Rapid Reviews: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Triple Frontier, Shoplifters, Apollo 11, Climax

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The Coffee Break Collective

5 min readMar 30, 2019

For this segment, I rundown quick one-boxed reviews of films that I’ve seen, whether they be wide releases in theaters, independent films, or films just released for streaming. Reviews are based on a 5-tier scale: See in Theaters-Full Price, See in Theaters-Matinee, Rental, Wait for Streaming, and Skip It. If a film is released straight to VOD or streaming, the rating will simply change to either Stream It or Skip It. If you disagree with these reviews, I encourage you to watch the film and as always, make up your own mind about it. Am I wrong? Am I spot on? Let me know in the comments below!

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

Directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor
Starring Maxwell Simba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aïssa Maïga, Lily Banda

Chiwetel Ejiofor’s directorial debut is a noble effort, as it tells the true story of a young African man who saves his impoverished farming village through science and engineering. With great performances, the only major thing holding this film back is in the film’s slow buildup, as the film feels at its worst times like a 90 minute prologue for the last 25 minutes. The score and the editing are also generic biopic formula, so if you’ve seen one biopic you’ll know what to expect in the technical filmmaking. Thankfully the performances and cinematography do make up for it, and this is a story worth watching because of it. It’s streaming on Netflix now if you want to check it out.

Verdict: Stream It

Triple Frontier

Directed by J. C. Chandor
Starring Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam, Garrett Hedlund, Pedro Pascal

J.C. Chandor is known for making arthouse and mid-level films that encourage conversations and reflection. He also has a talent for casting his films with actors that tend to be able to convey each films’ themes rather well. That’s why it’s so disappointing that Triple Frontier proves to be his weakest film thus far. The actors seem to be phoning in their roles for a paycheck, and the film’s themes, while established in the first act, don’t really get explored with the depth that fans have come to expect with Chandor, and the narrative cohesion falls apart by the end of the second act. Overall the film is still technically well made, but beyond the technical aspects it proves to be a shallow experience overall. It’s streaming on Netflix, but I wouldn’t recommend this unless you’re a diehard fan of Chandor’s or the cast.

Verdict: Skip It

Shoplifters

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Starring Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka, Jyo Kairi, Miyu Sasaki, Kirin Kiki

Shoplifters presents a slice of life story about an ostracized family of, wouldn’t you know it, shoplifters comprised of outcasts and rejects who find a new home amongst themselves and their shared company. It’s the kind of slice of life film similar to ones directed by Richard Linklater or Mike Leigh, and though it makes a few sociocultural statements on the nature of poverty and loneliness, the film never lets its message get in the way of its characters or its natural story progression. Overall, this is a great drama that I would highly recommend, and it’s now streaming on Hulu if you want to check it out.

Verdict: Stream It

Apollo 11

Directed by Todd Douglas Miller
Starring Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, Walter Cronkite

Not content just to be a documentary about the landing of the moon, a subject that has been portrayed in film dozens of times before, this documentary from Todd Douglas Miller focuses singularly on the Apollo 11 mission, showcasing the crew’s journey to the moon and back to Earth in an intimate cinematic format. With no narration and only archived NASA footage and formatted images to tell its story, this doc is free from hand-holding and pretentious exposition. I can’t think of any basic flaws with this doc other than the fact that it explores a commonly known event and by its very nature it can get a little repetitive. If you have this documentary playing in a theater near you and you have an interest in the moon mission, I would recommend catching this one.

Verdict: See in Theaters — Matinee

Climax

Directed by Gaspar Noé
Starring Sofia Boutella, Kiddy Smile, Romain Guillermic

Gaspar Noé joins the likes of Nicholas Winding Refn and Lars von Trier as a filmmaker who works to make films that challenge or otherwise push the envolope of the viewer’s experience, and Climax is no exception. It tells the story of a group of dancers who have a bad acid trip, and that’s really all there is to conventionally explaining the story, but this explanation of concept doesn’t do justice to the film’s mindblowing execution. An abstract filmmaking style and a stream-of-consciousness narrative make this a film that presents a uniquely disturbing experience, and it eschews conventional narrative three-act structure and all sense of familiar form. The film is not without its flaws, as the first half of the film drags a little and feels a little bit repetitive, but the second half makes the buildup worth the wait. This is not a film for everyone, and it’s difficult to describe, but there’s a lot to like here underneath the scummy and forboding sense of dread. If you’re down for some disturbing and nightmarish footage against some incredible camerawork and great performances, I’d recommend seeing this one in theaters wherever it is playing near you.