Ah, back to normal viewing levels this weekend after last week’s insanely busy slate full of Sundance Film Festival entries. Actually, I’d consider this a pretty low count! And truth be told, none of these were real winners despite the hype for at least one of them.
Malcolm & Marie -This is that film I’m referring to. The hype on this was insane because you’ve got John David Washington and Zendaya. This was filmed in black and white and shot during quarantine, but the story does lend itself to being able to be filmed in one house as the sole setting. That however, was about as much of a pass as I was willing to give this film. Ultimately, this was a two hour argument between a couple, all spawned by Malcolm, who forgot to thank his partner/muse when presenting his new film to tremendous praise. For the rest of the movie we see the two of them fight over this. Marie seems at first ridiculously upset, but then she starts pointing out that without the events of her early life, Malcolm probably wouldn’t have even made this film. Malcolm initially just wants to forget the whole incident, but when provoked, he turns spiteful and hurls insults her way. Granted, Marie can fire them right back, but her ending thank you speech to herself is quite moving. I understand they are fighting, but this is not helping John David Washington in my eyes. Just another performance of him yelling dialogue. Perhaps he’s better suited for the stage. Along with this film. Skip it, just like the Academy likely will (watch Marriage Story instead!).
Alone – My sister has been in a rut when it comes to finding things to watch. Unfortunately, she’s very picky in the most frustrating way! Anyways, I stumbled across this 2020 thriller film and it sounded like it’d be right up her alley! Jessica is a woman who is in the process of moving. On the way she passes a slow moving SUV on a mountain-side highway. Wrong move. At first I got very vivid Unhinged flashbacks, but this movie ended up taking a quite different turn from there. Of course, the man she passed follows her for what seems like a whole day and confronts her on a number of occasions, at first in a pleasant way, but then when he keeps turning up, Jessica starts to panic. And rightfully so! The man eventually kidnaps her and locks her in an empty room in the basement of a cabin. It’s clear the man does this for fun every once in a while, but luckily for Jessica she manages to escape before he decides to kill her. Of course, the road to safety is a long and stressful one through the wilderness. Definitely a tense and thrilling watch!
The Dig – Who knew a movie about excavating could be so interesting and moving? Certainly not me! This movie was actually based off a real “dig” of Sutton Hoo back in 1939. Yes, treasures were to be had, but the real reason for the film (and the book it’s based off of) is to shed light on the man initially responsible for the discovery, Basil Brown. Brown never had any formal training, but was very good excavating, and so property owner, Edith Pretty, made sure Basil was kept on the project even after the British Museum got involved. This discovery also came about just as the second World War was about to commence, so the finding remained on Edith’s property for quite some time, even after her premature death. Obviously, a film wouldn’t be all that entertaining if we only saw people digging around in the dirt for two hours, so there were naturally a few relationships to hone in on. The most central was that of Edith with her son, Robert, whom she is scared to leave alone in the wake of her impending death. Another secondary relationship belongs to Edith’s cousin Rory, and another excavator, Peggy. That seemed like a sort of odd focal point of the film, but like I said, they needed to keep it interesting. This film is certainly not for everyone, and there’s no chance I’ll ever watch it again, but it was a pleasant experience overall.