Here's part two of my Netflix bonanza.
Bernie
Plot spoilers!
I can't believe I didn't watch this movie sooner. Directed by Richard Linklater, Bernie is, well, just about the most delightful film you'll watch about a guy who shoots a little old lady in the back.
Based on a true story, Jack Black plays Bernhardt Tiede, an assistant funeral director from Carthage, Texas. Bernie is one of the most popular men in his small community and beloved by everyone. He sings at the church, participates in community theatre, and as the assistant director of the Leggett Funeral Home, he oversees funerals with compassion and grace.
After the death of her husband, Bernie befriends Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), a mean, hateful old broad whose reputation in Carthage is the polar opposite of Bernie's. Where Bernie is loved for his generosity and kindness, Marjorie is loathed for her spite and coldness. The two make the oddest couple (also, Bernie is in his late 30's and Marjorie in her 70's), but they find companions in one another. What starts out as beneficial to both of them--Marjorie has a travel companion who is nice to her and Bernie gets all expenses paid vacations around the world--begins to look more like indentured servitude as Marjorie gets meaner and more possessive of Bernie as time goes on. Until one day Bernie shoots Marjorie in the back and stuffs her body in a freezer. And then goes on to generously spend her money on helping out people in the community, all while pretending Marjorie is in a nursing home due to a stroke.
Linklater films Bernie in partial "interview" style--not unlike Drop Dead Gorgeous and Modern Family, where the action of the film or show is broken up with characters speaking about events directly to the camera. This captures the local color of Carthage as well as the affection everyone had for Bernie despite the, uh, unpleasantness surrounding his arrest and trial.
While all the performances in Bernie are excellent, Jack Black is just...amazing. This might just be his best role to date. He captures the quirky, effeminate nature of Bernie Tiede--a sort of fussy, "light in the loafers" type of guy (there's an entire section of the film where interviewees speculate on whether Bernie is gay or not) who is also just so doggone nice and caring that you can't help but love him. By the end of the movie, you're basically like, "yeah, if I was on that jury, I'd vote to acquit him too".
Like I said, I can't believe I waited this long to watch Bernie, which has been on my Netflix queue for years. I'm glad I did because it's just...something else. I keep wanting to write that it's a "hoot", but that doesn't seem like an appropriate way to describe a movie where a guy pumps a little old lady full of lead...but here we are. It's a hoot.
Grade: A
***
In Bruges
Speaking of funny movies that involve pumping people full of lead, In Bruges is another film that mixes pathos with humor really effectively. In Bruges' reputation as a film precedes it--I kept hearing about how great this movie was and how it had a bit of a cult following. I can see why. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson star as Ray and Ken, two hit men told to hide out in Bruges, Belgium after a job and await further instructions by their boss, Harry (Ralph Fiennes), a man with a hair-trigger temper.
Ray is recovering from a hit job gone wrong and grappling with the guilt of killing an innocent bystander. He also fucking hates Bruges and thinks it's a terrible city. Ken tries to convince him to enjoy the history and sights, but Ray would rather sulk, drink, and try to get into the pants of Chloe (Clemence Posey), a woman who also has dark secrets.
In Bruges is pretty slow until you find out the actual reason Ray and Ken are in Bruges and then it really takes off. I know I sometimes spoil plot points in these reviews, but I won't for In Bruges. Trust me, just watch it. Especially if you like the films of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. In Bruges can be very--even shockingly--violent. It also contains offensive language, and not just the f-word. But it's also very funny and even poignant. Hell, it's just plain sad at times. I think what surprised me most about In Bruges is that it's an emotionally and ethically complex film. I thought it was just going to be a dumb shoot-em-up, but it turned out to be deeper and more existential than I thought.
Grade: A-
***
The Sacrament
Directed by the very talented Ti West, The Sacrament is essentially a mockumentary-style film that fictionalizes the Jim Jones murders. Patrick (Kentucker Audley--who wins the prize for "most ridiculously preppy name") is a journalist for Vice media whose sister, Caroline (Amy Seimetz), an ex-drug addict, has joined a self-sustaining commune in South America called Eden Parrish. Patrick's colleagues, Sam and Jake (AJ Bowen and Joe Swanberg), convince him to take them on a visit to Eden Parrish while they film the whole thing for an immersive journalism piece. Well, obviously things don't go as planned and they can tell that something is not right when they see a bunch of guys with machine guns guarding the entrance to Eden Parrish.
While Patrick and Caroline reunite, Jake and Sam interview residents of the commune. All of them seem just over the moon to be living there. Many of them are elderly and have nowhere else to go. Some, like Caroline, are recovering drug addicts. None of them seem concerned about the lack of access to any forms of communication with the outside world or the limited medical supplies in Eden Parrish. They truly seem to believe they are living in a paradise.
Sam scores an interview with "Father" (Gene Jones, giving a chilling performance), the founder of Eden Parrish who successfully dodges Sam's pointed questions about why a community devoted to peace and non-violence has men with machine guns guarding the perimeter. Father turns Sam's implied criticisms back on him, saying that it's the big cities and the media that have poisoned Sam's mind against the possibility of peace and community building.
You'd have the be an idiot not to see where all this cheerful Kumbaya-ing is actually leading. But West makes it easy for viewers when a woman and her mute child come to Sam and Jake in secret, begging for a spot on their helicopter out of the country. You won't find subtlety or many surprise twists in The Sacrament, but the scenes where shit goes down are not only horrifying--they're emotionally disturbing. Again, this is basically the Jim Jones story, only fictionalized a bit.
Personally, I really enjoyed The Sacrament. I was surprised to see that it was not very well-reviewed when it came out and some critics consider it one of Ti West's weaker movies (I've see two of his other movies--The Innkeepers and House of the Devil--and I think this one is his best). So, different strokes, I guess. If you're into suspense/horror/movies about cults, I'd give this one a whirl.
Grade: B+
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