Stuff I watched in...March 2022, Pt. 1

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

This biopic about Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker, televangelists who swindled their followers out of millions of dollars, is anchored by strong performances by Jessica Chastain as the tarantula-lashed Tammy Faye and Andrew Garfield as the soft-spoken Jim.

The film is at its best in the early years of their courtship, when they met at North Central Bible College in Minnesota. Tammy Faye came from an emotionally abusive family where she was treated like a black sheep. She found her (literal and figurative) salvation in the church and in her very real love for God (and for Jim).

The movie really focuses on Tammy Faye, presenting her as a True Believer who really did love God and believe that God loves everyone. Jim, on the other hand, is portrayed as someone who is driven by a desire for money. Who perhaps also was sincere in his faith, but let money, power, and image rot his foundational beliefs. 

The fact of the matter is that even if Tammy Faye was a friend to queer people and AIDS patients at a time when the evangelical church was hostile to the same (and still is, frankly), she was still culpable in her role in the fraud she and her husband committed. The film lionizes her just a bit too much for my taste. That said, it's a good--if not great--film with excellent actors portraying the imperfect and complex larger than life televangelists at its center.

Grade: B

***

Unsane

Unsane is a Steve Soderbergh-directed film which was notable when it came out in 2018 for being filmed entirely on an iPhone 7 Plus. 

The film stars Claire Foy (slipping into her British accent embarrassingly often) as Sawyer, a woman who moves across the country after a man she meets while volunteering in a hospice begins stalking her. David (Joshua Leonard, who is DEAD ON as a dangerously creepy man) becomes obsessed with Sawyer after the passing of his father, whom Sawyer would read to in the hospice.

After Sawyer confides in a therapist that she is struggling and has even had thoughts of suicide, she is given "boiler plate" forms to sign that actually place her under a 24 hour hold in the behavioral health center in which she met the therapist. She--understandably--freaks out and ends up attacking an orderly who looks like David to her. Due to her erratic behavior, she is kept for another week in the hospital.

There are two parallel stories going on here: one about involuntary commitment to psychiatric wards and one about being stalked. Turns out that David, Sawyer's stalker, has fabricated a backstory about himself in order to get a job as an orderly at the institution in which Sawyer is confined.

The whole premise is ridiculous. Involuntary commitment does happen, but not in the way it's portrayed in the movie. And stalking is, of course, all too common. But what David does in the movie is incredibly unrealistic. For one thing, how did he know that Sawyer was going to see a therapist at that particular behavioral health center and end up signing the forms without reading them? He would have to set his plan in motion long before Sawyer even considered seeing a therapist.

Despite the film's ridiculous plot, it does a good job as a thriller. Joshua Leonard is especially effective at playing the type of man women have nightmares about. 

Unsane is one of Soderbergh's weaker films, but if you're looking for a movie to get your heart rate up, you could do worse.

Grade: B-

***

The Last Duel

I was skeptical of Ridley Scott's multi-perspective film about the last officially sanctioned trial by combat in France and the rape the precipitated it. First of all, a movie that centers on whether a rape did or did not happen directed by an old-ass man? Recipe for disaster.

However, I was pleasantly surprised as how compelling and well done the film is. Matt Damon stars a Jean de Carrouges and Adam Driver stars as Jacques Le Gris, two squires in late 1300s France. They both swear loyalty to Count Pierre (Ben Affleck), but Le Gris is especially friendly with the Count, as both he and the Count are the equivalent of medieval fuck boys, whereas de Carrouges is a tiresome stick in the mud.

De Carrouges marries Marguerite de Thibouville (Jodie Comer), but when the Count takes part of Marguerite's dowry--a parcel of land--that was promised to de Carrouges and gives it to Le Gris, de Carrouges' anger and resentment towards Le Gris grows. 

When de Carrouges is out of town on business and his mother-in-law takes the servants into town for some errands, Marguerite is left alone at their castle. Le Gris shows up and tricks her into opening the door. He then professes his love to her, chases her upstairs, and rapes her against her screams and sobs of protests. When she tells her husband, he knows he can't go through the courts to get justice because he'd have to go through Count Pierre, who hates him and loves Le Gris. So he challenges Le Gris to a trial by combat, where God decides the winner. The duel is approved by the King and commences in the final section of the film. More is at stake (literally) than just de Carrouges' life...if he loses, Maguerite will be burned alive at the stake. 

The film shows the events through Jean's perspective, then Jacques', and then Marguerite's. Jodie Comer and Adam Driver do especially great work in the rape scene, which is shown twice. To our modern eyes, ears, and sensibilities, it is clear in both scenes that this is rape, and Marguerite is not consenting. However, Comer does a terrific acting job in making her tone of voice, body language, and even the pitch of her cries just ambiguous enough in the Le Gris' perspective to show how Le Gris deluded himself into thinking she "wanted it". In Marguerite's perspective, there is no ambiguity at all. She is sobbing from fear and pain. 

The Last Duel is about how the petty vanity of men makes life hell not only for the women in their lives, but for the men themselves. This was true in 1386 and, though things have obviously improved, is still true today. Toxic masculinity, like anything toxic, poisons all it comes in contact with. Ridley Scott's medieval take on #MeToo may be a little on the nose at times, but I found The Last Duel to simply be an excellent movie starring excellent actors.

Grade: A

***

Fresh

Released on Hulu a week ago, Fresh is a horror-comedy starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan. Directed by Mimi Cave, Fresh is about how modern dating is a meat market. LITERALLY. Edgar-Jones plays Noa, who is trying to meet guys but has the same experiences we all have while kissing our frogs. She meets Steve (Sebastian Stan) in a supermarket and, after some light joking around, he asks for her number.

The two start dating and it seems too good to be true. Steve is a plastic surgeon who also seems gentlemanly and funny. He invites Noa on a trip and when she agrees and the two go to his home to spend the night so they can get up early to catch their flight the next day...well, lets just say the fairytale ends very abruptly for Noa.

(SPOILERS KINDA)

Steve drugs Noa's drink and she wakes up chained in an admittedly pretty nice basement. Turns out that Steve harvests young women's flesh and sells it to wealthy clients. He keeps the women alive for as long as possible so the meat is fresher and also gives them some comforts of home (i.e. a nice cell with magazines to read and really delicious meals) since reducing stress means the meat will taste better.

The fact is, the metaphors in the movie are so obvious that they're a punch in the face. Women are treated like MEAT, amirite ladies!? The fact that Steve is a plastic surgeon and also a straight up misogynist who tells women to smile more and wear pink and stuff is not lost on me. Fresh is fun and funny, but it's not exactly subtle. 

The gore in this movie is kept within a reasonable limit, so Fresh is safe for folks who like horror, but don't like excessive bloody gore. I mean, your mileage may vary and my shock-o-meter is destroyed from years of increasingly violent horror movies, but I think this one is safe for the "average" horror fan. So if you're looking for a funny, stylish horror movie without a TON of substance, look no further.

Grade: B

***

Encanto

I generally don't watch "kid's movies", but I could not escape the pull of Encanto. Now, to be fair, I watched Encanto at my friend's house with her 2 year old and husband as she (the friend, not the toddler) made dinner and we were all talking constantly throughout the movie as one does, so my attention was not strictly on the film 100% of the time. But what I saw and absorbed, I liked.

Between the original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the incredible animation, and the strong message about family and how special gifts can be their own kind of curse, Encanto is a clear winner. I don't need to say much more.

The basic plot is that the Madrigal family lives in an encanto--a "magical realm bordered by mountains" (thanks, Wikipedia). Within this encanto they live in a magical house, casita, and each member of the Madrigal family has a special power. For example, Julieta can cure all ailments with her food, Pepa's mood controls the weather, and Bruno....well, we don't talk about him (he can see the future and that was too scary for the Madrigals so they shunned him and he disappeared). 

However, young Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) is the only member of the family who was not granted a special power on her 5th birthday, like all the other Madrigals were (um, except Abuela...but she like, gave birth to the first generation of magical people, so I guess that's her power?). Despite not having a power, Mirabel loves her magical family...and when she suspects that something is happening within the house to diminish the family's powers, she starts snooping around and asking about Tio Bruno, since she suspects he knows something about what is going on...and how to fix it.

Encanto is a delight, whether you're a child or an adult. And I really need to watch more "kid's movies"!

Grade: A

Stuff I watched in...February 2022

Titane

Titane, directed by French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, is pretty much the definition of a provocative, subversive film. The only thing I knew going into it is that it had been compared to David Cronenberg's Crash, a film in which people are sexually aroused by car crashes (not the racist monstrosity Crash directed by Paul Haggis).

In Titane, protagonist Alexia is in a car crash at a young age and has to get a titanium plate put in her skull as a result. She grows up to be a model who, um, fucks cars. But if you think the car-fucking is the weirdest thing about this movie, you are dead wrong.

I'm going to post spoilers below, because some people who read this blog don't want to actually watch the freaky movies I talk about but still want to know the juicy details. However, if you're a cinephile, just trust me and watch the movie without knowing anything else.

Spoilers...

Spoilers...

As a result of fucking a car, Alexis becomes pregnant. Also, Alexis is basically a serial killer who kills random people for fun. After murdering a house of people, she flees her town, disfigures her appearance by shaving her head and breaking her nose (in one of many "watch through your fingers" moments in the movie) and claims to be the 17 year old missing son of a fire captain named Vincent. The missing son disappeared 10 years ago, so there is some plausibility that a woman in her 20s could make herself appear as a 17 year old boy. But the fact is, Vincent doesn't give a shit. He is on board that this person is his son. He needs to believe his son is back, just as Alexis needs someone to take her in.

/End spoilers

/End spoilers

Titane is one of the most unique movies I've seen and I was astonished by it. It's not a movie I'm going to rewatch often, if ever, and it is absolutely brutal in many scenes. But, my god, is it creative and batshit. Definitely worth the watch for fans of subversive cinema.

Grade: A

***

Benedetta

Now, here's a movie that had the potential to be subversive and ended up...not so much. Director Paul Verhoeven takes on the true story of Benedetta Carlini, a nun who lived in the late 16th/early 17th centuries. Benedetta was a mystic who claimed to have visions of Jesus. She was also a lesbian who had an affair with a fellow convent-dweller, Bartolomea. 

Unfortunately, Verhoeven takes this incredibly interesting story and turns it into a softcore porno where a woman fucks another woman with a dildo carved out of a statue of the Virgin Mary. 

Now don't get me wrong: I love a good blasphemous dildo-fucking! I am not offended, and, indeed, am into explicit sex and explorations of sexuality on film. But the kind of sex Benedetta (played by the angelic-looking Virginie Efira) and Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia) is 100% male gaze-y 100% of the time. We're talking rough boob-grabbing, and orgasms from penetration alone (from a wooden dildo no less). I've never had sex with a woman, but I've had sex AS a woman, and this ain't it. And I know enough about queer sex to know that queer people are going to watch this and fucking laugh their asses off at how ridiculous it is. Queer people reading this--please correct me if I'm wrong! 

Now, as for the non-sex parts of the film, which involve Benedetta claiming to have stigmata and visions of Christ...it's not too bad. I mean, everyone is way too pretty and clean to look like they're living in a 1600s convent, but other than that, the politics of the convent, the ways the various women vie for power in a deeply patriarchal society--that shit is actually interesting. So I can't judge the movie TOO harshly. 

Do I recommend it? Suuuureee. It's fun, it's campy, it's got a lot of tits in it. So there are definitely reasons to watch this film. But don't expect to have your mind blown.

Grade: C+

***

The Beta Test

Last year, I watched an excellent horror-comedy film called The Wolf of Snow Hollow. It was written by, directed by, and starring Jim Cummings (not to be confused with the well-known voice actor). Not only is Cummings hot in that really annoying alpha male way, he's insanely talented! So when I heard that a new film, The Beta Test, written, directed, and starring the very same, I was so excited to watch it.

And while The Beta Test is good...it also feels deeply unsatisfying. The film focuses on a man named Jordan Hines (Cummings), a Hollywood talent agent who is incredibly good looking (seriously guys, Google this man), successful, rich, and also engaged to a lovely woman, Caroline (Virginia Newcomb). This dude is white privilege personified. So, of course, when he gets an letter in the mail inviting him to a rendezvous with an "anonymous admirer" in a fancy hotel, he immediately throws the card away, knowing no good will come of it!

LOL, of course he RSVPs "yes"! During the hookup, he is required to wear a blindfold, as is the woman he is meeting. From our perspective as the viewer, the hookup seems straightforward enough. But as soon as the post-nut clarity sets in, Jordan becomes increasingly paranoid: what if this is a blackmail scheme? What if he gets "MeTooed"? What if someone else was in the room with him and the woman? What if they have photos? Jordan is already a dick, but his paranoia causes him to become insufferable and put his job and relationship in jeopardy.

The ending, in my opinion, is incredibly anti-climatic. I feel like Jim Cummings had the opportunity to say something profound about Hollywood, sexual harassment, and white, male privilege--especially as he, Cummings, is in Hollywood but also doing his own shit. He's an auteur and presumably beholden to no one. But he kind of fumbles whatever message he is trying to get across in the end. In fact, it's not clear what the message or moral of The Beta Test is.

I will say, the movie is funny and entertaining. It also has a very triggering opening scene where a woman is brutally murdered...so be careful with that. I am inclined to be forgiving of this movie because I think Cummings has a lot of talent and promise...I hope his next film is closer to The Wolf of Snow Hollow than The Beta Test. 

Grade: B

***

Cherry Falls

Cherry Falls is a 2000 teen slasher film starring the late, very missed Brittany Murphy. Though the film has many teen slasher cliches, the premise has a huge twist: the serial killer on the loose targets virgins. Murphy plays Jody, the (yes, virginal) daughter of the town sheriff. After multiple teens are killed, the sheriff calls a town meeting and reveals the killer's modus operandi--they carve the word "virgin" into the victim's body...and the female victims are, uh, intact. We're not going to get into a hymen/anatomy lesson here, so for the sake of staying on topic: yes, all the victims, male and female, have never had penis-in-vagina heterosexual intercourse. 

Well, as soon as the teens find out, they immediately plan a "pop your cherry" party to make sure they don't make the killer's shortlist. Jody, meanwhile, is attacked by the killer but escapes. She is able to describe the attacker: a person with long, stringy black hair with a gray streak, dark nail polish, and combat boots. She overhears a private conversation between her father and the high school principal saying that the artist's sketch based on Jody's description looks strikingly similar to a woman named Lora Lee Sherman. Who is Lora Lee Sherman? Is she indeed the killer? What is the relationship between this woman, the sheriff, and the principal? And will Jody lose her virginity before it's too late? You'll have to watch to find out!

Cherry Falls absolutely has a ton of regressive stereotypes about men and women, and the queer-coded individuals...well, let's just say the movie completely blows any decent queer representation. Still, there is a streak of subversion within this otherwise cliched teen scream of a film. Cherry Falls represents a slightly edgier take on the teen slasher and is delightfully campy. If you're in the mood for a retro throwback (or millennial nostalgia), Cherry Falls is a really fun slasher pic.

Grade: B

***

Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice is a neo-noir comedy directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It's based on the book by Thomas Pynchon and I can barely tell you what it's about because the film has so many characters, so many twists and turns, that you pretty much have to accept that you're going to get lost in the whole mess. It's a prime example of a "shaggy dog tale". And the "dog" in question is Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix, playing an extremely chill dude for a change), a private eye living in the early 70s in Los Angeles. Doc's ex-girlfriend, Shasta (Katherine Waterson), tells him about her new lover, a real estate tycoon named Micky Wolfmann. She asks Doc to help prevent a scheme in which Mickey's wife and her lover plan to commit Mickey to an insane asylum and, I guess, take control of his money.

There are also multiple sub-plots where Doc is hired by different people to find different missing persons...but all threads seem to lead to drug-smuggling operation called "The Golden Fang" who use "vertical integration"--i.e. they sell their drugs and then when those drugs cause negative physical and mental health side effects, they sell the cure (dentistry and a rehabilitation center in this case). It all turns out to be very clever in the end, but the journey there labyrinthian. 

I didn't love Inherent Vice, though it certainly had some hilarious moments and it has a huge cast of great actors. I will likely try watching it again because Paul Thomas Anderson movies never seem "good" the first time I watch them, but upon repeat viewings, they sometimes skip right over "good" and into the "great" category. Until then, I would say that Inherent Vice is a sometimes delightfully muddled film...and sometimes just a muddle.

Grade: B-

***

Cyrano

So, I went into Joe Wright's musical adaptation the Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac only knowing the first half of the plot: a witty, intelligent, yet "unattractive" man, Cyrano, agrees to write love letters to the woman he loves--Roxane--on behalf of a not-so-witty, but handsome man, Christian, who also loves Roxane. I mean, if that plot doesn't scream FRENCH FARCE I don't know what does!

Uh, but it turns out that Cyrano is a tragedy with a heavy moral lesson. In the original play, Cyrano's big imperfection is that he has an abnormally large nose. In Joe Wright's version, Cyrano is a dwarf, played by who else but Peter Dinklage. Unstated, but definitely in the subtext, is the fact that Peter Dinklage is very handsome--and he plays the talented, snarky, witty Cyrano so easily because Dinklage is talented, snarky, and witty. But is he any match for Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Christian de Neuvillette? Harrison Jr. is devastatingly handsome any way you slice it. He has kind eyes and a warm smile. But unfortunately, he is terrible with words. And Roxane's (played by fresh-faced, angelic Haley Bennett) love language is verbal affirmation, bitch!

So the farce part of the movie plays out with Cyrano writing letters on Christian's behalf. In one scene, Christian stands below Roxane's balcony while Cyrano whispers the words he so dearly wishes HE could say to Roxane.

But the second half of the movie is a stone cold tragedy. Roxane has yet another admirer--De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn), a classic villain. He is a nobleman, he is rich, he is old and ugly, and he is a predatory prick. When he finds out that Roxane has her heart set on Christian, he sends the King's Guard (of which both Christian and Cyrano are part) to the front lines of the war their country is battling, knowing that survival is unlikely. 

The moral lesson at the heart of Cyrano is that Cyrano loves his pride more than he loves Roxane. He is so scared of being rejected that he never even tries to tell her his feelings. There's definitely a lesson here about "the friend zone" and men projecting their own self-resentments onto women, but I doubt the incel and red pill crowd is going to see this movie. 

Cyrano has great acting and a hell of a final scene. The musical aspect...meh. I found the songs stilted and hackneyed. Many of the songs did that thing where they just describe what's happening. Like, Cyrano will just straight up sing "I love Roxane/but I am not a fool to think she'll ever love a man like me/so I will write these letters/signed by another" (I just made that up, but that's literally what the songs sound like). A Lin-Manuel Miranda production this is NOT!

That said, if you like romantic tear-jerkers/Peter Dinklage, you're probably going to find something to appreciate about Cyrano. And the cinematography is stunning. Stun. Ning.

Grade: B-