First let me note that the best viewing
on any screen is the just released season 3 on Netflix of the phenomenal German
production Babylon Berlin. To get a sense of why read this early
commentary on the first season in the New
York Review of Books: https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/04/28/voluptuous-panic/
I review four features below, including
one at the multiplex. But continuing on
streaming content I share the reservations about the new Amazon Prime series
“Hunters” expressed in this recent discussion on CBC radio: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-50-q/clip/15763459-auschwitz-memorial-criticizes-amazons-hunters-show-for-fictitious-holocaust-portrayal
Viewer beware.
This is also the title of one of the
great classics of the silent era, from 1924 directed by Eric von Stroheim who
was born to a Jewish family in Vienna. The original version was 9 hours long
famously sparking a fight with studio mogul Louis B. Mayer (born in the Russian
empire, now in Ukraine, and raised in New Brunswick) who cut it down to 140
minutes. Some parts have been lost. The new drama from prolific filmmaker Michael
Winterbottom satirizing the lifestyle of the filthy rich suffers no such
indignities (though one of the characters gets the last chomp).
The
protagonist, loosely inspired by the notorious business practices of Brit
billionaire Sir Philip Green, is a flamboyant Brit fashion clothing tycoon
known as “the king of the high street”. He’s
Sir Richard “Greedy” McCreadie, played up with gusto by Steve Coogan (who’s
made eight movies with Winterbottom including partnering with comic
impersonator Rob Brydon on The Trip, The Trip to Italy, The Trip to Spain,
and the latest, The Trip to Greece).
McCreadie is a ruthless social climber from youth (with Jamie Blackley in
the role) and overall exploiter, notably including along his supply chain down
to ill-paid garment workers in Sri Lanka.
“The unacceptable face of capitalism”, he remains shamelessly
unrepentant as a witness before a parliamentary inquiry, clips of which are
interspersed in the narrative, much of which concerns preparations for an
absurdly extravagant 60th birthday bash—complete with Roman empire
pretensions—on the Greek island of Mykonos. Others in the main party include
Greedy’s crusty Irish mom Margaret (Shirley Henderson), buxom ex-wife Samantha
(Isla Fischer), a new fashionista main squeeze, a harassed female head
assistant, and reedy son Finn played by Asa Butterfield initially sporting a few wisps of facial hair.
(Butterfield, who turns 23 on April 1, is back as a 16-year old compulsive
wanker in season 2 of Netflix’s “Sex Education” series.) All this is being
chronicled by the rather dimwitted Nick (David Mitchell) for an authorized hagiography
of the “great man”. Another irony-rich element
is McCreadie’s solution for a group of unsightly Syrian refugees camped on the
beach. And not least for the coup de
grace, there’s Clarence the seemingly sleepy lion.
Greed, bookended by an “Only Connect”
quote attributed to E.M. Forster’s Howard’s
End, closes with a series of stats about worker exploitation and global
inequality, though the scenario is more absurdist mockumentary than Oxfam exposé.
An untidy affair of scattered potshots and jokey asides to be sure, it’s still
a blast. A- (Listen to an insightful CNN interview with
Winterbottom and Coogan: https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/03/02/greed-steve-coogan-michael-winterbottom.cnn.)
In the wake of disgraced movie mogul
Harvey Weinstein’s conviction on sexual assault charges, anything related has
acquired a harder-edged spin. However,
very much in contrast to Bombshell, this low-key narrative from writer-director
Kitty Green underwhelms with its dimly-lit scenario that only hints at predatory
conduct by the big boss who is never shown (we just hear from him a couple
times and there are several angry phone calls from his wife). In a wintry New York-type city the titular
character Jane (Julia Garner) is five weeks into a new job providing secretarial
and overall “girl Friday” support to a movie producing company, catering to a
mostly male workplace. The “bros”
closest to her desk coach her on composing groveling apologies whenever she gets
on the touchy head honcho’s wrong side.
When a naïve young female from Idaho with no experience is given a job
after what Jane suspects as inappropriate activity in a hotel, she considers
making a complaint to a company officer (Matthew Macfaydyen). His dismissive
response—“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. You’re not his type.”—would seem to confirm
the worst but doesn’t lead anywhere. Jane
doesn’t quit, confront, or take stronger action. Although the movie captures the enabling atmosphere
for abuse to occur and even thrive with relative impunity over time, it doesn’t
leave one with any sense of empowerment or redress and that seems like a missed
opportunity. B
Although this multiplex horror-thriller
is from writer-director Leigh Whannell (co-creator of the awful “Saw” and
“Insidious” franchises) it does have in the lead role the excellent Elisabeth
Moss who’s become best known for the TV series based on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. She plays Cecilia Kass, the wife of an
obsessively controlling high-tech tycoon Adrian Griffin (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who’s
into advanced “optics”. They live in
some kind of ultra-surveillance mansion when one night Cecilia manages to
abscond (barely) from Adrian’s clutches with the help of her sister Emily
(Harriet Dyer). Cecilia takes refuge in the home of an African-American policeman
James (Aldis Hodge) and daughter Syd (Storm Reid). Cecilia is terrified and even after news of
Adrian’s apparent suicide she’s convinced he’s faked his death and is watching
and waiting. Then she’s informed by
Adrian’s vaguely sinister executor-brother Tom (Michael Dorman), who claims to
have hated him, of a multi-million dollar bequest with conditions. Good news
right? No, things get more ominous. Cue the standard creepy suspense tropes (eerie
music, a shower scene, a closet, an attic) even before the knives come out.
We’re already deep into psycho phantom stalker-hunter territory (how
invisible?) before the multiple bloody twists of the last half hour. And guess who walks away … B-
Rosie (Ireland
2018)
Working from a Roddy Doyle script,
director Paddy Breathnach makes the issues behind a housing crisis very
personal by focusing on the travails of a Dublin family of six that is
struggling to find permanent accommodation after having to leave a rented house
of 7 years. Husband John Paul (Moe
Dunford) has a job in a restaurant but finding something both affordable and available
is a fulltime worry for wife Rosie Davis (Sarah Greene) who spends hours in the
car and on the phone trying just to get a night or two as a temporary stopgap (a
city council credit card pays) while managing the kids. It doesn’t help that she’s estranged from her
mom and refuses to stay there. When the oldest daughter goes missing Rosie is
at her wits end. At least temporarily the
family is effectively homeless with all the strains and desperation that
entails. It’s the kind of social realist
drama, captured by handheld camera with no sugarcoating the story’s wintry
gray, that reminds me of the work of Ken Loach or the Dardenne brothers. B+
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