MOVIES: Don't mention climate change when Brad Pitt has a hot F1 car to drive

National Observer

2 days ago

Not many new films this week, but two are big. F1 The Movie is about Grand Prix automobile racers and M3GAN 2.0 is about AI as found in a dangerous robot/doll. It's getting good reviews, but I didn't have access to see it. F1 yes, plus Mariska Hargitay's search for the real My Mom Jayne and a relationship fantasy with many questions from the East Coast.
F1 The Movie: 3 stars
My Mom Jayne: 3 ½
Do I Know You From Somewhere?: 3
F1 THE MOVIE: Fans of Formula One car racing are probably going to like this a lot. It takes you right close to the sport, both in the driving sequences (filmed to make you feel like you're right in there in the car) and the business and science around it. Tiny changes in wind drag can save big times; every section and turn on a lap is analyzed with monitors; tires are picked and watched just as carefully. You get a lesson in how it all works. What you don't get much of is a new and compelling story. You've seen it before in many car racing movies like Grand Prix and Rush. And if you've read about the Austrian Grand Prix happening this weekend, you'll appreciate that parts of the story—resentments over past collisions, for example—are authentic. It's not enough though, and not the 'high-octane' thriller director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer think it is, unlike their Top Gun: Maverick.
Brad Pitt, a big car racing fan, plays a disgraced driver slumming it in lower levels of the sport after a major accident in a big race. He's called back up by Javier Bardem, as the owner of a Formula 1 team that needs some wins, has only nine races left in the season to get a few, or face collapse.
He's got a promising rookie driver (Damson Idris) who he wants Pitt to mentor. Also, a female technical director (Kerry Condon) who is tinkering with the car design.
Pitt interacts with both; a casual romance with her and a skirmish of arrogance and cockiness with him. He causes accidents because he takes big chances in his driving and that's debated a bit—advocated too—but to little effect. The drama is mild. The driving is the point; Pitt himself does his own, after or during pauses in real race events at tracks from England to Las Vegas to Abu Dhabi. Actual drivers appear, like world champ Max Verstappen and England's Lewis Hamilton, who also helped produce the film. And climate change isn't even mentioned. (In theaters) 3 out of 5
MY MOM JAYNE: Mariska Hargitay, famous and an award-winner as a TV actor, is the daughter. Jayne Mansfield was the mother who she was quite ashamed of because of the splash she made as a Hollywood sex symbol in the 50s and 60s. She was in Playboy magazine, had several marriages and many affairs and for a time was promoted by one studio as a replacement for Marilyn Monroe who had become difficult. Her dyed blonde hair and ample bosom were her main assets, as well as her breathy sexy voice, which was actually a complete put-on.
Mariska made this film to find the real woman who she could hardly remember. She was only three years old when Jayne died in a car accident. She and her siblings were in the car– in the back seat—and survived, and it's from interviewing them that she learns an odd part of the story. They were rescued from the wreck; she was forgotten and left behind for some time. She also acknowledges that she is not the daughter of Jayne's husband Mickey Hargitay, whose name she bears. Her father was a nightclub singer, one of the many men in Jayne's life.
And most importantly, she learned that Jayne was very intelligent, spoke five languages and played both the piano and the violin. Not a dumb blonde at all. But, as a former press secretary says, 'she was always on display.' And she didn't apologize for that. She accepted it as a way to advance her career. But before and after Hargitay, described as very kind, there were abusive men. Why? Not answered. Also, the film fails to dispel the horrid and false rumours about her death. Mariska does get a comforting view of her mother though, and she says, by extension, of herself. It's like therapy for her, and, as a film, more meaningful than you might expect. Fun fact: Jayne and Mickey were played in a TV movie by Loni Anderson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. (HBO) 3 ½ out of 5
DO I KNOW YOU FROM SOMEWHERE? I'm not aware of many films coming from New Brunswick but take a chance and look for this one. And watch what director and co-writer Arianna Martinez does next. This is her first and spins a tale that'll keep you intrigued like a puzzle. You may not find a solution. One character seems to warn us of that when he says at a dance that 'everything is jumbled', as if there are parts missing. The film plays exactly like that. A couple, on a very ordinary day, experience small unexplained changes. Maybe their relationship is weakening. Memories of their life together may be disappearing.
Benny (Ian Ottis Goff) is a carpenter; Olive (Caroline Bell) is a guidance counselor. They met at a wedding sometime ago (as we see in a flashback) but now in the house they share strange things happen. Items appear or disappear or change. Fridge magnets move or the numbers they bear go up or down.
The biggest change: Benny disappears and in his place there's Ada (Mallory Amirault) who claims she and Olive know each other. They met at a wedding and have been together for years. There is an attraction. Is Olive feeling her relationship is eroding? Is she imagining what might have come her way instead? You can ponder. The jumps in time --back and forth-- make it hard to be sure about what's going on. But they serve up the puzzle enjoyably. (Video on demand—for where, check out just watch Canada) 3 out of 5