Despicable Me 4 (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): As passable as it gets

Posted on July 22, 2024 by kaist455

Animation film “Despicable Me 4” is as passable as it gets. While I do not deny that I chuckled more than once during my viewing and it is better than “Despicable Me 3” (2017), the film is pretty much like another routine variation of what has been served to us since “Despicable Me” (2010), and you may be more generous to the film if you have more affection toward its decidedly ridiculous main characters.

As usual, Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), a former supervillain turned a prominent Anti-Villain League (AVL) agent, happens to have another big problem to handle while trying to be more accustomed to his happy domestic life. While attending the reunion ceremony held at a certain infamous school where he once studied as a future villain, he successfully arrests a notorious supervillain named Maxime Le Mal (voiced by Will Ferrell), but Maxime subsequently escapes from the prison, and Gru has no choice but to hide along with his family in some nice suburban neighborhood.  

Of course, despite disguising himself as a solar panel salesman Chet Cunningham (His family members also get each own alias for safety, by the way), Gru cannot help but look awkward and weird to an affluent couple living right next to the safe house for Gru and his family, and then he also finds himself blackmailed by that couple’s young daughter, who instantly recognizes Gru right from the very first day. Zealously aspiring to be a supervillain just like Gru once did, Poppy Prescott (voiced by Joey King) demands that Gru help and assist her in accomplishing a certain ambitious criminal project of hers, and Gru cannot possibly say no to her, though he soon finds himself excited a lot by being bad again.

Meanwhile, the movie busily juggles several other narrative lines mainly for making us less bored. Just like her husband, Lucy (voiced by Kristen Wiig) feels strained about being a different person, and that leads to a hilariously disastrous moment at a local hair salon. In case of Gru’s three stepchildren, they also struggle a lot in one way or another, and there is a silly little moment involved with a boorish karate teacher who does not respect his pupils much.

And there are, yes, the Minions, who all are voiced by Pierre Coffin, the co-director of “Despicable Me” and its two following sequels. I found them rather tiresome as they became more and more ubiquitous during last 14 years, but they are still fairly amusing as they get themselves involved into one ridiculous slapstick moment after another. Here in this film, they become the official assets of AVL due to Gru and his family’s temporary absence, and the five selected ones are subjected to a top-secret experiment which turns them into superheroes, though that does not improve their intelligence that much as shown from one funny sequence where they attempt to do some public service.

As the Minions accordingly keep stealing the show as before, the other parts of the film become less engaging in comparison. While a subplot involved with Gru and his baby son is predictable to the core, the part involved with Maxime and his snarky girlfriend Valentina (voiced by Sofía Vergara) often feels perfunctory, though Will Farrell tries to chew every moment of his as gleefully as possible for more amusement for us. At one point early in the point, we see his supervillain character is surrounded by his own minions, and it is a shame that his minions are not utilized more (I would not mind at all if they had a big climactic battle with the Minions, you know).

In the end, lots of things busily happen across the screen during the last 20 minutes as expected, and that is where the film becomes all the less interesting, but Steve Carell and several other voice cast members still hold our attention with their good efforts. While he is quite accustomed to his role now, Carell is still capable of imbuing his character with enough zaniness to tickle us, and Kristen Wigg, Sofía Vergara, and Joey King have each own small fun even though they are occasionally limited by their thankless supporting parts. Although I miss how she and Carell complement well in “Despicable Me 2” (2013), Wigg brings some wit to one outrageous comic moment which cheerfully parodies a certain famous moment in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991), and Joey King is spirited whenever her adolescent character cannot help but become gleeful about being bad. 

 In conclusion, “Despicable Me 4”, directed by Chris Renaud, is enjoyable to some degree, but it does not satisfy me enough on the whole, and I must confess that my mind kept doing a rating math while I was watching it with a friend of mine at a local movie theater yesterday. For being more entertaining than “Despicable Me 3”, I certainly should rate “Despicable Me 4” higher, but I also happened to give 2.5 stars out of 4 to both “Despicable Me” and “Despicable Me 2”. Therefore, I have to give “Despicable Me 4” only 2.5 stars mainly because it does not surpass the first two Despicable Me films or those two Minions flicks.

Anyway, considering how much the series has been critic-proof during all those years, my rating or opinion is certainly meaningless if you are already ready to laugh and then move onto the next sequel, which definitely will come as “Despicable Me 4” has earned a lot more than its production budget at this point. I must remind you that there are a number of much better and more meaningful animations films during this year (I particularly want to recommend “Robot Dreams” (2023) and “Inside Out 2” (2024) first), but we all sometimes need to get some brainless fun, right?

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Love Lies Bleeding (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): A lesbian crime noir film on steroid

Posted on July 20, 2024 by kaist455

“Love Lies Bleeding” is a little crime noir film which tries some interesting variation on its genre elements. As its two different female main characters pull or push each other in their dangerous erotic liaison, the movie occasionally jolts us via several nasty moments of violence and blood, and it even enters the realm of fantasy around the end of its bumpy narrative.

The movie, which is set in 1989, begins with a rather unnerving opening shot to remember, and then we get to know Lousie “Lou” Langston (Kristen Stewart), a young single lesbian woman who has worked as a gym manager in a little town located in some remote desert area. As she goes through another mundane day at the gym, Lou happens to notice a female stranger doing some exercise, and it does not take much time for them to get quite closer to each other when they later come across each other.

That female stranger in question is Jaqueline “Jackie” Cleaver (Katy O’Brien), a young promising bodybuilder who has been going to Las Vegas for participating in an upcoming bodybuilding competition to be held several days later. Because she needs some money for going to Las Vegas, Jackie gets herself employed at a local shooting range owned by Lou’s father Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), and Lou does not mind that much as she and her father have been estranged from each other for some time due to an unspecified reason (No, he has no problem at all with his daughter being a lesbian).

As they become more intimate with each other, Jackie suggests that Lou should leave for Las Vegas along with her, but Lou hesitates for an understandable reason. Her sister Beth (Jena Malone) has been constantly abused by her crummy husband JJ (Dave Franco), so Lou must stand by her as much as she can, though there is really nothing she can do for protecting her sister or stopping JJ, who incidentally works for Lou Sr.

Meanwhile, things are getting a little more complicated for Lou after she is approached by an FBI agent. Lou Sr. is actually a powerful crime boss dominating over the area, and FBI has been looking for anyone who can tell anything useful for their investigation on Lou Sr. Although they have not gotten anyone yet, they hope that Lou will eventually speak against her father due to that personal matter between them.

In addition, there is also steroid, which usually comes handy in Lou’s gym. Lou gladly provides steroid to Jackie, and Jackie surely experiences a considerable degree of muscular enhancement as she pushes herself further with more steroid injection. I must say that the depiction of steroid in the film is rather exaggerated but I must also admit that it is a bit amusing to see how it functions like a can of spinach does for Popeye.

All these and other elements in the story sometimes do not gel together that well in the screenplay by director Ross Glass and her co-writer Weronika Tofilska, and several sudden plot turns can be too jarring for you, but the movie keeps us engaged via the increasingly troubling relationship between Lou and Jackie. As going through a sort of steroid rage, Jackie often becomes unpredictable, and Lou finds herself in an unenviable position of taking care of the mess caused by her lover. She feels quite frustrated to say the least, but she is still attracted to Jackie nonetheless, and, like many lead characters of crime noir films, she desperately wants to believe that there is still a way out for her and her lover.

It surely helps that the movie is fueled by the solid chemistry between its two lead performers. Kristen Stewart, who has successfully transformed herself into one of the most dependable actresses working in Hollywood during the last 10 years, flawlessly embodies her character’s loneliness and frustration, and we can see how much her character is accustomed to taking care of the mess caused by others around her even before Jackie comes into her little world. On the opposite, Katy O’Brien, whom you may notice for her supporting role in TV drama series “The Mandalorian”, effectively complements her co-star while bringing considerable authenticity to her role (She was actually a professional bodybuilder before beginning her acting career, by the way), and she also handles well several tricky scenes later in the film where her character is driven to more rage and violence thanks to her steroid injection

Stewart and O’Brien are also supported well by a number of good performers who bring some life and personality to their archetype noir characters. While Jena Malone and Anna Baryshnikov do more than required by their rather thankless supporting parts, Dave Franco is suitably obnoxious as Lou’s despicable brother-in-law, and Ed Harris, an ever-radiable veteran actor who has seldom disappointed us during last 40 years, has a juicy fun with his crusty villain role whenever he enters the screen.

On the whole, “Love Lies Bleeding” feels occasionally uneven but ultimately quite impressive as it goes wild along with its two lead characters under Glass’ skillful direction. Just like her previous film “Saint Maud”, the movie is not something you can casually watch on Sunday afternoon, but you will not easily forget its intense moments, and you may be more interested in what Glass will show us next.

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Immaculate (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): Another Catholic horror flick of this year

Posted on July 20, 2024 by kaist455

“Immaculate” is a little too eager to give shock and awe for us. Right from the very first scene, we can instantly discern whatever we will behold in the end, and the movie has a substantial amount of spooky insidiousness around the screen, but it does not build the story and characters well enough to make us care and fear for its unfortunate heroine. As a result, we only come to observe her increasingly disturbing circumstance from the distance, and that is why its finale feels rather weak despite some striking moments of horror and violence to remember.

The story mainly revolves around Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), a young innocent American Catholic novice who comes to Italy for officially becoming a nun at some old Catholic convent outside Rome. Mainly because of the spiritual experience caused by a nearly fatal accident she had a long time ago, she sincerely believes that the purpose of her life is serving the God, and she thinks she is ready to do that for the rest of her life after making an official vow at the convent.

However, of course, things already look suspicious even without the creepy soundtrack mainly driven by the ominous score by Will Bates. When Sister Cecilia arrives at the convent, nearly everyone at the convent including its Mother Superior is courteous to her, but we quickly sense something fishy from a certain young nun, who seems quite determined to dislike her right from her first day at the convent. Under the strict order of the Mother Superior, every nun under her supervision should serve not only their God but also those old and dying nuns under their care, and Sister Cecillia is still not daunted at all, though she squirms in case of slaughtering a chicken for cooking.

After she officially becomes a convent member, everything seems to be going fairly well for Sister Cecilia, but then, what do you know, something strange happens to her. Not long after she has an odd and disturbing experience via a little old artifact associated with Jesus, she comes to notice a certain change in her body, and that leads to quite an unexpected discovery which is soon known to everyone in the convent. While baffled a lot about how the hell that could happen to her, Sister Cecilia has no choice but to go along with whatever she is told to do during next several months, and she certainly comes to get more attention from others in the convent.

So far, I have been trying not to tell too much, but I think you will easily guess what is going on around our heroine if you are a seasoned moviegoer who has seen a number of similar female occult horror films ranging from “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) to “The First Omen” (2024), which incidentally came out also in this year and curiously overlaps with “Immaculate” in more than one aspect. Like “Immaculate”, “The First Omen” is also about a young American Catholic novice coming to Italy and then finds herself trapped inside a truly diabolical conspiracy, and it naturally shares several relevant female issues with “Immaculate” in terms of story and characters.

However, in my trivial opinion, “Immaculate” is one or two steps below “The Frist Omen”, though they will certainly make an interesting double feature show together. While both of them are shrouded in lots of religious creepiness as required, the latter takes some time for story and character development before going all the way for shock and awe later, and the former is relatively blunter and clumsier in its tactics for shock and awe without enough narrative development. For example, we do not get to know or care that much about its heroine even when she desperately struggles for a way out later in the film, and, to make matters worse, many of the supporting characters around them are more or less than your average stock horror characters.

At least, the movie will not disappoint you when it throws more horror and violence across the screen during its last act, and you may be amused a bit by the truly preposterous aspects of the conspiracy surrounding its heroine. When she is told that there is an old catacomb right below the convent early in the film, you know she is destined to explore this underground place sooner or later, and it is a shame that the movie does not utilize this underground place more.

Even though I observed the movie with decreasing interest, I admire how committed Sydney Sweeney looks on the screen – and how versatile she really is. Since she received more attention thanks to her Emmy-nominated turn in HBO drama series “Euphoria”, Sweeney impressed us more with “Reality” (2023) and “Anyone but You” (2023) in last year, and now she demonstrates here that she can be a competent horror movie heroine. Even when the movie stumbles more than once, she diligently carries the movie with more emotional intensity, and she is utterly uncompromising especially when her character makes a drastic choice which feels like a defiant antithetical answer to “Rosemary’s Baby”.

In conclusion, “Immaculate”, directed by Michael Mohan, does not satisfy me enough for recommendation, but it is not entirely boring thanks to its several good elements including Sweeney’s strong screen presence. So far, she has not yet found a movie which can fully utilize her considerable potential, but I am sure that she will continue to advance as before, and I sincerely hope that there will be better movies to come into her promising career.

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Black Barbie: A Documentary (2024) ☆☆☆(3/4): Hidden Figures behind the Black Barbie

Posted on July 19, 2024 by kaist455

When I saw Greta Gerwig’s enormous hit film “Barbie” in last year, I instantly noticed how racially diverse the Barbie (and Ken) characters in the film are. We now take that for granted, but Netflix documentary film “Black Barbie: A Documentary”, which was released a few weeks ago, reminds us that there have actually been lots of efforts for that during several decades, and those hidden African American female figures behind these important efforts surely have interesting stories to tell for us.

The origin of the documentary is Beulah Mae Mitchell, who is an aunt of director/writer/co-producer Lagueria Davis and was also a key figure behind the first black dolls from Mattel. After coming to learn about her aunt’s very interesting professional career, Davis decided to delve more into her aunt’s considerable but rather overlooked contribution, and her aunt gladly put herself in front of the camera just like many different figures interviewed for the documentary.

At first, Mitchell and several other older African American interviewees including US Representative Maxine Waters reminisce about the serious absence of black dolls during their childhood mainly due to racial prejudice. During that time, many of toy companies in US only cared about their majority white customers, and we see a number of raggedy homemade black dolls which were the only alternatives for those little black kids during that time.

When Ruth Hadler, the co-founder of Mattel, presented the first Barbie doll in the late 1950s, it was surely regarded as an industrial breakthrough besides becoming a sort of role model for many white kids out there, and many other Barbie dolls naturally followed during next several years, but, alas, there was not still any doll for black kids. As they were often stuck with white dolls, many black kids came to have a serious problem of low self-esteem, and that was eventually proven by Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark, an African American psychologist couple who brought more public awareness to this glaring social issue via their alarming research result from black kids.

Fortunately, Hadler was quite open-minded about any new business opportunity. She often came to her company factories where Mitchell and numerous African American employees busily work, and she gladly took their advice while also getting some of them promoted. Mitchell was one of such fortunate employees, and, though she was well aware of the main reason of her unlikely promotion (She was one of a very few black persons at her new workplace, you know), she was determined to do her best for the company as well as many black kids out there, and her diligent efforts eventually led to the production of black dolls.

However, that was not enough at all, because there was still no black Barbie doll. While they were indeed a breakthrough for black kids ready to buy dolls just looking like themselves, those manufactured black dolls were just presented as Barbie’s black friends, and one of them was even presented as Barbie’s nanny who is also incidentally her best friend (Please don’t ask me how the hell that is possible).

Nevertheless, Mitchell’s efforts opened the door for another notable African American female figure to enter Mattel. Right from her first day at Mattel, Kitty Black Perkins was determined to make a Black Barbie, and she and Mitchell instantly bonded with each other. Eventually, the first black Barbie doll came out in the early 1980s, but, as Mattel frankly admits to Davis, there was not enough promotional effort for this supposedly revolutionary doll, which was quickly forgotten as the time passed.

At least, the progress was done bit by bit during next 40 years, and the efforts of Mitchell and Perkins were passed to their junior Stacey McBride-Irby. As McBride-Irby and other African American employees of Mattel tried harder, Mattel came to embrace more racial diversity in their products than before, though, as pointed out by several experts interviewed in the documentary, there are still some problems to be resolved sooner or later.

However, black and other colored Barbie dolls have become more common than before, and a group of famous figures ranging from Shonda Rhimes, who incidentally serves as one of the executive producers of the documentary, to Ibtihaj Muhammad willingly tell us about how much they feel honored about being the models for new black Barbie dolls. As the women who have showed that black girls can do anything, these remarkable ladies are inarguably the ideal inspirations for new black Barbie dolls, and Rhimes tells a little amusing episode about how the Barbie doll version of herself was made.

Under Davis’ competent direction, “Black Barbie: A Documentary” is both engaging and informative as illuminating the longtime efforts behind the racial diversity of Barbie dolls, and it is worthwhile to check out especially if you appreciated the considerable racial diversity shown in Gerwig’s movie. Yes, there should be more progress in the future, but the road to progress is being built and then continued even at this point, and I sincerely hope that my little niece, who is about to have her first birthday in this year, will have a lot more options for her future dolls when she grows up enough to be more aware of herself.

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Escape (2024) ☆☆1/2(2.5/4): An old-fashioned South Korean thriller

Posted on July 16, 2024 by kaist455

South Korean film “Escape” is something I might enjoy more around, say, 30 years ago. During that time, I was an avid consumer of those grim horror stories about North Korea, and I must say that the movie is curiously not so far from them in terms of mood, story, and characters. As our hero desperately tries to escape from one of the worst countries in the world, the movie throws lots of exaggerated villainy into the story, and we are supposed to root for him more as he gets closer and closer to the demarcation line between South and North Korea despite lots of risky obstacles in front of him.

At first, we get to know how a young North Korean soldier named Gyu-nam (Lee Je-hoon) has prepared for escape for some time. He has been in a military base not so far from the demarcation line, and he sneaks out of the base every night for checking out the location of numerous mines in the zone preceding the demarcation line. Now he is almost near the final stage of his plan, and all he will have to do is finding the right time for his escape to South Korea.

However, of course, there comes an unexpected trouble via Dong-hyuk (Hong Xa-bin), one of the soldiers in the base who also wants to escape to South Korea. As Dong-hyuk subsequently tries to escape, Gyu-nam finds himself in a very risky situation where he can be executed along with Dong-hyuk, and then things become more complicated when an officer from the National Security Department suddenly comes down to the base to everyone’s surprise.

This officer in question is Hyun-sang (Koo Kyo-hwan), and it gradually turns out that he has a hidden personal motive behind his back. Besides saving Gyu-nam from his current trouble, Hyun-sang will have Gyu-nam closer to him for their old time’s sake while also making him into a hero to be decorated, and that is certainly not something Guy-name wants. 

Although it spends almost the half of its running time (96 minutes) for establishing the story and characters, the movie quickly moves onto a series of intense moments of action and suspense as Gyu-nam tries to escape again (Is this a spoiler?). Hyun-sang and his cronies frantically and ruthlessly pursue Gyu-nam, but, to my little amusement, they always underestimate Gyu-nam in one way or another. For instance, there is a certain key moment where Hyun-sang can instantly kill Gyu-nam right now, but then he hesitates for a few seconds, and then, what do you know, Gyu-nam quickly takes advantage of that and then keeps running away from his opponents. 

Around that narrative point, we are supposed to care more about Gyu-nam’s attempt to escape, but the movie fails to present him as an engaging human character to observe and care about. While there is a brief flashback scene showing his family background, that feels rather perfunctory in my inconsequential opinion, and he consequently feels as broad and bland as many other characters in the story, who are more or less than your average totalitarian stock figures.

Despite his rather thin character, Lee Je-hoon, who has steadily advance since his two memorable performances in “Bleak Night” (2010) and “The Front Line” (2011), looks as committed as required on the screen, and that may be enough for you to hold your disbelief during several nearly unbelievable scenes in the film including the one where he runs fast across the mine field without any caution at all. As a fellow soldier who happens to be involved with Gyu-nam, Hong Xa-bin has a lot more stuffs to do compared to his previous film “Hopeless” (2023), and his earnest acting comes to earn more pity and sympathy from us.

However, these two actors’ efforts are often eclipsed by the neurotic villain performance by Koo Kyo-hwan, who is constantly on the verge of going over the top but never loses his focused attitude at all even during the expectedly melodramatic finale. As the movie shows more of Hyun-Sang along the story, we get to know more of the growing anxiety and frustration behind his dapper appearance, and you may be also amused by some kind of emotional undercurrent between him and a certain minor character. As the main villain of the story, he is hateful in every aspect except having a mustache to twirl, but we come to understand more of what makes him tick at least, and that certainly makes him the most interesting figure in the story.    

 The movie is directed by Lee Jong-pil, who previously directed “Samjin Company English Class” (2020). Compared to that lightweight female comedy film, “Escape” feels quite different as an intense male thriller film, and you can clearly discern that Lee tries something different here, though the result is not entirely successful. He and his crew members including cinematographer Kim Sung-an and editor Lee Kang-hee surely put considerable efforts on the screen, but their efforts still cannot compensate enough for the weak aspects of the screenplay by Kwon Seong-hwi and Kim Woo-geun including the overtly sentimental epilogue scene, which feels rather jarring compared to the rest of the film.

In conclusion, “Escape” works to some degree, but I got often distracted by its glaring flaws during my viewing. Considering that it is a fairly competent genre product, you may not mind its weak points if you ever happen to come across it via cable TV or streaming service on one boring Sunday afternoon, and I will not stop you from watching it.

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Fancy Dance (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A family matter

Posted on July 15, 2024 by kaist455

“Fancy Dance”, which was released on Apple TV+ in last month, is a little family drama revolving around one flawed Native American woman’s struggle over her urgent family matter. While occasionally reminiscent of many other similar American independent films such as Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” (2010), the movie has its own specific character details to be observed and appreciated, and the result is a small but intimate film which deserves more attention in my trivial opinion.

The early part of the film gradually establishes how things have been rather desperate for Jax (Lily Gladstone), a young Native American woman who has taken care of her young niece Roki (Isabel DeRov-Olson) for a while instead of her sister, who suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason around two weeks ago. While telling anything about her sister’s disappearance to Roki at all, Jax has been trying to locate her sister’s whereabouts, but both the reservation police and FBI are not so interested in doing their jobs just because her sister is another usual case of a Native American women gone missing, and that surely makes Jax all the more frustrated.

At least, she and Roki are happy to be together, though Jax still does tell the truth to her niece. Because Roki is looking forward to attending the upcoming traditional dance festival held in a nearby city along with her mother, Jax must really find any clue to wherever her sister is, and the situation becomes more urgent when she and Roki are visited by a social worker assigned to Roki after her sister disappeared. Due to Jax’s considerable criminal record, the social worker subsequently concludes that Roki must be sent to her white grandfather and his second wife, and it seems that there is nothing Jax can do under this circumstance.

However, knowing well how much her niece wants to go to that traditional dance festival, Jax eventually decides to do something quite risky. Not long after Roki is sent to her grandfather’s house, she sneaks into the house for taking away her niece, and Roki has no problem with that, though she knows that she and her aunt will probably get into a serious trouble because of that. Not so surprisingly, the local police begin to look for them once Roki’s grandfather reports the incident to the local police, and there is a bitter irony in how they and FBI instantly respond to the incident compared to their rather lazy handling of the case of Jax’s missing sister.

Meanwhile, Jax keeps trying to delve into that case even as hiding from the police search. Thanks to her stripper girlfriend and a reservation police officer who is incidentally Jax’s brother, she comes to get a bit of information, and then she goes to a certain criminal figure who may know something about her sister’s disappearance. While this criminal figure in question is not eager to share any information with her, Jax tries as much as possible, and she eventually get a little clue which may actually help the investigation.

As it becomes more apparent that something quite bad happened to her sister, it also becomes more difficult for Jax to hide the fact from her niece. While mostly following her aunt without any question, Roki starts to sense that her aunt is not telling everything to her, and we are not so surprised by what she impulsively decides to do something unwise when she is supposed to steal a car key at one point in the middle of the story.

What eventually happens along the story is rather predictable, but the screenplay by director Erica Tremblay and her co-writer Miciana Alise keeps focusing on its characters as before. Although it stumbles a bit during its last act, it still cares about the drama unfolded between its two main characters, and then it touchingly reaches to the expected dramatic finale with enough emotion to hold our attention.

Above all, the movie is supported well by the two good performances at its center. Lily Gladstone, who had a fabulous year thanks to her two excellent performances in Morrisa Maltz’s little independent film “The Unknown Country” (2022) and Martin Scorsese’s another knockout work “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2023), did a terrific job of embodying her flawed but complex human character, and she and her young co-star Isabel DeRoy-Olson are flawless in their frequent interactions throughout the film. As reflected by the amusing opening scene where they commit a criminal act together for earning their meager living, Jax may not be a good role model for her niece, but she loves and cares a lot about her niece nonetheless, and Gladstone and DeRoy-Olson are often touching as ably conveying to us their characters’ strong relationship.

Around Gladstone and DeRoy-Olson, Tremblay places several solid supporting performers to notice. Ryan Begay, Crystle Lightning, Tamara Podemski, and Audrey Wasilewski are well-cast in their respective parts, and Shea Whigham, who plays Jax’s estranged white father, is particularly good in one particular scene between him and Gladstone.

Overall, “Fancy Dance” is a modest but engaging human drama to admire for its sensitive storytelling and commendable performances, and Tremblay, who previously made a couple of documentaries while also writing and directing several episodes of the acclaimed TV drama series “Reservation Dogs”, makes a promising feature film debut here. This is surely another interesting work to be added to the growing list of notable Native American films during last several years, and I recommend you to check it out someday.

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The Unknown Country (2022) ☆☆☆(3/4): Across the country

Posted on July 15, 2024 by kaist455

Lily Gladstone is one of those rare performers who can convey a lot to audiences even when she does not seem to signify much on the surface. With her own tranquil charisma and presence, she effortlessly interests and then engages us, and that is how she becomes the quiet but undeniably resonant soul of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” (2003), for which she deservedly received a Best Actress Oscar nomination (She is also the first Native American Best Actress Oscar nominee, by the way).

In case of Morrisa Maltz’s little independent film “The Unknown Country”, which came out not long before “Killers of the Flower Moon” came out in last year, Gladstone does another subtle but mesmerizing acting which steadily carries the film from Minnesota to Texas without any misstep. While the movie simply follows her character’s journey without revealing that much about her character, we feel like getting to know her character more as observing more of her long journey, and that is why the movie earns its hauntingly poetic finale reminiscent of the works of Terrence Malick.

At the beginning, the movie opens with Gladstone’s character leaving her residence in Minneapolis, Minnesota in one early winter morning. As gradually revealed later in the story, she recently lost a family member who was quite dear and important to her, and her solitary grief is more palpable to us whenever she is driving alone or trying to sleep alone in a motel at late night.

In the middle of her personal journey across the American continent, she visits a female cousin of hers who happens to be about to marry her longtime boyfriend. Although they were quite young when they happened to be fallen in love with each other, they have diligently and sincerely maintained their relationship during next several years besides having several kids between them, and now they are going to have a wedding at last.

They and their oldest daughter are played by Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Devin Shangreaux, and Jasmine Shangreaux, respectively. I have no idea on how much they play themselves in front of the camera (Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux actually participated in writing the screenplay along with Maltz and Gladstone, by the way), but they look quite natural in their unadorned acting, and they and Gladstone instantly lets us feel the close human relationship between her character and theirs. While holding the center as usual, Gladstone steps aside a bit for her fellow cast members to shine, and Jasmine Shangreaux, who will appear along with Gladstone in Maltz’s next film “Jazzy” (2024), always brings some plucky spirit to the screen whenever she appears on the screen.

After the wedding ceremony, the mood becomes more introspective as Gladstone’s character visits an old relative of hers, who is wonderfully played by Richard Ray Whitman. As they remember more of her recently lost family member, she cannot help but become more sorrowful, but she is also comforted by how much she and other family members will remember their lost family member for the rest of their life, and that is one of small but touching moments in the film.

While Gladstone’s character keeps driving along the road to Texas, Maltz and her cinematographer Andrew Haiek gives us a series of wide and beautiful landscape shots which will take you back to the similar moments in Chloé Zhao’s Oscar-winning film “Nomadland” (2020). Just like the landscapes are dramatically changed along the road, the sociopolitical mood is notably changed as reflected by the shifting tones of those local radio programs on the soundtrack, and you may feel a little more nervous when the movie is eventually entering Texas along with its heroine.

In addition, the movie also sharply recognizes how vulnerable its heroine can be as a minority female figure traveling alone by herself. At one point early in the film, she cannot help but feel disturbed by one suspicious stranger she happens to encounter at a local gas station, and that is soon followed by an unnerving moment of possible danger. In case of some other scene later in the story, she happens to be approached by two white dudes at a local winter festival, and she feels very uncomfortable for an understandable reason.

However, the movie does not lose its humane view at all as occasionally focusing on a number of different strangers encountered by its heroine, and these strangers have each own human story to tell directly to us. Again, I do not know whether these performers in the film are professional or not, but they did a terrific job in each own way, and the result is so authentic that you may wonder whether the film is actually a documentary.

On the whole, “The Unknown Country”, which is incidentally Maltz’s first feature film, is recommendable for its calm and sensitive handling of mood, story, and character, and it is surely another highlight in the advancing acting career of Gladstone, who received the Best Lead Performer Award for this film at the Gotham Independent Film Awards in last year. Despite a brief downturn after her haunting breakout turn in Kelly Reichardt’s “Certain Women” (2016), she now becomes all the more prominent mainly thanks to all the acclaims she received for “Killers of the Flower Moon”, and I am sure that she will keep impressing us more during next several years.

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Frybread Face and Me (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): That summer in the reservation

Posted on July 13, 2024 by kaist455

“Frybread Face and Me”, which was released on Netflix in US around the end of last year, is a little but likable coming-of-age drama about one summer of a little Native American boy who becomes more aware of himself and the world surrounding him. Yes, this is another bittersweet tale about growth and nostalgia, but it is handled well with enough sensitivity and specific details to be appreciated, and you may actually wish that it could show more of those several colorful characters around its little hero.

In the beginning, we get to know about how Benny (Keir Tallman) happens to be sent to the Native American reservation region of Arizona. As the narration of adult Benny dryly tells us, his parents were pretty dysfunctional as a couple when they and Benny lived together in San Diego, California in 1991, and then he was suddenly notified that he was going to spend the upcoming summer with his maternal grandmother in Arizona. Although he is not so pleased about this decision, there is nothing he can do about that, and, as revealed later in the story, he knows well why his parents decided to send him to Arizona.

Anyway, he eventually travels to Arizona along with his paternal grandmother, and then he is picked up by one of his relatives right after his arrival. While wholeheartedly welcoming Benny, Aunt Lucy (Kahara Hodges) simply takes him to her mother’s residence and then goes away for her own business, and Benny comes to dread more of how much he will be bored as staying with Grandma (Sarah H. Natani) and Uncle Marvin (Martin Sensmeier). While Grandma cannot speak English at all, Uncle Marvin is mostly occupied with his professional rodeo career, and, as your typical tough guy, he also does not like much how Benny often plays with his little dolls (The movie does a subtle job of conveying to us its hero’s emerging homosexuality, by the way).

At least, there soon comes another person to stay in Grandma’s residence. That person in question is an older female cousin nicknamed Frybread Face (Charley Hogan), and she does not like much Benny at first while he is not so friendly to her either, but they eventually befriend each other because, well, there is really nothing much else to do for them except doing some work for their grandmother’s little sheep farm. She may look a bit childish as frequently taking a shabby handmade doll along with her, but Frybread Face turns out to have her own childhood pain and frustration behind her detached attitude, and it does not take much time for her and Benny to get a bit friendlier to each other.

Once its few main characters are established, the screenplay by director/writer Billy Luther, who also serves as the narrator of the film, leisurely rolls its story and characters from one episodic moment to another. There is an amusing scene where Benny happens to have a little honor of making a baby cousin laugh for the first time, and then we also get a touching moment as he gets to know more about Grandma’s traditional craftsmanship. As spending more time with her, Benny comes to respect and care about Grandma more than before, and he also becomes able to speak her Navajo language to some degree.

Above all, Benny comes to express himself more than before thanks to his growing relationship with Frybread Face, who has no problem at all with his more sensitive sides. While he gladly shares his enthusiasm on a certain popular pop music band, Frybread Face shares her longtime crush on the lead actor of John Carpenter’s little charming SF film “Starman” (1984), which they watch together from time to time.

In my inconsequential opinion, the movie could be improved with more details in terms of story and characters, but this considerable weak aspect is compensated by the enough realism and sensitivity felt from the screen. While there are a few moments of conflict, the movie still sticks to its calm and thoughtful attitude, and Luther and his crew members including cinematographer Peter Simonite did a commendable job of immersing us more into the small background inhabited by its few main characters.

Luther also drew solid performances from his main cast members, who are all believable as effortlessly embodying their respective parts. As the unadorned center of the film, Keir Tallman is engaging in his character’s gradual maturation along the story, and he and Charley Hogan click well with each other during a number of key scenes of theirs. In case of several adult performers surrounding them, Sarah H. Natani is an inarguable standout, and Martin Sensmeier and Kahara Hodges fill their relatively under-developed supporting roles with enough life and personality.

On the whole, “Frybread Face and Me” may require some patience from you mainly due to its slow narrative pacing, but it is still a rewarding experience because of not only its dry but affectionate storytelling but also its distinctive main characters. Although I have no idea on how much it is actually personal for him, Luther, who made several documentaries and short films before making a feature film debut here, gives us an intimate drama film which deserves to be mentioned along with a number of recent notable Native American drama films such as “Fancy Dance” (2023), and it is certainly worthwhile to check it out if you admired those movies.

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Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): A vampire girl and her suicidal human boyfriend

Posted on July 11, 2024 by kaist455

“Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person”, a Canadian French language film which was released as “I’ll Be a Very Creative Humanist Vampire” in South Korea a few weeks ago, is as amusing as suggested by its absurd title while also being surprisingly sweet at times. Mainly revolving around one young vampire girl’s personal struggle and following accidental romance, the movie dryly swings back and forth between humor and sincerity, and you will not probably mind several dark obligatory moments of sucking some human blood.

The early part of the film establishes how its heroine became a bit more sensitive than her vampire family members. Probably because of the personal trauma from what happened at her private birthday party many years ago, Sasha (Sara Montpetit) is not so willing to kill people for blood in contrast to her vampire families, and that naturally makes her into a big burden for them during next several decades. Despite hungry for blood as usual, she still refuses to kill even after growing old enough for trying to suck blood for herself, and that surely causes more headache for her parents.

However, Sasha comes to find a possible solution at one night not long after her cousin tries to push her more toward killing and then sucking blood. She comes across a notice on the support group for the depressed or suicidal, and she instantly goes to their meeting because she may feel less guilty about killing someone already inclined to kill oneself.

And that is where she comes across Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a high school boy who previously encountered Sasha when he tried to commit suicide a few days ago. As frequently bullied by his schoolmates, Paul sees no reason to go on even though he has a caring mother who is unfortunately unavailable at times due to her busy hospital work, and he is not so afraid at all even when Sasha later tells more about her and her plan to kill him for blood.

Ironically, Sasha only comes to care more about Paul as he gets to know her. He remains suicidal as usual, but her vampire fangs still cannot come out due to her growing affection and compassion toward him, so she ends up spending more time with him as helping him feel a bit better. He wants to have some payback moments before his planned death, and she gladly assists him while still feeling conflicted about whether she can actually kill him in the end.

What follows next is a series of humorous scenes where Sasha and Paul come to bond more with each other via their little nocturnal adventure. As getting his revenge on several people who harassed him in one way or another, Paul finds himself becoming a bit livelier than before, and he and Sasha come to recognize more of how lonely they are. While Paul remains ready for getting bitten by her, Sasha hesitates more than before, and that surely makes their situation more complicated.

Of course, this is quite familiar to anyone who watched a number of vampire romance films including those Twilight flicks or more sophisticated ones such as “Let the Right One In” (2008) or “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night” (2014), but the screenplay by director Ariane Louis-Seize and her co-writer Christine Doyon does its own things while taking its time for more humor and character development. Despite her inherent dark nature, Sasha’s private space is filled with a number of colorful stuffs, and there is a lovely scene where the camera simply observes how she connects more with Paul as showing more of herself to him. At one point, she even tries a bit of music for expressing more of her feelings in front of him, and that is one of the sweetest moments in the film.

It surely helps that the two lead performers of the film carry their movie with nice low-key chemistry. Sara Montpetit and Félix-Antoine Bénard ably complement each other via their characters’ contrasting personalities, and Montpetit does a solid job of balancing her vampire character well around comedy, horror, and pathos. On the opposite, Bénard is equally engaging as filling his role with enough sympathy and sensitivity, and we come to care more about him just like his accidental vampire girlfriend.

The movie could take more time on developing several supporting characters around the story, but the supporting performers fill their rather thin roles with enough personality at least. As Sasha’s more active cousin, Noémie O’Farrell has some fun with her character’s ruthless aspects, and that is why it is a bit surprising to see when her character shows some compassion to Sasha later in the story. As several other family members of Sasha, Steve Laplante, Sophie Cadieux, and Marie Brassard are also effective, and their characters come to us as rather likable persons despite their unspeakable nature. Yes, these vampires do kill people for blood, but they are also fairly nice and decent in addition to being very principled about their vampirism at least.

On the whole, “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person”, which is also known as “Humanist Vampire Too Sensitive to Kill”, is a little but charming genre piece to cherish, and Louis-Seize makes a commendable feature film debut here after making several short films. Although this is essentially one-joke comedy movie, it has enough mood, style, and personality to justify its rather short running time (91 minutes), and it will be interesting to see what may come next from its director in the future.

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The Imaginary (2023) ☆☆☆(3/4): The adventure of one imaginary boy

Posted on July 9, 2024 by kaist455

Japanese animation film “The Imaginary”, which was released on Netflix in last week, will delight anyone who has enjoyed and admired those fabulous animation films from Studio Ghibli. While it does not surpass the better works of Studio Ghibli, the film is still filled with visual goodies to charm and impress you, and you will gladly go along with that while occasionally touched by its earnest storytelling.

At first, we get to know the relationship between a young girl named Amanda (voiced by Rio Suzuki) and her imaginary friend Rudger (voiced by Kokoro Terada), who is well aware of his existence as a piece of his dear friend’s boundless imagination. As Amanda imagines one thing after another in their little fantasy world, she and Rudger have one adventure after another, and it looks like nothing can possibly separate them, though Rudger knows well that their time will not last forever as Amanda grows up day by day.

Amanda is willing to share her imaginary friend with her recently widowed mother Lizzy (voiced by Sakura Ando), but Lizzy’s attention is mostly drawn to how to begin again after her husband’s death. Just like many adults, Lizzy does not believe much in imaginary friend although she did once have such an entity a long time ago as her mother tells her at one point. Nevertheless, she lets her daughter keep playing with her imaginary friend at least, while expecting that she will grow out of that someday.

Meanwhile, something unexpected occurs. Amanda and Lizzy are visited by a stranger who introduces himself as “Mr. Bunting” (voiced by Issey Ogata), and Amanda and Ludger are instantly alarmed because they see a shady ghost figure accompanying Mr. Bunting. It soon turns out that Mr. Bunting has a horrible purpose behind his back, and Amanda and Ludger consequently find themselves in a very dangerous situation.

Around that narrative point, the screenplay by writer/producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, which is based on the children’s book of the same name by A.F. Harrold, takes a sudden plot turn to our little surprise. After getting separated from Amanda due to an unfortunate incident, Ludger comes across a mysterious cat, and Jinzan (voiced by Takayuki Yamada) leads him to a secret place for numerous imaginary figures, which incidentally turns out to be a big public library. Led by a plucky girl figure named Emily (voiced by Riisa Naka), they happily exist and play together whenever they can, and they are certainly looking for any chance to be a temporary imaginary friend to any of those imaginative kids out there.

Needless to say, the film fills the screen with a heap of colorfully wondrous stuffs and details as Ludger gets to know more about his new world and its rules via Emily and his other new friends including a big pink hippopotamus named Snowflake (voiced by Mitsuaki Kanuka). Whenever the library is silent and empty at night, Emily and her fellow imaginary figures make a little fantasy town of their own, and it looks like nothing bad can happen as long as they stay together in this little haven of theirs. 

However, Ludger still misses Amanda, and he becomes all the determined to reunite with her even though their time is limited as before. As he goes out to the world outside, he is soon noticed by Mr. Bunting and his ghost associate, and the situation becomes more dangerous as Ludger and his fellow imaginary friends confront the dark imaginary power of Mr. Bunting.

Although the story becomes a bit shaky during its last act, the film continues to engage us with not only its lovely hand-drawn animation style but also the genuine emotions coming from its main characters. While there is undeniable poignancy in Ludger’s attempt to meet Amanda again, we are also moved as getting to know about how Amanda came to have Ludger after her dear father’s death, and there is a modest but powerfully emotional moment when her mother comes to understand her daughter’s grief more while also dealing with her own grief. When the story eventually reaches to the climax part, a lot of things are busily unfolded across the screen, but we still stay focused on the main characters and their drama, and the film also shows some sense of humor to brighten up the mood a bit, as shown from when Ludger comes into the imagination of a friend of Amanda at one point later in the film.   

The Japanese voice cast members are solid in their respective parts (Netflix has the other options including the American dubbing, of course). While Kokoro Terada and Rio Suzuki function well as the heart and soul of the story, they are supported well by several other voice cast members including Sakura Ando, Riisa Naka, Takayuki Yamada, Mitsuaki Kanuka, and Issey Ogata, who has a lot of naughty fun with his diabolical villain character.

“The Imaginary” is directed by Yoshiyuki Momose, who also previously worked in several works of Studio Ghibli just like his producer/writer. While it sometimes emulates the works of Studio Ghibli a bit too much, it has its heart in in the right place as doing its own things, and I sincerely hope that more animations films like this will come to remind us that the legacy of Studio Ghibli will continue to live even after its closing time.

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