There's a big theme in the new movies this week: women trying to find who and what they really are. You'll see it in three of the films I write about today. And unrelated, there's Pedro Pascal. He's having a great week. His terrific series on Crave, The Last of Us, is nearing it's season end, but has been renewed already, and the first episode of his even bigger series, the Star Wars spin off, The Madalorian, is back on Disney +. Episode One of season three debuted this week. I review it today, along with these:
To Leslie: 4 ½ stars
Return to Seoul: 4
Queens of the Qing Dynasty: 2
The Mandalorian: 3 ½
Creed III: 3
A Little White Lie: 2 ½
TO LESLIE: This is surely the best new movie out there right now. It feels like you're watching real people. It's also notable for the surprise Best Actress nomination Andrea Riseborough got for her performance. She deserve the honor because her acting is flawless here, even though she's English and is playing a down-life woman in Texas. That's Leslie who won a lottery, drank away all her winnings and winds up on the street. No surprise how many guys in pickup trucks blaring Waylon Jennings music think she's a hooker.
She lives at the home of her now-grown-up son for a while but because she won't stop drinking is sent back to old friends played by Allison Janney and Stephen Root. They treat her badly. A stranger gives her a chance. Marc Maron, a comedian in his other life, plays the co-manager of a seedy motel. He gives her a job and makes sure she actually does it. Kindness can actually heal, the film says, though we don't know for sure because there are setbacks, lapses and arguments to come. The writing is brilliant, concise and always on the point. “You're what wrong with your life” she's told. That sums up the theme exactly. The director, Michael Morris is well-known from TV shows like Better Call Saul. (In theaters in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Waterloo, Hamilton and Sudbury) 4 ½ out of 5
RETURN TO SEOUL: Here's another film about a woman trying to find herself. This one resonates with people who have been adopted and want to find out why. It's by the French director Davy Chou and is based on a friend of his.
In the film, a young woman who was born in South Korea but raised by a couple in France goes to find her birth parents. She can't speak the language, doesn't know her parents' names and finds tight rules prevent the adoption agency from helping her. She's known as Freddie (for Frédérique) and is played by Park Ji-min, who incidentally was adopted herself, and raised in France. Freddie gets around the bureaucracy, meets her dad, now a drunk but eager to have her stay, and commuicates with the mom. That eventually brings a bittersweet surprise and a strong emotional impact. Best of all is the portrait of Freddie, as a persistent yet vulnerable woman and the progress she makes towards learning who she is. It's a strong performance in a very touching film. It, incidentally, was Cambodia's submission to the Oscars. That's because the director is part Cambodian. (In theaters in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver now, other cities soon) 4 out of 5
QUEENS OF THE QING DYNASTY: A number of critics gave this film by the Cape Breton filmmaker Ashley McKenzie glowing reviews last fall when it played at festivals after its debut in Berlin. Maybe you want to listen to them, because I think differently. This film is slow. It drags. Shots are held too long and the much-lauded performance by Sarah Walker is one-tone and not much else. I don't blame her. She performs her part well. It's written that way. She's a suicidal teen, cooped up in a hospital mental ward, asking for Dexedrine and telling a murky back story that doesn't get us much involved to care about her.
A Chinese immigrant (Ziyin Zheng) who volunteers there is assigned to watch that she doesn't harm herself and gradually a friendship develops between them possibly because they're both outsiders. He's gay, wants to stay in Canada and faces a citizenship test with questions like “Who is the premier of Nova Scotia?” She's impulsive, as well as self-destructive. She want to marry the young man, be his trophy wife as in the impressions she has of Chinese history. (Animated interludes offer images). And, of course, he's the one person who shows empathy towards her. The basics are there for an affecting movie, but did I mention how slow it is? That gets in the way. (In theaters: Toronto now, Ottawa and Winnipeg next Friday, and Vancouver the week after) 2 out of 5
THE MANDALORIAN, Season 3: It's my first exposure to this popular Star Wars spin-off and I was very pleasantly surprised. There were 16 episodes before I got to it and I've seen two of the third season (#17 and 18). I found that they capture the look, feel and ambition of the earlier films. Already there's been a giant space battle among floating asteroids and earlier a giant dinosaur-like creature that jumps out of a lake and attacks a group of troopers. Pirates drink in a cantina and there's a faceoff, like between gunslingers. It's wild imagination from Jon Favreau who created the series and has obviously drawn on westerns as well as Star Wars for inspiration. Expensive-looking visual effects support it all.
And there's Baby Yoda, so-named by fans but officially called Grogu. He accompanies The Mandalorian, officially called Din Djarin on a quest that looks like it may occupy them for the whole 8-episode series. Din took off his helmet in a previous episode; that broke a scared rule and got him exiled. To redeem himself he has to plunge into the waters below a mine on his home planet. But the mine no longer exists, says Katee Sackhoff playing a seer-like character called.Bo-Katan Kryze. The panet was ravished, plundered and poisoned, she says. Din, played by Pedro Pascal, sets out to see if that's true and what of it might be left. Exciting adventure already; more to come it looks like. (Streaming on Disney+) So far: 3 ½ out of 5
CREED III: It's 47 years on and the Rocky story keeps going, now focusing on his major opponant's family. Remember Apollo Creed? Well this is #3 about his son Adonis, former world champion, now owner of a boxing gym, with a wife (Phylicia Rashad) who is a music producer. Michael B. Jordan stars and debuts as director, of a story co-written by Ryan Coogler, who directed him in Black Panther and Fruitvale Station. The pedigree is strong for this film, as is its position in films about black culture.
Creed is visited by a very old friend with a startling demand. Damian, played by Jonathan Majors who is also a big part of the current Ant-Man movie, spent 20 years in jail, blames Creed for that and now wants him to make him the world boxing champion. He says he owes him that. Creed seems to agree; we only find out later why. He sets up a title match and the film gives us the usual training montage (too long this time) and the big fight (to a giant crowd in the Dodgers' stadium). The boxing scenes are potent and servicable but not exceptional. The story peters out towards the end but until then is fine on the subject of friendship. (In theaters) 3 out of 5
A LITTLE WHITE LIE: Here's an amusing little comedy for when you want something light. It's just on the edge of something deeper in that it deals with intellectual matters. Aspiring writers may get a kick out of it. They've probably been to gatherings of writers like this and will recognize the issues of status, talent and pretention that play out there.
A small university wants to refresh an annual writers festival with a coup. They invite a famous author who has been a recluse for years and, surprise, after many attempts to each him failed, he agrees to come. Kate Hudson and Don Johnson play members of the faculty; Michael Shannon is the author. The only problem is: he's not the author, just a guy with the same name. He's talked into going but frets how he will discuss the craft of writing when he's not even a reader. He writes a story in his head, in case he's asked what he's working on. As the supposed author of a best-seller he's asked by almost everybody there to read their manuscript. That probably happens at these events. Then he's told his agent will be coming. The complications build up nicely but not always the way you expect. There's some mild fun here. (On VOD platforms Amazon Prime, Vudu, iTunes, DirectTV, etc) 2 ½ out of 5
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