Gunda (USA/Russia, 2020, Viktor Kosakovskiy)

Ben Livant:

[1]  Farm noir.  Definitely on the level, though, ground level Bub, no Dutch angle about it  The cows were too cowed to corroborate the crime, but the trip to the prison paid off anyway because one of the rosters crowed.  That's what happens, sister!  Hobble a cock and he'll squawk.  That's the price for leaving him only one leg to walk.   Guy's just lucky that murder most foul wasn't murder most fowl.  Anyway, the bird was a rat and that was that.  So, not in this barnyard, babe!  How now killer sow?  You don't get to stomp out one of your own and get away with it.  Poor piglet.  Them's the breaks baby cakes.  But at least the strong arm of the law made sure none of your siblings had to go head to foot, take mom's trotter to the snout.  Crime does not pay, ya dastardly dame!  Those squealers are safe now, in the protective custody of the state.  You can just pace the place all by yourself and await your fate to be meat on a plate.

 [2]  Artsy-fartsy vegan agit-prop.  Well, vegetarian at least.  An elementary school kid could get the message.  While I reckon most professional pedagogues of the primary grades would regard the maternal execution of the runt of the litter too brutal for tender tots, they could condone the rest of the film for the curriculum.  Should the shocking scene be censored, however, the wrenching heartbreak at the end would be emotionally available as so much Disney anthropomorphism, not the moment of ecological empathy it is meant to be and which is so crucial to generate against anthropocentricism today.  As for the stark simplicity and paint-drying pace - the Bela Tarr aesthetic from the perspective of the animals instead of any identified humans - I believe young children need to be exposed to this formally just as much as to the content of the message.  Get off your cell phone and regain an attention span, boys and girls.

 [3]  The type of animals whose perspective the film is at pains to subjuctivize without personifying is approached by Gunda

 conceptually to strong ideological effect.  The agricultural situation is re-conceptualized into a wild game preserve and the observational tracking takes on the tone of a safari conducted in a sanctuary.  In this way, the viewer is compelled to stop looking at critters captive in the clutches of husbandry for the carnivorous consumption of people.  In this way, the viewer is compelled to start seeing the antithesis of pre-pork, not-yet-beef, McNuggets-in-the-making.  In this way, the statement is made as a synthesis of the environmental conservationism of any Planet Earth episode and a documentary such as Food Inc., which directedly confronts the global industrial food system.

 
[4]  The sow is not a boar.  Nor is she a bore.  I was engaged by Gunda from start to finish; although I must admit, I am still not sure what I was supposed to bring to the bovines.  The chickens, no confusion.  They could not have been more obviously rescued from abuse.  And of course, the pigs are adorable and it is truly disturbing to witness her anguish in the end.  Perhaps a tad precocious, nevertheless, the film is undoubtedly moving and maybe just the sort of show to raise the consciousness of certain folks.  As someone who is still a meat eater, I believe it would be hypocritically inappropriate for me to comment further.

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David Byrnes' American Utopia (Spike Lee, 2020, USA)

Ben Livant says:

James Brown meets the Blue Man Group as conducted by the love child of Mr. Spock and a king's jester.

I suppose the best way to praise this live music/dance/theatre performance-cinema is to state that it is legitimate to compare it to Stop Making Sense.  It's not as good, of course, but it is still goddamn great!

And the excellence is not just due to nostalgia.  Or if nostalgia is a prominent factor, it is not restricted to our generation's fans of Talking Heads.  It pertains far and wide to pre-pandemic days, when this show was a hit on Broadway, with people still able to congregate in the building and bounce together in the aisles, not at all six feet apart.

Gunda (USA/Russia, 2020, Viktor Kosakovskiy)

Ben Livant:

[1]  Farm noir.  Definitely on the level, though, ground level Bub, no Dutch angle about it  The cows were too cowed to corroborate the crime, but the trip to the prison paid off anyway because one of the rosters crowed.  That's what happens, sister!  Hobble a cock and he'll squawk.  That's the price for leaving him only one leg to walk.   Guy's just lucky that murder most foul wasn't murder most fowl.

New Order (Mexico, 2020, Michel Franco)

Ben Livant:

Given our conversation beforehand, I misunderstood the scale of the situation.  I thought the dramatic setting was strictly within the confines of a single private dwelling.  After you told me that the servants rebel, I confirmed my (incorrect) understanding that the focus was within "the feudal manor;" again, on a solitary estate.

Black Bear (USA, Lawrence Michael Levine, 2020)

Ben Livant begins:

A bit of a head scratcher.  I mean, in a very sweeping sort of way, I can take away that the exercise is a study in personal falsehood in the circumstance of professional (Part 2) or wannabe professional (Part 1) artistic creativity.  You know, fabricating fiction as a vocation comes with its own occupational hazards.

Family Obligations (Kenneth R. Frank, USA, 2019)

Variations on a theme: You can ghost your friends, but you can't disappear your family. Alternatively:

Everywhere you go, there they are. Family. Can't live with them, can't stuff them in a sack and throw them

in a river. Despite some technical struggles, Kenneth R.

Chameleon (Marcus Mizelle, USA, 2019)

Drawing on the conventions of crime/thriller genre, and deploying enough nifty plot shifts to keep the audience on its toes, Chameleon keeps us guessing until the final frame. In spite of its shoestring budget, the film has top end production values, and compelling performances from each of its leads. Chameleon is a fine piece of entertainment.

Trauma Therapy (Tyler Graham Pavey, USA, 2019)

Trauma Therapy is a purported thriller wherein four people of various levels of dysfunction agree to spend a weekend with oh so cutely-named Tovin Maven, a self-help maven, in a remote cabin deep in the nameless woods.

Anya (Okada and Taylor, USA, 2019)

On its surface, Anya is about that most topical of contemporary issues, genetic modification. Often films that engage that "ripped from the headlines" scenario have a sensationalist bent, as they are as much exploiting the issue as they are illuminating it.

Thankfully, Anya is not one of those films.  Rather, Anya is a thoughtful and nuanced exploration of a complex and provocative contemporary issue.

Sunday Girl (USA, Peter Ambrosio, 2019)

At once familiar and refreshingly adept, Sunday Girl is a self-aware and clever examination of a day in the life of a young woman trying to get her romantic life back in order.

Natasha is at an important crossroads in her life. She is dating five men, but decides she wants to commit to only one, George (Brandon Stacy) so she embarks upon a one day mission to break up with the other four.

Human Capital (Marc Meyers, USA, 2019)

Mainstream films in America often struggle when it comes to portraying class divides, not because it is hard to do so, but because those in charge of getting films seen are loath to honestly examine how for most people the American dream is a total nightmare. They have determined that social truths that run counter to the Horatio Alger mythology are a real downer and won't put butts in the seats.
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