Mubi Monday: Animals (2019)

When I saw that Alia Shawkat was one of the leads in Animals then I knew I had to watch it as soon as possible. It turns out that Holliday Grainger is an equally good lead performer, which made this even more enjoyable than I expected it to be.

Based on the novel by Emma Jane Unsworth, Animals is the tale of two close friends who seem to spend their time drinking, amusing one another, and keeping a distance from others they can then safely mock without pangs of painful self-awareness. Shawkat is Tyler, a superb and fierce force to be reckoned with. Normality and social norms are obstacles to be faced and overcome. Grainger is Laura, a writer who seems to be stuck on the actual writing part. She takes many notes, but hasn't put anything down that even comes close to resembling the start of her debut novel. Things start to change when Laura meets Jim (Fra Fee), a pianist who is happy to live a fairly normal life in between his times impressing people with his piano-playing prowess.

Having only seen one other film directed by Sophie Hyde (Good Luck To You, Leo Grande), and nothing else yet written by Unsworth, I was drawn to this by the cast alone. They are fantastic, but there's an energy and truth to the writing that makes me keen to try other material written by Unsworth. She may still need a good enough cast to help get everything successfully from page to screen, but the characters and observations are so well-crafted here that I wanted to spend more time exploring them all. I hope I can find similar satisfaction in other Unsworth projects.

Aside from Shawkat and Grainger, because I think I've made my views on their acting skills quite clear already, there's a solid turn from Fee as the pianist who forces one of the main characters to start re-evaluating and reframing their approach to life. Dermot Murphy also does a good job portraying Marty, a poet who somehow lives his authentic life without any of the self-doubt or guilt that Laura has, reflecting her own faultlines and insecurities back at her as she finds herself at an unexpected crossroads in her life.

Not only does Animals look at the struggle of those wanting to spend their lives being creative artists, it also highlights the chasm that exists between the self-belief of men and women, with the former generally benefiting from a history of not being told that they should give up on their dreams to settle down, marry, and have children. The main characters here might seem selfish and irritating at times, but being selfish and irritating is sometimes what it takes to do whatever your real passion is. And women get far fewer opportunities to try taking that demanding journey than men. That might not be the point of Animals, especially when one scene has characters actually discussing the priorities that animals need in their lives, but I suspect that it's definitely one of the main ingredients helping to make the final dish what it is.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande (2022)

An older woman and a young man meet. Sex is a distinct possibility. It is, in fact, the reason for their meeting. But that changes as the two start to talk and get to know one another, with a number of moments feeling much more like therapy than any casual date with a sex worker.

Written by Katy Brand, there are a lot of positives to take away from Good Luck To You, Leo Grande. It tries to show how much healthier and happier people could be if they stopped thinking of the idea of their own pleasure as something to be ashamed of. It tries to show sex work in a healthy scenario, although I am sure everyone involved knows that this is an idealistic representation (but other scenarios are acknowledged in conversation). And it serves as a reminder that getting older, or losing a loved one, doesn’t have to be the end of your life. You can be any age when you start exploring new experiences, and any day can be the first day of finding ways to make yourself happy and more confident. Because, let’s be honest, a really good sex sesh can put a spring in your step and give you a glow that others respond to, feeding your confidence and aura in a way that allows you to create a looped circuit running through your body, all well and good until one or two knocks break off that energy supply.

Director Sophie Hyde, who has a filmography that features a mix of dance, and explorations of sex, gender, and the loud ticking of the clock counting down the minutes of our lives, doesn’t do a bad job, but she is tied to the material in a way that is restrictive. This feels like a stage play, and it also feels too contrived on a couple of occasions. Viewers know they will see some nudity, for example, but all the talk of pleasure and healthy attitudes to sex don’t mean anyone is brave enough to, god forbid, show an actual penis. This may have been a censorship issue, but I suspect it was a decision made as part of the writing process. Because as well-intentioned as everyone involved surely is, they are also stuck in the mindset of great dialogue being the best medium for ideas that they don’t want to seem squeamish about.

It’s a good job that the two main leads here are Daryl McCormack and Emma Thompson, both doing great work (which is always assumed from the latter anyway). McCormack is a perfect blend of good looks, good sexual techniques, and good conversation. Thompson, on the other hand, is there to build up her confidence, to shake off her hang ups that end up being both about sex and about how she views herself. She is critical of what she sees in the mirror, she tries to deflect any compliments, and she takes a long time to start seeing herself differently. It is, for obvious reasons, the braver of the two performances, and kudos to Brand for using Thompson’s character as a way to underline the importance of boundaries and consent within any relationship, with her being the one who crosses a line in a way that she doesn’t even view as a big deal. It’s unfortunate that THAT moment signals the beginning of a downward slide in the third act, with moments of revelation and extra honesty that, ironically, feel inauthentic compared to the rest of the movie. And still the leads do what they can to lift the material.

The biggest criticism that can be said about Good Luck To You, Leo Grande is that it needed even more of everything. It needed more honesty, it needed more courage in its convictions, it needed more space for the characters. Hell, it even needed a bit more energy, and maybe a few choice soundtrack selections would have helped.

Much like how I would be rated by my own smattering of lovers, the end result is okay, pleasant enough and tries hard, but isn’t completely satisfying. 

5/10

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