Mubi Monday: The End (2024)

The first narrative feature directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, who has been praised and celebrated for two confrontational documentaries that he helmed over a decade ago (The Act Of Killing and The Look Of Silence), The End is a strange and unsatisfying experience that has made me sure of only one thing: I will finally watch those aforementioned documentaries before I will rush to watch any other standard feature films from Oppenheimer.

A family live alone in a shelter that has allowed them to stay safe in a post-apocalyptic world. They are simply identified as Mother (Tilda Swinton), Father (Michael Shannon), and Son (George MacKay). A few others are staying with them. They are Friend (Bronagh Gallagher), Doctor (Lennie James), and Butler (Tim McInnerny). Things seem to be going okay, but the situation is complicated by the sudden addition of a stranger from the outside world, Girl (Moses Ingram). Boy takes a liking to Girl, of course, which puts Mother and Father on very shaky ground.

I might have enjoyed this more if it wasn't so pre-occupied with being some kind of artistic (anti-)musical. Having said that, if the music and lyrics had been better then that would have helped immensely. In fact, the biggest problem here, despite the distracting choices made in the production side of things, is a lack of any real insight. Oppenheimer, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Rasmus Heisterberg, doesn't seem to have much of a point, aside from the standard growing pains that we've seen many times before. Although I didn't love it, even Annette (a film I believe has a number of artistic touchstones connecting to this) felt as if everything in it had a point. This does not. Oppenheimer has nothing interesting to say, and he fails to compensate for that by at least leaning in to something that could have made the 148-minute runtime worth investing in. Be bolder in the designs and vision, lean into some comedy or horror, or just make more of the musical element, instead of having every character simply stop occasionally to deliver one of many tuneless dirges.

The cast can't be faulted. MacKay is particularly good in his role, while both Swinton and Shannon feel as if they've decided to be a part of this project because it's just the kind of sandbox they like to play around in every couple of years. Gallagher gets at least one great moment, as does McInnerny, although James is disappointingly sidelined for most of the film. As for Ingram, her character certainly changes the dynamic of the film, but she's not really responsible for much more than just being a reminder of an outside world, a difficult past, and harsh decisions made that allowed these survivors to be in the position that we first found them in.

I have no doubt that quite a few people will have loved this when they saw it. It certainly has enough names on both sides of the camera to give it an in-built cachet for those seeking their next arthouse hit. I had hoped to enjoy it. If that wasn't to be then I had hoped to appreciate it, at the very least. I could do neither. There's some nice shot composition, but that's really not enough to make me feel that this was worth my time. All of my generous rating is down to the consistent quality of a cast unable to break out of the restraints put upon them by the material.

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: Femme (2023)

Expanding on a short film made a couple of years previously (that starred Harris Dickinson and Paapa Essiedu in the main roles), Femme is a fascinating and complex character study that looks at sexuality, damaging machismo, revenge, consent, and homophobia. Co-written and co-directed by Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, it's a brilliantly tense and breathtaking work that marks them out as two exciting talents to keep a close eye on.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett plays Jules, a young man we first see in his drag queen persona. He looks so good that he catches the eye of Preston (George MacKay). Later on, however, Preston is with a group of friends in a small shop that Jules is using, leading to a confrontation that ends with Jules being violently attacked. Retreating further and further inside himself, Jules eventually starts to regain his confidence, and a sense of purpose, when he befriends Preston, who doesn't recognise him in his non-stage persona, and figures out that he can use sex to entrap and embarrass him.

I really wasn't sure about Femme when it started. Nothing to do with the subject matter, I just don't always respond well to MacKay in lead roles. He's a good actor, but not always the right fit for the roles he gets, and I was worried that his character here would feel like the character he played in I Came By. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. He's still not the ideal choice, especially when you think of how good Dickinson was in the first incarnation of the character, but you can't feel him struggling to maintain the accent and act this time around. It helps that he's often alongside Stewart-Jarrett, who is phenomenally good in his role (whether leaning into his drag queen persona or being forced to "pass" in the company of Preston's friends). There are a handful of others populating the screen, all doing well, but this is all about the two leads, and both have enough faith in the material to fully commit to roles that require them to be unhesitant and nakedly intimate with one another (metaphorically and, sometimes, almost literally).

Freeman and Ping know what they're doing here, and they guide viewers through these muddy waters with a very steady set of hands. There's the kind of standard narrative arc that you would expect from that plot description, but there's also much more going on around that. Both Preston and Jules fail to keep themselves within any one particular box, and both act around other people in ways that often cost themselves a chance for moments of happiness. This isn't dissimilar to how so many people act every day, although there may be very different factors involved, and everyone watching this should be able to empathise with some of the interactions depicted (particularly the peer pressure that, to a certain degree, holds both of our leads back at various times).

I can't even begin to properly pick apart all of the threads that I mentioned in the first paragraph, but just know that everything mentioned here is treated with intelligence and care as the film builds to a powerful and moving finale. The audio and visuals match the energy of each main sequence, as well as the growing intensity, and the whole thing is a perfect blend of the gripping and the thought-provoking. Highly recommended, and bonus points if you sit down to watch it in the company of any homophobes you want to start a dialogue with, or just make feel very uncomfortable.

9/10

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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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Netflix And Chill: Pride (2014)

This is the kind of thing that we get every so often in British cinema. A little gem of a film that works as well as it does because of the way in which various characters manage to maintain a sense of humour in the face of overwhelming derision/hatred from others. Having finally reminded myself to give Pride a watch, my timing could not have been any better. Remember that saying about those not remembering history being doomed to repeat it? I hope more people watch Pride this year. Not only is it a wonderful and satisfying viewing experience, it's a reminder of why those being held down and pilloried by authorities should help to support one another, hence the importance of unions, and also serves as an important reminder of the attitude people used to have towards gay people, a rush to demonise someone unknown because they weren't familiar with the concept in their own life. There's a LOT that is shown in Pride that still goes on today, the only differences are the main targets.

Anyway, let's get to the crux of the tale. It's the mid-1980s. The miner's strike is taking a huge toll on small mining villages all over the country. The LGBTQ+ community are busy trying to be treated like the normal human beings they are, something about to be made even harder by the rise of AIDs (which was seen by many as a "gay disease", and I suspect many still think that way). Seeing how the UK government have directed their resources and threats towards the miners, when it had previously been so busy crusading against the imaginary gay agenda, one young man (Mark Ashton, played by Ben Schnetzer) has the idea of supporting the miners and raising some money for them. Others don't immediately see the point of his campaigning, especially as the many small towns that would have mining at the heart of them would tend to be most unwelcoming, and outright hostile, to gay people. Mark keeps at it though, eventually getting more and more people on his side, and the charity group he heads up soon start to make a positive impact on a struggling Welsh town. Dai Donovan (Paddy Considine), a main spokesman for the miners in that town, is very happy to meet and thank them, and invites them to be thanked by the rest of the townspeople. The rest of the townspeople, however, aren't as eager to admit that they are receiving a lifeline from the gay community.

While director Matthew Warchus may not have an extensive filmography, he tends to aim for quality over quantity, and while this is the first screenplay by writer Stephen Beresford to be made into a film, Pride couldn't feel much more comfortable and assured. A large part of that is down to the casting, which I will get to shortly, but Beresford knows how to make the most of the laugh out loud lines that he intersperses throughout the film, Warchus moves viewers swiftly through the timeline of events without giving anyone whiplash, and the whole thing manages to maintain a constant bittersweet tone throughout, especially if you have any idea of how things ended for the main characters. This is a "feel good" film, but that's an impressive achievement when you consider just how many things aren't necessarily going to lead to a happy ending.

Is it all factually accurate? I doubt it. I'd imagine that the heart of the story is true, and some liberties have been taken to give us a better mix of characters and some dialogue that emphasises what everyone was striving for, be it tolerance from others or an ongoing attempt to smash through the iron fist of Margaret Thatcher. Yes, it helps that this often aligns with my own political leanings, and it's a very political film that offsets that with a focus on the humans at the heart of the machine being turns by cogs of government and the law, but it's hard to think of anyone watching this and absolutely hating it. 

Schnetzer is fantastic as the lightning rod for everything that unfolds, helped by the fact that he is surrounded by so many familiar faces. The Welsh accents are all fairly well executed, and you cannot go wrong with a cast that includes Considine, Imelda Staunton, and Bill Nighy, all of whom are doing absolutely fantastic work, and all of whom have fun with their new allies. Menna Trussler and Jessica Gunning are also wonderful, being inspired to do a bit more with their time as they see how the LGSM (Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners) live their lives, while Lisa Palfrey gets her teeth into the role of Maureen Barry, a character used as a personification of the intolerance and ingratitude that the LGSM come up against. George MacKay is Joe Cooper, a young man getting to grips with his own sexuality, and the film is helped by often placing viewers in a position to see his nervousness giving way to a sense of purpose and happiness, Dominic West steals a few moments, playing the flamboyant and carefree Jonathan, and there's also excellent work from Andrew Scott, Joe Gilgun, and Faye Marsay, the latter two portraying other core members of the LGSM.

What else can I say? There's a very good soundtrack, featuring a number of songs you'd expect to accompany this story, a hefty emotional weight to everything, and a real feeling of, well, pride in watching what can be accomplished by people connecting and working together instead of letting their lives be defined by what makes them different from one another. And there are few things funnier than Imelda Staunton's sharp retort to someone trying to be a smartass while she drives a bus donated to the community by the LGSM, but I won't spoil it by quoting it here. Enjoy it for yourself, and do it as soon as you can.

 8/10

Here is a link to Switchboard (the LGBT+ helpline).
And here is a link to the website for the Durham Miner's Association.

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Netflix And Chill: I Came By (2022)

Directed by Babak Anvari, who also gave us the excellent Under The Shadow (AND the very enjoyable Wounds), I Came By is a slick and intermittently enjoyable thriller, based on a story by Anvari and written by Namsi Khan. It has one problem, but that problem is enough to unsettle the whole thing, sadly, and I'll get to it soon enough.

George MacKay is Toby Nealey, a young graffiti artist who enjoys spending his time breaking into the homes of the rich and powerful, tagging their walls with the message of "I came by", and proudly watching his work appear on local news. He's helped in his endeavours by Jay (Percelle Ascott), but the two part ways when Jay finds out that he is about to be a dad. Determined not to stop his spray-painting protests, Toby ends up in the home of Hector Blake (Hugh Bonneville), a retired judge. Blake is still very friendly with people high up in the local police force, and he's the sort of person you expect to be a pillar of the community. But he also has a very dark secret, one that leaves Toby with a hell of a dilemma. This also drags his mother, Lizzie (Kelly Macdonald), into things, despite the fact that she has previously been unaware of Toby's graffiti campaign.

MacKay is okay in his role, although his performance is sorely weighed down by an accent that seems to have been taught to him by Ali G. Ascott is also okay in his role, although his performance is slightly weighed down by the script. Macdonald is in the same boat as Ascott, but she does slightly better, as you might expect from Macdonald. The star is Bonneville though, playing the villain of the piece with aplomb. Always generally maintaining an air of composure and civility, Bonneville's character is all the more fun because of his confidence. Whatever he may or may not be up to, he acts like someone who knows they will never have to worry about receiving any punishment.

In amongst the standard thriller moments, and they're often moments that we've seen in many other movies, there are some interesting ideas in here about class, about the futility of protesting with gestures that aren't backed up by actions, and the danger of self-doubt and procrastination just because you view yourself as someone unable to effect ANY change.

I did mention that one big problem though, the one that unsettles the whole film, and I'm sure you're all dying to know what that is. There's no central protagonist. A film like this needs a central protagonist, but we don't get that. I am sure Khan and Anvari thought they were making the film even more interesting, it's certainly an unusual approach, but it just ends up distancing viewers from the onscreen events. It's hard to care for anyone when you realise they may disappear from the plot at any time, only to then be replaced by a less interesting character given the nominal lead role for a while.

I can easily imagine people liking this quite a bit more than I did, but I wouldn't be surprised if many felt the same way. That one big problem is a BIG problem, and even people not thinking about it consciously may well get to the end of the film and wonder why they never felt fully engaged with the plot. I couldn't bring myself to recommend it, unless you can dismiss the rest of the movie and just enjoy the fantastic turn from Bonneville.

4/10

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1917 (2019)

Directed by Sam Mendes, who also co-wrote the thing with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, 1917 is that WWI film that looks as if it is all made in one shot, with some of the hidden cuts easier to spot than others as you follow the main characters on a quest to the front, to deliver a message that will stop a load of soldiers from falling into a trap laid for them by the enemy.

That's really all there is to it. Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay play Lance Corporal Blake and Lance Corporal Schofeld, respectively, the two soldiers sent through dangerous territory to deliver the message. And the cast also includes small roles for Colin Firth, Andrew Scott, Mark Strong, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The more recognisable faces seem to help mark various chapters in the journey, with most of the other people onscreen either unrecognisable or just featured as one part of the military unit they're enlisted in.

There was a time when I considered attempting to write this review in one long ramble, hence that lengthy opening paragraph. But then I decided that would be too painful to read. It's a gimmick that would work worse on this blog than it does onscreen, and it doesn't work that well onscreen. Maybe war isn't the best subject for gimmickry, or maybe this technique (one shot/long scenes without cuts) already feels slightly overused, thanks to some recent great examples.

That's the main thing about 1917. It's quite dull. The acting is just fine from everyone involved, the cinematography from Roger Deakins is pretty glorious, and the music by Thomas Newman is there to ensure that you never forget how important and impressive the film is. That's in line with every other aspect of the film.

Considering the main message of the film is one we have seen many times before (which, in itself, is no reason to NOT make a film), and considering we don't get to learn as much about many of the main characters, 1917 is a film that turns out to be all about itself. It's all about that pretend one shot, it's all about Mendes marshalling everyone to get his vision onscreen, it's all about nothing more than how it all looks.

That wouldn't be so bad if it was also thought-provoking or interesting. It isn't. 1917 is a very dull war movie. And war during wartime is far from dull, I'm sure, which leaves me thinking that Mendes has somewhat let down the many people he had set out to honour. There are a couple of cinematic moments that do make it worth your time, for the scale and skill of the visuals, but that's the best thing I can say.

5/10