Mubi Monday: Eve's Bayou (1997)

Note: I have watched/reviewed all of the standard horror movies available on Mubi just now, which is why there may be a few non-horror blog entries this month. Mubi is great for many reasons, but it is not exactly overflowing with lesser-known horror options. Although some would argue that this has enough interesting elements to count, at least as a supernatural thriller.

I find myself, once again, in the position of finally getting around to a film that many people had been telling me to watch for years. Which wouldn’t necessarily be so bad if the films didn’t live up to the hype, but they so often do. This one certainly does.

A tale of memories, community, love, and lore, Eve’s Bayou shows us family life through the eyes of young Eve (Jurnee Smollett). Living in a busy home with her siblings, her parents, and one or two others (it is hard to keep track, considering how busy the house seems and which version of the film you watch, as the director’s cut has a whole extra character in there), Eve absorbs everything around her, for better or worse. She knows that her parents, played by Samuel L. Jackson and Lynn Whitfield, love one another, but she also knows that her father is a philandering scoundrel. He is also charming, and beloved by many due to his work as a local doctor, but philandering doesn’t lead to a consistently happy home life. Eve learns to compartmentalise her concerns, but that becomes more difficult as her father’s behaviour seems to get worse and worse.

Written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, her feature debut in a directorial role, Eve’s Bayou is undoubtedly a bit of a modern classic, as well as being a beautiful and complex look at memory, manipulation, family, and the power of visualization and belief.

Set in Louisiana in the 1960s, the atmosphere and specificity of the setting are essential to the tale being told, and somehow help to soften the edges of something that could otherwise have been too hard to stomach, but the central themes explored will be sadly familiar to many (particularly women) around the world.

All of the cast do great work, with a consistency that makes me reticent to name some while missing out others (simply to avoid regurgitating the entire cast list). Jackson is the dark heart of the film, a thundercloud that also helps to create rainbows, and he gives what could be considered one of his very best performances. Smollett effortlessly carries the weight of the film on her young shoulders, a delight for every minute of her screentime and the best filter/buffer between the reality of the situation and the way viewers are shown things playing out. Whitfield is very good, although given one of the more thankless roles, Debbi Morgan excels as an auntie who may be gifted or cursed, or may just live a life full of timely coincidences, and Meagan Goode does a great job of portraying Eve’s older sister, Cisely, a young woman who eventually confides in Eve something that will change all their lives.

Lemmons has enjoyed a solid acting career for a number of years, but nothing she has done in front of the camera comes close to rivaling her work here. This is an astoundingly assured directorial feature debut, put together with great care (from the script to the cast, from the pacing to the score), and it is a film I am already looking forward to rewatching. The more I think about it, the more I think this might have just rocketed in to become one of my favourite films of all time.

10/10

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Netflix And Chill: Day Shift (2022)

It all makes sense now. Day Shift is a horror comedy that happens to be directed by someone, J. J. Perry, who has spent most of their film career working as a stunt co-ordinator. This isn't the start of some snobby criticism of the movie. It just explains why I was so impressed by the action set-pieces here.

But let's start at the beginning. This is a film in which vampires exist, and there are people who earn a living from hunting vampires. One of those people is Bud Jablonski (Jamie Foxx), an effective, but also sometimes irregular and messy, vampire hunter who needs to earn a lot of extra money in a short amount of time. And you can only earn the most money by working for the organised union, which means Bud has to ask a friend (Big John, played by Snoop Dogg) to help convince a manager to give him another chance to show that he can play by the rules and play nice. He gets his chance, but he also gets an inexperienced partner (Seth, played by Dave Franco). And, unbeknownst to Bud, there's a vampire with a very personal vendetta against him. One that may imperil his daughter (Paige, played by Zion Broadnax) and his ex-wife (Jocelyn, played by Meagan Good), which means that they may soon realise he isn't just the pool cleaner he claims to be.

Co-written by first-timer Tyler Tice and relative newcomer Shay Hatten (who also helped on the last John Wick movie and a recent movie series kick-started by Zack Snyder), Day Shift is a very funny and very violent work that uses the vampire movie sub-genre as a background for some enjoyably inventive fights and deaths. The interplay between Foxx and Franco is very entertaining "buddy-movie" banter, and any little pertinent details, about the plot or types of vampires, are easily scattered throughout (or info-dumped into a scene by Franco's character).

Perry mainly keeps everything moving with a great deal of energy, and the title may clue you into the fact that we have more daylight-set scenes than you would expect in a vampire movie. It's only in the third act when things start to drag, with a finale that disappointingly feels as if too many of the coolest tricks are repeated while any sense of real danger quickly dissipates. There's also a problem throughout the film with people refusing to open curtains and make better use of the sunshine, but that was easier to overlook during moments of extensive vampire violence.

Foxx is solid in the lead role, easygoing and always looking able to handle himself, and Franco works really well alongside him. It's a very standard pairing - the competent killer and the office worker being put into the field for the first time - but it's one that provides ample opportunity for some good laughs. Broadnax is a particularly likeable child star, and the script gives her a few moments to shine, while Good finds herself a bit too restricted in the "ex-partner who the lead hopes to reconcile with" role. Snoop is Snoop, and he seems to be enjoying himself, while Karla Souza and Oliver Masucci do well in the role of the main fanged foes. Steve Howey and Scott Adkins kick ass in one brilliant sequence that takes everything up to 11, Nathasha Liu Bordizzo makes a decent impression with her small role, and both Eric Lange and Peter Stormare do their bit to try and steal a scene or two.

This isn't a film to take seriously, and it's not one I would recommend to anyone looking for scares. It's a horror comedy with the emphasis on the comedy, and an extra emphasis on the potential for wildly over the top action. It works in that regard, and shaving the runtime by 10 minutes or so would have had me shouting about it from the rooftops. As it is, it's a perfect choice for any evening when you just want something that will help you avoid boredom without taxing your brain too much. Also . . . I would definitely be down for an sequel/spin-off that decides to focus on the characters played by Howey and Adkins.

7/10

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Bonus Review: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Most people will already know whether or not they're going to like Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. It reteams writer-director Adam McKay with writer-star Will Ferrell, it brings back all of the main cast member, and it fills the screen with many gags riffing on material from the first movie.

Ferrell is Ron Burgundy, of course, and this movie sees him at another crossroads in his life. He's having relationship problems with Veronica (Christina Applegate) and he's not the success he once was, but Freddie Shapp (Dylan Baker) comes along at just the right time to make him an interesting offer. 24 hour news. The idea seems ridiculous, but when Ron is allowed to get his old team back together he sees no reason not to at least give it a go. Which allows viewers to spend more time with Ron, Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), and Champ Kind (David Koechner).

I was hoping to love this sequel, and perhaps one day I will. But not today. It has some decent gags here and there, but too many moments feel either overdone and stretched out, with the film coming in at just under two hours, or far too reliant on replaying jokes from the first movie, with minor variations.

I must say, however, that when I first saw the first Anchorman movie I wasn't impressed. I didn't see what all the fuss was about. And then I ended up watching it almost every day for a fortnight, eventually coming to the conclusion that it was the funniest movie of the year. I'm not sure if the same thing will happen here, but I will allow for the fact that this may well grow on me.

As well as Dylan Baker, Meagan Good is a new addition to the sprawling ensemble, adding some more discomfort for Burgundy by being both a woman and black. Yes, you can imagine some of the awkwardness that ensues, but Good matches everyone in the cast with her fun, fiery turn. James Marsden gives yet another great performance in an increasingly long line of great performances (seriously, the guy is turning into quite the scene-stealer) as Burgundy's main rival in the studio, Greg Kinnear gets a few good moments as Burgundy's main rival elsewhere, and Kirsten Wiig bumps up the laugh quota as a female counterpart to Brick Tamland. Fans will also be happy to hear that there's another cameo-filled fight scene to liven up the third act.

McKay and Ferrell seems to bring out both the worst and the best in one another. They have some great ideas, and great running gags, but the self-indulgence on display sometimes outweighs the thin material, and an excessive runtime really doesn't help.

Of course, those who enjoy the whole thing more than I did will welcome every extra minute.

Those who want to stay classy for much longer will do well to pick up Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues on Bluray, which also contains the alternate version of the movie (complete with 763 new jokes, according to the advertising) and more extras than you can shake a glass of scotchy scotch scotch at.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Anchorman-Legend-Continues-Blu-ray-Digital/dp/B0083XXWRE/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1400860610&sr=1-2&keywords=anchorman