{"id":1460,"date":"2017-06-18T23:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-18T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commarts.pleather.us\/2017\/06\/18\/on-the-seventh-day-review-jim-mckays-first-movie-in-a-decade-is-the-summers-surprise-crowdpleaser\/"},"modified":"2017-06-18T23:30:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-18T23:30:00","slug":"on-the-seventh-day-review-jim-mckays-first-movie-in-a-decade-is-the-summers-surprise-crowdpleaser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/m2\/2017\/06\/18\/on-the-seventh-day-review-jim-mckays-first-movie-in-a-decade-is-the-summers-surprise-crowdpleaser\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018On the Seventh Day\u2019 Review: Jim McKay\u2019s First Movie in a Decade is the Summer\u2019s Surprise Crowdpleaser"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most satisfying aspect of \u201cOn the Seventh Day<\/a>,\u201d Jim McKay<\/a>\u2019s first feature in 12 years, stems from the way it combines a simple premise with profound concerns. Set across one week in the life of a Mexican immigrant in Brooklyn, it harkens back to classic neorealist traditions by providing a window into the everyday challenges of a lower-class existence all too often ignored in mainstream cinema. At the same time, it positions the drama as a feel-good crowdpleaser, a rousing sports movie about characters trapped by their surroundings and galvanized by their communal spirit.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take long to establish the plight of Jos\u00e9 (Fernando Cardona, a non-professional newcomer like the rest of the cast), who works a bland job as the deliveryman at a Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn\u2019s Carroll Gardens when he\u2019s not leading his soccer team to a championship in the nearby neighborhood of Sunset Park. A good portion of the movie takes place against the backdrop of the borough\u2019s expansive streets and brick buildings, with Jos\u00e9 speeding around the city and engaging with the various locals who define his constrained environment. As with Sean Baker\u2019s 2005 \u201cTake Out,\u201d which portrayed the struggles of a Chinese deliveryman, \u201cOn the Seventh Day\u201d is as much focused on sketching out a self-contained universe as it is with the conundrum that emerges from it.<\/p>\n

See More:\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>IndieWire’s 2005 Interview With Jim McKay<\/a><\/p>\n

But eventually that conundrum takes centerstage. Jos\u00e9 follows a reliable schedule, juggling life with his fellow immigrants from Puebla, Mexico \u2014 most of whom live together in a crowded apartment \u2014 with his fast-paced job, and dreaming of bringing his pregnant wife to the U.S. But Jos\u00e9\u2019s stern white boss complicates Jos\u00e9\u2019s stable routine by demanding he work on the same Sunday that his team\u2019s scheduling to play in the finals. That\u2019s a week away, and as recurring title cards count down to the encroaching deadline, Jos\u00e9 winds up caught between personal and professional allegiances, unsure where to begin. His boss shows no pity, his team could care less about employment issues, and Jos\u00e9 feels the tug on both sides: He doesn\u2019t want to let his pals down, but sees his current gig as the ideal route to getting papers \u2014 and bringing his wife into the country in the process.<\/p>\n

This setup could easily cascade into heavy-handed sentimentalism, but McKay\u2019s too skilled a filmmaker to let that happen. While he\u2019s spent the last decade and change directing television, he first launched his career with the minority-centric New York stories \u201cOur Song\u201d (which starred a young Keri Washington as a Crown Heights teen) and the HBO movie \u201cEveryday People.\u201d His measured approach to developing Jos\u00e9\u2019s story treasures understatement over bigger gestures, and even the suspenseful finale as Jos\u00e9\u2019s deadline arrives feels like an organic outgrowth of the moments leading up to it.<\/p>\n

If \u201cOn the Seventh Day\u201d overglamorized its characters or reduced them to archetypes of the struggling underclass, it might be more obvious that this movie is directed by a white guy. But that potential hurdle recedes to the background as McKay works within the confines of his setting, never creating the sense of an outsider looking in.<\/p>\n

More than once, he pauses the story to allow for fly-on-the-wall observation: When Jos\u00e9 contends with obnoxious customers, or pauses in the midst of a busy day to grab a cheap meal, the small details inform the broader portrait of a fragile existence on the fringes of a crowded society. But there are plenty of warmer moments to offset the possibility of a pity party, from the lively evening scenes as the soccer players hang together at home to Jos\u00e9\u2019s tender video chat with his faraway wife. This scene marks the sole moment when McKay cuts away from the Brooklyn setting, briefly showing the woman at an internet caf\u00e9 in a fleeting reminder of the larger world that exists beyond Jos\u00e9\u2019s reaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the Seventh Day\u201d is filled with little hints to the broader disconnect that Jos\u00e9 and his fellow immigrants experience from their surroundings. Dropping off one order at a boutique office, he exchanges pleasantries with the Mexican receptionist in Spanish, only to find that she shifts to English the moment her employers pass by (it\u2019s ostensibly a kind of code-switching). In private conversations, Jos\u00e9 and his peers blend traditional Spanish with the Mixtec dialect of their native Puebla, a reminder of the complex roots that inform their identity \u2014 and just how much it differs from the posh, vanilla land of gentrification in which they struggle to survive.<\/p>\n

But they struggle together, and \u201cOn the Seventh Day\u201d primarily works so well because it relegates the white characters \u2014 saviors and non-saviors alike \u2014 to supporting roles. Jos\u00e9 and his peers aren\u2019t minorities because the movie allows them to dominate the frame. The narrative belongs to the way they process the highs and lows of working on the sidelines of an economy ignorant to their concerns. Rejected by an ambivalent job market, they build their own path. Jos\u00e9\u2019s allegiance to this defiant attitude runs headlong into his apparent desire to plant deeper roots, and the muted actor\u2019s never better than when this conundrum registers on his subdued face.<\/p>\n

If \u201cOn the Seventh Day\u201d has any major setbacks, they stem from cheap production values and some shaky performances that distract from the sturdy narrative at hand. Jos\u00e9’s story has some obvious qualities, but that’s part of its charm. A fantasy version of the studio system might greenlight this kind of energizing sports movie; instead, it’s microbudgeted and looks like it. In most cases, however, the rough edges contribute to its authenticity.<\/p>\n

Once the movie arrives at its brilliant climax, the cumulative effects of passing details lead to sweeping payoff. As Jos\u00e9 must finally choose between competing interests, his team hopes for a happy ending. \u201cJos\u00e9 will save the day,\u201d one of them asserts. Without spoiling anything, the welcome surprise of \u201cOn the Seventh Day\u201d is that it wrestles with what a happy ending actually looks like in these circumstances \u2014 and finds a reasonable happy medium instead.<\/p>\n

Its final moment is a form of masterful understatement, with the camera lingering on a solitary mariachi singer belting out a soulful tune on an city street, as if competing for attention with the rush of urbanity around him. As McKay cuts to black, it\u2019s unclear whether the singer or the city has the upper hand.<\/p>\n

Grade: A-<\/h3>\n

\u201cOn the Seventh Day\u201d premieres as the centerpiece screening of the 2017 BAMcinemaFEST. It is currently seeking distribution.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source: IndieWire film<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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