We Are All Fine

“Why do you want to see us Jamshid?”

Like many nations with struggling economies, Iran has people as one it’s exports. The excellent new film We Are All Fine examines not the problems faced by those that leave, but those that stay home. Jamshid has been abroad for six years. It’s been two years since anyone in the family has heard from him. Like many, he left with the declared intent of earning a piece of money and returning in a couple of years. Formerly a regular correspondent, sending both money and letters, Jamshid’s family has not heard from him in over two years. The family has settled into a consistent, if still struggling, ritual of survival. All is thrown into confusion and conflict though when a man claiming to be a friend of Jamshid’s shows up at their door, apparently sent on a mission to get the family to record video messages for Jamshid that the friend will take back with him.

Jamshid’s sister Nahid (Leila Zare) is now the family’s sole breadwinner. With Iran’s high unemployment she can take little solace in the fact that her employed status has become more important than a dowry as her earnings go towards supporting her mother, father, grandfather, younger brother plus Jamshid’s wife and daughter whom he left behind in Iran. Jamshid’s abandonment of the family has left her with little sympathy for him and no desire to participate in the video messages. Her father Abbas (Ali Rashvand) is unhappy along the same lines. His anger over his son’s behavior is compounded by his failing health and frustration over being helpless to provide for the family. The two are countered by the mother (Ahoo Kheradmand) and Omid (Mohsen Ghazimorad), neither of whom want to put off Jamshid, though for different reasons. Mom just wants to hear from her son again and fears that expressing displeasure might keep him away. Omid is dissatisfied with his life and looks to his older brother for guidance and help. Omid can’t relate to Nahid’s aversion to the video asking, “He’s asked for something after all this time, we can’t just disregard it.” Omid’s finishing up his military service and his education but has few prospects for either marriage or a job. He talks about emigrating with another soldier during the morning flag-raising ceremony. These are several comments director Bizhan Mirbaqeri makes about the current state of affairs in Iran.

The story is told with two different cameras, the first being a very well-framed 35 mm steadicam. Mirbaqeri captures scene after scene with an excellent eye for visual metaphor. The transition shots of the family members walking between rooms in the house are especially effective. This is combined and contrasted well with the digital camera the family rents to film the messages for Jamshid. Never is this put to more effective use than when Jamshid’s wife Vida (Aida Keykhahni) takes her turn in front of the camera. Her description of becoming “a widow at 20” is the most powerful moment of the film. We Are All Fine is not without missteps. Most glaring is an unnecessary and unresolved romance subplot involving Omid. The flaws though are minor and few making the film an even more striking success for a first-time director like Mirbaqeri.

“Brain drain” afflicts many of the poorer parts of the world. Often the best and brightest leave to pursue opportunities abroad that are not available to them at home and far too many do not return. In places where the conditions are exceptionally bad the problem is sometimes severe enough that emigration has curtailed economic development. It’s not unlike Vida’s situation. The motherland becoming a widow before there was ever really a marriage.



Into the Blue

“Shut up you coke whore!”

“Sic Semper Tyrannis” is the state motto of Virginia. Translated as “Thus ever to Tyrants” it refers to the state’s seal. The seal shows Virtue with a sword, standing over a conquered Tyranny whose crown has been knocked off. It’s not a particularly subtle message but it’s one that most can sympathize with. History is replete with cases that would perhaps more support “Sic Nunquam Tyrannis” and the new film Into the Blue has a bizarre place in all this. For reasons undefined, the phrase was slid into the script. One can only suppose that the filmmakers did not notice the irony at the time for there are few examples more demonstrative than Into the Blue that Hollywood is ruled by an evil monarchic tyrant that continually shovels shit down our collective throat. Poorly acted, directed, scored and edited, the film is lacking everything but length. At 110 minutes it’s approximately 110 minutes too long with the only entertainment coming at the expense of the film itself.

Paul Walker is a terrible actor who in this film tries to channel Jared, a dive bum of sorts who doesn’t take any lip from anybody. For example after he’s lost some dive gear his boss asks him about it and is promptly pushed off the side of a boat. The character does not become more likable throughout the duration of the film. This is partially the fault of a script penned by Matt Johnson, who previously excreted the godawful Torque. Walker though, is consistently unconvincing. Not an actor so much as a line-reader it boggles the mind to think about the takes that were cut considering what made it into the final version. He is almost matched in this film by Jessica Alba. As Sam, the only character that seems to have any integrity, she does a passable-ish job through many scenes but there are moments that apparently stretch her abilities beyond the breaking point. Though previously competent in works such as Sin City Alba cannot even grunt convincingly when dragging a man twice her size across the floor. You shouldn’t even have to act to do that. Given that no performer could make a beautiful swan out of this ugly duckling material one can sympathize with Bates (Josh Brolin). After stammering out a few ridiculous sentence fragments he walks off in visible disgust.

As directed by John Stockwell, also previously competent, Into the Blue makes for an unpleasant viewing experience. Alternating between handheld and steadicam, neither is done well. Instead of putting the viewer in the action the handheld work comes across as dizzying while the steadicam doesn’t seem to stay in one place for very long. The editing is equally bad. There is a very, very obvious moment where one extra is apparently in different places at the same time. How no one caught this is puzzling but the scene is so obviously from different takes that it’s truly laughable. Another example would be in a dive scene where the characters appear at different moments with different kinds and quantities of snorkeling gear. Additionally there are multiple instances of continuity of dialogue combined with discontinuity of action. One particularly funny one has the leads transported to a fire-lit evening on a beach from inside of a building without pausing. It should also be noted that the Bahamian accent should sound different than the accent of a man from Saginaw, Michigan but in the case of Roy (Dwayne Adway) it doesn’t. Nor does Tyson Beckford’s Jamaican accent sound Bahamian.

The story is supposed to be about some buried treasure and some drugs with a little romance and water sports (not those kind!). It’s too stupid to recount here. Suffice to say, this film is inessential. It’s the type of film where the black characters serve as bullet catchers or they haul the bags of the white characters. It’s the type of film that has obvious green room effects. It’s the type of film where sensible advice like, “You should ask yourself what’s missing in our life that money will get you?” is wrong. It’s the type of film that makes you hope none involved will work in film again. Though there are some nice underwater shots, all this seems like a bad reason to bother some fish. Carpe rector.



Two for the Money

A.A. goes pee pee on M.M.

Since Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino has generally played different versions of the same character. Prone to monologues, constant pacing and a supernatural intensity, Pacino’s type has become as recognizable as any in Hollywood. His talent as an actor allows him to make distinct characters that would be mixed in memory by lesser performers. That talent also allows him to elevate confused, middling morality tales, like D.J. Caruso’s new Two for the Money, into watchable territory.

Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) starred at quarterback in college. In the final play of the final game he got injured making the winning play. Two for the Money finds him doing voice recordings for a 1-900 service. He retains dreams of a future in professional football thus he keeps in tremendous shape. He is, as Walter Abrams (Al Pacino) calls him, “a serious side of beef.” Abrams runs a sports betting advisory business. As Lang has a knack for picking winners, at a rate of 80% as we’re repeatedly told, Abrams goes to elaborate lengths to get him on his team in New York. After Lang arrives there, it becomes Abrams’ job to groom him into some kind of hotshot personality. The reasons behind this are stupid but it allows Pacino to do some serious, and almost literal, scenery chewing. Pacino’s overacting though is not in anyway a detriment to the film. On the contrary it’s a necessary burst of energy into a story as flat as the silver screen.

Along with Lang’s new job comes a new name. Dubbed John Anthony, which would be an excellent porn name, Lang is transformed into “the Million Dollar Man” as he goes prime time with his football predictions. Does the success go to his head? You can bet on it. One problem though is that there is no discernible change in McConaughey’s character. Supposedly two different conflicting parts of himself, John Anthony just seems like a wealthier version of Brandon Lang. Lang is a crucial part of Abrams’ plan to “build an empire” of sports betting advisory. Abrams himself is an ex-gambler who struggled with his addiction. His singular drive to business success is helped, and soberly focused, by his ex-junkie wife Toni Morrow (Rene Russo). She’s the counter to Lang and Abrams’ naive optimism and as she sees trouble coming, tries to head it off. All this leads to a ridiculous, unconvincing and schmaltzy climax.

D.J. Caruso competently films this story. A huge problem though, is it’s largely filmed twice. Many things happen in dialogue that are repeated in action later. This superfluity is why TFTM drags so much during it’s 2+ hours. Judicious editing would have shortened the film considerably but also likely removed some poorly simulated sex and a great scene where Armand Asante does to Matthew McConaughey what we’ve all wanted to do since Reign of Fire came out. As a discussion of gambling the film is more or less worthless. It doesn’t teach us anything useful about addiction, gambling or compulsive behavior. There idea that if you gamble, you might lose, does seem to be present but that wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone with opposable thumbs. It’s not a terrible film so much as it is just pointless and overly long. Pacino is phenomenal in his role but it would be better to rent this on dvd and just watch his rants without all the filler. There’s really no reason to watch the entire film, unless maybe you lost a bet.



Serenity

“To hell with this. I wanna live!”

Blind faith is hazardous to morality. It allows all kinds of awfulness to take place with a minimum of resistance. If you are sure that what you believe in is righteous, what is done to uphold that belief, however terrible, becomes much more palatable. The danger that is blind faith is personified by The Operative in the excellent new Joss Whedon space opera Serenity. Played with perfection by Chiwetel Ejiofor he is a soldier for the Alliance, the governing body of a solar system colonized by Earthlings. The governance of the Alliance is not welcomed by all despite the modern amenities that come with it. As such it is the job of “believers”, people like The Operative, to subdue threats to the Alliance’s power. It is not that The Operative is a flawed being so much as he is a man who put his faith in something before he knew the whole picture. “What I do is evil, I have no illusions about it,” The Operative declares. He believes in the Alliance so though evil it may be, “it must be done.”

His target in Serenity is River Tam (Summer Glau), a “psychic weapon” created by the Alliance and freed by her brother Simon (Sean Maher). Simon is a medic aboard Cpt.. Malcolm Reynolds’ Serenity. “Mal” (Nathan Fillion) is an ex-soldier and now more of a soldier of fortune. The Alliance fears that River’s psychic abilities have allowed her access to some damaging information. While Mal knows that something’s not right with the girl, he doesn’t know exactly what it is that plagues her, nor does she. The ensuing action is a struggle to find out, and come to terms with that knowledge.

The cast of relative unknowns achieves this with ease. Whatever flaws they might have as performers, as a group they have an undeniable chemistry. They are comfortable with Whedon’s style and his one liners that pop up throughout the film. Whedon knows enough about storytelling to know that a quick punch line can both be comedic and add poignancy to a dramatic scene. Especially good is a line from Kaylee (Jewel Staite) at a moment when when it appears all hope is lost. Needless to say hope is not lost, it just required the proper motivation. The special effects are competent if not perfect and Summer Glau is a graceful as one would expect from a trained ballerina in dealing out spectacularly choreographed beatdowns, a task Ejiofor performs with skill as well. Those dead and defeated at the hands of The Operative, River and others are not let go lightly. Whether killed by the good guys or the villains it’s nice to see that even minor characters do not pass gently into that good night. The Operative, conscious of his beastly actions, does not shy away from the deaths he causes. He faces them down and though he does not wince or hesitate, it’s clear that he doesn’t accept it as right. Coming from a villain, that’s a welcome vision. In a climatic battle that would seem to be Awful vs. Terrible, both Mal and The Operative are quick to point out that those doing the actual fighting are innocent though they are dying at the hands of each other, and they’re both right.

Misguided faith and collateral damage are not the only relevant topics Whedon has on his mind. The basis of the conflict between the Alliance and the outer planets is one of meddling in the affairs of others. The believers have no problem with the cause of the Alliance for a variety of reasons, all wrongheaded. Whether wanting to civilize the savages or bring an Alliance-style peace, the intrusions are not welcomed. A child says it best in the film, people do not like to be meddled with, no matter the intentions of the meddlers. In extending the policies and values of the Alliance over the wishes of those who would prefer their own path the Alliance stirs up a hornet’s nest that makes any previous danger pale in comparison. American policy makers would do well to note the final theme of the film: Trying to force a Pax Americana on folks that do not want it will bring no meaningful kind of peace to anyone.