Onto the second part of my movie challenge. If you would like a reminder of what I have set myself up for, click here. For a refresher on all the films I've watched so far in this challenge, you can read up on them here. This segment is all to do with movies beginning with G - L. Carry on reading to find out what choices made it this time around (spoilers throughout)...
G) Gaslight (1940)
For my first choice on this list (7th in total), I decided to peruse the 1940 film Gaslight. People familar with psychological terms may recognise the title as it refers to the psychological abuse victims go through when someone they know convince them they are going mad. The term actually stems from the play that this film is based on.
At the beginning of the film, a gruesome burglary takes place of a home in London, where the resident is murdered. The house remains vacant after the crime has taken place until a newly wed couple moves in. Over time, as odd occurances start to happen (the woman, Bella, misplacing objects, noises upstairs, gaslights dimming) her husband Paul has convinced her that she is losing her sanity. Turns out Bella's saintly husband is actually the burglar from early in the film, ransacking the house for the rubies he didn't manage to steal the first time around. Oh, and he's married to someone else. And he's carrying out an affair with one of the maids. During all this, he still managed to find time to psychologically torture his wife, er second wife, Bella. Luckily for Bella, a former detective has his suspicions raised regarding Paul's true identity.
I had heard about this film only very recently. I knew of the term that stems from the title, but had no idea it originated from a play in the 1930s. I found this film really interesting as it dealt with an abuse that the audience may not be overly familiar with, especially around that era. It goes to show the lengths the abuser would take to make their victim doubt their own mind. I found myself really disliking Anton Walbrook's character of Paul, though I was not too impressed by the character of Nancy, the maid Paul embarks an affair with. She seems almost gleeful that her boss is losing her mind doubting herself and has very little regard for her. Overall, a very powerful film that sticks in minds to come.
H) Heathers (1989)
For the film beginning with H, I went with
Heathers. A film I have heard of all my life, it was something I had never seen until recently.
Heathers follows Veronica, a student in high school who is fed up of being part of the popular clique, a group made up of girls all with the name of, you guessed it, Heather. Veronica meets local outcast, JD who suggests they kill the head of the clique. Though Veronica is reluctant, under JD's coercion, they carry out the murder and manage to convince everyone that it was death by suicide. Soon after, JD can't control his urge to murder and Veronica gets taken along for the ride. As Veronica seems to be a relatively sane person (well, in comparison to JD anyway), she puts her foot down and dumps JD. However, JD has other plans including taking out the entire high school.
So all I knew of this film was the plot of killing a popular girl in revenge. I didn't realise how dark it actually was, some of the scenes did make me wince (trigger warning): school schootings, suicide, school explosion, though there were enough scenes that were darkly humorous to make up for the subject matter. Winona Ryder is wonderful as always as the main character, and Christian Slater brings the sleeze to his character of JD. Watching Heathers, you can see why it has such a cult following, it's quirky, funny and explores topics that other teen films wouldn't. It's as influential as Clueless (1995) was to the 90s and Mean Girls (2004) was to the 00s.
I) I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
I was inspired to watch my choice for the letter
I purely for the fact that one of my favourites stars (David Thewlis) is featured. I watched this film very recently and I'm still scratching my head over it, but I will try my best to sum it up in a less confusing way than the film presents. A young woman is taking a trip with her boyfriend, Jake, to meet his parents for the first time. Sounds simple, right? Alas, this is a Charlie Kaufman film so not everything is as straight-forward as it is on first glance. The young woman narrates the film by expressing her thoughts and doubts of her new relationship with Jake. The first odd occurence you notice is the fact that Jake refers to his girlfriend as Lucy, yet 'Lucy' starts receiving calls from a girl also called Lucy, which she refuses to answer. From there, the film becomes even more surreal and trippy, Jake's parents constantly changing in ages, 'Lucy''s clothes changing within scenes, a strange scene involving an ice cream shop in dead of winter, with the film concluding at a school where a couple wearing the same outfits as the main characters perform a ballet number. Oh, and not forgetting Jake shown to be old, but wearing stage makeup, reciting the speech from
A Beautiful Mind (2001) while accepting an award.
I came away from this film not knowing if I actually liked it or not. I was certainly intrigued by it, and even though some of the car scenes dragged, it still had me engaged enough to find out what on earth was happening. It's definitely a film that leaves you thinking, whether you enjoyed it or not, and the performances from Jessie Buckley ('Lucy') and Jesse Plemons (Jake) are enticing enough to keep the viewer from switching off. Of course it goes without saying that David Thewlis and Toni Collette are great as Jake's parents. If you want to concentrate and analyse a film and its meanings, I do recommend this one.
J) Joker (2019)
When I first heard news that a film which soley focuses on the main antagonist from Batman was being made, I rolled my eyes. When I heard the storyline, I rolled my eyes further. Just when my eyes were rolling so hard in the back of my head that I felt myself going dizzy, I saw the reviews coming in...which were mixed. Joker follows the title character, originally conceived from the Batman films, as he becomes the villain most recognised today. Arthur Fleck is an awkward, struggling wanna-be comedian who doesn't seem to have luck on his side. He starts a stand-up comedy routine, but because Fleck is extremely socially awkward and has a condition which makes him laugh hysterically at unfortunate times, the show doesn't fare well (it bombs, basically) and unfortunately for Fleck, the footage of him failing winds up being mocked on a late night television chat show. Due to the mounting humiliation and the fact that his world is turned upside down when he finds out his entire childhood has been a lie, Fleck becomes increasingly more volatile. This results in a shocking showdown with the host of the aforementioned talk show, where Fleck finally cements his position as the infamous Joker.
I think the reason why I ended up giving this film a chance was due to Joaquin Phoenix winning an oscar for the main role (not that winning an oscar equates to a film being decent). When the news came out about this film, I was very much done with needing yet another Batman-universe film. We had only recently had the Christopher Nolan era, before doing the unnecessary Batfleck era, now there was yet another film focusing on a character that is not at all meant to be sympathetic, never mind that very recently we had Jared Leto doing his, er, 'interesting' take on the villain. I do have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I was worried that the film would make audiences feel sympathy for the Joker and his evil ways but Joker manages to create an origin story where the audience may understand how a person has gotten to be the way they are, while still condemning his actions. The main complaint from people about this film was the amount of violence, but I honestly didn't find it to be any more violent than other Hollywood action films. Phoenix nails the character, something I believed he would have no trouble with and his take on the character is more in the vain of Heath Ledger than Jared Leto (or Jack Nicholson). A compelling film that could easily be viewed as a separate non-superhero film. I might still give the Robert Pattison era a miss, though.
K) Knives Out (2019)
A film that I wanted to see for a while now, ever since it came out last year to rave reviews,
Knives Out is a modern Agatha Christie-style whodunnit, focusing on the death of wealthy author, Harlan Thrombey. The private eye Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) goes against popular belief that Thrombey killed himself and concludes it as murder. Each family member and Thrombey's nurse is questioned and anyone could be a suspect, especially since they all seem to have something to hide. After a few twists and turns, the truth finally comes to light.
I have to admit, I really did not see what the fuss was with regards to this film. My first complaint was being distracted by whatever Daniel Craig was attempting to do with his choice of accent. I just did not understand why he did not stick to his English accent, which would mean I wouldn't be overly focusing on what was coming out of his mouth. In time, you kind of get used to it, but every so often you realise how absurd he sounds. Second, the start of the film just was not that interesting; it did not differ to any other Murder Mystery I have seen, and it did not come close to an earlier attempt at a comical Agatha Christie-style whodunnit in the form of Clue (1985). The film did pick up pace midway through but it was let down by the film's finale. I was expecting there to be a more unique twist than what was presented and left feeling unsatisfied with the choice they went with. Still, the cast is pretty remarkable: Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, and Toni Collette, to name but a few. Daniel Craig always plays comedy well, despite the accent he was going for, so it was nice to see him branch out from his most famous role as James Bond and display his comedic timing. If you would like to watch a film where you don't expect much, I do recommend Knives Out. Otherwise, it's just not worth the hype.
L) Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
For my final film in this segment, I went with
Leaving Las Vegas. I try to avoid Nicolas Cage films as much as possible as I can never take him seriously as an actor (bees come to mind). However, I have heard that this film is different from all his other choices and he had received the oscar for this particular role (again not an indication that the film will be decent).
Leaving Las Vegas follows Cage's character of Ben, an alcoholic who has lost everything due to his inability to focus on anything that's not alcohol-related. He decides to move to Las Vegas, hoping to drink himself to death (oh, if you hadn't figured by now, this is no comedy) where he meets a prostitute by the name of Sera. After Sera spends time with Ben, he makes her promise not to ever tell him that he needs to quit drinking and in turn he tells her that her being a prostitute will not affect him. Soon they fall in love, but Sera comes to find out that life with a raging alcoholic is not actually as fun as it was in the beginning of their relationship. There's no stopping Ben though, as he is on a mission to continue on drinking right until the end, something that he succeeds with, with Sera by his side.
This film was a lot heavier than I was expecting. You hear that a film stars Nicolas Cage, you picture quirky, whimsical, strange but with a light-hearted plot. Not with Leaving Las Vegas. All of Cage's whimsical traits, that show up in most of his films actually helps with his character here, and I was not left wondering why he was doing what he is doing, like I am with the majority of films he stars in. He is also able to convey the serious parts of the film without hamming it up too much. The character of Ben evokes empathy from the viewer as you end up rooting for him after every loss he goes through. Elizabeth Shue as Sera successfully conveys the range of emotions that a partner of an alcoholic goes through, from wanting to be involved in the fun that a merry drunk can display, to the despair and frustration at seeing someone you love succumbing to drink. A heavy film, but one I think will stay for me for awhile, purely for the main stars' performances.
That's it for films in the G - L section. If you have any alternatives to my choices here, do let me know. Stay tuned for more of the challenge!
NICE WORK
ReplyDeleteThank you so much :-)
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