Movies Monthly: April '23

My monthly movie dump of some of what I've watched.

Michael

May 01, 2023

Movies Monthly: April ‘23

Just a short post about some of the things I’ve seen this month.

Beau is Afraid (2023) - Ari Aster

To quote a Letterboxd review I saw:

Beau is afraid.

I am exhausted.

It is an apt description and I think it is kind of the point of the movie. While watching this rollicking film I couldn’t help but think of it in relation to other things.

Heaven’s Gate - this move was Michael Cimino’s follow up from his Oscar win and is one of the biggest exemplifications of a blank cheque project. It didn’t go well, it ballooned over of budget and scope and eventually cost so much it tanked United Artists (or so the legend go). I thought of this throughout because of how long Beau is afraid is and also how much it cost for this kind of film. There’s certainly a narrative around at the moment about this possibly putting a dent in A24’s coffers as it is clearly quite an expensive film for something so idiosyncratic.
After Hours, Under the Silver Lake, Eyes Wide Shut - these sorts of movies that hint at strange things going on beneath the surface. You can just work it out if you think about it a bit longer, if you’re the kind of person that wants to.

I thought mostly of that second set of movies. Since coming out of the film, I’ve found that Aster himself has been describing it as a picaresque which pretty much fits that mould. Add in the fact that it is incredibly oedipal and is clearly structured, at least in part, like the Odyssey and even the naysayers would have to admit its ambitious and unique. There’s something else that all those movies have in common with Beau is Afraid - they’re really good.

I was so happy sitting in the cinema watching this and thinking how amazing it is that a studio let it happen. I look forward to the cult to come around on this one.

Watch if: You appreciate a big swing and any of the other movies I’ve mentioned above.

Here’s the trailer:

The Wicker Man (1973 film) UK poster.jpg

The Wicker Man (1973) - Robin Hardy

Michelle and I were playing through the pretty, darn great point and click adventure: The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow and I kept saying that it reminded me of The Wicker Man. Neither of us had seen it for the better part of the decade so we decided to watch it. Hasn’t dulled at all.

I love the contrast of the lead character between now and when this would have come up. I’m not sure how differently this would play out if set in the modern era (maybe Midsomer provides some hints) but I feel like Sergeant Howie would probably keep his Christianity and disgust for the people of the island’s paganism to a bit more of a simmering internal issue rather than an outward contempt.

No matter what you think of the characterisation, you can’t argue with the set up: police officer comes to remote private island to investigate a tip off he received about a missing child. The investigation takes a turn when it turns out the child doesn’t exist. Or does she? He has a photo.

What a fantastic movie, it’s a wonder that Robin Hardy only ever made two other films that are near universally disliked… but I may have to check them out.

Watch if: you like folk horror, British feudal paganism and Christopher Lee in a kilt.

Here’s the Trailer:

The Bad Guys (2022)- Pierre Perifel

The opening of this movie is really fun, starting off as a bit of a riff on the Pulp Fiction dining scene and then the reveal that the entire patronage is terrified of the two having the conversation. Following on from this we get a great Ocean’s 11 sequence where the titular anti-heroes eventually get caught pulling a heist. They are then brought into a rehabilitation program where they soon find that they might enjoy changing for the better.

I’m usually not that interested in celebrity casting as voice actors, however this seems like the production crew really understood the idea of casting for the characters. Sam Rockwell and Marc Maron are perfectly suited for their roles as the two leads, Wolf and Snake.

The animation is as good as any modern animated feature is now. Recently we rewatched Tangled and every time I see something from that era of CG animation I just pine for more stylisation, the ‘real world' aesthetic just isn’t exciting. I really enjoy the current trend of CG animation doing a sort of rubber-hose style quick poses; the police officer in this could be right out of an old Popeye short. When I rewatched Luca and Turning Red I found their style very charming but combining that with the Spider-Verse face hatching and other 2D elements could wear thin if we all start doing it in the next couple of years.

Watch if: the description above appeals to you or if you’re not expecting anything too special but still fun.

Here’s the trailer:

Otesánek (2000) - Jan Švankmajer

(Also known as Little Otik and Greedy Guts)

Jan Švankmajer is most known for his version of Alice in Wonderland, 1988’s Alice, oft-called nightmare inducing. I think people imagine that movie is trying to be whimsical and fun and failing hilariously, what with all the taxidermied animals dancing around. However, Švankmajer’s mission statement was to take away the twentieth century idea of Alice in Wonderland as a fairy tale and restore dream logic to it.

So goes Švankmajer’s feature filmography, nightmarish sequences are dotted throughout in human-scale stop motion and surrealist depictions of human behaviour. In Conspirators of Pleasure various human’s sexual kinks are played out in this fashion (most memorable are the rooster headed man flapping and the woman who can’t stop sticking little balls in her nose and other orifices) and Faust (where giant puppets torment the lead) and such is the case with Otesánek.

This movie is about a childless couple, the father of which finds a tree-stump that looks vaguely like a baby boy. He shows the stump to his wife who loves it instantly and so decides to pretend to be pregnant for 9 months so she can then ‘give birth’ to the baby. The central conflict is that the wife wishes to raise the child and the husband, believing it to be evil, wants to kill it.

Did I mention that it comes to life? Creepy.

Like all of Švankmajer's feature films it feels too long, looks almost monochromatically brown and is disturbing (there is a completely unnecessary subplot about a girl trying to avoid a paedophile that lives in the apartment building).

Would I recommend it? Probably not but if you’re vaguely interested I’d really recommend watching any of Jan Švankmajer's shorts that are freely available on youtube. The short animated section halfway through is so stylish, it makes me wish he’d just make a purely animated feature.

Watch if: you’re an absolutely crazy person with 132 minutes to spare.

Here’s the trailer:

I watch a lot of movies so feel free to follow me on Letterboxd, I don’t really review stuff but who knows it could be interesting?

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