Category: Movie Review

Adrift

Rated: MAdrift

Directed by: Baltasar Kormákur

Based on the Book by: Tami Oldham Ashcraft with Susea McGearhart

Screenplay by: Aaron Kandell & Jordan Kandell and David Branson Smith

Produced by: Baltasar Kormákur, p.g.a., Aaron Kandell & Jordan Kandell, Shailene Woodley

Director of Photography: Robert Richardson

Starring: Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Thomas, Elizabeth Hawthorne, Grace Palmer, Tami Ashcraft.

“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.  Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

Adrift is a survival story, the focus on how love conquers all.

Based on the book written by Tami Oldham, “Red Sky in Mourning: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea”, Adrift is the true story of how Tami (Shailene Woodley) survived forty-one days lost at sea after the boat she was sailing in with her fiancé and long-time sailor, Richard (Sam Claflin) encountered the most catastrophic hurricane recorded in history, Hurricane Raymond.

We’re taken back and forth in time, from the devastation and aftermath of waking in a wreck, floating on an unforgiving sea, to the time when Tami first met Richard.

Opening in Tahiti in 1983, Tami’s in her early twenties, traveling the world working at each destination until she saves up to travel to the next.  She spends her days surfing, immersing herself in the culture and being free.

Then Richard literally sails into her life on a boat he’s made by hand, sharing her passion for freedom and travel.

When asked to sail a friend’s boat back to the States, they decide that thirty days at sea together would be the perfect adventure.

Adrift is a romance including the hesitation, the thought of being stuck together and wondering if it’s really a smart move (Being together, yes.  Sailing to the States? Definitely not!).  But the couple are shown sailing the seas, living in a blissful love-bubble.  Until they sail straight into hurricane Raymond.

Adrift

I’m not one who usually goes in for the emotional, romantic dramas.  And yes, Adrift has all that awkward marriage proposal, cheesy flower-in-the-hair and kisses and general sweetness when two people find, The One.  But with admitted tears streaming down my face at the end of this film, there was more to this story than romance.

Growing up on the water in Hawaii, screenwriters, Aaron and Jordan Kandell (Moana (2016)) wanted to write a story with the ocean as the setting.

And director Baltasar Kormákur (The Deep (2012) and more recently, Everest (2015)) being a world-class sailor was able to push the limits of filming to capture the survival story in-camera, working with academy award winner, cinematographer, Robert Richardson (JFK (1991), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011)) to take the audience into the reality of being lost at sea and the devastation of living through starvation, hallucinations, loneliness and fear.

I could feel the sun beating down on cracked lips, the harsh cold ocean heaving the boat, the pain and the thought of what would I do in that situation?

Yet the romance of the love story is sometimes a little hard to take, with the constant woops of travel-mad Tami showing her wild side and independence.

Sam Claflin as Richard plays the English sailor well; here as the injured Richard (and in a previous role of dependence in, Me Before You (2016)) – what can I say, he has that adorable English charm about him.

And Shailene Woodley as Tami with her quiet will a trade-mark of strength that gives way to softness eventually won me over by the end of the film.

So yes, Adrift is a bit cheesy, but there’s more to this romance with a few surprises in the telling of this incredible story of survival.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Rated: MA15+Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Directed by: Stefano Sollima

Written by / Based on Characters Created by: Taylor Sheridan

Produced by: Basil Iwanyk, Edward L. Mcdonnell, Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill, Trent Luckinbill

Music by: Hildur Guđnadóttir

Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Catherine Keener.

The word Sicario comes from the zealots of Jerusalem.  Killers who hunted the Romans who invaded their homeland.  In Mexico, Sicario means hitman (Sicario, 2015).

Sicario: Day of the Soldado brings the same grit as the previous instalment with Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) returning to take revenge on the cartel who killed his wife and daughter; this time CIA operative Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) needs the assassin’s special set of skills to kidnap the daughter of a cartel kingpin to start a war.  Because now the American Government has declared the cartels as terrorists.

Returning from the Middle East it’s a tactic Matt Graver has used before: take down a king, you solve problems; you make peace.  Take down a prince (or here, princess), you create chaos.

Writer, Taylor Sheridan has brought back many familiar faces, developing the characters further with the exception of FBI Critical Incident Response Group Agent, Kate Macer (Emily Blunt).

Emily Blunt in the original was such a significant piece, the entire film circling her role as, the agent used by forces above her pay-grade, that I wondered how a sequel could have the same impact without her.

Yet, the shear gravitational pull of Benicio Del Toro as Alejandro and Josh Brolin as Matt Graver grab your attention, the undercurrent of force from these bad-guys, now shown to be the ones used by the government for supposed good, are further revealed as the story takes a dark road filled with soldiers from both sides of the boarder fighting their own battles – some newly recruited Coyotes where the money’s in the shepherding of migrants from Mexico to America, more money made from human trafficking than drugs; to the kidnapped daughter of a cartel kingpin, Isabela Reyes (Isabela Moner): sixteen-years-old, queen of her universe and willing to scratch and defend her own pride until the reality of her father’s business is revealed; her kidnappers the only ones she can trust.

It’s a story that keeps developing, like the previous Sicario.  And the tone is similar; yet there’s a more dramatic, emotional undertone as the innocence of the young girl Isabela reminds Alejandro of his daughter and reminds Matt of his humanity.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

Italian director, Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah, Romanzo Criminale, A.C.A.B.: All Cops Are Bastards and Suburra) certainly had big shoes to fill after director, Denis Villeneuve absolutely nailed, Sicario (2015) (which I gave five stars, see review here).

I’m talking steal-caps not the open-toed numbers worn by Matt – here in Crocs (showing much more about this character than words just by his choice of footwear: brilliant).

And Sollima has succeeded in creating a film similar in tone but slightly different, exploring a more emotional landscape demonstrated so well in the soundtrack.

After the recent passing of composer, Jóhann Johannsson (composer of Sicario and the film here dedicated to his memory), his protégé and collaborative partner, Hildur Guđnadóttir was tasked with composing the soundtrack for Soldado.

Again, we have a similar sound with Guđnadóttir mirroring the same restraint; orchestral touches here and there and references to ‘The Beast’ – with downward bass glissandos and distorted drums.

The droning of that identifiable sound of foreboding doom would have been a temptation for over-use.  But there’s control, like the quiet power and force of Alejandro, the man instantly recognisable by the way he holds himself, by the quiet swagger of his walk.  And it’s the restraint that creates the edge-of-your-seat suspense.

There’s gun shots and blood and explosions but not gratuitous violence because that would take away from the detail of the story.

And devices like raids viewed through the night-vision goggles of soldiers soften the violence, the grainy green of blood splatter more like watching a computer game than people being shot and killed.

So thankfully for us, the audience, we get a sequel that keeps the brilliance of the first film continuing with a new and interesting story.

Some of the Villeneuve poetry is missing.  Even with those wide-len’s shots of a lonely desert still seem to miss the expanse of his eye.  And I didn’t relate to young Isabela Reyes like the force that was Emily Blunt as Kate Macer.

Yet with my expectations set to a such a high level, I was not disappointed.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Rated: MJurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Directed by: J. A. Bayona

Written by: Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow

Based on Characters Created by: Michael Crichton

Produced by: Frank Marshall, p.g.a., Patrick Crowley, Belén Atienza, p.g.a.

Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow

Director of Photography: Oscar Faura

Production Designer: Andy Nicholson

Editor: Bernat Vilaplana

Music by: Michael Giacchino

Visual Effects Supervisors: David Vickery, Alex Wuttke

VFX Producer: Dan Barrow

Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, James Cromwell, Toby Jones, Ted Levine, Jeff Goldblum, BD Wong, Geraldine Chaplin, Isabella Sermon, Robert Emms, Peter Jason.

After the dinosaurs escaped Jurassic World, it seemed nothing could stop them from taking over the island of Isla Nublar.  But every so often, nature reminds us of true power.

Following on from Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom opens on a familiar face, the eccentric expert on chaos theory, Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) addressing a Senate committee about the fate of the remaining dinosaurs as the island they inhabit is about to be destroyed by an erupting volcano: Should the dinosaurs be saved?  Or should we let nature take its course and allow the dinosaurs to become extinct, again?

The world off-balance, we have a natural disaster movie with exploding fire rocks and clouds of ash and molten lava melting the island as dinosaurs run for their lives picking off humans eaten like meat off popsicle sticks.

It’s a favourite theme of Michael Crichton, the franchise based on his science fiction novel, Jurassic Park (1990), where he explores the morality of scientific advancement.

Here, instead of re-creating the dinosaurs, there is the question of allowing nature to correct the biological disaster begun by John Hammond, or to work against nature to save these magnificent creatures.

In this next chapter of the Jurassic trilogy, director Juan Antonio “J.A.” Bayona (The Impossible, The Orphanage and A Monster Calls) has been brought on board to collaborate with writers Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow, and with him we get more than an action/sci-fi, this new instalment has suspense, humour, moving moments as the innocence of animals are fought over by the evil of humans and those trying to do the right thing, and the evolution of explosive effects we’ve come to expect from the franchise.

And the characters have developed with the return of Claire Dearing and former raptor trainer Owen Grady – both suffering after the loss of Jurassic Park: Claire creating the Dinosaur Protection Group (DPG), whose mission is to save the dinosaurs remaining on Isla Nublar; the capable and loveable Owen destined to save Blue, the Velociraptor.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

There’s more than one part to Fallen Kingdom, with the story becoming much more than a disaster movie, with subterfuge from Elie Mills (Rafe Spall), controller of the Lockwood Estate owned by Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), the wealthy ex-business partner of John Hammond, moving forward, at any cost.

To the humour that just keeps on coming with DPG computer tech Franklin (Justice Smith) nervous and awkward and genuinely terrified much to our amusement; tragedy when former Marine and paleoveterinarian Dr. Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda) is tasked with operating on the injured and fearsome dinosaurs, and suspense and twists with Maisie (Isabella Sermon), the adorable young granddaughter of the billionaire, Sir Benjamin Lockwood, forced to run for her life as an Indoraptor, newly genetically engineered (yes, Dr. Wu (BD Wong) is back) monster, chases her through the expansive rooms of Lockwood Estate.

And the effects are amazing.

There are five animatronic dinosaurs, so the actors could interact with tangible creatures.  For Blue, they had up to twelve puppeteers or performers to make the movement as realistic as possible.

But it’s the combination of the digital and the practical that make the film.

Visual effects supervisor David Vickery and his team worked closely with creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan.  “There are quite a number of animatronic dinosaurs in this film, and there has been a direct and strong collaboration between VFX and CFX.”

My head hurts thinking about how much work has been put into the detail of this film.  The visuals are seamless – the dinosaurs realistic and oh so believable.

The writers have brought back old favourites like Blue and the terrifying T. rex but have also added a Baryonyx and a Carnotaurus and a particularly hilarious head-butting colourful critter, Stygimoloch.

Honestly, I haven’t been blown away by the previous Jurassic instalments… But Kingdom has everything, ramping up the effects and scare-factor, the insidious nature of man messing with genetics and the outcome, the innocence and violence of nature all rolled up into a realistic explosive package.

And how can you not love Chris Pratt returning as Owen Grady?!

More than just an entertaining block buster, Jurassic World: Final Kingdom gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up – straight back at ya Owen!

TAG

Rated: MTag

Directed by: Jeff Tomsic

Screenplay Written by: Rob McKittrick and Mark Steilen

Screen Story by: Mark Steilen

Based on the Wall Street Journal article entitled “It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It,” by Russell Adams

Produced by: Todd Garner and Mark Steilen

Executive Producers: Hans Ritter, Richard Brener, Walter Hamada and Dave Neustadter

Starring: Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Annabelle Wallis, Rashida Jones, Isla Fisher, Leslie Bibb, Hannibal Buress, with Jon Hamm and Jeremy Renner.

Remember this track from Crash Test Dummies (1993)?

Once there was this kid who
Got into an accident and couldn’t come to school
But when he finally came back
His hair had turned from black into bright white
He said that it was from when
The cars had smashed him so hard

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Watch Tag then try and get that song out of your head!

Instead of a kid who had an accident, we have:  Benjamin Franklin who once (apparently) said, ‘we don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.’

Taking this philosophy to heart, a group of first graders began a game of tag… that lasted for 23 years…

Tag is inspired by the true story published in the Wall Street Journal, “It Takes Planning, Caution to Avoid Being It,” by Russell Adams where every year for the entire month of May, Hoagie (Ed Helms), Sable (Hannibal Buress), Chilli (Jake Johnson) and Callahan (Jon Hamm), stalk each other – with the help of their wives – (such as Hoagie’s wife Anna (Isla Fisher), who takes the game far too seriously), until the end of the month where whomever was tagged last would have to remain the loser of the group, he-who-is-tagged, as apposed to those-who-are-not (there are no winners here), until the following year.

Although, he-who-has-never-been-tagged could be called the champion: Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner), the ultimate player, the elusive, never-been-caught, until self-proclaimed heart of the gang, Hoagie comes up with the diabolical plan to tag Pierce on his wedding day.

Gathering the guys from across the country – Callahan mid-interview with Rebecca Crosby (Annabelle Wallis) from the Wall Street Journal – they head back to their home-town in Washington, journalist Rebecca tagging (ha, ha) along, intrigued when she realises the grown men will go to any lengths to not be the last tagged, and really, to keep that child spirit alive; to keep in touch (literally) with old friends.

Mmmm, mmm, mmm, hmmm… mmm, mmmm, mmm, hmm, mmmmmm…

A funny story, but enough to stretch into a full-length movie?   With a little bit of heart-warming drama thrown in the mix – just!

TAG

Director, Jeff Tomsic (Comedy Central’s “Broad City”) makes full use of the stellar cast where it wasn’t the obvious that I found funny, like those slapstick moments including comedic win-at-all-costs flying leaps.  Although, the granny outfit on Hoagie was delightfully ticklish.  For me it was more those subtle changes in facial expressions that hit the mark, wonderfully built upon with the black and white heads of the cast miming, you guessed it, Mmmm, mmm, mmm, hmmm… mmm, mmmm, mmm, hmm, mmmmmm.

The use of the soundtrack was a real highlight – the film filled with 90s gold from the likes of the Beastie Boys lifting those action-packed chases to toe-tapping montages of good fun.

And that’s what Tag is all about, having fun.

Tag isn’t ground breaking, but it’s not complete crap either.

If you go in not expecting much I reckon you’ll have enough fun to warm a winter’s day and leave with a grin with a few remembered gems to giggle over, because sometimes it’s good to never stop playing.

Upgrade

Rated: MA15+Upgrade

Directed and Written by: Leigh Whannell

Produced by: Blumhouse Productions, Jason Blum and Goalpost Pictures, Kylie du Fresne

Director of Photography: Stefan Duscio

Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson, Simon Maiden, Benedict Hardie, Melanie Vallejo, Richard Cawthorne, Christopher Kirby and Linda Cropper.

Set in the near future, Upgrade introduces a world where bio-technology has begun its take-over, where being stronger, faster and logical is better than the hands-on approach to fixing cars.

It’s rare that someone like mechanic Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) builds cars, real cars that run on oil and require a steering wheel.  So when Grey delivers his latest creation to billionaire super-tech, Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson), inventor of an Artificial Intelligence implant, STEM (voice over, Simon Maiden), Grey finds a friend in the most unlikely place.

Because, even with all the drones and digital cars Grey and his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) become victims of a contract killing.  Leaving Grey quadriplegic.

Previously anti-digital, it’s technology that allows Grey to track down the people who ruined his life.

Upgrade combines the old-school love story of man-seeking-revenge for his murdered wife with the setting of a world run by technology, the tone reminding me of past films like, The Crow (1994).

Writer and director, Leigh Whannell (creator of Saw and Insidious) notes influences such as, The Terminator (1984) with Arnold Schwarzenegger acting as a cyborg being the special effects and there’s good action here with Logan Marshall-Green as Grey learning specialised movements to make the role of part-man, part-STEM convincing and unique.

But it took me a while to get into the film as the drama felt all too familiar.

Upgrade

The gritty dark alleyways and dripping broken toilets; Grey vomiting when unable to control muscles required to lift his head properly to breath – mixed with futuristic technology like a cloud with flashes of lightening manipulated with human hands made up for some oversights that stretched the believability of the film: atrophied muscles don’t suddenly grow back, even with nerve function.

The visceral action is what made the film for me with handy camera work from Stefan Duscio attaching the camera to the characters, like Grey as he moved around like a crazed ninja robot: the fight scenes well-timed, surprising and bloody.

And adding moments like the stencilled image of robotic arms, fingers extended like horns and Grey in the foreground, in his wheel chair, head slumped, introduced a creative vision, integrating the digital into a world still recognisable as our own.

Although, there’s some good humour that gels the authentic, analogue Grey with his digitized helper STEM, partaking in his life like an alter-ego…  I didn’t absolutely love it, the film a little stilted (dare I say artificial?!) and not always believable.

But there’s great technique here and a well-paced story that lifts a low-budget production past the obvious into a film that successfully pushes the boundaries of the action/sci-fi genré.

Disobedience

Rated: MA15+Disobedience

Directed by: Sebastián Lelio

Written by: Sebastián Lelio, Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Produced by: Frida Torresblanco, Ed Guiney and Rachel Weisz

Starring: Rachel Weizs,Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola.

With Disobedience as the title, we know that we are about to enter forbidden territory, and for many of us including me, that is an irresistible destination; especially when the disobedience involves forbidden love.

While this is a story of love, delving into its yearnings, its confusions, its pain and its flashes of carnal delight, this movie is so much more than a love story.

Estranged from her Rabbi father, Ronit (Rachel Weizs) is heartsick when she learns of his death. Immediately walking out on her photographic career in Manhattan, Ronit flies back to the Jewish enclave in North London she fled so long ago. Once there, she is hesitantly welcomed into the home of her two former best friends Dovid (Alessandro Nivola) and Esti (Rachel McAdams), a devout pair who have since married, but the self-assured Ronit, with her free-flowing hair, New York chutzpah and extreme nicotine attachment, is still desperately bereft at her father’s disavowal of his only daughter.

With her own feelings torn and wondering whether she was loved, Ronit continues to rebel.

Even if this movie seems restrained by today’s salacious standards, there is an almost shocking sense of intimacy as the camera shifts in angle to take in some very private moments in the marriage of the ultra-orthodox Dovid and the dutiful Esti.

Looking down on her husband asleep after their lovemaking, Esti is confronted by an oblivious, hairy body tangled in the bed clothes; whereas Dovid, bursting into the bathroom, glimpses his wife as a misty, insubstantial spirit emerging from a cubist mirage amid the steam and the patterns created by their white shower curtain.

Disobedience

While the main story flows along with a satisfying emotional arc, this beautifully nuanced narrative is told in deep point of view, through looks and gestures as much as dialogue, with the depths of the story revealed through the intricately wrought mise en scène.

One of the first intimations of the sensuous undercurrents frothing and bubbling beneath the surface is a still life in the style of a Dutch old master painting, with a cantaloupe, lavishly encircled by ripe nectarines, cut open to expose the delicate flesh of its interior. While the camera lingers for barely a moment, this minor element is in rich counterpoint to the austere meal being stolidly consumed in the foreground.

Soon after, Dovid will ask the study group he leads, ‘Is it all about sensuality? I thought true love was about something higher.’ At this point his question is purely academic. Dovid believes he has found the answer, but he doesn’t even know question, yet.

In this layered drama, we are invited to experience an ancient code, to share in moments of exquisite beauty and the price that must be paid for inclusion: as one woman is cast as the good girl, the other as the bad (at least, in their own minds), and a husband learns about the agonising sacrifice he must make for the truth.

Are some relationships and some beliefs more legitimate than others? This movie looks intensely, engages passionately, but carefully refrains from judging.

Ocean’s 8

Rated: M

Directed by: Gary RossOcean's 8

Story by: Gary Ross

Screenplay by: Olivia Milch, Gary Ross

Produced by: Steven Soderbergh and Susan Ekins

Executive Producers: Michael Tadross, Diana Alvarez, Jesse Ehrman and Bruce Berman

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carte with James Corden and Richard Armitage.

 

Girls chewing gum and six pounds of diamonds doesn’t always create sparkle.

Described as on offshoot to the Ocean’s series: 11, 12, 13 (directed by Steven Soderbergh), director and screenplay co-writer Gary Ross has created Ocean’s 8: the female version with connection through Danny Ocean’s (George Clooney) sister, Debbie (Sandra Bullock), who’s coming to the end of her jail sentence.

Time well-spent as she’s planned a homecoming of stolen bling and revenge.

I missed the whole Ocean’s franchise, so in preparation, I watched the three with low expectation.  Thinking the films an excuse for all-star self-congratulation.

The first, Ocean’s 11 (2001) was good, funny. And aside for the flip phones the film has dated well; the humour a surprise. The second, Ocean’s 12 (2004) was clever and the third, Ocean’s 13 (2007) was smart and yeah, funny.  I even woke up in a good mood expecting more of the same with Ocean’s 8.

But with all the previous expectation, I was left feeling flat, the humour contrived, the characters, bland.  Which is surprising with such an outstanding cast.

Sandra Bullock as Debbie the sister was cool, but a little too cool, wilting beside the sparkle of Cate Blanchett as ex-partner in crime, now night club owner, Lou.

And there were holes like a lack of motivation for the other six characters to get involved in the heist – I felt lonely so I did it?!

And who’s the Fence again?  Tammy (Sarah Paulson)?  Who does Tammy fence to?

How does Nine Ball (Rihanna) hack into The Met’s system?

Amita (Mindy Kaling): Because you don’t have your mother watching?

The Irish clothing designer, Rose (Helena Bonham Carter) in debt to the IRA?  Well, OK, that makes sense.

And don’t forget skateboarder, Constance (Awkwafina)…

Ocean's 8

Instead of clever, we get Nine Ball painting her toe-nails mid-heist.

Anne Hathaway as Daphne Kluger AKA the damsel, smarter-than-she-looks, celebrity showed some personality; but really, the clever was shallow because there wasn’t enough to make the heist difficult.

Which is crazy to say because the whole movie’s about stealing $150 million in diamonds in the form of the Toussaint necklace created by Cartier.  A masterpiece kept in a vault underground.

To steal the piece, the necklace needs to be taken from the vault, the opportunity created by convincing Cartier to loan the Toussaint to Kluger to wear to the extravagant Costume Institute Benefit at The Met.

Debbie has spent five years, eight months and 12 days planning this heist, but like Lou watering down the vodka in her night club, the story felt weak.

I’m not saying Ocean’s 8 is a bad movie; there were some fun moments and times of clarity like Lou asking Debbie, ‘He told you the truth?

‘The only way to con a con.’

But a film that relies heavily on dialogue needs a little more depth.

Why do people do anything?  Revenge, yes, and money – but what I felt was boredom; like the motivation of most of the characters.  Maybe I should go steal something.

My Friend Dahmer

Rated: MMy Friend Dahmer

Written & Directed by: Marc Meyers

Based on the book ‘My Friend Dahmer’ by: Derf Backderf

Produced by: Jody Girgenti, p.g.a., Marc Meyers, p.g.a., Adam Goldworm, p.g.a., Michael Merlob, Milan Chakraborty

Starring: Ross Lynch, Anne Heche, Dallas Roberts, Alex Wolff, Tommy Nelson, Vincent Kartheiser, Harrison Holzer and Miles Robbins.

 

Based on the true story of serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, My Friend Dahmer is a tense and creepy examination of Dahmer’s life before he became a murderer.

Reminiscent of the tone used in J. D. Salinger’s, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ there’s a constant tension with signs of Dahmer’s compulsions apparent in his obsession of collecting road-kill to then soak in acid to collect the bones: external behaviour symptomatic of his increasingly disturbed mind.

Based on Derf Backderf’s critically acclaimed 2012 graphic novel, Derf writes from personal experience after attending high school with Dahmer.  Before finding out about Dahmer’s confession, Derf (his character in the movie played by Alex Wolff) considered his high school experience to be like everyone else’s.

Film writer and director, Marc Meyers asks, ‘What are those forces in one’s life that sculpt and define us? How do we become who we become? Why does one teenager find promise and his friend, meanwhile, enters adulthood broken?’

This isn’t a violent or gory film, but a character study of suspense.

Following Dahmer (Ross Lynch) through senior-high, pre-1978, the audience is shown the typical teen struggles as the isolated, unusual Dahmer is adopted by a group of boys who find his antics hilarious.

Surrounded by girls ‘aggressively’ out of their league, team-Dahmer create a high-school legend as Dahmer throws epileptic-type fits in class, in the hallway; random moments that disturb and amuse. And the antics of making Dahmer their mascot is genuinely funny, in an adolescent kind of way.

That’s what’s so unsettling about the film: the ordinary nature of kids in school being typical.

Everyone grew up with a kid like Dahmer.  But what was it that turned a kid-made-famous in school by chucking fits for attention, all for the entertainment of his new mates, into a serial killer, ultimately confessing to the murder of seventeen men and boys?

Meyer’s focusses on the characters, allowing the story to speak without flash, without overt violence like blurring the image of a gutted dog, the impression enough to evoke the heart-rending response.

This isn’t a true-crime investigation with detectives and interviews, instead, the depths of Dahmer are explored showing his struggle to connect, showing there’s wit and humour buried beneath the cold exterior.

You can see the tipping of his compulsions versus his want to be with friends changing depending on the difficulties he faces at home with his mother’s mental illness (outstanding performance of Joyce Dahmer by Anne Heche) and his parents divorcing.

His father, Lionel Dahmer (Dallas Roberts) tries to understand the bizarre behaviour of his kid, to make the effort to encourage change like buying Dahmer a set of weights to get him out of the road-kill death hut and to maybe meet a girl.

And you can see Dahmer trying yet failing to fight against his needs.

This kid is twisted and it’s difficult yet fascinating to watch.

There’s a curiousity out there, to watch the makings of a serial killer.  But this isn’t one of those sensationalised dramatic thrills.

My Friend Dahmer is more of a quiet observation made all the more disturbing through a setting of the ordinary.

 

 

Gringo

Rated: MA15+GRINGO

Directed by: Nash Edgerton

Written by: Anthony Tambakis

Produced by: Rebecca Yeldham

Director of Photography: Edu Grau

Starring: David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Thandie Newton, Yul Vazquez, Sharlto Copley, Amanda Seyfried.  

 Filmed on location in Mexico City, Veracruz, Tulum, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The Edgerton Brothers have reunited to make a film about the majesty that is people’s comeuppance.

Harold (David Oyelowo) works for his mate from university, Richard (Joel Edgerton), at a company that uses a formula to create marijuana in tablet form, Cannabax: manufactured in Mexico (while waiting on those not-quite-legal laws to turn in favour); the American firm residing in Chicago.

Harold’s a nice guy; he has that ‘underdog thing’ going for him. 

His mate Richard and partner in business (and sometimes pleasure), Elaine (Charlize Theron) – not so much.

So, when Harold’s sent to Mexico, this time joined by the two dubious partners, they don’t think twice about leaving Sanchez (Hernán Mendoza) the manager of the Mexican lab, to deal with the train of destruction when they decide they don’t need to sell product to The Black Panther cartel anymore.  And when Harold gets knocked off his rails in their wake, instead of paying a 5 million ransom for his release, Richard sends his mercenary-turned-humanitarian brother Mitch (Sharlto Copleyit) to extract him from a situation involving kidnapping, torture and the dreaded question of which is the Beatles best album.

Classic Edgerton, characters are thrown into life or death situations, some their own doing, others thrown under the bus because everyone’s expendable, particularly the nice one’s who, ‘never grew a pair’.

It’s hard not to have high expectations after the previous collaboration of the Edgerton Brothers to create award winning, The Square (2008).  

Nash Edgerton also edited and produced a recommendation of mine, The Magician (2005) – a edgy and dark humoured mockumentary about an ex-army contract killer filmed in Melbourne, see, Nat’s ‘If you haven’t watched you’re in for a treat’ list.

Here, the usual Edgerton authenticity is given way to create a classier film, although, I wouldn’t call Charlize Theron’s character, Elaine classy with details like her red lipstick always left on the rim of a glass; her cut-throat business acumen where anything can be done to get the right decision doesn’t equal classy, but she sure is smooth.

And seeing Joel Edgerton as an equally smooth talking genuine A. hole was a point of difference to his previous roles: usually the muscle, sometimes with heart but always down-to-earth.

It’s the adorable Nigerian, Harold, lost in Mexico that keeps the movie pulling along (with some added funny moments), and it does feel like pulling to get all the characters in place, like the rock guitarist drug mule Miles (Harry Treadaway) and his aptly named girlfriend, Sunny (Amanda Seyfried); and Harold’s wife, Bonnie (Thandie Newton) chewing through money while cheating… 

Gringo does get there, eventually.

To get the satisfaction of seeing the end result, time is needed to dig through the layers of character giving a different feel to the usual action thriller. 

But like Harold, the story rises making Gringo a worthwhile journey.

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Tully

Rated: MTully

Directed by:  Jason Reitman

Produced by: Jason Blumenfeld, Jason Cloth, Diablo Cody

Written by: Diablo Cody

Starring:  Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Ron Livingston.

When I first watched the trailer for Tully, I was horrified. True story. My first impression being that I was headed for a film dealing with all that’s wrong with childbearing. My suspicion was that with such a beginning, there was only one way it could end. An ode to motherhood.

Now, here is the thing. Of all people this film could have been assigned to, I was the less qualified for the job for I am childless and proud to be so. But if there is something I enjoy more than a challenge is to be proven wrong.

Tully is much more than a mother’s journey to cope with the unexpected. It is an ode, yes, but to the individuals lying within and how society looks down upon them in the face of struggle. Brave, spirited women risking their bodies, their careers, their whole lives to bear the next generation. Unrecognised, underrated, unknown.

This film reunites director Jason Reitman, writer Diablo Cody and star Charlize Theron, all of whom previously collaborated on Young Adult (2011), and has been referred to as Juno’s sequel. Probably because both these films portray pregnancy with a realistic yet magical insight.

Tully has been subject to some controversy surrounding its depiction of postnatal (or postpartum) depression and other mental illness. Those that take issue with the portrayal of these subjects do so because the conditions are never specifically named and because they feel that there isn’t enough treatment shown on-screen. Those that champion the film feel that it is more accurate for not naming the condition, since postnatal (or postpartum) depression is severely under-diagnosed, and that the film actually does a service by causing debate about these under-discussed topics.

Charlize Theron gained 50 pounds for the role. She adhered to an excessive diet of junk food, processed foods, In n Out Burger, and milkshakes. Theron would eat macaroni and cheese at 2 a.m. to help keep on the weight. Theron said that her youngest child had mistaken her for being pregnant, given the extensive weight gain, and that it took a year and a half for her to be able to shed the weight.

For me, the moral of the story is that I was dead-wrong. If there is something I learnt watching Tully is that motherhood is not a blessing nor a curse. It is an adventure of the self between who we are and who we could become. If we dare.

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