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AFI Fest Review: On the Basis of Sex – Sex and Cinema

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(l to r.) Armie Hammer as Marty Ginsburg and Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg star in Mimi Leder’s ON THE BASIS OF SEX, a Focus Features release.

Any biopic (pronounced BIo-pic) requires consolidating and artistic license to encapsulate anybody’s life into a two hour film. On the Basis of Sex turns Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Felicity Jones)’s life into an electrifying courtroom drama, including all the prep.

Felicity Jones stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Mimi Leder’s ON THE BASIS OF SEX, a Focus Features release.

Ginsberg looks so fulfilled just entering the halls of Harvard, but the school makes it clear they’re grudgingly allowing women to play along. Dean Erwin Griswold (Sam Waterston acting a magnificent A-hole) makes sure to say “Harvard Man” as pointedly as he can, and even asks women to justify why they belong at Harvard. Nobody responds, “Because I got in” but Ginsberg mocks the Dean’s question.

On the Basis of Sex recreates the world of microaggressions against women. The professors won’t even call on Ginsberg, and the patriarchy acts like they’re doing women a favor by allowing them to contribute.

Felicity Jones stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Mimi Leder’s ON THE BASIS OF SEX, a Focus Features release.

She teaches about the Hoyt v. Florida case where a woman was denied a jury that included any women. It’s important to keep these attitudes in the public’s consciousness because every generation seems to think that they’ve solved everything and we shouldn’t make any more changes. There’s always more progress to make and it would be so much easier if we didn’t have to fight the same battle every generation.

Cailee Spaeny stars as Jane Ginsburg in Mimi Leder’s ON THE BASIS OF SEX, a Focus Features release.

Ginsberg is such a badass. She attends her husband Marty (Armie Hammer)’s classes while he’s recovering from cancer, so basically, she’s doing two Harvard course loads. Jones portrays Ginsberg unwavering determination. The whole movie is smart people talking case law, even their 15-year-old daughter Jane (Cailee Spaeny). It’s very empowering to see them decide this is what we want, here’s how we’re going to do it. Leder makes real cases feel as dramatic as A Few Good Men.

The case that becomes the focus of the film and her early law career is Moritz vs. IRS. Moritz was denied a tax deduction for his mother’s nurse, because the law stated a caretaker could only be a woman, or a man who had been widowed. Moritz (Christian Mulkey) never married, yet he was caring for his mother.

(l to r.) Armie Hammer as Marty Ginsburg and Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg star in Mimi Leder’s ON THE BASIS OF SEX, a Focus Features release.

This is all real 20th century history that is not taught in school. People should know how recently the world assumed that no unmarried man would ever have need to take care of someone, and also that such notions could be challenged and also changed. Also let this sink in: Sexism didn’t change until it affected a man.

We see how the men on opposing counsel, and the judges, decide what’s best for families. Meanwhile, we see how harmonious the Ginsberg family is with men and women sharing the load.

Felicity Jones stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Mimi Leder’s ON THE BASIS OF SEX, a Focus Features release.

The case allows Ginsberg to be rattled by the sexist establishment. That’s what they do and we all learn how to weather it. The point isn’t to be impervious to righteous indignation. The point is to take the power back and this is how it’s done.

 

Ruth Bader Ginsberg has done so much in her life, any movie could feel like it didn’t do justice to all her accomplishments. By focusing on the Moritz case, On the Basis of Sex did justice to the principle through which Ginsberg established her fight for equality, and captures the world in which she fought.

Sundance Review: The Birth of a Nation is the American Braveheart

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Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation is the American Braveheart. Mel Gibson actually starred in a blatant attempt to make an American Braveheart. Among The Patriot‘s many problems, fundamental may be that the white colonists and plantation owners were not the William Wallace characters against the British. African-Americans are the American William Wallaces for surviving slavery and future civil rights battles, yet still making this country their home.

Nat Turner (Parker) was born a slave and grew up on the Turner plantation with Sam (Armie Hammer.) Sam was kind and humane but even he allowed others to commit atrocities at his home with his slaves.

As writer/director, Parker builds up the atrocities of slavery gradually to create as complete a picture as one possibly can in 120 minutes. That is a microcosm of what those 400 years of slavery were. It wasn’t nonstop atrocity, although the underlying oppression never waned. There were calm times, periods of relative comfort and even good times. Nat’s proposal to his wife Cherry (Aja Naomi King) is truly romantic and their wedding night is lit beautifully.

When we do see atrocities they are unflinching. The film handles rape tastefully. It must be addressed to hold slavers accountable, but Parker does not exploit the act on screen. It’s not just about violent acts though. Supposedly innocent acts have horrible undertones like two little girls playing with the white girl holding a rope around the black girl’s neck. Best case scenario she’s pretending that’s a leash, but it’s possible they are playing lynching.

The rebellion is also tasteful, but brutal as it needs to be. Nat allows his men their personal revenge until it conflicts with the bigger picture. It’s bloody for both sides, but necessary for progress.

I now appreciate why Parker chose the title. D.W. Griffith’s film is acknowledged as a landmark of cinema that was on the wrong side of history. It’s 100 years later. It’s time to say no, that’s not good enough. It’s time to claim what the real birth of this nation was.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movie Review From F.R.E.D.

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Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

I’d never seen The Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV show, so I can’t tell you how well the movie captures the show. I’m up for a Guy Ritchie spy movie with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer though, and that was pretty good.

The film captures the “looking over your shoulder” feel of Cold War spy movies, with the Guy Ritchie Snatch energy. Intercutting picks up the pace, subtitles interact with the scene but Napoleon Solo (Cavill) remains cool throughout it all. It’s almost musical choreography, and it is all set to music so the analogy is somewhat overt.

It’s not James Bond. This is clearly looking back at Cold War, but it’s at least once removed. James Bond, even at its goofiest, was always sincere. U.N.C.L.E. is maybe turning these spies into idyllic caricatures, but it’s not irreverent. Even the bumbling is really cool bumbling.

U.N.C.L.E. delivers the action, more than I imagine a ‘60s TV show could have been, but in that Guy Ritchie way I described. The point isn’t the spectacle, it’s how much can they pretend there’s not a big spectacle happening, often keeping it in the background. The focus in the foreground is on something more civil. Without sound effects or a bombastic score, it creates an entirely subtle effect. The stunts are just as big as the competitive summer blockbusters, but stand out for their downplayed context. There is a considerable amount of shakycam, so that’s modern, but it’s mostly intelligible. At least, if something is obscured it is for effect.

Elizabeth Debicki and Henry Cavill in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Elizabeth Debicki and Henry Cavill in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Hammer does an impeccable Russian accent, as Cavill does an American one. The one-upmanship between Solo and his Russian counterpart Kuyakin (Hammer) is fun. There’s a slinky villainess, and you can still see Cavill’s Superman muscles under his linen shirt.

The point is clearly to do more Man from U.N.C.L.E. movies and I had a good enough time with this that I would be on board for a franchise. A series of historical spy movies with Cavill being suave ought to have a good future.