Tempo Reviews – October 2015

Straight Outta Compton

The surviving, musically-successful members of Niggaz Wit Attitudes (NWA) produced a compelling story about the rise and undoing of NWA from their own points of view. Yes, this is a good cinematic history of a newer art form. The actor portrayals are very good with Jason Mitchell as Easy E, Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, and O’Shea Jackson Jr. portraying his real-life father, Ice Cube. Yes, the story is biased in the producers’ favor.

So, should you see this movie? Maybe not. If you’ve ever listened to NWA lyrics, you have an idea that the group does not have a high or even middling view of women (though they claim their disgust is reserved only for some women). On this point, the movie can be accused of trying to sugar-coat history because viewers only get a small taste of the misogyny perpetrated by NWA in lyrics and in actions. Then again, maybe you should see this movie, before you decide anything.

Bottom line, it’s a good movie, and leaves the impression that it is a topical film. Those who observe race relations in the United States will be saddened by the reminder that many people still face the same unwarranted persecution that made headlines more than twenty years ago. Use this movie to stoke those “fight the power” feelings in your gut.

 

Catch it on Blu-ray: Amour Fou

Don’t let the title fool you, Amour Fou is not the French melodrama or mad-cap romcom you might have assumed it to be. This movie directed by Jessica Hausner, an Austrian and the closest it gets to melodrama is mocking it. What you’ll really be viewing when popping this disc into the player is a satirical take on selfishness and the lies we tell to make it more palatable to our conscience.

The story follows the young wife and mother Henriette (Birte Schnoeink) as she is preyed upon by the depressive Heinrich (Christian Friedel) in early 19th century Prussia. Discontent with the prospects for his life, Heinrich tries to find satisfaction in convincing young women to become his friends, and to prove their love to him by agreeing to a murder-suicide pact. Henriette, sensibly, is not on board with this kind of love affair, but her circumstances change in a way that make Heinrich’s offer more desirable.

Macabre as the plot sounds, Amour Fou is actually a pleasantly quirky film. In addition to presenting visually interesting scenes throughout, it is helped along by an entire cast that give delightfully quirky performances as a social circle the lower aristocracy of Prussia.

 

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