Worth: $15.99
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Cast:
Banks Repeta, Jeremy Strong, Anne Hathaway, Anthony Hopkins, Jaylin Webb
Intro:
… balances deep-set defeatism reminiscent of the Coens’ A Serious Man with the sly subversiveness of the Safdies’ Uncut Gems to deliver a different kind of coming-of-age story.
Even when he’s shooting for the stars, like with his last film Ad Astra, writer/director James Gray specialises in intimately personal stories. So, when he brings things as far down to earth as possible, breaking out the shovel to dig into his own upbringing as a Jewish kid in Queens circa 1980, that proximity only intensifies. And while the end result has a few wrinkles, it still makes for an immensely welcome change of pace within its sub-genre.
Usually, these kinds of proxy-autobiographical films come lathered with enough syrup of the forlorn as to feel somewhat detached. Here, though, what is shown concerning the home and school life of young Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) never has the implication that it’s being presented as a chance to relive ‘the good ol’ days’.
Everything from his hobbies, to his frequently-volatile interactions with his parents (Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway in rare form), even his dreams for the future, are stripped-down to the barest of bones. After several years’ worth of rose-pupiled nostalgia for the ‘80s, seeing something this honest about how things were is rather refreshing.
In that lack of simplistic sentimentality, there is an accompanying lack of cynicism regarding the characters. As harsh as Paul’s family can get, Gray takes the time and care to show them all not as saints, not as sinners, but as people. People who are capable of terrifying things, but who don’t commit those acts in a narrow vacuum. Strong, in particular, embodies this approach, his character the instigator for the film’s scariest moment and the source of some of its most emotionally poignant ones as well.
The closest Armageddon Time has to a pure soul isn’t Paul, however, but Anthony Hopkins as his grandfather, who gives the film its most defiant words and attitudes.
The film does run into issues when it comes to Paul’s best friend Johnny (Jaylin Webb), who at times becomes the abject lesson concerning privilege and the prejudices of the era, and not exactly the best approach for white guilt. But even then, it’s balanced out by the film actively checking Paul’s privilege, as if Gray felt the need to take himself to task for such things.
Armageddon Time, as its apocalyptic title implies, is a heavy sit. It balances deep-set defeatism reminiscent of the Coens’ A Serious Man with the sly subversiveness of the Safdies’ Uncut Gems to deliver a different kind of coming-of-age story. One that shows the pressure put on a child to not only survive his surroundings, but to shoulder the legacy of his family. No varnish, no tricks, no sense that anyone is looking the other way; just a full-chested admission that not only did the Reagan years suck, but they’re not as far-gone as some would like to think.
