Tag Archives: Adam Barney

Outtakes

The Long Goodbye

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Another End

by Adam Barney

“Grief is the price we pay for love” – Queen Elizabeth II.

It’s probably the cynic in me, but it’s not hard for me to believe that companies will find a way to monetize our grief processing in the near future. It feels like it is practically upon us that an AI program will gobble up e-mails and text messages and then communicate with us as a construct of our deceased loved one. The grieving will get the chance to hang on a little longer to that person or say something that they didn’t get a chance to say during their life. But is this doing any good for the bereaved?

This is the primary issue that writer/director Piero Messina explores in Another End. With a wave-of-the-hand science explanation, a deceased’s memories can be loaded into a volunteer “host”, and they will spend a few sessions with the bereaved. The host transitions back and forth between themselves and the deceased when they go to sleep. This process can’t last forever, so you must be prepared to say goodbye again.

Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries, The Science of Sleep) plays Sal, a widowed husband who blames himself for the car crash that killed his wife. His sister Ebe (Berenice Bejo, The Artist) is worried that Sal won’t fully recover from his grief and she just so happens to work for the company that provides the host experience described above. After convincing Sal to try the program, his wife’s memories are downloaded into Ava (Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World, A Different Man), who begins to visit Sal as his deceased wife Zoe. Sal is curious about the host, so he starts to follow Ava in her real life so that he can get to know her too.

Another End is melancholic. From the score to the performances, there is a sterile iciness that permeates every inch of this film. We don’t get to experience any of the happier times; we just dwell with the characters in the pit of their loss.

Bernal wears haunted well and Reinsve does an excellent job in the dual roles of Ava and Zoe. Black Mirror, for better or worse, has conditioned us to have certain expectations with a story like this. All the expected twists and turns play out as you will have likely guessed from the beginning and nothing profound is offered before the credits roll. An advantage to the Black Mirror stories is that they are handled in about an hour, which makes Another End feel quite bloated with its two-hour runtime.

Outtakes

Prey for Her

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Saint Clare

by Adam Barney

Clare (Bella Thorne, The Babysitter) is a college student who believes she is on a mission from God. Blessed with visions, she hunts down the men who prey on the women in her small town. Detective Timmons (Ryan Phillippe, Cruel Intentions, MacGruber) grows suspicious of her extra-curricular activities as she keeps turning up in the wrong places.

Guided by the ghost of Mailman Bob (Frank Whaley, Pulp Fiction), the first man she inadvertently killed, Clare begins to connect the dots on who’s behind the growing number of local women who have gone missing. Bob is a messenger from the beyond and he seeks to keep Clare centered on her righteous path of vengeance.

Saint Clare is based on the YA novel Clare at Sixteen by Don Ruff. A quick search yields book reviews that frequently compare the Clare Bleecker series to Dexter, the popular show that is still churning out sequel and spin-off seasons. It’s easy to see why – Clare is a serial killer who only pursues other killers and she has conversations with a dead person from her past who acts as her conscious.

Thorne delivers a solid performance as the melancholy Clare, but the rest of the film around her is tonal mess. It really feels like a pilot episode with the season finale tacked on as the final fifteen minutes. There are a lot of story threads and elements, like a goofy school play, that are introduced but dumped quickly in favor of rushing toward the ending. The film is uninterested in exploring its own central mystery of the missing women, Clare is simply propelled to the wrong doers by convenience. 

Co-writer and director Mitzi Peirone (Braid) provides a few moments that visually pop as the world around Clare becomes more colorful and otherworldly, but they are too few and far in between.

Saint Clare never quite picks a lane. It’s a revenge tale without a strong motive, it’s a mystery that isn’t remotely interested in the investigation, and it’s a supernatural fable that is too grounded and serious for its own good.

Outtakes

At the Mountains of Madness

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The Sound

by Adam Barney

“Hey, what’s that?” is a phrase that has driven the majority of human exploration, from the first cave person to see a hill to your dad hearing a noise outside at night. This phrase also drives the plot in The Sound, as climbers ascend a forbidden mountain to check out what’s on top.

The CIA is aware of a mysterious signal emanating from the top of a mountain range in indigenous territory. A failed climbing expedition in the 1950s has brought them no closer to the truth, as none of the climbers returned. Now, six decades later, the tribal authority has agreed to let another team of climbers attempt the ascent. The mountain is sacred so they can’t drill or otherwise deface the surface, so the climb will also be technically difficult.

It is clear that writer/director Brendan Devane is an avid climber. There’s an attention paid to the specific details of the climbing depicted in the movie that you don’t see in other mountain climbing films. Characters carefully latch themselves into crevices, pitch their mountain-side tents, and otherwise skillfully scale a sheer granite cliff. No one is going to make an epic leap with an ice axe in each hand.

Cinematographer Ryan Galvan also does a tremendous job of capturing some breathtaking shots of the climbers as they ascend. They likely used professional climbers for the long shots and their cast for the close-ups, but it all blends together convincingly.

Outside of the climbing elements, the movie suffers from a generic sci-fi plot and dull characters. You won’t find yourself caring about any of them as they meet their various ends as they get closer to the mysterious object. There’s a fight scene that has some Power Rangers-esque choreography, including magically teleporting characters, that is truly groanworthy.

Some notable faces like William Fichtner (Blackhawk Down, The Dark Knight), Kyle Gass (Tenacious D), and Alex Honnold (Free Solo) show up for brief cameos, but they don’t really boost the movie, other than having their names attached. There’s a clear strength when The Sound is focused on the actual climbing, but it falls flat once it tries to mash in its sci-fi elements.

Outtakes

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

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A Desert

by Adam Barney

The desert is a scary place and for good reason – it’s easy to get lost, there are poisonous reptiles underfoot, the conditions will kill you, and you might even run into the most dangerous thing – strangers who choose to live out there.

Alex (Kai Lennox, Green Room) is a landscape photographer traveling around the American Southwest trying to recapture a spark from his early career. He likes to shoot abandoned buildings, but he has a burgeoning attraction to shooting portraits of the desert’s denizens.

He takes an interest in Renny (Zachary Sherman) and Susie Q (Ashley Smith), a drifter couple staying next door at his cheap motel. After too many drinks, they promise to be his tour guides and show him some hidden sights in the desert, places that no photographer has ever seen. Bad decisions are made.

After his daily check-ins stop, Alex’s wife Samantha (Sarah Lind, A Wounded Fawn) hires a P.I. (David Yow, Dinner in America, Under the Silver Lake) to go looking for her husband and retrace his steps. What follows is a sun-drenched, neo-noir mystery that may be a little thin on narrative but delivers on atmosphere and vibe.

The film sprinkles in some supernatural elements on the fringes like a creepy old movie theater and an abandoned scientific facility. Is there something more going on here or is that just the desert playing tricks on your mind? Don’t expect it to be Lost Highway or Southbound, but these otherworldly touches add a welcome surreal layer.

Director Joshua Erkman and co-writer Bossi Baker clearly have an affection for noir. They enhance the basic “man gone missing” mystery through their setting, which creates a pervasive and nightmarish sense of dread.

If you enjoy a good slow burn mystery, A Desert is a trip worth taking.

New In Theaters

Birthday Blues

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Three Birthdays

by Adam Barney

The sexual revolution of the early 70s pushed the American culture forward, but not without some bumps and awkwardness on the way. Three Birthdays focuses on those bumps and shows how the revolution could wreck a family.

Co-writer and director Jane Weinstock breaks her film down into three segments, focusing on each member of a family’s birthday in 1970. This family of three lives in Ohio and both parents, professors at a local university, pride themselves on how progressive they are, despite the obvious contradictions that begin to bubble up.

Their daughter Bobbie (Nuala Cleary, The Crowded Room) wants to lose her virginity just to get it over with but ends up discovering her parents’ secret – they have an open relationship. Kate (Annie Parisse, House of Cards) has made a deal with her husband that they could have an open relationship as long as they are honest with each about it (they are not). She wants to explore sex outside of their marriage but is conscious that her husband is struggling with his career and generally feeling inferior. Rob (Josh Radnor, How I Met Your Mother) has been cheating on Kate since well before they decided to experiment and also wants to drive a wedge in the relationship between Kate and Bobby so that he can be the better parent.

All of this makes for a pretty unpleasant watch with some deeply unlikeable characters. Everyone is lying and embracing any opportunity to inflict emotional harm upon the other. Bobbie hates her mom for cheating on her dad, Kate seems to be enjoying watching her career rise while Rob’s stagnates and he suffers, and Rob is just a terrible person.

Radnor really leans into the darker parts of Rob to make him such a despicable character. It seems that the lesson to be learned through all of this is that people suck.

If you have been paying attention to the dates presented on screen for each birthday, you are going to have a good idea about where the finale is headed. Seriously, this is one of the most groanworthy endings since Robert Pattinson went to work at the end of Remember Me.

New In Theaters

The Born Identity

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The Inheritance

by Adam Barney

Reconnecting with an absentee parent later in life brings plenty of challenges and emotional work. This would only be magnified if your missing father happens to be a spy on the run from Interpol and the CIA.

Co-writer and director Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless) wastes no time with the setup in Inheritance. Maya (Phoebe Dynevor from Bridgerton) has been taking care of her sick mother and hasn’t had any contact with her father, Sam (genre treasure Rhys Ifans, The Amazing Spider-Man, Notting Hill) in years. Unexpectedly, Sam shows up at her mother’s funeral and offers to take Maya on a business trip while she figures out life after caring for her mom. He’s sorry for abandoning the family and wants to start making it up to her.

Things go sideways almost immediately. Sam gets a call while they are at lunch and bolts out of the restaurant just before Interpol and local authorities show up looking for him. Maya ducks out of the restaurant only to get a call from her dad that he got away from the authorities, but he’s been kidnapped by someone much worse. He needs Maya to finish the job he was on – pick up a package from a safety deposit box and deliver it to his contact.

Maybe Maya takes after her dad more than she thinks. Now, she must learn on the job as she outwits and outruns all the parties hunting her and the package. Every stranger that approaches seems to have an ulterior motive and she doesn’t know who to trust, including her own dad.

Inheritance is a fast-paced globetrotter that rarely pauses to catch its breath. Shot on an iPhone and without permission in a lot of locations, the film has a grounded and realistic vibe to it. Because of these limitations, there are no big action set pieces. However, there is an impressive motorcycle chase.

Despite the brief 100-minute runtime and frantic pace, Inheritance does not shortchange the relationship drama between Maya and her dad. Their interactions are limited to brief phone calls but she is also doing her own research along the way to try and understand who he is. Both performances are quite good throughout and especially in a moment when they expose some raw nerves when their time is up.

Inheritance excels as a low budget spy thriller that works in some unique family drama. It does not try to reach beyond its limits to put the world at stake or to showcase a bunch of thrilling stunts. Instead, it delivers a smart and enjoyable chase around the globe with small, personal stakes that feel refreshing in a well-worn genre.

New In Theaters

Shades of Grief

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The Shade

by Adam Barney

You can’t outrun grief. You can’t hide from grief. It lurks and waits for an inopportune time to pounce. In director and co-writer Tyler Chipman’s melancholic psycho-horror feature debut The Shade, grief is physically embodied as a pale creature haunting a family.

Ryan (Chris Galust) witnessed his father’s suicide at a young age. It’s not just his father’s tragic death that haunts him; he also saw a darkness that surrounded his father, portrayed by shadowy, robed figures that were also there to bear witness.

Flash forward to the present and Ryan is a college student who suffers from a severe anxiety disorder. He returns to his depressing hometown to help take care of his younger brother James (Sam Duncan) and help his mom Renee (Laura Benanti). To complicate matters, his trouble-making older brother Jason (Dylan McTee) also returns home and he’s dealing with some serious personal demons. This sounds like typical family drama fare, but Ryan sees a pale monster (credited as the Harpy) lurking around his older brother, portending an unfortunate fate like his father’s.

The Shade wears its metaphors on its sleeves. It is clearly about grief, depression, suicide, and the burden of mental illness in families, and the film mines these themes to varying degrees of success.

“Grief monsters” aren’t new in the genre, we’ve seen them before in The Babadook, The Night House, A Ghost Story, and even 1973’s Don’t Look Now. The Shade seeks to distinguish itself from these other titles through its use of the Harpy—a creepy, feminine figure that it does not hide, and for good reason. The makeup and f/x are excellent. The unsettling creature slinks, stares, and instills dread. There are no real jump scares. The horror comes from this creature and the inevitability that tragedy may only ever be an arm’s length away.

The performances across the board are quite good here. Galust has the heaviest load to lift as Ryan battles anger, guilt, fear, and debilitating anxiety. He manages to share these struggles effectively without going over the top in his performance.

The film is a slow burn—probably too slow a burn for its own good. We get plenty of time with the characters, but the narrative is light on any events or tension that would help hold interest for the two-hour plus runtime. The ending also lacks the emotional punch we have come to expect from a grief monster story and you may be surprised when the credits pop up.

Chipman and his team have crafted an admirable debut with The Shade. The cinematography is quite good throughout, especially with all of the nighttime and low light scenes. I’m definitely interested in whatever they might do next.

Nightmares Film Festival

A Deal with the Devil

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BA

by Adam Barney

I’m a sucker for Faustian bargain films, so I knew I was likely in the bag for writer/director Benjamin Wong’s debut feature film, BA. I wasn’t expecting a movie that would also be so touching and endearing.

What would you do to ensure a good life for your child? That is the question facing Daniel (Lawrence Kao, Walker: Independence), a single dad struggling to raise his daughter, Collette (Kai Cech). Daniel tries to hustle with side gigs and other menial jobs, but the pair faces eviction and family doesn’t seem willing to take them in. This is where the Faustian deal comes into play. Daniel finds a bag of money with a simple note – take the money and you will receive an eternal occupation.

That turns out to be a heavy price. Daniel is transformed into a reaper and must take souls for his end of the bargain. He was also unfortunately transformed, now burdened with a skull for a face and the power to kill anything and everything he touches. Collette doesn’t understand why her dad suddenly hides from her and keeps his distance. To make matters worse, social services are coming around to investigate. Money really doesn’t solve everything.

BA may not be an original tale. However, the film truly excels at delivering a heart-breaking and ultimately human story. Kao and Cech have excellent chemistry, which really drives us to root for them.

BA thoughtfully deals with the Asian American experience of existing on the fringe of society. As it opens, Daniel is one of many unseen workers taking unwanted night jobs and any other work that he can find. After his transformation, he must remain unseen so he can continue to provide for and protect Collette. In interviews, Wong has discussed wanting to blur reality and fantasy in his film but still deal with the real issues of single parenthood, social invisibility, and poverty.

BA also happens to look fantastic. The nightlife of Los Angeles pops, the dark alleys and basements are dreary, and the supernatural elements seamlessly fit right in. If you like a good devil’s tale, you will find a lot to love in BA.

Nightmares Film Festival

Reality Bites

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My Imaginary Life for Someone

by Adam Barney

I hope this isn’t viewed as a cop out, but it is hard to explain My Imaginary Life for Someone. It must be experienced. It’s a film that is clearly not for everyone. For those who can match its wavelength, they will find a lot to like. Everyone else will walk out and be perplexed by what they just witnessed. This is precisely the type of film that we are always searching for to showcase in our Midnight programming branch of Nightmares Film Festival.

My Imaginary Life for Someone takes aim at Real Housewives or any of the other similar reality shows and does its best to take down the whole genre and the people in front of the cameras. It’s clear that writers / directors Molly Wurwand and Ryan McGlade have a real disdain for reality television and if you are of the same mindset, you are going to enjoy this broadside assault.

Filmed in a mockumentary style, the film dumps you right into a “labyrinth” of Los Angeles McMansions where the denizens get stranger and stranger. The reality stars are living in excess but probably aren’t fully sure how they got to where they are in life. They have nothing to worry about financially, but they also aren’t sure what they should be doing with their lives, so they spend their time collecting Princess Diana memorabilia, getting extreme plastic surgery, or listening to their own voices on tape.

There’s a lot of dream-like logic at play as the various homeowners show you around, tell you odd stories, or otherwise fill the silence of the void by endlessly talking. If you have ever caught the late-night programming of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, you will quickly adapt to the vibe. It feels like a dry mix of Christopher Guest (Best in Show) and Jim Hosking (The Greasy Strangler, although this film is not gross).

My Imaginary Life for Someone will make you cringe, hate the characters, and wish for it to be over. And that is the whole point. It wants to show you that reality television is vapid, vacuous, and ultimately pointless and it does so by holding up a mirror to the genre.

New In Theaters

Stranger Danger

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Strange Darling

by Adam Barney

“Are you a serial killer?” A question usually asked in jest during a first date, but you still judge your date’s facial response as they answer. Was that a nervous laugh? Did that smile come too easy? We’ve all seen too many episodes of Dateline. Strange Darling kicks off with this question and that’s the top of the hill for the cat-and-mouse roller coaster thriller that follows.

Strange Darling will be best experienced if you can see it cold. Avoid the trailer if you can. The reveals and twists are a big part of the fun. This review will be as spoiler-free as it can be.

Writer/director J.T. Mollner (Outlaws and Angels) sets the stage with the serial killer question and then we see how the date unfolds over six chapters and an epilogue. The chapters are shown out of order, each providing new background, character motivations, and other reveals. This structure is highly effective and keeps you engaged for the breezy 96-minute runtime.

The twists are fun, but Willa Fitzgerald (The Fall of the House of Usher) and Kyle Gallner’s (Smile, Dinner in America) performances are the best part of the movie. Their character names are archetypes and could be considered spoilers, so I’m avoiding them. The two have a natural chemistry and deliver all the attraction, fear, and rage the story requires.

Fitzgerald has a career-best turn here, and is the centerpiece of the whole film. Because we see the chapters out of sequence, she has to serve as the conduit to whatever is unfolding at the start of each. Every episode reveals more about her, and her performance really builds thanks to this structure.

I have a friend who, as far as I’m concerned, is the president of the Kyle Gallner fan club. I was lucky enough to see this movie with her, and she confirms that it is top-tier Gallner. He’s able to effortlessly walk the tightrope that exists between charming and dangerous, and that’s precisely what a movie like this requires.

Giovanni Ribisi takes a step away from acting and serves as the cinematographer. He and Mollner have an obvious affection for film as they shot Strange Darling in 35mm. The warm tones highlight the rustic backgrounds and a neon-lit conversation in a truck. Ribisi has a knack for capturing the nuances of the performances while still framing a visually rich shot.

Strange Darling does not reinvent the wheel. You’ll walk out of it and instantly want to talk about other movies that have similar elements, characters or plots. What it sets out to do, it does really well— like a favorite meal made by a loved one, it’s familiar and you’ve had it before, but damn if it isn’t delicious.