Editor’s Note: Freeline Media’s movie critic, Mike Fried, takes a look at what’s new on Netflix, and there are some good, bad and kind of meh choices there.
By MIKE FRIED
THE BIG FAKE
** 1/2
The Big Fake tells the story of Toni Chichiarelli, a master forger in 1970s Italy who, Forrest Gump-like, becomes involved with the Mafia, government types and others who reinforce his need to be the very best. Toni Chichiarelli is a real person; but this heavily dramatized Netflix movie misses the mark because it is tonally inconsistent. Does it want to be another Goodfellas, or just a crime story about a forger? It’s a beautifully filmed movie that looks great, but is ruined by a lackadaisical script. When he finds out that his estranged girlfriend is pregnant with his child, he smiles and says “It’s the only real thing I’ve made.”
Oh, come on.
A big portion of the movie revolves around the real life kidnapping and assassination of Aldo Moro, the Christian Democrat Italian politician murdered in 1978.
This event is the epicenter of the movie as it keeps Toni involved with all of the potential suspects. I suppose it’s also intended to keep the suspense going, but it really doesn’t. What it does, rather, is show that although Toni was tangentially involved with the events, he really was just a bystander to the murder.
And as he gets involved in a Red Brigade robbery that nets one billion lire without hurting anyone, he takes a picture of the captured guards because it is “art,” and that’s what he is all about — the art.
If only the screenplay and the direction were as concerned with “art” as the movie’s protagonist was. Maybe if director Stefano Lodovichi was less concerned with being Scorsese than being his own person, the movie would be less scattershot and amorphous.
Instead of being a two hour movie, things should have been fleshed out into a three part limited series that might have given more heft to the action that took place, rather than providing tidbits.
SKIP IT.
ELEANOR THE GREAT
*** 1/2
When her best friend Bessie, a Holocaust survivor, passes away, 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein moves from Florida to New York to be with her daughter and her grandson. Her daughter, who has to work, drops her off at the local Jewish Community Center and she finds herself in a Holocaust Survivor’s Support Group. Eleanor realizes she shouldn’t be there, but she cannot help telling the stories that her deceased friend has told her over the years. She captures the attention of a young journalism student whose father is a local newspaper reporter, and the deception spirals out of control.
Ok, I am going to be up front and state that I am a huge fan of June Squibb. She deserved her best supporting actress nomination for Nebraska and she should have been nominated for her first starring role in Thelma.
This movie is not up to the quality of those two, but it has its charms. Bumpily directed by Scarlett Johansson in her directorial debut, the film addresses various issues — especially Jewish identity and aging.
Johansson recruited her fellow MCU star Chiwetel Ejiofor as the local news reporter and father of Nina, the journalism student played so well by Erin Kellyman. They are both dealing with the recent loss of wife and mother, who was Jewish.
It’s a rather simplistic story that isn’t groundbreaking in any way; but it is Squibb and Kellyman’s relationship that makes the story fly. Squibb, particularly, gives an extraordinary performance. In addition, the always wonderful Jessica Hecht is on hand as Eleanor’s daughter, Lisa.
The one element that left me cold was that when Eleanor is ostensibly telling Bessie’s story, it is actress Rita Zohar (who plays Bessie) who recounts the stories. For a practical matter, Zohar was born in a concentration camp so it was more impactful for her telling the stories, even though she was 5 months old when the Russians liberated the camp. But it just made sense to have Eleanor telling the stories, perpetuating the lies. On the other hand, there were not Eleanor’s stories to tell.
It’s nothing more than a Hallmark Channel movie; but if every Hallmark Channel movie had Squibb, Kellyman and Hecht in it, I would subscribe.
WATCH IT.
KIDNAPPED: ELIZABETH SMART
*** 1/2
While the story is ultimately about one of the most notorious kidnappings since the Lindbergh baby case, one of the things that resonated most for me was the way the media coverage resulted in the loss of people supporting the Smarts because of the delay by the police in clearing the family. Let’s face it: the cops didn’t solve this case and were derelict in their duty.
But other than that, it is a kind of a by-the-numbers Netflix documentary. I don’t mean to say that it wasn’t informative, but Netflix has a way of taking 60 minute subjects and stretching them out to 90 minutes and I can’t understand why — it’s certainly not for the extra ad revenue, is it?
And did we need the re-created shot of the actress playing Elizabeth Smart walking through a wheat field with her hand gently brushing the wheat — à la Maximus Decimus in Gladiator?
If you don’t watch true crime shows, there’s a lot of new information that is absolutely interesting.
But, ultimately, it’s the honest confession of Elizabeth Smart about her ordeal that makes this a worthwhile watch.
WATCH IT.
Michael Fried has no formal training in movies, except having watched over 26,000+ movies — if not more — in his 60-plus years on this planet, starting with Goldfinger as his first cinema experience. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and it’s quite often different from the conventional wisdom. He knows that the best franchise is Godzilla and he loves action movies and comedies. He has not been nominated for any awards except some boring insurance awards which has no applicability to movies (with the possible exceptions of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and John Cassavettes’ Big Trouble). He is part of a team that won the 1980 SUNY Albany Trivia content by correctly guessing the question, “Who played the president of Klopstockia in Million Dollar Legs?” So he has that going for him, which is nice.
Contact Mike at moviemike3@yahoo.com and mike.fried@yahoo.com.
