Miscellaneous Films 8
The Sea Beast
I can only approve of the uprising of the people at the end of this one. Other than that? It's a solid, fun family film. Sure, it's no Nimona but it's not bad, either.
La Vie Scolaire / School Life
Films about schools in poor areas generally fall into a narrow range of cliché: the most common will be that either brutality (sorry, "tough love") or heroic affection will generate massive change in the lives of students; this film is instead more balanced, with neither heroes nor villains, but teachers in varying levels of optimism and cynicism depending on how tired they are - tired of living in a forgotten banlieue or teaching in a school of students who don’t see much point in their efforts, balanced against those parents, kids, and teachers who still are working toward something better - either for themselves or someone else. There’s a good sprinkle of humour to lighten the mood.
37°2 le matin / Betty Blue
(Director's cut)
One of the things that was most immediately noticed about this film - and probably still is - was the sex, mostly the volume and explicit nature of it. That’s not too surprising considering how soft-focus sex was in Hollywood films of the era (now it’s just absent; we have violence up the wazoo, and sculpted bodies, but Captain America does not fuck. Neither does Batman): the film opens with sex, including the titular character masturbating while being fucked.
Ultimately, though, the film leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth: A positive depiction of a woman’s sex drive is pretty much the high point of the film’s opinions of women; Betty’s descent to madness seems more like a punishment for the character breaking norms than anything else, and Zorg finding happiness by murdering her is the nadir of that misogyny.
Sommaren med Monika / Summer with Monika
The contrast with Betty Blue couldn’t be starker: that film rises to a crescendo of madness, while this one ends with a more ordinary and everyday kind: the postwar constraints of life imposed on a woman by a man who enjoyed her wild spirit, until he has constrained her.
Midsommar
So I am late to this party and I was suitably impressed. Like Elle it does not fuck around, plunging you straight into the lead character’s trauma from the first minute, pivots to casual shitty treatment of the protagonist by her boyfriend and his mates, before giving us moments of respite in a seemingly idyllic rural area - and then full throttle into the unremitting horror of the cult.
People have made much of the degree to which the film uses true to life depictions of how actual cults rope people in, but beyond that it’s one of those films where I struggle to imagine how you’d improve on it - the pacing, acting, the visuals, the audio are all spot-on, and Pugh in particular is flawless. I can see why it was raved about.
Le Discours/The Wedding Speech
Starting with the lead speaking directly to camera while wearing a suit sets the structure for the film; one where he routinely breaks the fourth wall to comment on story; it’s a technique that’s enjoying its moment in the sun, especially in the wake of pitch-perfect utilisation in shows like Fleabag, and can be used lazily. Here it works well, being extended out not just to the character commenting on the messed up family dynamics, or to introduce his flights of fancy and memories, but his internal arguments.
Le Discours/The Wedding Speech
Starting with the lead speaking directly to camera while wearing a suit sets the structure for the film; one where he routinely breaks the fourth wall to comment on story; it’s a technique that’s enjoying its moment in the sun, especially in the wake of pitch-perfect utilisation in shows like Fleabag, and can be used lazily. Here it works well, being extended out not just to the character commenting on the messed up family dynamics, or to introduce his flights of fancy and memories, but his internal arguments.
Prey
OK so I'm not a big fan of the original, in spite of my vast affection for the musical; the endless sequels have mostly disappointed the people who are, in spite of the Predator and Predator vs Alien Dark Horse comics basically keeping an entire publisher afloat with the devoted audience thereof.
Prey got huge buzz for two reasons: the first was the hook, Native Americans vs a Predator in the early colonial (or, depending on your point of view, late independent) era of North American history; and actually being a well-done film for the first time in decades. It certainly delivers on both counts: a glance at descriptions of the Native American content quickly reveals attention to detail down to a breed of dog that was historically bred by Comanche, for example. Sequences are shot in Comanche language (with a full Comanche language version being available) and the French common to Europeans in the time and area.
It also hooks into the well-established mythos of the Predator universe: the alien hunters tuning their technology to make it a challenge, for example, in various ways, which is nice for fans.
And as an action film? It's a great ride. You don't have to care about the Predator milieu to find it an engaging film. The film does a good job of setting up the tensions between Amber Midthunder's character, Naru, and the broader tribe who are underwhlemed by her interest in breaking with tradition to become a hunter; the film allows time to unroll the stories of the characters and show them in everyday activities, gradually ramping up the unseen menace of the monster. It's well done in and of itself, and doesn't rely on knowing the decades of backstory to make sense.
