On a Ranch, Horse Trainers Train Their Eyes to the Sky

Daniel Kaluuya in "Nope"
Photo Credit: RotenTomatoes.com

Ever since writer-director Jordan Peele made a killer filmmaking debut with his social-horror thriller, “Get Out,” his movies have become events.  After his big entrance, Peele showed his confidence as a filmmaker and went a little bigger with his second horror film, “Us.”  There’s always a sense of mystery behind his films, so whenever he plans on releasing a new movie, you’re sure to get something that goes beyond the external premise.

With his latest movie, “Nope,” he goes in a science-fiction direction to explore the horror genre.  And, just as with his other two films, you’ll immersed in trying to find the deeper meanings behind his unnerving story.

Out in Agua Dulce, California, Otis Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) and his sister, Emerald (Keke Palmer), own and operate a horse ranch for the movie/TV industry.  After they get evidence of a possible UFO in their skies, they recruit the help of a tech salesman, Angel Torres (Brandon Perea), and an accomplished cinematographer, Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott) to capture footage of the next sighting.

Kaluuya, who starred in “Get Out,” shows a melancholic character who’s been impacted by a tragic loss and the unfavorable direction in which his profession is going.  It’s a performance of a character who once enjoyed his work, but has experienced a turn where he doesn’t find it fulfilling.  Kaluuya brings out his character’s emptiness as he just attempts to get by while trying to figure out what to do next.  He’s able to reveal a lot about his character from Otis’ understated nature, keeping you guessing where his arc will bring him by the film’s end.

Palmer offers much of the film’s humor as Otis’ sister, endearing you to her character right from her fast-talking introduction and carrying that energy throughout the movie.  She exhibits the sense of excitement of discovering an otherworldly phenomenon, doing well in handling the humor to balance out the tightly-wound tension. 

Kaluuya and Palmer, a great dichotomy of spectacle versus subtly, highlighting the film’s theme of the overuse of spectacle in entertainment.  While Kaluuya is very subdued and reacts to big events with passiveness, Palmer offsets that with feelings of surprise.  And, despite the differences in how their characters conduct themselves, you can feel the connection and slight tension that they’ve built over the years as siblings. 

Although the screenplay by Peele feels drawn out in the third act, he manages his usual success in establishing a slow build in the rest of the narrative.  Right from the mysterious and disturbing opening scene, the enigma is set as we start to wonder what kind of nightmare Peele has in store for us.  There’s a sense of complexity as Peele carefully places the pieces in play.  And, even when the plot is set, Peele has a talent for keeping you wondering what could happen next.  The settings that he creates leave us pondering how his characters will be impacted by the strange events and what kind of things are going to unfold. 

Peele’s ability to paint a story with subtle details is tremendous, having you spot things that reflect the overall themes of the story.  He understands the notion of having equal power in both the bigger picture and the smaller details, melding both together in fascinating ways.  This is the type of skill that makes his movies worth rewatching, even if you picked up many of the clues upon your first viewing.

Peele’s main theme this time around is the modern overindulgence of spectacle.  Peele is someone who can create scenarios that generate more tension than big-budget action scenes of most blockbusters, and between the way his story is structured to express his ideas and how is characters are written, Peele offers a clever examination about audiences’ relationships with spectacle.

Peele achieves his larger scope with the help of cinematographer Hoyta van Hoytema.  Having lensed big-budget sci-fi films like Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” and “Interstellar” and James Gray’s “Ad Astra," van Hoytema can capture the expansiveness of any environment he has to frame.  In this case, he offers imposing shots of the sky that has us searching the clouds and stars for any threat that might be there.  And, despite the repetitiveness of the third act, Peele makes full use of van Hoytema’s camerawork to show his growing ambition as a filmmaker in the special effects-driven finale.

Peele has a talent for creating such tension, and in his opening scenes in particular.  In this case, you don’t have any idea how the first scene is going to figure into the rest of the film, but Peele makes it work on both the surface level and thematic level, and it may be one of the most unsettling scenes that he’s shot.  From there, Peele maintains his usual disturbing atmosphere to have us question where he’s leading us.  He uses his thematic focus to make this movie a clever subversion of UFO films, one that has the smarts to use spectacle to not only show a new stage of Peele’s filmmaking ability, but to also point a finger at movies that overuse spectacle in order to attract an audience’s attention.

“Nope” is another film that emphasizes Peele as a singular voice among modern filmmakers and  shows that he may have as many ideas as there are stars in the sky.

Grade: A-

With Cameras Rolling, We See the Life of a Shell

Marcel (Jenny Slate) in 
"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

In 2010, Dean Fleischer Camp released a four-minute short film called “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” which was a mockumentary about a titular shell (voiced by Jenny Slate) living in a house and talking about ways on how he gets by from day to day.  Followed by two additional shorts in 2011 and 2014, Marcel proved to be an endearing character who offered a humorous and occasionally poignant view of the world.

Camp, in his feature directorial debut, brings his creation to the big screen in a movie of the same name, a film that isn’t anything short of adorable, humorous, and moving.

While living in an Airbnb, amateur filmmaker Dean (Camp) discovers Marcel and his grandmother, Nanna Connie (Isabella Rossellini) and decides to film them as they go about their lives.  When Marcel decides to find out where his family went after the original homeowners left, he’ll do whatever he can to reunite with his loved ones.

Just as Slate did in the short films, the voice that she provides for Marcel really emphasizes the innocence of someone finding out the wonders of the world, while also going about his household challenges with a can-do spirit that allows him to always come out on top of his goals.  There’s a lovingness that Slate gives to Marcel’s voice that welcomes you into his life, eliciting a warmth that pervades throughout the movie as you’re brought along on his special journey.

Rossellini delivers every bit as much heart as Slate.  With a sweet, wise, and grandmotherly voice, she provides a comforting presence as she encourages Marcel to follow his dreams.  Nanna Connie doesn’t appear and is never mentioned in the shorts, so having her here is a great addition to Marcel’s world.  There’s a tenderness to Nanna Connie that Rossellini uses to bring out the hopefulness that Marcel needs when he begins to doubt himself, and it’s beautiful, beautiful work.

Despite this movie being based YouTube shorts, the screenplay by Camp, Slate, and Nick Paley is able to sustain its running time.  At just 90 minutes, the movie is the perfect length and never feels like it’s stretching for material to fill a feature-length film.  We’re given a view into the world through the eyes of Marcel and Nanna Connie, seeing how they take care of themselves and look out for each other from day to day.  Between that and poignant details about Marcel’s past, we’re given the emotional backdrop that we need in order to become absorbed in Marcel’s search for his family.  Every scene manages to show us Marcel’s insightfulness and ingenuity, and even though we think we know this character through the short films, the screenplay adds a few more layers to Marcel that builds a bigger character to fill up the expansion of the source material.

The gorgeous cinematography from Bianca Cline makes something magical out of an ordinary house, particularly when we get sunlit rooms that give the film a wondrous feeling as Marcel muses about the world.  Whether it’s through handheld camerawork or a stoic camera, there’s a beauty to how Cline frames Marcel and Nanna Connie against the bigness of their environment, allowing us to experience the distinctive way in which they inhabit said environment.

Although the movie has a great deal of cuteness to it, it doesn’t get bogged down by that.  Rather, Camp gives the film an occasionally deep and poignant tone that grasps how Marcel deals with the world and his place in it.  You get a sense of this right in the opening scene, where you hear the gorgeous and ethereal score by Richard Vreeland, who’s known more by his stage name, Disasterpeace.  It’s a score that brings you into a world that’s familiar to a human, but at the same time, helps to capture the emotion of what it might be like to experience the wonder of this world through the perspective of Marcel.

While using a bigger canvas, Camp has the chance to work with visual effects that are more polished.  He utilizes them in the best way that he can, taking advantage of the cinematic possibilities to explore the spaces that Marcel inhabits.  

Despite this film being documentary-styled, there are moments where the movie feels like a narrative feature.  However, Camp’s able to blend these two styles seamlessly because of how well scenes from both of these techniques absorb you in the intimate nature of the story and accomplish in making you feel close to the characters.

If you put a shell to your ear, it’s as if you can hear the ocean.  With Marcel, you hear the world.

Grade: A

Living Abroad, a Woman Has Eyes on Her

Maika Monroe in "Watcher"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

Let’s get this out of the way: Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Rear Window” is THE voyeuristic thriller.  Doing what he did best of putting the audiences in the position of the characters, he had you see what they saw, having such filmmaking techniques provide an unsettling viewing experience that further emphasizes the cinematic notion of “watching.”  While nothing has ever topped what the Master of Suspense has done with such movies, there’ve been filmmakers who’ve done admirable jobs with this type of film.

Voyeurism is now the focus of writer-director Chloe Okuno’s feature filmmaking debut with the psychological thriller, “Watcher,” a film that’s bolstered by its terrific lead performance and accomplished use of its international setting.

When Julia (Maika Monroe) moves to Bucharest with her husband, Francis (Karl Glusman), their beautiful new apartment seems to be the start of the next chapter of their lives.  However, when Julia begins to see someone watching her from the building across the street, she fears for her safety.  After the news breaks of a local serial killer claiming another victim, Julia wonders if this might be the same person who’s been watching her.

Monroe delivers an excellent performance as a young woman who’s trying to assimilate into her new environment.  She presents the unease of having to navigate a her life in a place that’s unfamiliar, being left alone during the day and needing to figure out who’s watching her, while having others not believe her.  The fear Monroe has her character exhibit absorbs you in the danger that she faces and has you on edge.  Later on, Monroe shows a renewed strength that has Julia take the matter into her own hands and figure out what’s happening, recalling the scene in “Rear Window” where Lisa Fremont investigates Lars Thorwald’s apartment.  It’s a transition that Monroe commands and invests you in her character’s situation.

While the screenplay by Okuno pretty much plays out how you’d expect a voyeuristic thriller to unfold, she makes up for the familiarity by giving us scenes of Julia out in the unfamiliar streets of Bucharest and letting us know how out of place Julia feels.  Okuno writes these scenes to let them play out to good effect, having Julia go to different places through the city and either experiencing the terror of being followed, or doing some investigating.  The story gives us a sense of place it it takes us throughout Bucharest and lets us to go from feeling lost in the city to getting to know the streets little by little.  

Despite the story being something that you’ve seen before, Okuno’s still able to build tension in the life-threatening fish-out-of-water story.  Between the design of the apartment with its big, imposing windows that have us experience Julia’s sense of being watched, and the skillful point-of-view shots from cinematographer Benjamin Kirk Nielsen that puts us in the main character’s shoes, Okuno uses these technical aspects to present the classic voyeuristic-thriller tropes that this movie utilizes.

With Okuno’s grasp on how to keep viewers tense, “Watcher” is a window into what could be the launch for a promising filmmaker. 

Grade: B+

In a Cellar, Phone Calls from the Dead

Ethan Hawke in "The Black Phone"
Photo Credit: RottenTomatoes.com

While Stephen King has dominated the horror genre of literature for nearly five decades, his son, Joe Hill, has made a name for himself over the last 20 years in the horror genre as well.  With novels like “Heart-Shaped Box” and “NOS4A2,” and his short-story collections, “20th Century Ghosts,” it’s evident that King’s talent moved on to his family’s next generation.

Now, one of Hill’s short stories from “20th Century Ghosts” gets the film treatment.  Based on the story of the same name, Scott Derrickson directs “The Black Phone,” an eerie horror movie that’s lifted by terrific performances and an accomplished expansion of the source material.

In a Denver suburb in 1978, a prowler nicknamed The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) has been abducting children.  He soon kidnaps his latest victim, Finney (Mason Thames).  All alone in a cellar, Finney begins receiving calls from a disconnected black phone, through which he’s able to speak with the Grabber’s previous victims.  With time running out, Finney will have to listen to their advice on how to escape before it’s too late.

Thames gives a great breakout performance as someone who has to learn to stick up for himself when placed under the most dire of circumstances.  Thames provides his character with a few hints of inner strength throughout the film, even when he’s getting picked on by bullies and hasn’t quite found his potential when it comes to defending himself, showing from where his deeper strength will grow later in the film.  While in the cellar, Thames shows Finney’s blend of ingenuity and growing sense of take-charge action as he comes up with plans to escape, exhibiting an individual who The Grabber has underestimated.

Even though Hawke (who stared in Derrickson’s 2012 horror film, “Sinister”) keeps a mask on for every one of his scenes after his first appearance, he’s still able to elicit a considerable amount of creepiness to give us an idea of the deranged individual who’s behind the covering.  He does whatever he can to give us chills whenever he’s on screen.

Madeleine McGraw delivers a humorous and strong-willed performance as Finney’s younger sister, Gwen, a character who’ll do whatever she can to find her brother.  While she provides a lot of the film’s wit, McGraw still displays the intense determination and fearlessness when trying to save Finney.  The sibling bond that McGraw and Thames build in the first third of the film is very effective, which makes McGraw’s scenes in the rest of the movie that much more impactful because of how much we know she cares for her brother.

The screenplay by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, both of whom worked together on the scripts for two of Derrickson’s other films, “Sinister” and “Doctor Strange,” does well in establishing its setting.  It doesn’t go into Finney’s kidnapping right away, but instead gives us a view into his school life and home life, all while the Grabber lurks in the background abducting other children.  Although the narrative can get a tad repetitive at times, it nevertheless manages to expand the source material in meaningful ways.  As Derrickson and Cargill did in “Sinister,” they include scenes that utilize super 8 footage to show the previous victims in their lives before.  There’s an eerie nature to this footage, adding to the atmosphere of dread while also providing some insight into the other children who were taken by the Grabber.

Although this is a horror movie, Derrickson thankfully uses very few jump scares to put us on edge.  Instead, he allows for the disquieting setting and the presence of The Grabber to keep us immersed, sometimes giving the movie more a tone of a survival thriller.  As for the ‘70s setting, the short story doesn’t specify a time period in which it takes place, but Derrickson’s choice of this era and setting (he grew up in Denver in the ‘70s) reflects his connection to the area without feeling the need to call overly nostalgic attention to this decade.

With his deft handling of the source material, Derrickson’s “Phone” has an entertaining, chilling, and poignant connection.

Grade: A-

Baz Luhrmann’s Latest Film Hails to the King

Austin Butler in "Elvis"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com

Throughout his filmmaking career, director Baz Luhrmann has become known for the grand and lavish theatricality of his productions, and that isn’t anymore evident than in his adaptation of classic literature with “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Great Gatsby” and his musical “Moulin Rouge.”  Although his style might be divisive, you can’t deny the boldness with which he constructs his films.  Given said musical and theatrical aspects of his filmography, it’s surprising that it took him this long to helm a musical biopic.

Now, he’s found a subject who fits his sensibilities for such a film.  Luhrmann’s new movie, “Elvis,” is a whirlwind of the filmmaker’s stylings that brings us through the life of the King of Rock and Roll, injecting some much-needed oomph into the routine of singer/musician biopics.

Told from the perspective of Elvis’ (Austin Butler) manager, Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks), the film tells the story of Elvis’ rise to global fame, as well as his personal issues and troubled relationship with his manager.

Butler delivers a brilliant, star-making performance as the music icon who broke all of the rules.  Butler’s provides a superb embodiment of the king and shows why and how Presley became such an immense figure in entertainment, nailing his speaking voice, singing voice, and on-stage swagger.  When Butler performs in front of audiences, his portrayal of Elvis makes the screen come alive with his song-and-dance charisma.  Meanwhile, the scenes in which he faces heartbreaking losses serve a dramatic side to what Elvis experienced behind the scenes, and Butler gives as much to that aspect of his performance as he does with the musical side.  For Butler to pull off such a celebrated figure as his first major lead in a film is something to witness, and the power of his work helps give this movie its epic feel.

It wasn’t until I was watching this movie that I realized I’ve never seen Hanks in a villainous role.  His performance is immensely entertaining because he uses a campiness that fits well in a Luhrmann movie.  The way in which Parker attaches himself more and more to Elvis’ fame presents a leech-like character who you’ll love to hate, and that all comes down to how committed Hanks is to his role. 

Olivia DeJonge, who portrays Elvis’ wife, Priscilla, has great romantic chemistry with Butler.  Between their first sequence together as they fall for each other while Kasey Musgraves’ soulful cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” plays over the segment, and their restrained, yet heartbreaking final scene where Priscilla tries one last time to convince Elvis to clean himself up, you witness a relationship that had everything going for it, but then had to end.  You feel the power of these scenes because of the tender emotion that’s always present between DeJonge and Butler throughout the film.

The screenplay by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce (who co-wrote four of Luhrmann’s other five films), and Jeremy Doner unfolds over a 2.5-hour narrative that pretty much goes right into Elvis’ rising success, leaving plenty of the film’s runtime to focus on his career and personal issues during his time as a celebrity.  Except for one scene that focuses on a young Elvis, the rest of the movie focuses on him giving his first stage performance and everything that comes after.  And, despite the movie having some of the usual hallmarks of the singer/musician-biopic sub-genre, the movie offers a fair deal of intrigue as we see a lot of the movie through Parker’s perspective, yet is still able make this feel like Elvis’ movie.

Given Luhrmann’s talent to command scenes where music and lavish set pieces are involved, it’s fun to see him helm a biopic such as this, injecting a great amount of theatricality into the film with the help of previous collaborators.  This is the fifth movie that Catherine Martin (Luhrmann’s wife) worked on with him as a costume designer, providing eye-catching costumes that mix well with her and Karen Murphy’s striking production design that absorbs you right into the time period that the film covers.  Meanwhile, Mandy Walker, who provided the cinematography for Luhrmann’s 2008 film, “Australia,” captures the showmanship grandness of Elvis’ performances.  Luhrman uses these factors to create an invigorating moviegoing experience that presents what it must have felt like to watch Elvis sing in person.

Luhrmann utilizes his trademark style to great effect, particularly in the first half of the movie.  However, when we reach the second half and Elvis begins to encounter some personal issues, Luhrmann tones down his stylistic approach to provide a solemn feeling as we watch Elvis try to maintain what he’s accomplished and hold onto those whom he loves.

At one point in the movie, as Elvis and his band get for a televised performance, he says, “This ain’t no nostalgia show.  We’re gonna do something different.”  It’s safe to say Luhrmann delivered on that.

Grade: A-