S4 E02 - The Long Walk

Feature Film(s) reviewed this episode:

• High and Low - Criterion | HBO Max

• Highest to Lowest - Apple TV+

Main Review:

• The Long Walk - Website

Additional Links

• Geek on Film - ⁠⁠⁠Website⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Store⁠⁠⁠
• Robbie (The Geek) Holmes - ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠Letterboxd⁠

New podcast theme song provided by: ⁠Sam Cone

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Welcome to Geekon Film with your host, Robbie Holmes. Hey there, folks. Welcome to episode two of season four of Geekon Film. I'm excited to jump into a couple of films, but also to talk about a few experiences that I've had here in the Phoenix area. I'm really excited tonight to be going to see one battle after another in 70 millimeter here locally. So excited. Couldn't couldn't be more excited about that experience. So I was going to record an episode about highest to lowest as the main review, but I feel like a bunch of my latest podcasts have been sort of negative. So just being upfront and transparent with you as an audience, I didn't think that Spike Lee's highest to lowest was super successful. And I felt like that would be frustrating to have multiple uh episodes in a row where the main review wasn't positive. So that's really where I'm at and why this is taking a little bit longer because I've gone back and forth about whether or not highest to lowest is the main review for this episode. That being said, we're going to talk about high and low, highest to lowest, and the main review today of the long walk. So let's start with high and low. Um big surprise here. Akira Kawasawa is a genius. This is one of his masterpieces. Uh so our friends at IMDB have this as an executive of the Yokohama Shoe Company becomes a villain, a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom. It's written by Hideo Aguni, uh Raizo Kikushima, and Ijiro Haseate. Uh, it's directed by Akira Kausawa. So, uh my review of this is what a great film, but by today's standards, the pace is so slow. Akira Kawasawa is such a fantastic visual storyteller and can make men shifting uncomfortably in a room feel like high action. So much time and shoe leather is spent on all of the characters that you get a sense of everyone uh in the named cast's motivations and feelings about what is happening in the story. I gave it four and a half stars with a heart. I will say my biggest takeaway from this movie is that uh Kirisawa has the ability to shoot uh movies in a way that enacts and captures the drama and urgency of stage plays in a way that I don't know that many other directors have been able to pull off. Um, in this movie, you have uh Toshiro Mufune as Kingo Gondo, who is the uh executive in the shoe company, who initially believes that his son has been uh abducted. And it turns out that it is uh the son of his driver, who's played by Utaka Sada, and he's Aoki, uh, the chauffeur. Uh, this movie is unbelievable, right? So much happens, it's like a two-location film when it comes down to it. You have everything that is taking place in this house that we are not even aware of exactly how important that physical location is, because uh it's a house on a hill overlooking a city, and it is the high point of the city. So people look up to it. So high and low talks about where people are in society, physically where people are located, and the class system that is being uh evoked by these choices. I feel like I don't have so much to offer on this film. I think it's been talked about uh by everyone who's ever done a film studies class. I will say that this movie has the ability to give complicated feelings and emotions to characters. And then, uh, like I alluded to in my review, uh, all of the ancillary characters around that person can react based on how they would feel about that situation. So when Gondo is going back and forth about whether or not he's going to pay the ransom and he's sort of uh shamed by his wife, the the detectives are there in the room and and they look uncomfortable and they get sort of they they shift around to get out of the way. And it's it's really capturing the essence of the feeling of what they are going through. There, they are also uncomfortable for him prostrating himself in front of them because his wife is, you know, uh castigating him. I think this movie also captures the loss that uh Gondo feels when he loses not just the money, but the prestige of the role that he plays in this company and the fact that he was gathering all of his resources so that he could take it over. And now that he has paid this ransom, he has lost not only his position in the company, but likely uh not only his taking over the company, but likely his role in the company. And he has fallen. Uh, and you see that when he's mowing the lawn in a dress shirt, just sweating through it. It uh it's sort of physically showing you what he is mentally going through. And I think that is a huge aspect of what Kirisawa can do that other directors can't. The second half of the movie is very much police detective work, and it feels like we move into the city. So the first half of the movie is taking place all inside of the home of Mr. Uh Gondo, and uh, we go out to the city to figure out who abducted this child and how it happened, and and then we're in the capable hands of the police. Uh so uh Tetseo uh Nik Nakadai is playing chief detective Takura, and he is there the whole time. He is understanding of the implications of the choice that Gondo is making. And he's almost like an audience surrogate at times, and then he is a competent cop. And I think in the end, we get to a final like resolution based on the competency of the police to track down and figure out what's going on. It is very powerful to bring together the abductor and gondo at the end and have one more face-to-face encounter, but it's through glass, and there's still this sort of class distinction, right? Um it it really just reinforces everything. And I think that is the thesis of high and low in that final scene. Okay, uh, I'm gonna stop there. You can watch this movie on HBO Max or Criterion. Uh, there's also, I believe, an amazing Criterion 4K. This is a movie you should watch if you haven't. Uh, ticket off of your watch list um or your blind spots. It's worth it. Now, I'm gonna jump over to highest to lowest. Um, this movie pales in comparison to it's to the thing it is being compared to, and it's rough for so many critics like myself that only watched high and low for the first time to prepare for highest to lowest because there's such different filmmaking and different tones. And so in uh highest to lowest, we have uh our friends at IMTV have the summary as when a Titan music mogul is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life or death moral dilemma. Uh it's written by Evan Hunter, Akira Kawasawa, and Hideo Agoni. So there's an update. Uh Evan Hunter does an updated script for this based on the original. And it's directed by Spike Lee. So this is uh Spike Lee and Denzel Joint. Um there's been a bunch of them. I think there's five. Um, my feelings on this movie over Unletterboxed is uh two and a half stars. Uh the echoes of high and low previous Spike Lee films are strong. Uh, the absolute cartoonishly evil interactions of the cops with Jeffrey Wright's Paul are truly eye roll worthy. Aesop Rocky is electric, and in in most scenes, Denzel Washington looks his age and has a bursts of a younger Denzel. Uh, there are some shots in this movie that are unbelievable. Uh the opening four-minute sequence with the drones uh and classical the opening to Oklahoma, uh about effectively Spike seemingly talking about the American dream and how David, uh who's played by Denzel Washington, David King, is sort of living the ultimate American dream, right? He has made it, he has created something, he lives in this beautiful, um, this beautiful house that is overlooking the city, overlooking from downtown Brooklyn uh an entire domain, right? There's a choice being made here that David's last name is King. He is up on the hill, very similarly to Gondo in high and low, looking down upon the rest of the city. Pam King is played by uh if I Fanesh Hadena Hedera, uh his wife, and his son is played by uh Aubrey Joseph, and he's trade Trey King. I think um these folks do okay. I think they're they're not Denzel Caliber, and I think it shows like there's there are scenes where it feels like Denzel is all by himself uh until he meets up with Jeffrey Wright, and that's where things get more electric. That's where the chemistry begins. Uh and Jeffrey Wright plays Paul Christopher, who is um not only David's chauffeur, but his longtime friend and someone who's had uh has been in jail in the past, is a a previous felon. Um we cut to sort of uh choices being made by the director and the cinematographer and the editor about not letting us hear the phone call, which is one of the powerful things in high and low, is we actually hear all the interactions between the kidnapper and Gondo and the police. And here, those interactions take place on a cell phone, and we, the audience, are cut out of the conversation. So we don't even hear David get the request for the ransom. This movie really allows Spike to show his love of New York and what makes New York New York. Um, there are some really amazing sequences that take place. There's one at the Puerto Rican Day Parade, there is the train ride up to a Yankees game. Uh it is really powerful. It is fun, it is hurting being compared, in my opinion, to high and low. I think if this movie was not under that auspices, if you weren't having the umbrella of that feeling going into watching this movie, you'd be like, this is probably like a three to three and a half star Denzel film, but you're constantly in comparison to something that might be one of the big the most amazing classics in cinema history. The way that it's written, you see choices being made by the director and the writer to make the cops seem buffoonish and uh caricature-esque in their interactions. So that is a choice that is being made here. It is very different from high and low, and it turns this into effectively like the equalizer in the high and low story, where David King and uh Paul Christopher go off to the Bronx to find the kidnapper. And it just doesn't feel at all like you're getting the class conversation, uh, the interactions that we've we've seen. The so you know, you eventually find. I mean, spoilers for this movie, it is on Apple TV Plus, you should see it, it looks beautiful. Um, but we eventually find our way to Young Felon, who's played by Aesop Rocky, and he is in a studio in a basement recording a song, and Denzel, David King comes in and kicks the producer out who's at the board, and effectively starts giving young felon criticism from the moment he opens his mouth. He's like, it could be great, these are ways you can do things. So it's a little bit of like old man telling young man how to do things right, and it comes across like David has all the answers and isn't open to what young Felon is doing. And it's interesting that that is the case, that we're going back and forth because Young Felon, we find out, is has a child and he's named him David, and it isn't he he wants nothing more than after spending time in jail to be produced and and work for David King's company. Um their interactions are pretty amazing. I think there's a back and forth that is effectively a rap battle that I don't believe was scripted from the interviews I've heard, where Denzel is spitting verse, uh, I think mostly from Nas back and forth at Aesop Rocky. Um, and Young Felon is at one point makes the joke, are we in a rap battle now? And and those scenes are really good. There's so much energy going on there. There's a weird cut to like a music video um in the middle of it, and uh before uh after uh Young Felon has been caught, and then we cut to the ending where he wants to talk to him. So we're we're again we're echoing, we're not mirroring, but we're echoing uh high and low. And Young Felon wants David to now produce his album, even though he's in jail. I just think you lose all the aspects of what makes this movie what what you're trying to do. Maybe I'm missing a point on what uh Spike was up to, but this just feels like it fell flat. It feels like you end up in the end with David back in his amazing, amazing house overlooking the city, having the music uh pivot to sort of a beautiful RB style um ballad that makes you feel like what David is looking for is older music, is not what the kids are doing on the streets, and it feels like it's almost like missing the point of modernization, like it is old man telling industry what the right thing is, and I don't know if this is the way that Spike feels about the industry in general, or if it's a little bit of uh you know incrimination on Spike's part, but I it just didn't land well for me, and uh I didn't love it. And I'm sorry to say that because I was really excited. That's why I decided not to make this the main review because I felt very uncomfortable with where we land, and uh I didn't want that to be the main review for an episode. Uh it's really it's worth watching. I think the problem comes up against its comparisons. So uh take all of that with a grain of salt. If you love the movie, that's great. I'd love to talk to you about it. Um, but I'm gonna move over to the main review now. So, main review this of this episode. Uh, we have a review of the long walk. Um, according to our friends at IMDB, a group of teenage boys compete in an annual contest known as the Long Walk, in which they must maintain a certain walking speed or get shot. It is written by JT Mulliner and Stephen King. It's based on a short story, one of the first short stories written by Stephen King under his pseudonym. Uh, and it is directed by Francis Lawrence. My perspective over on Letterboxd was when I left the theater, I was at four stars. I think because of the intensity and the and the visceral in-your-face nature of the violence and the poignant individual conversations. I think after thinking about it, it is not as strong as I initially thought on the script side, even though I think the story is evocative and moving. I don't know uh that it is bordering on masterpiece, which is where I would say most things at four are heading towards. So let's talk about uh the cast here and the story. So the setup is pretty simple, right? Once a year, uh they've made a change, I think, from the book uh that it is 50 young men have the ability to go on this long walk. And at the end of it, they will be one will live and survive, and that person will be granted a wish and all of the money they basically could ever need. What we end up with is 50 distinct people that are originally at this starting line, and we focus in on Cooper Hoffman, who is playing Raymond Garretti, who's number 47, um, David Joe Johnson, who is playing Peter uh McVearus, who is number 23, and there are a couple of people that uh are with them on the walk that they interact with a few times. So you have Garrett Waring playing Steve Stebbins, who's number 38, you have Toot Niute uh playing Arthur Baker, who's number six, uh, we have Charlie Plummer playing Gary uh Barkovich, Ben Wang playing Hank Olson, uh Jordan Gonzalez playing Richard Harkness, Joshua O'Jek playing uh Kylie Parker, number 48. I think the person that uh is in this movie that is surprising, um, there's like two other final ones. I would say Roman Griffin Davis plays Curly, and then we have uh Judy Greer playing Ginny Gardy, who is um Cooper Hoffman's mother. Um, and she's in the movie Small Moments, and it's really interactive, uh, and she's really good in those scenes. And the one that is surprising, uh, I didn't even realize it was him until later, uh, Mark Hamill is playing the major. So he's playing this sort of gruff, over-the-top, caricatures-esque military man. We focus in on uh Garrety arriving with his mother in a car to this opening up of uh all these men sitting on the ground, and we quickly see that uh he and Peter, David Johnson's character, are interacting, and it's it's sort of a two-hander with about 48 friends around. Um, it really does feel like we spend this time with these two characters. We spend uh, I mean, almost two hours uh with cameras in the faces of these two men. And uh I walked away from it thinking, very, very comfortably saying that I think Cooper Hoffman and David Johnson are the future male leads of movies in in the film industry. I do not see any reason why these two men are not the focal point of a lot of movies over the next 20 to 25 years. Cooper Hoffman playing Raymond is very empathetic, and uh you feel for him immediately in his sort of um all-American sort of uh intense want to do the right thing. He chose to do this himself, and his mother is desperately trying to convince him not to go at the end. And uh it's very powerful, and he's very believable. And then you cut to David Johnson, who we've seen in many roles up to this point, but here he is playing this sort of self-assured, very confident, um, very empathetic, very positive character. And it's really believable. I I found myself just vacillating between who I liked more, and that's why for me the movie dropped to a three and a half stars, is because we went through this very visceral story. We hear motivations of why Peter and Raymond are both doing what they're doing, and uh in the end, I feel like the ending betrays what we have heard up to that point and betrays who the characters are. I am not gonna spoil the ending. I do think this movie is worth seeing, even though I didn't love the ending, and I think I may have been at four stars if the ending had gone differently. But I can't rewrite this movie, and I have to evaluate the movie I saw. I think overall, uh, it's a strong film. Three and a half stars with a heart is is pretty darn good from my perspective. And I think that what we have here is a showcase um almost like films like The Outsiders and Rumblefish. We're gonna look back at this movie as a place where we saw an awful lot of young men who are or young actors who are going to be the center of Hollywood and beyond for a while. Um I like this movie. I I would say it was absolutely positively as intense and as um over the top in its not over the top, in its bracing unflinching approach to violence. And I think if you're okay with it, it lets you know in the first like six or seven minutes if if you can hang with this movie. But I think you should. It's worth seeing and it's worth it for their performances. Um Mark Hamill is the major is fun, but he's a caricature. Uh, we don't get a chance to see much of Mark Hamill. Uh and uh it's it it actually probably has more of an impact on the legacy of this film that he was a part of it. Um all right, I'm gonna stop there. Uh, thank you so much for listening. I look forward to get it getting to a podcast later this week about one battle for another. Super excited to go see that tonight. I will also talk about Megadoc, which is the documentary that was made at the same time and during the shooting of Megalopolis, which was fascinating. And uh I will talk to you folks soon. Thank you so much for listening. Have a good day. Go to the movies, go see something cool, see the long walk, or sit on your couch and watch high and low. Uh and highest to lowest. It's worth watching. Okay, thank you so much. Have a great day. Bye bye. This has been filming production.