{"id":7883,"date":"2019-04-17T07:18:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T11:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7883"},"modified":"2019-05-07T07:10:12","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T11:10:12","slug":"the-mustang-woman-at-war-beirut-rembrandt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7883","title":{"rendered":"The Mustang * Woman at War * Beirut * Rembrandt"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Mustang (2019)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mustang,<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Said Peter Goldberg<\/a> in Slant Magazine<\/em>, \u201cSingle-minded and direct in its execution, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre\u2019s The Mustang<\/em> is a hard look at the extremes of masculine guilt and healing\u201d (trailer<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main character, Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts) smiles only once, I think, in the whole film. For the most part, Coleman doesn\u2019t interact with his fellow prisoners in a Nevada medium security prison. His attempts at a relationship with his daughter stall. We find out only deep in what his crime was, and the weight of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a special prison program (in\nplace in Nevada<\/a> and a number of Western prisons IRL) to train convicts to\nwork with wild mustangs, and tame them to the point they can be auctioned to\nthe border patrol, to ranchers, or for other uses. Putting a man like Coleman\nin a corral with 1500 pounds of frantic horse seems more than a bit risky and\nis. If only Coleman can learn relate to this one living thing\u2014and vice-versa\u2014perhaps\nthey both can be saved. As another prisoner\/horse trainer says, \u201cIf you want to\ncontrol your horse, first you gotta control yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The parallels between the confinement and anger of this\nmustang and this prisoner are obvious. Bruce Dern plays the elderly cowboy in\ncharge of the project, and he and the other prisoners are strong characters.\nBut it is Schoenaerts movie and, although the camera is on him throughout most\nof it, he grows to fill the screen. Beautiful scenery too. (For one of the most\nbeautiful and moving films ever about men and horses, get ahold of last year\u2019s The Rider<\/a>.)Rotten\nTomatoes<\/a> critics rating: 94%; audiences 74% .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woman at War (2019)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This movie from Iceland director Benedikt Erlingsson has absurdist elements, real tension, and a lot of heart (trailer<\/a>). Choral director Halla (played by Halld\u00f3ra Geirhar\u00f0sd\u00f3ttir, who also plays Halla\u2019s twin sister \u00c1sa) is outraged at the prospect of booming unenvironmental heavy industry invading Iceland. She sets out to disrupt the development plans by sabotaging the electrical system, a bit at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The authorities consider her protests eco-terrorism, and are determined to find whoever is carrying them out, with some nail-biting pursuits by helicopter and drone. To keep the story from becoming too anxiety-provoking, an absurd trio of musicians\u2014piano, tuba, and drums\u2014appears wherever she is, whether it\u2019s on the heath or in her apartment. It\u2019s the incongruous presence of the tuba that lets you know she\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s single and childless, until a four-year-old adoption\nrequest is unexpectedly filled. A child is waiting for her in the Ukraine. From\nthis point, carrying out one last adventure before  flying to retrieve her new daughter, Halla is\nalso accompanied by three Ukrainian women singers in full costume, as well. I\nlaughed out loud at this and some of the other antics. You will too.Rotten\nTomatoes<\/a> critics rating: 97%; audiences 90%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beirut (2018)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netflix provided this 2018 movie from director Brad\nAnderson, written by Tony Gilroy, a controversial<\/a>\npolitical thriller set in Beirut, once the Paris of the Mideast, which has disintegrated\ninto civil war (trailer<\/a>).\nIn 1972, John Hamm is an American diplomat and expert negotiator stationed in\nBeirut who, after one tragic night returns to the States. He never wants to go\nback. About a decade later, he does, when a friend is kidnapped, and he\u2019s asked\nby some highly untrustworthy U.S. agents to help in the rescue. Only Rosamund\nPike seems to have her head on straight.  He finds a city in shambles, divided into fiercely\nprotected zones by competing militias. Finding his friend, much less saving\nhim, seems impossible. A solid B.Rotten\nTomatoes<\/a> critics rating: 82%; audiences 55%.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rembrandt (in\ntheaters 2019)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This documentary should be appended to last week\u2019s review of\nrecent films on Caravaggio and Van\nGogh<\/a>, a rare alignment of the planets that took me to three art films in a\nweek. This one describes the creation of an exhibition of Rembrandt\u2019s late\nworks, jointly sponsored by Britain\u2019s National Museum and the Rijksmuseum (trailer<\/a>). Like those\nother big-screen delights, the chance to look up close and unhurried at these\nmasterworks is the best part. There\u2019s biographical information and commentary\nfrom curators and others. The details of how the exhibition was physically put\ntogether were fascinating too. One of my favorites among the works featured was\n\u201cAn Old Woman Reading,\u201d from 1655 (pictured). From Exhibition on Screen, you\ncan find a screening\nnear you<\/a>.Rotten\nTomatoes<\/a> critics rating: not rated yet. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Mustang (2019) Said Peter Goldberg in Slant Magazine, \u201cSingle-minded and direct in its execution, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre\u2019s The Mustang is a hard look at the extremes of masculine guilt and healing\u201d (trailer). The main character, Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts) … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Mustang * Woman at War * Beirut * Rembrandt - short movie reviews","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[440,272,58,366,56,682,57,104,32],"tags":[1550,1549],"class_list":["post-7883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-comedy","category-documentaries","category-drama","category-film","category-fine-arts","category-movies","category-the-morgue","category-thriller","tag-beruit","tag-woman-at-war"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/rembrandt.jpg?fit=820%2C550&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-239","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7888,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7883\/revisions\/7888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}