Universal Language (2024)

Absurdist films rarely work for me. There is often something insincere in them that fails to connect for me. Something isn't just funny cause it's weird. There needs to be something inside of that absurd text for it to resonate. There were times I wasn't sure with Universal Language but in the end it connected, it found its heart in a way that made up for so much of when it felt like it was trying a bit too hard. 

Universal Language creates a surreal Winnipeg (something that isn't uncommon - see the works of Guy Madden) where Persian is spoken, the money is named after Louis Riel, and the cityscape is a frost bitten, brutalist dystopia divided into grey, brown, and beige zones. The film seems obsessed a little with Canadian iconography of the most cliched kind (Tim Hortons for example) and this is where it started to lose me. But its narrative about loss of identity pulled me back in. 

The story is very loose as it intertwines a man returning to the city after many years in Montreal and two children attempting to dig some found money out of the ice. It is the way the film found to reach its bittersweet conclusion which convinced me. No matter how silly it sometimes felt, there was a melancholy here that was honest and rich. 

And it is a beautiful film to watch. It makes you cold just to see it but Rankin's love of the mundane beigeness of urban life is quite glorious to behold. One absurdist element I did enjoy (perhaps due to its more original feel) was the subplot of a tour-guide walking his freezing group through little stops besides freeways. There was just something so lovely about showing people little places which are meaningful to you for whatever reason. 

In the end that's why Universal Language worked for me. That in the messy absurdist folly Rankin finds a loveliness, a little loss to mourn. Perhaps you cannot come home again. Perhaps you become something new when you are away. Yet perhaps trying is still worth the journey.  

Universal Language

Director: Matthew Rankin

Writers:  Ila Firouzabadi, Pirouz Nemati, Matthew Rankin 

Wolfs (2024)

Wofls is surprisingly dull and lacks any spark. It appears to be coasting on the star power of its leads, whose star power may be fading, something the film doesn't want to admit. The film just isn't that funny, energizing, or entertaining generally. It also doesn't really seem to have much of anything to say. 

Clooney and Pitt both play the same characters they always play. Many big stars do this (looking at you Ryan Reynolds) but without a script that capitalizes on their brands other than just relying on them, that doesn't amount to much chemistry or charisma. 10 years ago would you believe that a Clooney/Pitt vehicle would lack all charisma? Perhaps but that's another discussion. These are considered bankable stars and Wolfs shows that perhaps these emperors have lost their clothes. 

There is little offensive or upsetting about Wolfs. It just is. It feels disposable and forgettable. I'd argue this might have to do with what Watts brings to the table. He's a filmmaker whose appeal I just don't get. His work feels standard and assembly line and that's even before he did his MCU work but perhaps even more now. 

So if you're looking for something to have on while you scroll on your phone Wolfs would be perfectly fine. If you are a Clooney and/or Pitt devotee, Wolfs would be fine. 

Wolfs

Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Richard Kind, Francis McDormand

Writer/Director: Jon Watts

 

A Different Man (2024)

Schimberg's story about alienation and identity is bold if a bit clunky. While it explores some extremely interesting ideas about who we are in relation to how other see us, it also jumps around and feels awkward at times. My main complaint is the way the film rushes through pieces and sometimes skips over explanations in ways that leave us filling in blanks. But overall it still works well, mostly due to its incredible cast. 

The sort of roles Stan has been taking outside his MCU gig which launched him to stardom are brave and vulnerable and A Different Man is no exception. He plays a role which is challenging for numerous reasons, including the meta-ness of playing someone with a medical condition he doesn't have that focuses on "deformity" when he, well, looks like Sebastian Stan. But also the challenge of playing this character through different phases of his life and the ways he changes as a person. He is remarkable in how he makes Edward's journey cohesive despite the film's tendency to skip forward and lurch into the extreme. 

It's not just Stan. Reinsve is electric in this playing a character who is immediately magnetic but also elusive. She is often read as more fantasy than real, a fantasy that turns dark as she evolves out of Edward's reach. So much of A Different Man is coded as fantasy, as dream, yet is presented as reality. From Edward's transformation which is dramatically gruesome yet discarded by the plot almost immediately without any consequence. (Without continuing treatment does he remain healed? I guess so. the film doesn't care so lets move on.)  From the way the film has Edward leap into the egregious without much emotional preparation (How he stabs a man out of nowhere simply for making rude and insensitive comments.) The film doesn't allow itself to build a realistic world for Edward to exist in and it doesn't necessarily allow Reinsve's Ingrid to be more than just an object of desire that remains out of reach. Yet the actor imbues her with a compelling energy which is palpable. 

But overall for me it was Pearson who truly steals the show. From the moment he breezes in he owns every moment. He is the epitome of confidence and admiration, which I get is the film's point, upending our expectations which are played out in Stan's character. But I'm not sure it would have worked so well if it wasn't for Pearson's energy and charisma. The film is asking us to question everything we assume about how we judge people based on difference and it is Pearson's portrayal which pulls this together so strongly. 

So I struggled with some of Schimberg's choices in how he told this story but this cast comes together so well to make it all quite powerful and gripping even when I was questioning the story. 

A Different Man

Starring: Adam Pearson, Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Michael Shannon

Writer/Director: Aaron Schimberg

 

Memoir of a Snail (2024)

Proving that animation isn't just for children, director Elliot's second feature is an adult tale of true pathos and raw emotion. Gorgeously stop-motion animated in a grungy style, Memoir of a Snail is a feast for audiences looking to laugh, cry, and be moved when they go to the cinema. 

Elliot has made a name for himself doing meticulous claymation, doing all the animation in the real world without adding any special effects. He tells stories (likely elaborated) from his real life community and and each work is a labour of love. You can feel it when you're watching it. It is easy to believe something might have been CGI here or there but it's not and the scope of this is remarkable. But it's the story and the heart here that is the most powerful part. 

Memoir of a Snail is filled with amazingly rich character after amazingly rich character. The depth and breadth of his story telling and characterization is simply remarkable. But little of that, nor his diligent craftsmanship would matter a whole lot if the film wasn't just such an overwhelming delight. The whole you'll-laugh-you'll-cry thing is completely applicable here with this joyously beautiful film. 

Memoir of a Snail

Starring:  Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Eric Bana, Magda Szubanski, Dominique Pinon, Tony Armstrong, Jacki Weaver 

Writer/Director: Adam Elliot

His Three Daughters (2024)

His Three Daughters starts out feeling somewhat rote. But as its story moves forward it begins to grow slowly in directions that you don't necessarily see coming. It lulls us in making it seem father familiar, yet then explores some interesting threads which we don't expect. This is highlighted by the amazing cast and their connection as actors playing sisters and everything going on between them. Each one is written to fill a very traditional role yet their relationships remain very interesting due to the commitment of the stars and what they bring to the story. 

The three sisters are each a familiar archetype, the neurotic controlling one - the laid back hot mess - and the people pleaser who is covering up just how tightly wound she is. Jacobs' script starts from these places but allows for its actors to interpret more into their characters. That is much of what Jacobs' strength here is, giving the framework for his cast to truly step up and shine. I loved watching Coon, Lyonne, and Olsen work together and make these women feel alive and real. 

There are little things I liked about how Jacobs filmed his story. For example there is a moment where a character is pausing, building up to a decision to do something they know they might regret but also they need to do. Jacobs pulls the camera away, around a corner, but we can see the subtle movements of the character reflected in picture frame glass. It is a moment filled with tension and possibility that captures a very real feeling. There is also a moment when he has gathered the three sisters and after some moments of talking at each other, they begin to speak truth, each their own. It isn't a moment of resolution yet it is release. 

Jacobs takes a bold swing near the end that may or may not work for all audiences. Jacobs script even inserts a meta moment when a character suggests how difficult it can be to capture what loss is in writing. But these are the sorts of things I appreciated about His Three Daughters, a film that contains a lot of exorcising of anger and resentment and a lot of playing with what is expected, all of which is grounded in the three central performances that are incredible to watch. Overall its inconsistencies do not take away from how satisfying it can be. 

His Three Daughters
Starring: Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen, Rudy Galvan, Jovan Adepo, Jay O. Sanders

Writer/Director: Azazel Jacobs

The Substance (2024)

There are things about The Substance that I felt were incredibly powerful and moving but there were also things that felt so tired and cliched. The Substance is long and excessive, the latter being part of its aim and charm, not holding back, and extending to a logical, if horrific, conclusion. But in that lengthy runtime it slides around between being innovative and being redundant. It is spectacle for sure and aggressively provocative. It never pretends it is trying to be anything else. I appreciated its commitment to its take but I often felt its point was being undermined by its refusal to pull back and reflect. 

First off lets talk about Moore who is incredible. If there is anything subtle about The Substance it's her performance even when the plot is pushing her into the grotesque. She holds it together and is bold, playing a desperate and difficult character with finesse and a raw power that reminds us of when she has been given the chance to show off her acting chops in the past.  

Fargeat isn't interested in subtly the rest of the time. Her take is to go full on visually and narratively, never shying away from the fact she is making horror, body horror on the surface but existential horror at the same time. She connects the two genres well. This is a film satirizing beauty standards, so body horror is the perfect fit and a clever conceit. Where it lost it for me is in the film's inability to connect Moore and Qualley/Elizabeth and Sue. The film kept shoving the idea of "remember you are one" in our faces (and the faces of its characters/character) but kept fumbling that relationship. Did they share consciousness, memories, experiences? Did they disappear from each other while one was under? The film has contradictory moments relating to this in a way that pulls you from the film. If Elizabeth isn't experiencing being Sue than what is even the point? But if she is then why do both make the choices they do during their "times" as they sabotage each other/themselves so thoroughly. 

Speaking of not subtle there is also the film's message. Nothing overly revolutionary here; we kill ourselves trying to be perfect. This is told in the very specifically female perspective and that is a reasonable take. Sure our culture still does encourage this so it remains relevant, yet as a modern fable it feels somewhat trite. I kept waiting for the film to find an angle on this that didn't feel rote but it never quite did. And as its monstrous ending approached... and kept going a la Return of the King... it became more and more... expected. The film turns to gross out humour/horror (two sides of the same coin) instead of coming up with a resolution. She destroys herself to keep herself beautiful. Sure the film points fingers at many external factors, but this is very much the story of Elizabeth/Sue/Monster and the film descends into parody of itself. When a nameless character stands up, points at her, and screams "monster" it feels like Plan 9 From Outer Space. I don't think this is on purpose. 

The film gives itself permission to go off the deep end as it never really attempted to create a real world for itself to exist in. The process, the interactions between characters, the setting, never quite felt real. It is all a suspension of disbelief to achieve the story's goals. So the fact that it doesn't feel real at the end is no surprise. But I wonder if it would have had more pathos if it had found a way to make it seem like this could have happened instead of being an elaborate fable. 

Still, I can't say you shouldn't see this film. It brings up so much to talk about and seeing Moore pull this off is incredible. 

The Substance

Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid

Writer/Director: Coralie Fargeat

The Critic (2024)

Ian McKellen is one of those actors who I could watch do almost anything. With The Critic he has a meaty, gloriously rich role that shows off just what a master he is. The film is a tragedy in the classic sense, the story of the downfall of a man by his own actions. It doesn't always quite take advantage of its soapy machinations but what it does do well is showcase McKellen and his supporting cast. I couldn't take my eyes of him. 

McKellen plays a bitter character worn down by the homophobic world that dashes all his dreams, allowing him a certain sort of way of moving through the world successfully while always knowing that he's precariously surviving. He is never left to forget how much they disdain his "proclivities" while also enjoying his showmanship. As long as we walks that line, he can live a sort of life, as long as he doesn't slip. He has gotten to the point in his life when he flirts with disaster but when it does start to hit him he begins to cling desperately and decides he's prepared to do what it takes no matter who it hurts. He is reprehensible yet we cannot help but sympathize.

The Critic is strongest when it is centred on its central character and his schemes. It loses some when it gets too far away from him. I appreciated how much it balances his complications, making us see him in a variety of lights, a spectrum of relatability. Like Enoch's character's admiration for his mentor, we see him, we love him, but we also condemn his choices, and resent him, in that way we resent someone who has betrayed us. It is a towering performance raises the film's rather pedestrian tendencies to make for a very satisfying watch.  

The Critic

Starring: Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong, Ben Barnes, Lesley Manville, Romola Garai, Alfred Enoch

Director: Anand Tucker

Writer: Patrick Marber

Speak No Evil (2024)

Speak No Evil follows the tradition of an American remake of a foreign film that softens up the corners and delivers a more palatable ending. There, I ruined it for you. This Speak No Evil doesn't end on the bleak way its source does and it is far less brutal in its execution. Without knowing about the first film, this version is a tense and unsettling story with an ending that points to a better future for our heroes, perhaps learning how to be better for each other. However those who appreciate the original dark version may find this one a bit apologist. 

I still appreciated quite a bit about the film, the main thing being what it says about masculinity. Speak No Evil provides us with two examples of "manliness", two characters wrestling with how their roles as men impact how they treat others and see themselves. The film cleverly makes us question McNairy's Ben, who has lost his footing and feels literally cuckolded. Contrasted with McAvoy's Paddy, a blustery and domineering version of manhood who appears to have all the desired qualities of manliness we are almost lulled into seeing him as superior. Ben is even drawn to the affirming reinforcement that Paddy demonstrates despite the red flags appearing here and there. Just as many men today are drawn to truly toxic ideas of masculinity as they flounder to figure out who they can be. But as Speak No Evil moves along it shows us just how twisted and toxic that understanding of things is. Ben and his partner Louise (Davis) must work together, must be honest with each other and respect each other's strengths and weaknesses to survive. In doing so it shows us why Ben's masculinity is truly superior in the end. In this way the film's more optimistic ending makes sense and is more satisfying. This Speak No Evil isn't as nihilistic and perhaps a bit redemptive. 

I also appreciated McAvoy's performance. It easily could have descended into caricature yet he holds it just together but right on the edge. He is a villain but the film's need to make his attractive in different ways requires the level of acting that McAvoy is delivering here. No question he's a monster, but it is why that sort of monster might be appealing to many is what the film explores. And that is interesting. 

The film itself falls into some fairly typical thriller tropes. There are cliches and coincidences that are needed to make the story just logically make sense which sometimes make it feel a little manipulated. But despite this it still feels tense and unsettling throughout. 

So understand this is a very different take on the story and one that offers a different experience. Not better or worse, just different. Perhaps that's as good a reason as any to remake a film. 

Speak No Evil

Starring: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, Alex West Lefler, Dan Hough

Writer/Director: James Watkins

 

Uglies (2024)

McG does almost everything wrong possible in his adaptation of the highly moralistic YA novel Uglies. The film's (and book's) rather simplistic premise, that we should question the expectations our society has drilled into us (especially those around beauty standards and the worth of human beings) isn't wrong, it's just overly simplistic with little to no nuance or analysis. The movie falls into pretty typical traps that undermine any validity the thesis has and ends up being a rather lifeless, boring film. 

First of all his cast of so called "uglies" are all played by fairly typically beautiful people. The film projects their beautiful versions of themselves simply as them with more make up. Throw away that film trope of having elderly 20 somethings play teenagers (something that really needs to die (except Grease)  the fact they couldn't find a cast of actors who weren't conventionally "beautiful" points out just how much hypocrisy the film is showing. The film never ties into that analysis of power based on physical characteristics anything tied to class, race, ability, or other intersectional factors which often inform so much of this problem in the real world. According to Uglies the real problem is we don't accept somewhat attractive people as full human beings.

I could go on with other critiques of the thesis such as the city representing hegemony and the country symbolizing freedom when diversity is seen most in populated areas while rural communities tend to be more homogenous. I really felt casting a trans actor as a villain who wants children to be forced to have surgeries was truly a bad choice by the film makers. There is just so much about what Uglies is doing that is gross. 

But perhaps the worst crime is how dull it is. It is a slog to get through, it's predictable and cliched as shit. It is the worst thing a movie can be, boring. 

Uglies

Starring: Joey King, Brianne Tju, Keith Powers, Chase Stokes, Laverne Cox

Director: McG

Writers: Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, Whit Anderson 

Rebel Ridge (2024)

Saulnier has crafted a tight and tense thriller which gets right down to business and tells a chilling battle of wits between two men that holds tight right til the end with only small moments of pause throughout. Rebel Ridge is a gripping watch featuring two actors who create a tense tete a tete. Perhaps it pushes some realism boundaries at times but that's part of the fun and Saulnier's smart script makes it work and pays off for a thriller that feels more than just filler. 

Pierre, so good in last year's Brother, has a great career in front of him and Johnson is a veteran performer who does a great job playing complicated villains. Both are wonderful playing off against each other in this mano a mano. Yeah there is some great physical confrontations but it's the psychological stand off which is the most fascinating. Saulnier's script is tight and creatively deals with the kinds of plot holes a story like this necessitates. All of this comes together for a fun movie that also has some weight to it. 

Once can't deny there are bigger issues here than just a thriller. The film comments on the abuse of power inherent in hierarchal systems and explores the racial elements in subtle yet effective ways, not igoring the real world complications which a story like this involves. The tale isn't simple and that's a big source of the appeal. Saulnier packs a lot into this story which becomes quite multifaceted a it plays out while remaining somewhat delightfully pulpy. Rebel Ridge is a satisfying and accessible film that doesn't pander to the audience or talk down to them which is a nice combination in these times. For me Rebel Ridge walked a fine line and delivered so I'd recommend a watch. 

Rebel Ridge

Starring: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, David Denman, James Cromwell 

Writer/Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Legacy sequels continue to be all the rage in the 2020s with all sorts of differing results. Whether its a new Bad Boys, Exorcist, Twister, Ghostbusters, Evil Dead, Top Gun, Matrix, Rocky, Mad Max, or event TV series follows ups like Willow or The Dark Crystal, these attempts to mine the gold of long beloved old films continue to churn out. From next generation story continuations to full on new casts in similar story, writers are trying all sorts of ways to recycle these ideas. But I'm not sure anyone has gone as balls to the wall bonkers as Burton did with his long gestating Beetlejuice sequel. 

Burton's recent output hasn't been the most odd ball but sort of felt like a tamed version of his signature style. But by revisiting his second ever feature, a film that was odd (Day-O!) but surprisingly commercial, seems to have reignited a demented sense of playfulness that has produced a madcap script and old school aesthetic (Burton's "hand drawn" looking visuals and practical effect heavy sensibility) that has been missing from his work. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is rambling mess of a story featuring body horror vibes and randomness that really shouldn't work... but it does. There are characters there for little to no reason, plot threads that come and go, and motivations which seems questionably illogical, yet it all comes together to be very satisfying and bizarrely hilarious. 

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice leans in to the original film's often forgotten distastefulness. There is a lot that is gruesomely terrifying here that is papered over with a dark humour. I think we often gloss over the fact that the title character is a predatory villain and much of what happens is dark. Much of what makes the first film work is how well Burton and Keaton integrated the darkness with the comedy. It was very much about processing our greatest fears and unanswerable questions about death through laughter and this sequel gets that. We're processing a lot of trauma here and doing so through the kind full throated humour which makes us hurt from laughing. By the time the film gets to its MacArthur Park sequence, a full on wackadoodle moment of sheer cinematic beauty, we are full in on Burton's vision for mixing pain and comedy.

Is the film perfect? No. Keaton's Betelgeuse feels a bit tired (something that worked for him revisiting an elderly Bruce Wayne in The Flash but here doesn't feel quite right for an ageless demon/ghost). When he says the line "the Juice is loose" it just feels a bit off. And Ryder's constant exasperated expression feels meta, like she's playing herself playing Lydia instead of playing Lydia herself. I have mixed feelings about Monica Belucci's appearance. She's gonzo sexy in an unsettling body horror way but her character is also rather pointless, often just wandering around for many scene. Yet her scenes are some of the most delightful in the story. Theroux's character is more annoying that constructively villainous and the plot holes related to Cabrera's character are big enough to drive a truck through. But I guess it's nice to see a male character be fridged for a female character's story arc for a change.  

Sure I could pull apart a lot of this film but I don't want to cause it tapped something fun and effective in its blend of deep seeded fear and guttural laughter. See it. You'll want to get on the Soul Train too. I didn't mention DaFoe but kudos to him for clearly having the. most fun of anyone in the whole film!

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Starring: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Burn Gorman, Danny DeVito, Santiago Cabrera, Amy Nuttall, Arthur Conti

Director: Tim Burton

Writers: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar 

The Deliverance (2024)

Exorcism films rarely work for me because I find they all follow a trope that, for me, always pulls me out of the film. The idea that an evil spirit that has possessed someone is going to spend its time spewing profanities and making bodies do weird things just feels... well not that evil. There are really terrible things a demon could do while in possession of a human and films don't tend to go there. Anyway it always feels off to me. 

People have really strong feelings about Lee Daniels' films. Say what you will, there was an aspect of The Deliverance that I found fascinating. Daniels takes the possession cliches and uses them to comment on something else, something more real. In doing so I feel he tapped into something that I found very interesting and I hope will make people think. Good horror does that; tells a fantastical story that comments on very real world issues. I think The Deliverance, whether it is that good of a movie or not, does that in a way I hadn't seen before. 

Poor families, often headed by single mothers, in PIBOC communities, are often pathologized in ways that ignores systemic factors (such as past trauma, poverty, addiction, lack of community supports) to place blame for everything from day to day stressors to full blown crises they face on so called "personal character weaknesses". This allows us to move forward as a society without taking responsibility for how our systems let down the most marginalized people and villainize them instead. The Deliverance uses the metaphor of the possession to dramatize this. While everyone around her thinks Ebony is a bad mother or that her children are inherently bad (likely due to factors such as racism) in reality what is plaguing the well being of her children is something external, something that no one is willing to acknowledge. I found using the familiar exorcism story line as a means of exploring these themes was a clever and interesting way into this story. 

However it is debatable how just how successful Daniels is with this allegory. For me The Deliverance didn't rise above my problems with possession horror. Day and Close are both very good for many the way Daniels directs bombastic performances from his actors can be a bit much. Still, I found myself thinking a lot about many of the ramifications of this story and that is worth something.

The Deliverance

Starring: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo'Nique, Caleb McLaughlin, Demi Singleton, Omar Epps, Coleen Camp

Director: Lee Daniels

Writers: David Coggeshall, Elijah Bynum