Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018) – M. Heller

Here we have a “small” film, of the kind that the big studios hardly make anymore, a character study of two lonely and rather miserable humans.  Melissa McCarthy plays Lee Israel, a writer of biographies down on her luck (partly because of her misanthropic attitudes), who pragmatically turns to forging historical memorabilia from famous authors (Dorothy Parker, Noel Coward) in order to pay her rent and her cat’s vet bills.  Richard E. Grant plays her only friend, Jack Hock, a gay man apparently living on the streets, living from drink to drink, score to score.  Both are sarcastic, cynical misfits (and perhaps pointedly, also sexual minorities) unwilling or unable to join in mainstream society. So, the film is also about loneliness, the kind of loneliness that you can only find in big cities, where the constant reminder of other people’s relationships is all around.  Not that either Israel or Hock would readily admit to needing others, but you can see it in their actions and in certain moments (that the script presents well).  Given that the film is based on a true story, of course, everyone finds out about the deceptions at hand – but this is all rather besides the point except that it seems to have lead to a redemption (of sorts?).   Apparently, some of the dialogue from Grant echoes Withnail and I (1987), his first feature, which I shall have to watch again.

Dune (1984)

☆ ☆ ☆

Dune (1984) – D. Lynch

I saw this on the big screen back when it was released – but I didn’t remember it at all.  Now that I’ve read Frank Herbert’s novel and well, because David Lynch, I thought I would watch it again.  And despite some surreal Lynchian passages (giant worms with giant mouths) and an overall dreamlike feel to the proceedings, the damn thing would surely be incomprehensible if you haven’t read the book.  Now, if you have read the book, you’ll find a strangely abridged rendering of the rather epic story, with a lot left out (and some tiny bits from other novels in the series seemingly added in).  Characters are barely introduced (occasionally by voiceover from Princess Irulan who also offers some similar overviews in the book) and hearing their whispered thoughts (also a feature of the book) is rather disorienting when we don’t really know them at all.  Kyle MacLachlan is Paul Maudib, the self-anointed (but true to prophecy) saviour of the planet Arrakis and its rebel group, the (blue-eyed) Fremen.  He is up against Baron Harkonnen (with nephew Sting) and Emperor Shaddam who are aligned with a big corporation that mines and profits from the spice melange (which is highly addictive).  The politics of Dune are rather lost in this version (truncated by the producers but unable to be satisfactorily reconstructed according to Lynch) as are the more-pertinent-than-ever environmental implications of a desert planet with no water.  The pre-CGI special effects are at times clunky and at other times just plain weird (a la Lynch).  You could watch the film and just marvel at its weirdness – there is probably enough to enjoy; but if you are looking for plot or substance, then look elsewhere (perhaps in Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming version that is currently in post-production). Also, for fans of the book, it does appear that Lynch has changed the ending.

  

Annihilation (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Annihilation (2018) – A. Garland

Hahahahahahaha – what just happened?  Alex Garland’s follow up to Ex Machina (2014) is another sci-fi flick that echoes Tarkovsky’s Stalker (because there is a mysterious and dangerous zone called the “Shimmer” that the characters enter) but also hews close to certain horror genre conventions (characters are picked off one-by-one – we know this from the start).  Natalie Portman plays the biologist/geneticist whose military husband (Oscar Isaac) disappears on a secret mission (to the Shimmer, of course) – when he returns, damaged, she decides to join a subsequent party of women scientists (kudos to the writer-director) who are the next to venture to the lighthouse which is the epicentre of the Shimmer (and where a meteorite seems to have struck).  Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Dr Ventress, a psychologist who is the team leader, and Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, and Tessa Thompson round out the team.  As they trudge through the forest, I’m thinking Predator (1987) – however, things are far more psychedelic than that.  Plants and animals have all mutated – and our heroes may be mutating too.  Garland and his production team use CGI to good effect to make a bizarro (yes, lysergic) world that comes complete with some mumbo-jumbo scientific explanations.  Things do escalate to ultra-weird levels (and ultra-incomprehensible) but you can just lie back and let the images wash over you.  Perhaps there is something deeper here – a meditation on Thanatos or a puzzle about what or who is real and what or who is not – but figuring it out doesn’t really feel worth it to me.  A trippy but awkward mix of familiar genre moves and cracked philosophizing.

High Life (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

High Life (2018) – C. Denis

With references to both 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Solaris (1972), Claire Denis’ latest is set on a space journey to the farthest reaches of our solar system (or actually beyond and directed toward the nearest black hole in our galaxy).  Robert Pattinson stars as one of the only survivors of the crew (the other is a small baby) and the film jumps around in time (and hurtles through space) as we find out how he ended up there.  He certainly isn’t the typical astronaut type.  Soon, we discover that this is all part of a program by NASA to send death row prisoners to space to collect data and to judge impacts on them (despite the fact that the astronauts will age much less quickly than those back home will).  In the flashback scenes, a doctor (Juliette Binoche) is seen attempting to produce babies in space via artificial insemination – usually they don’t survive because of the radiation; she is also seen pleasuring herself in the “sex box”.  As such, the film does have a bit of a Cronenberg body horror feel at times, though it never gets quite as gross as he does/did.  Still, with a soundtrack mainly of low rumbles/electronic sounds and a lot of lonely scenes in space, this is a nearly soporific film, although if you get on its wavelength (as I did), it can be strangely absorbing (in an ugly and beautiful, sad but hopeful sort of way).  Yet, one can’t help but think that the film falls short of the sci-fi masterpieces that it aspired to join…

The Sicilian Clan (1969)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Sicilian Clan (1969) – H. Verneuil

Who could resist the promise of a French heist movie starring Alain Delon, Jean Gabin, and Lino Ventura (with a soundtrack from Ennio Morricone to boot)?  Not me – but alas, the promise only leads to an average genre pic, which is disappointing when you’ve been exposed to the (better) films of Jean-Pierre Melville.  Delon is in his prime as a vicious thief who escapes from a prison van and then plots to rob a travelling jewelry exhibition.  He is aided by the titular Sicilian family, led by Gabin (in pre-Godfather mode).  He is tracked by police commissioner Ventura.  The plot has some twists – yet, somehow it doesn’t feel tight enough.  Director Henri Verneuil lets the suspense drain away or doesn’t build it properly.  Still, there are plenty of classic moments (some might say clichés), such as Ventura trying to quit smoking but struggling due to the stress of the case, Delon almost getting nabbed while visiting a prostitute, Gabin politely and stoically accepting his lot.  Of course, the Thirties was Gabin’s decade (with a great later turn in Touchez Pas au Grisbi in 1954, already the gangster ready for retirement) and Delon (Le Samouraï, 1967; Le Cercle Rouge, 1970) and Ventura (Le Deuxième Souffle, 1966; Army of Shadows, 1969) had better roles for Melville.  But if you are jonesing for this genre, this is certainly more than passable fare. 

Malcolm (1986)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Malcolm (1986) – N. Tass

Charming Australian comedy that also includes a bank heist that is essentially ridiculous – pulled off with mechanical rubbish bins – but that’s not the point. Instead, this is a bit of a character study (or two) about the titular Malcolm (Colin Friels), a shy grown up mother’s boy (who might be thought to be “on the spectrum” these days), who spends his time building model trams and creating mechanical contraptions in his home. He also has a pet cockatoo. When his mother passes away, he takes in a lodger, Frank (John Hargreaves), who, it turns out, has just gotten out of prison; Frank’s girlfriend, Judith (Lindy Davies), soon joins them and smooths over Frank’s rough edges. Eventually, they decide to rob banks together! The movie is clearly low budget but its location shooting in Melbourne (the milk bar, the pub, the tram lines) feels right -- and shows just how much the city has changed since the ‘80s (which is to say a lot!). Of course, the cops are bumbling and there is a bit of keystone comedy when Malcolm’s self-engineered car splits in two during a getaway but the movie happily allows the crooks to get away with it and we feel somehow that no one was disadvantaged at all. In fact, the heist seems to have helped Malcolm socially since he uses his skills to fit in.  Worth a look, especially if you are in Melbourne.

Fårö Document 1979 (1979)

☆ ☆ ☆

Fårö Document 1979 (1979) – I. Bergman

Ingmar Bergman returns 10 years later for a second documentary about Fårö, the small island he came to call home (although at this point he was a tax exile living in Germany).  This second look is longer and less formally structured with more expansive wordless stretches showing us life on the rural island (which has become a favoured tourist destination during the summer).  It does feel meditative at times. Watching this back-to-back with the original 1969/1970 doco reveals some overlap (this time they slaughter a pig instead of a sheep, however) and from this vantage point, a viewer might be hard pressed to determine whether they are watching 1969 or 1979.  A brief attempt in the spirit of the 7 Up! Series involves interviewing the kids from the bus in 1969 to see whether they followed through on their plans to leave Fårö or to stay (most ended up staying, it seems, even as the population dropped to 670 or so).  Everything is very pastoral (and often very wintry), but the loss of cinematographer Sven Nykvist is felt.  A few poignant moments captured me but my attention did waver.  Bergman’s political comments at the end further reinforce the sameness of this sequel.  Perhaps this is one reason why the mooted 1989 edition was never made.  Nevertheless, it would likely be great to visit Fårö one day.