Linda and The Mockingbirds

Film Review

Linda and the Mockingbirds is a documentary film released in 2020 in which Linda Ronstadt meets a group of young Mexican American musicians and dancers from Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center in California who want to travel back and visit the homeland of their ancestors in Mexico. According to its founders, the name Los Cenzontles (which means The Mockingbirds in the indigenous Nahuati language) was chosen because despite its name, the mockingbird doesn’t “mock” other birds but listens to their sounds and incorporates them into its own voice. They strive to do the same by seeking out and assimilating the voices of their Mexican ancestors.

Linda is so moved by their desire to keep their culture and heritage alive, she agrees to help sponsor the trip and gets her long-time friend Jackson Browne to join them on this musical odyssey.

The movie is part travelogue, tracing their journey, with lots of interviews of the leaders and the kids themselves, and part concert, where we are treated to hearing and watching them perform.

Along the way we hear of the poverty, injustice, and fear that inspired many immigrants to flee and risk their lives trying for a chance at a better life in the United States. Many never made it… some were stopped at the border and sent back, still others lost their lives under the harsh conditions or due to mistreatment by gang-run human traffickers. Those who made it across the border still faced huge obstacles and many children were separated from their families and housed in cages. They worked hard to build a future for themselves and their families but never escaped the fear of deportation.

Although it’s sad that, due to illness Linda can no longer perform, it was great to see how dedicated she is to preserving her own Mexican roots. This was brought home by a number of legacy clips of her performing in her younger days, traditional Mexican music that will just knock your socks off – I kept turning up the volume! When she was listening to some of the incredibly talented young singers, it brought tears to my eyes to see her singing along to herself – at one point she talks about her sadness over no longer being able to sing.

And then, of course there’s Jackson Browne, who sang together with Los Cenzontles, several amazing and soulful tunes that focused on the fate of immigrants both today and throughout American history, including one tune he co-wrote with Eugene Rodriguez, Director of Los Cenzontles called The Dreamer and a great rendition of Woody Guthrie’s Deportees. He chatted about how cool it was for these kids to have a chance to discover their cultural history and strengthen connections.  

When asked how they got Jackson Browne to join them, Linda smiled and said simply, “We asked him.” Likewise, Jackson said, “When Linda Ronstadt asks you to go to Mexico, I don’t need anything more than that, it’s go!” As we saw firsthand on his recent tour, Jackson can still bring it…Hearing him perform, discuss his down to earth progressive views, and inspire young people, I was reminded of another of my heroes, Pete Seeger.  

Eugene Rodriguez

The Director of Los Cenzontles and a talented Mexican American folk singer in his own right, Eugene Rodriguez plays a central role in the project and in the film. He plays guitar, sings, arranges their music and serves as band leader. He also discusses the motivation felt by the members of the center and how important it is for them to preserve their culture.

We watched it on Amazon Prime which now has f*€king commercials set to air at specific times and the movie was crudely put on pause, often in mid sentence. They couldn’t be bothered to find natural breaks in the film to cut away. Very bush league and incredibly annoying. How much more $$$ does Bezos need anyway?  

In spite of this hassle, however, it’s definitely worth watching!

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Joan Baez: I am a Noise

A Behind the Curtain Glimpse at Joan Baez’ Troubled Life

For many of us who grew up hearing her golden and powerful three-octave soprano voice, Joan Baez was almost a friend of the family.  I was raised in a household where folk music was revered and played morning, noon, and night and her albums (along with those of Pete Seeger, The Weavers, Woodie Guthrie, Odetta, Leadbelly, Peter, Paul, and Mary, and of course, Bob Dylan to name a few) were as familiar to me as the Dodgers’ lineup.  Many of our folk music heroes also shared our left-leaning political views and their music became synonymous with the battles for civil rights and workers’ rights, protests against the Viet Nam war and the draft, and struggles for justice and equality for all.

As I write in my book, “The Mystery Boy and Other Stories…“ [1]

“Lou and Zelda took me to my first folk concert to hear Joan Baez at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in August 1963. It was a pleasant evening under the stars, and it was exciting to be amongst the sellout crowd of almost 15,000 of her devoted followers. Since very few of my friends were even exposed to folk music, let alone considered themselves fans, it was reassuring and exhilarating to know that there were a lot more folks like us out there in the world beyond the shores of Long Beach.  

During the second half of the show, she introduced her friend, “Bobby” Dylan and showcased some of his new tunes sung by each in turn and then together. This was one year following release of Bob Dylan (his debut LP) which contained interpretations of classic folk tunes sung in his distinctive, scruffy but genuine style and just a few months after The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album which was the first to contain mostly his own compositions.

Baez and Dylan at Forest Hills, August 1963

Baez, on the other hand, with her silky soprano voice had several hugely successful records under her belt and was enjoying immense popularity in the folk world.  So, the reception for Dylan’s appearance was a bit hesitant but polite (If Joan liked him, he couldn’t be that bad). Bootleg recordings of some of their appearance together at the show are available on line [2] and his poetic genius coupled with her masterfully powerful voice are brilliant. New York Times reviewer Robert Shelton called it an “unforgettable evening” and 58 years later I can attest to the veracity of his prediction. Twelve years after their appearance at Forest Hills, when Dylan was the superstar, he returned the favor and included Baez in his high-profile Rolling Thunder Review where they performed an encore of “Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind,” which they first sang together at that memorable evening I saw them in Queens.”

As it turns out, the Forest Hills concert was just over a week before the historic March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech and Baez and Dylan shared the stage.  When Joan Baez led a quarter million people singing We Shall Overcome, it sent shivers up my spine and brought a few tears to my young eyes. 

The recently release biopic, I am a Noise (currently in theaters, available soon on Netflix) , takes us back… it traces Baez’ extraordinary talent and meteoric rise to fame and her involvement in political causes through interviews, direct personal narrative, film and video clips, letters and audio tapes, etc. But that’s not really what the film is about.  These elements merely form the framework of the film, its foundation upon which her personal story is laid bare.

Without revealing significant spoilers, buried beneath the surface of success and fame, “Joanie” has had a troubled life from a very young age.  Her closets are overflowing with abuse, insecurities, strained family relationships, and failed personal relations.  What is particularly poignant is the fact that the pain Baez suffered was covered over by the veneer of being a hugely successful star and few knew what was really going on. 

There’s the relatively brief relationship she had with Dylan during those early years where she was clearly head over heels in love.  It was at the height of his insanely prolific and most creatively gifted songwriting period and most of the folk music world was madly in love with him.  But the times were a changing and Baez says,

“As Bob began to be more famous, he just moved away.  In some ways, he moved away from everybody. I think the shift came very quickly… I couldn’t have done the drugs and the boy’s club. I didn’t know it was going to be like that. We were just on another planet by then…I just didn’t belong.”  

So things didn’t end well between them and Dylan basically jilted her in a televised interview.  After that clip is shown in the film, Joan half-jokingly breaks the fourth wall and says, “Take that, Bob!”

Her younger sister Mimi Farina, a successful singer in her own right, suffered too – especially after her husband and singing partner Richard Farina was tragically killed in a motorcycle crash at just 29 years old. But once Joan was crowned the Queen of Folk Music before the age of 20, their relationship was strained and impacted by jealousy.  You can sense that Joan yearns to be able to go back in time and “fix” things with Mimi and to a lesser extent with her older sister, Pauline.

Her relationship with her parents however, is more complicated and at least partially at the root of the psychological trauma she continues to struggle with.  The film makers/directors Miri Navasky, Karen O’Connor, and Maeve O’Boyle were given free reign over a treasure trove of documentation including a storeroom of memorabilia, personal letters, audio tapes of therapy sessions, etc., much of which is revealed to the film audience in excruciating personal detail.

Clearly Joan Baez has come to terms with the many skeletons in her closet and her mental health struggles over her lifetime and is now comfortable making them public.  When asked what her motivation for doing the film was. she said,

“I really want to leave an honest legacy.  So that’s what we attempted to do…this certainly kind of says it all…it was just the right time to do it.”   

As a long-time fan, I was curious to know more about Joan Baez’ life and it’s always thrilling to get a behind the scenes look at the world of a celebrity.  But be prepared to squirm.  While it’s fascinating to understand what makes people in the public eye tick, and to realize that no level of fame or fortune brings happiness, the specificity and nature of the trauma is difficult to handle. 

In spite of these challenging moments, I think this is an important film that is worth seeing.  Any time a public figure allows themselves to be observed objectively, it helps dispel myths and puts the struggles of “ordinary” people in perspective.  And perhaps, if I listen closely, I’ll be able to discern some of her personal anguish hidden deep inside that golden voice. 

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[1] Kalb, Paul, “The Mystery Boy and Other Stories” June 2023,

https://a.co/cfGDVaG

[2] Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, Forrest Hills Tennis Stadium, August 17, 1963, https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4oy3c1

Students on Strike and Woman at War…for Climate Justice

 

Where does one turn when the corporate oligarchy that rules the world with an iron fist, rapes Mother Earth with abandon, puts profits before the well being of the planet, and refuses to heed the scientific community’s unanimous warnings on the apocalyptic consequences in store if we don’t reverse course immediately? What does one do when those in power willfully and knowingly refuse to accept the handwriting on the wall that spells out the destructive impacts on climate change our insatiable dependence on fossil fuel have wrought …impacts that are visible today but are merely the tip of the (melting) iceberg? What kind of world are we leaving our children, grandchildren, and future generations?

Carpe Diem

After hearing the tragic news of Robin Williams’ death, we gathered with a group of friends to watch Dead Poets Society in an ad hoc tribute and remembrance of just one side of his extremely gifted and talented personality.

No God, No Master

Film Review 

In his new movie, No God No Master that premiered at the Stony Brook Film Festival, writer/director/producer Terry Green spins a fictional story around the historical circumstances of early 20th century America. These times were ripe with change, much of which came through struggle.  Many workers faced tyrannical conditions at the hands of the robber baron capitalists, working 60 hours or more per week for low pay or script that was only good at the company store in a sophisticated form of urban indentured slavery.

Earl Scheib Goes 3D

Martin Scorsese’s latest film, Hugo (3D) is based on the historical fiction novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick which tells the story of the pioneering French filmmaker and special-effects pioneer George Melies.  He was one of the first filmmakers to experiment with stop action effects in which characters and objects seem to appear and disappear magically.

We spent the extra few bucks to see the 3D version and I suspect that Melies would have been pleased to see this innovative technique applied to tell his story.   In some ways the film is Scorsese’s homage to Melies technical contributions to the art of filmmaking.  Beyond the tasteful and appropriate use of 3D, the film is engaging and features fine acting performances from the young Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz as Hugo and his friend Isabelle, Ben Kingsley as Melies, and Sasha Baron Cohen in a very humorous (but uncharacteristically controlled) portrayal of the bumbling station inspector.

Tree of Life

Film Review,  October 29,2011

Don’t say I didn’t warn you, when your brain gets lost

The movie Tree of Life written and directed by Terrence Malick, starring Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain with Sean Penn in an oversized walk-on, is simultaneously struck by lightning, uprooted by a hurricane, consumed by a forest fire, chopped down for fire wood, eaten by termites, and processed into toilet paper as the audience fidgets and watches it unfold at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Special Issue 19.5

The Help: Ahistorical Hollywood feel good story or a teaching moment?

OK, so I just published Issue 19 over the weekend and received Opinion8ed2’s first reader-inspired blog thread. You may not have noticed Eileen’s contribution (it’s just over a few inches to the right) but she initiated a discussion on a very interesting/difficult subject, i.e., the issue of good old American racism specifically of the Jim Crow variety in 1963 Jackson Mississippi as covered in the recent novel and Hollywood interpretation of The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. It’s a novel that I know more than a few of you have read and probably many have seen in the theater.

Today’s Special

Movie Review, February, 2011

Aasif Mondvi as sous chef

Today’s Special is an indie, Indian foodie movie just right if you’re in the mood for a light bite with a touch more spice than the typical Hollywood film. It is co-written and stars Aasif Mondvi from the Daily Show who also wrote and starred in the one-act Obie Award winning play, Sakina’s Restaurant on which the film is based.

Demons, Real and Perceived…

Are demons just the same

Reviews of two films:   Winter’s Bone and Black Swan

The Academy Award nominations were announced last week and while admittedly not an avid fan of these ceremonies, it seems to this outsider that they are constantly inventing new categories…

Truth More Fascinating Than Fiction

Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, speach therapist extrordinaire

Two recently seen films based on real people and actual events…

 

The King’s Speech which opened this week is an amazing, true story of gritty determination in the face of personal humiliation, to triumph over disability. British

Who Am I This Time?

Movie Review: September 2010 

Walken as Harry Nash in Clark Kent mode

A 1982 PBS “American Playhouse” classic based on a Kurt Vonnegut short story. Available on DVD and Netfilx. Directed by Jonathan Demme, starring a young Christopher Walken and Susan Sarandon.

Every once in a while a dusty old gem of a movie that you’ve never seen (in many cases never even heard of) makes an appearance and you get a second chance.

The BIG Fan

Patton Oswalt and Kevin Corrigan celebrate at Giants Stadium

The world of 35 year old parking lot cashier Paul Aufiero is limited. The self professed “world’s Biggest NY Giants fan” played by Patton Oswalt sits in his 4 x 6 ft cashier’s box and listens to sports radio all day long.

District 9

Guest movie review by Andrew Stern

Grade: A-

Science Fiction, Action Thriller, Political Allegory, this gruesome, dank, violent, bleak, gory, horrifying film is a near masterpiece from Director/Screenwriter Neill Blompkamp.

Taking Woodstock

A review of the movie by Ang Lee

True believers still call Woodstock the capstone of an era devoted to human advancement. Cynics say it was a fitting, ridiculous end to an era of naivete. Then there are those who say it was just a hell of a party.

– Elliot Tiber, from his book, Taking Woodstock

Forty years ago a bunch of hippies got together for a weekend of Peace and Love and wound up changing history. OK, so it was a rather large bunch (half a million) who made it to the festival in upstate NY and untold more who wanted to and/or tried to attend but could not get there because the traffic was so congested they closed the New York State Thruway. Ang Lee’s new movie, Taking Woodstock purports to tell the behind-the-scenes story of how the festival came to being and how it came perilously close to never happening at all.

The Good, the Great, and the Ugly

For those of you who live on Long Island and routinely complain about the lack of cultural opportunities but have yet to check out the annual summer Stony Brook University (SBU) Film Festival, stop whining and buy your pass for next year’s festival as soon as they go on sale. I’m sad to say it’s too late for this year.

The Lucky Ones

Film Review: March, 2009

“If you find a friend on whom you think you can rely, you are a lucky man”*

 

The Lucky Ones is a modern day fable ala Candide and the classic Malcolm McDowell movie of a similar name (O Lucky Man) that provides a mirror into our humanity – an unconventional look at what defines love and family, the dichotomy between our predictable expectations and unseen possibilities triggered by a simple twist of fate. 

Rachel Getting Married

Film Review: March, 2009

If you haven’t already done so, you really should RSVP that you’ll attend Rachel’s wedding, i.e., get it on DVD – this is not one to be missed. From its first scene through the final credits the viewer is virtually inside the movie observing in an up close and personal manner the dynamics of a very dysfunctional family who, despite the unraveling of some extremely dark skeletons are connected unconditionally by their love.

 Director Jonathan Demme shoots much of the film with handheld shots that draw you into the story (compelling screenplay by Jenny Lumet) which takes place over a weekend – so while not in actual real time, the sense is a kind of a swirling, virtual real time. Rachel (Rosemarie Dewitt) with the help of family and friends is