Mubi Monday: The History Of The Pink Trunk (2005)

Although there’s a mystery at the heart of this, and it isn’t just the mystery of how it actually got made, The History Of The Pink Trunk ends up not being about that central mystery. Not really. I mean . . . it IS, but it equally isn’t. I don’t want to namecheck anyone that would lead to unfair comparisons, but this will start to feel familiar to those who have enjoyed other murder mysteries in which the focus has often wandered to peripheral characters and their developing relationships while caught in the spiderweb of mystery.

Edgardo Román plays Detective Corzo, a man tasked with figuring out what happened when the body of a young girl is found in a pink trunk. He finds his work hampered by a busy journalist, Hipólita Mosquera (Diego Vélez), but also starts to enjoy the company of the lovely Martina (Dolores Heredia).

I am not familiar with the filmography of director Libia Stella Gómez, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Federico Durán, and I am not entirely sure if I want to see more from them after checking this out. Hampered by a low budget and an inconsistent cast, Gómez still tries hard to fill the movie with neo-noir style and tropes, playing around with the latter on the way to the final scenes, but cannot quite deliver what the material really needs.

Román is okay in his role, but he is the least interesting of the central trio. While Vélez plays someone a lot less likeable, he is eminently watchable, cocky and brazen enough to assume he can write articles that will at least keep the police on their toes. Heredia is the highlight though, a female character who does what she can to keep those around her thinking of their responsibility and the power afforded to them. Heredia gets to be sweet and strong, and the film works best when you get to see her character have a positive effect on the men in her orbit.

I struggled to get into this, with the first third of the movie feeling like a real chore, but then I started to settle into it. I started to realise how the main characters were being positioned and where more friction was starting to develop, and I stopped being so bothered about whether or not the central mystery would be solved. I don’t think I will ever revisit it, and I wouldn’t rush to recommend it to others, but I did enjoy the second half a lot more than the opening. 

World cinema fans will appreciate this more than most, but it’s not a film that should ever be prioritised against the many others that are probably always jostling around the top half of any “to watch” list.

4/10

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
Or Amazon is nice at this time of year - https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/Y1ZUCB13HLJD?ref_=wl_share

Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase (2019)

I've always been aware of Nancy Drew, but have never tried to read the source material. While a voracious reader as a child, something I carried into adulthood until time became more limited and movies became my main obsession, I tended to focus on the tales aimed at young boys, the likes of The Hardy Boys and The Three Investigators. There was a good mix in The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, but they still felt suitably boyish in their narrative. Nancy Drew, to my young and closed-off mind, was just a plucky girl who probably didn't get up to anything as exciting as her male counterparts.

Ah well. It's never too late. Maybe I should revisit my youth, this time including Nancy on my reading list. But at least I had a general idea of the character, from my limited exposure to her over the years. To put it in very simple terms, Nancy Drew is a smart young investigator. She's like a one-woman Scooby gang, without the big dog accompanying her. That's all you need to know to appreciate this enjoyable teen flick.

Things start with Nancy (Sophia Lillis) helping a friend get revenge on a bully. This gets her in trouble, which leads to her doing some community service. While doing this community service, Nancy ends up helping Flora (Linda Lavin), an elderly woman who has to endure strange occurrences in her haunted home. Flora's niece, Helen (Laura Slade Wiggins), ends up helping Nancy in her investigation, despite the disapproval of Nancy's friends, George (Zoe Renee) and Bess (Mackenzie Graham).

Based on source material that fans of Nancy will already be very much aware of, written by Mildred Wirt Benson (under the pen name of Carolyn Keene), Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase has a solid script from Nina Fiore and John Herrera (taking quite the sidestep from work that has been made up of genre TV shows, from The Vampire Diaries to The Purge) and fine work from director Katt Shea. You get the gist of the character from the opening scenes, you get the sense of fun mixed with the potential for very real, serious consequences, and you can see everything being slotted into place for a fun mystery that won't hold many surprises for anyone with experience of this kind of adventure, although it's probably pitched just right for younger viewers.

Lillis is great in the lead role, a perfect fit. She's absolutely believable as the smart, plucky investigator who cares about the people she is helping. Renee and Graham are also very good, friends who are willing to help, even while they disagree with the company that Nancy starts keeping, and Wiggins gets to enjoy a nicely-worked character arc. Andrew Matthew Welch is a sweet young man, Deputy Patrick, trying to help while he also tries to make sure that he upholds the law, and the adults are played by a likeable bunch, including Lavin, Sam Trammell (playing Nancy's father), Andrea Anders, and more. The villain of the piece is obvious, but also played in a way that doesn't let things descend into some kind of pantomime finale. The tone stays just right, not too scary for kids, but with some threat to the main characters that feels very real.

It may not be your first choice, especially if you're not a teenage girl (what can I say, I am happy to watch anything, and can always keep in touch with a teen version of me who is happier to watch movies aimed at any demographic), but Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase is a quality little film, even better than the 2007 Nancy Drew movie, which I also enjoyed. It's entertaining, it's well-paced, and it has a great character that youngsters can view with admiration, and hopefully want to emulate sometimes.

7/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Prime Time: Tag (2015)

Not to be confused with the American comedy of the same name, Tag is a Sion Sono movie that is as typically mad as a Sion Sono movie can be. It has at least one very interesting idea at the heart of it all, and the wild set-pieces hold your interest, but this is a film that I fractured viewing experience that I can easily see people disliking, despite the fact that I really enjoyed it.

Things start with a clip that many people will already have seen, even if they're unaware of the fact that it's from this movie. Mitsuko (Reina Triendl) is just one of many schoolgirls sitting in a coach as it travels along a road. The atmosphere is calm and dreamy. Mitsuko bends down to pick up her dropped writing implement, and that is when an invisible force cuts the entire bus in half, having just done the same to the bus just ahead. There's metal and bisected bodies everywhere, and Mitsuko is understandably shocked as she tries to figure out what happened. While escaping the carnage, the force seems to follow her, taking out other people while Mitsuko does her best to avoid it. She then gets to her school, where more strangeness occurs. She is then a bride (and has the name Keiko, and is played by Mariko Shinoda). More strangeness occurs. She is then a runner in a marathon (Izumi, played by Erina Mano). Something dangerous seems to be pursuing every one of her identities, even as she tries to figure out what is going on and just who she really is.

Based on a short story by Yûsuke Yamada, Sion Sono wrote and directed this with his usual mix of slick visuals and unflinching approach to more extreme moments. The gore is infrequent, but it's a huge bloody mess when you see it (and you do get to see it), the madness stops completely when characters get together to discuss some of the ideas being proposed as explanations for the strange events, and there's a transition between each main segment that allows viewers to clearly see the lead changing identities. The whole film does a great job of mixing the perplexing, the disorentating, and the more grounded moments. It may be a head-scratching viewing experience, at times, but that's only keeping viewers close alongside Mitsuko/Keiko/Izumi as she tries to figure everything out.

Triendl does well in her role, as do both Shinoda and Mano, but it's worth singling out Yuki Sakurai for some special praise. She plays Aki, a girl who is always there as a friend to the main character. But sometimes Aki seems oblivious to what is about to unfold, and sometimes she seems to know a lot more than our lead. Whatever her sense of the situation, Sakurai plays her perfectly throughout every main sequence.

Although it feels very much like a throwaway film, any attempt to add some logic comes along too late and I'm still not sure it really makes any sense, I still had a blast with Tag. It ultimately didn't matter to me how things ended anyway, as I was enjoying thinking about the various possible explanations that might have been used. I recommend this, even though many may view it as a lesser Sono flick.

8/10

You can buy the movie here.

Shudder Saturday: Don't Leave Home (2018)

If you mix a little bit of Picnic At Hanging Rock with a little bit of The Devil's Doorway (with which this shares a couple of stars) then you may end up with Don't Leave Home, a horror film that only really falls down by taking a turn in the third act that won't satisfy those hoping for actual horror. It's a more contemplative, mysterious, experience, although still ultimately a good one.

Anna Margaret Hollyman plays an artist, Melanie Thomas, who is struggling to come up with the final touches on her latest exhibition. It's based on a number of children who have disappeared in Ireland, disappearances that have never been explained, and her centrepiece is a sculpture of an area that related to one such disappearance, an area in which a priest painted a little girl, the girl subsequently disappeared, and her likeness was also gone from the painting. Asked to visit Ireland by that very priest, although he no longer holds that position, Melanie takes the opportunity to get away from the stress for a while. She meets Alistair Burke (Lalor Roddy) and his housekeeper-come-assistant Shelly (Helena Bereen), and the quaint charm of the surroundings and solitude soon start to turn ominous and strange.

Written and directed by Michael Tully, Don't Leave Home is an impressively layered horror movie that would actually make a fine companion piece to the previously-mentioned The Devil's Doorway. But watch this one first, and leave the better film until last. Both films have a core idea revolving around children who have been "spirited away" by members of the Catholic church, and both films look at how people deal differently with deeds done that would leave many of us struggling to cope with the guilt.

Everything is helped by the consistently solid lead performances. Hollyman is a good lead to root for, an artist who has been inspired by strange events and then faces someone directly impacted by it. She seems contrite when meeting Burke, apologetic for any pain caused or any inference of blame being apportioned, which gives us enough reason to like her, even as we consider why she didn't give any thought to it sooner. Roddy gives the second great performance that I have seen from him in the past year, and I will happily watch any film that gives him a sizeable role. And then we have Bereen, who is given the more traditional "horror movie" moments, sweet and welcoming to the American guest while obviously hiding some kind of agenda.

The direction, at least for the first two thirds of the movie, is solid. This is a gentle film, a surprisingly moving one, but it also places some effective scares and moments of oddness throughout. Sadly, it all remains a bit too gentle when many viewers may expect it to find another gear.

I recommend this one, it will make you think and it has some lovely moments of atmosphere (as well as those great performances), but it's a shame that Tully didn't find a way to tell the tale in the way he wanted while also ratcheting up tension and dread in the third act.

6/10

The Limehouse Golem (2016)

Bill Nighy has, let's face it, been making a lot of people happy by playing what we all consider a version of Bill Nighy onscreen for the past couple of decades. He's the elderly gent with a wry sense of humour, ready to give us a wink before heading off to the dancefloor with a crowd of youngsters who have embraced his good company. He's basically the cool uncle at a wedding party, although that means you sometimes roll your eyes when he shows up because you know he's going to be there a bit too long, might still be wearing jeans when they don't suit him, and will probably ask the DJ for a bit of Whigfield near the end of the night. Some people will always enjoy those moments, whereas some people will start to feel bitter about him. I am in the former camp, but I can see why people may start falling into the latter camp.

Why have I started this review with that rambling, poor, analogy about an uncle at a wedding party? Well, The Limehouse Golem is an interesting and surprising film for many reasons, but the main one may be what a great lead role it hands to Bill Nighy. And he does so well with it that you are reminded of how talented the man is. Like meeting that cool uncle during the week, when he is in between meetings during a typically busy work day. The fun aspect of him is just that, one aspect.

Anyway, let me get to the film itself. Directed by Juan Carlos Medina, who previously gave us Painless AKA Insensibles, this is a very dark murder mystery, so bloody on the odd occasion that most horror fans should be kept happy enough, set during a time in London not that far removed from the exploits of Jack The Ripper. Indeed, this feels very much like a Jack The Ripper film in all but name. It's based on a book by Peter Ackroyd, and the script was written by Jane Goldman (possibly her best work), but I have no idea if the source material tries to make things more or less . . . "Ripper-esque".

Nighy plays John Kildare, a lawman tasked with solving the series of murders perpetrated by a mysterious figure people have taken to referring to as The Limehouse Golem. Kildare is a man who has already had his reputation questioned, due to his perceived aversion to female company, and he knows that he has been given this case as a pretty hopeless endeavour. He will take the expected fall if no culprit is caught. Olivia Cooke plays Lizzie Cree, a woman put on trial for the crime of poisoning her husband, and the two tales quickly intertwine as Kildare starts to suspect that helping Lizzie may actually help him solve the case. He believes that she knows something she doesn't want to reveal to the public, a secret she may end up taking to the grave if she is found guilty, and he wants to gain her trust, learn her full story, and kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Nighy is just great in all of his scenes here. He doesn't overdo things, this isn't a role looking to squeeze comedy out of his usual demeanour and mannerisms, and viewers get to stick close to him and his appointed assistant (Daniel Mays) as clues are uncovered and witnesses questioned. Cooke is also excellent, allowed much more screentime as the investigation delves deeper and deeper into her life story. Douglas Booth and Sam Reid both do well, playing men in Lizzie's life, and also suspects in the case (the latter is the murdered husband - no spoiler, that is how the film begins), and you also get enjoyable performances from Eddie Marsan and Maria Valverde.

Every aspect of this production is polished and handled with care. Medina brings everything together beautifully, with impressive camerawork throughout allowing viewers to be fully immersed in the world depicted onscreen. It's grimy and gorgeous at the same time, with impressive sound design and an effective score also helping, yet none of the details or flourishes ever detract from the performances that sell every scene. The structure may disappoint some - shock opener, a hefty middle section full of characterisation and details, fairly swift resolution - but it will work well for those who don't need jumps or set-pieces every 10-15 minutes. Sometimes the joy is in the destination, sometimes in the journey. The joy here is in both.

Goldman deserves a decent amount of praise for her script. It's masterful in the handling of the characters, with plenty of ambiguity throughout to keep viewers guessing the identity of the killer, alongside Kildare. And I must say, as slow as I can sometimes be with movies like this, I was very impressed by the finale.

I am sure that many sharper viewers will be unsurprised by anything the film delivers, and it does enough to allow you to be one or two steps ahead of the main characters, but I loved how it was put together, and I was also surprised by one or two moments throughout. Highly recommended.

9/10

You can get The Limehouse Golem here on bluray.
Or here, Americanos.