Pleasantville
Gary Ross's 1998 film about two teenagers who get transported into a black and white 1950s television show is a good movie to watch during these trying times. Tobey Maguire is David and Reese Witherspoon is Jennifer. They play two are siblings (twins!) who couldn't be more different. David is an introvert obsessed with a "Leave it to Beaver"-esque show called "Pleasantville" and Jennifer is a gum-snapping popular girl who just wants to date hot guys.
When a fight over the TV remote breaks out, the siblings are magically transported into "Pleasantville", where they are now known as Bud and Mary Sue and have to figure out how to get back to the real world without screwing up the black and white universe they're currently living in.
But when Jennifer/Mary Sue introduces sex to Pleasantville by taking Skip Martin (Paul Walker, RIP) to Lover's Lane...changes start occurring in the otherwise boring town. For one, things start to show up in color. But it's not just sex that changes people. Anger, passion, and curiosity all have the same effect. David/Bud works at a diner with Bill Johnson (a very sweet Jeff Daniels) who, it turns out, loves to paint the windows of his diner during Christmas. Bud encourages his love of art and even brings him a book of famous paintings, which blows Bill's mind.
But, as you might expect, the more "traditional" members of the community (mostly old men and angry male teenagers) are uncomfortable with the changes Pleasantville is going through and try to segregate the "colored people" from the people who are still black and white. I mean, the symbolism is pretty on the nose here, but it still makes for an effectively emotional film.
The United States is currently in a downswing of equal rights and the forces that be want us to stay "civil" and "pleasant" in the face of loss of rights, environmental apocalypse, and the rise of neo-fascism. But even though many of us are suffering and scared right now (I know I am!), it's important to remember the impact we can have on other people--and the importance of having not just love and joy in our lives, but anger and sadness too. These feelings make us just as human and make life just as meaningful as the "good" emotions. Pleasantville is about the inevitability of change. It's also (as directly stated by the director) about how personal repression leads to public oppression. What people don't like in themselves, they project onto others and then try to exert control over them.
Pleasantville came out during a hopeful time in the US. Clinton was president, 9/11 hadn't happened yet, and America was almost as innocent and optimistic as the denizens of "Pleasantville" the show. Although it may feel cheesy to watch the film now, I really do recommend it. It will remind you of the power of sex, art, literature, and love in the face of horrible repression. Don't let the bastards grind you down.
Grade: A
***
Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey
Well, here's another piece of media that is very appropriate for Everything Happening Right Now because it's about the systematic oppression of women and rape of little girls in the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). And while you might not be a fundamentalist Mormon, you can be assured that you almost certainly know women and girls who have faced what the women in this four part documentary have faced.
The documentary follows the rise of Warren Jeffs, the "prophet" of the FLDS church. It features interviews with people who have left the church, including women who were married to extremely old men at a very young age. It's a VERY difficult documentary to watch. There are women interviewed whose children were taken away from them and sent to a compound where they were groomed to become wives to older men at ages as young as 14. And the mothers basically "allow" this to happen...although we can't really say they are consenting since they've been part of an abusive cult since birth and are thoroughly brainwashed.
It culminates in audio of Warren Jeffs assaulting a 12 year old girl in a room with older women who allow it to happen because, well, the "prophet" is never wrong. It is absolutely devastating to listen to.
It's cold comfort know that Jeffs is now in prison for life, because that doesn't rewind the clock and remove the damage he, and others like him, have done. And he's just one guy. Rape and abuse are common all over the world and in every community on earth. But there's something unique about religious communities in that they encourage obedience and blind faith, which really allows for abuse to flourish. I hate religion, guys. I don't hate spirituality or God or the teachings of Jesus, but I hate religion. Religion is where humans step in and create a list of rules and hierarchies so that they can dominate others. And then they just say "it's God's will". It's basically the inverse of "the devil made me do it": "God told me it was ok to fuck a 12 year old".
I do recommend Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey but only to those who can handle it. Honestly, I recommend it even if you think you can't handle it because it's something we should all face and acknowledge to some extent. But, obviously, it will be incredibly traumatic for some people, especially people who have been abused themselves, so proceed with the utmost of caution.
Grade: A
The Empty Man
The Empty Man is an interesting, though overly long and ultimately forgettable horror film about this thing called "tulpas". I used to think that tulpas were some dumb Tumblr bullshit, but I guess some people out there take them more seriously that I thought? Basically, it's this idea that if you create a being and think about it for long enough it becomes "real" and can have thoughts of its own separate from yours. It's like creating your own imaginary friend only you think about it so hard and for so long that it becomes real.
I gotta say, this shit freaks me out. Not because I think a tulpa will be created out of thin air and attack me, but because I find that the capabilities of the human mind to compartmentalize and basically fool itself into believing impossible things really freaky.
The Empty Man follows former detective James Lasombra (James Badge Dale) as he helps investigate the disappearance of his neighbor's teenage daughter. He discovers that the girl got involved with a group called the Pontifex Institute that is basically a cult that believes in creating these tulpas. The deeper James digs, the more mysterious and confusing it gets--he even finds files on himself within the Institute's records.
Even though this film has a lot of stuff I like--cults, urban legends, research/detective skills--I ultimately struggled to pay attention to it and had to rewind multiple times because I zoned out or got distracted while watching it. Maybe I just wasn't in the right head space? Maybe I need to create a tulpa to watch movies for me and report back. Har har. In any case, I think this movie is not terrible and many horror fans will probably enjoy it quite a bit.
Grade: B-
***
Antlers
Now, this was a horror movie that REALLY didn't do it for me. Directed by Scott Cooper, it follows a 12 year old boy, Lucas (Jeremy T. Thomas) who appears to be impoverished, malnourished, and even abused. His teacher, Julia (Keri Russell), is very concerned about him. She was a victim of child abuse herself, at the hands of her alcoholic father, and so she has a strong desire to help Lucas.
Well, it turns out that Lucas' dad was attacked by a mysterious creature and now he is slowly turning into that creature. Lucas keeps him locked in a room in their house, along with his younger brother, Aiden, who is also infected. Lucas kills small animals and collects roadkill to feed to his ravenous father and also gives food to his brother. But all of this is unsustainable since Lucas barely has the money or ability to feed himself.
Spoiler alert: the dad was attacked by a wendigo. A wendigo is a creature from indigenous (Algonquin, specifically) lore that is known to be ravenous and cannibalistic. Antlers is a film directed by a white person and starring mostly white people, but they bring in an indigenous actor (Graham Greene) for a few scenes to explain what a wendigo is. What I would really like to see is a movie made by and starring indigenous people about the wendigo. That would actually be really cool.
Antlers is not cool. It's a joyless, humorless slog about the abuse of children and the devastation of drug and alcohol addiction. And how trauma is passed down through generations. Don't get me wrong--these themes are important and should be explored in film. But Antlers ain't it. It's one of those horror movies that isn't good enough to be this traumatic (unlike, say, Hereditary, which is super traumatic but actually good). I stopped watching Antlers 15 minutes before the end.
Grade: C-
***
8mm
8mm is a 1999 thriller directed by Joel Schumacher and starring the one and only Nic Cage. Cage plays Tom Welles, a private investigator hired by a wealthy widow to uncover the identity of a young woman who appears to be killed in a film that was discovered in her husband's safe after his death. Yes, folks, the movie in the safe is a snuff film! We got a Nic Cage snuff film movie here and it. is. fantastic.
Welles delves into the seedy underbelly of EXTREME BONDAGE PORNOGRAPHY which I'm sure I know nothing about! His companion into this journey to hell is Max California, a tattooed punk who works at an adult bookstore played by the incomparable Joaquin Phoenix. Confession: I first watched 8mm when I was like, 15 or 16 because I had a huge crush on Joaquin. There's a scene where he's tied up by some bad guys and young Jenny was like 😍 🤤.
He wears leather pants in the movie too!
Tom and Max visit underground pornography exchanges where Tom acts like a total idiot, straight up asking about "snuff movies" and getting kicked out of every establishment they visit. Eventually, they discover that the creator of the film is one Dino Velvet (Peter Stormare). The film was produced by Eddie Poole (James Gandolfini) and stars a man in a leather mask who only goes by the name "Machine".
Of course, the closer Tom gets to figuring out who is responsible for this young woman's death, the more danger he finds himself in.
I won't spoil the ending, but I will say I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this movie. It's fucking hilarious and entertaining. I can't in good conscience give it a rating in the "A" range because it's not "good" in the traditional sense, but it is very good in the entertaining sense. I mean, come on, it's got a guy named "Dino Velvet" who makes snuff films.
Grade: B+
This is what I thought was hot was I was 15. Still do.
***
Let Me In
This was another rewatch for me, and I actually may have reviewed it in this very blog years ago. I really need to come up with a better way to tag and archive my reviews.
Directed by Matt Reeves (who directed The Batman most recently), Let Me In is a remake of the Swedish film Let the Right One In, which itself is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by horror author John Ajvide Lindqvist. It follows Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a 12 year old boy who is severely bullied at school. He lives an incredibly lonely existence until he meets Abby (Chloe Grace Moretz) a girl who seems to be about his age who moves into the apartment next to Owen's.
Abby is actually a vampire who is hundreds of years old. The man she lives with, Thomas (Richard Jenkins), is not her father but her familiar. Owen and Abby develop a friendship which deepens after Thomas kills himself. But there is a very gentle insinuation of sinister intentions--is Abby only befriending Owen to groom him to become her next familiar?
Let Me In is a very dark horror film. It's not outrageously violent, but there is a feeling of moroseness to it. A feeling of crippling loneliness which brings Owen and Abby together in their shared isolation. Unlike Antlers though, the movie earns its bad vibes. I'm not sure I can explain why Antlers--a very sad, hopeless film--is worse than Let Me In--also sad, and hopeless if you read it a certain way. Only that Let Me In is simply better. It's more interesting, the emotions are more nuanced and authentic, the acting is better. I definitely recommend it, as well as Let the Right One In (which is on my docket to rewatch as well).
Grade: A-
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