BEFORE: The third of four Jake Gyllenhaal films in a row, all of which have one-word titles, for some reason. And the latest film this year to feature amputated limbs, which is a bit of an odd theme, but I assure you this is largely random, I didn't set out to program a bunch of films together where people lose their body parts. But a month ago I watched "Tusk" and then there was "Rust and Bone", of course, now I'm trying to remember if there were any others. Oh yeah, "Hardcore Henry" starts with Henry getting a new hand, and then there are plenty of people losing body parts later in that film. Then there was "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", but that was about getting a very different part removed. Anyway, it's a strange trend, but those come and go around here.
Back to another Academy screener tonight, that pile at the office is getting smaller, but very slowly. Since I'm bouncing between films I already have on DVD and the screeners and what's on Netflix, I know I'm making progress overall but sometimes it's hard to see that because my numbers don't reflect that, and new films are always rushing in to replace what just came off the list.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Patriots Day" (Movie #2,672), "Rust and Bone" (Movie #2,908)
THE PLOT: The inspiring real-life story of Jeff Bauman, an ordinary man who captured the hearts of his city and the world to become a symbol of hope after surviving the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.
AFTER: Whenever there's a film set in Boston, you know I'm going to be watching (and listening) closely, to see if they capture not only the feel of the first city I came to know well, but also the accents. From "Good Will Hunting" to "Gone Baby Gone", from "The Fighter" to "Spotlight", sometimes they get it right, and sometimes they just don't. Great actors like Johnny Depp in "Black Mass" and Leo DiCaprio in "The Departed" just couldn't quite get the accent down. Of course, if an actor, say, Mark Wahlberg, grew up in that area, well then they have the inside track. Jake Gyllenhaal was born in L.A., but he did a really good job here nailing the Boston dialogue. I also forgot that Miranda Richardson was British, because she did such a good job here talking like a Bostonian. Lenny Clarke was good, too, but of course he's from there as well.
Then, of course, it's fun to guess what dialogue was added specifically to take advantage of the Boston accent - like in "Patriots Day" they used the word "backyard" (backyaaad) a lot, or my favorite line of dialogue from that movie was "Saage, I gotta go, the feckin' laabstaa is back, and he's trying to chaage the runnahs!" Near the start of "Stronger" Jeff Bauman is trying to make a sign to catch the attention of his ex-girlfriend running in the Marathon, and he's looking all over the house for an "orange maakah", as in "Hey Maaa! Do we have an orange maakah?" Classic.
Then I know it wasn't meant as comedy, but I loved hearing Bauman's family arguing in the hospital, after his boss came from Costco, with the information about his insurance policy. This family full of loud meatheads just laid right into him, barely letting him get a word in edgewise, saying "Don't let him in, he's probably a reportah trying to get a story!" and "For Gaad's sake, don't sign anything, that's how they get you!" They also naturally assume that Jeff's injury means that he's lost his job, so they're on the defensive when they don't need to be, and that tells you everything you need to know about this middle-class family, made up of people who probably never got any breaks, and don't trust the government or insurance plans or anything they don't really understand. They're like the rednecks of Massachusetts, and I know that people like that are really out there.
Several times later in the film, the family is gathered for a paahty, or maybe just to watch the Saahx game, and there would be a shot of Jeff in the bathroom, struggling to use the shower or the toilet without falling down, and then it starts to really feel like someone's got an ax to grind, to depict this tight, loving family full of people who are clueless when their son needs their support, be it physical or emotional. But they don't have the software for it, they don't understand PTSD, or even how to give words of encouragement that also don't tear that person down. But notably it's the older generation, and I get that. Men who are in their 60's or 70's now came from a different time, when gender roles were more rigid, showing compassion was a sign of weakness, and men were raised to not display it. Like my father had two kids and now two grandkids, and he's never changed a diaper in his life. He's great with driving or fixing things, but taking care of someone medically, not so much.
In addition to healing and undergoing physical therapy, Jeff here also has to learn to be a different kind of man, to break the programming that makes it so easy to just be a patient, go back to his mother's apartment and let her take care of him, or if that fails, to let his girlfriend pick up the slack. When we're sick or injured of course there are some cases where we need to let people take care of us, but eventually it's better in the long-term if we can get back to a place where we're self-sufficient. But since Jeff was never that independent or reliable before the bombing, he's really learning to be an adult for the first time, with all that entails. With his track record of not showing up for things, and not being there for others, he now finds the need to get to a better place, but it's a place he's never been before. (Those Costco chickens aren't going to roast themselves, after all.)
He also becomes an unsure symbol of hope for the "Boston Strong" movement, he waves a flag at the Stanley Cup finals and is invited to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Paahk, which would only be a problem if the Marathon bombing gave him a fear of large crowds. Plus, he was notoriously anti-social to begin with. But after the game he's approached by someone who was inspired by his story of recovery, and then another, and then another. Gradually he learns to be gracious and talk to strangers, finding some common ground in other people's stories, and not just launching into a bar fight when someone suggests that the Marathon bombing was faked by Obama in order to draw the U.S. into a war with Iran. (Great, another portrayal of Bostonians as alcoholic crackpots...oh well, if the shoe fits...)
As many of these films do, it ends with photos of the real subjects, Jeff Bauman and Erin Hurley, and I was tearing up pretty good by then. There is some flashbackery here, but it's kept to a minimum, I think. Notably we don't see any graphic footage during the bombing scenes, they cut away and we next see Jeff in the hospital. But this makes some kind of sense, because one might not remember the details of such a traumatic event right away, and then it has more of an impact when it comes back to him during the hockey game. This is part of the PTSD process, that the memories may take some time to return, and be triggered by other experiences. And then he's got to deal with them at the most inconvenient of times, but if he doesn't come to terms with them, he can't move forward.
Also starring Tatiana Maslany (last seen in "Woman in Gold"), Miranda Richardson (last seen in "The Crying Game"), Richard Lane Jr., Nate Richman, Clancy Brown (last heard in "Warcraft"), Lenny Clarke (last seen in "Moonlight Mile"), Frankie Shaw, Jimmy LeBlanc (last seen in "Spotlight"), Carlos Sanz (last seen in "Runner Runner"), Patty O'Neil, Kate Fitzgerald, Danny McCarthy, Cassandra Cato-Louis, Michelle Forziati, Sean McGuirk, with a cameo from Pedro Martinez.
RATING: 6 out of 10 mojitos
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