The thought-provoking Armageddon Time, centers on Paul (Banks Repeta), a 6th grade boy in 1980, who, besides grappling with all the regular coming of age issues, must face issues of conscience. Paul and his new school friend, Johnny (Jaylin Webb), have their interests, but the adults at school miss the opportunity to harness the boys’ passions, instead trying to force square pegs into round holes; of course, these smart and spirited lads act out and get into trouble. That’s less of a problem for Paul, who has been sheltered by his affluent family, but Johnny is African-American and poor and already has a more clear-eyed view of the world.
On a day-to day basis, Paul is raised by his tightly wound mom (Anne Hathaway), but she defers to the family’s men when something really big must be confronted. Paul’s male role models are his venerable grandfather (Anthony Hopkins) and his grouchy, stressed-out dad (Jeremy Strong). The grandfather’s point of view has been shaped by his own mother’s having escaped a Ukrainian pogrom and having experienced anti-Semitic college quotas himself. He has survived to build a family and business success.
The grandfather is the anchor of the family, and his moral stance is absolute – a person must act with justice and decency in every situation, no mater how difficult. The dad, who views life as a continuous struggle to keep one’s head above water, is more pragmatic – one must do what is necessary to get along. The grandfather despises privilege; the dad wants to leverage any privilege that might fall his way.
The kid actors, Banks Repeta and Jaylin Webb, are excellent. (For some reason, Repeta’s facial features kept reminding me of Molly Parker).
Anthony Hopkins is a treasure, and we should appreciate every performance he continues to bring us, even an unchallenging one like this.
Jeremy Strong is such a strong actor, and he’s such a chameleon that I never seem to recognize him until the closing credits, as he shows up as Jerry Rubin, Lee Harvey Oswald, Abraham Lincoln’s secretary John Nicolay and the like. Here, he seems like a one-dimensional brute for most of this film, until the story reveals his fears and hopes.
Reportedly, writer-director James Gray, who just re-invented the adventure epic with The Lost City of Z, peppered this story with his own childhood experiences. Maybe that’s why Fred Trump and Maryanne Trump appear as characters. Maryanne Trump (Donald’s much more sympathetic sister) shows up in a Jessica Chastain cameo, and lays out the narrative that the privileged are actually meritorious.
I wasn’t wowed upon leaving the theater, but, the more I noodle about this film, the more I admire it.