Change Your Image
Henry_Seggerman
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Kitchen (2023)
The Kitchen, the Grenfell Tower disaster, and the Windrush Scandal
On June 14, 2017, 72 residents, largely people of color, perished in the Grenfell Tower disaster in London. The tragedy resulted from a toxic mix of factors: highly flammable exterior cladding that violated building codes, landlords who ignored repeated fire-safety complaints from residents, and outlandish claims by builders that flats were fireproof, leading to disastrous evacuation advice.
The Grenfell Tower tragedy stands as a stark reminder of corruption in building practices, echoing similar tragedies around the world. This disaster, occurring in such close proximity to immense wealth, makes London a present-day example of dystopian inequality.
The Kitchen: Drawing Dystopian Parallels
A new film, The Kitchen, explores anxieties experienced by immigrants and the working class, offering a chilling parallel to the Grenfell Tower tragedy. The film highlights how the failures of those in power can have devastating consequences, closer to home than we imagine.
Daniel Kaluuya - From Grenfell's Shadow to Cinematic Success
Thirty-five minutes from Grenfell Tower is where actor Daniel Kaluuya, himself the son of Ugandan immigrants, grew up in council housing. Kaluuya has achieved remarkable success, with standout roles in Get Out, Nope, and his Oscar-winning performance in Judas and the Black Messiah. Kaluuya's debut as producer/co-writer/co-director on The Kitchen, now available to stream on Netflix, marks a powerful new phase in his career. His partner in this film is Kibwe Tavares.
The Politics of Housing: From Grenfell to The Kitchen
Government housing has been a source of ongoing controversy in Britain. Margaret Thatcher famously declared council houses "not for the respectable", initiating cutbacks and transfers to the private sector. These shifts have fueled the very problems envisioned in The Kitchen's dystopian future. The film depicts a Britain where social housing has been eliminated, leading to desperate squatting, brutal police raids, and an underclass struggling for survival. The Kitchen offers a chilling reminder of the potential consequences when those in power prioritize profit over the well-being of their citizens.
The Kitchen's Struggle: Society Divided, Community United
Izi (played by Kane Robinson) dreams of a better life in the trendy Buena Vida development put him at odds with the realities of the Kitchen. Benji (played by Jedaiah Bannerman), orphaned and adrift, finds a chaotic haven within a gang of food-truck hijackers. His surprising skill - a giant slingshot - makes him valuable in this fight against a system that has cut off their food supply, leading to desperate measures.
The film evokes the stark social divisions of Blade Runner. Like that iconic film, The Kitchen paints a world where a marginalized community, largely made up of people of color, struggles for survival while the wealthy live in insulated privilege. This divide intensifies the themes of inequality and desperation in both films. Wyatt Garfield's cinematography captures the raw energy and gritty resilience of the Kitchen, contrasting it starkly with the cold opulence beyond its borders.
Themes of Injustice and Survival
The Kitchen explores societal injustices, the power of community, and the desperation born of neglect - themes that resonate with Blade Runner. However, while Blade Runner delves into the existential through a darkly futuristic lens, The Kitchen stays grounded, offering a human-focused lens on the anxieties of today. It compels the viewer to question societal failings and the lengths people go to in order to survive.
The Voice of the Community: Lord Kitchener
Lord Kitchener, played by former Arsenal footballer Ian Wright, serves as the voice of the Kitchen. A guiding figure, he broadcasts warnings, celebrations, and keeps morale alive. This character echoes the DJ roles seen in iconic films like Do the Right Thing and The Warriors, where a unifying voice becomes a powerful tool within communities under pressure.
The Windrush Generation: Forgotten Loyalty, Shocking Betrayal
The name 'Lord Kitchener' holds deep significance for Afro-Caribbeans in London. The real Lord Kitchener, a musical icon critical of British colonialism, arrived on the Empire Windrush in 1948. He was part of a wave of Black immigrants who helped rebuild Britain after World War II, forever changing London's demographics.
Decades later, their invaluable contributions were cruelly forgotten. The Tories' "hostile environment policy" beginning in 2012 led to the Windrush Scandal: British citizens were wrongly detained, deported, and denied basic rights. Despite public outcry and damning exposés, accountability was scant, and the victims of this injustice remain largely uncompensated.
The Kitchen: Echoes of the Windrush Scandal
The Windrush Scandal is a vital backdrop for understanding The Kitchen's portrayal of a marginalized immigrant community. This history of exploitation and neglect resonates with the film's dystopian vision, offering a chilling reminder of how quickly those in power can turn on the most vulnerable.
Music as Resistance: The Kitchen's Soundtrack
Music plays a powerful role in the world of The Kitchen. Its soundtrack amplifies themes of identity, community, and resilience with a mix of: Afrobeat, Hiplife, Grime, and other music from the African diaspora. Featured songs include: "Holding On" by Tirzah, "Kyenkyen Bi Adi M'awu" by Alhaji K Frimpong, and "Zombie" by Fela Kuti.
Daniel Kaluuya: A Talent Behind the Camera
With The Kitchen, Kaluuya steps behind the lens with the same intensity that marks his acting. This directorial debut offers sharp social commentary interwoven with a visually striking and deeply human story. His masterful transition proves him a multi-faceted storyteller, leaving audiences thrilled to see his next project.
Beyond Borders: Systemic Injustice
(Afterthought: While these critiques focus on the UK, similar injustices plague the US. From the Bronx housing fire to anti-immigrant policies, systemic failures echo across borders. Recognizing these global parallels underscores the urgency of fighting for equity everywhere.)
Past Lives (2023)
schmaltzy, sentimental, treacly ..but good
Schmear on schmaltz, schmear sentimentality on top of that, schmear on treacle, and you have PAST LIVES. But like ONCE, this indie gem turns an impossible situation into this deeply affective tale of romantic unfulfillment. It's completely crayon-by-numbers, but really works. It also lightly touches on issues of immigration, Green Card marriages, women's rights--though ever so lightly, taking nothing away from the basic melodrama. You even get handy, helpful intertitles like: "24 YEARS EARLIER," so you always know exactly when you are in the timeline. Not a Christopher Nolan brain tease!
And ...there will be tears.
The Outwaters (2022)
One of the most imaginative films I have ever seen
Let's imagine the distributor of BLAIR WITCH commissioned a sequel co-directed by Michael Snow and Dario Argento, requiring both to be on LSD for the entire production. Using the hoary-already "found footage" technique, we go to the desert. Cue THE HILLS HAVE EYES expectations. But that's not to be. Suddenly, we are in a bizarre cinematic space that has abandoned the rectangle screen altogether. Instead, much of the movie is at night, seen through a very small flashlight circle completely unlike the traditional manner which gives you some of the background. This is accompanied by very needy, very schizophrenic, often Freudian, ravings. Don't get me wrong, it's not all abstraction. Director Banfitch makes sure to check all the required Horror genre boxes, from buckets of blood, nudity, disembowelment, severed heads on pikes, and then goes beyond, throwing in castration and screaming snakes for good measure. It's a truly disturbing movie, on many levels.
Cerdita (2022)
at once topical and exploitative
Bullying and fat-shaming are under constant discussion lately. So, why not a movie about those issues. But, who will buy tickets to a dull melodrama that plays like an afternoon special? So, to kick this high concept up a notch to higher concept, why not add a psychotic sadist killer who drives around in a white van, and has a backwoods torture cabin to boot? Somehow, believe it or not, it all really works. You care about the protagonist and get sucked right into all the suspense. Not what you expect ...and not to be missed. I kept it in my Roku Save List for several weeks till it popped up on Hulu, and clicked Start.
Tytöt tytöt tytöt (2022)
You will love these three girls
Movies about teenagers are difficult, since adults make them and commercial distributors are part of the financial decisions. So, they can tend to be exploitative or even just adults imposing their own perceptions of what it means to grow up. Not this film. It's really brilliant and reminds me of John Hughes' groundbreaking THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Each of these three girls are flawed in her own way, but all remain relatable throughout the movie. The dialogue is often startling in its candor and performances are passionate, poignant--especially when the girls are confused or mistaken, which I think is the point of the movie.
Eyimofe (2020)
Great picture of real life in Lagos
Lagos, Nigeria, is well-known for its fast-moving street-hustle atmosphere. And Nollywood has cranked out its own local audience entertainment about life in Nigeria, including the TV series 419, named after the most notorious of Nigerian financial scams.
But if you really want to escape the shadow of Nollywood and see a true picture of what it's like just trying to get along in the freewheeling anarchy of Nigeria today, settle back in your couch today and stream last year's Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) on the Criterion channel.
Shot in doc-style 16mm, Eyimofe plunges you right into the commotion of Lagos rush hour, with its heat, dust and decrepit construction, its danfo drivers zipping around chaotically, its carbon monoxide spewing from generators, smooth-talking hustlers, predatory schemers, heartless bureaucrats, bosses from hell, flat-out swindlers, and just plain cheapskates. Lagos is a city where every move you make sends you into a Kafkaesque maze of hospital bills, housing bills, lawyer bills, and then even more bills, a city of endless work and crushing compromises that are just normal life for everyday Nigerians.
Eyimofe's story concerns Mofe (played by Jude Akuwiudike), who dreams of leaving Nigeria for Spain, and Rosa (played by Timiloluwa Ami-Williams), who dreams of going to Italy. The movie is about the impossible frustrations of trying to turn these dreams into reality. Ironically, the film's directors are the brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri, Nigerians who did manage to graduate from film programs at Columbia and NYU, respectively.
I can say from experience that one of the classics always shown to NYU film students is Vittorio de Sica's "Bicycle Thieves." That film is about the bond between a father and son who rely on each other in an extraordinary way in a time of great struggle in postwar Italy. Likewise, Eyimofe concerns itself with familial bonds in times of adversity. Mofe's sister Precious and her two sons have been sent to Lagos from the village because his father is too stingy to support them, and Rosa's pregnant younger sister Grace has also been sent from her village to Rosa's care. Both Mofe and Rosa are truly heroic in their unselfish devotion to their family members.
At the start of the film, Mofe has bought a rather suspicious passport from a streetside forgery artist. Rosa eventually contracts with a thoroughly unscrupulous businesswoman to sell Grace's expected baby in exchange for passports. But these plans are suddenly jeopardized when Precious and her two sons are tragically killed by a carbon monoxide leak and Grace suffers a miscarriage. Mofe sinks into financial quicksand just trying to pay for his sister and nephews' funeral costs, and Grace nearly bleeds out because the clinic callously demands money up front from Rosa to save her life.
In the end, it does not matter whether Mofe and Rosa make it to Europe or not. The journeys each take aiming for their escapes are ones which teach them how to cope with difficult situations in life, and towards at least some greater level of self-reliance.
(The film is in English and Nigerian Pidgin, with English subtitles. However, not all the Nigerian Pidgin is translated, so I suggest you turn on additional subtitles in your Criterion channel or streaming media player.)
Coup 53 (2019)
Extraordinary investigative documentary
What I knew about the overthrow of Mossadegh before seeing this amazing motion picture was limited to the CIA, the Shah, and it was about oil. I had no idea it was really about protecting British "Deepwater Horizon" Petroleum's highway robbery of Iranian oil. The whole ugly episode speaks brilliantly to the horrors of neocolonialism. The Suez War, with the US against Britain and France, three years later makes perfect sense now, not to mention the bizarre imbalance today of NATO taking aim at Russia--all while a half-dozen of its members are paying billions for Russian oil.
Un monde (2021)
Understanding bullying
Bullying has become a big subject in the last 20 years, but this film tells a great story from the perspective of two children who are each victims of it. With the Dardenne brothers and others, the Belgians have redefined the social landscape of Italian neorealism.
Große Freiheit (2021)
Prison drama up there with A PROPHET
I was not aware that the US sent gays directly from Nazi concentration camps to German prisons after the Nazis were defeated. This is a powerful film about a man who never loses his capacity to love another human being or to distinguish between right and wrong. In his quiet way, he is a hero. With each film, Rogowski, is more amazing.
Gamak Ghar (2019)
Brilliantly contemplative
The storytelling here is 99% undramatic, and that's why this film is so effective. In a seemingly endless series of tableaux shots, you get to know the people of this extended family. Their stories, large and small emerge over time and it is extremely involving.
The Guilty (2021)
Gyllenhaal deserves an Oscar
Gyllenhaal's performance takes off where Sidney Poitier's in THE SLENDER THREAD began. He's on camera for the whole movie, and it's riveting. With films like OXYGENE and THE HUMAN VOICE, the studios probably went looking for one-person-show scripts laying around during the pandemic, and this one is a gem. Up there with, and often better than, LOCKE, CAST AWAY, SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA, PHONE BOOTH and ALL IS LOST.
Island of the Hungry Ghosts (2018)
If you're a social worker or are concerned about refugees...
You must see this film. It takes awhile to get off the ground, but once it does, it's incredibly powerful. Devastating.
Oxygène (2021)
Cinematic tour de force!
Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT, set in the future. The boat is now a box 3' x 5' x 7', and there's only ONE actor. But you will never believe how much terror and suspense is created. Utterly unique.
Doua lozuri (2016)
Stupid and depressing
Stupid and depressed characters in a stupid and depressed town on a stupid and depressed mission to hunt down stupid and depressed bad guys. But you will really like them and want to know how it turns out. As with THE BIG LEBOWSKI, the utter pointlessness and mindlessness of it is what works. But there is a huge unsolved mystery: why don't they just take the door off? Can't wait for ANOTHER LOTTERY TICKET to find out!
Falling (2020)
Perhaps the most profane movie ever made
Normally you think of films like Goodfellas as extremely profane. But the insulting, crudely homophobic, relentlessly scatological dialogue Henricksen spews out for two hours should be in the Guinness Book of Records. Kind of a startling film on this level. Suggest you avoid streaming with any children under thirteen! If he doesn't get an Oscar nod, they should make up a category!
Sound of Metal (2019)
Completely different expectations
When I read the glowing NY Times review, my first thought was: "I don't like heavy metal; serves him right." But I know nothing at all about the lives of deaf people. This movie is an extraordinarily passionate description of what that is. I simply could not get it out of my mind.
Brigsby Bear (2017)
strangely involving
This guy is really disturbed. He has no sense of reality at all. But somehow you like him and follow his journey to adulthood and awareness.
The Farthest (2017)
Are you a space travel nut? Look no farther!
Having grown up when the Apollo Mission was our national priority, I totally responded to this movie. The most amazing thing is that the Voyager mission covered several GENERATIONS; you can see these scientists passing the torch of the extraordinary ambition of this project from one to the next. There is a great deal of excitement, too, as they keep secret plans out of government scrutiny, rescue the mission from near-disaster, etc. Incredibly involving. Not to be missed!
Carpinteros (2017)
reminiscent of UN CHANT D'AMOUR
Very engaging movie about survival in a squalid prison setting. Intense and deeply emotional. See it.
Rat Film (2016)
great concept film
It really takes a lot of nerve to make a film like this, divining a parallel between rat life and urban governance, but it really works. With Biden as President, it's timely, too!
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
cheesy, ham-fisted, but GOOD!
I couldn't believe I was liking this movie. It's got every action film and prison film cliche in the book, and then some. But Vaughan's magnetic performance, and the pulse-pounding pace make it work. Totally. Reminds me of nothing other than classic BRUTE FORCE.
The Florida Project (2017)
great performance by Dafoe
Willem Dafoe is a great actor, and this is one of his great performances. The kids are incredible, too. It really tells a story of life in poor America seldom represented onscreen.
Wonderstruck (2017)
sympathetic film from Todd Haynes
Most of Haynes' work has an austere quality, but this one is remarkably sympathetic. The little girl is amazing.
Bitch (2017)
over-the-top
Cringeworthy over-the-top domestic terror comedy. Really bizarre, but a kick!
Santa & Andrés (2016)
very unlikely movie about unlikely buddies
Very touching film about how the oppressive bureaucracy in Cuba keeps dissidents and potential dissidents under control. Worth seeing.