Cultural Mining

Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.

Tiff may be over, but the films keep on coming. This week, I’m looking at three new movies about loners. There’s a backpacker in Alaska, a reality show host on the road, and a widowed ballroom dancer in Tokyo. 

Heart of the Beast

Dir: David Ayer

James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is an American special-ops soldier (retired) in the wilds of Alaska. He flies a bush plane by day, soaring between mountain peaks, and camps out each night in a pop-tent on shore.  He has everything he needs: a fishing rod, a hunting knife, and a cooler filled with the best Belgian ale. Most important of all, he’s with  his friend and constant companion since fighting a number of wars. He and Odie (short for Odin) have lived through countless tours of duty in the middle east, and have saved each other countless times. James has the scars and war wounds to prove it, but Odin has taken it really hard: he’s left with a prosthetic leg and titanium teeth. While not an officer, Odie is a soldier with a special sort of training, unique to a select  few.  And they both have PTSD, suffering from terrifying nightmares about bombs, mines and rockets. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: Odie is a german shepherd, a war dog, to be exact.

But their journey is cut short when James has a coronary while flying the prop plane and crashes into a lake.  They both survive, but are far from the nearest sign of civilization, at least a 5 day hike away. Can they survive the treacherous journey, with its bears and wolves? Or will this be their final resting place?

Heart of the Beast is an animal movie full of action, adventure and survival in the great outdoors. There’s very little dialogue aside from simple commands from James to Odin But it’s easy enough to follow what’s going on. The plot is simple: follow a paper map to get from here to there (they’re totally off the grid). And aside from a driver and a prospector, there are no other people in this movie, just Brad Pitt and the dog. I’m not a huge fan of Brad Pitt, but I generally like his films, so I don’t mind watching him for two hours. And who can resist a cute dog with sad eyes? Their encounter with a large CGI bear looks totally fake, but the scenery (New Zealand subbing for Alaska) is gorgeous. I’m most bothered by yet another pro-military war movie that never questions why we were in Iraq in the first place. (And, believe it or not, this is the second war dog movie I’ve seen in just a few years; Channing Tatum starred in Dog in 2022.)

If you like outdoor adventure and dogs — like I do — you’ll probably like Heart of the Beast. 

Otherwise, skip it.

Primetime

Dir: Lance Oppenheim

It’s the early 2000s in America. Dan Plumb (Skyler Gisondo) is an aspiring actor in his twenties looking for his big break. He likes musical comedies, but is willing to try anything to build up his credits and join actors equity. But his latest audition left him baffled. No script, no rehearsals, just a brief description of the character he’s playing — a “nubile” teenaged boy, about to meet someone in his home. But he doesn’t expect a child molester to appear at the door and drop his pants! Dan — and the potential criminal — are both unwitting actors in a new TV segment called To Catch a Predator, where potential sex criminals are lured online by a vigilante group called Perverted Justice to meet supposed underage girls or boys (though actually communicating with other middle-aged men). And it’s all captured, on video, as it happens. Each segment culminates with the show’s host Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) descending a flight of stairs and confronting the man over a plate of cookies. Hansen exalts in his role, diligently memorizing the lurid words exchanged online and repeated them before the cameras and cowering predator. This is all done under the direction of Andie, his producer (Merritt Wever). It’s just one segment on a tabloid-style exploitation show called Dateline NBC, but it’s getting good ratings, and finally moved to prime time. Hansen and Andie are ecstatic, but realize they have to entrap a whale — someone in a high government position — to generate really great ratings. 

But all is not well. Hansen is always on the road, neglecting his wife Mary (Anna Faris) and their two kids. And he’s being threatened by The National Enquirer with photos of his own extramarital infidelity. Will they catch that whale? Will it lead to good ratings? Or will their show be cancelled?

Primetime is a comic, behind-the-scenes look at the sleazy world of reality TV in the early aughts. It’s darkly funny but will probably make your skin crawl; it certainly did mine. It’s skillfully made, shot in the grainy, colour-saturated video of the time, with a low camera, and melodramatic music. And the acting is terrific all around. Here’s the thing. I get that it’s a cynical social satire but I have zero knowledge or memory of the show — or its host — that it’s satirizing. Many critics have lauded the accuracy of Robert Pattinson’s portrayal of Chris Hansen, but I have no opinion on that. What I can say is Pattinson’s characterization — egotistical, paranoid, ambitious, sleazy — is really well done. 

Primetime is a skilful  movie, but not a fun one. I left that theatre feeling dirty. 

And that’s why I never watch reality TV.

Ha-Chan, Shake your Booty

Co-Wri/Dir: Josef Kubota Wladyka

Ha-Chan (Rinko Kikuchi) lives a perfect life in Tokyo. She is deeply in love with her husband Luis who, though Mexican, has completely embraced Japanese culture from Cowichan sweaters to oyako donburi. They live in a lovely house, and collect thousands of vinyl records. Their main activity is entering ballroom competitions, in the Seniors Latin category (they’re both in their mid- forties.) And when they rhumba together, it’s like falling in love again. In Ha-chan’s mind, they are literally floating above the floor. But it all comes crashing down when Luis dies of a heart attack, mid-dance. 

Now Ha-chan is lonely, isolated and depressed. Her in-laws insisted on burying Luis’ body in Mexico, not cremating him in Japan, leaving her haunted by his ghost (in the form of a giant crow). It’s up to her two sisters to pull her out of her funk and start her dancing again. The three sign up for lessons with Fedir (Alberto Guerra) a  handsome Latino man who has won countless ballroom competitions with his beautiful European wife and dance partner. But they are also known for their open marriage.  Can Ha-Chan learn to love dancing again? Is she falling in love with Fedir? And what will happen on the Día de los Muertos when ghosts come back to life?

Ha-Chan, Shake your Booty is a bittersweet, comical look at the world of ballroom dancing in Japan, as seen through the eyes of an unusually imaginative woman. It’s directed by an American of Japanese and Polish background, who sensitively handles inter-racial relationships.  In a musical, characters break into song, while in this movie characters start dancing to express their emotions. Does that make this movie a dance-ical?

I love Rinko Kikuchi’s larger-than-life portrayal of Ha-Chan, throwing shade with her heavy eye shadow and sequinned dresses. I have less interest in ballroom dancing, and I find the campy tone of the whole movie grating. From its title to each chapter, there’s an all-caps, exclamatory feel that isn’t reflected in its not-so-frenetic plot.  Ha-Chan: Shake Your Booty! is nice, fun and touching, but it won’t blow you away.

Heart of the Beast, Primetime, and Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty, all open this weekend in Toronto; check your local listings.

This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning, on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website  culturalmining.com