Monthly Archives: July 2018

Ismael’s Ghosts: A Convoluted Story With Stellar Acting

foreign films, , ,

Co-written and directed by Arnaud Desplechin, Ismael’s Ghosts is a convoluted story about Ismael’s life as a filmmaker. His wife Carlotta, played by Marion Cotillard, who ran away twenty-one years ago, returns and is back just as he is about to start shooting his next movie.

Please be patient as I try to explain the movie because it is French and there are so many layers to the movie.

On the other hand, Ismael, played by Mathieu Amalric, has been busy rebuilding a life for himself with Sylvia, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, and working on his next feature film. Ismael’s trials and tribulations open up the story becomes more and more layered with dissociated situations.

The one storyline that I found easy to follow was when Carlotta returns and moves into the beach house with Ismael and Sylvia. Creating an uncomfortable situation far beyond the old saying threes a crowd. Her arrival complicates their lives. I yearned to see this story unfold and be the only story in the movie.

Other situations become apparent with various ghosts from Ismael’s past. The story introduces several characters. One is Ivan, played by Louis Garrel, a diplomat who journeys around the world without understanding it. The same goes for the title character, Ismael. He is a film director who journeys through his life without understanding it either.

Desplechin says the movie is five films compressed into one. Ismael is harried. And yet up in his attic, Ismael tries to hold all the threads of what is happening together. Throughout the movie are twists and turns with each scene raw and brutal.

Gainsbourg is brilliant as Sylvia who teaches Ismael how to live. Her acting career is extensive with Antichrist directed by Lars Von Trier. She won Best Actress, Cannes Film Festival 2009. She played Jane Eyre in Franco Zeffirelli’s Jane Eyre.

Gainsbourg’s scenes with Cotillard makes watching the movie worth it. Two powerhouse actresses playing off each other is real and heartbreaking. Cotillard’s acting career is just as impressive, though she is in more American movies than Gainsbourg. She worked with several American directors including Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, Woody Allen, and Rob Marshall. Cotillard won an Oscar, Cesar, and Golden Globe in 2008 for her role as Edith Piaf in the French movie La Vie En Rose directed by Olivier Dahan.

Amalric may seem familiar to Wes Anderson fans because he started in The Grand Budapest Hotel. One of my favorite Anderson movies.

Desplechin career is well-known in France and Ismael’s Ghosts received the honor with 2017 Cannes Film Festival – World Premiere and Opening Night Film.

Julie Peyr and Lea Mysius co-wrote the screenplay with Desplechin. Peyr also worked on the screenplay for Desplechin’s The Golden Days.

The movie is in French with English subtitles.

 

“Marrowbone” a Haunting Tale

children, horror, mystery, , , , , ,

Written and directed by Sergio G. Sanchez, Marrowbone marks Sanchez’s directorial debut. The Spanish director is known for his screenwriting talent in such movies as The Orphanage and The Impossible.

The story follows four siblings filled with secrets that entice and invites you to stay and live inside their world. The siblings cross the Atlantic, escaping from a mysterious trauma with a life of its own. They seek refuge in an old home after the death of their mother, only to discover that the house has another, more sinister inhabitant, and it turns into a haunting tale.

The siblings are full of life but also show apprehension. And all of it comes across with a unique romanticism and beautifully framed movie.

The older sibling, Jack, played by George MacKay, faces the responsibility of looking after his siblings. He struggles with the usual concerns of a boy his age—his love for Allie, played by Anya Taylor-Joy. The responsibility his mother has given him by asking him to keep the family together.

By contrast, Jane, the second sister, played by Mia Goth, symbolizes goodness in the mother’s absence. In the scenes, Jane compensates whenever there is a violent or hostile instinct. She fights for her brothers so that they can leave behind their painful past. Goth’s presence on film is quite overwhelming but compelling.

Billy, the third of the siblings, played by Charlie Heaton, is best known for the series Stranger Things. His performance is heartbreaking. Billy is perhaps the most troublesome. He represents courage, the bravery that Jack sometimes lacks. The fourth is Sam, played by Matthew Stagg, Sam’s the youngest, so everyone feels they have to overprotect him by hiding the most disgusting aspects that have led them to their present situation. He verbalizes everything he knows. His older siblings seem to believe he is more tender and naïve than he is. For them, his innocence is living proof that not everything is corrupted in the world. Allie is the only link they have with the outside world since she is not part of the family. She comes across as bright and cheerful and keeps the story moving forward.

The romance between Jack and Allie accurately sums up the quirkiness of the story. It’s teenage love shared by two young people who neither want nor have time to consider where it will lead.

Another character in the movie is the house where the siblings live. Its appearance of being semi-abandoned with an unkept yard marks the boundary between the home and the outer civilization—isolated with no signs of modern life. The siblings live in the world with their own rules, invisible to society that continues their concerns on the other side. However, I would call Marrowbone a horror movie. It is much more haunting than scary with the clever nuances Sanchez uses to engage the audience.

Don’t Grow Up Horror of Becoming an Adult Zombie

horror, science fiction, thriller, ,

Directed by Thierry Poiraud, Don’t Grow Up, is not your typical young adult story. It’s almost brutal and disgusting. The unique movie is a horror movie that might mesmerize horror fans because it brings a whole new level of horrifying.

If you are a horror fan, you might be familiar with Poiraud’s  Goal of the Dead. Like Dead, Don’t Grow Up flourishes in a world of terror where the possibility of survival is limited.

A group of teenage delinquents living in a youth center wake up to find themselves all alone with no one to watch over them. The teens celebrate their newfound freedom by partying, playing loud music and visualizing a life without guardians.

After the excitement fades, they decide to leave the group home for good. Upon arriving in the nearby town, they find the streets deserted, and in a post-apocalyptic state. Now, the real story brings us to the outskirts of London, where six teens find themselves without supervision and immediately take to making the most of their new privilege. No longer limited to the space of their detention center, they explore the inner city with Liam, played by McKell David, as their self-appointed leader.

After Liam’s girlfriend, played Natifa Mai, walks off after an argument, she has an aggressive confrontation with the group’s supervisor that leaves her wounded. Discovering that the attack is not isolated and is the result of a widespread epidemic that leaves children and adolescents unaffected, the group must defend themselves against manic adults, paranoid children and, ultimately, their own maturity.

The few adults they do encounter all seem to be infected by a mysterious epidemic, making them blood-thirsty and psychotic. They try to discover a way to survive against the zombie-like adults while helping the destitute children. In order to survive, they realize the importance of growing up and taking responsibility. They need to band together and find a route to safety. These zombie adults are nothing like the kind you typically see of late. These are fast and can think on their feet, which adds even more to the horror.

The undercurrent that some of the teens are older than the others and those older will turn into zombies before the others. The unspoke words are subtle and savage with each other. Hence, the movie’s fitting title – Don’t Grow Up.

The Blu-ray includes behind the scenes with director Thierry Poiraud, “Making of Don’t Grow Up,” and I found it interesting following the director’s perspective of the movie. There is another feature, you get a behind-the-scenes look at the cast and their characters.