Saint Maud (2019)

Look, ummm, here's the thing. I really liked Saint Maud, let's make that clear. But everyone else LOVED it. I almost loved it, were it not for the fact that it is a film in which you can see the ending pretty much coming from the very first scene. There's nothing really wrong with that, but it does take a little something away from the whole experience.

As a movie, Saint Maud is very good. As a feature debut from writer-director Rose Glass, it is a remarkably accomplished piece of work, one that explores faith, mental health, and also what it takes to be a person who cares for someone who is dying. Glass brings these elements together with no small amount of skill and care, helped by a central performance from Morfydd Clark that will, if there's any justice in the world, raise her profile immensely and see her offered many more roles worthy of her talents (although she already has a decent body of work to her name, just nothing on this level).

Clark is Maud, a young woman who is now tasked with caring for the dying Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). While helping to tend to her body, Maud seriously works on also saving Amanda's soul. She does this by having conversations with her about god, but also by trying to warn away those she sees as being corrupting influences (namely a woman named Carol, played by Lily Frazer). Something has happened in Maud's past though, something that may have shaken her faith in her own abilities to properly care for patients, but it remains to be seen if Maud has learned from that mistake/incident or whether she still has much to learn about dealing with terminal illness.

Dark and grim throughout, perhaps the best thing done here by Glass is making the whole film easier to appreciate and experience, even as you know that it's heading down a tunnel that will just get darker and darker. She does this with the very smallest crumbs of humour, and also by walking that fine line between showing things in an unflinching way and making the whole thing too uncomfortable for people. There's also some fantastic audio work going on, and an interesting and impressive score by Adam Janota Bzowski.

The other big plus is the central relationship between Maud and Amanda, both played to perfection by the leads. Amanda is understandably weary and cynical, but also has moments in which she seems to genuinely respond to the young woman caring for her. Ehle portrays her with aI  mix of exhaustion and sly humour. Maud is a young woman hiding herself in various ways, whether it's using different names, blotting out thoughts with alcohol and/or sex, or her religion, itself perhaps more akin to a fairytale story in which she can make herself the heroine at the heart of it. I really can't accurately describe how good Clark is in the role, it's a star-making turn in a film that may sadly prove too difficult for some to stay with until the very end (not a criticism at all, it's just mature and difficult content that isn't an "easy sell"). What could have easily been a performance made up of twitches and nervous energy is instead sold in a very real way. Maud often knows not to tell other people what she is thinking, although she sometimes can't help herself, and a lot of the film has her trying to restrain herself while exasperated by a world around her that seems impossible to save. Frazer is a good shot of energy in the role of Carol, and Lily Knight plays Joy, a young woman who knew Maud in her past and has one or two conversations with her that helps to clue viewers in to the fact that something has happened in the past that hopefully won't be repeated.

Again, to clarify, I really liked this. You'll be able to read a dozen other reviews from people who absolutely loved it. I just don't think it was perfect, mainly because of the predictability of the material. I do, however, think Glass has delivered one of the best feature debuts in recent history, and I appreciate both that and the fact that she's brought the huge talent of Clark to my attention.

8/10

Mubi Monday: Vox Lux (2018)

The second feature from writer-director Brady Corbet, who has a filmography that also contains a number of acting roles from the past few couple of decades, Vox Lux is a film that suffers from a lack of focus. The annoying thing is that two central points that the movie revolves around are definitely a focus for the characters, but they're ultimately left too far in the background as we're left with a mediocre character study that doesn't have enough brilliance in either the script or the acting department to lift it up.

Having survived a horrific school shooting, Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) manages to use her new-found "fame" to build a career, one that has her singing alongside her sister, Eleanor (Stacy Martin). The first half of the movie shows the development of the two girls, as Celeste grows more and more into her role while Eleanor seems to fade into the background. We then cut forward by many years. Celeste (now played by Natalie Portman) is a bag of rock diva clichés, struggling to contain her nerves, her anger, and struggling to be the mother she might want to be to her daughter (Albertine, the second character played by Raffey Cassidy).

Although there may be a variety of influences here, the main ones would seem to be Nicolas Winding Refn (particularly in the third act, seeing how Portman's character performs her songs) and, strangely enough, Wes Anderson. Some people have already mentioned recognising the former, few have noted the latter, so it may just be my brain working improperly again. But the Willem Dafoe narration throughout, the problematic parenting, the low-key nature of scenes that could have easily been executed more bombastically, the mature behaviour of the young girls who are front and centre for the first half of the movie, and the very deliberate movements and carefully-considered speech of Portman (almost like a puppet at times when she has to be "on" for others) certainly had me thinking that there were enough similarities here with Anderson's usual checklist to make it worth noting.

People have been praising Portman's performance. I'm not sure why. She is bordering on the terrible here, helped in no way at all by the script. Celeste is that cartoonish idea of the personality you give a celebrity after you've met them once while they were having a bad day. Yes, there are darker depths and more interesting elements of her personality worth exploring, tied in with how her career began and what she has done to keep it going, but they are left aside as Corbet contents himself with moving from one soap opera moment to another. Both Martin and Cassidy do much better work, the latter excellent in both of her roles, although the second role is a much lesser one (where she feels like little more than a sounding board for her mother). Jude Law does alright with his turn, a savvy manager, and Jennifer Ehle does well in the few scenes that she has, playing the PR person handling a fairly difficult day. Both of those characters are also underdeveloped, but that's fine because they simply revolve around Celeste.

Corbet seems to be aiming for something more here. I'm sure there are others that have taken more from it. His biggest problem is his inability to identify and separate the better points to make from the trite moments. Indeed, he seems to absolutely confuse the two, spending much more time on the stale, weaker, material than on anything more thought-provoking and confrontational.

It looks pretty good throughout, and the very heart of the film makes it at least worth a watch, but this is ultimately a disappointing experience. I would recommend any of the movies from the other directors mentioned ahead of this, if you like their work, and I wouldn't be averse to the idea of someone one day taking this premise and reworking it into something more focused, and much better.

4/10

You will be able to buy it here.
Americans can buy it here.

The Miseducation Of Cameron Post (2018)

When Cameron Post (Chloe Grace Moretz) is caught in a sexual encounter with another girl, she is sent away to a gay conversion therapy centre. Here she meets Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr) and his sister, Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle), who run the centre, and other teenagers who are supposed to be being "cured" of their sickness. The teens include Cameron's roommate, Erin (Emily Skeggs), and the likes of Jane (Sasha Lane), Adam (Forrest Goodluck), and Mark (Owen Campbell). Very few of them seem to believe what the adults are trying to sell to them, but that doesn't make the whole process any less harmful.

The fact that The Miseducation Of Cameron Post can both make you very angry while also proving to be enjoyable entertainment is testament to the quality work put in by everyone involved, from page (it's base on a novel by Emily M. Danforth) to screen.

Indeed, there are many scenes here that you've seen many times before. Standard coming-of-age stuff, or moments of individuals who feel like outcasts meeting kindred spirits and finding strength in that revelation that they're not as alone as they first thought. But everything is freshened up by the setting, the background to why all of these characters are here, and not just the teenagers but the adults too (it's revealed early on that Reverend Rick was "cured" some time ago).

All of the younger cast members do great work, although it's strange that Moretz, who is often so good, feels like she spends many scenes taking a step back while she remains the lead character. This isn't a major criticism, it's a compliment if anything, but Cameron is more our lens through which we get to view this warped world rather than someone going on their own journey. She may be moved around physically but Cameron very rarely feels anything but disdain for the process that she has been pushed into. The same goes for the characters played by Lane and Goodluck, both are confident in just knowing who they are while trying to do what needs done to placate the adults and get themselves out of there as quickly as possible. More interesting conflict comes from the moments involving Skeggs, who tries to act positively saintly at times, and Campbell, who obviously feels the most pain from how his sexuality has damaged his relationship with an uncaring father. Ehle is very good, and most worryingly self-satisfied at the fact that they are doing the right thing for the teenagers they view as sick, but Gallagher Jr. is given at least one great moment in which he expresses a major moment of self-doubt and shows that the harm being caused, the lives being potentially shattered, all stem from someone who means well but is also being ignorant and selfish. We all know what road is paved with good intentions.

Director Desiree Akhavan, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Cecilia Frugiuele, does an excellent job of showing who is in the right and who is in the wrong without turning anyone into outright heroes or villains. You can easily boo and hiss the adults here, and with good reason, but the script and direction doesn't demonise them. What induces rage and frustration also induces no small amount of sadness, and the inevitable thought that these people work with teenagers because adults would be in more of as position to shut their bullshit down within seconds and push them aside as they headed out the door.

The Miseducation Of Cameron Post is, undoubtedly, a film about abuse, and the way in which it sugarcoats the bitter pill is very impressive indeed, making it more accessible to some who might otherwise have avoided it. Check it out when you can, and I hope you're also moved and angered by it.

8/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.