Day-by-Day Mars Diary

 THE MARTIAN (2015)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Forget "Red Planet" and "Mission to Mars" and just simply pretend they do not exist for whatever few virtues they may possess as adventures on a planet not meant for human voyage. "The Martian" is propulsive filmmaking, taking us on a journey to the uninhabitable Red Planet with surprises galore, wit and gobs of humanity. It is the Mars movie we all deserve and much more. 

The astronaut crew of Ares III is examining and preserving soil samples on Mars. A dangerous dust storm is headed their way and they have to head back to their ship, the Hermes, by way of their MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle). The singular botanist, Mark Watney (Matt Damon), is impaled by a weather satellite and thought to be dead. The crew are quickly ready to take off for their long journey, though the Mission Commander (Jessica Chastain) is reluctant to leave Mark behind, dead or alive. Their mission is over and the Ares III heads back to Earth (approximately 241 days, though I must question why did the crew did not head back to their habitat station but whatever). It turns out that Mark is not dead as his injury was not fatal and he manages to get in the HAB (the aforementioned surface habitat) but food is scarce and communications with NASA (who report that Mark's dead) is nonexistent. Being a botanist proves fruitful for Mark as he finds a way to plant a potato garden in the HAB utilizing Martian soil (call me crazy but while watching, I thought that maybe Martian soil might be detrimental to one's health). Nevertheless, potatoes are successfully grown but an accident involving a blown-out airlock results in food shortage for Mark who might not survive more than a year. 

Back home at the NASA control center, a satellite communications engineer (Mackenzie Davis) notices movement in Mars and once everyone is alerted that Mark is actually alive, plans are made to bring him home but how long would that take? And can they send him food with a resupply spacecraft assembled in record time? The cool detachment of Teddy (Jeff Daniels), the NASA administrator, doesn't allow for detailed information of Mark's progress or his willingness to spread the news that he is alive to the press (he initially refuses to inform the Hermes crew during their journey back to Earth). The other NASA members feel differently.     

The most compelling sections of "The Martian" involve Mark Watney's arduous day-by-day video cataloguing of his less-than-savory experiences on the planet. For almost a year, he can't even shower due to water loss and develops abrasions. Eating potatoes every day might make me sick personally but it starts to show when he grows a Robinson Crusoe-beard and looks malnourished. When the HAB has accidental breakage, duct tape is used (I wonder if duct tape sales rocketed back in 2015). The movie doesn't glorify his experiences and it makes them seem real and tough to withstand. When the film switches to the Earth footage of NASA and its bureaucrats making decisions on Mark's well-being and the media awareness, it proves to be less invigorating than the Mars footage.

The longing heartbeat of "The Martian" is Matt Damon's fluid, all-encompassing performance which says so much about Mark's isolation - Mark never lets being the sole Mars colonist/pirate get to him. He wants out of this arid, harsh planet yet he maintains his coolness and makes the most of his time and his survival. One of the more humanistic Ridley Scott films you will ever see.  

Odysseus Going Home is a Monumental Achievement

 THE ODYSSEY (2026)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The bearded, older Odysseus is stuck on an island with the nymph Calypso and has disappeared from his homeland for two decades. This great King of Ithaca has lost memory of his past due to consuming a copious amount of white lotus flowers. Is he forgotten after decades away from Ithaca? Will anyone find him? Will his son Telemachus find his father when he goes off on a secret journey unbeknownst to his mother? 

At the heart of Christopher Nolan's very exciting, tempestuously paced and grandly told epic is Odysseus struggling to come home to Ithaca and wondering whether he will be a historical footnote in the sacking of Troy or having punctured Cyclops' one eye - after all, he is at the far end of the world with this beautiful nymph and so does he need to come back? And who will tell his story? Homer, of course. In Ithaca, Odysseus' authoritative wife, Penelope (a majestic and nuanced Anne Hathaway), is eager for his return since the suitors wish to have her hand in marriage with access to the throne (the suitors do not believe Odysseus is coming back). Her ambitious son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), is destined for the throne yet Antinous (Robert Pattinson) is firm on doing anything he can to claim it - murder is on his mind. Watching Pattinson is a sneaky treat because you can almost smell the deviousness of his plans, including those of the suitors who think nothing of kicking Odysseus' pet dog. 

"The Odyssey" is not like the grand Greek myth films we have had in the past. With the exception of the giant Cyclops (Polyphemus, Poseidon's son), the gods are alluded to in this version - we never see the angry Poseidon or Zeus though their rage is felt during towering sea storms. The singing maidens, which requires Odysseus' crew to have wax in their ears, are seen from afar in misty rock formations. We do get to see the nasty witch Circe (Samantha Morton, in a sneakily scary performance) who turns men into pigs - the whole sequence itself is beyond bizarre as there are apparent wild animals on the island such as tigers and lions who were once human. Other than the gods, the scarred Helen of Troy (Lupita Nyong'o) and the goddess Athena (Zendaya) have glorified cameos and I wished to see more of them.

Sticking to Homer's own structure (translated from Greek in untold number of translations), it is partly Odysseus's story and partly Telemachus' own journey of learning about his father's journey and his battles. I felt more of a kinship with Matt Damon's Odysseus than I did with Tom Holland's Telemachus - Holland is the weakest of the actors on display here though he does give it 100 percent effort. Damon seems too modern at first to play such an iconic Greek hero but he goes the distance and manages to find his footing. Odysseus is shown as a man of complexity - a hero who knows he made mistakes and violated Zeus' law yet hopes that returning home to his beloved wife (as a beggar) will help cure and redeem everything. Killing the man-eating Polyphemus inside his cave was justified technically since Odysseus had to protect his own crew, a thought not likely shared by Poseidon. Same with hiding his soldiers inside the Trojan Horse - a sequence that is as magnificent to behold as you might imagine. The wooden Trojan Horse is protected by the incapable Sinon (Elliot Page) who is used as bait and is thus killed by the Trojans. During the volcanic Hades sequence, Sinon's "shade" (ghost) appears and shares his being betrayed, unaware of the soldiers inside the Trojan Horse and its ultimate purpose. And let's not forget Athena, who has the appearance of the slaughtered Trojan girl during the war and serves as a constant reminder to Odysseus. These are intimate moments where the hero has to grapple with some measure of guilt that gives "The Odyssey" a sizable thrust of humanity and despair.     

Serious-minded and coupled with the flair and scope of a classic cinematic epic, "The Odyssey" is often superlative, thunderously riveting and uniquely intimate. Though some of the fighting scenes could've been handled without the obligatory cliche of a hand-held camera, I was still awestruck by this film and never felt it was too long. Despite some minor faults in its opening scenes (I just had to get used to Damon who looks more modern than Hathaway), "The Odyssey" will stand tall with its own dark spin on the giant mythological large-scale epics of our past.

Sexual liberation in the Middle Ages

ANCHORESS (1993)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The Anchoress of Shere, like all anchoresses and anchorites, is already dead to the world. When the anchoress physically dies, her grave is in the walled-in enclosure of the church. There is no escape from it since it is a chosen, voluntary religious vocation. Watching Chris Newby's film, "Anchoress," is also a religious experience with thankful notes of humor. You need a little humor to get by the 14th century pastures of Surrey, England.

Christine Carpenter (a beatific Natalie Morse) is the anchoress. At first, she's drawn and fascinated by the Virgin Mary statue that is brought to the church. When she looks at the statue, it is so mesmerizing to her that she doesn't blink - almost as if she was lovestruck. Christine comes from a commoner family where the mother is tempermental with her and the sister. The Reeve (Gene Bervoets), a mayor of sorts in this village, has romantic inclinations towards the disinterested Christine, and then finally the other sister (Brenda Bertin) whom he gets to marry. The disapproving mother (Toyah Wilcox) is not happy, often spitting on her hand, urinating in front of the sole village priest (Christopher Eccleston), and in general expressing unhappiness about everything including her husband who will not please her sexually. She is not a religiously devout and her practices, including helping women with abortions, are deemed Satanic by the priest.

All this is too much of a distraction for Christine who makes a plea to the Bishop to become the Anchoress. This means a life inside this closed-off church chamber where she can have two windows - one is referred to as a "squint" where she can view the Virgin Mary statue at the altar, and the other is like a confessional to the outside world where villagers can come to her with their problems and beg for forgiveness. This is also where her mother and sister can bring her food and, though men can approach her, they cannot touch her (truthfully nobody can).

"Anchoress" is about Christine's religious devotion yet she always expresses an orgasmic pleasure with everything she sees or touches. She has one heart-stopping moment where she feels and penetrates the ground itself or holes in the wall - ecstasy has entered this girl's mind. Even her own mother gets to have a romp in the hay with a goat, spotted by her disbelieving husband (Pete Postlethwaite). Sex is on the minds of all of these peasant women yet Christine still holds true to her visions of the Virgin Mary. The priest wants those visions revealed to him yet he disagrees with her that the only Mother has red robes - according to his beliefs, they should be blue. And whatever Christine expresses that goes against the grain of the church dogma, the priest instantly blames her mother and not her. This leads to another heart-stopping and intensifying moment where the mother is chased by the villagers - Christine's mother is determined to be a witch.

There are rewards aplenty for the bewitching and sometimes darkly humorous "Anchoress." It is a striking, Bergmanesque religious tale that I am sure might have inspired later directors like Robert Eggers for its attention to period Gothic and/or Middle Ages details, specifically the look of the claustrophobic cell. Filmed in high-contrast black-and-white by director Chris Newby, "Anchoress" holds your attention and never lets loose its grasp on the audience. Natalie Morse's role here is definitive for an atypical Middle Ages tale - she may seek penance but she is deep down more liberated than most. 

Vangelis' score is legendary, this papier mache Colon is not

 1492: CONQUEST OF PARADISE (1992)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus arrives in the New World (the island of Guanahani), there's a mist revealing the sought-after island. Columbus is on one of the three ships and he closes his eyes and opens them and revels in the discovery. Since Gerard Depardieu is playing the infamous/famous Columbus, you only get a whisper of satisfaction from him. He walks on the land by the shores, and falls on his knees with a dour expression. Compare that to Kevin Costner's sense of joy of returning to England in 1991's "Robin Hood," and you might wonder why Columbus is so restrained at this groundbreaking discovery. 

Scene after scene of "1492" indicates a beautifully mounted production that director Ridley Scott might have been born to direct. Every shot is really divine including the ships and their long masts at sea with a golden glow and amazing sunsets and sunrises (coupled with colorful flags). The jungles of this New World reveal something untouched by foreigners and the atmosphere practically drips off the screen. And every scene has Depardieu looking more and more like a sad sack of a man, not the ambitious navigator and explorer who dared to question the Catholic theologians and search for land in Asia. When he gets upset and tosses scrolls on the ground, Depardieu manages a little emotion. When he speaks to Queen Isabella (Sigourney Weaver), he's at a standstill and emotionally bereft (of course, maybe he is supposed to be since he's talking to the Queen). However, with regards to the singular emotion of anger, Columbus can spear the natives who attack him and his crew without question (this violent episode occurred when he returned to the Caribbean and finds the murdered crew members who stayed behind.) Anger is his singular emotion but his ambition, his craving for uncharted new lands and making new discoveries, is hampered by making the crew aboard the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria ships restless and almost provoking a mutiny. Yet again, Depardieu is unaffected, indifferent and you would think he would show some level of exhaustion being at sea for nine weeks, not to mention his arduous return journey. Compare this to the apocalyptic "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" where we witnessed a conqueror who is more mad than anyone, yet we also saw the passion and zeal at work. Columbus is depicted as someone who has been burning the midnight oil doing a social studies homework assignment. 

"1492" has beautiful locales and is quite the picturesque Illustrated Comics version of Columbus. I especially love the hoisting of the bell at the top of a tower, complemented by Vangelis's legendary musical score. As history, the film actually tries to show certain realities but hardly enough to merit a 2 1/2 hour running time. There are some revelations here about Columbus' wanting to convert Guanahani natives to Christianity, indicated by his voyage diary entries. This apathetic man is also depicted as noble and willing to help the indigenous people of this Caribbean island. Eventually, violence erupts during the the colonization and the film wants to put the blame on the murderous Adrián de Moxica (Michael Wincott, in a performance that mimics his Guy of Gisborne in 1991's "Robin Hood") who thinks nothing of chopping a native's hand off. Moxica feels the natives are stealing or hiding the gold and riches from the island (he is shown here to commit suicide than be hanged, when in fact he was hanged). Many historians believe Columbus to have committed genocide and lay the trappings of colonialism going forward, with some aid from his crews no doubt. No matter what one believes, this Columbus is just a papier mache version of the real thing.

Women's Lib structured as road movie

 THELMA AND LOUISE (1991)

An Appreciation and Reassessment by Jerry Saravia

What I love most about "Thelma and Louise" is that it is not simply a road movie (that most beloved genre), a feminist parable or, as critics exclaimed back then, "toxic feminism." The latter is a foolish assessment because these two energetic young women on the lam are not anymore toxic than if they were a pair of males on the run. The first two descriptions are most apt to describe "Thelma and Louise," a basic friendship movie in the guise of road movie cliches that are somehow less cliche-ridden based on its feminist context. It basically puts a whole new spin on the road movie as allegory and has more nuanced ideas about how women see themselves.

Thelma (Geena Davis) is the ditsy, innocent type who abides by her regional manager husband who sells carpets, Darryl (Christopher McDonald), yet she is desperate to step out and be somewhere else, at least for a weekend getaway. That chance arrives when her best friend, Louise (Susan Sarandon), a waitress, is ready to go on the road trip to go fishing! Once they stop at a Texas-like bar/restaurant along the way and Thelma has a good time dancing with a supposedly charming smooth talker, Harlan (Timothy Carhart), the situation escalates to sexual assault and Louise ends it killing the guy with a gun. Now, Thelma and Louise are on the loose though nobody initially suspects them of the crime. The rest of "Thelma and Louise" is the twosome on the road, evading police, massive trucks and leering truck drivers. When Louise gets some money from her boyfriend (the always terrific Michael Madsen), she is determined to go to Mexico knowing she's ultimately the one that pulled the trigger and will not give herself up at all to the authorities. Thelma is simply going along for it but her malleable nature erodes when she chooses to have sex with a polite drifter and ex-robber, J.D. (Brad Pitt, in a star-making performance). When J.D. steals Louise's money, Thelma gets an idea from J.D's confessions to rob a gas station and she does. There is not a care in the world for these women who choose to live freely and not be dependent on men to sustain themselves.

Louise is also going through changes. Many scenes show her looking at herself in bathroom mirrors or rearview mirrors, as if she is trying to shed the woman she was and become more independent in her nature and way of being. At one crucial point, she gives up her watch and rings to some old bystander - time and attachment to shiny accoutrements are no longer necessary. When she sees an older woman through a storefront window, Thelma decides to abandon lipstick and eyeshadow - perhaps maintain an earthy look. One amazingly potent scene shows Louise looking at the desert during sunset, knowing an eventual change is coming. 

"Thelma and Louise" was accused of being a misandrist film where all men are chauvinistic pigs and the women are simply objects of ridicule that need to know their place and fulfill men's needs - at least, according to the male characters in this film. That is not entirely the case with all the men here, especially Louise's boyfriend who does erupt in violence for a brief moment before apologizing. There's Harvey Keitel as the good, sweet-natured cop who wants to bring them in but knows, deep down that even if their predicament is their fault, he knows it is far more complicated than that. The rest of the men are powerless against Thelma and Louise and that includes the unredeeming Harlan - I will not say he deserved his fate but he should've known he had it coming. Darryl is something of an egghead who realizes he has no control over Thelma at all. There's also a highway cop who, for whatever reason I cannot fathom, asks Thelma to sit in the front seat of his car and asks her to remove her eyewear (my parents had thought he said underwear when they first saw the film) - this results in him being forced into a trunk which leads to a Rastafarian biker scene that has to be seen to be believed. The foolhardy J.D. uses his charms and almost gets away with it, never assuming that Thelma would hold up any store - he can, it turns out, one-up the women. 

Ultimately, "Thelma and Louise" is a female empowerment statement that can still carry a dangerous charge 35 years later (Men clearly are more threatened by this film than women). It is not a female empowerment fantasy but rather about women seeking their own place in a male-dominated world without their help. The final emotional powerhouse of a sequence can quicken the pulses of most men and women but it can also demonstrate that Thelma and Louise's choices over their fate are their own. Most liberating.   

Dishonorable cop in gloomy Japan thriller

 BLACK RAIN (1989)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Black Rain" is not quite a full-fledged movie - it is an assemblage of plot points and cliches that don't amount to much. It is ostensibly a cop thriller but its suspense is drowned by its heavy synthesizer soundtrack and some gory moments. There is some level of excitement in certain spots but an unspectacularly faint echo of a performance by Michael Douglas brings the movie down to the gutter. 

A violent criminal, Koji Sato (Matsuda Sugai), is a yakuza seeking a counterfeit money plate. He kills some Japanese businessman right out in the open in a New York restaurant, no less witnessed by cops including the uptight Nick (Michael Douglas) and his happy-as-a-clam partner, Charlie (Andy Garcia). The yakuza is chased by the cops, captured and extradited to Osaka, Japan. Of course, you can anticipate every scene including Nick punching Sato in the face on the plane, and police inspectors ready to pick up Sato when they turn out to be yakuza members (and then the real police show up). Now Nick and Charlie are to be only observers to the Osaka police trying to capture Sato. Naturally, these American cops know nothing about honor and are wanting Sato and to bring him to America. 

"Black Rain" has its purest and most instinctual performance by the straight-as-an-arrow, by-the-book  Ken Takakura as Assistant Inspector Masahiro "Mas" Matsumoto. Through the slightest shadings imaginable, we can see Takakura's obedience and honor to the law yet also showing his slightly changing attitude to Charlie's ability to party with girls at a club and by Nick's rebellious stance to go on instinct rather than follow procedures. I also give a shout out to Kate Capshaw's sexy and alluring American from Chicago who is some sort of hostess/bartender and has intimate knowledge of gang warfare.

Scene after scene though, "Black Rain" is hindered by Michael Douglas' virtually difficult, displeasing cop who has an Internal Affairs investigation back home dealing with his taking money from drug dealers. There is a semblance here of something deeper when Nick has alimony payments, kids, an apartment and a house - not enough income from a NYPD cop who loves motorcycle racing on weekends. Ridley Scott certainly knows how to make all this come alive but it is an undernourished screenplay with zero sympathy towards the guy we are supposed to root for. The late Matsuda Sugai plays his Sato as a one-dimensional psychopath who thinks nothing of chopping off his own finger, you know, for being dishonorable. It is a fair to average movie but I expect much more than that from Ridley Scott.

Call it a light cavalry skirmish

 THE DUELLISTS (1977)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Imagine holding a grudge towards someone, a friend, ally or enemy (god forbid, a family member), for decades. In these modern times, we would stay far away from them and hope there is no chance of running into them. In Ridley Scott's fabulous directorial debut, "The Duellists," two comparatively different men fight several duels over the course of nearly two decades without any real victory other than nursing deep wounds. It is somewhat fated that they keep running into each other every few years and the chance for bloodletting is renewed.

Starting in the 1800's during the Napoleonic Wars, we are introduced to the fierce French Lt. Feraud (Harvey Keitel), a man with a violent temperament who engages in sword duels to the death and is loyal to Napoleon Bonaparte. The reasons for his incessant dueling are not divulged other than having a violent temperament. Lt. Armand d'Hubert (Keith Carradine) is a dedicated French soldier who is under orders to place Feraud on house arrest for almost killing a mayor's nephew in a duel. Naturally, Feraud is not just any French soldier who can be reasoned with - his rage is unfathomable as he is prepared to duel d'Hubert who is just following orders. It turns into an embarrassment as the two have a swordfight which leads to d'Hubert getting a severe though not fatal wound, and some deep scratches on his face by Feraud's mistress (Gay Hamilton, who also appeared in "Barry Lyndon"). D'Hubert is looked upon unfavorably by his Brigadier-General Treillard (Robert Stephens) who sees d'Hubert as weak and incapable, demoting him to the barracks with the regiment. 

"The Duellists" carries on with this "light cavalry skirmish" for so long that you wonder why death hasn't approached either one of them. D'Hubert is unequivocally loyal to his rank and standing (he assumes Colonel and General positions), and duels are forbidden (or at least, frowned upon) when the duellists are of different ranks especially in a time of endless war. Feraud cannot let go of these bloody duels, the last of which (prior to using guns) results in Feraud obtaining a head injury. From Augsburg to Lubeck to a haunting passage of frozen Napoleonic soldiers on the Russian front (defeated by "General Winter") where Feraud and D'Hubert shoot at Cossacks - the one chance encounter where a duel doesn't emerge - to d'Hubert's home where they engage in a pistol duel near some castle ruins. 

"The Duellists" doesn't initiate any persuasiveness when it comes to its two strangely cast leads who are anything but French in appearance, Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine. Yet even if both Keitel and Carradine seem too modern, it doesn't matter because they acquit themselves with their depiction of their characters' own tribulations, passions and dedications to the war effort. Feraud may have mistresses throughout his life but d'Hubert is the one who settles down, gets married and joins the Louis XVIII army. These two powerhouse talents give us enough shades to trample any lack of casting credibility. 

"The Duellists" is breathtaking, forceful cinema by a director whose tantalizing vision (based on Joseph Conrad's short story) consumes us from first frame to last. Howard Blake's memorably moody music score elevates everything we see and every image here is as potent as "Barry Lyndon" of which this pays direct homage to. Never have deathly grudges been so picturesque.