Octavia Spencer

  • The Shack (2017)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2022) As someone who’s not targeted nor receptive to Christian-themed filmmaking (yes, the irony is thick), it took me a long time to get to The Shack. After all, the story surrounding the film is arguably more interesting than the film itself. The novel on which it’s based was initially written for a family audience, then was turned into a self-published book that slowly gathered attention thanks to marketing focused on religious audiences. Eventually becoming a best-selling mainstream sensation, the book’s ultimate destination to the big screen seemed a foregone conclusion given the small-but-robust market segment for such films. Executed with some talent and a budget generous enough to accommodate the special effects work required by the plot, The Shack did relatively well for a religious-themed film: it made its costs back, got great reviews from its intended audience and not-as-bad-as-expected reviews from mainstream critics. (To be clear: the critical consensus on the film is negative, but not as overwhelmingly so as many other similar films packed for religious audiences.)  Seen today, now that the hype of the book and the film have died down, what remains is half-silly and half-spiritual but not intolerable. The worst plot contrivances happen early on, as a series of happenstances are combined with the intervention of a child serial killer (!) to send our grieving protagonist (Sam Worthington) in a self-destructive spiral of guilt and self-loathing. That’s already asking a lot of good will from the audience, but the goal of such a preposterous setup is to have the protagonist reach a spiritual awakening by having him “imagine” a meeting with God, as personified by Octavia Spencer (also Graham Greene), Aviv Alush and Sumire Matsubara. That casting is indeed God-like, and it’s set against a luminously idyllic British Columbia backdrop. What’s perhaps as surprising as it is underwhelming is what God says—feel-good platitudes that often have more to do with modern self-actualization gurus than anything in the Bible. It’s not uninteresting, mind you—but the gap between divine profundity and what the script delivers can be more than just annoying. As far as conversations-with-God go, it meets the bare minimum but often feels far too pat to be fully convincing. This being said, I still liked it—there’s an intention to make this as soothing and comforting as possible (with occasional shocks) that plays well despite the wild framing material. Arguing with The Shack is practically mandatory: it’s very amusing to read how the book and the film got bad reviews from both secularists and theologians. At least the production values are high enough that it feels like a real movie rather than the poor low-budget efforts so prevalent in that market segment. And let’s not underestimate the power of casting: there’s some built-in viewing pleasure in seeing those industry veterans Spencer and Greene finally add “God” on their resumés. I’m still not ranking the film all that highly, but I’ve definitely seen worse, and would rather see The Shack again (maybe fast-forwarding over the framing device) than many other acclaimed yet intolerable films out there.

  • Ma (2019)

    Ma (2019)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2020) I’m happy that Octavia Spencer can have a career in which she can play a murderous woman-child who goes psycho on a bunch of teenagers, but on the other hand… Ma is thin gruel for a talented actress, even if she just wants to have some fun once in a while. While there are a few interesting elements in this story about a middle-aged woman befriending and then stalking teenage protagonists, Ma is the kind of movie that comes and goes without leaving much of a trace. It’s a Blumhouse special, meaning high profit margins on a high-concept but ultimately familiar premise. Competently made but often too timid for its own sake (although I do like the relatively upbeat finale over the rumoured original script), Ma is too often too bland for its own good. The great antagonist meets barely sketched-in protagonists and the Midwest small-town horror atmosphere doesn’t bring anything new. While I’m not that happy about the attempts to explain the roots of the antagonist’s madness, even I have to admit that the film would be poorer and less meaningful without it. Still, this is a lower-end horror movie and it feels like it. Ma will do the job is this is the kind of thing you’re looking for, and it’s a surprisingly good turn to show off Spencer’s range, but otherwise there are far better horror movies out there.

  • The Nines (2007)

    The Nines (2007)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, March 2019) It took me twelve years to make my way to The Nines, and I’m glad I eventually did. I guarantee you won’t guess where it ends from where it begins, as it starts with Ryan Reynolds playing an actor on house arrest, but then becomes weirder as clues accumulate that we shouldn’t take that reality for granted. Eventually, we end up in science-fiction thriller territory, with three stories crashing into each other in ways that are increasingly strange. It does make sense in the end, even though the final impact is lesser than could have been anticipated twenty-five minutes in. One good reason to watch The Nines is the number of pre-stardom actors showing up: Reynolds lends his charm to three linked roles, while Octavia Spencer uncharacteristically shows impressive cleavage, and most notably Melissa McCarthy shows up here as a rather sweet character before her post-Bridesmaids screen persona settled (at least temporarily) on an abrasive nature. Her stripped down, classically traditional performance will make converts of those who couldn’t stand her in the 2010s. Taking a step back, there’s a quite a bit of fun in putting the various said and unsaid layers of the story together—the “Nine” symbolism isn’t hard to see (although 9 as “I, X” or if you prefer “I, an unknown” isn’t dwelled upon) but the film has fun blending together acting, writing and videogames into a panopticon of assumed identities. I’m a bit annoyed that it took me twelve years to see The Nines—while it’s not the greatest film ever made, it’s a happy discovery and one that may play better now than in 2007 due to the rising fortunes of its stars and how we perceive them … adding another layer to writer-director John August’s film.

  • Gifted (2017)

    Gifted (2017)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, January 2018) Frankly, I expected the worst schmaltz from this family melodrama featuring a genius-level kid. Hollywood seldom deals well with genius, and the temptation to turn this into a syrupy rote “brain doesn’t matter at much as heart” Hollywood pap seemed irresistible from the plot synopsis. But Gifted actually works better than expected thanks to a few winning performances and generally well-executed conventions. Chris Evans is rather good as a smart-but-troubled ordinary guy trying to raise his genius niece despite significant challenges. McKenna Grace is fine as the genius kid, while Jenny Slate is immensely likable as a teacher trying to help. Octavia Spencer does her best with a limited role, while Lindsay Duncan is suitably hissable as the antagonist. Director Marc Webb returns to simpler drama after disappointingly overblown superhero films, and the genre suits him much better. Otherwise, Gifted is a straightforward family drama, not too syrupy and decently heart-warming when it needs to be. Some of the plot turns aren’t necessarily happy (and the conclusion is bittersweet enough). The details are interesting: there’s a cute Lego reference, and the look at mathematical academia is intriguing despite a bit of showboating with a celebrated “unsolvable” problem. Gifted doesn’t avoid the usual “heart> brain” stuff, but it does seem to come to its conclusion honestly. It could have been much worse, and the result is palatable enough.

  • Hidden Figures (2016)

    Hidden Figures (2016)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, September 2017) While I’m convinced that revisionist works such as Hidden Figures are essential in making full sense of history (which doesn’t rely solely on the majority-status figureheads, but also the unnamed masses actually doing the work), I can’t get rid of a feeling of annoyance when the fiction proves to be more revolting than the reality. I am, of course, showing my white privilege when I point out that Hidden Figures manipulates historical facts to make life seem even more terrible for its black female protagonists. (The entire washroom subplot, as infuriating as it is, never happened in real life.)  Still, there is a lot to like in what Hidden Figures actually does. “Coloured computers” packs so much wrongness in two words that it’s almost a relief to see a movie sidestep the heroics of The Right Stuff to show who was behind much of the mathematical grunt work. It helps that Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe make great heroines, and that capable white actors such as Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst are (for once!) relegated to support roles. (Meanwhile, there’s Jim Parsons being Jim Parsons—for all of the acclaim that he’s gotten for Sheldon Cooper, the more I see him in other venues the more I’m seeing him in the same role.)  The historical recreation of NASA’s early days (dramatic inaccuracies aside) is also impressive, and Hidden Figures more than finds its way alongside The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 as essential movies for space program enthusiasts. Which makes the inaccuracies worse, in a way—I’d settled for a less dramatic film if it meant a more accurate one: it’s not as if the basic story wasn’t inspiring enough…

  • The Help (2011)

    The Help (2011)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, March 2013) There’s a small stroke of genius in the way The Help takes a big social issue such as culturally-ingrained racism and looks at it from a very domestic perspective.  Isn’t it a very real human tragedy to think that poor black mothers spent more time raising privileged white children than their own kids, helping perpetuate the established order?  Doesn’t it drive the point home more effectively than broad social demonstrations?  Isn’t Bryce Dallas Howard simply repulsive as the evil-in-a-sundress homemaker who considers “the help” as nothing more than disposable property?  The Help is noteworthy in that it’s a female-driven film that managed to break the box-office: a welcome change of pace from the usual bang-bang entertainment that drives summer blockbuster crowds.  A large part of this success has to be attributed to the way the film genially approaches its subject: Nearly all of the lead cast is female, and makes no apologies in the way it presents itself as a southern dramatic comedy of manners.  While the film may earn a few knocks for presenting racism from a white perspective (as in: “Here’s the white girl to help those poor black people tell their story of woe”), there’s no doubt that outspoken matrons Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis earn the spotlight away from southern belles Emma Stone and Jessica Chastain.  While younger male viewers may not appreciate the kind of storytelling that The Help is built on, it’s easy to see that the film is effective at what it does, and that the emotional weight of the film goes beyond its older and wiser target audience.  As a result, The Help manages some serious cross-over impact, charming even audiences outside its marketing category.  It’s sweet without being too cloying, and it’s got a few memorable stories in its bag of folk tales.  It’s surprisingly effective at discussing the emotional side of child-rearing, and wrings some real emotion from its premise.  The soundtrack is occasionally terrific, and the sense of southern culture (tempered by the real recognition of its racist enablement) is spectacular.  It’s well worth a look, even for viewers who may not feel as if they material calls to them.