Thursday, April 25, 2019

Crisp Criticism - "Her Smell', "Peterloo", "Little", "High Life", "The Curse of La Llorona", "Missing Link"

by
Julien Faddoul





Her Smell ***

A self-destructive punk rocker struggles with sobriety while trying to recapture the creative inspiration that led her band to success.
A kinetically unpleasant film to sit through, presented as five separate sequences depicting its main character’s demise and ultimate redemption. Formidable and often astounding for those who can take it, with dizzying illustration of the camera, sound design and performance. It shows both its director and its star at the height of their uncompromising capabilities, both of whom tower above virtually everyone else in independent cinema today.

wd – Alex Ross Perry
ph – Sean Price Williams
pd – Fletcher Chancey
m – Keegan DeWitt
ed – Robert Greene
cos – Amanda Ford

p – Elisabeth Moss, Matthew Perniciaro, Alex Ross Perry, Adam Piotrowicz, Michael Sherman

Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Cara Delevingne, Dan Stevens, Amber Heard, Agyness Deyn, Gayle Rankin, Ashley Benson, Eric Stoltz, Dylan Gelula, Virginia Madsen






Peterloo **

The infamous 1819 Manchester massacre, which killed an estimated 18 protesters and injured up to 700.
Leigh’s first film to be fundamentally identity-less, with the characters/performers taking a back seat to his fascination with the history itself. Surprisingly, his handling of the film’s action-packed (and violent) second half is remarkably adroit, but the first hour of the film (focusing on collectivism and political bureaucracy) doesn’t add up to much.

wd – Mike Leigh
ph – Dick Pope
pd – Suzie Davies
m – Gary Yershon
ed – Jon Gregory
cos – Jacqueline Durran

p – Georgina Lowe

Cast: Rory Kinnear, Maxine Peake, Pearce Quigley, David Moorst, Rachel Finnegan, Tom Meredith, Simona Bitmate, Robert Wilfort, Karl Johnson, Sam Troughton, Roger Sloman, Kenneth Hadley, Tom Edward-Kane, Lizzy McInnerny, Alastair Mackenzie, Neil Bell, Lisa Millett, Philip Jackson, John Paul Hurley, Tom Gill, Lizzie Frain, Harry Hepple





Little

A woman is transformed into her younger self at a point in her life when the pressures of adulthood become too much to bear.
Poorly shot, poorly acted and dreadfully unfunny.

d – Tina Gordon Chism
w – Tina Gordon Chism, Tracy Oliver
pd – Keith Brian Burns
m – Germaine Franco
ed – David Moritz
cos – Danielle Hollowell

p – Kenya Barris, James Lopez, William Packer

Cast: Marsai Martin, Issa Rae, Regina Hall, Tone Bell, Justin Hartley, JD McCrary, Mikey Day, Blair Jasin, Chelsea Hayes, Caleb Emery, Noree Victoria





High Life **

A criminal serving a death sentence and his baby daughter are the last survivors of a damned and dangerous mission to the outer reaches of the solar system.
Told in the elliptical, non-lear fashion typical of Denis, this is certainly a thematically and formally bold vision of the inevitable isolation of humanity. But there’s something superficial about the result, with perhaps too much carnal posturing for her script’s own good. Make of it what you will.

d – Claire Denis
w – Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau
ph – Yorick Le Saux
pd – Ólafur Eliasson, François-Renaud Labarthe
m – Stuart A. Staples
ed – Guy Lecorne
cos – Judy Shrewsbury

p – Laurence Clerc, Oliver Dungey, Christoph Friedel, DJ Gugenheim, Andrew Lauren, Klaudia Smieja, Claudia Steffen, Olivier Thery Lapiney

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André Benjamin, Mia Goth, Agata Buzek Lars Eidinger Claire Tran Ewan Mitchell Gloria Obianyo Scarlett Lindsey Jessie Ross Victor Banerjee





The Curse of La Llorona

A social worker dealing with the disappearance of two children fears for her own family after beginning the investigation.
Atrocious auto-pilot schlock here, with risible writing and pathetic excuses for scares.

d – Michael Chaves
w – Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis
ph – Michael Burgess
pd – Melanie Jones
m – Joseph Bishara
ed – Peter Gvozdas
cos – Megan Spatz

p – Gary Dauberman, Emile Gladstone, James Wan

Cast: Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Marisol Ramirez, Patricia Velásquez, Sean Patrick Thomas, Roman Christou, Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen, Tony Amendola, Madeleine McGraw





Missing Link **

Mr. Link recruits explorer Sir Lionel Frost to help find his long-lost relatives in the fabled valley of Shangri-La.
Laika’s first trifle: an all-out comedy about Victorian-era scientific exploration that conclusively satirizes nothing in particular. It could have worked a lot better, despite the gorgeous craftsmanship on display, which one expects from the studio. The physical comedy lands more than the feeble attempts at ironic dialogue, the perpetual virus of modern-day animated features.

wd – Chris Butler
ph – Chris Peterson
pd – Nelson Lowry
m – Carter Burwell
ed – Stephen Perkins
cos – Deborah Cook

p – Travis Knight, Arianne Sutner

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zach Galifianakis, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Timothy Olyphant, Matt Lucas, David Walliams, Amrita Acharia, Ching Valdes-Aran

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