THE INSPECTION (A24 – November 14): Back in 1983, Robert Altman directed the film version of David Rabe’s play Streamers, about a Vietnam-era boot camp that turned even more violent and vicious with the catalyst of one recruit’s closeted homosexuality. Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection tells a similar story for the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Gulf War era, with the distinction that this is Bratton’s own semi-autobiographical account. He (named Ellis for the film and played by Jeremy Pope) enlisted in the Marines after ten years of homelessness that began when his prison guard mother (Gabrielle Union) threw him out of her house, unable to accept his sexuality. Although Ellis faces his share of violence and bigotry once his secret becomes known, The Inspection is less unrelenting and more nuanced than Streamers, or for that matter Full Metal Jacket, in its depiction of boot camp hell. It’s also less stylized. Making his feature writing/directing debut, Bratton keeps things largely naturalistic aside from a few fantasy moments that recall Moonlight, and he shows a gift for working with actors. Pope, who played Jackie Wilson in One Night In Miami, shoulders the lead with intensity, giving no ground to the strong performances from veterans Bokeem Woodbine and Raul Castillo as drill sergeants respectively harsh and sympathetic, as well as Union, who conveys that breaking her son’s heart is tearing her own apart as well. The Inspection is a worthy and sometimes powerful update to a story that remains sadly contemporary.
EMILY (Bleecker Street – October 14): The actress Frances O’Connor didn’t make it easy on herself with her initial foray into writing/directing. The Emily of the title is Emily Bronte (played by Sex Education‘s Emma Mackey), and O’Connor’s film is a speculative biography that fills gaps in what’s known about Bronte’s short life (she died at 30) to provide a plausible backstory to her authoring “Wuthering Heights”. In O’Connor’s rendering, Emily’s heart belonged to Weightman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), the vicar in her father’s church and her French tutor, with whom she had a forbidden romance that of course went tragically bad. She also had a complicated relationship with her beloved but wild brother Branwell (Fionn Whitehead), as well as her sisters Charlotte (Alexandra Dowling) and Anne (Amelia Gething). O’Connor’s ambitions extend to an assortment of “Wuthering Heights” easter eggs for the fans. At 130 minutes, it’s a bit overextended, although Mackey proves herself a spirited star in waiting, and O’Connor delivers as many brooding shots of Yorkshire (courtesy of cinematographer Nanu Segal) as one could want, as well as some sparkling writing to go with the heartbreak. Unlike Emily Bronte, one assumes that O’Connor will have more than one chance to have her narratives released to the world, and this first film suggests that she has the skills to hone her vision.
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