A$AP Rocky – Spinning Platters

Film Review: “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”

A spiraling mental journey into motherly affliction

Linda (Rose Byrne) can’t sleep in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.’

Can a film be simultaneously very good and also excruciatingly stressful to watch? Yes, I think so! Unpleasant viewing experiences can either be earned or unearned (read: purposeful or not on purpose). Mary Bronstein’s new film, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, falls into the former category. A fraught tale delivered with sensory bombast and utilizing a powerhouse performance by Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a siren song to motherhood. Continue reading “Film Review: “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You””

Film Review: “Highest 2 Lowest”

Lee and Denzel’s fifth collaboration is a mix of many highs and 2 many lows

David King (Denzel Washington) strolls through the office in ‘Highest 2 Lowest.’

It’s tough to avoid comparing a remake to the original, especially if the original is a five-star masterpiece. Such is the case for Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, which is based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 procedural crime drama, High and Low (which is based on a 1959 book, King’s Ransom by Ed McBain). Kurosawa’s High and Low explores stark class divisions within post-war Japan, challenging the characters with life-threatening moral dilemmas and utilizing a detailed police procedural plotline to expose these divisions, literally and metaphorically. Lee moves the 1960s Japan setting to a present-day New York City, shifts the protagonist’s business empire from a shoe company to a music label, and abandons High and Low’s slow burn pace for a thriller, all of which deliver a mixed bag of results. Continue reading “Film Review: “Highest 2 Lowest””