The Room Next Door.

I his first English language feature Director Pedro Almodovar in this slow (sometimes painstakingly so) meditation on death.

Ingrid is a successful author, played by Julian Moore who learns that Martha played byTilda Swinton, a friend with whom she once worked at the same magazine, has terminal cancer. They reconnect at the hospital where Martha is being treated, and Martha fills Ingrid in on details of her life story. Her early teenage affair resulting in her estranged daughter Michelle who knows very little about her mother, a war correspondent and nothing about her father. Somewhat guilt ridden, Martha tries to put the daughter in touch with her remarried father. The crux of the story is that Martha who after failed Chemo treatments has decided to end her life and after asking three other of her friends all of whom refuse to accompany her to a country house so that she doesn’t have to be alone in her final days. Finally asking Ingrid, who herself is terrified of death to fulfill the grim duty, despite the fact that they have only recently reconnected. Ingrid bravely sets about fulfilling Martha’s wishes with grace and kindness which includes denying any knowledge to the authorities of her intentions. At the same time giving Ingrid new insights into her own fears. Both accomplished actors do credit to their roles. I couldn’t help feeling that Swinton’s perennially weird skeletal features might have influenced Almodovar in giving her the role of the dying woman.
Tilda Swinton, a friend with whom she once worked at the same magazine, has terminal cancer. They reconnect at the hospital where Martha is being treated, and Martha fills Ingrid in on details of her life story. Her early teenage affair resulting in her estranged daughter Michelle who knows very little about her mother, a war correspondent and nothing about her father. Somewhat guilt ridden, Martha tries to put the daughter in touch with her remarried father. The crux of the story is that Martha who after failed Chemo treatments has decided to end her life and after asking three other of her friends all of whom refuse to accompany her to a country house so that she doesn’t have to be alone in her final days. Finally asking Ingrid, who herself is terrified of death to fulfill the grim duty, despite the fact that they have only recently reconnected. Ingrid bravely sets about fulfilling Martha’s wishes with grace and kindness which includes denying any knowledge to the authorities of Martha;s intentions. At the same time giving Ingrid new insights into her own fears on mortality. Both accomplished actors do credit to their roles. I couldn’t help feeling that Swinton’s perennially weird skeletal features might have influenced Almodovar in giving her the role of the dying woman.
295 stars

 Sixty two years ago a brilliant short film was released called the six sided triangle in which Using the eternal triangle as the main theme, the film shows how six countries might deal with the moment a husband returns home unexpectedly to find his wife with a lover, The film also parodies the well known styles of the prominent directors and stars of each country at the time the film was made.In the hilarious nordic version the Swedes are silent in their snow-bound house, as the ticking handless clock fails to tell the time in the pervading gloom, as they carry on with their infidelities even after poison and wild strawberries are consumed. 

In his first feature ‘Armand’ the director Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel hues closely to this nordic visual style. Long silent closeups interspersed with some surreal hysterical emotional outbursts. 

The film tells the story of a mother’s sudden visit to her son’s school, who has been accused of hurting a classmate. No one knows exactly what has happened, so the school management summons the parents to discuss the issue, triggering a heated conflict between them. Elizabeth  is a widowed mother who has been brought to her 6-year-old son Armand’s school after a report of an incident. When she arrives, she’s greeted by a junior teacher named Sunna, who is clearly about to get in over her head in a manner she doesn’t fully understand at first. Her superior advises her to handle the sensitive situation without any real concrete guidance, the first of many signs that this film is about people who reduce complex situations to talking points and how truth can shift in the wake of details. The administrators respond to every new piece of information as if it “explains it all”; there’s a sharp commentary buried here about the two-dimensional manner in which powerful people, especially men, handle three-dimensional situations.Elizabeth learns about the situation when his classmate Jon’s parents show up. Elizabeth knows Sarah  and Anders  well—Jon has even been at her house so Elizabeth could watch him after school. Jon has a  story about Armand, one involving abuse and at least the threat of sexual violence. From the beginning, the story doesn’t make sense: not only is Armand not that kind of child. His mother is understandably startled that everyone seems to believe Jon without hearing what Armand has to say, and it’s not accidental that she’s outnumbered on the other side of the room, as if the school is taking dual parents more seriously than the single one. Elizabeth (Reinsve) is excellent throughout, What the story reveals in the end is that the parents culpability in their children’s behavior is more of a factor than the behavior itself. The look and tone of the film while it has its own originality is more understandable once you realize (and this is not to belittle the directors own talent)  that he is the grandson of Ingmar Bergman. 

290 stars

 

 

 

 

 

 Vengeance Most Fowl.

What could possibly go wrong. The latest brilliant addition to the adventures the endlessly inventive Wallace and his faithful sometimes hard put upon companion Gromit. For twenty five years Nick Park and Aardman animation has released a stream of flawless animation adventures starring this intrepid duo. With Wallace forever coming up with ingenious inventions to save the world, (and his neighborhood) with mind boggling complex labor saving devices. All in the aid of keeping their needs (Mostly cheese, toast, marmalade and tea) in good supply.
In all the stories there is always a villain with nefarious intentions set on disrupting Wallaces good works. When things invariably go awry it always falls to Gromit to come to the rescue, with madcap chase scenes, hair raising stunts, (including rescuing maidens in need be) that only animation can convincingly provide. As well as catching the villains and setting Wallaces world to rights. In this latest adventure involving a stolen blue diamond, the perp a chicken named Feathers McGraw a squadron of reprogrammed evil gardening robot gnomes. A retiring  police chief more intent on his farewell speech and his junior lieutenant (who turns out to be right all along). The thing about Park, Aardman and their creations is the unrelenting good nature of their storytelling right down to the fate of the baddies. Nothing really bad happens for all the hair-raising adventures that are set in motion.The endings are always happy. Not a bad legacy to leave with everyone who sees these wonderful films.
690 stars

 

 

 

 

 

Babygirl.

Whenever sex is the main theme in a film especially when unaccompanied by romance and passion it is I think always a cheap shot. And when the lead actor is a renown performer with box office draw it is especially cynical move. Films are a storytelling device, art form and business. So the third point might be partially forgiven.
If the very accomplished Nicole Kidman who has moments of real acting in this buzz worthy film were not in it. It would be a grade B pot boiler that would appear online in a matter of weeks of its theatrical release. It is mostly a failure. Which is a shame. The responsibility has to laid at the doorstep of Halina Reijn who wrote, directed, and produced this very elaborate production. Which Ms Kidman has to carry single-handedly on her very capable shoulders. But even that is not enough to save the entire film. The main problem is the afore mentioned premise which we’ve all seen before. The successful couple the affair, followed by the discovery the rage the remorse. The difference here being the female protagonist, who is a hard driving CEO. (Kidman). Nothing seems authentic or genuine. There are only brief moments of authenticity in the passion of the affair and sex scenes. On the surface of their successful glam lives filled with the dinner parties club scenes and fancy houses is just boring. The opening sequence is pure titillation. The object of her dalliance a young initially disinterested intern she has hired, played by Harris Dickinson, who soon discovers her latent penchant for taking orders, which unleashes in her heretofore unfulfilled sexual desires. The remaining narrative is predictable and unfortunately peopled with mostly wooden performances, regretfully including Antonio Banderas as the cuckolded husband. In a brief fight scene with Samuel (Dickinson)  near the end of the film punches are pulled, both parties are superficially injured. I’m not going to give away the ending, but you know what it is. The the hands of a different director (I don’t know who that might be) This could have been a more worthwhile effort.
250 Stars (all for Kidman)

 

Kinds of Kindness

This title only makes sense in the strange, tense, surreal cinematic world that director Yorgos Lanthimos plays in. To the regular viewer (If he has such an audience) There is very little kindness in any of the three stories displayed in his newest offering. All three stories feature the same cast, all excellent performances from Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Emma Stone, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, which is a lot to take in, in one viewing. (I had to do two)

The first story is a tale of control and subservience and how far a person will go to please his master and the consequences of trying to wrest yourself free from that influence and the results of doing so. Robert, played by Jesse Plemmons is under the total control of his boss Raymond played by Willem Dafoe. Every detail of his existence is dictated by his him. When ordered to kill, in a staged car crash R.M.F (his only identity). After his first unsuccessful attempt he is ordered to try again, but refuses.  Raymond then fires Robert declaring him ‘free’. Without his ‘guide’ and boss his life which has been entirely orchestrated by Raymond, falls apart. Rebuffed several times after pleading forgiveness, he finally, after discovering his replacement has also failed at the same task, completes the original mission and is readmitted into Raymonds favor. There is much detail and subplot omitted in this exhausting story. It’s a slow motion car wreck that you cannot look away from.

In the second story. 

Daniel, played by Plemmons is a police officer mourning the disappearance of his wife Liz, a marine biologist who went missing at sea, when he receives news that she has been rescued in a helicopter piloted by R.M.F. Liz miraculously returns unharmed to Daniel, but to him something is amiss. Her shoes no longer fit and her previous aversion to chocolate becomes an obsession along with other discrepancies.  Despite her appearance he becomes convinced that this woman is not his lost wife. She announces during his increasing paranoia that she is pregnant something that was heretofore not possible. His erratic behavior results in suspension from the police force, worsening his condition. Refusing to eat he orders Liz to cut off a finger so he can eat it, then refusing to do so. Blaming the incident to his doctor on her. His madness increasing he later in a demand for more food suggesting that she cut out her own liver, which she does, then dies. Another Liz arrives at the front door they embrace and kiss. As before there are many subplots and details are omitted. In Yorgos Lanthimos's world this is just another day at the office.

In the Third Tale

Emily Played by Emma Stone  is a cultist searching with her partner Andrew played by Plemmons for a woman with the power to revive the dead. The leaders of the cult Omi played by Dafoe and Aka played by Hong Chau, demand sexual allegiance. Infidelity is tested by immersion in a high temperature sauna, Aka licking the sweat to determine if they have adhered to the rules. Their first applicant fails in her reanimation task. A second woman appears suggesting that she would be the perfect candidate for their mission. Andrew brushes her off, one of the requirements being that the twin must be dead. During a visit home Emily runs into her ex and their daughter. As she is attempting to leave after her second visit he drugs and rapes her. Failing after taking her to be tested she is expelled from the cult. She visits the second applicant who tells Emily that she has now fulfilled the requirements by killing herself leaving her sister to reanimate R.M.F.S body, which she does. Overjoyed she bundles Ruth (the surviving twin, who performed the reanimation) into the car returning to the Cults headquarters with the hope of being readmitted, crashing the car while distracted killing her charge. Once more this is a sketch of the story. A tale of acceptance, its loss and the effort to try and regain it. Along with bringing the dead back to life. A fools errand if there ever was one.

425 stars. (6 out of ten on the squeam o’meter)

 The Killing of a Sacred deer.

This is a fundamentally creepy film. In the hands of a lesser director it would have been soon forgotten. But in Yorgos Lanthimos hands it is a haunting mystery. Everything about it contributes to the fact that it hard to shake long after you have seen it. The acting, the way it was shot, the stunted disjointed  interactions of the family, give the first indications of an impending catastrophe about to befall this seemingly perfectly placed successful family. All brought crashing down by an incident in the operating room of a major hospital. Steven Murphy, a prominent cardiologist played by Colin Farrell some years earlier lost a patient during a heart operation. His son appears at first benignly befriending him but with malevolent intentions towards him and his family. As time passes he makes his intentions of ‘justice’ in the form mysterious and physically undiagnosable maladies on his children, predicting their ultimate deaths. When the symptoms and prophesies begin to appear, The parents, the mother underplayed by Nicole Kidman are seemly  powerless to avert what increasingly seems inevitable. Even the capture, imprisonment and torture of Martin, played by Barry Keoghan. The instigator of the prophecies and threats have no effect on their childrens decline. The visuals, the stark, wide angle, alienated, interior shots racing down the hospital corridors, the eerie interior  panning shots of their house where the children are transferred after the hospitals doctors could not find anything physically wrong with them, add to in the increasing unspoken hysteria of events. I am not going to give away other than to say it enigmatic. This earlier film shows the promise of this gifted director which flowered magnificently in his subsequent ‘Poor Things’ feature.

430 stars

 

 

Nightbitch.

Despite its provocative title this is a limp wristed watered down smoothed over tale of a mother ably played by Amy Adams and her rebellion against her role as a stay at home caregiver to her charming son. The couples roles dictated by the white middle class strictures of modern society, which they both have somehow agreed to. None of this rebellion is directed against her son who she indulges and loves unconditionally. The initial wonder in having a child has worn off and she now is tasked with the sometimes increasingly mundane day to day work of steering this new being on a safe and caring path. It is this role she startlingly finds herself in, that upsets the apple cart. When set against her former life as a promising artist, which she has set aside long ago for her new life. The dawning realization of what she has given up is what finally sets her on a path of separation from her unsuspecting husband. The whole middle-class motherhood baby world increasingly grates and eventually disgusts her sensibilities. The imaginary regression into a feral world, their idealized image of randomness and freedom is simply an escape valve for her frustrations. What is missing in this tale is any culpable rage justified or not for the situation she finds herself in. It does (spoiler alert)(I don’t care). Have a happy ending. Wrongs are righted, tragedies avoided, art is restored, dogs go back to being dogs, and a new arrival hopefully sets things straight. (This ending really gets my goat)(Sorry....not sorry)

215 stars