Falling Soul, American Skin

 

SOUL-2020

ANIMATION 

PLOT:  Middle age black man gets to play jazz with a legend but he dies but comes back to find out what is really important.

WHAT IS RIGHT:  The great voice actors, Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey and Angela Bassett.  The jazz music is great.  Impressive story. 

WHAT IS WRONG:   Disney makes in-between life and death a pleasant experience.  Cute but not for children.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  Yes if you are an adult.

FALLING

DRAMA

PLOT:    John Peterson (Viggo Mortensen), a gay man who is married to an Asian has to take care of his aging father Willis (Lance Henriksen) who has dementia.

WHAT IS RIGHT:  The performances of Mortensen and Henriksen. These two actors are famous for action, fantasy and sci-fi films but they acted well as son and father who never got along as he got older and willing to take care of him.  Henriksen is a fussing racist, sexist difficult senior parent.  Praise also for Sverrir Gudnason as Young Willis who wants to be good to his wife and children but has a wild streak in him. 

WHAT IS WRONG:  Why is Willis the way he is.  There is a ton of flashbacks of the Peterson’s when they were young and teens but we don’t know about the father enough.  Was it the sign of the times or was he always mean and got mean as he got older and the world was changing without him.  Laura Linney as Sarah, John’s suffer sister had only one scene but she should have had more for she is very talented.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  It is an independent film so doesn’t expect Hollywood histrionics but it is emotional.  If you enjoy excellent acting you should go.

AMERICAN SKIN

DRAMA (Video Release)

PLOT:   Ex-veteran watches his son gunned down in front of him, the officer acquitted vows his own justice.

WHATS RIGHT:  Nate Parker wrote and directed this film.  It discusses both sides of the concerning subject of black people killed by the police and the police see it differently.  Parker wants you to see how tough  this issue truly  is.

WHAT’S WRONG:  It is hard to watch if you have been wronged by the police.  It is also low-budget so but there are some star you may know like Omari Hardwick (Showtime’s Power) and Theo Rossi( Netflix’s Luke Cage) Nate Parker is not very popular himself.  He also wrote and directed Birth of A Nation in 2016 about Nat Turner.  Rumors about an alleged rape charge the film didn’t do very well.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  Yes!  It is on DVD and was on Demand.  If you don’t search for it you will not find it.  I found out about it on Black News Channel on a talk show.  It is worth the search.