Last Flag Flying

LAST FLAG FLYING          B+                 

USA  (124 mi)  2017  d:  Richard Linklater

Shadows are falling and I’ve been here all day

It’s too hot to sleep, time is running away

Feel like my soul has turned into steel

I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal

There’s not even room enough to be anywhere

It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain

Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain

She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind

She put down in writing what was in her mind

I just don’t see why I should even care

It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

Well, I’ve been to London and I’ve been to gay Paris

I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea

I’ve been down on the bottom of a world full of lies

I ain’t looking for nothing in anyone’s eyes

Sometimes my burden seems more than I can bear

It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

I was born here and I’ll die here against my will

I know it looks like I’m moving, but I’m standing still

Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb

I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from

Don’t even hear a murmur of a prayer

It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there

—Not Dark Yet, Bob Dylan, 1997, Reading Dylan as Poetry – It's Not Dark Yet 1997 | Untold Dylan

Adapted from the 2005 novel by Darryl Ponicsan, which was a sequel to his highly successful 1970 novel The Last Detail about two Navy sailors escorting a third to a beer-binged night on the town before delivering him to the brig the next morning, a film made by Hal Ashby with Jack Nicholson in one of his greatest roles in 1973, making a few prominent changes here, never feeling like a sequel, as no background knowledge is required, but shifting the emphasis from the Navy to the Marines.  While the film is a male buddy movie that becomes a road trip, it opens in a deluge of rain in 2003 as a man with a suitcase is seen taking shelter in a local dive bar in Norfolk, Virginia, where the loquacious bartender serving drinks, Sal (Bryan Cranston), a former Marine, quickly realizes the man on the barstool is “Doc” (Steve Carell), a former Navy medic, that both served in Vietnam together, but haven’t seen one another for thirty years.  After a long night of beer and cold pizza, they hit the road afterwards only to discover the third party, Mueller (Laurence Fishburne), another former Marine, has become an overly pious Reverend at a small Baptist church.  After sitting down for a home-cooked meal by his lovely wife, Ruth (Deanna Reed-Foster), Doc lays it all out there.  His wife died recently from breast cancer, while he was just notified that his Marine son Larry was killed in action while serving in Iraq.  He wants his former war buddies to accompany him as he retrieves the body for burial at Arlington National Cemetery.  It’s the kind of offer you can’t refuse, and the prelude to what follows.  Sal and Mueller immediately start butting heads, as Mueller has become a sanctified version of a church reformer, swearing away his youthful indulgences for a life in Christ, while Sal is every bit that rebellious smart aleck he was as a kid, a fast-talking goofball who drinks too much, but it’s the only thing that alleviates the pain and calms the nerves, as otherwise he’s something of a live-wire act.  Doc is the quiet and reflective one, clearly having the kind of year no one deserves, where it’s all caving in on him and is simply too much to handle alone.  However, after a few turns in the road, and a game of cat and mouse by Sal with a hell-bent truck that nearly gets them killed, an enraged Mueller unleashes a stream of profanity, returning to his former foul-mouthed self, “Mueller the Mauler,” a bonafide hell-raiser when in the service, a guy with an acquired distinction for gutter language.  “There he is!” Sal giddily exclaims,” “I thought we had lost Mueller forever.”

While the interlude music written for the film by Graham Reynolds is pretty wretched, standard indie fare bordering on elevator music, there are choice musical selections that stand out, adding poignancy to the overall experience, the first of which is from Levon Helm, the recently deceased drummer and singer from The Band, Levon Helm - Wide River To Cross - A Tribute - YouTube (4:51), a terribly sad yet inspiring song that elevates the material.  One of the true revelatory moments is viewing the grieving military families as they retrieve the caskets of dead soldiers draped in American flags at the Dover Air Force base in Delaware, images that the Bush administration refused to allow Americans to see during his administration, yet there’s an air of nobility and honor in the recognition of their service that is actually quite moving, guarded by a small Marine attachment led by Colonel Wilits (Yul Vazquez), who provides the heroic military explanation for how the young soldier died in action.  When Doc wants to view the body, the Colonel advises against it, as he was shot in the back of the head at close range, so his face is missing.  Mueller agrees that it’s better to remember him as he was, but Sal, irreverent and always stirring up trouble, tells Doc he doesn’t have to listen to Colonels any more, that he can make his own decisions.  However, he’s devastated by what he sees, overwhelmed by the sheer horror of it all.  As the others share coffee and ascertain what they can, they meet Washington (J. Quinton Johnson), a young Marine who was with Doc’s son when he was killed, offering an entirely different explanation of what happened, as it was hardly heroic, but a senseless death that could happen anywhere, made worse by the fact he was in a faraway country.  This alters Doc’s original plan, refusing to bury him at Arlington, deciding to take his body home for a family burial in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Colonel Wilits is amazingly gracious under the circumstances, suggesting the military will transport the body free of charge, but Doc insists he’s leaving with his son.  This new resolve alters the course of the events, extending things a few extra days, where these guys are operating on-the-fly, figuring things out in the heat of the moment, all of which is too much for Mueller who needs to get back to his wife.  They decide to rent a U-Haul truck, dropping Mueller off at a bus station along the way, but Sal’s crass language at the truck rental agency raises red flags, alerting Homeland Security about these bozos with a dead body. 

Incredibly, Mueller never makes it out of the bus station, as he’s arrested on suspicious activity, quickly returned to his partners in crime, who think better of the situation, allowing the military to transport the body by train, with Wilits giving explicit instructions to Washington to guard the body and not be distracted by these old geezers, who will test his better judgment.  On the train, no longer pestered by newly developing plans, the guys settle in, opening up about their battlefield memories, comparing their experiences in Vietnam to the young guns in Iraq, with Washington opening up about losing his best friend, who turns out to be Doc’s son Larry, adding yet another layer of personal tragedy.  While these guys are critical of the flaunted authority in the Marine Corps, these guys miss the close camaraderie, remaining best of friends even after all these years, as there’s nothing in civilian life to match the intensity of the wartime experiences they share together, knowing they had each other’s backs, where it all comes back to them, unleashed like a volcanic force, where once opened, there’s no shutting it off.  Most of all, these guys are incensed at getting lied to, much like Pat Tillman’s military family in The Tillman Story (2010), where the government lied about what happened to their son.  This is reflective of military families, who don’t always admire the glorified patriotism on display at Fox News or in Hollywood exaggerations of heroism like Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper (2014), as that’s not reflective of their sons and daughters, who deserve better.  Yet these men have been keeping their own hidden secret, recalling their own skeletons in the closet when they screwed up, resulting in a horrifying experience for one unfortunate soldier in their unit.  Deciding to come clean and finally tell the truth, they decide to apologize to that soldier’s family.  In one of the best scenes of the film, none other than Cicely Tyson answers the door, the picture of grace and dignity, where these men don’t have the heart to tell her the truth, that perhaps only they know, as she’s believed the lie that was told to her, framing his death in a more heroic fashion, allowing her to believe the myth over reality.  This kind of thing must happen all the time, with this film asking the age-old question that was raised in the John Ford film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), is it better to believe the myth or the truth, where there is no easy one–fits–all answer.  With recurrent images on television of Saddam Hussein being flushed out of his hiding place in a spider-hole, offering a temporary euphoria spreading across the nation, what’s clear is these men are still haunted by their experiences in ways they could never imagine, damaged beyond repair, but it’s something they rarely speak of.  This film pays homage to men like these by paying tribute to their innermost humanity, scarred and wounded souls, but older and wiser, revealing the better part of their human nature.  The film offers conflicting feelings about whether it’s all worth it, questioning the meaning of patriotism with so many personal sacrifices returning in flag-draped coffins, offering no easy answers, but Linklater has crafted yet another indelible image of the American character, with Bob Dylan’s raspy voice sounding over the end credits, one of his best late career works, offering his own poetic vision, Bob Dylan - Not Dark Yet - YouTube (6:26).     

Everybody Wants Some !!

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!                 C+                                     

USA (116 mi)  2016  d:  Richard Linklater                Official site

One of the reasons we need more women filmmakers is that there are so few stories like this about women, while there are a gazillion male-centric, coming-of-age movies, all targeting a certain period of adolescent indulgence.  Few will be as relaxed and laid-back as this one, feeling like a comfortable pair of old worn out jeans that haven’t been pulled out of the drawer or closet for a while, yet somehow still manages to fit.  For those looking for a nostalgia trip, this one hits the nail on the head, doing an excellent job of recreating a rather innocent look of the 80’s.  Unfortunately for those who actually lived through that era, this may remind you of many of the things you didn’t like about it, as it was the decade of Ronald Reagan as President, yet you’ll find no mention of that in this film.  It’s like leaving Vietnam or Civil Rights out of the 60’s — hard to do.  It was the era when homelessness became prevalent in all major urban centers across America, yet little was done about it, as instead there was a movement afoot to cut taxes and government spending, where the idea of providing services for the poor was starting to become a thing of the past, even ignoring the suicide of the leading advocate for the homeless, Mitch Snyder, who became completely disillusioned after his pleas were ignored by a government that preferred turning a blind eye, using a similar response to the AIDS crisis in New York until after it reached epidemic proportions.  That’s also not mentioned in this film.  To be fair, the specific time period of the film is set in the fall of 1980, the last days of the Carter presidency, occuring during the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis, when Reagan was about to be elected.  It’s funny though how people living their lives during similar time periods have completely different recollections, where it’s almost as if these things never happened—out of sight, out of mind.  Yet here we are some thirty to forty years later and the homeless epidemic continues unabated, where there are even frequent faces of the homeless seen mulling about just outside the theater where this film was seen. This decade was the turning point in American history when poverty became expendable, no longer a condition to be eradicated, but accepted as collateral damage.  Too bad for them, so to speak, became the mantra of societal indifference.  That’s one of the reasons nostalgia pieces aren’t always successful, as they’re likely to be amusing to some, but offensive to others.   

This film plays out like a college fantasia, where the density of the writing suggests this could easily be produced onstage as a theatrical piece (a subversive gay musical comes to mind with an all male review, in the manner of the ANCHOR’S AWAY segment in the Coen’s recent Hail, Caesar!, hopefully directed by Tarnation’s Jonathan Caouette), where there aren’t any real cinematic cornerstones to the film, as it’s more a character sketch of rather doofus college athletes on the baseball team in search of drugs, alcohol, and getting into the pants of members of the opposite sex at the University of Texas in Austin, showing a raucous side of party life that existed “before” the AIDS crisis, though it feels greatly exaggerated here, feeling more like a euphoric romp through Spring Break, satirically viewed as if being a horndog was a permanent affliction.  While some of this is mildly amusing, what stands out is the lack of any real character development, as none of the many featured athletes are really that interesting (with the exception of one guy that pulls an Ally Sheedy from THE BREAKFAST CLUB), so by the end of the picture nothing feels all that memorable.  Less ambitious and entirely calculated, it’s a lighthearted, comedic shift from the more dramatically compelling works of 2014 Top Ten List #1 Boyhood and his Before Trilogy, Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013), all of which get more intensely involved in the character’s lives.  Not so here, as this feels much more generic and homogenized, even a bit homophobic, never really digging under the surface, like it’s trying too hard to be likeable and pleasing, to Dazed and Confused (1993), one might also find traces in the John Hughes teen flick FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF (1986) to find a similar feeling of smug male arrogance, where much of this similarly plays out like a wish fulfillment fantasy sequence.  While it certainly falls in line with a “boys will be boys” scenario, delving into the testosterone-driven subtext of male masculinity, driven by out-of-control hormones and a Southern, sexual swagger, where it seems all guys are competitively vying for the Alpha male top dog title, it conveniently settles into a rhythm of easy laughs and boorish juvenile pranks.  Never really concerning himself with plot in his movies, preferring shared experiences from a specific time and space, the lowbrow tone is established right from the opening shot, with Blake Jenner as incoming freshman pitcher Jake Bradford driving his muscle car through the heart of the college campus to the sounds of The Knack’s “My Sharona” The Knack - My Sharona live (HQ) - YouTube (4:54) while scoping the streets for female ass, finding plenty in every direction, like he’s arrived in pussy Nirvana.   

As we are introduced to the rest of the jocks living in the two baseball houses, it’s an eclectic mix of older and younger teammates, each a bit offbeat and strange, showing an acute disdain for the new guy, where there’s a mystifying amount of peacock strut in every off-putting remark designed to knock someone else off the perch, giving them the green light to take center stage and shine solo.  It’s a weird system of endless competition for top cock on the block, where they all just naturally play this silly game of one-upmanship.  While Finnegan (Glen Powell) is seen reading Jack Kerouac and smoking a pipe, he never stops talking shit shrouded in the verbose language of literacy and philosophy, a kind of smartass know-it-all that loves to ridicule the inferiority and inadequacy of others, while Tyler Hoechlin is McReynolds, the heavily moustached Tom Selleck of the group, a guy that can never get enough of himself in the mirror, thinking he’s God’s gift to women, yet he’s the senior and unspoken leader of the group.  Wyatt Russell is a perpetually zonked California surfer dude turned pitcher named Willoughby, who turns out to be a stoner guru (“You gotta tune in, man”) with an extensive Twilight Zone collection of VHS tapes and a VW van parked outside, while Niles (Juston Street) is the 95 mph fastball throwing pitcher from Detroit that supposedly already has scouts following him, yet he’s so buffed up and full of himself with fake stories and myth that he’s really just a nerdy geek in disguise.  Jake’s own roommate is Billy Autrey (Will Brittain), which might come as some surprise, as all we ever hear him called is Beuter, as his country bumpkin accent is so thick it’s like he was raised in a backwoods swamp, a guy that doesn’t take to jokes or socializing very well, spending all of his time on the phone talking to his girlfriend, while Roper (Ryan Guzman) thinks he’s the epitome of the male species, believing he has the finest ass on the entire campus, accordingly wearing the tightest fitting pants.  Dale (J. Quinton Johnson) is the token black player, yet he’s smooth enough to pass as just one of the guys, usually taking a more relaxed approach, but he’s a sleazeball like all the rest and is in on all the pranks as well.  While there are many more to this motley crew, the group is all bluster, yet they’re feeling no pressure and no pain, as the baseball season doesn’t even begin until the following spring, so the film, oddly enough, counts off the minutes and hours before the fall classes begin, where the entire film is a 72-hour prelude to reality.  Taking a cue from the ultra-conventional style of filmmaking from Clint Eastwood in Jersey Boys (2014), where a succession of stage performances were shown through a series of revolving set pieces, Linklater uses a similar device as the boys head out to the bars and dance clubs to chase after girls, going through a similar change of venue from the Day-Glo disco of the Sound Machine, EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!! Sound Machine Clip (57 seconds), where they immediately get kicked out, to the URBAN COWBOY look of a country bar, offering a bull-riding machine, cowboy hats, and the obligatory line dancing, to the frantically berserk mosh pits of a punk club, where a group hilariously does a punk version of the Gilligan’s Island theme song, Gilligan's Island Theme Song - YouTube (1:31).

But no college experience would be compete without finding a girl, where an anonymous come-on to a couple of attractive girls from a car stuffed with guys is skillfully rebuffed, but brings success to the guy in the back of the car that keeps quiet, none other than Jake, the driving force of the film, as the slim storyline is built around his initial impressions, which includes a first look at Beverly (Zoey Deutch), who looks strangely familiar, as she turns out to be the daughter of Leah Thompson from BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985), the highest grossing film of the year, also starring in both sequels.  While the baseball boys dominate the film, a tribute to their obnoxious attempts to hit on every attractive girl they see, where they literally can’t help their leering eyes, Jake and Beverly constitute a diversion from all the surrounding madness, where a split-screen telephone call results in their first official date, quickly realizing that opposites attract, as she’s an illustrious member of the theater department, vying with other rabid theater majors for any part in the school productions, where the competition is a huge step up from high school when these two were at the top of the food chain, getting all the recognition, while now they’re both just hoping for an opportunity.  Admittedly awkward at first, where she has a giant poster of Joni Mitchell in her dorm room, they quickly develop a conversational rhythm and an easy feel for each other, developing into romance, as she invites him to a theater party later that evening.  Of course, once they hear about it, all the other baseball bums want a free invite, giving him the business until he relents.  While the film’s music and décor, not to mention hair and fashion styles, are uncannily accurate, it still feels ridiculously silly to witness a scene of all the young dudes stuffed into a car rapping energetically to Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” EVERYBODY WANTS SOME Movie Clip - Rappers Driving (2016) Richard Linklater Comedy HD (1:02), each one carrying their own verse, never missing a beat, where the artificial staginess of the choreographed routine somehow mocks the more familiar natural vibe of this director.  The film is a testament, however, to how routinely guys cover up their insecurities and overall awkwardness, especially at this stage in their lives, turning the art of courtship into a game of showmanship and male dominance, a kind of diversionary pretense where instead of paying attention to the young ladies, it’s still all about themselves, where they remain the center of attention, an egotistical state of mind from which they have no escape.  Part of this is the adulation and special attention that is heaped upon gifted athletes starting from a young age, whether deserved or not, where it creates a euphoric condition inside their own swelled heads that makes them think they are somehow invincible.  While much of this feels like being stuck at an endless frat party, it is a time capsule of a more innocent time when it was easier not to be deluged by the problems of the real world.