There’s a saying, “if you want something done give it to a busy woman”. Well, Alexandra Kotcheff and Hannah Leder have been busy indeed. Apparently best friends since they were eight years old, these two women are a driving force as according to IndieWire, “the two would be solely in charge of the film’s sound, costumes and makeup, not to mention directing, writing, shooting, producing and starring in it.” They also ran a KickStart campaign to fund it and were recipients of a Women in Film Finishing Fund grant. Aretha Franklyn would have been proud of these sisters, doing it for themselves.
Martha Planter played by Alexandra Kotcheff finds it hard to relate to people and struggles in her job as a tele-sales consultant for an air-conditioning company where her personality as rigid as her perfect hair braids, doesn’t lend itself to making sales. Her zany and true passion is burying tins in the desert containing trinkets and treasures she’s stolen from the second-hand store. Martha types succinct instruction notes with the coordinates and pins them to the town notice board. Her delight comes from recovering compensation left behind by successful treasure hunters.
Hannah Leder really plays three characters: the gentle and damaged Sadie Mayflower, and her mixed up alternate personalities, reckless 4 year old Emma who regularly shits her pants, and brash Angie who loves to get drunk with everyone around her. Sadie arrives unexpectedly after escaping a sex cult and good-hearted Martha takes her in.
This movie is about unlikely friendships, helping each overcome obstacles and finding your place to belong. Not a unique plot but that doesn’t matter. The Planters is visually stunning and the detailed art direction creates beautifully quirky-looking settings for just as quirky and endearing characters.
Each scene is carefully constructed and stylised with a smorgasbord of considered props. The camera angles and framing adds appeal and your eyes are spoon-fed exactly what they are meant to dine on. As the movie unfolds watch out for the whimsical bike and trailer transitions.
Music and sound is a key trigger for the audience of the Planters. Thomas Kotcheff’s compositions are inspiring. I’m guessing Alexandra and Hannah had some help from friends and family.
The stop motion scenes of Hannah’s visions with Jesus and Moses are enchanting. Sam Barnett knows how to animate.
This indie movie won’t be for everyone but already, I want to watch it again. I think Kotcheff and Leder have a style of their own and I look forward to seeing what else this power-house pair comes up with.
Matthew Postlethwaite: A Quick Chat. By Eleanor Klein. – Today we had the pleasure of catching up with British Peaky Blinders Actor Matthew Postlethwaite.
Thank you for speaking with us today! First of all, where did you grow up?
I grew up in the north of England, in the Lake District, surrounded by mountains and lakes. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world!
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
Be patient – it is a long journey!
Be kind to yourself – this was the biggest lesson I had to learn-It’s out of your control – sometimes you don’t get a role, because of 1000 other things other than your performance
Relax – it makes you a better actor if you are truly present – Find a good group – in Los Angeles, it took a while, I always tell people it takes around three years.
Find a group that supports you, with no jealousy. Jealousy has no place in my life, cut it out from your life immediately.
Finally, lift your friends up when they are winning. It makes you a better person & friend.
What projects are you currently working on?
I am currently focusing on my latest profect, “The Great Artist”, it pushes the boundaries of mental health, which I can tell you first had we as a population do not talk enough about. Sexuality, racism, genders… these are very important aspects of my life. The dehumanizing and putting down of another human because they are not like you has to stop. I feel a strong need to use the voice I have been given to eradicate the senseless brutality for minorities. It stems from people’s ignorance, socialism, exposure. Film and art have the power to change believes for the better.
Timothée Chalamet & Dune: Body Diversity In Action Cinema. By John Battiston.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Skinny guys seldom get the short end of the stick in Hollywood. Really, male actors are generally held to much looser standards than females in the film industry, both in terms of physique and overall youthfulness; the windows of age and body-fat percentage within which women can conventionally hope to find the greatest odds of big-screen success are undeniably, and inexcusably, narrower than those of men attempting to do the same. Nobody’s denying that, and one would be foolish to do so.
That said, one genre in which the preferred body type for top-billed performers tends to be especially particular — for any gender — is action. While we’ve seen the occasional exception or slight paradigm shift to the prerequisite physical presentation of an action star, the genre has steadily continued to prefer actors whose athleticism can be described as anything from chiseled to Olympian to so-big-it’s-a-little-frightening. But even today, one is hard-pressed to find a mainstream shoot-em-up, sci-fi epic or swordplay-infused fantasy tale with a twiggy or plus-sized performer featured as anything more than a joke-a-minute sidekick.
2021 might look a bit different, though. With the release of Denis Villeneuve’s next foray into franchise filmmaking, Dune, having recently been pushed back a year, crowds (or, at least, cinephiles starved for new prestige content after a paltry 2020) will have to wait a good deal longer to see America’s spindliest sweetheart, Timothée Chalamet, wrapped in an inky cloak and armor as beloved protagonist Paul Atreides. But should Dune, in its eventual theatrical run, make the waves Villeneuve and Co. are surely hoping for, it may just provoke a sea change in what moviegoers — and the industry writ large — see as an action star.
One need only revisit the major-studio blockbusters of the last few decades to observe the elevated expectations for a top-billed actor’s physique within the genre. While some may trace the genesis of action cinema to the films of John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Akira Kurosawa or John Sturges, standalone, unadulterated action films — unencumbered by any external trappings of the western, war or samurai genres — really began to come into their own during the New Hollywood movement, earning particular mainstream legitimacy when The French Connection won the Best Picture Oscar in 1972. Gene Hackman, true to self, embodied an average-Joe physicality in that film, but popular action cinema of the following years — particularly from the ’80s onward — saw a sharp turn into extraordinarily muscle-bound machismo that, in several ways, remains.
Buff bodybuilder types like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris were among the most reliable names to (to quote the late William Goldman) “open” a standalone action movie in the ’80s, kicking, chopping and blasting their way through jungles, forests and throngs of barbarians in monolithic fashion. Only in a decade so dominated by sheer brawn would it be considered unusual to cast Bruce Willis — an athletic-looking fellow by most standards — in Die Hard, though his lack of experience in the genre and prominence as a TV comedy star in Moonlighting arguably had just as much to do with that, if not more. Still, it’s telling that Schwarzenegger and Stallone were among the top choices for the lead, though I doubt either of them could pull off Willis’s indelible brand of acidic New-Yawk snark (much less fit into an air duct).
Willis wasn’t the only exception to the you-must-be-this-stacked-to-ride mentality of Reagan-era action, though these anomalies still tended to be physically demanding and rarely fell into the action-and-action-only category — think Sigourney Weaver in the sci-fi classic Aliens (one of few female-fronted blockbusters that decade) or Eddie Murphy (who, judging by his onstage preference for half-zipped leather suits, was no stranger to the gym) in Beverly Hills Cop. But while sturdy stars like Schwarzenneger, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal would continue their hot streaks well into the ’90s, that decade would also introduce a wave of cucumber-cool, lean-muscled men like Keanu Reeves, Will Smith and Nicolas Cage to the forefront of the genre with multimillion-dollar hits such as Point Break, Bad Boys and The Rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-c3-XZXqto
What we’ve seen since the turn of the millenium has been more or less an amalgam of the archetypes that preceded it. Outright bulk has been reintroduced into the zeitgeist with the imposing proportions of Vin Diesel, Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, while likes of Chris Pine, Brad Pitt and Guy Pearce have opted to stay svelte. The latter body type, of course, tends to be the standard for female stars in the genre, and while action films with women at the forefront have seen a significant uptick in the last 20 years, the expectations for a balance between strength and slenderness are still quite rigid; the entertainment world at large is still shamefully loath to embrace a bulky female lead, as evidenced by the discourse surrounding the “Abby” character from The Last of Us: Part II. (Apparently, her strapping build led some to posit that she was transgender. Like…really?)
All that to say, action cinema has rarely afforded headlining opportunities to performers one would be surprised to spot prowling the weight room at the local Gold’s Gym, a trend that’s begun to carry into the next generation of big-screen idols. Even teen and young-adult stars best known for their dorky demeanors, like Ansel Elgort and Tom Holland, often have abs and pecs with enough contour to keep them from being labeled “scrawny,” and to elicit an impressed “Ooh” when my girlfriend and I watched Spider-Man: Homecoming. (Whether it came from her or me is none of your business.)
But Chalamet, objectively lanky as he may be, has an irrefutable pull with the 24-and-under crowd, and will likely be the main incentive for young audiences to see a movie that not only falls beneath the action umbrella, but also aims to reinvigorate a 55-year-old piece of intellectual property. Adapting such an aged — and, in recent decades, unappreciated — tale as Dune is a gamble with anyone at the forefront, but should it pay off, Chalamet’s casting could potentially trigger an influx of similar opportunities for performers deemed even less conventionally built or appealing as he.
None of this is to suggest Chalamet is ill-suited for the lead in Dune, or was cast exclusively to draw viewers outside the film’s likely main demographic of men approaching, or reluctantly surpassing, middle age. As the third-youngest nominee for the Best Actor Oscar, Chalamet has more than proven his weight (no pun intended) in salt with emotionally hefty roles, including those in Call Me by Your Name and Beautiful Boy. With a director so interested in the twistedness of human emotion and identity as Villeneuve helming the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel, Chalamet, whose physical and vocal expressiveness eclipses that of many of his contemporaries, is an apt casting choice. Not to mention, his appearance matches the character’s physical description as “a stringy whipcord of a youth … with ribs there to count,” per the Dune Wiki on Fandom.com. (No, I haven’t read the book; if you were expecting intelligible commentary on the story itself, you’re reading the wrong article.)
This is also not meant to imply that the outward beauty of its top-billed stars is what reliably puts butts in the seats for a tentpole action film. Those who would argue that an attractive cast is paramount for a movie’s success need only look to Villeneuve’s last action-packed venture into an esteemed sci-fi franchise, Blade Runner 2049, which by all accounts underperformed. With a beefy marketing campaign touting the dazzling, robust visages of Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis and Harrison Ford (about as stately a septuagenarian as you’re bound to find), that film was anything but lacking in eye candy. Rather, 2049‘s problem, one could reasonably assume, was the unfortunate lack of relevance the words Blade Runner bore for contemporary moviegoers — the unfortunate disadvantage a film bears when it isn’t within the consumer-friendly jurisdiction of Disney, Star Wars, Marvel or D.C.
All I’m getting at is that performers falling outside a narrow set of physical criteria aren’t nearly as represented in combat-heavy, explosion-riddled cinema as those within it. But if such a film with someone as alluring, talented yet unconventional-looking as Chalamet were to bring in the revenue 2049 failed to accrue, Hollywood executives (out-of-touch as they can be) might — just might — see it as an indicator that ticket-buyers are more open to seeing action films not necessarily starring someone you’d expect to see on the cover of Men’s Health or Maxim. Imagine a movie landscape wherein actors’ sheer talent, not their relative heft or lack thereof, was the primary factor in whether they could be the next Snake Plissken, John Rambo or Mystique.
One would be grossly hyperbolic to deem Timothée Chalamet’s casting in Dune revolutionary, or even progressive for that matter. But one can only hope it is the first microscopic step toward a much-needed increase in body diversity in action cinema. We’ll just have to wait until next October (if not later) to find out.
“Words on Bathroom Walls” is a very affecting movie about a teen’s struggle with mental illness. Adam (played by a likeable Charlie Plummer) suffers from schizophrenia, a serious mental disorder that can include hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior. Early on in the film, after a traumatic incident in school, Adam has to transfer schools midway through his senior year.
The film depicts the hallucinations that Adam sees (a bodyguard, a wingman guy named Joaquin, and a positive influence hippie sort named Rebecca). Adam worries about what might happen if his new schoolmates were to find out about his mental illness, especially a girl whom he has a crush on named Maya (played with confidence by Taylor Russell).
Adam’s parents enroll him in an experimental drug treatment process to treat his schizophrenia, which he has reservations about due to the side effects. In addition to the physical annoyances, one that particularly worries him is his sense of taste seems to be weakened, which for an aspiring chef is no small matter. Adam’s passion for cooking is what truly brings him joy – being able to cook delicious meals that his mom really savors and more importantly, that quiet the voices in his head. Depicting a young man’s passion with such detail is a rare thing in teen pictures.
Adam first sees Maya in of all places a bathroom before he has even started his first day at his new school. He observes Maya and another student furtively exchanging school material and is asked to keep quiet on the matter. When they meet again in the lunchroom, Adam asks Maya if she would be willing to tutor him, which she agrees to. As the two of them get to know each other, a romance develops but not in a schmaltzy Hollywood kind of way. Maya calls out Adam on his shy, awkward demeanor and he in turn asks why she always bluntly speaks her mind. Their chemistry and attraction to each other is believable and convincing. In one powerful and moving scene, Maya sticks up for Adam when he gets made fun of running into old schoolmates.
While Adam makes a concerted effort to not let others know about his schizophrenia, Maya also has a secret that she desperately tries to keep hidden. When Adam does find out, his reaction is understanding and caring. This subplot of the movie involving Maya is handled in a sensitive, straight on way, allowing the viewer to see another layer.
While the film has a lot going for it, there were some shortcomings that I thought brought it down a bit. Adam’s hallucinations are a distraction and take the viewer out of the plot temporarily. Also, allowing Adam to speak at his school’s graduation after he has been expelled seemed far-fetched.
The movie has a focus not often seen in films; it takes us into the mind of someone dealing with a serious mental illness. As Adam notes, when someone has cancer, everyone rallies and is empathetic, but where is the same support for someone with a disease of the mind such as schizophrenia? The performances by both Plummer and Russell are quite good, as each is willing to show the vulnerabilities within themselves. The film’s insights and honesty resonate and make this a rewarding watch.
By Alex Purnell. In the 21st Century, the refugee crisis has caused a chasm of debate, a humanitarian disaster is underway as asylum seekers escape their war-torn homes in search of safety and security. However, once these refugees manage to find new pastures, they are posed with the problem of gaining legality within their new homes and the constant threat of those who are angry with their presence.
Ghabe is a weighty love-story set in the lush greenery of Sweden’s coniferous forests, as a young Syrian refugee, Monir (Adel Darwish) and his uncle Farid (Ahmed Fadel) are getting used to their new surroundings whilst the Swedish Immigration Board decide if the two are eligible to be granted a residence permit. The problem arises when an altercation between Monir and some locals jeopardises his chances of legality.
Ghabe’s underlying message of acceptance is in a world of hate beautifully compelling, Monir’s painful past is hidden behind a thick wall of evergreen forest, a symbol of the young-mans uncertain future. The film seems to fit in this state of purgatory for its characters, their worries seem trivial as they evade the locals, fearing the unknown.
It’s not until Monir encounters a young Swedish woman you see him open up. As a romance between the two rapidly develops, the young refugee reveals his past, and as his new love, Moa (Nathalié Williamsdotter) seemingly assimilates within Manir’s refugee household. Alas, Moa’s xenophobic family reveals the true underbelly of this hard-hitting drama, the problematic and racist stereotypes of the ‘other’.
Visually breath-taking, its late-summer forest colour scheme and intricately crafted shots make this film a feast for the eyes, companioned with a haunting albeit optimistic classical soundtrack, Ghabe delivers an audio-visual theme which complements its serious and urgent tone perfectly. Simply put, this film looks and sounds incredible.
An emotional trek through the turbulent mind of a young refugee, Ghabe is beautifully heartfelt yet devastating. It’s a poignant yet important feature which maturely and tastefully deals with one of the most important yet complex problems of our time.
