Slacked a lot last week, so here’s the haul from the last two weekends!
Didi – Just the brief snips and plot points I saw about this film gave me all the Eighth Grade feels, but from an Asian-American perspective. That is kind of what this was, but back in the early 2000s, so the amount that I related to this was overwhelming at times. With that being said, Didi, aka Chris, did plenty of things that never even made it into my peripheral vision when I was in middle school or entering high school (or the rest of high school for that matter). Maybe California just goes harder than Ohio, but Didi was both pretty funny and then managed to hard pivot into some really emotional subjects. There was plenty to differentiate my experience to that of Chris’, but at the end of the day, it was Chris trying to figure out who he is and his mother just trying her best. Joan Chen as Chris’ mom was just fabulous.
National Anthem – I was sad I missed the chance to watch this in theaters a few weeks ago, so I was very happy to see how soon it was available to rent. This is a film I had never heard of up until my local indie theater was set to get it. Starring Charlie Plummer, he plays Dylan, a young man in New Mexico just looking for grunt work every day to help his family make ends’ meat while trying to save up for an RV to free himself of his current life. He ends up taking a job at a mystical ranch that almost seems like it’s another world, but really he finds it’s just a place where he can truly be himself. That it involves all spectrums of queerness of course causes quite a dichotomy with the rest of his life in this rural and very traditional town. Mason Alexander Park as Carrie really stole the show for me, but this whole film was really beautiful and powerful.
Fresh Kills – Actress Jennifer Esposito marks her directorial debut with a unique mob tale that she also wrote and stars in. Apparently, this is a story that’s been churning in her mind for quite some time, and I’m glad to report that she brought something original to the table! It’s a shame she had such a hard time getting it made, because she gets a lot of things really, really right! Sure, at a first glance it seems like just another New York mob film set in the late 80s and 90s, but what it excels at in its originality is not getting too involved in all the bad stuff. Why? Because we are taken through these events through the eyes of perhaps the most naïve daughter on planet earth. And by the time she finally catches on, it’s because bad stuff starts happening in front of her eyes like dominos. Worth the watch!
The Crow – After thirty years, why remake this near perfect film? Who knows why any great film or show is remade nowadays? With that, Hollywood decided to take a new stab at this comic book based masterpiece and the results were…fine. While the heart of the plot is there, they decided to add even more supernatural elements to it, which were just kind of silly. In the original, are met with the pair’s tragic fate without any fanfare. We just know that they loved each other and were brutally taken from this world. Bill Skarsgard is pretty hot in this gothic get-up, but he kind of looks like Jared Leto’s Joker. Why not keep with the original look that Brandon Lee donned? I don’t know if I find the original more, just everything, because of the tragedy that went along with that production, but this is once again proof that you don’t mess with a good thing.
Blink Twice – For a long, long time I was led to believe that the name of this film was “Pussy Island,” which I find more memorable, but this new title plays with the whole fearful concept a bit more. Zoe Kravitz has brought to the screen something wholly original that I think I will find myself going back to in the future. In fact, you may just see it on my “best of” list at the end of the year. Frida is working a posh party when she gets a spur-of-the-moment invite to some tech billionaire’s private island with her friend and some other girls. What appears as never-ending fun eventually turns into a frightening fight for survival once the air turns sour. The twist is brilliant and sickening, and I would love to see the reactions from a theater full of men. Perhaps the set-up is a bit too long, but for a first run, this was fabulous!
Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar – Movie club came through for me this month and picked this ridiculous pandemic comedy. I was actually quite happy to have an excuse to watch this film again. So much of it is quotable, but I’ll be interested to see if it lands with the rest of the group. It is the perfect amount of stupid that I’m not sure if anyone besides my sister and I will find it hysterical. Jamie Dornan had his comedy chops hidden all this time! If you refuse to watch this movie, then you at least need to hear him sing his seagull song online somewhere. I promise you won’t regret it.