In 'Native Son', a Literary Classic gets a Modern, Punk Adaptation
'Native Son' opened this year's Sundance Film festival at the Eccles theater where it played as part of the US Dramatic competition. Upon the end of the film's screening, it received large audience applause in which its director – first-time feature filmmaker Rashid Johnson – and cast – including Ashton Sanders, KiKi Lane, and Nick Robinson were all in attendance. Here's our quick take on what you need to know about the film.
Native Son is the story of a young, low-income African American male who, after securing employment in the world of a wealthy white family, finds himself at the center of an accidental death that puts him in the direct cross-hairs of cultural tensions. Adapted from the classic 1940 novel, first time feature film director Rashid Johnson (along with Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks) have made this updated version entirely their own: by highlighting the story's underlying social issues and wrapping them up in his polished punk aesthetic, it's a story that feels as timely now as it must have been then.
Visual contemporary artist Rashid Johnson's previous work is in diverse mediums such as painting and sculpting. But with Native Son, his feature film debut, he brings an experienced visual eye to the project, which is the film's most seductive and impactful quality. Where Johnson most noticeably swerves from the source novel, is in the depiction of our protagonist, Bigger (Ashton Sanders), or "Big," as the neighborhood calls him. With his cropped green buzz cut and safety pinned leather jacket, Big is the epitome of visual identity exploded. He challenges both personal and racial expectations of what "blackness" should be by listening to such diverse and non-hip-hop music as Bad Brains and Beethoven. You'll remember Ashton Sanders as teenage Chiron from last year's Best Picture winner Moonlight, and here again, Sanders plays a cryptically reserved character. But as he slinks his way around the streets of North Chicago, he brings a new level of magnetism and menace to his acting range.
Rashid Johnson also succeeds in bringing wonderful talent to the movie: there's KiKi Lane, who most recently gained name recognition by starring in the acclaimed If Beale Street Could Talk, here playing Big's girlfriend Bessie; Nick Robinson plays Jan, as impoverished young activist; and the captivating Margaret Qualley plays Mary Dalton, the alluring daughter of Big's new employer (an always wonderful Bill Camp plays Mr. Dalton). They, along with the rest of the actors in this film, are so perfectly cast together that – to put it in art terms – feels like the right mixture of harmonious colors in Johnson's artistic palette.
It's undeniable that Rashid Johnson is a flourishing visual artist and one who we should all be watching to see what he does next. The biggest obstacle holding Native Son back from being even more impactful is in the jumps in its tonal shifts, which happen when the story plays on and the stakes are raised. The story's pivotal and climactic plot point is surprising, but this hard crank of the wheel feels a bit disorienting. The fallout of this moment leads the movie to make a statement that we didn't know it would have to make. Yet for this slight distraction, it would be wrong to not also acknowledge the number of complex ideas, all stylized through Johnson's artistic formats. It's no wonder why HBO bought the film from A24 hours before the film made its world premiere at the Sundance festival.
'Native Son' will be available to stream on HBO this Saturday.
'Us': An American Nightmare
Last year's Get Out ended up being more than just one of the scariest and wildly original movies of recent times: Jordan Peele's first feature, about a group of African Americans who become enslaved through mind control after getting hypnotized by a family of wealthy Whites, became a pop cultural lightning rod for people to discuss the modern Black experience of living in America and the anxieties felt in Trump-era politics. As Ryan Rojas writes, Peele is back with a film that's even more layered and focused towards expressing a sentiment that gets at the Black experience's earliest historical roots of enslavement to an equally arresting degree (this review is spoiler-free).
For such a stunning achievement of a debut, it's no wonder that audiences have been looking forward to whatever Peele's follow-up film would be with feverish excitement. And now, Peele is back with another suspense thriller – Us – which is equally ambitious in its masterfully layered allegory
It's this duality that makes Us work on two operatic levels: a familiar yet pulse-pounding set-up of a family trying to survive a home invasion, as well as a wildly conceptual existential dread-fest that ties in such gigantic conversations as race in America. When an African American family (a detail that isn't relevant to the story until you think about it symbolically afterward) vacations at their beach house, haunting memories can't help but pop up for Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o), who remembers an experience she had when she, as a little girl back in 1986, wandered away from her family one night at the boardwalk, only to find herself face to face with another girl – her exact self. It's enough to make for a traumatic childhood that makes her feel not quite herself, and sets the stage for years later when her family becomes the targets of home invaders – frighteningly and inconceivably enough, being each of their actual selves.
A family of four staring back at their exact opposites, they see these attackers all clad in red jumpsuits, brandishing scissors as weapons and noticeably all mute – except for Adelaide's doppelgänger, Red (also played by Nyong'o). From there, it's a story of the family trying to out-live their attackers, who aim to do away with them and take their place in this world. But of course, this being a Jordan Peele story (Peele also wrote and produced the film), the more we learn and the more that's revealed, the audience is only taken deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of what all ultimately can be seen as an allegory about American history and who we are as Americans, to an uncomfortable yet unflinching degree.
Peele, a previous funnyman whose background on the two iconic sketch shows Mad TV and Key and Peele helped shape him into the brilliant premise inventor that he is, proves more amazingly here that it’s his deep understanding of film history that makes him such a gifted talent (the Hitchcock comparisons have been flying his way as of late). While this review could spend even more time unpacking the visual references that are everywhere in the film and their significance (while still not touching on everything), quite simply put, Us is everything an audience could want in a movie. And one of the best parts is Peele marries his uncompromising vision with the mindset of being big-screen popcorn entertainment, giving Us the opportunity to be seen and discussed by people of all types. And this is what films – the best, paradigm-shifting films – are supposed to do. We should not only escape into something for 100 minutes and return to modern life unchanged, but come back from the experience more learned, or at the very least, willing to confront real-world discomforts. So beyond being one of the most unsettling films of this or any other recent year, Us achieves importance that will be recognized, re-watched, and discussed for years to come.
116 min. 'Us' is rated R for violence/terror, and language. Now playing in theaters.
'Apollo 11' Review: The Moon Landing in Re-Mastered Magnificence
The thing about history is that, if you weren't there to experience it, the power of its story lies in the level of the technology of the times that was able to capture it for future generations to lay witness. As present and future students of history, we will learn some of the most transformative and world-changing moments in human experience through what may be seen as the antiquated technologies of old photographs and bits of film. While these images and sequences may be iconic in their simplicity and singularness, it still leaves the viewer to wonder what else went into that moment. Fortunately, we now live in a time where there is a dedication to historical restoration and education that can amplify and nearly re-create the times – which is what the new documentary Apollo 11 does.
The feat of re-presenting history in a way like never before is what we see in Todd Douglas Miller's documentary Apollo 11. History is re-created through not only the restoration of archival footage – most of which has never been seen before – but also re-mastered for the big screen (unfortunately, by the time this review has come out, Apollo 11 will have ended its IMAX run). The footage, which originally captured this world-changing event in July 1969 and was intended for some yet-to-be-planned project, has been magnificently re-mastered for the big screen in a way that is entirely mind-blowing.
Beyond seeing this archival footage – starting from the days spent prepping the launch at Cape Canaveral and leading up to the history-making shuttle launch attended by thousands of people surrounding the site – is Apollo 11's captivating editing. The reason why the film is so gripping is that it's edited to feel as suspenseful as a Hollywood movie, something more than just a documentary composed solely of historical footage. Seeing inside NASA's command centers and the antiquated technologies and huge computers that communicated with the astronauts in space – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins – feels more like a time machine than a space shuttle. Seeing each of the different – and many – coordinated shuttle launches and dockings to land on the moon, and then finally home, all come together in a magnificent way. It's no wonder why Apollo 11 won the editing prize at Sundance this year.
Apollo 11 is an insurmountably captivating viewing experience. While history can feel so abstract and unreal, it goes to show the unbelievable risk and achievement that was landing on the moon. We all have an idea of the moon landing in our minds – to a millennial like me, it is the photo of Neil Armstrong standing next to the American flag on the deserted moon. Hopefully for others, watching Apollo 11 will inspire more to look up in the sky and take awe, which is what all movies can hope to set out to do.
Apollo 11 is rated G. 93 minutes. Now playing at ArcLight Theaters.
'Climax' is a Demonic Freak Out on the Dance Floor
While the expressive movement of dance is quite a transportive and personal release, a night out at the club is still just sweaty gyrating.
While the ego is taking a momentary back seat during the simulation of possession through musical pulsations, you're not losing all control, no matter how much you might hope to be- because losing all control would be utterly terrifying. Yet for director Gaspar Noé, losing all control, and seeing what depths of human depravity one succumbs to in those moments of pure helplessness, is exactly what he's most fascinated in putting on the big screen.
It's club-gone-crazy in Climax, Noé's latest psychotic head explosion of a film. Following a troupe of dancers on their last night before leaving France for America to embark on a tour, these young dancers – each with their own personal histories between each other – take to cutting loose, and unknowingly getting drugged by an unattended sangria bowl. It's an eventual acid-laced mental unraveling, built-in slow, sinful sensation, and all soundtracked to the fuzzy deep bass waves vibrating through the walls (Justice and Daft Punk among the cuts). Pulsations of pleasure turn inescapable and horrific, turning everyone (including Sofia Boutella) into their most helpless, animalistic and amoral selves, making for a haunted house experience on a demonic dance floor.
If it wasn't known before, Climax is not rated, which is something you should absolutely know before going into it. While watching any Gaspar Noé film (he's also the mind behind Enter the Void) can be a torturous event, it's also the rare, unflinching look at what can best be seen as an exploration of human behavior. Sex, drugs, and graphic violence (and sometimes all three at the same time) are heightened to their most extreme, pushing one over their rational senses to helplessness and depravity. While Noé's last film, Love, shocked audiences, it did so with its sentimentality. In Climax, it's a return to devilish form which had my head-spinning from start to finish – when I wasn't trying to watch through my hands.
If you haven't been spooked off just yet (and I certainly hope you haven't), I'd strongly stress that there is so much to love about this movie, and certainly as much to show how skilled a filmmaker Noé is: a compilation of single-cut interviews open the film, followed by a choreographed dance routine (shot in a single take, one of the film's highlights), as well as his trademark neon strobe style title credits. Climax is not for the faint of heart. And it's certainly more than just for music or dance fans, this is for outright risk-takers who want to be utterly disturbed and shocked. It's bass bumping, twisted and dark. And sometimes that's exactly what you're looking for.
CLIMAX (2019)
Starring Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub
Directed by Gaspar Noé
Written by Gaspar Noé
Distributed by A24. 95 minutes. Streaming on Amazon Prime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi69nL_VrTE
Spirit Awards Honor 'If Beale Street Could Talk' and the Best of Indie Film
If you regularly follow our coverage, you’ll know that Morgan and I both strive to share with you what we feel are among the most exciting and special films that don’t always find themselves being discussed in the conversation. So with that in mind, we wanted to share with you some of the lesser-known films of 2018 that were honored at a different awards event, one that we covered on the red carpet (check out our site for our video coverage) as well as in the press room.
Taking place the day before the Oscars every year, the Film Independent Spirit Awards celebrate the best of films that are independently produced and made outside of the rigid – and often political – studio system. Despite their countries of origin, budgets, and the talent attached, all of the films recognized at the Spirit Awards have one thing in common: they all embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision.
And the winners are...
While the Oscars awarded Best Picture to Green Book, the Indie Spirit Awards gave Best Feature to If Beale Street Could Talk, the big-screen adaptation of James Baldwin’s literary classic directed by Barry Jenkins (who was also awarded for Best Director, as well as honored last year for the incredible Moonlight). If you’ve yet to see it, Beale Street was truly one of the most beautiful movies made last year, its level of artistry and emotive resonance will surely leave an imprint on those who seek it out.
Best Male Lead went to Ethan Hawke in First Reformed – and while Hawke, unfortunately, couldn’t attend the event, his performance in the film was committed and definitely one to celebrate. Best Female Lead went to Glenn Close in The Wife, who – while sharing her thanks on the podium and in the press room – brought her dog, Pip, onto the stage, stealing the show. Best Supporting Male went to Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Best Supporting Female went to Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk.
Other notable awards went to Can You Ever Forgive Me?’s Nicole Holofcener for Best Screenplay, Eighth Grade’s Bo Burnham for Best First Screenplay, and Sorry to Bother You’s Boots Riley for Best First Feature. The Robert Altman Award, which is given to an ensemble cast, director, and casting director of a film considered to be a "maverick" of the year, went to Suspiria, and the John Cassavetes Award went to En El Séptimo Día.
Looking ahead
While the landscape of movies has evolved so much over the past few years, leaving unique films to compete with the latest binge-worthy television show on any number of streaming services, Cinemacy aims to share with you, our readers, interesting films of little-known awareness but are among the top artistic achievements of the year. And with the Film Independent Spirit Awards (and Oscars) now concluded, we set our sights ahead to 2019 and what will no doubt be another exciting year in film.
'Lords of Chaos' Review: The Birth of Black Metal is Bloody and Evil
Lords of Chaos premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival at – fittingly enough – a midnight screening, which added to the feeling of bewitching and spookiness that overcame the room during the entirety of the night.
From the mind of Jonas Åkerlund
Based on the novel Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind, director Jonas Åkerlund returns to the big screen since his 2002 meth-freakout flick Spun to adapt his long-time passion project. Lords of Chaos tells the real-life story of the birth of the Norwegian band Mayhem who would go on to create a new genre of unrepentant music called "black metal." In its wake, Mayhem also inspired uncontrollable chaos in a wave of death and destruction.
The epic journey of the Norwegian death metal band, Mayhem
Recounting each moment of the band's epic journey in flashback form with apathetic and irreverently hilarious voice-over narration is founding Mayhem band member Euronymous (Rory Culkin). He recounts the band's rise from jamming out in basements with fellow bandmates Hellhammer (Anthony De La Torre) and Necrobutcher (Jonathan Barnwell), to finding their first lead singer – "Dead" is his self-given name (Jack Kilmer), and through the rise of their popularity in the underground music scene. While the structure of the movie might fit in line with any Behind the Music dramatization, the choppy and chaotically-minded camerawork and editing is anything but conventional and feels like you're sitting next to an amp with the distortion turned all the way up.
Deadly serious events told through twisted humor
While the events depicted in the film are deadly serious – emphasis on death – Director Jonas Åkerlund injects a level of sick, twisted humor to the movie that conjures a fitting "devil-may-care" attitude that the band so carelessly oozes. When you hear the kids say things like "Hail Satan" to each other, it's delivered with the faintest humor that alludes to show what a ridiculous gesture it is. That is, until Euronymous, the image-minded bandleader whose own satanic-worshiping exterior might be more of a front than the real deal, realizes he's inspired an untamable follower to his and the band's anarchic message – that of former-fan-turned-new-bandmate Varg (Emory Cohen). Varg's enthusiasm for Mayhem and his anti-establishment message would eventually force Euronymous to practice what he preached, all but forcing his hand to perform church burnings and more. Åkerlund, a former drummer in the 80s for the Swedish hardcore metal band Bathory as well as seasoned music video director for such acts as Lady Gaga and U2, understands the reflexive relationship between art's authenticity and its marketing and therefore knows exactly how to deliver on this struggle in the film's final act.
Culkin and Cohen are absolutely fearless
Lords of Chaos is truly an ensemble film, with equally compelling and memorable performances from supporting actors Valter Skarsgård, Lucian Charles Collier, Wilson Gonzalez, and Sky Ferreira. But it's the film's leads who are given the heaviest emotional crosses to carry, and Culkin and Cohen are absolutely fearless in these roles, both as mesmerizing as they are terrifying. Lords of Chaos is that kind of movie that's so brutal that it might make you physically sick to look at – and yet you won't be able to stop watching it through your fingers. But make no mistake – bringing this level of chaos to the big screen is still exceptionally made filmmaking. To make a movie like this – one that doesn't shy away from actual events no matter how horrific or indigestible – takes a brave team, and Åkerlund, Culkin, Cohen, and the rest of the cast prove that they are more than game to bring this story of grisly death to glorious life.
This review originally ran on February 1, 2018, during the Sundance Film Festival
'Lords of Chaos' is rated R for strong brutal violence, disturbing behavior, grisly images, strong sexuality, nudity, and pervasive language. Opening this Friday at Laemmle theaters.
'Piercing' Review: Indulging Evil Urges
It would be untrue to say that we're all without secret urges that no one ever knows.
In the sadomasochistic black comedy Piercing, these perverse urges take the form of luring and killing prostitutes. Dark in premise, Piercing takes this concept and runs it through a zany and off-the-wall lens- where absurdity and extremity collide and create a hilariously wacky affair. Note: I watched this film at the midnight screening of AFI Fest, which is more or less the exact viewing conditions in which to see this film.
For all of Piercing's wild ideas, it's a relatively contained film. Credit that to the film taking place almost entirely in a single hotel room. In addition to its location is the intimate casting which consists of two of the art-house world's most alluring and attractive young talents. Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowska star as the man with a secret fetish for killing call-girls and the unsuspecting blonde who is called to meet him.
...There are moments of gross-out shock pop up in the film, but if you're in for a devilishly delicious time then 'Piercing' will certainly not disappoint.
Reed (Abbott), pardoning himself from his wife (Laia Costa) and baby for a weekend of "business," takes up a hotel room (a highly stylized art deco design gives the film an out-of-time quality), whereupon he mimes his soon-to-be actions with serial killer precision. The dry humor of which sets up the comedic tone early on. The arrival of Jackie (Wasikowska), then, should be one that Reed knows how to handle and execute, but as Reed quickly finds, she comes with quirky and then kooky variables that soon force Reed to go off-script. And before he or we know it, we're unsure who's the cat and who's the mouse in this perverse game of pleasure and power dynamics.
Based off of the novel of the same name by Ryû Murakami, Piercing is directed by Nicolas Pesce, who brings a wealth of visual homages to the film (particularly the 70s slasher films of the Argento variety) that makes for an overall fun time – if you don't mind the mostly dry humor with moments of punctuated shock. Fans of Christopher Abbott will be happy to see that he once again brings total commitment to another off-the-wall project. But the real draw here is Wasikowska, who plays totally off type as a ditsy and then commanding blonde who flips the script on us all. You have been warned, though, there are moments of gross-out shock pop up in the film, but if you're in for a devilishly delicious time then Piercing will certainly not disappoint.
81 min. 'Piercing' is rated R for aberrant violent and sexual content, nudity, and language.
'Velvet Buzzsaw' is a Campy Horror Satire of the Art World
‘Velvet Buzzsaw' made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, along with the film's director – Dan Gilroy – and stars, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalia Dyer, and more. The film is a wicked, hilarious satire with palpable energy – but did it live up to the audience’s expectations after Gilroy's and Gyllenhaal's last pairing, the heart-racing and maniacal 'Nightcrawler'? Here's what you need to know about this film.
High-end art world horror
The term "velvet buzzsaw," for those who don't know, is slang for a rich person's flatulence, and it's this stuffy, hot air that writer-director Dan Gilroy derides so deliciously in his new film, the horror-comedy Velvet Buzzsaw (available to stream on Netflix this Friday). Having last mocked the vulture-like culture of tabloid journalism and consumption in his previous film, Nightcrawler, Gilroy returns to an arena of ridicule (and once again set in the beautiful but artificial city of LA) to satirize the self-important art world elites whose vanity and greed results in devaluing the meaning of art – if it doesn't kill them first.
Killer paintings!
It's business as usual in the art world – with vanity plagued art dealers, buyers, agents, and critics all "kiss-kiss"ing each other at the latest openings. That is, until the life's work of an unknown artist is discovered, which shakes the art world for the mind-blowing reason that it actually has "substance" as flamboyant art critic Morf Vandewalt (Jake Gyllenhaal) remarks. Whether or not the paintings from the artist – Dease – should ever have seen the light of day or not (per the late artist's intentions) means nothing to sales agent Josephina (Zawe Ashton) and her boss, Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo), who immediately look to sell and display the white-hot works. But as they, and the rest of the vociferous art world soon comes to find as each of the pieces are dealt and displayed, spiritual forces begin to haunt and lead each of the greedy superficial socialites to their demise in different gruesome ways.
A dream ensemble
Before long, it's one death-by-art after another. One of the most deliciously fun parts of Velvet Buzzsaw is that, being an ensemble movie, we get so many different zany characters, all played by an incredible list of actors all portraying wonderful, over-the-top versions of snobby art world elites who meet a bitter end. There's Rene Russo, who sinks her teeth into the part of Rhodora, former punk rocker turned commercial art owner. Russo mostly plays opposite newcomer Zawe Ashton, who holds her own as Josephina, the agent who discovers the Dease's. Toni Colette is a fantastic wit and energy as the gossipy art world advisor Gretchen, and we are also treated to John Malkovich as an artist looking for re-inspiration. But if there's one person who seems to have the most fun here, it is Jake Gyllenhaal, whose posturing as the flamboyant art critic Morf Vandewalt is a comically caricatured protagonist and a highlight throughout the film.
Painful paintings
Overall, Velvet Buzzsaw is less a breathtaking horror movie and more a perverse, comic watch, which allows Gilroy to have his fun in voicing the underlying thoughts of how art loses all meaning at the hands of elites, critics (ahem) and institutions that seek to focus on financial or social opportunity within its aesthetic value. While this also means that we don't have the same bone-chilling uneasiness of a Nightcrawler, we get something that we can laugh at, and then think about long after.
'Velvet Buzzsaw' will be available to stream on Netflix starting Friday.
In 'Honey Boy,' Shia LaBeouf Confronts His Traumatic Upbringing
As the movie portrays in its very meta way, Honey Boy started as a therapeutic tool when Shia LaBeouf was in rehab for alcohol abuse. As an artist so taken by post-modern art performance, how else would that person, who spent his entire life at the center of the entertainment industry, channel his pain, but by confronting his issues in the form of writing a screenplay about his life story? And yet, there's no hiding what's in his head in any way, whether it be metaphorically or literally with a paper bag. Here, Shia LaBeouf makes himself so vulnerable in exposing this open wound and tender flesh. Along with Alma Har'el's dreamy direction, Honey Boy is a fascinating experience.
Honey Boy chronicles two moments in the life of this Shia-surrogate, Otis: there's the child star Otis (Noah Jupe) and the young adult action star Otis (Lucas Hedges). The older Otis is who the story opens with, seeing him getting slammed, dragged, pushed, and altogether exhausted by action stunts that are a part of his daily life ("trauma reminders" as a therapist later classifies). One must remember the physical and psychological toll that this line of work would have on any person, let alone on someone who has done it for a decade straight, along with a scarred family history of substance abuse. The combination inevitably lands Otis in rehab, and it's here, through therapeutic sessions with his probation officer, that he is forced to remember his childhood.
Young Otis, who we first encounter as he is harness-strapped in the middle of an action stunt, is the lead on a children's television show. But this success doesn't extend to his personal life, where he is raised by an erratic father (Shia LaBeouf), whose mile-a-minute mouth is either teasing, goofing, or berating his son in the close quarters of the extended-stay motel where they live. As young Otis, Noah Jupe is put into very adult situations – including drugs, booze, and older women – but Jupe maintains a strength and innocence throughout the film that makes it a solid and moving performance. Lucas Hedges channels everything from the screenwriter's manic-instability to his trademark combat boots.
Portraying Otis' former rodeo clown father James, Shia embodies the character so thoroughly that it's more than just pretending – he's channeling something real in himself, and it's his most lived-in and best role in a while. What lifts Honey Boy to even greater heights is how the film integrates the vaudeville choreography of James' rodeo clown life. Though in some scenes it may appear hokey, there are parts set to music to create magically mimed moments. Har'el captures this, and all of the scenes between young Otis and his father so intimately. But it's LaBeouf who gives himself over so completely to this emotionally gutting process, putting his singularly pained childhood onto the big screen in what feels like an attempt for emotional salvation. Honey Boy is so raw and risk-taking that it provides a similar and personal experience for anyone who sees it. – Ryan Rojas
HONEY BOY (2019)
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe
Directed by: Alma Har'el
Written by: Shia LaBeouf
Running time: 94 minutes
Playing: Opening this Friday at ArcLight Hollywood and The Landmark.
What We're Seeing at Sundance 2019
This week marks one of our favorite annual events, the Sundance Film Festival, and Morgan and I couldn’t be more excited! Being our third year covering the fest for Cinemacy, we're more than ready to be back in Park City, Utah taking in all the incredible films that range from directorial debuts to special screenings and world premieres. Here’s a list of films that we've secured tickets to see, and that we can't wait to report back to you about.
Be sure to follow Cinemacy on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter so that you can get the ground report on everything we do, and we'll be updating non-stop.
Native Son directed by Rashid Johnson
Why we're excited:
A few things to be excited about here: this is the feature film debut from Rashid Johnson, one of today's renowned visual artists whose work spans multiple mediums (sculpting, drawing, painting, you name it). Native Son, a contemporary reworking of Richard Wright’s 1940 novel, starring Ashton Sanders (teenaged Chiron from last year's Best Picture winner Moonlight) as a young African American man caught up in an accidental death which has him navigating through complex social forces.
Honey Boy directed by Alma Har'el
Why we're excited:
As a former child star-turned-blockbuster leading man, Shia LaBeouf has challenged not only Hollywood conventions, but the art world as a whole. This is why we can't wait for Honey Boy, LaBeouf's screenwriting debut that tells the story of young child star – Otis – who, after making it big on a popular children's television show, still has to live under the control and abuse of his father's guardianship (with LaBeouf starring, we see autobiographical elements at play). There are intense performances by Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place) and Lucas Hedges (Ben is Back), who both play Otis at different stages in his life, and this one's sure to be one of the buzziest of the fest.
The Sound of Silence directed by Michael Tyburski
Why we're excited:
How's this for one of the most out-there premises? Self-taught scientist Peter (Peter Sarsgaard) works in New York as a “house tuner”–a unique, highly specialized profession he’s invented. Clients approach him with troubles like depression, anxiety, or fatigue, which he aims to cure by extensively analyzing their homes’ acoustic characteristics until he identifies some sonic combination (a radiator mixed with a kitchen appliance, for instance) that is altering their mood. That is, until he meets Ellen (Rashida Jones), who is experiencing exhaustion.
The Nightingale directed by Jennifer Kent
Why we're excited:
The Babadook was absolutely one of the scariest movies to come out in recent years. So it's without question that I'd be seeing whatever the next film was to come from the nightmarish mind of Jennifer Kent, and this one sounds just as ghastly: about The Nightingale, the Sundance web site says "with horrors around every corner, Jennifer Kent’s new nightmare will traumatize the weak of heart, but those willing will discover a majestic achievement most striking in its haunting moments of grace."
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor
Why we're excited:
Having captivated and entertained audiences in films like 12 Years a Slave and Marvel's Doctor Strange, Chiwetel Ejiofor is a major force in Hollywood. He makes his directorial debut here, bringing the true story of young William Kamkwamba to the big screen. When famine strikes the rural city of Malawi, Kamkwamba – displaced from school – must sneak past his father (Ejiofor) to attempt to build the town a windmill pump to irrigate the land. Seeing this story of a character's hope and perseverance will make this an inspiring film to see amidst everything else we'll be watching.
The Death of Dick Long directed by Daniel Scheinert
Why we're excited:
In 2016, the director team DANIELS won Best Director at the Sundance film festival for their Daniel Radcliffe-starring farting corpse comedy Swiss Army Man. While we only get one half of the director-team DANIELS here (Daniel Scheinert, self-proclaimed as "the redneck half"), we're seeing Scheinert in his first solo feature film which we can only imagine will be as equally a creative and imaginative outing. Fun fact: Scheinert decided to star in the film "because screenwriter Billy Chew dared him to."
Them That Follow directed by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage
Why we're excited:
Them That Follow sounds like a gripping work from a pair of filmmakers who are making their directorial debut. The story of an isolated community of Pentecostal snake handlers in the rugged wilderness of Appalachia, all must testify before Pastor Lemuel (Walton Goggins) and God alike. An amazing and talented cast rounds out the film, including Alice Englert, Olivia Colman and Thomas Mann (who both starred in 2015's Grand Jury Prize winner Me and Earl and the Dying Girl).
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Velvet Buzzsaw directed by Dan Gilroy
Why we're excited:
Dan Gilroy and Jake Gyllenhaal are re-teaming after the unnerving psychological thriller that was Nightcrawler, and this film looks even more insane. A hallucinatory nightmarish satire of the elitist art world, Velvet Buzzsaw is no doubt one of the must-see movies of the fest (Velvet Buzzsaw will be available to stream on Netflix starting February 1st).
Love, Antosha directed by Garret Price
Why we're excited:
You may know Anton Yelchin from such movies as Star Trek, Like Crazy, and Charlie Bartlett. I knew Anton Yelchin from the improbable yet incredible experience of being in the same philosophy class with him at Santa Monica College years ago. During that short time that I would see him in class, where he displayed incredible intellect and curiosity, and it was clear that he was a caring and bright person. I, like the rest of the entertainment industry, was devastated to hear of Yelchin’s untimely passing in 2016. This documentary looks to celebrate the life of this beloved Sundance stand-out and I know it will be one of the more sobering but special screenings that will leave me both moved and inspired.
Big Time Adolescence directed by Jason Orley
Why we're excited:
"It" boy of the moment Pete Davidson makes his first major on-screen acting debut, which will be sure to draw audiences who are curious to see how his comic chops hold up outside of SNL and stand-up.
'Tyrel' Review: Odd Man Out
We've all had that feeling of being out of place, of feeling uncomfortable in a group of people that you don't know.
But when that feeling of exclusion is fueled by what one attributes to be the isolation of their race, that feeling becomes an even more palpably disturbing one. Racial identity and tension also happens to be a subject matter white-hot in today's cultural conversation and is the concept that writer and director Sebastián Silva explores in his latest film, Tyrel.
Following in the footsteps of Get Out
The story of a man of color feeling out of place during a drunken weekend away with the boys, the easy first comparison to make might be to last year's smash horror flick Get Out – which is not far off when comparing both movie premises alone. But when all is said and done, Silva's micro-budget movie doesn't deliver on any of the tension-filled threads that it teasingly dangles, which is only a little bit of a let-down knowing that Silva can do horror movies as seen in 2013's Magic Magic starring Juno Temple and Michael Cera.
A literal dude-fest of a movie
An altogether dude-fest of a movie, Tyrel explores what it feels like to be the odd man out. Tyler (Jason Mitchell) – not Tyrel, as new acquaintances mistakenly call him upon botched introductions – agrees to a weekend away with friends of a friend (Christopher Abbott) where he meets the birthday boy (Caleb Landry Jones) and rest of the guys, all buffoonish dudes fuming out leftover college partying as they pour whiskey and roll joints, leaving Tyler to smile sheepishly along.
More friends arrive (all white, or Chiléan) including Alan (Michael Cera), a wealthy jerk who touches on race in the movie's more obvious moments – he wears a wet-suit and jokes to the group that he's the second person of color at the party – to which Tyler's discomfort is felt further, prompting him to outrace the gang in consuming more Irish coffees and joints and end up in dizzying paranoia.
Quick and dirty filmmaking with some of today's best young actors
When one sifts past the disappointment of the film's essentially "non-plot", one is able to see that Tyrel might be Silva's most rich character study yet. Silva, with execution from his DP Alexis Zabe, shoots most of, if not all, of the film handheld, maneuvering around freely and untethered to capture raw, authentically felt performances from each of his actors, who are among some of the best young actors working in film today. And while Tyrel also feels like the most limited in scope compared to his other films, this style of quick and dirty filmmaking lends well to Silva's preference to make movies with his friends on the cheap.
Full of frat-boy machismo energy
Tyrel executes on the sense of isolation and feeling out of place, but the evidence supports that the movie isn't exactly politically charged with overt racism (thinly veiled racism?) that the friends evoke. Really, frat-boy machismo energy is the main offender here, and I would actually be hard-pressed to find a woman who didn't feel isolated themselves watching this male-aggression movie in what might be an ironic twist. Notably, Tyrel's entry into this year's U.S. Dramatic Competition category at Sundance makes Silva the first person to have a movie play in all six major categories at the festival, which might end up being the film's most noteworthy accomplishment.
'Tyrel' is not yet rated. 86 min. Opening this Friday at Laemmle's Monica Film Center.
This review originally ran on January 25, 2018, during the Sundance Film Festival
'When Jeff Tried to Save the World' Review: Living Boldly, in a Bowling Alley
We're all a hero in our own heads.
For the introverts of the world, being a hero is a fantasy that plays out more often in dreams than in reality. It's certainly how we see Jeff, the socially awkward manager of Winky's World bowling alley, live his days as the overseer of his under-attended place of employment. When withdrawn Jeff learns that his beloved bowling alley is set to close, he is forced to acknowledge his socially reclusive lifestyle and figure out how to save the world- his world. In the new film When Jeff Tried to Save the World, first-time feature filmmaker Kendall Goldberg takes a familiar premise and adds fresh elements – an 8-bit arcade style energy (which worked for Scott Pilgrim vs the World) and smart depictions of her lead hero's anxieties (brought to life by Jon Heder) – that make for a fun watch.
When life's in the gutter...
When the "Open" sign of the unattended bowling alley, Winky's World, stops working, it's the writing on the wall of what's to come. Winky's owner Carl (Jim O'Heir) breaks the news that the bowling alley is set to sell which forces Jeff, a former computer engineer turned undervalued manager, to confront his stagnant place in life. At this point in life, he's isolated everyone, including his family and sister Lindy (Anna Konkle) but with the help of his comically underachieving co-workers Stanford (Brenden Meyer) and Frank (Steve Berg), Jeff finds that saving Winky's might also save his own life.
First-time feature
This story of an introverted loner trying to save his place of employment – and in that process finding the courage to live – is a familiar template for any story, but credit co-writer Rachel Borgo and Jeff's director, Kendall Goldberg, who highlights enough moments to make this movie more than what you might expect. She makes her humble lead hero more than a caricatured and quiet guy by showing his crippling anxieties as a real mental illness that he must deal with (anxiety seems to be a growing ailment and fear most millennials might even admit to sharing). But it's still good fun, with Goldberg showing her comic range depicting Jeff's mental episodes as video game fantasy sequences that come to life with impressive cinematography by Nico Aguilar.
Jon Heder, nerd hero
Goldberg knows how to play to the strengths of her leading star, making Jon Heder (who made Napolean Dynamite a household name) more than just a caricature this time around. Jeff's obsessive points-racking of arcade scores is fun character development, but this coupled with seeing his phone notifications to take his medication show that he's not just another one-dimensional character. While Heder doesn't have as many quirky and quoteworthy one-liners as his dynamite nerd did (personally, I would have loved if the film found more ways to up his onscreen comic chops), Heder is still able to show that he can carry a movie, bringing a natural energy to the screen whenever he shows up.
High score
Layered with an 8-bit influenced synth score by Hannah Parrott, When Jeff Tried to Save the World is a fun time and high score for both Jon Heder and director Kendall Goldberg alike. There's a wisdom here that reminds us that we don't always have to end up saving the world to be successful – sometimes being brave enough to try to is enough.
93 min. 'When Jeff Tried to Save the World' is not rated. Now streaming on VOD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpJEQ1dWpDY
'Vox Lux' Review: Pop Goes the World
Listening to pop songs brings about a rush of feel-good happiness to listeners, but when thinking of it as an engineered product of an industry, it might also be seen as a highly-concentrated construction of fantasy for consumers to buy into for momentary escape. This relationship between the artificiality of pop music and the culture that empowers it is what director Brady Corbet explores in his new movie Vox Lux, a fictional portrait of a pop star set in modern America. With bold and unflinching storytelling, as well as mesmerizing visuals and performances, Vox Lux is one of the most powerful films I've seen this year.
A pop portrait with an inventive structure
Vox Lux is a portrait of the rise of a pop star, but that's largely just the story that allows the movie to mirror this twenty-first-century America where entertainment, image, and pop culture hold all value. Vox Lux has a storybook-like quality, where meta elements such as its three-chapter structure and omniscient narration by Willem Dafoe give it lyrical quality, but that also includes its significantly darker tone (which audiences should brace themselves for as seen in the film's opening sequences).
Our future pop star – young Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) – was born from darkness. After being the sole survivor of a horrific deadly rampage, the soft-spoken New Jersey native is thrust into the national spotlight as the face of a nation's sorrow and strength. Poised and collected, we see that Celeste not only has words of honest strength to share, but music in her heart as well, and an original song co-written by her sister Eleanor (Stacy Martin) soon becomes a national anthem to a grieving and shaken country. With the guidance of a new manager (Jude Law), Celeste and her sister are introduced to a whole new world of entertainment and all that it brings.
Natalie Portman is transfixing
We see young Celeste go through the ropes – recording in the studio, dealing with her publicist (Jennifer Ehle), and further entrenching herself in the debauchery of the industry, but it's when Vox Lux jumps years ahead that we find present-day Celeste (Natalie Portman), no longer a novice of the pop music machine but now its biggest superstar. Although years have passed, the film plants us back into the present day on the day of another horrific rampage, sending a tour-bound Celeste back into national headlines through comments to reporters (Christopher Abbott). We've seen Natalie Portman embrace against-type roles before including her Best Actress award-winning performance in Black Swan, but in Vox Lux she is a full-on diva, playing every bit the self-obsessed and drug-dependent celebrity that one can imagine. It's a terrific performance that sees Portman play the full range of pop stars and should be remembered this Awards season.
Be ready – it's shocking
Audiences should be warned that Vox Lux depicts horrific events in vivid detail. Rampages with firearms are shocking, but only serve to show what it is that pop music tries to do – which is what young Celeste wisely notes: "I make pop music to make people feel good."
The film's original songs were written by Sia
Vox Lux reaches its end and climax with a full-on immersion into rock concert world, not dissimilar to Bohemian Rhapsody. The original music in this concert, as well as throughout the whole song, is done by artist and hit-maker Sia. For a movie that's about pop music, this movie needed to have good songs, and Sia is great.
'Amateurs' ('Amatörer') Review: Youngsters Make a Movie
There's a certain charm about a first-time filmmaker's debut.
Moreover, there's a charm to movies about first-time filmmakers, usually showing the humorous divide between their technical gifts (or lack thereof) and their indefatigable spirit to tell their story- their wild ambitions exceeding actual capabilities. To this point, the worse – or, less "professional" those characters' movies end up being (think Tommy Wiseau's The Room or Kyle Mooney's underseen Brigsby Bear), the more endearing these stories tend to be for the audience. The light-hearted Swedish comedy Amateurs (Amatörer) enters this storytelling space, showing rebellious youngsters who don't let talent get in the way of telling their story.
Upon hearing news of a German superstore considering moving their business into the sleepy Swedish town of Alafors – which would inevitably provide a big boost to their local economy – the city council looks for ways to attract the conglomerate, but on a shoe-string budget. It's the spirited Musse (Fredrik Dahl) who thinks of sourcing local students to create a welcome video of the city, an idea that is taken on by rebellious best friends Aida (Zahraa Aldoujaili) and Dana (Yara Aliadotter). They use their phone cameras and selfie sticks to explore the city and capture the magically mundane moments, including interviews with the hard-working locals who make up the city.
...[Amateurs] shows the special quality of a community and city that sometimes can only be captured by kids.
What makes Amateurs more than just a light-hearted comedy about first-time filmmakers is that it uses this set up to investigate current day economic themes that are part of the anxieties of globalization. Aida and Dana interviewing both local leather tanners as well as low-income shoppers about what it would be like if the megastore were to move in – all captured in hand-held and shaky home-video style footage – gives an innocence to their curiosity but gives the films a documentary-like blend that offers some unexpectedly profound insight. And seeing the two best friends having to acknowledge the divide in their own personal economic upbringings furthers their own understanding of their place in the economy and life at large.
Amateurs is good for easy viewing, though it suffers a bit from its own "amateur" quality.T here are a few moments in the film that truly stand out, like when a simple string arrangement accompanies why adding dish soap to fountains are always a good idea even if it's against the law – shows the special quality of a community and city that sometimes can only be captured by kids.
102 min. Amateurs (Amatörer) is not yet rated.
https://youtu.be/qIAg2lVDBEI
'Widows': A High Stakes Heist
There's no reason to skirt around it: Widows is rock-your-socks-off, absolute power-house filmmaking – the likes of which just don't get made as much as they should.
It's totally gripping, edge-of-your-seat fare that is elevated with its arthouse sensibilities. Widows is the type of movie that you forget can even be this good for the very reason that, well, these types of movies don't get made very much anymore – those being the elevated big screen genre movie for adult audiences. Not since The Dark Knight has a movie felt so commercially and artistically composed – and for both being movies about vigilantes seeking their own brand of personal justice, it somehow feels to be an appropriate comparison.
A wickedly pulpy plot and muscly movie, Widows crackles with emotional drama in its name already. Adapted from the stage play by Lynda La Plante, the story follows a group of women who aren't just connected by the unexpected passing of their husbands but by the same circumstance in which they lose them. In a heist job-gone-terribly-wrong, their criminal husbands end up dead. These fractured women are left alone to experience new grief and question how to move forward when their collective husbands' debt is still owed and the next job is laid out in front of them.
'Widows' is event filmmaking, a stunning and terrific execution that elevates its genre to be one of the most gripping and engrossing times in theaters this year.
The arthouse drama version of this might see these women meet and turn to each other for support, with long, drawn-out dialogue. But this is a Genre movie with a capital "G," and pulp female-championing writer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) capitalizes on that, writing these women to come together to show the opposite of victimhood but as an aggressor.
Widows is such a strong outing for the number of different versions of women we see onscreen. There's steely Veronica (Viola Davis), determined Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and insecure Alice (Elizabeth Debicki), who all experience their newfound situations in different ways. While Veronica is left to devise her next steps from her lavish high-rise apartment, it's Linda whose husband left her with crippling debt and two small girls and emotionally and psychically abused Alice a chance at a new start. All three women bring their very most to these characters, and their energy makes this movie run like a blazing freight train.
Bringing all of these diverse elements together – the muscly action along with arthouse storytelling – is Academy Award-winning director Steve McQueen, who makes this movie a prestige picture with subtly woven subtext and themes. This deft balance fits like an intricately-connected web all its own, which makes the plot conceited in this movie look amateur by comparison. The A-list supporting actors (Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya round out the rest of the roles) are paired with incredible writing that makes this a tightly packaged affair. Advanced McQueen fans will see the through-line of his films here, that of characters fighting for survival and against injustice that was at the center of films like 12 Years a Slave, Shame, and Hunger. Beyond criminals and robberies and more, Widows shows the lengths that desperate people are capable of going to in order to save themselves from horrific despair.
So run – don't walk, to see this one. Widows is stunning and terrific and one of the most gripping and engrossing films to see in theaters this year.
129 min. 'Widows' is rated R for violence, language throughout, and some sexual content/nudity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN2yBBSRC78