Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night takes place in the 90 minutes before the first episode of Saturday Night Live. Golden Globe nominee Gabriel LaBelle leads the most star-studded cast of the year as Lorne Michaels on a mission to break new ground and reinvent live TV. If the crew of soon-to-be icons can make it on air in time.
The film has a frenetic energy that convincingly places you in the middle of the iconic Studio 8H at 30 Rock, watching as the pieces come together, in some cases brick by brick.
Enter production designer Jess Gonchor. You see, LaBelle and co aren’t ripping their way through NBC’s beloved home base in New York. They are on a soundstage in Atlanta, inside a 40,000-square-foot, two-story recreation of the 1975 SNL pilot.
Here, in an interview with InSession Film Awards Editor Jess Gonchor details the painstaking recreation that allowed us to travel back in time.
Happy New Criterion Year! 2025, let it be another amazing time to add to the consistently addictive practice of getting these gems at any time. Right off the new year, Criterion has four new films plus a double re-edition in 4K of an Akira Kurosawa double-billing. A Western noir, an epic French dramedy, a semi-autobiographical from one of the greatest standup comics of all time, and a slick neo-noir join the club for early additions to your collection. Here are these wonderful films. Winchester ‘73 (1950)
James Stewart plays a sharpshooter whose rifle is stolen and used in a serious crime. As the rifle is tracked down, we see it in different hands, as it is a matter of time before it is taken away for good for even more horrendous crimes. It was the first film Stewart and director Anthony Mann teamed up on and altered the Western genre, flying in the face of the traditional formulas Westerns followed. Rock Hudson, Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, and a young Tony Curtis also star in this genre-changing film.
Yojimbo/Sanjuro (1961, 1962)
It was never meant to be a two-part film, but Akira Kurosawa created a sensation with his story of an intelligent masterless samurai who goes on with his life wandering the earth. First was Yojimbo;Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro, a samurai who enters a village where the citizens are trapped between two warring clans. Both groups try to hire the wandering samurai who uses their weaknesses to his advantage to help the scared villagers. The sequel was based on another story in which Kurosawa incorporates the titular character; this time, Sanjuro decides to help young samurais become proper when he discovers the corrupt influences that doom them.
The Mother And The Whore (1973)
Writer/director Jean Eustache exploded with a three-and-a-half-hour discussion of an angry man (Jean-Pierre Leaud), his girlfriend (Bernadette Lafont), and his new interest (Françoise Lebrun). It is a love triangle about the turbulence after 1968 when France was in upheaval and the disillusionment of young adults. It is bold and willing to spill the beans personally with confessions about past lives, their real feelings, and the failure of what previous years have led them to this point – intellectual, unhappy, and sexually frustrated.
Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)
Richard Pryor co-wrote, starred, and directed his only feature film of a comic that mirrored his own life from a rough upbringing raised in a brothel to struggling for success to addiction and fame to the bizarre freebasing accident that nearly killed Pryor. It is him showing his soul and what he felt as he went through his life through the eyes of Jo Jo and his relationships. Pryor is considered by some of the greatest standup comedians ever and was retired when he directed this film, making this movie the most raw and open. Pryor was telling about his life and vulnerabilities and how he reached the top and nearly fell to the bottom.
The Grifters (1990)
Director Stephen Frears got his first shot in Hollywood with Martin Scorsese producing this classic noir thriller by author Jim Thompson. A mother (Anjelica Huston), her son (John Cusack), and his girlfriend (Annette Bening) are all con men/women who begin to play a game where they start playing against each other to outcon the other, even willing to go kill each other to get ahead. It is a mind game as the Oedipus factors pop out; all the performances are amazing and it shines as Frears perfectly executes this chase to who will come out on top.
On this episode, JD is joined by ISF writer Will Bjarnar to discuss Robert Eggers’ new film Nosferatu! We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time now. Eggers’ style may not be for everyone, but we are quite fond of his lush aesthetics and attention to detail. Him delving into vampiric lore to give us his version of Nosferatu is a very exciting proposition, and he did not disappoint.
Review: Nosferatu (4:00) Director: Robert Eggers Writers: Robert Eggers Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp
The most jarring opening scene from a film this year comes in Steve McQueen’s Blitz. There was a rush of sirens, the loud hiss of water bursting out of a hose to attack a fire, and loud footsteps running on the cobblestone streets of London. It’s almost a sensory overload with the scope of sound coming out of the speakers as soon as the film begins. The overwhelming sound appears several times throughout the film and is a constant reminder that the fates of our characters can turn at any moment.
The sound design is most often felt in these loud moments but the genius of the design, helmed by supervising sound editor James Harrison, extends to every moment. The film primarily follows an 8-year-old boy, George (Elliot Heffernan), trying to find his way back to his mother (Saoirse Ronan), and is shown through his perspective. The team raised the sound levels to show us the chaotic world through George’s perspective, exemplifying how overwhelming the world can be to kids like him. The sound of a bus passing closely by or sirens from afar easily startle George and keys the audience into what’s happening around him.
Blitz has been categorized as a war film but doesn’t necessarily live up to the spectacle you might expect from the genre’s typical offerings. We aren’t placed in a warzone with both sides fighting back and forth but in the middle of London. Most of the characters we meet attempt to go about their daily lives while trying to evade the German bombing campaign known as The Blitz. This distance from the war works in the favor, allowing for strong dramatic moments to be upended by sudden reminders of the war.
Scenes inside the tube, the underground train systems, provide an impressive display of sound work. During bombings, families flock to the underground stations for shelter. Despite workers’ protests, they ultimately make their way in to wait out the danger above ground. The sound team expertly altered the sound in post-production to reflect the echoing effects of every movement in the tube. I won’t spoil anything about the film, but one scene set at one of the stations is absolutely breathtaking. It’s one of the most anxiety-inducing sequences of the year, and a lot of that has to do with the sound work.
Blitz’s award prospects have certainly waned since its festival run and initial release, and it looks more and more likely that the best-case scenario for the film is a few nominations below the line, like Sound, Production Design, and maybe Costumes. There’s a good chance the film remains on the outside looking in on every category, which would be a shame considering the level of craft presented. I am quietly hopeful that broad respect for Steve McQueen shines through on nomination day, but it’s hard to read the tea leaves and see much to be positive about.
With Blitz’s chances looking slim, here’s the current state of the race as I see it. Dune: Part Two is still atop the food chain in many technical categories, with Sound being one of its strongest possibilities to pull out the win. It’s been clear to see the support for musicals and musically-based films such as Emilia Perez, Wicked, and A Complete Unknown, and when movies like this are successful they tend to get nominated here. The latter two films feature a lot of strong work revolving around the vocals, with many of the tracks being recorded live on set instead of in a sound studio. We’ve seen this work with varying results (looking at you, Les Miserables) and both of these films undoubtedly succeed in mixing the live vocals with the rest of the music. As more awards shows release nominations and winners over the coming months, we will hopefully see some other clear contenders vying for that fifth spot, but there isn’t one that comes to mind as a clear favorite as of now. Some films looking to stand apart and get that last nomination include major releases like Alien: Romulus, The Wild Robot, and Deadpool & Wolverine. A film I would be thrilled to see make its way into the conversation is Conclave, utilizing the echoey halls of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican to perfection. That would be my Christmas wishlist for Best Sound, and I hope Santa is listening.
When looking back on 2024 in film, three adjectives come to mind to describe the year: surprising, daring, and challenging. Every film on my list can be described with one of those words.
Superhero movies reached an all-time low – the only box office success from Deadpool and Wolverine was attributed to an IP that spent two hours making fun of itself. In a post-strike environment, we saw a proliferation of big screen content full of big swings and big misses. New voices are breaking through, and so are under-looked genres. People thought ‘Barbenheimer’ could be repeated, but it can’t (no – ‘Glicked’ is not a thing). I had a lot of fun across the gamut – even if I saw Megalopolis in the cinema four times – going through an emotional rollercoaster that covered hatred, to hysteria, to bewilderment, to misguided adoration.
This list is only limited to films I saw this year – here in Australia I’m still waiting patiently for The Brutalist, Nickel Boys, Queer, and Babygirl.
Honorable mentions include: Wicked, Birdeater, Grand Theft Hamlet, Flow, Memoir of a Snail, Conclave, Young Hearts, Like My Brother, A Different Man, Hundreds of Beavers, and Megalopolis (look, that one’s complicated).
Love Lies Bleeding
A cosmic and queer scream out into the galaxy. Rose Glass knows how to set the stage in her follow-up to the equally excellent Saint Maud – a well-crafted, neo-noir, body-horror-infused romantic thriller. A film that leaves you frazzled at the lengths women go to find love, both within a queer lens and as a deconstruction of the nuclear American family. People are murdered, beaten, burnt, shot and bitten, but the very talented Glass tells you where these cyclical acts of hurt and torture come from. Katy O’Brien and Kristen Stewart are so beautifully monstrous. Broken, ripped, jealous, angry, rash and determined – they command the tautly paced 100 mins with a sense of unbridled animalism. Clint Mansell needs many awards for his 80’s inspired synth score. We need more metal as hell, “Be gay. Do crime” films filled with rage, please.
Nosferatu
Chilling, frightening, relentlessly bleak and yet slightly sprinkled with hope. While a respectful remake of Murnau’s masterful 1922 German expressionist silent film – Robert Eggers walks his own more occult, psycho-sexual path, making the narrative all the better for it. The opening scene alone already had me gasping and frozen into a bone-locked daze. Bill Skarsgård’s voice has never sounded deeper, more imposing, and truly violating. Willem Dafoe has rarely been more eccentric, and Lily Rose-Depp handles the phantasmagorical antics under her competent and, at times, contorting shoulders. The primarily monochromatic cinematography by Jarin Blaschke creates claustrophobically Gothic images and tableaus with immaculately crafted intensity. If you ask me, Eggers is four for four in adapting folklore horror with utmost authenticity.
8. All We Imagine as Light
Payal Kapadia has crafted a film that comes to life from the first frame. Raw, tender, authentic – it follows two nurses at different points in their lives, unable to reckon with specific circumstances in and out of their control. Kapadia captures Mumbai with the frantic beauty of modern India. The camera ever moves through the packed and overwrought streets – work and money are why people get up in the morning. It is a great story about women accepting their realities – the light we imagine and the light that’s real. With a subtext surrounding class and Hindu nationalism, it’s a luminous slice of life respecting multiple generations of women. Ones who just needed to process the relationships in their lives and flourish without the grip of patriarchal control. Who doesn’t want to just pack up and move to a seaside village?
All Shall Be Well
Rey Yeung has made a quiet yet profoundly detailed mosaic of queer love and loss. The family dynamics presented in this Hong Kong drama put the failures of heteronormativity under the microscope. This is a family that holds deep love for one another until legal, ethical, and medical issues arise. Patra Au is exceptional as Angie. She and her partner Pat have been a loving lesbian couple for over 30 years. The legal system there still fails to recognise queer couples adequately. Thankfully, Yeung’s intelligent script puts a spotlight on the reality of living as a queer person in Hong Kong, the nuances inside both family and found family, but most of all – the beauty in what two people share. All Shall be Well is a compassionate film that teaches us that building a life in a space together is essential. Homes are more than just items on a balance sheet. Write your will as early as possible – especially if you’re queer.
Anora
The most accessible Sean Baker, but also the boldest Sean Baker. An absolute adrenaline shot of cinema into my veins. A facetious yet damning look at the transactional nature of modern relationships. Mikey Madison is spellbinding – the supporting cast is astonishing, and every act feels like the film is reinventing itself. It captures the ecstasy of an early relationship, the plight of sex work, and the class-conscious commentary regarding human beings trapped by systems that limit freedom and autonomy. Sean’s perpetual humanist touch puts you right there inside the whirlwind of Anora’s life. I cheered for her, and I cried with her. The façade of mass consumerism is slowly unmasked for human vulnerability. When the anvil drops, Anora is the anti-fairy tale in all the right ways.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Perfectly paired with Klaudia Reynicke’s excellent Peruvian drama Reinas for stories that extrapolate families as symbols of broken nations. Mohammad Rasoulof’s politically charged thriller-drama combines the fictional narrative of a struggling and paranoic Tehran family with the actual images and video of the 2022-2023 Iranian protests (that were unforgivably and violently suppressed) to extreme effect. At 168 minutes, it does not waste a second – I was unshakably gripped until its rousing finish.
Sisters Rezvan and Sana navigate such a volatile and broken world with their mother Najmeh – a tall order to go along with their father and husband, Iman, who works as a judge in the Revolutionary Court. Things get as chaotic, tense and precarious as Iran’s state today. An extraordinary and unforgettable film about bravery, protest, and the crushing reality of Iran’s theocratic state. An inspiring act of resistance both within and out of the frame.
No Other Land
I walked out of this film very angry, not at the quality of the film, but at the sheer magnitude of disregard for human life – Palestinian life. Directed by a collective of four Palestinian-Israeli activists, this vital documentary covers the Israeli occupation of Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian region in the West Bank, during the years 2019-2023. Rather than fatally focus on the misery – and there is a lot – it centres on the brave, resilient, and courageous disobedience of a people whose roots go as deep as their prized olive trees.
Basel Adra, a man whose earliest memory is of IDF soldiers raiding his home and taking away his father, is the beating heart of this story. He records with urgent veracity the mass destruction of his homeland, his complicated friendship with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, and most of all, using the camera as a symbol of truth. As Palestine is razed to the ground every day, Basel’s filmmaking is a fearless yet patient step toward freedom. An eternal document of resistance for all to see.
The Substance
I can’t speak to the experiences of womanhood, but many women I have talked to have experienced Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance almost as if it were a documentary. Personally, across my multiple viewings, while many audience members gawked, screamed, and laughed at what happened to Elizabeth Sparkle – the more I watched it, the more I witnessed these events with a true feeling of sadness. Yes, it’s a divine, epic, maximalist, feminist body horror. Still, at its core, this is a tragic tale about aging, unnatural body standards, and Hollywood’s perpetual fetishization of the monstrous woman. It’s also an enthralling film where Dennis Quaid shoveling his face with shrimp is the most grotesque moment.
Fargeat’s vision is not about breaking the wheel but snapping it into various spokes and rearranging it. She upends the male gaze by hyper-exposing, amplifying, and decomposing the body parts often driven by patriarchal craving. Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore do an award-worthy dance as the maiden and the mother self-immolating to avoid the crone. Ultimately, I love The Substance for being an unabashedly corporeal, feminist response to those who desire more ‘tits and arse’ on the big screen. Demi Moore, Moore, and Moore indeed.
Challengers
We all need some of Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan in us – for better or worse. She is the conduit for the relentless drive to pursue that which provides you with ecstasy, which, in the case of Luca Guadagnino’s masterpiece Challengers, is a match of outstanding tennis. Caught in the crossfire are Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor’s doting “little white boys” Art and Patrick. Justin Kuritzkes’s multifaceted script allows the audience to analyse each of these twisted triplets under a different light on subsequent viewings – no one is free from judgment. He and Guadagnino also skilfully present the bedroom as foreplay; the sport itself becomes the outlet of desire. Sex is tennis.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have crafted the perfect score – the Berlin-techno inspired electronica is intoxicating as much as it is rhythmic. The final sequence features the euphoric centre of the cinematic year – a synergy between the frame, the characters, the audience, and the soundscape that releases an erotic, explosive climax like none other. Marco Costa should have the editing Oscar in the bag. As I wrote earlier this year, “Challengers is a highly camp, hyper-queer exploration of decades-long rivalry. It is a brilliantly entertaining romp full of sweat, bodily arousal, and cheeky eroticism. It is a game, set, and match for sexy, frisky cinema.”
Dune: Part Two
It’s almost impossible not to put this at the top of my list. I retweeted the countdown for this film nearly every day for two years. I saw it 8 times in IMAX. I couldn’t finish my full review because I was racing through too many thoughts. I still can’t believe such a tentpole blockbuster can have such a blistering critique of organised religion. So much of it was once considered unadaptable to the screen, but Denis Villeneuve captured Frank Herbert’s text with absolute awe and cinematic majesty. It’s a sequel that has it all. Zendaya’s defiant spirit as Chani. Austin Butler’s sociopathic swagger as Feyd-Rautha. Javier Bardem’s comedically blind devotion as Stilgar. Rebecca Ferguson’s treacherous proselytizing as Jessica. Joe Walker’s tactile editing. Hans Zimmer’s otherworldly score. Greig Fraser’s ravishing cinematography (Feyd’s gladiatorial spectacle filmed with monochromatic, infrared cameras is a sequence for the ages) – the craft, the ambition, the performances, the thematic density, and sheer audacity of the piece is like no other.
Dune is still about one man and his pursuit/fear of power – mingling with the forces above and around him to tell a dangerous tale about politics, allegiance, ecology, oppression, and faith. Timothée Chalamet embodies Paul with a dogmatic edge by the film’s end, making the fanatical moments land with triumphant believability. It expertly puts the audience into a moral crisis about whether to blame Paul himself or those pulling the strings around him – a philosophical unwinding of fate and the hero’s journey. If Villeneuve can pull off Part 3 with this A-game cast and crew, we will witness a true epoch in the history of science fiction cinema. Dune: Part Two is my film of the year because nothing has made me feel more immersed, challenged, and transported. Take the spice, move with the flow of the process, and long live the fighters.
This week on Women InSession, we continue our critic spotlight series as we get to know Brian Susbielles and his experience becoming a critic focusing on the classics! Brian has been us for quite a few years now and is a terrific writer. Yes, he does a lot of stuff around the Criterion collection, but you can see him also delving into new films and awards season as well.
Panel: Kristin Battestella, Jaylan Salah
On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
In the year of 2024, many films were so good, and many films that were, well, s**t. Like burning turds cooked up to last two hours to “entertain” us, torturing our eyes and testing our sanity. But, enough about Unfrosted and Joker: Folie a Deux. This is the time to talk about the best in movies, which brought in new names (Karla Sofia Gascon), breakout directors (Jane Schoenbrun), and brought out veterans to give superior work that can finally get them their first Oscar nomination (Daniel Craig, Zoe Saldana) – if not win. Here are my Top 10 films of 2024.
Honorable Mentions: Emilia Perez, Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg, A Complete Unknown, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Longlegs
10. The Brutalist
Brady Corbet went out to make a three-and-half-hour film that was unlike Martin Scorsese’s three-and-half-hour films and seemingly topped them with this astounding epic. Adrian Brody, Guy Pearce, and Felicity Jones turn in career-best performances of a post-war American being built through the prism of a Hungarian architect trying to make the American Dream work. Complete with an intermission and shot in VistaVision to compliment its 1950s aesthetic, The Brutalist is also among the boldest films to be made in recent years and made with the stunning low budget of $10 million. Yes, Hollywood studios, you can make these movies for a lot less than your precious $150 million stinkers.
9. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
The story of a gamer in Norway whose death from Duchenne muscular dystrophy reveals how many friends he had is quite the emotional pull, even for those who know nothing about World of Warcraft. Benjamin Ree’s documentary reveals why people choose roleplaying to connect, especially the story of a young man entrapped in his own body. It tugs the heartstrings a bit, especially for anyone who knows someone in similar circumstances, and shows how connected anyone in any avatar can be with others.
8. Didi
Sean Wang’s feature film debut is a jolt of energetic youth with life in the 00s being as technically rad as it was; I should know because I was a teenager in that period. Following a Chinese-American boy (Izaac Wang), he goes through the ups and downs of being thirteen years old and being caught up in his immaturity while dealing with the homelife of his older sister and Chinese-born mother (a wonderful Joan Chen), who is alone while her husband is back abroad in China. AOL Chat, YouTube, FaceBook, and all the social media connections of the time – before it went sideways – are all there with the hijinks and awkwardness grounded in reality.
7. September 5
As relevant as ever with current events, the story of the Munich Massacre from ABC’s point-of-view is told tightly and tensely as if the story were fiction. Director Tim Fehlbaum executes to perfection the true events of live television journalism under fire between getting the facts and capturing the action, getting in the grey of ethics while lives are at stake. Peter Saarsgard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, and Leonie Benesch are a strong foursome in this rapid environment where every second and word counts in a frantic 24-hour period long before cable news was around.
6. The Substance
The perfect description of Hollywood’s obsession with age and looks is filled with shock, awe, and the most grotesque imagery you will see in any movie. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are a matching duo as the old-young version of an actress, one who has aged out and been forgotten, and the other who represents the new hot look TV wants. And let’s not forget Dennis Quaid, the blunt TV producer who eats a ton of shrimp and goes goo-goo for Qualley’s character. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat nails it, especially in the last thirty minutes of the film, where it’s peak body horror.
5. Anora
Winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, Sean Baker’s modern Pretty Woman finally has a film that has caught the attention of mainstream voters. Mikey Madison is sensational as the lucky stripper who marries the Russian oligarchy, only for the oligarchy to reject her and the chaos that ensues to annul it. Plenty of sex (suck it, you puritanical millennials), a lot of laughs, and all of the emotions that elevate the film to the same heights as the other major studio films. It’s great to see Baker finally getting his long-deserved recognition.
4. Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat
This documentary blends global politics with jazz music and is one of the year’s most original, eye-popping films. Johan Grimonprez takes the subject of the Congo Crisis from 1960-61 and puts it in a blender with creative animation like reading a newspaper. The intercutting between archive footage in the United Nations with jazz music’s finest at the time gives a wild historiography that runs parallel to current wars in Africa today, sadly, and how colonialism has never gone away. Multiple voices speak to us of first-hand accounts of the conflict, revealing the layers of intricacies that doomed the now-Democratic Republic of the Congo from independence and, even from afar, jazz music and civil rights were always fighting for the rights of others, as well as being pitted against each other in name of the Cold War.
3. Memoir Of A Snail
Nothing made me turn on tears than this claymation from Australia’s Adam Elliot about the tragicomical life of a girl filled with pain but also laughs at every challenge that comes across and the people she meets. Sarah Snook is a natural voice as Gracie, the snail-obsessed orphan separated from her twin brother, raised by nudists and befriends an old lady, voiced by Jacki Weaver, with an appetite for life. It’s not for kids, that’s for sure; there are clay tits and a fetish for body fat that gets ingested, but for adults, it is an emotional trek that hits all the points to get me deeply involved with our past lives growing up alone and trying to make it in this world.
2. A Real Pain
I’m not Jewish, yet, on a very personal level, especially with my closest friends who are Jewish, I felt such a connection to this film. Probably because I love world history and the horrors of the Holocaust are still present as reminders of what happened eighty years ago with the camera going into these chambers of death. And then, there’s the personal pain that Kieran Culkin, your probable Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actor, churns out that anyone who can relate to somebody who has one side that is energetic and happy and then another side that is deep in depression. Jesse Eisenberg’s sophomore effort is a simple story of reconnection and the gulf between continents where family bonds and generational trauma remain present. It is a movie with a surprising power that lands gently by the end.
Conclave
Edward Berger followed up All Quiet On The Western Front with this masterwork of religious politics, secrecy, and a trial of faith that does not waste a single second of its runtime. Ralph Fiennes gives his best performance since playing Amon Goth in Schindler’s List and has a perfect supporting cast with John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci, Isabella Rossellini, and Sergio Castellitto. The script by Peter Naughton is straightforward and brings us in from the start, taking us through every twist and turn as Volker Bertelmann creates a score that isn’t as bombastic as All Quiet but maintains the tension. The production design perfectly confines us to a place where we’re not supposed to be and the tight editing keeps it all balanced. Berger and company don’t leave any stones unturned and the final twist tops off an entertaining film that rings ever so true in today’s society.
2024 has been the biggest (not the best) movie year for me to date. I’ve seen 136 new releases from this year. I covered multiple festivals and attended NYFF as accredited press for the first time ever. Regardless of the overall quality of the movies released this year, 2024 will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s important to note that last year’s strikes had a major impact on the release schedule this year (Challengers being released this year instead of last, for instance) and several productions were delayed which has caused what many believe to be a sparse year for cinema. Despite the odds, we still had some bangers.
10. Trap
“Why are so many people pretending to love Trap?” Look, say what you want about me on the internet but I am not pretending. My thoughts have been documented on the site when the movie came out. I was hooting and hollering the whole way through this film, and I am M. Night Shyamalan’s target audience. Josh Hartnett delivers an amazing performance and the first two-thirds are undeniable. Give this one and all of Shyamalan’s work a revisit and find the joy and wonder he brings to filmmaking.
9. The First Omen
It takes a lot to freak me out in a horror movie, and Arakasha Stevenson’s debut film The First Omen was a once in a blue moon theater experience for me. Her direction is incredibly inventive and actually made me care about a prequel to a B-tier horror franchise in which I’ve seen no other entries. Nell Tiger Free has one of the year’s breakout performances as Sister Margaret and it’s entirely on her and Stevenson’s efforts that this movie is successful. I genuinely couldn’t believe some of the things I was seeing in the theater and it got me excited about both of their careers going forward.
8. Nickel Boys
Speaking of inventive direction and filmmaking, good Lord. RaMell Ross’s adaptation of the Colson Whitehead novel is the most breathtaking film I have seen all year. It’s hard to think of a more impressive narrative feature debut in recent memory, and his commitment to the unique perspectives throughout the film is the boldest choice in cinema of the past decade. Not only is the movie impressive on a technical level, but the story it tells is incredibly important and yet another reminder of the rampant racism and abuse that has plagued America since before it even began. In a just world, Ross would run away with the Best Director award at every awards show.
7. Juror #2
It’s been a hell of a year for Nicholas Hoult, with three solid outputs displaying his range and taste. Perhaps another of his films shows up later on this list. Hoult, with help from J.K. Simmons and Toni Collette, carries Clint Eastwood’s potential final film about justice, personal responsibility, and the woes of the legal system. It’s absurdly exciting that Eastwood can still make something this engaging and thought-provoking well into his nineties, especially considering some of the duds he has put out in the last few years. Juror #2 puts a twist on the Lumet classic 12 Angry Men and is well worth seeking out after Warner Brothers tanked its theater run this fall.
6. Nosferatu
Robert Eggers simply does not miss. His attention to detail and vision make anything he does worth seeing. Nosferatu is a welcome “return to form” after he went slightly commercial with The Northman in 2022. His smaller scale here works perfectly with his loyal team of craftspeople, who are so in sync that it’s hard to find a flaw in the filmmaking. Eggers gets great performances from Nicholas Hoult, Willem Defoe, Aaron Taylor-Jonhson, Bill Skarsgard, and the surprisingly impressive Lily Rose-Depp. I’m excited to see this on the biggest screen possible in the coming days to hone in on my thoughts, but it still left an impression upon the first watch.
5. Sing Sing
I seem to be one of the thirty-seven lucky American citizens who have been able to see Sing Sing this year after A24’s curious and confusing rollout. This was probably the most emotional I got in a theater this year, and it’s hard to overstate how wonderful Sing Sing is. The story behind the movie and the fact that most of the actors are previously incarcerated and spent time in the prison and program portrayed in the film is mindblowing to me, and I still think about it months later. You won’t regret it if you can support this in a theater once A24 makes the final awards push in the coming weeks.
4. Hit Man
Richard Linklater’s Hit Man was the first 2024 release I saw as part of last year’s NYFF, and it has stayed near the top of my list ever since. Glen Powell and Adria Arjona have amazing chemistry and it somehow compresses three different movies into one without screwing it up. I love anything Linklater puts in front of me but this one has felt like the most impressive of his work over the past few years, capturing charisma and humor in a way that just stays with you. It’s a shame this didn’t get a theater run, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to see it in one.
3. Challengers
Challengers has surprisingly become the more successful and more potent of Luca Guadagnino’s two releases this year, with Queer proving to be a bit more weird than some expected. The latter’s more serious subject matter was thought to position it in more awards standing than Challengers, but folks underestimated just how fun Challengers would turn out to be. Its three main stars, led by Zendaya, are amazing together and the frenetic pace and score make this a one-of-a-kind filmgoing experience. The most fun I had at the cinema this year was all three times I saw Challengers on the big screen and it’s not even close.
2. The Brutalist
It’s astounding that this film even exists, especially given that approximately 95% of Brady Corbet’s budget went to the 70mm film reels needed to shoot a three-plus hour epic*. From the moment the triumphant score began I knew I was in for something special with The Brutalist and it doesn’t disappoint. Corbet produces career-best performances from Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce, and somehow makes a film of this length breeze by. In a world dominated by sequels and franchises, original filmmaking is alive and well in the hands of some wonderful young directors like Corbet.
*Please note this is a joke stat and not factual.
1. Dune: Part Two
I know, it’s pretty boring to have a franchise sequel as the best movie of the year. In my defense, it’s hard to argue against a director at the top of his game who has brought together one of the most stacked casts imaginable to adapt the unadaptable. Part One was just the set-up, and Denis Villeneuve pulled off the follow-through. The action set pieces, Timothee Chalamet’s surprisingly commanding performance, and all the technical filmmaking are unimpeachable. I think about this movie and Part One just about every day, whether it be a scene or a beautiful Greig Fraser shot. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films will go down as some of the highest achievements in mainstream filmmaking and will continue to age like fine wine.
Note: Due to extreme gender bias in awards season this year I will only be choosing films directed by women or gender non-conforming people.
10. The People’s Joker – Vera Drew
Lawsuits, delayed releases, the inability to even mention the title of Vera Drew’s queer coming-of-age superhero/villain satire The People’s Joker meant the director was stymied at every point trying to get eyes on her amazing film.
Filled with caustic jokes, self-revelations, and the pain and joy of the trans experience, The People’s Joker is a brilliant and heartfelt meta-commentary about how trans kids often experience the world through fiction. Pair with Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow.
9. Babygirl – Halina Reijn
It took me two viewings to click with what writer/director Halina Reijn was doing. Underneath all the very horny goings on between Nicole Kidman’s high-flying corporate tycoon Romy, and her intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson) is an examination of the complexities of power, sexuality, and the need to be seen. A heavy dose of satire hits just near the end with Sophie Wilde’s up and coming business talent Esme saying the success of women is the recognition of their willingness to be ‘radically truthful’ and ‘fearlessly express their desires.’
Excellent support from Antonio Banderas as Jacob, Romy’s husband of nineteen years, Esther Rose McGregor as their daughter Isabel, a big glass of milk, and one particular needle drop by INXS which could verge on bad taste if one remembers how Michael Hutchence died.
Part of the Nicole Kidman getting her Christmas kink on cinematic universe with Eyes Wide Shut. “Good girl.” Pair with Joanna Arnow’s The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed.
8. Hoard – Luna Carmoon
If you haven’t heard of Hoard don’t be embarrassed as it got limited releases if any outside Britain or film festivals. Starring Sarah Lightfoot-Leon, Joseph Quinn, and Hayley Squires, Hoard is about the ongoing effect of trauma, motherhood, mental health, and collected ‘catalogues of love.’
Squires plays Cynthia, the loving but unbalanced mother to little Maria whose house is a topsy turvey jumble of piles of junk Cynthia calls their treasure and nursery rhymes. A tragedy sees Maria removed from her mother and placed into permanent foster care with Michelle. Years later and now a teenager, Maria is ‘feral’ in her own way. A visitor from Michelle’s past, former foster kid Michael, and a package Maria wasn’t expecting ignites a spiral into needing the sense memory of Cynthia to keep her safe. Michael is much older than Maria and feeds her obsession for filth, self-harm, and animalistic behavior.
An unforgettable debut partly inspired by Carmoon’s own grandmother. Hoard isn’t for the easily repulsed but it is rewarding. Pair with Andrea Arnold’s Bird and Sacha Polak’s Silver Haze.
7. Fancy Dance – Erica Tremblay
Another victim of poor release strategy. Fancy Dance didn’t have a distributor until Tremblay’s regular collaborator, Lily Gladstone, hit the spotlight. It then had a small run in some cinemas in the States and hit Apple+ getting sadly buried.
A story about the love an aunt has for her niece and the widespread issue of missing Native American women. Lily Gladstone plays Jax – a smart and rebellious woman living on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation who takes care of her thirteen-year-old niece, Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) while trying to solve the disappearance of her sister who is Roki’s mother. Roki holds out hope that her mother will be back in time to perform the mother and daughter fancy dance at an upcoming powwow.
Jax has a criminal record, so welfare decide to send Roki to live with her white grandfather and his new wife. Jax and Roki hit the road on a journey to the powwow which reveals Jax’s sharp edges and warm heart. Meanwhile almost nothing is being done to solve Tawi’s disappearance as the two law enforcement agencies clash.
An indictment of the systemic issues Native American face and a beautiful story of bonding and heritage. Pair with Rez Ball directed by Sydney Freeland and Rachel Morrison’s The Fire Inside.
6. Vermiglio – Maura Delpero
Set in 1944 in a small Italian alpine community and using the framework of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ – Vermiglio is a gentle and devastating story of motherhood, freedom, and the changing face of Italy.
Three sisters form the core of the story. The luminous Lucia. The rebellious Ada. The intelligent Flavia. The sisters share a bed and know some of each other’s secrets. When Lucia marries Pietro, a deserter from the army and a Sicilian, the intimate world they share is blown apart. Cesare the family patriarch becomes lost and shamed in the community after a scandal is revealed and each young woman faces a set of challenges to define their place and personalities.
Gloriously filmed with rich symbolism, and at times incredibly funny, Vermiglio is lovingly intimate and providing a universal message about coming-of-age, and the expectations placed on women. One family unit represents a larger community on the brink of a new kind of Italy post World War Two. Pair with Klaudia Reynickle’s Reinas (Queens) or Lila Avilés’ Tótem.
5. All We Imagine as Light – Payal Kapadia
South Asian cinema is having a moment – and it’s driven by the often-overlooked stories of women’s lives. Payal Kapadia’s tale of three women of different generations navigating life in Mumbai where they are liminal dwellers in a city that both needs and rejects them, is exquisite.
Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha) are Malayali nurses sharing a small apartment. Prabha receives a rice cooker from who she assumes to be her absent husband in Germany and attempts to understand the meaning. Is it an apology for not contacting her, him reaching out to re-ignite the relationship, or a parting gift? Anu is deeply in love with a young Muslim man but cannot be seen in public with him and is desperate to find a place where they can be intimate. Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam) is a cook at the hospital where they work and due to unscrupulous developers is about to lose the only home she has known for many years because they refuse to accept the paperwork for the property claiming it as hers through her now deceased husband.
Such ‘small sorrows’ are gradually unveiled. There must be millions of similar stories being whispered in the blue-hued city. The weight of tradition bearing down upon the inhabitants of Mumbai which is modernising itself on the surface but maintains multigenerational class, religious, and gender divisions.
Once outside Mumbai in the beach side town where Parvaty grew up, each woman finds a moment of peace and acceptance. Lovers realise they are part of an eternal narrative. Prahba is given her chance to ‘speak’ with her husband. Each of the women’s hearts unfurl in a sisterhood of earned trust and shared language. All We Imagine as Light is unmissable.
Pair with South Asian films Girls Will Be Girls by Shuchi Talati, Santosh by Sandhya Suri, and the Iranian film My Favourite Cake by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha.
4. Ghostlight – Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson
No-one can deny the healing quality of art after watching Ghostlight scripted and co-directed by Kelly O’Sullivan. Starring the Kupferer-Mallen family and Dolly De Leon. Keith Kupferer plays Dan, an emotionally unavailable and angry construction worker who after a terrible family tragedy finds himself in an amateur theatrical group performing Romeo and Juliet. Katherine Mallen Kupferer is Daisy, his equally angry and wounded daughter. Tara Mallen is his wife Sharon who is desperately trying to keep the family from imploding.
Dolly De Leon as ‘never was’ actor Rita recognizes something in Dan and pushes him into the production which opens up a way for him to start expressing his feelings and communicate with Daisy who becomes involved in the production at a latter stage in the film. Daisy’s journey is as important as Dan’s and her brittle pain is also given space to exist and be recognized.
A transformative experience and a wonderful character study of people caught in grief, regret, guilt, and anger finding the flicker of the spotlight warming them.
3. Good One – India Donaldson
India Donaldson’s debut feature Good One has earned comparisons to Kelly Reichardt. Imagine being teenage woman stuck with the protagonists of Old Joy as middle-aged men and realising they’re not just bickering, getting drunk, and playing one up on each other: they genuinely don’t notice or respect you either.
Sam (Lily Collias) is used to going hiking with her dad, Chris (James Le Gros). Sam is getting close to college age and Chris’ new infant child with his second wife means that this year’s trip to the Catskills might be their last for a while. The trip was supposed to have four people, but Matt’s (Danny McCarthy) son has dropped out and refuses to speak to him. Sam gets an almost anthropological view of extended middle-aged male anomie sitting in the back seat of Chris’ car that becomes progressively worse as the trip goes on. When Matt’s behavior towards Sam crosses a line, the lack of response from either of the men shocks her and makes her realize all the small incidents building up on the trip weren’t accidental – these men are self-involved misogynists. Pair with Annie Baker’s Janet Planet.
2. Love Lies Bleeding – Rose Glass
A pulsating queer crime thriller set in New Mexico in the realm of sleazy bars, gun ranges, body building culture, and steroid fueled excess. Rose Glass’ Love Lies Bleeding is a cosmic horror and pulp neo-noir with the ‘be gay do crime’ ethos.
Starring Kristen Stewart as Lou who stays around the purgatorial small town to care for her sister Bethany (Jena Malone) whose violent husband is one swing away from killing her. The ‘femme fatale’ who wanders into town is amateur bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian) who stops in Albuquerque on her way to a competition in Las Vegas. The two develop an obsessive relationship with each other filled with sex and violence which becomes explosive when Jackie kills someone thinking it is what Lou wants (and unconsciously it is).
What Jackie doesn’t realize is that she’s awoken the wrath of Lou Sr., (Ed Harris) Lou’s malignant and criminal father. She’s also awoken Lou’s past which is far from savory.
Stylish, frightening, mythical, and extremely vicious, Love Lies Bleeding is slick with blood and other bodily fluids. Tormented and tender, Rose Glass bends the world into impossible shapes and the result is monstrously magnificent. Pair with Toll (Pedágio) by Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz.
1. The Substance – Coralie Fargeat
There isn’t much to be said about French director Coralie Fargeat’s scathing body horror and entertainment industry satire The Substance that hasn’t been said before. It’s outrageous, abject, violent, and truly sad. One time Oscar winner and now “ageing” daytime television aerobics instructor Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) gets fired on her fiftieth birthday by the odious network executive Harvey (Dennis Quaid).
Having little sense of who she is without the spotlight, when a mysterious offer is delivered for her to try ‘The Substance’ an experimental cell cloning technique to create a “Younger, more beautiful, more perfect” version of herself, Elisabeth takes it.
The result is the ‘birth’ of Sue (Margaret Qualley) from her back. Sue and Elisabeth are supposed to share this new existence as the disembodied voice insists “Remember You Are One” – but it isn’t long until Elisabeth and Sue are in a pitched battle for supremacy.
The tragedy of the story is Elisabeth is the matrix from whom Sue is born. Instead of Sue becoming a ‘more perfect’ version of Elisabeth she becomes a distilled version of her ambition and need for the power that beauty and attention bring her.
Fargeat intended the film to be a comment on ageism and the pressures put on women to never age and to remain ‘perfect and pliable’ in the service of the male gaze – and she isn’t subtle about any of it. However, there are layers within layers resting in the Matryoshka doll film. Remember, take care of yourself!
Honorable mentions: Mati Diop’s Dahomey. Emily Kassie and Julian Brave Noisecat’s Sugarcane. Itō Shiori’s Black Box Diaries. Caitlyn Cronenberg’s Humane. Annick Blanc’s Hunting Daze. Sally Aitken’s Every Little Thing.
I tend to treat a year end list as a way not to really and concretely rank pieces of art, but to reflect on the intensity of my reaction to films. More often than not, I will not revisit several of the films on this list again, but in the grandness of a year in my life, these ten films meant the greatest deal to me. They found me. They arrived while I was vulnerable, triumphant, disappointed, and anxious. They opened my heart to something new and something unique. They burrowed into my mind and oozed back out in my elation whenever someone asked for a recommendation. They all premiered before December.
I looked back on all my lists for InSession Film (2021, 2022, 2023) and while there were a few December titles that made their way onto these lists, it’s rare that when I reflect on a year in film I choose from those that I might have seen last. I have seen some great movies in December, but to wait and catapult a new, shiny, top of my mind film over something I saw and loved and lived with much sooner in the year, seems like peer pressure to be like those who also make these lists. I like what I like and I won’t wait to tell you about it.
I’m proud to present what I consider to be 10 exceptional films that had a theatrical presence in 2024. If you would like to see a much longer expression of the films I’ve loved in 2024, check out the list I created for 2024 on Letterboxd. For now, my top 10.
The People’s Joker
There is a point in every queer person’s life where they realize there is a seminal piece of pop culture that is a sort of tipping point. There’s before, which is the life of questioning and ignorance and the after, in which they realize that their life could be more full if they accept the truth about themselves (mine is Hook, though I didn’t realize it until much later). In The People’s Joker, writer/director Vera Drew uses the Batman mythos as a jumping off point for a coming of age story about a transgender woman understanding and accepting herself. It’s brilliant in its mixed media approach and affecting in its message, which is never lost in the strange, acerbic, and vibrant world Vera Drew has created.
Wildcat
I remember the first time I read a Flannery O’Connor short story and the way it shifted my perspective on what the short story could accomplish. So much so that O’Connor is a writer I return to time and again. Flannery O’Connor stories have a biting cruelty and criticism of people who believe themselves to be above others. She writes of people who have no understanding of humility, people who we relish in their comeuppance. This comes across in Wildcat, a stirring biopic directed and co-written by Ethan Hawke and starring his daughter, Maya. O’Connor’s fierce spirit is in every frame and her words are brought to stirring life in the interstitial adaptations of some of her greatest stories. Maya Hawke is pitch perfect as the opinionated, pious, and razor-witted O’Connor. It’s a spectacular portrait of the tragically short life of one of America’s greatest writers.
Thelma
I’ve probably written about this film more than any other this year. Thelma‘s the kind of genre chameleon that hits every beat pitch perfectly. It’s got a superiorly crafted script and production that oozes originality and a love of character and genre. It’s also led by an incredibly funny, poignant, and strong performance by June Squibb. Every single person who I have told to watch it, who actually did, has been astonished by the tenacity and heart of it. It’s one of those movies where you laugh through your tears and cheer while laughing.
Challengers
It’s rare that I gasp in delight at a film. Mainly because many films as sexually charged as Challengers rely on heavy subtext. Yet, when Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) began to make out as Tashi (Zendaya) leaned back, my face flushed and my heart fluttered out of my chest. It’s only matched in intensity by the incredible psychosexual thrill ride that follows in the most equilateral of all love triangles on screen. Then there’s the churro scene, it made my mouth dry and all the hair, and some other parts of my body, stand at attention. It’s so quick, but it’s oh so glorious, much like the film itself. Luca Guadagnino is a master of the tease.
The Bikeriders
My thirstiness continued into June as The Bikeriders’ subtextual love triangle graced the screen and roared like a few dozen motorcycles into my very being. I thought I had felt the most erotic allure I was going to feel all year with my previous entry, until Kathy (Jodie Comer) sees Benny (Austin Butler) for the first time across a bar. Writer/director Jeff Nichols frames Butler so serenely and angelically that it’s hard not to want to jump on the back of this greasy bad boy’s bike and let him take you anywhere as long as you can wrap your arms tightly around his torso. Then Johnny (Tom Hardy) pulls Benny in close to whisper in his ear about taking over the club and I’m sure my breathing and heartbeat, thumping, “KISS, KISS, KISS,” was so loud a few people in the audience looked back at me enraptured by the moment I was seeing. A terrific film of triumph, tragedy, and jealousy.
I Saw the TV Glow
I’ve been a person scared of my truth for much of my life. I’ve been a person who denied myself because it was so much safer than declaring what I knew from head to toe. I see a lot of myself in Owen (Justice Smith) and how they dealt with the new feelings that enveloped them. Writer/director Jane Schoebrun’s I Saw the TV Glow will affect different viewers in different ways, but it is a film that will seep into you. It is a film that in the midst of its chaos you will feel a lump in your throat and a tear down your cheek. There’s a beauty to truth and a tragedy to denial that is overwhelming and all encompassing. I Saw the TV Glow is a film that will linger in my mind for a long time to come.
Robot Dreams
There’s a point in every person’s life when they meet someone who is undeniably their person. They are a person who keeps the loneliness at bay, who lets you be you. Inevitably, there will be something that pulls you from that person whether it is someone new, or something out of your control. Robot Dreams, an animated, dialogue free film about a dog who builds a best friend out of a robot is one of the most humanistic and deeply moving portraits of friendship I have ever seen. There is a tremendous amount of beauty in it and my eyes are seeping tears thinking about that incredible final sequence. Robot Dreams reminds you of platonic love lost, lets you cherish the love in front of you, and hope for more great loves in the future. A superb film all around.
We Live in Time
I’m an absolute sucker for a couple falling in love. I’m even more of a sucker for stories that eschew linear storytelling for something more complex and detailed. We Live in Time is not only a tremendous rom-dramedy, but a wholly mature look at the idea of relationships, compromise, and taking a leap without fear of what comes next. It’s a film about the small moments that make up the life of a couple. It’s sexy, funny, tragic, uplifting, and a whole package kind of movie that completely makes you fall in love with it. The chemistry between Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh is off the charts and they make you believe every moment. It’s the perfect, “I laughed, I cried,” type of movie.
Hundreds of Beavers
This film is the [expletive] funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I laughed so [expletive] hard and so [expletive] long that I nearly choked. The sheer inventiveness not only of the story, but of having people in mascot costumes playing woodland creatures is one of the most [expletive] goofy things that just [expletive] works. Everything about this movie works so [expletive] well it boggles the mind. This is what a modern silent film should be, a throwback that’s entirely of our time. Light years beyond any other comedy this year and, I can’t emphasize this enough, so [expletive] funny.
Ghostlight
Shakespearean works have endured for hundreds of years because, in spite of the often impenetrable language, the works have a deep humanity to them. The works speak to something within our shared experiences even if we’ve never been queens, kings, or high born nobles. We’ve all felt the blush of first love and the anguish of disapproval. What Ghostlight does is to take a man who is like us and to show him the empathy within each difficult and precisely placed word. It’s a film of overwhelming grief that builds to a catharsis that is so utterly moving it’s nearly beyond my capacity to describe. There is perfection in showing that even in the imperfection of a community production, art can have a profound effect on people. Art can explain our emotions and our inner thoughts more clearly than we know how to. Great art, like Ghostlight, can build a story that lets us come to our own conclusions and to see the pain of another human being as real and valid. Ghostlight is a tremendous opus within a shaggy, loveable exterior.
As proud members of the Women InSession Film podcast, it fills us with joy when we get listener responses on one or more of our episodes. So, it was our absolute delight when the team of The Imposters contacted us for an interview.
The Imposters is a psychological thriller-noir with palpable sexual tension among its characters. What follows is an in-depth conversation with Marie Everett (Maya), Chynna Walker (Hattie), Tegan Mordt (Anna), and Amanda Michaud (Rebecca), diving into their artistic processes, their on and off-screen dynamics, and most difficult scenes to shoot. Enjoy!
Director: Michael Gracey Writers: Simon Gleeson, Oliver Cole, Michael Gracey Stars: Robbie Williams, Jonno Davies, Steve Pemberton
Synopsis: A singular profile of British pop superstar Robbie Williams.
The ‘singular profile’ the synopsis refers to in the story of Robbie Williams in Michael Gracey’s Better Man is that its central figure is depicted as a monkey. From his childhood to his Take That days, following his solo career, we see the highs and lows of Williams’ music career and personal life as a chimpanzee plucked straight out of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes trilogy, which slightly discombobulates things, when everyone around him is a human. Williams provides the voice of himself (alongside frequent bursts of voiceover narration throughout the 135-minute-long film), while Jonno Davies captures him to life through motion capture.
Such a unique proposition certainly posits Gracey’s film as a unique biopic that longs to break the conventionalities that many ‘pop star’ pictures are stuck in. Few movies that focus on its central artist figure dare to do anything different than depict them through humble beginnings, a meteoric rise to success, a cataclysmic fall, and a redemption arc. This was the structure of Freddy Mercury’s story in the terrible Bohemian Rhapsody, with zero flair or desire to do anything more than stay in the most banal biopic tropes possible.
One movie that attempted to do something different with its structure was Dexter Fletcher’s Rocketman, and he more than succeeded in giving life to a rather stale sub-genre of biopics, and is, in my opinion, the best musical artist portrait of the last decade. Better Man certainly seems to take inspiration from Fletcher’s film, with frequent ‘song and dance’ numbers that represents Williams’ early-on success with the boyband Take That and manager Nigel Martin-Smith (Damon Herriman), the blossoming romance between him and All Saints member Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno), and the constant push-pull between the life he experiences and the voices he continuously hears from his inner demons.
Eventually, Williams battles those demons in one of the most surprisingly violent and cathartic action setpieces of the year that puts the entirety of the Matt Reeves Apes saga to shame. In watching such a scene, one has the impression that, in doing so, Gracey and co-screenwriters Simon Gleeson and Oliver Cole will push the boundaries of what is considered a ‘traditional’ biopic to deliver something wholly unique, in the image of Williams’ crazy life. His life was often as wild as the mere idea of turning him into a monkey for the entirety of Better Man. It was fleetingly positive, with occasional glimpses of a fruitful career, where the adoration between him and millions of fans would provide him the satisfaction he’d always wanted since he was a boy.
However, his career was far more self-destructive than rewarding, with Williams developing an early addiction to drugs and alcohol as a way to ‘combat’ his burgeoning depression. With such rapid adulation and praise, many could think that Williams’ life was what he’d always dreamed of. He certainly did, but not in the way it happened. Through these shocking moments of vulnerability, Gracey employs strong visual metaphors that represent how Williams’ career – and personal life – has gone out of control.
It’s in these sequences where Better Man works best. The story is all visual, and we perfectly understand what Gracey means when sticking Williams inside a frozen body of water, unable to break the ice, and drowning from the swarm of vulturous paparazzi who pull him further down, with no way out. For him, the only way to escape the internal and external pain of such a career is to partake in excessive drug use, to which we see depicted in rather harrowing fashion through these metaphorical scenes.
Even with the CGI monkey, the sheer naturalism of Davies’ live performance (alongside Williams’ voice) ultimately makes us convinced we’re watching a fully-fledged human being and quickly forget we’re seeing his life told through the eyes of a chimp. It’s also a testament to WETA’s endearing quest for turning performance capture into an artform, with this year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and now Better Man differently showcasing how the technology has evolved ever since Andy Serkis paved the way for the adoption of such a practice in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
And yet, with such a wild framing device and visual-heavy scenes, Better Man is unfortunately bogged down by an insistence of staying within the regular biopic structure with no real desire to transcend it. This ultimately makes its narrative feel more predictable and mawkish than it should be, especially when Gracey depicts the relationship between Williams and Appleton. Credit where credit is due: there’s a rather tragic musical number that contrasts their initial meeting with a decision that ultimately ended their relationship, after Nicole was forced to abort her pregnancy with Williams’ child from the All Saints record company.
Representing such a scene through song may bring about complex feelings, but Gracey directs this scene with enough compassion that it doesn’t seem at all manipulative (compared to how he frequently pushed buttons in The Greatest Showman). The cross-cut between the beginning and ending of the most hopeful part of Williams’ life is starkly visualized, even if the relationship gets stuck in cyclical platitudes afterwards (apart from his initial meeting with Oasis members Liam and Noel Gallagher, which got the biggest laughs out of me).
Then, there’s Robbie’s relationship with his distant father, Peter (Steve Pemberton), which is taken out of every single ‘long lost father has regrets about not being there for his son’ trope possible. While Pemberton does his best with the material he’s been given, the dialogues feel all-too-familiar, resulting in some of the more emotional sequences between the two falling flat. Thankfully, there are more visual-driven sequences than traditional ones, but the latter has the tendency to dilute some of Better Man’s strongest moments, and stretching the runtime to a conclusion where all the heartstrings should theoretically be pulled (a “full circle” moment between Robbie and Peter singing Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”), but doesn’t really do anything.
Still, it remains a better-directed (and ultimately better) movie than The Greatest Showman, and demonstrates how much Gracey has improved as a filmmaker, not just in helming musical sequences that allow the choreographies to be seen (unlike the aggressive TikTok-styled editing of the P.T. Barnum picture), but in depicting such a dark, but ultimately life-affirming story. It should’ve been way crazier than it is, but Better Man still remains a crowd-pleasing affair that, despite its unusual framing device, will touch the hearts of millions of moviegoers who will buy a ticket for it this Christmas, provided they are willing to engage in a bit of monkey business.
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we have more catch-up homework as we discuss The Last Showgirl, Smile 2, Dahomey, The Order, Maria, The Piano Lesson and more! Plus, some box office talk and the secret to enjoying Red One!
– Box Office Update (4:04) We open the show this week by quickly going over the box office for the weekend and the disappointing results for Mufasa: The Lion King. It was a great turn out for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, however; a franchise that’s turned out to be quite successful despite its very early controversy.
– Movie Catch-Up – Part 1 (18:38) Sadly we don’t have time to give full reviews to everything we’ve seen this year, so as we’ve done before, we have a lengthy conversation going over some movies we’ve caught up with that we won’t be able to give reviews to on the podcast. We start things off by discussing Red One, Smile 2, The Piano Lesson, Maria and The Order.
– Movie Catch-Up – Part 2 (1:10:40) As we continued our movie catch-up extravaganza, we discussed The Last Showgirl, starring an Oscar-worthy Pamela Anderson in one of the year’s most surprising performances. We also talk about Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Look Back, Dahomey, Carry-On, September 5 and the documentary(?) My First Film.
If you want to help support us, there are several ways you can help us and we’d absolutely appreciate it. Every penny goes directly back into supporting the show and we are truly honored and grateful. Thanks for your support and for listening to the InSession Film Podcast!
Synopsis: A model becomes obsessed with a high-profile murder trial.
From the first moment Clementine (Laurie Babin) and Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) meet, we know they are two women from entirely different planets. Kelly-Anne is used to being seen, she walks with confidence, at least borrowed from working as a model in an industry that relies on beauty and superficial aesthetics of pitting women’s bodies against each other. Clementine is meek and awkward, unsure of whether it’s her right to request a refill of a wrong order delivered to her. As Kelly-Anne sternly assures her to demand changing the order, a few outlines are cleared in front of the viewers.
Red Rooms is a movie about the voyeurs, not voyeurism.
First things first, Red Rooms follows successful model Kelly-Anne, a smart tech-savvy young woman as she reserves a seat to attend the trial of the decade. Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos) has been accused of kidnapping and murdering three teenage girls and is being tried in front of a jury. Kelly-Anne, the complicit, perverse spectator, is there to watch every bit of it. Along comes quirky, awkward true crime groupie, Clementine, a naive woman who paints a romantic obsession with the serial killer, claiming his innocence. As she bonds with Kelly-Anne, something sinister underneath builds between them, their morbid obsession not just with the details of the crime or the accused, but the violence.
Kelly-Anne, is similar to a Cronenberg protagonist, a violence junkie. But like many faithful modern voyeurs, she’s obsessed with real-life violence; the more realistic, the better. The grittier the details, the longer she stays aroused. Like every other hybristophile, Kelly-Anne finds euphoria in all the minute details surrounding a crime, including stalking the families of the victims, down to the most intricate detail in their lives.
To an untrained eye, Kelly-Anne might seem like a killer’s accomplice. She’s well-versed in the crime; possibly more than the detectives themselves. But as the film moves further, the more sinister truth is revealed; she’s obsessed. She gets off on those the grisly and the macabre of a crime scene and that’s all. In her quest for the thrill, she loses interest in everything. As a professional poker player. she’s used to winning, but, like every gambler, winning means nothing, so whatever she makes, she easily breaks. This is why in the event of bringing down Ludovic Chevalier, she brings herself down with him, like Samson who pushed with all his strength and down came the temple on her and Ludovic’s head. But it impacts everyone involved; Clementine, a victim’s mother, her modeling agency, and the list goes on. She loses, but so does everyone in her wake. She enjoys Ludovic’s demise, not for a sense of righteousness but for the pleasure of self-destruction. After building up a case and piling up evidence, she watches as everything burns. It’s a psyche that only a truly messed up woman understands, especially if to the world she appears as pure perfection, the epitome of what it means to win it all.
Pascal Plante’s film is violent, sadistic, and gritty without showing a hint of violence. It leaves one feeling dirty, ashamed, and slightly baffled at the connivance in the heinous, internet-exploited crimes. It feels as if we paid to enter the red rooms with Kelly-Anne, as if we sat next to her and watched in awe, as the victims met their horrifying fate, and like Kelly-Anne we sat down hungry, lusting for more. We feel no different than the Romans watching prisoners or slaves eaten to death by lions in the Colosseum. But sadly, our version of the modern Colosseum is internet rooms, watched from the safety of a cozy couch, behind screens while stroking a cat. This film is not for the faint of heart.
On this episode, JD and Brendan discuss one of the best films of the year in Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light! We’ve been looking forward to discussing this for some time and we’re thrilled to finally get a chance to dive into what makes it so special. It’s a phenomenal movie with some of the best music and performances of the year.
Review: All We Imagine As Light (4:00) Director: Payal Kapadia Writers: Payal Kapadia Stars: Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha, Chhaya Kadam
More awards and nominees are announced daily, making who will ultimately earn a nomination more explicit. However, there are still a few people, some of whom have been performing well and others who haven’t, who are right on the cusp of hearing their name included in Oscar 5. With a little over a month until nominations are announced on January 17, we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty of award season, but let’s cut to the chase and see where I think the race is as of now.
Frontrunners
There are three people in the Oscar five I feel confident in: Kieran Culkin, Guy Pearce, and Yura Borisov. Culkin has been on a tear with critic groups picking up wins and nominations almost everywhere. Pearce hasn’t been as successful in winning but has consistently shown up. Nonetheless, the one thing that Culkin, Pearce, and Borisov share is that their films feel, for now, relatively safe in the Best Picture lineup. While a film showing up in Picture does not necessarily guarantee an Oscar nomination, it helps to solidify who might be in the lead. Guy Pearce is strong in The Brutalist, a film in contention to win Best Picture. I don’t think Pearce will win the Supporting Actor award, but he has a locked-up nomination. At the same time, while I don’t believe that Kieran Culkin’s A Real Pain is in contention as a top Best Picture contender, Jesse Eisenberg is looking decisive for a nomination in the screenplay category and could be a contender for the lead actor nomination. A Real Pain has been showing up in the right places, which could make this an instance where Culkin carries the film more than the other way around; however, if A Real Pain does surprisingly miss a Best Picture nomination, which is still a possibility even if I do feel confident it is getting in, his winning chance could become shaky no matter how well he does with critic groups.
Yura Borisov is a name I have been on the fence about for a while. Everything has been pointing toward him picking up a nomination; Anora is a frontrunner in multiple categories, including Picture, and Borisov has a strong presence as the only character who seemingly feels bad for Mikey Madison’s Ani, serving as the audience stand-in for the film, and he sticks with her throughout the second and third acts. However, something has been holding me back from feeling that he is locked into a nomination. Then, I took a step back and thought about it, and all of my worries subsided to the point where not only do I believe he is confidently in, I think he has the best chance, if anyone, to pull an upset over Culkin. As mentioned, he is the audience surrogate, but he also holds his own in his first English language film, providing loud and quiet moments that offer him more than enough scenes to consider him for the award. However, my biggest detractor was him not being a well-known “name,” but in recent years, with supporting performances, both actor and actress, how much does having a “name” really mean?
Troy Kotsur came out of nowhere and won supporting actor for the Best Picture-winning film CODA, and Ke Huy Quan came off a 30-year hiatus to win for, again, the Best Picture-winning film Everything Everywhere All at Once. When it comes to Best Supporting Actress, every winner this decade has been a first-time nominee, and even though that’s a vastly different conversation, it looks like that streak may continue. So, how important is it for the Supporting Actor to be well-known? If you want to argue last year with Robert Downey Jr. winning for his performance in Oppenheimer, I would counter by saying we are on a three-year streak of the Supporting Actor winner coming from the Best Picture winner. Anora is an easy top 3, maybe top 2, contender for Best Picture, and many, including myself and the Awards Editor here at InSession Film, Shadan Larki, have Anora currently winning Best Picture. Culkin looks like an overwhelmingly strong frontrunner for this award, but when you think about it, Borisov may not be as far off as we might think.
Who’s Left?
Behind Culkin, Pearce, and Borisov are a bunch of question marks. Four people are in contention for the final two spots, which can change any day. I am going to start by talking about Denzel Washington for Gladiator II. I should be able to say, “He’s Denzel Washington,” and that be it; he has the same effect as Meryl Streep, where it seems like if there is a time to honor him, the Academy will. However, even though the film hasn’t been doing well overall, he has consistently shown up on almost every supporting actor list, whether it be the Golden Globes or the regional critic awards. Also, like Meryl Streep, it doesn’t matter how his films perform overall – of his last four acting nominations, only one of them received a Best Picture nom, and the other three, The Tragedy of Macbeth, Roman J. Israel Esq., and Flight, picked up three, one, and two nominations respectively – Oscar voters love Denzel. If he had missed somewhere or begun to miss, maybe I would feel shaky about his placement, but there has been nothing to sway my confidence that he will be in the five.
My confidence begins to wane in the final spot, and even thinking about who will get in and who will miss is stressing me out. As of this moment… I’m going with Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown. Norton plays Pete Seeger, the man who helped Bob Dylan rise to fame in the early ’60s, and the reason I am going with him over the other two is that not only did Norton show up at the Globes where some other contenders didn’t, but it’s starting to feel like A Complete Unknown is going to get a Best Picture nomination. No one has been campaigning harder than Timothee Chalamet this season, and it might pay off getting the young actor his first-ever win, and Norton, who shares most of his scenes with Chalamet, could be along for the ride. There was a time when I felt like Norton could have the narrative to win, and while I don’t think he will win for this performance or in this year, I could still see a nomination for the veteran actor.
First Out?
This takes us to the two actors right on the cusp of being in: Clarence Maclin for Sing Sing and Hugh Grant for Heretic. Maclin’s shakiness in predicting him comes from missing the Globe nomination. While I know it’s essential not to put too much stock into the Golden Globes, Maclin and Sing Sing missing showed me that maybe the film isn’t as big with international voters, and not showing up on the London Film Critics Awards nominations further proves that thought. The international voters aren’t the most important thing, but they’re a massive factor that hasn’t been going in Maclin’s direction. It also doesn’t help his case that Culkin is taking many of the critics’ wins that could have given him the boost he needs. Even though he is excellent, Maclin is playing himself in Sing Sing, not a version of himself; he is playing Clarence Maclin. The film is partially based on his time in jail with the RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts), and I have to wonder if the “he is playing himself, how hard could it be?” sentiments will start to come his way. Come nomination morning, I could see Norton or Maclin picking up that final spot, and I would love to see Maclin rewarded for such a powerful performance, but I just don’t have confidence in him right now.
Then we have Hugh Grant for Heretic, who surprisingly showed up at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. While he has been earning nominations in the Lead Actor category, I think he not only has a better shot in the supporting category; I think if he is nominated, this is the category he will fall to. I understand that A24 is pushing him to Lead Actor, but regarding the film, he plays a supporting role to Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East. The role starts incredibly showy for Grant as he spews bombastic monologues about religion that Oscar voters traditionally love; however, after the first 45-ish minutes of the movie, Grant only appears periodically and lacks any significant scenes like he had initially. At the end of the day, I don’t think he will show up in either the Lead or Supporting category, but my “hot take” is that if he does, it will be here.
Even though I said only two actors had a real chance to earn that last spot in Oscar 5, Jeremy Strong is in a weird middle ground: on the cusp of a nomination and being forgotten entirely. One of the more surprising nominations at the Golden Globes was Jeremy Strong, who showed up for his role in The Apprentice as Roy Cohn. He has not been showing up many places and hasn’t won anywhere for this role, but he appeared in both the Globe nominations and the London Film Critics nominations, two areas in which Maclin missed. I don’t think a nomination is likely for Strong, and even less likely if Sebastian Stan’s portrayal of Donald Trump isn’t nominated alongside him, but a surprise BAFTA nomination and a surprise snub for Maclin would make things very interesting.
We’re Still Here!
Well… kinda? Rounding out the top 10 are Adam Pearson for A Different Man and Stanley Tucci for Conclave. In Pearson’s case, like Strong, I don’t think this is likely to happen without Sebastian Stan being nominated alongside him. Pearson is fantastic and one of my favorite supporting performances of the year. Still, he hasn’t been showing anywhere to make me feel he can pick up a nomination. He is charming, magnetic, and energetic in A Different Man, but he does not have the overall support. Stanley Tucci has a chance only because Conclave is one of the top three contenders for Best Picture. Ralph Fiennes will get the Best Actor nomination, and Isabella Rossellini is campaigning hard for herself, which could mean Tucci’s name is along for the ride, but I wouldn’t put money on it.
That said, here is where I currently see the race.
Synopsis: A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern.
The erotic thriller is a lost art. Alongside screwball comedies and westerns, these types of films were made in spades during a certain point in time and took the world by storm. In the case of erotic thrillers, that time was the ‘80s and ‘90s. The way they shocked the world was by breaking societal stigmas, exploring sexual liberation, and tethering to the taboo and provocative to ease the audience into wanting more because it is out of the norm of reality. Once hidden and obscured, desires are now part of a mental chess game between two, or sometimes even more, players who find ways to get what they want; either by manipulation and seduction or the stripping of power or a change in roles and gender norms.
The best this subgenre has to offer explores this multifaceted psychological and physical breakdown; to quote St. Vincent, it is “masseduction” (“mass seduction”) and “mass destruction” via the rearrangement of a person’s mind, body, and soul. Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (and The Fourth Man). Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat. And so many others did that very thing of confounding the audience by secretly dissecting the frowned-upon societal norms of the times in which they were made. However, the ones made since that peak era of the ‘80s and ‘90s lack the expository feeling and psychological depth that made the classic or acclaimed erotic thrillers so enthralling, spicy, and complex. As with everything, there are always exceptions.
Some of the subgenre’s masters are still producing, although not as effectively, like the aforementioned Verhoeven with The Black Book and Adrian Lyne with Deep Water, a film that many rejected thoroughly. (At the same time, I thought it was rather quite adept.) However, they are not great examples of what erotic thrillers have to offer, at least to their standards. Many have come and gone, trying to capture what once was. But it wasn’t until now that we got a proper erotic thriller with a modernist view with Halina Reijn’s superb and tightly constructed Babygirl. Reijn, who teams up with A24 again after Bodies Bodies Bodies, has a keen eye for depicting the high life of society, whether it is super rich kids with nothing but fake friends in the aforementioned satirical whodunnit or a high-balling CEO in her latest work.
Her cinematic interpretation has heightened a notch to give it a little punch and interlace comedic pandering with dramatic notions to the story slowly turning on itself by reconfiguring the dynamics within the group of characters. But it isn’t exaggerated to the degree that it removes her film’s humanity or hinders the mind games at play. Although she has two films under this modern American culture examination belt, her prior work has some of the same sensibilities, via a look onto her home country and with a more insider lens, rather than the outsider one, she partakes in these two A24-backed features.
Since she looks from the outside in, it creates a disparity between the many approaches her work might take, much like Verhoeven himself. And in Babygirl, this view paves the way for this story–about a wealthy woman becoming seduced by her way younger intern–to tap into the universal feeling of repressed desires and beauty conformities amidst aging through the key elements of which erotic thrillers consist. Think of Secretary,but with A-levels and switch the brooding tone of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Lee Holloway for fulfillment and empowerment. This, and much more, makes Halina Reijn’s Babygirl a tactful dramatic piece, with Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson delivering top performances–a cherry on top of the kinky sundae. A surprising turn and glimpses at a potential rise for erotic thrillers in today’s age.
In Babygirl, Nicole Kidman plays Romy, a wealthy CEO of a company in New York that has her living a lavish life in a townhouse with her two daughters and husband, a theatre director named Jacob (Antonio Banderas). Through thick and thin, they have spent twenty years together during the ups and downs. The two are devoted to each other plenty; Romy and Jacob have built a life many dream of having and earned it through blood, sweat, and tears. At least in that regard, their relationship is flawless and seemingly perfect. Romantically and intimately, there are plenty of cracks–fractures that haven’t been treated in this two-decade romance. Jacob hasn’t been able to fulfill Romy sexually, never giving her an orgasm, one she has longed for. It has been frustrating for Romy that the man she loves, the father of her lovely daughters, can’t please her on that side of the relationship.
That is where the new, young, and handsome intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson), comes into play. As soon as he enters the picture, all eyes, including the camera, are on him, a target of desire for everyone around him. The camera, knowingly so, frames Dickinson like such a token of pleasure, although with a subdued tone initially, only to increase in intensity as the whole control in Babygirl spices up and the heat feels like a 4D experience. And so the two leading players in this “ring of fire” are introduced, glazing each other from afar from head to toe. With just a look, Kidman expresses everything going on in her mind. The confusion of desire is in a battle against her suppressed fantasies.
Kidman plays Romy in this beginning strand with a strictness to her, more poised and stiff, while adopting a more playful persona later in the film, effortlessly weaving through the complex emotions and dynamics her character engages in. The Australian actress has had more than a handful of tricky roles with even trickier personalities. But when she plays characters such as Alice in Eyes Wide Shut, Grace in Dogville, or Evelyn in Stoker–just to name a few because this list is long–that is when she is in her bag. These characters have dual or even chameleonic traits with suppressed or concealed emotions, allowing Kidman to slowly unearth the character from the grave they are in, the arduous sensation of being unable to express the longing or yearning contained inside. And her Romy is yet another addition to this medley.
Needless to say, something starts to boil between Romy and Samuel, much like the aforementioned Secretary, albeit without the brooding tied to the relationship between Lee Holloway (Gyllenhaal) and Mr. Grey (James Spader) and their roles are reversed–Romy being the financial power. At the same time, Samuel has control emotionally. This switch from the regularly seen gender roles in erotic thrillers, as well as the tethering between accepting and delivering pleasure, is one of the ways in which Reijn gives Babygirl this modern glance at consent and desires. She questions such psychologically complex scenarios in which Samuel and Romy conjointly and separately explore and divulge their boundaries as they confront ethical and moral dilemmas, the two-sided package that makes erotic thrillers contain depth.
Babygirl is a film about comfort zones and moral judgments. The former helps express their yearning, and Reijn absolves the latter in a key scene where Romy and her daughter converse and understand each other about the situation. The Dutch director also dissects today’s society with Sophie Wilde’s character, Esme, Romy’s assistant, and the personification of Gen Z’s political correctness and moral compass. Just like in Bodies Bodies Bodies, Reijn uses the contradictions and strictness of today’s generation to smear the complexities of the affair Romy and Samuel have into a more present, playful context. Instead of influencers and rich kids, it is the play for power within the workplace relationships. It is in these scenarios where Babygirl distances itself from the erotic thriller that came before, gaining a personality and uniqueness in the process.
This revision of a last subgenre that many directors have tried to revive by breaking modern ideologies and the view on disruptive or acceptable behavior contains tons of layers, even if, by a single glance, such is not the case. Reijn continues her streak of dissections of modern American society. Yet, this time, there’s a more keen, fascinating look at the tricky topic that makes today’s news reels plenty by breaking the mold of a subgenre that was predominant before.
Director: Josh Fowler Writers:Pat Casey, Josh Miller, John Whittington Stars:Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Keanu Reeves
Synopsis:Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance.
It’s been the norm that every movie franchise is also a movie universe. It’s refreshing to have one that’s just building just a single world with each subsequent film. It’s true that earlier this year Paramount+ had “Knuckles,” a limited series following the titular echidna warrior on his own adventure, but, for the most part, the universe of Sonic the Hedgehog has remained small and cinematic. Each installment builds on the last to create a satisfying experience just as the ideas seem to be wearing a little thin.
Sonic the Hedgehog3 is a lot like Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is tasked with tackling a new furry foe being aided by evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey). Sonic learns about teamwork, family, believing in himself, and that with great power… yada, yada, yada. It would be tiresome, but the formula works for a reason. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has enough backstory and exposition that a casual moviegoer could walk in and catch up with the story quickly. The film is the way it is so that Sonic isn’t driven by a need to destroy his antagonists, but to change their hearts. It’s a good message and one that strikes at the hearts of those of us who understand the power of a chosen family.
It also helps that the special effects just keep getting more glorious. The fuzz on each of the creatures looks so authentically soft that it makes you want to reach out and run your fingers through it. The running sequences continue to impress, but Shadow’s (Keanu Reeves) teleportation is an awesome sight to behold. The fights are grand in scale and for a film that has world ending weapons in play, manages to reduce the human collateral damage of the biggest showdowns.
It is easy to forget the human characters in the midst of the adorable and fearsome animated characters at the heart of the story, but they pop themselves in in surprising ways. James Marsden has always had comedic chops, but he pulls off being the heart of the story as a great paternal figure for his otherworldly charges. Sometimes sidelined in the other two films of the franchise, Tikka Sumpter gets more into the action this time around and it’s wonderful. The two of them look like they’re having a blast and have great chemistry together. Though, neither can hold a single candle to the double performance of Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey has carried this franchise on his back since the first film. It’s not a detriment either. The fact that he is what you should be watching is exactly how the character of Robotnik should be played. He steals every scene and chews scenery like gum, blowing it into a glorious bubble and popping to create something grander than you ever thought possible. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Carrey does a feat we always hoped he could. He pulls off a double performance acting opposite himself as Gerald Robotnik, his character’s grandfather. With modern technology, the parallel scenes are seamless. So seamless that the best scene in the film is between Carrey and Carrey.
The two Robotniks stand at a laser field in protective suits that reflect the lasers to make them harmless. In celebration of their genius, the two mad scientists decide to dance to their final destination. When you read dance, you should know that this isn’t just a couple of guys doing the running man down a laser filled hallway, it’s a full on, choreographed spectacular. The moves are synchronized and stylized perfectly. Director Jeff Fowler, editor Al LeVine, and the entire visual effects crew have made something utterly enthralling and even as it’s so far out there, it is a perfect fit to the world that’s been created in spite of its complete arbitrariness to the plot.
It’s easy to praise Sonic the Hedgehog 3 for its visual innovations and style even if its story and some of the humor leave much to be desired. The film is a four quadrant movie so it can’t be too complex, but it would have been nice if the writers had stretched themselves a little farther. Here’s hoping Sonic the Hedgehog 4, because there will be a 4, will attempt to race through some new ground because this franchise is one of the more enjoyable out there in spite of its flaws.
Director: Guy Hamilton Writers:Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn Stars:Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman
Synopsis:While investigating a gold magnate’s smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.
Gooooldfingah! If you read that word correctly, you just heard Dame Shirley Bassey’s iconic voice in your head. You hear that incredible score by John Barry. You see the face of Sean Connery smirking at a one liner he’s made after a fight. Goldfinger has become the quintessential entry in the James Bond franchise. It built the formula better than the two films that came before (Dr. No and From Russia with Love) and it firmly entrenched the character into the popular mindset.
When it comes to Bond films, the director always takes a back seat. Director Guy Hamilton deserves credit for his influence on the look and feel of the film. Hamilton’s acumen for action is uncanny. He and editor Peter Hunt create some excellent car chase sequences. The scenes of the street race James Bond (Sean Connery) and Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) engage in through the Swiss countryside are quick and energetic. The driving gun battle 007 and Goldfinger’s henchmen engage in also expertly shows off Hamilton’s abilities to cut so that the progression of events is clear and easy to follow. It also gives a chance to show off each and every gadget in Bond’s arsenal.
It’s the gadgets that often make the movie in the world of James Bond. From the practical to the outlandish, each and every gadget shown is a way to move the plot forward and also give a bit of foreshadowing for how 007 may improvise on his mission. It’s the best part of any Bond film when Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and his underlings are shown in their element. In Goldfinger, they introduce one of the most iconic and enduring symbols of Bond’s appeal, an Aston Martin DB5. It also serves as a reminder that even though James Bond is charming and can think on his feet, he isn’t even close to the smartest guy in the room. It’s a blast to see Q take Bond down a peg and treat him like an inferior.
However, it’s never a blast to be reminded of how much these films, Goldfinger especially, are rampant with a deeply uncomfortable sexism. It’s one thing to name a strong, capable, entrepreneurial woman pilot Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman). It’s another to watch as James Bond forces himself on her. It’s played as seduction, but Pussy’s body language denotes and the force James is exuding shows clearly that this physical touch is unwanted.
The scene starts well with James and Pussy on equal footing. They show off their Judo skills tossing each other around a stable and into hay. Then James turns their play ugly. He grabs onto Pussy’s hands as she struggles underneath him. He presses against her pinning her to the ground before pushing his lips onto hers. What’s even more disgusting is when her muffled cries slowly shift into moans of pleasure as her hands stop trying to get him off of her and pull him close instead. It’s incredibly uncomfortable to watch and, mixed in with all the other scenes of Bond’s interactions with women, it’s the rotting icing on a moldy cake. Our villain’s behavior is suddenly more reasonable than this.
Bond films live or die on the backs of their antagonists and Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) is an all-timer. He’s not a man who wants to take over the world. He just wants his money to be more valuable than everyone else’s. He is cowardly and cunning in equal measure. His most famous line, delivered with relish and expert inflection by Fröbe, is a perfect encapsulation of his absolute misanthropy. Bond asks, as a laser comes ever toward severing him from his favorite body part, “Do you expect me to talk?” With a laugh Goldfinger retorts, “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” The laser is so much more elaborate than a bullet to the head, but it shows Goldfinger’s brain is always working. Given the time it takes for the laser to reach its target the option to increase his windfall grows because it allows Bond to panic and to want to make a deal.
Goldfinger remains a top tier James Bond adventure because it has confidence in itself. There isn’t any worry that people won’t be on board or that they won’t be impressed because the film pulls out the stops and amps up the intrigue. There’s a comfortableness in this film because its filmmakers have a formula that is familiar, but allows room for much improvisation and playfulness. In spite of its ugly and demeaning sexism, Goldfinger is an enthralling spy story that has become a blueprint not only for the Bond films, but for the entire spy genre.
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