Roma (2018)

Director: Alfonso Cuarón. Cast: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Diego Cortina Autrey. 135 min. Rated R. Mexico/USA. Drama.

The story of a maid (has anyone ever checked how she's doing?), in an affluent family, in Mexico. Pan shots (lots of pan shots) show this young maid, how she holds the family together, but is always in the corner, always in the background, without anybody acknowledging her existence, her qualms, her fight for survival. Alfonso Cuarón's most recent masterpiece (Gravity, Children of Men) had numerous moments that kept me thinking for days - culminating in an unbelievable beach sequence that defies you to hold back tears. Are we having a Mexican sweep at the Oscars again this year?

PS: Available on Netflix. Don't miss it.

Mo says:

MoMagic!

Cold War (Zimna wojna) (2018)

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski. Cast: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot. 88 min. Rated R. Poland/UK/France. Drama/Romance.

A music instructor and a fledgling singer meet in post-War Poland, and continue following each other, impossibly, from country to country to country. By the director of Ida, the strongest component here is the same that made the Oscar-winning Ida memorable: the deep, stark black-and-white photography (not even cinematography; the still images here are photography). And while the story has merits on its own, it would be difficult for me to grant a high score to a movie exactly for the same reason a filmmaker (in my worldview) scored on his prior endeavor. Hence ... the SoSo.

Mo says:

I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère) (2009)

Director: Xavier Dolan. Cast: Anne Dorval, Xavier Dolan, François Arnaud. 96 min. Not Rated. Canada. Drama.

Dolan stars in his semi-autobiographical directorial debut, a movie about a concept he later perfected in Mommy: his love-hate relationship with his mother. The curious element is the film's title - if he'd truly killed his mother, this couldn't have been made, right? But the astonishing aspect, is how a 20-year-old newcomer incorporated stellar acting, wise camera angles and editing, and a perfect soundtrack, into a mature, professional film that rivals the career of many old-timers. Watch this and feel guilty about what you were doing when you were 20 years old.

PS: Thanks for the recommendation, Atoosa! Made me want to seek out Dolan's more recent Cannes winner, It's Only the End of the World.

Mo says:

Aquaman (2018)

Director: James Wan. Cast: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison. 143 min. Rated PG-13. Australia/USA. Fantasy/Action.


DO NOT WATCH THIS ON A SMALL SCREEN.

The larger the screen, the better. IMAX is ideal.

That's all I'll say, because that's what this movie is all about.

Mo says:

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Director(s): Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey. Voices: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Lily Tomlin, Zoë Kravitz, Nicolas Cage, Liev Schreiber, Chris Pine. 117 min. Rated PG. Animation.

A Spider-man with a Black dad and a Latino mom - so via animation, we're already setting up examples to expand the Hollywood hero territory into minority domain; namely, preparing the audience for a gay superhero someday, or even, a Jane Bond. But the fact that Spider-man is a dark-skinned teenage superhero here isn't just a device for political-correctness; this is a spectacularly dazzling animation that seamlessly blends African-American culture into the superhero genre. I rarely recommend a movie to be seen in 3D, but this is one of them. 

Mo says:

The Wild Pear Tree (Ahlat Agaci) (2018)

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Cast: Dogu Demirkol, Murat Cemcir, Bennu Yildirimlar. 188 min. Turkey/Republic of Macedonia/France/Germany/Bosnia and Herzegovina/Bulgaria/Sweden. Drama.

Another long movie, by award-winning Turkish director, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, about a self-righteous young man who thinks he's seen them all and knows them all (like we all used to), but is in for a very harsh lesson. Ceylan's recent boasts neither the originality of his Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, nor the intensity of Winter Sleep. It felt as though the director had lost his magic touch, and while I was interested in what went on in each long scene, wasn't as much in the grand whole. Curious how fast the man's style has died out on me.

Mo says:

Everybody Knows (Todos lo saben) (2018)

Director: Asghar Farhadi. Cast: Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Ricardo Darín. 132 min. Rated R. Spain/France/Italy. Drama.

Farhadi goes to Spain and employs the Oscar-winning superstar couple (Cruz-Bardem) to establish the same structure he built for About Elly: after a prolonged family/friend get-together (this time, a wedding), a young female goes missing. This hurls the family into disarray, lies are told, scandals are discovered, and after awhile, the disappearance becomes secondary. While Everybody Knows is engaging, I found About Elly a more tightly written script, with a tenser atmosphere, and a less predictable ending. Still, worth the ride.

Mo says:

The Hate U Give (2018)

Director: George Tillman Jr. Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Anthony Mackie, Common. 133 min. Rated R. Drama/Crime.

A rare film that forces you to become an African-American teenager in America. The "talk" your dad gives you on how to handle bogus police arrests, the dual life you lead to masquerade among white Americans, the blind eye you turn away from the blatant racism disguised as political correctness, every single day, just to survive "the democracy". As such, this movie becomes very hard to watch at times, because the empathy hurts. And when the story climax becomes the actual cinematic transliteration of Tupac's words (The Hate U Gave Little Infants F*cks Everybody - THUG LIFE), you'd rather stop watching.

Mo says:

The Equalizer 2 (2018)

Director: Antoine Fuqua. Cast: Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Ashton Sanders, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Sakina Jaffrey. 121 min. Rated R. Action/Crime.

A collection of short stories told in parallel, devoid of any connection to one another - just that one is longer and becomes the main one. Otherwise, again we have Denzel in the omniscient/omnipotent superhero role, waiting in the shadows for his moment (this time as a Lyft driver), with a supposedly surprise villain spotted from a mile away (a far cry from the original's), and Bill Pullman repeating his throwaway loser role as the husband of the strong-willed Melissa Leo (where did the actor go anyway?). While hoping for a third installment, the second is obviously a mashed-up dud.

Mo says:

The Equalizer (2014)

Director: Antoine Fuqua. Cast: Denzel Washington, Marton Csokas, Chloë Grace Moretz, David Harbour, Haley Bennett, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo. 131 min. Rated R. Action/Crime.

A movie that knows exactly what it wants, and delivers it. Washington plays "the Man", a role only McQueen or Newman used to handle; the cool, suave avenger with a stare that kills and skills that deliver vigilante justice. Add to that one of the most ruthless and cunning villains of recent memory, and you have an engrossing action movie that comes along only every few years. And who knew Home Depot could act as the most advanced armory of stealth weapons? Fuqua has become the auteur of great crime movies among lower socioeconomics - a Spike Lee/Michael Mann combo.

PS: Thank you, Mohammad Reza I., for the recommendation!

Mo says: