film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Blog

  • The Retreat: Review

    The Retreat: Review

    Adam (Dylan Grunn) and Gus (Grant Schumacher) have been best friends for a long time. However, in every friendship there comes a time where one must move on with his life while the other one feels gets left behind. Adam is soon to get married to Amy (Ariella Mastroianni) and for his bachelor party, Gus persuades Adam to venture out into the cold, snowy Adirondack High Peaks.

    Whilst there they learn about a local legend, one that originates from Native American folktale – the Wendigo. Born from the bodies of men who have consumed human flesh to survive, the hideous beasts stalk unwitting travellers in the snow. Partly laughing it off, but a little unsettled from the story, Adam and Gus head out into the wilderness and set up camp.

    Then later that night, something disturbs their sleep and before Gus can do anything about it a Wendigo has taken Adam. What follows explores Gus’ guilt at having left his best friend to die, whether he really saw something in the woods that he cannot explain and whether Gus imagined it all and is having a breakdown. Through a series of flashbacks, hallucinations and Gus’ fight for survival against the Wendigo, the audience is left to decide what’s real and what’s not.

    The Retreat is a horror movie from writer/director Bruce Wemple that has more depth than a full-on jump scare killing spree than a lot of audiences may expect. The legend of the Wendigo is ripe for cinematic horror and is sparingly used, but thankfully Wemple’s story may have come up with something original before the subgenre even begins to become oversaturated.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsHvzuCilO8

    The Retreat explores male friendships, guilt and masculinity and does so with a competent and evenly paced story which may put some off viewers who wanted a chilly frightfest. However, for those who are willing to go with it they may find something deeper than they had originally imagined.

    Unfortunately, despite an ambitious story with interesting themes, by the end The Retreat may have taken on too much as by the end the tone changes and disappointingly it goes with what audiences may want rather than what would have served the story better.

  • The Lady In The Portrait: Review

    The Lady In The Portrait: Review

    The Lady In The Portrait: Review. By John Battiston.

    Its title isn’t the only similarity The Lady in the Portrait bears to Céline Sciamma’s widely celebrated 2019 film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Like Sciamma’s movie, The Lady in the Portrait — directed and co-written by French filmmaker Charles de Meaux and first released in 2017, though few eyes have since seen it — involves the relationship between a painter and the noblewoman whose portrait the artist is tasked with creating.

    But while Portrait of a Lady on Fire is by nearly all accounts a visionary masterwork, de Meaux’s film, though undeniably exquisite on a visual level, is a wholly ineffective, protracted mess with little (if any) power to engage the heart or mind.

    A placid, picturesque palace in China provides the setting to this story, in which Empress Ulanara (Bingbing Fan) — whose marriage to Emperor Qing Long (Jue Huang) one would be generous to describe as passionless — commissions a French painter to put her visage to canvas in his “magical” Western style. The meek Jean-Denis Attiret (Melvil Poupaud) accepts the task, which he first approaches with a no-nonsense demeanor, insisting the empress remain still when posing for the portrait and acting cold toward enthralled spectators who flow into and out of the studio. But Attiret’s refined manners, in contrast to the emperor’s chilly stoicism, begin to capture the heart of the empress, while her beauty begins to soften the Frenchman’s mien.

    Beyond unsubtle dialogue and the (admittedly dedicated) performances it so insufficiently fuels, little effort is otherwise expended to establish a connection between the two romantic leads. (I hesitate to even label them as such, so paltry is this film’s emotional weight.) And from the outset, The Lady in the Portrait presents itself in such a way that suggests de Meaux and his cowriters, Michel Fessler and Mian Mian, know just how threadbare a story they have on their hands.

    Scenes both dialogic and action-oriented are bloated by sluggish editing, with most establishing shots and many inserts lasting twice or thrice as long as they ought to run. Sure, many of those shots are impeccably lit, coloured and framed, boasting sumptuous, anamorphic cinematography, but no level of optic beauty can justify tone deaf pacing and cutting.

    It’s an unmitigated marvel that The Lady in the Portrait manages to last ninety-seven minutes, for this story contains barely enough substance to reasonably fill a short film one-third that length. Despite its striking visuals, I challenge any moviegoer to have their most basic need for entertainment or artistic fulfilment satiated by this film. Even the easiest-to-please child would likely start tugging on their mother’s arm fifteen minutes in, begging to escape to the dullest possible museum within walking distance, for even that would more reliably rejuvenate the senses.

  • Depp, Firth, Efron: Weekly Round Up

    Depp, Firth, Efron: Weekly Round Up

    Depp, Firth, Efron: Weekly Round Up – Alright, so I’m going to attempt to get this one out of the way quickly without bringing my own personal thoughts into the mix. Hard, I know, since I have a tendency to go off on a ramble and use these roundups as an excuse to vent my general frustrations. Let’s just say that I cared little for this franchise anyway, considering certain views held by those involved (well, held by one of the key creatives involved anyway), along with the fact that it’s just really not my cup of tea. The term flogging a dead horse springs to mind.

    Anyway, Johnny Depp has been chucked off the new Fantastic Beasts movie after losing his libel case against The Sun newspaper. How this fits in with what has already been shot I’m not entirely sure, since the film has actually already begun shooting in the UK in September and was scheduled to continue filming in February.

    The current working theory is that the role of Grindelwald, the character played by Depp in the previous films, will be recast and all the scenes involving the actor that have been shot thus far will be reshot with the new cast member. Who this new face will be remains a mystery, although there have been rumors that the studio will turn to Colin Farrell to take on the role, since he technically played the character in disguise during the original film. Tilda Swinton has also been suggested as a potential replacement.

    The news does mean, however, that the film will be delayed, and as a result Warner Bros. have rescheduled from its expected release of November 2021 to sometime in the summer of 2022 – it’s worth noting, though, that Coronavirus may also have played a part in the films push back. 

    For no reason at all, I’d also like to mention that Amber Heard is still cast in the upcoming Aquaman sequel.

    Aquaman, of course, was directed by James Wan, who is perhaps best known for his work in the horror genre. Another horror director turned superhero helmer comes in the form of Scott Derrickson, who directed Marvel’s Doctor Strange, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The sequel to Doctor Strange is being helmed by cult-favorite Sam Raimi, whose roots also lay within the horror genre, but Derrickson, it seems, isn’t done with the genre he once called home.

    News this week broke that Derrickson is now attached to direct an upcoming Blumhouse horror, Black Phone. The film will be an adaptation of the horror novella by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King, and tells the story of “a dead cinephile, a lonely kid, an eight-foot-tall locust and a man locked in a basement stained with the blood of murdered children”.

    And if that all sounds little heavy, I can assure you as a horror fan it sounds incredibly enticing. Blumhouse seem eager to get this one off the ground, as well, since they have already begun casting the project, with For All Mankind’s Mason Thames taking on a role alongside 11-year-old child actor Madeleine McGraw.

    Staying on the horror theme for a moment, Colin Firth has this week signed on the dotted line to appear in an upcoming zombie-comedy currently titled New York Will Eat You Alive. The film will be an adaptation of the digital comic Zombie Brother and will be directed by Isn’t It Romantic’s Todd Straus-Schulson. Who Firth will be playing is yet unknown, as is the remainder of the cast. However, the film is being produced by none other than Channing Tatum, so it is possible we will see his name added to the cast last soon.

    Firth, of course, has undergone something of a reinvention in more recent years, shedding his Mr Darcy shaped persona for something a little edgier. Another actor who seems keen to pull off a similar trick is Zac Efron, who is still perhaps best known to some audiences as the kid from High School Musical.

    Efron will continue his transformation in a more dramatic actor with Anthony Hayes’ upcoming survival thriller Gold. The film will focus on Efron as one of two men who find a huge chunk of gold in the Australian outback. While the other man leaves to get the equipment required to dig the gold, Efron’s character remains to guard the find and will have to battle “desert elements, ravenous wild dogs and mysterious intruders, [and] the sinking suspicion that he has been left to die out there alone”.

    This one sounds pretty good, if I’m being honest with you, so I’m quite excited to see this come together. I love a good survival thriller anyway, I actually think Efron has the chops to break through properly in a similar way as Robert Pattinson has done previously. – Depp, Firth, Efron: Weekly Round Up

  • Jungleland: Review

    Jungleland: Review

    Boxing’s violent ferocity has taken center stage on the big screen before (Rocky, Raging Bull, Southpaw), but the sport’s seedy underground has rarely seen proper spotlight. That’s where Jungleland comes in, hitting release after its debut at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. While the film adheres to familiar trappings, director Max Winkler’s effort thankfully unearths a soulful, character-driven experience.

    Jungleland follows Lion (Jack O’Connell) and his overprotective brother Stanley (Charlie Hunnam) two drifters living on the outskirts of society. There only means of making ends meet derives from Lion’s raw boxing ability, as he establishes himself as a powerful force in the bare-knuckle fighting scene. In order to make up for Stanley’s debts, the two must transport Sky (Jessica Barden) across the country while competing in a heavy-weight boxing match.

    Most boxing films gravitate towards the publicized platform of grand prize fights, with the protagonist often battling it out for pride and a championship belt. Jungleland refreshingly changes that course, with every minor conflict being a life-or-death battle for Lion and Stanley. Winkler’s film grounds itself in vivid real-world steaks, enhancing the character’s desperate escape from the poverty line with striking agency and seedy environments (this is one of the rare movies to not glorify its road trip trappings, with the character’s journey through rustic America not being played as a simplistic travelogue).

    It could have been easy for Winkler’s film to sugarcoat its harsh reality with theatrical pleasantries, but the nitty-gritty presentation evokes the character’s dire straights effectively. Whether it’s a championship fight or a brawl in the parking lot, each hard-hitting fight registers a brutal impact that aptly represents Lion’s bare-knuckle style. Winkler’s direction ensures that each punch registers a weighty impact while incorporating a coherent, shaky-cam style that captures the wild furry of each punch.

    Under all the swaggering aesthetics, Jungleland ultimately works best as a character piece. Jack O’Connell and Charlie Hunnam are still wildly overlooked despite their success, with both actors imbuing familiar roles with emotional depth and weight. Hunnam steals the film as the lighting rod Stanley, whose fast-talking and vulgar style masks his deeply-seated adoration for his younger brother. O’Connell juxtaposes Stanley’s presentation with a far more subdued performance, portraying Lion as a quiet warrior who ponders his escape from the fighting lifestyle. The duo forms a tight-knit dynamic that sells their desperate journey throughout, often digging beneath the surface of their fragile relationship (this is one of the few films where the fighter approaches the sport as a source of survival rather than a genuine career pursuit). Jessica Barden also offerings some of her best work as Sky, forming a winning pair with O’Connell onscreen.

    Jungleland is at its bruising best when Winkler and company (co-writers David Branson Smith and Theodore Bressman) adhere to an aimless approach, allowing audiences to breathe and grow alongside its complex characters. Outside of these frames, the script embraces far too many sport movie cliches, especially in its initial set-up. The first act struggles to find its voice, implementing over-written plot dynamics that bring this personal story to a needlessly cinematic place. Winkler’s film dances between a formless and narrative-heavy approach without much ease, straddling audiences with exposition that overwhelms its personal core.

    The familiarity certainly hurts Jungleland, but it doesn’t mask its inherent charms. Winkler’s film works as a well-established character study that doesn’t glorify its grounded dynamics.

  • Sleeping In Plastic: Review

    Sleeping In Plastic: Review

    Brandon Bell (Alex MacNicoll) is a competitive wrestler in high school, and despite a troubled home life he has a good heart and sees the best in people. Then one day he meets Pearla, (Addison Timlin) and they start to get closer despite one of Brandon’s friends warning him to stay away because Pearla is trouble with a capital T.

    However, Brandon can’t help himself and when he finds out that Pearla has an abusive boyfriend who’s involved in organised crime and that he’s Pearla’s pimp, Brandon sets about to keep her safe no matter the cost.

    Sleeping in Plastic is a noir crime drama feature debut written and directed by Van Ditthavong which may tread some very familiar ground and goes down the roads that many noir crime dramas have gone down before.

    The story may evoke other movies such as Blue Velvet and True Romance and deliberately so, luckily though for those who may have seen it all before, Ditthavong’s artistic eye and the great performances that he gets out of his cast are what may keep the audience watching.

    MacNicoll and Timlin also have great chemistry and the audience will believe in their love story even if they may know where it goes, but there’s a sweetness and innocence between them that is brought out at just the right times.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdtvbNSufYA

    Similarly, the supporting gangster characters are exactly what you expect, but thanks to some menacing performances (not to the levels of Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper, mind you), then the sense of danger is felt. Brandon and Pearla feel like a couple that the audience want to see make it through.

    Beautifully shot, Sleeping in Plastic is a very stylish noir drama that is never too far from an atmospheric street light or a moodily lit bar and it makes the film all that more compelling as it feels so accomplished from a first-time feature director. Time will tell whether Ditthavong will be able to do movies in other genres just as well, but if he can evoke a cinematic look as much as he did to Sleeping in Plastic then he may be one to watch.