Midweek Movie Free Talk

Late to the party, but I finally saw The Substance and with pretty high expectations as it seems like everywhere I looked, people were giving it raving reviews and recommendations. It didn't quite live up to that, but still one heck of a crazy unique film. I tend to prefer movies that present their themes with subtlety, and it would it be an understatement to just say this does the opposite. It literally screams its themes with the dial turned to 11 all the way through. When it is done with such confidence and impenitence, I can totally respect that choice.

As great and as well executed the narrative is, it was also a little predictable and I was at times just waiting for the story to follow its natural cause. We get the premise and the setup for The Substance pretty quickly, and from there on you know that all the presented rules will get broken. It mostly writes itself from the start. At least until the ending where it took an even wilder left turn and somehow went from having the dial already at 11 and cranking it to 22.

I applaud the movies themes and it is admirable in every way how it is handled. But it didn't instill much pondering or thoughts for me, as the point about beauty standards and Hollywood are pretty clear from the start. In that way it was a similar experience as Civil War. A great experience in the theater, but just the next day it was clear that it really wasn't that deep and not a film I will keep thinking about that much.

Golden Globe noms are tomorrow, here’s what I’m predicting.

Drama:

1. The Brutalist
2. Conclave
3. Dune Part Two
4. Sing Sing
5. A Complete Unknown
6. Nickel Boys

Comedy/Musical:

1. Anora
2. Wicked
3. Emilia Perez
4. A Real Pain
5. The Substance
6. Challengers

Director:

1. The Brutalist
2. Anora
3. Dune Part Two
4. Conclave
5. Emilia Perez
6. Wicked

Screenplay:

1. Anora
2. Conclave
3. The Brutalist
4. Sing Sing
5. A Real Pain
6. The Substance

Not this week, but my wife and I went to see Wicked last weekend. We're both big fans of the musical--I've seen it twice, once with her. I've been nervous about the film ever since it was announced, and doubly so with it being split (unnecessarily). I do think they did a good job with it overall. There's some unnecessary padding, but the cameo in Oz (which I was actually not aware of heading into the film) was well done and appreciated. Ariane Grande was incredible, which I truly didn't expect. My biggest complaint though is what they did to Defying Gravity. The cut aways/additional scenes/action (whatever you want to call it) absolutely butchered the pacing and emotional resonance of the song. They added over ten minutes to this section! It's crazy.

If they do this to For Good in the second act, the two films will be irredeemable in my opinion. But I don't think they will, since that song doesn't really call for any action. Anyway, good movie and if you like the musical, you should go see it.

I watched two other movies recently, new to me.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead -- wow this was a bleak ride. I couldn't help but think of Uncut Gems as I was watching. Just a bad decision made continually worse by two people who are desperate. Both Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke were great, and Michael Shannon was weird and menacing in his small role.

Also, The Rainmaker. This is a bit of a by-the-numbers legal drama, adapted from a Grisham novel in the nineties. Maybe the same quality as The Firm with Tom Cruise, but with less sprinting and shooting and more courtroom stuff. Matt Damon's good here, but I thought Danny Devito really shined. This one seems notable to me right now because it's about suing a health insurance company that had a policy of frequent claims denials, which is, uhhhh, relevant currently.

Finally Anora got a premiere here in Denmark and being a Cannes winner, it is hard not to have pretty high expectations. I also really liked Sean Bakers The Florida Project, and this has some of his quality trademarks and was overall a pretty great film, but still slightly below expectations for me. What shines through is Sean Bakers compassion for his characters and how he seeks authenticity. We see people on the fringe of normal society, but he doesn't pass judgement and he doesn't try to add forced sympathy. I love that neutral depiction of people and their situation. While the focus is of course on Anora herself, the film has that same compassionate portrayal of both the rich Russian boy and the three "goons" that are desperately trying to settle the situation. They don't really want to be thugs or hurt anyone, and they are maybe a bit ashamed of who they are working for, but like Anora - they are just trying to make a better life for themselves and they are hoping that staying close to really rich people can help them with that. I liked how the movie starts and ends with a drama, with a huge chunk in the middle being mostly comedic. The contrast makes especially the ending work so much better. It ends on a much different note that really elevated the whole film for me, because I was slightly irritated while watching it. It is longer than it needs to, as seeing rich people go crazy gets tedious very quickly and especially the part where they are trying to find Ivan again, had a couple of unnecessary scenes. While I did laugh plenty, I think the humor also ruined some of that authenticity that I liked so much in The Florida Project. The small arc for Igor and his great dynamic with Anora mostly makes up for it though.