854 Contributions by: Isabella Endrinal (Page 40)

Staff & contributors

Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She’s now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She’s currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn’t coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.

The death of the matriarch is, of course, sad, but the countryside wake of May Fools seems to be the opposite at first. Just before the heat of summer, the family reunion seems quaint, idyllic, and occasionally eccentric with Milou’s penchant for beekeeping and crayfish catching. The inevitable family squabble over the estate also gets humorous, and this all seems unimportant to the larger May 68 protests that threatened to escalate into civil war. But director Louis Malle finds the small personal changes of Milou’s family and presents them, not as more or less important, but genuine all the same, finding the humanity within each of these characters.

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Actor: Bruno Carette, Dominique Blanc, Étienne Draber, François Berléand, Harriet Walter, Hubert Saint-Macary, Jacqueline Staup, Jeanne Herry, Martine Gautier, Michel Duchaussoy, Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou, Paulette Dubost, Rozenne Le Tallec, Valérie Lemercier

Director: Louis Malle

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While cable television didn’t have the same prestige as movies for decades, nevertheless the format garnered some influence, even then, with generations of viewers and filmmakers growing up in the medium. Dark Shadows is one such influential television show, and its journey from middling soap opera to groundbreaking drama is depicted in Master of Dark Shadows. Viewers totally unfamiliar with the 60s-70s program might only appreciate the film for its slice of media history, as the documentary takes a rather ordinary, interview-focused approach, but Master of Dark Shadows is clearly a tribute to Dan Curtis, the man behind the midday monsters, and the legions of fans it inadvertently garnered.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Alan Ball, Barbara Steele, Ben Cross, David Bushman, David Selby, Ian McShane, John Karlen, Joseph Caldwell, Lara Parker, Michael Brockman, Nancy Barrett, Roger Davis

Director: David Gregory

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Loosely based on the 1909 novel, Martin Eden is a stunning film about the hollow success of individualism. The plot points remain the same: Eden, a self-taught sailor, wants to win the heart of the wealthy Elena Orsini. To do this, he strives to break into the upper class with his writing. However, in this film, writer-director Pietro Marcello adds another dimension to the anti-individualist story: he transports Eden from his original California setting to Naples—allowing for views of different cultures, languages, and classes. By intercutting between old film stock and lingering close-ups, Marcello draws from his documentary background to masterfully evokes the process of remembering. And in refusing to define the time period, Marcello recognizes that Eden's struggle is still ongoing today—and that his success is still hollow.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Aniello Arena, Anna Patierno, Autilia Ranieri, Carlo Cecchi, Carmen Pommella, Chiara Francini, Denise Sardisco, Edoardo Sorgente, Elisabetta Valgoi, Franco Pinelli, Gaetano Bruno, Giustiniano Alpi, Jessica Cressy, Lana Vlady, Luca Marinelli, Marco Leonardi, Maurizio Donadoni, Pietro Ragusa, Rinat Khismatouline, Sergio Longobardi, Vincenza Modica, Vincenzo Nemolato

Director: Pietro Marcello

Rating: TV-PG

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While better known for Pride & Prejudice, Emma, and Sense & Sensibility, Jane Austen wrote Mansfield Park, a novel that garnered differing critical interpretations, but still intrigued readers even today. The 1999 film adaptation does capture some of the original novel’s ideas, such as Fanny’s modesty, the Cinderella-like submissiveness as means for survival, and the quiet strength to remain as herself, but it also expands on certain elements that were mostly only alluded to in the original, such as the elements pulled from Jane Austen’s actual life and her own sympathies for anti-slavery. While the film isn’t fully faithful to the original novel and should be considered its own, Mansfield Park does retain some of the essentials that makes it distinctly Austen.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Alessandro Nivola, Amelia Warner, Anna Popplewell, Bruce Byron, Charles Edwards, Danny Worters, Elizabeth Earl, Embeth Davidtz, Frances O'Connor, Gordon Reid, Hannah Taylor-Gordon, Harold Pinter, Hilton McRae, Hugh Bonneville, James Purefoy, Jonny Lee Miller, Justine Waddell, Lindsay Duncan, Philip Sarson, Sheila Gish, Sophia Myles, Victoria Hamilton

Director: Patricia Rozema

Rating: PG-13

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Sincere and direct, Ana Rocha de Sousa’s debut feature is a tragic portrayal of an immigrant family in the United Kingdom. Known best abroad for her role in Love Actually, Lúcia Moniz shines as devoted mother Bela, who, along with Jota (Ruben Garcia) struggles to keep their family together. The couple and their three children, including the deaf middle child Lu (Sophia Myles), come under the scrutiny of social services, especially after the unexplained bruises. While at times heavy-handed, the film raises important questions on family separation and social services, especially with their limitations with children with disabilities.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Aaron Brookner, Ângela Pinto, António Capelo, Brian Bovell, Holly Horne, Jay Lycurgo, Jon Rumney, Kiran Sonia Sawar, Lúcia Moniz, Maisie Sly, Ruben Garcia, Sian Abrahams, Sophia Myles, Susanna Cappellaro

Director: Ana Rocha de Sousa

Rating: Not Rated

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Women are rarely depicted in prison for a serious drama– usually, it mostly happens in exploitation films. So when Lion’s Den was released in Cannes, it’s no wonder that it garnered attention, even to the point of being submitted as Argentina’s entry for the Oscars. It’s really mostly a realistic depiction of how an incarcerated mother raised her child, as per Argentine law, they remain together for only four years. However, it’s because of sticking to that fact that the law ends up becoming a time limit that helps drive the story forward. It’s a simple approach, but writer-director Pablo Trapero sticks to this straightforward style, and it ultimately works because of Martina Gusmán’s star-making performance. It’s tough to watch, with the assault, strip searches, and riots, but Leonera is a much more empathetic depiction that’s sadly rare to see.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Elli Medeiros, Laura García, Martina Gusmán, Rodrigo Santoro, Tomás Plotinsky

Director: Pablo Trapero

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When thinking about buying something, it’s easy to only think about price and quality, but with many investigations around the world about inhumane labor practices, it’s no wonder that more people would like to look at the companies they’re buying from, or at least buy secondhand when possible. One such investigation is depicted in Letter from Masanjia. While it starts first at the discovery of the letter in Oregon, the true story continues on the other side of the world, through the difficult experiences Sun Yi and his fellow detainees were forced to go through when the Falun Gong movement grew greater in number than the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a harrowing tale, with certain sequences being animated due to a natural lack of footage, and it’s one that needed to be made.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Fu Ning, Julie Keith, Sun Yi

Director: Leon Lee

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Adults and kids can be friends, but there’s obviously a line that shouldn’t be crossed. This line is why most people would look at a friendship like this and automatically assume terrible things, but Lawn Dogs depicts one such connection in such a way that it’s clear how easy and disproportionate these assumptions are made for marginalized and less powerful people, over the affluent sociopaths that can and have gotten away with the accusations they lobby against others. The fairy tale ending, and of course, the disgusting behavior done by the rich guys, might turn some viewers off from the movie, but there’s also something genuine with the way screenwriter Naomi Wallace depicts a girl with a literally different heart who just wants to befriend someone real.

Genre: Drama

Actor: Angie Harmon, Beth Grant, Bruce McGill, Christopher McDonald, David Barry Gray, Eric Mabius, Kathleen Quinlan, Miles Meehan, Mischa Barton, Sam Rockwell, Tom Aldredge

Director: John Duigan

Rating: R

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At first, the Last Call for Istanbul feels like one of those serendipitous travel romances reminiscent of Before Sunrise. As Serin and Mehmet enjoy New York at night, it’s absolutely enchanting, especially with the unique, striking mirrored transitions that shift between the two as they get ready, but this nighttime stroll has already been walked on before, complete with droll dialogue and impulsive choices. However, the film makes a shift to its second half, and it suddenly reconfigures what we know about the two and their romance. While it does employ other familiar romance tropes, it’s still an intriguing shift that explores the concept of possibilities, and the cost in choosing one over the others.

Genre: Drama, Romance

Actor: Beren Saat, Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, Michael Loayza, Senan Kara, Susan Slatin, Zihan Zhao

Director: Gönenç Uyanık

Rating: R

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Sometimes, especially when you’ve gone without it for so long, you would do anything for a shred of respect. LaRoy, Texas depicts exactly that, with a store owner Ray being so unwilling to stand up for himself that his wife cheats on him with his brother, who steals from the family business. It's a terrible situation to be in, of course, but it's played out in a dry, comedic way, as detective-wannabe Skip pokes on the wound when trying his best to solve the case, and as each surprise reveals how terribly incompetent the small town deals with things. While it doesn't quite compare to the neo-Westerns of Coen brothers it’s inspired by, LaRoy, Texas is both fun and tragic, and a promising debut for writer-director Shane Atkinson.

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Thriller

Actor: A.J. Buckley, Alex Knight, Bob Clendenin, Brad Leland, Brannon Cross, Darcy Shean, Dylan Baker, Emily Pendergast, Galadriel Stineman, Ian A. Hudson, John Magaro, Matthew Del Negro, Megan Stevenson, Mimi Fletcher, Rio Alexander, Steve Zahn, Teagan Ireland, Vic Browder

Director: Shane Atkinson

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