Posts Tagged ‘Madeline Brewer’

ANNIVERSARY: 3 ½ STARS. “creates a pressure-cooker of tension and menace.”

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.

SPACE ODDITY: 2 ½ STARS. “simply bites off more than it can chew.”

“Space Oddity,” a new overstuffed feature directed by actor Kyra Sedgwick and now playing on VOD, flits around between space travel, trauma, the ecology, family dynamics and romance without ever settling on any one of them.

When we meet the McAllister family, Rhode Island flower farmers Jeff (Kevin Bacon) and Jane (Carrie Preston), daughter Liz (Madeline Brewer) and son Alex (Kyle Allen), they are dealing with great trauma. The death of their middle son has left the parents and sister lost, throwing themselves into work to cope with their loss.

Alex, however, has an out-of-this-world plan to escape his pain. He joins Mission to Mars, a private company—think Bezos and Musk—with plans to colonize Mars. It’s not a one-way trip either. Earth is dying, Alex says, so why hang around?

His family goes along with his pipe dream until he gets serious, and applies for insurance to help finance the journey. At the insurance office, however, he meets Daisy (Alexandra Shipp), a broker who just might give the rocket man a reason to come down to earth.

The subject of space travel is the method by which “Space Oddity” conveys its real message, about the state of our planet and what needs to be done to save our environment, but the addition of family drama and romance makes it feel like it is madly running off in several directions all at once.

It has the feel of an after school special. The lead, Alex, isn’t a teenager, but he behaves like one and Allen’s wishy-washy performance doesn’t do much to hold our interest at the center of the film. He isn’t aided by a script that telegraphs every plot twist in advance. If the film’s journey had been more interesting, the predictable destination wouldn’t be as bland.

“Space Oddity” simply bites off more than it can chew. The environmental messages are heavy-handed with no new ideas and, as a study of grief, it is far too light weight.