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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 January 2024

I’ve never been called up for jury duty but if I had, I can imagine a similar experience to that offered up by the latest film from writer-director Justine Triet, Anatomy of a Fall.  A woman has been charged with the murder of her husband and it’s up to us as the audience to see the evidence presented, listen to arguments of both the prosecution and the defence, and form a view as to her guilt.

I’d describe the film as a court room drama but not in a traditional sense.  Don’t be expecting grandiose speeches, convenient twists, and an easy resolution.  This isn’t A Few Good Men where an arrogant Jack Nicholson-like character will lose his cool on the witness stand and get what he deserves.  This is a more realistic drama which delves into miniscule details, and explores the complexity of the human condition.

The opening hour chronicles the death and the subsequent investigation.  A blind boy, Daniel (Machado-Graner), returns from a walk with his guide dog and finds his father, Samuel (Theis), dead in the driveway.  The body is below an open window in the attic of their remote, snow-covered French chalet.  Did he fall accidentally?  Did he commit suicide?  Was he pushed?  There are no witnesses or CCTV footage to unequivocally verify either way.

Authorities believe there is enough evidence to prove murder and so the man’s wife, Sandra (Hüller), is put on trial.  The court room scenes make up the bulk of the film’s remaining 90 minutes with some lengthy interrogations of Sandra and other individuals including a psychiatrist, a journalist, and their son.  Your views as to Sandra’s guilt will likely oscillate – the prosecuting lawyer will make a persuasive point only to have the defence team counter with an equally compelling argument.

To great effect, the film explores ways we perceive and judge others.  At times, Sandra is unsteady on the witness stand.  She misremembers certain events and is unable to provide a clear explanation for other details.  Is this because she’s lying? Is it because we often forget trivial things that happened months ago?  Is it because of the nervousness of being on the witness stand and knowing your freedom is at stake?

Triet serves up other interesting subplots to keep minds occupied.  Sandra is German-born and so while she can speak half-decent French, it’s far from perfect.  This makes it difficult to precisely articulate her mindset to the judge and jury.  There’s also the awkward relationship that now exists between mother and son.  Daniel believes his mother is innocent but, at the judge’s insistence, an observer must temporarily live with the family to ensure Sandra is not tampering with her son’s recollections or testimony.

Winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Anatomy of a Fall is the kind of movie you’ll be thinking about days after first seeing it.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 January 2024

A heartfelt drama with a splash of the supernatural.  All of Us Strangers, the latest from British director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years), is as interesting as it is unusual.  It is centred on Adam (Scott), a gay, middle-aged writer who lives in a largely vacant (weird) high-rise apartment building.  He lives alone and has ample time to be working on a new screenplay, but motivation and inspiration are low.

There are only three people Adam interacts with during the film’s 105-minute running time.  The first is Harry (Mescal), a fellow resident who drunkenly knocks on his door one night and not-so-subtly makes his move.  Adam rebuffs Harry’s flirtatious advances at first (he’s lacking self-confidence) but it’s not long before the pair are sleeping together and opening up about their troubled past and complicated present.

The other two people are Adam’s father (Bell) and mother (Foy)… who died in a car accident when he was 12 years old.  For reasons which are never explained, and perhaps they don’t need to be, Adam’s parents have reappeared as ghost-like figures.  Over the course of several encounters, Adam brings them up to speed with the past few decades.  His sexuality becomes a key talking point.  His folks grew up in a different era and their responses reflect those from the 1980s (the AIDS epidemic was front and centre) as opposed to more progressive Western societies of today.

It’s a curious concept.  If you had the chance to spend a fleeting moment with deceased relatives, how would you spend the time?  Would you ask questions of them, or would you prefer them to ask questions of you?  Would the conversation delve into the deeply personal, or would you talk more generally about world events and changes?  In the case of Adam, would you be honest about how his parents died if asked?

Yes, the premise is fairy tale-like but the interactions between Andrew Scott (Sherlock), Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot), and Claire Foy (The Crown) are wonderful.  They may not have seen each other for a long time but basic family instincts soon come to the forefront – the parents offering love, advice and nourishment, while the son does his best to please them.  I wasn’t as invested in the romantic subplot involving Paul Mescal (Aftersun) but will acknowledge its value to the film as a whole.

There are small lulls in places (you want to see the narrative move quicker) but All of Us Strangers still takes on a worthy, reflective journey.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 January 2024

African American author Alice Walker moved to a quiet part of Northern California in the late 1970s and while there, she wrote The Colour Purple.  The narrative was inspired by the relationship of her own grandparents and, since its first publication in 1982, the novel has defined her long and successful career.  It won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 and millions of copies have been bought across the world.

Like so many great pieces of literature, Walker’s work has been interpreted via other artistic mediums.  A 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg earned 11 Academy Award nominations (winning none) while a 2005 Broadway musical was similarly honoured.  The production was updated in 2016 and, in launching the career of star Cynthia Erivo, took home the Tony Awards for best actress and best revival of a musical.

The time has now come to take the Broadway show and transform it back into a movie.  It adopts a similar approach to the recently released Mean Girls in that the songs have been parred back to create a part-musical, part-drama.  Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz Bazawule (Black is King) gets the chance to direct while singer-turned-actor Fantasia Barrino makes her feature film debut in the lead role.  Other notables to appear include Taraji P. Henson (Hidden Figures), Colman Domingo (If Beale Street Could Talk), and 87-year-old Louis Gossett Jr (An Officer and a Gentleman).

The challenge of taking a 300-page book and condensing it into a 140-minute movie (with time for songs) is evident.  There just isn’t an opportunity to sufficiently explore romantic flings and surprising reconciliations.  The fact it’s spread across several decades makes it even tougher.

Thankfully, the film still carries a strong emotional heartbeat because of Barrino’s central performance as Celie.  Through her demeanour and facial expressions, we feel the suffering when she is abused, and feel the joy when given the chance to make a decision independent of the domineering men around her.  If new to the tale, it chronicles the trials and tribulations of her extremely tough life.

The other performance receiving attention this awards season is that of Danielle Brooks (Orange is the New Black) who is also very good as Celie’s spirited friend, Sofia.  With a flashy, overly exuberant personality, her character pops up at just the right time to add an energy boost.  She’s ticked off all the precursors and should earn an invite to the upcoming Academy Awards when the nominees are announced later this week.

Not really improving on Spielberg’s 1985 film, The Colour Purple is good… but not groundbreaking.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 10 January 2024

In the same way that Hollywood is addicted to sequels, reboots and franchises, Broadway in New York City has always been attracted to musicals based off movies.  I could list dozens of examples but Tony Award winners over the past two decades have included Billy Elliot the Musical, Once, Kinky Boots, The Band’s Visit, and Moulin Rouge!  Ironically, Hollywood then steps back in to convert the more successful stage musicals into… a rebooted movie (insert sarcastic gasp)!  Australian cinemagoers will be treated to two this month – Mean Girls releases on January 11 with The Colour Purple to follow on January 25.

While live stage shows are as popular as they’ve ever been (Broadway ticket sales for 2022-23 were $1.6 billion), there’s a widely held industry view that film musicals are off-putting to a sizeable portion of the public.  It’s why trailers for movies like Wonka and Mean Girls downplay the songs and focus more on the narrative and dialogue.  I have several friends who thought this was a straight-up remake of the 2004 flick as opposed to a freshened musical.

Screenwriter Tina Fey aims of the best of both worlds with the script here.  Roughly half of the songs have been ditched so the film can be done and dusted inside of two hours.  Those songs which survived the cut are the catchier, more popular ones with an emphasis on “World Burn”, “Someone Gets Hurt”, and “Sexy”.  It’s also worth noting Fey knows the material as well as anyone having authored the 2004 screenplay (drawing from Rosalind Wiseman’s novel) and the 2018 stage musical.  She’s also reprising her supporting role as the chatty maths teacher Ms Norbury.

The storyline will be known to those familiar with the original movie.  Cady attends high school for the first time in her life (she was homeschooled previously), befriends a group of pretentious girls, falls in love with a cute guy, makes a bunch of mistakes, and learns some valuable lessons.  Australian Angourie Rice (The Nice Guy) takes on the lead role but, if looking for a standout performance, I’d focus on Tony nominee Jacquel Spivey (A Strange Loop) as a proudly gay student she meets on her first day.

The energy generated from the live show doesn’t quite come through in this film.  Several musical numbers lack punch, and the direction of Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr is rudimentary.  It lacks the visual “wow factor” we’ve seen in the likes of La La Land and In the Heights – two great movie musicals from the past decade.  A few jokes will get you chuckling but, in sticking so rigidly to the 2004 film, surprises are limited.

If there’s one thing that’s certain… it’s that Mean Girls is better than Mean Girls.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 15 January 2024

Since its inception in 1993, only 18 groups have been inducted into the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) Hall of Fame.  One of those were the Von Erich family – a father and five sons who emanated from Texas and found international stardom.  42-year-old writer-director Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) has taken a few creative liberties in adapting their journey and it’s why the opening titles describe it as being “inspired” by a true story.  For example, the number of siblings has been cut from 5 to 4 (sorry Chris) to keep the runtime to a tight two hours.

There are plenty of world-renowned wrestlers deserving of the big screen treatment… but the heightened interest in this family is because of what happened outside of the wresting ring.  A series of tragedies and misfortunes led to the creation of the term “Von Erich curse.”  I don’t want to reveal too much about these specific events, so as not to spoil the movie for those unfamiliar, but they’re strongly alluded via narration in the film’s opening (“bad things kept happening”).

Two characters dominate the camera’s attention.  The first is Mike Von Erich (Simons), the domineering, emotionally guarded father who pushes his children hard.  This is partly for their benefit (he wants them to succeed in life), but the script implies it’s more for his own benefit.  He wants to ride their coattails in garnering wealth and influence, while also living vicariously through them and winning the world championship title he never could.  Holt McCallany (Mindhunter) portrays him as one dimensional and I wish more nuance was offered.  Was he a jerk and nothing more?

The second key player is Kevin Von Erich (Efron), the eldest sibling trying to make a name for himself within the sport despite many barriers, some self-created.  Efron (17 Again) is in peak physical condition for the role but, aside from the convincing wrestling scenes, not a lot is asked of the character.  He becomes the poster boy for the repetitive themes, pushed too strongly, about fate and chance.  Lily James’s (Cinderella) character is a useful voice of reason (she realises the curse stuff is nonsense) but no one else is prepared to buy in.

Curiously, the film’s most interesting person is the one pushed deepest into the background.  Maura Tierney (ER) plays Doris Von Erich, the family’s matriarch, who is depicted as a not-so-ethical bystander.  She’s the individual with the clearest view of the domestic dramas (folks like to confide in her) but she chooses not to intervene and maintains a stoic disposition.  I wish we saw more of her.

Durkin makes interesting choices in deciding what events to depict.  We don’t see a world title fight, we don’t see an important trip to Japan, and we don’t see a road accident.  His focus is more on character interactions and, to that extent, I enjoyed the interplay between the four brothers.  Harris Dickinson (Triangle of Sadness) gets the best of the dialogue (more natural than the others) and is the pick of the cast with his relaxed, chilled performance.

The Iron Claw makes a few poor choices (a lake scene towards the end is way too manipulative) but, in the same manner as The Boys in the Boat a few weeks ago, there’s a story worth admiring if you look past the film’s weaknesses.