The Girl with the Needle
(spoilers)
Filmed in luscious black and white, The Girl with the Needle is based on the true story of Dagmar Overbye, a Danish serial killer who murdered unwanted children. The movie's protagonist is Karoline (Vic Cameron Sonne), a young woman trying to eke out an existence in post-WWI Denmark. Her husband is assumed to be dead, but with no death certificate, she cannot apply for widow's assistance. She begins an affair with her boss, who gets her pregnant, but she is abandoned by him when his mother refuses to let the two marry.
Karoline tries to perform and abortion on herself with a knitting needle in a public bath, but is stopped by Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), who tells her there is another way: have the baby and give it to her. She will find a good family for it. After Karoline gives birth, she does just that and she asks to be a wet nurse for Dagmar so that the babies left in Dagmar's care can have something to eat before Dagmar finds families for them.
Of course, if you read the first sentence of this review, you know that there are no good families taking these babies in. Just Dagmar "doing what has to be done".
The Girl with the Needle has been described by its director, Magnus von Horn, as a "fairy tale for grown-ups"...but I don't see anything fantastical about the film. I just see a movie about women helping other women survive. Dagmar's actions are immoral. She lies to the women who are trusting her with their babies even if they are unable to raise the children themselves. But the society these women live in isn't making it easy, or even possible at all, for them to raise their children. The monster of the film isn't Dagmar, it's the patriarchy! Or society. Or Christianity. All the same boogeymen who pretend to care about women while fucking them and then fucking them over.
The Girl with the Needle is a gorgeous, brutal movie that can be a bit slow at times. I loved its defiant spirit.
Grade: A-
***
Friendship
Confession: I have not yet watched Tim Robinson's by all accounts hilarious show I Think You Should Leave even though I know I would like it. It's just one of dozens of shows I haven't gotten around to yet. However, now that I've seen the mega-cringe movie Friendship, starring Robinson as Craig Waterman and Paul Rudd as Austin Carmichael, I feel that I've gotten a taste of I Think You Should Leave.
Directed by Andrew DeYoung, Friendship is about Craig, a suburban dad who befriends newcomer to the neighborhood, Austin. Austin is much cooler than Craig and has a group of guy friends, is in a band, and is a weatherman on a local news channel: essentially royalty in Craig's eyes. After Craig alienates Austin's friends at a guy's night in, he is friend-dumped by Austin and becomes increasingly desperate to get back into Austin's good graces.
Friendship is often described as a "cringe comedy"--and it is, indeed, massively cringe--however, it is not cringe in the way that The Office is, where there are "normal" people like Pam and Jim who understand the rules of society and there are weirdos like Dwight and Michael Scott, who break those rules. In the world of Friendship, everyone is a little off. Austin's guy friends randomly start singing "My Boo" during their hangout, freaking out Craig. Similarly, Craig's wife, Tami (Kate Mara), has a habit of kissing their teenage son, Steven (Jack Dylan Glazer) on the lips. Although Austin, Tami, and Steven represent "normal" people...they're fuckin weird too! So while the movie is cringe comedy, it's also surreal comedy. And it walks the very fine line between being so weird it almost feels menacing and being straight up hilarious.
Friendship is not for everyone. If you're not into Tim Robinson's unique brand of unhinged humor, you'll probably feel your teeth grinding and your muscles seizing up while watching it. For a lot of people, embarrassing and awkward comedy is worse than horror. But for those who crack up at people saying absurd shit with a straight face and making fools of themselves, you're in for a treat.
Grade: B+
***
The Exorcism
Weirdly enough, actor Russell Crowe has been in two movies involving exorcisms within the past couple years. In one movie, The Pope's Exorcist, he plays a priest called in to perform an exorcism on a young boy. In this movie, The Exorcism, he plays a washed up, alcoholic actor who takes the role as a priest called in to perform an exorcism on a young girl in a movie. Got it?
I was surprised to see how poorly the film is rated on Rotten Tomatoes, especially since it has this kind of interesting meta thing to it: Crowe's washed up actor is Anthony Miller. Jason Miller, an actual actor who struggled with alcoholism, played Father Karras in The Exorcist. So I assumed it would be a kind of tribute to him.
The movie starts out not too bad, but gives way to predictability and tropes by the end. This movie wants to be The Exorcist so badly. It leans into nasty language in a very performative and faux-edgy way (while Crowe is possessed, he tells his daughter "she'll never eat your pussy like I can" about said daughter's girlfriend). I was not impressed.
The Exorcism is boring and not scary. Crowe gives a good performance, but the material is beneath him.
Grade: C
***
Presence
Steven Soderbergh's Presence is a ghost story from the POV of the ghost. Literally. The Payne family moves into a house and daughter Chloe (Callina Liang) can feel the presence immediately. She notices things moving around on their own and feels like she's being watched all the time. Having lost a close friend recently to a drug overdose, Chloe believe the presence is her friend Nadia.
The Payne family is a dysfunctional one. Mom Rebekah (Lucy Liu) is, frankly, a bitch. She openly favors her son Tyler (Eddy Maday), a popular jock, to her introverted daughter. Her husband Chris (Chris Payne), sees how fucked up this is and tries to intervene, but is a bit of a doormat. However, he is seriously thinking about divorce.
We view the Payne family drama from the perspective of the presence, who floats around the house, peeking in on personal conversations. I went into this movie expecting it to be boring and not scary. Well, I have half right. Presence is not scary. That doesn't mean it's not a horror movie in its own way. It's also not boring. The family drama is juicy AF, even though I wanted to strangle Rebekah.
I won't say anything further as to not spoil anything, but it's a movie worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of Soderbergh. His movies don't always hit, but he's willing to try out a lot of interesting filmmaking methods (or "gimmicks", to be less generous) and I appreciate his creativity.
Grade: B
***
The Wrath of Khan
I'm not a huge Star Trek fan, but my partner is and he suggested we watch this film. To my surprise, I really enjoyed it. It's basically a two-hour long episode of the original Star Trek and it brings back a villain from a 1967 episode of the original series.
I'm not going to describe the plot. It's Star Trek. I will say I was surprised at the emotional ending of the film and was...almost crying?? What?? Let's just say that Leonard Nimoy is the GOAT and Spock is (obviously) the best character on the show.
Grade: B
***
Skincare
This movie annoyed the hell out of me. Starring Elizabeth Banks as Hope Goldman, a celebrity aesthetician, Skincare is a sort of satirical thriller about the beauty industry in LA. Hope has her own skincare studio and her skincare line is about to be released into stores, when a new kid of the block, Angel Vergara (Luis Gerardo Mendez), opens his own skincare studio right across the street from her! The nerve!
Mysteriously fucked up things begin to happen to Hope. For example, "she" sends out what appears to be a drunken, confessional email to all her contacts one evening, humiliating her on a huge scale. Or course, Hope didn't actually send it--she was hacked. But no one seems to believe her (which, side note, I thought was weird. People get hacked all the time. Why wouldn't people--especially those close to her--believe her?). Hope blames Angel, thinking that he is trying to sabotage her.
Skincare is a deeply unpleasant film that ultimately feels pointless. Although Hope is a self-absorbed "Karen" type woman, it's upsetting to watch her be terrorized, nearly sexually assaulted, and not believed. And it's sad to watch her blame it on the Hispanic gay man next door. This movie really feels like it was written by a man (the screenplay is actually by three people, only one of whom I can confirm is a man). The movie seems to say: wow, aren't people in the LA beauty industry shallow? Which...um, yes? What exactly is being satirized here? All I'm seeing is a woman and a man of color being tortured.
Skip this one and rewatch The Substance instead.
Grade: C
***
Dune Prophecy
After rewatching Dune: Part Two recently, I was like "I need more Dune content!". So I watched the HBO series Dune Prophecy, which takes place about 10,000 years before the events of Dune and follows the rise of the Bene Gesserit--the sisterhood of women who are able to tell if people are lying and influence leaders on their decision-making.
Although I wouldn't consider Dune Prophecy to be an all-timer TV show for me, it was very enjoyable. Starring Emily Watson and Olivia Coleman as sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen who run a school for young women in the arts of truth-saying, the show provides insight about the history of the Bene Gesserit and their multi-millennia plans to steer the direction of, well, the universe, using every tool at their disposal--ethical or not.
Dune Prophecy is like Game of Thrones in space. There are warring families and political intrigue and betrayal. There's a lot less incest and rape, however! If you like TV with strong, complicated women, this is one for you!
Grade: B+