Drama | www.jaredmobarak.com

REVIEW: Abe Lincoln in Illinois [1940]

2016/02/14 Jared Mobarak

“And this too shall pass away” Talk about destiny. If the tale woven by Robert E. Sherwood is to be believed—and I can’t find anywhere online that doesn’t exclaim Abe Lincoln in Illinois to be as accurate a telling as any—this humble young man bounced between Kentucky and Indiana before a fateful journey to New Orleans exposed the quaint town of New Salem, Illinois and its beautiful Ann Rutledge never wanted to be a politician let alone President. Sure, he didn’t want to be a farmer working alongside his father…

REVIEW: The Better Angels [2014]

2016/02/132016/02/14 Jared Mobarak

“All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother” It only takes one look at a tree canopy from below in gorgeous black and white photography to know writer/director A.J. Edwards is a student of Terrence Malick. He’s actually been the auteur’s editor since To the Wonder after holding positions as editorial intern and key artistic consultant on The New World and The Tree of Life respectively. It’s hardly surprising Edwards’ own style would therefore mimic Malick’s poetic visuals and penchant for voiceover subtly inferring…

REVIEW: New York Lately [2009]

2016/02/12 Jared Mobarak

“I still flippin’ care” The slice of life adventures start at a company party, each attendee in differing modes of acquaintance considering the company’s large size and the locale’s (New York City) sprawling possibilities. There’s drinking and conversation, stolen kisses and loud guffaws, and of course the promise of a hangover during work the next day—one worth the trouble if the evening ends with a plus one or not if morning delivers an empty bed. Writer/director Gary King hasn’t created this soirée for the characters’ benefit, though. They all leave…

REVIEW: Eddie the Eagle [2016]

2016/02/102016/02/21 Jared Mobarak

“Come on, man. Be a wing of a bird.” I was a freshman in high school when we traveled to Lake Placid as part of an Earth Science field trip. One of our main stops was the old 1980 Olympic compound, the most exciting bit of which was the ski jump towers to get a sense of the height involved. What I remember most about the tour guide’s history lesson was his mention of it being the site where Britain’s Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards practiced before his bid at the…

REVIEW: Children Without Parents [2013]

2016/02/092016/02/09 Jared Mobarak

“Who even said you were my kid?” The tagline for Casey Puccini‘s autobiographical fiction Children Without Parents is a disturbing proposition in context with its subject matter. As a film dealing with a quartet of siblings coming together at the house of their father days after his suicide, the words “this film will be a true story” have serious gravity to them. I get the meaning is more aligned with explaining how real life reactions to this death will be similar to what’s depicted and not an anticipation of his…

REVIEW: Bad Hurt [2016]

2016/02/082016/02/09 Jared Mobarak

“It’s kind of a forgotten place” The kitchen sink’s thrown against the wall with bathtub, toilet, and whatever else made of easily-shattered porcelain in the house following right behind—this is Mark Kemble‘s Bad Hurt. Adapted from his semi-autobiographical play “Bad Hurt on Cedar Street” with the help of Jamieson Stern, the film depicts a dysfunctional family that drew the shortest of straws in terms of volatility and hardship. But with that burden comes the capacity for strength in love to somehow overcome. Doing so is difficult, enough that the attempt…

REVIEW: 旺角卡門 [Wong gok ka moon] [As Tears Go By] [1988]

2016/02/042016/02/04 Jared Mobarak

“I found that glass” Writer/Director Kar Wai Wong hit the scene in 1988 with gangster drama 旺角卡門 [Wong gok ka moon] [As Tears Go By] in a way that many compare to Martin Scorsese‘s debut splash Mean Streets. It’s a gritty look at the streets of Hong Kong populated by men who are nothing without their fearsome reputations. “Guts” are what sustain them, keeping them alive within this cutthroat underground of tough guys bluffing in the hopes loud threats prove enough to stay at the top and crazy psychopaths calling…

REVIEW: Hail, Caesar! [2016]

2016/02/022016/02/03 Jared Mobarak

“It’s all in the hips, the lips, the eyes, and the thighs” You don’t think much when you read the Coen Brothers have been bouncing Hail, Caesar! around since 2004. After all, they’re prolific auteurs that often write scripts for other directors, so a decade-long gestation period is nothing to scoff at. Only when you learn the idea was little more than an idea that you start wondering about the final product. Maybe they loved that initial pitch so much the words simply poured out over the last couple years.…

REVIEW: Shopping [1994]

2016/02/01 Jared Mobarak

“Don’t get caught” I don’t know what it is about Paul W.S. Anderson, but I very rarely dislike his flicks no matter the critical consensus or fandom drubbings. He isn’t the best director out there but he has created some interesting vehicles despite it—enough to accept the fact that Hollywood studios will continue giving him money to make them. And even though it’s a far cry from the video game adaptations serving as his claim to fame, Anderson’s debut Shopping feels right at home alongside Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat.…

REVIEW: Poison [1991]

2016/01/292016/01/30 Jared Mobarak

“I’ve just captured the sex drive” Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Todd Haynes‘ directorial debut Poison is a wild, outside-the-box ride. It reminded me of David Lynch‘s Eraserhead with a surreally experimental aesthetic and odd relationships sparked between over-the-top and perhaps parodied “freaks” standing-in as metaphors for humanity’s intolerance towards the “different”. It’s three unrelated stories about sexuality told in three different styles: “Hero” as a garish TV docu-mystery; “Homo” as a gritty thriller intercut with vibrant, warped fantasy flashbacks; and “Horror” as a B-movie sci-fi flick…

REVIEW: Fear and Desire [1953]

2016/01/282016/01/29 Jared Mobarak

“Rafts always float” I love that legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick began his career with a dud so misguided he was rumored to have tried to destroy every print in existence. In his words it was a “bumbling amateur film exercise” and he’s not wrong. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering he was a twenty-five year old recently quit photographer from Look magazine with two short films under his belt. Unlike Quentin Tarantino‘s My Best Friend’s Birthday, however, Fear and Desire wasn’t some movie made on a whim. Kubrick…