Pig
Pig is such a strange and tender movie. Starring Nic Cage as Rob Feld, a once incredibly famous and well-respected chef in Portland, OR turned recluse living in the woods with his truffle-hunting pig, I fully expected this movie to be way crazier and violent than it actually was. I just associate Cage with batshit crazy performances. And while indeed this movie is a little weird, it's actually a very non-violent and peaceful meditation on grief and loss.
After Rob's prized pig is stolen, he enlists the help of Amir (Alex Wolff), the young man who buys truffles off of Rob, to help him track her down. The two men engage in a series of melancholic misadventures in pursuit of the missing pig. The film gently lampoons the snobbish restaurant culture of Portland while still acknowledging the immense power food has to create nostalgia in us, and to both hurt and heal us.
I wouldn't say that I was as enamored with Pig as much as some folks were, but it is a very solid film and I highly recommend it. It's also a reminder that Nic Cage is, in fact, an excellent actor.
Grade: B+
***
Being the Ricardos
I kind of expected to hate this Aaron Sorkin written and directed film, but its charm won me over. Being the Ricardos covers one week in the life of Lucille Ball (Nicole Kidman) and Desi Arnaz (Javier Bardem). It's a hell of a week--Lucy has been accused by the media of being a communist, Lucy and Desi have found out that they're expecting their second child (which throws a monkey wrench into their shooting schedule), and Lucy strongly suspects that Desi is cheating on her.
There has been a lot of criticism thrown at this movie--namely that it's mostly a vehicle for Sorkin to peacock his witty dialogue, and also that both Kidman and Bardem only bear a passing resemblance to the real life people they're playing. I mean, whatever. I haven't watched enough I Love Lucy to judge whether or not Kidman hits the mark, but I will say that sometimes picking a less famous actor for a role allows the character to shine a bit more. In other words: I did not see Lucille Ball in this movie; I saw Nicole Kidman in a red wig. And Javier Bardem looks nothing like Desi Arnaz (he's also Spanish, not Cuban, but potato-papa I guess).
Despite the imperfections, Being the Ricardos is a cute, mostly pleasant film with a great cast of actors (JK Simmons, Nina Ariande, Alia Shawkat, and Tony Hale round out the cast) that serves as a reminder of how shitty and conformist the 1950s were. It's also a really good movie to watch with your parents.
Grade: B
***
Shiva Baby
A tense comedy, Shiva Baby follows Danielle (Rachel Sennott in an excellent breakout performance), a Jewish woman in her early 20s who is Sugar Babying for money. She tells Max (Danny Deferrari), her sugar daddy, that she's going to use the money he gives her to go to law school.
She then goes to a shiva observance with her parents, Joel (Fred Melamed) and Debbie (Polly Draper), only to run into...Max. Through conversation with her parents, he finds out that Danielle is NOT planning to go to law school and that her parents subsidize her directionless lifestyle. Danielle finds out that Max is married and has an infant daughter. So, basically, their secrets are revealed to one another.
Additionally, Danielle has to deal with seeing her ex-girlfriend, Maya, who is much more accomplished than Danielle and rubs it in Danielle's face.
Shiva Baby is very much a Jewish comedy, although certainly anyone regardless of race, religion, or creed can relate to it: directionless young people and the older adults in their lives asking them what they're going to do, if they're dating anyone, have they lost weight, have they gained weight...and on and on. Dorky Dads who are always losing their phones, Meddling Moms asking passive-aggressive questions. This is the human experience, people. This is the stuff of life!
Shiva Baby is a very good movie, though you have to have a certain level of tolerance for awkward and tense situations. But if you can stand your asshole being clenched for most of the movie, it's well worth it.
Grade: B+
***
Out of the Furnace
Directed by Scott Cooper, Out of the Furnace is drenched in testosterone. Specifically, white blue collar testosterone. Christian Bale plays Russell Baze, a steelworker whose younger brother, Rodney (Casey Affleck), is a ne'er do well type who can't/doesn't want to hold down a job and instead participates in fistfights to earn money, which he then pisses away gambling.
When Rodney gets in major trouble with a sociopathic drug dealer, Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson, completely unhinged and terrifying), Russell has to yet again step up and fight his brothers' battles.
Although Out of the Furnace is not a bad movie, it's quite unpleasant and at times boring. I sometimes really like super-masculine movies (The Departed comes to mind), but this one was just meh. Not to mention that both Casey Affleck and Christian Bale seem like real assholes in real life...it's not enough to make me NOT watch a movie I want to see, but it doesn't really help a not-great movie be any better.
You're good to skip this one.
Grade: B-
***
The Power
The Power is an underrated, little known horror film from this past year. Taking place in London in 1974, during trade union protests which led to a need for energy conservation, The Power is about, well, power--both power as in electricity and power as in who has it and who doesn't have it.
Val (Rose Williams) is a young nurse on her first day at a London hospital. She faces off against a strict Matron, a bitchy colleague whom she knew in school, and creepy men who act completely inappropriately. As if that isn't enough stress, Val is ordered to work the "dark shift" at night, when the power will be shut off and only a few generators will provide needed electricity for patients who can't physically leave the hospital. I'm sure you can imagine the potential for creepiness and jump scares in a situation like that.
Throughout the movie, there are hints about Val's past: she was an orphan and was called "Dirty Brown" by her classmates. She is terrified of the dark because of something that happened to her as a child in a dark closet. It doesn't take much to understand the subtext of this movie: men who take advantage of young girls who have no one to defend them have all the power. That is, until they don't.
If you like movies about vengeful entities where sins of the past are punished, The Power is one to check out.
Grade: B
***
The Talented Mr. Ripley
This was a rewatch for me and I'm so glad I did! I haven't watched The Talented Mr. Ripley since college or grad school--so over 10 years, easily. Not only does it have one of the most beautiful, talented casts in all of movie history (Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damn, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman), the film is SO GOOD. It's a beautifully filmed neo-noir about a young sociopath named Tom Ripley (Damon), a man who comes off as a dweeb but who is incredibly skillful at manipulating people. He meets the parents of Dickie Greenleaf (Law) and pretends that he knew Dickie at Princeton (he actually never met Dickie in his life and never went to Princeton). Dickie's parents tell him that Dick is living in Italy doing fuck all and they want him to come home and work for the family business. They'll pay Tom to travel over there and convince Dickie to come home.
When Tom meets Dickie and his girlfriend, Marge (Paltrow), he quickly convinces them that he's legit and they all become friends and party their fucking asses off in Italy. But it's not long before Dickie starts to find Tom creepy--it doesn't help that Tom practically salivates every time he looks at Dickie. As Dickie pulls away, Tom becomes more desperate in his ruse until the inevitable happens...and that's only halfway through the movie.
The Talented Mr. Ripley is gay as hell, and I would expect no less from the woman who created the character, Patricia Highsmith. And I guess now that I think about it, the novel and film do follow that tradition of depicting queer people as violent, lying villains. That could turn some people off, but I kind of like it when the queer people are the killers instead of the prey. True liberation means that queer people don't need to be pigeonholed as either saints or sinners. In any case, there's a lot of chiseled abs and sinewy, suntanned male bodies in this movie, so if that's your thing...
Grade: A+
No comments:
Post a Comment