ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

Anne Hathaway

Oxygen: Breathing to Remember

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While watching films of gripping intensity, we often feel as though we need to remember to breathe. 

But what about a film that’s wants you to breathe to remember?

Directed by legendary director Alexandre Aja, Oxygen tells the story of a young woman (Melanie Laurent) who awakens in a cryogenic pod. Without any memory of who she is or ties to her old life, the woman panics and struggles to break free. With her oxygen level depleted, the woman must crack the code of her memory and her mysterious tomb before time runs out.

Oxygen is an ambitious piece that will leave you gasping for air. An absolute nightmare for anyone claustrophobic, Oxygen keeps the entire film within its confined quarters. While there are very few examples of this type of storytelling, this is an ambitious task for any narrative. With a minimal cast and a tight location, it’s extremely difficult to keep the audience’s attention. (Ryan Reynolds’ pre-Deadpool film, Buried is another example of this.) While Oxygen doesn’t always manage to work, the film’s twist half way through the film is unexpected. Without giving anything away, Aja manages to open up the world so broadly that it gives the film the energy boost that it needs to remain compelling.

As the film’s central focus, star Melanie Laurent has the camera firmly placed on her the entire film and does her best to keep the audience engaged. (Although it’s also worth noting that the film does give some minimal breaks from the location via flashbacks.) The great challenge of a character such as this is that it removes the actor’s ability to truly interact with her surroundings and puts a greater emphasis on the script itself. Even so, Laurent does some good work here and continues to breathe life into the film. 

In many ways, Oxygen wants to explore the connection between memory and identity. Waking up with no recollection about her name and/or life, this young woman feels an even deeper sense of isolation. Although locked in her high-tech coffin, what is most terrifying to her is her inability to recall her life before that moment. In essence, because she can no longer remember anything, this young woman’s peril extends beyond her physical problems and seems to erase her from history. Without her memories, what defines her life?

Without a story, how does she know she matters?

While we don’t often associate our memories as the defining characteristics of our lives, Aja creates a compelling argument that our mind is the very thing that defines us. As she fleshes out her life, her story helps her to understand not only her situation but what makes her who she is. As a result, with each piece of her life she recovers, this young woman regains increasing motivation to live on. In this way, Aja uniquely connects our memories with our place in the universe. To him, it appears as though we know we matter because of the loving marks we’ve left on others along the way.

While Oxygen will not be for everyone, the film is hardly on life support. Led by some intriguing ideas about the meaning of our memories, Aja gives Laurent enough room to breathe to give the film life, even when other examples of the genre run out of air. 

Oxygen is available on Netflix on Wednesday, May 12th, 2021.

All Is True – The Bard’s Retirement

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“It’s not Hamnet you mourn; it’s yourself.”

Kenneth Branagh has always had an affinity for Shakespeare’s works. He has appeared in, written, and/or directed several screen adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. Now, in All Is True, he portrays William Shakespeare in his years of retirement. To be sure, there is a great amount of conjecture in the script by Ben Elton, but that allows us to see this not just as a look back in time, but as an exploration of our own transitions in life.

The film opens with the Globe theater being destroyed by fire during the premiere of Henry VIII (which had an alternative title of All is True) in 1613. He returns to the family home in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he is greeted somewhat coldly by his wife Anne (Judy Dench) and daughters Susanna (Lydia Wilson) and Judith (Kathryn Wilder). While Shakespeare has been having a successful career in London, his family has seen little of him. As Anne tells him, “To us, you’re a guest.” (This she says while sending him to the guest room, because it has the best bed which befits a visitor.)

It is not just because of his long absence that William is somewhat estranged from his family. He is also still grieving the death of his son Hamnet, Judith’s twin, who died many years before as a child. William has idealized his son’s memory, and is visited by Hamnet’s ghost on occasion. Meanwhile Judith suffers from survivor’s guilt, which is a part of why she is still unmarried. Shakespeare’s other daughter, Susanna, is married to the local doctor, John Hall (Hadley Fraser), who is a Puritan. He sees the family as a bit of a challenge from his dour religious perspective.

On one level, this is the story of a man who has reached a point in life that he feels he wants to retire. He has returned home, hoping to reconnect with a family that has grown away from him. He’s also not quite sure what to do with his time, so be begins a garden as a memorial to Hamnet. After a lifetime of mental and verbal creativity, this physical work brings a new way of creating something. As a retired person, I appreciate the bit of uncertainty of what retired life should entail and how he can bring meaning to the time when one no longer is “productive” in the eyes of the world.

He is also facing a somewhat common experience of discovering how much of his family’s life he has missed by concentrating on his career. The fact that he could not be there for Hamnet’s funeral weighs heavy on him. But he also does not really know his grown daughters and their lives.

There is also a bit of a love story as William reconnects with his family, and especially Anne. Some may know that in his will, Shakespeare left his wife his “second best bed”. In the film, this is seen as a touching, loving, and perhaps a bit humorous act, that shows how much their relations grows during this film.

But it is also an examination of what constitutes truth. Shakespeare wrote a number of historical plays, but as he says in the film, “I never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” But there are many discoveries of truth throughout the film that bring the question of truth to the fore. Not least of which is the recounting of Hamnet’s death and what that means to various members of the family. There are also scandals that crop up around both of his daughters, and a history of scandal with William’s father. All of these may call for a hiding of the truth, to create a more satisfactory understanding of what has happened. (Not unlike the creation of this script from some historical points in Shakespeare’s later years.)

The film’s title pushes us to consider whether indeed “all is true” or as is stated at one point in the film, “nothing is true”. As the various truths within the story are hidden or revealed they create a reality that must then be addressed. The question becomes not so much what is or is not true, but rather what is the truth that we live in?

Photos by Robert Youngson. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Serenity: Murder and Justice in the Open Water

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Living on an isolated tropical island, Baker Dill (Matthew McConaughey) is a fishing boat captain who lives a peaceful life on Plymouth Island, an isolated island in the Carribbean. However, his world is soon shattered when his ex-wife Karen (Anne Hathaway) tracks him down and, desperate for help, begs Baker to rescue her and their young son from her abusive husband, Frank (Jason Clarke). Offering Dill $10M to feed her husband to the sharks in the open water, Karen pleads with him to take on the job. Thrust back into a life that he wanted to forget, Baker now finds himself struggling to choose between right and wrong.

Although the film is fairly uneven—not to mention the wildest twist you can imagine—there are enough things to like about Serenity for those who are game. Directed by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Eastern Promises), Serenity is a neo-noir film laced with sci-fi sensibilities. (No spoilers.) Set on the isolated island in the Caribbean, Knight drops the audience into a steamy world of sex and betrayal. Using bleached colours and shadowy frames, the world is lush in vegetation yet colours bleed together, resulting in a bleak and lifeless atmosphere. Working together for the first time since Intersteller, McConaughey and Hathaway work well with one another, even at times when the material is lacking.

As with many examples of noir, one of the most interesting aspects of the film is its conflicted moral compass. Lost in his own pain and alone, Dill lives in poverty in a repurposed metal shack. His boat is owned by the bank and he can barely pay his first mate. He spends his days chasing his own ‘white whale’, a mysterious giant tuna that constantly escapes him. Named ‘Justice’, the tune is symbolic of the very justice that seems to elude him as he moves from day to day looking for hope to no avail. Though the island is beautiful, what begins as an Edenic paradise soon reveals itself to be anything but. (Case and point: The local tavern bar even changed its name from the ‘Hope and Anchor’ to the ‘Rope and Anchor’, citing that there isn’t much hope on the island.)

Still, in the midst of this dry moral time, Dill refuses to bend to Karen’s request. Despite the lawlessness of the area, Dill believes that there is something fundamentally wrong with the idea of killing anyone, no matter how hateful her husband may be. To him , there remains a dichotomy to life – light and dark, right and wrong – that continues to stand, even in the midst of a world of compromise. Inspired by the chance to be a father to his son, Dill fights hard against the pressures of the culture, even asking his first mate to ‘keep him from temptation’.

Even so, there is a sense of inevitability in Serenity that evil is constantly creeping in the background, waiting to strike. Can a man continue to try to be the man he wants to be, even when there is constant pressure to fall? Or does succumbing to our base impulses bring the justice that we’re looking for? These are ambitious questions for a film like Serenity and, without spoiling anything, the film’s twist reveals that this is also an ambitious film (perhaps tooambitious in that regard). Still, for those who are willing to take the ride and interested in the questions, Serenityis potentially intriguing enough to take the trip, despite its flaws.

Serenity is in theatres now.

Ocean’s 8: Win or Washout for Women?

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In my review of Ocean’s Thirteen, I opined, “The role of women in the Ocean’s movies is, at best, problematic.” I wondered if Ocean’s 8 would “redeem the legacy from its sexist past.” After watching, I’m not sure I know the answer to that.

Unlike the recent remake of Ghostbusters, the all-female-star-cast movie which 8 will always be compared to, this new Ocean’s movie opened June 8 with generally positive reviews and a Want-to-See rating of 80% on Rottentomatoes.com. I have yet to see the 2016 version of Ghostbusters, so I cannot give an opinion on which is better. I am glad we are not seeing the vitriol on the internet the way we did back then.

In the short time the move has been out, ratings are beginning to slip slightly, and the box office numbers seem to be tumbling. There is stiff competition this summer, and none of the heavy hitters are growing legs. It does not help that the audience score has stayed around 50%, about the same as the current score for Ghostbusters 2016.

Even if it’s true Ocean’s 8 is a mediocre movie, is it still a positive milestone for women?  Put another way, is Ocean’s 8 a few small steps in high heels for a small group of women, and a giant leap for womankind? That all depends on who you ask.

Just before the heist, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) is standing in front of a mirror, either practicing a pep talk for her cohorts, or trying to give one to herself. She rambles on about how prison isn’t so bad, and then gives what is probably the most memorable line in the movie: “Somewhere out there is an eight-year-old girl lying in bed, dreaming of being a criminal. Let’s do this for her.”

Both times I watched the film, the audience (including me) broke out laughing. Is this really the type of thing we want to encourage for young women? Then again, by thinking such a thing, are we accusing Ocean’s 8 while excusing the “boyish pranks” of its predecessors? Pause and think about that a moment.

Anne Hathaway, who plays celebrity Daphne Kluger, must have had the “eight-year-old girl” quote in mind when she responded at a New York Press Conference:

To an 8-year-old girl maybe we’re not saying go have a life a crime, but to go do what you want and there’s space for you. There’s space for you to go do it with your friends, there’s room for all of you. I think that films that have an “everybody in” mentality and message for people who have historically been excluded is a good message for people.

In the same press conference, Bullock added her view that the movie stresses friendships between women.

Also just women taking care of each other. Women being good to each other. Women stepping back and letting the more gifted step forward in the heist and recognizing talent and saying go out and shine, I got your back. I think to me the most important thing was to show I didn’t care about the heist as much as I cared about how they treated each other and how they lifted each other up.

Certainly this is a positive message that can be taken from the movie, but not all critics see it this way. In Britain’s The Spectator, Deborah Ross’ snarky headline makes her opinion obvious: “Women can now make dull formulaic franchise films too! Hurrah!”

Ross simply despises the movie, asserting it has nothing original: “The film is a straight-up-and-down remake, where the gender swap may, in fact, be the best idea, possibly because it’s the only idea… It does not subvert the heist-caper genre in any way but instead follows the formula slavishly.”

While I would agree Ocean’s 8 is not the most brilliant movie ever, I certainly would not go so far as to say it was merely a gender-swap remake with no ideas. One of the best ideas, I thought, was that they made this caper much less complicated than those in the Steven Soderbergh trilogy. There is a reason this is Ocean’s 8 instead of Ocean’s 14. (Debbie’s scratchpad, with the 14 steps of her plan, is a clever bit of trivia in itself.) It doesn’t take 20 women to pull this off, as Lou (Debbie’s partner in crime, played by Cate Blanchett) was thinking it would. They only need 7. Half as many as it would have taken for the men to make Ocean’s 14. (I won’t give away where #8 comes in. You should be able to figure that out pretty quickly.)

At least one reviewer thought the heist was too easy. In a piece for Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson indicated he likes the movie, but that it made things too simple, “paring down the mechanics of its heist and fixing problems quickly and easily.” Some, like 361’s Joe Fiar, added they felt the movie lacked a sense of danger needed in a heist film.

However, in William Bibbiani’s piece for IGN, he argues all the “Ocean’s movies aren’t so much about the heists as they are about making the impossible look easy.” Bibbiani argues that while the Steven Soderbergh films were merely “light escapism,” Gary Ross uses the same easy confidence to transform his movie “into something inspirational.”

Taking the franchise away from the original proprietors who treated it like a lark, and giving it, instead, to female actors who don’t typically get these types of roles has undeniable significance that the characters themselves acknowledge.

Perhaps the fact this movie is so significant to us – whether in a positive or negative way – is an indication we still have far to go in how women are seen in our society. You can’t just say this was a good movie, or a bad movie, without bringing up its significance for women’s causes. Maybe it’s important to do so.

Hopefully someday it won’t be.

Going Colossal: An Interview with Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis

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Colossal co-stars Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis and director Nacho Vigalondo

In her latest film, Colossal, Hathaway manages to channel all of her experience into her portrayal of Gloria, an alcoholic with a deep desire for belonging.  During the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of last year, we had the opportunity to sit down with Hathaway and co-star Jason Sudeikis as they shared about the challenges to bring such complicated characters to life.  Having portrayed numerous emotionally-broken characters in her career (including her Oscar-winning role in Les Miserables), Hathaway says she is drawn to these characters because she can relate to them.

“I love them.  I have a lot of addicts in my life that I feel a great tender affection for. I think we’re living in a time of such exciting consciousness in terms of compassion levels.  Obviously, worldwide but within individuals, it’s been so inspiring and I love when stories present the opportunities to present groups that have been stigmatized, groups that have been judged, groups that have been looked at with very hard hearts, binary thinking, value-based judgment and I love going inside them and showing the human side of them because I always look at it and say ‘That’s me in there’ on some level… I want everyone to be treated with love”

“I know I began my career as a Disney princess but that wasn’t what my life was.  So, I know this character pretty well.”

In Colossal, Gloria (Hathaway) lives her life the only way she knows how… for herself.  Ruined by alcohol and partying, she finds herself out on the street after her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) tires of her behavior and asks her to move out of his apartment.  With nowhere else to go, she returns to her childhood home and reconnects with Oscar (Jason Sudekis), her childhood friend.  Meanwhile, seemingly unrelated events from across the globe involve a gigantic monster rampaging through Seoul, destroying everything in its path.  In the light of this global event, Gloria attempts to build a fresh start and soon discovers that she has a surprising connection with the beast itself.

Without question, Colossal is truly one of the most unique projects in recent years, spinning a story that has shades of warmth, fear, comedy, and even an homage to kaiju movies.  When asked what drew him to this film, Sudeikis argues that it was the script that compelled him to leave his young family to take on the role.

“It’s gotta be a story worth leaving the house for,” he states, matter of factly.  “[It needs to be] worth leaving this home that we’ve made for ourselves and this was one of those.  Six weeks in Vancouver?  I would’ve spent twelve weeks on Mars to because I think the story’s worth telling.”

Interestingly, instead of opting for the more traditional Japanese location of films such as Godzilla and Gamera, Colossal focuses its attention on Seoul, Korea.  Given that the film grapples with a battle for Gloria’s soul, Hathaway explains that she appreciated the connection between location and heart.

Says Hathaway, “It was just one of those happy things.  I loved saying those lines… ‘Seoul is behind that fence.  Giant monsters attacking Seoul… I loved the way that Nacho filmed the street scenes of people.  I got really moved seeing the depiction of joy in the streets.  So often the things that we’ve seen are of terror in the movies and in real life.  To see that was good for my heart.”

When asked whether or not she believes that the film industry contains a sense of toxic masculinity, Hathaway warns us to refrain from lumping all forms of masculine culture in the same box.

“I think it’s important to say that [toxic masculinity] is very different from male energy,” she reflects.  “Male energy is beautiful.  [It’s] welcome.  [It’s] necessary.  [It’s] half the reason that we’re here.  That said, there has been a perversion of this male energy into this macho ideal and I don’t think it serves anybody… I don’t think it serves love… In terms of this movie, what I think our director was saying was that he thinks this energy has no place in our world anymore.”

Taking on the villainous role of Oscar in Colossal is Jason Sudeikis, an actor known primarily for his comedic abilities.  While some might find it less than positive to be viewed as a villain, Sudeikis was excited to take on the challenge.

“I was flattered to be seen that way, which is a weird thing to say.  For me, I can view him now as a bad guy but there you have to feel this sort of empathy for this person.  He breaks my heart a little because he just doesn’t love himself.  He has so much self-hate that it’s spilling over.  So many grudges kept and holding on to so many things.”

Despite his obvious flaws, however, Sudeikis also believes that there’s more to Oscar than simply being labelled a ‘bad guy’.

“I’m not sure he is [a bad guy],” he argues.  “What makes that eight-year old boy do that thing?  What makes him feel so badly about himself?  What drove him to such self-loathing?  We don’t have the option of throwing each other away… We have to find a way to reach into people and not label them ‘good’ or ‘bad’ but just say ‘are you hurting?’ and ‘do you want to heal?’…  Let’s celebrate the grays.”

Of course, given that so much of Colossal focuses on the emotional journey of its female protagonist, it also seeks to set an example for other films to follow. Hence, Hathaway believes that the responsibility to show the strength and courage of women lies in providing alternatives to what could be, as opposed to the way things already are.

“What you want to do is create examples that people can site as to why the old model of thinking is old.  You want try to create examples that people can site so that they can take risks.  It can’t just be the filmmakers.  The media has to help out…”

“I think everybody is poised and primed for change.  And I think we just have to be kind right now because change isn’t perfect.  And there’s going to be disappointments and I think we just need to be patient.”

 

Colossal is in theatres now.

To hear our entire roundtable interview with Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, you can download it from iTunes or stream it here.

To read our review of Colossal from TIFF16, click here.

To read our exclusive interview with director Nacho Vigalondo, click here.

 

The Accountant – When the Weak Become Strong

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accBen Affleck had a quiet 2015 by his standards. But in 2016, his depiction as the fifth modern interpretation of Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad drew plenty of attention. And yet, the film no one had on their radar, The Accountant, may have been his best film in years.

As a “math savant” (autistic accountant may work better), Christian Wolff (Affleck) does statistical analysis for dangerous people, reaping a fortune but living a quiet life. Thanks to his military father’s training, he’s well-versed in gun use and hand-to-hand combat, which all come in handy when he takes a liking to a fellow accountant (Anna Kendrick) and incurs the wrath of a dangerous organization who wants his math to go away. Suddenly, the two are on the run from the bad guys and the Treasury Department’s Crime Enforcement Division (are they bad, too?)

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On Warner Bros.’ special features on the Blu-ray, the audience can follow up this film’s exploration of family and autism by checking out the way that Wolff’s brain is wired in both “Inside the Man” and “Behavioral Science.” This is just a continuation of my appreciation for the film’s take on autism – where Wolff’s OCD and autism are not weaknesses but strengths he has mastered. (Of course, there’s also a take on the stunt work and fighting in “The Accountant in Action,” but that’s more standard than the actual focus on autism.

While the film focuses mainly on Wolff, there’s a terrific role here for Jon Bernthal that I won’t reveal much about. It’s solid action/thriller territory here, mixed in with the tender way that director Gavin O’Connor unpacks autism. It’s certainly not the way that some might understand it (and I have no one of knowing if it’s all ‘possible’) but it will certainly cause you to consider how you see people – and what you believe they can do.

Elsewhere, O’Connor’s direction of Bill Dubuque’s (The Judge) script also delves into the ways that O’Connor explored family in Warrior with Joel Egerton and Tom Hardy. There’s some of that “fight it out” mentality here – and an understanding that we don’t always have to like each other to love each other. Powerfully wrought, wonderfully acted, and dizzyingly exciting, The Accountant deserves to be on your watch list if you missed it. It’s certainly my action film of 2016!

Colossal Undertaking – An Interview with director Nacho Vigalondo

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When it finally receives its wide release, Colossal will surprise everyone. Given that it will most likely be marketed based on its supernatural elements, the film may seem like a simple monster mash-up.

But don’t tell that to the film’s writer and director, Nacho Vigalondo.

“It’s a mix,” he explains. “50% comes from my love towards monster movies and kaiju eigas. The initial premise is my way to approach those genres from a funny and, at the same time, accessible approach to me as filmmaker. The other 50% is my life, all my shades and bright moments.”

Written and directed by Vigalondo, Colossal tells the story of Gloria (Anne Hathaway), a woman who is dominated by her addiction to alcohol. After her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) ends their relationship and throws her out of his house, she returns to her family home in an attempt to find herself once again. While the Earth deals with a catastrophic kaiju crisis across the globe, Gloria takes a job in a local tavern and re-establishes relations with it’s owner (Jason Sudeikis), a childhood friend with whom she’d lost touch. As the two begin to reminisce and rebuild, Gloria soon realizes that she has a strange connection with the events taking place on the other side of the world.

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For Vigalondo, having the opportunity to work with stars like Oscar-winner Hathaway and comedy veteran Sudeikis was amazingly fortunate, especially considering that their names were brought to him.

“Those were the first names offered and today I can´t think of a better casting for this roles,” he muses. “They are talented, clever, and both surprising.”

What’s more, in an interesting twist on the kaiju genre, Colossal shifts the monster mayhem to Seoul, Korea, as oppose to the more traditional Japanese setting. For Vigalondo, however, the setting actually speaks more about the way American culture grapples with disasters that take place around the globe that do not affect them directly.

“Seoul represents [the] ‘not-USA’,” he begins. “[It’s] a nation struggling with a disaster that American people within the comfort of their houses contemplate, try to understand, and make jokes about.”

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With this in mind, one setting that is important to the film is the local tavern where the friends congregate each night. Gathering together until the early hours of the morning for drinking and storytelling, this location seems to take on the role of sanctuary for the characters. Nonetheless, Vigalondo also believes that the bar carries with it an element of danger as well.

“Not just the bar, but [more] specifically the “men cave” beyond the Country and Western side—the place where they drink after 2 am. That´s the place that works as the ultimate shelter for these characters, but it´s a trap. I’ve been there.“

What sets Colossal apart from other monster films (other than, arguably, the kaiju films developed overseas) is its ability to balance both character-focused drama with city-crushing monsters. (No offence Guillermo, but Pacific Rim hardly contained intimate personal issues.) Vigalondo admits that the film serves as metaphor for one woman’s struggle with addiction.

“The movie disguises itself as a cautionary tale about alcohol and addiction,” he explains, “but reveals [itself to be] something else as the story unfolds. The monster initially feels like a projection of Gloria´s (Anne Hathaway) troubles but later we see it´s just her.”

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Of course, any film is better off with Anne Hathaway leading the cast. With Hathaway’s incredible talent and range, she is able to portray Gloria as a woman in pain yet gradually discovering strength and hope. When asked where that hope comes from, Vigalondo explains that he believes true power comes when we’re forced to make changes in our lives.

“That was one of the most tricky parts while writing the script. How can I make this character survive this situation while saving as much lives as possible? As in real life, in order to change, you need to experience a breaking point and, after that, you need to think about yourself in new terms. Out of the box. That what she does, it´s not about being more strong, but to change the nature of your strength.”

With Colossal, Nacho Vigalondo has created something truly unique and captivating. By it’s unique blend of character-driven indie and kaiju film, Vigalondo manages to explore the damage that can be done to our souls by others while still offering sci-fi elements and humour. Both fun and serious, the film will truly give you something you’ve never seen before.

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Colossal, which made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, is currently touring the festival circuit but is expected to receive a wide release early in 2017.

tiff16: Anne Hathaway + Jason Sudekis (COLOSSAL)

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Gloria (Anne Hathaway) lives her life the only way she knows how… for herself.  Ruined by alcohol and partying, she finds herself out on the street after her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) tires of her behaviour and asks her to move out of his apartment.  With nowhere else to go, she returns to her childhood home and reconnects with Oscar (Jason Sudekis), her childhood friend.  Meanwhile, seemingly unrelated events from across the globe involve a gigantic monster rampages through Seoul, destroying everything in it’s path.  In the light of this global event, Gloria attempts to build a fresh start however she soon discovers that she has a surprising connection with the beast itself.

COLOSSAL is a fascinating film that presents itself (almost) as a kaiju monster epic but maintains the spirit of a character-driven independent drama.  Simultaneously funny, dramatic and dangerous, the film is always engaging.  Hathaway delivers a solid performance as the emotionally damaged Gloria but, ultimately, the most interesting role goes to Sudekis who walks the border between sweetheart and psychopath.  It’s a wildly different role for him and, hopefully, will continue to lead to more dramatic parts.  Admittedly, the film isn’t perfect.  However, director Nacho Vigalondo emphasis on the development of its characters creates enough space for the cast to explore their characters in ways that develop our interest.

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Despite the film’s global scale, the film is really centred on the relationship between the two leads and their personal journeys.  In essence, Gloria’s character exists in a world where she is constantly under the control of others (her boyfriend, Oscar, even alcohol) while Oscar’s emotional state demands that he remain in control.  There is a very real question at work here about what the nature of freedom and where our strength comes from to defeat the monsters in our lives.  Does it come from within ourselves?  Or must we rely on others? Despite the film’s unreal circumstances, Gloria’s journey feels grounded in reality as she battles her inner demons in an effort to confront the beasts on her doorstep.

Nevertheless, in COLOSSAL, the monster ultimately lies within.

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To hear our roundtable conversation with stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudekis, click below.

Alice Through the Looking Glass – not quite Lewis Carroll

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“You cannot change the past, miss, but I daresay you might learn from it.”

Fans of Lewis Carroll will know that Alice Through the Looking Glass is a reference to his second story about the young girl named Alice. However, since the previous Disney film Alice in Wonderland conflated the stories and characters from both books into one film, the title of this sequel is just about the only thing that Carroll contributes. But then, it really doesn’t matter because fans of Lewis Carroll were probably not the real audience for either film. Rather these films are really a whimsical setting for Carroll’s characters to come to life in new ways. The opening credits point out that the film is “based on characters from Lewis Carroll” rather than on his books. And the story that unfolds in this film is not from his writings—although at times it may reflect a bit of his way of playing with logic.

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While this is a sequel to the Tim Burton-directed film, this film is directed by James Bobin, although Burton is still attached as a producer. It still has the look and style of the Burton film, however. All the key characters from the first film are back: Alice (Mia Wasikowska), Hatter (Johnny Depp), The White Queen (Anne Hathaway), and The Queen of Hearts (Helena Bonham-Carter). Alice has just returned from a trip to the East on her father’s ship. She still believes that doing the impossible is possible. Arriving back in England, she learns that her former suitor now runs the shipping company and that she’s out of a job—there are no women sea captains! She locks herself in a room where she is invited by one of her old friends from Wonderland to return through a looking glass in the room because Hatter is not himself and only she can save him.

Hatter has gone into a deep depression because he has found evidence that makes him believe his family, killed by the Jabberwocky, must still be alive. He wants Alice to bring them back—but how can she bring people back from the dead? When she does set out to try to help Hatter, she travels to the realm of Time (who is an actual person played by Sacha Baron Cohen) to find the chromosphere and travel back in time to make things right. However, it is a very dangerous undertaking because she could bring time itself to an end. Time tells her the past cannot be changed, but it is possible to learn from the past. When Alice steals the chromosphere Time comes after her to try to stop her and save the world she may destroy. It is a journey that very nearly does destroy everything, but also gives Alice the knowledge she needs to save Hatter. Along the way we see the characters in earlier times and observe key events that shaped their lives.

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I like most time travel stories in part because of the paradoxes they create. I expect if Lewis Carroll had written about time travel, it would have played with those paradoxes. Here, the paradoxes are mostly set aside (although not entirely). This is more a road movie that uses time as a medium. The film does however touch on some interesting themes—themes that could have been fruitfully explored more deeply. For example, early in the film Alice tells her mother “The last thing I want is to be like you.” Those words come back later on Hatter’s lips speaking to his father. Yet we sense that both of them love their parents. The sentiment is nearly universal as people grow up.

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Another area that could have been looked at more closely was Time itself. By having Time personified as a character in the film, it opens possibilities (that might have been quite fun) of the ways we understand time. Early in the film, Alice and her mother speak of time as “a cruel master” and as “a villain and a thief.” When we first meet the character of Time, he seems menacing, yet by the end of the story Alice has come to appreciate that Time has good aspects that we need to appreciate.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

The Intern: What Does Your Career Cost?

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Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) takes on an internship at Jules Ostin’s (Anne Hathaway) startup company as a seventy-year-old. His life has fallen into the routine (read: boring) since his wife died, and his career as an executive for a telephone directory company is well in his past. Still, Ostin isn’t interested in the program that is supposed to make her company more palatable to investors, even after Whittaker is assigned to her. Let the odd couple pairing commence!

While the special features on Warner Bros.’ film do shine some light on the hilarious interns (Adam DeVine of Pitch Perfect shines), the film is both a comedy and coming-of-age film for thirty year olds. Ostin is a hardworking (overworked?) mother who is addicted to her work (yes, that’s a lot of work). Whittaker wants her to be happy, and he does his best to run interference for her, but is that enough? If someone doesn’t want to change, can they really pick a new direction?

intern1What The Intern seems to show in the end is that, just because a woman is married to her job, she shouldn’t be betrayed by her husband. [To be clear, having an affair is not the answer to unhappiness in marriage.] But what the film doesn’t really address is that Ostin has lost sight of her husband and daughter – it’s just flipped the script on which married partner is causing the problems at home.

For a startup company to succeed, one or more interested parties have to be completely bought in. (I learned that on Shark Tank!) Nevertheless, without some serious boundaries established, can real change actually occur? We are to guard our hearts, to see everything in balance, and to recognize how to have a multidimensional life. Unfortunately, the work life of a man has been ‘acceptable’ for years, and now, it’s been adopted by women fighting their way through the glass ceiling. It’s too bad that while we see the film ‘wrap up,’ we never get a justifiable resolution to many of the issues plaguing Ostin.

Yes, the interns are funny – especially when they break into Ostin’s mother’s house – but the film isn’t the comedy that the trailer would have you believe. It’s a serious, even tragic, look at what it means to pursue your dreams to the detriment of everything else.