2016 movie reviews

Movie Review: GREEN ROOM. Starring: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat

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green_room.jpgGREEN ROOM (USA 2015) ***
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat

Review by Gilbert Seah

Character development is not really important in a slasher horror film. But it helps that the audience can identify with the characters and know something about them so that they are not just numbered victims. An example is the upcoming BODY in which the director spends a considerable amount of time giving each of the three girl victims a distinct personality.

The premise of the film is a simple one. A punk band called ‘The Ain’t Rights’ is dead broke. Their car is stranded and they are so out of cash that they have to siphon gas from other cars to get to their gigs. One of their desperate gigs is a Neo-Nazi skinhead bar headed by a no-nonsense meanie played by Patrick Stewart. After witnessing a stabbing, the band members and the victim’s friend (Imogen Poots) are locked in a GREEN ROOM. The Neo-Nazis want them (the only witnesses) done away with. It is Neo-Nazis vs. punks.

In GREEN ROOM, spending time on characterizations seems useless for two reasons. Firstly, there is no need to know anything about a victim who is no longer there in the film and characterization serves to give a hint as to who will survive. The nasty personalities are usually killed of first, as stated in the spoof SCARE films, a fact only too true. But director Saulnier (BLUE RUIN) cleverly introduces each of the band members at the start of the film through an interview in which each member has their say. Much can also be read from each’s favourite band, a running joke in the film.

The characters are all nasty in their own way. Saulnier makes none of them any less sympathetic. It finally comes down to the question of who is the least nasty.

Atmosphere and mood wise, GREEN ROOM has an extremely scary look – credit to the tech department involved. Whether out in the open or in the green room, the film always has a claustrophobic feel that the victims can never escape.
Performance-wise, the one that stands out is Patrick Stewart as D’Arcy. Stewart appears to have moulded his role out of Rob Zombie (THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, HALLOWEEN). Of the cast, all do well in the screamingly best.

Saulnier also teases the audience in number of ways. In one scene he shows a victim with no blood and just a sharp object on the side of her head. No blood. Want blood? The next scene has the object pulled out with lots of blood gushing out flooding the carpet.

Saulnier does have a soft spot for innocent victims. The killer dog in one scene is allowed to survive and is shown sadly putting its head down and mourning its dead owner.

GREEN ROOM finally emerges as an efficient chiller, not suitable for the weak-hearted or even for the strong hearted in the early hours of the day. An entertaining nasty piece of work if one has the stomach for it.

 

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Movie Review: HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS. Starring Sally Field

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hello_my_name_is_dorisHELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS (USA 2015) ***
Directed by Michael Snowalter

Starring: Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Tyne Daly, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Stephen Root, Elizabeth Reaser

Review by Gilbert Seah

The new showcase for two-time Oscar Winner Sally Field (NORMA RAE and PLACES IN THE HEART) places her in the ‘You really like me, you really, really like me” role of an sixty-plus data entry cubicle office worker, called Doris Miller. Begging to be loved, she falls for a much younger office worker, the new art director John Fremont (Max Greenfield). The question of whether she will get the young man to notice and fall in love with her is kept current from the start to the end of the film – a point that writer/director Michael Snowalter keeps as a delicate balancing act, and one that makes the film work.

Films about women falling for much younger men seldom work and end up disastrous. Examples are Genevieve Gilles playing a Baroness falling for younger Michael Crawford in HELLO-GOODBYE and Jean Simmons falling for the younger LEONARD WHITING in SAY HELLO TO YESTERDAY. Even when it is the other way round, with an older male and younger girl as in the Clint Eastwood directed BREEZY with William Holden and Kay Lenz, the idea fails. So, HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS is already quite an achievement.

The film’s premise is simple enough. The film begins with Doris’s mother’s funeral. Her brother and wife wishes her to sell the house she and her mother she had cared had lived in. She declines, being a hoarder. At work, she accidentally bumps into young and gorgeous Max Fremont who ends up being the new guy in the office. She pines for him. She gets the help of her best friend’s 13-year old daughter to make friends on his Facebook account. Doris and Max hang out and Doris falls for him. Of course, the audiences is never sure of Max’s feelings for her and this is what keeps the film interesting – the audience is guessing. And right up to the very last reel.

Snowalter’s film works as both a comedy and drama. Fortunately, he keeps sentimentality at bay. Sally Field is nothing short of marvellous in the role of Doris, proving her mettle at getting both laughs and sympathy. Having won two Oscars for dramatic roles, she expectedly shines in the dramatic parts making a good balance, as in the segment she finally makes her stand against her bullying brother (Stephen Root) and wife (Wendi McLendon-Covey).

But Snowalter film plays more for comedy. The script that he co-wrote has sufficient comedic set-ups – the electronic concert party; the best friend’s Thanksgiving dinner without Doris; the inspirational seminar with guru Peter Gallagher to mention a few.

But it is Field that makes the film work, aided by really apt supporting performances from a superb supporting cast especially from Tyne Daly as her best friend, Roz. Greenfield who plays the young hunk has good chemistry with Field, supplementing Doris as the could be, could-not-be interested beau.

But mostly it is the film’s charm, credibility and humour that makes this film a cut above other films in this genre. Yes, we really, really like Doris!

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Movie Review: CRIMINAL, 2016. Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Kevin Costner

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criminal.jpgCRIMINAL (USA 2015) ***
Directed by Ariel Vromen

Starring: Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Michael Pitt

Action films about the lead character with the past erased make good money at the box office. Examples are THE BOURNE IDENTITY, Liam Neeson’s UNKNOWN and last week’s recently released HARDCORE HENRY. CRIMINAL though not identical in concept, plays along the same lines with the lead character having to piece together a new identity.

Based on a script by Douglas Cook and David Weisberg, the film takes the amnesia plot up a few notches. It is an international story dealing with Americans, British, Russians and a Dutchman. The film contains countless London sights in the first 15 minutes, making audiences wonder if the London Tourist Board is subsidizing this film. There are shots of Bank Tube Station, the Thames, Albert Hall, the docklands, Big Ben and the Overground Tube to make the film look more modern.

The film opens with a chase involving CIA agent Ben Pope (Ryan Reynolds). Pope is caught half way through his assignment and killed. His brain needs to be implanted into someone else for the mission to be completed successfully. Or the world will be destroyed. It really does not matter how ridiculous the plot is as director Ariel Vromen (THE ICEMAN) has proven that he can make anything credible and exciting. So, a wanted imprisoned criminal Jericho Stewart (Kevin Costner in super-gruff mode) with zero conscience but meets the surgical criteria is implanted with Pope’s memories by Dr. Frank (Tommy Lee Jones) under command of no-nonsense British chief Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman).

For an action thriller drama, the action segments are handled efficiently, particularly the car chase involving the British police car pile up n the highway and the brief underwater scenes.

The film is aided with an impressive cast that includes no less than the new Wonder Woman, French actress Gal Gadot as Pope’s wife, Brit Oldman and Americans Costner., Jones, Reynolds and the long time unseen Michael Pitt as the Dutchman.

Though I do enjoy a bit of violence in movies, I am not one to condone it. CRIMINAL is exceptionally violent, evident in scenes like the electric torture at the film’s start, the bloodied photo of one of Jericho’s victims the brain surgery and the segment where Jericho beats a number of people up to get food and nab a van. Tools used in fights also include a hammer.

Though there is ample opportunity for the script to moralize, the script thankfully stays aways from it. Jericho is a man with no conscience, a killing machine who is given a chance to have feelings after being implanted with Pope’s memories. Once Jericho begins to feel, he is torn for example between saving one life – Pope’s daughter against sacrificing hers to save many, many more. The main villain has the purpose of creating a software wormhole i order to destroy all the governments in the world as he believes every government is corrupt and that conglomerates rule the world all for money. There is some truth in the villain’s way of thinking and the script leaves it for the audience to debate the issue in their own minds.

CRIMINAL is a good action drama, a good blend between drama and action with not too much ridiculous discontinuous action scenes as in recent films like BATMAN V SUPERMAN and HARDCORE HENRY. For this reason alone, CRIMINAL is a compelling and rather entertaining time-waster.

 

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Movie Review: FRANCOFONIA (France/Germany/Netherlands 2015) ****

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francofonia.jpgFRANCOFONIA (France/Germany/Netherlands 2015) ****
Directed by Alexandre Sukorov

Review by Gilbert Seah

Is the Louvre worth more than all of France?

Alexandre Sukorov made a name for himself directing the excellent documentary on Leningrad Museum years back, the entire exercise shot in one single take. FRANCOFONIA is a mixed documentary/re-enacted drama on the Louvre in Paris, arguably the most visited museum in the world, a museum that made Paris. And in the words of director, Sukorov who voices the film’s narrative, museums make the cities of the world.

The approach taken in this film is different as the idea of the two above mentioned films are different. What is the subject here is the restoration of the art pieces of the Louvre – especially during World War II during the German Occupation. As Germany invaded France, the government, citizens and Louvre officials all escaped south, for safety and stability. All but one, the Louvre Director Jacques Joujart who remained to prevent the treasures of the Louvre from becoming the spoils of the war and from landing in the hands of art lovers like Hitler and his consorts.

FRANCOFONIA is a complex and meditative film. It erases the barriers of time. Napoleon Buonaparte (played by Vincent Nemeth) frequently waltzes into the halls of the Louvre as the boat that transports the museum travels tosses among the strong waves of the ocean. The past and present are drawn together and at the film’s climax the two lead characters are advised of their death in the future.

Though the film delves on several issues, the main one is set in the June of 1940. German troops march into Paris. The two lead characters are Jacques Jaujard, Louvre director and German Count Franziskus Wolff Metternich (played in the film by Louis-Do de Lencquesaing and Benjamin Utzerath). It would seem that they are enemies, but it gradually becomes clear that they are not and that they have a lot in common. The period of their meeting, their confrontation and their cooperation during the Second World War to protect and preserve the treasures of the Louvre forms the bulk of FRANCOFONIA. By telling their story, Sokurov explores the relationship between art and power, and asks what art tells us about ourselves, at the very heart of one of the most devastating conflicts the world has ever known.

As Sukorov is Russian, it is only natural that he brings a Russian slant into his film. The Hermitage in Leningrad is more often than not tied in with the film’s narrative. WWII is also compared to the Russian war with the Bolsheviks. There are some chilling scenes added such as the image of a little girl lying dead on the steps of a building. As the narrative goes… no one to bury them, too tired to bury them. And if you think things cannot get any worse, a frozen child and mother on the street are the next subjects. The child is then taken, probably eaten, and the mother’s leg is missing.

Like RUSSIAN ARK, FRANCOFONIA is a profoundly beautiful film. Sukorov’s love for art is evident from the first to the last frame of his film. At the end audiences around the world will be grateful to Sukorov, who like the great two men in the film, has preserved art, in this case of the Louvre and its treasures, forever on film. Highly recommended to anyone who owns at least one painting.

The film is shot largely in Russian and French with a little English.

 

 

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Movie Review: THE BOSS. Starring Melissa McCarthy

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theboss.jpg 2016) **
Directed by Ben Falcone

Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell, Peter Dinklage

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE BOSS is yet another nasty male comedy in which the male is replaced by the fairer sex. Melissa McCarthy seems to have cornered this market with the nasty girls comedies like BRIDESMAIDS, TAMMY, THE HEAT and her most successful SPY. But SPY, THE HEAT and BRIDESMAIDS were directed by the talented Paul Feig whereas THE BOSS and TAMMY fare into McCarthy’s not-so-successful territory. But she does manage a few laughs though, to her credit.

Michelle Darnell is an orphan. She is returned from adoption to the orphanage just too many times. This gives the girl an incentive to become ‘someone’ and not let anybody drag her down. Orphan Darnell morphs into Melissa McCarthy, super successful female businesswoman and 47th richest (why 47th?) in the whole world. But a former business partner, Renault (Peter Dinklage) takes her down with insider trading. After serving a prison sentence, she forces herself on her former personal assistant, Claire (Kristen Bell) whose daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) she learns to grow very fond of. Michelle ends up starting a new business from Claire’s delicious brownies recruiting Rachel’s schoolmates in the process.

THE BOSS is pure McCarthy comedy. The only character in the story providing the laughs is her character, Darnell. Everyone else, are her straight men (or women as the case may be). Non-fans of McCarthy should stay away. At least in SPY, Jason Statham generated laughs playing against type. The only character that provides a few laughs besides Darnell is the Kathy Bates, Ida Marquette character. Unfortunately, there is not enough of Bates, her character last seen riding away on her horse, Butter.

There are, noticeably no jokes in this film and in her last (SPY) that poke fun at McCarthy’s weight. In fact this point is so obvious that her costume designer has not once allowed McCarthy’s neck to be shown on screen, making McCarthy’s outfits looking a bit weird. Also noticeable is Darnell questioning her prodigy, Claire as to the length of time she had sex. Nothing is mentioned of herself.

THE BOSS does have its hilarious segments such as the girl fight between the Darnell Darlings and the Daffodil Girls or the beginning show when Darnell goes on stage strutting her stuff. The Dardell character is a foul-mouthed, obnoxious and loud person. So, it is not surprising that the film’s best moments has her pitting these qualities against a super-bitch -mother, Helen (Annie Mumolo) who becomes a rival in the brownie business.

But the bits trying to insert some action into the film like the swordfight at the end do not work well. There are a lot of comedic segments (the leg tanning; the bra adjustment/shoving) involving McCarthy spewing vulgarities non-stop. Whether these are funny depends on ones individual taste.

Still, THE BOSS is a film with a lazy script based on a tried formula – obnoxious person making good using his/her bad qualities. THE BOSS is essentially just made up of a series of skits with the loose theme, banging on McCarthy’s draw to make the movie.

 

 

 

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BOREALIS, Movie Review. Starring: Joey King, Kevin Pollak

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borealis.jpgBOREALIS (Canada 2015) ***
Directed by Sean Garrity

Starring: Joey King, Emily Hampshire, Kevin Pollak |

Review by Gilbert Seah

BOREALIS opens with two key scenes that establishes the mood and plot line of the film. The first shows the lead character, Jonah (Jonas Chernick) losing at blackjack and having to pay a massive debt or have his legs broken. His daughter, Aurora (Joey King) is about to lose her eyesight for good. In a Hollywood movie, the lead would have to get money to pay for the operation to regain the daughter’s sight, as in for example, Stanley Donen’s parody MOVIE, MOVIE, but this is a non-commercial Canadian film.

Garrity has already awed audiences with INERTIA, LUCID and MY AWKWARD SEXUAL ADVENTURE and actor Chernick has penned LUCID as well as co-written BOREALIS. So, BOREALIS is an anticipated film for those in the know.
The father keeps the bad news from her, taking her on a road trip for two purposes – to run away form his debtors and to show her the Aurora Borealis, a beautiful sight before she loses her sight.

One of the most interesting things about this film is that it features two very annoying leads. The father, the compulsive gambler is also a compulsive liar with hardly any redeeming qualities. He has squandered away all his money and lost his daughter’s possessions including her dog to his debtors. The daughter on the other hand is a 15-year old punk, who is as annoying as any teenager can be, not listening to her father (not that he is worth listening to), and partying half the time. As the film progresses, it becomes a question of who the audience dislikes less.

Garrity’s film is strangely an anti-message film. It tells the audience, for example than gambling is ok and it sorts itself out in the end. A more disturbing message is the one about the Good Samaritan getting almost killed (or maybe killed) for helping out the father and daughter in one scene.

But one thing about Garrity’s film is for sure. It is not the predictable fare one would expect. Things can turn for the better or worse, and good guys and bad guys can get it or win, depending on the mood of the director. But for unpredictable fare, the film accomplishes an unexpected climax that works well, all things considered. Camera work is not half bad, the climax done in the dead of night with just enough light to reveal the important details.

BOREALIS is also proudly Canadian. It could have easily opted for an American setting to delver to a larger audience but it does not. It celebrates Canadian from the road trip with Canadian places to the Canadian dollars flashed out at a diner. The film was shot largely in the Province of Manitoba.

One can always finds flaws in Garrity’s film, and there are quite a few. Still, one cannot complain that the director has accomplished a well executed, mostly compelling film within a small budget. The film looks good in terms of production values.

Borealis has a premiere at the Canadian Film Festival and opens its commercial run a week later – showing that it is one of the festival’s better films. Garrity also won the Best Director Award and Joey King the Best Actress Award at the Festival.

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HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS, Movie Review. Starring: Sally Field

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hellomynameisdoris.jpgHELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS (USA 2015) ***1/2
Directed by Michael Snowalter

Starring: Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Tyne Daly

Review by Gilbert Seah

The new showcase for two-time Oscar Winner Sally Field (NORMA RAE and PLACES IN THE HEART) places her in the ‘You really like me, you really, really like me” role of an sixty-plus data entry cubicle office worker, called Doris Miller. Begging to be loved, she falls for a much younger office worker, the new art director John Fremont (Max Greenfield). The question of whether she will get the young man to notice and fall in love with her is kept current from the start to the end of the film – a point that writer/director Michael Snowalter keeps as a delicate balancing act, and one that makes the film work.

Films about women falling for much younger men seldom work and end up disastrous. Examples are Genevieve Gilles playing a Baroness falling for younger Michael Crawford in HELLO-GOODBYE and Jean Simmons falling for the younger LEONARD WHITING in SAY HELLO TO YESTERDAY. Even when it is the other way round, with an older male and younger girl as in the Clint Eastwood directed BREEZY with William Holden and Kay Lenz, the idea fails. So, HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS is already quite an achievement.

The film’s premise is simple enough. The film begins with Doris’s mother’s funeral. Her brother and wife wishes her to sell the house she and her mother she had cared had lived in. She declines, being a hoarder. At work, she accidentally bumps into young and gorgeous Max Fremont who ends up being the new guy in the office. She pines for him. She gets the help of her best friend’s 13-year old daughter to make friends on his Facebook account. Doris and Max hang out and Doris falls for him. Of course, the audiences is never sure of Max’s feelings for her and this is what keeps the film interesting – the audience is guessing. And right up to the very last reel.

Snowalter’s film works as both a comedy and drama. Fortunately, he keeps sentimentality at bay. Sally Field is nothing short of marvellous in the role of Doris, proving her mettle at getting both laughs and sympathy. Having won two Oscars for dramatic roles, she expectedly shines in the dramatic parts making a good balance, as in the segment she finally makes her stand against her bullying brother (Stephen Root) and wife (Wendi McLendon-Covey).

But Snowalter film plays more for comedy. The script that he co-wrote has sufficient comedic set-ups – the electronic concert party; the best friend’s Thanksgiving dinner without Doris; the inspirational seminar with guru Peter Gallagher to mention a few.

But it is Field that makes the film work, aided by really apt supporting performances from a superb supporting cast especially from Tyne Daly as her best friend, Roz. Greenfield who plays the young hunk has good chemistry with Field, supplementing Doris as the could be, could-not-be interested beau.

But mostly it is the film’s charm, credibility and humour that makes this film a cut above other films in this genre. Yes, we really, really like Doris!

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Midnight Special, Movie Review

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midnightspecial.jpgMIDNIGHT SPECIAL (USA 2015) **
Directed by Jeff Nichols

Starring: Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton, Kirsten Dunst, Adam Driver

Review by Gilbert Seah

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL reunites director Jeff Nichols and actor Michael Shannon once again in a film dealing with an apocalyptic world. There is much to like and dislike about MIDNIGHT SPECIAL compared to TAKE SHELTER, but unfortunately, the former throws logic and reality to the wind. The plot and ending of MIDNIGHT SPECIAL is important to the enjoyment of the film and should not be revealed in my or any review, but it is sufficient to say that the ending should at least be a bit believable and not be totally absurd as in this case in terms of logic and possibility and also in terms of special effects. The ending is as if the special effects department was given an unlimited budge and the department spent the entire budget and more.

The film starts with a suspenseful abduction in which a man is wanted for the kidnapping of a child. It is all over the radio and the state in terms of an amber alert. Roy (Shannon) has fled a religious cult in rural Texas with his eight-year-old son Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), who possesses otherworldly powers. Roy’s accomplice and childhood friend, Lucas (Joel Edgerton sporting a very convincing Texan accent), a state trooper, helps to bring the boy to an undisclosed location on a specific date, during which a celestial and possibly world-changing event may occur.

There are a lot of points in the script (written by Nichols) that do not make sense. But of course, one can argue that a good thriller need not require good explanations as the Master of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock has proven many times in his Masterpieces. For example Richard Thornhill (Cary Grant) was hunted down by the organization in NORTH BY NORTHWEST though no reason was ever given. But MIDNIGHT SPECIAL thunders towards a needed explanation that when revealed, makes no sense whatsoever. The supporting character of Lucas could also be done way with, though character development-wise, it does bring a good perspective to the character of the lead, Roy.

But for me whose first profession is engineering, I can really annoyed when a story leaves too many unexplained loose ends. Among these are: “Why does the kid and absolutely no one else land on this planet with the same situation? How does the kid comes to obtain all the information and for what purpose? Why the purpose of ‘the rapture’ at the film’s climax as it really serves no purpose? And why does the cult get so involved with the boy?

Shannon has always been an excellent brooding actor, accomplishing a range of widely ranging characters. Here Shannon is able to conniving the audience of a troubled yet caring father. He is willing to kill anyone to save his son.

The first half of the film works better than the second half. When more is left to the audience’s imagination, the more mysterious and suspenseful the film becomes.

The performances of the actors almost save the movie. Two of supporting cast deserve mention. One is Sam Shepard playing the cult leader, Calvin Meyer and the other Adam Driver as the FBI agent Paul Sevier who ends up helping Roy and Alton. One suspects that Nichols demanded solid no-nonsense performances from his actors.

But love it or hate MIDNIGHT SPECIAL will definitely affect audiences on way or other, in an extreme just as the film is (extreme).

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DEMOLITION, Movie Review

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demolitionDEMOLITION (USA 2015) ***1/2
Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee

Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Heather Lind, Chris Cooper

Review by Gilbert Seah

I had a conversation with a friend about houses a month ago. He claims that modern houses have no character unlike those like the old buildings in the French countryside. It is remarkable that in Jean-Marc Vallee’s latest film about life and what matters, the film hits the nail on the head of our conversation when the lead character, Davis says of his ultra-modern expensive home: “I hate this house. It’s just shiny stuff!” (Dvid demolishes it later on in the film.)

DEMOLITION tells the tale of a finance executive, trying to make sense of his life after the passing away of his wife. It totally makes sense as the accident occurs suddenly out of the blue, just as Vallee shocks the audience with the shock tactic of a car ramming into the couple’s, in the midst of conversation followed by a blank screen and news of the wife’s (Heather Lind) death. Davis Mitchell’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) father-in-law and head of the finance firm, Phil (Chris Cooper) tells him that in order to repair something, one has to take it apart and put it all together again to understand how it works. The trouble with Davis is that he can take things part but not put in back together. So, he takes it upon himself to tear down the leaking fridge or plumbing in the office washroom but not able to re-assemble he parts. And so his life is the same – he takes it apart, driving everyone, particularly Phil bonkers, but he cannot piece it all back together.

Vallee has created a very thoughtful film here – made more profound in that he leaves the audience to figure out what his film or hero is all about. He helps with a voiceover, provided by Davis himself as he writes to the vending company venting on one of the machines that is unable to put out an M&M’s peanuts package. The Public Relations of the company (Naomi Watts) is drawn into the story, with her son Chris (Judah Davis) helping him to make sense out of life.

Many other issues like coming-out (Chris’s) and gay bashing are tied into the story.
One conversation piece also brilliantly ties in to the message of what matters most in life. Chris swears constantly to which Davis says, “If you swear so much, the swearing loses its effect and you only look stupid.” Here, Davis has surprisingly hit the nail on the head as to what’s important and it then takes the kid to show him the way.

There are two too commonly used tactics in films that spoil the originality of DEMOLITION One is the shock tactic of the accident out of nowhere and the other is the hero running off into the sunset (as in Truffaut’s 400 BLOWS).

Still DEMOLITION is an interesting film, for sure as I have seen the film a second time (the first at the Toronto International Film Festival) and Vallee’s film still feels fresh in its storytelling and execution.
 

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NATASHA, Movie Review

festreviews 2016 movies, Movie Review, Uncategorized , , , , , ,

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

natashaNATASHA (Canada 2015) ***1/2
Directed by David Bezmozgis

Starring: Alex Ozerov, Deanna Dezmari, Genadijs Dolganovs

Review by Gilbert Seah

Written and directed by David Bezmozgis based on his short story, NATASHA tells the tale of the forbidden pre-teen romance between two Russian Immigrants living in the north of Toronto during one summer.

It all starts with Mark Berman’s (Alex Ozerov) uncle bringing over a new wife from Russia to Toronto. With the new wife comes baggage in the form of her young daughter, Natasha (Sasha K. Gordon). The new wife is not what she seems and neither is Natasha. Natasha hates her mother, calling her a whore. Natasha is not that innocent either, having participated in the sex industry in Russia. Mark is given the task of showing her around and a romance develops. Mark on the other hand, supplements his pocket money by selling pot in his neighbourhood.

Director Bezmozgis is a good story-teller His film is never boring and he fills his film with solid supporting characters from Mark’s family to the suspicious new immigrants. A lot of Russian atmosphere is also integrated into the story with a large portion of the dialogue spoken in Russian as well as in English.

NATASHA is also a film proudly Canadian. There are shots of northern Toronto where the film is set as well as shots of the Toronto Subway system and the ferry to the Centre Islands where Mark takes Natasha. The film feels and looks authentic and there are no false notes in the story. The catchy opening song and music adds to the film’s innovative feel.

A bit of philosophy is added for good measure. Mark reads German philosophy and some good message are offered to the audience. Natasha says that all of what she is told, she already knows, but Mark remarks that she knows only because it is said out aloud to her. So true. It is these little details that makes Bezmozgis’ film attentive.

The Russian content in the story and the fact that this is a dark tale involving young sex creates the atmosphere of a Vladimir Nabokov novel as in LOLITA and LAUGHTER IN THE DARK. Secrets are laid out into the open but are yet not apparently visible.

But the forbidden romance, incest upon consideration is not really incest as the the two overs are actually related through marriage and not blood. Still, the fact that the families trust the boy on looking after the 14-year old girl makes the sex forbidden. The sex scenes are kept at a minimum and within good taste while remaining quite erotic at the same time.

The two teen leads deliver quite good performances. Ironically both are young recent Russian immigrants like the characters they portray, Ozerov immigrating to Toronto and Gordon to the U.S. Ozerov is a young star to watch – young, sexy and brooding, already proving himself able to carry a lead in this film and in other films like the recent COCONUT HERO and A CHRISTMAS HORROR STORY.
NATASHA is a well-made Canadian entry that deserves to be seen.
 

 

Also, Free logline submissions. The Writing Festival network averages over 95,000 unique visitors a day.
Great way to get your story out: http://www.wildsound.ca/logline.html

Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival:http://www.wildsound.ca

Watch recent Writing Festival Videos. At least 15 winning videos a month: http://www.wildsoundfestival.com