Blog

Like Boogie Nights before it, the 2019 Sundance Film Festival feature Mope takes a decidedly murky look at the adult film industry. In its efforts to examine a harrowing true story, writer/director Lucas Heyne bites off more than he can chew in a shallow condemnation of the industry’s crooked standards.

Mope follows Steve Driver (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) and Tom Dong (Kelly Syr), two aspiring adult film stars who befriend each other while working as mopes (people forced to do the most heinous/bottom-of-the-barrel acts in the industry). Instead of living their dream life, the two are degraded by their harsh roles, pushing their friendship and sanity to its breaking point.

Elevating the material to the furthest extent, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Kelly Syr dedicate themselves with reckless abandon to their distinct roles. Stewart-Jarrett displays a raw enthusiasm that morphs into volatile mania after enduring extensive abuse, doing his best to play the character’s wild mood swings with a sense of humanity. Kelly Syr has an easy-going affable presence on screen, developing a compelling makeshift friendship between Steve and Tom while keeping the narrative from completely sinking.

Outside of its core talents, Mope does little right. Heyne’s script presents a promising objective with its attempts to portray the industry’s dehumanizing standards, including the toxic masculinity and casual cruelty present in each production (women and minorities are treated as mere objects). These negative behaviors berate audiences throughout, yet Heyne’s simplistically presents these conditions without a thematic bite. The lack of depth becomes problematic in the film’s treatment of mental illness, with Steve’s spiraling mindset transforming him into a deranged wild card without an ounce of humanity. Steve isn’t alone though, as every character is exploitatively conveyed as fame-obsessed simpletons not worthy of the audience’s empathy.

Heyne’s takes a substantial risk in his tonal hybrid approach, mixing the hard-hitting realities of the true story while implementing a sense of humor involving the down-on-their-luck protagonists (similar to Pain and Gain and The Disaster Artist). This delicate blend lacks deft craftsmanship to thread the needle, with Heyne’s shaky filmmaking style being unpolished and unpleasant to look at. The tone never feels as cohesive as it should, often contradicting its thematic subtext with attempts to find humor in the industry’s broken standards. Add in a heaping of trashy moments played for mere shock value (actual footage of a person’s death is inexplicably displayed), Mope feels just as mean-spirited as the industry it attempts to depict.

Conceptual ingenuity meets lackluster execution in Mope, a project too simplistic and tone-deaf to portray the adult film industry’s lingering injustices.

Old-school action hallmarks are widely celebrated staples of the 1980s, with swaggering action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone ushering in a new era of dopey, yet outlandishly compelling thrill rides. While the genre still thrives today (Extraction was a standout), some of its tendencies, including troubling racial dynamics and a heaping of woefully machismo dialogue, have begun to show their age. With the latest low-rent actioner Force of Nature, director Michael Polish’s lackluster pursuit of cheap thrills highlights the genre’s problematic ingredients.

Set in Puerto Rico in the midst of a hurricane, Force of Nature follows Cardillo (Emile Hirsch), a disgraced cop who is tasked with evacuating a local apartment complex with his new partner Jess (Stephanie Cayo). While trying to get the tenets to leave, including a jaded old-school cop (Mel Gibson), his protective daughter (Kate Bosworth), and a man housing a mysterious creature (Will Catlett), a team of thieves break into the complex to find a priceless artifact.

During the Force of Nature’s tightly-packed 91-minute runtime, there are glimmers of shameless genre entertainment to be embraced. Between the preposterous high-concept premise and the looming McGuffins present throughout the narrative (the impending storm and the enigmatic creature), Cory Miller’s screenplay offers an irresistible concoction of gratifying genre wrinkles that manage to keep audiences semi-engaged.

The supporting cast also helps to liven up the proceedings, with Will Catlett mining much-needed humor from his standard-issue role. David Zayas elevates his archetype villain with menacing screen presence and slick bravado, while Kate Bosworth and Stephanie Cayo hold their own in severely under-written parts (Bosworth’s involvement can only be explained by her marriage to Polish).

None of these flashes can overcome the film’s bankrupt design. Despite having a decent-sized budget to work with, Michael Polish directs this project on autopilot, with conventionally-constructed shots ranging from dull to laughably incompetent (hilariously utilizes archived shaky cam hurricane footage). This concept offers opportunities to implement creatively constructed action set pieces, but there’s little ingenuity to be found in these standard-issue gunfights. While the project’s sheen of cheapness could be endearing in a B-movie way, Polish isn’t able to push the envelope enough to embrace its wacky roots.

In its attempts to feel like an old-school throwback, Force of Nature comes off as painfully tone-deaf. Alongside the casting of two problematic leads (Hirsch’s portrayal as a mean-spirited cop lacks the charisma to mask the poorly-timed role), Miller’s screenplay encompasses every dated cliche in the book. A hero with a white savior complex? Check. Female leads who are painted as strong, yet end up as damsels in distress? Check. Mel Gibson playing a dated chauvinist whose suppose to “charm” with his gruff attitude (you can guess the answer to that one)? All of these elements are blended with the film’s bizarre utilization of its Puerto Rico setting, as Miller’s shallow attempt to be topical feels insensitive considering the recency of Hurricane Maria.

Lacking an original bone and creative craftsmanship, The Force of Nature goes through the motions in its tasteless embrace of dated genre conventions.

Sometimes Always Never: Review – Alan (Bill Nighy) and Peter (Sam Reily) are father and son, looking for Peter’s long-lost brother, Michael who stormed out one day after a game of Scrabble and never returned. After getting a tip off on a body, they go to the police station to identify the body and hope that it isn’t Michael.

However, Alan is convinced that he’s playing Scrabble online with his long-lost son, he just has to try and find a way to prove it. Along the way they meet a couple; Arthur (Tim McInnerney) and Margaret (Jenny Agutter) who have a similar connection and are looking for someone they lost a long time ago.

Sometimes Always Never is the directorial debut of Carl Hunter, taking the story from Frank Cottrell Boyce’s original short story and who also wrote the screenplay. Set somewhere in Liverpool, all the cast who are usually known for their middle-class English accents manage to take their voices a bit further north and thankfully they all do suitably well without feeling like they’ve been overegged or exaggerated.

In fact, a cameo later on in the film (no spoilers) shows exactly how a true Liverpudlian should speak which also contrasts the more muted and carefully spoken members of the rest of the cast. Always Sometimes Never also plays a lot like a game of Scrabble, gently paced and giving its audience time to think and wonder what the film’s next move will be.

Although billed in the mystery genre, Sometimes Always Never often says something when it’s not using any words at all. There’s also a particularly dry sense of humour running throughout the film which may not impress those looking for a laugh out loud comedy, but for those who can catch it, the script is far wittier and the dialogue sounds more natural than most films that try too hard to make its audience laugh.

Sometimes Always Never is not just about Scrabble, it’s not just about family and loss and grief, but it’s about letting go which most of the characters need to do whether they realise it or not.

A very British comedy that may be most appreciated by the British and maybe even more so further up north, and there’s nothing wrong with that.