Week Ending 3/22/24
RIP M. Emmet Walsh
The thing you forget after not being sick for four straight years is that it really ain’t great. I’ve been battling something stress-related (presumably stress-related since we haven’t been unmasked in a room with anyone else in three weeks) that has had me sleeping and shivering for close to half of every day since Sunday.
What this means for you: an apology for anything below being more incoherent than usual. Fingers crossed.
What I Watched:
DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD
[Nu astepta prea mult de la sfârsitul lumii]
(limited release; streaming on MUBI TBA)
Writer/director Radu Jude calls his latest satire DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD an “amateurish film of surfaces with no depth.” It makes sense considering how little happens narratively despite its almost three-hour runtime. It makes sense too considering he’s constantly adding filters and montage to that narrative via scenes from Lucian Bratu’s ANGELA MOVES ON and TikTok. Reality is obscured—sometimes to feel more palatable and others to expose the hellish cesspool we still pretend it isn’t. So, similar to the anecdote about the Lumière Brothers directing their early “documentaries,” Jude has in many ways directed one himself.
You see it most with the juxtaposition between Bratu’s film. In it, Dorina Lazar’s Angela is a taxi driver working in Bucharest. And, in Jude’s film, Ilinca Manolache’s Angela is a full-time PA/part-time Uber driver in the same city almost half a century later. Where one goes, so too goes the other. What was a vibrant community is now bumper-to-bumper traffic amidst giant buildings. Political corruption has ravaged the country and it’s plain as day even without the numerous callouts from the script like our Angela’s mother having to deal with the burial plot of her parents being sold or an Austrian company exploiting Romanian workers and forests for profit.
And while Angela’s online alter ego Bobita (a cellphone filter, unibrow-adorned “friend” of Andrew Tate) is a great way to show how we exploit the systems exploiting us in order to make ends meet (if not to just blow off steam and survive another day), the real evil is less overt. It arrives from the likes of Doris Goethe (Nina Hoss)—a woman quick to hide behind her marketing title whenever confronted with the ills of her company’s history. Just think about the premise of the corporate “PSA” that has Angela swerving in and out of traffic as men threaten to rape her out their car windows. The client wants to use real victims of the company’s obvious negligence to warn their workers to be more careful.
It’s actually a brilliant con. They aren’t paying these former employees off. They’re paying them for services rendered. That those “services” are pretty much an on-camera confession that absolves the company of wrongdoing for their injuries is simply icing on the cake—especially when one of the prospective “actors” is still currently mired in a lawsuit against them. What choice do they have, though? This is guaranteed money they desperately need. They know they’re being gaslit to their faces. They know talk about “well you should have warned us it was unsafe” is hollow deflection. This is a black-and-white power struggle between the poorest citizens in the EU against outside corporate entities treating them like slaves.
The result is a scathing indictment on the Wall Street-controlled, capitalist-driven dystopia we call the twenty-first century. And it’s not that we had it better back in the 80s. Between the dangers of being a woman taxi-driver shown in Bratu’s film and the deep-seated racism of Jude’s projection of that Angela through another (Dorina Lazar), the world has always been messed up. Less about providing answers to fix things or stop this never-ending cycle of profiteering, however, DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD is simply looking to expose these truths alongside the double-speak and bribes of those in power.
And while much of the film is very funny (Bobita is hilarious, the reactions from Angela’s friends about Bobita are even funnier, and recruiting Uwe Boll to play himself is inspired), it can get very somber very fast. Whether a silent, five-minute-long interlude of Christian crosses marking people who were killed in traffic accidents or the tragic, almost thirty-minute long-take of Ovidiu Pîrsan’s testimonial (one he believes is about the factory acknowledging fault until everything gets twisted into a confession of his own) that ends the film, it’s all a case of avoidable misfortunes being rendered unavoidable by our silent complicity. Because, in the end, most will just “go with the flow” as Doris says. Why rock the boat if we haven’t yet fallen off ourselves?
- 7/10
FEMME
(limited release)
While it doesn’t excuse Preston’s (George MacKay) actions, hearing Oz (Aaron Heffernan) gloat about how he treats him like a pitbull to wreak havoc for personal gain definitely contextualizes them for Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett). The obviously closeted Preston assaulted Jules on the street, leaving him naked in the gutter—a shell of the confident and empowered drag queen he was mere hours earlier—in large part as a means to save face with Oz. So, when they run into each other at a gay sauna three months later, a currently male-coded Jules knows he won’t be recognized. He can get close, form a relationship, and get his revenge by outing Preston to the toxic heteronormative thugs he calls friends.
Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping’s FEMME isn’t about forgiveness or redemption. Whether or not Jules goes through with his revenge porn plot of filming Preston, the latter will never be absolved. And that’s why the progression of the plot is so interesting. Because what would actually be worse than having his laundry aired for the world? Discovering that the scars on the forehead of the person he’s falling in love with were caused by his own hands. It’s the sort of punishment that has as much chance of making him want to hurt himself as kill Jules for daring to make him feel that crippling guilt. So, don’t assume this nuanced scenario might suddenly head toward a happy ending.
Nor should it. Victimizing your abuser doesn’t erase your victimhood. It only makes you into an abuser too. Because Preston is also a victim. To society and the people he keeps close not being willing to accept his true self, to Jules as the plan to soften him up and record their affair unfolds, and his own insecurities. So, don’t therefore look at what happens with such a binary gaze. Look at it instead as a journey of empowerment for both men regardless of whether they fully comprehend the growth taking place. Jules is the strong one at first. Egging Preston on to make him feel small only to then have the tables turned when words are met by violence. And soon, as their subsequent “relationship” blossoms, the power shifts again.
The tragedy is therefore the simple fact that any of this had to happen. In another world, Preston would be as comfortable in his skin to start an affair with Jules that actually has a future. The change in both men’s demeanors and performances is impressive as both find themselves wearing masks to achieve what it is they believe they want only to briefly exist in each other’s arms without them. That honesty hurts because we know it can’t last. This coupling is built on deception and Preston has shown us time and time again that he cannot control his violent tendencies when he feels someone has taken advantage of him. In the end, it’s just about Jules taking his life back on his terms. Not by becoming that which he hates, but by turning the mirror of Preston’s projection onto himself.
- 8/10
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL
(in theaters; streaming on Shudder TBA)
As Michael Ironside narrates from the top, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL is positioned as a recently unearthed 1977 master tape (with questionably described “behind-the-scenes” footage that desperately needed someone to put a hand up to the lens at some point to pretend a camera was actually “there”) of the craziest live event to ever be broadcast across American airwaves. Filmmakers Colin and Cameron Cairnes set-up the preamble as a means to remind us who Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) was—a sweetheart of a talk show host, aiming for Carson’s chair, whose “Night Owls” audience galvanized around him during the tragic death of his wife Maddie (Georgina Haig). Why did we so quickly forget about him then? Maybe because it was all an illusion.
Set on Halloween—and during sweeps week—you can guess things are going to go awry … in a bad way. Bad bad? Or bad good? That’s the question. Between Jack having a recently deceased wife, the show’s first guest being a medium, the promise of a “real” demonically possessed girl, and talk of a secret “Freemason” society, the potential to scare audiences into high ratings is real as long as the blood and guts being spilled on-stage is made of high fructose corn syrup. And while we can assume a lot of what is planned to happen is exactly that, planned, it’s not long before the script disappears. What will Jack do to secure his last shot at the big chair? What will he risk?
You can guess where things are going pretty quickly. This is a “real-time” movie that must make certain its puzzle pieces fit together without the need to explain why. The fun is therefore Jack’s response. What will he do when Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) goes off-book, eyes rolling to the back of his head? How about when Dr. Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) begs him not to make her put young Lily (Ingrid Torelli) into a trance? We’re watching Jack’s confusion increase at the same rate as his excitement because the possibilities bring dollar signs. Add pompous skeptic Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss) to try throwing wrenches into the chaos (if not making things creepier himself) and you know the finale will pay off.
It’s just a truly mesmerizing and memorable dance of the grotesque with awesome visual effects—practical and computer-based. (Talk about the Cairnes using AI recently has some people talking about boycott, but know they used it for three of the “vintage” interstitials. Should they have? No. Will it become a problem if they do it again? Yes. But don’t miss out on great hand-made effects because of it.) Some of the connections that need to be made for the final reveals are messy, but that truth doesn’t distract from the sheer fun and excitement of this impressively made indie. Great production design. Great performances (Dastmalchian, Bliss, and Torelli are highlights). And a great last hurrah.
- 7/10
RIDDLE OF FIRE
(limited release)
Desperate to play the latest videogame system that they stole from a local distribution center, Alice (Phoebe Ferro), Hazel (Charlie Stover), and Jodie (Skyler Peters) find themselves stymied by a recently enforced password on the latter brothers’ television. Going to Alice’s house is out of the question, so the trio decide to lay on the charm in the hopes of earning access from Ms. A’Dale (Danielle Hoetmer). Currently laid up sick in bed, she wants the kids to go out and enjoy the summer sun. But she soon gives in with a quid pro quo. If they can get her a blueberry pie from Celia’s bakery, they can play videogames for two hours first.
Considering the antics writer/director Weston Razooli put the kids through at the start of RIDDLE OF FIRE to even procure that stolen system, you know the rest of this high-style “neo-fairytale” is going to be anything but ordinary. From discovering the bakery is sold out to charming Celia herself into giving them the recipe, having the last carton of eggs taken out of their hands by John Redrye (Charles Halford)—while they were in turn stealing the rest of the ingredients—puts these self-proclaimed “reptiles” onto the path of a witch-led (Lio Tipton’s Anna-Freya) coven of animal poachers. Add some rum, a new friend (Lorelei Olivia Mote’s Petal), a chicken named Valentina, and the cops to provide us a day of dangerous fun.
The results are not going to be for everyone. It’s a very charming piece with wonderful lead roles from a quartet of kids that cannot help but endear you to their chaos, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say the two-hour runtime was a lot. The pacing is slow as we move from setting to setting with a somewhat inconsistent sense of stakes once real guns and angry criminals enter the picture (the script tries to make the adults interesting despite their convoluted mythology doing little to stop us from admitting they’re mostly just hollow obstacles needing to be overcome), but it’s tough not to get drawn in whenever the kids take center stage again. I especially liked the decision to subtitle Jodie so as not to smooth out his childish speech patterns.
If you watch the trailer and read the description, you should feel safe knowing exactly what’s in-store. So, if both seem a bit too style over substance, go with your gut. For those who find themselves enchanted by that style, however, there’s a good chance you’ll receive everything you hope to find. Put it in the category of “one crazy night” films and enjoy the super-earnest take everyone on-screen embraces to make its dialogue and magic work despite its otherwise familiar mid-west locale. I personally would have liked it to go even further (while cutting out a good twenty-to-thirty minutes), but I can’t deny its cult-status appeal or its brilliant use of young performers who are rarely afforded the opportunity to shine quite like this.
- 6/10
TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY
(streaming on Max)
The long night has arrived in Ennis, AK and police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) has already had to collect her step-daughter (Isabella LaBlanc’s Leah) from an irate mother when the call comes in that bodies have been found at the research station just outside of town. All the men who worked there are submerged naked in ice, ears bloodied and eyes scratched out. Yet that’s not even the weirdest thing about the scenario once a severed tongue is found beneath a table inside. Why? Because it doesn’t belong to any of the men. It’s the tongue of a young native activist murdered six years prior.
There aren’t any interview scenes with Liz many years later (or prior)—at least not yet—but that surely sounds like a TRUE DETECTIVE season to me even if creator Nic Pizzolatto has chosen to denigrate it. Mexican writer/director Issa López is at the helm this time, she of TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID fame. She writes or co-writes every episode and directs them all too, so you can definitely expect her penchant for horror to sneak in even as NIGHT COUNTRY does well to remain steeped in reality regardless. As many characters say: “This is Ennis.” Residents see ghosts of those who died all the time.
Don’t get caught up too much in that aspect, though. It is important. It does drive the actions of many on-screen. But it’s less about truth than understanding. And it’s less about nightmare than guidance … even if that guidance may take a sinister avenue to punish those who deserve punishment en route to also finally providing justice for those they wronged. A ghost helped Rose (Fiona Shaw) find the bodies at Tsalal Station. A ghost may have also sent those men out into the snow. And it’s the ghost of Annie K. (Nivi Pedersen) that looms large above Ennis as a whole with more protests against the local mine’s pollution and a connection to the case that puts Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) back in Danvers’ orbit.
This season puts these two women together despite them both wanting nothing to do with a reunion. Why? You’ll find out when it proves relevant to the present plot (a fact that does unfold a bit too quickly and conveniently for me thanks to a neatly mirrored climactic cliffhanger within the penultimate episode). For now, just know that they worked well together before their falling out and that Danvers has learned to maintain control in the years since by treating her newest favorite officer (Finn Bennett’s Peter Prior) as an indentured servant—both to get what she wants and stick it to his father Hank (John Hawkes), the man who was in line to be chief before Liz was “promoted” to the post from the outside.
Who killed the men? What were they doing at Tsalal? How is Annie K. involved? The answers are simple and believable enough to gradually be uncovered the deeper Danvers and Navarro go down the rabbit hole. But, the case isn’t the real story. No. That concerns the characters themselves, the town, and the ways in which they use the harsh conditions surrounding them as an excuse and means to punish themselves for whatever shortcomings or tragedies haunt them. Affairs. Break-ups. Rebellious children. Con artist fiancées. Ghost husbands. Love and suffering follows them all, pushing them further into the case so they can ignore their imploding personal lives.
It’s a very solid six episode arc with a fantastic spiritual end even if the practical conclusion that precedes it feels a bit tacked on. Don’t get me wrong: it works. We simply get taken in so many directions and down so many dark paths filled with red herrings that the answers we do receive feel easy. There’s literally a HOUSE MD moment where one phrase solves the puzzle, turning the case into an afterthought that merely had to be finished so that audiences weren’t left wondering what happened. As I said, though, the case is mostly propulsion rather than substance, so whatever. Wrap it in a bow and let us get back to Danvers, Navarro, and Baby Prior since their psychology is the real meat.
Foster and Reis are fantastic. Fully fleshed out characters who respect the heck out of each other even if they don’t want to admit it when getting on the other’s nerves. The complexities of the environment with a white chief in charge of a mostly indigenous town overrun by a mine employing outsiders while their water turns black are treated with the political and human nuance necessary to keep the whole from becoming too much of a message piece. The message is there because it’s a part of this community and these circumstances, you don’t have to bludgeon us over the head with it. Anyone with empathy can see it plain as day and anyone who says it’s too much is telling on themselves.
I loved the soundtrack of covers that play over the end credits. Loved the horror flavor of ghosts and transportive dreams. Make the truth a little less eleventh hour and this might give TRUE DETECTIVE seasons one and two a run for their money. As is, I put it on par—but a bit higher—with the messier third season, which also was pretty good in its own right. This has been a consistently great shingle for HBO and I’m excited that López is taking the reins to develop a fifth season too since her handle on the material in a literal and metaphorical sense is beyond compare (truly, watch TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID if you haven’t).
- 8/10
P.S.: For a show that continues to deal with the murders of women at the hands of abusive men, you can’t blame HBO for keeping Cary Joji Fukunaga’s name out of the opening credits (his name appears in the closing titles) despite the inclusion of his fellow first season counterparts Pizzolatto, Matthew McConaughey, and Woody Harrelson as executive producers. Fukunaga also skipped the MASTERS OF THE AIR promotional tour, so he’s definitely still keeping a low profile post-allegations.
Cinematic F-Bombs:
This weekend sees THE DREAM TEAM (1989), THE OPEN ROAD (2009), PREMONITION (2007), THE SHORTCUT (2009), and YEAR ONE (2009) getting added to the archive (cinematicfbombs.com on Sunday, Twitter on Monday).
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 3/22/24 -
GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE at Dipson Amherst, McKinley, Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
IMMACULATE at Dipson Flix & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL at Dipson Capitol; AMC Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
Thoughts are above.
MADGAON EXPRESS at Regal Elmwood
MAI at Regal Galleria
OM BHEEM BUSH at Regal Elmwood
SLEEPING DOGS at Dipson Capitol
WILLIAM SHATNER: YOU CAN CALL ME BILL at Dipson Capitol
Streaming from 3/22/24 -
ON FIRE – Peacock on 3/22
SHIRLEY – Netflix on 3/22
THE CASAGRANDES MOVIE – Netflix on 3/22
YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME – Shudder on 3/22
THE TRUTH VS. ALEX JONES – Max on 3/26
REST IN PEACE – Netflix on 3/27
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
ANSELM (3/19)
ASLEEP IN MY PALM (3/19)
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE (3/19)
FITTING IN (3/19)
FRENCH GIRL (3/19)
INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL (3/19)
THE INVISIBLE FIGHT (3/19)
LAND OF BAD (3/19)
GOD & COUNTRY (3/21)
THE FOX (3/22)
MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE (3/22)
“Mamet and Athari are as charming as the production design and fully on-board with each chapter's new metaphor for our current social and political chaos or philosophical punch-line.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.