July 2024

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Screenplay and direction by Burr Steers
Starring Lily James, Matt Smith, and Lena Headey
Release date 5 February 2016 (United States)
Running time 108 minutes
Rated M, Strong comedic violence

What do long dresses, good manners, hidden weapons, martial arts, and secret meetings of the undead have in common? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, directed by Burr Steers, based on the book by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen. This genre-warping production starts as a parody of the 18thC classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, but very quickly it becomes apparent that the old storyline has been adapted to a new background story, one that exploits every opportunity for danger and dare-devilry.  
 
The story revolves around the fate of the four Bennett sisters, whom their mother is desperate to marry off, and their father is determined to see armed and dangerous to the undead. In this alternative England, the countryside has been overrun by zombies shortly after an outbreak of the plague. London has been moated with only one bridge in or out, to protect the capital, and there is a war between the living and the undead. The usual middle and upper-class pastimes of going to balls and visiting neighbours have become fraught with danger, and as a result, combat skills become the new class differentiator. At the beginning of the film, the five sisters and their parents are introduced to their new neighbour, Mr Bingley and his accomplished zombie-slaying friend, Colonel Darcy, at a local ball. When the party is crashed by zombies, the Bennett sisters impress both gentlemen with their martial art skills, despite Darcy’s contemptuousness and suspicion. The older sister Jane and Bingley strike up an immediate attraction, while her sister Elizabeth, over time, develops a strong dislike for Mr Darcy. Later, we also meet the Bennetts’ cousin, Mr Collins, who will inherit the estate, and Mr Wickham, a childhood friend of Darcy’s with a dark, secret agenda. The ladies are all marriage fodder for our upper-crust gentlemen, and the Bennett sisters have less control over those outcomes than they do over their muskets and swords.
 
The romance plot revolves around much miscommunication, pride, gossip, and desperation, as the potential couples are thwarted by class expectations, money matters and whether love is true or necessary. Set against this comedy of manners is the alternative history of the undead and a zombie plot that gives the film more action than it would have had otherwise. There might be a saucy sidearm strapped to a suggestively revealed thigh, but the combat scenes make up for the frustrated romantic machinations of the characters. The fact that the women do the saving here is a nice twist on the traditional storyline although there is plenty of tasty combat for all persons.  
 
The premise of the film is undeniably silly but surprisingly entertaining. The tension between the characters of Elizabeth and Darcy drives the storyline, but while their wits are as sharp as their swords, their romance doesn’t stop them from kicking zombie butt. There are some lavish scenes in this film that are well suited to a period drama, with plenty of body parts and danger to satisfy those who enjoy the zombie genre. Overall, an enjoyable genre mash-up with fun fight scenes.

3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS

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June 2024

Asteroid City 

Directed, written, and produced by Wes Anderson
Starring Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan, and Jeff Goldblum
Release date 23 May 2023 (Cannes), 16 June 2023 (United States)
Running time 105 minutes
Rated M, Brief nudity

I had very much looked forward to Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City. Anderson is a master of visual storytelling and cinematic form. His dialogue is often quirky—revealing a character’s idiosyncrasies just as much as their physical actions. Anderson’s films are beautiful to watch, and often focus on the process of revealing a character through their act of storytelling.
 
Asteroid City is introduced as a documentary of the production “Asteroid City”, a play about the arrival of five near-genius children and their adults for The Junior Stargazer Convention. The fictional Asteroid City is set on the desert site of a prehistoric meteor crash, somewhere in America, September 1955. There are other arrivals too, who serve to question the significance of the events that soon take place. During the presentation of the awards for each of the children’s scientific designs, an alien arrives to steal the remaining asteroid before retreating into space. The community is quarantined by the military and refused contact with the outside world. The children manage to form positive, if unusual, relationships while plotting to reveal evidence of the alien invasion. The adults, however, are forced to reflect on their own identities and personal narratives. When the quarantine is finally lifted and the scholarship announced, the alien reappears to return the asteroid, sending the group into chaos at the threat of another quarantine. As a result, the children and their families overthrow the military order by using their inventions. The next day they are allowed to leave.
 
Visually, this film is stunning. The sequence where we explore Asteroid City for the first time is an exercise in placing the audience behind the camera, using its movement to draw attention to the setting and each character’s arrival in it. Anderson is sublime in his placement of objects, people, and framing devices in the mise-en-scene. The contrast between the oversaturated pastel colouring of the desert scenes and the black-and-white making-of documentary separate the two narrative threads, the brightly coloured story of the play, and the analytical documentary of the players.
 
The many layers of narrative retelling are symbolic of the layers of emotional congestion the characters experience. As the film progresses, the perceived claustrophobic nature of the military quarantine acts as a pressure cooker for the entrapped characters—to the point that even the actors playing the main characters in the play are questioning the motivation and human relationships in the plot. The interactions between the adult characters are frustrating because each of them is morosely caught up in their own existential musings, reflecting on their actions and inactions until, at the end, they rebel against the forced pretence of waiting until their experience at Asteroid City—much like their emotions—has been sanitised.
 

Perhaps there are too many characters, each clamouring for validation. The main characters in particular are fixated on how they are seen by others, or in maintaining their control over the mundane and predictable. It was hard to like some of them, lost as they all were in the beautiful vacuum of Asteroid City. Likewise, the dual narrative of documentary and play was confusing and competed with the character portrayals. Overall, despite the beautiful cinematography, Asteroid City lacked just enough joy to take delight in it.

3.5 OUT OF 5 STARS

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May 2024

Knives Out 

Directed, written, and produced by Rian Johnson
Starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, and Christopher Plummer
Release date 7 September 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival and 27 November 2019 wide release in the US
Running time 130 minutes
Rated M, contains mature themes, violence, and coarse language

Knives Out is a modernised murder who-dunnit that investigates the death of an 85-year-old mystery writer whose eccentric family could all be suspects. Set mostly in the wealthy family home, the plot revolves around the relationships between each of the family members. It becomes apparent in the opening sequence of interviews that not all family members view each other favourably. The narrative of the film isn’t focused entirely on who killed the old man, but rather, who hired the private detective.
 
The film begins with detective, Benoit Blanc, listening quietly in the background as Thrombey family members are interviewed as to their actions prior to, and at the time of, the patriarch’s death. Harlan Thrombey’s sons and daughter, their partners, and children, were all present at his 85th birthday party and each person has their own opinion on the actions and behaviours of the others.
 
On the surface, the family of Harlan Thrombey—the famous crime writer—appears united and successful, products of their father’s guidance and beneficence. The number of times they insist their father’s nurse is ‘family to them’ is a huge pointer to the way they turn on her when circumstances change. Harlan’s death was originally ruled a suicide, but it is made clear to the audience that this is not the case. We learn who is responsible early on, but this is itself a red herring and the involvement of the detective is critical to the murder plan laid out by the real suspect.
 
While absolutely a genre film, Knives Out is much more a character study—examining how each character navigates the internalised stresses of family relationships, as well as their own weaknesses and personalities. This becomes even more apparent when Harlan’s will is read halfway through the film. At this point the genuine nature of each character is revealed and what they will do to get their hands on the inheritance.
 
One could argue that the main character of the film is Benoit Blanc—the detective with the French name and the Southern drawl—who insists he is only an objective observer, but instead is insistent with his personal questions. Blanc is no Poirot, but keeps the momentum of investigation going throughout the film. As a result, he becomes an agent of change through his genuine capacity for empathy.
 
Knives Out had many positive reviews, praising the dialogue, genre revisioning, and narrative twists. Cinematically, it uses all the tricks available to a director with exceptional use of mise-en-scene. Each scene is packed with layers of detail that provide as many clues as the plot itself. The juxtaposition of the elegant but enclosed mansion set against the judicious use of wide shots, pays homage to the mystery genre. It is also is a metaphor for the inclusion and exclusion of family, and significance of genuine relationships.

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April 2024

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote 

Directed by Terry Gilliam
Starring Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce
Release date 2018
Running time 212 minutes
Rated M, contains mature themes, violence, and course language

The Man who Killed Don Quixote by Terry Gilliam takes us on a fantastical adventure where the realm of medieval chivalry and modern filmmaking become an allegory for identity and self-conception. The complicated plot weaves in and out of the characters' understanding of reality and explores the roles we choose and are forced to play in our interactions with others.

The talented director, Toby Grummett, is making an advertisement in Spain. At dinner with the crew and backers, he is given a random copy of his first film, The Man who killed Don Quixote, and realises he is very close to the location he filmed at 10 years ago. He revisits this place and learns that his impact on the locals has been negative, rather than the positive influence he thought he might have as a young and enthusiastic filmmaker. In particular, he finds Javier, the local shoemaker he convinced to play his protagonist, Don Quixote. We learn that Javier has spent the last 10 years convinced he is the real Don Quixote, on a quest to defend the innocent and uphold the values of chivalry. He recognises Toby as Sancho Panza, his squire, and treats him as a peasant. Toby is in trouble with his Boss, and with the local police, after he was involved with a fire in the village. He escapes with Quixote, who chastises him for his peasant stupidity and ignorance. After falling into a rotting corpse and relieving it of its stash of gold coins, Toby is separated from Quixote and finds Angelica, the young girl he convinced could be a movie star but who now is something of a fallen woman. Angelica is “rescued” by the thugs of a Russian businessman, Alexei, who is now Angelica's lover and who is working with Toby's Boss. The Boss puts on a medieval pageant for Alexei, and Toby is dragged into this performance with Quixote who is convinced that his heroism and chivalry is being put to the test. Toby must play along if he is to protect Quixote but in doing so, his own understanding of what is real becomes skewed.

The film explores the role stories have in identity making. In some of his previous films Gilliam examines the line between sanity and reality and how the stories the characters tell themselves affects others. This is also the case here. When he makes his student film, Toby wants his characters to live in his imaginary film world and this changes the future for these characters. When Toby returns the village, he expects to be welcomed and remembered. Instead, he is forced to be a character in their reality, and Toby finds himself as an outsider watching the action take place without being able to prevent it.

The ending of the film has a neat, circular closure to the story, although it is uncertain if this is a form of redemption or insanity for Toby. However, it does reflect the theme of the film, that ultimately we are responsible for our choices and that sometimes those choices alienate us from the world around us.

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March 2024

The Lighthouse 

Directed by Robert Eggers
Starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson
Release dates May 19, 2019 (Cannes) and October 18, 2019 (United States)
Running time 109 minutes
Rated MA 15+, contains strong sexual themes and violence

Robert Eggers is building himself a reputation for making films that combine history and horror, while exploring the psychology of his characters in their environment.
 
The Lighthouse is set on an isolated island off the New England coast (north-eastern United States) at the end of the 19th century. Ephraim Winslow begins his four-week commission as a 'wickie', a lighthouse keeper, under the supervision of an older, more experienced sailor, Thomas Wake. Wake is taciturn, worldly, and often drunk while Winslow keeps information to himself and maintains a dogged sobriety. Wake maintains a strict routine that asserts his dominance over the younger man, demanding Winslow complete all the physical work and preventing him for entering the lantern room. Along with other maritime lore, Wake reinforces the sailors' superstition to not harm the birds. The thread of this theme can be seen throughout the plot and connected to older literary traditions: Coleridge's albatross, Prometheus' undoing. The day before he is due to travel back to the mainland, Winslow kills a one-eyed gull. Suddenly, a wild storm prevents him from leaving the island, creating tension between the two men as they realise there is little food, although their search of the lighthouse reveals more alcohol. Under the influence of the booze, Winslow's personality is stripped of its puritan rigidity to reveal more base needs and motivations. Interestingly, the exploration on masculine stoicism, brotherhood, and hedonism between the two men makes this a much more complex entanglement, with extreme emotional swings of loathing and admiration, anger and neediness, and Winslow's relentless need to move out of the shadow of Wake's dominance and authority at whatever cost.
 
Egger's storytelling style is to examine what happens to his characters when the accepted status quo begins to crack under the pressure of changing circumstances. Winslow, for example, becomes a raging alcoholic when he is unable to leave the island. His personality unravels as he reveals information from his past life. From here we see a change in the relationship between the two men, where Wake pokes holes in Howard's story, toying with his perception of reality and exposing the kind of man he really is.
 
The landscape imagery of The Lighthouse is wild and menacing, tapping into the horror stylings that Egger has become known for in his other films, The Witch, and more recently, The Northman. The black and white cinematography is reminiscent of the early horror films of the 1920s and 30s, and hints at the binary that exists in this film: water/land, old/young, sane/insane. Violence underlies the identities of the two characters and this is revealed as the layers of interaction with each other are peeled back.
 
The tight cinematography, and the narrative acts of repetition that set up a façade of stability, place the viewer in the claustrophobic world of the two men—watching them self-destruct in their confinement as the truth of their identities is revealed. The end of the film is almost a relief despite its violence, as the tension between the two comes to a head and order is restored.


 

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February 2024

Everything, Everywhere, All At Once 

Directed by Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert
Starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Release dates 11 March 2022 (SXSW), 25 march 2022 (United States)
Running time 139 minutes
Rated MA 15+ contains strong violence and crude sexual humour

Multiverse adventures are the new time-travel story, where the consequences of the past and the possibilities of the future create chaos and confusion in the present moment. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is an Academy Award winner that adapts the sci-fi flavour of the month as a metaphor that explores self-worth and connection.
Evelyn Wang is a middle-aged, Asian-American woman with strained family relationships, facing a tax audit for the family business. Her husband Waymond attempts to serve her with divorce papers, her daughter Joy is trying to win her mother's approval and acceptance of her relationship with Becky, and her father is constant in his disapproval and criticism of Evelyn. Evelyn is struggling to hold all the pieces together.
Waymond and Evelyn take their paperwork to the IRS. Here, Evelyn's husband undergoes a swift personality change when he is possessed by Alpha-Waymond, a Multiverse traveller who is searching for the ultimate version of Evelyn, the one who can defeat the great menace of the multiverse, Jobu Topaki.
 
Through Waymond's guidance, Evelyn learns the skill of 'verse-jumping', connecting with every other incarnation of herself, and tapping into each of their skills and experiences. She learns that in the Alpha universe, she was an expert jumper, pushing Jobu Topaki so far to become the same that she fractured, becoming present in every multiverse, spreading the rule of the 'everything bagel', a nihilistic black hole of despair. She has also been searching for Evelyn, in order to show her that when you don't feel anything, then nothing matters, a state of being experienced by Evelyn's daughter Joy.
 
Under the layers of the multiverse adventure lie the fractured communication between the family members. There are many themes in this film; parent-child relationships, mental health, immigrant experience, personal potential and personal choices. Ultimately, the message that shines through is the choice to act with kindness.  Evelyn has spent her life under the weight of her own father's disapproval, and it has affected her own life choices, and the way she interacts with her daughter. She is a failure at everything, says Alpha-Waymond, which is why she can succeed at everything, by verse-jumping and gaining the skills of all her other possibilities. And she does, saving herself and Jobu Topaki's multiverse lackeys by validating who they are, in a way that she has missed throughout her life.  
 
Despite the heavy undertones, there is a bubbling sense of humour in this film that lightens the seriousness and at the same time provides the solution to the chaos and nihilism. It's also an antidote to the underlying destruction that threatens to be unleashed by the conflict between Evelyn and Jobu Topaki.  
 
The film has an emotional subtext that blossoms through the fast-paced combat and the sci-fi escapades. It reflects how our emotions are often buried under our day to day lives, and how those emotions affect how we represent ourselves. The film is funny, silly, even absurd, and the quick action makes it sometimes challenging to follow, but the combination of technology, fabulous costuming, fight scenes and cinematic technique makes the viewer want to watch to the end, and genuinely care for both the hero and villain, although it is never quite clear which is which.
 

 

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