Mubi Monday: Hot Milk (2025)

Not every celebrated arthouse movie is going to be appreciated by every film fan, which is obviously part of the reason why they don't have the crossover into mainstream levels of exposure and success. Of course, the world of arthouse and/or independent cinema is where you can find some of the more interesting explorations of the human experience. That's what I was hoping to get from Hot Milk. I got something else instead.

Emma Mackey and Fiona Shaw are Sofie and Rose, respectively. Rose has an illness that she can't seem to find a cure for, although that may change as she spends time in Spain to be examined by Dr. Gomez (Vincent Perez). Sofie seems a bit lost, both within herself and how she connects to a mother she views as being affected by an illness that may or may not be psychosomatic. The central relationship is defined by a lot of pushing and pulling, a mother claiming to want her daughter to be free and living fully in one breath before reminding her of just how much she relies on her in the next breath. Things obviously start to get tense.

Director Rebecca Lenkiewicz may be helming a feature for the first time here, but she has a fantastic selection of screenplays in her filmography already. Considering she also wrote this, based on the book by Deborah Levy, I was expecting something that would keep me engrossed and intrigued throughout. While that didn't happen, the very end of the film is strong enough to raise a lot of great questions and keep you thinking about things after the end credits have rolled.

Shaw is fantastic in her role, a twist on the kind of thing that she has played so many times in other movies. She seems to have been given increasingly better characters to play in recent years and I am delighted to see her effortlessly becoming such a grand dame of cinema. Mackey is equally good in her role, although a lot of her character moments are played out more internally. Perez is good in his few scenes, and Vicky Krieps plays a woman named Ingrid who ultimately doesn't create the turbulence that you might expect from her.

While there aren't films exactly like this one, which is something I will give it credit for, there are a number of films that have similar elements. And many of those films are a bit better than this. Hot Milk is a real disappointment, especially when you think of those who worked to get it made. One or two scenes pack a punch, but it needed more, and Shaw, Mackey, and Krieps deserve more. I'm interested in eventually reading the source material one day, another sign that there's definitely something worthwhile here buried under the many mis-steps and fumbles. And that ending really does make up for a lot.

5/10

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She Said (2022)

It's always good to see a movie about investigative journalism, not least due to the fact that any such movie serves as a reminder that we still HAVE some investigative journalism. I cannot think of a time when the quest for truth and justice has been more noble, especially when juxtaposed against "news" that is simply made up of repurposed social media quotes, sensational headlines that are designed as clickbait, and opinion pieces placing the outlets in whatever "culture war" position they think will be most profitable for them. I enjoyed Spotlight from a few years ago, but She Said may just edge ahead of it as the better movie, perhaps because the story it is telling was picked up more eagerly by every major news outlet once the details were widely available.

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan play Jodi Kanto and Megan Twohey, respectively, two investigative journalists who work for the New York Times. Their names may be familiar to you. They are the two people who pulled together various witness testimonies to build up a picture of sexual abuse, manipulation, and bullying that eventually landed Harvey Weinstein in prison. This film details how the story broke, and how it took the courage of victims to come forward and tell their truth, helping others to subsequently realise that they weren't alone, and that they could also come forward and do their bit to help make a criminal pay for his heinous crimes.

The talented Rebecca Lenkiewicz delivers another very good screenplay, helped by the book co-written by Kantor and Twohey, and Maria Schrader directs well, keeping her shot choice and framing interesting, without being distractingly overly stylised, and she knows to keep the focus on her cast delivering the pertinent points and evidence-backed facts.

Kazan is good, solid in her role, but Mulligan is given some better moments and is the better of the two leads (and it feels like a dry companion piece to her superb work in Promising Young Woman). Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher are both very good in supporting roles, playing the New York Times senior staff members who allow the story to be investigated, and ensure that everything complies with legal requirements, and you have Keilly McQuail delivering a fine impression of Rose McGowan over the phone, Samantha Morton being very effective in her one main scene, as Zelda Perkins, Jennifer Ehle portraying Laura Madden, a pivotal figure in the development of the story, and Ashley Judd as herself, a movie role that I suspect may have been very cathartic and satisfying for her to play.

She Said doesn't only show the hard work and sensitivity that was required in handling such a shocking exposé, it also shows how events and public figures seemed to create the darkest possible moment for women everywhere. Things aren't exactly sweetness and light now, of course, but it feels like 2016 - 2020 were years in which misogyny and abuse seemed at an all-time high. Assholes were emboldened by one of their own being elected President, and a general change in language and tone showed that what should have been a unifying movement, the #metoo campaign, was going to be used as another line in the sand for those individuals wanting to lash out at everyone as they tried to plant their "not all men" flag on a hill that really didn't need it.

There may not be anything flashy or too memorable here, not when it comes to the film-making itself, but this is an excellent film that serves as an essential snapshot. It's a snapshot of bravery, tenacity, and good grace held by those standing up to an abusive bully (who surely thought he was untouchable). It's a snapshot of a moment when the tide turned. It may have only been for a few brief seconds, but it turned. 

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Colette (2018)

It seems that I am behind the times when it comes to Keira Knightley, having placed her in the "I tend to enjoy her but she's usually not that good REALLY" category some years ago. This may have all been because of the long shadow cast by her horrible turn in Domino, or maybe I just have such a bad memory that I forgot every time I'd actually praised her work while somehow remembering . . . that horrible turn in Domino. Look, it's basically all the fault of Domino. As long as that's clear, let's move on.

Anyway, let's get to Colette, a film in which Knightley plays the title role. She is a country girl when the film begins, until she moves to Paris with her husband-to-be (Dominic West). And this begins a series of fortunate and unfortunate events that eventually lead to Colette developing into the famous and celebrated writer that she remains to this day. Sadly, her writing is all published under her husband's name, because that was more appropriate for the time and he had a brand to sell. Colette causes quite the stir throughout France, and starts to enjoy it even more, especially as she begins to explore her sexuality. As society seems to work ever harder to restrict her and keep her "in her place", Colette finds more ways to ruffle feathers and ensure she cannot be ignored or silenced.

Many people have already commented on Colette being a film that feels incredibly timely right now (the battle for sexual equality rages on and men still seem to have the position of having value to their names that women rarely get) and it is. It's an interesting, passionate, film that condemns the treatment of the leading lady, and also the treatment of many others. But that isn't the only thing that Colette is putting under a magnifying glass. As Knightley and West play out their complicated love/hate relationship throughout the film, it's equally an interesting study of the way in which people choose to believe various fictions, be they myths about the differences in gender, the power of artistic creations, or choosing to hope that a horrible and abusive relationship is anything other than that.

Director Wash Westmoreland, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Richard Glatzer and Rebecca Lenkiewicz, sets everything out in a traditional way, picking out the most important moments from a life that must have had many highlights to choose from. The score may be a bit generic, for this kind of thing (in my view), but the camerawork is given one or two moments to shine, such as the sequence that allows it to glide through a crowded room alongside Colette as she takes in the various displays of excess and "sophistication".

Although the script is a good one, and there are a couple of brilliant speeches that Knightley must have read on the page with sheer delight at the prospect of getting to deliver them, it's the cast who raise everything up. In case you were in any doubt, Knightley is excellent. Really excellent. This may be the best performance she has given in her career so far, relishing a role that allows her to be strong, sharp, funny, eloquent, sexual, and generally downright inspiring. She's equalled by West, who manages to do so well in his role that it's only much later in the film that you realise just how shitty he has been to his wife for so much of their marriage. Neither speak French, or attempt an accent, despite the nationality of their characters, and nor do many of the other cast members, which is a decision made for the better. The environment is enough to remind you of where everyone is living, and the writing (the heart of the film) is shown to be in French, as it obviously would be, while characters sometimes read out the prose in English. Other important characters are played by Denise Gough, Eleanor Tomlinson, Julian Wadham, Al Weaver, and Ray Panthaki, and everyone fits well in the role they're given (although both Gough and Tomlinson ARE given certain specific accents, with the former faring much better than the latter).

Oozing quality from every frame, Colette is superior drama, bringing a slice of history to life and exploring some issues that resonate just as much today as they did back at the end of the 19th century. Despite the pretty, perhaps what some may even call quaint, packaging, it manages to make things more palatable to observe and mull over without ever feeling as if it has held so much back that it warps the reality that it is all based on.

8/10

The disc will be available here.
Americans may want to order here.