King Richard (2021)
Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green
Will Smith has made it very difficult to talk about his performance in King Richard without a certain incident clouding the discussion, and that, unfortunately, is how things will remain. But, even with all the baggage, he did turn in one hell of a performance, and I don’t think anyone can deny that. King Richard is one of those films that narrowly walks the line between legitimate depth and Oscar bait, but thankfully only occasionally leans toward the latter. Essentially an uplifting sports movie (without feeling like a sports movie), director Reinaldo Marcus Green takes the story of Venus and Serena’s upbringing under the tutelage of their eccentric father and wisely places it against the political backdrop of the late-’80s and early-’90s economic and racial upheaval found in Los Angeles at the time, specifically Compton. This inclusion adds an element of desperation that is often attempted in sports films but rarely achieved, creating an atmosphere of perseverance that doesn’t feel overly sentimental. Better sports films have certainly been made over the years, but not many.
Flee (2021)
Directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Nominated for three Academy Awards, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Flee somehow transcends all of the categories it competed in (Best Animated, Documentary, and International Feature). Taking a page from 2008’s fantastic Waltz with Bashir (another animated Oscar nominee for Best International Feature, known as Best Foreign Language Film back then), Flee blends drama and documentary into a harrowing tale of human spirit and endurance. As the film’s subject, an Afghan refugee living in Denmark named Amin, recounts the long story of his escape from Kabul (by way of Russian human traffickers), Rasmussen uses a pseudo-realistic animation style to fill in the visual details. Because of its heavy themes, Flee never quite feels like a cartoon, and because of its artistry, doesn’t feel like a documentary either. Add to that the international nature of the global refugee crisis that makes up its backbone (not to mention the life-threatening homophobia Amin is forced to endure), and Flee becomes that much harder to pin down from a strictly genre-based standpoint – and I mean that in the best way possible.
Nocturna: Side A – The Great Old Man’s Night (2022)
Directed by Gonzalo Calzada
Gonzalo Calzada’s Nocturna: Side A – The Great Old Man’s Night has a lot working for it, even if its pieces don’t always fit together. As the story of a dementia-stricken man (Pepe Soriano) who, over the course of one eerie night, re-experiences and confronts the haunting events of his past, Nocturna successfully navigates the fear and confusion of memory loss by turning it into a horror movie – and a decent one at that. With nods to The Father (for which Anthony Hopkins won an Oscar for playing a similarly afflicted character), and the fantastically maniacal Relic, Calzada uses the ambiguity of dementia to full effect, creating tense, surreal, and psychologically creepy sequences that get under the skin rather than make you jump out of if. It might not all come together perfectly in the end, but Nocturna boasts just enough experimental filmmaking technique and old-fashioned suspense to make it worth a look. Keeping my eyes peeled for Side B.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.