An Evening with Beverly Luff Lin (2018)

 

Underdogs (2013)

 

“Underdogs” is a cute Argentinian animated film directed by Juan Jose Campanella. The film is full of silly humor and was actually an enjoyable watch.

“Underdogs” opens with apes at the beginning of time discovering soccer. It’s a silly moment that doesn’t tie into the rest of the film, but it’s all in good fun.

The animation is actually quite good with the colors being rich and gorgeous and the plot itself is nothing original. After the cold opening we are introduced to Jake and his family with Jake telling his son a story to try and motivate him to stay on the soccer team. As a young man, Jake had to face his bully and huge soccer star Ace in order to save his town. Ace has recently bought the town and is planning to build the biggest arena and shopping center. Jake doesn’t stand a chance, but his foosball players come to life giving him a glimmer of hope.

The foosball players themselves are the best animated things found in the film. They are full of personality and voiced by some great actors including Eugenio Derbez and John Leguizamo.

The film is silly, but genuinely funny filled with over the top moments. Ace adds to the laughs with his obnoxious personality and glimpse into is egotistical home. All around it’s good fun.

With the funny moments, bright and colorful animation it’s worth a watch especially for the little ones.

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

 

Da 5 Bloods is streaming on Netflix.

Da 5 Bloods brings an interesting perspective of the Vietnam war as it is remembered and told from the point of view of four Black Vietnam war veterans. It is directed by Spike Lee so of course the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement occurring at the same time are used to tie into current political events. 

Da 5 Bloods are Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and Eddie (Norm Lewis). They reunite for the first time since the war in Ho Chi Minh to bring home the remains of the fifth blood Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman) and the treasure that is buried close to him.

There are glimpses into how the Vietnamese are still affected by the war years later, but the main focus are the veterans. There could have been more commentary about this, but at least it’s not a glorification of the events. 

Da 5 Bloods is masterful. The main story line is the most interesting and engaging as it is and I think would have worked fine without the need to bring Jean Reno in to up the ante.

The lead performance by Delroy Lindo is incredible. He is not a character that is easy to like and yet you understand exactly what has brought him to this place from guilt he has never worked past to the frustration of fighting for a country that still hasn’t treated him as an equal. The film opens and closes with speeches from the Civil Rights Movements and news footage and photos are interwoven throughout the film tying past struggles to present struggles. 

Lee uses these struggles to also show how it can affect familial relationships. We see one paternal relationship through Otis. He meets up with a Vietnamese woman named Tiên (Lê Y Lan) whom he had a relationship with during the war and realizes he fathered a daughter with her named Michon (Sandy Hmong Pham) and she has grown up facing unspeakable racism in her home country.

The father/son relationship that is the focus of the film though is that between Paul and his son David (Jonathan Majors) who shows up unexpectedly to Vietnam wanting a share of the treasure for himself.

Marvin Gaye serves as the soundtrack for the film as we follow the Bloods into the Vietnamese jungle in their search. The film occasionally flashes back to the Vietnam war and the experiences the Bloods face whether they are bonding with each other or seeing the horrors of war as they fight for their lives.

What I loved about the flashbacks is that the same actors play their character tying in the recurring theme of the past affecting the present. Paul’s PTSD is difficult to watch and eventually it leads him down a heartbreaking spiral that leads him to break off from his son and his friends hurting most of them in the process. The ending isn’t a happy one, but it’s not entirely sad either.