For It Is Man's Number: mamoudou athie

Showing posts with label mamoudou athie. Show all posts

Thursday, 14 May 2026

The Drama (2026)

While there were moments in The Drama that I enjoyed, I am sad to say that it mainly left me cold. Not only that, I didn't think either Zendaya or Robert Pattinson were on top form.

Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, who gave us the wonderful Dream Scenario, this is a film about a few different things. Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) are due to get married. Things are seriously derailed, however, when they're encouraged by Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) to confess the worst thing that they've ever done. Everyone has made mistakes in their past, but it seems as if some mistakes are easier to forgive than others. Something is revealed that changes everyone present, and it may even lead to the whole wedding being called off.

There's something here that could have worked well, especially when looking at how people can react when learning something new about a loved one, but it's all overshadowed by the fact that the main revelation feels like something Borgli used purely because of the shock value. The best moments in the film juxtapose imagination with the reality of wedding preparation, and there are some laughs created by the editing and dialogue, but there could, and probably should, have been much more done with such weighty subject matter. Or maybe things should have revolved around something else entirely.

Pattinson is occasionally amusing when looking so dazed for most of the runtime, so at least he gets to benefit from the material in that way, but he doesn't feel believable in so many other ways. Zendaya never really feels believable at all, especially when you consider just how literally anyone would accept the challenge of "tell the worst thing you ever did" without considering the consequences. Haim gets the best moments, but her performance is undermined by her character trying to maintain the moral high ground after confessing her own awfulness (which I understand, that's one of the points being made, but it still doesn't help her), and Athie is good, but a bit underused. Hailey Gates makes a strong impression in her small role, Sydney Lemmon does well portraying a potential wedding DJ, Jeremy Levick is very funny as another potential wedding DJ, and Zoë Winters provides perhaps the best moments in the whole film as a wedding photographer trying to work with two people who are far from enthusiastically smiling subjects.

I really wanted to like this, considering how much I have enjoyed the leads in other features, and how much I liked the previous film from Borgli, but it just couldn't find the right path through some tricky terrain. Again, as I have said about one or two other movies in recent years, nothing is off limits when it comes to good and thought-provoking art, but you need to shoulder some extra responsibility when it comes to certain topics, whether you're trying to be serious or mine some very dark comedy from things.

Everything is decidedly okay, superficially anyway, but this needed to be much better than okay. Fans of confrontational work always deserve much better than okay.

5/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Tuesday, 3 September 2024

Kinds Of Kindness (2024)

It is time, once again, for director Yorgos Lanthimos to present a dark, and darkly comedic, film for fans to be equal parts entertained and repelled by, helped again by writer Efthimis Filippou. If you've ever wondered just how much Yorgos Lanthimos could fit into a film directed and co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos then this might just definitively answer that. ALL the Lanthimosity is here, and it runs through three equally bizarre tales that are presented in 164 minutes of "kindness".

Don't take this the wrong way, but there's not much point in covering the three stories presented here in great detail. I initially considered it, viewing them as separate from one another, but then I came to the conclusion that they are all basically the same story told in slightly different ways. People have their loyalty tested, and they are often in pursuit of someone they believe will fix anything that has suddenly gone wrong in their life. There's also at least one moment of wince-inducing violence.

There are four main cast members - Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Mamoudou Athie, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, and Hong Chau - used to portray various characters throughout the three tales, with three of these performers having already worked so well with Lanthimos in Poor Things. Everyone seems to put complete trust in their director, giving the kind of strangely mannered performances that run through the entire Lanthimos filmography, but it's Plemons who feels like the newcomer excelling in a way that will surely see him added to the core group of regulars.

The script is about as odd as anything else that Lanthimos and Filippou have given us, and I am aware of what I am measuring it against. Few things are fully explained, which can lead to a small amount of irritation, but also one or two brilliant surprises, and there's never a feeling of this being in anything close to the real world. It's a Lanthimos world, although this time he seems to have applied a filter to his work that mixes in some David Lynch and Rod Serling. It's a big gamble, and if you don't like the earliest scenes then you are unlikely to enjoy any of it, but it will satisfy those who may have been worried about recent successes softening the edges of the director.

For something so lengthy and strange, there's not actually that much more to say about it. It's . . . lengthy and strange. I think it's a bit over-indulgent, but I was also happy to be entertained and bewildered by every minute of it. It also made me want to revisit his past few movies, which kind of shows how well it fits in with his developing filmography, despite the anthology format making it feel like a bit of a departure from what he has done previously.

Some directors give their fans what they want and it then turns out that they wanted something a bit different. I don't think that is the case here. Lanthimos has found a fanbase receptive to his art, which has afforded him more opportunities to make more of it, and the end result is a win win. I am already growing impatient to see what he delivers next.

8/10

Sunday, 28 July 2024

Netflix And Chill: The Circle (2017)

I didn't mind The Circle, but I didn't really enjoy it either, and I am going to say that the fault here needs to be shared between the pair of us. The film doesn't quite do enough with the main ideas it is working with, but I may have enjoyed it a bit more if I'd watched it back when it was first made available in 2017. The intervening years have simply shown us more and more reasons to distrust tech-bros and offensively rich and powerful individuals, which makes The Circle much less tense and more predictable than it would have been in a world before people like Bezos and Musk started to act increasingly like parodies of James Bond villains.

Emma Watson plays Mae, a young woman who is helped in to a dream job by her friend, Annie (Karen Gillan). She ends up in the Circle, a tech company that has seemingly unlimited power and resources. It's a bit odd though, considering how people are encouraged to interact online and fully commit to the Circle way of life. The pill is sugar-coated by the big boss, Bailey (Tom Hanks), who can acknowledge how silly some of their practices appear, but continues to present his vision of a tech-reliant utopia in a way that is convincingly benign. Some start to worry about the implications, however, as the Circle starts to reach further and further into the lives people all around the world.

Based on a novel by Dave Eggers, this was adapted from page to screen by a pairing of the writer and director, James Ponsoldt. Eggers has worked on other movies, and Ponsoldt has a mixture of projects in his filmography (with his best work being made for the small screen), but none of them manage to find the best way to handle this material. What should be a standard dream-turns-sour scenario, with the added threat of super-charged tech to make things more complicated, is turned into a disappointingly dull drama in which things go quite well for many of the characters . . . until they stop being so blissfully naïve. The biggest problems stem from the way things are plotted, but it doesn't help that the cast is relatively weak.

As much as I enjoy Emma Watson, she hasn't quite managed to convince in any of her post-Potter main roles, despite trying her hand in an interesting variety of projects. She's not bad here, but she's also not a strong enough screen presence, and is outshone by almost every supporting cast member (including Gillan, Hanks, Patton Oswalt, John Boyega, and Glenne Headly and Bill Paxton, who do wonderful work in the role of her parents). Mind you, few of those people I just mentioned are the best people for their roles either. Gillan has to overdo a heap of nervy paranoia throughout the second half, Hanks seems far too nice to have reached his position in life, and Oswalt isn't given enough screentime to make his character anything more than an obvious schemer who does some hand-wringing and metaphorical wiping of his damp brow as the plot heads toward the final scenes. Boyega does well, but his relatively small role here feels as if it doesn't deserve his talents.

It's ironic that I'll be sharing this review around in the usual places, ensuring that it ends up in certain social media spots, linking to it on IMDb, and potentially making some money from clicks that are generated via Google. Considering what the film posits, maybe I am part of the problem. Okay, I admit it, I am definitely a part of the problem. We all are, but many of us are savvy enough to shape our own corner of the internet to exactly how we want it to be, with the help of ad-blockers, data usage options, and ongoing attempts to balance out the negatives with more positives. There are very few legitimately good options nowadays when it comes to conscientiously maintaining an online presence. But at least I can use this platform to belatedly warn you against wasting your time with The Circle. It's not terrible, but it never manages to become more than harmlessly dull and average.

4/10

Friday, 22 September 2023

Elemental (2023)

I was really looking forward to Elemental, despite a general sense from people that it was a bit underwhelming. I wouldn’t agree with anyone who thinks it is underwhelming. I would say that this is poor, although there are enough colours and fun characters here to easily keep younger viewers entertained.

The film is set in a world in which elements are people. Leah Lewis voices Ember, a fiery young woman who ends up crossing paths with Wade (Mamoudou Athie). Ember is busy trying to do all she can to ensure that her father’s shop remains safe and able to operate as a business, but Wade has some potential bad news for her. The two end up working together to solve a bigger problem, a watery issue that could endanger all who live in the main zone that the fire people call home, and also show that their opposite identities don’t have to keep them from developing some kind of relationship.

Here’s the good stuff about Elemental. It is cute and lively, and there are a number of little easy gags that made me smile. And I appreciate that the analogy here underlines the importance of people getting over their natural differences to show that a mix of skills and traits can effectively blend together as people complement one another in ways that can improve and enrich lives.

Unfortunately, this is never as fun or imaginative as it should be, and is probably hampered most by a world in which the rules feel half-assed. The elemental characters affect the environment around them according to their elemental core, as you would expect, but only when it suits the plotting. Unlike other Pixar movies I could point to, nothing here feels properly developed or cared for.

Three people wrote the screenplay, working on an idea hatched by director Peter Sohn (who also helmed the equally-disappointing The Good Dinosaur), and it seems as if everyone was so concerned with the lesson at the heart of the thing that they went ahead with something that was far too conceptually flawed. I am not suggesting that focusing on the heart of the movie is the wrong approach, but there’s an argument to be made for taking that heart and transplanting it into a much better body. This could have been a much better film without the use of elements. Yeah, sorry to say, the elements are the worst thing about Elemental.

The voice cast do well enough, but very few people stand out, aside from Catherine O’Hara for being so wonderfully Catherine O’Hara in her small role. Lewis and Athie are fine, and work really well together, and both Ronnie Del Carmen and Shila Ommi lend their voices to Bernie and Cinder, the parents of Ember, and both do their best with a script that doesn’t give them too much to do.

Kids will enjoy Elemental, and that is the target demographic so there’s no need to take any notice of what I have said. But I still think there are a LOT of movies out there that they will enjoy more. You may want to consider that if you’re the adult also having to sit through whatever they choose to watch.

4/10

Tuesday, 12 July 2022

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

I had heard a variety of opinions on Jurassic World Dominion before I finally got around to seeing it, which meant I was perhaps better prepared for it than I otherwise might have been. I heard that Chris Pratt tries to defuse every dinosaur encounter by doing that hand gesture he does (true). I heard that some of the connective tissue to the first film was very tenuous (also true). I heard that there was a disappointing lack of actual dinosaurs, with them being pushed aside in favour of a plot about dangerous bugs (tosh and piffle).

Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen (Chris Pratt) live in a cabin in the woods, being parental figures to Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon). They try to stress to Isabella how important it is that she stays hidden away, due to the value of her DNA, but that doesn’t work. In a double-whammy of villainy, both Maisie and a new baby raptor (Blue’s baby, no less) are kidnapped and taken away to the main villain of the piece. I won’t name them, but it is obvious from the very start. Meanwhile, Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) is investigating the source of some dangerous new species of locust, which leads to her dragging Alan Grant (Sam Neill) along to the HQ of a company called Biosyn, headed up by Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott). Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) works at Biosyn, but he would like someone to get proof of what he suspects are misdeeds.

With director Colin Trevorrow returning to direct this instalment of the franchise, continuing the story he worked out with Derek Connolly, shaped into a finalised screenplay by himself and Emily Carmichael, this feels like exactly what it is, a film that is part standard blockbuster spectacle and part celebration of an enduring modern franchise. I wasn’t too impressed by the first Jurassic World movie, and I initially felt the same about Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (a film I have subsequently viewed in a more favourable light), but maybe I have been too harsh, perhaps because I have always been hoping to experience the thrill of that Spielberg original all over again.

This is a really solid slice of dino-filled action. It may have a lengthy runtime, but it doesn’t feel overlong. Set-pieces and exciting moments are sprinkled throughout, with the sequence set in Malts being one of the most entertaining blockbuster moments I have seen in some time, the locust sub-plot adds some more tension (and, more importantly, provides a good reason for everyone ending up together in the same place), and there’s a feeling of plausibility in this world that now has dinosaurs free to roam certain areas of our planet.

Dern, Neill, and Goldblum are very welcome in their reprised roles, all three settling into a comfortable rapport with one another, and also working well when they eventually encounter the new characters. Pratt and Howard are just fine, although they have never been as good in the lead roles as other options we could have had, and Scott has fun as the typical rich guy who wants to play god in ways that might have unforeseen consequences. There are also enjoyable performances from DeWanda Wise (playing Kayla, a pilot who ends up helping our main characters) and Mamoudou Athie (as Ramsay, the nervous young man tasked with showing Sattler and Grant around Biosyn). The one sour note is, unfortunately, Sermon. As decent as she was in the last film, she feels completely out of place and unconvincing here. Perhaps the writing also works against her, or maybe her performance just feels more full of affectation now she is a bit older and a bit more self-conscious.

The other main performances come from the dinosaurs, of course, and they are as good as ever. You get another enjoyable variety of creatures, with some of them being VERY cute (baby triceratops WILL make you go “awwwwww”), and the blending of animatronics and CGI is pretty flawless throughout.

What more could you want? The score brings in the obvious cues when expected, there are some fun lines of dialogue that work on a meta level without stopping everything to wink at the audience, and it once again allows our old pal, the t-rex, to steal a couple of scenes and remind everyone of how much we all love to gape at a t-rex.

8/10

Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Prime Time: Black Box (2020)

There’s the germ of a good idea in Black Box, but the biggest problem it has is that you could easily imagine it being handled so much better in an episode of Black Mirror, and at half the runtime.

Directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Stephen Herman), I will state clearly now that nothing here made me eager to seek out other films from him. This film is pedestrian, at best, and shows how to mishandle a concept so badly that it wrings every drop of potential interest out of it before serving it up to audiences. It’s like a plate full of chicken and veg that has had all flavour boiled out of it.

Mamoudou Athie plays Nolan, a pained man trying to carry on with his life after an accident that affected his memory and led to the death of his wife. He is supported by his young daughter, Ava (Amanda Christine), with the two of them digging deep into reserves of strength to keep muddling forward. One doctor (played by Phylicia Rashad) has a new procedure that may help Nolan tap into all of his memories. But it soon becomes clear that it is bringing out a very different side of him.

If a director and writer work with a team of talented people to create a film that is their finished work of art then Black Box is a canvas lazily covered in magnolia matt paint. It is that dull, despite having the potential to go in a number of different directions. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few decent moments here and there, and one or two intriguing ideas, but the film seems determined to leave them just hanging there, like laundry on a washing line that has been forgotten about for days.

Athie does well enough with what he’s given, and Rashad is a fairly standard “obsessive scientist” type, but they are seriously hampered by the ways in which the script has to make them deliberately dumb to keep the plot moving along. Christine comes out of this best, her character being smart, strong, and sweet, a real highlight in a film with too few of them.

It’s all competently constructed, and technically fine, and the third act really drags you into a situation that quickly becomes more intense and uncomfortable. But this is a thriller that fails to thrill, fails to make you think enough about the elements being moved around in the plot, and simply fails to properly do anything that it should have easily managed.

3/10

Sunday, 7 April 2019

Netflix And Chill: Unicorn Store (2017)

Unicorn Store is a slight jumble of a film but it's also a sweet and enjoyable one, thanks to a great lead turn from Brie Larson (also making her feature directorial debut).

Larson plays Kit, a young woman who we see growing up in a montage that focuses on her love of art, right up until the day that she is told her work is not good enough. That leads to her moving back in with her parents (played by Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford), becoming a temp agency worker, and generally resolving to get on with a bland adult life. Until she is invited to a store by a mysterious salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) who tells her that she has been picked to receive a unicorn, but only if she can prove that she is ready to accept one.

Written by Samantha McIntyre, Unicorn Store is anything but subtle, and perhaps falls too in between a couple of main demographics to fully appeal to many. Kit is every dreamer who has ever been given that cold splash of water in the face by people telling them that it is time to grow up and get serious. This happens to her as a young adult, but the way she clings on to hope and bright fantasy puts her more in line with teenagers who have yet to be worn down by the grind and grit of daily adult life. She seems very childish at times, yet it's also easy to see her behaviour as something we would all like to regress to, at least occasionally. Admit it, if you're a parent who has been having a hard time of things lately then it's not just your children who enjoy the times when you let them build a blanket fort and have a day away from the outside world. You join them and remember what it was like when it was so much easier to keep things much simpler.

Larson directs well enough, although it's all very similar to so many other independent movies we've seen over the years, in terms of the quirky characters, developments, and main lesson learned. It just has some big names to help carry the material and make it seem a bit more mainstream.

Leading lady aside, who is as good as she usually is, the highlights include Cusack and Whitford as caring parents who Larson feels are constantly disappointed by her, Hamish Linklater as an odd and awkward boss, Karan Soni as an old friend who seems to have made a great success of his life, and Mamoudou Athie as a hardware store employee who ends up helping Larson to prepare her home for the arrival of the unicorn. Jackson is a lot of fun as the salesman, although it feels like the role is designed more for Jackson to have fun than any other reason.

A unicorn is different things to many people (I still love the fact that here in Scotland it is our national animal) but it's also always symbolises something magical, pure, and very difficult, often impossible, to attain. That may be someone you love, it may be having the time and resources to create your art, or it may even be a sense of acceptance for your current situation in life. Whatever it is, once you prepare well enough for it, you can take a moment to enjoy it. And then maybe help others to find their own.

7/10

Fans of Larson can buy Room here.
Americans can buy it here.