Short Takes on Anora, Blitz, Conclave, Maria, Elton John: Never Too Late, and some various other cinematic topics

Boldly Going Into 2025

Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke

I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.  However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon.  (Note: Anything in bold blue below [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)

My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”

(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)

 Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark returns from a holiday break as we move into our 14^th year with good wishes to you all for a healthy, prosperous 2025 (plus great concern for my Southern CA neighbors besieged by wildfire disasters).  The reviews this week are about some of what I’ve watched recently, the first 3 presented in ascending order of quality, the last 2 even shorter because they’re a combo of a dramatization and a documentary about 2 famous musical artists so it’s more useful to see and hear what they contain than to read about them, thus no Spoiler alerts for these last offerings.  Overall, though, please read on/return on a regular basis for more of this brilliant stuff.

           

SHORT TAKES

If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy).  To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows: 

⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.

            Anora (Sean Baker, 2024)   rated R   139 min.

             

Here’s the trailer:

        (Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size; 

        activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)

 You would think a film that’s won the 2024 Cannes Film Festival’s top prize of the Palme d’Or, has achieved 94% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (from 293 reviews) along with an (almost unheard of) 91% average score from Metacritic (“Universal Acclaim” by their standards), has already achieved many awards/nominations (including Best Picture from the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Top Ten Films from the National Board of Review, several Golden Globe noms [but no trophies there]), and won the hearts of 2 of my local San Francisco Bay Area critics who both chose it among their Top 10 of the year (Mick LaSalle, Randy Myers) would be something I’d consider a “must-see,” which I did, based on all of that fanfare, even though my now-outdated streaming options—Apple TV+, Fandango at Home—required me to buy it for $19.99 (it’s still in a few theaters too, having opened domestically [U.S.-Canada] on October 18, 2024, made $29.6 million globally to date, AND NOW can be rented for $9.99 from Apple TV+ [damn!]).  After seeing it, though, rather than agreeing with those such as Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times (“This is a story of wealth, and power, and what love can and can’t overcome. But it’s also about something far more heart-rending: what it means to be accustomed to being looked at one way, and then experiencing, out of the blue, what it feels like to actually be seen.”) who are deliriously-ecstatic over it, I’m more with Dustin Chase, a guy from my old hometown of Galveston, TX, in The Daily News where he says “[…] sensory overload, manic, grating and a real lack of empathy for anyone on screen.”  We’re clearly in the slim minority, though.

 If what you want is a film where most of the characters say “fucking” more times than you can count plus various versions of that sexual activity constantly pounding away on screen (not that's anything wrong with that, in general principles; very clear what’s going on, yet no genitalia shown, keeping the R rating securely in place), then join the celebrations for Anora (Chase says “Watching what happens to ‘Anora’ this awards cycle will very likely be more fascinating than the film itself.”), but if this concept falls flat for you (not a problem for any of the “fuckers” here) I’d think more than twice about spending 20 bucks, especially for something you might feel compelled to see again now that you have the “honor” of owning it (maybe rental's OK).  Actually, I can save you some money via this analysis of a scene (15:15, ads interrupt at 1:30, 9:08) by director Baker and star Mikey Madison (her acting’s truly compelling, even if her screeching character offers little for our empathy).

 To flesh out the plot a bit, it’s about a Brooklyn stripper, Anora/Ani (Madison) who falls into a rapid romance with a Russian oligarch’s son, Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), marries him in Las Vegas, then has to deal with Dad’s thugs who are told to annul their union.  ⇒Despite her initial fierce resistance to a breakup, Ani finally goes along with it realizing Ivan’s not all he claims to be, still angry at being called a prostitute, even though she accepted $15K from Ivan to be exclusive with him for a week, including lots of sex.⇐ I’d say that’s enough said about Anora so I’ll leave you with my usual finishing ploy of a Musical Metaphor, this time Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Faded Lover” (from his 1975 Ridin’ High album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg4ttXb9q1M, although I’m seeing it more as being sung by Ani to Ivan, so just mentally change “man” to “woman” whenever it comes around in the lyrics (“The only kind of [wo]man that you ever wanted / Was one that you knew you’d never hold very long / Sittin’ there cryin’ like I’m the first one to go”) and you’ll get a good sense of Ani’s sense of (paid-off by Ivan’s parents) failure as this story concludes.  Why this was so applauded, I'm not sure.

                

 Blitz (Steve McQueen, 2024)  rated PG-13  120 min.

Here’s the trailer:

 London, England in September 1940 is the victim of Nazi Germany’s Blitz, constant aerial attacks with air raid sirens noisily telling the populace to seek shelter from the latest bombing barrage.  In an effort to protect the children the government arranges for them to be sent to the countryside, including 9-year-old George Hanway (Elliot Heffernan), a mixed-race kid (his mother, Rita [Saoirse Ronan], earlier had an affair with a Black African man, Marcus [CJ Beckford] who faced racist attacks by Anglo toughs, was eventually deported) who’s settled in with Rita and grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller), actively resists being sent away on a train, then jumps off determined to return home, including hoping a London-bound freight train where he encounters a few other boys also rejecting their enforced relocation.  So, what we have here is a dual-track narrative where we see the devastation of bombed-out London and Rita’s job in a munitions plant/volunteer work in an official shelter (in contrast to the unofficial attempts of many to retreat to the Underground stations of the “Tube” rail lines where overwhelmed workers fail to evict the dozens seeking protection there) along with George’s journey back home where he finds some help from a Black civil defense worker, Ife (Benjamin Clementine), but then is forced into a brief life of looting boarded-up or bombed-out locations by a small gang straight out of a Dickens novel until he gets a chance to run away from them.  Along the way he also spends a night in an Underground station, then helps provide a group escape when some of the subway walls give way to flooding (from the Thames river, I assume) as he’s small enough to squeeze under a gate, then get it open for others to run from the raging waters.

 George is officially listed as a missing child; Rita learns he’s out there somewhere so she frantically spends what free time she has looking for him.  ⇒Ultimately, they both separately return to their home only to find it reduced to rubble with Grandfather lying dead, so they’re now tearfully re-united, with the story coming to an end as we get nothing further about what will happen to them, although she’s met a helpful soldier, Jack [Harris Dickinson], so there may be some hope with him as the Blitz continues.⇐  Ronan and Heffernan give marvelous performances in this tension-filled story, which I find as quite compelling (like Alissa Wilkinson of The New York Times (yes, her again, worthwhile): “We want to raise our spirits and inspire ourselves to great things. […] Stories do not always fit the narrative arcs we want for them. And even heroes — especially heroes — find themselves, sometimes, just weeping in the ruins.”), although the CCAL as a whole isn’t quite as enthused as I am, shown by the RT positives at 81%, the MC average score at 71%; I’ll let Owen Gleiberman of Variety explain the seeming-hesitation: “It’s hard not to be touched by it, but the movie, for all its craft, feels muffled by good intentions.“  And you know what the famous road to Hell is paved with ... 

 Nevertheless, I highly recommend Blitz, still in some theaters (opened on November 1, 2024, no domestic grosses reported, internationally [mostly U.K.] has made $1.4 million so far) along with a free streaming option for Apple TV+ subscribers (or get 7 days free/sign up for 1 month for $9.99).  My Musical Metaphor is Ten Years After’s “I’m Going Home”* at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2YB7qyn5MVs (video’s 1969's Woodstock Festival, song’s on the movie soundtrack of that event [Woodstock, Michael Wadleigh, 1970]) with Alvin Lee on vocals and guitar; yes, the song’s about a man on his way home to see his lover, but, metaphorically-speaking it also conjures up for me the frantic determination (not only in the song's pace but also in the multi-image collage of the performance) young George has to return to London, despite such known danger awaiting him there.

*I also considered Paul Simon’s "Homeward Bound" (1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme) for this metaphor but decided it’s too wistful in mood for the tension that suffuses McQueen’s film; I’m probably also fond of the Simon song because I’ve seen him 7 times in concert, including early 1967 with Garfunkel, early 1987 for his “Graceland” tour (where I was fortunate enough to meet my wonderful wife of so many glorious years, Nina), and in 2018 for his farewell-to-touring concert where he closed with this marvelous song.  Still, it’s too quiet for this film, so Alvin Lee gets the nod.

            

Conclave (Edward Berger, 2024)  rated PG  120 min.

Here’s the trailer:

 Full disclosure: I was raised Roman Catholic (not so any more), have followed what was made public about the choosing of new Popes from John XXIII to the current Francis out of increasingly-distant interest, and have had the marvelous experience of visiting the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican (where the Cardinals gather to elect a new Pope), so I may have been more intrigued by this film than some others would be, but until I see something better (and there are still many on my list of 2024 possibilities) this one is my favorite of what was released last year because of the fascinating performances by all the headliners and the intrigue around the Papal progression, showing it to be as fraught with intra-church politics as any American primary/election battle for the Presidency.  Here the situation is the former Pope has died, the worldwide College of Cardinals gather in Vatican City to choose a worthy successor with the conclave under the direction of Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) and the opening assumption that liberal Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci) of the U.S. has the inside track; however, there’s also support for Nigerian conservative Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), Canadian moderate Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), and archconservative Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) of Italy, with many of the others quietly plotting opposition to the latter as he’s seen as a backward force, undoing what progress has been made in recent decades to make the church more tolerant, progressive, and integrated into the secular world (although—personal comment here—nothing has changed regarding allowing women into the clergy nor softening the strict opposition to abortion in the real world of this Christian faith).  A big quandary!

 Then a surprise emerges when the Cardinals learns they have a previously-unknown member, Mexican Vincent Benitez (Carlos Dietz), whom the late Pope secretly appointed as Archbishop of Kabul, Afghanistan.  Further complications arise when it’s reported the Pope had demanded Tremblay’s resignation on the night he died (Tremblay denies this) and a nun, Sister Shanumi (Balkissa Maiga), is flown in from Africa by Tremblay—confirmed by Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini)—to undermine Adeyemi because he had an affair with her years ago, resulting in a child.

 As the various intrigues continue, Bellini reluctantly decides to back Tremblay, thereby blocking Tedesco, even as Lawrence breaks protocol by examining the previous Pope’ private documents, discovers Tremblay offered Bellini a major role in return for his support, just as he bribed other Cardinals for votes, so Tremblay’s out also even as support grows for Benitez, which intensifies after a terrorist bomb kills some in the outdoor crowd, damages a Chapel wall.  Tedesco calls for religious war against Muslims yet Benitez counters with policies of love, leading to his election.  ⇒However, Lawrence talks privately with him, learns he was born as intersex but assigned male at birth, rejected an operation to remove his uterus and ovaries to remain as God created him, leaving Lawrence silent and perplexed as crowds cheer the new Pope, unaware of his unique status which upends centuries of Catholic dogma.⇐  This is a marvelous film of religiously-based inner turmoil, grand visuals of Renaissance-era architecture (although filming in the Sistine Chapel was not allowed, requiring an impressive set to be built), and superb acting by all involved—especially Fiennes—showing how written dialogue can fully come alive with the proper impact of body language, facial expressions, tone of voice; I highly recommend it even if you'll care little about the Catholic specifics.

 The CCAC joins me, the RT positives at 93%, the MC average score at 79% (the film’s included in the National Board of Review’s 2024 Top 10, won or nominated for many awards, just won Best Screenplay for Peter Straughan at the Golden Globes); if you’re interested you might find it still in 57 domestic theaters (opened wide on October 25, 2024; $31.4 million gross, $58.7 million worldwide), but it’s also streaming free on Peacock (subscriptions $7.99 monthly) and Amazon Prime Video (30 days free, then $8.99 a month), or you can buy it for $19.99 at Apple TV+ or Fandango at Home.  (Wendy Ide of U.K.’s The Guardian says you should take one of these choices because: “You may think that being locked in a room with a bunch of pompous elderly men deviously attempting to shaft each other wouldn’t be a lot of fun. But trust me on this: Conclave is a blast.”).  For my Musical Metaphor I’ll turn from the likely Vatican City beverage de jour of wine to The Eagles’ cocktail allusion of “Tequila Sunrise” (on their 1973 Desperado album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b ZxhQJC9hWk due to this song actually being about “another lonely boy in town” (little connection in the film, though, to nuns “out runnin’ around,” except for Sister Shinumi's scandal) because “it’s a hollow feelin’ / When it comes down to dealin’ friends / It never ends,” which seems to me to be the case for Cardinal Lawrence and others as the tension-filled votes to further the Papacy go through multiple rounds (“Wonder why the right words never come / You just get numb, from more tequila as the song implies).  This film is a 2024 triumph; I'll eagerly await anything of its caliber or even better.

            

         Maria (Pablo Larrain, 2024)   rated R   124 min.

Here’s the trailer:

 This biopic begins briefly on September 18, 1977 with the death at 53 of famed opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie) in her Paris home, then goes back a week to explore how she spent her last days (must have been a very busy time given the events packed into this plot).  While there’s a lot of interpersonal interplay with her servants—when she’s usually in oppressive full-diva-mode, despite how much she depends on them—butler Ferruccio (Pierfrancesco Favino), housemaid/cook Bruna (Alba Rohrwacher)—devoted to their employer but well aware of her faults—the main narrative thrust is Maria’s attempt to recapture the magnificence of her famed voice which she feels she’s lost, working in a process with conductor/pianist/colleague Jeffrey Tate (Stephen Ashfield) who continues to encourage her even as a reporter sneaks into these sessions in an empty concert hall, tells her afterward  she sounds terrible.  As the film progresses we see her singing some previous triumphs with the rehearsal scenes intercut with earlier footage of her singing the same aria to a full opera house followed by thunderous applause; we also get some flashbacks on her probable-although-not-verified affair with shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginer), even when she was married, then later when he was married to Jacqueline Onassis (after the death of President JFK; Larrain made a biopic about her, Jackie [2016] starring Natalie Portman, which was better critically-received than Maria [find Two Guys lengthy review in our January 4, 2017 posting where we gave it 4 stars]).  

 As Maria’s trying to self-medicate with various pills, which Ferruccio makes every attempt to keep under control, she hallucinates she’s being interviewed by a young documentarian, Mandrax (Kodi Smit-McPhee).  She tells him she wants to distance herself from her past (even as she’s trying to recapture the fame she was so used to before her end to performing 4½ years ago), but it’s clear, as she’s presented here at least, that she yearns to be celebrated again (she goes in public "to be adored").  If, like me, you don’t know much about opera, these songs—in Italian, with no subtitle translations—may be hard to get into, yet you can always understand why such artistry was so celebrated (Jolie does sing here, but she’s blended with Callas’ voice, as it would be near-impossible to successfully, or even approximately, duplicate the original).  Jolie’s acting is near-monumental, though, so we’ll see if it’s Oscar-nomination-worthy.  The CCAL’s somewhat supportive (RT 75%, MC 62%), so follow up if you wish, with a small theatrical presence still (international gross $1.1 million, no domestic reports), better found via streaming on Netflix.  I’ll bow out with Callas singing "Ave Maria" plus a further encouragement to visit this site to learn considerably more about her.

             

                                 Elton John: Never Too Late

                            (R.J. Cutler, David Furnish; 2024)

                                     rated PG-13   102 min.

Here’s the trailer:

 Unlike aspects of docudramas like Maria, where events of la Callas’ (her preferred nomenclature at times) final week may have some basis in fact or may simply be the result of screenwriter Steven Knight‘s creative license to create something based on other aspects of her life while constructing an effective narrative, with Elton John … we have a true documentary composed of older footage from several decades of his astounding career joined to more-recent interviews to give a concise look at the life of a guy, born just a few months prior to me in 1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight (changed it to Elton Hercules John in 1972), who evolved from a boy in an abusive homelife to a young man intent on conquering the piano in the rock-out vein of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, to struggles in his early life as an aspiring musician which changed drastically for both of them when he met lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1967, leading to his immense worldwide fame in the post-Beatles decade when in 1970-’75 he released 13 albums (7 of which hit #1), yet his personal life was empty (reminding me of Ricky Nelson’s much-earlier "Teenage Idol": “Folks say they envy me / I guess they got no way of knowing / How lonesome I can be”) as Elton recalls how all he had to care about for so long were the energetic joy of live performances, the drugs that kept him going from gig to gig.

 Over the years, though, he got sober, bounced back from a few failed relationships to marry this doc’s co-director, Furnish, adopted 2 sons, then set out on a Farewell Tour with a focus here on his 2022 return to L.A.’s Dodger Stadium, with references to his triumphant 1975 concert there (the tour ended in Stockholm on July 8, 2023).  However, the CCAL’s not as enthusiastic as I am about this fascinating, touching doc with RT at 74%, MC at 61% (Toronto’s Radheyan Simonpillai in The Guardian: “It’s a lovely gimmick, one where a limitation turns out to be a feature not a bug, in a film that too often falls short because of its access.”)  If you’ll join me in seeking it out, though, you might find it in a few theaters but more likely on streaming where it’s free to Disney+ subscribers ($9.99 monthly to join).  I’ll leave you with my Musical Metaphor of “Your Song” (Elton John album, 1970) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPlfCy1urI because, unlike Elton’s more-flamboyant tunes it’s a quiet, sincere statement of both how a singer providing the tune feels about his lover and, by extension, how this specific singer has always felt about love from his audiences: “I hope you don’t mind / That I put down in words / How wonderful life is / While you’re in the world.”  If you’d like much more about Elton John, visit this site and/or watch the biopic about his life, Rocketman (Dexter Fletcher, 2019; our 4-stars review can be found in our June 6, 2019 posting); starring Taron Egerton.

Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:

Some options for your consideration when thinking about 2024 cinematics: (1) 2025 Golden Globe winners; (2) Disney recaptured its dominance in 2024; (3) How Emila Pérez has emerged as an awards season contender (just won 4 Golden Globes); (4) IMDb's most popular movies of 2024; (5) Domestic box-office champs of 2024; and, of course, (6) Global box-office champs of 2024.

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