Movie Reviews
Two new films in which white men aren’t villains
The only feature I’ve seen in the past few years that waved the flag so proudly was Top Gun 2 (2022). Somehow the filmmakers have resisted the temptation to make the poor white boys in the boat into a multi-racial crew.
The Berlin Olympics provided an opportunity to focus on the great black athlete, Jesse Owens, but he gets no more than a cameo, telling one of the boat crew that he’s less concerned about impressing the Germans than the people back home. The political point is made with maximum economy.
One of the ironies of this patriotic production is that there are so few Americans in the cast. Callum Turner and Sam Strike are both British, as is Peter Guinness, who plays boat-builder George Pocock. Aussie Joel Edgerton is probably the star of the show, doing his best impersonation of the anxious, grim-faced mentor who hides his human feelings. Women, such as Hadley Robinson and Courtney Henggeler, who plays Al’s wife, Hazel, adopt supporting roles in an overwhelmingly masculine film.
This is not the first time Clooney has demonstrated his love of Golden Age Hollywood, or his willingness to indulge the most sentimental themes. But The Boys in the Boat is a huge advance on a movie such as The Monuments Men (2014), with its irritatingly jaunty approach to the Second World War.
The characters are more convincing, the shots of the boat races expertly executed, and there is a clear sense of momentum in the narrative. An Alexandre Desplat score is closely fitted to task, although Chariots of Fire it ain’t.
Clooney has given us a reminder of all the reasons people once went to the cinema and suggests those preferences have been repressed but not abandoned. He’s given us a great, nostalgic wind-up toy of a film, which may not appeal to “sophisticated” tastes but has already exceeded box office expectations. As movies go, I can see plenty of reasons not to like it, but I liked it anyway.
The Boys in the Boat
- Directed by George Clooney
- Written by Mark Smith, after a book by Daniel James Brown
- Starring Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Hadley Robinson, Sam Strike, Peter Guinness, Jack Mulhern, Luke Slattery, Tom Varey, Wil Coban, Thomas Elms, Joel Phillimore, Bruce Herbelin-Earle
- USA, PG, 123 mins
Dominic Sessa, Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers. Universal
The Holdovers
If The Boys in the Boat stirs dim echoes of Chariots of Fire (1981), Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers may conjure up memories of Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society (1989). Like that earlier film, this one is set in a private boarding school for boys, but instead of Robin Williams infusing his charges with a love of poetry, we have Paul Giamatti teaching them to loathe Thucydides.
Williams scored an Academy Award nomination for best actor, and it would be surprising if Giamatti doesn’t follow in his footsteps, especially since he won a Golden Globe for the role this week. The history of the cinema is stuffed with inspirational teachers, from Mr Chips to Monsieur Lazhar, but there’s something even more compelling about the misanthropic, bitter and twisted teacher everyone despises.
The year is 1970, the place is Barton Academy in up-state Massachusetts – a fictional prep school cobbled together from parts of five real schools. It’s the beginning of the Christmas holidays, and the teachers are scouting around for someone to stay at school and look after the handful of boys who, for one reason or another, are not spending the yuletide with their families.
Inevitably the job gets foisted onto Paul Hunham (Giamatti), the Classics teacher. As Paul is a bachelor with nowhere to go and, apparently, no friends, he is the logical candidate. He accepts the responsibility with both stoicism and cynicism, having no desire to share the holiday with a group of Christmas rejects.
For the boys it’s even less fun. Paul is notorious for his acid tongue and his delight in failing the sons of tycoons and politicians. From a motley collection of five boys, most are given permission to go off on a ski trip. Now there is only one: willowy senior Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa), whose mother has left with her new partner for a holiday in St Kitts. At the last minute, Angus gets a phone call telling him he’s not invited because the lovebirds would like to spend some quality time together.
While the snow lies round about, the holiday becomes a battle of wills between Paul and Angus, overseen by the school cook Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), whose only son has just been killed in Vietnam. In watching the exchanges within this trio, we see a different, more sympathetic, side of Paul, who drops his armour when talking with Mary. As we piece together Angus’ story, we can see his intelligence, and his deep unhappiness.
In a film that manages to be touching and consistently funny, you won’t be surprised to learn that a rapport develops between existentially miserable Paul, who seeks solace in Jim Beam and Marcus Aurelius, and prickly, troublesome Angus. It becomes a quasi father-and-son relationship, with Mary in the occasional role of mother.
This conflicts with Paul’s habit of keeping everyone at a distance. A bad eye and a body odour condition he can’t control have convinced him he is nobody’s idea of an attractive companion. When the strange Miss Crane (Carrie Preston) bakes him a plate of cookies, he seems alarmed.
On an excursion into Boston, Paul and Angus will learn each other’s best-kept secrets, laying bare two life stories that have been kept heretofore under wraps. If Giamatti is reliably good in the role of Paul, Dominic Sessa, on debut, is a revelation. We can expect to be hearing more about him in years to come.
The ending, both melancholy and satisfying, might even be interpreted as happy. Like so many of Payne’s protagonists, Paul is a man who has spent his life as a permanent “holdover”, going through the same rituals and routines, feeling depressed, resigned, incapable of change.
The events of late 1970 force him to drop the mask of stoicism and embrace what his beloved Greeks called catharsis – a long-postponed emotional release from a stitched-up personality. It could only happen at Christmas.
The Holdovers
- Directed by Alexander Payne
- Written by David Hemingson
- Starring Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Brady Hepner, Carrie Preston, Naheem Garcia, Jim Kaplan, Ian Dolley, Michael Provost, Andrew Garman
- USA, M, 133 mins
Jordan Firstman‘s buzzy Cannes UCR title Club Kid has been the talk of the festival and market this past 24 hours.
Multiple suitors are in for the movie and what’s interesting is the size of those suitors. Multiple major studios have kicked the tyres on the project. Contrary to reports, the offers are already in the eight-figure range. They were there last night, we heard at the time.
Many have assumed this will be an A24 title come the final reckoning but there is strong competition for a movie one studio buyer just told me at an event is “the most commercial movie at the festival by far: it works on a number of different levels to different age groups”. Another festival regular I spoke to said they see it as an awards movie “for sure”. The domestic credentials are certainly strong. Some international buyers we’ve spoken to were a little cooler but ultimately who doesn’t want a heartfelt good-vibe movie.
UTA Independent Film Group is in the middle of the deal. Charades handles international.
Club Kid follows a washed-up party promoter who is forced to turn his life around when an unexpected visitor arrives. Reviews have been strong.
During the film’s seven-minute Cannes ovation yesterday, lead actress Cara Delevingne teared up. Firstman, who also wrote and stars, picked up costar Reggie Absolom (who plays the son of Firstman’s character in the film) and started a chant in his honor. It was a continuation of the hijinks the two got up to at the film’s photocall earlier in the day.
There are multiple projects in the market also drawing good offers. Things should become clearer in next 48 hours.
2.5/5
02 Hrs 30 Mins | Action Fantasy Comedy | 15-05-2026
Cast – Suriya, Trisha Krishnan, RJ Balaji, Indrans, Anagha Maaya Ravi, Natty Subramaniam, Swasika, Sshivada, Mansoor Ali Khan, Supreeth Reddy, George Maryan, Deepa Shankar, Namo Narayana and others
Director – RJ Balaji
Producer – S. R. Prabhu & S. R. Prakash Babu
Banner – Dream Warrior Pictures
Music – Sai Abhyankkar
It’s been a very long time since Suriya scored a unanimous theatrical hit. Soorarai Pottru and Jai Bhim were good films and received very good appreciation, but both skipped theatrical release and were released directly on Prime Video. Interestingly, the director, R. J. Balaji’s directorial debut, Mookuthi Amman, was also released directly on OTT. At a time when both of them need a theatrical hit, the hero and the director duo, teamed up for, Karuppu (Veerabhadrudu in Telugu ) a fantasy action drama film. The addition of Trisha, as female lead and Sai Abhyankkar, as music director, helped the film to generate good hype among fans and audience. After resolving the last-minute financial hurdles, the makers released the film today (i.e. a day later than the scheduled date). Did Suriya finally score a hit at the box office? Did R. J. Balaji utilise the opportunity to direct a star hero and deliver an engaging film? Did Sai Abhyankkar come up with chartbuster music yet again after, Dude? Let’s figure it out with a detailed analysis.
What is it about?
Baby Kannan(R. J. Balaji), a cunning and corrupt lawyer, runs a mafia and controls the Metropolitan Magistrate court in Chennai. He and his team intentionally extend the court hearings, to get fees from clients for a long time. They even turn judgments in their favour by bribing the Magistrate. What happens when a father(Indrans) and his daughter(Anagha Maaya Ravi), travel to Chennai from Kerala, with a bag full of gold? Why did the father carry a lot of gold in his bag? How did the deity(Suriya), Karuppuswamy, help the father and daughter, when they lost their gold? What challenges did the deity face while dealing with corrupt public officials? Forms the rest of the story.
Performances:
It’s good to see Suriya in an out-and-out commercial film after a long time. It looked like he thoroughly enjoyed playing the role of Karuppuswamy in the film. His screen presence and performance were top-notch as always. Trisha Krishnan in the role of Preethi, an honest and young lawyer did a good job with her performance. And yes, the age is catching up with her and it was very evident on screen.
Indrans and Anagha Maaya Ravi, in the roles of a helpless father and daughter, did an excellent job with their performance throughout the first half. The scenes on them in the first half are one of the major positives of the film. R. J. Balaji in the role of a corrupt lawyer did a good job with his performance but it would have been better if they had gone for an actor who has enough experience in doing antagonist roles. Interestingly, he had more slow-motion shots in the film than the hero, Suriya.
Natty Subramaniam in the role of Magistrate did well too. Especially, his performance was very good during his sequence in the film. The film had many notable actors and bearing one or two, most of them delivered good performances.
Technicalities:
Sai Abhyankkar’s work as a music director is a huge letdown. He failed to come out with good songs and apart from a couple of BGMs, his background score for the film was very loud, especially in the second half. G. K. Vishnu’s cinematography is good as always. Particularly during the fantasy episodes, the colour palettes and the frames he used, deserve appreciation. R. Kalaivanan’s editing was very tight and engaging in the first half but he should have done a better job in the second half. Production values by, Dream Warrior Pictures, were adequate. Let’s discuss the writer and director, R. J. Balaji’s work in detail in the analysis section.
Positives:
1. First Half
2. Suriya’s Screen Presence
Negatives:
1. Second Half
2. Loud Background Score
3. Over The Top Action Sequences
Analysis:
The directors, Shankar Shanmugam and Atlee in Tamil and Koratala Siva in Telugu, are a few of the directors in India, who are known for making socially relevant commercial entertainers, engagingly and entertainingly. These three directors along with a few other directors, made many commercially viable social drama films with different backdrops in the past. Just like the aforementioned dire tie, the director, R. J. Balaji, chose a socially relevant storyline and blended it well with socio-fantasy, with ‘God Vs Corrupt Public Official’, as a conflict point. Sounds existing, isn’t it? It indeed is exciting and up until the end of the first half, everything seemed to be working very well.
The emotional drama in the first half is the major highlight of the film. Unfortunately, after finishing the first half on a very good note, the director and his writing team, lost the track completely in the name of fan service and commercial mass moments. Right from the word go in the second half, everything appeared too loud and over the top.
It takes a good thirty to forty minutes for the protagonist to appear on screen but we as the audience never miss the protagonist during this period because of the gripping emotional drama. Right from the very first sequence, the director pulls us into getting connected with the father and daughter duo, their struggle and helplessness.
The director deserves appreciation for making the audience feel the pain of the father and daughter and we eagerly wait for someone to come and help them. And, when the protagonist, finally enters the screen and takes charge of the proceedings to help the father and daughter, every sequence was appreciated with loud cheers by the audience. The emotional drama, the initial conversation between God & the corrupt lawyer, the subsequent courtroom drama and the pre-interval sequence, made the first half end on a good note and raised the expectations further in the second half.
Unfortunately, for some reason, the director decided to take a different route in the second half and relied completely on mass commercial moments. It is where the film completely lost track. After letting God win, although on a sad note, at the end of the first half, the director seemed to have run out of ideas to come up with gripping drama further. Is it really possible for a corrupt human being to win against a powerful God? No way, right? The antagonist character appeared so small and insignificant in front of a ferocious God. It appeared like the director too is aware of it and included the dialogue – ‘Is it really required to use the powers of so many Gods’, just to stop a small-time corrupt lawyer’. That’s exactly what we as the audience feel while watching the second half. Since there’s no story or ideas to drive the film further, the director filled the second half of the film with commercial high moments one after the other. But, most of them appeared over the top, including the forced appearance of Suriya in his crowd favourite, Durai Singham getup. Another drawback of the film is that R. J. Balaji, took the role he played in the film too seriously and ended up giving a lot of screen space to his character with unnecessary slow-motion shots, punch dialogues, etc. It would have been better had he concentrated on writing, particularly in the second half.
Overall, interesting backdrop, socially relevant storyline and engaging emotional drama, in the first half worked out well but the film lost its track in the second half with a not-so-engaging screenplay and over the top action sequences. However, Karuppu, is a much better film among Suriya’s theatrical releases in the recent past. You may give it a try watching but keep your expectations low, particularly in the second half.
Bottomline – ‘God’s Magic’ Worked Partially
Rating – 2.5/5
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