Another film that I was super excited for, but also, a film that seemed to miss the mark, not by much, but just a bit.
Fantasia is going very strong right now, and it’s almost finished. But before I’m done with coverage (I’ve got a bit more up my sleeve still), I wanted to write about a few films that I don’t personally have time to write about since work has opened back up and I want to make sure I talk about as many films as I can. So, let’s begin, shall we?
Sometimes just from a premise of a show, you just know something is for you. I usually navigate more towards comedy when it comes to television but sometimes a dramatic show will come and sweep me off my feet. Away comes from a team that I trust. Produced by Matt Reeves (Felicity, The Batman, Cloverfield) and Jason Katims (Roswell, Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) and starring Oscar winner Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry, Million Dollar Baby), it had everything to succeed. My only concern was how one could sustain a drama set during a mission to Mars where most of the show would take place onboard a ship. Well, Away was capable of finding a way and make a show that maybe isn’t always on point but certainly shows it’s potential.
Horror-comedies, especially of the creature-feature variety, have become more and more common in recent years. Films like Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland and Jennifer’s Body have come along, setting a pretty high precedent for what these types of movies should be: funny, entertaining and filled to the brim with gore. But like all genres, you also have the lifeless duds that don’t provide more than a few chuckles and rely far too heavily on just being gross. Uncle Peckerhead, written and directed by Matthew John Lawrence, is an absurd little film that falls somewhere in between.
A lot of the time, when something is scary, its because of how tangible it is. But making a film or its scenarios unrealistic, you no longer have anyway of relating to what’s happening on screen. That’s not the case with Alone. We’ve all had moments where we swore and were under the impression that someone was following us. Whether it may be comedically as I’ve taken bus routes to the exact same destination at a random place in the city, or in the case of the film, having a car drive up right behind you and find you in the smallest towns possible.
Watching Alone made me realize, I had no idea that I needed this film, but throughout its entire run time, this was exactly the type of adrenaline I needed.
Charlie Kaufman is the person behind so many of my favourite films. After it came out in 2015, Anomalisa was my favourite film of that year. Not to mention the film that got him his Best Original Screenplay Oscar, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Or his debut film as a director, Synedoche, New York which kind of shatters me every single time I see it. So when I found out he was going to make a new feature film, it suddenly became one of my most anticipated films of the year.
I was so excited I even went out and read the book.
All Together Now was not what I thought it would be. I have not read the book the film is based on and so I watched it with simply the premise in the head. To say that it took me by surprise is an understatement. I still don’t know how I would qualify this film, how I could describe it. Going into this film, I thought I was in for a very normal young adult film, the type that we are now used to seeing on Netflix. All Together Now is not that. While there are tonal problems at times, the film doesn’t pull its punches and hits you at every turn in the feelings. Does it feel like it might be too much at times? Yes, it does. But even when it does, the stellar performance from Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) saves the film from going too much into the melodramatic.
I’m tired. I’m tired of lesbian films taking place in the past, tired of not being able to enjoy a film because I know the terrible ending where someone dies or goes back to her husband is coming closer and closer. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy them from time to time, after all my favourite film of last year, Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a period drama. I’m just tired of that setting being the only way for me to find lesbian representation in films. Why can’t I have a Love, Simon? Why is it that lesbian love stories are always about pain and suffering? I’m tired honestly.
When it comes to relationships, everyone has a different perception of what love is and what it looks like. This perception stems from not only our own experiences but from what we’ve seen of others; our parents, our friends, movies, etc. But then we add trauma and baggage into the mix and that’s what changes everything. It can take things out of our control and end up sabotaging those relationships and this idea of love that we had to begin with switches up with every relationship that we enter. This is what the film Cicada examines and believe me when I say, it is quite the rollercoaster.
The Oak Room proves that a great and solid script can absolutely make the movie on it’s own. On top of that, that we also need a lot more play adaptations.
The UnderSCENE 