Backrooms

Last night I went to see Backrooms at a late night screening and I found it very interesting and quite unsettling.  Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is an alcoholic who is angry about his recent divorce and his failed attempt at becoming an architect.  He frequently rants to his therapist Dr. Mary Kline (Renate Reinsve) and she tries to help him see how his patterns of behavior have created an endless cycle of unhappiness from which he cannot escape but she is also suffering from her own never ending loop of trauma stemming from a childhood spent with a mentally ill mother.  Clark, who is now living in the discount furniture warehouse where he works, notices flickering lights in the basement and goes to investigate which leads him to a portal to another reality filled with an endless space.  He wanders through a maze of rooms that are connected by long hallways before he is chased out by an unseen creature.  When Mary is skeptical about what he has experienced, he starts spending more and more time in this alternate reality and eventually becomes trapped.  Mary gets a disturbing message from Clark so she goes to his warehouse to find him and also ends up in the space as his hostage.  Can she escape?  While the metaphor is a bit on the nose, I liked the exploration of how you can get trapped inside your head by memories that can be warped by time.  Both Clark and Mary see malformed objects and people because they cannot remember them correctly and I was particularly struck by how Mary's rooms become more and more distorted as she moves from one level down to the next because she has buried her trauma so deeply within her subconscious.  The visuals, which feature a dull monochromatic yellow color palette, uncanny architecture, and harsh fluorescent lighting, are incredibly disconcerting and the sound design evokes a sense of dread that is almost unbearable (I hate the buzzing of fluorescent lights so this just about drove me crazy).  The camerawork is very effective at building tension because it is from each character's POV, especially when grainy found footage is used, and you are never entirely sure what will be lurking around the corner.  Both Ejiofor and Reinsve give highly restrained performances that ground the dreamlike sequences in reality and this kept me engaged even with so much repetition in the space (see also Exit 8).  This might not be for everyone (some might find it too ambiguous) but I can't stop thinking about it!

Note:  I enjoyed this more than Exit 8 (movies about liminal spaces are having a moment).

Tuner

I was so excited to see Tuner with my nephew at the Broadway last night because the trailer reminded me a lot of Baby Driver, a movie I absolutely love, and it definitely did not disappoint.  Niki White (Leo Woodall) was once a promising pianist but hyperacusis, a condition which makes him extremely sensitive to loud noise, forced him to stop playing.  He now works as an apprentice to a piano tuner named Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), a friend of his late father, and he begins a relationship with a student named Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu) after he tunes a piano at her conservatory.  When Harry has a heart attack and is faced with mounting medical bills, Niki reluctantly starts working for the group of thieves, led by Uri (Lior Raz), who manipulated him into opening a safe using his heightened sense of hearing at a wealthy client's house.  While Niki is able to pay all of Harry's bills and impress Ruthie with a meaningful gift, the heists become more and more dangerous and this threatens his relationships and, eventually, his life.  I think the screenplay is very clever (there are similarities to Baby Driver but it definitely has its own vibe), especially when Niki uses Uri's criminal philosophy against him to pull a heist of his own and when he uses the music he has denied himself for so long to form a real, if bittersweet, connection with Ruthie (the final scene is exhilarating).  I loved Niki's character arc (even though it is a suspenseful heist movie with some fun romantic elements, it is mostly a compelling character study about a young man who has lost himself) and I also loved Woodall's performance because the juxtaposition between his detachment and his joy in the final scene is incredibly powerful.  Finally, I enjoyed seeing all of the moving cogs in the safecracking scenes and hearing much of the action from Niki's POV (the sound design, in both the loud and quiet moments, is incredible because it is so immersive).  This is one of my favorite movies this year and I highly recommend it!

Passenger

The second movie in my double feature yesterday was Passenger and I am definitely happy that I saw it after my most recent solo road trip!  Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Jacob Scipio) are a couple who leave everything behind to live the so-called "van life" but it soon becomes apparent that Tyler is more enamored with the lifestyle than Maddie is.  When they are unable to stay at a planned camping spot, they end up driving on an isolated road late at night and witness a car crash.  They stop to help the driver but are unable to save him.  When Maddie looks at their dashcam footage of the crash, she sees a mysterious figure in the passenger seat of the car and then imagines that this same figure is following them.  Tyler thinks that Maddie might be making excuses to quit living on the road but, when they participate in a van life gathering, they learn about a malevolent entity known as the "Passenger" who is believed to be responsible for the disappearance of many people over the years and a woman named Diana (Melissa Leo) warns them about stopping on the road at night.  It ultimately becomes a fight for survival when the Passenger (Joseph Lopez) starts attacking them wherever they go.  There are definitely some issues, most notably the lack of a backstory to explain the origin and defining characteristics of the enigmatic Passenger and a resolution that feels rushed, but I found this to be incredibly atmospheric and scary.  The cinematography uses light and shadow to great effect to evoke a sense of dread about what might be out there in the dark.  There are also several well-composed set pieces that are almost unbearably tense, including a scene in which Maddie hears someone following her while walking through an empty parking lot to get to the van which seems to get farther and farther away, a scene in which Maddie and Tyler use the light from their movie projector to locate the Passenger stalking them at their campsite (seeing Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn's faces, as their characters from the movie Roman Holiday, superimposed on the Passenger's face is incredibly creepy), and a scene in which Maddie and Tyler have to stop to change a flat tire knowing that the Passenger is out there in the dark.  Both Llobell and Scipio do a great job communicating their terror and I liked the dynamic between their characters, especially that he believes her before he actually sees the Passenger.  I enjoyed this, and recommend it to fans of the genre, mostly because I was reminded of all the times I have driven on isolated roads by myself late at night!!

I Love Boosters

Yesterday I had another double feature in the middle of the day and I started with with I Love Boosters because I think Sorry to Bother You, Boots Riley's directorial debut, is absolutely brilliant.  As with his previous movie, I Love Boosters is full of scathing commentary that is as funny as it is thought-provoking.  Corvette (Keke Palmer), an aspiring fashion designer, and her friends Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Mariah (Taylour Paige) regularly steal, or "boost," designer clothes from high-end stores and sell them at a discount to low-income people in their community.  This is a way for Sade to earn a better living for her two children but it becomes personal for Corvette when she discovers that her favorite fashion mogul, Christie Smith (Demi Moore), has stolen one of her designs.  Now Corvette wants to target Metro Designers, a clothing chain owned by Smith, so they get jobs at one of the stores run by Grayson (Will Poulter) and plan to steal the entire inventory.  However, their plan is disrupted by an employee named Violetta (Eiza Gonzalez) who is trying to organize a strike for better working conditions at all of the Metro Designer stores and a factory worker named Jianhu (Poppy Liu) who is protesting against conditions in Smith's sweatshops in China.  They eventually join forces to disrupt Smith's fall fashion show but mayhem is caused by a teleportation device, a mysterious man (LaKeith Stanfield) pursuing Corvette, and a group of media personalities (Don Cheadle, Kara Young, Jason Ritter, and Jermaine Fowler) who are used by Smith to influence opinion.  Much like Sorry to Bother You, this is an indictment of late-stage capitalism, income inequality, workplace abuse, exploitation, and propaganda framed as a comedy of the absurd with a wild and chaotic third act that requires a major suspension of disbelief.  This bold swing for the fences didn't work for me as much as it did in the previous movie but I really liked the surrealistic visual style, especially Smith's tilted office building, and the hyper-stylized costumes, particularly those worn in a boosting montage.  I enjoyed all of the performances (Poulter is a hoot and Cheadle is almost unrecognizable) and, even though some of the characters are not very well developed (Stansfield's character feels superfluous), the friendship between Corvette and Sade is quite poignant.  I didn't love this as much as Sorry to Bother You but I had a lot of fun with it.

Note:  My favorite scene is a documentary about Christie Smith's rise to success as a designer because it is narrated by Viggo Mortensen (I laughed out loud when I realized who it was).

My Fair Lady at HCT

HCT's production of My Fair Lady is loverly (one of the best I've seen) and it put a huge smile on my face last night! When Professor Henry Higgins (Kelton Davis) and Colonel Pickering (Mark Pulham) encounter a Cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Lisa Zimmerman) outside Covent Garden, Higgins boasts that he could pass her off as a duchess at the Embassy Ball within six months by teaching her to speak properly. Even though Eliza is a success at the ball, she only becomes a lady when she compels Higgins to treat her like one! I loved every member of this amazing cast! Higgins is kind of a problematic character but Davis portrays him with a glint in his eye and a spring in his step that makes him very appealing in the songs "Why Can't the English," "I'm an Ordinary Man," and "A Hymn to Him" and I loved his poignant rendition of "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" as well as his vulnerable delivery of the final line because it really changes the vibe of the ending (in a good way). Zimmerman, who has a beautiful voice, gives an incredibly dynamic performance as Eliza because she is feisty in "Just You Wait," "Show Me," and "Without You," charming in "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and "I Could Have Danced All Night," and elegant in "The Embassy Waltz." I also really appreciated the gradual change in her accent during "The Rain in Spain" because this makes her transformation more believable (I usually find this to be very sudden in other productions). Duane Stephens is energetic and entertaining as Alfred P. Doolittle and Doug Wadley is absolutely hilarious as the lovestruck Freddy Eynsford-Hill (his version of "On the Street Where You Live," which is my favorite song in the show, is a lot of fun). I laughed out loud at all of their antics. Barta Heiner is an adorable Mrs. Higgins and I really enjoyed her exasperated interactions with Davis. I was impressed by the use of props in the lively choreography, particularly a large flower cart in "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," brooms in "With a Little Bit of Luck," a library ladder in "Just You Wait," and pewter mugs in "Get Me to the Church On Time." I was even more impressed by the spectacular set, especially Higgins' elaborate wood-clad study, which includes wrought iron spiral staircases leading to the second level and lots of amusing details (I tried counting all of the different clocks but eventually stopped at five), and the dazzling chandeliers (that seem to dance along with the waltzing couples) and dramatic staircase at the Embassy Ball. Finally, the costumes are gorgeous and, as expected, the gowns and hats worn at Ascot and Eliza's gown at the Embassy Ball were my favorites (I loved the use of gray rather than the usual black and white in the Ascot costumes). Every aspect of this production is outstanding (it really is one of the best versions of this classic musical that I have seen) and I cannot recommend it highly enough but act quickly (go here for tickets) because many shows are already sold out! It runs on the Young Living Centre Stage through June 11.