HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY TO SAVAGE CINEMA!!!

This time, the day snuck up on me.

Dear readers, this evening, I had logged into this blogsite to try and write a brand new review for myself and for you when my Facebook memories greeted me with a revelation. It was a memory of two years ago and featured an image starring the number 11 front and center. Having no idea whatsoever of what this particular memory pertained to, I clicked and was then struck with full remembrance tinged with some melancholy.

The number 11 referred to the 11th anniversary of Savage Cinema, and since that was two years ago, this means that today is the 13th anniversary of the very day when I sat within my parents' basement in South suburban Illinois and very trepidaciously hatched this blogsite on which I would merge my love of writing and the movies into a deeply personalized space and a place for me to share those specific loves with anyone who chose to enter.  

As previously stated, I said this realization came tinged with melancholy. Well...frankly, how could I forget this very day, especially as there was a time, for much of this site's existence, when I would never have forgotten and would therefore have commemorated this experience and thanked all of you for supporting me throughout the years?  

Yet, somehow, I did. And truthfully, that omission makes me feel very sad indeed. 

All of this time, I have often expressed that I am Savage Cinema and Savage Cinema is me and in the forgetting, have I forgotten myself? Over these past three years definitely, and exacerbated by the pandemic, Savage Cinema has taken a drastic back seat within my life as the shut down of movie theaters combined with all of the real world anxieties and stresses when then folded into my mental health issues made the process of watching movies, let alone writing about them feel like a mountain too difficult to climb. 

In these past few years, I have to express to you hat there have been several film reviews that I began  and yet, never finished, due to a profound lack of mental energy due to work and internal stressors. How I would have loved to have written about Wes Anderson's "The French Dispatch" (2021),  Edgar Wright's "Last Night In Soho" (2021) or Peter Jackson's "The Beatles: Get Back" (2021), all of which I began (and for those keep score, I LOVED them all), yet sadly never finished due to lack of time, and lack of energy...

...but believe me, NEVER for a lack of caring.    

Admittedly, there have been times over these 13 years when I would take up a new review posting as a challenge, a means of honoring the promises I made to myself when I began this site. Yet, I always told myself that if at any point if writing a review began to feel like a job, then I should hit pause and re-think my purpose. That being said, I pressed onwards and write, wrote and wrote, and I look back and I feel such pride at this body of work I have amassed over these years. Even now, with Savage Cinema showing dramatically less output, that sense of accomplishment should not be undersold to myself by myself. 

Especially as I remember that very first post, the very one where tapping the "PUBLISH" button felt to be so terrifying. And after I hit "PUBLISH" upon this post, I will have reached a whopping 854 postings!!!! It happened. You helped me reach this milestone. That cannot be taken from me and perhaps, on this day where I have forgotten myself, this memory is helping me to remember myself. To remember that what was so frightening that very first time, did produce what exists today...and truthfully, what still can exist in the future.

I am Savage Cinema and Savage Cinema is me and I am still here...so...

There is yet another enormous aspect to this lack of activity on my part and that is due to the movies themselves.

For as much as I have changed over these years, so has the movie industry. I am not proclaiming the death of cinema or anything like that for I do believe that we are in a wave that has yet to completely turn and become something anew. But, these times do feel quite dire for the movies.

For years upon this site, I have expressed my long seated fatigue with superhero movies, as well as with all manner of sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, and re-imaginings...even as I, just like all of you, continue to see such movies. In many ways, I do side with the likes of Martin Scorsese as he has decried the sheer abundance of say Marvel movies as being "theme park rides" and not "cinema." Now before we get ourselves lost in that particular debate, which in and of itself is yet another thread of the "high art" vs. "low art" battle (and one in which I will never engage as it is one I have never subscribed to), I will say that...to a degree...Scorsese is not wrong in his assessment.

Basically, it is a variation of what I have been feeling for at least 10 years: I have no problem whatsoever with the Marvel movies being made. I just don't need to see them every single week and definitely not at the expense of every other movie that could be made. 

The motion picture industry has been inching towards this moment for several years now and the pandemic exacerbated the inevitability. With the rise of the franchises in prevalence, creation and status as being EVENT MOVIES, films that are seen as "smaller" would find themselves pushed away--which in and of itself, creates the fallacy that EVENT movies are the only things that audiences wish to see (because, it could easily be argued, just look at the box office receipts and records constantly being made by the likes of Marvel and now, the latest "Avatar"--but of course, it could be argued as rebuttal, those movies would be setting box office records when nearly every screen in your local multiplex is showing that one particular movie thus severely limiting actual choices for audiences to make).

Besides, why can't great acting, great storytelling, great dialogue and great directing BE THE EVENT regardless of the film style or genre?!

Where are the adult drams? Where are the teen comedies? The romantic comedies, indie dramas, psychological thrillers, and any and all other cinematic offerings that do not fit into the sequel, prequel, remake, reboot, reimagined boxes? All to streaming services--and that includes new movies from filmmaking giants like The Coen Brothers, Spike Lee and the aforementioned Martin Scorsese! There are few  directors remaining that could potentially open a film just due to their  name--Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan and Jordan Peele to name three. To that end, perhaps aside from Tom Cruise, do we have any movie stars anymore--that is if they appear in something where they are not required to adorn a cape and possess super powers? 

Yes, we have streaming, but I do not think that it would be unfair to suggest that many viewers are like myself who do feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of streaming content and services that it is difficult to know where to begin...and so, little to nothing is watched at all. 

Even worse, there is  the decrease in actual movie theaters. I do not know about where you happen to live but in my home base of Madison, WI, where I have called home since 1987, we are now in a movie theater desert. As a college student at UW-Madison, right in the heart of the city and downtown area, during the 1980's and 1990's, 

There once existed University Square 4, a small 4 screen multiplex--where I saw nothing less then Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" (1991), Ridley Scott's "Thelma and Louise" (1991), crossed a picket line to see Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation Of Christ" (1988), witnessed my one and only NC 17 film in Philip Kaufman's "Henry & June" (1990), copious midnight screenings of Alan Parker's "Pink Floyd: The Wall" (1982) and an ocean of great times at terrible flicks like Rod Daniel's "K-9" (1989). 

Down State Street and around the state Capitol building, there sat the Orpheum, the Majestic, the Strand and the Esquire. All of these were within walking distance and combined with all of the student film societies, the sheer presence of so many locations to engage within my passion for the movies, and on a student budget no less, made it a gift for people like me who were looking for alternatives to the Madison party scene or the sports fan community. In addition to all of those screens, there did exist the multiplexes by shopping malls, the Hilldale theater, the Westgate Art Cinema--where I saw Rob Reiner's "The Princess Bride" (1987) on opening weekend--and in 1989, the second run Market Square Theater multiplexes, specializing in second run features, was born. 

By now in 2022, our movie theater landscape has changed entirely and irrevocably. The Orpheum and Majestic are now concert venues. The Strand, Esquire, Westgate Art Cinema and that 4 screen campus multiplex are all lost to time itself. Hilldale was demolished to make way for the very first Sundance theater in the nation...a theater that Robert Redford himself arrived in Madison to announce its creation only to sell it years later. This November, that theater shut its doors...one full month earlier than expected and in the very same year that the Market Square Theaters shut its doors forever...even after apparently surviving the pandemic. 

Madison, WI now has essentially no movie theaters in the city as 2022 draws to a close, forcing theater goers like myself to venture to impersonal, corporate multiplexes in outlying communities in nearby Sun Prairie and Fitchburg (if that one can get past its own health code violations). Less choices, less theaters...certainly that does indeed make things difficult for a film enthusiast like myself. But a gain, movies are not dead and neither am I. There is a way and I do have these 854 posts and 13 years reconfirming that fact. 

I just need to make my way...just as I did 13 years ago.

Moving forward...what does it mean for  Savage Cinema? I am not prepared to roll those ending credits at all. In fact, I have a couple of ideas in my brain just waiting to be written. I just need to remind myself to be gentle with myself and take ANYTHING written and posted as a victory, for every new feature extends the life of this blogsite and my creative life. 

I wish to thank you for your patience, your understanding, your continued encouragement and support. Again, without you as my fuel, I never would have reached 13 years of Savage Cinema at all. 

And yes, I did reach 13 years of this experience.    

Thanks for the reminder.

WHOSE WORLD IS THIS?: a review of "Don't Worry Darling"

"DON'T WORRY DARLING"
Story by Carey Van Dyke & Shane Van Dyke and Katie Silberman
Screenplay Written by Katie Silberman
Directed by Olivia Wilde
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED R

Friday, June 24, 2022... 

That date will forever be seared into my mind as it was on that very morning that the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, therefore undoing what had been the law of the land for nearly 50 years. It was the proverbial line in the sand, that invisible barrier marked with "BEFORE" and "AFTER." The date where access to an abortion instantly became perilous for those who choose to seek or need one. Furthermore, and regardless of whatever one's view on abortion happen to be, the action on this date effectively announced that women in totality were not human beings deserving of the right to have autonomy over their own bodies. Decisions would have to be made for them by the men in power. 

On that very morning when the news was announced, I was taking my charges in the school aged Summer Camp for our adventure of the day, part of which was spent racing around the lawn of our State Capitol building here in Madison, WI, a location we essentially pass every single day. As the children played, I found myself pausing to regard all of the girls in my class, ranging in ages from 5-9, and all of whom are vibrant, eccentric, challenging, ingratiating, exuberant, gloriously zany and endlessly inventive human begins. I could not help to look at them and suddenly feel a tremendous amount of fear of the world they would potentially grow up into, their natural and completely individualist lights forcibly snuffed out by a world now armed against them for no other reason than their gender. 

For all of the talk about personal rights and freedom, especially during this time of Covid-19 and just the act of wearing a piece of cloth over one's mouth and nose caused conniptions by detractors, what does it mean when one does not possess the autonomy of the bodies in which they were born? If you don't own yourself, freedom is non-existent.

Watching Director Olivia Wilde's second film "Don't Worry Darling," an abrupt stylistic shift from the verbose teen comedy of her debut directorial feature "Booksmart" (2019) to this psychological thriller, I found myself undergoing the same feelings of dread and doom as I felt on that day in June. In many ways, much of what is presented within the film is familiar. Yet, for me, I do not mention this as a criticism for I think what Wilde has achieved is a unnerving fever dream of an experience that meets the moment of the precarious space where women stand within this country when held at the mercy of overly confident men who make the laws certainly, and wish to retain absolute power undeniably. 

I have now seen this film twice and still, I am honestly surprised at the vitriolic tenor of the largely negative reviews the film has received. Yes, we can debate about its sense of originality or lack thereof (which feels to be a moot point in this age of unending sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, and re-imaginings) but for me, Wilde's film was less about being necessarily original but taking notes from the past to make a statement about the present.   

Set sometime in the 1950's, Olivia Wilde's "Don't Worry Darling" stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as young, married couple Alice and Jack Chambers, residents of the idyllic and experimental company town of Victory, California, where the sun always shines, everyone is a snappy dresser, the men work each day while the women tend to their homes and each night is filled with splendid home cooked meals, ever flowing drinks, and wall to wall music and merriment. 

Each day, the men venture to work on the top secret "development of progressive materials" in the outlying desert location of Victory Headquarters, for the mysterious Victory Project, as overseen by Frank (Chris Pine), its enigmatic founder, while the women are instructed to never ask questions and just enjoy and relax into their existence as homemakers in their elegant lifestyles.

But, of course, all is not as it seems...not by a long shot.

After experiencing the odd behaviors of one of her neighbors, which are soon followed by increasing hallucinations and nightmares, Alice suspects a sinister secret is being kept from the residents of Victory by its founder thus rendering this supposed utopia as a certain kind of Hell.

Now, dear readers, if one were to automatically think of Director Bryan Forbes' "The Stepford Wives" (1975)--or Director Frank Oz's 2004 remake--while even regarding the trailers for Olivia Wilde's "Don't Worry Darling," you would not be mistaken or criticized for making the comparison. In fact, for all of the criticism launched against Wilde's film for its lack of originality, I actually counter that perception because I feel that she not only is more than aware of the clear comparisons between the two films, she has in effect leaned into these comparisons heavily to make her own commentary about the place of women in society with similarities and contrasts between the 1970's and the 21st century.  

Yes (and without intentionally producing spoilers), Wilde's "Don't Worry Darling" owes quite a lot of its structure to "The Stepford Wives" with even a dash of Writer/Director Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky" (2001) sprinkled in for good measure and for me, this was not a hindrance. As the late, great Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert used to express, "A film is not always about what it is about. It is about how it is about what it is about." I think that this is the engine at which Olivia Wilde is operating for her film and she is utilizing the familiarity, for herself and the audience, as a means to take us upon an extremely dark ride. 

I really loved how Wilde eschewed with any opening credits and thrust us immediately into a drunken dinner party, already suggesting that this is something of nightly regularity and that also something is decidedly wrong. That sense of unease is ever present. I loved how Wilde essentially did away with exposition and purposefully left holes and breadcrumbs throughout all of which will point towards the ultimate realization of what Victory is while also consistently commenting upon the action as we regard it and the effect was disturbing to stay the least. 

Through out the outstanding work from Wilde's team, which includes Cinematographer Matthew Libatique, Editor Affonso Goncalves, Composer John Powell, and Production Designer Katie Byron, the sheer perfection of Victory is disturbing, the comparative symmetry of watching the husband's cars flow out of their neighborhood cul-de-sac and Alice's creepy Busby Berkeley styled hallucinations are always unsettling and really, listen to the sheer parade of vintage pop songs being pumped into Victory (excellent breadcrumbs) and what of Frank's daily Victory broadcasts, which are either motivational or a form of brainwashing.

Weather never seems to exist as the sun always shines. A constantly pregnant neighbor who seemingly never has any other children. A lifestyle where ever present food, comfort, wine and sexual gratification feels forces you to question if anything is out of love or pacification leading to subjugation. Alice's odyssey throughout "Don't Worry Darling" is its own nightmarish wonderland where power, control and bodily autonomy itself are all in the balance. Through the familiar aesthetics and jet fueled by Florence Pugh's terrific leading performance, Olivia Wilde has fashioned a film that works within its own dream logic to address real world nightmares, especially as any victories of the feminist movement during the 1970's has given to our current regressive politics and right wing attitudes towards women in 2022.

There is a joke meme that I have seen as of late which is essentially, "If I only had the confidence of a mediocre White man." Think of that as you regard Wilde's film. Take note of the emasculation fear mongering the likes of Tucker Carlson performs every night upon his television show and think of that as we regard Frank and the men of Victory. Regard the sequence during which Jack receives a major Victory promotion during a swanky banquet and is then asked (or forced?) to perform a "celebratory" dance on stage all the while looking like a madhouse marionette (truly Harry Styles' best scene in the film) and just think of how something like fascism happens, how it recruits, and how it keeps subjects tethered. 

I think, whether obvious or not, there is more going on in this film that it has been given credit for and all of the muckraking in the press over all of the behind the scenes turmoil during and post production benefits no one and frankly, stifles and undercuts Olivia Wilde's storytelling vision as well as her position as a filmmaker...and considering what transpires within the film, this feels a little more than uncomfortably fitting. 

Olivia Wilde's "Don't Worry Darling" got under my skin. And after everything that transpires within the film, I think it is the final sound that we hear before the end credits that perhaps rattled me the most. For never do I wish for any woman, and definitely not the girls I care for presently, to ever feel that the lives they are leading reach the point where that sound has to be made. 

TESTAMENT FOR THE KING: a review of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

 

"BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER"
Based upon the Marvel Comics series created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Story by Ryan Coogler
Screenplay Written by Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole
Directed by Ryan Coogler
**** (four stars)
RATED PG 13

Bless you, Ryan Coogler. For your passion and determination, certainly. For the veritable ocean of love poured into this experience, unquestionably. 

It truly feels like the impossible has been made possible as Writer/Director Ryan Coogler, the architect behind "Black Panther" (2018), the greatest film in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, in my opinion, has astonishingly crafted and delivered an even more soul stirring experience and while faced when conceivably insurmountable odds. The utter shock of the death of Chadwick Boseman. King T'Challa himself, after a private battle with colon cancer in August 2020, felt to derail any possibilities of a second chapter and if there were none to be made, then so be it. Yet, Coogler remained intrepid, regrouped, carried onward and ultimately created a work that felt to be birthed from the communion of his spirit and Boseman's, with whom he had developed a close friendship. 

Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," is the rare sequel, especially in our time of constant sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots and re-imaginings, that truly feels as if it was birthed through a purpose that exceeds itself far beyond anything solely commercial and cynical. In my original review of Coogler's "Black Panther," (housed in the February 2018 section of this blogsite) I remarked that the film felt to be the first Marvel film that was actually about something, ascending itself far above heroes and villains with subject matter pertaining towards, but not limited to, Black excellence. Black nationalism, and Afro-futurism as presented as a dream world of an uncolonized, technologically advanced African landscape and how that contrasts with the plight and displacement of colonized African-Americans. 

With "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," Ryan Coogler has taken everything we loved about the original film and has extended and deepened his palate into something so specific to the Black experience plus experiences of the marginalized communities of color to the universal and primal emotions the human community experience when grieving and mourning. In essence, through immense tragedy, Ryan Coogler dug deeper than ever before and emerged with a testament of towering strength and emotion, propelling itself far from its MCU brethren and into an artistic statement, a kinetic, operatic, and shatteringly poetic installment that exists within its own triumphant lane. 

I will keep plot details to a minimum so as to to produce spoilers. Our story of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" begins with grave solemnity as we and the characters are greeted with the death of King T'Challa. As T'Challa family and friends plus all of Wakanda reels from tragedy and attempts to continue onwards in the face of personal and national grief, a new threat arises in the form of the ankle winged Sub-Mariner himself, King Namor (played by Tenoch Huerta Mejia), ruler of the underwater civilization of Talocan, housed directly beneath Wakanda.

Even moreso than its predecessor, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is majestic and mountainous, visually, artistically, sonically, philosophically, spiritually, and most importantly, humanely. While there are conceptual and story threads that link and further extend the MCU as a whole, Ryan Coogler, working so beautifully with his superlative cast and crew are firmly rooted within their collective communion of grief and tribute to Chadwick Boseman, that the film truly operates at a completely higher level. If the first film represented itself at a peak of quality, then this new film showcases Coogler's vision ascending to an even greater peak ensuring that "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" never exists as "just another Marvel movie" or "the next Marvel movie" but defiantly as a full, enriching, enveloping artistic statement upon its own considerable merits.  

The presentation is astounding, and just as with the first film, Coogler's world building is so resplendent and complete that it would be impossible to digest every detail within one sitting. The fictional world of Wakanda has grown even more lush and labyrinthine, so effectively that the lines of fantasy and reality are considerably blurred further...or perhaps, my wishes for Wakanda to being a real place have grown stronger. 

To that end, the film allows Coogler to envision and deliver a tremendous effort at world building, especially when adding in the underwater realm of Talocan. Just as Wakanda immerses itself in the colors, iconography, clothing, dialects and history to depict the uncolonized Africa, Coogler and his team perform the same feat when imagining Talocan, which is a hybrid mixture of Mesoamerican and Mayan cultures. Tremendous praise must be showered upon Costume Designer Ruth Carter plus Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw and good Lord, Composer Ludwig Goransson (might this be his finest score?) for truly showing the efforts of their talents and they extended of themselves to reach for greatness. 

In addition to the building of two distinct worlds, Ryan Coogler has also grown much ore comfortable with the handling of visual effects and larger scaled and unquestionably more complicated action sequences and large scaled set pieces, conjuring one image after another that never exists as CGI bombast or bludgeoning incoherence. He has amassed a vision that exudes an operatic heft which always resonates powerfully and emotionally, while shaking the confines of the movie theater walls. 

It is that specific quality that allows "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" to transcend the MCU and its own genre for it is an experience bathed in mourning and tribute to the character of T'Challa and his real world conduit, Chadwick Bosemean. It is evident that Ryan Coogler, his cast and crew KNEW that if they were to proceed with a new installment, it would have to be an experience worthy of the one who is no longer present in the flesh. It could not be an experience that was simply OK or a placeholder for the next Marvel movie. It HAD to be of value and of worth to the man, again as a character and as a human being in reality, fur the film is about his presence in its absence. How his life and the threads he weaved through the connections he made in life, affect everyone and everything now that he is gone. 

Throughout Wakanda and its inhabitants, from the characters of Wakandian Queen and T'halla's Mother, Ramonda (the ever regal Angela Bassett), T'Challa's sister and scientific genius Shuri (Letitia Wright), his lover and Wakandian spy Nakia (Lupito Nyong'o), Dora Milaje General and trusted ally Okoye (Danai Gurira) and leader of the Jabari mountain tribe, M'Baku (Winston Duke), "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is a film, about grief and the grieving process. All of the characters are given space to explore how they process and attempt to reconfigure their place in the world without T'Challa and it is uncanny with how there is an intimacy along with sequences and monologues that touch upon the Shakespearean. 

The moments when the film grows quiet, where it feels like we are gaining insight into the actor's otherwise private feelings regarding Chadwick Boseman's passing, we in the audience are also allow to process our own feelings whether regarding what Boseman meant to us or even our mourning for those we have lost in or real lives. It is a daring balancing act that Ryan Coogler honors beautifully and never allows the super heroics and pyrotechnics to overshadow, especially within its opening and closing scenes that so elegant in their poetic humanity.     

Further still, and through means of the very representation which always matters (especially in our current era of extremely loud and open racism and social/political violence against communities of color), his sense of metaphor and allegory remains strongly intact and again gives the film a greater purpose than just being about heroes and villains. 

Just as with the first film, we explore the relationship between the culture uncolonized Africans and colonized African-Americans who have been disconnected from our own sense of culture, history and legacy. Through Namor and his kingdom, Coogler explores a community of color that has been fully displaced and then forced to reinvent elsewhere, in this case, underneath Wakanda, this creating the metaphorical hierarchy, which itself created the conflict between the two nations and even further, extends from the consequences of T'Challa's nobility by ceasing Wakanda's existence as an isolationist society and an active part of the global community overall. 

Coogler then further explores that very Dr. Martin Luther King Jr./Malcom X dichotomy while acknowledging that both men and the philosophies they lived by were exceedingly more complex and nuanced than ever given credit for. Now that T'Challa is gone, how should Wakanda proceed as a nation? What is Black nationalism and therefore, Black militarism? Should two marginalized communities merge and formulate an alliance, in what purpose should such an alliance exist? In one of collaboration and solidarity, aiding in each other's self preservation and ascension? Or in contention and vengeance, always at the ready for revenge filled retribution towards each other (knowing such a conflict only benefits the dominant society) as well as against the dominant society? 

Even further still, so richly, and without calling obvious attention to itself, Ryan Cogler's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is a celebration and tribute to Black women, the pillars of our communities and even society itself as Black women have been pivotal to the preservation of our American democracy time and time and time again. Coogler gives us a tapestry of Black women in royalty, Black Women of Science, Black women as warriors, Black woman as teachers, and all of them function as Black women as LEADERS who are the collective heart and soul of Wakanda (and the film itself) for it does not exist without any of them. 

It feels fitting that in a film that stars Wakanda, a mythical world  once isolated from the rest of the world, plus the even more mythical landscape of Talocan hidden underneath, Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" should stand above and apart from its Marvel companions. Coogler has gifted us with a film that stands by itself so proudly and in such tremendous reverence to Chadwick Boseman and as it should. It would have been so easy to recast the role and be done with it, and hw mercenary an act that would have been. Thankfully, Coogler, his cast and crew dug as deeply as and properly, especially in a film that surrounds itself with concepts of family, legacy, traditions, and how we honor all those who came before. These artists stood upon the shoulders of the memory of and love for Boseman to give of themselves to make a film that stands in tribute to what he meant to them as well as to us. We grieve alongside our cast and their characters, and in doing so, our tears are shared as we are also thrust into a story that resonates with representation, revolution and spiritual resolution. 

There are good movies. There are bad movies. There are good to great Marvel movies and there are...um...not so good Marvel movies. Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a GREAT MOVIE, a towering achievement and one of 2022's very best films. 

DON'T LOOK UP: a review of "Nope"

 

"NOPE"
Written, Produced and Directed by Jordan Peele
**** (four stars)
RATED R

Clouds certainly do not look the same after seeing this one.

One of my most favorite sequences in Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" (1977) is the alien abduction of 3 year old Barry from his rural home in the middle of the night directly from the safety of his Mother (Melinda Dillion). Even after 45 years, the power of this sequence is untouchable. A swirling array of lights, color, awesome sound, electromagnetic pulses, inanimate objects racing around and operating by themselves while an enraptured Barry persistently approaches the aliens as his Mother furiously strains to keep him...to no avail. 

It is a sequence of great terror and astonishment and concluding with these night sky clouds containing the spaceship and hovering away in ethereal foreboding. Those very same "Spielberg-ian" clouds re-appear in his "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial" (1982) as well as his own Production (or ghost direction, such as it is ) of Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist" (1982), all three films showcasing the natural mystery, menace and magic of these atmospheric aerosols and whatever elements they contain that can upend the mundane lives in suburbia. 

With "Nope," his third directorial feature film, Jordan Peele has extended from the psychological chamber pieces of the outstanding, game changing debut  "Get Out" (2017) and the mesmerizing, disturbing "Us" (2019) and has widened his cinematic palate to deliver an experience that feels like a direct descendant of what Steven Spielberg created in the modern summer blockbuster film in "Jaws" (1975) while also firmly expanding his own distinct cinematic universe. 

"Nope" is a grander, often sprawling affair yet one that is decidedly artful in its occasional non-linear storytelling, conceptual metaphors, combined with the representational hallmarks that have made Peele's oeuvre as provocatively challenging as they are entertaining. Jordan Peele's "Nope" makes him three for three as his original films have truly become a treasured oasis in our ever widening sea of sequels, prequels, reboots, re-imaginings. 

As with his previous films, the less you know about Jordan Peele's "Nope," the better. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer star as siblings Otis "O.J." Haywood Jr. and Emerald "Em" Haywood, horse wranglers for television and motion pictures, owners of their financially troubled ranch and possibly descendants of the the unnamed African American jockey depicted in Eadweard Muybridge's "The Horse In Motion" (1878), the first assembly of photographs to create a motion picture. 

As O.J. has sold many of his horses to Rocky "Jupe" Park (Steven Yeun), owner of the nearby tiny Western theme park, "Jupiter's Claim," the financial straits of the Haywood ranch and business grow dire.

And then...

At the ranch, O.J. and Em soon experience strange electromagnetic pulses, odd inorganic objects falling from the skies, their remaining horses reacting violently and vanishing without a trace and finally, something, hiding and hovering overhead inside the clouds over the ranch.

With a storytelling canvas that incudes, but is not limited to, a late '90s sitcom, a field of tube man skydancer props, outdoor carnivals, analog cameras, music eerily slowed down to half speed, and multiple self-referential nods to film history, Jordan Peele's "Nope" is far and away his broadest, most expansive, widest reaching film. It is also an elusive experience, one where all of the cinematic bread crumbs seem to be leading to differing destinations until they all congregate at the same terrifyingly visceral point.

As previously stated, "Nope" owes much of its DNA to the earlier films of Steven Spielberg--especially with clear and clever open nods to both "E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial" (in a particularly great visual moment) and especially, "Jaws." Firstly in keeping the mystery within the clouds hidden from view for much of the film, thus increasing the tension and terror, but secondly and notably in a short sequence during which grizzled Cinematographer Antlers Holst (a great, growling Michael Wincott) delivers a grave recitation of a novelty song to both O.J. and Em, clearly echoing the shark hunter Quint's iconic U.S.S. Indianapolis monologue in Spielberg's classic. 

"Nope" also finds Jordan Peele expanding his already impressive and immersive visual storytelling as his collaboration alongside Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, Editor Nicholas Monsour and his visual effects team have devised new ways to distill information, provide clues, offer legitimate scares and the cinematic slight of hand by tricking you eyes making you wonder if you saw what you thought you saw...often to gripping your theater seats frightening heights.

But if there is a behind the scenes MVP, it would have to extend firmly to Peele's work with Sound Designer Johnnie Burn, which is so immersive, so primal, so much of a character in and of itself, that it often took me to the same horrific  cinematic neighborhoods as M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs" (2002), Steven Spielberg's ferociously nightmarish "War Of The Worlds" (2005), and Denis Villeneuve's "Arrival" (2016). For all of its volume and its silence, the sound of "Nope" is exceedingly crucial to its towering success. 

For a filmmaker as multi-layered as Jordan Peele has already proven himself to being with just two films prior, "Nope" continues his probing, provocative leanings which quite possibly are linking his filmography together thematically. Again and as always, representation means everything! 

With Jordan Peele's "Nope," which is indeed a hybrid of horror, the Western and science fiction, we are seeing Black faces in cinematic arenas in which we are either not seen and definitely not as the leading characters driving the narratives forwards. "Nope" leans into African American cowboy history and culture while also delivering elements of a Western which happens to have Black people at the forefront. Peele also gives places Black people at the beginnings of the history of film itself and the presence of Black owned Haywood ranch feels as essential as anything witnessed in Quentin Tarantino's heartfelt revisionist history as contained in "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" (2019).

Reuniting Peele with Daniel Kaluuya firmly showcases a cinematic pairing that is meant to be. As O.J., so taciturn, so still waters runs deep, Kaluuya's beautifully haunted, expressive eyes (honestly, Kaluuya's eyes alongside Brian Tyree Henry's eyes--of television's "Atlanta"-- are some of the deepest, most expressive I have seen in years) speak more powerfully than any monologues he could have been given. This skill not only allows him to become that classic Western figure, the type seen in John Ford or Howard Hawkes films but one that inexplicably links the concept of Peele's Sunken Place of all three films together in my mind. 

For in "Get Out," the Sunken Place partially represented psychological trauma and imprisonment, ad it is seemingly more physical in the subterranean dwellings of "Us," with "Nope" it somehow is woven into our collective need for the spectacle, to own it, to harness it, to obtain the unobtainable and to our own destruction be damned. 

And so, what is "Nope" all about? For that, you'd have to see for yourselves and explore it for yourselves and to that end, I deeply appreciate Jordan Peele for giving audiences a film experience that has become exceedingly rare as ready made material with our prefabricated responses are ruling the theaters at the expense of regarding a filmmaker's personal vision. 

Clearly, Jordan Peele is asking us to ponder the nature of a spectacle for what else is "Nope" but a spectacle about spectacles and our relationships with them combined with our own sense of voyeurisms, containment and even exploitation as we co-exist in our instant gratification, cellphone camera driven culture where living the experience has taken that backseat to capturing the experience, which ultimately be contributing to our societal spiritual decay for not everything can be owned, and definitely not controlled to meet our expectations. 

For all of its surprise, awe, and wonder, Peele never allows us to be firmly lifted or let off of the hook. That underbelly of doom is ever present, serving as warning signs to us all as it simultaneously exists as a superb work of cinematic art.

Jordan Peele's "Nope" is one of the best films of 2022. 

WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE: a review of "Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness"

"DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS"
Based upon the Marvel Comics series created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee
Screenplay Written by Michael Waldron
Directed by Sam Raimi
**1/2 (two and a half stars)
RATED PG 13

It was bound to happen and frankly, I am not surprised that it has not happened even more often. 

My superhero movie fatigue has been long documented upon this site and so, there's no need to rehash everything now. But with regards to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), I have comes to terms and have grown to largely accept the serialized storytelling approach they have achieved to a miraculous degree overall. The middle to end period of the "Phase Three' sequence of films and stories, which included nothing less than Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" (2018) as well as Joe and Anthony Russo's extraordinary "Avengers: Infinity War" (2018) and "Avengers: Endgame" (2019) represented a towering culmination of all that had come before. 

With the arrival of "Phase Four," we have already been gifted with Destin Daniel Cretton's wonderful "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021) and Jon Watts' absolutely tremendous "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021), both of which worked independently and in conjunction with all of the new forays into the extended storylines depicted in the Marvel television series. With Matt Shakman's "WandaVision" (2021), Kari Skogland's "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (2021), Kate Herron's "Loki" (2021) and Rhys Thomas and Bert & Bertie's "Hawkeye" (2021), I was thoroughly engaged with the elongated storytelling that expanded all that we had previously experienced as well as explored a post Thanos existence with creativity, pathos, sorrow, and the rightful sense of global PTSD. 

With few exceptions, the MCU has become especially thrilling to me and with the gradual arrival of the multiverse and the full emergence of next great threat Kang The Conqueror on the horizon, the reservations that I harbored have largely dissipated...

...sort of.

As good to great Marvel has been as of late, there is still the factor of assembly line moviemaking to contend with and how having so many projects in the proverbial pipeline, and all working together to create a larger narrative, something at some point is bound to stumble. And unfortunately, that stumble has now arrived.

Sam Raimi's "Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness" has long been billed as being Marvel first horror film, so to speak. Yes indeed, we do receive the pre-requisite jump scares and sequences of surprising, sudden shocks of graphic violence (PG 13 comic book styled, of course) but that being said, the film is nowhere near as inventive, dazzling, frightening or as maddening as it could have been. That being said, it is not for Raimi's lack of trying as he is indeed working like the devil to keep all of the conceptual plates spinning in the air.  But, honestly, there is only so much even the very best filmmakers can do when racing to complete a film before the pre-announced release date. And truthfully, and especially with this high caliber work Marvel has been producing recently, all parties involved, deserve better. 

Opening a short time after the events of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," we reunite with Doctor Stephen Strange (again played by Benedict Cumberbatch) trapped in the throes of an adrenalized nightmare in which he and a plucky teenager named America Chavez (played by Xochitl Gomez) are being relentlessly pursued by a demon intent upon stealing America's powers to travel through and manipulate the multiverse. But, was it a nightmare...

In the so-called waking world, Doctor Strange soon meets, or is reunited, with America during a battle with another demon intent upon capturing the teen. Upon noticing witch craft runes, Strange decides to consult the grieving Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), living in isolation after the devastating events depicted within "WandaVision." Strange soon discovers that Wanda has not only been overtaken by the influence of The Book Of The Damned, known as The Darkhold, the book has also fully transformed Wanda into The Scarlet Witch and she is the one behind the attacks against America Chavez, leading to a relentless pursuit throughout the multiverse.

Sam Raimi's "Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness" functions like a technicolor fever dream. Vibrantly psychedelic and kaleidoscopic, certainly but also noisy, fussy, frantic, chaotic, and messy, definitely. Granted, the odds were stacked against this film considerably as Directors were swapped and therefore, Raimi's production time was truncated due to the switch as well as the Covid-19 shut down, plus all of the reportedly extensive re-shoots. All of that being said, it is amazing when a movie gets itself made under normal circumstances but for one as fraught with difficulties as this one, it is admirable that Raimi delivered a final result in time for the film's release...even though the entire film looks and feels as if he was building the plane while flying it.  

Of course, there is much to admire. The pre-requisite MCU spit and polish is firmly in place. Performances are strong throughout, with Elizabeth Olsen as the clear MVP and I will speak to that shortly. Conceptually, I loved the idea that dreams and nightmares are in fact passages to multiverse existences and not fantasy at all. The Scarlet Witch's ability to Dreamwalk through and control multiverse existences was another aspect that really intrigued me greatly, I loved the concept of the Incursion-when multiverse realities collide and disintegrate. There was more than enough conceptually to work with and utilize to surprisingly and, in sticking with the film's title, to really work us over psychologically as well as function as a superb horror film, much like the source material which did give me nightmares as a child, strong enough where I gave the comic series a wide berth. And still, by film's end, it all felt to be a series of missed opportunities.  

I think back to "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and how the concept of theme multiverse was handled, presented and executed as it was indeed a magical merging of storytelling, emotional heft, dire issues of fate and consequences plus fan service that was supremely earned. I look to both "WandaVision" and "Loki," where the dizzying concepts of alternate, multiverse realities and variant personalities, The Time Variance Authority (TVA) and the overall destruction of the Sacred Timeline thus unleashing the soon to be revealed dangers of Kang The Conqueror made for mesmerizing, captivating, cathartic  viewing. 

With regards to Sam Raimi's "Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, we are given elements of pathos, some better than others. For Stephen Strange, I suppose the take away is that he is a figure confronted with the limits of his own arrogances as every multiverse incarnation Strange confronts is one who has been defeated in one way or an other. It is as if in this film, Strange is serving as Marvel's George Bailey in essence, exploring existence and his place within it or without him. Compelling in theory but it never sticks to the cinematic ribs, so to speak. Benedict Cumberbatch is perfectly suited for the titular role as Doctor Strange but even so, I had wished the screenplay did not let an actor of his skills down so much and so often as he really has not terribly much to do...and due to that, I know that I was nowhere near as invested as I should have been in a story such as this one.

Now Elizabeth Olsen on the other hand, as previously stated, walks away with the entire film, flaws and all. It seems that despite all of the storytelling potholes and poor tonal sifts, Olsen as Wanda and furthermore, as The Scarlet Witch continued to create a powerful swan dive into the ocean of grief and loss, which for her possesses no bottom  Granted, if you have not seen "WandaVision,"  you will be missing a massive amount of intensely crucial set up for the events of this film--in addition to one of the very best performances seen within the MCU in the service of one of the series most tragic characters.  

With Raimi's film, Wanda's trauma has been transformed into a righteous rage that does brilliantly set her up to become a formidable "villain" but an adversary that is rooted in grave pain congealed with a fury that does indeed strike at the heart of the unfairness and even implied sexism Wanda has faced throughout her adventures with the Avengers. 

"You break the rules and become a hero," Wanda states sharply to Strange early in the film. "I do it and I become the enemy. That doesn't seem fair." At its very best, and for so often during the entire MCU saga, the humanity of the characters has far outweighed any of the pyrotechnics. It is within those three lines that we understand nearly everything that we need to know about this stage of Wanda's trajectory as well as how it has informed and re-contextualized everything that we knew about her previously. I really think that Raimi comes dangerously close to merely demonizing her yet Elizabeth Olsen's performance is what makes Wanda/The Scarlet Witch roar.  

Yet, with Sam Raimi's film overall...sigh...Where was the sense of awe? Or confusion? Or psychological terror? Or...well...honestly, that sense of madness that is presented in the film's own title? Yes, there is one terrific sequence of Doctor Strange and America Chavez hurtling through one universe after another, but all told, Raimi seems to have no thoughts about these universes other than visual...and briefly at that. Yes, indeed this is a PG 13 movie and Raimi can only go so far (and I believe that he certainly did within one particularly gruesome sequence of superhero carnage) but everything feels so glib and unsurprising. 

Absolutely no one seems to be remotely phased by the existence of the multiverse or when characters from one universe meet similar characters who exist in a parallel universe. Everything is so matter of fact, so everyday and without any sense of real danger, excitement, or intensity, It often just feels like the actors are only walking from set to set or just standing upon one set with CGI backgrounds ever changing without any real consequences and in a story where things just happen. 

The typically strong Marvel storytelling was considerably messier this time around to the point where I am wondering if it was a glaring plot hole if the events at the conclusion of "Spider-Man: No Way Home" were understood correctly.

Sam Raimi's "Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness," while not a bad film by any stretch, it one that doesn't sink inwards, doesn't really disturb, and it is a film that often felt like it was being written each day in order to meet the pre-ordained release date. In fact, this film's shortcoming only showcase how strong the Marvel television series actually are as they have worked wonders for the Marvel characters by having the time to stretch and add layers and textures, making for more satisfying experiences. 

Doctor Strange deserves so much more than a rush job and unfortunately, that is precisely what this film is. 

FLYING OFF OF THE RAINBOW BRIDGE: a review of "Thor: Love And Thunder"

"THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER"
Based upon the Marvel Comics series created by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee & Larry Lieber
Screenplay Written by Taika Waititi & Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
Directed by Taika Waititi
** 1/2 (two and a half stars)
RATED PG 13

When is it ever too much of a good thing?

With the ever continuing and expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), that very question has been asked a myriad amount of times by now as the assembly line production of movies and television shows does beg to be inquired. I have gone through my varying feelings about the sheer amount of product that has emerged over these past 14 years and I have now grown accustomed to the serialized storytelling plus my still continued feelings that the Marvel output overall has been consistently good to great with some hiccups here and there. 

That being said, I am strongly feeling that while the television slate of the MCU, under the leadership of Producer Kevin Feige, has been thrilling, innovative and captivating, the motion pictures as of late have not shown the same consistency of attentive care and execution. Yes, the films are as ravishing as ever. But the actual storytelling and therefore, that emotional connection, which makes this series one you wish to keep returning to, is feeling rushed, strained and just existing to keep the Marvel pipeline surging ahead. Frankly, for me, after the majesty of Jon Watts' "Spider-Man: No Way Home" (2021), one of the very best the MCU has ever released, it is inexcusable to me to watch Marvel produce anything sub par. They can't go back, nor should they and when they do, it does force the question that opened this posting to be asked. 

Taika Waititi's  "Thor: Love And Thunder," or titular hero's fourth solo adventure and the MCU's 29th feature overall, is overflowing with artistic vision and one that carries an especially surprising Directorial personality in Waititi as the Marvel aesthetic has been emphasized more than a filmmaker's personal stamp. Even so, it was two exceedingly full hours of wild razzle dazzle, nonsense and Guns N' Roses that ultimately left me feeling underwhelmed to the point where I was curious if there even was a point to it other than commerce driven.  

When we last saw The God Of Thunder (again winningly played by Chris Hemsworth), he had boarded a starship alongside The Guardians Of The Galaxy (all of whom make an appearance) after the defeat of Thanos, resurrecting half of the universe in the process and bidding final farewells to Tony Stark, Natasha Ramonoff and Steve Rogers. Through these tumultuous life altering events, which had already endured the death of his Father, Odin, the destruction of Asgard and the creation of New Asgard upon  Earth with Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) entrusted as the new King, our very own Thor feels soulfully wayward, as well as still nursing a broken heart from his breakup with Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).  

Meanwhile, certain doom has re-emerged, yet this time, in the form of Gorr The God Butcher (Christian Bale) and the arachnid styled demons of his dreaded Shadow Realm. Gorr, armed with the Necrosword, is intent upon murdering all of the Gods, even as he is cursed by the object. with New Asgard as his next target, Gorr apprehends all of the Asgardian children as bait for Thor, who clearly will need all of the assistance he can find for this battle...

...which includes...the return of Dr. Jane Foster, now as The Mighty Thor (not Lady Thor, thank you very much) armed with the mystical and thought to be forever destructed hammer Mjolnir.

Just as with Taika Waititi's resplendent "Thor: Ragnarok" (2017), "Thor: Love And Thunder" is an orgiastic display of rainbow colored drenched sound, fury and irreverence that proudly never takes itself too seriously, if at all, and is almost determined to try and see how far it can push the Marvel envelope without flying completely off of the Rainbow Bridge. But, boy does it come dangerously close.

Taika Waititi's puckish approach, so welcome and unexpected in "Raganarok," felt that somehow he snuck something past Feige's watchful overseeing MCU eye and in doing so, fully rejuvenated and repurposed a character that never entirely had itself settled as to how it could exist, despite Chris Hemsworth's absolutely perfect casting and clear enthusiasm for the role. "Ragnarok" found Hemsworth and Thor as their most comfortable, treading that very fine line between heroism, pathos and sheer ridiculousness that showcased Hemsworth's considerable abilities (most notably his terrific comedic touch) and broadened the dimensions of Thor himself, making him a character we would love to follow to the ends of the universe and beyond. 

With "Love And Thunder," Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth truly make a dream team as their sensibilities feel to line up perfectly as they each simultaneously honor and send up our hero to mischievously delicious delight. Additionally, Natalie Portman is clearly having a blast as both Dr. Jane Foster and as the hammer wielding Mighty Thor, just nailing a heretofore untapped charm as her Earthbound Scientist combined with an existential rise and despair, all the while battling foes with the best of our Asgardian heroes and heroines and ever seeking the perfect catchphrase for herself. The magnetic Tessa Thompson owns her role as the swaggering warrior King Valkyrie, making her union with both Hemsworth and Portman a veritable dream team. 

But...oh, if they were just given even more to do...  

While "Love And Thunder" more than indulges Taika Waititi's relentless imagination and stunning visual dynamism, which feels even more unfiltered with a story that sprawls itself from Earth all the way to Zeus's (a more than game Russell Crowe) Omnipresent City, Gorr's Shadow Realm and the ends of Eternity itself fueled by operatic and comedic overtones of romance, sexual friskiness and fluidity, and the dives into the ocean of love (to think, even Thor's axe Stormbreaker can feel pangs of jealousy). 

I deeply appreciated Waititi's restless urgency to seemingly try anything at all to keep those cinematic plates spinning vibrantly, rather than creating another anonymous big budget blockbuster. Yet, while that approach served him exceedingly well in "Ragnarok," he seemed considerably more out of control this time around. It doesn't mean that he needed to be necessarily reined in. It means that I just had wished that greater care was taken with the story and actual storytelling, therefore setting whatever boundaries needed to be in place for him to work within and push. Instead, Waititi was poking us in the eye every single second, which really overstays its welcome even while enjoying it. For if everything is essentially a joke, then why should we care about anything that happens at all?   

The love story of Thor and Jane only succeeds due to Hemsworth and Portman's chemistry and ease with each other combined with what we already know about the duo from previous Marvel entries and not really due to anything Waititi brings to the table, aside from some sweet montage moments. Even Christian Bale felt to be underused, which is a serious misfire, because when he is on screen, he exudes as much pathos as creepiness and truthfully, if you are going to have a character named Gorr The God Butcher, shouldn't we see a figure that more than lives up to his moniker?  

To that end, all of the character motivations felt rushed, in a screenplay hat felt to be barely written, so that they never fully resonated and existed solely to get to the next scene, thus, and again, undervaluing the film as a whole and threatening to make the MCU experience tiresome rather than enthralling.

Certainly, when producing a slate of material on an assembly line such as Marvel's, quality control is bound to miss once in a while. Yet with Sam Raimi's undercooked, over rushed missed opportunity which was "Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness" and now followed by Taika Waititi's "Thor: Love And Thunder," I am admittedly getting nervous going forward, especially as Ryan  Coogler's long awaited "Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever" is set to arrive by the holiday season.  

Tighten it up, Marvel.  For we need a reason to return to the MCU other than because it simply exists.

MAJESTIC, MASTERFUL, MAGNIFICENT MULTIVERSE: a review of "Everything Everywhere All At Once"

 

"EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE"
Written, Produced and Directed by Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
**** (four stars)
RATED R

Now, THAT'S a multiverse!!!! 

For much of the duration of Savage Cinema, I have lamented the increasing presence of sequels, prequels, remakes, franchises and re-imaginings at the full expense of essentially any other movies that could be made...and most importantly, the kinds of films that truly stand out as the type of one-pf-a-kind experience that signals the arrival of a fresh filmmaking voice who ultimately deliered an experience unlike anything we have seen before. 

These days, if a filmmaker is not of the name recognition level as Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright or most recently, Jordan Peele--actual filmmakers who can open a film based solely upon their own names--the likelihood of their films even receiving a theatrical release are increasingly unstable. Face it, we are living in a time when Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee need to go to streaming services to finance new works and Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" (2021), his best film in nearly 15 years, bombs at the box office, what chance do newer voices even have in this landscape to even try get their cinematic voices heard?

With the arrival and now, the huge success of "Everything Everywhere All At Once," written, produced and directed by the duo who have adorned themselves solely as Daniels, perhaps we are receiving a grand message from audiences that we are indeed craving material that is unquestionably original, unfamiliar, and completely surprising. What the Daniels have delivered enormously redefines "audacious," as their film will whip your head around and back again, vigorously and gleefully assault your senses and by film's end, break your heart and piece everything back together again, leaving you with a view of the world and existence itself altered and maybe even anew. 

This is precisely what the very BEST movies have the power to do when they are working so vibrantly, brilliantly, inventively, emphatically, dynamically and beautifully. Daniels' "Everything Everywhere All At Once" is swing-for-the-fences-and-hit-a-grand-slam cinema. It is not only the best film of 2022 so far (and honestly, I am unable to think of what else could come along to top it) but it is also one of the very best films of this decade.

Daniels' "Everything Everywhere At Once" stars an outstanding Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American proprietor of a struggling laundromat, she co-owns with her husband Waymond (Ke Huey Kwan), which is now being audited by the intimidating IRS agent Dierdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis). Adding to Evelyn's stress is the arrival of her demanding Father, Gong Gong (James Wong) from China, an impending divorce initiated by Waymond, and ongoing conflicts with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), who now has a girlfriend named Becky (Tallie Medel).

And even with all of these factors, which would already be more than enough, Evelyn soon discovers that she must connect with her myriad of other selves from multiversal universes in order to defeat a grave threat known as Jobu Tupaki, who can potentially unravel all of existence in every universe.

Perhaps just a hair more than I described an be fully discerned from the film's trailer and truthfully, that it all that I feel comfortable sharing with you here because Daniels' "Everything Everywhere All At Once" is a film that rapturously exceeds itself from the confines of its expansive title and ultimately, extends itself further than anything the trailer could present to you. The glorious surprise of the film in its entirety is in the unknowing and therefore, it should be experienced as such.

I am comfortable expressing to you that Daniels have stuffed the film, to the point of near overloading, with comedy--both slapstick and pitch dark, science fiction and comic book aesthetics, a aching family drama, horror, martial arts films and animation into an orgiastic, wildly anarchistic stew that is proudly indescribable and brazenly defies categorization--a true cinematic gift during a time when everything has to be explained in one sentence or even one classification. 

"Everything Everywhere All At Once," through the unfiltered imagination and wide open sky heart of Daniels' storytelling and direction, merged with the equally unfiltered work from their complete filmmaking team--from Larkin Seipie's gorgeous Cinematography, Paul Rogers' whiplash, kaleidoscopic editing, the engulfing score from Son Lux, Kelsi Ephraim's set design and good Lord, Shirley Kurata's costume design and the dazzling makeup design, sound design, art direction and fight choreography--unleashes a full throttle take-it-or-leave-it experience yet it is not a confrontational one. 

This is a film of embrace. It is reaching out for us and all we have to do is reach back.  

It this makes any sense at all, try to envision or remember how you felt the very first time that you saw The Wachowski's action triumph, reality challenging "The Matrix" (1999). Take that, and then combine films as varied and as singular as Tom Tykwer's "Run Lola Run" (1998), Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich" (1999) and "Where The Wild Things Are" (2009), Charlie Kaufman's "Synecdoche, New York" (2008),  Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" (2010), Terrence Malick's "The Tree Of Life" (2011), Boots Riley's "Sorry To Bother You" (2018) and the films of Michel Gondry, Terry Gilliam or the late Ken Russell and you just might gather what kind of a film you are in for. 

A film of marital strife and kung fu battles. A film of grave Mother-daughter dynamics and a surreal vision of a universe in which humans have hot dog hands as appendages. A film of the Asian and Asian-American experience combined with deep psychology, enormous sound and vision and the urgent silence and sorrow that suggests William Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969). It is a film of pathos and absurdity, whimsy and nightmares, the sublime, grandiose and poignant...in every frame, at every moment, from beginning to end.

Now, one would think that to have a film this heavily stuffed would be too much of a great thing, even for all of its unabashed creativity and world building and building and building. Yet, Daniels ensures that all of this is not simply art for art's sake or smug independent film quirkiness for there is a method to their specialized multiverse madness where the spinning of a laundromat dryer is a stand in for the karmic wheel and an everything bagel represents the end of all things.  

For as all out bonkers as "Everything Everywhere All At Once" is, there is a gravity that supplies the film with purpose, meaning, and a poignancy that I feel will release your personal floodgates by the film's wrenching, resplendent climax as the metaphors abound and the honest philosophical vision at work is the true engine at the soul of the film. For the multiverse can be taken at face value, as a literal form of existence, yet the overall existential quality of the film allows the multiverse to function as something so tangible and true, something evidenced so thrillingly through the exceedingly strong performances from the cast.

Michelle Yeoh is absolutely extraordinary in the leading role of Evelyn Wang, as her journey through the multiverse is rooted in the existential journeys that we all face every single day of our lives. What choices do I make? What can I become? If I take this route, what will be the outcome or if I take that route, will that lead me to to who I feel that I am able to be? What is my potential and is who I imagined myself to be the person that I actually am? Or am I destined to live a life that I never wanted, being caught on a treadmill that stifles my dreams, visions and hope itself?

Through Evelyn, and for ourselves in the audience, the multiverse could exist and serve as every thought and feeling that she and we hold about ourselves within our individualistic places in a chaotic yet symbiotic universe. We are all trying to make sense of something that in essence does not make sense and never will. Yet, we continue to seek meaning in the inherent connections that we share to the universe, the world, to all of our selves that reside within our one self and most importantly, to the people who mean the most to us. For in contact and connection, for in finding unity with those we love, we are then greater able to spiral through the universe together knowing that we are seen, we are understood, we are accepted regardless of who or what we are, who we did or did not become. 

Michelle Yeoh rises and exceeds every challenge the Daniels toss her way. It is a performance of tremendous grace, agility, humor, flight, commitment and acceptance of the possibilities contained within life, the universe and everything. Every accolade that shines her way is powerfully earned and deserved as she is formidable. 

As her daughter, the ironically named Joy, Stephanie Hsu is Michelle Yeoh's equal as she represents the futility and self perceived failures of navigating existence. She is the bottomless rage at the incredulity of living a life in which one is felt to be unaccepted, eternally misunderstood and unseen, and therefore, unloved for who could love something that is so obviously unlovable. She is the antagonist, the nihilist and what we are experiencing with her is a devastating portrait of mental illness and depression at its darkest and most manic, punishing and despairing, recalling Kirsten Dunst's devastating work in Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia" (2011), for why bother to exist in a world if it was never meant for me? 

While Evelyn and Joy serve as the film's yin-yang, Waymond Wang exists to bridge the gap. As Weymond, what a delight it was to see Ke Huy Quan, the former Short Round from Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom" (1984) and Data from Richard Donner's "The Goonies" (1985), after all of this time!! It is a rapid fire, bilingual performance that flows effortlessly from comedy to drama on a dime as we are first introduced to the multiverse through his character. 

He is our guide and in doing so, Quan showcased his superlative skill and ability with not only making the concept of the multiverse understandable, but also depicting the differences, shadings and connective tissue to all of his multiversal selves. While being different, they are also all the same and whether hapless or heroic, dashing or down trodden, Waymond provides the moral center of the film's primary conflict. He contains the messages that neither Evelyn or Joy are able to decipher, let alone hear. He binds them together as they threaten to permanently come apart and it is through his unquestionable warmth that the film receives its soul.     

Daniels' "Everything Everywhere All At Once" is a mind bending, phantasmagorical, deliriously absurd, beautifully nightmarish, balletically bizarre, psychedelic, polychromatic wonderment that also pierces the heart profoundly and it enormously felt. It is the film that celebrates the act of simply and majestically being alive and how every moment that we live and connect to that life force, that we even try at all at anything is a seismic victory. For living IS a victory. 

What a gift it is to go to the movies and witness something that fills you up so blissfully that the effect is lifting. Believe me, dear readers. "Everything Everywhere All At Once" is an absolute triumph.

MELANCHOLY MAGIC: a review of "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore"

 

"FANTASTIC BEATS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE"
Based upon characters and a screenplay written by J.K. Rowling
Screenplay Written by J.K. Rowling & Steve Kloves
Directed by David Yates
***1/2 (three and a half stars)
RATED PG 13

The continuing "Fantastic Beasts" series, J.K. Rowling's cinematic prequel saga to the "Harry Potter" film and book series, has seen more than its share of obstacles behind the scenes and there is truly no need to waste any more digital space addressing those issues here, aside from the obvious fact that they have proven to be a distraction from the actual cinematic storytelling at work. But furthermore, it is because of the story being told that a disconnect exists regardless of any familiarity and desire to return to the world of wizards, muggles and Hogwarts. 

For me, I remember the moment when I felt that I was disengaging from Rowling's vision for the first time. The sequence occurred in the middle of the first installment, David Yates' "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them" (2016), where magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) is attempting to attract and capture a rhinoceros styled creature called an Erumpent. While whimsical and purposeful to establishing the character of Newt Scamander and his adoration for all creatures great and small, it was also ponderous and unfortunately, stopped the momentum dead in its tracks. In short, the spell Rowling and Yates were unquestionably working diligently to weave was breaking. 

On the whole, the first "Fantastic Beasts" film was the first time when Rowling's storytelling did not quite land. And as I mused then, perhaps J.K. Rowling's gifts are better suited to the page rather than the screen as the rules for each brand of storytelling are markedly different. She possessed more than enough story and plot with that first film, but also a weakened sense of how to get from scene to scene and therefore, making for a less than satisfying whole. Chapter One as a book is one thing, as you can simply turn the page for Chapter Two. But, within a film, the experience needs to work simultaneously as Chapter One and as a complete experience, and that is where the first film faltered for me.  

By the second film, Yates' "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald" (2018), the parts snapped together in a much more satisfying way with an experience that provided the momentum, emotional depth and looming darkness that made for a compelling installment, as well as exciting me for Chapter Three. Now, after four long years, Yates' "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore" has arrived and has proven itself to being the best of the the prequel series so far. While not without flaws, most notably in its pacing issues, it is the most emotionally resonant production, one that finds pure and undeniably poignant ways to bridge the gap between this series and the adventures of the "Harry Potter" film and book series (which again takes place decades before Harry and his friends are born), while also being an exquisite rumination on love and loss. 

Opening a few years after the previous installment, David Yates' "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore," finds the Wizarding World on the precipice of grave danger with the increased presence and rise to power of Gellert Grindelwald (now played by Mads Mikkelsen). The dark wizard's latest scheme is to steal victory within an upcoming election, via the aid of a Qilin, a fantastical beast with the power of clairvoyance as well as the ability to see into another's soul. Yet, the Qilin in particular is a fantastic beast stolen by Grindelwald's acolytes, and subsequently murdered and revived through Grindelwald's necromancy. If successful, Grindelwald would gain complete control over the Wizarding World, affording him the opportunity to unleash his genocidal war upon the Muggle world. 

Unable to battle Grindelwald himself due to a blood pact, Hogwarts' Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) builds a small team designed to defeat the man who is his former best friend as well as one with whom he was once in love. 

In addition to Senegalese-French wizard Yusef Kama (William Nadylam), American witch and Professor of Charms Eulalie "Lally" Hicks (an excellent Jessica Williams), and Head Auror of the British Ministry Of Magic Theseus Scamander (Callum Turner), Dumbledore recruits Theseus' younger brother and magizoologist Newt  Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), his loyal assistant Bunty Broadacre (Victoria Yeates) and American baker Jacob Kowalski (a warmly strong Dan Folger), still mourning the departure of his true love, the witch Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), who defected to Grindelwald's ranks. 

This adventure finds our heroes intertwined within episodes that contain nothing less than assassination attempts, and a perilous escape from a German wizard prison, where inmates are devoured by an enormous manticore every time a light is extinguished and the aforementioned election. Yet, most of all, it is a mission that finds Dumbledore, Newt, Jacob and Grindelwald each confronted with the undying embers of loves gained and lost combined with the pain of regret from mistakes made and past tragedies endured while facing down an uncertain future.   

David Yates' "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore" is an elegant production, helmed with superb care and class. Crisply filmed by Cinematographer George Richmond and adorned with sumptuous costume and set designs, it is an experience which delivers an amalgamation of '40s film noir, old fashioned British espionage films, the "Mission: Impossible" television series, and that mystical, magical quality that effectively merged the whimsy, the foreboding and the melancholy that we have grown to adore from the "Harry Potter" films and the previous two "Fantastic Beasts" installments. Additionally, this third episode functions as a cultural critique, a political allegory starring rigged elections and fascistic tendencies illustrating just how easily and rapidly democracy can transform into totalitarian regimes with a eugenic philosophy at its core.  

Working in collaboration with "Harry Potter" screenwriter Steve Kloves, J.K. Rowing has streamlined her narrative, not in overall complexity, but to allow the series its proper weight in its emotional resonance. In that aspect, "The Secrets Of Dumbledore" is, beyond the magic and intrigue, at its core, a love story, or a series of love stories, with a seemingly inevitable wizard war as a backdrop.

For me, the heart of the film rests in its prologue and absolutely lovely epilogue, neither of which I will describe in full here, but both of which are just aching in their respective sense of longing. These two sequences tie the emotional threads of the characters together, thus giving the film purposeful bookends to the narrative. Of course, the film continues to explore the fallout of Dumbledore and Grindelwald's already ended romance, yet one where the embers still remain, richly symbolized by the crystal phial wrapped around Dumbledore's hand and wrist, representing the love he cannot completely relinquish even though he must in order to defeat Grindelwald. 

And then, there is also the continuing story of Jacob and Queenie, whom by the opening of this third film, have lost each other twice yet remain connected. Furthermore, we have the fraternal love stories between brothers Newt and Theses plus Dumbledore and his younger brother Aberforth (Richard Coyle), with whom they share a strained relationship due to familial tragedy and the figure of the disturbed, abused Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), figures crucially. 

As previously stated, David Yates' "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore" is an exquisitely rendered experience, which never at any point succumbs to anything resembling the more puerile aspects of big budget franchise driven movies. It is mature in approach and execution, which means it may not exactly be the cup of tea for younger fans of Rowling's Wizarding World universe yet by the same token, I did appreciate Yates' unwillingness to scale the material downwards for that audience, in preference of giving younger viewers something to reach towards.

All of that being said, the film is not without flaws, primarily in its deliberate pacing. Yes, the film is not in much of a hurry to get towards its destination, a tactic that works for and against the end result. In its favor, we have time to luxuriate in the visual details, the aesthetic  splendor, the skill of the seasoned performances and the emotional resonance. To its detriment, there are quite a number of sequences that did need a certain tightening, push and heft to greater reflect the inherent urgency of the story, for the potential loss of democracy and slide towards fascism, a looming wizard war, and on going heartbreak would suggest a greater urgency and momentum, wouldn't it?

The disconnect of this prequel series when compared to the deep embrace towards the original "Harry Potter" series is more than evident and whatever difficulties these prequels have with fully earning the devotion of viewers and fans (real world controversies notwithstanding) has to be acknowledged in order to even attempt to take these new films upon their own cinematic terms. 

As Newt Scamander, Eddie Redmayne continues to deliver an affectionately quirky performance of a relatively enigmatic character who is more than a little peculiar and not the easiest to pin down. The growth of Newt Scamander over the three films thus far has been depicted in subtle yet evident shadings. 

While still presented as a figure who would most likely be happiest being far away from most people and left alone to his world travels and discoveries of the titular fantastic beats he so adores, "The Secrets Of Dumbledore" showcases Newt's evolution from loner to reluctant hero and now, to a willing soldier in Dumbledore's first army--a character who is experiencing that a newfound desire for human connection and therefore, an inter-connectivity between all living things that is now being severely threatened should Grindewald succeed. And still, as before, Newt Scamander remains a central figure while not being a leading character, but more on that shortly.

As the younger Albus Dumbledore, the always magnetic Jude Law excels! While Law displays hints of what Michael Gambon achieved with his performances in the "Harry Potter" movies, he mines new depths of the younger man, simultaneously nursing a broken heart while ensuring the greater good to the world wizarding and otherwise and providing the emotional foreshadowing of perhaps why he behaved, nurtured, loved and sacrificed as he did in his future life once Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Voldemort and other significant figures entered his life. While there may not be any real surprises to Dumbledore's secrets, what is accomplished through Law's performance allows a greater core to emerge to this beloved character, and therefore, that palpable undercurrent of romantic loss and even existential loneliness that never truly fades, regardless of the lengthy passage of time.

And still, if were being honest, there is not really a central figure to latch onto and perhaps, this might be why some viewers are having some difficulty embracing this series on a similar level to the original Harry Potter series, where the leading character was crystal clear and everything spirals from Harry himself as he embarks upon his journey from his friends and enemies, his desires, wishes, faults fears, failures, victories and purpose. In essence, we experience everything when he experiences it and in doing so, a powerful connection is forged between the character and story to readers and viewers. 

For the "Fantastic Beasts" series, it is feeling moreover to me that the leading character is not actually a person or one of the titular beasts but possibly the Wizarding World itself and whatever connection we hold to this universe J.K. Rowling created, which can make the proceedings feel less personal even as the fate of that world is at stake. 

Additionally, this series is one that is demanding a particular level of patience that has been unasked for, so to speak, in all of the past Harry Potter material (to a degree) because for the films, we already had the books to return to and with the books, the pace at which the story unfolded was entirely in the hands of each individual reader. 

With "Fantastic Beasts," as there are no books to turn to, we are indeed waiting for each film to be created before beginning to experience a return to the story and Wizarding World. Of course, this reality mirrors the time period when there were only books and hungry fans had to wait for each new installment to be published but again, we were deeply invested, some people to a near primal degree, with the character of Harry Potter and his evolution. Can audiences ever feel that same devotion to a place? A time period?

If all of the "Harry Potter" movies captured the urgency and angst of youth and growing up then David Yates' "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore" reflects the melancholy of middle age, as youthful idealism and integrity are more greatly threatened by hardened cynicism and by nature, is more muted than one's formative years. 

Even so, the middle years are no less passionate, no less filled with all manner of existential ache and with this film, again, the poignancy and pain of the prologue and that resplendently bittersweet epilogue just makes me desire to hang onto this world just a little bit longer.  

RELEASE THE PANDA: a review of "Turning Red"

"TURNNG RED"
A Pixar Animaton Studios Film 
Story by Domee Shi, Julia Cho & Sarah Streicher
Screenplay Written by Julia Cho & Domee Shi
Directed by Domee Shi
**** (four stars)
RATED PG

There is a reason why it's called "the formative years."

I may have mentioned it before upon this site and so, I may be mentioning it again but in my mind, I just find it unfathomable when adults proclaim to possess no memory of their younger selves, especially the period of their adolescence. 

Absolutely everyone's lives are unique to themselves and memory is and of itself is especially precious, elusive, unforgiving and malleable, therefore possesses different meaning and layers to every person. But then again, as unique as our lives are, every one of us experiences the same periods of life biologically which then affects us cognitively, psychologically and emotionally, giving us the building blocks of self-discovery in the lives of ourselves. 

Which leads us to puberty...

As for me, I continue to harbor an extremely close relationship to my younger self, so much so, that I sometimes question if I have mentally aged at all even as my teen years are far behind me. I still feel as if I am the same misfit kid that I have always been, with the same passions, hopes, fears, failures and life long needs that have all congealed into whomever I happen to be...for better or worse. And so, I remember. Boy, do I remember! To that end, I have the ability to access those memories very easily and confidently, where I can put myself emotionally back into a moment and bask in the everything so enlightening and awful about that time of life. 

Because of that ability to access, maybe that's why the coming of age film genre is one that continues to speak so loudly to me. As a youth, it served as a guide. Now, it is a memory. And when it connects, it is forever truth and purity regardless of how old I happen to be. With the arrival of Domee Shi's "Turning Red," the latest feature from the venerable Pixar Animation Studios, we not already have a full fledged return to gold standard level material from Pixar, as well as one of the very best films of 2022, we have one of the finest entries in this specific genre as the truth and purity of growing up is voluminous in its astounding presentation. 

Set in 2002 Toronto, Domee Shi's "Turning Red" centers around Meilin "Mei" Lee (so engagingly voiced by Rosalie Chiang), an energetic, 13 year old Chinese-Canadian student ready to take on the world and who sees herself as a confident adult (if the Canadian Transit System proclaims 13 year olds to being adults then why not?). 

Mei is an exemplary student at school who excels at Math. She has three best friends in the "tomboy-ish" Miriam (Ava Morse), the dry and droll Priya (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), and the perpetually furious Abby (Hyein Park), with whom she shares an obsession with the boy band 4*Town (which inexplicably contains five members--nice touch). Despite teasing from the school bully Tyler (Tristan Allerick Chen), Mei remains steadfast and (almost) unflappable. While Mei adores her family, which includes her gentle, reticent Father, Jin (Orion Lee) and her strict, overprotective Mother, Ming (Sandra Oh), and enjoys caring for her family's temple to their ancestor Sun Yee, she increasingly hides the truth of herself from Ming, fearing her disapproval and ultimate rejection.

One night, after enduring a painfully embarrassing episode involving a clash between Ming and her school life, Mei awakens the next morning to discover that she has been transformed into a giant red panda--a result of her genetic and mystical connection between her ancestors and red pandas combined with whenever she experiences an overwhelming emotion or anxiety! While she is soon able to understand and even control her transformations, how will she be able to hide it from Ming and her friends, and most importantly, how will she ever be able to attend the 4*Town concert, a time when her panda might become at its most unleashed!

Screamingly funny, deeply perceptive and emotionally resonant to a nearly primal degree, Domee Shi's "Turning Red" is a gorgeously animated and executed film that reaches the same universal and existential heights as past Pixar achievements "Inside Out" (2015) and "Soul" (2020), both directed by Pete Docter as also as experienced in Disney's superlative "Encanto" (2021). Again, we are given a film that showcases and celebrates the glory of representation and how crucial it matters when it comes to presenting experiences of those under-represented in the movies, for when was the last time we gathered a window into the Asian-Canadian experience? As with both "Soul" and "Encanto," the absolute joy and wonder Shi is clearly having with being able to displaying her own culture is palpable. "Turning Red" is a love letter to Domee Shi's heritage, to Toronto and she has invited all of us to her party!

Beyond any cultural aesthetics, the full purpose and intention of "Turning Red" is to display the emergence of adolescence, and the onset of puberty from a decidedly female perspective and here is where Shi's film succeeds, greatly earning its place as a companion piece alongside the likes of John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" (1984), Will Gluck's "Easy A" (2010), Kelly Fremon Craig's "The Edge Of Seventeen" (2016), Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird" (2017), Bo Burnham's "Eighth Grade" (2018), Olivia Wilde's "Booksmart" (2019) plus television series from "My So-Called Life" (1994-1995), MTV's "Daria" (1997-2002), Paul Feig and Judd Apatow's "Freaks And Geeks" (1999-2000) and finally, Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle and Sam Zvibleman's "PEN15 (2019-2021). 

Yes, Domee Shi's "Turing Red" is that strong, a film that is essential, never disposable entertainment and one that is the type of Pixar film that one can grow with, as it will will mean different things to the viewer as they age. Domee Shi deftly and energetically showcases with tremendous empathy, pathos and high comedy the struggles and strain of transformation when growing up including all manner of biological changes that exacerbate the emotional changes. I love how her teenage characters are all depicted in their awkward stages visually, with their overly expressive wide mouths and in-transition bodies, clearly in developmental stages from children to teens. 

Yet, as cleverly evidenced in the film's title, "Turning Red" is about a girl's discovery of her own budding sexuality in its explosion of pheromones and hormones, masturbation and menstruation. Domee Shi's gleefully unapologetic vision captures this stage of life in its wondrous, horrific, metaphorical and deliriously funny glory, all the while nailing the sloppy, sweaty, smelly realities that accompanies the arrival of puberty, which always seems to find the worst possible times to derail whatever emerging inner confidence you are trying to build and cultivate for yourself. 

The terror of having the worlds of home and school collide. The horror of having your family know your most intimate secrets, feelings and even bodily functions, which feel so singular even though every adult you know has already experienced everything you are enduring. Wanting to be left alone but not forgotten. Desperately needing love while pushing it away. Proclaiming to be mature but dissolving into an infantile mess at any slight. The confusion, the chaos, the anxiety of EVERYTHING, Domee Shi captures it all with tremendous skill, artistry and a wide open heart that so empathetically embraces her younger self, the younger selves of us watching and all of the kids going through it right now.

And still, "Turning Red" probes even deeper. 

As absolutely wild as "Turning Red" becomes, the film never loses sight of it heart and soul. It is a film where the emotional reality fueled through a certain magical fantasy, enhancing the Mother/daughter conflict between Ming and Mei as the relationships that Mei is formulating and solidifying with her posse is taking a greater significance than the one with her Mom...such as it is with growing up, attempting to discover oneself away from the confines of what you were born into and the challenges of defining expectations for yourself rather than adhering to the expectations of your family yet still wanting acceptance and approval. 

Just that would have been more than enough for the film to explore and it still would have been terrific. But "Turning Red" probes deeper still to great comedic and dramatic effect as the inner conflicts Mei and Ming have with themselves is entirely ignited by the intergenerational trauma passed down through the women of their family, therefore making "Turning Red" a film about repression and the societal shame and fear that mercilessly becomes attached to a girl's growing sexuality and women's inherent sexual energy. 

Now, Domee Shi has a mountain of fun with the metaphor of the film's title and Mei's transformations into a giant red panda, i.e. Mei's emerging sexuality and Ming's buried sexuality. "There's no way that she can keep her panda in!!" exclaims Ming at the mere thought of Mei attending a 4*Town concert. Tyler threatens to inform Ming that Mei has been "flaunting the panda all over school." And so on.

But within the jokes, the slapstick and hilarity, there is deep sorrow and pain felt, especially when we are introduced to more members of Mei's family and witness the conflict between Ming and her Mother (Wai Ching Ho)--watch the changing shape of Ming's mouth at a mere phone call from her Mother--and how all of the women have created a most unfortunate cycle of repression by denying themselves their natural instincts and desires, therefore burying the purity and truths of themselves. Therein lies the sadness of "Turning Red," to deny oneself what is wholly natural, to feel ashamed of a process that is normal which then stretches outwards to stifle others as well as oneself, to feel that who you are naturally is not worthy of acceptance, of nurturing, of attention, of attraction and of love and should ultimately be bottled away to become "acceptable" to others and the larger society. 

The push/pull narrative of this conflict as witnessed through Mei and Ming, Mei and her Grandmother and Mei and her friends, is made universal by the film's climax which is thunderous in its truth and comedy and on a whiplash dime, it swan dives into an emotionally shattering meeting of the heart, mind and soul. 

This theme of repression becomes urgently crucial as we find the character of Mei on the cusp of becoming at a personal crossroads of allowing herself to become or deny herself to herself for the sake of her family forever. "I only wanted to go to a concert!!!!" Mei wails angrily and rightfully and that one line pierced my heart. For I remember the times when I only wanted to go to a concert, a natural rite of passage, both truthfully and metaphorically, and was denied by my parents over and over and over again and how those demands have reverberated over time and have proven to be so difficult to wrestle with and unravel. 

To be denied the truth of yourself by others only teaches one to deny oneself as they age and so much is lost in this vicious cycle that is most likely never presented through malice but with the best of intentions and love filtered through worry and fear. Mei is on the precipice of a difficult decision that rests on top of an already difficult transition and we are witness to how repression has damaged Ming, the family and to a different degree, Mei's Father! Regard him closely as he not only has a lovely late film scene which reminded me of great Father/daughter moments on both "Sixteen Candles" and John Hughes and Howard Deutch's "Pretty In Pink" (1986) combined with some shadings of a buried interior life akin to the devastating final moments of Luca Guadagnino's elegant "Call Me By Your Name" (2017). But, that is another movie entirely!         

Yes, over the years there has been some minor criticism that Pixar films have taken on a tendency to manufacture emotion rather that have stories unfold naturally and allow the inherent emotion to communicate to viewers, thus allowing us to release our own. "Turning Red" reaches its conclusion with a blindingly white hot surge of fully earned and deeply felt emotion that encourages you to relate and release rather than repress. Domee Shi has created her film without shame or fear and it encourages us to respond in kind...and I have no shame or fear in admitting to you that it wrecked me. 

Domee Shi's "Turning Red" hysterically and beautifully pinpoints the time of life when you are at the mercy of not only your emotions but everyone else's emotions concerning your emotions. Your need to control the uncontrollable and the impossibility of going with the natural flow of life because nothing truly makes sense. You are just truly learning to find yourself when seemingly every other influence is attempting to define yourself for yourself whether asked or not, and with intentions both positive and negative. 

And it also serves as a heartfelt warning against being loyal to everything and everyone at the expense of not being loyal to the truth of yourself.