Didi (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): His suburban summer in 2008

Posted on September 12, 2024 by kaist455

“Didi” is a coming-of-age tale which feels both specific and universal. While its adolescent hero and his family background are quite specific, but his emotional struggles with not only his family but also himself are universal to say the least, and the movie closely observes him and several other figures around him with a lot of care and empathy.

The titular character of the film is Chris Wang (Izaac Wang), a 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy who is often called “Didi” in his family (It means “younger brother” in Chinese, by the way). His father has been absent for years due to his job in Taiwan, but he has earned enough at least for his wife Chungsing (Joan Chen) to live in a nice Californian suburban neighborhood along with their two kids and his aging mother, and Chungsing is naturally the one who has to take care of all those domestic things for her two kids and mother-in-law.

The story is incidentally set during the summer of 2008, and we see how Chris and his older sister Vivian (Shirley Chen) frequently clash with each other in their house. Although she is soon going to leave the house for her college education, Chris often irritates his older sister, and Vivian does not tolerate her willful younger brother at all. No matter how much Chungsing tries, Chris and Vivian still do not get along with each other well, and that certainly frustrates their mother as well as their grandmother, who often criticizes her daughter-in-law everyday.

Like many other kids around his age, Chris usually go outside for more fun and freedom to have before his upcoming middle school graduation, and we see him hanging around with his several neighborhood friends. At one point, they are invited to a pool party held at the house belonging to one of their schoolmates, and that is how he comes to befriend a pretty girl. They come to interact more with each other via Facebook, and some of you may be amused by some little period details, which will definitely remind you of how much digital technology has been advanced during last 16 years.

In the end, Chris comes to have a sort of date with her during one evening, He tries to make himself look cool as much as possible, but it eventually turns out that she is actually more matured and experienced than him, and that leads to a rather amusing moment when he becomes quite nervous and embarrassed due to a little active action of hers.

He also gets more interested in making video clips after encountering a trio of older boys who happen to need someone to shoot their skateboarding. Although he does not know that much about how to handle a video camera, Chris attempts to teach himself bit by bit, and it looks like he seems to make some progress as shooting his new friends in one way or another.

Meanwhile, there comes more conflict between Chris and his mother, who turns out to have a fair share of discontent and disappointment behind her usually calm façade. As her kids have grown up nearly enough, Chungsing tries to go for her old artistic passion, but her efforts are not recognized much by others including Chris, who simply regards her latest painting without much care.

Although this expectedly leads to a big melodramatic moment later in the story, the screenplay by Sean Wang, who was Oscar-nominated for his deeply personal short film “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” (2023) before making a feature film debut here, sticks to its somberly observant attitude as showing more compassion and understanding to Chris and several other characters. While Chris is sometimes quite annoying as your average rebellious teenager, we can sense his confusion and frustration nonetheless, and we also come to care about his family members, who gradually come to as understandable human characters with each own issue to deal with.

Under Wang’s competent direction, the main cast members are solid in their respective parts. Although his character is more or less than a plain ground for more colorful characters in the story, young performer Izaac Wang diligently carries the film with his earnest performance, and Shirley Chen has a surprisingly heartfelt moment when Vivian shows some real care to her older brother in one particular scene. While Chang Li Hua is also solid as Chris and Vivian’s grandmother, Joan Chen, a Chinese American actress who has steadily worked for more than 35 years since her breakout performance in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Oscar-winning film “The Last Emperor” (1987), gives one of the best performances in her long acting career, and she is particularly excellent when her character comes to show more of her feelings and thoughts to Chris around the end of the story.

Overall “Didi”, which won not only the Audience Award but also the Special Jury Award for its ensemble cast when it was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, is a small but likable film which distinguishes itself enough in terms of story and characters. Although I think it could be improvised a bit more (A subplot involved with Chris’ several friends feels rather underdeveloped, for example), the movie is still fairly engaging on the whole, and Wang surely makes a good start for whatever may come from him next in the future. In short, this is another interesting debut feature film of this year, and I think you should give it a chance someday.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

We Grown Now (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): Their childhood in Cabrini-Green, 1992

Posted on September 12, 2024 by kaist455

“We Grown Now” is a little but intimate coming-of-age drama about growing up in the Cabrini-Green neighborhood of Chicago in 1992. Mostly sticking to the viewpoint of two young African American boys living there during that time, the movie often glimpses on the grim reality of their small world, but it also shows some warmth and sensitivity via not only their friendship but also their parents who really care about them.

At the beginning, we are introduced to the two young heroes of the movie: Malik (Blake Cameron James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez). Their respective families have been close neighbors for years as living together in one of the apartment buildings in Cabrini-Green, and the opening scene shows them having another usual fun with several other kids at a nearby playground.

As they go through their daily life, we get to know a bit about their respective families. While Malik has been raised along with his younger sister by their single mother Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) and their grandmother Anita (S. Epatha Merkerson), Eric has lived with his older sister under the care of his single father Jason (Lil Rel Howery), and the movie sometimes observes how much their parents struggle to make ends meet for themselves and their respective families day by day.

To Malik and Eric, it seems nothing will possibly separate them as they cheerfully spend time together in one way or another, but then, of course, they are reminded of how dangerous their neighborhood can be. Not long after the tragic death of a young kid around their age, the police and the authorities put more restriction on their neighborhood in the name of law and order, and Dolores as well as Jason become more concerned about their kids’ safety and welfare, even though there is really nothing they can do about protecting their kids from the harsh reality of the outside world.

However, Malik and Eric remain rather innocent about what is happening around them. At one point, they decide to go outside their elementary school just because they are just bored, and we accordingly get a lovely scene where they go to the downtown area of Chicago for visiting the Art Institute of Chicago, where they cannot help but marveled by lots of impressive artworks. As looking at several paintings involved with American slavery and racism, Malik is reminded of those old personal stories told by his grandmother, and this stimulates his young receptive mind more to our little fascination.

Of course, Dolores is not so pleased about what her son did with his best friend, and neither is Jason, who scolds his son as punishing him a bit. While she understands well how close her son has been to his best friend, Dolores does not want her son to hang around with Eric more, and that naturally causes some conflict between them, though she is still nice to Eric because, after all, he is not a bad kid at all.

Meanwhile, there later comes the unexpected opportunity for a better job to Dolores, and she naturally becomes quite conflicted. Mainly because she has spent her whole life in the middle of Chicago, moving to somewhere outside the city for that job in question seems impossible to her at first, but she comes to consider this possibly good option more as her neighborhood becomes a more hostile place than before.

This situation eventually leads to the conflict between Malik and Eric later in the story, but director/writer Minhal Baig, who previously made a feature film debut with “I Night” (2016), maintains the calm and sensitive mood of the film as before. While the overall mood is sometimes interrupted by the harsh reality surrounding its main characters, the movie also provides a number of gentle personal moments tinged with poetic qualities reminiscent of the works of Terrence Malick, and Baig and her cinematographer Pat Scola did a terrific job of filling the screen with enough period atmosphere and details to be appreciated.

As the movie gradually immerse us into its vivid mood and background, we come to understand and care about its two young heroes, and young performers Blake Cameron James and Gian Knight Ramirez are believable in their unadorned natural performance. Ably conveying to us their characters’ close friendship, they never hit any false note during several key scenes between them in the film, and the bond between their characters is palpable even when their characters come to conflict a lot with each other later in the story.

In case of a few notable adult performers around James and Ramirez, they fill their respective spots well without overshadowing James and Ramirez at all. While Jurnee Smollett, who also participated in the production of the film as an executive producer, and S. Epatha Merkerson have each own moment to shine, Lil Rel Howery, who will be always remembered for his scene-stealing supporting turn in Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning film “Get Out” (2017), feels rather under-utilized in comparison, but it is nice to see more of the serious side of his considerable acting talent at least.

In conclusion, “We Grown Now”, which won the Changemaker Award when it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in last year, is a solid piece of work to be admired for its mood, storytelling, and performance. Yes, Cabrini-Green will always be associated with Bernard Rose’s horror film “Candyman” (1992) in my mind, but “We Grown Now” showed me a bit gentler presentation of this notorious neighborhood, and I surely appreciate that.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

My First Film (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): Memories of her abandoned first film

Posted on September 11, 2024 by kaist455

As watching Zia Anger’s fascinating feature film “My First Film”, I frequently wondered how much it actually reflects Anger’s life and career in real life. Yes, she did make her little first feature film “Always All Way, Anne Marie” between 2010 and 2012. Yes, she got really frustrated a lot as this micro-budget feature film of hers got rejected by one film festival after another. Yes, it was really “abandoned” as shown from her filmography on Internet Movie Database (IMDB) at present. Yes, she subsequently made a “live-interactive film” based on her experiences associated with “Always All Way, Anne Marie”, and that was the starting point where “My First Film” was developed by her and her co-writer Billy Feldman during the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Now your head may get a bit dizzy, but “My First Film” can still amuse and touch you a lot with its casual but ultimately poignant mix of fact and fiction. Mainly revolving around her fictional counterpart’s many struggles to make the first feature film, the movie provides a series of vivid and intimate moments to observe and admire, and you also appreciate how it humorously and thoughtfully juxtaposes filmmaking with female issues.

When Vita (Odessa Young) embarks on making her first feature film which is quite personal to herself in many aspects, she is quite hopeful and confident as fully supported by the small cast and crew members of hers, most of whom were incidentally her close friends. Although their production budget is pretty small to say the least, her crew members are all willing to take a big forward leap along with her, and we soon see them shooting their first scene together outside.

As Vita looks back on their following progress several years later, we come to gather what Vita’s first feature film, which is also “Always All Way, Anna Marie”, is about. It is inspired a bit by her rather complex childhood years, when she was raised by her two lesbian mothers who lived along with several others including her biological father in their little commune. Both Vita’s mothers and father gladly helped her when she tried to make one of her short films some time ago, and they seemed to have a really fun time together, but the result somehow failed to draw the attention of the folks at MUBI when she submitted it to them later (Ironically, “My First Film” is released on MUBI).

Once they shot their first scene, Vita and her colleagues become a bit more confident, but, not so surprisingly, things soon do not go that well for them. While they frequently have one trouble after another in shooting several other key scenes in the film, Vita sometimes feels like being at a loss about what and how her movie is about. Her colleagues try to help her as much as possible, but then they also get quite frustrated just like her, and you may be amused a bit when she frankly admits to us that she does not remember all of their names well (One of them is just called “Sound Guy”, by the way).

And there is also a little personal trouble involved with Vita’s boyfriend, who lets down her in more than one way. At one point, he interrupts her filmmaking process just because of his different opinion on a certain scene to be shot as soon as possible, and Vita has no choice but to have a brief private conversation with him later. It soon turns out that she is pregnant, and she already decides on having an abortion sooner or later, regardless of whether her boyfriend will accept that or not.

Nevertheless, Vita does not feel totally helpless as keeping going on along with her colleagues, and her lead actress Dina (Devon Ross) eventually comes to function as her enabler who really believes in Vita’s film. As shown from several amusing moments including the one where she has to be almost naked and covered with cheap fake blood, Dina, who also turns out to be quite knowledgeable about film history as shown from one brief scene, is ready for whatever is requested by her director, and we are not so surprised when they come to feel some attraction between them later in the story.

In the meantime, Vita’s filmmaking process is struck by an unexpected serious accident, and she is certainly devastated, but she continues to make her film as incorporating more personal elements into it. We are subsequently introduced her aging father, and their filmmaking scenes are as touching as those intimate father and daughter moments in Kirsten Johnson’s Netflix documentary film “Dick Johnson Is Dead” (2020).

It goes without saying that the ending of Vita’s filmmaking adventure is already determined from the beginning, but Anger develops something very sublime and uplifting from this predestined ending. I will not go into details here for your surprise, but you will be moved more by how powerfully the movie works as a female coming-of-age story of Vita’s life as well as her filmmaking career, and you may come to hope for better things to come into her (and Anger’s) life and career.

On the whole, “My First Film” is a little but precious gem which deserves more attention in my trivial opinion, and it will resonate more with you if you have ever had any experience with micro-budget filmmaking like a few acquaintances of mine. As a matter of fact, I would like to introduce the film to them as soon as possible, and I would love to hear their individual opinions.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Rebel Ridge (2024) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A guy rides into a town…

Posted on September 10, 2024 by kaist455

Netflix film “Rebel Ridge”, which was released on last Friday, is a rare thriller film which actually captivated me from the beginning to the end. While it seems a rather typical genre piece at first, the movie slowly but masterfully builds up tension and interest along the narrative while showing more style and personality to be cherished, and I admire it more now as reflecting more on how patient and dexterous it is in the handling of mood, story, and character.

The movie does not waste time at all in its economic setup stage. When we are introduced to an African American guy named Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre), he is riding a bike to a small rural town in Alabama where his cousin is being held by the local police for a little legal trouble. For getting his cousin released and then buying a boat for their little business, Richmond prepared a considerable amount of cash, but, alas, he happens to be stopped by two local police officers when he is about to enter the town, just because, well, he looks like an easy target for them.

Anyway, Richmond is willing to cooperate with these two police officers without causing any trouble as he must come to the courthouse in the town and then pay the bail for his cousin within a few hours. However, once they find the cash belonging to him, the police officers willfully confiscate it before eventually releasing him, and, to his exasperation, he soon comes to learn that he is already quite disadvantaged in one way or another. A young sympathetic woman who works as a courthouse clerk war tells him that what those police officers did to him is actually not against the law at all, and it seems there is really nothing he can do about this utterly unjust incident.

However, it soon turns out that Richmond is not someone who will not easily step back at all. First, he embarks on finding reasonable alternatives, and that is how he comes to face the sheriff of the town, who turns out to be quite corrupted as expected but may be able to reason with him to some degree. Meanwhile, he also seeks a bit more help from that courthouse clerk, who comes to find something fishy about the local legal system as trying to help him more. 

Now I should be more careful about describing the film. No, there is not any big twist to come along the story, but it is really absorbing to watch how the screenplay by director/writer/editor Jeremy Saulnier skillfully dials the level of tension up and down along the story, which often evokes the qualities of western films here and there throughout the film. Because his main opponent is fairly reasonable on the whole, Richmond is willing to step back a bit for his dear cousin, but a number of unexpected things occur along the story, and this only come to escalate the tension between Richmond and his main opponent, who will surely clash with each other more and more till the inevitable finale. 

It is not much of a spoiler to tell you that Richmond is actually a man with a particular set of skills like John Rambo of “First Blood” (1982) or the titular character of John Wick movies, but the movie does not hurry itself at all when he finally shows his opponents that they should not have messed with him from the beginning. There is an amusing moment where his opponents belatedly come to learn more about his background, and the movie also has a little wry fun with several certain acronyms uttered by him.

As Richmond becomes more determined to take care of the trouble for himself, the movie accordingly provides a number of quiet but suspenseful scenes to be appreciated for how Saulnier and his crew members including cinematographer David Gallego execute them with considerable efficiency. While Gellego’s cinematography fills the typical Southern background with subtle tension, Saulnier’s editing is taut and succinct without drawing too much attention, and he also did a commendable job in case of a few vehicle action sequences in the film, all of which are dramatically impactful in one way or another without being excessive at all.

Most of all, the movie is firmly anchored by the strong performance from Aaron Pierre, a promising actor who drew our attention for the first time via his memorable supporting turn in Barry Jenkins’ Amazon Prime miniseries “The Underground Railroad” and was also terrific in Canadian film “Brother” (2022). Although he was a last-minute replacement after John Boyega suddenly left in the middle of the production due to some allegedly personal issues, Pierre did a flawless job of embodying his character’s quiet will and determination, and he is also convincing in several physical action scenes in the film where he has to throw himself into some demanding physical stunts.          

Around Pierre, Saulnier assembles several good performers who effortlessly fill their respective spots as required. While Don Johnson has a lot of naughty fun with his arrogant villain character, AnnaSophia Robb, David Denman, Emory Cohen, and Steve Zissis, and Zsané Jhé are also well-cast in their supporting parts, and James Cromwell is dependable as usual during a brief but crucial scene of his later in the film.

In conclusion, “Rebel Ridge” is one of the more impressive movies from Netflix during this year, and it is certainly another impressive work from Saulnier, who previously impressed me a lot with his second feature film “Blue Ruin” (2013). Although he seemed to go down a bit in his previous Netflix film “Hold the Dark” (2018), Saulnier is back in element here in this movie, and I sincerely hope that he will keep impressing me and other audiences more like this.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Breaking (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): A desperate man driven to the breaking point

Posted on September 10, 2024 by kaist455

“Breaking” is a small but tense drama about one desperate man who resorts to a drastic measure as driven to the breaking point. Inspired by a tragic real-life incident which did happen in Marietta, Atlanta in 2017, the movie patiently builds up the story and characters with increasing suspense and despair, and we come to care more even while the eventual outcome becomes more apparent to us minute by minute. 

The early point of the film succinctly establishes how things have been very despairing for an ex-marine named Brian Brown-Easley (John Boyega). Shortly after divorcing his ex-wife, Brown-Easley has tried to support himself as well as his dear little daughter who is currently under his ex-wife’s care, but, unfortunately, he has been on the verge of becoming homeless at any point, and he cannot even receive the disability check from the Department of Veterans Affairs due to some absurd bureaucratic reason. 

Becoming more despaired and frustrated than ever, Brown-Easley eventually gets quite determined to take care of his situation by any means necessary. On one day, he goes inside a local bank, and then he writes to one of the bank clerks that he has a bomb ready to be detonated at any point. While shocked a lot by this sudden emergency, the clerk and her supervisor tactfully handle the circumstance. Once they quietly get the others in the bank leave as soon as possible, they are held by Brown-Easley as his hostages, and then they try to reason with him as much as possible.

However, while he simply wants to receive a rather modest amount of money from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown-Easley also tries to draw more attention from the public. While the police have already come along with a bunch of local TV reporters outside the bank building, he wants to get his desperate story known more to many people out there, and he seems quite ready for the worst situation.    

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by director Abi Damaris Corbin and his co-writer Kwame Kwei-Armah, which is based on the 2018 Task & Purpose article “They Didn’t Have to Kill Him” by Aaron Gell, also focuses on what is going on outside the bank building. As Brown-Easley demands, a negotiator comes, but there are also a bunch of snipers ready to pull the trigger at any chance, and the negotiator does not approve of that much, though he knows well how dangerous Brown-Easley can be as a man cornered more and more with a very few options remaining to him.

What follows next is how the negotiator carefully tries to deescalate the tension between his police team and Brown-Easley. As being also an ex-marine, he can easily talk with Brown-Easley within the first few minutes, but he is also reminded that how volatile Brown-Easley can be due to his occasional temper problem, which is probably associated with the post-traumatic stress disorder from his military tour in Iraq. As the circumstance becomes more desperate for him, he cannot help but lose his temper, and that certainly scares his two unfortunate hostages, who come to sympathize a bit with him as getting to know him more but are still trying to find any possible way out for them.

The movie loses some of its narrative momentum as occasionally interrupted by several flashback scenes. While one scene later in the film tells us how Brown-Easley was not allowed to receive the disability check, it does not delve more into how its hero is driven toward such an extreme action, and then it becomes a bit too mellow after the story reaches to its inevitable conclusion. 

Nevertheless, the movie keeps holding our attention mainly thanks to the intense lead performance by John Boyega, who has shown more of his considerable talent since his electrifying breakthrough turn in “Attack the Block” (2011). Deftly conveying to us his increasingly unstable character’s tragic implosion along the story, Boyega is captivating at every minute of his in the film, and we come to have more understanding and empathy on his character’s accumulating desperation and frustration.

Around Boyega, a numbe of main cast members of the film hold each own place while coming to us believable human characters. Selena Leyva, who was one of the main characters in Netflix TV series “Orange Is the New Black”, and Nicole Beharie, who was previously memorable in “Miss Juneteenth” (2020), have a few moments to shine as their characters nervously try to deal with their dangerous circumstance in one way or other, and Connie Britton is also fine as a local TV news producer who happens to interact with Brown-Easley on the phone for a while. As the no-nonsense negotiator in the story, Michael K. Williams, who sadly passed away not long before the movie came out in 2022, reminds us again that he was one of the most dependable character actors in our time, and his calm presence complements well Boyega’s acting during their several key scenes in the movie.   

On the whole, “Breaking” may feel rather plain compared to many other similar films such as “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975), but it is fairly tense and engaging due to its good direction and several solid performances to watch. I wonder whether it could be tauter and more economic, but the result is recommendable enough at least, so I will not grumble for now.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

MaXXXine (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Maxine goes to Hollywood…

Posted on September 9, 2024 by kaist455

Ti West’s latest film “MaXXXine”, the third installment of West’s X film series after “X” (2022) and “Pearl” (2022), is willing to go further from what was modestly but impressively achieved in its two predecessors. It surely has a lot of ambition from the very beginning, but, alas, the movie often fails to surprise me despite having some naughty (and bloody) fun, and the result only ends up being another typical horror film about the dark side of Hollywood.

The story is mainly set in Hollywood in 1985. After surviving what happened to her in “X” several years ago, Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) moved to Hollywood and then became a fairly successful porn movie star, but that is not enough for this ambitious girl at all. As a matter of fact, she wants to be a legitimate Hollywood movie star someday, and the opening scene shows her having an audition for getting the lead role of the upcoming sequel of a certain successful horror flick. While never hiding her porn movie career at all, she shows some confidence and talent during the audition, and she eventually succeeds in impressing the director, who decides to take a chance with Maxine despite some reservation.

When she hears that news from her seedy agent, Maxine cannot possibly be more excited, though she still gets haunted by what happened to her in “X”. When she prepares for her role along with one crew member at one point, she suddenly finds herself overwhelmed by her traumatic memories, and her growing anxiety is soon noticed by the director, who generously shows some encouragement and support but also reminds Maxine that she can be replaced at any point.

Meanwhile, the people of California are terrorized by a certain infamous real-life serial killer, but that is not much of a concern for Maxine at all. When she happens to be cornered by a guy ready to rape her, she surely shows him that he messes with a wrong girl, and you may wince a lot for a good reason if you are male like me. 

However, it soon turns out that there is some other dangerous figure lurking around somewhere in Hollywood. Wearing black leather gloves just like many killer figures of those Italian giallo films, this murderous figure seems to be quite obsessed with Maxine, and Maxine is naturally alarmed as several persons around her are brutally murdered, though she cannot tell anything helpful to the two detectives assigned to this serial murder case.

And then she is approached by John Labat (Kevin Bacon), a sleazy private investigator who is clearly representing that mysterious figure in question. Although Maxine surely shows him that she is not someone he can mess with at all, she certainly needs some extra help, and, what do you know, her agent turns out to be more sympathetic and resourceful than expected.

As its heroine tries to get things under control, West’s screenplay sprinkles a number of goodies to be appreciate by many genre fans out there. In the middle of the story, we see that famous set of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960), and the movie even presents a shot which is clearly a homage to the aftermath shot of that notorious killing scene in “Psycho”. As filling the screen with lots of period mood and style, the movie is often reminiscent of several naughty but stylish thriller films of Brian De Palma, and there is an extended sequence which may take you back to a certain amusing moment in “Body Double” (1984).

However, the movie is somehow less bold and bloody compared to its predecessors, and we become more aware of its lack of substance behind its glitzy surface. Mainly because Maxine has already completed her character arc in “X”, there is not much character development for her in this film, and the hidden connection between her and her mysterious stalker is also not particularly interesting. In the end, we only come to observe her plight from the distance without much care, in addition to noticing how the movie frequently repeats a number of genre clichés and conventions without any fresh variation at all. 

Anyway, Mia Goth, who stunned us with a pair of very different performances in “X” and “Pearl”, is fearless as before, and her distinctive star presence steadily carries the film to the end. Although it does not have something quite memorable like the last scene of “Pearl”, the movie does provide its lead actress lots of juicy elements to play, and Goth is always engaging even when the story stumbles a lot during its last act.

In contrast, many of other cast members of the film are wasted compared to Goth. While Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Monaghan are stuck in their thankless supporting roles, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Elizabeth Debicki manage to leave some impression at least, and Kevin Bacon has a little nasty fun with his villainous supporting character as he recently did in “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” (2024).

Overall, “MaXXXine” is one or two steps down from its two predecessors in addition to being less wild and enjoyable than many other trashy show business movies such as Russ Meyer’s immortal trash “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” (1970). Although I am your average nerdy dude, I can also appreciate those trashy stuffs to some degree, but, sadly, the movie does not tickle or entertain me much on the whole, and that is all, folks.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Bikeriders (2023) ☆☆(2/4): They simply ride and ride…

Posted on September 9, 2024 by kaist455

Jeff Nichols’ new film “The Bikeriders” could provide a fascinating anthropological presentation of one particular social group in the American society during the 1960-70s. While it attempts a fresh perspective via its sole substantial female character, many of its main characters are too thin and superficial to hold our attention, and we never feel like really getting to know any of them, while merely following the story of their rise and fall.

The story, which is inspired by the nonfiction book of the same name by Danny Lyon, is mainly driven by a series of interviews between Lyon (Mike Faist) and a woman named Kathy (Jodie Comer), who has a lot of things to tell as someone who was quite close to many members of a midwestern motorcycle club named “the Vandals”. As a matter of fact, she actually married one of them, and a flashback scene shows how she happened to draw the attention of Benny (Austin Butler) during one evening, when she simply dropped by their frequent site for doing a little favor for one of her friends.

After his silent but persistent courtship, Kathy eventually allows him into her life, and she is soon introduced to many different figures of the Vandals including Johnny (Tom Hardy), who has been their de facto leader for years without any challenge. While he was a plain family man who worked as a trucker at first, Johnny decided to live more wildly after watching Marlon Brando in “The Wild One” (1953) on one day, and, what do you know, he soon found himself hanging around with many other similar guys as forming their own motorcycle club.

Of course, Johnny and his club members are not welcomed that much by many of local people, and they also find themselves clashing with the members of some other motorcycle clubs. At one point, we see Johnny and his gangs confronting several members of a separate motorcycle club, and you may be a bit amused by how silly and immature they look as clashing with each other over a rather trivial matter. They are more or less than boys who still need to grow up more, and you will not be so surprised when the mood becomes far less aggressive after a brief physical fight among them.

While Johnny tries to avoid any trouble as much as possible, Benny is your average natural troublemaker who always causes a new trouble as driven by his supposedly defiant spirit. In the opening scene, we see him sitting at a local bar alone, and then he soon confronts two big guys who do not approve much of his presence. Although he simply could leave, he adamantly refuses, and that leads to another big trouble, which incidentally results in a serious physical injury which might end his wild lifestyle once for all.

While certainly concerned a lot about Benny, Kathy is reminded again and again that there is nothing she can do about his wild lifestyle – even after she eventually marries him some time later. In fact, she also finds herself getting more associated more with the club just like the wives and girlfriends of its members, and it is really disappointing that Nichols’ screenplay does not delve much into this interesting aspect. There are several other female characters in the movie besides Kathy, but they all simply come and go without leaving much impression, and that is the main reason why its attempt on female perspective is inherently flawed from the beginning.

Meanwhile, things get changed a lot for Johnny and his club members as the American society enters the 1970s. Their club becomes a lot more expanded with many new members, but most of their new members, who are incidentally the Vietnam War veterans, are too volatile to be under their control, and Johnny comes to discern that he is losing the control over the club – especially when he is confronted by a young aggressive punk who may replace him someday.

Around that point, we are supposed to care more about Johnny and his gangs, but they are merely pathetic figures without much interesting human qualities to observe. Both Tom Hardy and Austin Butler are undeniably talented performers, but they are unfortunately limited by one-dimensional characterization, and Butler often looks too detached to be really engaged in whatever is happening around his character. In case of Jody Comer, she feels a bit strained with her midwestern accent, and her scenes with Mike Faist are quite perfunctory without generating enough interest for us.

In case of a number of notable performers playing the fellow motorcycle riders of Johnny and Benny, they look fairly believable as the persons who have hung around with each other for a long time, but the movie simply looks around them instead of going deeper into their characters’ life and personality. While Michael Shannon, who previously collaborated with Nichols in several films including “Take Shelter” (2011), is criminally wasted to say the least, Toby Wallace, Boyd Holbrook, and Emory Cohen are merely required to fill their respective spots, and this is surely another disappointing aspect of the film.

On the whole, “The Bikeriders” is not entirely without interest mainly thanks to its competent technical aspects including the cinematography by Adam Stone, but it is quite dissatisfying compared to a series of stellar achievements by Nichols, who has never disappointed me since his stunning debut film “Shotgun Stories” (2007). Because I am your average nerdy guy who prefers to stay at my little apartment, I might have regarded its main characters with some detached disapproval during my viewing, but, folks, I would be really more interested if they were actually interesting human figures to observe from the start.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Kinds of Kindness (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Kinds of Self-indulgence

Posted on September 8, 2024 by kaist455

I sometimes found Yorgos Lanthimos’ early films such as “Dogtooth” (2009) a bit too dry and vicious for me, and his latest film “Kinds of Kindness”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, shows him back in his good old nasty mode in a rather self-indulgent way. While it surely strikes us hard with sudden moments of absurd violence from time to time, the movie also feels overlong and excessive at times during its 164-minute running time, and it is not even helped that much by its triptych narrative structure.

The movie consists of three different stories vaguely connected to each other by a certain minor figure named “R.M.F”. At the beginning of the first story, “The Death of R.M.F.”, we see this figure coming to a big house where he gets paid for doing something later, and we soon come to see what he is exactly required to do for that.

Around that narrative point, we are introduced to a guy named Robert (Jesse Plemons), who is the actual hero of the first story. At first, he seems to have everything he wants for his life on the surface, but then it is gradually revealed that he is thoroughly controlled by his eccentric boss Raymond (Willem Dafoe) everyday in exchange for his affluent suburban life. Day by day, Robert must follow every instruction from his boss, and he has had no problem with that during last several years, but then, what do you know, there eventually comes a point where he becomes quite conflicted when his boss demands to do something quite unethical to say the least.

What follows next is how Robert struggles to handle the absurd consequence from his refusal to follow that certain demand of his boss. Inevitably coming to realize that he actually prefers to be under constant control to being totally free, Robert desperately tries to regain his former position, but, of course, there is a big price for that, and the movie certainly has some naughty fun with how far he is willing to go.

In case of the second story, “R.M.F. is Flying”, it starts with how things have been gloomy from a young police officer named Daniel (Jesse Plemons). His wife Liz (Emma Stone) was recently gone missing at sea along with several colleagues of hers, and it is quite possible to him that he will have to prepare for the worst scenario. While his colleague/best friend Will (Mamoudou Athie) tries his best for providing some emotional support, Daniel still finds himself brooding over the possibility of his wife’s death, and this certainly affects his work a lot.

And then his wife is eventually found, but Daniel only comes to have a rather morbid delusion instead of being delighted by her miraculous return. He suspects that she is an impostor, and the situation becomes more disturbing when his sudden paranoid gets worse day by day. Jesse Plemons, who received the Best Actor award when the movie was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival early in this year, is quite effective as slowly dialing up his character’s madness along the plot, and Emma Stone, who was absolutely stunning in her Oscar-winning performance in Lanthimos’ previous film “Poor Things” (2023), is also convincing while never overshadowing Plemons’ excellent acting.

Compared to the first two stories, the third story, “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich” is more glacial and distant in comparison. At first, we are introduced to Emily (Emma Stone) and Andrew (Jesse Plemons), the two young members of an odd religious cult who have been looking for someone very special according to their charismatic leader. After their another failure, Emily and Andrew go back to their headquarters, and we get some glimpses of how strange and absurd their religious belief really is.

Anyway, after getting thrown out the group due to her unfortunate night with her ex-husband, Emily meets Rebecca (Margaret Qualley), a young woman who previously approached to Emily and Andrew and claimed that her twin sister is the one they are looking for. Although she did not believe Rebecca at that time, Emily comes to see that Rebecca’s twin sister may help her get back in the group, and we are served with several extreme moments as Emily finds herself going much further than expected for her desperate goal.

However, the story fails to develop its broad characters more for engaging us, and so are the other two stories, which are a bit more amusing but mostly end up scratching the surface. At least, the screenplay by Lanthimos and his co-writer Efthimis Filippou, who previously collaborated with Lanthimos in “The Lobster” (2015) and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” (2017), provides heaps of stuffs to play for Plemons, Stone, and several other cast members, who surely have some ball with their nasty and absurd materials. Willem Dafoe and Margaret Qualley, both of whom also incidentally appeared in “Poor Things”, are clearly savoring every moment of theirs, Joe Alwyn, Hong Chau, and Mamoudou Athie also have each own moment to shine.

In conclusion, “Kinds of Kindness” is a letdown considering how much Lanthimos achieved in “Poor Things” and “The Favourite” (2018), but it has some distinctive touches which will remind you again of why he is one of the most interesting filmmakers of our time. As a matter of fact, he is already ready to move onto the next project at present, and I sincerely hope that his next film will be more controlled and interesting compared to this indulgent exercise in style.

Posted in Movies | Tagged | Leave a comment

Eileen (2023) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): That unnerving attraction between them

Posted on September 8, 2024 by kaist455

William Oldroyd’s second feature film “Eileen” is a rather uneven mix of noir thriller and coming-of-age drama. The movie is fairly compelling during its first two acts thanks to its good mood and storytelling as well as the two talented actresses at the center, but, alas, it stumbles a lot as taking a left turn during its last act, and the finale feels quite unsatisfied without enough sense of resolution.

Thomasin McKenzie, a promising actress who has steadily advanced during last several years since her breakout turn in Debra Granik’s “Leave No Trace” (2018), plays Eileen Dunlop, a young woman who has been hopelessly stuck in her little hometown in Massachusetts for many years. While she does not like much her office job at a nearby correction facility for adolescent boys, she also has to deal with her alcoholic father Jim (Shea Wingham) everyday. Sadly, there is not anyone who can support or comfort her at all, and it seems that she is destined to be imprisoned in her ongoing misery and loneliness for the rest of her life.

And then there comes an unexpected change via Rebecca (Anne Hathaway), a beautiful and confident female psychiatrist who starts to work in the aforementioned correction facility. While watching how Rebecca holds her own place well in front of many male staff members of the correction facility, Eileen cannot help but become more impressed by Rebecca, and Rebecca seems to be aware of that even though she does not interact with Eileen that much at first.

When Rebecca later suggests a little drinking night between them, Eileen cannot possibly be excited more. Although the end of their rather wild drinking night does not end up that well for Eileen, she is glad for finally having someone she may actually lean on, and she finds herself becoming more mesmerized by Rebecca’s beauty and confidence, which certainly reminds her more of how she has looked plain and inconsequential throughout her whole life.

Meanwhile, as keeping making one trouble after another as before, Elieen’s father slowly begins to sense some change in his daughter, and, not so surprisingly, he does not approve of that much. Eileen becomes more concerned about him when it turns out later that he will die sooner or later due to his worsening alcoholism, but her father also feels more like a burden to her than before, and we can easily sense a trouble to come when she is asked to keep a certain old item of her father under her care just for the safety of him as well as anyone around him.

The screenplay by Luke Goebel and Ottesa Moshfegh, which is based on the novel of the same name by Moshfegh (She also participated in the production of the film, by the way), adds more tension to the story and characters when Rebecca comes to pay more attention to a certain young inmate in the correction facility. It looks like there is something hidden behind his horrible murder case, and Rebecca is quite determined to get to the bottom of it even though she cannot get any cooperation from the mother of the inmate.

While unfortunately hampered by several narrative hiccups during its last act, the movie continues to hold our attention at least due to its solid technical aspects. Thanks to cinematographer Ari Wagner, who previously worked with Oldroyd in his debut film “Lady Macbeth” (2016) and then was deservedly Oscar-nominated for Jane Campion’s stellar masterwork “The Power of Dog” (2021), the stark and gloomy atmosphere surrounding its main characters is constantly palpable on the screen, and we come to get more understanding on its titular character’s misery and despair with her life – and how she is irresistibly attracted to her new friend. As they subtly revolve around each other, the movie sometimes feels like a psychological thriller novel Patricia Highsmith could have written if she had had more artistic freedom during that time, and McKenzie and her co-star ably convey to us enough emotional undercurrents around their characters.

Diligently carrying the film to the end, McKenzie did a commendable job of embodying her character’s quietly desperate status, and her low-ley acting is complemented well by Hathaway’s natural star quality. With her character’s striking blonde hairdo and chic attire, Hathway instantly draws our attention right from the beginning, and it is a shame that the movie fails to explore more of her character’s relationship with Eileen when they find themselves in a very tricky situation during the last act. Despite his rather thankless task, Shea Whigham brings some bitter human qualities to his hopelessly damaged character, and the special mention goes to Marin Ireland, a relatively unknown veteran character actress who has appeared here and there in a number of notable films such as “Hell or High Water” (2016) and “The Irishman” (2019). She must be quite believable during one key scene later in the story, and I must tell you that she did much more than holding her own small place well between McKenzie and Hathaway.

On the whole, “Eileen” is another disturbing female drama film from Oldroyd, but it is not as successful as his previous film “Lady Macbeth”, a chilling period drama about one young married woman’s ruthless descent into evil and corruption. Yes, the movie is engaging to some degrees thanks to a number of admirable elements including the commendable performances from its main cast members, so you will not be bored a lot, but it could do its job better in my humble opinion.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Still zany and rambunctious

Posted on September 5, 2024 by kaist455

Tim Burton’s new film “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” is as quintessential as you can expect from Burton. The story itself is more or less than a mere ground for many odd, quirky, and grotesque stuffs to be presented here and there, but it is clear that Burton and his cast and crew have a spirited fun together for making this movie, and you may overlook its many flaws including those blatantly nostalgic touches if you have some soft heart for its 1988 predecessor.

The story is set in 36 years after what happened in “Beetlejuice” (1988). Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) is now a weary and seasoned adult woman in contrast to that gloomy high school girl in the 1988 movie, and the opening scene shows her shooting her TV show which has promoted her psychic talent, though nobody believes that much even though she can really see dead people like that young kid in “The Sixth Sense” (1999).

The early part of the movie quickly establishes how things have been messy for Lydia during several recent years. While her stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is mostly occupied with her self-absorbed artistic activities, she has also been estranged from her adolescent daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) since her environmentalist husband’s death, and then there comes the shocking news of her father’s death (Her father was played by Jeffrey Jones in the 1988 film, and, probably due to Jones’ current criminal status, the movie chooses a rather amusing way for presenting his character’s gruesomely unfortunate demise and the following afterlife condition of his).

And there is also a sudden supernatural issue involved with, yes, Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), a ghoulish demonic entity who is still quite eager to approach to Lydia as before. This amusingly putrid dude is now running a little bio-exorcism agency in the realm of afterlife, but then he finds himself in a big trouble due to when a certain fearsome entity returns to threaten not only him but also the whole realm of afterlife.

While busily juggling a lot of these and other things, the screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, which is developed from the story they wrote with Seth Grahame-Smith, often loses its narrative focus and momentum, but Burton and his crew members including cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos and composer Danny Elfman, who was always dependable as working in almost all of Burton’s films, keep things bouncing from one weirdly funny moment to another. Just like its 1988 predecessor, the film is packed with lots of style and detail to be cherished, and Burton wields more of his own distinctive touches here than he did during last 12 years since his Oscar-nominated animation film “Frankenweenie” (2012). Although the realm of afterlife does not feel that fresh while often looking like being stuck in the 1970s or 1980s, you may chuckle a bit as observing a number of inspired moments such as the one which is clearly influenced by a certain famous American musical variety television show from the 1970s.

Above all, the movie has several engaging characters we can actually care about. While the relationships among Lydia and her surviving family members are problematic to the core, they eventually stick together when Astrid inadvertently gets herself involved with the realm of afterlife later in the story, and her and her mother’s eventual reunion with a certain key figure in the story turns out to be more sincere than expected, even though we cannot help but get tickled by this figure’s current afterlife status.

While the movie comes a bit too late in my humble opinion, it surely comes to Winona Ryder at the right moment at least. Although she had to endure a pretty low point in her career in the early 2000s, Ryder’s career was unexpectedly boosted by her wonderful supporting turn in recent Netflix drama series “Stranger Things”, and she is clearly enjoying herself as imbuing her familiar character with neurotic weariness. On the opposite, Catherine O’Hara and Jenny Ortega, who is no stranger to looking moody thanks to her lead performance in recent Netflix comedy series “Wednesday”, complement Ryder in each own way, and O’Hara delightfully chews every moment of hers as making her narcissistic character somehow quite endearing.

Above all, the movie is always energized by Michael Keaton, who willingly throws himself into his very unpleasant and wacky character with sheer gusto as he did in the 1988 film. Whenever Keaton appears on the screen, Burton does not hesitate to pull out all the stops, and he and Keaton do not disappoint us at all during the climactic sequence, which is quite overstuffed to say the least but also undeniably entertaining for its shamelessly zany and rambunctious qualities.

In case of several other cast members of the film, they are rather under-utilized while leaving an impression to some degree. Although her villain character is not that memorable, Monica Bellucci has a few moments to shine at least. Danny DeVito, Justin Theroux, Burn Gorman, and Willem Dafoe are well-cast in their respective supporting parts, and Dafoe and DeVito certainly feel right at home with Burton’s gothic sensibility.

On the whole, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” does not surpass its predecessor much, but its redundant aspects are compensated by the genuine spirit felt from the good efforts from Burton and its cast and crew members. Although he seems behind his prime from time to time, Burton shows here that he has not lost his artistic energy and creativity yet, and that is certainly a nice thing to watch.

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment