September Review Roundup
After Yang – Set in the near future, Jake (Colin Farrel) and his wife Kyra (Jodie Turner-Smith) are raising their adopted daughter Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) with the help of their android assistant, Yang (Justin H. Min). However, when Yang suddenly breaks down, the family must soon come to terms with the loss of their android and uncover who he truly was. Kogonada follows up his peaceful and poignant 2017 feature, Columbus, with this meditative sci-fi film about the entwined nature of memory and the self. Kogonada’s vision of the future is both inviting and invasive. The costumes and environments are rich with a homely, earthy, multicultural aesthetic, which is contrasted by Jake’s moral quandary as to how Yang should live on. After Yang is a reflective picture on the self and how mourning can reshape our feelings towards a person and reconsider our connections, an idea that is emphasised by an engrossing conversation about tea between Jake and Yang. The multifaceted aspects of the self are questioned here and the film’s visual odes to Blade Runner only reinforce these questions of what it means to be human. Kogonada and cinematographer Benjamin Loeb have crafted a still feature akin to Columbus, one that evokes a similar contemplative quality, but simultaneously has its own elegant style. Farrel gives a restrained performance, but one that is deeply in touch with humanity and delivers on the profundity of Jake’s discoveries. Tjandrawidjaja gives the film a humorous edge with adorable childish glee. Turner-Smith and H. Min are both solid too, however Turner-Smith’s presence is lacking at times and perhaps more screen time with Kyra could have aided the picture slightly. Aska Matsumiya also provides a tranquil, tender score to the picture, one that complements Kogonada’s direction. After Yang is a beautiful, tender film that questions and connects us to the human.
Score 9/10
Bodies Bodies Bodies – Soon after being released from rehab, Sophie (Amandla Stenberg), and her new girlfriend, Bee (Maria Bakalova), attend their friend David’s (Pete Davidson) hurricane party, hosted in his fabulous mansion. Of course, as the group of friends drink and take drugs the party soon becomes tense and after a game of bodies bodies bodies turns sour, a real body is found. What makes Bodies Bodies Bodies a fun watch is the palpable toxicity amongst this group of friends. The characters are self-centred, and everyone uses their own personal issues as a means to escape responsibility. It is a film that pokes fun at lot of traits within Gen Z culture. The cast all have something to add with Rachel Sennott and Pete Davidson being particularly funny. Overall, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a well put together film, boasting a bunch of laughs and bolstered by a killer ending. It is one that will be a fun watch this Halloween season.
Score - 7/10
Don’t’ Worry Darling – Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) could not be more in love in their perfect, 1950s inspired town of Victory. However, things start to unravel once Alice’s friend, Margret, takes her own life and soon Alice too begins to feel that there is something wrong within her life. Pugh is brilliant along with a deliciously devious Chris Pine, that will only leave you wanting more of their heated clashes. Styles is serviceable, with much of his criticism coming from false claims that he is attempting an American accent (which he is not). Styles is fine, but he is indeed outshined by his co-stars. Cinematographer, Mathew Libatique, has shot a slick and stylish film that is so sickeningly glossy, you can feel the cracks within the perfection. Along with the colourful costume design and brilliant sets, there is an impressive craft and attention to building an immersive world. Yet, no matter how good certain aspects of Don’t Worry Darling are, it is all in service to something rather generic. Even the trippy sequences of fantasy are not that memorable, coming across as filler rather than disturbing additions to Pugh’s character. While its themes are relevant, and its twist leads to some disturbing recontextualisation, the film just lacks that darker edge to fully punctuate the horrors under the surface.
Score - 6/10
See How They Run – On the night of The Mouse Trap’s landmark 100th show, the plans for a film adaptation are stopped when its director is murdered. See How They Run is a standard whodunnit, following its traditions while simultaneously making fun of the genre’s clichés. In a sense, it is trying to have its cake and eat it too, pointing out its risk averse nature while never being bold enough to abandon the formula. Sam Rockwell is delightfully deadpan, and Saoirse Ronan is an absolute standout, whose quirky energy and comic timing bring the film to life. The film has a very tight and tidy aesthetic, shot with precision and along with excellent production and costume design, director Tom George and crew have put together an impressively period accurate look. There are some standouts amongst the expansive ensemble cast, such as the cocky Leo Kopernick (Adrian Brody) or the tightly wound screenwriter, Mervin Norris (David Oyelowo). However, the rest of the cast are side-lined for most of the picture which gives the film a lack of exciting potential suspects. Indeed, once the killer is revealed it all amounts to one big shrug. See How They Run is a perfectly harmless piece of escapism that is pretty to look at and hosts some light laughs, but remains rather unremarkable.
Score - 6/10
Three Thousand Years of Longing - Upon arriving in Istanbul, narratologist, Alithea (Tilda Swinton), discovers a Djinn (Idris Elba) and is given three wishes. Yet, being a narratologist, Alithea is far more interested in the story of the Djinn, his loves and his losses. From this set up the film is primarily structure by three short stories, framed within Alithea’s hotel room. Elba narrates the film in stoic fashion, while Swinton’s Alithea is charming and the interactions between the two can be fun at times. However, bar the two talented leads, the film is quite dull, a term which would have at once seemed impossible to associate with the director of the Mad Max franchise. The film’s fatal flaw is the presentation of its stories, as they are told to us rather than letting the audience experience them. Due to this structure, it feels as though the film has to stop and restart itself, which in turn makes the film drag. While this would not be an issue for other anthology films (such as this year’s engrossing, The Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy), the film’s collection of stories is too similar, all containing the same moral lesson. It is a shame considering Three Thousand Years of Longing does have some dazzling visuals and two terrific talents in the lead roles, but overall, its structure and the lack of involvement in the tales is what lets the piece down.