Concussion (2015)

Jack loves football. I like the running, catching, and halftime music, but I hate the hitting. We both liked this story of the Nigerian forensic pathologist who studied head trauma suffered in those hits -- CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Jack found for me a controversy, that the term CTE has been around for decades before the movie's time frame (2002 and beyond), but the real man, Dr. Bennet Omalu, stands by his assertion that he named it.

Will Smith (last blogged in Focus) is terrific as Omalu, with hairline and accent adjustments. We saw the trailer many times and my favorite part is when he says, urgently, "Tell the truth!" David Morse (after I covered him in The Hurt Locker he was in Mother and Child) is also wonderful as ex-Steeler center Mike Webster, who begins Omalu's study. Gugu Mbatha-Raw (most recently in Beyond the Lights) is a beautiful Englishwoman with an African name and heritage, and she's good, as usual, as a Kenyan immigrant befriended by Omalu. Working with the doctor we have Alec Baldwin and Albert Brooks (last in Still Alice and A Most Violent Year, respectively) and the latter has my second favorite line in the trailer: "The NFL owns a day of the week. The same day the Church used to own. Now it's theirs."

Director Peter Landesman adapted Jeanne Marie Laskas' 2009 GQ article Game Brain and her subsequent book Concussion for this, his second feature and third script. Before becoming a filmmaker, he was an investigative journalist (and a painter and novelist!).

The aerial photography of Pittsburgh is gorgeous. It's time I credit the work of aerial director of photography Dylan Goss, who's shot dozens of other movies from the sky.

Besides some songs listed here, there's a gripping soundtrack by James Newton Howard (most recently scored Nightcrawler) and you can stream it from this link.

Bear in mind that this movie has nothing in common with the 2013 picture Concussion, about a high class call girl. For this year's Concussion, Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are more in agreement with us at 78% than its critics at 62, keeping it at #10 at the box office this weekend. If that scares you off, wait until the DVD release, estimated for March, and stream it on your favorite service for free.

Concussion (2013)

Jack and I liked this story of a lesbian suburban housewife who begins a double life as a New York high-class hooker soon after her son accidentally hits her on the head at a baseball game. Robin Weigert (last blogged in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, about someone else with an alter ego) is impressive as Abby (her hooker name is Eleanor--it's not the same as a stripper name) and Maggie Siff (I don't watch Sons of Anarchy but in addition to that and small roles in other things she had a series arc on Mad Men as Rachel Menken Katz, head of Menken's department store) is good as her gym friend Sam.

It's the feature debut of director/writer Stacie Passon and she and/or the movie have won Best First Feature-Special Mention at the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival and an award at the Berlin International Film Festival and been been nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Breakthrough Director and Best Actress at the Gotham Awards, and Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards (the latter will be awarded March 1). I had heard of producer Rose Troche, and liked very much her work directing Go Fish (1994), Safety of Objects (2001), and 13 episodes of The L Word (producing 18 and writing 6).

We missed the short theatrical run here but caught it on video over a month ago, as it's now available on iTunes and Amazon and the DVD will be for sale in about a week. Because it was so long ago I can't remember the music, written by Barb Morrison, but here's a sample in the trailer. I do remember enjoying the cinematography by David Kruta (his feature debut as head of the department).

Rottentomatoes critics at 75% are kinder than its audiences at 57. Whatever. We still liked it.