Our Brand is Crisis
In 2005, with her film Our Brand is Crisis, documentarian Rachel Boynton unveiled the puppeteering that American political-strategists-for-hire undertake the world over. Director David Gordon Green takes a stab at updating Boynton’s tale. He enlists Sandra Bullock as “Calamity” Jane Bodine, a longtime political strategist pulled out of retirement to work the campaign of a lame-duck candidate in the Bolivian presidential race.
An unkempt Bullock and slickly creepy Billy Bob Thornton offer fiery chemistry, and as long as they share the screen, Our Brand is Crisis captivates. But the film can’t decide whether it’s a political comedy, a change-of-heart drama, or an underdog thriller.
A muddled screenplay sinks sharply comical jabs at our political machinery with an undercooked conscience, a patronizing representation of Bolivians, and an oh-so-tired White Savior routine.
In retrospect, it’s hard to explain the hot mess that is Our Brand is Crisis. It had all the elements it needed to be a winner – talented director, wonderful writer, heavy-hitting cast. Sometimes, though, even a sure bet comes up a loser.
Truth
James Vanderbilt’s Truth is at its best as an excavation of the bits and pieces of a 2004 story produced by Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) and reported by Dan Rather (Robert Redford).
In 2004, Mapes – having recently broken the story of Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse – chose to dig in to George W. Bush’s less-than-impressive Texas Air National Guard records.
There are moments of real greatness here, especially as the story begins to crumble before Mapes’s eyes, and decisions made in the heat of story construction come back to haunt her. Basically, Blanchett is perfect, even when the writing fails her, even when the direction feels underwhelming. She’s fiery and raw, creating a character who is naturally in battle at all times.
The film is a scary, flawed, but fascinating look at a frighteningly flawed and fascinating business.
Nasty Baby
Writer/director Sebastian Silva (The Maid) delivers a semi-autobiographical slice of adulthood that keeps you cleverly off balance until it makes a drastic narrative decision that is likely to win it as many detractors as it does converts.
Freddy (Silva) and his live-in boyfriend Mo (Tunde Adebimpe) want a baby, and their friend Polly (Kristen Wiig) wants to help. Meanwhile, a small annoyance in their Brooklyn neighborhood is slowly turning into something bigger. A local resident who calls himself “The Bishop” is making noise much too early in the morning, shouting at Freddy, and getting aggressively friendly with Polly.
Is he a harmless nut fighting gentrification, or a potentially dangerous threat?
The gradual manner in which The Bishop affects the lives of the three main characters is Silva’s skillful device for upsetting the conventions usually seen in this genre. Nasty Baby may be a difficult film to love, but that is precisely what makes it effective.
Also opening in Columbus this week:
ANTHEM OF THE HEART (NR)
BURNT (R)
THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (NR)
BREATHE (NR)
SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (R)
THE PRIME MINISTERS: SOLDIERS AND PEACEMAKERS (NR)
THE WITNESS (NR)
WOODLAWN (PG)
Reviews with help from George Wolf.
Read full reviews at MADDWOLF and listen to Hope’s weekly horror movie podcast, FRIGHT CLUB.
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