FILM REVIEWS:
BOOKWORM (New Zealand 2023) ***½
Directed by Ant Timpson
During a time of crisis, a freak electrical accident involving a faulty toaster switch results in another being going into a coma and then recovering, a washed-up American magician Strawn Wise (Elijah Wood) and his precocious estranged daughter Mildred (Nell Fisher) take to the New Zealand wilderness, in search of a mythical black panther.
Like in the LORD OF THE RINGS, it is Frodo (Wood) embarking a different kind of journey in BOOKWORM, one in which he discovers himself and achieves redemption from the daughter he had abandoned,
The script contains quirky dialogue expected from a film entitled and about a BOOKWORM. “I am officially telling you your mom is ok,” says Strawn when he first sees his daughter. “Does that mean that a professional has officially told you that my mom is ok?” comes the precocious reply. “Do you want to see something amazing,” the dad later asks. “Does it take a long time?” comes the questioned reply. When told that it would not, she goes on: “Then show me something amazing.” Many other dialogue samples making upshots can be termed ‘smart talk’ creating a wry and quirky observation of events in the film. Mildred not only speaks cleverly but knowledgeably as she is widely read, as compared to her father.
The film clearly demonstrates how fresh and entertaining it can be with smart yet simple dialogue without resorting to expensive CGI special effects, action sequences and pyrotechnics. The young daughter has a lot of smart talk that comes naturally believable for the reason that she is well-read and a bookworm. Though the term bookworm can take a variety of meanings, the one referenced in the film is an avid reader and lover of books. Complaints often come from the fact that many writers treat children as if they can speak as adults - the best example being the Neil Simon plays where all the kids speak as adults complete with punch lines.
Even as a daughter-father relationship drama, the film contains quite a few thrills including a cliffhanger scene (literally) as the two attempt to cross two cliffs on a role while pursued by a black panther.
The film contains almost all the elements of a movie including drama, adventure, action, suspense and comedy. There is a it of everything for everyone.
The ending is a bit stretched out both in length and in credibility which disappoints a bit as the film is otherwise quite well laid out and built up.
The film is a coming-of-age story set in a father-and-daughter relationship with the roles reversed. The child-like father who in short can be described as a man-child with nobles undergoes a dramatic change and recovery under the guidance of his 11-year old daughter whom he finally connects with.
Trailer:
DAHOMEY (Senegal/France/Benin 2024) ***
Directed by Mati Diop
The Golden Bear winner at this year’s Berlinale, Mati Diop’s DAHOMEY traces the historic repatriation of 26 royal treasures from France to Benin, simultaneously forging a speculative and political reflection on cultural heritage, collective memory, and the implications of restitution. Diop directed the recent ATLANTICS which received rave reviews when screened at Cannes and at TIFF.
Benin, a French-speaking West African nation, is the birthplace of the vodun (or “voodoo”) religion and home to the former Dahomey Kingdom from circa 1600–1900. In Abomey, Dahomey's former capital, the Historical Museum occupies two royal palaces with bas-reliefs recounting the kingdom’s past and a throne mounted on human skulls. To the north, Pendjari National Park offers safaris with elephants, hippos and lions.
For centuries, the Kingdom of Dahomey, within the borders of modern-day Benin, was a central cultural meeting point in West Africa, a site of European colonial conquest and the transatlantic slave trade. In 1892, the French invaded and looted hundreds of treasures from the royal palace, alongside thousands of other works. Following years of appeals and reports, in 2021 an agreement was made for several of these artworks to be returned from France to Benin.
The doc, at the beginning, takes the view of one of the artifacts that calls itself number 26. It talks in voiceover (speaking in Don), of what it experiences while being stolen and then returned back to Benin. The star speaks in poetic prose, giving the doc an artistic feel.
A few artifacts are shown and described in detail. One of them is a statue of King Ghezo, one of the country’s rulers in the past. It is slightly damaged but was made of painted wood and steel fibre and still looks magnificent.
A large portion of the doc involves debates among the Beninese - University students. The debates open one’s eyes to the thoughts and demise of the people. Firstly, they main issue of concern is the return of only 26 figures out of a total of 7000. The important question is the reason for their return. The debate of whether the move is politically cultural. One person says that Francois Mitterrand just wants to improve his brand by allowing the run of the 26 figures. Another argues that there are two kinds of heritage - material and nonmaterial. The artifacts are the material ones that have been taken away from he people and the other like the dances, colour and music that stay in the country and conniver be taken away from the people. The point is also brought out of when the rest of the 7000 will be returned, if ever.
Other issues rain, making the problem more complex. Who will be responsible for looking after and preserving the artifacts? An elderly claims that he is too old and it is up to the younger generation to take responsibility. The returned figures now reside in the Palais and how can children in remote villages get a chance to view the history?
The doc also emphasizes the importance of history and the loss of the people’s native language due to colonization. The debaters in the doc all speak French and are unable to communicate or speak in their native tongue.
DAHOMEY won this year’s Golden Bear at the Berlinale and was also screened at the last Toronto International Film Festival and opens at the TIFF Lightbox on October 18th.
Trailer:
JUSTICE (Poland 2024) ***
Rezyseria: Michal Gazda
Netflix has partnered with Poland lately for quite a number of original features - mostly romances and action thrillers. With these many films, they are often hot and miss. When the new Netflix original from Poland opens, the words state that the events seen on the screen have been modified to the director’s artistic vision. The disclaimer follows that the events are not related to any living past or present, Truth be told, JUSTI|CE begins quite impressively.
A discharged police officer, Gardacz is given a chance to regain his former life by capturing a bank robbery crew. Teaming up with a young policewoman, the ex-cop must act swiftly before the heist draws unwanted scrutiny from the new authorities. The film is set in 1990 which explains the absence of cell phones.
The first image is that of a whimpering woman. The camera moves back to reveal a shotgun, held by a trembling gunman. The next image is outside the bank that is assumed being robbed and gunfire is heard. The next scene introduces the audience to the hero protagonist of the story. The hero is not a good-looking young stud but a scruffy older gentleman who has been removed from the police force due to his bad behaviour in the past, particularly dealing with communists. The Minister re-instates him to the investigation giving him 2 weeks to succeed. If the ex-major does, he will be given his old rank in the police force, much to the consternation of the female in charge of the robbery.
The investigation begins and it is clear that the two are at loggerheads, especially in the throes of the robbers. The audience has obviously put month e side of the ex-major who appears smart enough to come up with relevant theories, not to mention his fierce way of getting things done. So far, JUSTICE is impressive and looks like a compelling action thriller
A security guard was killed during the robbery. Apparently h had his shift switched with another who is then questioned for the reason. The investigations and the details in the story are also detailed, thus making this mystery thriller more entertaining than most. The devil is in the details.
The robbers' identities are revealed at the film’s 30-minute mark after the film clarifies the correctness of Gardacz’s suspicions. Director Garda ups the ante, One of them Kasper is shown to be unstable, after losing his daughter to an adopted family. Gardacz is on Kasper’s trail.
The filtrates eachidividual whether copper crook with vulnerability, making each of them credible as human beings, thus creating a thriller innwhuch the characters matter.
JUSTICE though a work of fiction, plays like a true crime drama, meticulously thought out and executed. JUSTICE, from Poland, is one of the better originals from Netflix, full of intricate details and plot twists that is entertaining from start to end. JUSTICE is available for streaming on Netflix this week,
MadS (France 2024) ***
Written and Directed by David Moreau
Nothing in the movie is what it seems. What appears to be an animal scouring around his car turns out to be an older woman. Her supposed injury turns out to be something else.
And nothing is what Romain (Milton Riche) has expected. He never expected to drop his lit cigarette in the car and to shop by the roadside as a result If not the woman would not have entered his vehicle. The question also arises whether the audience is put in Romain’s shoes, as he is high as a kite, after experimenting with a new drug at his dealer’s.
Eighteen-year-old Romain has just graduated and makes a stop at his dealer’s place to try a new pill. He, of course, has snorted a few lines of coke as well. As he heads off to a party with his girlfriend waiting for him there, hoping to score more drugs, he sees an injured woman on the side of the road and decides to help her, but when she gets in his car, she suddenly smashes her own head against the dashboard, bleeding out until she dies. So is this a hallucination bad trip? Or is it something else? One thing is for sure to the audience, it’s only the beginning of the wild night where anything else can happen and probably will.
The film MADS is advertised as a thriller/mystery/horror and works equally well in either of these genres.
Director Moreau ups the ante with strobing lights and weird noises on the soundtrack to let his audience feel the intensity and uneasiness that Romain feels. It is not helped when his girlfriend Ana shows up and keeps asking him if anything is wrong, and whether it is her. Things get worse when her friends show up, all intending to have a wild night partying. While all this is happening, a voiceover goes: “Subject C39 achieved! Contamination!”
Spoiler alert (this paragraph only:) For what is lacking in the story - the film has a loose narrative based on the single premise of the end of the world scenario, which it makes up in interspersed scary scenes like the women suddenly appearing all bloodied in Romain’s bathtub or Romain suddenly violently beating up a girl at a party. Some suspense is also generated with his father, away on business constantly calling Romain asking if everything is all right when obviously, everything is not. The dad calls Romain at one instant when the alarm in his house goes off, and Romain has to check on what is going on, cycling frantically home to turn off the alarm system. All the while, he is high on drugs and not wanting the police to show up, though he clearly needs help. MADS plays like a madcap horror film, which is an intensive watch, making it a standout horror film because the end-of-world scenario has never been done beef this way.
MADS has premiered at several film festivals internationally and opens for streaming on the streaming horror service, Shudder on October 18th. This one is worth a look.
Trailer:
RUMOURS (Canada/Germany 2024) ****
Directed by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson,
Out of this world are the words that can be used to describe this engrossing weird and absurdist satire, Guy Maddin style which is aided by performances of an impressive cast that includes Cate Blanchett as the German chancellor, inspired casting of heart-throb Roy Depuis as the Canadian Prime Minister and Charles Dance as the American President. The G7 leaders are gathered in order to issue a united statement on a world crisis. The G7 leaders are so lost in working on this provisional statement filled with platitudes and nonsense that they don’t realize they’ve been abandoned by their servers. It’s only then, when the cameras and aides have left, that things really go off the rails and each of their shortcomings comes glaringly into focus, not to mention a giant brain (that thankfully does not speak) and some zombie-like creatures. Shot in colour and black and white (Maddin’s favourite medium) and filmed in English, French, German and Swedish.
SWEET BOBBY: My Catfish Nightmare (UK 2024) ***
Directed by Lyttanya Shannon
A woman's online courtship takes an unsettling turn when her romantic interest harbours a dark secret and sinister motives, leading to a harrowing ordeal. It deals with catfishing - a relationship that lasted 10 years.
Catfishing refers to the case when a person takes information and images, typically from other people, and uses them to create a new identity for themselves. In some cases, a catfisher steals another individual's complete identity—including their image, date of birth, and geographical location—and pretends that it is their own.
Kirat and Bobby - a catfishing romance that destroyed the life of Kiran, a victim.. In real life, catfishing usually leads to swindle of money, but in this case, there is no real reason, which makes the story even stranger, though still quite believable.
The title of the story gives the ending away as the audience knows right away that the victim is caught in a scam by someone pretending to be her lover.
SWEET BOBBY: My Catfish Nightmare is another true crime documentary from Netflix - the streaming service that delivers at present almost one true crime drama every week, many often stranger than fiction, These crime documentaries are quite compelling to watch SWEET BOBBY: My Catfish Nightmare included.
The film is unveiled like a documentary with the victim Kirat talking most often to the camera as she in interviewed by (one assumes to be) the director, and as she tells her story. Her family that including her parents is also interviewed as is Bobby and Sanj, Bobby’s wife. But the villain of the piece Simran, is portrayed by another actor. At the film’s closing credits, it is revealed that Simian had declined to be interviewed for the film. The doc can be described as cheesy, which includes obvious cheesy re-enactments, but the story unfolding in chronological order is nevertheless very compelling to watch, owing to its content.
The doc opens with Kirat, a radio show host starting an internet connection with Bobby. Bobby is married at the time and Kirat in a long term relationship. As the years pass, the two communicate via texts and emails involving thousands of conversations. Bobby gets divorced and Kirat breaks her long term relationship. Both have family connections in Kenya, which makes them compatible with each other.
The doc stresses the sad fact that humans now live in a world where no one can live without the internet. With the use of the internet comes online frauds and scams. And everyone would have at this time been caught in one scam at least, on average, Today, it has become easier to find love online through dating apps and social media sites. While this is convenient, and many people have found their true love, it also becomes a breeding ground for people wanting to commit crimes like catfishing. People ignore all the red flags because they are vulnerable, especially when finding love.
SWEET BOBBY: My Catfish Nightmare is a Netflix original documentary and it opens for streaming this week on Netflix.
WE LIVE IN TIME (UK/France 2024) **
Directed by John Crowley
WE LIVE IN TIME is touted as an inventively structured romance (but the question is whether it works) that explores the question of how to make the most of our time in this world.
Since their first encounter, Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) have rarely had a dull moment. A meet-cute car accident, giving birth in the unlikeliest of locations, a world-class gastronomical competition… their time together seems fated to brim with striking, if not forced, events.
WE LIVE IN TIME alternates between three distinct chronologies, allowing the audience to experience this couple’s story in a way that heightens the understanding of how the Collision with present experience and how meaning is made through accumulation. As the film begins, Almut is given a sobering medical diagnosis and options for treatment that may or may not prove effective. What if the time spent in treatment wastes time that could be spent living life to the fullest?
John Crowley is a (born) Irish film and theatre director who was born in Cork, Ireland. His film credits include BROOKLYN (2015) and the flop THE GOLDFINCH (2010, which was actually not bad. His latest entry WE LIVE IN TIME is unfortunately a sorry miss, but not for want of trying. Actors Pugh and Garfield are both Academy Aid nominees, thus giving audiences high expectations for the film
WE LIVE IN TIME is a film told in non-chronological order. The main reason for the tactic is so that the most dramatic parts of the story can be left to the end of the film to make a solid climax. But one main flaw is that the ending of the story is often revealed at the film’s start which is true in the case of this film. The audience sees the protagonist alone inches room idly g that his wife has already passed from her illness of cancer,
But this is not the only fault of the film. Director Crowley is fond of using handheld camera but in the film, he uses the technique in the worst way. He uses handheld camera for scenes like reading text on a cell phone or reading a memo - there is no way one can read the jittery writing. The other flaw in the film is the resort to improvisation. In one of the two climatic segments, the one in which the baby is delivered at a gas station, the segment looks too forced and manipulative to be believed.
It is a pity that WE LIVE IN TIME, a definite misfire, despite good intentions and ambition on the director’s front, flops as the two main actors Florence Pugh and Andre Garfield are excellent actors who have proven themselves apt in better features. The film tends to be melodramatic with the much-needed humour missing and left to the improvised segments, Best to give this film a skip.
WE LIVE IN TIME, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival opens in theatres on October 18th.
