Smart portrait of legend in ‘Glorias’
Gloria
Steinem is always in conversation with herself in “The Glorias,” a sprawling and thoughtful biopic of the writer and activist. Director Julie Taymor knows better than to try to capture her entire life in a film, even one as long as this, and her reflective odyssey of a woman and icon who never stops growing is a beautifully messy attempt at something bigger. It doesn’t always work, but has a natural engine and spirit to it that keeps you focused.
The film is based on Steinem’s memoir “My Life on the Road,” a concept which Taymor chooses to employ both literally and figuratively. Her Glorias, Julianne Moore as the middle aged version, Alicia Vikander as the young woman, Lulu Wilson as the teen and Ryan Kira Armstrong as the child, are always on the move and never at home. They’re also all put together as co-passengers on a charter bus ride. It’s on this highway to who-knows-where that they discuss their hopes, their regrets and their evolving perspective on everything from marriage to better comebacks for misogynist comments. Taymor checks in with the bus Glorias throughout, as though they are live commentators on their own story.
Taymor and her co-writer Sarah Ruhl skip hop through Steinem’s life including both the greatest public hits (going undercover as a Playboy Bunny, campaigning for the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion rights, launching the National Women’s Political Caucus and forming Ms. Magazine) as well the less known private moments (missing her father’s death, caring for her sick mother).
Shot by the great cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (“Silence,” “Brokeback Mountain”), “The Glorias” works to create a kind of living document of someone whose rise was all but inevitable. Along the way, she forms bonds and professional relationships with fellow legends like Dorothy Pitman Hughes (Janelle Monáe), Florynce Kennedy (Lorraine Toussaint), Dolores Huerta (Monica Sanchez) and Wilma Mankiller (Kimberly Guerrero). Bette Midler also makes a late film appearance as Bella Abzug.
“The Glorias” avoids much deep examination of its heroine’s supposed flaws or hypocrisies and instead presents an empathetic portrait of an empathetic person for whom home and family were never consistent. She is always looking for enlightenment and to be surprised, whether on the third-class women’s only train car in India or at a biker bar in the Black Hills of South Dakota where she finds some unlikely fans. When a reporter asks her what she’d say to someone who says that the feminist movement doesn’t include Black women, she responds that she wouldn’t say anything, she’d just listen. She also seemed uncomfortable with her singular celebrity and the consistent attention on her looks.
Powerful
This being a Taymor production, you can expect a few genuinely trippy sequences that come out of nowhere. But these maximalist sequences don’t detract from the overall film (they don’t add much either, but you can’t help but appreciate them nonetheless).
All of the Glorias are wonderful at their parts too, although some might ding Vikander for her accent. Yet I think what she achieves is more powerful than a dead-on impression and Taymor should be applauded for taking a chance on the Swedish actor with imperfect American pronunciation.
“The Glorias” throws its hands up at the end with a jarring cut to Steinem reflecting on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss, shots of recent women’s marches and even some of the real Steinem herself. Her impact is hard to quantify in a few minutes and these choices are a bit obvious and a bit artless for an otherwise smart and engaging film that avoids most cloying cliches.
But maybe a neat and tidy ending would be asking too much. This is a woman and a society that are still evolving, even as the credits are rolling.
“The Glorias,” a Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment and Amazon Video release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for “brief lewd images, some language). Running time: 139 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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LOS ANGELES: The release of the t Bond film “No Time to Die” has been delayed again, this time to 2021, because of the effects of COVID-19 on the theatrical business.
MGM, Universal and Bond producers, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, said on Twitter on Friday that the 25th installment in the franchise will now open globally on April 2, 2021.
“No Time To Die” was originally supposed to open in April 2020 but was pushed back to Nov. 12 in the UK and Nov 20 in the US. It was one of the first Hollywood films to abandon its release before cinemas in the US shut down in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. The film from director Cary Joji Fukunaga stars Daniel Craig as 007, Rami Malek, Lashana Lynch and Ana de Armas.
Other major studios have made similar decisions over the past few weeks.
Cinemas remain closed in New York and Los Angeles, two of North America’s biggest markets.
Ticket sales for Warner Bros.’ “Tenet,” the first blockbuster to open in theaters worldwide after months of coronavirus-related closures, have not been as strong as hoped for in the US.
The Walt Disney Co last week delayed the planned 2020 releases of a handful of major movies until 2021.
They include Marvel’s “Black Widow” and Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story.” Universal Pictures delayed “Candyman” to next year.
Some major releases are still planned for 2020. They include “Wonder Woman 1984,” which was pushed back to Christmas after multiple delays and Kenneth Branagh’s mystery “Death on the Nile.” It is now set for Dec 18. (AP)