Movie Review

  • Ludo (2020)

    Ludo (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, December 2021) I still have a lot of Indian films to watch before making sweeping statements about the nation’s cinema(s), but I have more often than not been disappointed in what I’ve seen. The Indian films I’ve seen, especially those that consciously avoid the masala tradition, are often stuck in a paternalistic context — overly deferential to authorities, needlessly apologetic for innocuous material, and heavily conservative even when highlighting their progressivism. Indian films don’t speak to audiences at their own level, and they would be significantly better if they did. Well, here’s Ludo to bolster my assertion: As an ensemble black comedy dealing with criminals, complex criss-crossing fates and just a little bit of magical realism, it’s one of the most enjoyable Indian films I’ve seen lately, and it’s executed in a style that addresses modern moviegoers with all of the sophistication, wit and energy that they can expect. The framing device has two supernatural beings philosophizing about life, death, fate, and morality as encapsulated by the game of Ludo, while they witness the increasingly wild events to consume the story’s four main characters. Taking inspiration from the game board, each of them is colour-coded for our convenience — something that goes from their clothes to the dominant colours of the scenes in which they’re featured. Writer-director Anurag Basu has a lot to do in blending a complex story in 150 minutes — Ludo is a touch too long, but not unjustifiably so. The four strands of his story take place in a semi-comic criminal underworld, but some of them are funnier (or more tragic) than other strands, giving a result that is differentiated without being incoherent. It’s vivid, colourful and energetic, with some flashbacks to fracture the story even more. As someone with a thing for cute bespectacled curly brunettes, it was hard to pick between Sanya Malhotra and Pearle Maaney — but all of the actors have something to do here, no matter whether they deal with Internet pornography, reuniting with their estranged daughter, suitcases of money, or rising above being supporting characters. Comparisons with the British school of dark crime comedies à la Guy Richie are lofty but not entirely unfounded. The plotting gets a bit too contrived in the last third, and some judicious editing (especially at the script level) could have helped the film feel more cohesive. Still, I had a great time watching Ludo — far more than better-known Indian films of recent vintage, and I hope that it announces more enjoyable examples of Indian cinema than what I’ve seen recently.

  • ’Til Death Do Us Part (2017)

    ’Til Death Do Us Part (2017)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) You never know what hornet’s nest you’re going to uncover when you do research on a film to inform a review. I was going to open this capsule with “the only thing funnier than a BET-original comedy is a BET-original thriller” and riff from there, but a look at writer-director Chris B. Stokes’ filmography and assorted news items revealed that he’s the one behind some of the most disappointing films of the channel, and that his non-Wikipedia search results are a wild ride of a very lengthy filmography, a previous music career and more tabloid-worthy articles than I care to care about—none of them mentioned in what reads like a scrubbed-clean Wikipedia page. It’s so interesting that I’m having a struggle getting back to the movie ’Til Death Do Us Part, and some of that is due to a lack of interest in the film itself. Why does Stokes, with a filmography of over thirty productions spanning multiple genres, remain so inept at putting a film together? I understand production limits (simply getting movies done on time and on budget will get you far in the industry), but considering that BET keeps hiring him as a writer-director-producer, I’m flummoxed at why the results aren’t better. I’m not saying they’re terrible: there’s usually a spark of lurid interest in most of his films, but that seldom translates into an effective execution. Much of that is true for ’Til Death Do Us Part: As the film begins with the wedding of a picture-perfect couple, it doesn’t take a lot of time for the husband to turn abusive for some reason. What follows is a blend of thrills and romance, as the wife fakes her death, moves away, meets a much better man but then has to contend with a third act in which the husband tracks her down and does the usual attempted-murderous thing. It ends very much like you’d expect. Some of it plays well, although much of the plotting remains arbitrary and clunky. Other elements simply seem melodramatic and contrived, such as having a new mother (and an infant!) battling an intruder in a surprisingly large house. But I won’t begrudge the wildness of the ride, as it’s often the biggest reason to watch, even as everything else is just dumb or trite. Having an excuse to look at Stoke’s filmography, I’m left more bemused than anything else: churning out an average of two movies per year (now with miniseries!), he doesn’t seem able to go beyond a fairly basic level of filmmaking. He does have good actors backing him up in this case (Annie Ilonzeh is not bad, and Taye Diggs brings his usual charm to the supporting role of the better man) but his cinematography is pedestrian and his scripts show clear signs of being slapped together from obvious plot points. The results are perhaps best appreciated at some distance. I’m not saying that ’Til Death Do Us Part is worth a look, but I’m not saying that it’s to avoid either.

  • The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

    The Cheyenne Social Club (1970)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) I have no doubt that the filmmakers behind The Cheyenne Social Club did exactly what they intended in casting James Stewart as a cowboy who inherits a brothel. Even at a time when New Hollywood was breaking all of the rules, Stewart’s aw-shucks appeal meant that this wasn’t a film that was out to offend sensibilities. At best, it uses the suggestion of naughtiness as a lure, but doesn’t do anything that could be misconstrued as offensive. (The closest it gets to actual naughtiness is in its repeated suggestions that the house of ill repute is actually a boon for the town… and clearly not of ill repute.)  Stewart plays a laconic cowboy thrust in a situation he doesn’t want — it’s a rather familiar role, and the demands of the comedy don’t stretch his range too much either. Where the film does get more interesting is in pairing him with his good friend Henry Fonda in front of the camera, with none other than Gene Kelly as a director. The plot is thin to the point of aimlessness, an impression that is not helped by a rather disappointing conclusion that fails to show growth for the protagonist. Except that maybe that’s the point — such a fundamentally conservative film (despite Kelly’s often-bawdy instincts) could not end in any other way, and that’s probably the biggest joke in the entire story. Still, even with its flaws and lack of audacity, The Cheyenne Social Club remains a smooth film to watch — more light-hearted than many of Stewart’s previous westerns, and with some cleavage on display. I don’t think it fully uses the elements at its disposal, but that’s the case for most movies anyway. The paying public probably wouldn’t have stood for anything too daring.

  • Artemis Fowl (2020)

    Artemis Fowl (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Disney Streaming, December 2021) There’s a point, not terribly far into Artemis Fowl, when I found myself openly wondering how a film with such over-the-top elements ended up being so incredibly and thoroughly boring. Prisoner of its own delusions, it’s a film so innately convinced that it’s awesome that it forgets to put in all of the work required to actually make it awesome. It really doesn’t help that the title character is introduced as an insufferable know-it-all with a penchant for provocation, and that little of what follows helps in making the character any more likable. (I suppose there’s a public for an aspirational Young Adult novel featuring a mastermind criminal, but what works on the page doesn’t always work on-screen.)  Drunk on Irish mythology and its own cleverness, the script fails to make an underground elven civilization any more interesting than countless other meaningless CGI extravaganzas. It’s rather amazing that such top talent as Kenneth Branagh (as director), Judi Dench (in a major role) or Colin Farrel (actually rather good in another small supporting role) are involved, because the entire thing is hollow from top to bottom — from a ludicrous screenplay to by-the-number execution, the film simply fails to achieve anything with what it has at its disposal. (Actually, Dench does have the film’s best line, although her delivery of “Top o’ the morning” is more a situational gag than anything worth a chuckle by itself.)  There’s a clearly a franchise-building intent here, but the execution is so inept that few will regret what looks like dead-on-arrival prospects for further instalments. Even by the standards of one-and-done aborted YA series, Artemis Fowl is particularly dreadful.

  • Killer Reputation (2019)

    Killer Reputation (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, December 2021) If you thought Lifetime-broadcast romantic comedies were ludicrous, you clearly haven’t seen their thrillers yet. I was drawn to Killer Reputation for its Hollywood setting and subject matter: the premise has something to do with a PR professional defending an actor from accusations of murder despite tabloid TV scrutiny and another killer on the loose. That’s not a bad premise, actually, but doing it justice would mean much better dialogue, directing and acting than we get here. It would also mean focusing on suspense thriller elements rather than having danger and murder being mere pretext for a romantic triangle between the protagonist and two dangerous men. Oh that’s right — Killer Reputation may present itself as a thriller, but in Lifetime channel tradition it’s solidly a romance. Accordingly, the plotting is incredibly weak, and the threats ludicrous — by the time a character somehow finds herself in a carbon monoxide trap, we’re there wondering how that happens more than being concerned for her safety. (She gets rescued before the next commercial break anyway.)  Despite the lead character’s protests of being a professional, everything about her actions screams romantic contrivances (the biggest being hosting a fugitive in her own house). The ending is trite to the point of being irritating, with very little surprise as to what happens. No one associated with the film gets a badge of honour: Director Ben Meyerson gets the thing done, hopefully on budget, while lead actress Anna Hutchison can apparently hit her marks and not much more. The Los Angeles-setting isn’t particularly inspiring, and there’s no real look behind the scenes of the Hollywood ecosystem. Considering the pedigree of Killer Reputation, I shouldn’t be disappointed… and yet the result simply doesn’t satisfy.

  • The House Next Door aka Meet the Blacks 2 (2021)

    The House Next Door aka Meet the Blacks 2 (2021)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) I’m fond of silly comedies spoofing other genres, so there’s something in the vampire spoof of The House Next Door that provides at least a solid hook. I haven’t seen the first Meet the Blacks yet, but it’s not as if the basics are difficult to understand: When an average family sees a new strange neighbour move into the house next door, they can’t help but notice clues that something supernatural is afoot. Their suspicions are later proven right when the neighbour ends up being a vampire with a fixation on the protagonist’s wife. It’s a big blend of familiar tropes used as an excuse for Mike Epps (as the family-man protagonist) and Katt Williams (as the vampire antagonist) to goof around. Some of the material works, but let’s not pretend that this is good or particularly funny: the dialogue doesn’t fly high, and the jokes are seldom anything but obvious. The House Next Door has a straight-up male gaze, which would be far more enjoyable if the female characters had something interesting to do. But no — the focus here is on the guys and it’s not as if they’re worth the entire spotlight. Sure, it’s fun to see Danny Trejo and Snoop Dog appear for brief roles, but even their cameos can’t sustain the rest of the film when it sputters through familiar arcs and overextended jokes falling flat. The House Next Door, despite some indulgence and the combined attractiveness of Shamea Morton, Bresha Webb and Jena Frumes, remains a disappointing outing, not even successful at aping a Wayans-Brothers kind of comedy (which itself apes other better material). It wasn’t a complete waste of time, but I can’t see myself recommending most of it.

  • The Wild One (1953)

    The Wild One (1953)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) Some of the fun in watching older “social issues” movies is how quaint they can feel. The barely repressed panic of The Wild One, for instance, consists in imagining the terrible things that could happen if some of those strange and scary motorcycle enthusiasts would take over a town for the weekend, rampaging through God-fearing innocent folks. (Admittedly all inspired by a rather sensationalistic account of the Hollister Riot.) Nowadays, of course, some cities voluntarily create events for bikers — and the spectre of social disorder has been transferred to other groups. Still, the world of The Wild One is built to accommodate Marlon Brandon as a swaggering biker — but a good one that fights against the truly evil bikers (their leader played by a magnificent Lee Marvin) and romances the village’s purest girl along the way. It’s schematic, but much of the interest of the film is in the methods it uses (safely limited by the demands of the Production Code) to create social terror among its viewers, and then somehow manage to make a likable character out of Brando’s performance. The Wild One reflects an interesting juncture in post-WW2 American history, as biker gangs emerged as organized groups — but take the “inspired by a real story” tack with some indulgence.

  • Spring (2014)

    Spring (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) There’s an intriguing mixture of genres at play in Spring, as a young man’s romantic holiday becomes something much stranger along the way. It begins in depressingly gritty dramatic territory, as our protagonist buries his long-suffering mother and finds himself eager to get out of town. Once on the shores of the Mediterranean, the film shifts in romantic mode as he meets a very strange young woman who seems to harbour a deep secret. That discovery lands us in horror territory, but what sets Spring apart from countless other femmes fatales of horror vintage is that it doesn’t stop there — it keeps going further in its premise, bringing the film close to a science-fictional examination of an extraordinary but still plausible premise. But Spring is not done yet — the climactic suspense of the film is to see whether it’s going to land in horror or romance, and while the answer is unsatisfying, it’s not quite so simple as what other genre films would have chosen. You can certainly argue that the script is slightly better than the low-budget execution, and that there are maybe one or two less-essential subplots to slow things down. Still, writers-directors-producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead do rather well with a limited budget, and pack a few shocks along the way. Lou Taylor Pucci is fine in the lead role, but it’s Nadia Hilker who has the more difficult role as a flirty/mysterious/preoccupied young woman who’s really something else. Some nice Italian scenery completes the package for a surprisingly engaging film. Spring is probably not the film you expect, and that’s quite a relief in a landscape of intensely formulaic horror films that would all have gone in a very predictable direction.

  • Rebound (2005)

    Rebound (2005)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, December 2021) I know that filmmaking is a complex, backbreaking, thankless business involving hundreds of professionals doing their best. And yet, the first thing that comes to mind in watching comedy Rebound is how lazy it feels. Lazy in conception, as a famous college basketball coach is fired for ungentlemanly conduct and finds accepting a high school basketball coach position out of desperation. Lazy in how it recycles dozens of underdog sports clichés in building its inept basketball team. Lazy in the jokes it attempts, lazy in the character relationship it builds, and lazy in the formulaic way it goes about its plotting. Lazy in its unimaginative direction from Steve Carr, lazy in its unremarkable execution. Also lazy in the broad choices made by Martin Lawrence in playing the protagonist—although there’s little surprise here. Oh, Patrick Warburton and Megan Mullally show up in short but competent supporting role (while a very young Alia Shawkat makes for a fun teen sportscaster) but that’s stretching to find things to say about a very unremarkable sports comedy aimed at kids. Rebound is not terrible, but it just sits there, merely making the minimum required for entertainment.

  • Mahanagar [The Big City] (1963)

    Mahanagar [The Big City] (1963)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) As someone who bounces off writer-director Satyajit Ray’s films with unbecoming ease, I thought I had it all figured out when I deliberately selected The Big City to lull myself to sleep during a bout of insomnia: After complaining that his films were snooze-inducing, why not use that to my own benefit? Surprisingly, it did not work:  I really got into the film, as it follows the adventures of a middle-class wife who gets a job and upsets the power balance of her family. A terrific performance from Madhabi Mukherjee (playing off a frequently-irritating turn from Anil Chatterjee) anchors the entire film, but Ray’s script is interesting on a moment-to-moment basis even as we can see the big plotting threads evolve throughout. The portrait of early-1960s Calcutta is fascinating, in-between the clashing cultures left in the wake of the British occupation, and the lively everyday mixture of languages. My attempts to go to sleep went nowhere — I just wanted to see where things were going next. The ending is slightly too open-ended for my taste, but The Big City itself is a surprisingly accessible piece of neorealism whose effectiveness went past my usual objections.

  • Christmas Movie Magic (2021)

    Christmas Movie Magic (2021)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) By now, I’ve seen enough Hallmark-style Christmas movies that I have resigned myself to evaluate them on their own merits, and to expect the usual formula repeated ad nauseam. These are not meant to be ambitious movies — they follow a formula because the audience demands it, and they go for a no-frill execution because that’s the cost-efficient budget they’re working with. So, imagine my surprise when I realized that Christmas Movie Magic was going for slightly more than the usual “City girl goes back to small town for Christmas, falls in love, the end”: Oh, that’s still the plot, but it doesn’t quite cover the added complications of the details. Here, the story has to do with the journalist protagonist writing about a small town where a classic Christmas film (think something like “It’s a Wonderful Life” with musical numbers) was filmed. This means that Christmas Movie Magic at least has to go through the motions of presenting a credible Holiday classic, figure out the details of its production and voluntarily blur the lines between the present-day action and the re-creation of the classic film. This culminates in a final scene of very unusual ambition for these kinds of film: a musical number blurring both timelines with good production values. Of course, director Robert Vaughn doesn’t have what it takes (budget, actors, time, skills) to do more than being ambitious: it doesn’t quite reach the level where we forget that this is a low-budget Christmas romantic comedy, nor does it embarrass itself with fine writing along the way. But I have to respect the attempt: coupled with the focus on classic cinema (always a way to get into my good graces), Christmas Movie Magic makes a much better and stronger impression than most of the formulaic stuff that plays on cable TV during December. Despite some flat acting and graceless dialogue, I may even give it another go next year. Or at least let it play while I do something else.

  • The Great Lie (1941)

    The Great Lie (1941)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) The melodrama flies thick and fast in The Great Lie, as the film begins with a romantic triangle that is almost immediately complicated by the abrupt death of one of the principals, his impregnation of a second, and the third’s attempts to purchase the resulting child to raise on her own. Oh yes, this is soap-opera material in classic Hollywood fashion, with pesky marriages and reappearances always ruining everything. Fortunately, good execution compensates for weak source material: With Bette Davis and Mary Astor taking up most of the scenes, they at least give it all they’ve got in the acting department. (They also reportedly rewrote much of the dialogue to suit themselves, which is enough to make anyone wonder just how bad the original script was.)  Astor won an Oscar for her troubles, and Davis escapes unscathed from the ludicrous narrative. By no means an essential film unless you’re running down Oscar-winning performances, The Great Lie can be entertaining as an example of the sort of melodramatic silliness that Classic Hollywood often attempted, but it’s a relief to see it being rescued by its lead actresses.

  • Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

    Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Disney Streaming, December 2021) We’re at an interesting juncture in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having concluded the first decade of the series with a climactic event. The focus right now seems to be on building a next generation of characters, burnishing the series’ progressive credentials and trying a few new things in the wake of a conclusion of sorts. As such, maybe a bit of sputtering is inevitable: Black Widow was a reheated plate of déjà vu, while Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is only notable if you’ve never seen anything in the Chinese fantastic martial arts tradition. (Which, admittedly, is probably the case for most western audiences.)  As someone who has watched a lot of eastern fantasy martial arts movies starting back in the early 2000s, I felt more antsy than anything else during much of Shang-Chi’s second half. The first one is clearly better: as an underachieving young man discovers his otherworldly pedigree, the film begins grounded in the here-and-now, with Awkwafina providing a sarcastic audience stand-in as things get weirder and weirder. Simu Liu is fine as the lead, although time will tell if he’s able to parlay this specific success into something more lasting. The top moment of the film has to be a fight aboard a 60-foot articulated bus — having ridden on near-identical buses for a long time, that sequence exceeded my wildest fantasies borne out of transit boredom. But as Shang-Chi’s action moves away from San Francisco to the Chinese supernatural underworld and then another realm entirely, everything felt increasingly familiar, and even Michelle Yeoh can’t make the entire thing stick together — as it went on, Awkwafina’s character felt duller and duller, absent her amazement on behalf of the audience. The final battle felt like a chore more than anything else. Links with the MCU so far are thin — other than Benedict Wong showing up briefly, a few references to the Snap and the usual credit teasers, Shang-Chi is a standalone film meant to launch a new character. In some ways, this lack of satisfaction is inevitable: the series is once again in build-up mode, but the expectations are much higher this time around. Next up is Eternals, although from the vantage point of being a patient viewer, I can already see the very bad reviews for the theatrical release…

  • The Entertainer (1960)

    The Entertainer (1960)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, December 2021) For all of the self-serving myth-making that actors sustain about the profession of acting, there’s something more interesting to say about The Entertainer’s merciless look at a failed performer, one steadily heading toward irrelevance as the world moves on. The film takes place on a seaside British town, the kind of summer destination with performing halls fit for tourists. It’s a near-perfect playground for our protagonist (honestly played by Laurence Olivier), even if it’s in his own mind: As he performs to smaller and smaller crowds, his egocentrism prevents him from seeing how his life is falling apart — his repeated affairs harming his second marriage, his brother off to war, his father getting older, the music-hall tradition going away, and his commercial appeal being practically gone. Filmed in stark black-and-white by director Tony Richardson with an equally unsentimental script, The Entertainer is the cautionary tale warning anyone against an acting career. It’s really not a fun time at the movies, but the seedy atmosphere of desperation permeates the character and gives the film a still-unique feeling.

  • His House (2020)

    His House (2020)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, December 2021) As far as premises go, blending a haunted-house story with an immigrant drama of culture shock is not bad at all: in the tradition of the best horror movies being less about monsters and more about a theme literally represented, His House presents an unusual take on an overly familiar topic, and manages to say something halfway interesting along the way. Our protagonists are an immigrant couple having made it to Great Britain despite terrible hardships, including the death of their daughter. Hardly greeted with open arms, they find themselves in a terrible apartment with some blunt directives: Don’t make trouble. Obey the law. Fit in. Or else: deportation. But that considerable burden becomes even more difficult to bear when a supernatural apparition starts haunting their new apartment: a presence out for revenge and the recognition of past wrongs. There’s an interpretation of His House that sustains a psychological drama angle — it’s all in the protagonist’s head, and the holes he knocks in the walls of the apartment reflect his errant state of mind. But while such an explanation may make academic dullards gleeful, it’s also the most boring. Far better to perceive the monster as a monster in addition to the incarnation of a metaphor. The rest of writer-director Remi Weekes’s film isn’t always so interesting, though: While there’s a caustic argument going on between husband and wife about whether they want to stay in the United Kingdom (this isn’t a heartwarming story of immigration), much of the film is a slow burn all the way to the final confrontation. Still, His House has more to say than the average horror film, and an angle of its material that feels unusual enough to be interesting.