Nacho Vigalondo

  • Colossal (2016)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, April 2022) Years after placing Colossal in my Netflix queue, I finally saw it… dubbed in French, off a DVR late-night recording interspaced with ads. Not the ideal circumstances, not the best timing, but sometimes a DVR-based workflow is easier than streaming marginal choices, especially on a less-than-impressive Internet connection. Still, a good movie should remain identifiable no matter the viewing situation, right? Well, I think so – and if Colossal isn’t necessarily a great movie, it’s quirky and fun enough to be worth a look in less-than-ideal conditions. Anne Hathaway stars as a bit of a loser – a young woman with big dreams of becoming a writer, but whose drinking problems get her kicked out of her job, relationship, apartment and New York City itself. Going back to the empty family house of her childhood town, she gets to rebuild everything… with the help of a past flame (Jason Sudeikis).   So far, so small-town romantic comedy, right? We’ve seen endless Hallmark movies with roughly the same premise. But none of them has ever done anything close to what Colossal does next, which is to take a flying leap into surreal fantasy as our protagonist realizes that stepping on a playground at a specific time of the day will create a gigantic monster in Seoul duplicating her gestures. It gets even wilder when another person (for reasons badly explained in a flashback) also enters the playground and manifests himself in Seoul. Fully exploring the possibilities of its premise, Colossal also delivers a better-than-average romantic drama talking about women encountering terrible men, flipping the usual small-town romance into something far darker. There are few tidy answers here: no real steady progress from addiction to recovery, and little comfort to be gained from romantic clichés. Yet it goes big in its imaginative conceits. The blend of dull realism with wild surrealism is remarkable enough – and it will keep you glued to the screen, wondering what’s going to happen next and how far writer-director Nacho Vigalondo will push things. I don’t quite like the way the film wraps up, but that’s not a big deal, considering what it can deliver on its way there. Colossal may still be in your own Netflix queue, but if that’s the case, don’t worry: even six years later, there hasn’t been anything quite like it.

  • Open Windows (2014)

    Open Windows (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, April 2016) Anyone who has been paying attention to my reviews knows that I have a weakness for gimmicky thrillers that try to do something new. Open Windows may not be completely original in choosing to show its action as if from a computer screen (a segment in V/H/S/2 did it a year before, Unfriended did it again a few months later), but it’s certainly unlike any other thrillers out there, and its willingness to try something new (no matter how ludicrous those things may be) is nothing short of refreshing. Here, the action begins quietly enough, as a young man (Elijah Wood, effectively nebbish) sits in a hotel room, preparing to meet a beloved actress after winning one of those “dinner with a fan” contest. But things get more complicated when someone contacts our hero and makes increasingly disturbing requests, hacking various devices to provide intimate access to the actress’s life. It escalates from there, all the way to tasering, torture, SWATting, car chases, massive explosions and a few hackers messing with each other’s plans. All seen through a laptop screen, even though the camera pans and the owner of the laptop isn’t as clear as you’d think. The actress is rather well-played by porn-star-turned-mainstream-actress Sasha Gray, and Open Windows gets extra points for irony by making viewers feel dirty and ashamed of watching her undress. Of course, it’s not a good idea to go into the film expecting any realism: Aside from the impossible technology featured throughout the film, the plot piles on preposterous developments until anyone’s suspension of disbelief topples. This makes the third act feel far less involving than if the film had stuck to more believable plot points, but that’s part of the film’s charm in a way. I’m good with crazy, especially if it’s crazy-new, and Open Windows cleverly scratches that itch. Some of the imagery used late in the film approaches techno-impressionism, and writer/director Nacho Vigalondo’s script has some awe-inspiring moments and structural elements built into it. It’s too bad that it’s not under just a bit more control, with some superfluous plot twists excised in favour of a cleaner ending. But I’ll take what I’ve got, especially considering that the film flew under the radar of mainstream moviegoers and found itself a little niche on Cable channels. It’s quite a bit better than one would expect, and in-between this, Grand Piano, Pawn Shop Chronicles and Maniac, Elijah Woods is developing quite a bit of a filmography as the go-to lead actor for crazy thriller high-concepts.