A Poem Is A Naked Person

4 out of 4 Stars

Les Blank's rare documentary, A Poem Is A Naked Person, has finally been released in all its Southern Fried glory. The 1974 documentary, which revolves around Leon Russell and his home state of Oklahoma, was shelved by Russell until 2014 when Blank's son, Harrod, restored the film in collaboration with Janus Films. The film is a beautiful, comedic, and rollicking look at Russell on stage and in the recording studio with George Jones and Willie Nelson. Also, the film is a portrait of Faulknerian proportions as Blank interviews local Oklahomians, glass-eating parachute enthusiasts, and Russell's fans.

Les Blank, who passed away in 2013, was one of the great documentary filmmakers of the 1970s and was in the vanguard of cinema verite film-making along with his contemporaries like the Maysles Brothers and D.A. Pennebaker. For Blank, he not only focuses on Russell's music, but the people and culture that make up the bulk of his songs. The film almost comes across as Robert Altman's Nashville without Joan Tewkesbury's script as you feel the humidity of the southern heat or the glow of the full moon over the Grand Lake of the Cherokee while Russell's voice sings some classic Hank Williams ballad.  

Within this heady mix of music and southern culture, there is Leon Russell as one of rock and roll's jack-of-all trades. Whether he is performing at a local wedding or playing to a riotous crowd in Anaheim, California, this film solidifies him as one of the great musicians of his generation whose career was revived in recent years thanks in part to Elton John recruiting him for the 2010 album, "The Union," and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. A Poem Is A Naked Person is one of the great lost gems that can finally shine for all to see.  

Trumbo

3 out of 4 Stars

Trumbo, the new biopic by Jay Roach, is a witty and fascinating look at the life and times of screenwriter and provocateur, Dalton Trumbo. Trumbo was one of Hollywood's leading screenwriters of the 1940s, but his political views made him a target for the House of Un-American Activities committee leading to being blacklisted from Hollywood along with thousands of others in the film industry who were Communist sympathizers. During his period of politically motivated exile, Trumbo wrote screenplays for B-films along with Hollywood classics, like Roman Holiday and Spartacus, under various pseudonyms. Despite his hardships, Trumbo managed to fight for his right to express himself and represent the other screenwriters whose careers ended with imprisonment or death.

The major drawback in Trumbo is John McNamara's lackluster script as it has minimal originality and reads like a movie of the week, yet Trumbo's own letters and anecdotes keep the film afloat. Jay Roach, whose reputation as a filmmaker falls under comedy franchises like Austin Powers or Meet The Parents doesn't create anything that jumps off he screen that hasn't been filmed before. That being said, he knows how to cast a movie with the right actors.

Bryan Cranston gives an incredibly funny and perfectly nuanced performance as Dalton Trumbo as he emulates the chain-smoking, scotch-drinking radical who defied the studio system with his razor-sharp wit and endearing prose that led to the decline of a Hollywood under the thumbs of Joe McCarthy and Hedda Hopper. Helen Mirren shines as the commie-hating actress and columnist Hedda Hopper with an air of deception that is reminiscent of Cruella DeVille. Diane Lane and Elle Fanning give strong supporting performances as Trumbo's wife and daughter who both question and support Trumbo's actions against the HUAC and whether or not his crusade for civil liberties is infringing on his life as a husband and father.

Among the other great supporting roles, Louis C.K. gives a brilliant performance as Arlen Hird, the screenwriter torn between his political beliefs while financially supporting himself by writing hackneyed scripts. John Goodman is hilarious as Frank King, the bat-wielding B-movie producer who takes a chance on Dalton Trumbo with ambition and bawdiness. Michael Stuhlbarg steals the show as Edward G. Robinson by not succumbing to cigar-sucking mimicry by showing Robinson's conflict of appeasing to his closest friends along with the political powers that be.

Aside from a bland screenplay, Trumbo diverts from being a half-hearted televised melodrama into a film with substance as Bryan Cranston gives a remarkable performance  along with the supporting cast. Had it not been for the great
performances, I would definitely recommend seeing Peter Askin's 2007 documentary on Trumbo.