Movies like The Lost Daughter are the reason I love films. It might sound weird, especially when I am not fully “in love” with this film, but let me explain. The Lost Daughter is a challenging movie to sit through. There are literally no “good” characters/people. Everyone is flawed, and what’s more interesting than that, they all are aware of it. And I think that is why I have already seen people having issues with this film because there is nobody to root for. But is that truly the point of art? Do we honestly need a clearly defined hero and villain? Because I thought the best art should challenge your views, should make you a tiny bit uncomfortable at times. And this film does it by showing us a bunch of people who were clearly, never cut out to be parents. Yet, they became them, and now they are trying to cope with it. And yes, it’s uncomfortable to watch at times, seeing some characters’ darker moments. But I think it’s a much-needed mirror for some.

Before diving into the movie, I need to take a moment to praise, stan, worship… call it whatever you prefer, Maggie Gyllenhaal. I’ve always said she was and still is a criminally underrated actress. But now, she not only writes (Oscar-nominated screenwriter Maggie Gyllenhaal has a ring to it, doesn’t it?) but also directs. The Lost Daughter is her feature debut as both writer and director, and goddamn it, she didn’t make her life easy with adapting that specific book/story. As I mentioned above, this film is so complex, and everything needs to fall in place for the film to work because you have nobody to root for. It’s really easy to lose your way and make your movie bleaker than it needs to be. But Maggie has done it excellently. Every decision, every scene, every character felt believable, raw, vulnerable and yet nobody would blame you if you ended up despising them. I’d imagine when Maggie decided to put on her screenwriting and directing hat, she might have had other, “easier” choices. After all, her name means something in Hollywood (at least that is what I think, but I might be totally wrong here), so I’d think this film wasn’t her only choice. But she decided to start with such a challenging task it could’ve easily failed. But it didn’t. Well done. For a feature debut, what a success. And I can’t wait what else will Maggie bring us.

The Lost Daughter perfectly balances several things at once – having no “good” characters, having flashbacks for us to understand why characters are acting in the way they are, and never going overboard concerning the darkness of it all. And all those elements have to work with each other otherwise the movie falls apart. And we’ve seen it before. How often you’ve watched a film, where every time they’d flashback, it would disturb the flow of the story even though those flashbacks would be crucial for the movie? And in this film, it never felt like the movie was being disrupted. I think it’s the story structure, where we see everything from Olivia Colman‘s point of view; it felt natural when we’ve suddenly “went back in time”.

That’s another thing why this film worked for me – the cast. Olivia practically never leaves the screen, so she has to carry this film on her shoulders, and she delivers. Olivia’s career over the past 7/8 years is truly enviable. From getting recognition to being in popular TV shows and movies… bravo. Jessie Buckley has done a spectacular job as Olivia’s younger version. She doesn’t get as much screen time, so I’d argue she had a tougher job to really establish her character because it wasn’t just about her. If we didn’t buy Jessie’s character/role, we wouldn’t have bought Olivia’s too. And she too delivered. Last but definitely not least, we have Dakota Johnson here. She had the least screen time, as her character served as almost a mirror into the past and possibly an alternative timeline. Where it was through her character, Olivia’s character was going through everything again, and that makes her wonder about the choices she’s made. I am glad Dakota has shaken the Fifty Shades franchise off of her because I genuinely believe she will become one of the best actresses of this generation. She’s got the charisma, talent, acting chops, and she is stunning. She delivered in the little time she had here, and it was with her character you made the realisation that there are no “good” people in this film.

Ok, since I’ve mentioned this several times, let’s talk about it. There are no good characters in this film. That might sound harsh, but ultimately, that is what The Lost Daughter is about. It’s a film about living life filled with regrets, knowing very well why you have those regrets. And suddenly, you realize what you have done in the past affects you, in some situations, more than you understood. Even though every character in this film tried at various points to make amends or to change, for one reason or another, they didn’t succeed. Or with Dakota’s character, the moment she “becomes” a bad person, you don’t like her because of what she’s done, but there is a part of you that understands it. I won’t go into spoilers, so I apologize for being a little cryptic here. I thought it would be rewarding for you to go on this journey, not knowing too much. And the same can be said about every single person in this film. Even though you can’t root for them, there is a part of you that somehow understands their motives.

Here’s the thing about this movie. It’s clever enough to realise that just because you might understand (if you can see past some preconceived judgements, mainly about parenthood/parents) why our protagonist has done what she’s done, it never asks you to like her. There isn’t a moment where you could say the movie is trying to justify what she did because that would be a challenge. So instead, the film showcases her life and not just “the bad and the ugly” but also the good. And it leaves it up to you whether you want to judge Olivia’s character or whether you want to think about everything she’s been through. The Lost Daughter definitely isn’t your “feel good, switch your brain off” film. You have to be in a specific mood/headspace to watch it.

The only negative I had against this film was the length. Even though the film is intricate, I don’t think it’s complex enough to support its runtime of slightly over two hours. It definitely could be paced a bit better, and that could have made it more palatable for many viewers. Because it seems I am in the minority who praises this film (on IMDb, it’s sitting on 6.7/10, Letterboxd has it 3.5/5) as highly.

Overall, The Lost Daughter is a challenging movie to watch. It touches on a subject most people wish to avoid discussing at all costs (parenting, the “cost” of being a parent), and it presents you with mostly flawed (but one could also say “human”) characters who are hard to root for. And this is where your participation is needed. You either go along with this film and become a spectator, or this film will turn you off by the lack of “good” characters, and you will walk out not liking it at all. I couldn’t blame you, to be honest, because this film is not for everyone. It’s a hard movie to watch, that’s for sure. But I think it rewards you with superb performances by our main trio and the ending might give you hope that not everything is as bad as it seems.

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

Until next time,

Luke

After the success of The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020, my review here), Aaron Sorkin seems to have caught the directing bug. And since he loves his scripts, old Hollywood and the words he puts on the paper, there was no better subject for him to make a film about than the backstage of I Love Lucy (1951 – 1957), still to this day, one of the most influential and popular TV show of all time. Unlike The Trial of the Chicago 7, a film that was Sorkinean (that’s 100% a word) through and through, and I loved it, Being the Ricardos sometimes felt like it gets in its way. I thought it was a great performance piece, written (as always) masterfully, but I don’t believe Sorkin was the correct choice to direct it.

Let’s start with the positives, and they definitely outweigh the negatives. Everybody in this film is acting like their careers are on the line. From Nina Arianda, J.K. Simmons (who seems to have one of the best “second” careers ever after receiving his Oscar for Whiplash (2014)) to two of our main stars – Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman. I will be honest – I have never seen a single I Love Lucy episode, which probably won’t be a shocker. But I’ve heard great things about it, and I know how revolutionary it was for its time (the pregnancy plot, Lucy being married to Cuban). So knowing that gave me some appreciation for what both Nicole and Javier are doing here. I thought they both didn’t go for the obvious choices. Javier was the best I’ve seen him in a while – he portrayed Desi so well you understood everything he did, said or even shouted at times. Nothing shocked me as he left everything on the table.

As for Nicole, I thought she disappeared into this role, which is saying something given she is one of my favourite actresses ever. Plenty of times, when actors are portraying these legendary characters, they often try to imitate them as close as possible where it can feel like a parody rather than a performance. And Nicole brilliantly avoided that here. The make-up and costume have transformed her into Lucy, and her performance only elevated all the elements around her. But her performance never felt too forced or too “old Hollywood” – a trap she could have fallen into, trying to mimic everything. But no, she gave us Lucy that felt like an actual person and what’s more, she displayed how she was the brain behind the show, going over every line/joke, set up for those jokes, why is this joke funny or why this one isn’t working. Maybe that’s why Kidman nailed this performance, because to an extent, Kidman is Lucille Ball of today. Not only a brilliant actress but also a producer, who is used to wearing many hats in Hollywood, not to mention the fact she’s been at the very top for more than 20 years now. And that is no accident.

My only thing with Being the Ricardos was the direction. I understood that Sorkin made this almost into a play, with occasional time jumps. I didn’t mind those, as I thought they weren’t hard to follow; I always knew what was happening. But the play-like structure… I am still not convinced it was the best way to go about this film. I don’t know how to describe it, but there were moments where some decisions (like the end, where J.K., Nina and Nicole are outside, waiting for the taping of the show) should have hit me harder than they did. The movie has its moments, don’t get me wrong, but given those big moments sometimes felt like a film mixed with a play, that decision didn’t work as intended for this specific film. Unlike Sorkin’s previous film, I think for Being the Ricardos, it would only be beneficial if somebody else directed his script and he would stand back. And it’s not just one or two directors that come to mind; I can imagine many “old-timers” or relative newcomers who are experienced enough in dramas that could have elevated this script and made it less of theatre and more movie. For example, Rob Reiner for the “old-timers” (an obvious nod to him directing A Few Good Men (1992), one of my favourites, written by Sorkin) and for the newcomers, I would love to see what someone like Damien Chazelle or Jason Reitman would do with this script. Especially somebody like Jason, who is from “Hollywood royalty”, and because of it probably knows a lot more about how it used to be “back then”, I would love to see his take on this Sorkin’s script.

Overall, Being the Ricardos is one of your typical “Oscar bait” films that works. It all comes down to the performances from everybody involved and the script, that’s as ever, sharper than an expensive Japanese knife. The movie is just over two hours long, but you barely feel it; because there is always something happening, and the performances suck you in. It’s only with certain scenes you might be (like myself) pulled out slightly because the “theatrics” of the film doesn’t “mesh” with everything around it. You can tell Sorkin loves old Hollywood, but he might love it too much, being maybe too close to this topic. Like a kid in a candy shop, they shouldn’t be left there all alone, as too much candy is a bad thing.

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

Until next time,

Luke

Like everyone, I remember when this movie came out. And based on nothing but posters and maybe one trailer, I’ve pre-judged it. And when it got an Oscar nomination, I was also making dumb jokes about it, even though I had not seen it. “But why would you need to see it? It’s about a baby who thinks it’s boss; it’s not exactly complicated.” I thought to myself. Well, after a few years, I have finally managed to watch this film. And I went in expecting anything; I was ready for the worst jokes, most awkward situational comedy, questionable decisions… but somehow I ended up liking it…?

Ok, don’t get me wrong – The Boss Baby isn’t a perfect movie by any means. But it’s clever how it goes about its story, respectively, makes you believe it. That is what sold me on this film instantly. Knowing we work with an unreliable narrator (aka 7year old kid) who makes up stories all the time because that is what kids his age do. His imagination is wild and vivid, so of course, he’d see a new baby as a spy, coming to disrupt his perfect family life. Also, we need to consider the “it was all a dream” angle, as no matter how cheesy it sounds, it works for this film. It would have killed most movies, the old cliché of “It was all a dream, see?” but given this is an animated movie about babies, I’ll give this one a pass.

Am I truly going on the defence for The Boss Baby? Yep looks like it. Honestly, I didn’t see this coming as I was prepared for anything. Except for the very beginning where they set up this world so believably, I thought it was quite sweet and… dare I say almost genius? Yes, I dare because the beginning of this film clearly establishes one rule that there are no rules. Once you (or your movie) operate within the boundaries of one’s imagination, that’s your carte blanche to go wild with the story. We know that usually ends badly, and we get movies that you can’t take seriously at all, but I never thought this film crossed this line. Sure, were there some dumb/simple jokes the movie could have stayed away from? Yep. But were most of the gags something more I didn’t expect? Also yes.

Maybe that is why I ended up liking this film – my expectations were set to an extremely low level. After all the jokes on the Internet, I thought this would be below something like Minions (2015), where for every decent joke, you get five that don’t work unless you are younger than four years old, so you quietly suffer through the film. But instead of suffering/powering through this film, I ended up liking it…?

Besides the low expectations, I liked it because the story had something more than a one-joke premise. Because ultimately, this movie is about something surprisingly relatable for many families and kids. The idea you are/were the centre of attention for a couple of years just for one day, “out of nowhere”, a new baby comes around, and suddenly, the attention you once received is starting to fade. I have seen it in my relatives’ families who had kids a few years apart, and sure, nobody in those families thought the baby was the boss who came to overtake the family. But at the same, the dynamic had changed every single time, and that is what The Boss Baby addresses and deals with, so ultimately, the payoff not only makes sense, but it makes you more invested in this film. Even though sure, the premise on the paper sounds like an absolute snooze fest you won’t be able to enjoy.

Overall, The Boss Baby truly surprised me. I didn’t think I would write a review about it, but the more I thought about it, the more it became clear that there is something here if you give it a chance. Especially when you realise from the very beginning nothing that’s happening might be true, and this all might be either a dream or wild imagination of a 7year old kid. And sure, you can take it both ways, you can ask: “Why should I care then?” and that would be a perfectly valid question. I would answer by saying you should care because, in doing that, the movie gives you an out. It tells you it knows how silly this is and gives you a licence to simply sit back and enjoy this animated film without patronising you or trying to convince you how this might be real. Because in the mind of 7year old kid, anything is real. Again, I didn’t expect to write a review, let alone a decent one defending The Boss Baby, yet here I am. If you haven’t seen it because you have heard one too many jokes about it, give it a shot. No, it won’t rock your world, and it’s not on Pixar level by any means. But it’s definitely in the better half of DreamWorks catalogue.

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

Until next time,

Luke

As I hinted in my Encanto (2021) review, I have seen Luca, and I liked it. Even though it came out way earlier than Encanto, for some reason, it took me a while to get to this film. And that was a shame because I enjoyed it. Not as much as I have enjoyed Encanto, but still…

I promise this entire review I won’t be comparing Luca to Encanto. But I have to do it at least at the start of my review, as not only did both come out in 2021, they are both on the “lighter” side of Pixar films. They both still have deeper themes as we are used to with Pixar movies, however watching both, you will quickly discover they are more light-hearted. And that’s a good thing, considering the last couple of years we’ve all had. And both movies have one more thing in common – they are so stunningly unique.

Luca might be the “brightest” film Pixar has done so far. There was something about the colour scheme that was so vibrant and soothing that was where Luca shined (the pun kind of intended) the most for me. The animators managed to capture Italy stunningly. I’ve never been there (but it’s on my list, and if it weren’t for COVID, it would have been crossed out by now), but I have seen a few Italian movies, and this is how I’ve always imagined Italy to be.

What I also liked was there were not that many Italian stereotypes. Look, there were a few, after all, how else would you make a movie set in Italy without saying things like “spaghetti, pasta”, etc., but the film never felt lazy or too stereotypical. Any other, lesser studio (*cough* Illumination *cough*) would have put ten times more Italian stereotypes and lazy puns within the first 20 minutes than Luca had in the entire film, I guarantee it.

As mentioned before, the story is pretty simple – what if instead of Mermaids, we would have Mermen (I know, officially it is a sea monster, but that’s just mean), and they lived amongst us? And this is where the deeper theme comes in – you could see this as a parallel for coming out, or you could see this as a metaphor for immigrants (us against them subject is present mainly towards the end). I appreciated that Pixar crafted this film in such a way it’s only up to you what you take from it. After all, you don’t have to take anything from it, and you can focus on the story of a little boy who is desperately trying to fit in, and more importantly, trying to learn new things.

That was another aspect of this film; I enjoyed Luca’s natural inclination for learning. I loved how Luca’s curiosity and eagerness to learn was displayed; it felt authentic and brought me back to my childhood when I wanted to know more about anything. Also, I can’t forget to mention the perfect voice casting of Jacob Tremblay as the titular character of Luca. His voice fits perfectly with the main character, and it was impossible not to root for him from the very start.

The only reason I am not rating Luca higher is quite simple – it goes as quickly as it comes. What I mean by that is; since it’s such a light-hearted story, it’s easy to get into it. But when the movie was over, I couldn’t help but feel I wanted a bit more. The primary story conflict got resolved pretty quickly, even the stakes never felt as high… And when the film you are watching is like that, chances are you won’t remember much from the movie after a couple of days. And that is what happened. I still remember the stunning animation, the fact I felt (at times) like I was in Italy, but if you ask me about details, I draw a blank.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, you need to chill and be transported to someplace magical (like Italy :-)) where there isn’t that much for you to worry about. I suppose, when I re-watch this film, I will be smarter and see how many things still apply. It will be interesting to see whether I’ll feel the same, or maybe I will discover that I’ve underestimated/oversimplified this film, and it actually offers much more. It is a possibility, but for now, all I know is this wasn’t the “top tier” Pixar for me. But we all know that bar is set incredibly high.

Overall, Luca is an almost perfect animated movie. It’s not breaking any new grounds story-wise, but it has the unique power to transport you to Italy. Where you will swear, you are there, alongside Luca, Alberto and Gulia, enjoying pasta, spaghetti and some cool gelato. Yes, be aware, this film will make you hungry. If you want to watch it on an empty stomach, you might be in for torture. The only thing this film had going against it would be the slightly weaker story. But hey, if you have one of those days where all you need is a cute animated movie to watch, then Luca might be for you.

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

Until next time,

Luke

This is the kind of review I always feel the need to state that I have never consumed drugs. But I think if I had, I would perceive time and space kind of like this movie. It reminds me of David Lynch, who is one of my favourite filmmakers ever, where you are not sure what you are watching. Whether it’s a dream or reality. Is it a horror, drama, psycho-thriller? Comedy? Tough to say, for the most part. And yet, you can’t look away, and the movie never bores you. That is if you are into movies like this.

The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears (original title L’étrange couleur des larmes de ton corps) is a fascinating movie. Mainly because it starts in so innocently straightforward way. Just read this summary below:

Returning home from a business trip to discover his wife missing, a man delves deeper and deeper into a surreal kaleidoscope of half-baked leads, seduction, deceit, and murder. Does anyone in the building know something?

Source: IMDb.com

And the first 20 minutes or so seem relatively simple to follow. But then this movie starts to delve into… I don’t even know what. Dreams? Surrealism? Time travel? Honestly, I could answer all three of those with “yes”, and it would somehow make sense, and at the same time didn’t at all. And this is the beauty of this film.

Because to me, movies like these are the reason I love cinema. Nothing else manages to transport you into almost another state of mind, another dimension just like these “balls to the walls” films. They are going for something, and it’s fully up to the audience, whether they are on board with it or not. I don’t mind these films if they give me hints throughout them; that would point me in some direction. And in this film, I believe there might be some. That’s why I mentioned time travel, as I have a theory, that somehow our protagonist is stuck between present, future and past? How? Why? Am I right? I don’t know how, why, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I was mistaken. But guess what, that’s ok, to be wrong.

I always wonder, if I were to take drugs before watching something like this, how would it affect me? Would I enjoy myself, to the point I would be shouting from the rooftops about this movie? Or would I go into a deep spiral, where the different eye close-ups would haunt me until I’d sober up? I’ve heard stories about people who enjoy the occasional weed and how they watch movies like this to enjoy themselves more, and I always wondered about how would I enjoy myself? See? The art of cinema truly has the power to take you to some unexpected places, where you wonder whether or not you should start smoking weed.

As you can tell, it’s almost impossible to write a review for this unique film. But I wanted to, even if I convinced one person or put this film on their radar and they would watch it, I would be happy. It doesn’t happen too often that movie ends, and I want to re-watch it straightaway. Even with A++ films, it rarely happens, the feeling of “I need to watch it again, now!” But it happened with this film. I didn’t end up re-watching it, as I had things to do that day. But I think that’s the best I can say about this film. I had no idea what I was watching, yet I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. And when it was over, I was so fascinated with the visuals, the story, the characters, I wanted to watch it again. Just to see whether I could figure it out. This beautiful looking mess.

Overall, The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears is as trippy as if David Lynch got high on coffee and cocaine at the same time. It can be disturbing at some points, kind of funny at other times, and the movie engages you for its entire length. What’s more, this might be one of the most unique looking and beautiful movies I have seen in some time, and that is saying something. If you are like me and enjoy films that make you question whether drugs are a good idea or not, give this a try. I can’t guarantee you will like it, but I think you won’t forget it 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