Category: August

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 240

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn A 2021 Film Journey, AugustLeave a comment

In continuance of my Spencer hype, today I watched another recent Kristen Stewart vehicle. I never really need an excuse to visit her filmography – something which many of my friends who only know her for the Twilight films find baffling – but having the reason allows me to visit some of her less critically acclaimed films.

Underwater (2020, Dir. William Eubank)

Underwater (2020) - IMDb

Underwater is another in a long line of films paying heavy homage – some might say ripping off – Ridley Scott’s masterpiece Alien (1979). It is a tried-and-true formula for a reason as the dimly lit corridors combined with terrifying monster design preys heavily on the psyche of viewers. Even as the archetype is copied into the ground, a strong execution of the Alien setup will deliver a satisfactory horror film and Underwater is just that.

Set miles below the surface, Underwater stars Kristen Stewart as a mechanical engineer working on a deep-sea drilling rig. When the drilling results in an earthquake critically damaging the rig and forcing a small group of survivors to make the trek via ocean floor to another facility with working rescue pods. Unfortunately, the earthquake brought something up from the depths which gets in their way.

Underwater is a fully adequate Alien clone with a great lead performance at its center. The film does very little special but still delivers an effective albeit conventional horror film. The monsters are horrific, and the film knows to keep them mostly hidden for greatest effect. Keeping Kristen Stewart front and center always helps the film succeed as she elevates the Ripley proxy into similarly captivating protagonist. While the film does not live up to the more experimental takes on the horror genre that A24 has been putting out in recent years, Underwater is still a solid watch for the horror connoisseur.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 239

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn A 2021 Film Journey, AugustLeave a comment

Today, hopefully, marks the return to this project. I have graduated from my PHP program and am back to spending my days largely at home. In full disclosure I did watch The Green Knight (2021, Dir. David Lowery) which I genuinely loved, but I found very difficult to write about. I recommend it, if you go in expecting a Lowery film and not a classic work of Arthurian legend. Instead of writing about that film from a few days ago, I’m taking inspiration from the Spencer teaser which just dropped and watching another Kristen Stewart helmed biopic.

Seberg (2019, Dir. Benedict Andrews)

Seberg (2019) - IMDb

Seberg had the pieces to be a success. It avoids the common pitfall of most biopics by focusing on a specific moment in Jean Seberg’s life rather than the entirety of it, and it is headlined by a performance from the always amazing Kristen Stewart. Yet despite these strengths the film does not cohere into a film befitting of Stewart’s performance.

The film’s flaws are most apparent when examining the message that the filmmakers want to share, and the supporting cast around Stewart. Second billing is Jack O’Connell as FBI agent Jack Solomon. This character creates a level of dissonance throughout the rest of the film. He is ostensibly cast as the good cop in the otherwise corrupt FBI. By having a good cop, it completely diminishes Jean’s story. The film loses it’s power by taking the focus away from Seberg’s story and Stewart’s performance

A 2021 Film Journey: Days 229 and 230

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn A 2021 Film Journey, AugustLeave a comment

Yes, I missed yesterday, but I’m not worried about what it says. I may have not written anything yesterday but that wasn’t because I didn’t watch anything. On the contrary over the last two days, I watched an entire trilogy and wanted to wait until seeing all three before putting down my thoughts on any one of them specifically.

Fear Street: Part One – 1994 (2021, Dir. Leigh Janiak)

Watch first 5 minutes of Fear Street Part 1: 1994 before Netflix debut | EW.com

The first of the Fear Street trilogy is also the most conventional. 1994 is Janiak’s take on the high school slasher, a genre filled with hundreds of entries. The film accompanies this well-trodden subject matter with the post Scream (1996, Dir. Wes Craven) trope of self-aware humor to create a film that is largely derivative of the movies that have come before it. Derivative in this case doesn’t mean bad. The scares work well in the film, and the setup of an ancient witch’s curse has some novelty to it. The film also delivers well on the self-aware humor. This comes through no clearer than with the ridiculously on the nose needle drops peppered throughout the film. Each song more obvious than the last becomes a running fourth wall breaking joke that is never addressed directly but instead left as an Easter egg for the viewer. These smaller pieces show a film maker with a lot of skill that was held down somewhat by a lackluster script.

Fear Street: Part Two – 1978 (2021, Dir. Leigh Janiak)

Apparently Fear Street Part 2: 1978 Cut An Insane Amount Of F Bombs And Still Had Enough For An R Rating - CINEMABLEND

A slight change of setting makes a world of difference, and 1978 stands out as a highlight among the trilogy. Instead of simply remaking Scream with less novelty, Janiak flexes her muscles by blending different horror subgenres. While the 1980s camp slasher films (think the early Friday the 13ths or Sleepaway Camps) eventually became a parody of themselves, applying the tongue in cheek humor of the first film to a style of film which lacked that levity creates a wonderful blend. The two leads, Ziggy (Sadie Sink) and Cindy (Emily Rudd) Berman have wonderful sisterly chemistry with each other, and they both know when to play up some of the cheesier elements of their film while maintaining the necessary seriousness for the emotional moments to hit home. The film is extremely tight and delivers on the promise of the first film.

Fear Street: Part Three – 1666 (2021, Dir. Leigh Janiak)

Fear Street Part 3: 1666' review: Trilogy saves best for last - Los Angeles Times

The third film in the trilogy is the hardest to talk about because while it is delivered in a single package, the first hour and the last 40 minutes are completely different movies. The first hour is a 1600s period piece about satanism and witchcraft and is the strongest part of the entire trilogy. The section builds wonderful tension, and the supernatural are implemented discreetly yet definitively. At the hour mark though, the film cuts back to 1994 to finish the underlying story. While it makes sense that the film would need to close out the underlying story, it feels it could either have been condensed down from 40 minutes or given its own fourth entry to allow the period thriller room to breathe.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 228

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn A 2021 Film Journey, AugustLeave a comment

Today was the first official day that I was at my program half time, and the time off in the afternoon left me with ample time. While despite the free time, today only has one film, I have a couple of multifilm days in planning for the rest of the week. Today’s viewing was continuing with my 2021 movie catchup, and it took me to the near top of the Metacritic list for the year.

Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021, Dir. Questlove)

Summer of Soul — inside the black Woodstock with Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder | Culture | The Sunday Times

When tasked with naming a music festival from 1969, most people will answer Woodstock without a second thought; Summer of Soul attempts to expand the zeitgeist to include the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival at the same time. The film does that by blending traditional concert documentary footage with the cultural context necessary to understand the festival’s importance.

While billed as a blend between the musical and the political, Summer of Soul sets the music center stage and builds the cultural significance around each performance. This focus works well to capture the essence of the festival and save it for prosperity even if it leaves the civil rights portion of the documentary a little thin. A balance like this would need to be made to tell a coherent story, and the numerous powerful musical performances – highlighted by the amazing Nina Simone – are the strongest and most unique parts of the film.

The context applied to the extended music scenes is done through the use of talking heads, a style that I am known for not being the biggest fan. Thankfully, Summer of Soul leans heavily on the musical performances to provide extended reprieves from the stylistic monotony of the talking heads. While the film is still rooted in traditional documentary filmmaking, the balance between technical choices provides a lot more enjoyment than a stylistically safer film would have been resulting in an overall enjoyable watch.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 227

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn A 2021 Film Journey, AugustLeave a comment

Second day back working on this project, and I am endeavoring to make this stick once again. Having missed most of the last two months, I feel very behind in watching new releases, so that is what I am going to be focusing on these next few weeks. And while I doubt that I will catch up with Black Widow or The Suicide Squad, there are plenty of other recent releases that I have on my list.

Shiva Baby (2021, Dir. Emma Seligman)

Shiva Baby' Review: It's Complicated - The New York Times

If severe social anxiety were a movie, it would be the wonderful debut by Emma Seligman Shiva Baby. Outside of a short prologue, the entire film takes place in a house during a Shiva for someone the protagonist Danielle (Rachel Sennott) doesn’t even know. Seligman uses the heightened setting to create a film which is at times utterly terrifying.

Danielle is a college senior who gets by with a financial help from her parents and her sugar daddy, a fact which she keeps secret from everyone and accredits this money to babysitting. This insecurity with where she is in life creates the perfect breeding ground for anxieties to rise as countless extended family members pester her with the same questions ad infinitum. The film hinges on the performance of the relatively new actress Sennott, and she delivers on the ask in spades. Each additional stressor compounds Danielle’s anxiety, and Sennott captures the nuanced changes miraculously.

As good as the acting and direction are in Shiva Baby, the unsung hero of the film is composer Ariel Marx. The squeaking strings that highlight the musical moments help create the tension that is the highlight of the film. The pair of Seligman and Marx create a uniquely memorable depiction of the anxiety and insecurities that can only be brought out through interactions with one’s family.