film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Matt Conway

  • Profile: The BRWC Review

    Profile: The BRWC Review

    Profile Synopsis: Amy Whittaker (Valene Kane), an undercover British journalist, risks her life by infiltrating militant extremist groups online. The lines between her work and her life blur as she begins to get closer to Bilel (Shazad Latif), an ISIS recruiter trying to lure her into the terrorist group. Loosely based on a true story.

    Emerging from society’s tech-based intimacy, a new wave of cyber features has transfixed audiences from the perspective of our everyday devices. Some filmmakers have utilized the unique perspective to craft compelling reflections of habitual routines (Host and Spree were two of 2020s most inventive features), while others have sunk under the weight of the screens’ oppressively blank stares (I never jived with the campy Unfriended series despite their promise).

    The subgenre’s latest iteration, Profile, finds Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov burrowing into social media’s sinister crevices. Bekmambetov boasts a wildly inconsistent track record despite his inventive visual eye, but his latest marks a career-best achievement for the distinctive filmmaker. As an exploration of terrorist groups’ seedy recruitment efforts, Profile raises its once-gimmicky filmmaking style into a surprisingly substantive thrill ride.

    Other digitized films frame their style merely as an inventive pastiche. For Profile, its single-screen setting feels singularly ingrained into its narrative ideals. Bekmambetov’s direction grips audiences within its precise minimalism, with the cold, matter-of-factness capturing the subject matter’s harrowing undertones through each click and notification. Considering the director’s typical verbose style, this markedly restrained effort is a refreshing change of pace. I also enjoyed Bekmambetov’s command of the film’s pulse-pounding dramatic frames. His lack of Hollywood-ized score and showy tricks allows this journalistic narrative to retrain its pragmatic origins while still keeping the thrills intact.

    Amy’s descent into social media’s nefarious recruiting underground thankfully becomes a revealing experience. Bekmambetov and his team deserve ample praise for never sensationalizing Bilal’s tactics, allowing the character to be a handsome, somewhat charming force with seemingly genuine intentions. Promises of a new life chock-full of luxurious amenities and a supportive family system initially draw unsuspecting victims in, but the fairy-tale facade cracks with each casually callous comment and downright vicious ideal Bilal shares. This realistic dynamic benefits greatly from the film’s talented stars. Valene Kane and Shazad Latif amplify the character’s personas through their dedicated deliveries, eliciting raw and engaging performances from their screen-to-screen rapport.

    Profile reaches soaring heights during its initial hour, a quality streak that Bekmambetov and company can’t quite sustain throughout the duration. The third act takes an unwarranted turn into Hollywood theatrics, with a sudden character change forcing the narrative down an exceedingly predictable and over-the-top pathway. Not only does this change of heart feel unearned, but the sensibility shift betrays much of what the film accomplishes in its first two acts. For a thriller that prides itself on grounded realism, it’s a letdown to see Profile sell itself short with artificial tricks.

    Even as the film slips from its initial brilliance, Profile still enthralls where it counts most. Bekmambetov’s mixture of zeitgeist textures and thoughtful restraint make this the crown jewel of the computerized subgenre.

    PROFILE hits theaters on May 14th.

  • Oxygen: The BRWC Review

    Oxygen: The BRWC Review

    Oxygen Synopsis: Elizabeth (Melanie Laurent) wakes up in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there. With her oxygen levels depleting, she must find a way out of her close-quarters setting before running out of air.

    Few filmmakers have exhibited Alexandre Aja’s mastery of horror’s versatile sensibilities. From grizzly reinventions of adored staples (The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha 3D) to electrifying genre-bending mash-ups (Horns is way too slept on), Aja’s lively artistry elevate whatever narrative he touches. Where filmmakers like Jordan Peele and Ari Aster receive praise for their meditative expansions of horror’s echoing fears, Aja deserves similar recognition for his mastery of horror’s evocative, crowd-pleasing allures.

    Aja’s latest breathless thrill ride, Oxygen, spins a revolving mystery from the confines of a futuristic chamber. While the film never reaches revelatory heights, Aja unsurprisingly crafts another taunt, roller coaster experience from his familiar assets.

    Making a one-room setting, much less a claustrophobic chamber, visually dynamic takes rare inventiveness and ingenuity. Thankfully for Oxygen, those are skills Aja possesses in droves. Teamed with frequent collaborator Maxime Alexandre, the duo elicit a well-calibrated dynamism from every nook and cranny of their close-quarters setting. The camera’s zipping energy skillfully intensifies Elizabeth’s struggle to survive, with an accompaniment of kinetic edits and intimately sweaty frames luring audiences into the narrative’s enigmatic hook. Right from the film’s atmospheric introduction, Aja builds a palpable unease from his intensely chromatic setting (anytime there’s a coldly distant AI voice, you know shit is hitting the fan).

    Oxygen’s assured sensibility serves as an initial hook, but it’s Mélanie Laurent’s revealing performance that truly captivates. Laurent unleashes a powerfully expressive effort as Elizabeth, tapping into the character’s hectic panic through her transfixing emotional gravity. The actress provides a much-needed anchor for the twisting narrative to revolve around, imbuing dramatic agency to keep audiences invested. Co-star Mathieu Amalric also deserves praise for his detached delivery as the AI unit M.I.L.O. Amalric’s unnerving delivery does a capable job of revitalizing a familiar science-fiction archetype.

    Despite the great foundational pieces, Oxygen’s so-so screenplay holds the film back from reaching its full potential. First-time screenwriter Christie LeBlanc draws a capable narrative chock-full of winding twists and turns (the third act revelation lands with its intended impact). However, her script falls short at implementing weightier thematic conceits. The first two acts fixate on exposition-driven exchanges instead of delving into Elizabeth’s insular struggles with identity amidst her artificial surroundings.

    Interesting wrinkles are introduced with the film’s effective twist, but the film becomes too enamored with busy thrills to explore them. This decision leaves audiences with a barebones story, a familiar narrative that can’t make audiences forget about its similar counterparts (2010’s Buried in particular).

    Oxygen doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but the lively talents of its singular star and director shine more often than not. Audiences should have a blast unwinding this corkscrew narrative (pay attention, as the opening frames may be more telling than you think).

    Oxygen debuts May 12th on Netflix.

  • Here Today: The BRWC Review

    Here Today: The BRWC Review

    Here Today Synopsis: When veteran comedy writer Charlie Burnz (Billy Crystal) meets New York singer Emma Payge (Tiffany Haddish), they form an unlikely yet touching friendship that kicks the generation gap aside and redefines the meaning of love and trust.

    Teaming a comedic icon with one of Hollywood’s brightest new voices, Here Today presents an interesting walk through memory lane for writer, director, and star Billy Crystal. It may not be in the exact vein of his 90’s rom-com staples like When Harry Met Sally and Forget Paris, but Crystal and co-star Tiffany Haddish embrace the era’s feel-good nature in a story of friendship amidst life-altering changes.

    Based on a short story about Crystal’s former SNL colleague Herb Sargent, the beloved funnyman imbues heart and soul into his long-awaited return to the director’s chair. Even when framed as an admirable passion project, Here Today’s overstuffed plotting and maudlin emotionality never rise above Hallmark-level pleasantness.

    Part buddy comedy, part dementia drama, mixed alongside shadings of workplace milieu, and finally topped with a heaping of familiar drama, Crystal and co-writer Alan Zweibel bite off far more than they can chew. The medley of narrative threads collides in an awkward tonal mishmash of conceits, dancing between plot beats without cohesive direction. Plenty of films have found insightful ways of balancing life’s painful tribulations with much-needed humor, but Crystal’s sappy direction choices create a bizarre, Frankenstein-esque melding of tonality. An over-reliance on tired score choices and a lack of narrative flow keep Crystal’s film from ever finding a succicent voice onscreen.

    Here Today has a lot to say without saying much of it very well. As a comedy, Crystal and Zweibel’s low-key playfulness is often subbed out for grand comedic plot beats that fall flat on their face (a certain scene where Charlie takes the stage lands with a nasty mean streak despite the intended laughs). Audiences will get the occasional chuckle out of Crystal and Haddish’s distinct personas, yet neither actor is given anything particularly sharp to say (most the best gags feel improvisational).

    If the comedic aspects are a mixed bag, the dramatic elements are a borderline disaster. Crystal’s handling of Charlie is far too sentimental and clean, excusing most of the character’s previous poor actions under the guise of an evolution that doesn’t really show on the screen (the familiar drama, featuring Penn Badgley and Laura Benanti, feels laughably simplistic and melodramatic). While it’s refreshing to see Haddish in a somewhat subdued role, even her character feels like a false amalgam of dated movie cliches (the “manic pixie dream girl” trope in particular). Her character only exists to service the whims of Charlie’s ailing problems, lacking the dimension or agency to have her own meaningful place in the narrative. It all builds to a finale that swings for teary-eyed emotions yet whiffs with cloying results.

    Here Today doesn’t work despite its admirable intentions. Crystal and Haddish share an agreeable-enough rapport, but the film surrounding them constantly stumbles over its good intentions.

    Here Today is in theaters nationwide.

  • Mainstream: The BRWC Review

    Mainstream: The BRWC Review

    Mainstream Synopsis: A longing artist vying to be seen, Frankie (Maya Hawke) finds a path to internet stardom when she starts making videos with Link (Andrew Garfield), a charismatic stranger with an alluring hold on the camera. Alongside her coworker Jake (Nat Wolff), the trio makes waves on the internet through their unconventional methods, a dangerous unkempt streak that could lead to their demise.

    While the film registered a minor dent on the zeitgeist, Gia Coppola’s meditative, angst-drive debut Palo Alto left a sizable impact on me. Akin to her well-statured relatives, Coppola exhibited a poised reverence for honest emotionality amidst her insecure teen protagonists. The film powerfully echoes with longing and open-hearted vulnerabilities, reflecting genuine adolescent sentiments in ways few coming-of-age tales can match (I can’t forget to mention Devonte Hynes’ affectingly atmospheric score).

    Coppola now returns to the screen with Mainstream, a sleek LA satire of three dreamers vying for YouTube stardom under the guise thoughtful of artistic expression. The subject matter couldn’t feel more timely, but Coppola’s abrasive bold streak never masks the oppressive shallowness.

    Social media presents vast opportunities for meaningful critiques (look at the numerous stories centered around the sinister undertones behind influencer personalities). Coppola’s screenplay seems to have a pulse on the platforms’ oppressive superficiality and degrading undertones, but her approach never feels connected to the real-world intricacies. Link makes a few obvious parodies of basic bro influencers before creating a dated game show format that doesn’t reflect modern social media tendencies (it felt more connected to a parody of bad TV game shows).

    Everything is so overproduced and gimmicky instead of the artificially-built realism real influencers represent. With all the inauthentic frames, Coppola’s thematic connotations never range much deeper than a stern finger wag at the audience (the plotting’s obvious nature doesn’t allow ideas to ruminate naturally). The strained screenplay choices impact the character building the most, with none of the lead trio developing a persona outside of stereotypical contrivances. Frankie and Jake’s aspirational spirits lack substantive shading while Link’s wild-child persona is vacant of emotional intimacy. Audiences never get a sense of what motivates the three outside of the screenplay’s formulaic storytelling whims.

    After exhibiting poetic restraint with Palo Alto, Coppola strives for a bolder visual profile with largely mixed results. Imbuing high-energy visuals makes sense as a compliment to the material’s boisterous vapid streak, yet Coppola and cinematographer Autumn Durald settle for a visual busyness that lacks grace. Waves of emoticons and text notifications establish a cheap veneer from social media’s high-flying activity. All the visual flourishes feel oddly akin to Link’s desperate pleas for attention. So much about this film screams for viewers interest, but both the visuals and storytelling are not equipped for the task.

    Even as the film ambitiously flops, Mainstream still extracts a level of prolific entertainment. Audiences are destined to be hit or miss on Andrew Garfield’s abrasive turn as the vlogging try-hard Link, but I thought his manic mannerisms manifest a level of reality from the character’s nonstop posturing. The film is at its best when Link’s unkempt dangers are released, including a show-stopping dance finale representative of the film’s sinister connotations (the film generates its best laughs when leaning into the ridiculousness of Link’s).

    I wanted so badly for Mainstream to work. Coppola’s film presents fascinating potential, but the film rarely lives up to its idealistic concepts.

    Mainstream releases in select theaters and on VOD on May 7th.

  • Wrath Of Man: The BRWC Review

    Wrath Of Man: The BRWC Review

    Wrath of Man Synopsis: H (Jason Statham) is a cold and mysterious character working at a cash truck company responsible for moving hundreds of millions of dollars around Los Angeles each week. After disposing of an attempted robbery, H sets his sights on revenge for the loss of his son.

    The careers of Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie will forever be intertwined by their spirited indie days. With sharp and brazenly idiosyncratic efforts like Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Ritchie exhibited a singular voice due to his penchant for verbose vulgarities and oft-kilter storytelling. The material’s lean-and-mean energy also made a perfect canvas for Statham’s stern-faced charisma, setting the ground floor for the star’s sturdy career as a poised killing machine.

    After a few decades apart, the two distinct personas re-team in Wrath of Man, a taunt-heist picture made in the image of Statham’s traditioned action formula. While some may be disappointed by the film’s modest appeals, Wrath of Man assuredly scratches that shameless genre movie itch.

    The pair’s well-documented relationship gives this action title a sizable advantage over its peers, with both possessing a finite understanding of the other’s distinct strengths. Statham has rarely been better as the vengeful H, portraying the character’s blind vengeance with dramatic weight and his typical action star charisma (few deliver vulgar one-liners with such effortless disdain). I also appreciate how the actor’s typically steely-eyed persona is incorporated in a newfound sense of purpose.

    Ritchie’s screenplay (co-written by Eric Besnard and Nicolas Boukhrief) allows H to become more than another amalgam of action hero cliche. The script’s substantive undertones, while fairly routine for an action film, wisely delve into the character’s questionable moral compasses amidst the hyper-masculine, dog-eats-dog setting (I love Ritchie’s use of dramatic irony, as he’s always finding satisfying ways to pay off even the smallest of character arcs). His sharp writing also skillfully elevates the tertiary meathead roles. Beloved character actors like Scott Eastwood, Holt McCallany, and Josh Hartnett propel their bit parts into meaningful contributions (Hartnett has a blast as a skittish man with a “tough guy” complex).

    Fear not action fans, as Ritchie’s film still delivers the satisfying genre mechanics audiences crave. Wrath of Man works patiently amidst the heist genre’s slow-burn plotting before unleashing setpieces that sing with real-world tension and agency. Ritchie’s vibrant touch as a director remains very much intact, employing a range of smooth tracking shots and steady framing to intensify the close-quarters gunplay. Bullets fly by the dozens while characters are slaughtered in an unpredictable fashion, keeping audiences on their toes until the satisfying finale hammers the film’s thesis home.

    Wrath of Man certainly scores above its B-movie action paygrade, but not all of Guy Ritchie’s trademark touches are welcomed. His dialogue still ranges from bitingly clever to painfully juvenile. The latter category includes a bevy of cringe-inducing barbs that transport audiences to the stone age of chauvinist action cinema (Ritchie’s struggles writing well-defined female characters are well-documented). I can see where these touches could purposefully reflect toxic masculinity and men’s primal instincts, but Ritchie doesn’t go deep enough in the conceit to truly sell the idea.

    I also wished Ritchie pushed the envelope more from a visual perspective. Similar to The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man lacks the unhinged creativity behind the director’s signature projects. It occasionally feels like he’s conforming too much to Statham’s well-versed action formula rather than pushing the envelope with his trademark sensibility.

    Issues aside, Wrath of Man is the brutal and brazenly badass action film audiences have sorely missed on the big screen. It’s a blast to see Statham back in his barebones action formula (2016’s Mechanic: Resurrection was his last project of this elk), so here’s to hoping more starring vehicles are on their way for him.

    WRATH OF MAN opens in theaters on May 7th.