Since premiering in May at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the autobiographical drama “Aftersun” has earned itself an enthusiastic following. The early buzz from first viewers is exciting, and critics have sang the film’s praises calling it “sensuous”, “visually arresting”, “extraordinary”, and “devastating”. A24 has shared the film’s first trailer, and while it’s hard to gain a cohesive grasp of the film, it gives us a good sense of what has the critics so enamored.
“Aftersun” is the feature film debut of writer and director Charlotte Wells. Her movie sees a woman named Sophie reminiscing about her childhood, specifically a vacation to Turkey with her father, Calum. The memories begin warm, sweet, and joyous. But 20 years later Sophie is struggling to reconcile the father of her memories with the man he is today. The film stars Paul Mescal & Frankie Corio and looks to be a real heartbreaker. I can’t wait to see it for myself.
“Aftersun” is set to release October 21st. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
In the opening scene of the new film “Goodnight Mommy” we see a father (Peter Hermann) drop off his twin sons Elias and Lukas (Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti) at their mother’s middle-of-nowhere modernist home. We pick up on several things in these early moments. It’s clear the mother and father are separated. It’s equally clear that the boys haven’t seen their mother in a while. So as the dad drives away, Elias and Lukas scamper inside to find their ‘mommy’. What they discover is alarming to say the least.
The brothers find their mother (Naomi Watts) and are surprised to see her entire face covered in bandages. She explains it’s the result of a recent cosmetic surgery and that she just needs time to heal. The three sit down and their mother lays down a few house rules. Some are pretty normal (no running or shouting in the house, stay out of her office, etc.). But some will automatically set off alarms for any well-versed horror/thriller fan (keep the blinds closed, sunlight is bad, stay out of the barn, etc.).
Directed by Matt Sobel and written by Kyle Warren, “Goodnight Mommy” is a remake of a 2014 Austrian film of the same name. I haven’t seen the original, but many have praised it as dark, disquieting psychological horror. Obviously I can’t compare the two, but this new “Goodnight Mommy” didn’t quite grab me that way. It’s not that it’s a bad film. In fact it wastes no time building up some pretty good suspense. And it’s helped by Watts who (to no surprise) delivers a solid performance despite a script that does her no favors.
Image Courtesy of Amazon Studios
As the tender Elias and the more rambunctious Lukas spend more time with their mother, they start to notice unusual behavior. She’s colder and more distant. She’s quick tempered and snaps at the boys for the smallest things. But things only get worse, and soon Elias and Lukas come to a startling conclusion. They convinced that the woman under the heavy gauze is not their mother.
That’s a really good setup with loads of potential. And there are plenty of ways to squeeze some good tension out the premise. But unfortunately things start to deflate in the second half as the movie struggles to keep its early momentum. Even worse, the story’s big twist becomes obvious well before it’s revealed. And that turns out to be a killer, zapping the movie of any tension and suspense. And with the exception of one lone delightfully terrifying scene, finding anything resembling a fright or a thrill proves to be a chore.
Again, I haven’t seen the original “Goodnight Mommy”, but this English-language update plays like a more sanitized version – one that lacks the guts to really take this story to darker and more unsettling places. In fairness, by the end it makes sense why things aren’t quite as twisted and deranged as they could’ve been. But that doesn’t change the experience of watching the film, especially the second half which desperately needs a kick. “Goodnight Mommy” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
I proudly admit, one of my favorite Netflix Original movies to come out since the streaming service started offering them was 2020’s “Enola Holmes”. Yes, I know it’s not ‘Oscar material’ and it’ll never make its way into the Criterion Collection. But I adored the lively mystery adventure centering around the teenage sister of renowned detective Sherlock Holmes. So naturally I’m all onboard for the upcoming sequel.
Enola Holmes sees Millie Bobby Brown returning in the titular role with Henry Cavill also back as Sherlock (Sam Claflin where are you?). In the new trailer we see Enola has opened up her own private detective agency. But it’s tough for a teenage girl to establish herself, especially in the late 19th century. But when a young girl hires Enola to find her missing sister…well let’s just say a new adventure begins. I love the look of this, and Brown is overflowing with the same energy and charisma she had in the first movie. I can’t wait to see what director Harry Bradbeer has in store for us this time around.
“Enola Holmes 2” debuts November 4th on Netflix. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.
Lena Headey plays a recently retired burlesque dancer named (yikes) Gypsy. She’s spent years dancing in a hole-in-the-wall club and now all she wants to do is finish writing her book and take a cruise (I know, just go with it). But her blissful retirement hits a snag after she finds herself in the middle of hilariously hokey crime boss and his hunt for a young boy.
Written and directed by Gigi Gaston, “9 Bullets” can best be described as a movie full of pieces that don’t fit. None of the emotions feel sincere, and the characters are so constricted by formula that they barely seem human. It’s a movie of ideas, and some of them are well-meaning. But “9 Bullets” ends up needing far more than good intentions to make us connect with what we’re given.
I’ll give it to Headey, she really commits to her character. But with dialogue this bad and plotting this terrible, it would be impossible for anyone to make Gypsy or her story compelling. It’s made even worse by the glaringly phony central relationship between Gypsy and a young kid named Sam (Dean Scott Vazquez). The movie heavily relies on the overused ‘sweet kid meets a hard-boiled adult’ trope, dumbing it down and leaving us with nothing to latch onto. And no amount of schmaltzy music can make us care.
The scattershot story sees Gypsy and Alex crossing paths after the boy witnesses his family gunned down by the henchmen of a redneck crime boss named Jack (Sam Worthington). It turns out Alex‘s dad swindled some money from Jack. And of course the penalty is execution, not just of him but women and children as well. But when Jack’s laughably dumb thugs realize they missed Alex, they set out to hunt the boy down.
Thankfully Alex is taken in by Gypsy who has this opaque and barely defined past connection with Jack and his gang. We learn Gypsy and Jack were once an item, and their relationship might have been worth exploring. Instead Jack is yet another cookie-cutter toxic slug. Except here he’s also a licorice-munching psychopath who will travel all over the American West to murder the child and his dog. And that’s basically what the movie becomes – a bland cat-and-mouse thriller full of silly, implausible twists as Gypsy and Alex run for their lives.
Of course, Gaston’s intent is much different. She wants this to be about two lost souls running from their pasts and finding a future together. But it’s so hard to take them seriously, especially when they’re forced to utter such cornball lines as “You better let someone love you before it’s too late.” or “I want someone to love me.” My favorite may be Worthington saying with a straight face “Do I look like a rabbit?”
These are only some of the film’s problems. There’s a shameless sex scene that’s shot in a way that’s completely inconsistent with the story. There’s a final act music montage that’s one of the corniest things I’ve seen in years. And then you have the ending itself which is utterly preposterous. I’m guessing it (somehow) looked a lot better on paper. Actually, you could probably say that about the movie as a whole. “9 Bullets” is streaming now on Hulu and is available on VOD.
For many, the new film “Don’t Worry Darling” went from highly anticipated to widely scorned in a snap, and all it took was a seemingly innocuous FaceTime message between Olivia Wilde and Shia LaBeouf. Navigating the gossipy, social media driven hoopla that followed to get into the actually movie itself may be a chore. But if you get beyond the pre-release tabloid noise you’ll find a saucy psychological thriller with lots going on under its shiny, well-made surface.
Olivia Wilde’s sophomore directorial effort is a nice step-up from her much beloved yet frustratingly banal debut “Booksmart”. Unlike her first film, here it feels like Wilde is doing more than just copying and pasting from other movies. With “Don’t Worry Darling” she swings for the fences. And while she may not hit all of her marks, I love the ambition and the willingness to extend herself in some gutsy new directions. And the results aren’t half bad either.
Wilde’s ingenuity and imagination is seen everywhere, but most notably in her visual approach. She and cinematographer Matthew Libatique give their sun-bathed suburb a utopian glow. Everything about their immaculate 1950s veneer (the palm trees, the landscaping, the homes, etc.) is pristine to the point of artificiality. It’s a perfect representation of the pre-fabricated world these privileged few have made for themselves.
But Wilde’s crafty visual technique goes beyond simply capturing setting. It also brings the neighborhood to life and lets us know that something is off with both the community and its residents. Strategic close-ups, an assortment of effective camera movements, and some really clever framing show off the director’s verve. But it also enhances the storytelling, building up some really good tension and even doing the emotional heavy lifting in a few specific scenes.
It’s hard to watch “Don’t Worry Darling” and not get instant “Stepford Wives” vibes. More than that, the entire film plays like an early season episode of “The Twilight Zone”. Florence Pugh gives a tenacious performance playing Alice, a devoted housewife to her husband Jack (Harry Styles). The couple live in a lush remote suburb in the middle of what looks like the California desert. The men all work for a vaguely defined initiative called The Victory Project (they work with “progressive materials” whatever that is). The women stay at home, cleaning and cooking until their husbands return from their workday.
In this cozy coterie women have all their needs met and are pampered with nice homes, beautiful dresses, and a bustling social life. But make no mistake, this is a community custom-made for men and built on the malignant ideal of old-fashioned subjugation. This only grows clearer as the story progresses. Yet everyone seems onboard, in large part due to their unwavering trust in the charismatic head of The Victory Project, Frank (Chris Pine). His pop-star presence and persuasive speeches of nonsensical mumbo-jumbo is all it takes to sell his misleading vision to his starry-eyed residents.
But Alice is noticeably different than the other ladies on her block. She’s intuitive and strong-willed. And she’s not the kind to sit idly by and ignore her suspicions. So when she begins noticing some cracks in the community’s idyllic facade, she investigates. And that’s a no-no in a place with such little regard for a woman’s agency. Soon Alice is looking for answers to questions she’s not supposed to be asking which draws the attention of a concerned Frank. And it leads to friction in her marriage as Jack must decide if his loyalties lie with his wife or his privileged lifestyle.
From that synopsis alone you probably have a good sense of some of the themes Wilde and screenwriter Katie Silberman are exploring. But “Don’t Worry Darling” is surprisingly rich and some of its more clever themes don’t become clear until late in the film. That’s when we get the big final-act twist that may lose points for originality, but that does pose some thoughtful questions (I’ll leave them for you to discover).
The cast is a lot of fun and includes Wilde herself playing Alice’s next-door neighbor and best friend, Gemma Chan who doesn’t get much to do, but who has one absolutely brilliant dinner table moment, and an underused Nick Kroll. Pine is mysterious and alluring. And despite what’s been said, Harry Styles is perfectly serviceable as Jack. But it always comes back to Pugh whose fierce yet grounded performance anchors the movie. She’s such an extraordinary actress who possesses the instincts of a seasoned screen veteran despite being only 26-years-old. And it’s those instincts that keep things in check when the movie veers too far off track.
It’s unfortunate that the overblown behind-the-scenes drama has overshadowed “Don’t Worry Darling”. And you can’t help but wonder how much it has influenced those deciding whether to buy a ticket. It’s a shame because Olivia Wilde takes some impressive strides forward as a director, and Florence Pugh shows yet again why she’s one of the most exciting young actresses working today. The film has its flaws. But if you tune out the noise and give it a shot, I think you’ll find there’s a lot to like. “Don’t Worry Darling” is out now in theaters.
I had reasonably high expectations for “X”, an unashamed ode to slasher movies and grindhouse sleaze that released earlier this year. Sadly, it ended up feeling more like a trashy knockoff than anything remotely fresh. But then a prequel was announced titled “Pearl”, and its trailer offered a stylish and delightfully brutal blast of technicolor-soaked horror. I was instantly intrigued.
Because of “X”, I entered “Pearl” with a fair amount of caution. After seeing it, I left the film mostly impressed by what West had put together. “Pearl” is impossible to put into a single box. It’s an origin story, a rural horror movie, a psychological thriller, a pitch-black comedy, a gonzo exploitation flick. And while not all of it fits together seamlessly, West’s focus is tighter and he doesn’t stray off course or get bogged down in as much nonsense this time around.
“Pearl” truly is West’s baby. He directs, edits, co-writes, and co-produces. But most people will leave the film talking about its star, Mia Goth (who’s also credited as co-writer). The British actress pulls out her thick Southern accent and steps back into the skin of Pearl, a troubled young woman with a twisted imagination and big dreams of becoming a movie star. Goth played an elderly Pearl in “X”, but here she gets to put aside the heavy prosthetics to play a younger Pearl at a crucial point in her life.
Image Courtesy of A24
The movie’s sumptuous opening puts us right back on the farm from “X”. West starts us in the barn, swinging open its large double doors to reveal a sun-bathed yellow farmhouse surrounded by bright green grass. It’s almost Rockwellian in its presentation. Yet before the opening credits are done, West and Goth give us a jolt just to let us know there’s nothing idyllic about the world we’ve entered. And from that moment there’s a lingering sense of unease which West maintains to the film’s eerie final frame.
I can’t overstate how essential that uneasy feeling is to the movie’s success. West wants us to know from the start that Pearl is unwell. Sure, people who have seen “X” already have a good idea. But for those who haven’t, West makes it clear in the opening moments. With that understanding comes anticipation. We know bad things are coming. We know she’s going to break. The question becomes when and how? What drives her? How far does she go? West has us in the palm of his hand. It’s just up to him to deliver the payoff. For the most part he does.
While the ever-present simmer of dread is vital, Goth’s performance is the centerpiece. Aside from the hints of theatrics in a few scenes, Goth really sells us her damaged character. But what stands out most is her ability to make Pearl uncomfortably deranged while earning our empathy. Some of it is due to West’s script which gives Pearl room to develop and her circumstances time to metastasize. But most comes from Goth who captures every twisted facet of her character.
“Pearl” takes place as World War I and the equally deadly Spanish Flu were nearing their ends, yet the reverberations of both were still being felt across the globe. With her husband Howard away at war, Pearl is left to tend to her parents’ farm and help her stern German-born mother (Tandi Wright) take care of her wheelchair bound father (Matthew Sutherland). But Pearl’s heart is elsewhere. She has an unhealthy obsession with being a movie star. She sees it as her ticket off the farm, much to the chagrin of her cynical mother.
Image Courtesy of A24
ThAfter developing its setting and her circumstances, the movie simply follows Pearl over the next several days as she encounters people and situations that will ultimately play into her inevitable breakdown. Among the key players is a hunky bohemian theater projectionist (David Corenswet) who shows Pearl a stag film he picked up while in Europe (a lazy, wedged-in attempt at linking to “X” and the upcoming third film). And there’s Mitzy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), Pearl’s sister-in-law who accompanies her to a church-sponsored dance troupe audition.
This simple yet effective approach paints us a rich and detailed portrait of Pearl – one that grows more unsettling by the minute. Along the way, West uses his story to comment on quarantine life, pandemic era paranoia, and the damaging effects of isolation. There’s also a brilliantly layered examination of family dysfunction that shows how deep-seated pain can fester into something toxic and destructive.
“Pearl” is a deliciously unhinged slice of period horror that’ll have you chuckling one minute and squirming in your seat the next. It improves on “X” in nearly every perceivable way, yet it’s very much its own movie that feels plucked out of time. The visual craft, the ingenious score from Tyler Bates and Tim Williams, and of course Mia Goth’s next-level performance are all crucial to realizing West’s vision. And while there are reasons to be leery of the teased third film, it doesn’t hinder the enjoyment of “Pearl” which is plenty able to stand on its own. “Pearl” is now showing in theaters.
Keith & the Movies 