Tag Archives: Rachel Willis

I Don’t Want to Go Out – Week of January 8

Nasty weather getting you down? Nothing cheers a body up like a clown! That’s right, It comes home this week, along with some other bits of middling entertainment from 2017. Wouldn’t it all go so well with popcorn? Pop pop pop pop pop…

Click the film title to read the full review.

It

Marshall

The Foreigner

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House

Friend Request

I Don’t Want to Go Out – Week of December 11

Some exceptional films coming home this week, so if you like true life, brutally devastating historical dramas, this is your week! No, seriously, watch them.

Detroit

Viceroy’s House

The Trip to Spain

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Home Again

Preparing the Bride

Novitiate

by Rachel Willis

When Cathleen Harris (Margaret Qualley) is seven years old, her mother, out of a sense of duty and more than a little boredom, takes her daughter to church. So begins Cathleen’s love affair with God.

And it is a love affair, as Novitiate seeks to show its audience as it follows Cathleen from that first encounter to her time as a novitiate seeking to become a bride of Christ.

As a postulant (the first step in becoming a nun), Cathleen meets the Reverend Mother (Melissa Leo), a woman who joined the convent 40 years earlier and has not left the convent in those 40 years. With the introduction of the Reverend Mother, the film branches into two narratives. We see the convent through both Cathleen and the Reverend Mother on the eve of monumental changes to the Catholic Church.

If writer/director Margaret Betts had kept her story limited to these two perspectives, we would be treated to a tighter film. Cathleen is a mostly silent observer, her few words devoted to her devotion to God, but we see a great deal through her. When the film branches off to follow other postulants in the convent, as well as a sister questioning her faith, we lose the intimacy established in the beginning with Cathleen.

Betts is aware that many in the audience will not understand what it takes to become a nun, nor will they be familiar with the Church in the early 1960’s, so there are a few moments of exposition. However, they never feel heavy-handed or forced. It feels as if we’re entering as a postulant, then a novitiate, with Cathleen.

As our eyes into this world, Qualley is phenomenal as Cathleen. She brings an intensity to the role that is needed to understand the level of commitment to Christ it takes to become a nun.

Leo as the Reverend Mother brings a different level of intensity, one that not only explains her devotion to Christ, but her faith in the perfection of the Church as Vatican II seeks to alter the world to which she’s given her entire life.

There are moments when the film sinks into melodrama, and some scenes feel unnecessary to the story, but it’s a captivating glimpse into a world few of us witness.

Dina Getting Married

Dina

by Rachel Willis

Charming is the first word that comes to mind while watching the Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles documentary, Dina.

From the first moment, the audience is given an unfiltered look into Dina’s world. At a dentist appointment, she reveals her discomfort to the hygienist who offers to hold her hand while the dentist drills. It seems an odd moment to begin this intimate look at a woman’s life, but as the film unfolds, it’s a piece that fits into the larger puzzle that is Dina.

After a few more scenes in which we’re privy to Dina’s day-to-day routines, her fiancé, Scott, is introduced. In most ways, Scott and Dina are just like any other couple preparing for and anticipating their wedding day: there’s excitement, some trepidation, and a few hurdles to work through if they’re going to succeed in the long run.

But Scott has Asperger Syndrome and Dina has “a smörgåsbord” of mental disabilities (per her mother). Still, Santini and Sickles show us that Dina and Scott are a couple like any other.

At times, as the film navigates the sexual side of the couple’s relationship, it tends toward voyeurism. As they page through a copy of “The Joy of Sex” and Dina relays her sexual frustrations, the film skirts the line.

But the directors approach the subject with sympathy and compassion. The openness Dina and Scott have reveals the comfort between subject and documentarians. Never does the film feel exploitative or mocking.

It’s easy to like Scott and Dina and the more time spent with them only deepens the affection.

It’s a testament to the filmmakers, who make the audience feel like they’re spending time with old friends. It’s also a testament to Dina herself. Her past is one of hardship. She’s a widow and a survivor of a terrible ordeal at the hands of a boyfriend. But she is full of optimism and warmth.

Scott and Dina are exceedingly polite to each other, but the warmth behind their words reveals their love. In fact, the world would probably be a lot better if we all treated our friends, family and spouses the way Dina and Scott treat each other. While they have their problems, as every couple does, their polite natures, their openness, offers hope that their marriage will stand the test of time.

As a love story, Dina is exactly what the audience wants it to be.

Needs More Politics and Candy Crush

Friend Request

by Rachel Willis

With a film like Friend Request, the task becomes creating fear out of something benign. In this case, how can a friend request on Facebook be scary? Director Simon Verhoeven tries to answer that question.

College student Laura (Alycia Debnam-Carey) has a perfect life. Instead of opening credits, the film begins with a montage of scenes from Laura’s Facebook page: pictures with friends, comments from her adoring 800+ Facebook friends, even hints of a love triangle. While there could be an element of not everything is as it seems on social media, the movie doesn’t tackle this. What we see is what we get.

Into this mix comes Marina (Liesl Ahlers), a shy, lonely woman in Laura’s 200-level psychology class. Because Laura is a nice person, when Marina sends her a friend request on Facebook, she accepts. Not only does she accept the request, she takes the time to try to get to know Marina. But because this is a horror movie, in less than two weeks, Laura regrets her decision.

There are a number of ways Friend Request could go, (Marina is perfect Single White Female material) but it takes a supernatural turn. After a falling out between Laura and Marina, Laura and all of her closest friends start having nightmares. Most of the dreams are comprised of jump scares. It works the first few times, but after the third or fourth one, they stop being effective.

At times the film is unintentionally funny. It’s hard to maintain a level of horror around Facebook. If the film had embraced the silliness of its premise, the audience could have been treated to a horror comedy that warns against the danger of too much screen time, but sadly, the film tries to maintain the scares beyond what is reasonable. The suspension of disbelief is often non-existent, as a slowly loading screen generally inspires more irrational rage than outright terror.

Friend Request does follow some interesting ideas, and the actors are mostly up to the task of carrying the film’s weaker elements, but too often there’s a sense that no one’s quite sure how to make Facebook scary. Perhaps if they’d shown the real ways Facebook sucks the life out of its users, they could have had a truly horrifying tale.

Written by Victors

Viceroy’s House

by Rachel Willis

History is written by the victors.

So begins Gurinder Chadha’s Viceroy’s House, a film that focuses on the transition of power from England to India and the partition of India into two countries. It’s an interesting sentiment as the film seeks to show that in the transition of power, there are no victors.

With a history such as India’s, Chadha makes the wise decision to focus the bulk of the story within the confines of the viceroy’s house and grounds. The film opens with the arrival of India’s last viceroy from England, Lord Mountbatten, with his family. Because of the intimacy of the setting, the audience is privy to the negotiations between the British and the leaders of India. Many will recognize Mahatma Gandhi, but may not be familiar with the other leaders, including the head of the All-Indian Muslim League Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who led the charge to partition India with the creation of Pakistan.

In addition to the wider story focused on this transition of power, a more personal tale is woven behind the scenes through the love affair of Aalia and Jeet. Aalia is a Muslim woman in love with Jeet, a Hindu. As tensions between Hindu, Sikh, and Muslims rise, the two are pulled in different directions as family and religion come between them. Their story provides the audience with a more personal connection to the conflicts that arise as Lord Mountbatten tries to negotiate a peaceful transition of power.

As Lord Mountbatten, Hugh Bonneville plays a familiar role, as those who have seen him in Downton Abbey will recognize the similarities between characters. Gillian Anderson is his wife Edwina Mountbatten. Flawless as always, Anderson is almost underutilized in her role. However, the scenes in which she does appear are riveting. The two are sympathetic as they try to avoid a violent passage of power.

However, the film truly belongs to Huma Qureshi and Manish Dayal. As Aalia and Jeet, they bring life and hope to a movie racked with conflict. As tensions rise, their love is a light in the dark. Though the history of India may be written by the victors, it’s the stories of the people who live through it that connect us to the past.

As a love story, as a history, Viceroy’s House is a moving examination of a tumultuous moment in India’s history.

I Don’t Want to Go Out – Week of September 4

So many movies of the brand-spankin’ variety available this week in home viewing. You’ve got your bona fide awesomeness, some better-than-you-think big budget bombs, and one flaming piece of garbage. And more! More! So much, there may be no reason to leave home all week. Except to go see It, of course.

Raw

The Wedding Plan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDn73s-oEJc

Megan Leavy

All Eyez on Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VC0aSPfyQk

Rough Night

Paris Can Wait

Sounds of America

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

by Rachel Willis

The history of indigenous people in America is one of erasure. Their contributions are overlooked, rewritten, or simply forgotten. In Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World, Catherine Bainbridge (and co-director Alfonso Maiorana) seeks to shed light on the American Indian musicians who helped form the sound of American music.

The documentary explores many aspects of indigenous influence in American music. It profiles individual artists, including Link Wray, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Charlie Patton, among others, but also examines how traditional Indian music, specifically the music of the Mississippi delta, shaped rock and roll, blues, and the big band sound of the 1930’s.

With each artist profiled, there is a shift in narrative style. In some ways, this works as many of the musicians represent different genres of music. The shifts help to better highlight the hand indigenous peoples have had in multiple areas of American music. However, it also gives the film an episodic feel. One wonders if the material would have been better served as a multi-part television documentary.

Interviews with music historians and ethnologists help explain the evolution of traditional indigenous music into different aspects of rock and roll and blues. Vocal styles heard in recordings from 1907 can be heard again in the early blues of Charlie Patton. Many Americans consider these sounds to be the traditional sounds of African music, but the reality is more complex. The true history is one that blends cultures, with a heavy emphasis on American indigenous music. When one hears the comparison, it’s hard not to hear the traditional music of the American Indian in the blues.

Musicians like Iggy Pop, George Clinton, and Steve Van Zandt are also interviewed. They provide a context in which the early American Indian musicians influenced scores of famous bands and musicians. At times, it feels they’re revealing a secret that many in the music world know to the rest of us. They’ve known all along where the indigenous musicians fit into the history of music and they’re finally opening the eyes of the rest of us.

While the music history is interesting, the most important aspect of the film is what it gives to indigenous communities. It emphasizes their role in American history. It gives Indian kids heroes to emulate. It shows the rest of us that the culture of the American Indian exists within the fabric of what makes us all Americans. It’s the kind of documentary that deserves a wide audience.

Going the Distance

The Farthest

by Rachel Willis

Forty years ago, the first of two vessels was launched into space to begin the unmanned Voyager mission. To commemorate NASA’s monumental achievement, Emer Reynolds explores the operation from its beginnings in 1972 to present day in the documentary, The Farthest.

A lot of effort goes into the creation and execution of a space odyssey, and Reynolds brings the story to life through interviews with NASA scientists and engineers. There’s a lot of ground to cover, from the meeting with Nixon to approve the budget, to the technology on board the Voyager vessels, to the inclusion of the famous Golden Record, and Reynolds seeks to examine all of it during the documentary’s two-hour run time.

Because there are forty years of history to explore, oftentimes The Farthest feels like an overview. Rather than focusing on one aspect of Voyager, be it the rudimentary technology aboard the vessels or the first images of the planets farthest from the sun, the film instead follows the Voyager timeline.

By doing this, there is a lot of information glossed over, but Reynolds still manages to inject a touching poignancy into the documentary. The men and women who worked on Voyager are full of passion and wonder, and they convey this to the audience.

Arguably the most interesting aspect of the film, the most interesting aspect of Voyager, is the inclusion of the Golden Record.

As Voyager 1 and 2 were designed to go beyond our solar system into interstellar space, a decision was made to include a record of life on Earth. The records (one in each space craft) include images of Earth, music, and mathematical equations in an attempt to encapsulate what it means to be an earthling. The Farthest spends more time with the Record than any other aspect of Voyager, but in light of how far Voyager 1 and 2 have traveled, and how far they may still go, the idea that the Golden Record may end up in the possession of alien life is a wondrous prospect.

As Voyager 1 and 2 continue their journies, The Farthest celebrates the men and women who built them and sent them into the farthest corners of our galaxy and beyond.

Verdict-4-0-Stars

The Show Must Go On

The Wedding Plan

by Rachel Willis

The plot of The Wedding Plan would give one the impression that it’s a standard entry into the rom-com genre. When Michal (Noa Koler) is left by her fiancé, Gidi, thirty days before their wedding, she decides to go ahead with it anyway. While you could expect a comedic series of dates with random men while Michal tries to fill the groom void, what we get in writer/director Rama Burshtein’s film is something with much more depth.

While we do get scenes of awkward first dates, set up for Michal by her matchmaker, Burshtein is more focused on letting us know who Michal is and what she wants. While she wants to marry, the driving force behind her desire is a weariness with dating and a fear of being alone. When she decides to go ahead with her wedding, she gives herself over to God, believing that he will send her the “man of her dreams”.

As expected, the people in Michal’s life approach her plan with bemusement, incredulity, and sometimes outright aggression. However, the strength of Michal’s faith is what keeps us pulling for her. As Burshtein employs the romantic comedy tropes in her script, she manages to make them feel fresh by rooting Michal’s journey deeply in her faith. Though many characters see Michal as arrogant, the audience sees her as a women who believes so strongly in God’s plan that we can’t help but be awed by her sincerity.

Noa Koler is extraordinary. From the first moment she’s on screen, she brings a touching sweetness to Michal – we want her to be happy and find love. When her fiancé ends the engagement, the audiences feels genuine sorrow, even though we’ve spent a very short time with her.

At times, Burshtein takes on too much within the story. While most of the characters have depth, some of them are flat, only existing to push the story forward. When so many of your characters are so well-rounded, those that serve as pawns stand out roughly against the others.

Despite the flaws, Burshtein’s film is a endearing exploration of love and faith.

Verdict-4-0-Stars