Victim/Suspect (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Victims treated as “suspects”

Posted on May 30, 2023 by kaist455

It is often infuriating to watch Netflix documentary film “Victim/Suspect”, which was released in last week. Closely following one steady and persistent investigative reporting process, the documentary shows us how many of sexual assault survivors in US have been grossly mistreated by the system supposed to protect and then bring justice for them, and it is all the more exasperating to observe how things have not been changed that much for numerous sexual assault survivors out there.

At first, the documentary mainly revolves around a reporter named Rachel de Leon, who happened to notice one seemingly simple case of a young woman who initially reported that she was raped and then arrested for her false report to the local police. Because this young woman already confessed to the local police not long before getting arrested, it looked like there was nothing to report there, but de Leon decided to get to the bottom of the case anyway, and then she found something quite unbelievable. It turned out that the local police actually coerced the young woman to do that confession, and they did not even do any proper investigation from the very beginning.

A series of police video recording clips clearly show how systemically the local police disregarded and mistreated the young woman without believing her story at all. A detective assigned to her case kept interrogating to her for more than one hour in a small interrogation room, and he even lied to her that there was a video clip from the surveillance camera around the crime scene which would contradict whatever she said to him. Besides, he often pointed out many inconsistencies in her testimony, and that surely made her feel more confused and cornered.

If you have ever watched the acclaimed Netflix miniseries “Unbelievable”, you surely know how wrong this really is. As an expert interviewee said in the documentary, most of sexual assault victims are quite confused as trying to process and understand what really happened to them, so their testimonies can be often incorrect and inconsistent to say the least. In addition, interrogating them again and again can be also quite traumatizing for their vulnerable minds, and that is why they need some psychiatric help if they really have to give a testimony for police investigation.

The more de Leon delves into the mistreatment of sexual assault survivors by the police, the more she came to learn of how prevalent it has been throughout the whole country. There were more than 150 publicized cases of “falsely reported rape” during one year, and it is quite possible that these cases are just a tiny tip of the big problem.

In case of a young woman in Alabama who eventually committed suicide after struggling a lot with the trauma from her sexual assault incident and its aftermath, she was quite disadvantaged from the beginning mainly because the man who allegedly raped her happens to have considerable power and money. The local police already believed that she was lying, and she was intensely interrogated for a long time while that man just briefly talked with a detective assigned to the case while his lawyer sat right next to him.

Later in the documentary, a retired police detective who had considerable experiences in handling sexual assault cases is interviewed and he is willing to tell a lot about how many police detectives are often willing to close those cases as soon as possible just because the cases are usually difficult and demanding to deal with. As a matter of fact, it will be so much easier if those women reporting sexual assault “confess” that they gave false report, and the same thing can be said about many others in the system ranging from sheriffs to prosecutors. All detectives have to do is using their familiar interrogation tactics on prime suspects, and sexual assault survivors are quite susceptible to that. Most of them eventually came to “confess”, and, to make matters worse, they sometimes got arrested and sent to the court for their “false report” while their cases were publicized for more shame and humiliation.

Although most of police detectives and sheriffs approached by de Leon declined to be interviewed by her, one certain detective, who handled the case of one of the sexual assault survivors appearing in the documentary, actually agreed to talk in front of the camera. He initially looks confident as frequently emphasizing how unbiased his investigation process is, but then de Leon gives something he should have found and then considered from the very beginning when he handled that case. Needless to say, he becomes quite embarrassed as looking more into his serious negligence.

Overall, “Victim/Suspect”, directed by Nancy Schwartzman, does not surprise me much mainly because I have been quite familiar with its main subject thanks to what I have learned from many other things including “Unbelievable” since the #MeToo Movement. I wish it was more focused instead of trying to handle lots of stuffs within 90 minutes, but this plain but impactful documentary reminds me again of why we still need a lot more changes. At least, as tentatively shown around the end of the documentary, more people have become aware of how tactfully and sensitively sexual assault cases should be handled, and that is why we should be more active about supporting and helping sexual assault victims out there.

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Sprinter (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Desperate Sprinters

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

South Korean independent film “Sprinter” tells the parallel stories of three different sprinters competing for the national team selection for each own desperate reason. Although their individual stories may feel rather plain and generic, the movie juggles these three different narratives well enough to generate enough emotional/dramatic resonance to hold our attention, and we come to care about their final results even though we do not root for all of them.

The first story belongs to Hyeon-soo (Park Sung-il), a thirtysomething sprinter who still does not quit despite having been clearly away from the prime period of his athletic career. As reflected by a number of awards in his residence, there was a time when he dominated over many competitions, but he is now much older than many of his younger competitors, and he is reminded again and again of his physical disadvantages whenever he trains himself alone without much support or promotion.

At least, Hyeon-soo has a wife who understands him well as a fellow athlete who probably had her own days of glory in the past. Even though he did not ask for anything from her at all, she is quite willing to help his latest attempt for the national team selection, and Hyeon-soo eventually comes to realize how fortunate he is to have such a supportive wife like her. Once he accepts her sincere help and support, his wife, who has incidentally worked as a physical training instructor at a local health club, pushes him harder and harder day by day, and he finds himself becoming more prepared and galvanized for what may be the last shot for his increasingly dwindling athletic career.

The second story revolves around the dynamic relationship between a high school sprinter named Joon-seo (Lim Ji-ho) and his school coach. When Joon-seo’s coach notifies that his sprint team will be soon disassembled due to not showing any good result recently, Joon-seo pleads to his coach to give him the last chance to compete for the national team selection, and the coach becomes quite conflicted for an understandable reason. He has been eager to get promoted from a temporary coach to a full-time teacher, and now he finally gets the chance for that, but then he must give up his team as well as Joon-seo instead.

Nevertheless, the coach cannot possibly ignore the plea from his top sprinter, and Joon-seo soon readies himself a lot for giving his best shot for the national team selection. After all, he is not particularly interested in studying hard enough to get enrolled in some nice college later, and he really believes that going all the way for his athletic career is the only option for his future, though the coach later reminds him of harsh reality out there as a person who was once a promising professional sprinter many years ago.

To their surprise, Joon-seo comes to show a much better result than expected in the preliminary race, and that puts his coach in a more difficult position than before. He is officially not allowed to coach Joon-seo now, so he begins to overlook Joon-seo deliberately, and it does not take much time for Joon-seo to see what his coach has not told him yet. Although what happens next between them will not surprise you much, I must say it is a little touching to see how the coach chooses to do what will be probably the best for Joon-seo in the end.

If Hyeon-soo and Joon-seo respectively represent past and future in the film, Jeong-ho (Song Duk-ho) represent present as a promising twentysomething athlete who is apparently in the middle of the prime of his athletic career. When he goes through a routine training session along with several other young athletes, he looks quite confident and invincible to say the least, and he is certainly expected to be on the top of the upcoming national team selection.

However, not so surprisingly, there is something Jeong-ho has been hiding from others including his coach. We see him casually buying some steroid from a drug dealer, and he is not so daunted at all even when his longtime doping is eventually exposed to his coach, who certainly becomes quite furious but is more concerned about protecting his reputation. After all, any kind of doping scandal will invariably damage his coaching career, and he willingly covers up everything while also putting Jeong-ho on suspension for a while.

Just because he needs the first gold medal for his athletic career, Jeong-ho subsequenty asks his coach to give him another chance, and the coach does not have much problem with that. As a matter of fact, he can actually pull some strings if Jeong-ho gets caught for doping later, and that is the main reason why Jeong-ho dared to request for the second chance from his coach.

The three individual stories of the movie eventually converge on the expected finale, but director/writer Choi Seung-yeun’s screenplay wisely does not overplay as calmly doling out the final results for each of its three main characters. Park Sung-il, Lim Ji-ho, and Song Duk-ho are solid in their respective roles, and Gong Min-jung, Jeon Shin-hwan, and Choi Jun-hyuck are effective in their equally crucial parts.

On the whole, “Sprinter” is a simple but engaging mix of sports and character drama. I must point out that the third story is relatively superficial compared to the other two stories, but they are still effective together as an interesting triptych which raises some important questions about effort and result, and you may reflect on these questions for a while after it is over.

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Scream VI (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Ghostface is back… in Manhattan

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

I am rather amused by how the Scream franchise has hopped from one subject after another during last 26 years. At first, “Scream” (1996) simply made a fun of many of its genre clichés and conventions, and then the franchise has become more self-conscious in next four sequels which dealt with each own genre topic, and now “Scream VI” tries to have a wholesale fun with the entire franchise itself. Although it is occasionally tiresome to seasoned moviegoers like me, the movie delivers shock, suspense, and fun as much as expected at least, and that is a bit of achievement considering that the franchise is not much of a refreshing novelty these days.

The most distinguished aspect of the movie is its changed main background. After what happened in the previous film which came out in 2022, Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her younger sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) left their hometown in California and then moved to New York City for their college education as well as their safety and welfare, but they are still struggling with their traumatic past in each own way. While Samantha often has to deal with the unfair online rumors about her, Tara tries to move onto the future without looking back at their terrible past at all, and that certainly generates lots of conflict between them.

However, this personal matter of theirs is soon put aside due to another horrific murder case coming into their life. Naturally hiding behind that infamous mask and attire, somebody seems quite determined to push Samantha and Tara into another misery before, probably, killing both of them in the end, and Samantha and Tara must stick together while also supported by several supposedly helpful figures including Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and her brother Chad (Chad Meeks-Martin). Both Mindy and Chad incidentally had a fair share of terror and suffering in the previous film, and, again, Mindy provides a little lecture on the rules and conventions of horror movie franchise as your average movie nerd.

As usual, it is highly possible that somebody around Samantha and Tara is the killer in question, and the screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick gives us several possible suspects who often look as shady as required. There is a local cop who happens to be more involved into the case due to a personal reason of his own, and then there comes another figure from the previous film, who may hide something behind the seemingly forthright attitude. In addition, there is also a nice hunky lad living in the apartment building where Samantha and Tara have resided with their roommate, and it goes without saying that he sometimes seems too good to be true.

Anyway, Ghostface soon begins to strike upon Samantha and Tara and several other people associated with him, and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who also directed the previous film, serves us a number of intense moments as Samantha and Tara desperately try to survive and clear their name. At one point, we get a terrifying scene where Samantha and Tara try to evade their opponent in an empty convenient store, and the movie later gives us a suspenseful subway scene which places many Ghostfaces around several main characters for more dread and confusion.

Meanwhile, a bunch of notable horror movies are mentioned as expected, and I was certainly tickled by when Mindy and some other main character talk a bit about their favorite horror films. They certainly mention two different Friday the 13th flicks, but they somehow miss “Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan” (1989), probably because the comparison between that film and “Scream VI” is too obvious to say the least.

Like many murderous predecessors of the previous Scream movies, the Ghostface of this movie really tries a lot to terrify and then kill the targets. At one point, it is revealed that there is even a secret lair where numerous old stuffs from the previous films are collected and stored in pristine condition, and I guess this is another self-conscious nod to be appreciated. Sure, it requires some suspension in disbelief just like the preposterous plan of the Ghostface of this movie, but it is surely a big nostalgic moment for those numerous fans of franchise out there.

Although things become less engaging when everything is eventually revealed in front of us, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega ably anchor the film via their diligent efforts, and they are also supported well by several other cast members including Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Hayden Panettiere, and Dermot Mulroney. As the first victims to be killed during the opening scene, Samara Weaving and Tony Revolori have some little fun with their respectively brief moments, and Courteney Cox does more than providing the connection between the movie and the previous Scream movies, though it is a shame that Neve Campbell does not appear here due to that well-publicized disagreement on her fee for appearance in the film (Seriously, folks, doesn’t she really deserve more, considering how much closely the franchise has been associated with her acting career?).

In conclusion, “Scream VI” does not top the entertainment quality of the previous film, but it shows that its franchise still has some potential to amuse and entertain us. As your typical jaded moviegoer, I do not expect much about whatever may come next after “Scream VI”, but I will not complain as long as the franchise can still find and then have a fun with another new genre territory to stab and slash.

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The Little Mermaid (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Redundant but watchable anyway

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

“The Little Mermaid”, the latest case of the ongoing intellectual property regurgitation by Disney, is redundant at worst but watchable at best. I am not still sure whether this live-action version of the 1989 Disney animation film is really necessary from the beginning, but it is at least entertaining enough to compensate for its inherent redundancy mainly thanks to the good efforts from its several talented main cast members, and I decide to be a little more generous to it instead of being cranky about the apparent cynical intention of its production company. 

The biggest main reason why the movie works is the indelible presence of its charming lead actress, who may impress us more in the future. Although I am not that familiar with her musician career, but, as far as I can see from the film, Halle Bailey did a splendid job in both singing and acting here in this film, and the movie soars whenever she sings or exudes her natural charm across the screen. Believe me, she will instantly make you throw away any reservation right from when she sings “Part of Your World” with considerable sincerity and intensity, and those loathsome racist guys who said a lot of mean things about her colorblind casting should go to hell for that.

The other parts of the film are relatively less engaging in comparison, but they are often buoyed by those wonderful original songs by Alan Menken and late Howard Ashman from the 1989 Disney animation film at least. While Oscar-winning song “Under the Sea” is surely a showstopper as usual, “Kiss the Girl”, which was also Oscar-nominated at that time, is lovely to listen even though its lyric is altered a bit here for a little more gender sensitivity, and my personal guilty pleasure “Poor Unfortunate Souls” still tickles me with its deliciously malevolent touches to be appreciated.

In addition, David Magee’s screenplay did some modernization on several elements in the story including Prince Eric (Johah Hauer-King). In this version, Prince Eric is depicted more human depth, and his longing for exploring the world outside his island kingdom certainly resonates with our mermaid heroine’s irrepressible curiosity toward the human world. As a matter of fact, he even gets his own musical moment at one point, and that makes us care a bit about this inherently colorless character who is still no more than the object of our mermaid heroine’s affection.  

As she pines for her charming prince under the sea, our mermaid heroine is surrounded by several colorful marine animal characters. Under the command from her mighty father Triton (Javier Bardem, who looks soulfully regal as required), a crab named Sebastian (voiced by Daveed Diggs) tries his best to get things under control, but that does not stop our mermaid heroine at all, and she keeps exploring here and there along with a little fish named Flounder (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) and an eccentric bird named Scuttle (voiced by Awkwafina). I must point out that these supporting characters look less charming compared to their animation counterparts, but Diggs, Tremblay, and Awkwafina did a mostly competent job of bringing extra humor to the film, and Diggs and Awkwafina try their best with “The Scuttlebuck”, one of the new songs provided by Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. This rap song itself is rather terrible in my trivial opinion, but Diggs and Awkwafina perform it with some gusto at least.

Not so surprisingly, the most fun in the film comes from Melissa McCarthy, who is clearly enjoying every moment of her villainous character. Although she looks and sounds less enjoyably campy than her animation counterpart, McCarthy delightfully chews every line as demanded, and you will have some naughty smile as listening to her insidiously entertaining rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls”.

Although the movie feels a bit dragged in the middle part, Bailey’s talent and presence keep things rolling, and the movie does not forget that at all. Once she makes a questionable deal with McCarthy’s villain character, our mermaid heroine is transformed into a human girl who incidentally cannot speak at all, but that does not stop her from singing inside her mind at times, and Bailey has another lovely moment of hers in the film via her heartfelt performance of “For the First Time”.

During the expected climactic part of the movie, Director Rob Marshall and his crew members including cinematographer Dion Beebe try really hard for generating some thrill and excitement, but the result only reminds me again of why live action film usually cannot surpass animation film. Instead of being just fun and exciting, it is a little too grim and intense for young audiences without much style or personality, though you may appreciate how our mermaid heroine becomes more active in this version.

To be frank with you, I really think Disney really should focus more on creating new and refreshing stuffs instead of trying to make more money from old and familiar things, but “The Little Mermaid” is fairly engaging for its several entertaining elements including its lead actress’ terrific performance, so I recommend it despite my strong preference on the 1989 Disney animation film. When I watched it along a friend of mine at a local movie theater, I often observed how young audiences around us responded well to the movie, and I can only hope that their parents will later show them the 1989 Disney animation film.

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Sisu (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Let’s kill them all!

Posted on May 29, 2023 by kaist455

I winced and then was amused more than once as watching Jalmari Helander’s new film “Sisu”, an extremely violent but preposterously entertaining World War II film which really goes over the top along with its silent but striking hero. As stoic, lethal, and unstoppable as John Wick and John Rambo, this dude is quite determined to eliminate all those bad guys on his way for retrieving what is rightfully his, and you will appreciate how deftly the movie balances itself between sheer intensity and a sly sense of deadpan humor.

The movie is set in the Lapland area of Finland in late 1944. The country has been ravaged by the war by Russia and Nazi Germany, but that does not seem to worry its hero that much. At the beginning of the story, he is silently and steadily prospecting for gold alone at some remote spot, and he eventually succeeds in finding large chunks of gold ore in the ground. All he has to do now is taking his gold to Helsinki, though the journey to the city will be quite risky due to those Nazi soldiers in the area.

Our hero tries as much as possible for not throwing any attention, but, alas, things do not go that well for him when he subsequently happens to come across a bunch of Nazi soldiers on the road. They simply let him pass by at first, but they did that on purpose, and our hero soon finds himself pursued by them after the following incident between him and several other Nazi soldiers. After eventually pushed into what is virtually a deathtrap, he gets his gold snatched by those Nazi soldiers, and that certainly makes him quite angry to say the least.

Right from their first clash with our hero, his opponents, led by a SS officer who is certainly delighted to get an opportunity to get out of the war via our hero’s gold, belatedly come to realize that our hero is not just a plain civilian they can easily eliminate. He soon begins to eliminate his opponents one by one, and it is revealed later that our hero is a notorious former special forces member who became quite vengeful and murderous after his whole family was killed by Russian soldiers.

Although looking rather outmatched in number, our hero surely throws more fear and dread to his opponents and their leader, who is not daunted nonetheless as becoming more willing to eliminate our hero by any means necessary. After all, they have a tank besides guns and knives, and their fearful opponent is not entirely invincible as he gets wounded here and there in his body along the story.

However, our hero shows more of sheer will and determination which may even impress the lead character played by Daniel Day-Lewis in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (2007). At one point, he gets himself hanged by his opponents due to one of his main vulnerabilities, but he somehow finds a way for not only fooling his opponents but also saving himself (Is this a spoiler?), and you will be amazed more by how he performs another emergency treatment on his body later.

Meanwhile, the movie also pays some attention to a bunch of local women held by the Nazi soldiers as prisoners to be sexually exploited. One of these women sees what is happening to their captors, and there is a wonderful little moment when she calmly but ominously tells their captors a bit about why they should not have messed with our hero from the beginning. When our hero delivers the chance for revenge to them later in the story, the ladies do not hesitate at all, and that leads to one of major payback moments in the story.

The movie feels all the more outrageous as our hero does more unbelievable things including the one reminiscent of the opening action sequence of “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” (2015), but it keeps its attitude absolutely straight even at that point, and Helander and his crew members including cinematographer Kjell Lagerroos did a commendable job of filling the screen with an ample amount of style and mood. The wide landscape shots of the film look surreal at times with the stark barren atmosphere not so far from modern western films, and this aspect is further accentuated by the aggressive score by Juri Seppä and Tuomas Wäinölä.

Like the movie, Jorma Tommila, who previously collaborated with Helander in “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” (2010) and “Big Game” (2014), and several other main cast members play straight to their materials. While Tommila firmly holds the ground with his strong taciturn performance, Aksel Hennie, an engaging Norwegian actor who drew my attention for the first time via his intense performance in Morten Tyldum’s “Headhunters” (2011), and Jack Doolan are effective as the two main villains of the story, and Mimosa Willamo holds her own little place well as a substantial female character in the story.

In conclusion, “Sisu” will amuse and entertain you a lot once you go along with its extreme violence and some deadpan humor behind it, and the result is certainly better than Peter Thorwarth’s recent Netflix film “Blood & Gold” (2023), another recent World War II flick which also kills lots of Nazi soldiers. As I pointed out in my 2.5-star review on “Blood & Gold”, you need much more than killing Nazi soldiers when you make a bloody and violent World War II exploitation flick, and I assure you that “Sisu” surely has more than killing all those Nazi bastards.

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Blood & Gold (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): It surely kills a bunch of Nazi soldiers (and that’s all)

Posted on May 28, 2023 by kaist455

Seriously, you need much more than killing Nazi soldiers when you make a bloody and violent World War II exploitation flick. After all, Nazi soldiers in World War II movies usually exist for getting killed in one way or another just like those rotting zombies in horror movies, so you will definitely need some extra style and substance to spice up that familiar genre ingredient to our little entertainment.

Unfortunately, German Netflix movie “Blood & Gold”, which was released a few days ago, does not have that extra style and substance to distinguish itself besides its brutal and gory violence. While it is technically competent in many aspects, the movie is sadly two or three steps below what Quentin Tarantino gloriously achieved in “Inglourious Basterds” (2009), and we come to observe its pulpy moments without much care or interest, and we only end up being numbed by its relentless serving of remorseless violence.

At the beginning, we are introduced to a young Nazi soldier named Heinrich (Robert Maaser), who is running away from a bunch of other Nazi soldiers led by a hardcore SS officer. It is April 1945, and the war is being almost over with the imminent defeat of Nazi Germany on the horizon, but this SS officer, who looks quite creepy with his partially injured face, still believes that there is a chance for winning the war, so he is not so pleased about Heinrich’s desertion. When Heinrich is eventually captured outside some rural village, he subsequently gets himself hanged under a big tree, and the SS officer and his soldiers make sure that Heinrich will slowly suffer more pain and misery before his almost certain death.

Fortunately, Heinrich is saved at the last minute not long after his former comrades left him. His accidental savior is a woman named Sonja (Jördis Triebel), and she soon takes him to a remote spot where she and her mentally disabled younger brother have resided during last several years. Not so surprisingly, she hates Nazi soldiers for a personal reason, and she is also willing to let Heinrich stay a bit longer, though Heinrich confides to her later that he actually has an urgent personal matter which was the main reason of his desertion.

However, of course, both Sonja and Heinrich soon get themselves involved with those Nazi soldiers again, who subsequently come into the village for finding the gold which seems to be hidden somewhere inside the house originally belonging to a wealthy Jewish family. Although the house has been ruined since what tragically happened to that Jewish family shortly before the war began, the SS officer instructs his soldiers to search every corner of the remains of the house, and several village people become nervous about this for good reasons. After all, everyone in the village is quite willing to forget the past and then embrace the upcoming end of the war, but now here comes a fearful reminder of whatever they committed as encouraged by the toxic influence of the Nazi party during that dark period.

When Sonja’s place is subsequently ransacked by the Nazi soldiers and then she nearly gets raped by some of them, Heinrich decides to confront and fight against his opponents, and so does Sonja, who turns out to be much more hardened and strong-willed than we expected. After their violent moment with those Nazi soldiers, they quickly leave along with Sonja’s younger brother, but then they eventually end up killing more Nazi soldiers on their way, and the SS officer and a savage sergeant who has been his right-hand guy are certainly ready to eliminate both Heinrich and Sonja as soon as possible before finding the gold at last.

Around that point, the screenplay by Stefan Barth attempts to have a more vicious and violent fun with its broad archetype characters, but the result is rather meandering on the whole. I was amused a bit by several absurd moments including the one where Sonja’s younger brother gets what is probably his first taste of violence, but most of them just fizzle without leaving much impression. In case of the mystery surrounding the gold of the Jewish family, it is not particularly interesting because we can quickly discern what is really going on, and a little plot turn during its last act does not help much in my humble opinion.

I have no problem with the thin characterization of Barth’s screenplay because that usually comes with its genre territory, but most of the main characters in the film are not engaging enough to hold our attention. While Heinrich shows some personal sides along the story, he remains a rather bland figure compared to Sonja, who could be more interesting as a woman who had to take care of herself and her younger brother alone by herself for years. In case of those Nazi characters and several other sleazy figures in the film, we do not expect much depth from them from the beginning, but they seriously lack personality except that SS officer who comes to show a little twisted romantic fascination toward Sonja later in the story, and they eventually end up being no more than banal targets to be eliminated one by one.

“Blood & Gold” is directed by Peter Thorwarth, who previously directed another Netflix film “Blood Red Sky” (2021), a flawed genre product which could be more entertaining in its supposedly intriguing mix of two very different genre elements. Despite their many flaws, both of these two movies show that Thorwarth is a competent genre film director at least, and I can only hope that his next film will be more improved in terms of story and character.

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Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2019) ☆☆(2/4): Where’d it go wrong, I wonder

Posted on May 22, 2023 by kaist455

Since he drew my attention via “School of Rock” (2003) and “Before Sunset” (2004) when I was young and wild, Richard Linklater has seldom disappointed me during next 20 years, and that is why it is really depressing to see how he somehow failed in “Where’d You Go, Bernadette”. Even though several years have passed since it came out in 2019, the movie remains one of a few misfires in Linklater’s long and illustrious filmmaking career due to several bad reasons, and you will be relieved by the fact that he soon moved onto several next projects after this unfortunate failure of his.

The movie, which is based on the novel of the same name by Maria Semple, mainly revolves around a woman named Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) and her husband and their adolescent daughter. As shown from a YouTube video clip appearing in the middle of the film, there was a time when Bernadette was destined to become another great American modern architecture to be admired, but, after some very unfortunate incident, she has led a rather reclusive life along with her family in some suburban area of Seattle, Oregon. Their house looks so shabby on the outside that it occasionally feels like a distant cousin to the house of the Addams Family, but she has been mostly content with being stuck there along with her family, though her computer engineer husband Elgie (Billy Crudup) is usually busy with his work involved with Microsoft.

Anyway, their daughter Bee (Emma Nelson) has somehow grown up well under her troubled mother and frequently busy father, and she is quite eager to go to a certain spot in the Antarctica before going to some expensive dormitory prep school. While she is not so enthusiastic about the trip to the Antarctica compared to her daughter and husband Bernadette agrees to go there along with their family, and then that somehow leads to some anxiety problem to her – especially as she comes to clash more with several other mothers in her suburban neighborhood including Audrey Griffin (Kristen Wiig), who happens to live right next to Bernadette’s house.

Via her growing conflict with Audrey, we come to see more of how antisocial Bernadette really is. All she needs to do is stepping back a bit for her neighbor, but she deliberately causes a series of annoyance for Audrey and other mothers in the neighborhood. Although Bee does not care that much about this ongoing conflict, she shows some concern like any good daughter would, and so does Elgie, who has patiently tolerated Bernadette whenever he is not busy with working outside.

However, we do not care that much about what is happening on and around Bernadette because the adapted screenplay by Linklater and his co-writers Holly Gent and Vince Palmo fails to present its heroine as a believable character to draw our interest. No matter how much it emphasizes her suppressed artistic skill and talent, we never get to any sense of life or personality from Bernadette, and she just remains to be an annoyingly capricious person who really needs a private intervention session. As a matter of fact, Elgin comes to hold a private intervention session for his wife later in the story, but that does not bring anything much to the story and characters except a ridiculous subplot involved with some federal investigation.

In the end, the movie arrives at the Antarctica along with its several main characters as expected, but we still observe them from the distance without much care or attention. Sure, our troubled heroine eventually comes to find how she can get herself back in element, but the movie curiously lacks any kind of dramatic impact even at that point, and the following ending feels middling at best and lackadaisical at worst.

For Cate Blanchett, the movie now looks like a sort of warming-up exercise for her subsequent Oscar-nominated turn in Todd Field’s “Tár” (2022), where she plays a different kind of talented but deeply problematic professional. However, while she has lots of things to handle in “Tár” (2022), “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” does not provide much to her from the beginning, and the result comes to feel increasingly one-note along the story despite her diligent effort.

Around Blanchett, several notable main cast members are criminally under-utilized while being stuck with their under-developed supporting parts. While Emma Nelson has a bit more things to do besides doing the narration of the film, Billy Crudup often seems lost in his thankless role, and the same thing can be said about Kristen Wiig, who can be very funny but only ends up hitting the same note again and again here without much nuance. The movie is sometimes brightened up by the brief appearances of David Paymer, Megan Mullally, Laurence Fishburne, Steve Zahn, and Judy Greer, but they simply come and go without leaving much impression on the whole, and Fishburne is particularly wasted in his redundant single scene with Blanchett.

In conclusion, “Where’d You Go Bernadette” did not impress or entertain me much mainly because of its bland and superficial handling of story and characters, and I am now considering revisiting Linklater’s subsequent work “Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood” (2022), which has much more style, personality, and life in comparison besides being one of better works from Linklater. Believe me, you will have a much productive time with the latter, and you may thank me later for my inconsequential suggestion.

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Fathom (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Two scientific researches on whale sounds

Posted on May 21, 2023 by kaist455

Documentary film “Fathom”, which is available on Apple TV+ at present, alternates between two different researches on the sounds of humpback whales, but it somehow only ends up merely scratching the surface in both cases. Probably because both of these two researches are just two small steps toward whatever will be eventually discovered in the future, the documentary remains coolly and distantly philosophical about its main subject, and you may be disappointed if you expect it to be your typical nature documentary.

At first, we get to know a bit about two female scientists at the center of the documentary: Dr. Michelle Fournet and Dr. Ellen Garland. While Dr. Fournet has dedicated herself to recreating the communication sounds of humpback whales in Alaska, Dr. Garland has devoted herself to making a map of communication sounds shared and developed among those humpback whales inhabiting across the South Pacific Ocean, and both of them have been quite curious about the elusive aspects of the communication sounds of humpback whales. Although these two female scientists have recorded many different sounds from humpback whales, but these whale sounds remain rather unfathomable even at present, and now you may be reminded of “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986), where the mysterious sonic language of humpback whales turns out to be the solution to an inexplicable global emergency on the Earth.

In case of Dr. Fournet, she and her colleagues have tried to imitate a number of communication sounds of humpback whales even though they do not know what exactly these sounds mean. At one point, Dr. Fournet jokes about how the result of their recent attempt sounded too silly, but now they have a better version to be tested in Alaska later, though nothing is certain in their ongoing project. When she later arrives at one remote spot in Alaska along with a colleague of hers and their graduate assistant, they all look hopeful at first, but things soon become monotonous as their field research seems to be going nowhere, and there also come a few big problems to deal with.

On the opposite, Dr. Garland’s research looks relatively less frustrating as she and her colleagues work under the warm and sunny weather of the French Polynesia, but they also come to face some obstacles despite the hopeful beginning of their field research. As the end of her field research is approaching, Dr. Garland wants to continue her field study a bit more, but she also misses her loving husband a lot, who has always understood and supported her academic passion for many years.

Just like Dr. Garland, Dr. Fournet cannot help but feel pressured at times as a female scientist who often has to prove herself more than many male peers around her. I am sure both of these two female scientists can tell a lot about how they have managed to balance themselves between their work and private life, but the documentary does not delve that deep into that aspect while maintaining its detached attitude as before, and that is a little disappointment for us.

In case of those humpback whales, I must tell you that they do not make much appearance throughout the documentary, while usually represented by the research data and samples associated with their communication sound. We never get to know anything about those humpback whales studied by Dr. Fournet and Dr. Garland, and the documentary only marvels at how much humpback whales and other kinds of whales have steadily evolved in their own way during last 40 million years. They are surely considerably intelligent creatures to be admired and respected, but the documentary detachedly reminds me of what W.G. Sebald once said: “Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension.”

Nevertheless, it is difficult not to be impressed by the considerable efforts shown from both Dr. Fournet and Dr. Garland in the documentary. Although there are still lots of stuffs to be elucidated in both of their scientific researches, they still can move forward bit by bit at least, and there is a touching moment when Dr. Garland happens to discover a new kind of communication sound she has never heard, and we can only hope that this will be another puzzle piece to help her current mapping process on the communication sounds among the humpback whales of the French Polynesia.

On the whole, “Fathom” is engaging to some degree, and director Drew Xanthopoulos, who also handled the cinematography of his documentary, did a fairly competent job of handling his main subjects with enough respect and interest, but it is also often limited by its dry and restrained approach. I understand that it is not intended to entertain or educate us from the beginning, but it fails to generate enough synergy between its two different narratives in my humble opinion, and I must confess that I found myself becoming impatient more than once during my viewing.

By the way, as watching the circular graphic presentation of a humpback whale sound shown in the middle of the documentary, I could not help but think of the similar one shown in recent SF film “Arrival” (2016), which memorably shows how decoding and then understanding an alien language can open the door to new possibilities out there for the humanity. I do not know whether decoding the whale sounds will make any difference on the humanity, and I am sure that will be a pretty awesome news to say the least.

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Fast X (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Crash Crash Bang Bang as usual

Posted on May 18, 2023 by kaist455

I feel a bit conflicted about “Fast X”, the latest product from the Fast & Furious franchise. Being as dumb, silly, and preposterous as you can expect from the franchise, the movie has some enjoyable elements, but this is basically a 141-minute teaser for one or two flicks supposed to be the concluding part of the franchise, and, above all, it fails to distinguish itself enough compared to the better films of the franchise.

The opening scene of the movie happens to be the reprise of the climax sequence of “Fast Five” (2011), which was incidentally a major turning point for the franchise in terms of story and characters. Since “Fast Five”, the franchise has become gradually bloated and crowded more and more along with a stream of outrageously spectacular action sequences, and I still remember that hilariously extended action sequence around the end of “Fast and Furious 6” (2013), which features one of the longest airport runways in the movie history.

The main reason for showing that highlight part of “Fast Five” again is pretty simple. Besides showing a bit of late Paul Walker for those target audiences out there, it is for introducing the main villain of the story, who is the vengeful son of the main villain of “Fast Five”. Although he lost everything after his father’s death, this guy subsequently becomes another criminal mastermind to threaten Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family and colleagues, and he even makes Cipher (Charlize Theron) almost overmatched at one point.

Although she has some bad history between herself and Toretto and his family and colleagues due to what happened in “The Fate of Furious” (2017) and “F9” (2021), Cipher notifies to Toretto about the latest menace to come to him, and Toretto and his wife Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez) soon fly to Rome, where his opponent has already set a deadly trap for his several colleagues including Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej Parker (Ludacris). While they manage to save Rome from a big bomb to some degree, Toretto and his colleagues subsequently become fugitives to be chased around the world, and his resentful opponent is certainly going to enjoy that as reaching for his main goal: Destroying everything in Toretto’s life to the end.

I forgot to mention that this villain character is played by Jason Momoa, who has been much more notable since his breakout supporting turn in the first season of HBO TV drama series “Game of Thrones”. Although his character is basically another stock villain to be supplied along the line, Momoa eagerly chews every moment of his with amusing flamboyancy, and I actually wondered whether his character is actually flirting with Toretto in a way not so far from David Cronenberg’s “Crash” (1996). Come to think of it, I would gladly be ready to pay more if Vin Diesel, who seems to be on autopilot here as before, suddenly decides to remake that cult film along with Momoa and some other main cast members from the franchise such as Dwayne Johnson.

One of the recent tendencies of the franchise is its villain characters changing their sides later, and the movie is no exception. In the middle of the movie, Letty happens to be stuck with Cipher, and she has no choice but to work along with Cipher for their joint escape from a maximum-security prison, though she does not hesitate when she learns that there is some spare time for a catfight between them. Michelle Rodriguez and Charlize Theron demonstrate here that they are still not only believable but also electrifying as action movie performers, and that is more than enough for us to overlook how unnecessary the fight scene between them really is.

Meanwhile, John Cena, who previously played Toretto’s villainous brother in “F9”, returns to protect Toretto’s little son Brian (Leo Abelo Perry). What occurs between Cena’s character and Brian along their little road trip is a bit amusing for a while at first, but this part fizzles as eventually getting sucked into lots of actions as expected, and then we are left with a big cliffhanger moment which will be probably resolved in the next film to follow.

There are also many other characters coming and going throughout the film, but they do not leave much impression on the whole. Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris are occasionally funny in their characters’ humorous interactions in the previous films, but they only come to fill their respective spots merely, and the same thing can be said about Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, and Sung Kang. Although the movie has no less than three Oscar-winning actresses besides Theron, they are not particularly utilized well on the whole, and I must tell you that Brie Larson did a lot more acting when she handled a very rude and crass question at the press conference of the Cannes Film Festival of this year. In addition, I was quite disappointed about Rita Moreno not driving any kind of vehicle in the film. Being 91 at present, this living legend is 14 years older than Helen Mirren, but anything is virtually possible in a movie like this, isn’t it?

Although it is not the bottom of the franchise, “Fast X”, which is directed by Louis Leterrier instead of co-writer/co-producer Justin Lin, is not as good as “Fast Five” or “Furious 7” (2015), and I felt rather detached instead of excited about whatever may come next. Yes, I have been a bit willing to go along with all the outrageous fun and excitement in the franchise for years, and I am also getting quite tired of numerous crashes and bangs, and I think the franchise really needs some fresh fuel in the future.

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The Wandering Earth II (2022) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Before they launched the Earth

Posted on May 17, 2023 by kaist455

Chinese film “The Wandering Earth II”, the prequel to “The Wandering Earth” (2019), attempts to provide an epic background story behind the previous film, and it accomplishes its ambitious mission to some degree. Throughout its 173-minute running time, the movie delivers one spectacular moment to another as you can expect from its futuristic setting, and that may be enough for you as long as you can overlook its sprawling narrative and bland characterization.

At the beginning, the movie quickly establishes how things become quite grim for the Earth as well as the humanity in the middle of the 21st century. For some unknown reason, the Sun starts to become an expanding red giant star which will engulf the Earth within at least 100 years, so every government around the world including the Chinese one sticks together as United Earth Government (UEG) for finding any possible solution for the survival of the humanity, and that eventually leads to the Moving Mountain Project. They embark on building huge rocket engines which will push the Earth away from its current orbit, and they hope that the success of this huge global project will eventually open the door for a much bigger project which will eventually enable the Earth and the humanity to escape from the solar system.

However, the Moving Mountain Project soon comes across several big setbacks right from the beginning. While it is surely hard and difficult to pull the joint efforts from many governments around the world, millions of people around the world become doubtful about the project while getting more interested in another big project which looks like a more tempting option for them. As shown from the opening scene in the film, there have been lots of research on transferring human consciousness to artificial intelligence computer, and there are even a group of terrorists ready to sabotage the Moving Mountain Project by any means necessary, just for swaying the public opinion more toward the “Digital Life Project”.

Nevertheless, the Chinese government, which is mainly represented by Zhou Zhezhi (Li Xuejian), remains unflappable as the main driving force behind the Moving Mountain Project – even after another devastating terror attack on the project. Zhou firmly believes that they must succeed at any cost within a short period of time, and, of course, his belief turns out to be right when the first trial of one of the prototype rocket engines shows enough success to generate more hope and support toward the project.

Meanwhile, we are also introduced to several other Chinese main characters in the story. We meet a young and confident UEG astronaut named Liu Peiqiang (Wu Jing), and the movie pays some attention to how he gets some respect and affection from one of his fellow UEG astronauts, who eventually becomes his wife later in the story. We are also introduced to a brilliant computer scientist named Tu Hengyu (Andy Lau), and this melancholic dude has lots of personal things to deal with after losing his family due to one tragic accident some time ago.

We already know how the story will end because of the previous film, but the screenplay by director Frant Gwo and co-producer Gong Ge’er keeps things rolling toward its predetermined ending at least. When the Moon becomes an unexpected big risk factor later in the story, the movie pulls all the stops for numerous visual spectacles as required, and we seldom get bored until the story eventually arrives at the climactic part where every main character in the story desperately races against the remaining time for saving the whole humanity from the total annihilation.

However, the movie often stumbles in case of character development just like its predecessor, and this weak aspect becomes all the more glaring during a number of heavy-handed melodramatic moments in the film. A subplot involved with Tu’s little daughter feels contrived to say the least, and the hidden intrigue surrounding Tu and his daughter is no more than a redundant footnote in the story in my inconsequential opinion. Furthermore, several other main Chinese main characters in the film are also not developed much on the whole as merely functioning as plot elements, and the same thing can be said about a bunch of of supporting characters including various foreign figures appearing here and there throughout the story.

Gwo is a competent filmmaker, and the diligent (and expensive) efforts from him and his crew members including cinematographer Michael Liu drew my attention from time to time when I watched the film early in the morning. For example, I enjoyed observing a bunch of huge elevator lines set between the Earth and the Moon, and I would not mind if the movie delved more into how this immense system works day by day. I must point out that the climactic part often feels quite overblown with lots of CGIs on the screen, but the result is fairly engaging and thrilling enough to hold your attention at least.

In conclusion, “The Wandering Earth II” has some impressive moments to be savored, but it is still less satisfying than the previous film as retaining many flaws instead of surpassing what is entertainingly presented in the previous film. Considering what is show at the end of “The Wandering Earth II, we will probably get the next film within a few years, and I sincerely hope that I will be more entertained in the next time.

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