In Hollywood, an Actor and His Stuntman Face a Career Crisis

Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt in
"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Quentin Tarantino is a writer-director who shows you how much he loves movies.  It can either be imbuing his films with homages to other films; or, he can make the bold, creative move of rewriting history and have filmmaking help end World War II, such as what he did in “Inglourious Basterds.”  His appreciation for cinema is contagious, and whenever a movie of his is released, it pretty much becomes an event for passionate moviegoers as they wait to see what ideas he will bring to the big screen.

His love of movies seems to have come to a head in his latest film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”  This is a film that encompasses all of his enthusiasms for the art form, and with dynamic performances and a story that seems to show every corner of its titular location, Tarantino delivers an irresistible aura in a fascinating story within the entertainment industry.

Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a former star of a well-known Western television series called “Bounty Law,” and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) works as his stunt double.  As Rick begins to face obscurity, he and Cliff will traverse through Hollywood in 1969 as they do what they can to keep their careers alive.

DiCaprio gives a dramatic and humorous performance as an actor who’s fearing irrelevancy.  His comical moments arrive whenever he messes up a line while filming and berates himself for it, or when he confronts intruders on his property.  However, the crux of his role is the way in which he captures the fear that his character has of being forgotten.  As Rick works to act his heart out in whichever acting opportunities come his way, DiCaprio shows how much his character values his career, someone who has been in the spotlight for so long and will do anything to have it keep shining on him.  This is a performance with much intensity, both high-key and low-key, and like many of DiCaprio’s other roles, this is a character that he ensures that you’ll remember.

Pitt presents his character as someone who’s more laid-back and doesn’t seem as worried about the future as Rick.  However, in the scenes where he’s apart from Rick and running errands around Hollywood or is back at his home, Pitt shows subdued hints of someone who’s lonely without his best friend.  This solitude is amplified in portions of the movie where Pitt doesn’t have much dialogue, be it when Cliff is on the roof of Rick’s house trying to fix his television antenna, or cruising down the streets of Los Angeles, and this let’s us try to read Pitt’s character when it’s not clear what’s going through his mind.  And, when Pitt is given the chance to show Cliff’s fearlessness and mix it in with some of the movie’s funniest scenes, Pitt creates one of the coolest movie characters you’ll see this year.

Having DiCaprio and Pitt work together reminds one of Robert Aldrich’s 1962 film, “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” in that it had two of the biggest actresses of that time (Bette Davis and Joan Crawford) appearing in a story about two women who were washed-up entertainers, and they had never acted together before that.  This is the case with DiCaprio and Pitt, as they’re two of our most-notable stars today; they’re in a story about two people whose time in the entertainment industry seems to have passed; and they’ve never worked together before this movie.  The two of them are sometimes separated for sizable portions of the movie, but when they’re given the chance to be together, their interactions helps produce a superb on-screen bond, out of which these two iconic actors make the most whenever they have the opportunity.

The rest of the cast is an excellent ensemble.  Besides DiCaprio and Pitt, you have Margot Robbie as actress Sharon Tate; Emile Hirsch as Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring; Margaret Qualley, Dakota Fanning, and Austin Butler as members of the “Manson Family;” Timothy Olyphant as actor James Stacey; Bruce Dern as rancher George Spahn; Al Pacino as Dalton’s agent; Kurt Russell as a stunt coordinator; Mike Moh as Bruce Lee; and Luke Perry, in his final film role, as actor Wayne Maunder.  Many of these cast members are only given one or two scenes, but they all make an impression, and the inclusion of so many characters provides this movie with a sprawling, epic feel of exploring this period of Hollywood.

Tarantino’s screenplay has a few scenes that could have been trimmed a bit; but, for the most part, the movie flies by.  The story takes a sort of day-in-the-life approach when depicting its two main characters, with Rick spending his days filming television shows and contemplating the direction in which his career is headed, while Cliff is seen going about the day-to-day business that occupies his time when he’s not needed on the set with Rick.  Both of these story lines highlight how the two of them are at a crossroads when it comes to their usefulness to those around them.  Each of their stories is given enough time to unfold and provide us into the look of these characters’ lives and the deep friendship that they have built out of their collaboration.

Cinematographer Robert Richardson, who worked with Tarantino on “Kill Bill: Vol. 1,” “Kill Bill: Vol. 2,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Django Unchained,” and “The Hateful Eight,” shows Hollywood on a grand scale as he brings walks us down the streets and drives us swiftly on the roads as we explore the many goings-on of the film’s location.  Whether it be through long takes that allow for conversations and actions to play out at a steady motion, or crane shots that offer us views of Los Angeles, Richardson makes sure that we become immersed in the Hollywood that his camerawork presents to us.  With what you see in this film, the teamwork between Tarantino and Richardson continues to be one of the cinema’s finest director-cinematographer collaborations to date.

Tarantino gives us a thorough look and feel for 1960s Hollywood.  With the help of Barbara Ling’s production design and Arianne Phillips’ costumes, we’re absorbed in the period detail of the film’s setting, and the attention that seems to have been committed to get the right look is magnificent.  It’s at the point where you don’t feel like you’re watching a movie, but staring at a portal that’s allowing you to view 50 years into the past, and this shows how much dedication Tarantino had in bringing this era to life.

With Tarantino’s unwavering love for movies, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” seems to be a movie that only he could have made.  You’ll become lost in it, and you might even forget where you are.

Grade: A-

An Ordinary Guy Finds His Calling in the World of Karate

Jesse Eisenberg (left) and Alessandro Nivola in
"The Art of Self-Defense"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Writer-director Riley Stearns is going to make a name for himself this year.  His second directorial feature, “The Art of Self-Defense,” isn’t just dark and funny, but it’s also bold in how it manages to do whatever it can to subvert your expectations and shock you in between making you laugh.

Casey Davies (Jesse Eisenberg) lives a life devoid of any excitement.  Following a night where he’s mugged, he decides to start taking martial arts classes.  As Casey becomes more in tune with his fighting abilities, his life soon takes some startling turns.

Eisenberg hasn’t been in many memorable films since his breakout performance in David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” so seeing him in a role where his character goes through such drastic changes throughout the story is something to see.  He shows his character’s ineptness when tying to interact with others, but he soon transforms into something that’s much more lethal.  While Eisenberg’s performance may show the type of awkward persona that we’ve seen in several of his other films, this one starts off like that, but will then stun you in how it veers into a different, more disturbing direction.  It’s a wonderful transition to witness, one that may even cause you to fear his character as the film goes on.

Imogen Poots delivers a great performance as one of the dojo’s top students, Anna, someone who as a stoic exterior, but has a simmering anger beneath for past wrongs committed by others.  It’s a performance that may seem one-note at first, but further in movie, this turns out not to be the case.  Soon, Anna begins to open up more to us, Poots engages the audience as she starts to reveal the reasoning behind the actions of her character and inviting us to uncover the mysterious nature of her role.

Alessandro Nivola, who portrays the karate sensei, gives another performance that proves that he’s an actor whose talent deserves more recognition.  As an instructor who makes you question the type of person he is right away, Nivola creates a character who’s effective in how grating his overzealous attitude of self-defense is, having you wonder if he has what’s best for his students in mind.  He’s able to mix the comedic and malevolent aspects of his character well, keeping us on edge as he takes as many unexpected turns as Casey.

The screenplay by Stearns can be pretty unsubtle in terms of its message, but the way in which it goes about presenting its story makes up for this flaw.  While it takes a while for the movie to pick up, it takes a very dark, yet still comedic turn near the end of the first act and brings this film into different territory.  From there, the story takes some entertainingly vicious turns that upend the movie in the best way.  Although the story follows a couple of beats that are similar to those of Fincher’s “Fight Club” and Timur Bekmambetov’s “Wanted,” such as showing a main character in their mundane life and striving towards something better, the narrative unfolds in an unpredictable way that makes this a story at first seem like something you know, but as it goes on, you realize that you couldn’t be more wrong.  In the middle of this is a thought-provoking view of modern masculinity, a view that can make a significant impact on the viewer with its strangeness and realness.

Stearns does a lot to catch you off guard as to how dark this movie can get.  Because of how odd the world of this movie is depicted, it’s easy to go along with the sharp transition that this film makes about half an hour in.  Despite the world that’s shown in this film reflects on current themes, it doesn’t quite look like or feel like our own, which allows for us to become immersed in the off-kilter nature of the film’s setting and make the environment seem absurd enough to take place in some alternate universe.

“The Art of Self-Defense” marks an ambitious continuation for Stearns’ filmmaking career.  Through a timely story and excellent performances, this movie hits the audience as hard as the punches and kicks that his characters inflict on each other.

Grade: A-

Within a Family, There’s a Secret That Everybody Knows, Except One

From left: Jiang Yongbo, Aoi Mizuhara, Chen Han, Tzi Ma,
Awkwafina, Li Xiang, Lu Hong, and Diana Lin in "The Farewell"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com 

With families differing between cultures, and their traditions carrying on for decades, maybe even centuries, it’s fascinating to see many of the world’s customs portrayed in movies, as well as see how people honor their family history across nationalities.  Although there might be many variances between these cultures, one of the things that’s a commonality is togetherness, and it’s always a life-affirming concept to see on screen.

Writer-director Lulu Wang delivers such a story with her comedy-drama, “The Farewell,” a superb look at a family that strikes a perfect balance between laughs and tearjerking emotions.

Billi (Awkwafina) is a Chinese-American woman living in New York City.  When Billi finds out from her parents (Tzi Ma and Diana Lin) that her grandmother (Zhao Shuzhen) has been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, they decide to go to China to see her, all while having the family keep the diagnosis a secret from her.  As their visit progresses, Billi is unsure if she will be able to keep her grandmother in the dark for long.

After giving a hilarious supporting performance last summer in “Crazy Rich Asians,” Awkwafina delivers a stunning dramatic turn that shows us her awe-inspiring range, showing the anguish that it takes to hold such a dire secret from someone and pretend that everything is fine.  When her character is with her grandmother, Awkwakina shows the love and respect that she has for her, which makes her performance all of the more emotional as she tries not to crack under the weight of the situation.  Through all of this, Awkwafina also shows the ache of being a sort of outsider in her family while visiting China because of how she’s the only one who believes that keeping the secret from her grandmother is wrong.  Between Billi expressing love for her grandmother and sadness from hiding her true feelings from her, Awkwakina’s performance is as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking, leaving you amazed at what she can accomplish as an actress.

Shuzhen provides a comical performance as a carefree grandmother who doesn’t want anything more than the best for her family.  She exudes absolute happiness whenever she’s on screen, showing a love for life that brings about endless vibrancy, and her welcoming smile and personality get you caught up in her age-is-just-a-number spirit.  Despite her character’s illness, Shuzhen leaves you in such an uplifted mood at her optimism, and you can’t help but grin as she tries to help her family have the greatest time possible while on their visit.

The whole cast provides a genuineness in their performances that makes this a fascinating family to watch as they share several meals, interact with one another, and try to catch up on how everyone is doing after not having seen each other in a long time.  Everyone does terrific work in creating this family and presenting the dynamics among them as they have discussions, all of which have a strong naturalism to them.  This is a way to absorb you into their lifestyle, making you feel like a guest at their dinner table as they open up to each other and allow you to get to know them.

The screenplay by Wang, which is based on her own experiences with her grandmother’s illness, provides a lot of insight into this family and how they deal with keeping the cancer diagnosis a secret, all while depicting the inner conflict of Billi trying to keep that secret, but wanting to tell her grandmother.  This serves as an exploration of how Chinese citizens and Americans would handle the situation differently, allowing the audience to think about what they would do in such a scenario and about the ethics behind both sides of the argument. 

The direction by Wang is observational, seeming like she’s letting the family sit and talk as they go over certain issues.  Through this, she brings you into her culture and provides you with the opportunity to see her lifestyle.  Wang doesn’t feel the need to add any visual flairs because she doesn’t want to distract us from the details of each family member as we watch them, and that’s not a bad thing at all, as it keeps the setting grounded and lets the cast go about the movie with as much realism as possible.

In terms of the views between Chinese and American culture, one of the best scenes in the film is a dinner sequence in which the family discusses raising children in China, as Billi’s extended family has done, versus America, which is what Billi’s immediate family has done.  Voices aren’t raised and there aren’t exaggerated physical movements during this debate, but you can still feel the tension as Wang seems to step back and allow the conversation to play out.

In “The Farewell,” you can sense the love that Wang has for her heritage and family in every scene, and you feel lucky to be given an opportunity to look inside the world of these characters as they handle their ordeal, making this a beautiful, funny, tender, and dramatic family portrait.

Grade: A

For a San Francisco Native, There’s No Place Like Home

Jonathan Majors (left) and Jimmie Fails in
"The Last Black Man in San Francisco"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

The opening scene of director Joe Talbot’s drama, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” has a sidewalk preacher (Willie Hen) stand on a crate and lament to passersby of how the San Francisco of the past is now gone, replaced with something that seems to overshadow what he remembers of the city.  It’s a scene that invites you into the plight of the main character and how he must face this issue, resulting in a film that’s a beautiful and unforgettable story of what it means to call a place your home.

The story follows a young African-American man, Jimmie Fails (Jimmie Fails, playing a semi-autobiographical version of himself), as he and his best friend, Montgomery Allen (Jonathan Majors), an aspiring playwright, try to regain the former’s childhood home.

Fails, in his feature-film debut, delivers a heartrending performance as a man who will do whatever he can to reclaim the home that’s been a part of his life, even when he wasn’t living in it.  It’s a melancholic portrayal that has him present an unending longing in Jimmie’s eyes as he tries to get back his home.  While you get a sense of how much the house means to him throughout the whole film, one scene that sticks out is when he meets with a banker to go over the possibility of him being able to afford the house.  In this sequence, Jimmie bares his soul when talking about how dedicated he would be towards paying off the house, even if it’s out of his financial grasp, and you’re nothing short of moved when Fails performs this scene.  This is an understated performance for the film’s duration, but the way in which Fails is able to convey the deep passion that his character has for his house and San Francisco without overdoing it is impactful, leaving you in awe at this promising new actor.

Majors is every ounce as good, helping Jimmie on his quest to acquiring the house.  The loyalty and camaraderie that he shares with Jimmie shows you how much Montgomery cares about helping his friend achieve what he desires, even if Montgomery sometimes seems like he might not think this is what’s best.  While Montgomery seems soft-spoken for most of the film, there’s a sequence within the last half hour where all of his emotions come to a head, and the power with which he expresses them astounds you and causes you to stop breathing as he takes the reins of what may be the most pivotal scene in the film.

Any sequence that Fails and Majors share is something to treasure, as their brotherly connection highlights how home isn’t just a place, but the people with whom you share your life.  There’s an inseparableness between them that seems like it can withstand the changes that have occurred throughout the years in San Francisco, and you experience the comfort that they feel as they go about their day-to-day lives enjoying each other’s company and try to make their way in a city that seems to have forgotten them.

Populating Jimmie and Montgomery’s beloved childhood city is a group of strong supporting performances, such as Danny Glover as Montgomery’s grandfather; Tichina Arnold as Jimmie’s aunt; Rob Morgan as Jimmie’s father; Mike Epps as Jimmie’s childhood friend; Finn Wittrock as a real estate agent; and Willie Hen as a preacher.  Despite each of these characters having limited screen time, they all add their own significance to Jimmie and Montgomery’s story and make their appearances as impactful as they can.

The screenplay by Talbot and Rob Richert, which is partly based on Fails’ life, focuses on the gentrification that San Francisco has experienced, with the story allowing us to travel throughout the city’s streets and get a sense of the personality that’s been erased from this region over the years.  On several occasions, such as in one scene with a tour group on Segways, or another scene with a trolly full of obnoxious party people, we see the how much of the city’s character has changed, giving us the chance to mourn with Jimmie and Montgomery as they gaze upon a city that’s unrecognizable to them.  It’s a deep examination of San Francisco and a friendship whose roots are based within it, and we’re offered a chapter in Jimmie and Montgomery’s lives that succeeds in showing us the wider picture of what they’ve experienced while growing up.

In his feature-directorial debut, Talbot captures the sights, sounds, and people of San Francisco with a love that’s so strong, it just about whisks you away to those streets and makes you a part of the city.  With the help of cinematography from Adam Newport-Berra, Talbot has us move around the house, where the camerawork captures the gorgeous interior that’s kissed by the sunbeams that hit through the windows.  We travel from room to room as we see how much this home is ingrained in Jimmie and Montgomery’s lives, and the excitement that they express as they enter the house and exude boundless joy absorbs you into this grand occasion.  There’s also the use of slow motion in a few instances within the first 10 minutes as Jimmie and Montgomery travel down the city streets and view the people that cross their paths.  The use of slow motion allows us to hone in on the details of those citizens as these two characters glimpse at them, letting us see these individuals through Jimmie and Montgomery’s eyes.

Through an emotional gaze of two young men trying to recover what’s theirs, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is a tribute as to how your home shapes your identity and the importance of never forgetting from where you came.

Grade: A

A Summer Getaway Turns Into a Nightmare

Jack Reynor and Florence Pugh in "Midsommar"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Last year, writer-director Ari Aster not only delivered the best horror movie of the year, but one of the best movies of the year with his feature directorial debut, “Hereditary.”  With the talent he was able to assemble in front of and behind the camera, Aster made a grand and unforgettable entrance with a film that was impossible to forget once it ended.  The horror genre found one of its next great visionaries, and it was just a matter of time before he returned for his second feature.

His latest endeavor, a folk-horror film called “Midsommar,” further establishes him as a master of horror, despite this only being his second full-length feature.  Here, he creates a scary, hallucinatory experience that offers a lot to unpack once it’s over.

Dani Ardor (Florence Pugh) is dealing with a family tragedy, which puts a strain on her already-rocky relationship with her boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor).  When he and his friends, Josh (William Jackson Harper), Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), and Mark (Will Poulter), decide to take a take a trip to a commune in Sweden for its midsummer celebration, which takes place every 90 years, Christian invites Dani after she finds out about it.  While their hosts seem pleasant at first, the days that follow will reveal the deeper and disturbing truths behind the festivities.

Pugh provides a visceral performance as a young woman overcome with grief.  Right from the beginning, her character is dealing with family issues, and Pugh delivers the emotional burden of her scenario, even when it has to be understated when trying to shield her troubles from Christian.  There’s a sense of loneliness that Pugh exhibits as her character remains distant from Christian and his friends, bringing us into the storm clouds wrapped around her head as she tries to acclimate herself into the group, but still feels a disconnection.  As you see Dani interact with the commune throughout the movie, Pugh portrays her character in such a way that keeps us guessing as to where she will be, psychologically, at the conclusion of the film, which is the main factor that grips you throughout this journey of increasing dread.

Just like with “Hereditary,” Aster’s screenplay focuses on his main character who’s buried in sorrow.  However, the circumstances of the plot allow for him to approach the subject from a different angle.  It explores Dani’s psyche as she seems to descend further down a black hole of madness, inviting you to see how this new and strange environment will impact her mental state the longer she stays there. 

With nearly a two-and-a-half-hour runtime, this movie has a lot of ground to cover, both before and during the trip in Sweden.  Plenty of time is spent in the beginning of the story to allow us to get to know Dani, the questionable relationship between her and Christian, and how she attempts to interact with others who see her as a burden.  All of this helps you become invested in her wellbeing and sympathize with her when no one else seems like they will.

Once we arrive at the commune, we’re given a full view into the traditions of its inhabitants.  While the hosts seem harmless at the beginning, Aster soon throws us into the upsetting reality of the meaning behind them and their customs, and we’re left wondering what sinister motives will be revealed as the film goes on.  Aster creates a community that’s fully realized in the narrative, providing an endless stream of details as we’re introduced to more and more facets of the commune’s lifestyle.

Aster re-teams with his “Hereditary” cinematographer, Pawel Pogorzelski, to switch from the terrifying use of darkness in that film to utilizing excessive summer sunlight to emphasize the details of the commune and show that the dangers of this community are present under the false protection of day.

The camerawork takes on a wavy quality in certain scenes that provide a psychedelic effect and make you feel trapped within the disorienting environment of the commune, making it seem like you can’t escape the hold that the inhabitants have on their visitors.  These sequences give you a disquieting sensation of being imprisoned in an unstable state of mind, lost in your surroundings, and not knowing what will happen to you.

In the first half hour of the film, Pogorzelski’s camerawork has a couple of instances of mirrors being used during conversations.  The first is where Dani is talking with Christian, where we see her actual self and a reflection of Christian in a mirror next her.  The second is where Dani visits Christian and his friends in one of their homes, and we see Dani’s reflection in a mirror and Christian and his friends’ actual selves as they’re talking with her.  It’s an effective way to highlight the detachment between them and Dani, furthering our realization of how isolated she feels when she’s among them.

The production design by Henrik Svensson focuses a lot on paintings, whether they’re those that are hanging on the walls of Dani’s apartment, or wall paintings at the commune.  It’s important for the viewer to pay attention to these paintings because they leave many clues as to what will happen in the film.  These are pieces to a complicated puzzle that have a storybook quality to their designs, but hold mysterious and disturbing implications.

Even with a lengthily runtime, Aster shows an ability to have every scene feel necessary, and he knows that this story needs enough time to have us absorb all of the details of the characters and commune.  Through it all, he continues to show a stunning talent for using his cast, camerawork, editing, set design, and sound to maximum effect and delivers another uncompromising vision of horror and raw emotion.

With just two feature-length films, Aster proves that he’s someone who can enliven the horror genre with something that will leave you shaken, and if his next movie is anything like “Midsommar” and “Hereditary,” it’ll be something that you won’t want to miss.

Grade: A

Top Five Films of 2019, So Far

John Chester and Emma the Pig in "The Biggest Little Farm"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

5) The Biggest Little Farm - We’ve had a few great documentaries in the first half of 2019, and director John Chester’s reach-for-your-dreams account of him and his wife, Molly, building a farm out of a desolate piece of land is an absolute joy.  Chester provides a thorough look into how the farm came to be, the science behind its many aspects, and the ingenious ways in which he, Molly, and their team address the problems that arise.  The gorgeous camerawork highlights the countless details of the inner workings of the farm, both technical and biological, and to see the farm evolve over time from emptiness to lushness is to witness a vision come true for Chester and Molly.  There’s a sense of wonder in this movie that’s made even more potent because you see the rewards of the persistence in bringing the farm to life, and it’s an inspiration to viewers to go out and pursue their aspirations because this film shows that anything is possible when you set your mind to something.  When you watch this movie, you’ll realize that you’ve never seen a farm quite like this one.

Taron Egerton in "Rocketman"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

4) Rocketman - While biopics about musicians tend to feel identical to each other, director Dexter Fletcher’s exuberant film about Elton John transcends the conventional, just like its subject, to bring us a rollicking and emotional view into the life of the iconic singer.  Taron Egerton solidifies himself as a bonafide star in the lead role, doing his own singing and transitioning into the role as he leaves it all out there on the screen.  The boldest move of this film is how it succeeds as both an in-depth examination of Elton and a full-fledged musical, staging several of his numbers as song-and-dance sequences, with one of the most notable being “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” a sequence whose energy offers pure excitement.  There’s vibrancy and drama to spare as we explore Elton’s success and demons, and thanks to all involved, this film is a tribute to the enthusiasm that Elton presented to his audience, making this a movie that his fame and genius deserve.

Matthias Schoenaerts in "The Mustang"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

3) The Mustang - While this drama from director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre may seem like your typical man-befriends-animal narrative on the surface, this film has more going on than it will have you believe.  The story follows Roman Coleman (Matthias Schoenaerts), a prisoner in a correctional facility, who’s given a chance at rehabilitation by taking part in a program where inmates train wild horses.  Schoenaerts delivers an understated, yet raw performance as the taciturn prisoner who doesn’t see any hope for himself, until be begins bonding with his horse.  This is a tender and emotional story of redemption that never feels the need to over-sentimentalize anything, knowing full well that great acting and subtle storytelling is more than enough to pull you into something that’s on this small of a scale, but leaves a huge impact. 

Lupita Nyong'o in "Us"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

2) Us - After Jordan Peele impressed audiences with his directorial debut in “Get Out,” he has continued to build his stature as a top-tier filmmaker with his second feature, where he tells the story of a family who goes on vacation to their lake house, only to be confronted one night by a family that looks just like them.  Lupita Nyong’o gives a shattering performance as the matriarch of the family and her chill-inducing doppelgänger, bringing an intensity that’s in sync with the craziness that unfolds.  Having seen this movie twice, you have to marvel at how Peele allows you to pick up so many small details upon additional viewings, just as he accomplished with “Get Out.”  He shows an ability to move between low-key horror and in-your-face horror, while still imbuing the viewer with an abundance of clues that prove his talent for making us search for things upon revisiting the movie, things that might not be so obvious the first time around.  Peele is a filmmaker who can entertain, frighten, and make us think, and I’m sure he has other film ideas in mind that will do the same.

Honor Swinton Byrne and Tom Burke in "The Souvenir"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

1) The Souvenir - Written and directed by Joanna Hogg, this romantic-drama unfolds a little bit at a time as it explores the relationship at its center, in a story about an aspiring filmmaker, Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne, daughter of Tilda Swinton), who falls in love with an enigmatic man, Anthony (Tom Burke).  Byrne gives a terrific breakout performance as a young woman who’s working towards her artistic ambitions, while also trying to find out the secrets to Burke’s character, and Burke is just as great as an individual who’s near unreadable at the start, but then begins to unveil himself.  This is one of those movies where you’re not sure where it’s heading, and this makes us pay extra close attention to what happens.  It’s romantic, mysterious, and engrossing, with Hogg’s achievement in establishing mood inviting us into the lives of these characters as we wait to see what becomes of the couple’s relationship.  By the time that the movie ends, there’s so much left to decipher, which makes this film an enthralling experience as you keep working to piece the mystery together as you leave the theater.  This movie doesn’t offer many answers at first, but if you think hard enough, you’ll find them.

When Zombies Rise in a Small Town, They Don’t Only Crave Humans

From left: Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, and Bill Murray in
"The Dead Don't Die"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

The zombie sub-genre of horror has shown to be full of possibilities.  Not only is it capable of offering tense drama and scares, such as in movies like George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” and Dawn of Dead,” as well as in Frank Darabont’s hit television series, “The Walking Dead,” it has also proven to present the undead from a comedic angle, such as in films like Edgar Wright’s “Shaun of the Dead,” Ruben Fleischer’s “Zombieland,” and Jonathan Levine’s “Warm Bodies.”  These movies show that the apocalypse doesn’t always have to be a dour affair and can offer many laughs.

Indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch tries his hand at a zombie comedy with “The Dead Don’t Die,” a movie that’s entertaining, thought-provoking, and proud to be odd.

In the quiet, small town of Centerville, the local police force (Bill Murray, Adam Driver, and Chloë Sevigny) tasks themselves with defending their community when a horde of zombies takes over.

The cast comes loaded with talent.  Besides Murray, Driver and Sevigny, the movie also has performances by Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Carol Kane, Tom Waits, and Selena Gomez.  The story has to juggle many characters, so it might seem like there’s not much to the characters because of how little time many of them have for development.  However, this works for the movie because the characters being simply drawn reflects the small-town ordinariness of their lives; they’re just normal people going about their normal lives.

Out of all of these cast members, there’s one who’s given a little more with which to work, and that’s Tilda Swinton, who plays a sword-wielding undertaker, which should be enough to make you want to see this movie.  It’s an enjoyable and strange performance that brings out the magnetism that you feel whenever Swinton is on screen, whether it be in this film, or any other in which she appears.  Swinton doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but when she’s given a scene, you can’t get enough of her.

Despite the film ending the story-lines for each character in one way or another, there’s a trio of characters from a local juvenile detention center that the movie follows for a few scenes, but they aren’t given a resolution, which is a bit disappointing because there seemed to be potential in this plot thread.

The screenplay by Jarmusch doesn’t only supply laughs, but also some social commentary.  The film deals with the topic of complacency, with the characters carrying out their everyday lifestyles without any change, bits of dialogue being repeated throughout the movie, and zombies wanting to revert back to their routines by searching for things that they desired when they were human.  The film also explores the subject of ignorance as we hear some people on the news choosing to ignore the possibility of an apocalyptic threat, even though the evidence is there to support it.  There’s also some meta-humor that reinforces these concepts.  Although some of the commentary is a bit hammered in during the closing minutes, what comes before offers an intriguing angle from which to approach zombie films.

As a director, Jarmusch is able to maintain a comedically dry tone, while also providing tinges of dread from time to time, without it feeling too jarring.  And, once it comes time for the characters to take on the zombies, you have some fun action with Murray and his police force blasting rounds and swinging a machete into the undead, as well as Swinton having a good time slashing through her enemies with her sword.

“The Dead Don’t Die” may have a couple of flaws, but it still proves to be a zombie movie with enough bite to it.

Grade: B+