Michael's Movie Grade: A-
A beautiful and heartbreaking film.
There is a tendency for movies about childhood to idealize this part of life. To look back on it with a wistful nostalgia. Yet if we really take a close look back at our own childhood there are parts of it, we would never wish to repeat. This is certainly true of writer and director, James Gray (Ad Astra), who turns in one of his most personal and emotion films with Armageddon Time. This film strips away all of the wistful nostalgia and instead offers brutal honesty. The movie can be very hard to watch at times, but it is one that had a very strong emotional effect on me. This film does not have a neat traditional three-act storyline, but instead revolves around various smaller plotlines that take place in our main character's life. He becomes best friends with a black kid and sees real racism play out in front of him, he develops a close relationship with his grandfather, he has conflicts with his parents who don't understand his desire to be an artist, he struggles with school and feels no desire or ambition to become what everyone seems to want him to be. While these many smaller plot lines may make this film feel jumbled to some, to me they just made it feel more real and like a portrait of a real person's childhood. James Gray has stated that he drew heavily draws from his own childhood experiences with this film. You can feel that authenticity throughout the whole movie and as we watch the film, we have no trouble putting ourselves in the main character's shoes. For nearly two hours we are living and feeling every experience this character lives through. This film also does a wonderful job of exploring themes like racism and how the school system doesn't always work for everybody. This film really gets us thinking about these subjects and leaves us with a lot going through our mind as the end credits roll.
My biggest complaint with this movie is one scene involving the Trump family. I have no problem with filmmakers inserting political commentary into their films, but here it feels completely out of place and forced. Maybe the film could have done this in a subtler way that would fit the storyline better.
This is a truly great movie that is very emotionally powerful and thought provoking.
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