The gay romantic drama "I Carry You With Me"
AFI Fest has always been one of my favorite times of the year. As an LA-based critic, it’s my chance to catch up on all the big movies that premiered at Venice, TIFF, NYFF and Telluride. Some of my personal favorite memories from attending the festival the last five years include watching Roma at the legendary Egyptian Theater and attending an afterparty for Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool with Annette Bening and Jamie Bell in attendance. With the pandemic, a lot of the pomp and circumstance has been taken out of the film festival. That absence has been replaced by greater accessibility to some of the great films chosen for the festival. No more rushing across Hollywood Boulevard to get in line for a third film in a day. All the bingeing can be done from the comfort of my couch. Many film festivals have found a positive way to adapt to the pandemic.
Chris’ 'Jury-of-One' Top Five AFI Fest 2020 Films...
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I Carry You With Me (dir: Heidi Ewing): This sprawling gay romance from Mexico is big in so many ways. While it centers on Iván (Armando Espitia) and Gerardo’s (Christian Vázquez) love, Ewing and Alan Page Arriaga’s script has grander ambitions. The film weaves between the men’s childhood, their 90s courtship and immigration drama in present day New York City. It’s a grand, sympathetic, epic romance that makes one’s heart soar and eyes weep. (Sony Pictures Classics to release on 1/8/2021)
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One Night in Miami (dir: Regina King): Believe the hype. Regina King’s directorial effort purposefully doesn’t open up Kemp Powers’ stage play. Instead, she finds interesting ways to dramatize an evening spent in a Miami motel room between Malcolm X (Kinsley Ben-Adir), Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). It all culminates in one of the strongest endings of the year. Really excited to see this become a big Oscar contender. (Amazon to release in select theaters on 12/25/2020 and Prime Video on 1/15/2021)
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Wolfwalkers (dir: Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart): The AFI Audience Award got it right by rewarding this animated gem. The duo behind Oscar nominees The Song of the Sea and The Secret of Kells hit another home run with Wolfwalkers. When a young girl (Honor Kneafsey) ventures out into the woods, she befriends a pack of humans that transform into wolves at night. Her allegiances to her wolf-hunting Father (Sean Bean) are tested as she spends more time in the forest learning of her new friend’s magic. The animation is gorgeous and the story is heartwarming. (Select Theaters on 11/13/2020 and on Apple TV+ on 12/11/2020)
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Industry (dir: Lena Dunham): HBO’s latest dramedy features a unique and authentic look at high-powered entry level jobs. The show takes place in the world of high finance, as a group of highly educated twenty-two year olds begin their professional careers at the bottom. Our entry point is Harper Stern (Myhala Herrold), the lone American in the British office who may be hiding things from her resume. Not all of the characters jump off the page, but creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay have created an incredibly vivid portrait of one’s first job. (Premiers on HBO on 11/9/2020)
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Nine Days (dir: Edson Oda): For having such a similar concept to The Good Place, Edson Oda crafts a beautiful and singular vision of the afterlife. Winston Duke expertly slips into the character of Will, an interviewer in the afterlife determining who gets to be reborn. Confidently atmospheric, Oda and cinematographer Wyatt Garfield successfully make their own version of Defending Your Life by way of Terrence Malick. (Sony Pictures Classics to release on 1/22/2021)
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X in "One Night in Miami"
Best Director: Heidi Ewing (I Carry You with Me)
Best Actor: Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami)
Best Actress: Nina Hoss (My Little Sister)
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci (Sound of Metal)
Best Supporting Actress: Michelle Rodríguez (I Carry You With Me)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami)
Best Original Screenplay: Heidi Ewing, Alan Page Arriaga (I Carry You With Me)
Best Documentary: 76 Days
Best Cinematography: Wyatt Garfield (Nine Days)
Best Ensemble Cast: One Night in Miami
Just Another Girl on the IRT
One of the other fun sections of the festival was AFI’s Cinema Legacy screenings. This year, AFI Fest highlighted new “classics” from black filmmakers. Curated by Rachquel Gates, the four films chosen represented black cinema in the 90s across different genres. These films were made available for free and did a great job of representing the wide breadth of work black filmmakers were able to make throughout the 90s. The selected films were: Dead Presidents (dir: Allen Hughes, Albert Hughes), Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. (dir: Leslie Harris), The Watermelon Woman (dir: Cheryl Dunye) and Posse (dir: Mario Van Peebles). Of the four films, I watched all except Posse.
The Watermelon Woman was a second watch and it proved to be just as miraculous and fun on rewatch. Dunye directs and stars as Cheryl, a video store clerk who becomes obsessed with learning more about a silent film actress who was frequently cast in Mammy roles. In the midst of her research, Cheryl falls for a frequent customer, Diana (Guinevere Turner). Dunye expertly constructs a sweet, interracial, lesbian rom-com with this exploration of film history. Valerie Walker also steals every scene as Tamara, Cheryl’s partner in crime and wingwoman. All in all, The Watermelon Woman was my favorite watch of the festival, even though I had already seen it before.
In terms of discoveries, Just Another Girl on the I.R.T. was an absolute delight that managed to consistently surprise. Ariyan A. Johnson commands the screen as Chantal, an incredibly bright teenager living in a working class New York City neighborhood. She dreams of medical school and being able to lift her family out of financial duress. Johnson’s natural charm and writer/director Leslie Harris’ vision combines to give us almost a Clueless-esque high school story. That said, the film takes a tonal shift that feels like a sharp turn, but manages to stick the landing thanks to Harris’ confident handling of the material.
The Hughes Brothers’ Dead Presidents also goes through many tonal shifts with a lot less grace. The film chronicles a young man in the Bronx (Larenz Tate) who gets shipped off to Vietnam. Upon returning, he organizes a heist in order to take care of his family. There’s a lot of great insight into the experience of black veterans. However, these interesting dimensions get lost with the machinations of the always changing plot.
Have you ever attended AFI Fest? Which movies are you most excited to see this year from their lineup?