Thumbnails Jul 24

by Tony Medley

Presumed Innocent (9/10): 8-part miniseries Apple TV+. Based on Scott Turow’s novel, this is a remake of the 1990 blockbuster hit that grossed $221 million. Forget that movie, this is a compelling tale well directed by Greg Yaritanes (5 episodes) and Anne Sewitsky (2 episodes). Jake Gyllenhaal plays Chicago prosecutor Rusty Sabich who finds himself accused of a brutal rape and murder of fellow prosecutor Carolyn Polhemus (Renate Reinsve).

He is defended by former District Attorney Raymond Horgan (Bill Camp). But out to get him is the new DA Nico Della Guardia (O-T Fagbenle), who assigns Tommy Moto (Peter Sarsgaard) to prosecute.

The acting is top notch. Sarsgaard gives an award-quality performance as the dogged “bad guy” prosecutor, but so does Gyllenhaal as the inscrutable protagonist. That’s not to downplay the performances of the others, who are excellent, including Camp and Ruth Negga, who plays Rusty’s wife, Barbara, who is as much a victim here as Rusty.

While I didn’t watch the entire series in one sitting, I did watch it in a short period of time because it grabbed me from the outset. However, Apple did not provide the final episode to the press, so I don’t know how it ends.

Hit Man (8/10): 115 minutes. R. Director Richard Linklater has been a mixed bag with me. I thought his three romances set in Paris, Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013) well-conceived but disappointing. However, his Me and Orson Welles (2008), is one of the best films I’ve seen in the 21st century.

This is one of his better efforts. He takes the true story of a mild-mannered professor (Glen Powell) who somehow finds himself a faux hit man for his local police department to entrap people into hiring himself to kill people, and then charging and convicting them. That’s the true part.

The Hollywood part is that he gets romantically involved with one of his “clients” (Adria Arjona) and therein the story becomes Hollywood fiction. That’s OK because Powell gives a sterling comedic performance masquerading as a killer, and Arjona is convincing enough as the gal who catches his heart. In theaters and on Netflix.

Firebrand (5/10): 120 minutes. R. Katherine Parr (Alicia Vikander), the sixth and last wife of Henry VIII (Jude Law), is little known nor long remembered (divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived!). Director Karim Aïnouz tells the story of what must have been a remarkable woman.

Unfortunately, Hollywood raises its ugly head and the story Aïnouz tells, while presenting some truth, adds a lot of unnecessary Hollywood embellishment. While it might make a reasonable fictional tale, the true story would be a lot better.

Law presents Henry as truly despicable, which might be true. While Vikander and Judd give good performances, perhaps the best performance in the film is by Simon Russell Beale who plays Stephen Gardiner, an obsequious toady who did his best to bring Katherine down.

The way Aïnouz tells it, the marriage was awful and the way he depicts their “lovemaking” cringeworthy. The film is far too long and ends with an outlandish assertion, not supported by any facts of which I am aware.

The Nature of Love (3/10) July 12 Laemmle Royal: 112 Minutes. NR.

This is apparently intended to be a romcom, but director/scriptwriter Monia Chokri has a much different definition of both comedy and romance than I. Sophia (Magalie Lépine-londeau) is in an apparently happy 10-year marriage to Xavier (Francis-William Rhéaume) when she meets a sexy contractor, Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) and falls for him. Chokri tries to say she falls in love, but it looks more like falling in sex.

With no seeming guilt, she pursues a relationship with him. Chokri apparently has no empathy with the cuckolded Xavier, who is almost immediately discarded from the story. There is little mention of how he reacts to his wife running off with another man. Chokri’s ignoring this part of the story shows a low appreciation of the effects of betrayal and unfaithfulness.

As to “comedy,” I didn’t see anything in the film that was remotely humorous. So, it’s not romantic and it’s not funny. What’s the point? In French.