Crisp Criticism - "Mother!", "It", "Patti Cake$"

by

Julien Faddoul

Mother! *

A couple’s relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.

Roman Polanski + Luis Bunuel ÷ The Bible. Aronofsky’s allegories and metaphors (which I won’t spoil) are of constant interest, but the metaphor and the surface clamour never really gel, with too much nonsensical behaviour and too many references to other artists’ work. Therefore, all one is left with is his audaciousness at going for broke (typical) with coercive symbolism, which, for me, is not enough.

wd – Darren Aronofsky

ph – Matthew Libatique

pd – Philip Messina

ed – Andrew Weisblum

cos – Danny Glicker

p – Scott Franklin, Ari Handel

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, Domhnall Gleeson

It *

In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise.

Intermittently engaging, slickly made 80’s nostalgia trip that will be enjoyed by fans of the genre, the author and the era. Not very scary, though.

d – Andy Muschietti

w – Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, Gary Dauberman   (Based on the Novel by Stephen King)

ph – Chung-hoon Chung

pd – Claude Pare

m – Benjamin Wallfisch

ed – Jason Ballantine

cos – Janie Bryant

p – Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Barbara Muschietti, Seth Graham-Smith

Cast: Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgård, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, Jackson Robert Scott

Patti Cake$ *

An aspiring rapper from New Jersey fights through a world of strip malls and strip clubs on an unlikely quest for glory.

Relentlessly trite aspiration tale despite sharp instincts. It works when conveying a docu-example on hip-hop music and falters whenever it tries to please the crowd.

wd – Geremy Jasper

ph – Federico Cesca

pd – Meredith Lippincott

m – Jason Binnick, Geremy Jasper

ed – Brad Turner

cos – Miyako Bellizzi

p – Chris Columbus, Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Rodrigo Teixeira, Noah Stahl

Cast: Danielle Macdonald, Bridget Everett, Siddharth Dhananjay, Mamoudou Athie, Cathy Moriarty, McCaul Lombardi