Netflix And Chill: Joyride (2022)

Don't let the title here fool you. Despite having the word joy there, this isn't exactly the most carefree and cheery fare to watch. It's a mix of comedy and drama with the emphasis very much on the latter, but it's also one of those wonderful modern features that underlines an important point about being able to pick and choose your own family. Many may be aware of my own push back against the many "blood is thicker than water" and "you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family" sayings that have caused more harm than good throughout the decades, and Joyride presents a brilliant example of people finding their own strong familial bond after spending so much time pulling away from others.

Charlie Reid plays Mully, a young lad who ends up running away from his father (played by Lochlann O'Mearáin) after catching him stealing a load of charity money. Mully takes the money with him, determined to stay ahead of his father until he can figure out how to give it back. That's how he ends up driving away in a taxi that he thinks is empty, but it actually contains a small baby and one unhappy mother (Joy, played by Olivia Colman). Joy is heading to hand her baby over to her sister, she just doesn't think of herself as the maternal type, and Charlie decides they can stick together as he keeps thinking about how to put back the money that his dad stole. The baby needs care, the car needs fuel, and both Joy and Mully need to see a time when they can face the consequences of their actions.

This is actually the second film I have seen helmed by director Emer Reynolds, but the first was a fine documentary (The Farthest, which I recommend). Considering I had already loved Patrick's Day, the Terry McMahon film on which she was an editor, it seems that I was already quite the fan of Reynolds without realising it. I am not familiar with writer Ailbhe Keogan, but the fact that they also wrote a couple of episodes of the celebrated Bad Sisters leads me to believe that this well-constructed and occasionally beautiful screenplay is nicely in line with their other work.

It still essentially all boils down to the two central performances though, and both Reid and Colman are excellent. I generally expect excellence of Colman every time I see her now, even while she's working with an Irish accent (which I think she nails), and she doesn't disappoint, particularly in a scene that has her relating a moment from her childhood that explicitly ties in to every fear and worry that has become part of her character's DNA. Reid is the pleasant surprise, and it will be interesting to see whether or not he can continue getting good enough roles to maintain a positive trajectory in his acting career. He manages to be both sweet and foul-mouthed, sometimes in the same moment, and also shows the vulnerability barely hidden by his youthful cockiness and anger. O'Mearáin is happy to be depicted as a constant threat, the main villain of the piece, and does well in scenes that help you to root for the leads to keep themselves away from people you know will just ruin their fleeting moments of happiness.

I doubt this will be remembered in a year or two, it's a small-scale movie showing the external effects of ongoing internal struggles, but I hope that people will catch it while it's pretty easily available. Nothing is spectacular, aside from some of the acting, but it's all done very well, and both Reynolds and Keogan deserve praise for providing enough dry humour and little victories to make it easier to handle the more intense and downbeat moments.

7/10

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Mubi Monday: Love And Friendship (2016)

Based on a novella by Jane Austen, Love & Friendship is a sharp and witty period film that provides a great lead role for Kate Beckinsale, being so enjoyable here that it's enough to make you wish she didn't spend so much of her film career as a leather-clad vampire caught in a war between vampires and lycan (and I never thought I would type that sentence).

Beckinsale is Lady Susan Vernon, a widow who is set to arrive at the home of some in-laws. She has a reputation as a renowned flirt, although some say that she is simply someone who creates fine and enjoyable company for those around her. Her main concerns are finding a suitable match for her daughter (Frederica, played by Morfydd Clark) and ensuring her own position in society remains as safe and secure as can be, which is no easy task.

Director Whit Stillman, who also adapted the source material into screenplay form, keeps everything as expected for a period film, with the language and look of the thing as prim and proper as can be, but is able to also make it feel quite fresh and modern thanks to the attitude of the woman at the heart of the main events. Lady Susan is quite the go-getter, and in a manner more overt than most characters we see in this kind of thing.

Beckinsale has a lot of fun in the main role, almost every scene that has her interacting with others has her performing in a way that manipulates them to assist her in whatever her aim is, be it short or long-term. Clark does fine as her daughter, although it's a role that maybe could have been kept offscreen for most of the movie, such is the long shadow of her mother and the seeming lack of personal motivation in the character. As for the main men onscreen, Xavier Samuel is typically handsome and courteous in the role of Reginald DeCourcy, a potential suitor, and Tom Bennett is very amusing as the well-meaning, but quite dim, Sir James Martin. There's also solid work from Chloë Sevigny, as a friend married to a man (Stephen Fry) who disapproves of the friendship, Emma Greenwell, Justin Edwards, and a number of other familiar faces.

Strangely enough, however, when you look beyond the more modern sensibilities that are surprisingly prevalent throughout the film, it's hard not to consider that this is something that still feels far too close to the other, better-known, classic works from this period. Whether it is the mother trying to ensure a good life for her daughter, with sacrifices made and compromises considered, the filtering of rumours and damaging observations through various social circles, or even just the interception of a letter that may cause damage to the parties involved, this is all very familiar fare in some enjoyably vibrant packaging.

It's still worth your time though, and the ending is a particularly amusing "punchline" after all that has been shown beforehand.

7/10

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