June 15th, Movie 16

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is a biographical film starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the eccentric British artist Louis Wain, in a film that encapsulates his life after the death of his father, through the roller coaster of a life that included his marriage to his beloved Emily (Claire Foy), her loss to cancer, his artistic flair for drawing cats, his struggle with mental illness and the constant weight of supporting a family of sisters.

Benedict Cumberbatch is remarkable in this movie, bringing such range to this odd character, but never playing him like he was less than what he was. The relationship between Louis and Emily was beautiful, despite it being tragically too short. Cumberbatch and Foy do a remarkable job working together breathe life, an electricity if you must, into the couple. The strange pairing really worked and created an undertone for the entire film.

There were plenty of other exceptional actors involved in this movie including Toby Jones, Taika Waititi, Andrea Riseborough, Adeel Akhtar, Phoebe Nicholls, Sharon Rooney, Sophia Di Martino, Aimee Lou Wood, Hayley Squires, and the narrator of the movie, Olivia Colman.

Imagine what the internet would be like today if Louis Wain would not have created the idea that cats could be featured in humorous poses or shown as more than just the evil villain of the animal world. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is a stylistic film with a top notch Benedict Cumberbatch performance and some real emotions brought about by a difficult life. It is currently available on Amazon Prime and I found it to be charming as well as an emotional ride.

June 14th, Movie 15

Today’s June swoon film is another International film that received a lot of love around Oscar time, though it was not a winner in the categories. This is listed as a romantic black comedy-drama directed by Joachim Trier.

Julie (Renate Reinsve) was a medical student in Oslo where she met and began a relationship with comic book artist, Aksel Willman (Anders Danielsen Lie), which became serious. However, once she met another man Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) at a wedding reception that she crashed, she began to wonder about her relationship with Aksel and she began doubting what she was feeling.

Julie decided to leave Aksel and she moved in with Eivind, who broke off his own relationship.

There is a lot going on in this story and the characters are extremely well developed and the film is beautifully shot. There are complex ideas with the film, dealing with Julie and her feelings of rejection by her father. The performances were all top notch, especially Renate Reinsve, who portrayed Julie’s fears and uncertainties so perfectly. I also want to shout out Anders Danielsen Lie, whose turn as Aksel is exceptional and deep. He balances out Julie, despite the fact that she cannot see it or feel it.

The only drawback to the film is that is is achingly sad, bordering on depressing. There is so little joy in the life of these characters and when the joy shows up, it is squashed by the maudlin characters and the internal strife working against them. I found it difficult to watch because of the tone of the film, wishing for something more fulfilling in the story.

It is a well crafted film that is a difficult watch. There are great performances that make it even more challenging to view.

June 13th, Movie 14

The film I am using for the June Swoon today is a film that is very divisive. I have heard people say this is a horrible movie and that they hate it and I have heard people say it was their favorite movie of 2021. So when Annette popped up on Amazon Prime earlier this year, I immediately placed in on my list to watch during June.

Henry McHenry (Adam Driver) was a controversial stand up comedian who met opera singer Ann (Marion Cotillard) and they fell in love. They get married and become the international “it” couple. Ann gave birth to their daughter Annette, things took a bizarre twist. Annette was shown as a puppet, and the marriage hit a rocky stretch where she winds up dead.

The film is a musical, with most of the dialogue coming through in song. The music, written by the Sparks, was remarkably energetic and enjoyable. I found myself joining in with some of the lines that were repeated. The third act song between Henry and Annette was just powerful and exceptional. The rest of the soundtrack was fantastic and helped create that same surreal feel of the film.

Adam Driver is outstanding as Henry McHenry. He created a character that elicited such a feeling about him. While his singing skill is only okay, he can present other emotions and feeling through his facial features and his body language.

The visuals in the film are beautiful and are staged with perfection. There are a bunch of great dramatic scenes as well, including one between Adam Driver and Simon Helberg.

I certainly can see why some people may not love this movie. I could even see why they might hate it. It has its share of bizarre moments that can be considered dreamlike or uncanny. It is a dark romantic musical that I enjoyed.

June 12th, Movie 13

Ok. So I looked to extend my list of 2021 movies today by searching through some of the “underrated” movies from that year. One that I came up with was on Hulu entitled Censor.

The synopsis sounded intriguing. According to IMDB: “In 1985, Enid Baines [Niamh Algar] works for the British Board of Film Classification during the height of the Video Nasty controversy. Enid’s co-workers call her “Little Miss Perfect” due to her strictness in recommending that violent content be cut or banned. While Enid is having dinner with her parents, they discuss the disappearance of Enid’s sister Nina when the two were little. Enid’s parents have since declared Nina legally dead, but Enid is convinced that her sister is still missing.”

It had a high 89% on Rotten Tomatoes as well, so I decided that Censor would be the film that I used for the June Swoon today.

And yet, this film failed to grab my attention at all. I was uninterested nearly from the start of the film and I could not wait for the end.

I am not sure that I have given this film a fair shot. I had commercial issues with Hulu, which I thought I had a subscription that included “no ads” (I actually did not have that feature).

The film had a definite B-movie horror vibe to it. That is not a bad thing, but it just could not pull me back into the narrative once I was out of it. I do like horror movies.

Perhaps one day this will have to be used as one of those “Do Over” films on a Sunday morning, but, as for now, Censor was just not for me.

June 11th, Movie 12

Today, I opened up HBO Max and watched one of the films that I have been waiting to watch for awhile. Drive My Car was getting a ton of buzz around Oscar time and it had become available on HBO Max around that time, and I really considered watching it then. However, I added it to the June Swoon list and decided to wait. Meanwhile, every time I looked at “My List” on HBO Max, there Drive My Car was looking right back at me.

Well, today was the day for the 3 hour Japanese film to finally get played. Was it worth the wait? Sure. Did it blow my mind? Not quite.

According to IMDB: “Two years after his wife’s unexpected death, Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima), a renowned stage actor and director, receives an offer to direct a production of Uncle Vanya at a theater festival in Hiroshima. There, he meets Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), a taciturn young woman assigned by the festival to chauffeur him in his beloved red Saab 900. As the production’s premiere approaches, tensions mount amongst the cast and crew, not least between Yusuke and Koshi Takatsuki, a handsome TV star who shares an unwelcome connection to Yusuke’s late wife. Forced to confront painful truths raised from his past, Yusuke begins – with the help of his driver – to face the haunting mysteries his wife left behind.“

This film is a real character study mainly featuring Kafuku and Misaki, as the film goes deep into the loss and the grief they suffered and were having what was a difficult time getting past. Both characters were emotionally distant but would eventually bond over the Saab 900 and Misaki’s skill at driving the car. As time passes, they begin talking about their losses, able to put in words thoughts that had clearly been weighing on their mind.

While there were a few other characters in the film that were interesting, the main focus was on the director and the driver. There was a character who was one of the actors in the play who spoke with sign language. I found her to be a fascinating character and she was one of the earliest people who helped start the bonding between Kafuku and Misaki.

I’m not sure this needed to be three hours long, as it did feel its length. Still, it was beautifully shot and the performances were strong. Drive My Car won the Best International Feature Film Academy Award this year and I could see why. It also received a nomination for its director, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, though he did not win.

Drive My Car is available on HBO Max.

June 10th, Movie 11

I gained a whole new respect for Oscar Isaac after watching him on the Moon Knight Marvel TV show. His acting chops were outstanding. I had seen him in other films before, but he did not jump out at me as much as he did when he was Marc Specter on Disney +.

Perhaps I should go back and look closer at some of his other performances.

Oscar Isaac starred in The Card Counter, a drama involving a man who learned how to count cards while in a military prison and who began to use the skill as a gambler. Isaac was completely amazing in the role and his performance was easily the standout performance of the film.

Oscar Isaac played William Tell, who had a dark past that he was trying to put behind him when he was approached by La Linda (Tiffany Haddish). La Linda ran a stable of gamblers for a group of investors who back gamblers for a portion of their winnings. Tell turned her down. However, when he was approached by another person, a younger boy Cirk (Tye Sheridan), who told Tell that he knew who he really was and that Tell had known his father. Both were trained by a Major John Gordo (Willem Dafoe) in advanced interrogation techniques which led to Tell’s imprisonment and Cirk’s father’s suicide.

Tell convinces the boy to come with him and join him on his gambling trips. He called La Linda, telling her that he had changed his mind and wanted to join up.

Oscar Isaac was amazing here, but I do not want to take anything away from Tiffany Haddish either because she absolutely matched him in every scene that they shared.

The film took more swerves than I expected and it really worked. The whole narration by William Tell explaining some of the intricacies of poker as well as counting cards. It was a fascinating addition to the film that was already full of tension and suspense.

The character of William Tell was extremely deep and developed.

The Card Counter was a very solid and enjoyable film.

June 9th, Movie 10

This is probably not the film you want to watch every Thanksgiving.

Based on his one-act play, The Humans was written and directed by Stephen Karam. The film told the story of the Blake family during Thanksgiving at Brigid (Beanie Feldstein)Blake’s new apartment with her boyfriend Robert (Steven Yeun). Her parents Erik (Richard Jennings) and Deirdre (Jayne Houdyshell) were in attendance along with her sister Aimee (Amy Schumer) and her grandmother Momo (June Squibb). Momo was slipping further into senility, Aimee had lost her job, Richard was struggling to get by and Erik and Deirdre were very judgmental over the new apartment.

The film mostly took place within the confines of the small apartment and depended heavily on the acting chops of the strong cast.

There was something bizarre going on inside the apartment as well as Erik was being haunted by visions of a faceless woman. Erik was a witness of the 9-11 tragedies as he had intended on being on the observation deck of the Twin Towers as he awaited for Aimee to complete a job interview. However, the decks were not yet open and so he was in a donut shop across the street.

The dialogue carried the film and the elements of horror were kept in the background as questions of something in the walls were hinted at by the film.

At first, it was a little difficult to follow the movie, because there was not that much happening, but I enjoy many of the actors involved so I kept watching and, as I got to know these characters more, I began to become invested in their interactions and their family dynamic.

I love June Squibb. I think she improves any project that she is involved in and she gives a heart-breaking performance here as Momo and her decline into darkness inside her own mind.

The ending 20 minutes or so was compelling as could be and I was glad that I continued to watch the movie after the beginning.

However, there is a definite downer tone to the film and I would not necessarily want to watch it again. I am glad I watched it once, for some great performances.

June 8th, Movie 9

I was looking for a shorter film today to work for the June Swoon. I was hoping for somewhere around 90 minutes or so and so I stopped on the Sony Animation film on Netflix called Vivo.

I couldn’t believe it when I heard Lin-Manuel Miranda’s voice coming out of the animated kinkajou that was named Vivo. This was a musical featuring a kinkajou that was a street performer along with an older man named Andrés Hernández (Juan de Marcos González). Andrés received an invite to come see a famous singer named Marta Sandoval (Gloria Estefan), whom he had left years before. He was hoping to deliver to her the song he wrote when she left, but he died before he could leave Cuba for her Miami concert.

Vivo decided to deliver the song for him, with the help of a little girl without much musical skill named Gabi (Ynairaly Simo).

Much of Vivo was average, particularly the story. There was little original among the plot or of the character design. However, the music was really strong, many of which were written by Lin-Manuel Miranda himself. The animation was well done too, using some excellent computer generated animation that made the film easy to watch.

I would be lying if I said that, despite the formulaic structure, I did not find myself a little emotional at the ending of the film so there must have been something that the movie had done right.

I wanted to shout out one particular voice actor that I picked up. Michael Rooker appeared as a Burmese python named Lutador.

Vivo is not a stand out film, but it had some great music and looked good. You could do worse.

June 7th, Movie 8

The first movie I had on the list for the June Swoon was American Underdog. When it was out, honestly, I was not in a huge rush to see it. I had people tell me that it was really good, but I just was not interested in heading to the theater to see it. So when it came up on streaming, I had come up with the idea about the June Swoon and I decided that this would be one of the films I watched during that time.

I have now finished the film, starring Zachary Levi as Kurt Warner, NFL MVP and Hall of Famer, detailing his bumpy and unlikely rise to stardom in the NFL, and I have to say that it was better than I thought it was going to be.

The film showed the struggle of Kurt Warner to get on the field to play the game, starting in University of Northern Iowa to the Iowa Barnstormers in the Arena League right up with the St. Louis Rams. It also provided the story of his relationship with Brenda (Anna Paquin), a single mother that Warner met in a country bar and who would eventually become his wife. There were plenty of terrible tragedies and difficult challenges that the pair went through that are dealt with in the film. Some of these scenes feel surface level though as if they are touched upon but not delved into deeply.

My biggest issue with the film prior to seeing it was the word that it was a faith-based film. Many of those kind of films are just so “hit you over the head” with their religious view that it takes away from the story that is being told. However, I did not find that in this movie at all. It was not preachy and the faith-based aspect was simply part of the characters. It was handled extremely well and fit in with the underdog tale that was being weaved.

Zachary Levi is charming and he has a decent chemistry with Anna Paquin. They feel well cast in the film, but I do feel like the script could have gone deeper with the story. There are parts of the film that felt more like a Lifetime original than a big screen movie.

However, a lot of the film does work and it tells a clearly inspirational story. I think the football scenes work very well in isolation and Levi and Paquin make a great pair. I would have liked to see more of a crossover between these two main story arcs. Still, it was a decent watch and I am happy that I finally got to the film.

June 6th, Movie 7

I have been looking forward to watching Summer of Soul for quite awhile now. I wanted to watch it back around Oscar time, but I decided that I would wait until June for the June Swoon to finally watch it. It was easy to find on Disney + and I placed it on my watchlist. Today, I finally loaded up the Oscar winning documentary from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson from the Roots.

Questlove’s documentary told the story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which took place on six Sundays between June 29 and August 24 in Harlem, New York. The documentary is told through footage of the event that had never been seen, as well as news footage and present day interviews of artists involved.

Some of the greatest black entertainers of the time participated in the festival including Stevie Wonder, The Fifth Dimension, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Sly and the Family Stone, The Staple Singers, Mavis Staples, Blinky Williams, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, and The Chambers Brothers.

There is more to this documentary than just playing the footage from 1969 and letting the remarkable moments sell your show. The film does a great job of showing how significant piece of history this was despite how few people in the cultural zeitgeist remembered. Interviews with the artists and others involved really compliment the ride that we are on with this fantastic music. We hear from Jesse Jackson and the Mayor of New York among others.

The film also showed the cultural significance and how this music was the soundtrack to the civil rights battle and the importance of finding a voice of a revolution.

It is two hours of entertainment that can also open up the thoughts of a generation. It was an exceptional documentary.

June 5th, Movie 6

The June Swoon continues today diving into the world of comedy with Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. Barb and Star felt like characters that had been from another source, such as SNL or British TV, but, as far as I can tell from my research, they are originating in this movie.

Star is played by the wonderful Kristen Wiig and Barb is played by Annie Mumolo, who I was unaware of before this. Barb and Star are a pair of middle aged women who are friends and who spend their lives together, both widowed, talking and exchanging an almost non-stop banter with each other.

And it is exceptionally funny.

Poor Star and Barb lost their jobs and were kicked out of their discussion club for lying about it so they were at their wits end. They finally decided that they needed a vacation from their regular life, and they packed their bags for a place in Florida called Vista De Mar.

Coincidentally enough, an international terrorist named Sharon Gordon Fisherman (also played by Kristen Wiig), a white skinned woman, and her boy toy assistant Edgar (Jamie Dornan), were targeting Vista Del Mar for a complicated plan of revenge over its treatment of Sharon Gordon Fisherman when she lived in the community as a youth.

Fisherman sent Edgar ahead to set up her revenge. Unfortunately, he lost an important piece after a night of drunken debauchery with Barb and Star. Edgar, who had been in an unrequited loving relationship with Fisherman, started spending more time with Star. Star hid the relationship from Barb because she did not want to have Barb feel bad leading to a potential rift between the ladies.

The movie is utterly silly and has plenty of ridiculous scenes and moments, but it works because they are really funny. There were times when I could feel that if certain scenes were in different movies, I might hate them, but since I had drawn such a love for these characters, I accepted it as okay (I’m specifically thinking about parachute pants).

Jamir Dornan was great here too. He had solid comedic timing and he sang. Yes, there are a couple of moments when the film broke into songs. I would not consider the whole movie a musical, but there are at least two scene where it could make sense in a musical.

I’ve said this before… the most important part of a comedy is…does it make you laugh? Barb and Star made me laugh. I found it to be extremely charming and fun.