Indie sci-fi ARCHIVE wears its genre influences on its sleeve – MOON, EX MACHINA, SILENT RUNNING an iconic sequence lifted wholesale from GHOST IN THE SHELL. An engineer (Theo James) develops a series of increasingly sophisticated robot bodies to house his deceased wife’s (Stacy Martin) personality and ultimately her consciousness,which is being kept in a degrading hard drive, as well. It all looks good despite the modest budget and it’s by no means short of big ideas. But the film also feels cold, disconnected and too inanimate for you to care much about George or any of his creations, and the perhaps intentional reasons for the way it feels and how information is delivered to you become apparent far too late in the story to make any difference. Archive is a curiosity, but you’d probably be better off rewatching one of the films that inspired it. SSP
Review in Brief: Archive (2020/21)
Review in Brief: One Night in Miami… (2020)
In 1964, Malcolm X, Cassius Clay, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown met at a Miami hotel and spent the night in Malcom X’s room. That’s what we know happened – director Regina King and writer Kemp Powers imagine what was said in that room. The colourful quartet quickly split off and the night soon turns into a series of theatrical dialogues between pairs in the group, discussing what place American society found itself at this key turning point in 20th Century history. One of the more fascinating and challenging debates among many centres on Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr) extolling the benefits of white artists covering black artists’ songs. The leads are all excellent – Kingsley Ben-Adir gets the showiest turn as Malcolm X, oratorical cadence tellingly occasionally slipping when upset, and Eli Goree has the right swagger and naivety for Muhammad Ali before he went by the name. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI… is mesmerising, contemplative, powerful filmmaking and the most confident of calling cards for Regina King as director. SSP
Review in Brief: Pieces of a Woman (2020)
While some of its speeches might be a little too mannered and stagey (if still gamely performed by the cast) PIECES OF A WOMAN still comes out on the captivating side. How grief corrupts and deforms people is not sugarcoated by writer Katia Wéber and director Kornél Mundruczó, and the opening extended home birth scene couldn’t be more compelling. It’s a prickly film to engage with, bringing to light some difficult truths about human behaviour, but is nonetheless powerful and thoughtful. Vanessa Kirby’s raw and ravaged performance as her character spirals over several months is an understandable awards front-runner, but Ellen Burstyn threatens to steal the show as Martha’s ailing but still formidable mother. Expect a tough watch, but not one entirely lacking in hope. SSP
Review in Brief: Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Whatever went on behind the scenes, however the slow implosion of the DCEU effected its final, flawed form, I absolutely get what director Patty Jenkins was going for with WONDER WOMAN 1984. It’s a big, goofy and outlandish comics Silver Age-inspired story of magic and morals and there’s nothing wrong with a superhero movie aiming for this tone. Gal Gadot’s Diana, Chris Pine’s resurrected Steve and Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal as very 80s antagonists absolutely feel of a piece with this OTT world. The film’s problems come with the pacing, some unfortunate implications of some of the plot details and the fact that rousing opening Amazon triathlon sequence aside, the action lacks polish and punch. If it helps, don’t think of WW84 as a worse WONDER WOMAN, think of it as a better SUPERMAN III. SSP
Soul (2020) Review
Looking Back and Looking Forward: 2020
I am not ready to be without you: Marvel
Before I press on with my usual roundup of the year’s releases, I’ll put forward a few other films that have hit me particularly hard this year. What should you watch to see out this most awful of awful twelve months? What films will lift your spirits, allow you to reflect and provide a cathartic release? The following list of films mixes recent releases and classics, the thought-provoking and fun, but all make you feel, and it’s these feelings that are going to get us through this.
THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940)
Dictators are real and as terrifyingly active today as they were in the 1930s and 40s (now with the power of social media!). But what if a lookalike for a despot managed to fool his followers, address this captive audience and speak from the soul about the monstrous treatment of his people? THE GREAT DICTATOR is clever and memorable and silly just like all of Chaplin’s greatest works, but the reason I want to highlight it here is for that end speech, a speech for the ages and one that hits harder than ever today in a world still so full of hate. “The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed – the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress...”.
BEING THERE (1979)
Anyone can get into politics, but as shown in Hal Ashby’s BEING THERE not everyone should. It’s not an unpalatable personality, extreme views or mental instability that makes Chance, or Chauncey Gardiner as he becomes known (Peter Sellers) unsuitable to rub shoulders with the most powerful people in Washington, but because he’s an innocent. A simple, kind gardener who’s never seen the real world mistaken for a shrewd political genius by a cynical world makes for the ultimate satirical tragedy.
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)
We’d all like to erase some or all of this year, but would we be any better for it? ETERNAL SUNSHINE is easily the most profound and moving thing Charlie Kaufman has ever written, and this year when we’ve all been shaped by horrible life experiences to some extent, it is all the more powerful. Just as Joel (Jim Carrey) tries to erase his memory of his painful breakup with Clementine (Kate Winslet) but cling on to the happy ones, if we could take the bad memories of 2020 away, would we be the same people? Our experiences good, bad and the worst shape us and help us grow.
COCO (2017)
This has been a year of heartbreaking losses and such a vibrant animation all about remembrance is more essential, and painful (in a good way) than ever. Aspiring musician Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) gets accidentally transported to the afterlife during the Dia de Muertos celebrations and through meeting his music-hating ancestors helps reconnect his ailing great-grandmother to her nearly-forgotten father. When our loved ones leave us they live on in our memories and it’s our responsibility to keep talking to, and crying for them together. “Remember Me”, we promise to, always.
BLACK PANTHER (2018)
The biggest and most tragic loss of 2020 in film is without question Chadwick Boseman. A talent, an icon and a thoroughly decent person, he was taken cruelly soon but leaves behind an essential body of work. Most will think of BLACK PANTHER when remembering Boseman, the casting as perfect a fit as Christopher Reeve as Superman or Chris Evans as Captain America, the film built around the young king of an uncolonised African nation is richly thematic, vibrantly designed and quietly powerful. Wakanda forever.
Without further ado, here’s my list of the Top 20 films of 2020. This selection is based on UK release dates so has the sad caveat that I haven’t yet had the opportunity to see such really well-received films as NOMADLAND, FIRST COW, ANOTHER ROUND or PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN. No Bottom 10 list this year either, because I think we’re all just so tired of negativity.
Best of 2020:
20. SCARE ME Review in brief here.
19. HIS HOUSE Review in brief here.
18. SHIRLEY Full review here.
17. MONSOON Review in brief here.
16. AINU MOSIR Review in brief here.
15. SOUL Full review here.
14. MANGROVE Review in brief here.
13. NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS Review in brief here.
12. A WHITE, WHITE DAY Review in brief here.
11. TIME Review in brief here.
10. HOST Full review here.
9. MANK Full review here.
8. POSSESSOR Review in brief here.
7. THE VAST OF NIGHT Full review here.
6. BABYTEETH Review in brief here.
5. CRIP CAMP Review in brief here.
4. THE ASSSISTANT Full review here.
3. PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE Full review here.
2. ROCKS Review in brief here.
1. PARASITE Full review here.
Try and have a happy new year everybody. 2021 has got to be better, right? Riiight?! SSP
Review in Brief: Time (2020)
TIME is a must-see documentary about injustice and inequality in the US penal system, one that makes you wonder how much longer urgently-needed reforms can be avoided if films like this keep getting made and scores of victimised citizens’ stories keep getting told. An African American man, Rob Richardson made a huge mistake in robbing a bank and paid for it with life imprisonment. Over the next twenty years we witness his loving family grow up without him as his charismatic wife Fox Rich tirelessly appeals for his early release. The film is brimming with righteous anger, uses the Richardsons’ black-and-white home movies extremely affectingly and features the one of the most moving montages in film as its closer. This isn’t flashy filmmaking, but it’s low-key stylish, couldn’t be any more personal a story and has Earth-shaking changes on its mind. SSP
Sam Sewell-Peterson’s 10 Best Films of 2020
Review in Brief: Babyteeth (2019/20)
With a premise that could have either been maudlin or saccharine (teenager with cancer falls for a bad boy) BABYTEETH instead ends up being bittersweet, often joyous and lyrical. This is musical filmmaking without actually being a musical with its great soundtrack and floaty joy conveyed whenever Milla (a dazzling Eliza Scanlen) dances. All the characters are flawed but loveable (Essie Davis and Ben Mendelssohn as Milla’s parents devoted to her but falling out of love with each other stand out) – all dealing with their own crap and dreaming of things getting just a little bit better. You gear yourself up for tears throughout but the cathartic ugly crying only comes in the film’s post-script that puts everything else into a new and heartbreaking perspective. As feature debuts go, this is an absolute cracker from Shannon Murphy. SSP
SSP Thinks Film 