Category Archives: Reviews

Hearts Versus Skins

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depravingly What do you call a movie that is so well-meaning it’s hard to criticize, yet so sporadic in execution it’s hard to be effusive? In this case, you call it Skin in the Game, a nobly-intended thriller about human trafficking that tackles an issue long deserving big-screen Hollywood treatment, but undercut by tropes that veer it into TV crime territory.

“Inspired by true events,” as the film pointedly notes, Skin has the difficult task of spotlighting a vital social topic without descending into exploitative sex and violence . And for the most part, it succeeds, but the low-budget movie occasionally resembles an episode of Law & Order: Vigilante Unit, with cardboard villains and little character arc.

Directed by first-time filmmaker Adisa and written by Steven Palmer, Skin takes a topic Hollywood typically relegates to impoverished nations and brings it stateside, in this case Los Angeles. We are introduced to Lena (Erica Ash), a former prostitute who has turned her life around by dedicating herself to helping abused women out of the sex trade business.

It’s a strong intro, and perhaps the best scene of the movie. Lena, called to a seedy hotel to retrieve a prostitute from an abusive pimp, sets the film’s tone immediately: the language is rough, vulgar, misogynistic and authentic. Violence is to be accepted, not avoided, and Lena’s understanding of that world saves the young woman’s life. It’s an effective prelude to the world we assume we’re about to enter.

Suddenly, however, that tenor changes into a buddy cop thriller when 15-year-old Dani (Sammi Hanratty) is abducted in broad daylight off a suburban sidewalk and finds herself immersed in the human trafficking underworld. To Skin‘s credit, the film takes care to show multiple angles of the trafficking plague, from criminals to victims to the cops trying to sort one from the other. Skin also emphasizes that women can victimize, too; Dani finds herself in a prostitution ring led by the ruthless Eve (Angelica Celaya), a character so vile she’d make a good Bond villain.

After learning police cannot act on a missing persons report for at least 24 hours, Lena and Dani’s mother Sharon (Elisabeth Harnois) take matters into their own hands, triggering the movie’s unsteadiest moments. The women comb the streets like veteran detectives, banter like buddy cops, and threaten to kill uncooperative suspects with a gusto that would make Charles Bronson proud.

Alas, what Skin needs is more humanization. The film explains that Lena and Sharon were once close friends (Lena is Dani’s godmother), but never reveals the fracture that ended the friendship and kept them from talking for years. The film is also strangely lit, sometimes as artificially brightened as a prime time TV show; Skin oddly rejects the use of much shadow for a story about the shadowy world of sex trafficking. And “inspired by true events” is too vague here, particularly for a film on this issue: we get no epilogue about the characters portrayed, their fates, or whether they were even real.

Still, it’s Ash (Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse) who keeps the film propelled and, at times, even riveting. Lena is utterly believable as a woman who entered prostitution unwillingly and paid the price for leaving the profession. She keeps joints in a cigarette case and gumption in her heart; her tough questioning of former colleagues and employers gives Skin its heart, even if it is an occasionally melodramatic one.

steaming Skin in the Game is hardly going to set the standard for human trafficking films. But given the rarity of movies on the issue, particularly in the U.S., setting the standard may be less important than setting precedent.

Broken or Intentionally Busted?

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It’s can be difficult to watch When They See Us, but it’s certainly not for lack of craftsmanship.  Ava DuVernay’s  direction and writing pulls no punches in laying out the harrowing events endured by the Central Park Five while adding a necessary layer of humanity to their story that challenges viewers to reconsider what it means to find justice in America. This story has never lacked for attention, by media and director Ken Burns, but See brings a heretofore unseen personal side of the tragedy.

In April 1989, five teenagers (four black and one Hispanic) were arrested for the rape and near-fatal assault of a wealthy, young white woman in New York’s Central Park. The victim, Trisha Meili, has no memory of that night. Although there was no physical evidence linking the boys to the attack, Raymond Santana, 14; Kevin Richardson, 14; Yusuf Salaam, 15; Antron McCray, 15; and Korey Wise, 16, were all convicted of the crime. The real identities of all involved were subsumed by the case: Meili became “the Central Park Jogger,” while the boys became “the Central Park Five.” Image result for when they see us

This devastating miniseries restores the individual humanity to the six vulnerable humans at the center of the case. Written and directed by DuVernay, the fact-based Netflix miniseries reveals how the teenagers became pawns in a bigger game. The first episode shows how regular teen lives are destroyed by a simple a decision to go to a park. And we see police coerce confessions from scared kids who just want to go home.

In subsequent episodes, we watch as media create a narrative in which black kids from “a world of crack, welfare, guns” are driven to random attacks on white people, “wilding.” We see the shock on the face of one boy’s mother when she learns that Donald Trump has taken out full-page ads in four newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty. Final episodes take us through the brutality of prison time and the grim reality of life as an ex-con.

If those boys had been executed as Trump wanted, they would never have lived to see serial rapist Matias Reyes confess to the crime (providing case-clinching DNA) in 2002, or receive the $41 million legal settlement that Trump has called a “heist.”Related image

In an age of fast-paced, plot-twisting crime TV, the macabre momentum of this series feels agonizingly unstoppable at times: If Netflix’s Making a Murderer taught us anything, it’s the grim, sometimes illegal, measures police will take to make an arrest. And that sometimes slows See too much.

But if there are few shocks in See, DuVernay’s respect for the physical and emotional toll on the kids carry surprising power, even for a media-saturated story. You want to cheer when the wrongful convictions are vacated. But the sight of the now-grown men returning to their childhood bedrooms seems a hollow triumph. Ultimately, See underscores the unsettling question about relationships between police and minority communities: Is the system broken, or is it acting just as it was designed?

 

No one Knows Who They Were, or What They Were Doing

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You’d be forgiven if you didn’t know the music band Bros. In the late 1980s, Bros were the hottest act in British pop. The twin brothers played to sold-out concerts, top ten chart hits and the undying devotion of screaming, swooning fans, dubbed “Brosettes.” Though they enjoyed Beatle-like mania, Matt and Luke Goss called it quits in 1992, refusing to speak for 27 years.

But as any good rock doc knows, no reunion is out of the question. And this documentary offers an all-access pass during the countdown to the Bros reunion concert of 2017. But make no mistake: This is no Behind the Music TV rockumentary. Bros can’t help but focus on the toxic relationship between brothers who sometimes make Cain And Abel seem like best pals. Original fans of the duo will be riveted, but even casual music fans will recognize this is more a story about sibling rivalry.Image result for when the screaming stops movie

The title is taken from a question posed to the brothers by the late British television presenter Terry Wogan: What would become of duo “after the screaming stops?” They found out sooner than either expected. In the weeks after of Bros’ biggest hits, drummer Luke Goss moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, making appearances in Blade 2, Hellboy 2 and others. Singer and musician Matt Goss pursued a solo career, undertaking lengthy residencies at Las Vegas hot spots including Caesars Palace.

The decision to reunite for an epic concert at the O2 arena in Britain seems motivated by both professional pride and personal demons. The ticking clock to the big day gives the film structure and tension as archive footage of past concerts is paired with confessional interviews. The brothers are generally interviewed individually, and in that solitude both reveal all manner of insecurities, musical and familial.

Like the group Wham!, Bros resent that the British press never took them seriously. Despite being the front man, Matt appears to be the most volatile and vulnerable, lamenting the distance between him and his brother. He also gives Bros its occasional This is Spinal Tap-esque humor. “You need to be on the same page, otherwise you don’t get to turn the page, “ he declares.

There is also a Spinal Tap element to the tempers and tantrums. Rehearsals are as mesmerizing as slow-motion car crashes as the brothers clash. Bros’ success at times seems nothing short of miraculous, given the brothers often can’t seem to bear being in the same room together.Image result for when the screaming stops movie

The tension ratchets up as drummer Luke grows frustrated that his viewpoint takes a backseat to his brothers (sometimes tearful) antics. Bros doesn’t shy away from the warts-and-all candor of their arguments. We revisit the death of their parents and odd reality of being a world celebrity in your 20’s. Credit After The Screaming Stops for aiming to be more than a promotional tour for  a comeback record.

Like Spinal Tap, if Bros‘ deserves any feedback, it’s for a lack of context. There are no interviews about why the brothers became so big or what make their songs so popular. The film opts not to interview any musical media or academia for insight.

But the comparison with Spinal Tap stops about there. Far from being a mockumentary, Bros is a serious look at fame’s effect both on youth and music, and whether it’s doing either any favors. When it gets off stage, away from the lights and stage bravado, Bros can crank to 11.