August 18th 2023

Godland

Sanctuary

Barbie - revisited

The biggest viewing excitement for me this week has been revisiting Barbie,  followed by bingeing Series 2 of Apple TV's The Bear. But since I'm not doing many series reviews, here are the other two new releases, plus a further insight into "the pink one"! 

 

Godland

Dir: Hlynur Palmason

Length: 143 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hot2tpLLOc

© Palace - stark, spare, deeply disturbing.
Can't find much God in all this. 

With a hefty 15 wins and 34 nominations here is a heavy-hitting film set in the frozen wilds of Iceland. A young Danish priest, Lucas (Elliot Crosset Hove), is sent to Iceland to set up a church in a remote Danish settlement. He chooses to travel overland, and along the way takes photos with his big camera. One of his guides, Icelandic Ragnar (Ingvar Sigurdsson) constantly baits Lucas because he resents Danes, but Lucas arrogantly refuses to learn any of the new language, to take advice, or to understand the land around him. As the journey progresses he feels increasingly isolated from his companions and from his faith. He is seriously ill when he reaches his destination, but is nursed back to health. Local girl Anna (Vic Carmen Sonne), against her father's advice, falls for the priest. But the man of God seems to have lost his way, his faith and his integrity. The director's choice to make the film in a square format mirrors Lucas's old fashioned photography, on silver nitrate plates. I find the priest as emotionally cold as the landscape and hard to empathise with. The film is visually arresting, with impressive, sweeping landscapes, and for all the endless trekking through Godforsaken areas it is surprisingly tense. I don't profess to totally understand all the implications, but somehow humans, nature and God are all present, some in harmony with each other and others at odds, while all the while the non-human elements will have the upper hand. This is one of those slow but gripping films that rewards the patient viewer. 

3.5 - well recommended

Sanctuary

Dir: Zachary Wigon

Length: 96 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaMahhnZMog&t=2s

© Kismet - better not hire people to dominate you-
you might get more than you bargained for! 

Rebecca (Margaret Qualley) is hired by wealthy Hal (Christopher Abbott), who is about to inherit his dead father's company. She is a dominatrix and he obviously wants her to humiliate him. But what starts off as a game, with everything carefully scripted by Hal, turns ugly, as Rebecca starts to blackmail him and make unreasonable demands. But wait a minute - is her crazy behaviour real, or still part of Hal's script? First praise for the film: it is superbly acted by the two leads - in fact they are the only characters in this two hander, set in a plush hotel room, that looks the part for a kinky BDSM rendezvous. The twists and turns of the psychological game between them is also tantalising to observe, never knowing from one moment to the next who will get the upper hand, and what is true, especially the things that Rebecca says. The film has been much praised by many critics, but here's the thing for me: I could not emotionally relate to the characters or care anything much for their shenanigans. Yes, it is all very clever, and despite two of the best performances I've seen in a long long while, I felt unmoved by the entire thing. 

2.5 - maybe

Barbie - 2nd viewing!

Dir: Greta Gerwig

Length: 114 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb7jYOYXiVc&t=3s

© Warner Bros - even better upon a 
second viewing! 

How lucky am I to have a husband who, after reading my review last week, really wanted to see Barbie. So I trekked off for a second viewing. I loved it as much, if not more, than the first time, and saw even more in the subtleties of the dialogue, the sly humour, and the absolute cleverness of the plot. This time I viewed the gender politics in a broader sense, and ended up with a modicum of sympathy for "the Kens", those men also shoehorned into sterotypical, expected roles, unable to have a sense of themselves outside of their designated roles and macho images. I also appreciated the depths of exploration into what it means to be a human being, especially in a very moving scene near the end where Barbie interacts with an old lady, Ruth Handler, the actual inventor of the Barbie doll. Gerwig's juxtaposition of pink-drenched fun, with serious social and existential commentary makes this one of the best films of the year for me. Not to mention Robbie's stunning performance, transitioning from bimboesque Stereotypical Barbie, to a real woman. I've upped my score:

4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended