It’s a well-known fact that when we’re lonely, the best course of action is to hit the internet and scour dating sites to find perfect strangers to date. Or, even better, Craigslist, a haven of safety and normalcy. At least, Lenny (Doug Wyckoff) seems to think so when communicating through his internal monologue, seeking a partner with whom he can travel to the edge of the world and share his trailer park lifestyle.
And as luck has it, Lenny happens upon Georgia (Teresa Wyckoff), a woman seeking a partner with whom she can travel to the very end of the earth. Only, in a deliciously comical twist of fate, Lenny and Georgia’s ideas of travelling to the edge of the world are rather different, Lenny’s more metaphorical and Georgia’s concerningly literal.
And with this miscommunication, their two worlds (one of which being flat) collide; Georgia is a bonafide flat earther nut, and even a published pundit one at that – much to Lenny’s unease. But love seemingly prevails! Until it doesn’t…
Written by Doug Wyckoff himself and directed by Dennis Flippin (who also pulls producer-editor-cinematographer duty), Flatters is a light-hearted and impressively well-shot little internet-era romance, an ode to the wacky worlds with which we may unintentionally collide and intersect.
With a rather spontaneously explosive finale and an amusing little foray into the rabbit hole of flat earth conspiracies, there’s plenty to be entertained by. And there’s also a fun reminder about online dating; opposites may attract, but Craigslist attracts flat-out lunacy.
Girl You Know It’s True Review. By Christopher Patterson.
A Refreshing Classic in the Terrible Neverending Biographical Film Space
One of the more known music scandals out there, and one I probably don’t have to recap. But I will since it is decades old after all. Essentially, they didn’t sing their songs. Controversy starts. And. And. Well, here’s the backstory. In my eyes, I find explanation unworthy of all, as life itself is life, and why waste it on possible others interests or cares? But as with all art, it is unworthy. Simply, doing for the sake of no purpose other than just doing something. So, as a film, it is pretty great. Seeing their lives, focused on, at the time offers some real insight. Plus, some fantastic and clever direction and phenomenal set design and acting. This film succeeds in one area cinema seems to constantly forget. Life and a heart. Girl You Know It’s True combustion with care and vulnerability you honestly just don’t see anymore. If the world were to end one day and you had, for some reason, to watch only one film, a film like this with a heart, I would much prefer over a cold, pointless attempt at making films conditioned to likeability or stimulation rather than all the humanness that can seem to be so forgotten. And this sentiment becomes clear through this two-hour journey.
To start, it’s a really brilliant choice seeing the brothers, at the start, narrate their biographical journey in this unique way where they try to explain their lives in this really frantic and exciting way since that opens the floodgates to this feeling of cinemasickness. This film, simply, really basks in every minute of its runtime and this opening makes sure no one forgets that.
Unlike other film biographies where they are overly filmed, suffer from flanderization, and hyper-emotional to boost Oscar wins, Girl You Know It’s True has this fun and bouncy edge to not just its writing and dialogue but to its cinematography where it feels like the world shifts with age in not just costume design but in camera and landscape. This film really makes you feel like you’re seeing a different era every five minutes, and that takes dedication.
I find explanation such an annoying element of life. Explanations sometimes are not needed. Truth is one’s subjective and, in turn, perspective reins all. To attempt to eliminate down to the objective is a joke, as objectives are theories, one could say. It is more naive than being naive.My point to all of this is to describe my favorite choice done by the film I will continue to mention. Perspective. This film is not a biographical film that feels like a made up exaggeration of events but rather an honest and bare perspective that has been long forgotten in the controversy that ensued. What makes Girl You Know It’s True so strong is its mountain of joy and life experienced throughout.
One thing this film reigns in hard is the production element of music. It really shows you the tutorial of how retro music media was made. The funky outfits, the over-the-topness of life reflected in popular media then. And the curtain is pulled. It is pulled in the first seconds where we see behind the scenes, and there is this documentary feel to it that just clicks. It is so cool this film feels like it reveals sympathetic portraits of different eras but also different films altogether. Like a film, within a film speaking of another film. It accomplishes this through choices of, if I had to pick some: making the film look artistry at first with all of its very specific shots then at other points making it feel super 80s not just in design but in how the camera is shot micking how it was done then and I could go on and on.
If you want to be a geek on the history of Milli Vanilli, you get it; if you want a fun and constantly exciting film burning with usual joy, you get it; if you even want a compelling and intriguing drama. You get it! This is one of those films that has it all. Maybe a little too much.
Holding Girl You Know It’s True Back is not its writing or the usual issues with biographical films, but rather its excessiveness. Simply, too much at once. I found parts of this film exciting and constantly entertaining, but around the beginning, I felt it all was a bit too rushed. While this can be slightly excused down to the brothers being, from the start, the narrators of their story and getting to the parts they want to talk about, it regardless feels like they were so much squeezed in their younger years to adulthood that felt a bit, well very much, glossed over. Though, regardless, the parts shown had an amount of heart that made that almost forgettable.
Denseness is a hard thing to do for a biographical film. Hell, it’s hard to do for any film. To be able, for someone, to see a million extra variables in another million variables is an interesting thing for someone to experience with a film. And for myself, I really got that out of this picture. From the upbringing to their rise to fame, it all feels packed with commentary that goes unsaid that fluctuates throughout the universe. This is one of those films where mere minutes make you think of an essay you could write on it since it just seems so filled with things that aren’t at the center stage but you can’t take your mind off. Remember school when you had that class. You know, that class where it’s a vibe and all you can do, even though the moment is so valuable and you feel like it will cement in your mind, is think of the little details behind how the teacher writes and how neatly she writes. She doesn’t have to. But she does. And my god it’s so neat and pristine and. All those thoughts circulating. They make your life feel real. So stimulating. And you realize art does that too. You realize then you are not just living with all the presents but with it all those who were in the nonpresent. That feeling is what this film gives. There are a million things this film just makes you compelled by that seem so random but somewhat so poised and intentional.
An issue, if you watch biographical films, you know, is all the stuff needing to be covered. You are watching a life; two hours is hard to do the magic and you feel like you see twenty years. But Girl You Know It’s True has a smart magic trick. Narrators. Something so obvious, but one never really used as cleverly as here. This, to be, makes the film more impactful. It feels like, now, we are just seeing the ups and downs of someone but rather what they consider their ups and downs, their travels and triumphs, and it never feels rushed or even too much. It is comparable to hearing about someone’s life versus it feeling like them explaining it.
Plus, if the rest of the film doesn’t entertain you, stay for the ending. Trust me, it’s worth it.
VERDICT
Girl You Know It’s True is more than a biographical film. It is an experience to remember. It has that creativity that flows through every single detail but also the luxurious spirit fueled by Verhoeven reflected in so many shots. It has this unforgettable nature to it you hope when you see biographical films. You want a film that will give you the perspective of an artist. All art should, I guess. And you really get that here, plus much extra. There is this ever changing and bold nature to this biographical film that I think, and hope, inspires other biographical films to do the same. To be as bold and take risky choices that feel made for the thrill of it rather than to make another biographical film. A vision felt set and fulfilled.
Much of, if not all of, Trap gleefully follows Josh Hartnett walking his way through situations with filmic ingenuity; Shyamalan’s movie is often about the implausible manifesting itself perhaps because the devil is at work, or even easier of a jump surprisingly, Josh Hartnett’s character, Cooper, himself, is the devil. The trailer(s) details the basic plot – Cooper, a serial killer outlined with mysterious motives for most of the movie to create the equivalency of trying to not burden your family with your 9-5 job out of the office, takes his daughter to the Lady Raven concert, soon to realize that the concert itself is a trap for him – but this is mainly an escalating game in keeping that work/life balance apart.
The more and more he gets away with keeping his daughter happy amongst the mayhem, the more deranged the situation gets. I’ll concede to the fact that this is plotted preposterously from start to finish, but this is no “so bad it’s good” situation. Au contraire, this is Shyamalan tackling camp in the year 2024. He’s taken the goofiness from “The Happening” (2008) that was more of a result of a happy mistake (Mark Wahlberg disowning the entire project makes his line deliveries hard to reclaim under the guise of camp), and is plotting Trap with those retrospective shits and giggles… but now it just oozes confidence.
And mainly style; Sayombhu Mudkeeprom – the cinematographer for Trap, who also worked on Challengers earlier this year – beyond the tricks he’s pulling in-camera (Split-diopters and neon lighting), delivers visual information using sleight-of-hand construction, which converts the ridiculous escapes into magic tricks that are fun precisely because you have no idea how Cooper got away. While it starts with gags like pushing a drunk woman down a flight of stairs to cause distractions, the evasions from the traps (yes, plural) are where it gets extremely goofy and where the filmmaking becomes very noticeably a part of the gag. You’re simultaneously meant to go along with it, and also laugh in disbelief while questioning that disbelief – a very unique vibe for a movie and is more akin to a live performance. It’s electric in a crowd.
As usual with Shyamalan dialogue, there’s an abrasiveness to conversations that often feel like they are trying to mimic normal banter, but they’re just meant to not let you fall into hangout rhythms with these characters. Much of that comes from Hartnett trying to keep the mask of “world’s best dad” on while on edge from the heavy police activity – he’s dialed in completely in this state of abnormality while every around him tries to match/question it – and Shyamalan’s having a lot of fun with how awkward and tense and funny it all is.
As an addendum, he can write normal dialogue if need be! Saleka Shyamalan who plays Lady Raven, the pop star playing at the concert, exists adjacently to this world of stilted characters. Surprisingly going toe-to-toe with Hartnett after a certain point to catch his serial killer character, she plays against his off-kilter energy with a scream-queen sincerity that’s dynamite to watch. Time to mention the elephant in the room: Saleka is an up-and-coming popstar in real life, so the plot’s construction of a serial killer trapped with his daughter at a concert didn’t just happen by chance, nor is the fact that the movie gets absorbed in the music itself from time to time. Good music, though!
M Night writes Lady Raven into using her large platform to save lives, not just by proxy of making people emotional with her music, with perhaps the hope that Saleka, herself, will follow through with it. But, the entire idea of making a movie for his daughter is rendered as intentionally insidious here. Shyamalan cameos as Lady Raven’s uncle, who ends up putting her in harm’s way by accident, and Shyamalan, obviously a girl dad in real life, finds a parallel in Cooper – someone grappling with their love for their profession vs love for their daughter. The entire second half of this movie, which starts incorporating Cooper’s entire family in a way I won’t dare spoil, starts to find footing in how mixing the two lives is perhaps exploiting one life to support the other.
Cooper uses her daughter to escape, and Shyamalan opens the door for his daughters into the arts. This almost seems like it’s him interrogating how much of that is him being a good dad and helping them do what they love v.s. him finding a way to continue doing what he loves. Can the scales of love tip? Every act is so much of a vibe switch than the last, but it gains more and more thorniness as it goes along. Along with Old, and Knock at the Cabin, this is Shyamalan going for the jugular against his public persona. You come here for fun thrillers that are about losing your loved ones, which will always be more fulfilling than waiting for any twist could ever be.
The Boys: Season 4 – Review. By Christopher Patterson.
A Smart and Yet Kind Of Boring New Season
The Boys has always been one of those shows I started watching when it came out and continue to. It’s one of those I stuck with every time a new episode came out since the first. It is sad to say that this new season has disappointed me. On its own, it is not a short stick, but it does come close. The issue is that it suffers from abundant repetition, feeling like almost every plotline feels dragged out for two seasons, or we have already seen it and now we are seeing it again since it was cool the last time. Instead of feeling like our leads are ever progressing in taking down the bad guys, they simply rely on the form known as talking and boring, stretched-out reasons as to why nothing ever happens, and when it does, it is, so surprisingly, done to random generic thrown in new characters that the plot can just use as shock value instead of killing off anyone. While this season shines in showing some new, scary antagonists, and it in some ways is the usual great stuff with the entire cast just owning their roles and giving it their all, it feels like the show should do more. The one thing it does rile up is the politics, which it does brilliantly, but that is really it. My issue would be that more core characters should die, sadly. It feels like plot armor is a nice synonym to describe the kryptonite they have against the idea of death. While this could work for two or three seasons, it is four seasons in, and it feels like the show won’t do more. It is comparable to catching up on a show you like, but that is mostly it. Just catch up so your best friend doesn’t accidentally spoil you.
A fundamental issue here is that the shock value has lost itself. No longer do moments of Homelander or anything hold value since you know the result. Either they die and that’s it or barely get away or are slightly injured if they are the main character. If they are not and show up once, then it is set in stone. It is sad when your show reads more like a math equation of how’s gonna die next so people don’t get bored than like a coherent, flowing narrative.
Imagine a show you watch that has like a thousand episodes—let’s say Pokémon—and now do you think Ash will ever die? Probably not, not just for the fact it is a kids show, but also for marketability and ratings, and also for the fact that the writers can’t because if they do, then the cast member won’t be on. Attachment. While I understand it, it doesn’t make it less annoying when you see leads in a show that the writers want you to believe escape death at their fingertips every single episode when it is obvious that won’t happen, so show something else. When this thought arises, the writing hides away for meandering character drama that sometimes reads like the writers are mimicking better shows than understanding the foundation of character communication.
The one area severely hurting season four is the derivative and somewhat copied nature of it. Simply put, seasons two and three feel far too similar in both intensity and plot, and it feels as though our heroes have done basically nothing and are still stuck in the same situation: trying to fight the overwhelming bad guys. Season four is even worse.
For instance, in episode four, where we see Homelander kill someone, It doesn’t feel shocking or stand out; rather, it’s just average and boring. We have seen him kill and have these switches so often that it all feels hollow now. The death he commits is now casual to expect rather than shockingly morbid. My issue is that Homelander and the continued representations of his morality have been overplayed so, so much and feel continued for the sake of memes online rather than speaking to something.
The major standout for this season is the new addition of Susan Heyward, who played one of the best roles in Orange Is The New Black. She owns the screen again with another fantastic performance. Her presence truly makes the show more interesting than it usually is thanks to what a fascinating character she plays.
My least favorite part of this season has to be that season finale. Truly, it should’ve been the midseason finale of the season, not the actual finale. Another issue is the shock value of it all. Victoria’s death was not just random but completely unneeded. It felt as though the writers couldn’t have her for the next season, so she was killed off randomly, which seems to work perfectly in the Boys’ more “shocking is quality” thing. She turns sides, might finally help our heroes, in a way the writers are trying to do something with her character before…. Shock reveal! And it all feels pointless. All of it.
I will repeat, Homelander is not as threatening anymore. We have episodes now where our leads just go to parties where Homelander is and casually escape, with Homelander seemingly barely putting in the effort to really go after them. In other words, our leads are essentially saved from any possible idea of death in the narrative and now it feels like they have plot armor and the fact that each cast member likely has a contract, which destroys the tension completely.
In seasons one to two, especially, if Homelander showed up, it meant something was going down. Now, he is just a joke who can’t kill our heroes since “that cast member can’t leave the show now.” I said seasons one to two since season three, for all its triumphs, still felt like that season where nothing but meandering happened and season four, I expected, would have more fight scenes and stakes. Instead, a slower, more boring season has been accomplished.
A key element this season provides is well-written politics and biting humor, which previously were never this apparent, and it’s amazing. It feels as though the writers are just having fun touching on politics and masterfully so, with each scene involving that area feeling poignant and well done, but that’s mostly it. For instance, when Starlight literally beats up Firecracker, none of Homelander’s goons do anything in terms of fighting back but rather observe which makes it clear none of our leads are in danger. They just let her get away. Instead, the stakes are on the more mental side of things, which makes things feel less possible in terms of death happening since now it feels like no one can die except for newer characters.
Another problem is how Butcher is written. To put it simply, he does absolutely nothing for the most part, with the exception of the finale. Instead, we are left with boring and overly done sequences in his head that bore the mind every single second it appears. It’s not scary his mind battles, but rather something The Boys use to avoid, generic and overly predictable.
That goes for our entire crew. Even in season three, the new villain played by Jensen Ackles gave some stakes, but here it’s all mind battles or more mundane things our characters fight off, and one thing this season makes clear is that more down-to-earth writing is what The Boys suffers most at. At this point, it’s comparable to Gen V, but as a representation of how Gen V did it actually right. For the most part, in Gen V, it’s understanding our characters, their surroundings, and how it forms them. There is a story, but for the most part, it’s our lead’s backstories and trying to get through life and making friends that compels the entire narrative. The Boys season 4 focuses on this more emotional aspect but falls right on its head. Hughie and Starlight, for instance, are a boringly written couple that represent morals, but it’s clear the show wants to add problems in their relationship but does it terribly. For instance, Starlight kills that clone of her but never really has dilemmas towards killing which seemed to be something our leads were a bit stuck on. Just a glance at the corpse, then cut. Even decisions our leads make unknowingly feel odd and morally gray but are never really questioned. For instance, that kid who saw her mom die by Butcher’s hands, who was literally knocked out of the room when it happened, seemingly none of The Boys give much of an emotion. Rather than have these questions, the series avoids them as usual for what it is interested in.
I have mentioned a lot of things that fit one line. Meandering. Hughie spends so long with his dad in the hospital and that drama, which is mediocre and boringly written with nothing that compelling about it. Butcher, as said before, is just some guy talking to people in his head for like most of the season. Starlight just sits around and does nothing for the most part except for a couple of things and another couple of things her clone does. Frenchie mainly does nothing but sit around and ponder his past choices and morality. I can barely remember what Kimiko did. My favorite character. The drama with Ryan and his dad is so old at this point that it’s like we already saw this two seasons ago. Ryan is angry at his dad. Butcher guides him but then hurts his feelings, and he goes back likely to his dad or whatever. Essentially, just bunches of soap opera drama that will make you pass out after the first time it appears. All our leads are doing nothing and are villains sitting around and just pondering the idea of doing things. This all could be an interesting half of a season or episode, but as a whole, it feels like a wide amount of nothing. Even worse, their goals seem all over the place. Nobody has a plan that really drives them anymore. It feels like a group of old people who failed their one job they’ve been doing for a while and just sit around and daydream for like ten hours.
To end off, here is an example. In one episode, the boys show up to Firecracker with a phone and something on it to incriminate her, and in previous seasons our leads would get beaten up or die or kill her; here, she just presses send. While this is biting commentary the writers are clearly aiming to reflect the kind of villain she is and something about society, aside from that, it reduces the stakes massively. Our leads can just walk in and be ignored like throwaway trash. Firecracker, after pressing the send, doesn’t even, I don’t know, attack them since they are down there to go after her; instead, she just kind of brushes them off, which makes it seem like our leads are nobody when they are major big deals in the universe who are killing sups. It makes it feel like the writers are coming up with ways to save our heroes.
VERDICT
The Boys season four is a strong return on its own, but sadly, it makes a continued dilemma with this show clear. Simply put, our heroes still feel trapped without any leverage, and their frequent attempts for four seasons all feel too minor and purposeless to a degree that makes this season very unfulfilling. It has taken four seasons, and it still feels like every main character couldn’t just die immediately for contracts, and if they did as a joke for some reason, they would have nothing against the villains who are seemingly casual about their presence. In a sense, you could argue, the stakes haven’t changed; they have just adjusted for a new season. Though I disagree. I would call it a situation where the writers feel less engaged by the Boys and their taking down of Homelander and more towards interesting ideas. Aside from that, the politics are well written and poignant, but that’s mostly all this season offers.
At Capacity: Spencer Jamison Interview. By Joe Muldoon.
Comparisons and allusions to similar romances (particularly Linklater’s Before Sunrise) will undoubtedly be made (as I myself have); were you particularly influenced by any other shorts or films?
I take that as a high complement, so thank you! What’s funny is at the time of writing and filming this short, I hadn’t seen the trilogy yet! Most of my training has been in theater so I am still actively working my way through film canon and am very grateful to get to experience such brilliant work with the perspective I have now. My wonder, whimsy, and love of dialogue definitely comes from plays and golden age films my mom played like Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Philadelphia Story or The Sound of Music. I’m enamored by the way Nora Ephron and Rob Reiner films present witty and charming romantic characters that feel grounded and human… My goal was to do the same. I also infused a bit of the essence of 90s Black romances like Love Jones, Waiting to Exhale, and Love and Basketball as well as a sprinkle of The American President and more recently, Rye Lane.
Having written the short and cast yourself as Mia, how much of her character is a self-insert?
There are elements of me in both Mia and Ari. Mia is probably a bit more guarded than I am but I do relate to her desire to take care of everyone, even pushing herself past her bandwidth. As I was writing, I’d recently worked through a bout of burnout and symptoms of brain fog brought on by long Covid. I wanted to write a character whose walls are disarmed by someone who moves through the world with complete authenticity…Mia is finally able to breathe in his presence. Ari’s spirituality and references to his lived experiences are similar to my own. I really do watch ice skating videos to de-stress and have read The Four Agreements a few times. And similarly to Mia, a bee really did fly into my jacket once and I sat there with it for a few minutes until it calmly flew away.
How did you go about finding the right cinematographer for the job? Kunitaro Ohi’s visual design here feels really warm – was that a conscious decision you both made?
My older brother, Jai Jamison, is a filmmaker as well. Kuni has been one of his long time friends and collaborators and has watched me develop from an actor in Jai’s projects into a fully fledged filmmaker. So when it came to directing my first film, I knew I could trust Kuni’s expertise and skill. Early on in pre-production, I would visit museums in Los Angeles and look for color palette inspiration. I sent him countless photos of paintings and sculptures with vibrant and opulent colors, amber orange, and burnt hues. He took that and ran with it alongside our gaffer Brian Sarvis and colorist Matt West. Kuni also claims that “from art to costuming, everyone had this warm and loving vibe that they wanted to project” and I believe that seeped into the world both on and off screen.
‘Try a little tenderness’ was chosen as the tagline – how important was it that your story embodied this philosophy?
The past few years have felt particularly tumultuous all over the world. That’s probably putting it lightly. I feel like what we need more of is tenderness, respect, and empathy. With At Capacity, during all aspects of the creative process I was adamant that we would lean into play, peace, ease, and nurturing one another. With this film and the other projects I have in the pipeline I want to remind folks that our work can be sweet and still have depth. It can nourish as well as challenge. I hope that my creative projects can be a tender salve to those who engage with them.
What happens next – do Mia and Ari meet again, do they leave their accidental evening as a short shared experience between strangers, or do you not know yourself?
I always envisioned them getting married but how they get there could unfold in so many different ways! In one early iteration of the script, Ari and Mia end up as new colleagues the day after they spend the evening together. In a television series it could be years of classic will they, won’t they and witty banter back and forth while they take on political and legislative obstacles. I really do love all the characters I’ve introduced in At Capacity. Audre is a filmmaker, that’s how she makes sense of her world. I think it’d be fascinating to follow her journey of finding her place as a Korean-American in a Black family. Finally, Maxine…after ending a relationship with such a terrible partner, I’d be interested to see her blossom into herself as a single woman and teacher. It would be a joy to keep exploring all of their relationships, their ideologies, and their pursuit of full lives and dreams.
