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Film reviews

Death of a Unicorn Review

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This is one of the craziest retro films I have seen. It is full of colors, wonders, and quirky revelations all centered around a unicorn. Death of a Unicorn is one bonkers ride filled with elements of surprise. Written and directed by Alex Scharfman, The Death of a Unicorn is a film where one incident loops in theories and leads to silly outcomes. For a new director, it is visionary yet achieves more fantasy than value. Scharfman utilizes his directing skills to bring audiences on an invigorating adventure in Death of a Unicorn.

The film focuses on Elliott (played by Paul Rudd) and Ridley (played by Jenna Ortega), who play a father and daughter. They are in route to visit a wealthy pharmaceutical CEO when they hit a unicorn. They hide the unicorn in their vehicle which leads to an unimaginable ride once the unicorn goes bananas. It is a bizarre but enticing foundation because the unicorn has power. Once someone touches the horn of the unicorn magic is revealed which impacts each individual in a unique way. With the dynamics between the father and daughter who are visiting a wealthy family, lots of questionable judgment ensues. Egos collide which causes the fun to spiral and plays a key role in the massive joy in this film. It is especially entertaining when the middle-class tries to impress the upper-class and neither class knows what hit them Death of a Unicorn.

The story is a suspenseful ride that borders on insanity due in part to the wealthy family in the film. The family includes Odell (played by Richard E. Grant), Belinda (played by Tea Leoni), and Shepard (played by Will Poulter). Their butler is Griff (played by Anthony Carrigan). Elliott makes it his dream to satisfy this family, but when he brings the chaos of the unicorn tragedy to them. To an extent, it is clever that he cares so much about sucking up to this family because their silliness is over-the-top. They act like the world is in their hands, but the unicorn’s destruction puts an end to that. The wrath of vengeance unleashed in magical moments is out-of-this-world. Scharfman knows how to create new comedic trends in Death of a Unicorn.

There are special effects in the film that are worth noting. For example, touching the unicorn’s horn creates a world that looks like a Neil DeGrasse Tyson space. Those who touch the horn end up in a mind-boggling space-like universe. Effects like these are correlated with behaviors that make Death of a Unicorn feel interactive.

Overall, the film feels a bit cheesy perhaps because it tangles chronological events. The story starts with hitting the unicorn, then visiting the wealthy family, and then the unicorn wakes up. From that point on, more realizations and chaos evolve. Death of a Unicorn offers more than what audiences might anticipate.Some (i.e. members of the wealthy family) think there is a benefit to the presence of a dead unicorn, and others (i.e. Elliott and Ridley) see it as a bad sign of more destruction. In the end, the film is a jousting climax of unicorns, millionaires, and plenty of mesmerizing moments. Three out of four stars for Death of a Unicorn.

Film reviews

On Becoming A Guinea Fowl Review

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There is that notion of curiosity that lingers in a subtle matter. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a portrait of life and reality coming together to hear the harsh truths. Those “harsh truths” are in terms of one who is deceased. The devastating matter goes forward to creating an understanding of what to believe and what not to believe. Adjustments of honesty and facts are in forms of personalities—they are through those dealing with the complicated situation. Written and directed by Rungano Nyoni, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a landscape piecing together parts that are hard for a family to bare. It is cinematically enticing and deeply emotional. It will leave audiences to wonder what notions to buy.

The film surrounds Zimbabwe and a middle-class family. The character of the show is Shula (played by Susan Chardy). Shula is driving on an empty road and comes across her uncle lying dead on the street. Once this happens, word-of-mouth happens instantly, and funeral arrangements begin to come together. Her cousin Nsansa (played by Elizabeth Chisela) comes into the picture. Nsansa displays an obnoxious personality, and Shula is introverted (her characterization and facial expression have traits which prove she has a lot on her mind). With the family trying to cope and deal with the funeral arrangements, deeper and horrid revelations come around. Her uncle has done some things that are unforgivable, and with the family all together, the weaving emotions struggle to remain unseen.

The painted picture is suffrage at its finest in On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. There is no light on what is mentioned, but Shula is the one that keeps thriving for her family to find what is good in the dark after one is deceased. It is enticing with the family clashing, disagreeing, and not seeing eye-to-eye. A mesmerizing path of putting behind the bad does not come easy in On Becoming a Guinea Fowl. The apple does not fall from the tree in terms of the hatred that spirals like crazy.

The film loops in expressions of complications—no one knows how to view the scenario. The more family that arrives, the more suspicion. Nsansa is always looking at the offensive context of their uncle. “Offensive context” is painted fresh throughout all the vivacious negativity of the funeral process. It is one of those films where my mind kept making me wonder how the funeral can play out. Does one plan to make a scene? Does one plan to make a confession? Are there more unfortunate awakenings abounding? In the film there is the saying, “The good die to soon.” That saying means that clearly there is a major percentage of relief after the death of Shula and Nsansa’s uncle.

The writing of coping is cinematic. More hidden truths become increasingly disturbing—enough to make there be grievances and hostilities. However, “grievances” and “hostilities” are the building blocks that Shula continually works to downplay. On Becoming a Guinea Fowl is a masterpiece that measures how family absorbs a loss—in a precise approach—the thoughts of the individual family members create a pattern of distress that will hit it audiences emotionally and vividly. The drastic sense of trust is about the norms of those in attendance at the funeral. Three-and-a-half out of four stars.

Film reviews

Opus Review

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Mark Anthony Green takes his audiences to a world where an icon has secrets. Opus revolves around a daring subject matter that correlates to some of the conflicts with artists today, similar to the many controversies surrounding Sean Diddy. Opus is a fictional approach to these topics; however, it has that cult aspect tied into the film extremely well. The navigation of getting a story into a world darker than one anticipates is a daring journey in Opus. The dark personality is shown through the eyes of Alfred Moretti, and he is played by John Malkovich. The calm aura of Malkovich’s performance is what makes Opusmore anxiety-provoking than audiences realize.

The film begins with a journalist named Ariel Ecton (played by Ayo Edebiri). She gets assigned to cover Moretti. It is a big story because he has been off the face of the Earth for ages. This is a massive opportunity for Ariel; however, it is one that goes much deeper than she assumes. She travels with her colleague, Clara Armstrong (played by Juliette Lewis) and her superior, Stan Sullivan (played by Murray Bartlett).  When they arrive at Moretti’s home there is already a bizarre setup—one that looks to have orders and rituals that all have glaring red flags attached.With his home being off the beaten path, there are bound to be a lot of mixed signals in Opus.

The notion of a journalist trying to get the real portrait of who an artist is keeps going underground, as in the pattern keeps evolving to be questionable and loses a sense of normalcy in Opus. The result is plenty of strangeness to the core. Somehow it exceeds its surrealness in the characterization as Malkovich portraying an emperor artist with an egotistical nature. Edebiri captures the elements of what makes one iconic and the true answers are of a disturbing nature. It is like a world where an icon has a level of fame like Michael Jackson and then introduces his own version of Neverland Ranch. The difference here is that it is more like an Eyes Wide Shut type dynamic. 

Opus carries a massive weight, because it challenges a fictional scenario that is based off events going on today with artists–especially when it comes to extreme behavior. The portrait it paints leaves the audience curious as to how one would feel if they were on the same journey as these journalists. The curious and surprising thing is that the shock values will have more humorous factors over horrid factors.

With the performance of Edebiri, I felt she is the hero of this awkward premise. Especially as she is trying to get her feet wet while attempting to capture stories that grasp the world. Her performance leaves a track of the risks that come with writing about the truth. The truth of Moretti is one-of-a-kind. Opuskeeps the momentum high as it swerves in motions of uncertainty as the journalist tests the waters to get the real story in this film. It delivers its risk-taking attitude with many punches that are more to bear than anything.  Cheesy, but vibrant with intense excellence in the persona of Malkovich. Three out of four stars for Opus.