The People's Joker
The People's Joker is a satire of superhero films written, directed by, and starring trans director Vera Drew. Drawing inspiration from her own life as a trans woman, she explores the mythology and themes around the Batman villain Joker. Drew crowdfunded this movie and it very much feels like a DIY passion project where a bunch of creative people came together to put on a show. What's interesting is that even though the film looks low budget, it doesn't feel low budget. Unlike schlocky low budget films like Sharknado, The People's Joker has purpose and heart.
Drew plays a trans woman who grew up in Smallville, Kansas and whose mother was in denial about her child's gender identity. Young Vera is given a medication called Smylex that forces people to "put on a happy face" no matter how they're feeling inside. Vera grows up and moves to Gotham City, where she tries out for the comedy show UCB Live (a reference to Saturday Night Live), but is disillusioned by the legal constraints put on humor (the film takes place in a dystopian future where unapproved comedy is illegal). She and Oswald Cobblepot (Batman fans will recognize this character as a version of the Penguin) start their own comedy troupe, but call it "anti-comedy" to skirt around the law.
Vera then meets and begins a romance with a trans man, who dresses like the Jared Leto version of the Joker and goes by Mr. J. However, their romance quickly becomes toxic as Mr. J proves to be controlling and manipulative. Still, he supports Vera in her physical transition. Vera, going by Joker the Harlequin now, fights for a spot as the host of UCB Live while also trying to reconnect with her mother.
There's a lot going on in The People's Joker and it's a very personal movie. As a cisgender woman, I still related to the themes of "putting on a happy face" or presenting a certain way to make other people feel comfortable as well as being annoyed when people expect me to act or look at certain way as a woman. In The People's Joker, Vera physically transitions (diving into a vat of estrogen at one point), but retains masculine elements in her looks and demeanor. I really loved that Vera Drew made a movie about how people exist between the binaries and how it can be empowering to refuse to let some parts of yourself fade into the background to make people feel more comfortable. It's a timeless message that feels very timely right now.
I really loved The People's Joker. It's messy and cobbled together, but it's got heart. Big and true heart. Definitely check it out if you're interested. I'm excited to see what Vera Drew does next.
Grade: B+
***
Please Baby Please
Please Baby Please is a very queer, delightful, and weird movie directed by Amanda Kramer. It's about a 1950s couple, Suze (Andrea Riseborough) and Arthur (Harry Melling), who come home to find a leather gang, The Young Gents, beating some people to death outside their apartment. The horrified couple are even more horrified to realize they are attracted to the gang. After their encounter with The Young Gents, Suze starts talking about how she wishes she could be a man so she could wear a leather jacket and act like Marlon Brando. When friends tease Arthur for not being willing to fight like a man, he says, "I won't be terrorized into acting like a savage just because I was born male". The Young Gents have awakened Suze and Arthur's innermost desires, which involve fucking with their gender roles.
Please Baby Please is classified as a musical, but there are no songs. There are fantasy dance sequences filled with leather-clad men and Suze in lingerie. The movie is very kinky, despite having no sex and very few kisses. In fact, the costuming is the kinkiest part of the movie. The film feels like a stage play, with heightened dialogue that no one would use in real life and Andrea Riseborough in a snarling, unhinged performance. It's a strange, strange film that will appeal to specific tastes. I described it as "if David Lynch directed Cruising and then that movie had a baby with John Waters' Crybaby". If you read that and know what the hell I'm talking about and it appeals to you, you'll probably like this film.
I mentioned that Andrea Riseborough gives a crazy performance, but Harry Melling (best known for his role as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies) is also wonderful as the quiet, passive Arthur who longs for the touch--and protection of--Teddy, one of the Young Gents. Yeah, this movie is queer as fuck in multiple different ways. The movie itself resists categorization even as its characters resist being categorized as one gender or another, one sexuality or another, and even one personality or another. It's a kinky celebration of ambiguity and endless possibilities. I loved it. If "queer, BDSM West Side Story" sounds appealing to you, give it a watch.
Grade: A-
***
Mrs. Doubtfire
Chris Columbus's 1993 family film starring the late, great Robin Williams has only gotten better with age. For a movie that is about a man who dresses in drag to pose as a nanny in order to get closer to his children during a divorce, Mrs. Doubtfire has shockingly few offensive jokes. Furthermore, it's remarkable how divorce is treated in this 30 year old film. No one in this movie is truly a villain. Daniel Hillard (Williams) is a man-child whose antics drive his wife, Miranda (Sally Field), to file for divorce. Despite being a bit of a stereotype as a high-strung career woman, Miranda is not treated as a bad or unreasonable person. Even more remarkable, her potential new love interest, Stu (Pierce Brosnan), is also not a bad guy at all! If anyone in this movie is the bad guy, it's Daniel, who undermines his wife and makes her job as a parent very difficult.
It's interesting that Daniel magically becomes a better parent through the power of drag. After he transforms into the soft-spoken yet firm older woman, Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire, with the help of his makeup artist brother (Harvey Fierstein, always a welcome presence in a movie), Daniel finds it within himself to actually be a parent and not just a friend to his kids. Not only does he get them to finish their homework on time and complete their chores, he also connects with them in a way he couldn't when he was just Dad and not Doubtfire.
In the real world, Daniel's antics would probably land him in jail and would certainly result in less time with his children, not more. But through the magic of Hollywood, Miranda realizes that not only does Daniel need his kids, they need him too, and they end up sharing custody more equitably. That a slapstick comedy involving fake breasts being set on fire in one memorable scene could also have such a generous and humane approach to divorce and co-parenting is really beautiful.
Grade: A
***
Rebel Ridge
The latest film by Jeremy Saulnier (best known for his punks vs. Nazis thriller Green Room) is a tight, action-packed movie that's also wickedly smart. Aaron Pierre plays Terry, a Black man who gets pulled over by the cops in a small town in Louisiana while biking to the court house with a backpack full of bail money to get his cousin out of jail. When the cops realize he has $36,000 cash in his backpack, they seize it, claiming that it might be drug money. This is all legal, by the way. So now Terry can't bail his cousin out and his cousin is being transported to the state prison where he is in danger because he informed on a powerful gang leader.
Terry tries to make a deal with the police chief to get the bail money (10k from the 36k), and he'll let them keep the rest--he won't go through the appeal process to repossess his own (legally acquired) assets. The chief, Sandy Burnne (played by Don Johnson), says no deal. The police see Terry as an easily swatted-away nuisance and the cash as funds they can use for their department. Turns out, Terry was in the Marines and is specially trained in close-quarters combat and if he can't ask nicely or bargain for the money back, he'll fight for it. This leads to some sick fight scenes where Terry easily disarms cops.
I won't go into more detail because there is a lot more plot, but suffice it to say that Rebel Ridge is consistently thrilling and smart (if a bit over-the-top at times). It feels like Saulnier wanted to educate viewers about injustices in our legal system as much as he wanted to entertain them, and he strikes a good balance between dialogue explaining all the legal stuff and heart-pounding fight scenes and chase scenes. It's not as entertaining as Green Room, but it's a very solid action-thriller.
Grade: B
***
Ingrid Goes West
Directed by Matt Spicer, Ingrid Goes West is a disturbing black comedy about a woman, the titular Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza), who has a habit of obsessing over and stalking women she doesn't know on social media. The film opens with her storming into a woman's wedding reception, screaming at her for not being invited, and pepper-spraying the woman in the face. The kicker? Ingrid was never friends with this woman--she only knew her from Instagram.
After being released from a mental health facility, Ingrid, flush with cash inherited upon her mother's death, begins stalking a new victim: Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen), an LA-based influencer. Ingrid moves to LA and begins her machinations to worm her way into Taylor's life, which involve kidnapping Taylor's dog and then returning it, much to the relief and gratitude of Taylor and her husband, Ezra (Wyatt Russell).
At first, it seems like things are working out for Ingrid. Taylor is also a bit crazy and reckless, as well as fake (she's a social media influencer, after all), so she's a good match for Ingrid's unstable personality. But when Taylor's sociopathic brother, Nicky (Billy Magnussen), comes to town, he sniffs Ingrid out for the bullshit artist she is immediately.
Y'all, this is a dark movie. It's delightfully nasty, and actually fairly sympathetic towards Ingrid even though she is legit terrifying. Ingrid Goes West skewers the Instagrammable lives that influencers live and shows that even though she's more mentally stable and socially acceptable, Taylor is, in many ways, just as big of a liar and a fraud as Ingrid is. A very dark and uncomfortable movie, Ingrid Goes West hurts so good.
Grade: B+
***
Speak No Evil (2024)
James Watkins' Speak No Evil is a remake of a Danish film that came out only two years ago (which I reviewed here). Understandably, cinephiles were confused and bemused about why a remake of an already solid film was necessary at all, let alone within such a short time period. Some wrote it off as a cynical cash grab.
I do agree that it was not strictly "necessary" to remake Speak No Evil...but, honestly, the remake is pretty fun. It makes some massive changes to the final third that will possibly infuriate people who loved the bleakness of the original, but it still makes for a fun thriller.
The film follows an American couple, Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben (Scoot McNairy) Dalton, who move to London with their 12 year old daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler). The family meets another family while on vacation. Paddy (James McAvoy) is a bit of a macho boor, but his wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) is sweet and their son Ant (Dan Hough) gets along with Agnes so the two families spend a good amount of time together while on vacation. Paddy and Ciara invite the Daltons to their farmhouse for a long weekend and, despite some trepidation, they decide to go.
To make a long story short, once they arrive, Paddy and Ciara (especially Paddy) begin pushing the Daltons' boundaries. First, in small(ish) ways, like encouraging vegetarian Louise to eat a bite of the prize goose Paddy butchered and cooked for dinner. But soon, the boundary-punishing moves from odd to irritating to dangerous and the otherwise accommodating Daltons are forced to fight back.
The premise at the core of both the original and remake is that some people (or some cultures, as the original was a specific commentary on Danish politeness) prize politeness and not wanting to cause a scene over their own comfort and even their own lives. The original took this premise to an extreme (and, in my opinion, more realistic) conclusion whereas the remake suggests that there is a breaking point where people will fight back.
The original is the better horror film because it truly leans into horror in a way the more "Americanized" remake does not. The remake is the better thriller because it's more, well, thrilling, to see victims fight back. So, both films are good, it just depends on what you're in the mood to watch: a bleak, nihilistic fable about the dangers of having weak boundaries, or a popcorn thriller about people overcoming their own fear to fight back against their enemies?
Grade: B
***
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
I had heard that this documentary, directed by Kurt Kuenne, is one of the most heartbreaking movies of all time. I'm not sure whether it's better to go in knowing the whole story or not, but either way, Dear Zachary will absolutely break your heart. The rumors are indeed true. This is a difficult movie.
The elevator pitch is that the director's longtime friend, Andrew Bagby, was found murdered in Keystone State Park in Pennsylvania. The most obvious suspect was Andrew's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Shirley Turner, who fled to Newfoundland after the murder. Due to various failures in the Canadian justice system, Shirley was released on bail and not immediately extradited to the United States. But it gets worse...Shirley was pregnant with Andrew's baby.
So, you have a very likely murderer living free and raising a helpless child. Kuenne began the documentary as a gift to Zachary, the child. He interviews numerous friends and family about Andrew, who was deeply beloved. He also documents Andrew's parents' agony at having to share custody of their grandson with their son's likely murderer...a woman who is also deeply disturbed. The fear and rage are unimaginable.
But that's not the end of the story. You'll have to watch this excellent documentary (or read spoilers) to find out what happens. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father is one of the rawest, most emotional docs I've seen. The good news is that the film lead to some reform of Canada's justice system so that others will be more protected in the future.
Grade: A
***
The Road to Wellville
I recently revisited this very bizarre and poop-filled sex comedy (you heard that right), which I was kind of obsessed with as a young teen. I was obsessed with it because I had a crush on Matthew Broderick, who has a lead role in the movie, but the film's wacky horniness was also...intriguing...to me at that age.
The movie, based on the novel by T.C. Boyle, is a fictionalized take on the life and work of John Harvey Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins). Kellogg was a real person and he was obsessed with clean living. He ran a health clinic in Battle Creek, Michigan and was a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian who was a vegetarian long before it was a common thing to be. He was also extremely anti-masturbation to the point where he recommended genital mutilation as a way of deterring children from masturbating. That part is thankfully not in the movie.
The movie centers around a couple, Will and Eleanor Lightbody (Broderick and Bridget Fonda), who arrive at the good doctor's clinic to help Will fix his stomach troubles. The prescription is abstinence from sex (including with one's spouse), a wholesome diet of grains and produce, and enemas. Lots and lots and lots of enemas. The Lightbody's are separated and make the acquaintances of several people who tempt them into extramarital activities. The thesis of the film seems to be that the repression of sex leads to obsession, a belief I can get behind.
The Road to Wellville is a movie that is both kinky and wacky. A strange, though not unprecedented, combination (check out Exit to Eden for another kinky/wacky movie). I personally really like it, especially Anthony Hopkins as Kellogg. It reminds me a bit of one of my favorite movies, Quills. Both movies take a real historical figure who was abusive and sick (Kellogg in Wellville and the Maquis de Sade in Quills) and clean them up for the screen, making them seem relatively harmless.
But unlike Quills, I can't in good conscience call The Road to Wellville a "good" movie. Which makes it hard to grade because I like it, but it's objectively a pretty bad film. So we'll leave it at a C+.
Grade: C+
***
Apartment 7A
Oh, man, what a disappointing movie. Perhaps even more so because I had a feeling it would be disappointing. Directed by Natalie Erika James and going straight to streaming on Paramount, Apartment 7A is a prequel to Rosemary's Baby. Before Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse moved into the Bramford apartment building and were drawn into the machinations of a coven of witches, there was Terry Gionoffrio. There's a scene in Rosemary's Baby where Rosemary briefly speaks to Terry, a dancer who lives with kooky older couple, Minnie and Roman Castevet, in the laundry room. Terry mentions that the older couple were kind enough to help her get off the street and off of drugs. A day later, the Woodhouse's come home to see that Terry has jumped out of a window of the Bramford to her death.
Apartment 7A is Terry's story. And I apologize if the above is a spoiler, but Rosemary's Baby came out 55 years ago, so the statue of limitations on spoilers is up. I LOVE Rosemary's Baby, so I was curious to watch Apartment 7A and see how it expanded on the story. The result is very meh. The acting and production are good, but the story is just mediocre and rushes headlong into a very anti-climactic ending. The one thing I enjoyed about the film was Dianne Wiest as Minnie Castevet. The incomparable Ruth Gordon played Minnie in the original film and it was delightful to see Wiest try her hand at the iconic role. She gets the accent, the mannerisms, and the ability to switch from slightly nosy but sweet old lady to dismissive, cruel, and calculating old lady down pat. Kevin McNally as Roman Castevet was very good too.
But unlike Rosemary's Baby, where Rosemary slowly puts the pieces together about a conspiracy to have her give birth to the antichrist, Apartment 7A has Terry find out because a nun tells her what's going on like 10 minutes before the movie ends. She puts a few clues together, but there isn't that sense of creeping dread and paranoia that infused the original film. Rosemary's Baby has no jump scares and no gore...just endless dread (and misogyny). Apartment 7A has nothing. Skip it unless you're a huge fan of the original and want to see another gifted actress step into the shoes of Minnie Castevet.
Grade: C
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