Treading Water
Film Review by Kam Williams

Mica (Douglas Smith) had the misfortune of being born with a congenital condition that has him smelling like a fish. His parents (Ariadna Gil and Don McKellar) took him to a doctor who diagnosed the disease as Trimethylaminuria, an incurable body odor syndrome, and basically threw up his hands.

It didn’t help matters that Mica’s father abandoned the family soon thereafter, leaving the boy to be raised by an eccentric mother in a house converted into a museum dedicated to the memory of an obscure Mexican musician. Understandably, the lad grew up very lonely and increasingly dependent upon his empathetic shrink (Carrie-Anne Moss) as a steady tether to reality.

Otherwise, Mica’s formative years were virtually friendless, with a cute girl named Laura (Zoe Kravitz) being the only kid willing to attend any of his birthday parties. For some unknown reason, she wasn’t bothered by his overpowering skunk musk. So, it’s no surprise that traumatized Mica’s secret crush on her might endure past the puppy love stage and well into puberty.

That’s the setup of Treading Water, a droll dramedy marking the intriguing screenplay and directorial debut of Mexico’s Analeine Cal y Mayor. The talented Latina was ostensibly inspired to write the script by a newspaper article she read in Spain, although this escapist fantasy is more akin to magical realism than anything resembling traditional journalism.

The film’s title can be explained by the fact that Mica started spending a lot of his free time in swimming pools after discovering that being immersed in water helped suppress his godawful stench. It is while swimming that he reconnects with Laura for the first time in ages, and he proceeds to make the most of a second chance to make an aromatic impression.

Credit co-stars Douglas Smith and Zoe Kravitz for generating just the right chemistry as endearing oddballs to turn this quirky coming-of-age adventure into an appealing romantic romp.

Very Good (3 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 87 minutes

Distributor: The Orchard

To see a trailer for Treading Water, visit: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCpQeywlrV4

Run All Night
Film Review by Kam Williams

Hit man Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson) and mob boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) have been BFFs for decades. In fact, the blood brothers from Brooklyn are so close that they routinely recite their loyalty oath, “Wherever we’re going, we’re going together” as a reminder of their enduring alliance.

However, that seemingly unbreakable bond is shattered in an instant after Shawn’s son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) is gunned down in the wake of a drug deal gone bad with a couple of Albanian heroine dealers. Trouble is, Jimmy’s son Mike (Joel Kinnaman), who makes an honest living as a chauffeur with a limo company, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. For, he had no idea what was up when he was hired to serve as the pair’s getaway driver.

Nevertheless, revenge-minded Shawn decides that his best friend’s kid has to pay with his life. So, he informs Jimmy that he’s sending his assassins after Mike to even the score.

Of course, Jimmy warns his son. Mike then calls the cops, ignoring his father’s advice to avoid the local police since they’re bought and likely in cahoots with the Maguire crime family. When that turns out to be true, father and son end up on the run all over the city from both the authorities and bloodthirsty bad guys.

Thus unfolds Run All Night, the latest high-octane offering from Liam Neeson who’s again typecast in a role that he’s become closely associated with ever since his phenomenal performance as an overprotective parent in Taken. This picture’s premise puts a slight twist on the familiar theme in that Jimmy’s not exactly an empathetic protagonist given his long career as a feared enforcer known as “The Gravedigger.”

Still, he’s sorely in need of a shot at redemption, especially in the eyes of his estranged son who rejected the notion of ever following in his father’s footsteps. Instead, Mike tried to make it as a boxer, and when that didn’t pan out he took the legit job as a limo driver.

Run All Night was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra who previously worked with Liam Neeson on both Unknown (2011) and Non-Stop (2014). Three times is definitely the charm for the pair as this adrenaline-fueled adventure proves to be their best collaboration yet. The film also features an excellent supporting cast which includes Nick Nolte, 2015 Oscar-winner Common (for the Best Song “Glory”) and veteran character actors Vincent D’Onofrio and Bruce McGill.

Liam Neeson delivers afresh in an edge-of-your-seat, high body-count thriller every bit as good as they come!

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated R for profanity, sexual references, graphic violence and drug use

In English and Albanian with subtitles

Running time: 114 minutes

Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures

To see a trailer for Run All Night, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-BNyLo-8SU    

Like Sunday, Like Rain
Film Review by Kam Williams

Eleanor (Leighton Meester) gets so fed up with her struggling musician boyfriend’s (Billie Joe Armstrong) philandering ways, that she tosses his most prized possession, his guitar, out of a second-floor window to the street below where it’s smashed into smithereens. He retaliates by getting her fired from her job as a waitress by making a scene right in the place where she works.

She then impulsively dumps him, packs all her belongings into a single suitcase, and moves out of their apartment. Trouble is that with nowhere to go, she suddenly has to figure out how to survive in Manhattan with only $160 to her name.

Eleanor is lucky to land a gig as a nanny through a temp agency which places her in a posh penthouse where she’ll be paid room and board to care for a precocious 12 year-old with preoccupied parents who are never around. In the absence of quality time, Reggie (Julian Shatkin) has developed into a melancholy misanthrope, whose only saving grace is that he loves to play the cello.

Can a cash-strapped, 23 year-old au pair from a blue-collar background relate to a spoil-rotten rich musical prodigy? That’s the dilemma serving as the driving force behind Like Sunday, Like Rain, an unlikely-buddies drama reminiscent of Harold and Maude (1971).

Written and directed by Frank Whaley (New York City Serenade), the character-driven coming-of-age flick is obviously very dependent on the generation of chemistry between the leads. Fortunately, co-stars Leighton Meester and Julian Shatkin both prove capable and convincing in this regard.

Given his folks’ conspicuous absence, initially-reluctant Reggie is essentially afforded free rein to roam around New York on an unlimited budget, and obliging Eleanor wins his trust by letting him skip day camp and scheduled play dates. He hangs with her instead, and the two gradually bond while visiting museums, dining in fancy restaurants, and even renting a hotel room.

A tenderhearted lesson in how friendship can be forged in spite of a great gulf in age, class and I.Q.

Very Good (3 stars)

Rated R for profanity

Running time: 104 minutes

Distributor: Monterey Media

To see a trailer for Like Sunday, Like Rain, visit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B28IHhaQXCE

Clarence Page

The “Culture Worrier” Interview
with Kam Williams
Front “Page” News!

Clarence Page is a nationally-syndicated columnist and member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board. Besides those duties, the Pulitzer Prize-winner makes frequent TV appearances, including on The McLaughlin Group as a regular member of the show’s panel of political pundits.

Clarence makes his home in the Washington, DC area with his wife, Lisa, and their son, Grady. Here, he talks about his life, career and his best-selling collection of essay, “Culture Worrier.”

Kam Williams: Hi Clarence, how’re you doing?

Clarence Page: I’m good. How are you today, Kam?

KW: Great! First, I wanted to ask, how much of a connection do you still have to Chicago? You write for the Tribune, but live in DC.

CP: That’s right. I work out of our Washington bureau. My column is syndicated nationally, anyway. I have more of a Washington perspective than the other Tribune columnists, but I still love the place and try to get back as often as I can. And I occasionally do a locally-oriented blog item which is only printed in the Tribune.

KW: I think of you as the black Mike Royko. How would describe your style?

CP: I think every Chicago columnist considers himself to be a Mike Royko. [Chuckles] His office was next-door to mine at the Tribune Tower for a number of years. I always admired his strong voice… a very ordinary Chicagoan sitting at the bar after work going back-and-forth with his buddies about politics and this or that from a working-class point-of-view. I really appreciated his ability to do that so flawlessly, and in such a strong voice. So, I always tried to cultivate a voice assessing what was good for the average members of the public, and sometimes I succeeded. [Chuckles]

KW: You always do a great job. Tell me a little about why you decided to publish a collection of essays?

CP: It occurred to me that after doing this for 30 years, from the Reagan Era to the Age of Obama, that if there was ever an appropriate time for me to publish a collection of columns, this would be it. So, I went back and reread my pieces, and I began to notice the strong trend toward social commentary interwoven with politics played in most of them, and the phrase “Culture Worrier” just jumped out at me.

KW: How do you enjoy appearing on the McLaughlin Group with John, Eleanor Clift, Mort Zuckerman and Pat Buchanan?  

CP: I’ve been doing the show since about 1988. McLaughlin’s been a remarkable talent scout over the years when you think about how people like Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell and Jay Carney used to be regulars on the show.

KW: Marie Polo asks: What was the most interesting and the most challenging aspects of being an army journalist back in 1969?

CP: Oh, that’s an interesting question! I will say that the difference was that when you’re an Army journalist, as opposed to a civilian correspondent covering the military, you’re very often either a public relations agent or expected to perform that role, with a few exceptions, such as reporters for Stars and Stripes. I would say that one of the most unexpected benefits of that job was being taught to never try to cover anything up, but rather to get any bad information out right away, so that there would be nothing more to come out later. This was a wonderful lesson to be taught because often the effort to cover up a story becomes a bigger story than the original one.  

KW: You suffered from ADD, but it obviously didn't prevent you from having a very successful career as a journalist. How did you overcome this difficulty or turn it into a strength?

CP: I didn’t know I had ADD, because it hadn’t been invented back then. For what it’s worth, like a lot of others with ADD, I’ve been able to succeed simply by trying harder.

KW: When I watched Life Itself, the documentary about Roger Ebert, I learned that winning a Pulitzer Prize was a very big deal to him. What did winning a Pulitzer mean to you? 

CP: One thing about winning a Pulitzer, it means you know what the first three words of your obituary will be: Pulitzer Prize-winner. [Chuckles] After winning the Pulitzer, I couldn’t help but notice how people suddenly looked at me with a newfound respect, and would say, “He’s an expert.” On the negative side, I developed a terrible case of writer’s block for awhile, because I felt like readers would expect every one of my columns to be prize worthy. I spoke to a number of other Pulitzer winners who had the same problem, a creative block that had them hesitating. How do you get past the writer’s block? Nothing concentrates the mind like a firm deadline, and a little voice in the back of my mind reminding me that, “If you don’t write, you don’t eat.” Listen, we all want to be respected and appreciated, but when you get a big honor like that, people start to look for your work in a new way with higher expectations. Today, the best thing about having won is when I get a nasty comment from some internet troll I can remind myself of the Pulitzer and say, “Well, somebody appreciates me.”

KW: Dave Roth says: As far as I can tell, despite many people's well intentioned efforts over the last 50 years, America still appears to be a racially-divided and culturally-segregated country, as evidenced by, among many other examples, Ferguson, Missouri, any examination of failing public schools and/or prison populations, and the current gerrymandering case being heard by the Supreme Court. What, in your view, is substantially culturally different in the U.S. today versus say March 3, 1991, Rodney King Day? And what do you believe is the single greatest piece of evidence that progress is being made toward a society that provides equality of opportunity and treatment under the law, regardless of race, ethnicity or gender?

CP: Good question. First of all, I would say that our cultural divides are less racial and more tribal. We’re trying to reduce racial barriers to opportunity while at the same time not creating artificial quotas in regards to race. Today’s tribal politics is more attitudes and values-based than back in the olden days when it was something we strictly associated with ethnicity.

KW: Environmental activist Grace Sinden says: Thank you for your fine work in illuminating important issues. What do you see as the most critical domestic concern that needs to be addressed by our national government? 

CP: I would say environmental protection is our most important long-range issue. In the shorter term, as well as the longer term, I’ve always said our biggest challenge is in education, which has become even more challenging because of income inequality and wage stagnation. We haven’t confronted the fact that people who get their income from capital investments have benefited while ordinary workers who rely on salary have not. So, the income gap is getting worse. But Washington is in gridlock, politically, and I’m pessimistic about our making any major improvements over the next couple years. 

KW: Sangeetha Subramanian asks: When you think about your legacy how would you like to be remembered? 

CP: What a wonderful question! When I posed that question to retiring Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, he looked up as if he were surprised, but he quickly responded, “That he did the best he could with what he had.” It was remarkably humble, but to the point. That’s how I’d like to be remembered, too.

KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?

CP: [LOL] That’s good one, too! What would I have done, if I had not become a political writer? I wanted to become an entertainment writer. I’ve always been fascinated by showbiz as much as I was by politics.

KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?

CP: Pasta and salmon.

KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?

CP: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She’s dynamite!

KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

CP: I see a guy getting older. [Laughs] But I always try to keep my mind open or I’d never have figured out Twitter and Instagram.

KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?

CP: I remember being told by my parents when I was 4 that I couldn’t go to an amusement park advertised on TV because colored kids weren’t allowed there. That was a bit of a shock and really stayed with me over the years. That was how I first learned about racial segregation. Fortunately, I took it as a challenge, early on, and it motivated me. You never know how a child might respond to discrimination. It goes both ways. Some kids become embittered.

KW: Thanks again for the time, Clarence, I really enjoyed our chat.

CP: Same here. Thanks, Kam

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Film Review by Kam Williams

When we last saw Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel), he had just proposed to his thoroughly-modern girlfriend Sunaina (Tina Desai), much to the chagrin of his meddling, more traditional mother (Lillete Dubey). The ambitious young entrepreneur had also landed the funds to renovate his ramshackle hotel with the help of Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith), one of the residents of the retirement community.

At the point of departure, we find Sonny (accompanied by Mrs. Donnelly) en route to San Diego where he hopes to interest an executive (David Strathairn) with the Evergreen Corporation in investing in the second old folks home he hopes to open. After all, the first is now flourishing and practically filled to capacity.

Meanwhile, back in India, Sunaina is squarely focused on their impending engagement ceremony, also known as a Sagai. In the groom-to-be’s conspicuous absence, she’s asked Kush (Shazad Latif), a friend of the family, to fill in as a dance partner, so she can practice the elaborately-choreographed routine she plans to perform at the party with Sonny. It is subtly hinted that this handsome hunk might pose a threat, given Sonny’s continued preoccupation with business matters upon his return to the Subcontinent.

That is only one of several storylines in a romance-driven sequel which unfolds more like a daytime soap opera than a fully fleshed-out feature film. Scene after scene is simply a setup for another transparent love triangle.

As she checks into the hotel, Lavinia Beach (Tamsin Grieg) has her head turned by a fellow new guest (Richard Gere), but Guy only has eyes for Sonny’s widowed mom. Madge Hardcastle (Celia Imrie), a pretty British pensioner, can’t decide between the two, filthy-rich Indian suitors she’s dating simultaneously. And Doug (Bill Nighy) has grown fond enough of Evelyn (Judi Dench) to commit, though he hasn’t yet divorced his estranged wife (Penelope Wilton) waiting in the wings. And so forth.

The irrepressible Sonny serves as a master of ceremonies of sorts supposedly tying all these loose strands together. Unfortunately, because he’s more of a clown this go-round, the film feels like a joke-to-joke farce not intended to be taken seriously.

A pleasant, if predictable, romantic romp laced with far more mirth than sophistication or substance.

Very Good (2.5 stars)

Rated PG for mild epithets and suggestive material

In English and Hindi with subtitles

Running time: 122 minutes

Distributor: Fox Searchlight

To see a trailer for The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, visit:    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3REYWGRmLnQ

The Cobbler
Film Review by Kam Williams

Max (Adam Sandler) is the fourth generation in a long line of cobblers whose family tree can be traced all the way back to a business founded by his great-grandfather Pinchas Simkin (Donnie Keshawarz) in Eastern Europe in the 19th Century. Max presently plies his trade in a modest shoe repair shop located on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

The bashful bachelor still lives at home and dotes on his elderly mother (Lynn Cohen) once he gets off work. He’s never dated, but that doesn’t stop him from ogling attractive passersby while eating pickles on the street with Jimmy (Steve Buscemi), the barber who runs the establishment next-door.

Max’s fortunes change the day a neighborhood bully (Method Man) enters the store and demands that his alligator shoes’ damaged soles be sewn on the spot. When Max balks because his stitching machine is broken, menacing Ludlow gives him until the end of day, or else.

After Ludlow storms out, Max ventures into the basement where he finds an antique stitcher which’ll do in a pinch. He repairs the tattered, size10½s and slips them on, since his feet just happen to be the same size.

Lo and behold, Max gets the shock of his life when he magically morphs into Ludlow. Then, he starts trying on other customers’ shoes, too, and turns into the owner each time.

Curious, Max decides to test this newfound ability to literally walk in another man’s moccasins. He proceeds to make a mess everywhere he goes, even upsetting his mother by walking into the house looking exactly like her long-lost husband (Dustin Hoffman) after donning a pair of his penny loafers.

Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy, The Cobbler has to be considered a big disappointment, given the high expectations set by his impressive earlier offerings which include The Station Agent, Up, Win Win, The Visitor and Million Dollar Arm. Unfortunately, the fatal design flaw here rests with casting, since Adam Sandler tends to fall flat in a flick if he isn’t going full retard, ala his most successful outings as The Waterboy, Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison.

Sorry, Sandler simply isn’t very convincing playing a character with an I.Q. above room temperature.

Fair (1 star)

PG-13 for violence, profanity and partial nudity

In English and Yiddish with subtitles

Running time: 98 minutes

Distributor: RLJ / Image Entertainment

To see a trailer for The Cobbler, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQGpDi5mM-4       

Faults
Film Review by Kam Williams

Dr. Ansel Roth (Leland Orser) was once a world-renowned psychotherapist specializing in deprogramming. Trouble is, his career has been in sharp decline ever since a client’s child committed suicide while still in his care.

Presently, he’s been reduced to renting a ballroom at a low-rent hotel to give a lecture before hawking his new book “Sects, Cults and Mind Control.” He now delivers these talks more out of a need to pay the rent than a belief in the efficacy of his coercive methods of rescuing a person caught in the clutches of a charismatic megalomaniac. But that doesn’t stop Dr. Roth from springing into action when he’s approached for help by a couple attending the talk.

It seems that Evelyn (Beth Grant) and Terry’s (Chris Ellis) daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has cut herself off from the rest of the world for months since being brainwashed by a mysterious cult called Faults. The parents are so desperate they immediately agree to Ansel’s exorbitant fee despite the warning that his odds of success are only 50-50. After collecting a handsome advance, he proceeds to snatch Claire off the street into a van with the help of a couple of goons.

The plan is to restrain her in a remote motel for the five days it should take to undo the indoctrination. And while Ansel is alone in one room with Claire, her folks wait in the one right next-door, anxiously anticipating a happy reunion.

The plot thickens, however, as it becomes clear that increasingly-exasperated Ansel isn’t up to the task. To the contrary, it appears that Claire might even be getting the better of their intense sessions. Yet, the shrink arrogantly threatens to stop the sessions unless he’s paid the balance of his bill.

So unfolds Faults, an intriguing treat that walks a fine line between dark comedy and psychological thriller. The picture marks the feature-length writing and directorial debut of Riley Stearns whose real-life wife, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, squares-off here as Claire opposite her gifted co-star, Leland Orser.

Cooped up together in very close quarters, the two gradually ramp up the intensity in an ever-escalating game of cat-and-mouse vaguely evocative of Linda Blair and the Exorcist. Don’t be surprised if the tables are turned and the hunter is somehow bested by the game.

A mind is a terrible thing to lose!

Very Good (3 stars)

Unrated

Running time: 89 minutes

Distributor: Screen Media Films

To see a trailer for Faults, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ylsmarMnE      

It's official (and has been for a while) but if you are at SXSW and interested in learning about finding a TV partner in a digital world, come to my panel:

Web Junkie
DVD Review by Kam Williams

How long do you think you could you survive without access to a cell phone or computer? A few hours? A day? A week? How about three months? That’s the degree of deprivation awaiting adolescents diagnosed as addicted to the internet over in China, the first country to officially recognize the burgeoning malady as a clinical disorder.

The Rx for the afflicted is 90 days of rehab at one of 400 paramilitary boot camps where one must adhere to a Spartan daily regimen sans any electronic stimuli. Going cold turkey is not an easy thing to adjust to for kids used to playing video games for hours on end.

But that is precisely the goal of the shrinks in Web Junkie, a cautionary tale making one wonder whether America might not be far behind. The documentary was this critic’s pick as the #1 foreign film of 2014. It was directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia who were afforded extraordinary access to the intervention and treatment of a trio of teenage boys whose exasperated parents sought help from a facility in Beijing.

The film traces the transformation of Hope, Hacker and Nicky from insufferable, anti-social jerks who barely communicate with their families, teachers and classmates into sensitive souls truly changed by therapy and the period offline. It’s nothing short of miraculous to see the same kid who couldn’t be bothered to talk to his father eventually melt into a touchy-feely hugger who upon reuniting tearfully says, “I love you, Dad.”

Overall, the movie makes a convincing case that cell phone use ought to be limited during a child’s formative years when the social part of the brain is still developing. For, the subjects of this telling expose certainly seem to suffer from stunted development due to too much time spent playing computer games and surfing the ‘net.

A tough love remedy from the Orient designed for impressionable young minds which prefer virtual reality to relating in the flesh.

Excellent (4 stars)

Unrated 

In Mandarin with subtitles

Running time: 75 minutes

Distributor: Kino Lorber

DVD Extras: Deleted scenes; and podcast interviews with directors Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia.

To see a trailer for Web Junkie, visit

McFarland, USA
Film Review by Kam Williams

In the fall of 1987, Jim White (Kevin Costner) was fired as head football coach of a high school team in Boise, Idaho when he lost his temper and hit one of his players in the face and drew blood. With a wife (Maria Bello) and two young daughters (Morgan Saylor and Elsie Fisher) to support, the hot-headed perfectionist found himself in urgent need of another job.

So, he accepted a demotion to assistant football coach at the public high school in the predominantly-Latino, working-class town of McFarland, California. However, once it became clear on the gridiron that being second-in-command wasn’t working out, the versatile veteran came up with the idea of fielding a cross-country track team instead.

Though initially skeptical, Principal Camillo (Valente Rodriguez) grudgingly agreed, and White immediately started scouting around campus for fleet-footed prospects. As it turned out, many of McFarland High’s Chicano students were already in shape, being accustomed to darting the long distance from the field to the classroom, after picking fruit and vegetables alongside their parents from the crack of dawn.

Upon settling on seven promising protégés, the dilemma yet confronting Coach White was whether or not their cash-strapped clans could afford the luxury of letting them run track in lieu of laboring as farm workers in the wee hours of the morning? If so, the boys might also be afforded an opportunity to expand their horizons, since a standout’s landing an athletic college scholarship was definitely a distinct possibility.

Directed by New Zealand’s Niki Caro (Whale Rider), McFarland, USA is much more than your typical, overcoming-the-odds sports saga, in spite of the fact that it might sound fairly formulaic at first blush. Yes, it’s a classic case of a disgraced coach making the most of a shot at redemption with the help of a motley crew of underestimated underdogs. Nevertheless, this true tale of overcoming-the-odds proves oh so touching because it simultaneously sheds light on the plight on of an invisible sector of society, namely, the masses of mostly Mexican immigrants who harvest our produce in obscurity for a mere pittance.

Kevin Costner has never been more endearing than in this outing as a devoted mentor and family man. And he’s surrounded in that endeavor by a talented supporting cast convincing enough to make it easy to forget you’re watching actors, at least until the closing credits roll. That’s when we’re treated to photos of the real-life people just portrayed, plus positive updates about their present lives which serve to validate all the sacrifices made.

Heartwarming!

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated PG for violence, mild epithets and mature themes

In English and Spanish with subtitles

Running time: 129 minutes

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

To see a trailer for McFarland, USA, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-VAOlHGE6Q