Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!
Connie has been reviewing film uninterruptedly since 1970 (47 years) and routinely covers the Chicago International Film Festival (14 years), SXSW, the Austin Film Festival, and others, sharing detailed looks in advance at upcoming entertainment. She has taught a class on film and is the author of the book “Training the Teacher As A Champion; From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now, published by the Merry Blacksmith Press of Rhode Island.
Dave Freeman in ‘Dave Nation” Episode #894 as portrayed by Jesse Einstein.
HollyShorts 2025 has many shorts in competition this past three days (most of which I spent on the road to Texas). Last year, the count was 427. The short that caught my eye was “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are,” a 23 minute, 26 second offering from J.M. Logan that starred Jesse Einstein as Dave Freeman.
Jesse films himself for a feed called “Dave Nation” (GoPro?), and the Episode of Dave Nation we open on is #894. He explains that his father took him camping in his youth to a lovely forested area at the top of a mountain Dad referred to as Magic Mountain. Now that his father has been dead three years, Dave wants to take his father’s ashes to the top of Magic Mountain and scatter them there. (It’s a scene reminiscent of a similar undertaking in “The Big Lebowski.”)
Things do not go exactly as planned.
For one thing, even when he was young, Dave wasn’t keen on hiking and camping. “I was 12 years old. The last thing I wanted to do was to be alone with m dad in the woods.”
Dave Freeman (Jesse Einstein) of “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are.”
But Dave sets off, despite the information that the next day is going to require a 6 mile hike. He has many small setbacks, but the bear attack in the night leaves him saying, “I have no gear, no tent, no food, no socks, and I don’t really remember how to use a compass.”
Who knew,” he asks, “that bears ate socks?”
Things get real very fast when Dave thinks he is hopelessly lost.
I love short films like this one that are more about being “real” and less about teen-age eternal love or Grandma (that would be me) becoming friends with a youthful soccer player from Nigeria or Timbuktu. (I won’t name names, because the acting in that one was great, but the originality of the piece was not.)
This one reminded me of the award-winning 7 minute short “Retirement Plan” that Irish Director John Kelly has just posted on YouTube, which is hilarious. (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mqa4zfJdx4)
Atop Magic Mountain in “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are.”
“Retirement Plan” was the best thing I saw last spring at SXSW, with the possible exception of “The Studio.” This one reminds me of it, except that it was 3 times as long. The cinematography and sound are great and Jesse Einstein—who looks exactly like a real-life friend of mine named Jimmy Mack—did a fine job. The original score by Antoni M. March, used atop Magic Mountain, was suitable in that spot.
Apologies to the HollyShorts people for my belated and unimpressive output this year. I was driving from Illinois to Texas during most of the (short) festival run. Things did not go exactly as planned. Unexpected things happen when two fossils set out to drive 1,000 miles. They generally happen in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Then, you have to twist tie your car together and drive 6 hours in that condition, which is even worse than Dave Freeman having to hike the last 6 miles to the top of Magic Mountain. Pulling over every so often to remove pieces of your ruined vehicle and keep them from flying off and causing catastrophes for other vehicles on the road: one tactic. Telling your spouse “act invisible” when GPS tells you there is a speed trap ahead: another less useful tactic.
Is “On the Internet Nobody Knows Who You Are” any good?
The Jeremys have triumphed in “Deliver Me from Nowhere,” even if the movie isn’t burning up the charts. (So much for “I’m on Fire” and the frequent script references to burning the house down.) This October was the worst October for theaters in 30 years. When “Deliver Me from Nowhere” begins streaming it should do well. Not really fair to compare the 2024 Bob Dylan bio-pic “A Complete Unknown” (or 2019’s”Rocketman” or 2018’s”Bohemian Rhapsody”) to this one. Consumers worrying about their next paycheck during a historic government shutdown are hunkered down waiting for the movie to hit their home TV sets. MAGA faithful may be avoiding it out of deluded DJT allegiance. Who really knows?
Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”) wrote and directed, based on the book by Warren Zanes. Unlike other biographical films about rock stars, this one focuses on a specific time period, Springsteen’s work on the 1982 album “Nebraska,” which he recorded in his bedroom on a Pioneer recording machine 43 years ago. It was a particularly dicey time in The Boss’ ascent to stardom. He was 33 years old and just establishing himself as a worldwide star, having earned stardom at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, his home base. He would break out with “Born in the USA” shortly after the “Nebraska” album.
White, who plays the younger Boss with convincing head-tossing sweaty fervor, is 34. The casting throughout the film is great. Kudos to casting director Francine Maisler.
CAST
Jeremy Allen White.
In addition to Jeremy Allen White as The Boss and Jeremy Strong as manager Jon Landau, there are strong supporting performances from Paul Walter Hauser (“Richard Jewell”) as Mike Batlan, and Stephen Graham (“Adolescence”) as Douglas Springsteen, Bruce’s emotionally distant father. Odessa Young portrays romantic interest Faye Romano.
It’s interesting to see Gaby Hoffmann playing Bruce’s mother Adele, since she was the 7-year-old Karin Kinsella in “Field of Dreams.” Marc Maron is Chuck Plotkin, recording engineer. Jimmy Iovine plays Jimmy Iovine (no stretch there). Meryl Streep’s daughter Grace Gummer has a small role as Barbara Landau. There is also a good performance from Matthew Anthony Pellicano, as young Bruce, photographed in black-and-white inserts that take us back to the days when 8-year-old Bruce was coping with a father who was probably paranoid schizophrenic, bi-polar and alcoholic.
Because of the focus on one specific album, we don’t get to see Bruce coping with the rise and fall of his first marriage to model/actress Julianne Phillips (married 1985; divorced in 1989). When they divorced, Bruce placed the blame on himself, suggesting they were basically incompatible because they did not really know one another that well to begin with and were not close in age. He had issues with commitment, as we see in the film, and neuroses from his relationship with his father, which is highlighted in “Deliver Me from Nowhere.”
Springsteen was also falling for bandmate Patty Scialfa, to whom he has been married since 1991. Patty Scialfa’s former art teacher at Asbury Park High, Curtis K. Smith said, “Patti’s been in love with Bruce for as long as I can remember.” So, a lesson in how it’s a good idea to really know the person you select as a life partner and probably a good idea if you have common interests. As for the close in age thing, make your own call, but there was an 11-year difference in age for the couple.
THE JEREMYs
The Jeremys in question are Jeremy Allen White, portraying Bruce Springsteen, and Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) as Jon Landau, his long-suffering manager and sometimes quasi-therapist. There is also Jeremiah Fraites, the composer for the film. I could easily see a Best Supporting nod for Strong’s calm, always-under-control portrait of a manager who realizes “I’m out of my depth on this one” and suggests therapy for the troubled rock icon.
GENESIS
The film is based on the book by Warren Zanes and has, so far, recouped about half of its $55 million budget in worldwide sales. “Deliver Me from Nowhere” started playing (in theaters only) on October 24th. The buzz regarding an Oscar nomination for Jeremy Allen White, star of “The Bear” and former cast member on “Shameless” began, based on his numerous awards including 3 consecutive Golden Globe Awards, 3 SAG awards, 2 Critics’ Choice awards and 2 Primetime Emmys. His 134 episodes as Lip Gallagher on television’s “Shameless” catapulted him to the brink of stardom. This lead performance has enough oomph to potentially earn him an Oscar nomination. The 2-hour film can drag a bit unless you’re a die-hard Springsteen fan. (*Of course, I panned “The Bear” back in the day, so judge his performance for yourself.)
3 KEY SCENES
There are 3 memorable scenes that White nails in “Deliver Me from Nowhere.” They are the kind of showcase moments that you can imagine being thrown up on the big screen at the Oscars. The three make-it-or-break-it scenes are White’s re-enactment of the recording of “Born to Run” in the studio, his breakdown scene in his therapist’s office, and the finale with his father(when his dad suggests that the 32-year-old now-famous singer sit on his lap).
Other than those scenes, we have the star posing, captured for the camera by cinematographer Masanobu Takanagi. Bruce on a deck, Bruce by the water, Bruce in close-up, Bruce on a carousel, Bruce setting up his primitive Pioneer 4-track recorder with Paul Walter Hauser’s help, Bruce with his on-again/off-again girlfriend of the moment. Jeremy White is a major star in the making. No wonder Calvin Klein is using him in underwear ads. [The Calvin Klein Men’s Underwear Spring 2024 advertisement generated $12.7 million in media impact value in less than 48 hours.]
Those three scenes ought to do it. Not sure if the rest of the film (sound?) will garner more Oscar accolades.
CAREER
It appears that the young Jeremy Allen White, like Springsteen himself, has everything it takes to mesmerize audiences. He’s been proving it since 2006, when he had his first role at the age of 15. Now 34, it’s hard to believe that this is his first feature film lead. (He had a smaller role in “The Iron Claw” as Kerry Von Erich in 2023). White even admitted to a period after “Shameless” ended after 11 years when he had a similar crisis of confidence.
NOTABLE SCRIPTED LINES
Cooper, who is closely associated with veteran actor/producer Robert Duvall and got married on Duvall’s ranch, has scripted some good lines for the then-troubled star-to-be. Here are a few:
(From a car salesman): “I do know who you are,”
JAW: “Well, that makes one of us.”
JAS: “It’s a hard thing, realizing people aren’t what you want them to be.”
JAW: “I’m trying to find some real in all the noise.”
JAW: “When I’m deep in my work, I’m just not much use for anything else.”
JAS: “He’s channeling something deeply personal and dark.”
Odessa Young as Faye Romano: “Sometimes you miss the things that are right in front of you.”
JAS: “Success is complicated for Bruce. He feels guilty leaving behind the world he knows.”
Odessa Young: “You’re running away from everything you’re afraid of. What about actually dealing with your shit…Face yourself.”
JAS: “Where you came from is gone In yourself, right now, is the only place you got.”
JAW: “I just want my life to make sense again…I’m slipping away.’ (therapist scene)
Finale scene: “I’m finding my way.” To his father, “You had your own battles to fight.”
CONCLUSION
The performances are uniformly strong. The fact that Jeremy Allen White taught himself to play guitar and harmonica and sings his own songs is remarkable. He certainly has the toss-of-the-head down. The film deals sensitively with his romance with the young mother of a small daughter.
I couldn’t help but remember his first short-lived marriage and think about how a true tell-all could have utilized that long-ago romance (Phillips is now 65 and Springsteen is 76.) Not fair to say that Springsteen just wasn’t that interesting. Not his fault we are in free-fall as a country and perhaps focused more on losing our jobs, or not having enough TSA agents to fly safely (Nashville had only 4 of 16 yesterday. 80% are out in NYC.), or not having enough food.
I’ve read that The Rock’s film was also pulverized and nothing out right now in the theaters this past weekend really did well. I was in the theater from 3:30 until 7:00 p.m.. The place was deserted. That, my friends, is because some of you didn’t pay enough attention last presidential election. Now, we are all paying the price, even at our local Cineplex.
While I can play “Born in the USA” and remember the good old days, getting back to a reasonable facsimile of the good old days is proving to be much more difficult.
The closing night film of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival was an homage to films of the 80s and 90s, romantic comedies like “Notting Hill,” written by Patrick Cunnane (his first feature screenplay) and Director David Freyne (“Dating Amber,” 2020). During the Q&A onstage following the showing on October 26th, Trevor White, a producer who works with his brother, Tim, talked about the film that the audience had just enjoyed.
PLOT
“In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan (Elizabeth Olsen)is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life (65 years) with (Miles Teller, “Whiplash,” 2024, “The Gorge,” 2025) and her first love Luke (Callum Turner, “The Boys in the Boat,” 2023; “Masters of the Air,” 2024) who died young and has waited 67 years for her to arrive. [It reminded me of the Albert Brooks/Meryl Streep vehicle “Defending Your Life” (1991).]
Guided by an After Life Coordinator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Oscar winner for “The Holdovers”), they have just one week to confront the ultimate dilemma: where and with whom to spend eternity.” Da’Vine and fellow ALC afterlife coordinator Ryan (John Early) are hilarious in their roles and add much to the film. So does a neighbor of Joan and Larry’s, Karen (Olga Merediz). These supporting cast members get high marks for humor.
GENESIS
Director David Freyne of “Eternity.”
Screenwriter Patrick Cunnane, who is the son of Congresswoman Madeline Dean, met Producer Trevor White (and Tim, his brother and production partner) at the White House where Cunnane was then working as a member of the White House speechwriting staff (the East Wing was intact then. Yay!). This fortuitous meeting propelled “Eternity” forward. The addition of Director David Freyne (co-credited as writer) was also serendipity. Cunnane said, “When David came on, everything went to the next level. David had a clear vision of the afterlife…It could have looked 110 different ways…I couldn’t be more thrilled with the way this turned out. It is better than I imagined it in my head.” (This is not what many screenwriters say, so give this production a Gold Star for being a happy set. It was also better than I imagined it would be, which is a recommendation for audiences to check it out.)
IMAGINING THE AFTER-LIFE
This was Freyne’s third movie and his third with Elizabeth Olsen. A corkboard outside his office led to creative suggestions for how the afterlife might appear. Since the idea was to blend romance with comedy, emulating the rom-coms of old (“That was the North Star for this movie”), some of the ideas added to the corkboard during production caused the duo to admit to the audience’s amusement, “Some were very funny and probably not appropriate for PG13.” The screenplay was on Hollywood’s Black List of the Best Unproduced Films since 2022, so its potential was recognized.
CREW
That potential was turned into reality by the expert work of Production Designer Zazu Myers (“My Old Ass,” 2024) and Cinematographer Ruairi O’Brien (“Dating Amber,” 2020; “Sea Fever,” 2019). The composer was David Fleming (“Superman,” 2025; “The Last of Us,” 2023) and the Costume Designer was Angus Strathie. (Edith Head he was not; the red-and-white checked outfits for Joan’s character and the gold-striped shirt worn by Miles Teller in the same scene did not enhance the constant remarks about how attractive the lovely Elizabeth Olsen looked, from each of her husbands. For that matter, how many of us would vote for Miles Teller as the more attractive husband of the two? But I’ll leave that plot point open to viewers, while admitting that, in terms of attractiveness–which is emphasized in the script—they could have flipped the parts, for me, but might have lost Teller’s flip finesse with humorous lines, his forte.)
SCREENPLAY
Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, and Callum Turner in “Eternity,” the closing night picture for the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
“Eternity” goes from Chicago to Austin’s Film Festival next, where it will be a Spotlight film. Austin is known as a screenwriter’s festival and the screenplay is very good. I particularly enjoyed the digs at the Korean War (not one ofthe “cool” ones) and lines like, “We can go to space for eternity, for all I care as long as Luke (husband #1) is not floating around,” from Larry (Husband #2).
HEAVEN?
The various iterations of the afterlife are presented like a giant convention, with scads of brochures about spending your after-life in 1930s Germany, but with 100% fewer Nazis; Parisland 55 (where they speak English, but with a French accent); or Infantilization World. There’s even a run on eternities where there are no men, but it filled up fast and a second similar eternity was under construction. All of the throw-away lines/ concepts were very clever.
RELATIONSHIPS
Screenwriter Patrick Cunnane and Producer Trevor White of “Eternity” at the Q&A, closing night of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
The opening scenes of “old” Larry and “old” Joan driving to a gender reveal party were charming and realistic. Betty Buckley, now 78 years young, played Dr. Karen Fletcher in 2016’s “Split.” I’ve missed her. Barry Primus (2013’s “Grudge Match”) portrayed old Larry. Their bickering is characteristic of marriages that have endured for decades (67 years). I can personally attest to this. The relationship question of this film is intensified when the real question is how you would choose a mate for eternity if your family were a love triangle.
CONCLUSION
The screenwriter freely admitted to stealing real-life stories from his elderly parents’ lives (the flat tire story). Cunnane shared a touching story of his mother, on-set watching the film while it was shooting, breaking down in tears when one episode unfolded.
That says it all: there are real-life lessons about family and its importance in this one, much as there were real-life lessons about important people in your life in the George Clooney vehicle “Jay Kelly.” Life without someone special can be hollow. But who will Joan choose to spend eternity with—and which of the hilarious afterlife options will win out? Check out “Eternity” in November to find out.
The iconic Music Box Theater, site of many of the films at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
In other years of the Chicago International Film Festival, a specific country or group of countries has been selected for a focus of the festival, featuring films from that country or area. I remember the Nordic countries having their day in the sun. There was also one year where the Middle East was highlighted. A film had been shot on a cell phone depicting the difficulties faced in the Middle East by Palestinians who were forced to enter Israel to find work. And I think there was a French year, as well, going back to 2007 or 2008.
This year, for me, at least, the focus was Ireland. The feature films, shorts and documentaries I’ve been viewing have been Irish.
SHORTS
Dates for HollyShorts:November 13–16, 2025, held in London at Leicester Square. Since most directors start out making shorts, I genuinely enjoy seeing new, young talent as they start out with shorts. I didn’t make it through all 427 (!) offered me reviewing the HollyShorts festival last year, but perhaps I’ll do better this November. Stay tuned and keep reading, as this festival is just around the corner (and a lot shorter). I would vote for removing a couple days from the length of this one. Towards the end, the Closing Night Film people may be getting worried that they’ll not have enough folks left in town (especially reviewers) to fete their film.
From the short “Retirement”(Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland).
The first Irish short that I absolutely loved, which showed at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, was “Retirement Plan” from Irish directors/writers John Kelly and Tara Lawell. Here is a link to the complete review, which the director later contacted me regarding, saying he felt it helped him win the shorts competition this past spring at SXSW. https://www.weeklywilson.com/retirement-the-7-minute-short-that-tells-the-truth/
DOCUMENTARY
“Celtic Utopia”
In the documentary category, “Celtic Utopia” from Directors Dennis Harvey and Lars Loven, was a joint production of Ireland and Sweden. Described as “A wry portrait of a new wave of Irish folk musicians, unafraid to confront their country’s colonial and conservative past” it reminded me of “Kneecap,” which won big at the last Sundance. “Kneecap” was about Irish rappers, and “Celtic Utopia” has Irish rappers, with names like Young Spencer (“Soul in Pain” “Straight Outta’ Belfast”). An interview subject says, “In Ireland, I think rap is on the rise.” Many groups and soloists are featured. The Gaelic language is used by most. With topics like “The Night the Murder Car of Death Drove into Dundalk Town,” it is clear that Irish youth has much to say in 2025 and “the troubles” may not be as far behind Ireland as we thought.
One musician said, “We need to learn Irish as a form of rebellion against the spread of this shitty monoculture that has nothing to offer us at all.” Another adds, ”That’s what the British did. They made us hate our own language.” Another youth says, “Change has to come from my generation…It’s unjust that we’re still living under British rule, and we’re going to fix it.” “We’re fighting over stuff from the past, over nothing.” Song lyric: “The sea—long may it stay between the British and me.”
CATHOLICISM IN IRELAND
One interesting segment in “Celtic Utopia” involved Catholicism. “You weren’t allowed to speak ill of the Catholic Church.” As an Irish family that had an unwed pregnant teenaged girl amongst the family, the statement is: “Ireland, the last bastion of the Catholic Church. Pregnant teenagers going over on the boat for an abortion. That’s what happened to women when they admitted (while on the boat) that that’s what they were doing: total rejection. ..At age 17 our family had a child taken away and never seen again. We don’t know where our sister is to this day.”
“Celtic Utopia” was a 90-minute Irish nominee for the Gold Hugo as Best Documentary at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival. The winner, announced today, was “Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk” about the Gaza bombing.
IRISH FEATURE FILMS
“The Reckoning of Erin Morrigan”
The three feature films from Ireland that I saw were “The Reckoning of Erin Morrigan” from Director Gabrielle Russell, “Spilt Milk” and “Whitetail.” As the synopsis for “The Reckoning of Erin Morrigan” read, “Tormented by the ghosts of her past, a dying former IRA operative confronts her demons in a final shot at redemption.”
The film was 90 minutes long. “The Reckoning of Erin Morrigan” felt 3 hours long. Like “Reedland,” the movie needed to step up the pace. The lead actress helps harbor another IRA murderer, a young boy who shows up at her doorstep. The entire cast is the two of them, with the legendary white-haired former IRA female enforcer having flashbacks to her murderous days and begging the young boy to put her out of her cancer-induced misery. [Made me want to go back and rewatch the 7-minute “Retirement Plan” for some much-needed levity.]
‘Spilt Milk”
“Spilt Milk,” which won the 2025 Glasgow (Scotland) Mubi Award is from Director Brian Durnin from the UK/Ireland. The plot sounded intriguing: “Inspired by his favorite TV detective Kojak, an 11-year-old boy in 1980s Dublin is drawn into the city’s underbelly as he investigates his older brother’s disappearance.” This synopsis was misleading. The lead character’s older brother doesn’t actually “disappear.” He has become addicted to drugs and the friction at home causes him to temporarily absent himself from home. The young boy and girl portraying amateur sleuths did a credible job, but it wasn’t the film I thought it would be (nor was “Reedland” when I watched that one about a Dutch girl’s body found in a farmer’s Holland field.)
“Whitetail”
The synopsis for this film from Director Nanouk Leopold read: “As poachers encroach on the wilderness she supervises, Irish park ranger Jen must reconcile past trauma with new threats in this white-knuckle thriller.
I’m not sure that “white-knuckle thriller” is the right term. It took me a while to figure out that the young couple out in the woods shooting at targets were Jen (Natasha O’Keefe) and Oscar (Aaron McCusker) as teenagers. The resemblance was not that keen, especially for young Oscar after he is grown. In the opening, the young couple are portrayed by Sean Treacy and Abby Fitz.
Natasha O’Keefe as Jen in “Whitetail.”
The first (of 3) feigned sex scenes occurs in the verdant woods and Jen mentions that she thinks her sister, Erica, has a crush on Oscar, because Erica keeps wanting to go along with them on their woods adventures. The couple are taking pot shots with a rifle and, midst the awkward coupling (Jen never seems to have sex in a bed or, really, in any comfortable room), she fires off a shot hastily. It hits her sister, who has secretly followed them. Jen is immediately shocked and vomits, which seemed logical, but the rest did not seem as normal.
At the point that Jen realizes that she has shot her sister, woudn’t you expect her to run over to her to see if she could render some sort of first aid? She doesn’t. Neither does Oscar, who, in fact, seems to sort of back out of the picture forever, even leaving home with his parents’ blessing.
I also expected there would be some sort of scene where the young lovers have to tell the adults what has happened (also missing) and perhaps a few brief funeral scenes. (MIA).
Nada. Zip. Zero.
“Whitetail”
Then, we close in on Jen in a kitchen with a white-haired guy. Is this an older husband? A father? What? It slowly (too slowly) becomes apparent that it is Jen’s father. He has not been the Rock of Gibraltar during her tough moments of remorse over the shooting of her sister. As the screenplay puts it (which Director Nanouk Leopold wrote), “It’s like she’s heavy, stuck in tar. She hasn’t moved on.”
There is some conflict between Jen and the local policeman, Liam, played by Aidan O’Hare. Liam has the hots for Jen, but she seems disinterested. Then Oscar returns to the old hometown, due to his mother’s death. Jen finds that upsetting and basically suggests that he get lost for good.
“Whitetail” (Ocar’s back in town).
They do have a momentary coming together, but the thrill is gone.
At the finale of the film, when Jen sees poachers moving about in her forest at night and sends a voice mail to Liam to tell him where she is going to intercept them most of us are thinking, “Is it really a great idea to go out at night, in the dark, into the forest, to possibly arrest illegal armed poachers?” Maybe it’s the Irish devil-may-care throw-caution-to-the-winds spirit that possesses her. In that case, I missed that memo. My maiden name was Corcoran (Irish), but I would have given that particular plot move a bit more thought. Use your imagination about what could happen next, as it does.
RETIREMENT PLAN REDUX
So, to sum up, really try to spend 7 minutes watching “Retirement Plan” (a short) especially If you are close to retirement age or pondering it. It was an Irish treat and a half! (And it only took 7 minutes of my life!)
From the 7-minute short “Retirement” from Screen Ireland.
“Retirement:” A 7-minute short from Screen Ireland featuring Domhnall Gleeson.
“Bugonia,” the new film from Yorgos Lanthimos, follows two conspiracy obsessed young men, portrayed by Jesse Clemens as Teddy and Aidan Delbis as Don. They kidnap the powerful CEO of Axiolith, Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) because they believe she is an alien planning to destroy Earth. Cue the weird, the quirky and the bizarre: Lanthimos is back!
THE KIDNAPPING
Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) in her office at Auxolith, where she is CEO.
The kidnapping sequence itself is worth the price of admission. Kidnapping Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is no easy task! She puts up one hell of a fight. That doesn’t prevent her from being restrained in the basement of Teddy’s ramshackle ranch house or from having her head shaved. (Teddy believes that it is through her hair that Michelle can communicate with the Mother Ship of her Andromeda alien Emperorand people.) The lunar eclipse is fast approaching and Teddy wants Michelle to take him aboard her Mother Ship to meet the Emperor of the Andromedans.
Teddy’s firm belief in how right he is and how wrong everyone else is rivals the MAGA movement’s acolytes. Trying to have a civilized debate with him can end in violence very quickly and often does. We are acutely aware of the danger that Michelle Fuller is in at all times. We worry for her every second that she is captive in Teddy’s basement.
Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) held captive by Teddy and Don in “Bugonia” at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
One interesting promotional sidelight: the Culver Theatre in California offered free admission to anyone bald or willing to become bald (hairdresser on the premises beginning at 6 p.m.) on October 20th to see “Bugonia.” Culver Theatre also had a treadmill screening of “The Long Walk” when it opened, another creative concept.
Michelle outside her home, just before being kidnapped by Teddy and Don.
DIRECTOR
Yorgos Lanthimos honed his skills as a director working for television and has since released “Kinetta” (2004), “Dogtooth” (2009, which won “Un Certain Regard” recognition as Cannes), “The Lobster”(2015), “Killing of a Sacred Deer” (2016), “The Favourite” (2018) and “Poor Things” (2013). “Dogtooth”was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2011 Oscars.
His films earn well-deserved adjectives such as tense, darkly funny, absurd, odd and weird. All apply to “Bugonia.” Lanthimos has said, “Me, personally, what I want is to allow people to be engaged actively in watching the film. I like to construct films in a way that makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, be able to enjoy them, be intrigued, start to think about the meaning of things – and hopefully by the end of it, you’ll have some strong desire to keep thinking about them.” There is a theme of the media’s power, as well as of the ability of large corporations to walk away from catastrophes they have created. He has amassed 5 Oscar nominations with 72 wins in other competitions and 193 nominations.
The film marks the fourth collaboration between Writer/Director Yorgos Lanthimos and Stone, with Emma Stone winning the Best Actress Award in 2023 as Bella Baxter in Lanthimos’s “Poor Things.”
SCREENPLAY/SOUND/CINEMATOGRAPHY
The writing, based on a 2003 South Korean cult film entitled “Save the green planet” is credited to Will Tracy and Jang Joon-hwan. Robbie Ryan is credited as the cinematographer and Jerskin Fendrix composed the score. I enjoyed the use of the Pete Seeger/Joe Hickerson song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” near film’s end, which ties into Teddy’s work as a bee-keeper and his obsession with saving the planet.
THE CAST
Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidin Delbis) in the basement of Jesse’s home, questioning Michelle (Emma Stone).
Jesse Plemons finally gets to sink his teeth into a lead role. He is a consummate supporting character actor, having started young, playing roles such as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son in “The Master” in 2012. Plemons also played a younger version of Matt Damon’s character in “All the Pretty Horses” in 2000. A Mart, Texas native who is the great, great, great, great, great grandson of the sister of Stephen F. Austin (for whom Austin, Texas, is named), Plemons is in the Texas Acting Hall of Fame as of 2016. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Oscar for his role in “The Power of the Dog” in 2021, a year when he also appeared in “Judas, the Black Messiah,” another Oscar-nominated film.
More remarkably, he has appeared in 7 films that were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, starting with “Bridge of Spies” (2015) and continuing through “The Post” (2017), “Vice” (2018), “The Irishman” (2019), “Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021), “The Power of the Dog” (2021) and “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023.) Perhaps most memorably, for me, was his appearance as stone cold killer Todd Alquist in Season 5 of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” television series. His earlier television work was as Landry Clark on “Friday Night Lights” from 2006 until 2011. (He was the only cast member who had actually played football.) He had a small role as a bad guy in “Civil War,” which starred his wife Kirstin Dunst in the lead role.
Jesse Plemons with wife Kirsten Dunst.
Plemons is great in “Bugonia” as a completely over-the-top psycho who has been brainwashed into his weird beliefs by his mother, Sandy, played by a mature Alicia Silverstone (“Clueless”). Teddy (Plemons) is so convincing saying “We are not steering the ship. They (aliens) are,” that cousin Don agrees to be chemically castrated so that he can focus solely on the task at hand. (“It’s all neurons, Dude. Kill the urges and be your own master.”) His co-star, Aidan Delbis, described as “a young actor on the autism spectrum, Lanthimos and Plemens met when he was only 17. Plemons said of him, “He brought so much to the movie and elevated it in a way that nobody else could have.” Considering the proficiency of Jesse Plemens and Emma Stone, this newcomer in his first feature film role was a key component of the film and definitely held his own.
Teddy and Don make the “Dumb and Dumber” 1994 team of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels look like Fulbright Scholars. In between Teddy’s focus on his bee hives and CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) we get a glimpse of a tragic home life that has essentially wiped out Teddy’s own family of origin, although his mother Sandy still clings to life in a care facility while attached to tubes and ventilators. Whether verbally sparring with Michelle about who she truly is (Is Michelle human or an alien from Andromeda?) or convincing both his cousin Don and the Sheriff’s deputy Rick (J. Carmen Galendez Barrera) who babysat Teddy in his youth and admits to molesting him back then, Plemens’s Teddy is totally convincing.
Aidan Delbis as Don in “Bugonia.”
THE BAD
The script leaves us wondering about the totality of the back story of Teddy and Don. It is not completely clear who did what to whom. What, exactly, did the Auxolith Corporation do to Teddy and Don’s nuclear family? Who were these family members, besides Sandy? There is the implication that a large payment for malpractice because of a drug administered to Sandy that had horrible side effects was paid. Who were the others affected? There could have been a more transparent explanation of this important plot motivation for Teddy’s actions.
Similarly, Don’s exact relationship to Teddy (yes, he’s his cousin, but…) is only lightly explored. Even the nature of the hospital-like structure in which Teddy visits his invalid mother is not completely clear. Is it a rehabilitation hospital….a regular hospital…an asylum…what? These may seem like minor points, but much of what happens in Teddy’s attempt to “save the world from the aliens” seems born of a revenge motive, not unlike Luigi Mangioni’s recent actions against the United Health Care CEO. Shouldn’t we have a better understanding of who did what to whom, when, and why? The themes of truth in the media, lying versus truth, people locked inside echo chambers of belief who cannot break out of their closed belief systems because of the hype of Infowars- like sites: all topics are relevant and timely.
I also share the concern that Emma Stone of “La La Land” (1988) not be lost forever in a symbiotic partnership with just films in collaboration with Yorgos Lanthimos. We don’t want to see a talent like Emma Stone confined to playing psychotic odd-balls in every film. She has gone to the wall in this one, shaved head and all. Her stellar performance speaks for itself. However, I’d still like to see her as a normal girl in somebody else’s future film.
THE FINALE
For me, the end, the finale, was the weakest part of this psychological thriller. Select whichever ending you desire, but the depiction of the one ultimately chosen was hokey. It was staged in a less-than-convincing manner. More significantly, it undercut the true real-world terror of Michelle’s lengthy captive ordeal.
Someone else expressed the sentiment, “I liked it, but I wanted to love it.” Thinking back over Lanthimos’s body of work, I’d express a similar opinion about most of the creatively odd plots from Lanthimos over the years, with the exception of 2013’s “Poor Things,” which I did love.
From the perspective of a demonstration of acting by two professionals at their creative peaks, “Bugonia” was perfect.
“Child of Dust” at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
This 92-minute documentary that screened at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival was a Polish, Vietnamese, Czech and Swedish production, directed and produced by Weronika Mliczewsta. It is the story of a 55-year-old man fathered by an American G.I while serving in Vietnam in 1966-1967 and the son’s life-long attempt to meet his biological father.
Sang Ngo Thanh is told by his G.I. father, Nelson Torres, when they finally meet in 2023, “Now you have a last name, Sang Torres.” The scene in the airport where Sang meets his father and his two brothers is heartbreaking. His entire life Sang wanted a father. Having a father is paramount in Vietnamese culture. The reunion scene at the airport is a tearjerker.
HOBSON’S CHOICE
“Child of Dust” (Sang Torres).
But what a Hobson’s choice! A Hobson’s choice indicates the necessity of accepting one of two or more equally objectionable alternatives. In this case, once Sang is linked to his biological father through DNA testing (think Maury Povich with his “You ARE the father!”pronouncements) Sang is told that the United States government will pay for him to relocate to the United States. But he cannot bring other family members and he cannot return to Vietnam. It was noteworthy that the Torres family was open to this reunion, as most G.I.’s are not.
Sang had been searching for his father for half a century. He had, by all accounts, a terrible childhood, being passed off to an Uncle at birth, then to abusive parents by the Uncle. His mother spent time in what he describes as a Reformatory Camp and could not care for him. He ran away to Saigon at age 14. Sang says, “I have never belonged anywhere. In my life, I tried to survive.”
Sang had almost no formal education and struggles to learn some basic English phrases that he will be able to use when he relocates to America, leaving behind his wife, his daughter (who has become a drug addict) and a darling 7-month old grandson whom Sang and his Vietnamese wife are raising. It’s interesting to learn that both Sang and his father Nelson were raised without their fathers. Nelson Torres and his wife divorced when the oldest of his three U.S. children was nine.
USA
Sang with his wife and grandson in “Child of Dust.”
When he decides to leave Vietnam and go to the United States, Sang tells his wife, “Forgive me. I have to go. This is the only way to break the cycle of the past.” The tattooed phrase on his right arm says it all: “No father. No mother. No home. The sadness of my life.” He is homesick and is introduced to other Vietnamese citizens by a local Vietnamese preacher.
OPPORTUNITY?
The DNA testing has opened the door to a meeting with Sang’s biological father and—unlike most American G.I.’s who fathered children overseas—the family is receptive to meeting the brother and son they didn’t know existed. His brothers Jason, Nelson Jr., Mel and sister Vanessa are shown meeting with him via Facetime and with an interpreter helping them to communicate. It is hopeful that Nelson, Sr., feels he should belatedly take responsibility for his Vietnamese son, but Vanessa (Sang’s new sister) reveals that the family is not particularly warm and fuzzy or, as she put it, “fluffy.”
HURDLES
There are many legal documents that must be obtained before Sang is sent a visa and flies to meet his family in Virginia. The meeting in the airport is a quick punch to the heart of anyone who has one. Sang is so happy to meet his American family and has given up everything to meet his father.
Then the problems start, as you can imagine they would. In Sang’s words, “I feel very sad. It’s killing me. If I had known this, I wouldn’t have come.” Yet he and his wife agreed that there was at least a slim chance that his coming to the United States might open the door to a better future for the grandson they are raising. The Torres family, in conversations onscreen, references trying to bring Sang’s wife and family over, despite the warnings that it is a non-starter. (Definitely a non-starter in Trump’s America.)
REALIZATION
“Child of Dust” at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
By film’s end, Sang finally realizes, “I am not Vietnamese. I will never be American. My only home is my family.” While his half-sister (Vanessa) and his brothers and father take him to Burger King for his first burger, there doesn’t seem to be a well-thought-out plan for Sang to have human contact, other than the occasional meeting with his new-found family. Sang is not invited into the homes of his blood relatives. He is unable to communicate and is not among other Vietnamese. If you’ve ever traveled abroad, you know how isolating the inability to communicate can be. To his credit, he does find a job baking.
CONCLUSION
This one moved me to tears. There were some shots of Sang looking out to sea and Virginia sunsets that were beautiful, but the overwhelming feeling of “You can’t go home again” hung heavy throughout. The editing (Marcin Sucharski and Matusz Romaszkan) was good. The music composed by Joaquin Garcia fits the mood of the film, which is melancholy at best.
Sang’s father died 18 months after they met, in July of 2025. This is a sad documentary that was very well done. It raises questions about the after-effects of any war. I highly recommend this one to serve as a cautionary tale about ever getting U.S. troops involved in wars on foreign shores.
Director Oliver Laxe helmed this official Spanish entry into the Best International Feature Film Academy Awards competition. The synopsis for the film reads:”After a young woman goes missing in a rave, her father and brother brave the arid Moroccan landscape searching for her in a world on the brink of collapse.” It showed at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
CANNES ACCOLADES
Sergi Lopez (“Pan’s Labyrinth”), Mar’s father Luis, has his young son Esteban (Bruno Nunez Arjona) with him and Esteban has brought along his dog, Pipa. Pipa, a Jack Russell Terrier, and a second dog, Lupita, a Podenco mix, actually won the Palme Dog Jury Prize at Cannes. “Sirat,” the film, won the Jury Prize at Cannes.
CAST
The rave participants (and Mad Max film doubles) that we meet are:Jade Oukid as Jade; Stefanie Gadda as Stef; Joshua Liam Henderson as Josh; Tonin Janvier as Tonin; and Richard “Bigui” Bellamy as Bigui. I do think it was Bigui who left his LSD-permeated feces unburied in the desert so that Pipa ate it and nearly croaked, although Bigui denies it. (These things happen; the incident is another example of the film’s black humor).Thoughts are expressed about choosing one’s own familty being preferable to being stuck with those bound to you by blood. Mar is not a run-away. She is an adult who chose to leave and has been missing for 5 months, as her little brother confirms.
Two of the men have missing limbs. One has no right hand; one has no left leg and uses a peg-leg prosthetic contraption. At one point, when the prosthetic limb is removed, the amputated knee joint appears to sing a song about deserting the army, which qualifies as entertainment when you’re stuck in the desert and adds to the film’s dark humor. It certainly sums up this group’s attitude towards the military, a group which is constantly shown threatening to break up the raves or take over the world or start WWIII. (One doesn’t know, for sure, what their exact goal may be.)
DIRECTOR
Director Oliver Laxe (who stands 6’ 6 and ¾” tall) has made four feature films. This one was quite engrossing. It is “Mad Max-style shit” as another viewer said to me as we exited. All of the participants at the first rave, shot in Rambla Barrachina, Teruel, Aragon, Spain look like extras from a George Miller “Mad Max” film. Their clothes (“Freaks” tee shirt, an homage to the 1932 film), hair (or lack of same), tattoos— are in style for an apocalyptic thriller. The group that Luis throws in with includes 2 Mad Max style vehicles, with 2 women and 3 men in the group, as named above.
PLOT
The first rave is dispersed by the military. That leads Luis to beg the 5 Mad Max-like characters to take Luis and Estaban along, leading the way to the next rave further into the desert near Mauritania. Luis’s financial contribution to purchasing gas is probably the clincher for the eventual yes vote.
Initially, the 5 ravers say no, because Luis is driving a Family Truckster van (as I call the one my own spouse drives.) They are going to have to ford a stream at one point (Laguna de Tortjada, Tortajada, Teruel, Aragon, Spain). The troupe correctly predict that Luis’ vehicle will have trouble making it across that stream. Indeed, that turns out to be one of many death-defying adventures that the troupe will have as they press forward. The mountainous terrain makes driving treacherous.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
In a Cannes interview, Director Luxe said, “I think we were very bold. We were very daring. We didn’t measure things. We didn’t calculate. We just leapt into the abyss.” That’s for sure. As the not-that-merry troupe proceeds into the abyss, for 115 minutes we will see one after the other crash and burn in various ways. There are explosions. There are crashes. There is the threat of nearby armies that may descend at any moment.
HUMOR
This trip through Hell reminded some of “The Wages of Fear” (source material for William Friedkin’s “Sorcerer” film) but, for me, it was Mad Max Redux with occasional bleak humor (like the aforementioned amputated leg singing a song), or the recitation by one of the troupe that his father’s last words were: “Fuck! This is serious.”
As Jade has mentioned about the large speakers she recycles, “You never know if this is the last sound it will make.” She’s right about that for the speakers, and she’s right about that for all of them, as they attempt to navigate from the first disbanded rave to a second one. Jade will long be remembered, post film, for her words, “Blow it up!” requesting more volume from the huge speakers the group sets up in the middle of the desert.
CONCLUSION
This 115-minute Spanish submission for the Best International Feature Film Oscar list, is not a boring movie, like an earlier submission from a Nordic country. It holds your interest. It may well blow you away.
“A Useful Ghost” screens at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
“A Useful Ghost” is Thailand’s official submission for the 98th Oscar ceremony for Best International Film Feature. The film is the first feature length effort by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, after his shorts “Red Aninsri” and “Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall.” The director, who writes for Thailand television, is competing for the Gold Hugo award at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival. The film won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes and was picked up for distribution (releasing in the U.S. on October 19th) at the Toronto International Film Festival.
PLOT
The synopsis reads, “Vengeful ghosts, possessed vacuum cleaners, and a supernatural sense of justice converge in this charmingly absurd fable of memory, loss, and grief.” Asked about the inspiration for the film, which was written during Covid and began shooting in 2023, the director told interviewer Pamos Ko-lzathanasis (Asian Movie Pulse) that the double meaning of the term “dust” in the Thai language ( dust= a person who “doesn’t matter, has no power”) intrigued him. Bangkok is known for its dust pollution. There is more coughing in this film than any movie I’ve seen in a long time, kicking off with the death of a worker named Tok in a Bangkok factory. When Tok dies, he is coughing up blood. He subsequently blames the factory and its owner, Suman (Apasiri Nitibbon) for his death, saying, “Your damn factory killed me!”
REVENGE
So, is the main plot a story of a ghost taking revenge on a factory he feels contributed to his death? Yes and no. Tok is but one of several ghosts in the film. The main ghost is a beautiful young woman named Nat (Davika Noorne) whose husband, March (Wisarut Hummarat) is grieving following her death. She returns as a ghost trapped in a vacuum cleaner. There is a part of the film where she becomes “solid” again, which was confusing, since that process is not well-explained, other than to link it to the loved one’s memories of the departed (i.e., the more vivid the memories, the more substantial the ghost appears, but the method for becoming human again? Not explained or addressed in the film.)
Nat’s job (for Paul, a government minister) is to administer electroshock therapy to people who are being visited by ghosts in their dreams, allowing those individuals to forget the spectres that are disturbing their sleep. [The idea of erasing memories made me think of Jim Carrey’s 2004 film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” but “A Useful Ghost” is played more for laughs and with a much less serious tone.]
MAY 2010 UPRISING
Another series of vengeful ghosts referenced are those killed in a Thailand uprising/civil war that took place in May of 2010. The Thai military cracked down on the UDD (United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship). The protesters wanted Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve Parliament and hold elections. Eighty-five protesters were killed and 2,000 injured in the response to their protests by the armed military, who fired into the crowds with live bullets. There were still 51 additional protesters missing a month later. One sympathizer with the Red Shirt protesters, a former military man in Thailand, Khahiya Sawasdipol, was shot in the head by snipers on May 13, 2010, and died on May 17, 2010 while being interviewed by the New York Times when he was shot! It is not surprising that the script has this line: “Younger people are more obsessive about the past than older people.” The political implications of the character of Paul, plus the line about the May, 2010, political killings show that this near civil war is obviously still on the director/writer’s mind.
There is a political message here, (although the director indicated he had no problem with government censors over the film in an interview). The character of Paul represents a Trump-like figure whose influence is everywhere. In fact, it appears that Paul—who at first appears to be a good guy—was responsible for the death of a character named Krong (Wantop RungKumjad), who also becomes a vengeful ghost seeking revenge for his drowning at Paul’s direction. His feet are missing, which is something that the director discovered is frequently the case in representing ghosts on film.
GHOSTS
The director was asked about his cinematic depiction of ghosts. He admitted that, when he was first asked that question, he had to research how ghosts are depicted in cinema, going back to films like “Poltergeist” and “Beetlejuice.” He came up with the idea of making the main character (Nat) become increasingly translucent as she faded from the memory of her husband and others, and it worked. This was well done by cinematographer Pasit Tandechanurat. [On the matter of costuming, however, the shoulder pads that Nat wears went out in the eighties. Every time she made an entrance, I was struck by the huge shoulder pads, which did nothing for the timeliness of the film. Maybe they are still in fashion in Thailand, but the other female characters did not seem to be wearing huge shoulder pads.)
HUMOR
There is a Thai legend involving a female ghost that the director referenced as one inspiration for his female ghost, Nat. “My initial inspiration for the story is the legend of Mae Nok, which is a forbidden love story between a female ghost and her living husband.”He said he was also fascinated by the idea of ghosts in everyday objects, but admitted that a vacuum cleaner won out over a TV or washing machine, if only because of its ability to move about and, potentially, contain a ghost. It also led to some truly absurd humorous lines. March’s mother, when she comes upon him in the hospital hugging his vacuum cleaner, says, “I’m less worried about the fever than about the fact he made out with the vacuum cleaner.”
SEXUAL CONTENT
The film opens with Nat’s brother, Moss, telling us he is “an academic ladyboy.” While it is obvious that Moss means that he is gay, it was not a term I ever heard in the U.S. The sexual tryst between Moss and Krong, is another recent homosexual love story, a la “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and “On Swift Horses.”
DREAMS
There is much discussion of dreams, which Boonbunchachoke described as being “our most personal intimate space.” He related a plot where there is a Ministry of Dreams and one’s dreams are examined for signs of treason. Ghosts and dreams are not unfamiliar territory for me. I wrote 6 books about ghosts set along Route 66. (“Ghostly Tales of Route 66.”)
SCRIPT
Boonbunchachoke likes actors to stick to the script in his films, but leaves enough flexibility for some improvisation. Humor is quite prevalent throughout, and the director said, “Humor works best when you don’t expect it.”
GHOSTS IN PROTEST
The film says of ghosts, “Their return is an act of protest…Ghosts are those that don’t give in to death, but have no power to change things.” We also hear one character saying, “Someone must remember. No one will remember me. No one will remember what I and the others fought for.”
CONCLUSION
Writer/Director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
When I attended a press showing of ‘’A Useful Ghost,” I remembered that Cannes seeks “a great big pole-vault over the barrier of normalcy by someone who feels that the possibilities of cinema have not been exhausted by conventional realist drama.” (Peter Bradshaw’s review of the Cannes film “Holy Motors” in “The Guardian,” 2012.)
“A Useful Ghost” falls into that category. I had the same reaction to “A Useful Ghost” as to “Holy Motors” thirteen years ago. As the author of at least 6 books on ghosts, I felt some review expertise for this one. “’A Useful Ghost’ does not try to frighten or scare the audience. Instead, it provokes them to think about the relationships between humans and ghosts in our society,” said its writer/director, Boonbunchachoke.
“A Useful Ghost” won the Critics’ Week Grand Prize at Cannes. Its writer/director will be present with the film in Chicago when it screens on 10/19 (8 p.m.) at the Gene Siskel Film Center and on 10/21 at the NewCity AMC at 2 p.m.
“The Plague” showed Saturday night in a crowded theater at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, the debut feature film for Writer/Director Charlie Polinger. It was everything I hoped it would be. I’ve heard great things about this film. The director remained true to his vision and assembled an outstanding cast of 12 to 13-year-old boys, all of whom did an excellent job (especially the characters of Ben, Eli and Jake). Polinger refused to cave to tired tropes and made, instead, a movie with a theme that is universal. The film has been picked up for distribution (near Christmas). Said Head of IFC Entertainment Group Scott Shooman, “ The Plague’s hypnotic and captivating psychological dive into sports, competition and adolescence is one of the most riveting debut films we’ve ever seen. The technical craftsmanship and excellent performances captured our attention and solidified our desire to collaborate on the launch of this impressive film from a talented auteur visionary.”
Here is a synopsis : “’The Plague’ is an accomplished directorial debut from Charles Pollinger that engrosses you in the troubling dynamics of a boy’s water polo camp. The film doesn’t shy away from the ickiness of adolescence, whether bodily or socially. Instead, it festers in those spaces, leading to a fidgety, discomfiting but utterly convincing watching experience. Stylish, vibrant 35mm cinematography from Steven Breckon elevates the film’s visual language, but it is the alchemy of the young cast that creates the film’s atmospheric sincerity.”
The film was nominated in 2 categories at Cannes. Polinger said, “Premiering The Plague at Cannes was a dream. I’m thrilled to share it with a wider theatrical audience through Independent Film Company, who’ve championed so many of my favorite films.” “The Plague” also won the top prize at Fantastic Fest in Austin. It was named the Best International Feature at the Calgary International Film Festival and won the Critics Award and a Special Grand Prize at the Deauville Film Festival. It is an impressive film debut, not only because the writing is so good and true to life (and turned into believability bya talented cast) but also because the sound (Johan Lenox) and cinematography (Steve Brockton, “Griffin in Summer”) were extraordinary. Some of the water shots of the girls’ team practicing their synchronized water ballet were truly impressively beautiful and different. Even the opening shot of the boys diving into the water was unique and captivating.
CANNES & SOUND AWARD
After “The Plague” showed at Cannes, it received an 11-minute standing ovation. It also won an award there for Best Sound Creation (Johan Lenox, composer). During the screening tonight, I tried to describe the sounds that were used to ratchet up tension in the film. It isn’t music, exactly. There are discordant voices. There are intense, driving, pulsing, weird, three-part disharmonies, similar to people panting in sync. Surging strings are heard at the beginning of the “Under the Sea” school dance at the Tom Lerner Water Polo Camp in 2003. Really interesting sound and equally unique cinematography.
INSPIRATION
“The Plague”
When asked how he happened to write this script, Polinger mentioned cleaning out his old childhood room at his family home and coming upon journals that he had written when 12 and 13 years old—junior high school age. He took those notes and turned them into a script that the teen-aged boys playing the leads made seem “real.”
UNIVERSAL TRUTH
Everyone wants to belong. When one person is singled out to be shunned, often the person with the most charisma or assuredness can get the others to conform and determine where each person stands in the pecking order. Polinger mentioned an interesting social psychology study that took 10 people into a room and, of the 10, nine were “plants” programmed to misname a color. [Example: say that red is blue.] He pointed out that 80% of the time, the lone hold-out (who was not in on the experiment) would cave and agree with the majority, even though the color was clearly being misidentified.
SPOKE TO ME
Every critic who spoke about the film on tape or in print had the same reaction to this remarkable film. It went something like, “That happened to me.” There is even a Dennis Rodman quote in the script: “Don’t let what other people think determine who you are.”
I taught 12 and 13-year-old students (7th and 8th graders) for 18 years. It is an interesting age, rife with bodily changes, raging hormones and horny boys. There is some truth to the rumor that my two children are spaced 19 years apart because I did not want to ever have to stand up in front of a room full of horny 7th and 8th grade boys while nine months pregnant. The mind of a junior high school aged male is often fixed on matters sexual (as accurately and humorously represented in the film), I’ve seen the cruelty of junior high school students up close and personal. Like nearly every critic on the planet, I also have my “Me, too” stories about Amish shunning. As Edgerton put it, “ The savagery in this is like ‘Full Metal Jacket’ for tweenagers.”
CAST
Joel Edgerton (foreground) as the water polo coach and Everett Bunck as Ben in “The Plague,” which screened at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival on October 18th.
The “good guy” in the film is young Ben, whose mother divorced his father and moved the two of them to town from Boston. He has been enrolled in the water polo camp and, as with others in the camp, one wonders if the parents really want to encourage water polo competence or whether some of them just want to get the kids out of the house. Ben has a slight speech impediment, which involves not pronouncing the letter “t” very well. When, as the new kid in town, he first joins the boys and uses the word “stop,” another boy at the table, Jake (well-played by Kayo Martin) begins taunting him, leading to a nickname of “Soppy” for Ben.
Eli (Kenny Rasmussen) is the social outcast who is being systematically ostracized. If he approaches a lunch table, the other boys get up and leave. The myth is that Eli has “the plague.” All of his tormenters know that it is not true, but Eli behaves so weirdly in their eyes that they punish him for being different. It is true that Eli has a rash, resembling psoriasis or rosacea. He always wear a shirt, even in the water.
The boys are merciless in their shunning and shaming of Eli. Ben (Everett Blunck) knows this is wrong. He is a kind boy. That comes through, including in his defense of being a vegetarian. Ultimately, Ben attempts to be friendlier to Eli. But the tables then turn. (No good deed goes unpunished). The Chief Instigator of mean-spirited actions, Jake, turns the group of boys against Ben, rather than Eli. Now Ben is truly miserable.
There is a semi-humorous scene where the Coach tries to cheer Ben up with the promise that “this, too, shall pass.” (“Be yourself, because what else are you gonna’ be?”) With a single tear making its way down his cheek, Ben says, “This is the most depressing pep talk ever.”
CONCLUSION
Joel Edgerton is correct in his assessing Polinger’s promise.He apparently can do it all, including the editing. I look forward to seeing more feature films from this director, who has assembled 7 credits since 2013. As his first feature film “The Plague” is truly a tour de force.
I would urge you to put “The Plague” on your holiday viewing schedule.
[Cast members in “The Plague:” Everett Blunck as Ben; Kenny Rasmussen as Eli; Lennox Espy as Julian; Elliott Heffernan as Tic Tac; Lucas Adler as Logan; Kayo Martin as Jake; Kolton Lee as Corbin. Joel Edgerton as the Coach.]
The last three days of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival have been three days of an embarrassment of riches, with the screenings of Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire”, Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia,” and Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly.”
Writer/Director Kelly Reichardt of “The Mastermind.”
Reichardt and Van Sant are present in Chicago in person to accept awards. A retrospective of Reichardt’s films is one of the highlights of this 61st Chicago International Film Festival. Reichardt has won awards at Cannes, Lucarno, London and Rotterdam. “First Cow” (2020) is one with which I was familiar, but I’ll be going back to “Old Joy” (2006) and “Showing Up” after this. Reichardt’s latest film, “The Mastermind” opened October 17th.
“THE MASTERMIND” PLOT
Set in 1970 in Framingham, Massacusetts, we follow James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor, “Challengers”), art school dropout, unemployed would-be carpenter, father of two young boys and husband to the long-suffering Terri (Alana Haim) as J.B. masterminds the heist of four valuable Arthur Dove modernist paintings from the Framingham Art Museum.
James enlists three accomplices, a rag-tag gang of small-time thugs, played by Eli Gelb (Guy Hickey), Cole Doman (Larry Duffy) and Javion Allen (Ronnie Gibson). The group could serve as the cast of The Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight. A late replacement in the trio, when the driver bails, Ronnie, turns out to be particularly unreliable. He brings a gun when told not to and, soon after the art heist, holds up a bank. When caught, Ronnie Gibson (Javion Allen) immediately gives up the entire group. James leaves town and is on the run for most of the rest of the movie.
INSPIRATION
“It’s an aftermath film, an unraveling film,” said Reichardt, its Writer/Director. “In the 90s I thought about doing an art heist film on Super-8,” Reichardt remembers, “so it’s been cooking in the back of my mind for a long time. A couple of years ago, I came across an article about the fiftieth anniversary of this art heist at the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts, where some teen girls got swept up in the robbery. That was a fun image and was kind of the first seed.” Locally legendary, that event took place on the afternoon of May 17, 1972, when armed men pilfered two Gaugins, a Rembrandt, and a Picasso.
Thematically, the plot reminded of the 2018 Evan Peters/Barry Keoghan vehicle “American Animals,” written and directed by Bart Layton that also had a clueless band of thieves who ripped off a museum and did so haplessly. Said one of the real thieves featured in that 2018 film, Warren Lipka : “You’re taught your entire life that what you do matters and that you’re special. And that, there are things you can point towards that would… which’ll show that you’re special, that show you’re different, when, in all reality, those things… don’t matter. And you’re not special.” Some of that philosophy shows up in Reichardt’s examination of another botched robbery and the impetus for it.
THE MUSEUM
The film opens with James escorting his family through the Framingham Art Museum, where he is a frequent visitor and pilfering a small object. In reality, there is no Framingham Art Museum. “Tony Gasparro and the art team built the interior of the museum from the ground up in an old warehouse,” Reichardt said. For the museum’s exterior scenes, Reichardt’s team shot at the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library in Columbus, Indiana. Completed in 1969, the facility was designed by architect I. M. Pei with an eye to revitalizing the town’s center.
JAMES BLAINE MOONEY
James Blaine is unemployed and has a generally entitled attitude, as his father—well played by Bill Camp—is Judge Bill Mooney. The would-be “mastermind” seems to have had a respectable middle-class upbringing, making his decision to become a criminal even more interesting. The family dynamic is central to the film. The actors portraying J.B.’s two young sons, Tommy and Carl are well-played by two fraternal twins from Louisville, Kentucky, Jasper (Tommy) and Sterling Thompson (Carl). “They’re twins, but they are different boys with very different personalities.”
Josh O’Connor, urging Tommy, his son, to secrecy in “The Mastermind.”
Both boys were hilarious and excellent in their roles. One of the best lines from the film may be at the conclusion of one hellacious day when J.B. turns to Tommy and says, “Let’s keep today to ourselves.” (Ilaughed outright; it’s a great scene.) Said Reichardt, “It’s a heist movie, in a sense, but the family and friend dynamics are kind of the main thing. Mooney is blowing up his world and the heist is how he goes about it, consciously or unconsciously.”
MURPHY’S LAW
The entire robbery represents a life lesson in Murphy’s Law where, if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. The plot can be summed up with this scripted line from Guy Hickey (Eli Gelb) said to would-be mastermind J.B., “Honestly, I don’t think you thought things through enough.”
That line is a major understatement. J.B. was somehow involved with fencing the stolen paintings through his association with former art school Professor Pruitt, but the entire fiasco goes up in flames almost before it even gets underway, beginning with the defection of get-away driver Larry (Cole Doman).
FAVORITE SCENE
My favorite sequence among many good ones was watching James Blaine hauling the paintings, one-by-one, up a ladder to the loft of a barn, to hide them. Then somehow, while a hog is shown rooting around beneath the ladder, J.B. manages to knock the ladder over so that getting down (after 4 or 5 trips up the ladder with each individual painting) becomes a logistical nightmare. Keeping the paintings proves even more difficult than stealing them was and J.B. has the paintings taken from him by three large gangster types. Mooney goes on the run, first stopping in the countryside where old friend Fred (John Magaro, “The Big Short”) and wife Maude (Gaby Hoffman, “Field of Dreams”) give him temporary lodging.
Maude gardens and Fred works as a substitute teacher at the local middle school. Fred is star-struck at the thought that his childhood friend, whom, he says, used to “nibble around the edges” of crossing society’s lines has now, in his own life, “blown it up.” Fred seems quite impressed with news coverage of his old buddy’s exploits, which Maude finds upsetting. He suggests that J.B. might want to think about a commune in Canada only 58 miles across the Canadian border as his hide-away, joining Fred’s own draft-dodging brother. This is the 70s theme of conscription into the war in Vietnam, one which my own spouse narrowly avoided due to my pregnancy at the time. (Scriptedline from the commune: “I got to Paris Island and things got real.”) My generation remembers Vietnam well. Maude approaches James privately. She tells him bluntly to move on and never contact her husband again, saying, “I don’t want you ruining our lives, too.”
James Blaine Mooney (Josh O’Connor) in “The Mastermind” at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
J.B. takes off for Cincinnati and, ultimately, for Canada. He plans to join a group that Fred described to him as seventies dissidents, druggies, draft dodgers: “You know, nice people on the run.” We hear James Blaine calling home on the phone during his escape, once again asking for a financial hand-out from someone (in this case, not his Mom Sarah but his wife). Once again, we wonder why Terri Mooney doesn’t give her MIA spouse a World Class chewing-out—especially when he protests, “Everything I’ve done was for the good of our family.” Terri remains silent.
CAST & CREW
Reichardt often works with many of the same actors. She has cast some very recognizable and seasoned actors and actresses in “The Mastermind. In addition to Bill Camp and Gaby Hoffman, you’ll recognize Amanda Plummer (“Pulp Fiction”) as Louise and Hope Davis (“Synecdoche, New York”, 2002; “About Schmidt”, 2008) as J.B.’s Mom Sarah. These are proficient character actors film-goers will recognize from years of past excellent work.
Cinematographer Christopher Blauvelt has provided great camera work for the production. The musical score by Rob Mazurek—(which, at one point, was random acoustical percussion noises)—also adds to the overall mood and augments the directing and writing by Reichardt.
CONCLUSION
Reichardt has crafted an engrossing look at a loser who has outdone himself this time. The film ends with a whimper, not a bang. As Reichardt put it, “James Blaine is a man smart enough to get into trouble, but not smart enough to get out of it.” See it if it plays near you.
For me, the end, the finale, was the weakest part of this psychological thriller. Select whichever ending you desire, but the depiction of the one ultimately chosen was hokey. It was staged in a less-than-convincing manner. More significantly, it undercut the true real-world terror of Michelle’s lengthy captive ordeal.
There is a political message here, (although the director indicated he had no problem with government censors over the film in an interview). The character of Paul represents a Trump-like figure whose influence is everywhere. In fact, it appears that Paul—who at first appears to be a good guy—was responsible for the death of a character named Krong (Wantop RungKumjad), who also becomes a vengeful ghost seeking revenge for his drowning at Paul’s direction. His feet are missing, which is something that the director discovered is frequently the case in representing ghosts on film.
