film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Blog

  • The Soska Sisters: 10 Questions

    The Soska Sisters: 10 Questions

    Ahead of Horror Channel’s premiere of RABID on June 12, Jen and Sylvie Soska reflect on the challenges of re-imagining Cronenberg’s body horror classic, meeting the great man and their new monster movie, BOB.

    RABID is having its channel premiere on Horror Channel. Excited? 

    S: The Horror Channel has supported us and our work since the beginning, so it’s a special treat to have the newest film premiere there! 

    J: We are so excited. Having RABID on Horror Channel feels like coming home. They’ve been very kind to us. We are happy to have so many of our films on there. 

    We all, of course, remember that RABID was one of David Cronenberg’s earliest films. Going back to when you were first approached to do the remake, what was your initial reaction? 

    J: We are not traditionally fans of remakes but when we learned RABID was being remade with or without us we took it upon ourselves to pay tribute and respect to Mr Cronenberg. It had been the first attempt at a remake or re-imagining of his work and he has a huge impact on us and our work. We only had our country, our peers, and one of heroes to let down. No pressure, right? It was important to us his legacy was respected and that out-weighed any doubts for us. 

    S: We were hired because the producers, who had the property, were very unfamiliar with Mr Cronenberg’s work. They had assumed his films was ‘straight forward horror’ whereas all this material, even his earlier films, has a lot more to say than just surface level body horror. We hired cast and crew who had worked on Cronenberg films to make sure we were honoring his work. 

    Jen (left) and Sylvia Soska (right) on the set of RABID.
    Jen (left) and Sylvia Soska (right) on the set of RABID.

    The original became one of the cornerstones of “body horror”, a subgenre which your work has gleefully embraced. Was it important that your version honoured this? 

    S: I don’t know what kind of filmmakers we would have been in a world devoid of Cronenberg’s brilliant brand of body horror – it’s so transformative. Since we were the first to remake one of his films, we wanted to fully embrace what makes a Cronenberg classic body horror. Luckily we teamed with the prosthetic geniuses at Masters FX to make that happen. 

    J: Absolutely. Without the success and fan base of the original, there wouldn’t have been a demand for our re-imagining. I think where many remakes fail is they don’t respect the original material and creator. Honouring both were our prime objectives. There are not only nods to the original RABID in ours, but to numerous Cronenberg films from actor choices to character names to the type of practical FX we used. 

    Cronenberg ended up casting an adult star, Marylyn Chambers, in the lead role.  Did you ever consider doing the same? 

    S: Very much so. We didn’t get the support on RABID, although we did try to get a cameo appearance but we got limited on how many Americans we could use in the film. We had another project that fell through that we wanted to cast Xander Corvus as the lead for. Currently, we have a role for Tommy Pistol in an upcoming film. We have a lot of friends who work in the business and a lot of respect for what they do. 

    J: Apparently it’s much more difficult to cast an adult film star these days. There are some really silly stigmas that we hope to help tear down by casting some of our very talented friends who work in adult film.

    Laura Vandervoort in RABID.
    Laura Vandervoort in RABID.

    Is it true that the first time you met Cronenberg was after the film was made? 

    S: Yes, and it was such a wonderful experience. He is truly exactly the person you would expect, witty and intelligent with such a brilliant outlook on the world and life. He said that the film ended up where it should have. It was very kind of him to say. I know he’s busy on his own projects, it’s such a great time to be a fan of his with what’s coming. 

    J: We met at a coffee shop and showed up so early but all the booths were taken. We paid a girl $100 to give us hers. Best money I ever spent. David is such a gentleman and so brilliant. Chatting DEAD RINGERS with him was a highlight of my life. Don’t meet your heroes unless they’re David Cronenberg. 

    The film had its World Premiere at FrightFest, to great acclaim. How did the reception in the UK compare to back home in Canada? 

    S: It reminds me of Cronenberg comparing the two receptions, he mentioned that the UK tended to get his work before anyone at home did. The FrightFest fans and all the people involved in that event absolutely spoil filmmakers. When we made AMERICAN MARY, no one thought anyone would like it, but we premiered at FrightFest with huge success. The people there truly love the genre, so they’ll let you know what they think. 

    J: Ha ha, I might as well have not released a film. Canada had never been terribly supportive of us, but they weren’t supportive of David early on either. Now they seem to celebrate him. The UK has always felt like home, especially FrightFest. I’m so grateful to the gents there, Paul, Alan, Greg, and Ian, for how kindly they’ve treated us and our work. There’s no film fest in the world like FrightFest. 

    Would you consider remaking another Cronenberg film? DEAD RINGERS for example, which you have gone on record as saying you’d like to do. 

    S: Very much so! I know Rachel Weisz is currently adapting it and we would love to be a part of bringing that to life. That said, we are twins and have been deeply thinking about this concept for years. I wouldn’t be surprised if we did a remake down the line still – my dream casting is getting the Olsen twins. You rarely see twins creatively in charge of twin content and narrative – I think it would be fascinating. 

    J: We’d love to re-imagine DEAD RINGERS. We have such a deep personal connection to that film and so rarely are twins the ones who get to control their own narrative. Regardless of if we’ll be invited to the limited series being made now, we will definitely make our version down the line. 

    Being known as great huggers, how have you been coping with lockdown? 

    S: Maybe we knew something, stockpiling on all those hugs back in the day when you could be so brazen to hug anyone and everyone? I’m looking forward to being able to hug again. Been saving hugs for everyone! 

    J: Thank God for my rottweiler, Princess Diana. She’s very cuddly. She’s a lifesaver. I cannot wait to be able to hug again. That’s gonna be really special. 

    Have you managed to catch any good horror movies this year? 

    S: LOVED Jill Sixx’s THE STYLIST. It’s not just a phenomenal film with killer performances, but it started as a short, Jill tried to get funding and launched a kickstarter to make it happen, and now it’s a feature film that everyone is talking about. She’s a director to keep your eye on. BLACK BEAR and WANDER DARKLY are also haunting and wonderful. 

    J: SAINT MAUD was fucking incredible. Sylvie calls it Catholic Joker, ha ha. Brandon Cronenberg’s POSSESSOR was outstanding. I highly recommend the director’s cut. Brandon is a genius in his own right. Steve Kostanski’s PSYCHO GOREMAN was probably my biggest and best surprise of the year. 

    Finally, what’s next? 

    S: Very proud to say we are working for DC as writers for their comics. They haven’t announced our first story which is finished and still coming out, but they have announced that we are working on a Zatanna title with Vanesa Del Rey depending on their #DCRoundRobin voting via twitter and Instagram. They have some incredibly exciting characters to get to work with! 

    J: We have two films in production (that I can mention), UNSEEN and BOB. UNSEEN is our first video game adaption and it’s a fully immersive horror experience as it’s a game that simulates being blind. And BOB is our original monster movie that we’ve been wanting to make since AMERICAN MARY. We are working now with RADAR and Prospero Pictures and you can expect a lot to be coming from these wonderful new partnerships.

    RABID airs on Horror Channel Saturday 12 June, 9pm. 

  • Spirit Untamed: The BRWC Review

    Spirit Untamed: The BRWC Review

    Spirit Untamed Synopsis: After moving to a sleepy little town, young Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced) befriends a wild mustang named Spirit, who shares her rebellious spirit. When a heartless wrangler plans to capture Spirit and his herd, Lucky and her new friends embark on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue the horse that forever changed her life.

    Amidst a wave of popular hits like Shrek and Shark Tale, Dreamworks crafted the meditative horse drama Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Spirit was a welcomed detour from family film’s typical delivery, foregoing any goofy comedic bits and overly-kiddy elements to tell a soulful and sincere story. Several animated films insert the perspective of lively animal creatures, but few have skillfully captured animal’s communal spirits and boundless hearts like Spirit. The film would go on to be a modest success financially and critically (it gained a Best Animated Feature Oscar nod), spawning its own Netflix series Spirit: Riding Free in the process.

    After nearly two decades away from the big-screen, Spirit has been reimagined in the sequel/spin-off Spirit Untamed. Trading in the original’s free-flowing 2D animation for the conformity of 3D animation, Untamed strays away from the original’s good-natured spirit without any thoughtful wrinkles to offer in its place. It’s an incredibly competent effort, one that sadly flatlines from its lack of meaningful ingenuity.

    Spirit Untamed isn’t entirely joyless. Shifting the perspective from the horse to a spirited young girl has promise, with both characters sharing a kindred bond through their lively penchant for adventure and life’s naturalistic joys. The film operates at its best when centered around Lucky and Spirit’s non-verbal dynamic, striking enough genuine moments of bonding to reinvigorate its formulaic origins. A well-curated voice cast also elevates the familiarity, with Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, and Jake Gyllenhaal imbuing enough enthusiasm in their archetypal roles.

    However, fans of the 2002 original will largely be left bewildered and disappointed by this modern reimagining. I understand where studios have to play ball with kid’s playful sensibilities, but it seems much of Spirit Untamed performs the bare minimum for its target demographic.

    The serene gentility of the original is traded out for a boisterous business, with writers Katherine Nolfi and Kristin Hahn keeping the breathless pace going through a series of action-packed frames. Even with daring chases and death-defying stunts, very little of Untamed garners significant interest. It’s a letdown to see this reboot completely strip away what made the original film so noteworthy (the 3D animation is also a marketed step down from its graceful 2D counterpart).

    All would be forgiven if Untamed didn’t reek with a cynical manufactured streak. From the generic plotting (it’s your typical distant father-daughter relationship) to flat crowd-pleasing moments, the film sticks to a far too regimented playbook. The 88-minute runtime rarely leaves room for boredom, but none of the character dynamics have the time or dimension to draw a noteworthy impression. There’s very little to distinguish this wayward reboot from any typical family offering on streaming services.

    Spirit Untamed‘s banal delivery does little to reinvent the majestic stallion for modern audiences. If families are looking for a family film to check out, just watch the 2002 original instead.

    Spirit Untamed debuts in theaters nationwide on June 4th.

  • Frankie: Review

    Frankie: Review

    This drama film follows a family on vacation in Sintra Portugal. At the head of the family is matriarch Frankie (Isabelle Huppert), a renowned actress and the orchestrator of the vacation. Joining Frankie is her husband Jimmy (Brendan Gleeson), his daughter Sylvia (Vinette Robinson), her husband Ian (Ariyon Bakare), and their daughter Maya (Sennia Nanua). Rounding out the ensemble is Frankie’s ex-husband Michel (Pascal Greggory) and their son Paul (Jérémie Renier), as well as Frankie’s friend Ilene (Marisa Tomei). Frankie has invited Ilene in the hopes of introducing her to Paul who is single. Unbeknownst to Frankie however, Ilene has brought her friend Gary (Greg Kinnear) along with her. The film follows these characters as they wrestle with the complexities and the ups and downs of life, love, relationships, and family as they learn more about themselves and each other.

    Writer/director Ira Sachs, along with co-writer Mauricio Zacharias and the rest of the cast and crew craft a film that puts character and humanity front and center. In this film, there are quite a few plot threads that are reminiscent of other narratives. Many films, books, and plays feature characters dealing with a rocky marriage and contemplating divorce, stories of characters looking back on life and what they may have done differently or will do differently in the future and so on. While these plot points are familiar, Sachs and Zacharias keep the film from being redundant or cliche by limiting the amount of exposition and resolution the audience is permitted to. While the audience is familiar with certain aspects of life the characters are grappling with during the runtime, we are not privy to a lot of the history, context, and subtext that inform these characters and their actions. Furthermore, it remains unclear what will happen to these characters after the events of the film.

    While the film does a great job of highlighting the depth of the characters, the large size of the cast requires the film to jump around a fair amount in order to cover the various characters and their arcs. This leads to a slightly disorienting effect where a character or characters will disappear from the narrative for a period of time only for the film to cut back to them at a later point, requiring the audience to re-acquaint themselves with where this character is in their journey at that moment in the film.

    As the characters and their complex psychologies and dynamics are arguably the centerpiece of the film, the performance by the entire cast serves as the film’s anchoring feature. This is especially true for Isabelle Huppert’s performance as the titular character. At the start of the film, the character of Frankie comes across as somewhat domineering and vain. As the film progresses however, Frankie’s motivations and nuance becomes more evident. Huppert does a great job of revealing new dimensions of Frankie while still giving one the feeling that even by the film’s end, we have just scratched the surface of this character. Gleeson also gives a strong performance as Jimmy, serving as a great companion to Huppert’s Frankie. Where Frankie is sometimes blunt, direct, and even harsh in certain scenes, Gleeson plays Jimmy with a sense of calm, warmth, and vulnerability.

    The cinematography by Rui Pocas is another standout aspect of the film. As stated above, the performances and characters are the most prominent feature and Pocas compliments this beautifully by mostly keeping the camera at a distance from the characters. This has the effect of framing the characters elegantly against Portugese landscapes and architecture. The largely wide shots allow the actors to freely move around and embody their characters within the frame in a similar way that is seen in the films of Noah Baumbach and Richard Linklater.

    Frankie is a film featuring some well known and established tropes of the romantic and family dramas. At the same time, by limiting the amount of backstory and resolution present in the script, the filmmakers and cast have made a film that takes a genuine look at the humanity at the center of these stories. Featuring strong performances and gorgeous cinematography, fans of character dramas should seek this film out.

  • Rare Beasts: The BRWC Review

    Rare Beasts: The BRWC Review

    Billie Piper was one of the stars of my childhood. Watching her fly across the stars as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who makes up countless memories I will cherish forever. So, when I heard she was taking up directing and that she would star alongside another favourite of mine in David Thewlis, it’s safe to say I was excited. Yet now I must write about it, and I almost wish I didn’t have to because regretfully, it misses the mark.

    Piper’s directorial debut comes in the form of an “anti-romcom” entitled “Rare Beasts”. It follows single working mother Mandy (Piper) and traditionalist Pete (Leo Bill), two opposites who strangely attract and begin a rollercoaster romance. We greet them first in an off-kilter, extremely awkward first date from hell, and things only get weirder and more intense from there. This opening scene itself is quite funny. It’s fast-paced and feels almost showy and fun with its POV shots and snappy dialogue, very Guy Richie like. The issues arise when the flashy stuff doesn’t stop and instead keeps going for 90 minutes. 

    The first 20 minutes of Rare Beasts ends up playing like a bunch of experimental footage spliced together. There are a lot of flashy tracking shots and a delirious sound mix, but not one bit of it means anything or truly impresses. As ideas, these techniques are brilliant, and the execution too is top-notch, but all the camera tricks back to back become erratic, and they don’t do anything for Mandy but distract us from her. Taking this style of filmmaking into such a genre as the romantic comedy, inverted though it may be, is not something I think can ever work. Characters in any romance need to ground the narrative and make it somewhat relatable, but Rare Beasts just gets lost overindulging itself, ultimately becoming impossible to connect to. 

    Restraint is what was desperately needed. Were some applied, the genuinely intriguing themes Piper’s script touches upon would have shined far brighter. Her story tells of the complexities of modern romance and the clashes of traditional beliefs with their contemporary counterparts; it makes for interesting discussion before falling apart in the director’s chair. The ending suffers from this most of all. Piper constructs a call to arms in her finale, a powerful reminder of the importance of looking out for oneself; however, she approaches it like David Lynch, which dissolves the whole scene into a head-scratcher.  This speaks to why the direction fails the script so much because it ruins the film’s tone.   

    As individual pieces, there are many scenes in Rare Beasts that are phenomenal, but when they are combined, there is a complete tonal mismatch. Throughout the multitude of screaming matches and random copious amounts of drugs, the only thing that remains consistent is the inconsistency which is such a shame. It’s almost as if Piper was so ready to show off all she could do that she felt she had to do it all at once, forgetting the adage that sometimes less is more. 

    Thankfully, I do have some praise to hand out. Thewlis shines as Mandy’s drunken dead-beat dad, and alongside Kerry Fox, who plays his wife, he manages to deliver the film’s only touching and cathartic moment. Bill also salvages what he can. His neurotic Pete provides most of the laughs, and it makes for a strong display.

    Overall, Rare Beasts is a film lost in trying to do too much. Billie Piper has all the right ideas; she only needs to find a better way of bringing them to life on screen.

  • A Quiet Place Part II: The BRWC Review

    A Quiet Place Part II: The BRWC Review

    A Quiet Place Part II Synopsis: Following the events at home, the Abbott family now face the terrors of the outside world. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats lurking beyond the sand path.

    Thanks to an innovative horror concept, A Quiet Place shined as a rare original IP breakout back in 2018. Critics and audiences alike raved over its hire-wire thrills and humanistic storytelling. Personally, neither of those traits were present in the final product. The maudlin family dynamics and confounding horror movie logic left an artificial aftertaste that kept me at a distance from the occasional thrills.  

    After a year-long delay, A Quiet Place Part II finds director John Krasinski pushing his concept to new blockbuster heights. There are pulses of roaring entertainment present throughout, but this inconsistent sequel left me with a foreboding sense of apathy. 

    The opening frames present a fair share of promise. Krasinski whisks audiences back to the day of the alien’s initial attack, building a sense of unease from commonplace Americana before unleashing a flurry of kinetic sequences. He’s a skilled craftsman when it comes to pulsating sequences, deploying several steady tracking shots while relaying roller coaster thrills with every attack. 

    A Quiet Place Part 2 also presents new narrative wrinkles to the table. With Krasinski’s Lee out of the picture, we find Evelyn, Marcus, and Regan assuming new responsibilities amidst their dire straights. With the help of former acquaintance Emmett, the quartet occasionally wrestles with grief and purpose amidst their decaying environment. Strong performance work from Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Noah Jupe, and breakout Millicent Simmonds elevate the material when given the chance. There are plenty of meaningful moments hinting at what these characters could become.

    Even with some notable improvements, A Quiet Place Part II suffers from the same breathlessness as its predecessor. Krasinski’s screenplay feels minimalistic to a fault, rarely imbuing his vulnerable characters with the screen time needed to create meaningful development. Every character beat is struck in broad strokes, hammering a sense of pathos that doesn’t quite connect. A straightforward narrative like this can elicit deeply human moments, but Krasinski strikes out at swings for Spielbergian sentimentality. 

    A Quiet Place Part II never congeals into a succinct experience. Krasinski crafts a myriad of amusing thrills, yet there’s no engaging center to ground the chaotic action. Both films in this series coast too much on their unique premise, with the high-concept setup not doing enough to mask the material’s inherent emptiness. 

    I can see why both A Quiet Place films bolster a renowned resonance with audiences. For me, these roller-coaster thrillers still struggle to connect on a fundamental level. Hopefully, Krasinski and company show more improvement with the inevitable third entry.

    A Quiet Place Part II is now playing in theaters nationwide.