In classist and racist America of the 80s, the teenager Paul chooses Johnny, an African-American boy with a marked destiny as his best friend
TORMAGEDDON TIME
Type: bildungsroman ✦✦✦ 1/2
Director: James Gray. With Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, Jaylin Webb, Michael Banks Repeat, Anthony Hopkins
Michael Banks Repeta (Paul Graff) and Anthony Hopkins (Grandpa Aaron) in “Armageddon Time” (Photo by Anne Joyce/Focus Features)
1980s, New YorkReagan is about to be elected, the America that was born in that decade is the one we know today (the creepy ending hides the foreboding). The teenager Paul is turbulent, his unconventionality leads him to choose Johnny as a friend, African American and with a marked destiny (the educational institution does everything to push it to the margins).
Jewish family, petty bourgeoisie emigrated, like the director’s family, from Eastern Europe – Paul’s future depends on the choices he makes. AND the Armageddon of the title refers precisely to the moment in which life asks him/her to decide what adults we want to become. Those who save themselves always do so by losing something, Gray tells us
Anne Hathaway and Michael Banks Repeta (Photos by Anne Joyce/Focus Features)
LEGEND
✦ modest
✦✦ good
✦✦✦ excellent
✦✦✦✦ masterpiece
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