Some quick thoughts on some films I saw over the past months.
In terms of plot, to say the movie is 'thin' would be an understatement. This is a sci-fi/horror hybrid that coasts through more on disturbing ambiguities and vague imagery than anything all that substantive. This would usually be a tough thing for me to look past, but when the production design is this hypnotic and engaging, a compromised screenplay becomes much easier to excuse. Even though the movie is cribbing more than a little bit from Ari Aster's Hereditary, especially thematically, the movie still manages to feel remarkably distinct thanks to the polished but no less misty lighting effects, the wince-inducing body horror sequences that will have even those most attuned to the genre looking away from their screens briefly, and the editing which throws the audience around recklessly, never providing the audience with a moment to breath.
It's the key reason why this movie worked for me: the horror is effectively sustained throughout the movie's runtime. The film may be wacky and chaotic and lacking in a foundational narrative (not to mention the CGI's pretty awful), but there is a legitimately compelling horror movie somewhere in the madness. It's style over substance horror done well, and given how rare that is with horror movies today, I can at least respect it for that much. Colour Out Of Space was released on 28 February 2020 and is currently available to buy on all digital channels and is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and Shudder.
Host
I guess we should have all seen this coming. After going viral on social media with a dumb video he made with some friends, someone managed to convince Rob Savage that the world needed a jumpscare horror movie set on Zoom during the pandemic, thus giving birth to an entirely new genre: pandemic horror. Host begins with a group of friends getting together over Zoom to perform a séance, but things take a dark turn when the spirit starts to invade their homes.
Comparing this movie to something like The Blair Witch Project seems almost to easy on the surface, but in truth, I can't see history being anywhere near as kind to this movie as it was to that particular cult classic, mainly because this is a generic slice of mindless jumpscare horror nonsense that doesn't feel at all revolutionary. Every scare might be effective, but also feels familiar, making this a film where the closest I can get to appreciating it is acknowledging the amount of work that must have gone into coordinating all of this during a period of lockdown. Just because a movie feels realistic doesn't make it a good movie, especially if that's the only appeal I can glean from it.
Unlike something like Colour Out Of Space, in Host, any attempt at sustained horror is clunkily handled at best, mainly because half the time the editing doesn't know what it wants to focus on. During moments that would otherwise be pretty tense, the editing can't make up its mind whether to focus on the intense moment itself or other people's reactions to it. This constant juggling of the focus effectively leads to a movie that constantly cannibalizes its own tension for no good reason. It's a shame because the core fundamentals are there: good performances, great production aesthetic, just no substance whatsoever to elevate it beyond mediocrity. Its abbreviated running time makes this an easy movie to recommend if you want to get scared with some friends, but outside that very particular setting, this is an utterly disposable horror film. Nothing more, nothing less. Host was released on 30 July 2020 and is currently available to stream on Shudder.
This is the quintessential Halloween movie this year and maybe the best horror movie of the year full stop. Rose Glass's feature-length directorial debut follows a care worker who recently converted to Christianity, who becomes absorbed in the idea that the purpose that God has assigned to her is to save the soul of her client. This movie has everything. Given that her character is slowly being driven to religious insanity, Morfydd Clark gives a remarkably grounded and meditative performance that both compliments and elevates Glass's sensitive direction. You might be excused for thinking I'm weird for praising a horror movie for its sensitive approach, but when you realise Saint Maud borders on coming-of-age horror in the same vein as Ari Aster's Midsommar, those comments make a lot more sense.
But if you're considering purely the horror elements of this film, the comparisons that came to mind more for me was a fusion of Aster's debut Hereditary with Robert Eggers's debut The Witch, the pure insanity of the former with the intense, weathered, gripping tone of the latter. Other than the direction and performances, the screenplay is also phenomenal, as everyone from the outside looking in at Maud sees her as just another troubled character they can invite to have a drink with, entirely oblivious to how much darker what is going on inside her world really is. The screenplay constantly feels on the brink of total emotional collapse, and when it eventually does, it burns (😉) out in spectacular fashion.
On that note, we have to talk about that ending (no spoilers don't worry). That is an image I don't think I'm ever going to forget. The final second or so of this movie is the most cathartic experience I’ve ever had in a movie theatre. Nothing comes close. Even seeing the movie for a second time the film was no easier to comprehend and take in.
A mingled corpse of a movie, every single shot expertly engineered to evoke a nervous uncertainty from the audience that will never get a clear answer until the movie's dying moments as to whether or not the voice in Maud's head posing as God was actually God Himself, or just a manifestation of the apprehension that she faces in death. After all, it is established very early on in the movie that, as a care worker, Maud has seen death many times, and the whole experience that she undertakes in the movie might just be her way of understanding it, even as the consequences ended up being costly.
This is a top ten of the year contender for me, if not higher (and I've seen 125+ new releases this year so you can trust me that it's good). For horror fans, this is a must. For everyone else... approach it at your own risk, but prepare to get blown away.
If you're in need of something a little more 'feel-good', don't worry, Makoto Shinkai has you covered. The follow up to his 2016 genre-defining classic Your Name, Weathering With You tells the story of a kid who runs away from home to live in the heart of Tokyo (where it's constantly raining) who, after getting himself a job working for a publishing company, stumbles upon a girl who appears to have a mysterious power to stop the rain and clear the skies. This movie shares plenty of thematic similarities to Shinkai's previous work (Your Name in particular), to the extent that I can see many people finding Weathering With You a little formulaic and tiresome, but my counterpoint is thus: why fix a perfectly working formula?
This is one of those movies where the appeal to me is purely emotional, which can make it challenging to properly contextualise in a critical way, but needless to say, this movie resonated with me on an incredibly profound level. The plot might fall into typical teen romance melodrama territory that some will no doubt find insufferable, but for me, it lends the film a universality that worked for me straight away. Not to mention the film is straight-up gorgeous, with Shinkai using his signature fusion of hand-drawn animation with CGI that somehow manages to work without coming across as overly polished or compromising the natural charm of the anime style.
The chemistry between our central trio is simply irresistible, the film is a visual spectacle without comparison (seriously, I think every shot in this movie could make a serviceable phone wallpaper or desktop background), and the movie once again proves that Makoto Shinkai is one of the most underrated editors working in film. You might argue that this movie doesn't quite have the same emotive pathos as something like Your Name despite the thematic parallels (nothing here rivals the iconic 'pen drop' scene), but so few movies do, and this movie makes itself just distinct enough in Shinkai's filmography that it deserves to be considered on the same level as that particular masterpiece.
It might not be as immediately emotional as Your Name, but that doesn't mean this movie lacks heart, quite the opposite in fact. Despite feeling a tad familiar, this movie still managed to grab me by the heart, not least thanks to how a lot of the subtext revolving around mental health really materialised throughout the film. Above all, that's what I'd say the movie is about. Everyone in the movie is a total emotional trainwreck in their own way, but, by the end, they all find closure one way or another. This is a love story for the ages. Essential viewing. Weathering With You was released on 17 January 2020 and is available to buy and rent on all digital channels.
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