Quite a few strong debuts this year – most of them, as you might expect, were more of the “I cannot wait to see what this person does next” rather than the “oh my god, that was brilliant variety. Here are all the debuts O saw this year:
Breathe (Andy Serkis) does not prove that Serkis is as good a director as an actor – this is one dull movie, even by British biopic standards. Rough Night (Lucia Aniello) wasn’t a great debut from a veteran TV writer/producer/director – wasting a talented cast, and a premise that should had guaranteed laughs. We Are The Flesh (Emiliano Rocha Minter) is the type of empty provocation that novice directors think are profound – but this one decidedly is not.
Dig Two Graves (Hunter Adams) has atmosphere to spare, which makes me want to see the next film Adams directs – but a narrative that doesn’t work, which makes me hope he doesn’t write it. The House (Andrew Jay Cohen) gets a chance to direct after writing a few hit comedies – and does a competent job, but not much more. To the Bone (Marti Noxon) doesn’t show the same smarts that Noxon has so often shown on TV in shows like Unreal – even if the intentions here are good. Woodshock (Kate & Laura Mulleavy) looks great, but is dramatically inert – I want to see what they do next, because the images are so good – but they need work on the screenwriting part.
Band Aid (Zoe Lister-Jones) is a kind of quirky romantic comedy/drama about a struggling marriage, which is a little more honest than many of its Sundance brethren. Brigsby Bear (Dave McCary) is a weird, unconventional comedy, that doesn’t quite work, but gets points for sheer originality. A Dark Song (Liam Gavin) is a stylish, thoughtful, religious horror movie – which is unique enough that I really looking forward to see what Gavin does next (come up with a better ending next time though). The Greatest Showman (Michael Gracey) is a charming, big budget musical than is cheesy and earnest – and most of all, fun. Hello Destroyer (Kevan Funk) is a fascinating Canadian character study, which is perhaps too morose, but shows a real flair for location and tone. The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczynska) is pure insanity, combing all sorts of wild genres into one weird package – I’m not sure it works, but I’m very interested to seeing the director’s next film. Manifesto (Julian Rosefeldt) is the type of film you would expect a talented visual artist to make – without Blanchett, who knows if this works, but I’m still curious to see what’s next. Patti Cake$ (Geremy Jasper) is about as clichéd as Sundance debuts can come – and yet, it has winning performances and genuine heart. Prevenge (Alice Lowe) has a brilliant central idea – which Lowe, who also wrote it and stars as the pregnant woman killing because her fetus tells her to, shows that Lowe is a multi-talented director to watch. Werewolf (Ashley Mackenzie) is a very typical junkie film – but done with real style, and observational skills that marks Mackenzie as someone to watch. The Wound (John Trengove) is a fascinating film from South Africa, about toxic masculinity and homophobia.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Oz Perkins) is an intelligent, visually great horror film – I know what he did next, since it actually came out first (and was a little disappointing) – but this is a good sign of a future horror auteur. Donald Cried (Kris Avedisian) is a surprisingly heartfelt comedy about a guy coming back to his hometown – and being stuck with his insufferable former best friend. God’s Own Country (Francis Lee) is a heartfelt drama about a young British farmer who falls in love with the Romanian farm hand they hire – and has to come to grips with his identity. Hounds of Love (Ben Young) is a disturbing, realistic horror film about a couple who kidnap and torture a teenage girl – it’s not for everyone, but it’s very well made. I Don’t Feel At Home in the World Anymore (Macon Blair) is the very promising debut of wonderful actor Blair – with this dark, twisted crime comedy that tries (and doesn’t quite reach) Coen territory. Menashe (Joshua Z. Weinstein) is a sensitive look inside the Hasidic Jewish community – through one widower, who wants to get custody of his son back – but cannot, unless he gets remarried. Most Beautiful Island (Ana Asensio) is a wonderful calling card movie – a slow burn thriller, with two brilliant scenes. Super Dark Times (Kevin Phillips) has some problems with its screenplay – but this Kevin Phillips guy has it – he’ll make a great film as soon as he gets a screenplay worthy of his immense talent.
Top 10
10. Ingrid Goes West (Matt Spicer)
Ingrid Goes West is a bizarre, disturbing black comedy – a kind of King of Comedy for the social media generation – with Aubrey Plaza in a brilliant lead performance, as an internet stalker, who sets her sites on an Instagram star she thinks has the perfect life (Elizabeth Olsen), and then conspires to become a part of it. The sunbaked, beach setting is the perfect visual antidote to just how dark this film runs, as Plaza’s behavior becomes more and more deranged. Some of the observations may be a little pat (Olsen, of course, doesn’t have the perfect life she projects on social media), but the film shows real talent by Spicer – a filmmaker I want to see more from in the future. 9. The Transfiguration (Michael O’Shea)
The play. Blackbird, on which Una is based is (reportedly) just two characters in a room talking for the entire runtime. A part of me wishes that more of Una was like that as well – the playwright, David Harrower, has added characters and locations, and the film features flashbacks all in an attempt to open up the play – some of which works, some doesn’t. Still, it’s hard to argue that most of Una – is a terrific film, featuring top notches performances by Rooney Mara as a woman now in her late 20s, confronting the man she was “in a relationship with” when she was 12 – and he was 40, and Ben Mendelsohn, as that man. And director Benedict Andrews, in his feature film debut (he has been a theater director before – including this play) has stripped much of the dialogue down to its core, and replaced it with haunting scenes of the past, and terrific finale that – like the film as a whole – tests and challenges its audience. I would love to see Blackbird performed on stage one time – I think it would be an entirely different experience than the film – but this film, unto itself, is pretty terrific – and I think Andrews deserves a lot of that credit. 
Many first time filmmakers end up making a film that is little more than a collection of their influences in one package – and then, hopefully, those filmmakers mature at some point and make something better the next time. In its best moments, Michael O’Shea’s The Transfiguration is already there. This is a vampire film – and you can see the influence of nearly 100 years of vampire films on it – and yet, he takes it in different directions, connects it to a current political moment (without being so connected that it will grow dated) – and crafted one of the strangest vampire films you will ever see. This film flew too far under the radar this year – and didn’t get nearly the attention it deserved – hopefully, O’Shea’s next film does.
8. Molly’s Game (Aaron Sorkin)
Sorkin has for a long time been a great writer of flashy dialogue – and his screenplay for Molly’s Game is no exception. His direction matches that whip smart dialogue as well – it’s flashy, but not overly flashy, and he gets great performances out of Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Kevin Costner. The film is long – at two hours and twenty minutes, but it moves like gangbusters, and is entertaining every single minute of its runtime. Yes, Sorkin is still learning – the film could have been tighter, and someone like Fincher was able to make The Social Network more than the dialogue, which Sorkin hasn’t quite figured out. Still, this is great work for a first time filmmaker, and I want to see if Sorkin keeps directing, and what he does.
7. Una (Benedict Andrews)
The play. Blackbird, on which Una is based is (reportedly) just two characters in a room talking for the entire runtime. A part of me wishes that more of Una was like that as well – the playwright, David Harrower, has added characters and locations, and the film features flashbacks all in an attempt to open up the play – some of which works, some doesn’t. Still, it’s hard to argue that most of Una – is a terrific film, featuring top notches performances by Rooney Mara as a woman now in her late 20s, confronting the man she was “in a relationship with” when she was 12 – and he was 40, and Ben Mendelsohn, as that man. And director Benedict Andrews, in his feature film debut (he has been a theater director before – including this play) has stripped much of the dialogue down to its core, and replaced it with haunting scenes of the past, and terrific finale that – like the film as a whole – tests and challenges its audience. I would love to see Blackbird performed on stage one time – I think it would be an entirely different experience than the film – but this film, unto itself, is pretty terrific – and I think Andrews deserves a lot of that credit. 
6. Novitiate (Margaret Betts)
This drama, about young nuns who commit themselves to a convent, unaware that new rules from Vatican II is going to radically change the lives of Catholic nuns forever. It is also a movie about young women, searching for love and a sense of belonging – and who see that in becoming a Nun. For a first time filmmaker, Betts has bite a lot off for herself here – and at times, it almost does feel like she’s making two different movies – one, a subdued, respectful coming of age story, about girls struggling with many things (including their sexuality) – and one in which Melissa Leo (brilliant as the Reverend Mother) chews the scenery as a cruel disciplinarian – but amazing, she ends up pulling them both off, and bringing them together. Hopefully the start of a great career here.
5. Columbus (Kogonada)
Kogonada’ s Columbus is a very strange film – a romantic film, in the way that Lost in Translation is romantic, that is set in the title town in Indiana – which is known the world over as an architects dream. Kogonada lovingly captures all the strange buildings in town – which gives the film much of its visual beauty – but it’s the low-key relationship between the middle aged Korean American (John Cho) in town because his distant, architect father fell into a coma there, and the recent high school graduate (Haley Lu Richardson – in what should be a star making performance) share that makes the film special. It’s not a creepy, sexual vibe they have, but something deeper than that. The film is quiet – perhaps too quiet – but it sneaks up on you, and once inside, you aren’t likely to forget it. A quietly remarkable debut.
4. Lady Macbeth (William Oldroyd)
Lady Macbeth is a remarkably assured directorial debut for William Oldroyd – who has already figured out that often, less is more. That isn’t to say that Lady Macbeth isn’t a stylized film – it is incredibly stylized – just that Oldroyd knows enough on when to keep quiet, and when to push. The film is basically a Hitchockian thriller disguised as a costume drama – about a young woman – a remarkable Florence Pugh – forced into marriage, and then doing everything she can to get out of it – including murder. We start out with her, but gradually, the film ratchets up the tension, and her own horrible behavior – until we cannot still be with her. This is an assured debut, a film that sneaks up on you, and a tense thriller. I cannot wait to see what he does next.
3. Lucky (John Carroll Lynch)
In many circles, Lucky is seen as little more than a tribute to the late, great Harry Dean Stanton – giving one of the greatest character actors in history one last hurrah – and one of the only lead roles of his career. It is no doubt that – this film joins Stanton’s very best work as what he’ll be remembered for – but I do want to say that I think character actor turned director John Carroll Lynch (who is not like Stanton at all as an actor – except for the fact that no matter what part he plays, you know he’s going to be great in it) does with the film. It isn’t easy to make a film like this, and make it feel genuine – trust me, I watch a couple dozen, small town, quirky comedy dramas a years out of Sundance, and they rarely get it right. What Lynch does here is in no way flashy – but it is perfect for the film he is making. Whether or not Lynch goes on to direct more or not, he was an odd and unexpected choice for this film – but undeniably the right one.
2. Raw (Julia Ducournau)
Julia Ducournau’ s Raw is one of the great horror films of the year – and also, a brilliant exploration of female coming of age – sexually, yes, but more than that. Yes, the movie churned stomachs on the festival circuit – someone passed out at TIFF watching it during Midnight Madness – but I think it’s unfortunate that the film has gotten a reputation as a gross out movie, when it’s far more than that. It’s not unlike the great Canadian werewolf film Ginger Snaps – but this one is even better. Docournau’s visual command is great, she gets great performances from all involved, and she keeps what could be an insane premise on the tracks all the way until the end (the final scene may be too much – but just maybe). I have no idea what she’s going to do next – but I cannot wait to see it.
1. Get Our (Jordan Peele)
It is not uncommon for director’s debut films to be more about the films that influenced them, than the film they are making – they want to show you that they have good taste in movies when they make theirs. Great filmmakers eventually move on from that – and find ways to take what inspired them and turn it into something altogether original and different. Jordan Peele’s debut film Get Out is already there. Yes, you can see the films that inspired him in there – from Rosemary’s Baby to The Stepford Wives, etc. – but he’s taken that all, and made an entirely original film, about the smiling face of liberal racism – a film that is petrifying to everyone in the audience, in different ways. Yet, Peele isn’t making a treatise here – he isn’t delivering a sermon – the film works on every level he chooses to – as a horror movie, as a social drama, as a satire, etc. It is one of the best debuts in recent memory – and even as it continues a long line of movies hiding their messages in a horror film (that stretches back to the genre’s origins) – he has made something wholly different. I cannot wait to see Peele’s next film.
0 comments:
Post a Comment