Film Review: CRY MACHO (2021) *** and a 1\2 out of *****

© WB\Malpaso

Clint Eastwood returns as actor and director with Cry Macho (2021), a sweet, gentle, and charming little film, which, in its own modest, easy-going way, achieves so much with seemingly little effort. But although Eastwood is a notoriously fast worker, his movies, with very few exceptions, are almost always a smooth ride, and easy on the eyes. Cry Macho is a prime example of these trademark qualities of an Eastwood film.

Cry Macho tells a simple tale: 1980. Texas. Mike Milo, a washed-up rodeo star and horse breeder, reluctantly agrees to help his ex-boss and benefactor to bring his half-Mexican teenage son home and out of his abusive mother’s reach. So he crosses the border to rural Mexico, finds the troubled boy, and, together, they journey back to Texas. But their journey takes an unexpected turn or two. The plot is little more than a collection of road-trip movie cliches, and the script, especially some of the dialogue, doesn’t really add much that is fresh or original to the mix. But Eastwood is a smart, restless filmmaker, and it’s easy to see why he was attracted to the material, despite its shortcomings. In his hands, Eastwood turns this tired script, which has been floating around Hollywood for decades, into an exercise in charming filmmaking.

From the endearing performance of most of the cast, especially Natalia Traven as Marta, the lovable den mother; and Eduardo Minett as Rafo, with his tough kid posturing and moving dedication to his pet rooster, Macho; and, of course, Eastwood himself, who gives himself one of his most likable characters in a long time as Mike Milo, everyone involved seems to be having a blast.

And, in many ways, Milo’s character, and the film itself, is spiritually linked to one of Eastwood’s favorite films, 1980’s Bronco Billy, about the leader of a wild west show, a middle-aged dreamer who loves show business, the old west, and horses. Milo could be Bronco Billy gone to seed. A burnt out man who has lost his hopes and dreams, and who, by befriending the teenage Rafo, a hopeless outcast like himself, starts to find his way again. No wonder Eastwood uses the same font he used on the Bronco Billy poster for the Cry Macho titles.

Cry Macho is a film out of time. A film that would have been right at home in the early 1980s or 1990s. Now, it’s understandable that it struggles to find an audience, at a time when nihilism is trendy, and negativity is bankable. But Cry Macho, despite its flaws, is a spellbinding, humane film that feels old and new at the same time, and is Eastwood’s best film in years. Highly recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer  

Book Review: MR. PERRIN AND MR. TRAILL By Hugh Walpole *** and a 1\2 out of *****

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Hugh Walpole's third novel, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill (1911), considered by many, and by the author himself, to be his best work, is a strange, somber, meandering, and unforgettable piece of literature.

Revolving around a feud between two school masters in a public school in Edwardian England, the book starts out as a slow-burn social drama about the tedium and oppressive nature of everyday life in the public school system, depicting an affecting if not exactly compelling series of incidents that almost outstay their welcome. But then the book's tone shifts to something much darker and much more fascinating, as it focuses on one of the character's headlong dive into regret, rage, and, inevitably, madness. Here, the book, which flirts with Gothic undertones from the beginning, transforms into a disturbing psychological drama, with the screws tightening faster and faster, till the poignant ending.

Walpole's prose ranges from sublime to serviceable. It has been noted by several scholars and students of his work that Walpole was an unfussy writer, to a fault, writing quickly and seldom revising the first draft. The outcome of such a method does the novel a disservice to some extent, with the pacing of the book, especially in the first half, being too unsteady, and the tonal lurches are also a distraction. But by the second half the narrative threads coalesce into a satisfyingly unnerving whole, with scenes of psychological torment so vivid they push the book right to the edge of a Gothic horror story.

The book has two endings, the original one published in Britain, and a revised one for the later American editions. Both endings are interesting, yet each is problematic in its own way. The original ending, though melodramatic, is more effective, more poignant, and much darker. The revised ending is clumsy, heavy-handed, and borderline didactic, but its more hopeful tone might appeal to some readers.

Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill is a flawed piece of psychological fiction, with a cynical bent that can be hard to take at times. But, in the end, it is a novel that has stood the test of time, as there's emotional truth buried within its pages, and its depiction of a middle-aged man undergoing a calamitous transformation is harrowing and memorable. Recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Movie Review: HAMMER (2020) **** out of *****

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Clocking in at just over 80 minutes and slipping under the release radar, Hammer (2020) is an effective, quietly moving, and compelling psychological/crime thriller.

The plot: a ne'er-do-well son returns to his family home after a botched drug deal that resulted in the death of the dealer's girlfriend. Hunted by the dealer, the son, now accompanied by his father, embark on a race against time as they try to outrun the dealer and find a way to make things right.

But that whole plot is basically a "McGuffin", a device to get things going while co-writer/director Christian Sparkes gets to what's really on his mind: the complex dynamics of a family torn apart by guilt, flawed parents, seemingly unredeemable sons, and the vicious cycle of psychological scars being passed from one generation to the next like a bad gene. This is a thriller, no doubt about it, but it is a thriller with heart. Will Patton, as the conflicted father of a troubled son, gives an affecting, restrained performance, and one of the best of his career. Helped tremendously by Sparkes' dialogue, Patton portrays a character that is relatable, tragic, and somewhat off-putting at the same time. A father haunted by his own shortcomings, and the fear that he's unwittingly passed them on to his sensitive son, thus ruining his life.

But it is Mark O'Brien, as Chris, the troubled son trying hard to do better, who is the true heart of the film, delivering a performance that is naturalistic, truthful, and devastating. It is one of the year's best.

Hammer works as a psychological drama, as a thriller with realistic twists, and as a piece of minimalist cinema. It is a well-crafted, poignant, suspenseful film with a lot to offer, and it deserves much more notice and acclaim than it's got. Highly recommended.

N.B. The film is named after the director's father, to whom the film is dedicated.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Movie Review: RICHARD JEWELL *** and 1\2 out of *****

Master filmmaker Clint Eastwood continues his series of films about underdogs and the wrongfully accused, with Richard Jewell (2019), a compelling, well-crafted drama about the eponymous character, a security guard during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, who was wrongfully accused of planting the bomb that injured dozens and killed two during the event.

Paul Walter Hauser portrays the character as a conscientious if eccentric man obsessed with American law enforcement, a man whose ultimate dream is to become a police officer. But due to his weight and laconic, childlike manner, people take him for granted, that is, till he finds himself suspect number one in a terrorist attack. Hauser, in his first starring role, is a wonder to behold, stealing the movie with his understated, touching portrayal of a well-meaning ne'er-do-well with passion to spare. And as the events surrounding his character grow more and more troubling, Hauser imbues Jewell with layer upon layer, subtly communicating a wealth of emotions with a look or a phrase. Sam Rockwell and Kathy Bates (in one of the best performances of her career as Jewell's mother) deliver ample support, but this is Hauser's show.

For Eastwood, this is yet another understated triumph, another story of injustice well-told, although this time the true story's implications are more troubling than usual, with the damning portrayal of the media and the FBI and their reaction to the Atlanta bombing the stuff of nightmares. No wonder the movie received little if no love from the mass media. It is a "politically incorrect" film with a troubling message about how the American media builds up heroes to sell papers, and then viciously tears them down to sell more papers, destroying people's lives in the process, and how governments are glaringly fallible when it comes to dealing with acts of terrorism, focusing on knee-jerk, headline-grabbing actions in place of seeking the truth. In this day and age, this makes Richard Jewell a brave film about a brave man who dared do his job well and never lose faith in what he believed in.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2020.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon.

Review: THE BENEFACTOR (2015) **&1/2 out of four

Andrew F. Renzi

Uneven and  dramatically unsteady psychological drama. But the elegant visual veneer, Richard Gere's showy but mesmerizing performance, and the lean running time - under 90 minutes - make it work somehow. An intriguing misfire.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2018.

Review: THE FOUNDER (2016) - **** out of four

The Founder (2016) is one of the most important movies ever made. It is a crash course in why the world is the way it is; an indictment of an age of crass commercialism and hucksters pretending to be visionaries. By telling the true story of Ray A. Kroc, the "Godfather" of modern franchising as we know it, director John Lee Hancock and writer Robert Siegel lay open the story of modern America, globalization, and why we live in a world that rewards sales people and ostracizes the majority of dreamers and visionaries.

The Founder beautifully and clearly tells the story of Ray A. Kroc, the McDonald brothers, and the birth of one of the most successful businesses in the history of mankind. It also tries to set the record straight on who deserves the credit for what, in the long and convoluted story of McDonald's, and puts Kroc and his disciples under the harsh light of truth, revealing them for what they truly are: flawed, ambitious men, who build empires on the shoulders of visionaries and then try to bury them and steal their thunder.

But aside from the film's success as a smoothly structured history lesson, The Founder is also grand entertainment, with a terrific and terrifically complex performance by Michael Keaton as Kroc. While the supporting cast, which includes Nick Offerman, Laura Dern, and Patrick Wilson among others, create memorable and fascinating portrayals of characters that the world and the history books have unfairly forgotten.

All in all, The Founder is one of the best films of its kind, and one which begs for repeated viewings. Unmissable.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2017