Zoe Kravitz

  • Kimi (2022)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2022) A new Stephen Soderbergh film is a mystery box. He has worked in so many genres, taken so many chances, and threatened retirement often enough that you never quite know what you’re going to get. Maybe it’ll be great! Maybe it won’t! In Kimi, he goes back to his thriller roots to deliver something like a blend of homages to previous thrillers, questions about the techno-surveillance complex and a few pointed observations about the lockdown years. It stars Zoë Kravitz, a minor movie crush of mine who, to my recollection, never had a leading role until now despite a fourteen-year career in some showy supporting roles. Here she plays a young woman who, thanks to past trauma, fully embraced the shut-in lifestyle made popular during lockdown. Even a toothache won’t have her leave her apartment… or at least until she gets evidence of a murder and tries to escalate the matter through the appropriate channels. Unfortunately, she’s in the middle of a thriller in which evil people can hire hitmen, and where every movement can be tracked. There are traces of Rear Window, The Conversation, Michael Clayton and many other similar thrillers here, but when it’s combined with the lockdown quirks acquired in North-American society throughout 2020-22, the effect is fresher than you’d think. The script’s techno-skepticism isn’t as new (not when even animated family movies such as Ron Gone Wrong overtly talk about such issues), but it all blends together in a rather good mix. Our resourceful heroine is easy to like (the visuals of her agoraphobic self getting out of her apartment and sticking robotically to the walls are among the film’s strongest images) and she eventually levels up to a far-fetched but satisfying action heroine by the time the finale rolls around. There are a few interesting casting choices (most notably Derek DelGaudio in a villainous role), with Soderbergh keeping a tight control over the production. Kimi is not a bad thriller, but time will tell whether it ends up being a time capsule of current anxieties. In the meantime, it’s an easy-enough thriller to watch. Now what will Soderbergh do next?

  • Beware the Gonzo (2010)

    Beware the Gonzo (2010)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, June 2021) “Buy the ticket, Take the Ride” once wrote literary idol Hunter S. Thompson. With a title like Beware the Gonzo (with a poster featuring the infamous clenched-fist logo so often associated with him), you could be expecting to buy a ticket to a Thompson-influenced ride… and you’d be largely wrong. Oh, there are traces of Thompson here and there in this tale about a rebellious high-school student newspaper exposing the status quo and allowing its characters to be as acerbic as they want. But the Thompson influence is thematic at best. So, having bought the ticket, what should we expect of the ride? Perhaps the most interesting thing about it would be seeing a few actors before they hit it big, specifically Ezra Miller and Zoe Kravitz as the lead couple brought together and torn apart by the film’s events. As a former high school paper editor (although we didn’t do journalism at all), I will always have a fond place in my heart for stories set in that milieu, no matter how disappointing they turn out to be. And while writer/director Bryan Goluboff ensures that Beware the Gonzo has too many good points to be a failure, it’s not anywhere near what it should be. Oh, I liked the rebellion of the protagonist, as he finds kindred outcasts in his preppy high school, then proceeds to reveal everyone’s secrets. There’s a pleasant energy to the second quarter of the film, as everything comes together nicely and the protagonist gets to score points against the school authorities and his bullies. But then… it becomes far more average. Now, you’ll either find the third-act turn (as in: revealed secrets hurt people) mature, wimpy or hypocritical, depending on how you feel about the freedom of the press, the responsibility of the bullhorn or how the film’s morality seems centred on the protagonist. Suffice to say that after the film’s hyper-melodramatic framing device, we end up in a place that has been thoroughly explored by many, many other high-school films, with a milquetoast conclusion that makes sure to offend no one. Gonzo? Hardly. Watchable? Somewhat. Thompson fans aren’t the only ones who should temper their expectations going into Beware the Gonzo: it’s slightly more interesting than most high-school movies, but it wastes a lot of potential on its way to the end.

  • Gemini (2017)

    Gemini (2017)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On TV, May 2021) Much about Gemini should work better than it does. Suggest a neo-noir thriller at the age of the social media panopticon and my ears will perk up; play up themes of the power dynamics between a star, a fan and an assistant and I will be intrigued; state that Zoe Kravitz will play a burnt-out young star and you will definitely get my attention. But upon viewing, Gemini is far limper than expected. Writer-director Aaron Katz doesn’t really seem interested in delivering a pure genre piece — his stylized direction is elliptical and scattered, while his script doesn’t commit to the ethos of genre mysteries or noir itself. By the time a central tenet of the film’s premise is nullified in the conclusion, many viewers will be tempted to cry foul — and not just from the basic implausibility of the twist. There is no narrative rhythm here — the scenes fall flat, the dialogue is banal, there’s little buildup of suspense, and as the conclusion suggests, Gemini isn’t even really interested in conventional storytelling. If you find yourself watching it, I suggest not getting overly involved —the film itself will keep you at a distance. It would be tempting to chalk this disappointment up to different expectations, but Gemini misses so many opportunities that it crosses over from a disappointment to being an honestly underwhelming film.

  • It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

    It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, March 2017) From its first few off-beat moments, It’s Kind of a Funny Story finds strong kinship in the kind of modest teen dramedies adapted from novels that would become so popular in the 2010s. The literary origins of the script make for a more unusual premise and issues (namely: depression and institutionalization) that hit harder than the average teen movie. Keir Gilchrist is fine as the mostly-mopey protagonist, a depressed teenager who voluntarily checks into a psychiatric hold after a suicide attempt. It doesn’t spoil anything to say that he gets better over the course of the film, encountering friendship and possibly love along the way. Zach Galifianakis in fine form is the wildcard of the story, while Emma Roberts is cute enough as a likely love interest counterbalancing Zoe Kravitz’s more superficial false flame. Otherwise, it’s a movie perhaps more notable for the fractured way in which the first half-hour is handled, leading to a more conventionally heartfelt conclusion. It’s good without being great, although it does hold up decently as a teen drama. Likable, hopeful, occasionally good for a few laughs, It’s Kind of a Funny Story lives up to its title but don’t expect much more.