"Da 5 Bloods" and "The Personal History of David Copperfield"

"Da 5 Bloods" is an ambitious new film from Spike Lee tackling a big topic - the African-American experience of the Vietnam War. It tries to do an awful lot, from subverting the more familiar narratives presented by white filmmakers, to tying the experiences of its leads to current socio-political struggles. It's closest point of reference is "Apocalypse Now," which it references and quotes from repeatedly. However, its plot is closer to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," which it also nods to explicitly.

A group of African-American vets, Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), and Paul's son Eddie (Jonathan Majors) travel to Vietnam in the present day. They intend to recover the body of their fallen squad leader Norman (Chadwick Boseman), and a secret treasure of gold bars that they took from a crashed CIA helicopter. Along the way they meet Hedy (Melanie Thierry), a Frenchwoman leading a bomb recovery team, Otis's old flame Tiên (Lê Y Lan), a guide named Vinh (Johnny Trí Nguyễn), and a shady businessman, Desroche (Jean Reno). Paul, a paranoid black conservative who has a rough relationship with his son, is the central character, and Delroy Lindo's committed, intense performance is the highlight of the film.

Following along in the footsteps of "BlackKklansman," "Da 5 Bloods" feature more of Spike Lee's mixed-media history lessons, meta elements, shifting frames of reality, and genre-mixing. The first hour or so is a diverting travelogue and melodrama, setting up the characters and their various subplots. Once the bloods reach the jungle, however, things quickly escalate into a more high-octane adventure movie, complete with several action sequences. There's some tonal whiplash, and it doesn't feel like Lee ever manages to go as much in depth on some of these topics as he'd like to. He also runs into the same problem that many of the Vietnam War films about Caucasian soldiers run into, which is that all the Vietnamese characters are stock types, and mostly convenient cannon fodder in the end.

And yet, despite its overstuffed messiness and the ham-handedness with which some of the themes are handled, you've just got to love the film for throwing itself headlong into so much uncharted territory, and being so strong on its messaging and ideas. There are so many great moments, like when the bloods stumble on an active minefield, or the flashbacks to Hanoi Hannah (Ngô Thanh Vân) relaying news about the Civil Rights movement during propaganda broadcasts. I was frequently caught off guard by little gags and details, like Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries" accompanying the bloods' entry into the jungle - this time as middle-aged men on a sightseeing boat. And with Clarke Peters and Isiah Whitlock Jr. present, of course there's a “sheeeeeeeee-it” moment.

Now on to "The Personal History of David Copperfield," the star-studded new adaptation of the beloved Charles Dickens' novel, helmed by Armando Iannucci. The script by Simon Blackwell and Iannucci is not remotely the kind of pitch black comedy or cynical satire that these men are known for. In fact, the film is very light and buoyant for the most part, highlighting the comic eccentricities of the Victorian characters, and displaying a special appreciation for Dickens' language. The young hero's miseries have been preserved, but no one seems too interested in brooding over them. The biggest change to the story is a framing device where David Copperfield is now a budding writer, and all of his adventures are part of his newly published "personal history." He collects clever turns of phrase throughout the film, giving the filmmakers an excuse to linger over Dickens' prose.

The other major distinction this adaptation enjoys is color-blind casting, which gives us Dev Patel as the title character, despite all of Copperfield's family and relatives in the film being played by Caucasians. Minority actors also appear in a few other key roles, namely Mr. Wickfield (Benedict Wong), and his daughter Agnes (Rosalind Eleazar). It's a very noticeable artistic conceit, but not particularly distracting, as the actors are all excellent. And the rest of the cast features Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, Ben Whishaw, Aneurin Barnard, Morfydd Clark, Daisy May Cooper, and Gwendoline Christie - who are all playing exactly who you think they should be playing. Really, have any actors been more perfect for Betsy Trotwood, Mr. Dick, and Mr. Micawber than Swinton, Laurie, and Capaldi? I don't think so.

And the fun of the film is in the ensemble, especially in the later parts of the "David Copperfield" when they all come together and start sharing the same scenes. I've seen enough Dickens adaptations to appreciate the ones that put more emphasis on the humor and the characters, and this is definitely in that category. Along with the new adaptation of "The Green Knight," this is turning out to be a big year for Dev Patel playing famous figures from British literature, and I'm all for it.
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