Tag: drama

Review: ‘Wild Men’ (2021), starring Rasmus Bjerg, Zaki Youssef, Bjørn Sundquist, Sofie Gråbøl, Marco Ilsø, Jonas Bergen Rahmanzadeh and Rune Temte

August 15, 2022

by Carla Hay

Rasmus Bjerg and Zaki Youssef in “Wild Men” (Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)

“Wild Men” (2021)

Directed by Thomas Daneskov

Norwegian and Danish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Aurland, Norway, the comedy/drama film “Wild Men” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few people of Middle Eastern heritage) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A middle-aged married father, who wants to leave his modern life behind and live life in the wilderness as a Viking, befriends a drug smuggler who wants to hide for very different reasons. 

Culture Audience: “Wild Men” will appeal primarily to people interested in darkly comedic films about male bonding and unlikely friendships.

Sofie Gråbøl in “Wild Men” (Photo courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn Films)

The ending of the comedy/drama “Wild Men” is very predictable and requires some suspension of disbelief regarding law enforcement, but this movie is ultimately an entertaining story about two strangers and their unlikely friendship as outlaws. Their story has less to do with whether or not they care about being arrested and has more do with why these two lost souls want to run away from lives that make them miserable. The movie’s droll comedy and above-average performances from the cast members prevent “Wild Men” from sinking into forgettable mediocrity.

Directed by Thomas Daneskov (who co-wrote the “Wild Men” screenplay with Morten Pape), “Wild Men” was filmed on location in the municipality of Aurland, Norway. The movie had its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. “Wild Men” goes through some expected scenarios that are often seen in chase movies when two strangers meet and team up to evade being caught for reasons that are similar or the same.

In “Wild Men,” Martin (played by Rasmus Bjerg) is a man in his 40s who is first seen by himself in a snowy wilderness. He’s dressed as a Viking (including wearing animal fur) and he is sobbing for reasons that are explained later in the movie. Armed with a bow, arrows and an axe, Martin tries to kill a deer for food, but the wounded deer runs away. The most that Martin can get for that night’s meal is a frog, which he eats around a campfire.

Martin is not living in a medieval time period. He is man living in the 21st century, but he wants to drop out of modern society and live as a Viking. Martin isn’t completely “off the grid,” because he goes into a gas station convenience store to get some food. However, he doesn’t want to pay with money. He wants to barter for the food, like a medieval Viking would.

Martin offers his deerskin, axe and three packs of cigarettes (a sign that he hasn’t completely left modern life behind) in exchange for the pile of groceries that he wants to get. He insists that this bargain can be made to a shocked young clerk named Petter (played by Jonas Strand Gravli), who tries in vain to explain to Martin that Martin can only get the groceries by paying with money. Martin gets loud and angry when insisting on having his way.

Eventually, the store manager (played by Ørjan Steinsvik) comes out of a back room to see what all the commotion is about near the store counter. Martin and the manager get into a physical brawl where Martin beats up the manager, takes the merchandise, and then goes back into hiding in the wooded area near the mountains. An elderly police captain named Øyvind (played by Bjørn Sundquist) later arrives to take a report about this robbery and assault. This easygoing police officer is also on the alert for three drug dealers who are believed to be in the area.

Meanwhile, those three drug dealers are traveling by car nearby and are talking about their latest smuggling job. Based on their conversation, Musa (played by Zaki Youssef), the car driver who is in his 40s, is the most experienced drug smuggler of the three. He’s reluctant to have his two younger cohorts/car passengers—Simon (played by Marco Ilsø) and Bashir (played by Jonas Bergen Rahmanzadeh)—along for this upcoming smuggling job on a ferry because he thinks three men together would look suspicious.

Suddenly, a reindeer appears on the road, and the car accidentally hits the deer, which plows through the windshield. It’s a bloody car wreck that leaves Simon and Bashir unconscious and a dazed Musa with a deep wound on his left leg. Musa stumbles out of the car and barely checks to see if Simon and Bashir are alive. Musa has a duffel bag full of cash that he takes with him as he stumbles into the woods.

It should come as no surprise that Martin ends up finding Musa. He treats Musa’s wound by stitching it up while Musa screams in agony. Martin tells Musa that he has a cell phone and a first-aid kit, which are more signs that Martin is not really ready to leave modern life completely behind. Martin isn’t curious to know why Musa doesn’t want to see a doctor for Musa’s leg wound. Musa doesn’t tell Martin right away that he’s a hashish smuggler or that Musa got into a car accident with two other people.

Instead, Musa lets Martin think that Musa is a hiker who got injured during a solo trip. Martin tells Musa that he wants to live as a reclusive Viking. Martin then eventually tells Musa that he robbed a grocery store and is hiding from police. And now, they both have a reason to help each other evade the law. Musa and Martin also bond over their national origin, since they are both originally from Denmark.

Eventually, more about Martin’s life is revealed. He’s a married father of two daughters: Sally (played by Katinka Evers-Jahnsen), who’s about 7 or 8 years old, and Luna (played by Thea Lundtoft Larsen), who’s about 5 or 6 years old. Martin has lied to his wife Anne (played by Sofie Gråbøl), by telling her that he’s away at a teambuilding seminar. Martin’s profession isn’t stated in the movie, but it’s mentioned that he has an office job that he thinks is boring and wants to quit. As part of his mid-life crisis, he wants to “drop out” of society.

Due to certain circumstances that won’t be revealed in this review, Anne is contacted by police and is shocked to find out that Martin is wanted for robbery and assault. Anne goes to this remote area to answer questions in the police investigation and to help in the search for Martin. Sally and Luna are also on this trip. None of this is spoiler information because it’s in the “Wild Men” trailer.

Martin and Musa eventually get into more trouble with the local police, so the two outlaws leave the area where they were camping. During their misadventures in evading capture, Martin and Musa go to a Viking village theme park led by a bombastic Viking enthusiast named Henrik (played by Rune Temte), who irritates Martin for bringing in modern elements to the theme park. For example, Martin can’t believe that the theme park serves processed bread and expects people to pay by money instead of bartering.

Meanwhile, Øyvind and two of his subordinates—middle-aged and cautious Eigil (played by Tommy Karlsen) and young and eager Tore (played by Håkon T. Nielsen)—are in hot pursuit of Martin and Musa. And let’s not forget Simon and Bashir, who were left unconscious in the car wreck. Once these two cronies find out that Musa has gone missing with the money, it’s not something they’re going to let go of easily.

“Wild Men” is not as cleverly written as a Joel and Ethan Coen movie about quirky outlaws on the run. “Wild Men” stumbles in the last third when about 25 cops suddenly show up as a search party team, but then are nowhere to be found during some crucial scenes. “Wild Men” never realistically explains why only three cops (Øyvind, Eigil and Tore) are doing the most of the chasing when more police officers are available. In other words, it’s a low-budget movie that couldn’t afford a larger number of cast members with speaking roles.

Musa eventually opens up to Martin about being an absentee father. Musa’s ex-girlfriend won’t let Musa see their son, who is almost 2 years old. Martin essentially wants to abandon his wife and children. The movie doesn’t glorify these irresponsible fathers but shows what happens when parents who are broken inside can’t really think of anyone else beyond their own immediate needs and emotional problems.

All of the cast members skillfully balance the comedy and drama of “Wild Men.” However, nothing about this movie is truly outstanding, and the story could have used more suspense. As soon as Martin stitches up Musa’s leg wound when they first meet, you just know how “Wild Men” will show the rest of their friendship. The movie is a lot like Martin and Musa: flawed, eccentrically engaging, and with a lot of room for improvement.

Samuel Goldwyn Films released “Wild Men” in select U.S. cinemas on June 17, 2022. The movie was released on digital and VOD on August 5, 2022. “Wild Men” was released in Italy in 2021.

Review: ‘Lighting Up the Stars,’ starring Zhu Yilong, Yang Enyou, Wang Ge and Luo Jingmin

August 14, 2022

by Carla Hay

Zhu Yilong and Yang Enyou in “Lighting Up the Stars” (Photo courtesy of China Lion Film Distribution)

“Lighting Up the Stars”

Directed by Liu Jiangjiang

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2019, in Wuhan, China, the comedy/drama film “Lighting Up the Stars” features an all-Chinese cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A bachelor ex-convict, who has taken over his family’s mortuary/funeral business, has his life turned upside down when he ends up taking care of an orphaned girl. 

Culture Audience: “Lighting Up the Stars” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in well-acted movies that skillfully blend drama and comedy in telling stories about families and unexpected changes in life.

Zhu Yilong and Luo Jingmin in “Lighting Up the Stars” (Photo courtesy of China Lion Film Distribution)

“Lighting Up the Stars” is a charming comedy/drama about the complications of love, getting second chances in life, and coping with loss. This gem of a movie presents a memorable story about an ex-con who becomes a father figure to an orphaned girl. It’s the type of subject matter that could have easily been mishandled by being too melodramatic or by being a silly slapstick comedy. However, “Lighting Up the Stars” depicts life’s ups and downs with a realistic balance, while the movie’s talented cast members bring emotional authenticity that’s highly commendable.

Written and directed by Liu Jiangjiang, “Lighting Up the Stars” takes place in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, at the beginning of the COVID-19 virus infections, when the city had not yet been placed under the lockdown that occurred in January 2020. Two very different strangers will soon find themselves in each other’s lives and will never be the same again. These two people are the movie’s central characters.

The movie’s first central character is an ex-convict named Mo Sanmei (played by Zhu Yilong), nicknamed San, a never-married bachelor in his 30s. San has recently gotten out of prison for assaulting the lover of his ex-girlfriend, who cheated on San with this lover. San’s widowed father (played by Luo Jingmin), who goes by the name Old Mo in the movie, thinks San is a disappointment to the family, which also includes San’s younger sister Mo Dajie (played by Zheng Weili). However, Old Mo is about to retire from owning and operating a mortuary/funeral business, and he wants San to take over this small business, which is literally a funeral home, since it’s where San lives after he gets out of prison.

The movie’s second central character is a precocious 4-year-old girl named Wu Xiaowen (played by Yang Enyou), who has been raised by her grandmother. Xiaowen doesn’t know if her biological parents are dead or alive. All she knows is that her parents are not in her life, and her grandmother is the only parental figure whom Xiaowen has had so far. In the beginning of the movie, Xiaowen tragically finds her grandmother deceased in the grandmother’s bed.

San and Xiaowen cross paths at the funeral for Xiaowen’s grandmother because the Mo family morturary/funeral business has been hired for the grandmother’s cremation and funeral. Xiaowen’s uncle (played by Chen Chuang) and his wife have taken temporary custody of Xiaowen. However, these spouses don’t really want permanent custody because they’ve been having marital problems, and they’re not prepared to take care of any children.

Shortly after the funeral, Xiaowen’s uncle and aunt stop by the Mo family’s funeral home and quickly tell San that they need him to look after Xiaowen for a few days. San says he’s not operating an orphanage (something he will say multiple times in the movie), but Xiaowen’s aunt and uncle don’t give him any time to turn down their request. The spouses leave Xiawoen, hand over some cash to San, and then exit in a hurry.

During the first day and night that San has to take care of Xiaowen, she meets his two employees, who are also San’s closest friends: cheerful and kind Wang Jianren (played by Wang Ge) and his practical-minded girlfriend Yin Baixue (played by Liu Lu), whose romantic relationship becomes more serious as the story continues. Jianren also lives at the funeral home. While the four of them are spending time together, San finds out that Xiaowen loves to play Mahjong, has a talent for drawing art, and that Xiaowen had a very close and loving relationship with her protective grandmother.

But the first night for Xiaowen at this funeral home gets awkward. In the cramped bedroom, there’s a bunk bed where San is sleeping on the bottom, while Xiaowen is sleeping on the top. He’s woken up by something dripping on his face. It’s Xiaowen urinating in her bed. San is immediately irritated because he thinks that this kid isn’t potty-trained. It turns out that Xiaowen is potty-trained, but she explains that she was afraid to use the toilet in the nearby bathroom because she thinks a statue placed in front of the bathroom is scary-looking.

Xiaowen’s bodily functions are used in another comedic scene, but these bodily function scenes are not exploitative. The scenes are a little crude, but the purpose is to poke fun at the adult characters who are not very prepared to care of a very young child. The only viewers who might be offended by these bodily function scenes are people who don’t want movies to ever acknowledge that human bodily functions exist for urination and defecation.

Xiaowen has not been given a proper explanation about her grandmother’s death. She thinks San is holding her grandmother captive in a funeral casket. And so, for a good deal of the movie, Xiaowen demands that San give her grandmother back to her. San has no patience or experience in taking care of children, so he gets annoyed and frustrated with Xiaowen, whom he sometimes calls a “little devil” who was sent to torture him.

Eventually, San abruptly tells Xiaowen the truth about her grandmother’s death after he gets tired of her accusing him of kidnapping the grandmother. (This conversation is already shown in one of the trailers for “Lighting Up the Stars.”) San and Xiaowen are outside, and he shows her the chimney of the Mo family crematorium. He then angrily tells Xiaowen that her grandmother was burned up, her body turned into “ash and smoke, drifted up into the sky, and disappeared.”

Xiaowen is understandably devastated by the news, especially since San told her in such a harsh way. But it’s a turning point in the relationship, because Xiaowen doesn’t want to live with her quarelling aunt and uncle. Xiaowen is given the choice to live with her aunt and uncle, or to live with San. She chooses to stay with San, whom she eventually begins to think of as a father figure. None of this is spoiler information, because these plot developments are already revealed in the trailers for “Lighting Up the Stars.”

The movie gets a tad predictable in showing how San eventually grows emotionally attached to Xiaowen. However, what’s less predictable and more realistic about “Lighting Up the Stars” is that the presence of an innocent child like Xiaowen doesn’t automatically erase San’s personal demons. He’s a very troubled person with a violent temper and a lot of emotional baggage.

For example, near the beginning of the movie, one of the first things that San does when he gets out of prison is make an unannounced and uninvited visit to his ex-girlfriend Hai Fei (played by Li Chun’ai), who was in the love triangle that resulted in San assaulting her lover, whose name is Laoliu. San is still very angry and bitter over the breakup with Fei, and he gets aggressive with her (he yells at her and pushes her) when he goes to her home.

Fei is still in a relationship with the Laoliu, who is in the home and sees San assaulting Fei. Laoliu and San then get into a physical fight, which results in Laoliu beating up San, who then leaves the home in humiliated defeat. Fei and Laoliu decide not to have San arrested. They just want him out of their lives. San still struggles with his heartbreak over losing Fei, and this grief comes out when he verbally lashes out at the people who are closest to him.

San also has a love/hate relationship with his father Old Mo. When San was a child, he had an older brother who died tragically. (The details of this death are revealed in the movie.) San feels as if Old Mo still loves the deceased brother more than Old Mo loves San. The movie hints that San’s inferiority complex partially explains why San became a troublemaker later in life, because he felt that he was going to be a disappointment to his family anyway.

San also has mixed feelings about taking over the family’s mortuary/funeral business. In the beginning of the movie, San plans to immediately sell the business. But because San is kind of a screw-up, something happens to the deed paperwork, so San reluctantly stays on to operate the business. Xiaowen ends up affecting San and the business in ways that he does not expect.

One of the best things about “Lighting Up the Stars” is that there isn’t a single scene that looks like a useless “throwaway” scene that was put in the movie just to fill up time. San and Xiaowen go on an emotional journey that is realistically fraught with discomfort, grief and irritation. But there’s also a tenderness to how their family relationship develops, as they both begin to understand that they are emotionally wounded people going through different kinds of emotional pain.

Zhu (as San) and Yang (as Xiaowen) absolutely shine in these roles, which are the heart and soul of “Lighting Up the Stars.” Zhu gives an admirable performance of a hardened ex-con who evolves into someone who finds out that he’s capable of having the type of parental love that he didn’t think he was capable of having. There’s also a subplot with San and his father that is very well-written and acted in a poignant way.

Yang, who is very talented at facial expressions, is an utter delight to watch, since she is the very definition of a “scene stealer.” Only people with the hardest of hearts won’t be charmed by her performance. Xiaowen can sometimes be bratty, but she’s also very smart, loving, and emotionally intelligent. And it’s not in an “only in a movie” way, but in a way where the Xiaowen character is convincing as someone with a fully formed personality.

“Lighting Up the Stars” has several twists and turns (some more unexpected than others) that will hold viewers’ interest for the entire story. The movie also has character details that are noticeable, but the movie doesn’t hit viewers over the head to notice these details. For example, when San and his father sit down, they both have a habit of bending one of their legs to prop up on the seat where they’re sitting. It’s a quirk that Xiaowen notices too, and it’s shown in a touching way at the end of the movie.

Overall, “Lighting Up the Stars” is a rare movie that is a well-made, live-action family film that can appeal to people from a wide variety of age groups and cultures—without being corny, preachy or unrealistic. The tearjerking scenes and the comedic scenes look natural, not manipulative. And the stellar performances by the cast members (especially Zhu and Yang) give “Lighting Up the Stars” an impressive resonance that will stay with viewers long after the movie ends.

China Lion Film Distribution released “Lighting Up the Stars” in select U.S. cinemas on August 5, 2022. The movie was released in China on June 24, 2022.

Review: ‘Laal Singh Chaddha,’ starring Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan

August 13, 2022

by Carla Hay

Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan in “Laal Singh Chaddha” (Photo courtesy of Viacom18 Studios)

“Laal Singh Chaddha”

Directed by Advait Chandany

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in various cities in India, the dramatic film “Laal Singh Chaddha” (a remake of the Oscar-winning 1994 film “Forrest Gump”) features an all-Indian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: While in a train car filled with strangers, a simple-minded man tells them his life story of heartaches and triumphs. 

Culture Audience: “Laal Singh Chaddha” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the “Forrest Gump” movie and epic stories about underestimated people.

Aamir Khan (pictured standing, at right) in “Laal Singh Chaddha” (Photo courtesy of Viacom18 Studios)

It’s hard to go wrong with doing a faithful remake of the Oscar-winning 1994 drama “Forrest Gump,” which starred Tom Hanks in the title role as a lovable, simple-minded American with a generous spirit, unbreakable resilience, and extreme ups and downs in his life. However, “Laal Singh Chaddha,” the Indian version of “Forrest Gump,” is an underwhelming remake that has no real surprises, doesn’t take any creative risks, and drags on for far too long. The movie is a plodding 159 minutes but feels like longer. In comparison, “Forrest Gump” was 142 minutes, and the movie’s editing made better use of every single one of those minutes.

If viewers expect to get hokey and sentimental drama, then “Laal Singh Chaddha” delivers more than enough. But some of the film editing is so sloppy, parts of the movie abruptly shift to the next part of the story without much explanation. People who are unfamiliar with the “Forrest Gump” movie (directed by Robert Zemeckis) or Winston Groom’s 1986 “Forrest Gump” novel will probably be more charmed by “Laal Singh Chaddha” than people who know all about the “Forrest Gump” movie or book and will easily spot the areas where “Laal Singh Chaddha” is an inferior retelling of the “Forrest Gump” story.

Directed by Advait Chandan and written by Atul Kulkarni, “Laal Singh Chaddha” is such a trite imitation of the story and structure of the “Forrest Gump” movie (with a few minor changes), people familiar with the “Forrest Gump” will be waiting to see in “Laal Singh Chaddha” who will be the Indian version of Jenny Curran (Forrest Gump’s longtime love interest) and Forrest Gump’s Army buddies Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue and Lieutenant Dan Taylor. It can be quite a distraction, when at a certain point in “Laal Singh Chaddha,” you’ve figured out that it’s so much like “Forrest Gump,” you already know what’s going to happen and how the movie is going to end.

For anyone who needs an idea of how massive the “Forrest Gump” movie was, it grossed more than $678 million in ticket sales worldwide, which would be about $1.6 billion in 2022 money. “Forrest Gump” won six Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Hanks), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Visual Effects. The movie also spawned the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurants, which still exist. “Laal Singh Chaddha” might not get any accolades for originality, but the movie missed a lot of opportunities to be a milestone for Indian culture and Indian cinema.

Just like in “Forrest Gump,” a floating feather is used in “Laal Singh Chaddha” as a whimsical and cutesy sign to show there’s something quite magical about the titular protagonist’s life. He’s so saintly (except for when he gets violent to physically defend his soulmate), Laal Singh Chaddha (just like Forrest Gump) really is too good to be true. That might have been more acceptable for movie audiences in the 1990s, but not now. Anyone who could not stomach the schmaltz that “Forrest Gump” sometimes overloaded on viewers should not watch “Laal Singh Chaddha,” which pours on the tearjerking moments in bombastic ways that seem overly manipulative.

There’s also the issue of a non-disabled actor portraying a disabled person on screen. If not done in a convincing manner, it can verge on being an unflattering caricature. Aamir Khan’s portrayal of the adult Laal Singh Chaddha is not too offensive, but his wide-eyed reactions and constant grunting are absolutely irritating after a while. The movie could have made Laal more believable if it made him less of a parody of Forrest Gump and more like a relatable human being. Ahmad Ibn Umar, who plays Laal as a child, does a much better job than Khan at portraying a disabled person in more naturalistic way, but the childhood Laal is only in the first third of the movie.

At the beginning of the movie, Laal Singh Chaddha is a middle-aged passenger on a train, and he is eager to talk to anyone who will listen to him tell his life story. (In “Forrest Gump,” the title character’s storytelling takes place at a bus stop.) Laal strikes up a conversation with a woman who’s sitting directly across from him at his table in the train car. She seems more interested in looking at her phone and won’t take the hint that she’s not really interested in talking to him.

Laal keeps talking anyway. First, he compliments her on her shoes. And then, he wants to tell her why the shoes he’s wearing are dirty and worn-down. At this point, Laal launches into telling his life story, whether she wants to hear it or not. The woman becomes intrigued. And over time, more people in the train gather around him to hear Laal’s story.

“Laal Singh Chaddha” flashes back to 1983, to show Laal’s childhood, when he was about 8 or 9 years old. Just like in “Forrest Gump,” the protagonist is a “mama’s boy” raised by a loving and strong-willed single mother who has no first name in the movie. His father abandoned the family when he was a baby. This protagonist had to use leg braces as a child, had a low-testing IQ, and was discriminated against because of these disabilities. In “Laal Singh Chaddha,” Laal’s hometown is Karauli, India.

Laal’s determined mother (played by Mona Singh) begged the headmaster of a local primary school to let Laal be enrolled in the school. At first, the headmaster rejected her request and said that Laal belonged in a school for kids with disabilities. The headmaster agreed to the mother’s request after Laal’s mother offered to be the headmaster’s housecleaner in exchange for Laal’s enrollment in this school. It’s a more dignified way that the problem was solved, compared to how it was handled in “Forrest Gump,” where the desperate mother had sex with the headmaster/school principal in order to get Forrest enrolled in the school.

But life for Laal wasn’t easy at this school, where a group of boys mercilessly bullied him with violence and insults. One bright spot for Laal in school was a classmate named Rupa D’souza, who was the only student at the school to befriend Laal. Rupa and Laal became immediate best friends and spent as much time together as possible.

During one of these bullying incidents, when Laal was running away from his attackers, he ran so fast that his leg braces fell off, and he never had to use leg braces again. Laal’s talents for fast running and endurance running are major parts of the story when he’s an adult. And once again, if you saw “Forrest Gump,” you’ll know exactly what will happen in “Laal Singh Chaddha,” when it comes to the protagonist’s running.

Rupa could relate to Laal being in emotional pain, since her father was a violent alcoholic who physically and emotionally abused Rupa’s mother. Growing up with domestic violence affected Rupa’s self-esteem and probably led to her having dysfunctional relationships with men, ever since she became old enough to start dating. Rupa is also very insecure about growing up poor and vows never to be poor again. She tells Laal that her life goal is to become a rich and famous actress.

During the time that Rupa (played by Kareena Kapoor Khan, no relation to Aamir Khan) and Laal were teenagers, Laal developed romantic feelings for Rupa, but the romantic feelings were not mutual. Rupa puts Laal firmly in the “friend zone.” Laal becomes very protective of Rupa and envious of some of the suitors whom Rupa ends up dating. Expect to see Laal get in physical fights with a few of Rupa’s boyfriends because he thinks these boyfriends are mistreating or disrespecting Rupa.

Rupa and Laal attended the same university in Delhi. And what a coincidence: The same bullies from his primary school are also Laal’s classmates at the same university. These troublemakers attempt to harass Laal again, but Laal is now much wiser and more confident than he was as a child. He fights back, and evenutally the bullies back off and stop bothering Laal.

After being university students together, Laal and Rupa went their separate ways when Rupa moved away to pursue her acting career, and Laal joined the Indian Army. Laal can’t let go of Rupa from his romantic thoughts—so much so, he doesn’t date anyone else and spends all of his 20s and most of 30s being a virgin. It’s supposed to make Laal look more “innocent,” but it just makes him look obsessive that he’s fixated on Rupa as the only person he could possibly love in a romantic way.

While he’s in the Army, Laal ends up befriending two fellow soldiers who will change his life: optimistic Balaraju “Bala” Bodi (played by Naga Chaitanya) and cynical Mohammed Baaji (played by Manav Vij), who meets Laal after Mohammed has lost his legs during war combat. Bala is this movie’s version of Bubba in “Forrest Gump.” Bala is a happily married father whose family owns an undergarment business.

Bala considers himself to be an expert on men’s undergarments. And so, Bala eventually gets Laal to help him sell undergarments to fellow soldiers while they’re in the Army. The perpetually kind Laal becomes a super-prolific sewer, who makes all the garments, while Bala is the business wheeler dealer. The movie unrealistically makes Laal look like he has a lot of time to sew undergarments while he’s in the Army.

In “Laal Singh Chaddha,” selling undergarments becomes a business partnership for the protagonist and one of his Army friends. In “Forrest Gump,” the two Army buddiies team up to sell shrimp after they’re honorably discharged from the Army. After getting out of the Army, Laal becomes a one-man sewing factory for Bala until a certain part of the movie when more garment workers need to be hired.

Laal having a phenomenal productivity rate as an undergarment maker isn’t the only thing that looks phony. Bala essentially takes advantage of Laal by allowing Laal to be overworked, which makes their friendship in the movie look less-than-sincere from Bala. It’s a quite different tone than the very believable and pure friendship of Forrest and Bubba in “Forrest Gump.” If you saw “Forrest Gump,” then you will already know what will happen to Bala, Laal and their business partnership.

Mohammed is the Lieutenant Dan of “Laal Singh Chaddha.” His storyline plays out in the same way as Lieutenant Dan’s storyline in “Forrest Gump.” And so does Laal’s on-again/off-again relationship with Rupa. She gets sexually involved with a criminal overlord named Abbis Bhan, who is cruel and abusive to Rupa. She stays in this toxic relationship out of fear and because Abbis keeps promising to make her a Bollywood star. And you can easily guess who comes to Rupa’s rescue when things get dangerous.

There’s a part of “Forrest Gump” where people yell, “Run, Forrest, run!” because of his marathon activities. And it becomes an international catchphrase. That happens to Laal too in “Laal Singh Chaddha,” when people yell, “Run, Laal, run!” when he becomes a celebrity marathoner. The famous “Forrest Gump” line “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get” is reworked in “Laal Singh Chaddha” to this bland statement: “Life is like golgappas. You may have a tummyful, but your heart craves more.”

Except for the locations in India, golgappa references and the requisite musical numbers, there’s very little that “Laal Singh Chaddha” does to bring some Indian cinematic flair to this story. It’s obvious that enough money was spent to make “Laal Singh Chaddha” have professional-looking cinematography, production design and costume design befitting an epic saga. But somehow, the “Laal Singh Chaddha” filmmakers forgot that truly successful remakes are well-received by audiences when the remakes bring some very unique and innovative changes without losing the essence of what the story is trying to say.

“Laal Singh Chaddha” also has a very big, unexplained plot hole. It’s no secret that part of the movie’s plot is that Laal becomes very famous. But in this Internet age, no one on the train seems to recognize Laal until he starts telling his story. And even then, they act like they’re hearing his life story for the first time. It’s hard to believe all these people on the train are that unaware of Laal’s life, considering how famous Laal has become. By contrast, most of the story in “Forrest Gump” takes place long before the Internet existed and when it was much easier for famous people to travel incognito.

Speaking of Indian celebrities, entertainer Shah Rukh Khan has a cameo portraying himself as someone was inspired to learn certain dance, based on meeting Laal as a child and being amused by Laal’s awkward dancing. It’s borderline mocking of the disabled but doesn’t quite cross the line into insulting territory. Forrest Gump’s encounters with famous people were supposed to be comedic aspects of the movies, but the “Laal Sing Chaddha” movie’s attempts to do the same for Laal just end up fizzling and aren’t very amusing at all.

And to put it bluntly: The acting in “Laal Singh Chaddha” just isn’t as good as the acting is in “Forrest Gump.” As Rupa, Kareena Kapoor Khan just doesn’t have the type of emotional depth to the adult Rupa as Robin Wright did in portraying the “lost soul” Jenny character in “Forrest Gump.” Vij’s portrayal of Mohammed is not as compelling Gary Sinise’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of Lieutenant Dan.

Worst of all: Aamir Khan’s constant mugging for the camera is too blatant in trying to get viewers to feel a certain way, instead of doing a performance that looks natural and effortless. All of the tragedies in Laal’s life are depicted with soap-opera-level acting. And when a “Forrest Gump” remake has the lead actor trying too hard to look sympathetic, it looks very fake and doesn’t do the original classic movie any justice.

Viacom18 Studios released “Laal Singh Chaddha” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on August 11, 2022.

India

Review: ‘Emily the Criminal,’ starring Aubrey Plaza

August 11, 2022

by Carla Hay

Aubrey Plaza in “Emily the Criminal” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment)

“Emily the Criminal”

Directed by John Patton Ford

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Los Angeles and Mexico, the dramatic film “Emily the Criminal” features a racially diverse cast of characters (Latin, white, Asian and a few African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A woman, who works at a low-paying job for a food delivery company and is heavily in debt, turns to a secret life of crime to pay off her debts. 

Culture Audience: “Emily the Criminal” will appeal primarily to people are are fans of star Aubrey Plaza and well-acted movies about desperate people who do desperate things.

Aubrey Plaza and Theo Rossi in “Emily the Criminal” (Photo courtesy of Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment)

More than being typical crime caper, “Emily the Criminal” is also a scathing portrayal of getting trapped in gig economy work and student loan debt. Aubrey Plaza gives an intense and memorable performance in this suspense-filled drama that might leave some viewers divided about how the movie ends. “Emily the Criminal” doesn’t pass judgment on the people involved in the criminal activities that are depicted in the movie. Instead, “Emily the Criminal” puts a spotlight on why some people commit these desperate acts in the first place.

Written and directed by John Patton Ford, “Emily the Criminal” is Ford’s first feature film, and the movie had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The movie’s protagonist and namesake is Emily Benetto (played by Plaza), who is in almost every scene in the movie. Emily, who is in her 30s, lives in Los Angeles and is a bachelorette with no children. “Emily the Criminal” opens with a scene of Emily being interviewed for a job in an office at an unnamed medical company. Within the first minute, it’s obvious that things aren’t going well for Emily in the interview.

The interviewer (a man who is not seen on camera) informs Emily that a full background check was done on her before the interview. Emily admits that she has a DUI (driving under the influence) arrest on her record. She says the DUI was a mistake on her part, and the incident happened when she drove a drunk friend home from a concert. The interviewer then mentions that the background check also revealed that Emily was convicted in 2016 of assault, which she does not deny either.

The interviewer then tells Emily in a very condescending manner: “This is a very important job. You’d be handling important medical files.” At this point, Emily knows she’s not getting hired at this place. She snaps at the interviewer: “Fuck you! I don’t want this job!” And then she quickly leaves the office in a huff.

Why is Emily looking for a job? She has student loan debt totaling about $70,000. And she currently works as a delivery person for a company that’s similar to Uber Eats or DoorDash. It’s the type of job where the delivery employees are considered independent contractors, and are therefore not entitled to full-time staff benefits, such as health insurance or a retirement plan, even if they work at least 40 hours a week.

It’s also an example of “gig economy” work, which is the term for any work that relies heavily on independent contractors or freelancers. Worker turnover is high in these types of jobs, because the salaries are usually low, the jobs are short-term, and the workers have to pay for certain job-related expenses that would be covered by the company if the workers were full-time staff employees. Gig economy workers are almost never represented by unions.

Emily is barely making enough money to pay her other bills that are not related to her student loan debt. She currently lives with two roommates, who stay out of Emily’s personal life, and she stays out of theirs. It’s revealed later in the movie that Emily went to a prestigious liberal arts university and majored in art (her specialty is painting portraits), but she hasn’t able to find any work as an artist. Emily feels bitter and hopeless about her situation.

One day, a co-worker named Javier Santos (played by Bernardo Badillo) asks Emily on short notice to cover a delivery shift for him. It’s a work shift that Emily is reluctant to take because it’s in downtown Los Angeles at night, which can be unsafe. But she needs the money, so she takes the shift.

Javier is aware that Emily is having financial problems because he says that he can hook her up for a “dummy shopper” job that would pay her $200. He gives her a phone number to text for more information. An anonymous person replies that she can make $200 an hour for this job and gives her an address to go to the next morning if she wants more details.

The night before she goes to this mystery job, Emily goes to a bar to hang out with her talkative and extroverted friend Liz (played by Megalyn Echikunwoke), who works as a photo editor at a fashion magazine. Liz and Emily know each other because they went to the same high school in their hometown of Newark, New Jersey. Emily is embarrassed that her art career is going nowhere, while Liz is thriving in her chosen profession.

Emily swallows her pride and tells Liz that she desperately needs a job, and if she can’t find one, she’ll probably have to move back to New Jersey to live with her stepfather. There’s some unspoken history in this conversation implying that Emily doesn’t like her stepfather, and moving back in with him would be a very unwelcome last resort for Emily, who is an only child. Emily’s mother is apparently deceased.

Liz is sympathetic to Emily’s plight and tells her that she will inquire about any openings at Liz’s place of work and recommend Emily for any job that fits Emily’s qualifications. Liz is confident that something will work out because Liz says that her boss Alice (played by Gina Gershon) admires Liz. Emily and Liz then do cocaine in the bar’s restroom and enjoy the rest of their time in the bar. Later in the movie, Liz helps set up a job interview for Emily at the place where Liz works. It leads to one of the best scenes in the movie in showing how Emily reacts when things don’t sit well with her.

Emily might be desperate, but she’s no pushover, and she hates it when people try to take advantage of her. Her assault record indicates that she will get into physical conflicts. The details of why she was arrested for assault are left purposely vague in the movie, which keeps people guessing on how much of a “bad girl” Emily is willing to be to get what she wants.

Out of curiosity and with nothing to lose, Emily goes to the address of the mystery job. It’s at a warehouse-styled building, where she is immediately asked to hand over her driver’s license. The license is then photocopied and given back to her. She is then sent to a room, where there are about 20 other people gathered.

The leader of this group interview is named Youcef (played by Theo Rossi), who tells all of these job applicants up front that the job they would be expected to do is illegal. He says that if anyone has a problem with doing something illegal, they should leave immediately. Some people leave, but Emily decides to stay and hear more.

Youcef then explains that the job is to take stolen credit card information that’s on forged credit cards, go to stores to purchase big-screen TVs with these forged credit cards, and then hand over the TVs to the people working for his shady operation at a pre-determined drop-off location. The workers (who are responsible for whatever cars they use in these thefts) are told that they have to leave the store in eight minutes or less after making the purchase, which is the approximate time needed before the store finds out that the credit card is fraudulent. The pay is $200 a hour for this job. A worker cannot go to the same store twice.

It’s already revealed in the movie’s title and in the movie’s trailer that Emily ends up working for this criminal operation. Emily soon finds out that during the time that this orientation meeting was taking place with the potential workers, her driver’s license photo that was copied when she arrived was turned into a fake photo ID with someone else’s name on it. It’s the photo ID that she uses to get the TVs with the fraudulent credit cards. Later, Emily finds out that she can make $2,000 a day from this operation if she gets involved in actually forging credit cards by using the necessary equipment.

At first, Emily thinks it’s just an easy way to make money, but what she ends up going through is intense and harrowing. Complicating matters, Emily and Youcef have a growing attraction to each other. It’s a relationship where their loyalty to each other will be tested. In this operation, Youcef reports to his cousin Khalil (played by Jonathan Avigdori), who is a ruthless thug who doesn’t hesitate to get violent.

One of the most accurate things about “Emily the Criminal” is how it shows that committing crimes can be addicting for criminals. Many thieves say that it’s often not about the money but the adrenaline rush of committing a crime and getting away with it. Emily’s criminal record is a sign that she’s no stranger to getting in trouble with the law. However, viewers will get the sense that her involvement in this group of thieves has a lot to do with getting back at a system that punishes her for having a criminal record when she’s trying to find honest work.

“Emily the Criminal” is gripping not just because of the story but also because of Plaza’s fascinating performance. There’s nothing trite or stereotypical about it. Emily is not a hero, but Plaza gives a nuanced performance indicating that not everything about Emily is a villain either. From Emily’s perspective, life is not completely black and white. She’s someone who prefers to think of life of being in shades of grey.

Some viewers might not like how the movie doesn’t reveal too much about Emily’s background to explain why she makes the decisions that she does. However, it’s ultimately a wise choice to keep her background vague, because the point of the movie is to explain who Emily is now (not who she was in the past), and that she made these decisions of her own free will and under terrible financial strain. Her life of crime is not something that can be blamed on a bad childhood or someone in her life who led her astray. On a wider level, the lack of background information about Emily is the movie’s way of saying that the circumstances that led to her choosing this life of crime could happen to a lot of people of any background who find themselves in dire financial situations.

“Emily the Criminal” is not a perfect movie, since the last third of the film seems to cram in a lot of problems for Emily in a way that looks a bit too contrived. However, writer/director Ford has a knack for intriguing storytelling, and he made very good casting decisions with this movie. “Emily the Criminal” does not make Emily’s choices look glamorous, but it is an effective story in showing how this unhappy and restless person has to come to terms with who she really is and what type of life she really wants to have.

Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment will release “Emily the Criminal” in select U.S. cinemas on August 12, 2022. The movie is available to rent on DirecTV, as of August 30, 2022. DirecTV has exclusive rental rights for a limited time.

Review: ‘Shabaash Mithu,’ starring Taapsee Pannu

August 8, 2022

by Carla Hay

Taapsee Pannu in “Shabaash Mithu” (Photo courtesy of Viacom18 Studios)

“Shabaash Mithu”

Directed by Srijit Mukherji

Hindi with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in India and other parts of the world, from 1990 to 2017, the dramatic film “Shabaash Mithu” features a predominantly Indian cast of characters (with a few white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy, in this biopic of cricket star Mithali Raj.

Culture Clash: Mithali Raj faces sexism and other obstacles in her quest to become a professional cricket player. 

Culture Audience: “Shabaash Mithu” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Mithali Raj and movie star Taapsee Pannu, but even those fans might be disappointed at the heavy-handed way that this true story is told.

Taapsee Pannu (standing in center) in “Shabaash Mithu” (Photo courtesy of Viacom18 Studios)

It’s rare to have theatrically released biopics about Indian women who are sports pioneers, so it’s a shame that “Shabaash Mithu” terribly bungles the true story of cricket star Mithali Raj. The film is bloated and sappy, with bad acting and sloppy editing. And, at an overly long 156 minutes, “Shabaash Mithu” will test the patience of anyone expecting to see an inspirational story told in an engaging way.

Directed by Srijit Mukherji and written by Priya Aven, “Shabaash Mithu” takes place from 1990 to 2017. The movie drags on for so long, viewers will feel like they’ve aged along with the characters in the movie. One of the biggest flaws in “Shabaash Mithu” is that it takes too long in showing Raj’s childhood and repeating how she was underestimated as a cricket player (even by her family), simply because she was a girl. (“Shabaash Mithu” translates to “well done, sweet” in Gujarati.)

“Shabaash Mithu” opens in 1990, with a confusing creative choice by not showing Mithali but showing the girl who would become her best friend: Noorie (played by Kasturi Jagnam), who’s 8 years old in 1990, and who is the same age as Mithali. The movie’s opening scene is of Noorie playing soccer with some neighborhood boys. Her mother then lectures Noorie to look and act more like a girl.

Viewers then see that Noorie has a best friend named Mithali Raj (played by Inayat Verma), nicknamed Mithu. Mithali’s brother Mithun Raj (played by Nishant Pradhan), who’s about 11 or 12 years old, plays cricket. And it isn’t long before Noorie and Mithali want to play cricket with the boys. The girls are predictably taunted and shunned by the boys for wanting to be part of these cricket games.

Noorie is very outspoken, sassy, and can give as much trouble as she gets. When one of the boys is rude to her, she calls him “fatso,” and then she gets into a brawl with him and some of the other boys. Mithali is more hesitant and reserved, but she also feels like she has just as much of a right as the boys have a right to learn how to play cricket. Mithali keeps her cricket playing a secret from her family, because she knows they think playing cricket should only be for boys and men.

Mithali and her brother live with their mother Leela Raj (played by Devadarshini), father Dorai Raj (played Sameer Dharmadhikari), and paternal grandmother. These family members think that Mithun is the going to be the one in the family who could become a sports star. They’re in for a shock when they’re visited by a cricket coach named Sampath (played by Vijay Raaz), who says that he’s been watching Mithali play cricket, and he’s interested in having Mithali (not Mithun) train at the Reyes Cricket Academy for children.

Older brother Mithun is jealous and a little embarrassed that he wasn’t chosen for this well-known academy. Mithali’s parents and grandmother are skeptical that Mithali has what it takes to be a cricket star. After quite a bit of pleading, Coach Sampath convinces the family members to let Mithali join the Reyes Cricket Academy, where Noorie has also been accepted as a student. At Noorie’s suggestion, Mithali eventually cuts off her long braids so that her hair won’t get in the way of her cricket playing.

This part of Mithali’s childhood should have been covered in 10 minutes or less in the movie, but it drags out with scenes that take up about 30 minutes of the film. The movie then fast-forwards to 1997, where Mithali (played by Taapsee Pannu) and Noorie (played by Anushree Kushwaha) are 15 years old and still being coached by Sampath at the Reyes Cricket Academy. Both girls plan to eventually become professional cricket players.

Noorie and Mithali are still the best of friends, but their friendship is changed forever when 15-year-old Noorie announces that she’s getting married because Noorie’s father has arranged for her to get married. Therefore, Noorie has to quit the academy and quit cricket completely. Mithali is devastated and feels abandoned by Noorie, who was the person who got Mithali interested in cricket in the first place.

Mithali then gets selected for a national cricket camp for the women’s national cricket team of India. And once again, her brother Mithun is jealous. At the Women’s Cricket Board, Mithali is immediately hazed and bullied by the other team members because she’s a shy newcomer. In one such incident, Mithali becomes a target for bullying just because she asked for pain medication for menstrual cramps.

Mithali often gets dejected and sometimes feels like giving up, but Sampath advises her not to quit and to use her emotional pain as her strength in cricket games. He also tells her that many of the other women on the team come from backgrounds of hardship and that they use these feelings of anger and bitterness in their energy for the games against the opponents. Viewers won’t learn much about cricket playing skills, unless you think it’s fascinating when Sampath utters this trite advice to Mitahli in a “mind over matter” pep talk: “The most important position in batting is in your head.”

People who know about the real Mithali’s life story might already know that Sampath won’t always be there for Mithali as her mentor. When Mitahli founds out that Sampath will no longer be in her life, the expected melodrama ensues. Mithali is able to eventually win over her teammates when she’s suddenly named team captain in a very phony-looking scene.

One of the biggest problems with “Shabaash Mithu” is how it keeps repeating scenarios, long after the point was made the first time this scenario was shown. In addition to the long stretches of the movie showing Mithali getting bullied by her teammates (before she gets their respect), “Shabaash Mithu” overloads on repetition in showing how the men’s national cricket team of India has more fame and fortune than the women’s national cricket team of India. It doesn’t help that the women’s team is on a losing streak until Mitahli becomes the team captain.

“Shabaash Mithu” has too many similar scenes of the women’s team being ignored and disrespected at airports and other public places, while members of the men team (who just happen to be nearby) are cheered and celebrated. Mithali and her team are so disrespected, Indian cricket officals decide that the women’s team will have to wear discarded uniforms that were formerly worn by the men’s team, with the men’s last names still on the back of the shirts. It’s at this point in the movie that you know the women’s team will collectively rip off those shirts in a show of defiance and female pride.

There’s a lot of heavy-handed footage of Mithali being a women’s rights crusader and doing things like marching into offices and demanding to be respected by an all-male team of decision makers. All of these scenes are so hokey, but the awful dialogue and hammy acting just make it all worse. And so much of the movie just drags on and on and on, because the editing is so horrible. “Shabaash Mithu” is a pile-on of corny clichés with no self-awareness of how dreadful everything is and how disrespectful it is to the real Mithali Raj, who surely was not this vapidly dull in real life.

And where does this leave all the cricket playing? In “Shabaash Mithu,” the games are choppily edited to the point where it’s obvious that the actors don’t have real cricket skills. It isn’t until the last third of the film, which shows the 2017 Women’s World Cup finals, where the energy picks up to where it should have been all along in showing these cricket matches. But by then, it’s too little, too late. A lot of people who have the endurance to watch this long-winded mess until the very end will have emotionally checked out by then.

Viacom18 Studios released “Shabaash Mithu” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on July 15, 2022.

Review: ‘The Silent Party,’ starring Jazmín Stuart, Gerardo Romano, Esteban Bigliardi, Lautaro Bettoni and Gaston Cocchiarale

August 7, 2022

by Carla Hay

Lautaro Bettoni, Gaston Cocchiarale, Jazmín Stuart and Hudson Gomes De Oliveira Santana in “The Silent Party” (Photo courtesy of Outsider Pictures)

“The Silent Party”

Directed by Diego Fried and Federico Finkielstain

Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Argentina, the dramatic film “The Silent Party” features an all-Latin cast of characters representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: On the evening before her wedding, a woman impulsively attends a silent disco party, where everyone is a stranger to her, and a heinous sexual assault leads to violent revenge.

Culture Audience: “The Silent Party” will appeal mainly to people who are interested in suspenseful movies that present provocative issues about victim blaming and getting justice in sexual assault crimes.

Esteban Bigliardi and Gerardo Romano in “The Silent Party” (Photo courtesy of Outsider Pictures)

Some viewers might not like how “The Silent Party” has an ending that is open to interpretation. However, this suspenseful drama adeptly shows how people can perceive the same crime in different ways. The way that viewers might feel about this crime often mirrors how people feel about victim blaming and victim shaming in sexual assaults. “The Silent Party” was made to make viewers uncomfortable and to get people to think about how not all rapes start off as a forceful act.

Directed by Diego Fried and Federico Finkielstain, “The Silent Party” takes place in an unnamed city in Argentina. Fried co-wrote the movie’s screenplay with Nicolas Gueilburt and Luz Orlando Brennan. Does it matter if an all-male team of directors and writers make a movie about a woman who gets raped? It depends. In the case of “The Silent Party,” the filmmakers handle the subject matter with raw realism that is not exploitation.

“The Silent Party” starts off looking like it will be a movie about an engaged couple who will be getting married the following day. Laura (played by Jazmín Stuart) and her Brazilian immigrant fiancé Daniel (played by Esteban Bigliardi), nicknamed Dani, have arrived at the Hidden Moon ranch property that Laura’s father has inherited from Laura’s paternal grandmother. Laura and Daniel’s wedding and reception will be held at the ranch.

Laura and Daniel are both in their early 40s, and the movie never states what they do for a living. Laura’s father is named Dr. Leon Grandi (played by Gerardo Romano), but it’s never mentioned what type of doctor he is. However, Leon is a doctor who appears to still be working because his receptionist calls him at one point in the movie. Laura’s mother is not seen or mentioned at all. It’s implied that Laura’s mother hasn’t been in this family’s life for many years.

Leon mentions that all of his friends and colleagues are coming to the wedding, which will be an outdoor ceremony with about 100 guests. Laura (who is an only child) has bought a simple white dress for the occasion. Daniel sees that only 10 tables have been set up for the reception. He wonders aloud if those tables will be enough to accommodate 100 people. Leon tells him not to worry about it. Daniel is also much more preoccupied than Laura with the guest list, such as who confirmed their RSVPs and who didn’t.

In fact, Leon and Daniel seem to be more in charge of the decision making for this wedding than Laura is in charge. Laura acts as if she has let other people take care of most of the wedding planning. Even the way that she treats her wedding dress (she casually tosses it on a bed) seems to be in a nonchalant manner. Is she even excited about getting married?

Laura and Daniel have arrived at the ranch the day before the wedding. Most brides would make sure to check on wedding details, such where the bridesmaids are, the status of the catering preparations, and how the decorations look. However, Laura doesn’t seem curious about this information.

These are clues that Laura might be having doubts about whether or not she should marry Daniel. Viewers never find out how long she and Daniel have been a couple or other details about their relationship because this 87-minute movie is all about what happens in the present. And for now, although Laura and Daniel are not having any major arguments with each other, there seems to be some underlying tension in their relationship. For example, they bicker a little bit because Daniel thinks that Laura is drinking too much alcohol, while Laura thinks Daniel is being too uptight.

Not long after Laura and Daniel have arrived at the ranch, Leon is in an open field shooting a 9 millimeter handgun for target practice. Laura is nearby, so Leon tries to get Laura to shoot the gun too. It makes her uncomfortable, so she refuses. It’s at this point in the movie that you know that you haven’t see the last of this gun.

In this scene, Laura also visibly cringes when Leon says that he hopes that Laura has a daughter who is just like Laura. Her displeased reaction is a sign that Laura has some resentment for Leon’s presumptions about Laura’s family planning decisions. He doesn’t seem to care what Laura wants when it comes to family planning. Viewers shouldn’t assume what Laura’s plans are either, because when or if Laura wants to be a parent is never mentioned in the movie. Although Leon appears to be a loving and protective father to Laura, he makes some other comments in other scenes that show he has very sexist beliefs on what women can and can’t do.

When Laura and Daniel get settled into their bedroom at the ranch, Laura makes some amorous moves on Daniel, but he seems too distracted and nervous to get intimate. Daniel explains that he doesn’t feel comfortable doing anything sexual while Laura’s father Leon might be in a nearby room. Laura looks hurt by this rejection, so she leaves the house to go for a walk in the woods that surround the ranch property. It will turn out to be a fateful decision.

During her walk at sunset, Laura sees a silent disco party happening in an open field. There are about 40 people at this party, which is attended mostly by people in their late teens to mid-20s. Laura doesn’t know anyone at this gathering. The party is hosted by a neighbor whose name is later revealed to be Maxi Navarro (played by Gastón Cocchiarale), who sees Laura hesitantly wandering around and is the first person to greet her. Maxi smiles and offers her a pair of headphones and a drink to join in on the party.

It’s unknown if the drink that Maxi gave to Laura was laced with any drugs. But it isn’t long before she’s definitely in the party spirit and appears to have lost her previous inhibitions, because she is dancing as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. As the party goes on, nightfall arrives, and Laura shows no signs that she wants to leave. Maxi and his friend Gabo (played by Lautaro Bettoni), whose real name is Gabriel, begin dancing with Laura, with Laura in the middle of the two men.

However, Laura is only attracted to Gabo, who has an athletic body and a handsome face. By contrast, Maxi has a chubby body and average-looking face. Laura and Gabo begin kissing each other passionately. And then, Laura and Gabo both go together to a more secluded area in the woods. Anyone watching them might assume that Laura and Gabo want privacy because they’re going to get more sexually intimate in a consensual encounter.

The next scene shows Laura going back to the party area alone, while she looks dazed and disheveled. She doesn’t speak to anyone as she leaves the party and walks back to the ranch. It’s obvious that something very wrong has happened. “The Silent Party” shows in flashbacks that Laura was raped. Who raped her and what happened after the rape won’t be revealed in this review.

However, it’s enough to say that Laura doesn’t stay silent about being sexually assaulted. And it leads to a series of events that exemplify how patriarchy, definitions of sexual consent, and what it means to “get justice” all play a role in decisions made by the characters who know about Laura’s rape. Maxi and Gabo have two friends from the party named Alex (played by Hudson Gomes De Oliveira Santana) and DJ (played by Diego Heck Dos Santos) who are among these characters.

The acting performances in “The Silent Party” get the job done well enough, considering that the movie’s characters don’t have a lot of background information. Early in the movie, before the scene where Laura ends up at the party, Leon tells Daniel a story about how when Laura was 13 years old, she was on a camping trip with Leon and four of her friends. Laura disappeared for a few hours. And just as Leon was about to report Laura missing, she was found.

When 13-year-old Laura was asked where she was during the period of time when people couldn’t find her, Laura said that she was somewhere “contemplating the river.” As an adult, Laura tells Daniel and Leon that she doesn’t remember this incident. It’s the movie’s way of saying that Laura blocks out certain childhood memories, and she has a history of wandering off for a few hours without telling people where she’s going, which is exactly the set of circumstances that led her to be at the party in the woods.

The standout characteristics of “The Silent Party” are how it builds tension and how it reveals the story in layers. The movie also looks authentic in showing the chaos that can ensue when people act out of blind rage or panic. Because the revenge part of the story unfolds in “real time,” viewers are taken on a fast-moving journey where the characters can’t or won’t take the time to really think about the consequences of their actions. The movie’s open-ended conclusion seems to deliberately hold up a proverbial mirror to viewers, in order to reflect people’s feelings on what they think should happen next in this brutal revenge story.

Outsider Pictures released “The Silent Party” on digital and VOD on July 12, 2022.

Review: ‘Both Sides of the Blade,’ starring Juliette Binoche, Vincent Lindon and Grégoire Colin

August 6, 2022

by Carla Hay

Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche in “Both Sides of the Blade” (Photo courtesy of Curiosa Films/IFC Films)

“Both Sides of the Blade”

Directed by Claire Denis 

French with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in the French cities of Paris, Vitry-sur-Seine, and Bayonne, the dramatic film “Both Sides of the Blade” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black and biracial people) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A woman and a man, who have been in a nine-year, live-in relationship, have their relationship tested when the woman starts to think about getting back together with her most recent ex-lover, who was her current lover’s best friend.

Culture Audience: “Both Sides of the Blade” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of star Juliette Binoche, filmmaker Claire Denis and well-acted movies that take their time exploring the intracacies of conflicted feelings about love triangles.

Grégoire Colin and Juliette Binoche in “Both Sides of the Blade” (Photo courtesy of Curiosa Films/IFC Films)

“Both Sides of the Blade” is so immersive with the stifling tedium of staying too long in a dead-end relationship, viewers might be bored by the movie’s slow pacing. The performances depicting a love triangle make this introspective drama worth watching. “Both Sides of the Blade” (formerly titled “Fire”) is not the movie to watch if people are expecting a lot of neatly resolved storylines or a movie where there are clearly defined “heroes” and “villains.” The movie doesn’t pass judgment on who’s “right” and who’s “wrong” in this love triangle, but instead presents what happens in an observational way.

Directed by Claire Denis, “Both Sides of the Blade” (which takes place in France) is based on Christine Angot’s 2019 novel “Un tournant de la Vie,” which means “a turning point in life” in French. Angot and Denis co-wrote the “Both Sides of the Blade” screenplay. “Both Sides of the Blade” had its world premiere at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival, where Denis won the Silver Bear prize for Best Director.

The story is essentially about a couple who got together because of infidelity and betrayal, and the woman in this couple starts to wonder if she made a mistake and should go back to her ex. The movie’s biggest strength can also be considered its biggest weakness: It realistically shows the back-and-forth indecision that some people have in love triangles about if, how or when they should end a relationship, in order to choose one person over another. Some viewers will be frustrated by this indecision seeming to drag throughout most the movie, while other viewers might be curious to keep watching to see what until the very end of the movie.

In “Both Sides of the Blade,” radio journalist Sara (played by Juliette Binoche) and sports agent Jean (played by Vincent Lindon) are a Paris-based couple who are in their late 50s to early 60s and who have been living together for the past nine years. The movie’s opening scene shows Sara and Jean frolicking together in a large body of water during what appears to be a romantic vacation. Jean and Sara later have sex. Everything looks like they are a loving couple in a healthy relationship.

But it isn’t long before the cracks in the relationship begin to show. And the trigger seems to be when Sara unexpectedly sees her ex-lover François (played by Grégoire Colin) on a street, but he does not see her. Sara seems so overcome with emotion after seeing François, when she’s at the radio station, she leans against a wall and whispers repeatedly, “François,” as if she’s pining for a long-lost lover.

When Sara is at home with Jean, she casually mentions to him that she saw François, just to see what Jean’s reaction will be. He doesn’t seem phased either way. Sara seems like she wants Jean to have more of an emotional reaction, or even some curiosity, at this news. She’s disappointed that this sighting of François doesn’t affect Jean as much as it’s affected her.

The story of this love triangle is revealed slowly in “Both Sides of the Blade,” with no flashbacks but with descriptions of the past that are discussed in conversations. When Sara met Jean, he was married to another woman who is now his ex-wife. Sara was living with François, who was Jean’s best friend and co-worker at the time. On the first or second occasion that Sara and Jean met, the three of them (Sara, François and Jean) went to a house party together.

Sara vividly remembers that at this party, Jean watched her and François dancing together. Jean was looking at a computer, but he was also noticing Sara and François. Sara was emotionally struck by how happy and contended Jean looked at that moment. And she felt a spark of attraction to Jean.

This trio left the party together by sharing a taxi. Rather than wait for the tax to drop off Sara and François at their place first, Jean decided that he was going to walk back to his house because his wife was waiting for him at home. The presumption is that Jean couldn’t wait to see her. Sara remembers feeling at that moment that Jean’s wife must be very lucky to have a spouse who’s so devoted to her.

At some point, Jean became attracted to Sara too, and this attraction turned into mutual love. Not too many details are given about the breakup of Jean’s marriage and the end of Sara’s relationship with François. But what is clear is that Sara and Jean left their respective partners to be with each other. And there was enough messiness and hard feelings that Jean’s unnamed ex-wife (who’s never seen in the movie) no longer speaks to him.

François has also been out of the lives of Sara and Jean for quite some time. Until now. And later, Jean has some bombshell news for Sara: François is starting his own sports agency, and he wants to bring on Jean as a partner. This news sends Sara on a path of inner turmoil and confusion that she tries to hide from Jean.

Her emotional agitation is also mixed with curiosity about how seeing François again on a regular basis will affect her life and if she can handle it. As far as Jean knows, his relationship with Sara is pretty good, although not as passionate was it was in the beginning. Over time, it becomes obvious that Sara feels differently from Jean: She thinks her relationship with Jean has hit a rut and that the relationship isn’t necessarily worth saving.

It’s not that Jean is mistreating her in any way. But perhaps Sara has been falling out of love with him and doesn’t quite know how to tell Jean. For Sara, seeing François again has made Sara think that maybe she made a mistake in leaving François for Jean. Her anxiety goes into overdrive when Jean makes the decision to start working with François. Sara knows that this work relationship will affect all three of their personal lives.

“Both Sides of the Blade” has a somewhat awkwardly placed subplot about Jean’s estranged relationship with his 15-year-old son Marcus (played by Issa Perica), who is in his second year of high school. Marcus lives with Jean’s mother Nelly (played by Bulle Ogier) in Vitry-sur-Seine, which is about five miles from Paris. Marcus’ mother currently lives in Martinique and is not really in contact with him, implying that she abandoned him.

Marcus is currently having problems because he’s been stealing money from Nelly, and he’s been getting into fights with other boys at school. Marcus is close to being expelled at school. Marcus tells Jean that he if he drops out of high school, he’ll probably will go to a trade school, because he has no plans for a university/college education. It’s unclear if his parents’ divorce caused Marcus to have any emotional problems, but his interactions with Jean are very strained. Marcus (who is biracial; his mother is black) claims that he’s being bullied at school because he’s not white, and he says the black kids and Arab kids at school get treated the worst.

Jean doesn’t show much empathy and makes a racist comment to Marcus by asking why black people and Arab people can’t think independently of their own skin color. (It’s very easy for anyone who benefits from white supremacy to have the attitude that Jean has.) Jean then lectures Marcus by saying that Marcus needs to be his own person. There seems to be no real point to this scene, except to show that although Jean might be very loving to Sara, he’s not a very good father to Marcus.

One of the movie’s flaws is that it doesn’t show or tell much about Sara’s life outside of her home and work. She apparently doesn’t have any close friends, and she doesn’t confide in anyone about her unresolved feelings for François. Mati Diop has a quick and thankless role as a pharmacist name Gabrielle, who seems to be an acquaintance of Sara’s.

There’s no real mention of Sara’s family. She seems to be completely uninterested in having any type of relationship with Marcus. And that’s not surprising, considering that Marcus probably blames her and Jean for the breakup of his parents’ marriage.

Even less is told about François, who is in the movie fleetingly, as Sara eventually ends up spending some private time with him. “Both Sides of the Blade” is told from Sara’s perspective the most. The movie seems to make François look mysterious and intriguing as a way of Sara trying to relive that heady feeling when someone want to start a romance but it’s unknown if the other person really wants the same thing.

Is Sara one of those people who likes the chase and then becomes bored after she gets what she wants? Binoche’s performance is fascinating because it will keep viewers guessing about her motives and whether or not she really thinks that being with François will make her happy. Lindon also gives a nuanced performance as Jean, but Jean’s story arc is ultimately more predictable than Sara’s.

“Both Sides of the Blade” is far from being a masterpiece. It will probably never be considered a classic film either, because so many other movies have covered similar “love triangle” stories in much better ways. But if you have an interest in movies where talented cast members skillfully portray people with messy love lives, then “Both Sides of the Blade” is a fairly solid option.

IFC Films released “Both Sides of the Blade” in select U.S. cinemas on July 8, 2022. The movie is set for release on digital and VOD on August 23, 2022.

Review: ‘One Week Friends’ (2022), starring Jinmai Zhao, Lin Yi, Shen Yue and Jiahui Wang

August 6, 2022

by Carla Hay

Jinmai Zhao, Lin Yi, Shen Yue and Jiahui Wang in “One Week Friends” (Photo courtesy of Tiger Pictures Entertainment)

“One Week Friends” (2022)

Directed by Gavin Lin 

Mandarin with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place 2011, in an unnamed city in China, the dramatic film “One Week Friends” has an all-Chinese cast of characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A new transfer student at a high school has difficulty making friends because she says that some of her memories disappear over the weekend.

Culture Audience: “One Week Friends” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the Japanese “One Week Friends” franchise on which this movie remake is based, as well as appeal to anyone who likes melodramatic and hokey movies about teenagers.

Jinmai Zhao and Lin Yi in “One Week Friends” (Photo courtesy of Tiger Pictures Entertainment)

Based on the “One Week Friends” franchise from Japan, this dramatic remake from China aims to be earnest, but ultimately drowns in its sappiness and over-acted sentimentality. In order for this movie to work well, it had to overcome the far-fetched premise of a teenage girl who has a mysterious amnesia that happens on weekends. Therefore, she forgets certain things that occurred earlier that week.

It’s a very flawed concept because her memory loss only applies to things pertaining to her social life, which would be a big clue to anyone that something’s not quite right with her claims of amnesia. And so, unless this movie is supposed to be science fiction (it’s not), the filmmakers have to find a way to make the story believable in a “real world” setting. Unfortunately, the filmmakers of this version of “One Week Friends” fall short in making the story credible in how characters in the movie easily accept her claims of amnesia.

Directed by Gavin Lin and written by Hermes Lu, “One Week Friends” (which takes place in 2011, in an unnamed city in China) is based on the “One Week Friends” franchise from Japan. The franchise began with Matcha Hazuki’s manga series (which was published from 2011 to 2015), and then it was made into director Shôsuke Murakami’s fairly well-received 2017 drama movie of the same name. The concept is the same in this 2022 remake from China, but the Chinese version of “One Week Friends” pours on the schmaltz and hokiness to an almost irritating degree.

In the 2022 Chinese remake of “One Week Friends,” Lin Xiangzhi (played by Jinmai Zhao) is a quiet and intelligent new transfer student at an unnamed high school. She and her classmates are 15 or 16 years old. Someone who notices her right away in class is “nice guy” Xu Youshu (played by Lin Yi), who feels infatuation at first sight when he sees Lin Xiangzhi.

Xu Youshu’s closest pals are classmates Jiang Wu (played by Jiahui Wang) and Song Xiaonan (played by Shen Yue), who are both more mischievous and extroverted than Xu Youshu. Jiang Wu is the type of guy who likes to play pranks. For example, on Lin Xiangzhi’s first day at this school, Jiang Wu playfully throws a medium-sized sports ball at her in class.

Song Xiaonan is outspoken and has a little bit of a “mean girl” side to her. At first, she feels threatened by Lin Xiangzhi because she thinks Lin Xiangzhi is much prettier and will get more attenton from the boys in school, particularly Jiang Wu. Song Xiao has a crush on Jiang Wu, so she misinterprets his ball-throwing prank as his way of showing Lin Xiangzhi that he’s attracted to Lin Xiangzhi. Therefore, Song Xiaonan isn’t very friendly and welcoming to Lin Xiangzhi during Lin Xiangzhi’s first day at school.

Song Xiaonan starts to be friendly to Lin Xiangzhi when she sees that not only is Lin Xiangzhi socially awkward, but also Jiang Wu and Lin Xiangzhi are not romantically interested in each other. However, Xu Youshu is interested in dating Lin Xiangzhi, and he makes it clear to her that he wants to get to know her better. His courtship gets off to an embarrassing start when he offers Lin Xiangzhi a bottle of orange juice and accidentally spills it on her.

Lin Xiangzhi isn’t just shy. She’s purposely anti-social. She repeatedly turns down Xu Youshu and his pals’ invitations to hang out together. They are confused over why she keeps rejecting their attempts to become friends. They also notice that on Mondays, Lin Xiangzhi acts like she doesn’t remember who they are and what they talked about the previous week.

One day, Lin Xiangzhi explains to the three pals that she has an unusual memory condition where she forgets certain things over the weekend, so she doesn’t bother to try to make friends. Lin Xiangzhi claims she has this amnesia as a form of post-traumatic stress disorder for something she doesn’t want to talk about. Lin Xiangzhi doesn’t have the type of memory loss where she forgets basic things about the world or how to physically function. She forgets things about her personal relationships.

Xu Youshu is immediately accepting of this explanation, and he patiently continues to befriend Lin Xiangzhi. Jiang Wu and Song Xiaonan aren’t as understanding, but they eventually warm up to the idea of trying to become close friends to Lin Xiangzhi. Mainly because of Xu Youshu’s persistence, Lin Xiangzhi opens up and begins to spend some of her free time with these three pals.

Eventually, all four of them become good friends, but the friendship becomes strained every time Lin Xiangzhi goes to school on Monday and doesn’t remember who they are. Xu Youshu is beginning to fall in love with Lin Xiangzhi, so he’s willing to start over and try to jog her memories of what they experienced and said together. To help her out, he writes down their experiences, takes photos and videos, and saves mementos.

The foundation of the story is about Lin Xiangzhi’s amnesia, but the movie never convinces audiences that these teenagers, who have access to the Internet, wouldn’t try to find out more about Lin Xiangzhi on the Internet. They just believe everything that she says. Lin Xiangzhi sometimes forgets things that were taught in school, but not enough where her grades suffer, because apparently she takes good notes in class.

Unrealistically, Lin Xiangzhi’s new friends also don’t seem to notice that the adults around them don’t really mention Lin Xiangzhi’s amnesia. It’s another clue that there’s something “off” about Lin Xiangzhi’s story about having memory loss. Anyone with common sense can see that her amnesia story is too far-fetched. Why can’t these supposedly smart teenagers see it?

It also doesn’t ring true that Xu Youshu, who’s supposely falling in love with Lin Xiangzhi and wants to help her, doesn’t seem interested in talking to any of her family members to find out how he can help until much later than is credible. Lin Xiangzhi’s family situation, which is ignored for most of the movie, would be easier to believe if she were an adult and living on her own. But as an underage teenager, Lin Xiangzhi has to be under some kind of adult supervision at home, which is something the movie only addresses late in the story and in a very contrived way.

Until then, “One Week Friends” becomes a tedious repetition of Lin Xiangzhi hanging out with her three new friends, and then the frustration that follows when she forgets all about it the following week. It should come as no surprise that Lin Xiangzhi does have a big secret that’s related to her memory loss. This secret is also mishandled in a very overwrought way that is meant to pull at viewers’ heartstrings but will more likely have some viewers rolling their eyes at the emotional manipulation of it all.

On the positive side, the cast members aren’t terrible in their performances. They seem to be doing the best they can with a very schmaltzy screenplay. The romance between Xu Youshou and Lin Xiangzhi is actually quite sweet, although very predictable. The movie’s cinematography and production design are adequate, while this version of “One Week Friends” could have used better editing to cut out repetitive scenes. Ultimately, “One Week Friends” is a drama that seems to have good intentions, but the tearjerking moments are very unearned and too mushy for their own good.

Tiger Pictures Entertainment released “One Week Friends” in select U.S. cinemas on July 8, 2022. The movie was released in China on June 18, 2022.

Review: ‘Medusa’ (2022), starring Mari Oliveira, Lara Tremouroux, Joana Medeiros, Felipe Frazão, Bruna Linzmeyer, Thiago Fragoso and Bruna G.

August 5, 2022

by Carla Hay

A scene from “Medusa,” featuring (both pictured in center) Lara Tremouroux and Mari Oliveira (Photo courtesy of Music Box Films)

“Medusa” (2022)

Directed by Anita Rocha da Silveira

Portuguese with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Brazil, the dramatic film “Medusa” features a cast of white, black and Latino Brazilian characters representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A young woman is part of an eight-woman group of ultra-religious conservatives, who are bullying vigilantes attacking other young women at night, but her life is upended after she becomes physically scarred when one of the victims fights back. 

Culture Audience: “Medusa” will appeal primarily to people interested in an artsy movie that has a lot of symbolism and messaging about religious fanaticism, misogyny and rebellion against society oppressions that are mainly designed to control and punish women.

Lara Tremouroux (center), Mari Oliveira (to the right of Tremouroux) and Joana Medeiros (back row, far right) in “Medusa” (Photo courtesy of Music Box Films)

Stylish but often slow-moving, the haunting drama “Medusa” effectively uses dream-like imagery to depict the damage of misogynistic bullying and the rebellion against this type of oppression. It’s a story that examines physical and psychological violence with unflinching clarity, but it’s presented in a tone that blurs the lines between satire and horror. With a total running time of a little more than two hours, “Medusa” didn’t need to be this long to get its messages across as well as it does. About 30 minutes could’ve been edited out of the movie, and it would still have a similar impact. However, what’s in “Medusa” is enough to resonate with viewers who have the patience to absorb everything as the story unfolds.

Written and directed by Anita Rocha da Silveira, “Medusa” is set in an unnamed city in Brazil in the early 2020s, but the movie’s themes are timeless and universal. The protagonist of “Medusa” is a young woman named Mariana (played by Mari Oliveira, also known as Mariana Oliveira), who undergoes a transformation in more ways than one. People who are familiar with Greek mythology and the story of Medusa (a woman who was cursed with a face that turned people to stone) will be more likely to understand the symbolism in this movie. Before its release in cinemas, “Medusa” made the rounds at several film festivals, including the 2021 Cannes Film Festival (where the movie had its world premiere) and the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.

In the beginning of “Medusa,” Mariana (who is in her late teens or early 20s) is shown as part of a group of eight other young women who are about the same age. They’re all wearing identical white masks and acting like roaming predators at night on a deserted city street. (This scenario will be shown multiple times in the movie.) Who are these women hunting? Their targets are other young women whom these bullies have judged to be “sinful,” usually for sexual reasons.

And when these attackers find their target, they viciously assault her and call her derogatory names. After their victim is attacked into submission, they force her to make statement on video where she repents for her sins and says will give herself over to Jesus or God. This gang of religious fanatics will then upload these videos anonymously on social media, and later gloat over this violent abuse and get excited if the videos “go viral” with the public.

When they aren’t being masked marauders, these eight women present themselves as virtuous and moral to the people around them. They are also in a Christian singing group called Michele and the Treasures of the Lord. Their leader Michele (played by Lara Tremouroux) is the most fanatical of them all. She has very stringent ideas of how women should look and act, if they are to be considered “pure.” Michele considers herself to be a “Christian influencer” on social media, so she posts beauty tutorial videos instructing Christian women on how they should look. Mariana is Michele’s closest and most-trusted friend in the group.

Michele and the Treasures of the Lord regularly appear on a Christian TV show hosted by a televangelist named Pastor Guilherme (played by Thiago Fragoso), who has a “fire and brimstone” approach to preaching about religion. “Medusa” certainly drives home the point about how televangelism is a male-dominated field in real life, where any woman who succeeds as a televangelist usually has to do so by being married to a male televangelist or other male religious leader. That’s not to say that all religious or Christian people believe women are always inferior to men, but many extremely religious fundamentalists (such as the ones depicted in “Medusa”) believe that women should always be subservient to men.

Mariana works as an assistant in a beauty clinic that offers plastic surgery. Her boss Dr. Arnaldo (played by Márcio Mariante) has very specific ideas of how Mariana should look as his employee, and she complies with those beauty standards. In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, “Medusa” points out this real-life fact: Plastic surgery is a field where men (who are the majority of plastic surgeons) financially profit the most, and its financial boom parallels the rise of social media, as more people (usually women) feel pressure to look a certain way. Women are the majority of people who get elective plastic surgery, usually so they can look more attractive, according to beauty ideals dictated by men.

One night, Michele and the Treasures of the Lord go on another brutal attack. When Mariana corners the victim, the victim fights back in self-defense, deeply cuts the left side of Mariana’s face with a broken bottle, and then is able to escape by running away. Even though Mariana can mostly cover up her facial scar with makeup, the scar is still visible to anyone who sees Mariana’s face up close. Dr. Arnaldo tells Mariana that her scar is “frightening” to his patients, so he fires her.

Mariana also gets some backlash from the other members of Michele and the Treasures of the Lord, because she is partially blamed for letting the victim escape. Feeling like an inferior misfit, Mariana gets a job at a ramshackle hospital, where all of the patients she’s required to look after are in a coma and are placed in one large room. It looks more like a war zone hospital than a regular hospital.

One of Mariana’s co-workers at the hospital is a young man named Lucas (played by Felipe Frazão), who’s in his early-to-mid 20s. Mariana and Lucas become close and develop a romantic attraction to each other. Because of Mariana’s religious beliefs, she has been taught that people (especially women) are not supposed to have sex outside of marriage. Mariana’s facial scar and the way people treat her because of it have altered her views of the world, so the last two-thirds of “Medusa” are about her metamorphosis and spiritual reckoning.

“Medusa” has a few subplots that work better for the movie than other subplots. One of the better subplots runs parallel to the storyline of Michele and the Treasures of the Lord, by having a depiction of a religious paramilitary group of young men called the Watchmen of Sion, who also consider themselves to be vigilantes. “Medusa” has several scenes of this fanatical group doing physical exercises and drills together. Watchmen of Sion also patrol the streets, looking for young men to harass and place under citizens’ arrest, usually for drug possession or being out past curfew.

Observant viewers will notice that in “Medusa,” the male vigilantes commit violence with no masks or other disguises. It’s in direct contrast to Michele and the Treasures of the Lord, who cover their faces with masks, as if to say that it’s more shameful for women to commit this type of violence. And in “Medusa,” only the women are “persecuted” for sexual reasons, while the men who have sex aren’t shamed for it. This double standard isn’t exaggerated for a movie, because there are plenty of real-life examples of how this double standard exists in many societies.

Michele and the Treasures of the Lord and the Watchmen of Sion sometimes have social gatherings where it’s obvious that members of these two like-minded groups expect to couple up with each other and to potentially find their future spouses. Because they don’t believe in sex outside of marriage, any romances that develop are supposed to be chaste. Not surprisingly, Michele’s boyfriend in Watchmen of Sion is the group’s leader named Jonathan (played by João Oliveira), who acts like a stereotypically aggressive “alpha male.”

Another intriguing subplot involves the mystery of a young actress named Melissa Garcia (played by Bruna Linzmeyer), who was attacked by unidentified assailants for being a promiscuous “party girl.” After her attack left her physically scarred, Melissa became so distraught, she set her face on fire. And then, she disappeared. Mariana and Michele have been following this missing-person case, but Mariana is more obsessed with it than Michele is. It’s hinted that Michele and the Treasures of the Lord were the ones who attacked Melissa.

An unnecessary subplot in “Medusa” is about Mariana’s younger cousin Clarissa (played by Bruna G.), who’s about 13 or 14 years old. Clarissa has been sent to live with Mariana’s family, who live in a safer area than the area where Clarissa’s family lives. It’s mentioned that Clarissa’s family wants her to go to a good Christian school and find a nice guy to marry.

At first, Clarissa is upset with this decision for her to relocate, because she misses being with her parents, siblings and friends. Mariana eventually becomes somewhat of a mentor to Clarissa, who spends some time with Michele and the Treasures of the Lord. It should come as no surprise that impressionable Clarissa becomes indoctrinated into the same beliefs. However, “Medusa” spends so little time developing Clarissa’s character, this subplot didn’t need to be in the movie.

Although there isn’t a bad performance in “Medusa,” the movie is hit and miss when it comes to development of the supporting characters. Mariana, Michele and a feisty woman named Karen (played by Joana Medeiros) are the only members of Michele and the Treasures of the Lord who are given distinct personalities. People watching the movie won’t really get a sense of who the other five members of the group really are.

The same lack of character development exists for the Watchers of Sion, who are all generic characters except for Jonathan. Even though Mariana lives with her family, these family members are shown briefly in the movie and have no real bearing on the plot. And except for Lucas, all of the people whom Mariana works with are entirely one-dimensional.

However, what “Medusa” does well is show how oppression can stifle the soul, unless someone has the strength to overcome it. One character in the movie shows suicidal or self-harm tendencies as an example of how this oppression takes a toll on this person. “Medusa” also skewers religious hypocrisy by showing that people who preach at and persecute others for so-called “sexual sins” are sometimes the ones who engage in these “sins” the most.

Two of the more outstanding traits in “Medusa” are the movie’s cinematography and sound design. The scenes with Michele and the Treasures of the Lord are bathed in pink hues and other pastel lighting, as if to present them in a ultra-feminine heightened sense of reality. In scenes depicting more morally ambiguous occurrences, the lighting is darker, sometimes in blue and green tints that glow.

A stunning scene at the end of the film is an eruption of pent-up emotions that’s the equivalent of an aural volcano. Rather than being a feminist film that pretends to have all the answers, the strength of “Medusa” is in simply acknowledging that oppression that looks like it’s only targeting some women is really a war against all women. And not everyone is going to just stand by and do nothing about it.

Music Box Films released “Medusa” in select U.S. cinemas on July 29, 2022. The movie is set for release on digital and VOD on September 13, 2022.

Review: ‘How to Please a Woman,’ starring Sally Phillips, Erik Thomson, Cameron Daddo and Tasma Walton

July 31, 2022

by Carla Hay

Hayley McElhinney, Tasma Walton, Sally Phillips and Caroline Brazier in “How to Please a Woman” (Photo by David Dare Parker/Brainstorm Media)

“How to Please a Woman”

Directed by Renée Webster

Culture Representation: Taking place in Fremantle, Australia, the comedy/drama film “How to Please a Woman” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few biracial people and one person of Tongan heritage) representing the working-class and the middle-class.

Culture Clash: After getting laid off from her administrative assistant job at a liquidation company, a middle-aged woman in a passionless marriage decides to start a business that offers men giving housecleaning and sex services for women. 

Culture Audience: “How to Please a Woman” will appeal primarily to people interested in movies that celebrate women over the age of 40 seeking happiness and sexual pleasure, but viewers should be prepared for some clichéd and not-very-realistic handling of the subject matter.

Ryan Johnson, Josh Thomson, Alex England and Erik Thomson in “How to Please a Woman” (Photo by David Dare Parker/Brainstorm Media)

Despite some trite sitcom elements and occasionally uneven pacing, “How to Please a Woman” is an overall entertaining comedy/drama about a middle-aged woman who reinvents herself by starting a business that offers men giving housecleaning and sexual services for women. Written and directed by Renée Webster, “How to Please a Woman” is less about the financial aspects of the business and more about how this business is the catalyst for personal fulfilment for many characters in the movie. Sometimes the movie clumsily handles its themes and messages about female empowerment, while other times the movie handles these themes and messages with grace, wit and charm.

“How to Please a Woman” is the type of movie that doesn’t offer too many surprises. The movie’s protagonist is a stereotypical middle-aged woman who is sexually repressed. Based on the movie’s title, you don’t have to know anything about the plot to know that this protagonist is going to be the one who goes through the personal transformation that is at the heart of the story.

“How to Please a Woman” might get some comparisons to “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” (which is an overall better movie), because both comedy/drama movies (which were released within weeks of each other in 2022) have a plot about a sexually repressed, middle-aged woman getting involved with the sex industry and finding personal satisfaction from it. Both movies have sex-positive messages that women should be more accepting of their individual sexualities and their natural bodies. However, that’s where the similarities end for both movies.

“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” (which takes place in England) focuses only on two people: a retired widow and the gigolo she hires. “How to Please a Woman” (which takes place in Fremantle in Western Australia) has a much larger cast and is about an unhappily married woman who starts a combination housecleaning/sex business after she’s laid off from her job. “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” has entirely realistic conversations and scenarios. “How to Please a Woman” has some overly contrived scenarios that lower the quality of the movie. The sitcom-like music in “How to Please a Woman” doesn’t help.

In “How to Please a Woman,” Gina Henderson (played by Sally Phillips) is a British immigrant in her 50s who is stuck in a stale marriage to her attorney husband Adrian Henderson (played by Cameron Daddo), who has lost interest in having sex with her. Later in the movie, it’s revealed that Gina and Adrian haven’t had sex with each other for the past two years. Neither of them is unfaithful to each other, and the relationship is not abusive. However, Adrian treats Gina more like a roommate than like a wife.

Gina and Adrian have a college-age daughter named Chloe (played by Asher Yasbincek), who is attending a university in London. She’s seen briefly near the beginning of the movie in a scene where Chloe does a video chat with Gina to wish Gina a happy birthday. However, Chloe doesn’t talk to Gina for as long as Gina would like. Gina seems disappointed about this short conversation, as if it’s hard for her to accept that Chloe is an adult who has her own life.

Gina feels underappreciated not only by her family but also at her job. In the beginning of the movie, she’s an overworked administrative assistant at a company called Lifetime Liquidators, which decides if failing businesses are worth saving or not. She thinks being overworked means that she’s indispensable at this company. Gina is in for a rude awakening when her obnoxious boss Brett (played by Oliver Wenn) fires her due to “company restructuring.”

Gina is the only one let go from the company, and she finds out why: Brett has hired a young, buxom blonde named Alice (played by Emily Rose Brennan) to replace Gina. When Alice innocently asks Gina if she needs any help after Gina gets fired, a normally mild-mannered Gina snaps at Alice: “You can take your double D cups and piss off to your own department!” (Gina gets a chance to redeem herself over this rudeness later in the movie.)

As an attorney, Adrian thinks that Gina should sue Lifetime Liquidators for age discrimination, but Gina doesn’t think it’s worth it. Instead, she decides to help the last company that she was in contact with before she lost her job. It’s a moving company named Pleased to Move You, a small business that is very close to shuttering due to significant financial losses and heavy financial debt. In fact, Brett has already decided that Pleased to Move You should be shut down.

Gina has a close-knit group of friends, who often go swimming with her. They all go to a local gym, where the gym’s locker room has become the center of Gina’s social life. Her three closest pals are no-nonsense bachelorette Sandra (played by Caroline Brazier), sexually fluid and commitment-phobic bachelorette Hayley (played by Hayley McElhinney), and married corporate attorney Monique (played by Tasma Walton), who’s also stuck in a marriage rut.

As a surprise birthday gift, Gina gets a performance from a male stripper named Tom (played by Alexander England), who is in his 20s but who has the maturity and intelligence of someone in their late teens. Gina doesn’t want Tom to strip naked and asks him to clean her house instead with his shirt off. And what a coincidence: Tom just happens to be one of the Pleased to Move You employees. (He says he’s a stripper as an occasional side job.)

This experience leads to Gina coming up with the idea to have Pleased to Move You “diversify” its business by having the company’s all-male employees do housecleaning services while shirtless. Not surprisingly, bachelor Tom (who’s obviously comfortable with getting naked in front of strangers) is the most enthusiastic about the idea of being a sexy housecleaner. The company’s married boss and the other employees (who are bachelors) aren’t so sure, but Gina convinces them that they can save the company from going out of business by making money this way.

In addition to Tom, the other employees of Pleased to Move You are goofy Ben (played by Josh Thomson) and earnest Anthony (played by Ryan Johnson), who is later described as “well-endowed,” which leads to some comedic scenes later in the movie. The company owner/boss is Steve (played by Erik Thomson, no relation to Josh Thomson), whose marital situation affects things that happen later in the story. Instead of doing the “out in the field” work for this housecleaning business, Steve offers to maintain the website and do other information technology work. Gina is hired to be the manager of sales, marketing and accounting for this business.

The first place that Gina goes to advertise the business is the ladies’ locker room, where she puts flyers on the wall. An acquaintance named Claudia (played by Roz Hammond) is the first customer. Tom is the one who goes to Claudia’s home to provide the housecleaning services. But the sight of shirtless Tom is enough for Claudia to ask Tom to have sex with her. He willingly obliges.

Gina gave Tom a car ride to this job, so she waits outside for Tom until he finishes the work. When Gina peeks in a window of the house to see what’s taking him so long, she sees Claudia wearing nothing but a robe, while Tom is naked and getting a drink from the kitchen refrigerator. Tom sees Gina and smiles at her, as if to say, “Hey, if this is part of the job, I like it.”

However, Gina is mortified and annoyed. When Tom comes out of the house, she sternly tells Tom: “That is not happening ever again.” But there would be no “How to Please a Woman” movie if that turned out to be true.

The next time that Claudia is in the locker room with Gina and her friends, she raves about the service that she got. Gina tells Claudia that the sex with Tom was a “mistake” that “is not ever going to happen again.” But when Gina quickly finds out that she can’t make any sales just by offering housecleaning services by shirtless men, she agrees to offer sex from these employees as part of the housecleaning deal. And that’s when Gina is inundated with bookings and requests for these services.

“How to Please a Woman” gets heavy-handed in how easily everything falls into place for this business. The men are quickly convinced to do this work, although there is some realism when Anthony and Ben are worried about how their bodies look, compared to the more physically fit Tom. Whatever their body insecurities are, the movie makes a point that the men get over these insecurities a lot quicker than how the women feel insecure about their own bodies.

Another contrivance of “How to Please a Woman” is that, with one exception, all of the interested clients are women who are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. It’s this movie’s over-the-top way of making it look like women in this age range are more in need for this service, when in actuality there would be more diversity in the adult customers’ age ranges. The locker room scenes in “How to Please a Woman” have mostly women in their 40s to 60s in the room, which also looks unrealistic for a setting that’s supposed to be open to women of all ages.

One of the movie’s annoying aspects is that it makes most of the women customers look insecure, desperate and lonely. It’s a somewhat off-putting depiction because it plays into negative and often untrue stereotypes that women over the age of 40 have less fulfilling sex lives than younger women. However, this negative stereotyping is somewhat balanced out by showing some women customers who are unapologetic and confident about wanting this service. Gina encourages the customers to not be afraid to ask for what they want. It’s advice that she finds harder to apply to her own life.

“How to Please a Woman” doesn’t exclusively address heterosexual needs. The movie includes a queer subplot about a bi-curious woman named Fiona (played by Catherine Moore), who is one of the ladies from the locker room. Fiona asks Gina if she’s open to hiring women to be housecleaners, because Fiona is curious about having sexual experiences with other women. Perhaps as a way to avoid criticism for exploiting women in sex work, Gina doesn’t hire Fiona to do this work, but the movie resolves Fiona’s bi-curious issue in another way.

The queer perspective is only addressed when it comes to women. The movie has absolutely nothing that talks about men giving service to men in this business. There’s a half-hearted attempt at this scenario, but it’s played for laughs, when Ben goes on a service call that he gets from a man, who seems to want to have a threesome with Ben and the man’s wife. It all turns out to be a big misunderstanding, which is another example of a sitcom-like setup that cheapens the movie’s messages.

The comedy in “How to Please a Woman” is definitely for adults (and there are a few brief flashes of female and male nudity), but many of the scenes play out like something in a movie for teenagers. Sandra gives a remote-controlled vibrator to Gina as a gift to cheer her up, and Gina acts like she’s never seen a vibrator before. It’s a bit of stretch to expect audiences to believe that someone of Gina’s age and in her circumstances is that sheltered. Later, this vibrator is used in one of the movie’s funniest scenes.

“How to Please a Woman” gives a little too much screen time to showing Tom’s personal life. He’s a man-child who has trouble keeping a job, and his most recent romantic relationship failed because of his immaturity. His ex-girlfriend Mandy (played by Takia Morrison) is pregnant with their child (which they know will be a boy), and she has already moved on to a new boyfriend named Gary (played by Ben Mortley). These scenes of Tom visiting pregnant Mandy (who never looks happy to see him) have no real purpose in the movie except to show that Tom wants to prove to her that he’s trying to be a responsible adult.

When Tom offers to give money to Mandy for their unborn child, and he offers to clean her house, she rejects this offer, and Tom looks emotionally hurt. Later, Tom tells one of his sex clients that when he and Mandy were together, he always had to initiate sex, but he prefers it when a woman makes the first move with him in having sex. It might be the movie’s way of trying to explain why Tom likes being hired as a sex worker, but it comes across as unnecessary and awkward.

As for the legalities of what Gina is doing with this business and how she wants to keep the business a secret from her husband Adrian, “How to Please a Woman” addresses those issues in some ways that are realistic and other ways that are not. In Western Australia, certain aspects of the sex business are illegal (such as operating a brothel or being a pimp/madam), while other aspects are legal (such as being an independent sex worker), and a gray area is sex therapy that can be considered legal if it’s a licensed business. Viewers will have to keep in mind that this movie is set in Australia, where the laws about sex work might differ from other countries. Still, the legal issues about what Gina is doing are a little too glossed over in the movie.

Even with its flaws, “How to Please a Woman” is fairly straightforward in showing its intentions and tone, so viewers know within the first 15 minutes what type of movie they will be watching. The only symbolism that the movie has is Gina’s love of swimming in the ocean, which is used as a symbol for how she wants to feel freedom or at peace with herself. The last third of “How to Please a Woman” has a few twists that aren’t too surprising because of all the clues that these things were going to happen.

The movie could have done a better job of developing some of the supporting characters. Most people watching “How to Please a Woman” will have a hard time remembering the names of Gina’s friends. Ben is treated as a “clown” and not as a desirable sex worker. (He has no sex scenes in the movie.) The love lives of Anthony and Ben are not shown or mentioned, so it’s unknown how their involvement in this semi-secretive sex work is affecting their personal lives.

Gina and her friend Monique are the only female characters whose jobs/sources of income are shown or mentioned. Viewers can only speculate what Gina and her friends talk about besides sex, relationships and her new business venture, because that’s basically all they talk about in this movie. The rest of the female characters who know about this housecleaning/sex business are only shown in the context of their interest in this business or their sexual needs, instead of giving them more well-rounded personalities.

All of the movie’s production aspects and performances are perfectly fine for how this movie was written, but nothing about “How to Please a Woman” is outstanding or award-worthy. As a statement about female empowerment and female sexual confidence, “How to Please a Woman” veers on the breezy and lightweight side. However, the movie can still resonate with viewers who want to see an entertaining story about the pursuit of pleasure and happiness.

Brainstorm Media released “How to Please a Woman” in select U.S. cinemas on July 22, 2022. The movie was released on digital and VOD on July 29, 2022. “How to Please a Woman” was released in Australia on May 19, 2022.

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