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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 27 September 2021

At some point in the late 1990s, an award-winning short film maker and an aspiring actor got into a heated argument on a staircase at a party in Denmark.  It wasn’t resolved until two high profile actresses intervened and hit them with their handbags.  Like something out of a movie itself, this odd first encounter kick started a friendship that endures today.

The two people I’m referring to are writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen, an Academy Award winning in 1999 for best live action short film, and well-known Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, star of this year’s Oscar winner for best international feature, Another Round.  These two are clearly aligned when it comes to creative vision and good storytelling.  Jensen has now made 5 feature films and each one has starred Mikkelsen.  Their most notable outings have been Flickering Lights (2000) and Adam’s Apples (2005).

Riders of Justice is their latest collaboration and it’s a brilliant, original, funny, surprising movie that flips the action hero genre on its head.  We saw a similar idea explored successfully earlier this year with Nobody – a Bob Odenkirk led action-comedy about a boring family man who reluctantly battles the bad guys.  This film goes much further in terms of its hilarious setting and its brutally dark material.  They’re joking about stuff you shouldn’t joke about… but it works!

The narrative is centred around a tragedy.  A crowded passenger train strikes a parked freight train and 11 people are killed (it’s a quick, jarring moment).  One of those killed is the wife of Markus (Mikkelsen), a respected soldier on tour in Afghanistan.  He immediately returns home for the funeral and to look after their teenage daughter, Mathilde (Gadeberg), who is struggling to reconcile the unfortunate series of events.  Her mum would not have been on the train that afternoon if not for the fact the family car broke down.

A survivor of the train crash was Otto (Kaas), a skilled but socially awkward actuary who has forged his career by calculating risk and odds.  He’s stunned to learn that the key enemy of a powerful motorcycle gang was also killed in the crash and so, it leads him to believe this was no accident or coincidence.  Foul play must be involved.  The police disagree and it leads Otto, along with two close friends, to approach Markus and express their views.

It reaches the point where Markus, Otto, and their band of misfits go after the dangerous motorcycle gang in search of revenge.  Their journey sends them down some bizarre, amusing paths.  For example, in trying to keep their plans a secret from the suspicious Mathilde, one of the men pretends to be a psychologist and, in the process, gets everyone to “open up” and deal with their guilt and grief.  It’s both farcical and profound!

Mads Mikkelsen gets the opportunity to play the “straight man” and it frees up the rest of the cast to win big laughs.  It’s a terrific ensemble with Lars Brygmann getting the best of the material as a foul-mouthed computer hacker who yearns to become a hitman.  Bookended by a thought-provoking moment involving a girl and a bicycle, Riders of Justice has a lot more to offer than your standard action flick.  This is comfortably one of the year’s best films. 

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 12 September 2021

At the start of the year, I didn’t know what a truffle hunter did.  Now, I’ve seen two films which have provided both laughs and insight.  The first was The Truffle Hunters, an excellent documentary about elderly Italian men going to search of one of the rarest, most expensive foods in the world.  The second is Pig, a fictional action drama with Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas) in the lead role. 

The character refers to himself as “Rob” but it’s almost irrelevant given how few people he interacts with.  For over a decade, he’s lived in a small, wooden shack hidden deep within a forest in Oregon.  There’s not much to his daily routine.  He takes his beloved pig, who sleeps by his side of an evening on its own mattress, and scours the area for high-quality truffles.

This funds his reclusive lifestyle but in an unorthodox manner.  A young go-getter, Amir (Wolff), drives to the shack every few days, collects the truffles, and, as part of an exchange, provides Rob with basic groceries including tinned food and batteries.  Amir offers nicer things (such as a mobile phone) but Rob isn’t interested.  He’s content with his simple, lonely, uncommunicative life and, evidenced by the fact he’s done it for so long, doesn’t want to change a thing.

That is until some bad folks rock up one night, bash him over the head, and steal the pig.  Rob’s not the “forgive and forget” kind of guy.  He teams up with a semi-reluctant Amir, returns to civilisation, and goes on a vigilante-style mission through some seedy parts of Portland, Oregon to retrieve his prized pig.  In the process, he must confront people from his past and we learn why he detached from society in the first place.

Credit goes to first-time writer-director Michael Samoski and co-writer Vanessa Block for coming up with such a warped, curious idea.  Part of Samoski’s inspiration was exploring the ways in which a heavy loss, such as the death of a close family member, can change one’s view of the world and therefore, how they choose to live in it.  There’s a fair bit to unpick here and Pig provides a nice balance of intrigue and dramatic action.

Nicolas Cage is very good.  It may not sound like a “Nicolas Cage role” but if you’ve seen some of his recent works (Willy’s Wonderland and Color Out of Space spring to mind) you’ll realise that he’s not afraid of playing strange, nutty characters and working with first-time filmmakers.  He gives a strong, dialogue-light performance as the dishevelled Rob and it’s not a role that other Hollywood big names could take on and be equally convincing.  I also liked Alex Wolff (Hereditary, Old) as his likeable offsider with an interesting backstory of his own.

Clocking it at a tight 92 minutes, Pig is a pleasant surprise.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 24 September 2021

If you were living in Australia in 1996, it’s an event you’re unlikely to have forgotten.  28-year-old Martin Bryant killed 35 people in a massacre in the small town of Port Arthur, Tasmania.  It remains the worst mass shooting in modern Australian history and led to a near-instant overhaul of gun laws and the buy-back of roughly 650,000 firearms at a total cost of $230 million.  The government reaction and its subsequent impact is referred to commonly in the United States by gun control activists looking to introduce similar changes in that country.

The idea of a film about Martin Bryant has already stirred up much debate within Australia.  Some have questioned the intentions of writer Shaun Grant and director Justin Kurzel (both responsible for the award-winning but equally controversial Snowtown) and whether its appropriate to bring this tragic story back into the public spotlight.  There was a particular concern the movie would create sympathy towards Bryant and, as a result, disrespect the innocent people who lost their lives on that day.

For what it’s worth… I’m fine with the finished product and what it asks of audiences.  It’s not an exploitative, Scorsese-style drama with gruesome deaths.  While the music-free, dialogue-free finale is harrowing, not a single shooting is shown.  Rather, the film’s focus is on providing a condensed, slightly modified look at Bryant’s upbringing to show who he was a person and how easily he was able to buy weapons that led to the massacre.

Nitram reminds us the world is complex and some things cannot be easily rationalised.  The Bryant we see in the film, portrayed by American actor Caleb Landry Jones (Get Out), is a man who is socially awkward, has a low IQ, struggles to make friends, takes anti-depressants, argues with his parents, and doesn’t understand risk.

Does the combination of those things explain the events of 28 April 1996?  Was it something else?  If you were his parents, depicted in the movie by Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia, could you have foreseen what happened?  Could it all have been prevented?  Would better guns controls have made a difference?  All of this will generate discussion and, when it comes to a subject like this, that’s a positive in my eyes.  I’ve spoken with several friends about the topic in recent days.

All the performances are strong but it’s hard to go past the iconic Judy Davis as the film’s best.  Her final scene is unforgettable and so too is a monologue mid-way through where she opens up about her son in front his new best friend (Essie Davis).  As frustrating as Nitram may be to some, especially those looking for easy answers, I appreciated the offering.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 04 September 2021

Having a fractured, uneasy relationship with your father is not uncommon… but this latest Marvel release takes it to a bizarre and heightened level.  When we first meet him, Shaun (Liu) comes across as a run-of-the-mill Asian American living in San Francisco.  By day, he’s working hard as a hotel valet (a curious decision given his college education) and by night, he’s frequenting karaoke bars with his best friend, Katy (Awkwafina).

He doesn’t mention his upbringing and there’s a good reason for that.  His father, Xu Wenwu (Leung), is thousands of years old and has villainously accumulated wealth and power over that time.  The device that provides his immortality and incredible strength is a series of ten rings that he wears like bracelets around his arms.  Shaun was trained by his father and became a Kung Fu warrior but, upon reaching the age of 14 and gaining a stronger sense of morality, he fled to San Francisco and started a simpler, more honest life.

To borrow one of my favourite sayings – “we may be through with the past… but the past ain’t through with us.”  Goons hired/trained by Wenwu come after Shaun and steal a green pendant left to him by his late mother.  It is believed the pendant will guide the way to a hidden kingdom that will allow the ten-ring wearing Wenwu to gather even more power.  It falls upon Shaun, his estranged sister (Zhang) and the confused Katy to stop Wenwu and save the world.

Much has been made of the fact that while this is the 25^th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s the first with an Asian director, an Asian leading actor, and a predominantly Asian cast.  It shouldn’t have taken this long but it’s nice to see Marvel Studios catching up with the times.  There’s an Australian connection also.  Most of the shoot took place at Fox Studios in Sydney with production halted for several months when COVID-19 lockdowns came into effect in March 2020.

There are two terrific action scenes to open the film – one on a runaway bus weaving through the hilly streets of San Francisco, and the other on the scaffolding of a skyscraper in Macau.  They provide a shot of adrenalin while also highlighting the skills and personalities of these fun, interesting characters.  Simu Liu captures the right mix of strength and reluctance as Shaun (who comes to be known as Shang-Chi), Awkwafina utilises her comedic talents in delivering great one-liners, and Meng’er Zhang is superb as the sister with a “chip on her shoulder” and with a point to prove.

42-year-old director Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12, Just Mercy) deserves praise in bringing this cool world to life (the maze forest is awesome) and choreographing the aforementioned battle sequences.  Further, the film doesn’t get too bogged down with action (well, except towards the end) and that provides time for meaningful character development and an exploration of family dynamics.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is one of the better superhero flicks we’ve seen in recent years. 

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 17 September 2021

Based on a true story from 2013, the film opens with Joe Bell (Wahlberg) and his 15-year-old son, Jadin (Miller), hiking on a remote stretch of road.  He’s not walking to work or to the corner store.  His goal is considerably more ambitious.  Joe is on a mission to trek across the contiguous United States from his west coast home in La Grande, Oregon to his son’s favourite place, New York City, on the east coast.  It’ll take over a year and the entire distance travelled will exceed 6,000 kilometres.

Armed with just a push trolly and a backpack, Joe isn’t doing this because of a simple sense of adventure.  His son has been bullied at high school for being gay and he wants to raise awareness about the issue and to try to prevent it from happening to others.  In each town he visits, Joe talks to news reporters and speaks in front of kids at school auditoriums.  He’s not the best public speaker but his heart is in the right place.

Without giving too much away, Joe Bell is an emotional, thought-provoking piece that has something to say.  The screenplay was developed by Diana Ossana and Larry McMurtry, the Oscar winning duo who adapted Brokeback Mountain for the big screen, and the director is Reinaldo Marcus Green, a New Yorker who has transitioned from Wall Street banker to budding filmmaker.  His only other feature film was the well-received Monsters and Men from 2018 starring John David Washington.

Curiously, the least interesting character in Joe Bell is Joe Bell himself.  I was fine with the performance of Mark Wahlberg (Boogie Nights) and the film isn’t afraid to expose his flaws but he’s very one-note.  The Joe we meet at the start of the movie isn’t too different from the Joe we know at the end of the movie.

There are two characters with much more to offer.  The first is the 15-year-old Jadin who is fleshed out beautifully by rising star Reid Miller.  His background is explored using flashbacks and we’re shown affecting scenes where he comes out to his dad, is viciously tormented by classmates, and meets his first love.  Miller is exceptional (he’s a name to watch going forward) and it’s hard not to be moved by a particularly emotional sequence where, at a vulnerable low point, he calls his best friend and begs for help and support.

 The second character of note is Lola Bell, mother to Jadin and husband to Joe.  Wonderfully played by Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), she becomes the “voice of reason” and the person trying to pull strings and hold the family together when times get tough.  It’s easy to applaud Joe for his visible efforts in raising awareness about bullying but Lola’s unsung work behind the scenes, which takes its toll on her at times, deserves equal recognition.

Reviews were mixed when the film premiered at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival (it even went through a subsequent re-edit) but, in my opinion, Joe Bell is a moving drama that deserved more recognition than its received.