Kritical Kommentary: Two Movies and a Book

 Presented for you viewing and reading pleasure....

We finally got around to seeing this movie, which has been highly praised by podcasters Arch Campbell, Jason Fraley, and "Cinema Lou" Charlip. Consider "The Invite" as a sort of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe"-lite.  It played in local movie theaters for about an hour and a half earlier in the summer, so thanks to HBO Max for streaming this one.

Joe (Seth Rogan) comes home from work one night, exhausted from his crummy job teaching music at a second rate, to him, anyway, conservatory only to learn that his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) has invited the upstairs neighbors, the ones whom Joe can't stand because they always make too much noise when they are having sex and whom Angela is trying desperately to impress, to their apartment for an evening of drinks and appetizers.  This takes Joe completely by surprise, although Angela insists that she continually has told him about this planned evening.  That creates Tense Situation Number One for the night.  Then the neighbors, Pina and Hawk (Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton) arrive and the tensions quickly elevate.  As the evening progresses, we learn all sorts of things about the four characters, especially Joe and Angela, and their marriage that has somehow become a loveless one and how thoughts of what life might be on the other side of the apartment building can come to haunt you.  The movie has its comic moments, to be sure.  There are a lot of laughs, but the ultimate serious nature of fractured relationships become the main theme of this one.

Just as interesting as the story itself is that way  it was shot.  It takes place in the single setting of Joe and Angela's apartment.  One could easily see this as a stage play, and, in fact, it is based on a play.  Wilde directed as well as co-stars in it, and she often chose to go from single shot to single shot of the characters as they were speaking.  It was really good in that regard.

Three Stars from The Grandstander.

I happened to come across this documentary as I was just skimming through the Netflix menu when I found myself home alone this morning.  It concerns the 2023 killing of Akjikie Owens by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz.   Lorincz was a neighbor who continually was calling the police to complain about the kids in the neighborhood who were always playing too loudly in the street, and trespassing on her property (in fact, they were not).   In short, they were kids being kids.  It had reached the point where police knew that this was really just a case of some miserable old lady with nothing better to do that piss and moan about the neighbors.  There was a lady like this that lived on my street when I was growing up.

Anyway, one night when one of the kids' mother went to Lorincz' house to confront her (Lorincz had taken one of her kid's iPad away from him and kept and also threw a pair of roller skates at him), Lorincz shot and killed her.

It should be noted that Lorincz is white and Owens was black, as were most of the other neighbors. Lorincz defended herself on the basis of "stand your ground" laws in Florida, and the case became a cause celebre in Florida.  Lorincz was ultimately convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison for manslaughter. 

The documentary is fascinating to watch in that probably 95% of the footage is from police body and closed circuit television cameras.  Give you a real "you are there" feeling when watching.

My opinion:  Susan Lorincz is exactly where she belongs right now: behind bars.

Two and One-Half Stars from The Grandstander.

I have only recently discovered the writings of mystery/thriller author Laura Lippman.  She is a native of Baltimore, and most of her stories take place in the Baltimore area.  Her main body of work revolves around her series character, private detective Tess Monaghan.  I first wrote about her last year (see HERE) after I read her novel "Sunburn".  I have since read a couple of her other books, and I recently borrowed this book from the library to read on our recent beach vacation.  It is anthology of sixteen short stories, some of them feature Monaghan, but most of them do not.  When you come across a collection of short stories in one volume, some will be really good, some will be not so good, and most will be just okay, but not this one.  Each of these stories were captivating and quite entertaining to read, and all featured terrific main characters, most of who  were women.  I can highly recommend this collection to you if you are a fan of the genre.  

Four Stars from The Grandstander.