The more mockumentaries I see, the more I am convinced that if done right, that technique can uplift any genre. Mostly, they are used for comedies and Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. could be another great example of that; if that movie was just a comedy. But this movie is much more than that; it showcases some excellent performances and topics relevant to anything and goes beyond organised religions and mega-churches – ultimate power ultimately corrupts.

Let me start by praising our titular duo, as Sterling K. Brown and Regina Hall are exceptional in this movie. But unlike Sterling, who has received more praise lately (deservedly so) for his Oscar-nominated performance in American Fiction (2023, my review here), it is Regina Hall giving this movie her all and then some. Her character, Trinitie, is our protagonist, and it’s through her you see everything. The movie starts by telling us how this couple is in trouble due to a scandal involving her husband, so she does everything in her power to help him (and herself) back on their feet. Throughout the movie, you question almost everything about her; how much she believes everything she says, her love for her husband and the simple question: “Why won’t she just leave him?” that is posed by a character in the movie too comes to mind. Regina portrays Trinitie so well that by the end of this movie, you almost feel sorry for her. Almost. Because throughout everything, you get to understand her and see her for who she is – someone who is in too deep to quit.

Sterling also does an excellent job playing this sleazy mega-church preacher who is so high on his own supply that you also feel almost sorry for him towards the end. Except in his case, you see him throughout this movie making the same mistakes again, showing little to no growth and being almost always on, where even when he “speaks from the heart” (the great scene in the church, when his character rehearses his big apology speech), his wife doesn’t believe him.

In a way, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is more than just a condemnation of mega-churches and these ultra-wealthy pastors, who tell their congregation how God wants them to have expensive stuff like jets, cars and watches. It shows us how these broken people attract and complement each other, and just before they know it, they can’t “quit” each other because that would imply something is wrong. So they put on a charade and live in one big lie, going against everything they (supposedly) stand for.

Regarding the film itself, I appreciated the blend of mockumentary (the characters being aware of the camera) and the shift to a film approach when it seems like we are spying on them. There was a striking difference between how they acted when the documentarians were around and when they weren’t, and it was “just” the two of them trying to tell themselves stories about how happy and satisfied they were.

I also appreciated the up-and-coming young couple that was taking their congregation members away, portrayed by Nicole Beharie and Conphidance. I think their characters go beyond those two being the “sexy and young new pastors in town”. I thought this was this movie’s way of saying: “This is how our titular duo started some time ago.” Young and upcoming, coming (probably) from humble beginnings, offering salvation. And that made me think about the ultimate message of the movie that could be summed up by one of my favourite quotes:

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Because I don’t think the movie’s point is to judge these people, although many are (in reality) awful. The way I read this movie was that almost everyone in this field starts with somehow good intentions, and it’s the power, wealth and influence corrupting them. But once you have had that at your disposal for a while, it’s hard to get back to not having any; you crave it, need it. And that, of course, goes beyond religion; you can argue that anyone who becomes successful needs to be mindful of that and that young couple, although polite, isn’t actually polite at all. You can tell they understand the “game” already and are getting hungrier, seeing they are becoming more influential. This movie has many things to say, and that is why I loved Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

Overall, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. is a fascinating movie about “industry” I, frankly, don’t like. So, in a way, I was pre-disposed to love it, and I did. But I didn’t love it because “religion = bad”. I loved it because there were so many ideas thrown around, and we got to understand someone who would want to become pastor and first lady of a mega church. Also, Regina Hall deserves better, meatier roles like this one. I would love for her to win an Oscar one day; she’s got the chops and should be recognised.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

We live in an age of “content”, even though I despise that term and don’t use it on purpose to describe any movie or a TV show. However, many films are treated as such, especially on streaming services, so you have to sift through a lot of “content” before finding something great to watch. Some movies get great exposure, whilst others fall through the cracks due to so much “content” everywhere. And Fall seems to have amassed almost cult-like status over a very short period of time because of its gripping premise. So I had to see it for myself one evening.

I can see now what the hype was about. Fall is one of those films that can be split into two very uneven halves. The first half is everything that happens before our two characters get stuck on that tower, and the second is everything that happens after they get stuck. Because the first 30/40 minutes, I was annoyed by everybody and the movie itself for being predictable and full of painfully dumb characters… Basically, pick an unflattering adjective, and the chances are, Fall has got you covered. However, they understood the assignment in the second part of this movie, and once they get stuck, the tension feels real. Sure, the film still has some awful dialogue and many predictable moments (even though there was one turn I should have seen coming, but I didn’t; more about it later), but I didn’t care as much because I was on the edge of my seat, often literally.

I didn’t think I had problems with heights, but I discovered I might have. But I would never climb an old TV tower that’s almost 2000 feet long (over 600m for most of the world). As you can presume, those scenes are as tense as it gets. Fall knows how to build these scenes of upcoming danger and hopelessness and throw in anxiety-ridden climbing scenes you will remember for some time. In a weird way, this movie is almost a miracle, as at the beginning, I gave zero fucks about either of our protagonists, but the moment they get stuck… Well, I still didn’t care about either that much, but I was rooting for them (mainly one).

Since I referred to them several times, let’s talk about our protagonists. We follow Grace Caroline Currey and Virginia Gardner, who are roughly in 95% of all scenes of this movie. Sure, we have a random Jeffrey Dean Morgan in here as well, but I swear he must have shot all his scenes in two days maximum, given he is in roughly three minutes altogether. Over time, I found myself liking Grace’s character more despite her not being in charge of her decisions for most of this film. She is, effectively, pushed to action by her friend Hunter, played by Virginia, who brilliantly portrays one of the worst types of person there is – a YouTuber. No, I am joking, of course, but she is this self-centred, Instagram-famous wannabe who fancies herself a bit too much, and the movie wants to give her some reasoning behind that, but nothing about her character worked for me. I found myself rooting less for her and more for Grace’s character almost by default, especially towards the end when Becky (Grace’s character) must act, or everything is lost, without going into spoilers.

But I will hint at something, and that is the above-mentioned plot twist I didn’t see coming. I thought it was clever, and once I thought about everything in my memory, it all made sense, so I take it that if I were to rewatch this movie again, this turn (or twist) would work. But I can’t shake the feeling that the only reason this twist is in this film is to make it easier for our character(s) to stay likeable and not make tough choices. That’s all I will say.

Again, Fall is an interesting film, and I will understand any rating because it all depends on how willing you are to ignore many bad aspects of this film. From the awful dialogue to our protagonists, neither is as likeable (for different reasons), to the ending, which felt rushed. I must mention that, as I love when movies know when to finish, there is nothing wrong with that, and I always appreciate it. But there is such a thing as skipping over a few pages just to show us the ending. For as much as we spend our time with our protagonists, this movie’s resolution felt… sudden. It felt like they suddenly ran out of money, so they just shot something quickly during the final day and didn’t get the chance to go back and do some additional pick-ups. What a weird choice.

Writing this, I still have to emphasise the point that from the moment these two get stuck until this sudden end, this might be one of the most nerve-wracking movies I have ever seen. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tense throughout most of it, and despite all these flaws I have mentioned above, I was in the moment with them. I felt every wind gush; I felt every (attempted) climb… This movie succeeded where (I believe) it counts the most and delivered on its premise. And that’s the reason my final rating is much higher than you might imagine, given how I spent most of my review “bashing” this film. What can I say? I will forgive any movie much easier if it gives me something unique despite many flaws, and Fall delivered some of the tensest moments of my moviegoing life.

Overall, Fall is a fascinating movie that will test your anxiety. It will also test your patience before our protagonists get trapped; you can believe me there. But if you stick with it and won’t switch it off when it gets too intense, you might go on a journey you won’t forget any time soon. Is Fall a perfect movie? No, by a mile. Is it one of the most entreatingly nerve-wracking movies I have ever seen? Yes. Would I recommend it? I would say yes, but… If you are looking for an unpredictable story or one with likeable characters, you might want to skip this one. But if you don’t expect anything else than one of the tensest experiences of your life, give this movie a chance.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

If you care about the Oscars, you know that the 2023 “Best Leading Actress” category was between Cate Blanchett for this movie and Michelle Yeoh for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022, my review here). It was Michelle who managed to snatch that Oscar (and deservedly so, in my opinion); however, having now finally watched Tár, I understand why it was close and honestly wouldn’t be mad if it went to Cate, as much as I was happy for Michelle. But Tár relies much more on Cate than Everything Everywhere All at Once on Michelle, as we have several (now Oscar-winning) performances. In Tár, we have some great actors in supporting roles, but as far as making this movie what it was, it was Cate and her alone, not dissimilar to the “isolation” her character feels throughout this movie.

The first thing I noticed about Tár is how cold and detached this movie felt, but the more I delved into it, the more I understood that it was very much on purpose. Cate’s character, Lydia Tár, isn’t the most likeable person to ever exist; she is the exact opposite of that. We quickly sense that something is “up” with her, and the film builds on that feeling. We see her being strict, combative, paranoid, angry, and down, and there might be times we almost feel sorry for her, but the movie never tries to defend her character and everything/anything she did. In this sense, Todd Field‘s direction reminded me of Martin Scorsese, as a few of his movies tiptoe on the fine edge of making you understand an evil character to the point that many people accuse him every once in a while of “glamorising” them. Of course, both Marty and Todd don’t do that whatsoever; you just need to look deeper at those characters and understand the difference between understanding a character doesn’t correlate with sympathising with them.

And Lydia Tár is a brilliant example of this. You might even agree with some things she says throughout this movie, but once you realise what “that thing” is that is haunting her and stopping her from sleeping, I don’t think there will be many who would stand by her. Despite her undisputable talent, she is a flawed person. Many movies here would try to prompt the discussion of whether her talent is what makes her flawed or vice versa (her being a great artist correlates with her having these flaws), but I never got that from this movie. Tár isn’t interested in that because that’s not the point. The point here is for us to understand the fall of this giant and why she had fallen.

As mentioned above, this entire movie rests on Cate’s performance alone. She is in 99% of the scenes, and no matter what she does, you are fascinated, intrigued and maybe a bit scared of her character. Cate portrays her so earnestly and effortlessly that by the end of the movie, you are convinced that Lydia Tár was an actual person (she isn’t) and that Cate was born to play her (she absolutely was). In any other year, she would be the clear frontrunner for the Oscar, but in 2022, Michelle Yeoh ruled supreme.

Besides Cate, the movie has many things to say about our culture, about the state of conversations we seem to be constantly having, like judging historical figures by today’s standards, cancel culture, etc. But it does it in a way I feel it will age well. Plus, Tár is one of those movies that is filled with many “blink and you will miss it” moments; it requires repeating viewings to fully get your head around everything you see, witness and feel. And that is why I can’t give the highest rating because there was something stopping me, and I can’t pinpoint what “it” was. But I strongly believe this movie is one of those that only gets better on repeat viewings, so that should make for a fascinating watch. Plus, due to the epic classical music and Cate Blanchett, it never felt like a chore to watch this film, and it is almost 160 minutes!

Overall, Tár is a fascinating story about a complex character you will google immediately to check for yourself whether or not she is real. The movie convinced me she was real, as everything that happened felt like it could have easily happened. Plus, and I can’t underestimate this, Cate’s performance is one for the books. For most actresses, this would be their career highlight. For Cate, it’s just another year. Tár is a cold, precise movie that will have you question a few things but ultimately will deliver an experience you won’t forget any time soon.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke