Documentary Review Gratitude Revealed

Gratitude Revealed (2022) 

Directed by Louie Schwartzberg 

Written by Documentary 

Starring Louie Schwartzberg, Norman Lear, Deepak Chopra 

Release Date November 1st, 2022 

Published October 29th, 2022 

Available via Streaming Rental apps and Amazon Prime 

Bewilderment is the holiest of holy feelings - Deepak Chopra in Gratitude Revealed 

I realize that being a person who quotes Deepak Chopra is a recognized identity that I don't have. And yet, here I am, having heard the famed thinker, Deepak Chopra say something that struck deeply with me and forced to quote it. This is a quote that crystalized for me something I have often felt but could never quite say. Confusion, for all the terror and uncertainty it may engender, is an opportunity. To be bewildered, to be lost in a moment is a chance to discover something or solve a problem. It's an opportunity to overcome something. 

I was wandering around in that thought for a while as I enjoyed director Louie Schwartzberg's wonderful documentary, Gratitude Revealed. That's where the Chopra quote comes from, this odd, beautiful, thoughtful and incredible documentary that is really like 30 some odd documentaries all in one. In Gratitude Revealed, the famed director of Fantastic Fungi trains his eye for detailed camerwork and depth of patience, on a group of individuals, creators, artists, musicians, thinkers, a man who is called a Freestyle Philosopher, and Norman Lear. 

It's a melange but a wonderfully realized melange. The mixture of people and idea ideas may seem unrelated, but they are, in fact, united in the idea of gratitude, of living a grateful life. Each in their own way has followed a path in life that they are grateful for. Whether it is a life of art, or music, or surfing or cooking, they're engaged in grateful acts each and every day they enact their passion. It's simple and inspiring and I could not get enough of it watching this documentary. 

Through this exploration of gratitude, you are invited to search your own life, your mind and find the ways in which you connect to the people on screen, the thoughts that connect you to the universe, the meaning you find is all your own and yet is universal, you are sharing this realization with millions of people, each in a different way. Every experience of life is just like that, a new opportunity to experience something. When you think of it like that, isn't life kind of great. It may seem cliche to look at each day like another opportunity, but it really is. You just have to decide what that opportunity is. 

Gratitude Revealed is what we should be teaching young children in school. Schwartzberg's curriculum is a series of experiences, a series of handshakes with different people who share a little of their experience that creates a connection through compassion. The man identified in the documentary as a Freestyle Philosopher and proves through his several soundbites to be just that, touches on something that Roger Ebert talked about years ago, how movies are machines that generate compassion. He is referring to the very documentary that he's appearing in as an example of cinema that generates compassion through the shared experience of other lives. 

Click here for my full length review of Gratitude Revealed at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review On the Air

On the Air (2022) 

Directed by Romuald Boulanger 

Written by 

Starring Mel Gibson, William Mosely, Alia Seror O'Neil

Release November 5th, 2022 

Published November 4th, 2022 

Separating the art from the artist is a concept that has been in vogue in the past several years. The question being address and opined upon is: How do we treat the art created by people accused of or guilty of doing awful things. Whether it is being accused of abuse or being convicted of a crime, what do we do with the art of terrible people. J.K Rowling is a good example. The Harry Potter creator has used social media to attack trans people and it has caused a reckoning for Potter fans who want to keep enjoying the Potter books but don't want to support Rowling's hate toward the trans community. 

Another example of this concept is actor Mel Gibson. More than a decade ago the actor known for the Lethal Weapon franchise and as the director of Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ, was caught on tape verbally abusing and threatening his then girlfriend. He was also captured by Police while drunk and is accused of having made horrific anti-Semitic remarks and making misogynistic remarks toward a female Police Officer helping to place him under arrest. How can we consume the art of Mel Gibson ethically? We can't. Simply put, if you choose to pay to see a Mel Gibson movie, you are putting money in his pocket and tacitly telling him that you excuse his behavior. 

This lengthy intro brings us to Gibson's latest movie, a low rent thriller called On the Line. The film stars Gibson as a man named Elvis, a Los Angeles radio host with a proclivity for saying things you can't legally say on the radio. Elvis 'tells it like it is,' to borrow a cliche, and his fans love him for it. Elvis's life and career is turned upside down when he's confronted by a caller to his radio show. This caller claims to have broken into Elvis' home and taken Elvis' wife and daughter as hostages. 

The unknown caller claims that Elvis is responsible for the death of a former employee of the radio station. The woman killed herself after having spent several months being berated on the air and off by Elvis as part of his edgy persona and his private Assholery. The caller wants Elvis to make things right by leaping to his death from the top of the high rise where the radio station is located. Naturally, not all is as it seems. The call is not coming from Elvis' home, it's coming from inside the radio station. Sinister stuff eh? 

I didn't forget to say spoiler alert, I just don't want you to bother seeing this movie so I told you want happened. I haven't mentioned the ending but you can probably figure it out just from my description. On the Line is not exactly trying to redefine the thriller genre. The direction and action of On the Line is dull and derivative as is Gibson's tough guy act. It borders on comic when the known bully Gibson is trying to play for our sympathies. His persona robs the movie of any sympathy it attempts to generate. Not that I wanted to see the man's family killed, I shouldn't have to say that's wrong, but I could not empathize with a character played by Mel Gibson on almost any level. 

Click here for my full length review of On the Line at Geeks.Media

Spoiler Alert: Let's Talk About the Ending of Tar

Tar (2022) 

Directed by Todd Field 

Written by Todd Field 

Starring Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Noemie Merlant, Mark Strong 

Release Date October 7th, 2022 

Published October 31st, 2022 

In Theaters Now... 

What is writer-director Todd Field trying to say in his new movie, Tar? There are a myriad of readings currently being debated online and each seems to have some merit. There is, in the end, no right answer. If we separate the art from the artist, then what Todd Field is trying to say doesn't matter as much as how we interpret what he is saying. My interpretation of Tar is a mixed bag of evocative and provocative ideas and low humor that only occasionally lands. 

Tar stars Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tar, a famed conductor. Lydia is about to achieve a lifelong dream, to have conducted recordings of the work of Conductor Gustav Mahler. Sitting at the head of the table at the Berlin Orchestra, Lydia believes that conducting Mahler's 5th Symphony will cement a legacy built over a life time crawl to the top in merciless pursuit of the comforts and adoration of fame. Lydia Tar has cut metaphorical throats to get where she is and yet she doesn't realize how tenuous her grasp on power truly is. 

In this article I am going to wander around within several ideas and presentations in Tar that struck me after watching it. I will be employing spoilers and since I am recommending that you see Tar, if you haven't seen it yet, I urge you to jump off and come back after you see it. Tar is not so much a movie that can be 'spoiled' in the traditional sense but I do believe the experience of Tar is one better served by not knowing where the story is going. 

Lydia Tar is a conductor of an orchestra, specifically, the prestigious Berlin Philharmonic. The role of Conductor is an interesting one, rich with meaning and teeming with questions. What exactly is the function of a conductor? Why is a conductor necessary? Why do conductors get so much credit for directing the performance of people doing the actual, physical work of the orchestra? Tar is not direct about answering these questions though they are explored a little when we see Lydia in her work environment. 

The conductor of an orchestra brings order to chaos. It's a fantasy of power with a group of exceptionally talented people at the top of their field all at the mercy and direction of a wand wielding egotist. The musician may have the talent to make transcendent music from their instrument but no matter their talent, they are at the mercy and whim of someone not playing an instrument. Naturally, Lydia Tarr conducts her life as she conducts her orchestra, furiously exerting control, rigidly demanding conformity to her will. This, of course, is her downfall. 

The things that Lydia Tarr cannot control or conduct to her will, she ignores. Out of sight, out of mind is the substance of her worldview, especially when it comes to the discordant troubles in her life. One such trouble is a former student with whom Lydia may or may not have had an affair with. Lydia abruptly cut ties with the student and in doing so, harmed the woman's career and education. The former student is spiraling into depression according to glimpses of emails to Lydia's assistant, played by Noemie Merlant. 

Lydia cannot control this situation so she ignores it until a tragedy occurs. Even then, Lydia is unrepentant, and continues to avoid the problem, a privilege often conferred upon the powerful, the ability to turn their back on their problems via their privilege. A theme presented throughout Tar is Lydia's growing sensitivity to noise. The clicking pen of her orchestra colleague, a metronome left ticking in a cupboard, and other such seemingly insignificant noises become a torture to Lydia's psyche. 

Click here for my full length article at Geeks.Media