The movie follows a fifteen-year-old French girl, played by Jane March. She returns to Saigon in 1930, where she attends an all-girls boarding school. On her way, a handsome and wealthy Chinese man, played by Tony Leung Ka Kai, of a respectable family, offers her a lift in his shiny black limo.
A passionate affair begins against her family’s disgust. The man becomes alienated from his family because they have selected his bride already. Against the conventions of society, the lustful pair continue their passionate affair, intensifying the attraction with the illicit nature of their rendezvous.
It starts with groping in the limo’s backseat and grows to nightly undertakings at his bachelor pad. Interestingly, the names of the young girl and wealthy man are never said. Slowly and eventually, their relationship disintegrates, and the man slides down into an opium-induced haze and unreturned love.
Many tastefully lit sex scenes allow little room for imagination, including Annaud’s skilled camera work, lingering delicately on the flesh. The paedophiliac situation sidesteps the moral nuances while using sensitivity. Today, the industry may frown even more profound on the issue.
March, a newcomer at the filming, comes across as photogenic and sultry. The character seems detached but amused.
Annaud’s brilliant direction takes in the vibrant scenery to divert from the senseless and gratuitous romantic scenes.
The release includes special features: Special collector’s media book packaging, Two-disc set, Original trailer.
Thank you, Empire, for more information about the production.
Respect is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.
“Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you’re doing. If you’re not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it.” — Aretha Franklin
Vocal powerhouse and Oscar and Grammy awards winner Jennifer Hudson stars as legendary singer Aretha Franklin in a true story about the “Queen of Soul.” Respect focuses on Franklin’s formative years, in which director Liesl Tommy says that it “contained things the general public doesn’t know about her.”
Watching her journey to become the brilliant musician with Franklin’s original songs, sung by Hudson, was profound to witness. From the beginning, we see a young woman with the most incredible voice in the world. But something was amiss. She needed to find her own voice.
In the film’s production notes, Tommy stated he felt strongly about “showing a meaningful experience of a young Black girl’s childhood.”
I found it interesting that Franklin came from a wealthy family, dominating the film primarily through her father and sisters.
Tommy related to that aspect of Franklin’s life, “As a little girl myself who grew up listening to people talk around the dinner table about fighting for freedom for themselves and for future generations, I know firsthand that it affects your life forever. It’s who you are. Aretha understood that, and it’s what made her art activism. When you talk about the “Queen of Soul,” her church was her activism.”
The movie reminds us of listening to Aretha Franklin. The emotion she sang with and deep feelings she conveyed — she spoke to us. Tommy describes it well, “Millions of people have a beautiful voice, but she channeled her emotions into her music in a way that no one else could.”
R_07374_RC Actor Jennifer Hudson and director Liesl Tommy on the set of RESPECT A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert
The movie tells us who she was and her history of protest music. We see Franklin heal herself through her music. You can feel the depth of who she was as a being, though there is complexity and depth based on her relationships.
As we all know, Aretha Franklin’s voice is the best, most powerful, and culturally significant voice of all time. In the movie, we hear hit songs: “Respect,” “Natural Woman,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” and “Think,” to name a few. They are classics that defined the resistance and resilience of Black people during the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Power Movement, and the Women’s Movement — and still resonate today at the moment in time where the world is in crisis and need of soulfulness.
The movie shows Franklin being a child music prodigy who grew up with great privilege in a household in Detroit that understood the importance of social protest, racial justice, and community organizing centered squarely in the foundation of the Black church — faith, service, and self-actualization. Respect shows us Franklin’s challenge in navigating and overcoming grief that would become the artistic inspiration. In return, she created musical masterpieces that saved lives and moved culture.
Respect establishes that she was a musical genius when she was a child. You discover she had all those albums that did not become hits at Columbia Records. The movie begins at the church and ends in the church with the journey in between. Tommy tells the story of a woman with the most incredible voice in the world but still doesn’t know what her voice is. “And that was the story that I felt like I wanted to tell, and that was what ended up being the center of the film, the spine of the film.”
Jennifer Hudson stars as Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige as Dinah Washington in RESPECT A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert
Jennifer Hudson’s portrayal of Aretha Franklin is believable. She sings the icon’s songs herself, which is fantastic but not surprising. Hudson has a powerful voice. But she is not Franklin. She is a depiction of her.
Interestingly, Hudson was Franklin’s opening act one time. “After American Idol, Aretha Franklin was doing a show in Maryville, Indiana, and I wanted to open for her. Everyone knew she did not allow singers to open for her instead of starting her shows with a comedian. And, then, she approved of me to open for her. So, that was a dream, as are the many moments I shared with her.”
Marlon Wayans stars as Ted White and Jennifer Hudson as Aretha Franklin in RESPECT A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film Photo credit: Quantrell D. Colbert
Nabbing that gig as an opening act, as Hudson says, “I find especially now; she has been a huge guide for the structure and spirit of my career.”
Franklin’s niece, Sabrina Garrett Owens, was very close to her Auntie Aretha. And very proud to see Jennifer Hudson take on the role of her aunt. “A lot of it has to do with the similarities between the two [Aretha and Jennifer]. They both grew up in church. They both had that gospel sound to their voices. Jennifer has a wide range, the same as Aretha did. I see a lot of similarities in their style.”
The story begins with her childhood, her father, played brilliantly by Forest Whitaker. Affected by his wife’s death, he anoints Franklin at a young age to be a gospel star and be different and better than the rest.
Knowing that the movie producers, Scott Bernstein and Harvey Mason, Jr. talked with Aretha Franklin on the phone about her story, so she could gauge it as her legacy is astonishing. “So, we knew we were going to end at the ‘Amazing Grace’ live album recording. The spine of the story would be a movie about a father and daughter relationship. And, that gave us a focus to tell the period of her rise, and the origin story of her becoming the ‘Queen of Soul.”’
Written for the screen by Tracey Scott Wilson, the story captures that significant time in Franklin’s life, the sixties and seventies, establishing her relationship with her father, and she meets her first husband. Then, she broke up with her father, her church and had to find her own faith.
She meets Ted White, played by Marlon Wayans. They marry. He manages her career during the early days of her Atlantic Records. “She went from singing standards to, you know, gospel to, okay, let’s go take you into becoming the R&B queen or just the queen period, Aretha Franklin,” according to Wayans. “So he changed the way she dressed and changed her, changed the venues she was playing and changed the record company. He was a catalyst in Aretha’s life.”
Jennifer Hudson shares a different perspective. “The biggest impact on Aretha’s life was her father. I think he is what pushed her towards her legacy and helped her own her gift. There have been times when she didn’t necessarily feel like singing, but it was a calling. He reminded her of that often, and I think that she became like the symbolic first lady of the church in a way. It helped lead Aretha to her ministry and music, one reason why she became so experienced and impactful at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.”
The rest of the talented cast includes Audra McDonald, Marc Maron, Tituss Burgess and Mary J. Blige.
Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Features:
The Making of Respect: Explore the unique telling of this Aretha Franklin story, what the project meant to all involved and how music played a pivotal role in crafting this film.
Becoming Aretha: Take a behind-the-scenes look at Jennifer Hudson’s incredible transformation into the “Queen of Soul” including her commitment to the character, her connection with the late singer, and why inhabiting the legendary artist felt more like destiny than anything else.
Capturing a Legacy: A celebration of director Liesl Tommy’s artistry and professionalism as the cast and crew express their appreciation and admiration for her and her process.
From Muscle Shoals: Sit down with the cast, crew and some of the original musicians that recorded with Aretha at Muscle Shoals to learn about this crucial time period in Aretha’s life and how it helped propel her evolution.
Exploring the Design of Respect: Production designer Ina Mayhew and costume designer Clint Ramos discuss the research they conducted in order to create the beautiful sets in the film as well as the various custom-made wardrobes that span three decades of style.
Written, directed, and co-produced Janice Engel, the documentary Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins tells the story of media firebrand Molly Ivins. A tall woman of six feet and full of Texas trouble, which took on the Good Old Boy corruption wherever she found it.
Director Janice Engel
Her razor-sharp wit left both sides of the aisle laughing, and craving ink in her columns. She knew the Bill of Rights was in peril and said: “Polarizing people is a good way to win an election and a good way to wreck a country.” Molly’s words have proved prescient. Now it’s up to us to raise hell. In her home state, the 2019 SXSW Festival awarded the documentary “Audience Award Winner.”
Engel first heard about Ivins over six years ago, “My soon-to-be producing partner, James Egan, told me to go see this one-woman play Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins starring Kathleen Turner. So, I did, the last week it was running in LA. I was knocked out by who Molly Ivins was, how she spoke and who she so brilliantly skewered. Both James and I could not believe there had never been anything done on Molly Ivins, so we jumped in full throttle, and here we are six-plus years later.”
Molly Ivins
A well-formulated documentary offers a view of a strong woman in a man’s world. She worked hard and bit hard at what she thought was unfair. Engel explains how she came to know this remarkable woman, “I also discovered on a much more personal level that both Molly and I shared a similar trajectory: a deep distrust of patriarchal authority and a need to stand up for the underdog. Her politics are my politics, and as her pal, Kaye Northcott so aptly says, ‘Molly hated anyone who would basically kick a cripple.’ Me too! Her rallying cry to ‘Raise Hell, that… this our deal, this is our country …that those people up in your state capitols, up in Washington, they’re just the people we’ve hired to drive the bus for a while,’ resonates deeply. She said, ‘If you don’t vote, you can’t bitch, that’s in article 27…’ Ya think! That alone cemented our kinship and my overwhelming passion to share her story.”
The movie tells the story of a woman who changed through decades of working as a journalist – not only physically but spiritually. She worked hard, laughed hard, but I could tell her passion or mission in life had taken its toll. But still, her message resonates with me. We need to vote and hold our position in what we believe. As Engle stated, “I am grateful to be able to share Molly Ivins with her ‘beloveds’ but even more important, introducing to a hungry public who needs her humor, brilliance, and prescience. Molly Ivins challenges all of us to take personal responsibility for political and social issues that impact our lives. RAISE HELL: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins is a lightning rod to get involved in grassroots projects, local and national politics, and voter registration. If we want change, it starts with us.”
I couldn’t agree more. I highly recommend you see this movie about a strong, smart, and fascinating woman, who communicated what we all think about politics. Though I can’t entirely agree with all of her philosophy, I do agree with her passion.
“As we continue her fight, let’s all remember her understanding of what works against the Powers-That-Be,” states Engle.
“The best way to get the sons of bitches is to make people laugh at them.” – Molly Ivins
Written and directed by Aleksey Kozlov, Battle of Leningrad involves World War II’s Siege of Leningrad – in which Nazi Germany blockaded the major Soviet city for 28 months. The situation ranks as perhaps the single most brutal and devastating military campaign in modern history.
Now, the story of horrifying siege told through the lives of people caught in the middle of it in Battle of Leningrad. Produced in Russia, the story began in September 1941. On the Eastern Front of World War II, Kostya, played by Andrey Mironov-Udalov and his fellow Russian cadets tasked with evacuating thousands of civilians out of war-torn Leningrad. The purpose is safety aboard Barge 752.
While Kostya’s commander initially worries that the barge may be too outdated to sail across Lake Ladoga safely, the evacuation completed. Even Kostya finds time to smuggle his fiancé, Nastya, played by Maria Melnikova, aboard the bare to join him on the journey. But tragedy quickly finds them, and the story is about survival.
An unrelenting storm strikes that evening, and Barge 752 begins to break down and leak, threatening to sink. Kostya, Nastya, and the rest of the ship’s occupants are hopeful for rescue the next morning. They find themselves in even greater danger when the first responders are not what they hope them to be — planes to rescue them, but enemy aircraft, geared up for attack.
The film is epic on a grand scale while allowing enough focus intimately on the unique individuals caught up in an enormous tragedy. Kozlov’s movie is similar to Dunkirk, Saving Private Ryan, Stalingrad, and Titanic.
The movie is full of rage with intense circumstances on board the barge with the impending attack plays with remarkable clarity.
The battle scenes are energetic and penetrating along with a dramatic storyline about a time in history that continues to interest storytellers like Kozlov.
Mironov-Udalov and Melnikova bring honesty to their relationship and circumstances. It is through their eyes we experience the horrors of WW II in Russia.
Directed by Kate Novack, the documentary The Gospel According to Andre is about Andre Leon Talley life. A fixture in the world of fashion for so long, it’s difficult to imagine a time when he wasn’t defining the boundaries of great style.
I found the movie as an intimate portrait that took me on an emotional journey from Andre’s roots growing up in the segregated Jim Crow South to become one of the most influential fashion and trend curators of our times.
Novack’s movie is fascinating as she explores between the elegance of André’s beloved grandmother and the Black Church of his youth and his work at publications like Women’s Wear Daily, W, and Vogue. The documentary shares a wealth of archival footage from moments in fashion history while noting André’s life and career.
Novack’s grandfather was in the dress business, and she visited his factory in Lowell, Massachusetts. “So, fashion was kind of in my DNA. I’d seen Andre in so many fashion documentaries—I think that my last count was fourteen. And he wasn’t just in them. He had these scene-stealing roles. But they always had the feel of a performance.”
“Andre talks about a hymn that he always loved in church, that still brings him to tears, called ‘Precious Memories.’ I listened to that song, and it was so moving. It’s about the way that memory can act as a sustaining force. That was really the entry point and the vision, and that song now plays a prominent role in the film.”
The Gospel According to Andre is Novack’s first attempt at solo directing. “It just felt like the right story at the right moment. It felt like a moment where the story of this African American man—because, in many ways, I view the movie as being as much about one African American man’s experience in America as it is about fashion—was important and urgent. There’s a line from Eboni at the beginning of the movie about how Andre is a legend in mainstream culture, and he’s also a tall Black man in America from the American South and that there would always be great tension there. That really became an organizing principle in the film.”
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Dustin Pittman/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock (6905689a)
Paloma Picasso and Rafael Lopez-Sanchez talk to Andre Leon Talley in the front row during a benefit runway show of Chloe by Karl Lagerfeld for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, held at Christies.
Chloe Benefit Fashion Show at Christies, New York
Andre saw the movie, and his first impression was elation, being with friends and viewing images. “Kate threaded the narratives through the sophisticated research she had done. Her research is phenomenal! She had gone back and researched, contextually, my life story from its humble beginnings all the way to Brown, my theses and reviews from when I went to Paris and the great shows of Yves Saint Laurent in 1978.”
Andre explains how it “was an enchantment, but, at the same time, an experience that I would consider—I’m not a vain person—microscopic.”
Mandatory Credit: Photo by John Bright/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock (6906729e)
Singer and actress Diana Ross in a full ruffled skirt dancing with Andre Leon Talley at a New Year’s Eve party at Studio 54 in New York
New Year’s Eve at Studio 54, New York
“A documentary is meant to be truthful, and it is Kate’s story, it is definitely her story, but, being so creative in my life, and an editor, I would have, in hindsight, made a contract to have a full make-up artist on hand at all times. Having come from the world of Vogue, part of the armor is that you are professionally groomed and, on a cold, bitter morning in North Carolina, that was just me coming out and I… would have had a makeup artist.”
Despite showing Andre without makeup meant he is who he is. “I opened my heart, and I opened my life, and I opened my home, and I opened my history and opened all my friends. The people that are in the doc are the people that are of great value to my life.”
Directed by Heather Lenz, I discovered Japanese artist Yayoi
Kusama in the documentary Kusama:
Infinity. The movie is a spotlight on the celebrated artist, according to
the New York Times the documentary is “illuminating access to an artist’s way
of thinking and working,” and I agree.
Kusama accounts her journey, the well-crafted documentary
encounters her journey into the world of art. It starts with her conservative
family in Japan to the milestones and triumphs that evolved her career.
The documentary shows a rare, but emotional, glimpse into
Kusama’s six-decade career. Lenz captures the critical moments that led to her
success, though some were hard to believe. What I didn’t know was she penned a
letter to renowned artist Georgia O’Keeffe for guidance. O’Keeffe wrote back
and recommended Kusama risk everything to move to New York City.
Kusama decided to make a name for herself in NYC based on
O’Keeffe’s letter. The young Kusama hit the streets of the art world by a boom.
Captivating art aficionados with her signature polka dots, she brought light to
the industry, and at the same time, shook up the conventional norms.
Today, she is the top-selling female artist in the world.
The story amazes me how Kusama prevail over terrible odds to bring her radical
artistic vision to the art scene. For years and years, she pushed her work,
going beyond the boundaries that often alienated her from both her peers and
those in power in the art world.
The documentary is about an underdog, who never had a
chance, but made it happen despite the trauma of growing up in Japan during
World War II. Her life in a
dysfunctional family that discouraged her creative ambitions, sexism, and
racism in the art establishment, and emotional turmoil in a culture where that
was predominantly shameful. She continued to pursue her career as a full-time
artist at the point of her 90s.
In spite of it all, Kusama has endured and has created a
legacy of artwork that spans the disciplines of painting, sculpture,
installation art, performance art, poetry, and literary fiction. After working
as an artist for over six decades, people around the globe are experiencing her
installation Infinity Mirrored Rooms in record numbers, as Kusama continues to
create new work every day.
I still think about this documentary and hope others are inspired. Her work is spiritual and transcending. One negative aspect about the movie is how quick people like Lenz are to pigeon hole an artist as mentally ill when all they are is being themselves and living life to create their art form.
Lisa D’Apolito directed the Love, Gilda documentary. The
movie boasts “In her own words…” I am quick to differ. Like most documentaries
today, the directors skewed them to generate a message based on the director’s
proactive. Sure. The movie shows her journals with words, but the director
takes them out of context.
Tender with personal interviews while highlighting Radner’s
talent, but the movie needed to share more of her happiness and successes. We
are all human and have problems. The director skews the fact that when she
visits the doctor, she is not responsible. But clearly, she is being
responsible for going to the doctor. It is how she handles those problems that
make her a survivor.
In her journals, the director pulls out passages from
comedienne Gilda Radner reflections on her life and career. Weaving together
her recently discovered audiotapes and rare home movies, Love, Gilda shares a
side of Radner that is honest and whimsical. Portions of her diary read by
well-known comedians. Each inspired by Radner’s talent and vivaciousness, Bill
Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, and Cecily Strong read in awe sharing her
story.
The documentary includes interviews with original “Saturday
Night Live” cast and crew, such as Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, Paul Shaffer
and longtime friend, Martin Short. Throughout the movie photos of the younger
cast and crew are spliced within the story. With photos of the young cast, all
looking healthy and vibrant is worth watching the documentary.
Her adventures before SNL have her marrying a sculpture,
moving to Canada, and divorcing. She meets her boyfriend and longtime friend,
Martin Short. She receives a phone call
from John Belushi and tells her “We need a girl.” Off Radner goes to Chicago,
being the token girl for Second City comedy group. The photographs show young
Dan Aykroyd and the late Harold Ramis.
Gilda Radner puts a smile on the faces of people who
remember watching her as one of the original cast members of SNL where she
created and portrayed now-classic comic characters such as Roseanne
Roseannadanna, Emily Litella, and Lisa Loopner. She rose to fame winning an
Emmy, starring in movies and on Broadway.
Though the director uses Radner’s words and her voice by working with the Radner Estate, D’Apolito picks her favorites from a collection of diaries and personal audio and videotapes. Documenting her childhood, her comedy career, her life with Gene Wilder and her struggle with cancer, the D’Apolito allows Radner to voice her story through laughter and tears. The never-before-seen footage and journal entries form the narrative spine of the documentary. Again, D’Apolito spins a tale of Radner trying to get Wilder to marry her. Yet, I distinctly recall, Wilder in interviews saying of how much he loved Radner and missed her so much after her death from cancer. Anyone who watches this documentary will see the love Wilder shared with Radner.
My favorite words from Radner, which I am paraphrasing, is how she mentions she just did what she loved to do, kept taking jobs, and ended up famous.
Co-written and directed by David Mackenzie, Outlaw King follows Robert the Bruce, played by Chris Pine. His life is transformed from defeated noble to a king to an outlaw as he struggles to reclaim medieval Scotland from occupation. Ambushed and reduced to a handful of supporters, Robert resolves himself to strike back against King Edward of England’s mighty army.
Robert is among the Scottish nobles who submitted to the occupying English King, Edward, played by Stephen Dillane. A marriage is arranged between Robert and Elizabeth de Burgh, played by Florence Pugh, a daughter of Edward’s ally.
An unnerving peace seems the only way forward which Robert and his family reluctantly accept. His relationship with his wife is feisty as they get to know each other. But crippling taxes, relentless force, men and boys being coerced under obligations of the feudal system to fight for King Edward only strengthen the rising rebellious emotions amongst the Scots.
Major events trigger a change in the overall climate of Scotland. The death of the family patriarch Bruce Senior, played by James Cosmo, news of the brutal demise of former rebel leader William Wallace, and finally the murder of Robert’s rival John Comyn, played by Callan Mulvey.
With the help of the Scottish Church – including Bishop Lamberton, played by Paul Blair, Robert resolves to become king and try to unify a divided country – many of whom do not want more war and are opposed to him because of their own blood ties.
If you know your Scottish history, you know the outcome of the story. I can give you a hint, though, it is one of the greatest comeback stories in history. “…I couldn’t shake the feeling that the period between 1304 and 1307 was where the most extreme things were happening – and this is what we have focused on. We conflated some characters and events in the interests of drama and time, but we have broadly been very faithful to the recorded history or this timeframe,” explained Mackenzie.
The Netflix produced movie will hopefully turn out to be a movie worth watching. So much of Scotland’s yesteryear events are page turners in historical books.
Scottish director Mackenzie whose body of work includes Hell or High Water and Young Adam is an excellent choice for this epic movie. Here are a couple of clips from Outlaw King. Nothing like the trailer but poignant in terms of key points in the movie’s storyline.
