David Oyewolo

Stream of the Week: FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE – a grieving fish out of water

by
David Oyelowo and Dianne Wiest in Maris Curran's FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE, playing at the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival, April 21st - May 5th, 2016.
David Oyelowo and Dianne Wiest in FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Film Society

An Atlanta man (David Oyeowlo) suddenly loses his wife to an auto accident and is completely shattered by the depth and the jarring abruptness of his loss. Pushed by his sister out of his paralysis, he drives up to Maine to visit his wife’s mother (Dianne Wiest). She is a person who is generally harsh, judgemental and irritating at all times, but is more so now that her own health is failing. His experience with her becomes the antithesis of the comfort and support that one would expect. As she probes and spars with him, the two are each driven to their own catharsis. The end of Five Nights in Maine also comes abruptly, leaving us to reflect on the lessons learned by the leading characters and how their grief is resolved.

Five Nights in Maine uses a handheld camera and LOTS of close-ups. This was a conscious choice by first-time writer-director Maris Curran, who sought a “closing in” effect because “grief is claustrophobic”.

Dianne Wiest’s performance is an awards-worthy tour de force. Flashing fiery looks and shooting piercing remarks from an invariably rigid posture, she commands our attention every moment that she is on-screen. As we would expect, Oyewolo is outstanding, especially in the early scenes where he collapses into shock. Rosie Perez, not as sassy, but every bit as appealing, as usual, is rock solid in the supporting role as the mother’s nurse. As the sister, Tenoyah Parris (Chi-Raq, Dear White People, Mad Men) gives yet another flawless performance.

I saw Five Nights in Maine at the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF), where Director Maris Curran, producer Carly Hugo and actor David Oyelowo appeared at the screening. Curran said she was motivated to write a story about loss as her own marriage was falling apart; when the ground was pulled out from under her, she created a protagonist in that situation.

Aiming for a sensual look for an emotional film, Curran was able to snare Tunisian cinematographer Sofian El Fani, fresh from his exquisite work in from Blue Is the Warmest Color, for his first American film. Budgeted for a 19-day shoot, the crew finished in only 18.

Oyewolo, happily married for 18 years, found exploring the territory of losing his wife to be very uncomfortable.  Five Nights in Maine was shot right after Selma, so his exhaustion from Selma helped him find this “hollowed-out” character. Oyewolo sees Five Nights in Maine as a fish out of water story – not just geographically but emotionally (a man not used to or prepared for grief). Oyewolo prefers women directors because he “wants to be part of stories that are emotionally challenging”.

Fortunately, Curran leavens this dark-themed story with bits of sharp humor. It’s an emotionally affecting and authentic movie. Five Nights in Maine is available to stream on Amazon Instant,  Vudu, Google Play, YouTube and DirecTV.

FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE: a grieving fish out of water

by
David Oyelowo and Dianne Wiest in Maris Curran's FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE, playing at the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival, April 21st - May 5th, 2016.
David Oyelowo and Dianne Wiest in  FIVE NIGHTS IN MAINE. Photo courtesy of San Francisco Film Society

An Atlanta man (David Oyeowlo) suddenly loses his wife to an auto accident and is completely shattered by the depth and the jarring abruptness of his loss.  Pushed by his sister out of his paralysis, he drives up to Maine to visit his wife’s mother (Dianne Wiest).  She is a person who is generally harsh, judgemental and irritating at all times, but is more so now that her own health is failing.  His experience becomes the antithesis of the comfort and support that one would expect.  As she probes and spars with him, the two are each driven to their own catharsis.  The end of Five Nights in Maine also comes abruptly, leaving us to reflect on the lessons learned by the leading characters and how their grief is resolved.

Five Nights in Maine uses a handheld camera and LOTS of close=ups.  This was a conscious choice by first-time writer-director Maris Curran, who sought a “closing in” effect because “grief is claustrophobic”.

Dianne Wiest’s performance is an awards-worthy tour de force.  Flashing fiery looks and shooting piercing remarks from an invariably rigid posture, she commands our attention every moment that she is on-screen.  As we would expect, Oyewolo is outstanding, especially in the early scenes where he collapses into shock.  Rosie Perez, not as sassy, but every bit as appealing as usual, is rock solid in the supporting role as the mother’s nurse.  As the sister, Tenoyah Parris (Chi-Raq, Dear White People, Mad Men)  gives yet another flawless performance.

I saw Five Nights in Maine at the 59th San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF), where Director Maris Curran, producer Carly Hugo and actor David Oyelowo appeared at the screening. Curran said she was motivated to write a story about as her own marriage was falling apart; when the ground was pulled out from under her, she created a protagonist in that situation.

Aiming for a sensual look to an emotional film, Curran was able to snare Tunisian cinematographer Sofian El Fani, fresh from his exquisite work in from Blue Is the Warmest Color, for his first American film. Budgeted for a 19-day shoot,the crew finished in only 18.

Oyewolo, happily married for 18 years, found exploring the territory of losing his wife to be very uncomfortable. for him. Five Nights in Maine was shot right after Selma, so his exhaustion from Selma helped him find this “hollowed-out” character. Oyewolo sees Five Nights in Maine as a fish out of water story – not just geographically but emotionally (a man not used to or prepared for grief). Oyewolo prefers women directors “wants to be part of stories that are emotionally challenging”.

Fortunately, Curran leavens this dark-themed story with bits of sharp humor. It’s an emotionally affecting and authentic movie.  The U.S. theatrical release of Five Nights in Maine is expected in  late summer or early fall 2016.

Lee Daniels’ The Butler: exploring race in America

by
LEE DANIELS

Lee Daniels’ The Butler is an entertaining and satisfying epic that explores the issue of race in America as reflected in the experiences of two men – a man who escaped a Southern cotton farm to become a butler at the White House (Forest Whitaker) and his son (David Oyelowo), who becomes engaged with the racial justice movement from the 60s through the 90s.

What The Butler gets right is the overall sweep of history, and it shines as an accessible history lesson.  We get a taste of American race relations from the 1920s onward, and we glimpse the key moments in Civil Rights history: Little Rock school desegregation, lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the JFK and LBJ civil rights speeches and legislation, the King assassination, urban riots,  Black Power and anti-apartheid activism.  The perspectives of the two main characters mirror those of Booker T Washington and W.E.B. DuBois.

Most importantly, The Butler reveals the African-American community as not monolithic, but with different (and conflicting) personality types, political views and generational perspectives.  This is not accomplished very often in popular culture.  Indeed, The Butler is strongest in the family moments – breakfasts, parties, arguments, sending the kid off to college – that allow the cast to bring out the textures of their characters.  (And The Butler is dead-on perfect with all the periods, including the unfortunate fashions of the 1970s.)

That being said, the implausibility of the protagonists’ Zelig-like personal presence at every key historical moment is distracting.  Every time Whitaker’s character brings a cup of coffee into the Oval Office, the President du moment is deciding on sending federal troops into the South, sending a Civil Rights bill to the Hill or some-such.  Oyelowo’s character is a lunch counter sitter, a Freedom Rider, a Selma marcher, a MLK aide at the Lorraine Motel, a Black Panther, a Congressional candidate and an anti-apartheid leader.  The coincidences are so improbable that it’s too much of the audience to suspend disbelief.

Forest Whitaker is a great actor.   Here he perfectly plays a man who has strong feelings that he expresses among Blacks and that he conceals (sometimes stoically, sometimes charmingly) among Whites.  We’ve been watching Whitaker since 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High and his searing Charlie Parker in 1986’s Bird, right through to his Oscar win for The Last King of Scotland.  My personal favorite Forest Whitaker performances are in The Crying Game and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.

Oyelowo is an actor who has come on strong in the past two years (The Help,The Paperboy, Lincoln),  and here delivers a perfect performance of a man with youthful strong-headedness, self-possessed whether on the right side of history or not. He’s that brave man who does dangerous things without impetuosity.

The African-American cast is a marvel.  Oprah Winfrey is outstanding as the wife/mom, and an Oscar nod is likely. Terence Howard is marvelous as the shady neighbor.  Clarence Williams III (yes, from The Mod Squad) is superb as the butler’s first mentor.  Cuba Gooding Jr and Lenny Kravitz are excellent as White House co-workers with very different personalities.  Mariah Carey, who was unbelievably good as the social worker in Daniel’s Precious, is equally good here as the butler’s tortured mother.

The cast playing the White House’s upstairs residents do not fare so well.  In the movie’s funniest turn, Liev Schreiber captures LBJ’s frenetic energy but not his imposing and sinister physicality.  John Cusack has Nixon’s creepiness but not his painful social awkwardness. Robin Williams  plays Ike without any military bearing or snap. James Marsden plays a pretty, but wimpy JFK.  And is that Alan Rickman as Ronnie?  The one impeccable performance in this category (and Daniels’ sly joke on the Reagans) is Jane Fonda as Nancy.

Overall, it’s an important, if imperfect work by director Lee Daniels (Precious, The Paperboy).  (BTW – the title is not because of his ego – but because of the silly refusal by  another movie studio to grant the title rights.)   At times profound and at times ridiculously improbable, The Butler gets the basic truths profoundly right.