SYNOPSIS: Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” is a vivid recreation of the events surrounding the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 feature debut “Breathless.” “S’ils veulent la Nouvelle Vague,” says Goddard (Guillaume Marbeck), “donnons-leur un raz-de-marée.” (“If they want the New Wave, let’s give them a tidal wave.”)
CAST: Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin. Directed by Richard Linklater.
REVIEW: Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” is a love letter to Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave, but also to storytelling and imagination.
A recreation of the events surrounding the making of Godard’s feature debut “Breathless,” “Nouvelle Vague” is set at a creatively fertile time. It’s Paris, 1960. Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck), a longtime critic at the influential “Cahiers du Cinéma” magazine, he was one of several young wannabe filmmakers, alongside François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, Éric Rohmer and Jacques Demy, determined to blow the cobwebs off conventional Hollywood style filmmaking by experimenting with narrative, unconventional use of jump cuts, sound, and camerawork.
Frustrated that several of his colleagues, notably Chabrol and Truffaut, made films before him, Godard poured himself into the subversive “Breathless.” The story of a small-time thief on the run from the police and his attempts to persuade a hip American journalism student to run away with him to Italy, it was called one of the most influential films ever made by legendary film critic Pauline Kael.
Using the techniques of the French New Wave, Linklater goes behind-the-scenes to stylishly capture the style and roguishness of the French New Wave, but more importantly, the spirit of change that fueled the movement that changed cinema.
He’s reverential in his treatment of the characters and history, but only to a point. For instance, none of the rough edges have been shaved off Godard, a man known for his ever-present sunglasses and cigarette, arrogance and grand pronouncement on art and life. But instead of being grating there is a lightness to Guillaume Marbeck terrific performance that elevates what could have been mimicry into a playful portrait of the man beneath the iconoclast.
Like an entertaining class at film school, “Nouvelle Vague” is a study of fascinating time in film history.
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.
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with guest anchor Zuraidah Alman to talk about new movies in theatres including the demonic drama “The Conjuring: Last Rites,” the non rom com “The Threesome” and what’s happening at TIFF!
SYNOPSIS: In “The Threesome,” a look at modern romance now playing in theatres, an impulsive ménage à trois leads to double trouble for Connor, Jenny and Olivia.
CAST: Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, Ruby Cruz, Jaboukie Young-White, Josh Segarra, Robert Longstreet, Arden Myrin, Kristin Slaysman, Allan McLeod, and Julia Sweeney. Directed by Chad Hartigan.
REVIEW: A charming, but uneven rom com about adult truths and consequences, “The Threesome” is as narratively messy as the situation it essays.
The action in “The Threesome” begins with an impetuous, slightly stoned ménage à trois between nice-guy Connor (Jonah Hauer-King), his longtime crush Olivia (Zoey Deutch) and Jenny (Ruby Cruz), a random customer at Olivia’s restaurant who was just been stood up by her date.
Long story short, months later Jenny and Olivia let Connor know he’s going to be a father twice over.
The resulting complications are the stuff of farce, but with a heart.
Director Chad Hartigan, working from a script by Ethan Ogilby, plays the situation for light laughs, but keeps one foot firmly placed on the ground. Ogilby introduces some very non rom com elements to the story, and it is the stark realities of the situation that add layers to what could have been standard fare.
The film’s biggest selling point are the three leads, Deutch, Hauer-King, and Cruz. They hold on tight as the story veers from heartfelt to humorous to chaotic, often in the same scene. If not for their wonderful dynamics, “The Threesome” might have ended up feeling more like a hygiene film about the importance of contraception than a complex look at accountability and adulthood.
Structurally “The Threesome” pays tribute to rom com tropes but never falls victim to the genre’s cliches, even as it gallops toward a rushed happily-ever-after ending.
SYNOPSIS: A throwback to the twisty-turny courtroom dramas of the 1980s and 90s, “Juror #2,” now playing in theatres, sees Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) called for jury duty. Like many people, he has a laundry list of reasons why he shouldn’t have to do his civic duty. Nonetheless, he’s chosen to serve at a high-profile murder trial, one that will test his pledge of being fair and impartial in the jury box.
CAST: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J. K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Kiefer Sutherland. Directed by Clint Eastwood.
REVIEW: Clint Eastwood’s 40th directorial effort is a potboiler, but with the high-minded purpose of examining issues of justice and the price of doing the right thing.
No spoilers here, what follows is the story of the film, but if you want to go in with a blank slate, skip the next paragraph.
Once seated on the jury, Kemp, a man who has pulled his life together since quitting drinking four years previous, realizes that he, and not the accused, is responsible for the death at the center of the prosecution’s case.
That provides the moral dilemma at the heart of “Juror #2.” Kemp’s feelings of self-preservation versus his responsibility to truth and justice hangs over the entire film like a shroud.
Hoult shows us Kemp’s dilemma rather than tell us about it. It’s an introspective performance, one that relies on his anxious exterior and the tortured look behind his eyes. Hoult isn’t flashy, but in his restraint, he paints an effective portrait of a soon-to-be father who is torn up inside.
For the second time in as many months J.K. Simmons, after his bravura work in “Saturday Night,” swoops in and steals every scene he’s in, and then gets out of the way to let Eastwood and Hoult finish the job.
For the most part Eastwood keeps the storytelling taut, allowing Kemp’s quandary to take center stage. It’s not exactly suspenseful, but Eastwood, who turned 94 last May, unfurls the story of conflicted morals in a solidly entertaining, if not exactly innovative, way. The story beats feel reminiscent of the big courtroom dramas of years ago, but Eastwood carefully, and cleverly works his way through moral conundrums to ends up at a restrained, but devastating finale.
“Juror #2” is a little old fashioned, but in all the right ways. Age has not diminished Eastwood’s ability to tell a story, keep the audience engaged and give them something to think about once the end credits have rolled.
“Not Okay,” a new clickbaity satire starring Zoey Deutch and now streaming on Disney+, sets up an extraordinary situation to comment on an all too ordinary social media phenomenon.
Deutch is aspiring writer Danni Sanders. Her photo editor job at the Buzzfeed-esque website Depravity has yet to help her advance to writer status, as her story pitches fall on deaf ears. Aimless, with no friends, she is desperate to catch the eye of Colin (Dylan O’Brien), the coolest guy in the office, even if he is constantly enveloped in a Vape cloud.
She’s invisible, even on social media.
“Have you ever wanted to be noticed so badly,” she says, “you didn’t even care what it was for? You wake up every day thinking, ‘I want to be seen. I want to be important. I want to have purpose. I want to be known. I want to be loved. I want to matter.’”
To find meaning, purpose and maybe get a few extra followers on social media, she concocts a goofy plan to post faked photos from an imaginary Paris trip to glam up her Instagram account. She photoshops herself in front of the Arc de Triomphe, creates a backstory about being invited to a writer’s retreat in the City of Lights and writes captions like, “Starting my morning right. Now where is my baguette?”
But then real-life tragedy strikes in the form of terror attacks around Paris and all of a sudden, Danni goes from zero to hero. Her account is flooded with comments. “I can’t believe you posted that photograph five minutes before the bombs hit,” writes a concerned follower. “I mean, what if it had been five minutes later? Could you even imagine?”
Danni enjoys the attention, and goes with the flow. She “returns” to the United States and her job as a “survivor,” with a new confident attitude and faux PTSD. As her online fame grows, she befriends school-shooting survivor Rowan (Mia Isaac), leeching off the activist’s popularity. Even Colin now finds her the most interesting person in the room.
Her dreams come true, but, she says, “be careful what you wish for,” as her lies spirals out of control.
“Not Okay” is a social satire that takes aim at the curated life of Instagram influencers and the dark side of the artificial fame of an on-line life. The attention starved user who fabricates a story for money or notoriety, is a ripped-from-the-headlines premise, one that frequently plays itself out in one way or another on social media, but it lays the foundation for the character work done by Deutch and Isaac.
Deutch doesn’t make Danni sympathetic, but somehow makes her actions understandable. Through the performance it is easy to see how this lonely, directionless young woman got caught up in the lust for acknowledgement. The story may be shallow but Deutch’s performance reveals layers.
Contrasting Danni’s wanton ambition is Rowan’s heartfelt crusade for awareness. As a school shooting survivor Rowan is a combustible combination of trauma and anger, and Isaac embodies the earnestness and fear that comes with that lived experience.
“Not Okay” isn’t as hard hitting as it thinks it is. As a breezy look at the social media manipulation it treads familiar ground, but its ingrained sense of humor and performances make it worth a look.
Mark Rylance is tailor made to play the lead role in “The Outfit,” a new gangster film set entirely inside a bespoke suit maker’s shop. I own up to the stupid joke in the first sentence of this review, but it is true. Rylance astounds as the “cutter”—tailors are best at sewing on buttons and not much else he says—at the center of the action in this twisty-turny chamber piece.
Set in the mid-1950s, the movie revolves around Leonard Burling (Rylance), a former Savile Row cutter who lovingly details the process of making a suit from scratch in the film’s opening voiceover. “This isn’t art,” he says proudly, “it’s a craft.”
Working the front desk is his assistant Mabel Sean (Zoey Deutch), a young woman who has her sights set on a horizon far beyond the tailor shop.
Discreet and meticulous, Burling makes beautiful clothes for his Chicago clients, including members of the Boyle Gang, the heavies who run the neighborhood. “If we only allowed angels in here,” he says, “we’d have no customers.” His services to the gangsters extend beyond making them look good. His store also doubles as a drop spot for the Boyles, a safe place for Richie (Dylan O’Brien), son of the Boyle Gang boss, and the ambitious mobster Francis (Johnny Flynn), to pass messages back and forth.
Burling stays out of the way, rarely makes eye contact with the tough guys and is unfailingly polite. “I don’t judge,” he tells Richie. “I just don’t want to be involved in whatever it is you do.”
Unfortunately, when it becomes clear there’s a rat in the Boyle Gang who may, or may not, be making surreptitious tapes of their criminal activities for the FBI, Burling is drawn into their nasty business.
What unfolds from this point is a whip-lash inducing game of twister as the character’s motivations tie the story in knots. Manipulation, deceit, double dealings and death are the name of the game in this literate, adult thriller. Although “The Outfit” was written for the screen by director Graham Moore, who took home an Oscar for writing “The Imitation Game,” it feels like a stage play. From the minimal sets—the whole thing takes place in two rooms—to the intimate performances and the intricate, wordy script, it is unabashedly and wonderfully theatrical.
An understated performance from Rylance sets the tone for the ensemble cast. His enigmatic character is a sounding board for everyone from the gangsters who cause all the trouble to Mabel, the neighborhood woman who just wants to see the world. The characters fit together like puzzle pieces to really bring this story alive.
“The Outfit” is a small film that is unafraid to rely on the characters and the words and not elaborate set pieces to make an impact. Writer, director Moore has made a film that, unlike how Burling feels about his life’s work, emphasizes both craft and art.
Max Winkler, director of the coming-of-age movie Flower, corrects me when I mention the film was shot in only 16 days.“Fifteen-and-a-half days,” he says. “I would have done wonders with that extra half!”
Star Zoey Deutch chimes in. “It is not my job to go, ‘I don’t have enough time.’ My job is to figure out a way to make it work and service the story and the character. All I know is that what is important for a movie that shoots for 15-and-a-half days or for six months is preparation and what you bring to the table before the table is set. That is the most important element.”
Flower is a coming-of-age story in reverse. When we first meet the adolescent main character Erica, played by Deutch, she is already jaded by life. Her father is in jail and she is involved in a very dubious blackmail scheme to earn his bail money.
Over the course of time she regains her innocence, flip flopping the usual teen movie formula.
Winkler, the son of television icon Henry (The Fonz) Winkler, says the success of Flower is a testament to Deutch’s handling of the role.
“It is such a fine line to tread, to have that bravado but at the same time the intense vulnerability to know that she is really just doing this to cover up all this intense fear she has.”
The actress, best known for turns in Before I Fall and Why Him?, finds the qualities that make us feel for Erica. Do we care about Erica the blackmailer? Not particularly. But we can care about why she resorts to blackmail and that’s where Deutch shines.
“I was 20 when we shot this,” says Deutch, “which isn’t so far from 17 so I was able to pull and be inspired from my own experiences. … Erica is very frustrated by the world and she is very frustrating. I remember being frustrated and being frustrating to other people for sure.”
Deutch is winning raves for her work as the rebellious and sassy teen — The Wrap called her performance “truly exceptional” while The Playlist christened her as “charismatic, uber-magnetic” — but don’t ask her about her craft.
“The truth is, and the reason you can probably sense my hesitancy,” she says, “is that I find it really pretentious when actors talk about process. The way I talk about it sounds pretentious so I steer away from it. I would rather be self-deprecating than sound like overly precious about the whole thing.”
Flower is a coming-of-age story — in reverse.
She will say that the authenticity of the character came from research and conversation with her director and fellow cast members.
“I did a lot of reading,” she says, “everything from books about female teenage angst and struggle, like Reviving Ophelia. We were always talking about consent and how Erica always relies on her charms and never allows anyone else any semblance of control over her.”
Winkler and Deutch only spent 15-and-a-half days on set but have forged a mutual appreciation for society. “My greatest feeling about this movie is just how brilliant Zoey is in it,” Winkler says.
“There is something really special in pure entertainment,” says Deutch, “and I think Max made something super entertaining and super interesting and super different.”
“Flower” is a coming of age story in reverse. When we first meet the adolescent main character Erica (Zoey Deutch) she is already jaded by life. Her father is in jail and she is involved in a very dubious plan to earn his bail money. Over the course of time she regains her innocence, flip flopping the usual teen movie formula.
Erica lives with her mom (Kathryn Hahn) and the latest of mom’s new boyfriends-turned-fiancées (Tim Heidecker) in the San Fernando Valley. A hellraiser, Erica and her pals Kala (Dylan Gelula) and Claudine (Maya Eshet) target older men to blackmail. When she has enough cash she hopes to buy dad his freedom. Her rebel-with-a-cause life is turned upside down by the arrival of Luke (Joey Morgan), her troubled soon-to-be stepbrother. Luke brings with him a dark secret that could change everything in Erica’s life for better and for worse.
No spoilers here.
The beauty of “Flower” is less in its wonky storyline and more in its effervescent performances. The down ‘n dirty indie—it was shot in just 16 days by Henry “The Fonz” Winkler’s son Max—focuses on Erica’s journey which rests comfortably in Deutch’s capable arms. The actress, best known for turns in “Before I Fall” and “Why Him?,” navigates the film’s uneven tonality, hurtling over its implicit quirkiness to find the qualities that make us feel for Erica. Do we care about Erica the blackmailer? Not particularly. But we can care about why she resorts to blackmail and that’s where Deutch shines.
“Flower” is all over the place. In its quest to be unconventional it covers a lot of ground. It’s part quirky family drama, part rebellious teen comedy and even part “Bonnie and Clyde” but Deutch and cast, including Morgan as sad sack Luke and the always fantastic Hahn, breathe life into it.
SYNOPSIS: Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” is a vivid recreation of the events surrounding the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 feature debut “Breathless.” “S’ils veulent la Nouvelle Vague,” says Goddard (Guillaume Marbeck), “donnons-leur un raz-de-marée.” (“If they want the New Wave, let’s give them a tidal wave.”)