The lucky attendants of the San Diego International Film Festival got to see this movie to open the festivities. It’s my favorite of writer/director James Gray, although I don’t mean that to be really high praise. I’m not the biggest fan of his films.
This is a semi-autobiographical story of Gray’s life growing up in New York in the early 1980s.
Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is a 12-year-old who doesn’t care for school. He’d rather draw pictures of his nasty teacher Mr. Turkeltaub (Andrew Polk). And he does show an aptitude for art, which is encouraged by his loving grandfather (Anthony Hopkins). Hopkins will get an Oscar nomination for this, and while I loved him in the role, I think any older actor could have done this part. So while Hopkins did deserve the Oscar for The Father (which everyone thought should have gone to Chadwick Boseman), he won’t deserve the nomination he’ll surely get for this. And I’ve already heard some complaints from people, since he played a Jewish character that had to escape the Nazis in Europe. Those complaints are unwarranted. Let actors play characters. Just as we aren’t gripping that Anne Hathaway (as the mom) did a New York accent and she isn’t from there (oh wait, maybe she is; who knows, and who cares?). She’s also great in the part, as a harried mom balancing two constantly bickering children, her role as PTA president, and her short-fused husband.
Paul bonds with Johnny Davis (Jaylin Webb), who was held back, and seems to be picked on a lot by the teacher. Turkeltaub thinks Johnny is a bad influence on Paul, and there’s a bit of white guilt about that; although when I think of Johnny cursing out the teacher or bringing a joint to school for them to smoke in the bathroom – he does seem to be the instigator of their antics. Paul merely drew a picture of the teacher that wasn’t very flattering.
Jaylin Webb’s layered performance is easily my favorite in the film. His facial expressions and body language, and the subtle way he lights up (no pun intended) as he shows his friend NASA stickers and shares his dream of one day working there. I was reminded of RJ Cyler’s performance in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (one of the best movies of 2015).
Johnny doesn’t have the best homelife, and he’s come to the realization that he’s probably going to get the short end of the stick in life. There are two scenes – one when he has an injured foot, and another when he hugs his grandmother that he lives with – I had tears flying out of my eyes.
Yet for every scene that works, there’s one that doesn’t. For example, Johnny is supposed to be from the bad part of town. Yet when I heard he lives in Hollis…first there was the distraction of knowing Run DMC is from there. Second, I always thought that was a nice, middle-class neighborhood in Queens. Yet Gray wanted to throw in the rap stuff, I suppose (and I did like hearing him name check Kurtis Blow, the first big rapper, and one I liked as a kid his age). Although instead of all the talk of a Sugarhill Gang concert, I think they should have gone with a Grandmaster Flash show; but that’s a small complaint. I appreciate that Gray didn’t try to get fancy with the needle-drops like every other filmmaker does now. I was thrilled to hear one of my favorite bands, which they had to play: The Clash cover the Reggae song “Armagideon Time” Although if he wanted songs The Clash covered, I think “I Fought the Law” could have fit also, but I digress.
I don’t want to spoil a lot by talking about what happens when Paul and Johnny are punished, because it’s more powerful for you to see it happening when you watch the movie. I did wonder though, when Paul is beaten so badly by his dad early on, why he feels that, when he doesn’t like his mom’s cooking, he can just go to the phone and order Chinese. Surely that character would have given his spoiled son another beating at that point? The father is played by Jeremy Strong, and he was a bit hammy and over-the-top at times. There were also times he reminded me of the protagonist in the Coen brother’s A Serious Man. I did like the scene where we first meet him and he’s talking about some technical thing about how a certain pipe is stronger (he’s a repairman). Nothing like a dinner table scene where the father is droning on about the intricacies of their work, and nobody really cares.
Because of Paul’s acting up, the parents decide to send him to the same private prep school his older brother attends. He doesn’t want to go. And of course, because the movie is trying to throw so many messages at us – we get the racist kids, antisemetic adults, and a few Trump’s. Jessica Chastain plays Maryanne Trump. And, we’re supposed to buy that a bunch of 12-year-olds would be so into politics, that they’d chant “Reagan! Reagan! Reagan!”
Oy.
The moments Paul spends with his grandfather are heartwarming, of course. There are also a few small surprises we find out about gramps.
Overall, I just didn’t think the movie had the emotional potency everyone else probably felt it had (although the few people I talked to at the Film Festival, both felt it was an underdeveloped script).
Instead of trying so hard to be socially relevant, it should’ve focused on the more interesting family dynamics. Johnny’s character also needed to be fleshed out a bit more.
One interesting movie fun fact for me – this was the first film the SDIFF showed. The last one they showed was Empire of Light (which I loved). Both had scenes involving the Goldie Hawn film Private Benjamin.
I think most people who see this will be happy they did. My wife and I both thought it was a mixed bag.
2 ½ stars out of 5.