'Mole Agent' is dull...dull...s n o r e ....

Moviegoers, Mole Agent ranks near the bottom of my "Worst Movies I Have Ever Seen" list along with the dreadful Nomadland and the famed cat movie. 

I should have known from the title.

Save your time!  And your money!  

The only action here are the fluttering clothes on the line and the flowers waving in the breeze.

An old man becomes a resident at a nursing home, ostensibly as an undercover agent to find out whether the nursing home is as bad as some suspect.

Compared to the nursing homes I have visited, this place is the Taj Mahal (and not as lively as the marble and stones you find there). 

This is the inside of a grave.  

Let's go!

This is billed as a "drama/documentary," but I call it a drama for those who need a doc. 

Yes, yes, yes!  Actual residents are many of the "actors."  Does that make it any better?

Nyet!

Why did I go see it?  Good question.

#1. I was starved for a movie, any movie (and any movie is what I got).

#2. The audience rating at Rotten Tomatoes was an 84 (compared to the critics' 95) which was a big hint about the "action" to come because if you think about it (after I had seen it) the only members of the audience who'd pay to see this thing and rate it are those not interested in action!  

Get it?  Now, I do!  

And the critics!  The critics!  Why they'd give Nomadland a 94!  

I tell you:  A sleeping mole in a hole has more action than this. 

Ho hum, I suppose this has a market in the 15,600 nursing homes found in the U.S., and, as for the rest of the world, don't they care for their elderly besides stashing them in these horrible places?  

Whatever. 

Dear Carla, this is not a movie for Thor. 

patricialesli@gmail.com

Justice Clarence Thomas has his own movie

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in Created Equal:  Clarence Thomas in His Own Words/Manifold Productions


Comments by the filmmaker, producer, and director after the screening of his new film about Clarence Thomas were almost as interesting as the film itself.

An adoring, practically fawning crowd welcomed the first public showing of Created Equal:  Clarence Thomas in His Own Words last week at the Cato Institute. At the show's end, filmmaker Michael Pack and Cato's Roger Pilon, who served as moderator, answered questions from the audience until there were no more.

Most of the questioners preceded their remarks with "brilliant!" and "excellent!" 

In the film, set for airing by PBS next May, Clarence Thomas sits and faces the camera and talks about his life, beginning with his early childhood.  He and his wife, Ginny, sat for 30 hours of interviewing, Mr. Pack said, and it was difficult to reduce that length to two hours, which left no room in the film for contributions and viewpoints from others.

Mr. Pack hopes law schools and other colleges will pick it up. 

Michael Pack at the Cato Institute Nov. 13, 2019 for the screening of his new film, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas In His Own Words/Photo by Patricia Leslie


Archival videos and photographs made excellent visuals, supplemented with the few Thomas family pictures available.


Several times Mr. Pack said that Justice Thomas's life is a classic American story, a much harder upbringing he had than, say, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (whose RBG has earned nearly $14.5 million since its release in 2018. Mr. Pack sighed).
  
In Pin Point, Georgia, close to Savannah, Clarence Thomas's father abandoned his family when the future justice was a toddler. His mother struggled to earn a living wage and take care of her children who roamed the streets when the boys were six and seven years old.

In desperation, she took Clarence and his younger brother to her parents to live, and the two boys delighted to find indoor plumbing and food on the table every night at their grandparents' home. (Nothing was said about what happened to Mr. Thomas's mother or his sister.)

His grandfather was a disciplinarian who instilled hard work in his grandsons, respect for others, and a keen sense of the value of education. Mr. Thomas says he  "really regretted," not visiting his grandfather before he died to tell him "how much I loved and respected him."

The future justice attended Catholic high school and at age 16, considered becoming a priest. That possibility led him to seminary school until a racial epithet after the death of Martin Luther King Jr. caused Mr. Thomas to leave. That was about the time a door opened at the College of the Holy Cross and from there, it was on to Yale law school.

Justice Thomas describes his career and work for Sen. John Danforth (R-MO). After climbing the legal ladder, Mr. Thomas was nominated to the U.S.Supreme Court by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

Presiding over the Thomas Senate confirmation hearing was Sen. Joe Biden, who, of course, is included at one of his worst moments, to the delight of the laughing audience. 

Mr. Thomas says he had no idea what Sen. Biden was talking about in the hearing when the senator talked about "natural laws," but Mr. Biden announced to everyone present that he and Mr. Thomas knew what he was talking about. (You have to see it.) 

The clash with the testimony of Anita Hill consumed  more in the film than expected. (At least four in the audience were not Thomas fans, including me who believed and still believes Anita Hill.)

When Mr. Thomas learned his nomination had been approved, his response was a sarcastic "whoop-dee-doo." 

Mr. Pack said unequivocally that the justice had not seen the film but Mr. Thomas's wife, Ginny (quoted extensively in it), had.

More than once Mr. Pack said the justice wanted to get his words out.  Clearly, Mr. Thomas still carries a chip on his shoulder which he probably has borne throughout life.

The documentary is an unbalanced portrayal but an autobiography, a hagiography someone suggested today, nonetheless. Mr. Thomas, 71, is now the most senior associate justice on the Supreme Court.

Mr. Pack's company, Manifold Productions, produced the film, with the help of his wife, Gina, a Manifold vice-president, who was also present.  

She urged her husband to shorten Words which is good advice! With redundant scenes of an unmanned boat gliding through Georgian marshes, I say, "cut!"

The banjo and piano made excellent accompaniment in the film as did the guest reception which preceded the showing.

patricialesli@gmail.com



 

'Jim Allison: Breakthrough' is a documentary

From Jim Allison:  Breakthrough

Maybe Ann Hornaday is a scientist on the side.  Or a frustrated wannabe scientist.  

Or she's married to one. 

Or majored in biology, or her mom and/or dad is a biologist. 

Maybe Ann Hornaday has a special relationship with a biologist or another scientist or immunologist. 

Maybe she knows the director, the producers, etc. etc.

Whatever (she's the chief movie reviewer for the Washington Post), I went to see Jim Allison: Breakthrough based on her recommendation to "'just see it'" and, "go twice," and "you won't regret it, and you'll never forget it."  And, another one:
"Just see the dang thing,"

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am here to tell you that you don't need to see it twice.  You don't need to even see it once (unless you're a scientist or a drug marketer or a pharmaceutical company).  

I've seen it for you. 

It's okay; it's a "feel good" story, describing Dr. Allison's life as he pursues his dream, his remarkable persistence and personal driving force to find a cancer cure to help assuage the death of his mother, his brother, his uncle, and now, he's got cancer, too. (And so will you, if you live long enough.)

Congratulations to Dr. Allison and his colleagues for winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2018. And (!), he plays the harmonica...with none other than Willie Nelson! 

This is a good documentary.  It's not a great documentary. 

I do not think it will any awards.  It will not be nominated.

A great story but certainly not a "must see."

I have recommended it to my daughter, a biologist.

It is an education in the long time it takes pharmaceutical companies to get new drugs to the marketplace.

Maybe a re-edited version will cut the many variations of the ocean scene with the Allison brothers which must have been screened at least five times. 

Written and directed by Bill Haney.  The excellent music by Mickey Raphael and Mark Orton exceeds expectations. 


patricialesli@gmail.com

'Linda Ronstadt' is fantabulous

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice is an excellent concert on film from beginning to end, and the music is more than mere snippets of her songs. Many music docs often tease and frustrate fans with vastly shortened versions of the hits we know so well. 

Not Linda.

Her big ones are all here: "You're No Good," "Different Drum," "Blue Bayou," among many, presented by archives and video.  

Hearing them anew made me want to rush out and buy a couple of her albums which number more than 30. She has won 10 Grammys and received 26 Grammy nominations. 

From Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice


In the film, members of Linda's music family (her agents, producers, publicists, band members, boyfriends -  wish Jerry Brown had consented to inclusion) are interviewed with the big stars who remain dear friends: Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris (who tears up at the end), Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville, to name a few. 

Their conversations, thankfully, last more than a few seconds. "Teasers," not.

The interviewees expound on the goodness of Linda, her singing ability, her personality (which never seems to waver in the show from her childhood to present day).

Chats with the star of the show bookend the film and show her charm, intact sense of humor, and great looks.

Deterred by disease?  Not.

Her last live concert was in 2009 before problems with her voice were diagnosed as Parkinson's disease in 2012, leaving her unable to sing. She is 73.

"When Will I Be Loved" contradicts the embrace her fans, friends, and family extend to the woman with the sparkling, distinctive voice like none other.

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Freidman directed.

patricialesli@gmail.com 

Highly recommended, 'Mike Wallace' and 'Maiden' documentaries

 

 Mike Wallace is Here, a film by Avi Belkin/Photo by Magnolia Pictures

I don't know why I enjoy documentaries so much, but Mike Wallace is Here, Maiden, and Echo in the Canyon are the last three movies I've seen, and I've loved them all.

Mike Wallace is Here is the story of his news life beginning with acne (?) and his attempts to cover it up with radio broadcasting. From radio and advertising, his career soars, told in clips and interviews and separated by too many lines of color and flashbacks which are confusing at times.

I cannot imagine this film appealing to anyone under age 45 ("Who's Mike Wallace?") and certainly not to anyone who is not a news junkie since it's "hardcore," a glorification of his news life.  Omitted are his harassment of females at CBS and Mr. Wallace's racist remarks, but the content of the last half of the 20th century is valuable for American modern history and journalism classes.

It would have been better with subtitles of the names of all those he interviewed and the years of the interviews.  Most members of the audience likely can identify all, but in some cases, immediate identification would have helped and saved brain time. (Stick around at the end for the credits and IDs.)

Who knew Putin speaks English? Some of the other celebrities included in the film are Malcolm X, Richard Nixon, Johnny Carson, John Ehrlichman, Barbra Streisand, Bette Davis (looking wonderful), Arthur Miller, Frank Lloyd Wright, Donald Trump, Ayatollah Khomeini (whose interview may have led to the assassination of Anwar Sadat), Salvador Dali (!), Larry King, and Oriana Fallaci (who's she?). His son, Chris Wallace of Fox fame, occupies just a snippet in the film, and none of Mike Wallace's four wives are screened.  Two are briefly mentioned. Also welcome would have been a note about Mike Wallace's death, when, where, and why. (He died in 2012 of natural causes.) When his son, Peter, was 19 and missing in Greece, Mike Wallace took off and found Peter's body below a steep cliff, lying on rocks in the water. His death was always intolerable pain for Mr. Wallace as it is for any parent experiencing this tragedy. I found myself wishing, wishing, wishing to see the entirety of most of the interviews (where can I go to find them?) since they were far too short, most, lasting just a few seconds.

Maiden, a Sony Pictures Classics release

On a more positive note is Maiden, about the woman, Tracy Edwards, who skippered the ship and a crew of women in the 1989 Whitbread Round the World Race (now called the Ocean Race). Clips and chronology of her story to obtain a boat and secure financing (from King Hussein of Jordan, no less, thanks to a chance encounter) make this an invigorating true-sail (could not resist). (Attention: Never turn down an opportunity to meet the great and not-so-great. Who knows where it will lead?)

Current interviews with the sailors and flashbacks to their 1989 roles make this a strong show and impetus for girls (and women) everywhere!  A must for feminist history classes.  Ms. Edwards and her crew became the first all-female staff to finish the race, winning several legs of the 33,000 mile journey which takes nine months to sail around the world.   Depression suffered by Ms. Edwards and Mr. Wallace receives considerable attention in both films.   Maiden's story is much easier to follow than the Mike Wallace film since Maiden's early clips are presented mostly in chronological order, while in Wallace, we go back and forth from here to then and back again and then up and down. (His hairstyle, color, and thickness help to keep viewers afloat.) Original music by John Piscitello (Mike Wallace) and Rob Manning and Samuel Sim (Maiden) is electrifying, capturing the moods and tensions of both films. Take a happy hanky to Maiden for its enthusiastic ending with audience applause. patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Movie review: 'Biggest Little Farm' is biggest best farm movie

 Emma and Greasy in The Biggest Little Farm


The one best word to describe this film is charming. 

Can a 97% audience rating at Rotten Tomatoes be wrong?* Nada.

Love of farming is not required to adore The Biggest Little Farm which, from beginning to end, keeps its aura of unfolding the grand involuntary life circle we mammals follow, according to nature's way.

What fun to see a farm spring to life, and hummingbirds, lady bugs, and other living creatures up close, and I mean really up close, their wings fluttering in slow motion, or catch animals at night on hidden cameras.  

Not much new there with hidden cameras, but the scenes add to the majesty of this documentary made over a course of eight years by one of the farm's owners, John Chester, an Emmy winner, who, with his wife, Molly, started Apricot Lane Farms on 200 acres near Los Angeles, all because (or mostly because) of their barking dog, Todd. (Thank you, barking dog, Todd!)

What's not to love about goats? These two baa-baas are in The Biggest Little Farm.

The couple strive to make their farm as natural as can be, and what they achieved in the first year was stunning.

The music by Jeff Beal is the best accompaniment to falling in love with Emma, the pig, and her lifemate, Greasy, the rooster.

Take a break from contemporary life and enjoy this harmony with nature.  A more pleasant way to spend 90 minutes is practically unknown.

Animation by Jason Carpenter is excellent, but the "PG" rating is perplexing.  This is life, judges! A "G" is more appropriate.  

*Even the big, bad critics rate it at 90%.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Must-see film: the Rosenbergs' story, 'Heir to an Execution'

At a National Archives presentation last week, the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenbergs, Michael Meeropol, recommended this book, Final Verdict: What Really Happened in the Rosenberg Case by Walter Schneir

The documentary, Heir to an Execution, depicts the love story of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and their sons Michael and Robert, ages 10 and 7, as the parents were convicted by the U.S. government of passing secrets to the Soviets and were put to death in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York on June 19, 1953.

In splendid detail the film, produced and directed by the Rosenbergs' granddaughter, filmmaker Ivy Meeropol, charts the ends of her grandparents' lives, the trial, and the aftermath in a balanced portrait with film history, newspaper clippings, interviews with major characters, visits to the courtroom, and the apartment where the Rosenbergs lived on the Lower East Side when Mr. Rosenberg was arrested.  Also, the cemetery where they are buried which Michael Meeropol had never visited until the movie's filming.

On stage November 12, 2014 at National Archives were Ivy Meeropol and her father, the Rosenbergs' son, Michael Meeropol/Photo by Patricia Leslie

,
Both Meeropols are so likable, so homespun, far more charming than anyone could have expected. If Michael Meeropol had a chip on his shoulder, who could blame him? But there was none to be found.

Ivy and Michael Meeropol at National Archives, November 12, 2014/Photo by Patricia Leslie

When no family member came forward to adopt the boys after their parents' deaths, activists Abel and Anne Meeropol did. "They literally saved our lives," Michael said onstage.   "We have love and tremendous respect for Anne and Abel."  He said his stepparents had lost two children at birth and later, from photographs, Michael Meeropol learned Abel was a pallbearer at his parents' burials. 

Michael (left) and Robert Rosenberg with their parents' attorney, Emanuel Hirsch Bloch, at Sing Sing Prison/From the film, Heir To An Execution, 2004

In the film, a cousin, one of the few relatives who agrees to communicate with Ivy Meeropol about her grandparents, breaks down and cries over his parents' refusal to help the Rosenberg children after the executions. He apologizes to Ivy. 

Spliced throughout the film are visuals of the two boys, dressed up in coats and ties, coming and going to visit their parents in prison.

They saw their mother and father separately in prison because authorities wanted to keep the couple apart, to prevent their physical closeness. The Rosenbergs were able to meet and touch fingertips when Mr. Rosenberg, in a cage, was transported to visit Mrs. Rosenberg in her cell, Mr. Meeropol said.

Michael Meeropol at National Archives, November 12, 2014/Photo by Patricia Leslie

They were executed on the same day.  Mr. Rosenberg went first.  Because of Mrs. Rosenberg's diminutive size, the electrical charges did not initially work, and a second round of electricity was applied.  Eyewitnesses reported smoke rose from the top of her head.

Until the government released the Venona papers in 1995 which provided proof their father passed secrets, the boys grew up firmly believing in their parents' innocence.  The guilt of their mother has never been proved.  She was not linked with any direct proof to the case, and never had a code name, like her sister-in-law, Ruth Greenglass, saved by Ethel's brother, David Greenglass who later admitted he lied about his sister's role in the spy ring to protect his wife.  Ultimately, he sentenced Ethel Rosenberg to death.  Greenglass died July 1, 2014, but his death was not uncovered and reported until October 14, 2014, by the New York Times.

Mr. Meeropol said Heir To An Execution was his daughter's idea, and although he and his wife were skeptical initially, "we felt she was ready and capable, and we had total trust in her....and felt like she could make a real contribution."  Another of Ms. Meeropol's documentaries is All About Abe (2007), all about D.C.'s Abe Pollin, the developer of Verizon Center.

With eerie and haunting qualities, Heir's music by Human matches the film contents.

One questioner in the audience asked the speakers about comparisons between Daniel Ellsberg, Edward Snowden, and the Rosenbergs. Michael Meeropol replied that if Mr. Snowden returned to the U.S. from Russia, he would be tried under the same Espionage Act the U.S. government used to find Mr. Meeropol's parents guilty. 

Along with Freedom Riders, Ms. Meeropol's Heir to an Execution: A Granddaughter's Story, first released in 2004 and shortlisted for an Academy Award, should be part of every American history class. Both films paint modern-day true portraits of America which are so unthinkable, they could pass for fiction.

The people of the United States are grateful to National Archives for screening the film and inviting the Rosenbergs' heirs to appear. The event was part of Archives' exhibit, Making Their Mark: Stories Through Signatures, on display through January 4 or 5 (two dates given), 2015. 

The National Archives has the original letter Michael wrote to President Eisenhower on February 16, 1953, pleading with the president to save his parents from execution.

patricialesli@gmail.com