Libby McClean (Romane Denis) is about to start a new job in a fashionable clothes store. She’s nervous but optimistic and willing to do a hard day’s work to please her overworked and pressurized manager, Craig (Brett Donahue).
It’s always hard starting a new job where you don’t know anybody, so Libby tries to make a connection with her reluctant co-worker, Shruti (Sehar Bhojani), but they get off on the wrong foot and the store is busily preparing for a visit from fashion vlogger, Peyton Jules (Erica Anderson) anyway.
Also, the news of a brand-new line of jeans that will fit any shape gets the staff excited. However, when Libby’s co-workers start disappearing, it’s up to her, Shruti and Craig to get to the bottom of what’s causing the jeans to kill. Hardly what Libby imagined she’d be doing on her first day of work.
Slaxx is a horror-comedy co-written and directed by Elza Kephart. Taking social commentary inspiration from Dawn of The Dead, Slaxx takes a more modern approach as it explores the full range of issues surrounding the fashion industry. Everything from consumer hunger, vapid trendsetters and even the darker side of how clothes get made that are so often swept under the carpet.
Kephart manages to take a unique concept and manages to balance the comedy and horror expertly, so after the initial deaths of inconsequential characters, Kephart ramps up the tension. By the end, the audience will not only be thinking about the movie’s message but will never put on a pair of jeans in the same way again.
The cast all work well together and Erica Anderson does a scene-stealing performance as a vacuous fashionista, so whilst there are some deaths the audience will enjoy because of the morally vacant characters, they will still root for Libby and her colleagues.
As the ‘inanimate object horror’ subgenre goes, Slaxx is a well-fitting body of work that will give horror fans plenty of blood, laughs and maybe something more thoughtful than they may have been expecting. Slaxx is a fashion-conscious fable worth seeking out
Right at the beginning of Boys State, there is a scene where a teacher teaches the boys the difference between Brave New World and 1984, two staples of the school system. It is a subtle dig at how things would play out in the movie as Boys State almost portrays the titular convention as a totalitarian government and the camera following the main characters as a Big Brother-like figure.
Also interesting is the way they choose to show past Boys State alumni in the opening credits scene. The names that pop up instantly grab your attention and make you sit up and notice. It might seem like an underhanded tactic to grab eyeballs, but what comes after the credits is what truly stays with you long after you finish Boys State.
The Apple TV film by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss focuses on the yearly convention, which has been in existence since the 1930s. A legion of schoolboys gets together at the conference taking place in their respective states, the one in focus here is the 2018 Texas Boys State. However, it looks like a comic con for governance aimed at teenagers with a single uniformed costume. It manages to successfully bring out the emotions at play where the kids get to be part of opposing parties, namely the Nationalists and the Federalists and hypothetically play out the inner workings of the political system.
To streamline the film’s focus, the makers wisely train their attention on four students. Ben Feinstein, a double amputee whose knack at playing the political game with effortless ease, might feel horrifying or praiseworthy to others depending on your personal views. He realizes immediately where his strength lies and adapts accordingly, sometimes even single-handily turning the course of the events around if you believe the documentary’s timeline. (“I think he will be a fantastic politician. But don’t think it is a compliment,” one character says about him at one point.)
Steven Garza, a son of Mexican immigrants who has a powerful notion about what is right and wrong, and this would at various points of the documentary, hold him in good stead and drag him down. It is the battle for territory between the two that drives a good portion of the movie even though they rarely interact directly throughout the film.
It is telling though that Ben’s disability comes up as a clutch throughout the movie only occasionally, and the focus is mainly on his political stance. At the same time, his actions set him up as a villain of the piece, whereas Steven’s immigration status comes up multiple times to set him as the underdog.
René Otero, a skillful campaigner, is the third character given prominence here. However, a lot of his screen time is devoted to being one of the few black people around.
But my personal favorite is Robert MacDougal. His instant likability comes from his honest admissions (“My stance on abortion won’t sell so I choose a bigger easier topic”) mixed with his inability to cross the line, which Ben comfortably does.
There is a scene right before he debates with Steven where he gets some dirt on the latter. His attempt at a last-minute manipulation of Steven before the debate reminds you of Arnold’s takedown of Louis Ferrigno in Pumping Iron.
He knows who is the better person but decides just this last-ditch attempt at manipulating Steve. Even then, what endures is the fair warning he gives Steve about it. He almost looks relieved when he realizes that he might end up losing and now go back to having fun.
The trajectory and journey of these four protagonists are so compelling that you almost want to take a time capsule and go to the future to see how they ended up. Right before the end credits, the makers do show a small glimpse of where their future is.
The best thing about Boys State is seeing how the participants behave and react to their situations. Now it might not be a parable of what these kids should be, but it is a mirror into what they believe they should do. Many of them come in thinking personal attacks are the way to go, having already been hit with us or them syndrome long before they even started.
As you can see, a lot of them are here to have fun and are just excited to be there due to the history of the event. Some of the kids know manipulation is inevitable given what they associate politics with and the nature of Boys State. To see if they follow up on that very instinct or not is why this is a movie that is a must-watch.
After watching Words on Bathroom Walls, I was truly stunned to see that it was directed by Diary of a Wimpy Kiddirector Thor Freudenthal. Don’t get me wrong, I loved watching young Greg Heffley’s middle school first-world problems, but it’s not a masterpiece or anything. It’s a fun children’s flick that parents can show your youngsters in the hopes of entertaining them and putting a smile on their face, and for most kids, it did exactly that.
Freudenthal isn’t really a director that is known for making rather serious movies. His films are all a little bit goofy, such as the aforementioned Wimpy Kid as well as Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. The reason why I was so surprised that he directed this movie was because it was actually a remarkably mature teen-centric coming-of-age story that is going to mean a lot to schizophrenic youth.
In Words on Bathroom Walls, we follow a teenage boy named Adam Petrazelli who absolutely loves to cook. He always cooks fancy chicken dinners for his mother and her boyfriend Paul who both greatly enjoy and appreciate his meals. He dreams of one day being accepted into culinary school so he can become a professional chef. It’s what he loves to do more than anything else in the whole world. The only problem is that he is schizophrenic. He feels like he is an outsider and thinks that nobody is going to accept him. He’s almost scared to come to terms with who he is.
Along the way, we see how this disorder seriously impacts his life. One moment he will be laughing and having a good time with his parents, and the next he hears a creepy, loud voice talking to him. He starts to see the doors in his house start to open and shadows begin to consume the walls, and eventually, him.
But, when he meets a girl at school named Maya (Taylor Russell), his whole life starts to change. The only thing that makes him happier than being around Maya is cooking. She is the only person that genuinely understands him, and doesn’t make him feel bad. She always tries to be on his level and to make him feel like he is accepted. They both mean a lot to each other, and seeing their beautiful relationship blossom onscreen was wonderfully sweet and uplifting. Charlie Plummer and Taylor Russell have truly outstanding chemistry with one another here. They feel like they are actually best friends in real life. I never once saw the actors here. I saw Adam and Maya. They brought these characters to life and made it look easy.
It’s also a surprisingly funny movie with a lot of the jokes landing quite well. Screenwriter Nick Naveda injected a ton of heart and love into this screenplay and it shows. It’s the type of movie that will make you feel warm and cozy inside, but also isn’t afraid to show the dark and scary side of things, especially when it comes to Adam’s schizophrenia.
This is not a perfect movie, however. One of the biggest issues I have with Words on Bathroom Walls is its pacing. The majority of the first act feels rather rushed and I didn’t feel like we spent enough time with the characters for the first little while. It seemed as though the filmmakers wanted to get us into the more juicy and entertaining second act rather quick, and I wish that the story had slowed down just a tad.
Also, the film can suffer from a lot of exposition as a result. Every once in a while, we will cut to Adam talking to the camera as he basically explains his whole life story up until this point and it comes across as frustrating and lazy. It would have been nice to have gotten some more visual storytelling in the bunch, but this gratefully doesn’t happen too often and it mostly doesn’t detract from the story.
As a whole, Words on Bathroom Walls is an excellently moving coming-of-age story of a young boy with schizophrenia that is going to mean a lot to kids that also suffer from this disorder. It never once talks down to people that have it, but rather, it gets on the same page with them. It understands the disorder and it tells a beautiful story of learning to love oneself for who they are because at the end of the day, we are all beautiful no matter what disorders we may suffer from.
By Alex Purnell. A beautifully profound film, She Dies Tomorrow takes enormous pleasure in its solemn approach to mortality.
The anxiety which one gets before delivering an important speech is the kind of energy this slow-burning film exudes, an hour and a half thriller delving deep into mental health, its terrifyingly dark subject feels comfortably at home during today’s social and political climate.
She Dies Tomorrow is mesmerising, with its occasional psychedelic colours and obsession with Mozarts Lacrimosa, it tells the story of a contagious panic, in which everyone who comes into contact with a carrier becomes convinced that they will die tomorrow.
This bizarre but highly frightening premise is only heightened by the acting abilities of Jane Adams and Kate Lyn Sheil (playing the parts of Jane and Amy respectively). Completely and irreversibly convinced of their premature demise, their manic and depressive state seems to be ignored or shrugged off by others, playing off of today’s mental health epidemic. It’s not until hours later, those who have interacted with a ‘carrier’ also become irrationally convinced of their untimely fate. It seems She Dies Tomorrow’s release was timed frighteningly perfectly with current world events.
Going in blind to this film is initially jarring, with its arthouse infused imagery and sound coupled with its nihilistic themes it’s pretty easy to quickly dismiss. Those who fight through the first half-hour are met with its sombre and slow storytelling, but pushing past this barrier and trying to delve deep into its themes is necessary to fully enjoy the feature.
Although the dead-pan acting and the plateaued story did run thin at points, the entire piece was thoroughly enjoyable, particularly the visuals are exciting, at times being beautiful and others disturbing with its flashing lights and melancholic outlook. This is most prominent when a character who has been ‘infected’, a dizzying array of colourful strobe lights as a haunting voice speaks through what sounds like a radio device, the individual becomes distressed as they cope with their new reality.
Bringing us a story about facing our own destruction, director Amy Seimetz manages to scare us with this millennial thriller, and although at points it grows tiresome, its premise hits a certain societal nerve. A serious social critique or a black comedy? It’s difficult to defuse sometimes as it jumps around its cast of tortured characters. But at the end of it, She Dies Tomorrow radiates with style and aesthetically pleasing cinematography whilst planting a brutally real and current worldwide problem.
She Dies Tomorrow is on Curzon Home Cinema, BFI Player and Digital Download 28 August
Away is a silent Latvian animation written, directed, animated and scored by Gints Zilbalodis. It tells the story of a boy who wakes up on an island with nothing but a bird for company, a motorcycle as a means of escape and a large, towering monster who looms over him watching his every move. The boy sees no other option but to try and fix his motorcycle and get as far away from the monster as he possibly can. Although obstacles along the way ensure that his journey will not be a simple one.
Beautifully animated with a wonderful score, Away is a charming animation that takes its audience away to a fantasy world with humungous monsters that constantly pursue the island’s inhabitants. For those who are fans of video games, Away may also seem rather familiar as it evokes a visual style of games such as Rime and a similar thematic style to Shadow of The Colossus.
However, although at times Away does manage to create great visual spectacle, in terms of story there isn’t really enough there to make it feel like a profound piece of work as the boy struggles to escape.
Filled with metaphors, Away is not so subtle as it shows the obstacles that the boy overcomes in order to escape the monster. This leads to times where watching the boy struggling up a treacherous mountain and watching a turtle fall on his back, struggling to get upright is a little too straightforward.
Although these metaphors will resonate more universally with an international audience, it does feel that perhaps Away could have spent a little more time adding a bit more variety, rather than just following the boy as he travels across the island and reminding the audience of his incredible struggle.
Also, Away’s chapters will again remind audiences of a video game, with each section having the boy met with an obstacle or showing an incredible set piece which further enforces the idea that perhaps Away would have been better in this medium.
An incredible accomplishment in animation, storytelling, music and sound design, Away is beautiful to watch, but with a bit more development would be a more fulfilling experience.
