Tag: hollywood

The Undoing and what’s wrong with Nicole Kidman

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Hugh Grant, Nicole Kidman, Noah Jupe, Matilda de Angelis, Donald Sutherland
Where to watch: HBO Max and JioCinema (India)
Seasons and episodes: 1 season, 6 episodes, 50 – 60 minutes per episode
To watch or not to watch: Watch it if you must. This can be a decent thing to pass time, nothing spectacular

Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman) is a psychotherapist, married to pediatric oncologist named Jonathan Fraser (Hugh Grant) and they have a son Henry (Noah Jupe). They have, for all intents and purposes, a perfect life, with successful careers, well-behaved son, wealth, home in the Upper East Side which reduces the school run to a stroll across the Central Park. The couple has also maintained the spark in their marriage, with most of the credit given to Nicole Kidman’s apparent sex appeal. Their schedules are quite busy but they do manage to squeeze in time for their social events, including the school functions for their son (Grace’s wealthy father is a huge donor). To complete the picture of the perfect American family, Grace is a part of the fundraiser committee of mothers for school events. There she is introduced to Elena, who is a not-yet successful artist and whose son goes to the same school as Henry on scholarship. On the day of the fundraiser, things start to unravel for Grace from the time she finds a disturbed Elena crying in the bathroom. The next day Elena is found dead in her art studio, which causes an uproar with the parents of the school. Grace is unable to reach Jonathan on his cellphone for a few days and as the police discovers clues to the murderer, things start coming closer to home for Grace.

The protagonist of the series is essentially Kidman, but Hugh Grant is charm made flesh. We have seen this version of him in A Very English Scandal and The Gentlemen, but imagine if the whole personality of such a character is only charm. Impossible not to simper. He brings his inherent sarcastic and self deprecating nature to the fore, which is in a high contrast to the way upper echelons of New York is shown to behave. Then we have Matilda de Angelis and Edgar Ramirez who have more than deserved to work in a high value production. And there needs to be special recognition for Noah Jupe who is very promising.

The plot of the series feels quite similar to Big Little Lies, even when it is not. They both have affluent parents playing a major role in their kids school events, and they have high powered jobs which provides them with privilege the rest of us will need 9 lives to attain. Both series have a much less affluent female protagonist who is mysterious and trying to fit in with other mothers. Not to mention, both series are book adaptations. But while Big Little Lies did a fantastic job of balancing the drama with the thrill, The Undoing is totally lost in trying to find its vision. The makers were torn between showing privilege but not really, resulting in a murk where opportunities to show some key elements of the story were lost, while focus on glamour took center stage. Glamour is not a story and has a shelf life of approximately 12 seconds.

This brings us to the reason which inspired this post – Nicole Kidman and where acting is victimized by sexual appeal. Take Big Little Lies for example – it is centered around Kidman. She had some character traits, primary being clueless about what people closest to her are doing, ultimately being a “victim” to them. In Undoing, she is supposed to be a psychiatrist with close to 2 decades of experience and couldn’t figure out there was something wrong with her husband??? Then she is not a good psychiatrist, not earning as much, dependent on her father to provide for her, and her whole character strength falls away. The compliments paid by her well-wishers is that she is strong, beautiful, cleans up well, has expensive clothes and is successful in her chosen career. But in the series, she is totally lost, depends on her father to clean her mess, is unable to take decisions which affect her son, and as cited above, not really a good psychiatrist. This leaves us with her being pretty and attractive. This is one of the biggest reasons her husband is with her.

This is not a Kidman bashing, but this is apparent in the two roles she has done recently, which are getting attention of audience and news media alike. This peaks through in her other works like Nine Perfect Strangers and older works too. The problem is that through Kidman women are still being reduced to objects of physical appeal. Women are still not seen enough to fight their battles, but always have to be a victim and rely on the men in their lives. Their female friends are also done a disservice where their lives are around how their more popular friend is doing. Haven’t we had enough discussions on this toxicity, how unreal and harmful this portrayal can be? Is the best thing a woman can bring to the table her feminity? Is there nothing more to a female character? Are other females supposed to be in service of the victim queen? C’mon, we have moved from this discourse a decade back. Bring more to character building than just one easy thing.

The Menu

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://www.hotstar.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, Janet McTeer, Aimee Carrero, Judith Light
Where to watch: Disney+ Hotstar
Run time: 1hour 47 minutes
To watch or not to watch: An original script, which might not be perfect but is fun to watch

A boat (yacht) is filled with 11 people who are embarking on a journey to a private island called Hawthorn, which has one of the most exclusive restaurants owned by Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). The multi-course meals are $1,250 each, are invite only and are a strictly +1 (or more) event. The meal is an event, yes – the customers tour the entire island which shows the raw ingredients grown/bred, the military discipline enforced and followed by Slowik and his staff, the descriptions of the courses are like a soliloquy by the respective chefs. Only in this case, the soliloquy is followed by terror. Let me elaborate…

The people who have managed to bag a table at the over-exclusive restaurant are 3 finance bros, a washed-out actor with his manager (John Leguizamo and Aimee Carrero), an ultra-rich couple (Judith Light and Reed Birney), a renowned food critic (Janet McTeer) with her obsequious editor (Paul Adelstein) and a self-proclaimed foodie, Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and his companion Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy). Each meal is presented by the chef with a resounding clap which jerks everyone’s attention to the aforementioned soliloquy on the dish – the reason it was designed, what are the ingredients and what is the emotion the dish is designed to bring to the eater. Each of these courses get progressively darker, including drowning of the man who invested in the restaurant, a public suicide of the sous chef who dared to compete with Slowik, a run for survival by the men while a woman stabs Slowik for sexually harassing her in the past. The list of the macabre activities go on, while there is little to no change in the schedule of the service, complete with the clap and descriptions. The one person who is the proverbial fish out of water is Margot, who is not the initial companion planned by Tyler. This does throw a spanner in the works but not necessarily a bad thing for Margot. Read on…

The movie is supposed to be a satire on the wealthy. The intended message is that, well, wealth corrupts (no shit). The people present during the dinner are pretentious, full of themselves, and in general, have had life easier than most. And that is their biggest crime, according to the movie, that they have had it easier, as depicted by the character of Aimee, who went to Brown and her education was funded by her parents. It is all difficult for a person who hasn’t had these privileges but not sure if the rich are to blame. The whole movie falls short in attaining the premise. What is the crime here? Being rich? Wanting to be rich? Wanting to be the best? Just wanting? There are multiple plot holes which cannot be explained by any amount of explanations, as explanation do not brick and mortar make. Even the climax which has been lauded for its unexpected and triumphant nature is unexpected because it doesn’t logically follow.

The movie is made almost flawlessly. That is, the performances, set design, dialogues, sound, character nuances, lighting, editing, etc is what is great. The only thing lacking is a script which has been worked on till it was sparkling. The audience member will find the movie understandably quite unsettling, as the experience for the clientele in the movie is supposed to be comforting and it is anything but. The problem is when plot holes are left in the core or climax of the movie, everything leading up to it feels false. Why was the 90 min storyline needed, if the 20 min conclusion was going to be cutting corners, you know? The primary emotion this movie left was confusion, like was it a good movie, or just a good execution, because the ending didn’t make sense. Don’t think The Menu will go down well in history.

Run Sweetheart Run

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://www.heavenofhorror.com/

Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Starring: Ella Balinska, Pilou Asbæk
Where to watch: Amazon PrimeVideo
To watch or not to watch: A survival movie with an average amount of thrill along with a pinch of unsuspected supernatural. It is fine

Cherie (Ella Balinska) is a single mother to a daughter, works as a paralegal, studies part time to become a full-fledged lawyer. She has mistakenly double-booked her boss with a client and his anniversary dinner, and takes his place at the client meeting. She is part hopeful for the meeting to turn into something more, as she has been single a long tim, but carries pepper spray nonetheless. She meets Ethan (Pilou Asbæk), who is rich, considerate and says the right things, all of which is very refreshing for Cherie. What starts as a night of part hope, part skepticism, resulting in more hope than skepticism, ends up turning into horror and a chase for her, when Ethan attacks her after returning from dinner. She narrowly escapes his place and runs to cops who arrest her. Ethan posts her bail and gives her a headstart in the hunt he will pursue. Cherie explores all her options to survive and gives a tough fight.

This movie falls in the sub-genre called social horror (think Jordan Peele’s Get Out), only here the social issue is patriarchy. The problem with movies trying to address two things at once is balance, which is often difficult to strike. This problem exists in this movie as well. It starts as any horror movie, but the dialogues are discordant with what’s happening, like the flow of the movie is being forced in a certain direction only by dialogues. The whole chase sequence is pretty cool, and Ethan’s powers are revealed slowly and it is a good surprise, but mixing it with patriarchy was a bit much. Even the protagonist’s actions did not follow a pattern like it happens with a human in general. A lot of this made the thrill questionable. The second act of the movie was the one part which was great, really gory. But it is a very good execution as the actual violence is actually censored, happens off-screen and left to the imagination of the viewers.

The movie is pretty low-budget and it a testament to the director who has made it possible to remove the actual scares from the screen, and still made it possible to be thrilling. It has very small cast and next to no special effects. Other factor which carries the movie forward are the actors, specially Ella Balinska who managed to convey the pain, hurt, fear and strength through the acting alone. Pilou Asbæk is sufficiently hateful and creepy. The music is another positive aspect, complementing the movie in all the right ways. It is pop, lyrics are relevant to the concept and add to the movie where the story subtracts. Watch it for the average thrill, superb acting and vicarious response to patriarchy. It wouldn’t require too much popcorn though.

Rosaline

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://www.imdb.com/

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Kyle Allen, Sean Teale, Minnie Driver, Bradley Whitford
Where to watch: Disney+
To watch or not to watch: A delightful retelling of the OG of romance makes for a nice, light-hearted watch

Rosaline (Kaitlyn Dever) and Romeo (Kyle Allen) are boyfriend and girlfriend, and Rosaline is absolutely smitten by the long, blonde haired hunk from the enemy camp. Her father, Adrian Capulet (Bradley Whitford) is attempting his best to arrange a marriage for his only daughter, and the daughter does everything to be as unsuitable a wife as possible. In one such arranged-marriage-date scenario, Rosaline is out on a boat with Dario (Sean Teale), is waylaid by a storm and is late in reaching the (famous) Capulet ball and a pre-arranged date with Romeo. Romeo’s excess of love is not to be hindered by the absence of his lady love, and remedies the situation by falling in love with Juliet (Isabela Merced), Rosaline’s cousin. Rosaline is understandably extremely pissed by this turn of events and now has a reason for intensely disliking Dario. She pursues multiple schemes to deter the couple, loses her moral fiber, sees the wrong of her ways, works to undo the damage and ensure the couple lives happily every after.

This is no 10 things I hate about you or She’s the Man. It is a refreshing retelling of the eponymous love story, which if viewed objectively is deeply flawed. Rosaline doesn’t make the wrongs right, it makes the wrong seem funny and well yes, rights some wrongs. The titular character is independent, intelligent, knows her mind, isn’t patriarchal but does stumble when it comes to non-platonic attraction – something to which a lot of females can relate. Then she has the normal human feelings of jealousy, rage and frustration when things don’t go her way, finally ending with the silver lining to it all when she finds the man who is a perfect match for her (spoiler alert – Romeo and Juliet aren’t too perfect for each other, by the way). It is joyful to see the other side of this mega love story, from the eyes of the jilted lover. It ties in with the character of the easily-swayed Romeo (though not publicised as such).

Rosaline is a movie carried on by female character, doesn’t take itself too seriously and you shouldn’t either. There is no Shakespearean English (comically explained as being difficult to follow in the movie) and no English accents either. It is quirky, female-empowering, and explores love more than first sight. And if taken the time to think about it, it can actually be deep. What Rosaline’s character ends up finding is someone who is at her side when she needs it, calls her antics for what they are and is not completely, totally, irrevocably in love with her, which is more sane and real. Kaitlyn Dever is a delight, she is channeling her persona from Last Man Standing, and it fits well in this movie. To praise Minnie Driver is stating the obvious, but she is a straight-shooter nurse to the impulsive Rosaline and it fits well with the over-all tone. The movie is surprisingly well written and made. It might surprise even the readers of this post as these movies typically are bad. This one is not. Do watch.

Single Drunk Female

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://www.primevideo.com/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Sofia Black-D’Elia, Ally Sheedy, Rebecca Henderson, Sasha Compère, Lily Mae Harrington, Garrick Bernard, Jojo Brown
Where to watch: Disney+
Seasons: 1 season, 10 episodes, 20-odd minutes each
To watch or not to watch: A nice, decently-paced dramedy on adulting

Samantha Fink or Sam (Sofia Black-D’Elia) is an alcoholic. After a major blow-out at her workplace where she arrived late and drunk for a meeting, blamed the “system” and assaulted her boss for firing her, she is mandated by the court to go to rehab, do community service, and is put under probation. As she was broke and without a job, she had to move back home and go through the 12 steps of recovery. Not many people struggling with addiction have a well-functioning family, and such is true for Sam as well. Her mother, Carol, (Ally Sheedy), is not exactly happy to have Sam back, wants to carry on with her life unencumbered after losing her husband. The loss of the father/husband is the major cause of rift between mother and daughter. Anyway, Sam finds help in the AA support group, gets a no-nonsense sponsor, Olivia (Rebecca Henderson), a job in a supermarket under a warm-hearted Mindy (Jojo Brown) and a potential for romance with James (Garrick Bernard). She also confronts the reality of her ex-boyfriend marrying her ex-best friend.

The above synopsis sounds like Mom without the fun, and it is not entirely false. It is only much more than just that. There is hilarity in the struggles of sobering up, a comfort in seeing an adult “adulting”, and succeeding in it. Sam beings as a train wreck but by the end of the 10 episodes, she has been 1 year sober, is more in control of her wants and expectations and that feels like a personal win for the viewer. It is a class of work which makes us wonder why we have the series, since it doesn’t feel like a sitcom, a slapstick and other types of comedies but still delivers. It upends the common belief that humor is in being drunk and consequences thereof, instead there is humor in growing-up while being an adult along with other adults around. Felicity (Lily Mae Harrington) is a single mother who is a party girl, and at the same time, she is highly responsible of her son and her job. This embodies the essence of the series.

Single Drunk Female is made on the real life experiences of the creator Simone Finch, and hence this is not an over-the-top series which makes us live vicariously. Many viewers would know someone struggling with addiction or are that person themselves, and can absolutely relate. It tells us, it is not fun being wrapped up in a childhood which once was, but there is happiness, comfort and pleasure in growing up as well. In this day and age, the media we are exposed to tells us that growing up and taking responsibility is hard and hence it is better not to. This series tells us that that thought is a potential fantasy, and life is hard at all stages, we just need to embrace it nonetheless; there are others who are in the same boat and together we can sort our lives out. This process is not limited to misfits, minority or marginalised groups, but is applicable to one and all. Also, it is refreshing to see new/lesser-known actors and that takes nothing away from the quality of the production. It makes for a light-hearted, feel-good, fresh dramedy which is highly recommended to binge watch.

Magpie Murders

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Lesley Manville, Tim McMullan, Alexandros Logothetis, Conleth Hill
Where to watch: Sony Liv
Seasons and episodes: 1 season, 6 episodes 45 minutes each
To watch or not to watch: A unique plot and investigation of a murder. Absolutely a must watch

Alan Conway (Conleth Hill) is a writer of the famous Atticus Pund novels and is writing a much-awaited book in the series (think Sherlock Holmes meets Hercule Poirot style murder mystery detective). Susan Ryeland (Lesley Manville) is a London editor for Alan, and doesn’t get along with him – mainly because Alan is an irascible man who is not happy writing Atticus Pund and punishes everyone around him for his unhappiness. Susan receives the latest Atticus Pund book, titled Magpie Murders, but it is missing the last chapter where the murder in the book is solved. Susan then goes to meet Alan to get the chapter, and finds that Alan has been murdered. Also, the last chapter is nowhere to be found. She then talks to everyone who was associated with Alan and slowly uncovers the real identities of the people Alan had used as characters in his book, and people had grudges against him for one reason or another. The suspect pool grows bigger.

The series is depicted through the parallels between the case in the book and real life murder of Alan Conway. While Susan is the real detective in real life, she is often thinking like Atticus Pund, to the extend that she hallucinates him. And since the people in the book are same as those in the vicinity of the murder victim, this whole depiction can be understood even with the chasm of the timelines.

The fact that the detective in the series is an editor, not someone who is qualified to find criminals makes the detection even more interesting for the viewers – it makes it more relatable. She is sure that the solution to the murder in the book will help with the murder of the author in real life, and she needs to solve both. Although the series is across timelines with frequent jumps from one timeline to another, it gets confusing only once through the entire length of 6 episodes. It keeps the interest going, not to mention refreshing. Lesley Manville is a very unlikely detective, she is a perfect editor and this goes with the vibe of the series. Highly recommend to watch.

The Invisible Man

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://filmschoolrejects.com/

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Starring: Elizabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Aldis Hodge, Harriet Dyer, Storm Reid
Where to watch: Netflix
To watch or not to watch: Obsessive-controlling-man trope done the right way

Cecilia (Elizabeth Moss) is married to Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who is a extremely rich pioneer in optics technology. She has the perfect plan to escape and she does it by the skin of her teeth, but her husband gets hurt in the process. She goes underground with the help of her sister and sister’s police boyfriend with no connection to anyone from her past. Then it is heard on the news that Adrian has committed suicide and left his fortune to Cecilia, bringing a much needed relief to everyone involved. Cecilia begins leading a normal life, looking for jobs and socialising with people, but strange occurrences start happening around her. In fact, she is arrested for slitting her sister’s throat in a crowded restaurant. She suspects Adrian has faked his death and is using his optics technology to somehow become invisible. By then, she has had enough and fights back.

The movie is done right – it takes the oft done theme of an obsessive male partner abusing the female partner and turns it into solid movie. It has done the opposite of what is unusual these days – great execution. While the theme might seem to many as common and might deter them to check this one out, the way this is ideated, crafted, acted and directed would be a treat. Another thing it does which makes it stand out is it is female centric, while most movies in this genre are centered around the male and his actions (slightly glorifying and justifying the toxicity).

The Invisible Man is visually stimulating, has the least amount of sound effects and only two false scares. Elizabeth Moss has once again delivered a brilliant performance, and it is safe to say The Handmaid’s Tale is the best thing to happen to her and her to it. Without it we wouldn’t have seen her in these leading roles. It is not very common for a female to carry off these roles and not easy either, and since these both things are present, it makes a must watch for more reasons.

Nine Perfect Strangers

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment
https://www.primevideo.com/

Rating: 3 out of 5

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Michael Shannon, Luke Evans, Tiffany Boone, Manny Jacinto, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale

Streaming on: Primevideo

To watch or not to watch: Meh. Watch it because it is available and you have time to kill

Nine people (4 individuals and 2 families) get accepted at a healing centre in Middle of Nowhere, USA. They all have suffered some form of setback or trauma in life and are looking to somehow get over it. The retreat is run by Masha (Nicole Kidman) and she is assisted by 3 other people.They keep everything under control and design the treatment program, customised for each attendee. Every attendee has some dark secret behind their traumas, which they are hididng, and apprehensive of each other in the beginning. Masha claims to have healed/cured/changed people’s lives in the 10 days they spend at the ridiculously expensive retreat. As time goes by, people make friends, share their life stories and generally open up to the others. In the parallel, we have Masha and her team conspiring about the treatment and have secrets of their own, which also forms a plot in parallel with the attendees’ stories.

First of, the name of the series is incorrect. It isn’t 9 perfect strangers all around. There is a couple and a family of three, which reduces the number of “strangers” for them. Secondly, the whole strangers meeting each other has been done with multiple times, ever since Agatha Christie wrote “And then there were none”. Here too, the part of getting to know each other and making friends, which is a large part of the series, is quite expected and hence feels dragged. Except the storyline of Frances (Melissa McCarthy) and Tony (Bobby Cannavale), which is entertaining and sweet and witty. There are instances in the first half of the series in which people question their presence at the retreat, as if it was not voluntary application?! If that is the question posed, the viewer needs either to know the origin of the question (like in Oldboy) or the answer to it (Matrix). That whole plot is left to open, never to be brought up again, discussed or revealed.

The series tries really hard to be full of intrigue or suspense and a sense of underlying plot twist, hinted all along through different memories of the people, but there is none. The deep soundtrack, tracking shots, psychedelic experiences, none of them lead anywhere, only give a sense of building upto something, which is ultimately nothing. In fact, the whole series can be reviewed by calling it “Tries Hard” – the staff tried hard to be full of intrigue while preparing the treatment plan, which is nothing more than felony crime, Nicole Kidman tries hard to be Masha who is inexplicably revered and is all that is ethereal but it fails because watching her speak can be physically painful, the guests try hard to make their lives hard, but in reality the regular medical world already has solutions to most of their troubles.

One thing the show highly favours is the appearances of people – everyone is in awe of Masha because she is this skinny silhouette clad in white, with a Russian accent as far from real as the physical distance between the countries. There is no reason for anyone to like her, or trust her, as it is revealed that she drugs the guests without their knowledge, all in the name of “healing” (really wrong messaging here, by the way, and surprising that not many people are speaking about it). Despite the potential to deliver on life-changing solutions to the very real problems some of the guests do seem to have, it just falls flat on the face, like having a Christmas gift from a favorite person, with beautiful wrapping, but the box is filled with packing peanuts. This analogy is more true, since this comes from the same set of creators and adapted from the same author who wrote Big Little Lies.

Melissa McCarthy deserves an award for her performance in this show, she is finally getting a role where she is able to show her range – no more goofy comic sidekick. She is also the only one who has a more detailed and relatable trauma from which she is a trying to recover. If you need a reason to watch the show, she is it. And nothing else.

Manchester By The Sea

Published on by cinemadilemmaLeave a comment

manchester-by-the-sea-filming-locations-poster-e1486498630240My rating: 3.5/5 stars

Starring: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges

The movie shows a short period of life (with flashbacks) of a single man, Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), living in Quincy, Massachuttes, working as a janitor in one of the apartment buildings. One day, he gets a call informing him of the demise of his brother, Joe Chandler (Kyle Chandler) in Manchester, due to a heart attack. The brother had a heart condition and it was a matter of time, till his heart gave out. Lee goes to Manchester where he finds out that he is named the guardian of Joe’s 16 year old son, Patrick Chandler (Lucas Hedges) by Joe. This, along with returning to Manchester, brings back a lot of memories for Lee, to escape which he had moved to Quincy. The movie follows his attempts at cementing a life with Patrick and dealing with his tragic past, which is quite a fight for him and Patrick.

The movie is very simple, which holds a lot of appeal for the viewer. The story is straight, albeit mighty depressing in parts. Casey Affleck reaffirmed what we all knew already, that he is a tragically underrated actor. The Oscar nomination is well deserved. The performance of each and every one of the actors was perfect. The story line is something we all want to see, a down-on-his-luck guy stands tall and strong in the face of adversity and turns things around, because really he is a good guy. The movie had left me wanting more, despite all the goodness. I would have liked to get some closure, instead of the convenience of the ending. Unlike all the movies which fall under this umbrella, there was no take-away, The story line abruptly took a thrill-less twist, and I felt dejected.  I will not say more or I will be giving out spoilers. Suffice it to say, it is a good movie, not a must watch but definitely not regretful.