We went and saw The Long Game today. It’s an adaptation of a true story about the golf team from San Felipe High School in Del Rio, Texas, set in the 1950s. I’ll keep spoilers out of it, but they’re a group of Mexican-American boys who all caddied at an upscale private country club in their community. They aspired to play golf themselves but weren’t allowed on the course except to caddie, so they built their own crude practice course in the middle of the South Texas desert. They’re brought together as a golf team under their coach (JB Peña), who has just taken a job as an Assistant Superintendent at the high school and is an avid golfer. He also aspires to membership at the (all-white) country club where the boys work, but is denied because of his ethnicity.

They face a lot of obstacles and discrimination in the golf world and the community as a whole as they strive for legitimacy and acceptance, and deal with their own individual struggles in handling and overcoming it. Cheech Marin plays “Pollo”, a longtime employee of the country club who shares his (often humorous) outlook and serves as kind of a mentor to both the youths and Peña. They’re also helped by Frank Mitchell (Dennis Quaid), a former PGA Tour player who is a member at the country club but sees potential in the youths, so he takes on the role of teaching them the game and uses his influence as a country club member to get them into golf tournaments.

It’s a great story with some unforeseen twists and turns, a good mix of humor and drama, and some very touching moments. It’s a golf movie, but one that non-golfers can enjoy equally (my non-golfing wife was actually the one who found it and wanted to go see it, and she enjoyed it a lot). If you’re looking for a movie to go see, it’s worth your time.

“I can’t do retakes in my life”

The intense emergence of films about films that has been happening the last few years in Asian cinema is probably one of the most exciting concepts to be taking place in the region’s cinema. Yandy Laurens tries his hand in the (sub) genre, through an approach that provides one of its apogees.

The film shows its colors (pun intended) from the introductory scene. A script writer, Bagus (who is played by Ringgo Agus Rahman) enters the office of his producer, Yoram, who, once more, wants him to adapt another successful TV drama to a movie. Bagus, however, has another concept in his mind, of a black-and-white rom-com which is based on his actual experience, after meeting Hana, his old high school flames, and pursues a romantic relationship with her, even though it has just been 4 months since her husband died. As soon as he mentions black-and-white, the frame and the color of the movie change to suit his words, and the narrative changes to his actual experiences. Since the producer agrees, though, the shooting of the film actually becomes part of the narrative, which has it moving within and outside the film creating various meta levels, in a way that can only be compared with “One Cut of the Dead”, although in completely different, rom-com prism this time.

Yandy Laurens shoots a very ambitious project, with the aforementioned, meta-layer approach being quite difficult to implement in theory, but he manages to pass the ‘test’ with flying colors. The way the story moves inside and outside the movie is impressive, while allowing him to make a number of quite realistic comments, both regarding the shooting of movies and how the industry works in Indonesia. Regarding the latter, the discussions with the producer are rather indicative. Bagus wants to make an artistic black-and-white rom-com following the 8 chapter “rule” of the genre (which he also actually does in the actual movie). Yoram, on the other hand, having commercial success in his mind, wants him either to adapt a TV drama, or if the script is original, to at least be a horror. Another solution comes from having big names in it, either in the director’s seat (with the name of Riri Riza coming up) or in the cast. Lastly, the final solution if nothing else works, is to make the movie fast with the least possible cost, in a comment that essentially applies to the whole independent movie industry.

Furthermore, that two of the protagonists in the movie, Cheline and Dion (you get it, right?), a married couple who are Bagus’s best friends, are the editor and the main actor of his movie, allows Laurens to present how films work, both during the shoot and around it. The appearance of Julie Estelle as essentially herself adds to both this element, and the meta one we described just before, with the same applying with Dion Wiyoko who plays Dion.

This whole aspect, however, finds its apogee in the ‘racing scene” where an impressive Sheila Dara Aisha as Cheline dictates how the movie should look in the scene, with what we are seeing on the screen actually following her words. The drone shot that moves around and back to the bike she along with Dion and Bagus are riding is probably the most impressive in the whole movie, as is actually the whole sequence, where, additionally, Dimas Bagus Triatma Yoga’s cinematography and Hendra Adhi Susanto’s editing find their zenith.

The presence of the also excellent Nirina Zubir as Hana, on the other hand, and her interactions with Bagus, allow for more character analysis and a series of social comments having to do with relationships, essentially adding yet another level to the movie. The concept of grief and the possibility of finding true love at a later age in life is the most obvious one, but Laurens also talks about how people can become rather self-centered with their feelings, ignoring those of others in the process. That the one in fault here is Bagus could be perceived as a comment regarding artists and how focused (in a negative way) can become with their art, with the way his interactions proceed with Hana essentially maturing him as the movie progresses. At the same time, the value of communication and being truthful is highlighted too, adding even more to the rather rich narrative here. Lastly, that cinema can imitate life, but it is not the same as living and experiencing it, emerges as one of the most smart and accurate remarks Laurens makes.

Check also this interview

Through the aforementioned, the performance by Ringgo Agus Rahman also emerges as excellent, with his interactions with the rest of the protagonists, showcasing, additionally, the outstanding chemistry between them.

The film can be a bit too dialogue-heavy on occasion, and would definitely benefit from a tighter ending, but these are just minor issues here, with “Falling in Love Like in Movies” emerging as a film that is rather smart and intelligent, rather fun, rather informative, and rather entertaining in equal measures.

No two people are the same, everyone has differences.  Physically families seem to show similarities but even they are not carbon copies of one another.  This is not only true for our physical appearance but also how we think and feel. We all have our own opinions and our views of the world at large are not completely alike.  Factors such as our upbringing, the part of the world we are from and those older individuals who help shape us, play into how we see everything and everyone around us.  For Rudy, this also includes his love of music.

Rudy (Rudy Mancuso; The Flash) sees the everyday world differently.  While other people may see two guys in the park playing basketball, Rudy experiences a drum rhythm keeping the beat as the ball bounces against the pavement.  Similarly, others would see a girl swinging back and forth on a swing set while Rudy hears the melody of a song as the swing squeaks with each rotation back and forth. For the musician in him, it opens his eyes and mind to songs that play incessantly in his head.  For the regular guy, it is often distracting and interferes with his daily life.

Rudy gets distracted while in class when talking to his girlfriend, Haley (Francesca Reale; Stranger Things), and even when he is having dinner at home with his mom. So when Haley dumps Rudy, the last thing Rudy needs is to meet someone new.  Enter Isabella (Camila Mendes; Riverdale)…the beautiful, intelligent, Brazilian, young woman working at the fish store.   Spending time with Isabella opens Rudy up in ways he never thought possible but when Haley wants him back he starts dating both ladies at the same time, and the results are disastrous. At the same time, these two women have just opened Rudy up creatively which helps him to expand his puppet show and become successful in the arts.

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Mancuso not only stars in the film but co-wrote and directed it as well.  As his feature film directorial debut, he does a very good job.  He exposes the audience to the world around him but shows it from a different perspective.  As demonstrated previously, the jackhammer breaking apart the street or the bus tires as they run over the rough and uneven streets all create a song in his head.  One only he can hear but one which he visually attempts to show us.

Mendes is a breath of fresh air in comparison to the “Gringa” Haley as Mancuso’s Mother, Maria (newcomer Maria Mancuso), likes to describe her.  She has an authenticity to her that helps the audience connect to her character.  Reale does a good job playing the rich, white girl who pretends to be sympathetic towards Rudy’s ethnicity but who simply doesn’t “get it”.  Mancuso’s mother playing his mother was a smart but risky choice.  She manages to pull it off though.  Rudy is a star and director of his own story and is the master both in front of and behind the camera.  It will be interesting to see if he could do as good a job as director with someone else’s work.

Música not only allows the audience to view the world from someone else’s eyes, but it also punctuates the idea that our surroundings and upbringing help us to meld into the person we ultimately become.  The writing, directing, soundtrack, cast, etc. pull the viewer in from almost the beginning and hold their attention for the hour-and-a-half run time.  With humor and heart, Mancuso adeptly brings the audience into his world and his mind and, not only leaves us wanting more but expands our horizons to attempt to get us to “think outside the box”.

Grade: A