"America. They want someone to love, but they want someone to hate, and the haters always say. “Tonya, tell the truth!” There’s no such thing as truth. I mean it’s bullsh*t! Everyone has their own truth. And life just does whatever the f**k it wants."
- Tonya, I Tonya
It's just an itsy bitsy late but here it is: the new film blog. I do have to confess that I did start writing it back in December but I completely forgot about it. After i published this blog I will start writing the next one straight away. Or maybe tomorrow since it is getting pretty late.
I, Tonya
In 1994 she was almost as well-known as president Clinton.
This film about Tonya Harding is based on "mostly true, wildly contradictory" actual interviews from the people represented in the film. It shows Tonya's life from the beginning of her career as a child through the end of her career and what follows. However, the film states that is does not claim to tell the one and only truth.
In 1970s Portland, Oregon, four year-old Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) is forced to ice skate by her alcoholic and abusive mother, LaVona (Allison Janney). Poor and on ‘the wrong side of the tracks’ Tonya Harding would never be accepted when it came to the world of figure skating. As Tonya grows up, her mother take her out of school to focus on her skating career, and she trains under coach Diane Rawlinson (Julianne Nicholson). With the help of Diana Rawlinson, her first and longest coach, Tonya rapidly becomes one of the best figure skaters in the United States, but is held back by her "white trash" reputation, home-made costumes and unconventional choice of performance music.
Around the age of 15, Tonya met her future husband Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan) and his friend, her future "bodyguard" Shawn Eckardt (Paul Walter Hauser). Young, rebellious and in-love, Tonya marries Jeff who later becomes physically and mentally abusive.
Despite ultimately garnering some success in figure skating being national champion, a world championship medalist, an Olympian, and being the first American woman to complete a Triple Axel in competition, she is arguably best known for her association to "the incident": the leg bashing on January 6, 1994 of her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan (Caitlin Carver), who, unlike Tonya, was everything that the figure skating community wanted in their representatives. This ‘’incident’’ led to the unveiling of Tonya's involvement in the attack as many had suspected. Tonya's involvement, regardless of how large or small, resulted in her being banned from the world of competitive figure skating
With a perfectly written screenplay by Steven Rogers, no not the captain America one, I, Tonya is an amazing mockumentary directed by Craig Gillespie.
If you want to read more about the writing process you can read this article of Vanity Fair.
The Last Right
If you’re in the mood for a quirky road movie, ‘The Last Right’ is for you.
New York-based Daniel Murphy (Michiel Huisman) wakes on a flight home to Ireland for his Mum's funeral. The elderly passenger Padraig Murphy (Jim Norton), who is transporting his dead brother on the plane from the USA to Ireland for burial, dies during the flight in the next seat. To his surprise the lonely Padraig had just listed him as his next of kin.
It looks as if Daniel has talked his way out of this quandary and he makes his way to Clonakilty where his brother Louis (Samuel Bottomley) lives. Louis is an autistic teenager still at school and Daniel will now be responsible for him.
In a bid to persuade his autistic brother Louis to return to New York with him, Daniel agrees to drive Padraig's remains across the length of Ireland, from Cork to Rathlin Island, to be buried with his brother. Hitching a ride in the passenger seat is the funeral home temp Mary (Niamh Algar), who is on a desperate mission to correct a drunken mistake.
Meanwhile, the police realise Daniel has no business driving off with Padraig's body, and Daniel, Mary and Louis find themselves the focus of a nationwide manhunt. Ooh and besides that we have a Detective Superintendent (Colm Meaney), who sets off in pursuit of the trio after a misunderstanding with a pellet gun results in them being perceived as a criminal gang.
As they cross the country and the border, sparks ignite between Mary and Daniel.
But when a long-buried family secret endangers the fragile truce between the brothers, Mary finds herself caught in the crossfire.
Though the subject matter may be a little dark, the film handles it in a light hearted manner that is still respectful to the dead. With its uniquely Irish sense of humour, this is a heart-warming and bittersweet comedy drama about family, grief and finding home.
Midsommar
Midsommar is a very well folklore horror film about a Swedish cult, written and directed by Ari Aster. Even if you’re not into horror this film is definitely worth watching. Unlike a common horror film, that has a few jump scares leaving you with a happily-ever-after feeling, Midsommar keeps you hooked on the screen for 140 minutes, leaving you confused, shocked and a what-the-fuck-just-happened feeling.
Traumatized and still struggling to come to terms with an appalling family tragedy, the American graduate student, Dani (Florence Pugh), turns to her self-centered and distant boyfriend, Christian (Jack Reynor), against the backdrop of an inescapable break-up. In high hopes of repairing their disintegrating relationship, Dani tags along with two of Christian's fellow students and their cryptic Swedish friend, Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren), to attend a once-every-ninety-years summer solstice festival at an isolated pagan commune in rural Sweden, Eastern Europe. Now, for the first time in a long while, Dani feels happy.
What begins as a carefree summer holiday in a land of eternal sunlight takes a sinister turn when the villagers invite their guests to partake in the folklore festivities, allowing the uncomfortable feeling of uneasiness to creep up on Dani and her friends.
Most of the Swedish dialogue spoken by the Hårga natives is deliberately not subtitled, in order to create the sense of isolation for the audience and especially for the foreign visitors. When the film was released in Sweden, rather than eliciting fear in the audience, many people laughed. Many Swedish critics praised the film as an excellent black comedy.
In comparison to his other films Aster took a little turn with this one. The long and well composed shots, and shocking shoulder camera’s are replaced by slow zooms and enchanting camera movements that give you an threatening feeling, which got me thinking of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining a few times.
La La Land
La La Land is one of the films I cannot get enough of. I believe this was the seventh time I’ve seen it, and everytime I keep learning new things about how it’s directed, edited and screenplayed. Honestly it’s one of the films that has teached me the most things I know.
The story of aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) and dedicated jazz musician Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), who struggle to make ends meet while pursuing their dreams in a city known for destroying hopes and breaking hearts. With modern-day Los Angeles as the backdrop, this musical about everyday life explores what more important: a once-in-a-lifetime love or the spotlight.
Modern day Hollywood, Mia and Sebastian are struggling to make it in their respective respective careers, about which each has extreme passion. Mia is an actress who dropped out of college and moved from small-town Nevada five years ago to pursue her dream. Sebastian is a jazz pianist, his style of jazz in the vein of traditionalists Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk. He wants to do his part to preserve that tradition, especially as he thinks that jazz is dying. He has trouble emotionally playing music he doesn't like just to get a paying gig. He dreams of opening his own jazz club.
The first few meetings Mia and Sebastian don’t seem to stand each other. Partly because of their individual struggles and partly because of the situations. But eventually they become attracted to each other. Along the way there are many obstacles to a happily-ever-after, including the pursuit of their individual dreams.
I always like reading all sorts of trivia about a film I just finished watching. One that really stuck out one me was the fact that Emma Watson turned down the role of Mia due to scheduling conflicts with Beauty and the Beast (2017), while Ryan Gosling turned down the role of the Beast in that film to appear in this one. Ironically, Emma Stone would later drop out of the role of Meg March in Little Women (2019) due to scheduling conflicts with promoting The Favourite (2018) and Watson was cast to replace her in the part.
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Tenet
In Kiev, Ukraine, an unnamed operative, aka The Protagonist (John David Washington), assists in a CIA assignment to foil an opera siege and retrieve a stolen cache of plutonium. During the operation, the plutonium is found to be fake but the Protagonist is saved by a masked gunman with a red string on his back. The Protagonist is then abducted and threatened with torture until he bites on an apparent suicide pill before revealing any information.
That’s how the new Christopher Nolan film starts. Nolan is known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling. Whenever you see one of his films, such as Inception, don’t try to understand it. The first time you’re left completely clueless about what just happened. Same goes for this film. Many people who leave the cinema are confused, even when you’ve seen it a second or third time. The first time I saw Tenet I figured the storyline out halfway through the film, which is not normal believe me. But once you seen Nolan’s films this many times you start to see a patron in the storytelling, which did not only help me to understand the film but also to figure out the rest of the story before even seeing it.
A quick summary about what the film is about:
Upon waking after having a near-death experience, the Protagonist learns the pill was a test of his loyalty. He is recruited into a secret organization, given only the information that the word "tenet" and a cross-fingered gesture will "open many doors" for him.
The Protagonist infiltrates a facility where he learns that in the future, technology has been developed that allows objects to have their entropy reversed and move backwards through time. The mission he has been given: prevent Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), a renegade Russian oligarch with precognition abilities, from starting World War III. The Protagonist teams up with his cryptic new partner, Neil (Robbert Pattinson), following a faint trail of clues that lead to Sator. However, this is a race against time, and as the suffocating stranglehold of the invisible threat tightens, more and more, the future of our world is hanging by a thread.
Since parts of the film are in reverse, the main cast actually learned how to speak in reverse for their roles.
The Devil All The Time
The screenplay was adapted from the 2011 novel with the same name from author Donald Ray Pollock, who also voiced the narration in the film. It was the first time he has done any narrating, not even doing the voice work for his own audio books.
Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There's Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård), tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can't save his beautiful wife, Charlotte (Haley Bennett), from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrificial blood he pours on his "prayer log." There's Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy Henderson (Riley Keough), a husband-and-wife team of serial killers, who troll America's highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There's the spider-handling preacher Roy (Harry Melling) and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore (Pokey LaFarge), running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell (Tom Holland), Willard and Charlotte's orphaned son, who grows up living with his grandmother Emma (Kristin Griffith), where he meets Lenora (Eliza Scanlen), who has been adopted as his stepsister. While Roy is running from the law, the church has a new preacher, Reverend Preston Teagarden (Robert Pattinson). Noticing Lenora being repeatedly harassed by bullies at school, Arvin confronts and savagely beats them. Meanwhile, Preston takes advantage of Lenora's loneliness and rapes her.
As you can see the films contains a few different storylines but all the character’s paths intersect in the Midwest town of Knockemstiff. Donals Ray Pollock actually grew up in Knockemstiff, Ohio.
Director Antonia Campos is well known for his films; Simon Killer and Christine. I found this video on YouTube that explains the director’s style. If you’re interested about learning more about how Campos portraits loneliness in his work you should definitely watch it!
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
I never saw the Wallace an Gromit shorts but this was one of the most enjoyable animations I’ve seen.
First, the voice actors do a great job. Second, the script is very simple but also very cute and enjoyable--with a few double-entendres that should probably go way over the kids' heads. Third, they manage to make this not only a movie for kids but people of all ages as the film is neither saccharine nor aimed solely at the younger crowd.
It's 'vege-mania' in Wallace (Peter Sallis) and Gromit's neighborhood, and our two enterprising chums are cashing in with their humane pest-control outfit, "Anti-Pesto." With only days to go before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition, business is booming, but Wallace & Gromit are finding out that running a "humane" pest control outfit has its drawbacks as their West Wallaby Street home fills to the brim with captive rabbits.
Suddenly, a huge, mysterious, veg-ravaging "beast" begins attacking the town's sacred vegetable plots at night, and the competition hostess, Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter), commissions Anti-Pesto to catch it and save the day. After hearing his plan, the villagers are on his side, expect one man. Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes) feels threatened by Wallace's relationship with his fiancée Lady Campanula Tottington and aims to take out the bunny himself.
If you love British humor this film is for you!
The Departed
The director, Martin Scorsese, did not realize this was a remake of a Hong Kong movie until after he had agreed to direct it. He deliberately chose not to watch ‘Mou Gaan Dou’ (2002), the original that this was based on, until after he'd completed this film.
Even though almost everyone has seen ‘The Departed’ already I still felt I had to include it in this blog. Here’s a quick summary:
Two just-graduated officers from Massachusetts State Police Academy follow opposite sides of the law: Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) is assigned to work undercover with the Irish mobster Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) to get evidence to arrest him. His true identity is known only by his superiors Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) and Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen). While Billy quickly gains Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon), a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the state police as an informer for the syndicate is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit.
Billy and Collin become deeply consumed by their double lives, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations they have penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there is a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy.
Each police officer gives his best effort trying to disclose the identity of the other "rat" to save themselves.
Originally, Jack Nicholson turned down his role in the movie, but after a meeting with Martin Scorsese, William Monahan and Leonardo DiCaprio, he was finally convinced to play the role of Frank Costello. The main reason he joined the production was because he had previously done a few comedies, and wanted to play a villain again, and he considered the character of Costello to be the ultimate incarnation of evil.
Deux
Co-written and directed by Filippo Meneghetti the French film ‘Deux’ is about Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier), two retired women, who are secretly deeply in love for decades. From everybody's point of view, including Madeleine's family, they are simply neighbors living on the top floor of their building. In reality, this landing is a bridge between two worlds: one belonging to a widowed, doting grandmother, the other to a free-spirited woman who longs to spend her life with the person she loves. They come and go between their two apartments, sharing the tender delights of everyday life together.
Now that they want to swap their French town for a shared apartment in Rome, Madeleine will have to tell her children anyway: Nina is the woman of her life. The scene in which Madeleine invites daughter Anne (Léa Drucker) and son Frédéric (Jérôme Varanfrain) home is one of many painfully moving moments in Filippo Meneghetti's. And then a terrible tragedy takes place as well: Madeleine is stricken with a stroke, she is saddled with a home care worker (Muriel Bénazéraf) who threatens to make any contact with Nina impossible and the love between Nina and Medeleine is put to the test.
The film finds ways to make this drama thrilling in a way. You don't know what is to come or the consequences of the characters' actions. My eyes were glued to the screen. One interesting concept is the portrayal of time. We're first introduced to clocks and such, but it applies to the age of the characters and how much time, specifically Madeleine, may have left to live. Note that they also explore this through sound design, mimicking the ticking of a clock.
That's it for this film recommendations blog. I hope you liked it and found some inspiration to watch. I'll try to keep it up more often but I got lots of stuff going on.
Make sure to check out the previous films and series blog here!
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