Devi’s July 2024 Viewing Roundup

July 9th, 2024

Hurray! After a few misses last month, I’m back on a most pleasing cinema streak. For a mix of fun and provocative film viewing, I recommend the following, currently all playing in theaters:

DADDIO (in theaters): Much like last year’s DRIVING MADELEINE, DADDIO weaves a compassionate and compelling story between a cab rider and his passenger. And while I very much enjoyed the former, Christy Hall’s directorial debut positively blew me away. It’s an uneasy film at times. Both characters say and do things that are highly problematic, but the characters themselves, played to perfection by Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson, won my heart almost instantly. Equally impressive is the storytelling, full of surprises and a deceptive rising tension despite the fact that the plot solely comprises dialogue between two people primarily just sitting inside a car. Speical kudos to Hall for repeatedly dodging expectation. These people, though highly flawed, acknowledge said flaws and just when you think they might fall into a cliché, they turn around and surprise you – though in an entirely organic way. As to what it’s about, I would say it explores the problematic nature of the patriarchy and how two kind ad sensitive individuals both succumb to and overcome it.

EZRA (streaming Prime) and GHOSTLIGHT (in theaters): I’m lumping these two together, not to suggest they are overly similar, though I did enjoy them for similar reasons. Both explore complicated family dynamics that lead the characters to reckless behavior that hurts the very people they yearn to reach out to. Both also show how art is unifying factor that brings healing. What we need most in a world as troubled as ours. Both films are the kind of films we should all watch with our loved ones in theaters and have long discussions thereafter.

THELMA (in theaters): I saw this one with my mother at a cinema in The Villages, a famous retirement community in Florida, and the venue made for a particular rich viewing experience, especially in moments of suspense where the dangers —such as falling when nobody’s around to catch you—struck close to home. The attention to detail regarding the daily realities of advanced aged compelled equal parts laughs and groans born of palpable commiseration. I suppose that’s not surprising, The story was inspired by writer-director, Josh Margolin’s grandmother, and not only paid wonderful tribute to the details of her experience, but he also captured our society’s failure to do right not only by our senior citizen’s but by our younger generations who inevitably feel lost in a world that’s neglected them in a pursuit of ever greater profits and convenience.

TUESDAY (in theaters): Another debut by a female director, this one has me very excited to see future works by Daina O Pusic.  Though I found this one to be highly flawed, it was also highly original with great promise of the storyteller she’s destined to grow into. Reviews for this one run the gamut, both praising and condemning the casting of Julia Louis Dreyfuss, the portrayal of “Death’ by CG parrot and its exploration of dying and grief. For me, I was Team Parrot, all the way and found the character to be a brilliant and moving embodiment of various attitudes about death. Meanwhile, I did find the human elements of the story a bit on the nose and occasionally inconsistent, but not to the exclusion of enjoying the many moving parts even if they did not come together in an entirely satisfying way.

Enjoy!

Devi

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