Will & Harper (2024)

Sometimes a film is for the community it focuses on and sometimes it is more for those around them, the potential allies or maybe even those who just need an education. While the road trip itself may have been specifically for Will and Harper and their personal journey as long time friends, the documentary of that trip feels like it's for the cis world ready (or not so ready) to learn a little bit of what life for a trans woman is like. Perhaps other trans people will watch this and feel some sort of connection to the friends and loved ones in their lives which have stuck by them. That's not for me to say. But as a cis person who has a number of trans people in my life I love, there was much about watching Will & Harper that spoke to me and reminded me of my responsibilities to them. 

Will & Harper is a bit of a weird story in that it follows a very famous white cis man as he crosses the country with his good friend, a trans woman, who has recently transitioned later in life. There are conversations and moments that clearly are about Will slowly coming to better understand his friend and her experience and learning about how to be better in supporting her. Despite how clearly he loves her and how much he wants to support her, he still has so much learning to do and makes many mistakes. And so much of the film reminded me of my own fumbles in trying to do better and how much we all can be doing for the trans people in our lives we love. Or maybe, for those who don't have trans people (they know of) in their lives, for their trans neighbours. 

Will & Harper is sensitively done, adding in as much good natured humour as possible and keeping much of the most disturbing transphobia at bay. It doesn't ignore it, but it doesn't focus on it. Instead Will, and the film (in what it chooses to share with us), is modelling how to be a better cis-person. Harper is very candid with some difficult things and she is doing much of the heavy lifting here making herself vulnerable for the benefit of the generally non-trans audience watching the film. This is a wake up call and we need to answer by taking the lessons and doing better once we know better. 

I can't offer a trans perspective on this film. That is for someone else to do. What I can say as a cis person who also wants to do better, is how much I appreciated her putting this out there into the world and how her friends and family around her model how to be just a little better. Thank you Harper Steele for offering up this experience so that so many of us can learn a little bit more and perhaps make this world a bit safer and a bit more loving. 

Will & Harper

Starring: Will Farrell, Harper Steele

Director: Josh Greenbaum

 

Megalopolis (2024)

Sometimes films are just such a legendary spectacle they need to be seen to be believed. Yet even with the troubled tale of the making of Megalopolis from its long gestation through its troubled production,  once you see it the film remains shockingly bombastic, messy, incoherent, spectacular, and confused. It is a film about the future that is regressively old fashioned. It is a film about corrupting power which relies on a "great man" archetype. Megalopolis is top heavy yet also weightless. It is a self proclaimed "fable" which doesn't adhere to realism and throws consistency to the wind, yet it is also disappointingly predictable in its narrative and conventional in its morality. It both acts timeless yet references specifics of our time. I think I wanted it to be a triumphant expression of an artist's desire, good or bad, yet it ends up feeling much like an argument against artistic roughshod. 

I think there are some good intentions here in how the film attempts to portray how selfish ambition aligns with simple populism to stand in the way of progress. I think there is a desire to explore an idealism for some political magnanimity in producing utopia. But the film's inability to see beyond centring some visionary leader, and male leader at that, restrains itself. The idea of empire and civilization as stabilizing forces, in danger from corrupting forces, only to be saved by the right sort of hero, is disappointingly myopic. The final triumph of the film feels false and cold. 

But the film is just so damn incredible to watch. It doesn't have any consistent visual palate and instead feels chaotic in its throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach. Often I found myself just fascinated with what I was seeing, only to be pulled out of the story as it felt more a veneer than cogently part of the narrative. I love a bold film maker vision (I'm here for the Baz Luhrmann's of the world) but when it feels like you could knock it over with a strong cough...

Overall Megalopolis is most disappointing in just how little it is. The ideas are small, the story is narrow, the characters are one dimensional. I was prepared to be overwhelmed by a bold vision and felt I was just exposed to some thinly connected sidenotes. Still I'm glad I saw it. I just wish it offered me more to talk about. 

Megalopolis

Starring: Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Kathryn Hunter, Dustin Hoffman, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, DB Sweeney, Balthazar Getty

Writer/Director: Francis Ford Coppola 

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