To All the Boys I've Loved Before

I just learned a new word:  Epistolary e.g. telling a story via exchange of letters.  This Netflix original has that aspect which involves our heroine, Lara Jean, writing 5 letters to boys she has had a crush on.

Her little sister then sends the letters that Lara Jean has kept for years and the Pandora's Box opens.  So to keep up appearances, she invents a fake boyfriend to keep the secret from coming out and embarrassing her further.

Several subplots involving that the boys are somewhat "taken" by other important people in her life, e.g. her older sister away at college.  And we have have the Dead Disney Parent adding another aspect to the mix.

Nicely done, certainly reminiscent of Pretty in Pink, the ugly duckling getting the prince.  They even sample John Hughes movies, Say Anything, Juno and other RomCom favorite tropes.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Miss Bala

Gina Rodriguez stars as Gloria,  in this Female Fighting Back version of Sicario 2.  What starts as a promising set up (2 women go to a club and bad s@#$ starts to occur...) winds up in a mess or stereotypes:  drug cartels, forced prostitution, American DEA saviors).

The fact that it was "filmed in Mexico" using majority Mexican persons doesn't make up for this shabby script.  It devolves into a Born in East L.A., which is pretty silly in this day and age.  Including Gina, there are really few positive or redeeming characters here.   Maybe the little brother...

 In the underworld, everyone is a gangster.  You'd think that in a country of 130 million people you'd get some better stories than this:  e.g. Coco.  But perhaps those good stories only exist in Hollywood's imagination.

Directed by McAllen, TX native  Catherine Hardwicke.

* * * due to good aerial photography .

Gaza * Sundance Film Festival 2019

The theme of this year's Sundance Film Festival was "Risk Independence".  Not only could this apply to independent film making for which Sundance is the mountaintop, but it also weighs toward the types of film that Sundance tends to favor:  those from filmmakers with another voice not commonly heard.

One does not primarily go to Sundance to view what will be available in the local Multiplex in a month or two.  Rather, be expecting to have an eye-opening movie experience.  Maybe you'll like it and maybe you won't.

Gaza is at heart a documentary, but edited with a narrative arc that made it seems like a layered story line with several families.  All the stories involving living in Gaza, described as a 25 mile by 7 mile area, blocked to the north by Israel, blocked to the south by Egypt and blocked by the Mediterranean Sea, where Israel ships enforce a 3 mile limit.

As a result of this siege, prompted by a 2014 war and election of Hamas-backed leadership, Israel has withdrawn all of its settlements in Gaza.  While humanitarian aid does come in, the local citizens must make do with what they have to raise families, earn a living and hope for a better tomorrow.

Some of the families featured were the Bakr family, where the husband strives to make a living as a fisherman, while living in a refugee camp with 3 wives and 20 children.    Another man featured is a taxi driver who has recently been imprisoned for 20 months in a debtors prison.  Another is a young teenage girl who plays her cello and hopes to study abroad if the opportunity ever comes.  The thought of going to America is like going to the moon for her.

Andrew McConnell, Director of Photography did an excellent job with the various everyday shots, from the basics  of getting a haircut or having a cup of coffee to military jet bombings (not explicitly stated who was responsible), paramedics treated wounded and tire fires which are quite a sight to see.

Thought-provoking, spotlighting another part of the world, out of the ordinary.  Director Garry Keane said it took a lot of editing of 250 hours of footage over several years to make this 90 minute movie.  No wonder it beat the Sundance odds:  14,500 entries for 100 spots.

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