DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST: I Am the Silence That You Cannot Understand

March is Women's History Month, where we highlight voices that can get lost in the shuffle--sometimes deliberately. Such is the case with this film, one of the great indie successes of all time, whose creator was subsequently suppressed out of the filmmaking arena.

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Director: Julie Dash

Writer: Julie Dash

Cast: Cora Lee Day, Alva Rogers, Barbarao

Runtime: 112 mins.

1991

"I was the only one who came off of that stage not having another motion-picture movie."

The speaker of this quote is Julie Dash, the stage is Sundance, and the film featured there is Daughters of the Dust, the first film directed by a black woman to be theatrically distributed in the United States. The film saw widespread critical acclaim, yet Dash was shut out of Hollywood, relegated to decades of TV movies, music videos, and books reflecting on Daughters. It is next to impossible for a black woman to make and distribute a film. The barrier is racial and gendered (maybe we'll consider a woman, and maybe we'll consider a black man, but a black woman?? not a chance). That obstacle is only now being slowly eroded by the likes of Ava DuVernay and Dee Rees, thanks in large part due to the pioneering work of Julie Dash. But for Dash herself the barricade was made even more insurmountable by the content of her work.

Daughters of the Dust is the story of the Gullah, a community of African Americans residing in the low country Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. Living isolated from the mainland has allowed the Gullah to survive without their African heritage being entirely eradicated. The film is set in 1902 as a contingent of the Gullah prepare to leave their home to travel North in search of more modern opportunity.

Most of what we have come to expect from a movie is radically upended by Daughters. As Roger Ebert put it in his review, the film plays like a tone-poem. It is not beholden to plot, or character, or chronology, but to mood, texture, and rhythm. I struggled to follow Daughters for the first half hour. This is not a deficiency, but an education. Dash is teaching you how to engage with her world culturally, aurally, verbally, rhythmically, temporally.

CAPTAIN MARVEL: A Woman's Touch

March is Women's History Month, so round these parts we round up films directed by women. This one's a big one, Marvel's first woman behind the camera since Patty Jenkins was ousted from the production of Thor: The Dark World.

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Directors: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
Writers: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Nicole Perlman, Meg LeFauve
Cast: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Bening, Lashana Lynch
Runtime: 123 mins.
2019

A pattern begins to emerge among all of the heroes Marvel has introduced in Phase 3, which ends next month with Avengers: Endgame. These newcomers' stories lack compelling, fully manifest character arcs. In other words, the movies are hardly about anything at all. The MCU's Doctor Strange is Tony Stark with tech swapped out for magic; he is punished for his hubris by losing functionality in his hands, but then zips through magic training effortlessly, with only lip service paid to transcending his arrogance. Meanwhile, the MCU's Spider-Man is Tony Stark with oldness swapped out for youngness; Peter steadfastly refuses to learn any lessons, then is rewarded for his unchanging behavior. The only exception seems to have been Black Panther, who managed to have a focused and pointed arc even before his solo film, back in Captain America: Civil War.

Which brings us to Captain Marvel, the worst offender yet. There is a narrative online that the men writing negative reviews don't understand the message, and that the movie is not for them. In some cases this is certainly true. Others may love the message, but resent the execution. There are quite a few women writing negative Captain Marvel reviews that you could check out, like this succinct piece by Louisa Moore.

Captain Marvel purports to be about a woman throwing off the shackles of what men have told her to be, but in practice the message doesn't evolve past lip service. "You should do what you feel!" the movie suggests, "Especially if you got superpowers in an explosion!" Such a worthy message tossed off with such little thought feels more like condescension than progress. It doesn't help that director/writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have absolutely no idea how to dramatize any of this. We never see the growth. Yes, Jude Law tells her to control her emotions, but then she blasts him anyway. Yes, a man tells her to smile more, but then she steals his motorcycle. These are fist-pumping feminist moments, but they jump the shark of Carol's arc. What lesson has she learned if her behavior is the same throughout? (And who is she supposed to have learned this lesson from, anyway? Nick Fury, a man who has no compunction against exploiting individuals for their violent potential? Or her supposed mentor Dr. Wendy Lawson, whose only advice is, "We need to blow up this speedy engine."?)

THE NATIVITY STORY: Dad Almighty

March is Women's History Month, so round these parts we round up films directed by women. This week is a movie about two and a half dads.

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Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Writer: Mike Rich
Cast: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Hiam Abbass, Shaun Toub, Ciarán Hinds
Runtime: 101 mins.
2006

Imagine my surprise when Catherine Hardwicke's The Nativity Story establishes itself as a shabby Lord of the Rings knockoff within the first few seconds. It's the haunting rendition of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" that does it, though you can find telltale signs of mimicry anywhere from the tone of self-important grandeur, to the impressive production values, to the shared distributor: New Line Cinema. In theory, the idea seems to have been an update of the painfully familiar religious fable of the Savior's birth for a new generation. In practice it is pompous and dull. There's a reason Tolkien expressed his beliefs via a heavy lens of mythology. These stories simply aren't as interesting if you literalize them. The folks who critiqued The Lord of the Rings films for being mostly walking ought to take a gander at this slog.

The film endeavors to be a heap of rubbish in the least spectacular way possible. The cinematography is approximately competent, save some inexplicable camera movements, but it is awash in the most unappealing "Biblical" browns and grays so as to siphon away any pleasure that could be derived from the well-financed set, props, and costumes. The script is far worse, with dialogue careful to traffic only in vagaries, so as to avoid accidentally making a statement about something. This is a screenplay (penned by Mike Rich, veteran of Hollywood Oscarbait) in which the phrase PREPARE YOUR TAXES is meant to fill us with a sense of ominous dread. Even more dire is the plot. The A-plot is stuck in a perpetual first act, while the B- and C-plots (King Herod's machinations; the Three Wise Men) are so inconsequential I couldn't even tell you which is the B- and which is the C-. The villain Herod wanders around the sets tossing offhand threats at a hypothetical Savior, while the wise men ride their camels and wonder aloud whether the Savior will really be waiting for them when they arrive. At least they play with some fun science wizard gizmos at the beginning.

A Sexist Cinematic Universe

Gamergate seems as good a place to start as any. For those not familiar, Gamergate was a 2014 crisis in the video game community that saw multiple campaigns of targeted harassment against prominent women in the industry. Nominally, the issue at hand was "ethics in game journalism," but this was nothing more than a wispy smokescreen covering over a nasty sentiment: We men don't want women and SJWs* infiltrating our boys' club and critiquing the [ro]bust objectification rampant in the medium. If this is sounding familiar, that's because Gamergate was a sort of a coming out party for the alt-right and neo-nazi movements plaguing our political landscape now. The implications of Gamergate were ignored or dismissed as something dumb happening on the internet. A huge mistake.

*Social Justice Warrior, an apparently disparaging term popularized by this very movement

As the alt-right movement grew in power, if not yet in prominence, the Red[dit] Horde set its sights on the movies. Ghostbusters (2016) has been the most striking example of uproarious backlash to totally innocuous diversity initiatives. This represented a sea change in fan entitlement, crossing a line from tweeting angrily at artists to decisive and violent collective action. Infantile fans resented the womanwashing of their original heroes. In response they waged online crusades against the reputation of the film, trying their best to drag the box office take down (proving, I suppose, that feminism isn't profitable). A particularly insidious group launched an abuse campaign against one of the film's cast members, Leslie Jones, until she was forced off of social media. Why Leslie Jones specifically? Sexism and racism make good bedfellows. Jones hasn't made a high profile movie since, though she lends her voice to this year's The Angry Birds Movie 2.

There have been plenty more bumps and grinds along the way, and here we are in 2019 well worse for the wear. Yet we get bleaker still.

Top Ten 2018

Other Top Ten Lists

I abandoned Post-Credit Coda last year. Our driest year yet featured only seven reviews. These hobbies can take a backseat for life reasons from time to time, but we make time for what's important. Thing is, I wasn't sure how important this was to me. Film criticism typically comes from a place of knowing; in my other work (and life in general) I've been dwelling a lot on the power and honesty of coming from a place of not-knowing.

Still and all, it would be a shame to miss out on sharing my favorite films of the year with you. Just because I haven't been writing about movies doesn't mean I haven't been seeing them! Maybe I can introduce you to a new favorite. Before we get there, we're going to have some fun with the clunkers, and before we get there, here are some films I missed that may have factored in:

Madeline's Madeline, Night is Short, Walk on Girl, One Cut of the Dead, Aquaman, You Were Never Really Here, Blindspotting, Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, Creed II, Anna and the Apocalypse, Venom, Burning, Shirkers, Paddington 2, The World Is Yours, First Man, Cold War

BIRD BOX: The Seegull

Director: Susanne Bier
Writer: Eric Heisserer
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson
Runtime: 124 mins.
2018

It was immediately apparent upon seeing the first images of Bird Box splayed across Netflix's platform that the film was something along the lines of A Quiet Place, but this time with seeing.* What surprised me was that the film saw fit to take M. Night Shyamalan's most embarrassing film as its primary inspiration. Yes, just like The Happening, folks are killing themselves off left and right due to some invisible influence borne on the wind. In that movie, Science was the explanation; in this movie, Unexplained is the explanation.**

*Also this time there are two women giving birth in a perilous situation instead of one.
**Though there is about twenty seconds of extraordinarily awkward exposition about demons.

I cannot blame the film for holding on so closely to the enigmatic mystery at its center, since there is little else of interest going on here. It takes only a few minutes of runtime to ascertain that the film has made a fatal miscalculation. Bird Box sets us up for a post-apocalyptic fable in which Malorie (Sandra Bullock) and her wards Boy and Girl must travel downriver, blindfolded, in a last ditch attempt to find safety and community... then promptly dumps us into a flashback so that we can dwell on the minutiae of Malorie's dull backstory. In going out of its way to show the genesis of the apocalypse, Bird Box still whiffs on the one thing that The Happening actually had to offer; watching people off themselves in emotionless yet still overdramatic ways. There are only a handful of proper gore sequences, and they are shuffled past as if the film's attentions are elsewhere.

Where those attentions seem to lie is the relationship between Malorie and her children, which, since they are little more than speechless ciphers, amounts to her relationship with her own motherhood. These character moments tend to be forced; in one climactic scene, Bullock's character decides to not sacrifice the life of the little girl in order to gain a slight advantage in navigating the river, and we are apparently meant to be proud of her. Nevertheless, this is where the movie shines the most, as director Susanne Bier does an adequate job of wringing tension out of the scenario. Unfortunately, that aforementioned miscalculation continually rears its head, with the present day narrative of desperation weighed down by the incessant flashbacks that don't provide any context we couldn't have picked up from Bullock's performance. In fact, both halves of the movie manage to make each other worse, as the early material would play better without Bullock's monologue at the top of the film essentially explaining all we need to know about the threat.

Bullock herself is fine in the movie. Nobody in Bird Box is more than fine, as you can hardly expect them to be while spouting lame exposition or treacly sentiment. Everything on display is more or less competent, right down to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's tinkling score that sounds exactly like the musical combination of a bird and a box. Yet there is one more gaping hole in the center of the movie that Bird Box never quite figures out. Film is a visual medium, which is why A Quiet Place works so well--we can see the danger as we lean in to every creak and crack in the sound mix. Here, neither can we see the threat, nor can we participate in Malorie's disorientation, as the film refuses to situate us in her blindfolded perspective for more than a second or two at a time. A far better, leaner movie focused in on the present and willing to take some experimental risks could have made for a sharp little thriller. As it stands, Bird Box is some mediocre rubbish that seems algorithmically designed to remind you of other, more delightful movies.

1 / 5  BLOBS

THE SEAGULL: A Man Chanced to Pass That Way and Destroyed It out of Idleness

Director: Michael Mayer
Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Saoirse Ronan, Corey Stoll, Annette Bening, Brian Dennehy, Michael Zegen, Mare Winningham, Glenn Fleshler, Jon Tenney, Billy Howle
Runtime: 98 mins.
2018

When you take it upon yourself to adapt a classic work of the stage, especially one from the revolutionary body of work of Anton Chekhov, especially one that is directly conversant with themes of new theatrical forms versus old ways of thinking, you had better damn well have a salient reason for the adaptation. Michael Mayer's The Seagull does not clear that bar. As far as I can tell, this film has no reason to exist whatsoever. It may be that The Seagull is inherently uncinematic, what with its dense text and discernible lack of onstage "action." That doesn't excuse Mayer's adaptation from being mired in the most blasé choices imaginable.

The Seagull--as I understand it--is a deep dive existential excavation of an artistically inclined Russian family, as well as those who have found themselves attached to the family unit. This heavy meditation on malcontentedness is seen askance through seemingly casual dialogue and punctuated by jet black comedy. The Seagull--as Mayer understands it--is a work of transparent awards-seeking frivolity in which the dialogue carries little impact beyond an excuse for its hyperqualified cast to Act.

WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?: Love Thy Neighbor

Director: Morgan Neville
Runtime: 94 mins.
2018

The letdown of Won't You Be My Neighbor? is that it is mediocre in every facet of its construction.

The structure of the film is aggressively typical. We are given a general gloss of Fred Rogers, from the beginning of his career until his death. This is accomplished with little imagination by a balance of archival footage and interviews with those who knew him. Rarely do the interviews reveal anything particularly interesting--they function to reaffirm the history as presented.

ISLE OF DOGS: Master Craftsman

Director: Wes Anderson
Writers: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Kunichi Nomura
Cast: Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Bob Balaban, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Kunichi Nomura, Akira Takayama, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, Akira Ito, Scarlett Johansson, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray Abraham, Yoko Ono, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Liev Schreiber, Courtney B. Vance
Runtime: 101 mins.
2018

There is great joy to be found in watching Isle of Dogs. The film crackles with enthusiasm about its subject matter. Those who have even a passing appreciation for dogs, Japanese culture, or stop motion animation will encounter a narrative that satisfyingly incorporates those elements into an emotional story well-told. But there is also the more abstract joy of watching a master working passionately at their craft.

This is the second stop motion film by Wes Anderson, an obvious pairing with a common ground in fussy precision. It's exciting to see how Anderson has grown as a filmmaker since Fantastic Mr. Fox. This observation is not meant to cast aspersions on that film, which is brilliant in its own right. Fantastic Mr. Fox's comparative two-dimensionality fit well with the storybook sensibilities of the narrative.

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - The Stones on This Guy

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Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Writers: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely
Cast: Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Tom Hiddleston, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Idris Elba, Danai Gurira, Peter Dinklage, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, Benicio Del Toro, Chris Pratt, Carrie Coon
Runtime: 149 mins.
2018

Infinity War stands as the new opening weekend box office growth record holder with around $250 million, an unprecedented cultural moment that demonstrates without doubt that Disney and Marvel are still the masters of pop mythology. The MCU remains the only shared universe with any real dignity, and not for lack of competitors. Despite the common recurring criticisms and the ceaseless cries that superheroes are on the way out, the MCU has stayed in the general public's good graces.

To their credit, Kevin Feige and company have not settled into complacency. Each subsequent Marvel movie has gotten marginally broader in its scope, and quite a bit stranger in its content. The cross-film universe has bent and warped to include deposed gods, talking raccoons, and interdimensional sorcerers in its ranks. The MCU has embraced growth of imagination, with each new entry expanding the realm of what weirdness is possible. In keeping with this trend, Infinity War does indeed represent something new for these movies. Not only does it attempt to bring dozens of characters together into an enormous tapestry, but it makes a point of hitting harder than any of its predecessors.

Yes, this is the much ballyhooed entry in the MCU which is supposed to have Real Consequences. The tone is dark, dire, and relentless. From the get go, Infinity War is committed to plowing through its story with an unbearable sense of fatalism. This pacing, Josh Brolin's coolly menacing performance, and the immediately-spiking MCU death count all combine to make Infinity War the first MCU movie that has a real air of suspense about it. These movies have always been first and foremost breezy affairs, but there is a whiff of mythic consequence to the way Thanos tears through our favorite heroes' lives. I can't help but be impressed with the amount of body horror and aching despair the Russo Brothers packed into this ostensibly four-quadrant crowd-pleaser.

And yet, when one takes true artistic risks, one will inevitably alienate portions of one's audience, and it's pretty clear that nobody was alienated by Infinity War, which has received near universal praise. How is it that such a brash blockbuster could still appeal to so many?

My answer is that Infinity War is a sham of a movie. This becomes clear (SPOILERS AHEAD) the moment Thanos's climactic holocaust dissolves Black Panther. And then Spider-Man. Any traumatic crisis featured in this film will be neatly resolved by the end of next summer. Our favorites will all return for endless franchise entries.