Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, 2023.

Posted on October 29, 2023 by Patricia Markert

with Abby Ryder Fortson, Benny Safdie, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates

Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson) is the only child of a Jewish dad and a Christian mom. At least that is how her parents started out, in a religious culture. Since Margaret was born, they have not followed any structured faith, and since Margaret’s mother’s very Christian parents have cast her off because of her marriage to a Jew, she has been told it is up to her to decide her own faith.

Margaret sort of goes faith-shopping. She tries out a temple with her grandmother Sylvia, who dotes on her. She goes to a Christmas service with her so called friend, who is more concerned about getting a bra and acting like a teen ready to get felt up than anybody seeking a spiritual life.

But what makes the movie worth watching, and what has held up beautifully 50 years after the book was published by Judy Blume, its author, are the earnest pleas to God by the girl in the title role. She really wants help, and doesn’t see why if there is a god there should not be some coming her way from up there.

Adolescence as an American girl is fraught. There is the mean girl tribe. There is the anxiety surrounding puberty. There are strange crushes unbidden on boys completely wrong for you. Margaret experiences all of these, and lucky for her, she has kind, understanding parents, and grandparents even who wish her well. She may even find a new friend after being led astray by some false ones.

Growing into a bra is a quest

Rachel McAdams plays the mother who doesn’t fit into her new suburban neighborhood. She has just moved from the upper west side of Manhattan because her husband’s promotion enables them to live a bit larger than before. Barbara is an artist, used to having her time be her own, not playing to conventions of dressing just so by 9 AM. The other mothers in the neighborhood press her to participate in typical parent activities, like making stars for a mural. At first she plays along but like her daughter, Margaret, she realizes that she doesn’t want to conform. The movie, like the book, takes place in the 1960s and the costumes and production design reflect that period when women stayed at home to take care of the kids. Their biggest challenge might be picking the right furniture for the living room to match the rest of the modern decor.

The acting especially by the girls is spot on. Kathy Bates as Sylvia, Margaret’s father’s mother, is always welcome. Camera work accentuates the restricted feelings of both daughter and mother as they navigate the suburbs. Even though the movie is set several decades ago, like the book, its tone feels contemporary, its story timeless.

Kathy Bates plays Margaret’s grandmother

What makes this novel, and now the movie, classic, is the way it combines issues of spirituality with dilemmas of physical growth, cultural conformity, family conflicts, all in a seamless story about a girl moving away from her comfort zone just as she is entering middle school. The director’s screenplay hits every nail on the head. Any mother who has raised a teenage girl will find scenes harrowing and recognizable as we suffered through the “talk.” Sex, menstruation, body care. Kathy Bates gets the enviable role of the loving Jewish grandmother. Not so lucky are those who play Barbara’s parents, evangelical Christians, especially when they show up unexpectedly and we hope for the unreasonable reconciliation to take place over dinner.

We must! we must! We must increase our bust! Do girls still do this?

But the movie is about the eleven year old growing up. It honors her every struggle in a way that is rare in movies intended for that audience.

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She Came to Me directed by Rebecca Miller, 2023.

Posted on October 12, 2023 by Patricia Markert

with Peter Dinklage, Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei.

In my quest to find something that might make me laugh, I went to see this so called romantic comedy. Peter Dinklage plays Steven, a blocked composer of operas whose deadline looms. In his search to find material, he goes on a walk with his sad companion, Levi, a French bulldog whose expression matches his owner’s.

Steven and Levi take a walk

They come upon a bar on the Brooklyn docks where Steven meets Katrina (Tomei), a tugboat captain addicted to romance. The ensuing seduction unblocks the composer, and gives the movie its title. In the meantime, Steven’s wife, Patricia (Anne Hathaway), a psychologist/therapist with an ocd disorder that makes her constantly clean her house, tends to Steven’s meds, and her son Julian’s applications to college.

Marisa Tomei plays Katrina, the tugboat captain

Patricia’s (completely unnecessary) housekeeper, Magdelena (Joanna Kulig) is mother to Julian’s girlfriend, Tereza (Harlow). Tereza’s stepfather, Trey (Brian d’Arcy), is a control freak who makes his living as a court stenographer which brings him certain knowledge of the law he uses later against Tereza’s boyfriend.

The movie is about the two romances– one between the composer and the tugboat captain, the other between the two teens. Production design points out the class differences between Tereza and Julian’s parents. Tereza lives in what looks like a lower middle class neighborhood of Brooklyn in a tightly bordered house with narrow staircases, a small kitchen, and a driveway where Trey leaves his car as he is about to go to another re-enactment of the Civil War, armed with muskets. Julian’s family lives in a large apartment with a grand stoop in south Brooklyn. Its upscale furniture, open kitchen, and white decor are always immaculate because of Patricia’s constant cleaning. As it becomes clear that neither marriage can survive, a comical plot point shows up out of nowhere. It begins with Patricia receiving ashes on her forehead on Ash Wednesday.

In the meantime, the teens are thoroughly in love, and willing to do what it takes to prevent a disaster. Escape by tugboat to a nearby state is where the story takes off and becomes very satisfying. Getting there however you must watch two ridiculous operas, some brilliant singing, uncomfortable sessions in the therapist’s office, and a whole lot of dog walking.

Evan Ellison as Julian
Harlow Jane as Tereza

The acting on all counts works as do the costumes, sets, editing, and production values of the operas. Even though the outlandishness of certain details annoyed me, I was taken in by the love stories.

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Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, directed by McQuarrie, 2023

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Patricia Markert

with Tom Cruise, Esai Morales, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg

McQuarrie wants us to see the next movie in this two part series, so leaves us on a cliff hanger of sorts. It’s not as if those in mortal danger are not either dead or rescued, but there is more work to be done by the Mission Impossible crew which includes Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg). Sometimes the movie has the feeling of a bored tour guide who decides to show you the Spanish steps of Rome by having a tiny brightly colored Fiat tumble down them and remain intact. All the cars are remarkably durable even after having their doors ripped off. McQuarrie’s other intentions seem to be to demonstrate Tom Cruise’s running ability, and his stunt team’s ability to create harrowing feats.

The movie starts very slowly, with tedious explanations of what is at stake if a wicked artificial intelligence monster named the “Entity” gets hold of all the secrets of government intelligence. It takes a good half hour for the hoppy theme music to display the credits. But once we get to focus on the characters, especially Gabriel (an excellent Esai Morales, who does much with little), Grace (Haley Atwell), and Paris (Pom Klementieff), all at one point adversaries of Ethan, the story develops and turns out to be not just about the dangers to be averted, but the friendships to be maintained.

Hayley Atwell often looks as if she is posing for a fashion magazine

The ending could not be more different in tone and suspense than the beginning, and had me holding my breath. Here is where the cinematographer’s expertise shines, using just the right angle to show the risks the actors are taking in trying to climb out of a perilously positioned train.

Acting is especially good with the lesser members of the cast. Pom Klementieff gets to speak maybe five words, but makes a huge impact throughout with the fierceness of her driving.

Pom Klementieff is Paris, one of the antagonists

What is it about villains that makes them so much fun to watch in movies like these? They don’t have to survive, but often surprise us with their tactics. In this iteration of the MI series there is ambiguity about who is true to the right side, and who has gone rogue or done damage. Gabriel is just plain evil. As one person remarks, Gabriel doesn’t enjoy killing so much as the pain it brings with it.

Esai Morales

For this reason, I paid the closest attention to him. Thank God for Simon Pegg and Rhames for bringing a bit of lightness to the script. They are Benji and Luther, the team surrounding Hunt, making his impossible feats possible. The missions become less impossible with experts such as these.

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Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan, 2023.

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Patricia Markert

with Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh, Robert Downey, Jr.

Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving fire to man.

The director, Christopher Nolan, basing his movie on the book, American Prometheus, explores this idea in the person of Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist credited with developing the nuclear bomb at Los Alamos. Nolan’s intention comes through in this story of the conflict that a man of science faces when his discovery is used to kill.

Kenneth Branagh plays Niels Bohr, Nobel winning physicist, who has great influence on Oppenheimer’s career. This scene shows an apple Bohr was about to eat, that had been poisoned by Oppenheimer, intended for the professor standing behind him.
Matt Damon plays Lesley Groves, a military officer in charge of the Manhattan Project, who recruits Oppenheimer to lead the scientific team
Robert Downey plays Lewis Strauss, a high ranking member of the Atomic Energy Commission

Oppenheimer is a complicated movie. It is partly biographical. We witness the life history of the man, how easily he learned languages, how he could be intimidated by mean spirited professors. But once he began teaching, his brilliance attracted a loyal following.

His renown reached the ears of a general in search of a leader capable of developing a weapon strong enough to end a war. The risk was that the weapon would be so powerful it could destroy the whole world.

Ethical questions arise during the McCarthy era following the war. How loyal Oppenheimer was to democracy is under review, since in his youth he contributed to the Communists fighting fascists in Spain.

Two hearings alternate throughout the movie, one in black and white, the other in color. The first has the above questions posed to Oppenheimer during a critical review that results in him having his security status revoked.

The second is a Congressional examination of Lewis Strauss, who has been nominated by Eisenhower as a member of his cabinet. Strauss was instrumental in having Oppenheimer brought down a peg. Robert Downey Jr. handles this unappealing role with great skill.

Murphy works hard in this picture. He is in practically every scene, and projects the complexity of a man who knows the destruction he has brought to the earth must be tempered. The supporting cast is superb: Benny Sadie as Edward Teller, Alden Ehrenreich as an aide to Strauss,

Emily Blunt plays Oppenheimer’s wife, the only one who dares to challenge the hearing officers, sticking up for Oppenheimer in a blunt and effective way. The other woman in the movie, Jean Tatlock, gets to be naked and in bed, and mentally ill. It is not a pretty picture for us women. But it feels true to its time, if a bit too eager to show Florence Pugh’s breasts.

During the hearings

The most brilliant minds in science employed by the government at Los Alamos to stop Hitler were Jewish, giving them a greater commitment to succeed. But just as Hitler kills himself, the bomb is ready to deploy. So who does it target? A bunch of innocent Japanese citizens.

Oppenheimer knows that the hydrogen bomb would be even worse, and tries to stop it. Dipping in and out of the picture like a stern but loving advisor is Alfred Einstein (Tom Conti). David Hill (Rami Malek), a fellow physicist, comes to Oppenheimer’s aid in a key moment toward the end of the film.

The ideas in the movie are clearly illustrated by the cinematography and special effects, the screenplay moving smoothly from one conflict to the next with snappy dialogue. The picture has an important soundtrack. Loud and discordant, it is meant at times to mimic the emotional suffering and psychological distress of Oppenheimer. But making the audience suffer in order to get across how a troubled man suffers can be hard to take.

Tom Conti plays Albert Einstein, a reminder of the importance of science

When I saw the movie again in an IMAX theater, the quality of the sound effects was more visceral than deafening, and their discordant tones were much more effective in showing how explosive emotional turmoil is. One repeated sound effect comes from an audience waiting for “Oppie” to come speak to them after the successful testing of the bomb. Their feet pound on the bleachers in such a rhythm it sounds like a train chugging toward the station, increasing in volume and intensity with every second. Oppenheimer did not feel like a hero, but like the mythical creature that had brought fire to human beings, and was about to be punished for it for the rest of his life.

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Theater Camp, directed by Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, 2023.

Posted on September 2, 2023 by Patricia Markert

Screenplay by the directors and Ben Platt and Noah Galvin. With Molly Gordon, Ben Platt, Jimmy Tatro, Noah Galvin, and many children actors.

Molly Gordon and Ben Platt

The plot centers on a camp in the Adirondacks whose long time director, Joan, has gone into a coma, leaving the management of the camp for the summer season in her son’s hands. Troy (Jimmy Tatro) has ill founded confidence in his business ability. Soon he learns that the whole enterprise is in debt and about to be claimed by the bank, unless he gives in to the competitor camp next door and their manipulative director of finance.

The actual running of the camp rests in the hands of the teachers of drama, Amos, (Ben Platt), and singing, Rebecca, (Molly Gordon), along with the overworked tech director, Glenn (Noah Galvin).

The real stars of the movie are the children attending the camp, determined to excel and be cast in important roles to be produced during the three weeks given to do so.

The drama/musical–Joan, Still— based on the camp’s founder’s life, is seen in development as the two teachers collaborate on songs, dances, and dialogue. There is much familiar territory here. A teacher makes a talented student suffer, almost as punishment for not needing to be taught as much as the others. A production of the musical just might save the cash strapped camp.

The funniest scenes have the children trying to please the directors

Satire arrives in the names of the outrageous musicals previously produced. Ben Platt and Molly Gordon have decent chemistry until there is a falling out in front of the children that made my skin crawl.

The undercurrent of the movie is how unseen heroes need to take center stage. It is satisfying to watch this idea play out.

Jimmy Tatro and Ayo Edebiri, characters pretending to be something they aren’t

Even though the ideal audience for this movie is other theater camp geeks who live to perform drama, sing, dance, and become someone else other than themselves on stage, I welcomed it as an antidote to all of the wildfires, climate change, wars, and coups going on in the news. We need more comedies!

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Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig, 2023.

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Patricia Markert

with Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrara, Simu Liu, Michael Cera

Have you ever seen so much pink in your life? Just googling the title of this movie results in splashes of pink asterisks bursting on your screen. The color stands in for stereotypical femininity, as the beach stands in for acceptable masculinity. In case we don’t get these inferences, there are plenty of explanations provided. Barbie, as played by Margot Robbie, starts out stupid, but beautiful and happy, living in Barbieland, where nothing bad ever happens, and people call out her name as if Mattel is hitting the cash register every time their famous trademark doll is mentioned.

In this fantastic world, other Barbies, besides Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie, including President Barbie (Issa Rae), Author Barbie, Doctor Barbie, practice careers not usually thought of in relation to women who are more concerned with their clothing choices, and the shape of their feet as they step into high heels.

Then, one day, Barbie asks out loud if anyone thinks of death. It seems that someone’s thoughts, one of her previous owners, a grown up girl, has broken through the portal from reality to the fantasy that is Barbieland. The consequences are very dire. Barbie’s feet go flat, for instance. She can’t just float from the second floor of her house to her car on the ground any more. Barbie determines to go find out who it is, in order to stop her fantasy from being eroded. This requires the help of Weird Barbie, introducing Kate McKinnon.

Weird Barbie explains to Stereotypical Barbie what footwear she needs to wear in Reality

The movie is a quest where the main characters, including Ken, break through into the real world, which results in Ken feeling rejected, and left out, until he learns about the patriarchy. When he returns, he transforms Barbieland into Kendom, with the men taking back their masculinity, mostly having to do with riding horseback. This makes work for Barbie when she finds the woman who has caused the portal breach, a woman named Gloria, played by America Ferrera. Gloria’s daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) is a tween with a tendency to spew lectures as part of a mission to reverse the patriarchy. Return Barbieland to the Barbies. The women go back to their fantasy world, only to find it completely transformed by Ken and his Ken brothers.

The Kens discover their masculinity
Sasha with her friends as she explains the patriarchy to Barbie

Mattel’s executives (Will Ferrell as CEO), are just as conformist as the dolls in their dress and wishes for success. They are concerned about what Barbie might do to their brand, so determine to make the journey from Reality to Barbieland. It is clear that Mattel owns this picture.

Much as I love a good feminist movie, and was eager to see this one because it is directed by Gerwig, I don’t like being lectured about feminism, and if it was meant to be wry and sarcastic, it came off to me as pedantic and off putting. It made me root for the men, who are played by among others, Siru Liu and John Cena (mermaid Ken). The men who get to say asides are the most amusing, and there is a brilliantly choreographed dance number with miles of Kens. Allan (Michael Cera) tries to fit in with the others — his attempts are hilarious.

The cast does their job, especially Gosling and Liu perhaps because they get the sidekick lines just right. The photography dazzles us with the pinkness, the costumes and makeup and production design make you feel as if you had stepped into the store where the display cases were all lined up neat as a pin. The soundtrack is hummable especially the songs for Kens. As I was walking out of the theater, amid a group of tweens, the boys were all dancing. I heard one of them say, “I like that movie.”

My sister liked the movie very much. She used her Barbie dolls to fashion clothes, the beginning of her career as an artist. She said to me when I complained that the movie was too preachy, “If you worry about what Barbie says you’re in trouble.”

Just fewer lectures please.

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Asteroid City

Posted on July 19, 2023 by Patricia Markert

Asteroid City directed by Wes Anderson

with Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Jason Schneiderman, Matt Dillon, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks, Adrien Brody, Steve Carell, Scarlett Johansson, Maya Hawke, Jeffrey Wright 

Bryan Cranston opens the movie as a TV style narrator of a staid news show from the 1950s, where the object of his story is the writing of a play by a celebrated playwright, Conrad Earp (Edward Norton). The year is 1955, with rumors of space invaders, and sighting of ufos.

Cranston is the tv news anchor explaining the work of a playwright

The opening scenes are delightful, as the movie director imitates a stage director’s need to layout his sets, with an open desert inviting the placement of a hotel, a diner, a car repair/service, among other things, including a giant crater where a meteorite fell thousands of years ago.  Asteroid City lists on its name plate population 79.

As in most Wes Anderson movies, the compositions are symmetrical, carefully colored, the actors able to play it straight to the point of self mocking deliveries, and story bizarrely and self consciously making leaps that we are not expecting, but that do not surprise so much as delight us. The camerawork is flawless.

A family is being driven to Asterioid City in a tow truck since their car has broken down.  The mechanic (Matt Dillon) places the 1950s sleek station wagon on a hoist, and declares, after carefully examining the problem, it could be one of two things, which he has seen before.  In the first case, the car imploded and had to be sold for scrap, in the second case, the problem was solved with the insertion of a screw into the troubling part. As Dillon carefully screws the piece in, the result is case three, as the part supposed to have been attached pops off and begins shooting sparks. The mechanic does not know what it is.  This implies it cannot be fixed. I wonder if this is a metaphor for the movie.

The family consists of a bearded father, photographer Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) with a camera slung around his neck, and his children, a son, Woodrow (Jake Ryan), around 14 years old, and three young daughters under the age of ten.  They are at their destination, it turns out, to attend a Junior Stargazers Convention, where some of the children will be given special awards.  At night, they will get to observe a rare celestial event.  Jeffrey Wright is General Gibson, master of ceremonies, who gives a strange speech to open the ceremonies, and because Jeffrey Wright is performing, we almost forgive it.

Five teens receive awards, including Woodrow, who is led into a crush by Dinah (Grace Edwards), whose mother is a famous actress.  Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), rehearses scenes from her upcoming play, and develops a relationship with Augie. 

Schwartzman, Ryan, and Hanks

I came to the movie prepared to be charmed by the visuals (which I was), by the august cast (I was), and the quirks of Anderson (mostly).  The problem is there is a bit of a muchness to the meta nature of the story wrapped inside a story wrapped inside a story.   It’s like a multi layered pastry whose layers didn’t all bake evenly, and some were left uncooked and gooey.  There are too many levels attempting to be too many things.

Edward Norton has the least pleasing part, in the role of the writer, who gets to sit throughout the movie, except one surprising scene having to do with an actor convincing the playwright that he is right for the part. Jeff Goldblum has the best part, which I will not give away because it is a bit of a surprise, and hinges together some of the plot sequences.  But you would not recognize him in his costume. The whole cast, and there are so many actors in so many important parts I cannot name them all here, does a great job pulling together the various parts of the narrative. However, just as you are beginning to understand what is going on, everyone starts reciting the line,  “You can’t wake up if you don’t go to sleep.” over and over again, as if it is supposed to mean something more than what it is saying.  

To bring us back into the delightful side of Anderson’s aesthetic–

— three little girls need to put their mother’s ashes into the ground with a special chant/spell they’ve concocted.

–Steve Carell in his awful visor, explains random absurdities (like buying real estate from a vending box next to the place you buy cigarettes and candy). 

 –Matt Dillon is a mechanic who tells the truth when he doesn’t know what’s going on

–Maya Hawke as a schoolteacher keeps her students attending the stargazers convention on task as much as she is able, even though suddenly, one of her students, instead of proving that he understands the science of outer space, begins singing a tune he made up, which results in some joyful dancing

Overall, I was captivated, as always by Wes Anderson’s visual techniques, but there was too much effort at meaning too much.

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This Changes Everything, directed by Tom Donahue, 2018.

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Patricia Markert

documentary available on Netflix.

At the beginning of the movie, as promising as the title itself, you think that something is afoot to correct the bias against women in the film industry, that Geena Davis’ institute has its finger on the data that prove women need and deserve and have earned the right for equal representation in movies, tv, and other entertainments we see on screen. The interviews are bracing, and range from Meryl Streep to Taraji Henson to Sandra Oh. Every one of these actresses has experienced the male gaze of Hollywood even when the subject is a woman’s. Cate Blanchett describes her opportunities to turn a shallow character into someone more complex with her own creativity.

When one of the actresses was asked to sit in the director’s lap, she replied, “You wouldn’t ask Tom Hanks to sit in your lap.” Eventually the anecdotes segue into the serious business of the film, what can be done about the rampant sexism in Hollywood. Not only are women hired strictly for their looks and shallow character parts, but directors are rare. The Directors Guild with the assistance of six women, especially spearheaded by Maria Giese, urged a federal investigation of the labor practices that violate the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Nothing like the snail’s pace of a federal investigation to slow down the momentum of a movie.

Maria Giese

Since I watched this movie four years after its release, the feeling of unfinished, dated work is rampant. Since 2019, much has happened. More women are directing things. Jane Campion won her second Oscar for Power of the Dog. I try to watch streaming tv series that feature women, and am satisfied to have discovered Bad Sisters out of Ireland, Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne (I dare you not to be seduced by her gravelly voice), All the Beauty and the Bloodshed directed by Laura Poitras, She Said directed by Maria Shrader, Abbott Elementary written and starring Quinta Brunson, The Green Glove Gang about some older women expert in heist crimes, living in retirement homes in Poland, Tar with a riveting performance by Cate Blanchett, and now we have this year, Diplomat directed by Debora Cahn, with superb acting by Keri Russell who struggles to step out from under her husband’s reputation as a diplomat.

I wish that there were a data sheet for every year since 2018 when the movie was made to show what has changed and what hasn’t. But since I was watching this rather dated documentary in 2023, I have only gratitude for the conversation to have started.

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The Diplomat, series, created by Debora Cahn.

Posted on May 30, 2023 by Patricia Markert

on Netflix

with Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi

The writing is slick and quick, keeping you on your toes to see what direction the plot is veering. The acting is uniformly excellent. The idea of the show is how much power does a political functionary really have when it comes time to avoid catastrophes? When a British ship is bombed, and over 40 people die, what actions are you supposed to take next? The Prime Minister wants justice, his diplomats want to know who did it, the intelligence community is left scrambling. Keri Russell, as Kate Wyler, has recently been appointed ambassador of the U.S. to England, having relinquished her seat as negotiating partner in the conflict in Afghanistan. She had preferred to make more of a difference in that middle eastern country than to occupy the lavish quarters of the embassy in London where it is very important to have photo ops wearing the right clothes.

Kate is the opposite of a clothes horse. She frequently spills food on her clothes which makes her prefer black. Russell struggles to appear less than attractive, all business, not caring about her appearance. Kate always walks with a determined pace to her step, as if she were engaged in a walk run race. What appeals to me about the show is its demonstration of how sexism works, by pushing the women to the back while the men take center stage. This is the case with Kate, whose husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell) has already been an ambassador and knows all the major players Kate is about to meet. The big conflict is how to deal with what looks like a Russian attack on the British. What should be done about it, as Americans, who are allies, and as British, whose citizens have been brazenly murdered. What if Russia was not the culprit? Hal has contacts who can help, but he is along with Kate as a spouse, without genuine power, except when he choses to use it.

Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell play Kate and Hal Wyler, two experienced political functionaries who happen to be married to each other

The subsidiary characters have lives of their own, and are in some ways more interesting than the principals. David Gyasi plays Austin Dennison, the UK Foreign Secretary, whose sister lives with him. Dennison and Kate have a mild flirtation –there are other romances afoot. The show treats the subject of marriage, as Kate and Hal had planned on divorcing until it becomes clear how well suited they are to each other. As things develop internationally, they prove themselves a team when it comes to strategy, contacts, and communications with the powers that be.

Ato Assandoh and Ali Ahn play a CIA operative and Kate’s chief of staff

Because Russia has been the aggressor lately with Ukraine, and world politics are a bit confusing, the show seems very timely.

I can’t wait for season 2 since the end of season 1 ended on a brutal cliffhanger.

David Gyasi is one of the main reasons to watch the show
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It Ain’t Over directed by Sean Mullin, 2022.

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Patricia Markert

It Ain’t Over aims to settle the score that left Yogi Berra off the roster in 2014 when four other players (Johnny Bench, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax) were honored as some of the greatest of all time. Those four had less World Series rings, MVP titles, and RBI than Yogi. Berra’s granddaughter, Lindsay, keeps careful track to make sure her beloved grandfather is given the respect he is due.

Berra was never considered with the same glory as his teammates because of his height– he was short at 5’7″, compared to others. The way he spoke made him seem simple minded. His background, in the Italian neighborhood of St. Louis known as Dago Hill, itself an Italian slur, forced a humble attitude. He knew how to play as well or better, much better, than the next one, but when it came to getting respect more than one person noted, “He doesn’t look like a ball player.”

Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees

It made me wonder, what does a ball player look like? Like Gary Cooper in Pride of the Yankees, about Lou Gehrig? Like Cary Grant who sat with Yogi in the dugout in the Doris Day movie, Touch of Mink? Like Joe diMaggio, who married Marilyn Monroe? It is a mystery to me what a baseball player should look like, but these three examples point at the glamor expected of Yankees during a certain era, the era Yogi played and excelled in.

Another double edged sword: his charm, and manner of speaking. He could turn a phrase into a slogan that had people thinking hard on it, my favorite being, “If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him,” a useful saying when learning to hit the ball.

His very nickname, Yogi, came from his crouching posture as he waited to bat, when people thought he looked like a yogi, a wise person, waiting his turn. Yogi did not expect to do anything but play a good game. And boy did he ever. During the 1950s, when he was catcher, the position that acts as a kind of captain, in being able to see the whole field, and advise the pitcher what to throw, the Yankees were indomitable. He had come to the Yankees after serving in the navy during World War II, participating in the landing at Normandy, getting wounded, then pulling the dead bodies out of the water.

October 8, 1956, Don Larsen’s perfect game had Yogi jump into the pitcher’s arms

Yogi seemed to bring bring good luck, not just to pitchers, like Don Larsen who threw a perfect game during the 1956 World Series, but to the Mets who came to life when he was coaching them. He was working with the Yankees as manager when Steinbrenner, impatient with his record one April, had him fired by an assistant coach. This rude method of losing his job made him swear not to return to Yankee Stadium until Steinbrenner apologized to him many years later.

The movie fills in some key moments in the history of the Yankees, since so many of the interview subjects are important to that franchise: Willie Randolph, Joe Torre, Joe Girardi, Derek Jeter, Ron Guidry, Don Mattingly. There is a feeling of saintliness that comes with the man since his humility and goodness coupled with his love of his wife and his family shines through.

Carmen and Yogi Berra, married couple

Jackie Robinson stealing home from under his glove when Robinson was a Dodger and Berra a Yankee really bothered him. Berra never got over that. You can see how it would stick in any catcher’s craw to have a superstar like Robinson steal home plate under your watch.

The movie accomplishes what it sets out to do: prove that Yogi deserves to be considered one of the greatest players of all time. Along the way, he was charming, loving, and said many memorable things. The way people talk about him in this movie brought tears to my eyes, as a great memorial service can do when people speak of the dead in loving tones. Billy Crystal and Don Mattingly especially capture the man’s grace and talent. Crystal was his friend, and Mattingly benefited from Berra’s coaching. Berra’s greatness lay in his decency.

Berra in 1953
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