No Sudden Move (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): A solid twisty crime noir by Steven Soderbergh

Posted on August 3, 2021 by kaist455

Steven Soderbergh’s new film “No Sudden Move” is a dry but twisty crime noir film to be savored and appreciated for a number of good reasons. While its plot is surely as amusingly convoluted as you can expect from its genre territory, the movie also skillfully handles it with considerable mood and efficiency, and it keeps us engaged from the beginning to the end even though we often struggle to grasp its complicated big picture.

The opening scene, which is intercut with a series of old photographs, sets the tone of the movie, which is set in Detroit, 1954. As David Holmes’ cheerful score is played on the soundtrack, we are introduced to an African American ex-con named Curt Goynes (Don Chaedle), and we soon see him being recruited for a shady blackmail job by a guy named Doug Jones (Brendan Fraser). All Goynes needs to do is going to the suburban house of some company accountant along with other two guys and then holding that accountant’s family in hostage for a while, and Goynes agrees to do that mainly because he really needs some cash for leaving the city as soon as he can.

At first, his job looks like an easy task to be done within several hours. Shortly after meeting his two accomplices, Ronald (Benicio del Toro) and Charley (Kieran Culkin), Goynes and these two criminals enter the accountant’s residence and hold the accountant’s family at gunpoint without much difficulty. Although he is quite baffled by what is happening to him and his family right now, Matt Wertz (David Harbour) complies with the gangs’ demand anyway, and he subsequently leaves the house along with Charley for getting something important which has been incidentally stored in his workplace.

Of course, as many of you have already expected, the circumstance soon becomes a lot more complicated than Goynes and his accomplices expected. I will not reveal more to you here, but I can tell you instead that Goynes finds himself not only sandwiched between two certain powerful criminal figures in the town but also pursued by Detective Joe Finney (Jon Hamm), who instantly senses something fishy right from when he enters the picture later.

Despite his increasingly perilous circumstance, Goynes decides to take more risk as being determined to get to the bottom of the situation. While he and Roland, who also inadvertently gets himself involved more with Goynes, attempt to find out who is really behind everything, the screenplay by Ed Solomon accordingly throws more plot elements into the story. For instance, Wertz turns out to have a pretty messy private matter behind his clean-cut appearance, and, as he keeps trying to get things under control, that puts more strain on his relationship with his wife Mary (Amy Seimetz), who has apparently known what her husband has been hiding behind his back.

In the meantime, that important object in question is gradually revealed to be much more than a mere MacGuffin, and we consequently come to regard the story from a wider perspective while also reflecting more on the importance of its period background. Around the narrative point where Goynes and Roland finally confront the figure at the top of their complex situation, the movie becomes a little preachy, but Solomon’s screenplay does not lose any of its edgy wit and humor at least, and it surely has several nice surprises to be unfolded as arriving at its neat ending.

As usual, Soderbergh serves as the unofficial cinematographer/editor of the film, and his distinctively lean and efficient handling of mood, story, and characters keeps things rolling even when we are confused as much as some of the main characters in the film. Although the production budget of the film was only around 8 million dollars, the movie is decorated with enough period mood, and Soderbergh also makes an interesting visual choice via fisheye lens, which feels a bit too distracting to our eyes at first but somehow works as a part of the style of the film.

The movie is packed with various performers having each own fun with their respective characters, most of whom are broad but vivid characters to remember. As the main center of the film, Don Cheadle ably holds the ground with his calm but intense performance, which incidentally makes a good contrast to his volatile breakthrough turn in Carl Franklin’s overlooked crime noir film “Devil in a Blue Dress” (1995). As his accidental accomplice who is not that clever in comparison, Benicio del Toro gives a laconic deadpan performance to complement Cheadle’s, and Brendan Fraser, Ray Liotta, Kieran Culkin, and Bill Duke are also solid as several other substantial criminal figures in the story. In case of the other notable cast members in the film, David Harbour, who has steadily impressed us since his Emmy-nominated supporting turn in Netflix series “Stranger Things”, is terrific as a pathetic man stuck in the situation way over his head, and Jon Hamm, Amy Seimetz, Julia Fox, and Noah Jupe did a good job of filing their small supporting parts with some life and personality.

Although he announced his retirement around the time when “Side Effects” (2013) and “Behind the Candelabra” (2013) came out, Soderbergh returned a few years later with “Logan Lucky” (2017), and he has diligently worked since then as cranking out a series of enjoyable films including Netflix film “High Flying Bird” (2019). “No Sudden Move” is certainly another nice work from him, and you should check it out if you admire his recent productive period as much as I did.

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Blood Red Sky (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A little setback on one hijacked plane

Posted on August 2, 2021 by kaist455

Netflix film “Blood Red Sky”, which was released a few weeks ago, attempts an amusing mix of two different genres during its 2-hour flight, but its flight turns out to be too trite and predictable to me. I am wondering whether this is because I was already exposed to its main big genre twist via its movie trailer which shows too much in my trivial opinion, so now I sincerely advise you not to read my review further if you are already interested in watching the movie and really want to be surprised.

At the beginning, the movie quickly establishes the rather vague current situation of a German woman named Nadja (Peri Baumeister) and her little young son Elias (Carl Anton Koch). During last several years, Nadja has suffered some rare blood disease, but it seems that there is a doctor in New York City who may cure her via his state-of-the-art bone marrow therapy, so she and her son are about to take a night airplane to New York City at the international airport in Berlin.

As their airplane subsequently takes off from the airport, everything seems to be going well for them as well as many others on the airplane, but, alas, there comes a big problem. In the middle of its flight across the Atlantic, the airplane happens to be swiftly hijacked by a bunch of terrorists, and everyone else on the airplane is thrown into panic and confusion as watching how ruthless these terrorists really are.

While trying to protect her son later, Nadja gets herself shot several times, and she is presumed to be dead, but, what do you know, there is a small secret she has kept behind her back along with her son. She is actually a vampire, and a series of following flashback scenes show us how she was turned into a blood-sucking entity due to one very unfortunate incident which occurred when her son was a little baby.

Once she regains her consciousness, Nadja finds herself feeling more urge for blood in addition to having some physical transformation, but her maternal love remains as strong as before, so she decides to use some advantages from being a vampire. While she cannot be killed by guns, she is also equipped with increased strength and instinct, and it does not take much for the terrorists to realize that there is a serious impediment to their evil plan.

This surely looks like a good setup for wild fun and terror to be unleashed on the screen, but, sadly, the movie is already on safe autopilot mode. For example, the opening scene reveals too much of where the story is eventually going to land, so there is not much suspense in what is being at stake for Nadja and her son, and we come to regard their urgent situation without enough care or interest. In addition, the other characters around them are stock archetype characters much blander than the characters of “Airport” (1970) and its several sequels, so there is not much dramatic impact from some of them getting killed along the story.

And there is also a serious problem in narrative pacing. While the first act of the movie did a fairly good job of drawing our attention under director/co-writer Peter Thorwarth’s competent direction, its second act often gets its narrative flow disrupted by those aforementioned flashback scenes, which are not particularly engaging as merely functioning as the obligatory exposition for our heroine’s medical condition. In case of the third act, it is often quite frustrating due to more plot contrivances besides being too long, and I believe the movie could be tauter and more effective if its running time (121 minutes) were shortened to around, say, 90 minutes.

The movie surely serves you a substantial amount of violence, action, and blood when it is about to reach to the end of its flight, but the movie does not have much surprise in that department. While I will not go into details here for not spoiling your entertainment at all, I was particularly annoyed by a blatant left turn it takes around the last act, and I was frequently distracted a lot by one of the terrorist characters, who glaringly signals more troubles to come right from his first exaggerated moment in the film.

As the unlikely action hero of the movie, Peri Baumeister acquits herself well, and she and young actor Carl Anton Koch did a good job of conveying to us the strong emotional bond between their characters. It is disappointing to see that the movie resolves their characters’ complicated relationship too conveniently in the end, but Baumeister and Koch carry the film mostly well even when they are separated from each other, and their good acting is the main reason why I kept watching the movie despite my growing disappointment. In contrast to Baumeister and Koch, the other main cast members in the film including Roland Møller and Dominic Purcell are wasted in their thankless parts, and Alexander Scheer is unfortunately forced to demonstrate a bad case of overacting by his cartoonish villain character.

On the whole, “Blood Red Sky” is not a total waste of time, but I still think it could handle its apparently outrageous story premise better with more wit, skill, and, yes, craziness. As more disappointed with its overall result, my mind could not help but think of more entertaining airplane thriller movies such as “Flightplan” (2005) and “Snakes on a Plane” (2006), and I would rather recommend you to watch them instead.

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Limbo (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Refugees stuck in a remote Scottish island

Posted on August 2, 2021 by kaist455

“Limbo” is a small offbeat film about a group of refugees stuck in a remote Scottish island. While often recognizing their quiet desperation and frustration in a number of achingly melancholic moments, the movie is also often surprisingly funny with its absurd deadpan humor coupled with some quirky touches, and it is also quite fascinating to see how this seemingly modest but undeniably charming piece work constantly swings back and forth between comedy and drama without cheapening neither of them at all.

The story is mainly told via the viewpoint of Omar (Amir El-Masry), a young Syrian musician who has recently stayed in that Scottish island along with several other refugees. They have all been awaiting the results of their asylum claims while sometimes attending an elementary class on proper social interactions in the British society, and the opening scene shows them phlegmatically watching their two instructors solemnly demonstrating to them how to behave in front of a woman to date.

Omar has resided in a small house along with three other refugees: Farhad (Vikash Bhai), Wasef (Ola Orebiyi), and Abedi (Kwabena Ansah). Without much to do except waiting outside for any notification letter to be delivered, they usually spend time on watching a certain famous American TV sitcom series, and we later get a small amusing moment when two of them zealously discuss on the relationship development between the two lead characters of that American TV sitcom series.

Although he sometimes calls to his parents currently staying in Turkey, Omar cannot help but feel not only lonely but also uncertain about what will happen next and what he will do about that. While his country is still being shaken up by the ongoing civil war, his parents often talk about his older brother who chose to stay in Syria for joining the rebel army, and he often wonders whether he made a right decision when he decided to leave Syria a few years ago.

At least, he has kept his grandfather’s oud (It is one of those traditional Arab instruments, by the way) intact during all those years of struggle and plight, but he is not particularly willing to play it even though he carries it all the time. As shown by a rough video clip from his past, there was a time when he was a promising musician, but he seems to have lost his groove due to his depressing current circumstance, and he is not brightened up much even when Farhad later suggests to him that he should play it in front of local people with Farhad acting as his agent/manager.

In case of the local people of the island, most of them do not mind much the presence of Omar and other refugees in their island, though they do not show much hospitality to the refugees in the island either. At one point, Omar comes across a bunch of local young people, and these young people are initially a bit too rude and insensitive to him, but they eventually make him have a little fun time with them on a nearby beach.

While all these and other absurd moments happen along the story, Omar and his fellow refugees remain mostly calm and detached, and that is the main source of the deadpan comedy of the screenplay by director/writer Ben Sharrock. For example, the scene involved with a mail delivery guy looks rather silly at first with a piece of classic opera music played on the soundtrack, but then it brings out more laughs than expected via sharp wit and exact coming timing. In addition to enhancing many of those comic moments in the film via precise scene composition and thoughtful camera movement, the cinematography by Nick Cooke steadily fills the screen of 1.33:1 ratio with the haunting gray aura of ennui and melancholy, and that further accentuates the funny aspects of the film.

In the meantime, the movie also gradually reveals more of the human depth of not only Omar but also his fellow refugees. Although they often bicker with each other over a number of minor things, Wasef and Abedi turn out to have depended more on each other, and there is a little poignant moment when they have a silent moment of reconciliation not long after having a big personal clash between them at the aforementioned elementary class. In case of Farhad, you can easily guess a personal reason behind his refugee status, but it is later revealed with considerable pathos, even though you are still amused by his odd affection toward a chicken which he names after a certain famous British singer.

The main performers of the film are all commendable in their unadorned natural performances, and I was rather surprised to learn later that many of them actually have considerable acting experience. While Amir El-Masry earnestly functions as the emotional center of the film, Vikash Bhai, Ola Orebiyi, and Kwabena Ansah hold each own place around El-Masry, and Kenneth Collard and Sidse Babett Knudsen are often hilarious as the deadly serious class instructors in the movie.

“Limbo” is the first feature film from Sharrock, who previously made several short films before making a feature film debut here in this movie. While frequently savoring its genuinely funny moments, I also admired its skillful and effortless handling of mood, story, and characters, and I was particularly impressed by how it effortlessly delivers the final scene with considerable emotional power you will have to experience for yourself. In short, this is one of the most impressive debut feature films of this year, and I think you must not miss this little but remarkable gem.

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Drunk Bus (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): His life-changing bodyguard

Posted on August 1, 2021 by kaist455

“Drunk Bus” drives along a very familiar course, but it is more colorful and entertaining than expected. While this is your average coming-of-age comedy drama about a young man getting wiser via a sudden change coming into his drab daily life, it is thankfully equipped with enough humor and personality, and you may gladly go along with its ride as enjoying the good comic chemistry between the mismatched duo in the film.

In the beginning, the movie leisurely depicts how its hero’s daily life has been going nowhere for several years. Although he graduated from a college in Kent, Ohio around four years ago, Michael (Charlie Tahan) is still stuck in the campus area while earning his meager living via driving a night bus around the campus, and he has also been lonely and depressed for a while due to the recent breakup with his girlfriend who decided to leave him for getting a job in New York City. While his two close friends cheer him up a bit at times, his daily life still feels pretty glum and monotonous to say the least, and there is an amusing montage scene where he phlegmatically drives his night bus as usual while the bus is frequently bustled with drunken college kids.

At one night, Michael happens to be punched by one of those drunken college kids, and that leads to one unexpected change in his night job. On the very next night, he is approached by an imposing and heavily tattooed Samoan guy named Pineapple (Pineapple Tangora), and he is subsequently notified that Pineapple is going to work as his bodyguard for a while. Although he is not so pleased about this sudden change, Michael lets Pineapple on his bus anyway, and Pineapple soon turns out to be quite an effective bodyguard in more than one aspect.

As he spends more time with Pineapple on the bus, Michael finds himself talking a lot with Pineapple, who willingly gives Michael some advices on a number of different things including how he should be more active about life. As bringing Michael into several impulsive adventures, Pineapple certainly brings some spirit into Michael’s life, and Michael becomes more aware of how repetitive his life has been due to his indecisiveness.

Of course, there already comes a situation where Michael must make a choice sooner or later. His ex-girlfriend notified to him that she will soon return to the campus for some personal business, and she seems to be interested in meeting him again, though her text messages are rather vague to say the least. While reflecting on how unsatisfying their relationship was to him (She never allowed him to have sex with her for her religious faith, for instance), Michael also wonders whether they can restart their relationship again, and he becomes more conflicted as Kat (Kara Hayward), who is one of Michael’s two aforementioned friends, seems to be interested in getting closer to him.

Now you probably have a pretty good idea on where the story is heading, and the screenplay by Chris Molinaro simply moves from one expected narrative point to another, but its amusingly repetitive narrative course is packed with colorful characters and nice running gags. Besides Michael’s two friends and his goofy roommate, we also have one crusty old dude with disability whose nickname I cannot write here for a good reason, and I enjoyed how the movie delivers a nice surprise from this funny supporting character. In case of one of the running gags which is involved with a bunch of rude fraternity house dudes, it is probably a bit too much for some of you, but you will come to get accustomed to it, and you will get a big chuckle from the subsequent payback moment.

Above all, the main source of entertainment comes from the developing friendship between Michael and Pineapple, who later turns out to be much more than your typical ethnic stereotype. Although his advices do not solve every problem in Michael’s life, his good-willed positive influence certainly helps Michael become more decisive about a number of matters in his life, and we later get a little poignant moment when these two different characters show more honesty to each other.

The movie depends a lot on the comic interactions between its two main performers, who wonderfully complement each other throughout the film. While Charlie Tahan holds the ground with his earnest performance, Pineapple Tangaroa, a non-professional actor who just appeared in two films before this movie, brings considerable life and personality to his showier role, and his charismatic presence buoys the film a lot whenever he enters the screen. In case of several supporting performers around Tahan and Tangaroa, Zach Cherry, Sarah Mezzanotte, Dave Hill, Tonatiuh Elizarraraz, Martin Pfefferkorn, and Kara Hayward are solid in their respective parts, and Will Forte provides some extra humor as Michael’s busybody boss.

“Drunk Bus” is directed by John and Brandon LaGanke, who previously made several short films together before making a feature film debut here in this film. They did a fairly good job of balancing the story and characters between comedy and drama, and I was often charmed by its funny moments even while clearly recognizing its numerous familiar aspects. I surely discerned what it was going to do right from the beginning, but it did its job as well as expected at least, so I will not complain for now.

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Holler (2020) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A harsh working-class daily life in Ohio

Posted on August 1, 2021 by kaist455

“Holler” is a little but haunting character drama about one ordinary working-class American girl who does deserve better than what her whole life has given her. While phlegmatically observing the daily struggles of her and several other characters around her, the movie slowly immerses us into their drab and harsh world which does not have much promise or future for everyone in their decaying town, and that is why it is touching to see when she becomes a bit more active for her life.

Set in one plain industrial town in Ohio, the movie, instantly puts us into another hard day of Ruth (Jessica Barden), an adolescent high school girl who has struggled a lot with her older brother Blaze (Gus Harper) for supporting themselves. Their mother Rhonda (Pamela Aldon) is absent due to being incarcerated in the county jail for her drug addiction problem, so it is Ruth and Blaze’s job to earn enough money for paying the rent for their house, but things have been pretty grim for not only them but also many others in the town. While what they earn at a local factory is not enough at all, they may get laid off along with many of their co-workers because of the local economic downturn, so they often collect scrap metals from here and there around the town and then sell them to a local scrap metal collector named Hark (Ausitn Amelio).

However, after being notified that they can be evicted from the house at any point, Linda and Blaze become more desperate than ever, and Hark happens to be able to offer them an opportunity to earn much more money within a shorter time. Along with Hark’s crew, they sneak into those old abandoned factories and buildings at night for stealing any valuable scrap metal inside them, and they certainly must be very careful of not only the local police but also any local competitor crew they might come across on the spot.

While well aware of the considerable risk of this new job, Blaze and Linda keep working for Hark, and Linda comes to impress their boss as a quick learner. She soon learns how to handle a number of tools including the one for cutting those metal plates, and we later get a wonderful scene where she intuitively uses a bit of her newly acquired knowledge in the middle of her first ‘field work’. The camera simply follows her viewpoint, but that is more than enough for us to discern what she is noticing and following step by step, and we come to see that she is indeed a girl too good and smart for the job.

As a matter of fact, Linda has been actually considering getting any opportunity for higher learning, but those opportunities seem to be beyond her reach for many reasons including the lack of money for college education. At one point later in the story, she attempts to persuade her high school class teacher to give her a chance, but the teacher does not hesitate to show his skepticism on that while recommending a lesser option instead.

However, Linda also hesitates on getting out of her small world. When Blaze helps her a bit via having her receiving an acceptance letter from some college outside their town, she is not so happy because she is still indecisive about what she really needs or wants, and her mother, who is quite bitter and resentful as still struggling with her addition problem, does not give Linda much help or support while looking miserable as usual.

Calmly and sensitively building up its characters along the story, the movie fills the screen with plain but palpable realism. From its main characters’ weary faces and the shabby but authentic details of their daily life, we come to sense more of how hard and difficult it is for them to live through another day of despair and hopelessness, and cinematographer Dustin Lane’s camera functions as an unseen observer for us while often closely following the characters on the screen. As we get to know them and their world more, we come to understand and empathize more with them, and we are not that shocked when one of the main characters becomes quite vicious to Linda and Blaze later in the story.

Above all, the movie is firmly anchored by the unadorned but undeniably powerful performance from Jessica Barden, a young British actress who previously played supporting roles in a number of notable films including “Far from the Madding Crowd” (2015) and “The Lobster” (2015). Besides effortlessly immersing herself into the mundane background, Barden subtly let us sense her character’s inner resilience behind her character’s rather detached façade, and we come to root for her character more when she eventually decides what is more important for her. Although Barden has been relatively unknown, the movie demonstrates well to us her considerable talent and presence, and I can only hope that the movie will boost her career as much as Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” (2010) did Jennifer Lawrence’s.

In case of several other main performers in the film, they are equally convincing on the whole. While Gus Harper has his own moving moments as an older brother who has always cared about his younger sister’s welfare and future, Austin Amelio is as seedy as required by his supporting role, and Becky Ann Baker and Pamela Adlon are also effective in their respective substantial roles.

“Holler” is the first feature film directed by director/writer Nicole Riegel, who previously made the 2016 short film of the same name from which the movie was developed. I heard that the story is considerably influenced by her own life experiences, and, as far as I can see from the overall result, she did a commendable job of presenting a vivid slice of American life with care and respect. In short, this is a much better alternative to Ron Howard’s bland misfire “Hillbilly Elegy” (2020), and I wholeheartedly urge you to check out this admirable debut work as soon as possible.

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Saint Maud (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): The sobering observation of one disturbing religious mania

Posted on July 31, 2021 by kaist455

“Saint Maud” is a dark and disturbing psychological thriller which will catch you off guard more than once. As mostly sticking to its very disturbed heroine’s warped viewpoint, the movie alternatively chills and fascinates us via a number of intense moments to linger on your mind, and it is also firmly held by its exceptional lead performance which will be remembered as a major breakthrough for the lead performer’s burgeoning career.

Morfydd Clark, a young British performer who previously appeared in a number of notable films including “Love & Friendship” (2016) and “The Personal History of David Copperfield” (2019) during last several years, plays a young nurse named Maud, and the opening part of the film shows and tells us how much she has been devoting herself to her Catholic faith since some traumatic incident in the past. Although she left her former workplace due to that rather unspecified incident, she seems to be ready for her new job as declaring her professional/spiritual devotion to God as well as herself, and we soon see her going to a big house located outside her seaside town.

The house belongs to a middle-aged woman named Amanda Köhl (Jennifer Ehle), who was once a renowned dancer/choreographer but has recently been confined in her current residence due to her terminal illness. Maud’s predecessor warns to Maud in advance that Amanda is not a very nice person, but Maud does not pay much attention to that warning because she is confident that she will take care of her supposedly cantankerous employer as well as she can in addition to providing some spiritual support.

Anyway, to our little surprise, Amanda mildly welcomes her new nurse, and Maud comes to observe more of her employer as handling many things for Amanda including daily injection of several different medicines. While well aware of the fact that she does not have many days to live, Amanda does not hesitate at all in front of any chance to enjoy her shortening life, and she does not even mind drinking and some sexual pleasure despite her worsening medical condition.

However, Amanda also often feels quite bitter and morose about her impending death, and Maud is certainly willing to help and support her employer in her own spiritual way. At one point, she earnestly talks about how she often listens to the words of God spoken only to her, and Amanda seems to be genuinely interested in being spiritually saved by Maud. She subsequently joins Maud’s unorthodox religious activities, and, as she looks like getting a bit better than before, she gives Maud a book on those famous religious paintings by William Blake for showing her some gratitude.

However, their seemingly good relationship does not last that long, and that consequently throws Maud into lots of confusion and desperation. She keeps searching for any answer from God, but her God does not respond to her at all, and that makes her more exasperated and frustrated than before. She subsequently lets herself go back to her old messy self, and we accordingly get a series of uncomfortable scenes including the one where she comes to have more than one sexual encounter.

As we naturally come to have more doubt on her sanity, the movie pushes its heroine into more despair and madness. After experiencing a sort of epiphany, Maud becomes determined to push herself further into her religious faith, and she is also quite obsessed with saving Amanda’s soul, though that may not be what Amanda wants for now.

While we consequently become more distant to Maud as she is driven further by her religious mania, the movie keeps holding our attention as gradually dialing up the level of emotional intensity via several striking scenes including the one where she happens to experience a sort of spiritual elevation. Regardless of whether this feverish moment is real or not, she cannot help but become exalted more than ever, and that makes her more convinced that she is indeed an instrument of God for Amanda.

I will not go into details on what eventually happens around the end of the story, but I can tell you instead that it will strike you really hard mainly thanks to Morfydd’s committed acting. While her character is surely someone with whom you do not want to associate at any chance, Morfydd subtly conveys to us her character’s damaged psyche, and we come to understand her character’s pathological behaviors to some degree even though the movie does not wholly explain what makes her character tick. While the movie is virtually the showcase of Morfydd’s considerable acting talent, several other cast members of the movie including Jennifer Ehle, Lily Knight, and Lily Frzer are also solid in their small supporting parts, and Ehle did a good job of suggesting Amanda’s darker side behind her mild and fragile appearance.

In conclusion, “Saint Maud”, which is incidentally the first feature film of director/writer Rose Glass, is definitely not something you can casually watch on Sunday afternoon, but I recommend it nonetheless for not only Glass’s skillful handling of mood, story, and character but also Clark’s unforgettable performance. Both of them are apparently talented, and I sincerely hope that the movie will lead both of them to more good things to come in the future.

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My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): For their younger brother

Posted on July 31, 2021 by kaist455

“My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It Too” is a moody but interesting horror drama film about two sibling toiling on taking care of a sick family member with unspeakable need. While calmly and slowly observing their respective human anguish and exhaustion, the movie also throws several obligatory moments of horror as they continue to supply what their loved one needs, and we come to emphasize with their desperate struggle while also horrified by that.

Patrick Fugit and Ingrid Sophie Schram play Dwight and Jessie, two close siblings who have led a nearly isolated life along with their younger brother Thomas (Owen Campbell) within their current residence. Thomas has been very sick due to some unknown disease, and Dwight and Jessie’s private life has always been spent on taking care of their younger brother. Due to his illness, Thomas has never gone outside while occasionally home-schooled by Jessie, and you will notice how their residence is completely insulated from the surrounding environment with the apparent absence of sunlight.

Yes, as many of you have already guessed, that unknown disease of Thomas made him into a sort of vampire. While he does not have those sharp fangs and cannot be transformed into a bat or whatever, Thomas often needs to be supplied with fresh human blood for maintaining his medical status quo, and Dwight is the one who usually searches for any possible victim to be sacrificed for Thomas. In the opening scene, Dwight lures and then kills a homeless guy he happens to pick up outside at one night, and then Jessie takes care of the rest of the task before Dwight subsequently buries the body somewhere.

While Jesse has been quite accustomed to their bloody job as Thomas’ caring and protective sister, Dwight has recently become more exhausted and frustrated, and he wonders how long he and his sister will have to go on for just keeping their dear younger brother alive as usual. He does care about his younger brother as much as Jessie, and there is a little touching moment when he and Jessie brighten up Thomas’ mood a bit via holiday presents, but he often finds himself wishing to get away from everything having been eating him inside – including his younger brother.

Dwight’s only consolation comes from a local female prostitute he meets from time to time, but he just gets as much as he pays to her. After they have sex in a motel room, he suggests that they should spend more time together just for a little conversation, but she still maintains her professional attitude, and he does not know what to talk with her except vaguely expressing his longtime yearning for escape.

In the meantime, the situation becomes a little more tense as conflicts begin to grow among Dwight and his two siblings. While he has appreciated how much his older siblings have taken care of him, Thomas becomes more interested in the world outside just like any other boy at his age, and he is naturally frustrated as being blocked by not only his older siblings but also his own medical condition. When Dwight miserably fails to get their latest victim, Jessie decides to take care of the situation for herself, and he is understandably repulsed by the outcome of her following action.

Firmly and patiently focusing on the relationship dynamics among its three main characters, the screenplay by director/writer Jonathan Cuartas accumulates the emotional tension around them bit by bit. Cinematographer Michael Cuartas, who is also Cuartas’ brother, shot the movie in the screen ratio of 1.33:1, and that further emphasizes the stuffy aspects of the three main characters’ insulated domestic environment. Mostly sticking to its static position, the camera often phlegmatically regards them and their quiet barren indoor spaces, and the resulting stark atmosphere on the screen is further enhanced by the ambient score by Andrew Rease Shaw.

While the last act of the movie loses some of narrative momentum, the three main performers keep holding the film together as before. Fugit, who also participated in the production of the film, gradually earns our sympathy as embodying many years of frustration and anxiety behind his character’s weary appearance, and his good performance reminds me again of how much he has been matured as a good adult actor after his adolescent breakout turn in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” (2000). On the opposite position, Schram is equally good in her frigid character’s singled-minded devotion to Thomas, and she and Fugit are believable as a sister and a brother who have known and understood well each other as bounded by their common domestic work. As another crucial part of the story, Owen Campbell is somehow poignant despite what his character should do for survival, and he is particularly good when his character tentatively approaches to an unexpected visitor to his house later in the story.

By the way, I happened to watch the movie not along after watching “Anything for Jackson” (2020), which is also about two ordinary people willing to commit something atrocious for their loved one. Although the latter is more morbid and humorous in comparison, I think “My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It Too” and “Anything for Jackson” can make a nice double feature show considering their thematical overlap, and I recommend you to try that someday if you simply want to watch a couple of good horror films at night.

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Anything for Jackson (2020) ☆☆☆(3/4): A Satanist couple in trouble

Posted on July 31, 2021 by kaist455

“Anything for Jackson” is a little horror film which turns out to be more morbid, humorous, and bizarre than expected. While unfolding its devious plot mainly via the viewpoint of an insidious old couple who seems be ready for doing anything for their desperate personal cause, the movie gradually wields its twisted sense of black humor along with a number of disturbing moments of horror, and we gladly go along with that even while observing this evil couple’s plight from the distance.

When the movie opens with the introduction of its two main characters, everything seems to be fine and normal on the surface as this old couple is beginning another day at their house. As Audrey (Sheila McCarthy) is doing some work in the kitchen, her doctor husband Henry (Julian Richings) enters, and we see them cordially talk a bit with each other before he hurriedly goes outside for some important matter.

It soon turns out that Henry and Audrey are preparing to kidnap a young pregnant woman named Becker (Konstantina Mantelos), who, as revealed to us later via a brief flashback scene, is one of the pregnant patients in the woman’s clinic belonging to Henry. Once Henry manages to kidnap and then take Becker into his house, Audrey instantly assists him, and Becker soon finds herself handcuffed to a bed in a room on the top floor of the house. She naturally screams for help once she discerns what has just happened to her, but, as Audrey and Henry have already checked, there is no one outside to hear her scream at any chance.

As trying to comfort their captive as much as they can, Audrey and Henry gradually reveal their deranged plan which is somewhere between “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) and the reversal version of “The Exorcist” (1973). Some time ago, they lost not only their daughter but also her little son, and, while still coping with the resulting pain and grief, they are determined to get back their dear grandson by any means necessary. As a matter of fact, they are the members of a local Satanist group, and they recently obtained an ancient Satanist book, which will probably help them bring back their dead grandson’s soul and then take him into Becker’s unborn child.

Of course, they must summon a certain powerful demon who will surely demand some effort and sacrifice, and the movie has some twisted fun with their rather clumsy preparation process. While everything seems to be going smoothly of them, they are still nervous and unsure about whether they accomplish the task as well as they hope, and we cannot help but amused from time to time even while chilled by their fiendish plan.

Not so surprisingly, the situation later becomes quite more complicated than they expected. When a detective visits his woman’s clinic as expected, Henry tries to look as innocent as possible, but that only makes the detective suspect him more than before. There is also a local handyman who is rather too eager to do what he is hired to do, and we later get a little amusing moment when this dude may discover Audrey and Henry’s unspeakable secret at any moment.

Furthermore, Audrey and Henry come to have a more serious trouble inside their house, which gradually looks more like your average haunted house as days go by. As they are more disturbed, Audrey and Henry eventually come to consult one of their fellow Satanists who is relatively more knowledgeable in comparison, and he agrees to take care of their problem, though he will not just do that for free.

While the mood becomes darker and more insidious, the movie keeps its attitude straight along with its main characters. Although they are not exactly pleasant people, we come to understand Audrey and Henry to some degree, and there is a little sobering scene where Aubrey phlegmatically explains why they chose to bring back their grandson instead of his mother. In case of Becker, she is presented as someone who is not merely a captive at all, and we come to root for her more as she struggles to search for any possible way out.

During the last act, the movie switches onto a full-throttle horror mode in its modest but effective way, and director/co-writer/co-producer Justin G. Dyck, who wrote the screenplay with his co-producer Keith Cooper, skillfully doles out the obligatory moments of shock and awe while never losing any sense of fun. Although the ending is a bit too ambiguous in my humble opinion, I appreciate it nonetheless because it is thankfully free of a certain familiar horror cliché, and I am more amused as reflecting more on many twisted moments in the film.

The movie depends a lot on the talent and presence of its two lead performers, and Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings play their characters as straight as possible while dexterously balancing their acting between comedy and horror. As another crucial character in the story, Konstantina Mantelos holds her own small space well between McCarthy and Richings, and Josh Cruddas is also effective in his substantial supporting role while bringing some extra humor and creepiness to the movie.

On the whole, “Anything for Jackson” did a good job of bringing some fresh air to its genre territory, and I enjoyed its sly mix of horror and comedy. In short, it is one of better horror flicks I have seen during last several months, and it is definitely recommendable if you are ready for something hilarious as well as macabre.

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Escape from Mogadishu (2021) ☆☆☆(3/4): They must stick together for their escape

Posted on July 30, 2021 by kaist455

South Korean film “Escape from Mogadishu” is a gritty and intense action thriller flick which is loosely based on a real-life story between South and North Korean embassy in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1991. While often reminiscent of a bunch of notable Hollywood movies ranging from “Black Hawk Down” (2001) to “Argo” (2012), the movie steadily holds our attention via its efficient narrative and several good action scenes, and I appreciate the efforts and skills put into its admirable overall result.

At the beginning, the movie gives us a bit of historical background information on the diplomatic competition between South and North Korea around that time. For getting enough votes for its future UN membership from many of African countries, the South Korean government and its diplomats attempted to persuade these African countries via various means including economic support, but their efforts were often countered by their North Korean counterparts in many cases, and Somalia was no exception as shown during the early scenes of the film. Although he has not received much support from his government, Han Sin-seong (Kim Yoon-seok), the South Korean ambassador to Somalia, has tried as much as he can along with his few subordinates including Kang Dae-ji (Jo In-sung), but their latest diplomatic attempt is undermined by a little indirect interference from the North Korean embassy, which is headed by Ambassador Rim Young-su (Heo Joon-ho).

While Ambassador Han and other South Korean embassy officials keep conflicting with their North Korean counterparts, the situation gradually becomes more unstable in Mogadishu day by day. Both Ambassador Han and Ambassador Rim are not particularly disturbed by this circumstance because they have been quite accustomed to the ongoing civil war in Somalia, but then the situation becomes much more volatile than expected. As the rebel army is getting closer and closer to Mogadishu, the city is consequently thrown into more disturbance and chaos, and it soon becomes quite clear to every foreign embassy official in the city that they must leave the city as soon as possible.

Once the rebel army enters Mogadishu, the city is turned into lawless war zones riddled with rioters and soldiers eager to shoot anyone on their sight, and Ambassador Han and his embassy people soon find themselves stuck inside their embassy building. While they can stay there for a few more days, they should immediately find any possible way to leave the city alive before it is too late, and Ambassador Han must find any foreign embassy which may help their escape from Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Rim and his North Korean embassy officials become much more desperate as their embassy is eventually attacked by rioters like many other embassies in the city. As they are helplessly stranded outside without any good alternative, Ambassador Rim decides that they should go to the South Korean embassy, and Ambassador Han reluctantly allows Ambassador Rim and other North Korean embassy officials into his embassy building. While both of these two conflicting groups certainly feel awkward to stay together, Ambassador Rim and Ambassador Han agree that they and their people must stick together for now, and, despite some understandable frictions between their groups, everyone in the embassy soon works together for surviving their increasingly dangerous circumstance together.

As our two ambassadors desperately search for any possible option for their people, the movie deftly dials up the level of tension on the screen while occasionally focusing on the rampaging confusion and terror on the lawless streets and alleys of Mogadishu, and it wisely does not overplay the strained mood between South and North Korean characters. Although a subplot involved with the hostile mutual distrust between Dae-jin and his North Korean counterpart is rather contrived, both North and South Korean main characters in the film are simply presented as ordinary people trying their best in front of a big danger, and we come to care about their escape attempt more even though we can already discern how their story will end.

During its expected climactic sequence, the movie goes for more suspense and intensity, and there are a series of palpably ferocious moments to impress and thrill you a lot. I was amused a bit by a rather clever way of protecting several vehicles for escape as well as the characters inside them, and I was also surprised to learn later that what unexpectedly occurs at the very end of the sequence is actually not so far from what really happened at that time.

The main cast members of the movie dutifully fill their respective spots. While Kim Yoon-seok holds the center as required, Heo Joon-ho is effective as his counterpart, a number of various supporting players including Jo In-sung, Koo Kyo-hwan, Kim So-jin, and Jung Man-sik bring some life and personality to their functional roles.

On the whole, “Escape from Mogadishu” does not reach to the level of “Argo” and “Black Hawk Down”, but it is recommendable because of its competent aspects including those well-made action scenes in the film, and it is another fine work from director Ryoo Seung-wan, who is mainly known for several notable action films such as “The City of Violence” (2006), “The Berlin File” (2013), and “Veteran” (2015). Compared to the glaring failure of his previous film “The Battleship Island” (2017), “Escape from Mogadishu” certainly looks like an improvement in many ways, and I am glad to see him back in his element.

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Jungle Cruise (2021) ☆☆1/2 (2.5/4): A goofy overlong adventure film

Posted on July 30, 2021 by kaist455

“Jungle Cruise” is not as awful as I feared after watching its trailer several weeks ago, but it is also not as fun and entertaining as it could be. As a blockbuster flick based on one of those theme park rides of Disney Parks, it surely has lots of stuffs to be presented during its ride, but it often stumbles in terms of plot and characters in addition to having other problems including its overlong running time (127 minutes), and that is a shame considering the game efforts from its main cast members.

The opening part, which is set in London, England during the World War I, quickly establishes the story premise. Dr. Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) has been searching for a certain mythical entity probably hidden somewhere in the Amazon, and she needs a certain old South American artifact which may contain the information on the exact location of that mythical entity. When her plan A for obtaining that artifact is failed despite the sincere efforts from her younger brother McGregor (James Whitehall), she instantly moves onto the plan B, and that consequently leads to the first action scene in the film.

Anyway, after managing to succeed in obtaining that artifact in question, Lily and McGregor soon go to a small port town located in the middle of the Amazon for embarking on their risky journey along the river, and that is where she happens to encounter Captain Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson), a big gruff dude who has run his modest river tour business via his old steamboat there. Although she and her brother are supposed to hire some other guy in the town whom Frank incidentally owes lots of money, Lily chooses to hire Frank in the end mainly because of how he confidently responds to a sudden emergency involved with a wild jaguar.

Frank warns from the beginning that their river journey toward a certain remote jungle area will be quite risky and perilous, but, needless to say, Lily does not give up at all as your average 20th century modern woman who is as spirited and feisty as, say, Katharine Hepburn, and her brother reluctantly accompanies her despite being your typical timid nerd. Watching the shabby appearance of Frank and his steamboat, I could not help but think of John Huston’s classic adventure film “The African Queen” (1951), and Frank and Lily are certainly as mismatched as Hepburn and her equally legendary co-star in that movie.

As this trio begins to sail along the river, the movie throws them into one adventure after another. While we get a thrilling sequence unfolded along a rapid which may send them all down to a big waterfall, there is also a rather amusing part involved with a bunch of indigenous tribe people who turn out to be not as hostile as they seemed at first, and the movie goes all the way for goofiness during this part.

The movie also brings extra tension to the story via its chief villain played by Jesse Plemons, who cheerfully wields a certain foreign accent as savoring his every villainous moment in the film. While his character is not particularly menacing, Plemons seems to understand well the ridiculous aspects of his character and the movie, and he always enlivens the movie with a wry sense of humor while somehow avoiding chewing his scenes too much.

Besides having lots of soldiers working under him, Plemons’ character, who happens to be as knowledgeable as Lily in their common academic field, also recruits a trio of very old cursed figures not so far from those cursed pirate characters in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” (2003). One of them is Aguirre (Édgar Ramírez), and he and his fellow cursed figures’ historical background surely took me back to Werner Herzog’s mesmerizing masterpiece “Aguirre, the Wrath of God” (1972), though it is impossible to expect “Jungle Cruise” to be as uncanny and awe-inspiring as that great film.

Despite these and other fun materials, the movie comes to lose its narrative momentum during its second half, and we become more aware of its weak aspects. Director Jaume Collet-Serra, who has been mostly known for several notable action movies starring Liam Neeson, and his crew members keep things rolling as before at least, but the expected climax part does not surprise or excite us much in addition to being predictable and pedestrian, and I was also disappointed with the superficial handling of a certain hidden aspect of McGregor, who turns out to be quite more loyal to his older sister than he seemed at first.

As the two lead performers of the film, Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt acquit themselves quite well although both of them are often limited by trite storytelling and weak characterization. Besides having enough pluck to fill her broad character, Blunt willingly hurls herself into brisk action as well as a number of silly comic moments, and Johnson dutifully delivers some laughs for us, though he feels rather awkward when the movie attempts to bring some gravitas to his character later in the story. In case of the other main cast members including Jack Whitehall, Édgar Ramírez, and Paul Giamatti, they are sadly stuck in thankless supporting roles in contrast to Plemons, and Ramírez is particularly wasted as mired in lots of CGI.

In conclusion, “Jungle Cruise” is not a total dud at all, but it is one or two steps behind “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”, which is also incidentally based on one of Disney Parks rides. While clearly influenced by many other similar adventure films such as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981) and “Romancing the Stone” (1984), the movie does not have enough personality or entertainment in comparison, and I assure you that you will have a better time if you watch either of two aforementioned films instead. Or, if you have never heard of “Aguirre, the Wrath of God”, you really should check out that masterpiece as soon as possible.

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