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Film reviews

Materialists Review

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Celine Song is a director with an eye for relationships finding faith. After the success of Past Lives, there is a sense of experimentation with her newest feature, Materialists. The perception of the film feels like a blur, but at the same time the characterizations have various conflicting dynamics. Despite those obstacles, it is stellar in its continuity and keeps its focus on what the hearts of the main characters want. Theinterconnection of flaws and frustrations weaves poetically because Song knows how to portray acceptance with Materialists.

The film’s main setting is New York city and the main character, Lucy (Dakota Johnson), is a matchmaker. She makes a living by matching individuals with their potential new mate. She assesses candidate’s chances by taking into consideration multiple characteristics—age, occupation, salary, and purpose. Lucy relies upon trial and error in her work but seems to maintain a healthy lifestyle although sometimes loneliness gets to her. She also experiences ups and downs with her friend Sophie (Zoe Winters).

Fortunately, she believes she has found luck with a wealthy match named Harry (Pedro Pascal). However, her biggest challenge remains mending her relationship with her ex-boyfriend John (Chris Evans). John is a waiter and a struggling actor. The film weaves together moments of their relationship from the past along with how it is in the present. At the same time, Lucy is trying to navigate the hurdles of being a matchmaker and figure out if her heart is set on Harry or John. The life of a matchmaker is an interesting process when trying to find one’s own true love.

The scenes alternate between finding momentum and then feeling dry. At the same time, the film maintains the pattern of a thought process for its audience. Song successfully creates an atmosphere for her audience to be inspired. The humanistic approach of Materialists carries the hope of happiness waiting to be found which is explored through the performances of Johnson and Evans. These two characters are the primary ones struggling even though one of them is one making bank by helping others find love. Money does not buy happiness. This well-known fact has a sensitive side that builds on the connection between reality and true love and is portrayed with a fulfilling light of aspiration in Materialists.

Materialists is relevant to real-life especially because it is set in the current era where finding love is harder than ever in a world full of advancements and easy distractions. The evidence of distress is clearly displayed by Song in the film. The collaboration between a woman helping people find love, a struggling actor, and a wealthy businessman is complicated. The question of whether each person can find happiness is handled vividly in Materialists.

This is not the greatest film from Song, but it is a solid steppingstone. Past Lives is still her most mesmerizing project. The brilliance of her style is within the dynamics that weave back and forth. Overall, Materialists achieves an experimental form of continuity. Three out of four stars.

Film reviews

Bring Her Back Review

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This is one of those psychological rides that takes a new approach with layers of uncertainty below the core. With terror that shocks and surprises, it has treacherous backstory behind it. The sense of authenticity sparks incredibly, as Bring Her Back justifies itself to being one that will truly creep out its audiences and inevitably horrify them. It is not only the plot though, it is the fact that there is depth and pieces to put together. They are predictable, but the promising side of speculation is what makes it so engrossing.

Written and directed by Danny and Michael Philippou. These two filmmakers try to move up the ladder to new levels of excruciating and immersive scares in their continued projects. It sure notches up a few in Bring Her Back. To compare, Talk to Her correlates to Bring Her Back, but the premise has been twisted, they have added more truths and secrets in Bring Her Back. This is a guardianship scenario that is ignited with wrongdoings, and it must be stopped before it gets more out of hand. What captivates me with the Philippou duo is their forms of writing. They have a craft for creating fake or disturbing characterizations that are bound to be a lie—that is their key approach to creating their invigorating suspense in Bring Her Back.

The film centers on a brother and a sister, Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong). Their father has passed, and Andy is still too young to be a guardian to Piper, who also happens to be blind. They get paired with Laura (Sally Hawkins), a foster mom that delivers an eerie vibe. She also has another boy in the house named Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), and he displays characteristics that are concerning. Andy begins to see the dangerous side of Laura, who has an intrusive nature and is always placing blame on him. She is doing it to turn Piper against him. After the death of their father, the pattern of the house creates a nightmare portrait for Andy. He can see it clearly, but Piper cannot due to her disability. Did Laura kill their father? Why does Laura have Oliver in concerning patterns of behavior? Why does Laura have bizarre rituals? Why is Laura encouraging abusive matters? Laura does have a motherly personality, but the writing is on the wall of the lies behind that façade.

The context of Bring Her Back presents itself as a truth that does not want to be believed. The audience will not want to believe all of what is happening, and neither do the characters themselves. The juxtaposition of terror disbelief drives forwarda unique brand of a nightmare in Bring Her Back. Many of the characteristics link to wrong choices, a lot of which are from Laura, who loops into action to create a more detrimental experience for Andy and Piper. 

 Bring Her Back delivers imagery that is hard to get out of viewers’ heads. Without giving away spoilers, I will say do not watch the film on a full stomach. It may leave some aching moments, however, it is also surreal, invigorating and inviting. Three out of four stars for Bring Her Back.

 

Film reviews

Friendship Review

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When I went into this movie knowing that it stars Paul Rudd, what instantly came to my mind was his film, I Love you, Man–primarily because of the concept of a lack of friendship. That film was a hard R comedy with many humorous moments. Friendship has both of those components, but in a darker narrative. It works to still be dark and mutually funny with its undertones. Friendship is one of the most audacious and vibrant films I have seen to date. A bipolar disorder goes to the brink of mania in Friendship.

Friendship is written and directed by Andrew DeYoung. As a director, he captures the mode of mid-life crisis hitting a plateau and then adding many levels on top of it. Friendship’s main character is Craig (played by Tim Robinson). Craig is an introvert with a normal life and family. His wife is Tami (played by Kate Mara), and his son is Steven (played by Jack Dylan Grazer). Craig realizes he has a new neighbor, Austin (Rudd). They begin a “friendship”, but then their relationship becomes competitive over success. However, it is more about Craig overcoming his introverted mode that is the key to the film’s built-up tones of humorous suspense and laughter.

The livelihood is the mix of the film’s layers of success and frustration that create patterns. Craig feels jealous easily, and Austin feels uncomfortable easily. Austin puts up a boundary, and Craig feels disconnected. When Craig gets to the lonesome stage, all bets are off when it comes to his level of maturity. “Maturity” does not exist in Friendship.  The way this is written and presented is a revelation that I found to be astonishing. That is because it keeps finding the components to topple laugh after laugh.

Friendship creates an outlook that makes its audience understand who is reaching the crazy stage. It may look like Craig at one point and then Austin at another. The times where it hits the fan for both of those scenarios are ones to thank Craig for. The wonder of fun is the instant and repeated curiosity to who will fall apart first or go into a tirade that is hard to forget. Robinson and Rudd are a duo of suburban dads, each trying to create a perfectionist personality.

Friendship continues to display how the behavior of Craig is creating a weird environment. This is where the writing continues to be captivating.  The responses are humanistic in nature.  Like Craig’s son and wife, they tend to shift off in their own direction. Craig continually tries with  them and Austin, yet his approach is quite invasive. Of course, though, it only leads to more boundaries. When that happens more disasters, including a scenario with a sewer tunnel, self-destructive behavior, and a lot more angry moments get unpacked. The many curiosities of frustration do provoke laughter with excellence in a bizarre direction  in Friendship.

 If I had to compare, I do feel that the film relates to real-life loneliness, especially in the context of Craig giving in repeatedly in order to feel some sense of satisfaction. That correlation is what stirs the pot with overlapping contingencies and where this screenplay creates the highest peak of disconnect in Friendship. Three-and-a-half out of four stars for Friendship.