Reviews by johanlefourbe

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was suggested by a fellow Listal member and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, I always had a weak spot for minimalist features but, even though this one was not bad at all, I thought it was actually more empty than really minimalist after all. Indeed, even if the damned thing was super creepy, it turned out to be rather eventless after all. Seriously, I think nothing much happened during ¾ of the duration. Then, there was also a lack of background information. I mean, you had just 3 characters who went through some heavy stuff but, since you never get to know them, it was rather hard to care about what they were going through. And, then, there was the fact that there was no explanation provided at the end whatsoever. Well, on this aspect, I did end up with some mixed feelings. Indeed, on one hand, most horror features have some half-baked endings trying to explain or solve everything that happened before but it very often does not work at all mostly because they try to rationalize some completely preposterous events with some lame ass explanation. In this case, by not explaining anything, they kept a shroud of mystery which definitely had its merit but, to be honest, it also did feel like a cop-out from the makers and an artificial way to keep the whole thing ambiguous. Apparently, it was supposed to be some kind of allegory about dementia but it was never really convincing to me. Still, there is no denying that the damned thing was very well made and the trio of actresses involved all gave some strong performances. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t really win me over, it was still a solid horror flick and it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Since this movie had been a massive critical success (among other things, it recently won the Academy Award for the Best Picture and also the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival), I was really eager to check it out. First of all, What a year for Chloé Zhao! She was supposed to release her first huge blockbuster with 'Eternals'. However, because of the Coronavirus pandemic, it was postponed until 2021 but, in the meantime, she managed to make and release this much smaller indie feature which turned out to be one of the most talked about movies during the awards season. On top of that, I have always been fascinated by such alternative lifestyles so I definitely had some rather high expectations. Well, even though I thought it was indeed a beautiful movie with another pitch-perfect performance from Frances McDormand who’s apparently challenging Meryl Streep for the title of best actress alive, to be honest, it didn’t really blow me away though. Of course, you could argue that nothing much really happened through the whole thing but it didn’t really bother me. It might have to do with the fact that, even though McDormand was brilliant through the whole thing, even though her character went through some life changing events, she didn’t seem to really evolve after all. Eventually, the biggest issue was maybe the fact that every single person on the road was just so freaking nice. I mean, I have to admit that this lack of conflict was refreshing but, to be honest, it seems rather unlikely that none of them had a bad bone whatsoever. Eventually, even if it was unintentional, it did turn the whole thing into some kind of commercial for the nomadic lifestyle. Still, even if I wasn’t completely sold, it was quite fascinating to see these people taking some distance from our rather decadent capitalistic way of life and seeming pretty happy in the process. 

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it seemed to be intriguing, I thought I might as well check it out. In fact, it was not the first movie I saw completely shot in first-person perspective (I saw at least two of them called ‘Zusje’ and ‘Thomas est amoureux’) but the damned thing was still seriously original even if I have to admit that this experiment was not completely successful. Indeed, the whole thing was pretty much constantly disorienting, often nauseating and sometimes borderline unwatchable but I still enjoyed most of it though. Indeed, the makers went actually beyond the whole first-person gimmick and it was probably the first movie I saw during which the action was pretty much non-stop. As a result, it was quite unpredictable and it had such a wild energy. Seriously, it felt sometimes like watching some kind of weird Punk nightmare and it is actually a compliment. Concerning the plot, between the first-person view and the non-stop action scenes, there was not much room for it which was an obvious choice from the makers but this approach didn’t really bother me. Still, what was left from the plot was sometimes pretty weak. Indeed, it was so obvious that Hayley Bennett was not who she was from the start and Akan was such a pathetic bad guy with some really lame and actually completely unnecessary kinetic powers. Concerning Shartlo Copley, I was also not so sure, to be honest. I mean, the South African actor was the perfect choice to play the sidekick of the main character and he was entertaining through the whole duration but was the whole cloning thing really necessary? Basically, it was an excuse to have Copley play a whole bunch of various characters but it would have been more effective if he kept playing the same character. Anyway, to conclude, I guess the damned thing is probably an acquired taste but I thought it was seriously wild and entertaining and it is definitely worth a look. 

I’m usually not a big fan of Billy Wilder’s comedies but since this one had a solid reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, to be honest, I really struggled to care about the damned thing, in fact, even more than I expected. Indeed, Wilder was a great director and I loved pretty much all his dramas but I was never really impressed by his comedies and this one was probably the most tedious of the bunch, at least, among the movies I have seen so far from this director. I mean, I can understand the potential of reuniting the same director, actor and actress who gave us the successful ‘The Apartment’ (a classic comedy which already barely worked for me). However, in this case, I was basically scratching my head through the whole thing wondering where they were going with this tale. Eventually, I’m not surprised that it was originally a musical which might explain why the story was so flimsy. However, another bewildering thing was how long the damned thing was, especially after Wilder removed all the dances and songs from the original musical. At least, there is no denying that Shirley MacLaine was incredibly cute back in those days (in fact, MacLaine herself didn’t care much for this movie at all and I was really surprised to be nominated for an Academy Award for this movie). Concerning Jack Lemmon, he was not bad but he basically played the same character he played in all Wilder’s comedies. In fact, the only really funny character turned out to be the one played by Lou Jacobi who pretty much stole the show every time he showed up. Anyway, to conclude, even if the damned thing really didn’t work for me, I guess it is still worth a look if you really like the genre.