I saw several movies this past week and thought I’d
given you a quick rundown on what I thought of them. Enjoy!
Child 44
Released: April 17th,
2015
Rated: R
Distributor: Summit Entertainment
Starring: Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace,
Joel Kinnaman, Jason Clarke, Vincent Cassel
Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Written by: Richard Price
Personal Bias Alert: likes all of the cast, was turned off by the thick accents in the trailer
3 of 10
There’s
an obvious place to start with Child 44,
and that’s the plot. I’m guessing that
the novel it’s based on (which I haven’t read) is a twisty, layered piece that
takes a broad look at the problems plaguing Soviet Russia through the eyes of
MGB Agent Leo Demidov. A movie doesn’t
have the time to examine all of this and still pull off the crime investigation
at its center, and screenwriter Richard Price seemed to get lost in the
quagmire of the large plot. Child 44 never attains a clear point,
jerking wildly from event to event instead of weaving them into a streamlined
tale. Director Daniel Espinosa also
shows off his shortcomings in a series of poor choices that produced a film
with a dull color palate, in-your-face accents, and an inability to grasp its
main character. The actors stumble with
this poor material, especially Noomi Rapace, who is sidelined for most of the
film, and Joel Kinnaman, whose accent comes and goes within sentences. Avoid this one, which shouldn’t be difficult
as it’s already dropping from theaters.
_______________________________________
Ex Machina
Rated: R
Distributor: A24
Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya
Mizuno, Oscar Isaac
Directed by: Alex Garland
Written by: Alex Garland
Personal Bias Alert: has a budding love of A24, likes smart sci-fi
7.8 of 10
The
most buzzed about film right now that doesn’t rhyme with lavenger is
undoubtably this slice of classic sci-fi.
The story of man achieving A.I. opens a big can of existential worms,
and while Ex Machina treads over
questions we’ve seen posed before, it’s slick story and stellar style makes up
for the lack of originality.
Alicia Vikander plays the
beautiful robot, or at least the face and hands, with the rest of her body
appearing as a translucent mass of human-like machinery that’s censored in just
enough places. The care that the
filmmakers put into her design can be seen in every aspect of this film’s
visuals, from the carefully selected costumes, intricate set designs, and immaculate
lighting. Everything feels like it could
exist now or a few years in the future given the limitless amount of money
Oscar Isaac’s character has and that it’s all exactly what would make each
character tick. Vikander and Isaac are
excellent in their roles despite the fact that the foreshadowing they’re forced
to play reveals too much about what’s to come.
Domhnall Gleeson has a sort of thankless, straight-man role which he’s suited
for but doesn’t push to anything great.
As in much of sci-fi, their characters are secondary to the plot, and
while their performances and the lean way in which the story unfolds is
appealing on the surface, there’s a constant sense of how little lies
beneath. This is a wonderfully appealing
film, but it lacks the staying power of truly smart sci-fi.
_______________________________________
Clouds of Sils Maria
Released: April 10th,
2015
Rated: R
Distributor: Sundance Selects
Starring: Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, Chloë
Grace Moretz, Lars Eidinger
Directed by: Olivier Assayas
Written by: Olivier Assayas
Personal Bias Alert: salivated over it for almost a year after missing it at TIFF, doesn’t
hate on K-Stew
8.4 of 10
Movies
don’t get much more meta than this. For
the sake of time, I’ll leave it to you to look up the many ways the story
overlaps with the lives of those making it, but I recommend you look up the
actor’s and director’s backgrounds before you see this film. It adds a level to this already multi-layered
film that I believe you’re expected to get, although your head will likely be
spinning even without this extra nuance.
Clouds of Sils Maria is
ostensibly about an actress returning to the play that jump-started her career
but in the role of the older woman. It quickly
turns into a much larger meditation on aging and the difference between how you
interpret the passage of time in your life versus how others see it, with a
heavy sprinkling of commentary on ageism in an industry that has clear-cut
expectations for women both young and old.
In other words, it’s thick stuff that leaves you wanting to see it
again, if only to unravel the loose ends that it leaves flitting in your mind.
The
cast, led by the always impeccable Binoche, navigates the mired plot with a
surprisingly firm grasp of character.
Certainly this reflects the thorough work of writer/director Olivier
Assayas, but the trio of actresses are the ones who latch on to every aspect of
these complex and personified characters, remarkably getting across the larger
ideas without a hint of the writerly artifice that Binoche’s character at one
point denounces. Stewart, as you may
have heard, is the most surprising here.
It’s the scenes between her and Binoche, isolated in a cabin and
feverishly prepping for the play, that crackle with fraught meaning, and it’s
here that the audience and the characters rub up against the open wounds that the
film is exploring.
As
with many pieces this ambitious, there are moments when its reach stretches
farther than its grasp, and Assayas isn’t always as artful about his visuals as
he is about his words. On a technical
point, there’s annoyingly poor continuity here, with glasses and cigarettes constantly
shifting around the frame, but these are nothing more than momentary quibbles
in a dizzyingly smart film.
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