Tag: Film

REVIEW: Tenet

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

Christopher Nolan’s Tenet opens with a thrilling hostage sequence that introduces the film’s central concept of inverted time. Shortly after the conclusion of the sequence, we see the lead protagonist seek out a scientist who advises him, “Don’t try to understand.” As the movie progresses, you realize that this line was written in for the audience.

Tenet follows a CIA agent who must prevent World War III by manipulating and traveling backwards through time. It isn’t time travel, but it is. It’s about inverting entropy. It’s confusing. However, the character motivations that drive the main plot are straightforward enough that even though you have no idea what’s going on, you’ll still have a good time.

The film’s action sequences can be largely credited for preventing the audience from leaving the theater or turning the movie off in frustration. I personally can lose interest in a movie during long fight or chase scenes, but Tenet’s action sequences are unique and engaging because of the inverted time. Objects that are inverted move differently – cars drive backwards, bullets are caught in guns, and waves flow in reverse. And because time can be manipulated, characters can move backwards in time to revisit certain situations. And though these characters are moving normally in their own eyes, non-inverted individuals will see these characters moving in reverse. Regardless of whether you think this concept is ridiculous or intriguing, you will surely appreciate the dedication of the cast and crew to the filmmaking process. Some scenes featuring time manipulation were filmed forwards and backgrounds. The composer, Ludwig Göransson created music that would sound the same forwards and backwards. Although the film is easy to criticize because of its debatably unnecessary complexity, there are just so many layers to the film that make the act of watching it such an immersive experience.

Furthermore, this is Nolan’s first film starring a nonwhite lead. John David Washington shines – he’s suave, funny, and has a strong moral compass. Some of Nolan’s past films have come under rightful criticism for only featuring underdeveloped female characters, and Tenet has come under scrutiny for presenting its female lead as a damsel in distress. However, I understood this character, Kat, played by Elizabeth Debicki, to be someone who merely starts out as a damsel in distress. Over the course of the movie, she develops more of a sense of self and comes to understand her own capabilities. Although Kat’s main motivations are centered around being a mother, she is not portrayed as weak or overbearing. Her character arc revolving around being reunited with a child is similar to that of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Inception. Although Kat is treated as a punching bag by her husband and she is a pawn in the Protagonist’s larger plan, I believe that she has a satisfying conclusion to her arc, and that Debicki’s stellar performance was that of a woman who proves she is no longer a damsel in distress.

If you like Inception and Interstellar or just Nolan’s films in general, you will at least be able to appreciate Tenet. I think it’s a pretty perfect film to watch right now: the action, cast, and score are all just engaging enough to fully immerse you into the movie-watching experience. I would recommend Tenet for anyone who is looking for a two-and-a-half hour break from reality.

Tenet is playing at the State Theater through Tuesday, November 10th, and it will be available digitally and on Blu-ray starting December 15th.

PREVIEW: Ann Arbor Polish Film Festival, Short Films

Emma Pinchak Leave a comment

Movie Night Clipart

This weekend is Ann Arbor’s 27th annual Polish Film Festival! If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly searching for ways to put off doing actual assignments or anything remotely productive. Lucky for you, here’s another opportunity to do just that!

I’m a big fan of foreign film; it seems that many countries are far more in tune with the creativity is takes to make a truly weird, mind-bending movie (I have a lot of French and Thai favorites in that category). It’s interesting to note the differences in styles of acting and plot progression as well.

There are a few different sections of the film festival, so if you have the time, I’d encourage you to check out all of them. But I’ll just be watching the short films section; I have a whole list of other things I’m using to avoid work this weekend. On the menu are four 2019 movies, all dramas with some interesting spice, from political tension to a supernatural entity.

The short films are free to stream Friday, November 6 at 7pm through Saturday at 7pm, via https://www.michtheater.org/aapff2020/

 

REVIEW: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

Spoilers ahead, but this film is based on a historical event so…

 

The Trial of the Chicago 7, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, follows the court case in which eight, later seven, defendants were accused of conspiracy during the summer of 1968. The defendants were accused of inciting riots during the Democratic National Convention which took place during a particularly turbulent time of anti-Vietnam War and counterculture protests and the civil rights movement. The film stars Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jeremy Strong, Mark Rylance, and Michael Keaton.

The film, overall, is fine. The acting is quite good – Sacha Baron Cohen proves he can take on a dramatic role; Jeremy Strong proves he can take on a comedic role; Eddie Redmayne, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Rylance, and Michael Keaton all prove that they still know how to act. Aaron Sorkin proves, once again, that he is capable of writing snappy dialogue, and also that maybe he should leave the directing to someone else. The film has been executed in the same manner as The Social Network – written by Sorkin, directed by David Fincher – with its fast-speaking actors and more light-hearted, generally goofier dramatization of a legal case. However, this kind of style seems better-suited to lawsuits involving Mark Zuckerberg and the events of his college days rather than a court case addressing antiwar protests and racial tensions.

The film is not insensitive. That sentence is not meant as a litotes – I am not trying to say that the film is not not insensitive. I just left the film confused about how I was supposed to feel. The film includes lines such as “Who started the riots?” and “the police don’t start riots,” and it ends with defendant Tom Hayden reading off the names of Americans who had died in Vietnam as Judge Hoffman demands that there be order in the court. The film also depicts Judge Julius Hoffman ordering that the eighth defendant, Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale, be bound, gagged, and chained to his chair for disrupting the court, despite his fellow white defendants being equally, if not more, disruptive. Seale was ultimately severed from the case – this is what makes it the Trial of the Chicago 7, not 8 – and the case was inherently about the Vietnam War rather than civil rights, however it is impossible to watch this film about protests, rioting, and police brutality in 2020 without drawing connections to race and racism. There was no way for Sorkin to predict the political climate of summer 2020, but “here is a film about some things that happened during the summer of 1968” comes across as a little lackluster. Sorkin does not take the police brutality, Vietnam death toll, or blatant racism against Seale lightly, but after having seen films that successfully balance humor and a modern political perspective on historical events – Blackkklansman comes to mind – The Trial of the Chicago 7 just falls a little flat.

Perhaps it is just simply disheartening to see the evolution of racism and police brutality since 1968. And it is a little bizarre to see this timely film take on the same tone as a film where Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg argue about feeding chicken nuggets to a chicken. That being said, The Trial of the Chicago 7 may not be revolutionary, but that does not mean it is inherently a bad film.

 

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is now streaming on Netflix.

REVIEW: I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Nellie Shih Leave a comment

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is Charlie Kaufman’s first psychological thriller as both writer and director. I watched two films he has written in preparation: Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. After this week, I can say with absolute certainty that Kaufman is a brilliant writer. Do I always understand what’s going on in his mind, though? Nope.

 

It’s difficult to talk about the film without spoiling everything – I’ve been mulling over the ending of the film for the past three hours and am just now beginning to piece the narrative together, to find meaning in the events leading up to the conclusion, and to solidify my interpretation of the film in its entirety. But, that’s what I love about this film – it makes you think.

 

Before I delve into more specific details, I should mention that the film is about an unnamed young woman who joins her boyfriend on a trip to visit his parents, but she doesn’t foresee their relationship lasting much longer. The film begins with the couple’s drive to the family farm. From the get-go, you understand why the young woman is thinking of ending things. The two are both well-educated – the boyfriend, Jake, is able to keep up with his girlfriend’s explanation of her research and the paper she has to write. They both like poetry. However, they have differing interpretations of poems and clashing opinions on philosophical debates, but they are unable to articulate their thoughts and hold a progressive conversation without being afraid of offending each other. The couple will then fall into complete silence, and when Jake asks what his girlfriend is thinking about, she tells him she’s thinking about vague, in her head stuff, while she tells the audience she doesn’t think she wants to a continue a relationship where she can’t even tell the other person what’s on her mind.

 

From the moment the couple starts their road trip, it’s clear there’s a sense of unease between the two. I think that this shows just how good of a writer Kaufman is. The dialogue isn’t clunky – although it can be confusing, he portrays realistic conversations between two intelligent individuals who are falling out of love. And what I find most impressive is how Kaufman is able to write all kinds of couples, from a shallow and almost manipulative attraction in Being John Malkovich, to Eternal Sunshine, which depicts the initial euphoria of meeting someone devolving into irritability and volatility, and ultimately a breakup. Furthermore, Jake and his girlfriend’s relationship in I’m Thinking of Ending Things is different from Clementine and Joel in Eternal Sunshine – we only get the young woman’s point of view, and we never see them connect on the level that Clementine and Joel do.

 

I have many more thoughts about the film, but they all fall into spoiler territory. So I’ll leave with the fact that there is very little music, which makes the musical moments stand out. The use of sound really sets the uneasy tone of the film – you just always feel like something’s off. Whether it’s complete silence punctuated by uncomfortable dialogue, the rhythmic thud of windshield wipers, the jingling of a dog’s collar, the minimal score, or a song from Oklahoma!, you find yourself wondering what it all means and why you feel uncomfortable. Of course, this is aided by the performances of Toni Collette and David Thewlis, and Kaufman’s messing with the concept of time, as introduced in the trailer for the film.

 

Overall, I highly recommend this film. You might hate it, but it’s just so interesting and there’s just so much to unpack. If anyone wants to talk about spoilers please leave a comment! I need to talk about this film!

PREVIEW: I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Nellie Shih 1 Comment

PREVIEW: I’m Thinking of Ending Things

 

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an upcoming Netflix film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman is most known for writing and/or directing Being John Malkovich; Synecdoche, New York; and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The three films are of the comedy/drama/romance genre, whereas his newest film is described as a psychological horror film. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is based on the Ian Reid novel of the same name, which follows a young woman who joins her boyfriend to visit his parents.

 

The premise of the film is reminiscent of Get Out, but the trailer proves it will be a very different movie. It currently holds an 85% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and depending on how I’m Thinking of Ending Things continues to perform, it could be an indicator to other distribution companies that their films could also perform well on streaming services, and ultimately encourage more new films to be released on streaming platforms

 

The film stars Chernobyl’s Jessie Buckley, Jesse Plemons whom I can never separate from Todd in Breaking Bad, Toni Colette of Hereditary and Knives Out, and Professor Remus Lupin himself, David Thewlis. I’m Thinking of Ending Things premieres on September 4 on Netflix, and the trailer is available now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDTg62vsV4U

REVIEW: Normal People

Kellie M. Beck 1 Comment

At first glance, Sally Rooney’s novel, “Normal People”, is extremely simple. It tells the story of two high school students, Connell and Marianne, and their unusual and potent attraction to one another. The book follows the two through the end of their college careers, and the end of their relationship (which still deserves an ellipse and the phrase “for now” stuck on the end of it). The novel, recently turned into a limited series through the streaming platform Hulu, premiered late last month in its entirety. What the television series does so well is it reveals with great dexterity and skill the underlying tension and complexity of Marianne and Connell’s relationship.

Daisy Edgar Jones and Paul Mescal, the main actors playing Marianne and Connell, are fairly new faces to the screen. The series is full of a myriad of close-up shots of the two actors, and several intimate, long, and artfully-shot sex scenes. The two actors’ chemistry on-screen is undeniable, and their performances ground the series in genuine human connection. The ensemble of actors that join them on screen deserves much praise as well; Aislin McGuckin, the actress playing Marianne’s mother, Denise, and Fionn O’Shea, playing one of Marianne’s boyfriends, Jamie, in particular, come to mind for their performances.

One worry I often have when watching screen adaptations of books is not even so much the accuracy of the script, compared to the events in the book, but rather if the on-screen version will be able to capture the same magic and essence of the novel it is adapted from. I think it is telling that Sally Rooney had a hand in writing all twelve episodes; that is to say, it shows. The series has the same careful, diligent, and gentle approach that the novel is so renowned for.

The charm of “Normal People” lies in the title itself. It is a simple story, about two imperfect people who always manage to find their way back to one another. It is shaded by the belief in “soulmates”, and elevates two ordinary characters to an extraordinary love. “Normal People” represents something the majority of the population wants; true, unconditional love. The series is an effective adaptation because it understands the heart of the story, and doesn’t try too hard to extrapolate unneeded details from the source material. It is a simple show; not particularly flashy or thrilling, but it is refreshing to me that it does not have to be. The simplest shots are oftentimes the most captivating. Rooney and the rest of the creative team train the audience early on to find the magic in the details, whether it be the slight raise of Marianne’s eyebrow or the way Connell wrings his hands and laughs when faced with a serious question. “Normal People” has done an exceptional job of parring down the series to exactly what is needed and nothing more.

In a world of endless streaming options, whether it be movies, podcasts, or television series, it can be overwhelming to make a choice of what to view or listen to. I would highly encourage those that are looking for something true, genuine, and delicate to consider taking the time to watch “Normal People” in its entirety. It does more than justice to the beloved novel; it illuminates it.