Directed by: Joachim RΓΈnning, Espen Sandberg
Written by: Jeff Nathanson, Terry Rossio
Starring: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Javier Bardem
IMDb Link
I've always had a soft spot for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The swashbuckling, sword-swinging first entry in the series is a personal favourite film of mine, and even as the series has added mediocre entry after mediocre entry, the charm of what I first saw in the series has kept me entertained enough to ignore the convoluted mythos and ever-bloating cast of comedy characters in favour of what remained of the spirit of the first. My love for the series is why it's so disappointing to say that this film is easily the worst of the lot; the filmmakers have lost what was left of the things that made the movie enjoyable and shoved in seemingly every possible idea, bad or good, that they could.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
Jack Sparrow is back, this time looking for the Trident of Poseidon, which controls the sea and can lift any curse laid by it. However, he isn't the only one. Will Turner's son Henry (Brenton Thwaites of Oculus and Gods of Egypt) is the one that comes to Jack in order to help him lift the curse of the Flying Dutchman from Will, and a girl Carina ( Kaya Scodelario of the Maze Runner series) searches for it in order to find meaning in the diary left by a father that she never knew. In addition to these plot points, there's Captain Salazar (Bardem) an undead Captain who hates pirates, on the search for Sparrow, the man who caused Salazar's current state. To top it all off, the characters are pursued by the British Empire.
The film seems to be trying to cram about four different plot lines in to the same movie, each with its own character motivations and some semblance of an arc, so the set up for them all ends up being hasty at best. and more forced than a smile to your ex at worst.
Henry's makes sense, it carries from the plot left open at the end of the third movie, and on its own it could be a slight re-tread of the first film with different particulars; if this had simply been the plot of the film, it would've been repetitive, but not needlessly complicated.
Carina's is weak for a few reasons, chief among them being the out-of-nowhere reveal about her father. Carina's story is predicated on a reveal that not only doesn't seem to fit in with the Pirates' timeline, but also doesn't make sense, completely changing a mainstay character of the series for the sake of a supposedly sad moment. It seems like her character only exists to give directions, but only needs to be there to give directions because the film decided to make Jack's infamous compass somehow even more important while taking it away from him, and her backstory is just needless. I appreciated her character for what it was, but the way she became necessary to the story was awkward, and her history was crammed in at the half-way mark for cheap tears. That's not so much a complaint about her, but the writing around her.
As for Salazar's story, his history with Jack is fine, if rushed, he's a guy who hates pirates because he lost everything to pirates, and Jack Sparrow's trickery caused his ship to crash and explode. It's the fantasy in the story that I have a problem with, mainly due to lack of explanation breaking my suspension of disbelief. Barbossa'a undead were because of gold cursed by Aztec gods, and Davy Jones' fish men were due to a deal with the goddess Calypso, but there seems to be no reason for Salazar to rise from the dead. He's "filled with rage" and died under a rock formation that's supposedly cursed, but the film shows others dying in the same spot without coming back as ghosts, so it's doubtful that the rock formation has anything to do with his current cursed condition. There's also his release, which happens because of a previously unexplained capability of the compass, that not only has no more than a hand-wave reason attached to it, but also contradicts events from previous movies. Salazar himself is an imposing figure, Bardem plays him with appropriate theatrics, but with so many plot points happening at once he never gets a chance to convey the same impact that previous villains did.
Jack himself is just sort of along for the ride. It seems like they had to constantly dope Johnny Depp up just to keep him from running off the set; his character is taken to a silly extreme and doesn't have any of the enthusiasm that's been present in previous entries in the series.
I also want to talk about is the set-pieces, another constant in the series that rarely fails to impress. Here the film puts all cool before sense. A lot of the action sequences are just neat ideas that seem better on paper than in practice. At one point the film tries to one-up the heist scene from Fast Five (2011) by simply stealing an entire bank; at another the film uses zombie sharks. These seem like fun ideas, but in execution they're brought down by questionable CGI that isn't believable and often obscures the action. Zombie sharks are an awesome thought, but there's no reason for Salazar to have them; so is a ship that eats other ships, but you have no idea why a ship like that exists. Of course Salazar can possess people, and of course he can only do it one time, which is why he hasn't used this incredibly useful ability a million other times up until this point. With no explanation or reason to ground their existence to be fantasy that's at least consistent with what we already accept in this world of pirates, zombies and fish monsters, the action has no reason to exist, so it just comes off as shallow, hollow, and poorly executed.
All that said, the film isn't a total loss, and it'd be disingenuous to leave this review without a few fleeting positive remarks. Aside from Depp, who comes off without his usual charm, the main cast all deliver serviceable performances. I can expect nothing less from Rush and Bardem, who've proven themselves capable of making any of their roles compelling, but Scodelario and Thwaites are both surprisingly watchable, even if their characters and dialogue aren't. There's also the case of the score, which is just about the only thing in the series that remains consistently good; the remnants of what made the first film so compelling are in what you hear.
The Verdict: Dead Men Tell No Tales is a mess of recycled and half-baked ideas. The film manages to over-complicate the adventure plot with multiple motivations and mythology, much more so than even the previous entries. The film never takes the time to make the new generation of characters compelling, and the charm of the old characters is forced at this point. I don't recommend the film, even to long-time fans of the series such as myself.
Rating: This was hard for me to determine, because I really really wanted to like this movie, to simply give it a pass and move on as I have with the other mediocre entries in to the series, but Dead Men is so inconsistent, not only internally but with the rest of the series, introduces so many new characters and hand-waves so much mythology that I can't. I disliked this movie far more than I expected to, so I have to give the film a 4/10. The series' charm has worn off on me.
Published May 25th, 2017
Thursday, 25 May 2017
Thursday, 18 May 2017
2017 Film Review: John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Directed by: Chad Stahelski
Written by: Derek Kolstad
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane
John Wick (2014) was one of the better action films released in the last few years. The sequel exemplifies all that was good about the first without being a total rerun while building on what was established about the world the films exist in.
*Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead*
John Wick 2 picks up where the first movie left off; he still needs to get his car back. The opener sees him go through car chases, collisions, and fist fights to get what was taken from him. The film starts here essentially so that it can re-establish the awesomeness of John Wick's character and tie up any potential loose ends from the first film; after getting his car back, Wick makes peace with the Russians and tries to return to a simple life with his new dog. Unfortunately for John, he is called upon to answer a sworn blood oath he made that originally aided him in leaving his assassin life. With barely a chance to breathe, John must once again return to the world he left in order to complete a contract. The extended details of why he has to do it and who he has to do it for and who he has to do it to feel a little convoluted as they get in the way of the action that everyone came to see, but they at least hint at more of John's backstory and past ties.
After being... "convinced"... to answer his oath, John returns to the world we saw in the first film, a hidden global society of highly-paid hitmen, where everything is either decadent or neon. The world was seemingly intricate in the first film, and John Wick 2 does well to extend on what we already know to reveal some of those intricacies amid the persistent action scenes that permeate the film's run time. While some details are revealed a little awkwardly through dialogue, there is still much that is shown rather than told in the same style of the first film.
The action itself is the best I've seen in an action film this year. Shootouts and fist fights toe that line between gritty realism and stylised silliness, brutal enough to be tense and almost believable, but at times leaning heavily on its own sheer coolness to avoid seeming ridiculous. John Wick 2 also sets the mood of every scene with its music perfectly, loud and proud when it wants to be, mute when it needs to be; slow guitar building tension to a crescendo of drum and bass, or cutting out entirely in moments where the film chooses to let the tension of a fight speak for itself.
The Verdict: John Wick 2 does exactly what you expect it to as a n excellent sequel to a very good action film; an adrenaline-pumping thrill ride from start to finish as the tragedy of John Wick continues and the world in which he works is expanded. While the handling of the latter is a little clunky at times, the film never fails to entertain with its constant stream of gritty yet stylised shootouts and fist fights. If you like action, go see it.
Rating: 7.5/10
Published May 18th, 2017
Friday, 12 May 2017
A Follow-Up to My Alien: Covenant Review
The more I think about Alien: Covenant (2017), the more I find that the movie doesn't fit with the other films in the series. and I feel it would be disingenuous of me to leave that unsaid when I all too hastily added to the end of my review that you might want to give this film a go if you've already seen the other Alien films. While I do stand by the fact that Covenant is a decent film on its own, with a lot of interesting ideas, there are also problems with those ideas when compared to the bulk of the series. These problems mostly relate to the origins of the Alien creature (hereafter referred to as Xenomorph), and how those origins can change fan and audience perception of the creature.
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
When audiences first saw Alien in 1979, they were presented with a creature designed by H.R. Giger that can basically be described as a surreal, mechanical, sexual nightmare; everything about is design is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable or horrified, and Giger managed this by evoking an amalgamation of creatures from his own nightmares The phallic head's always pointed to as an example for the sexual nature to its design, but their's also its birthing process, which involves a forceful and unnatural impregnation process. A lot of the features of the creature are almost human in nature, but exaggerated to the point of the grotesque; the rib cage, the skeletal arms, legs, hands and feet, all reminiscent of humanity, which obviously works given the Xenomorph's orgins. The skin of the creature is almost mechanical in nature, blending in with its environment. Part of what makes Alien such an effective horror is that the Xenomorph is never seen until the moment someone dies, but half the time that happens despite the fact that the creature was there the whole time; the character Brett looks up at it and doesn't notice anything out of place, and Ripley manages to get within inches of it without seeing it All of this is intentional in the creature's design too; Giger even went so far as to put a real human skull in to the molding of the Xenomorph's head to give it a more "human but not" quality to it. It's one of the most memorable designs for a horror creature in the history of film. But what helped push the horror of the design further was the mystery of the creature.
The continuation of the Alien series obviously led to an expansion of the lore of the Xenomorph species; sometimes these changes were received well (the Queen in Aliens is one of Stan Winston's greatest works), sometimes they were met with interest, if an otherwise mixed reception (Alien 3 may be a middling mess, but the idea that the Xenomorph changes its physiology based on the creature that it infects is one that should be re-visited) and other ideas most wish they could forget (the Xenomorph-Human hybrid from Alien: Resurrection is haunting for all the wrong reasons). However, none of these expansions dispelled the mystery surrounding the creature's origins (there's an argument that could be made about Aliens ruining the horror of the first by turning the creatures from terror in to fodder and shifting the mystery one step upwards by revealing the Queen, but that's a circumstantial discussion for another time). When we learn more about the Xenomorphs in these movies, we learn about what they can do, not where they come from, and the creatures remain a mysterious, Lovecraftian horror that manages to add another terrifying thing to the list of terrifying things it can do every time we see it.
This brings me to the existence of Alien: Covenant. Everything horrifying and mysterious about these creatures is muted by the end of Covenant. In short: the A.I. David created them. David used the black goo from Prometheus to kill a bunch of Engineers and proceed to genetically build the Xenomorphs from the black goo as it mutated. The reason that the Xenomorphs seem like perfect human killing machines is because they were designed that way, by an A.I. that hates his creator. It seems like a good idea on paper, a bit poetic but it has issues. The most important of these is that it shifts the mystery of the creatures to the black goo; now we know everything about why Xenomorphs exist and what their purpose is, and we're left to wonder about a goo that seems to work purely however the writer intends for it to work. Now the veil of mystery is gone from the creatures themselves; they're artificially cultivated, which makes their intent as killing machines more personal to David, but shrinks the scope of the universe these movies exist in; there is no potential horror in the dark reaches of space, each incident in all of these films is now isolated, and the worry that more Xenomorphs could show up elsewhere is removed. By creating a limit on where these creatures come from, there's an imposed limit on where these creatures can be.
There's more to explore with the philosophy behind the use of the Xenomorph in Covenant; like I said, there's a certain poetry to a creation destroying its creator by creating its own creation, and the film's shift of focus to David rather than expanding on what the Xenomorph is capable of has potential as its own worthwhile story, but I just wanted to put this discussion out to suggest that people who watched the Alien films for the Xenomorphs may be disappointed, while also giving a little history lesson on why the Xenomorph worked in the first place.
Published May 12th, 2017
*Warning: Spoilers Ahead*
When audiences first saw Alien in 1979, they were presented with a creature designed by H.R. Giger that can basically be described as a surreal, mechanical, sexual nightmare; everything about is design is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable or horrified, and Giger managed this by evoking an amalgamation of creatures from his own nightmares The phallic head's always pointed to as an example for the sexual nature to its design, but their's also its birthing process, which involves a forceful and unnatural impregnation process. A lot of the features of the creature are almost human in nature, but exaggerated to the point of the grotesque; the rib cage, the skeletal arms, legs, hands and feet, all reminiscent of humanity, which obviously works given the Xenomorph's orgins. The skin of the creature is almost mechanical in nature, blending in with its environment. Part of what makes Alien such an effective horror is that the Xenomorph is never seen until the moment someone dies, but half the time that happens despite the fact that the creature was there the whole time; the character Brett looks up at it and doesn't notice anything out of place, and Ripley manages to get within inches of it without seeing it All of this is intentional in the creature's design too; Giger even went so far as to put a real human skull in to the molding of the Xenomorph's head to give it a more "human but not" quality to it. It's one of the most memorable designs for a horror creature in the history of film. But what helped push the horror of the design further was the mystery of the creature.
The continuation of the Alien series obviously led to an expansion of the lore of the Xenomorph species; sometimes these changes were received well (the Queen in Aliens is one of Stan Winston's greatest works), sometimes they were met with interest, if an otherwise mixed reception (Alien 3 may be a middling mess, but the idea that the Xenomorph changes its physiology based on the creature that it infects is one that should be re-visited) and other ideas most wish they could forget (the Xenomorph-Human hybrid from Alien: Resurrection is haunting for all the wrong reasons). However, none of these expansions dispelled the mystery surrounding the creature's origins (there's an argument that could be made about Aliens ruining the horror of the first by turning the creatures from terror in to fodder and shifting the mystery one step upwards by revealing the Queen, but that's a circumstantial discussion for another time). When we learn more about the Xenomorphs in these movies, we learn about what they can do, not where they come from, and the creatures remain a mysterious, Lovecraftian horror that manages to add another terrifying thing to the list of terrifying things it can do every time we see it.
This brings me to the existence of Alien: Covenant. Everything horrifying and mysterious about these creatures is muted by the end of Covenant. In short: the A.I. David created them. David used the black goo from Prometheus to kill a bunch of Engineers and proceed to genetically build the Xenomorphs from the black goo as it mutated. The reason that the Xenomorphs seem like perfect human killing machines is because they were designed that way, by an A.I. that hates his creator. It seems like a good idea on paper, a bit poetic but it has issues. The most important of these is that it shifts the mystery of the creatures to the black goo; now we know everything about why Xenomorphs exist and what their purpose is, and we're left to wonder about a goo that seems to work purely however the writer intends for it to work. Now the veil of mystery is gone from the creatures themselves; they're artificially cultivated, which makes their intent as killing machines more personal to David, but shrinks the scope of the universe these movies exist in; there is no potential horror in the dark reaches of space, each incident in all of these films is now isolated, and the worry that more Xenomorphs could show up elsewhere is removed. By creating a limit on where these creatures come from, there's an imposed limit on where these creatures can be.
There's more to explore with the philosophy behind the use of the Xenomorph in Covenant; like I said, there's a certain poetry to a creation destroying its creator by creating its own creation, and the film's shift of focus to David rather than expanding on what the Xenomorph is capable of has potential as its own worthwhile story, but I just wanted to put this discussion out to suggest that people who watched the Alien films for the Xenomorphs may be disappointed, while also giving a little history lesson on why the Xenomorph worked in the first place.
Published May 12th, 2017
Wednesday, 10 May 2017
2017 Film Review: Alien: Covenant (2017)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: John Logan, Dante Harper, Jack Paglen and Michael Green
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup
IMDb Link
I've been a fan of the Alien series for most of my life; even knowing how middling the more recent entries have been, I was excited to see if Scott could revitalise the series he created.
As it turns out, Scott couldn't elevate the film series to its once illustrious standing, but he still offers a decent, if flawed, entry that closes some of the gap between Alien (1979) and Prometheus (2012) (Though not all, just in case this makes enough money for Scott to get another sequel).
*Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead*
The films follows the crew of the spaceship known as the Covenant, a vessel carrying colonists heading to settle a new Earth-like world. When a surge damages the ship and wakes the crew for repairs, they receive a transmission that comes from another, much closer Earth-like world. The crew head for this planet, only to find it completely lifeless. If this sounds like a long setup, it's because it is; the film seems to take a very long time just to get to the planet, and until it does the film is paced very slowly.
That said, once on the planet, it doesn't take long for the blood and guts to ensue, and there's at least been care taken to make some of the deaths creative, and other deaths act as callbacks to other deaths in the series. The crew we've been led to feel nothing for get slaughtered one by one, some getting their back ripped open by a sort of prototype chestburster; others get their head bitten off. It's all pretty cool to look at, but there's so little attachment to the characters, and so little tension leading up to their deaths that most of the deaths have no teeth. The deaths themselves are pretty cool, but they're all broadcast to you before they happen and there's nothing to make you care who it's happening to; most of the characters don't even get some sort of minimum defining trait aside from the fact that all of them are married, so when one of them dies, you know it's going to happen about five minutes before it does, and once it happens there's no feeling to it.
That said, when we take a break from the action, we get some weird and interesting existential discussion. Michael Fassbender was easily the best thing about Prometheus, so for this one Scott decided to double up on his appeal, with Fassbender playing two A.I. units now, David from Prometheus and Walter as a member of the crew of the Covenant. When they meet, we learn a lot about how David's mind has changed since Prometheus, and we get a nice taste of his obsession with humanity, A.I., and building the perfect organism. David is truly insane, and his re-introduction brings many of the film's best moments, especially when he's around Walter. The existential discussion sees an attempt to bridge the gap between Prometheus and the other Alien movies, and while it never really gels, it's still more interesting than anything that happens with the other characters.
Aside from the films odd pacing and confused storytelling, there's a lot to appreciate about the film aesthetically. The design of the planet is gorgeous, as the film employs a lot of greens and greys to create an eerily peaceful feeling, and does more to create a sense of unease and tension than the dialogue or characters, as grey waters lie still, and no leaf or branch falls from a single tree. Likewise, the soundtrack works wonders for the film's less interesting moments, recalling pieces from Alien and Prometheus for similar effect. Finally, the Alien designs are fantastic; the designs of the prototype aliens (neomorphs) have a very human-like quality to them without seeming out of place (think the hybrid from Alein: Resurrection but with a lot more alien, and, you know, actually good), and the true xenomorph is back in a form that is easily the most faithful to H.R. Giger's original design. As mixed as my feelings are towards the rest of the film, Covevant really is a joy to look at and listen to.
The Verdict: I found a lot in Covenant to be lacking; the pacing is slow, a lot of tension seems to be missing, the plot is a little messy, and there's very little done to make us care about what the characters do. That said, it's still absolutely gorgeous, the soundtrack recalls its predecessors, and Fassbender steals the show as both Walter and David, offering performances that are better than the rest of the film. If you watched all of the previous Alien movies including Prometheus, you might consider giving this a go. If you like sci-fi horror with a lot of existential philosophy, there's worse ways to spend a couple of hours
Rating: 6.5/10
Published May 11th, 2017
Written by: John Logan, Dante Harper, Jack Paglen and Michael Green
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup
IMDb Link
I've been a fan of the Alien series for most of my life; even knowing how middling the more recent entries have been, I was excited to see if Scott could revitalise the series he created.
As it turns out, Scott couldn't elevate the film series to its once illustrious standing, but he still offers a decent, if flawed, entry that closes some of the gap between Alien (1979) and Prometheus (2012) (Though not all, just in case this makes enough money for Scott to get another sequel).
*Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead*
The films follows the crew of the spaceship known as the Covenant, a vessel carrying colonists heading to settle a new Earth-like world. When a surge damages the ship and wakes the crew for repairs, they receive a transmission that comes from another, much closer Earth-like world. The crew head for this planet, only to find it completely lifeless. If this sounds like a long setup, it's because it is; the film seems to take a very long time just to get to the planet, and until it does the film is paced very slowly.
That said, once on the planet, it doesn't take long for the blood and guts to ensue, and there's at least been care taken to make some of the deaths creative, and other deaths act as callbacks to other deaths in the series. The crew we've been led to feel nothing for get slaughtered one by one, some getting their back ripped open by a sort of prototype chestburster; others get their head bitten off. It's all pretty cool to look at, but there's so little attachment to the characters, and so little tension leading up to their deaths that most of the deaths have no teeth. The deaths themselves are pretty cool, but they're all broadcast to you before they happen and there's nothing to make you care who it's happening to; most of the characters don't even get some sort of minimum defining trait aside from the fact that all of them are married, so when one of them dies, you know it's going to happen about five minutes before it does, and once it happens there's no feeling to it.
That said, when we take a break from the action, we get some weird and interesting existential discussion. Michael Fassbender was easily the best thing about Prometheus, so for this one Scott decided to double up on his appeal, with Fassbender playing two A.I. units now, David from Prometheus and Walter as a member of the crew of the Covenant. When they meet, we learn a lot about how David's mind has changed since Prometheus, and we get a nice taste of his obsession with humanity, A.I., and building the perfect organism. David is truly insane, and his re-introduction brings many of the film's best moments, especially when he's around Walter. The existential discussion sees an attempt to bridge the gap between Prometheus and the other Alien movies, and while it never really gels, it's still more interesting than anything that happens with the other characters.
Aside from the films odd pacing and confused storytelling, there's a lot to appreciate about the film aesthetically. The design of the planet is gorgeous, as the film employs a lot of greens and greys to create an eerily peaceful feeling, and does more to create a sense of unease and tension than the dialogue or characters, as grey waters lie still, and no leaf or branch falls from a single tree. Likewise, the soundtrack works wonders for the film's less interesting moments, recalling pieces from Alien and Prometheus for similar effect. Finally, the Alien designs are fantastic; the designs of the prototype aliens (neomorphs) have a very human-like quality to them without seeming out of place (think the hybrid from Alein: Resurrection but with a lot more alien, and, you know, actually good), and the true xenomorph is back in a form that is easily the most faithful to H.R. Giger's original design. As mixed as my feelings are towards the rest of the film, Covevant really is a joy to look at and listen to.
The Verdict: I found a lot in Covenant to be lacking; the pacing is slow, a lot of tension seems to be missing, the plot is a little messy, and there's very little done to make us care about what the characters do. That said, it's still absolutely gorgeous, the soundtrack recalls its predecessors, and Fassbender steals the show as both Walter and David, offering performances that are better than the rest of the film. If you watched all of the previous Alien movies including Prometheus, you might consider giving this a go. If you like sci-fi horror with a lot of existential philosophy, there's worse ways to spend a couple of hours
Rating: 6.5/10
Published May 11th, 2017
Sunday, 7 May 2017
2017 Film Review: Raw (2016)
Directed by: Julia Ducournau
Written by: Julia Ducournau
Starring: Garance Marilllier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella
IMDb Link
I didn't know much about Raw going in to the film, save for reports that some theatres were handing out vomit bags to its audience; that kind of reputation is intriguing enough to get me to see a film, and in this case, I'm so glad that I did. Raw is an excellent cinematic experience akin to an arthouse picture mixed with a David Lynch film; bizarre, brutal, open to interpretation, and not always clear, but still displaying great technical skill and understanding of visual language.
The plot focuses on a new student at a vet school, Justine (Marillier), a lifelong vegetarian who gets exposed to meat for the first time in a hazing ritual. From that first meat-eating moment, the film escalates Justine's carnivorous conduct to the point that Justine begins eating human flesh. The story is strange, horrific, and brilliantly built. Each scene builds upon the last in a way that causes tensions to rise, as music becomes more intense and flows with Justine's actions, colours change from peaceful greens to dangerous reds, and the camera begins to hold longer and longer on each scene until the truly horrifying moment that left me squirming in my seat, disgusted by what I was watching but unable to look away.
Director Ducournau is painfully aware of how to trap an audience in a scene. Raw constantly presents the audience with actions that are uncomfortable to look upon, and holds the moments on these actions just long enough for it to be gratuitous enough to get you shifting in your seat. This is helped by regular use of long takes in tight spaces. The film contrasts between static and flowing, violent and serene; this emphasises the more brutal moments of the film and makes the moments where Justine is in an altered state of mind stand out even more.
In addition to the shot composition, there's also skilled use of sound. As I mentioned before, the music builds and flows with Justine's actions, suiting the oddly serious and uncomfortable tone of the film perfectly, but just as importantly this film uses a lack of music or even total silence at points to really drive home the visual stimulation of what happens on screen. There isn't anything to hear at important moments, so every part of your attention is drawn to what you can see. Ducournau uses this to great effect, once again contrasting some moments with others and carefully constructing the emotions or mood of a scene.
Impressively, within all of this technical skill and body-horror influence, Raw manages to tell a meaningful story. While the film gets a little difficult towards the end, Raw's consistent use of symbolism in its colour, sound, characters etc., express the issues of "trying to fit in" and "becoming your own person". It doesn't offer an answer as to whether or not either one of these is right, and indeed concludes seemingly without an answer, but using cannibalism to try and significantly explore themes such as sexuality to consider whether or not a person should try to fit in or strike out on their own is interesting, to say the least. The film tries to be more than simple exploitation, and while its ultimately less impressive than the rest of the film, I can't say I'm disappointed by the effort.
The Verdict: Raw lives up to its name. Its casual and naturalistic attitude towards what happens mixed with the delirium of Justine's progression is disturbingly appropriate, and the film's technical prowess alone makes this film worth the watch, as everything from the soundtrack to the use of colour is meticulous in approach. However, this film is definitely not for everyone; it's extremely confronting, and while I may not have needed one myself, I can understand why people needed vomit bags.
Rating: 8/10
Published May 8th, 2017
Written by: Julia Ducournau
Starring: Garance Marilllier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella
IMDb Link
I didn't know much about Raw going in to the film, save for reports that some theatres were handing out vomit bags to its audience; that kind of reputation is intriguing enough to get me to see a film, and in this case, I'm so glad that I did. Raw is an excellent cinematic experience akin to an arthouse picture mixed with a David Lynch film; bizarre, brutal, open to interpretation, and not always clear, but still displaying great technical skill and understanding of visual language.
The plot focuses on a new student at a vet school, Justine (Marillier), a lifelong vegetarian who gets exposed to meat for the first time in a hazing ritual. From that first meat-eating moment, the film escalates Justine's carnivorous conduct to the point that Justine begins eating human flesh. The story is strange, horrific, and brilliantly built. Each scene builds upon the last in a way that causes tensions to rise, as music becomes more intense and flows with Justine's actions, colours change from peaceful greens to dangerous reds, and the camera begins to hold longer and longer on each scene until the truly horrifying moment that left me squirming in my seat, disgusted by what I was watching but unable to look away.
Director Ducournau is painfully aware of how to trap an audience in a scene. Raw constantly presents the audience with actions that are uncomfortable to look upon, and holds the moments on these actions just long enough for it to be gratuitous enough to get you shifting in your seat. This is helped by regular use of long takes in tight spaces. The film contrasts between static and flowing, violent and serene; this emphasises the more brutal moments of the film and makes the moments where Justine is in an altered state of mind stand out even more.
In addition to the shot composition, there's also skilled use of sound. As I mentioned before, the music builds and flows with Justine's actions, suiting the oddly serious and uncomfortable tone of the film perfectly, but just as importantly this film uses a lack of music or even total silence at points to really drive home the visual stimulation of what happens on screen. There isn't anything to hear at important moments, so every part of your attention is drawn to what you can see. Ducournau uses this to great effect, once again contrasting some moments with others and carefully constructing the emotions or mood of a scene.
Impressively, within all of this technical skill and body-horror influence, Raw manages to tell a meaningful story. While the film gets a little difficult towards the end, Raw's consistent use of symbolism in its colour, sound, characters etc., express the issues of "trying to fit in" and "becoming your own person". It doesn't offer an answer as to whether or not either one of these is right, and indeed concludes seemingly without an answer, but using cannibalism to try and significantly explore themes such as sexuality to consider whether or not a person should try to fit in or strike out on their own is interesting, to say the least. The film tries to be more than simple exploitation, and while its ultimately less impressive than the rest of the film, I can't say I'm disappointed by the effort.
The Verdict: Raw lives up to its name. Its casual and naturalistic attitude towards what happens mixed with the delirium of Justine's progression is disturbingly appropriate, and the film's technical prowess alone makes this film worth the watch, as everything from the soundtrack to the use of colour is meticulous in approach. However, this film is definitely not for everyone; it's extremely confronting, and while I may not have needed one myself, I can understand why people needed vomit bags.
Rating: 8/10
Published May 8th, 2017
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