Viewing Log:
Breathe (Mélanie Laurent, 2014): Most Americans who are familiar with Mélanie Laurent from her appearances in Hollywood productions like
Now You See Me and
Inglorious Basterds, probably don't know that she's established herself as a respected director in her native France (as well as one film in the US, apparently, as well) over the last decade. This is my introduction to her work behind the camera, but from what I gather, her sophomore effort,
Breathe, is generally regarded as her best work. Working on a screenplay she adapted from Anne-Sophie Brasme's young adult novel by the same name, the film focuses on Charlie (Joséphine Japy), a teen who comes from a troubled home with an abusive, but often absent, father. Uninterested in school, Charlie's life irrevocably changes the day that Sarah (Lou de Laâge) joins her math class. Sarah brings both excitement and copious amounts of cigarettes with her that she says she got living with her NGO employed mother in Africa. Desperate for a break from the realities of her existence, Charlie becomes fast friends with Sarah in a relationship that burns with the intensity of the sun. However, Sarah soon starts to display aggressive behavior, leaving the codependent Charlie desperate to restore the status quo. I'm surprised to see criticism of the film calling it predictable. I knew nothing about it or the book going in, and was genuinely surprised by its shock ending (I read, subsequent to seeing the film, that the novel is told in flashback and the events that constitute the film's finale are revealed at the get go). Laurent proves to be a talented visual director as well, with lots of deliciously lush and well composed shots. I really look forward to seeing more of her work. I also wish that American YA novels were as heady as this!
Drinking Buddies (Joe Swanberg, 2013):
Drinking Buddies is often held up as the Swanberg film for people who hate Swanberg films. I generally find the works of the mumblecore maestro to be merely okay, but nothing great. I can understand the hype with this one though, as the material and the performances of this “will they or won't they” comedy transcend the usual limitations of the genre. Chicago micro-brewery coworkers Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) seemed to be made for each other, but both are in exclusive relationships with other partners. Kate has been with the hunky Chris (Ron Livingston) for nearly a year, but seems afraid to go any further with him than sex. Luke, on the other hand, has been with Jill (Anna Kendrick) for six years. The two have been engaged for the majority of that time, but the relationship seems to just be spinning its wheels. Kate and Luke tell themselves that they're just close friends, but a couple's weekend retreat uncovers feelings that none of them expected to deal with. There's a very obvious path prescribed here by the go to romcom formula.
Thankfully, Swanberg subverts expectations by showing that men and women can still just be friends even when they're flirty and attracted to one another.
All four leads give wonderful performances, but Wilde really stands out in her role as the friend who always seems to want a little more out of the relationship. This is certainly a more mature work from Swanberg. Hopefully it won't be his last.
In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2018): Of all the films constituting the decade of neo-giallo movement, Peter Strickland's
In Fabric has got to be the weirdest. The film is about a cursed red dress created by a coven of witches that run a posh UK women's clothing store. Really. Bearing the inscription "You who wear me, will know me," anyone who dons it experience an increasing string of bizarre and terrifying occurrences that culminate in an untimely death. The film explores two unfortunate encounters, beginning with Marianne Jean-Baptiste's single mom Sheila, who buys the gown before her first date after a divorce. Second up is the story of Babs (Hayley Squires), a snooty working-class woman whose fiancée purchases the red dress to wear at his bachelor party. Despite their very different sizes, Babs tries it on the next day and finds that it somehow fits them both. I've never seen his 2009 debut,
Katalin Varga, but Strickland's subsequent films showcase his abilities as a master craftsman.
In Fabric is visually stunning, with some of the most meticulously shot and edited footage that I've seen in a long time. However, like all of his films I’m familiar with, I feel like it has a hollow center with nothing anchoring its incredible style. This was most apparent in his meandering and pointless
Berberian Sound Studio, but also infected his toothless S&M romance
The Duke of Burgundy. The same problems are present here. Strickland's works are like a fine confectionery treat that tastes wonderful going down, but gives you a stomach ache after you swallow it.
Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, 2015): At one point in the 20th century, Iran, Afghanistan, and Turkey were the world's most progressive and pro-Western Muslim majority nations on the planet. The first two descended into hardline theocracies in the 1970s thanks to interference from superpowers operating under the practice of colonialism. Turkey, on the other hand, is experiencing a slower march into religious fundamentalism under Erdoğan's reign for nearly two decades. The Turkish autocrat's path to power came in the form of his populist appeal to the conservative voices in his nation that reject modernity and Western ideals in favor of a more traditional version of Islam. Nowhere are the tensions between these two forces in Turkey better illustrated than Deniz Gamze Ergüve'
Mustang. The film tells the story of five girls ranging in age from their late teens to approximately ten. Their parents died about a decade ago, and they were taken in by their grandparents. The girls just want to be girls, wear cute clothes, and have a fun time. Their grandmother, played by Nihal G. Koldas, is aghast at their behavior and is not beyond doling out harsh punishment, but still does her best to shield them from the wrath of their uncle Erol (Ayberk Pekcan). The misogyny of the traditional Islam the family practices is readily apparent. One daughter's well-being is threatened when she fails to bleed on her wedding night.
Another girl kills herself.
We see their dreams crushed one by one, but are reminded that this doesn't have to be. Turkey is officially a secular country, and they sisters get a glimpse of the freedoms enjoyed by many other women when they sit in a female only section of a soccer match. Secular audiences watching this are unlikely to learn anything new here, but Ergüven does a good job spelling out the oppression of living under the yoke of religious fundamentalism.
Nebraska (Alexander Payne, 2013): I was a big fan of Alexander Payne's work in the 90s and 00s, but he sort of fell off the map for me when the reviews for
The Descendants came in.
Nebraska, released two years later, seemed like something of a rebound for him, but I never managed to catch up with it until now. Woody (Bruce Dern) is an aging farmer from Billings, MT, who may be suffering from dementia or may, as his son David (Will Forte) says, simply "believes what people tell him". One day Woody gets a piece of junk mail from a Publisher's Clearinghouse-esque scam telling him that he's already won $1,000,000.00. Unable to drive, Woody recruits David to take him to Lincoln, NE to collect his winnings. David initially demurs, but sees the trip as a way of sending time with his aging father. Along the way they spend time with friends and family, some of whom are there only because they want a piece of the non-existent prize winnings. I've spent virtually my entire life living in the Midwest--some of it suburban, some of it rural--and the characters in Payne's films feel authentic and welcoming. Some have questioned the entire premise of the movie, but as a middle aged man with a mid-70s father, I understand the decisions that David makes. Forte does a good job in his role, but this is really Dern's movie. I've heard bad things about Payne's subsequent film,
Downsizing. According to imdb, he's not working on anything at the moment, but here's hoping that his next one will be as good as
Nebraska.
Slack Bay (Bruno Dumont, 2016): Made between Quinquin and Coincoin, writer/director Bruno Dumont carries on the same sort of broad comedy that infects those works and has come to define the second half of his career. Set in an early 20th French seaside town, the film tells a story that feels a lot like
Li'l Quinquin would if it had taken place a hundred years earlier. A pair of bumbling police detectives, Inspectors Machin (Didier Després) and Malfoy (Cyril Rigaux), travel to town to investigate the disappearance of several tourists. We learn early on that it's the doing of the Brufort clan, a family of ferrymen who supplement their diet by whomping customers over the head and eating them. The town, however, is populated by a much more diverse cast of colorful characters than the Bruforts, including the Van Peteghems, a group of blue bloods led by matriarch Aude (Juliette Binoche). If you like this phase of Dumont's career, then you'll probably like this one too, as it's basically a retread of the physical humor and wacky gags that he's repeated over the last decade. I have to admit that three films into this phase, it's already feeling tired. What seemed new and daring in
Li'l Quinquin, felt well worn by the time I got to
Coincoin and the Extra-Humans. Having viewed this series out of order, I came to
Slack Bay last, and found it to be a tedious reworking of the same material. I did appreciate that Dumont included a non-binary character in the Van Peteghems. We treat it as if gender non-conformity were a recent invention, but it's been with us for a very long time, and it's good to see that fact acknowledged here. Still, that's not enough to keep the film fresh.
Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, 2011): Writer/director Paddy Considine does everything he can to keep us from empathizing with his protagonist Joseph (Peter Mullan). After feeling emasculated in a bar encounter, Joseph explodes in a fit of anger that he takes out on his dog Blue, kicking him and killing one of his few friends in the world. We soon find out that the rage expressed there is the norm for the alcoholic widower. Experiencing a deep reservoir of self-hatred, Joseph gives expression to it by taunting South Asians with racism and getting into bar fights. One day after hurting someone, he takes refuge behind two racks of clothes in a second hand shop. The store's only employee, Hannah (Olivia Colman), isn't sure what to do, so she says a prayer for him and allows the silent Joseph to stay there until closing time. We learn that despite the aura of happiness Hannah exudes, she lives in domestic hell. Her husband, James (Eddie Marsan) is an abuser who beats and rapes her for even being seen with Joseph. Considine's film is a story about broken people coming together to do their best to cope with one another.
Ultimately Considine seems to argue that true change is impossible. While Hannah inspires Joseph to work on his problems, his rage never goes away. He may learn to better focus it, but it will always be a part of him. Ironically, the only one who does experience any meaningful change here is Hannah who murders James after an apparent psychotic break brought on by her CPTSD.
Told in the grand tradition of British realism, the movie may feel like a retread to some. However, I felt that Mullan and Colman brought enough inventiveness to their roles to makes this a journey well worth taking.
