10s Movie Review - Hold the Dark

Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 125 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Alexander Skarsgård, James Badge Dale, Riley Keough

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 51: A MOVIE SET IN WINTER

Description: After the deaths of three children suspected ro be killed by wolves, writer Russell Core (Jeffrey Wright) is hired by the mother (Riley Keough) of a missing six-year-old boy to trach down and locate her son in the Alaskan wilderness.

Review: In chilly and icy Alaska, director Jeremy Saulnier finds a background that makes his characters unpredictable. So when Russell Core, a wolf expert, arrives there to assist a mother whose son was taken by wolves, he doesn’t realize what he’s getting into. A loose soldier, a trigger-happy Indian and a mother whose isolation seems to transform her into some kind of wandering demon are not immediately pleasant company, however. The quiet Core fortunately finds an ally in the stable sheriff, but both soon prove defenseless. The darkness, the snow, the wolves and the void prove maddening and relentless.
 
The plot is draped around the atmospheric location and therefore just flutters. For example, the mother character is not particularly strong developed even though her actions should function as the story’s starting point. “Hold the Dark’’ seeks to reflect on the state of the human spirit in an environment that seems to be consumed by time and nature, but the attention quickly turns to be dormant tension and gory actions for lack of depth, giving this movie the allure of an action thriller rather than a haunting psychological drama.
 
“Hold the Dark” holds the attention, though you’re not sure what you’re looking at. The cleverly staged narrative takes shape in thoughtful compositions of light and shadow, in which actions are unpredictable. But it’s the action packed moments that stick with you more than the understated psyche. Promising, yet not quite successful.

Rating: 3/ 5

Movie Review - The Devil All the Time

Director: Antonio Campos

Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Crime

Runtime: 138 minutes

Year: 2020

Starring: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Jason Clarke, Haley Bennett, Bill Skarsgård, Riley Keough, Sebastian Stan, Mia Wasikowska, Eliza Scanlon

Description: Sinister characters converge around a young man (Tom Holland) devoted to protecting those he loves in a postwar backwoods town teeming with corruption and brutality.

Review: “Do not condemn anyone, for we are all sinners”. In “The Devil All the Time”, evil lurks everywhere and in everyone. For most people, plagued by their human powerlessness, there is no escape. Nevertheless, their faith and trust in the Lord often remains as strong as ever, if only to be able to cleanse themselves of the necessary sins. Director Antonio Campos explores the good, the evil and everything in between.

Campos takes us to the remote countryside of Ohio and West Virginia, where people live in strictly Christian hamlets, or rather snake pits full of sinners, weaklings and religious extremists. In these dark surroundings Arvin Russell grows up as a man of good will, but poverty and violence also create some dark sides. His story is woven in and apart from that of his father, a tormented war veteran who only at an older age throws himself full of devotion to the Lord, a wandering serial killing couple that targets male hitchhikers, corrupt sheriff Lee Bodecker and a new pastor.

Campos knows how to tell a lot with only a few images. Effective to move the story forward, but it sometimes lacks tension. Still, this doesn’t do much harm to the film overall. The film adaptation of the literary novel by Donald Ray Pollock (who narrates the story) is very successful. Campos’ most important blessings are the beautifully shot images and atmospheric mish. And although not every character has been worked out in the same way, the strong ensemble cast effortlessly lifts the film to a higher level.

Tom Holland impresses as the skeptical young Arvin, who does everything he can to protect his loved ones and doesn’t hold back. We have not seen him in such a role before. Robert Pattinson, who plays the pastor Preston Teagardin, especially makes an impact. In recent years he has established himself as a character actor, and always manages to catch our eye. One of the strongest scenes of the film features both Holland and Pattinson. Other performances by Haley Bennett, Jason Clarke and Bill Skarsgård are also worth mentioning.

“The Devil All the Time” is gruesome, gloomy, not very hopeful, sometimes somewhat uncomfortable, but above all intriguing. This film is probably not for everyone, yet it would be a shame to not give it a chance. A true Netflix gem.

Rating: 4 / 5

Movie Reviews - Under the Silver Lake

Director: David Robert Mitchell
Genre: Drama/ Comedy/ Crime
Runtime: 139 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace, Jimmi Simpson,Zosie mamet, Callie Hernandez, Riki Linhome, Summer Bishil, Grace van Patten, Patricj Fishler, Luke Baines, Laura-Leigh Claire

Description: Sam (Andrew Garfield), intelligent but without purpose, finds a mysterious woman swimming in his apartment's pool one night. The next morning, she disappears. Sam sets off across LA to find her, and along the way he uncovers a conspiracy far more bizarre.

Review: After the atmospheric horror film “It Follows”, director David Robert Mitchell does something unexpected with “Under the Silver Lake”. He creates an ambitious art house film with a hint of neo-noir. It’s a sensational and hypnotizing ride, but only if you like cryptical and creative adventures that lead to nothing. It’s absurd, weird and artistic. Not for everyone.
Sam is a nobody. He smokes weed in a grim apartment in Los Angeles, filled with vinyl records and Hitchcock posters. Watching his gorgeous neighbor, entertained by his fuckbuddy and weird encounters with dead animals. The film has a strange tone from the start, it’s all over the place. You have no clue what Sam is up to, but his neurotic tics and strange happenings are enough to keep you interested.
After the introduction, Sam goes on a neo-noir adventure when his pretty neighbor goes missing. His paranoid brain looks for patterns and conspiracies. Secret codes, hobos, fallen movie stars, hidden messages in music, corrupt elites and dog killers. When you read this random list of words, you know it’s a strange film. But it’s the good kind of strange.
It’s understandable that “Under the Silver Lake” got mixed response during the Cannes film festival. This is one of those typical films that has a small, specific audience. And I think only a few people will appreciate it. I am one of those people.
I really loved seeing Andrew Garfield as Sam. A different film and role for him, but he did a great job. “Under the Silver Lake” felt like a mix of “Mulholland Drive” and “The Big Lebowski”. If you like both movies, you will like this one too. If you don’t like one or both film, you won’t like this either.
“Under the Silver Lake” is definitely not a film for everyone. And many people won’t see the brilliance of this film.

Rating: 4,5/ 5