Review by Sean Boelman
Filmmaker Charlie Kaufman has become well-known by fans for his brand of mind-bending surrealism, no matter what genre he is writing. His first direct foray into psychological horror (although one could argue that there are elements of the genre found in many of his scripts), i’m thinking of ending things, is as weird and ambitious as expected, and is one that viewers will be talking about for years to come.
In a basic sense, the movie follows a young woman who begins to question herself when she goes to dinner at her boyfriends’ parents’ farmhouse. However, those who are familiar with Kaufman’s work (or Iain Reid’s novel that inspired the film), will know that there is a lot more to the story than that, as Kaufman spins an elaborate and sometimes hard-to-follow web of realities and falsehoods. The pacing here is pretty absorbing, but will not at all appeal to general audiences. But if one is willing to sit and analyze Kaufman’s intricate plotting (and it will likely take multiple viewings to fully grasp everything that he is trying to do), they will undeniably form a respect for his absurd take on relationships and mortality. The first act, dialogue-driven and extremely poetic, is perhaps the most effective, benefitting from the actors bouncing lines off of each other with a wonderful rhythm. Things then get weird in the second part before going completely out the window for a finale that will obviously be divisive.
Kaufman’s use of character development is definitely intriguing, and while it is difficult to reveal exactly what makes it so unique without spoiling some of the surprises it has in store, it’s not quite like anything you’ve ever seen before. If Anomalisa seemed crazy, it’s nothing compared to this.
Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemmons are both amazing in their roles. They are both very undervalued talents, so it’s nice to see them getting their due with complex material that allows them to shine. Toni Collette and David Thewlis are also great, but it is Buckley and Plemmons whose turns will haunt viewers’ minds. There’s a very unique visual style to the movie, particularly in the final act that doubles down on Kaufman’s usually dreamlike visuals. It’s an undeniably impressive feat that Kaufman pulls off, going from long sequences of dialogue contained in a car to some nightmarish and abstract imagery that are both gorgeous and disturbing. It’s difficult to describe i’m thinking of ending things, and it can be hard-to-follow, demanding a re-watch to really even understand it. That said, it is Kaufman’s vision brought to life in an unflinching manner and is fascinating to dissect. i’m thinking of ending things streams on Netflix beginning September 4. Rating: 4.5/5
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Review by Camden Ferrell
Get Duked! is the feature debut of writer/director Ninian Doff. It premiered (under the title Boyz in the Wood) at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival where it won the Midnighters Audience Award before being acquired by Amazon Studios. This is one of the most enjoyable and refreshing comedies in years, and it’s one that is elevated by its witty dialogue and the cast’s consistent chemistry.
This film follows four boys on a camping trip who are attempting to earn their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Among these boys are aspiring rapper, DJ Beatroot, his two delinquent friends, Dean and Duncan, and the more sheltered and moralistic Ian. While on their trip, they find themselves being hunted by a mysterious man who they try and escape. This is a fun movie that really thrives off of its eccentric characters and outlandish premise. Doff’s script is very fast-paced and witty from the start, and it’s a style that fits the movie perfectly. He is able to combine juvenile humor with more small-town humor and put his own spin on it with quirky gags and hilarious one-liners. It’s an impressive debut screenplay that really gives the film the characteristics for which it will be remembered. The acting in this movie is also very strong throughout. While it is an ensemble effort, I believe most of the praise should go toward Viraj Juneja who plays the always funny DJ Beatroot. It’s a hilarious role that he embodies perfectly, and he never fails to add hilarity to any scene. Without a doubt, his performance will be the most memorable, and it warrants repeat viewings. The movie also features some great performances from Samuel Bottomley, Rian Gordon, and Lewis Gribben.
The movie is full of fun musical sequences that set it apart from the rest of the genre. Doff’s musical directing background gets utilized in this movie and creates some energetic, memorable, and downright comical musical numbers. It’s these unapologetically off the wall and hallucinogenic moments that prove Doff is a director with which to be reckoned.
The movie also functions as a satire of generational differences and classism. Some of these themes can be a little on the nose and distract from the laughs, but it’s a forgivable shortcoming. It does manage to say something about the abilities and intelligence of those who are deemed delinquent by society, and it’s a cliché but sweet message about the power of teamwork and cooperation. There will not be many movies that are as unafraid to be original as this one. Doff confidently leads his quirky indie film into territory that is daring but absolutely entertaining. Not every joke lands perfectly, but it has a fervent spirit that persists to the end. This movie is full of great jokes and one absolutely insane payoff that make this 87 minute film worth the watch. Get Duked! is the perfect movie to watch at home. It’s light-hearted, shocking, and hilarious. It features some great chemistry from its ensemble, and it’s a phenomenal debut from Doff who definitely has a bright future ahead of him. Get Duked! premieres on Amazon Prime August 28. Rating: 4/5
Review by Camden Ferrell
Entwined is a Greek movie that had its premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and has played at several other festivals since. This is the feature directorial debut of Minos Nikolakakis. The movie bears a lot of roots in Greek folktales and culture, but it ultimately comes off as a hollow homage to the stories on which it was inspired.
Panos is a doctor in this movie who is relocated to a small village to work. However, once he meets Danae, a mysterious woman with an odd skin condition, nothing is what it seems. This is a unique premise, and it does attempt to ambitiously recreate the same feeling as many Greek myths, but unfortunately, it’s a narrative risk that doesn’t fully pay off. The script is one of the most forgettable aspects of the movie. Nothing felt completely out of place, but the characters could have been developed a little more. The screenplay by John De Holland aims to tell a more grounded tale that still maintains the fantasy aspects of the genre, but it never quite hits the mark. It always seems to fall short of anything magical and unfortunately dances with the mundane too often for comfort. The acting in this movie is fairly decent but not very memorable. Prometheus Aleifer plays Panos, and he does a decent enough job of leading the movie especially through its pretty wacky narrative. He doesn’t go above and beyond what’s required of the role, and it’s pretty unobjectionable if anything. However, Anastasia Rafaella Konidi does give an intriguing performance as Danae even if it doesn’t always make too much sense.
Regardless of what the film lacks, it is actually quite a visual feat. The cinematography is very well-done, and it finds away to create new forms of energy and life with its palette of subdued and subtle colors. It finds a lot of beauty in nature to create the folktale feeling that the director was aiming for. Even if the substance of the movie didn’t always deliver, the visuals were always very beautiful.
It’s obvious that Nikolakakis had a strong connection to the spirit of the film and how it ties into his own cultural heritage. The movie’s attempt to pay tribute to this culture is honorable and obvious, but it doesn’t always work very well in the context of the narrative. It’s a fairly shaky feature debut as a director, but it shows hints of an artistic fervor that just needs the proper outlet. The most underwhelming aspect of the movie is the potential that was never fulfilled. The movie had lots of elements working in its favor, and it could have been a mythic and thematically rich story that captivated its audience while simultaneously honoring Greek heritage. Unfortunately, in its brief runtime, this movie doesn’t have much that will make it memorable. Entwined doesn’t fully deliver on its unique and intriguing premise, but for devout fans of Greek mysticism may find some joy in this debut from Nikolakakis. However, for the casual viewer, this movie may be one to skip. Entwined will be in select virtual cinemas August 28 followed by a VOD release on September 8. Rating: 2/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Werner Herzog is a very idiosyncratic filmmaker with an extremely eclectic filmography, and his newest documentary Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin adds yet another unique entry into his repertoire. Offering a truly different approach to the biographical documentary, Herzog’s documentary is fascinating even if you aren’t familiar with Chatwin’s work.
In the film, Herzog reflects on his friendship with legendary writer Bruce Chatwin by tracing parts of Chatwin’s journeys and studying the philosophies by which he lived. In focusing more on who Chatwin was than what he did, Herzog connects the audience with his subject more than any linear presentation of his life events ever would. Herzog stresses many times over the course of the movie that he is not the subject, Chatwin is, and although some of the interviewees seemed to be confused by this prospect, Herzog’s clear vision is able to bring that idea to life. The amount of respect he has for Chatwin and his work is obvious and infectious. What makes Herzog’s films so fascinating is the unique lens through which he views the world. Even in his less stirring features, the way in which he interacts with different cultures is absolutely fascinating. However, the thing that is so distinctive about Nomad is that the perspective from which he presents the movie is not exclusively his own, but rather, a combination of his and Chatwin’s.
One of the most magnificent things about the film is the way in which it inspires a sense of curiosity and wonder in the viewer. Chatwin’s writing is notable for bringing other cultures to the rest of the world in an empathetic way. Herzog’s movie follows in the same vein quite well, presenting the people of the world in a compelling light.
The film is less than ninety minutes long, and admittedly, it does jump around a lot. However, Herzog’s poetic approach to filmmaking really shines throughout the documentary and meshes well with Chatwin’s eloquent use of words. Yes, it’s a travelogue at its core, but it is also a love letter to the feeling of discovery that inspired Chatwin’s work. This is also an absolutely gorgeous movie to look at. The cinematography by Louis Caulfield and Mike Paterson is stunning, especially when the film is following Herzog on his journey across the world. Herzog’s use of archive materials is also excellent, with recordings of Chatwin’s readings frequently being used as voiceover to draw parallelisms between his explorations and those of Herzog. Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is absolutely wonderful. Thanks to Herzog’s creative and thoughtful approach, this will stand out as one of the most impressive biographical documentaries of the genre. Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin is now screening online in partnership with indie theaters. A list of participating locations can be found here. Rating: 4.5/5
Review by Sean Boelman
In recent years, Bruce Willis’s roles have gone from being that of a cool action hero in B-movies to that of the underutilized and curmudgeonly supporting player. This has arguably never been more true than it is in Matt Eskandari’s Hard Kill, a passable but bland flick composed of a series of firefights and not much else.
The film follows a mercenary and his team as they are hired by the billionaire CEO of a tech company to rescue his daughter from a terrorist who hopes to exploit his work. Like so many low-rent action flicks, the plot here is beyond convoluted and not much of it makes any sense, but movies like this aren’t really about the story. However, the movie hardly delivers on that front either. The least one expects from a movie like this are some fight scenes that have kinetic cinematography and rapid editing to drum up some excitement. Here, it just feels as if the filmmakers just pointed a camera at some people shooting guns at each other. In fact, the film as a whole suffers from being outright dull. It’s a very straightforward damsel-in-distress story, which is a dated narrative to begin with, and the movie’s attempts to make sure that it isn’t technologically irrelevant in a year’s time result in everything feeling a whole lot more generic too.
And for a film that takes place almost entirely in one location, there is no sense of spatial geography to be found. But it isn’t that Eskandari is going for an eerily labyrinthian type of feel — instead, it feels like pure laziness that seemingly no thought or attention was put into giving the world any sense of reality.
The character development of the movie is all but nonexistent. There are some attempts to build a dynamic between the protagonist and his team, and between the protagonist and Willis’s overseer figure, but these are too shallow and feel too much like an afterthought to leave any sort of impression. Perhaps more frustrating, though, is that the entire cast seems to be phoning it in. In the lead role, Jesse Metcalfe is off-puttingly stoic, likely in an attempt to make himself seem like a tough guy, but really just coming across as awkwardly gruff. And as is usual for Willis, his lack of passion seems to scream a desire to be put out of his misery. Hard Kill isn’t unwatchable, but it also isn’t particularly entertaining. It’s a film that seems designed to meet the lowest possible standards of competency, and while it achieves those modest goals, it fails to justify its existence in a sea of more entertaining straight-to-VOD popcorn fare. Hard Kill is now available on VOD. Rating: 2/5
Review by Sarah Williams
Kino Marquee is set to release a collection of three French films that have been fan favorites at recent film festivals, yet had yet to receive mass acclaim in the United States. Some of these have appeared on Mubi, or Kanopy, but are available now to support arthouse streaming services. Here’s what I thought of them, and this format certainly works well to curate the foreign market. (Seriously, when are we getting a triple feature of Losing It, Heroes Don’t Die, and Real Love as a second part to this?!)
Burning Ghost
Burning Ghost is a transcendent small production, a fainter echo of the intimate awe inspired by Mati Diop's Atlantics last year. Judith Chemla has a haunting gaze, her pale, wanting look alone leaves her ghostly in the lens of Céline Bozon's adept camerawork. Funny enough, she isn't a ghost, but Juste (Thimotée Robart) is. She is from his past life, and recognizes him as he has come to walk the earth again. He is a collector, taking memories off of those on the streets to help them move on, and hardly knows where he recognizes the souls from. The film is beautifully shot, lighting making city streets out to be an eerie afterlife, and the intimate sequences are particularly beautiful. Reds and oranges come out at night against bright blues, burning with colors of a flame, with blue that feels hot instead of the cool or serene hues it so often is relegated to. The end result is tender, yearning, and a pleasant surprise.
Burning Ghost is now streaming online in partnership with indie theaters. A list of participating locations can be found here. Rating: 4/5 Wonders in the Suburbs
Wonders in the Suburbs is a comedy of eccentrics, but the eccentricity falls flat into dry satire and joyless quirk. A supposed satire of French municipal politics directed by actress Jeanne Balibar, and produced by actor Matthew Amalric, it's embarrassing to see this running on autopilot "comedy" from actors with the privilege to try their hand behind the camera seemingly without any passion for the craft. It feels overbaked, a slew of French stars turning up, only for it to be utter nonsense (and an absolute waste of Bulle Ogier in the furthest thing from Rivettian comedy it could be). It’s unfortunate that this comes from genuinely talented people, some of the most passionate left wing faces in French cinema, but it’s a screaming, unfunny disaster. Emmanuelle Beart is a sad letdown, at the core of some of the many cringe inducing moments. It would be nice to pride the film for its diversity, but it’s too hollow, unfunny, and pointlessly quirky for this praise. Chaotic neo-liberal utopia would be entertaining to explore, but nothing lands, and it can’t help but seem like this wasn’t just lost in translation.
Wonders in the Suburbs is now streaming online in partnership with indie theaters. A list of participating locations can be found here. Rating: 2/5 The Bare Necessity
The one issue with The Bare Necessity is that it often feels like a script perfected on paper, but never tried in reality. Other than some awkwardness, it’s heartfelt, witty, and well-defined to its own little world. Swann Arlaud and Maud Wyler shine in a story of how easily our lives can change when someone enters or leaves it. Often deadpan, it is the story of a person as a meteor, given the chance to crash into the lives of a tight-knit community, and open eyes. The film finds its feet when pride is stripped down, personality flaws ripped apart to reveal a new, humbler man, as everyone watches. When the film is clever, it's very clever, and the weak first act, and its plot contrivances, are saved by great performances, and qualified camerawork. The adapt cinematographer shows nature wonderfully, a pale, serene delight for the landscape to stretch out into.
The Bare Necessity is now streaming online in partnership with indie theaters. A list of participating locations can be found here. Rating: 3.5/5 [Fantasia 2020] TEXAS TRIP - A CARNIVAL OF GHOSTS -- A Poetic and Haunting Essay on Creativity8/25/2020
Review by Sean Boelman
While there have been plenty of documentaries about alternative art, few have taken such a deep and distinctive dive into the medium as Steve Balestreri and Maxime Lachaud’s debut feature Texas Trip - A Carnival of Ghosts. Like if Frank Sidebottom and Joe Bob Briggs teamed up to make an avant garde video essay about creative expression, this is a truly unique audiovisual experience.
The main focus of the film is on a group of underground artists who specialize in performing noise music while experimenting with the form and creating idiosyncratic on-stage personas for themselves. With their documentary, Balestreri and Lachaud have found a dark and underexposed subset of the music scene, bringing it to the public in an alluring way. However, there’s more to this movie than the average music documentary. Although the subjects of the film are musicians, this is a very poetic ode to creativity in general. The filmmakers tie in a discussion of exploitation cinema of the days of drive-in to supplement these artists’ approach to their creative process. Admittedly, a lot is happening in this movie, and yet with the sprawling narrative structure it takes, it still feels very meditative. While the title would suggest otherwise, this is no average travelogue. It would almost be fitting if the title were referring to a trip in the hallucinatory sense, as that’s the type of visual style it exhibits.
If the film does fall flat in one area, it’s in the use of its subjects. It’s understandable why there is some layer of distance between themselves and the audience — that is what their performances are built around, after all — but the chaotic nature of the movie becomes a bit overwhelming at times and could have been helped by streamlining it.
The single most impressive aspect about this film is its soundscape, which is absolutely haunting. Obviously, a great deal of the sounds come from the subjects’ unusual music, but Balestreri and Lachaud also use the background noise of many shots in a way that is unsettling yet beautiful. The visuals complement the sound of the movie quite well. There is a hypnotic style to the film, with surreal and nightmarish imagery used throughout, albeit with an unexpected charm to it. Some of the shots are bright and colorful, while others are filled with shadows. In a movie full of dichotomies, this juxtaposition works extremely well. Texas Trip - A Carnival of Ghosts is a pretty mind-blowing documentary. Although not everyone will be attuned to its bizarre wavelength, those who are fascinated by the darker side of creativity will find this to be a captivating watch. Texas Trip - A Carnival of Ghosts screens on demand (geoblocked to Canada) as a part of the virtual edition of the 2020 Fantasia Film Festival, which runs August 20-September 2. Rating: 4.5/5
Review by Sarah Williams
A lingua franca, also known as a bridge language, is a language used for communication between people who do not share a native language. As we move through our lives, we exist in the world by how much it accepts us. It is like a language, a translation of social codes and risks we take that we translate to our own place in the world. It is hard to see the world through another’s eyes, this language of their movements, and the choices they must make, but the language that comes through art can bridge this. This is why we use cinema to see through into what someone else experiences, but this only really works when it comes from a place of authenticity. That authenticity runs through the veins of Isabel Sandoval’s Lingua Franca, a small, understated feature that feels deeply lived in.
Isabel Sandoval is Olivia, an undocumented Filipino trans woman in Brighton Beach, who works as a caregiver for aging Russian Olga (Lynn Cohen). She's working to be able to marry the man who has promised himself to her, until Olga’s grandson Alex (Eamon Farren) opens her eyes that immigration may not be the hardest factor here. There’s a tender safety between Olivia and Alex, but it’s not quite clear whose safety that is. When Alex tells her “you’re safe now”, he seems to mean himself, finally at peace where her life comforts him. Lingua Franca is a quiet lull before the storm, a calm insight into the daily rituals that come with living in a world that is set out against you. All of this is normal for Olivia, the stressors of her life are normalized here to a point where the plot isn’t her being trans and the struggle of it, and her immigration status is only relevant for the financial struggle that arises to marry her lover. These things are not the focus of her character, and Olivia is allowed to live a normal life, and isn’t defined by her setbacks, but lives them.
I look forward to a world in which Isabel Sandoval is one of her auteur generation, as the story she creates is intimate, authentic, and smartly-crafted. A one-woman filmmaking wonder in the tradition of Akerman, she directs, produces, edits, writes, and stars in this quiet slice of life, scenes from an ordinary day that feels extraordinary when we don’t live it. Having worked on this idea during her own gender transition, Sandoval acutely depicts the stresses of life with a hand that rarely wavers as one of an amateur would. While her voice may be fainter here than it could be, the film is often too slight to leave as hard of an impact as it could. There is a commendable nature to how she never goes for the cheaper emotions, no loud outbursts come here. That being said, it’s almost too gentle, no one scene stands out as memorable, and it’s hard not to wish that tenderness went much further.
Released by Ava Duvernay’s ARRAY label, this is the kind of film that benefits from this wide audience. It’s put in a place where it will be clicked impulsively, and even if that view mainly resonates as too slow for a general audience, at least this story is presented to the broadest audience it could be. So often, queer cinema is relegated to the sidelines when it comes from a place of authenticity, in favor of watered-down stories made palatable to a general audience. ARRAY focuses on this authenticity, stories against an all-white cinematic canon that prevailed for years, that will challenge this general Netflix audience if they choose to view. It is the accessibility that matters, allowing for the world to see what they may not know to seek out on their own. Lingua Franca streams on Netflix beginning August 26. Rating: 3.5/5 THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD -- An Agreeable but Shallow Version of a Literary Classic8/25/2020
Review by Sean Boelman
An adaptation of the beloved novel by Charles Dickens and the first foray of satirist Armando Iannucci into a more broad form of comedy, The Personal History of David Copperfield is an agreeable film. However, despite a few magical moments, the movie feels too safe to leave much of a lasting impact.
The story follows an orphan who, through childhood and into adulthood, is able to overcome a series of obstacles and challenges to achieve success in life. This is as uplifting a tale as ever, and the brightly whimsical tone that Iannucci and his co-writer Simon Blackwell bring to the adaptation makes it pretty charming, but something is missing from the equation. Perhaps it is the fact that the film feels like it doesn’t really have anything to say. Yes, there’s the obvious message about hard work paying off, but that’s really only the surface of Dickens’s story. The not-too-subtle subtext about the exploitation of the working class is lost, the movie presenting the antagonistic forces as cruel people rather than a cruel system. Or maybe it is that the film is shoddily-paced. Portions of the movie, particularly relating to the protagonist’s romantic exploits, drag significantly, while other subplots are relegated to one or two scenes. Dickens’s plotting is quite intricate, and this adaptation instead turns it into something that feels ready-made for mass consumption.
Granted, there are a good deal of laughs to be had, some from the witty dialogue and others from the charm of the characters. Iannucci and Blackwell do an excellent job of capturing the eccentric nature of Dickens’s characters and translating it to the screen, with good casting of Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, and Tilda Swinton to bring them to life.
The film also looks excellent. The production design and costuming are wonderful, the colors vibrant, and the overall visual energy of the movie is infectious. Iannucci clearly has plenty of creativity to spare, leaving one to wonder why he didn’t try to do something more with the material than make a rather straightforward period piece. That said, the single greatest strength of the film is without a doubt Dev Patel’s wonderful performance in the leading role. Without the charm and humanity that Patel infuses into the character, this would have been a pretty but bland adaptation. Thanks to his impeccable delivery, he holds the movie up almost entirely on his own. There’s really nothing too bad to complain about regarding The Personal History of David Copperfield, but apart from some good visuals and a great cast, it doesn’t really stand out. With this level of talent involved, it should have been brilliant, but it’s just fine. The Personal History of David Copperfield opens in theaters on August 28. Rating: 3/5
Review by Sean Boelman
Actor David Arquette is known to have just as eccentric an off-screen persona as many of the characters he portrayed on screen, the most bizarre part of his career likely being his stint in professional wrestling. Blending the best elements of underdog and comeback stories, the new documentary You Cannot Kill David Arquette is both very entertaining and super touching.
The film follows Arquette as he attempts to make a comeback in the sport that did not welcome him in his first attempt, him having been labeled at one time as the “most hated man in wrestling”. And even though his initial attempt to enter the arena may have been inspired by a publicity stunt, his love for the sport is obvious and infectious. Directors David Darg and Price James do an excellent job of developing Arquette in a way that is relatable and extremely sympathetic. Although wrestling fans still may not be too fond of him because of the mockery that was his initial bid, there’s something undeniably likeable about Arquette’s personality and dedication. Like any underdog story, the main message here is one of perseverance. Despite criticism and naysayers, Arquette remains committed to his goals and does everything within his abilities to accomplish them. However, there’s an added layer of redemption here, as Arquette sets out to prove those who think he doesn’t belong in wrestling to be wrong.
That said, anyone who is familiar with Arquette’s backstory will know the medical issues he has faced over his life, and this gives the movie a strong emotional grounding. Arquette feels himself torn between his obligation to himself and his family and his desire to correct and amend his past mistakes, hoping to leave a positive mark on sports history, not a negative one.
It’s a very charming documentary in many ways, even if one isn’t a particular fan of wrestling. There are plenty of unique sequences in the film that are sure to be memorable, like Arquette’s brief foray in Mexican street wrestling, but the mostly jovial nature of the movie goes a long way in making it very entertaining. Darg and James shoot the film in a way that is very cinematic. There are some interviews with figures who are famous in wrestling and some who were involved in Arquette’s life, but the more compelling aspect of the movie is the often unfiltered access that the filmmakers had to follow Arquette on his journey. You Cannot Kill David Arquette is an excellent watch, both for fans of the actor and fans of wrestling. Funny and endearing, it’s a wonderfully-made documentary that will certainly connect with viewers in unexpected ways. You Cannot Kill David Arquette hits VOD on August 28. Rating: 4.5/5 |
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