Movie Review - The Father

Director: Florian Zeller
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Olivia Williams, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Mark Gatiss

Description: A man (Anthony Hopkins) refuses all assistance from his daughter (Olivia Colman) as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of hid reality.

Review: Anthony suffers from Alzheimer’s disease so his memory is beginning to fail him more and more. He doesn’t want to admit and accept that he needs care in his old age. He lives in with his daughter Anne and we see his condition getting worse.
Alzheimer’s disease has left so much suffering and grief. It’s a mental illness, there is nothing you can do but stand by and watch helplessly as someone you love slips away from you to the point that they may not even recognize you. “The Father” attempts for the first time to make the illness tangible and visualize it by highlighting the perspective of someone who suffers from it.
“The Father” manages to break free from the conventional way of storytelling in order to present us with something unique. All facets of film are pulled out to make us as disoriented as this broken old man who is slowly losing grip on reality.
The his ingeniously shown by playing with different aspects. Scenes are not entirely in chronological order, conversations can be partly fabricated in Anthony’s head, there are hallucinations of certain people who may not be there at all and even the furniture in Anthony’s apartment changes subtly throughout the film to show that he feels increasingly alienated from the outside world.
This angle tries to give us the most realistic look into the mind of someone with Alzheimer’s/ dementia. Like Anthony, you are frustrated-confused and along with him you are challenged to puzzle out to correct course of action. I have never seen a film that comes so dangerously close in depicting the mental state of someone with this horrific disease.
The film is carried by the Oscar-winning role of Anthony Hopkins. He is a veteran actor, in his eighties, but he still manages to win us all over. In everything he does, he is believable. Hopkins shows a range of emotion, where he can change in a fraction of seconds between being nice, funny, confused, sad and anxious. His final monologue leaves you heartbroken. And this perfectly describes this movie.
The film forms a fantastic whole, but also leaves room for your own interpretation. A great piece of cinema with a lesson in acting from Anthony Hopkins. A movie you seriously need to see!

Rating: 5/ 5

90s Movie Review - The Sixth Sense

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Genre: Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 1999
Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Misha Barton, Donnie Wahlberg, Trevor Morgan

Description: A boy (Haley Joel Osment) who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist (Bruce Willis).

Review: You are as good as your last film. That’s something director M. Night Shyamalan experienced. His movie “The Sixth Sense” was never topped. With this movie, the paranormal thriller was given a new life. With this, Bruce Willis also profiled himself as a dramatic actor. Australian actress Toni Collette broke through and child star Haley Joel Osment left everybody breathless. “The Sixth Sense” is a lot more than just a good movie.
“I see dead people” is now a classic film quote. What Shyamalan does well is leave the viewers with a question in the beginning: whether Cole actually sees dead people or if it’s an hallucination. Child psychologist Malcolm Crowe is the only person that can help him. His career isn’t the same anymore, after former patient Vincent Grey who he couldn’t help, shoots him in his own house. Grey kills himself after that. Since then Crowe is trying to lose those feelings of guilt. He sees in Cole the same characteristics as once in Grey. Cole lives alone with his mother Lynn, who works hard to make it all work and doesn’t know what Cole’s secret is. The moment Cole tells his secret to Crowe is chilling every time.
“The Sixth Sense” is filmed pretty sober. Shyamalan fully trusts on his own writing, which is so strong. Not a lot happens in the first hour, but there is a constant threat and tension. Subtle though, with some equally subtle sound effects. The twist at the end is genius and makes a second viewing just as good. Things you didn’t notice before, you see during your second viewing. With most movies that have a twist, it’s not that fun to rewatch the film. “The Sixth Sense” makes that rewatch probably even better.
Bruce Willis is timid in his role, something we hadn’t seen from him before. Toni Collette is great as well. But the star of the film is Haley Joel Osment. So young, yet such a grown up performance. His role is so real, you believe and feel his fear. In my eyes it’s still the best child performance in a movie. He even got an Academy Award nomination for it.
“The Sixth Sense” is one of my favorite thrillers, that captivates me every time. Fantastic work by M. Night Shyamalan.

Rating: 5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 90: Maps to the Stars

Director: David Cronenberg

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 111 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska, John Cusack, Robert Pattinson, Olivia Williams, Sarah Gadon, Carrie Fisher

Description: A tour into the heart of a Hollywood family chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless ghosts of their pasts.

Review: They may be loved by the audience, but the life of a movie star isn’t all that glamourous as you might think. Classics like “All About Eve” and “Sunset Boulevard” showed us this and also “Mulholland Drive”. Director David Cronenberg gives us an insight on the life of film stars, in his very own way. Dark with a little satire.

Croneneberg’s movie, which was selected in Cannes, looks like a dark comedy. It’s a movie that shows us the ideal Hollywood life, which is not that perfect at all. The base is a serious drama, but it’s filled with irony.

The characters that are introduced in the first half hour of “Maps of the Stars” seem to have nothing to do with each other in the first place. Along the way the characters intertwine and we see that they all try to use or take advantage of the other. They all want to keep their status and their glory days are already behind them.

Julianne Moore plays a great role as Havana Segrand, a maniacal actress who still thinks she is one of the best in Hollywood. Moore has a strong opponent in Mia Wasikowska, who plays a film fan with a dark past. John Cusack, who is one of my favorites, doesn’t get enough to do. He has great moments, but his role is simply too small. The role of child star Benji is a bit too much of a caricature instead of an actual person. Robert Pattinson’s role is practically useless.

The Hollywood in “Maps to the Stars” is a nasty, rotten place filled with shameless and egocentric people. I didn’t like the movie very much and it’s really hard to explain why. It was a strange film, unpleasant to watch. Not bad, but not a movie I will ever rewatch either.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 131: Rushmore

Director: Wes Anderson

Genre: Drama/ Comedy

Runtime: 93 minutes

Year: 1998

Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Brian Cox, Luke Wilson, Andrew Wilson, Connie Nielsen, Seymour Cassel

Description: Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) is a precocious 15-year-old whose reason for living is his attendance at Rushmore, a private school where he's not doing well in any of his classes, but where he's the king of extracurricular activities. His life begins to change, however, when he finds out he's on academic probation, and when he stumbles into love with Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), a pretty teacher of the elementary school at Rushmore. Added to the mix is his friendship with Herman Blume (Bill Murray), wealthy industrialist and father to boys who attend the school, and who also finds himself attracted to Miss Cross. Max's fate becomes inextricably tied to this odd love triangle.

Review: The story of Max isn’t a very extraordinary story. The story of a boy who wants to be an adult, but isn’t. Max actually discovers that something like growing up, hardly exists. And this makes the story of “Rushmore” very extraordinary. Because of the person Max is, because he’s everything but ordinary. It’s Jason Schwartman’s debut role and a bright future is ahead of him.

Max is a typical teenager with feeling of insecurity and he hates studying. How this is worked into the film, is a-typical. Max creates his own ‘grown up world’ by starting all sorts of communities and groups and begins friendships with actual adults. For example Miss Cross, who Max falls in love with. Miss Cross is older and falls for the charms of Max’ other friend Herman Blume. But Miss Cross finds out that he’s just as childish as Max is. Because Herman Blume is still stuck in his teen years, makes him equal to Max. Even when they are fighting for the same woman, they can’t live without each other. The only difference is that Max intends to grow up eventually and Blume knows that, despite all his money, he can’t take on the world.

Director Wes Anderson gives the film a fantastic atmosphere. By using bright colors and still moments, the films has a calm and observing character. An excellent example is the scene of Blume jumping in a pool at his twin sons birthday party. This atmosphere make the experience very relaxed and the introvert acting fits it perfectly. Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray are the stars and shine in every scene. Olivia Williams also does a great job.

I’ve become a big Wes Anderson fan over the years and this, as one of his first films, is going on my favorites list.

Rating: 5/ 5