Month: September 2022

“The Gray Man” is Netflix’s expensive tilt at a Bond-Bourne-like franchise, all action and style. Ryan Gosling plays Six, a shadowy super-spy/killer/warrior originally rescued from jail, and the film quickly establishes the underlying premise: when a mission goes wrong, Six gets hold of data that the head American spy must retrieve, and soon enough, Lloyd Hansen, a psychopathic mercenary, is on Six’s trail. The first third holds promise, with wild chase/battle scenes. Gosling is a favorite actor of mine, and here he plays a deadpan, quick-witted super operative with flair, at least during the film’s setup. But despite ongoing action scenes that out-Bond Bond, and some cool repartee, by the second half, the rot sets in. Chris Evans is miscast as the villain and hams him up with ludicrous flippancy, while Gosling’s nonchalance quickly turns sour. The finale of The Gray Man is a disaster plot-wise, a clumsy vehicle to segue into a sequel. Look, there is noise, there is action, and some classiness, but a botched second half with little storytelling smarts means this franchise should be no franchise at all.

The ongoing quality of the seven ten-episode Bosch streaming shows has always amazed me. Now a follow-up series, “Bosch: Legacy,” which echoes author Michael Connelly’s books in recounting the adventures of private investigator Harry Bosch after he leaves LA Homicide, has commenced. Has it maintained that quality? Well, the key ingredients—overseer Eric Ellis Overmyer and actor Titus Welliver in the core role—remain, and Season 1 once more makes use of a Connelly novel, but during my watching, I sensed a drop-off of filmic intensity. There is nothing wrong per se with the plotline, revolving around Bosch assisting defense attorney Honey Chandler pursue a tycoon, hunting the long lost relatives of a billionaire, and advising his daughter Maddie as she begins a career as a squad cop. And the production values remain: steely realism, fine camerawork, unhurried plot unfurling, solid ensemble support cast acting, and punchy dialogue. No, what I think has thinned out the urgency is an element of vigilantism that has emerged. Suddenly Bosch’s obsession with justice feels a tad less fascinating. So, dear viewer, by all means enjoy the noirish pleasures of Bosch: Legacy but please, relish the earlier shows first.

In taking a distinctively imaginative approach to the climate crisis, “Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography,” an Australian-Canadian collaborative documentary, flirts with danger. Over its hour and a half, the film portrays the element carbon as a living entity, firstly as the backbone of the universe, and then, of course, as unwilling villain in its role in carbon dioxide, the principal factor in slowly warming our planet. A wonderful cast of highly expert talking heads from a range of disciplines (not just climate science), including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Joelle Gergis, Katharine Hayhoe, and Will Steffen (I’ve just listed the ones I know, some of the others are equally as scintillating), exuberantly narrate carbon’s “story” from the start of the universe until now. Carbon is personified as a “she,” and her story is interspersed with fervent imaginings of her voiceover, narrated by Sarah Snook. Daniella Ortega, the writer, also does a stellar job in the director’s chair, keeping the pace up and the plotline cogent. I can recommend Carbon: The Unauthorised Biography as a visually satisfying educational documentary. The risk, as I see it, is that viewers might find the very personification of carbon an irritant. Similarly, pairing the perils of climbing carbon dioxide as harbinger of doom with carbon’s bountiful ubiquity could detract from the former vital message. Well worth watching.

“Maison de Retraite” is that rare French comedy, a fizzer. Firstly it is a predictable tale: a young man fulfilling a community service requirement by working at a retirement village, switching from disdain to enjoyment, and battling on the side of an eclectic stable of residents. Absolutely no zing in the tired storyline. Kev Adams does a serviceable job in the starring role but seems miscast, and the ensemble roster of French actors playing the cliched residential group (including a dial-it-in role from Gerard Depardieu) is unable to transcend the woeful dialogue to provide any connection to the viewer. The banality of the villains, the car chase, and the ultimate plot “twists” is hard to credit. One to be avoided.

Irish author Claire Keegan is famed for her short stories, one of which, Foster, now lives on in filmic form. “The Quiet Girl” is the adaptation by Irish director/writer Colm Bairéad, and he has achieved a restrained miracle, the simplest of tales possessing enormous emotional depth. Living in a rural area of 1980s Ireland, in which Irish is still spoken, ten-year-old Cáit, a girl of few words and muted watchfulness, is sent away by her brutish father and overwhelmed mother. She lobs in with her aunt and uncle, who slowly unfurl the type of love the girl has never known, until secrets intrude. Catherine Clinch is superb in this role and none of the actors is less than excellent. Artfully shot but with no sense of artifice, the film never hurries, but nonetheless a sense of menace hangs over all the characters, yet the film’s eventual message, as it were, is simple and heartbreaking. A quiet gem, The Quiet Girl is one of 2022’s standout movies.