James Gray’s “Armageddon Time” is quite the lovely little movie. It’s a heartfelt gesture from one of the great American classicists of the 21st century.
As autobiographical as the Queens filmmaker has ever gotten with his cinema, it’s also the simplest film he’s ever made. Recounting his childhood in New York, this is a Truffaut-esque story about friendship, tolerance and family.
After going for his biggest and most expensive movie in 2019 with “Ad Astra,” Gray has decided to go back to the basics with this one, tackling a multiracial friendship and an ailing grandfather with the kind of specificity that, at times, feels overwhelmingly authentic.
Rebellious 11-year-old Paul (Michael Banks Repeta) befriends Johnny (Jaylin Webb) a young African-American at his public school. After an incident involving smoking dope in school property, public school quickly turns into private school for Paul.
The film is set around the time of Reagan’s election in 1980, when Gray couldn’t be more than 11 years old himself. Most touching of all is Anthony Hopkins plays his ailing, tolerant and loving grandfather whom Paul looks up to more than his parents (played by Jeremy Strong and Anne Hathaway). Expect Hopkins to get some major awards love for his immensely touching Jewish zeidy; the gentle and noble mannerisms the legendary actor invokes here turn out to be the moral core of “Armageddon Time.”
Shot on-location in the homes, jails and schools of Queens, Gray defines his classicist style yet again with an unhurried and unflashy statement. Strong and Hathaway deliver their performances by never overacting, going along with the soft-spoken dialogue Gray has written for them.
Of course, this is Gray’s own story, but with it he shows how the system is rigged if you’re a person of color in America. It’s a theme that is never forced upon the audience, we just watch the events unfold on-screen, knowing they are based on Gray’s personal memories of his childhood. Whenever Paul and Johnny get into trouble, it’s always Johnny who seems to face the law rather than Paul. Johnny accepts this reality, Paul quietly looks on in disgust.
There’s a predictability to the story Gray tells here, but also great empathy for all the characters. You get a sense of where the destinies of each of our two protagonists will eventually wind up and at the same time you’d rather not even think about it because it feels like the realities of life are sprawling all over the screen.
Darius Khondji softly lenses the streets of Queens, you wouldn’t even notice the master DP’s trademark unless you looked closer to its grainy frames. There’s darkness, but with hints of beautifully subdued light. The color-noir effect Khondji is best known-for is a little more illuminated, using various techniques to enhance the mood and tone of this enchantingly rich movie. [B+]