FILMS from AFAR

This is a poignant, beautifully filmed tale elevated by an excellent cast and a real-life history that has affirmative messages for teenagers and the Black community as a whole. Concrete Cowboy is not without its sadder moments, though, including a line Elba delivers about being "born with a boot on my neck." He and his son, like Paris and Smush and others, all share a mixed sense of oppression and fear that has led them to make destructive life choices. But who is a person supposed to grow up to be when he's told all his life to watch his back on the streets, Harp asks? The film visualizes this sense by filming frequently at night, using light intentionally to frame characters or highlight specific attributes. Music is also used to reflect the experiences of different generations of Black Americans, with harmonica, traditional song, jazz musicians, and rap music employed evocatively. London-born Elba pulls off playing a Philadelphia cowboy, and while the riders are certainly portrayed as noble, wise, and righteous, the movie doesn't fall into the trap of depicting any of them as perfect. It's the women -- Nessie and Esha -- who provide the pearls of wisdom, like "Hard things come before good things," and "Horses aren't the only thing needing breaking around here." Harp, a chain-smoker with hard edges and a checkered past, has trouble creating emotional intimacy with his son, and Elba's performance is as much about what he conveys without speaking as his delivered lines. McLaughlin is going to be the real surprise out of this film, though. The gawky kid from Stranger Things is transformed here into a young man trying to appear streetwise, and McLaughlin, who's in nearly every scene, captures Cole's combination of tough and tender. His character has one foot in two different worlds, the stables and the streets, woven together throughout the film, not always 100% smoothly. McLaughlin ably embodies the teen processing these contrasting experiences, trying to decide his own way, his own conception of manhood and a good life. End credits include interviews with some real-life Fletcher Street Riders, including some who play themselves in the film. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Even without the Hitchcock original demanding unfavorable comparison, this adaptation comes across as a not-entirely-successful venture. Rebecca will still draw plenty of audiences, and there may be those who prefer this longer, prettier version with its newish bookends (the extended courtship on the Riviera and a finale in Cairo following a trial). The entire venture has good bones thanks to the original 1938 novel, previous screen adaptations for reference, and beautifully-crafted period settings and costumes meant to additionally evoke classical Hollywood style. But the remaining elements simply don't pull together well enough to summon the story's natural suspense or even a deep interest in the characters. Scott Thomas is the most compelling in her tight-lipped take on the scheming Mrs. Danvers, but Hammer feels surprisingly stiff. In trying to paint Maxim as emotionally distant, the character instead comes across as lacking profundity. James is believable as the ingénue at the film's start, but less so as the take-charge wife at the end. Parts of her developing psychological breakdown are handled especially clumsily, like one heavy-handed fusion of images of James collapsing, red-lit party-goers chanting "Rebecca," a body floating in the water, and fireworks exploding. Forgoing some of the moodiness and dark tones of the original and extending the narration to just over two hours have ultimately undermined the power of this story. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

It's impossible not to find something touching, funny, profound, sad, or inspiring of deeper thought in a film like this one. Yet precisely because there's so much packed in here, Life in a Day 2020 may best be watched -- and digested -- in segments. At about the one hour mark, the film dives into a montage of clips of wild animals, vast nature-scapes, industrial pollution, global climate change, and live food factories. It's such an important message, but after 60 minutes of humanity on display, the sustained emotion feels almost overwhelming. The same could be said of a section dedicated to Black Lives Matter protests in the US, which begins emotionally with a Black man driving by a house with Confederate flags and hinting that he keeps a gun around for self protection, and a Black woman who tearfully recalls that two of her brothers were killed in police custody. This film is a labor of love, and it's a major effort of collection, curation, and editing. The organizers received 324,000 videos that they whittled down to 87 minutes. They've broadly organized them into like material spread out over the course of a single day, from sun up to sun down. It's also book-ended by babies being born and elderly people reflecting on lives well lived. Surprisingly, it's not entirely focused on COVID, but the pandemic is omnipresent, including in a man who has made the spiders in his home his family, a segment on essential workers of all kinds, and people who have lost loved ones. There's much to be learned about each other, most importantly that there's more that unites us than separates us as humans on this planet. "What I fear the most is that my life will pass unnoticed," a young man from Northern Siberia says, echoing a common human sentiment, and perhaps encapsulating the ultimate value of a project like this one: To notice, to reflect, and to care about ourselves and each other. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

There's plenty of physical action here from Jason Momoa and young costar Isabela Merced, but their thinly-developed characters and an even slighter plot line undermine this film's reach. The concept of exploring the complicated American landscape of national politics, global pharmaceutical companies, and overpriced health care in Sweet Girl had a lot of potential. But the unraveling mystery is much more focused on the chase and violent fight scenes, which get replayed in a twist at the end, rather than the ideas. This means the resolution of the conspiracy that motivated the main characters' revenge journey comes as a let-down. In its place, the father-daughter relationship between Momoa and Merced offers some sweet and truthful moments of love, loyalty, and responsibility. A powerful scene shows Momoa flailing down hospital corridors looking for a private place to unleash howling sobs after his wife dies. It would've been great to know more about their characters and their backstory than just the pivotal moment that launched them into this scenario. They live in a run-down Pittsburgh apartment, subsist on junk food, and spend most of their free time at a boxing club. It's a compelling backdrop, but what else could we know about them? Who else do they have in their lives? What were their dreams and plans before Amanda died? Fleshing out these key characters would've made both them and their journey more interesting and plausible. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

In this lightweight third entry to the series, privileged teens spend their last summer before (Ivy League) college grappling with relationships and growing up. The Kissing Booth 3 will provide some closure for fans of the previous films, especially in its "Six years later" epilogue. But there's not much by way of deeper character development, and the story's central conflict -- which college (and therefore brother) Elle will choose -- doesn't really provide much conflict at all. Nor do storylines about the boys' parents selling their beach house, Chloe's parents getting a divorce, Marco still holding a flame for Elle, or high school relationships coming to an end. Molly Ringwald is sadly underused in this sequel, and disparate accents (including Australian Elordi's poking through as American Noah) are left unexplained. A montage of the teens' fulfillment of a bucket list of activities feels improbable, as does the extreme wealth on display. Likewise, in a scene where Elle, already feeling down, drops a bunch of trash when a bag tears, Lee tries to cheer her up by explaining that according to his mother, there are only two things worth spending "a little extra" on -- trash bags and bacon. The anecdote's lack of deeper meaning is reflective of the film as a whole. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

A nimble blending of past and present footage and testimonies from key first-hand sources offers a devastating exposé of a controversial and ongoing movement in this documentary. Pray Away opens to the sound of pouring rain and closes on disturbing statistics about the lasting impact of conversion therapy; in between, the mood remains purposefully melancholy. Interviewees bring the statistics to distressing life with honest revelations about deeply personal experiences. A former teen subject of the therapy describes her self harming in detail, a previous national spokesperson lets the camera into a private counseling session that has for nearly a decade helped her grapple with her former role in the movement, and others lay bare the anxiety and depression that resulted from years of denying their own truths. As one man, who had been the most public face of successful conversion therapy for years before he was photographed at a gay bar, put it, changed behavior (getting married, not acting on his homosexual impulses) never equaled changed feelings. Now, these former "ex-gay" leaders of the movement, all of whom have since admitted their true sexuality, say all they can do to make amends is to speak up loudly against conversion therapy. One fascinating aspect of the movement depicted in the film is its profound intertwining with Christian faith, which wrapped sexuality, gender, relationships, and love up with shame, guilt, obedience, and God's approval. It's powerful when one "survivor" demonstrates how faith has also been part of her healing process, and she and her fiancée are wed in a beautiful church in the film's second half. The movement is also shown to have picked up political steam during the George W. Bush administration and among conservative leaders of that time. The documentary makes no attempt to balance its own stance, and one subject becomes the unwitting anti-hero. A self-described former transvestite, Jeffrey McCall offers to pray with passersby at a strip mall, provides apparently unqualified therapy to concerned parents, and organizes a "Freedom March" to spread the word of his own salvation through Jesus. McCall presumably agreed to be included in the film, while other contemporary leaders of the movement declined. He seems to be positioned by the makers of the film as the continuation today of all that the former leaders denounce. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

This feel-good romantic comedy combines an incredibly likable cast, a sweet story about falling in and out of love, and a blissful island setting. Resort to Love might not break new ground in the genre or leave you philosophizing, but its location, diverse cast, and enjoyable pop soundtrack -- including songs performed by leads Milian and Pitts -- offer novel appeal. The film also maturely balances comedy with realistic emotion. There's humor here, including some slapstick, but the filmmakers make a wise decision to play some of the more important scenes straight. The climactic fight between two women and a man's tender vows at his wedding are two honest and heartfelt scenes that help lift up this pleasant rom-com. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Judging by how seared into Eddie Braun's young imagination Evel Knievel's 1974 attempt to rocket across an Idaho canyon was, this film could leave a similarly lasting impression on viewers today. Disney seems to be banking on that with Stuntman, a documentary built around Braun's three-and-a-half-year odyssey to complete Knievel's daredevil stunt 40 years later. Yet the actual rocket launch in September 2016, when Braun was 54, passed without quite as much glory as the Knievel original, partially because no major network was willing to broadcast the potentially fatal event live. If you Google "Snake River jump" today, most of the results are about Knievel's, not Braun's, attempt. The film does a great job of showing how the idea began to seem more and more foolhardy over time, especially when a first test rocket failed to launch. Eddie's struggle to find a sponsor to help finance the venture provides an interesting sequence in the film where he schmoozes executives at a racetrack. Stuntman is also successful at building up suspense around the day of the launch, though anyone who was paying attention to the event already knows how it ended. Eddie is also a pleasant enough protagonist, but he doesn't open up quite as much as you might hope. As he fights back tears on his way to the rocket on launch day, viewers are reminded of this film's core debility: it's never really able to answer the key question of what motivates this man to do this death-defying job. He talks about paying the bills; his colleagues mention his unique bravado; and he says he wants to enjoy the "exhilaration" ("thrill" is "too cheap" a word, he notes). But a person who risks his life as a day job, beyond the singular rocket event and despite a loving family at home, is a special kind of person. It would have been fascinating to dig deeper into what really makes this stuntman tick. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Megan Rapinoe always made a compelling public spokesperson for her team's legal case for equal pay, and she once again takes a starring role in this documentary about the case. LFG bets heavily on her star power and an interest in some of the key members of the team by organizing the bulk of the reel around talking head interviews. One effect is that the film could make this case feel ultimately more about the current celebrity team members than the larger historical significance it actually has, even though they themselves insist a win is about future generations of female athletes. The documentary is structured by days over the course of more than a year, from spring 2019 to spring 2020, effectively illustrating how the US Soccer Federation bungled the case and drew it out unnecessarily -- and the toll it took, seen in real time, on the players. Even if you know the outcome, getting there makes for a painful watch. The film will undoubtedly strike a chord with many viewers. One memorable segment comes when McDonald describes how at one point she was earning less than $15,000 as a professional soccer player and couldn't support her son without taking on additional part-time jobs. Curiously, of all the women interviewed, the directors only delve more deeply into Rapinoe's and McDonald's backgrounds and family lives. The team's lawyers make clear and credible arguments for the women's case of discrimination. Some points are highlighted by statistics, though these are run through rather quickly. There are plenty of insightful moments and some exciting clips of archive footage, especially from past matches and celebrations. Three montages stand out: one in which celebrities, politicians, and other athletes give their support for the women's case; a second highlighting trailblazing female athletes in other sports; and a series of clips over the end credits showing young girls displaying their mad soccer skills (and some Rapinoe-style hairdos). Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Iliza Shlesinger and Margaret Cho make a very funny duo, and while this collaboration isn't great cinema, it's an amusing and well-paced hour and half of entertainment. The few laugh-out-loud scenes in Good on Paper involve the pair together -- an over-prepared stake-out and a misguided interrogation come to mind. The film flashes every now and then, Seinfeld-esque, to Shlesinger doing stand-up routines related to the movie's storyline, which we're told is "a mostly true story." These inserts could have fallen flat or pulled the viewer too far out of the action of the story, but since she's playing a stand-up comic and the routines are part of her character's story, it works. In the film, the comedian's act revolves around questioning gender roles: Why when women do certain things are they judged so much more harshly than men? The inserts are funny especially in the context of the story being told. A final sequence involving a courtroom battle feels out of tone for the rest of the film. Ryan Hansen captures just the right mix of weird and harmless to make his character believable and only slightly creepy, keeping things from getting dark. Beyond the devious beau, it's a good bet that some of what Shlesinger's comic deals with in Good on Paper -- like a drunk "bro" telling her she's funny "for a girl" and the jealousies and struggles of forging a career in the entertainment industry -- are also "a mostly true story." Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Charming characters, attractive settings, and universal messages balance a familiar storyline inspired by the same Chinese fable as Aladdin in this enjoyable animated film. Wish Dragon is propelled by the sweet relationship between its two main characters -- kind, generous 19-year-old college student Din, who has his whole life ahead of him, and cynical, sarcastic Long, who has already lived thousands of years. The film's illustrated Shanghai setting provides a lot to look at. Characteristic "shikumen" dwellings are overshadowed by a city shown growing up across the river as if in a time-lapse video. As Din flies around on Long's back, they weave through towers and clouds, soaring high above stalled traffic and interlaced bridges. An emotional sequence where the normally humorous Long recalls his sad life on earth is sketched in translucent outlines. That scene, and a climax involving several deadly fights for the teapot and control of the magic dragon, are a bit darker than the rest of this fun, light, and positive story. Some viewers might have wished for a little less action, though the film's makers suggest some of the kung fu fight scenes were made in tribute to producer Jackie Chan. There's humor sketched into the art, like when Din is kicked out of a fancy clothing store called "Nomani" and goes to another called "Nomoney." The action has similar fun asides, like when Din falls from a rooftop and lands on a toilet, then kindly stops to put the seat down before moving on, or the goofy way one of the henchmen never takes his hands out of his pockets and does everything with his legs and feet. A running joke involves Long discovering modern-day contraptions like a cell phone, airplanes, TV sets, traffic, and delicious but shrimp-free shrimp chips. These are all part of the charm, and the blending of tradition and modernity, in Wish Dragon. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Gina Rodriguez gives a powerful performance as a flawed but resilient and courageous woman trying to save her kids, but other elements of this high-concept thriller fall short. Awake seems in a hurry to plunge us into mayhem at the expense of a bit more time spent developing its story and characters. Most people in the film, besides Rodriguez's Jill and her two kids, are introduced only to be killed off or promptly forgotten. This is disappointing in a couple of cases, where characters could be intriguing (like the mother-in-law, played by Frances Fisher, or Barry Pepper's pastor) or just deserve a more satisfying resolution (like Shamier Anderson's Dodge). The movie focuses squarely on the darker side of human nature, not just after the "event," when people are randomly and brutally killing one another, but even before. Jill has lost custody of her kids over an apparent drug problem and she continues to sell stolen pills, her husband died at war, her mother-in-law is sick and needs medicine, their pastor is a recovered drug addict with the scars to prove it, and so on. Even the central concept of the film is given short shrift. The idea of what might have caused the apocalyptic scenario is briefly mentioned but not explored. It makes some sense that the sleep-deprived humans haven't fully figured out what happened in a matter of days, but it also feels like the writers just didn't deem an explanation necessary. Similarly, there is social critique implied in the film (a play on the idea of being "woke," a reference to the military's inhumane use of sleep deprivation during interrogation, a discussion of people believing repeated information as fact), but these are only dangled as ideas. Instead, the film lurches from one violent scenario to the next. Many of the film's scenes are indeed disturbing, especially when the young girl is involved, and the movie manages to sustain suspense and tension for most of its 97 minutes. At the very least, Awake won't put you to sleep. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.