End of Year MOVIE JOURNAL 2020

[Chris Knipp]

BAD EUCATION (Cory Finley 2020). The THOROUGHBREDS director's 2nd feature is an HBO movie about the true larceny scandal of the Rosyln Long Island school district in the early 2000's when superintendent Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman)and the schools' business administrator, Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney) stole $11.2 million from the district to live high while running schools that provided top quality education and got grads into the best colleges. It's a paradoxical, creepy slow burner about corruption and deception. It's good and rather unique, if not great, with excellent leads. Mike Makowsky, who was in Rosyln middle school at the time, wrote the screenplay. Emmy for best TV prime time TV movie, Jackman nominated for best actor; other nominations and awards. Another one I learned about late: on US TV in Apr. 2020. Watched Dec. 24. Metascore: 79%.

[Chris Knipp]

A SUN (Chung Mong-hong 2019). Watched this because on the Variety Best Films of 2020 it was no. 1 on Peter Debruge's list. It's an intense story of a family with deep conflicts, especially a man's deep rejection of his delinqient son when he goes to jail. The mother is the one who has to face the family issues head-on and achieve some kind of wholeness. In an informative review in the Taipei Times Han Cheung writes that this is a common Taiwanese dynamic, and I concluded perhaps that's the problem: Chung speaks profoundly to Taiwanese experience but it's not universal. In any case the film didn't resonate deeply with me despite its intensity and 2 1/2-hour length. But I think it is also just the timing and context. Had I had time and other positive introductions to it, I might have opened to the film more, and A SUN should be seen by serious fans of Asian film. No Metascore. Watched Netflix Dec. 15.

[Chris Knipp]

THE DISSIDENT (Bryan Fogel 2020) Definitive documentary of the life and death of the Saudi journalist and Washington Post correspondent Jamal Khashoggi. He was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul where he went to get papers for his upcoming wedding. The Turkish police at the highest level investigated and present full details of what they found. It has been all but traced to the charismatic but dubious current ruler of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed bin Salman ("MBS"), which whom the US and Trump have been very uncritically friendly for a despot whose liberalizations have been only skin deep. Khashoggi's fiancée has become one of his champions. Important story, excellent film but standard documentary style. Release on the internet Dec. 25. Metascore: 83.

[Chris Knipp]

WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Marielle Heller 2020). Reproduces a recent Broadway production, as happened this year also with HAMILTON and DAVID BYRNE'S AMERICAN UTOPIA, but this one by Heidi Schreck, being on Amazon, may be easier to access and lose less. Schreck shows how she has found through personal suffering that the Constitution does not protect women and is designed for, as well as by, white males. Like a balls-out high school class by a dramatically gifted, committed feminist teacher. Might arouse more thought about the US Constitution than usual. Did not move me much though. It's mainly didactic. Metascore 87% means critrics agree with the feminist politics, not that this is a work of art. Watched on Amazon Dec. 26.

[Chris Knipp]

KAJILLIONAIRE (Miranda July 2020). On ten best lists so I wanted to see it. A grifter family trio meets a cheery Hispanic woman on a plane and the dynamic is forever changed. July's offbeat deprssiveness in her two previous features didn't appeal to me. This is weirder, maybe edgier, maybe self aware as to her excessive proclivity for whimsy. With Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, and Debra Winger. The grifting and the people are so low energy this made me really want to enjoy Stephen Frears' great THE GRIFTERS again. On YouTube and other platforms now. Watched Dec. 26. Metascore 78%.

[Chris Knipp]

THE HALF OF IT (Alice Wu 2020). A 15-years-later followup to Wu's debut film, SAVING FACE, it's a Cyrano story set at in high school in a remote Wash. state town. The spokesperson for the inarticulate, sweet football hunk Paulie (Daniel Diemer) who's in love with Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire) is small, smart, gay Chinese American Ellie Chu (eah Lewis), who's also in love with Aster. But a beautiful friendship between Ellie and Paul grow up. A conventional feel-good story which yet breaks new ground and is smart, it was on Variety's "The Best Under-the-Radar Films of 2020" list. Netflix, Dec. 27. Metascore: 74%.

[Chris Knipp]

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD (Armando Iannucci 2019) Armando Iannucci (THE THICK OF IT, THE DEATH OF STALIN) has done a multi-racial, free but period recreation of Dickens' own favorite and acknowledged most popular novel that's free and radical, yet light and easy to take. Dev Patel plays David Copperfield, and their are other Asian, Black, and Indian cast members but no notice is taken of them. The action is simplified and speeded up, but the movie is true to the spirit of the original. Very enjoyable if you don't expect too much of it. And there haven't been as many DAVID COPPERFIELDS made for the big screen as you'd expect. Very visual. Metascore: 77%.