Anthony Hopkins and newcomer Banks Repeta play a loving grandfather and grandson in ARMAGEDDON TIME, one of the best films of the year. Courtesy of Focus Features.It’s not “now streaming.” I’m not “revisiting.” For the first time on this blog, I’m reviewing a film that is currently IN. ACTUAL. THEATERS. What?! Crazy, right? Or am I just overexcited? Probably the latter. I may be wrong, but the last commercially released Jewish movie I remember was Jojo Rabbit, way back in 2019. I was very fortunate to see Armageddon Time at the Philadelphia Film Society’s recent 31st Philadelphia Film Festival. It was so nice to be back at the cinema. Well, I’ve actually been going to the movies since 2021 (masked, of course), but to see a film like this on the big screen and not your TV is so much better. SO MUCH. Armageddon Time isn’t just a remarkable film. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen all year.
If you see it, you may disagree with me. In fact, despite articles from a few months back calling Armageddon Time “Oscar bait” and one of the must-see movies of the year, some critics think it’s “good” but not great. At the screening I attended, there was no applause at the end. People seemed…a little surprised. Not disappointed, per se, but perplexed. Written and directed by James Gray, the film is a semi-autobiographical account of the director’s life as a Jewish child growing up in early 1980s Queens. It’s a nostalgic movie, I would agree, but a little more than that. A little darker and almost uncomfortable, in a weird way. Let’s start with that word, “nostalgic.” When I hear that a movie is nostalgic, I assume that it will be a sweet, happy, poignant film with a lot of cute scenes and moments where viewers will go, “Aw, yeah! I remember that song! I remember that time from when I was a kid!”
Armageddon Time is a very Jewish, 80s era movie, and if you grew up in New York City during those years – and whether you’re Jewish or not – you will definitely be brought back to memory lane with the music, outfits, political scene, crowded Jewish family dinners, etc. So, what seems to be the matter? Why do some critics and viewers feel a little “put off” by this movie? Simple reason: it forces us to look back at the unethical status quo we all lived in for so long and didn’t change. For Gray, all of us are a little guilty. We all participated in socially accepting “norms” that are obviously unacceptable today. Armageddon Time’s lead characters aren’t necessarily unlikable, but there are moments where they say cringeworthy things, comments that are beyond inappropriate in 2022. In the end, this is a hopeful film. It’s a drama that forces us to face our past and every sinful, unethical decision we made and learn from it. Prejudice, racism, antisemitism, ALL of these are getting worse in the 21st century. Armageddon Time is a reminder that we must never go back.
Now, of course, I hope I’m not making this movie sound dreadful and depressing. It’s not! There are a lot of funny moments, and for me, what I love about it is how it takes the coming-of-age genre and twists it a little bit. The film follows 11-year-old Paul (newcomer Banks Repeta in a phenomenal performance) in 1980, Queens. He lives with his older brother, Ted (Ryan Sell), and very strict but endearing parents, Esther (Anne Hathaway, excellent as always) and Irving (Jeremy Strong, fantastic). As we see early on, Paul’s parents are understandably stern with their kids because Paul is incredibly mischievous. He goofs off and gets into trouble at school, making funny faces at the teacher when his back is to him. At home, he whines at the dinner table and can’t sit still. He’s just…a kid, really. We were all like that once. (I know I certainly was.)
Paul is particularly close with his grandfather (Anthony Hopkins), Esther’s father. He behaves around him and chats about his dream of becoming an artist. Paul’s parents are against this career choice, and in one scene, he even overhears them saying that he’s not as “smart” as Ted. Ted himself goes to a different, more elite school where you have to wear a uniform every day and the teachers are educated but quite smug, to be honest. One of the school’s alumni, we soon find out, is Donald Trump’s sister herself, Maryanne Trump (played by a recent Academy Award winning actress…). That gives you an idea of the type of environment Paul’s parents want their kids in.
At his own school, Paul befriends Johnny (Jaylin Webb), the only black boy in his class. Like Paul, Johnny is also a troublemaker in school, cursing at his teacher and forced to stand at the chalkboard. The two hit it off right away. Johnny has been held back and is living in a poor part of town with his grandmother. Paul makes no notion of his friend’s race. They’re just buddies. It’s pretty patent, however, that if Paul’s parents found out he was friends with a black person, things wouldn’t go so well.
When Paul and Johnny are caught smoking marijuana in the school’s bathroom, it’s the last straw for Esther and Irving. He is spanked with a belt, removed from his school, and sent to attend his brother’s institution, a school where the classmates are richer and think it’s OK to use the n-word. It’s unclear whether Paul’s classmates know he’s Jewish, but if they did, I’m sure they would raise their eyes at him. There are happy moments in Paul’s childhood, but he isn’t living in paradise. It’s a tough world, not just for Paul but for other characters. Johnny, Grandpa, and even Irving, as we learn in one scene. In society, you need to “fit in” and look the right way or else you’re the pariah of town. That’s just the way it is.
Gray makes very subtle parallels between the past and present in Armageddon Time. There’s the Trump family reference, for a start, but other moments. Nowadays, we have a lot of movements that teach us about right vs. wrong, but there is still a generational gap. Young adults – millennials, GenZ, whatever they are – may be learning ethics of society better, but for their parents, it’s a different matter because they weren’t taught that way. For me, this semi-political statement is what I loved about Armageddon Time. I don’t agree with what some of the characters do, but I understand why they do it. It’s no excuse, of course, yet I sympathize because everyone is a victim in a way, a soul just trying to survive in this harsh world. Watching the film, I saw echoes of myself in Paul. You grow up, mess around a lot, mess up a lot and say inappropriate things, and then you are taught what is OK to do and isn’t. Sometimes, the truth hurts and hits hard, but we need to experience it in order to grow.
Anthony Hopkins has already won two Oscars, and I would sell my soul for him to win Best Supporting Actor for his performance here. He couldn’t be more outstanding. I mean, Hopkins is never bad, we all know that, but watching him as Grandpa, I just wanted to crawl into that movie screen à la The Purple Rose of Cairo and give him a hug. He’s the heart of the movie, the moral compass of it all. In one of the best scenes of the film, he asks Paul how his new school is. His grandson replies that many students are prejudice and judge others for the color of their skin or other pathetic reasons. Grandpa is displeased with this news and tells Paul something we should all know by now: be kind. Don’t judge other people for their race, religion, ethnicity, mental health, etc. Being a Jew himself and husband to a woman who escaped the Nazis, he’s fed up with the hatred. Now is the time for his grandchild to grow up and be a good person. The scene almost moved me to tears. (And yes, I was the one in the audience who made an audible “Aww!” at the end of Grandpa’s speech.)
Armageddon Time, like I said, is different as a coming-of-age movie. There is a similar movie coming out this month, The Fabelmans, directed by Steven Spielberg, that looks much more light-hearted than this one. This also follows a Jewish family in 20th century America, and just from watching the trailer, I expect it to be A) AMAZING, obviously and B) sweeter and less heavy. I look forward to seeing it and comparing it with this one. Gray’s darker, more political statement in Armageddon Time may surprise you, but you need to hear it. Just like Paul, the truth hurts.
ARMAGEDDON TIME is now playing in select theaters.