Alexis Bledel

Crypto (2019)

Crypto (2019)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, September 2019) There’s something worth exploring in the ways Crypto uses the mechanics of a connected world to bring international intrigue to a sleepy upstate New York small town. As our protagonist (a genius financial mind) gets demoted and sent back to his hometown for “compliance matters,” he conveniently becomes embroiled again in family drama just as he discovers money laundering shenanigans close to home. Fans of cryptocurrency shouldn’t count too much on this film to give an even-handed or even insightful depiction of those here—it’s used strictly as a plot device to get dark Russian money in a small town so that heroes and villains can have an excuse to wave their guns around. It’s actually a pretty good idea for low-budget filmmakers, who can now use USB keys to heighten the drama of what can happen away from big cities. On the other hand, we’re kind of stuck with the consequent budget and reduced ambitions: Despite known actors such as Kurt Russell, Liam Hemsworth and Alexis Bledel, Crypto is nothing more than direct-to-video fare, not badly executed but lacking in the kind of added value that a great script or direction could bring to the premise. The small city setting looks bland and gray, while the actors have trouble getting the technological exposition out smoothly. The characters are a bit dull (despite the “weaponized autism” crack, the lead character feels a bit bland) and their situations feel taken out of small-town Cliché Central. Even then, Crypto is not bad, not good, somewhere in the middle with only a bit of added conceptual interest in what it attempts to do. As of now, though, the collision of global threats in small town remains a fertile ground for someone else to have a go at it. While Crypto focuses on Russian mobster operating through a Canadian intermediary on the shores of Lake Ontario, there’s clearly more to be done with the idea.

Violet & Daisy (2011)

Violet & Daisy (2011)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(On Cable TV, November 2015) Alas, Violet & Daisy has more potential than actual success.  Taking place in a world with a clearly-defined criminal ecosystem that includes rates assassins, this is a film about two bubble-gum-popping teenagers working as killers, making money to splurge on the latest celebrity fashion.  Their lives, however, are put in question when they take on a contract on a man (James Gandolfini, sympathetic enough in one of his last roles) who seems curiously amenable to their deadly plans, going as far as making things as easy and comfortable for them as possible.  Writer/director/producer Geoffrey S. Fletcher clearly has quirkiness in mind in executing his film, but the result seems curiously tame and unbelievable at the same time, not taking enough chances to be interesting.  (Comparisons with John Wick, which also indulged in a comic-book universe of codified contract killers, are instructive.) It speaks volumes that, mere weeks after seeing the film, I can’t remember much of the conclusion or even anything beyond the first thirty minutes: It doesn’t help that after a machine-gun opening, the film settles down in an apartment and that even the subsequent gunfights can’t do much to go beyond the talky theater piece that the film becomes.  Reflecting the hit-and-miss script, Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel don’t get to show much depth as the talkative teenagers seemingly wrestling with questions of morality and life goals.  While Violet & Daisy is amiable enough to be worth an unassuming look, there’s a tangible feeling that something is missing from the result –more exploitation, more depth, more craziness or more realism, but definitely something to take it out of its untenable middle-ground.

Post Grad (2009)

Post Grad (2009)

ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

(In theatres, August 2009): How appropriate that a film about a confused young woman should be so conflicted about its own intentions.  A limp mix of drama, comedy and romance, Post Grad struggles with an unremarkable protagonist, an episodic structure, dull scenes and intermittent comic wit.  Alexis Bledel never engages as an apparently-perfect protagonist who still can’t get a job: her lacks of distinctive skills make for a bland lead that never earns any sympathy.  (It gets worse once we realize that this supposedly-smart woman with editorial ambitions never once considers moving to where the action is –New York- even when Columbia beckons another character.)  The script isn’t much better, mind you: Oscillating between wild comedy and family drama, Post Grad never seems to know what to do next: the dramatic threads are all underdeveloped, events happen without character intervention, and the whole thing soon feels like a slog.  The highlights are few and minor: Michael Keaton is a refreshing presence as a doofus dad, and the film makes a surprising amount of comic mileage out of a flattened cat.  One can only imagine the screenwriting process that led to such a scattered result: Was it a wild comedy toned down to a more general tone, or a hum-drum drama punched up with a few zanier moments?  We may never know, especially since it’s hard to imagine someone re-watching Post Grad to hear a director’s commentary.