A Seattle moviegoing lifestyle magazine
Spike Lee’s “re-imagining” of Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low opens with Matthew Libateque’s glossy footage of New York City waking up in a golden sunrise reflected off shiny buildings. “Oh What A Beautiful Morning” from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! blasts over the soundtrack. It’s definitely a beautiful morning, but for record exec David King it will be anything but a beautiful day.
Ryôsuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda) seems harmless enough; a factory worker that dreams of bigger and better things if he could only get his hands on more cash. His way out is making backdoor deals under the moniker Ratel (some may call it swindling) with desperate, or just naive, people needing to offload bulk products.
We see a group of kids hanging out on what turns out to be their Christmas break. One refuses to wear a shirt, another always dons a purple burglar beanie, a third is the pipsqueak of the crew and last is Billy 5000. Billy, a recent school drop out, is chasing his dream of making five thousands bucks delivering food for Grubster before New Years with only his hoverboard and intense focus to get him there. Finding a financial glitch in his employer’s system, he’s making hand over fist when his focus cracks after delivering to an ex-schoolmate and crush Rozebud.
Friday Kahlo is known for her self-possessed, unfazed take on the world and her art. She found beauty in the every day, pride in her culture and refused to adhere to societal norms. What could have made her an outcast instead made her unique empathetic and adored and most importantly exceptionally creative. Hola Frida is an attempt to explore her early life, both the tragedies and spiritual journey she experienced that shaped who she would become as an adult and artist. Animation and a light-hearted tone, no matter where the story takes us, allows for an all-ages audience.
Like the previous Naked Gun and Airplane! movies, the comedy here relies on puns, physical humor, deadpan, and visual gags. Most of the bits fall flat (the law of averages demands it), and the humor can sometimes be scatological and certainly not for everyone—but man, did I enjoy it. Director Akiva Schaffer, from the comedy trio the Lonely Island, clearly knows how to generate laughs in the compact 85 minute running time.
