Photo © Lions Gate Entertainment
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
(In Theaters April 28)
Author Judy Blume long resisted allowing her coming-of-age book to be adapted to the screen. Published in 1970, her story confronts both puberty and faith in a frank manner. Her protagonist, Margaret (Abby Ryder Fortson), is a mildly awkward 11-year-old when she and her family leave New York City for the New Jersey burbs. Margaret’s mother Barbara (Rachel McAdams) was an art teacher. Discovering she’s no Suzy homemaker, Barbara experiences her own crisis. Needing someone to confide in, Margaret explores a relationship with God, and joins a clique of girls forming a secret club. Their confident sounding name, “The Pre-Teen Sensations,” masks deep-seated fears they won’t develop into the feminine ideal. Blume’s book won many awards partly because she clarified that the answers to life’s questions are rarely straightforward. While this adaptation is largely faithful, it’s also focused on seeing its characters’ issues comfortably resolved. Adapted by director Kelly Fremon Craig, the result manages to convey the confusion that accompanies being a tween. (Lisa Miller)
A Handful of Water
(IndiePix DVD)
In the opening frame of A Handful of Water, Konrad (Jürgen Prochnow) stares at a model U-boat at the bottom of his fish tank. Film buffs will recognize the sly joke. Prochnow remains best known internationally for his role as the U-boat commander in Das Boot (1981).
In director Jakob Zapf’s 2020 film, Prochnow plays an unsociable old-timer going through the motions of life, knowing that death isn’t too far away. Newcomer Milena Pribak plays Thurba, an 11-year-old Yemeni refugee on the run from German immigration police. When she sneaks into Konrad’s house, he opens fire. In the U.S., she’d be dead—movie over. But this is a German film and Konrad is armed with a pellet gun. He feels sorry for his violent outburst. Turns out that when the old man was a child, he fled with his parents from Poland at the end of World War II. Grumpy as he goes, his encounter with the girl awakens his memories and compassion in a story that sidesteps saccharine. (David Luhrssen)
SISU
(In Theaters April 28)
The notion of a Finnish gold miner singlehandedly defeating countless Nazis, is pure artifice, but it’s deftly folded into historic events. As World War II comes to an end, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) in the remote Lapland, is attacked by Nazis during their scorched-earth retreat from Finland. Wizened and alone save for his trusty dog and horse, the miner’s gold-filled knapsack is as irresistible to the Nazis as their presumption that he is easy prey. He’s anything but, dispatching his attackers like pesky flies. When a few of his many assailants manage to make off with his gold, our protagonist undertakes a mission to reacquire the treasure and exact his revenge. Many more Nazis arrive to take him down, but resistance is futile. The prospector-warrior rarely speaks, letting his physicality and his expressions convey what needs to be known. This entry to the genre of seniors possessing the skills for close-quarter combat, is an R-rated, 90-minute actioner, written and directed by Jalmari Helander. It’s tailored to impress. (Lisa Miller)
