Fairly Recent Movies: One Night in Miami; Quo Vadis, Aida; Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Fairly Recent Movies

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The reviews below are for films released in 2020

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One Night in Miami

On February 25, 1964, four prominent black American men meet at the Hampton House Motel in Miami: Cassius Clay (before he changed his name to Muhammad Ali), Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Sam Cooke (played respectively by Eli Goree, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Aldis Hodge, and Leslie Odom Jr.). They meet on the day of Clay’s boxing match against Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight championship. Various alliances and conflicts arise as each man is facing a transition in his life. The film is based on the fictional play (based on a real event) by Kemp Powers who also wrote the screenplay.

Director Regina King does a superb time capsule recreation of the mid-1960s while the inner and outer conflicts of the main characters perfectly reflect the early stages of revolutionary times that were brewing and building.

The conflict that stands out the most is the one between Malcolm and Cooke. Activist Malcolm believes Cooke’s songs don’t reflect the troubles of black Americans which might be unfair as Cooke struggles to maintain success in a field where his race places him at a disadvantage. To the film’s credit, it is easy to see both sides in this argument.

The performances fit perfectly in this great story: Hodge playing a football great considering show business stands out in the film’s first scene when he seems to be having a congenial visit with an acquaintance that turns shockingly sour; Ben-Adir shows occasional shyness and vulnerability as the powerful activist who is experiencing trouble in his life; Goree also shows a quieter side of the renowned boxer but the well-known bombast shows during press conferences; and Odom easily shows the inner conflicts of the great singer while being at his best with the closing song, “A Change is Gonna Come”.

A great reflection on history and more importantly, a great movie.

RATING (out of four stars): —> * * * 1/2

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: Screenplay by Kemp Powers (based on his play)

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Quo Vadis, Aida

During the Bosnian war in 1995 in the town of Srebrenica, the film is seen through the eyes of Aida Selmanagić (Jasana Đuričić), a Bosniak Muslim who is a schoolteacher and also works for the United Nations as a translator. She tries desperately to use her UN status to protect her husband and two military-aged sons whose lives are threatened by the invading Serbian army.

Other films about historical genocide (especially the Holocaust) are mostly seen by people who were not alive when the events happened. With “Quo Vadis, Aida”, it is the opposite: most people who saw the film WERE alive when the events occurred. This heightens the film’s impact.

Within this fictionalized story of true events, Aida makes various attempts to protect the male members of her family. Sometimes, her attempts work and sometimes, they don’t. Not knowing whether she succeeds in each attempt is the source of the tension in this great film. These scenes also expose the uselessness and unreliability of the UN – not only in their inabilities to help when needed but more in the lack of availability of highly over-paid UN staff (at the highest levels) who clearly don’t understand the importance of their jobs – careerism at its worst. (An aside: parasitic careerists are toxic everywhere in the world. This film implies that the worst of them have gravitated to be on the payroll of the UN.)

Director/writer Jasmina Žbanić did an exceptional job in co-ordinating many scenes involving enormous crowds suffering from massive chaos. There is also a stunning, mind-blowing climax plus a touching epilogue. Đuričić is equally exceptional in the lead role covering a wide range of emotions especially in the epilogue. “Quo Vadis, Aida” could be aptly described as both a thriller while also depicting one of the worst tragedies since WW2.

RATING: —> * * * 1/2

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Directing by Jasmina Žbanić
• Acting by Jasana Đuričić

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Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

A sequel to “Borat” (released in 2006), the title character (played by Sasha Baron Cohen) returns to the USA from Kazakhstan but under a new disguise. This time he is accompanied by his teenage daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova). Due to trouble he’s having in Kazakhstan, Borat must offer Maria as a bride to US Vice-President Mike Pence. While Borat and Maria are fictional, the Americans shown are real and are successfully duped by the filmmakers into believing the fiction around them is truth.

Humour is personal. Yes, this is stating the obvious but it is a defense in this case as I am on the outside of the popular response for this film which has delighted many. It’s not a full loss, though. There is a scene in a doctor’s office involving misunderstandings after Tutar has accidentally swallowed a plastic decoration on a dessert. The double-entendres are hilarious in this scene. There are other chuckles as well but too many lines were crossed including trivializing mass shootings in synagogues. Humour is best when it gets as close to the edge as possible but never going over the edge. For most, this film went to the edge and they loved it. For me and a few others, it went over the edge too often.

Another good point in the film is the presence of Jeanise Jones, an Oklahoma resident who is asked to babysit Tutar. One of the many who were duped to perform in the film, Jones has genuine charm and goodness. She is an oasis among the many less appealing people in the film.

While this film takes good aim at the extreme right, there is no attempt to do the same for the extreme left where opportunities would have been endless in the US in 2020. At times, the film seems like an infomercial for the Democrat 2020 Presidential campaign. There are appropriate spaces for infomercials but a movie isn’t one of them. Further, the attacks against the extreme right have already been done many times in mainstream American media so these bits in the film seemed redundant.

There’s satire and there’s bad taste. I miss satire.

RATING: —> *