Review by Tatiana Miranda At first glance, Apple TV+'s new series The New Look might seem like a standard historical fashion drama about Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, but the series — and the designers' realities — are much more complicated. Named after Dior's style of fashion in the late 1940s and 50s, the show focuses on famous French designers Coco Chanel and Christian Dior during and following the Nazi occupation of France during WWII. Similar to how Chanel's and Dior's respective fashion styles were deemed opposites of one another, the two figures reacted to the Nazi occupation in varying ways. The series opens as Dior nervously presents his new fashion line at a press conference. Meanwhile, Chanel smears him in an interview and, later in the series, to Nazi officers. From Dior's quiet disposition and structured designs to Chanel's outspokenness and more comfortable fashion style, the characters could not be more unalike. Yet, they both find themselves in the crosshairs of Nazi-occupied France. For years, Chanel's romance with a high-ranking German officer and use of anti-Semitic laws to gain control of her company from Jewish business partners were long hidden. However, due to recently published biographies on the designer, Chanel's unsavory connections to the Nazis have come to light and restarted the discussion of her ethics. Meanwhile, Dior's younger sister, Catherine, was a member of the French resistance who survived a concentration camp. While Dior himself wasn't an active member of the resistance, he worked hard to help his sister and used his experiences to create the "New Look," which became a symbol of hope and change as the war ended. The New Look takes on a lot in terms of characters, subjects, themes, and even talent, as the series features stars like Ben Mendelsohn, Maisie Williams, John Malkovich, Juliette Binoche, and Emily Mortimer. With so much to tackle in a ten-episode series, some things felt sped up or underdeveloped — namely, Catherine Dior's experiences as a French resistance member and concentration camp survivor. Since the series focuses more on her brother, her work in the resistance and experiences in the concentration camp come second. This would be more understandable if the elder Dior were a fascinating lead character, but his shy personality and understated conflicts make him one of the least interesting characters of the series. Moments of triumph, such as the announcement halfway through the series that he would be starting his own fashion house, feel lackluster as there are hardly any emotional ties between the character and the viewer.
On the other hand, Coco Chanel is a complex lead character who just wants what's best for herself and her legacy, even if that means collaborating with the Nazis. Dior is even seen in a similar position, as he is forced to design gowns for a Nazi ball to provide for his family, but the choice doesn't hold the same weight or narrative influence as Chanel's storyline. While The New Look is an eye-opening look at Chanel's involvement with the Nazis, it is ultimately a dull depiction of the effects of WWII on the French fashion industry and its main designers. Even Chanel's feud with Dior, which resulted from her need for relevancy, is downplayed as simple petty remarks. Although the series has a stellar cast and a beautiful soundtrack produced by Jack Antonoff, it is an unremarkable telling of remarkable historical figures. The New Look premiers on Apple TV+ on February 14th. All ten episodes reviewed. Rating: 2/5
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Review by Jonathan Berk There are plenty of films that tackle estranged parent-child relationships. The concept is ripe for good storytelling and relatability. However, it can easily feel like an afterschool special if not handled with tact. Fortunately, director Emma Westenberg's film Bleeding Love delivers anxiety, heartache, regret, and some genuine feel-good moments as this real-life father-daughter road trip unfolds. Ewan McGregor stars in Bleeding Love alongside his daughter, Clara, and both perform incredibly in this emotionally gripping story. It is clear early on that something has forced Clara to join her estranged father in his truck on their way to Santa Fe, New Mexico. No road trip movie would be complete without complications along the way. As they encounter interesting characters and a series of obstacles, the two are forced to confront the issues of their past. There is a vague element of mystery in the movie, as it allows the audience to piece together exactly what the details of the relationship are. The clues are mostly revealed visually, with close-ups and little mannerisms, or with items in the tight quarters of the truck. Daughter asks Father (the characters don't have names) to pull over so she can pee. Not long after, she takes off running into the desert, with Father quick to follow. He asks what her plan was, to which she simply says she hadn't thought that far. The film continues to provide insight in small doses while keeping us engaged with the charm both actors bring to the film. The film's title is revealed when Leona Lewis's song comes on the radio. We learn that this song has some sentimental meaning, and Father starts belting out the lyrics. As the scene plays out, we get our first real moment of levity, and some real goodness comes out of these scenes.
While much of the film takes place in the truck, Westenberg finds ways to get out of it. A few moments in the movie flash back to points before Father left Daughter. The image has a weird tint that reminds one of the idea of rose-colored glasses. The initial memories are positive ones, but we know there is some bitterness between these two — mostly coming from Daughter. As more is learned about the recent events and what has led them to reconnect on this road trip, we become more invested. Bleeding Love relies on the audience to buy into the performances and the story. It lands the major beats and takes us on an emotional journey with these characters. If you connect with them, the movie works, but if you can't find something about either one to click with, you'll probably find the film a little uneventful. For me, it resonated, and I found the conclusion extremely satisfying. Bleeding Love will be in theaters and on demand on February 16. Rating: 3.5/5 THE MONK AND THE GUN -- Pensive Dramedy Questions the Value of Western Hegemony, Capitalism2/9/2024 Review by Daniel Lima After centuries of Western dominance in world affairs and decades of the globalist neoliberal world order, it can be easy to fall into the mindset that all the identifiers of Western society are somehow inherently good. The economic systems, the political structures, the moral values, for those who live in the West — certainly for Americans — the idea that these represent the pinnacle of the evolution of a civilization can border on religious dogma. Part of what makes The Monk and the Gun so refreshing is it directly challenges this supposition, asking whether concepts like democracy and capitalism actually benefit people when exported and enforced. The film is set in a rural Bhutanese village in 2006, shortly after the king's abdication. As the country prepares to hold its first national elections, small teams have been dispatched nationwide to ensure the populace understands the democratic process. As the small community responds to these changes, a foreigner and a local monk vie for possession of an antique gun, the former for profit and the latter "to make things right." Overwhelmingly, the response of the locals is confusion or indifference. Isolated as they are from the larger world, yet still fully functional, they don't see any pressing need to reshape their own community to conform completely to "modernization." Some even worry for the health of their former ruler, less because of what he's directly done for them, but more for what he represents: a sense of continuity with generations past, something more tangible and meaningful than the creation of a parliament in a far-off capitol. If anything, the introduction of Western-style ideas has decidedly negative repercussions. Consumer goods made accessible by the global market inflame long-standing resentments among the townspeople; the election divides them along lines that previously had not even existed. The film posits that these institutions may be inherently divisive and discordant, as optimistic as the government officials are. When one suggests to a villager that these new measures will eventually make people happy, the retort is immediate: "But we are happy." The official has no response. Even more interesting than this political dimension is how The Monk and the Gun explores how fundamentally different the values of this insular community are from the capitalist incursion. Money has very little meaning in this community for the obvious reason that there's not much to buy. More valuable is one's social standing, the perception that one is being just and fair, and goods with practical use. This leads to fascinating scenes where people refuse trades because they seem to disproportionately benefit or go back and forth, refusing to accept anything in return. The one foreign character seems perfectly willing to exploit this seeming kindness but is at a loss when actually brokering a deal. What he fails to understand is these aren't clueless bumpkins who don't recognize some immutable, empirical value of what they own. Rather, they operate with a different set of principles shaped by their history and culture. The failure of the Westerner to recognize that speaks to a deficiency in him, not the Bhutanese.
As high-minded and serious as all this may sound, the film is a pleasant, relaxing watch. The story unfolds slowly, these observations being made at a leisurely pace. Much humor is found in these villagers' ambivalence towards the changes happening around them, but the joke is always centered on the apparent fruitlessness of the imposition of a new order or the comedic irony created by the disconnect; the townsfolk themselves are never portrayed as merely rustic and ignorant. The film is visually gorgeous, often allowing the picturesque setting to fill the frame and give the audience a small measure of why these people would be so comfortable with their own way of life. Even without the riveting subject matter, this would be a charming, low-stakes dramedy. There are two major missteps the movie takes. As clear as the burgeoning social strife is, the amount of times a character outright states the central conflict feels excessive. A government official coaxing a crowd to act like they want to hurt each other at a mock election is funny and full of acerbic wit. Having a woman openly question why this process requires people to be rude feels like a bridge too far. More frustratingly, the film ultimately does not take a stand on whether the encroaching Western influence is actually a net negative. Though the preliminary effects seem only to be detrimental to social cohesion, some concessions are made to the idea that exposure to the wider world can give the villagers prospects that extend beyond the village or allow exciting new ways of thinking to develop. The climax seems to give weight to the idea that this "progress" is inevitable and maybe even beneficial, but it fails to fully articulate how that might come to pass. In introducing this possibility without reconciling it with all the evidence presented to the contrary, the film ends on a sour note. Even so, The Monk and the Gun is a transfixing, engaging, often moving watch that captures a way of living that in 2024 may seem impossibly idyllic to those living in a hyper-capitalist society that values goods over individuals and social harmony. It may not stick the landing, but it is a worthwhile experience for anyone who laments the state of the world today. The Monk and the Gun is now in theaters. Rating: 4/5 Review by Daniel Lima The title Air Force One Down invokes two action films that center on the American presidency. One is the languid 1997 Harrison Ford vehicle Air Force One, featuring the president himself taking on terrorists who have taken over the titular plane. The other is White House Down, a fun buddy action-comedy that teams the president with a cop as they take out terrorists in the titular building. In referencing those films so obviously, this DTV thriller announces its own low ambitions as a brainless, disposable genre flick that seeks only to hold the audience's attention for just under ninety minutes. It fails even that, but not without earning some plaudits. Katherine McNamara stars as a fresh recruit to the U.S. Secret Service, assigned to protect the well-heeled, silver-spooned president by her uncle and new boss. On only her second day on the job, she finds herself on board the official plane of the commander-in-chief as a group of armed Estonian dissidents takes it over. She quickly becomes the last line of defense between the insurgents and the most powerful man in the world, so she must push herself to the brink to ensure his safety. It should come as no surprise that this is not a thought-provoking work, though the extent of the script's complete lack of intellectual rigor is surprising even by the standards of a low-budget direct-to-video action movie. Estonia, one of the most highly-developed countries in the world, having an active armed communist resistance in the 2020s is completely untethered from reality; clearly, the filmmakers just threw a dart at a list of former Soviet states. That an Estonian-American oil deal would be a hot-button political issue is even more laughable. McNamara's character is a MARSOC operator who is somehow allowed to abandon her commission for a civilian job. A thousand and one little details like these give the impression that the screenplay was just a series of mad libs. These are just nitpicks, but there are structural issues as well. The film is halfway over by the time McNamara actually has to spend time with Ian Bohen's president. Where most films would take the obvious but effective tack of wringing some dramatic tension out of their differing personalities or McNamara's negative perception of him, Air Force One Down quickly dispels that possibility. Most of the dialogue is empty exposition, establishing the narrative stakes without ever setting up the emotional ones. The cast is given next to nothing to flesh out their characters, barring a character's name popping up in the corner of the screen that anyone watching is bound to forget. Even at this movie's short runtime, it struggles to build momentum. Things just seem to happen until they don't, each new plot development more obvious than the last. This is obviously a resource-starved production, so it's hard to fault how cheap it all looks. Every location is clearly a set, barren white office walls sparsely and unconvincingly decorated to look like the Oval Office or Air Force One. A solid chunk of the film is lit flatly and staged with as basic a setup as possible, looking more like a commercial than a feature film. Plenty of strange cuts and VFX are off, almost certainly a casualty of lack of time.
Despite that, there are a handful of touches that are appreciated. While the more pristine interiors all look bland and fake, the grotty military facilities the villains lurk in do conjure the feel of disused buildings commandeered by a guerrilla fighting force filled with grime and shadows. Though the performers have precious little good material to work with, they do an admirable job attempting to make the afterthoughts of these characters feel like actual people. Most impressively, the action is actually decent, even accounting for the budget. Director James Bamford has been working as a stuntman since the early 1990s, even serving as stunt coordinator on the huge Indian blockbuster Ek Tha Tiger, and he puts his experience to good use here. Though there isn't a lot of action, what's here is frenetic, claustrophobic, well-paced, and actually takes care to make use of the environment. From a couple of brutal fight scenes to a stitched-together oner that uses the jagged editing to its advantage, giving the set piece a certain threadbare flair, this action punches above its weight. I wish I could say that was enough to make Air Force One Down a worthwhile watch. For a certain kind of person, the promise of solid action in something so otherwise unremarkable might be intriguing enough. To anyone else, I would recommend White House Down. At the very least, I can confirm this clears the low bar of Wolfgang Petersen's film. Air Force One Down is now and theaters and will be available on digital February 9. Rating: 2.5/5 Review by Joseph Fayed Relatability can truly make for compelling comfort cinema. We often emote the same way we see "ordinary" people on screen do so. Here follows two people with ordinary lives who, like many people, make it through their daily struggles while seeking a greater purpose. Unfortunately, any realism felt from this rather mundane story won't elicit much of a reaction from viewers. The film follows Stefan, a construction worker living in Brussels. He plans to leave for an extended period and decides to make soup using ingredients from his fridge before he goes. Giving it out to friends and family, he meets Shuxiu, a doctoral student studying moss. Stefan's kind gesture takes on a new meaning, bringing him closer to Shuxiu than they expected. Whether they're depicted as the start of a flaming romance or a lifelong friendship, and the script can be interpreted as both, the characterization of Stefan and Shuxiu I can equate to nothing more than Wonder Bread. Their chemistry with each other is dry enough that small talk with a complete stranger would feel less awkward. It's simply not believable enough that these two would cross paths unless a life-altering event involving both of them would occur. The script does manage to keep everything light-hearted. It forgoes having our two main characters interact until the film's second half. This is likely to establish who Stefan and Shuxiu are, but neither is written to be compelling enough to be more than supporting characters. Shuxiu's introduction, the most beautiful part of the film, feels devastatingly out of place with a voiceover and various shots of nature. With a better setup, this moment would be more than just a wasted soliloquy.
Stefan Gota (Stefan) and Liyo Gong (Shuxiu) were not miscast; they simply weren't meant to be paired together like they were. Gota is passable in his role, even if he doesn't bring the same type of quirkiness to his character, a la Amelie. Gong has the delivery that would serve her well in other indie dramas, and if she can make moss sound slightly interesting, I have a lot of faith in her going forward. The most praise goes to the cinematography, which captures a beautiful look at Brussels and its surroundings. Any outdoor shots make the green scenery look stunning, and I was certainly in awe of that color palette versus anything else on the screen. Here won't capture your undivided attention, but its premise is relatively harmless at best. While it seems like there was a mismatch between the two leads during chemistry screenings, this is suitable if you want to turn your brain off for 80 minutes. Moss girlies, rise up; Here is the representation you have all been waiting for. Here is now playing in theaters. Rating: 2.5/5 Review by Jonathan Berk Director Asif Akbar's film Skeletons in the Closet is one of the worst movie experiences in recent memory. It's often easy to assume that such a statement is hyperbolic, but in this case, there is a plethora of evidence to prove its sincerity. From bad writing, uneven performances, and some of the worst visual effects, it makes TikTok filters look like a James Cameron production by comparison — and ultimately, nothing about this film works. Admittedly, at about two-thirds of the way through, it's possible to think this film could be "so bad that it's good," yet it quickly douses out any hope of that possibility. After 90 minutes, you'll wish you'd never looked in that damn closet. Terrance Howard and Valery M. Ortiz are a "happily" married couple with their daughter, played by Appy Pratt. Although Ortiz is seeing ghosts, Howard loses his job, and Pratt's character's cancer has returned — and it's in her brain. Luckily, Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays Howard's brother, and he has made a connection in prison to a mobster who can help pay for the medical bills. He also knows a psychic who can offer guidance and direction to the family. There is plenty more of this nonsensical stuff to be found, but the aforementioned occurs within just the first thirty minutes of the movie. There is some cause for concern that if Hallmark movie producers see this film, a new Hallmark Horror channel may pop up. The initial look of the film feels much more like a TV drama than a horror film. Add in melodramatic performances and constantly upping the stakes of an over-wrought plot — all with a cheesy score to back it up — and it screams Hallmark movie. Yet even the worst TV movies tend to have better-looking visual effects than what we're presented with in this film. Late in the movie, there are several moments where things are on fire. It is the worst-looking cinematic fire one can imagine. If the fire effects had a watermark on them of the asset company the filmmakers downloaded it from, then it would have been less shocking than most of the other decisions in this film.
You're probably thinking, "Well, even if it looks bad and the plot is a bit much, surely this star-studded cast should bring it!" That would be a fair thought, but it would also be incorrect. Howard is kind of sleepwalking through the film. Gooding isn't "bad," but what he's given to work with really is, and he's not able to elevate it at all. Ortiz is giving a performance, but the story around her is so ridiculous that it's hard to call what she's doing "good." Udo Kier shows up and delivers a delightfully hammy performance, but no amount of paprika on this sandwich can save it. It's rare to watch a movie and struggle to find any redeeming qualities within it. There is an expression that no one sets out to make a bad movie. While that is probably true most of the time, one has to wonder at what point the people involved in a bad film's production are aware of how much of a stinker it is. Skeletons in the Closet doesn't work, and it feels like someone could have predicted that in the pitch meeting. Skeletons in the Closet will stream on Shudder on February 9. Rating: 1/5 OUT OF DARKNESS -- Prehistoric Horror-Thriller's Austere Presentation Throttles Horror, Thrills2/9/2024 Review by Daniel Lima I’ve often wondered what motivated the first storytellers, those who sat around campfires tens of thousands of years ago and told stories of great hunts and capricious gods. While some may have sought self-expression or to capture some ecstatic truth, I imagine most just wanted to keep their audiences entertained, staving off boredom and hunger with wondrous tales that appealed to their basest, most primal sensibilities. Watching Out of Darkness, it’s hard not to think of how the film might benefit from that same instinct. Set in the Stone Age, the story follows a small band of people searching for a new home. Led by a domineering young man, they journey a vast distance, only to find their supposed salvation entirely barren. The group begins to fracture, their survival seems precarious, and as they travel further in search of food and shelter, it appears they are not alone in this foreign land. Credit where it’s due; this is an impeccably crafted work. There is an incredible attention to detail in bringing this prehistoric world to life as accurately as possible. The small ensemble is entirely people of color, reflecting what the earliest humans probably looked like. The dialogue is all in a constructed small details language, further immersing both the cast and audience in the setting. The furs they wear, the stone and bone tools they use — every aspect of the film feels carefully realized. Beyond that, director Andrew Cumming is clearly comfortable with the language of cinema. Shot on location in the Scottish Highlands, the film is often very beautiful, even as the precisely composed images make the vast expanse feel alien and inhospitable. The muted colors feel purposeful, reflecting the bleak outlook of the characters, and at night, the darkness is unceasing and foreboding. In keeping with the discomforting cinematography, there is a methodical pace, never rushing forward with a great burst of energy. Just as the characters feel constrained, fearful that the next forward could be their last, the editing attempts to impart that feeling to the audience. Yet that sense of restraint and textbook command of cinematic language is also to the movie’s detriment. As formally rigorous as Out of Darkness is, it quickly becomes apparent that this will not indulge in the more immediate thrills of more traditional horror. The visual style comes to feel austere, creating many degrees of removal between the audience and the characters. This lovingly realized world begins to feel like a construct, an artifice that is more a playground for a director to show off their prowess than a backdrop for harrowing human drama.
Obviously, the ambition was not simply to make a Stone Age slasher, and perhaps a decision was made to deliberately eschew the hallmarks of more traditional, populist genre cinema. However, there are lessons to be learned in how those films build and release tension and how they meet and subvert audience expectations. Visceral gore may seem crass, but it can make a monster in the woods feel like a tangible threat. Tight, handheld cinematography may seem a cheap trick, but a handsomely composed shot of people running through the black of night doesn’t convey the same energy. The craft may be respectable, but in avoiding these familiar conventions, Out of Darkness fails to create the immediacy that would make a prehistoric thriller resonate with a modern audience. Though the presentation is at cross-purposes with the intent to deliver deep-seated horror, Out of Darkness is undeniably accomplished — the work of a dedicated filmmaker and team with a clear vision they wanted to capture. Misapplied as it may be to the material, it’s easy to imagine Cumming putting his command of film craft to good use in the future. Out of Darkness arrives in theaters February 9 Rating: 3/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Cobweb is the latest film from prolific Korean director Kim Jee-woon (The Good the Bad the Weird, I Saw the Devil), and on paper, it sounds like a home run: a meta comedy with a fantastic lead. However, the movie’s ambitious guise is only a facade, as it feels far too reminiscent of other films about filmmaking to make much of an impact.
Cobweb follows a film director who assembles his cast and crew for a hectic few days of reshoots, trying to capture the perfect ending, much to the dismay of the censors, his producers, and the cast. The premise promises an intriguing work of metafiction, as the on-set drama and the drama in the film-within-a-film become inextricably intertwined, but viewers will soon realize this is heading nowhere. The biggest issue with Cobweb is that, despite its intriguing premise, the movie all too often feels hollow. There are a few interesting tidbits about censorship and artistic freedom, but Kim says his bit on the matter early and spends the rest of the bloated 2+ hour runtime needlessly hammering this point in. Unfortunately, the film also lacks the comedic zing of Kim’s finer work. The humor tends to track either too broad or too specific — resulting in a mildly amusing watch, but never truly funny. The chaos of the melodrama can be entertaining enough to carry the movie at times, but too much of it falls back onto familiar beats for it to be fully engaging.
There is also the matter of the characters, which are all frustratingly archetypal. If you’ve seen any “behind-the-scenes satires” of film sets, you know the deal. The director is a visionary but a bit of an egomaniac. The actors have diva-ish qualities played for laughs but are empathetic because of some of the over-the-top ways they’re being treated on set. The only people who really shake up the formula here are the bureaucrats, but they, too, feel like shallow caricatures.
Kim doesn’t even manage to get particularly impressive performances out of his cast. Song Kang-ho (Parasite, Broker) plays the lead role, but his talents feel wholly put to waste. Although he has a few funny moments and a few more that are endearing, the role calls for Song to be flashy, lacking the quieter, subtler characteristics that made his last few turns so impressive. The one area in which Cobweb unequivocally excels is its visuals. The cinematography does a great job of creating a dichotomy between the chaos of the film set and the (black-and-white) beauty of the Hitchcockian film-within-a-film. The production design also does a great job of mimicking both a film set and the type of movie being shot on said set. Although there are a lot of things to like about Cobweb, Kim Jee-woon’s latest film does not congeal into a particularly satisfying whole — a massive disappointment considering the caliber of his past work. Much like an actual cobweb, Cobweb is the type of movie that will leave you itching your head for much longer than you probably need to, and similarly, you won’t really know why. Cobweb hits theaters on February 9. Rating: 2.5/5 Review by Cole Groth Fans of Joe Keery will remember his ridiculous turn as a murderous streamer in Spree a few years ago. To those who enjoyed that, you'll be interested in his equally wild character in Marmalade. There's plenty of romance, crime, and drama in this twisty heist film, but the twist ending is ultimately too confusing and undermines the sweeping story set up by the first two acts. Marmalade follows Baron (Keery), who's recently been imprisoned. He recounts his life story to his cellmate Otis (Aldis Hodge). Most of the film is one big flashback, showing us Baron's romantic connection with Marmalade (Camile Morrone), a free-spirited woman with a mean streak who convinces Baron to turn to a life of crime to save his mother. Throughout the film, we learn that Otis might have a vested interest in Baron and Marmalade's story. Keery is pretty good in the film. He lays down this corny southern accent but overall feels authentic as the affably dumb hopeless romantic suckered into a life of crime. Hodge also lays it on thick, sounding like a generic black guy from the hood written by an out-of-touch writer. However, like with Keery's accent, this is explained away as being intentionally ridiculous. Morrone is pretty brilliant, too. She's this great combination of intensity and cunning who's a consistently great presence on screen. Although the big twists at the end can be fun, they leave the film with zero rewatchability. When the first 70 minutes of a 100-minute-long movie are undermined by a twist, it makes the whole experience feel like a waste of time. This sort of twist would work much better in a TV show, and there were times when I was just hoping the film would be longer to allow the final act to breathe. It just feels like a corny twist that would've been better off on the cutting room floor.
There's some interesting commentary on the pharmaceutical industry and how evil its price-gouging practices are. It feels lost in the grand scheme of things but gives the movie some much-needed depth. It's a shame that it only gets tackled in depth toward the ending because it's confusing to listen to a bunch of ham-fisted lines about why greedy pharmaceutical CEOs are ruining America after car chases, bank robberies, and complicated FBI plans to take Baron down. Marmalade needs polish on its script. It's torn between being an occasionally funny satire on modern American country living and a wild crime thriller full of twists and turns. While the twist leading into the third act is too stupid to be forgotten, it's made up for by a nicely satisfying ending. It's interesting, to be sure, but too muddled to be a truly good crime/thriller. Marmalade releases in theaters and on VOD starting February 9. Rating: 3/5 Review by Tatiana Miranda Fifteen years after the release of the cult classic film Jennifer's Body, writer-producer Diablo Cody expands on her horror comedy filmography with Lisa Frankenstein. Written by Cody and directed by Zelda Williams, Lisa Frankenstein is a campy horror film set in the 1980s and loosely based on Mary Shelley's infamous monster. Despite it being Williams's feature-length debut, it is a fantastic follow-up to Jennifer's Body that still feels like a wholly unique, standalone film. The film stars Kathryn Newton as Lisa, an eighteen-year-old outcast dealing with an overwhelmingly popular stepsister, absent father, evil stepmother, and the aftereffects of her mother's grim death. Unpopular and misunderstood, Lisa finds solace in goth music, her favorite silent films, and an unnamed Frankenstein's monster-like character played by Cole Sprouse. Newton and Sprouse are also joined by Carla Gugino, Joe Chrest, Henry Eikenberry, and Liza Soberano. While February might seem like a weird time to release a horror-comedy, the film's campy romance between Lisa and the monster makes it the perfect alternative rom-com. Similarly to Cody's work on Juno, Lisa Frankenstein shows the world through a more rose-colored lens. Less dark than Jennifer's Body and unlike other popular dark comedies with more distinct good and bad characters, Lisa Frankenstein doesn't focus on the ethics of murders or regeneration. Instead, character actions are taken at face value. This is not to say that the campy nature of the film makes it unbelievable, but it comes off as more fantastical. Like the plot's supernatural nature, the characters don't subscribe to the ethics and consequences of the real world. While sometimes this can come across as an easy way out of dealing with plot holes, Lisa Frankenstein uses its otherworldliness to create a captivating world full of eccentric characters. Outside of the outlandish plot and characters, Lisa Frankenstein's campiness also comes from its over-the-top '80s-inspired aesthetics and soundtrack. From REO Speedwagon to Wite-Out as nail polish, the film incorporates plenty of trends and music from the '80s in a way that feels more like a caricature of the decade rather than being period-accurate or a parody. The distinctive costumes and incredible soundtrack lend themselves to the film's likely cult classic status.
Even with great performances by Newton, Sprouse, and Soberano as Lisa's stepsister, Taffy, the characters come off as secondary to the plot and aesthetics. Since the film isn't a drama by any means, it makes sense to keep certain characters more rudimentary to focus on the extremity of the plot. Yet, it also makes it harder to have emotional beats between characters that don't have well-developed relationships, such is the case with Lisa and Taffy. Overall, though, Lisa Frankenstein is another wonderful work from Cody that feels unlike anything else. This, paired with stellar performances and captivating visuals, makes the film a fun spin on the usual rom-com genre and a perfect Valentine's date night movie. Lisa Frankenstein hits theaters on February 9. Rating: 4/5 |
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