Quo Vadis, Aida?

Here's a gripping, rage-inducing film about a UN translator during the Bosnian War in 1995. It starts with Aida (played by Jasna Djuricic) sitting on a couch, looking at three men. Nothing is said, and we don't find out who they are until they're shown evacuating their home in Srebrenica. Before this, the die is cast with a great scene of the mayor of the city (Ermin Bravo) pleading with the UN representative, Colonel Karremans (Johan Heldenbergh) to protect his citizens. Aida translates the Colonel as he promises air strikes on Bosnian-Serb posts if they continue their attacks. 

The resulting horror-farce has been well documented historically but this film puts a human face to the Srebrenica massacre. The director, Jasmila Zbanic, is from Sarajevo and grew up amidst the Balkan splintering, post-Tito. She keeps a very steady hand on the rudder, where it might be forgiven were she to go all revenge-berko. The docu-drama style keeps the tension levels peaking, and the frustration, turning to panic, felt by Aida is palpable.

Scenes of refugee squalor are intercut with the those of the Dutch UN soldiers attempting to negotiate with Mladic for some sort of resolution. The creeping sense of helplessness is well conveyed, and the focus on Aida and her family as a microcosm of the atrocity is an apt way to personalise the massacre. The whole film is a difficult watching experience but the climax is a real kick in the guts. 

Quo Vadis, Aida? is an important film, not entertaining of course, but required viewing, especially by people who think this shit couldn't have happened so recently. It runs at the UWA Somerville Auditorium from Jan 10-16 as part of the Perth Festival.

See also:

Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) is fantastic, as is No Man's Land (2001), directed by Danis Tanović.

House of Gucci

Ridley Scott, who was 84 in November this year, will give absolutely zero shits if I didn't think much of a film of his. He has over 50 feature directing credits to his name, with a couple of the best films ever made under his belt. He is a dead set master. But, in saying all that, he has the odd average delivery in his arsenal. There are wicket taking balls, definitely. and there are some half-trackers to be put away over the mid on fence. But House of Gucci is simply a dot ball. It doesn't excite but it also isn't awful.

The film is a biopic of the Gucci fashion house, centring on Partizia Reggiani, the wife of the head of the company, Maurizio Gucci. They're played by Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, and this relationship is the focus of the movie. Many folk will know what happened to the main players in reality, so I'll leave all that alone. I feel the film is let down by bog standard plotting, there's nothing imaginative going on. Maybe the writers - Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna - were constrained by the historical details outlined in the book by Sara Gay Forden. Also, it's very hard to warm to any of these characters (with the possible exception of Jared Leto's Paolo Gucci, but that's closer to pity).

Sir Ridders has a steady rein on the structure (though it could be trimmer) but he seems to be letting his cast run riot, save for Driver, who is the most calm and mannered. Leto, Gaga, Al Pacino and Salma Hayek, all dial it up to eleventy fuckkles. Leto is at least having fun with his down-trodden, wannabe designer, even if he seem like he's in another film to the rest of the cast. Oddly, he likens his testicles to (at least) two different types of fruit. His performance actually reminded me of a halfway meeting of Roberto Benigni in Down by Law, and Jim Broadbent in the Blackadder episode, 'The Queen of Spain's Beard'. Especially when he says things like, "I will flyyyy....like a peeeegion." Apart from Leto's full-bodied prose, the dialogue is fairly trite. Try these on - "Gucci needs new blood. It's time to take out the trash." OR "You picked a real firecracker." followed by "She's a handful." Not the most original.

The veracity of events covered in the film have been called into question by Tom Ford (played weakly in the film by Reeve Carney - no, me neither) and several surviving members of the Gucci clan, which goes to show you can't please everybody. But look, if you're keen on fashion, 'true-crime' and melodrama, this might fit your parameters. 

House of Gucci opens in cinemas on New Years' Day.

See also:

Adam Driver was in another, better, Ridley Scott film this year, The Last Duel. Paul Thomas Anderson's The Phantom Thread (2017) is only tangentially similar, but weirdly great.

(Film stills and trailer ©Universal, 2021)

The Matrix Resurrections

Almost 20 years after the Matrix sequels - Reloaded and Revolutions - were released, comes the fourth film of the franchise, The Matrix Resurrections. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return as Neo and Trinity, but Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving are noticeably absent (apparently scheduling issues for Agent Smith and no contact for Morpheus). Joining the cast in place of these guys are Yahya Abdul-Mateen 11 and Jonathan Groff, and despite the size of the shoes, they fill them well. Another casting success is Jessica Henwick as Bugs, best of the bunch here for my money. As a nerdy sidetrack, I wonder how many other actors have been in Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Marvel and now Matrix franchises. 

So, I've been stalling, as you may be able to tell. This is mainly because I can't quite remember what the hell happened in the previous films, especially the aforementioned sequels. Even a quick Wikipedia plot summary didn't help much. This middle-aged amnesia shouldn't detract from the enjoyment of this film, though, and for the most part, it stands on its own feet. As far as I can tell, Neo has been back in the matrix for some time, living as a video game designer, occasionally bumping into Trinity, as family-woman Tiffany. Let's rewind a bit, because the opening shows us Bugs and her crew chancing upon a strange code or something, replaying old scenes on a loop (I think). After a bit of a scrap, she confronts a program of Morpheus and they realise that Neo is still alive and inside the matrix. But did he make the 'modal' program so they could find him? Does he know he's in the matrix? These are not rhetorical, leading questions - I actually have no fucking idea. Help me.

If you can live with the confusion, there's enough to like about this film. Writer/Director, Lana Wachowski clearly knows her IP (maybe too well) and the constant visuals from the first film are a nice touch. They act as reminder for the viewer, while also helping Neo remember his past life. Pretty clever doubling up. The whole round table brainstorming session in Neo/Anderson's office is a knowingly self-referential dig at the zeitgeist around the franchise, and the intercutting of Anderson slowly cracking up is well done. Making Anderson the creator of a video game called The Matrix allows for all this surface sagacity, but also gives the story the freedom to (sort of) explain how and why he's able to 'recall' things that he maybe shouldn't.

The fight scenes are suitably fine, especially the multi-player brawl with the new Smith and a returning Merovingian (Lambert Wilson, who, in fact, does pretty much bugger all, aside from spout indiscernible shite). The subsequent Neo vs Smith fight in a toilet block is top drawer, mainly due to Groff's excellent performance - I'm putting this down to only seeing him before as Holden Ford in Mindhunter, quite the polar shift here. The stuff with Morpheus manifesting in the real world as 3D pin art and the flying synthetics helping the humans add style to the film, but, much like me, it gets a bit flabby around its middle, and crucially, the beats of the film seem all a bit too familiar.

Keanu is still a ropey actor but I feel bad about saying that, as though I'm slightly missing the point. He seems likeable fella and this is HIS role. Moss is great and I'm kind of surprised she didn't get better parts post-Matrix. Aside from Memento and perhaps Red Planet, there's not much else to speak of on her CV. I have more questions about machines interacting with humans and other machines, as well as how Neo and Trinity are able to do stuff, but I'll let them lie and just be mildly satisfied with the overall product. Look, I don't know how my phone works, what hope do I have with the Matrix?

The Matrix Resurrections opens Boxing Day in Australia.

See also:

The animated fill-in stories in The Animatrix (2003, various directors) are worth looking at, and you could try to make sense of the previous three films, should the mood take you.

(Film stills and trailer ©Warner Bros, 2021)

Sing 2 (Me) (Kids)

There's nothing new in Garth Jennings' Sing 2 but that's not really the goal here. It's all about small bums on seats, and if the crowd for this preview screening is any indicator, that's what they'll get. The kink of 'peopling' the film entirely with cartoon animals, in the vein of Zootopia or Kung Fu Panda, gives the animators and writers a lot to play with. Realism is not an issue here, and fair enough. If you have someone use an apple as a false eye, narrative rigour is the least of your concerns.

This film sees koala impresario, Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) still running his theatre show from the first Sing, but aiming higher. After a snooty talent scout leaves a showing of Alice in Wonderland, Moon gathers the cast (Scarlett Johansson, Reece Witherspoon, Taron Egerton, etc.) and heads to Redshore City to try out for media guru, Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale). Drawbacks (obviously) appear throughout but eventually, they're tasked with putting on a sci-fi musical, 'Out of this World', the brainchild of camp German pig, Gunter (Nick Kroll). The caveat is that music legend, Clay Calloway (Bono) must be in it. Only, they haven't asked him AND he's a famous recluse. 

The story rides these peaks and troughs in a pretty formulaic manner, and the outcome isn't in any doubt, but again, that's not what this type of film is going for. Warm fuzzies and animated slapstick are on the bingo card and each get a check mark. The thematic keynotes of humility (Porsha Crystal, voiced by somebody called Halsey - ask your kids?), grief (Calloway) and perseverance (Moon, Rosita and the whole cast) stick out like hazard lights, avoiding any nuance.

There were a couple of catchy tunes - a bit of Prince, a dash of Steve Winwood, a pinch of System of a Down, and a whole dollop of stuff this 80s child had never heard of. The voice cast are solid to great, with highlights being Leticia Wright, as street dance cat Nooshy; Dr. Buccles, as monkey Klaus Kickenklober; Peter Serafinowicz, as Big Daddy gorilla; and Kroll's Gunter (following on from his theft of the first film). Having Bono as the music legend might have some people with musical taste raising an eyebrow, but really, I wonder who else could have fit the parameters. Voice-wise, Tom Waits or Iggy Pop would have been good shouts, but their songs aren't as well know as U2s. Bryan Ferry? Morrissey? Robert Plant? Come to think of it, Jagger probably would have been my pick, but Bono worked well enough, schmaltz notwithstanding.

Dads-eye view - mildly diverting, occasionally annoying.

Kids-eye view - fun, noisy and interesting.

Sing 2 opens in cinemas on Boxing Day.

See also:

The whole Calloway angle reminded me of the underseen Brad Pitt sci-fi, Ad Astra (2019), directed by James Gray, and the progression from Sing to Sing 2 put me in mind of the (not great) fitbah films Goal! The Dream Begins (2005), directed by Danny Cannon and (strangely) Michael Winterbottom, and Goal II: Living the Dream (2007), directed by Jaume Collet-Sera. And there was a third of those, too. A heads-up for Sing 3?

(Film stills and trailer ©Universal, 2021)

Dune

Denis Villeneuve's long-awaited Dune finally arrives in Australian cinemas and it's a technical marvel. To start with, there's the amazing production design by Patrice Vermette. A lot of the sets and machinery have been physically created, to add weight to the visual effects. A highlight is the appearance of the 'ornithopter', a clunky, dragonfly of metal, that flaps its wings to fly. The scale of the buildings and cities is mammoth, many of them made on a studio lot in Budapest (see this Architectural Digest article for more). The cinematography, by Melburnian, Greig Fraser, is suitably magic, in keeping with Villeneuve's stylistic requirements, For example, desert scenes have a tendency to go all wind-whipped and blurry, but even when a dragonfly enters a storm, acuity is admirably maintained. 

The visuals are just a part of Villeneuve's signature language - the almost ethereal long shots across vast rooms and landscapes; the measured, even slow pacing to convey emotions, while juxtaposing these with flurries of well-rehearsed action; the shimmery close-ups on faces; the high levels of spectacle, which are many in Dune. Small pods leave a giant, cylindrical mother ship; huge transport ships (some ball-like, some triangular) land on planet surfaces; other behemoths emerge from fjords (though, in this case, I'm not sure why); an ambush occurs; and of course, fecking giant Sarlacc worms feed on anything with a vibration. 

Another string to Villeneuve's bow is his use of sound and music, and Hans Zimmer brings the big guns out here. The music is probably the best of many very good parts that make up this whole. I usually only notice the score if it's discordant or 'bangy', and while these can be good, this Zimmer stuff is from another drawer (the top one). Here are some words from him in an interesting Indiewire article:

"I asked for more things to superimpose the sonic quality of one instrument onto another so you would [create] these impossible sounds. The characteristics of a Tibetan long horn on a cello and let a cellist play it so that you've invented a new instrument. I wanted it to be things that would float across the desert dunes and penetrate between the rocks, and I wanted things to sound dangerous."

The cast get the job done, with far less camp than David Lynch's 1984 iteration, but a whole lot of serious. Sure, intergalactic politics and war don't lend themselves to frivolity, but it's really only Jason Momoa's Duncan Idaho who gets to have a giggle here and there. Timothée Chalamet, as the lead Paul Atreides, is a strong enough presence, staring down the heavy hitters like Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem. Some of the best turns come from sideliners like Stellan Skarsgård and Charlotte Rampling, in roles with nasty meat to them. And Rebecca Ferguson is imperious as Lady Jessica, anxious at times, handy with a blade at others. The only minor issue with the cast is the fact that Zendaya is all over the promotion for this film, yet she's in it for all of 10 minutes. 

Which brings me to one of my bugbears with Dune. I was going along with the film (see above), when I realised quite some way through, that if this was to finish, it would be a 5 hour plus movie. And then Zendaya mutters something naff like, "This is just the beginning" and the screen cuts to black. Well, that's some beginning. Yes, I'd heard there would probably be another Dune film, and I did see the big PART ONE at the start, but my overriding feeling at the 'end' of the film was disappointment. This, I think, is due to the fact that Villeneuve is one of my favourite directors (of any era), and I just wanted him to make a self-contained movie, not have to wait until 2023 for the finale. I guess this is where the Herbert nerds jump in and say 'you can't make a 3 hour film of this material, look what happened to Lynch (and Jodorowsky before him), THINK OF THE TEXT!!!, etc.'

A final word on the writing. I think the world building was fantastic, the details like the compass and sand compacter, the stillsuits they wore on Arrakis, the odd nice touch like the desert mouse using its ears as reservoirs, this stuff is mint. And probably all (or mostly) thanks to Herbert. Thanks, Frank. But, unfortunately, he's also responsible for the wrung-dry trope of the Chosen One, which is beginning to tear me a new orse. Sure, large form story-telling, high stakes, maybe it's a requirement - and yep, they couldn't rightly disavow this crucial angle, but I'm just getting weary of it. There's my grumble all done.

The issues just mentioned luckily don't detract from the film as a whole, though I'd be happier watching this and the future second part back to back. Dune is quite the ride and it'll be a hard act to top this, but if anyone can do it, Villeneuve can.

Dune is showing in loads of cinemas NOW.

See also:

Of course, track down Lynch's Dune (1984), if only to see Patrick Stewart and Sting in the same film. The Ghibli film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), directed by Hayao Miyazaki, takes a lot of cues from Herbert's book.

SPOILERS AND SPICE-AFFECTED MINDS IN POD.

The Lost Leonardo

This art world doco, by Dane Andreas Koefoed, is a nicely constructed look at the most expensive painting in the world, Salvator Mundi, by Leonardo Da Vinci - or is it? By Da Vinci, I mean. The film begins with a preamble about how a group of fellas bought this painting at an auction in New Orleans in 2005 for $1175 USD, and the film then sets up the chapters by starting with The Art Game. This section talks about the 're-discovery', the level of overpainting that took place and questions on its provenance.

Following is The Money Game, which shows how the original (2005) guys ended up selling the painting to a Swiss businessman called Yves Bouvier for $83 million, who then sold it on to a Russian oligarch for $127.5 million. Nice little earner. This part is probably the most interesting, as it also explores Bouvier's interests in freeports (the thing a plane was driven into in Tenet), where he houses millions of dollars worth of goods that rich knobs don't want to pay taxes on. The oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev, eventually got wind of Bouvier's stunt and took him to many courts, but not before giving him the task of selling his art collection.

The Global Game looks at the putrid amount of money floating about the industry as the painting is sold at Christie's Auction House for the tidy sum of $450 million. With questions on its authenticity still queering the pitch, it seems surprising that someone would fork out that much for it. Maybe not when it's revealed that the buyer was one Mohammed bin Salman, notoriously iffy Saudi crown prince, with more moolah than morals. The presumed reasoning being that this push for 'soft power' will give the Saudi regime some semblance of agency, or even respect in the world outside of simply oil and beheadings. Something like their recent purchase of Newcastle United football club, only the 'sports-washing' exchanged for 'art-washing' in this case.

The film is a well paced, maddening look at the state of the high-end art caper, with many folk coming out of it looking less than pearly. And the central question regarding the veracity of Salvator Mundi isn't really solved - but I guess the point is that this doesn't matter when the value moves into the stratosphere.

The Lost Leonardo is now showing at Luna cinemas and Palace cinemas.

See also:

Another 'Is it legit or not?' art film, My Rembrandt (2019), directed by Oeke Hoogendijk, and Chris Nolan's Tenet (2020), for the freeport stuff. It's a cracking film, too.