Richard Tanne
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Filmography
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Before Sunrise (1995)
Directed by Richard Linklater
influenced Southside with You (2016)
Themes Plot
Imagine a cross between John Ford’s “Young Mr. Lincoln” and Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise,” and you get a sense of the tone of a movie that tiptoes to the edge of hagiography but never falls in, at least entirely.
Earning comparisons to “Before Sunrise” with, of course, completely different threads dealing with race, ambition and the city of Chicago itself, writer-director Richard Tanne’s feature debut, aside from a few clunky bits of exposition about certain real people, strikes a delicate balance between lighthearted flirtation and substantive discussion.
Perhaps taking Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" as a model, the film — which opens Friday at multiple theaters — presents an abbreviated chronicle of the several hours shared by the wary and formal Robinson and the more confident, shirt-sleeved and slightly scheming Obama during what Michelle repeatedly insists is not a date.
Tanne's film follows the first date of the future first couple, "Before Sunrise" style.
There are times when “Southside” feels like the perfect mashup of “Before Sunrise,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “Love & Basketball” and the John Ford classic “Young Mr. Lincoln.”
Like “ Before Sunrise ,” a film which invites comparison, “Southside with You” is a two-hander that's top-heavy with dialogue, walking and a knowing sense of location.
That neither party knows what the evening will bring; that first they’ll take in an Afrocentric art exhibit, then a showing of Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing,” then become the world’s most powerful couple.
But as the two wend their way through a day that will include an art exhibit, a community meeting at a church, a screening of “Do the Right Thing” and a fateful ice cream cone, her intransigence begins to soften.
She feels that any romantic relationship between them would be a bad idea—she says she has to work hard to be taken seriously at the office as a woman, and doubly so as a black woman--and a growing recognition of the appeal offered by this practical idealist with the beat-up car taking her to the Art Institute, to a community meeting at church (which apparently may not have happened on the first date) and to see “Do the Right Thing.”
The setting is Chicago's South Side, and the year is 1989, which justifies the Janet Jackson on the soundtrack and a fascinating scene in which Michelle and Barack attend a controversial new film, "Do the Right Thing"; Spike Lee's provocative movie mirrors, in expressionistic fashion, the hourslong debate over racial identity, social responsibility and "Afrocentric" art that runs through Barack and Michelle's day together.
That night they take in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.”
Even the beloved founder of this site, Roger Ebert , gets a shout-out for championing “ Do the Right Thing ," the movie Barack and Michelle attend in the closing hours of their date.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Let’s see, we’ve got Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Fault in Our Stars , except nobody is dying here, save for very slowly and eventually, in an existential-dread kind of way.
Whether it’s “The Fault in Our Stars,” or “Five Feet Apart,” crippled teenage romance always sells.
But where the likes of “Paper Towns” and “The Fault in Our Stars” were inflected with a kind of manic pixie dream magic that inspired their characters to save each other or die trying, Richard Tanne’s adaptation of Krystal Sutherland’s YA hit “Our Chemical Hearts” offers a relatively inert take on the same milieu.
Much like previous doomed teen romances The Fault in Our Stars and All The Bright Places , Chemical Hearts is packed full of melodrama.
Movies like “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “Secret Admirer” (1985), and “Some Kind of Wonderful” (1987) peppered big screens during the 1980s, as the clumsy male leads attempt – (sorry, *spoiler alert*) in vain – to date future NFL cheerleaders.
The Edge of Seventeen (2016)
Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig
influenced Chemical Hearts (2020)
Themes
It’s also not nearly as good as Lady Bird or The Edge of Seventeen , possibly because those two movies aren’t beholden to YA novels.
Chemical Hearts slots pretty conventionally into the pantheon of slightly moody teen romances, lacking the acerbic spark of something like The Edge of Seventeen or even the luminously amiable cheese of Disney+’s recent Stargirl.
Now don’t get me wrong, teen coming-of-age films are my all time guilty pleasures; Hailee Steinfeld’s The Edge of Seventeen and Booksmart are definitely up there for peak genre outings, progressing the female voice in teen films.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
Directed by Stephen Chbosky
influenced Chemical Hearts (2020)
Characters Themes
Henry is practically a cardboard cutout of Logan Lerman’s character in The Perks of Being a Wallflower , and sometimes Grace’s dialogue and mannerisms are so aggressively “edgy” that she feels like a remnant of the Tumblr “I’m not like other girls” phase as opposed to an actual fleshed-out human being.
It’s similar in tone to the sturdy indie The Spectacular Now or something like The Perks of Being a Wallflower .
With Green came more authors delving deeper into the psychological upheaval felt by high schoolers, resulting in streaming and cinematic adaptations of 13 Reasons Why and The Perks of Being A Wallflower.
Yes, “Chemical Hearts” is a prime (and sometimes almost self-parodic) example of a cinematic alchemy that will be very familiar to a generation raised on John Green novels instead of “She’s All That.”
It’s similar in tone to the sturdy indie The Spectacular Now or something like The Perks of Being a Wallflower .
It’s not saying much to say that “Chemical Hearts” easily rises above more sickness-based treacle like “Midnight Sun” and doesn’t come close to the frayed discoveries of “The Spectacular Now.”
The movie isn’t of the caliber of “The Spectacular Now,” “Lady Bird” or other superior teen-movie fare.
It’s not as effective as the effervescently witty 500 Days of Summer, but there are times when it strives for a similar sensibility.