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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 November 2023

Some filmmakers toil in the fields for decades before making it Hollywood but that hasn’t been the case for London-born Emerald Fennell.  The actor-turned-director won the Oscar for best original screenplay for her first feature film, Promising Young Woman, in early 2021.  While I wasn’t its biggest fan (was iffy on the script), you could see Fennell’s talent behind the camera.  She had created an intriguing character (Carey Mulligan in an Oscar nominated role) and loaded the movie with interesting, provocative ideas.

Saltburn is her sophomore outing and, knowing I’m in the minority for saying this, is a better film.  It’s a wild, colourful, surprising, head-spinning ride filled with hilarious, self-absorbed characters.  You’ll be studying them from the outset and trying to work out if they’re complete morons or cunning psychopaths.  None of them are particularly likeable (part of the film’s alure) so it bucks the trend of a traditional narrative with heroes and villains.

The quick-moving storyline revolves around Oliver (Keoghan), a first-year student at Oxford University who is ridiculously intelligent when it comes to academia… and ridiculously inept when it comes to meeting people.  He wants to be part of the “cool crowd” but they want nothing to do with him.  Rightly or wrongly, they perceive Oliver as an awkward nerd with poor dress sense and an empty wallet.

Oliver’s social status improves dramatically when he helps the super-popular, super-attractive, super-wealthy Felix (Elordi) out of an annoying situation (his bicycle broke while riding to class).  It’s not long before he’s regularly hanging out with Felix and his friends – from drinking in bars, to chatting in dorm rooms.  The pièce de resistance arrives when a sympathetic Felix invites a grieving Oliver (his father just died) to stay with him for the summer at the family’s enormous mansion, known as Saltburn.  The introductory tour provided by Felix is a funny highlight.

The crux of the film is spent at Saltburn where Oliver interacts with Felix’s mum (Pike), dad (Grant), sister (Oliver), cousin (Madekwe), and long-time butler (Rhys).  I won’t reveal too much but there are some outlandish moments (e.g. a draining bathtub) that will generate a reaction from even the most nonchalant audiences.  It’s power games aplenty as characters use their smarts and sexual appetites to try to get the upper hand over others.

One might argue there’s not much in the way of broader story… but that’s not what Saltburn is about.  It’s a film to be savoured for its memorable individual scenes and its off-the-wall conversations.  Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin) is terrific, Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) is comically good, and Archie Madekwe (Gran Turismo) uses his stand-out voice to great effect.  It’s also a career best outing for Australian Jacob Elordi (Euphoria) who finally gets a juicy role to work with.

Featuring distinctive cinematography and inspired song choices, Saltburn rattles and entertains.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 October 2023

‘Tis the season for small casts!  Last Thursday, two Australian films were released where just a single actor was seen on screen – Luke Bracey in Mercy Road and Lilly Sullivan in Monolith.  A similar theme is playing out this week.  Garth Davis’s Foe has only three named characters while The Dive, requires even less – it’s a two-hander starring American Louisa Krause (The Girlfriend Experience) and Australian Sophie Lowe (Above Suspicion).

The Dive taps into our general fear of travelling below the ocean’s surface.  May (Krause) and Drew (Lowe) are young cave divers who go on a remote scuba expedition off the coast of Malta.  The film’s first 15 minutes are rather ho-hum with the pair engaging in a contrived “deep & meaningful” conversation while treading water in an underwater cavern (as opposed to the car ride there).  It’s a simplistic way to introduce the two protagonists and reveal a splash of tension between them.

It’s now time for the action to begin.  A landslide occurs, debris falls from above, and May’s leg becomes trapped under a heavy boulder on the ocean floor.  She has roughly 25 minutes worth of air left and so it falls upon Drew, the less experienced of the pair, to maintain her composure and execute a life-saving plan.  Going in search of help will be tricky, given their remote location, and so it’s about using tools at their disposal to move the rock before May’s air runs out.

The Dive is an English-language remake of a Scandinavian, Breaking Surface, which premiered in 2020.  Writer-director Maximilian Erlenwein loved the idea but made a few changes to the screenplay to fit with his vision.  Using very few visual effects (except for the landslide), he’s to be commended for creating a tight, credible thriller, shot mostly underwater, where audiences will buy into Drew’s emotional roller coaster.  There are moments of hope and creativity… and moments of fear and despair.

The dialogue is wooden, and the characters are a little dull, but The Dive still generates enough suspense from its scenario to keep you guessing about what will happen next.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 09 November 2023

There have been 33 films thus far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Marvels sets a new record… for being the shortest (it’s just 105 minutes).  This will come as a relief to (1) cinema managers looking to pack in more screenings and more ticket sales, and (2) audience members with limited attention spans who have tired of unnecessarily long action flicks.

Unfortunately, that’s one of the only noteworthy speaking points when speaking of The Marvels.  It’s light on runtime (good) and light on originality (bad).  It’s got folks learning the importance of working as a team, a one-note villain who will stop at nothing to destroy the universe, musical montages as they play with superpowers, wacky science speak which is difficult to understand, heavily-edited action sequences with an abundance of CGI, and Samuel L. Jackson popping up every now again to say something insignificant.

It’s tough to keep using the same formulas and expecting audiences fully buy in.  We’ve got entire planets which are going to be obliterated by the villainous Dar-Benn (Ashton) but background information is slight and so it’s hard to care.  I’ve got no issue with blending tones but the drama isn’t convincing enough to create emotions (like we’ve seen in some Avengers movies), and the comedy isn’t sharp enough to earn laughs.

Pakistani-born newcomer Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) is the pick of the cast with her extroverted, over-awed personality.  She verbalises every feeling and is infatuated by the idea of working alongside her idol, Captain Marvel (Larson), in saving Earth.  I was less convinced by her loving family members who don’t get much support from the three-person screenwriting team.  One minute they’re intently concerned for their daughter’s welfare and the next minute, they’re cracking lame jokes.  The family in the most recent Marvel flick, Blue Beetle, were more “fleshed out” and had more to offer.

There are dashes of creativity, such as an appropriate song choice which will put money in the pocket of Andrew Lloyd Webber, but The Marvels largely comes across as a forgettable, subplot-establishing bridge to whatever movie is next in the franchise. 

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 October 2023

A few weeks ago, The Creator was released in Australian cinemas – an ambitious science-fiction movie set in the year 2070.  In a world ravaged by wars, inequality, and climate change, artificial intelligence was being used to alleviate problems.  While I had issues with the film’s characters (they weren’t particularly interesting), director Gareth Edwards did a solid job in visualising the scenario.  It relied heavily on visual effects and production design to show big details (the destruction of Los Angeles) and little details (the moving hollow cylinders which are part of a robot’s head).

Foe is also a sci-fi flick set around that period (the year in 2065) and while it too is centred on a dystopian version of Earth riddled by a failing climate, the approach of Brisbane-born writer-director Garth Davis (Lion) is noticeably different.  Davis has drawn from the 2018 novel authored by Canadian Iain Reid and taken the “less is more” approach.  Almost all of the film takes place inside a rundown house in a rural, remote part of the United States simply referred to as “The Midwest.”

We’re told the world is on the verge of destruction, and that fresh water and habitable land have become the most precious commodities, but we only see things through the sheltered eyes of the film’s two leading characters.  There are no drone-like views of destroyed cities, or montages of humans ransacking grocery stores.  Instead, we follow the day-to-day lives of a married, childless couple known as Henrietta and Junior.  They are embodied by two of the finest actors working today – Oscar nominees Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) and Paul Mescal (Aftersun).

Some early banter between the pair helps illustrate their relationship (it’s not perfect but it’s workable) and then, part way through the opening act, Davis throws in a first twist.  An odd stranger (Pierre) rocks up to their house in the middle of the night and tells Junior that he’s won a national lottery and been selected to live on a luxurious space station for several years.  It’s part of a government program to preserve humanity should the Earth become fully uninhabitable.  It is an offer Junior should consider and if so, is he prepared to leave his wife?

There’s more to this tale but, like many decent dramas, it’s best you know as little as possible going in.  While I admired the two lead performances, I was underwhelmed by the film’s depth and thought it would ask more questions of the audience.  Again, without giving anything away, it’s too “one note” and needed to offer up more interesting subplots and character power-shifts than relying on quirky twists.  I’ve not read the novel but perhaps it offers more?

Garth Davis has proven his talent as a filmmaker, as evidenced by the success of Lion in 2016, but Foe is unlikely to generate as much in the way of public engagement.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 06 November 2023

Paris Memories sounds gimmicky.  The plot overview on the Internet Movie Database talks about the survivor of a terrorist attack in Paris who, having forgotten most of what happened, retraces her steps a few months later to help trigger memories.  Thankfully, the film is much better than that simplistic pitch and asks viewers to think about intense trauma, its differing impacts, and the many ways to get past it.

As you might expect, the movie opens with the event itself.  To avoid pelting rain outside, Mia (Efira) has ducked into a up-market Parisian restaurant for a quick drink.  She sits alone at a table facing outwards, looks around at the other clientele, and scribbles in a notebook (part of her day job as a Russian translator).  After a quick trip to the bathroom to remove ink marks on her hand, she returns to her table and gunfire blasts through the room.  Her final clear memory from that night is hiding under tables on the floor.

We then slip three months into the future where Mia, one of the few survivors from that night, returns to the restaurant to help recall what took place.  As the audience, it feels like we’re on the same journey of self-discovery.  Mia walks around the restaurant, talks with staff, meets other survivors, and bonds with relatives of those who lost family members.  These interactions elicit fleeting recollections about what she saw during the two hours of the attack.

Paris Memories serves up many interesting layers.  The film explores the “closure” some of us require before moving on.  Félicia (Carax) is a young woman who lost both her parents in the attack and she asks Mia if she saw them that night.  She wants a mental picture of their final minutes together – what they said and what they did.  Thomas (Magimel) is a fellow survivor and while he has a crystal-clear memory of events, he refuses to set foot inside the restaurant.  He wants to move forward and not wallow on the past and what cannot be changed.  There’s also a cook who was working in the kitchen at the time but, because of his status as an illegal immigrant, isn’t listed in any police reports and doesn’t want to be found.

Writer-director Alice Winocour (Proxima) also taps into the subconscious and the way each of us can have different recollections and interpretations of the same event.  This becomes evident when Mia talks with other survivors (one of them is particularly angry) and sees posts in a Facebook chat group.  In the absence of video cameras, a definitive version of the truth will never exist and we’re left to our own minds, which can shift over time.

Perhaps most importantly, the film has something to say about “silver linings” and how even the worse moments of our lives can create something positive.  As Mia pushes through the confusion, pain and trauma, she revaluates her routine existence and the relationship she shares with her long-time partner, Vincent (Colin).  Is it possible to be in a happier place after everything that has taken place?  It’s a question worth asking.

Winning Virginie Efira the best actress prize at the 2023 César Awards (she’s very good), Paris Memories is moving and thought-provoking.