From time to time, I, your friend and humble narrator, have experiences that make me sit back and say “Wow.” I’m not going to call anyone out here, but let’s just say that some of us cannot conform to the “No Shirt. No Shoes. No Service” policy that your business employs. They don’t make shoes for my feet, man. Do you know what my claws do to socks?
Fortunately, there are other, more enlightened establishments that are happy to have my business. And to celebrate them, let’s talk about two movies I saw in a pair of local movie theaters. Theaters that aren’t squeamish about furry … you know what, I’m not even going to go there. Let’s just talk about the movies, shall we?
The Kitchen (2019) [R]
Set in 1970s New York City, The Kitchen, stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss as housewives of mobster husbands who are sent to prison by the FBI. With no way to support themselves and little assistance from their husbands’ employers, they decide to take over the leadership of the Irish mob.
The premise of this is solid. With the cast they have assembled, I was expecting some great performances and I wasn’t disappointed there. The trio of female stars do good work with what is honestly a dreadful script. But let’s put a pin in that point for now. Margo Martindale, as the matriarch of the Irish mob family, is just tremendous. She manages to be both intimidating and funny. It isn’t the performances that are weak.
It is definitely the script and the direction. The only way I can describe it is to say that it feels like there are large sections missing. You’ll be watching a scene with very clipped dialog and then right in the middle, it will just cut. The Kitchen is based on a Vertigo graphic novel series and I kept wondering if maybe they were trying to make the script sound like a comic book with limited dialog. But what I suspect happened was that the folks making the film just thought, “Oh, a movie about strong women making it on their own. That’ll sell! Write us a script! We start filming in two weeks.”
The next problem is the tone. It is hard to tell if The Kitchen is supposed to be a serious mobster movie, a really dark comedy or a film celebrating female empowerment. And the problem is, while trying to do all of these things, it does none of them. To be fair, this is Andrea Berloff’s directorial debut, but she also was nominated for an Oscar in Best Writing, Original Screenplay (for Straight Outta Compton) in 2016 so I think it is fair to be a little critical.
I suppose I can see what the big Hollywood folks saw when they green-lit The Kitchen. It has a dynamite cast of really talented people. The script was written by an Oscar nominee. The plot is topical and timely even if it is set 40 years ago. It is just a shame they couldn’t bring all of the ingredients together better.
4.5 paws out of 10
Parasite (2019) [R]
And speaking of movies that are topical and timely, next up we have Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite. The film follows the struggles of the Kim family who are all unemployed and living together in a tiny basement apartment. With few prospects, the Kims spend their days folding pizza boxes to earn money and searching for an open WiFi signal.
But then fortune smiles on the son, Ki-Woo. An old school friend tells Ki-Woo that he is about to leave the country for college and laments that he has to quit his job tutoring the daughter of a wealthy family, the Parks. Ki-Woo heads home and, with the help of his sister, forges the documents he needs to get the job.
Ki-Woo is quite the hit with his new pupil, as well as her mother who confides that she needs an art teacher for her son. Seeing another opportunity in front of him, Ki-Woo suggests his sister without revealing the nature of their relationship. Slowly the Kim family becomes more and more intertwined with the family of their employers, the Parks. But there are more than a few surprises waiting for the Kims
Bong is a masterful director (If you haven’t seen his Mother from 2009 or Snowpiercer from 2013, you need to check them out), but Parasite is on a whole other level. His hand is so steady. The tone shifts to and fro effortlessly. It has been a long while since I have seen something this well crafted. Give it some of your time and you will see why Parasite was the unanimous selection for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year.
Is Parasite ultimately a comedy or a drama or a horror film? It is all of those things and more. And unlike our first film, Bong Joon-Ho manages to balance all of these moods brilliantly. This isn’t some big budget action film that you need to see in the theater on the biggest screen possible but I definitely think you need to see it. Parasite is a fantastic film and while it may be different for everyone, I know you will all take something from watching it.
9 paws out of 10
As always, if you have a movie you think I should check out or you want to talk further about one of these reviews, drop me a line on Facebook.