Movie Review: 1985

1985 (2018) 

Directed by Yen Tan

Written by Yen Tan 

Starring Cory Michael Smith, Virginia Madsen, Michael Chiklis, 

Release Date March 19th, 2018 

Published August 12th, 2018 

Director Yen Tan’s 1985 left me an emotional mess. This incredibly moving drama about a gay man returning home for the holidays to his conservative, religious, Texas family hit me right me in heart with its brave storytelling and artful construction. Filmed in 16 millimeter black and white, the film gives you a feeling of a memory being recalled with great detail, directly from the year 1985. 

1985 stars Corey Michael Smith, best known for his role on TV’s Gotham, as Adrian. Adrian moved away from his Texas home three years ago to live in New York City and, for the first time, to live openly as a gay man. Having never come out to his parents, expertly portrayed by Virginia Madsen and Michael Chiklis, Adrian decides immediately to keep himself in the closet while back home so as not to upset his family dynamic. 

Adrian’s sexuality however, is not the only secret he’s decided to keep from his family. Verbal and visual cues will slowly reveal as the film goes on that Adrian has been losing weight, he’s been getting ill frequently and in a beautifully telling moment, his beloved dog clings to his side as if to protect and comfort him. It’s not hard to suss out what Adrian’s secret is though the film does gently allow the secret to be unfolded throughout the story. 

1985 was directed by Yen Tan, a filmmaker who I am unfortunately not familiar with though this is his fourth feature film according to Wikipedia. In notes that accompanied the movie when I saw it, Tan discussed how working with AIDS patients years ago inspired him to want to tell the story of a closeted gay man and the sadness, frustration, and heartache that comes from keeping secrets so essential to who you are. 

There is a next level of sadness at play here that I am reluctant to go into. I was lucky to watch the film without having read other reviews on Wikipedia or IMDB, places that give away the secret Adrian is hiding. Again, it’s not a twist or even a major reveal, it’s an organic, growing part of the story. I just really loved watching it unfold even as the brilliant visual and vocal clues in the movie give the game away with intent. 

It’s a wonderful piece of filmmaking and it’s not intended to fool you or gut punch you, it makes sense to the plot why Adrian is hiding something and the journey toward him actually saying what is happening out loud is powerful. Actor Corey Michael Smith does an incredible job of making Adrian genial and awkward and delicately pragmatic. The secret of his sexuality isn’t really much of a secret, as we come to find out, but the way in which the film gently layers this into the characters and the story is remarkable and emotional. 

I haven’t even mentioned one of my favorite parts of 1985. Actress Jamie Chung plays Carly, Adrian’s ex-girlfriend whom he broke up with three years earlier when he left for New York. Now an aspiring stand up comic,  Carly has no idea that Adrian is gay and when the two reconnect there is some awkward and brilliantly relatable truth to their interaction. Carly may seem like an extraneous character in some ways but her presence underlines dramatic moments from Adrian’s backstory that pay off with strong emotional impact. 

1985 will be on my list of the best movies of the year. Few films have touched me as deeply as this movie has. It’s not an easy movie, it’s not a movie for an audience that doesn’t want to be challenged and it is not a movie that rewards you with easy answers. This is a deeply emotional and beautifully rendered film that, if you allow it to, will break your heart in ways that will make it stronger and more empathetic going forward. That, to me, is a better feeling than any 10 blockbusters can provide. 

What a year for Black and White movies huh? Roma dazzled us with its arrival on Netflix last week with it’s crisp, clean, black and white sleekness. And here, in 1985, we get a black and white movie that uses this type of film to give age to the story, to evoke the time it is set within and to give the film a dreamlike or memory-like feeling. The grainy, slightly dark, look of 1985 gives the film the feeling of a story being recalled from memory, a little hazy, a little fuzzy, yet recalled with detail and deep emotion, as if we were in the mind of someone recalling this story and feeling what they felt at the time. 

Movie Review: A Shot at Glory

A Shot at Glory (2002) 

Directed by Michael Corrente 

Written by Denis O'Neill 

Starring Robert Duvall, Ally McCoist, Brian Cox, Kristy Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Michael Keaton 

Release Date May 3rd, 2002 

Published August 5th, 2002

Robert Duvall may be the most under-appreciated actor in the business. Despite his awesome resume, Duvall is not offered the roles that go to the actors of his age and class such as Deniro, Eastwood, Pacino and the like. The reason is likely his lack of leading man looks, but what he doesn't have in looks he makes up for with pure acting chops.

Easily one of the best actors going today Duvall still has a hard time getting a movie greenlighted, struggling with the film The Apostle for nearly 20 years. The soccer movie A Shot At Glory is another of Duvall's passion features, co-written and financed by Duvall himself. Though the film isn't as good as The Apostle the film once again showcases Duvall's amazing talent.

A Shot At Glory tells the story of a tiny Scottish soccer team trying to compete with the big boys. Duvall is the teams coach Gordon McLeod, a former player with the major league team The Rangers whom he now feuds with over incidents not fully explained. Michael Keaton is the owner of Duvall's team, Peter Cameron, a brash American who wants to move the tiny team to the bigtime by taking the team and it's players from it's home in Kilknockie, Scotland to Dublin, Ireland. Cameron thinks he can make the team more marketable to the Irish investors by acquiring past-his-prime soccer star Jackie McQuillan, played by real Scottish soccer legend Ally McCoist.

McQuillan is an egocentric jerk, overcoming a drinking problem, but also Gordon's son in law, though Jackie and his wife are separated. Parallel to the main story is that of Gordon's daughter, British stunner Kirsty Mitchell as Kate McQuillan. Gordon doesn't speak to his daughter since she married Jackie. It has little to do with Jackie's being a jerk, though, it is because Gordon is Protestant and Jackie is Catholic and the marriage took place outside of either church. The rivalry of Protestants and Catholics is vicious at times, even resulting in violent feuds that often spill over onto the soccer field.

Cole Hauser rounds out the cast as a rookie American goalie who is pressed into duty as the team surprisingly advances through Scotland's biggest soccer tournament.

No doubt about it A Shot At Glory is a sports movie bound by that genre’s many clichés. The aforementioned Hauser only plays after the starting goalie is injured and, wouldn't you know it, the rookie is forced to play in the two biggest games of the season. As for Gordon, what a shock when he is forced to play his former team, The Rangers, in the big game and face his hated rival Martin Smith (Brian Cox).

Though the film is steeped in sports movie clichés, the soccer scenes are well presented thanks to cinematographer Alex Thomson who makes his living as a soccer cameraman. Thomson knows how to film the action and given the tools of a handheld cameras and super 16 film, Thomson gives the film a realistically gritty look.

Duvall is excellent, his mere presence elevates even the film’s most leaden moments to passably interesting. Saddled with a difficult Scottish accent and some very dull and obvious dialogue, Duvall still manages to be entertaining and engaging. The real surprise though is Scottish soccer star Ally McCoist who really holds his own against Duvall and comes off very natural.

A Shot At Glory almost never got made. Duvall had set the film up with a Hollywood studio with Russell Crowe attached to play the soccer star. Crowe however pulled out at the last minute and Duvall was forced to make the film independently. Nevertheless, Duvall has crafted an above average sport movie that rises above genre convention to be an entertaining little movie.

Movie Review: Abominable

Abominable (2019) 

Directed by Jill Culton 

Written by Jill Culton 

Starring Chloe Bennett, Albert Tsai, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson, Tsai Chin 

Release Date September 27th, 2019 

Published September 27th, 2019

“For me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy” Roger Ebert 

There is a moment in my experience of the movie Abominable that reminded me of that Roger Ebert quote and why Roger was always the best of us, always so prescient. Our young protagonist in Abominable has a violin that means the world to her, a gift from her late father and it appears to be broken and lost forever. 

Behind me, in the dark of the theater, a little girl, who couldn't have been older than 5 or 6, says to her mom, ‘oh no her guitar,’ with genuine concern and empathy. The poignancy of this moment cannot be understated. Abominable inspires feelings like that and while it may not be perfect, if it inspires one child toward that kind of genuine empathy, it’s worth more than all of the greatest movies ever made. 

Abominable features the voice of Chloe Bennett as Yi, an industrious teenager who, since the death of her father, has barely stopped working long enough to grieve his loss. Her absence from her mother (Michelle Wong) and her Nai Nai (Tsai Chai) is deeply felt but mom fears interfering in her daughters coping mechanism, even if it means not being able to offer the comfort she desperately wishes to give. 

Yi’s multiple side hacks, including dog walking, babysitting, and emptying fish guts in the trash of a restaurant, are her way of avoidance and her way of raising money for a trip she and her father had planned and she’s determined to take. But all of that will have to wait when Yi finds a yeti on the roof of her apartment building. Yes, a yeti, a big, white furball of a yeti with more than a touch of magic and wonder to him. 

The yeti, which Yi nicknames Everest, after his home summit, has escaped from the laboratory of a big game hunter named Burnish (Eddie Izzard). Burnish encountered a Yeti as a young man when he climbed Mt Everest and he intends to prove to the world the yeti exists. With the help of his Zoologist sidekick, Dr Zara (Sarah Paulsen) and his bumbling team of security Burnish will do anything to bring Everest back to his lab to exploited. 

Helping Yi and Everest on their journey, as Yi has decided to return Everest to his home, are Jin (Tenzing Norgay Trainor) and Jin’s young cousin, Peng (Albert Tsai). Jin had no intention of helping but when Peng ran off to join Yi and Everest on a departing ship, he leapt after him to protect him. Jin also provides a lucky cover story for the trio as well as he had a trip to Beijing planned for his college visits and he claims Yi and Peng are accompanying him. 

That’s all I will tell you about the plot of Abominable, an unfortunate title for this delightful movie. Truly, THIS movie deserves to be called Everest and it is a shame that the awful mountain climbing movie from earlier this young century claimed that title first. The two films are remarkably different in story but also in quality as Abominable is a wonderful adventure and Everest is a paean to the courage of people dying for no reason other than their ego. 

Stepping off my soapbox, Abominable was written and directed by Jill Culton who has greatly improved her work since the slight and forgettable animated animal flick, Open Season, in 2006. Abominable has the heartfelt care and craft of a Pixar movie without the lowbrow pandering of most non-Pixar animated fair. The animation is lovely, even as the character design choices are a little odd. Not so odd as to be notably bad, just a few unusual choices. That’s just critical nitpicking. 

The eagle eyed among you readers were likely struck by a name in the credits of Abominable, that of Tenzing Norgay Trainor. That’s not merely an homage to the man who joined Sir Edmund Hillary as the first men on the top of Mt Everest, Tenzing Norgay. Tenzing Norgay Trainor is the grandson of Tenzing Norgay making Abominable an apt tribute to his grandfather’s legacy. Trainor was an inspired choice for the role of Jin not just because of his heritage, but also because he’s a star on the Disney Channel and has a naturally expressive voice. 

The most important thing about Abominable is that the story is full of heart. It’s the kind of movie that overwhelms you with a big, lovable heart. These are wonderful characters inside a terrific story filled with adventure and laughs and a few well earned tears. Watching Abominable in a theater full of children and watching even the most attention span challenged child slowly become mesmerized by the sights and sounds is an utter delight. 

The experience of Abominable was nearly enough for me to recommend it. That Abominable is a genuinely wonderful movie, is icing on the cake.