In a Violent Nature (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): From a killer’s viewpoint

Posted on August 19, 2024 by kaist455

When I started to become fascinated with movies during the early 1990s, “Friday the 13th” (1980) and its countless sequels naturally drew my attention whenever I spent some time in local video rental shops. Because of my young age, I could not possibly rent their VHS copies for myself, but I eventually got a chance to watch “Friday the 13th Part 2” (1981) on TV, and, boy, how much I was disappointed! First of all, it did not scare me at all, and, above all, I could not understand why some big dude wearing a bag tried to kill all those young (and boring) people who simply seemed to have a good time at that lakeside camp.

And that is the main reason why I had some naughty fun with “In a Violent Nature”, a little independent horror film which turns its very familiar story premise upside down in an amusing way. While it is surely drenched in lots of blood and violence as expected, the movie handles the story and characters with enough wit and competence to be appreciated, and that certainly distinguishes itself a bit from the main source of inspiration.

In the beginning, we are introduced to the killer character of the movie, who is simply named Johnny (Ry Barrett) and will surely look quite familiar to any connoisseur of the American slasher horror films of the 1980s. He is a hulking dude who does not speak at all as lurching here and there in his remote forest territory, and we later get some obligatory background information on how he was turned into a boogieman figure of that area many years ago.

Anyway, he has been somehow dormant during last several years, but then he is awakened as a group of college students inadvertently disrupts his hibernation, and he is certainly ready to kill anyone who dares to mess with him or his old territory. After eliminating one very rude local guy early in the story, he subsequently approaches to those college kids who are going to spend a night at a little lakeside cabin, and the mood naturally becomes a little tense as he is watching them from the distance without being notice at all.

It goes without saying that most of these college kids will get killed in one way or another just like many characters in the Friday the 13th flicks. Whenever one of these college kids happens to be alone by himself or herself, our killer character automatically comes for another killing, but the movie skillfully provides some good moments of nasty and fun surprise, and my favorite moment in the film is when a young lady is forced to do a very fatal physical stretching thanks to our killer character.

Things becomes a bit more interesting as the few surviving main characters try to get away from our killer character as soon as possible. When they come across some local ranger guy later in the story, this ranger dude turns out to have an old score to settle between him and our killer character, and he is certainly very careful because one cannot possibly be too cautious about Johnny, who, not so surprisingly, cannot be easily stopped or killed at all. 

Meanwhile, the movie closely sticks to its killer character as he slowly goes for one target after another, and it shows some wry sense of humor in addition to bringing considerable realistic touches to the screen. As shot in the screen ratio of 1.33:1 by cinematographer Pierce Derks, the movie often limits itself within its killer character’s perspective, so we usually observe him from the behind, but the movie does not disappoint us at all when it finally shows how its killer character’s expectedly hideous face, though he eventually covers his face with something equivalent to that hokey mask in “Friday the 13th: Part III” (1982) and its following sequels. 

In the end, the “Final Girl” character emerges as required during the last act, and the screenplay by director/writer Chris Nash, who makes a feature film debut hear after making several short films, puts a little nice twist on this genre convention. No, we do not get something like that infamous final scene in “Friday the 13th”, but we are served with something much more intriguing instead, and you may actually come to wish for a possible sequel to come in the future.   

The main cast members of the film fill their archetype roles as much as demanded. Although his job is as thankless as whatever those big stuntmen did in the Friday the 13th flicks, Ry Barrett manages to bring some deadpan humor to his gruesome character, and his character will probably draw a fair number of fans like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. In case of several other main cast members, Reece Presley provides some gravitas to the story while Andrea Pavlovic is also effective as the “Final Girl” character, and the fans of the Friday the 13th series may appreciate a brief but crucial cameo appearance by a performer from “Friday the 13th Part II”.   

On the whole, “In a Violent Nature” simply has a fun within its familiar genre playground, but it is a lot more engaging and skillful than those Friday the 13th flicks and their countless imitators. Needless to say, this is mainly for genre aficionados, but you can enjoy it enough if you have ever watched any of those American slasher horror films of the 1980s, and you may find yourself gladly going along with all those gory and violent moments in the film.

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The Devil’s Bath (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A woman’s nihilistic descent into madness

Posted on August 19, 2024 by kaist455

“The Devil’s Bath”, which was recently selected as the Austrian submission for Best International Film Oscar in the next year, made me seriously conflicted about whether I can recommend it to others. Here is a well-made psychological horror period drama film which will definitely leave you a very unpleasant but undeniably strong impression for good reasons, and I suggest you that you should brace for yourself before trying this relentlessly grim and chilling film.

The movie, which is set in some rural town of Austria in the 18th century, establishes its chilly mood and austere attitude right from the shocking opening scene, where some woman kills a little baby just because she wants to die. Yes, she could kill herself instead, but suicide is not an acceptable option for her from the beginning due to a religious reason, and she willingly submits herself to the local authorities without any hesitation.

And then we are introduced to another woman living in that area. Her name is Agnes (Anja Palschg), and she is about to marry a guy named Wolf (David Scheid), but things turn out to be far less hopeful than she expected. While her husband is a fairly nice guy, he does not seem to be particularly attracted to her as shown from their utterly joyless wedding night. Furthermore, her mother-in-law frequently hovers around them as Wolf and Agens’ residence happens to be not so far from his family home, and Agnes’ mother-in-law usually points out how unprepared Agnes is as a wife in many aspects.

While Agnes struggles to get accustomed to her new environment, the movie gradually conveys to us her apparently fragile state of mind. She often feels lonely and isolated without anyone she can casually talk with, and that makes her more anxious and depressed day by day. At one point, she actually looks like considering befriending a certain pregnant woman in the town, but her mother-in-law does not approve of that at all because that pregnant woman seems to have some bad reputation. In addition, the movie implies a hidden reason behind Wolf’s apparent disinterest in his wife, and that leads to a devastating personal moment later in the story.

As she is frequently demanded to work more and also have a child someday as usual, Agnes slowly descends into more mental deterioration. While the movie does not spell out each step of this disturbing happening of hers, directors/writer Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, who previously drew our attention for their very disturbing debut film “Goodnight Mommy” (2014), fills the screen with the gloomy aura of inevitable doom, and they firmly stick to their coldly detached storytelling approach. Even when their heroine is driven further into her ongoing downward spiral, the movie remains cold and distant as before, and that makes us all the unnerved than before.

In the end, as already announced to us during the early part of the film, Agnes eventually begins to pass the point of no return, and that is where I came to have more reservation on how the movie is about. Based on the historical research and records on the two shocking real-life incidents in Austria during the 18th century, the movie surely wants to make a strong feministic point about how numerous women got their spirit crushed by those toxic influences of patriarchy during that point, but I must confess that I winced more than once as observing its cold-blooded objective presentation of the stark horror of its real-life stories. This is quite unpleasant to say the least, and this disagreeable impression is further accentuated by the truly nihilistic finale which comes right after when Agnes finally gets what she has desperately wanted.

Nevertheless, I also found myself admiring how the technical details serve the directors’ uncompromising vision and storytelling. The cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, who deservedly received the Silver Bear award for his considerable technical contribution when the movie was premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival early in this year, is vivid and realistic in every individual shot, and you will come to sense more of what has been tormenting Agnes’ mind, even while observing her descent into madness from the distance. The editing by Michael Palm is concise and efficient as steadily building up the narrative momentum of the film, and the sparse but effective score of the film provides extra moodiness to the screen.

As the center of the film, Anja Plaschg, who also composed the score, dutifully carries the film with her good low-key performance. While we never get to know much about her character, Plaschg is still believable in the accumulating madness inside her character, and she is also supported well by several supporting performers including Maria Hofstätter and David Scheid.

On the whole, “The Devil’s Bath” is certainly not something you can casually watch on Sunday afternoon, but I eventually decided to recommend this gut-wrenching piece of work for its mood, storytelling, and performance despite some reservation. As my late friend/mentor Roger Ebert once wrote in his famous rebuttal letter to the filmmakers of “Chaos” (2005), we should merely not depict evil, but we should express an attitude toward evil, and, for now, I guess “The Devil’s Bath” did that job fairly well even though it made me very, very, very uncomfortable from the beginning to the end.

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Daughters (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Imprisoned fathers reconnecting with their daughters

Posted on August 17, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix documentary film “Daughters”, which was released a few days ago, presents an aching human story of a bunch of prisoners trying to reconnect with their young daughters. As frequently alternating between these two different groups, the documentary lets us sense and understand their pain and sorrow, and that is why it is quite touching to see how these fathers and daughters eventually come to have a little special moment to remember together.

At first, we get to know a bit about an extraordinary fatherhood program in a number of prisons in US. The participants of this 10-week program are male prisoners willing to try to reconnect with their young daughters, and the early part of the documentary shows us how this special program is done at a big prison near Washington D.C. Under the guidance of their kind and thoughtful coach, the participating inmates, most of whom are incidentally African Americans, are going to prepare for their upcoming meeting with their daughters, and they all recognize how challenging this task can be. After all, they still struggle with being fathers, while also feeling guilty about how they have often been absent throughout their daughters’ life.

Among these inmates, we get to know several particular individuals. In case of a guy named Keith, he wants to reunite with his wife and their 5-year-old daughter as soon as possible, but he will have to be imprisoned for 7 years at least, and he is certainly worried about how that will put more distance between him and his daughter. Although she is still very young while innocently hoping for her dear daddy’s return, his daughter will surely be more aware of his absence in her life, and that will certainly hurt her feeling a lot.

From a 10-year-old girl named Santana, we see how Keith’s daughter may feel when she grows up to be around Santana’s age. While her mother is often occupied with raising her two younger siblings, Santana always has to be the de facto head of her family to take care of one thing after another, and you can instantly sense how much she has been resentful about her father’s absence. Although she agreed to participate in the program nonetheless, she does not seem that willing to meet her father again right now, and it is really heartbreaking to see how weary and disaffected this young girl looks as going through another hard day of her life.

In case of an adolescent girl named Ja’Ana, she looks mostly fine under her dear mother’s care, but she still needs to be connected more with her father, who will definitely be incarcerated for many years without much possibility for parole. As pointed out at one point in the documentary, father and daughter relationship is as important as mother and daughter relationship, and, as letting out more of their personal thoughts and feelings, the participating inmates of the program come to discern more of how important the upcoming event with their daughters will be for their daughters as well as themselves.

Meanwhile, the documentary sometimes reminds us more of how things have been harsh and difficult for the inmates of the prisons in US and their dear family members. As a matter of fact, many of American prisons do not allow any direct personal meetings between inmates and their families at present, and the documentary lets us sense and understand more of how frustrating and suffocating this really is for both sides.

As the participating inmates of the program show more progress week by week, the daughters also go through the preparation stage along with their mothers, who are incidentally going to step aside during the upcoming event. When that day finally comes, the daughters are all excited or anxious, and we soon see them entering the prison one by one as going through some security procedure as required.

Of course, their eventual meeting with their fathers feels pretty awkward to say the least, even though the fathers wear suits instead of their usual orange attire now. Nonetheless, it does not take much time for the fathers and daughters to reconnect with each other, and that is followed by a modest but undeniably touching scene where they dance a bit together as music is being played in the background. Directors Natalie Rae and Angela Patton wisely step back for letting this sweet human moment to speak for itself, and we come to reflect more on the importance of genuine human connection in our life.

However, the documentary does not overlook how things will be hard and difficult as before for everyone once this meeting is over. The fathers cannot help but emotional as they are about to be separated from their daughters again, and the same thing can be said about their daughters. At least, it is undeniable that the program brings considerable positive effects on the inmates, and we are not so surprised to learn later that the recidivism rate of the participants of the program is less than 5 %.

On the whole, “Daughters”, which deservedly won the US Documentary Audience Award when it was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, did a splendid job of presenting its various human subjects with respect and sensitivity. It is certainly one of the better documentaries of this year, and I assure you that its many moving moments will linger on your mind for a long time after it is over.

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Skywalkers: A Love Story (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A couple of thrill-seekers

Posted on August 17, 2024 by kaist455

Good documentaries engage us and then let us get to know more their subjects, but Netflix documentary film “Skywalkers: A Love Story”, which was released in last month, feels rather and hollow in my trivial opinion. Sure, there are a series of remarkable moments which will make you feel dizzy and tense at times during your viewing, if you are afraid of high places as much as I am. However, the documentary does not delve much into what makes its two human subjects tick – or how they have bonded with each other.

They are young Russian rooftoppers Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau, who frequently draw lots of attention on the Internet whenever they try and then succeed in their highly risky (and usually unauthorized) public stunts during last several years. Without any particular safety measure, this couple climbed onto the top of many different tall buildings around the world, and the documentary opens with how they are planning to embark on one of their most ambitious projects at a certain well-known skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

What Beerkus and Nikolau are going to do is not just climbing on the top of that skyscraper. Once they reach to their destination, they are going to photograph themselves doing some risky things before eventually going down to the ground later, and it goes without saying that their photographs will surely go viral on the Internet if they succeed.

Of course, they cannot possibly be permitted to climb up there, and we get to know more about the considerable legal risks they are going to take. For not getting caught and then arrested for imprisonment, they must carefully plan how they should infiltrate into that skyscraper, and they must also be prepared for any unexpected setback on their way to the top. For avoiding getting noticed by anyone in the building, they decided to try on the night of a big World Cup match, but there is still always the risk, and we later see them having to wait for several hours within a very small spot where they have to evade being noticed by anyone.

The early part of the documentary focuses a bit on these two young persons’ respective backgrounds. In case of Nikolau, she was the daughter of two circus performers, and she was quite interested in doing risky stuffs even when she was very young. When she heard about Beerkus and his fellow Russian rooftoppers, she quickly became determined to go all the way for rooftopping, and it did not take much time for Beerkus to notice how competent and competitive she was. In the end, he invited her to join his latest project, and Nikolau grabbed the offer even though she did not know that much about him.

What follows next is how Nikolau and Beerkus fell in love with each other as they pushed each other more and more via their shared passion and understanding. Both of them became more popular on the Internet thanks to their following joint projects, and we see them appearing on not only Russian TV programs but also American ones.

However, their fun time did not last that long around the early 2020s, which will be forever remembered for the COVID-19 Pandemic. Due to the pandemic, Beerkus and Nikolau could not easily travel around the world anymore, and, naturally, they came to suffer a considerable financial problem as they came to lose their sponsors. At one point, Beerkus’ concerned parents suggest that he should really get a real job which actually pays, but that is still the last thing he wants.

Of course, there is also the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. While showing a bit of how their country is thrown into considerable turmoil as a consequence, both Nikolau and Beerkus curiously keep themselves from expressing any direct opinion on that. Considering that he is partially Ukrainian, Beerkus may actually have something he wants to say, but the documentary does not delve much into that possibly sensitive issue, and neither does he or Nikolau.

In the end, the documentary comes to focus again on their aforementioned project in Kuala Lumpur, but it simply sticks to their narrow viewpoint without providing any particular counterpoint opinions on their apparently reckless stunt. Sure, they are really serious and passionate about their project, but they do not seem aware that much of the dire possible consequences of their many risky activities, and the documentary simply recognizes that grim aspect a bit without really facing it.

Furthermore, Nikolau and Beerkus are sometimes a little too self-aware of how they are presented in front of the cameras. We later observe a bit of their personal conflict caused by her accidental physical injury which occurred in the middle of their preparation stage, but this conflict is soon resolved rather easily as they keep blatantly emphasizing on how inseparable they are from each other. While I guess their relationship is really based on a lot of love and comradeship, they are sadly not very interesting figures to observe from the beginning, and I cannot help but observe instead how narcissistic and superficial they are just like millions of digital influencers and creators out there.

In conclusion, “Skywalkers: A Love Story”, directed by Jeff Zimbalist and Maria Bukhonina, is not satisfying enough for recommendation, but whatever they vividly captured via their cameras is still a good selling point. Sure, these striking moments will remain in my mind for a long time, but the human figures behind them are not compelling enough to hold my attention, and that is a shame.

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Twisters (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): There will come more tornadoes, you know

Posted on August 14, 2024 by kaist455

Lee Isaac Chung’s new film “Twisters” serves us as much as expected, and it did a fairly good job on the whole. While not going that far from the story formula established in its predecessor “Twister” (1996), the movie provides a number of big and stormy moments as demanded, and these moments are certainly worthwhile to watch in a big screening room equipped with an excellent sound system.

While it is connected with its predecessor to some degree, the movie works as a standalone piece featuring the completely different story and characters, though it is still all about chasing after tornadoes and then beholding their awesomely catastrophic power. This time, we meet a young female meteorologist named Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones), and the opening sequence shows her and her several colleagues attempting their little scientific experiment on a tornado in the middle of Oklahoma, which turns out to be much more dangerous than expected. As a result, three of her colleagues get killed in the end, and she is certainly devastated by the consequence of her serious error.

Five years later, Kate is now working at the New York City branch of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), but then she is approached by her surviving colleague Javi (Anthony Ramos), who has been participating in another tornado research project in Oklahoma. He suggests that she should join his ongoing project at least for a week, and Kate agrees to return to Oklahoma that even though she has not fully recovered from the trauma of that horrible tornado incident.

On the first day, Kate and Javi and their research team come across a bunch of other storm chasers, and one particular group comes to draw their attention. This group, which has been considerably famous due to its constant online promotion, is led by a guy named Tyler (Glen Powell), and Kate and Javi are not so pleased to see how this rather cocky dude and his team often compete with their team for chasing after the latest tornado to come.

However, Kate comes to change her opinion about Tyler and his colleagues as getting to know them more during next several days. They may look a bit too showy and ridiculous on the surface, but most of them are also well-experienced professionals, and Tyler turns out to be more intelligent and thoughtful than expected, though he was totally wrong about Kate’s background from the beginning.

In the meantime, Kate also comes to discern that Javi is not totally honest about how his research team has been funded. His main financial backer turns out to be a wealthy real estate businessman who will probably benefit a lot from Javi’s research, and Kate becomes more distant from Javi and his team after getting to learn more about their main financial backer.

While the screenplay by Mark L. Smith, which is developed from the story by Joseph Kosinski, stumbles and lags a bit during its middle act, the movie keeps rolling as handing out one big stormy sequence another. I was a bit disappointed to see that it does not have something as outrageous as the sudden appearance of that unfortunate cow in “Twister”, but its tornado sequences are grand and terrifying enough to hold my attention for a while, and I was not disappointed at all in case of the expected climatic part where Kate must confront a very huge tornado for her scientific success (Is this a spoiler?).

The three main cast members naturally look inconsequential in front of all these gigantic (and expensive) CGI spectacles in the film, but they manage to hold each own place well without being overshadowed by a lot of special effects on the screen. Daisy Edgar-Jones, who was memorable as the ill-fated heroine of “Fresh” (2022), fills her character with enough spirit and presence, and we accordingly root more for her character along the story. On the opposite, Glen Powell, who has been one of the most promising new actors to watch since his fun supporting turn in “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022), functions well as an effective counterpart to his co-star, and Anthony Ramos, who has steadily advanced after his electrifying lead performance in “In the Heights” (2021), acquits himself well despite his rather thankless supporting part.

Around these three main cast members, the movie assembles a bunch of interesting performers to notice. While Brandon Perea and Sasha Lane are the showiest ones in the bunch, Maura Tierney briefly appears as Kate’s concerned mother later in the story, and I was especially delighted to see Tunde Adebimpe again, whom I still fondly remember for his gentle supporting performance in “Rachel Getting Married” (2008).

In conclusion, “Twisters” is a competent blockbuster product packed with enough spectacles for your ticket price, and Chung, who previously received a Best Director Oscar nomination for his modest but undeniably powerful Korean American immigrant drama “Minari” (2020), demonstrates here that he can also handle well a big-budget film like this. Although it is not better than “Minari”, this movie will probably lead him to better things to come, and I will surely look forward to watching whatever he will make next.

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Alien: Romulus (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A well-mixed entry of the 45-year-old series

Posted on August 14, 2024 by kaist455

“Alien: Romulus” surprises me as showing that there are still enough fun and thrill in the series which was started 45 years ago. While there are nice old stuffs to be appreciated, there are also refreshing new stuffs to be savored, and the resulting mix is fairly enjoyable even though we already know what we are going to get right from its first few minutes.

The story, which is incidentally set at a time point somewhere between “Alien” (1979) and “Aliens” (1986), begins with how things have been grim and desperate for Rain Carradine (Caliee Spaeny) and her android brother Andy (David Jonsson). Along with many other poor working-class people, they have been stuck in a big mining colony on some alien planet for many years as exploited by their big company day by day, and Rain becomes all the more frustrated when she belatedly come to learn that she and Andy will be stuck there for several more years because of a sudden company police change.

And then there comes an offer she cannot easily refuse. Tyler (Archie Renaux), an old friend of Rain, and his several associates are planning to get out of the planet and then move to somewhere else in the space, and they happen to come across a good chance via a certain abandoned company space station floating outside the planet. This abandoned company space station may contain something necessary for their long intergalactic journey, and they really need Andy for getting access to this company space station. While initially hesitating at first, Rain eventually agrees to participate in their little operation, and Andy has no problem with that at all because, well, he is programmed to do whatever is the best for his dear human sister.

Of course, as already shown to us from the prologue scene associated with that big spaceship in “Alien”, things are going to be very bad for Rain and her associates. They soon come to realize that their target is not an ordinary space station at all once they get the access to it thanks to Andy, and we instantly notice many bad signs associated with that nasty alien creature of the series.

What will happen next is pretty evident to us to say the least, the movie wisely takes its time for building up more dread and suspense on the screen while peppering the screen with a number of familiar elements from “Alien” and “Aliens”. At one point, a certain plot element from “Alien” becomes more prominent along the story, and the movie has a little wry fun with how Andy becomes a lot more useful than expected when he comes to have a sort of upgrade later in the story.

In case of that nasty alien creature, it does not disappoint us at all as pulling off some old and new surprises. Yes, somebody will definitely be fatally impregnated with that nasty alien creature at one point, and we will eventually get another chestbuster scene later. Yes, we will certainly be served with a number of creepy scenes where that nasty alien creature may suddenly appear around the screen at any point, and you will wince a lot whenever it shows its many vicious sides including highly corrosive acidic blood.

While doling out one familiar stuff after another, the movie also tries some fun variations from that. For example, it shows a bit more of how that nasty alien creature grows up in size (Don’t ask me about what it actually eats for growing that big within such a short time), and I particularly like one key action sequence where the surviving main characters must quickly and carefully evade that very dangerous alien blood in a zero-gravity condition. In addition, the movie sometimes tips its hat to several memorable moments of “Alien” and “Aliens”, and you may chuckle a bit when one certain main character says a line not so far from what Sigourney Weaver defiantly utters during the climax scene of “Aliens”.

Above all, like its two monumental predecessors, the movie makes us care about the story and characters even when things get quite frantic. Although most of its main characters are more or less than stock archetypes, the screenplay by director Fede Álvarez and his co-writer Rodo Sayagues does some character development before eventually shifting itself onto a full-horror mode, and it is actually poignant to observe how strong the bond between Rain and Andy turns out to be.

The main cast members dutifully fill their respective spots as demanded. While ably balancing her character between toughness and vulnerability, Cailee Spaeny, who recently drew more attention from us thanks to her acclaimed performance in “Priscilla” (2023), shows another side of her considerable talent here in this film, and she is supported well by the other main cast members including Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, and David Jonsson, who recently became more prominent thanks to his solid comic performance in “Rye Lane” (2023).

Overall, “Alien: Romulus” is inherently redundant from the beginning, but it is interesting and thrilling to enough to hold our attention, and Álvarez, who previously gave us “Evil Dead” (2013) and “Don’t Breathe” (2016), did a commendable job of learning well from the old ones while also trying the new things. In my humble opinion, this is one of the better products during this summer blockbuster season, and it will certainly remind you again that no one can hear you scream in space.

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I Saw the TV Glow (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Obsessed with an old TV show

Posted on August 13, 2024 by kaist455

Jane Schoenbrun’s second feature film “I Saw the TV Glow” is a disorienting but compelling piece of work to admire for mood and style. While it feels rather thin in terms of story and characters, it is at least filled with enough personality and atmosphere in addition to being driven by considerable emotional intensity, and its strikingly mind-bending aspects are something you cannot easily forget after it is over.

The early part of the film, which is mainly set in 1996, is about how its introverted hero gets obsessed with “The Pink Opaque”, a fictional TV show for young adults. Although he has only watched its promotional clips on TV, Owen, played by Ian Foreman at this point, becomes quite fascinated with this fictional TV show, but he is not allowed to watch it at late night just because his father thinks it is just for girls.

However, Owen soon comes to find a way to watch “The Pink Opaque”. On one day, he happens to come across an older girl named Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who happens to be reading the episode guide of “The Pink Opaque” during their first encounter. Maddy gladly suggests that he should spend a night along with her at her house for watching “The Pink Opaque” together, and Owen does not hesitate to go along with that, though he has to tell a little lie to his parents for that.

After their first night with “The Pink Opaque”, Maddy begins to show Owen more episodes of “The Pink Opaque”, which may amuse you a bit for its authentic details which will probably take you back to those old popular TV series of the 1990s such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. It is about two adolescent girls who happen to share a supernatural power between them, and each episode is about how they bravely fight against a number of various henchmen sent by their powerful archnemesis including a vicious duo named Marco and Polo (I am not kidding at all).

While they become closer to each other during next two years, Maddy comes share more of herself with Owen, who is now played by Justice Smith. At one point, she frankly reveals her sexual identity to him, and then Owen finds himself getting confused about his sexual identity. He does not know how to express and then handle his confusion, and he becomes more distant to his parents even when her mother is about to die due to her unfortunate terminal illness. He has no idea on how to deal with this impending personal issue, and he becomes more nervous when he comes to learn about how much Maddy wants to get away from their suburban neighborhood.

During its second half, which moves the story forward to 10 years later, the movie goes for more bafflement and confusion, and Schoenbrun and cinematographer Erik K. Yue continue to fill the screen with dreamy qualities. As its hero becomes more confused about his status of mind, the movie often catches us off guard with odd but undeniably striking moments, and everything eventually culminates to a stupefying monologue scene where Owen’s mind gets more shaken up by his growing confusion. Is his life actually a fake reality? Or, is he simply stuck in his increasingly disturbed mind?

If you watched Schoenbrun’s previous film “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” (2021), you surely know well in advance that Schoenbrun will not give you any easy answer at all. The movie keeps going back and forth between the two possibilities surrounding its hero as he gets more baffled about whatever he is experiencing, and it does not let us get off easily even during its adamantly ambiguous finale.

In case of thematic aspects, the movie is certainly a rich ground filled with queer materials to be appreciated. Considering how both Maddy and Owen are not so fine or comfortable with who they are supposed on the surface, the story can be interpreted as a transgender fantasy fable, and “The Pink Opaque” can be regarded as the projection of whatever they feel inside themselves.

Although the movie sometimes stumbles more than once during its second half, it is still carried well by its two lead performers, who come to function as its emotional center as they revolve around each other along the story. Justice Smith, a promising actor who has steadily advanced during last several years since I noticed him in “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” (2018), gives his best performance to date, and he is often poignant in his character’s emotional struggles with his sexual identity. On the opposite, Brigette Lundy-Paine, who has been mainly known for her supporting turn in Netflix TV series “Atypical”, is equally wonderful as bringing enough spirit to the screen whenever coming upon the screen, and I am sure that we will see more of this non-binary actor’s considerable talent during next several years.

On the whole, “I Saw the TV Glow” is distinctive and interesting enough to compensate for its several weak aspects including its rather uneven narrative pacing, and the overall result shows how much Schoenbrun has advanced after “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”. This non-binary filmmaker’s movies are still an acquired taste to me, but “I Saw the TV Glow” confirms that they are another interesting filmmaker to watch, and I will certainly have some expectation on whatever will come next from them.

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We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An elusive horror drama of online dysphoria

Posted on August 13, 2024 by kaist455

Jane Schoenbrun’s first feature film “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” alternatively baffled and fascinated me. On one hand, I was fascinated with its interesting storytelling approach which clearly shows its director’s distinctive personality and talent. On the other hand, I was often frustrated with its rather slow and opaque narrative which may also demand some patience from you.

At first, the movie revolves around Casey (Anna Cobb), an adolescent girl who looks quite isolated in one way or another. While she lives in the attic of a cozy suburban house, we never get any information about whom she has lived with, except when someone comes in the house and then complains about the noise from her attic later. It seems that she is your typical loner, and we are not so surprised to see that her daily life is usually spent on making videos to be posted on her private online channel, though, as far as I can see from the screen, she has not drawn many viewers yet.

The opening scene shows Casey trying what may draw more viewers. There has been a viral online activity called “World’s Fair Challenge”, and she is willing to participate in this activity even though it looks like something much riskier than, say, ice bucket challenge. All one has to do is saying “I want to go to the World’s Fair” three times and then doing several required things in front of a computer screen, but those online people have claimed that this seemingly harmless act can lead to some serious mental/physical changes.

Anyway, Casey seems willing to take the possible risk because she is lonely and desperate. During the first half of the film, we see more of her isolated status filled with ennui and loneliness, and she is eager to show anything weird which may happen to her. As closely observing her, you may come to have some understanding on why some people gladly record themselves doing weird things and then post that on the Internet.

When she attempts to record her sleep at one night, Casey happens to receive a weird warning message from an unknown person. This unknown person, JLB (Michael L. Rogers), wants to talk with her about whatever is happening to her right now, and Casey accepts this guy’s approach because, well, she has no one else to talk with, though this person keeps his identity hidden even when they talk more and more about the possible consequences of World’s Fair Challenge.

Because his voice sounds much older than Casey, we naturally fear for her safety, but then the movie shifts its viewpoint a bit to JLB, who turns out to be a plain older dude who is probably as lonely and desperate as Casey. Just like her, he also resides in a suburban house located somewhere, and we seldom see anyone else besides him in the house. At one point, we see a person moving in the background, we are never sure about who that person is or what that person is doing over there.

During the second half of the film, the movie observes Casey slowing going down her own online rabbit hole along with JLB, who keeps encouraging her to make more videos of hers. As days go by, she comes to show a series of strange behaviors, and the movie sometimes shows rather disturbing online videos associated World’s Fair Challenge. Not so surprisingly, she eventually looks more disturbed than ever, and there is a painfully harrowing scene involved with a certain precious childhood stuff of hers.

However, the movie never clarifies what is exactly going on inside Casey’s mind, and it is also rather ambivalent about the disturbing sides of World’ Fair Challenge. Is this challenge really as dangerous as calling the titular character of “Candyman” (1992) three times in front of the mirror? Or, is this just another mindless online trend which happens to become too popular around the Internet? The movie does not answer these and other questions at all even, and we also cannot be totally certain about a supposedly sincere confession scene later in the story.

Nevertheless, the movie still holds our attention as steadily maintaining an elusive aura of creepiness under Schoenbrun’s deft direction, and Anna Cobb, who incidentally made a debut here in this film, did a splendid job of embodying her character’s growing desperation behind the disaffected façade. Although we are not always sure about whatever her character is feeling and thinking, Cobb constantly draws our attention with her unadorned acting, and we come to care more about whatever may happen to her character in the end. On the other side, Michael J. Rogers effectively complements his co-star throughout the film, and his detached performance also never makes us less guarded as contributing extra creepiness to the screen.

On the whole, I am less enthusiastic about “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” than many other reviewers, but it surely shows Schoenbrun’s considerable potential as a filmmaker, and Schoenbrun already moved on to “I Saw the TV Glow” (2024), which is the second part of Schoenbrun’s Screen trilogy after this movie. Although watching “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” turned out to be more like doing a homework before “I Saw the TV Glow”, but it was an interesting experience to some degree, and I hope I will be more interested and entertained in “I Saw the TV Glow”.

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Jules (2023) ☆☆(2/4): The Old Man and the Alien

Posted on August 12, 2024 by kaist455

My late mentor/friend Roger Ebert hated, hated, hated what he usually called “the Idiot Plot”, and here is his own definition: “A story in which every problem and conflict would be resolved in five minutes, if not for the fact that every character is a complete idiot.” There are several glaring moments of the Idiot Plot in Marc Turtletaub’s sappy SF fable movie “Jules”, and I am willing to bet my $100 that Ebert would roast these idiotic moments without any hesitation.

First, let me describe to you the most annoying example in the bunch. At one point, Milton (Ben Kingsley), the hero of the story, is suddenly visited by his concerned daughter who does not believe at all that he has an alien in his house. For avoiding more misunderstanding, all he should do is simply letting her inside the house and then showing his extraterrestrial guest, but, no, he simply lets her leave after arguing with her a bit, and that is all.

If the story and characters were more realistic and believable, that might not be much of a problem at all. Milton lives alone in a quite rural town of Pennsylvania which does not seem to have many residents besides him, and the town and its residents look like the stock characters from your average American sitcom. His big and comfortable house, which is located in a rather remote spot outside the town, also has a large backyard, and you may wonder how he has maintained this place fairly well even though it seems there is no housekeeper or gardener visiting this place.

I know, I know, I know. The movie does not intend to be very realistic from the beginning, and that is particularly evident when Milton’s another usual night is suddenly interrupted by the crashing of a UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) on his backyard. He naturally calls 911 at one, but, not so surprisingly, his call is promptly disregarded, and nobody pays much attention to him when he talks about that UFO at a routine town council meeting.

Meanwhile, an alien creature happens to crawl out of that UFO and then collapses in front of the backdoor of Milton’s house. While quite flabbergasted to say the least, Milton tries his best for taking care of this alien creature, and this alien creature, which is later named “Jules” (Jade Quon), looks like getting slowly accustomed to being his guest, though there is not much communication between them from the beginning.

What follows next is the cross between “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) and “Cocoon” (1985). Milton’s two old busybody neighbors, Joyce (Jane Curtin) and Sandy (Harriet Samsom Harris), later get involved in his tricky situation, and they all agree to keep their alien visitor in secret as much as possible, while also wondering how to help their alien visitor. While looking rather detached all the time, Jules looks mostly quiet and gentle, and Milton and his two neighbors are certainly brightened up by their unexpected friend.

Of course, things soon get more complicated for several reasons. Milton’s daughter begins to suspect that her father is hiding something serious, and that leads to the aforementioned moment of misunderstanding between them. Furthermore, Jules is also being pursued by those government agents, and we see lots of agents checking on millions of phone calls in the area surrounding Milton’s town (How the hell could possibly they overlook that 911 call from Milton, I wonder?).

All these and other things in the story are pretty familiar to say the least, but the movie does not bring anything particularly new to its conventional genre territory. While you may get some dark amusement from a little special power of Jules or what kind of fuel that flying saucer actually needs (You may be quite disgusted if you are an animal lover, by the way), the movie does not go further with these morbid details for avoiding any unpleasant moment, and it only becomes sappier instead while Milton later comes to confront the growing possibility of mental deterioration. 

The main performers of the film try their best with their rather thin roles. Ben Kingsley, an intelligent actor who has been usually dependable for more than 40 years since his Oscar-winning performance in “Gandhi” (1982), conveys well to us his aging character’s melancholic existence, and we can easily discern why his character accepts Jules into his house without much fear or hesitation. While Jane Curtin, whom I still fondly remember for her supporting turn in TV comedy series “The 3rd Rock from the Sun”, brings some humor to her functional supporting part, Harriet Sansom Harris, whom you may remember for her scene-stealing appearances in TV comedy series “Frasier”, also manages to acquit herself well, and Jade Quon, who has been mainly known for her stunt performances in a number of recent blockbuster films such as “The Hunger Games” (2012), holds her own small place well even though she is simply required to occupy the screen throughout the movie.       

In conclusion, “Jules” is disappointing in its big failure to engage us in terms of story and characters, and it only makes me want to revisit “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” as soon as possible. Just like “Jaws” (1975) did everything a shark movie can possibly do and then made many subsequent shark movies nearly pointless, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” remains on the top of its genre even at present while also making its many imitators look inconsequential and forgettable, and I am sure that “Jules” will be also forgotten within a few years.

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Shine (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): A slow story in the island

Posted on August 12, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean film “Shine” is curiously somber and distant in terms of story and character. While it seems to care about its main characters at times, it also often observes them from the distance without delving that much into whatever they think or feel behind their phlegmatic appearance, and the result is not interesting enough to hold our interest during its 2-hour running time.

The story is set in one small village located in Jeju Island, and the early part of the movie focuses on the melancholic sadness and grief of an adolescent girl named Ye-seon (Jang Hae-geum), who has recently lost her dear grandmother. Although her grandmother was under the good care of two kind local nuns of a local Catholic church before she eventually passed away, Ye-seon cannot help but miss her grandmother because there is no adult figure to stay around her in their little house.

At least, there are several persons who really care about Ye-seon’s welfare. Her schoolmate/best friend Da-hee (Chae Yo-won) tries to cheer up Ye-seon a bit, and we later see Da-hee and two other friends of theirs visiting Ye-seon’s residence, but Ye-seon does not seem to welcome them much as putting more distance between them. In case of those two nuns, Sister Rafaella (Jang Sun) and Sister Stella (Jang Eun-kyung), they also check on Ye-seon from time to time, but they also feel some distance between them between her despite their sincere efforts of reaching closer to her.

In the end, Ye-seon comes to open her heart a bit at one night, and things get a bit better as winter is over and then summer begins on the island. Ye-seon becomes a bit more spirited than before as hanging around with her friends more than before, and they later come to have a little mountain picnic time along with Sister Rafaella and Stella, who gladly accompany them as their chaperones (We never get to know about the parents of Ye-seon’s friends, by the way).

And there comes an unexpected change into Ye-seon’s daily life. We see a little girl suddenly coming out of the church and being led to Ye-seon’s house, and both Ye-seon and Da-hee are certainly suddenly surprised to see this little girl. While they do not know anything about this little girl, they decide to take care of her instead of whoever abandoned her, and they even lie to Sister Rafaella and Stella as pretending that that little girl is the daughter of Ye-seon’s currently absent uncle.

However, Sister Rafaella and Stella have some reservation about what Ye-seon told her, especially after they try to reach to Ye-seon’s absent uncle for a matter involved with Ye-seon’s future. Nonetheless, they do not have any problem in helping Ye-seon taking care of that little girl, who seems to be totally fine with being under the care of Ye-seon and others around her.

Of course, the situation soon becomes a bit more complicated for the reason some of you already have guessed. After coming to learn that it is not all right to let Ye-seon take care of that little girl, Sister Rafaella and Stella become quite conflicted about what to do about her problematic circumstance, and Ye-seon also comes to face the emotional consequence of her rather unwise action later in the story.

This sounds like a nice setup for melodramatic moments to come, but the movie adamantly keeps everything in a distant low-key tone. While the camera looks like more interested in capturing those lovely locations of Jeju Island than focusing on the main characters, the main cast members stick to their understated mode without conveying that much to us, and it may take some time for you to gather the relationships among the main characters in the story.

Although this restrained storytelling approach is admirable to some degree, the movie unfortunately ends up scratching the surface without really letting us get to know its main characters. While Ye-seon often feels too distant and passive as the center of the story, the other main characters around her are also rather flat and superficial, and a little moment involved with a visiting photographer feels redundant without much purpose, except for emphasizing how soothing the village really is.

I can only appreciate how Jang Hae-geum and several other main cast members fill their under-developed roles as much as possible. While Jang manages to bring some life and personality to her character, Jang-sun and Jung Eun-kyung did a decent job of embodying their characters’ wholesome kindness, and Chae Yo-won also has her own small moment despite her seemingly thankless supporting role.

“Shine” is the fifth feature of director/writer Park Suk-young, who drew my attention for his two previous films “Steel Flower” (2015) and “Ash Flower” (2016). While these two films are engaging for solid storytelling and strong characters to remember, “Shine” feels relatively less impressive despite showing some technical competence, and it only reminds me of what a nice place Jeju Island is. Although I visited there for a few days of family vacation months ago, and I am now willing to visit there soon again just for checking several locations shown in “Shine”. but I seriously doubt whether that is enough for making me re-evaluate the movie later.

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