2015 Films: #14. The Duke of Burgundy

October 3rd in Chicago, IL. This was an iTunes rental on a Saturday night. There's a bit of a backstory here as well. I travel a lot and I was looking for a film to rent on an upcoming flight and I stumbled upon this title and I read the opening line of the description to my fiance, "sex, bondage and butterflies: two women explore the extremes of carnal desire in this kinky, deliciously twisted tale of erotic obsession." SOLD! I joked with my fiance about watching this while away and then she said, "why don't we watch it together?" After hanging out in the West Loop in the afternoon, we got some ice cream and settled in to view this film.

This is a European film that saw it's U.S. release on January 23, 2015 to 3 screens and then jumped to 9 screens on February 8th. Suffice to say, not too many people in America saw this film much less even heard of it. The picture was written and directed by Peter Strickland and received a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has a very small cast and centers around the relationship between the older Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and her younger lover Evelyn (Chiara D'Anna). At first it seems that Evelyn is merely Cynthia's maid but she's subjected to strict behavioral restrictions and very high standards for cleanliness. Cynthia really comes off as a bitchy, rich snob. As the film goes on, a different light is shown on their relationship. Cynthia and Evelyn are lovers, with Cynthia as the dominant and Evelyn as the submissive.

Get the idea?

However, we start to see that maybe it's Evelyn who's the dom as she leaves notes for Cynthia that basically contain a script for Cynthia. Evelyn gets sexual pleasure from the punishments she receives for either bad behavior or failing to complete a task (Evelyn gets punished for not cleaning all of Cynthia's panties and the punishment is not seen onscreen but it was a bit unsettling when I realized what the punishment was). The relationship is a routine that both go through and it slowly wears on Cynthia as she fails to deliver her lines or does not appear "cold enough" for Evelyn. Evelyn's desire for more strict and bizarre punishments starts to take a turn towards the weird. Evelyn wants to be tied up and put in a trunk (Evelyn wants to have a special bed made where she sleeps in a drawer underneath Cynthia but refuses the gift because it will take 8 weeks to make and she settled on the trunk). Cynthia continues to play along only to placate her lover.

Cynthia resents the separation when Evelyn sleeps in the trunk, she even remarks that it's more fun when they sleep together. Evelyn wants none of that and she even criticizes Cynthia for wearing a pair of comfortable pajamas. Eventually it comes to a head when Cynthia finds out that Evelyn has been polishing the boots of another woman (apparently a big no-no in this world). They seem to make up and agree to have a more conventional relationship. However, the film ends with the Evelyn coming to the door and repeating the routine from the beginning of the film.

This was a very interesting film and not something that I would normally watch. Strickland does a nice job with the Cynthia/Evelyn relationship and showing that it wasn't what it originally seemed. The plot also contains some Lepidopterology context and imagery that I had a hard time wrapping my head around. Cynthia gives lectures about the subject (she has several collections in her home) and we get scenes where a group of women are listening to lectures about moths and butterflies. In one scene the camera pans the audience and there is clearly a dressed up mannequin in in the gallery. I have no idea what that meant. It was deliberately left in there and it's in all the lecture scenes but it goes nowhere. Perhaps there's something to do with chrysalis when a caterpillar changes into a moth/butterfly but it doesn't reflect in the characters since Cynthia and Evelyn revert back to the old routine. There's no change.

I have no idea what this means.

This film is definitely not for everyone and is very art house. It's an interesting character piece that's worth watching. 

2015 Films: #13. We Are Still Here

This was an On Demand viewing on a Saturday night September 20th. This picture was released on June 5th and received a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. Screenwriter Ted Geoghegan wrote this film and makes his debut as a director on it as well. Taking place in 1979, the Sacchetti's move to a New England town in the dead of winter after their college aged son dies in a car crash in hopes of getting some closure. Weird things start to happen and Anne (Barbara Crampton) thinks it's the spirit of their dead son. Her husband Paul (Andrew Sensenig) isn't quite convinced but that doesn't stop Anne from inviting over her alleged psychic buddy (Lisa Marie) and her Jack Nicholson-esque husband (Larry Fessenden).

Things start go bad when the Lewis's son and girlfriend are brutally slain at the house while everyone is in town having dinner. When they arrive back at the house, the men have a seance while the women are grocery shopping. Here's where things heat up, Jacob Lewis gets possessed and eventually kills himself. It turns out that the spirit that Anne thought was her son, is in fact the spirit of a family murdered in the house back in 1859. Every thirty years, a new family needs to be sacrificed in order to appease the demonic family (the demonic family was murdered by the townsfolk in 1859 after an incident where they should've only been run out of town and since they were wrongfully slain, the patriarch of the group put a curse on the town). In order to ensure the sacrifice takes place the townsfolk charge the Sacchetti house and things get messy.

By messy I mean the walls are literally painted with blood.

This picture is simplistic and very minimal until the end where the walls of the Sacchetti house are literally painted with blood. The picture runs 84 minutes long and it never drags (a lot of the action takes place in the last 15 minutes or so). Geoghegan does a nice job with the lighting when there are shots of creepy things moving around in the basement and keeps the demonic family under wraps until the big reveal at the end.

Surprise everyone!

There's not a lot of original thinking here but it works. Geoghegan seems to take some ideas from John Carpenter's The Fog and numerous other films of this genre. This was a fun film to watch with some good scares. A 94% rating seems high to me but it was good and I'd recommend over a lot of zombie films that I mistakenly took the time out to watch.

2015 Films: #12. Straight Outta Compton

September 4th in Indianapolis, IN. This picture has gotten a lot of hype since its release a few eeks ago. Suffice to say the hype is well deserved. With a 90% rating on Rotten tomatoes, this is a really good film. Veteran director, and former Compton resident, F. Gary Gray does a great job of weaving the history of N.W.A. within in the tapestry of the origins of hip-hop (it was called rap throughout the 80's by the way). The film isn't fast paced per se, but it moves along at a nice pace and flows very well. The real flaw was that the picture has a running time of 2 hours and 24 minutes and could've gone through the editing room one more time. That's not to say that the film was too long or I lost interest, on the contrary, it still would've been just as good about bout 2:05. The actors were near brilliant in their performances. The standouts were O'Shea Jackson, Jr. as Ice Cube,  Corey Hawkins as Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell as Eazy-E and R. Marcos Taylor as Suge Knight.

In most "based on a true story" films the re's usually a little poetic license but from the very little I've seen, there were more omissions than exaggerations.  Glaring omissions. The film takes place from 1986 to 1995, from when Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E 1st got together, along with Wren and Yella, to Eazy-E's death. Back in the day I always felt that Dre and Cube were the creative force behind N.W.A with Eazy-E being less talented. As it turns out Eazy-E had quite a bit more to do with the group than I thought (the fact that the film was produced by Eazy-E's widow along with Dre and Cube made sure that he got a place in the trinity). After the guys release Eazy-E's single Boyz in the Hood, Eazy-E is approached by Jerry Heller to manage the group. Heller gets them the studio space as they put together the seminal album, Straight Outta Compton and the tour that followed.

Things start to slowly unravel as their album gets more and more popular. Police departments don't like them, the FBI threatens them, Dre's little brother dies and Jerry is seen as a bit of a snake to Cube and Dre. Eventually the strain is too much and the cracks become full blown breaks. Cube leaves over what he feels is mistreatment from Jerry and goes solo, much to the chagrin to the rest of the group. Soon, even Dre becomes disenchanted with Jerry, meets Suge Knight and leaves Ruthless Records to start Death Row with Knight. Things go back and forth between the trifecta (Cube, Dre & E), each dealing with success and failure. Dre and Cube continue a meteoric rise while E struggles with the responsibility of running Ruthless, culminating in a break with Jerry once he learns of how Jerry managed him (a fate that many artists have suffered from). We see Dre working with Snoop Dogg while recording The Chronic, his work with Tupac and his inevitable split with Knight. The three reconcile and there's talk of an N.W.A. reunion but the dream fades when Eazy-E passes away from an AIDS related death.

As I stated before, this was a really good movie that's worth seeing, especially if you're my age. I was around when all this went down (on the East coast) and I knew nothing about West Coast rap. The only LA based rap artist that I knew prior to going to college in 1988 was Ice-T. It was amazing to see the forefront of a genre that didn't really exist and struggled with being taken seriously. Not the case anymore.

N.W.A was also involved (whether directly of indirectly) in a very historical and turbulent time and the film did a very nice job of reminding me of that. The members of N.W.A are seen as hassled by police at any time (I don't know how much of this was true per se but it's pretty much fact that a young black male in the mid to late 80's was considered a gang member and subject to being searched by police) for just being black and young (sadly things don't seemed to have changed all that much). This part of the film was not lost on me and I wanted to mention that.

2015 Films: #11. Zipper

August 30th in Chicago. It appears that I managed to view two films over the weekend that both began with the letter Z that was On Demand. What are the odds. To be honest I thought this was a sexy political thriller but there weren't enough thrills, plenty of sex though, it moved a bit slow at times and despite being only 103 minutes, my attention faded in and out.Which stands to reason  because Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 19%.

The film was written & directed by Mora Stephens and has a pretty good cast that includes; Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey(Jeannie), Ray Winstone (Coaker) and Richard Dreyfuss (whom I thought quit acting). Yet somehow the film just isn't that good maybe not as bad as a 19% rating but not that good.

Wilson plays US Attorney Sam Ellis, a no nonsense prosecutor who appears to be the ultimate family man. He's such a family man that he's got issues with porn. The issue being he likes it. A lot. When deposing a witness who happens to be an escort, Sam is not only turned on by the lovely escort but his interest is piqued about  escort services. Eventually Sam grows tired of masturbation and decides to give an escort service a try (predictably so) when his wife and son leave for the weekend. I will never understand where the workaholic male protagonist in film gets the time time to have extra-marital affairs and who has a beautiful wife at home whom he feels the need to go out and cheat on despite the fact the wife gives no indication that she's not interested in sex...

 It must be so such a difficult life. I can totally see why Sam would want to step out n Jeannie.

Sam has 2nd thoughts during his first "appointment" but eventually he caves in and even goes as far as becoming a regular customer. Sure enough, Sam becomes so obsessed with escort sex and he maxes out his credit cards. Things come to a boil when he spots a surveillance van outside the hotel and gets hits by a car when he aborts his "appointment." Sure enough, his wife Jeannie gets jealous and sends Coaker, a political reporter who's a family friend, to do some digging. Sam dodges a bullet when the investigation that he could have gotten snagged in comes up empty. But before he can breathe a sigh of relief, Coaker confronts him with his infidelities. Sam is ready to come clean, give Coaker the story he's drooling for, resign his position in the Justice Department and give up his political career. Before Coaker can publish the story, Jeannie makes a last minute deal with Coaker and he changes the story to what a great politician Sam would make. Try and guess what Jeannie offered to get Coaker to change his mind...

Coitus. The physical act of making love.

Fast forward to where Sam is now a US Senator and he's meeting with Richard Dreyfuss and Dreyfuss tells him that he needs to get his"zipper" problem under control. Same tells him that its no longer an issue but the last scene sees Sam in a hotel, taking off his wedding ring about to knock on the door.

It would appear that the moral of the story is that sex addicts will remain sex addicts. I guess. The film tries to be a sexy political thriller but it fails It's not even a cautionary tale because Sam doesn't change (the parallels to Eliot Spitzer are pretty heavy handed). In the end, I didn't really care abiut any of the characters. None of them were redeeming. Sam is a cheating husband, Jeannie wants the image of a politicians wife (she comes from a politically powerful family and has delusions of Jackie Kennedy) and Coaker is the sleazy reporter who compromises his integrity to sleep with Jeannie.

The film essentially hits a fly ball that you think has a chance to be a home run but it doesn't have enough to make it the warning track. Pass on this.

2015 Films: #10. Z for Zachariah

August 28th in Chicago, IL. While cruising the internet looking for knowledge, I came across this article on current films in the theater that should be seen. Two of the three were not appealing but the 3rd one was and it just happened to be OnDemand and I convinced my fiance to watch it. The film is based on a book by Robert C. O'Brien. Set in the post-apocalyptic future (I've got a thing for this theme) where radiation has contaminated everything except for this lone valley. The caretaker of the valley is a young girl Anne (Margot Robbie), who is the last survivor of her family (her family farm is located in the valley). She farms, she hunts, she has a homemade radiation suit and leads about a normal a life as possible in this situation. Make no mistake though, she is alone but not overcome by the isolation which has lasted for about a year. She ends up running into a dude (Chiwetel Ejiofor) in a pond and informs him that the pond is contaminated. The dude suffers from radiation poisoning but eventually he gets better with Anne's help.

He recovers at Anne's house and the mysterious dude explains that he is Loomis, an engineer who was holding out in a government fall out shelter until he decided to make his way out of the darkness. Loomis proves to be useful (as engineers can be) by getting fuel for the tractor and proposing a plan to get electricity from the contaminated waterfall (Anne has an uncontaminated fresh water supply in the form of a well from an underground water supply) but it would meaning cannibalizing the wood from the church where Anne's dad used to preach and Anne isn't too keen on the idea. There are a couple of awkward moments between the two, once Loomis gets drunk and kind of almost crosses the line into sexual assault. Then in another scene, Anne offers herself to him but he abstains from sex which confuses Anne so the share the same bed instead.

Then one day, hunky stud Caleb (Chris Pine) shows up (just when Anne thinks she's alone in the world, her valley turns into a post-apocalyptic Grand Central Station) and upset the delicate balance at Anne's house (now there are three really good looking people at the house)...

Caleb was a miner when the sh*t went down and made his way into the valley. Right off the bat Caleb and Anne are attracted to each other (it's a real stretch I know) and it doesn't go unnoticed by Loomis. There's more than a bit of tension between Caleb and Loomis in regards to Anne (there's a scene when the two are hunting, they place a wager and the stakes are "jokingly" Anne). I don't think I'm giving too much away when I mention that Anne and Caleb do it. Loomis seems to be ok with this (he gives Anne the ok to "explore" if she wants to) but he's really not that ok with it. Eventually, the three of them use the wood from the church to make the water wheel and place it near the waterfall. Caleb and Loomis go out to administer the final touches and BOOM! Electricity. Except that the two of them went out and only Loomis came back. Loomis explains to Anne that Caleb left to search for an alleged sanctuary, leaving all his gear back at the house.

First off, this film is not for everyone. The story is designed not to move very fast, the pacing is what it should be for this type of film, and there's no big action. The film got an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it's well deserved but there's a reason that this film didn't get a wide release. The film was directed by Craig Zobel, who does a nice job with small casts and minimalist settings (check out Compliance a film he wrote and directed). The dynamic between the three actors is very good and the acting is also very good. Though I did feel that Chris Pine was miscast but I can't place my finger on it. He did a fine job but I didn't buy into him being that character. Ejiofor gives his standard excellent performance (this guy is real good and I hope that he continues to attach himself to good projects) and Margot Robbie is not just eye candy as she is very convincing as Anne.

Since this picture is based on a book that I never read, I'm sure there were changes. However, there were some stuff that seemed kind of obvious as to where the plot was going. Once a 2nd good looking guy is introduced, it's not a stretch to imagine that something will go down with the additional sexual tension. Also, we can't have the black guy and the white woman do it. They can share the same bed as long as there's nothing is going on (this may have been a theme in the book about Loomis and Anne not coupling).

This was an interesting picture and something that I may not normally see (something I'm trying to do more of). I don't believe the film has a mass appeal but to me it's worth watching. 

2015 Films: #9. The Gift

Saturday August 15th in Chicago. Joel Edgerton put him stamp on this film as writer, producer, director and antagonist. Edgerton does a nice job executing the creepy, obsessive guy stalking a couple trope. He kept the story really simple and let the actors act. The film had an estimated $5 million budget and has grossed $31 million to date. As a director, he kept things tight, kept the pace moving and didn't rely on too much on jump scare to amp up the tension.

Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) are an upper middle class couple that have relocated to LA from Chicago. They move into a sweet house in the hills, Simon has a high paying job with a security firm and Robyn is an interior decorator who's company is still in Chicago but that doesn't really play into the story. Right off the bat Simon and Robyn run into Gordo (Edgerton) and old high school classmate of Simon's. He's noticeably a little off but seemingly ok and he takes a shine to Robyn...

And who wouldn't?

It doesn't take long for Gordo to overstep the boundaries into the realm of creepy stalker. Mysterious gifts show up on the doorstep while Robyn is home alone and the dog goes missing. Little by little Robyn starts to dig into the relationship that Simon had with Gordo back in high school and its not good. She also starts learn that maybe Simon isn't quite the great guy he comes off as (Robyn & Simon carry a lot of baggage that eventually comes to the surface), in fact the lines of villainy are blurred as I wondered just who was the bad guy here? Gordo or Simon? At the end they both are.

As I mentioned earlier, Edgerton does a nice job amping up the tension and he even throws in a nice ending that I did not see coming. There's a reason this picture received a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Edgerton plays a good villain, the kind that is trying to get revenge for a prank gone wrong that messed up his life. Bateman is really good at playing a certain type of character (the sarcastic, snarky but sometimes good hearted guy) and he's good as an upwardly mobile cut throat business man. Hall is good as the somewhat damaged wife who realizes she doesn't know a whole lot about her husband. This film is worth seeing, pure and simple. 

2015 Films: #8. It Follows

Friday August 14th in Chicago. I've been wanting to see this film for some time and it finally made it to OnDemand (I never got around to seeing it the theater for some reason). This film has been a critical hit and received a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%. The film is written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, in only his 2nd directorial feature, and stars a relatively unknown cast. Mitchell opens the film with a young girl fleeing her home and driving to the beach. While there she gives a tearful goodbye to her family as she awaits the inevitable. The camera fades to black and the next image on the screen is of the young girl's mutilated corpse...

Maybe a pair of sneakers would've been a better choice of footwear. 

Next we meet Jay (Maika Monroe), a teen aged girl growing up in a Detroit suburb just living an ordinary life. She has a sister Kelly, two friends who just hang around in Yara and Paul and a mother whom we don't see all that much. Jay has a few dates with a guy named "Hugh" and eventually Jay and "Hugh" have sexual relations. After making love the way a teenage girl and a 21 y/o boy can, genteel and seemingly everlasting, "Hugh" subdues and abducts Jay. Jay wakes up in an abandon building and "Hugh" explains that he's being hunted by a mysterious entity that can take any form it wants,  and that the curse is passed on through sex. Oh by the way, only the cursed people can see the entity approaching. "Hugh" informs Jay that she should pass on the curse to keep the entity at bay.

That's about as far as I want to go lest I give too much away. Let's just say that Jay tries to run away from the entity but finally decide that passing it on may not be a bad idea however futile. The gang even come up with a plan to defeat the entity and they almost seem to have it beaten. Mitchell's film is very minimalist but he does a lot with the little he has (the film's budget is estimate at $2 million and has grossed around $15 million domestically to date). Sure there are few problems with the film but it never overdoes anything, which is rare in horror films these days. The Death by Sex trope in horror films is nothing new but I didn't care. The pace never gets to slow nor too fast, it moved just right. This film is hardly original but it's worth seeing, especially if you're into horror films.