Mubi Monday: The Beast (2023)

I'll start this review by admitting that it took me a while to get a firm hold of what was being explored here. It's a sci-fi drama that explores humanity and human connection, and it helps that the two leads are played by the excellent Léa Seydoux and the solid George MacKay, but the structure of the narrative is more convoluted and complicated than it needs to be, as far as I'm concerned.

Seydoux plays Gabrielle, a young woman who signs herself up for a process that will purify her DNA. This is done by regressing her to past lives and scrubbing away strong emotions, but that becomes a bit tougher, and Gabrielle may regret her decision, when she keeps meeting a man named Louis (George MacKay). Gabrielle and Louis seem destined to dance around one another in various lives, not entirely unlike two strands winding around one another to form a DNA helix, but the chances of the two of them having a happy ending is drastically reduced by the very process that keeps reminding them of their times together.

Based loosely on a novella, "The Beast In The Jungle", by Henry James, director Bertrand Bonello was clearly drawn to the heart of the material, so much so that he also worked on the screenplay with Guillaume Bréaud and Benjamin Charbit. That makes it easier to hold Bonello accountable for the mishandling of the main ideas, which may leave some other viewers as disappointed as I was.

Seydoux is as good as she always is, but she also has the benefit of playing someone who acts quite consistently throughout the various time persiods shown. MacKay suffers slightly from the fact that the script requires him to play at least one of his personas in a way that is very different to other incarnations, but he does well enough to often hold his own opposite Seydoux. There are a number of supporting characters, but most of them fade into the background like so much wallpaper. The main exception is Guslagie Malanda, quite brilliant as the "caretaker" who looks after Gabrielle in between her purification sessions.

I've seen a lot of love for this elsewhere already, and I have loved the other four films (three features, one short) I have seen from Bonello, but this didn't work for me. I never really felt the strength of the connection between the characters, nor did I feel the weight of what they could be adding or removing from their lives, despite always rooting for Seydoux and MacKay to somehow overcome the material. I'll just have to wait patiently for whatever comes next for any of these three individuals - Bonello, Seydoux, MacKay - but it's a major disappointment that the three of them couldn't work together on something that could stand out as a highlight for all of them.

And don't even get me started on an "end credit sequence" that asks you to scan a QR code. I couldn't have rolled my eyes any further back into my head if I was able to remove them from their optic nerves.

4/10

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Mubi Monday: Wobble Palace (2018)

I wasn't looking forward to the rest of Wobble Palace after getting through the first few minutes. In fact, I had already wondered how I would remain polite and constructive in what I imagined would be a fairly scathing review. The lead male character was awful and nauseating, and the lead female character was someone I judged based on the fact that she'd been in a relationship with that male. Thankfully, I soon realised that those involved with the film knew exactly what they were doing. This is a film populated by, and I cannot think of any better word for them, wankers. Some are better than others, but all of them have succumbed to the multitude of temptations surrounding us in modern life, from easy sex to easy money, from pretentious art to a sustained level of narcissism. 

Eugene Kotlyarenko plays Eugene, the young man who may be nearing the end of his relationship with Jane (Dasha Nekrasova). The two agree to split the time in their home over one weekend, with Eugene having the place to himself on the Saturday and Jane due to have it on the Sunday. All that freedom could be a blessing, but it all depends on what plans Eugene and Jane can fit into their one allotted day, making use of Tinder, friends with benefits, or just people they have been interested in for some time already. It also feels like an optimistic time, offsetting the personal troubles of the lead characters, just before the election of 2016, with Jane particularly pleased at the thought of the USA about to have their first female President.

With Kotlyarenko also in the director's chair here, having developed the story with Nekrasova, it's good to see that he knows how much comedy he can mine from his onscreen persona. Kotlyarenko also helmed the better-known Spree (the film he delivered immediately after this one), and he has a good way of incorporating phone screen activity into his movies without it feeling overly cool or gimmicky. For better or for worse, Kotlyarenko also seems to be very familiar with the type of character that he plays in this movie. That's not to undersell the value of Nekrasova's input, however. She seems equally well-informed when it comes to her character, and the way in which she views the bubble that she lives in. Nekrasova made a bit more of an impact recently with her feature debut, The Scary Of Sixty-First, and it's easy to see the connective tissue between the two films.

Alongside the fun lead performances, support comes in the shape of Paige Elkington (a potential date/photographer), Kim Ye (also a potential date), Caroline Hebert (can you guess?) and Vishwam Velandy (yep, he plays someone that Jane wants to have some sexy fun with). They aren't the only people in the cast, but they are the most memorable. Each character brings out something in our leads, mainly showing up their glaring flaws, and there's fun to be had in watching each main encounter unfold.

I am sure that many people will react to this as I did during the opening 5-10 minutes. But give it a bit more time and I suspect you may be won round. While it is, in many ways, similar to many other lo-fi indie comedy dramas of the past decade or so, Wobble Palace actually has a lot of sharp wit folded into pretty much every scene. There's a level of insight and self-awareness that other films in this arena often lack. I would happily rewatch this any time, and I hope to one day check out some of the earlier work from Kotlyarenko (who has now played a character named Eugene in at least three feature films, with A Wonderful Cloud, from 2015, sounding like a practice run at this material).

8/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Scary Of Sixty-First (2021)

Okay, here's the plot summary for The Scary Of Sixty-First, which I have copied directly from the streaming service I used to watch it. "While out apartment hunting, college pals Noelle and Addie stumble upon the deal of a lifetime: a posh duplex on Manhattan's Upper East Side. But soon after moving in, a more sinister picture of the apartment emerges when a mysterious woman arrives and claims the property used to belong to the infamous and recently-deceased Jeffrey Epstein."

Yeah. Feel free to go back and read that again, and again, until it sinks in.

Here's my view on comedy, and it's not necessarily one that everyone will agree with. Everything CAN be joked about, and I don't mind jokes about anything. Mind you, I am in quite a privileged position, and I think context is key. Oh, and it matters that the joke is actually funny. I also think there's a difference between making any joke in the company of one or two people and making a joke that you send out into the world, via the internet. My view on taste is similar to my view on comedy, in that something being tasteless isn't a major problem . . . if it's funny enough.

The Scary Of Sixty-First, although it works for some people (which I have since discovered from a couple of conversations I have had), didn't work for me. I found it tasteless, relatively pointless, and, worst of all, unfunny. A couple of moments made me laugh, those moments focusing on the British royal family, but almost everything else became an endurance test.

Madeline Quinn, who plays Noelle, co-wrote the screenplay with director Dasha Nekrasova, who plays "The Girl", and it's clear that those two are having fun. Betsey Brown, playing Addie, puts on a brave face, and performs in one of the most amusingly twisted sex scenes I have seen in some time (it's kind of jaw-dropping, although not really graphic). Although I was worried at how bad Nekrasova might be in the role of writer-director-lead, as the whole thing reeks of an ill-conceived vanity project, she is a solid driver at the wheel, and an enjoyable onscreen presence. I will also mention Mark Rapaport, the other person involved in that aforementioned sex scene, because he fits in well with the overall vibe and humour.

On the one hand, I cannot praise this much. I was left relatively unimpressed and unsatisfied by it. On the other hand, however, it definitely feels as if everyone involved did exactly what they set out to do. There are at least a couple of moments here that I won’t forget in a hurry, and I like it a little bit more now, thinking back on it, than I did when it was all playing out before my disbelieving eyes.

I still dislike it though, but I don’t hate it. And I admire the chutzpah of everyone involved. Maybe their next collaborative project, hopefully with a less sensational hook, will be more to my liking.

4/10

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