Allied movie review

Eddie Huang ’s Boogie is a basketball movie, but one of its best moments comes courtesy of tennis. Boogie, né Alfred Chin (Taylor Takahashi) comes back to his home in Flushing, Queens, to find his Taiwanese immigrant father (Perry Yung) rewatching, for apparently the gazillionth time, the 1989 French Open match between Taiwanese-American upstart Michael Chang and the heavily favored world No. 1, Ivan Lendl. Chang won that match, which happened the day after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and went on to win the tournament. When Dad repeats his fervent assertion that this was “the greatest moment in Asian American history,” however, Boogie — so observant of his cultural identity in so many other ways — all but rolls his eyes. It’s the tragedy of even the most triumphant immigrant experience that the hard-won opportunities gifted to the next generation includes the opportunity to reject, disdain or misunderstand their parents’ dearest passions. Boogie has other battles to fight. The … [Read more...] about ‘Boogie’: Eddie Huang’s Sports-Underdog Movie Scores as Culture-Clash Story

Daniel Brühl skewers celebrity privilege in his directing debut, playing a narcissistic version of himself who gets knocked from his perch by Peter Kurth's resentful neighbor in gentrified East Berlin. There's sardonic self-deprecation in the part Daniel Brühl has chosen for himself in his first feature as director, that of a European movie star sweating over an audition for a Hollywood superhero film that stands to push his fame — and his bank account — to the next level. But celebrity entitlement is only one part of the package. It eventually takes a back seat to gentrification when the protagonist's obliviousness to those left behind in the moneyed makeover of post-reunification East Berlin comes back to bite him in his self-absorbed ass. An amusing, accomplished debut on its own modest terms, Next Door works best as tart meta comedy, becoming increasingly cramped in scope and setting as it spirals into an obsessive revenge thriller. Fans of the actor will enjoy spotting the … [Read more...] about ‘Next Door’ (‘Nebenan’): Film Review | Berlin 2021

Alexandre Koberidze’s Berlinale competition entry is a wondrous romance from Georgia. There’s a brief shot early on in Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze’s wondrous romance and Berlinale competition entry What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? (Ras vkhedavt, rodesac cas vukurebt?) that might seem to illustrate something quite mundane. The male protagonist’s soccer practice session has ended. Koberidze chooses the locker room as the location for the scene, as indeed most filmmakers might. But what makes the shot unexpected is that all that we see is an anonymous corner of the locker room, chipped tiles and all. The boys’ jerseys are thrown into that corner and form a rapidly growing pile as we hear the sound of soccer cleats hitting the floor and showers being turned on. The image then fades to a view of the female protagonist, a medical student, turning off the light at a university building before going home. ` What Do We See is full of touches like this. The camera … [Read more...] about ‘What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?’: Film Review | Berlin 2021

The widow of a man wrongfully executed for murder seeks justice in all the wrong places in Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam’s Iranian drama. Adding another strong voice to the chorus of anti-capital-punishment films coming out of Iran is Ballad of a White Cow ( Ghasideyeh gave sefid ), a drama almost entirely centered on the wife of a condemned man who is wrongfully executed for murder in the opening scene. Played with huge amounts of feminine dignity by Maryam Moghaddam, who co-directed with Behtash Sanaeeha, the widow Mina is shown to be refreshingly capable of raising her deaf daughter on her own and navigating the minefield of a highly misogynistic society — and even (gasp) of finding love. But as hostility against Mina builds from her family, neighbors and the authorities, disaster looms and the story grows more suspenseful, teetering on the edge of melodrama. Fortunately, the realism of the acting and the classic, restrained camerawork keep things on a believable … [Read more...] about ‘Ballad of a White Cow’: Film Review | Berlin 2021

A lone figure blasts across a barren wasteland, riding a single rolling wheel like a Suzuki motorcycle, face masked and emitting a very full-metal-Furiosa energy — this is our introduction to the hero of Disney ’s Raya and the Last Dragon , a cold opening served medium-hot. Centuries ago, in a world known as Kumandra, nations were united and dragons filled the skies. Then a plague known as “the Druun” swept in, a purple haze that turned man and beast temporarily to stone. It was eventually repelled by a jewel that contained the combined energy of those magnificent, scaly creatures, who remained statues even as Homo sapiens regained their mobility. The bonds that held folks together had been frayed beyond repair, however. Tribes formed, each named after dragon parts: Fang, Talon, Spine, Tail. Those who rallied under the moniker of “Heart” protect the Dragon Gem. A brave man named Benja (Daniel Dae Kim) is in charge of keeping it safe and sound; his daughter Raya (Kelly Marie … [Read more...] about ‘Raya and the Last Dragon’ Is Disney Princess Empowerment as a Pan-Asian Pop Mash-Up