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Alice, Darling: Toxic Attraction

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Someone once said that ‘not all scars can be seen’. But, if true, that also means that they can be so much more difficult to heal.

In Alice, Darling, Alice (Anna Kendrick) is a hard-working woman in a committed relationship with Simon (Charlie Carrick). When she’s invited to join her friends for a weekend away at a cottage to celebrate her friend’s birthday, Alice becomes increasingly anxious about the trip. Nevertheless, her friends (played by Kaniehtiio Horn and Wunmi Mosaku) insist and she decides to join them. Even though the weather is beautiful and the scenery stunning, Alice struggles to feel present and she constantly checks her phone from messages from her man. As Alice’s secrets are revealed, her friends try to help her disconnect from the harmfulness that awaits her at home.

Directed by Mary Nighy, Alice, Darling is a challenging piece that helps provide a broader definition of the nature of ‘hurt’. In a fascinating tension, Nighy uses the film’s setting to establish the differences between the two worlds. Although set primarily in the countryside, there is no doubt that Alice’s ties to the city loom largely. Despite wanting to relax during her time away for her friends birthday, she sits and stirs, fearing that her actions may have dire consequences when she gets home. Like the world around her, Alice is a divided person who can’t seem to break away. 

Although the film features some strong performances by its entire past, especially from Mosaku and Horn, what makes the film most engaging is a particularly strong performance by Kendrick. As the titular Alice, Kendrick provides a particularly nuanced performance that balances between inner struggle and outward appearances. Alice may be all smiles when with her friends, but she hides in the bathroom, tearing out pieces of her hair as she battles anxiety and self-accusation. In these moments, Kendrick shows her range and skill as Alice’s pain slowly gains control. 

And this is very much a film about control. 

Although Alice argues that her boyfriend is ‘never hurt her’, the viewers sees the poisonous effects of their relationship and the ways that it drains a piece of her soul. Through casual jabs that are designed to undermine her confidence, Simon remains fully in control of the relationship and Alice. Here, the hurt that he inflicts is neither physical nor verbal but consistent by way of the shame he inflicts upon her. Too often in films about toxic relationships, that harmfulness is obvious but Darling emphasizes the subtle ways that control can take root and the shame that can be absorbed because of it. With each snide or belittling remark, Alice believes increasingly that she is simply bad, despite having done nothing wrong. Buried under the weight of Simon’s disappointment, Alice has nowhere to put her shame and it eats away at her from the inside. In these moments, Nighy uses Alice’s experience to bring a broader definition of hurt into the spotlight. Simon may not be abusive in the traditional sense but he is constantly critical of his love, claiming that he knows her best. The damage here is difficult to quantify yet also difficult to watch.

What’s more, Darling is also a film about love. Highlighting pop culture’s emphasis on romantic love in our storytelling, the film helps the viewer to recognize that real love is grander than romance. Here, love is a place where one can find support and healing from the outside world and its brokenness. Using her friends as an anchor, Alice’s journey begins to find a spark of life once again as she rediscovers her worth. (However, whether or not she will fall to Simon’s poison once again is the film’s true question.)

In this way, there’s a heartbeat of hope within Alice, Darling, even in its darkest of moments. While the pain of abuse can be overwhelming, so too can it also be overcome with love and support from those who know us best. 

Alice, Darling is available in theatres on Friday, December 30th, 2022.

Sundance 2023 – A Still Small Voice

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“I have no idea where my prayers are going.”

We enter the world of hospital chaplaincy in A Still Small Voice, a documentary by Luke Lorentzen. Lorentzen was recognized at the Sundance Film Festival with the Directing Award in US Documentary.

Mati Engle is in a one year residency with the Department of Spiritual Care at Mount Sinai Hospital. We watch as she deals with patients, staff, and her cohort in the program. She and her supervisor, Rev. David Fleener, discuss her work and the difficulties she faces with workload.

The film takes us into very intimate and vulnerable situations (with permission of all involved). Mati talks to patients about serious spiritual and life issues. Doctors may not talk about these things. Perhaps they are too personal even for family. But as a chaplain, she is available for whatever issues arise. (She even baptizes a child who died at birth so her family can find some comfort—even though Mati is Jewish.)

A still from A Still Small Voice by Luke Lorentzen, an official selection of the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute

The film isn’t so much focused on chaplaincy per se as it is on Mati and the strain of the residency. Her supervisor often challenges her about her boundaries and her feeling of being depleted. It is also interesting to listen in on the supervisor’s own struggles with his role when he talks to his own overseer.

It is interesting that there is very little overtly religious or spiritual content to the film, but it is still infused with a spiritual element. That is the nature of chaplaincy and perhaps ministry in general—the most spiritual things are often found in everyday life.

We don’t really hear how those involved in the residency are fulfilling their own spiritual needs—which leads to the quotation at the top of this post. And we see how this work and the demands are especially emotional and spiritual.

As clergy, I wasn’t surprised by how consuming and draining such work can be. Self-care and burnout are topics that many clergy ignore to the detriment of themselves, their families, and their ministries. The concept of self-care is built into the residency program, but often it is hard for those involved to balance self and work.

A Still Small Voice will certainly resonate with those involved in the spiritual care of those who are suffering. It should also give people insight into the lives and struggle such spiritual care givers face—often silently.

Exceptional Beings: Dividing the Divine

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Have the gods grown tired of us? Or was it we who walked away from them?

Written and directed by Njedeh Anthony, Exceptional Beings is a fun look at the divide between gods and men. After they encounter a woman who has an uncanny essence about her, Greek gods Hermes and Athena (Dane Oliver and Ciarra Carter) find themselves in somewhat of an existential crisis. In their 4,000 years of infinite knowledge, they have finally found something/someone that remains a mystery to them. As they test their subject, Athena is challenged to question everything about the relationship between humanity and the divine, not to mention her own personal story as well.

Leaning into (mostly) Greek mythology, Anthony reveals a divine realm that has grown tired of mankind’s antics. Insatiated with their own power, these gods are shown with great malaise and it shows up in the performances through its cast. While that may be heard by some as a criticism, it is in fact the opposite. Leads Oliver and Carter are clearly having a blast infusing their divine roles with such ennui and their waning interest in humanity keeps the film enjoyable. (Oliver, in particular, is a joy to watch as Hermes, a god who is both disinterested and intrigued by their potential discovery.)

The thing that proves to work against these Beings the most is really no fault of its own. It’s its budget. This is a story with all the ambition of an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet the financial constraints of television. As a result, the visuals here really never have a chance to match the scope of the story to full effect. What’s more, with the lack of budget, the film perhaps over-emphasizes its dialogue, leading so slower pacing in moments. However, given the fun of its storytelling, this is definitely an unfortunate reality that will turn off some viewers. 

But I admit it. I’m a sucker for a good story about gods and men.

Content to collect their worship, these gods once reveled in the praise they were offered simply for who they were. Yet, as they debate the value of their ‘human pets’, they also show their hand. Having remained hidden from sight, Hermes and Ares recognize that humanity has begun to look for other avenues of worship. From celebrities to their own ingenuity, mankind has begun to create their own ‘gods’ to offer their praise. (“It started with the light… then, children wanted the light to shine on them and them alone,” the film’s prologue announces.) In doing so, the divine became replaced, leaving them with even greater disdain for humanity.

Anthony uses this set up to launch into some fascinating conversations about the relationship between man and the divine. Have the gods abandoned mankind out of lack of interest? Or has humanity merely ‘outgrown’ them? These are concerns that plague the gods who feel both unappreciated and, in some ways, lost. There is a deeply-seeded insecurity within these gods who demand attention yet care little for the well-being of their worshipers. This self-doubt becomes an even greater threat with the potential rise of ‘exceptional beings’ who have their own power and, therefore, no need of them anymore. For Anthony, this creates some compelling interactions between gods as they attempt to find their place in a universe that doesn’t seem to need their involvement anymore.

After 4,000 years, these gods have finally been replaced by lesser beings.

It’s this conversation that makes Exceptional Beings such an amusing viewing. While the special effects may not be Exceptional, the way that gods are viewed in our time invites some intriguing conversations about spirituality in the modern era. Because, we, as spiritual beings, are always looking for a new god.

Exceptional Beings is available now on VOD and DVD.

When You Finish Saving the World – Life through your own lens.

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Julianne Moore as Evelyn talking to Finn Wolfhard who plays her son Ziggy

When You Finish Saving the World is one of the most transparent semi-autobiographical films ever made yet it’s not set in the authors coming-of-age generation. Actor-turned-director Jesse Eisenberg modernizes this personal story and gives it back to the generation who will define the world that his own kid is about to grow up in.

In the first movie I’ve ever seen adapted from an Audible original, Eisenburg adapts the audio drama into a more condensed, duel character study. The film follows 17-year-old Ziggy Katz (Finn Wolfhard, who reprises his role from the audio drama) who finds himself pursuing his teenage interests, landing him in the awkward spot of having a niche viral stardom from live streaming his own original music. The only problem is that he hasn’t met any of them and the people in his real life don’t care about his 20,000 followers (A fact he frequently points out). Ziggy doesn’t care what the people around him think, least of all his mother. He pushes her concerns out of the way to try and focus on growing his music fandom. There is one girl Ziggy who wants his attention from and, unfortunately for him, it’s the most woke girl in class, Lila (Alisha Boe). His knowledge about the politics and rights issues she talks about is basically none but he also isn’t willing to give up the time he dedicates to his music to learn, so he tries to pretend to know what Lila’s talking about. Of course, Lila knows that he is clueless about what she and her friend discuss but Ziggy is blinded in his pursuit for her.

Between his pursuit of Lila and his efforts to chase fame, Ziggy develops a narcissistic lifestyle that starts to alienates his parents, especially his mother Evelyn (Julianne Moore). Evelyn works as the head of a home for women seeking refuge from unsafe domestic situations. Despite her direct work with people, she is often shown to struggle with connecting on a deeper level with her clients. That comes to a head when she is introduced to Kyle (Billy Bryk), another 17 year old kid with a heart of gold. Kyle’s mom is staying at the shelter and during their stay Evelyn notices how caring Kyle is. He helps his mom with everything and is even willing to address any practical need around him. Evelyn recognizes him as a kid with a heart of gold who is also smart and compassionate, a trait she can’t see in her own son or any of the people he hangs out with. So, when she sees Kyle, a smart and caring person, she believes she can put him on the path to great things. However, Evelyn begins to ignore Kyle’s feelings about her attempts to get him to university and it leads her down a narcissistic path that parallels Ziggy’s.

Writer/Director Jesse Eisenburg with his two leads at Cannes Critics Week

Jesse Eisenburg is one of few debut directors or directors in general who are bold enough to create characters that are so transparently narcissistic and, therefore, hard to love. These kinds of characters tend to alienate mainstream audiences but they certainly hold a lot of potential for entertaining and cinematic scenes. These kinds of characters can work in a story and style meant for them, one that engages and entertains the audience and Eisenburg does a lot towards that end. His cinematography matches the tone of this film perfectly with a classic and aesthetically pleasing style that invokes a sense of nostalgia fit for this retro-style, coming of age film. Stills from this movie feel like the film photos you’d see on a young person’s Instagram feed and that fits the young energy of the film well. Props to cinematographer Benjamin Loeb (After Yang) who has continually tackled projects including this one through a dynamic approach to either colour and camera movement.

The technical prowess and film form choices are continually impressive throughout the film as the editing brilliantly highlights the visual humor communicated through the props or set design. The film makes the most of its indie sensibilities, highlighting simple cuts for comedy. One scene features an epic slow long zoom out from Evelyn casually driving her car only to cut to her racing into a parking spot and squealing to stop which reveals her hilariously undersized Smart Car. As we follow Ziggy and Evelyn, we see how their narcissistic tendencies are put on display through simple camera work that allow us to focus on the characters’ frequent uncomfortable actions and words. Some of those words do not feel natural to the generation they’re portraying, in particular Ziggy’s use of the F-word is not only a bit startling for someone who couldn’t imagine swearing at their parents at 17 but also feels very ‘written’. They don’t feel like their coming from the mouth of a present day teenager. You can imagine Eisenburg guiding Wolfhard to create this character that largely mimics himself because as admitted by Eisenburg this is a personal story and he clearly has himself in mind when writing and directing Ziggy. The voices he develops for his younger characters also feel out of touch for a member of Generation Z but I won’t expect perfection from someone who’s 39 himself.

The direction Eisenburg takes in writing and acting may be the same kind that seemed alienating in The Squid and The Whale, a film Eisenburg starred in. The bold actions and decisions the characters in When You Finish Saving the World clearly feel like they were plucked from the experience Eisenburg had on The Squid and the Whale. Both of these films contain scenes of very personal coming-of-age sexual discovery that cross the line from vulnerable characterization to bad taste. Some actions shouldn’t be as explicit as they are in a coming-of-age film like When You Finish Saving the World but that is up to the viewer. Ziggy and Evelyn have a bluntness to their verbal attacks on one another that lands in the grey zone of attempting to be naturalistic while still containing elements of the fanciful dialogue you’d expect from an Aaron Sorkin script (Eisenburg led The Social Network that was written by film Sorkin).

The performances from Wolfhard and Moore are pitch perfect to Eisenburg’s vision. He should be singing their praises whenever their brought up in conversation from now on. Julianne Moore in particular plays this distancing and ultra-intellectual mother so well and executes both the awkward and emotional moments to perfection. Wolfhard is the victim of some of the more fanciful moments of dialogue that don’t fit with the realistic modern teenager Eisenberg tries to create but still he does a wonderful job executing the honest ignorance and cringe of this arrogant but wishful young man. When you Finish Saving the World is not for everyone, but if you can put up with some selfish characters and the purposeful cringe of adolescents then this might be the teenage fable for you.

When You Finish Saving the World is in theatres now.

More Shorts from Slamdance 2023

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Here are a few more shorts from the Slamdance Film Festival. These come from three different sections, and include some of the award winning shorts.

Good Grief (11 minutes, directed by Rob Sharp). The terrible grief of the loss of a child is portrayed through four mothers. The grief becomes symbolized as both darkness and light. It is something they carry with them always. Many think they should put it down and get on with life. But can they? Should they? What if that grief is also a form of love? This was a very moving film that deals with a subject that can be difficult to watch, but it is a wonderful insight into grief. Good Grief was part of the Unstoppable section.

Christina (17 minutes, directed by Gerald Fantone). A young woman with Down Syndrome bristles under her mother’s trying to control her life. She longs to live independently. But then her mother begins showing signs of early onset Alzheimer’s. It may be that roles may have to change. Christina played as part of the Unstoppable section.

The Sidewalk Artist (27 minutes, directed by David Velez and Brandon Rivera. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Shorts). Is it real or fictional? We watch a contractor who goes to where cement is being poured and leave imprints of various kinds, using his hands as his artist tool.

Gwendoline (22 minutes, directed by Joaquim Bayle. Honorable Mention for Narrative Shorts). A borderline surreal story about two post-punk musicians (their act has no name) who travel around on a tandem bike trying to find an audience for their bizarre art.

The Unicorn in Snowpants Suddenly Ran Off (19 minutes, directed by Philipp Schaeffer. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Shorts). Watching blind children as they entertain themselves. Three different children creating their own stories or worlds in which they find joy.

Millstone (17 minutes, directed by Peter Hoffman Kimball. Winner of Grand Jury Prize for Unstoppable). The film is done entirely in American Sign Language by deaf actors, but deafness really plays no role in the story. We see a man and woman whose lives and marriage are being torn apart by the grief over a lost son. They have tried many things and have now come to a man who offers a very extreme form of therapy. But then the story takes a very dark and unexpected turn. A very engaging story.