Stories about individuals who differ from the traditionally imposed norms of behavior | PIOTR GZOWSKI
The problem with films released during the winter holiday season is that the majority of the offers tend to be templated story lines replicated in overabundance and spewed out on a conveyor belt for public consumption. And despite the evident expense of the productions, the result always feels like drinking a cup of instant coffee flavored with nondairy creamer and a packet of artificial sweetener from a Styrofoam cup.
Nevertheless, there are still a few items out there that can satisfy the cinema palate and provide some relief from the doldrums of the ordinary holiday ‘Para-pa-pum-pums”. Therefore, for your consideration, the following three films are stories about individuals who differ from the traditionally imposed norms of behavior.
The Banshees of Inisherin
Martin McDonagh director/ screenwriter
available as a rental on streaming services)
In the opening scenes of The Banshees of Inisherin Padraic Suilleabhan (Colin Farrell) stops by the house of his best friend, Colm (Brendan Gleeson), as he always does on the way to the pub where he and Doherty spend the time together over a few pints. This time, however, Doherty does not answer the door, and in fact when Suilleabhan calls for him Doherty totally ignores him. Later at the pub, when Suilleabhan confronts Doherty, the latter tells him that he does not wish to spend any more time with him and furthermore demands that from that moment on Suilleabhan leave him alone forever. When Suilleabhan presses Doherty for a reason, he is told that he is dull and boring, and that Doherty has decided not to waste the rest of his life spending time engaged with him in tedious conversations.
All of this occurs in the first twenty minutes of the film. For the remain balance, Martin McDonagh leads us like a pied piper through the end of a relationship that has alarming consequences for both of its main characters. The Banshees of Inisherin is slated as a black comedy and there are exchanges in the dialogue that are truly funny. Overall, however, this is a tragic tale of how once an event or a declaration is set into motion, it takes on an impetus of its own which eventually overwhelms everyone in its path.
This power of film is further generated by the performances of Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell whose last most memorable collaboration with McDonagh was in the critically acclaimed 2008 film In Bruges. The artistic connection that these actors established fourteen years ago has further ripened within this work. Of special notice also are the performances of Kerry Condon as Suilleabhan’s sister Siobhan who eventually leaves the pettiness of the island, and Barry Keoghan who offers a touching performance as the tragic Dominic Kearney.
Martin McDonagh most recent work prior to The Banshees of Inisherin was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and for those who were drawn to that film, this new work offers a further dose of the same elixir. The film is dark, ironic, at times very funny, and absurd. It is a wonderful tale regarding the human condition presented in a wrapping of brutal innocence.
A Night at the Kindergarten
[Noc w przedszkolu]
Rafal Skalski - director;
Marek Baranowski - screenwriter -available on Netflix
The old joke is that if you ask five Poles to express one opinion about anything you can expect to receive to receive at least twelve. And for any crucial decision there is always a vote conducted that seldom totally satisfies anyone. Rafal Skalski’s A Night at the Kindergarten captures that group dynamic in a nutshell.
Eryk, (Piotr Witkowski) is a doper-slacker, a fellow who is not particularly fond of children, but who agrees to babysit his girlfriend’s (Sylwia Boron) 5-year-old son, Tytus, while she goes to work. Tytus is a behavioral problem. Generally, he and Eryk he do not get along. Therefore, when Eryk learns that at Tytus’ kindergarten, The Ray of Sunshine, the parents’ committee plan to discuss Tytus as a sidebar topic during a rehearsal of a Nativity Play for the children of the school, rather than be stuck with the boy all evening, Eryk recruits one of his friends to sit with Tytus and decides to crash the meeting representing his girlfriend as a stepparent. At the meeting, he inadvertently overhears a conversation that the parents’ committee, led by the shrewd, conniving, intimidating chairperson, Justyna (Lena Gora), intends to pressure the school director (Julia Wyszynska) to dismiss Tytus from the kindergarten since, in their collective opinion committee, the boy does not mix well with their children. Consequently, Eryk, feeling that Tytus is being treated unfairly, decides to crusade for the boy’s right to stay in the school.
Potentially, A Night at the Kindergarten, could have become, like many Christmas comedies about parents and their children, one of those banal, predictable, over sweetened Holiday films. Skalski, however, in collaboration with Baranowski, creates an environment where the difficulties and insecurities of parenthood are cleverly addressed by a cast (composed of Zbigniew Zamachowski, Matylda Damiecka, Aleksandra Domanska, Dobromir Dymecki, Piotr Borowski, Masza Wagrocka) who play their roles as characters who when left to their own devices are basically themselves misbehaving children. As a result, the film develops into a good-natured poke at Polish group dynamics. Anyone who has every participated in a club or organization will find that this film is seasoned with just enough charm and vinegar to make the time spent watching it worthwhile.
Bullet Train
David Leitch - director
- available of Netflix
One of the most popular themes within motion pictures in recent years has been the “hitman film”. Whether in a western (Unforgiven -1992), science fiction (Terminator 1984), in a tale of violence and redemption (Pulp Fiction – 1994), or a story about just plain good old-fashioned vengeance (John Wick – 2014), the hitman is one of cinemas most beloved characters. What could be better, therefore, than to take a healthy handful of them, throw them onto a speeding train and let them have a go at each other for two hours and six minutes? David Leitch in collaboration with screenwriter Zak Olkewicz has precisely done that.
Based on the 2010 Japanese novel Maria Beetle (renamed Bullet Train when it was released in the Wes ) written by Kōtarō Isaka the movie version of Bullet Train stars, Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Bad Bunny, and Sandra Bullock as a bevy of professional assassins who cross paths and purposes on a high speed train travelling between point A and point B in some mythical country that resembles a Japan cross populated by Asians and Europeans.
The plot is simple. There is a briefcase of money, a hostage, and a quest for revenge. It is a story about an unlucky hitman who takes what he assumes to be a simple job (Brad Pitt) which turns into a plight for survival, two adopted brothers -one black the other white (Brian Tyree Henry and Aaron Taylor-Johnson) - transporting the errant son (Logan Lehrman) of a Russian mafia Don (Michael Shannon) back home to his father, a deposed Yakuza chieftain (Hiroyuki Sanada) seeking revenge, and a consortium of assassins sent to prevent the travelers from ever reaching their destinations.
Nothing more really needs to be said about the film. It is simple entertainment; the stunts are pure athletics; the humor is dark and wry; the editing is crisp; the performances are spot on for an action film. As for Brad Pitt it is an opportunity to remind his movie fans that he has also has a talent for comedy. Bullet Train is escapism at its best.
And that my dear readers are my recommendations for that dark glum period that follows the noise of the festive holiday season. Something for an evening’s entertainment before the glow of the wall screen. Something to stimulate the soul, charm the spirit or stir the sense of adventure.
Of course, this is only my opinion. Watch these films and judge for yourselves.
Happy New Year to all of you.