DISRUPT THE DISRUPTORS: a review of "Glass Onion"

 

'"GLASS ONION"
Written and Directed by Rian Johnson
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED PG 13

Why does Rian Johnson make this so difficult when it always appears to be so easy?

How often do we have the opportunity to see a movie and not wish to ruin the surprise(s) for any potential viewers? How many times recently have you seen a movie before a friend and you struggle to not reveal too much so as not to spoil and yet, you are just anxious for that friend to see it for themselves...and then, you can speak freely about it? 

In our age of sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes and re-imaginings, plus the threat of spoiler alerts mere hours after the first screenings nationwide, those times truly are fewer based upon which movies are now even being released to theaters in addition to our streaming services. But there are still they occasional anomalies...

With Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion," I do have the sequel to his terrific "Knives Out" (2019) at my hands to share my reaction with you. Yet, unlike the nature of our serialized storytelling these days, there is no connective tissue between the two films other than Johnson himself as Writer and Director, the sly, loquaciously witty presence of Daniel Craig as Johnson's "World's Greatest Detective" Benoit Blanc and of course, the central twisty, turny mystery for Blanc to solve. 

At this time, I am more than delighted to announce that I found Rian Johnson's latest entry in his young series has delivered the goods as it is a most delicious cinematic meal and one that feels so effortlessly prepared and enthusiastically executed yet not remotely frivolous or forgettable. Johnson clearly has something to say within his latest mystery but he is unquestionably determined for us to have a great time!

Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion" finds our great detective Benoit Blanc (again richly played by Daniel Craig) fretting in his abode, struggling with lockdown during May 2020, a few months into our global isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Suddenly, a mysterious box arrives at his door, containing a series of puzzles leading to an invitation to the vast Glass Onion mansion, located upon a private Greece island owned by Miles Bron (the perfectly unctuous Edward Norton), New York billionaire and co-founder of the technological company Alpha.

Blanc is soon joined in invitation by five of Miles Bron's friends to partake in a weekend murder mystery party at the mansion. The collective includes the following participants:

Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.), the head scientist at Alpha
Claire Debella (Kathryn Hahn), the Governor of Connecticut, now running for the United States Senate
Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), a vapid and aging supermodel turned fashion designer plus her assistant Peg (Jessica Henwick)
Duke Cody (Dave Bautista), misogynistic video game and men's rights streamer plus his assistant/girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline)  

and finally, surprisingly...Alpha co-founder Cassandra "Andi" Brand (a terrific Janelle Monae), forced out of the company by Miles. 

When a member of the group ended up dead for real, it is up to Benoit Blanc to solve the real life murder mystery!

While I have to admit to enjoying the first installment a hair more than this new chapter, Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion" is a first rate comic thriller, that is again sharply written, briskly directed, and acted wonderfully by the entire cast, who are all clearly having a whale of a time while ensuring the story is served to its absolute best. The film is proudly frisky without becoming remotely frivolous or forgettable and definitely rewards subsequent viewings due t the excellent cinematic sleight of hand at work, both in front of and behind the camera. 

As a murder mystery, Rian Johnson has already established himself as a clever storyteller as evidenced by not only the original film but in his previous works such as the science fiction time travel thriller "Looper" (2012) and his high school set film noir ode in his debut feature "Brick" (2005). While he certainly displayed skill, energy and unquestionable talent with both of those films, they did leave me wanting and each felt to be ore of exercises in style rather than complete experiences. With "Glass Onion,": just as he displayed with "Knives Out" and spectacularly with "Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi" (2017), his stylistic tendencies remained powerfully with is storytelling growing in leaps, making the narrative both visually and motivationally worked in lockstep.

Truthfully, it would be very easy to overlook just how meticulous Rian Johnson's writing and directing actually is within "Glass Onion" because he makes it all look so easy! So breezy is his material and its execution that before you know it, you have completely missed details he has so clearly laid out directly in front of you--just as Benoit  Blanc announces to the party guests over and again. I repeat, it is all right in front of our eyes the entire time and still, ian Johnson trans us upon where to look and when in order to keep his mystery going..

And frankly, with streaming at our fingertips, we now have the opportunity to immediately review scenes and sequences to see if all of the pieces line up just as they are eventually revealed. I will admit to you to doing just that and just laughing to myself that Johnson was indeed this slick and had so perfectly distracted me from the action by keeping me riveted to watching the principals interact and luxuriating in the peppery dialogue that provides one zinger after another throughout. In accomplishing this feat, Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion" deftly set up residence in the cinematic vicinity of Steven Soderberg's outstanding "Ocean's Eleven" (2001).

As fun as "Glass Onion" is, it was also great to see that Rian Johnson has more on his mind than a murder mystery party, as he injected some food for though into the proceedings, which I am gathering is perhaps why he decided to place his narrative just after the start of the pandemic. 

Similarly, with Writer/Director Mike White's sensational HBO series "The White Lotus" (2021/2022), and Director Mark Mylod's stylish yet flawed "The Menu" (2022), Johnson has served up an "eat the rich" satire merged with opulent travel. But, looking a tad deeper, I am wondering if the tone is closer towards Writers/Directors Joel and Ethan Coen's "Burn After Reading" (2008), their absurdist comedy of fatal errors in which their collective of characters are all victims of their own narcissistic delusions at best and utter stupidity at worst.

"It's a dangerous thing to mistake speaking without thought for speaking the truth," sermons Benoit Blanc to one of the film's characters and in essence, it feels that is the core pf the film as well as some sincere cultural commentary from the film's central character plus its creator. We are now existing within a "post-truth" society where basic facts are debated if not outright denied, and pre fabricated realities are valued over (again) what is directly in front of our eyes, taking the tenor of "history is written by the winners" to a new extreme. 

Much has already been made of Edward Norton's character supposedly being a stand in for Elon Musk, to which Rian Johnson denies. But, stay on that conceptual track, if you will. "Glass Onion" is populated with characters, who due to their immense wealth, privilege, and celebrity are in positions where they feel entitled and justified to invent their own realities regardless of what actually occurred. With that, and of course due to it's own title, we are meant to peel back the layers of the mysteries as well as the characters themselves to reveal all of the hidden truths, and within one, a more than righteous and rightful sense of palpable rage in need of justice.  

And really, should I say more? I really shouldn't as I won't assume that anyone who chooses to read this has already seen the film. But, that is where the absolute fun is! The not knowing ahead of time. Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion" is a delight from start to finish. Just go in as cold as possible, before movie advertisers gave us two minute versions of the entire film before we could see the entire vision, and allow yourself to be deeply entertained and rewarded.

THE LORD HIGH EMPEROR OF SUSTENANCE: a review of "The Menu"

 

"THE MENU"
Screenplay Written by Seth Reiss & Will Tracy
Directed by Mark Mylod
**1/2 (two and a half stars)
RATED R

Some meals just end up not coming into their full fruition, regardless of the ingredients involved and the depth of care to the preparation. 

With the nature of food, fine dining and culinary artistry, I would imagine that it is not terribly far fetched to find comparisons with the nature of literature, music, and any other art form, which includes the movies. The potential for greatness or failure always exists and even within the finest of artistic hands and hearts, sometimes the stars are aligned and sometimes they are not. 

With the movies, I have often expressed that the act of getting a movie completed and released at all must be akin to a minor miracle let alone the movie in question ending up as the full representation of the artist's vision...or even just being watchable. With food, I can gather that there are similarities in this particular vein, especially in the world of fine dining and elevated courses, in which recipes are and techniques are studied meticulously only to be re-invented over and again in the pursuit of creating that very meal that is completely unique, inventive, showcases the individualistic style of the chef as well as being delicious. It feels like an impossible feat and yet, when it happens, culinary art exists. But, one false move, no matter how miniscule, the art pursued is eluded.

I had this feeling as I viewed Director Mark Mylod's satirical, psychological thriller "The Menu." It is a mostly well constructed piece, a clever idea that is filled with the ingredients, so to speak, and is well executed but one that did leave me wanting. It is not a bad film by any means. It was one that lacked in satisfaction as it did not stick to the cinematic ribs (ahem). 

So as not to produce spoilers, I will try to keep the plot description brief. "The Menu" stars Ralph Finnes as celebrity chef Julian Slowik, operator of the exclusive restaurant Hawthorne, which is located upon a private island. 

This evening's guests include falling movie star (John Leguizamo) and his personal assistant (Aimee Carrero), a trio of young business partners (played by Rob Yang, Arturo Castro and Mark St. Cyr), a food critic (Janet McTeer) and her editor (Paul Adelstein), a wealthy elderly couple (played by Judith Light and Reed Birney) and finally, young Tyler Ledford (Nicholas Hoult) and his date Margot Mills (Anya Taylor-Joy).

Over the course of the night, the dinner guests will be served an elaborate and increasingly sinister menu leading to a final course that could prove deadly. 

Mark Mylod's "The Menu" is elegantly staged, akin to a malevolent play. With its concept of the uber wealthy in a state of glorious travel threatened with a dark underbelly of sociopathic dysfunctions, it feels perfectly timed with the likes of Writer/Director Mike White's "The White Lotus" (2021/2022) series for HBO plus Writer/Director Rian Johnson's "Glass Onion" (2022), yet the end result feels considerably lacking when compared to the aforementioned works.

Where it succeeds best for me, it as a social commentary over our collective cultural identification as "foodies" combined with or due to our exposure to food via a host of television cooking competition reality programming. At its best, and much like how the late, great Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert's long standing presence in movie criticism for television educated and engaged the general public in how to watch, engage with and therefore discuss the movies, our current television food programming has given us similar gifts. We are now armed with a greater knowledge of food, where it comes from, how it is prepared and therefore, we have been given the language of how to discuss food. 

It has been quite the populist transition in demystifying the art of cooking while simultaneously upholding it, keeping the exclusivity of fine dining while bringing it it to the masses via our television screens. By learning more about food, we are given the opportunity to understanding how food works with our bodies and how to possibly eat better because of our new found knowledge of how the Science and art of food congeals. All of that being said, and as the old adage expresses, everybody's a critic, and regardless of how much new knowledge we may have when talking about food, everyone is not an expert. For if anyone could prepare food to such an elevated level, then anyone would...and we don't because we can't.

Mark Mylod's "The Menu" plays with that very unctuous, pretentious, pseudo intellectual fashion of preparing and experiencing food within the motivations of Chef Julian Slowick and his doomed patrons, where one false move could present dire consequences regardless of status and cache. Mylod creates a tale of class warfare and and upending societal and economic privileges, something that is actually very reminiscent of Director David Fincher's "The Game" (1993).

Yet, where that film's surrealist aesthetics truly weaved a deeply unsettling spell as a psychological thriller, it is also an exceedingly sharper and ore pointed satire, where "The Menu" overall succeeds in fits and starts. It is indeed fueled by an "eat the rich" narrative while also functioning just this side of horror but it never feels to go as far as it absolutely could.  

I did appreciate a certain multi-layered level to the existential horror of the film, especially as it is a parable about a collective of individuals who have amassed everything in their power but have sacrificed all manner of joy from their existence. A joy of inspiration and creation, a snuffing out of the spark that may have first inspired them, yet their main pursuits have become not of any sense of inner ascension but of socio-economic domination which leaves them all as gradually hollow shells rather than full human beings now all facing a certain judgement on this fateful night. 

As a thriller, all of the pieces are in place, the performances are strong, the visual sheen and design is effective and truthfully, the first half of the film builds strongly into two or even three shocking crescendos. But, the film overall in terms of its sense of character, as well as an exercise in terror, never really finds its footing in its second half as characters remain underwritten, character motivations are unclear and even questioned within the film by other characters and the participants feel shuffled from one sequence to another without any real consequences other than a plot driven inevitability which ends up undercutting any sense of that under the skin intensity this film needs. 

Mark Mylod's "The Menu" is well plated but feels decidedly undercooked and truthfully, in need of a re-fire. For it is one that is indeed lacking in heat!