Plus a couple of the customary European imports
Recently, I’ve been listening to a podcast called Weird Little Guys, a sister show of sorts to Behind The Bastards. Host Molly Conger follows a more scripted structure to the latter’s focus on “the worst people in history”, in the case focused on White Supremacists’ crimes and trials as well as their ideological background. As you can imagine it has been home to some extremely disturbing listening (particularly an episode focused on Terrorgram). What’s been most enlightening for me, however, has been how interconnected all of these people are, if not interpersonally than in the various elements that pop up. Things like William Luther Pierce’s racist novel/action plan The Turner Diaries, or Unite The Right.
All of this means I was probably primed more than most for The Order (Grade: A-), named after the Aryan Nation splinter group of the same name (as well as the organization featured in The Turner Diaries). The film mostly traces their series of bank robberies and bombings throughout the early 80s, culminating in the assassination of Jewish liberal radio host Alan Berg (Marc Maron). They’re lead by Bob Matthews, played by Nicholas Hoult with strong charisma, less a cult leader than a really effective one. He believes that the Aryan Nation – with its plan to get people in government and slowly enact their will – is too slow and all talk. He favors a more direct approach, one that catches the attention of Jude Law’s Terry Husk. What starts as a peculiar pattern of bombings at synagogues and porn stores reveals itself to be the first in what will eventually become an armed revolution if they let it get that far.
Justin Kurzel’s direction is assured without being too over-the-top, orchestrating a number of tense action sequences that call to mind crime movies of yore. Most important is how that interacts with Zach Baylin’s script (adapted from The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt); the most chilling moments come from how normal these White Supramcists act, reading to their kids at night or teaching them how to shoot. Baylin takes pains to explain the ideology behind it and how law enforcement often bungles these cases by not affording them the proper seriousness. This is a movie providing sharp thrills with perhaps a bit of thin characterization on the side of law enforcement. But it treats the Nazis as the serious, disturbing threat that they are, their normalcy only highlighting how they lurk in the shadows. Not for nothing, a major plot of The Turner Diaries involves the taking over of government buildings, including the Capitol. Sound familiar?
The other two movies I saw today have some familiarity with a lot of European films on the festival circuit, but they carve enough of their own path to stand out. Of the two, Peacock (Grade: B/B+) is a tad more successful, or at least paced better. Plot wise it may bring to mind Yorgos Lianthimos’ Alps, in this case focusing on a “rent-a-friend” service rather than dead loved ones to mourn. Chief among these is Matthias (Albrecht Schuch), the highest rated among the employees for his ability to effortlessly shift into any persona, whether it be a date to the symphony or a boyfriend for an apartment hunter. So good is he at his job that his girlfriend becomes frustrated at his lack of personality, sending him into an existential crisis. What follows is decently funny, occaisionally ominous, powered mainly by a great performance. It culminates in a similar version of the much feted performance art scene from The Square, suggesting it’s not quite as original as it may seem. Not sure I’m totally sold on the satirical value the more I think about it but it’s been a week so consider that me trying to reengage the critical faculties.
Finally, we have The New Year That Never Came (Grade: B-), a Romanian movie about that favorite topic of Romanian cinema: Nicolae Ceauşescu and the revolution that ended in his execution around December 1989. Later Romanian movies – especially those from prankster-philosopher Radu Jude (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World) – have cast an eye towards contemporary society, though Bogdan Muresanu’s debut leans more towards the absurd comedy with a touch of the realism of a 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days. It takes quite a bit of time to get up to speed; Muresanu has a lot of characters and plotlines to introduce and not all of them are very interesting or funny. Once things start to escalate towards the inevitable, the jokes start flying and it speeds towards the sort of uproariousness you’d expect from Romanian satire. He’s probably got a good to great movie in him, he just needs more discipline.
Tomorrow: Steve McQueen returns to theatrical narrative for his WWII drama Blitz, and I try to get back on schedule.
Life of the Mind 