Category Archives: Redemption

Road to Perdition (2022)

From IMDB:

A mob enforcer’s son in 1930s Illinois witnesses a murder, forcing him and his father to take to the road, and his father down a path of redemption and revenge.

From Netflix (and Kanopy) you can stream this 1 hour 57 minute Irish mob classic film which  earned five Academy Awards  nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Paul Newman. Originally the story was a graphic novel.

Tom Hanks bemoans the seeming obscurity of the film. He is quoted as saying  “For one reason or another, no one references Road to Perdition, and that was an incredibly important movie for me to go through.”  In fact, it was just his comment that motivated me to watch the film.

Consider the outstanding actors involved:

  • Tom Hanks plays the enforcer and father Michael Sullivan. At the time of filming he was 46.
  • Tyler Hoechlin plays the endangered son Michael Sullivan Jr. At the time of filming he was 15.  Later he played superheroes.
  • Jennifer Jason Leigh plays the mother Annie Sullivan.
  • Paul Newman plays the mob family head John Rooney. This was his  final live-action theatrical film acting role at which time he was 77. Newman died in 2008,
  • Daniel Craig plays the out-of-control son Connor Rooney. At the time of filming he was 34. Craig began filming at age 24.
  • Ciarán Hinds plays the witnessed murdered man Finn McGovern.
  • Stanley Tucci plays the Chicago mobster Frank Nitti.
  • Jude Law plays the psychopath Maguire who photographs his victims’ corpses. At time of filming he was 30. He began filming as a child actor of age 16.
  • Anthony LaPaglia was cast as Al Capone and filmed a single scene, which was omitted from the final cut  and can be found in the DVD’s deleted scenes.

Of course, it is a violent gangster film, but a tasteful one (if that is possible).  At the center of the film is the son Michael who is an essentially good kid that worships his father and whose salvation is at stake.

DO NOT MISS!

Sherwood (2022)

From IMDB:

Two shocking and unexpected murders shatter an already fractured community leading to one of the largest manhunts in British history.

From Amazon Prime Brit Box you can stream the 6 episodes of this north England series. Each episode is just under an hour.

In 1984 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher crushed a coal miner’s strike, thereby earning her title of “Iron Lady.”  Hard feelings between the striking miner’s and those who continued to work, so-called “scabs”,  have persisted from then on.  Sherwood is a small town historically associated with Robin Hood.  Of all the town’s inhabitants only one family is a “scab” family.  Striker versus scab is the paramount theme of this series which continually bounces back and forth between 1984 and the present.

Past tragedies involved the  young policemen and miners who now are middle age going on retirement.  One challenge in watching this series is to match the young characters with their present-day versions.

There are three vital subplots:

  • Someone is murdering people with a crossbow. We soon learn who and the police hunt is intense.
  • Andy Fisher inadvertently kills his daughter-in-law and the hunt is on.
  • In 1984 there was an undercover police spy, dubbed the “spy cop”, who incorporated his-or-herself into the community.  Again there is this third hunt to find the “spy cop.”

If you watch much British drama you will recognize many familiar faces. As usual in British drama the acting is superb.  With such an engaging and suspenseful plot you cannot go wrong.

DO NOT MISS!

Deadfall (2012)

From Kanopy:

Two siblings (Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde) fend for themselves in the wake of a botched casino heist, only to reunite during another family’s Thanksgiving celebration in this thriller.

From Kanopy you can stream this 1 hour 34 minute complete film.

During this violent thriller there is never a dull moment.

  • Eric Bana, as the brother Addison, is a killer through and through who also happens to lust after his sister Liza.
  • Olivia Wilde is the sister Liza.
  • Charlie Hunnam, as Jay Mills, is the prodigal son of the Mills family. He leaves prison as the film starts
  • Sissy Spacek, as June Mills, is Jay’s mother.
  • Kris Kristofferson, as Chet Mills, is Jay’s father. Chet has more or less disowned Jay.

As Addison flees the law while killing one person after another, he arrives just in time for the Mills’ family Thanksgiving. So also do Liza and Jay arrive for the dinner. By this time they are in love due to Liza’s manipulations.

Expect and ending which is violent, exhausting, and not especially happy.  Worth watching!

Startup (2018)

From IMDB:

A desperate banker, a Haitian-American gang lord and a Cuban-American hacker are forced to work together to unwittingly create their version of the American dream – organized crime 2.0.

From Netflix you can stream 3 seasons of this series.  Each season consists of 10 episodes. Each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

If there is any current prototype of the 21st century technical world, this series is certainly in the running.  Topics include anonymous networks, cryptocurrency, NSA, security, CIA, black ops, offshore accounts, gang violence, crime ridden neighborhoods, criminal activity, Russian mobsters, rogue FBI agents, personal betrayal, and romance to name a few.

But above all for me the most important theme was redemption in the sense that people can change for the better.  First consider the character Ronald Dacey played by Edi Cathegi (born in Kenya).  Herein is a warning:  In the beginning of the series Ronald is the brutal leader of a Haitian gang in Los Angeles.  Don’t let the scenes of torture turn you away from the series.  Indeed the “redeeming” feature here is that Ronald in addition to being a brutal killer is also a loving husband and father.  As the story progresses, Ronald grows increasingly aware that the violence is self-defeating.  His basic and thinking humanity more and more shines through. He fights especially to keep his son on a straight path, not an easy task in their environment.  Ronald is never a saint, but his heart is more or less in the right place.

Next consider the rogue FBI agent Phil Rask played by the British actor Martin Freeman, who played Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes.  Freeman’s consistently idiosyncratic portrayal of Agent Rask is a pleasure to watch. More to the point of “redemption”, despite his many misdeeds he does have a conscience which begins to nag at him, which becomes fortunate for other characters later on in the plot.

Eventually you may become intimately concerned with the other players:  Adam Brody as Nick Talman, Otmara Marrero as Izzy Morales, Ron Perlman as Wes Chandler, and Addison Timlin as Mara Chandler.

And if you want some really nasty villains, there are two remarkable sociopaths Vera Cherny as the Russian mobstress (if there is such a word) and Mira Sorvino as the ruthless NSA-CIA black operator Rebecca Stroud.

DO NOT MISS!

The Queen’s Gambit (2020)

From IMDB:

Orphaned at the tender age of nine, prodigious introvert Beth Harmon discovers and masters the game of chess in 1960s USA. But child stardom comes at a price.

Nine year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control. By the age of sixteen, she’s competing for the U.S. Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting. Based on the book by Walter Tevis.

From Netflix you can stream the 7 episodes of this  remarkable drama. Episodes vary in length from 46 minutes to 67 minutes.

You need not understand anything about chess to appreciate the tension of a chess match and to enjoy this story.  Although there are an awful lot of chess matches and much discussion about the game,  Beth and her personal life remain the center of attention. Watching the obsessive inhabitants of the world of chess can be a revelation. Granted that a person can obsess over just about anything, nonetheless the hold that chess has on some players is remarkable. Indeed that hold is the core of Beth’s ultimate problem: exactly what is her life about?

Anya Taylor-Joy,  the British/Argentine actress who plays Beth, is as perfect for the role as she is beautiful.  When she says “I like clothes”, consider that an understatement.   Where did she get the money for all those clothes?

DO NOT MISS!

 

Grey Zone (2018)

From IMDB:

Victoria works as an engineer specializing in drones. She is taken hostage in the home of terrorists, while the security police in Sweden, led by SÄPO agent Eva, and the Danish colleagues at PET are trying to prevent an imminent terrorist attack. The destiny of the two women is intertwined in a gray zone where morality and responsibility are put at risk.

From MHz Choice:

Dangerous events are set into motion when a brilliant drone engineer is taken hostage in this high octane Scandinavian thriller. 

From MHz Choice you can stream the 10 episodes of this one season Danish thriller. Each episode lasts 44 minutes. English subtitles are provided.

Victoria and her son Oscar are lured into being taken targeted hostages by Lyad, a decent man turned into a terrorist because an American drone killed Lyad’s wife and son.  Victoria is being forced into programming and launching a bomb carrying drone attack on a populated target. Victoria is clever and finds a way to notify the security police who convince her to carry on so that the details and location of the bomb, drone, and target can be discovered.

As a secondary theme,  the almost unscrupulous methods used by the “good guys” ( the state security apparatus) are examined.  Jesper Lassen is devastated when a  close friend and informer is murdered while helping the authorities.  As Henry Kissinger would probably say “What difference does collateral damage make, as long as I achieve my political goals?”

Whereas I had to anxiously wait week after week for the next installment, now (Nov 11, 2020) you can binge watch all 10 episodes.

 DO NOT MISS!

The Sounds (2020)

From IMDB;

Maggie and Tom Cabbott move to the town of Pelorus to escape the oppressive influence of Tom’s family. But when he disappears, unsettling facts about Tom soon come to light and the search brings long-buried wounds to the surface.

From Amazon Prime:

This twisty thriller follows a married couple trying to start a new life in an idyllic New Zealand town, but when the husband goes missing, dark secrets begin to surface.

From Amazon Prime you can stream the 8 episodes of the only season.  Each episode lasts exactly 44 minutes.

“Acceptable soap opera”  seems like a fair assessment of this series. Murder, false imprisonment, drug dealing, alcoholism, indigenous people, embezzlement, unwanted baby, and several betrayals make for a watchable series.

Rachelle Lefevre as Maggie Cabbott commands the show.  No sooner had I finished watching the series and then took a peek at Electric Dreams, much  to my surprise there was Rachelle Lefevre playing Katie in the TV series adaptation of Phillip Dick’s novel.

Of all the many characters in the cast, Emily Piggford as the accountant for the ruthless Cabbott enterprises was certainly the most striking or should I say oddest personality.   In this B+ series she can get away with such an extreme portrayal of a dedicated but emotionless woman.

Mostly about sin and redemption, it was worth waiting for the next Tuesday installment. At least you won’t have to wait now that all the episodes have been released.

The Trial (2013)

From Netflix:

When the Belfast police are stalled in their investigation of a spate of murders, Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson is drafted to investigate. Under her lead, the team uncovers an intricate web of lives entangled by the killings.

These days serial-killer dramas are standard fare and often very similar. Nonetheless some of these presentations are different enough to be of interest. So what makes this one season, 5 episode TV series which I streamed from Netflix worthwhile?

  • Both the police investigation and the ordinary home life of the married-with-kids serial killer develop at the same time. You constantly switch back and forth.
  • Instead of black and white, good and bad, the killer and the cops are humans with their own mixtures of good and bad.
  • Relations between different parties are intricately interwoven.
  • In the psychological makeup of the killer is an element of remorse and a desire for normalcy.
  • Gillian Anderson (of “X-Files” fame) is as good a stone-faced actor as she is beautiful
  • Jamei Dornan, the killer, deserves to be better known.
  • Be on the lookout for Archie Panjabi (Reed Smith in “The Fall”) who is the clever and mysterious woman Kalinda Sharma in “The Good Wife”.
  • Just as interesting as the main thread, are some secondary themes.

Tell me what you think of the ending. Since I was glued to the screen, I can only heartily recommend this TV series.

Down the Shore (2011)

From NetFlix:

After Susan (Maria Dizzia) dies from a terminal illness in Paris, her tour guide journeys to New Jersey to deliver Susan’s ashes and a letter to her brother, Bailey (James Gandolfini). The letter triggers revelations of dark secrets, murder and betrayal. The shocking news shakes up the lives of Bailey, his old friend, Wiley (Joe Pope), and Wiley’s wife — and Bailey’s ex-lover — Mary (Famke Janssen) in this gritty drama.

James Gandofini CAN act and this film gives him a chance to prove it. Four characters doing wonderful ensemble acting make for a very watchable film.
Moreover there are some good plot surprises.

Jacques is played by Edoardo Costa who is Italian. In this film he plays a Frenchman. You may have seen him as Emerson in “Live Free or Die Hard”. If there is a flaw in this small gem of a film, it is that Jacques is a bit too clever, almost omnipotent.

Here is a film with a small amount of human roughness (including wife abuse) but at least without serial killers, gritty scenes, or needless sex.

In the small gem category I would say DO NOT MISS!

Rust and Bone (2012)

From NetFlix:

An extraordinary story of survival and salvation from the acclaimed, award-winning director of A Prophet. Starring Academy Award Winner Marion Cotillard as Stéphanie, who navigates a gritty relationship with Ali, a street fighter, in a world where love and courage appear in many forms.

When I first saw Matthias Schoenaerts in Bullhead I was very impressed. “Bullhead” is an excellent film but not for everyone because it is quite violent. In both “Bullhead” and “Rust and Bone” Schoenaerts plays a very physical role, that is to say a tough, strong, silent, possibly insensitive character. He can now take these roles because he is a very young looking and very much in good physical shape at the age of 35.

Of all the roles played by Marion Cotillard, probably her portrayal of Edit Piaf in La Vie en Rose. She is NOT an amputee. You can read about the film techniques in the Wikipedia article about the film.

Once again “Rust and Bone” might not be for everyone: there are brutal illegal fights between men for betting purposes (think dog fighting); there is much nudity and very explicit sexual intercourse; there is a harrowing scene on a semi-frozen pond; there are many frank scenes featuring Cotillard as an amputee.

However, the film is basically one about redemption, love, and the ability to mature and change.

If gritty appeals to you, then I heartily recommend both “Bullhead” and “Rust and Bone”.