Mercy Mercy Me.
136 Mins. Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Rob Morgan, O'Shea Jackson Jr., C.J. LeBlanc, Rafe Spall, Tim Blake Nelson & Brie Larson. Director: Destin Daniel Cretton.
Have mercy. The Academy seems to have got most of it right this awards season. When it comes to movies like 'Once Upon A Time In...Hollywood', '1917', 'Jojo Rabbit', 'Joker', 'Parasite', 'Little Women' and Netflix's 'The Irishman' and 'Marriage Story' being up for Best Picture, we couldn't pick or predict a winning film with a gun to our head, (no offence 'Ford v Ferrari' you sped right past us (not really, no pun intended this writers been living in Japan were this film has only just ready, set, GO!)) bet. And at first we didn't think there was many Oscar pushing films this year. And let's not get started on the acting nominations with Pacino and Pesci facing off again in the same category and 'Black Widow' and her Florence Pugh co-star going up against each other. But no mercy for 'Just Mercy'? I guess the Oscars are still so white. Or not right, so wrong this time. Because in a year were the actress who can play anyone she wants (this is actually 90% compliment, 10% tongue-in-cheek in joke) Scarlett Johansson is nominated in both Best Actress and Supporting for the first time since Cate Blanchett in 2007 ('Elizabeth: The Golden Age' and 'I'm Not There'...as exciting as it is to see Timothée Chalamet play Dylan-especially in a movie from 'Walk The Line' director James Mangold-no one will play Bob like the chameleonic Cate), why not one for the man who had two in 2004 ('Ray' which he won and 'Collateral' which he should) in the same year he Streisand became one of the only artists to be nominated for an Oscar and become part of the Grammy family? 'Mercy' might just be one of the most monumental movies of not only the year but the century of change its story made as one of its generations greats. So why no Best Actor or Supporting one? The famous name likes of Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx have both played superheroes and villains (Michael the greatest Killmonger in 'Black Panther' and a hot Human Torch in the 'Fantastic Four'. Jamie who played Electro in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2' is also about to be 'Spawn'...not literally that would be gross), boxers (Jordan is the fictional Apollo 'Creed' son. Whilst Foxx will step in the ring as Tyson), and they have also been in big, powerful pictures based on true stories (M.J. 'Fruitvale Station' and J. Foxx, Bundini in 'Ali', 'Ray', 'Redemption', 'The Soloist'...take your pick). The real conviction in the best courtroom, legal drama since Chadwick Boseman and Sterling K. Brown (talk about 'Panther' power) in 'Marshall' is how compelling this couple of powerhouse actors are when the epic emotions raise and rage with the dramatic and real events stakes. So why isn't Oscar convinced? Is that just?
Pushing against the bars and all his weight against the guards. Refusing to get back in the cell like the Academy have refused to lock down a nomination for this man, for one of the most powerful moments of this picture like the moments of pure emotion, grief-stricken, hiding behind family photos or the whispered words he tries to reassure himself with, Foxx out the box gives so much more. Effort and effortless effervescence, his charm not disarmed despite the criminally charged consequences of his wrongly convicted character. Slapping on the metal meal table with both hands for attention showing this movie based on Michael B. Jordan's real life character's Bryan Stevenson's 'A Story Of Justice and Redemption' moving, movement memoir of the same name directed by Marvel's (as press time, you know what the M.C.U. is like) forthcoming 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' director Destin Daniel Cretton is more than a nomination. Especially for an awards show that is one Ricky Gervais host away from being a monologue aware running joke like the Golden Globe and rest of Hollywood. 'Just Mercy' is more than just an Oscar nomination...even if it is worthy of winning the envelope by moonlight. Because 'Mercy' is more than a movie. Its history and an idea...no more than a notion. One that everyone deserves, regardless of race and creed. No matter the age, as its still relevant today despite the Academy's ignorance. Notice the similarities in a setting for something that looks like it was from centuries ago...but it was merely decades ago in 1987, for a case that went unsolved until those familiar 90's. That's just how backwards Alabama is Trump's America. Despite the fact that the small town of Monroe had the small mind to act like they weren't racist by hiding behind their bragging rights setting of Harper Lee's classic novel 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. But go set a watchmen Rafe Spall's character is a million miles from Atticus Finch (although the BBC's 'War Of The Worlds' actor is on fine form as a perplexing prosecuter). But you know what she says, "Mockingbirds don't do one thing except make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corn cribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Understand?
More men...more black men and women have lost their lives than been tried fairly and just. It's not just history, it's just facts. The numbers that countlessly still don't add up today with no equal are APPALLING. You can't measure the injustice with words...even an eloquent counsel closing statement. So to put this in the right storytelling context you need to find the fine line between melodrama and Oscar bait. You need the even-keel of a nuanced actor of restraint that subtley hides behind the lines and says more with his facial expressions. It was fate that made sure Jamie was unchained as 'Django' and not a 'Men In Black 3' busy Will Smith (with all due respect to the acting superstar). And on the same day the Fresh Prince is a 'Bad Boy' for life its in the gestured ways Jamie's (who before he was majorly famous appeared by Keith B Real interlude on Smith's solo 'Big Willie Style' album) eyes move a million miles a minute. Or the way they look up to the place beyond the pines of this tree surgeon who's spirit could never be felled by the legal system that tried to cut him in two, after his unclenched hands on the steering wheel of his police pulled over pickup matches the falling hope of his eyes for a man whose soul soared again. That is who the real hero Walter McMillian really was. And Jamie Foxx really captures him with real respect and raw emotion. Once again the biopic king whose about to deliver another knockout shows he's not only one of the generations greatest actors, but also unamiously the most underrated as he looks for a happy and just ending after the 'Redemption' of his Tookie Williams gang leader turned Nobel Peace Prize winner didn't translate to justice off screen as the man on death row was tragically executed whilst helping get people off the streets from behind bars. But it's 'Creed' and 'Black Panther' Star Michael B. Jordan who like the G.O.A.T. is like a young Denzel. The 'Fahrenheit 451' novel adaptation actor adding more pages to his acting book as he throws at everyone here in the name of justice and a fair trial for a fair man. Again just like a Foxx a manner of subtle intensity that's anything but Hollywood heavy handed. He's joined by the room made for 'Captain Marvel' herself and frequent Cretton collaborator Brie Larson ('Short Term 12' and 'The Glass Castle'), complete with Alabama accent and 80's frizzy spray perm curls. But there's no white saviour here, more a modern legal aid upgrade to Sandra Bullock's 'A Time To Kill'. She joins all star support in an all star cast that includes a literal courtroom scene stealing C.J. LeBlanc, a terrific and conflicted 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs' short-story stealing Tim Blake Nelson, 'Straight Outta Compton', Ice Cube son O'Shea Jackson Jr. (you love to see him here), and frequent flyer Netflix's 'Mudbound', 'Godless' and Marvel Street-level 'Defender' Rosario Dawson like cross-pollinator Rob Morgan. More than moving and maybe the most underrated and hardest working character actor in the business. One day he will have his supporting award. But right now how about this chorus for wrongly convicted innocent black men who should never walk the green mile. It's time to give the truth back with this handshake through the bars. Clink. CLINK. Roll and tap your tin cup against the iron bars until freedom sings. We with you. We all with you. 'Just Mercy' is just magnificent. Let's get to work. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'Redemption: The Stanley Tookie Williams Story', 'Fruitvale Station', 'Marshall'.
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