TIFF 23: SLY - From Underdog to Hollywood Legend

 

In 1985 Sylvester Stallone had two of the top three highest worldwide grossing movies. Both sequels. Rocky IV and Rambo First Blood Part II. That is absolutely remarkable. As an actor Stallone has been ubiquitous for decades. What do we really know about Stallone the person behind the action movie icons. This is what Thom Zimny sets out to do in his documentary aptly titled, Sly. 

In the opening title sequence we see glimpses of Stallone's house. As ubiquitous as he is in movies and the popular culture, so to is his own image in his house. From action figures, to posters to statutes. We see the Academy Awards, snippets of the art collection, the scripts, the view from the Hollywood Hills. 

"It is really easy to become complacent." Starts of Sylvester says in the opening sequence of the documentary. He is in the midst of packing up his mansion to move back East to break up the feelings of dissatisfaction with the state of his current life. 

One of my favorite early sequences is of Stallone going back to Hell's Kitchen to reminisce about his New York City upbringing. Also when he is home watching movies and talking about the role models he found in film, James Cagney, especially Steve Reeves of Hercules fame.

Sly's childhood was transient and nomadic. He went throw thirteen schools in twelve years. It was the stage where he found home. He landed a role in Arthur Miller's Death of Salesman. A teacher told him he should pursue acting as career. Sly cites this as a moment that changed his life. Back in New York he was homeless and struggling to get any kind of role. The only thing he could get was off off Broadway. He started getting roles as thugs. 

Stallone started writing his own screenplays with John Herzfeld. Another life changing decision. Write out his frustrations and perhaps get somewhere. Every weekend he and Herzfeld started writing, writing, writing. He would break into to movie theaters all over the city to see films. 

I have never heard of the film Horses prior to this documentary. The premise of the movie now has me seeking this out immediately. A Cowboy and an Indian return from their graves a hundred years after they were hung. The cowboy's father was also reincarnated as a the sheriff he was to track them down. 

As far as documentaries go there is nothing about the technique or the choices on how to film the subject and the use of photographs and other visual media that is groundbreaking or innovative. As a viewer you are either a fan of Sylvester Stallone or you are not. That determines how much or how little you will gain from Sly and how much you will be entertained.

As I watched this documentary one of the most compelling aspects was sitting in a car, or walking down a sidewalk or sitting down and listening to Sylvester Stallone talk, reminisce and ponder his life. That is one of the paramount things we learn about Stallone in this documentary is how compelling, fascinating and - still to this day - we as an audience are drawn to him.

TIFF 23: FAIR PLAY - The corporate ladder is a treacherous, serpentine climb.

 

We meet Emily (Phobe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) at a party. They head to a public restroom to satisfy some immediate desires. Things start to get hot and heavy. Then Emily has a Carrie moment. Luke is covered in her menstrual blood. A moment later Emily asks Luke, "What is that?" He looks unsure, Emily is apprehensive. Director Chloe Domont holds the suspense. We then see a ring on the titled bathroom floor. Not just any ring, an engagement ring. This begins the movie Fair Play. 

"You're serious?" Emily asks. "Yes." "You're drunk" Emily says. "yeah but I was sober when I bought it. He then puts the ring on the wrong finger. "Looks like we are fleeing the scene of a murder." Luke jokes carrying Emily across the street. 

They both work in the same office building for the same company, Crest Capital and they feign that they know each other outside of work. A bunch of people are meeting to watch a video about workplace practices about sexual harassment, inclusion, diversity, conflict resolution. As the video starts a coworker int heir office has a melt down and takes out a golf club and starts wailing on the computer his desk over and over again. Someone poses the question, "Should we pause?" The person holding the remote cranks up the volume. This is clearly not a good workplace and no amount of work place training videos will right that. 

One man's downfall is another man's promotion. "How did I get so lucky?" Luke asks. "Are you talking about me, or your job" Emily queries. "Both" Luke smirks.  He goes on to elaborate that if he had to choose between Emily and the promotion he would choose...the promotion...just kidding. 

A late night call. A late night meeting. Emily gets in a car and heads to a bar. Someone is getting promoted. It just isn't Luke.

Phobe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich do a phenomenal job navigating the corporate finance world in which their characters navigate it's rewards and pitfalls. Together and alone.

The corporate ladder is a treacherous, serpentine climb. Perhaps made less perilous with a partner. Maybe. Or made just that more precarious. Ambition is it's own all consuming partner.

TIFF 23: PAIN HUSTLERS

 Pain Hustlers. What You Are About To See Is Inspired By A True Story. 

"Throw the first stone. Sure. But this is my story, and I did it for the right reasons." says Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) as the film begins. 

We meet Liza aka Destiny as a performer in a gentleman's club. She randomly meets Pete Brenner (Chris Evans)  She sizes him up. He informs the audience that Liza had a real gift at reading people and forty-five minutes later you were out two grand. Pete pleads with Liza to come work for him.

Destiny gets a phone call she has to go to school where her kids are acting up and setting a fire. Liza has even more problems on the home front. Her sister kicks her out of the house. She takes her kids and checks into a motel. Liza's life is falling apart. Her new neighbors gift her kids a juice a quilt and Liza a pair of earplugs. "Does it get noisy around here?" "Yeah" Motel transient noise, not very conducive for sleeping 

Late in the night Liza says out loud to herself"I will not give up on myself. I will not give up on my dreams. I will make my life count." The next morning she calls Pete about the employment offer he mentioned the other day.

Pete is a salesman. He is selling Lonafen a fentanyl medication.  Liza shows up to Pete's office. He grills her on her resume. He then asks for a Word file of it and then changes the entire resume.  Pete then introduces her to Zanna Therapeutics C.E.O. Dr. Neel (Andy Garcia). Liza gets the job.  

Liza is now tasked with "Invent a Doctor" which means she has to get one Doctor to prescribe the drug, write one script. She is now off to the races. Time to hustle. 

Pain Hustlers is a commentary on the for profit health care industry as well as the lengths companies and individuals in those companies will go to make money. A lot of money. Their gains are societies loss.

TIFF 23: REPTILE - Real Estate Is A Deadly Racket

 

Beautiful people in beautiful spaces captured with beautiful photography. This is the surface level entry point into Grant Singer's feature film debut Reptile. Singer who has been a music video director for such artists as Sam Smith, Lorde, The Weeknd brings his lush visual aesthetics to this movie. 

Will Grady (Justin Timberlake) is a real estate agent who is engaged to a fellow real estate agent Summer. Summer is played by Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz who was phenomenal in the 2017 Midnight Madness movie Revenge. They are getting ready to prepare an open house.

In their own house, Summer picks up a snakeskin as someone who lives in rural South Texas on a ranch and has had several snakes in their ranch house there is something very primal terrifying mindset that takes over after learning you have a snake in the house.

Realtors are turning up dead. Summer is dead. Two detectives catch the case, Tom Nichols (Bencio Del Toro) and Robert Allen (Eric Bogosian). Summer had no life insurance. The initial investigation leads to Summer's ex husband Sam Gifford (Karl Glusman) who has a hobby of collecting human hair from unsuspecting women. As seen in a video on a transit bus he sits behind a victim and cuts her hair. 40% of women are killed by their exes. Is this case that cut and dry?

At the end of the day Reptile is a police procedural bolstered by the excellent performances by it's cast of actors.

TIFF 2022: THE GOOD NURSE Reflections by Robert Aaron Mitchell

 

The Good Nurse is based on a true story. Jessica Chastain plays nurse Amy Loughren. Eddie Redmayne plays Charles Cullen. Charles Cullen is a serial killer who killed patients in hospitals. The film is based of the book written by Charles Graeber. Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917) adapted the book. Tobias Lindholm who directed tiff favorite Another Round as well as The Hunt in 2012 helms The Good Nurse.

There was a lot of anticipation ahead of the premiere of Lindholm's first American feature film. The journey of this film was a long one as Lindholm was sent a version of the screenplay several years ago. He was drawn to the material because the focus was not an obsession with the serial killer but the nurse who stops him. 

The film opens in a hospital room as doctors and nurses rally around a bed of a patient who is dying. The camera. They are of to the side. The focus of the opening is a slow zoom towards Charles Cullen (Redmayne) who stands expressionless as the events unfold. The patient passes away. Cullen slouched walks down a hallway under a glowing red exit sign. 

The events of the film center around Parkfield Memorial Hospital in New Jersey in 2003. The hospital is run on a strict budget. The American hospital is a business. The nurses are overworked and exhausted. She works the overnight ICU shift as well as caring for her two kids. Amy is informed that she will be getting help soon as another nurse was just hired. Amy also has health problems of her own. As she sits on a bed in a doctor's office he walks in with a clipboard and informs Amy, "If you continue like this you're looking at a serious coronary incident within months." Amy is in danger of suffering a stroke. She has to continue to work the long stressful hours because she does not receive health insurance until she has been employed by the hospital for a year. The consultation she just had runs 980 dollars. The American healthcare industry is a business.

Amy sits in her car in the parking lot of a hospital as the rain pours. We see her grappling with her circumstances. She gets out of the car and pushes forward. She meets Charlie and shows him around the ward. They begin to bond over the job and their similar backgrounds. Both have two girls around the same ages. The dynamics of their burgeoning friendship is what makes The Good Nurse fascinating. Amy has a heart episode in front of Charles. He shows empathy talking her through the situation. He asks her if she has spoken to their hospital.s cardiologist. She panics and asks Charles not to mention her health condition to anyone. They both have secrets. 

In a film where the two lead actors are Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne one would expect that performances are great. One would be correct. The filmmakers do a great job balancing the film, as the stories unfolding are personal dynamics, hospital drama and police procedural. The film becomes quite compelling as the tension increases with intensity. Amy becomes trapped between the system of the healthcare industry and the legal system.

A hospital should be a place of empathy, care. People should be treated with dignity. In the apparatus and gears of capitalism, patients can become products. When something is suspect the system is designed to protect the hospital from lawsuits. The American healthcare system, the insurance machine, the bureaucracy, the costs of care can be horrific. To then have a serial killer running loose in ICUs that hospital administrators and lawyers are covering up, truly horrific. The film made me think a lot about systems and how they operate. How the hospital industry dealt with, not dealt with Charlie Cullen reminded me of another giant system, the catholic church. How they move abusers around. The policing system, problematic police are fired only to be rehired somewhere else. The film speaks to the fortitude and strength of Amy Loughren a good nurse that stood up against the system and fought for justice for Cullen's many victims.

HEADSHOT: World Premiere Interviews Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Sunny Pang, Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto

Headshot the martial arts extravaganza directed by Kimo Stamboel and Timo Tjahjanto aka "The Mo Brothers" is now streaming on Netflix. The film stars Iko Uwais (The Raid, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Julie Estelle aka "Hammer Girl" from (The Raid 2) and Sunny Pang (The Collector). Here my interviews from the Headshot world premiere at Midnight Madness 2016.

And here is an amazing moment during the post-screening Q&A when Iko Uwais and Sunny Pang fight on stage!