AFTERSHOCK: a few words in appreciation of "Oppenheimer"

 

"OPPENHEIMER"
Written, Produced and Directed by Christopher Nolan
**** (four stars)
RATED R

To begin, I saw this film opening weekend as the world seemingly was caught up in the throes of "BarbieHeimer," as Christopher Nolan's latest epic shared the same debut weekend as Director Greta Gerwig's exceedingly anticipated "Barbie." 

As we all know now, the counter programming paid off even greater than I would imagine anyone had hoped or anticipated as both films are nominated for Oscars (shame on the Academy for not nominating Gerwig for Best Director as "Barbie" clearly did not direct itself--and furthermore, if there are going to be 10 nominees, then I feel that the Best Director section should follow suit accordingly...but I digress...) and each film set their respective box office charts afire and then some. I did not write a review for "Oppenheimer" at that time because life, such as it is and as it was in the Summer of 2023, was fraught with too much of itself for me to  find the proper time and space to sit, ruminate and compose a posting that could represent what was a demonstrably overwhelming experience. 

That being said, I have recently watched the film for a second time and am also already finding myself returning for a third viewing and it remains as voluminous of an experience as that first time. Yet, for these subsequent screenings at home, I am able to utilize the gift of subtitles to assist me with the cavalcade of names and locations that evaded me the first time. Additionally, I regret, especially as Christopher Nolan remans one of my favorite current filmmakers and his films exist as true cinematic events, this film just might be the last time I attend a Nolan film in the movie theater as his already controversial sound mixes inspired me to wear ear plugs at the movies for the first time and even then, the film was unbearably, unpleasantly loud and therefore, more than distracting.

With that admission out of the way, I now feel free to express that out of a filmography whose artistic consistency is of an uncommonly high quality, Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" has amassed what I feel is his greatest achievement to date, clearly one of 2023's best films as well as one of the top films of this current decade in cinema. It is a work that has only grown in its power with subsequent viewings as it is one that transcends mere biopic and becomes a morality play about the nature of humanity in its clash between inspiration and hubris combined with the dire warning that our own potential extinction will undoubtedly arrive at our own hands. 

Our thirst for knowledge and discovery runs up against our equal sense of self importance, self preservation, competition, avarice, exploitation, a disregard for anything beyond our own personal desires, and quest for absolute power consequences be damned all fuels Nolan's standard non-linear narrative (or dual narrative) and simultaneously tight and sprawling screenplay into a cinematic canvas that suggests an amalgamation of Milos Forman's "Amadeus" (1984), Oliver Stone's "JFK" (1993), 1970's conspiracy thrillers, most notably Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" (1974) and the likes of Terrence Malick and Stanley Kubrick at their most esoteric, with the superlative aid of Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema's visual sheen and Composer Ludvig Goransson's pulsating, urgently paranoid score. 

At the core rests Cillian Murphy in the titular role as he delivers his career best performance to date, so impressive as to how interior of a performance it actually is (he constantly made me think of a hybrid of David Bowie--the alien-esque eyes--and David Byrne--the physicality). Additionally, Robert Downey Jr. as Oppenheimer's adversary Admiral Lewis Strauss, has raised his own bar in an already impressive filmography with his career best performance to date. With Murphy, I felt that Christopher Nolan firmly placed us within a exceptional mindset that was also neither here nor there as this interpretation of the theoretical physicist was that of a restless mind speeding with such alacrity that again, consequences, whether personal or global, were never fixated upon in the present moment as he was always thinking about what could be instead of what actually is. 

After watching the film again, I believe that any confusion that I felt within that first viewing concerning the aforementioned cavalcade of names, dates, locations, etc...was purposeful due to the fever dream pacing of this hurtling three hour film as it never finds moments of rest, as we are also dealing with a figure wrestling with anxiety and mental health issues running dangerously against his incredible intelligence. There is no time to slow down, so we hang on tightly, intensity building wondering if what we are seeing and hearing is indeed actually happening as our planet teeters on its own conclusion.   

Christopher Nolan once remarked that he feels his films are building blocks towards each other and to that end, "Oppenheimer" is yet another character study of a taciturn, obsessive man yet this film, above all of the others within his oeuvre is his most Herculean.  

YOUR INHERENT BAD PERSONALITY: a review of "Shortcomings"

 

"SHORTCOMINGS"
Based upon the graphic novel Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
Screenplay Written by Adrian Tomine

Directed by Randall Park
** (two stars)
RATED R

"The world is full of angry young men
Chip on the shoulder
An ideal in their head
The world is full of angry young men
Who think life owes them something
But you only get out what goes in..."
-"The World Is Full Of Angry Young Men"
music and lyrics by Colin Moulding
performed by XTC 

What we have right now is one of this near miss films. One that has a tremendous amount going for its success but in some ways, never quite becomes what it could potentially be. In the case of this film, its own title could not be more apt.

Director/Actor Randall Park's "Shortcomings," his directorial debut feature, is a more than amiable film, as it contains a generous spirit, a sometimes wicked sense of humor and most certainly a point of view and cultural representation that was more than refreshing to view. And still, it all seemed to be a bit anti-septic, too clean, a little pat and not as emotionally urgent as it suggested. Don't  get me wrong, "Shortcomings" is not a bad film in the least and my reaction to it is not even negative as all of the ingredients are right there in front of us. It just all felt to be a bit...underprepared, therefore making the film in its entirety unable to quite reach its peak.     

Set in present day Berkely, Randall Park's "Shortcomings" stars Justin H. Min as Ben Tagawa, a misanthropic film school dropout and aspiring filmmaker who manages a failing arthouse movie theater and lives with his girlfriend, Miko (Ally Maki), w ho herself works for an Asian American film festival. With a lack of mobility, which in turns fuels his lack of inspiration, Ben goes about his days and nights sardonically attacking any and everything he feels deserving of his scorn--which even includes aspects of his own Asian American community--and often alongside his best friend, the equally sardonic Alice (Sherry Cola).

After yet another romantic fight, Miko announces that she has accepted a three month internship in New York City, which Ben accepts. Yet, as Ben remains dismissive of Miko's choices, desires and ambitions, she soon suggests that they they take a break from each other...which leaves Ben with an opportunity to make romantic inroads with first, Autumn (Tavi Gevinson), a performance artists Ben hires to work in the theater ticket booth and later, Sasha (Debby Ryan), a grad student.

Ultimately, Ben's life remains unfulfilled and stagnant as he struggles to find his own niche and pathway to a future he fears is evading right in front of his eyes.

Certainly we are more than familiar with the young adult coming of age film which often houses the subtext of the (usually male) unhospitable cynic who arrives at some sort of awakening to either, the error of his ways, or the realization that life cannot advance if he continues in this manner. Randall Park's "Shortcomings" is precisely that film and while it is well made, intentioned and filled with a good nature, it doesn't go as  far as it conceivably could or take avenues that could help to differentiate it from other films in this subgenre. 

What Park does achieve is to create a narrative that is largely unseen, the contemporary Asian American or even more specifically, the Americanized Asian experience in the 21st century, as we have witnessed in Writer/Director Lulu Wang's beautiful "The Farewell" (2019) and Director Lee Sung Jin's rapacious television series "Beef" (2023) as well as Co- Writer/Director Domee Shi's "Turning Red" (2022), her outstanding ode to the adolescent Chinese-Canadian experience. 

"Shortcomings" takes on the stereotypes contained within a perception of Asian exceptionalism, as the film gently satirizes in its opening scenes which Park then, places us squarely into the stagnant life of Ben Tagawa. Inhospitable, clearly depressed, armed with a quickfire anger, consumed with a vague anti-Asian self hatred and a sexual preference for White women despite his relationship with Miko, and a verbal mean streak that lashes outwardly often and to the increased detriment of his dwindling social circle, Park's film always remains critical of his while always allowing us to understand his interior plight, for who among us has not felt lost at some stage in our lives and in doing so, we empathize with his existential crisis even as we, and his friends, retreat from him. 

Despite the refreshing representation perspective on what is typically viewed through a White male gaze, "Shortcomings" also feels not too far removed from any of those cinematic stories. On one hand, Randall Park is suggesting that ethnicity does not escape ennui but just as a film on its own feet, we are not seeing anything that we haven't already experienced (and exceedingly better) than in say Director Stephen Frears' seminal "High Fidelity" (2000) for instance. 

In fact, "Shortcomings" feels very much like a less profane version of Writer/Director Kevin Smith's early classics like "Clerks" (1994) or "Chasing Amy" (1997) and is very much in line with a series of films released during the 1990's (often featuring Eric Stoltz in some capacity), including Writer/ Director Noah Baumbach's "Kicking And Screaming" (1995) and "Mr. Jealousy" (1997), Director Rory Kelly's "Sleep With Me" (1994), and Director Michael Steinberg's "Bodies, Rest and Motion" (1993) yet unlike all of those films, "Shortcomings" feels a little bland, as if Park was not quite ready or willing to delve deeper into more emotionally uncomfortable waters therefore making his film exist as something more than superficial, which is a shame, as this type of story sits in my cinematic wheelhouse and would always love to gather a new angle.

As a more recent comparison,  Randall Park's "Shortcomings" is really not terribly far removed thematically from Director Alexander Payne's excellent "The Holdovers" (2023) but as I think about both of those films, I wonder if a shift in its storytelling perspective could have made a significant difference as there was one crucial element that I could not take my eyes away from: the friendship between Ben and Alice. The concept of the deep waters of a platonic friendship is not typically something that I can instantly recall as being the heart of a film, especially as movies lean into the romantic. I have long expressed that for as many films that explore falling in love or the will they/won't they dynamic, I long to see more films about staying in love or  in this case, exploring love that will not fall into a kiss but contains the same passionate and painful emotional territories.

With "Shortcomings," I actually felt that the love story of Ben and Miko was the least interesting piece of the film as the most interesting dynamic for me was between Ben and Alice, which we really do not get enough off as the film is focused upon Ben's tribulations. While Ben and Alice (as she is a lesbian), will not fall into a kiss or into bed, there is a history to their union that captivated me and made me feel that if Park shifted his lens, we could still have everything that already exists within the film but with a more poignant and potent emotional core as Ben and Alice's friendship is really the love story of the film that Ben's emotional stability hinges upon.

Just think, what if we knew more about how Ben and Alice met, and what Alice's life, hopes and foibles actually are on equal footing with Ben's? Then, we could explore the ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys of their relationship and what happens when one outgrows the other, when what was completely intertwined begins to unravel, when one begins to advance while the other remains in place, when trust  is eroded, when was was hilarious for both becomes so just for one, when love remains but is changing for no other reason than just growing up. Absolutely all of that is bubbling under the surface of "Shortcomings" but is never confronted, making for muted opportunity in making something truly memorable and greater in its emotional resonance.  

Randall Park's "Shortcomings" is a decent first feature, welcoming in its approach, briskly paced, light upon its feet and never overstays or overplays a moment. But, I just wanted more. Here's hoping that Randall Park's second feature film reaches that next bar.