Happy End: NZIFF Review

Happy End: NZIFF Review

Michael Haneke returns to the festival circuit with something purporting to be lighter fare than his usual, but still with some of his usual concerns.

Centring on a construction dynasty and their gradual unravelling, a truly stellar cast taking on various roles as the Laurent family.

When the company's rocked by the ground giving way at a venue (an allegory much to be applied to the family itself), the various pressures on the Laurent clan become apparent. Combined with a suicide attempt from a family member and a patriarch determined to go on his terms, there's a lot to deal with for them all...

Happy End may be a comedy, but it seems to have forgone the laughs for something a little bleaker.

It's really only in its last 10 minutes that the humour seems to come to the fore and the film adds a few lighter touches. Described as a satire on bourgeois values, Happy End is a little lacking and frankly, in places, a touch dull as things happen off screen which are supposed to be of emotional consequence and leave you frustrated at what to cling on to.

With swathes of time devoted to a chatroom conversation in its full pixel glory, there are times when Happy End can sorely try your patience.

Where it not for Isabelle Huppert's calm composure, Toby Jones' presence and a searing turn from a young newcomer Fantine Harduin as a child entered into the dynasty, this would be sorely close to walk-out territory.

Haneke may be playing with some familiar themes of suicide and euthanasia, and there are some moments blessed by a scion of precision dialogue, but Happy End's wide varying eye means that it rarely feels like it settles on one subject for long enough for you to emotionally engage with.

Good Time: NZIFF Review

Good Time: NZIFF Review

Wearing its Euro-scuzziness like a badge of honour, Josh and Benny Safdie's Good Time is a nervy thriller that has a pounding first half, before slightly going off the boil.

In many ways, its ethos is the Dardenne Brothers via Luc Besson.

Robert Pattinson stars as Connie, who, at the start of the film, breaks his mentally handicapped brother Nick (Benny Safdie) out of facility to help him rob a bank. However, unsurprisingly, this goes south, and Nick ends up being arrested.

With Connie on the run and desperate to assuage some guilt over the incarceration, the clock ticks as he tries to do what he can to restore his brother's freedom.

There's absolutely no doubt the first half of this film, complete with its scummy outlook and its pounding Euro techno beat OST from Oneohtrix Point Never, is utterly thrilling, edge-of-your-seat stuff. Dragging out the pre-titles over a 20 minute period works well for the guerilla film-making ethos of the Safdie brothers, and it gives a pace to the film that's compulsive and nerve-shredding.

Setting on the streets gives it a vibe of the grubby and guarantees that those watching will be hooked, but the film comes slightly unstuck in its second half when Connie's forced into partnership with someone else, due to narrative constraints. It ultimately leads to a series of escapades, and despite the great settings (the streets at night, a fairground complete with Barkhad Abdi as a security guard), the frenetic pace disappointingly slows as it becomes a little more of a psychological insight into Connie and his family.

Pattinson is watchable throughout, imbuing his Connie with a sense of the desperate, yet a sense of being in control. With continual close ups, the Safdies bring a sense of the claustrophobic and the tense, draping everything in Euro neons and reds helps matters a lot too, and helps build atmosphere.

There are moments when the visceral edges help to really reach its potential as this gutter thriller plays out, but the film's desire to build up characters then dispose of them for narrative reasons make it hard to latch on to anything. And while Connie's still the centre of it all, and it's his odyssey, the time spent with others feels wasted.

All in all, Good Time is simply that. Nothing more, nothing less - it's a solid experience which feels like two films stylistically meshed into one pulsing lump that, like any sugar rush, lasts while you're in it, but feels like a comedown at the end.

God's Own Country: NZIFF Review

God's Own Country: NZIFF Review

Director Francis Lee's intimate and engrossing God's Own Country may have moments of Brokeback Mountain to draw comparison to, but it's actually a great deal more emotional than that.

Set on a remote farm in the Yorkshire Dales, it's the tale of John (Josh O'Connor), a man who's angry at his lot in life, angry at his father (played with wonderful subtlety by a low key Ian Hart), angry at being stuck in a small village and angry that he can't be who he wants.

Out drunk every night, yet still having to come back to his chores on the farm, the self-destructive John is further enraged at the arrival of a farm-hand Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu), whose arrival is necessitated by the failing health of his father.

Forced onto the mountain to cope with lambing season, the antagonism grows until it boils over into something burgeoning...

Unlike the aforementioned Ang Lee film, God's Own Country is a sensitively-portrayed reward in patience, delivering a film that's rich in resonance and is a masterclass in subtlety.

From the stunning misty vistas to the genuinely oppressive feel of the farm and the veritable cold nipping at your bones from off the screen, Lee's languid camera and pacing brings to bear a story that's intensely moving and ultimately uplifting.

But that's not say the road to pastoral burgeoning romance is paved with gold.

And it's equally not to say that Lee takes an easy route to tell the tale, but he wisely chooses to avoid tension and cliche for drama's sake and . Using a precision of shots, and perhaps a sparsity of language, as well as not resorting to dramatic tropes greatly lifts God's Own Country into a film which aches as it unspools.

Both O'Connor and Secareanu bring great depth to the relationships, their own pasts and make the whole thing feel real. Equally, John's parents, played wonderfully by Hart and Gemma Jones shine with the less-is-more approach. Jones in particular has a wonderful moment involving tears and ironing that says more than any dialogue could; and for such a combatant relationship, Hart imbues the father with both a sense of family and responsibility that makes it hard to vilify any of his behaviour.

Bathed in bucolic frustrations, as well as acknowledgement of the hardship of farming and its mental toll, God's Own Country's tenderness and honesty is evident throughout.

From Lee's shots of the land and the verite of the harshness of rearing life in the country, to the dialogue that says so much with so little, this is a film of such innate emotional fragility and beauty that it will leave you aching and also alive from beginning to end.

Hounds of Love: NZIFF Review

Hounds of Love: NZIFF Review

An edge-of-your-seat white knuckle ride chock-full of dread, Hounds of Love is a kidnap abduction tale that stretches the tension out as far as it can go, and still manages to leave you feeling like you're still on a rack.

A tale of stubbies and psychos, but with a great deal more complexity than perhaps you'd be expecting from a genre thriller like this, Hounds of Love is set in the suburbs of Perth in December 1987.

Against a backdrop of a spate of missing girls, Ashleigh Cummings' Vicki, a sulky teen whose parents have just split up and who's resentful of the 2 days she has to spend with her mother, who lives in a rough neighbourhood. Sneaking out one night to go to a party, and with no cries of Stranger Danger echoing in her ears, Vicki accepts a lift from a seemingly normal couple, John and Evelyn (Stephen Curry and a terrific Emma Booth).

However, when she's drugged, she wakes up chained to a bed, with no idea of what's ahead, other than at Christmas, it can't be good....

Hounds of Love is an excellently uneasy film that marks a soaring debut from Ben Young.

Billed as the Wolf Creek equivalent of suburbia, what Young's managed to do here is to create an utter atmosphere redolent in unease and beige-filled discomfort.

But more than you average horror, what's been brought to the table with Hounds of Love is a case of a subtle amount of complexities in the characters of both Evelyn and Vicki. While Curry's work as John can't be underplayed thanks to the menace he positively exudes throughout, the greater lion's share of the writing's been thrown into little moments of Evelyn and Vicki's characters, imbuing both with a sense of tragedy, pathos and a degree of empathy.

Essentially, Hounds of Love may be a story of a kidnap, but in Evelyn, it's actually the story of two victims and two kidnaps. It's this subtlety that makes the film such a damn strong roller-coaster ride of beige and brutality, and Young is clearly blazing a trail here with a deliberately slow eye and smart use of tension. Like Don't Breathe did, Young makes great fist of the house setting, and promotes claustrophobia and horror with implied violence rather than implicit, a key factor on what sets Hounds of Love apart.

Suspenseful, thrilling, worthy of hiding behind a sofa, yet blessed with edges that make it a little smarter than the usual genre fare, Hounds of Love is a stylish suburban nightmare you won't want to wake from.

Dealt: NZIFF Review

Dealt: NZIFF Review

Richard Turner may not be a name known to many outside of those entranced by the magic circle.

But director Luke Korem's genial documentary may change a little of that perception as it attempts to chronicle what makes the close-up card genius tick in this slickly polished piece.

Known for his incredible feats of card tricks and sleight of hand, Turner's been dealt a different hand in life, and it's one that this doco documents his struggle to acknowledge. Turner began to go blind when he was young, when a series of circles took over his eyesight. But, you wouldn't know this was the case given how he manages to convince fans of his card-based prowess.

Korem convinces us of Turner's obsession in the opening shots alone. Doing sit ups and exercising, the camera pulls back to reveal that Turner has in his hands a deck of cards that he's constantly splitting, shuffling and fiddling with. It's his crutch in many ways, and the backstory reveal of how he became so interested in cards and why is intriguing and interesting stuff.

But even with talking heads extolling the virtues of the magic man's ways, there are more interesting elements to engage with as Turner reveals a disquieting stubbornness and almost petulant refusal to accept his blindness and be defined by it. Korem's smart enough to let this engaging man explain why (and you can understand why no-one wants to be defined by what they're not) but things get more engaging when you find out his sister is also blind, and has diametrically opposed views to Turner about the best ways to cope.

What Korem couldn't know when he started the documentary is the journey that Turner would take and it's here that the film shapes itself as a more rounded piece that's aimed squarely at pleasing the crowd. That in itself is no bad thing, and Korem imbues it all with moments of humour that cut through.

It helps that Turner himself is an engaging enough subject to behold, a man whose obsession is understandable and a man whose desire to pass that on is frustratingly blinkered to the desires potentially of others.

Make no mistake, Dealt is no tale of hubris, more of gradual acceptance and a rekindling of life within. It's because of this that the genial Dealt proves to be a pleasant and smartly constructed ride, that doesn't rely on cheap tricks to provide a deeper narrative and that may emerge inspiring others.

The Big Sick: Film Review

The Big Sick: Film Review

Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano, Holly Hunter
Director: Michael Showalter

With a strong footing in truth, The Big Sick's rom-com cum cultural clash love story has rightly sent the genre back into fresher territory.

Silicon Valley's Dinesh aka Kumail Nanjiani stars as a version of himself in a story ripped from his own life.

Wannabe stand-up Kumail is working in a club one night, when he's heckled by Zoe Kazan's Emily. Intrigued, Kumail ends up striking a relationship with her after the show. Despite trying out an awful chat-up  line with Emily, the pair connect and end up in an easy relationship.

However, what Emily doesn't know is that Kumail's Pakistani family is trying to set him up with other women in an arranged marriage, via a series of dates which happen at family meals. (In one of the more excruciating touches, the women his parents have selected for him just happen to drop by during meal-times for an appointment.)

When this revelation hits the pair, Emily splits from Kumail, leaving him devastated. But things get worse when he gets a call to say Emily's seriously sick in hospital...

In many ways, The Big Sick is your typical romantic comedy.

Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl and problems and obstacles persist in the course of true love. So far, so tried and tested formula.

However, what The Big Sick brings to the table is a large degree of freshness, some genuinely funny moments and some sweet insights into the cultural clashes which are, of course, inevitable.

And really, at its heart, this is not a film that defies convention.

In fact, the only defiance is Kumail's insistence on going against his family wishes and avoiding spending time praying in the basement, choosing instead to play games on his phone, until his allotted time has passed.

Yet, being grounded in so much truth and veritas, (unsurprising as it's ripped from Kumail Nanjiani and Emily's real life romance), what The Big Sick manages to do is breathe some life into a genre that's been stale for a while and subverts expectations of those going into it.

Nanjiani brings his usual deadpan flair to the delivery, but thanks to a cleverly written script that fizzes with life and reality, there are some truly amusing moments. Mainly due to the ease of banter between the two and a slight subversion of the usual gags you'd expect about cultural stereotypes.

From a great gag over Kumail's Uber-career to the genuine warmth these two share, there are very much the signs that The Big Sick is keen to inject some humour where it's never been before.

It's not entirely perfect though.

At just a shade over 2 hours, there could have been some excising on the script front (a slew of comedy bar scenes seem a little unnecessary) to ensure the perfect mix, but it's a minor complaint.

The other interesting angle The Big Sick brings is that at its heart, it's a two-pronged relationship comedy.

Not only does Emily and Kumail's relationship take up the time on screen, but there's also a large amount of the film which is devoted to Kumail's relationship with his potential in-laws, played by a terrier-like Holly Hunter and an easy-going career best Ray Romano. There is also the battle between Kumail's family and their desire to do right by tradition and his desire to break away from that. (Interestingly, the final resolution doesn't quite provide all the answers and really does feel like there are more questions than answers.)

As Emily's parents battle their wariness and try to protect their daughter from the indirect charm offensive launched by an awkwardly bashful Kumail, what also emerges is profoundly sweet and utterly charismatic despite its inevitable outcome.

There's a great deal of earnest charm about The Big Sick and it's difficult to be profoundly cynical against its intentions. But in crafting a rom-com that's genuine and earnest, The Big Sick succeeds in being a genre best and ensures the entirely over-stuffed category is given a new lease of life.

Wind River: NZIFF Review

Wind River: NZIFF Review

After astounding with scripts for Sicario and the much appreciated Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan slips into the directing chair for the helming of his own script for Wind River.

Centring on an Indian Reservation where the bloodied body of a raped woman is found 6 miles from anywhere and in the middle of the frozen wastes of Wyoming, Wind River follows the investigation into the crime.

With a rookie FBI agent Jane Banner (Elisabeth Olsen) called in from Vegas, and a US fish and wildlife marksman Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) deputised into help, the case finds the intricacies of Native American problems and guilt from the past all intertwined...

Inspired by actual events, Wind River has some truly astonishing visuals in among the white-outs of the snow.
From Lambert's snowmobile making its way through the wastelands like an insignificant speck to blood on the ice, Sheridan's eye for scale and shocking is clearly evident.

It's essentially a tale of the evil men do and at times, Olsen's vulnerable agent is clearly out of her depth. Thrown into a case in an area she's ill-equipped for (from experience and even down to clothes), she barely gathers speed as the agent in charge, deferring to Lambert's prior skills. It's perhaps here that Sheridan's script revels more in the intricacies of the gender politics and the gender divide that's clearly at play elsewhere in the film, but it does occasionally make Olsen's character seem woefully clueless and ultimately, a bit wasted.

A little richer perhaps is Renner's Lambert, a mournful man whose mopiness masks a past tragedy. Renner makes great fist of the melancholia and feels restrained in parts as Lambert tries to fit into a community that is occasionally willing to accept him and is other times willing to cast him out. It's no surprise that he's camouflaged in the wilderness; Sheridan wastes no allusions in his script.

Underpinning all of this is a thinly veiled diatribe against treatment of Native Americans (one line asks "Why is it when you people try to help, it starts with insults") and a searing but not excoriating commentary on the social ills of such a reservation. And it's perhaps here why Sheridan's script feels lacking in power compared to the likes of Hell Or High Water that felt more precise in their barbs and more subtle in their treatment.

Wind River is unfortunately a minor disappointment from Sheridan.

Stretched out over 2 hours, the film's final reveal and treatment of its perpetrator is nothing more than the unveiling of a raving lunatic steeped in ugliness, and given the steps and themes taken through the snow-laden film to set out an icy veneer and a sliver of gender issues and native concerns, its desire to plump for the shocking yet stereotype feels like a cheap squandering of promise.

More a lilting ode than the searing story Sheridan's set out before, this icy Western does hit the spot, but Wind River never quite reaches the highs you'd expect, and despite solid work from its leads and Longmire's Graham Greene as the tribal sheriff, it's not as spectacular as you'd hope.