Review: Materialists

Image courtesy of A24. 

Marrying for love or money is question at the heart of "Materialists," the sophomore feature of Celine Song, whose recent "Past Lives" was the best debut I'd seen in a number of years. But for Lucy (Dakota Johnson), the matchmaker lead character in the film, many other qualities are examined at an almost clinical level.

When Lucy meets with clients, they break down their interests in the opposite sex to a degree that's borderline absurd - they must be "fit," they must be no taller (or shorter) than a certain height, they must make a specific amount of money, and so on. The transactions seem more like what might happen when one is buying a car rather than seeking a romantic partner.

Lucy is not particularly adept at love, or even interested in it, but she's very good at setting others up, though one of her pairings goes disastrously wrong. As the film opens, she is being celebrated at her matchmaker firm (do these things exist?) for the ninth wedding among couples she has introduced. 

At the wedding, Lucy is called upon to talk down the nervous bride, who gives a pretty humorous reason for why she ultimately wants to marry her beau. While there, Lucy runs into two men - her ex, John (Chris Evans), a struggling actor who's working for a catering business at the wedding; and Harry (Pedro Pascal), the rich brother of the groom who seems less interested in the services she offers than he is dating her specifically.

Lucy decides to give Harry a try and their relationship seems like one of comfort and low stakes. Meanwhile, Lucy remains friends with John and appears to still have feelings for him, but admits that she cannot get past his low wages and the fact that he lives with some slob roommates in a dingy apartment, the scene of one of the film's funniest moments that involves a used condom.

While "Materialists" is billed as a romantic comedy and certainly plays as such for portions of the movie, it's also too cool and sleek at other times to fit that category. And as the film moves along, it becomes more serious, especially after one of Lucy's clients has a very bad encounter with a date. 

All in all, I liked "Materialists." It's well acted, often funny, and well written. Much like "Past Lives," Song again displays the knack for some thoughtfully placed needle drops - songs by Johnny Thunders and Harry Nilsson are used intelligently here - as well as a good ear for dialogue and examinations of romantic relationships.

If it's not on the level of "Past Lives," that's probably because that film was the most impressive debut I'd seen in at least a decade. If her first film often felt like a knife in the heart, her second is more on the light and breezy side, though it's also pretty sharp in its examination of how modern Americans blend love and commerce. This is a likable and enjoyable romantic dramedy from one of American film's most talented newcomers.

Review: The Life of Chuck

Image courtesy of Neon.

There aren't that many films I would describe as special and even fewer I'd call profound, but Mike Flanagan's "The Life of Chuck" - which is based on a Stephen King novella of the same name - manages to be both. I'm tempted to not describe too much about the film's plot because I think viewers should go into it knowing as little as possible.

Suffice it to say, it's a film in three acts, although movements might be a better word to describe its three parts, especially considering the importance that music and rhythm play in the picture. On its surface, the film's latter two sections involve chapters from the life of Chuck Krantz, an accountant whose existence seems by all measures not exactly extraordinary. 

The first section - which is really the final chapter as the film goes backward in time - may or may not be some sort of pre-apocalyptic story involving a handful of characters who are baffled about signs popping up around their town celebrating Chuck's 39 years, and they assume it must have to do with his retirement from his job. Meanwhile, the internet stops working and soon afterward the cable channels. Part of California has crumbled into the sea, while other parts of the world are burning. The end, as they say, appears nigh.

The first section's primary protagonists are a teacher (Chiwetel Ejiofor, great as always) and his ex (Karen Gillan) who decide that with the end possibly near, the persons with whom they'd like to spend their last moments are each other. In between their final scenes together, Ejiofor takes part in some lovely and fascinating conversations with the townspeople about lost hopes and dreams, the nature of the universe, and many other things.

Many films barely have a perspective at all, but "The Life of Chuck" is bursting with ideas. The joy of dance faces off against the love of math, of all things, and both are given room for the wonder they instill. Carl Sagan's concepts of the universe make an appearance and a famous quote by Walt Whitman - "I am large, I contain multitudes" - gets a lot of mileage here.

The second section of the film is just a fleeting moment in Krantz's life and contains one of the most joyous dance numbers of recent memory. Tom Hiddleston is terrific as Chuck in middle age. As this brief section winds down, audiences may likely have little idea where it's all going, but each section is a piece of a puzzle that provides depth for its final section.

The third and longest section is set during the childhood of Chuck (portrayed by a buoyant Benjamin Pajak), who lives with his grandparents, Sarah (Mia Sara) and Albie (Mark Hamill), who raise him as their own after his parents die. I don't want to say much more, other than all three sections are significant to the overall picture here and they come together beautifully by the film's end, which reminded me - oddly enough - of "2001: A Space Odyssey."

The film ranks among the greatest adaptations of King's works - which include "The Shining," "Stand By Me," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "Carrie." Few directors have been able to successfully translate King's work to the screen as Flanagan, who has also directed adaptations of "Doctor Sleep" and "Gerald's Game."  

"The Life of Chuck" plays with apocalyptic scenarios, but it's not science fiction, and there's sort of a ghost story, but it's far from a horror movie. It tiptoes to the line of sentimentality but avoids it and achieves pathos instead. It's ultimately a simple story when you break down the narrative, but it's thematically rich and open to interpretation. And yes, it contains multitudes. 

Review: The Phoenician Scheme

Image courtesy of Focus Features.

After two back-to-back films that rank among his best, Wes Anderson's latest, the short and breezy "The Phoenician Scheme," is more of a lark - a minor film, albeit an enjoyable one. The picture is, as always, loaded down with numerous returning cast members, an impeccably just-so mise en scene, and some of the themes one would expect from an Anderson film.

It is, nevertheless, after the structurally and otherwise inventive - but also underrated - "The French Dispatch" and the profound "Asteroid City," a more lightweight affair, despite being slightly more violent and obsessed with death than your typical Anderson film.

The movie follows the travails and exploits of Zsa Zsa Korda (Benicio Del Toro), who has just survived his sixth plane crash and assassination attempt. The year is 1950 and Korda, a businessman and all-around schemer, is in the midst of a massive deal, albeit one without slave labor or detriment to the environment, something on which he prides himself and an indication that his previous deals have been less than above-board. 

The details of the project are too labyrinthine and absurd to describe in detail, but more important to the film is Korda's other big plan - to name an heir in light of the multiple attempts on his life. But rather than picking one of the numerous young boys - some sired by Korda, others adopted - living in his home where he conducts business, he chooses his estranged daughter, a nun named Liesl (Mia Threapleton), who has a score to settle with her father due to rumors that he may have been involved in her mother's death.

Much of the film involves Korda and Liesl, who agrees to sign on as heir on a "trial basis," traveling to various corners of the world to convince his financial backers to provide more funding for his project. These include a Middle Eastern prince (Riz Ahmed), basketball fanatic brothers played by Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston, a French nightclub owner named Marseilles Bob (Mathieu Amalric), an American military man (Jeffrey Wright), and a cousin (Scarlett Johansson). Last on the list is Uncle Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch), who looks like a Russian czar and whom Korda blames for Leisl's mother's death.

Much like many other films in Anderson's oeuvre - but especially "Rushmore," "The Royal Tenenbaums," and "Asteroid City" - "The Phoenician Scheme" involves one of Anderson's longstanding fixations - relationships between either estranged parents and children or younger characters struggling against father figures. Much of it is played for humor in his latest picture, but it ends on a note of subtle warmth.

Overall, "The Phoenician Scheme" is more of a trifle, which might be due to the fact that his two most recent films - "Asteroid City" and "The French Dispatch" - were such high points in the director's career, the former being an insightful and profound take on our place in the universe that left me thinking about it for days. In comparison, his latest is more laid back and less heavy.

But it's still a good time. The cast is, not surprisingly, great, especially Del Toro in his first lead role in an Anderson film and Michael Cera as Bjorn, the Swedish tudor of Korda's children who has a few tricks and secrets up his sleeve. The production design is impeccable, the film is funny in the way that most Anderson movies are, and the director as always manages to squeeze a whole lot into a short running time. It might not be among his finest works - I'd place it somewhere in the same vicinity "Moonrise Kingdom" - but it's imaginative and enjoyable.

Review: Bring Her Back

Image courtesy of A24.

Australian filmmaking brothers Danny and Michael Philippou's first two gruesome features focus on characters who are grieving and ultimately find themselves mixed up in body horror stories involving supernatural elements. I thought their first film, "Talk to Me," was a little overrated, but mostly good, whereas their latest, the grim and gloomy "Bring Her Back," is just overrated.

The film follows two siblings - Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) - as they find themselves in the foster care system after discovering their father dead in the shower. It is suggested that the hulking Andy was traumatized by his experiences with his father and previously found himself in some trouble, while Piper, who is blind, was the favored child and Andy's stepsister. There seems to be some question as to whether he'll successfully be able to gain custody of her when he turns 18.

The two land in the home of Laura (Sally Hawkins), a former social worker who lost her daughter, also blind, some time before in an accident. Laura comes off as warm and inviting, a goofy individual who likes to blast music in the house, curses off the bat in front of Andy and Piper, and even gives in to Andy's request to allow them to take some whiskey shots.

There's also an unexplainable presence in the house - a young boy named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips) who will not speak, has a shaved head, and a bruise of some sort underneath his eye. Andy never seems to get the response he wants when enquiring about Oliver's backstory. 

Not too long after they have been staying at Laura's, some odd things occur. Andy starts wetting himself and we later discover a nefarious explanation. At every turn, Laura appears to undermine Andy in front of Piper, reminding him that her report on their relationship could make or break his efforts to later be her guardian.

Much like after a particularly memorable gruesome sequence in "Talk to Me" - a scene involving a younger sibling playing a deadly game - things go haywire in this movie after a nauseatingly gruesome sequence in which Andy tries to feed Oliver some melon. From there, things get more disturbing.

There's a lot going on in "Bring Her Back" and, truth be told, there's insignificant explanation for much of it. The filmmakers continually show clips of some sort of ritual involving a cult that become increasingly grotesque, but the role they play in the film's story is nebulous to a frustrating degree. There are also numerous scenes of horrific body horror gore involving children and most of them appear to exist solely to shock.

Hawkins, a great multitalented actor, convincingly portrays Laura as a person whose grief turns monstrous, and Barratt and Wong are both solid as the children unfortunate enough to be in her care. But one of my quibbles about "Talk to Her" was that, though impressive in many respects, it ultimately didn't add up to more than just being a decent horror movie. "Bring Her Back" is more extreme in this respect: It's unrelentingly gruesome and grief is clearly an important element of the story, but it mostly feels skin deep - which might seem like a bad pun considering how much flesh is torn in this picture.

The Philippou brothers are obvious talents - "Talk to Me" was, if nothing else, a series of impressive set pieces - but they have taken a step back here. "Bring Her Back" ultimately left me cold. It's the feel bad movie of the summer and while it puts its audience through the ringer, there's little payoff to make the experience feel worthwhile.

Review: Jane Austen Wrecked My Life

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

If you're thinking that a film about a love-averse bookshop employee who adores Jane Austen, but avoids romance, and is invited to spend a week at Austen's home for a writer's workshop where she'll most likely find love sounds like the setup to a corny early 2000s rom com, I won't fault you. But you'd be wrong.

"Jane Austen Wrecked My Life" involves the aforementioned scenario but its lead character is Frenchwoman Agathe (Camille Rutherford) and its take on the literature-inspired romantic comedy is more French than Hollywood and, therefore, a little more risque and a sharper-than-average film of this sort.

Agathe is prompted to attend the workshop by best friend Felix (Pablo Pauly), a possible romantic interest, after he comments on the gloomy state in which she's been since she recovered from a car accident that claimed her parents' lives. Her sister, Mona (Alice Butaud), thinks that the getaway will do Agathe good and comments that she needs some attention from the opposite sex.

While the film starts out as a fish-out-of-water comedy - Agathe thrown in among the Brits in a quaint countryside manor - it soon becomes more of a will-they-or-won't-they romantic dramedy after she runs afoul of the scion of the Austen estate, Oliver (Charlie Anson). He's a bit stuffy but droll in the British sense, especially during a very funny scene in which Agathe mistakes his bedroom for a bathroom.

Nothing happens here that you don't expect - Agathe comes to the weekend with writer's block and continues to suffer from it, Oliver's possibly dementia-suffering father causes some nude mischief in the garden, and Agathe struggles with her feelings for both Felix and Oscar - but it's done in a humorous, charming, and decidedly French manner.

While there is some humor in the film - though it's more of a quiet nature than the laugh-out-loud type - "Jane Austen Wrecked My Life" is similar to the "Bridget Jones" series in that it is primarily concerned with the foibles, of the artistic and romantic type, of its headstrong lead character. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but instead gives some well-worn material a fun and refreshing spin.