Connect with us

Reviews

The Hand of God Review: Cinema Versus Reality

Published

on

The Hand of God Review: Cinema Versus Reality

What exactly are distractions, and what is their value? Are movies merely distractions? What about sports, beauty, and sex? What are they distracting us from, if not just the pains of life? Paulo Sorrentino’s rambling autobiographical film The Hand of God asks these questions and others without providing any tangible answers. “You gotta figure it out yourself,” an aged director says near the end of the film, implying that each person must answer these questions in their own unique way. This film is Sorrentino’s answer.

The movie is intentionally aimless, something which is foreshadowed by the unbroken opening shot. For three long minutes, a helicopter hovers over the waters of 1980’s Naples, scanning the skies as the soundtrack isolates the percussive beats of its rotary blades. The soundtrack switches to the thumping of speedboats on the water as the camera observes the city from a God’s-eye view, zooming into a single antique car, the soundtrack now picking up the frequencies on its radio before pulling out to observe more of the horizon. Sorrentino makes it clear that he intends to wander, to make a plotless but beautiful observational film.

Advertisement

Coming of Age in Two Halves

After sauntering through the city with tangential characters for nearly ten minutes, the three main actors are eventually revealed, pressed tightly together on a small speeding scooter. This is the young Fabietto Schisa, the director’s doppelganger quietly played by Filippo Scotti, and his parents Saverio and Maria. It is their close relationship that anchors The Hand of God, or at least half of it. The first part of the film is nearly ramshackle but enjoyable, following the three characters through chaotic scenes with their large extended family and eccentric neighbors; after a terrible tragedy, the movie tightens its focus onto Fabietto and becomes his sole journey.

Related: Paulo Sorrentino Dives Deep Into Il Divo

Sorrentino returned to Naples, where he spent his first 37 years, to shoot the film at many of the actual locations from his childhood, including his old family residence. Naples becomes a dominant character in the film, and it’s clear that the director has a close affinity with the city. There is an independence here, a kind of proud and separate existence from the rest of Italy, perhaps owing to the city’s complicated history (having its own kingdom, it wasn’t technically part of Italy until 1861). This creates a nice parallel to the iconoclastic family and the increasingly independent Fabietto.

Advertisement

Making Movies About Moviemaking

Sorrentino has often been compared to fellow Italian master Federico Fellini, with the former’s Oscar-winning The Great Beauty being compared to the latter’s La Dolce Vita. The first half of The Hand of God has already received direct comparisons to Fellini’s Oscar-winner Amarcord, as both share a similar style in their objectless wandering through the lives of a large, wild Italian family and the lustful teenage boys always on the sidelines. Fellini himself is even mentioned repeatedly in this new film; a particularly delightful scene hangs around a casting session for one of the old master’s movies, with Fabietto observing the odd larger-than-life people often cast in his films.

Beyond Fellini, cinema casts a rich shadow over the entirety of this movie, considering it’s the autobiography of a filmmaker. Sorrentino’s first script to be made into a motion picture was co-written and directed by Antonio Capuano in 1998 (appropriately titled The Dust of Naples), and The Hand of God is haunted by Capuano (played here by Ciro Capano)– a film of his is seen being staged in Naples, his name is repeatedly mentioned throughout the film, and his lengthy conversation with Fabietto brings the movie to its denoument, inspiring the young Sorrentino stand-in to pursue his filmmaking dreams. But will filmmaking be just another distraction from the pain of life?

Related: Youth Trailer Starring Rachel Weisz and Michael Caine

There is a quote from Fellini in the film: “Cinema is a distraction from reality, which is lousy.” Distractions are a prominent motif here, with all of Naples excited about the transfer of Argentinian footballer Diego Maradona to play for the Napoli team. Maradona was one of the two FIFA Players of the Century, and his legendary illegal goal during the 1986 quarter finals of the World Cup coined the colloquial term ‘the hand of God.’ It was Maradona who Fabietto, and thus Sorrentino, went to see play at Tuscany one day in 1987, and it was this trip which inadvertently saved Sorrentino’s life; in this and other ways, ‘the hand of God’ has multiple meanings.

Advertisement


Actions and Distractions

It isn’t only sports and cinema which distract from suffering in this film. Beauty and sexuality become a comforting distraction from the real-life fighting, adultery, death, illness, and abuse in the movie. The often-naked Patrizia becomes a delightful diversion for Fabietto and other men here, and it’s explicitly stated that sexuality is a way to move on from tragedy. Sorrentino’s youth was interrupted by an extremely upsetting tragedy, and he had to figure out just how to not “come undone,” as Capuano puts it. This is why, when Fabietto shakes uncontrollably at the sound of his mother’s pained wails, his brother tells him, “Think about Patrizia. Think about Maradona.”

Related: This Must Be the Place Outtakes Featuring Sean Penn

The sexuality and male gaze of the film aren’t exactly politically correct, and there is a stark difference between what’s culturally normative now in America and what was back in 1980’s Naples. One particular scene can be extremely uncomfortable to watch, as a teenage character is seduced by and has sex with an octogenarian woman in somewhat graphic detail. Yet even here, Sorrentino locates something meaningful and poignant in the exchange, with the older woman trying to help the younger Fabietto move on from his personal tragedy and begin his life as a sexual, independent being.

Advertisement

All of these distractions exist as a way for Fabietto to forget his pain, and one wonders if this was the intention behind Sorrentino’s entire filmography. A stunning, intimate scene between his stand-in (Fabietto) and mentor (Capuano) features some of the director’s most personal and direct dialogue:

Now that my family has disintegrated, I don’t like life anymore. I don’t like it anymore. I want an imaginary life, just like the one I had before. I don’t like reality anymore. Reality is lousy. That’s why I want to make films.

Autobiography

This is about as direct and personal as the filmmaker has ever been. He eschews the inventive, pyrotechnical flair of his gorgeous earlier masterpieces like The Great Beauty and the phenomenal HBO series The Young Pope and The New Pope, opting instead for something less ironic, less flashy, and more confessional. What’s interesting about The Hand of God is that, while it’s not Sorrentino’s best work, it acts as a kind of Rosetta Stone for interpreting his entire oeuvre. Suddenly, the orphan in The Young Pope makes more sense; now Sean Penn’s quest to avenge his father in This Must Be the Place seems authentic; The Great Beauty‘s melancholic disdain for decorative distractions from mortality becomes more poignant.

Those weirder works, however, had such visual and innovative flair that it’s almost a let-down to see this largely realistic, practically plotless film. While the aimlessness is likely intentional, The Hand of God is a little too loose for its own good. There are too many characters who simply appear and disappear seemingly without purpose, and when some reappear for what is supposed to be an emotionally significant moment, the audience has already forgotten them and the pathos falls flat.

Advertisement

The sound design, however, is a huge and interesting advancement for Sorrentino. Rather than rely on his typically excellent ear for pop music, the director chooses to isolate diegetic sounds and noises to great effect. Whether it’s a cigarette’s sizzle, the popping sparks of a fire, or heavy marble slabs at a funeral, the sound of the film is always texturally magnificent and utterly immersive, something clear from the opening helicopter shot. The protagonist wears headphones like a necklace through most of the film, drowning out reality with a musical distraction from time to time, and the ubiquitous device evokes sound’s ability to trigger memory just as much as geography does. Though released on Netflix, The Hand of God begs to be seen in theatres, where it is playing in select cities.


Sorrentino has personally accomplished something unique in the making of this film. His cinema has often been a great distraction from reality, with its over-the-top stylization and ironic distance, but here he utilizes his artistry at artifice to touch on something authentic and true. He makes a fiction film, an artistic distraction, about the very tragedies he’s spent decades distracting both himself from. By doing so, he hints at art’s ability to both distract and heal, to exorcise the personal demons which haunt everyone. It must have been a kind of catharsis for him, and even if it’s not a great film, it inspires others to discover that catharsis for themselves.


Advertisement

Reviews

Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octane Thrill Ride

Published

on

By

Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octane Thrill Ride

Brad Pitt leads a wickedly funny ensemble in a high-octane actioner loaded with twists. Adapted from the 2010 Japanese novel by Kōtarō Isaka, Bullet Train has a bevy of disparate assassins manipulated by a mysterious criminal mastermind. Stuntman turned action director, David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), stays true to form with unrelenting bloody and flamboyant violence. The codenamed characters get downright verbose before beating, stabbing, and shooting each other to bits. The loquacious banter tends to run long, but the narrative always bounces back with sharp reveals. Strap in for a helluva ride.

Ladybug (Pitt) boards the overnight bullet train to Tokyo with a newfound sense of self. He’s chock-full of philosophy after recovering from a near fatal ambush. Ladybug ignores his unseen handler’s advice to take a gun. Surely any issues can be resolved peacefully. The job seems straightforward enough. Steal a briefcase with a sticker and exit at the next stop.

Advertisement

Also on board are Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), ruthless “twins” known for their brutal methods. Lemon is obsessed with the British children’s show “Thomas & Friends”. He reads people by comparing them to the anthropomorphized trains. The twins are escorting the previously kidnapped son (Logan Lerman) of a powerful gangster, the White Death (Michael Shannon).

None of the hired guns are aware of the Father, aka Yuichi Kimura’s (Andrew Koji), mission. He’s out for vengeance but foolishly runs into a deceptive figure. The Prince (Joey King) has a score to settle with the White Death. Meanwhile, the Wolf (Bad Bunny) joins the fray after his truly horrific Mexican wedding. He’s also ready for serious comeuppance. Ladybug quickly realizes they’re all unwitting pawns in a dangerous game. Someone has packed the train with killers for an unknown purpose. He desperately wants to get off but can’t seem to escape the carnage.


Related: I Love My Dad Review: Patton Oswalt’s Delightfully Cringeworthy Catfishing Comedy

Cast of Bullet Train

Bullet Train introduces the cast with splashy entrances that flashes back to their dark pasts. The murderous montages are informative but don’t fill in every gap. The script doles out more critical information as the bodies pile up. Alliances bounce back and forth as everyone wonders who’s actually pulling the strings. The whodunit element works well as the audience becomes embroiled in a series of betrayals. You don’t have a sense of the plot’s true trajectory until the third act. The film builds to a showdown that delivers a huge action payoff.

Advertisement

Bullet Train has complex characters that each contribute slices of devilish humor. Brad Pitt preaching self-help and understanding is an effective gag throughout. Brian Tyree Henry’s constant comparisons to Thomas & Friends aren’t as comical but play an important role in the story. There are a lot of moving parts. Leitch, who worked as Pitt’s stunt double for years, is clearly fond of his players. He gives everyone a chance to babble incessantly. I would have trimmed the dialogue to be more incisive.


The action scenes are worth the price of admission. Leitch has a great eye for mixing stylized set pieces with intimate fights. He knows when to go big and small. You never feel let down by his pacing. There’s always the right amount of adrenaline to keep your pulse pumping. Bullet Train is another feather in a skilled filmmaker’s cap. Watch out for A-list cameos and a mid-credits scene.

Bullet Train is a production of Columbia Pictures, Fuqua Films, and 87North Productions. It will be released theatrically on August 5th from Sony Pictures.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Reviews

Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Has A Blast In The Silly And Badass Action Comedy

Published

on

By

Bullet Train Review: Brad Pitt Has A Blast In The Silly And Badass Action Comedy

If orchestrated properly, with adjusted stakes, tone, and atmosphere, there can be a beautiful, symbiotic relationship between intense action and comedy. A hero pulling off a rapid and vicious series of blows against an opponent can be savage and dramatic in one context, but it can also be so deliriously awesome that an audience’s first reaction is to laugh. Fast paced martial arts can be used for wonderful physical humor (see: the legendary career of Jackie Chan), and the best examples provide dual layers of entertainment: you marvel at the skill in all the ass-kicking, and cackle at the creativity in the choreography.

This is a sweet spot that filmmaker David Leitch knows well. After peppering funny moments in John Wick and Atomic Blonde at the start of his directorial career, he brilliantly utilized the action/comedy weapon that is Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 2, and crafted some excellent physicality with the unique styles of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. His latest, Bullet Train, is another effort that takes aim at that particular tonal target, this time with his most expansive ensemble yet, and it’s another success. With a sensibility that could be described as early Guy Ritchie with more specific action focus, it’s a movie that is both silly and skilled and inspires its primary star in particular to do energetic and engaging work.

Based on the novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka, the film weaves multiple narrative threads through the cars of the titular bullet train as it speeds through the country of Japan – all of the protagonists being killers with their own particular reason and motivation for being aboard. Ladybug (Brad Pitt), for example, is a hired gun who has been tasked by his handler (Sandra Bullock) to perform what sounds like a simple job: find a briefcase marked with a train sticker and steal it. What he doesn’t know, though, is that said briefcase belongs to a pair of British hit men named Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and that the contents include the recovered ransom for the kidnapped son (Logan Lerman) of a powerful crime lord known as The White Death.

Meanwhile, Kimura a.k.a. The Father (Andrew Koji) is on the bullet train because he is on a mission of vengeance – hunting down the person responsible for nearly killing his son by pushing the boy off of a building. What he doesn’t expect is that the individual he is looking for is a young woman identified as The Prince (Joey King), and that she has purposefully gotten him on the high speed rail with the intention of forcing him to execute an assassination attempt.

And while five killers sharing the space would be enough for most movies, Bullet Train actually has even more that pop in and surprise throughout the film’s runtime – and their roles are worth keeping as a secret pre-release.

Advertisement

Bullet Train has a chaotic storyline, but the pieces properly connect as a fun puzzle.

Narratively speaking, Bullet Train is a messy movie to put together, as focus briskly ping-pongs between the different players, but everything stays in harmony as the film persistently finds ways to build on each protagonist’s arc. This is particularly cool later in the movie as different characters are drawn together from individual angles and instant conflict is generated from their simple interaction.

The film is at its best when it keeps things simple, but it does let things go off the rails at times (if you’ll pardon the pun). This is especially true as it gets into the third act and it tries to pull off stunts like one of the leads leaping from a platform on to the back of the train as it leaves a station; it’s both a problem for the “rules” of the universe and in its strained use of visual effects. The movie also frequently tries to get a bit too cute and Tarantino-esque with what are admittedly familiar-but-not-quite-stock characters – the most prominent example being an ongoing and quickly tiresome gag with Lemon explaining that he understands people through the lens of Thomas The Tank Engine.

Primarily, though, it’s a movie that is able to generate its entertainment with engaging and quippy dynamics between the members of the ensemble, both when they are talking out their issues and trying to kill one another.

David Leitch puts a lot of exciting and weird fights in a confined space, and is at its best when working with a “less is more” philosophy.

Coming from a stunt background, both as a performer and a coordinator, David Leitch’s bread and butter remains deftly and specifically choreographed action sequences, and Bullet Train proves to be a terrific challenge and opportunity for his skills. Regardless of where you are in the titular transport, space is not a luxury, and the best fights in the movie are those that are being fought only between the characters, but against the limitations provided by the location.

There are guns, knives and explosives in the mix, but Bullet Train also has some terrific “found item” moments that add spice and humor to the various showdowns, whether it’s a pocketed cell phone saving a character’s life from a blade, a laptop making for a solid cudgel, a water bottle making for a useful projectile, or a venomous snake showing up at a perfect moment.

Once again we see David Leitch work a special magic turning dramatic and comedic actors into badasses with slick and stylish moves, and while everyone shows off some terrific skills, it’s very much the Brad Pitt show at the end of the day.

Advertisement

Brad Pitt’s joy in the role of Ladybug is palpable.

At the nexus of everything good in Bullet Train is Brad Pitt, who very clearly had a blast reuniting with David Leitch (who performed the actor’s stunts in films including Fight Club, The Mexican, Mr. And Mrs. Smith and Troy). He’s a joy to watch in action not just because of the talented craft he demonstrates in his physicality, but how he channels the psychology of the character. As we meet him, Ladybug is reluctantly getting back into his business following a number of important breakthroughs with his therapist, and Pitt does a fantastic job conveying that he doesn’t ever want to choose violence as a first answer – both via verbal pleas and defense-heavy moves. Action/comedy is a genre he should revisit a lot more often.

Bullet Train doesn’t aim to revolutionize hitman movies, but instead plays with a tongue-in-cheek vibe that lets you recognize the tropes and appreciate how the film plays with them. It’s a slick/goofy action movie that is both contained and wild, and a satisfying late summer release.

Continue Reading

Reviews

Luck Review: A Spectacular Debut Film from Skydance Animation

Published

on

By

Luck Review: A Spectacular Debut Film from Skydance Animation

The world’s unluckiest woman enters a magical land to change the fortunes of a fellow orphan. Luck will make you smile and possibly shed a few tears. The big-budget, CGI animated fantasy shines a spotlight on needy children while telling a truly original story. An assortment of lucky critters and creatures dazzle in a spectacular setting. The highly imaginative narrative gives age-old superstitions a dynamic new spin. Luck is a brilliant first film from Skydance Animation.

Sam Greenfield (Eva Noblezada) reaches her eighteenth birthday with trepidation. She’s finally aged out of the foster care system. Sam never found her “forever family”. She spent her entire life living in orphanages. It doesn’t help that Sam has the worst luck. Everything she does or touches ends in abject disaster. Her only thoughts are for young Hazel (Adelynn Spoon), Sam’s roommate at the girls home. Sam has been set up with a job and tiny apartment. She has to stay in school and employed to remain housed.

Advertisement

Sam’s first day at Marv’s (Lil Rel Howery) floral shop goes exactly as expected. She sadly eats dinner sitting on a sidewalk. Sam learns that Hazel’s weekend trip with a foster family was canceled. She gives half of her sandwich to a curious black cat. It scampers away but leaves a strange penny behind.

The following day is a revelation. Sam’s lucky penny changes everything. Her ecstatic mood sours when she loses the penny in spectacular fashion. Stewing on the sidewalk, Sam’s surprised when the black cat returns. She’s astonished when Bob (Simon Pegg) asks for his penny. The “travel penny” is the only way a creature from the Land of the Luck stays safe in the human world. She follows an unnerved Bob back through the portal to the Land of Luck. Sam has to find another lucky penny to help Hazel. Bob reluctantly agrees, but they have to be careful. Misdeeds end up in banishment to Bad Luck.

Related: Bullet Train Review: A Wickedly Funny, High-Octaine Thrill Ride

Advertisement

The Land of Luck

The Land of Luck is an absolute joy to behold. Leprechauns, cats, pigs, and rabbits, lucky creatures, are the bureaucrats tasked with spreading good fortune. Bringing Sam in such a place is a recipe for absolute chaos. Bob, and his leprechaun assistant Gerry’s (Colin O’Donoghue), efforts to contain Sam’s bad luck will have audiences in stitches. I’m still chuckling at Sam’s “Latvian leprechaun” disguise; their harebrained excuse for why she’s so much bigger than everyone else.

Luck’s serious themes are artfully addressed. Sam’s lonely childhood, and her desperate efforts to change Hazel’s, brings a melancholic touch to the narrative. The film reminds us to not take love and family for granted. Every kid deserves care, nurturing, and a safe place to grow. It shouldn’t take luck or chance for a child to find a “forever home”.

Insert sigh here. Recent headlines concerning John Lasseter (Toy Story, Cars) will undoubtedly cloud this film’s release. The genius storyteller and animator behind Pixar’s success left to head Skydance Animation after awful “Me Too” allegations. He’s brought his incredible talent to Luck, and it shows. This wonderful film deserves to be judged on its own merits. Sometimes we must divorce ourselves from art and the personality of the artist.

Advertisement

Luck is a production of Skydance Animation and Apple Original Films. It will have an exclusive Apple TV+ premiere on August 5th.

Continue Reading

Trending