The Invisible Man (2020)

For me the best horror is analogous to something real. Ghosts are less scary than what they can represent. The idea behind the update of The Invisible Man is brilliant in that it explores a very real world terror by putting it in the guess of a “horror story”.

In this case we are talking about toxic, abusive relationships. The film explores partner violence in a way that is meticulously thorough. It uses its pulpy story to look at the nature of domestic violence from the inside out. And in doing so it creates something more terrifying than a simple “monster” movie.

The idea of someone you can’t see attacking you is frightening sure. But the way a person can gaslight you and cut you off from your supports is truly horrifying. The Invisible Man with its pseudo sci fi conceit breaks this down so cleverly. The reason this form of abuse is so powerful in the real world is how easy it is for perpetrators to be invisible, for them to make it seem no real. Therefore the idea here is the perfect trope for laying it out.

And Moss is perfect here as the survivor. She has the right mix of strength and vulnerability to pull this off and she does some of her best work. Director Whannell, whose work I have only been so so with up til now, also steps up, doing just the right mix to make the story truly work both as thriller and as allegory. I found its story chilling, often my heart was racing, but deeper than that the tale was disturbing, truly, perhaps because I recognized the way this happens in the real world.

For me The Invisible Man hit all the right marks and I would recommend it with a caveat, it might be a bit too close to home for some who have experienced this for real.

The Invisible Man
Starring: Elizabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid
Writer/Director: Leigh Whannell

The Invisible Man (1933) REVISIT

The Invisible Man was one of the earlier entries in the famous Universal Monster shared universe and was directed by James Whale between his masterpieces Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. It also features Claude Rains' first American film appearance although we never get to "see" him (save for one small moment at the end). Its iconic costume still strikes a terrifying image and the special effects used to make him invisible were revolutionary at the time and remain effective to this day. As a piece of Hollywood history The Invisible Man is fascinating. Fortunately it also remains a highly entertaining romp, if not quite to the level of some of Whale's other work.

Whale, as he is known to do, masterfully balances the camp with the terror. When the titular character Griffin reveals his power he is both gleefully hilarious and truly frightening. The way Griffin plays with his victims is quite ghastly but there is a sense of cartoonish villainy here. His motivations aren't complicated, simple world domination. His monstrousness is in his behavior more than his "freakishness". Unlike Dracula who is portrayed as the embodiment of evil or Frankenstein or the Wolf Man who are both victims of societal alienation, Griffin is just a bad man with bad intentions. The characters keep referring to his "madness," that he's been driven mad by the serum he uses to become invisible, but the character doesn't behave irrationally. Nothing about him suggests he is mentally ill. He is motivated quite sanely by greed and a desire for power.

In fact he is a man who discovers power and decides to use it to his own benefit, even at the expense of others. This is, like many of these monster movies of the era, a morality play. It is teaching us about how ugly this sort of quest makes us, so much so we lose our humanity. Does he have a reckoning at the end, a realization of how wrong he was? I'm not sure I buy his death bed confessions and see it more as his sorrow about his plans not working out. But there is room for each of us to interpret that ending.

The film does a wonderful job of building the world of invisibility. They show us just how much chaos can be created by someone who can't be seen. There is a clever moment in the middle where the Invisible Man talks about the challenges he faces being truly invisible from walking down stairs to being seen in the rain to eating food which remains visible until it is digested. The film even tries to come up with the science of becoming transparent, even if the science is nonsensical to modern audiences. Especially in that era the film could have got away with just making him invisible and not making it feel real, but that just isn't enough for Whale who focuses on imbuing his story with a sense of reality, as much as one can with such a fantastic tale.

I don't know if I am reading into this watching from today and looking back, but it feels like we can see some of what Whale is playing with as he builds to the much stronger Bride of Frankenstein a couple years later. Still The Invisible Man is a fun watch for many reasons, no pun intended.

The Invisible Man
Starring: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, Henry Travers, William Harrigan
Director: James Whale
Writer: R.C. Sherriff

Call of the Wild (2020)

Director Chris Sanders is probably most famous for playing Stitch opposite Lilo. He's a prolific animation director (although I'm not really a fan of his work outside of Lilo and Stitch) which made him well suited for this adaptation of the classic novel about a dog whose performance is all CGI. In fact so much of the movie is CGI. The film supposedly set in the Yukon was shot in California making a need for much special effects just to generate all the environments. In many ways The Call of the Wild is an animated movie.

This has its pros and cons. Some of the scenes are absolutely beautiful and the dogs are able to interact with personified expressions and perform incredible stunts, none of which would be possible with real locations and real animals. But it also gives the entire film an air of non-reality. It rarely feels authentic. Yes the effects are remarkable. The Call of the Wild shows us just how far visual effects have come. But there is no hiding the fact that Buck is not real. Very little of the film is real.

There is something incredibly ironic about a story like this, whose main theme is about and animal escaping their domestication and returning to natural, "wild" existence, which is constructed so meticulously with CGI. The film is the opposite of naturalistic. The film tones down some of this theme to play less as a comment on humanity's attempts to control the natural world and more on a romanticized notion of "freedom." The Call of the Wild here becomes more of a simple adventure story, a buddy movie, a sentimental tale. In that it works, but perhaps it looses something in toning down the novel's main purpose.

The film takes some liberties with the novel's story but generally follows the narrative. Perhaps it softens some of the animal cruelty depicted in the book as well as some of the colonialist/racist assumptions, while still telling a harrowing tale of adventure from a dog's point of view. The film, like the novel, feels a bit episodic but the story of the singular dog, his strength and bravery is palpable. It will please crowds with its shiny effects and charming story. But it does play it a bit safe. It also tells the story fairly quickly. Sometimes it uses Harrison Ford's narration to give us plot points and character developments it doesn't have time to show us.

Harrison Ford still has all the charisma he needs to be a leading man. At 77 he shows us he can still pull off a shirtless scene as he bathes in a cold river.

Call of the Wild 
Starring: Harrison Ford, Dan Stevens, Omar Sy, Karen Gillan, Bradley Witford
Director: Chris Sanders
Writer: Michael Green

Henry V (1989) REVISIT

Writer/actor/director Kenneth Branagh's Henry V was one of the first experiences I had of film adaptations of Shakespeare and was my first introduction to to Branagh's own work. In my mind he remains the reigning champion of Shakespeare film. The film's opening grabbed me in a way that brought me into the story as I didn't expect it could. One of my favourite actors ever (although I didn't know it at the time), Derek Jacobi, stands on an undressed film set and gives the Chorus speech, intentionally acknowledging the limits of film just as the Bard when writing the scene was acknowledging the limits of the stage. But in that moment we see just how powerful those mediums actually are. This is a film and it is going to transport us to another world, another time, and have us experience something we couldn't otherwise. I was hooked right away, and Jacobi's narration remains one of my favourite aspects of this film.

I remember the gleeful joy and I felt at the tennis ball scene which sets the plot in motion. Henry V acts both as climax of the Herniad plays but also a story all on its own. Branagh finds the perfect way to make one film of this story in a way that is as satisfying as watching through all three of the previous plays. He brings in the history, needed for this story to have it's impact in a naturalistic way, that feels for the uninitiated, as if it it contains the entirety of the story, and for those more familiar with the plays, he makes it feel as if it always was written that way.

This film shows what a film maker Branagh is going to become. Although a first time director, he demonstrates both an amazing visual eye (even on a low budget) but also a true talent for story telling. There is a lot going on here, British history that is far more remote for modern audiences than it would have been for Shakeseare's crowds, the culmination of three previous plays whose plot threads are all coming together, and many other moving parts including characters with names like "The Lord of Cumberland" who we have to keep track of. But he makes it all make sense and more than that, he makes it gripping.

A personal favourite for me is the young Emma Thompson's brief cameo as the french princess learning English. Unsubtitlted, the film just asks you to experience her "french" scene and it is lovely and delightful.

But what strikes me about this film is Branaghs' approach to the story, a story which is often feels meant to celebrate nationalism and conquest, which he turns into a film about the loss of war and the arrogance of elitist egos. He takes what Shakespeare gives us and makes it into the story he wants it to be. Yes, Shakespeare's work is generous in that way already and its pliability for interpretation is already impressive, but Branagh is especially skilled at this. With Henry V begins what will be one of the best runs of Shakespeare films of any film maker.

Famously he makes amazing work of Henry's "undercover boss" scene, walking through his camp disguised, to talk with his soldiers unidentified. It is a scene which tied to the history from Hal's youth, forces us to reckon with the roles classes play in the building of empires. This approach was so different than the takes which had come before on screen, takes which often were about building up the King. Also his famous staging of the St. Crispin's Day Speech is remarkable along with the battle that follows it, he juxtaposes the romance of the speech with the brutal reality of what war in that age (and truly in any) really was. The aftermath is palpable loss. Again for a first time film maker Branagh showed us that he would be a spectacular film maker, and that he can bring the Bard's works to life on the screen as no one else can.

Henry V is a lightning bolt, and strikes with as much energy and excitement. Revisiting it I was reminded of the power it had on me the first time and just how well it, as a film, stands the test of time.

Henry V
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Emma Thompson, Judy Dench, Ian Holm, Christian Bale, Brian Blessed, Robbie Coltrane. Richard Briers, Paul Scofield
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writers: Kenneth Branagh, William Shakespeare

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

This likely should go without saying but Sonic the Hedgehog is dumb, almost everything about it is pretty damn dumb. The plot is nonsensical. The moral of the story is cliched. The whole thing is cheese. But it survives basically on its never ending charm and the fact that Jim Carrey gives a classic Carrey tour de force... if you're into that sort of thing.

I know. I know. It's based on a video game. Honestly I don't think that's an excuse for how many times the film just does stupid things to advance the plot and wields deux ex machina plot devices. But whatever. I know that's not why people go to these films. But for me honestly I'm just not sure watching the admittedly improved animated version of Sonic run fast is enough to earn my $13.99. Yes Marsden and Sumpter and the voice of Schwartz are all super adorable but in this age where they can make an awfully clever Lego movie, there is no excuse for such inanity. The banter isn't that witty. The plot doesn't capitalize on the game's mechanics in a clever, analogous way. There isn't even a scene where Sonic collects rings as he runs along as super speed! I mean how hard would that have been.

But for Jim Carrey fans, the long time fans who miss his days as The Mask, Ace Ventura and such, the man is back. His Dr. Robotnik is classic Carrey. That's not my jam so I could care less. And perhaps if it was I would have been able to squeeze more enjoyment out of this. But I imagine for his old timey fans, this will be a treat.

And for fans of the game who for some reason want to see the character brought to life and put in a sappy friendship story (you know, the sort we've seen 1000 times before?) they'll enjoy it too. Cause really the film manages by being charming to not be terrible.

I guess that's as high a praise as I can give it.

Sonic the Hedgehog
Starring: Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Lee Majdoub, Natasha Rothwell, Neil McDonough
Director: Jeff Fowler
Writers: Pat Casey, Josh Miller

The Photograph (2020)

Sometimes a film strikes you in a way that you weren't expecting. The Photograph with its fairly predictable romance plot ended up being so much more than just that. For me this was mostly due to Canadian director Stella Meghie's masterful work and the chemistry between Stanfield and Rae who just make you fall in love with them and their love story.

I've only seen hints of Meghie's talent in some of her previous work but here she knocks it out of the park. She finds gorgeous colour in each shot whether it's rainy New York of sun drenched New Orleans or grey London. A photograph is a visual piece of art and Meghie's work here takes full breathtaking advantage of that by making a luscious visual treat along the lines of the work of Alfonso Cuaron or Theodore Witcher or Deepa Mehta. I want to go back and watch more of her work.

She effortlessly shifts her story between the present and the past to intertwine two love stories into something delicious. I kept wanting to fault the film for its hackneyed love story but I coudln't because it sold it so wonderfully. Stanfield and Rae work so well together and what they produce here is sumptuous. I also loved that Meghie didn't fall into relying on sex scenes to make their passion palpable, she skims over that delicately, while focusing on what really works here which is their meeting of the minds.

The Photograph is adult in its approach. No matter how many times the film took a predictable turn I was on board. And I will eager await the chance to see what Meghie does next.

The Photograph
Starring LaKeith Stanfield, Issa Rae, Rob Morgan, Courtney B. Vance, Y'lan Noel, Chante Adams
Writer/Director: Stella Meghie

Bloomhouse's Fantasy Island (2020)

There is a great concept in the idea of Fantasy Island, perhaps why it keeps getting interpreted. Facing some otherworldly force that brings your fantasies to life only to deal with the fact those fantasies might not bring us what we want is a rich concept, expecially exploring the mythology of such a place. Is the force malevolent or benevolent? What is its origin? Anyways all of this would be interested, except this movie drops the ball and saps any of what could have been good about the concept.

Bloomhouse has built quite a reputation for themselves. While they have produced the amazing Get Out, The Gift, and Split as well as non-horror modern masterpieces like Blackkklansman and Whiplash, they also put out cheap horror schlock like Happy Death Day and The Purge movies. So on the hope that this concept could be played out more like Get Out and less like a Saw rip off, I went to see Bloomhouse's Fantasy Island (yes that's one of the official titles) an sadly the latter is more true.

"From the director of Truth of Dare" should have been a clue.

Fantasy Island takes the cheap route. It oversimplifies the concept with cliched fantasies and a cliched turn on those fantasies. Then when the "twist" is revealed, it goes full on camp. Most of the mythology of the island is nonsensical. Basically anything I had wanted from such a story is left out in favour of surface level story telling that is clumsy and rather boring. It leans into is Saw sensibilities which also feels cliched and takes away from the impact of the emotional resonance that could have existed otherwise.

I imagine what an "from the director of Get Out" Fantasy Island could have looked like. Why couldn't we have had that film?

Bloomhouse's Fantasy Island

Starring: Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Portia Doubleday, Jimmy O. Yang, Ryan Hansen, Michael Rooker

Director:  Jeff Wadlow

Writers: Chris Roach, Jillian Jacobs, Jeff Wadlow

My Own Private Idaho (1991) Top 100

I remember being struck by the opening of My Own Private Idaho the first time I saw it. River Phoenix walked into the frame and I thought it was the most beautiful face I had ever seen. It wasn't the first thing that would knock me on my ass in this film. My Own Private Idaho was my first exposure to queer cinema, not gay cinema, but queer cinema, cinema that subverted cultural norms in uncomfortable ways but in that created affirming spaces for those of us on the margins. It was an awakening for me, not just in terms of art but in terms of what being queer meant and would mean for me.

Idaho is a remarkable juggling act, balancing a number of moods, themes, ideas, visuals, styles. It gets to some harrowingly dark places, some perversely kinky sexual explorations, and some truly joyous moments of glee. But at its heart is the story of a young, impoverished, queer man whose quest for love and community goes unanswered. While there is so much to love about this film, it is Phoenix in the most heart breaking performance I have ever seen who reaches into my gut every time I watch it. I remember not being to stop the tears during the camp fire scene. Phoenix's expression of "I really want to kiss you, man" before curling up into a ball was one of the most revealing and relatable deliveries I've seen in any film ever. Reeves is all rejection, denial, and tourism and was something I was overly familiar with as I had encountered men like him time after time, something I didn't know how to articulate but something frustrating my lived experience. Phoenix's quiet resistance to it made me think it could be possible to be who I wanted to be.

I think this is where Idaho gets to me the more I watch it, in the way it withstands the thundering hegemony. It isn't a triumph over it but a survival of it, and in that it speaks to the queer experience so powerfully. Yes sometimes I want the triumphant fantasy but perhaps more honestly I need the quiet survival of living in heteronormativity. And this is where some of the Shakespeare comes into it. Van Sant's merging of this narrative with his modernization of the Henriad plays is brilliant. We often see Prince Hal as the hero of his story but here we see a different side of that persona, one that is exploitative and disappointing. I mean in how we build our passion for that rich straight man who naturally lets us down by holding up his own privilege at our expense.

I wasn't familiar with Henry IV when I first saw this film so the story of young Scott Favor's turning his back on his rebellious years and embracing his privileged life was new to me. But there was something about the awkward anachronistic language, especially delivered in Reeves' clumsy affect, that grabbed me. Idaho was both fantastic allegory and documentary style realism. As I said, a big part of the film's revolutionary (and very queer) approach was to mix styles, the Shakespeare modernization, interview style recounting of real street hustlers' stories, emotive low budget indie film, all thrown together into one unique experience, an experience which subverts both. And the stories gel so well together as they take each other apart. As I mentioned, we see the Prince Hal character differently, but we also see the sad gay boy differently. Through all of this we are given something original.

"It's a fucked up face." And yet we see how beautiful that face is. Each time I watch My Own Private Idaho I see more in it than the last time. I imagine it will always offer me that.

My Own Private Idaho
Starring: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, William Richert, Chiara Caselli, Udo Kier, Grace Zabriski, James Russo, Jim Cavielzel
Writer/Director: Gus Van Sant

Clemency (2019)

Yes Alfre Woodard is one of those actors who is good in everything she does. But there are roles where she truly shines, and this is one of them. She has the kind of rich character which lets her truly shine. She is both restrained and powerful, interior and exterior here. She is a master and in Clemency she shows us how it is done.

Clemency is a character study basically. At its centre is a complicated woman with intersecting commitments and relationships. She is human and strong and vulnerable. She is in the middle of some very difficult moments and has to integrate all of that into her life. She is the kind of character that is just fascinating to watch especially in the hands of such an actor.

Director Chukwu brings a quiet sensibility to her story. She doesn't grandstand, she just lets her strong cast, with Woodard at the centre do what they need to do. And we get glimpses into the characters and their humanity which makes the film truly reach us. There is a lot of heavy stuff going on here and her approach to just let us sit with it is a powerful one.

Clemency
Starring: Alfre Woodard, Wendell Pierce, Aldis Hodge, Richard Schiff, Michael O'Neill
Writer/Director: Chinonye Chukwu

Oscar Nominated Shorts (2020)

Short films often impress me with just how much they can accomplish in so little time. They commonly present a richness that is missing from our current streaming video entertainment which has no limits by making us experience a story in one moment instead of drawing it out for so long. I was able to enjoy most of the Oscar nominated short films this year and here are my thoughts.

Live Action
Brotherhood
This Tunisian/Canadian film about a son reunited with his family is beautiful and tragic as it explores the way political divisions are dividing families in our current age. It captures what is often so powerful about short films, it tells its story succinctly yet powerfully, capturing a moment in time. The final shot features some of the best acting I've seen all year. 

Nefta Football Club
Another Tunisian (and French) film, this story has a humorous side as it follows two soccer loving boys who find a donkey (who has been trained to cross the border when listening to Adele's music) loaded with drugs and attempt to take him home. The humour belies the intersection of danger and innocence explored here, giving the film a seriousness despite the oddball nature of the plot.

The Neighbor's Window
This American film follows a couple who become obsessed with a young sexy couple they can see in a near by apartment window which brings them to face their own relationship and the trajectory of their lives. I found the film quite astute in the way it gets at our insecurities and how easy it can be to lose who we are in our race to keep up with life.

Saria
This story following two orphans touches on many themes including family, immigration, sexism, and abuse, all in its short run time. Its ending is gut wrenching, especially in light of it being based on a true story.

Une Soeur (A Sister)
This French film adds a different sort of element to the mix as we follow a woman on a date who calls
her "sister" but it turns out she calls emergency. She can't outright communicate so the operator has to talk in code. It gets more and more frightening as it moves along and grips us for the entire film.Reminiscent of one of last year's nominations, Mother, in numerous ways, Sister is tense and relevant.

Animated
Dcera (Daughter)
The animation style in Dcera is gorgeous, textured, and jumps off the screen as it tells the story of a woman reconnecting to her dying father. The film, in capturing it's complex story, also innovates its animation style, by involving a very lived in stop motion technique that makes the film feel like nothing else you've ever seen. Dcera is probably the most technically impressive achievement of the nominated films.

Hair Love
My personal favourite, this lovely, stylized tale of a daughter and father learning to take care of her hair is just gorgeous and inspiring. I love that it doesn't give into cliches and instead gives us something that is both powerful and inspiring. It is just beautiful to watch.

Kit Bull
I love hand drawn animation and there so little of it out there that I am glad the obligatory slot for Disney went to this charming little story about a stray kitten befriending a pit bull. It is probably the weakest story in the group, predictable and sentimental, but its lovely all the same.

Memorable 
The animation in this French film is made to have a paper mache feel. It tells the story of a man losing his faculties and despite the richness of colour and visuals throughout chronicles a loss, told with a great deal of sadness and love.

Sister
This is the second short film with this name nominated this year, but it couldn't be more different from the first. The stop motion in this American Chinese short animated film is woolly, and grey-scale giving a nostalgic feel to this remembrance film. It's story is charming and then turns into something else.

Documentary
In the Absence
Like many of the documentary shorts chosen this year, In the Absence is startlingly upsetting. Chronicling the sinking of a ferry where hundreds of people lost their lives, it forces us to look at this tragedy and feel the staggering loss in a way that reading the news headlines does not. Perhaps the perfect encapsulation of what a documentary can do.

Life Over Takes Me
This Swedish film starts with a strikingly beautiful shot and it pulls you into its heart breaking story. It is an exploration of despair like nothing I've ever seen.  

Walk Run Cha-Cha
It's impossible not to love this little film that follows a couple training for a ballroom dance competition who reunite after 40 years after being separated during the Vietnam War. Director Laura Nix films this couple with a quiet reverence which is just so delightful, and she captures the magic of their dancing and it is glorious.

Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020)

When I was a nerdy queer comic book loving kid I had two favourite superheroes; Wonder Woman and Black Canary. I always knew eventually there would be a glorious live action Wonder Woman movie for me to stan but I never suspected I'd get to see Black Canary kick butt on the big screen. As Birds of Prey started, it dawned on my that another of my childhood dreams was coming true.

The movie starts with Harley Quinn telling us a story, and it's clear from the beginning the film unfolds with that in mind. This is Quinn's yarn she is weaving, with all the twisted, technicolour, hyperstylized deliciousness that comes with that. There is a bit of unreliable narrator shtick going on here. I read this film as being Harley's version of events, the way she understands them. It's jagged, its romanticized, its rainbow high. Just like something we would expect from her.

Birds of Prey is also unabashedly feminine. We are used to seeing femininity portrayed as weakness but here it is shown as strength. It is roller-derby both girly and kick ass. Even the male main villain is effeminate (another trait often used to reduce a character in audience's eyes) yet truly threatening. The film inverts our assumptions about femininity by using it as a point of strength for both good and evil. It's feminine in subtle and overt ways, flaunting its gender yet also approaching telling a "superhero" story in a different way.

It's gonzo approach, from the glorious costumes to the circus esthetic art direction gives the film a unique and fantabulous visual energy which evoked for me Batman Returns but brighter. A similar madness and fantastic feel, just off from reality but just intense enough to feel it in the gut. Harley is the star and this is her movie therefore this approach is ideal but screenwriter Hodson and director Yan manage to bring in the other characters as well. I appreciated the film's take on Cassandra Cain (despite being quite a departure from the comics version) and Renee Montoya (the good cop who can't break through the glass ceiling and corruption of the force).

My main disappointment is Huntress. I love, love, LOVE Mary Elizabeth Winstead and I was sad to see her have so little screen time. Her story (which should be fascinating) gets rushed and she never gets a scene where she gets to explore the effect of her backstory on her character. If there is a Birds of Prey sequel I hope Huntress gets a better treatment.

But then there is Black Canary. Again the film departs from the traditional version of the character, I don't mean her race, that's irrelevant to who Dinah Lance is, I mean her story. She is closest to a comics run from about 10 years ago that radically redeveloped the character. But despite that she still is the Black Canary. Smollett-Bell brings all the power, rage, confidence, and heroism of this character to brilliant life. After Harley she is the most centred character in the film and she rocks it. She has the most fascinating arc, expresses the most complexity in her emotions, and brings to life what I never thought I'd be able to see. By the time she uses her canary cry near the end of the film I was in fanboy heaven.

Director Yan has made something truly different in the genre by bringing together a number of qualities that action movies, and specifically "comic book movies" (whatever that means) don't explore. It has fun easter eggs and a style and grace that makes it fresh. Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, with a few flaws here and there, is a glorious thing of beauty and I can't wait to see it again.

Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Starring: Margot Robbie, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco, Ewan McGregor, Chris Messina, Ali Wong
Director: Cathy Yan
Writer: Christina Hodson

Les Misérables (2019)

This is not the film you might think it is. It is neither adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel nor of the musical based on it. It is its own story, perhaps touching on some similar themes, set in modern day, in a suburb of Paris, where the famous novel is also set. Perhaps the brilliance is the way it ties into the novel's legendary status in French culture, the way that story feeds into French identity of their revolution, to the marginalized immigrant communities of France today.  By making French people see these outsiders as parallel to the French revolutionaries they pride themselves on, they are forced to confront an inconvenient truth about their culture today.

The story takes place over one day, the first day at work for a copy recently transferred into this struggling urban community. From his point of view we are introduced into a number of complex relationships between the officers who patrol the streets and the myriad of people living there. A tension arises after an incident which leads everyone to scramble to figure out how to maintain their position and their safety.

The strength of the film is how it creates credible and lived experiences for each of its characters. They are mostly flawed but no one is painted as a villain, even when they do something terrible. It also doesn't mean their actions are glossed over. Les Misérables is remarkable in how it shows us humanity in a spectrum of people and views, some far more sympathetic than others, but never losing sight of their personhood. Near the end, the day is ending and we feel a bit of peace is settling in. We see everyone regroup and breathe a bit, seeing them for their weaknesses instead of the strength they were pushing on each other through the day. It was a powerful series of scenes.

But then the film doesn't let us off the hook. It gives us one more act, one that is upsetting and confounding in that there is no good way out of it. What we thought might be a relatively happy ending is taken from us. But in that we also see the real power of this story. Because our abilities to place blame without empathy has been taken from us and we are left to watch as the city burns itself out.

Les Misérables
Starring:  Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga, Issa Perica, Al-Hassan Ly, Steve Tientcheu, Almamy Kanoute
Director: Ladj Ly
Writers: Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Manenti, Ladj Ly

Honeyland (2019)

I can't help but feel often western audiences enjoy films like Honeyland for the voyeuristic pleasure. We get a look into lives that are so different from our own, so different we can't understand them. So we watch, transfixed, making our own assumptions about what we are seeing.

There is an interesting dichotomy in the use of the "fly on the wall" technique. On the one hand it is necessary to a degree. We have to just sit back and watch without injecting our own narrative into the lives of a woman like Muratova. But we also, in that sitting back, still manage to put our own assumptions into the narrative. Without context or comment, we are free to insert our own, often misguided assumptions. It's a catch 22.

I understand Honeyland came about accidentally. The film makers were looking to make a documentary about the region and came across Muratova and realized they wanted to film her and her life. They kept back and just observed. Certainly by viewing we still effect what we are viewing, but their approach attempts to minimize this so that they, and therefore we, can just pay witness to a life that is so removed from ours. There were times I was incredibly moved by what I was seeing, and finding connections with the humanity on display. But then I needed to ask myself if I was reading into something that I wasn't understanding. Still I was able to stand witness to something and maybe that is what will trigger something for me.

And maybe that witness is rich enough as it is. Maybe Muratova's experience of the making of Honeyland isn't connected to my experience of watching it, anymore than my witnessing something on the streets of my city lets me understand the people I see. This essential problem in this style of film making fascinates me and I'm not sure what the answer is or the solution. But Honeyland made me reflect on it.

Honeyland
Starring: Hatidže Muratova
Directors: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov

Color Out Of Space (2020)

Sometimes the scariest movies aren't about monsters, ghosts, or aliens, they are about the way we loose our grips on reality and the way we treat each other in light of that. H. P Lovecraft understood this and explored the loss of sanity as a source of pure horror. Lovecraft's work has rarely been interpreted effectively to the screen, but director Stanley seems to be on to something here with his weird and wonderful adaptation of one of Lovecraft's most loved stories. I have issues with Lovecraft on some other issues, but Stanley appears to have found the magic in bringing what is good about his work to the screen.

Generally true to the narrative and spirit of the story it is based on, Color Out Of Space, is structured in a fairly standard manner for a horror film (intro, build up, horrific happenings, unsettling resolution) but pushes those expectations with gonzo flares which are perfectly suited to the Lovecraft esthetic. While I am often not a fan of Nicholas Cage's wacko style, here I felt it was exactly the right tone to strike, and one that strikes a serious chord of terror as his behavior becomes more maddening. Because for me what is scary about these stories is the exploration of our capacities for cruelty and irrationality.

Color Out of Space begins it descent into madness quickly and once it does it isn't long before it gets both disturbing and grotesque. It is not for the weak at heart. It doesn't pull punches and some of what we see is absolutely terrifying. The film does use humour, quite liberally, but not in a dismissive way as tension relief, but to explore the very absurd nature of its story. At the same time the film finds its own incredible beauty. It is technicolor gorgeous while also being disgustingly horrific. Again Stanley strikes the right chord here and makes a gonzo horror gem.

Color Out Of Space is the first time I've felt the visceral Lovecraftian horror brought to the big screen with all the appropriate absurdity and loose grip on reality that it needs. I understand Stanley is interested in starting a trilogy, adapting other Lovecraft stories, with this film and in my opinion that would be a welcome step.

Color Out Of Space
Starring: Nicholas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeline Arthur, Brendan Meyer, Julian Hillard, Tommy Chong, Elliot Knight
Director: Richard Stanley
Writers: Scarlett Amaris, Richard Stanley