In Fabric (2018)

Having been a fan of Peter Strickland since I discovered his talent in Berberian Sound Studio, I was excited when I first heard about In Fabric. Well, okay, I was partly excited and partly ready to poke fun at a plot that sounded superficially similar to I'm Dangerous Tonight (a movie directed by Tobe Hopper, and starring Mädchen Amick, that concerns a cursed red dress). Having now watched the film, I am not sure how best to describe it to others, which is going to make this review pretty bloody hard, but I know that I loved it.

There IS a cursed red dress. That is the best place to start. It is purchased by a woman named Sheila (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). Things soon start to go awry. The dress eventually ends up in the possession of a washing machine repairman named Reg (Leo Bill), spreading the curse to him before moving immediately on to his wife, Babs (Hayley Squires). There are also a couple of bank management staff members (played by Julian Barratt and Steve Oram), the mysterious shop clerk (played by Fatma Mohamed), and a number of other characters who all act at least slightly odd in this surreal nightmare.

There's too much to unpack here, and I am not sure if it is all intentional or not (although I suspect it is, considering who made it). The first half lays all of the groundwork. As soon as Sheila first became interested in the dress, with viewers knowing it holds some power, I began to think of the irony of a woman being literally destroyed by her choice of clothing. It's a statement used far too often by the ignorant neanderthals who still think that women being dressed a certain way play at least some small part in causing any sexual assaults committed against them. "Look at what she was wearing", "she was asking for it", and "well, she was leading him on" are all statements that need consigned to the dustbin of history, and yet we still have quite a way to go, sadly. So it feels as if Strickland is highlighting the ridiculousness of those sentiments by turning them all into something literal. You also get a lot of sharp commentary on the general competitiveness that affects women every day, either in the workplace (where some people will "inform" on others for brownie points, while the whole workforce probably deserves to be rewarded more for their good work) or just in general contact with other women (there's no denying the double meaning when one character vacates the bathroom for Sheila, telling her "as I know you're desperate").

Things seem to get murkier in the second half, but a lot of the main targets are still exactly the same. It's just that Strickland tries to distract viewers by making the main character male for one portion of the runtime. He's quite atypical though, certainly compared to the kind of men we would usually see in genre movies. Reg is a decent enough guy, even if we first see him drinking too much on a big night out, he's fairly dull, and seems to be completely devoted to his new wife, in a way that makes him absolutely oblivious to the slight teasing from another woman.

I've not even mentioned the wilder moments here, and I won't. Things get pretty crazy early on. Be prepared for a number of moments that don't necessarily make sense, but do add to the atmosphere and collage of impressive imagery. That includes the ending, although there's an obvious interpretation there that allows the whole thing to end on an obvious comment on the fashion industry and consumerism.

Everyone involved does great work, all in line with the atmosphere that Strickland is creating. Highlights include the turns from Gwendoline Christie, who gets some great dialogue, any moments involving Barratt and Oram, the constant spookiness of Mohamed, and the weary turn from Jean-Baptiste as she navigates her work life, a home occupied by her son (Jaygann Ayeh) and his lover (Christie), and the dating world.

The visuals are lush, there's a wonderful selection of music by Cavern Of Anti-Matter (yeah, I've never heard of them either, but they work perfectly here), and everything is just spot on. There are no negatives I can think of, aside from a few moments that don't really nail down the tone, but that doesn't mean everyone will love it. If you DO love it then you will LOVE it. Many others could end up hating it though. I can't see there being much middle ground.

9/10

Buy the movie here.

The Darkest Minds (2018)

Another month goes by, another YA novel is unsuccessfully adapted into movie form. This time it's The Darkest Minds. There's something about these teen-friendly film (wannabe-)franchises that often appeals to me, perhaps due to many of them being created with so many fun genre tropes in the mix (all of the ones I can think of right now are either horror, sci-fi, or whirling through a landscape of magic and fantasy, of course). Or perhaps it's just the case that the older I get, the more I try to pretend I'm still energetic and young at heart.

This particular tale starts with a MAJOR EVENT. It's not given any explanation, it's just a sudden occurence that immediately kills of a lot of the children on our planet and imbues those left behind with special powers. Some become smarter, some can use and control the electricity around them, some have telekinetic powers, and the most dangerous have the ability to brainwash others, even to the point of them being led towards harming themselves. Amandla Stenberg is Ruby, a young woman who is now viewed as one of the most dangerous of the child population. Her power is discovered while being graded in an internment camp, which she then has to escape from with the assistance of an adult (Mandy Moore) who seems to be wanting to help her. Unsure of who to trust and what to do, Ruby ends up teaming up with three other youngsters: electricity-wrangler Zu (Miya Cech), supersmart Chubs (Skylan Brooks), and telekinetic Liam (Harris Dickinson). The quartet end up heading towards a rumoured place of safety, headed up by a mysterious figure who has set himself as a leader of a resistance movement.

I suspect the biggest weakness here lies with the source material, by Alexandra Bracken, or the changes that have been made by Chad Hodge to adapt it into his screenplay. Although the main premise seems like a decent one, it's far too derivative and predictable once it gets past the opening act. It also feels a bit too haphazard, without enough scenes showing the ripple effect of the deadly initial incident, instead just giving us a couple of scenes to set up some main characters that will figure during important plot points. Although this is a film about a global crisis, you never get the feeling of that. I had, in fact, forgotten quite quickly that most of the other children around the world had been killed off in the opening moments.

Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson doesn't help. Everything is in place, but it's all assembled in a perfunctory way. The characters never feel well-rounded, they're just reduced to the tags given to them after the MAJOR EVENT, and none of the potential surprises in the plot are surrounded by enough distractions to make them work. There are a couple of good sequences that tease the horror genre ideas at the core, and a satisfying battle in the grand finale, but not enough to make up for the rest of the movie being so disappointingly generic.

Despite the weak direction and script, things could have been lifted a little bit more by the cast. Sadly, that doesn't happen. Stenberg tries, she just isn't quite good enough (although she's not bad). Brooks fares the best from the younger cast members, Patrick Gibson does well as the young leader assembling the young fugitives, while Cech and Dickinson fare the worst. The adults all do a bit better, with decent performances from Moore, Gwendoline Christie, and one of my favourite "big meanie" actors, Wade Williams, here portraying a . . . big meanie.

While not working with a huge budget, the money and people involved here ensure that it's far from unwatchable. It's just not surprising to find out that it underperformed, and probably won't be getting any of the intended sequels. But if it does end up getting them then I'll still end up watching them.

5/10

You can buy the DVD here.
Americans can get the Blu here.