Month: June 2021

Last week I had a moral dilemma

I was meant to watch this film with my sister Emma

She’d been looking forward to this since Septem’er

I came up with a solution for some absolution

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I said go to the film with your mother

As you just can’t go with your older brother

It’s company even though it’s another

They had fun as they’d discover

A new film by Lin Manuel Miranda

Telling his first story with musical candour

The writer famous for his high standard

John Chu’s direction wasn’t heavy handed.

Our lead Usnavi works in and owns a shop

In Washington Heights, NYC it’s near the top

It’s a community filled with latinos and latinas

Usnavi wants to own his dads pub on the Dominican marina

He also has a girl he likes, her name is Vanessa

He’s a bit awkward around her, oh bless him and bless her

It’s a warm time of year, around the summer vacation

But the main theme of the story is that of gentrification

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If you wanted a story heavy with a plot

It may not be this film as it doesn’t have a lot

Instead what we see is the warmth of community

They deal with tribulations together to give a form of immunity.

Most of the songs they have a nice beat

As we watch these people feel thrown out of their street

You will feel your head back and forth it will start to bop

As the rhythm of this film never seems to stop

The film’s great strength is that it’s rather kind of funny

The characters have heart, they sing about winning money

The ladies in the salon particularly made me chuckle

As my stony resting bitch face it began to buckle

You will also go “Wow” while having a laugh

As you see how well this film is choreographed

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Were there any issues? Well yes I had one or two.

Why this film went so long, I didn’t have a clue.

Some of the plot threads had rather some repetition

And the over editing is something to which I have a negative disposition.

These are only small things, reserve your indignation

This was still as fun as hours on a playstation

It was a welcome form of representation

For those without voices in the American nation.

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One last word about the way the film did look

Vibrant and imaginative, straight out of a book

The scenes and the outfits all filled with warm colour

This whole thing could have been much duller.

Summary

In The Heights is a fun, warm film which is ultimately about community and identity. With lots of fun song and dance numbers, it’s a brilliant family film which is worth seeing, despite its slightly inflated run time and over-editing slightly under mining the big impressive dance scenes. However, these are only small gripes and the film get’s so much more right than it does wrong. [Grade: B+]

Pretty much every film I’ve reviewed on this blog, I’ve done so having watched it once, in the last couple of days but not on the day I watch it. This is usually enough for me to reflect and honestly, I don’t have the time or money to watch a film twice. More often than not, I am fairly prepared to write about it if I consider myself to have something to say, while if I have little other than “it was alright” or “it wasn’t alright” I don’t write, but even so I know I won’t write. I found myself rather in a state of confusion and unpreparedness when writing this review, for in my opinion there are two distinct parts you look at. The lateral part of working out what is real and the emotional core. While it is possible to see both at once, depending on how you are on the day, you may only focus on one. When watching the father, I was in a lateral mindset, trying to work out what was happening in the film. What was real and what was the imagination? Now I have a better idea, I imagine a second watch will be even better as I can focus more on the emotional core now I know the answers. However, I will troop through this review to give my thoughts and feelings.

Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) is an elderly man with Alzheimer’s. He has trouble remembering everything and his daughter Anne (Olivia Coleman) is looking for someone to help care for him while he is in his flat. It all seems fairly jolly and normal before you go spiralling and see how bad Anthony’s mind is. You struggle to put things together in confusion. What is real? What is fake? Who can you trust? Well, simply nobody as what they say may not even have been said by them. It’s heavy and exhausting.

The main thing to complement is the film’s two stars. Anthony Hopkins brings a mix of showmanship and monologues with scenes of emotional integrity, anger, confusion and vulnerability. His Oscar win for this role is well deserved, with one scene in particular (those who have seen the film will know which one) sticking out. Olivia Coleman plays off this brilliantly, brining a real humanity to the role. She represents the audience from an emotional point. While you feel Anthony’s confusion, it’s his daughter who shows the impacts of this confusion of which he is not aware. The other four actors in the film were all strong as well.

The set is wonderful as well. Most of the film is set in a flat, which you start to map in your head, similarly to the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, yet behind each door or each wall is a mystery that you want to know, but also don’t want to know. You can map this place out, yet the subtle changes that happen throughout the film make this once common place strange and unnerving.

The whole film is written brilliantly as well. The screenplay is so smart and focussed. The changing of actors playing the same characters adds to the confusion, paying off fantastically. Every line has a purpose it’s an action or a reaction. Anthony is straight talking so we have no fluff. There were plenty of smart themes and symbols, the most obvious being Anthony’s constantly lost watch showing his inability to track time or the order of events. Director Florian Zeller remembers what is said when and uses it to great effect later on meaning you have to pay attention to each line.

I guess therein lied my main problem with the film. The amount of focus you pay to the script and the story makes it tougher to naturally be rewarded by the emotional performances. As I say, maybe a second watch will allow that greater connection, but for a one time viewing it is tougher to form that bond (moving from sympathy to a full connection) with everything happening, apart from during that one scene where you really can.

Summary

Certainly a film which needed multiple watches (Much like Hopkins’ character), The Father is brilliantly designed, written and acted. It’s a great, emotional movie to watch, however the amount of focus needed on both the story and characters makes it difficult to fully appreciate both at once. [Grade: B+]

When cinemas re-opened I offered a truce, a ceasefire against those with little etiquette. Consider it to be a good will gesture when an influencer as big as the third best film blog writer in South West London says they will not shame you. However, that time of peace is now over and therefore I must berate the audience in Screen 10 of Odeon Wimbledon with whom I “watched” the movie Godzilla vs Kong, apart from Liam. Liam, if you’re reading this, your cinema etiquette was exemplary.

If you go to a film which starts at 18:30, you should aim to get there at 18:30, not 18:45, not 18:45 and think oh I’ll get some crap to put in my mouth and be in at 18:55 when the movie has already started. I understand the way these things work. Sometimes, you have a delay or something you need to sort and can be a little bit late, but if you’re late don’t buy that shite as well, just come in (not using your phone light) and find a seat near the entrance you can sit in without disturbing others. I’ve occasionally ended up in a screening a couple of minutes late and snuck in with no qualms, but screen 10, no you need to chat, change seats multiple times, turn on your phone lights.

It is a cinema. Firstly, it’s not a restaurant. You do not need popcorn or nachos or anything else which smells and sounds awful. If you’re over 5 year old, grow up. Some people reading this may think this is aimed at them. If you are offended, maybe Surbiton Rebel Wilson Fan Club is more your speed. Secondly, it’s not a social club. You do not need to chat about anything while there is a film. The family behind me were constantly switching seats with one another and gossiping when not guzzling (or using pneumatic drills, I wasn’t sure which). If your child is uncomfortable, or bored, take them to a kids film, not a grown up film.

If your child drops something, do not turn on your phone light to find the object. You can wait 40 minutes without disturbing anyone. It’s not and you’re not going anywhere. Am I harsh for berating people who are not up to my level of etiquette? No, because their behaviour has negative externalities and if the film wasn’t a load of rubbish it could have diminished my enjoyment of the film. Oh yeah, there was a film.

There was something which looks like a plot, in the same way I look like a functioning person. Godzilla, who apparently at this point is usually friends with humans, “randomly attacks a lab”. Oh no, Godzilla only attacks threats, I wonder why he’s attacking a lab. Some humans bring out King Kong to help beat him. Apparently, Kong gets on well with this deaf child who can sign. You will never guess how they communicate in the end. Any, Godzilla and Kong fight, before something wholly predictable happens and the film ends. See, I didn’t spoil it for you, but after the first 15 minutes I could have told you the whole plot.

I know that I shouldn’t be judging this film based on it’s plot, but I really didn’t care about it’s characters. There are three sets of characters, the ones with Kong who are your classic boring allies of the creature, with maybe a secret bad guy. You have the investigators who are there for comic relief or to make a discovery. I’ll assume its the latter as they aren’t especially comic. You also have the villains who are villainous and yeah, whatever there is no character to care about. The dialogue is just as dull as the characters and there is the problem. Frankly my dear, I didn’t give a damn.

They have big CGI for the monkey and the tortoise, but the tortoise looked silly. They are then in big “impressive fights” in Hong Kong. Somehow though, these fights are so dull and don’t feel big at all. There are all from far out and show no human impact of destruction, so it could literally be my nan’s tortoise in a fight in a model village and I wouldn’t know the difference.

A shout out for deaf representation by the way. Except that the deaf thing is a trope used a hundred times for the plot. It was so refreshing to see Sound of Metal show some authenticity, but instead they use the character as person can communicate with animal using hands. It didn’t take much imagination and summed up the whole film, lazy. It felt just like Planet of the Apes and nowhere near the level of Shape of Water.

Summary

A messy excuse of a plot, nothing new, cliched and generally boring. If you want a dull unexciting sort of thing you’ve seen before then you will love Godzilla vs Kong. If you want an entertaining movie, stay away. [Grade: D]

In most films, any character who is down on their luck can be given sympathy. Sympathy is the feeling of sorrow for somebody’s misfortunes. It’s easy to do and it’s easy for a film to generate that reaction. However, one level above that is the feeling of empathy, the ability to understand or share the feelings of another. About half way through this movie, lead character Mary texts a boy, pretending to be his dad. At this point, I quietly (in cinema code compliance) moaned “Oh no”. What she was about to do was morally awful and couldn’t lead to anything good. It would be easy to sympathise with her plight, however the film put together such a brilliant character, that you couldn’t help but empathise with her in this moment. You see what she’s doing and how it’s making her feel and you understand why, suffering with her and praying it will find her some relief. It takes a brilliant film to do that, and After Love certainly is that.

Mary (Joanna Scanlan) is a white Muslim woman who converted to the religion after marrying her husband Ahmad when they were fairly young. She’s been married to him for most of her life and suddenly he passes away. While having to deal with this grief, Mary looks at her husband’s phone and notices lots of texts to Genevieve, a woman living just across the English channel in Calais. She discovers that Ahmad had been living a secret life with another woman and a son that she didn’t know about. When she finds Genevieve, Mary becomes speechless, but assumes the role of the cleaner as she discovers than Genevieve is moving to England, presumably to be closer to the recently deceased Ahmad. The film focuses on Mary’s grief as she comes to terms with what happened, while also looking at her relationships with Genevieve and her son. This is all in secret as they have no idea who Mary is, nor that Ahmad passed away.

It seemed likely after the first ten minutes that the film would see Mary give up on religion and lose herself. However, her religion and family were all that she had, so for the film to take a far more humanistic approach were both more sensible and rewarding.

Even at 89 minutes, the film is quite a slow burner. There are long periods of silence and reflection. There are many artistic scenes. The camera will zoom in slowly on Mary, exaggerating her face while very little goes on around her. A dissonant violin makes an entry in the more artistic scenes as they represent Mary’s world collapsing in around her. There aren’t huge effects or a great score to keep your attention. However, it’s made up for in other ways.

The main reason this film is so brilliant is Joanna Scanlan. She is phenomenal in the role. There are long periods where she says nothing and only speaks with her facial expressions and body language. It is such an incredible skill to do so and she pulls it off fantastically, leaving you with no doubt about her emotions. Her chemistry with Nathalie Richard and Talid Ariss make their scenes all flow naturally, a pivotal part of a film which primarily looks at the relationships between the three.

The script is beautifully written and the film directed by Aleem Khan in her feature debut. There are respectful looks at identity and family as well as mourning. The script does a great job of releasing information at the right time throughout and passages of English, French and Urdu show differences between the three lead characters and their identities. The story really does focus on forgiveness and learning that you never truly know anyone.

Summary

By the end of After Love, I was emotionally drained and exhausted. Joanna Scanlon brought out a performance as good as any I’ve seen for a long time in this understated, deeply human portrayal of grief, forgiveness and identity. All of the characters execute this tight story in a professional, considered way. It’s essential viewing and up there with 2021’s best so far. [Grade: A]

If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will. To see her is to take a sudden chill…

That’s enough talking about Rebel Wilson. On with the film review.

The villain origin film idea has always been interesting. However, in the past few years it had become somewhat common. It’s a really tough thing to make a character you can empathise with, while they remain bad and in keeping with a character you’ll dislike in the future. It can be somewhat sadistic with little let up. You’re free to make a story, but the ending is defined meaning that as a creator you’re constrained. I really felt this when I saw Joker last year (you can read my review of that here). With Joker in my mind, I went into Cruella with low expectations, however the film certainly did things in a different way truly came to be my biggest surprise of the year.

Based on the villain from 101 Dalmatians, the film starts with Estella as a child who is rather rambunctious, her mother is regularly reminding her to be Estella and not Cruella. About 10 minutes in, she and her mother go to a mysterious mansion where Estella’s mother is killed by the… you’ll never guess, a group of Dalmatians. She runs away and meets two other orphans, Horace and Jasper. Flash forward to when she is an adult and a petty thief along with her sidekicks. One day she gets a job with the Baroness, played by Emma Thompson. However, when some rather predictable secrets are revealed, Estella decides to take down the Baroness as new fashion diva Cruella. This part of the film runs in a very similar way to Now You See Me.

The film sounds ridiculous and it is. It’s far from perfect and there is so much that you could change, but the important thing is that it’s so much fun. Emma Stone is brilliantly cast as Cruella and Emma Thompson brings out a true evil as the Baroness. In the narrative, Cruella is unquestionably the hero. She’s straight talking and mean, however she is justified in the actions as Thompson’s character is so much more evil. You root for her and don’t question it. Her goal is to bring down the fashion icon, not murder people and that’s fine. It’s also worth nothing that she doesn’t want to kill puppies in this movie and that’s where it really went for an interesting choice.

This Cruella isn’t the same one from the animated movie. She’s much more empathetic. She’s not a good person, but the place the film ends is the polar opposite to where you’d expect it to. She isn’t as rude as her animated counterpart, but that works. You know she’s bad, but she is redeemable. This Cruella is a fun person. She’ll never be in a live action 101 Dalmations and that’s fine.

The middle of the film becomes repetitive and the whole thing is predictable. The use of sound isn’t ideal and you can tell the dogs are CGI. However, there is much more right with this film than wrong. The soundtrack is as entertaining as any around with a mix of twentieth century rock brining a lot of energy, even if it was overpowering at times. Both Emmas are supported fantastically by Horace and Jasper. Paul Walter Hauser brings along one of the screen’s worst cockney accents, but it really doesn’t matter. The film revolves around showmanship and uses it as its greatest strength.

Summary

While some may see this as a family friendly Joker movie, Cruella smartly deviates from that. Fantastic lead performances from Emma Stone and Emma Thompson make this very loose character adaptation much more fun than I ever predicted it would be. [Grade: B]