Quick takes on 5 films

The Favourite received a bunch of acclaim this past awards season, especially for its lead actresses, Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz. Directed by the fantastic young director Yorgos Lanthimos, it follows Queen Anne’s short rule in the early 18th Century. Anne is portrayed as a bit of a simple woman who relies on her life-long friend, Sarah Churchill, to run the household and give good advice on running the government. A distance cousin of Sarah’s, Abigail, arrives to the palace to serve as a maid, but Abigail has her sights set on rising up the hierarchical ladder. Abigail needles her way into Anne’s good graces, and when Sarah pushes back, Abigail finds ways to undermine her. In this film, I think the acting supersedes the movie. I thought the film’s story was just OK (not as great as Lanthimos’ last 2, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer), but the acting by all three leading ladies is truly special and worth watching.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a surprise hit last year, which swept in to take away the best animated film Oscar from the Disney and Pixar heavyweights. Featuring a unique comic-book-like animation style inspired by its source material, it is visually stunning but also has a great story. Peter Parker dies early in the film, trying to stop Kingpin from opening a rift between worlds, and the young Miles Morales must learn how to control his new Spider-Man powers if he is going to take up the mantle. Kingpin’s experiment did open the rift wide enough to let in a bunch of Spider-Men versions, all of whom band together to stop Kingpin with Miles. This is a film for all to enjoy, with lots of humor (even a few fourth wall breaks in Deadpool style) and a much more lighthearted approach to our superhero, more in line with his comic book origins than what we typically see him as in the movies. Don’t avoid it just because it is a cartoon, it really is a fantastic film.

The Sisters Brothers is a much deeper, more emotional film than what you might expect on the surface. The named brothers are Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) and Eli (John C Reilly), a couple gunslingers on the hire by a powerful man known as the commodore. The commodore sends them out to hunt down a man named Warm (Riz Ahmed), whose location has been found by a scout named Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal). The younger Charlie is a violent man, drinking, whoring, and killing without remorse, but his older brother Eli, while equally deadly with a gun, is more introspective and dreams of a better life. When they catch up with Warm and Morris, it is revealed that Warm has developed a method to aid in gold prospecting, which the commodore wants. Warm doesn’t want to use his method to get rich, but wants to build a utopian society. As the climactic conclusion approaches, we learn why Charlie is the way he is. A fantastic film, I think it bombed at the theaters due to poor marketing. The ads made it seem like a zany western, and while it has a lot of humor and takes place in the wild west, that’s not what this movie is all about. While it didn’t get much attention here in the states, it received a lot of awards overseas, including at the Venice Film Festival and in France, where it won 4 Cesar awards (their version of the Oscar) among 9 nominations.

Cold War is a gut-punching foreign film about a couple living just after World War II. A man and his partner start a school promoting local folk music in Poland in 1949, and the male teacher, Wictor, falls in love with one of his students, Zula. The school is under increasing pressure from the Communist-leaning government to sing songs promoting Stalin and other Russian ideals. Wictor decides to make a run for it, and while performing in Berlin, he and Zula plan to defect. Zula however gets cold feet and doesn’t meet Wictor, so he leaves alone. A few years later in 1954, they meet again in Paris, where Wictor has been working, while Zula is still with the troupe, now traveling around Europe. He sees her perform a few times around Europe, but is caught by Polish government officials, who give him a warning to steer clear or he’ll find himself brought home to face charges. More time passes, and Zula comes to visit Wictor in 1957. She has married an Italian man in order to leave Poland, but has left him to be with Wiktor. However, they find life together to not be as cracked up as they had always imagined it to be. By 1959, she has returned to Poland, and he is arrested when trying to go to her there. She vows to get him out before his 15 year sentence, and sure enough, she marries a higher-up in the government to make this happen by 1964. An emotional roller coaster of a film, it was nominated for best foreign film at the most recent Oscars. Shot in 4:3 and black and white, it has the feel of a classic foreign film, with fantastic acting by its two leads.

All About Nina is one of those “really real” independent films that tries so hard to be real, that it comes off as contrived. Nina is a female comic struggling against sexism in her professional life, which bleeds then into her personal relationships. She acts like her fellow male comics, telling sex jokes and whatnot. When a guy does it, he is just “being a dude,” but when she does it, the crowd thinks she is easy and try to hook up with her after her sets. In reality, she’s coming off a bad relationship and doesn’t know what she wants in life. When she really falls for a guy, she doesn’t know how to handle it. I had a hard time connecting with the character even though the part is played very well by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. And like a lot of comic hacks, the movie goes for shock value over real substance. However, it does do a good job of showing the uphill battle women comics face in the business, including the limited opportunities for women, and the lack of support for each other due to the limited chances.