American Dharma
Documentarian Errol Morris interviews former Trump advisor and generally repugnant pit-stain Steve Bannon. In The Fog of War and Known Unknowns (films Bannon cites as personal favorites), Morris walked through Robert McNamara and Donald Rumsfeldt’s personal biographies to examine the personal and structural failings of American empire. Bannon, who prefers bloviating about his favorite films and his own messiah complex, offers no such insight. Morris also frustrates, spending more time recapping the 2016 election than examining the cultural and political moments that shaped Bannon and his ideology. Viewers will likely leave American Dharma disgusted with Bannon and his movement, but with no greater understanding of how it came to be or where it will lead us. It’s an empty, aimless disappointment from a filmmaker who should know better.
American Dharma recently concluded its run at Film Forum.
1/4 Stars
Mickey and the Bear
Mickey, a high school senior in Montana, must balance her educational aspirations, her romantic interest in a handsome new classmate, and her responsibilities as caretaker for her traumatized veteran father. First-time writer/director Annabelle Attanasio deserves credit for her frank depiction of sexuality, addiction, and race, as well as her commitment to pursuing bold and disturbing narrative twists. However, her decision to cast charismatic, Hollywood-beautiful, and mid-20s-as-hell actors as rural teens undercuts her dirty realist vision. Mickey and the Bear is a solid if unexceptional take on family drama, one that promises better films in Attanasio’s future.
Mickey and the Bear recently concluded its run at Film Forum.
2.5/4 Stars
Marriage Story
In less than ten minutes, Noah Baumbach constructs a beautiful partnership, then spends the next two hours burning it down. Darkly hysterical and deeply sad, Noah Baumbach’s semi-autobiographical tale of a bicoastal divorce (literally and figuratively) sings. Instead of defaulting to a child’s perspective, Baumbach sticks to the stories of his fracturing adults, played in equally stunning performances by Adam Driver and Scarlett Johannson. Laura Dern and Alan Alda, playing a pair of dueling divorce lawyers, each receive their richest roles in years. Baumbach’s screenplay never strays too far from real human hurt in search of jokes or contrived sentiment, and a jagged, vicious fight late in the film made several in my theater cry. Divorce, in a word, sucks. But Baumbach shows the path to new life for those willing to take it.
Marriage Story is playing at the IFC Center and Cobble Hill Cinemas, and is available for streaming on Netflix.
3.5/4 Stars
