Armageddon Time

 

Director James Gray

Gray with cinematographer Darius Khondji

ARMAGEDDON TIME        B                                                                                                     USA  Brazil  (114 mi)  2022  ‘Scope  d: James Gray

The thing that most white people imagine that they can salvage from the storm of life is really, in sum, their innocence.  It was this commodity precisely which I had to get rid of at once, literally, on pain of death.  I am afraid that most of the white people I have ever known impressed me as being in the grip of a weird nostalgia, dreaming of a vanished state of security and order.      —James Baldwin, The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy, from Esquire magazine, May 1, 1961, The Black Boy Looks at the White Boy - ALLISON BOLAH

James Gray is one of those filmmakers who is better received in Europe than he is in America, as his early films like LITTLE ODESSA (1994), The Yards (1999), and WE OWN THE NIGHT (2007) express a shocking violence where death is a prominent theme, known for also creating memorable nightclub sequences, yet despite rave reviews at Cannes, these deeply personal films were often overlooked and received sharply divided reviews.  But for all their dramatic expansiveness, these early crime pictures were of a kind not seen since the New Hollywood classics of the 1970’s, where Gray is a cinephile clearly impacted by the films of that era, citing Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (Il Conformista) (1970), William Friedkin’s THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1973), Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER (1972), and THE GODFATHER Part II (1974), and the films of Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, and Stanley Kubrick, yet claims the film that has had the most enduring influence on him was Coppola’s APOCALYPSE NOW (1979), noting that the “swell of the architecture of a movie is part of what makes it the most beautiful visual art form.”  While he has passionate supporters, he has just as many detractors, where he’s never been able to find a mass audience, yet French critics love him, which is why he’s become a Cannes regular for over twenty years, with this film receiving a 7-minute standing ovation.  A native of Flushing, Queens, Gray’s first films tell personal, if loosely autobiographical, stories set in Brooklyn, venturing to Ellis Island for his historical drama The Immigrant (2013), making his way to the Amazon jungle and even outer space for his next projects, before finding his way back home to Queens, making his most autobiographical film, a portrait of his upbringing in the 1980’s, with the Gray family name shortened from Greyzerstein at Ellis Island, a time when a post-Vietnam, post-Watergate America returned to conservatism, placing a halt on any socially progressive agenda.  The youngest son in an upwardly mobile Jewish-American family, 11-year old Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is an alter-ego of the director, with an antagonizing older brother Ted (Ryan Sell), and second-generation parents Esther (Anne Hathaway) and Irving (Jeremy Strong), while Anthony Hopkins plays the kindly grandfather Aaron Rabinowitz, whose family fled first from the murderous acts of the Cossacks, and then the Nazi’s.  While Jewish history is a predominate theme, this film slyly overlays a similar theme taking place in America with the routine persecution of blacks, who are subject to a heavy-handed authoritative approach from government, schools, and police, quickly labeled troublemakers or criminals, never receiving the breaks or second chances that whites often receive.  A family drama that reflects on a small scale where the whole country is headed, the film is a sober reflection, a coming to terms with one’s own past, which clearly haunts the filmmaker to this day, exploring a generational failure, characterized by the 1980 Presidential election of Ronald Reagan, who was swept into office on a tide of racism and a legacy of dog-whistle bigotry, featuring his slogan, “Let’s make America great again (sound familiar?),”  Pandering to racists through Nixon’s Southern Strategy, which continues to harm communities even today, Reagan released southern states from school desegregation and voting rights mandates while demonizing black women as welfare queens who want free hand-outs and are unwilling to work for a living, making the rest of the country despise who they are and everything they stand for, planting the seeds for the white supremacy of Trump, whose family makes its eerie presence, almost like a horror film.  By the time Donald Trump becomes President in 2016, Republicans hold almost every governor’s office and control most legislatures across the South.

The film’s title comes from a 1979 reggae song by The Clash, The Clash - Armagideon Time [Single] - YouTube (3:51), the B-side of London Calling, while also referencing Ronald Reagan’s 1979 quote on Jim Bakker’s evangelical PTL television network, openly campaigning as an evangelical Christian, expressing his growing interest in the anti-gay theology of Armageddon, “Do you ever get the feeling sometimes that if we don’t do it now, if we let this be another Sodom and Gomorrah, that maybe we might be the generation that sees Armageddon?”  This coming-of-age story reveals the different trajectory of the lives of two young boys, one white and one black, Paul and Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb), quickly becoming best friends in a 6th grade class at P.S. 173, as both are singled out for being disruptive in class by the overzealous teacher Mr. Turkeltaub (Andrew Polk), who bears a resemblance to Ben Stein, the cartoonish teacher in FERRIS BUEHLER’S DAY OFF (1986).  While the point of view follows Paul and his family, we learn that Johnny has none, living with a grandmother suffering from dementia, basically leaving him homeless where he’s fending for himself, held back the previous year, the only black kid in class, with the teacher reminding him of his failures at every turn.  There are subtle differences in the punishment of each student, as Johnny is the one automatically blamed, even when Paul is the instigator, where he’s able to hide behind his race, learning very early about how racial dynamics play out in the real world, which only grew more exacerbated with the election of Reagan.  Despite such different backgrounds, they take solace in being outsiders, with Paul having little interest in school, spending his time drawing instead, with a talent for illustrations, creating a science-fiction superhero character named Captain United, dreaming of one day becoming an important artist.  Both share a passion for outer space, with Johnny dreaming of being an astronaut with NASA, while Paul wants to illustrate comic books about space travel, but their friendship is defined by the rebellious things they do together, like skip out on school, smoke weed in the bathroom, and hang out in the clubhouse built in Paul’s backyard, which Johnny secretly uses as his makeshift home.  While his mother Esther is the head of the PTA, Paul thinks she runs the school, protecting him from any adverse punitive acts, viewing himself as near invincible.  Overall, however, despite telling a personal story, the film feels distantly impersonal and heavy-handed, never becoming dramatically engaging, as outside of Johnny, there are really no likable characters in the film, with Paul in nearly every frame, and he’s kind of a bratty kid, misbehaving at home and at school, where he gives his parents plenty of grief, acting up in inappropriate situations.  When they try to express the gravity of their family history, Jewish-Ukrainian immigrants who escaped anti-Semitism in Europe, it’s beyond his comprehension, showing little interest as he routinely backtalks while tuning them out.  It’s rare to see a coming-of-age film with such a snotnose kid as the lead protagonist, yet he has a special relationship with his grandfather, who looks after him like a guardian angel, buying him gifts, showering him with affection, never letting him forget his past, as they may otherwise end up haunting you, which is exactly what happened in America, where embracing the sins of Ronald Reagan was a breeding ground leading us into the disaster of the Trump era.  Following in the footsteps of demagogue radio priest Father Coughlin, who commanded a massive audience in the 1930’s, viewed as the father of hate speech, spouting anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi tirades on the airwaves during the lead-up to World War II, (The Deplatforming of Father Coughlin - Slate Magazine), these are quasi-celebrities who blend populist appeal and right-wing politics, where today a narcissistic self-interest is the new moral dilemma plaguing the nation, as politicians openly seek face time on the networks, hoping to bathe in the social media spotlight of “Me-ism,” while everything else is purely secondary, like running the government or serving the interests of the nation.   

While America is supposedly a land of equal opportunities, one thing this film makes perfectly clear is how opportunities don’t happen equally, as the privileged take advantage by overlooking the many doors that were opened for them, typically at the cost of excluding the more disadvantaged.  Jews escaped persecution in Europe, as Aaron’s family discovered freedom in the welcoming doors of America, yet blacks have never experienced that same welcoming experience, as the doors have continually been closed for them throughout hundreds of years of history, which is astonishing when you think about it, as it goes back to the era of Columbus.  Even though this autobiographical film is not openly political, the experience of “white privilege” resonates strongly, as the education system fails students from marginalized groups in a disproportional way, while the paths of justice operate only for one of these kids, while the other feels the wrath of racial hatred.  Paul’s parents react with horror when they discover his partner in crime is a black kid, transferring all the blame to that kid, suggesting he’s a “bad influence,” overlooking their own child’s explicit responsibilities, while pulling him from the school and transferring him to Forest Manor, in real-life The Kew-Forest School, an all-white private school located in the affluent neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, the same school attended by his brother, along with Donald Trump and his family, where Donald’s father Fred is on the board of trustees.  Paul is extremely unhappy, as this means he will no longer see Johnny, but he quickly experiences a culture shock at the new school, where he’s required to wear a uniform, catering to upper middle class and wealthy families, with readily available computers in the classrooms.  When Johnny visits on the school playground, Paul pretends to barely know him, painfully aware of how his presence is perceived by the other students, who use the n-word to describe him, mocking his lowly status, while making him the butt of racial jokes.  When Paul attempts to talk about this with his grandfather, a bit ashamed that he didn’t stand up for his friend, his grandfather reveals how “the game is rigged” against marginalized groups in America, who experience a collapse of faith when the nation’s promise of freedom and equality doesn’t apply to them, which may explain his own family’s eager assimilation in pursuit of the American Dream.  While Paul and his family also face discrimination, he has the ability to escape much of it, as they have the resources to help him be successful.  Johnny is not so fortunate, with no support whatsoever in helping him achieve his dreams.  A powerful exposé of privilege and inequality, and how it is systematically perpetuated over time, the film is conscientious but difficult, as it’s a rather blunt depiction, providing little insight or background into Johnny’s character, who comes across as a token black figure, and doesn’t compare well to Barry Levinson’s Proustian sagas of Jewish life in post-war Baltimore in films like AVALON (1990) or LIBERTY HEIGHTS (1999).  In addition, the film has a very muted color palette, making it feel colder as it articulates heavier themes, with Gray using digital for the first time, shot by Darius Khondji, where the camerawork is dark and oppressive.  The Trump family are major donors to this new school, with Paul encountering Fred Trump (John Diehl), a powerful real estate magnate in Queens, in the hallway on his first day.  This period in his life is when Paul begins to understand how race, religion, and social class are used as reasons for bigots to inflict their damaging prejudice on others, often veiled and disguised in patriotic and life-affirming rhetoric which is meant only for a privileged few, perfectly encapsulated in a cameo appearance by Jessica Chastain as Maryanne Trump (Donald’s older sister, a federal appellate judge appointed by Ronald Reagan), who gives a rousing speech to the students about the importance of hard work to achieve success, declaring “you are the elite,” conveniently leaving out the part about inheriting a fortune from her father.  While many may not want to hear this message, just as they tuned out on Jimmy Carter’s prescient “crisis of confidence” message in favor of Reagan’s sunny optimism, but it is crucial nonetheless.  

Molly's Game

MOLLY’S GAME                 B+                  

USA  Chile  (140 mi)  2017  ‘Scope  d:  Aaron Sorkin          Official Site

Success is defined by being able to go from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.

—Winston Churchill

Following a series of written projects that bring to life stories about influential people, like a U.S. Congressman’s influence over the Afghan War in CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR (2007), a portrait of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network (2010), Billy Beane’s introduction of sabermetrics into baseball in Moneyball (2011), or the egomaniacal force behind computer innovator Steve Jobs (2015), Aaron Sorkin’s first directed film is largely a stream-of-conscious exposé where the inner narration reveals all, though better known as the brilliant screenwriter for David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010) as well as the highly praised political television drama The West Wing (1999 – 2006).  Calling Fincher from time to time throughout the shoot for directing advice, Sorkin has a created a striking portrait of a highly confident and liberated woman, a fearless role model of sorts, though the film is largely about the male psyche, as she achieved her fame with an acute understanding of how to manage that psyche, skillfully manipulating the various pieces, like players on a chess board, creating the most exclusive high stakes poker games where only the elite are invited, including movie stars, hedge fund managers, big name athletes, Saudi princes, and other power brokers exchanging millions of dollars at the table, with one man losing $100 million dollars one night, paying up in full by the next day in order to be invited back to the next week’s game.  A film where the entitled character is based upon a strong fictional heroine from James Joyce’s groundbreaking 20th century novel Ulysses, among the more complex novels ever written, where her final monologue that concludes the book is one of the most powerful affirmations of life ever humanly imagined.  Born to a competitive and overcontrolling family where her father was a clinical psychologist, Molly became the third ranked American skier in the world with a chance of winning an Olympic medal in the Freestyle at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 before a freak accident in the qualifying rounds knocked her out of the competition, while her younger brother was the #1 ranked skier in the world, World Champion by age 19, eventually drafted by an NFL football team, becoming the only known athlete to ever accomplish that feat.  Headed to Harvard Law School, which is the typical road to success, Molly (Jessica Chastain, who narrates throughout) takes a detour along the way following her accident, heading to the sunshine of Los Angeles, hoping to bathe in relaxation before heading to law school, but an interesting offer occurs along the way that literally changes her life, starting off as a cocktail waitress at LA’s Viper Room before she wis invited by the owner to host a poker game for Hollywood’s top celebrities, catering and managing for real estate club owner Darin Feinstein, aka Dean Keith’s (Jeremy Strong) high stakes basement poker game, listening in and learning everything she could about the game and how it works, eventually staking out her own turf in swank hotels where the buy-in entry fee per player is $250,000, often lost in just the first few hands in this freewheeling style of game.      

Convinced poker is not a game of chance, but a game of skill, she believed she was operating legally in the early 2000’s, never taking any money under the table or for any special favors, she ran an inscrutably clean operation, providing all the amenities, refusing offers from male admirers, where her reputation was built upon concealing the actual identities of those involved, whose names were later revealed in court depositions, including Toby Maguire as Player X (played by the baby-faced Michael Cera), who turns out to be sadistically ruthless, taking great pleasure in crushing and demoralizing losing players, but also Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Dan Bilzerian, Macaulay Culkin, and Nick Cassavetes, as well as billionaires such as Alec Gores and Andy Beal, allowing them to continue their games unimpeded by outside forces.  While building what was ostensibly a man cave environment for some of the wealthiest and most successful men on the planet, Molly was providing an image of herself that projected positively with these men, dressing in short skirts and brazenly revealing outfits, deciding that in a world dominated by rich and powerful men, she would have to present herself in a sexually desirable way, as only then would they pay attention to her and take what she had to say seriously.  Basically what this indicates is that in a man’s world, society values women for their sexual desirability, where had Molly not been so attractive, perhaps none of this would ever have happened.  Nonetheless, doors opened that otherwise would never have opened for her, making plenty of money at an early age, much of it in tips, which lasted over the course of an entire decade.  Perhaps the untold secret to these games was finding players who were willing to play, in other words lose, to the regular sharks at the table, who were always looking for fresh meat they could devour.  That means rotating new players into the games who had a reasonable expectation that they could win, as nobody likes being made a fool of, though this was essentially the goal of the regulars where winning was not enough, as they had to crush their opponents.  Often they got arrogant and a bit big-headed, as did Keith after a string of losses, suggesting Molly was taking too much from him, basically changing the rules of the game midstream, putting her in a less favorable position, which gave her the impetus to start her own game.  Perhaps unsurprisingly she got the regulars to come along.  All of this success came to a screeching halt when she was arrested by the FBI in the middle of the night taking all of her assets in the process, literally forcing her to make a deal, like name names and come clean.  Only Molly refuses to do that and hires a high powered attorney instead, Idris Elba as Charlie Jaffey (actually Jim Walden, a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scirica, also a former prosecutor who worked for 9 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York).  Jaffey hesitates before taking the case, intrigued by how well-versed she is on the charges and by her staunch refusal to give up names.               

Chastain and Elba are terrific together, as their high-powered interchanges are exceptional, providing most of the drama to the story, as they are playing out the various positions, including the government’s position as well as her own defense, where it’s clear Molly has turned down every opportunity to greedily profit from her position, leaving millions in debts unaccounted for, refusing to line her pockets, always dealing from a position of strength, which goes back to her childhood and the way she was raised.  Much of it told in flashback, the film creates a strong female persona rarely seen in films, constructed out of a series of moral choices that actually matter by the end, as that’s what she’s ultimately judged upon.  Chastain actually plays her character close to the vest, revealing as little as possible so as not to be seen as vulnerable or weak, offering sympathy and consolation to those in the midst of a downward spiral, actually becoming a voice of reason when the player has otherwise lost all perspective, all of which suggests a commitment not only to the game, but to those people playing in it, befriending them when they need it most.  This perspective is lost in the government’s case, but can be seen by viewers throughout the ongoing narrative, as she’s not a spiteful or selfish character, but thrives on being a professional as she can be.  After leaving LA when one player revolts against her, claiming she’s actually working for him, repeating almost exactly how Keith treated her, with men diminishing her importance, claiming only they have the power, and she’s only a minor character in “their” game.  By following Molly throughout, we’re able to see how conscientious she is, as opposed to the players, who can be viciously cruel.  This is largely a metaphor for how women are treated in this world, even at the highest levels, as men continue to think it’s all about them, single-mindedly thinking they make the game, allowing women to play in it on the periphery, but the huge sums of money are transferred exclusively from one man to the next, with no women allowed in their own inflated perception of power.  It’s interesting to see Sorkin write a feminist perspective in a patriarchal society, as it’s hardly an illusion, exposing a sexist way of thinking that is established from a man’s birthright.  While somewhat contrived, her father (Kevin Costner) comes back into the picture late in the film after Molly resurfaces under the verticality of Wall Street and New York, taking it to new heights, where she loses herself to drugs in order to stay afloat, keeping herself awake, then allowing her to sleep, which is the life of the super wealthy, like Prince or Michael Jackson, who died from the horrific consequences.  She enters that same territory, showing questionable judgment, allowing darker forces to enter her game, fronts for shadowy underworld figures, throwing everything off-kilter, losing all equilibrium to the power of money.  The Feds were never following her, but some of the disreputable players, where she was arrested as collateral damage in hopes of getting to them, but instead she decides to play by her own set of rules.  Altogether absent from this film, noticeably enough, is any hint of love or romance.  Based on a real life character who wrote her own book (that Sorkin adapts), her intriguing life story is more amazing than it seems, especially when considering all that was left out to protect the innocent.