The Little Hours, The Battle of Chosin, War Machine, Trainspotting 2

Johnny Lee Miller and Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting 2

A few notes on recent views, in ascending order...

Jeff Baena's The Little Hours is a comic misfire. A talented cast labors mightily, but this attempt to make a bawdy comedy is stillborn. Baena shoots the material as if he were remaking Under the Tuscan Sun which doesn't help, but Boccaccio has vexed even greater talents.

Randall MacLowry's The Battle of Chosin is a strong documentary on the US military's most ignominious Korean War defeat. MacLowry is weak on the political background that led to the Korean conflict and cursory on military strategy, but the reminiscences by American veterans are heartfelt.

David Michod's War Machine is an arch satire of Stanley McChrystal's tenure as leader of the Coalition forces in Afghanistan. Tone is all in an endeavor like this and Michod succeeds in skewering both the military brass and political elite without heedless caricature. Brad Pitt bends his form like a pretzel and then straightens it out into ramrod military posture. He carries this film like an Atlas, albeit with much assistance from a sterling cast. The Nick Cave and Warren Ellis score is strikingly effective. A bit underrated I say, as is...

Danny Boyle's Trainspotting 2 which surprised me with its winning commitment to character and visual invention. Boyle, at his best, finds fecund territory in the ambivalence of human relationships. When Ewan McGregor's Renton returns in T2 to reconnoiter with the three companions who he ripped off years earlier, Boyle frames these encounters as dark dances underlined with cocksmanship, dependence and co-dependence. There is love apparent, both Agape and Eros, but also resentment, betrayal and anger. Newcomer Anjela Nedyalkova more than holds her own with the male leads as both lover and betrayer. Though next time Danny, enough with the lads, more Kelly Macdonald and Shirley Henderson, please. (11/30/17)

A  footnote...

At this date in time, the biggest box office draw in movie theaters worldwide for 2021 is the Chinese feature, The Battle at Lake Changjin. It is already the third highest grossing non English language film of all time. Almost three hours long, the film cost over $200 million and employed 70,000 members of the People's Liberation Army. Six directors are credited, including such notables as Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, The Emperor of the Assassin) and Tsui Hark (Peking Opera Blues, Once Upon A Time in China). The battle portrayed is the one Americans call the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. 

The film has already raised hackles, mainly in the South Korean press. It will be interesting to see if it makes its way to the USA, since we are the prime villains in the picture. It surely is indicative of the currently tense relations between China and the US. Hopefully, it will not be, unlike Alexander Nevsky, a preview of coming attractions. It is a further indication of the hardline recently taken by the Xi regime which includes a reaction against capitalistic excesses in China, more religious crackdowns, attempts to shift blame regarding the pandemic, xenophobia, a greater emphasis on Party ideology, sabre rattling over Taiwan, etc. We will all be watching. (10/25/21)