ONCE UPON A TIME IN . . . HOLLYWOOD: a review by Gordon Stamper, Jr.

The newest film from Quentin Tarantino could be the closest to summer escapism that he has ever made. With humor, great acting chemistry, and an immersive late 60's experience, the Oscar winning writer/director may have provided non-fans a gateway into his cinematic world.

In 1969 Hollywood, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a fading Western star who is now a bad guy of the week on television series. His agent Marvin Schwarzs (Al Pacino) is encouraging Rick to try Spaghetti Westerns in order to get lead parts again. He explains to his client that currently Rick's roles are the punching bag for leading men. Waiting post-meeting for the emotionally devastated Rick is his former stuntman and longtime pal Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Cliff also patiently drives Rick around town and to his film shoots, because Rick has lost his license due to drunk driving.

Meanwhile, the movie also follows the free-wheeling Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her lifestyle of fun in the months before the infamous night on Cielo Drive and falling victim to the Manson family. She is played by Robbie as a young princess just starting to enjoy her success. A scene, where Sharon asks if she can get a free theater ticket for a movie she's in, particularly reflects her innocent and kind nature.

If you think any of this will play out as a historically accurate period picture, forget it since Tarantino is the storyteller. Action is played out in a generally chronological but rambling style, split into vignettes of following Rick, Cliff, and Sharon (who with Roman Polanski is Rick's next door neighbor) in their daily and nightly pursuits. And unknown to Cliff, worlds start coming together when he picks up the flirtatious hitchhiker Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) and drives her to a ranch where Cliff did several stints of movie work. It happens to be where the Manson Family is crashing. This leads to one of the most suspenseful set pieces in the movie, a quintessential mix of humor and tension in the Tarantino style.

All of the writer/director's work has comedy laced in the oddest and sickest moments, but much of this film's humor is in great chemistry and dialogue exchanges. DiCaprio and Pitt have great buddy rapport, with Leo comically playing the diva behind the tough guy roles, and Pitt in stoic and quiet mode, with a violent temper ready to boil over in times that call for action. Or not, as Cliff picks a fight with a martial arts on the set of a stunt job, who happens to be Bruce Lee (Mike Moh). Perhaps the funniest exchanges are on the set of a new Western with an already jaded child star (Julia Butters) who comforts a crying Rick over a book he's reading, and the slick action star James Stacy (Timothy Olyphant), who is putting up with drunk Rick's line flubbing.

Music is used more as a tool for period immersion than irony, with The Mamas and the Papas, Neil Diamond, and the Rolling Stones among the multitude of music artists jammed into the two hour and forty one minute running time. Master cinematographer Robert Richardson adds brilliant scenes of following period cars racing down the freeway with the radio cranked up high, recreating the look of late 60's television series, and tracking shots of horseback riding in the canyon that may lead to a deadly encounter between Manson family members and Cliff.

Once Upon a Time in . . . Hollywood still has some flashes of graphic violence near its conclusion, but the predominant mood is capturing and celebrating an entertainment era that has long disappeared. Tarantino wisely chose to not depend on gore (again, with the exception of the penultimate set piece), and instead made the decision to like his main characters and give them funny and incisive things to say. It's his most humane film since Jackie Brown, and it's a needed adult summer entertainment that holds up with the director's best.

Rating: **** out of ****.

Sony/Columbia Pictures presents Once Upon a Time in . . . Hollywood.  Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning, Timothy Olyphant, and Luke Perry. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Now playing in theaters. Rated "R" for pervasive profanity and a scene of extreme violence.

BOOK REVIEW: THE PORPOISE BY MARK HADDON

Being the author of one of my favorite 21st century books, The Curious Case of the Dog in the Nighttime, I had high expectations for Mark Haddon's latest novel, The Porpoise. It is an ambitious and troubling novel that achieves its goals, but it takes some commitment from its readers to get to the story's ultimate payoff.

The Porpoise begins with tragic momentum as the young and pregnant Swedish wife of ultra-rich Philippe dies in a plane crash, but her unborn child is saved. Torn with grief, at first Philippe doesn't even want to acknowledge he has a baby daughter, but Philippe is filled with paternal love when he holds Angelica in the hospital nursery for the first time. Unfortunately, as she grows older, Angelica also fills the role of wife and lover for her father. In her teen years, rakish art dealer Darius visits Philippe's mansion for a business deal, and quickly senses the abusive and unnatural relationship between the two. Later in the night, the novel's potential hero sneaks back to the palatial grounds for an attempted rescue of Angelica, and nearly dies for his efforts. Defeated, Darius escapes to a sailboat with the aid of his friends, setting out to sea while delirious with pain. The hallucinations begin and the novel continues.

The preceding action happens in the first sixty pages of a 294 page novel. From here, the review has some necessary spoilers--proceed with caution or please skip to the last paragraph and the star rating. What follows could either be a deal-breaker for readers, or rewarding allegorical fiction for the Me Too era. Traditional narrative ends and the novel develops into a retelling of the Greek legend of Antiochus and Shakespeare's Pericles. We follow Pericles on his heroic and tragic life journeys, along with his relationships with family and women. Alternating with this storyline are 1) a George Saunders-like tale of the spirit of Will Shakespeare leading his former acquaintance George, a failed playwright and semi-successful manager of a house of ill repute, into the afterlife; and 2) the continued plot of Angelica deteriorating mentally and physically in her mansion prison.

Perhaps the novel's biggest flaw is a disorienting and even awkward transition from action and chase scenes to a literary rumination on women's abilities and opportunities to empower their lives in times of adversity. It could be argued that this represents Darius' state of mind, but it does break narrative momentum and readers have to set their bearings. Once Haddon seems to find his evolving narrative stride, he skillfully builds momentum despite juggling three story elements.  All end with differing but generally satisfying conclusions, especially moving in the cases of Pericles' tale and Angelica.

Don't expect an easy summer read from Mark Haddon's new work. Instead, if you are willing to dive into close reading and a nautical journey of identity and women finding their abilities in challenging times, you'll find rewards sailing on The Porpoise.

Rating: *** out of ****.

The Porpoise by Mark Haddon. Published by Doubleday. Available in print and e-book formats.

VIOLET EVERGARDEN--a series review by Gordon Stamper, Jr.

With the tragic arson at Kyoto Animation Studios, I thought it appropriate to review one of its anime series commissioned for Netflix, Violet Evergarden. It is a post-wartime drama in a mythical, European-type land, but has surprising intervals of action, grace, and profundity in what could have been a melodramatic genre exercise. I came to love its characters and the nimble balance between violence and pastoral imagery.

Violet is an orphan and disabled veteran who was a warrior prodigy during the war. She is struggling to find her purpose and is placed as an "Auto Memories Doll." Thinking she might gain a greater understanding of human emotions and what it means to love, Violet throws herself into letter writing work under the tutelage of former officer and Auto Memories owner Colonel Hodgins and understanding veteran Auto Memories Dolls--understanding because Violet acts like a human robot. Dictation and typing speed are a strength, but when it comes to taking the emotional temperature of her correspondence clients, Violet still has a steely cold military mindset.

During the fourteen episode season, her growth can be excruciatingly slow at times, but we the viewers have flashbacks to the gory business of war and fleeting tender moments with her mentor Major Gilbert. Gilbert may be the only person who saw Violet as more than a killing machine, despite the fact that he also trained her. His brother Dietfried offers reparations to Violet's victims and follows her, cynical of her chances of being anything but who he thinks is a deformed killer. 

While the series follows some tropes of anime, such as some of the buxom ladies of Auto Memories, the story takes its time to unfold and the results are like watching a visual tone poem. Some of the greatest animation ever on television punctuate a moving journey. The grass waves in the wind, Violet's dresses flow in sun and shadow, and the war scenes are appropriately grisly in contrast to all the visual beauty of the postwar world. Vocal work and dubbing are superb.

Violet Evergarden is a moving reflection on living and the need to cherish friends and family. Early origin sequences are worth the long game payoff in later episodes. And be warned that Episode 10, "Loved Ones Will Always Watch Over You," will send even the most jaded for the tissue box with its universal reflections on love and death. It's an overall masterwork of the genre and one of the best adult anime series to ever reach America. Stay strong, Kyoto, and we hope to see a triumphant promised second season from the ashes of tragedy.

Rating: **** of **** (for full season). Recommended for viewers 12 and older (TV-14 material). Currently on Netflix and video.

THE RACIST AND EXISTENTIAL THREAT THAT IS TRUMP

President Trump at recent Social Media Summit (photo: CNN.com)

I preface this post with President Donald Trump's own words on Twitter Sunday morning, July 14 (which he or his staffers have recently taken down from the @realDonaldTrump account):

So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......

...and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....

....it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!

Before dealing with the most obvious issue, let's consider the continued Birther mentality of our current President. Because these are women of color, Trump wants to plant the assumption into non-critical thinkers' and supporters' heads that this automatically disqualifies them from being genuine American citizens. Three of the four freshman Democratic Congresswomen under consideration were born in the United States, and the fourth,  Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, is a naturalized U.S. citizen. The tweets just fall apart under the scrutiny of logic.

However, logic has nothing to do with these tweets and everything to do with racist tropes. It is the old "go back where you came from" whenever a white person encounters someone considered The Other. They are inferior in Trump's eyes due to race even more than their political stances.

The existential threat posed by these tweets--as well as from many other Trump actions, such as challenging Supreme Court rulings that don't go his way and refusing any subpoena authority from Congress--is that they challenge the foundations of our form of government. These women are duly elected Representatives of the citizens of their districts. They have a right to their positions and to express them. If their constituents vote them out for those stances in two years, so be it. This is the American republic on which we stand.

But along with the regular dog whistling of racism, Trump is trying to negate contributions from another branch of government that doesn't bow to his attempted authoritarian-style administration.

This is where you come in, citizen. If our Congress does not move to impeach President Trump for his misconduct in office or highly suspicious attempts at obstruction during the FBI and Mueller investigations, or handling of the Departments of Justice and Treasury as his personal lawyers and accountants, we have the right and responsibility to vote this man out in 2020. Even though he may not respect this result and the peaceful transfer of power may end (depending on the reaction of his supporters), we have to maintain our form of government, which until recently was the best form of government humanly available.

I close with the words of John from the New Testament, which some Christians have seemed to forget with their recent vehement defenses of Trump's promotion of division and fear. "There is no fear in love, for perfect love casteth out all fear. He that feareth is not made perfect in love" (I John 4:18, KJV). Let's unify to support the diversity and form of government that makes our country distinctive and great, and cast the current fear monger out.

MIDSOMMAR: a movie review by Gordon Stamper, Jr.

Ari Aster mortified audiences and satisfied old school supernatural horror fans with his first feature Hereditary. With the new film Midsommar, Aster expands to European traditions and folk tales, balancing commentary on relationships and human nature in general with horror-fantasy.

Dani (a sensational Florence Pugh) is an emotionally and mentally distraught woman who has just faced a horrific life event. Unfortunately, her longtime boyfriend Christian (a comically nasty Jack Reynor) is a self-centered soul who looks at the situation as an inconvenience he has to bear. Christian wanted to break up with Dani and spend the summer partying with his grad student broskis.

Eventually, his friends have to accept that she's coming with them on what ostensibly is an anthropological and social studies trip to a remote Swedish community by the "scholars" (including Josh (William Jackson Harper), who is actually trying to get thesis work done). However, for rude American tourist bros like Mark (Will Poulter), it's a Burning Man-like opportunity to get high and get laid. Their admission ticket is Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), a graduate student who is a community native and has a deep interest in Dani.

Once the group arrives at the pagan community, the mechanizations of ritual and the horror ride begin both for characters and audience members. Aster featured family dissolution and loss of loved ones as prominent plot points in Hereditary. In his second outing, he's much more ambitious, including academic honesty, commitment in relationships, elder care, and societal norms in its wide scope. All is presented with choreographed flair by cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski, from hallucinations and floral-colored dances around the Maypole to the ritualized violence and bizarre sexual practices of the final third. It's an achievement in general by director and crew to generate so much dread in the bright light of the midnight sun.

Midsommar is a non-franchise, challenging experience that also delivers haunting imagery and multiple scenes of terror. With his continuing development as a filmmaker, Ari Aster may join Jordan Peele as a new brand name for quality in suspense/horror. Weaker hearts and stomachs beware, but those willing to endure a long and wild ride will be richly rewarded.

Rating: **** of ****.

Midsommar. An A24 release. Length: 140 minutes. Written and directed by Ari Aster. Cinematography by Pawel Pogorzelski. Starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Will Poulter, William Jackson Harper, and Vilhelm Blomgren. Rated "R" for grizzly violence, graphic nudity and sexual situations, and profanity.