Show & Tell: A Fantastic Woman
On the one hand, you can see bad movies coming from miles away. After all, we’re just a month or so away from the start of the summer movie season, which consists of, if history is any kind of guide, of about 90% bad movies.
The previews at the MallPlexx 95 want us to know that the world (or a specific portion thereof) is being threatened by ugly villains of intimidating power and must be protected by either a squadron of superheroes or a rag-tag group of spunky teenagers who must grow up fast. They don’t stand a chance, of course, but there’s a price to be paid for freedom, and they’re willing to pay it.
There will be explosions.
On the other hand, good movies can just sneak up on you without so much as a text message of warning and then vanish into the ether before you can get your shoes on.
A Fantastic Woman is a good movie. We know this because the critics loved it. And because the trailer packs more emotional punch than any three summer movies can summon in their overwrought totalities. And then there’s the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film that Woman took home.
A Fantastic Woman tells a story that’s simple on the surface. It’s about Marina, a transgender woman who has a warm and loving man in her life. But when the man dies, his family wants nothing to do with the woman he loved. And the film is about her efforts to be taken seriously as someone who’s entitled to her grief and a place in their mourning.
The heart and soul of the movie is Daniela Vega, the Chilean actress who plays Marina. She has a story all her own that’s every bit as compelling as the story of the movie. Vega made a huge splash in the role, and many critics thought she might crack the ranks of Best Actress Oscar nominees.
There is a medium-sized truckload of issues that are raised by A Fantastic Woman, and I expect we’ll get to most of them. I look forward to seeing you in The Historic Theater at 7pm on Tuesday night* for the occasion.
*Note: The Music Hall’s April magazine lists the discussion date as Wednesday, but that’s not true. There’s a small story there, too, but not a very interesting one.
I will be out of town for the first half of May, which means I will miss the opportunity to see The Death of Stalin, which I’ve been looking forward to for months. *Sigh!* I know I can count on you to watch it and make me feel bad when the discussion series resumes on May 22 with the much-anticipated RBG, a tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsberg and continues on May 29 with Lean On Pete.
And don’t worry, we’ll crack 70 degrees one of these days.
Paul Goodwin
TMHMG