What to Watch: "The Baltimorons" & More
Plus reviews of the new "Frankenstein," Jafar Panahi's latest, Keanu Reeves as an angel, Rose Byrne as a mother of a mother, and a little soapboxing
Bear with me for a moment: Thanks to Boston-area activist (and Watch List subscriber) Deborah Good, I was alerted to an online meeting of the MassPort board this past Thursday, during which 30 minutes were given over to comments from the public. Good’s organization, GroundICE.org, is working to stop ICE from using Hanscom Field and Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA, as a departure point for detainees to foreign countries unknown, and to that end she asked me and others to weigh in at the meeting. I signed up too late to give a live statement (which Deborah did with fire and conviction, as did writer Marianne Leone, her husband actor Chris Cooper, and a number of others), but I did submit my statement in writing, and I share it below because it allowed me to put my thoughts into historical perspective, and maybe it’ll resonate with you. It's probably too performative for this space, but what is a writer (at least this writer) if not a performer? Anyway, if you want to go straight to the movie recommendations, feel free to skip ahead.
To the MassPort board and senior management:
My name is Ty Burr. I’m a writer by profession, a Brookline native by birth, a Newton resident for the past 23 years. I am proud to be from Massachusetts; it is my home. I consider it the birthplace of America’s most cherished concepts of personal liberty, freedom from tyranny, due process, fair play and the chance for anyone, from anywhere, to better the lives of themselves and their children. We fought a war to establish those ideas 250 years ago; we are in a struggle to save them today. The federal Air Force base next to Hanscom Field has become a flashpoint in that struggle: The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, has used the airfield as a departure point for thousands of people kidnapped by the agency – there is no other word for it – and flown out of the country to destinations seemingly chosen at random.
These people have been forcibly taken from their families, spouses, parents and have been denied any sort of legal due process; many of them are in this country legally, either as American- born citizens or immigrants working their way through the system. What is happening to them is reminiscent of the roundups of Jews in 1930s Germany and the internment of American-born Japanese during World War II.
These acts are also taking place less than two miles from Minute Man Historical Park, the site of America’s first battles to free itself from an authoritarian government, an irony that would be laughable if it weren’t sickening. But the cruelty, as we have learned over the past ten years, is the point.
While I understand that MassPort’s hands are tied when it comes to actions at Hanscom Air Force Base by federal agencies such as ICE, I call upon the board members to reflect on our nation’s history, on where we are now, and on this state’s longstanding commitment to rejecting tyranny. Use your administrative powers to force ICE’s activities at Hanscom and other MassPort facilities to become more transparent to the public and thus less workable or desirable. Ban the wearing of masks where you can. Work to redirect the agency’s staging areas to where they are visible to the public and to public protest. Make it hard for ICE – hard enough that Hanscom AFB and Hanscom Field become liabilities rather than assets. Make them leave. Trust me, this is what the citizens of Massachusetts want. And if you have any pride in our state’s long, honorable history of resisting dictatorial overreach by tyrannical governments, it is what you want as well. Thank you.
P.S.: Hope to see you at No Kings tomorrow. Here’s a piece that I found funny, moving and (as a self-confessed normie) relevant:
Jeb Lund
Thanks for your patience; on to the movies.
New on VOD:
Speaking of normies, “The Baltimorons” (⭐ ⭐ ⭐, $6.99 rental on Amazon and AppleTV) is a lo-fi treat despite its meh title – a scruffy, often laugh-out-loud-funny comedy romance between two average, unlovely people that plays like a meet-cute happening in real time. It takes place in Baltimore, obviously, on a gritty, snow-less Christmas Eve day and night; the general air of defeat is underscored by the Vince Guaraldi-style piano cheerfully mocking the characters on the soundtrack. Cliff (Michael Strassner) is a failed improv comic in his mid-30s, sober for six months and backing into an engagement he’s not sure about; Didi (Liz Larsen) is the older divorced woman who’s the only dentist willing to see Cliff when he unexpectedly breaks a tooth. Romcoms, even no-budget indie ones, require a viewer’s indulgence as the machinery of fate wheels things into place, but the great charm of “The Baltimorons,” which was co-written by Strassner and director Jay Duplass, is that the relationship between Cliff and Didi builds with a fidelity to the real world as we know it (and/or maybe would like see it on our better days). Larsen gives off distinct Edie Falco/Carmela Soprano vibes as Dr. Didi, with a carapace grown hard from life’s disappointments, and watching the character slowly, believably thaw to Strassner’s Cliff, bearish, boyish, funny and kind, gives off the kind of glow you always want from this sort of movie. The movie meanders from a dentist’s office to a car impoundment to Hampden's night-time main drag to a backyard Christmas party/wedding reception to the stage of a pop-up comedy show, and by the time Didi hijacks her ex-husband’s crabbing boat for a midnight excursion with Cliff, she, he and we are fully onboard. “Hook the jug and bring it on in,” she tells an uncomprehending Cliff, referring to a crab-trap buoy. “The Baltimorons” hooks the jug and brings it on in; it's exactly the kind of movie you want to watch when you want something that feels good but honest. I’m tempted to bump that rating up to ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2, but small pleasures should be kept in perspective. You can, though.
Otherwise, it’s a slow-ish week, with some interesting older fare on streaming platforms and a handful of noteworthy new releases in theaters. For instance:
