Last Stop Larrimah, whodunnit dontmatter

Few can resist a good murder mystery, which is exactly what LAST STOP LARRIMAH is, albeit in larger-than-life documentary form.

Quite literally in the middle of nowhere in Australia’s Northern Territory, the run-down and forgotten little town of Larrimah couldn’t be any less assuming. The ten remaining residents (yes, ten) are like forgotten troops at an outpost. Few of them get along, bringing them all under police and national media scrutiny, given the unusual circumstances of the victim’s disappearance.

Directed by Thomas Tancred and produced by the Duplass Brothers, Last Stop Larrimah honors the twists and turns any good murder mystery relies on. But what makes the film worthy of the silver screen are the surviving inhabitants of Larrimah. The murder victim, Patty, the eleventh member of the town’s population, is an exceptional character as well, as portrayed in video material of him recorded prior to his death.

Ultimately the movie is less about who committed the crime than about the strange circumstances surrounding it. The town and its inhabitants are straight out of a Tom Waits song, with that wonderful mix of humor, loneliness, quirkiness, and tragedy.

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND, Aspirational Apocalypse

LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND is an excellently crafted low-maintenance thriller, perfect for those moments we need entertainment while running on two cylinders mentally. Furthermore, we can take some pointers on riding out societal collapse in class and comfort.

The film has healthy doses of creepy weirdness, punctuated by great camera work, a slick visual style entirely in keeping with the antiseptically luxurious lifestyle of its protagonists, including (but not limited to) megastars Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawk and Mahershala Ali.

Aspirational voyeurism has always been one of the reasons people flock to the cinema. Leave The World Behind is no exception, cooking up its own unique blend of ‘luxorealism’ - if shit really did finally hit the fan in western society, this is the sort of disheveling you’d imagine the real Roberts, Hawk and Ali to have to endure.

But the film is a fun watch for the whole family, albeit doubling up as a glitzy Hollywood apocalyptic handbook for the 1% who left the world behind a long time ago.

ROBOT DREAMS, Dear 1980s NYC

A few days ago I put ROBOT DREAMS thoroughly to the test by bringing Ariane, my youngest daughter, and her posse to the Barcelona premiere. They loved it, as did I. Ariane and I both shed a tear or two.

And for anyone who lived in NYC in the 1980s, a dollar a slice NYC, you’re in for a treat. The film is a pre 9/11 homage to the Big Apple like no other.

Director Pablo Berger hits a homerun with this precious film gem. Robot Dreams is vintage by design, both in animation style and sound design, so might feel a tad slow at times, given our ever-shorter attention spans. But this is our shortcoming, not the film’s.

Based on the popular graphic novel by the North American writer Sara Varon, #RobotDreams tells the adventures and misfortunes of Dog and Robot in NYC during the ‘80s. 

BEEF, An Ode to Imperfection

I can’t recommend Netflix’s series BEEF enough. It’s a provocative, funny, irreverent and charming dark comedy, capturing the zeitgeist of 2020s Cali capitalism. 

Creator and show runner Lee Sung Jin’s story twist and turns with the agility of a falling cat, while balancing out the characters to perfection. Everyone is deeply flawed, yet charming and forgivable. 

There’s little more to say, except just go see it, if you haven’t already. And if you don’t believe me, check out the rave reviews in Rotten Tomatoes, the New York Times, Roger Ebert, Vox…

FAIR PLAY, A Joyfully Dark Tale

Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee, FAIR PLAY is a dark, acidic dive into the murky world of sexism in the workplace, relationship power dynamics and the negative feedback loop between the two. Edgy yet highly polished, the film is an incisive, sexy and provocative psychological thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. 

Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich and Eddie Marsan all deliver solid performances, and writer/director Chloe Domont crowns herself as a solid writer, her so script whittled down to its psychological core that it could easily function as a stage play. 

All in all Fair Play is a great watch, guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat. Considering it’s Chloe Domont’s first feature film, it’s an outstanding achievement. She’s definitely a writer/director to watch!

Note: This week I decided that there’s no place for bad reviews in this blog. My intention here is simply to make a collection films and series I’ve enjoyed watching, and share a few thoughts about them. ’Ben’s Recommends’, so to speak. 

THE CREATOR’s A.I. Script Fail

I’ve been agonising over writing this, primarily because I want these reviews to be about films I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. As a director I know only too well the Herculean effort required to make any movie, and resent film critics who take insensitive shots from a safe or close-minded distance. These critics do incredible damage to film.

Because of the stronghold the majors have on distribution, independent cinema has it that much harder. The same goes for director’s first films, which I believe need to by criticised with extra care. But THE CREATOR is neither, so is far from the endangered species list.

Regarding the film’s merits, Edward’s visual spectacle doesn't disappoint, being the technical wizard that he is. His $86 million budget was modest for its visual scale, thanks to a brilliant organic technical approach: he avoided green screens, shot on location with a skeleton crew using a pro-am ($3000) camera and minimal lighting. Then he fully edited the movie before unleashing the 3D artists. This approach gave the film grittiness and authenticity, while looking as though it cost four times as much. 

That said, suspension of disbelief should require no effort when it comes to movies, especially of the fantasy and sci-fi genres. In The Creator, the first few shots of the opening scene already present a narrative incongruence - why the surreptitious approach when the navy seals are accompanied by a 20 mile-wide doomsday skycraft with a huge beacon of light? I’d thoroughly tired of giving the script a pass halfway through Act I.

In light of Hollywood's recent writer's strike about the threat A.I. poses to their livelihoods, rogerebert.com noted the irony of the timing of The Creator's release, given that the movie's theme is the lesson in ethics A.I. gives humanity. I find the irony of this timing more ominous: considering how The Creator's plot twists, character arcs and dialogue are either so often far-fetched or predictable, Edwards might have inadvertently fuelled the studios’ argument in favor of using A.I. for creative writing.

WES ANDERSON’s Filmbookpaintings

Bravely expanding the boundaries of film, Wes Anderson digs deeper into his aesthetic in his recent collection of four short films, adaptations of Roald Dahl’s stories: THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, THE SWAN, THE RAT CATCHER and POISON.

Wes Anderson's brand identity is second to non, one of the special few directors whose unique aesthetic has become synonymous with his name. Ironically, in a recent Deadline interview by Damon Wise, Anderson claimed he doesn't have an aesthetic, a quote that predictably ripped through the internet like wildfire. But he clarified, speaking of how aesthetics often develop from unexpected circumstances, a truism that applies to creative work in general, artistic or otherwise. 

Anderson pinpoints the chance flooding of the baseball diamond set in Rushmore (1998) as having kicked off his formal aesthetic pursuit. His solution for that shoot day was using long, symmetrical dolly shots to avoid the field’s mud. 

Anderson’s dolly shots are alive and well in the four Dahl stories, along with his color palette, theatrical set design and actors’ deliveries. In fact, one could argue that these style elements are more rigorous than ever, born from his intention of having the Dahl stories literally read to the viewer.

As Anderson playfully states 'I like stories that are stories within stories and plays within stories and movies within plays within stories.’ In this sense it's worth considering the four short films as filmbooks, with lines blurred between film, literature and theatre. But aesthetically, they’re also filmpaintings.

The result are films so precious you want to frame them. But they’re certainly not for everyone, so the expectation of the movie experience should be kept in check. Personally, I found Poison to be the most accessible, thanks to the tension and brilliant intensity of Dev Patel, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ben Kingsley. 

Kudos to Wes Anderson for his bravery in exploring an aesthetic pursuit to its maximum expression. We need more unique voices in film, and global platforms like Netflix provide the perfect venue to access audiences for them.

BARBIE, The Blockbuster With An Indie Soul

This summer’s guilty pleasure is so much more. BARBIE is an irreverent, raucous, touching, over-the-top, complex, multi-faceted masterpiece, deserving of Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director AND Best Original Screenplay. There, I've said it.

It's the screenplay Oscar I’m rooting for most. While Greta Gerwig's directing is glorious (and who can deny the movie's slickness and meteoric box office results?), it's the script that she co-penned with writer/director/husband Noah Baumbach that speaks truth to power and blesses Barbie with her quirky twists, irony and priceless dialogue. Look no further than arming Barbie with Birkenstocks and the Indigo Girl's 80s anthem 'Closer To Fine' for her soul-searching in the real world.

It's the screenplay Oscar I’m rooting for most. While Greta Gerwig's directing is glorious (and who can deny the movie's slickness and meteoric box office results?), it's the script that she co-penned with writer/director/husband Noah Baumbach that speaks truth to power and blesses Barbie with her quirky twists, irony and priceless dialogue. Look no further than arming Barbie with Birkenstocks and the Indigo Girl's 80s anthem 'Closer To Fine' for her soul-searching in the real world.

 The genius of the script is a what elevates Barbie to a film d'auteur, and why The Guardian's review 'Has Barbie killed the Indie Director?' is simplistic, highbrow clickbait, not worthy of the publication. I’d humbly suggest The Guardian consider the alternate angle: 'Has Barbie Killed the Bad Film Critics?'

 Greta Gerwig and executive producer Margot Robbie stuck to their creative guns throughout. Margot Robbie conceived of the project, brought Greta onboard and then charmed Mattel and Warner Bros to preserve every degree of its acidity. In Greta Gerwig's words, 'the story being what it is, it feels unbelievable that it's been made'. I couldn't agree more. Barbie’s subversiveness and bravery keep it rooted in the indie world.

 My only criticism of the script (spoiler alert) would be its reliance on voter suppression to restore the natural order in Barbieland. But then again, the scene also blesses us with Ryan Gosling’s rendition of ‘I’m Just Ken’, so all’s forgiven. 

 Fun fact: Greta Gerwig and husband Noah Baumbach have each been nominated twice for screenplay Oscars. Were they to deservedly win for the Barbie script, it'd be third time lucky for both. But I'd settle for a nomination, and nothing less. 

NOTE 12/2023: Since writing this the 2024 Golden Globe nominations were just announced. Besides leading the pack in nominations, Barbie was indeed nominated for Best Film, Best Director (comedy) and Best Screenplay. Justice has been served, for now.

NOTE 01/2024: The Oscar nominations were just announced, with two glaring omissions. Firstly, Greta Gerwig's masterful directing went unrecognised, best explained by Kyle Buchanan at the NYT for having four things going against it: Barbie being a big studio movie, a comedy, about a doll and Greta being a woman. To note is that 587 academy members vote for the Best Director nominations. While only a quarter of them are women, the votes come in from a respectable 93 countries. Perhaps this was another point against it’s Best Director nomination, given that it’s kitsch, pop-art and continual USA-specific references played best for an anglo audience. Who knows.
Secondly, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach were nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay rather than for the Original Screenplay category, simply because Barbie is based on pre-existing characters from the Mattel doll line. Absolutely ridiculous, but not without Academy precedent. Judd Apatow summed it up best on Twitter: 'It’s insulting to the writers to say they were working off of existing material. There was no existing material or story. There was a clear box.'