film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Nasu Nguyen

  • Here Are The Young Men: Review

    Here Are The Young Men: Review

    They say high school is some of the best years of your life filled with a litany of excitement and joy. Most of the time, that idea instantly fizzles out after your freshman year when you realize that the High School Musical experience is merely just a fantasy. It’s a classic case of cognitive dissonance that you eventually become accustomed to. Nevertheless, it doesn’t deter from the fact that high school is an overwhelming show of chaos. This is something our 3 main protagonists are disillusioned with in Here Are The Young Men, a tale of rebellious teenagers who spend their freedom from school under the flashing lights of parties and drugs. Conversely, a tragic accident catalyzes their lives in different ways and they must learn how to cope with it. 

    This film is adapted from the novel of the same name written by Rob Doyle. Having not read the book I cannot speak on behalf of how different or accurate it is to the film. In spite of this, it has always been a challenge to adapt the contents of the novel into a screenplay, especially one where the films’ runtime is just a little over an hour and a half. On paper, it already seemed skeptical, but at the same time you saw cast names like Anya Taylor-Joy, Dean-Charles Chapman, Finn Cole and Ferdia Walsh-Peelo who are all young rising stars—some more than others—so perhaps it could be promising. 

    Unfortunately, the film does not offer anything new to the table in terms of the coming-of-age teenage adolescent storyline. Although the film does explore several themes regarding toxic masculinity, relationships, and self-identity, it often feels like it’s juggling too much without spending time with them. I don’t have a problem when many different ideas are being tackled, but director and writer Eoin Macken bites off more than he can chew here. Rather than sitting with these characters, we are thrusted into an unbuckled rollercoaster ride with several loops and sharp turns. 

    Eoin Macken’s direction is definitely ambitious and stylish but is often too jarring and clunky for its own good. It’s clear that he wanted to encapsulate his vision on the screen with fantastical elements and moments of surrealism. Many of those scenes are used to highlight a character’s internal psyche or evoke a psychedelic atmosphere similar to replicate that drug-induced aesthetic. Occasionally, it can be interesting to watch. Cole plays the radical Kearney who goes on a power trip driven by not just the tragic event, but also by his trip to America. Macken does try to say something about one’s obsession with the idea of living in America, but just before he gets to one idea, it would pivot to something else. He never really dives deep into Kearney’s character and ultimately makes him feel hollow. The same could be said for Rez (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), who does not get enough screen time to showcase more of his character.  

    The condensed runtime of the film does make it seem decently paced, which is because it feels hyper-stylized and overstuffed with machismo energy. It is most definitely over the top in some places with cliches, which is disappointing especially since it started out with a lot of promise in the beginning. The performances are solid throughout, and Anya Taylor-Joy’s role as Jen is the heart of the film that prevents us from disassociating from all the teenage melodrama. But even her character feels underutilized and left me wanting more. Chapman plays Matthew who is deemed as the more sensitive character who eventually notices Kearney’s transgressions. His dynamic between Cole is easily some of the best performances in the film as you can feel Matthew festering with rage and angst in the way that teenagers usually do. 

    Macken does show that he can achieve a specific style with the film, albeit seeming familiar. I just wished he would replace some of the cliches with more rumination on the trials of tribulations of growing up as a teenager. What’s more frustrating is that he does touch the surface on how certain events shaped the way they viewed themselves, but never goes the extra mile. As much as I enjoy my flicks about the disaffected youth and their spiral downfalls, this film does not do much to push the boundaries in terms of characterization and theme.  

    While it boasts spirit and style, Here Are The Young Men is not equal to the sum of its parts, offering a turgid script and brevity that cannot seem to give enough depth to story and character.

  • PVT Chat: Review

    PVT Chat: Review

    PVT Chat tells the tale of Jack, an online blackjack gambler in the city of New York who often spends his money on cam sessions and special massages. He begins to develop an obsession over one cam girl from San Francisco named Scarlett, and they both start opening up to each other. On one night, Jack suspects that he has seen Scarlett walking around the streets in NYC Chinatown, and the two must navigate between the lives they present in the virtual fantasy and their lives in the real world. 

    One of the notable stars in this film is Julia Fox, who was heavily praised for her breakout role in Uncut Gems by the Safdie Brothers. That isn’t the end of the Safdie Brothers’ connection as we also see Buddy Duress who was in Good Time, which was also directed by the two. However, despite all the correlations this film has with the acclaimed directors, it’s a slower paced film in contrast with the anxiety-inducing claustrophobia that the Safdies are known for. 

    PVT Chat starts off really well with a slice-of-life approach to storytelling. From the opening shot we are instantly thrown in the middle of a cam session between Jack and Scarlett. From there, the film slowly reveals more details about Jack’s character and we can easily distinguish his actual life from the affectation he puts on during his cam sessions with Scarlett. Jack is given character beats that establish his overall demeanor. Many of the choices he makes never feels forced and stays true to who he is as a character. However, Jack does embody characteristics to what the internet culture identifies as a ‘simp’, which is considered a pejorative term used to define a person who excessively does everything they can to satisfy a person they like. This does make his character interesting in some ways, but I never fully connected with him because of the way he was writtened. The filmmakers never really dived deep into Jack’s loneliness and how it impacts him mentally. At times, he is subjected to being more of a laughing stock than someone sincere. 

    On the other hand, Fox proves that she is not just a fluke. Having actual experiences of being a dominatrix in high school, it was as if this role was made for her. She fully embodies that sexual and voluptuous spirit into her character. However, her character is not entirely treated as clueless or the manic pixie dream girl. Scarlett actually showcases many flaws as a human, and her current situation on top of her growing relationship with Jack raises ambivalence of her own motives. There was some depth to her character that you could sympathize with. 

    The film does introduce a couple of themes that generate thought. For one, it touches on the isolation and disconnect often associated within the adult entertainment industry as well as the relationships between sex workers and their cilents. Although Jack and Scarlett were able to open up with each other through genuine conversations on cam, they never seemed to be in touch with their own realities. The film also discusses our selfishness in every relationship, which was spoon-fed to the audience by our main character. Once it finally showed the audience a scene that corresponded to what the character was talking about before, it all just felt too sanctimonious. 

    The film has a small scale and makes many editing choices and shots that feel unconventional. Many of the scenes were shot in handheld and included run-and-gun filming. This does make it feel more intimate but sometimes felt too jarring. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the overlays used to creatively signify whenever a character would chat or donate from the cam site. 

    While this movie does construct an engaging and consistent first and second act. It shifts in tone by the third act, and there were a couple of narrative choices that relied on the suspension of disbelief, which needed to happen in order to drive the plot forward. This took me out of the film because I could not fully believe in what was happening. By the end, it felt overcooked in the eroticism and undercooked in the story. Running at under 90 minutes, the film could have benefitted with more time to help flesh out the relationships between several characters. The rushed ending left many unanswered questions, but perhaps director Ben Hozie wanted to evoke the silver lining underneath the fragmented and rocky relationship between both Jack and Scarlett. 

    There are certain elements to this film that really interested me. I liked the slice-of-life approach that it initially presented. There is a compelling story here that gets off to a strong start. However, the film falters by the third act and could have attributed more time to develop upon its themes and character dynamics. 

    With a little more nuance and less style, PVT Chat could have been an excellent examination on social relationships within the digital age of the internet, but it suffers from an undercooked story. 

  • Beyond Driven: Review

    Beyond Driven: Review

    Beyond Driven tells the story of Lella Lombardi, former butcher’s delivery driver and ex Formula 3 Championship runner up who became the first, and still only, female driver to win F1 World Championship points at the Spanish Grand Prix in 1975. During one of the most controversial weekends in F1 history, set amid a notoriously dangerous Barcelona street circuit, spectator deaths, driver boycotts, a huge first corner crash, and a shortened race, Lombardi made history and recorded a fete that is yet to be bettered more than 45 years later.

    Lombardi accomplished what seemed as impossible at the time; to finish in the top 6th in the highest tier of motor racing as a woman. She was a trailblazer who defied the social norms imposed by a more patriarchal society. Yet, it seems like her story was not as widely regarded as it should have been. Thankfully, this film delivers a powerful tribute to the late racer, highlighting the influence she had for other aspiring female racers.

    However, Beyond Driven is far more than just the life of Lella Lombardi, as several female racers such as Amna Al Qubaisi and Tatiana Calderón are interviewed about their relationship with the sport. We get a glimpse of their accomplishments and the complications they’ve experienced as women going professional in a male-dominated sport.

    The film really excels in placing women at the forefront of the story. All the talking heads are from women, which makes it feel more empowering for females to witness the representation of passionate and diverse female racers. The decision to only have female interviewees felt appropriate in order for the film to not feel suppressed by a male speaking on behalf of what is ultimately a story focused on women.

    Along with the successes and accomplishments, the film also reveals the shortcomings that come with being a woman in the competitive racing industry. Some of the themes presented revolves around the extra effort these women have to put into training due to their different body physiques. In addition, it looks into the importance of sponsorships and how essential they are in allowing these women to continue racing.

    The story of Lella Lombardi is depicted through some quirky animations and archival footage that prevents the narrative from getting one-dimensional. It does often teeter in between interviews from the other women racers which at times could feel disjointed, especially since these animations feel like short vignettes scattered across the entire film. This was the part where  I wish they would have tied her story more cohesively and maybe developed more upon her issues as a woman living in a time where competing in a Formula 1 race was unorthodox. At times, it feels like there are interesting points that were brought up but never further explained.

    Aside from that, this is an important story to tell. When young females hear Amna Al Qubaisi talking about her first win in Arman and how she’s the first female Arab to win in kart racing, I can imagine the inspiration that would spark in them, knowing that they can not only dream big, but manifest those dreams with determination. It seemed like the filmmakers put tremendous respect into this film, making sure that these women were shined in a positive light.

    Beyond Driven embraces its double entendre by centering the narrative around female racers and their pursuit to go “beyond driven” in order to thrive. The result is sure to inspire many.

  • Papicha: Review

    Papicha: Review

    By Nasu Nguyen.

    Papicha takes place during the late 90s in Algeria, a time where the country was in a civil war against radical Islamic rebel groups in favor of an Islamic republic. We follow young student Nedjma and her journey along a very tumultuous period where she is forced to question her own dignity.

    In response to the Islamic propaganda and rhetoric that she encounters, she decides to host a fashion show with her friends, mainly using material from haik, a traditional Maghreb garment for females made out of a single piece of fabric that covers the whole body, as a way to honor her culture while finding a way to express her and her friends’ own individuality.  

    Mounia Meddour pulls no punches with her first full length feature. This is a cold and heavy film that is not afraid to embody the horrors of political extremist groups and the power they had over anybody that disregards their ideologies. From the beginning, Meddour immediately places the audience up close and personal with our main characters and remains consistent on capturing a raw and intimate atmosphere with her style of camera work.

    She captures the anxiety of certain moments with moving shots and fast paced edits. One of her biggest strengths as a director is getting the most out of their actors. There is a bold feminist energy that she cultivates with her female characters. I felt the chemistry between Nedjma and all of her friends whether it be them basking in the ocean waves of a beautiful beach or giving rap numbers while sewing fabric together. Although we do get strong development with Nedjma and her dynamic with her close friend Wassila, the other female characters could have used more fleshing out since Meddour introduced interesting aspects about them that I wanted to learn more about. 

    Lyna Khoudri is the standout performance of the entire film. She plays Nedjma with fierceness, compassion and vulnerability. I felt her commanding presence bleeds through the film with fiery intensity. Her co-star, Shirine Boutella, also gives a solid performance as Wassila, who is vibrant and perplexing in her own right. Both are magnetic on screen and they display a complex relationship together. 

    Moddour explores heavy themes about being a woman during a politically charged era in Algeria. In Papicha, we see Nedjma experience moments of oppression and subjugation as she is forced to live under strict circumstances that challenges her free will. She is a strong minded woman who strives to be liberated, yet feels the need to stay in the country because she doesn’t want to leave her friends and family.

    Her dreams of being a fashion designer are at risk because of the regulations imposed by Islamic extremists, highlighting their profound and evil power. This can lead to jarring tonal shifts that can feel too sudden and made for shock value. However, unless I have experienced it first hand, it is not in my place to criticize whether these shifts were appropriate because they could have possibly been the reality for society living in that period. This was loosely inspired by true events, so I trust that Moddour is treating the events with the utmost respect.

    The Algerian Civil War was a serious matter, and Meddour evokes the anger and hostility that our characters experience. Nonetheless, the denouement could have wrapped up tidier to provide more closure after a major event transpiring in the third act. 

    Papicha is an acrimonious look at socio-political tensions during the Algerian Civil War and how it primarily affected women and their place in society. While it’s not a perfect film, it solidly succeeds at telling a coming of age story of a young woman with passions that were considered taboo and her volition to express her creativity despite the repercussions.

    Meddour proves to be a potent storyteller with her first film feature and I’m excited to see the next project she decides to tackle. 

    As well as being released on 7th August on digital platforms and as a virtual cinema release, PAPICHA will now physically be playing in a couple of cinemas from that date too, including the Curzon Bloomsbury.

  • Elodie: Review

    Elodie: Review

    By Nasu Nguyen.

    Following an embarrassing public performance, actress and playwright Sabrina Stone is led into the world of her own writing by Elodie, one of her fictional characters. With fiction now a reality, Sabrina must navigate the dark and moody landscape she created, save her characters from the problems she gave them, and come to terms with the person she wants to be. 

    This is an interesting idea to explore. The tortured artist enamored with creating their best work but internally fixated by how the audience would perceive it, leading to a psychological spiral of self-doubt. Unfortunately, Elodie fails to develop its themes any deeper than a 12th grader who publicly got rejected by their crush when asking them out to prom during the annual high school talent show. 

    This was written, edited and directed by Daniel Ziegler, who was inspired to make this story based on his personal experience with his first feature film, making Elodie a meta piece of his work. He has a clear vision and is very talented for a young filmmaker, which is why it brings me ambivalence to say that this film disappointed me on several aspects that a bigger budget couldn’t have rectified. 

    First and foremost, Elodie suffers from feeling too much like a student film. There is a caveat when it comes to criticizing student films because I know that they are not up to the standards of a typical Hollywood movie. Usually the production crew is way smaller, the video shots look way cheaper and everyone involved simply doesn’t have enough professional experience. These are crucial elements that deflate the entire film. There are technical choices made in this film that would never be experimented in a more professional film. There is usually a common trope in student films where students would try to make strange and unconventional techniques in a film and claim that they were intentional because it was “experimental” and “avant garde”, when in reality they just wanted to show off the style without serving a purpose. Ziegler would sometimes choose to break the 180-degree rule, record a chunk of the film in ADR, or have jarring quick whips that just takes me out of experience.

    It does not help that most of the actors have the emotional range of a wet cardboard. Nearly all of the characters sound like they’re reading their lines on auto-pilot. It’s clear that some of these actors are more inexperienced as they could not deliver any sense of feeling to their characters, rendering them hollow and listless. As a result, it becomes difficult to find any attachment. Faith Decker has the best performance as Sabrina, who does an acceptable job of capturing her character’s vulnerability, but even then she has room for improvement. 

    Most of the film takes place in this world that Sabrina created, which can be exciting to examine especially from a surrealist perspective. However, Sabrina’s play in this film is so insipid and dull that it doesn’t achieve the adventure it’s going for. The entire point is that the play was not supposed to be good but there could have been more creative ways to incorporate the visual embodiment of the play that connects to the growth of our main playwright. I felt that Ziegler could have achieved much more exploration in his themes of failure and when he does try to tackle those ideas, it gets too on-the-nose. The entire plot of Sabrina’s play revolves around this MacGuffin that feels tonally off with the noir setting, and when reality intertwines with fantasy, characters take implausible risks that elicits cheap shock value. 

    What the film does successfully is create a sense of style. There were a few scenes that utilized neon lighting to create a very atmospheric aesthetic as if it was straight out of a neo-noir. Then as we enter the world that Sabrina created, it turns into a classic noir thriller with a black and white filter. Logan Fetters serves as the director of photography and his ability to craft these gorgeous shots of each character was a huge highlight in the film. Fetters understands how to work the camera and create many artistic visuals. Though the world of the play isn’t as special as I imagined, there were many scenes that striked a certain mood. 

    The main problem with Elodie is the writing. The conversations between characters felt very awkward and I never cared for any of them. Even though a lot of attention is given to the character of Elodie, she was nothing more than a photogenic figure. Ziegler had a lot of potential to build on the relationship between Sabrina and the rest of the characters in the film. Instead, he only touches the surface and settles for cheesy melodrama only accentuated by an overbearing piano score. Once again, I like the idea that Elodie tries to present; internalizing one’s insecurities of failing to appease audiences with their creative work. This film doesn’t successfully handle this idea with much gravitas and by the time we get to the end, it never feels earned because there was too little development. Ziegler has an interesting premise to work with, it just needed a few more drafts to really fledge out the story and characters. Nevertheless, he still has great potential as a filmmaker. 

    Elodie showcases some impressive aesthetical compositions but is ultimately bogged down by an underwritten story whose themes fail to come into fruition, along with weak performances that lack the energy to galvanize the narrative.