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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 10 March 2020

At the film’s world premiere in Toronto last September, Oscar nominated director Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) lamented that “you see hundreds of war films, but you’ve never seen what happens to the families left behind.”  That’s a slight generalisation (many war films do offer a family perspective) but I can see his point given this story is told solely from the perspective of a group of women in Britain while their husbands are off serving in Afghanistan.

Some may already know the true story on which it’s based.  The idea began in 2010 when two women from North Yorkshire started a small choir.  It was intended to be a support mechanism for women looking to pass the time while their spouses/boyfriends were on overseas deployment.  Similar choirs were formed across the country and they came together as part of BBC television show, The Choir: Military Wives, which first aired in November 2011.  A month later, they released a single which went to #1 on the UK Single Chart over the Christmas period.

Military Wives is a semi-fictionalised version of events.  It opens with two very different women, Kate (Scott Thomas) and Lisa (Horgan), being charged with the responsibility of organising social activities at their military base.  Kate is sophisticated, controlling and formal.  Lisa is the exact opposite.  It’s not hard to see the awkward tension between the pair as they squabble over the tiniest details when planning get-togethers for the local women.

They ultimately settle on the choir idea and, if you’ve seen your fair share of feel-good flicks, you should know what to expect.  There’s the initial nerves and reluctance from the group.  There’s the singer who doesn’t realise how beautiful her voice is.  There’s the arguments over which songs to use.  There’s the big performance at the end (complete with a few hiccups in the hours leading up to it).  They’re plot devices we’ve seen used before in films such as As It Is in Heaven to Pitch Perfect. 

I tired of the goofy, repetitive tiffs between Kristen Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan (who feel like they’re overplaying their characters at times).  Thankfully, screenwriters Rachel Tunnard and Rosanne Flynn push for a more dramatic layer in the second half with several interesting subplots involving the theme of grief.  It leaves a stronger mark than the choir stuff in the sense that it’s more emotional and less clichéd.  We get to see these people open up and act like real humans.

Military Wives has been compared against the likes of Calendar Girls, Brassed Off and The Full Monty and so if you’re a fan of those, this might put a smile on your face (and maybe a tear down the cheek).

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 March 2020

A drama about an inexperienced lawyer and a group of sick people who take legal action against a powerful American company for contaminating the local water supply and concealing their involvement.  Sound familiar?  If you’ve seen John Travolta in A Civil Action (1998) or Julia Roberts’ Oscar winning performance in Erin Brockovich (2000) then you’ll be familiar with this very niche genre.  The latest addition is Dark Waters from acclaimed director Todd Haynes (Carol, Far From Heaven).

I’d be curious to know whether any executives at Dupont, a hugely profitable chemicals company based in Delaware, saw those two movies and pondered the morality of their own operations.  If so, they’ll never admit in publicly.  For decades, the company was knowingly using toxic chemicals that were linked to diseases including testicular and kidney cancer.  Employees at their West Virginia plant were affected and so too were nearby townsfolk when the chemicals contaminated rivers, dams and drinking water.

Dark Waters begins in 1998 and is told from the perspective of lawyer Robert Bilott (Ruffalo), a newly minted partner working for a decent sized firm in Ohio.  He is approached Wilbur Tennant (Camp), a farmer friend of his grandmother, and asked to investigate the role of Dupont in the death of roughly 200 cattle on his hilly farm.  Bilott is reluctant at first (he specialises in defending big companies instead of prosecuting them) but given the family connection, he agrees to look into issue and offer a little help.

There are so many interesting subjects worth exploring in a movie such as this.  There’s the exhausting mental toll it takes on a lawyer and their family when fighting the same case for two decades.  There’s the role of law firms and the limits to which they can provide pro bono work in the public interest without jeopardising their profitability.  There’s the responsibility of environmental protection agencies who operate on small budgets and are often behind the curve.  And… there’s the multi-national corporations themselves who provide valuable jobs in poorer, regional communities and use this to create a beloved, untouchable image (effectively “brainwashing” the residents).

A weakness of Dark Waters is its inability to successfully juggle its many characters and the aforementioned themes.  Perhaps it’s trying to say too much?  Anne Hathaway plays Bilott’s loyal wife but it feels like a “throw away” role with little to offer (excluding one key moment towards the end).  Tim Robbins’ plays a law firm partner but he’s a confusing character given his opinion of Bilott’s work is forever changing (and we never understand why).  Bill Pullman seems to have been included purely for comic relief as a goofy, not-so-prepared trial lawyer.

Still, this is an important film.  It reminds about the dangers of environmental self-regulation and how we, as a broader society, must not be afraid to continuously question and interrogate when things look suspicious.  Without unsung heroes like Robert Bilott, the world will be a sadder, more dangerous place.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 09 March 2020

Queen & Slim is a tale of crime, grief and morality… that begins with a Tinder date.  Slim (Kaluuya) swiped right and sent through a message.  Queen (Turner-Smith) took a few weeks to respond but, in need of company after a disheartening day at work, agreed to meet up.  They eat at a cheap diner, engage in a little small talk (sparks aren’t exactly flying), and then he gives her a lift home.  That should have been the end of their association.

It’s during that car ride that Slim is pulled over by a police officer on a quiet, desolate street for failing to make a turn signal and “driving erratically”.  Slim disagrees and there’s an increasingly tense exchange between the pair.  When Queen gets out of the car and tries to film their discussion on her mobile phone, a series of rash decisions forever change their lives.  The police officer shoots Queen in the leg (thinking she was reaching for a gun and not her phone) and Slim responds by taking the officer’s gun and killing him.

There’s not a lot of time for logical thought.  Instincts kick in and, realising they’ve killed an officer with no witnesses to corroborate their version of events, Queen and Slim jump back in their car and flee.  Their goal is to travel roughly 1,000 miles from Ohio to New Orleans to visit Queen’s seedy uncle and lay low for a while.  Adding to their complications is the fact they have no money and their mugshots have been broadcast across the country on regular news broadcasts.

The two lead performances deserve praise.  Daniel Kaluuya, who earned an Oscar nomination two years ago for his unforgettable performance in Get Out, goes through a raft of emotions as Slim.  The adrenalin is pumping as he drives across the country while dealing with the realisation he could be incarcerated for life or never see his family again.  Similar thoughts flood the mind of Queen (played by excellent newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith) but she’s also grappling with painful events from her troubled childhood.

39-year-old director Melina Matsoukas has forged a career in music videos (she’s won two Grammy Awards) but despite a long-time wish to transition, she’d struggled to find the right script to begin her feature film career.  Any hesitations were dispensed when she first read Lena Waithe’s screenplay and realised it was a “beautiful love story” about two people who would not have come together if not for a shared trauma.  It’s a heavy tale but Matsoukas is not afraid to use comedy at opportune moments.  Given a significant chunk of the movie takes place inside the car while on the road trip, I was also impressed by the mix of angles utilised by cinematographer Tat Radcliffe (Pride).

While I enjoyed the film’s vibe, it’s guilty of pushing its themes too hard.  There’s a bunch of scenes where fellow African Americans help them avoid capture but these interludes become repetitive.  A throw-away line about the dead police officer previously killing black people is superfluous (audiences are already on the side of Queen and Slim) and a closing sequence of people looking at TV screens is unnecessary.  The biggest head scratcher is a sex scene interwoven with a police riot (involving a kid we hardly know or care about).

On the whole though, there’s a lot to like about Queen & Slim and it’s important to see African American women (both writers and directors) getting the chance to create stories for the world to engage with.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 25 February 2020

Writer-director Leigh Whannell wastes no time in ratcheting up the tension.  In the opening sequence of The Invisible Man, we follow Cecilia (Moss) as she initiates a plan to leave her abusive husband, Adrian (Jackson-Cohen).  She wakes up in the middle of the night, tip-toes around the huge house, turns off all the alarms and security cameras, and heads to the nearest road where her sister (Dyer) is waiting in a getaway car.  It’s a powerful introduction.

Over the next few weeks, Cecilia takes refuge in the house of a good friend (Hodge) and we learn why she is so frightened.  Adrian may be a wealthy renowned scientist but away from the public eye, he’s an cruel control-freak who tells her what to wear, what to look like and what to eat.  She’s finally escaped his clutches but she lives in perpetual fear that he will find where she’s hiding and come after her.

Then… out of nowhere… she is informed by Adrian’s lawyer brother (Dorman) that he has committed suicide.  As you’d expect, her reaction is a mix of shock, confusion and relief.  She’ll never have to worry about Adrian again but she’s puzzled by his out-of-character, self-inflicted demise and why he’s left her $5 million (with a few curious conditions attached) in a recently drafted will.

As the film’s title tells us (I guess it’s a semi-spoiler), not everything is what it seems in this scenario.  It appears Adrian is still alive and, given his speciality is in the field of optics, has created the ability to become invisible.  He uses his power to further terrorise Cecilia.  He’s subtle at first (ripping off her bed sheet in the middle of the night while she’s sleeping) but his deeds soon become more obvious and sinister (sending nasty emails from her computer to fracture the relationship she has with her sister).

Cecilia realises what’s going on.  The problem is she can’t convince others.  How can you provide proof of something that can’t be seen?  Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) is outstandingly credible in the lead role and I’m reminded of the equally impressive performance from Claire Foy in Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane.  It’s a “one person versus the world” set-up where Cecilia, with no one else to help, must formulate a plan to outsmart her cunning adversary while keeping a grip on her fragile emotional state.  It’s not easy.

As part of the creative team behind the Saw and Insidious franchises, 42-year-old Australian Leigh Whannell knows a thing or two about making a great horror-thriller.  His goal was to modernise H.G. Wells’ famous 1897 sci-fi novel and create a film that was “unpleasant and suffocating” to watch (in a good way).  He’s achieved just that.  There are a few minor plots holes but, for the most part, The Invisible Man provides unrelenting tension from start to finish.

Those behind the camera deserves as much credit as those in front of it.  Cinematographer Stefan Duscio (Jungle) utilises creative shots (such as when the camera pans to an invisible character) to keep audiences on their toes.  Sound mixer Will Files (War for the Planet of the Apes) adds to the suspense through an effective use of sound, or lack thereof.  The visual effects and stunt teams create believable battles as Elisabeth Moss faces off against an unseen opponent.

Offering a few twists and surprises, The Invisible Man is a memorable thriller.

You can read by interview with writer-director Leigh Whannell by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 March 2020

A family is holidaying at a luxurious European ski resort.  They’re eating lunch at a restaurant with a raised outdoor deck.  A controlled avalanche is set off from a nearby mountain.  The fast-moving wave of snow comes hurdling towards the restaurant.  The husband runs from the table and leaves his wife and two children behind.  The avalanches pulls up just short.  The husband returns and pretends nothing has happened.  The rest of the family realise the matriarch’s first reaction in a life-threatening situation was to abandon them.

If you want to see this movie… check out the 2014 Swedish release Force Majeure.  Directed by Ruben Östlund (The Square), it is a beautifully shot, brilliantly told dark comedy about a family which briefly disintegrates following the aforementioned events.  Don’t just take my word for it.  The film won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and earned a best picture nomination at the European Film Awards (losing to Ida).

I realise why you take great foreign language movies and remake them for English speaking audiences but I’m not sure there’s a single element of Downhill that is the equal of the original film.  It’s a boring, hollow, simplistic movie that lacks the nuance and darkness that made Force Majeure so great.  There’s no point watching it if you’re familiar with its predecessor (even if you’re not, I’d probably advise not to go).

Will Ferrell (Anchorman) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep) have great comedic talent but have been miscast in their respective roles.  Ferrell appears to rehashing the goofy, meek father figure role that he played in Daddy’s Home.  Louis-Dreyfus is asked to screw up her face and make an awkward expression every time the camera looks her way.  You never truly feel the tension and pent-up emotions they should be experiencing.

Academy Award winning writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants), along with co-writer Jesse Armstrong (In the Loop), have “dumbed down” the source material and in doing so, the film’s themes and impact have been lost.  The best example is the inclusion of Australian actress Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings) as a sex-crazed concierge with an over-the-top European accent.  It’s silly stuff that belongs in a Saturday Night Live sketch as opposed to a biting comedy about troubled family dynamics.  The same applies during a scene where the family confront the resort’s safety team.

Something got lost in translation because Downhill is a vastly inferior remake.