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Film reviews

Eileen Review

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Eileen is a film where being vulnerable is at its core. In the film’s introduction, there is already a sense of desperation to feel connected as a girl watches others kiss in their vehicle. With a sad backdrop and eerie lighting in the depths of winter, there is bound to be a treacherous adventure. In Eileen, director William Oldroyd brings his audience into the world of the 1960s. It is a time when feeling loved is at the core of being fulfilled…despite the consequences. Thomasin McKenzie plays Eileen, and she has the looks and the personality to portray a character of deep emotions from a rough life. She sees that some light may come her way, but questions whether what she is doing is right.

Eileen works as an employee at a prison facility where she has agreedy and negative boss. All kinds of weird behaviors go on at the prison and each day is filled with catastrophes and mental stress. There are bizarre scenarios and rude employees all around. On top of it all, she lives with her father Jim (played by Shea Wigham), a former police officer and an alcoholic. Eileen’s father behaves erratically while he verbally abuses and blindsides his daughter. Eileen’s turmoil causes her to seek empathy and imagine closeness to cope. When a new doctor named Rebecca (played by Anne Hathaway) is hired at the prison facility, Eileen feels she has found a loving friend who truly cares about her. Is Eileen’s life about to be fulfilled?

The direction of Eileen focuses on the inseparable bond between Eileen and Rebecca. Rebecca caters to Eileen, buys her a few cocktails, and talks to her repeatedly. Eileen begins to feel her life is improving because someone cares for her. The human connection is surreal as Eileen and Rebecca are chatting on a winter’s night. What Eileen does not realize is that there is something sinister about Rebecca which is hard to see due to the clever and laid-back style of Hathaway’s performance.

While Eileen’s home life is a wreck, she believes that Rebecca is there for her until she begins to experience some weird patterns. Her father is still a narcissistic prick, and the prison facility is still filled with upsetting factors. Most of the film’s first halfcenters on the trials and errors of Eileen’s mental frustrations at home and work. However, Rebecca remains on her mind despite the looming danger. Eileen is a paced-out suspense that remains neutral in its tone. The writing is about personality trumping thoughts of personal safety. Because Eileen feels worthless every day, Rebecca is her light. Will Rebecca shine as brightlyas Eileen believes?

There is a moment in which Eileen’s father tells her, “Love will make you crazy.” This certainly holds true for Eileen as her-obsession with Rebecca causes her to underestimate the kind of situation, she is putting herself in. Due to the negativity in Eileen’s family life, she struggles to suppress her fascination with Rebecca. The tension is hidden, and the conflict is burdensome. Will audiences be ready for what is hidden when they experience Eileen? There are surprises in store for those curious about what is possible in the midst of a crazy trainwreck of a broken life.

Eileen is invigorating thanks to the captivating personalities in the performances of McKenzie and Hathaway. McKenzie’s performance is of a cute young lady who is unaware of what she is getting herself into. Hathaway’s performance is of a mightywoman with an ego and personality to die for. The connection between the two characters is where Eileen truly takes its audience by surprise. Does Rebecca really have deep feelings for Eileen? Is Eileen a target for Rebecca to use as a scapegoat for something irreparable? Rebecca helps Eileen express heranger and emotions about the sad life she must endure. Eileen is a daring experience with an unexpected and questionable outcome. Four out of four stars for Eileen.

Film reviews

Ferrari Review

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The beginning of Ferrari opens with archived footage in the timing of cars and racing. The film then jumps to the business and profit side of cars and competition. It also gears on the personal life of Enzo Ferrari (played by Adam Driver). The foundation of Ferrari is one of a life of seriousness displayed. A true story where not only cars and racing were a conflict in Enzo’s life, but also tension with relationships with his wife Laura Ferrari (played by Penelope Cruz) and his lover Lina Lardi (played by Shailene Woodley). It is a quiet and in-depth look at the factors of accentuation for Enzo. That does not only exist for Enzo…but also for his entrepreneurship future. Director Michael Mann brings us a journey where success is tormented by Enzos choices and growing debts—that is the harrowing power that surrounds Ferrari.

The film takes place in the summer of 1957. Enzo finds himself in a bind with keeping himself afloat. With Enzo being the entrepreneur and founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prixmotor racing team, and the Ferrari automobile marque, he realizes a race of success is what is the key to helping him navigate his life of continued personal trouble, debts, and relationship ties with Laura and Lina. Enzo lives a life of lies, competition, and infidelity. Deceit of adultery begins to have consequences waiting for Enzo. The race where there can be a form of success is the Mille Miglia—a life-threatening race that goes 1,000 miles across Italy.

With the race being afloat, the film’s priority gears on the business and ethics and focuses on the drivers who can tear this race apart. The film begins to be one where its audience will find themselves to start to think about all the factors of Enzo’s troubles, his business, but also if the drivers can succeed. The drivers are Alfonso De Portago (played by Gabriel Leone), Peter Collins (played by Jack O’Connell), and Piero Taruffi (played by Patrick Dempsey). Enzo is a man of sportsmanship and a consistent pioneer. These racers are his chance to grow a profit pending the results.

The film is steady with its pieces coming together to understand where its point is. Its continuity just tends to lack in some moments. The levels of excitement do not go up to bar in some respects, but it still finds its tracks to remain enthralling. The era of the vehicles lacks safety features and are creating more of them. The systems of the cars sabotage easily. The film’s poetics is in the sportsmanship of Enzo’s drivers.

Despite the forms of potential accomplishments (to get out of personal and financial binds), Ferrari is an experience that keeps falling down the personal pattern. It is a film that feels two-sided that is out of context. The many moving errors generates financial disputes between Enzo and his wife Laura—their communication of finances is a never-ending death wish. Fifty percent of the film is literally a verbal boxing match through the performances of Driver and Cruz. Monumental on the poetic acting side, but redundant.

Ferrari is an experience where the history of cars and history of Enzo himself speak truthfully. Its continuity is just a blur. The car race though, is a landscape of magnificent sound and scenery. Ferrari may enthrall some and bore some. I felt neutral with my experience with Ferrari. Two-and-a-half out of four stars.

Film reviews

Enys Men Review

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Enys Men is set in the middle of nowhere on an island and the year is 1973. The cinematography here makes its viewers feel like it’s a 1970s horror setting—the lighting and faded colorswith no brightness maintain its questioning direction. The film also uses wide and panning shots repeatedly for further disturbing effect. The positive aspect though, is that it grasps its viewers’ attention with depth and attention to detail. Writer and director Mark Jenkin attempts to have this project be as experimental as possible, however it struggles to hold up well.

The plot centers on a woman named simply The Volunteer (played by Mary Woodvine). She is a volunteer on an island that is off the Cornish coast around the setting of the United Kingdom. Much of the beginning of the film captures her doing her duties on the island—she logs her observations, does routine maintenance, and listens to information and instructions that come to her via a radio. Its setting is clearly one of solitude,especially since the film has little to no dialogue. The Volunteer has a lot of time for free thinking. Her thoughts seem a bitbipolar, but she somehow maintains her calm.

Enys Men is invigorating with its vast landscape and its elements of growing terror when it begins. The red lightning at night is a macabre foretelling of what haunting is to come. Unexpectedlythough, the scariest aspects come from a rare flower. The flower keeps changing its form. Every time The Volunteer comes across this flower, her mind begins to envision more questioning aspects that are on her mind. The volunteer may be alone, but there is definitely the feeling that there is another with essence living there with her.

The film’s entirety is metaphysical as nature takes its course in lightness and darkness. What evil lurks through the nature of the island? What harsh past relates back to The Volunteer? The film focuses on The Volunteer becoming affected adversely by the negative energy of the nature around her. Its ultimate grandeur is displayed in the use of artistic lighting and creepy elements. Enys Men takes its time and unfortunately this makes the storyline drag along. The plant continues to change and the growth throws in an aspect of terror, but its not quite enough to keep things interesting.

Despite all the weirdness in the film, it struggles to findcontinuity and leaves the viewer wondering what this film is all about. The flower makes The Volunteer start to feel quiet transformations in her anatomy. Every time she visits the plantsomething seems to possess her and soon it overcomes her more than she anticipates. Existence on the island gets more treacherous, not in the environmental sense, but in the way The Volunteer starts thinking.

The writing falls short in Enys Men, as it remains an experience where a slew of patterns keeps trying to build a mental puzzle that is obscure and out of focus. The film is a ride of mental torture that lacks invigorating obstacles. The detrimental forces of nature do not fulfill the terror that most audiences would expect and the weird patterns of events both in The Volunteer’s mind and the nature of the island are foggy at best. Her mindset is consumed with too much experimental terror which seems more like a drug trip than anything and does not add much effect for visually or internally stirring moments.

Enys Men is an experimental thriller mixing a form of an evolving fantasy with symbolism. There are people in the film as well, but many of them are within the mind of The Volunteer. Its ultimate downfall though is that Enys Men never reaches a point of revelation. The film is a bizarre experiment of an experience with nature taking its course. Way too many pauses along the way make this one that is forgettable. One half out of four stars for Enys Men.