BONNIE’S EYE ON FILM with Bonnie DeShong and Reggie “The Reel Critic” Ponder Review “Hard Truths” and “A Complete Unknown
HARD TRUTHS – In HARD TRUTHS, which is set in London, Pansy is a middle-aged wife and mother who is so unhappy, angry, and depressed that she makes the lives of anyone she meets miserable. She doesn’t have a kind word for anyone. She is afraid to go into her garden and she is afraid of animals, and she never touches plants or flowers for fear of bugs. Her younger sister Chantelle is completely different. She is a hairdresser who loves people and to laugh and have fun with her customers and family. She loves Pansy but does not understand her. No one does, including Pansy herself.
Pansy’s son, Moses, is pretty much a recluse. He lives in his room reading books and playing video games about airplanes. He is constantly wearing headphones, probably to block out Pansy’s ranting. Occasionally he will go for walks to get away, but he doesn’t seem to have any ambition. Pansy has been married to her husband Cartley for over 22 years. He is a plumber who doesn’t seem to find peace. At home, Pansy is constantly complaining and at work, his apprentice is constantly giving historical facts about everything. Their home is a heavy cloud of depression.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives an award-winning performance as Pansy. While her rants may make you chuckle, she brings Pansy’s pain to the forefront and you try to understand what made her this sad and angry. Michele Austin is Pansy’s sister Chantelle. She could have played this character as somewhat resentful of Pansy for the way she treats and speaks to people but instead,she is the bright spot in the life of the film. Pansy’s husband Curtley is played by David Webber with such a quiet sense of sadness and a feeling be resigned to this is his life for better or for worse. I think he really cares for Pansy and perhaps loves her but is drained by her.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN – A COMPLETE UNKOWN is the biographical drama on the early life of Bob Dylan based on the book “Dula Goes Electric!” by Elija Wald. In 1961, Dylan, played amazingly by Timothée Chalamet hitchhikes to New York to meet his idol Woody Guthrie who had been hospitalized with the long-term illness Huntingdon Disease. Dylan makes his way to the hospital and meets Guthrie (Scoot McNairy) and Pete Seeger (Ed Norton) and plays a song he wrote for Guthrie, and both recognize his talent and befriend him.
The long and short of it, eventually, while on tour with Joan, he refuses to play his popular songs but instead wants to sing his original music and he walks off stage. He moves from acoustical folk music to electric guitar with a band and is shunned from the Newport Folk Festival and scene.
He loses the real love of his life Sylvie as well as Joan, but does he find his true self?
Listen to what Reggie and I thought about both of these films.
Until next time, keep your EYE to the sky!