Arguably no filmmaker since Agnés Varda has blended elements of documentary and fiction together as effectively as Chloé Zhao. NOMADLAND’s narrative is loose and meandering, but only to reflect the Nomad on-the-move, purposeful and yet purposeless lifestyle. Following industrial collapse and personal bereavement, Fern (Frances McDormand) sets out across the USA living in a van, taking on seasonal work as she goes and forming unbreakable bonds with fellow members of the Nomad community. Like Zhao’s previous films it’s all about living an unconventional life to the fullest off-grid, and the strongest and most memorable scenes simply place the camera to capture real Nomads recounting their journey and experiences and exploring their connection to the planet. Add to this an unadorned, stripped back and honest central performance from McDormand and stunning, massive American landscapes bathed in magical light delicately captured by DP Joshua James Richards and before you know it you’re having your own spiritual experience while watching. SSP
Review in Brief: Nomadland (2020)
Review in Brief: Run (2020)
Non-specific spoilers for RUN ahead. If there’s one mystery-thriller movie trope that really needs to die, it’s the Convenient Incriminating Evidence Box. Aneesh Chaganty’s sophmore feature is far less assured than SEARCHING, being about 50 minutes of a decent thriller and a complete collapse into bad information reveals and sub-Shyamalan twists in the final 40. A wheelchair-using teenager waits for the freedom of her college acceptance letter as her mother continues to care for her around the clock, but soon becomes suspicious of her behavior and motives. The first plot twists you guess from this setup will probably be correct. As Chloe, Kiera Allen proves herself a real talent, fearlessly throwing herself into the demands of the role and bringing a nuanced mix of vulnerability and strength to balance out Sarah Paulson’s genre-driven over-acting. This really comes off the rails towards the end, but not in un-entertaining ways. SSP
Review in Brief: Promising Young Woman (2020)
With PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN writer-director Emerald Fennell has crafted one of the most challenging and keen-edged debut films in years, and it’s making just the right kinds of people mad. Cassie (Carey Mulligan) spends her evenings pretending to be blackout drunk until a “nice guy” offers her help and inevitably tries to take advantage of her until she instantaneously “switches” from intoxicated to sober and turns the tables on the would-be predator. The motivation for this twisted pastime is revenge for the system failing Cassie’s best friend Nina who was raped at college years before, and soon she begins to enact her master plan for vigilante justice. Men will carry on doing this unless you confront them about it, and you hope along with Cassie that new boyfriend Ryan (Bo Burnham) turns out to be different to all the others. This black as pitch, scathing and brutal, but it’s compelling as can be, cathartic and has the most satisfying, gasp-inducing denouement in 2020 film. SSP
Crip Camp (2020) Review
Review in Brief: Baby Done (2020/21)
A lot of New Zealand comedies have a very distinct feel, and BABY DONE from writer-director team Curtis Vowell and Sophie Henderson echoes the voice of its producer Taika Waititi. This is deadpan-funny, heartfelt and unafraid to make its protagonist a challenging personality to spend the allotted time with. The film grows beyond quirkyness for the sake of it with a mature look at a difficult time in any woman’s life, all through the prism of an immature character’s view of the world. The performances, particularly from leads Rose Matafeo and Matthew Lewis as an expecting couple (the former unready to surrender her youth, freedom and passion for climbing, the latter excited at the prospect of fatherhood and exasperated by his partner’s actions) are pitched about right for this bittersweet and grounded story. Not every moment lands or hits the right tone, but overall this will leave you uplifted, fulfilled, even enlightened. SSP
Review in Brief: Judas and the Black Messiah (2020)
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH tells a heightened version of a story that everyone should know, and tells it with righteous anger. Unfortunately some elements of the film’s abundant style do admittedly get in the way, like the depiction of the real shoot-outs as flashily violent Scorsese-esque set-pieces, losing grounding in the process. Why they wanted Martin Sheen under distracting prosthetics as J Edgar Hoover instead of casting someone who actually looked like him is perplexing as well. Daniel Kaluuya is mesmeric as young Black Panther leader Fred Hampton but it is LaKeith Stanfield as reluctant FBI informer Bill O’Neal who has the tougher, more restrained role and is tasked with keeping the whole thing on the tracks. Reconstructions of O’Neal’s only TV interview are powerfully employed to reinforce the imagined but plausible scenes and so we end up with a slippery and difficult portrayal of complicated men. SSP
Review in Brief: Minari (2020)
There’s no debate, MINARI is an American film – what could be more American than a tale of a family buying a farm and dreaming of living off the land? It’s astounding that the film features two of the first Korean (and the first lead of East Asian descent) acting nominations in the history of the Oscars with Steven Yeun and Youn Yuh-jung, and there’s no weak link in this effortlessly grounded ensemble. The way the beautiful arable imagery is captured reinforces the romance of the American Dream just as what this family has to go through almost completely shatters it. The observational family domestic scenes gently enthral, the themes are universal and the wider socio-political context packs a punch. About the only thing that doesn’t seem completely necessary is the added jeopardy of the finale, though director Lee Isaac Chung waiting to go out with a bang with his story is understandable. SSP
Godzilla vs Kong (2021) Review
Review in Brief: Ammonite (2020)
AMMONITE is a labour-intensive, impeccably detailed and tender film, the second from tactile master Francis Lee. This is a story of passions, of the agony of being starved of them, of being kept from them. Direct comparisons to PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE would be lazy, but both films do notably feature two women (here Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan) in a relationship liberated by the brief absence of smothering patriarchy. Everyone looks convincingly cold and uncomfortable for the time period, Winslet’s performance as palaeontologist Mary Anning is all-consuming, hunkered-down and punctuated by telling physical tics, usually in the way her hands, her invaluable tools, move. There’s no reason to presume historical figures with no documented relationships were heterosexual, and Mary and Charlotte’s passionate time together feels convincing and honest. Ammonite’s final ten minutes delivers an emotional gut-punch to rival Lee’s GODS OWN COUNTRY, even if the rest of the film isn’t quite as transcendent. SSP
SSP Thinks Film 