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!
Category: Of Local (Quad Cities’) InterestPage 1 of 54
The category is self-explanatory, but it would include new or old businesses, political elections, trends, restaurants in town, entertainment in town, etc.
“Ryan Can’t Read” is a depressing 2025 Oscar-eligible short that tells the story of Ryan, who, as the title suggests, is illiterate. Since there are estimated to be at least 8 million others in the United Kingdom who cannot read, Ryan is not alone. Lewis Ian Bray plays Ryan. Lewis is “neurodivergent” in real life. Another way of categorizing the neurodivergent is to say that they are “on the spectrum.” For nearly 40 years of my life I worked with students who were autistic or on the spectrum in a variety of ways, including ADD and ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder with or without Hyperactivity), dyslexia, and many other ailments. For several years we were the only entity in a community of half a million residents qualified to work with patients with traumatic brain injury, so this touching and timely short hit close to home.
CAST
Ryan (Lewis Ian-Bray) and his best friend Tyrone (James Nelson-Joyce.)
The production rests on the shoulders of Lewis Ian-Bray portraying Ryan and James Nelson-Joyce as his best friend Tyrone. Rhys Chapman directed the short and co-wrote it. Chapman is known for “Wonderkid” and Sir Ian McKellen assisted him in getting this short made. James Nelson-Joyce has appeared in “The Outlaws” with Stephen Merchant and Christopher Walken and in “Time” with Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. He is also set to appear in next season’s “Black Mirror” and in Disney’s “One Thousand Blows.” However, it is Lewis Ian Bray who embodies the title character, who is struggling with daily life because of his disability. Lewis Ian-Bray also co-wrote the film and was awarded the Best Actor award for his performance at the Tokyo Short Shorts Festival.
PLOT
The 19 minute 35 second story takes Ryan through the trying hurdles that anyone would face if unable to read, including an interview for a job and a frustrating and futile attempt to read his own mail. The city is Liverpool; there is a reference to eating scouse. Scouse is a type of stew typically made from chunks of meat with potatoes, carrots, and onion. It is particularly associated with the port of Liverpool; hence, the inhabitants of that city are often referred to as “scousers.” The word “scouse” comes from lobscouse, a stew that was commonly eaten by sailors throughout northern Europe in the past.
Ryan and Tyrone in “Ryan Can’t Read.”
Ryan’s friend Tyrone keeps encouraging him to attempt to learn to read and cheers him on throughout the disquieting departure of his mother, who writes to Ryan, saying, “Never stop being yourself. Don’t be scared. I will always be by your side. Don’t think I’m not watching, because I am. I am so proud of you, my son.”
CONCLUSION
“Ryan Can’t Read’s” music is by Bill Ryder-Jones and K.E.E.M. “Don’t Be Scared; I Love You” plays over (and over and over) the end credits. The cinematography by Borja Lopez Diaz captures the frustration of the subject, well-acted by Lewis Ian Bray. Why Ryan finds himself on his own, battling life with only his friend Tyrone encouraging him in person, is left a bit murky. A longer film might have explored Mom’s absence more thoroughly, but this is a short. It focuses on Ryan the non-reader and Lewis Ian-Braye does a fine job in both writing and acting the title role.
“Sister Wives” – Director/Star Louisa Connolly-Burnham plays Kaidence, the wife of a polygamous husband (Mormon) who must welcome a new wife, 19-year-old Galilee, into her home. Galilee is played by Mia McKenna-Bruce. This is actually streaming on Channel 14, which, I assume, is British, as it has qualified for Best British film and Best Actress at the Iris Prize competition and was picked up for distribution. It is eligible for the Oscars and the BAFTA, which makes it the fifth of the five female-directed films I have most recently reviewed to qualify for the 2025 Academy Awards.
There is a plan to develop this story of love emerging between the two sister wives into a full length feature film in summer, 2025, with the Director/Star reprising her role. Connolly-Burnham is known for the HollyShort film “How to Have Sex” and is currently working on the Netflix adaptation of an Agatha Christie work, “The 7 Dial Mystery” with Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman. The series was inspired by Broadchurch Creator Chris Chibnall.
PLOT
We learn that Kaidence was married to their mutual husband Jeremiah (Michael Fox) at age 14. Galilee is only 19, but she has a more adventurous spirit and actually has a cell phone (verboten in the community). Jeremiah is called away to Nevada for four weeks because Brother Amos is sick. While he is away, the sister wives play. Kaidence goes skinny dipping and learns that there is a whole world outside of her marriage, waiting for her.
The film was dark, making some things difficult to precisely determine. Director of photography was Angela Zoe Nei and the film could have beneifted from more light in some of the scenes. We certainly can understand why the girls decide to bolt and strike out for freedom. Galilee, who had said, “I’ll be very happy here” instead makes both downtrodden women happy when she suggests escape. I did find it difficult to understand the ending scene with Galilee, Kaidence and a car. Whose car is it? How did they get it? Is someone assisting them in their desire to flee? Many questions.
“Sister Wives.”
CONCLUSION
I grew up in Amish country in Iowa. This one was not hard to believe or imagine.This was the fifth short directed by a woman. It didn’t involve filming entirely in a car, but there is a scene at the end where the two escaping wives take off in a vehicle. I wish them good fortune!
“His Mother,” a 13 minute and 39 second short film that is Oscar eligible, stars Jennifer Lawrence look-alike Bethany Anne Lind as the mother of a young man who is threatening violence at his college, Southern Tech. Young Harrison Miller, age 19, 5’ 10”, has left a variety of clues that he is about to explode, saying things like “The end has come” and “None of you ever gave me a chance.”
Maia Scalia wrote and directed this high tension race to save lives, She is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of Art and has worked on 2022’s “Call Jane” with Director Phyllis Nagy and star Elizabeth Banks and Sigourney Weaver in 2022, a film about the fight for abortion rights in pre-Roe days, which would be just as timely right about now. Ms. Scalia’s choice of Bethany Anne Lind to play “His Mother” is fortunate, because she does a believable job as a half-hysterical mother on her way to try to save her son from committing murder
Bethany Anne Lind played Grace Young in “Ozark” and Sandra in “Stranger Things.” It is a tribute to Bethany Anne’s emoting while behind the wheel of her car and racing to the scene of the potential crime that this short works at all. It was the third (of five) that had significant—or all, as in this case—portions shot inside a vehicle. Having written a few screenplays, I understand how tempting it is to use a car or a truck for the setting, as it certainly helps keep expenses down and frees up the set decorator and art decorator and lots of other sorts (not muchneed for unique costumes, either) and, consequently, helps keep the cost(s) of a production down.
We never actually see her son, Harrison, or his preoccupied father, Jason Miller, whom Bethany Anne talks to on the phone. The voice of father Jason is D.W. Moffett, a Chicago native who has played roles in “Traffic,” “Falling Down,” and “Friday Night Lights.” The voice of Harrison, her son, is Ben Irving, who played Bobby Freeze in Ben Affleck’s 2020 film “The Way Back.” Officer Davis (Evan Hall of “Orange isthe New Black”) and the emergency dispatcher (Aleah Guinones; Keisha in 2023’s “Shrinking”) are the only other voices in the piece, and we never see them.
“His Mother” Oscar eligible short.
Sound effects (bullets and sirens, for example) become important in this short piece. The music by Eli Keszler is crucial and the cinematography by Matt Clegg is mostly close-ups of Bethany Anne Lind’s face. I found myself wondering how his mother telling the authorities to look for her son in a blue Accura was viewed by Ms. Miller when the authorities caught up to her son, who had posted videos that led to him being sought as an “active shooter at large.” Phrases like “This is his only choice” are countered by his frazzled mother’s plea “Please help me understand.”
This one was tense and dramatic and takes place completely inside a car. I saw five in one sitting; this was my favorite.
“Buscando Alma,” a short about immigrants’ separation from their children at the border, has qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards.
“Buscando Alma,” a 15 minute 21 second short, has qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards in competition in Atlanta. It is also a timely subject, given the Trump administration’s vow to deport millions of immigrants. It is directed by a woman and stars a trans-gender female, also topics that are current.
“Buscando Alma” was written by Maiv Flores and Melissa Fisher; Fisher directed. It is a heartwarming tearjerker. The synopsis sums up the plot this way: “A Honduran immigrant is given the chance to meet her mother after nearly two decades of separation. As she grapples with the uncertainty of their reunion, she is confronted by tumultuous memories of her past.”
The short film won the 2024 Jury Award for “Best Drama Short” at Out On Film: Atlanta’s LGBTQ Film Festival, qualifying it for the 2025 Oscars®. Having just finished reviewing films at the Chicago International Film Festival where I saw the Errol Morris documentary “Separated,” the story of children separated from their parents at the border during the first Trump administration. I related to this one. Children who lose their connection to their parents are enveloped by a sense of longing and often suffer major psychological trauma. Separation has “left a hole in their hearts.” “Buscando Alma’s” heartfelt message hit home after seeing “Separated,” a sobering revisiting of one of our nation’s most shameful episodes. (The “Separated” crew actually rebuilt the cages the immigrants were placed in at the border to revisit the Tom Holman-supervised incidents of man’s inhumanity to man, infants ripped from their mothers’ arms). After nearly two decades apart, Cristina (Carolina Gutierrez) is finally able to locate her mother with the help of an attorney, but their long-awaited reunion comes with trepidation as she confronts memories of her past.
DIALOGUE
With lines like, “I want to know if she looked for me the way I looked for her” and “I have been searching for you my whole life” from lead actress Gutierrez, you’re in for a sad commentary on today’s headlines, with the Trump administration’s vow to deport millions. More chaos and heartbreak to come. As “Separated” made clear (based on reporting by the New York Times) the Trump administration intentionally kept very poor (if any) records of family members separated at the border. A child of immigrants flew in from Miami to tell us her own personal story. A teenager, she did not see her father again for five years after they were separated at the border. The actress playing the mother in this short (Neher Jacqueline Briceno) says to her daughter upon their reunion, “You are my life. I love you with my whole soul.”
DIRECTOR
Melissa Fisher is a Los Angeles based writer and director. She is also a member of the International Cinematographer’s Guild and has worked on Academy and Emmy Award winning films and television series. Melissa went from camera PA on Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain,” to camera assist on films like “La La Land.” She headed up the camera department on hit television shows like “GLOW” and “The Dropout.” She is currently working on a new Amazon Prime series, “Ballard,” that is scheduled for release in 2025.
LEAD ACTRESS
Lead actress Carolina Gutierrez.
Lead actress Carolina Gutierrez is a Bravo award-nominated Los Angeles based trans-gender actress born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She played the role of Marissa on the TV Show “L Word Generation Q.” She also played the lead role of Sofia on Amazon Prime’s web series “Starlet Diner,” a supporting role in the Web Series “The Good Samaritans,” and appeared on the Amazon Prime hit show “Goliath.” A proud Latina transgender woman, Carolina has utilized her platform to advocate for trans rights. Carolina has also appeared in several television shows, movies and national commercials, including her role as assassin Emma Ruiz on NCIS LA, Sara on La Costilla de Eva in Colombia, and the lead in a national car commercial with Nissan.
OTHER CAST
The sets for “Buscando Alma” particularly impressed me, whether a church, a deck, or a kitchen, Mars Feehery was responsible for the sets. Matt Schwartz also has done a great job on sound design. Music was composed by Simon Franglen and the Cinematographer was by Boa Simon.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 17: Austin Butler at the Los Angeles Premiere of Focus Features’ “The Bikeriders” at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 17, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Focus Features)
Key Considerations When Shipping Motorcycles Across the U.S.
Shipping a motorcycle across the United States can be a convenient and efficient way to transport your bike, whether you’re relocating, selling a motorcycle to a buyer in another state, or heading to a rally. However, it’s not as simple as loading your bike onto a truck. Proper planning, preparation, and choosing the right shipping method are essential to ensuring your motorcycle arrives safely and without any issues. Here are key considerations to keep in mind when shipping a motorcycle across the U.S.
Choose a Reputable Shipping Company
Selecting the right shipping company is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when shipping a motorcycle. Not all transport companies specialize in motorcycles, and you’ll want one with experience handling bikes. Consider moving your motorcycles with Shiply, a platform that connects you with transport providers. Research companies by reading customer reviews, checking their safety records, and verifying that they have the necessary licenses and insurance. Ensure that the company provides specific motorcycle shipping services and understands how to handle and secure bikes during transit.
Open vs. Enclosed Shipping
When shipping a motorcycle, you typically have two options: open or enclosed transport. Open transport involves shipping your motorcycle on an open trailer, which is more affordable but exposes the bike to weather conditions, road debris, and potential damage. This option might be suitable for shorter distances or if you’re shipping a bike that’s not particularly valuable or vulnerable.
Enclosed transport, on the other hand, involves placing your motorcycle inside a fully enclosed trailer, protecting it from the elements and external hazards. While enclosed shipping tends to be more expensive, it’s the better option for high-value motorcycles, classic bikes, or long-distance trips across the U.S. For those who want peace of mind, especially during cross-country transport, enclosed shipping is often worth the extra cost.
HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 17: Jodie Comer (L) and Austin Butler at the Los Angeles Premiere of Focus Features’ “The Bikeriders” at TCL Chinese Theatre on June 17, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images for Focus Features)
Understand the Costs
Shipping costs are influenced by distance sending, the size and weight of your motorcycle, and the choice between open or enclosed transport. Other elements, like the time of year, can also affect the price. For instance, shipping during winter or holidays may be more expensive due to higher demand or more difficult weather conditions.
Make sure to get a detailed quote that outlines all fees. Some companies may offer lower initial quotes but add hidden charges later. Understanding the total cost upfront will help you avoid unexpected expenses. Consider additional insurance costs as well, especially if your motorcycle is particularly valuable.
Insurance Coverage
While most motorcycle shipping companies offer basic insurance as part of their service, it may not be enough to cover the full value of your bike, particularly if it’s a custom or high-end model. Before shipping, review the shipping company’s insurance policy to understand what’s covered in case of damage, loss, or theft during transport.
If the coverage is insufficient, you may want to purchase additional insurance for peace of mind. Also, document the condition of your motorcycle before shipping by taking detailed photos from multiple angles. This evidence can help you file a claim in the event of damage.
Prepare Your Motorcycle for Shipping
Properly preparing your motorcycle before it’s picked up for transport is crucial to ensure it arrives in the best possible condition. Start by cleaning your bike thoroughly so that it’s easier to spot any pre-existing damage. Take detailed photos, as mentioned earlier, to document its condition.
Next, remove any loose items or accessories, such as saddlebags or custom mirrors, that could get damaged during transport. You should also check for fluid leaks and ensure that the gas tank is no more than a quarter full. Lowering the fuel level helps reduce the weight of the motorcycle and mitigates the risk of leaks. Finally, check tire pressure and ensure the battery is fully charged.
Conclusion
Shipping a motorcycle across the U.S. can be a seamless process if you take the time to plan carefully and choose the right service. By considering factors such as the type of transport, cost, insurance, and preparation, you can ensure your motorcycle arrives safely at its destination. Ultimately, working with a reputable shipping company such as Shiply and preparing your bike correctly will give you peace of mind throughout the journey.
One of the most interesting and well-scripted films out now is “Heretic,” a horror/suspense thriller written and directed by the boys from Bettendorf (Iowa), Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who gave us “A Quiet Place” back in 2018. During my interview with them at SXSW on March 10, 2018, I wrote, “I’m predicting ‘A Quiet Place’ will take off like a rocket, helping Beck and Woods receive even more deserved recognition.” That prediction is holding up well with this third film from the dynamic duo. The film earned back its production costs in its first weekend. It was sitting at $22 million in revenue, worldwide, as of November 14, 2024 for a film that cost less than $10 million.
“Heretic” depicts two Mormon missionaries, Sister Paxton (Chloe East of “The Fabelmans”) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher of“Yellowjackets”) accepting an invitation to share their faith with a seemingly kindly older gentleman named Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant). He tells them his wife is busy in the kitchen baking a blueberry pie, when inviting them into his house. Since missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would not enter his small home if there were not a woman present to chaperone their discussion, the rest of the film becomes a game of cat-and-mouse, belief and disbelief, control of the two girls by a man who may or may not be diabolical.
(Left to Right) Scott Beck, Connie Wilson and Bryan Woods at SXSW (Austin, TX) on March 10, 2018.
When “A Quiet Place” opened SXSW in 2018, I interviewed Scott Beck & Bryan Woods in Austin. We talked about our mutual hometown area and how it contributed to the phenomenal success of creating “A Quiet Place” and then handing off their creation to John Krasinski (who contributed tothe script). Beck & Woods have moved on to give us another wildly original and well-plotted current film, “Heretic,” starring Hugh Grant. Two young female Mormon missionaries pay a call on Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) and place their lives in danger while discussing their faith.
Anyone who has seen “A Quiet Place” knows that, dialogue-wise, it is spare. The creatures might hear you and come for you, so mum’s the word. The 2023 sci-fi outing “25” that Beck & Woods did last, starring Adam Driver, was also more action, less talk. This one is dialogue heavy and Hugh Grant pulls it off beautifully.
Hugh Grant in “Heretic.”
SCRIPT
With “Heretic,” Beck & Woods have created an original script for a film that is a very in-depth talk about religion and life-after-death. It’s all couched within a horror movie concept. Talk—and deep concepts—dominate the movie. As Scott Beck told Matt Grobar of “Deadline”: “Heretic was something that Bryan and I had just been scratching at—the idea of religious ideologist Trojan horsing into a genre movie—for years and years.”
Bryan Woods: “We started writing the film 10 years ago, and got to the young missionaries meeting Mr. Reed. They sit down with him. Mr. Reed opens his mouth, and immediately we kind of stopped dead in our tracks, because he has a genius-level IQ. He has studied all the world’s religions, and we felt like we had not done that work yet. We’ve been interested in religion and cults our whole lives, but we hadn’t sat down and read the Quran or the Book of Mormon. We hadn’t filled our heads with enough information. So we spent the last decade just enriching our point of view—speaking with a lot of people, sitting down with missionaries, reading a lot of atheist thinkers and ingesting their points of view. The reason we picked up the script again and kept writing wasn’t so much that we reached a point of, ‘We did it! We’ve solved religion! or, ‘We’ve read enough to understand Mr. Reed.’ It was actually a confluence of personal and professional events.”
Woods said, “Every time we’d write a line, we’d have to stop and then go to Wikipedia to research something. It just felt inorganic, and so we did some fun research over the course of 10 years so that it could be a first language once we got further into writing Reed.” Woods told the “Hollywood Reporter” (David Brians, Nov. 9, 2024), “We also set out to make a movie that was deeply personal in terms of our relationship with the subject matter of belief and disbelief and what happens when you die. So, after pouring out all our neuroses and spilling our guts into this movie, it’s very exciting to see it connect with audiences, to say the least. We read interesting thinkers like Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins. It wasn’t rigorous research every night at the library, but we read a lot of atheist thinkers and contemporary philosophers, as well as holy books we’d never read like the Book of Mormon or the Quran, just so that it could be a first language once we got further into writing Reed.”
GENESIS
Sophie Thatcher & Chloe East in “Heretic.”
Sophie Thatcher (L) and Chloe East in “Heretic.”
Woods: “It was just in our lives we had hit this emotional low point where it seemed like everything was going wrong. At that low point, my father passed away unexpectedly from esophageal cancer…It was that kind of pain and depression. Confrontation with these large questions of, ‘What happens when you die? Is there something? Is there nothing?’ It was that moment where we were like, ‘It’s time to finally pick up the script and write it.’ Because we were feeling so raw emotionally. We always felt that “Heretic” needed to be one of those projects that’s just embarrassingly personal, and we’ve always dreamed of doing a movie like that. It was time to express all of our fears and anxiety about what happens when you die and the mystery of death. So that’s where it came from, and once we sat down to write the script in earnest, it just poured out of us.”
Scott Beck: “We wanted to swing in the opposite direction of “A Quiet Place” and “65”, two films that are void of dialogue and are straightforward thrillers. For “Heretic” it was all about how we could weaponize dialogue and ideas about theology to create something that hopefully feels as scary a ‘A Quiet Place.’ There’s a line in the movie that goes ‘The more you know, the less you know’ and the older we get (they are 40), we find ourselves gravitating to the philosophy that life is a mystery. And what happens when we die is the greatest mystery, but there’s something beautiful in not knowing. There’s something beautiful in the pursuit of the truth of knowing, while also embracing the fact that you won’t know until it’s too late.” As the young men pointed out in various interviews, almost every horror movie has fear of death as a catalyst and plot point.
The pair told the University of Iowa alumni magazine, “Every scary movie is about the same thing. It’s about our human fear of death and this question of what happens when you die. We wanted to turn that conversation that we’ve been having since we were eleven years old (when the pair began making small films in the Iowa Quad Cities) into a movie.”
Bryan Woods (left) and Scott Beck at SXSW in Austin (TX) on March 10, 2018.
FILM FINANCING
Scott Beck: “I think it’s our responsibility as filmmakers not only to think creatively about the story, but to think creatively about how do we get movies made in this landscape right now, especially coming from the viewpoint that we love movies that aren’t based on anything else and ostensibly are original stories. I think about ‘Heretic’ the same way I think about ‘A Quiet Place.’ When working on the script for these movies we didn’t think either were necessarily a home run, meaning we needed to protect ourselves to just have the means to make each movie. So each movie was written in the spirit of, can we make this for $50,000 in our home state of Iowa? And best case scenario, can we get it made at the studio level with proper resources? ‘Heretic’ was certainly something, because of the content of having a theological debate in the vessel of a thriller, that we felt it may not be a home run, But, if so, a home like A24 could incubate that in a responsible way, both creatively and financially. I think it’s in our interest, also, when creating these movies, to make sure that it feels like there’s a demand to see the movie in a theater. So, while certain people have compared ‘Heretic’ to a stage play, we’re very adamant about the fact that it’s a piece of cinema. (It should be noted that the pair now owns “The Last Picture House” theater in Davenport, Iowa, where “Heretic” premiered on November 8th with one of the film’s stars, Chloe East, in attendance.)
“The Last Picture House” in Davenport, Iowa.
Bryan Woods: “There is a conversation, though, right now, that we’re picking up on in movie culture right now, this feeling of, ‘Oh, if only movies were cheaper then they would be more financially responsible and, therefore, more successful.’ It’s an interesting question to be asking, but, also, we would caution against that a little bit because you do want to preserve this feeling of spectacle, this feeling of going to a theater and seeing something special. Big movies and studios that spend a lot of money on movies, that’s a great thing. I think what’s not a great thing is just how boring it’s all gotten. It’s gotten too easy to make white noise, and so taking risks on a big level, for us, it is a great thing.” Woods added, “With movies, they haven’t quite replicated that experiential feeling of going to a cinema, watching a piece of work with 200 strangers.” (to Matt Grobar, “Deadline”).
HUGH GRANT AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE GETS
“Heretic” movie poster
Scott Beck: “We feel like one of the movie’s secret weapons is Hugh Grant. Hugh Grant is an actor who has charmed worldwide audiences with his romantic comedies, and yet this movie, we kind of weaponize that good will that he’s formed with an audience. Partly because of that, the movie keeps you guessing. ‘Am I in a dangerous situation or am I just perceiving danger that’s not really there?’” Beck & Woods shared this marketing tactic with the University of Iowa alumni magazine in an interview. Grant, himself, during an appearance on ‘Late Night with Seth Meyer,’ said of this uncharacteristic role, “I spent months building up a huge biography for the character. I don’t know if it helps at all, but it seems to calm me down. It’s better than Lorazepam. He (Mr. Reed) is not exactly charming. What’s so fabulous about this is that it’s so different. What I was aiming for was a kind of groovy professor—a bit of a twat is the word. He’s a prankster who just, for some reason, is not very popular so he over-compensates by being a bit too fun.”
Chloe East (L) & Sophie Thatcher (R) in front of Mr. Reed’s (Hugh Grant’s) house.
Commenting on his co-stars, Chloe East as Sister Paxton and Sophie Thatcher as Sister Barnes on “Late Night,” Grant praised their performances, saying, “They are properly good and very three-dimensional and likeable. It could have happened that they came off as zealous Mormon boors.” As Beck & Woods have acknowledged, “Much of this movie is about dialogue and philosophical thoughts and ideas, a man who’s talking, almost mansplaining, but also two women who are trying to basically have a conversation between each other just on their faces. Learning about how much people say when they don’t say anything has always been a good tool to have in our writing toolbox.” The two told me back in 2018 that it was a class in American sign language on campus at the University of Iowa that sparked “A Quiet Place” and, once again, the 2007 graduates of the University of Iowa in communication studies credit a class they took at Iowa on nonverbal communication with helping to inspire their storytelling style. Both of the female leads grew up Mormon.
Both Steven Spielberg and Steven King have weighed in as admiring “Heretic.” Spielberg called up producer Stacey Sher, because Spielberg had cast Chloe in “The Fabelmans” and wanted to see where she had gone in her career. Beck & Woods asked Sher, producer of “Pulp Fiction,” to help them get permission to use all of the cultural touchstones they wanted in the movie, such as the rights disputes between Radiohead, Lana Del Rey and the Hollies. There were also references to games like Monopoly. Said Bryan Woods, “There was no back-up plan! We were terrified. When we wrote that scene, we were elated and so proud of it, but then that feeling was instantly followed by: ‘This will never get off the page. We will never get Monopoly cleared. We will never be able to air Radiohead’s dirty laundry.’ So it became a depressing moment, and that’s when you pick up the phone and you ask Stacey Sher to please help produce this movie with us. We asked her to help us do what felt like the impossible, which was get all of these pop cultural touchstones into the movie, so there was absolutely no back-up, and we were sweating it even up until three weeks ago. There was some last-minute wrangling about rights,” Bryan Woods told Brian Davids of “The Hollywood Reporter.”
OTHER CAST
Hugh Grant as Mr. Reed.
Chang-hoon Chung, the man who shot “The Handmaiden” and “Oldboy” did great work cinematically with the interior of the house. Topher Grant (“That 70s Show,” “BlacKkKlansman“) portrays Elder Kennedy. Also a huge help to the film’s success was Phil Messina, production designer and art director. Messina had worked on “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” (2013) and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” (2015) and “Mother” (2017). As Woods told Matt Grobar of “Deadline,” “We’re very visual writers, and I mean that literally. Like, our script for “A Quiet Place” had certain pages that were completely blank, and then just had one word on it to emphasize a certain sound effect, or would have images and diagrams to help sell the concept of a modern-day silent film. With “Heretic” we’re using the Monopoly board images in the script. We’re putting them in, how we see them all lay out. And to that end, the house layout as Scott and I are writing, we’re diagramming and drawing up the bad version of what the house looks like and how it connects. It’s funny. We write in a kind of dream logic, and there’s two of us. There’s two brains, and sometimes we wonder if we’re like right and left brain, and then the two of us equal one brain. It’s funny how, when we write, Scott will diagram something out. He’ll have a door be on the left side and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, interesting. I always saw it on the right side.’ So a big part of our process is drawing and diagramming so that we’re imagining the same movie. Then you bring in someone like Phil Messina and he elevates it and helps us clarify some of the dream logic.” The house is like a Mobius strip and plays an important role in the plot.
THE ENDING
Chloe East in “Heretic”
Chloe East as Sister Paxton in “Heretic.”
Beck: “How do we finalize this ending and communicate an ambiguity, but an intentional ambiguity, so that it can anchor in people’s interpretations of the movie, in terms of their relationship with either being religious or non-religious, and the way they see the world. The butterfly felt like it was a proper symbol for that.” The open-ended interpretation of what happens (or doesn’t happen) reminded me of “Twelve Monkeys,” which was able to be interpreted in more than one way and set off many discussions among fans and critics. The pair told CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg: “Well, the ending, the mark was always to present a larger question that’s a take home for the audience. Our ambition with this film is that it’s a conversational starter. Everybody has their own relationship to belief or disbelief, atheism, to being staunchly religious. And it felt like this movie, if anything, can hold a mirror up to the questions of like, ‘Why do we believe what we believe? How do we come to our own convictions?’ The end of the film presents, I think, that question in a very ambiguous way, but may be very overt. There can be three, four, five different interpretations of how you walk away from that movie. And the hope is that your interpretation of that reflects upon your own contradictions or your own reasonings to why you believe what you believe.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
“We have movies at different scales and passion will win out. And we love writing things that we don’t direct. So I hope it’s not going to be, we’ve got five great projects and only one of them comes to life. The next one we’re directing will probably be whatever scares us the most,” said Bryan Woods to “Deadline.” “We were terrified of making ‘Heretic’ because the whole conceptual framework of ‘Heretic’ is, can you replace the jump scare that we had been bored with and became our usual bag of tricks. Can you replace that with a philosophical idea? Can a line of dialogue about religion be just as scary as the monster that’s hiding under your bed? A movie that’s wall-to-wall talking, that’s still somehow engaging, felt really hard to do. So, I think whatever we do next is going to be something that we look and go, ‘This is insane. Nobody’s going to want to make this movie, especially us. That’ll probably be the one.”
Here are 5 more Oscar-eligible shorts in an attempt to acquaint audiences with some of the contenders for this year’s Academy Awards: “Moeder,” “Then Comes the Body,” “Fireline,” “Will I See You Again?” and “Sunflower.”
“Moeder”
– This 20 minute film, directed by Salomon Ligthelm focused on the deaths of 298 civilian passengers when the Russians shot down Malaysian Airlines MH17 on 7/17/2014. The flight, filled with civilians who were primarily Dutch citizens, was 50 kilometers from the Russian/Ukrainian border in Donetsk when a surface-to-air missile took it down, killing all aboard. Apparently, the Russians thought the plane might have arms or ammunition aboard, as it was close to the fighting. A phone from the plane fell to Earth and landed in the back yard of one of the locals. Vitalik Ivanov picks it up and hears a woman’s voice say (in Dutch), “Daniel, can you hear me?” The fellow who found the still operative phone (and the corpse?) of a Dutch victim in his back yard is a Rozspyne miner. He and his fellow miners are sent out into the fields to locate the bodies of the victims and to mark them with long white-flagged poles. The hero of this film finds a dying horse fatally wounded by falling debris. Vitalik has to finish the job the Russians started and dispatch the injured animal, which is traumatic for him. None of Vitalik’s co-workers (miners) are happy about being assigned this non-work-related task, either. One of them mutters, “We’re miners, not soldiers.”
“Moeder”
The landscape for all of this action is like a background for a Ukrainian Gothic portrait in the manner of American Gothic. It is a beautifully photographed bucolic, pastoral setting. In just the opening moments there is a shot of the miner, smoking, silhouetted in the frame of the back door of his home, a beautifully composed shot. Vitalik has just heard the sounds of bombs or falling debris hitting the ground. His wife (Yeva) says, “It sounded like the end of the world. And perhaps it was, for some.” The sound effects were exceptionally well-done. The couple is offered $100 for an interview. Yeva is pregnant. She says, “We can use the money.” Vitalik struggles unsuccessfully to remain composed throughout the interview. He ultimately translates a few Ukrainian words into Russian and sends the mother of the Dutch victim (“Moeder” translates to “Mother”) the bad news of her son’s death in his back yard, via the phone that fell from Flight MH17.This was a riveting, well-done, timely short. It made me feel even more concern for Ukraine after our November 5th Presidential election. The sound, cinematography, and acting were all top notch.
Nigerian ballet dancer dancing atop the roofs of busses.
Nigerian ballet dancers in “Then Comes the Body.”
“Then Comes the Body” – Jacob Krupnick has filmed the story of ballet in Nigeria. The enterprising individual who taught himself ballet from YouTube videos has founded a Nigerian Classical Ballet Company in Lagos, Nigeria, called Leap of Dance, to teach ballet to other Nigerian children. Daniel Owosoni Ajala has taught several talented Nigerian youth to dance, and they have become so good that other nations are offering them scholarships to study ballet in places like Belgium and South Africa. The film had its World Premiere at Tribeca in 2023, It had its International Premiere in Melbourne and its European Premiere at Cameraimage. It was named Best Short non-fiction and short shorts in Tokyo and Krupnick’s work became a viral sensation during the pandemic. The 14 minute, 44 second short had excellent sound, edited and mixed by Zach Egan, with a score by Martin Veloz. The primary dancers are Olamide Olarwe and Precious Duru. The film’s message: “First comes the heart; then comes the body.” That message has been my guide in selecting which of these 5 Oscar-eligible shorts is most impressive. “Then Comes the Body” has heart and plenty of it. The last few in this set of 5 films didn’t have as much “heart.” They were done well, but the top two had way more heart.
“Fireline” short.
3 inmate firefighters in “Fireline”
“Fireline” – “Fireline” was a 13 minute 23 second short about incarcerated firefighters. It was directed by Robin Takao D’Oench, a Japanese American writer/ director/ producer from NYC. Robin is a Film Independent Project Involve Directing Fellow and a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. These Wildland firefighters were photographed by Ming Jue Hu and the script was written and directed by Robin Takao D’oenoh. Lena Waithe(and 3 others) executive produced this story of Otto Reyes (Bobby Soto), an incarcerated inmate who has just learned that his request for parole has been denied. Not long after learning that he is not getting out of prison early, he and the others are called to go battle a fire. Joshua Caleb Johnson portrayed Shawn Davies and Fabian Alomar was Primo. Otto has secured an illegal cell phone, which he wants to use to call his daughter to wish her a happy birthday. The visual effects of a fire bearing down on the firefighters are excellent. It seemed very short in comparison to the others, which, in fact, it was. This film was presented at the Tribeca Film Festival and was part of the official selection at HollyShorts, and was made as part of Indeed’s Rising Voices program – an initiative set up to discover, invest in and share stories created by BIPOC filmmakers and storytellers. Rising Voices was created in collaboration with Lena Waithe, Hillman Grad Productions, Ventureland and 271 Films. “Fireline” has qualified to be considered for the 2025 Oscars®. Robin is a Film Independent Project Involve Directing Fellow and a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. The acting was fine. The special visual effects were better than in the Angelina Jolie 2021 film “Those Who Wished Me Dead” and on a par with 2018’s “Wildlife.” (Cary Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal).
Nick Wechsler as Paul Jensen.
“Will I See You Again?” – Michael Perez-Lindsey, a queer Mexican-American director, has helmed a well-acted vignette that depicts the funeral of a former friend that brings two former lovers back together after many years. The deceased friend, Jim Turner (Robert Okumu) has left an inheritance for the two former lovers, but they can only inherit it if they each answer 5 questions honestly while hooked up to lie detectors. [What could be unrealistic about that scenario—right?] The Black former lover is portrayed by Hosea Chanchez as Max Palmer. His former white love, Paul Jensen, is portrayed by Nick Wechsler. These two gave it their best shot, but the entire set-up seemed hokey, to me. The song that played at the end, performed by Jalen Ngonda, who co-wrote it with Mike Buckley, was similarly cheesy. It was a very Barry White-esque rendition of “Come Around and Love Me,” which seemed desperate. Having the two leads grasp each other’s fore-arms at film’s end (24 minutes 13 seconds) might have represented a happy ending, but the best way to sum up what was not working with this one would be to use the words of “Then Comes the Body”: “First comes the heart.” This one lacked a realistic premise. I don’t read (or write) heterosexual romances because they are too cheesy for my tastes, so I was not the right audience for this sentimental-but-unrealistic project. That said, it had a very professional sheen and the gay community certainly might enjoy the theme of reconciliation and love recovered despite 20 years of alienation.
“Sunflower” short
Sunflower – This 16 minute, 26 second short from Mateusz Balcerek was based on a true story about Danuta Gorecka, the director’s grandmother, and what happened to her during WWII in 1944 as a child. (Poland, Italy, the United Kingdom and the U.S.collaborated). The little girl who played Danuta (Martyna Zazula) was very cute and did a very credible acting job. She was told to hide under the bed while soldiers entered her home and shot her grandfather dead. There is another close call in the yard, when Danuta and her mother Alicia (Sylwia Boron) are almost apprehended while building something that I suspect was a coffin for the dead grandfather. The music by Roberto Mengoli was good. The Guildhall London Symphony Orchestra and the London Music Central Kids’ Choir performed beautifully. The motif of a sunflower (Slonecznik) used animation and repeated as a linking motif throughout the film.
From the opulent halls of traditional land-based casinos to the digital world of online casino for real money platforms, gambling has adapted to a massive change in the broader social change in technology and accessibility. This evolution translates to gambling taking center stage in global cinematic storytelling, an irresistible backdrop. The casino scene from Monte Carlo to the Las Vegas bright lights has kept filmmakers and audiences intrigued by these lights and their allure. Not only have these scenes helped fuel endless dramas and intrigues for some of the movies people most enjoy, but they’ve also made for some of the most memorable moments in the annals of movie history. We journey into some of these legendary movie moments located within casinos — diving into the magic and tension they add to the silver screen.
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
The casino in ‘Crazy Rich Asians from 2018 shows one of the most luxurious scenes of a glamorous place to be: the iconic Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and also where the film set it. This is an important scene, unfolding with a tense poker game that brings to life its understanding of the wealthy elite and their dynamic, simmering economy. The drama has the casino as its lavish setting, and the extravagance is emphasized as it defines the characters’ world. In reality, Singapore imposes tight restrictions on how Singaporeans can play, making gambling infinitely more complicated than it seems. Online casinos are becoming more popular. However, there is only one legal operator in the country, leaving those wishing to expand beyond that to offshore platforms. ‘Crazy Rich Asians remains a delightful romp through storytelling that surprisingly manages to weave in copious amounts of charm and humor.
Bond as the film franchise gets a 2006 rebrand with the rebooted installment, “Casino Royale,” a grittier and more visceral version of the international spy that impresses. The Casino Royale in Montenegro high stakes poker game serves as the centerpiece film for Bond’s development of character but is so much more than just a card game. In the tense, bluffing, strategic gambling landscape of such a battle between the terrorist financier Le Chiffre and Bond, much psychological struggle is being waged. A twist and turn in the game changes the series trajectory just as much as it does regarding the emotional stakes, which run as high as the financial ones. Sitting on top of the final poker scene of this one, this climactic scene doesn’t just provide the suspense; it also sets the tone for where the Bond series goes next — in that it’s more cerebral, as well as physical, which shapes the character for the new audience.
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Steven Soderbergh’s version of “Ocean’s Eleven” is famous for its glamorous, sophisticated casino scenes, capped by a fantastic Bellagio casino sequence. At the Bellagio with its famed fountains, the Bellagio’s heist is reached with its entire splendor as a team of suave con artists pulls off the job perfectly. The team comes together to watch the hypnotizing fountain show of Debussy’s “Clair de Lune.” The moment is something greater than pure visual spectacle, and it represents the team being cool as a cucumber and playing it artfully and precisely. The way this blends visual storytelling with a payoff on an emotional level is perfect; the film has charm and wit in perfect measures. This is a quintessential moment in cinema, playing out in one of the world’s most famous casinos within one of the most iconic settings.
Casino (1995)
The Monte Carlo Casino used in several James Bond films.
Best known for its depiction of casino life, Martin Scorse’s “Casino” (1995) features a scene that will be remembered — the floor show. In this scene, we see the delicate workings of a Las Vegas casino under the eye of Robert De Niro’s Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein. It describes how Ace runs the show, keeps the casino running, and skims off the money for the mob in the background. It is a powerful look at the glitz and gaudy underbelly Las Vegas wore during the 1970s and 1980s. The film’s attention to detail and powerful performances from Sharon Stone, including a Golden Globe for Best Actress, made the film famous to many. Other awards went to Stone, including an Oscar and a BAFTA, so the film is recognized as one of the best gambling-themed movies.
Maverick (1994)
Mel Gibson’s role in the 1994 Maverick movie is being celebrated, particularly for the climactic poker game on the riverboat Lauren Belle. The dramatic set piece at the heart of this scene pitches Maverick, a smooth card player and grifter, against various criminals as he endeavors to raise enough to buy a ticket to the high-dollar poker tournament. A classic Western comedy, as much as it’s a gambling boon, the scene proves Maverick deftly manipulates the deck to secure his victory. It looked better than most casino films, combining tension and humor in the manner only “Maverick” can weave.
Rain Man (1988)
Casino de Monte Carlo, featured in “Golden Eye.” (Photo by Connie Wilson).
One of cinema’s most iconic casino moments is when the 1988 film ‘Rain Man’ features a gut-wrenching blackjack session. Tom Cruise plays Charlie, the fraternal sibling of Raymond Babbitt (aka Dustin Hoffman), who has an extraordinary talent for counting cards: an autistic savant buffeted by peculiar behavior but blessed with an artful way to make bank. It’s more than just gameplay; it takes a peek at their relationship’s developing ebb and flow and how they work as a team to bring the odds against the casino. The heart-thumping tension only builds as Raymond’s uncanny sense of numbers turns a regular fish and chips into an unrepeatable cinematic masterpiece. A sequence of drama, strategic execution, and emotional flashback, the sequence is the depths of the bond that knits the siblings together in their common quest for success. Even today, it remains a visual illustration of the power of that film to convey the immediacy of pure sibling bonding even in a high-stakes world of casino gambling.
The Hangover (2009)
“The Hangover” won laughs in 2009 with its take on the casino movie genre, and Zach Galifianakis gives what is likely his most memorable performance as Alan. A quirky card-counting attempt at big-stakes action, Vegas-themed casino films can also be significant in a funny way. The film traces chaos after one of its friends has pilled poker chips, with a series of mischievous and hilarious adventures through Sin City. This comedic approach, combined with the casino movie pulling from an arsenal of traditionally tension-filled stories, makes this newest entry feel like a comedic departure from the status quo. This is a successful offer of a lighthearted but memorable version of casino antics, and it is a standout of sorts in this genre.
Robert Zemeckis often produces movies at the fore-front of technology (Back to the Future (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), The Polar Express (2004)). The Chicago native returned to his hometown for closing night of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival with “Here.” “Here” is also cinematically ground-breaking. Since the entire film is shot in the same living room from a single camera angle in the home of Alan and Rose Young (Rose and Al were the real first names of Zemeckis’ parentson the South side of Chicago), it is a multi-generational look at the Young family. Richard (Tom Hanks) and Margaret (Robin Wright), the reunited stars of Forrest Gump (1994), are the primary couple followed in the most depth.
A.I. DE-AGING
The A.I. de-aging (Metaphysic A.I.) really works well here. There were complaints when I first saw it used in Scorsese’s “The Irishman” in 2019. I heard none after “Here,” 5 years later. Zemeckis at age 72, with a career that began in 1972, has 35 films as director, nearly as many as writer, and 55 as producer. Other directors who started out in Chicago with their first films include Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Taylor Hackford and William Friedkin. Zemeckis is in storied company and this is another classic cinematic achievement in his long career.
ONE ROOM
The set of Robert Zemeckis’ “Here.”
“Here” is shot in one room from one camera angle. That sounds like a play, but picture-frame-like boxes are super-imposed on the screen at various points to depict other families in other eras who have lived in the same house. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Eric Roth and Zemeckis and told much in the style of the acclaimed graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based, the story travels through generations. Tom Hanks and Robin Wright are the primary stars of this tale of love, loss, laughter and life, all of which happen right “Here.” Because the camera is in one spot, at times the actors walk towards it like we might see television hosts on late-night talk shows walk up to the camera. It’s new and original. Like the split-screen technique (which I remember in 1968’s “The BostonStrangler” with Tony Curtis, although it was first used in “The Parent Trap” by Disney in 1961), I wouldn’t want to see every single film done this way, but when something works, it works. With Zemeckis at the helm, it worked in “Here.”
FOUNDERS AWARD
Director Robert Zemeckis (L) accepts the Founders’ Award from Michael Kutza (R), retired founder of the Chicago International Film Festival.
Zemeckis received the Founders’ Award from retired Chicago International Film Founder Michael Kutza, who started the festival in 1964. The award correctly applauded Zemeckis for his “impeccably crafted and deeply moving stories,” which includes the five mentioned above, as well as “Castaway,” “Flight,” “What Lies Beneath,” “Romancing the Stone” and a host of others. Zemeckis has directed three films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant: Back to the Future (1985), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Forrest Gump (1994).
DESCRIBING “HERE’S” UNIQUE STYLE
In presenting Zemeckis with the Founders’ Award, Michael Kutza declared “Here” to be Zemeckis’ “Lawrence of Arabia.” If that accolade doesn’t resonate with you, consider that the unusual original use of a picture-frame-like box, insert atop the screen highlights everything from the dinosaur age to the present, which keeps the audience from getting the sense of claustrophobia that some of us experienced in 2022’s “The Whale,” when Brendan Fraser’s character never left his living room. The boxed skipping to various generations prevents that. It also highlights, briefly, other families who have lived in the same house all the way back to the time of Benjamin Franklin. It is a little like thumbing through a photo book and recalling the moment in time when each was taken, or turning on the radio to hear a favorite tune that instantly takes you back to a specific time in your life.
The choice of moments to guide the audience was spot-on. We see the Three Stooges and Red Skelton on the living room television set. Jane Fonda is seen doing aerobics. The “Theme from a Summer Place” saturated the air waves in 1963. Margaret is wearing the “flip” hair-do when Richard takes her home to meet his parents, a 60s give-away. The news on the television set in the background tells us that the Japanese just bombed Pearl Harbor. Thanksgivings of yesteryear are revisited and there is even drama in the living room, from characters having medical emergencies, as there would be in a home occupied all the way back to Indian days in America. Out the picture window and across the street is a house where Benjamin Franklin once lived, so we can infer that this is Philadelphia. That East coast location is further borne out by the snow that periodically falls outside the window, most memorably during Richard’s apology to Margaret for basically ignoring her throughout their marriage. Zemeckis has said, “You can examine the truth about something that happened in the past, because you’ve been able to look at it through the prism of time.” And that is what “Here” is doing.
MUSIC
(L to R) Director Robert Zemeckis, CIFF founder Michael Kutza, Lesley Zemeckis and Zsa Zsa Zemeckis, at the closing night of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival screening of “Here.”
Alan Silvestri has worked on every Zemeckis film since “Romancing the Stone,” a 40-year partnership. The music in “Here” is wonderful and adds immeasurably to the film’s appeal. It is, once-again, Oscar-worthy. Silvestri has had 2 Oscar nominations (for Zemecki’s “Forrest Gump” in 1994 and for “The Polar Express” in 2004), 2 Golden Globe nominations, 3 Grammy and 2 Emmys. Silvestri at 74 and Zemeckis at 72 utilize their maturity in this film. They have lived life and can relate to the young wife or husband whose youthful dreams are dashed as real life happens while they’re making other plans.
THEMES
The life experiences of Richard and Margaret serve as a stand-in for those of us in the audience. Richard is a talented artist. In his youth, he wanted to attend school to become a graphic design artist. Instead, Margaret gets pregnant and Richard ends up selling insurance. Later, Margaret will ask Richard why he quit painting. He answers, “I had to make a living…Do you think I wanted to be done with my life when I was 22?”
Margaret always wanted to travel. She also wanted her own house, but ends up having to settle for living with her in-laws for many years. As old age takes its toll on Al and Rose, Richard and Margaret are called upon to help them, as family does. Any time Margaret brings up her desire for a house of her own, Richard will say that it is too expensive, to the point that Margaret eventually goes to work. To his credit, Richard does draw up house plans once, but, like everything else, those plans are pushed aside until later. As the script says, “You always find a reason not to do something.”
Richard will ultimately apologize for ignoring Margaret’s desires so many times over the years. (This was the second film at CIFF where husbands apologize to the wives they habitually ignored; the first was “Nightbitch.”) Among the truisms that will be articulated by a character or characters in the film are “Time flies” and “We did the best we could.” Satisfaction that their children are realizing their own dreams comes through in the voices of the proud parents when Vanessa (played by Zsa Zsa Zemeckis, Zemeckis’ real-life daughter) goes to law school and becomes an attorney.
CONCLUSION
Director Robert Zemeckis with his Founders’ Award at the closing night of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival on October 27, 2024.
In 2007 “Entertainment Weekly” magazine named Robert (Bob) Zemeckis Number 18 on its list of “the smartest people in Hollywood.” From his first start (with co-writer and collaborator Bob Gale) when they sold an episode of “Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Chopper (#1.15) in 1975, Zemeckis has experimented with digital movie-making (“The Polar Express,” 2004) saying, “I just love all types of movies, but I was especially interested in digital cinema. I was interested in films that could be done in digital.” On October 25, 2012, when Zemeckis came to Chicago to screen “Flight” (his 2nd showing in Chicago) he said, “All film techniques should disappear and be there to serve the characters and the story.”
Zemeckis has well-served the characters and the story in “Here” with this new film technique. The picture-frame technique and the improved de-aging were original, unique never-seen-before methods to create another iconic Zemeckis film. Miramax releases “Here” on November 1, 2024. It should attract fans of “Forrest Gump” and all other classic Zemeckis films.
“Blitz,” from British director Steve McQueen, depicts Londoners during the Blitz of World War II in 1940. The harrowing drama focuses on a young bi-racial boy (Elliott Heffernan) sent to the countryside by his mother (Saoirse Ronan) for safekeeping. Approximately 500,000 young children were sent to the countryside from London to protect them from the blitz. Young George Hanway, age 9, jumps off the train taking him to safety, and tries to return to his home in Stepney, Clifford Lane, and his piano-playing grandfather (Paul Weller) and his Mom. The blitz (short for “blitzkrieg”) took place from September of 1940 through May of 1941. Forty-three thousand civilians, primarily in London, were killed; that number represented half of Britain’s wartime civilian casualties.
GENESIS
I began wondering what caused Writer/Director Steve McQueen to go back in time, historically, and create such an accurate depiction of what it must have been like to live through the war-time bombing of London. Perhaps the germ of an idea came out of McQueen’s expressed wish to do with the city of London something similar to what Martin Scorsese has done with New York City? McQueen has a highly developed artistic background; it serves him well in “Blitz.” When asked about the inspiration for the film, he mentioned a picture he had seen of a small boy of the time being sent off to the countryside on July 5, 1940. It was this picture that guided much of the search for a young boy to play the lead role, as McQueen envisioned the blitz being seen through a child’s eyes.
July 5, 1940 British child being sent to the countryside for safety during the Blitz.
CAST
Elliott Heffernan was cast as that small child, the daughter of Rita Hanway (Saiorse Ronan), a white worker in the factory making bombs for Britain, and the son of an absent father from Grenada, who is deported, leaving nothing behind for his wife and child but a St. Christopher Medal given him by his own mother. McQueen has said, in other interviews, “To some extent he (Elliott Heffernan) carries this movie.” Elliott was 9 when filming began. “He was 8 when he auditioned,” says McQueen. “So he was a little boy, and he auditioned because he’d never done acting before. As soon as I saw him, I thought, ‘Oh, he is the truth!’ He wasn’t going to pretend to be a child. He was a child.” (“Deadline” interview).
Also carrying the movie and singing in it, as well, is Saiorse Ronan (“The Lovely Bones,” “Brooklyn,”“Atonement”). McQueen’s lead actress has two strong films out this year with “The Outrun” receiving Oscar buzz. Says McQueen of Saoirse Ronan, “She’s like Bette Davis. She’s that good.” He called her “interesting” and “fascinating. “She makes the ordinary extraordinary, the arbitrary fascinating.” The eyelash scene, where Rita asks George to “make a wish” on an eyelash plucked from his cheek was actually something that occurred naturally between Saiorse and Elliott while they were bonding between scenes. McQueen chose to take the normal gesture and use it prominently in the film.
MUSIC
For composer Hans Zimmer, this is a deeply personal movie. His mother was evacuated from Germany and spent the war years in London. He remembered her stories about living in Mayfair, with bombs dropping all around. Zimmer reflected on his childhood when composing the score. He constructed it from a child’s perspective of terror and chaos, opening with an orchestra of children’s recorders. Zimmer’s score for this film is mentioned as a probable Oscar nominee. There are also many period songs utilized in the film and much (too much?) singing.
Back in 2016, when McQueen received the Artistic Vision Award here in Chicago, he said, “Sound is so important in film. People need to lean in to listen. It gives them something to do”.
CAST BASED ON REAL PEOPLE
Leigh Gill (“Joker,” “Game of Thrones”) portrayed “Mickey the Midget,” a Jewish East ender, Mickey Davies, a local optician and community organizer who stepped up to help make the time spent underground in the subway more humane. (Buckets for rest rooms, foropeners.) There was a movement to memorialize Mickey IRL, but it died when Boris Johnson was Mayor of London.
Benjamin Clementine (“Dune: Part One”) portrays Ife, who was based on the real-life E.I. EKpenyon, who was a law student from Nigeria who became an air warden in Marleybone. Ife (translated as “love” in Nigeria) teaches George to sing “Alleluia” as George accompanies him on his route, telling the locals to honor the blackout during the blitz. [Like all the horror movies where you know it’s a bad sign when someone is going to go to the attic or the basement, the well-meaning promises that Ife makes to George about returning him to his home the next day seem based on shifting sand.]
Paul Weller (“Grosse Pointe Blank”), a true musician, plays Gerald, or Grand-dad, as he is called. McQueen said seeing a picture of Paul McCartney with his father and a piano in Paul McCartney’s original house triggered the selection and one of the more haunting images (spoiler alert) is of Grand-dad’s dead body after he becomes one of the victims of the blitz. The camera lingers on his face in the rubble.
There were two Black clubs in London at the time. One was the Shim-Sham and, on the Piccadilly side, there was the Café de Paris, which the locals frequented because it was below ground and, therefore, considered safer. Onscreen, the local bandleader, Ken “Snakehips” Johnson is well-played by a young Black man in a white tux and tails who introduces a stunning Black singer in a white dress who sings “Oh, Johnny.” (Both were impressive.) Sadly, two bombs entered the ventilation shaft to the underground club and a scene is set in the remains of the club that involves young George, which seemed to be reaching a bit in depicting the adventures of the 9-year-old.
PICARESQUE HERO
Young George, with his mother and grand-dad, as he is leaving for the countryside.
Filmed at 13 locations around England and London, McQueen has said of “Blitz,” “It’s a very dark fairy tale. It’s the Brothers Grimm. And that’s the journey George goes on.” In the English-speaking world, the term “picaresque” is used loosely to refer to novels that contain some elements of this genre; e.g. an episodic recounting of adventures on the road. An English Literature major, I recognized enough picaresque elements of “Blitz” to recognize that the term applies to the adventures that young George has while trying to return home. While some of the adventures held your interest—especially the accurate re-creations of such things as the flooding of the tube (which actuallyoccurred and killed 34 people)—having them ALL happen to George on his journey seemed a bit much. (Mid-film I wrote, “Film needs a bit more to sustain it when it’s simply George being taken advantage of.”)
CONCLUSION
Saiorse Ronan and co-star Elliott Heffernan in Blitz.
In some ways, the comparisons to “Belfast,” which opened the 58th Chicago International Film Festival, are valid. Both turn the clock back on time, although “Blitz” does so in a much more arresting style, visually. The opening scene alone, where an old-style leaky canvas firehose is proving almost impossible to control while fighting the fires in the streets of London, is riveting. Others along the way, especially the scenes of how life went down in the tube (subway) are equally mesmerizing.
The attempts to recognize real heroes like Mickey Davies and to preach a bit in one subway scene (“We are allequal members of this country, willing or not…Treat each other with compassion and respect.”), while laudable, come off a bit obvious to everything going down around us in the world today. We can applaud the message and hope that it is internalized by everyone, but, in this country, at least, we are about to go to the polls to vote for a new President, and one of the candidates has made a mockery of that message. One critic used an expression “muffled by good intentions,” which applies, but even more than that, there was something so old-fashioned about the film that it surprised me it was a Steve McQueen film.
The movie opens in theaters on November 1st and will be streaming on Apple by November 22nd. There is also an Apple special that is a “behind-the-scenes” look at the making of “Blitz” that should be truly entertaining, just as researching some of the real-life background for the film proved to be.
It’s a powerful film. It will resonate with anyone who hopes we learn from the mistakes of our past and forge better paths to peace.
