Ferrari (2023)

I struggled so hard to enjoy Michael Mann's film Ferrari. Mann is a talented director who has some amazing movies in his oeuvre but there is this ongoing problem with these movies made about so called "great men" that rely on their names to propel us through the film instead of actually delivering a compelling story. Ferrari may be one of the best examples of this problem. 

Ferrari isn't a regular sort of biopic. Mann focuses his story on one main incident, the infamous 1957 Mille Miglia where 12 people were killed in a rather freak accident after a Ferrari driver lost control of his vehicle. The choice of this is obvious for cinematic reasons. It's easy to build drama around this chapter in the man's life. But it is also why the film lost me. The film uses this tragedy as for pathos but does all it can not to reckon with the actual hubris of the sport of racing and the millionaires who benefit from it. In fact the film does all it can to absolve all responsibility for dangerous sporting from the title character. these films tend to do these sorts of things to keep the great man myth alive in our hearts. Ferrari is just the latest example. 

But it's also just not that well made of a film. The performances are mostly rote including Driver (coincidentally named) with perhaps the sole exception of Cruz who has the inglorious role of "crazy" wife whose sole job it is to make our hero long suffering and to then turn around his fortunes without any real explanations at the very end conveniently. The story is a bit of a slog between racing sequences, which are truly the only reason to watch the film. Mann handles them quite well but bungles the inbetweens. 

Ferrari just felt like nothing special most of the time and often felt like it was bending over backwards to keep us onside. The denouement after the crash feels underwhelming and rather convenient, like he just needed to make sure that last bits all fit into place before running the credits. Sometimes watching films like this you think "there is an interesting story here but this film just isn't telling it" but in this case I wonder if there really is any interesting story at all. 

Ferrari

Starring: Adam Driver, Penelope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, Jack O'Connell, Patrick Dempsey, Sarah Gadon, Ben Collins

Director: Michael Mann

Writer: Troy Kennedy Martin

 

The Color Purple (2023)

There are things I really enjoyed and things I didn't enjoy about Bazawule's adaptation of the stage musical adaptation of the 80s film adaptation of the Alice Walker novel. And that's kinda where things start for me. The 2023 film The Color Purple feels like it is a little bit of this and a little bit of that and I'm not sure it ever came together for me in a way that felt like one unified piece. There are moments that feel cinematic and moments that feel like they'd work better on the stage. There are moments that felt like the story was coming alive and other times when the film seemed to just jump from one plot point to another without feeling connected. The Color Purple is a mixed bag for me.

The powerful story of Walker's novel is a rich and layered and perhaps part of the challenge is fitting all that into one film. Things are going to get short shrift like Sofia's arc which felt truncated so we never felt the glory of her coming back to life at the story's fateful dinner table. In fact that scene is one that felt off altogether. The film never builds up a believable narrative for Miss Celie finding her strength to leave Mister so when it's just announced (and suddenly Mary Agnes is leaving too??) it didn't create the sense of liberation that it does in the previous film or the novel. This moment is a centrepiece for the story and it sort of feels fumbled. As does any attempt the film makes to redeem Mister who gets reintegrated into the community rather quickly and in a way that doesn't necessarily feel great. the film jettisons some of what the stage musical does here and I'm not sure we're better off for it.  

But the film does capture somethings really well. Henson's Shug is a vision every time she's on the screen and I'm so glad they gave her Miss Celie's Blues to sing (despite not being a part of the stage musical). It's such a great song and its performance here is quite moving although moved to a different part of the story than the Spielberg film. Still I didn't find many of the musical's songs, nor the originals written for this production, to be nearly as memorable so by including it the film sort of highlights the weaknesses of the others. 

One issue all adaptations have is how they struggle to represent the lesbian aspects of the story and this film does some things better than previous adaptations while also still letting this get sidelined a bit. I really did enjoy how the film highlights Celie's number I'm Here from the musical centring her self-love as the true holy grail but why are we all so afraid to see Celie love another woman who isn't her sister? 

So while I wouldn't tell you not to see The Color Purple if it's a film that interests you, if you are a fan of any of the previous takes on the story, or if you just want to go see the movie, I would just say that it wasn't the stand out I had hoped it might be. Still it is a lovely film to watch and I imagine will likely bring out a tear or two in you before it's over. 

The Color Purple 

Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Jon Batiste, Louis Gossett Jr., David Alan Grier

Director: Blitz Bazawule

Writer: Marcus Gardley

 

Poor Things (2023)

Lanthimos keeps getting both bolder and more relatable in his work. With Poor Things , similar to his last film, The Favourite, he has struck a remarkable balance between his obvious desire to create films like no one else does and reaching a sort of accessibility to mainstream audiences. Poor Things is very entertaining and even with its heavy handed but welcome and spirited moralizing, it manages to speak to issues of liberation and gender which are fascinating. 

Lanthimos has made a stunningly gorgeous film. From his art design and costumes (which put Wes Anderson to shame) and his playful cinematography, to his narrative style which is surprisingly straight forward (which helps with the film's accessibility), Lanthimos joyfully tells the story of Bella, a woman made by and corralled by men. He imbues sadness into the story but only in small doses, generally letting Bella find happiness through a whole lot of sexuality, the inspiring of her mind to philosophy and science, and general self-determination. The feminism of Poor Things, a film written and directed by men based on source material also written by a man, may be somewhat simplistic, but it isn't wrong. In fact it is often delightful, played with such whimsey and optimism throughout the movie. 

Much of how this works so well is because of Stone. She is clearly having an amazing time embodying this woman and she layers in a plethora of emotions (from the sublime to the melancholy and everything else) into Bella. Stone creates the character for herself and plays her in a way that is hard to imagine another actor taking on so perfectly. It is a truly wonderful performance that may well be one of her most treasured. 

I feel the final act plays out a little awkwardly, feels a bit tacked on, and ends the movie on a more trivial ending than I would have like. Bella's full emancipation is sort of taken down in a moment of silliness. However that doesn't ruin what otherwise is a gloriously rambunctious and wildly entertaining story of independence and personhood. It would have been easy for Poor Things to be darkly pessimistic but Lanthimos and Stone reject that idea and instead make it a very exuberant experience. And sometimes that sort of joy just needs to be part of the story 

Poor Things

Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Katheryn Hunter, Hanna Schygulla, Margaret Qualley, Suzy Bemba 

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Writer: Tony McNamara

 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)

The first Aquaman movie was audacious in how it embraced a character most people thought was a joke and gave him some real heft while also making just a really fun adventure movie. Probably the lightest and most mainstream of all the DCEU films, Aquaman was an easily digestible hit so a sequel makes sense. Years pass and the DCEU goes out of favour by the time The Lost Kingdom gets released so suddenly everyone wants to shit on this film. But truly it's as light and fun as the first movie and give another showcase for the truly loveable Mamoa to shine. 

Sure the story and character arcs are all fairly rote (like most of the other superhero films) but The Lost Kingdom is a bit of a bonkers monster movie which makes it fun. Perhaps it loses some of the novelty of the first and while its predecessor felt more like an ensemble most characters not named Aquaman get kinda sidelined. But if we're being truly honest The Lost Kingdom is as entertaining and accessible a movie as most Marvel films.

The two things that stand out for me are Mamoa who just has charisma and screen presence oozing out of every pore, and the way Wan and the film makers just embrace the absurdity of the character and run with it. It's pure sea-monster madness is delightful so even if the story doesn't feel super original it can still be enjoyable spectacle. It sounds like we'll be seeing Mamoa back as a new character soon and I bet he's going to knock that out of the park, but his turn as the king of Atlantis was glorious too. 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Starring: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Dolph Lundgren, Radall Park, Temuera Morrison, Indya Moore, Pilou Asbaek

Director: James Wan

Writer: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick

Rebel Moon Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)

I recognize Snyder is a divisive film maker. His bombastic style filled with visual spectacle and a lot of slow motion paired with a general lack of subtly or irony is not everyone's bag. But I most often enjoy his classic storytelling with his operatic screencraft. Rebel Moon is his ode to Seven Samurai by way of mixing the cinematic language of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings (with maybe a bit of David Lynch's Dune thrown in for good measure) and it is one big epic space opera that if you let yourself enjoy it will take you on an incredible ride!

In some ways it is ironic that Rebel Moon is a Netflix production as it is clearly designed for the largest screen you can possibly find. Freed from studio interference, Snyder can let loose with this fanboy movie fantasies and he does. Rebel Moon leaps from the screen and tells much of it's story through the visceral impact of its visuals. It does lean a little too heavy into the narration but there is so much world building going on here there may have been no other option. Snyder dreams big and Rebel Moon is an attempt to capture as much of that as possible. For me it mostly does with only little gripes here and there. In fact most of the time I'm glad he erred on the side of more is more. 

The story may be straight forward but there were a few little surprises along the way. This is the sort of story telling that is a throw back to serial style genre pics of the past told in modern CGI glory. It is famously developed from a pitch for a Star Wars film and it shares much with that film in the way it is a love letter to a different era of film making, a pulp-sci-fantasy adventure that wears its heart on its sleeves and has no apologies. It never talks down to its audience or relies on cheap takes. Snyder haters will hate it. His fans will adore it. But I think that most going in with an open mind will just enjoy the spirit of pure adrenaline adventure.

Bring on part two!

Rebel Moon Part One: A Child of Fire

Starring: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Michael Huisman, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, Anthony Hopkins, Alfonso Herrera, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, Fra Fee, Corey Stall, Cary Elwes, Ray Porter

Director: Zack Snyder

Writers: Kurt Johnstad, Shay Hatten, Zack Snyder

 

Maestro (2023)

Cooper is certainly ambitious in his first few films as director. This is only his sophomore film, an attempt to tell us the story of one of America's greatest composers of the 20th century, and he infuses it with a fantastic sense of whimsy while also balancing this with a heavy respect for the pathos of the human life that he is portraying. He starts out with an impressionistic style featuring dreamlike elements and utilizes switching from colour to B&W. Maestro ends up being visually (and auditorily) striking, scored with Bernstein's actual compositions laid over Cooper's film. 

But as the film went on some of this was lost. Maestro became more linear and literal, losing so much of the fantasy it so boldly started with. The film switched back to colour and became more traditionally biopic, switching between moments of Cooper conducting as Bernstein and scenes of his relationship with his wife played by Mulligan. Both pour so much into their roles, both doing impressions of their New York accents and mannerisms as well as doing deep dives into their characters' emotional states. Both prove themselves to be at the top of their game and amongst the best of their generation. 

But, yes I recognize this is my second "but" in this review, the film starts to make it clear that the way Maestro is getting into its portrait of Bernstein is through his relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre. In fact, I'm going to posit that it becomes quite clear that this is not Bernstein's story. It is hers. Sold as the story of one of the 20th century's most important queer artists, instead it is the story of the heterosexual woman who married him. The film spends its time focusing us on her point of view, and gives little time to the inner workings of Bernstein himself. The film, as interesting as it is, is about the experience of a heterosexual person interacting with queer person and how that heterosexual is affected. The queerness is clearly sidelined. Mulligan is remarkable as this character telling this story and I'm not suggesting that the film is homophobic in this approach. It is one way into this story. It is the heterosexual way into this story. It is perhaps why queer stories are most often best told by queer artists because, like in this case, they risk being about the heterosexuals. Maestro is very much about the heterosexual in the relationship. 

Having said that this story is still valid and it is told well. Perhaps I was just hoping for a story about a queer man and his interactions with the heteronormative world around him, how his way surviving in this unfriendly world affects him, and how he finds strength to do what he does in that world and environment. But that's not what this film is. It's in someway akin to Green Book attempting to tell a story about racial discrimination in twentieth century America by telling it from the point of view of the white guy. It's a viewpoint and it has its interesting aspects. But it centres things in a way that is experienced differently than many of those in the story. 

For me Maestro is a good film that tells an interesting story. But it misses out on what could have been an even more powerful story. Also the nose is a mistake. There is nothing necessary in Cooper's performance of Bernstein that requires this prosthetic. 

Maestro 

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie

Director: Bradley Cooper

Writers: Josh Singer, Bradley Cooper

Les Trois Mousquetaires : D'Artagnan (2023)

Lush and epic, Bouboulon's ambitious adaptation of the classic Dumas tale achieves what it sets out to do, create a new standard for the famous story true to its roots but reinvented for a modern audience. There are some alterations to the details but the main plot is true to its source. The film fleshes out the roles of its leading ladies and sets exciting action set pieces amongst the rich political melodrama. All together D'Artangnan is an entertaining swashbuckling adventure and captivating political drama all in one. 

Be warned, the story is broken in two parts so this is just the first chapter, but the story is well structured to give a beginning, middle, and end while also setting up the next part of the story. It balances the need to be self-contained with enough to wet our appetites for what comes next. 

I very much enjoyed the way the film is an old school historical epic but with modern sensibilities laced throughout so we can enjoy its sweeping adventure story. One doesn't need to understand French history to follow the story; the film does a good job of setting out who the characters are and why they are doing what they are doing. This Three Musketeers is about preventing war and supporting diversity. But mostly its about scheming and sword fighting and romance and brotherhood. All good themes for an adventure story. 

Les Trois Mousquetaires : D'Artagnan

Starring: Francois Civil, Eva Green, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris, Pio Marmai, Lyna Khoudri, Louis Garrel,  Éric Ruf

Director: Martin Bouboulon

Writers: Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patellière 

Wonka (2023)

Wonka sort of manages to be two things at once, a charming and delightful little piece of whimsy that makes you smile, and a rather forgettable film whose vanilla characters and music float away as soon as you walk out of the theatre. I enjoyed myself throughout but nothing about it felt like it resonated beyond just a simple pleasant feeling. It's hard to pin down how Wonka doesn't capture the magic that the source material that inspired it does but perhaps its because it feels like a pale imitation. 

The best thing going for Wonka is its star. Chalamet commits to the role and delivers being delightfully adorable throughout. He jettisons any of the weighty angst he can be known for in films like Dune or Call Me By Your Name to be an inspiring optimist who lifts all around him and does so with a playful energy that is just infectious. I worry this might miss the mark of the character a bit (more on this later), but he is captivating to watch throughout as his idiot savant character successfully magics solutions to every problem he encounters. 

The rest of the characters, despite a quite remarkable cast, are one note and mostly forgettable (even Lane who has such incredible screen presence). It not really the casts fault. They are all showing up (Colman is clearly having a good time with her villain role). The script just doesn't flesh them out of offer them anything other than filling a role in Willy's story. 

And the songs are just like the movie, rather pleasant but generally forgettable. For me this is the real test of a musical. I need to leave humming the songs or else it hasn't really won me over. This is highlighted by the fact that they use Pure Imagination from the 1971 Wilder movie and it is just 10x more of a song so every time it comes on it helps you forget the rest. The cast do a great job singing (again Chalamet shines here) and the dance numbers are all fun (although none really blow your mind) and the songs are terrible. While they are on they are catchy and light. They just have no weight. 

As I alluded to before perhaps one of my biggest disappointments was how Wonka, perhaps, feels like it misses the point of the character. Dahl's character has a darkness to him that both the Wilder and Depp film versions lean into and it's missing here. The villains are cartoony and lack the insidiousness that Dahl creates in his characters. But it's Willy himself, here such a gleeful ray of light, that just has none of the dark corners that is there in the books and the previous films. One could argue "this is a prequel and showing him before" but nothing in this film suggests he'll ever be anything more than sugar and spice and everything nice and that just isn't who Willy Wonka is. 

Still having said all that I enjoyed Wonka for what it is. A light and tasty treat that might be rather forgettable in the end.

Wonka

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan Michael-Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Matthew Baynton, 

Director: Paul King

Writers: Simon Farnaby, Paul King

 

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)

The original Chicken Run is a bit of an odd egg. It's an holocaust analogy that is barely veiled at all in its message critiquing genocide. I remember it being likened to The Great Escape, a movie about British prisoners escaping Nazi POW camps, but Chicken Run's analogy was darker as the movie made it clear the end game for the evil farmer Mrs. Tweedy was to kill all the chickens. The farm was modelled clearly after a concentration camp and the escape was to a sanctuary where chickens could live free far away from those who want to kill them. The Republic of Iran even accused the film of being Zionist. Yes many films aimed at children are allegories for real world situations but few address such horrific themes so head on. All of this and the fact that it's hard to argue the film isn't making a vegan argument and its strong feminist themes make 2000's Chicken Run a uniquely bold mainstream animated movie. 

23 years later the sequel doesn't shy away from any of this either. Dawn of the Nugget explores how fascism evolves from locking up the unwanted and exterminating them, to socializing individuals into happily destroying themselves. Like the first film it does this through a truly entertaining and inspiring story and doesn't sugar coat its messages to do so. Is eating happy chickens more ethical than eating tortured ones? Nugget tells a liberation story and doesn't pretend not to.

One of the strengths of genre fiction is how it gets us to think about real world issues at arms length allowing us to process it a bit more readily. However Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget puts it right in our faces. We watch characters eat the chicken made from a hen we just saw slaughtered. And the ending... well it has to be seen to be believed. But it does so in a way that is (for lack of a better word) palatable for any audience including young viewers. It is quite remarkable actually just how well it walks the difficult line. Nugget is a wildly entertaining film while never compromising on the moral to its story. 

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget

Starring: Thandiewe Newton, Zachary Levi, Bella Ramsey, Imelda Staunton, Lynn Ferguson, David Bradley, Jane Horrocks, Romesh Ranganathan, Daniel Mays, Josie Sedgwick-Davies, Peter Serafinowicz, Nick Mohammed, Miranda Richardson

Director: Sam Fell

Writers: Karey Kirkpatrick, John O'Farrell

 

Doi Boy (2023)

Documentarian Numbenchapol's first fiction film is powerful and bold, weaving together the stories of three men whose arcs seem to suggest a lack of control in their own destinies. The film doesn't remains narratively compelling all the way through but the ending is impactful. 

We follow these men through the choices they are forced to make either by others or because they can't live with the other. It doesn't work out well for all of them to varying degrees and even the most optimistic ending leaves us wondering if it will truly end well for Sorn.

Doi Boy explores intersections of immigration and gender/sexuality and the forces which affect people's lives. It is a beautiful film to watch if not a bit slow in moments. But it shows Numbenchapol has a good future ahead of him if he wants to keep making dramas.

Doi Boy 

Starring: Awat Ratanapintha, Arak Amornsupasiri, Bhumibhat Thavornsiri, Panisara Rikulsurakan

Writer/Director: Nontawat Numbenchapol

Eileen (2023)

Eileen is the sort of story that takes one narrative build up in act one to deliver on a very different act two which inverts the first half yet concludes the arc of the characters. Director Oldroyd doesn't quite mesh the two in a way that was completely satisfying for me, but I appreciated the journey and the way he uses the story to find light in darkness. 

In act one we meet the titular Eileen and learn of her rather sad life, her only joy found in sexual fantasy that even doesn't quite... satisfy. McKenzie (similarly to how she lays bare her character in Last Night in Soho) is dowdy and withheld, masking a rage beneath her eyes which is begging to be set loose. Then she meets the glamorous Rebecca who Hathaway plays with a combination of bravado and vulnerability which is pitch perfect. The story begins to play out as a repressed romance. 

But it all comes to head on Christmas Eve when the tables are turned and an extreme situation puts Eileen in the driver seat over a timid and regretful Rebecca. And its in those moments we see who these women really are. The film is a coming into her own for Eileen in a violent way and she finds the strength to finally leave it all behind. 

For me the film doesn't quite justify the extremeness of its narrative. I didn't quite buy how they get there. I wish the film had found a way to make it feel more organic. But I loved the performances of the two leads and their dynamics together. Hathaway is often best when she's a bit shady and McKenzie has this fascinating way of being fragile and strong at the same time. Despite the film not quite nailing its twist, I still found it incredible riveting and satisfying especially in how it balanced bleakness with optimism in both its story and conclusion.

Eileen

Starring: Anne Hathaway, Thomasin McKenzie, Shaea Whigham, Marin Ireland, Siobhan Fallon Hogan

Director: William Oldroyd

Writers: Luke Goebel, Ottessa Moshfegh 

 

The Boy and the Heron (2023)

Selfishly I hope Hayao Miyazaki never retires. If he keeps delivering his unique and gorgeous style of film, that resembles nothing else truly, then we are lucky to be able to experience each adventure he wants to take us on. The Boy and the Heron is a complex, deeply mature, and soaring coming of age story, rich with insight and emotion, and truly unexpected at every turn. 

The film is unrelentingly gorgeous. His hand drawn aesthetic has evolved into an even more beautiful experience than his previous works. I was stunned at how incredible his sequences were to see on the big screen. There are moments of quiet pastoral landscapes, fiery moments of passion, adorable and magical sequences, true unabashed oddity, and heart-racing adventure. The characters are visceral and fantastic, dreamed into full life from a combination of nightmares and escapism. The Boy and the Heron is lousy with a pantheon of crazy and soon to be beloved characters. 

Joe Hisaishi's score is as beautiful as the rest of the film. Often simple and melodic, the score is hopeful. The Boy and the Heron is filled with hope, hope for the future and hope through the most difficult times. Miyazaki's optimism is embedded throughout. I found myself smiling throughout, especially at the ending a deeply satisfied and contented smile. 

The Boy and the Heron

Starring: Luca Padovan, Robert Pattinson, Karen Fukuhara, Gemma Chan, Christian Bale, Mark Hamill, Florence Pugh, Willem Dafoe, Dave Bautista

Writer/Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Raised on 90s disaster movies, it wouldn't be unfair for me to write them off as bombastic spectacles that centre around heroism and some triumphant male (Will Smith or Bruce Willis) saving the day. But like all genres, there are entries which try to do something different. Leave the World Behind has more in common with the recent Knock at the Cabin Door, in its lack of optimism. We watch as an isolated family slowly starts to piece together that something horrible may be happening in the world and struggles to know how to deal with it. Instead of "rising to the occasion" our heroes flail and mostly fail as they slowly begin to accept that not everything is going to be okay. 

Writer/director Esmail handles certain aspects of this better than others. He is really good at building the sense of doom and creating terrifying moments of dread that are squarely grounded in reality. He doesn't handle the talky moments as effectively. His script feels a little heavy handed at times and the conversations are not always as organic as one might want. His characters are all a little typed, fitting into rather neat boxes. But I will give his script credit for having them behave very realistically despite their two-dimensionality. Their conversations, while a bit clunky at times, are very honest and thought provoking. The best parts of the film are the pieces the characters are not saying. The cast helps with this as they are all strong and give good performances, showing us more of what is going on for these people than just what they say. 

Esmail uses his camera to upend things quite a few times and despite how on the nose this feels it is very effective. I did feel disconcerted through most of Leave the World Behind. There are set pieces (planes crashing, tankers slamming into shores) and they are used judiciously, without going over the top. I'll also give the film credit for sticking the landing. He doesn't solve the problem or save our heroes. His ending balances a real bleakness with an almost defiant moment of hope, if small. I like the ambiguity the film leaves us with, showing us there may be options for the protagonists, but not confirming if they will be able to exploit them. 

Perhaps Leave the World Behind could have been a bit subtler at times, but overall it is the sort of movie that will give you enough to keep you wondering and asking questions and that in the end is a strength. 

Leave the World Behind

Starring: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, Kevin Bacon

Writer/Director: Sam Esmail

 

Silent Night (2023)

Full disclosure: I am not a huge fan of John Woo's films. I find his work stylish but often vapid. Silent Night seems to cross a line though. It actually seems full of some pretty awful story telling. It's clumsily crafted and doesn't make up for it in its action sequences, the one strength the film has. 

For a film that is supposed to not have any dialogue Silent Night has a shit tonne of dialogue. It makes its main character mute but has so many other characters say things, we hear the radio announce many details, and there are plenty of text conversations. Commit to your gimmick Woo. Either this is a "silent" movie or it's not. 

But the way he does limit the dialogue feels forced and awkward most of the time. There are moments that are just begging for someone to say something that feel unrealistic without people talking. You just never believe in the silent moments. This year another film tried this trick with much greater success. No One Will Save You showed you how this should be done. Silent Night falls far short. 

The film is a slow burn... well perhaps more a slog. Even with its 104 minute runtime it feels long. It takes so long for Kinnaman's character to build up to his rampage and it's just not interesting. We watch him descend into violence, first losing his son, then his wife, and all of this should have some emotional impact but Woo isn't able to build that so it all just feels toxic. And when he finally gets to the point of the movie, it becomes an incel fantasy. One white man with a gun is able to do what society, what the police, cannot do. The film is filled with gang members ready to be taken down by our white night and yes they are all Latinx. The film doesn't hide its biases, even using some of its cheating dialogue to highlight the films xenophobia. 

But if there is anything Woo can do it's kick ass action, right? Well... this part is the certainly the best part of the movie but I could list a number of 2023 films which eclipse it for out right amazing action without having to think to far. Has Woo lost his mojo?

The things I will give the film credit for are Kinnaman's performance and the film not letting his character off the hook. As much as the film tries to make him a hero, he is a tragic figure, destroyed by his rage and his quest for vengeance. It certainly has the ending it should. Kinnaman doesn't portray his character as John Wick. He is panicked most of the time, makes so many mistakes. This keeps the movie from being a complete disappointment. 

But it's still just not that entertaining and that's the most disappointing part of all. Silent Night is more a lump of coal than holiday favourite. 

Silent Night

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Scott Mescudi

Director: John Woo

Writer: Robert Archer Lynn

 

May December (2023)

Haynes knows how to get under his audience's skin with subtle techniques, often surprising us with how affected we are by what we are watching. May December creeps into our minds quietly, with a very mundane, slice of life approach. We watch a family going through their day to day lives with little pieces of the backstory being revealed until we understand just how difficult the background is for these people. But even more than that, we watch while someone else is watching, and extracting from these people something that may once again make their lives harder. It is all very uncomfortable and difficult to wrap our minds and our feelings around. 

The cast is terrific even beyond Moore and Portman who both bring such complexity to their characters. Melton, who is getting a lot of praise for this role, takes a very understated approach and in that develops quite a fascinating character. I would also point out Smith who has only a few scenes but plays them with a strength that makes his character more than just what it could have been. They all come together quite perfectly and fit into Haynes deliberately opaque style. 

May December will challenge you. It sneaks up you but also just leaves you to sit with what you are seeing. It never holds your hand or tells you what to feel. I often felt confused and conflicted. I think that is the main strength of the film, to just give us something incredibly difficult to deal with and leave us to deal with it, not just the history of this family and the consequences of that, but of the voyeuristic nature of this moment in their lives, the insertion of Portman's character into their journey and how she takes from them. And how does that implicate us, the audience, not only of this film but of so much of the "reality" entertainment we consume. 

May December

Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Corey Michael Smith

Director: Todd Haynes

Writer: Samy Burch

 

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Everything about Minus One feels like a return to the golden age of Godzilla, a love letter to the original film and era. Set in the 1940s post WWII, the film is shot like a 40s film, acted like a film from the 40s, scored with music that feels right out of that time, with even the effects made to give the feel that you are watching a golden age movie. 

Minus One is a very different take on Godzilla than the recent American series of monster movies based on the character and Kong. Unlike that series where the titular kaiju is portrayed as an ancient guardian protecting humanity, this monster is pure destruction. He is war itself. This is about a nation reeling from loss and finding a reason to live despite it all.

The melodrama is laid on thick but due to the setting and the film's narrative it truly works. The film commits to its setting and approach and you get sucked into the stories of these lost souls. 

But the real strength (no surprise) is the monster himself. Godzilla very much reminiscent of the man-in-the-suit style creatures of the past yet still terrifying as the all out carnage he represents. The effects are strong and every moment he is on screen is exciting. The mayhem is felt in every thunderous step he takes. And this is the point of these movies, isn't it? To shake in the awe of Godzilla.

Godzilla Minus One

Writer/Director: Takashi Yamazaki

Frybread Face and Me (2023)

The story in Frybread Face and Me might be a bit rote, but it is told with such a lovely honesty that it remains a very watchable and touching story. It's quite simple but Luther shoots his film with a great eye for capturing the beauty in little things.

Freybread Face and Me is a coming of age story for a young man, likely queer though it isn't explicit, who finds more of himself when he returns to his people from the city where he didn't know himself. By connecting with his extended family, a lovely disparate bunch, he comes to understand himself and build connection in ways he wasn't able to before. It isn't an unfamiliar story for anyone, but Luther places it within his specific cultural context imbuing it with a greater power. 

The cast often feels a little amateur in a way that give off more honest and less "acty" performances. Tallman at the centre of this is quite strong and his screen presence is compelling. He carries this story on his shoulders and makes for a good surrogate for the film maker's story.  

While Frybread Face and Me is short, Luther packs a lot in without making any of it feel crowded. In fact the film even has time for us to sit with moments and reflect on them making watching Frybread Face and Me a lovely experience. 

Frybread Face and Me

Starring: Keir Tallman, Charley Hogan, Sarah H Natani, Martin Sensmeier

Writer/Director: Billy Luther

 

Saltburn (2023)

I'll make the case for Saltburn as inversion of the hero arc. The film plays without expectations, coding our main character in all the ways villains have been coded in the cinematic canon and then making him triumphant and heroic despite all that we have witnessed. Saltburn delights in upending all that movie audiences expect from narratives and giving it back to us in ways that are uncomfortable. It's a little bit Teorema, a little but Talented Mr. Ripley, and a little bit Funny Games, all rolled into a subversive slap in the face that is designed to make you question all that you understand about good guys and bad guys and how morality plays play out. 

The simple summation of the plot is how a poor, outcast Oxford student becomes obsessed with the popular rich kid and insinuates himself into his targets life with disastrous results. But that is just the framework for what Fennell is truly spinning here. She manages to get underneath the way audiences respond to triggers and cues in films and upend them, making us love who we normally hate and hate who we normally love or at least be confused about it. 

Normally we would side with the poor underdog against the elite bastards. That's how we are taught to approach these stories and we pat ourselves on the back for it while we subconsciously cheer on the real world millionaires in their exploitation of the world. But she flips this by giving us so many cues to dislike the usurper. She casts Keoghan as Oliver and makes him as creepy and queer coded as possible. We are purposefully disgusted by his actions cause they are too overtly sexual, involve behavior we may consider degrading (and queer, don't forget that), and he does the sorts of things we are supposed to be judgemental of that we would normally see the villain do. 

Now to get us back on his side, Fennell could have easily made his targets cartoonishly awful adversaries. We are used to movies where the villains are fiendish posh parasites and we can pat ourselves on the back for wanting to see their comeuppance. But she paints the object of Oliver's affection, Felix, not only as impossibly attractive (in an A&F model sort of way) and generally decent, if somewhat bland, sometimes vapid, but rather realistically human. She crafts the Cattons as individuals whose only real sin is the privilege they enjoy, a privilege that is extreme and essentially soul eroding, but she doesn't code them in the way the evil millionaires are usually portrayed in films. 

It's hard to explain the lengths Fennell goes to mess with the signals we are so used to interpreting and fucking with our emotional responses. In a pivotal scene Oliver is wearing horns (like a devil) while Felix is wearing wings (like an angel) and yet they are inspired by A Midsummer Night's Dream party thrown in Oliver's honour meaning Oliver is playing the likeable Puck while Felix is a mischievous fairy. We are constantly being pulled in different directions. So much of film language is about playing into our expectations and Saltburn seems dedicated to messing with those. So when the ending, a triumphant reordering of the universe, reveals its plot spinning out we find ourselves rooting for the what we "shouldn't" or perhaps we should? Saltburn gets us to reinterpret all we know about how we evaluate good and bad despite ourselves. 

And this is in itself inherently queer. The film is queering our hero narratives so that we come out the end with a sublime celebration of revolution on a personal level, something that queer people have strived for for centuries. I am not aware of Fennell's identification but her screenplay and film and her primarily straight cast, have made one of the queerest films, joyfully queer films, I have seen in a long time. 

I think the final scene in this film may be my favourite of any of the year. It is blissful yet dark, hopeful yet bitter, tragic and triumphant all at once and sums up all that Saltburn has done to us in its two hours and ten minutes of decadence and reclamation. Keoghan is masterful (he rarely isn't) and he and Fennell have created one of the most fascinating cinematic characters I've seen. The film is perhaps a bit messy in revealing its twists but that's part of the play as well. What it accomplishes with the audience's emotions is a little miracle. 

Saltburn

Starring: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan

Writer/Director: Emerald Fennell

Dream Scenario (2023)

Cage is certainly in the most interesting phase of his career so far. I find much of what he does, even when it's flawed, to be fascinating. Dream Scenario mostly falls into that category for me, but its final act lost me and wasn't able to recover. Still Cage's performance is one of the more interesting in a while. 

My main complaint is with the meta-text of Dream Scenario. The film wants to comment of viral fame, its rises and falls, and its darker elements. It sets up its high concept premise for this purpose and the script itself refers to this thesis numerous times explicitly. And for 2/3s of the film, Dream Scenario is saying some interesting things. But is missing something important that I worry is fatal to its case and the third act exposes that fatality dramatically. 

The premise of the film, which isn't a spoiler as it's in the trailer, is that Cage's character is appearing in people's dreams, even people who do not know him. It starts slow, with him just being present but having no agency, escalates into his avatar being more active, including a suggestively violent sexual scenario, and eventually to the point where he becomes the centre of people's violent nightmares. He goes from being a trend, to a phenom, to an outcast, being "cancelled" for what people dream he does. The film comments on this and the complications that arise from it, very explicitly labelling it "cancel culture" and even centring it with real world culture war references. 

And it would all be good except... well, it doesn't work that way. 

You see when we dream, the people we dream about, while perhaps representative of real world people we know, are creations of our subconscious that have no connection to the people they represent for us. Those people can't influence what our dreamed versions of them do. As the film points out in the beginning Cage's character has no agency. So much of the critique is tied to this idea. But in the real world, in real scenarios of "going viral" or social media fame, the people involved DO have agency. They are making real choices, they are having an impact that they themselves are either choosing or being wilfully blind to the effects of their actions. So unlike everything that happens in Dream Scenario real world internet fame is based on the choices people make, taking the steam out of any argument the film is making. 

I kept waiting for the film to address this but it never does. Near the end the film tries to tie this even further to its argument by having another, completely unrelated and suddenly appearing character (I hate deus ex machina moments), invent a way into people's dreams. I thought the film would tie this to Cage somehow, implying that he was actively choosing the actions people saw him commit in his dreams, but it never does. The film shies away from having any explanation for the phenomenon but it's arguments fall apart without one. I kept waiting for the film to find a way to tie his waking hour behavior to the dreams people manifested about him but it chooses not to. Also this final act starts to lean more and more into the silly side of things while the film up to this point had been walking a good balance between the normal and the absurd. 

In actually the tale here seems to try to absolve people of their responsibility in how people respond to their actions. It's the "I'm sorry you were offended" argument. By implying that Cage's character should not be held accountable the argument seems to be that those who profit from their actions on line or in other public spaces, are in no way capable of influencing how people see them. It implies that all speech is somehow consequenceless. It's a ridiculous but popular argument made by those who want to have their cake and eat it too.  

The film ends in a touching moment where he actually does enter someone's dream intentionally (now that the technology has been created - certainly not because he had that power before) and tries to give them what they want. We are to feel tragedy for him cause he lost everything over nothing. If only that's how the real world works. 

Dream Scenario

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Dylan Baker, Lily Bird, Jessica Clement

Writer/Director: Kristoffer Borgli

 

Stamped From the Beginning (2023)

Director Roger Ross Williams has crafted a film that meticulously lays out the case that white supremacy has been baked into the design of the United States of America since its inception. Basing his film on the non-fiction book of Ibram X Kendi and speaking to scholars from many backgrounds, Williams makes a film that both outlines this uncomfortable truth but is truly watchable and deeply impactful. 

Like Kendi's work it is named after, Stamped from the Beginning focuses on the experience of blackness in America under white supremacy (as opposed to the indigenous people's of the Americas experience of it) understanding how much of the economy and political structures that built the nation and continue to shape it today rely on racism and structural inequality to exist. The work here is sound but the film also is created in a way that makes it fascinating to watch. 

A big part of this is the hope that it lays within its argument. It manages to celebrate black excellence while making its critique. The film ends with both a warning and a large amount of hope. History should make us uncomfortable (at least) and if it doesn't it's not real history. 

Stamped from the Beginning

Director: Roger Ross Williams

Writer: David Teague

 

Next Goal Wins (2023)

Underdog sports movies are a genre of their own and are often heavy on the chicken-soup-for-the-soul style inspirationalism. What makes Next Goal Wins so much fun is how it takes most of the positives of the genre but subverts many of the cliches often surprising us. But over all the film works cause it just so damn entertaining. 

Waititi introduces the film to us himself, playing an overly silly pastor who is telling us a story, giving himself permission to take... liberties... with the story. He also sets the tone that we don't have to take what we will see too seriously. And that perhaps is something inherent in the story itself. Next Goal Wins is constantly reminding us not to view things the way a western audience traditionally would and instead enjoy the ride wherever it takes us for what it is, a value the culture of the people the story is about promotes. 

The script is truly quite funny but the best part is it doesn't fall into a lot of the traps one would expect. There is no romance subplot laid into the narrative. There is a nuanced and beautifully handled trans story embedded within it (inspired by the real life events). And the film works in a pathos along with the jokes that doesn't feel forced or heavy handed. Next Goal Wins remains light but doesn't do so by skimping on the emotion. It just chooses to laugh even when things are tougher. 

Next Goal Wins isn't a story about a climb to so-called "greatness" but instead a story about finding happiness. And damn if it doesn't make you smile. 

Next Goal Wins

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Oscar Knightly, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Moss, Rhys Darby, Luke Hemsworth, Kaitlyn Dever

Director: Taika Waititi

Writers: Iain Morris, Taika Waititi

 

Mutt (2023)

I'm a bit of a sucker for film stories told over the period of a day. These snap shot of life style movies speak to me in how they restrain the story telling to a moment in time. It's like synecdoche, a piece representing the whole, a way of learning about a character or their journey by watching one bit. It's also about the way life just comes to a head sometime. 

Mutt, the story of Feña coming into contact with three important figures in his life but for the first time post-transition, is structured this way. This gives the film a chance to explore issues of presentation and bodies in ways that a lot of queer cinema does not. Mutt quite boldly goes there, creating a real intimacy between its main characters and its audience. 

Mehiel is raw and honest in his portrayal of Feña and this moment in his life when there is a real shift in how he is seen and how he can be. The film doesn't go in the direction you always think it will and its exploration of the little moments of trans life is so effectively portrayed through the smart and sensitive screenplay and the great cast. 

Mutt is truly accessible and may be for many audiences the first time they are considering some issues. But this accessibility does not mean it handles the story it is tackling with any lack of complexity or nuance, nor does it treat its subject as spectacle. Instead its honest portrayal of a pivotal day in the life of a trans man honours both its subject, the trans audience, and the cis audience that is engaging with it. It is a comforting watch as it is gives Feña a day where he gets to grow and struggle but start into the next day with an optimism. 

Mutt

Starring: Lio Mehiel, Cole Doman, Mimi Ryder, Alejandro Goic, Jari Jones

Writer/Director: Vuk Lungulov-Klotz

 

Nuovo Olimpo (2023)

The new sentimental film from director Ferzan Özpetek starts out and ends up quite strong. But so much of the middle is a mushy, melodramatic mess that feels more soap opera than art house. Nuovo Olimpo is as gorgeous to watch as its central characters (until their horrible "old person" make up later in the film) but its penchant for Hallmarky coincidence and its clumsy handling of love saps much of the good will it earns in its take off and landing. 

The opening sequence is a beautiful reconstruction of pre queer liberation connection. Our heroes meet at a cinema (no not that kind) where gay men frequent to meet each other for hook ups in the bathroom. They are all young and beautiful like the modern fantasy of this time and our protagonists are even more so because they don't hook up and instead feel an immediate connection that is too "good" for public sex. One is more closet than the other so they make plans, find a space they can truly be, have beautifully filmed sex, and make plans for a reunion but their plans go awry when they are separated by the chaos of a local demonstration and police action. It is the 70s so they have no way to find each other again. 

It was at this moment when I knew the film was going off the rails. The slow motion and dramatic music felt syrupy and more over the top than the film had been to this point. We then follow our characters separately as they jump through time to the near present, one becoming a surgeon and the other a successful film maker who even makes a film about their encounter. The doctor even sees the film with his wife and friends. It would have been so easy for these two to reconnect but they just don't despite the film's central premise that they each never got over the other. No one takes steps to find the other despite how easy it would have been at multiple points in story. At this point the whole thing just feels silly. 

But it's the third act that feels like low grade soap opera. The film maker is injured and the doctor is the one to operate on. The film draws this out because it's the film maker's eyes which are injured so he spends a long time with bandages around him face preventing him from seeing. They interact over and over to the point where the audiences eyes are rolling so far back in our heads that we need eye surgery. 

But...

when the film does it's final dramatic reveal and the two are finally reunited suddenly Nuovo Olimpo finds its backbone. It doesn't give them the long awaited reunion one is expecting. The parties are able to acknowledge to each other, the importance the remembrance of the other was in their lives, and then go on their way. It was a very restrained scene for a film that was so indulgent throughout. 

The the final moment is quite nice as well. The camera pans to a restaurant and we are back in the 70s, we see them as if they had not been separated but had had the chance to follow through with their plans. We see a world where their connection was not taken from them. The possibilities remain ahead of them along a different path. 

But the film overall is just too silly. It eschews any development of the political backdrop which kept them apart and leans into crazy koinkydink and schmaltzy moments like when the film maker runs into the woman who ran the theatre which gives her a chance to wax poetic on loving queer men and the sacrifices that entailed. 

I think there was a better film to be made here about how brief connections can impact us and contribute so much to who we are, about how different our paths may have been if small moments had played out differently, and about how cultures are designed to keep queer people from having real connection. But Nuovo Olimpo is just too silly a film to achieve any of that. 

Nuovo Olimpo

Starring: Damiano Gavino, Andrea Di Luigi

Director: Ferzan Özpetek

Writers: Gianni Romoli, Ferzan Özpetek

Wish (2023)

Wish is self-consciously attempting to be the most Disney Disney animated feature of all time. Designed for release in the studio's 100th year, Wish is meticulously crafted to reference almost every Disney animated feature that has proceeded, specifically borrowing from their very first feature, Snow White and the Sever Dwarfs, while incorporating animation and musical styles that invoke the studio's historic output. Its story is focused on one of Disney's central recurring themes, making a wish on a star, exploring the very idea of wishes and what they mean to us. It also touches on our very modern understanding of how we are all made of stars, bringing this story of liberation by tying all these ideas together. 

The film uses a mix of the current CGI animation which dominates the market, and the studio's traditional watercolour technique to create something that looks both familiar and brand new. Most of the time this visually worked very well, creating quite a fascinating visual pallet for the fairy tale, but occasionally it didn't quite come together which felt jarring in moments. Overall it is quite beautiful to watch and despite the current trend of audiences waiting for Disney films to hit streaming to enjoy at home, Wish does beg to be seen on a big screen. 

The story is bold but often feels a bit too esoteric to truly set the stakes (similar to a problem I had with Encanto) as it's not always clear what needs to happen to "stop the bad guy" meaning the resolution feels a bit dues ex machina. Pine's bad guy is somewhat over the top and there is a talking goat that feels more annoying than charming. But otherwise the character design is well done especially the heroine Asha who basically leads a rebellion against tyranny while looking gorgeously counter culture. Her friend group is a little tribute to the Seven Dwarfs with each one modelled after the famous Grumpy, Happy, Doc... etc, in a clever and fun twist that is subtler than some of the other deep pulls so it doesn't take us out of the film. 

That's certainly one of Wish's signature themes; references. Some will really enjoy this tribute while others may find it tedious. Besides the Snow White stuff (which is heavily laid throughout) there are many obvious (a citizen in town is named "Peter" and dressed just like Pan) while others are more subtle (the previously referred to goat dreams of a Zootopia). Pine's villain employs many signature moves and lines of your favourite Disney Villains. The film even starts and ends with the book opening and closing and the credits give us images from all the back catalogue. So for someone who considers themselves a Disney fan, Wish will offer much to be nostalgic about.   

The music falls very much in to the recents tradition of Disney musicals with songs that feel like they could be right out of Frozen or Encanto. Only time will tell is any catch on and become the classics that we associate with these films. I'm not sure there is anything that rivals the legends like Be Our Guest, Cruella DeVil, or especially When You Wish Upon a Star. But they certainly have a hook and can be quite catchy; there's even a song clearly trying to capture some of the Bruno earworm energy. 

So while overall Wish isn't the perfect Disney Animated Feature, it was certainly enjoyable and memorable. Perhaps it relies a little too much on sentimentality for all things Mouse but, if that's the worst crime it commits, then it comes off pretty good indeed. 

Wish

Starring: Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Harvey Guillén, Jennifer Kumiyama, Evan Peters, Ramy Youssef, Jon Rudnitsky, Niko Vargas

Directors: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn 

Writers: Jennifer Lee, Allison Moore

Rustin (2023)

After Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Wolfe became one of the film makers I was most fascinated with. His energetic story telling style, use of colour and movement, and the way he connected music to his characters and narrative was exciting to me. As a queer film maker of colour his opportunity to tell the story of one of America's most important gay black men seemed like the perfect sort of Hollywood synergy. And now that the film has finally been released, Rustin lives up to its promise and is one of the most exciting films of 2023. 

Colman Domingo is the sort of character actor who is so good in everything his does, in all kinds of roles, that he blends perfectly into each film he acts in. To see him finally get to take on a high profile lead role like this, and to do exactly what I expected him to do, knock it out of the fucking park, is thrilling. His performance of Rustin is bold and filled with bravado. It is sensitive and subtle. It is complex and consistent. It is the sort of performance that should win awards.

Wolfe and Domingo have crafted a gorgeous and engrossing portrait of a man who was too much for his country, too much for the movement he gave his life to, too much for his racial community and too much for his sexual community. Rustin was an out man at a time when few men were out and few allies could be outwardly supportive. Rustin is dripping with the consequences of that world and its desperation for change that only people like Rustin could bring. His lack of shame is inspiring, not even just for his era, but for our current times as well. As anyone who has lived on the intersections of marginalizations knows, certain voices are often pushed to the back of history. Rustin is a chance to correct some of that. 

Rustin centres the story of its subject around his work behind making the March on Washington happen. As with so much of history, what we now view as important and virtuous, was fought tooth and nail at the time it happened. Rustin then plays out with an energy and tension as Rustin and his team pull off a miracle to make it happen, fighting all sorts of slings and arrows, making for excellent cinema. 

I also have to heap praise on Branford Marsalis' beautiful score that is filled from start to finish with the urgency, passion, pathos, and excitement that the film has. And the film has all of that. Both Domingo and Wolfe deserve to be at the top of the awards discussion this year. They have my vote.  

Rustin

Starring: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Jeffrey Wright, Audra McDonald, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Bill Irwin, Johnny Ramey, Gus Halper

Director: George C Wolfe

Writers: Julian Breece, Dustin Lance Black

 

It's a Wonderful Knife (2023)

Writer Kennedy's Freaky was a clever and fun horror twist on the Freaky Friday story and he's taking another stab at it this time with It's a Wonderful Life. He doesn't kill it quite as effectively this time as the story leans a little too into the silly without finding the balance his previous film had. While Knife isn't terrible, and might make for a light holiday watch if you're searching for something new, it ends up being rather forgettable and perhaps a bit more laugh inducing (not always in the good way) than intended. 

I will give the film points for how casually it inserts queerness into its story. We've now reached the point where characters just get to be gay without there being anything about it. Knife maintains this new tradition which hopefully we'll see even more of in future seasons. 

So overall don't rush out to fight the crowds for this one. But if you happen to come across it there are worse holiday films you could watch. Just don't expect it to be very chilling. 

It's a Wonderful Knife

Starring: Jane Widdop, Joel McHale, Justin Long

Director: Tyler MacIntyre

Writer: Michael Kennedy

 

Priscilla (2023)

Dolly Parton tells a story about how, after his breakup with Priscilla, Elvis wanted to record a version of her legendary song I Will Always Love You, but the deal had to be that he would own the song in return. Being the smart business woman she is, she refused and his version never saw the light of day. In light of this, the use of the song at the end of Priscilla is a genius move, capturing the emotion the film needs while also, perhaps, giving the story of these two star crossed lovers a heart wrenching send off referencing this real life moment for a film that had no rights to any of his actual music. 

Priscilla is the story of a girl who becomes a young woman all in the control of a very powerful man. It is a difficult story to tell (despite my love for Luhrmann's Elvis film I've always maintained he bungles the handling of this aspect of the singer's life) even though the film's source is the memoire of the title young woman herself. Trying to explore this specific relationship without oversimplifying the complications and problematic nature of it is a real challenge that Coppola mostly manages to handle quite deftly. She doesn't vilify Elvis despite painting a portrait of him that is less than admirable. 

In many of her films, the subject of women living under the male gaze is explored and this story fits that pattern well. We see, quite methodically laid out, how Priscilla was groomed as a child into becoming the woman Elvis thought he needed. The film doesn't show him as a predator in the way we might expect, in fact his sexual boundaries are portrayed as being rather chaste with Priscilla, but in other ways; being controlling, demanding limits on what she can and cannot do, making choices for her. Her infatuation with him is obvious but so is the inappropriateness of their romance and how it isn't necessarily good for either of them. 

But where Priscilla falls down in how it fails to give us any reason to feel bittersweet about their break up. The film builds over time to Priscilla making the decision to leave and then driving off to Dolly's tearful singing. But its hard not to feel anything but relief. There is little conflict in our response. She needed to be out of there and a long time sooner. The film also sort of fumbles the development of her own agency. The premise here is that she is too young to have been able to have any real say in much of the decisions made for her and that the way she was handled continued to infantilize her to a certain degree. By the end the film needs us to see how she grew up enough to know what she needed to do but the film gives us little to make us see this. There is an awkwardly inserted scene of her taking a self-defence class that feels tacked on and she starts wearing her hair naturally. But very little in the film shows her coming into her own so that the final scene can carry the weight it needs to. Dolly does more of that work. 

Still the film tells a fascinating story and I appreciated that it didn't try to just make it all feel overly simple. It just needed to give us more in its third act to really give us Priscilla's story.

Priscilla

Starring: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi

Writer/Director: Sophia Coppola