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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 04 January 2024

FILM REVIEWS:

 

FROM THE ASHES (Saudi Arabia) ***1/2

Directed by Khaled Fahad

 

Films set in a girl’s school have always been more than interesting fodder.  And even more so for this film that is from Saudi Arabia.  Peter Weir broke into the film industry with PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK about a disappearance during a school outing while Maggie Smith won the Best Actress Oscar for THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE as a teacher in an all-girls school.

From the ashes is a metaphor related to the mythological phoenix.  In the film with the title that borrows from the metaphor, a seemingly normal school day ends in unthinkable disaster when a mysterious fire breaks out in the school basement. Chaos, panic, and confusion prevail among students and teachers.

At the film’s start, the words inform the audience that the film is based on true events but incidents are fictionalized to enhance the storytelling process.  This becomes apparent as the film unfolds as the incidents that unfold are humorous and terribly entertaining.  The audience sees very entertaining teachers as well as students.  The disciplinary mistress at the start of the school day goes around the assembly checking nails and makeup while picking out offenders to report to the principal’s office.  The schoolgirls are also rebelliously funny making side remarks constantly.  One incident involved the disciplinary mistress confiscating gum from a student who had hidden the gum in her socks.  As the girls turn to walk away, one girl pulls out another stick of gum from her bra and pops the gum into her mouth while the teacher, her back to the students puts the gum she has confiscated into her own mouth.  But the film soon turns to a more serious tone as fire breaks out and arson is suspected.  The film also plays like a whodunit.  Who locked Amira in the storeroom that caused her death during the fire?  And who caused the fire?  Amira’s mother accuses the principal of the daughter’s death and the principal takes it upon herself to do the investigation.  Suspects like Amira’s classmate enemies are discovered and the hunt goes on in this quite interesting film

Director Fahad devotes equal time to the personalities of the teachers and the students.  Samira, always the ‘best student’ each week is picked upon and bullied.  The principal is always busy with her court case, and her appointed stand-in dislikes taking over her responsibilities when she is away.  Will the fire bring everyone together?  The script emphasizes women’s rights as it opens a discussion on how far a female should cover her body - up to the wrist.  Are women inferior to men or is the reason that men can be easily tempted?  The film goes on to show that what occurs in this all-female school is not much different than what would occur in an all-boys school and females have all the trials, tribulations and challenges like any other male.

FROM THE ASHES is a surprisingly entertaining Saudi Arabian film under the radar that deserves a look from its both entertaining and social standpoint,

FROM THE ASHES is a Netflix original movie from Saudi Arabian and opens for streaming on Thursday, January 18th, Thursday.  The film is billed as a drama and a thriller but it also plays as an entertaining comedy.

Trailer: 

IN THE MORNING OF LA PETITE MORT (Taiwan 2023) **

Directed by Wang Yu-Lin

 

Despite the part French title, there is nothing French about this film.

From the award-winning Taiwanese director Wang Yu-Lin (SEVEN DAYS IN HEAVEN), arrives what the film’s poster calls a provocative boundary-pushing erotic drama.  Whether the last adjective can be applied is arguable as this film bears quite many resemblances with fellow Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang, especially sharing common traits with Tsai’s hit VIVE L’AMOUR.

The similarities include the fact that both films deal with sex, both have characters who ride a motorcycle and both films share a French title.  The feel of both films is also similar, the way the incidents unfold, in a cinema-verite manner, which perhaps accounts for the films’ French titles.  In IN THE MORNING OF LA PETITE MORT, there is a scene in which an older Filipino woman comes and lies beside Matsui, the male protagonist, caressing his side tenderly, but he’s not interested and does not reciprocate.  In VIVE L’MOUR an identical scene occurs when one male lies besides and caresses a sleeping other male.

Because Tsai’s film came out first, I would not call Wang’s film boundary-pushing. Both films are thankfully quite entertaining and engrossing, despite their artistic slant making both films a bit of a slow burn.

IN THE MORNING OF LA PETITE MORT follows Matsui (Yusuke Fukuchi), a homeless food delivery driver by motorbike, who spends his days and nights traveling from destination to destination without any place to find true solace.  He temporarily houses himself in an abandoned building, often very cold at night,  Longing to make a connection, he becomes infatuated with a beautiful young prostitute Ching (Wang Yun-Chih).  On Matsui’s day off, he summons his courage to enlist Ching’s sex services.  It is shown while Ching is never intimate with any of her other clients, who are mostly elderly and unattractive, she is quite intimate, allowing kissing with Matsui, showing that she is attracted to him.  But her sudden disappearance drags him deeper into depression.  Disheartened, Matsui rejects the warmth and compassion of Helen (Huei-Ling Jan), a middle-aged Filipino cleaner, who is constantly harassed by Wang (Jieh-Wen King), the security guard inside her apartment complex.

IN THE MORNING OF LA PETITE MORT explores the fleeting relationships of four individuals driven by unfulfilled desires and emotionally detached from the cruel world that surrounds them.  Director Wang paints a grim view of life with little chance of hope or parts that would improve the individual’s lives.  His characters are stuck in the rut of mundane daily routines, and the need to be loved.  The depressing film arrives in the depressing month of January when all the festivities are over and winter sets in.  To Wang’s credit, despite the slow pace of his film, his characters are sympathetic and the audience can sympathize if not care for each individual one

Like Tsai’s VIVE L’AMOUR, the characters in the film are those living on the fringes ofthe city mostly rejecting trying to etch out some meaning in their lives.

IN THE MORNING OF LA PETITE MORT opened on VOD & DIGITAL  on January 19th, 2023.

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THE KITCHEN (UK 2023) ***

Directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya.

 

Yet another film about stealing and possessing land.  Films like THE KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, AS BESTAS (THE BEASTS), and the upcoming films, LOS COLONOS (THE SETTLERS) and THE PROMISED LAND all share this common trait.  In the new Netflix British dystopian futuristic film, social housing has been sold, one estate at a time to wealthy developers and those in the housing are forced to evacuate.  Of course, many do not.

In a dystopian future in London in the 2040s, where all social housing has been eliminated, one of the only ones left is THE KITCHEN.  The audience is introduced to this estate in the morning through the radio DJ host who broadcasts over the estate.  He is Lord Kitchener (Ian Wright) who broadcasts both sly remarks and upbeat music over the waves. The film contains a wicked R&B soundtrack.  The film slowly descends into the two subjects a man and a boy. Izi (Kane Robinson) and Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman) fight to navigate the world as residents of The Kitchen - a community that refuses to abandon their homes.  Izi meets Benji at Kenji’s mother’s funeral, he works in the funeral home, which he dislikes.  (Izi appears to dislike everything.)  Izi used to date Genji’s mother; Benji figures that his real father would be at his mum’s funeral.  So the bonding could well be a father/son relationship.  It is revealed later on in the film through Benji’s words to Izzi that this is so.  “My mother told me that my father worked at the funeral home ‘Life After Life’ and lived in THE KITCHEN.”  He goes on to add that she told him that he never loved her but could love him.  The film’s display of these relationships however is often distracted by the loud surroundings of the film’s futuristic setting

The future of the film looks not much different from the present -with lots of noisy people, electronics and loud music.  There is 3D imagery and usage in the public washrooms and government drones that constantly hovering around the buildings.  In contrast, the residents of THE KITCHEN use banging of pots and pans from their buildings to warn others of police raids.

The year 2044 is not that far off from the present of 2024 - around 20 years,  For this reason, many of the scenes showing the old London estate THE KITCHEN look like the present London flat estates.

The film eventually morphs into a film about the relationship between Izi and Benji with the social commentary on land taking a step back.  Essentially, it becomes a story of two lonely souls who finally have found a reason to make sense of all the trouble surrounding their lives.

THE KITCHEN had its world premiere at the 67th BFI London Film Festival on October 15, 2023, with generally favourable reviews.   It was released in select cinemas in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2024 before its streaming debut by Netflix on 19 January 2024.  It opens for streaming in North America as well on the 19th.

Trailer: 

MEMORY (USA/Chile/Mexico 2023) ***½

Directed by Michel Franco

 

MEMORY begins with an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in which individuals share their experiences.  It feels like a documentary on AA as the testimonies sound real and gut-wrenching.  (Real AA members were used in the scene.)  This is until the audience sees Jessica Chastain who plays Sylvia in the meeting, Sylvia who has succeeded for more than 13 years without having a drink.  However, the audience learns that this individual has other problems.  She locks the door and is over-conservative in her safety.  The reason is soon made clear as she was sexually abused when she was in high school.  She comes as what one would call ‘damaged goods’.   This is the story of Sylvia who meets another man who falls in the same category of ‘damaged goods’.  He is Saul, a man suffering from dementia.

Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. This is blown open when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.

One must give credit to director Franco for his keenly observed and meticulously executed scenes.  These help the audience both identify and sympathize with the characters.  One is the beginning segment where Saul follows Sylvia back from the High School Reunion party.  Sylvia leaves the party when Saul moves to sit beside her at the table and to her consternation, she sees him following her back  The scene on the subway platform is impressive.  The audience sees her looking at him while he looks away and him looking at her when she looks away.  The scene is so much like what happens in real life when one tries to observe without being observed.  The other is a sensitive scene where the two are in the living room watching a movie.  When Sylvia returns to the living room, she asks him what has happened in the movie.  He replies that he can rewind the movie.  Sylvia realizes he has dementia while he remarks that he never can watch a movie because of it.

Peter Sarsgaard and Jessica Chastain both deliver nuanced and credible performances.  They are key to the movie and they indeed make the movie.

MEMORY plays like a very depressing version of SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.  The film has a January opening as it would be difficult to watch such a depressing film during December the festive season.  On the other hand, in January in depressing winter, many would avoid more depression by watching a depressing film.  There can never be a good time to watch a depressing film, but if one wants to go against the flow, the well-crafted MEMORY is a challenging, demanding and satisfying watch, a case where one has to work for one’s entertainment that comes as satisfaction rather than joy or laughter.  But be not mistaken that the film is scattered with a few jokes, some laugh-out-loud funny.

Memory premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on 8 September 2023 and had its North American premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. on 10 September 2023.  The film was scheduled for a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 22, 2023, and opens in theatres in Toronto on January 15th.

Trailer: 
 

MOJA & VESNA (Australia/Slovenia 2022) ****

Direct by Sara Kovacic

 

In 1996, French director. Jacques Dillon broke new ground with his gut-wrenching film of how a 4-year-old coped with her mother’s sudden death in PONETTE. This January, two films feature young girls coping with death  One is MOJA & VESNA, reviewed here and the other is Mexico’s entry for the Oscars, TOTEM, already shortlisted.

In MOJA & MO+VESNA, the young 10-year-old girl tries to mend her fractured family (elder sister and father) following the sudden death of the mother (not shown but detailed later on in the film) in this extremely delicate and devastating drama from down under. The family is Slovenian and the film is an Australian Slovenian co-production,   The film has already won not only numerous awards from international film festivals but surely will win one’s heart as well.

Ten-year-old Moja (Loti Kovacic) lives with her grief-stricken Slovenian father, Milos (Gergor Bakovic) and pregnant twenty-year-old sister, Vesna (Mackenzie Mazur) in the outer suburbs of Melbourne.  Unable to accept the reality of her mother’s sudden passing, Moja instead focuses on preparing for the baby while Vesna struggles to take responsibility as an expecting parent.  Mona treats her sister more like a mother.   Despite the growing strain in their relationship, Moja pushes on, hoping in vain that Vesna will eventually fill the "mother-shaped   She leads them to believe that Vesna is her mum.

As expected from the story laid out in the synopsis, the subject is heart-breaking stuff and director Kovacic knows how to pull and stretch those heartstrings she does from start to finish.

The film hangs on and features a "revelatory" performance by Loti Kovacic, playing Moja and hailed as "one of the best Australian features in recent memory" (FilmInk).  The young actress demonstrates the innocence and maturity of a young child forced into immediate adulthood by dire circumstances.  If this performance does not move you, nothing will.

The film often shows Mona as the most mature and the one most able to deal with her mother’s death.  There is one moving scene in which Vesna questions Mona on what she would do in a certain situation and when she gives the most obvious and appropriate answer, Vesna replies that Mona does not understand the question or understand her,

Director Kovacic alternates between steady cam and handheld camera, the latter more effective, as there is less distraction from the jittery framing.  She loves to film scenes from a well-staged setup.  One of the best and most intimate scenes is the one at the dinner table where the father recalls a past memory, a very funny one that gets the whole family (and the audience) laughing when Vesna got a swollen face from a sickness when she was 4.

MOJA & VESNA, nominated for a Generation Kplus Crystal Bear and the GWFF Best First Feature Award at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, is the debut feature from writer/director Sara Kern who adapted the film from her award-winning short Vesna Goodbye.  The film makes its North American premiere on SVOD service Indiepix Unlimited on January 19, 2024.

Trailer: 

MY LONELINESS HAS WINGS (Mi Soldad Tiens Alas) (Caged Wings) (Spain 2023) ***

Directed by Mario Casas

 

From Spain, this Netflix original movie premieres this week on Netflix in North America though it opened in theatres in Spain last year.  It is an energetic enough youth drama involving Dan and his relationships with his girl, his grandmother, and his father.  the film is the directorial debut of Mario Casas who casts his brother Oscar in the lead role.  The film loses steam quite fast, limited by the material, though certain parts of the film show promise for the young director.

The film opens with a smash and grad in the middle of the night in the city of Barcelona, sirens blaring as the trio of thieves get away on a bike.  They sell their wars and end up in a club, getting wasted while flirting around with the locals.  The film then focuses on Dan (Oscar Casas, the handsome lead), a young man with a talent for art, especially street art graffiti.  Dan dreams of going to Berlin to start a new life from scratch. His day-to-day life is spent between parties and alcohol with his two friends, Reno, another energetic youth and Vio, a beautiful girl.   The romance between Vo and Dan is hinted at, though they remain good friends. Drama eventually rears its head and Dan has to figure out his life in this coming-of-age story with a different twist.  Not too and a film button too good either,

MY LONELINESS HAS WINGS (Mi Soldad Tiens Alas) is available for streaming on Netflix on January 19th.

Trailer: 

THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE (Das Leherzimmer)(Germany 2023) ***** Top10

Directed by İlker Çatak

 

Germany’s entry for Best International Feature for the upcoming Oscars in 2024 that made the shortlist, THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE is a riveting and compelling drama set in a school in which all hell breaks loose after systematic racism rears its ugly head.  THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE is where most of the drama takes place.  

The film follows a newly hired 6th grade teacher, an enthusiastic Carla hired to teach gym and mathematics.  She gains the respect of her class initially and everything appears to go well until a series of thefts occur at the school (hints of THE WINSLOW BOY) and one of her students is suspected (with hints of covert racism). 

Carla is outraged and decides to get to the bottom of the matter on her own.  But her sleuthing finds her up against outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students, causing everyone to turn against her.   Adding to the suspense are the film’s stabbing music and a backdrop of endless hallways that Carla traverses looking for an answer.   In the midst of it all, are the adults trying to solve the problem by finding a viable solution using all their adult experience and education.  The school principal herself has a doctorate and at one point in the film tells her staff: “Let me use my experience to solve the problem.”  She also resorts to a democratic vote as to what action should be taken.  A cautionary tale evoking raw emotions!

Trailer: 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 31 December 2023

January of the New Year is known for its lack of outstanding films.  This is true this year as well but there will be exceptions.  One is the Italian gay drama based on a true incident called FIREWORKS which arrives on VOD on the 18th.  ALL OF US STRANGERS is another exception opening later in January.

FILM REVIEW:

BITCONNED (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Bryan Storkel

 

One of  Netflix’s new movies opening the week of January 2024, is BITCONNED, the docu-film about Ray Trapani’s crypto scam and the rise and fall of his company Centra Tech. 

A bit of background first is needed on what Bitcoin is to appreciate the documentary.  Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Nodes in the peer-to-peer Bitcoin network verify transactions through cryptography and record them in a public distributed ledger, called a blockchain, without central oversight.  Use of Bitcoin as a currency began in 2009, with the release of its open-source implementation.  In 2021, El Salvador adopted it as legal tender.[Bitcoin is currently used more as a store of value and less as a medium of exchange or unit of account. It is mostly seen as an investment and has been described by many scholars as an economic bubble.  As bitcoin is pseudonymous, its use by criminals, including the one featured in the doc, has attracted the attention of regulators, leading to its ban by several countries as of 2021.  Trapani foresaw the scamming g potential of bitcoin trading in the form of conversion for use via a debit card and started the ball rolling with his group of conspirators.

Trapani and his co-conspirators claimed that they "developed platforms that connect world commerce and cryptocurrencies.”  This was the Centra Card, which operated much like any other debit card, allowing "cardholders to spend their cryptocurrencies in all fiat currency transactions.”  The company claimed that its Currency Conversion Engine (CCE) Module would "enable customers to convert their blockchain assets to market value fiat to obtain near-perfect exchange rates.”  The company's investors were essentially duped into purchasing "unregistered stocks in the form of digital tokens.”

The doc shows Trapani to be an extremely interesting person, which of course, makes the doc more interesting.  Ever since he could learn to talk, the audience is told, he would say he always wanted to make money.  When he grew up, like other kids who wanted to be a doctor or lawyers, he wanted to become a criminal.  Trapani is interviewed in the doc and speaks candidly of his beliefs, regardless of the consequences of what he is saying, again making the doc more interesting.  When finally accosted by the FBI, he cooperated fully with the government resulting in him serving no jail time.  This involves ratting out all his co-conspirators all of whom serve jail time.  Truth be told, Ray Trapani should be the one in prison.

The doc should be less interesting to those uninterested in the Bitcoin business but still should be informative and educational enough to be deemed a worthwhile watch.  For those in the know, BITCONNED is not only informative but insightful providing views from both sides of the story on the bitcoin scam devised by Ray Trapani.  On a personal note, this film reviewer has absolutely no sympathy for financial scammers, as the reviewer has been scammed as well, thankfully for only a paltry sum.  They deserve the maximum punishment allowed by law.

BITCONNED is currently streaming on Netflix from the New Year.

Trailer: 

GOOD GRIEF (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Daniel Levy

 

When his husband, Oliver (Luke Evans)  unexpectedly dies in a taxi accident during Christmas and it is revealed in the Christmas card that he has another love in Paris, Marc's (Daniel Levy) world understandably shatters, sending him and his two best friends on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face.

The Christmas song “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is played in the coffee shop where Marc meets his lawyer to discuss the past finances of his late partner only to discover the awful truth that the spending included two people, the other not being himself.  Realizing that his partner had been seeing someone else mass it was one of the most awful times of his life, after spending a year in mourning.  The Christmas song serves as a stark contrast used to highlight the situation.

Daniel Levy is quick with his comedic wit and has been more than hilarious, as observed in his successful television hint SHITT’S CREEK is more ink comedic check here.  Though the humour is present, it is only slight, an example lies in the segment when the title of the film, GOOD GRIEF suddenly appears on the screen, at the film’s beginning.

Written by Levi, it is interesting to note the character's personality, Marc has written and chosen to play.  Marcus is a character that is pitiful yet not paretic, someone that the audience needs to feel sorry for.  But he can be a bit of a prick when he invites his two best friends to Paris because he needs support as to what he can dig up on Oliver’s past.  The characters Levy pens share common traits of being painful bitches half the time.  His best friend Thomas (Himesh Patel) is nothing more of a complainer who blames others rather than himself and the girl, Sophie (Ruth Negga), self-effacing, comes across as too coy and annoying.  Do all gay written characters behave this way?  Oliver, Marc’s deceased husband, however, has the personality of a straight man, confident, cheating on a relationship and able to command respect and success at work.

Performances are credible.  A bit of heavyweight casting is of British actress Celia Imrie as Marc’s lawyer.  She is an Olivier award-winning and Screen Actors Guild-nominated actress, a Variety magazine 'Icon' and Women in Film and Television 'Lifetime Achievement award' winner.  Her role as a lawyer includes some pivotal advice she gives to Maqrc.

To Levy’s credit, Director Levy’s film contains a few bright spots.  One is the realization that one can still do shady shitty stuff to someone one loves.  The opening scene in which Oliver designs and delivers the Christmas song, sung in parts among the guests is a scene extremely well done, with soundtrack, editing, performances and all.

GOOD GRIEF is an impressive first full-length feature, a bit sappy but still, a film that nevertheless surpasses the typical cliched and often forced theatrical sincerity.  Daniel Levy, who has started his own production company, while making a deal with Netflix, is a talent to be reckoned with, undoubtedly and one hopes he will be able to surprise his fans in the future.

GOOD GRIEF, a Netflix original, opens for streaming on Netflix this week January 5th.

Trailer: 

HE WENT THAT WAY (USA 2023) **

Directed by Jeff Darling

Set in 1964, HE WENT THAT WAY is a taut thriller based on a true crime story, based on Conrad Hilberry's non-fiction book entitled Luke Karamazov that puts a wicked spin on the buddy road trip film.  The film follows 19-year-old serial killer Bobby (Jacob Elordi) as he is picked up by a celebrity animal handler, Jim (Zachary Quinto), on a desolate stretch of Route 66 with priceless cargo in tow, Jim's chimpanzee, Spanky, an American TV darling. As stress between Bobby and Jim rises and their fiery personalities combust, the road only becomes more treacherous the farther they go.

The serial killer Bobby’s real name is Larry Lee Reeves while Jim’s is Dave Pitts.  Have the real names been changed to protect the innocent or the guilty?

HE WENT THAT WAY is basically a male-oriented movie with males leading the cast of characters and a male writer (Evan M. Weiner) and director (Jeff Darling).  Even the film title has the word ‘he’ in it.  Females are largely missing in the film.  William’s wife is only heard over the telephone and never seen in person.  A bartender mentions his daughter in conversation but the daughter is never shown.  The teen girl seen at the gas station is just shown for a fleeting moment and has not much use otherwise in the tale.  The two teen partiers who end up in the motel room are shown sleeping for the most time.

Though described in the press note as a thriller, the film can hardly be described as a thriller but rather than a drama of the relationship between the two men of opposites - one of timid nature and the other too brave for his own good.

The film hardly holds much interest besides the emphasis at the start that this film is based on a true story and that it is almost impossible to guess where this true story will lead to or end.  This raises high hopes for the audience that does not come to fruition.  It is hard to identify less feel sympathetic for two losers on the road.  The first and main character Jim is a spineless being, who is used by his brother-in-law for a loan and then never paid back.   When confronting the brother-in-law he is humiliated.  When he meets Bobby, Bobby taunts and robs Jim while making Jim obey his every need.  Jim tries to change Bobby to become a better person, but this attempt fails as well.  There is also little suspense and little humour in the story.

The film is dedicated to the director Jeff Darling (this is his first film) who died in a surfing accident in March 2022 in Sydney, Australia.

The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 9, 2023.  In October 2023, Vertical Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film. It is scheduled to be released in a limited release on January 5, 2024, before video on demand on January 12, 2024.

Trailer: 

 

PRIME (South Africa 2023) **

Directed by Thabiso Christopher

 

PRIME, a new feature set in  South Africa is about the past traumas and buried prejudice of a proud young man, Marius (Richard Gau), who threatens to push away his loving and devoted partner, Thembi (Nomsa Twala), when his racist father dies. Marius's unwillingness to forgive his father for causing his mother's suicide and his determination to not be a failure like his father pushes him to the max as he tries to keep a major project at work, one that's threatened to be taken away from him to satisfy empowerment requirements.  Added to this is Thembi's silent struggle at having lost an opportunity at a new job and being assaulted by a friend, which she struggles to speak to Marius about.  Marius witnesses the friend kissing her, but not the part where she rejects the friend.  This results in the perfect storm for the couple, a storm that is taken advantage of by Eva, an ancient demon who preys on men's souls through seduction and manipulation.

The horror part regarding Eva does not occur till after the halfway mark in the film.

January, the month right after Christmas and New Year, especially in the dead of winter is considered by many as one of the most depressing months of the year, not helped by normally mediocre films after a past of big festive season films.  PRIME is an extremely slow-moving and depressing film about a protagonist who mopes and sulks half the time.  Marius is super-depressed after his father’s death and cannot bring himself to reunite with his family, though the reason given has something to do with the inheritance and his mother's suicide.  Marius hallucinates and time seems to always go backwards a few minutes.  His wife Thembie puts up with him, trying to get him to open up with her.

South African films are usually fast and furious, take the famous DISTRICT 9 films.  PRIME is a slow burn - the slowest South African film I have seen.  The lazy script, written by director Christopher omits many details such as the real reason Marius is at loggerheads with his family, or why he does not want to open up to his wife, or what his job is as chief engineer.  In one scene, Marius claims that he wants to do something useful with his life as chief engineer.  The script includes too many hallucinations and repeated dialogue that could have been omitted in the first place.

The film is not a pleasant watch for a number of reasons, the main one being the depressing and loser behaviour of the protagonist.  Director Christopher uses a lot of annoyances like stroking lights and high-pitched sounds to highlight the trauma faced by Marius.  The frequency of the handheld camera resulting in a jittery screen does not help either.

One wonders the reason Thembie puts up with Marius.  Marius never opens up to her, wears old clothes that stink and never keeps his appointments.  (What this appointment is also never made clear, but hinted as something to do with business.)

For a film set in South Africa, not much is seen of the place.  One assumes that the film is set in the capital of Cape Town.  There are scenes of the beach and the seas South Africa borders the sea.

PRIME is Thabisco Christopher’s first feature.  To his credit, he does invest a lot of time into his characters and this comes with his characters having solid personalities.

PRIME is not a Netflix original film but it premieres in South Africa on January 3rd  and opens on Netflix on January 5th, 2024.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 27 December 2023

FILM REVIEWS: 

Only new films opening this week are on Netflix.

HELL CAMP: TEEN NIGHTMARE (USA 2023) ***½

Directed by Lisa Williams

 

The film is about an American program designed to kick-start teenagers out of their rebellious ways.  These are called wilderness survival camps.  The ad in the paper goes like this:  Defiant teenager?  Is your teenager irresponsible, rebellious, or out of control?  Running with the wrong crowd?  Headed down a path with no future?  Help your son or daughter before it is too late.  Powerful 63-day wilderness survival program stops destructive behaviour and puts parents back in control.  Youth learn responsibility, discipline and appreciation for home and family.  This camp is the brainchild of 35-year-old Steve Cartisano.  This documentary reveals what actually went on in these camps.  Needless to say, if the ad does not whet your appetite, probably nothing will.

The film begins with a grown-up daughter telling of her experience as a young teen.  While her parents were out at night when she was in bed sleeping, she was awakened by two strangers - looking like, in her description mountain men.  She was driven by car to the airport and transported by a private plane.  She was asked if she wanted to know where she was going but she said no, in order not to show that she was afraid.  It dawned on her then that her parents had designed the kidnapping.  Celebrity Paris Hilton also talks about the abuse in these camps as she was also an alleged victim.

Besides being a doc about wilderness therapy survival camps run by Steve Cartisano, the doc is also a film about Cartisano.  Being such a unique and according to his children, every intelligent man, his character is intriguing and the time spent on him is definitely entertaining, if not fascinating.

Steve Cartisano, a key figure in wilderness therapy, is known for his unconventional methods and the ups and downs of the Challenger Foundation, which have left a lasting impact on the field.  The film traces his evolution from a military special forces officer to the founder of a well-known but controversial wilderness therapy program.  For a fee of around $16,000, Challenger housed teens for 63 days, providing wilderness therapy and nature exercises to address behavioural issues.  His wife and children are interviewees who speak candidly of the troubled family life - mainly because of the impending lawsuits faced by the company.  Beyond the legal and moral challenges associated with the Challenger Foundation, the narrative delves into Cartisano’s personal life, shedding light on his family. The story not only addresses the controversies surrounding Cartisano but also explores the broader effects of his career choices on his closest relationships.  It portrays him as a complex individual whose legacy extends beyond his professional endeavours, leaving an enduring impact on those who encounter it.

The doc could have spent more time on the effects of the program - whether the youths attending became better human beings.  One of the attendees says on camera that he resorted to his old ways within a few months.  This attendee was seen breaking down in tears when his father paid a surprise visit to his camp.  A few said they benefited.  One would be interested in what others had to say.

HELL CAMP is one of the most intriguing docs of the year for the reason of its subject.   The doc succeeds primarily because it encompasses a wide range of interviewees of everyone involved from the camp counselors, to the patients, to the parents to the investigators to Cartisano and his family.

 

THANK YOU, I’M SORRY (Tack och förlåt)(Sweden 2023) ***

Directed by Lisa Aschan

 

Sweden is not known for its comedies.  More like sombre films in the likes of Ingmar Bergman are most of what can be expected from Swede films.  But there are surprises.  The black comedy IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE remade into Hollywood’s COLD COMFORT with Liam Neeson is one example.  During the holiday week when new film openings are very scarce, Netflix has a slew of new films from different countries opening during the week from Christmas Day to New Year’s.  THANK YOU, I’M SORRY from Sweden is a welcome quite unusual comedy-drama - more drama than comedy, with a female slant that should put a smile or two on the faces of Netflix viewers.

Sara lives in a perfect nuclear family with Daniél, their little son, Eliot and soon a second child on its way.  But their life is to be turned upside down and the heavily pregnant Sara is suddenly left alone.  Daniél died in his sleep and was only discovered dead after a few days.  The reason is that the heavily pregnant Sara is sleeping on the couch.  Sara later reveals that Daniel has been cheating on her and that he hides booze around the house.  Her in-laws butt in and move into Sara’s life, much to her consternation and they wonder the reason Sara is not mourning her deceased husband.  But Sara has other problems.  Her father is in a care home and suffering from dementia.  At the film’s start, Sara gets a phone call from her father from his home asking her to find his slippers.  But the biggest problem appears to be her elder sister, Linda, who herself is facing problems with her boyfriend.  She wants to be away from him.  Sara’s help soon appears from a completely unexpected side when Sara's estranged older sister, Linda, a helpless immature adult with a big erratic dog named Zlatan (Eliot calls the dog Satan)offers to move in and help out.

THANK YOU, I’M SORRY could not be considered true comedy as a film as a whole as it deals with serious matters like family relationships.  But the serious matters are interspersed with humour like the part Sara throws a cell phone at her mother-in-law’s head causing her to get two stitches.  And then she has to go to therapy.  She does not get along with her sister either after telling her that she does not want to see her anymore.  The film’s humour is dry and deadpan, but is quite edgy humour, making the film quite an entertaining watch,  The director blends pathos and humour well.

Directed by Lisa Aschan and written by Marie Østerbye, two women, the film has a strong female slant with men appearing only in the background.  In the case of the film, it is a good thing to see their perspective on things,  skewed as they are - not because it is all female, but because it is skewed from the female point of view.

THANK YOU, I’M SORRY is an entertaining different family relationship comedy drama that is entirely watchable and light viewing.  The film opens for Netflix this week for streaming.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 27 December 2023

FILM REVIEWS:

ALL TO PLAY FOR (Rien A Pedre) (Nothing to Lose) (France/Belgium 2023) **

Directed by Delphine Deloge

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 For the complete review, please click on the link below to our sister French website.

https://toronto-franco.com/article/21-cinema-movies/396-film-review-rien-a-perdre-all-to-play-for

THE BEEKEEPER (USA 2023) ****

Directed by David Ayer

 

THE BEEKEEKER arrives at the beginning of the New Year making it the first action film of the year and likely one of the best of the year.  Credit goes to the superior performances from not only Jason Statham in the lead but from the supporting cast not including the likes of Jeremy Irons who steals the show as the part villain, who is nothing more than a big coward hiding behind status and great wardrobe.   Ultimately the success of the film is due to its director David Ayer, one of the best cop film directors in Hollywood.

David Ayer is an American filmmaker known for making crime films that are set in Los Angeles and deal with gangs and police corruption.  His screenplays include the monumental TRAINING DAY  (2001) and THAE FAST AND THE FURIOUS among others.  Ayer's screenplay of U-571 was based on his experiences as a submariner in the US Navy.  Ayer admitted that U-571 had distorted history, and said that he would not do it again.  This is a director with a conscience that many should respect and his new film THE BEEKEEPE\R and action film with more plot than usual (the script is written by Kurt Wimmer who wrote for films like TOTAL RECALL, POINT BREAK, and THE EXPEND4BLES among other hirs)shows it.

Mr. Adam Clay (Jason Statham) is a former operative of a clandestine organization called "Beekeepers".  After his friend and neighbour (Phylicia Rahad) dies by suicide after falling for a phishing scam, Mr. Clay sets out to exact revenge against the company responsible.  The neighbour’s daughter (Emmy Raver-Lampman) follows into, undecided whether Mr. Clay is on her side or the other side of the law.  

Wimmer’s script keeps the dialogue, especially regarding bees and the beekeeper smart and funny.  There are classic lines like: You mess with the beekeeper, you die” as well as metaphors of the hive system and the security of the United States.  Adma Clay is a beekeeper.  The beekeeper looks after the hive  The beekeeper does not stand down.  He does not fail until he dies.  In the case of bees as well as in this story if the Queen bee produces a bad offspring, the bad offspring might replace the Queen Bee.

The film contains lots of characters with conscience thus making Ayer, the scriptwriter for U-571 with a conscience the ideal director.  Adam Clay comes out of retirement hiding to take down the large phishing company targeted at the elderly to rob them of their savings.  Madame President of the United States (an excellent Jemma Redgrave) who got her presidency from these illegal funds decided to come clean for it is the right thing to do.  Clay offers the phishing company employees a chance to get out of the building before he blows it up.  The film questions the difference between law and justice.

The action sequences are immaculately staged with effective edits creating exciting fight sequences.  These coupled with an intelligent layered script and above-average performances make THE BEEKEEPER a pumped-up action feature that will keep audiences glued to their seats from start to finish.

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THE BOOK OF CLARENCE (USA/Italy 2023) ***

Directed by Jeymes Samuel

 

The new Sony Pictures THE BOOK OF CLARENCE is a milder less blasphemous form of MONTY PYTHON AND THE LIFE OF BRIAN, as it pays respect to the Christian faith, while not being too blasphemous as the Monty Python gang did in certain segments.  LIFE OF BRIAN is way much funnier and a classic in its own terms, while THE BOOK OF CLARENCE still manages to hold its own.

The film begins with a chariot-type race in which Clarence (LaKeith Stanfield) loses to Mary Magdalene.  As a result, he owes Jedidiah a whole lot of money.  That as well as struggling to find a better life, Clarence is captivated by the power of the rising Messiah, (a black Jesus played by Nicholas Pinnock) and soon risks everything to carve a path to a divine existence.

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE is split into three parts or books, BOOK 1,  2 and 3 under titles such as ‘The 13th Disciple” which is who Clarence will become, ’The New Messiah’ and ‘ The Crucifixion’.  The film works best in the first two, parts but the final and third part is marred by its intention to include a satisfying conclusion that includes the crucifixion of Christ.  That is the reason LIFE OF BRIAN is to be praised for an absolutely awesome ending of the crucifixion that included the classic song ‘Look at the Bright Side of Life’. 

The BOOK OF CLARENCE is a good concept that plays generally well.  The story contains lots of opportunities for comedy and plot twists.  Clarence comes up with a good saying involving the difference between knowledge and belief.  Clarence teaches: If there are two fighters, one of which says I believe I will win and the other who says that he knows he will win, who would be the winner?  It is the one who says he knows he will win as he possesses the knowledge.  However, in order to fulfill the need for the film to remain truthful to Christianity, the film fails in the last act (Book 3: The Crucifixion) when it tries to blend Christ’s Resurrection into the story.

The film will be appreciated more by Christians familiar with the Bible.  Those who are not familiar with the biblical miracles like Jesus walking on water and his Resurrection or the characters like John the Baptist and Pontius Pilate will miss out on most of the jokes.  Indeed, the segment of John the Baptist baptizing Clarence in the river is one of the film’s funniest moments.  The same can be said of MONTY PYHTON’S LIFE OF BRIAN.   Those who do not know the Beatitudes that Jesus preached on the Sermon on the Mount (i.e. Blessed are the peacemakers etc.) missed out on the funniest jokes.  The casting is impressive with many stars appearing in cameos.  James McAvoy plays Pontius Plate, David Owelowo plays John the Baptist, Alfre Woodard plays Mother Mary Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays  Clarence’s mother and Benedict Cumberbatch plays Benjamin.

THE BOOK OF CLARENCE ultimately surprises for the reason of marvelous casting, performances and the concept of modernizing a well-worn Biblical tale.

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DESTROY ALL NEIGHBOURS (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Josh Forbes

 

William Brown (Jonah Ray), a neurotic, self-absorbed and geeky musician determined to finish his prog-rock magnum opus, faces a creative roadblock in the form of a noisy and grotesque neighbour named Vlad (Alex Winter).  Regarding the opus, William says: - not everyone will get it, but the important ones will.”  Finally working up the nerve to demand that Vlad keep it down, William inadvertently decapitates him.  But, while attempting to cover up one murder, William's accidental reign of terror causes victims to pile up and become undead corpses (hence the film title DESTROY ALL NEIGHBOURS) who torment and create more bloody detours on his road to prog-rock Valhalla.

The film contains amusing neighbours like the elderly Eleanor who is always in need of something to fix.  During one visit to her place in which Will is ‘borrowed’, “Can I borrow you for a second?” Eleanor asks him.  Then 5 things later, Will has to try his best to leave Eleanor’s apartment.

The film contains a few comedian heavyweights.  Besides Alex Winter who starred with Keanu Reeves in BILL AND TED EXCELLENT ADVENTURE films, there is Thomas Lennon.  Thomas Patrick Lennon is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series Reno 911! Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major studio comedies with writing partner Robert Ben Garant.  But it is Alex Winter who appears to be having the most fun in the film playing William’s psychotic new neighbour, Vlad.  Vlad is simply bonkers, he ends up dead by accident after instigating a fight with William in one of the funniest yet goriest scenes in the movie.  Winter sports a  mixed Scots and East European accent for the character of Vlad, not that authenticity is a major part of the story.  Actor Jonah Ray plays the typical straight man for Alex Winter’s crazy Vlad character.

All the characters in the film are either geeky like the main protagonist or annoying and loud like Eleanor, the homeless man, Auggie who keeps bugging William Brown for croissants and of course, his new neighbour played by Alex Winter.

In the story, William spends his entire life trying to write the perfect song (much to the consternation of his girl), something that has been described that not everyone will get, but only the right ones will.  The same can be said and applied to this odd film, which as odd as it gets, might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the right ones might get what the film is getting at.

DESTROY ALL NEIGHBOURS is described as a comedy horror, though it is more zany comedy than anything else.  The whole story makes little sense so best the throw both caution and logic to the wind.  The largely forgettable film is definitely good for a few laughs, with thankfully, many laugh-out-loud ones, though.

DESTROY ALL NEIGHBOURS is a Shudder original film and opens for streaming on the horror streaming service in January.

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FIREWORKS (Italy 2023) ***½

Directed by Giuseppe Fiorello

 

A sunbaked Sicilian town in the summer of 1982 provides the vivid backdrop to this tender romantic drama about two teenagers who fall in love, but much to the disapproval of those around them.

Gianni is a handsome but shy teen who works as a car mechanic at his stepfather’s garage but is mercilessly taunted by the macho townsmen for being a homosexual.  With his family life no better, Gianni withdraws into himself until one day he meets Nino, a curly-haired boy with an infectious smile.  As the two become close and fall in love, the moral rumblings from their families and neighbours begin to erupt.  With all against them, the boys decide to make a stand.

FIREWORKS   displays a certain charm from the way director Giuseppe Fiorello pays attention to details.  One example is Nino and his little brother Toto, who are always slapped around because he is the youngest around under the table.  “Let’s form a partnership. “ says Ninoto the bright-eyed Tito who agrees and asks after: “What is that?”   The small-town atmosphere of the Sicilian town is wonderfully captured in many scenes as in the hunting of hares in the countryside around the village and the little cafes in the village.

Director Fiorello appears to love the use of mirrors.  From the driver’s exterior mirror, as the driver drives off, one can see the reflection of the wife going into the house and coming to the door, in a meticulously shot scene.  Another has the face of Gianni seen in Nino’s moped mirror as he delivers to the bus to take a ride on the moped with Nino.

Every scene is meticulously calculated as can be seen in the way a character might light up a cigarette or the comments made by the characters.  Humour is dominant throughout and quite funny as well.  “You know what I said to the prettiest girl around?” Asks Nino’s brother.  “Which of your eyes is prettiest?” to which Nino asks what she says right when the father walks by with the remarking Italian “Fuck you!”

The sight of two young males finding love for the first time is so innocent and pure.  As they swim in the cold water of the river, underwater photography captures the slimness of the semi-nude bodies swimming.  Their first kiss occurs when Nino is giving Gianni mouth-to-mouth resuscitation after their mopeds clash.  The second kiss occurs when Italy scores a goal at the World Cup as seen on TV.  This one is so pure, so innocent, so beautiful and so forbidden,

There are many other charming scenes and simplicity that would arguably make FIREWORKS one of the most charming and delightful films of the year.  One is Gianni dancing with his mother to old Italian tunes while the village outside watches them through the window.

Cinephobia Releasing is releasing the Italian LGBTQ festival darling FIREWORKS from writer-director Giuseppe Fiorello.  Based on a real-life incident that jump-started the Italian Gay Rights movement in 1981, the emotional and beautifully realized FIREWORKS arrives on January 18, 2024 on DVD and VOD, digital platforms, including AppleTV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, VUDU, and others.

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FREUD’S LAST SESSION (UK 2023) ***

Directed by Matthew Brown

 

There are two good reasons to see the film.   Firstly, the film’s two main characters are played by two British heavyweights.  Double Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins (THE FATHER, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) plays the ill-health morphine taking Freud while Emmy nominee Matthew Goode (THE CROWN) plays the celebrated Christian poet and author C.S. Lewis.  The other is their debate on the existence of God.  Both have valid reasons with arguments (such as how can one believe that there is a God when one sees the atrocities of the Nazis) that can hardly be faulted.  But who is right?  Or rather does God exist?  It is interesting to note that Lewis was an atheist turned Christian.

Among the topics of discussion, one of the more interesting ones is their debate on the book Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan.  Those with a British type education might have studied the text in school, and knowledge of the book makes the debate even more interesting.  The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan.  It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of the narrative aspect of  Christian media.

The film’s setting, beautifully captured in the film is the September 3rd of 1939, the day England declared war against Germany.  Freud, his wife and his daughter Anna (Liv Lisa Fries) recently fled from Vienna and Hitler’s invading forces.  Now 83, Freud is suffering from jaw
cancer, lacing his whisky with morphine and eyeing the pill that he will soon take to end his life. 

The film contains a few subplots to fill the film’s running time.  One is Freud’s complex relationship with his daughter, Anna (Liv Lisa Fries), whose fixation on her father has been called an “attachment disorder” by her supervisor at work, and Lewis’s romantic involvement with the mother (Orla Brady) of his friend who died in WWI.  Another subplot that also ties into the question of homosexuality, which was forbidden during the times, is the lesbian relationship between Anna and her longtime lesbian partner Dorothy Burlingham.  The Lord of the Rings author J.J.R. Tolkien (Stephen Campbell Moore), an Oxford colleague who influenced Lewis’s conversion also appears in the story.

It is pointed out in the closing credits that the last session, or last meeting between Freud and Lewis could or could not have occurred,  Freud did have a visitor from Oxford who came by train just as Lewis did in the film, but it was not ascertained who that visitor from Oxford was.  And if it is Lewis, then did they debate on the existence of God or on some other subject?  But if they did, and the film’s fictitious concoction is true, it must have been one hell of an interesting debate.  The debate, though wordy and quite stage bound is the film’s best part and the film falters when the subplots are brought in, as well as the quite clumsy flashbacks of Freud in Austria before his move to Britain.

The film is directed by Matthew Brown (THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY).  The script is by Mark St. Germain and Brown, adapted from Germain’s acclaimed stage play, and suggested by “The Question of God” seminar that Dr. Armond M. Nicholi, Jr. gave at Harvard.

FREUD’S LAST SESSION opens on January 12 in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal!  The film opens on January 19 in Ottawa and throughout the winter in other cities.

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LIFT (USA 2023) ***

Directed by F. Gary Gray

 

The film begins in a posh auction in Venice e where master criminal, CYRUS (Kevin Hart) is about to steal an expensive art item at an auction.  He will not be able to LIFT this one, says a detective watching the auction proceedings recorded live on camera.  There is nothing to lift, as it is all digital.”  Predictably the piece designed by an artist who has never shown his face N8 (Jacob Batalon) is stolen.

The story follows a master thief, his ex and his expert crew who all team up to steal $100 million in gold bullion being transported on a 777 passenger flight.

One difference in this heist film is that the audience is torn between taking either the side of the cops or the criminals.  Director Gary and the script by Daniel Kinka spend equal emphasis on Cyrus, the heist leader and the cop chasing him, called Abby aka Agent Gladwell (played by British black actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who provides some finesse in the film by speaking fluent Italian.  It is also good to easy Kevin Hart playing more sophisticated than dumb ass comedy,

F. Gary Gray, the black American director of previous hosts like THE FAST AND FURIOUS 8, MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL, THE ITALIAN JOB and the drama STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON returns with again a stylish production - this time a heist movie with comedian Kevin Hart.  Set in posh and wealthy cities like London and Venice, Gray gives his film a polished and international look, appropriate for Netflix, which financed this Netlfilx origin al; movie opening this weekend on the world’s most popular and successful streaming service.

LIFT has the feel of THE ITALIAN JOB (not the Michael Caine) one, not only because it is partly shot in Italy but both films are directed by Gary and are heist films.  Fun, entertaining to watch but essentially forgetful fare, LIFT succeeds as an undemanding and guilty thriller.

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MEAN GIRLS (USA 2024) ****

Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.

 

Pink is the word.

MEAN GIRLS is a 2024 American musical teen comedy film directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. in their feature film directorial debut, from a screenplay by Tina Fey. It is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on Mark Waters's 2004  cult successful comedy film, both written by Tina Fey and based on Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes.  It features an ensemble cast that includes Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auliʻi Cravalho, Jaquel Spivey, Avantika, Bebe Wood, Christopher Briney, Jenna Fischer and Busy Philipps, while Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles from the original film.  The film also contains welcome and entertaining cameos from (which got cheers from the preview screening I attended) Lindsay Lohan who had played Lady in the original film, Tina Fey and Jon Hamm,

The 2024 MEAN GIRLS makes significant changes to both the original 2004 version as well as the musical version and for the better.  To make the story's musical form translate to the screen, changes were made to shorten the runtime compared to the stage show's two-and-a-half-hour length and to improve on certain plot elements, such as shortening the length of some of the musical numbers. Like the stage show, this film takes place during the social media age, with the incorporation of social media and mobile technology into the plot, compared to the 2000s setting of the 2004 film   The incorporation of multiple split screens showing multiple reactions for example to Regina’s social media is extremely well put together while also getting the message across.  This is the stuff done right, and with effectiveness.

MEAN GIRLS 2024 still maintains itself as a musical with some catchy tunes.  Fourteen songs were cut for the film, including "Where Do You Belong?", "Fearless", "Stop", "Whose House Is This?", "More Is Better", and "Do This Thing", along with the reprise of "What's Wrong With Me?". A new song, "What Ifs", was written to replace "It Roars", the introductory song for Cady in the stage version

While the first MEAN GITRLS was largely shot in Toronto the latest version was shot in New Jersey.

MEAN GIRLS was made on a modest budget of $38 million with minimal special effects but with excellent choreographed musical numbers.

By inevitable comparison with BARBIE, MEAN GIRLS 2024 is what BARBIE should have been - a teenage or pre-teen movie starring a younger cast and written by those who now comfy like an SNL cast and not by drama heavyweights like Greta Gerwig and her husband Noah Bambaugh who are better known for their relationship dramas.  Box-office success aside, BARBIE is a complete dud, boring after the first 15 minutes trying too hard to make a message while MEAN GIRLS is totally fun entertainment, hilarious, and edgy with performances that suit the story.

MEAN GIELS premiered in New York City on January 8, 2024.  It is set to be released by Paramount Pictures in theatres on January 12, 2024.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 25 December 2023

TOP 10 Films 2023

 

1. THE ANATOMY OF A FALL (France 2023) Directed by Justin Triet

Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, this courtroom drama is more about taking control of one’s life than anything else.  Engrossing from start to finish, writer/director Triet has created a commercially watchable masterpiece 

2. THE ZONE OF INTEREST  (UK/USA/Poland 2023)  Directed by Jonathan Glazer

The top film on many critics’ list is an art film on the banality of evil.  A Nazi Officer and his wife, live in a luxurious residence, filled with servants with a fully stocked garden and pool to boot, just next door walled away from a concentration camp.  So mesmerizing and shocking is this groundbreaking film that it will blow one’s mind away.

 

3. THE KILLERS OF A FLOWER MOON (USA 2023) Directed by Martin Scorsese

Scorsese in top form with his regulars De Niro and DiCaprio playing heavily stealing land from the indigenous Osage tribe.  Epic and elaborate in scope and ambition,

 

4. ALL OF US STRANGERS (UK 2023) Directed by Andrew Haigh

Romantic fantasy about coming out, finding oneself and coming to terms with reality in this erotic tale that is wonderfully performed by a top-notch cast,

 

5. The Promised Land

The film is an excellent period epic full of spectacle, especially of the barren and almost impossible-to-be-tilled heath of Jutland.  Actor Mikkelsen is nothing short of superb in this role, carrying the film steadily with his serious-looking face, unable to give up his ambition.

6. The Beasts

 

THE BEASTS is a grueling edge-of-the-seat thriller with things escalating from bad to worse to unbearable for the poor French couple trying to settle in a foreign land.  Director Sorogoyen stages intense confrontation set pieces with rising tensions and danger.  The situation's intensity is meticulously built up to a climax that will knock the audience off their seats.

7. OPPENHEIMER (USA 2023) Directed by Christopher Nolan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unforgettable horror movie that will leave one silent and gasping in horror at the devastation of humans by the atomic bomb.  Director Nolan in top form making a historical epic for a change and succeeding immensely.

8. BLACKBERRY (Canada 2023) Directed by Matt Johnson

Canada makes it to the top 10 with director Johnson’s immensely entertaining tale of the rise and fall of the blackberry company,

 

9. THE QUIET GIRL (Ireland 2022)   Directed by Colm Bairéad

THE QUIET GIRL is a quiet, simple story that drives the fact that the simplest tale can create the greatest emotional impact.  The film is both a coming-of-age story of a 9-year old girl, who while still wetting herself occasionally in bed, discovers love and kindness in a temporary family for the first time.  And the effects are incredibly moving.  THE QUIET GIRLwas filmed mostly in Gallic, with subtitles

 

10. Nimona

 

NIMONA is an animated epic tale about finding friendship in the most surprising situations and accepting yourself and others for who they are.  

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 07 December 2023

FILM REVIEWS:

CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET (UK 2023) ****

Directed by Sam Fell

 

At the start of the new CHICKEN RUN film from the British Aardman Animation, the father rooster tells the unborn chick i.e. the egg the history of the chicken farm he and his missus, Ginger lived in.  It was back when in the countryside of Yorkshire, a flock of chickens lived on an egg farm structured like a prisoner-of-war camp.  The farm is run by the cruel Mrs. Tweedy and her submissive husband, Mr Tweedy, who would kill and eat any chicken that is no longer able to lay eggs.  Led by the rebellious Ginger, the chickens constantly devise new ways to try to escape but are always caught. Mr Tweedy suspects the chickens are organized and plotting resistance, but his wife dismisses his theories while being frustrated with making minuscule profits.  But the chickens finally escape while the newspapers scream: Fowl Play.  If the story sounds familiar, it is the story of the first CHICKEN RUN film, a box-office success made back in 2000.  Now 23 years later, the long-awaited sequel has finally hatched.  And it gets quite a many clucks!

After successfully escaping from Tweedys' farm in a daring and risky manner, Ginger has discovered her ideal place – an idyllic island bird sanctuary where the entire flock can live in harmony, without any risks from humans. With the arrival of her(Thandiwe Newton) and Rocky's (Zachary Levi), new daughter, Molly (Bella Ramsey), it appears that Ginger's fairytale ending has finally come true. However, the entire chicken population is now confronted with a menacing new danger on the mainland led by a familiar foe. Determined to safeguard their freedom, even if it means endangering it, Ginger and her team are determined to break in the new building.

The story involves inquisitive Molly who wants to leave paradise and see the world.  She escapes in the dark of night and follows a chicken farm truck to the factory where they slaughter chickens to make chicken nuggets and other chicken products.  Of course, hot on the heels are Ginger and Rocky,

You don’t say you are chicken for nothing.  A funny scene has a group of chickens in a delicate situation.  “Don’t panic!” cries one of them.  “Whatever you do, don’t panic!”  I don’t feel like panicking,” says one. There are also plenty of puns like ‘fowl play” and ‘loose shell” when a runaway egg is on the loose.

Where are the humans in all this?  They are a stupid lot, says one chicken.  They clean and tidy out cages every day - a complete waste of time.  And the humans are easily fooled when the chickens break into the chicken farm to rescue Molly,

The chickens and humans are voiced by a well-known and talented British cast, including Miranda Richardson as Mrs. Tweedy, Imelda Staunton as Bunty, and other heavyweights like Daniel Mays, Jane Horrocks, Thandiwe Newton and Zachary Levi.

CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET is the perfect Christmas film - silly, smart, very British and mostly free (if one has Netflix, of course) as it is streaming on Netflix beginning December 15th.

 

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JACOB THE BAKER (USA 2023) **

Directed by Rev Miron

 

To the reporter (Darra Emery) featured int he film, her journalism job/interview is not only a career but a calling.  She pleads to her boss to give her an assignment that matters.  Maybe in this movie, she gets one.  As expected her new assignment would be one that would open her eyes to something she saw would never expect.  This is the movie of JACOB THE BAKER.

Based on the international bestselling book series, Jacob the Baker follows this young reporter assigned to interview a world-renowned poet, philosopher, author, and theologian, Noah benShea (he plays himself). The reporter soon discovers how Noah and his fictional character Jacob provide help and hope to countless people around the world. As the interview unfolds, an intimate revelation occurs, exposing the reporter's own hidden struggles.

What could not better than watching a film with the theme of an uplifting spirit during the festive season where goodwill and hope are the human traits are touted?

Why would anyone seek help from a fictional character?  Intercut during the interview, is a tapestry of interconnected human experiences, witnessing characters from all walks of life - the people that were written to Noah via his play character Jason the Baker: a single mother in Milan, a struggling addict in Israel, a woman losing faith in Denmark, a turmoiled marriage in Korea, all seeking wisdom and guidance from Jacob.  These sequences are filmed in different languages from Norwegian to Korean.  The director aims to take the audience through an emotional and introspective journey, where the power of hope and resilience is portrayed through the lens of diverse characters. The aim is the navigation through the realms of spirituality, self-discovery, and interconnectedness, offering an inspirational cinematic experience that resonates long after the credits roll.

However, the film is too condescending throughout.  Take the segment about the two-watch metaphor. When one runs down, the other watch is issued to reset the first.  And again when one watch stops.  For human beings, the audience is told as Noah preaches on stage, they would need to reset the person net to you. As he preaches, the film cuts to two men, one blind aiding another as somber and uplifting music plays on the soundtrack,  One knows it is getting too much when the setting is the sunset when the sun is coming down.

Despite the filmmaker's good intentions, the film tries too hard and has little confidence in the power of its content.  The audience is often played down, preached to, and treated as needy

Noah has a lot of ideas while preaching what heckles his religion which is non-denominational but what he calls the religion of kindness.   He also talks about vulnerability as not being a human weakness.  It is the shared brotherhood and sisterhood.  One problem is that his character during the interview comes across as pompous, opinionated, proud, and over-confident - hardly the traits of a kind preacher.

The film is available on VOD and Digital on December 15th, 2023.

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POOR THINGS (Ireland/UK/USA 2023) ****

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

 

The film POOR THINGS is based on Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer, a novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray, published in 1992.  It won the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize the same year.   The main body of the work centres on Bella Baxter (Emma Stone, working with director Lanthimos again after their successful THE FAVOURITE), a woman whose early life and identity are the subject of some ambiguity.  That ambiguity is complicated by her husband Archibald McCandless's autobiography, "Episodes from the Early Life of a Scottish Public Health Officer," which distorts the truth about his life with Bella. He claims that she was a corpse, resurrected by McCandless's colleague, the scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (a tattered-faced Willem Defoe), who had her brain swapped with that of her unborn fetus, resulting in her having an infant's mind. While designed to be Baxter's companion, her sexual appetite causes her to pursue other men, including McCandless and a foppish lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), with whom she elopes and embarks on a hedonistic odyssey around Europe, Northern Africa, and Central Asia.  The film with an adapted script by Tom McNamara benefits from a simplified story from the novel.  The husband Archibald is done away with and the travels are confined to Europe.

The simplified synopsis: The young woman, Bella, is brought back to life by her guardian, the scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.  Initially naïve (which Layhimos makes look mentally challenged), Bella is eager to learn about the world around her, albeit under Baxter's protection.  Wanting to see more, she runs off with Duncan Wedderburn, a slick and debauched lawyer, and travels across continents.  Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella demands equality and liberation  Emma encounters many other men of different shapes, sizes and ages. driving Duncan crazy ninth process.

Though set in the Victorian period, the film the gorgeous sets create a fantasy-looking atmosphere similar to the classic film BRAZIL (based on George Orwell’s futuristic novel).

POOR THINGS is Lanthimos at his most extreme, he is given more freedom to make the films he wants owing to his string of box-office artistic hits.  The result is as odd and weird a film can be - and that comes across as a good thing since Lanthimos has continually fascinated audiences with films like THE LOBSTER and my personal favourite THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER.  There are bits from his other films that make their mark in POOR THINGS.  His creativity using animals is also present.  One can observe animal freaks such as a chicken head on a rabbit’s body or a goose-like dog, among other concoctions.  The story also follows Bellas as she comes of age from a woman with a child’s brain to a sex-starved mature woman.  The sexual scenes, disturbing as they are, involving quite a many older and uglier males, come across as more intriguing than disgusting.  Lanthimos's humour is also present throughout, the kind similar to THE FAVOURITE,

POOR THNINS can be considered almost the perfect vehicle for Lanthimos, the director also meeting the author of the book who’s just seen his first film DOGTOOTH. The author has recently passed and the film.  POOR THINGS opens in theatres on December 15th.

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WONKA (USA 2023) ****

Directed by Paul King

 

For Christmas arrives the best Christmas movie for the season - one catering for both children and adults - WONKA.  WONKA is a 2023 musical fantasy film directed by Paul King, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Farnaby, based on a story by King.  It tells the origin story of Willy Wonka, a character in the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, which was also made into the 1971 classic film, featuring his early days as an eccentric chocolatier

WONKA will inevitably be compared to the original Roald Dahl written by Gene Winder starring and Mel Stray directed 1971 classic WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.  Though WONKA is not half bad, the former has elements that cannot be compared to the former - thanks to the wild inventive imagination of Dahl and the big blue eyes of actor Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka.  The awful kids from the spoilt English girl to the greedy German boy to the gleaming eyes of Wonka as he announces surprise after every corner in the factory, the former is pure delight.  The best moments in the original are the Oompa Loompas, the chocolate factory’s workforce of little men.  This is not to mention the catchy songs by Anthony Newley, one of which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.  A few of these delights are found in WONKA.  There are also catchy songs sung by Timothée Chalamet

The film is not a remake unlike the Johnny Depp version but thankfully and successfully serves as an origin story for Wonka.  Chalamet plays Wonka perfectly with tails and top hat with an impressive supporting cast that includes Olivia Colman, Jim Carter, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson and Hugh Grant.

WONKA also contains a few catchy songs.  Most musicals these days do not have any, think MARY POPPINS RETURNS, THE COLOUR PURPLE, RENT, HAMILTON, just to name a few.  What’s wrong with these songwriters?  It seems impossible to write a catchy song anymore.  The original songs for WONKA were contributed by Neil Hannon, while its original score was provided by Joby Talbot, with the most catchy one sung by Chalamet, “Come with Me” (actually from the original film sung by Wilder) at the end.

As for the cast, Hugh Grant steals the show playing the dwarf Oompa-Loompa.  Grant is extremely funny with his little moments which are hysterical as well.  There in only one Oompa-Loompa in the film but at least Grant nails it.  Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins adds sentiment as Wonka’s late mother, giving her son a bar of chocolate with a secret.

The film never reveals the setting of the story.  But filming took place in historic Lyme Regis and Bath and at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in Watford.  Filming also occurred at the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, London.   At the start of the film, Wonka is seen aboard a ship sailing for a port, and he has 11 sovereigns, which was the currency of London at the time.

WONKA succeeds in keeping the delightful spirit of the original WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY alive with colourful characters, and catchy songs in a humorous fairy tale adventure setting.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 04 December 2023

Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun (Canada 2023) ***

Directed by Banchi Hanuse

 

Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun is an intimate and thrilling portrait of a young Siksika woman, named Logan and the deep bonds between her father and her family, as she prepares for one of the most dangerous horse races in the world, the Indian Relay.  The documentary follows Logan Red Crow on the golden plains of Blackfoot Territory, as she trains for a relay race that will propel the determined and skilled young woman into the male-dominated Indian Relay Racing world, where riders vault bareback from horse to horse. As she pushes towards her goal, the connections between animal and human, family and community, ancestral tradition and contemporary life are profound and lasting.

Director Hans reveals the stunning landscape of Blackfoot Territory, the open lands and the rivers, many from aerial shots.  One can understand the father’s love for the land and his ambition to, as he says in the film, be his own boss and rear horses and cattle.  Everyone had horses in the day, he tells the audience in the film.  Logan, his daughter is the most hardworking of all his workers.

The film covers several key issues including the daughter and father relationship, horse racing, coming-of-age, sickness as in dementia, indigenous education and land and horse, horses and horses.

Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before The Sun is an earnest no-nonsense decent Canadian documentary premiering on Paramount+ on December 22nd.  It is a Telus original documentary.

The film, which had its world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and won the prestigious Big Sky Award has been on a successful film festival run at some of the top film festivals in the world including Hot Docs. Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun was shot on location in beautiful Siksika Nation, Tsuut’ina, Îyâxe Nakoda, Blackfoot Territory, Enoch Cree Nation ᒪᐢᑫᑯᓯᐦᐠ Maskêkosihk, Casper, Wyoming.

The multi-award-winning film will be available to audiences across Canada on December 22nd on Paramount+ and available free on demand on TELUS Optik TV (channel 8). Produced by BC-based Taxam Films, this compelling documentary has earned numerous accolades globally and had sold-out premieres at Hot Docs and the Vancouver International Film Festival. It also won the Audience Choice Award at the 2023 Calgary International Film Festival.

An easy watch at only 90 minutes, this indigenous Canadian documentary is also informative on the history of our land.

ANSELM (Germany 2023) ***½

Directed by Wim Wenders

 

ANSELM is shot in 3D as in Wim Wenders’ other documentary PINA.  German director tackles the works of German artist/sculptor Anselm Keifer with little compromise making the doc a likely difficult watch for those uninterested in art or the artist.  On the other hand, Wender’s film is meticulous and mesmerizing work and a pleasure for those in the field.  Dialogue and voiceover are used at a minimum.

Spanning 50 years, the film features Wenders’ young great-nephew Anton Wenders and Kiefer’s adult son Daniel Kiefer playing the artist in his earlier days, with the now 78-year-old Kiefer as himself.  

 The audience is at first introduced to the enormity of Anselm’s works.  The film opens as the camera glides around Kiefer’s plaster wedding dresses with “heads” of twigs, bricks, steel, and lead – various materials he is famous for using.  Wenders also reveals the innovative methods he employs to create paintings, whether he’s applying thick paint, torching straw to create ashes, or pouring molten lead onto his canvases.  Many paintings are enormous, requiring hydraulic-powered elevating platforms so he can work on them.   Anselm uses a bicycle to move around his works as they are stored in a high building.  The comparison of his person and his works shows the huge size of his works.

This is not 3D as in commercial films where objects are flung off the screen at the audience but a more subtle and effective 3D where the audiences can observe the depth and texture of the artist’s work.  The doc, obviously looks stunning, even more so because 3D has been absent in use in films recently.

Anselm Kiefer is a German painter and sculptor.  He studied with two other well-known German artists, Peter Dreher and Horst Antes at the end of the 1960s.  His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac, and his works-in-progress are shown by director Wenders on the screen.  This is arguably the film’s most fascinating segment.  The poems of Paul Celan have played a role in developing Kiefer's themes of German history and the horrors of the Holocaust, as have the spiritual concepts of Kabbalah.  Kiefer reached international fame in the 1980s via his retrospectives held in Chicago and New York, with critics proclaiming “America has a new superstar.” 

It should be noted that this is a film on ANSELM’s work and not a biography, though this is some mention of his influence and past.  Anselm is also one of the wealthiest artists of his time, a fact that is not mentioned in the documentary.

According to the press notes, ANSELM  took a good two years to shoot.  Among the locations is Barjac, a 200-acre site in the south of France that, without the help of architects or engineers, Kiefer turned into one the world’s most jaw-dropping works of art, with underground tunnels and crypts that connect to numerous installations.

The documentary debuted in Special Screenings at Cannes 2023 and opens in theatres on December 22nd.

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ANYONE BUT YOU (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Will Gluck

 

ANYONE BUT YOU is the new American romantic comedy film starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell.  It is directed by Will Gluck, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Ilana Wolpert, based loosely on Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare.  There are many references to William Shakespeare in the movie from signboards and other headings.

Two people who despise one another cannot seem to get away from the other while they vacation in Sydney for a wedding.

The film starts pretty badly with the meeting of Ben and Bea at a coffee shop following a bed romp the same night of the meeting.  A misunderstanding causes them to hate each other, but both are coincidentally invited to an Australian wedding in Sydney.  Bee has a sister to the bride while Ben’s best friend’s sister is the other bride.  In Sydney, the wedding couple believes that Ben and Bea would spoil the wedding for them.  The story requires Ben and Bea to pretend to be the perfect couple for the duration of the wedding - and they rekindle the fireworks of the first night of their meeting.  Of course, like Harlequin novels, there is a terrible misunderstanding and a cliched rush to the airport to make up and thus prevent the other from leaving the city.  Audiences have seen this kind of story time and again, but the film contains enough distractions and a certain charm that lets the movie get away with murder.

The film’s supporting cast is nothing short of excellent.  Being filmed in Sydney, it is no surprise to see Aussie heavyweight Bryan Brown, who champions Australian film playing the father of one of the brides.  Brown seldom plays comedy but succeeds well here.  Dermot Mulroney, also seen in the rom-com MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING plays the other bride’s father.   But the prize and most hilarious performance deserving of a prize belongs to Joe Davidson who plays the goofy Australian surfer, dumb boyfriend, Beau, aka Crocodile Beau.  He brings out a laugh-out moment (from me) of everything he shows up in a scene.  This guy, who so far has appeared mainly in TV series should be given bigger roles.

At its best, ANYONE BUT YOU reminds one of the romantic comedies made with Doris Day and Rock Hudson, a sort of almost perfect pairing of actors that play characters that both despise each other before falling in love.  This silly premise would work anytime given a few different scenarios and different characters.  ANYONE BUT YOU succeeds in this respect.

Don’t expect anything too much in terms of message or insight,  As a silly romantic comedy, ANYONE BUT YOU provides sufficient entertainment while updating the Shakespearean play to the modern world, complete with a fully accepted gay lesbian wedding that would make the Bard turn in his grave.  Bud judging from the 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating at the time of writing this review, ANYONE BUT YOU looks like a hit. 

ANYONE BUT YOU is the only rom-com Christmas movie and opens December 22nd.

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AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM (USA 2023) *

Directed by James Wan

 

AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM is the sequel to the equally awful AQUAMAN that takes place several years after Aquaman (Jason Samoa, looking equally untidy and unkempt with his uncut hair) becomes the King of Atlantis.  Arthur Curry has married Mera (Amber Heard aka Johnny Depp’s ex-wife) and has a son, Arthur Jr., while splitting his life between land and sea.  Meanwhile, David Kane (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) continues to seek revenge against Arthur for his father's death, working with marine biologist Stephen Shin (Randall Park) to find Atlantean artifacts. He finds a black trident that possesses him, its creator promising to give him the power to destroy Arthur.  David Kane aka Black Manta is a ruthless pirate and high-seas mercenary who uses an Atlantean armoured suit and wields the powerful Black Trident, seeking to kill Arthur and his family as revenge for the death of his father

Five months later, David attacks Atlantis and breaks into its orichalcum reserves to power Shin's Atlantean machines. Arthur learns that this usage of orichalcum, which emits high quantities of greenhouse gases (the film’s attempt to put some climate change message into the story), has not only raised planetary temperatures and caused extreme weather and ocean acidification but nearly caused a planetary extinction when used by an ancient Atlantean kingdom. To learn where David is hiding, Arthur breaks his half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) out of prison. The two meet with the crime lord Kingfish, who provides information leading to a volcanic island in the South Pacific.

There is nothing innovative or new in this movie.  Sadly, the highlight of the film is Patrick Wilson as Orm eating a live cockroach not once but twice in the film, the second during the closing credits.  But wait, Dustin Hoffman had already seen eating a live cockroach in the prison movie in Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1973 PAPILLION.

It is time to put AQUAMAN to rest.  Jason Mamoa was reported in the local press saying that the Studio heads are not hoping to make another sequel after this one, but Momoa hopes the audience for the film will prove otherwise.  Judging from the film and the audience’s reactions so far, it looks like Aquaman will be as lost as the city of Atlantis.

Director James Wan disappoints with lazy direction and an equally lazy script that somehow manages to touch all the cliches found in an action film.  Despite the 3D and special underwater effects - It is a complete bore!  I have to confess that as much as I tried to stay awake during the film, I dozed off several times.  I thought being a critic and not part of the general public, I was the only one, but I overheard the guy sitting next to me saying to his friend on the other seat:” I saw you fell asleep behind the 3D glasses and I did not want to wake you.”

AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM opens in theatres on December 22nd.

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THE BOYS IN THE BOAT (USA 2023) ***

Directed by George Clooney

 

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT is a 2023 American biographical period sports drama film co-produced and directed by George Clooney from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith, based on the 2013 book of the same name by Daniel James Brown.

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT is about the University of Washington eight-oared rowing crew that represented the United States in rowing at the 1936 Summer Olympics – Men's Eight in Berlin and narrowly beat out Italy and Germany to win the gold medal.  The main character is Joe Rantz (Callum Turner). Rantz had a tough time growing up and was abandoned by his family for several years to fend for himself.  The film also opens a fair amount of emphasis on the coach (Joey Edgerton), the man who fought to get the team to win and to participate in the Berlin Olympics despite all odds and prejudices against the underprivileged, 

All nine members of the Washington team came from lower-middle-class families and had to struggle to earn their way through school during the depths of the Depression.   Joe is shown living much like a hobo with holes in the soles of his shoes.  Along with the chronicle of their victories and defeats in domestic competition, the audience learns the importance of the synchronization of the eight rowers as they respond to the commands of the coxswain and his communications with the stroke, consistent pacing, and sprint to the finish.  Joe is thrown out of the team at one point humility taught him a lesson that allowed him back into the team.

In the book, there is the second backstory of Hitler decreeing construction of the spectacular German venues at which the Games would take place.  Along the way, the book also describes how the Nazis successfully covered up the evidence of their harsh and inhumane treatment of the Jews and other minorities to win worldwide applause for the Games, during the United States Olympic Committee, among others.   This backstory is largely pitted in the film.  For one, the inclusion of this story would distract and undermine the feel-good spirit of the film.  Perhaps there could be another film dealing with this story.  In THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, director Clooney includes brief glimpses of Hitler, mainly comical, attending the regatta, one that includes him exiting in disgust after the Americans won the race.

The cast is made up of a combination British and American actors, Joe Dantz, the American played by a Brit.  To give him credit, Callum Turner is quite good as is Edgerton as the coach, highly serious most of the time.

The regatta races are executed with sufficient excitement with the usual expert edits that should have the audience cheering in the aisles.

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT succeeds at being a feel-good sports drama, hitting all the right buttons, though many of these buttons have been hit before.  The filmmakers have taken many of what they now call ‘artistic liberties’ with the story to dramatize the story. 

THE BOYS IN THE BOAT had its world premiere in Los Angeles on December 11, 2023, and is scheduled to be released by Amazon MGM Studios in the United States on December 25, 2023. The film opens on Christmas Day in theatres across North America.

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THE COLOR PURPLE (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Blitz Bazawule 

 

THE COLOR PURPLE - the film's musical version based on the Alice Walker Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and the 1985 Steven Spielberg film is hardly a Christmas film for the reason of its dark themes of rape and racism, though the wickedness of man, not only the white but the black man is somewhat softened by the music numbers.

The 2023 American musical coming-of-age period drama film directed by Blitz Bazawule from a screenplay by Marcus Gardley, is based on the stage musical of the same name, which in turn is based on the 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker.  It is the second film adaptation of the novel, following the 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Spielberg and Quincy Jones. Spielberg and Jones return as producers for the 2023 film along with the stage musical's producers Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey, the latter of whom also starred in the 1985 film

Celie (Fantasia Barrino as the adult Celie Harris-Johnson and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi as young Celie), a poor African-American girl, lives in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. She writes letters to God because her father Alphonso beats and rapes her. Due to the rape, she has two children, Olivia and Adam, whom Alphonso takes away. A farmer identified as "Mister" )Colman Domingo) asks to marry her younger sister Nettie, but Alphonso offers him Celie instead. Mister abuses Celie physically, sexually, and verbally, and his prior children mistreat her as well. Nettie (Halle Bailey)runs away and stays with Celie, but Mister eventually makes her leave. Nettie promises to write but never does, and Celie concludes that she is dead.  The story goes on to include the reunion between Nettie and Cleo (the reunion scene being a bit overdone).  As the story progresses, so does Celie’s character as she learns to survive and not succumb to life’s bad dishes at her.

The film contains excellent performances from the three female leads, Fantasia Barrino as Celie (the part originally played by Whoopi Goldberg); Taraji P Henson as the singing star Shug Avery (Margaret Avery in 1985) and Danielle Brooks in the role of Sofia (in which Oprah Winfrey once made her film debut).  The question is how far these three will go after the film’s debut.

The question is whether one needs a musical version of the book - be it on Broadway or in another film.  Though not perfect and with rough edges, Spielberg’s one still makes an impression after more than 25 years.  Who can forget the scene in which Whoopi Goldberg (in her most dramatic role?)  She was placing a saving blade beneath the head and on the neck of the man she so despises.  This new version also incorporated this unforgettable scene that sends shivers down one’s spine.   Goldberg has a welcome cameo as a black midwife delivering a baby.

The power of Alice Walker’s novel cannot be denied and this musical version still reveals the story of Walker’s book.  The cruelty by the Blacks is revealed to be just as bad as the white racism present throughout the story.  This is what makes this 2023 version still entertaining, though less from its musical numbers, though executed with sufficient aplomb.

THE COLOR PURPLE opens Christmas day in theatres.

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FERRARI (USA 2023) ****

Directed by Michael Mann

 

Many names in the film’s credits should attract audiences to watch this sports drama this Christmas.  One is the strength of the star Adam Driver and yet another is Spanish actress Penelope Cruz.  Another is the director Michael Mann who has made some really good classics in the past.  The name Michael Man should attract cineasts worldwide.  Watch the racing car accident scene near the film’s end and one can see the reason.  But foremost is the name of Ferrari, both the name of the Italian car brand and the sports car racer, Enzo Ferrari played by Adam Driver.

It should be noted that this is not a film on the biography of Ferrari, though there is mention of his background. It is based on the 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine by motorsport journalist Brock Yates.  The film follows the personal and professional struggles of Enzo Ferrari, the Italian founder of the car manufacturer Ferrari S.p.A., during the summer of 1957.

In the summer of 1957, Enzo Ferrari, reeling from the death of his son Dino, the deteriorating marriage with his wife Laura, and his company's impending bankruptcy, enters his racing team to the 1957 Mille Miglia.  He supposed that winning is what makes his company tick and winning will improve car sales while he steers the company towards increasing production.

The setting is the summer of 1957. Enzio’s marriage is falling apart, he sleeps with other women countless times.  But he still lives with his business partner and very angry wife, Laura (Penelope Cruz) who does not care if her husband sleeps around and with many women, as long as he returns to the home before the maid arrives in the morning.  Like Driver, Cruz plays the role of a very angry person, and there is hardly a scene in which she is seen smiling.  The confrontational scene w between Laura and Enzio is one of the film’s highlights.

Adan Driver portrays Enzio Ferrari with all the ferocity and aplomb of the car manufacturer and racer.  He is dead serious in the role and his face shows it.  There are no smiles at all during his portrayal.  The reason is obvious as it is the most crucial time in his life when everything is falling apart.  Yet, he is seeking an heir to the Ferrari throne.

The film’s best scene must surely be mentioned in this review.  This is, however a spoiler alert, so what follows in italics, is a spoiler that should be skipped if one wishes to do so.  The best-filmed segment has the car hit an object on the road, sending it flying up into the air and diverted after hitting a huge pole and then crashing into a line of spectators.  The spectators do not have time to run, and the destruction is devastating to the eyes.  There is decapitation of bodies with arms and ages everywhere, Though gruesome the scene is, it is the best in the film, and well worth the price of the admission ticket.  Director Michael Mason captures the spirit of racing and the environment of the racing business.

The trouble with films like NAPOPEON and FERRARI are the American actors playing European subjects.  Phoenix speaks English with a French accent while Driver does Ferrari with an Italian accent - which seems acceptable to Hollywood audiences as most would not go see a subtitled film.

 

FERRARI opens on Christmas Day.

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THE IRON CLAW (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Sean Durkin

 

Written and directed by Sean Durkin, the film attempts to tell the true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.  Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.  THE IRON CLAW is the wrestling hold made famous by the Von Erich father.

The Von Enrich name is quite famous in the history books of wrestling.   Originally from Texas, their actual surname is Adkisson, but every member who has been in the wrestling business has used the ring name "Von Erich," after the family patriarch, Fritz Von Erich (Jack Adkisson). Jack took on the name as part of his wrestling gimmick (i.e. in-ring persona) as he originally portrayed a Nazi heel, hence his use of a German name.

There are too many deaths in the family, as the film goes to show that the family has the Von Enrich Curse.  When Fritz died of cancer in his Denton County home in 1997 at the age of 68, five of his six sons had predeceased him. His firstborn, Jack Jr., was accidentally shocked and drowned in a puddle at the age of 6 in 1959, outside his Niagara Falls home. In 1984, David Von Erich died in a Tokyo hotel from enteritis at the age of 25. Mike, Chris, and Kerry all died by suicide; Mike took an overdose of Placidyl near Lewisville Lake in 1987 at the age of 23, Chris shot himself in the head with a 9mm handgun in 1991 at the age of 21, and Kerry shot himself in the chest in the family yard in 1993 at the age of 33. Kevin Von Erich (portrayed by Zac Ephron) is the last surviving son.

Ephron has gained major muscle for the role while sporting a most horrid haircut.  Ephron used to be so cute but is now likely considered too big for his own good.  He performs well in the role of Kevin, the main protagonist of the movie. 

Director Durkin omits certain important parts of the family history in lieu of the other parts that involve Kevin, primarily for the obvious reason that Ephron is the star of the movie.

 The wrestling match in which Kerry won the championship title bringing the championship belt to the family for the very first time is clearly omitted in the movie.  The major wrestling matches shown in the movie all involve Kevin.

Director Durkin captures the most important points in the cautionary tale.  The dangers of the sport of wrestling are shown from the injuries suffered by the wrestlers to pushing their bodies past their limits to the psychological effects of losing and trying too hard.  The sibling rivalry and the detrimental effects of the father’s demands are also well documented.  One could fault the father and mother for doing too much without much thinking.

For a Christmas movie, THE IRON CLAW is a most depressing one- as good as the drama it is.  The warning is given to the audience at the very start of the film in voiceover that the family is cursed from the very beginning with one mishap after another.  It is as if God had forsaken the family even though the mother is a devout God-fearing person.  So if depressing films at Christmas are not your forte stay away from this one.

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MIGRATION (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Benjamin Renner

 

From the ILLUMINATION company, the one responsible for those too-cute minions arrives MIGRATION, with a few nods to the minis.  The feature MIGRATION is preceded by an ILLUMINATION -Mionin short, which is of course, cute and entertaining.

MIGRATIPN is a film about a duck family with an overall message for kids and the family.  The loveable family of odd ducks is ruled by the father (Kumail Nanjiani) with a strong hand or wing, that could be easily persuaded otherwise.  The family comprises the mother and 2 ducklings (voiced by Elizabeth Banks, Tresi Gazal, and Caspar Jennings) who mostly try to convince their overprotective father to go on the vacation of a lifetime by following a flock of birds on migration.  The father is initially intent on staying put in their comfortable and well-stocked pond while the ducklings want to wander outside their comfort zone of the pond.  Curiosity gets the better of the family. 

The danger facing the family occurs with that dreaded species called humans.  When the family descends upon a metropolitan city for the first time, there is danger involved,

Heavyweight actors Danny DeVito, Awkwafina, Carol Kane and Keegan-Michael Key round out the voice cast with the latter earning the most laughs with his Jamaican-accented humour.

The animation is fancy and inventive enough but one wishes there was more innovation in the overall storytelling than the Christmas message of being one as a family.

MIGRATION opens on December 22nd, 2023.

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SOCIETY OF THE SUN (La Sociedad de la Niece) (Spain 2023) ***½

Directed by J. A. Bayona

 

Hardship, disaster and the triumph of the human spirit.  These are the three themes of the December 22nd Christmas movie from Spain entitled SOCIETY IF THE SNOW, largely shot in Spanish, Spain’s entry for the Academy Awards category for Best International Feature.  It is an account of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crash and the crashes survivors, an adaptation of Pablo Vierci's book of the same name, which documents accounts of all 16 survivors of the crash, many of whom Vierci knew from childhood.  The cast is composed of Uruguayan and Argentine actors, most of whom are newcomers.

  This chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, crashed in the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as the Andes flight disaster.

The film running more than 2 hours tells the story leaving no stone unturned.  The filmmakers interviewed the survivors as well as the families of the non-survivors.  The flight was carrying 45 passengers and crew, including 19 members of the Old Christians Club rugby union team, along with their families, supporters and friends.  This fact is shown at the beginning of the film as well as in flashbacks.  Three crew members and nine passengers died immediately; several more died soon afterward due to the frigid temperatures and the severity of their injuries. The wreck was located at an elevation of 3,570 metres (11,710 ft), in the remote Andes of far western Argentina, just east of the border with Chile.  Authorities flew over the crash site several times during the following days, searching for the aircraft, but could not see the white fuselage against the snow. Search efforts were canceled after eight days.  The film shows the survivors getting discouraged after hearing this news on a radio they managed to hook up.

The audience is not spared any grueling details of the following 72 days,\ when the survivors suffered extreme hardships, including exposure, starvation and an avalanche, which led to the deaths of 13 more passengers.  The remaining passengers resorted to cannibalism. The film dives a bit into the act, whether it is a crime.  But many permit their bodies to be eaten when they perish.  The act of eating human flesh and the cutting up of the bodies are examined in the film.  As the weather improved with the arrival of late spring, two survivors, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, climbed a 4,650-metre (15,260 ft) mountain peak without gear and hiked for 10 days into Chile to seek help, traveling 61 km (38 miles). On 23 December 1972, two months after the crash, the last of the 16 survivors were rescued. The news of their miraculous survival drew worldwide headlines that grew into a media circus.

Meticulously executed a riveting account of surviving an air crash in the Andes that looks almost too incredible but is true, SOCIETY OF THE SBOW, a Netflix original film,  opens at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on December 22nd before going on to streaming on Netflix.

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THE ZONE OF INTEREST (Poland/UK/USA 2023) ***** Top 10

Directed by Jonathan Glazer

 

Winner of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes (2nd Best Film), Jonathan Glazer’s (UNDER THE SKIN) THE ZONE OF INTEREST is a horror film about the Holocaust without a single scene of concentration camps.  It depicts the banality of evil so well put forward that the audience is left just as silent as in the recent Christopher Nolan nuclear war vehicle, OPPENHEIMER.  

Auschwitz commander is the main subject - Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), who is always dressed in white as if to symbolize purity with his wife Hedwig (Sandra Huller), live so close to Auschwitz camp that one can hear the horrors from the nearby camp (as in a prisoner drowned by the guards for fighting for an apple).  They live in a beautiful home, with food, vegetables, fruit and herbs cultivated next to a swimming pool and river flowing with clear water close by.  They argue about household problems and are oblivious to the horrors of the war that are going on.  The thousands gassed are discussed as a matter of efficiency of transportation in a meeting among Nazi officials.  

The most catastrophic scene in the film of Hedwig’s life is when she freaks out at her black dog vomiting in the corridor - never mind the gassing of thousands of Jews in the concentration camp next door.  Hedwig is so obsessed with her residence that she insists that her husband write to Hitler to allow her to stay at the residence when news of her husband’s transfer gets to her.

The film is an art film as observed in the first 5 minutes of the film’s opening.  The title of the film, THE ZONE OF INTEREST is seen in white on a black background while disturbing sounds/music can be heard on the soundtrack.  The scene stays for a whole minute before the whole disappears and a total black screen is observed for the rest of the 5 minutes.  This is a visual metaphor of the beautiful and immaculate residence of the Höss’s, and when the black appears, it represents the horrors of the Nazi concentration camp that is the main subject of concern.

The residence is a stunningly beautiful one with a beautiful garden that grows all the fresh vegetables and fruits, all organic.  The Höss’s are self-sufficient and also have servants to tend to their needs.  The husband and wife are seen sleeping on separate beds.  It appears too, that their marriage is a matter of convenience and show. They throw lavish parties and are also dressed immaculately,  Another chilling scene is the Nazi board meeting where the Nazi Officers praise themselves and talk about the efficiency of transporting the Jews by train to the concentration camp, calculating the number by train and how many can be transported by day.

The most chilling film of the year that many critics claim should have won the Palme d’Or Prize for its groundbreaking filmmaking.  THE ZONE OF INTEREST is currently standing on most of the film critics’ Top 10 Best Films of 2023.  The Toronto Film Critics Association has selected THE ZONE OF INTEREST as the best film of the year.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 04 December 2023

FILM REVIEWS:

 

LES TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES: D’ARTAGNAN (The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan)

(France/Germany/Spain/Belgium 2023) ***½

Directed by Martin Bourboulon

Click link for review: 

https://toronto-franco.com/article/21-cinema-movies/395-film-review-les-trois-mousquetaires-d-artagnan-the-three-musketeers-d-artagnan

 

BLOOD VESSEL (Nigeria 2023) ***1/2

Directed by Charles Okpaleke

 

BLOOD VESSEL should not be confused with the 2019 German film about a vampire ship that shares the same title.  That was a camp horror comedy while this one, from Nigeria’s Play Network Studios (Nollywood) tackles more serious issues - both personal and political.  This is Nigeria’s highly anticipated film that debuts on Netflix on Friday, December 8th.

The film opens with an aerial shot, of the beautiful landscape of Africa, which one assumes is part of Nigeria.  The audience sees a butterfly followed by greenery.  The voiceover praises the beauty of the earth, that is until oil destroys it.  Oil pollution results in contamination.  Water that brings life, the voiceover claims now brings death as one scene shows a mother carrying a dead child.

The setting is the seldom or hardly-seen Niger Delta region.  The story revolves around six individuals brought together by chance.  Escaping a town devastated by oil pollution, they inadvertently become stowaways on a mysterious ship, unaware of the dangers that await. The hope for a better life does not come easy, as the film instructs but comes with trials and tribulations.  On the road to paradise comes a fight for survival - testing the key human elements of among others, friendship, betrayal, romance, desperation  and dignity.

Director Okpaleke creates a delicate and successful balance between the personal and political issues in a drama-packed thriller with an authentic unfamiliar but exciting setting.

The film is shot in the original language including some English and a of other languages  The film, is now available on Netflix and is worth a look.

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CHRISTMAS AS USUAL (Så Var Det Jul Igjen)(Norway 2023) **

Directed by Peter Holmsen

 

This Christmas holiday romantic comedy of cultural differences aims at being a GUESS WHO’S COMING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.  A few updates in that the person bringing home the surprise guest is a strong-willed female, Thea (Ida Ursin-Holm) who is Norwegian and the guest is Indian (or rather Hindu).  Thea and Jason (Kanan Gill) are also engaged which the family is yet to find out.  Also father is left out of the picture, recently passed but fondly remembered and the mother is also strong-willed and tradition-bound.  The family Jashan meets includes Thea’s mother, her brother and sister-in-law (the funniest of the lot) and her niece.

The family wants CHRISTMAS AS USUAL with all the Norwegian traditions but Jashan's visit brings trouble to paradise,

All this sounds like a good opportunity for comedy but unfortunately falls flat because of unfunny humour and a really bad blending of drama and comedy.  It does not help that the Indian character is just awful in his personal manners, despite the script trying to make him sympathetic and right.  The best example is him sneezing at a key moment while attending church while a solo is sung.  He sneezes loudly not once but many times during the solo performance  Any decent-mannered person would have sniffled the sound of a sneeze with a tissue or if without one with his closed hand.  It is also a known fact when one is invited to a home to meet the family, one does not try to cook a meal as Jahan does.  One quietly and politely takes in the festivities.

The only winning thing about this film is the audience’s discovery of what Norwegians do during Christmas - that is assuming that what is seen on screen is typical Norwegian Christmas practice.  This includes eating crispy fat with fat sauce (this actually sounds unhealthy but delicious) and jumping in outdoor ice-cold water for a polar dip.  Jada, however, cannot take in the Christmas food and ends up becoming a loud and obnoxious drunk after downing several potato-liquor shots.

The film is hardly funny though there are a few admirable comedic set-ups like the fight between Jashan dressed in Indian garb on Christmas Eve and Thea’s ex who is dressed as Santa Claus.  But many other scenes could have been funnier but there are lots of missed opportunities for laughter.  With all the drama, the audience tends to take the Norwegian side instead of the Indian side which a story like this should lead.

This, however, being a Christmas romantic comedy falls into the trap of harlequin-type Hollywood romances.  This calls for the couple to quarrel and make up with a happy ending.  This one calls for the hurried drive in the ice and snow to the Oslo airport to prevent Jada from flying off.

CHRISTMAS AS USUAL is a Norwegian Netflix original film that opens for streaming on Netflix Friday December 8th.

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CONCRETE UTOPIA (South Kore 2023) ***

Directed by Um Tae-hwa

 

In the opening moments of Um Tae-hwa’s riveting new disaster epic, an earthquake renders much of Seoul a smoldering ruin. But as survivors begin efforts to restore order, it seems the real calamity has only just begun.  Apartments are the convenience of housing  One apartment building and the residues miraculously survive the earthquake while all other structures are demolished.  The special effects show the one apartment building standing alone amidst the rubble.  The tune of “There’s No Place Like Home” is heard on the soundtrack.

An earthquake renders much of Seoul a smoldering ruin in the opening minutes of this riveting post-apocalyptic epic from director Um Tae-hwa (Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned). But as survivors begin efforts to restore order, it seems the real calamity has only just begun.  Human beings show off their worst when it comes to survival.

From their balcony at the Hwang Gung apartment complex, Min-seong (Parasite’s Park Seo-jun) and Myeong-hwa (Park Bo-young) look out on nothing but corpses and rubble.    A stranger and her small child soon arrive at Min-seong and Myeong-hwa’s door (not from the building) begging to be let in, followed by dozens of others from the surrounding area desperately seeking food and shelter.  As days pass and no rescue teams turn up, the tenants assemble, survey their limited resources, and vote to evict the “outsiders.” When Yeong-tak (I Saw the Devil’s Lee Byung-hun), the tenants’ elected leader, announces that the outsiders must leave Hwang Gung, all hell breaks loose. From this point on, tenants must be prepared to protect their property by any means necessary.  It is a matter of survival of the fittest.  The delegate and the head of committees form rules on rations, security from outsiders, repair and humorously, waste management.  They shit into a plastic outline in a toilet bowl and dispose of the waste without the use of precious water.

Based on the second part of Kim Sung-nyung’s Cheerful Outcast webtoon, Concrete Utopia is a sobering parable, following its characters’ gradual descent into ruthless tribalism in a way that eerily mirrors so many contemporary global events.  When all hope is lost do human beings glimpse the possibility of generosity and some much-needed self-determination?

CONCRETE UTOPIA suffers from many unanswered questions, or rather it omits many obvious issues.   First of all how devastating is this supposed earthquake?  Surely, rescuers would have reached Seoul quite soon.  Is Seoul the only place suffering from the earthquake?  What about the rest of Korea and the rest of the world?  Where did all the canned food come from and it seems that there is an unlimited supply of canned food.

The story of the survivors and the hierarchy of order is quite minimal.  There is only one person in charge, nicknamed Mr. Delegate.  The leadership should have been more detailed.  The entire ruling process is quite pitiful, like a pauper version of George Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM.

CONCRETE UPTOPIA is the Official Selection of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and also South Korea’s entry for the Best International Feature Academy Award.

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EILEEN (USA/UK 2022) ***½

Directed by William Oldroyd

 

Set in a small town in 1960s Massachusetts, the film centers on Eileen Dunlop( New Zealand actress Thomasin McKenzie), a young woman working in a corrections facility for teenage boys. At work, she is shunned by her colleagues and fantasizes about one of the guards, while at home she lives with her widowed and alcoholic father, Jim (Shea Wigham), a former chief of police who suffers from paranoia and is emotionally abusive towards her. Eileen daydreams frequently about killing herself and her father.

There are many threads in the story.  One is the coming-out of Eileen who discovers love (the old Doris Day song SECRET LOVE playing on the soundtrack) with another woman.  Secondly, it is a father-daughter redemption story, with Eileen and her father having trouble getting along.  Thirdly, the film played like a psychological thriller - and a clever one at that, balancing dead-pan humour, dark themes  and a forbidden romance.

The script is always steps ahead of the audience.  Not one really knows the character of the protagonist Eileen - whether the lady is good or evil, though she shows both sides,  This makes the film more intriguing as no now can figure her out even past the halfway mark of the movie.

The film contains a few dreams or rather nightmare imaginations, that do not achieve much but reveal what Eileen is thinking.

The disturbing incident of a son, Lee Polk killing his father, a cop,  while the father was asleep in his bed beside his mother is milked for full effect.  The boy has not spoken a word since and is housed in Eileen's correctional facility.  A guard tells Eileen not to be sympathetic towards him as he killed a cop, to which she replies:  “This is not true, he killed a father.”  Eileen’s own father tells her that she has no guts to kill him as she is a girl

The film is a female-strength film with strong female characters, a female director and a female-to-female romance.  There was one time when feminists complained of insufficient female material in films.  It appears the opposite is true these days -  a triumph for the females.  “People are so afraid of their desires.  Especially the men, “ says Rebecca, the new prison psychiatrist (Anne Hathaway) at one point in the film.  Why did Lee Polk kill his father?  What did his father ever do to him to make him stab his father multiple times?  That is the question no one bothered to ask Lee, which Rebecca the prison psychiatrist did and found the disturbing answer - not mentioned but with the audience's assumed tone able to guess the answer. Mrs.Polk leaves in disgust when confronted with the truth and chooses to disbelieve it, though she is responsible for letting it all happen.  She spits in Rebecca’s face, a scene not shown in the film.

The story takes a twist in the last third when the Polk murder blends in Eileen and Rebecca’s relationship.

EILEEN has nothing much that is festive or joyous for the festive season, yet it is a solid psychological thriller, made with care and brilliance blending a disturbing theme with humour and suspense.  The film opens at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and is worth a look, for sure.

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FAST CHARLIE (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Phillip Noyce.

 

This film follows the very often used tactic that begins with a scene from nowhere, often a crucial one, and then flashes back to the incidents that have led to this state of affairs.  In FAST CHARLIE, the film opens with Charlie held at apparent gunshot range by an unseen assailant, and forced to take off his shirt and trousers.  How did Charlie get to this point when he was about to be shot by some unseen assailant?  He says he would not normally care if this incident occurs.  This scene is revisited 15 minutes before the film ends.  It is then that he decides otherwise, that he would use some magic trick to get out of the predicament.  This forms the film’s climax.

The film is called FAST CHARLIE for the reason that Charlie is quite fast at what he does.  And his last name is Swift.

For twenty years, Charlie Swift (Pearce Brosnan) has been a fixer and hitman for a mob boss named Stan (James Caan). After a rival boss puts a hit on Stan and his crew, Charlie is the sole survivor. Charlie decides to avenge his friend and teams up with Marcie (Morena Baccarin), the ex-wife of a mobster he killed.

The film is about old people.  The director Noyce is in his senior years and the main actor Pearce Brosnan, ex-James Bond is also in his later years.  He portrays a hitman and fixer, also I’m his later years who should plan a good retirement.

The story is also about achieving a person’s dreams.  When life moves along, Charlie, a brilliant Italian cook wishes to live the rest of his years in Italy.   Marcie, a taxidermist, wishes to have teaching tenure at a university to pursue her career.  And Stan retires in a big and lush facility.  The film also stresses loyalty and hard work.

There are two reasons to watch FAST CHARLIE.  Firstly, it is the final film of the late actor James Caan, his best role being that of the violent son Sonny of Don Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s THE GODFATHER.  In FAST CHARLIE, Cain plays Stan Mullen, the protagonist’s most respected aging boss.   Secondly, the film is directed by Australian Phillip Joyce, who has several memorable credits in his portfolio.  His film NEWSFRONT, is my personal favourite Australian film of all time.  He is also remembered for Hollywood films like RABBIT PROOF FENCE.  His films are always interesting to watch, though FAST CHARLIE is not one of his best.

Despite the film title FAST CHARLIE, FAST CHARLIE is a lazy and slow action thriller with more shootouts than unarmed combat scenes showing the later years of both the film’s director Phillip Noyce and main actor, Pearce Brosnan.

FAST CHARLIE premiered at the 2023 Mill Valley Film Festival on October 7, 2023. The film is scheduled to be released in select theatres and video on demand on December 8, 2023

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NAGA (Saudi Arabia 2023) **

Directed by Meshal Aljaser

 

NAGA follows a young woman stranded in the Arabian desert who races to be home before curfew under the threat of extreme punishment from her scary and strict father.  When it comes to disobedience in Saudi Arabia, a country where everything is much stricter than the norm, the repercussions can be extreme.  And the young woman knows it.  And so when Sarah (Adwa Bader), a young Saudi woman, is given a strict curfew by her conservative father for an approved shopping trip, she knows that she must meet his expectations by any means necessary. Especially since Sarah’s shopping plans are actually subterfuge for a secret date with Saad, a young suitor who just sent her an invitation to an underground party in the desert.  The best-laid deception goes quickly awry, and Sarah, now high out of her guard, gets stranded miles away from home.  Dodging a parade of arrogant and creepy men, not to mention a bloodthirsty, rabid camel, Sarah sets out on a wild adventure through distinct spheres of contemporary Saudi society in a desperate race against a ticking clock.

The synopsis above all sounds prime for a pretty good madcap adventure from Saudi Arabia of all places, but director Aljaser’s film misfires from the very first scene.

The first scene is a hospital where a masked man with a machine gun runs through the back staircase before opening fire on the staff in a hospital room with a patient.   The scene is filmed with a rotating camera that goes for an upside shot.  The reason for this is obviously to show how crazy the situation is, though the tactic is totally unnecessary, least to say redundant.

Other odd scenes follow, like Sarah screaming in the desert, a very annoying and loud scene, the apparent taking of drugs by Sarah and so on.  Whether the film aims at social satire to to make a solid statement about the ruling patriarchy of families, one can never be sure, and whatever goals the director might have are totally lost in his untamed stylish mayhem of filming.

At the end of the exercise, one would wonder what everything is really all about or what the purpose of the film is.  The film has been described by TIFF as similar to Martin Scorsese’s AFTER HOURS, a film that is also one that is too madcap, and one that I never liked either, (though many critics did).

. Though many individual segments of the film are well shot, they do not come together as a cohesive whole nor does director Aljaser make any attempt to do so.  Stylish thoughts aim might be, but style without direction here results in a total miss.

NAGA had its premiere in the Midnight Madness Section of the Toronto International Film Festival where odd and crazy films like this one have a chance to debut.  But this one, unfortunately, does not make the cut.  NAGA opens for streaming on Netflix this week.

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THE SACRIFICE GAME (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Jenn Wexler

 

It is bad enough that boarding school students Samantha and Clara can't go home for the holidays, but things take a deadly turn when a murderous gang ( gang of four) arrives on their doorstep - just in time for Christmas.

THE SACRIFICE GAME, the film opens in the setting of December 22nd, 1977, 3 days before Christmas.  Why 1977 and not the present?  The obvious absence of cell phones is the answer.  There are sounds of carol singing and just as the Christmas jolly singing stops, the music changes when a group of 4 rings the doorbell of a house.  “Merry Christmas,” the greeting comes from the man who opens the door, only to be greeted with a stab in the throat.  As the group - of 3 men and one woman attack the lady by stabbing her while she lies on the kitchen table, a scene that will definitely make the audience winch, the scene ceases and a new segment begins with a new character, Samantha attending boarding school.   So far so good, this BLACK CHRISTMAS-like horror flick holds one's interest so far.  The killers are dubbed ‘the Christmas Killers’.  This film is shot in Montreal, Canada though the country of origin is the United States.

The school stands where a fire wiped out the entire town and then a new town was built.  This is what Samantha is taught in her class, in the school that now stands on the burnt remains.

The film also plays like the recent Alexander Payne film THE HOLDOVERS in which a few students are held over and stay on the college grounds under a reluctant teacher.  The same goes for THE SACRIFICE GAME.  Samantha and Carol have no option but to stay over at the college for Christmas under supervision by a reluctant teacher, Rose who wants to get a posting to a public school away from the ‘boonies’.    As it turns out, it is now 2 days before Christmas and the Christmas Killer now strikes a church.  According to the news, the Christmas Killers hit different towns.  Rose has a boyfriend who also reaches the school later when the gang has entered the premises.

The story ties everything together with a third of the film.  The Christmas Killers appear at the door of the boarding school.  Rose, who looks after ‘the holdovers’ is freed to let them in.  The Killers quickly subdue the three including Rose’s boyfriend, terrorizing them at the same time.  The script creates some audience sympathy for Samantha and Carol.  Samantha’s mother died recently from a car accident and her step-dad wants nothing to do with her, the reason she is bit returning home for Christmas.  Carol has attempted suicide.

The story takes a turn to reveal the reason the film is called THE SACRIFICE GAME.  No one is as innocent as he or she seems as the story contains a few twists, though not all satisfactory,

Director and co-writer Jenn Wexler does a relatively good job at this Christmas horror, which is quite violent at times, which opens for streaming on Shudder the horror streaming network just in time for Christmas.  The film garnered the audience award for Best Film at the Fantasia Horror Film Festival in Montreal this year.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 20 November 2023

FILM REVIEWS;

 

AMERICAN SYMPHONY (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Matthew Heineman

 

This is the story and biography up to this stage, the artist Jon Batiste is still alive at the age of 37.  The film is so-called AMERICAN SYMPHONY as the artist has been chosen to compose and conduct a symphony at Carnegie Hall.  The doc mostly records the process of Batiste composing his first symphony.  The doc takes place during one year in the life of Batiste.

Jonathan Michael Batiste is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, and television personality.   He has recorded and performed with artists including Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Roy Hargrove, Juvenile, and Mavis Staples. Batiste, with his band Stay Human, appeared nightly as bandleader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022. His interview with Colbert forms one of the lighter moments in the doc.

Batiste also serves as the music director of The Atlantic and the Creative Director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. In 2020, he co-composed the score for the Pixar animated film Soul, for which he received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award and a BAFTA Film Award (all shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross).  Batiste has garnered 5 Grammy Awards from 14 nominations, including an Album of the Year win for his album We Are (2021)..

The doc also shows, from archive footage his father and mother’s influence on his music.  His mother insisted that he learn classical piano as the basics.  Batiste was also selected to the famed Juilliard School in NYC.   This is where he formed his band ‘Stay Human’.

The doc documents Batiste’s courage, talent and humanity as his wife, Suleika Jaouad faces leukemia.

This is no Hollywood bullshit like Bradley Cooper helming Leonard Bernseain’s biography in MAESTRO which is more or less Oscar bait.  AMERICAN SYMPHONY is the real thing - a real-life American composer and conductor, Jon Batiste, whose life and aspirations are shown in this little but earnest and honest documentary.  This is a Netflix original doc just like MAESRO, which is the reason Netflix probably coincided with the two films’ opening dates.  The film had its world premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on August 31, 2023.

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CANDY CANE LANE (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Reginald Rudlin

 

A man is determined to win the neighbourhood's annual Christmas decorating contest. He makes a pact with an elf called Pepper (Jillian Bell) to help him win - and the elf casts a spell that brings the 12 days of Christmas to life, which brings unexpected chaos to town.

Review Embargo lifted 9 am Nov 30th Thursday ET

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FIRELINE (USA 2023) ***½

Directed by Tylor Norwood

 

The word FIRELINE is the title of a new documentary that examines the work of Californian firefighters.  The word Fireline in British  English means the strip of open land in a forest or prairie, that arrests the advance of a fire (another name for firebreak).   Though the title Wireline is used, the usage of this tactic is not specifically shown in the film.

The doc begins with the scene of a fire in Northern California at 3 am.  The Dixie Firenin Lasengeer County has already burnt 500,000 acres of land. 6,000 men are already on the job.

Enter the spectacle and drama of a megafire, alongside a firefighting team struggling to save anything they can while protecting each other. FIRELINE takes audiences into the firescape, to feel for the first time what those fighting these blazes face, especially as climate change makes megafires larger and more frequent. It's an intimate portrait of a system stretched to its breaking point, revealing the friendship, heartbreak, and exhilaration experienced by those who go to war against this elemental force.

FIRELINE focuses on three firefighters from the Cal Fire Lassen-Modoc Unit, and their harrowing experience fighting a megafire for 36 emotional hours. The filmmakers also worked with The California Fire Foundation, which provides emotional support to families of fallen firefighters, firefighters and the communities they protect.  “If are not nervous, then there is something wrong with you.”  The fire can change direction and course without a moment’s notice.

The importance of the planning of the tactical maneuvers in firefighting is shown and likened to the importance of the military tactics used in battles by General MacArthur.   

A fair portion of the doc focuses on the firefighters.  It is stated that these firefighters spend more time with their colleagues than with their friends and family, so the firefighters form a close-knit family on their own.  They work together.  However, there is little conflict or problems shown in the doc of the firefighters.

The doc focuses mainly on the Californian firefighters and the fires that have raged out of control in California.  There is little mention of fires or the firefighting that goes on in the other countries of the world - elect for a token nod with brief images of fire in Brazil, Europe and Australia.  International cooperation is mentioned but largely omitted.

What is immediately noticeable and not addressed in the film is the largely white men who form the firefighting team.  There are hardly any women, black or Latino that are seen.

Justin, Tyler and Riley, 3 firefighters featured in the doc had to do a 60-hour no-sleep duty before being able to sleep in their beds.  The doc says that other firefighters go through the same gruesome routine to perform their largely thankless task.

FIRELINE covers not only the firefighting performed by the firefighters but also the human aspects of the arduous tasks giving the audience insight into what it means to be firefighters on the job, while also showing the trauma of the victims of the fires who have lost their homes and basically everything of their livelihood.  An informative eye-opening documentary that needs to be seen.

The doc will be released on digital platforms on December 5, 2023

 

MAESTRO (USA 2023) **

Direct by Bradley Cooper

 

The MAESTRO (Italian word for Master or Teacher) in the film is famous American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.  This is the long-awaited vehicle starring and directed by Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper, telling of Bernstein’s life and achievements.  However, as almost perfect as the film is, in most departments particularly in the acting and makeup ones, the film definitely has the feel of ‘Oscar bait’ as Cooper aims to win one for Best Actor if not get a nod for Best Direction.

Leonard Bernstein who passed in 1990 at a relatively early age of only 72, is considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time.  He was the first American conductor to receive international acclaim. Bernstein was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history" according to music critic Donal Henahan.  He has numerous honours and accolades including seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and 16 Grammy Awards (including the Lifetime Achievement Award as well as an Academy Award nomination. He received the Kennedy Center Honour in 1981.

As for the film, he composed the original score for the Elia Kazan drama film On the Waterfront (1954), and theatre works including On the Town (1944), Wonderful Town (1953), Candide (1956), and his Mass (1971).  One would have expected more mention of his theatre and film works since this is a filmed biography that Cooper noticeably leaves out.  There is only a brief mention of Bernstein’s most popular musical WEST SIDE STORY.

The most obvious and arguably most embarrassing moment in the film is the segment in which Cooper directs the orchestra (Mahler) and in another when he shows a novice what to do,  If this is not Oscar bait, then no one knows what is.  

Cooper’s direction is also odd at times. In one confrontational scene between Bernstein and his wife (Carey Mulligan), he films the fight at a distance as if in a stage play.  There are no close-ups or edits as the two argue their points of view.  Perhaps Cooper does not want the audiences to be influenced by taking sides but one will never know the reason for this off-filming tactic.

From the photos of the real Leonard Berstein, Cooper looks almost exactly like the man in various states of his life.  Credit to the great work from the team of the makeup and prosthetics (Vivian Baker) and hair stylist departments.

The part of Bernstein’s lifelong humanitarian, efforts working in support of civil rights, protesting against the Vietnam War, advocating nuclear disarmament, raising money for HIV/AIDS research and awareness, and engaging in multiple international initiatives for human rights and world peace are all omitted in the film.

As a biography of Leonard Bernstein, the film’s a failure with only his philosophies in life are mentioned as Cooper recites a few monologues as if being interviewed and lots of scenes of him conducting orchestras and arguing with his wife, with only a small of the life included and with his childhood and early background totally ignored.

MAESTRO opens in theatres on November 1st, 2023.

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MONSTER (Japan 2023) ***½

Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda 

Quiet and reserved Minato (Sōya Kurokawa) — no longer a kid, but not yet an adolescent — lost his father when he was a young child and lives with his mother (Sakura Andō). When he starts behaving strangely, obsessed with the idea his brain has been switched with a pig’s, the mother suspects his teacher Hori (Eita Nagayama) and calls a meeting with the school principal (Tanaka Yūko) only to face a wall of silence and stiff apologies. Someone must have put that idea in Minato’s head, but something doesn’t add up. Is Minato telling the truth, or is his professor innocent?  Looking at the story from various points of view, and told non-chronically and with crisscrossing of events, nothing is what it seems and things can be interpreted differently with dire consequences.  Kore-eda’s film is a bit confusing in the beginning till one realizes what he is trying to do.  The film also covers current issues of single parenting, school bullying, first romance and coming-of-age.  Also, the great soundtrack from legendary musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died last March, Monster being his last soundtrack.

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MY ANIMAL (Canada 2023) **

Directed by Jacqueline Castel

 

The film MY ANIMAL has a mudded beginning that sets the tone for the rest of the film.  A young girl, Heather is watching a horror film on TV when she suddenly experiences weird body changes with blood dripping from her orifices.  Her mother calls out to Heather as Heather disappears from the room.

Heather, an outcast teenage goalie, longs to play on the hockey team of her small northern town in Ontario, Canada.  She meets and falls in love with newcomer Jonny, an alluring but tormented figure skater. The girls’ relationship blossoms despite Heather’s struggles with her alcoholic mother, her hidden sexual orientation, and a familial curse that transforms her into a feral wolf under the full moon. Heather and Jonny’s secret tryst soon clashes against the conformity of their small community, exposing dangerous truths and igniting a passionate, violent night of personal transformation. 

As much as director Castel tries to create winning personalities for her two female characters, one cannot help but still feel disconnected with them.  After one awful night for each of them, Jonny has it out with her coach, as seen by Heath as she begins an awful hockey session as a goalie.  It does not help that the two girls decide to go out after their individual troubles and enjoy themselves by doing huge ‘wheelies’ on the ice with their car and then making hot lesbian love shots with red lighting.  Heather’s telling of a scary story to Jonny is also as irritating as it is unoriginal, as everyone has heard this similar scare story tactic before,

The film aims to be a coming-of-age story - one with a difference, in which Heather tackles several problems including turning into a wolf.  The film’s different narratives does not blend well together and it definitely is a case of taking up too much on one’s plate (lesbian love story; coming-of-age; alcoholic mother/daughter relationship; females in the male sports world; horror werewolf story).

The best thing about the film is its authentic Northern Ontario setting, shot in the dismal and cold winter where the sun is rarely shown shining.  The whole atmosphere is depressing, which unfortunately adds a damper feeling for the film.

There is no explanation given to the wold or werewolf background, just the fact that it has run in the family and Heather is going up and the wolf instincts are beginning to manifest itself.  The mother’s alcoholism adds to Heather’s distress and seems unnecessary in the story to put additional trauma on the teenager.

The film contains some neat and exciting editing work, especially during the filming of the hockey games.

Good intentions and hard work do not always translate to a good film, the fresh new take on teen lesbian love, a werewolf metaphorical story set in a small town hockey setting turns out a disappointment.

MY ANIMAL has opened at several festivals around the world including:

Sundance Film Festival 2023 - World Premiere

Outfest Los Angeles 2023 - Centerpiece film

Fantasia Film Festival 2023 - Canadian Premiere

and opens in theatres on December the 1st, 2023.

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A REVOLUTION IN CANVAS (USA 2023) ***

Directed by Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder

 

Nikzad Nodjoumi, more commonly known as Nicky Nodjoumi (born 1942) is an Iranian-born American fine art painter. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His paintings address Iranian politics, history, power and corruption.  For this reason, he has been banned from Iran and his paintings taken away from the Art Museum in Tehran.  Were the paintings destroyed?  Were the paintings stolen?  Were the paintings re-located?  No one knows.  The artist claims that a part of his life had been lost with the lost paintings.  The doc tells the story of the missing painting.  The doc is directed by the artist Nicky’s daughter and her husband.

In their hybrid political thriller and verité portrait documentary A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS, Sara Nodjoumi makes her directorial debut alongside her husband and co-director Till Schauder, with this personal film diving into the mystery surrounding the disappearance of more than 100 "treasonous" paintings by her father, the seminal Iranian modern artist Nickzad “Nicky” Nodjoumi - one of Iran’s most revolutionary artists.

The doc also shows Nicky at work during a painting, using time-lapse photography.  Nicky speaks to the camera ever so often, informing the audience that his canvas shows the story of the revolution - hence the title of the doc, A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS.  He also says that the paintings have to be recovered, not because they are his best work, but because they tell an important story.

He is concerned about issues like contracted borders (who gets to live where), the environment, war and revolution being a few of them.  So what makes Nicky different from other artists?  The doc makes it clear that he is one who cannot help himself but express current troubled news as art.  Whenever a troubling issue appears in the news, Nicky creates art from it.  The director, his daughter when interviewing him, has declared himself to be a revolutionary.  He looks like one from the archive footage, with his beard.  There is a bit of his romance with his wife in the story, the girl who loved him and ignored her family’s objections.  His daughter can be considered to be following in his footsteps by making this documentary on him and telling his story.

A REVOLUTION IN CANVAS is the daughter’s director’s extensive home movie on her father.   The film has interesting material though the material might be considered too personal and too Iranian or too narrow in its appeal.  All this considered, the doc overs a good tale of the artist, his life, his beliefs, his fame and his works.

A REVOLUTION ON CANVAS will have a limited theatrical release in U.S. movie theatres starting Friday, December 1st in New York at Cinema Village. A week later, on Friday, December 8th, it will open in Los Angeles at Laemmle Royal and in San Francisco at The Roxie. The film will have its Toronto theatrical premiere on Sunday, December 3 at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. The film’s directors will participate in Q&A’s at Toronto’s premiere.

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SILENT NIGHT (USA 2023) **

Directed by John Woo

 

The new John Wood action film is entitled SILENT NIGHT for two reasons.  The setting is Christmas eve and the protagonist has lost his speaking ability after recovering from a shot in the throat jugular rendering him unable to speak.

The film begins with a two-car chase with shots firing between the two cars as the cars react around a neighbourhood.  Caught in the crossfire is the young boy who is ultimately killed by a stray bullet.  The father (Joel Kinnaman from TARZAN) pursues the chase on foot - kind of unbelievable - and ends up cornering one of the cars but unfortunately, gets a shot in his throat an brought to the hospital in an ambulance.  After a super gross-out scene in which he is operated on and the bullet removed (yes, there is the clinking sound of the retrieved bullet lancing in the metal bowl), he returns home unable to walk or speak.  Angrily he hunts down the gang members responsible for the son’s death.

The film boasts a no-dialogue script.  Even the confrontation between husband and wife is wordless.   Unfortunately, the pro of a complete no-dialogue film does not work.  the novelty wears thin after a while.  Apparently, the filmmakers have forgotten to tell a story, forgetting that a plot is necessary and one with emotions and credibility.  The audience is led to believe that the father Brian Goodrich is available to hunt down the suspects with the aid of getting photographs from a detective in charge of gang warfare (Scott Mescudi) while learning how to fight and use weapons better than any gag member after the accident.

The film does not require much from actor Kinnaman, who is normally a good and buffed actor, but here looks grim and angry.  The wife has to be played, by a Latino, not by an African American actor.  The detective is played by an African American for political correctness.

A film with minimal plot and action sequences packed one after another was first explored by the successful JOHN WICK 4 film, followed by Simon Wincer’s THE KILLER.  SILENT NIGHT attempts more of the same with one violent action sequence after another but ends up the worst of the films.  There is one extended hand-to-hand combat scene that shows how difficult it is to kill a man but does too over-the-top.  Master of Suspense shows how difficult it is to kill a man with Paul Newman and a woman trying to kill a spy in TORN CURTAIN, the segment is done slow and credible, unlike in SILENT NIGHT.

The editing and fight segments are well executed, but there is much more required to make a good action movie than just action alone, as his film proves.

SILENT NIGHT is the ‘perfect’ anti-Christmas movie in which unforgiveness rules.  After a 2 decade hiatus, Hong Kong director  returns with this awful violent movie, the poorest version of a JOHN WICK 4 and THE KILLER  action movie that has the audience ask the question: “Am I supposed to be entertained by all this?”

SILENT NIGHT opens in theatres on November 1st.

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WOMEN ON THE EDGE (NO ME ROMPAN) (Argentina 2023) ***

Directed by Azul Lombardía

 

A comedy that relates the tale of two ladies who, despite coming from different worlds, are subject to many of the same demands, obligations, and mandates.

WOMEN ON THE EDGE sounds like a shorter title of the 1988 Pedro Almodovar romp WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A MENTAL BREAKDOWN.  There are several similarities between the two films.  Firstly, both films are shot in Spanish, though WOMEN ON THE EGE is Argentinian Spiniest and the other one is Spanish Spanish.  Both films deal with the empowerment of women and both have a strong female cast.  Both are also colourful comedies the colourful to be taken literally as both films contain lots of colour.  Bot films are also about wronged women,  The Almodovr file deals with a woman going on a journey to find out why her lover left her and WOMEN ON THE EDGE has the man leaving one of the women in the two-women story,

WOMEN ON THE EDGE begins bright and colourful.  The camera spans a wide array of beauty products like grape collagen to other outrageous products as the second woman in the story has an organic cosmetics line, though it is revealed that she does not test her products,

WOMEN ON THE EDGE is a female movie all the way.  The film has two female protagonists, wronged by the male.  The alee is the main female public enemy number one.  And the ladies are about to exact a revenge that is not to be forgotten.

WOMEN ON THE EDEG might not win any film awards, but it is good old-fashioned female fun. like the sexy but harmless comedies that turned out in the 60s.

WOMEN ON THE EDGE is open for streaming on Netflix, a Netflix original film this week.

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