Eeb Allay Ooo (2019)

I love it when a film presents and a charming and entertaining comedy but layers into that story smart and sharp observations and commentaries on our world and situation. This story about a poor man who finds work scaring wild monkeys away from government buildings in New Delhi tells an accessible and truly enjoyable story featuring the charming Shardul Bhardwaj, while also getting us to think about social and economic stratification that transcends just Indian culture.

First time feature director Vats captures a beautiful vision of downtrodden New Delhi that is gorgeous to watch. The world created here perfectly highlights both the story of the human world intersecting with the natural but also the ways our human structures cause fissures in our lived experience. It asks us to think about what we really want to happen as this problem presents itself.

But with all of that the film first and foremost is funny and touching. It is in many ways a crowd pleaser. As the story reaches its crescendo the film gets tougher, darker, but still holds on to some inspiration.

I love finding films like this from emerging film makers who I can add to my list of directors to watch. Vats is certainly now on that list.

Eeb Allay Ooo
Starring: Shardul Bhardwaj, Shashi Bhushan, Nutan Sinha
Writer/Director: Prateek Vats

The Lovebirds (2020)

I was wary of the concept behind this movie, where two people of colour go on the run after being mistakenly targeted by the police... but it's a romantic comedy. It's like taking Queen & Slim and making it funny.

As the film started, with a delightful transition from a send up of a meet cute first date scene straight out of a typical rom com to jumping head to 4 years into the relationship and a smart, clever fight between the Nanjiani and Rae which is absolutely hilarious, and rather insightful into the state of long term relationships. These are two of the funniest people working in movies right now and they are also both good actors so they make a strong start. It made me question my initial assumptions. Perhaps this film will be way better than expected.

And yes it was. The film does rely on a problematic gimmick to get its story across. The idea of making laughs out of police victimization of people of colour is a very fine line, but these folks have nailed it. They walk that line perfectly, often commenting quite effectively on the social issue itself. The film actually does a great job of examining racism, sexism as well as other issues. Lovebirds isn't exploitative. It ends up being quite liberating.

But mostly it is damn funny. Damn funny. Rae and Nanjani are both smart and hilarious. Most comedies show you all the funny bits in the trailer. This film has so much hilarity throughout it couldn't all fit in a trailer. It even avoids a lot of rom com cliches by telling a story about a couple already in love discovering what it is about them that works as opposed to the typical story of people falling in love.

So Lovebirds is a surprising winner and proof you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.

The Lovebirds
Starring: Kumail Nanjiani, Issa Rae, Anna Camp, Paul Sparks
Director: Michael Showalter
Writers: Aaron Abrams, Brendan Gail

Scoob! (2020)

New Scooby Doo movies are constantly released but it's been a while since one was made for the big screen. Sure COVID got in the way of releasing Scoob! in cinemas but it still arrived. It's a mix of good and not so good, in its attempt to capture all that is Scooby-Doo while also launching a connected Hanna Barbera CGI animated universe. Mostly I just let myself sit back and enjoy it even when it wasn't quite hitting the mark.

Scoob! attempts to tell the story of how Shaggy and Scooby met, then met the rest of of Mystery Inc. and then they get to meet other characters from the HB catalogue like The Blue Falcon and Captain Caveman. This approach, using Dick Dastardly as the villain for example, prevents the film from being an authentic Scooby-Doo style story in that there isn't the typical it's-all-some-guy-in-a-mask reveal. Instead this film has full on science fiction and fantasy elements from Cerberus being released from the underworld and superheroic technological wizardry which really isn't Scooby-Doo's vibe. But that's doesn't stop the film from trying to reference all things Doo. There is even a funny mask-pulling-off moment which subverts the usual mask gimmick at the end. Instead of being truer to the Doo aesthetic the film is interested in introducing Dynomutt and the Blue Falcoln as well as Captain Caveman. I see the desire to spin off stories from those characters, and maybe even others, coming from this.

The other u-turn the film takes is that it is very centred on creating a heart strings pulling film about the relationship between Scooby and Shaggy (as well as the other friends). But the film sort of fumbles this as it mixes that with a on the nose, sarcastic lampooning of itself by playing into each character's cliches. Fred, Velma, and Daphne are all caricatures and the jokes about them feel tired and... well... cliched. So it is trying to be both sentimental and ironic at the same time which ends up cancelling each other out. All of this feels like the film is trying to be too many things all at once, little of it working...

But...

I found myself enjoying it anyway. The story, while random and somewhat lost, was entertaining enough and the humour, while sometimes forced, made me laugh a lot. And there was something nostalgic about seeing these characters come together all in one place. It made me crave a Laff-a-Lympics movie. Maybe Scoob! should have told a more straight up Mystery Inc. origin story that stayed truer to the original feel. Maybe it should have waited for sequels to introduce other characters and elements to build this world. And maybe someone should have realized Will Forte doesn't make a good Shaggy. But none of that happened, and I ended up enjoying Scoob! for a rather forgettable but entertaining entry into the world of Scooby-Doo.

And maybe that's okay.

Scoob!
Starring: Frank Welker, Will Forte, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Ken Jeong, Tracy Morgan
Director: Tony Cervone
Writers: Adam Sztykiel, Jack Donaldson, Derek Elliot, Matt Lieberman

The Ripliad (1960 - 2005) REVISIT TOP 100

Crime writer Patricia Highsmith's most famous character, the murderous yet sympathetic Tom Ripley, has been brought to the screen 5 times (six if you count an Indian film loosely based on the first book as well),  each portrayed by a different actor and each with very disparate portrayals. Despite appearing in a series of 5 books, only three of those have been adapted as films, two twice and one once. Two of those are rather loose adaptations with different names while the other three are (somewhat) more faithful. Each has its fanbase, except for the last which was barely seen by anyone. As someone who finds this characters endlessly fascinating, I wanted to revisit each and compare the different approaches, explore what each offers, and enjoy what I found most interesting in each version.

The first Ripley film to make it to the big screen was the french film Purple Noon in 1960 starring the gorgeous Alain Delon, perhaps the most beautiful actor to take on the role, who rose to stardom and sex symbol fandom due to this movie. This film from Oscar winning director Rene Clement (Forbidden Games) adapts Highsmith's first Ripley novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, but veers from the story quite a bit, shortening it in some ways, focusing on different elements than the novel. The film starts out with Tom already having met Phillipe (not "Dickie" in this film) and moving quickly into his murderous plot, motivated more by greed and jealousy than anything more complicated.

Delon's Ripley is solely in it for himself. He isn't given reasons for latching on to Phillipe or then committing murder other than to advance his own situation. However despite the lack of depth to the character he remains enigmatically alluring. Perhaps it is the class element the film gets into. Phillipe, like most iterations of the characters is a selfish cad who takes advantage of and abuses Tom. So it ends up being satisfying to see Tom take him on. Perhaps there is a bit of just desserts in what happens.

Purple Noon is beautiful from its sun-drenched Italian vistas to the fashion and style, Clement makes a gorgeous film to watch, especially with Delon in the lead. As the film plays out Tom's crimes it becomes rather edge of your seat and is beautiful in the way 60s French films are. But it cops out at the end when it implies Tom gets caught. The 90s remake handles Tom's tragic climax much better. Purple Noon keeps things on a more surface level even if it remains lovely.

Plein soleil/Purple Noon (1960)
Starring: Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforet
Director: Rene Clement
Writers: Paul Geauff, Rene Clement

Legendary indie director Wim Wenders adapted the third novel, Ripley's Game, very loosely in the 70s and changed it to The American Friend. There is something truly attractive about this rather tragic story of Tom first manipulating a good man into a web of crime and then helping him out of it and what works the most in Wender's films is how he captures the intricacies of that story even as he changes much of the novel's tale. Wenders crafts a beautiful film, capturing a gorgeous sort of desperation in Zimmermann's journey (he's not called Trevanny here).

And this is Zimmermann's story here. Tom is more of a looming figure in the background. Unlike the later more faithful adaptation which once again centres Ripley, this film focuses on Zimmermann, his journey into the world of violence and crime. It plays like a tragic hero arc.  The young Bruno Ganz as Zimmermann is a complicated target of Ripley's game. He isn't just a simplified sick man taking chances to benefit his family. He has some darkness to him in that makes his trajectory make sense. Ripley is more the demon he invites in.

Hopper's Ripley is different from the rest as he remains more at arm's length, more mysterious. He is both a threat and yet somewhat seductive, although in that way that screams at you to stay away. He has an almost supernatural presence, appearing to both menace and save Zimmermann. As Wenders' film ends we've seen something truly sad but we may not have learned much about Tom at all.

Der Amerikanische Freund/The American Friend (1977)
Starring: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer
Writer/Director: Wim Wenders

By far the most faithful to the novels, and by far my favourite (as it is one of my favourite films of all time) is Anthony Minghella's film which returns to the first novel and artfully yet diligently tells Tom's full story from being sent to Europe, through his murders, his impersonations, and his ultimate succumbing to the consequences of his choices. What makes this film rise above some of the rest is the way it adds to Highsmith's narrative in a way that gives Tom so much more human dimensions. He still exhibits pathological behavior but Minchella grounds this character by giving him relatable emotions as well, making our sympathy for Tom all the more troubling.

We start off by seeing Tom's ease at lying, his comfort with dishonesty and appropriation. He is willing to step into other people's lives and take pieces of them without remorse. And in doing that he develops passions. Minghella embraces Tom's queerness in a way that no other adaptation is willing to do making his passion for Dickie palpable. Tom isn't queer coded as he is in some other versions and his queerness isn't used to vilify him. In fact it is used to humanize him which is quite revolutionary for a film like this. Minghella adds a relationship with Peter Smith-Kingsley which turns Tom's story from charming villain as he often is portrayed into tragic anti-hero.

Damon's Ripley is extraordinary. I do believe this is his best performance yet. He is a chameleon, an innocent, a blackhand, and a loser all in one. Law, Hoffman, Blancett, and Paltrow are all at the top of their games here (for many of that cast that is remarkable) but the film hinges on our ability to connect with and be repulsed by Damon, he has to centre the whole film. And he does giving a truly extraordinary, singular performance.

Minghella films his story as a hip crime drama of the mid-century era it's set in with all the glory and jazz of that time and it is a thing of beauty. Still the best filmed take on Tom Ripley yet and just a truly enjoyable, powerful film. I still hold out hope Damon could return to the role as the older Ripley we see in later novels.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Starring Matt Demon, Gweneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport
Writer/Director: Anthony Minghella

The success of Talented lead to a follow up film. Italian director Liliana Cavani cast a much older Malkowitch as the mature Tom, living the high life in France partially off his wife's fortune and partially off his criminal endeavors. I love this story, about how Tom attempts to get revenge against a neighbor who insults him, but ends up bonding with the neighbor and helping him out of the mess he originally set out. But I found this movie was hit and miss with the narrative. The film captures some nostalgic eurocrime film vibes I enjoy and when Malkovitch plays into the joyousness of the character I can get into it. But I also the felt the film misses much of the richness of the story.

It feels like the film is desperate to heterosexualize Tom. After Talented leaned deeply into Tom's homoerotic feelings, Game removes most references to this. There is some queercoding of Winstone's character Reeves but it is all but removed from Tom. And here I think that is an important omission. I know there is controversy over how gay we should read Tom's character in the books, but much of the richness of this story it tied to Tom's relationship with Trevanny, how he goes from distaste to resentment, to some feelings for him. The story needs the two men to care deeply for each other (whether romantic or not) and the film's "no-homo" approach errs on the side of there being no actual chemistry between them. You never believe enough of their connection to make the story workable.

I also felt the film's handling of Heloise (here Louisa) was wasteful. She doesn't do anything and is completely unremarkable, truly giving us the sense that she's only there to ensure we see Tom as straight. The film ends with showing us how much he cares for her, despite most of the film not bothering to build any relationship at all.

So while the action sequences are intense, the characters feel thin and the emotional weight just isn't there. It is still a closer adaptation of this story than The American Friend, but perhaps doesn't capture the spirit of the story in the same way.

Ripley's Game (2002)
Starring: John Malkovitch, Dougray Scott, Ray Winstone, Lena Heady, Chiara Caselli
Director: Liliana Cavani
Writers: Charles McKeown, Liliana Cavani


The most recent attempt to put Tom Ripley on the screen is likely the least successful. It barely got a release and remains hard to find to this day. This film, based on the second Ripley novel set between Talented and Game, features Barry Pepper as the title character (probably the most against type casting in any of the films) and co-stars Willem Dafoe and Alan Cumming. I was always surprised the film received so little attention.

I've found this story an interesting one. Tom has moved on from his initial dabbling into crime and is building who he is as an adult criminal mastermind. The film takes this even further, showing Tom to be a struggling criminal meeting his future wife and becoming the successful man he is in Game. The film makes changes (modernizing it first so it looses some of the magic of the time period) and sets the story earlier in Tom's career. I enjoyed that last element as in the novel Tom is presented as handling everything masterfully while here he sort of figures it out as he goes. Also I liked how it shows Tom becoming, unlike in the book how he is already established his post-Dickie Greenleaf life. All of this works well.

Another thing I appreciate about this film is the way it handles Tom's relationship with Heloise, his wife. While I feel the Ripley's Game film fumbles this by making her a two-dimensional prop used just to show how hetero Tom can be, this film sets up their relationship more organically. She is interesting and invested in Tom. She's more of a character than the books every make her out to be as she seems to know there is more to Tom than meets the eye and she is ready to take that on, perhaps it is even because of this that she finds him as her way out of who life has set her up to be.

Still the film de-queers Tom. I've already read it so that Tom's relationship with Heloise doesn't mean he's not queer and a film that embraced that could be fascinating, especially with a strong Heloise like this one. But this film isn't interested in that and leaves something out because of that. Still it feels like a stronger film than it was been understood to be.

Ripley Underground (2005)
Starring: Barry Pepper, Willem Dafoe, Alan Cumming, Tom Wilkinson, Jacinda Barrett
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Writers: W Blake Harron, Donald E Westlake

Capone (2020)

Writer/director Josh Trank has had some serious ups and downs in his filmmaking career. His debut was the impressive Chronicle, one of my favourite films of the year it was released, which turned him into a bit of a media darling. He followed it up with the Fantastic Four reboot no one liked (which wasn't as bad as everyone said but also wasn't great). And many years later he returns with this biopic of Al Capone, one of those films built around a singular performance, the kind that errs on the side of taking up as much screen space as possible.

Capone is set in the last year of the famous gangster's life. He has already served his time and his health is declining. His mind is going, and he starts to see the people he killed. The film doesn't explore his life as a gangster or his crimes. It's about an old man coming to terms with who he is or who he was. And as he looses his grip on reality his visions become more intense and he becomes farther removed from the real people in his life. And he remembers he has ten million dollars stashed away somewhere but can't remember where. At the same time he lives in his mansion with his family, going on fishing trips and hosting private movie screenings, with access to doctors and all he needs to die comfortably. All he has to reckon with is the ghosts he imagines.

The film struggles with this mission to get us invested in his subject, to struggle alongside his loss and decline. But it never gives us a reason. He remains an unpleasant bastard and he never quite seems to truly reckon with his past. Instead he is confronted with generalized violence that never quite implicates him in his role. Despite Hardy giving it everything he's got, I never truly cared about Capone or his struggles.

Hardy has never been one to shy away from big roles and his Al Capone is a big one. He goes full on physical transformation, heavy vocal acrobatics, and he chomps his cigar like he chomps the scenery. Capone, the person, is larger than life, and Trank and Hardy want you to know it. But where in there is the human being? I'm not sure I saw it. The film seems to present a caricature of a man but doesn't set him in a story where that would feel appropriate.

Linda Cardellini seems more grounded in this movie as his suffering wife. She is quietly strong and complicated, fully aware of who they were and working to hold her family together. Where Hardy is over the top, Cardellini is subtle and reserved. As he continues his decline the film had a chance to explore something that might have garnered some sympathy for this devil but the film never quite effectively gets there. There is a scene where his son tries to reach out to his dad who doens't have the capacity to understand who he is and it is rather ineffectual.

Part of the problem with Capone is there isn't much going on. While we could have seen Capone struggling with his demons, the film never gets there either. Instead it seems focused on the missing millions, a McGuffin which doesn't lead us to anything satisfying. He sees people who he may or may not have killed but the film never truly has him reckon with that. It's like an idea that just never materializes. There is a lot of stuff in Capone which just never comes to fruition. Instead it is just one big performance that's more showman than study of a character.

Capone
Starring: Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini, Jack Lowden, Matt Dillon, Noel Fisher, Kyle McLachlan
Writer/Director: Josh Trank

The Mustang (2019)

Stories that wrestle with the unforgivable are challenging but necessary. Centering at the heart of a story someone who has done something terrible is challenging. Perhaps we want to honor their victims but not centering the perpetrator. Perhaps we can't bring ourselves to acknowledge the humanity of the evildoer so we don't have to see how close to them we come. Perhaps the hurt is so strong we can't deal with what comes next and just need to leave it all behind.

The Mustang is a story about a man who committed a horrible assault. It's about him finding some purpose beyond that moment. It is about the kind of emotions that contribute to making such an assault possible. It is about finding connection with another living thing. About being living a life in containment. It is about truly difficult things.

Writer/director Clermont-Tonnerre tells her story beautifully. She has a natural eye for beautiful film making if this debut is any indication. This is a story set in a very small setting, a dirty dusty dull one, and she finds gorgeousness in it. Also she tells her story effectively and efficiently. So much emotion is packed into these 96 minutes. I can't wait to see what's on her docket next.

Matthias Schoenaerts gives a breakthrough performance here as our protagonist Roman. His journey, covered quickly here in this shorter movie, is complex and detailed. He gives a rich turn and is mesmerizing to watch. Often having played villains before he brings that gravitas to this role and infuses so much into his character.

This is one of the gems that easy to miss but once found is so rewarding.

The Mustang
Starring: Matthias Schoenaerts, Jason Mitchell, Bruce Dern, Connie Britton
Director: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
Writers: Mona Fastvold, Brock Norman Brock, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

Bad Education (2020)

After his directorial debut, Thoroughbreds, I would watch anything director Finley put out. Casting Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney in his follow up film and now I am salivating. Then it turns out he tells the based on true events story about embezzling money in a Long Island school district... He almost lost me...

But he wins me back with the sharp, funny, and engaging Bad Education, a film that manages to do a deep dig into the exploitation of public funds while also telling a good story and giving a great cast meaty roles to chew into. Jackman and Janney are both as good as one would expect of them and the supporting cast steps up too. The film despite its rather bleak and banal subject remains thoroughly gripping and powerful.

Finley uses a stark, washed out colour palette to create both a docu-drama style and also creating a cold, harsh environment for its characters to exist in. The script from Makowski doesn't allow those characters to be one dimensional or cliche. We get into their lives, desires, fears, to get to what motivates people to take advantage of the systems and communities. Janney's character could have quite easily been a villain motivated solely by greed. It is common to see women in positions of power like that. Instead she is complicated and difficult to nail down. She shows strength in the way she fights back against being thrown under the bus.

Writer, Makowski talked about how his research into the incident showed a far more nuanced and complex situation behind what was likely dismissed as simple corruption. It is the exploration of that which makes Bad Education so interesting. Jackman's character is a portrait of the way men can be forced into hiding who they are to be successful and how that not only eats away at him but leads him to be inclined to take what is available. It's an interesting breakdown. Often it's easier for us to just blame people for making bad choices instead of looking at why people do them. Makowski and Finley have made a stark portrait of that exploration and it's fascinating.

So Bad Education was far more interesting than I expected, and it's the sort of film I might have skipped if it wasn't for who was involved in it, and perhaps they are part of the reason this film turned out as it did. I'm glad I didn't miss it.

Bad Education
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, Geraldine Viswanathan, Alex Wolff, Ray Romano, Annaleigh Ashley, Rafael Casal
Director: Corey Finley
Writer: Mike Makowski

The Assistant (2020)

There is something a little bit meta about a film made about the sexual harassment and exploitation in the film industry. This is the story of an assistant who comes across very uncomfortable and concerning circumstances, admittedly somewhat obscure and veiled circumstances, but clearly sketchy and threatening. She then comes up against the barriers, the blockades, which prevent anything from happening. It is a film about the film industry, and women in that industry.

Interestingly, and effectively, writer/director Kitty Green approaches this topic without centering the harassment. This isn't the story of the direct victim of some assault or incident. It is about a women who, having seen how intricately the industry is set up to protect abusers, falls into her own spiral, sucked into a vortex of toxic power and control, simply for trying to do something about it. The film's approach is brilliant, getting into aspects which are often missed. Often what we see in these stories are the sensationalized and salacious aspects of an assault, with stories reveling in the titillating details. The Assistant avoids that. It is darkly filmed with hushed tones and a bland visual palette. It sums up the veils of secrecy and control laid over those working in these environments Green has put together this complicated puzzle in a way that makes its picture become clear as all the pieces are filled in.

Julia Garner at the films centre is remarkable. She is quietly rocked by what goes on around her, so much of her performance rests behind her eyes, silently resisting and quietly dying inside. She is fascinating to watch, especially when she is doing her routine, mundane tasks, managing to show us the struggle she is fighting in those moments. Her Jane (who appears to have no last name... like a Jane Doe) is isolated. We don't see her making connections outside of her office, no friends to rely on. She connects with her parents on the phone only but those connections are superficial and she keeps them at arm's length. She is kept isolated, as the system requires her to be.

The Assistant is a clever examination of gendered power, and of strength in the face of that power. The film doesn't solve the problem or even give us a victory. It tells a far more real tale, a difficult conclusion which leaves us craving catharsis. It is a quiet scream of desperation into a pillow that no one can hear, that we keep others from hearing. It is the scream of thousands who have been here.

The Assistant
Starring: Julia Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Kristen Froseth, Patrick Wilson
Writer/Director: Kitty Green

Titus (1999) REVISIT

Titus Andronicus is popularly considered one of Shakespeare's most brutal plays and is often seen as a lessor of his works. While I understand it had fallen out of favour to be produced for hundreds of years, there has been a bit of a resurgence in popularity recently as adaptations exploit some of its weaknesses. Perhaps in the age of Tarantino and Scorsese, brutal bleak story telling like this can find an audience. Perhaps it was director Julie Taymor's bold, uncompromising vision manifesting itself in this film which is partially responsible for us seeing it in a new light.

Taymor takes the story and quite faithfully adapts it while still framing it in ways that make it far more watchable than the play tends to be. I use "watchable" trepidatiously here as the film is vicious, not shying away from the horrible violence of the story. She sets her story in a visually striking, anachronistic world that is part ancient Greece, part art deco modernist metropolis, and part complete fantasy. Titus is one of the most identifiably visual films I have ever seen and when it isn't showing us horrors it is gorgeous to the extreme.

But it is horrific and those horrors are intense. The film doesn't shy away from the play's violence. It leans in truly. Because Taymor has made this a comment on violence. She introduces the story in a modern setting with a child playing violent games and being pulled into a world of people acting terribly. She is holding up a mirror showing us the way we justify our bad actions to each other and it is an ugly image. She shines a spotlight on our hypocrisy of seeking justice against those who have wronged us with further wrongs.

She creates a film critical of the assumptions and honestly the world which allows this sort of violence. I think one of the best illustrations of this is her treatment of Aaron the villain who is also a moor. He is considered one of the most purely evil characters (perhaps along with Iago which creates an interesting symmetry along racial lines) yet here he is presented as far more sympathetic than I have seen him presented in other productions. Taymor shows how he is reacting quite rationally to a european world that is violent to him and his child, and her optimism at the end of the children saving us is striking in contrast to the pessimism of the rest of the film.

Hopkins gives the sort of performance he is known for, rich and complex and unflinching. But for me it is Lange who steals the show, even among such a strong cast. Her Tamora is a force of nature, withstanding some horrible pain but also capable of inflicting some terrible evil in her own right. I find Cumming's Saturninus does a bit more scenery chewing than I normally respond to but in this fantastic world his cartoony performance isn't too much. Taymor has created a world for her story where nothing is too much.

Titus is gorgeous film making and brave story telling and the work of a singular film maker who is always fascinating to watch. She takes one of the Bard's lessor works and makes something unforgettable out of it.

Titus
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Harry Lennix, Colm Feore, James Frain, Laura Fraser, Angus Macfadyen, Matthew Rhys, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Osheen Jones
Director: Julie Taymor
Writers: William Shakespeare, Julie Taymor

The Half of It (2020)

I think one of the things I appreciated about The Half of It, the latest adaptation of the Cyrano concept, is the way it gets us to see into the perspectives of each of the parts of the triangle. Often this story is told from Cyrano's perspective, we are him, and Roxanne is the object of affection, we are to love her, while Christian, the symbol of everything Cyrano is not, is derided and we are to resent him. But this take twists that so that we get to be in the shoes of each character and in doing so we get a more complex understanding of such a love story, and the complicated nature of love that might be a bit more than just the wooing. Perhaps the film's Christian, Paul, is on the dimmer side, but the film still does a good job of getting us to see his perspective too.

Writer/director Alice Wu crafts a script which is full of heart and humour. Teen loves stories fall into common cliches, and this tricked into love story is rife with them, but she skirts the potholes here quite deftly either missing them entirely or adapting them to effective use. The story is straight forward and charming but speaks to something lovely about creating who we are and how that relates to others. Turns out Generation Z communication culture is well suited to the Cyrano tale.

So much of The Half of It works due to the cast who are all delightful. Each character is presented first as an archetype who grows into something less expected. Leah Lewis tries to make Ellie awkwardly intense as she slowly grows into someone compassionate and generous. Alexxis Lamire plays Aster as suffering beautiful girl who is so much more than people give her credit for but allows us to see her flaws as well as see beyond her. Daniel Diemer plays his jock cliched character as a bit of a big hearted doofus but he also gets to explore the real person with passions and insights underneath that. The Half of It could have been so much simpler but all involved just bring it up the game and make it that much more satisfying.

Despite the film's rather simple premise, there are certain moments that elevate it. There is a great conversation about believing in God or not which is insightful in the pitfalls of both. I also like how the film wraps up the plot, which is always a bit of a conundrum dealing with how to resolve a relationship built on lies. I especially like the end scene which takes a rom com cliche and makes it into something else, which is lovely and touching. Wu finds a way to make it work realistically which isn't too bleak. And I like how she interweaves the queer and immigrant themes into her story without making anything feel heavy-handed.

The Half of It is a really nice take on this story, filmed with a lovely lush tone in a vague soft Pacific North West atmosphere that feels comforting. It all comes together in a film that can be watched with the whole family and offer everyone something out of it.

The Half of It
Starring: Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, Alexxis Lamire
Writer/Director: Alice Wu

Blood Quantum (2020)

I have always said, and will continue to argue, that so called "genre" films are often the best films to tackle real issues, giving us insight into our real world through fantastic story telling. When a genre film can tell a compelling story and speak to our real lived experience, they can make for some of the best films. A new example of this concept is the "zombie" movie Blood Quantum, a film which works both as thrilling horror but also which speaks to the horrors of colonialism in the modern age.

Writer/director Jeff Barnaby sets up life for us on this reserve beautifully. He highlights the struggles and challenges faced by this community in a succinct yet compelling way, creating a very real world setting for our story and bringing to us the complex characters who we will follow through this adventure. We are immediately pulled into life in this community. Then the zombie aspects start creeping into the story as our heroes begin to understand the crisis they are facing. He uses the very tropes of this genre to striking advantage to tell a story that works on so many levels. This if first level zombie horror. Even if the film was just about that the attacks, the impending doom, the zombie scenes are top notch and the film is a fun, scary movie.

But Blood Quantum is more than that. It is a powerful drama about heritage, justice, and colonialism. It tackles these issues head on and it's zombie story allows this to happen in an organic way that doesn't feel like it is hitting us over the head. It very deftly weaves in its commentary on our very real reckoning with the history of colonialism. As the progresses, like all good zombie movies, it becomes less about the zombies and more about how we lose our humanity in a crisis. Barnaby has crafted a truly powerful tale in this story, one that has left me with lots to reflect on after its conclusion. Perhaps the best horror I've seen sine Us.

Blood Quantum is a beautiful film with a beautiful tragic story about a community at its heart. It is also terrifying, both as a horror film and as a commentary on the evils of colonialism. It is a great example of just how much genre films contribute to movies.

Blood Quantum
Starring: Michael Greyeyes, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Forrest Goodluck, Brandon Oakes
Writer/Director: Jeff Barnaby