Quick takes on 5 films

The movie Raw is sort of fucked up. This is a French film, about a young girl going off to college. She seems to have everything going for her. She’s bright and attactive, comes from a loving, health-conscious family (all are vegetarians), and is headed to veterinary school. In a hazing ritual early on, she is forced to eat a raw kidney, and develops a taste for meat for the first time in her life. In a disturbing scene, she finds what she craves the most is human meat. She tries to supress her desires for a time, but always comes back to what she needs. I get that this is a parable for female empowerment, but man is it messed up. I’d probably like the film if it wasn’t so shockingly grotesque at times. Just not my cup of tea.

Wakefield is a polarizing film: you will either love it or hate it, and I don’t think there are going to be many people in the middle. I am in league with the former. I think Bryan Cranston is captivating from start to finish, as he has to be as the camera never strays far from him throughout the entirety of the film. He plays Howard Wakefield, who, upon returning home from work one night, has his train lose power. As he approaches his house late and in the dark, he sees his family inside and just loses all energy to face them and the monotonous life he holds there. He heads up to the attic of his detached garage, where he falls asleep. The next day, he is faced with the unwelcome scenario of having to explain where he’s been (the truth sounds outlandindish even to himself), so he continues to hide in the attic. A day becomes a week, which becomes months. The movie is played out as he spies on his family, and narrated by his thoughts of what the world thinks of his unexpected disappearance, with his imagination running wild at times to often bizarre scenarios. Cranston is fantastic and engaging throughout. Let’s face it, he is a likable guy and his humor is catching, but he is despicably leaving his family in a lurch. For my taste, a great film (including the love-it or hate-it ending).

How can anyone not love It Comes At Night? As the synapsis says on Rotten Tomatoes, “what’s left unseen can be just as horrifying as anything on the screen.” This is a psychological thriller that plays with your mind, more gripping than any horror movie I’ve seen in awhile. It takes place in the near-future where mankind is being whiped out by a pathogen. A man (played by Joel Edgerton) has his wife and teenage son hidden in a remote cabin in the woods. They have food and water and are basically just surviving, avoiding all people who may be infected. One day a man comes on to the property asking for help for his own wife and young son. Edgerton’s family (and the viewer) never knows if this new family is telling the truth, if they are safe, or if they have ulterior motives, questions we never really get the answers to, even at the gripping climax. We also hear sounds outside the house at night, and are privy to the teenager’s graphic, vivid dreams of the disease. Not much real action is shown through most of this movie, and there aren’t any jump scares to get a reaction out of you, but this movie gets in to your head like few do.

I thought The Big Sick was good, but not great (like it seems the rest of the world does). It is a good romantic comedy, with a bit of a unique twist. Kumail is a young man trying to make it as a stand up comic in Chicago, against the wishes of his very religious and traditional Pakistani parents. He meets Emily and really likes her, but knows he will be literally disowned by his parents if he marries a white girl. After months of dating, Emily learns that Kumail has never even told his parents about her, and storms off. Shortly after, she ends up with a bad infection, and gets put into a coma to survive. Her parents come to town to stay with her, and get to know and like Kumail, who has resurfaced to also watch over her. All pretty straight forward, except I thought Kumail wasn’t as endearing as he should be. He is definitely conflicted by the end, but I thought he was a bit of a sleeze before that (when he uses the same pick up line to get in bed with a new girl after his break up with Emily). The film seems to use his family as a crutch, and through most of the film, I had the impression that Emily liked Kumail a lot more than the reverse. Though I understand the conflict between love and family that Kumail has, I couldn’t relate enough to really get in his shoes.

What Happened to Monday is a new Netflix film, starring Noomi Rapace. I love the premise: a future dystopian society where super foods have been created to deal with the booming population, but with the side effect of causing multiple births. A one-child policy is set in place, with other siblings being put into hibernation to sleep until the world can handle the population. One man, played by Willem Dafoe, refuses to put away his seven identical baby granddaughters. He names them for each day of the week and raises them to only go outside on their day, to live as one person, so as to never be caught. Obviously one day, 30 years later, Monday doesn’t return home at night. A very good action film, though with some rather outlandish plot elements, an almost B-movie style at times, and an end twist you see coming from a mile away. It’s a decent movie though.