The Company You Keep

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP            C   
USA  (125 mi)  2013  ‘Scope  d:  Robert Redford                    Official site

This is the movie equivalent of Bill Clinton proclaiming he smoked pot in his youth, but never inhaled.  Here Robert Redford stars as a man with a connection to the Weather Underground, but he was never involved with any actual killings.  In both cases, these are sanctimoniously moral men used to having it both ways.  In real life, this rarely works, as people find it incredulous and far too inconceivable to believe.  This is the kind of film that gives liberals a bad name, as they appear to be morally superior and above judging themselves as part of history, which is exactly how Redford is portrayed in this film.  He was part of the problem without actually being part of the problem, remaining a valiant white knight who fought against the Vietnam War but remains innocent and squeaky clean against any pending legal charges.  It would be quite a different story had he actually taken responsibility for his involvement, as did Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, married activists when in 1980 they turned themselves in, as both were leaders of the Weather Underground and participated in the Days of Rage riot in Chicago in October 1969, as well as the bombing of the United States Capitol, the Pentagon, and several police stations in New York, going underground in early 1970, living under fictitious identities for a decade.  Charges were dropped against Ayers when it was revealed that undercover FBI agents were also involved in the bombings, while Dohrn received probation.  Despite passing both the New York and Illinois bar exams, she was turned down by the Illinois ethics committee because of her criminal record.  Nonetheless, both Ayers and Dohrn taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Northwestern University School of Law respectively, where Dohrn was the founder and director of the Children and Family Justice Center.  After they vacated their outstanding legal troubles, both adopted Chesa Boudin, the child of Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert, two former members of the Weather Underground who were sentenced to murder in 1984 for their roles in an armored car robbery, serving nearly 20 years.  This brief bit of history contrasts against such a tame movie version that refuses to take a stand, as these are real people leading real lives, never regretting or showing remorse for their radical activism of the 60’s and 70’s, as the U.S. government has never apologized to the Vietnamese or those dead or injured Americans who lost their lives under the ruse of fighting the spread of communism in Asia.   

Based on the conservative political climate that exists today, the real political story could never be told in Hollywood movies, evidenced by Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar (2011), as the production company would be perceived as endorsing or advocating the events shown, even though it happened forty years ago when the majority of the country was actually against the war in Vietnam, yet the government persisted, using illegal and unethical FBI tactics under the COINTELPRO operation to infiltrate the civil rights and anti-war movements as subversive and potentially terrorist operations.  So what we get instead is this watered down liberal mix of a feel good movie that pats the writers on the back for attempting to deal with such a hot button issue in the nation’s history, without ever actually dealing with it at all.  Unlike much better films, Billy Ray’s SHATTERED GLASS (2003) or BREACH (2007), more intelligent stories about investigative journalism and trading government secrets that actually generate some tension and suspense, this film plays fast and loose with the details and specifics, filling in the blanks about who the Weather Underground were in a brief thirty second news report from the era, told in broad generalizations, never even mentioning the accumulating opposition against the war expressed through anti-war demonstrations and through dissenting 1968 Democratic Presidential candidates Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy (before he was assassinated).  While we do get the FBI’s point of view that this was considered an armed and dangerous terrorist group, never seen in any historical context, the actual members can’t even agree among themselves what they stood for, even after decades in time.  This muddled view of the American past is something of an embarrassment both to the right and to the left and to all viewers, as it doesn’t tell the truth, but finds a way to continually talk around what happened, using generalities in the absence of facts.  What this film does have going for it is a killer cast, featuring significant players even in small roles, but whose presence overall is a huge plus for the movie.  Shia LaBeouf is excellent as Ben Shepard, a dogged reporter from Albany, New York, whose persistence in digging up the past is what makes the film and gives it a narrative shape, especially the way he can’t play by the rules if he actually wants the story, where following valuable leads will always exceed narrow budget restraints, especially when it takes you on a circuitous path across the nation. 

When Sharon Solarz (Susan Sarandon), a vanished member of the Weather Underground from the 60’s, gets caught by the FBI, ironically it was on the way to turn herself in, where rather than living a life defined by fleeing from the FBI, it’s possible to have a second chance at life.  But her arrest stirs up the kettle, as it affects all the others who remain under secret identities across the country.  One of the first to understand the ramifications is liberal small town lawyer Jim Grant (Robert Redford), who has a 9-year old daughter whose mother died in a car crash a year ago.  For her sake, Grant, who is really Nick Sloan, still on the FBI most wanted list, disappears, leaving his daughter with his brother while he eludes the police and goes on the run.  Shepard got in a few early questions before he disappeared, writing an incriminating exposé, which gets the wheels in motion.  Solarz will only talk to Shepard in prison, giving him another exclusive, but which puts him at odds with the FBI who see him in collusion with the radical 60’s groups.  The rest of the film is a chase between several of the major players of the past, which include Nick Nolte, Richard Jenkins, who have somehow retained some semblance of their former lives, and Julie Christie, elusive as ever, still on the lam.  While there are various other connections to boot, where Ana Kendricks plays an FBI mole, Brendan Gleeson plays a retired police commissioner who handled a notorious Weather Underground bank robbery case where someone got killed, and Brit Marling is his well educated daughter.  Terrence Howard as the FBI agent in charge is the weakest link, as he is little more than a stereotype, adding no characterization whatsoever, while all the others feel like plausible people we might know that could conceivably be wrapped up in a circumstance like this.  While it’s seen as a race against time, there’s never much doubt about what will eventually happen, given a sketchy Cliff Notes history lesson of the era, told using the broadest strokes possible, where the important lesson of the day is to not make quick judgments, but we never hear what separated these radical few from the countless others who demonstrated peacefully, where the film doesn’t even attempt to bridge this gap.  In other words, it’s just another Hollywood movie where Redford’s character is a noble hero and the viewer is left to stand and admire.  By the end of the film, the character he is memorializing is so whitewashed and stripped of politics that he could just as easily be the reclusive Unabomber.  How far he has fallen from his own days of rage as the Condor in Sydney Pollack’s riveting THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975), certainly one of the better fear and paranoia conspiracy films of the 70’s, where the moody synthesizer score from Cliff Martinez pays proper tribute.      

Sound of My Voice

SOUND OF MY VOICE              B               

USA  (85 mi)  2011  d:  Zal Batmanglij             Official site

Another barebones indie film that must have been made on a dime, resembling in many ways the ultimate small-time film project of Shane Carruth’s PRIMER (2004), which is about the ramifications of time traveling through an invented time machine, where one seemingly has the capacity to alter the events of the future.  This film, co-written and produced by lead actress Brit Marling, from Another Earth (2011), takes a different approach, laying out the groundwork for how today’s society would be receptive (or not) to a visitor who claims to be from the future, namely 2054.  The inherent twist of this story, like it is for John Carpenter’s They Live (1988), is how few people are aware of the traveler’s presence, where there’s an elaborate preparatory process one must undergo simply to meet her, which includes driving to a specific location, switching to another van where all incoming passengers are blindfolded, so as not to know their destination, where they shower and change into hospital scrubs before meeting Klaus (Richard Wharton), who greets each individual with this 25 second handshake that couldn’t be more ridiculous, but it’s meticulously exact each time.  After that, Maggie (Marling) enters breathing from an oxygen tank.  All members of this exclusive “club” must donate blood for Maggie, as she never leaves her underground world, grows her own food in a greenhouse, and amasses what amounts to a cult following, where she describes her life on occasion, but seems more inclined to deal with the doubters among them, isolating them before throwing them out, separating couples involved in relationships, making sure all show allegiance to her.  One such couple, Peter and Lorna (Christopher Denham and Nicole Vicius), are investigative journalists who decide to infiltrate the cult with hidden cameras, something along the lines of Sam Fuller’s SHOCK CORRIDOR (1963).     

In another strange twist, each member is driven back to the original destination and returns home every evening, so rather than residing with Maggie, like most cults, they are only allowed periodic visits, where her mission is never fully explained.  Nonetheless, Maggie always speaks in a soft, intriguing manner, where her youthful beauty precedes her, as this may allow her to manipulatingly penetrate through predetermined wills of resistance.  Shown in a diary like day by day succession, the couple’s initial suspicion evolves over time, where after a hyper-personalized public humiliation, a kind of time traveling dressing down, Peter actually stops filming, and while he admits to having the same suspicions, believing Maggie is a fraud and a danger to the community in some as yet unanticipated way, he also seems lured under her sirenesque spell, which Lorna is quick to notice, watching a kind of interior transformation taking place.  Since so much of the film takes place in a basement, with little action to speak of, the secret of the film’s success is building dramatic tension through the personal encounters, where there is not much to go on to suggest this woman is from the future, yet she appears perfectly harmless, never revealing any ulterior motive that might raise one’s level of alertness.  And that may be what’s so confusing, as the curiosity about her motives takes place in each one of the individual person’s minds, who are also curious about one another, all wondering what the other ones think.  How can they be part of a secret cult if they’re not asked to give up individuality or anything unique, or sacrifice any part of their lives except for brief moments of their time?  She’s not asking for money or personal assets, only blood in order that she can survive, which is not so much to ask.  No one is asked to be part of a futuristic crusade to save the earth before it’s too late, though she does suggest a kind of futuristic doom is in store for everyone on an apocalyptic proportion.  

The driving force is the character of Maggie herself, as she is a curiosity.  She’s extremely well written, revealing certain personality traits, where she takes control over a communal thought process, displaying an ability to focus in on anyone who shows resistance and refuses to conform, immediately shaming them into conformity or dismisses them from the group, so they are all aligned.  Yet if she’s from the future, you’d think she’d be able to share certain aspects of people’s lives in the future, but she’s not clairvoyant, and there’s no suggestion these members are friends for life.  Everyone may have different destinations.  Instead, she seems to play upon each member’s hope that they will be a part of a better world.  The audience can maintain a healthy cynicism throughout, as so much feels omitted, like where she came from, how she got there, or why, but there’s no indication anybody’s being manipulated except in the way she expresses a commonality of thought, where perhaps she gains strength in gathering numbers, but because she continues to lead such a hermetic existence, it’s unlikely she has any grand designs, as she never leaves her basement.  There’s a plot twist that is little more than a trigger element, all designed to challenge the viewer’s perception, where Peter and Lorna come down on different sides, where each is perplexed about what to do, where their relationship is an issue as well, as their so-called solidarity comes under question.  In any relationship, there’s an element of personal trust involved.  What happens when that trust is broken?  Can it be repaired?  Is it all a misunderstanding?  This film starts questioning the heart of human relationships, while also imposing elements of conformity, which we are all subjected to.  Can that be misread?  Can we over-analyze the power and significance “others” hold over us?  One of the most mesmerizing factors is the pressure to conformity, even if it’s subconscious, which can be enormous.  Maggie is such an opaque presence, hard to define or read, where even her good or evil intentions remain carefully concealed.  The beauty of this film is it is largely defined by each audience member’s own personal expectations.  The ending remains ambiguous, stuck in a kind of philosophical limbo or no man’s land, where for all we know, the future of the world has been interminably altered—but for the better or for the worse?          

Another Earth

ANOTHER EARTH                B-                   

USA  (92 mi)  2011  d:  Mike Cahill 

This is another example of once you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen too much, as nearly the entire story is revealed in a highly condensed two minutes, leaving little suspense left in the theater, as you already know what to expect.   From the outset, however, it should be said that the high definition look leaves something to be desired, as the colors and focus aren’t there, while the jiggling camera movement suggests unsteady hands, all contributing to a grainy, somewhat washed out look of video, making it look very much like it was made on a shoestring budget of $150,000.  However, it does try to make the most with the least, using a minimum of plot development, continually using the power of suggestion to keep the appetites whetted.  Basically it’s a one note effort, as the entire film is about the initial premise, the mysterious arrival of an identical mirror planet Earth right next to our own, called Earth 2, where duplicate versions of ourselves live their lives exactly as we’ve lived our own, where they have the exact same thoughts and lives as we’ve had.  While the story is slow getting started, and is a bit preposterous to buy into, knowing the gravitational effect that the moon has on our planet, so imagine the effects of a planet as large as our own staring back at us in the sky?  Instead, the filmmaker shows multiple shots of people walking down the streets, or on the sidewalks in front of their homes, or next to the ocean, projecting Earth 2 in the sky as our constant companion.  Often people stop and literally stare into the sky to express their newly discovered interest.  Years after this happens, yes, one must repeat, as it takes literally years for the two planets to make contact and realize they are mirror planets, where another version of ourselves lives up there.  One wonders if their lives are any better than our own? 

There is a secondary story that is told simultaneously, one that involves actors instead of planets, where Brit Marling plays 17-year old Rhoda, a high school senior who has just been accepted into the M.I.T astrophysics program on the night the new planet is discovered, staring into the sky while driving, causing a horrific accident, killing a pregnant wife and her children, leaving the husband in a lengthy coma.  Rather than go to college, Rhoda is sent to prison for 4 years, where our earth is just making contact with the new planet by the time she gets out.  Instead of filling a position designed to utilize her attributes, Rhoda wants little social contact, where she is still burying her head in the sand after the accident, and decides to get a job working as the high school janitor.  Again, where there would likely be close to a dozen janitors or more, this school only has two, where she can be seen hiding her face under her hood and wearing a wool cap, where one imagines she may be too attractive to fit the role, but she’s also a co-writer along with the director, so she can do what she wants with the part.  She googles articles about the accident and learns the address of the surviving father, now out of his coma, and decides to confront him, expressing her sympathy for his loss, but instead offers herself as available maid service, showing up weekly to clean his house which is mostly filled with empty liquor bottles.  What she expects to accomplish from this can’t lead to anything good, but that issue is set aside for nearly the entire film, just waiting to appear again at some point.  So there is something of a cringe factor involved at seeing her return to the scene of the crime week after week and lie about her presence, becoming something of a stalker, taking advantage of a man she doesn’t even know. 

Of course, the movie sees it somewhat differently, overlooking all of the previous history, including the jail time, where there are no therapists, no parole officers, no help offered from any source except a single corporation that is offering one lucky winner the chance to fly free to the other planet based on an essay contest.  Rhoda, of course, sends in an essay before she ever meets John (William Mapither), who slowly takes an interest in his new maid, eventually sobering up and realizing she even has a name.  Quite surprised at her intelligence, he immediately falls for her, no surprise there, yet she’s still the stalker woman lying about her reasons for being there, even after they enter into a sexual liaison, where for many in the audience, this has really gone on too far.  The film seems to take pleasure in overlooking the credibility factor, thinking Marling can sell the story, which for the most part she does, as she’s excellent in the role, especially in the way she never comes to terms with this single event in her life, something perhaps many can relate to.  She gets a lot of mileage with her hangdog, sheepish expression, using little dialogue, just solitary images of her with Earth 2 hovering just overhead.  But it all has to come to a head some way, some day.  There’s no way anyone could predict the outcome, as the multitude of possibilities coming in contact with a duplicate of everything that exists on Earth is simply mind boggling, so there’s a lot to play with.  The film offers a series of radio and TV broadcasts announcing the latest developments with this new planet, where one wonders if Rhoda being offered the chance at a new life there would do her any good, as that’s a long way to go to run away from the problems that exist here, suggesting there’s a duality that exists in all our feelings, good and bad, where every impulse generates a little bit of both.  All these questions and more are asked by the film which does a good job keeping the audience guessing.  Perhaps the most positive effect is the upbeat electronic music from the electro-rock band Fall On Your Sword, which brings the end credits down in style.