All in Film Review
Still, the only way to actually praise the film is to agree to the terms it lays out, and the conceit it wants to plumb. Unfortunately it fails as both a critique of capitalism and as a dark and entertaining comedy. We live in an age where most filmmakers spoon feed us our morality and say the quiet parts loud and the loud parts loud. if you’re not going to commit your voice will get drowned out in the squall.
I think some important aspects of the film were probably lost on the cutting room floor, and I think if this had been reworked properly it would be that much better of a film. If they had maybe cut out the whole Lucy/Claudia/Vivian friendship triangle it would have glided along better. Ultimately, the side characters, who aren’t disengaged white girls with pretty privilege, are probably the ones who should be telling this story and the ones who are the most interesting.
The largest complaint I have seen about this film is that it includes vital but already understood basic information about the world as it exists. I have to heartily disagree. For every millennial who has been dutifully educating themselves on the internet since the Myspace age, there is a tech unsavvy adult who doesn’t know the difference between HDMI and VPN.
I’m not even going to get into the mechanics of the animation which are varied in execution. For every positive thing I can say about the fur on Pikachu, I can say fifty horrible things about the eyes on that Psyduck and the lips on those Greninjas, who all looked ridiculously hacky.
The film centers on the suburbs of Kissimee, Florida, a short six miles from Walt Disney World, wherein a population of nearly homeless people thrive in downtrodden motels. Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her very young mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) live in a mawkish and dilapidated fairy tale themed motel called the Magic Castle.
Collectively, I think we all needed this movie a lot more than this movie needed us. At this time I don’t think I have to point out that the world is a dumpster fire of epic proportions, out of control and about to send a spark into a dynamite factory. The women of SNL past came together to write, direct, and star in this ensemble comedy about long time female friendship at an older age.
Bo Burnham, a highly intelligent comedian and YouTube phenom, has encapsulated not only the horrible feeling of being fourteen, but the equally horrible one of displaying that time in your life for the whole world to see. This is one of the most painful films I have ever seen and that is its highest praise.
Still, the film lightly prods at universal truths: women have to be perfect if they want to be seen as electable, special interests have a decided vote in our elections, and concessions are often a part of negotiating international treaties. For a film trying to play coy about our current predicament, that’s a pretty impressive accomplishment.
Female friendship is a hard concept to quantify in any passable script. Too many films of the late nineties and early aughts focused on a message of watered down white feminism and gurl power euphemisms instead of creating fleshed out characters.
In The Conjuring 2 Valak served as a side antagonist who Lorraine battled while helping a family with a cursed home. In that film Valak added another creepy element to an already strange narrative, but here she is sapped of much of her power.
The mystery is only entertaining because it’s enjoyable to see formerly meek Stephanie hunt through clues to find the truth behind the disappearance of her newfound best friend Emily. Though Stephanie has her own secrets and embarrassing past, she pushes through it to question suspects, and what she finds is beyond the pale.
The villain’s motivations and lore are never truly covered by the film. The only thing we know is how he can get in your head and how his evil spreads. I don’t need to know every single thing about a horror movie antagonist, but there’s no mention of what he is, who he is, or why he does what he does.
No disrespect to Jeté Laurence who plays Ellie, as she is a child who is early in her career, but her undead performance was laughable. By that I mean I, and everyone in the theater, started laughing as soon as she started talking.
Before I get into my criticism I would like to highlight the fact that this film was written and directed by a woman. The director in question is Lauren Miller Rogen, and don’t be fooled by that last name, this woman has earned her way through Hollywood all on her own.
While we have a better range of choices for our gay love stories, and there are ground-breaking movies and television shows coming out every day, God’s Own Country feels more significant than anything I have seen in a long time.
While I enjoyed the puzzle aspect of the film, I would not say that it is at all scary, gory, or weird. It’s barely horror. It’s a PG-13 film that works more as a mystery thriller, that pays homage to Groundhog Day and Sixteen Candles, than it is a slasher film.
Okay, let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we: Yes, Nick Cage does have many amazing Nick Cage high level freakouts, and they had me belly laughing in the theater. I’m talking blood, drugs, fire, decapitation, gore, the works!
When I first saw Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing I was greatly affected, not just because it is a cinematic masterpiece of epic proportions, but because it said something broader about the world at large.. Lee handles the subject matter of racial tension in a thoughtful and powerful way in all of his films, but I bring up the 1989 classic because it changed my life for the better.
This review is for all the people who were burned by Jennifer’s Body: I know you’re scared to trust again. Maybe you thought it would be more like Juno, but full of lesbian scenes, and instead it was weird and exploitative. I know you aren’t ready to come back into the fold.
