For It Is Man's Number: mike faist

Showing posts with label mike faist. Show all posts

Friday, 9 August 2024

The Bikeriders (2024)

Based on a photo-book by Danny Lyon, The Bikeriders is the latest feature directed by Jeff Nichols, and it was a film that I was tentatively looking forward to seeing for months. I tend to like the films of Nichols, and I have enjoyed the acting work of stars Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, and Austin Butler, to varying degrees. With the likes of Mike Faist, Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, and Norman Reedus in the supporting cast, I felt quite confident that there would be enough here for me to enjoy.

That confidence was a bit misplaced.

There's a storyline here, but it's a very slim one. Comer plays Kathy, a woman telling her story to Lyon (played in the film by Faist). She explains how she ended up meeting Benny (Butler), and how she often felt that he was torn between herself and the leader of a motorcycle club (Johnny, played by Hardy). The club goes through a number of changes, the world starts to change even faster around them, and the people do their best to pretty much stay the same. And that's it.

A lot of men are stuck in various stages of arrested development. I get that. I AM that. Hey, I like to act mature and wise sometimes, but you have no idea how often I have clicked on the adverts for some awesome LEGO sets and wistfully sighed as I eventually backed away from them. I'm a middle-aged man who can be very childish. I don't want anyone to make a movie about me though, and I would expect that movie, if made, would show me up for the occasional idiot I am. A lot of people also need to be part of something bigger than themselves, which doesn't always align with a position that society thinks you should have. I also get that. I am happy, via the upside of the internet and social media, to be connected to many film fans and collectors worldwide. Again, however, I'm not sure any film showing that would make me look anything other than a bit silly and super-geeky (not that I would be bothered, I have fully embraced my geekiness for a good 10+ years now).

The Bikeriders has cool people being very uncool. The men shown act more like children a lot of the time, and they are all connected by their love of motorbikes, and a subsequent loyalty to one another that stems from the bike-riding outings. There's a way to make that story, but Nichols doesn't find the right approach.

Both Hardy and Butler do fine with what they're given, and neither feel as if they are being stretched, but it's Comer who ends up being the highlight, mainly due to her character being able to see both the allure and the major downsides of the lifestyle being recorded by Lyon. Shannon is as great as ever, and both Holbrook and Reedus do enough with their limited screentime to make a surprising impact, considering the stars overshadowing them.

Everyone looks the part, the period feels nicely recreated, there are some treats on the soundtrack, and the pacing is just right, thanks to the various main incidents plotted out on the way to a fairly inevitable conclusion. Sadly, none of this can overcome the inherent problems in the material, especially without the best way to take viewers into the onscreen world. Considering how many others seemed to really like this though, maybe the "problem" lies more with me than the film.

5/10

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Tuesday, 25 June 2024

Challengers (2024)

A film all about tennis, except that it’s not really all about tennis. It’s all about sex, obsession, and power. But it’s also about tennis.

Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor play Art and Patrick, two tennis players who used to be very good friends. Their lives have gone in very different directions, however, and now Art is a pro trying to recover his form while Patrick is trying to win enough money to keep himself able to buy non-luxury items, like food. Both end up in a challenger tournament, and both end up playing against one another, observed by Tashi (Zendaya). Tasha is married to Art, but she is also very familiar with Patrick. Things may become messy and complicated, but it’s important to remember that this film is set in a world of tennis . . . where love equals zero.

Written by Justin Kuritzkes, his first major screenplay, this is a vibrant and steamy look at people who are pushing one another in different directions, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. The material is elevated by Luca Gaudagnino’s electric direction, and a strange score from Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor that sometimes fits the visuals, but also sometimes just feels a bit jarring, yet now in a way that spoils the marriage between sight and sound.

The cast also help, absolutely fantastic in roles that allow them to relish being single-minded and fairly unpleasant for most of the runtime. Faist feels like the weakest of the three characters (in his nature, not in his performance), but his journey remains an intriguing one. O’Connor has more hunger in his eyes, although he also has some obvious failings that have held him back over the years. And then there’s Zendaya, casting a large shadow over these two men in a way that they don’t even fully realise until it is too late. Her turn here is wonderfully gritty and dispassionate, portraying someone who has decided to put all of her energy and effort into the career of someone else after her own dream came to a very sudden end.

Told in a non-chronological way, my main criticism is that there are some time jumps that feel a bit unnecessary, although everything becomes clear as you get used to the structure of the film. It feels like the right way to have done things though, especially by the time we get to a brilliantly satisfying finale. Momentum builds, camerawork is dizzyingly brilliant, and there’s a proper crescendo before everything ends, as should be the way of any great tennis match.

I wouldn’t say this is the best film for anyone involved, apart from Kuritzkes (so far), but it’s very good stuff. It’s sweaty, sexy, strange, and occasionally surprising. It’s certainly one of the best films about tennis that I can think of, despite it not really being about tennis.

8/10