"Close" and "The Quiet Girl"

Two of my favorite films of 2022 are foreign films about children, both very simple and very intimate.  I keep thinking about them in relation to each other, especially in the way that much of the storytelling is done without dialogue.  

"Close," one of last year's Cannes Grand Prix winners, was made by Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont. It follows a pair of thirteen year old boys who are best friends - Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele).  The two are inseparable until one day at school, someone asks them if they're a couple.  Léo becomes self-conscious and starts pulling away from Rémi, which leads to unforeseen consequences.

 "Close" is not about homophobia or bullying.  Léo and Rémi experience some teasing, but what breaks up their friendship is something deeply internalized in Léo that he doesn't have a name for.  Part of it may be toxic masculinity, as Léo starts playing hockey and trying to fit in with the other boys.  Part of it may simply be Léo growing up and wanting to assert himself as an individual.  However, the damage he causes, no matter how inadvertent and how understandable, is real.  Léo ends up hurting both his best friend and his parents, especially Rémi's mother Sophie (Émilie Dequenne).  Much of this is done indirectly, with neither boy ever acknowledging what's happening between them. 

What is so impactful about "Close" is that it's told via such familiar, appealing images of boyhood.  Léo and Rémi are part of a rural community and are often surrounded by idyllic nature.  Léo is frequently seen helping out on his family's farm, tending brightly colored flowers.  The boys' interactions with other children at school are mainly positive, and they're all surrounded by caring adults.  However, no one is able to stop the tragedy from occurring.  The few instances of violence we see are deceptive.  It's easy to want to dismiss the playground fights and arguments as trivial until it's clear that they're not.  "Close" is a sobering look at troubled youth set in a place where we'd least expect it, which helps to highlight the root of the issues more clearly, and to help them feel more personal and immediate.

"The Quiet Girl" is also a story of childhood heartbreak.  A nine year old girl named Cáit (Catherine Clinch) is part of a large, rowdy Irish family where she is often overlooked and neglected.  The family is poor and their lives are chaotic.  When her mother (Kate Nic Chonaonaigh) gives birth to another child, Cáit is sent away to stay with distant relatives, Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley) and Seán Cinnsealach (Andrew Bennett).  They're an older couple with no other children, and under their care Cáit blossoms.  The transformation is gradual, and initially Cáit is wary of her new guardians.  Eibhlín is kindly and patient, but Seán is gruff and intimidating.

Directed by Colm Bairéad, "The Quiet Girl" is a rare Irish language film that has gotten international attention, and this helps to distinguish it as of its own particular milieu.  Like "Close," it's told largely from the POV of its child lead, as she weathers turbulent emotional changes.  Cáit is so withdrawn that she hardly speaks at first, and it's wonderful to see her progress and opening up, little by little.  As she learns to connect to others, her world becomes brighter and more inviting.   There's a delicacy and tentativeness to the tone that is very appealing, highlighting all the little moments of emotional uncertainty that the characters have to navigate.    

The effectiveness of the film depends on its sheer simplicity.  The characters have to learn to overcome the distance between them, and there is a secret to be discovered, but the pleasures of the filmmaking come chiefly from being in the moment with Cáit, simply learning to exist differently in a new, more promising environment.  Little adjustments in behaviors and routines are as important as the bigger changes.  The film takes place in the early 80s, and there's a lovely nostalgia for a more pastoral, uncomplicated childhood experience.  Catherine Clinch is wonderfully natural onscreen, and it's very easy to become invested in Cáit's journey.

My biggest worry about the film is that it feels so ephemeral, it might slip through the cracks and disappear without a trace.  Like its main character, "The Quiet Girl" could use more attention.

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The 2023 Summer Movie Wager

I did really badly at the Summer Movie Wager last year, despite there hardly being any movies to list.  This year, however, the box office is going to see a boost, as we're likely to see some real competition, and hopefully some surprises.  Following the rules of the Summer Movie Pool, I'm going to predict the top ten domestic box office grossers of the summer. It's not about which movies are the best or the most deserving, but which ones simply bring in the most cold hard cash.  Anything released between May 1st and Labor Day is fair game. Here we go.

1. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part I - I will not underestimate the drawing power of Tom Cruise again.  After what he pulled off with "Top Gun: Maverick," I don't think that there's anyone who would bet against him.  This will be the seventh entry in the "Mission Impossible" series, which feels like it should be more of an ensemble so that Cruise can pass the torch eventually, but that doesn't seem to be happening.  And as long as Cruise keeps going, that's not going to be a problem.

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - I may not be that fond of the "Guardians" movies, but they're big crowd pleasers and this is likely going to be the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe release this year.  It'll also serve as James Gunn's goodbye to the MCU, and this set of characters.  I'm sure we'll see more of the Guardians crew in other contexts, but of course it won't be the same.  "Vol 3." was delayed several years thanks to Gunn's temporary firing and COVID troubles, and I'm glad to see it finally released.

3. Fast X - I really have to fight my instincts with this one, because I've tired of the "Fast" franchise over the past few films, but I don't think that most other filmgoers have.  You might have heard some of the production drama involving the original director, Justin Lin, quitting suddenly, and being replaced by Louis Leterrier.  Jason Momoa is joining the cast as the new baddie, along with Brie Larson as a new ally and Rita Moreno as, I kid you not, Abuelita Toretto.  Yes, Dominic Toretto is getting an abuelita.  

4. The Flash - It might be another superhero's name on the movie, but this one is going to be all about the return of the Michael Keaton Batman to our screens after more than two decades.  There's been all kinds of chaos going on behind the scenes with Warners and the criminal career of leading man Ezra Miller, but that can also be viewed as a positive.  Everyone has been hearing about this film for years, and it's more in the public consciousness than most of the other upcoming superhero films.

5. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - I'd usually put a kids' movie up pretty high on the list, but since COVID younger audiences have been slower to return to movie theaters.  Plenty of animated films have done well over the past year, but not as well as they have in the past.  With that in mind, I'm guessing that general audiences will give a boost to a familiar "Spider-man" feature, so "Spider-verse" sequel has a good shot at being a crossover hit.  The first film was such a fantastic surprise, so I'm crossing my fingers. 

6. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - I'm worried about this, honestly.  As much as I love the idea of a new "Indiana Jones" movie, Harrison Ford is way too old to be leading this kind of action movie, and after "Crystal Skull" I don't think Spielberg has it in him to be making this kind of action movie anymore either.  For old time's sake it'll probably still attract enough viewers to make a decent showing at the box office, but "Mission Impossible" will come out a week later and it's not going to be pretty.

7. The Little Mermaid - "The Little Mermaid" is going to do well because all of Disney's live action remakes of their Renaissance era animated musicals have done well, no matter how bad the finished product turned out to be.  I'm sure that the culture war furor over the casting of Halle Bailey is going to make an impact, but not as much as people think.  Still, there are some decent alternatives for female audiences this summer, so I'm putting this lower in the rankings than its predecessors.

8. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - I wrestled with where to put this.  "Transformers" has made a ton of money in the past, but we're looking at a semi-reboot without a star in the lead (sorry Anthony Ramos).  Nostalgia also won't be as potent, since we're moving on to the "Beast Wars" material that was less well known.  The "Bumblebee" spinoff didn't do as well as the earlier "Transformers" films despite easily being the best one, so who knows how audiences will take this one?

9. Oppenheimer - Finally, we have the great "Oppenheimer" vs. "Barbie" showdown of July.  I've come down on the side of encouraging the rivalry (to a point), because the increased publicity can only be good for both films, no matter which one winds up on top.  Christopher Nolan has the better track record with big budget fare, so even though this is a biopic aimed at more mature audiences, I have to give the edge to "Oppenheimer."  

10. Barbie - The rampant online memes may not translate into actual ticket sales, but I'm willing to bet that "Barbie" will appeal to the same crowd that turned "Pitch Perfect 2" and "Sex and the City" into sizable hits.  This is one of my most anticipated films of this year, because of the involvement of Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, and so far the marketing hasn't hit a wrong note.  It won't be massive, but I think it'll make the Top Ten.

Wild Cards (for extra points if one of them does make it into the top ten)

Elemental

Insidious: Fear the Dark

Blue Beetle

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"She Said" and "Women Talking"

I understand why "She Said" didn't get more awards attention.  It has excellent performances from Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan, Jennifer Ehle, and Samantha Morton, but those performances aren't very showy.  Likewise, the film is a very restrained journalism procedural, about New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor (Kazan) and Meghan Twohey (Mulligan) breaking the story about Harvey Weinstein at the start of the #Metoo movement.  It's very similar to Best Picture winner "Spotlight," with its grounded direction, strong ensemble, and focus on a group of dedicated reporters getting their jobs done.  Ehle and Morton play two of Weinstein's former assistants who are identified as victims, and have to be convinced to go on the record.   

Directed by Maria Schrader, who is making her English language film debut, "She Said" avoids sentiment and speechmaking in favor of the grim realities of sexual assault.  We never see any of the violence, and only get glimpses of Weinstein from behind, or hear him over the phone.  Instead, we're left with the dread and the shame and the uncertainty in the aftermath, which stays with the victims for decades.  Navigating this emotionally charged territory requires persistence, but also empathy.  It's significant that the two reporters are women, who both quietly navigate challenging personal lives while they're working on the story.  Both of them are working mothers, and Twohey is recovering from postpartum depression.  This isn't part of the story in any significant way, but rather simply the reality of the characters' lives.

   

However, like "The Post" a few years ago, "She Said" gives up too much narrative power by largely cutting its major antagonist out of the picture.  I admire the impulse to keep the focus on the victims, and on the consequences of the crimes and cover-ups.  However, this results in a film that is perhaps more staid and stripped down than it should be.  Several actresses who were victimized by Weinstein make minor appearances in the film, and one significantly does not.  You can see where the film's creators were struggling to address privacy concerns and keen on avoiding the sensationalism inherent in a story about Hollywood players.  However, the pendulum may have swung too far in the opposite direction.        

"Women Talking" is a significantly more successful attempt at talking about some of these issues through a more heavily fictionalized account of a real-life event.  A remote Mennonite commune discovers that a group of men have been drugging and raping the women and girls over an extended period of time.  The perpetrators have been arrested, and while the rest of the men are in town, trying to bail them out, the women are left with a few precious days to debate and vote over what to do - forgive the rapists, leave the commune, or stay and fight.

Written and directed by Sarah Polley, "Women Talking" is framed from the outset as a fantasy, an idealized version of an imagined debate among the women about addressing misogyny, covering a variety of different viewpoints and arguments.  The women are uneducated, but they are intelligent, thoughtful, and well spoken.  Multiple generations are represented, including two sets of adult women and their elderly mothers.  The three main positions are represented by three major characters.  Ona (Rooney Mara) is pregnant and wants to stay and fight, hopeful that the commune can change.  Mariche (Jessie Buckley) is fearful of worse consequences, and wants to forgive the wrongdoers.  Salome (Claire Foy), who has already resorted to violence, wants to leave.  A lone man, August (Ben Whishaw) the schoolteacher, has been allowed to remain to record the proceedings.

Though adapted from a novel, "Women Talking" often feels like a stage play.  The debate takes place over two days in a hayloft.  The long conversations are broken up by occasional flashbacks and interludes, but the film's major dramatic moments are all built on the actresses interacting in a limited space.  The cinematography is largely dim and dreary, despite the excellent production design.  The performances, however, are all excellent.  I want to single out Sheila McCarthy and Judith Ivey in particular, who play the older women, and provide a vital anchoring presence as tensions mount and everyone's emotions inevitably boil over.  

This film has all the hallmarks of typical awards bait, but Polley engages so earnestly with the material, and the characters are portrayed with such care and empathy that I prefer to laud its ambitions instead of focusing on its flaws.  The evenhanded treatment of so many thorny issues, including faith and community, set this apart from similar films of the post #Metoo era, and help it to feel more timeless.  "Women Talking" is one of those films that doesn't get everything right, but is so unique that I'm very glad it exists.

  

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The Posts I Almost Wrote Today, 2023

My limits as a blogger are never as apparent as when I try to write a post and fail.  Here are three recent attempts at blog posts where I sort through the detritus and see what went wrong.

Regulating Youtube - This is the most ambitious thing I've attempted in a while, trying to lay out the basics of how broadcast television content regulation differs from current attempts to regulate internet content, and how Youtube has essentially become the new dominant form of mainstream media.  I'd seen a couple of Youtubers I follow put out videos about the new content restrictions they were expecting to be implemented soon, and worrying over how that might affect their monetization.  There were also several recent reports from various tech watchdogs that were pointing out how much time children were spending watching Youtube and Tiktok compared to linear television.  On average, kids with access to Youtube are spending about an hour a day on the site.

I wrote about a thousand words before coming to the conclusion that this topic was way too broad.  I was trying to stuff too many things into a single post - my changing viewing habits, my kids' viewing habits, the history of television regulation, the history of internet regulation, and the history of Youtube - Elsagate, monetization, recent policy changes, etc.  The big point is that even though Youtube is so much more complicated to filter than traditional linear television, it's facing the same demands from viewers and advertisers that all major forms of media have faced over the years, and so it's inevitably moving toward tighter restrictions on its content.  Because it can't possibly vet all the uploaded videos individually, it depends on far less reliable AI and community self-policing, resulting in a lot of headaches for content creators. A figure drawing channel I follow had to rework and reupload several older videos, because they featured completely non-sexualised nudes.      

Film Critics - We lost Roger Ebert ten years ago this month, and the landscape for film critics has changed drastically in the interim.  Many entertainment websites and publications are gone, or are in the hands of people who do not value strong critical voices.  Many venerable critics have retired or have become freelancers. However, critics are as important as ever to the media discourse.  Critics are vital for championing smaller films like "Aftersun" that would have otherwise gotten lost in the crowd.  Critics have lost major platforms, but they're making inroads on social media, through podcasts, videos, substacks, newsletters, and other places on the internet.  Film Twitter would definitely be missed if the Elon Musk venture ends up going down in flames.

However, I really don't feel like I've got enough perspective on this topic.  Frankly, I don't keep up with the critical community as much as I keep up with a couple of adjacent film journalists these days.  I don't regularly read film reviews much anymore, preferring podcasts and videos because they allow for longer discussions.  I am absolutely part of the problem - and I'm still writing and blogging movie reviews!  So every time that I try to write about film critics, I end up self-interrogating myself out of it.  The anniversary of Ebert's passing was enough for me to make another attempt, but it went nowhere.  I'll just point out that RogerEbert.com is alive and well, and you can find the reviews of Christy Lemire and Matt Zoller Seitz and other talented critics there.

Blogging Into the Void - Finally, I've been considering various ways to address an existential question about this blog.  Why am I still writing this when it's clear that nobody is reading it, my writing isn't getting any better, and I'm doomed to mediocrity and irrelevance?  Well, because I enjoy writing this blog as a hobby, my ambitions have always been limited, and I do have an audience - me.  I go back and read the older entries on the blog all the time.  And I've been doing this long enough now that I've got a pretty good chronicle of my experience with media progressing through the last twelve-odd years.  Just browsing through the 2013 entries, I can see when "House of Cards" premiered and kicked off the streaming wars, that "Doctor Who" was in the Matt Smith era, Blockbuster was on its way out, and Spill.com had just closed up shop.  And of course there was "Frozen." 

Stephen King, when asked why he wrote horror, responded with a question - "Why do you assume I have a choice?"  Why am I still writing this blog?  Because I still want to.

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About That "Dungeons & Dragons" Movie

Even if I'm not the target audience for a film, it's always nice to see a long-suffering franchise get a new installment that finally gets it right.  "Dungeons & Dragons" has had a lot of ups and downs over the years, including a regrettable live action feature in the year 2000.  But now, here comes "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," which has several "D&D" nerds among its creators, and it shows.  I can't speak to whether they got all the details right, but this certainly feels like stepping into a rich, storied fantasy world that runs by its own set of rules.  At the same time, the movie is pretty accessible for "D&D" newbies who have no idea what paladins or tieflings are, and just want to watch a band of adventurers go on an exciting quest together.

The movie does something that's not as easy as it looks, which is to balance earnest character drama and relationships with humor and silliness.  The silliness is inevitable when you've got characters like Edgin (Chris Pine), a bard and thief who spends the opening act of the movie trying to talk his way out of prison, and his best friend Holga (Michelle Rodriquez), a stoic barbarian warrior who gets the best fight scenes.  The two of them spend most of the movie trying to find a way to infiltrate the Kingdom of Neverwinter, currently controlled by Edgin and Holga's scummy former partner Forge (Hugh Grant) and the scary wizard Sofina (Daisy Head), who betrayed them on a previous job.  Forge has also adopted Edgin's daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman), and is lying to her about her father's motives.  Fortunately, Edgin and Holga have some promising allies, including a bumbling sorcerer named Simon (Justice Smith), a shapeshifter druid named Doric (Sophia Lillis), and a too-good-to-be-true paladin named Xenk (Rege-Jean Page). 

Once we get into the fantasy hijinks, the movie is a lot of fun.  The writers manage the trick of engineering an enjoyable adventure while also getting to quip and comment on that adventure, and also not making the meta elements too obnoxious.  By the end of the movie, I was surprised to find that I really cared about Edgin and Kira reconciling, Holga's love life, and Simon's progress as a sorcerer.  The actors do a lot of the heavy lifting, with Chris Pine turning up the charm, Michelle Rodriguez being very lovable, and Hugh Grant in "Paddington 2" villain mode.  The only trouble is that it takes a while for the movie to get to the hijinks.  There's a ton of exposition to set up the world, constant explanations of terms and items, and an awful lot of important characters to juggle.  D&D fans should have a ball picking out references and cameos, but I suspect younger viewers will need some patience to get through all the talky scenes.  

I thought the wait was worth it, for some genuinely clever action sequences, solid humor, and satisfying payoffs.  I like that the movie plays with our expectations, putting laughs where we don't anticipate them, and letting setups that initially seem comedic be played straight.  This isn't the most impressive looking fantasy universe from a production standpoint, but clearly a lot of care and attention went into the worldbuilding.  Many of the fantasy creatures and environments are created with practical costumes, for instance, which give them a nice throwback quality.  Some of the trickier effects don't come across well, like trying to have regular sized humans play hobbit-sized characters, but otherwise the visuals are very appealing.  There's a thin line between kitsch and the kind of generic medieval fantasy aesthetics that "D&D" has always used, and I think the filmmakers figured out a pretty good approach.  

It's unfortunate that the movie doesn't seem to be doing too well at the box office, because this is one of the better fantasy action films I've seen in a while, with a very appealing take on some very old tropes.  On the other hand, "Honor Among Thieves" is for the fans more than the general audiences, and was probably destined from the start to be best loved by existing D&D players and receptive fantasy nerds.  And maybe that is how it should be.       

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Trailers! Trailers! 2023 Summer Edition

It's been a while since I've done a trailer post.  I haven't had the chance to talk about some of these upcoming releases yet, so let's take a look before the summer movie season really gets underway.  All links below lead to Youtube.  

Barbie - This is the second trailer, after that fantastic "2001: A Space Odyssey" send-up last year.  Along with the recently released posters, we get to see more of the ridiculously talented cast, more of the "Barbie" universe, and more of a sense of the tone of the film.  Plot details remain scant, but I'm ready for Ryan Gosling in comedy mode, Margot Robie looking fabulous, and as much hot pink nonsense as the copyright lawyers will allow to be put onscreen.   

Elemental - I don't think that it's a good sign that the latest PIXAR movie looks so generically PIXAR after the more stylistically interesting "Turning Red" and "Luca."  This will be Peter Sohn's second turn in the director's chair after "The Good Dinosaur," and I honestly don't think it's going to do much better financially.  The film has no stars, a familiar premise of mismatched lovebirds, and beautiful visual aesthetics that are nonetheless awfully reminiscent of too many other recent PIXAR and Disney films.  I'm sure it'll be a good watch, as PIXAR's batting average remains very high, but right now nothing's grabbing my attention.       

Blue Beetle - This movie is in a tough spot, launching a new hero into the DCEU that's about to be totally rebooted by James Gunn.  We're also at a point where all of these origin stories are starting to look the same.  Sure, Jaime Reyes has the distinction of being a Latino kid with a big family, but his power set and costume look way too close to Spider-man in a summer that already has a Spider-man movie.  I'm not familiar with director Angel Manuel Soto or most of this cast, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Asteroid City - Boy, there are a lot of familiar faces in this movie.  All of Wes Anderson's films look alike too, but in this case that's a good thing.  Anderson has been so consistently good these past few years, I can't wait to get back to the Anderson-verse and see how he's going to fit new players like Maya Hawke and Hong Chau into it.  Maybe he'll even be able to boost the fortunes of Tom Hanks, who has weathered an awful run of disappointing performances lately.  

Knights of the Zodiac - I never watched "Saint Seiya," the anime series that this movie is based on, but I was aware enough of it during my otaku days to recognize it was your standard kid fantasy fight show.  And I couldn't have been more surprised that this was the property that TOEI decided to turn into a big, fancy, live-action film with a couple of bigger names participating in the ruckus, like Famke Janssen and Sean Bean.  It looks better than most of the  other Japanese produced live action adaptations of anime series, which isn't great, but potentially fun.  Add this to the list of movies where we'll just have to wait and see.  

The Last Voyage of the Demeter - I've been hearing about this movie for what feels like forever.  It's got a great premise: a period horror movie set on a ship during a transatlantic crossing - specifically the ship that carried Dracula to America.  However, I wasn't expecting that this was going to be so much of a creature feature, with the dark visuals to match.  I'm especially underwhelmed by the design of the creature, which is more bestial than I expected.  I'm not clear on whether Dracula is actually going to be a character in this movie.  Still, I'll see this for the excellent cast.   

The Marvels - Finally, here's one for the holiday season.  "The Marvels" is the only MCU project I'm remotely interested in this year, because it's the only one that actually has an interesting premise.  "Freaky Friday" with superheroes!  And I'm so glad to see Iman Vellani on the big screen, bringing a lot of Tom Holland-esque energy and more personality than Monica Rambeau and Carol Danvers put together.  

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Thru the Streaming Cracks

2022 was a strange and rather depressing year if you were a Disney/PIXAR animation fan.  "Turning Red" marked the third PIXAR film in a row that was released straight to Disney+, along with hybrid films "Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers" and "Disenchanted."  "Lightyear" did get a theatrical release, probably based on being part of the "Toy Story" franchise, but underperformed.  Then there was Disney's holiday release, "Strange World," which couldn't play in a few overseas markets because it has an LGBT main character.  It was also a flop, and upset fans suggested that a major contributing factor was that the film didn't enjoy the same marketing blitz that usually accompanies the release of Disney films.

Ex-CEO Bob Chapek definitely had a concerning attitude toward Disney's animated output, suggesting in October that he didn't think adult Disney+ viewers were watching the animated films, and that the success of "Encanto" on streaming after a weak box office performance pointed to a different potential model for Disney releases.  However, considering the big push to promote new streaming services over the past three years, his view was hardly unique.  A ton of films that would have gone to theaters in regular circumstances ended up premiering on streaming services, leaving theaters scrambling for content.  Ticket sales are still down significantly compared to where they were before the pandemic, though the recent success of films like "Avatar: The Way of Water" and "Top Gun: Maverick" suggest we're finally seeing some improvement. 

Premiering on streaming wouldn't be so bad for a film if it weren't for the drastically different treatment in regards to marketing and advertising.  There is so much competition for our attention that it is very easy for streaming content to get lost in the flood of options.  I've grumbled on this blog before that it's difficult to build up any kind of anticipation for some titles, because they're often dropped in our laps with little to no fanfare.  A "Beavis and Butt-Head" movie premiered in June on the Paramount+ service, which I didn't know existed until a trailer appeared three weeks ahead of its release date.  When a service like Netflix does commit significant resources to a film, like Guillermo Del Toro's "Pinocchio," pegged from early on as an awards contender, it often feels like it comes at the expense of others, like Henry Selick's "Wendell & Wild." 

It becomes very, very easy for smaller films to fall through the cracks.  I'm using animated films as an example, but this happens to media across all genres, and for all audiences.  Relying on word of mouth and only showing ads to subscribers of a particular service has its advantages, but too often this fails to connect the right piece of media with the right audience.  I can't count the number of times I've had to go through a laborious search process in order to find a movie or show I've been anticipating on a streamer that doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that it's there.  There's only a very short window for a new release to attract its audience.  And once a piece of content is no longer considered new, it's much harder for it to drum up any attention.  

Even when a film does well on streaming, it can be difficult to tell because the metrics are often so inaccessible.  "Turning Red" was the most streamed animated feature with a 2022 release date, but I have no idea how that compares to "The Sea Beast" on Netflix or "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania" on Amazon Prime.  Nielsen, the company that tracks television viewers, only started releasing streaming charts in September of 2020, and I've only seen the data more widely reported over the last year or so.  "Minutes watched" is the metric, which can be difficult to parse in some cases, though some alternatives like Flixpatrol use other criteria.  Also, we only tend to see data for the best performers instead of the data for everyone.

In theaters, however, the numbers are much more transparent.  The latest "Puss in Boots" movie was a modest hit after fighting its way back from a disappointing opening weekend - enough to give Universal the top two spots for highest grossing animated films at the 2022 domestic box office.  "Lightyear" just about made its money back, but "Strange World" was Disney animation's worst performer in ten years, actually making less than the studio-shuttering "Treasure Planet."  GKIDS anime titles had a great run, with "Dragon Ball: Super Hero" winning a slow weekend in August, while "One Piece: Red" and "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" both broke into the top five.

Of course, the box office numbers don't tell the whole story either.  "Lightyear" and "Strange World" were much more popular when they arrived on Disney+, and "Encanto" is the most streamed movie of 2022 on any platform.  Some have speculated that there's an expectation that Disney's animated films will inevitably be available on streaming, causing audiences to skip out on the theatrical run.  It's going to take a lot more time and a lot more movies to say anything for sure, but for now the low box office numbers sure make for bad optics.

At least Disney doesn't have to worry about their films truly becoming obscurities the way "Wendell and Wild" might.  "Strange World" still got a home media release and merchandise and a lot of people did see it on Disney+.  Disney has the resources and the incentive to keep their theatrical disappointments accessible, in the hopes of another "Encanto" style hit.  The features on Netflix and Amazon Prime and Paramount+ aren't nearly so lucky.  Did anyone see that new "Beavis and Butt-Head" movie?  Are we sure it really exists?

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My Favorite Guillermo Del Toro Film

I have a great fondness for cinema's fantasists, and there has been no modern creator of movie monsters and magic like Guillermo Del Toro.  I've followed his career since the 1990s, through the many announced projects that never got made, and all the long hiatuses between films.  He's one of the most recent directors I've written a "Great Directors" post for, but I honestly can't imagine the modern movie landscape without him.  

Del Toro's Spanish language films have always been better than his Hollywood output, because he's had far more creative freedom with them.  His films about the Spanish Civil War, "The Devil's Backbone" and "Pan's Labyrinth," are especially potent, offering a child's eye view of the horrors of war, through the lenses of a ghost story and a fairy tale narrative, respectively.  I had difficulty choosing between the two of them, but in the end I decided on "Pan's Labyrinth" because of the stronger characters.  By design, they're new takes on old archetypes - a little girl who must go on a quest, a trickster Faun who offers help, and several terrible enemies to overcome. 

Monsters are at the center of most Del Toro films, not just the creations of latex and fur, but the human beings who are capable of far worse horrors.  While the Faun and the Pale Man have become iconic, the movie's best monster is Captain Vidal, the evil Francoist who ruthlessly hunts down revolutionaries and subjugates everyone in his household.  Ofelia's private rebellion against him is mirrored in both her fight against the fairy tale monsters of the Faun's world, and in the actions of Mercedes and the other rebels working against Vidal.  What's so compelling and unexpected about the film is that "Pan's Labyrinth" is a grimly violent, unflinching war story and also a full throated fairy tale, full of fantasy flourishes, at the same time.  The two sides of the film complement each other, in a universe wide enough to accommodate them both.

I appreciate that Guillermo Del Toro has consistently claimed that everything that happens in "Pan's Labyrinth" is real, and not just a product of Ofelia's imagination - even though the film itself seems more undecided.  It reflects his commitment to the use of dream logic and the young child's viewpoint.  The different parts of the story, and different realities don't quite tie together as neatly as I expected, and some of the symbolism remains opaque, inviting plenty of personal interpretation.  I like that Del Toro lets parts of this universe remain mysterious and unknown, leaving little connections to other works, like the ruined labyrinth and the unfinished snippets of various stories, to point toward deeper, cavernous depths.  

Visually, the film is utterly stunning.  I love how the fantasy elements are realized in "Pan's Labyrinth" - full of danger and horror as much as awe and wonder.  There's always such an unreal, stylized look to Guillermo Del Toro's work, especially the use of color and lighting.  Not everything has a real world counterpart, and we see a mix of different influences, some literary and some mythological.  Here, the Faun and the other creatures are tied very closely to the natural world, an extension of the hidden, subterranean parts of the landscape that echo Ofelia's subconscious.  There are always little details and signs of extra effort put into every part of the frame.  A great deal of the film's marketing centered on the lengths Del Toro and Doug Jones went to in order to bring their wonderfully tactile monsters to life.  

Though the story is dark, the film is full of little pleasures - the murmured lullaby acting as a main theme, Ofelia's new dress turning her into an Alice in Wonderland figure (which is almost immediately subverted), and quick cameos by several familiar actors from other Del Toro projects.  Several motifs and design choices recur throughout his work, and are easily recognizable.  The nocturnal spirits in his recent "Pinocchio" film, for instance, immediately recall the design of the Faun.  However, as much as I've enjoyed Del Toro's recent films, I've been waiting for him to make another Spanish language film, something more personal.  A "Pan" sequel, "3993," was in the works for a while, but remains in limbo like so many of the other projects with his name attached over the years.

Despite all the setbacks, Del Toro has made a dozen films to date, and no one else could have made them.  And I hope we'll have many more in the years ahead.

What I've Seen - Guillermo Del Toro

Cronos (1993)

Mimic (1997)

The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Blade II (2002)

Hellboy (2004)

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Pacific Rim (2013)

Crimson Peak (2015)

The Shape of Water (2017)

Nightmare Alley (2021)

Pinocchio (2022)

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Into the "Infinity Pool"

It takes a while for "Infinity Pool" to get to the big reveal of its premise, and for the movie to feel like it's a proper horror thriller.  I won't spill the details in order to preserve the surprise, but the trailer spells out everything, including a couple of the twists.  

Once it gets underway, however, this is definitely the work of Brandon Cronenberg, full of monstrously warped portraits of humanity, and unsettling imagery.  Like many other recent films, the story is about the class divide.  Here, our hero James (Alexander Skarsgaard) and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman) are vacationing at a resort in the fictional country of Li Tolqa.  They meet another couple, Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban (Jalil Lespert), who influence James to indulge in his darker side.  Li Tolqa is a deeply religious country with a harsh judicial system.  However, the rich tourists can pay their way out of any consequences, including murder. 

I keep wanting to compare "Infinity Pool" to Alex Garland's "Men," though the two films are very different.  Both have a lot of good ideas, sometimes realized in brutally memorable ways.  Jessie Buckley's character keeps seeing visions of sinister men who mean to do her harm - all with the same face.  Alexander Skarsgaard's character also keeps seeing men with the same face, except that the context is totally different.  James is the one who is becoming dangerous.  These visions represent internal threats as well as external ones, and both movies rely heavily on metaphors and dream imagery.  The plots involve situations spinning out of the protagonists' control, a lot of shocking imagery involving violence and nudity, and unsettling, ambiguous conclusions.      

"Infinity Pool" doesn't have the visual or aural flair of "Men," but it's much more adept at provoking horror with similar concepts.  Its jaunts into surreal visuals tend to follow the same form as Cronenberg's previous work in "Possessor" - vertiginous, psychedelic manipulations of the film image in order to make human beings into alien grotesques.  To underline this, there are a few earlier scenes of the spoiled guests wearing striking, creepy masks.  I appreciate that the film isn't too interested in social commentary otherwise, and Cronenberg seems more  focused on coming up with disturbing scenarios to put onscreen.  The film is less about the injustice of the system that allows the bad behavior of the elites, and more about the effect this has on James' soul and psyche, so the struggle is mostly internal.  The more he dehumanizes others, the more he finds that he's dehumanizing himself.

Alexander Skarsgaard is perfectly fine here, and I applaud his willingness to participate in some extreme content.  Brandon Cronenberg is one of the few filmmakers today who embraces explicit sex scenes.  However, Mia Goth steals the picture, top to bottom.  She makes for a wildly entertaining manifestation of evil, whether it's her casual seduction tactics or her transformation into a jeering sadist, sipping wine atop a car hood as she torments her victim.  She has a bizarre breastfeeding scene late in the film that is one of the most unnerving things I've seen in ages.  After this and "Pearl," it's clear that horror is her genre, and I'm all for it.       

"Infinity Pool" has R and NC-17 cuts due to the sexual content, and I suspect that it's one of those films that some will adore and some will be turned off by completely.  I prefer cerebral horror, and have generally enjoyed the work of both Cronenbergs, so I knew what I was getting myself into.  I'll caution that this is definitely a more graphic entry, and I found myself comparing some scenes to Gaspar Noe's output, specifically "Enter the Void."  With that in mind, I don't think that "Infinity Pool" is Cronenberg's best, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly.  It presents a lot of thoughtful material to chew on, along with some well-deployed shocks to the system. 

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Are the Midbudget Films Coming Back?

I write this post very tentatively, because I don't have a lot of data points yet.  Originally, I intended to write a post about the mild superhero film slump we saw in February and March, with the latest "Ant-man" and "Shazam!" films taking a bath.  Instead, I realized that the trend I should be focusing on is the quiet success of several smaller films, especially a string of hits enjoyed by Universal.  This year they've had "M3GAN," "Knock at the Cabin," and "Cocaine Bear," which were all small, but decent hits at the box office.  And this is in spite of Universal's much shorter theatrical window that put "Knock at the Cabin" on VOD three weeks after the theater premiere date.  

Also consider the sleeper success of films like "A Man Named Otto" and "80 for Brady," both gentle comedies aimed at older audiences.  Neither cost much, and they didn't make much, but it was enough to turn a profit.  A notably young and diverse audience also made "Creed III" a hit.  Sure, it's a franchise film, but it's a sports drama that reportedly only cost $75 million.  Horror films have always had a dependable audience, and this year they came out for "M3GAN" and "Scream VI."  Other smaller budget projects like the thriller "Missing," the action film "Plane," and the faith based "Jesus Revolution" have also made an impact on the box office.  Maybe streaming and the pandemic haven't killed off the mid-budget theatrical release quite yet.  "Ant-man" still made more than most of these films combined, but  the playing field is looking less lopsided than it has in years.           

I love the convenience of having more films premiering on streaming services and VOD, but it's clearly not good for the films in question or the theaters, which were scrambling for content for much of 2022.  "Catherine Called Birdy," "Matilda the Musical," and many of my other recent favorites went under the radar because they were streaming exclusives, and the streaming services have shown over and over again that their marketing efforts are very hit-or-miss.  There was a lot of uncertainty over whether audiences would show up to theaters in the wake of the pandemic, and some pointed to the overwhelming success of movies like "Top Gun: Maverick" last year as proof that the demand is still there for great movies.  However, the unfortunately titled Variety article "Could Mediocre Movies Save Movie Theaters?" points out that the demand is still there for merely okay movies too, and that's even more heartening.  It suggests that casual moviegoing, rather than event-movie-driven moviegoing, is still going to be a thing.    

And while we're on the subject of event movies, my armchair movie mogul theory of the week is that superhero movies have become so numerous and so commonplace that most of them no longer qualify as event movies in the minds of the public.  Disney overloaded Disney+ with blah MCU content over the past two years, and is now trying to space things out and give individual offerings more breathing space.  As for the DCEU, it's more complicated, but "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" being such a bust had less to do with the quality of the film and more to do with dull marketing and most people having finally lost patience with the franchise - which is all set to be rebooted soon anyway.  I suspect that the low ebb is only temporary, but we're not going to see superhero movies dominating the box office again like they did in the past.    

I confess that I've largely fallen out of the habit of theatergoing.  The last movie I watched in a physical movie theater was "Babylon," and I'm not planning further trips until "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" hit the screens.  However, this is mostly because theatergoing has been a social activity for me, and my social life is only starting to recover from the pandemic.  The prospect of going to a theater to see the latest "Magic Mike" or "Creed" movie by myself is frankly pretty depressing.  Fortunately, this doesn't seem to be a problem most audiences are having.  And that's great, because I do hope to get back into the groove of theatergoing some day.  And I want the movie theaters to be alive and well when I do.           

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"Triangle of Sadness" and "All Quiet on the Western Front"

Let's get this over with.

Ruben Östlund loves to examine the absurdities and hypocrisies of modern man, with the pretensions of the upper classes being a special target.  "Triangle of Sadness" is his most unsubtle film, about a boatload of rich elites on a doomed cruise, and the hapless crew trying to keep them happy.  Our main POV characters are Yaya (Charlbi Dean) and Carl (Harris Dickinson), a young influencer couple who are always bickering over money.  The captain (Woody Harrelson), is perpetually drunk and won't leave his cabin.  The cruise director, Paula (Vicki Berlin), is a perfectionist who won't turn down any request from a guest, no matter how inane.  Add a passel of rich morons for passengers, some bad weather, and watch the vomit fly.  

The trouble with "Triangle of Sadness" is that it's actually two different films.  I didn't mind the first half, which is cartoonish and full of cringe humor.  It features a lot of physical comedy paired  with dark, dark social commentary.  There's an amazing set piece where a fancy dinner takes place during a terrible storm, resulting in epic amounts of seasickness and wasted food.  However, the second half of the film is  more earnest, about what happens when the established hierarchy is disrupted by disaster.  Suddenly a cleaning lady, Abigail (Dolly de Leon), emerges as the person with the most power, because she's the only one with any survival skills.  And once she has power, does she handle it any better than the spoiled elites?  

The amount of contempt that Östlund has for his characters turned me off of the film.  Every single person is a caricature, the elderly and the infirm are often treated as grotesques, and no one has any kind of psychological depth.  I might have been more receptive to Östlund's aims if there weren't so much recent media about the absurdity of the class divide, like "White Lotus" and "The Menu."  "Triangle of Sadness" is so obvious in its aims and so mean-spirited, I quickly lost patience with it.  As a comedy, it has some good instincts and gets in a few good punchlines.  As satire, however, it's entirely too blunt to have much impact.  

On to "All Quiet on the Western Front," Edward Berger's adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's novel.  It's the first proper German adaptation of the WWI epic, and takes its cues from more recent war films like 1917 - which you can easily imagine playing out in the same universe as this one.  We follow a group of German students near the end of WWI who become soldiers and go off to war.  These include 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) and his friends Albert (Aaron Hilmer), Ludwig (Adrian Grunewald) and Franz (Moritz Klaus).  There's been some dismay from fans of the novel that the film version takes great liberties with the sequence of events, including changing the iconic ending.  However, the themes of the film remain intact - the boys' loss of innocence, and the terrible contrast between their dreams of glory and the harsh reality of warfare.

And the harsh reality of warfare is really the main event.  For most of the 147 minute running time, we're treated to ghastly visions of combat and its aftermath.  Our young protagonists are subjected to an endless parade of horrors, climaxing with Paul's ugly showdown with an enemy soldier in a muddy crater.  Occasionally some respite is offered by interludes with a German official, Matthias Erzberger (Daniel Bruhl), who is trying to negotiate an armistice to end the fighting.  However, these are designed to elicit more rage, as the German command is completely unsympathetic to the plight of their own soldiers, and are more worried over trivialities and creature comforts.  

The film's production is impressive, and the material is certainly compelling.  However, this is a difficult film to watch.  The actors do their best, but the characters are uniformly flat and uninspiring.  The imagery is beautifully realized, and the anti-war messages come across loud and clear in a way that other WWII films don't consistently manage to get right.  However, the pacing drags, and the film is far too long.  Though I'm happy that it exists, and I appreciate its aims, I was very relieved when "All Quiet on the Western Front" was over.      

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My Top Ten Films of 1948

This is part of a series of top ten lists from the years before I started this blog.  Entries are listed below in no particular order.  Enjoy.

I Remember Mama - George Stevens' first feature film after returning from WWII is a sentimental coming of age story, featuring a Norwegian immigrant family in 1910, led by a steady, inspiring matriarch.  This was one of Irene Dunne's final screen roles, and marked Stevens' permanent shift from comedies to dramas.  Dunne's Mama is an irresistible maternal figure, and it's easy to become involved in the lives of her hopeful brood.  

  

Hamlet - Laurence Olivier's film version of "Hamlet" is terrifically entertaining, full of Gothic gloom and portents of death, with an exciting sword fight sequence for the climax.  The play is condensed and removes several subplots, making it a more intimate drama that centers on Hamlet's psychological struggles.  It was the first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar, and cemented the place of the Bard on motion picture screens.   

Bicycle Thieves - Not just a Neorealist film, but really *the* Neorealist film.  One of the great ironies of "Bicycle Thieves" is that it was initially better received outside of Italy, because it was viewed as a negative portrayal of Italians.  However, Vittorio De Sica and Cesare Zavattini's bleak fable about a father and son in post-war Rome still holds an uncommon power.  The struggle it depicts is universal, and the expression of it remains sublime.

Unfaithfully Yours - A rather nasty little black comedy from Prestorn Sturges, featuring Rex Harrison as a celebrated conductor who can't stop fantasizing about getting revenge on his wife for perceived unfaithfulness.  There's a happy ending, of course, but the wild tonal shifts, the lofty misuse of classical music, and the unusually dark subject matter didn't do the film any favors at the box office.  However, it did help the movie stand the test of time.  

La Terra Trema - The second of three films on my list from Neorealist directors, who were making films to capture the plight of post-war Europe, fast and furious.  This was only Luchino Visconti's second feature film, part documentary and part narrative feature, about the exploitation of Sicilian fisherman.  It's a beautiful film, capturing the environment, the way of life, and the social bonds of the characters, but a difficult watch due to its length and themes.  

Fallen Idol - A fantastic Carol Reed thriller, about a man suspected of murdering his wife, where the whole story is seen through the eyes of a little boy.  It's a wonderfully tense film with some great cinematography that helps to create a child's eye view of the world.  The mystery is fairly typical, and the real stakes of the story end up being the boy's faith in the continually untrustworthy adults around him, which is sorely tested by the whole ordeal.    

Germany Year Zero - An incredibly nihilistic film about a boy living in occupied Berlin, who is alternately led astray and neglected by his authority figures.  It's the last film of Roberto Rosselini's war trilogy, and by far the bleakest.  Though not as strictly realistic as his previous features, the film features non-actors and some real locations amidst a destroyed Berlin - more than enough to help convey the state of Germany in the wake of its worst defeat.

Oliver Twist - This is the adaptation directed by David Lean, starring Alec Guinness as Fagin.  It's still the definitive screen version of the story, inventing new incidents that would carry over into subsequent adaptations, and making the villains like Sykes and Fagin the real stars of the show.  I prefer the musical version a bit more because of the songs, but I'm well aware that the musical would likely never have existed without the Lean version of the story.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein - Arguably the first "Avengers" style cinematic universe occurred when Universal decided to put some of their horror movie favorites together in the "Abbott and Costello" series for some humorous supernatural hijinks.  I prefer Stan and Ollie to Bud and Lou, but it can't be denied that they can bring laughs aplenty with the right material.  And this is the right material.

Easter Parade - A winning MGM musical that pairs Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, and features some Irving Berlin classics.  The numbers are all consistently good and Astaire and Garland are at the peak of their stardom.  Astaire's "Steppin' Out With My Baby" is a highlight, but Garland's best number, the sexy "Mr. Monotony," was left on the cutting room floor until "That's Entertainment III" in 1994.     

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A Look at "Lockwood & Co."

What has Joe Cornish been up to lately?  Well, he's just finished adapting Jonathan Stroud's "Lockwood & Co." YA book series into a Netflix show.  It's a fun one, featuring an alternate history version of London, where malicious ghosts started appearing 50 years ago that can kill people with a touch.  Only children are found to have the supernatural gifts to fight "The Problem," so they were recruited and trained to become "Agents" - essentially professional ghostbusters.  Nearly all the firms that employ Agents are controlled by adults, but a small independent outfit, Lockwood & Co., consists of a trio of teenagers.

Initially "Lockwood" starts out with a gloomy tone, as Lucy Carlyle (Ruby Stokes), a talented "Listener" who can hear ghosts, is recruited to become an Agent, and encounters repeated mistreatment and tragedy.  Ghost hunting is a dangerous line of work, and the Agents are often exploited by the adults who handle their jobs.  Then Lucy makes her way to London, where she meets the dashing, reckless, and wildly overconfident Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman).  He and his bookish partner George (Ali Hadji-Heshmati) have decided to strike out on their own, running an agency out of Lockwood's deceased parents' house.  Nobody takes them seriously, but Lucy and Lockwood are soon running around London, chasing ghosts and getting into all kinds of trouble.

The dynamic between the two leads reminds me so much of "Doctor Who" and other British adventure series.  Lockwood is very much in the romantic tradition of the cocky, brilliant, man-of-action who leaps before he looks, and takes charge of every situation.  Lucy is the sensible one who helps to keep his ego in check.  However, they're both teenagers, and no matter how mature they try to act, they both clearly have a lot of growing up to do.  Lockwood's lack of restraint and habitual self-aggrandizement keeps landing everyone in trouble.  His swagger is backed up by the fact that he actually is very heroic and self-sacrificing in a very endearing way.  However, the agency is constantly in danger of being disbanded by DEPRAC, the government agency overseeing all supernatural activity.  Inspector Barnes (Ivanno Jeremiah) is frequently looming in the background, as the representative of adult authority, keeping a wary eye on their activities.

I like the worldbuilding here, which is very reminiscent of anime - in the sense that it utilizes some familiar tropes, and it is absolutely committed to a wild fantasy premise.  You've got the idealistic rebel kids versus the adult establishment.  You've got the dystopian world where the only hope is putting youngsters with unusual weapons into combat situations.  The Agents are all armed with rapiers, and occasionally get into showy fights with each other.  Other weapons include iron chains, flash bombs, and salt circles.  The atmosphere is creepy, but rarely very scary.  The show's live human enemies are much more unsettling than the dead ones.  The ghosts are honestly pretty underwhelming, and the effects work is dodgy if you look too close.  However, the action is exciting and the show does a good job of keeping the emotional stakes high.  

The young cast is very good, and I expect they'll all go on to long and fulfilling careers.  Ruby Stokes shoulders the lion's share of the dramatic weight of the early episodes, and is easy to root for.  This is Cameron Chapman's first screen credit, and it looks like he's having a ball playing an intrepid action hero.  Ali Hadji-Heshmati doesn't get nearly as much fun material as the other two, but acquits himself well with what he has.  They all have the tricky task of being early twenty-somethings playing teenagers who have had to grow up too fast because of their circumstances, thus acting older than they really are.  In this case, it mostly works.    

My biggest complaint is that "Lockwood & Co." is only eight episodes long, and only scratching the surface on the source material.  The first season gets us through two major cases, but it still feels like an overture to a much longer and more interesting story.  This bodes well for the show if it gets renewed, and I'm crossing my fingers that it will.  It's darker and spookier and better executed than similar YA shows like "Locke & Key," and I suspect it'll only improve from here.    

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Eating Up "The Menu"

Mild spoilers ahead.

It's a nice surprise to walk into an innocuous looking horror film and find something more interesting going on.  "The Menu" features one really good idea, which is to take the theatricality and the pretensions of haute cuisine restaurant culture and take them to totally extreme, absurdist ends.  Written by Will Tracy, and directed by Mark Mylod (both "Succession" alums), there are thrills and chills aplenty to be found, but the joy of "The Menu" is in its pitch black humor and a very committed cast - starting with the insane celebrity chef played by Ralph Fiennes.

Julian Slowik strikes me as having more in common with Lydia Tár than Hannibal Lecter.  He's a passionate artist who has given over his whole life to his craft, and risen to the top of his field.  However, being forced to serve so many toxic "eaters" has soured him on his art.  He uses his chosen medium - an elaborate multi-course meal served at his remote island restaurant, priced in such a way that he can control the list of diners - to vent his frustrations.  The customers include a prominent food critic (Janet McTeer) and her toadying editor (Paul Adelstein), a movie star (John Leguizamo) and his assistant (Aimee Carrero), a trio of finance bros (Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, and Mark St. Cyr), and a wealthy couple (Reed Birney and Judith Light) celebrating their anniversary.  And then there's Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy), a total newcomer to this scene, who isn't supposed to be there.  She's a last minute invite, whose seat is being paid for by Slowik fanboy Tyler (Nicolas Hoult).  

"The Menu" doesn't become a horror film for a long while, leaning into the dark comedy as the various characters are introduced and arrive at the restaurant.  Sure, Slowik's staff displays creepy, cult-like devotion to their jobs, and there's an uncomfortable amount of contempt coming across in the early courses, but this mirrors the often unbearably high concept fine dining experiences that cater to the privileged crowd in real life.  The critiques aren't especially deep, but I do appreciate how thorough they are.  Jabs are aimed at everything from the uber perfectionism of the food presentation, to the gleefully condescending service of the maitre d' Elsa (Hong Chau), to the smug course descriptions that serve as chapter breaks in the film.  Each of the customers stand in for various sins of the industry and its supporters, and Slowik doesn't leave himself out either, confessing to his own mistreatment of his workers at one point.  Horror aficionados might be disappointed that there's not much by way of blood and guts, but the foodies will surely recognize the skillfulness of the skewering.  

I was initially a little surprised at the high caliber of the cast for a film with such a pulpy premise.  However, "The Menu" is full of fun characters for the actors to sink their teeth into.  Ralph Fiennes is absolutely the MVP here, for playing Slowik with far more restraint than I was expecting.  Instead of an over the top lunatic, he comes across as a  deeply sad and damaged man whose brilliance has led him off the deep end.  There's some real pain in his rants that gives him some pathos.  Anya Taylor-Joy's Margot does nice work as the only really normal and sympathetic person in the story.  The rest are mostly comedic caricatures, but they're good ones.  Nicolas Hoult continues his excellent streak playing self-absorbed assholes. Hong Chau's microaggressions are priceless, especially her use of the word "tortillas."  And kudos to John Leguizamo for playing himself.

When it comes to depicting the dining experience, "The Menu" is no slouch, recruiting professional chefs and even the creator of "Chef's Table" to make the presentation of the food look perfect.  I admit that I left the film more curious about the fine dining experience than ever.  I suspect that the film will play best to those with more experience with fine dining, though it works just as well as a thriller, revenge film, and all-around takedown of the rich and insufferable.  The messages aren't subtle, but at the same time they're not obnoxious, never letting us forget that Slowik and his crew are all completely mental, and "The Menu" is totally contrived exercise.    It's a very entertaining and creative one, however,  and left me completely satisfied.

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