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VIFF 2024 Review: The Piano Lesson

23 November 20249 December 2024Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Samuel L. Jackson (left) and Ray Fisher (right) are among those that debate the heirloom status of a piano in *The Piano Lesson*.

You feel that? That’s your family. That’s your blood.

Every year, the VIFF features films that are bound to spark a lot of Oscar buzz. One that I saw is The Piano Lesson. The story and acting are bound to stimulate a lot of buzz this Oscar season.

The film begins during the Fourth-Of-July 1911 in a Mississippi town. As the white residents are celebrating, an African-American resident and a group of his friends are trying to put a piano in a truck. Why? After the fireworks and celebrations, the white residents burn Sutter’s house down and kill the African-American man inside.

The film moves forward to the summer of 1936 right in the middle of the depression. Boy Willie and Lymon have arrived in Pittsburgh and stop at the Doaker Charles household: household of his uncle. Unfortunately, Boy Willie tells sister Berneice about the death of Sutter back in Mississippi. Berneice, who’s recently widowed, is infuriated and demand her brother leave, accusing him of shoving Sutter down a well. Before Boy Willie leaves, he wakes her daughter Maretha as Berneice claims to see Sutter’s ghost.

In the Doaker Charles household, Lymon notices that piano that was saved. It’s not just any piano but engraved on it are the images of Willie’s and Berneice’s ancestors. Ancestors who were enslaved and carved in so they’re never forgotten. On a piano Willie wants to sell to buy Sutter’s land. Land where his ancestors toiled as those slaves engraved on that piano. Doaker Charles insists Berneice won’t comply and Berneice is infuriated with the plan as well as Willie’s prospective buyers list. Despite the fallout, Willie believes he will convince her but as Maretha comes to Willie at the piano, he teaches her a few things. Including the boogie-woogie.

As Wining Boy visits with Doaker, Boy Willie and Lymon return to announce they found a buyer. Not only is Boy Willie told Sutter will cheat him, but pasts and future desires come to light. It’s revealed the story of Lymon and Boy Willie’s terms in prison are exposed. Although they want to buy Sutter’s land, Lymon wants to be up North because of better treatment, but Willie reminds him that despite the North is not as racist, it still exists. As Wining Boy, who made a career as an entertainer, is asked to play the piano, Wining Boy declines feeling being solely as a piano player is nothing but a burden.

The story of the piano is finally told by Doaker. The piano was an anniversary present from Sutter to his wife. The piano was bought in a slave trade and a mother and child were the currency. Over time, Mrs. Sutter missed the slaves and Mr. Sutter had the sold slaves’ husband/father carve their likeness in the piano as he was a carpenter. On that Fourth of July 1911, it was Boy Willie’s father who stole the piano and he was killed by the whites in retaliation. Willie brushes the stories aside as something from the past but as Willie and Lymon try to move the piano to weigh it, Sutter’s ghost is heard. Berneice tries to stop Willie from ‘selling his soul’ but as the two argue, Mareitha is exposed to the ghosts and screams in terror.

The next day, Doaker tells Wining Boy that he saw the ghost of Sutter playing the piano and feels Berneice should discard the ‘cursed’ piano before it can traumatize more of the family. Wining Boy doesn’t agree. After a successful watermelon sale by Willie and Lymon, Wining Boy tries to distract them of their opportunism by selling them is suit and shoes, claiming it attracts women. That same day, Reverend Avery Brown meets with Berneice. He’s been hoping to win her love and tells her she needs to stop hurting over the past, especially her husband’s death. Berenice changes the subject by trying to get Brown to be a reverend and try to get the ghosts out of the house. Instead, Avery tells her by the piano not to be afraid of her family’s spirits. Berneice then tells Rev. Brown the story of the piano. It’s a story that involves her father’s blood and her mother’s tears and she refuses to expose her hurt to all.

Boy Willie returns to the house with Grace: a woman he just hooked up with. An infuriated Berneice demands them out. Just as they leave, Lymon enters. Lymon is disheartened over his feeling he’s not that good at attracting women and confesses his feeling to women to Berneice. Berneice kissed Lymon and is finally comfortable with letting go of her late husband.

The following morning Boy Willie and Lymon are ready to take the piano for selling but Uncle Doaker stops him. Boy Willie confronts Doaker and tells him how he’s determined to sell it. The day of the selling of the piano is inching closer and closer and Willie is excited without caring what Berneice things. That is, until Berneice enters with her late husband’s gun. As Doaker and Rev. Brown see the confrontation, they urge the two to talk it out. Right there, the ghost of Sutter is revealed to all in the house. Rev. Brown tries to pray the ghost out of the house but doesn’t succeed. As Berenice sees this, she then knows she needs to play the piano again as a plea to her ancestors. As she finally play it, the ghost of Sutton disappears and the calm returns to the house. Willie then decides to move back to Mississippi but tells Berenice to keep playing or else he and Sutter will return. Before leaving, Mareitha is given a lesson.

There’s no question the story is about racism. It’s a unique story as it is about one set of family members who are originally from Mississippi, which was a slave state and still faces harsh hostile racism, and another set of family who live in Pittsburgh, which never was a slave state but had its own racism. The story is also about a piano. Carved on the piano are the ancestors of the family. Ancestors who were slaves. One set of the family wants the piano kept because the images of the ancestors maintain a link to the family blood. Others of the family want it sold because it’s an ugly reminder of the slavery their ancestors have endured. Past memories even come to the point images of ghosts of the family are involved. They don’t know how to deal with this. In the meantime, it’s in the middle of the Great Depression where buying the recently-deceased slave owner’s land depends on the sale of the piano.

August Wilson did an excellent job when he wrote this play. The piano lesson isn’t just about a young girl being taught how to play the piano on a family piano. It’s an excellent story about how an African-American family, and their struggle to deal with racism and their family’s horrific past are all encompassed in a single piano. We have Berneice who values the piano. She knows her grandfather carved the family in it, her father died so it can be theirs, but she’s reluctant to play it. There’s Boy Willie who wants to sell the piano so he can buy Sutter’s land. Already there’s a case of the difficulty of dealing with a past of slavery. Berneice considers the piano sacred and a symbol of her family. Boy Willie sees it as a bad memory of slavery and he feels selling it to buy the land his ancestors were enslaved on will be revenge. A case of a brother and sister who don’t know how to deal with the past. Berneice being widowed and having to deal with the ghost of Sutter adds to its theme. It’s right in the moment of the ghost’s presence that both Berneice and Boy Willie have to make resolve both with their family’s past of slavery and the past as a whole.

Those that have seen the play before will be able to understand the film well. The scenes that were added in the film adds to the story and helps those that have never seen the stage play before get a better sense of all that happened in the past. Those that have never seen the play before and may not attend theatre as of may find the story a bit confusing. They may not understand about the piano or the presence of ghosts and even get confused of what genre the film is.

This is the third of three plays of August Wilson Denzel Washington has helped bring to screen. The thing is of the three, this is the film that’s the least fluid and the least together. This is also the first feature length film done by his son Malcolm. Malcolm has mostly directed short films in the past. His lack of experience shows in directing an unsteady adaptation of the play. The adaptation he co-wrote with Virgil Williams who is more experienced at writing is a good adaptation to the screen but its imperfections are noticeable.

One thing that shines biggest in the film is the acting. The best coming from Danielle Deadwyler. She did an excellent job of playing the troubled Berneice who first can’t seem to let go or make resolve with tragedies of the past, but finds it in herself at the end. Her performance was the strongest quality. Also excellent is the performance of John David Washington. He does a great job of playing the character most confused with the situation and what to do with it, and the need to stop having a hard heart. Also excellent is Samuel L. Jackson as the uncle trying to settle the score and try to get Boy Willie to leave his stubbornness behind.. His role as a man caught in the middle of a difficult problem helped add to the film as well. The production design by David Bomba, the costuming from Francine Jamison-Tanchuk and the music from Alexandre Desplat also add to the story and the times.

The Piano Lesson is another ambitious effort to bring August Wilson’s greatest plays to the screen. The film is adapted well but the errors are noticeable. The best thing is the acting is top calibre. Those who watch it will be impressed.

2023 Oscars Short Films Review: Documentaries

25 February 202425 February 2024Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

Once again with the Academy Award nominations being awarded for the biggest feature-length films of the year, the AMPAS Academy also rewards the short films in three categories. I’m lucky to live in Vancouver where I can see the short films on the big screen.

The first set of films I will be focusing on is Documentaries. In each of my blogs about the short films, you will also get my predictions for which films Should Win and Will Win:

The ABC’s Of Book Banning (dirs. Sheila Nevins, Nazenet Habtezghi and Trish Adlesic) – This documentary focuses on recent regulations implemented in American school systems in the past ten years to ban certain children’s books. Most notably in Florida. There are three classifications: Restricted – disallowed to children unless permission from parent; Challenged – at risk of being banned from school libraries; and Banned – completely banned from school libraries. The books banned are mostly to do about the themes of racism and racial empowerment, sexism and female empowerment, and LGBT pride. The authors are unhappy and the children can’t fathom why they’re banned and are disappointed with the reading material they are allowed to read.

This is a smart documentary that highlights the problem from all angles. It doesn’t just show the classification system but also the books that have fallen prey to this system. We hear verses from the book and we sense why they’re banned, but still wonder what’s the problem? We hear from some of the authors of these banned books and what they have to say. We hear what the children have to say and how they can’t understand why they’re banned and what they’re left with are books with weak material. You’re left feeling for those children and the lack of knowledge they’ll be receiving. You’re also left wondering about how the USA — a nation that advertises itself as “the land of the free” — can allow for book banning to happen. I thought book banning and book burning were considered “Un-American!” Not anymore? That’s why I pick this as my Should Win and Will Win picks.

The Barber Of Little Rock (dirs. John Hoffman and Christine Turner) – In this documentary, we are introduced to Arlo Washington. He started as a barber in Little Rock, Arkansas to help raise and provide for his younger siblings after his mother died shortly after his graduation. Over time, he progressed to opening his own barber shop, then his own haircutting school, and then opening a loan company that gives loans to African Americans and other impoverished people the banks normally reject. The film not only showcases what Washington has accomplished but also interviews some of his loan customers from his bank and gets them to describe systemic racism.

The best thing about this documentary is its insightfulness. It touches on a topic we commonly hear about, but know very little of the stories of people who live it. We learn of the man who beat the odds, but he’s not hoarding all his wealth to himself. He’s a man who knows the problem and is willing to create things to empower people like never before and even fight a centuries-long problem like never before in the community. The film also reminds us that what he’s fighting is a nation-wide problem. The opinions from his interviewed clients about the topic of economic discrimination and systemic racism will open your eyes to the very people who have been hurt by this. Although Washington is doing a great job fighting it in Little Rock, he can’t fight it alone and there’s lots to be done nationwide. This documentary is very much an eye-opener.

Island In Between (dirs. S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien) – The film is about S. Leo Chiang, a Taiwanese-born American filmmaker, who returns to his nation of birth, but to an area he only knows from his family’s past military duties. The part of Taiwan he returns to is the Island of Kinmen. Kinmen is a set of Taiwanese islands that are closer to Mainland China than the main island of Taiwan. Actually the area of Kinmen he lives in has just a three-mile separation from the island city of Xiamen through the Tuyu Islet. As he sees this seemingly-short gap of water between the two islands and the rusty military guns that sit by the coast, he reflects how he was taught Taiwanese pride in his childhood and of anti-China propaganda he was taught. He talks of his confusion of his citizenship as he mentions of using his Taiwan passport to return to the US, but use his American passport to visit China. He talks of radio messages sending messages of freedom to the citizens of Xiamen and continue to be sent. He talks of the fear of war with Mainland China that could erupt and how tensions appeared to be easing in the last twenty years. One of the breakthroughs was a ferry system that could allow Taiwanese people to visit Mainland China that went well until the COVID pandemic hit.

This film serves as a reminder of the Cold War we forgot still exists. The Iron Curtain that was broken down in Eastern Europe in the early 1990’s overshadowed that hard-line Communism still exists in a few nations like the People’s Republic of China. Those unfamiliar with history will need to know China underwent a Cultural Revolution shortly after World War II which separated the Communist mainland from the capitalist Taiwan. The two nations have been bitter political enemies since the start. There was warfare between the two in the 1950’s. Despite the war ending many decades ago, the fear of another war still continues despite the guns rusting away on the coasts of the island. Chiang shows how all this has had a hard time for him establishing his identity. The national politics, the use of passports and the recent slow breakdown of political barriers leaving him wondering how should he identify himself? Chinese? Taiwanese? American? This is another documentary that’s insightful about a topic we so easily overlook.

The Last Repair Shop (dirs. Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers) – This film focuses on a shop in Los Angeles that repairs musical instruments. It’s not just any repair shop. This repair shop repairs musical instruments for the 80,000 school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District area free of charge. It’s the last shop of its kind left in LA. Featured are the repair people: Dana, who repairs stringed instruments; Paty, who repairs and cleans brass instruments; Duane, who takes care of woodwinds; and Steve, who repairs and tunes pianos. In the film we learn Dana is a gay man who had to be closeted in his early years, even as he did music in his prime. Paty, a single mother, first appeared to have a limited future as a music teacher until a chance to show her skills opened doors for her and a better income for her family. Duane used to be a banjo player who performed for the President of the United States. Steve learned music in his home nation of Armenia until a war in 1990 where his father was killed caused his family to flee to the US. The film also shows some of the students whom benefit from the repairs performed. Most are from underprivileged areas. The film ends with a final symphony with all.

This is one of the least heavy documentaries of the five nominated. This is a film that will remind you not to take things for granted. We learn of the students whom are benefiting from this. Students that value the music lessons and see ambition in their instruments and their lessons. Students that wouldn’t have much of a chance elsewhere, or would come at a cost. We learn of the people in charge of the shop. We learn of their backgrounds and how music either was always part of their life or changed their lives for the better. We learn of how some like Paty have this as an opportunity to beat the odds and have something better for herself and her family. As we watch the final symphony, we see how for all involved that music is not just music. It’s a crucial part of their lives and represents a future of promise for the young. This is not simply a documentary that’s light-hearted. It’s as much insightful as it is a delight to watch and enjoy.

Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (dir. Sean Wang) – Two grandmothers. Both in-laws. One grandmother goes by the name Nǎi Nai. The other goes by the name Wài Pó. One is in her 80’s, but still feels young. The other is 94, but feels like she’s 100. They both live in the same house and sleep in the same bed. The two talk of their history and of how they first met. The two talk of how both of them, each different in their own way, manage aging and still do their best efforts to maintain a vital life. The two also talk about the fears of aging. Especially as one looks through an old personal phone list and notes how it has the numbers of those that are deceased.

This is a documentary that’s sweet, funny and sad at times. We see two grandmothers of the filmmaker who go by different names and live together. Their friendship is surprising since in-laws are known to be at odds with each other. They show how they continue to pursue vitality in their ages and will do it in their own way, whether by one doing cultural sword arts or one drinking shamelessly. They also show that they won’t shy away from some of the dark realities of aging. They know that despite the vitality they pursue and odds they aim to beat, there are some sad reminders of some realities around the corner. It’s a mix of bitter and sweet that is impressive to watch. Including the ending where one calls Sean a brat!

And there you have it. That’s my review of the five documentaries nominated in the category Best Documentary Short Film for this year’s Oscars. I know I described many of them as “insightful,” but all of them are eye-openers that will get you to see more about topics you may already be familiar with, topics you never know about or even topics you may have overlooked before.

Oscars 2018 Best Picture Review: BlacKkKlansman

20 February 201929 June 2020Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

I admit I missed BlacKkKlansman when it first came out. Actually I saw very few movies in the summer of 2018. I finally had the chance to see it this week, and I was very happy with what I saw.

The film begins in 1957 with Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard speaking for a propaganda film for the KKK about the ‘terrible dangers’ of desegregation. The film then proceeds to the early 1970’s in Colorado Springs. Ron Stallworth is being interviewed for the police force by a white cop and a black consultant. Through the interview process, Stallworth becomes the first black police officer for the city, but is given marginalized duties like file and document retrieval. Stallworth then decides he wants to do undercover work.

His first operation is for a rally of an African American activist Kwame Ture, whom the police view as a threat. Stallworth poses undercover with a hidden microphone to record the rally. There he meets Patrice Dumas who heads the black students union at the local university. The words of Kwame sound threatening to the ears of the white policemen. Patrice then goes with Kwame to a hotel where they’re stopped by racist white patrolman Andy Landers. At the arrest, Landers threatens Kwame and gropes Patrice. After the arrest, Ron meets Patrice at a club and they dance their cares away.

Stallworth is soon transferred to the intelligence division. One day he learns of a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Stallworth decided to investigate by posing as white on the phone to chapter president Walker Breachway and having his Jewish colleague Philip ‘Flip’ Zimmerman pose as him whenever meeting the Klan in person. Zimmerman reluctantly agrees at first. He goes to the first meeting where he meets Breachway, the more hostile Felix Kendrickson and Ivanhoe, who subtly talks about an upcoming attack.

Zimmerman signs up for Klan membership under Stallworth’s name and Stallworth calls Klan headquarters to expedite his membership and speaks to Grand Wizard David Duke. The next meeting is at Kendrickson’s house. We learn that Felix’s wife Connie is just as racist. However Felix, being the loose cannon that he is, senses Zimmerman to be Jewish and tries to get him to pass a lie detector test. Before Zimmerman submits, Stallworth, who’s listening into everything with Zimmerman wired, smashes a window. Later on, the romance between Stallworth and Patrice heats up, but he doesn’t tell her he’s part of the police because of her anti-police attitude.

Stallworth is getting more active in his searching results. He learns two men of the KKK are in a branch of the US Air Force. In the meantime, Stallworth’s name is growing with the KKK. Zimmerman, while attending a shooting practice, learns of an attack planned at a student rally; the rally Patrice plans to attend. Zimmerman knows an explosion is planned as he knows Breachway makes bombs. Meanwhile David Duke travels to Colorado Springs to be at his induction and Breachway is willing to transfer his leadership to Zimmerman posing as Stallworth. Zimmerman declines, but his swearing in ceremony, along with other new members, goes as planned. However not without a KKK member noticing Zimmerman from an arrest years ago. He even remembers his nickname ‘Flip.’

As the swearing in is taking place, the attack at the student rally however does not because Connie noticed the huge police attendance. After the rally, Patrice learns the truth about Stallworth. Stallworth admits the truth and leaves Patrice in a question of principles. Her association with her anti-police group or Stallworth. With the attack at the rally botched, Connie wants to take the bombing to Patrice’s house. Connie can’t put the bomb in Patrice’s mailbox while Stallworth tracked Connie and tries to save Patrice by stopping Connie. However two policemen, who don’t know about the planned sting, think Stallworth is an attacker. It’s not until Zimmerman and another police ally arrive that they learn of the truth. Breachway sets the bomb off, but Breachway, Felix and Ivanhoe are the only fatalities.

It’s not over yet. Stallworth and Patrice are in a bar with other cops. Along comes Officer Landers. Patrice tries to get Landers to confess, which he brags about with no remorse. He tries to attack Ron and Patrice, but the police arrest Landers. With the sting over, and Connie a widow behind bars, the police order to burn all records. Stallworth makes one last call to David Duke to deliver him the shocking truth! The story ends with Ron and Patrice contemplating their future, but are interrupted by an image of a burning cross. The film, however, ends with images of the Unite The Right rally in August 2017 and Donald Trump’s lack of action to it.

There’s no doubt the object of the story is racism. Spike Lee has used racism as a theme of focus, if not the prime theme, in his films. The best example is Do The Right Thing. Spike has always maintained his films are about ‘being black in White America.’ However the film tackles the subject of hate groups. He focuses on how they don’t just have a message of racial superiority to promote. They also promote a false sense of fear and a hostility to prove their point. The groups may claim to be non-violent or not one to attack, but that’s further from the truth. That’s made most obvious when Stallworth examines the shooting targets and they’re the images of running African-Americans. The fact that they practice shooting and making bombs shows the evil behind their agenda that they try to make to look friendly. Lee makes that point in that film rehearsal at the beginning of the film. Lee shows of all the falsified news of the surrounding events the Klan deliver to their members before the bombing. Lee also shows that in the Unite The Right footage, that it’s a battle that still continues today. They may have overcome a lot, but there’s still much more to overcome. In the story, Lee sends the message that the Colorado Springs Police may have won this battle, but they didn’t win the whole war. Not while the KKK is a nationwide brotherhood.

The film obviously has a message to send, but it doesn’t forget that it’s a film that has a story to tell. It’s a good intriguing cat-and-mouse story about a local group of the KKK planning a bombing of a group of black students and the black detective who brings them down along with his Jewish guise. It has a good beginning, middle and end that will keep the viewer intrigued. It also incorporates a lot with the entertainment of African-Americans, like the music and the ‘blaxploitation’ films of the 70’s, into the story. It also includes a lot of references to entertainment that send a racist message like Tarzan and The Birth Of A Nation as to why the problem of racism still exists today. However his use of entertainment for thematic purposes doesn’t cause the film to lose its focus. Lee also mixes in another message he appears to question. At a time like where the Black Lives Matter movement has arrived, it appears Lee is critical of a lot of anti-police attitudes of these groups. The police do have history of racism, but what are they to think when the police come to their rescue? That poses as the moral question for Patrice at the end, especially since it could affect her love for Ron. I think Lee was trying to place his own viewpoint here.

No doubt about it, the top accomplishment is that of Spike Lee. Lee has had a mixed career. He’s had accomplishments like Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X, but he’s had many duds too. I still consider Do The Right Thing to be his best work, but this is an excellent story that he made work. The story he co-wrote with Wachtel, Rabinowitz and Willmott is a good complex story with a lot to say. The messages Lee tries to put in the story does not take away from the story itself. It actually adds. However it also succeeds in being a comedy with a lot of humorous moments. I think Lee also wanted to show off the stupidity of these racist groups too.

The top acting comes from John David Washington. The son of Denzel, John David delivers an excellent performance that he can rightfully call his breakthrough. He delivers the right acting for the right film. Also excellent is Adam Driver. In playing Stallworth’s Jewish partner, Driver delivers his role well while revealing the personal insecurity inside his Jewish character. I think Lee’s message was also to send how white superiority doesn’t only affect blacks. There were also a lot of excellent supporting performances coming from the likes of Laura Harrier as Patrice, Jasper Paakkonen as the walking time-bomb Felix, Topher Grace as David Duke and Ashlie Atkinson as the hyper-hostile Connie. The films inclusion of music from the past and original score from Terence Blanchard also adds to the film.

BlacKkKlansman obviously has a message to say. However it still succeeds in being a film with a thrilling plot, which makes it a winner of a film.

And there you go! This makes it the eighteenth straight years I’ve seen all the Best Picture nominees of the year before Oscar night. My predictions for the Oscar wins coming soon.

Oscars 2016 Best Picture Summary: Part 2

18 February 201721 February 2017Jon The Blogcentric3 Comments

Some of you may be confused about the order of how I do each film of my Best Picture summary. It’s definitely not alphabetical. How I do it is in the order in which I saw the nominees. For example, I saw all the films in my first summary before Christmas. I saw La La Land on my father’s birthday, Fences the day after New Years, and Manchester By The Sea on the day of the Golden Globes. That explains why they’re the three films part of my next Best Picture summary.

LA LA LAND

We don’t see musicals on the big screen as often as we did back in the 60’s and 70’s. La La Land may not make the musical phenomenon come back but it is very entertaining.

We’re constantly reminded that bringing a musical to the big screen is a very tricky job. In the past 15 years, I’ve seen a lot of cases of musicals being put on the big screen– most of which are adaptations of Broadway musicals– and it’s always been a case of sink-or-swim. There have been those done successfully like Moulin Rouge, Chicago, Dreamgirls and Les Miserables. There have also been adaptations with bad results like Rent, Nine, The Phantom Of The Opera and Mamma Mia. It’s a very tricky job and it may explain why we don’t have musicals as frequent as in decades past.

Now try putting a fresh original musical on the big screen. That’s what writer/director Damien Chazelle does here in cooperation with composer Justin Hurwitz who was Chazelle’s Harvard classmate. The musical is a story we’re familiar with: boy meets girl, boy learns girl also has showbiz dreams, both boy and girl are supportive of each other’s dreams, boy and girl both have long bumpy roads to get to their successes, boy and girl both achieve their own successes but their love is put to the test. One could argue anyone could create a musical with that kind of premise. Whatever the situation, it would have to take a lot of hard work and a lot of brainstorming to make a very good musical out of this. In addition, it would have to have the right songs, the right singing moments and the right dancing moments to make it succeed.

Chazelle and Hurwitz succeed in pulling it off. The story is familiar but they deliver all the right moves in making the story and the songs of the musical work. It’s not just about making a common story work as a musical on screen but have it set in the modern times too. I’ll admit that opening in the movie where there’s a song-and-dance number on a jammed-up freeway was unexpected. It’s not just set in modern time but it also brings back a lot of the classic scenes of Hollywood; the Hollywood we’ve all come to know and love. I think that’s why La La Land comes off as a gem. Because it’s a reminder of the great musicals of the past and why we love them so much. It’s just that charm.

It’s not just up to Chazelle and Hurwitz to make this musical work but also the actors too. Both Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone had to make things work as well both as individuals and both as the couple Mia and Sebastian. They had to tell their own stories of love and passion for their crafts and the heartbreak they had to endure to achieve their dreams. They both also had to play a couple with the right chemistry to work. They pull it off excellently both as a couple and in their own individual moments too. The supporting actors/singers/dancers also had their parts to play too and add to the zest of the musical. Their own participation also added to the movie. Sure some of the bigger supporting performances from John Legend, J.K. Simmons and Tom Everett Scott lacked range–I mean Mia and Sebastian were the dominant focus of the musical– but they did very well too. The film did a very good job in terms of the use of sets both set up and various Los Angeles locations. The film even scouted out some ‘old L. A.’ locations to add the charm. That was not an easy find, I’m sure.

And now onto the songs. My father who likes musicals believes having a memorable song is what makes a musical a masterpiece. I have to agree. I’ll say I agree with him that there is no single song in La La Land destined to be a memorable classic. True, ‘City Of Stars’ is getting a ton of awards but I don’t think it will be a classic 20 years from now. Actually my favorite songs were the opener ‘Another Day Of Sun’ and ‘Audition (Here’s To The Ones Who Dream).’

It’s funny. Years ago, I jokes the unique thing about my father is that he’s straight and he likes musicals. He was quick to remind me that back when he was dating my mother, musicals were the ideal date movie. My how times have changed. What defines a date movie has changed as much over the decade as ‘real man’ standards.

La La Land may not have what it takes to bring the musical phenomenon back to the big screen but it’s winning in it’s own right. Anytime soon I’m expecting a stage adaptation of this.

FENCES

Fences is a play by August Wilson that won raves when it first came out in the 1980’s. Denzel Washington brings Fences to the big screen at long last and the end result is something wonderful.

Fences is unique as a stage play. It’s a story about Troy Maxson: an African-American man in 1950’s Pittsburgh who makes like he has it together but he doesn’t. He thinks he could have been the next Jackie Robinson but feels racism kept him from moving out of the Negro League. He wants to mould his son the way he feels right and wants him to be better than him but doesn’t sense how harsh he is. He wants to be seen as a loving husband to his wife Rose but secrets of his infidelity are about to unfold. He gets an opportunity as a driver of a garbage truck–the first ever for a black man in Pittsburgh– but is reminded of his weaknesses when he accidentally signs for his brother to be admitted into a mental hospital. He has his own feelings about what should be right such as how he feels it’s better to raise his son right than like him only to see it backfire. I’ve heard some writers say that every African-American male has some aspect of Troy Maxson in them. Some people say that Troy Maxson is the African-American everyman. Some can even say Troy Maxson is the black Willy Loman. Whatever the situation, it was the toast of the 1987 Tony Awards and definitely made a legend out of scriptwriter August Wilson.

Now Wilson had always dreamed of bringing Fences to the big screen. I know one of the things he insisted on was that it be directed by an African-American. That may or may not have been the biggest obstacle but it was never realized in Wilson’s lifetime; he died in 2005. Hope was revived in 2013 when Denzel Washington expressed interest in bringing it to the big screen and star as Troy Maxson. Washington played Maxson in a Broadway revival in 2010. He’s even had experience as a director with 2002’s Antwone Fisher and 2007’s The Great Debaters. The production was realized early in 2016 when Washington was joined by producer Scott Rudin who also produced the 2010 revival. Viola Davis who was also part of the revival as Rose Maxson soon joined in along with other actors from the revival like Mykelti Williamson, Russell Hornsby and Stephen Henderson. One thing was that Washington wanted to remain true to Wilson’s own adaptation in respect to his work.

Now adapting a play to the big screen is as much a tricky challenge as bringing a musical to the big screen. It’s a matter of choices of what to include and what to keep as is. Theatre and film are two different formats of medium. Film scenes are numerous and can be set in an unlimited number of places in various amounts of time. Theatre scenes are often few, often quite lengthy, set in a limited number of places, and often consists of ‘moments of monologues.’ There’s even that 20-minute final scene in Fences where the family is getting ready for Troy’s funeral. Rarely in film do you have a scene after the death of the protagonist that’s even five minutes long. It’s a matter of making the adaptation work on the big screen. It’s also about what choices to add to the film adaptation and if they work. It was about choosing to add the scene of Troy and Jim Bono on the back of the garbage truck at the start. It was about including the scene without dialogue of Troy and Gabriel in the mental hospital. It was about keeping Alberta the mistress from being seen in the film in any which way.

Then there’s the acting. Of course it’s beneficial for most of the actors to have previous experience with the roles. However, it’s a known fact that stage acting and film acting have their differences. The biggest difference for film is that the audience expects a 100% believable performance, especially since it will be witnessed on a screen five-stories tall.

Overall I feel that Denzel Washington as a director/producer did a good job in adapting the play to the screen. It may not have the fast brief dialogues you get in your typical big screen fare but it was still done well and with the same truthfulness. The choices of what to add to the big screen adaptation were good choices, if not perfect. Denzel as an actor was definitely phenomenal in embodying the role of Troy in all of his triumphs and struggles. You could feel the pride and demons Troy was struggling with. Just as excellent is Viola Davis as Rose. The role of Rose was also a strong challenging role: a wife who appears happy and loving on the outside only to suddenly let out her hurt and inner wrath towards Troy and somehow come to peace with him upon his death. She does an excellent job of finally exposing Rose’s inner hurt and inner personal strength at the right times and even ending with believable delivery. The acting of the whole ensemble was very much there and as excellent as it can get. Of all the supporting performances, the one that stood out most was Stephen Henderson whose performance as Jim Bono came across as a common man at first but would soon come off as the man with a lot of wisdom and was able to see the good in Troy even while his terrible misdoings were being exposed. The ‘newcomers’ Jovan Adepo and Saniyya Sidney were also very good in their roles. Jovan especially did well as the son struggling to relate to Troy.

Fences is a triumph of a twelve year-old dream coming true. August Wilson dreamed it. Denzel achieved it. The end result is a masterpiece.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Manchester By The Sea is a film that has been loaded with Oscar buzz ever since it made its debut at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. It’s easy to see why all the buzz.

The film presents a hurting person and showcases all the things that led to his hurt. It shows why he had to leave the town he always had as his home and why returning can’t be done. It shows why Lee Chandler comes across as a jerk in the present when he wasn’t like that at all years ago. The film is also about the relationship of Lee and Patrick. Rarely do we see a film about an uncle-nephew relationship. You think the relationship is something all of a sudden at first forced by something in his brother’s estate but it was always there even when the two were apart.

The film also presents a situation where healing or leaving the past behind is next-to-impossible. I’ve always believed people need to heal. It’s not right to hurt. I still believe it. However I can easily see how healing is very hard. You can see why it’s extremely hard for Lee to heal, especially upon returning to Manchester By The Sea, Massachusetts. His negligence that one night is why all three of his children were killed in that fire. The divorce from his wife Randi was bitter and she gave him hurtful words in the process. The town has not forgiven him for what he did: his name is still mud. Even moving to a suburb of Boston has not ended his hurt as he’s rude during his job and starts bar fights over the simplest thing.

The film does showcase Lee’s attempt to assimilate into the town and try to become the guardian to Patrick he hopes to be. The story does not water down as it exposes Lee’s failings. It also exposes how complicated the situation is as Patrick’s mother is a recovering alcoholic and still under strict control by her husband. It also shows how hard it is for Lee to forgive himself. Even as Randi says she’s forgiven him, Lee still can’t heal.

The story does not water down the situation or try to aim for the type of happier ending you’d get in a film like Arrival. The story does not end the way you hope it does. Nevertheless it does end with a ray of hope. Patrick is the closest relative to Lee. His parents and brother are gone and his other brother lives with his own family in Minnesota. Patrick is the one person in Manchester By The Sea outside of family friend George who doesn’t see Lee as this terrible person or rubs into Lee the tragedy he caused.

The film was not just about Lee trying to heal for Patrick but about Patrick too. Patrick is a teen with a lot of common ‘teenage make jerk’ traits like starting fights in hockey and cheating on girls but you know he has a naïve, innocent and even sensitive side and it comes out in his relationship with Lee that starts uneasy at first. Patrick still wants to live a normal teenage life by dating around, playing with his band, and talking about Star Trek with his friends, but you know he has feelings of hurt and frustration on the inside and you know they’ll come out eventually. For all the teenage jerk traits Patrick has, his respect for Lee is his best quality. Patrick could have easily come across as a rebellious teen and gone as far as calling Lee a ‘child killer’ but he doesn’t. Possibly it’s being Joe’s son that may be why Patrick is the person most forgiving to Lee now that Joe is gone. Joe was the one person willing to help Lee live life again after the tragedy and Patrick accompanied Lee and Joe during that time. You can see how Patrick adopted his father’s sensitivity to Lee.

The story of this film is definitely not a crowd-winner. You can understand why a film like this would rely on the Film Festival circuit to get its exposure and its chances of making it to the box office. Nevertheless it is an excellent story about loss, grief, hurt and an attempt at healing. The film fest circuit was the best way for a story like this to get a box office release. It’s good because it is a story worth seeing.

Writer/director Kenneth Lonergan delivers an excellent original story. Lonergan has few works writing and/or directing to his credit but they have a lot of merit: like Analyze This, You Can Count On Me and The Gangs Of New York. This is his best work to date. He delivers a story that’s honest and even brutal at times and doesn’t water down but doesn’t try to rip at your heartstrings too often. He also gives characters that are three-dimensional and will remind you of people or situations you may know about.

Actor Casey Affleck fit the role of Lee excellently. He captured Lee’s inner demons excellently and played them very truthfully. He was able to make you hate Lee at first but come to understand him later, even feel for him, and make you want the best to work out for Lee in the end. Also excellent was Lucas Hedges. Hedges’ role of Patrick grows in its complexity over time and he does an excellent job of it. The two together had to have the right chemistry to make an uncle-nephew relationship like this work and they had it.

The only other significant supporting role in the film is Michelle Williams as Randi. The various scenes as the typical wife before the tragedy to being the remarried ex-wife who healed better than Lee and wants to make peace with him is also a complex role too and she does an excellent job of it too. Actually the whole cast did an excellent job of acting and they delivered one of the best ensemble performances of the year. It’s not just the basics that made this film great. There’s also the cinematography from Jody Lee Lipes where she’s able to get some of the most picturesque shots of the east coast. There’s the editing of the story shifting from the present to the past back to the present on a constant basis at the right times. There’s the inclusion of dialogue at the right moments and even moments of dialogue muted at the right times where you just know what they’re saying. The muted parts work to the story’s advantage. There’s also the arrangement of music–original, classical and choral– that add to the story.

Manchester By The Sea may come across as a film that’s unwatchable if you take its premise at face value. In the end, it turns out to be a great story that’s worth seeing.

And there you go. That’s the second of my review of the nominees. One’s an original musical, one’s an original story and one’s an adaptation of a renowned stage play. All three make it obvious why they were nominated for Best Picture as all three have what it takes to be among the Top 10 films of the year.

Final Best Picture summary is expected to be up by Tuesday.

Movie Review: Django Unchained

7 January 201322 January 2013Jon The Blogcentric2 Comments

If you’ve seen Lincoln already, you’ve already seen one man’s approach to slavery. Now Django Unchained is another man’s approach to slavery that’s more what Quentin Tarantino had in mind and not what you’d expect.

The film starts with the Speck brothers walking a group of male slaves down across Texas in 1858, three years before the Civil War. Their journey is interrupted by Dr. King Schultz who appears to be a traveling dentist. He offers to buy one of the slaves, Django Freemen. Before the Specks can refuse Schultz shoots one of the Speck brothers to death, shoots the other leaving him in pain and frees the other slaves to let them kill the wounded Speck.

Schultz confesses to Django he’s no longer a dentist but a bounty hunter who kills fugitives for reward money whenever the opportunity arises. He especially chose Django because he can help identify his next targets, the three ruthless Brittle brothers. Schultz admits he hates slavery and offers Django to help with freedom, $75 and a horse as a reward. Django assists successfully in helping Schultz shoot down the Brittles.

Not only does Django get his promised rewards but Schultz hires him as his bounty hunting associate. This comes as Schultz learns that Django has a wife: Broomhilda ‘Hildy’ von Shaft who is also a slave now owned by a separate owner. Schultz is hoping making Django his associate will reunite him with Hildy. Schultz does a good job in training him and Django is fully ready with the shooting skills and the desire for blood. His first operation on Smitty Bacall is a success from hundreds of feet above off a cliff. Django and Schultz are successful in other bounty shootings too and soon learn Hildy is owned by plantation owner Calvin Candie. Once arriving as his plantation, Candyland, we learn Calvin is a charming but brutal man who has his male ‘mandingo’ slaves fight to the death for his entertainment pleasure.

The two try to pose as ‘mandingo’ purchasers to Candie however the purchase turns real when they witness a slave mauled to death by angry dogs. They then ask for Hildy as an addition. Candie agrees to the sale but it raises the suspicion of Candie’s staunch slave Stephen who suspects Django knows Hildy and is up to something with this sale. Upon the advise of Stephen, a drunken ruthless Candie gives Schultz a deal: Hildy for $12,000 or death. Schultz agrees and shoots Candie after the offer. A shootout occurs with Schultz shot and Django shooting many of and many of Candie’s men dead only to end when Stephen threatens to kill Hildy is he doesn’t surrender.

Django is sent to punishment by Stephen and Candie’s sister working as a coal miner worked to his death. That’s what Stephen thinks as Django is able to outsmart the slave drivers, kill them and take their dynamite. This comes for the set up at the end for Django’s revenge on Stephen and all those at the plantation. Even though most people know what the ending will be, it’s the style that it’s done in that’s the treat of the movie.

One thing about this movie is that it’s not supposed to be the answer to slavery. It’s not supposed to be even a version of how slavery should have been solved all along. What this movie is basically is Quentin doing what he does best: a revenge movie done in his style. I’ve been an admirer of him since Pulp Fiction. I remember when I first saw it near the end of 1994. I was a college student of the time and Pulp Fiction was a movie that impressed people of my generation. I came from a generation that was strongly anti-censorship and looked at commercialism in movies as a downgrade in creativity and an attempt to soften the authentic. When Pulp Fiction came out, we were impressed. Finally a movie where the director/writer has complete creative control and it excels. Finally a movie that takes filmmaking to new levels as filmmaking should. Finally a film that pushes envelopes as us Generation Xers in college felt all art should. Finally a movie that makes original pay off at the box office. Finally an independent movie that could make the Hollywood fare at the time look like a laughing stock. Finally a film that doesn’t censor itself and doesn’t bow down to pressures of ratings boards or family values groups and it excels. In the end, Pulp Fiction has been hailed by most as the best film of the 1990’s.

Eighteen years have passed since Pulp Fiction has been released. While most directors have had a flare last for a number of years only to flare out over time, Tarantino never did. He still delivers movies that know how to charm and even enchant. Also while it appears that there’s a lack of taking film in new directions right now and more interest in creating a box office winner, Tarantino is still one who dares to stand out, take risks and do things his way. One thing I’ve come to know of Quentin Tarantino’s movies over the years is that he aims to deliver a film in style. It’s seen very clear in the films he shows that he attempts to tell a story via film noir or blaxploitation or spaghetti western style. He wants to deliver a stylized story as he’s done in his past movies and he does it again here.

Another thing Quentin does in his films that he does again here is deliver a movie with stylized characters with eerily charming personalities and deliver their acting with style. We see it with the characters of Django Freeman, Dr. Schultz, Calvin Candie, Hildy and Stephen. All of them have their personalities in their likeable traits and their hateable traits. All also deliver in their stylized acting without coming off as ridiculous. Few times can an actor get away with doing such a showy stylized character in movie performances without looking ridiculous or over-the-top. It’s here in Quentin Tarantino movies where it works the best. It’s funny because when I learned Django was about a slave getting revenge, I was expecting the actors to play characters with mannerisms from the 1850’s. Not in a Tarantino movie.

Also noticeable is how Quentin works to avoid the sentimental and touching in his films and it’s seen again here. The two where I got the biggest sense of this was firstly the scene where Django shot Smitty Bacall from a cliff and we see Smitty’s son coming to him on the ground. There’s no scene of the son’s reaction. The second was the scene where Hildy saw Django after being away from him for so long. I was expecting Hildy to be in tears and embrace him. Instead she faints at the sight of him. Not what I expected but should’ve in a Tarantino movie.

If there’s one glitch to comment about the movie, it’s that it’s yet another revenge flick from Tarantino. Back in the 90’s his films had the focus of the criminal mind. I was good with that. In the 21st Century, his movies have been focused on the theme of revenge, from the Kill Bill series to the Death Proof part of the Grindhouse movie to Inglourious Basterds. I didn’t have a problem with that because it was done entertainingly and even enchantingly at times in some scenes. Here it was a case where I went with the feel “Not another revenge story from Quentin Tarantino.” I’ll admit that it was a very stylishly done movie that delivers in entertainment value but seeing Tarantino toy around with the theme of revenge once again gives me the impression he’s masturbating to that theme a little too gratuitously.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to say in my review that this is the movie that is the turning point for my respect for Tarantino. In fact I still consider him one of the best filmmakers out right now. I would however like to see him work with other themes too. Like many people, I feel one trait that makes for a great director is one that can do many genres well. Steven Spielberg is an example of a director that can do a multitude of film genres. Martin Scorsese may be famous for gangster films but he showed he can do other styles of film well too, even family movies. Ang Lee is another filmmaker that has demonstrated versatility. I would like to see Tarantino become more versatile in the films he delivers. This may sound odd coming from a fan of his movies but I’d like to see him try it.

Okay, enough of me both praising and sacking Quentin. The film’s acting consists of character acting that knows how to be stylish without coming across as ridiculously showy. Jamie Foxx was impressive as Django Freeman. The only problem is that he was constantly upstaged by the supporting players. Christoph Waltz delivered excellently as King Schultz with all of his charming arrogance who somehow had a heart. Leonardo DiCaprio also was phenomenal as the charmingly hateable Calvin Candie. Samuel L. Jackson was excellent as the hateable Stephen: the former slave who now owns and beats his own. He makes you want his payback in the end. Kerry Washington was also good as Hildy but her character lacked the depth and style the leading male characters had. The sets were perfect in fitting the time. Even the springy tooth on Dr. Schultz’s coach looked less ridiculous over time. The music mix was also excellent. Another trait of Tarantino’s movies is the inclusion of music that enhances, stylizes and even enchants in the movie’s story and Quentin delivered again. It was a mix of original music and of songs from decades past that blend like magic into the film.

One would assume a movie like this would be one to cause controversy. And they’re right. This movie has had people speaking out against it on the subject of either the violence or the subject of slavery or the use of racial slurs. The most outspoken critic has been director Spike Lee. Spike has been critical of Quentin Tarantino in the past for the use of a certain racial slur in Pulp Fiction. Spike hasn’t really spoken about the use of that slur in Django but he has spoken about the movie itself and has declared it: “an insult to my ancestors.” This is particularly questionable since there are African American actors in leading roles. If they felt it was an insult to their ancestors, they would have refused to be in the movie. Besides I’ve always gotten the impression Spike Lee wants the world to think he’s the voice of all of black America simply because of Do The Right Thing. Fortunately the controversy hasn’t generated too much news overload.

It’s interesting while Lincoln showcased justice given to slavery, Django Unchained is about one slave’s revenge. Ironic how both are released in the same year and both have expectations to win the Best Picture Oscar. As for Django, it’s starting to feel redundant to see another Tarantino revenge flick but his stylized filmmaking compensates for that and delivers a winner of a movie for the most part. Not for all to see but it will entertain those that do see it.

9/11 Remembered

11 September 201111 September 2021Jon The Blogcentric1 Comment

September 11, 2001: A day that will live on forever. A lot has changed in the ten years since. Air security is way tighter. Arabic names and words no one could pronounce previously have since become part of our everyday vocabulary. Entering the United States is more regulated. Being Arab American has made people more victim to racism than ever before. We have a no-fly list and a terrorism alert of color grades. We have people claiming conspiracy theories. We have had two wars declared since which has further divided political sides. We’ve caught many to do with the terrorism but have more to go.

Around this time, you will read many articles and views surrounding the events, political climates and beliefs of the writers. You will hear many stories from those involved to those who lost loved ones to those in political power. As for me, I won’t be focusing on such. Instead I will focus on the day as I remember it.

Tuesday, September 11th 2001 started off like any other day for me. I wasn’t yet 30 and had recently moved to Vancouver months earlier and living in a character house with at least six other residents at the time. I was off to work and listening to a radio show talking about a bizarre contest where people do crazy stunts for the sake of an entry. Things wouldn’t be the same after that. In the morning while I was on a break from my first job, I saw one of my co-workers laughing. When I saw him, he said a plane hit the World Trade Center. Some of you may think it was insensitive but looking back, I think he was laughing at the bizarreness of the event. When I first heard the news from him, I first thought it was probably a small passenger plane and it hit one of the Twin Towers by accident. That afternoon I was working at my second job for a government business. I heard one of my supervisors talking about what happened and saying that it could have happened to a building like ours. Hearing that, I started to think that this may not be an accident after all, but how?

Later on in the day as I was returning home, I saw news stories and images of the events that happened. There was even a second newspapers issued that day about the events. I saw one of the towers hit by an airplane was burning while another airplane hit the other tower. When I first saw it, I was in disbelief. I thought it was something that could only happen in the movies. Then hearing of other crashes like the plane that hit the Pentagon and one that crashed in a failed attempt to hit Camp David. Then hearing how all Worldwide commercial air ground to a halt. Then seeing images of people running and screaming for their lives as the first of the Twin Towers crashed down. The events were just completely unreal in my mind. Until then, I always thought hijacking a plane was always about the terrorist using plane passengers hostages for the sake of making demands. Until then, I’ve only heard of airplanes used as weapons during the Kamikaze attacks of World War II. I never thought that terrorist could use passenger planes for the sake of a suicide mission. The attacks on the Twin Towers also immediately brought back a memory of how back in 1993, the World Trade Centre was bombed but there were only five fatalities at the time. I also remember that the mastermind was a Muslim cleric. Remembering that got me thinking that the attackers had the failed attempt from 1993 in mind to bring the towers down for sure that time.

Then back at my home, I met with the other residents in my character house and we were all shocked. One who was visiting from the Netherlands even videotaped the speech from President Bush. The day was just completely surreal. All networks were focused on all the events that happened. There was no changing the other channel. It would continue to be that way for at least two weeks straight.

Days later, I would hear stories of those who died that day. There was even a memorial service broadcast from radio at my workplace that consisted of five minutes of silence. I also heard from those who lost loved ones. Even later on I heard even further details of the activities. Hearing about how some of the terrorists went to flying school to carry out those activities completely surprised me. Hearing how Al-Qaeda had a worldwide network with followers even in Canada shocked me. Hearing of these countries having weapons given to them by the United Stated puzzled me even further. Hearing the various reactions around the world also caught my eye. Most of the world, including many Arab countries, expressed their condolences to the events. There were some, like Palestinians, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, who considered that day a day of celebration. Then there were the speeches of Osama bin Laden. Already infamous for his years of bomb attacks on American embassies in other countries, he led the taunts. Shockingly he promised a ‘great day of terror’ weeks earlier.

Despite all the nastiness, there were also a lot of positives. The United States however refused to let it defeat them and a renewed sense of patriotism happened. New York City also developed its own pride in itself. People who used to diss the police and firemen and politicians almost immediately rallied behind them. Families would help out stranded air passengers during that time. Nations would come to the support of the United States and some other nations even lost citizens of their own.

Ten years have passed. Yeah, you could say a lot has changed. Even reflecting back on the happenings of that tragic day still boggles my mind. Commercial planes used as weapons for a suicide mission. Four flights hijacked with the intent to destroy four places. Thousands dead. I was never involved with it nor did I personally know anyone who died that day but even ten years ago, it does seem like yesterday.

Anyways those are my thoughts on 9/11. I just wanted to reflect on what I remember from that day. I didn’t want to get into any political speech or political thought. If you want any political thought from me, read my Osama bin Laden is Dead article. Since I wrote it, Al-Qaeda has elected a new leader. Whether he has the same sophistication as Osama or not is something only time will tell. I just hope there’s no massive loss of life in the process. There you go. That’s the most political I will get in this article.

I hope you liked what I had to say because that’s what I remember. I was never an actual part of the events. I never knew anyone lost that day. Nevertheless I still remember the constant broadcast of the day’s events and the atmosphere surrounding it. You can’t deny how much it’s changed the world and changed people. I end my article saying: God Bless the souls of those lost that day and may God continue to be with the families.