Back Row Thoughts – The Spirit Stragglers, Part Three

As I sit here typing, we are three weeks out from Oscar Night, and somehow I still have 10 movies from 2023 to review. God I’m piling a lot of stuff on my plate! Eight of those 10 are Independent Spirit nominees. I successfully cast my ballot this past Monday, and I look forward to seeing who triumphs. While I didn’t love every film I saw, I did at least grasp why some (or most) people would.

Four of those remaining eight will be covered here tonight. As previously mentioned, I’m only going over the narrative features that had a public release (or were foreign/documentary films, as in Part Two of this series). All of these movies are currently available in some form, mostly streaming and VOD rentals. There were three that are slated for general debuts later this year, and I’ll critique them when the time comes. For now, though, let’s press on!

A Thousand and One

Released in March of last year after wowing critics and audiences at Sundance, A Thousand and One is the debut feature for A.V. Rockwell, who wrote and directed the piece after starting out in shorts. Starring Teyana Taylor in an absolutely fantastic breakout performance, the film tells a familiar story in a surprising and nuanced way, asking key questions about what constitutes right and wrong in the eyes of the law if it’s done for the benefit of others, while also highlighting the systemic problems that poor and minority people experience even when putting their best foot forward.

Taylor plays Inez, a career hairdresser who begins the film upon her release from Rikers Prison. Back in her old neighborhood in Brooklyn, there are precisely two things on her mind: getting back on her feet financially, and reuniting with her son Terry (played over the course of the film by Aaron Kingsley Adetola, Aven Courtney, and Josiah Cross), who has been in foster care since she went inside. Terry, understandably, has abandonment issues, though he’s at least receptive to Inez’s advances and gestures of goodwill. They start to become friendly again when Terry has an accident in his foster home, and Inez takes whatever time she can to visit him in the hospital.

Inez promises him that she’ll do whatever it takes to get back on the right track so that she can be his mother properly this time, but that it might require her to go away again for a while. When Terry is visibly hurt by the idea of her leaving him alone once more, she makes a crucial and impulsive decision. She asks Terry if he wants to live with her, and when he says yes, she sneaks him out and absconds with him, riding couches until she can get a rent-controlled apartment through a women’s shelter in Harlem. From there, she gets fake documents for herself and the boy so that the authorities can’t track them, and they begin a new life.

Things go well for a while, but you can tell that something is off just beneath the surface. Terry gets good grades in school, but has little ambition, with Inez having to push him to make something of himself. The boy yearns for a father, so Inez gets back together with her ex, Lucky (Will Catlett), eventually marrying him for Terry’s sake, and while Lucky is a supportive parent, it’s clear he has women on the side and he denies wholeheartedly that Terry is his. As stable as their living situation is, the apartment is in a low state of disrepair, and without proper documentation, Inez can’t apply for anything better. All the while, Terry continues to deal with his feelings of inadequacy and abandonment, as he’s genuinely curious as to why his foster family hasn’t sent anyone to look for him. As Terry grows, he learns more and more harsh truths, culminating in a twist ending that I honestly didn’t see coming. Obviously the fake IDs were going to come into play at some point, but I never expected how this particular Chekhov’s Gun would ultimately fire.

The reason this works so well is because of Taylor’s stalwart performance. Inez is a woman who has made her mistakes, including some self-admitted stupid decisions, but she also sees the systemic disadvantages in her community, as the progression of years sees multiple national and local leaders talk about lifting up the lower class, yet she and Terry still experience life on the bottom rung. Given the illicit means by which she’s raising the child, the onset of the “Stop and Frisk” policy is particularly dangerous, as even looking at a cop the wrong way could break them apart forever. So she pushes him, arguably too hard at points, to work hard, get good grades, go to better schools, and never stop pushing, because only then will he even get a chance to improve his station in life, a ship that has long sailed for both her and Lucky. When you keep that context in the back of your mind – especially when you learn the full truth of the situation – you understand just how deeply Inez loves this boy, and Taylor sells it perfectly.

This is an incredible debut for Rockwell, and hopefully a star-making performance for Taylor. Stories of poverty and racial disparity in the inner city have been done to death, but the pair do incredible work to make this one feel fresh. I’m very excited to see what how their careers progress from here.

Grade: A

Rotting in the Sun

There are a lot of films that I watch where the initial premise shows a lot of promise, and the story begins quite well before cooling off, usually through an overlong runtime, to the point where I merely “like” it instead of “love” it by the end. Sebastián Silva’s Rotting in the Sun is a rare example of the inverse of this proposition. For about the first half of this movie, I absolutely hated it. It was gross, gratuitous, and filled with deplorable characters and writing. Then, amazingly, after the main inciting event, it gradually started getting really good, to the point where I ended up liking it way more than I thought I would. If after 10 minutes you asked me how I felt about this film, I’d say it’s one of the worst of the year. By the end, I was ready to recommend it, albeit with caveats.

Silva plays a morose version of himself. He’s living in a Mexico City apartment and art studio, where he’s in the process of making a film. He’s beset on all sides by noise (the building is undergoing renovations), pressure from his crew and distributors, annoying requests from his landlord and friend Mateo (Mateo Riestra) who cuts corners for his own financial gain, his endlessly put-upon housekeeper Vero (Catalina Saavedra) whom Mateo threatens to fire whenever she makes the tiniest mistake, and even his own dog, who constantly eats his own shit. It’s little surprise that he’s constantly depressed, addicted to ketamine, and contemplating suicide, writing dark thoughts in his journal and researching pentobarbital, a poison for canines.

At Mateo’s urging, Sebas decides to take a vacation to a gay beach resort. There he meets Jordan Firstman (playing himself), a flamboyant and endlessly irritating social media influencer, who is as vapid as they come. He’s also a fan of Silva’s work, and just so happens to have a brilliant idea to pitch him for a show that is utterly meaningless. The two are clearly incompatible, with Silva being level-headed and introverted (apart from his drug habit) and Jordan being a raging hedonist. I hate just about every moment they spend together, especially since every scene is accompanied by non-simulated sex in either the back or foreground (I have nothing against gays, but if I ever wanted to watch gay porn, I could just do that; I don’t need to see a dude sucking off another dude while getting butt-fucked in a regular film). Jordan is the most empty waste of a person in existence, and Sebas bitches and moans so much that I kind of want him to off himself just so he’ll shut up.

That’s how low the first act of this film gets, and for a little ways into the second it doesn’t look to get any better. Sebas is still messed up, and he becomes even more despondent when he takes a meeting with executives at HBO, where they hate his ideas but love Jordan’s, because he gets views and subscribers. At this point I feel more dead inside than Silva, especially when he hits his presumed rock bottom and invites Jordan to stay with him, all but admitting to an attraction that Jordan likens to a marriage proposal. Things are not looking good.

But then, something amazing happens. Silva and Vero go to the roof of the building to get a couch out of storage for Jordan to sleep on. While trying to carry it, Jordan keeps calling and texting Sebas to bother him with more details about his oh-so brilliant show idea. In a momentary slip-up, Silva goes for his phone, causing Vero to lose her grip from the weight, and with a slight accidental shove, Silva inadvertently gets exactly what he wants, falling off the roof to his death. Vero is beside herself with panic, unsure of what to do. She was about to leave for her niece’s quinceañera, and now her employer is dead. She could lose her job. She could go to jail. Whatever will she do? Who will take care of the dog and stop it from eating shit?

The next day, as she searches for a way to get rid of the body, Jordan shows up, ready to move in and collaborate. He doesn’t speak any Spanish, and Vero doesn’t speak English, so the only way they can communicate is through a translation app on Jordan’s phone, which is spotty at best. Seeing that Sebas is not around, he thinks he’s been ghosted, and turns to his followers to cyber bully Silva until he comes back. He even holds an orgy at Silva’s apartment (again, I need to see NONE of this) as a form of jilted “revenge.” When Jordan discovers Silva’s wallet, phone, and journal in his bedroom, however, he realizes something untoward has happened, and actually develops a conscience, dedicating himself to finding Silva, and finally coming to understand how meaningless his following is if he can’t make any good come of it.

This is where the film wins me back, and hard! The sea change for Jordan’s character feels weirdly organic, and it breaks through the massive flaws we established earlier. Meanwhile, we have a legitimate dark and funny farce unfolding as Vero tries to get rid of any evidence of Silva’s death, lest she be blamed for what was truly an accident. All the while, the lack of communication between Jordan and Vero oddly gives us a visual example of the old adage that if a lion could speak perfect English, we could not understand him. The phone gives Jordan and Vero enough information to get the gist of their words across, but they come from such vastly different walks of life and experience that they could never come to a genuine alignment. Throw in Mateo’s naked corruption and greed, and the back half of this film becomes something unbelievably special.

This started out as self-indulgence bordering on the perverse, but amazingly, it not only redeemed itself, it became utterly fascinating by the end. What began as weak idiocy turned into an almost profound satire, and I would never have believed it if you told me this would happen after Jordan gags on a cock. This is why I never walk out of a movie, even a disastrous one. Sometimes, they can surprise you. You’ve got a lot to wade through, especially if you don’t want to see such graphic sexual content (Michael Cera was originally approached to do the film, but turned it down for that exact reason), but if you power through, your reward will be worth it. So take this overall rating on balance, rather than as a statement of general disappointment.

Grade: B-

The Starling Girl

To this day I still look back fondly at Greta Gerwig’s version of Little Women. It’s been four years, and it still gets to me just how well it’s written, staged, and performed. A lot was made of the star-studded cast at the time, but the one who seemingly got overlooked was Eliza Scanlen as Beth, as it was only her second film role. I thought she did amazing, and I’ve been rooting for her ever since.

This may be the role that catapults her into the stardom she richly deserves, as The Starling Girl gives her all the room in the world to show off her skills, and she makes the most of the opportunity. A somewhat unique coming-of-age romance set against the backdrop of near-cultist Christian fundamentalism, Scanlen gives the viewer a powerful and sympathetic lead who asks the questions that these organizations steadfastly refuse to.

Scanlen plays Jemma, or “Jem,” a 17-year-old girl, the oldest of five children in a deeply religious family in an insular Evangelical community in Kentucky (given that she’s Australian, her accent is really good in this). Raised to do all things for God and Jesus, she is smart, kind, and devout. Her only hobby is dance, which she performs in church with a small troupe, the adherents only allowed to listen to and express their art through worship songs and hymns, as their sect believes that all secular music is inherently evil and Satanic.

The problems with this life are brought to the fore right from the beginning. After a service where Jem and her friends do a loving interpretation, she is politely chastised by the pastor’s wife for allowing the outline of her bra to be visible while pressed up against her shirt. Instantly shamed, she borrows a sweater from her mother (Wrenn Schmidt) to cover up her sin. The pastor (Kyle Secor) then inquires on behalf of his teenage son Ben (Austin Abrams) about beginning the formal process of courtship, wishing to eventually marry Ben to Jem, even though they barely know each other, haven’t spoken but two words to one another in their entire lives, and both of them are still minors. Jem’s father Paul (Jimmi Simpson), is honored by the consideration.

Jem, however, is instantly enamored with Ben’s brother Owen (Lewis Pullman), who has just returned from a year of missionary work in Puerto Rico. A much “cooler” and “mellow” pastor in training, Jem sees in Owen a chance to branch out and perform more dance, and perhaps learn about the wider world to find more accessible and “fun” ways to practice her faith. She stops herself short, though, as Owen is married to a woman named Misty (Jessamine Burgum), the result of another “arrangement” between families in this tight-knit town.

You can guess what ends up happening. Jem and Owen spend more time together, eventually giving in to their attraction and starting a clandestine relationship. That trope’s been done a million times. A girl with her first love, a man in an unhappy marriage, the excitement of sex and romance and the thrill/fear of getting caught, that’s all old hat.

The meat of this particular version of the story is in how everyone behaves around Jem and towards her. Before anything even happens, she constantly punishes herself mentally for her impure thoughts. She’s meant to feel bad about her own body and natural impulses. Even when they’re eventually caught (not a spoiler if you know basic story structure), the onus is put onto her for “tempting” Owen away from his wife. Being a woman in a society like this automatically makes you responsible for your own behavior as well as the behavior of any man in your orbit.

This cognitive dissonance also manifests in Paul and Heidi’s marriage. A former country singer and a recovering alcoholic, Paul is in something of a downward spiral towards relapse after the death of one of his bandmates. He gave up his dream along with his vices in order to be “saved,” but you can tell he’s been creatively and spiritually stifled ever since, with Heidi constantly browbeating and emasculating him for daring to even consider playing again. This puts an enormous amount of pressure on him, but Heidi is also a victim, because she’s expected as part of her duty to God and Christ to ensure that the menfolk aren’t led astray. The consequences for even the slightest error are severe, as one youth is forced to prostrate himself before the entire congregation after returning from a “disciplinary camp” where he was brutalized for the crime of watching porn (don’t show him Rotting in the Sun, or they might just kill him).

Everyone in this town has skeletons, but the punishments are beyond unfair and disproportionate. Owen and Jem truly believe that they’re in love, and that it’s God’s will that they be together, that the church forcing Owen and Misty to marry was a mistake, but any sort of questioning is taken as the greatest sin of all. And the thing is, the questions being asked aren’t that shocking, just intolerable to a group hell-bent (ironically) on control at all costs. Why should a young girl not learn about her body? Why should she hate her own nature? How is it sinful to express love? What right do adults have to marry off their children without their consent? What good is a “life lived for God” if you’re not actually living? None of this is to quibble with actual faith, and that’s the point. Jem shows that you can be a true believer and still be an individual with your own wants and needs. Anyone trying to suppress that isn’t working for the Almighty, but for their own authoritarian agenda. That a character as devout as Jem is needed to point that out is profound in its own way, and Scanlen never once falters in that commitment. She is true to that ethical line throughout, wanting to live a right life by doing right by herself, and she’s incredible.

Grade: A-

Earth Mama

For our final film of this installment, we look at Earth Mama, a fine entry, if not all that memorable, that sadly illustrates one of the problems with the Independent Spirit Awards in general. The official “voting criteria” that was sent to members was two-fold. The first was “diversity, innovation, curiosity, uniqueness of vision,” and the other was “original, provocative subject matter.” In a vacuum, these are important and even crucial ideas. In practice however, it ends up becoming somewhat self-defeating, as multiple nominated movies cover the same ground, and Earth Mama is one of them, as just like A Thousand and One, it too is about a single mother in the inner city dealing with the social and racial inequities for black women on the bottom rung. You see a lot of repeated themes amongst all the nominees, and it gets to the point where in the name of diversity, you’re actually giving us a form of homogeny, and we simply gravitate towards the one in each subset that stands out the most.

From what I remember, Earth Mama is good, but A Thousand and One is so much better, and thus it kind of fades into the background. Savanah Leaf, a former Olympic volleyball player and music video director (she helmed Gary Clark, Jr.’s excellent “This Land” video), adapts her own short film, The Heart Still Hums into her feature debut, and it’s very well done, with an emphasis on close-up photography and solid characterization.

Tia Nomore stars as Gia, a single mom to two kids in Oakland (Alexis Rivers and Ca’Ron Coleman) who are both in protective care because Gia is a drug addict. She is also very pregnant with her third child, and wonders how she’ll be able to keep it, get her other children back (daughter Shaynah is so distraught she won’t even make eye contact, while son Trey is clingy and affectionate), and be able to support them on her salary as a photographer at a portrait studio (side note: by far the best aspect of this film is the rotation of different families that come in for pictures, showing Gia the variety of units that exist in loving households; it’s a tremendous visual display). She attends regular counseling sessions and parenting courses as part of her requirements to regain custody, but she doesn’t take any of it seriously, and is often aloof or combative. She’s only allowed to see her kids in supervised visits for an hour a week, but it’s clear she doesn’t want to take the steps necessary to see them on a full-time basis, viewing the bureaucracy as part of an obtrusive system standing in her way of being a parent, and she’d rather fight than follow the rules.

In an attempt to put her life back on track, she asks her social worker Carmen (Erika Alexander) if she should give this new baby up for adoption, feeling that another family might be better suited to giving the child a good life. This leads to the central conflict of the film, as Gia goes back and forth in her head about what she’s doing, and whether it’s the right thing for her or the baby. When her friend Trina (rapper Doechii), who is also pregnant, goes on a tirade about how these classes are just another means to keep black people down, Gia takes it to heart and insists that if the adoption happens, her child not be raised by a white family. Carmen arranges for her to meet a nice and humble family headed by Bokeem Woodbine, and Gia’s on board for the moment. Some time later, mostly after Trina protests that it’s a sin against God to let someone else raise your child, and how adoption is about stealing black heritage, Gia panics and takes meth, undoing almost all of her progress to that point.

The crux of the film is to explore a very real situation that proves that none of these decisions is taken lightly, and that it’s impossible to presume a person’s motivations. Nomore and Alexander give terrific performances to get that across. Gia is a complex character, one who’s rarely likeable and will almost certainly not have a happy ending, but the journey is in seeing her do just a little better each time. Contrary to what Yoda might think, the value is in seeing her try, and keep trying, rather than just going to the absolute accomplishment.

This is a very good film. Truly, it is. But I’ll admit, I struggled to remember details even as I write up this review. I watched a lot of movies last weekend to clear my Spirit backlog, and sadly, this is the one that kind of got lost in my mental shuffle, not because it’s lacking in any way, but because another film covered the same territory in a much better way. You should still take the time to see this if you get a chance, but if you don’t, I can’t honestly say you’ll be missing out on anything truly special.

Grade: B

***

That’s all for this episode. There are four more nominated films left to dissect, and I’ll hopefully get to those next weekend. The Oscar Blitz resumes tomorrow with Animated Feature, which is going to be a ton of fun. Join me then!

Join the conversation in the comments below! Did you see any of these films? Which was your favorite? What movie did you eventually enjoy after starting out despising it? Let me know! And remember, you can follow me on Twitter (fuck “X”) and YouTube for even more content!