Hollywood’s latest entry in the popular “white-man-tells-minority-story” genre of cinema is McFarland, USA, a characteristically offensive, formulaic, and yet rousing and inspirational youth sports movie. It’s based on an incredible true story about a Latino high-school running team from the titular California town who overcame the odds and bested other, infinitely more privileged schools in a state-wide cross-country meet. This movie isn’t about the boys on the team, though. No, that would make too much sense. It’s actually a culture-clash movie about their coach, Jim White (Kevin Costner), learning that Latinos are just as good as white people, just culturally different. Again, just like in Dances With Wolves and the recent Black or White, Costner acts as tour guide through the wonderful world of the poor minorities for ignorant white America. And again, it makes me sick to my stomach.

The thoughtlessness of making the white coach the main character of the story is the film’s only major flaw, however. On every other level, it’s actually pretty decent and at some points deeply affecting. It’s predictable, plainly-shot, and written too broadly, but there are some really nice moments of affection and triumph throughout that almost made me let go of my Costner rage. Almost. Costner’s presence hangs over every scene, unfortunately, so while the film nicely depicts the warmth, closeness and hospitality of the impoverished town, we’re almost always seeing things through coach White’s eyes. Director Niki Caro and screenwriter Grant Thompson approach the material with empathy and good intentions, but the film should have been from the perspective of the boys on the team, and though Costner’s performance is very good, his omnipresence weighs everything else down.

The film opens in 1987 with White being fired from his lucrative football coaching gig in Boise, Idaho, packing up his wife (Maria Bello) and two daughters (Morgan Saylor, Elsie Fisher), and relocating to dusty McFarland, an agricultural, tight-knit Mexican-American community that isn’t exactly the California dreamland the Whites envisioned. Their first night in town, they head to a local taqueria for dinner and stare quizzically at the menu. “Don’t you have a burger?” White asks. Ha. Ha. The film is full of unnecessary gringo jokes like this that range from irksome to funny for unintended reasons. I’ve seen clueless white people try to navigate minority neighborhoods before, and yes, it’s hilarious, but let’s not forget that this story should be about the outstanding boys on the running team, not the misadventures of Mr. Blanco.

But alas, it’s in White’s shoes we stay. He takes a job at the local high school as a P.E. teacher, and when he notices that several of his students are speedsters on the race track, he convinces the school principal (Valente Rodriguez) to let him form McFarland’s first cross-country team. Thomas (Carlos Pratts) is the most gifted runner, though he’s more of a lone wolf than a team player due to drama at home. The rest of the kids are similarly archetypal, and though we do get to spend some time with them sans-White in spurts, we never get a good long look at who they really are on the inside. Their characters are loosely defined at the outset, but as the story unfolds none of their arcs go anywhere, save for Danny Diaz (Ramiro Rodruguez), the overweight, but big-hearted weak link of the team who predictably exceeds everybody’s expectations by film’s end.

The best thing about the film is its depiction of the McFarland community. From White’s abuelita neighbor giving him a chicken as a welcome gift, to the town coming together to give White’s daughter the best quinceañera ever, the generous, family-driven nature of the Mexican-American culture is represented with the utmost respect and authenticity. It’s incredibly touching to see, especially when you’ve experienced Mexican hospitality yourself and know there’s no hyperbole involved in the film’s portrayal. McFarland’s dire economic climate that limits the boys’ options post-high-school is represented as well, making the strong, loving bond between the townsfolk and their families that much more admirable.

The shameful fact that Costner dominates a movie with a hispanic ensemble cast is no fault of his own (blame the writers for that). He’s a true veteran and knows what he’s doing every step of the way, communicating big emotions with a flick of the wrist. The other standout is Pratts, whose gravitas outweighs his modest frame. He and Costner create an intense dynamic that comes across wonderfully on screen. As for the rest of the cast, their situation is the same across the board: they all do a good job, but they’re given too little material to do a great job. Again, the writers’ fault, not theirs.

The grand finale is, well, pretty grand. We all know where the story is going from the get-go, but the way the final race is filmed and edited is excellent. The urge to cheer them on after all of their hard work is irresistible, and when you see the determined Danny Diaz push himself beyond his limits, your eyes are bound to leak a bit (okay, maybe more than a bit). But let’s rewind for a second, to right before the race begins, when the teams from each school are gathered to sing the national anthem. The sound of the crowd drowns out, singling out coach White’s voice singing, “…and the hooooome of the braaaaave” as he stares at his team with pride, thinking about all they’ve taught him and accomplished. It’s like some sort of patriotic, eye-opening acid trip. These hard-working kids deserve to win, goddammit! You know what they really deserve? A movie of their own.

We’re at the midpoint of the Mill Valley Film Festival and this is where I jump in. Having made the trek from Los Angeles to join in our coverage of the festival, I’ve been immediately greeted with colorful fall trees and some compelling film viewing.  I was lucky enough to catch Whiplash, an intense and (literally) rhythmic film, that kicked off my first Mill Valley Film Festival experience with some serious energy. But like the tree covered hills surrounding this quaint town, the festival continues to show it’s versatility with unpredictably high highs, and deep and somber lows. Stay tuned for the rest of the week as Bernard and I team up to give you more coverage from Mill Valley!

Out in the Bush

[Ananda]

There’s a luxurious feeling associated with watching a matinee on a Wednesday. And after Whiplash’s intensity I was ready to relax with Charlie’s Country. Starring David Gulpilil — a man known as much for his eccentric outback lifestyle as his straightforward acting approach in such films as Walkabout, The Last Wave, and Rabbit-Proof Fence — the Un Certain Regard acting award at Cannes was presented this year to Gulpilil for his performance. While Charlie’s Country is indeed a quiet sort of film, with many gorgeous vistas of the Australian outback, it is anything but calming, providing a distressing depiction of life for the “Blackfellas” of Australia, stuck living at the hands of white law enforcement who essentially introduced the traps the Aboriginal people now fall into: drugs and alcohol.

Fed up when a police officer takes away the hunting spear he’s crafted in order to stave off the starvation threatening him, Charlie heads into the bush to live as his ancestors did. When the relentless rain of the bush makes him ill, he’s forced into medical attention at the city hospital, and is then sucked into life with the Aboriginals there, drinking and smoking and wasting the money he has. Eventually he ends up in jail and has the last of his freedoms stripped, including his identity as they shave his iconic white curls and beard.

The film is not without hope, and director Rolf de Heer steers Charlie back to his homeland and back to the roots he values. Charlie’s Country ambles through this moment of Charlie’s life, lingering on Charlie and his tendency to quietly watch what’s happening around him, the confusion of the injustice he endures reflected in his glassy eyes back at the audience. The film has many funny moments, and was based largely off Gulpilil’s own experiences and life, but its lasting impression is a somber reminder of the way mankind creates its own problems and punishes others for them.

Holding Out for An Anti-Hero

[Ananda]

Charlie’s Country provided the sort of introspection that a well-performed mirror-on-society film can, and it put me in a pensive place. Then Nightcrawler came and jerked me right out of my revery.

Led in full force by a sinewy Jake Gyllenhaal, Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut shocks the system, pulling its viewers down into the underbelly of LA’s late night crime journalism world. Almost more villain than anti-hero, Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, an intrepid but aimless young man whose every bit of diction sounds like the worst of self-help book drivel. What is it about a sociopath that makes them so easy to love? Perhaps because their lack of emotion is so easy to interpret as naiveté?

When Bloom happens across a crime scene one night, he first encounters the audacious and questionable freelance video journalists of Los Angeles. Those who listen to police scanners and roam the streets of LA late at night looking for whatever crime scene will be juiciest to sell to the blood-hungry morning news outlets. Bloom decides to try his hand at it, and as a fast learner he only pushes the boundaries further and further in his relentless pursuit of whatever angle is grisliest. But Bloom’s entrepreneurial spirit knows no bounds, and his ambition drives him beyond the level of the crime he captures on camera.

Gilroy proves a surprisingly astute director, his writing experience translating to engaging characters in all their depraved and unethical glory. Full of noir-ish atmosphere, the film has just enough wickedness to seem fantastical. And thank goodness, or this LA lady might have a hard time ever leaving her house at night again.

The Race-Relations Do-Si-Do

[Bernard]

While Ananda was a few miles down the road in Corte Madera watching the unsettling Nightcrawler, I was in San Rafael, where I was equally unsettled, but in a different way. A custody drama between a white family and a black family that left me perplexed and mildly offended, Black and White, directed by Mike Binder, fumbles its messaging on black stereotypes and white guilt and sullies things even further with inexplicable outbursts of gag comedy. My face was in perpetual “cringe mode”, as at times I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing.

Kevin Costner (who also starred in the ultimate white-guilt fantasy, Dances With Wolves), stars as drunk, rich widower Elliot, who lives in LA. When we meet him his wife’s just died in a car accident, and his daughter died a few years prior giving birth to his granddaughter, Eloise (Jillian Estelle). Fighting Elliot over custody of Eloise is her grandmother (Octavia Spencer) and her absentee, drug-addicted dad, who use Elliot’s racist-ish tendencies and his alcohol abuse as leverage in the case.

Binder on the red carpet

A few things about this film rub me the wrong way. For one, despite the seriousness of the themes and subject matter, the film will throw a random, silly joke in your face that feels tonally inappropriate, frankly. There’s a running joke in the film involving Eloise’s nerdy math tutor handing people essays he’s written on an impossible number of subjects. When he’s on the witness stand, he pulls out an essay and hands it to the judge, evoking a hearty laugh. Seemingly moments later, we see Elliot half-apologetically explaining why he called Eloise’s father a “street nigger”. This ping-ponging from comedy to racial drama is incredibly uncomfortable, making the film is an awkward example of white ignorance.

The Company Men is a feel good film about 3 different characters dealing with downsizing at their company. Their family, lifestyles and self-worth all must go through drastic changes. The film’s cast is stacked; Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, Craig T. Nelson and Maria Bello, but with no fault of their own, the film as a whole does not seem to hit emotionally. The film’s script takes no risks, which in the end, is what hurt it the most.

The Company Men starts off with Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) driving his Porsche into work. Interrupting him brag about how wonderful his round of golf was today at the country club, is news from his co-workers that he is losing his job. The news hits him as swiftly as it hits the viewer, without warning. He was the divisional sales leader for 12 years and making 120k plus benefits but as of today he is now unemployed.

The news of layoffs spread like wild fire in the office and Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) feels like he is next. For fear of losing his job, he cowardly hides in another office. As Phil comes home his daughter greets him with news about a school trip to Italy and asks him if she can go. He hesitates with his answer, the reason is obvious, but he replies with, “of course sweetheart”. It was more than a subtle hint of foreshadowing.

Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) finds out about the layoffs while away at an investors meeting. While he is not being let go, the workers underneath his position were laid off. He feels betrayed by his boss who is supposed to inform him of business decisions such as these. Making the situation even more difficult, is that his boss is; the owner of the company, his old college roommate and the best man at his wedding.

You can tell it was not easy for Bobby to break the news to his wife. His self-worth is completely depending on his luxurious life-style he has. This wife goes over the finances and knows that sacrifices will have to be made. For now she tells him to eat more meals at home but it’s not long before she brings up the suggestion of selling the house. Which he immediately rejects, saying it is not needed.

On one morning, Gene’s stock in the company earned him a 2 million dollar raise since the layoffs. Him along with the highest executives at the company are getting brand new offices with generous city views but you cannot help but notice Gene feeling bad about receiving these benefits.

Bobby’s brother-in-law Jack (Kevin Costner) is one of the last people to find out about him losing his job. This was done on purpose as Bobby has always enjoyed living a higher paid lifestyle than Jack’s middle-class one. Jack owns his own small construction company that builds houses. When Jack received the news about Bobby he offers him a job working for him. Bobby declines as he cannot see himself being a “working man”. After all, doing manual labor for a living does not help him retain his lifestyle status he wishes to keep.

The reality of cutting back finally sinks in when Bobby is thrown out of the country club before a round of golf. Although we knew the whole time, Bobby finally admits that he needs to look successful. He considers himself “a 37 year old unemployed loser that cannot support his family.” Sounds like he is going through a mid-life crisis.

Maybe hearing himself say that finally registered or maybe he realized that he needs to put his family’s well-being ahead of his own successful status, but he bites the bullet and sells his beloved Porsche. And as if that was not hard enough for him to do, he ends up doing something he never thought he would do. He asks Jack if he can have a job as a construction worker, he is now a working man.

Bobby had a lot of overcome. He was a father but never really showed it. He cared too much about what other people thought of him. Luckily, he was able to get past these hurdles. Something Gene and Phil might have to as well.

When I watched the trailer for this film, I guessed it would go something like this; man loses his job, has a mid-life crisis, goes on to do manual labor, overcomes his crisis, get offered big opportunity at end with him most likely turning it down because of the new leaf he turned over. The film did not stray very far from that, there were no big surprises in there.

This is John Wells first feature film as a director and it delivers a good message but I felt like it was a little too safe. Also it seemed like the direction at the end was a toss-up on whether or not Bobby was going to stick with Jack or not. It could have gone either way I think the way it went was the wrong one.

Although the script is a little sloppy, the acting was not. Ben Affleck proves that he can do more than just rom-coms. Chris Cooper should have had a stronger role because I felt he was the most powerful in the film. Tommy Lee Jones is fearless and witty. Kevin Costner depicts a hardworking man with true values and does it well.

The Company Men had more potential than it’s outcome. The list of big-named actors does not justify the textbook plot. Also, it was not nearly as emotionally driven as it could have been. The relevant timing of story and real-life recession of the economy was not a coincidence, but rather a smart marketing attempt for viewers to relate to.