Author: BRWC

Tár: The BRWC Review. By Joe Muldoon.

A triumphant return after a 16-year directorial hiatus, Tár forwards a compelling case for consideration to be crowned as Todd Field’s magnum opus. The age-old ‘art from artist’ separation dilemma has been explored endlessly for decades in film, but rarely has it been so sophistically laid out as it has in this film. Clearly painstakingly researched, Tár perfectly captures the atmosphere of the academic music sphere. Led by an utterly astonishing Cate Blanchett as the titular character, Tár is a tale of power, hubris, and manipulation.

Lydia Tár is a powerhouse in the world of contemporary classical music; a composer, a conductor, a trailblazer – her influence is inescapable. Blanchett’s dedication to the character is staggering, with her having learnt to speak German and re-learnt how to play piano for the role. More impressive yet, Blanchett learnt to conduct, going so far as to preside over the Dresden Philharmonic orchestra through a playthrough of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, a fittingly grandiose piece for the story.

Tár has somewhat of a godlike view of herself, shown through her comments made during a guest talk, describing the duties and powers of a conductor, the way in which they stop and manipulate time to fit the piece they’re leading. Alas, even gods can’t always outrun their sins, and must face up to the consequences eventually – and this downfall thunderously crashes down upon her, and at great price.

Small cracks gradually collect throughout the film, and the ruthlessness behind her veil emerges piece by piece. During a masterclass at the prestigious Juilliard School, Tár humiliates a young student upon his dismissal of Bach on various ideological grounds, ironically pushing her audience to separate art from the artist. The cinematography of the scene is breathtaking, brilliantly captured by an unbroken 10-minute take.

Part of Tár’s uniqueness lies in the fact that it breaks the pattern of powerful men abusing their authority over others, instead portraying a woman being the one to do so – in this case, amongst other things, exchanging sexual favours for little boosts to those under her tutelage. When Francesca, Tár’s assistant and aspiring conductor, reveals that an ex-student (with whom the callous conductor exchanged favours), Krista, has killed herself and that her parents intend to sue, Tár urges her to delete all email correspondences pertaining to the student in an attempt to cover her trail. The damage, however, has been done; she deliberately torpedoed Krista’s career, and the emails leave enough evidence to strongly suggest it.

”Just because nobody dares breathe it – we know the things you do, the little favours you grant”, blurts out a colleague as Tár effectively spontaneously shows him the door to his relatively safe position. The fear felt by her colleagues has led to total silence amongst them, enabling Tár’s reign of abuse. Upon hearing that she won’t be given an expected promotion, Francesca abruptly resigns her role as assistant, and the offending emails coincidentally find an audience, lighting the fuse for her old boss’ tremendous undoing. Naturally, this doesn’t initially lead to an epiphany, but a rather self-pitying, ‘et tu, Brute?’ moment.

Though most attention has been directed towards Blanchett for her role (understandably so), the magnificence of her supporting cast cannot be overlooked. Noémie Merlant, quickly becoming a major figure in queer cinema, approaches the role of Francesca with subtle elegance, and Nina Hoss is equally splendid as Sharon Goodnow, Lydia’s partner and fellow musician. Special praise is due for Sophie Kauer, who having no prior acting experience, learnt how to act for her part as Olga Metkina by watching Michael Caine acting tutorials on YouTube – Tár is currently her only acting credit.

Blanchett convincingly breathes life into the world of Lydia Tár in such a way that we forget that we’re not watching a biopic, but one of the most convincing character studies of a fictional woman committed to film. Though there’s tight competition amongst the community-predicted upcoming Academy Award nominees, this could quite possibly earn Blanchett her third acting Oscar, and deservedly so. Tár is a spectacular depiction of the corrosive nature of power and its abuses, and is the finest film about classical music since Amadeus.

By Joe Muldoon

Vagabond: Review. By Joe Muldoon.

Though known across most English-speaking countries as Vagabond, its more literal translation ‘Without Roof Nor Law’ seems equally appropriate. The critically-acclaimed ‘Sans toit ni loi’, winner of the 1985 Golden Lion award, is one of the finest pieces of drifter cinema. Beloved director Agnès Varda’s penchant for offering sympathetic glances into the lives of the marginalised truly shines through here.

Despite our principal character admittedly being rather unlikeable, if not downright antagonistic, the brilliance of Vagabond is that we still care for her, even in the face of her exploiting those around her.

A young woman, Mona Bergeron (César Best Actress-winning Sandrine Bonnaire), is found dead in a ditch, the circumstances surrounding her death being unknown. Throughout the film, Varda’s capabilities as both a filmmaker and documentarian stand out, with us switching between observations of Mona’s life and pseudo-documentary interviews conducted with the various people with whom the doomed drifter interacts. A vagabond by choice, Mona removes herself from her old life as a secretary, instead opting to live free of responsibility or commitment.

Wandering the dreary fields and rural roads of a wintry southern France, she picks up odd work where she can find it, mostly reliant upon the luck of chance encounters. Though dependent upon the kindness and generosity of strangers, she remains ungrateful for the help she receives, many a time disappearing from their lives without any thanks or farewells.

Along the way, the young rover encounters many fellow wanderers, as well as employed settlers, most of whom offer her food and board. She makes little to no effort to get to know them, moving on upon the expiration of their usefulness, or her being kicked out.

As the interview clips are dotted around the film, we struggle to piece together a coherent image of the nomad, the people with whom she spent time knowing very little about her. We realise that we know next to nothing about her ourselves, despite having spent the duration by her side.

She remains an enigma; a free or lost soul, we simply do not know. By the time of her unfortunate demise, her circumstances are inevitable – she dies cold and alone. Vagabond is Varda at her finest.

By Joe Muldoon.

The Fabelmans: The BRWC Review. By Joe Muldoon.

The Fabelmans joins the ranks of Fellini’s 81⁄2 and Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso as one of the greatest filmic love-letters to cinema to date. A deeply personal drama, Steven Spielberg’s newest Oscar-tipped adventure is as charming as it can be tear-jerking. We’re introduced to Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle and Mateo Zoryan), a young boy who discovers a passion for filmmaking, a stand-in for Spielberg himself. After attending a screening of The Greatest Show On Earth with his parents, Mitzi and Burt (Michelle Williams and Paul Dano), the boy grows obsessed with the train crash sequence, determined to recreate it himself. With the help of Burt’s gift of a rather expensive train set and a Super 8 camera, Sammy’s filmmaking aspirations are born.

We sail through his formative years, the boy coming to terms with the world and people around him, and we spend the majority of the film experiencing his teenage years. Through the instability of his home life, including the frequent home moves, strained relationship of his parents, and antisemitic bullying experienced at school, filmmaking becomes Sammy’s constant place of stability.

His home movie projects grow in ambition; having started with toilet-roll mummy shorts, he reimagines John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and then creates a very impressive WWII film ‘Escape To Nowhere’. It is here that he truly develops his directing chops, managing to bring out surprisingly strong performances from his fellow Scouts. Interestingly, Spielberg has since stated that with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski’s help, Sammy’s films are near-exact recreations of the films he himself made as a child.

At his high school, he faces physical and antisemitic abuse from his jock peers, having the name ‘Bagelman’ spat at him. After finding himself with a girlfriend (who attempts to convert him to Christianity), and at her encouragement, Sammy films his peers at their traditional beach ‘Bunk Day’, with the film set to be screened at their prom. After mixed reception to the film, with most being delighted and a few being angered by their portrayal, an important lesson about the power and responsibility of the director’s gaze is learnt.

To point to any specific performance as a stand-out is impossible. From Michelle Williams’ moving performance as the troubled Mitzi, to Seth Rogan’s surprisingly grounded and serious Bennie (Burt’s best friend, who later begins an extramarital affair with Mitzi), to David Lynch’s spectacular cameo as the legendary Western director John Ford – Spielberg has assembled a simply stellar cast, wringing out the best performances possible from his performers (with Williams being likely tipped for a Best Actress nomination).

Without leaning into rose-tinted sentimentality, The Fabelmans is a touching semi-autobiographical glimpse into the cinematic journey of one of the greatest auteurs alive. With a runtime of 150 minutes, some may be tempted to call this indulgent, but for myself, this lengthy voyage is a very welcome piece of meta filmmaking. According to Rogan, the real-life closeness of the events depicted would often bring Spielberg to tears during production, and it’s no surprise. The maestro’s parents had long-nagged him to be put on the big screen, and it’s safe to say that he did them justice. The Fabelmans is as much a loving tribute to his family as it is to cinephilia.

Piggy: Review. By Joe Muldoon.

Adapted from the 2018 short film of the same name, Piggy is the latest award-winning venture of writer-director Carlota Pereda. It’s uncomfortable, it’s morally dubious, and it’s deliciously manipulative. Many films have depicted the torment of bullying, but few have portrayed its effects so unflinchingly, not only the pain caused, but also the consequences of silence.

Sara (masterfully played by Laura Galán) is a teenage girl whose family runs a small butcher shop in a Spanish village. Cruelly ostracised by the local teenagers for her weight, Sara’s social life is next to non-existent, with her instead living an introverted life, accompanied mostly by music.

The baking Spanish summer sunshine provides the perfect backdrop for what quickly evolves into a stifling series of events, scarcely offering the audience a chance to breathe. Heartbreakingly self-conscious about her body, Sara heads to the local swimming pool and waits until it’s almost entirely vacated before she feels safe to go for a swim.

Her enjoyment is short-lived, as her bullies spot her swimming, deciding to viciously berate Sara and hold her under the water with a net. Their actions clearly not satisfying enough, the girls run off with her clothes and towel, forcing Sara to begin the long and humiliating walk home, wearing only her swimsuit.

On her way home, she witnesses her recently-bloodied bullies being dragged into a van by a mysterious bearded man. As one desperately bangs on the window begging for help, Sara wets herself in fear. In an oddly tender moment, the man silently offers her a towel, one of the only instances in which we see any genuine kindness being shown towards the tortured teen.

After eventually arriving home, we see the villagers grow increasingly concerned about the likely disappearance of their teenagers – some show immediate worry, but others brush it off as a simple matter of teenagers enjoying their summer by partying in the woods. As bodies are found and the parents break out into panic, tensions rise rapidly, pushing their way towards breaking point. As Sara’s guilt suffocates her, others around her start to notice, and we wonder if she’ll finally admit her knowledge of the current situation.

By the arrival of the film’s grisly climax, Piggy’s work is done. Our moral compasses have been sent into a state of confusion; the film dares to ask us whether Sara’s silence is justified – just as her bullies’ parents silently turned blind eyes to their children’s merciless body shaming, Sara stays silent about the girls’ whereabouts. Is being kidnapped and tied up in a slaughterhouse a proportionate punishment for bullying? Probably not – but it’s hard to not feel a warped sense of justice, that at least some level of comeuppance was long-overdue.

Pereda stated that she wrote the film to confront her own fears, because ‘being a teen can be terrifying’ – without being heavy-handed, Piggy manages to be incisively socially conscious, a stark meditation on cruelty, silence, and retribution.

By Joe Muldoon.

The Menu: The BRWC Review. By Jake Peffer.

The Menu follows Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) as they travel to a remote island for the ultimate dining experience. Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) has one of the best restaurants in the world and an experience at his place is like no other. Along with Tyler and Margot are ten other diners who can’t wait to experience this fine dining establishment. A lavish menu has been prepared along with some shocking surprises as the night progresses.

A good satire is usually hard to come by. Most of the time the tone either gets played too seriously and you miss out on the laughs, or they try way too hard to be humorous and it falls flat on its face. With The Menu, director Mark Mylod is able to walk the line between comedy and horror in fantastic fashion. While certain parts do get outlandish and over the top Mylod is able to reel in his cast and have them not only provide many laughs throughout but also play up the more serious parts to give you a perfect balance. 

There are plenty of great jabs at people who claim to be “foodies” and the restaurant industry as a whole. Chef Slowik is played like a version of Gordon Ramsey who is willing to take things to extreme heights and it’s a great commentary on overzealous chefs in the industry who take their craft a little too seriously. Then you have a character like Tyler who is that annoying person at the table that thinks they know everything about food and tries to impress everybody with their knowledge while simultaneously posting pictures of their meals to their Instagram page. Mylod does a great job providing that commentary and not only pokes fun at the industry but also is able to showcase it in a way that can make you appreciate fine dining.

Everyone here does a fantastic job in their roles. While a lot of the characters are unlikeable the cast has enough charm and charisma to still make you care about what happens to them. Nicholas Hoult is going outside of his normal wheelhouse with the character of Tyler. This is the first character of his that is outright unlikeable, and you can tell he’s having a good time because the performance is great. Ralph Fiennes is always great in essentially everything he’s ever been in, and this is no different. He puts in another great performance to add to his résumé. A large weight of this movie falls on the back of Anya Taylor-Joy and this is arguably one of her best performances to date. She flows through this movie effortlessly and ends up being one of the best parts. Character actors such as Hong Chau, John Leguizamo, Janet McTeer and many others all do well in their supporting roles rounding out this great cast.

In the end, The Menu provides some of the best entertainment of the year. It does a great job giving you a perfect balance of comedy and horror. There isn’t a moment where the movie stalls out, once it gets going it moves at a smooth pace and never lets up. The cast is all fantastic with Fiennes and Taylor-Joy being the standouts. This is one of the best movies of 2022 and it gets a full recommendation.