Displaying items by tag: John David Washington

THE PIANO LESSON

US, 2024, 127 minutes, Colour.

Samuel L.Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, Michael Potts, Stephan James.

Directed by Malcolm Washington.

The film version of one of the several plays by August Wilson tracing the history of African Americans and the exploration of their culture – Fences, Ma Rainey’s Bottom… It has been adapted for the screen with Malcolm Washington directing.

Producer Denzel Washington, father of Malcolm and of the star, John David, with his wife Paulette and daughter Olivia having cameo roles as mother and daughter, when asked what audiences would get out of the film, replied that it depended what audiences brought to the film.

To this extent, it is very much a film for African-Americans, the background of slavery, the domination of the South, emancipation, racism, African-American culture and traditions, moving into the conflicts and freedoms of the 20^th century.

The film opens in 1911, celebration of Independence Day, a white celebration while, at the same time, a group of black men are taking a piano from a landowner’s house and sending it to Pittsburgh. The father of the family is pursued and killed.

The action takes place mainly in Pittsburgh in 1936, one of the sons, Boy Willie, John David Washington, coming with his friend Lyman, Ray Fisher, with a truckload of watermelons to sell to get money to buy a property of the landowner who has died falling down a well. He hopes to sell the piano to raise the rest of the money for the sale. However, he experiences the clash with his sister, Berneice, a widow with a daughter, Danielle Deadwyler. The patriarch of the house is played by Samuel L.J ackson. Also in the cast are one of his brothers who is visiting as well as the local pastor who aims at building a church.

This is very much filmed theatre but with a number of exterior sequences. However, it is very much a film of words and performance. Central to the drama of the family is the sense of ghosts and spirits haunting, the effect on families, the need for some kind of exorcism.

The wider audience will be interested in this exploration of African-American themes but may often feel that they are observing from the outside.

1. The work of August Wilson? Theatre? Cinema? African-American themes in history?
2. 1911, July 4, the south, the White celebration, patriotism, colour and song? The contrast with the African-Americans, the situation, Mississippi, work, owners, the piano, the stealing, pushing and carrying it, the escape, with Boy Willie, Boy Charlie, the fire, the pursuit, his death?
3. 1936, the desert, the city, the neighbourhoods, the black area? Homes, the streets, nightclubs, church? The musical score, the songs and their lyrics, atmosphere?
4. The theatricality of the piece, on stage, most of the action within the house, the external scenes, Mississippi, the pursuit of Boy Charlie, the drive, the sales of the watermelons? The visual equivalence of the words?
5. The focus on Boy Willie, his age, his mother and father, the memories of 1911, the piano? The death of Sutter, falling down the well, huge man, suspicions, the Yellow Ghost, Berneice asserting that Boy Willie pushed him? The visuals? His friendship with Lyman, the truck, driving to Pittsburgh, the watermelons, the sale, hopes for the money for a for the land?
6. Doaker, the uncle, his brothers, his work, settling in the North, his personality, observing, intervening? Berneice, her experience in the south, the death of her husband, mourning for him, her daughter? Her bitter attitudes? Antagonism towards Boy Willie? Her bitter words, the relationship with Avery? Raising the funds? Avery’s proposal, her harsh response? The scenes of antagonism with Boy Willie? Her nerves, the apparition of Sutter, Boy Willie’s sceptical reaction? The conversations about his appearing, Joker, the daughter? The ominous presence?
7. Lyman, more simple, from the South, wanting to stay in the North, accompanying Boy Willie, their shared experiences, his conversation, the watermelons, in the house, Boy Wining and the bargaining with the suit, shirt, shoes? His going out, at the club, the music, the conversation, his return, the encounter with Berneice, the perfume, the kiss, her response?
8. Boy Wining, his past, one of the brothers, the news of his wife’s death, the music, his drinking, in the house, cheerful, contribution to the controversies?
9. The buildup to a climax, Berneice, the anxieties, Avery’s coming to exorcise the ghosts, the quoting of the scripture, Boy Willie and his experience, the struggle with the ghost, his return downstairs? The reconciliation with Berneice?
10. Love and tensions within the family? The future?
11. And the symbolism of the piano, stolen from Sutter, transfer to the North, the mother playing it, the flashbacks of mother and daughter, Berneice playing it, stopping when her mother died, the carvings on the piano, the family heritage, not selling it, Avery wanting to start the Church, Boy Willie wanting to sell it for buying the property?

THE CREATOR

US, 2023, 133 minutes, Colour.

John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Vouyles, Gemma Chan, Alison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Sturgeon Sampson, Amar Chadha Patel, Ralph Ineson.

Directed by Gareth Edwards.

The Creator is a vast, visually impressive drama of the future, the development of AI, sophisticated robotics, robots with personality and parallel human functions, harmony with the humans – or hostility. It is the creative work of writer-director, Gareth Edwards (Monsters,). In many ways it is visionary.

Overall, the audience is overwhelmed by being immersed in this future, 2067-2070, extraordinary locations, the vastness of Los Angeles destroyed by hostile AI forces, millions destroyed, Americans determined to wipe out AI. However, robotics is flourishing in what is called New Asia, humans living in harmony with the AI. Much of the filming was done in Thailand, in the rice fields, wonderful visual overviews, the crags emerging from the coastal waters, supplementary filming in Korea, Cambodia, and for spectacular mountain sequences, Nepal. There is a vastness about these landscapes.

But with the screenplay, there is a challenge to the audiences, the need for serious attention to determine who is who, who is on whose side, who are the enemies, who are the destructive forces, the American military? The AI weaponry? Some may find this challenge too much.

But, in this future, the robots can be distinguished with a literal hole in the head. The robots otherwise look human, act in a very human way. But, at the core of the film is the mysterious Creator with a mystique from Nepal. However, American intelligence indicates that the AI enemies have a mysterious weapon capable of complete destruction.

Also at the centre, is a human story, a focus on Joshua, John David Washington, undercover American agent in New Asia, married to a local wife, she pregnant. And then an American invasion, Joshua’s cover blown, his wife disappearing, his returning to LA and working for the government. Five years later he is approached to return to new Asia to find the mysterious weapon and to kill the mastermind creating AI.

In fact, the weapon is a mysterious child (mother Madeleine Yuna Voyles), hole in the head, very human (delighting in television cartoons), but with complete powers of control. All the rest of the screenplay is somewhat overwhelming in the confrontation between American forces, led by quite a fierce colonel, played by Alison Janney, backed by sinister authorities in Washington, but it is also very personal, Joshua and Alphie, as he calls her, escaping together, pursued, taken aboard an immense, really vast, airborne machine of surveillance, pursuit, heroics, sacrifice.

Enthusiasts for dramas about the human future, about the role of AI, will enjoy it is sometimes overwhelming drama. Audiences who prefer to focus on the present might find it too much.

1. The title? A world of AI? The Nepalese word and title?
2. Audience interest in AI, robotics, the past, the future? Human collaboration? Human hostility?
3. 2067, 2070? The US, AI and human dependence, the devastation in Los Angeles? The promotion of AI in New Asia? The US wanting to destroy AI? Surviving in New Asia?
4. The visuals of the future world, the wreckage of Los Angeles, the villages of New Asia (filming in Thailand, the rice fields, the coasts and crags, Cambodia, Korea, the mountains of Nepal)?
5. The technology, the robotics, human form, human functions, expressions of emotions, relationships? Weapons? The child as a weapon? And the huge airborne surveillance?
6. The screenplay, elaborating the situation, challenged to audiences as to who is who, who is on whose side, who are the humans, who are the robots? The nature of the confrontations and battles?
7. Joshua, the American government, undercover, his relationship with Maya, her pregnancy? Hopes? The invasion, blowing his cover, Maya and the confrontation, her disappearance?
8. Joshua in LA, the authorities, coming to him, drawing on his undercover experience in New Asia, his being sent in to find the AI weapon?
9. Joshua, his personality, regrets about his wife, her disappearance, the pregnancy, five years passing? The discovery of the weapon, the Creation? His searching for her, finding her, bonding, her name, the shared experiences, the risks? The protection? In New Asia, the American invasion, Col Howell and her hostility? The other Americans?
10. The people of new Asia, the robots in harmony with the humans, working the fields, protection? Support of Joshua? The religious backgrounds?
11. Colonel Howell, her personality, determination, her subordinates? Her tactics? Relationship with the authorities in Washington?
12. Joshua, calling the child Alphie, the attack, the pursuit, in the vehicles, the fights, the weaponry? The national surveillance overhead?
13. The Americans, the wounded, the appeal to Joshua? The implants, the recordings, Howell and her listening to the mind of the dead man, limited? The changes of appearances – and, in the AI world, the robots and their possibility of changing faces? Mayar’s face?
14. The buildup to the climax, aboard the floating surveillance, the chases, vastness, Joshua and his ingenuity, relying on Alfie and her powers, turning power on and off?
15. The finale, the explosions, the talk about heaven, for good persons, Joshua and his self-sacrifice?
16. Howelll, destruction, the floating surveillance?
17. The American attitudes, the Washington authority and commands, defeated? The people of New Asia continuing on in harmony?
18. The vision of the director, the future, technology, humanity?