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| A Complete Unknown |
A Complete Unknown (2024) Mangold. Hollywood very much likes it biopics. Musicians are a frequent subject and so who better than one of the most important of all time, Bob Dylan? Naturally there’s a tremendous burden on the lead in any biopic, especially when playing such a familiar figure as Dylan. Fortunately Timothée Chalamet is more than up to the task. His performance is matched by Edward Norton as Pete Seeger and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. The film plays fast and loose with a few facts but they tend to be the kind of arcana that only true Dylan devotees would notice. A Complete Unknown traces Dylan from his early days in New York to his achieving super stardom then turning much of his audience against him by going electric (some people needed to get over themselves). It seems the biopic, for reasons I can’t put my finger on, have certain limitations, you’re never going to see one that is a great film but most are going to be pretty good. A Complete Unknown is very good. The cast sees to that as does director James Mangold who similarly did good work with another musical biopic, Walk the Line. It’s a film that never lags and broadens the viewer’s understanding and even appreciation of Dylan.
Holiday (1938) Cukor. One of my favorite films of all time. No idea how many times I’ve seen it but I could watch it again tonight. Of course the focus is typically on the two leads, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn who, of course, shine. But the more I watch Holiday the more I’m impressed by Lew Ayres who is positively brilliant as the lush, Ned Seaton. Playing a drunk is never as easy as it seems but Ayres was pitch perfect. Ned is trapped. He wanted to be a musician but father has him working at the bank, and staying until six even though there’s nothing to do after three, “as an example to the other employees.” Ned bristles but hasn’t the gumption to defy his over-bearing father. He can only find solace in drink. When his older sister flees the family to be with her new love she invites Ned to come along. He wants to. But he…just…can’t. Maybe someday. Sis promises to come back for him. We hope she does and we hope he gets out and we hope he stops drinking. Ned brings a profundity to Holiday that lifts the film above most comedies of the era.
The Skeleton Twins (2014) Johnson. I love Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig. If I were to make a list of the ten greatest all-time cast members on SNL — hang on, if I made a list of the FIVE greatest all time cast members on SNL, they’d be on it. It’s only natural that they should excel in moving pictures as well as sketch comedy and this film proves it. You’d expect a lot of laughs with this pairing (Luke Wilson also features) and you do get a fair share but this more drama then comedy. You kind of get a clue at the beginning of the picture as both leads are contemplating or trying to commit suicide. Wiig and Hader play twins who’ve not seen each other in years but get together to rekindle their sibling love and to find comfort in an uncomfortable world. I think Skeleton Twins is vastly underrated. It’s unflinching in its look at family dynamics, depression and how sex used to soothe can often create terrible complications.
Song of the Thin Man (1947) Buzzell. Nick and Nora Charles (and you too, Asta) should have quit while you were ahead. The original Thin Man film was a classic and the first four sequels were all perfectly fine, but the fifth was a stinker. Myrna Loy, who played Nora and should know, hated it. It’s not worth summarizing but it is well worth avoiding as you should do if planning a Thin Man marathon.
Ball of Fire (1941) Hawks. A warm and fuzzy screwball comedy with a menacing gangster. Any film written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, directed by Howard Hawks and starring Barbara Stanwyck is a guaranteed winner (this is the only one). Stanwyck is the wonderfully named Sugarpuss O’Shea, a gangster’s girl and a nightclub singer/dancer. To avoid a subpoena she hides out with eight single man who have been living in a large house for nine years writing and encyclopedia. They’re all older gents except for Gary Cooper. In spite of themselves the mismatched pair — Sugarpuss and Copper’s Bertram Potts — fall in love. Complications ensue as they do in films. It’s an absolute delight from beginning to end with a wonderful supporting cast including S.Z. Sakall, Henry Travers, Leonid Kinskey and Allen Jenkins. Dana Andrews is wonderful as the heavy.
Nickel Boys (2024) Ross. A great story from a novel by Colson Whiteside has here been overly stylized by a director drawing more attention to himself than the motion picture. Hand held shaky cams, characters constantly talking into the camera, intercuts of all variety including several of alligators (?) and one of horse in an office for reasons unknown, blurry images, forced perspectives. Shots from bizarre angles. It's an often vertiginous viewing experience. A good story should tell itself with the director supplementing normal story-telling with OCCASIONAL flourishes that emphasizes and underscore. I understand that RaMell Ross was trying to create an immersive experience, but he needs to tone it down a notch. I’m surprised that so many critics are abetting him. He’s clearly a great talent but his style here tested my patience.
