Showing posts in SXSW

SXSW Film Review: Pet Sematary

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 17 Mar 2019

The closing night film of SXSW Film 2019, Pet Sematary is an adaptation of the classic 1983 novel from Stephen King (and the first film since the 1989 Mary Lambert film), a jumpy horror about creepy cats, creepy burial grounds, and making desperate decisions against your better judgement. Show the rest of this post…

Moving to rural Maine from their city life in Boston, Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and two children Ellie (Jeté Laurence) and Gage (Hugo & Lucas Lavoie) struggle to adapt to the quiet life. After discovering a mysterious burial ground deep in the woods on their land, when neighbour Jud (John Lithgow) tells the Creeds about old folklore in the town, Louis attempts to right a few wrongs with a series of decisions that are only ever heading for disaster.

With directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer making a few clever deviations from the book, the filmmakers do make the film their own with regard to the source material, but it can’t stop Pet Sematary falling in amongst the crowd as a high concept horror that struggles to scratch beneath the surface.

Though the film still creates a nervy tone – and you’ll definitely be on the edge of your seat – Pet Sematary is all too reliant on jump scares. Rather than exploring some of the more interesting subjects of death and loss, its hard to see the deeper themes as anything but under-baked.

While the actors (especially the young cast) are superb, Rachel is given a backstory that only ever feels inconsequential. John Lithgow as the friendly yet mysterious neighbour is excellent but on the whole the film is missing something to elevate it from the crowd, which isdisappointing considering the ripe material from which it was create.

As a horror Pet Sematary is e ffective, but it should have been more affecting. It’s something of a missed opportunity that will still entertain for 101 minutes; it is a rush, just don’t expect too much more.

2/5

SXSW Film Review: Jezebel

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 15 Mar 2019

A semi-autobiographical film from writer/director/star Numa Perrier, Jezebel tells the down-to-earth story of a young woman who gets into sex work to support herself and her family who are living on the poverty line. Show the rest of this post…

Shot in the exact same apartment where Perrier herself lived while working as a webcam girl in her late adolescence, she plays older sister Sabrina, who struggles to keep the family in check. All crammed into a 1-bed with her boyfriend and brother blowing more money on gambling than they make back, Sabrina’s younger sister Tiffany feels the pressure to go out and earn some money to contribute.

On Sabrina’s tip, Tiffany shows up at a webcam girl studio not totally knowing what it will entail or what she’s meant to do, but thrown straight in front of the camera, she finally starts to grow more confident in herself and her ability, just as live back home starts to unravel.

A frank and wholely unglamorous look at the life of a sex worker, in Jezebel there’s no titilation, voyeurism or shame, just a woman going to the office, doing a job, going home, it just happens that her job is being a webcam girl.

It’s a film that feels honest and authentic, with Numa Perrier translating her own experiences with real care and nuance. This is a film about how the characters are feeling, about their struggle, about terrible boyfriends, and just doing what you can, and the superb performance from Tiffany Tenille in the lead role is integral to the film’s success, selling Numa’s story at every step and growing in the role as the film goes on.

Jezebel isn’t your average coming-of-age tale, and as such doesn’t hit all the beats you might expect. That’s good, in the sense that Jezebel feels fresh and original, but might not be quite as rounded or satisfying as other films in the g enre. But this is a film that wants to break the mould, break expectations, and is a real stick in the sand that signifies Numa Perrier as a real name to watch over the coming years.

3/5

SXSW Film Review: Yes, God, Yes

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Natasha Peach on 15 Mar 2019

Writer/director Karen Maine continues her rise with smart and witty comedy, Yes, God, Yes, adapting her excellent short of the same name. Starring Stranger Things’ Natalia Dyer who reprises the lead role as Alice, a 16-year-old Catholic who lives a very innocent life in the Midwest. But one night when an AOL chat gets a little racy and she discovers masturbation, quickly Alice start to struggle to resist her new urges in the face of eternal damnation. Show the rest of this post…

With her sense of shame spiraling out of control, Alice attends a religious camp to try and suppress her urges, but when one of the camp mentors starts to flirt with her, quickly she becomes more intrigued by sex than ever as the retreat only has the opposite effect.

With an excellent first act setting up the church camp section, Dyer is excellent at skirting the line of an innocent church girl that wants to find herself and experiment. Dotting between her camp mates, the mentors and the camp leaders, Dyer and the various relationship machinations are superbly played out and it’s the best thing about the film.

With a bombshell that pays off 2, 3, even 4 times, while this isn’t the sort of film that’s going to give you 20 belly laughs, it’s consistently amusing, with clever dialogue, strong situational comedy and superb pacing throughout. Writer/director Karen Maine is a filmmaker showing a lot of promise between this and her work on Obvious Child, exploring each story in a very interesting way. And while perhaps  you could accuse Yes, God, Yes of lacking a little bit of bite but this is a good-natured film that doesn’t necessarily need to push the boundary too far to be effective.

3/5

SXSW Film Review: Stuber

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 14 Mar 2019

Shown as a work-in-progress, Stuber is a police action comedy set up in the classic fashion. Flashing back to a fight with local drug lord Teijo (The Raid’s Iko Uwais), when man mountain cop Vic (Dave Bautista) misses his shot, his partner Morris (Karen Gillan) is killed in the aftermath as Teijo gets away. Show the rest of this post…

A few weeks on and the case seemingly has gone cold, so Vic books himself in for laser eye surgery so he never misses a shot again. Only that’s when they get a tip, Teijo has resurfaced and unless Vic picks up the chase right away, who knows when they might be able track him down again.

But Vic is barely able to see, never mind race around down. So he calls for an Uber, and unwitting driver Stu (Kumail Najiani) is thrown into the action whether he likes it or not, as the unlikely double act are soon embroiled in firefights with gangsters, the kidknapping of a drug dealer in the back of Stu’s Prius, and more heart-pumping action in one night than mild-mannered Stu has seen his whole life.

Following quite a tried and tested formula, it doesn’t take Stuber long to kick into gear, with contrasting lives of cop Vic – wanting to avenge the death of his partner – and Stu – wanting to get back up to a 5-star rating on Uber – thrown together with explosive effect.

Stuber is a full-bodied action comedy, with the firefights ringing in your ears, feeling every punch, every kick; the emphatic action is one of the better things in director Michael Dowse’s latest picture. However the film struggled a lot more on the comedy side.

While the chalk and cheese double act are charismatic in their own right, unfortunately they don’t really gel as a pair as the chemistry never quite feels right. Jumping from set-piece to set-piece, the actors aren’t helped out by a lacklustre script and Nanjiani and Bautista don’t have great moments to shine on-screen. Also while the plot points aren’t forecasted, Stuber doesn’t do anything new in the genre and you can guess where it’s headed every step along the way.

Bautista is forced to squint for most of the picture, with his character recovering from laser eye surgery, but its a gimmick that grows old before too long. He turns in a solid performance but his character is very unlikeable so it’s hard to ever be on his side. Opposite him, Nanjiana is his usual quirky self, though he does hold his own in an action setting for the first time. The effortless Karen Gillan and villain Iko Uwais are the best things about the film but they’re on-screen for such a short amount of time, Stuber doesn’t give look the main double act.

Hopefully director Michael Dowse can fix some of the problems by the time the final release comes around, though adding the necessary depth for such a flat film might be too much of an ask. I’d love to see more of Nanjia ni in an action setting, while Bautista also has a lot to offer outside of the MCU, but Stuber is a lacklustre effort that doesn’t make the most of an interesting concept.

2/5

SXSW Film Review: Adopt A HighwayFan The Fire Recommends

Posted in Film, Recommended, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 14 Mar 2019

The story of a man coming out of prison after 30 years because of the three-strike rule, Adopt A Highway is one of the surprise delights of the festival so far, not because Ethan Hawke is brilliant in the lead role – no surprises there – but because such a mature, assured and accomplished effort is the first time film from actor, now-turned writer/director, Logan Marshall-Green. Show the rest of this post…

Without family or a support network and straight off the bus from prison, Russell Millings (Hawke) struggles to adapt to normal life but somehow finds a job cleaning dishes at a fast food restaurant. Earning his manager’s trust to lock-up, late one night his life is about to change again, as he hears something when taking the night’s trash out to the dumpsters out back, discovering an abandoned baby in a sports bag.

Overwhelmed by the situation, Millings gives in to his desire to experience something he missed out on while behind bars. He doesn’t call the cops and instead tries to care for the baby himself, but still needing to hold down his job, and keep up meetings with his parole officer, it’s not long before he starts to regret the situation he’s put himself in.

Adopt A Highway the film quite excellently depicts the struggle to adapt back to normal life for ex-cons, showing how the recently released are just thrown back into society with little to no support. Social norms have changed, in the film Millings doesn’t know what email or the internet is, never mind how to use it, and the film does a great job of portraying this as such a steep learning curve.

Of course Adopt A Highway is helped out by Ethan Hawke who is a tour-de-force. It’s such a subtle yet deeply affecting performance, playing a man that quite quickly becomes out of his depth, but is never flustered. Going with the flow when the film takes a change of course for an excellent third act, absolutely not going where you expecting yet it still draws to a very satisfying close.

His first time behind the camera, Adopt A Highway is a hugely impressive debut from actor-turned-filmmaker Logan Marshall-Green. It is a film told with measure, with confidence, and another type of feature from the normally horror-focused Blumhouse Productions. To say they took a chance on Logan Marshall-Green doesn’t give the filmmaker enough credit, but they deserve praise for backing this sort of film when the box office is otherwise dominated by franchises, and original stories often struggle to find a home. Hopefull y the Blumhouse name, the powerhouse Ethan Hawke, and old OC-fans wanting to see what Trey is up to now he’s grown up, mean Adopt A Highway finds the audience it deserves.

4/5

SXSW Film Review: Them That FollowFan The Fire Recommends

Posted in Film, Recommended, Reviews, SXSW
By Natasha Peach on 14 Mar 2019

A busy SXSW for Kaitlyn Dever, here she returns in a more low-key role after another star-making turn in festival headliner, Booksmart. Show the rest of this post…

Them That Follow is set deep in the wilds of Appalachia, within a community of Pentecostal Christians. Proving themselves before God by handling deadly snakes, the film tells the story of the pastor’s daughter who holds a secret that would tear the community apart. When a non-believer is bitten and his family refuse medical aid – believing prayer will fight off the poison, not medicine – the film challenges its subjects, and audience, to pit what you believe against what you might be seeing before you.

Giving a striking window into a world great stretches of the audience will know so very little about, Them That Follow pitches a classic filmic story of forbidden love in a new setting. Gradually layering different elements of the story until the whole picture starts to come together, this is a dark, brooding and hugely confident film that knows its own pace and won’t budge in how it tells it tale, much like its protagonists.

With co-directors/co-writers Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage growing up in similar Christian communities, the window into another world that Them That Follow creates isn’t judgmental but instead invites the audience to interpret the actions on-screen, pitting them against your own religious or spiritual beliefs.

It was a very fine balance, but the film does so well in presenting the characters’ internal struggles when it’s clear their faith could be getting in the way, even harming those they love. Alongside the filmmakers, the cast also deserve great credit too.

In the lead role, Kaitlyn Dever as Dilly gives a naunced performance that sways between power and vulnerability. Opposite her, Lewis Pullman (cast just one day before principal photography began) and Thomas Mann fulfil much more than simple a love triangle, and Walton Goggins gives a masterclass in authority as pastor Lemuel. The ever-brilliant Olivia Colman and Jim Gaffigan in a more serious turn round off a truly superb cast.

All in all this is a thoughtful, and though-provoking film about religion, for all its rights and wrongs . Rich in tone with an amazing soundtrack, Them That Follow is a remarkable feature debut from its co-filmmakers, who show real poise far beyond their relative inexperience.

4/5

SXSW Film Review: Teen Spirit

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 13 Mar 2019

Following his father’s footsteps into directing, actor Max Minghella’s debut behind the camera is a bright and engaging foray music competition film sub-genre, but with enough originality in this well trodden class, Teen Spirit elevates itself thanks to a magnificent central performance from Elle Fanning. Show the rest of this post…

Set in a small town on the Isle of Whyte where Violet and mother are outcasts having immigrated from Poland, she dreams of escape and pursues her dream to sing by entering a local competition, practicing at an open mic night at a seedy working men’s club on the edge of town. Of course her mother doesn’t know any of this, instead thinking Violet is pulling double shifts at her part-time job, things take an even stranger turn when an unlikely mentor steps forward to guide Violet through the latter stages of the competition, though as the strain all starts to become a bit too much, the real challenge is if Violet can hold it all together when the goal is just a hair’s breadth away.

Driven by a pop-fuelled soundtrack, Teen Spirit does its utmost to avert the cliches of the genre and is a hugely accomplished, visceral and stylish debut from Max Minghella. Really though this is Elle Fanning’s film. Recording every magnificent song and on-stage performance herself, you wouldn’t be the slightest bit surprised to be told she was a professional musician. This is an electrifying yet nuanced performance, spending just as much time away from the stage, interacting with her overbearing mother or ex-opera singer mentor.

The music montages are always integral to the success of this sort of film, and Minghella handles them with panache and originality. One shot of Violet performing typifies on stage why she should be excited about this charismatic actor’s move behind the camera; a close-up, framing Fanning with big lights at either side of face, when the song ends, the lights die down and the camera pulls back. We’re in a dinghy club, with barely 5 people in the audience, and only one set of hands clapping somewhere close to the back. But we know in her world this is how she sees it, that it means so much, and it’s an exciting journey we’re about to embark on.

This is a film perfect for SXSW, but it’s certainly deserving of life away from the festival circuit too. While the final final scene is a little on the nose, in general Teen Spirit handles the completion sequences really well . This is a feel-good film that goes full throttle, the soundtrack drives it along really wells and despite being a story we know really well, Teen Spirit still feels fresh.

3/5

SXSW Film Review: The Weekend

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Natasha Peach on 13 Mar 2019

A comedian goes away for the weekend with her ex-boyfriend (Tone Bell as Bradford), and his new girlfriend (DeWanda Wise as Margo). If the plotline sounds like a rom-com, that’s because it is, but at least writer/director Stella Meghie’s tries to mix things up a little bit on The Weekend. Show the rest of this post…

Starring SNL alumni Sasheer Zamata in the lead, the trio head out of the city to stay with Zadie’s mother’s B&B for a little country getaway. At first it seems like things are going OK, save for a couple of awkward moments between Zadie and Margo. They go for a walk, have a nice home cooked dinner, but when another guest arrives for the night (Y’lan Noel), the group is knocked off balance, and old feelings quickly come to the fore.

While this off-kilter romance boasts a pleasantly indie vibe, unfortunately the films takes everything a little too casually to be effective as a comedy. The pace is very plodding, meandering its way through only a handful of plot points, and while the relationship dynamics are interesting, we aren’t invested in the characters enough for it to really mean anything. Why did Zadie and Bradford break up? How long have he and new beau been together? Have there been any clashes between Zadie and Margo up to this point?

Perhaps the plot would have worked a lot better as a single episode inside a longer TV series, but for me it lacked the punch it needed to pull the heartstrings this way and that. Coupled with a very misplaced score and it creates a series of very strained scenes that do little to jump out of the screen.

The Weekend isn’t a disaster. It’s authentic, Sasheer Zamata is pret ty solid and it’s not _not entertaining_, but also I’m not intrigued enough for a second watch to find out if there’s a deeper meaning that’s drawn out when you jump back in.

2/5

SXSW Film Review: Good BoysFan The Fire Recommends

Posted in Film, Recommended, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 12 Mar 2019

A film its own stars wouldn’t be able to see at the cinema, Good Boys is a rude, crude, R-rated comedy about three 12-year-old boys who make a series of increasingly bad decisions. Show the rest of this post…

After being invited to his first kissing party, Max (Jacob Tremlay) is panicked because he doesn’t know how to kiss. So he and best friends Thor (Brady Moor) and Lucas (Keith L. Williams) borrow Max’s dad’s forbidden drone to spy on their high school neighbour making out. But before they know it, the drone is destroyed, and they’re forced to skip school to try and replace it before Max’s dad gets back from a business trip, otherwise Max will be grounded and miss the kissing party altogether.

Mixing the coming-of-age tropes of Superbad and Stand By Me with the pure mayhem of The Hangover, Good Boys plays it younger and the kids’ innocence gives endless opportunities for fun. Crucially though it’s all in good spirit, and Good Boys never makes fun of its three leads; the stars feels innocent despite what’s going on on-screen, and you are always laughing with the boys, not at them.

In the same way Superbad became a cult classic back in 2007, Good Boys is primed to do very same. It’s smartly written, incredibly funny, and stylish without ever trying too hard, as the kids deliver faultless performances across the board. They each show such personality while so much is going on around them, so much that they don’t necessarily understand.

You won’t be surprised this is from the stable of producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, though director/co-writer Gene Stupnitsky, and co-writer/producer, Lee Eisenberg, also explain the measure and calm brought to such a raucus affair. Both are best known for their work writing and directing on The Office, and co-creating the (excellent and sadly short-lived) Hello Ladies for HBO.

Good Boys shares a lot of similarities (and a cast member) with Booksmart, another SXSW favourite this year, but while this one is more of an all out comedy it still hits on a few deeper levels too. It’s something you could watch over and over again and the jokes won’t get old, Good B oys is a film that’s far better than it ever had the right to be, Superbad for a new generation, even if it’s stars won’t be able to watch it for a few years yet.

4/5

SXSW Film Review: The Day Shall Come

Posted in Film, Reviews, SXSW
By Sam Bathe on 12 Mar 2019

The first film in almost a decade from lauded satirical comedian and filmmaker Chris Morris, on The Day Shall Come, Morris explores the spate of sting operations where potential terrorists have coerced into crimes they weren’t necessarily going to commit. Show the rest of this post…

Set in Miami, Moses Al Shabaz (Marchánt Davis) is the leader of the Star of Six, a community farm and mission that hopes to overturn the “accidental dominance of the white people”. Moses suffers from mental health issues and comes to believe a series of escalating delusions, telling his followers that God and the Devil speak to him through a duck, and that he knows of secret CIA schemes like breeding a small group of dinosaurs. Though a more immediate worry is that he needs money to save his family and followers from eviction.

Introduced by a paid informant, it comes to pass that the FBI try to trick Moses into becoming an arms dealer by fueling his madcap revolutionary dreams, though before long things are totally out of control, both in the Star of Six, and the offices of the FBI.

The Day Shall Come tells a dark and chilling story, deeply rooted in satire but with a very apt and tragically accurate ending. The film unfortunately captures our power structures so well, as law enforcement take advantage of Moses’ poor mental health to simply meet quota.

The cast is superb, with Marchánt Davis excellent as Moses and some slick performances in the side roles too. Comedian Jame Adomian steals every scene he’s in as officer Settmonk, while Anna Kendrick adds clout even if she’s a little underused.

The film does stutter a little though in the middle act, and while the lead-in works, ditto the big climax, some of the posturing at the film’s core doesn’t quite sell the flip on Moses. The film isn’t quite silly enough to descend into farce, while it isn’t serious enough to be considered a thriller, The Day Shall Come falls somewhat awkwardly in the middle. However, creating a discussion about mental  health deserves great praise, especially among people of colour, and means this is a film that in the end does elevate it’s subject matter, which is the hardest thing to do of all.

3/5

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