuurman

SET DESIGNER: Patrick Curtis

LX DESIGNER: Themba Stewart

COSTUMES: Nadia Kruger

VENUE: Market Theatre

RUNNING TIME: Until June 1

Pictures: Ngoma Ka Mphahlele

Pair the title with the four characters on stage – Vusi Kunene (Black, pictured right), Russel Savadier (White), Renate Stuurman, (Coloured, pictured left) and Shonsani Masutha, (Black, centre front), — and, in the South African context, sparks will fly.

That is what Mike van Graan’s latest play leans into. He says in the programme notes that he hasn’t written anything but solo shows since 2018 and it feels as though this one has been bubbling under and then just exploded – in the best possible way. It’s an epic piece of writing which will have you gasping as he appeals to each one in the audience, whoever they are, to grapple with the issues – our inner core – of South Africa.

While Nelson Mandela did many things for this nation, coining the phrase Rainbow Nation was arguably not one of them. It is as though he constantly reminds us what we are not, but if you were part of the opening audience on what seemed to be a quiet Sunday afternoon in the theatre, you would have witnessed that we could be.

The perfect quartet: Vusi Kunene, Shonsani Masutha, Russel Savadier and Renate Stuurman.

The audience pretty much reflected the mixed bunch we are and from the deadly silence following the first poem of strength recited by the astonishing Masutha to the immediate participation during the rest of the play, it was as though there was another solo performer on that stage – the audience.

It captured the heartfelt emotions Van Graan has always been able to harness as he tackles the South African nation. And no one does gloves-off like this playwright. Setting the play in academia, he has chosen his boxing ring and then selected his characters to represent every foible in the human race, it felt like. And then he lets them rip.

As always, he doesn’t hold back, everyone and each weakness is held up for scrutiny and the constant audience gasping and finger clicks told you how he hit the mark throughout the play.

Through the years Van Graan has been honing his very own way of dealing with what he views as our fatal flaws and this time it feels as though he has unleashed it all in glorious colour. 

It might sound like something you don’t want to hear or see but, because South Africans will all relate to everything, it’s like witnessing the full South African story from Once Upon A Time …Prejudices in all their pitiful hostility, power plays, colour bashing, gender gore, poor vs privilege and the list is endless. He plays all those cards to their fullest.

Those who know his work, also know that he can write and he has never been scared to speak his mind. He does it to the Department of Arts and Culture and he does it on stage. When he has a platform, he steps up and tells it like it is and believe me, he is one of the few who speaks his mind unabashedly whenever he can.

He has been maligned to the high heavens, but nothing has stopped him. And finally, to my mind, here is his magnus opus and it is flawless and delicious to witness. And when (not if) you go and see it, I hope you have the same audience we had; it added to the fun and spectacle of the drama.

Add the director and the cast to complete the perfect coming together. Homann allowed the Van Graan words to do the work, which was the best thing to do. It should be unfettered because you really have to engage and listen to get the full extent, which here you do.

The cast delivers magnificently. I didn’t know Masutha’s work but she made sure I would never forget her. What a performance! From start to finish she’s there with all her energy and might and that’s what her volatile character needs. Stuurman is an old favourite and to my mind, this is her best performance yet. Savadier and Kunene also fit the bill and, as seasoned actors, they never put a foot wrong.

It’s a play I will try to see again towards the end of the run, because there’s just too much to take in at one sitting. It’s something — even though it doesn’t sound like it — that gives hope. If, as Van Graan suggests, this is exactly who we are, at some stage togetherness will take hold. As for now, we are still that dysfunctional family who needs a stern word to set us on the right path – and this is it.

We want more Mike please!

DON’T SINN AGAINST YOUR BETTER SENSES TO SEE THE LATEST RYAN COOGLER EXTRAVAGANZA ON OUR SCREENS

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The latest Ryan Coogler movie Sinners is an off-the-charts invigorating experience.DIANE DE BEER speaks her mind:

Currently showing at Ster-Kinekor

Michael B Jordan and Miles Canton face their fears in Sinners

SINNERS

DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler

CAST: Michael B Jordan, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku, Hailee Steinfeld, Lu Jun Li, Yao, Omar Benson Miller

If you are familiar with the movies Fruitvale Station, Creed and Black Panther, you will also know the director as well as the star of Sinners. Apart from the fact that Coogler knows how to go big, work with issues and pick a star cast, everything else will be new.

Horror and vampires aren’t exactly my favourite genres, in fact, I avoid them, but here Coogler’s name was just too much of a draw. That and the fact that much of what he seemed to be aiming at in this film comes across like the themes in one of my favourite movies, Get Out.

Too many people like steering clear of issue-driven movies, but in our world where the divide is still so big in so many areas, as an older white film fanatic, I want to hear what the dynamic young black voices have to say; which stories they want to tell and also, how do they get those stories across.

That was what I was looking forward to in this one. The cast is huge and the actors are quite something. Coogler has worked with Jordan in most of his films and here he literally doubles up as the twin brothers Smoke and Stack (yip, that’s what they’re called). They’re equally dandily dressed, but their clothes, although similar, have distinctive features, and the one’s behaviour is more out there than the other’s. Fortunately, technology can pretty much perfectly deliver anything directors want these days.

Michael B Jordan and his friends stand together.

The rest of the cast are as cleverly picked and especially the two women, a stunningly statuesque Mosaku and the smouldering Steinfield, will knock your socks off with their performances. And if you don’t know the names, you will recognize them and after this movie, you will certainly also remember the names.

But everyone in the film impresses. The look and the style will grip you from start to finish and then you can add the music, which for me truly dominated in the best sense of the word. It is quite simply brilliant – both from the black brethren as well as the white trash.

The first are seriously into the blues and the latter have a more gentle, contained country folk sound. You will be rocking in your chair and the cast are seemingly given free rein to make those moves rhythmically magical. It’s one party you don’t want to miss.

The first half of the film is pretty much about the two brothers returning from Chicago where they have collected rolls and rolls of cash and boxes of Irish beer (courtesy Al Capone circa 1930) and returning to the Mississippi Delta (which already spells trouble), where they establish a juke joint in a rundown mill belonging to a supremacist landlord, who is only interested in the lucre and not the colour of their skin when he rents them the place … or so he says.

Then the hard labour begins as everybody gets ready to get the place rocking. As the night hovers on the horizon, when the sun sets the trouble begins.

Michael B Jordan and director Ryan Coogler discussing the scene about to be shot.

This is where it became a bit too much, as the seriously partying crowd are stopped in their tracks by a family of vampires who threaten to deliver them all into a permanent state of wandering.

And yet, those are all just the package in which this film is wrapped. What Coogler is really playing with is the grand divide which has been ongoing for millennia. Every time I questioned the rage and the explosive catastrophe that turns a festive night into a slaughter madness, I was reminded of the damage inflicted by their relentless savage treatment.

As always, critics differ, but here the critical thinking swings viciously from one end of the spectrum to the other – and I found myself on both sides in certain instances.

The originality was the standout feature for me. The epic extremes the director decided to launch when he truly wanted to make his point felt like the result of dealing with an unexplained hatred which has been raging for ages. And if you had to be on the receiving end of such constant humiliation, hardship and absence of humanity which have run through generations of your brothers and sisters, perhaps the results have to be of volcanic proportions.

I was wondering how many of especially the older generation would stomach this particular version but, for me, it is the weight of the story, the magnificence of the performances of especially the two female leads, the sublime singing, musicmaking and acting  by the young Miles Canton, the doubling up of the Jordan performances, or just to witness the making of the movie in this single instance, and the list goes on.

It didn’t all work for me, but as usual Coogan is epic in his filmmaking approach. Brace yourself, participate in the ride. Already the staff at Brooklyn Ster-Kinekor is saying it has been their busiest show yet. And techy podcaster Kara Swisher is celebrating the fact that Coogan negotiated good money on worldwide ticket sales as well as owning the intellectual property after a few years, something almost unheard of in Hollywood. Don’t miss the changing of the guard. It’s going to be one helluva wave – and perhaps just

IT’S THE THRILL, THE SPEED AND THE SLICK AND STYLISH COMBO OF FASSBENDER AND BLANCHETT

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DIANE DE BEER reviews:

BLACK BAG

DIRECTOR: Steven Soderbergh

CAST: Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Gustav Skarsgǻrd

RATING: *** and a half

It’s quite serendipitous that while watching and then thinking about this latest espionage thriller currently showing on local Ster Kinekor screens, the US is again struggling with the latest scandal by what seems a most inept group of security heads.

That’s how seriously spying is taken in our modern world as different governments keep check on different countries to try to manage a world where we will all be safe.

Obviously the making of the movie happened long before all this played out, but be warned of a slew of spy movies popping up in the not too distant future. Those telling stories are already encouraged by the popularity of series such as Slow Horses and Day of the Jackal, both brilliantly made.

Casting plays a huge role, with Gary Oldman and Eddie Redmayne the stars in those two shows and here Soderbergh has gone for star power  –  Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett. Strengthening his case even more, they’re playing husband and wife.

And upping the ante, the one is investigating the serious offense of leaking sensitive information to the enemy. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

The scene is immediately set with a dinner party to which all the possible suspects are invited and we find them seated around the dinner table. Naturally, it takes a while to discover who is who but that’s the fun part of a spy movie. The story shouldn’t be so oblique that you never get to unravel it, but it also shouldn’t be too obvious so that you get to the solution long before it is revealed in the movie.

That certainly isn’t the case here. George (Fassbender), however, is facing a dilemma. What if his wife Kathryn (Blanchett) is the culprit? And that is where the tension and the intrigue lie.

It’s all about style and luckily enough substance as these two actors play the game with great skill. Fassbender is the perfect spy with his inscrutable expression and formal manner while Blanchett, very fetching with long brunette hair, is much more vibrant and the one that you suspect could get in trouble because of her exuberant nature.

These might sound flimsy, but this couple have no problem playing their different roles and keeping you guessing. Is the story important? Not so much, which is fortunate because it could take you some time to get it worked out.

But that’s probably the point. If that’s what you like from your movies, this is it. You won’t get a better combination than Soderbergh and his pick of actors, which include an ageing Pierce Brosnan as their boss with Naomi Harris, Marisa Abela (recently seen in Industry) and Tom Burke completing the strong line-up.

It’s fast, extremely easy on the eye and yet the tension takes hold right from the start because the stakes are high. All the ingredients of the spy thriller are there, perhaps too perfectly to give it a strong beating heart.

Both the television series mentioned above focus more on the characters. With Oldman as the odd ball Jackson Lamb you’re immediately hooked and, with  the tension created by the high stakes with Redmayne as the assassin, you’re also pulled in. With a movie, it relies more on the story because of the time constraints. This one falters because it has less time to embroider, but it is a much faster ride and more exhilarating as the denouement is the ultimate goal. Need a few hours of escape? This will do it!

TWO OSCAR-WORTHY MOVIES WITH GREAT PERFORMANCES AND PRODUCTION CHOICES

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TWO new films, currently on circuit at Ster Kinekor theatres, deserve all the accolades for performance and production whatever the outcome of the award show still revered as the one everyone wishes for. DIANE DE BEER reviews:

Picures: Pablo Larrain

MARIA

Director: Pablo Larrain

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Haluk Bilginer (Onassis), Alba Rohrwacher (the housekeeper), Pierfrancesco Favino (valet)

If you’re an opera fan, this one should be hard to resist.

Arguably, the success of the film rests on Angelina Jolie’s shoulders. And she delivers magnificently.

I’m old enough to remember when Maria Callas and her public love/hate relationship with Ari Onassis dominated the gossip columns. When he married Jackie Kennedy, the snub to his former lover could be felt worldwide – even without the presence of social media.

Many women have been scorned but not as publicly as she. And this is where Jolie pays homage to the remarkable superstar whose health and voice are starting to fail. She hasn’t been on stage for more than four years, but in her head, that’s where lives.

It’s where she comes alive and that is where the film gloriously captures the great Callas presence and voice.

Even though the two women aren’t lookalikes, the subtlety of Jolie’s transformation, the way she holds herself and moves and when she “sings” all vividly embody the spirit of the damaged diva – both physical and mental.

The casting is inspirational and the way the director has imaginatively captured the elegance and dignity of Callas combines to tell a story with great heart and empathy. Told as if from another era, which indeed it was, it is the tragedy and tribulations of Maria’s life that are delicately rendered so that it feels as though a real woman emerges.

And the film cleverly tells the story from Maria’s point of view. She wasn’t someone who relished sharing her secrets, but with Onassis and the women he courted, she didn’t have to. The world was fascinated.

The title doesn’t need more than just a name – Maria. Perhaps youngsters know less of her, but the older generation will know enough to care about this woman who seemed to have it all – but not the love of her life. And that was everything to her.

It’s obvious that she was the right choice for the Greek shipping magnate, but perhaps she too easily outshone him with her talent and artistic temperament. Jackie, a persona in her own right, but more as a symbol of a nation than an artist, to his mind, would allow him to shine brighter.

It was the mismatch of the century with the shy American first lady not a match for the rough-edged Ari, and he, no competition for the memory of the suave Jack Kennedy.

The one who suffered was Maria, who reflects on her life while trying to relive the glory of her younger voice.

It is indeed a Greek tragedy, but, fortunately, because of all the ingredients so smartly complementing  each other, it is beautifully told, with Jolie’s performance and the Callas voice stealing the show.

Oscar nominations: Cinematography; and I would have included the director and Angeline Jolie in the nominations

Pictures: courtesy A24

THE BRUTALIST

Director: Brady Corbet

Cast: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Raffey Cassidy, Alessandro Nivola

It’s probably the length of the film that has kept some from seeing this exquisite film – both in storytelling and the way it unfolds.

It is and feels epic from beginning to end. The Brutalist is a story about an architect who flees to America from a devastating postwar Europe. He hopes to invigorate his life, his career and finally reunite with his wife and niece whom he leaves behind until he has established himself.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. In today’s climate, it is the struggling life of the immigrant that grabs hold most viciously as a visionary artist is forced to grovel his way to simply survive.

Power and its frightening effects are not something that’s just of our times. Even though he is soon spotted by a wealthy industrialist, Harrison lee Van Buuren (a name that carries weight in society), he is completely at the mercy of the powerful and their needs.

Nothing is secure, even when you’re designing for the best. They can tear you apart in seconds, make you bend the knee while praising your abilities and constantly hold you in their grip – even when celebrating your masterpiece.

Brody won his first Oscar as Best Actor in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist and has made a few other memorable films, but this performance will stay with you as he perfectly captures the angst, anxiety and reserved jubilation as he tries to battle his way through in this strangely cruel new world.

He quickly realises he is in a fight for his family’s life. First, he needs to get them there and then he has to make it work at all costs. “They don’t want us here,” he says to his wife, in a delicately balanced performance by Felicity Jones.

The battered architect knows and understands the cost, doesn’t lose his confidence in his own ability and yet, he is kept dangling, always on the edge while surviving on the whims of others. It’s the animal kingdom and only the fiercest fighters survive.

The title might point to a specific architectural style and one that the brave László Toth (with a name that could only come from somewhere else) brilliantly creates, but it is you who will feel battered and brutalised by the end of this majestic film as you witness the treatment of others that the privileged believe they’re entitled to.

It certainly is the scourge of our time and one that director/writer has firmly in his grasp.

Oscar Nominations: Adrien Brody as Best Actor, Felicity Jones as Best Supporting Actress, Guy Pearce as Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Picture, Best Production Design, Best Original Screenplay

TWO MARVELOUS MOVIES, CONCLAVE AND A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, AHEAD IN AWARDS RACE

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FILM REVIEWS BY DIANE DE BEER

With streaming becoming such a comfortable option, I haven’t been to the movies for a while, but pre-Oscar Awards is always a good time to catch up on as many of the nominated films as possible It always turns the event into something more substantial because you actually know more about the possible winners. I chose these two films – Conclave and A Complete Unknown (Ster Kinekor)and my selections were both extraordinary – both with chances of quite a few Oscars each:

CONCLAVE

DIRECTOR: Edward Berger

CAST: Ralph Fiennes, Stanley TuccI, Carlos Diehz, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, Sergio Castellitto

How can one not be pulled into this story with such a fantastic cast? And then the secrecy about everything that surrounds the Vatican inside and out?

Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes) leads one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events as the dean who is in charge of the selection of the new Pope.

If you’re not Roman Catholic, it is a religion that comes your way mostly through scandal, the misbehaviour of priests around the world, the lack of action by the church itself when its representatives transgress and the films and books that feature these kinds of missteps, Spotlight being the most recent one that springs to mind.

Perhaps because of the look of the members of the priesthood as so magnificently showcased in this film (already enough reason to see the spectacle), yet because of the visuals as well as the secrecy, I kept thinking of the recent television seasons of The Handmaid’s Tale.

In today’s communication-rich world, any secrecy is immediately viewed with suspicion and becomes rife with rumours and stories emerging. And for those on the outside, how to distinguish between rumour and fact with this particular faith and its powerful leaders is often what draws us to whatever it is that drives the church.

With Conclave. to glimpse the inner workings of one of the most powerful institutions in the world is quite extraordinary. Add this particular cast and the weight of the storytelling is heightened and the final product doesn’t disappoint and leaves you gasping.

The eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor for Ralph Fiennes, Best Writing, Best Production Design, Best Music (original score), Best Costume Design, Best Actress in supporting role (Isabella Rossellini), and Best Editing are all deserved.

It certainly lived up to all that. It has a rich story and is beautifully directed but what really kept me enthralled was the cast and their particular storytelling. If I really had to give only one acknowledgement it would be to the actors.

It was their ensemble performance that kept the intrigue going with especially strong performances by Fiennes (who is the true centre of the movie), Tucci, Diehz, Lithgow, and Rossellini.

As the puzzle unfolds, sometimes painfully slowly yet deliberately, you have to keep your wits about you because you will be kept in suspense right until the end. Again because it is the unfolding that holds the key, I was glad not to have read the book before seeing the movie.

The less you know, the more it will add to the thrill of the viewing. It is a novel story which holds all the intrigue one would expect from such a rich presentation which is all an extremely clever balancing act. Once in a while, I wasn’t too sure whether it was delivering on the expectations surrounding the film.

But pull it all together, and it ticks all the boxes. The best is that you have no idea where it is going or what to expect. And finally, it delivers magnificently in a way that is as relevant in today’s circus as it is unexpected.

It’s one that lies there for quite a while and the more you delve, the better it gets.

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN

DIRECTOR: James Mangold

CAST: Timothée Chalamet, Monica Barbaro, Edward Norton,  Elle Fanning

I was truly surprised by how much I loved this movie. Of course I know Dylan’s music, but there are as many songs I didn’t recognise.

And while I thought I knew a lot about him, there’s as much that I didn’t know. One has to keep in mind that this isn’t a documentary, it captures a piece, mostly the early part when he first appears on the scene, of his life.

I was even caught unawares by the fact that he turned up at festivals on a racy motorbike. If the women weren’t so mesmerised by die budding artist they would have known that the music was everything in his life. Did he love them? Of course. But he was a performer and everything in his life revolved around that.

It was understood, if unspoken, that the women could be part of all this – but no demands. He wasn’t unfeeling, just unaware and completely wrapped up in his own creative world. That’s where his mind and all his attention was focussed.

It begins with Chalamet’s performance. He captures the essence and then just goes with it. He is not trying too hard to fake being Dylan. He has something, resembles the wiry, wild-haired singer and has enough of a voice to do the nasal drawl and sing the music well enough.

It centres on his performance and the reason he stole the limelight from the day he first appeared is his star presence – without paying too much attention to that stuff. He’s a lovely actor, has bags full of screen presence and pulls this one off magnificently.

It was as if Mangold with the right script and cast selected the right mood for the film and pulled it off masterfully.

To my mind, Chalamet is the James Dean of his generation. His reach is huge and his future cemented. And because Dylan, as one of the most influential artists of our time, is familiar to most of us, it must have been a challenge to capture his persona. But that he does with astonishing grace and with a strong cast and an especially brilliant performance by the always excellent Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, it’s a story that shines brightly, music that dominates and, for those of us who know some but lack the detail, a blissful few hours to catch up on working-class heroes.