🎬 "This doesn’t taste like soy milk."
La La Land (2016). Welcome to the 34th edition of The Reel!
Estimated reading time: 6m 53s.
Like many, I have recently become fascinated with and terrified by ChatGPT.
What does this mean for academia and original thought?
Have we officially begun the inexorable societal surrender to the omnipotence of AI?
How will this affect my blog?!?
With fear in my heart, I put Ms. GPT (she is a she because women know everything, not a joke) to the test:
Capable but generic. I can live with that.
What if we ask something a little more specific?
Let's get personal:
……
Do you think it associates being Irish with Guinness?
Time for some reviews!
This week: Pressure, politics, petals and a pool.
☀️ Factor 50 or bust.
Aftersun (2022), film, directed by Charlotte Wells.
Aftersun is a deft and moving portrait of the relationship between a troubled young father and his daughter, but it’s a little too introspective for this reviewer.
Mescal plays Calum, a young Scotsman at a holiday resort with his daughter Sophie in the early 00s. It’s a setting that will be familiar to many — oppressive heat, a poolside bar, cool teenagers that don’t really include you in their games and you wonder is it you they’re talking about in hushed tones while pointing and laughing and could it have something to do with the Spiderman singlet you’ve worn every day for a week.
(Anyone?)
It swiftly becomes clear that Calum is struggling with his mental health. Flashforwards to adult Sophie reflecting on their relationship act as a framing device for this deeply personal film.
An assured debut for writer & director Charlotte Wells, but I found it hard to connect with. Maybe I, too, am too emotionally repressed to get it?
Or am I just a philistine?
Where are all the guns and hot girls!
Look out for:
What do the rave scenes mean?! It’s hotly debated. These jarring, dreamlike sequences are Aftersun at its most daring; they’re simultaneously the most interesting and alienating aspect of the film.
If you liked this:
The uncle-nephew relationship in C’mon C’mon is one of the most touching committed to celluloid. Also, movies about depression don’t always have to be sad: Little Miss Sunshine is in The Reel’s top five favourite films of all time. 🐐
Ratings: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
👖 Jean Genie, let yourself go.
Blue Jean (2022), film, directed by Georgia Oakley.
I’ll see your Paul Mescal and raise you a Rosy McEwan!
Her performance in the brilliant Blue Jean is staggering, and the film, while wholly different, is more complete than Aftersun.
Set in 1988, McEwan portrays a gay PE teacher in a Newcastle secondary school whose closeted work life is challenged by the transfer of a new student.
Beautifully shot and retro-colorised in a not pretentious way, this would be a powerful film even with average actors. However, McEwan is truly remarkable, telling us more with one strained facial expression than a certain other Oscar-nominated Irish actor, whose name rhymes with Bolin Tarrell, does in a whole film.
(He’s good but Banshees is not his nor anyone involved’s best.)
British film of the year if you ask me, and it was only released in cinemas last week. 👏
Look out for:
Genuine TV and radio news broadcasts from the time are peppered throughout the film. They are mindbogglingly discriminatory, and make for a choking, oppressive atmosphere. This is not a relaxing watch.
If you liked this:
Far be it from me to appear as an authority on the representation of LGBTQIA+ in film! But, for another cinematic tour-de-force set during the very same period and country, look no further than 2014’s Pride.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
🎶 Very much my tempo.
Tár (2022), film, directed by Todd Field.
For so long, whenever I saw the title “Tár” I assumed it was an Irish film, in the Irish language, and I didn’t stop to question why it would be starring Australian powerhouse Cate Blanchett.
I just thought “wow fair play to her.”
It is, of course, not an Irish film, but in fact a gripping psychological drama about a fictional celebrated conductor, played by Blanchett, accused of sexual misconduct.
Our beloved Cáit Ní Bláinshid should be a shoo-in for her Oscar, but it’s hard to see Tár winning Best Picture. It’s too long, too challenging, and perhaps a little too political to get a top vote from most Academy members.
It has a lot to say. The film takes shots at gender and the media, privilege and education, and, in particular, cancel culture.
However, not for the first time in this edition of The Reel, it’s the central performance that makes this a concert worth attending.
Look out for:
The orchestra scenes are 100% real, filmed with a real orchestra and genuinely conducted by Blanchett, who learned how to conduct for the film. She also learned how to play piano and speak German. Bit excessive? Might as well have actually learned Irish at that rate.
If you liked this:
No one does psychological portraits of damaged leads like Darren Aronofsky. We may soon be able to list the newly released The Whale as another of his modern classics, alongside The Wrestler and Black Swan.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
⏩ Quickies
Short and snappy reviews for a short and snappy time:
Living (2022, film, dir. Oliver Hermanus): ⭐⭐⭐
Yet another Oscar nominee here: the permanently 70 years old Bill Nighy. For a film called Living, this is only a marginally pleasant way to spend 102 minutes of your life. Maybe it should be called Existing? Quaint but forgettable.
Glass Onion (2022, film, dir. Rian Johnson): ⭐⭐
Maybe it's just me, but I find films that directly address/depict anything to do with COVID so cringeworthy. When they touch elbows at the start? I watch films to ESCAPE, not to be REMINDED of the REAL WORLD. It’s also just not very good.
Midsommar (2019, film, dir. Ari Aster): ⭐⭐⭐
One weekend I just really wanted to watch this film, and so I did, at around 2pm on a Saturday. What kind of life is this I lead? Who watches a horror film at 2pm in the day? That’s like eating pasta for breakfast. It felt uncomfortable, made me scared for a long time, and now I avoid both Swedish people and anything floral.
Avatar: Way of Water (2022, film, dir. James Cameron): N/A
Unfortunately there is actually no review of Avatar, because I had to leave the cinema after 20 minutes to get sick in the bathroom after eating those nachos with the liquid “cheese” sauce. ❌ 💀 I did not return. Deplatform cheese sauce!
📃 Quote of the Week(s)
Lydia: “Unfortunately, the architect of your soul appears to be social media.”
dO yOu FeEl sEeN? The whole “social media is evil” thing can often seem heavy-handed in film, but in Tár it’s both funny and menacing.
✅ Th-th-that’s all, folks.
Thank you very much for reading! ❤️
If you haven’t already, I would love for you to consider subscribing, which you can do by clicking this button:
If you are a subscriber and enjoyed this edition, I would appreciate so much if you could share it. 🙏🏻
Thank you v much again, and see you next time!
Gogzibear
xxx
📅 Previous Reels:
🎬 Nov 16 - The Banshees of Inisherin, Triangle of Sadness, Decision to Leave.
🎬 Jul 27 - Thor: Love & Thunder, Everything Everywhere…, An Cailín Ciúin.
🎬 May 12 - The Worst Person in the World, The Northman, Mystic River.
📒 Catalogue:
You can find a list of all film review scores (and opening movie lines!) here.
🎙️ Podcast:
I’ve also published 10 episodes of a film review podcast Movies (And A Rap) — you can listen on Spotify here.