Author: Dan Barnes

Brady Corbet’s new film about the pitfalls of stardom is an interesting but flawed picture; one with worthwhile themes and terrific performances, but not with a great deal to say. 

Vox Lux stars both Natalie Portman and Raffey Cassidy as Celeste, a singer who shot to fame at a very young age after a childhood tragedy. The film is split into two, as we see her find success as a teenager, and also wrestle with the media after another sad event takes place on the day of her concert years later.

There is no question that the film offers plenty to be admired. It’s frankly gorgeous to look at, with Lol Crawley’s wonderful cinematography bringing the story to life in a beautiful yet distorted way that is both thematically-pleasing and enthralling, wonderfully complimented by Scott Walker’s chilling score.

Its central performances are also terrific, with Natalie Portman in particular at her absolute best, completely transforming into the role and clearly having the time of her life doing so. Raffey Cassidy does good work, particularly as Celeste’s daughter Albertine in an odd yet successful casting choice in the film’s second half. One moment in a restaurant stands out for both performers, who share excellent chemistry as they vie for the spotlight. 

The fundamental flaw with Vox Lux is its theme, or rather its execution. Corbet is trying to get to the bottom of such a figure as Celeste, where she has come from and how she must have changed to become what she is. However, while this is all portrayed in a very subtle fashion for the majority of the picture, it’s the closing minutes that let it down. Willem Defoe’s misplaced narration interrupts Celeste’s show to spell things out to the audience in a rather lazy fashion. It’s an ending that undermines all the interesting work that came before it, ultimately leaving the viewer with a sour taste. 

Undoubtedly, the concert sequence is absolutely fantastic. It’s presented with class, aided by memorable original music from Sia, and Portman absolutely owns the stage. However, while the show is indeed worth the wait, it’s simply complimented by an ending that feels too obvious and easy to be truly affecting.

Throughout the film, there are other moments like this in which Corbet acts against subtlety and chooses the easy way out, including the catastrophe in the second act that feels like an out-of-place choice used simply to incite shock as opposed to being perhaps what the story actually needed.

In the end, Vox Lux is an interesting film with engaging moments throughout that simply never amounts to anything special. It’s a film with a lot to say, but it isn’t saying anything new, nor is it saying it in a particularly clever way. It’s beautifully presented and extremely well-acted, but its themes don’t land the way Corbet clearly wants them to. It’s all just too self-important to work and, for all its qualities, it sadly fades away into nothing as the third act draws the film to a close in the least satisfying way. 

It’s not without its high-points, and it’s certainly worth watching for each and every one of them, but overall Vox Lux feels like a film that never fully became the sum of its parts. 

In 1923, when George Mallory was asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest (a desire that would ultimately lead to his death), he famously replied with a simple ‘because it’s there’.

That’s perhaps the closest we’ll ever to get to understanding why somebody like this would dream of doing something quite so dangerous, and the same can be said of Alex Honnold, the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Free Solo.

The latest feature from married couple Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, themselves both filmmakers and rock climbers, follows Honnold as he attempts to achieve the impossible: climbing El Capitan, a 3,000 foot cliff in Yosemite Valley considered to be one of the toughest climbs on the planet, using only his hands and feet, with no ropes or safety harnesses. 

The magnitude of such a feat is something that can hardly be put into words, but instead must be seen to be believed, and Free Solo is a film that simply demands to be seen.

Perhaps the only notable flaw with this film is the fact that Honnold is far from being the most relatable person on Earth. It feels harsh to bring this up as a criticism, since it really is the fault of no-one involved. In order to live such a life, one must be a little selfish. This isn’t something you could take away from Honnold. His passion and determination is nothing short of admirable, and he’s certainly a fascinating person. The downside of this is that it becomes virtually impossible to engage with him on a personal level. He’s interesting, watchable, and impressive, but he’s certainly not empathetic.

This hardly impacts the film at all, since the directors aren’t all that interested in answering the impossible question of why Honnold is doing this. The most interesting themes discussed in the film are actually that of what it must be like to be close to someone like this. Seeing his friends and family suffer as they watch him work towards his dream is something that every viewer will be able to feel.

Perhaps the most interesting person to watch in Free Solo is Honnold’s girlfriend, Sanni McCandless, who serves as the entry-point for the audience. She is the voice of reason in a world of uncertainty and danger. Despite Honnold’s emotionless exterior, McCandless is able to bond with him in a way that nobody else has. 

She tries all she can to convince her boyfriend to live a normal, safe life, but deep down she knows that it’s a fool’s errand. Honnold has no interest in stopping. Watching her suffer as he carries out his final climb is the most gut-wrenchingly human moment in the film.

The filmmakers don’t need to consistently remind their audience just how risky this climb really is, as many other climbers in Honnold’s life do that for them. Tommy Caldwell, who himself completed a dangerous El Capitan climb that was the subject of its own documentary, The Dawn Wall, says numerous times that this is a frankly insane goal to have, and one that freaks out even the most daring of climbers. 

Of course, the film’s third act, in which we see Honnold achieve the incredible, is the film’s biggest selling point, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s frankly breath-taking cinema that lingers in your mind long after it draws to a close. If this had been in a Mission: Impossible film, it would be celebrated as one of the greatest action scenes in all of cinema, and yet this is actually happening before our very eyes. It was a jaw-dropping IMAX experience, but thankfully the sequence is so suspenseful and terrifying that it shouldn’t lose any impact on home viewing.

It’s an extremely intense moment, helped by the fact that we’ve seen him unsuccessfully test the route several times before. Honnold climbs El Capitan with ropes several times, simply to figure out said route, and there is one moment in particular which he’s not able to complete successfully at any point before free soloing. As he reaches this mark, there was audible wincing in the audience. 

Vasarhelyi and Chin capture the climb beautifully, getting across just how high Honnold really is and just how far he could fall. We’re also treated to intimate moments with the crew as they reluctantly watch Honnold risk his life for fun. Mikey Schaefer, one of the main cameramen, is physically unable to look, spending the majority of his time with his back to the camera. 

It’s this level of fear that makes this moment what it is. We’re reminded that if Honnold makes one single mistake, he will fall to a certain death. Everyone filming is fully aware that he could fall at any second, and what was once intended as a documentary film could instead capture his final moments. More than one free soloist in the world dies during the making of Free Solo, and it’s important to remember that Honnold was constantly at risk of being one of them. This level of tension is something that simply cannot be replicated in fiction, and that’s precisely what makes it so absorbing. 

It also feels like a tremendous privilege to view what must be one of mankind’s greatest ever achievements.

Free Solo is rewarding on a great many levels. It’s a film that you don’t simply watch. Rather, it’s one that you experience. Alex Honnold may not be the most empathetic subject you’ll see in the genre, but it’s impossible not to find him fascinating or be fully engaged in what it is he’s doing. It’s also fair to say that the far more human reactions we gleam from his friends, crew and his girlfriend, provide more than enough connection for the viewer.

Above all else, as terrifying as it all is, it’s really quite exhilarating watching Honnold risk his life like this. It’s always interesting to see someone that is so passionate about something, however insane it may seem to us. Free Solo is far scarier than horror films, and more suspenseful than most thrillers. It’s an unforgettable picture that was fully deserving of an Academy Award, and an experience that you’ll want to revisit. 

Who doesn’t love a good film noir? There is something very special about the films that dominated Hollywood in the 1940s and early 1950s. Classics like ‘Double Indemnity’, ‘Sunset Boulevard’, ‘The Big Sleep’, ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and ‘The Third Man’ are hailed as some of the greatest movies of the era, and while the genre was very much of its time, the passion for it lives on, with noir themes influencing mainstream Hollywood productions even today. Films such as ‘L.A. Confidential’, ‘The Nice Guys’ and ‘Memento’ all contribute to the ongoing success of the genre, with varying generations of audiences.

Tom Konkle’s independent feature ‘Trouble Is My Business’ isn’t simply influenced by noir, but rather fully embraces it. The film is essentially one big homage to the time, created by a filmmaker with a clear passion for the material. It’s unashamedly a tribute to film noir itself, complete with all the genre tropes we’ve come to expect as well as particularly atmospheric cinematography.

The plot is a familiar one. Konkle himself plays Roland Drake, a private detective whose life is turned around when a young dame asks him for help. There is no need to go further into the plot here, mainly due to spoilers but largely because it’s exactly what you might expect from a film such as this. All the clichés are there; the PI, the femme fatale(s), the over-the-top dialogue, theatrical lighting, a good use of shadows. The film can be viewed in colour or black-and-white, but the latter is clearly the preferred option, despite being post-converted. The black-and-white simply suits the style of film we’re watching. One can’t help but wonder whether colour would actually have been particularly overbearing.

The production design is gorgeous and actually quite respectable for such an independent project. Everyone involved has clearly poured their heart and soul into ensuring the film stands out. It appears to be a cross between ‘Chinatown’, ‘Sin City’ and the video game ‘L.A. Noire’. Overall it works, but there are times when it isn’t quite as successful. The film uses a mixture of real locations and green screens, and sadly the latter sticks out like a sore thumb. It can sometimes look cartoonish, which is perhaps expected for such a budget, but it may have been a sensible idea to let go of that element completely and focus solely on the practical sets. It’s not a big enough problem to take enjoyment away from the film, but it’s certainly worth mentioning.

The cast are all charismatic enough and they do well with the material. The dialogue is witty, of-the-time, and mostly played for laughs. The comedic timing is well-judged, even if it can come across as cheesy on occasion. Konkle does a competent job in the leading role, but it might have been a better decision to focus solely on direction and cast somebody else as Drake. He’s not quite skilled enough to carry a film in which he features in almost every shot, but he does well with what he has and he’s clearly having a wonderful time with it.

The film might be a tad too long. Closing in on 2 hours, the twists and turns become a little much and the novelty of the film isn’t enough to carry it through to the end credits. Many classics of the era weren’t quite so long, and one can’t help but notice that ‘Trouble Is My Business’ simply doesn’t have enough ideas to warrant the minutes.

However, on the whole, this is a particularly enjoyable film that should please all genre lovers looking for an escape. It’s fairly admirable that the filmmakers would attempt something so ambitious for an independent production, and for the most part, they’ve pulled it off. This success is down to a clear passion behind the camera, and the obvious amount of work that went into the execution. It’s a nostalgic tribute to the classic days of Hollywood and it’s one that is sure to entertain.

Perhaps it is a little too long, the green screen can be off-putting at times, and Konkle might not be the most convincing lead, but the production design is far better than it should have been, the dialogue is particularly clever, the shot composition is inventive and the score is very fitting. It’s a fun homage to the days of old, and a respectable piece of independent cinema, even if it isn’t necessarily without its flaws.