By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
Last week, the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to consider ‘streaming’ films for Oscar contention if they’d originally planned a theatrical release. That’s good news for Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney and Ray Romano, who deliver compelling performances in HBO Films’ engaging docudrama “Bad Education.”
Based on a real embezzlement scheme that stunned suburban Roslyn, Long Island in 2004, it’s as timely as last year’s college admissions scandal.
School superintendent Frank Tassone (Hugh Jackman) is a devoted educator, a people-pleaser who is as adept at encouraging students as he is at defusing argumentative parents. His trusted assistant is Pam Gluckin (Allison Janney). They’re supported by school board president Bob Spicer (Ray Romano), a local Realtor who basks in Roslyn’s soaring property values.
Determined that Roslyn’s status rise above its competing towns of Syosset and Jerico, Frank initiates an expensive “sky-bridge” renovation, agreeing to an interview by Rachel Bhargava (Geraldine Viswanathan), a reporter on the school newspaper.
After Frank encourages her not to simply write a “puff piece,” Rachel starts researching the school’s budget. She soon discovers many financial irregularities and discrepancies. Using the school’s credit card, Pam Gluckin has been casually financing her family’s home renovation and personal expenses, while Frank Tassone has been bankrolling his entire lifestyle.
Unbeknown to Roslyn’s citizens, poignantly vain Frank leads a double life. In Manhattan, he has an Upper East Side apartment with a longtime partner (Stephen Spinella) whom he deceives in Las Vegas with a former student (Rafael Casal) now working as a bartender/dancer.
Adapted from Robert Kolker’s New York magazine article “The Bad Superintendent” by former Roslyn student Mike Makowsky, who witnessed the nightmare firsthand, it’s astutely directed by Cory Finley (“Thoroughbreds”).
Perceptively acing a diabolically complicated character, Hugh Jackman oozes charismatic charm as the slick yet sinister administrator, a perfect counterpart to Allison Janney’s brash budget director.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bad Education” is an insidiously enticing 8, tracing an infamous $11.3 million theft from taxpayers.
Introduced by hearty fishermen singing that rousing sea-shanty, women rock the boat in Amazon Prime’s salty, subtly droll, modern-day murder mystery “Blow the Man Down” is reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ black comedy thrillers.
In the small, coastal Maine town of Easter Cove, a drunken man is chasing a screaming woman through the snow; they’re observed by Enid Devlin (Margo Martindale) from her upstairs window.
Mourning the recent death of their mother, two sisters – stoic, sensible Priscilla Connolly (Sophie Lowe) and restless, adventurous Mary Beth (Morgan Saylor) – are faced with overwhelming debt. Even if they can keep the family’s seafood store afloat, they’ll be forced to sell their weather-beaten home.
They’re comforted and counseled by an outspoken trio of their mother’s elderly, Irish-Catholic friends (June Squibb, Annette O’Toole, Marceline Hugot), along with Enid, the imperious proprietor of Oceanview, a bed & breakfast/brothel.
As it turns out, Mary Beth was the screaming woman, pursued by predatory Gorski (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). When he tries to rape her, Mary Beth spears him with a harpoon then clobbers him with a brick. Terrified, Mary Beth summons Priscilla. Using an oyster-shucking knife, they cram Gorski’s corpse into a cooler and toss it into the ocean.
Shortly afterward, the dead body of a prostitute who worked for Enid washes up on the shore. Did Gorski kill her? Searching his isolated shack, Mary Beth finds a sack with $50,000 in cash. Where did it come from? And will anyone connect the sisters with these sordid crimes?
First-time feature filmmakers Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole won the Best Screenplay Award at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, while Todd Banhazl (“Hustlers”) received a special jury mention for his cinematography; the film was shot in Harpswell, Maine.
On the Granger Gauge, “Blow the Man Down” is a suspenseful 7, evoking the secret bond of sisterhood – in all its permutations.
Catching my attention with the most bizarre title I’ve seen in years, the inventive action/adventure “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot”—on Apple TV, Fandango Now and Vudu – follows the epic adventures of an American legend that no one has ever heard of.
During World War II, Calvin Barr (Sam Elliott) remained anonymous although he was actually the soldier who shot The Fuhrer. Quietly living out his retirement years in a small Northeastern town, along the Canadian border, Barr’s constant companion is his golden retriever.
He often recalls the moment when his aptitude for languages and knowledge of ‘40s-era weaponry led him to the fateful spot where he killed Adolf Hitler, whose “ideas continued to do their damage without him.” (In episodic flashbacks, Barr is played by Aidan Turner, familiar to TV audiences from “Poldark”).
Barr still mourns the loss of the love-of-his-life, a schoolteacher named Maxine (Caitlin FitzGerald); his only friend seems to be his gregarious younger brother (Larry Miller), the town’s barber.
But when a series of homicides occur nearby, Barr is recruited by an FBI agent (Ron Livingston) and a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman (Rizwan Manji) to use his remarkable tracking ability to serve his country.
His mission: to kill the mythical Bigfoot, a creature infected with a deadly virus that could devastate mankind. That leads Barr to, once again, question society’s concept of heroism.
Making his feature-film debut, writer/director Robert D. Krzykowski is a graphic artist-turned-filmmaker. His first coup was signing veteran actor Sam Elliott (“A Star is Born”) to propel this overly talky melodrama with total conviction.
In addition, Krzykowski was able to convince two-time Oscar-winner Douglas Trumbull (“2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Blade Runner,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) to serve as executive producer and create visual effects on what’s obviously a miniscule budget, joining a production team that also includes independent filmmaker John Sayles (“Lone Star,” “Eight Men Out”).
On the Granger Gauge, “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot” is a strange 6, focusing on a stoic superhero.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
