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drama

È Stata La Mano Di Dio – Paolo Sorrentino (2021)

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There proved to be some productions of Sorrentino on Netflix. I am now watching the “Young Pope” series, which appears to be followed by a “New Pope” series, so I more or less expected “Hand Of God” to somehow belong to that ‘cluster’. That turned out to be wrong.

“Hand Of God” is a drama playing in Italy, spoken in Italian too, about an extended family in Napoli in the time of the heydays of Diego Maradona. Sorrentino shows the sensual and spirited life of Napels with soccer crazy and sun-loving people who like some family members and continuously scorn others.

As we are used to from Sorrentino, the camera work is beautiful and the film contains both chuckles and drama. Story wise, “Hand Of God” is mostly a short period in the ordinary life of a group of Italians.

Byzantium – Neil Jordan (2012)

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The cover suggests (to me at least) more of a sci-fi or perhaps an “Enter The Void” drama, but “Byzantium” is actually much more like “Only Lovers Left Alive“: a slow and minimalist vampire drama.

Eleanor is a very exuberant woman who has no problems with making money by prostituting herself. Clara is the complete opposite. Still the two have been together for a long time. A long, long time as the viewer soon finds out.

In flashbacks Jordan tells the story of the two women and other characters they have encountered in their lives. Of course the past catches up with Eleanor and Clara to bring some tension to the film.

“Byzantium” is an alright drama with thriller elements.

Gypsy (series) – Lisa Rubin (2017)

The ever beautiful Naomi Watts (1968-) plays Jean Holloway, a therapist who has ‘it all’ in life. She is married to a loving lawyer husband. The couple has a big house, a kid, etc. Yet, Jean seems to long for a little adventure in her life.

She starts to look at the other sides of her patients’ stories. One woman keeps talking about her daughter, so Jean sets out to meet her. The same with the ex girlfriend of another patient. Jean also manipulates her reports for work and as her indiscretions start to conflict with her ‘perfect life’, she starts lying to colleagues, husband and friends.

Rubin turned the story into a quite intimate look into the life of Jean. Bathroom shots, her getting ready to go out, masturbating to a fantasy, Watts pulls it all off wonderfully.

Then there is the story to which I think many people can relate. Life can be ‘perfect’, but perfect is also boring. Jean starts to lead two lives. In one she is a reckless woman pushing her boundaries. In the other she tries to be the good wife, mother, friend and colleague. Of course these two worlds cannot remain entirely separate.

The whole series the question lingers: why would she risk her life for fairly flat adventure? The answer is simple: she does not know. Do we always know why we like the things we like, do the things we do? Do we have to rationalise everything? Perhaps Jean should have started doing that at some point.

In any case, “Gypsy” (I have no idea what the title alludes to) is a descent drama series of 10 episodes about fairly day-to-day events and with a wee bit of thriller elements.

Sound Of Metal – Darius Marder (2019)

  • drama

Ruben and Lou are a couple who also form a band. “Heavy metal” according to the blurb, but I would rather call it “noise rock”. Ruben plays drums, his girlfriend guitar and vocals, a bit in the “nowave” style.

Ruben notices dips in his hearing and they become worse. While touring in their massive camper (RV) Ruben leaves Lou out of his decision to see a doctor. He hears nothing of what the good man says, except that there is a very costly operation that involves implants.

Things get worse and Ruben can no longer leave out Lou. With the help of their manager, Lou ends up in a community of deaf people which aims as accepting the situation (and teaching basic things such as sign language) and not at the problem. This works alright for a while, but Ruben keeps seeing his condition as something that can be, and has to be, fixed.

“Sound Of Metal” is an alright drama which shows a bit of the side of people with hearing impairment. Muffled sounds, no sound at all, sudden spikes, people chatting at a table without being able to make anything from the conversations.

Once Upon A Time In America – Sergio Leone (1984)

Trying to find good films on Netflix, I found an IMDb list with high rated films on Netflix. Of course not all of those are available on Netflix in my country. Also of course, this mostly concerns ‘classics’ and that is exactly what “Once Upon…” is.

In a massive length of almost four hours, the story is told of a group of Jewish criminals in New York who work themselves up from petty criminals to big maffia shots. From the start the group had competition and in this line of ‘work’, competition is a treat.

In a slow pace with quite a cast, Leone tells the story while jumping back and forth in time. The film begins with a violent settlement of business. In the following hours we learn about “Noodles” (Robert de Niro), Max (James Woods), their buddies and their foes.

Of course something happened that triggered the violence, but things are not as they initially seem. Having to come back at the events of 35 years ago, the actual story slowly unfolds for the viewer.

“Once Upon A Time In America” is a descent maffia drama with a few violent outbursts.

Knightfall (series) – Handfield & Rayner (2017-2019)

The story of the Knights Templar in a somewhat historical manner.

We mostly follow Landry who quite against his own will, becomes the master Templar of the Paris temple when his predecessor dies. The first season is mostly about Landry looking for the Holy Grail that the Templars lost during a lost battle at Akko in 1291. During that battle the grail was lost, but it appears to have resurfaced in France.

Landry is a friend to the King of France (Philip IV 1268-1314), but also the lover the the king’s wife (Joan I of Navarre (1273-1305) which is basically the start of a lot of problems.

In spite of the lost battle of Akko, the Templar Knights thrive under the protection of the Pope and the King of France, but raptures start to appear in the relationship. First, the King of France is after the Grail as well, thinking it would increase his power. To obtain that power, he first sets up the Pope (Boniface III 1230-1303) against the Templar Knights and then even replaces the Pope with Clement V (1264-1314). Both Popes, especially the former, have their own agendas of course.

The series make a drama with love, drama, brotherhood, honour, fighting and battle scenes and a lot of intrigue. Here and there there are historical elements, but do not see the series as a history lesson.

Of course the Templar Knights eventually loose their organisation and their lives, but not without a fight.

Not boring, but not great either.

The Life Of David Gale – Alan Parker (2003)

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Just as other Parker films, “The Life Of David Gale” is a fairly ‘normal’ (as in big audience TV movie) but good film.

David Gale (Kevin Spacey) from the title is a lauded philosophy professor who is also an activist against the death penalty. Two major incidents turn his life into a nightmare. First he is accused of sexually abusing one of his students. Later he is accused of murder. Gale ends up on death row himself.

Days before his execution, Gale asks for the young reporter Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet) for an interview about his life. Of course during the three days with two hour interviews all kinds of old and new information turns up and Bloom and her colleague investigate things further. Is Gale innocent?

The story has a few twists and turns which are sometimes well done, sometimes a bit predictable. All in all the film is a descent “whodunnit” drama.

Prisoners – Denis Villeneuve (2013)

I am afraid that once more I have to disagree with the majority on a Villeneuve. “Prisoners” currently has an 8.1 rating on IMDb.com. I have to say: not by far…

In a small American town two little girls disappear while playing outside when their parents have a mutual Thanksgiving. After some searching the police is called in and soon there is a suspect. Detective Loki is not 100% sure, but his boss even less so, so the suspect is set free.

One of the fathers sets out for his own investigations, but he is a wee bit too fanatical.

Of course there have to be some new suspects every now and then (one practically drops out of the sky and disappears again) all to work towards the grand reveal which is a bit… uninteresting.

The film has an alright atmosphere, a bit of a thriller/drama, but I really cannot say that it is very good.

The Lost Daughter – Maggie Gyllenhaal (2021)

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In Gyllenhaal’s full length directing debut, we follow Leda, played by Olivia Colman. Colman played in films of Yorgos Lanthimos, so you know it has not to be too straight forward.

Leda is a literary professor who goes on a working holiday by herself. In a tiny beach community, Leda observes the locals and feels for a young woman struggling with mothership. This reminds of her own struggles over two decades earlier and in flash backs we also get that side of the story.

Leda is initially somewhat distant from the villagers, but she grows some sort of bond with some of them. Apparently this is not to everybody’s liking.

“The Lost Daughter” is a slow and minimalist drama without a big story, but more a look at how people are just people who do not always know why they do the things that they do. This makes an alright drama.

Rocketman – Dexter Fletcher (2019)

Elton John (1947-) walks into an AA meeting in an angel/devil suit and starts telling is biography. Reginald Kenneth Dwight is portrayed as an insecure, somewhat awkward kid with unsupportive parents. Also he proves to be a musical prodigy being able to play on a piano whatever he hears.

His father was a lover of jazz, but Reginalds musical interests spread out further. As soon as he has had some piano lessons he starts playing in soul groups, but he also picks up a taste for rock’n’roll.

As his artistic star rises, Dwight starts to develop further insecurities because of his sexual orientation, in spite of often being in surroundings that have no problems with homosexuality. The more famous Elton John becomes and the more insecure he becomes, the more flamboyant his appearance becomes and so grows the Elton John as we know him.

The film is a drama with -of course- quite some music. Also there are musical scenes. I am obviously not too familiar with Johns music as I did not know much of the music from the film.

The film is very personal and up close, especially for an artist that is still among the living. Only in the closing titles did I see that Elton John himself produced the film. Apparently he wanted to get his own version of his live out before it is too late. One of the tag lines for the film is “based on a true fantasy”, so it surely must be Johns own version.

The film is an alright watch. It provides a nice peek into the colourful world of especially 1970’ies music business.