Six years ago, Amelia lost her husband to a car accident while giving birth to their son, Samuel. Although some time has passed since the tragedy, Amelia struggles mightily to find the strength necessary to love her son, a young boy with behavioral issues whose wild fantasies involve a monster coming to kill them both. When a mysterious book called "The Babadook" shows up at their house, Samuel's antics reach another level, with hallucinations that spiral out of control which leads Amelia to seek outside medical help. However, when Amelia herself begins to feel a sinister force around her, she slowly begins to realize that Samuel's fears of The Babadook may be very real. Jennifer Kent's The Babadook is a film that puts its characters first, spending the time necessary to craft a strong character-driven story about guilt, loss, and the fight nearly everyone faces with their own personal demons. For any film, not just a horror film, The Babadook is impressive in its ability to capture the effect tragedy can have on its characters, showing Amelia as a woman who struggles to even embrace her maternal instincts. Amelia subtlety resents her son, almost inadvertently blaming him for the death of her husband. This attention to character and story is what makes The Babadook special, only amplifying the horror and suspense of the film as things begin to escalate. Like another great horror film to come out this year, The Canal, Kent's The Babadook plays with the viewers perceptions of its main protagonist, making it unclear for awhile whether this horror story is a reality or simply a figment of a warped mind's imagination. While I would say The Babadook's ending is a bit of a let down, Jennifer Kent proves herself as a horror filmmaker to watch, creating a strong horror thriller based around a rather generic concept.
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Tomas, a workaholic businessman, and his wife, Ebba, are on vacation in the French Alps with their two pre-teen children on a Skiiing holiday. They appear to be the traditional loving family but Ebba is frustrated with Tomas' demanding job, hoping a family vacation will remind Tomas what is truly important. During lunch at a restaurant overlooking the mountainside, an avalanche threatens to destroy their family unit once-and-for-all. With the avalanche approaching, panic ensues, with Ebba doing her best to protect her children. In a panic, Tomas flees for himself, a spontaneous decision that shakes the very foundation of his marriage. Although the anticipated disaster never comes to fruition, Tomas now finds himself demasculated, with Ebba unsure of his role in their family. Ruben Ostlund's Force Majeure is a unique experience, a film that is wickedly funny but also a poignant study of gender roles and relationships. This is a film intent on capturing the delicate balance of relationships, showing how expectations and society-placed gender roles can create unwanted strife in a relationship. As the film progresses, this one spontaneous act snowballs, affecting not only Tomas and his wife's relationship but also the relationship they have with their children and even another couple who they befriend. This is why the setting of Force Majeure is so perfect, with the delicate nature of snow-covered mountaintops turning into a ferious avalanche being symbolic of the delicate nature of relationships. The tone of Force Majeure is truly unique, being surprisingly playful in its dissertation of relationships, laughing at the pre-conceived gender roles society has placed on us. Very funny and emotionally affecting, Force Majeure is an observant psychodrama that captures the delicate nature of relationships in a society where preconceived roles are already defined. Ever so often a documentary comes along that blows me away, shattering my expectations while delivering an impressively layered narrative that says profound things about humanity. Jesse Moss' The Overnighters is one of those films. The film is centered around Jay Reinke, a local pastor living in the town of Williston, North Dakota. This small town is in the middle of an oil boom, attracting a large array of desperate individuals looking for work. Completely lacking the infrastructure to support this overflow of migrants, Pastor Reinke begins a program called 'overnighters', offering these desperate individuals a place to sleep at the church. Well-intentioned, the Overnighters program is met with ire from the local comunity, bringing strife to the Pastor and his family. The Overnighters takes a look at a very complicated situation, capturing perspectives of a very sensitive issue. In a way, the film is a microcosm of immigration issues in America, capturing the fear and anxiety by locals towards newcomers. These locals look at these migrant workers as a threat to their way of life, with the film beautifully capturing how the only difference in many cases is bad luck. The Overnighters is a profound film because of its ability to remind the viewer how easily they could be one of these struggling individuals, showcasing how fragile life and financial freedom can truly be. Without giving anything away, The Overnighters does take a surprising turn towards the end of the film, but a very necessary one, that perfectly encapsulates a major problem in our society. The Overnighters captures the judgmental, self-righteousness of our society, showing how many people tear others down in an effort to feel better about themselves. Everyone has skeletons in their closet, and the film unfolds in such a beautifully poetic way, perfectly capturing how we are all human beings with flaws. The Overnighters is a film that is best experienced by going in cold, but it's an incredibly impressive achievement that captures humanity in a way few films ever could. Lou Bloom is a young man who is desperately looking for work. One night he unexpectedly comes across the wonderful world of Crime Journalism, which sets a fire in Lou. After purchasing a camera, Lou sets out as a freelancer, intent on capturing fires, car crashes, and other crimes on camera in order to sell the footage to various local news organizations. Quickly rising to the top of the "nightcrawlers", Lou begins to blur the line between observer and particpant, in an effort to build his growing crime photography business. Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler is a pulse-pouding thriller that follows a deeply-disturbed indivdiual who will stop at nothing to make something of himself. Lou Bloom is without question an anti-hero, and Jake Gyllenhall plays this character with such detachment, making his unhinged performance down right mesmerizing. Nighcrawler is extremely critical of mass media, capturing the sensualization of these news programs who use fear as a way to make a profit. While this is certainly a poignant part of the film, the underlying theme centerared around 'The American Dream" is what makes Nightcrawler such an interesting experience. Lou is a character transfixed on being successful, doing whatever it takes to get ahead. He represents the darker side of a country built around Capitalism, someone who measures success and power above everything else. It isn't just Lou either, with Rene Russo's character, Nina, a veteran of local TV news, throwing away her own moral compass in an effort to secure her own financial future. Dan GIlroy's Nightcrawler is a film made from the point-of-view of an antagonist, delivering a seething commentary on the darker side of 'the american dream". |
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June 2023
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