Happening is a recent French film which shows, much like Never Rarely Sometimes Always, the difficulty of procuring an abortion when desired. At least the above film took place in 2020 New York, where a girl could get it done if she jumped through the right hoops and had the money. This film takes place in 1963 France, and there are no such hoops. Anne is a very smart young woman with aspirations of being a professor, currently studying literature in college. All she has to do is go home to see what awaits her if she doesn’t finish school; girls she grew up with who are just a couple years older look much more than that after doing hard work on a farm or at the factory that employs everyone else. She gets pregnant by a random encounter, her first time, but in 1963 in France, abortion is illegal, with legal ramifcations for her and the performing doctor. For the rest of the film, we get regular reminders that time is running out: 5 weeks… 7 weeks… 9 weeks. Doctors won’t talk to her, friends abandon her, her most trusted confidents turn away, all in fear of seeing jail themselves if they help. Much of the film is closeups of Anne (sort of Dardenne brothers Rosetta-like), giving us a window into her soul, the only part that really matters. The movie is emotionally taxing in a way that is hard to put into words. It’s a very strong film, but also hard to watch, and I’m not sure I could sit through it again. Rare for me to rate a movie so high that I wouldn’t enjoy again, but this is that kind of film for me. ★★★★
I’ll admit, the only reason I watched Catherine Called Birdy is it stars Game of Throne’s Belia Ramsey in the lead. In GoT, she was such a little badass, and the previews made her seem much the same in this period drama, based on a children’s book. Lady Catherine, or Birdy to her family and friends, is a headstrong 14-year-old living with her parents, who are the lord and lady in a castle overlooking a village. Lord Rollo has squandered the family fortune and is now awaiting Birdy to get her period so he can marry her off and get that dowry to save his estate from poverty. Sounds unscrupulous, but his actions are offset by the kindness he shows his wife, Lady Aislinn, who has tried to birth more kids (Birdy has two older brothers), but the pregnancies always end in stillbirth. When Birdy gets her first period, she thinks her life is over, but she doesn’t intend to go down without a fight. First she hides the blood every month, and when she is discovered, she pursues other ways of fighting off would-be husbands. Lots of other entertaining subplots: Birdy’s crush on her older cousin, her long-lasting friendship with a 16-year-old who is getting ready to marry too, and all of the secrets a 14 year old has. It’s a coming of age film, as Birdy is pretty innocent in the ways of life and love in the beginning, but has a lot of growing up to do over the course of the year or so in the movie. Very funny film, with delightful acting and a charming cast. The end is a little too perfect, but it is based on a kid’s book after all. ★★★½
Bullet Train was a movie that I’ve been excited to see since I saw the first trailer; it just looked like a rip-roaring good time. Middling reviews kept me from paying to see it in theaters, but I finally caught it on digital, and while it isn’t going to earn any awards, it is indeed exactly what I expected, and that’s not a bad thing. There’s a lot of moving parts in this film, more than I can get into in a short blurb. “Ladybug” (Brad Pitt) is a former assassin who has found zen in his life thanks to therapy, so while he refuses to carry a gun, he does have a mission to accomplish: retrieve a briefcase on a train in Japan. Turns out the briefcase is full of money, initially to be used as ransom from a Russian-born Japanese yakuza boss (the sinister named “White Death”) to get his kidnapped adult son back. The son is also on the train, being looked after by a couple other assassins, codenamed Lemon and Tangerine. Also present: a Japanese man named Yuichi, who has intel that the person who pushed his son off the roof of a building is on the train too, and he seeks revenge. And don’t forget yet another assassin, Hornet, who prefers poison as her method of death. Others show up too before the train gets to its destination, and with so many trained killers present, you know the body count is going to pile up. With gore a’plenty, the film features some exciting John Wick style fist/knife/gun fights, all done within the close quarters of a train. Lots of humor too, like Ladybug’s adherence to nonviolence whenever possible, Lemon’s penchant for explaining life through Thomas the Tank Engine, and some ridiculous fight scenes that awe and impress, which are so over the top that they become comedic too. There’s some awesome twists in the film, surprising cameos (the film is chuck full of movie stars), and while it isn’t necessarily a “great” movie, it is exciting and lots of fun. ★★★½
Fall, on the other hand… not sure why I’d think I’d like this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a decent B movie about a couple of girls who get stuck up on a 2000-foot radio tower, but for a person who’s scared of heights? Let’s just say my pulse probably stayed in the 120+ range for most of the movie. Becky and Hunter are best friends free climbing with Becky’s husband when the worst happens: he loses his grip and falls to his death. A year later, Becky hasn’t moved on and has alienated herself from friends and family. To try to pull her out of it, Hunter begs Becky to climb this old radio tower with her. The two girls set off for the day, and the old tower, rusting and losing bolts the whole way, screams menace to anyone who will listen (our two friends do not). Despite a couple close calls, the ladies make it all the way to the top, but when they start the trek down, their luck runs out. The ladder gives way and collapses to the ground, leaving the two women stranded on a tiny little platform at the very top. No water, no food, and no cell signal so high up, things aren’t looking very good. They make a few attempts to get help, but in true horror/thriller film style, nothing works. It’s a paper-thin plot and pretty shoddy acting (Hunter is played by Virginia Gardner from Marvel’s Runaways, easily my least favorite Marvel show), but the thrills are actually pretty good. If your heart can take it. ★★
Finally, a small shout out to Olivier Assayas’s new adaptation (and quasi- sequel?) to his 1996 film of the same name (fantastic film by the way). While I rarely review the series I watch, making an exception for this one. Irma Vep is now being made as a short series (director René vehemently denies it is a “TV series;” he does not do TV). In the Maggie Cheung role is Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, playing Mira Harberg, an American. Whereas the initial film lamented the current state of French film, Mira is coming off a highly successful (i.e. lucrative) superhero film, but she wants more growth as an actress and is looking forward to Irma Vep. Like the original film, it’s a film-within-a-film, and we see quite a bit of actual footage of the original 1915 silent film Les Vampires, with the new cast recreating those scenes. And again, like the original, the drama on set between the actors is a highlight. But this time, Assayas adds a new couple layers (going down another level as they might say in Inception). We learn in episode 2 or 3 that “René” did a film version of Irma Vep previously, obviously alluding to Assayas’s previous film, and that he married the lead actress, “Jade Lee,” as Assayas did with Maggie Cheung. Much of the film is René dealing with ghosts/demons, like his failed marriage, all that he gave up for his art. The characters will even occasionally step out of the film, like when Vikander, as Mira, tells someone she’s not even American, but Swedish. Level upon level upon level stuff going on, and it only builds with Mira starts to “become” Irma Vep. If you come into this show cold and expecting typical HBO fare, you’ll probably hate it, as many reviewers did (one asinine review said they only liked it when René lost his shit and acted crazy on set). If you are really into film and filmmaking, you’ll probably think it is pretty good. If you’ve seen the 1996 film, and know just a bit of Assayas’s life, and want to see a peak behind the curtain for how actors approach roles, their interactions with each other in front of and behind the camera, and how they basically have to lead a double life to separate what is real and what is not, hopefully you’ll love it as much as I did. ★★★★½
- TV series currently watching: Irma Vep (miniseries)
- Book currently reading: Star Wars A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller
Jons Movie Takes 