Author: Jeff Mitchell

‘Passing’: Don’t pass on experiencing this delicate, complex friendship

Jeff Mitchell

“Passing” (2021) – Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga) were high school friends.  Not close comrades, but dear enough to actively reach out if a future encounter ever occurs. At least 12 years after school, that day arrives for the two ladies during an ordinary afternoon at The Drayton Hotel, an upscale spot in New York City.  Irene and Clare both sit alone at small, circular tables with white linen covers, and bright daylight illuminates every inch of a large, open sunroom with 30-foot high ceilings.  They catch each…

‘Beans’: Kiawentiio delivers a grown-up performance about growing up under perilous happenings

Jeff Mitchell

“Beans” (2021) – “Growing up is losing some illusions in order to acquire others.” – Virginia Woolf Beans (Kiawentiio), 12, enjoys a content, supportive existence with her mom (Rainbow Dickerson), dad (Joel Montgrand), and younger sister, Ruby (Violah Beauvais), while living outside of Montreal.  She’s a happy kid, and the year is 1990, a time when parents drew distinct, discernable lines between themselves and their children, and Beans and Ruby respect their mother and father’s firm lead.  At the moment, Lily (Dickerson) and Kania’Tarilo (Montgrand) push Beans to pursue a…

Movie of the Week: ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’

Jeff Mitchell

“Before the Devil Knows Your Dead” (2007) – Sidney Lumet orchestrates a jewelry heist gone horribly wrong in his last film.  This is a dark and twisted crime movie – told in a non-linear fashion – in which the immoral and desperate aforementioned infraction can only be matched by the flawed human beings – with years of preceding mistakes – who concocted it. Two brothers, Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Hank (Ethan Hawke) are at the center of the storm. Andy is a white-collar executive and suffers from a dysfunctional…