Marshall

Josh Gad and Chadwick Boseman in "Marshall" 

Besides the fact of knowing that Thurgood Marshall was the first African American Supreme Court Justice, I don’t think I could tell you much more about the man, his accomplishments, his upbringing, or his life beyond that bit of American judicial history. So it was a little disappointing to find out that “Marshall”, the new sort-of biopic starring Chadwick Boseman as the titular man released last week, doesn’t prove to be the history lesson most Americans, and myself, probably need: a birth to death portrait, in the nature of say “Ray” from 2004. But rather, it focuses on one case early in his career as a lawyer, about the black driver of an affluent family accused of raping and attempting to murder the white woman of said family in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1941. The plot never strays much beyond that, which is positive in the sense that the story moves with a pace and purpose, but negative in the sense that the context of Thurgood Marshall as a lawyer, his place and position in the NAACP, and his life as a black man in Midcentury America is never explored with much depth, let alone detail. As an activist and lawyer he argued and won more cases than he lost for the advancement of Civil Rights in this country until he ultimately became one of the nine justices on the Supreme Court. The film's knowledge of his significance in the history of not only African Americans but in American Civil Liberties is apparent throughout, almost to a fault. It is apparent most unmistakably in the performance of Chadwick Boseman, so charismatic and powerful as the Black Panther in the Marvel movies, and yet here a vessel for a formulaic chapter in Thurgood Marshall's life. For a film titled “Marshall”, it isn’t really about Marshall, but rather on the relationship Marshall had with fellow lawyer Sam Friedman (Josh Gad) and how he was stymied by a racist judge, wasn’t allowed to argue, or even speak in court to defend his client. As performed by Boseman, Marshall is a charismatic, intelligent, and well spoken cypher never intimidated, and never really known, always focused on the task at hand, hyper aware of his importance. 

While the film began and the credits were rolling, I noticed a large amount of the producers were Asian, which I thought was curious, in so much as this story doesn’t seem to scream Asian financial backing. Afterwards, in a discussion with the films editor Tom McArdle and producer Jonathan Sanger, they explained how a Chinese production company Super Hero Films was desperately looking for material to produce its first movie, and landed on this project after the script and story had remained in production limbo for many years. They saw this as an essential American story, and the narrative a crowd pleaser. While I don’t think the movie was anything memorable, and the filmmaking to be anything more than standard movie-of-the-week entertainment. But I am still glad that it was made and financed for it is the man himself , and his achievements that you think about when you leave the theater, and for that alone, it deserves any and all attention it receives. 

The Mountain Between Us

Kate Winslet and Idris Elba in "The Mountain Between Us" 

“The Mountain Between Us” stars Idris Elba and Kate Winslet, and were it not for their presence the mere existence of this movie wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.  Two strangers, a photo-journalist (Winslet) and a surgeon (Elba), are trying to fly across the country but the weather gets in the way. Winslet’s character has the bright idea to charter a plane and after overhearing the similar plight of a stranger nearby asks him to join. It’s too bad the pilot (Beau Bridges) has a stroke mid flight, and after crashing at 11,000 feet amidst the Rocky Mountains, a survival story ensues, in addition to a love story. Twist! After the screening, I was a little confused. The movie wasn’t good. In fact, it was bad. But the director, the well respected Dutch-Palestinian Hany Abu Assad was there, as well as the President of Fox 2000 Pictures, Elizabeth Gabler, and they were gonna talk to us after. They had a lot of explaining to do.

One of the best parts about this class is the opportunity given to actually hear from the filmmakers and studio executives about the process of making such a movie, the technical and logistical difficulties. It enhances the movie going experience. Even in a movie like this, which I personally didn't like, listening to the director about how and why this got made, and the experience of really filming in the environment depicted was worthwhile. And while “The Mountain Between Us” isn’t successful as a survival story, much less a love story, watching these two actors who were truly filming at above 10,000 feet in extreme weather was extraordinary, which makes it all the more disappointing how ineffective the story is emotionally. What should be a devastating and thrilling exploration of two strangers relying on each other for strength and survival becomes stale and repetitive. When problems arise: a mountain lion, a frozen lake, a bear trap, it gets solved too neatly, and the characters, who save for the adorable dog, are really the only people on screen, don’t seem like real people. And in a sense they aren't. They are two beautiful, perfectly structured movie stars. Elba and Winslet have a charisma and magnetism that is undeniable, we all know this, and you could do worse then to watch them for 90 minutes, but the material doesn’t match their strengths as actors, and the imagery of the mountains can't make up for the weakness in both the script and direction. 

Leaving Beverly Hills and anticipating my two hour drive home I had a thought, "What is the point of all this?" And honestly I don't have an answer. It was disappointing to start this 10 week course with a dud, but just being there, in a theater, listening to smart people, surrounded by an engaged audience proved to be enough. After glancing at the schedule of the upcoming screenings and guests helped boost my confidence in deciding to take this class because I know for a fact I will be seeing some great movies eventually. But in the end, this is about getting me back into the groove of writing, and engaging with art, closely examining, sorting out my emotions and coming to conclusions. I've missed it so much and I don't know what was holding me back. But I do know that I'm ready. 

i'm baaaaaaaack

When I think too much about it I don’t know if I have it in me. I used to get so thrilled at the idea. Writing. Like what it is. Putting thoughts into words. Words into sentences. Sentences into stories. It’s been so long though. Also, I feel like I’ve written this blog post before. No, I definitely did. But sometimes you just have to repeat yourself.

Not much has happened to me since the last time I wrote something down. Actually a lot has happened. I won't go into details. That's for another day. But it’s hard for me to articulate exactly how it’s been for me. I think I think about me too much, and not enough about the world around me. Movies and increasingly television has been an escape from reality, but recently, and I guess always, they have taught me about the world, encouraging empathy for other’s stories, and an understanding of different places and people.

I signed up for something on a whim. 10 Weeks. Once a week. 3 hours. Sneak Previews at UCLA. Writers Guild Theater. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. I don’t live nearby, I don’t have the expendable income, I haven’t even been going to the movies as much as I used to. And yet something made me sign up. And I’m really glad I did.

I’m sitting inside Blue Bottle coffee in the center of Beverly Hills and there is no Wi-Fi and I parked 15 minutes away, but I’m happy right now. I’m sitting in public, writing my own words on my slowly dying laptop, and I’m happy. The class starts at 7 and I don’t know exactly how it’s going to go, but I’m ready to watch the movies, engage with the art, and try hard again. Take that all of my much more accomplished friends.