After Yang

Here's a low-energy, easy-paced sci-fi poser of a film. Directed by Kogonada and adapted by him from a short story by Alexander Weinstein, After Yang sets up quite a few questions but doesn't quite get around to answering many of them. It's set in the future, though how far is hard to say, and it concerns the breakdown of a companion android called Yang (played by Justin H. Min). He (it?) was bought by Jake and Kyra (Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith) for their adopted Chinese daughter, Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) to provide older brotherly care and cultural support. Incidentally, it's not exactly clear where it takes place, but I'm guessing the US somewhere. The film starts with a brief intro to their lifestyle, including a bizarre online dance contest for the whole family, during which, Yang malfunctions. 

What follows is a kind of dream-like investigation with Farrell as a soporific Sam Spade. He first attempts to get Yang fixed at a dodgy repair place (as Yang was bought second-hand, he doesn't fall under warranty), where he discovers a heretofore unknown memory bank. This hints at a darker turn and I won't give away what eventuates, only to say that it required something to kick it along at this point. 

Throughout proceedings, we are given ample ideas to chew, including privacy concerns (see memory bank); human loss and grief (even if the departed is synthetic); the reach of big business (Brothers & Sisters Inc. hold all the cards regarding companion AIs); the possibility of emotion in androids; cloning; and religion. Kyra has an interesting flashback conversation with Yang about human and synthetic 'programming'. When Yang quotes Lao Tzu's 'What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly', Kyra asks Yang if he thinks there's anything after the 'end'. He replies that he's not programmed to think about that and repeats her question back to her. Kyra says she thinks humans are probably programmed to think, but that it "maybe isn't in our best interests." Lots to unpack with this but the elliptical nature of the film leaves the wrapping on.

Farrell and Turner-Smith give fine performances, and Farrell in particular is becoming a really nuanced actor, choosing alternative roles (Lobster, Sacred Deer, The Batman, etc) that belie his looks. On the other hand, Tjandrawidjaja is too precocious and irritating, and Min is bland, but of course, there's a reason for that. The feel of the film reminded me of certain episodes of Black Mirror, with hints of the Blade Runner aesthetic, though not quite as stunning due to the presumably low-ish budget.

Some way though the film Jake asks Haley Lu Richardson's Ada - a clone and probable girlfriend of Yang - if Yang wanted to be more human, and she bridles, replying, "that's such a human thing to say." More development of these kind of threads would have added some weight to an otherwise comfortably allusive story. In saying all that, the film manages to maintain interest and leave the viewer with plenty of things to mull over. Job done.

After Yang opens at the Luna on April 28th.

See also:

Any excuse to mention Martin McDonagh's In Bruges (2008), also starring Farrell, but a film that shares some DNA with After Yang is the controversial, though fantastic, The Trouble With Being Born (2020), directed by Sandra Wollner.

SPOILERS IN POD (?)

Maixabel

Maixabel is the name of the wife of an assassinated Basque local governor, Luis Mari Juaregi. He was shot in a cafe in 2000 by a member of the Basque separatist group, ETA. One thread of the film is based on the events in the years following this crime, specifically the effects it has on Maixabel and her daughter, Maria. The other, arguably more developed strand consists of two of the ETA members responsible, Ibon and Luis (both doing porridge), and their attempts at some sort of redemption.

11 years after the killing, ETA is slowly breaking up and many ex-members (imprisoned or not) are distancing themselves from the actions of the group. Cue Luis's invitation to meet with Maixabel. Oddly, she accepts, much to the initial chagrin of Maria. Ibon slowly comes around to the idea and also requests a meeting, again agreed to by Maixabel - this time with the blessing of her daughter. 

The film is incredibly well-intentioned and worthy, and its adherence to documenting the facts is admirable, but it loses something along the way. It lacks tension and really needed a tighter edit - crucially, and I feel bad for saying this, I was a bit bored. Such a heinous crime and intriguing history should lend itself to a more gripping cinema experience but it wasn't to be here. 

Potential disclaimer here: this was the worst crowd I've been in at the movies for years, at least the crew surrounding my seat - constant chatter, giggling at really inappropriate moments, loads of walk-outs and ins, phone screens catching the eye, one woman in front even made a big deal out of saying goodbye to her friends, 10 MINUTES before the film ended. This was not a film crowd, more like a bunch of pissed-up Spaniards out on a free jolly. It's quite possible all this shite had something to do with my lack of satisfaction with the film.

On the positive side, the locations were great, likely shot in the town of Tolosa, in northern Spain (or somewhere standing in for it) and some of the clutch points were pretty emotional - a highlight was the conversation between Maixabel - "I'd rather be Luis Mari's widow than your mother" and Ibon - "I'd rather be Luis Mari than his killer". Powerful stuff.

Luis Tosar as Ibon is fantastic and Blanca Portilla as Maixabel turns in a restrained and stoic, Goya-winning performance. The excruciatingly awkward finale is almost painful to watch, but shows the levels some people will reach for to do the right thing - wrong-doer and wronged alike. Director Icíar Bollaín has previous with 'political' films and she holds a steady, if risk-averse hand here. [Apologies to Bollaín, by the way - I referred to her as 'he' on the accompanying podcast. Schoolboy error.]

Maixabel is showing at the Spanish Film Festival from Apr 27 to May 18.

See also:

Bollaín directed a great little film about the Cochabamba Water War called Even the Rain (2010), again with Tosar in a lead role. Another Tosar cracker was at last year's festival, Out in the Open (2019), directed by Benito Zambrano.

GRIPES IN POD!!

The Northman

Quite the fanfare attached to this bold, bombastic film from director Robert Eggers, of The Witch and The Lighthouse 'fame'. As a spectacle, it's fantastic. There are magnificent, ice-swept vistas, lava-belching volcanoes, inhospitable islands, zebra-patterned swamps and lush hillside encampments. This is all shot with Petzvel and Panavision Primo lenses by cinematographer, Jarin Blaschke. He says, on Cinematography.com:

Our Primos were adapted for us, the main differences are a round aperture rather than the spiky Primo aperture, some added barrel distortion, and subtle "cat's eye" bokeh.

Jargon aside, the film does have a special look to it, and it probably had something to do with the method of delivery chosen by Eggers and Blaschke (he also talks about Dolby Vision High Dynamic Range in that thread). It certainly holds the attention, and this is important when the plot is plucked from the bog-standard revenge stable. The story is based on the medieval legend of Amleth, the Scandi inspiration for old Shakey's Hamlet.

Early in the film, we see young Amleth flee from the bloody maelstrom of his father's deposition. A fairly intense opening, though more than a little abstruse in meaning - What was the king's brother's gripe? Why the fuckery were the king and Amleth channeling dogs? The next section begins with Amleth grown into the oxen Alexander Skarsgård, a non-reflective, slaughter-happy manimal. After a bout of choppy, slicey, bitey, Björk appears as a witch and reminds him of his task.

This was one of the two points in the film where I was happy to see a performer - the other being an intense game of ye-olde hurling, with Amleth's opposing team led by The Mountain himself, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson. Let's just say that Oberyn Martell was allowed some form of retribution here. Other than those two, this is a cast that does not inspire. Skarsgård lacks charisma, Anya Taylor-Joy irritates, Nicole Kidman has a dry haughtiness to her, and Ethan Hawke is woefully miscast. Only Claes Bang, as Fjölnir, really felt like he belonged in this.

The film is reasonably well-paced, especially for a 2 hour plus run time, and there's a clever wrinkle where Kidman's queen Gudrún nearly hobbles Amleth's vendetta, but overall, it left me kind of underwhelmed. I think I'm probably an outlier on this, but while on the one hand, I found The Northman lovely to look at and fairly audacious, it was also overblown and ludicrous, with more shouting than Uncut Gems. On balance, this places it just below average in my book.

The Northman is on general release now.

See also:

I guess, using Hamlet as a guide, it's worth having a gander at one of its many iterations. Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996) is great, but very long, and Aki Kaurismäki's Hamlet Goes Business (1987) is suitably odd. Other than these, How to Train Your Dragon (2010), directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, has the requisite Norse feel, though obviously more fluffy.