Monthly Archives: March 2019

“Tyrel” Defines Black Man With White Men

Written and Directed by Sebastián Silva, Tyrel follows the solitary black man on a weekend birthday party of only men and heavy drinking. His name is Tyler, played by Jason Mitchell. He joins his friend, played by Christopher Abbott, on a trip to the Catskills with several people he doesn’t know, and they are all white men.

The handheld camera and sharp cuts by Alexis Zabé along with the editing by Sofía Subercaseaux and Jennifer Lame sustain the perilous tone.

Although Tyler welcomed, he can’t help but feel uneasy around a close-knit group of white guys. The combination of alpha male posturing include large quantities of alcohol starts to get out of hand, and Tyler’s precarious situation starts to feel like a nightmare.

The movie shot with a handheld style probing subtext and body language conjures an undeniable underlying tension of the American climate. The story evolved from Silva’s observation of racial tensions in a strictly male setting.

On a crisp snowy winter’s day, Tyler and his friend John, two young restaurateurs from New York City, push a car along a back road high in the Catskills Mountains. They’re on the way to a weekend getaway to celebrate the birthday of Pete, played by Caleb Landry Jones, one of John’s old friends, at a cabin in the woods.

Tyler needs the excursion, even though he will be among mostly strangers, because the home he shares with his Puerto Rican girlfriend, played by Ann Dowd, is packed with her visiting family, along with her ailing, elderly mother to whom she is devoted.

Having an empty gas tank is only the first in a series of discomforting moments Tyler encounters and causes over the next 48 hours. Right off the bat, one of his new acquaintances mishears his name as “Tyrel,” a subtle but significant alteration that both gives Sebastián Silva’s latest film its title and sets up a theme of racially-tinged, innuendos that leads the good-natured Tyler towards a shaky mental edge.

The Chilean Silva, who has lived in New York for the past 17 years, approaches the subject of race as an outsider to American culture, but an insightful writer of alienation. The story unfolds by capturing natural moments with the talented ensemble cast.

The cast, which includes Michael Cera, represents a range of electric and sometimes eccentric personalities, expands on a situation Silva initially observed while vacationing in Cuba with a friend of his. They came across a group of American tourists, drunk and in their mid-20s, and all but one of them white.

“It was probably my imagination, but the black guy seemed alienated. Alienation is a topic that interests me, and I saw it right there. And at that moment, this guy’s alienation was linked to the color of his skin. Racism feels like it’s always timely in America. It never ceases to be an issue, and that was part of it this moment. Something profound was happening there,” explains Silva.

Later, Silva’s friend went to his cabin in the Catskills to celebrate another friend’s birthday. “And they were all white, and one of them was black, but there was nothing awkward about their dynamic.  At the very end of their weekend, they took a selfie and the black dude was the one who took it. That selfie also inspired this film. The mixture of that moment with what we had witnessed and talked about in Cuba made a case for something compelling, so I explored it,” recalls Silva.

“I wanted Tyrel to be the movie that speaks for the middle-class black guy,” he says, “the black guy that wasn’t a thug. The black guy that’s like most of the black guys out there these days. There are a lot of black guys that are trying to be successful and do things in their lives, but they get in the situations that are awkward for them that they don’t know how to handle.”

Although the film deals with tension arising from racial difference, nothing about the story, or the characters, is purely black or white. Instead, the movie shows a lot of layers, so the story is not directly in the racial issue. “I’m not completely sure these guys mean to be cruel or to look down on Tyler. Black people have been put in such a generic box. So, Tyler’s not going to be a saint and he’s not going to be a victim. I don’t want to have clear victims or clear victimizers. I don’t want to have the bad guy and the good guy. I don’t want a conversation about taking sides. I want to make people think about what they witness. This movie will live in every American’s own set of prejudices and opinions. I want people to be somehow troubled by the conclusions they come to on their own,” reckons Silva.

The Quake Grabs On and Never Let’s Go

Directed by John Andres Anderson, The Quake begins in 1904 when an earthquake with a 5.4 magnitude on the Richter scale shook Oslo. Its epicenter located in the Oslo Rift runs directly through the Norwegian capital. Quakes from the rift happen daily. Geologists cannot be sure, but arguments indicate that we can expect major future earthquakes in this area. When the major earthquake happens, nobody can say for certain. The density of people and infrastructure in Oslo is significantly more vulnerable today than in 1904.

The impressive cast includes Kristoffer Joner,Ane Dahl Torp,Kathrine Thorborg Johansen,Jonas Hoff Oftebro, and Edith Haagenrud-Sande.

According to Anderson he realized the facts about the earthquake were true, “The notion of a Norwegian earthquake movie was immediately somewhat absurd. Norway is actually the most seismic active area in northern Europe. In 1904 there was a major earthquake hitting the Oslo-region. This type of incident will happen again. And no one can say when.”

In 2015, The Wave was proof of a Scandinavia film, even on a limited budget, gives Hollywood competition in that genre. “They’ve had a monopoly and been supreme on the so-called ‘High Concept’ movie,” explains Anderson. “And at the same time also add a bit of Scandinavian flair to it. Even in the most faithful genre film, one should never sacrifice character drama. And neither did we want to with The Quake.”

The Wave and The Quake are produced by the same production company lead by Martin Sundland.

Anderson talked more about the important of never sacrificing character for drama. He sees them as instrumental to whether we as audience observe the disaster – or actually experience it. “Because if you’re not experiencing it, it doesn’t matter how spectacular scenes we manage to create. While delivering edge-of-the-seat-thrills, the development of the characters and the ties between the members of our family is always at the core of The Quake.”

The movie follows Kristian, played by Kristoffer Joner, a struggling father, trying to come to grips with what he has been through before this film. His daughter Julia, played by Edith Haagenrud-Sande, is desperately seeking her father’s care and attention. The love of Kristian’s life is Idun, played by Ane Dahl Torp. And all of them their lives completely changed by what Anderson calls “this merciless, brute and blind force of Norwegian nature.”

The movie is as physical, character-driven spectacle just as Anderson intended. He puts the audience the heart of an Oslo being torn apart, feeling the impact of these forces on the family who are trying to keep it together. The movie takes you on a riveting ride – emotionally, visually and finally full-on thrilling action. .

The movie never lets up, and it is constant action, harrowing situations with all odds against them, yet they overcome the obstacles to, yet, face another dire circumstance. Keeping me on the edge of my seat through the movie is a fantastic and remarkable way to see a movie.

Joner looks familiar because he’s starred in The Revenant and Mission Impossible: Fall out.

Anderson’s first time as a director, he started as a camera assistant for cinematography legend Sven Nykvist. He worked as a Director of Photography for many years on notable Scandinavian films such as Department Q: Conspiracy of Faith and Buddy.

The movie is in Scandinavian with English subtitles.