Infinitum: Subject Unknown (2021)

11 Tuesday Apr 2023

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(For Day 11 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write something based on some overheard dialogue. For lack of time and inspiration, I went with a quick summation of a recent movie’s paranoia instead.)

They’re watching me now as they whisper
And guess what I’m bound to do next.
Am I coming or going?
I’m sick of not knowing,
Just one among countless subjects.

They’re prodding and setting my limits.
I only have so far to go,
A rat stuck complying
And gradually dying.
The maze is my new status quo.
______________________________

MPA rating: Not Rated (I guess R for some F words, nothing else objectionable)

You know how sometimes you try a random, obscure movie just because the name catches your interest and you stumble upon something great you never expected to find? That’s happened to me before, but not this time. Infinitum: Unknown Subject is an example of what happens when science fiction has its head too far up its butt to deliver an actual story.

Shot on an iPhone during the pandemic with mostly a single actress (Tori Butler-Hart), the film starts promisingly as the bewildered Jane awakens tied to a chair in a sealed attic, being watched by cameras. She escapes and explores the house and the deserted streets outside, but periodically resets, returning to her tied-up starting position while also getting glimpses of a war-torn landscape and echoes of her own past or future.

It reminded me somewhat of “White Bear,” one of the best episodes of Black Mirror, yet the plot for the film doesn’t ultimately go anywhere. There are interview snippets of scientists (including a barely-there Ian McKellen) talking about experiments and the “paraverse,” but there’s never any clarity on what is actually happening to Jane or why. With the repetitious loops and lack of other character interactions, Jane’s journey makes for a painfully dull 86 minutes. I feel I shouldn’t dunk on Infinitum too hard since they were experimenting with how to make a movie during a pandemic, but this failure is an example of what not to do.

Rank: Dishonorable Mention

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

The Sea Beast (2022)

10 Monday Apr 2023

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(For Day 10 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a sea shanty, a form I’ve had fun with before. This film seemed like an ideal match, considering it features its own tavern shanty praising its legendary sea captain.)

When out on the waters, be wary, my lad.
Don’t rest on the other adventures you’ve had.
You’re only a squatter; you’re just a nomad,
Compared with the creatures who call the sea home.

Enjoy the wide ocean, her salty sweet kiss,
And balk at the notion there’s land that you miss,
But don’t let devotion declaw the abyss.
It’s waiting to claim all ye sailors who roam.

So empty your flagons, and I’ll empty mine.
Go board your sea wagons, your ships of the line.
You know there be dragons somewhere in the brine,
But that’s where the fun is, out there on the foam.
________________________

MPA rating: PG

I am all for more animation studios throwing their hats in the ring alongside Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, and Illumination, and luckily Netflix is willing to support such independent efforts. If the absence of more Pirates of the Caribbean has left you wanting for swashbuckling action, The Sea Beast aims to scratch that itch. Set in a world in which high-seas hunters pursue giant ocean monsters, the film follows brave hero Jacob Holland (Karl Urban) as he tries to help his vengeful Captain Crow (Jared Harris) to track down and kill the fabled Red Bluster, while also dealing with a precocious stowaway named Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator).

The first half of The Sea Beast is a thrilling joy. The battles against aquatic behemoths are stunningly animated, recalling the similar fight against the Kraken in Dead Man’s Chest, and their size and menace could effectively trigger some latent thalassophobia. The characterizations of Jacob and his adopted father figure Crow are well-written and engaging, while Maisie is a spunky addition to the crew and a perfect stand-in for kid viewers. It seemed to be a refreshingly fun adventure, and though I wouldn’t say it goes off the rails, the second half weighed the film down with a message far too similar to How to Train Your Dragon, revising the initial conflict to tell us most of the monsters are merely misunderstood. Though the film has some perceptive lessons about even heroes being in the wrong, as well as the danger of history being written with an agenda, I can’t help but wish that the plot had remained a straightforward man-vs-nature adventure.

The Sea Beast may have been overshadowed by the likes of Puss in Boots and Pinocchio, but it deserved its Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. Despite the familiarity of many plot elements, it excels in seafaring derring-do and the charisma of its lead characters, so I look forward to what other adventures might await in a sequel.

Best line: (Jacob, of his fallen hunter predecessors) “Aye, they were heroes. But you can be a hero and still be wrong.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

10 Monday Apr 2023

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(For this Easter Sunday of NaPoWriMo, the Day 9 prompt was for a straightforward sonnet about love, which has plenty of room for exploration. I decided to explore one of the weightier themes from this superhero film with “Love” in the name.)

From modern film to Jesus on the cross,
‘Tis clear that sacrifice is love most plain,
For those who benefit feel more than loss
But flattered gratitude to ease the pain.
While many lovers may well entertain
A chance to prove their love to that extreme,
They must feel all their efforts are in vain
When death creeps in with no intent or scheme,
No bullet to prevent, no dark regime,
No clear and present danger to oppose.
What can one do when bladder, brain, bloodstream
Wreak sabotage where no mere hero goes?
Sometimes only our presence soothes the hour
When sacrifice is not within our power.
___________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

I am very forgiving when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I would defend the likes of Thor: The Dark World or Eternals when people badmouth them, and while Marvel’s overall quality does vary, I consider the brand remarkably consistent in entertainment value. Perhaps my natural affection for the MCU delayed my actual feelings for Thor: Love and Thunder, because I remember calling it a good movie when walking out of the theater last year. Yet the more I thought of it and especially after watching it again, I have to admit it:  Thor: Love and Thunder is the first Marvel film I outright dislike. That’s not an especially unusual opinion, considering its generally poor fan reception, but it’s the first time I’ve agreed with the criticisms to this extent.

There’s nothing wrong with the basic plot of the film, which aimed to reunite Chris Hemsworth’s Thor with his old girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) after her nearly decade-long absence from the franchise. Jane is suffering from stage four cancer and seeks out the broken pieces of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, which grants her the powers of Thor (as “Mighty Thor”) and heals her when in her superpowered state. The two Thors must then rescue Asgardian kids from Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), a deity-hating menace plotting to eliminate all gods.

There are traces of good ideas, notably in the action scenes with Gorr, one of which is a moon-wide slugfest with eldritch creatures all rendered in black and white. Bale is unrecognizable and downright creepy in the villainous role, yet he emotes all the grief and rage of a character whose faith was shattered beyond saving. Likewise, Portman handles her emotional moments well, even if it’s ultimately sad that her character was brought back just to deepen Thor’s sense of loss.

Those few positive points indicate the issue: the film is at its best in the serious moments, which are too much of a contrast with its otherwise silly atmosphere. Considering how many films and heartaches Thor has been through, writer-director Taika Waititi seems intent on keeping him a goofball, which worked well in Ragnarok, but the constant comedy isn’t as easily sustained here (though admittedly I chuckled at the screaming goats every time). From Thor’s first big scene “saving” an alien shrine by destroying it, he doesn’t act like the veteran hero he should be by this point. That’s just one example of the film’s lack of consistency, which also affects Jane’s story, as when Mjolnir, meant to help Jane fight off the cancer, somehow ends up hurting her instead. Plus, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie is barely of use, while the role of stony sidekick Korg (Waititi himself) has been over-promoted to narrator status.

The film’s biggest misstep for me is the second-act visit to Omnipotence City, a realm of gods from across cultures and planets. Considering the first Thor was careful to clarify that Thor and the Asgardians were not actual gods but just wielders of alien powers and advanced technologies, this film muddies the waters enormously and begs the question “What is a god in the MCU?” We see the cowardly Zeus (a meh Russell Crowe), future threat Hercules (Brett Goldstein), and various other deities of all shapes and sizes, so it seems that all “gods” exist in this world except the one God of the Bible, the one that Captain America invoked in The Avengers. Then there’s the fight scene with Zeus’s guards, who leak an excessive amount of gold blood as Thor’s crew battle them. It would be a distressingly gory scene if the blood were red, but does that mean gold blood is a sign of a god? Thor and other Asgardians have shed red blood before, so are they somehow not gods like the others? The whole sequence adds little to the plot, sort of confirms Gorr’s negative opinion of gods in general, and irked me deeply with the questions it raises with no intention of answering them.

Thor: Love and Thunder is a decent superhero film on its own, so I’d probably watch it again, but it’s a glaring failure as a would-be conclusion to at least part of Thor’s story. Many revisions might have buffed out some of the plot flaws, improved the discordant tone, and found better uses for the characters, like the Guardians of the Galaxy who essentially are given a glorified cameo at the beginning, again contrasting with what the end of Endgame seemed to promise. I hope Hemsworth will return as Thor again with a tighter and more serious story, treating this as just a speedbump to something more satisfying. Even if I appreciate what they were going for with this film’s ending, Thor deserves better.

Best line: [Who am I kidding? Of course, it’s the screaming goats.]

Rank: Honorable Mention (barely)

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

I hope everyone had a happy Easter!

Paint (2023)

08 Saturday Apr 2023

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(Sorry for missing yesterday, but I’m back for Day 8 of NaPoWriMo. Today’s prompt was a doozy, trying to incorporate elements of the “Twenty Little Poetry Projects” all in one poem. It’s a lot, so I tried incorporating the myriad guidelines into a rambling painting session.)

The empty canvas is an infant’s soul,
Clean at birth, no stain or man’s control.
Let’s paint on it.

First, we’ll start with what some will know
As the verdant foe of cold and snow,
Or as I call it, green.

Yes, let’s dab that canvas, guys,
And stab pine needles through its eyes,
But gently, gingerly, with care,
Enough so folks know you were there.
Then spread it out, now up and down,
And give that tree a royal crown
So it will reign with a foliate fist
Of eau de Nil, that egotist.

And now, let’s cleanse our pallet with blue,
So pure, you’ll hear the ocean too.
Then spread it wide with broader strokes.
This humble painter knows you folks
Enjoy a sky to complement
That oak below who’s so content.
So paint it deep, then add some whites
For cotton clouds like leukocytes.
If one’s not right, try painting three
Or hanging upside down like me.
Then daub more blue down here too, fellas,
For waves to make Lake Tahoe jealous.

And now the browns down on the ground;
Just smell that lucky dirt you found.
Those aren’t just smears; they’re mulch and gravel,
Perfect for the hiker’s travel.
We’ll add a boulder by the tree’s toe –
The tree must have dropped it years ago.
And at last, let’s add a friendly bush,
No thorns to prick, just blooms to push.
Picasso, eat your heart out.

Now how about them apples, y’all.
You taste that lakeside aerosol?
Museums everywhere will plead
For your next work. It’s guaranteed.
Sure, no one’s breaking down my door,
But I’m not bitter. I’m not sore.
Who cares how long since my debut?
An infant soul’s awaiting you.
_______________________________

MPA rating: PG-13 (for drug use and innuendo)

For the first time, I checked out the Mystery Movie periodically hosted by Regal Cinemas, where you don’t know what movie you’re walking into, just that it’s an early pre-release showing. While I was hoping for perhaps Dungeons & Dragons or Space Oddity, I was admittedly a little disappointed when it turned out to be Paint, the indie comedy with Owen Wilson playing a very Bob Ross-like TV painter named Carl Nargle. Yet it turned out to be good that my expectations were low, since I enjoyed this quaint little satire more than I thought I would.

Carl has spent decades hosting the popular show Paint on his Vermont public broadcasting network, and he’s become used to being treated as a local celebrity, idolized especially by all the women working at the network. Yet when the manager Tony (Stephen Root) brings in a young new talent named Ambrosia (Ciara Renée in her film debut) to revitalize the station, Carl’s comfortably stagnant world comes crashing down as he must decide what he values most.

Paint’s humor thrives on its gentle quirkiness, such as when Tony has to ask the always softspoken Carl if he’s yelling at him, but it also does a fine job at humanizing characters that could have been mere caricatures. Under a poofy perm, Wilson excels in the lead role, and though some of his behavior is problematic and his rivalry with Ambrosia resentful, the film manages to make the jerks in every situation not too jerky as to be unlikable. The reactions from everyone involved are understandable and never get too spiteful, with even Carl admiring Ambrosia’s talent. Michaela Watkins is also strong as Carl’s conflicted ex Katherine, and Root’s Tony is winsomely smarmy as he tries to suck up to whoever will get the station higher ratings.

With its behind-the-scenes drama and ego-poking humor, I could draw a comparison to 1991’s Soapdish, another film that pitted an established star against a popular newcomer. And considering how many comedies these days try to draw laughs from being as outrageous and R-rated as possible, I enjoyed this film’s hilariously subdued eccentricity and almost profanity-free script. It may seem at times like an SNL skit stretched to feature length, but Paint is a charmer worth seeing intentionally.

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

The Mercy (2018)

06 Thursday Apr 2023

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(For Day 6 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to base a poem off of some other poem in a different language from the Poetry International website, drawing inspiration from the sounds and letters. I used “Jailhouse Haikus” by Basque poet Kirmen Uribe, and tried to mimic the flow of the sounds while tying the meaning to this film about an unfortunate sailor.)

Bane of chart and map,
Against which straight courses drift –
An ignorant man.

Hang on and look out,
Bet and build and don’t compare –
Better to just dare.

Look, the open sea.
I’ll sail, only heart speaking.
Error? I care not.
_________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

We’re so used to underdog biopics being tales of misjudged heroes overcoming adversity and earning their place in history over all the naysayers. Think Rudy, Rocky, and The Rookie. After all, why would anyone want to watch an underdog story that doesn’t end happily? That is the question I was left with after seeing The Mercy, a biographical drama starring Colin Firth as amateur sailor Donald Crowhurst. In the late 1960s, Crowhurst came up with a ship design that he felt confident could win the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, in which sailors would circumnavigate the globe alone on their yachts. The first half of the film has all the hallmarks of an inspirational history lesson, with Crowhurst betting his home and his business on one crazy idea he believes he can make happen, yet it’s no spoiler for anyone familiar with the notorious tale that things do not go as planned.

I debated whether or not to disclose the film’s ultimately sad turn, but I felt it was worth including, and it’s hardly a secret when looking up the movie. As an American, I had never heard of Crowhurst’s story and so was not expecting the ultimate tragedy of the tale. It’s a sad and open-ended account in real life, so the same is true for the film, which tries to fill in some gaps with speculations beyond the logs Crowhurst left behind. I will credit Firth, as well as Rachel Weisz as his devoted wife Clare, both of whom give excellent and nuanced performances. There is a place for tragic heroism and stories that remind us that well-intentioned hubris is no guarantee of success, if only to contrast with the overabundance of stories telling us the opposite. It’s just hard not to be disappointed at the reminder.

Best line: (Sir Francis Chichester, famed sailor) “To only do what has been done before is to live one’s life in the shadow of other men.”

Rank: Dishonorable Mention

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

See How They Run (2022)

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

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(For Day 5 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem concerning laughter at an inappropriate moment, so laughing at death immediately came to mind.)

The man is dead there on the floor.
I should be shocked and horrified.
And yet I cannot quite get past
The way he died.

He just had finished purchasing
A ranch out west, and then he slipped.
His leg flew out and knocked a pail,
And thus he tripped.

A shocked transcriptionist was there,
Recording everything they said.
She quickly called on 911,
But he was dead.

When I arrived to scan the scene,
I was in danger of a gaffe.
Death deserves a tear, yet I
Just had to laugh.

It rose up when I realized
He’d bought the farm (but that’s not it).
He also kicked the bucket too.
My tongue I bit.

It happened when I chanced to check
The transcript of the anecdote.
It ended with his final “Aaahhhh…”
That’s all she wrote.
__________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

Not every good movie has to be a huge blockbuster or an awards contender. With a good script and a talented cast, even small and unassuming films can be a credit to their genre. The whodunit genre is having a bit of a renaissance, thanks largely to Rian Johnson’s Benoit Blanc films, but See How They Run continues that welcome trend with a much more understated murder mystery than Johnson’s splashier entries. Set around the real-life long-running play The Mousetrap back in 1950s London, the story follows world-weary Inspector Stoppard (Sam Rockwell) and eager-to-please Constable Stalker (Saoirse Ronan) as they investigate the murder of a Hollywood director (Adrien Brody) who was adapting The Mousetrap into a movie. And naturally they have no shortage of suspects, including a prissy screenwriter (David Oyelowo), an adulterous producer (Reece Shearsmith), and actor Richard Attenborough (Harris Dickinson).

The film boasts an appealing, old-fashioned style that lends itself to moments of dry humor, as when Constable Stalker slips a few groan-worthy puns into her description of the crime scene. And the use of flashbacks and clever camerawork add to the mystery, which is nothing special in retrospect but still kept me guessing until the reveal. Plus, I’ll freely admit to a bit of a celebrity crush on Saoirse Ronan, and this is one more charming and lovable character to her credit. The contrast and banter between her and Rockwell are a joy as he repeatedly has to rein her in from jumping to conclusions in their investigation. See How They Run may not be a favorite whodunit, but it’s a quaint and enjoyable one that I’ll happily revisit.

Best line: (Stalker, telling Stoppard her notes about Oyelowo’s character) “Mervyn Cocker-Norris, overrated playwright.”
(Cocker-Norris) “Celebrated playwright.”
(Stalker) “Oh, I’m so sorry, sir. I can’t read me own handwriting.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

Old (2021)

04 Tuesday Apr 2023

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(For Day 4 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a triolet, an eight-line poem with a particular rhyme scheme and pattern of repeated lines. Honestly, these are my favorite prompts, trying out forms that I don’t normally think of on my own.)

Your age is just a number, friend,
But numbers have been known to kill.
Like currency you have to spend,
Your age is just a number, friend,
A short-term loan you can’t extend,
And everybody foots the bill.
Your age is just a number, friend,
But numbers have been known to kill.
_________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

M. Night Shyamalan doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to his movies, but every new project deserves a fair chance, regardless of past failures. And even if his films often don’t stand up to scrutiny, they are still typically well-made and excel at conjuring an atmosphere of low-key suspense. Old very much fits that mold. Based on a French-Swiss graphic novel called Sandcastle, the film mainly focuses on the Cappa family, made up of father Guy (Gael García Bernal), mother Prisca (Vicky Krieps), and children Trent and Maddox, whose recuperative vacation takes a dark turn as they and other tourists (Rufus Sewell, Ken Leung, Abbey Lee, and others) become trapped on a beach which ages them quickly.

As with most Shyamalan productions, the less you know going in, the better. Age itself may not seem like that much of a boogeyman, but the anxiety of watching years waste away in a matter of hours is rather effective, especially as health issues become more pronounced in this accelerated timeframe. (One scene involving bones breaking repeatedly is especially nightmarish.) And the seemingly peaceful beach is a lovely and unsettling locale, like a passive observer of the ordeal playing out on its white sands.

But of course, the story, despite its detail-oriented execution, has that Shyamalan fragility, with an explanation for the larger narrative that makes enough sense while watching to earn an “ahhh” but then falls apart when you consider all the logistical issues that apparently never bothered the writer-director. The script also takes some bewildering turns, often doesn’t follow its own logic, and doesn’t develop most of the characters beyond superficial hopes and fears. Old isn’t an outright bad film, but it’s a brittle one and further proof that Shyamalan’s talents could benefit from a good co-writer.

Best line: (Prisca, to her son, offering the theme of the film) “Stop wishing away this moment.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

04 Tuesday Apr 2023

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(For Day 3 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write opposite lines for a short poem, but I did the opposite and went off-prompt today. A little late, but I’m keeping up.)

In 1981, a nerd was playing with his friends
A tabletop role-playing game the nerd alone defends.
He said to them, while glowing after conquering a foe,
“It’s such a shame the other kids don’t care or want to know
How cool this game and world can be, the quests and fun campaigns.
It’s luck and skill and fantasy colliding in our brains.
They could make it a movie, and stories – they have plenty.”
“Yeah, that’ll be the day,” scoffed Matt, ere rolling a Nat 20.
But as the years went by, the province once reserved for nerds
Expanded to the everyman, I’d say a good two-thirds.
And as the world in comic books and wizards was immersed,
The nerds all wore a smile, knowing they had loved it first.
____________________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

I will just say up front that I have very little prior knowledge of the Dungeons & Dragons brand. Most of what I know comes from Stranger Things, Big Bang Theory, and random snippets of Critical Role, but while I’ve never played the game, I do love fantasy, as my passion for Lord of the Rings will attest. Based on the trailer, I had high hopes for Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which is why I am thrilled that it both met and exceeded those expectations. This D&D movie is an absolute blast, an action-packed crowdpleaser that knows its world and how to use it effectively.

One thing I do know about D&D is that characters fall into certain archetypes and skills, which is the case for the winning ensemble in the movie. We have bard Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), who comes up with plans and backup plans; barbarian Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), Edgin’s right-hand muscle; two-bit sorcerer Simon Aumar (Justice Smith); shape-shifting druid Doric (Sophia Lillis); paladin Xenk Yendar (Regé-Jean Page), and rogue Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant). The core members of the party are Edgin and Holga, who are betrayed during a heist gone wrong and are unable to return to Edgin’s teenage daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman). By the time they get out of prison, they find they must rescue her from a treasure-filled castle and an evil necromancer, leading them to recruit all the help they can get.

The common comparison for the film’s band of misfits becoming a found family is Guardians of the Galaxy, and it’s a valid one, considering its diverse cast, quippy humor, and penchant for heists and escapes. Yet I dare say D&D is even more fun, perhaps because its brand of comedy appealed to me more, like a hilarious sequence of asking questions with a series of reanimated corpses. The actors deserve a lot of credit as well. Pine is a reliably likable leader, and I liked his camaraderie with Rodriguez without any romantic tension needing to be interjected. Grant is amusingly unctuous as a conniving politician, while Page serves as a great foil for the others, stepping in for one side quest and playing the whole mythic hero role completely straight-faced.

Beyond that, I was giddy with the number of fantasy elements used in inventive ways, from a portal-gun staff to a gravity reversal spell to a menagerie of fantastical creatures, all brought to life with outstanding effects. One stand-out scene had Lillis’s shapeshifter repeatedly changing into various animals as she flees a castle in one long and thrilling tracking shot, while another involves an actual dragon in a dungeon with a set piece of jaw-dropping scale. A stadium sequence with the main party dodging creatures within a maze brought to mind the coliseum battle from Attack of the Clones, one of my favorite Star Wars scenes that is also marvelous here. It also boasts some amazing scenery reminiscent of Middle-earth, though this is apparently set in a campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms.

Of course, it’s not above criticism, the easiest being that the plot may seem overstuffed with characters and incidents, as if the filmmakers had trouble parting with their favorite scenes. But honestly, I wouldn’t cut anything either. One tangent seeking out an enchanted helmet ultimately adds little to the plot, but it serves an important role for Simon’s growth as a character and a magician. It’s actually shocking how smoothly the various settings and action scenes flow and all the characters are balanced, each getting a moment to shine, whether a joke or a cool scuffle or an emotional beat. And while the film is loaded with lore and exposition, the fantasy names it tosses around only give the indication that this world is larger than this one film shows and hardly bog down the fun and momentum of the story. A roll of the dice that certainly paid off, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves feels like the return of wildly entertaining fantasy epics, a la Pirates of the Caribbean, a light-hearted affair with good-hearted rogues and a world begging for a franchise. If subsequent chapters are anything like this one, I’m all in.

Best line: (Forge Fitzwilliam) “I don’t want to see you die. Which is why I’m gonna leave the room.”

Rank: Top 100-Worthy

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

02 Sunday Apr 2023

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(For Day 2 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write surrealist answers/examples for various words and string them together into a poem. While my answers might be more flowery than surreal, I used the words thunder, mercurial, longing, ghost, miracle, and elusive for the lines below, while also including ties to this rather surreal film.)

A god that sobs when left behind.
A wedding ring in a drawer, unworn.
A king-size bed, half-cold at night.
A margin note for readers unborn.
An artifact forgotten yet found.
A smile in the eyes to match the mouth.
_____________________

MPA rating:  R (for violence, sex, and nudity, not constant but rather blatant)

When I saw the trailer for Three Thousand Years of Longing, it was bizarre and bombastic, seemingly in keeping with the director of Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller himself, and I thought that Everything Everywhere All at Once might have a worthy competitor for weirdest film of the year. Yet one must remember that Miller also wrote and produced Babe, so he’s clearly a filmmaker with range. Based on the short story “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” by A. S. Byatt, Three Thousand Years of Longing is indeed an odd film, spanning the millennia of a genie’s life, yet it’s far more pensive and wistful even than the trailer might indicate. Yes, there is a scene where a man’s head drips off his body and turns into a giant fly, but that’s more of the exception rather than the rule when it comes to this film’s brand of fantastical.

The framing story belongs to British scholar Alithea Binnie (Tilda Swinton), a lonely soul who sees only metaphor in the tales of ancient myth and magic and so is surprised when a huge, wispy figure emerges from a bottle she bought in a Turkish bazaar. It is a Djinn (Idris Elba), and while he desires to grant Alithea the expected three wishes, she is more cautious than most. Instead, she listens to the Djinn’s stories of what brought him to his present bottle, anecdotes of repeated tragic romance, cruel kings, twists of fate, and unwise wishes, all of it leading to the shared bond of their overlapping stories and a wish of her own.

It’s hard to say whether Three Thousand Years of Longing is my kind of movie. This kind of weaving of episodic threads together into universal themes of love and loneliness certainly appeals to me, and Swinton and Elba are a brilliant unlikely pair as they evoke their quiet mutual longing for what seems unreachable. Yet the film also relishes in short bursts of excess, which contrast more with the main plot than the Doof Warrior’s flaming guitar did in Fury Road, and they feel more unnecessary as the plot takes some uncomfortable turns, like a brief section dedicated to a prince’s fetish for an obese harem.

George Miller deserves his label from the trailer as a “mad genius.” The film looks amazing with its stylized flashbacks and lavish production, and yet below all the indulgence, it retains a genuinely emotional core, like the subtle comparison drawn between the Djinn’s centuries of self-soothing trapped in his bottle and Alithea trying to convince herself she’s content being alone. And I was admittedly impressed to learn how much actual Turkish history was incorporated into the narrative. Yes, even the prince with the fat harem (look up Ibrahim the Mad). From its fantastical mixing of history and mythology to its surprisingly tender denouement, Three Thousand Years of Longing may lack cohesion, but it has style and originality to spare, which is becoming increasingly rare these days.

Best line: (Alithea) “Love is a gift. It’s a gift of oneself given freely. It’s not something one can ever ask for.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting

Vesper (2022)

01 Saturday Apr 2023

Posted by in NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(For Day 1 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt suggested taking inspiration from some old book covers here. Instead of the more fanciful options, I latched onto some mushrooms on the cover of Guillaume Sicard’s Histoire naturelle des champignons comestibles et vénéneux, apparently a guide to edible mushrooms, which brought to mind this fungus-heavy film.)

The old cliché “Life finds a way”
Omits the struggle and decay,
The mounds of death that pave that way
And grieve the sentient soul.

It would be nice if sacrifice
Were not the customary price,
If seeds could sprout without the vice
Of being buried in a hole.

We often can’t see what we plant,
But wishes do take time to grant.
Seeds that grow where hope is scant
Are always worth the toll.
________________________

MPA rating: Not Rated (right on the line between PG-13 and R, due to brief violence)

All science fiction films try to sell their world, whether it be some alternate history or futuristic metropolis, but few dystopias are as visually convincing as Vesper, a French-Lithuanian co-production made in English for wider appeal. Set in a ruined landscape where biotechnology fuels everything from lab-grown slaves to bacteria-powered electricity generators, this society is split between wealthy elite conclaves we never get to see and the rural desperation of subsistence colonies reliant on the supply of single-yield seeds for their food crops. Vesper (Raffiella Chapman) is a young teen with a knack for biotech, who finds a wounded girl (Rosy McEwen) from one of the elite Citadels and sees her as a chance to break out from the hardship into which she was born, much to the displeasure of her controlling uncle (Eddie Marsan).

Vesper excels in its realism in large part because so much of it is real, having shot in the misty forests of Lithuania rather than against Hollywood’s all-too-common green screen. It adds a lot to the atmosphere, a dirty and moist landscape rife with strange, blood-sucking plants and breathing trees. With its hopeful female protagonist and her private greenhouse of plants, the film definitely seems to draw inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, but its story and visual aesthetic are its own. The extent of its plant-based future is also fascinating, such as a weapon that spreads a slime mold over every surface and then vaporizes it into poison gas.

While the film is praiseworthy, its plot doesn’t seem to know where to go by the end, settling for a symbolic conclusion rather than any kind of closure for its heroine. Chapman and McEwen are both promising talents, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they went on to buzzier roles as Anya Taylor-Joy or Thomasin McKenzie have. Marsan brings menace and a latent pathos to the villainous uncle, while Richard Brake has a unique gravitas as Vesper’s quadriplegic father Darius, who is able to speak and follow Vesper through a floating drone with a Wilson-style face drawn on it. While its visuals are more interesting than the largely depressing narrative, Vesper is a must-see for fans of unique dystopias.

Best line: (Darius) “Oh Vesper, you don’t know the cost of dreams.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2023 S.G. Liput
784 Followers and Counting