Little Fish

Last night I saw the independent film Little Fish and I found it to be deeply affecting (I was an emotional mess by the end of it).  In the near future Emma (Olivia Cooke), a veterinary tech, and Jude (Jack O'Connell), a photographer, meet each other, fall in love, and get married in the midst of a global pandemic (this movie was written and filmed before our current pandemic).  A mysterious virus known as NIA (Neuroinflammatory Affliction), which causes people to lose their memories all at once or little by little, is spreading rapidly and, since it has no cure, it is causing the breakdown of society as people suddenly forget who they are and how to do their jobs.  Jude and Emma are devastated when they see the virus destroy the relationship between their two best friends Ben (Raul Castillo) and Samantha (Soko) and they fearfully look for the signs in each other.  When Jude gets the virus, Emma does everything she can to get him into a controversial clinical trial for a possible cure and, when that option falls through, she does everything she can to keep the memory of their love alive.  The narrative involves a series of haunting and beautifully composed vignettes (including one that informs the title) about their life together in the past interspersed with attempts to remember these events in the present and this device is especially effective at portraying the ephemeral nature of memory.  The twist at the end is absolutely heartbreaking and I know that I will be thinking about it for a long time.  Cooke and O'Connell give incredibly touching performances, especially in the scenes where Jude can't remember Emma, and their chemistry together makes their love story even more poignant.  The hazy cinematography and evocative score also add to the lyrical tone.  I really loved this movie and I definitely recommend seeking it out (it is a little bit under the radar in my neck of the woods).

Malcolm & Marie

Even though Malcolm & Marie is now streaming on Netflix, I went to see it on the big screen last night because I think movies are always better the way they were meant to be seen.  At first glance this movie is a brutally honest portrait of a relationship coming undone but upon closer examination it is actually a commentary on film criticism which, in my opinion, lessens its impact.  Filmmaker Malcolm (John David Washington) and his girlfriend Marie (Zendaya) return home from the premiere of his film which has been very well received.  He is triumphant with success but she is silently seething with resentment.  He eventually realizes that something is wrong and, when he presses her for an explanation, she reveals that she is hurt because he didn't thank her during his speech.  This leads to a knock-down, drag-out battle between them in which she accuses him of appropriating her life for his film, thus questioning his authenticity as a filmmaker, and he taunts her with all of the other women used as inspiration for his main character, which diminishes her importance in his life.  It goes on and on with both characters delivering showy and bombastic monologues about life and art but, in my opinion, this movie is at its best in the quieter moments when they talk about their relationship, such as when Malcolm tells Marie that she deserves to be loved for who she is and when Marie tearfully begs Malcolm to appreciate her more.  Washington and Zendaya give fully committed performances but their interactions are just so exhausting to watch because there is never a resolution and, ironically, the dialogue sometimes lacks authenticity.  While the black and white cinematography is really striking and the camera work is interesting (especially the use of windows and mirrors), this movie isn't really either of those things.  I wish I liked it more because I am a fan of both actors but I would recommend giving it a miss.

Saint Maud

I like horror movies to be genuinely scary rather than shocking and, lately, A24 has produced some really good ones (The Witch and Hereditary come to mind).  I saw their latest release, Saint Maud, yesterday and it was incredibly unsettling from the first image until the shocking conclusion.  Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a hospice nurse who has recently converted to Catholicism in response to a traumatic incident from her past (hinted at in an ambiguous prologue).  She is assigned to care for Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a former dancer and choreographer who has stage four lymphoma.  Maud is incredibly devout and, when Amanda expresses a fear about what happens after death in a moment of weakness, she becomes obsessed with saving her soul because she believes that it is God's will.  Amanda, filled with rage over her situation, openly mocks Maud's attempts at salvation and eventually has her dismissed which makes Maud increasingly desperate.  Is she in the grip of a religious fervor or is she having a mental breakdown?  Is there a difference?  This is an absolutely brilliant character study of a young woman who is so completely alienated from everyone and everything that she fills the void with God.  I loved the scenes where Maud tries, unsuccessfully, to make a connection and then has a series of hallucinations that can either be interpreted as religious ecstasy or a descent into madness.  Clark gives a stunning performance because she is both sympathetic and frightening as she weaves seamlessly between Maud's inner and outer worlds.  The low level lighting distorts every image, the production design featuring a Gothic house on a hill sets a sinister mood, and the atmospheric score kept me on edge throughout the entire runtime.  There are also some really intense scenes, particularly the ones involving self-flagellation, that are difficult to watch and I don't think I will forget the ending any time soon.  This is one of the best horror movies I've seen (definitely up there with The Witch and Hereditary) and I highly recommend it to fans of the genre.

Nomadland

The movie Nomadland won top honors at both TIFF and the Venice Film Festival last year and it is currently generating a lot of Oscar buzz so it has been on my must see list for quite a while.  It is now playing in IMAX theaters for a limited engagement (it will get a wider release and begin streaming on Hulu on February 19) so I went to see it yesterday.  After her husband dies and the US Gypsum plant where she has worked for many years closes down, Fern (Frances McDormand) is forced to put all of her belongings in storage and live in her van while working a seasonal job at an Amazon fulfillment center.  There she meets a woman named Linda who travels all over the U.S. in a van while working seasonal jobs and she invites her to a gathering of like-minded people in the desert.  She turns her down but when the weather gets too cold to live in her van she finds the group.  She meets other nomads who teach her basic survival skills and extol the virtues of this lifestyle.  She decides to travel through the Western states to accumulate as many memories as she can while working jobs such as a camp host at an RV park, a cook at Wall Drug, and a laborer on a beet farm.  She frequently encounters a man named Dave (David Strathairn) on her travels and they form a close friendship.  Both Dave, after deciding to move in with his son, and her sister encourage her to settle down with them but she ultimately decides that she likes the freedom of the road.  This is an incredibly powerful character study that is told very slowly through a series of vignettes which illustrate both the joys and the hardships of this lifestyle.  Just as she did with her previous film The Rider (which I loved), director Chloe Zhao has real people play fictionalized versions of themselves and this lends a certain credibility to the narrative.  McDormand gives a quietly affecting performance and I especially loved the scenes where she is overcome by nature.  The cinematography is simultaneously beautiful with wide shots of the landscape as Fern travels and gritty in the accurate portrayal of her circumstances.  I really loved this movie because, while Fern is forced into this lifestyle because of the Great Recession, there is something enchanting about giving everything away and leaving society behind to live more authentically.  I highly recommend it!

The Little Things

I had really high expectations for The Little Things because it features three Academy Award winners: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto.  I saw it last night and, while there are a few little things that keep it from being great, I enjoyed it.  Joe "Deke" Deacon (Washington), a deputy sheriff in Kern County, California, is sent to Los Angeles to retrieve some evidence and meets Sgt. Jim Baxter (Malek), the lead detective on a high profile investigation of a serial killer.  Baxter asks Deke, once a rising star in the LASD, to accompany him to the crime scene of the latest victim.  Deke is struck by the similarity to an unsolved crime that he worked during his time in L.A. which caused him to lose his marriage, his health, and his job and has obsessed him ever since.  He takes a leave of absence from Kern County to unofficially assist Baxter in the investigation and they come to suspect Albert Sparma (Leto) who may or may not be guilty.  They bring Sparma in for questioning and, even though he taunts them, they have to release him because they don't have enough evidence.  Baxter is convinced Sparma is guilty and goes to great lengths, including some that are unorthodox, to tail him.  Eventually Deke fears that Baxter will suffer his same fate if he doesn't solve the case.  This is a moody and atmospheric crime thriller that focuses more on the psychological effects of the crime on the detectives rather than on trying to solve the crime (comparisons to Seven, which is much better in my opinion, are inevitable).  It loses focus in the second act but I found the twist at the end to be incredibly intriguing.  The characters are a bit underdeveloped but all three actors give riveting performances and the back-and-forth between Malek as a young and brash detective and Washington as his world-weary mentor is very compelling while Leto is suitably creepy as a disheveled psychopath (albeit one we have seen him play before).  The little things that detract from this movie don't keep it from being entertaining and I recommend it to fans of the genre.