I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk about the new movies coming to theatres including the absurdist environmental dramedy “Digger,” the suburban gothic “Verity,” the giant snake flick “Beware Boiúna” and the psychological thriller “Heel.”Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to wind your watch. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the absurdist environmental dramedy “Digger,” the suburban gothic “Verity” and the psychological thriller “Heel.”Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Heel,” a new psychological thriller now on VOD and Digital, a suburban couple inflect their own brand of social rehabilitation on a 19-year-old criminal.CAST: Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon, Kit Rakusen. Directed by Jan Komasa.
REVIEW: A suburban riff on “A Clockwork Orange,” “Heel” (formerly known as “Good Boy” in the UK) is a darkly comedic morality play that starts strong but doesn’t stick the landing.
When we first meet Tommy (Anson Boon) he’s a violent 19-year-old who does drugs, gets into fights and posts about it on Instagram. One drunken night he gets separated from his friends and is abducted, only find himself chained to a wall like a dog in a dingy basement.
His captors, married couple Chris (Stephen Graham) and Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough) and their cute 10-year-old son, Jonathan (Kit Rakusen), are not quite what you might expect from kidnappers. Kathryn is standoffish, but Chris is stern but kind (mostly) presence who lectures Tommy on how to lead a better life, when he isn’t forcing his unwilling guest to watch educational videos or read novels. “We treat each other with respect in this house,” Chris tells him.
Meanwhile, Chris and Kathryn hire a Rina Macedonian housekeeper whose presence brings some unwanted attention to the house.
This story of rehabilitation—of attempting to bring Tommy to heel, so to speak—is an odd duck, one that surprises and confounds in equal measure. The unpredictable story offers no motive for Chris and Kathryn’s treatment of Tommy, which blunts whatever social commentary might have been lurking on the story’s dark corners.
Still, rock solid performances from Graham, Riseborough and particularly Boon, who effectively channels anger and anxiety, keep the stakes high enough to maintain interest.
SYNOPSIS: In “Anniversary,” a new thriller now playing in theatres, Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler play Ellen and Paul, a liberal Georgetown University academic and chef celebrating twenty-five years of marriage. When Liz (Phoebe Dynevor), their son Josh’s (Dylan O’Brien) new girlfriend, writes a political screed titled “The Change: The New Social Contract,” its success sows the seeds of discontent within the family and the country.
CAST: Diane Lane, Kyle Chandler, Madeline Brewer, Zoey Deutch, Phoebe Dynevor, Mckenna Grace, Daryl McCormack, and Dylan O’Brien. Directed by Jan Komasa.
REVIEW: One of the least subtle films of the year, “Anniversary” dives headfirst into a maelstrom of ideological extremism, buried secrets and societal polarization.
Featuring a large ensemble cast of veterans and newcomers, “Anniversary” begins at a lavish 25th anniversary celebration for Ellen and Paul (Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler). Son Josh’s (Dylan O’Brien) date is Liz (Phoebe Dynevor), a former student of Ellen’s, kicked out of school after Ellen denounced her radical views. She’s now the author of “The Change: The New Social Contract,” a political diatribe supporting the implication of a “no-party” system that aims to “put the ‘united’ back in these states of America.”
As the book becomes a national best-seller Ellen can’t hide her disapproval with its ideas of a singular, unified national belief system. “The book is a weapon,” she says amid her growing concerns for the fate of democracy as a spawning movement known as The Change, endorse pledging an oath to an alternate American flag.
Liz’s newfound popularity during the rise of The Change—“The greatest movement in the history of this nation.”—reveals fractures in Ellen and Paul’s family and in the country. “Everything around us is changing,” says daughter Birdie (Mckenna Grace). “Fear went mainstream.
A study of radicalism, “Anniversary” delivers its message with the force of a knee to the groin. Director Jan Komasa, working from a screenplay by Lori Rosene-Gambino, keeps the telling of the cautionary tale taut, creating a pressure-cooker of tension and menace.
The ideological conflict between the family—the “Non-Changers”—and The Change escalates quickly, but Komasa smartly keeps the focus on the individuals and the radical transformations in their lives. “You have obliterated us,” Ellen says to Liz. “What more do you want?”
O’Brien is chilling as he navigates Josh’s transformation from failed writer to intimidating demagogue. A contentious scene between Josh and Paul allows O’Brien and Chandler to explore the boundaries of the polarization that has gripped the family in a powerful fashion.
That edgy conflict drips with ice, but it is the helplessness Ellen and Paul, once a couple living their best lives, feels as their existence is completely upended by The Change that resonates. “You need to decide,” a census taker tells them, “whether you’re with us for against us.”
“Anniversary” is a provocative, timely drama that swings for the fences, and while the portrait it paints of extremism is vivid, and in many ways uncompromising, it is the personal toll of the characters that unnerves.
