A continuation from our previous AFI FEST coverage, the characters in these films all have one thing in common: a desire to live their truth. Whether it’s in intimate relationships, as seen in I Carry You With Me and Jumbo, or finally shedding the guilt and shame of one’s past in On The Record, this collection dives deep into emotional territory and will leave audiences both inspired and self-questioning their own desires.

  

The Real Cost Of Chasing Your Dreams, Is It Worth It?: Thoughts on I Carry You With Me

In what is being called the next Moonlight, director Heidi Ewing’s artfully crafted foreign-language drama, I Carry You With Me (Te Llevo Conmigo), is truly a sight to behold. The film, winner of the Audience Award: NEXT at the Sundance Film Festival, is a mix of non-fiction and documentary, blending fictional characters with their real-life counterparts. The older couple–whom the story is based on–is featured towards the end of the film as they play out the current-day scenes. The film as a whole unfolds in a lyrical, non-linear fashion but never lacks in its beauty or grace.

Set in Puebla, Mexico, Iván (Armando Espitia) has always been different. He dreams of being a chef in a town where job opportunities are scarce, and his limited income makes it difficult to provide for his young son. Financial struggles aside, it’s the secret that he is gay which prevents him from achieving happiness. Despite finding a supportive partner in Gerardo (Christian Vazquez), Iván decides that it’s only when he crosses into the United States when he’ll be happy. Years later, having worked his way up from dishwasher to line cook, to the chef, and finally, to the owner of a small restaurant, Iván realizes that “success” isn’t making him happy. The grass isn’t greener. In fact, he misses Mexico and debates giving it all up to see his now-grown son one more time. It’s a choice not to be made lightly; since Iván crossed the border illegally and is still an undocumented immigrant, leaving NYC once could mean leaving NYC forever.

I Carry You With Me is an artful love story that spans decades and distance. It gives us a glimpse into the desperation and commitment some are willing to go through to live out their dreams. It got me thinking, would I leave everything I knew for the possibility of happiness? Heidi Ewing isn’t just delivering a cinematic experience with I Carry You With Me, she’s also offering us a chance for reflection on what’s really important in our own lives. What’s worth the sacrifice? What would I do for love?

Distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, “I Carry You With Me” is waiting for a release.

 

What Do We Do When What We Love is Against the Status Quo?: Thoughts on Jumbo

When we feel a desire for someone–or something–are we brave enough to express that love, uninhibited of others’ thoughts?

And what if that something isn’t human at all? But rather, an inanimate object–or in the case of Jumbo–a towering amusement park ride?

Jumbo, a French film about a shy theme park worker, Jeanne (Noémie Merlant), who falls in love with a new “attraction,” explores what love means, and how we act when we feel it. What’s fascinating about this idea is that Jumbo is in fact–apparently–based on a true story. And while it may sound like a silly premise for a film, Jumbo (the pet-name that Jeanne gives to The Move It theme park ride) is actually–somewhat surprisingly–heartfelt, sincere, and emotionally felt.

Zoé Wittock directs the film with such compassion (and sensuality) that you really could substitute “Jumbo” with anything at all and the film would still hold strong as an involving, stimulating movie about forbidden love. But the fact that Jumbo is specifically about this sort of tilt-a-whirl attraction is what gives the film its visual identity, which Wittock uses to highlight its oscillating movement, and kaleidoscopic light design, which Jeanne is succumbed by.

Jumbo really only works because of the lead performance from Noémie Merlant (who audiences will recognize from Portrait of a Lady on Fire). Merlant gives an incredibly vulnerable, yet sincere and committed performance as Jeanne, who we as the audience may or may not recognize is suffering from mental health issues of her own (I felt a similarity to Alison Brie’s character in Netflix’s Horse Girl).

And also of note is the committed performance of Emmanuelle Bercot as Jeanne’s mother, who also pushes herself to understand her daughter’s odd expression of love.

While Jumbo is certainly strange in its conceit, it does also show bravery in what committed, true love looks like.

Distributed by Dark Star Pictures, “Jumbo” is waiting for a release.

 

#MeToo Didn’t Include The Stories of Black Women, Until Now: Thoughts on On The Record 

When #MeToo first went mainstream in 2018, courageous women began shedding their anonymity and calling out their abusers publicly. There was a horrifying, but not surprising, number of women who claimed they were sexually assaulted by men in the workplace. #MeToo was empowering women to speak up and it was a revolutionary moment, but as director Kirby Dick and his longtime collaborator Amy Ziering expose in On The Record, black women were still being unheard. They felt excluded from this movement and it was painful to feel as if their experience didn’t matter.

Former Def Jam and A&R executive Drew Dixon is one of the women who stayed silent. On The Record follows Dixon as she grapples with the life-changing decision on whether to allow The New York Times to publish her story about the abuse she faced from her high-profile, powerful male bosses, former Def Jam mogul Russell Simmons and head of Epic Records, L.A. Reid. After much internal back and forth, Dixon agrees to speak up. Now is the time for BIPOC to be heard and more importantly, believed.

Don’t be fooled, this isn’t a victim’s story. This is a warrior’s story. Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering are gentle, yet unrelenting as they showcase how sexual harassment has been baked into the entertainment culture as they talk to multiple women who have experienced similar sexual assaults by Russell Simmons. A powerhouse of a film, On The Record forces us to look inward and really think about who we listen to? Up until now, it hasn’t been the marginalized voices.

Distributed by HBO Max, “On The Record” is now streaming on HBO Max.

 

We Shouldn’t Look Away: Thoughts on Notturno

Academy Award-nominated director Gianfranco Rosi (Fire at Sea) delivers another richly cinematic documentary with Notturno, and this time we’re transported to the heart of the Middle East where communities are still reeling from past and future wartime chaos. Rosi and his crew shot Notturno over the last three years along the borders of Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria, and Lebanon, capturing a plethora of emotional moments. The beauty in the mundane, the heartache of reality, and the perseverance in the face of an unknown future are at the heart of this film, which lends itself to be a heavy but highly-rewarding, watch.

The opening shot shows small groups of men running laps around a track at what looks like dawn. The image is jaw-dropping, beautifully yet simply composed. It feels eerily reminiscent of Claire Denis’ Beau Travail or Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan where the camera is steady and the subjects that run in and out of frame provide the spontaneous artistic direction. The rest of the film follows suit, where long takes create drawn-out scenes to create a sense of being there too. Perhaps the most devastating scene is when we observe a child therapist asking different children to explain their drawings, which depicts various scenes of what they’ve survived under ISIS control. Listening to these innocent children describe beheadings, watching people get burned alive, and sharing that they still cry when they think about those moments makes me want to reach through the TV screen and give them all a big, tight hug.

Notturno gives a voice to a human drama and struggle in the Middle East. For as much as we might want to look away and not face the sick reality of violence and hardship, it is our duty as brothers and sisters of the world, and fellow humans, to acknowledge the tragedies and try to alleviate their pain. Watching this film and becoming aware of their daily struggles is a great first step.

Distributed by The Match Factory, “Notturno” is waiting for a release.

 

Industry 

A welcomed addition to the AFI FEST lineup this year is six episodes of the new HBO Max series, “Industry.” Running close to an hour per episode, “Industry” is a British drama set in the high-stakes world of finance. Based on the first episode alone, the series will center around fresh-faced American ex-pat Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold) as she navigates life in a new country, office politics, and getting ahead, all while concealing a deep secret that could upend everything if it gets revealed. 

Per HBO: The show will take aim at issues such as gender, race, and class in the workplace through the eyes of young graduates who are fueled by ambition, romance, and drugs, as they attempt to forge their own identities within the pressure cooker environment of Pierpoint & Co.’s trading floor.

The first episode is directed by Lena Dunham and from what I’ve seen so far, “Industry” will be the next binge-worthy show. Akin to HBO’s other highly successful series “The Newsroom” and “Succession,” “Industry” is another fast-paced and quick-witted show that seems to reinforce that there’s no rest for the wicked. And I’m here for it! 

“Industry” premieres Monday, November 9th at 7:00 pm on HBO and HBO Max.