Category: Drama

Wicked Little Letters

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★Wicked Little Letters

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Thea Sharrock

Written by: Jonny Sweet

Produced by: Graham Broadbent & Pete Czernin, Ed Sinclair, Jo Wallett

Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Anjana Vasan, Joanna Scanlan, Gemma Jones, Malachi Kirby, Lolly Adefope with Eileen Atkins and Timothy Spall, Hugh Skinner, Paul Chahidi, Jason Watkins and Alisha Weir.

‘Congratulations on your tragedy.’

Based on a true story, Wicked Little Letters opens with the statement, ‘This story is more true than you’d think.’

The pious, God-travels-through-the-just, Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and do-I-look-like-the-anonymous-type-to-you?! Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley), newly arrived in Littlehampton from Ireland, are neighbours.

It’s the 1920s and they share a bathtub and privy out the back.

Rose is ah, very natural, happy to swear, pass out on the toilet, and speak her mind.  She lives with her daughter Nancy (Alisha Weir) and partner Bill (Malachi Kirby) – her husband known to have died in the war.

Ms Swan watches her from the window and delights in Rose’s bold nature.  Edith decides to take Rose under her wing – to show the way to the light, of course.

But when child services are called to Rose’s door, she turns to the likely Ms Swan, thinking it must be the God-fearing neighbour, to which Ms Swann adamantly denies.

After the incident, the poison letters addressed to Edith begin.

The letters are vicious and filled with profanities that’s jarring in the quiet house of the Swans – ‘Foxy-assed rabbit-fucker,’ a favourite line.

‘It will be the death of me’ – exclaims Edith’s mother (Emma Jones).

Edward Swan, the stern, captain of the ship, father is outraged and demands the police become involved.

It’s the 19th letter.

The obvious suspect is of course, the riotous neighbour, Rose.

And without any evidence, Rose is taken into custody.

But Woman Constable Moss (Anjana Vasan) is not convinced.

Neither are Edith’s friends who gather every week for a game of Whist.

‘Congratulations on your tragedy,’ says Kate (Lolly Adefope).  She’s the proud mother of several parakeets that can be a handful.

It’s post-war England where the women who were left to work are now expected return into polite society as delicate flowers after driving tractors in the absence of their men at war.

The women have found their strength yet are forced into submission – ‘Let the man speak,’ Ms Swan’s father tells her. Only to interrupt the policeman to say, ‘Carry on.’

Whereas Rose grew up helping her grandfather burgle houses.

It’s a guilty by reputation scenario but expands as the film digs deeper into the characters, the drama shown in the nuanced changes in facial expression, Edith’s pious words overshadowed by the flash of delight in her eyes as she reads about herself in the newspaper.

This is a lighthearted viewing, much of the humour based on the times and language like, ‘butter-my-wig’ juxtaposed with the blunt Rose and of course the delightfully explicit poison letters, ‘Dear Edith, you foxy-ass old whore, you really are a tricksy fucker.’

Not the hilarious watch I thought it would be, but there’s a lot of heart here and an interesting character study of the hypocrisy of those who are forced to deny their true nature.

 

Imaginary

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★Imaginary

Rated: M

Directed by: Jeff Wadlow

Screenplay Written by: Greg Erb, Jason Oremland, Jeff Wadlow

Produced by: Jason Blum, Paul Uddo, Jeff Wadlow

Starring: DeWanda Wise, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Betty Buckley, Tom Payne, Veronica Falcón and Samuel Salary.

‘I’m sorry I couldn’t finish our game.’

I walked into Imaginary with low expectations – a killer teddy bear?

It’s got to be a parody, right?!

Aside for the overacting at times, and mention of a ventriloquist little girl because how is her imaginary friend speaking without the little girl moving her lips?

Again, I use question marks, I know.  But it’s a questionable storyline that is somewhat successful.

From the same producers as M3GAN (2023), I went back and re-read my review and I wasn’t sure how to feel about M3GAN either.  The premise is such a stretch, I wonder how it can’t be absolute trash, but somehow there’s a hook that keeps you watching.

For M3GAN, the humour made the film watchable, here, it was more about the scary, and yes, surprises along the way.

Imaginary opens quietly.  A flickering light down a hallway.  A bloodied woman escapes from a trapdoor in the wall – ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t finish our game,’ she says.

Enter Jessica (DeWanda Wise).  She has nightmares and wakes next to her husband, Max (Tom Payne).

Jessica is the stepmum to Max’s two daughters, Alice (Pyper Braun) and Taylor (Taegen Burns).

Alice is endearing.

Taylor is hard work.

Most of the film focusses on the family dynamic.

After a scary start, Imaginary unpacks the relationships of a step mum struggling with change, getting to know her new daughters while moving back to her childhood home.

It’s here that Alice meets the teddy bear, Chauncey.  Her new best friend.

Her imaginary friend.

‘Meet Chauncey.

He’s not imaginary.

And he’s not your friend.’

Without giving too much away, there’s more then an evil bear here; there’s thought put into childhood imagination and the relationship between children and the imagined entities that become their friends – the theory introduced by creepy neighbour, Gloria (Betty Buckley).

There’s a surreal dimension to the filming that echoed, Insidious (2010), in scratching the door to another world where those unwary get trapped.

And there’s a few surprises that keep up the entertainment, unfortunately some of those twists fell flat.

But in spite of the silly here, there’s some genuine scares, so in comparison, there’s more of a focus on the creepy here than M3GAN (which became funny more than scary).

There’s backstory to Imaginary, making the film a better watch than expected.

 

Oppenheimer

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.3/5)Oppenheimer

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Written for the Screen by: Christopher Nolan

Based on the Book: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martine J. Sherwin

Produced by: Emma Thomas p.g.a, Charles Roven p.g.a, Christopher Nolan p.g.a.

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damo, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck with Rami Malek and Kenneth Branagh.

‘The most important thing to happen in the history of the world.’

When a film opens with a quote about Prometheus stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mankind to then be punished forever in hell, you know you’re in for a heavy ride.

And in the 3 hours of viewing, there was a lot to unpack; the foundation, however, of the film is a character study of J.  Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy): the father of the atomic bomb.

There are different threads in the story of the film, as the narrative follows main character Oppenheimer through his introduction, a flash forward in time, then back to his original research and forging of friendships and collaborators such Isidor Rabi (David Krumholtz), Niels Bohr (Kenneth Branagh) and yes, Albert Einstein (Tom Conti) (and kind of amazing to think of Einstein still alive less than 100 years ago).

At first the film is about the science, about Oppenheimer’s research into quantum mechanics and the idea of a star dying, cooling, the density getting greater and greater creating a gravitational pull so strong that it sucks in everything, even light.

This was the second wave of physicists exploring relativity after Einstein published his theory.

‘Algebra is like sheet music, can you hear the music?’

And Oppenheimer, overseas, absorbed all he could from the universities of England to Germany; he wanted to explore it all, then bring it back to America – no one was researching quantum mechanics in America.

He meets a girl, Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) – a member of the Communist party.  His brother’s a member too.  His personal life is something that is called into question later, the later referenced in black and white, so there’s another layer to the story, like the love life of Oppenheimer is another layer to his personality.  His personal life with, later, wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) and children another story added to his life.

Then, World War II breaks out.  The atom has been successfully split.  Rumours of the Germans working on an atom bomb reach America.  They’re already two years ahead.

What choice do they have but to try to beat the Germans because if they don’t, the war, the world is ended.

This is where the suspense ramps up.

OPPENHEIMER

It’s the time of creation, collaboration, to experiment and research, the pressure to beat the Germans, while keeping the research secret from the Russians, the threat of spies and suspicion, so the thought of using the bomb is lost in the science of successfully making the weapon.

Then, it’s time for Trinity: the first ignition of the atom bomb’s power.

The way the explosion is captured on screen was like watching rage unfold over and over.

Nolan comes through loud and clear with the way he handles the suspense of the countdown to the explosion and the aftermath literally a tremor in the background of Oppenheimer’s world.

The play of sound and silence and the crackle and vibration all combine like Oppenheimer’s mind has just been set on fire.

There’s the image of many feet stomping and the world softening at the edges to let through a little bit of crazy.

And it feels like this is the end of the story.

But from the beginning, there’s the flash forwards to a time where Oppenheimer is being questioned about his part in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  And about his connections to the Communist Party and the suspicion of information leaked to the Russians.

As hinted in the opening of the film, there’s the stealing of fire, then there’s the punishment.

In the film, it feels like the aftermath.

Here is the exploration of guilt.

And there’s a distinct change in feeling as Nolan explores Oppenheimer’s character, showing his exposure as the image of him sitting naked – he layers the feeling.

There’s more to the story than the science and the suspense, Oppenheimer is also about the psychology of a world that now has the capacity to end it – the film continues, and yes it feels long, but the full circle of understanding Oppenheimer and the world’s response to the galactic event of the atom bomb being unleashed needed time to get the full extent of the very human response of the politicians, the scientists who helped create the atom bomb and Oppenheimer.

It’s complicated, suspenseful, political, scientific and psychological.  It’s a lot.

But that raging fire and those blurred edges and uncertainty around Oppenheimer’s character to then reveal the truth of all those involved in the creation of the bomb added up to a sophisticated film that demanded full attention.

Somehow, Nolan has captured an aberration using Oppenheimer as a voice.  And that takes brilliance.

 

Barbie

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.7/5)Barbie

Rated: PG

Directed by: Greta Gerwig

Written by: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach

Produced by: Tom Ackerley, Robbie Brenner, David Heyman, Margot Robbie

Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Dupa Lipa and Helen Mirren.

Because Barbie can be anything, women can be anything – right?

Set in a world where every day is the ‘best day ever,’ Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) wakes up every morning with a smile on her face and tiptoes.

It’s all hanging out with the girls, impromptu musical numbers, Ken (Ryan Gosling) obsessed and only alive in the gaze of Barbie and Barbies’ ruling the world and perfect sunny weather with nothing but blue skies day, after day, after day…

Until those irrepressible thoughts of death invade Stereotypical Barbie’s peace of mind.

It’s time to go visit.  Weird Barbie, AKA Gymnast Barbie (Kate McKinnon).

An outcast in Barbie Land, Weird Barbie is forever doing the splits and keeps a dog that pooh’s hard plastic pellets (this is an actual creation where you lever the tail and the dog pooh’s – tee hee).

Gymnast Barbie knows what’s wrong because that’s how she became, weird.  Once upon a time her owner, a young girl going through a punk phase, decided her Barbie should have her hair hacked and face… changed.

Stereotypical Barbie’s human must be doing something similar but instead of angry, this human’s world is falling apart and the emotions are starting to influence the Barbie.

The only way to stop the dark thoughts and get Barbie’s feet where they should be is to find the person who’s having the thoughts.  It’s time to leave Barbie Land and enter the human world.

But Barbie?  In the real world?  It’s not going to end well.

‘It’s a repeat of Skipper in Key West,’ says CEO (Will Farrell) of Mattel (which for some reason still cracks me up).

It’s not long before Barbie is arrested and of course Ken’s along for the ride because he can’t be without Barbie.

And she might need someone who specialises in ‘Beach’.

Instead of the idealised matriarchal world they expected, Barbie and Ken soon realise that men are raised to a far higher level of power than in Barbie Land.

And Ken loves it.  If only he was qualified to do anything more than stand on the ‘Beach’.

At its foundation, Barbie the movie is a feminist comedy – a strong description, but the script doesn’t pull punches as Barbie tackles the patriarchal society of the real world.

One of the all-male Mattel executives says, ‘I’m a man without power – does that make me a woman?’

So Barbie is faced with the idea of death and a world dominated by men.

The discussion of the awkward position of women in society is refreshing.

I get the, damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don’t scenario.

And I’ve never heard the difficulties declared in the way the real human woman character, Gloria (America Ferrera) who’s a Mattel employee and mum of teenage-full-of-angst Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), describes to Barbie: what it’s like to be a woman who can’t be fat, can’t be too skinny, has to say, ‘healthy’, while actually be skinny.  Has be assertive but grateful.  Be a sexy partner but caring like a mother but not a replacement for a mother.   Has to have a career but not be selfish.  Has to be successful but not so successful to make other people uncomfortable.  And it goes on.  And it all has the ring of truth about it.

It’s almost like the Barbies are the women born in the 50s who opened up the world in the 70s so women could become career women, and have babies – but in reality, there’s still a cage built of expectation.

Sometimes the message of the movie is a little dated like the idea of construction workers all being men.  And the only-alive-when-you-look-at-me-Barbie, Ken is an unbalance in the other direction.

But there’s a fresh outlook here.  That has genuinely funny moments.

The film was well-cast with Ryan Gosling as Ken helping keep it endearing as he too tries to understand his position in a patriarchal society versus a matriarchal society, then to find a place that understands the individual.

Then the message gets deeper as the idea of patriarch and the creation of Barbie is a construct created to intellectualise a confusing world; to try to control or understand, before we die.

As if I wasn’t already depressed in the middle of a Melbourne winter.

But then, it’s about girls and women, mothers and sisters and daughters all just being themselves.

So I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the message, with the added funny moments and a lasting feeling that tapped into a space unexpected – to feel good about myself and other women.

 

You Hurt My Feelings

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★You Hurt My Feelings

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Nicole Holofcener

Written by: Nicole Holofcener

Produced by: Anthony Bregman, Stefanie Azpiazu, Nicole Holofcener, Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Starring: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies, Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed, Owen Teague, Jeannie Berlin.

‘We’re so lucky.’

You Hurt My Feelings finds Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) finishing her second book; a work of fiction in follow-up to her somewhat, ‘it-should-have-done-better,’ lamented by her mother (Jeannie Berlin), memoir.

It’s Beth’s wedding anniversary.  Having dinner with her husband Don (Tobias Menzies), a therapist, it’s obvious that husband and wife have a loving, solid relationship.

‘You’re a good kisser,’ Beth tells him.

It’s sweet.  Too sweet for son, Elliott (Owen Teague) who works as a manager, selling marijuana while finishing writing his first play.

Beth is desperate to get her hands on the script but he’s not sharing, just yet.

Elliott feels his mother has lied to him, overestimating his talents growing up.

And finds his parents’ sharing their food a ridiculous habit.

You Hurt My Feelings is a film about family and how each individual fits into that dynamic.

Beth and sister, Sarah (Michaela Watkins) spend a lot of time together, discussing the important things in life, ‘Should I be buying better socks?’

It’s a deceptively simple film.

Then the sisters overhear Don telling Mark, husband to Sarah, how he doesn’t like the second book.

Beth is devastated.

It’s like the worst lie has been told to her face about what is her foundation of self: if Don doesn’t like her book, how can he respect her?

The style of the film allows the characters space, as they each struggle to overcome the obstacles of every-day life: Don second guessing his ability as a therapist leads to some of the rare funny moments in the film, ‘for some reason he doesn’t want me pointing at him,’ says one client about her husband partnering her in therapy but seemingly, not in life; arguments the never-ending melody of their relationship.

Beth’s brother-in-law, Mark (played by Arian Moayed) is another point of light as an actor who wonders if he still has what it takes, only remembered for his supporting role in, ‘a movie about pumpkins.’

Interior designer sister Sarah wonders what’s the point when a client doesn’t understand her taste, or more that she doesn’t understand her client’s taste.

It’s a film about the individual’s struggles in life and how Beth processes the deception of Don constantly telling her he likes the book, when he really doesn’t.

There’s a lot of space here, for the characters to be themselves, the expansion and growth of each character the foundation of the narrative.

But that space is created with mundane dialogue, ‘Wait mum.  Do we have bagels?’

‘I don’t know, I’ll check.’

Yes, the honesty is sweet, the psychology of the family subtle, leaving a feeling of the authentic, the performances making the most of the dry every-day.  And there’s a feeling of completion, a resolving and growth when the pieces of drama click into place.

But I thought it would be funnier.

You Hurt My Feelings is a bit New York, more drama than comedy and more about socks than expected.

‘Adorable?’ as sister Susan keeps exclaiming?

It grew on me.

 

Women Talking

Star Rating: ★★★★

Rated: MWomen Talking

Directed by: Sarah Polley

Screenplay by: Sarah Polley

Based on the Book by: Miriam Toews

Starring: Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Rooney Mara, Frances McDormand, Ben Whishaw, Judith Ivey, Michelle Mcleod, Sheila McCarthy, Kate Hallett, Kira Gulolen, August Winter, Abigail Winter.

When is forgiveness giving permission?

Being tranquilised and raped and beaten and told it’s just a women’s wild imagination.  That it’s ghosts, that it’s Satan, that it’s…

Until they catch one.

One of the men from their village, who then tells of the others so they’re arrested.  But now, they are being freed and the women told to forgive and forget.

Leaving the women faced with a decision: Do nothing, stay and fight or leave.

Based on the book written by Miriam Toews, Women Talking is inspired by the story of the Manitoba Colony.  Miriam is quoted describing her book as an, ‘imagined response to real events.’

See article here: The shocking true story behind new film Women Talking (harpersbazaar.com)

But rather than focus on the abuse the women have suffered at the hands of the men they have spent their entire lives looking after, this is a film about the discussion surrounding their decision of what is the best way forward.

They’ve never been taught to read or write, they’ve never been allowed to think because they were brought up to believe no one cared about what they thought.

But they know what crimes have been committed against them.

Now, they must weigh-up the pros and cons of each path.

There are many bitter-sweet moments in this film, the patience of old mother Agata (Judith Ivey), the righteous anger of Salome (Claire Foy), the wanting what’s best from Greta (Sheila McCarthy), the tolerance of Ona (Rooney Mara), Mariche’s (Jessie Buckley) need to forgive because of fear.

I liked the balance, the analyses, the discussion.

They believe if they fight or leave, they won’t be forgiven by God.  If they leave, they leave their sons, their husbands.

It’s women talking, yes, but there’s the addition of August (Ben Whishaw) taking the minutes of the discussion.  He loves Ona.  His family was exiled.  He went to college.  He’s returned and now teaches the children.  His mother spoke against the power dynamic of the community.  He’s passive.  Like the women have been taught the goodness of being passive.

But what is the misuse of forgiveness?  When is forgiveness, permission?

This is a thoughtful film that wasn’t as expected, that wasn’t the traumatic film I thought I was walking into.  I related to the characters in this film.

It was refreshing to hear a woman explain if she was married she would no longer be the woman he wanted to marry.  She would be no longer be her.  And I liked the wilfulness of these trapped women, the sometimes off-kilter humour where some wonder why some cope and keep moving forward while others, don’t.

There are moments of beauty, with a soundtrack opening the door to insights shared, but what a strange soundtrack to finish such a poignant film.  Which highlighted the slightly off-tone at times, like the strangeness of the outsiders driving with music blasting through the community in an attempt to take the census of the population.

How strange to hide.  To not want to be counted.

A thoughtful and bittersweet film that I hope will lead to a wider discussion.  To lead to a better understanding of the soul searching required to take oneself out of an abusive situation caused by those who are supposed to care and love.  To decide to continue being trapped by a society that has led to abuse.  Or risk being unforgiven.  And what it means, to forgive.

 

The Fabelmans

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★★☆

Rated: MThe Fabelmans

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Written by: Steven Spielberg & Tony Kushner

Produced by: Kristie Macosko Krieger p.g.a, Steven Spielberg p.g.a, Tony Kushner p.g.a

Executive Produced by: Carla Raij, Josh McLaglen

Starring: Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel LaBell and Judd Hirsch.

‘Movies are dreams.’

I think we can all safely assume, The Fabelmans is based on Steven Spielberg’s life.

Co-writer and director, I thought it was risky trying to get the right perspective to make a film about your own life.  Yet, I couldn’t help but be charmed by this movie.

Put together over 16 years of interviews and ‘intense conversations and writing sessions that Spielberg only half-jokingly likens to “therapy,” Spielberg with playwright and screenwriter, Tony Kushner, ‘turned the defining experiences of his childhood into the fiction of The Fabelmans.’

Spielberg says, ‘Everything that a filmmaker puts him or herself into, even if it’s somebody else’s script, your life is going to come spilling out onto celluloid, whether you like it or not. It just happens. But with The Fabelmans, it wasn’t about the metaphor; it was about the memory.’

Opening in 1952, we see young Sam (Gabriel LaBelle) taken to his first moving picture.

He’s terrified.

His mother, Mitzi Fabelman (Michelle Williams) is enthusiastic.

His father, Burt Fabelman (Paul Dano) decides explaining the mechanics behind the film will make the watching less scary.

The Greatest Movie Ever Made is kinda scary for a kid, with train crashes and smashed cars flying through the air.

The Fabelman’s is a little hammy, with a forced brightness at the introduction.

Yet Sammy’s obsession with film starts right here.  In understanding and recreating that train wreck.  To regain control.

What starts with a 50s disposable charm, becomes something more.

It’s a coming-of-age film but also shines a light on the parents: the difficulties of marriage, of being an individual, of being free.  Of knowing yourself.

It’s cheesy, funny, edgy and brilliant in the way the characters are revealed; the timing and sometimes raw emotion eased into existence so this family of: genius father, artistic mother, always-along-for-the-ride best friend Bennie (Seth Rogen), the three sisters and film making obsessed son, begins like a carbon copy to become an ocean.  All to the music of Mitzi playing piano, flamboyant 50s jive, or the orchestral soundtrack of a film made by the young Sam, his eye always there, his understanding of effects learned like a revelation, his ability to draw emotion from his young actors made like an understanding of his own.

The whole drama of the film crept up on me, with small pops of humour like luggage falling from the back of a trailer or Uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch) home to grieve his dead sister (Sam’s grandmother), telling Sam, ‘She was your grandmother, so tear your clothes and sleep on the floor.’

I write notes during a movie to help keep track, to remember for my review later.  And sometimes, when it’s a good movie, it sounds like this:

Moving pictures

Sleeping with an oscilloscope

Jesus is sexy

Shopping trollies spinning by

Everything happens for a reason

Something real not imaginary

Arizona

Metaphoric filming of a family falling apart

Thinking like an engineer

Movies are dreams you never forget

The audience clapping at the ending.

I kinda fell in love with The Fabelmens because there was something genuine in the feeling, the characters rounded-out without slapping the face with it.

And the audience clapping at a preview screening?  That’s a rare treat.

 

Blueback

Rated: PGBlueback

Directed by: Robert Connolly

Written by: Robert Connolly

Based on the Book Blueback by: Tim Winton

Additional Writing: Tim Winton

Composer: Nigel Westlake

Produced by: Liz Kerney, James Grandison and Robert Connolly

Executive Producers: Andrew Myer, Robert Patterson, Eric Bana, Joel Pearlman, Joanna Baevski, Ricci Swart, Lorraine Tarabay, Nicolas Langley, Hayley Ballie, James Baillie, Michele Turnure-Salleo, Arthur Humphrey

Starring: Mia Wasikowsk, Radha Mitchell, Ilsa Fogg, Liz Alexander, Ariel Donoghue, Clarence Ryan, Pedrea Jackson, Eric Thomson, Eddie Baroo and Eric Bana.

‘I’ll keep him safe forever.’

Abby grew up in the water.  She lived on the coast with her mother who fought every day to save Longboat Bay (filmed on the coast of Western Australia, Bremer Bay) from overfishing, dredging, destruction.

We’re introduced to the underwater world with a classical soundtrack (Nigel Westlake), the world of light through the blue water reflecting off a school of fish swimming, a stingray, a turtle.  It’s majestic.

But with the discovery of bleached coral and Dora (young mother, Dora played by Radha Mitchell) chaining herself to bulldozers in protest, I thought I was heading into the doom and gloom of a bleak conservationist movie.  So that underwater world took on a sinister aspect.

It’s a slow start.

Based the Tim Winton book, Blueback, there’s the classic Aussie way of life that threads the story of Blueback together: the school drop-off, the lovable Aussie larrikin Mad Macca (Eric Bana).

The coast, the water, the beach, the marine life is such a large part of being Australian there’s a reason we want to keep it, to protect it.

To give the marine life focus, Abby (teenage Abby played by, Ilsa Fogg) discovers a huge Blue Groper she names, Blueback.

He’s old and wise but he comes out of his underwater cave to play because he feels safe with her.  And Abby will do anything to protect Blueback.

See below for more information about the beautiful and fascinating Blue Groper.

Fish in focus – Western Blue Groper | Western Australian Museum

The film evolves with flashbacks to Abby’s childhood (Ariel Donoghue as young Abby), growing up to a teenager with her mum.  Born to be in the water, Abby becomes a professor (Mia Wasikowska as adult Abby) of marine biology, to continue to protect the wildlife she loves. Like Blueback.

‘Your home is dying, and I don’t know how to help.’

But there’s more to the tale than the message of how important it is to save our oceans, the story’s also about growing up, about home and what it means to be born with the ocean in your blood.

I couldn’t help but become attached to the life on the screen.

I admit to getting teary.  In a good way.

Yes, it took a while to get into the story but there’s a difference here because instead of a bleak climate change message, I left the cinema feeling good.  Feeling, hopeful.  And we all need a bit of hope these days.

 

Bones and All

Rated: MA15+Bones and All

Directed by: Luca Guadagnino

Screenplay by: David Kajganich

Based on: Bones & All by Camille DeAngelis

Produced by: Luca Guadagnino, Theresa Park, Marco Morabito, David Kajganich

Cinematography: Arseni Khachaturan

Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell, Mark Rylance, Chloë Sevigny, Michael Stuhlbarg, Madeleine Hall, David Gordon Green and André Holland.

‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

Bones and All is more drama than horror, where the focus is on the ordinary to make the monsters more believable.

Maren (Taylor Russell) is like any other teenager: she makes friends at school, plays piano, her dad (André Holland) sets a curfew.  He locks her in at night.

That’s the first clue that something’s not quite right.

Then at a girls-night-in, Maren tears the flesh from the finger of her new friend.  And it’s time to move on.  Again.

Maren is an eater.

She’s pretty good at being on her own.  When she goes in search of her mother (Chloë Sevigny), she finds out there’re other eaters out there.  And they can smell if there’s another one around.

That’s when she meets Sully (Mark Rylance).  With a matchstick in his mouth and a feather in his hat, he’s hard to miss.

Lee (Timothée Chalamet) is also an eater.  But he doesn’t eat human flesh in his y-fronts like Sully.  He dosses around, eats because he has to; and the rest of the time, he tries to be his normal self.

Lee’s the friend Maren never knew she could have.

They’re kinda sweet together.  In between the eating.

There’s a strange poetry to the filming of Bones and All (cinematographer, Arseni Khachaturan), with shots like a tableau to illustrate moments of Lee and Maren’s journey:  shots of blood, daisies in a glass jar, the empty rooms of a sanitised house, a beaded necklace left under a bed.

It’s quiet to make those moments poignant but also makes the journey slow and dry at times.

This is offset with the layering of Maren’s father, Frank’s voice on a cassette, telling her story; added together with flashbacks to nightmares as Maren and Lee struggle to be who they are, to be eaters.  To eat people to live or the only other alternatives, suicide or being locked up.

Maybe love will save them.

It’s a point of difference, director Luca Guadagnino (some of his previous films: A Bigger Splash (2015) – loved it, Call Me by Your Name (2017) – award winning, and Suspiria (2018) – which I also enjoyed) giving the film a tone of normality; making the story about love, about the journey, about the ordinary, about the monsters.

With all the different threads and strangely quiet tone, it just didn’t quite pull together for me.

All the story’s there, but the tone didn’t hit quite right.

I enjoyed hearing the tapes from Maren’s father talking about her backstory, her origin more than the drama of it.

The film was made to make the eaters more human with a love story and family drama.  They just happened to eat people – ‘how dare you make this harder.’

And we never find out why.

 

She Said

Rated: MShe Said

Directed by: Maria Schrader

Produced by: Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner

Executive Produced by: Brad Pitt, Lila Yacoub, Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle

Based on the New York Times Investigation by: Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey and Rebecca Corbett and the Book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey

Screenplay by: Rebecca Lenkiewicz

Starring: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle with Samantha Morton and Ashley Judd.

‘He took my voice that day, just when I was starting to find it.’

It’s sobering to remember back to the times before the #MeToo movement, the moment when women found a voice to say, enough.

And the spark that began that conversation, to begin to unpack the silence around the systemic abuse of women and the system that protected those that thought it was OK to sexual abuse women was the New York Times investigative journalists, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor.

Based on the book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, and the article written by the two journalists, Twohey and Kantor, ‘Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades’ (2017), She Said the film, shows the events leading up to publication; the interviews with women silenced by pay-offs and shame and coverups.

Back to when Rose McGowan spoke, no, shouted what needed to be said, to try to fight the machine built to protect abuses while ignoring the abused or even inflicting more punishment on those who dared to speak out.

And so the silence continued.

Reminiscent of Spotlight (2015), the film follows Twohey and Kantor as they work through the research: the meetings, making calls, the reviewing with senior editors, the back and forth – have they got a story here?  Are the rumors true?  Will anyone go on the record against Harvey Weinstein?

As the executive running two of the biggest names out there, Miramax and the Weinstein Company, Weinstein was able to intimidate and silence survivors with settlements and non-disclosure agreements for decades.

But after an article in the New York Times was posted about the claims of abuse against Bill O’Reilly leading to O’Reilly being fired from Fox News (in 2017), they could say, as investigative journalists, their article made a difference.  They were heard and when advertisers started to withdraw from Fox News, the powers that be were forced to take action.

And from that perspective, perhaps there was more to these rumors, making the story of Weinstein’s abuse was worth pursuing.

It’s an emotive story but shown through the clear-eyes of the journalists putting the story together.

Director Maria Schrader says. ‘It’s a very dramatic story, with strong characters up against steep odds and a powerful antagonist, crisscrossing the globe and jumping back and forth in time. This material was so rich to begin with, the task was teasing out its particulars, not heightening or overdramatizing what was already there.’

The abuse isn’t shown in the film, as Schrader notes, ‘I am not interested in adding another rape scene to the world,’ she continues. ‘We’ve had enough of them.’

Instead, the damage is shown by seeing a young Irish girl, 1992, excited to become part of the movie business as a runner, to flash forward to 2016, to see that same girl running down a busy street in New York with tears streaming down her face.

After so many pieces of the story filtering through the news over the years, it was interesting to see the linear picture, to see the story of Weinstein’s downfall and the beginning of a movement that literally changed the world.

I found the leads, Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan as the journalists, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey in the film likeable, relatable; scary how the stories are relatable.  And including Ashley Judd as herself (I’m a big fan of Judd and this just makes me admire her more) in the film and the audio taped while a wire was used to catch Weinstein in the act made an emotive storyline a powerful one.

Not a film I would normally enjoy watching, but there’s a careful constraint here, so the story can be heard rather than turning the audience away.

 

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