The Killer (2023)

Posted on October 28, 2023November 14, 2023 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

The Killer – Film Review

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Kerry O’Malley, Sala Baker, Sophie Charlotte, Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard, Emiliano Pernía, Gabriel Polanco

Director: David Fincher

Synopsis: An assassin on a mission to eliminate a target finds himself up against his employers after the mission goes awry…

Review: “Empathy is weakness, weakness is vulnerability” narrates the nameless assassin at the centre of the latest film from the master of suspense David Fincher. It is probably a requisite in that particular line of work that one would need to not allow their feelings or emotions to interfere in the name of getting the job done. Cinema has seen no shortage of films centred on the worlds of espionage and paid assassins. In the hands of a director whose methods are as targeted and as precise as its titular hitman, he brings an entirely unique perspective to this genre, unlike anything we have seen before.

The eponymous assassin (Fassbender) is contracted by his employers to eliminate a target by any means necessary, even if it means waiting for days on end for the opportune moment to present itself. While he lies in wait, he will prepare meticulously to ensure he is ready, but he will also find time to engage in regular day-to-day activities, such as ordering fast food and doing yoga. The precise and methodological approach he takes towards his job is procedural, and he will merely bide his time waiting for the moment to strike. When the moment does arrive, a rare mishap leaves him wondering who might now be after him and if he is about to be the one in the crosshairs of his employers.

Adapted from the French graphic novel series of the same name written by Alexis Nolent, the script by Andrew Kevin Walker (reuniting with Fincher after the duo worked on Se7en) wastes no time getting down to business. It whizzes through the opening credits almost quickly as a speeding bullet, though it slows back down again as through an extensive period of narration by The Assassin as he gets ready to carry out the assassination he has been paid one presumes an exorbitant amount of money for. From there, once the planned hit has been botched, the film is divided into chapters as he goes across the globe to confront his employers and seek retribution against those who may have targeted him, or those close to him in response to the botched job. He does all this while having a penchant for destroying mobile phones and listening to The Smiths. Who knew that listening to Morrissey is the perfect ambience an assassin requires to commit brutal acts of violence?

Before taking a three-year break away from the big screen, Fassbender was in something of a rut having starred in a series of films which did not have the best of receptions either critically or commercially. Therefore, it is immensely satisfying to see him return to form in a big way as he is electrifying here. Given he’s in just about every frame of the film, he commands the screen with a presence with an intensity and an aura of someone you absolutely do not want to mess with. He’s a man of few words but has an icy death stare that would make anyone’s blood run as cold as the deepest depths of the South Pole during a long and dark winter night. For understandable reasons, Fincher keeps his camera trained on Fassbender to the extent that pretty much every other member of the cast is given very little or sparse screen time. However, each one, especially Tilda Swinton makes their screentime count.

There’s a foreboding nature running through every frame of the film thanks to the atmospheric cinematography from Erik Messerschmidt, and an intense score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It is all overseen by a director who like his main character, is methodical and meticulous in how he shoots his films. His command of the craft is never in doubt, particularly when it comes to what is one of the most brutal fight scenes in a film this year or in a good long while for that matter where every punch and blow is strongly felt. While the story itself is light on substance and could have delved more beyond the surface level of the assassin’s psyche and what makes him tick, it is hard to count that against it when everything is so slickly and stylishly presented. This should come as no surprise given that like his titular assassin, Fincher shoots to thrill, and thrill he most certainly does.

Gripping from the word go and never letting up due to a phenomenal leading performance from Michael Fassbender, the master of the thriller once again delivers a pulsating and intense ride which does not miss.

2020-2029, Film Review, London Film Festival 2023

The Zone of Interest (2023)

Posted on October 20, 2023January 28, 2024 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**© A24, Film4, Access, Polish Film Institute, JW Films and Extreme Emotion**

The Zone of Interest – Film Review

Cast: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Ralph Herforth, Johann Karthaus, Luis Noah Witte, Nele Ahrensmeier, Lilli Falk, Medusa Knopf

Director: Jonathan Glazer

Synopsis: A Nazi officer and his wife look to build their idyllic family life in a home right next to Auschwitz…

Review: One does not have to have picked up a history book, or to have studied World War II in extensive detail, to know between 1941 and 1945, the Nazis systematically murdered European Jews during the Holocaust. Around six million Jews, two-thirds of the Jewish population on the continent, were slaughtered. Cinema has often turned its attention to this dark and evil chapter of human history, capturing the horrendous conditions of the concentration/death camps. It seems impossible for a film to find a new way to illustrate the appalling atrocities committed by the Nazis, yet this is exactly what writer/director Jonathan Glazer does with this haunting and unnerving examination of human indifference towards unspeakable brutality.

Loosely based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Martin Amis and set in 1943, the film explores the life of Nazi SS officer and Commandment of the Auschwitz concentration camp Rudolf Höss (Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Hüller) as they seek to build their family life in a house, right next door to the camp. The mere description of the film’s synopsis is enough to fill anyone with fury and anxiety, and anyone could reasonably think that the film’s opening shot would be an unsettling scene from inside the camp. Instead, after a lengthy black screen with only Mica Levi’s score to fill our eardrums with a terrifying sense of dread, the opening shot is one of the Höss family, having a family day out by a lake. The jarring juxtaposition of joyous family fun, in the immediate vicinity of callous acts of genocide is an immediate jolt to the senses to horrify you beyond measure.

It is such a disturbing and startling contrast that makes your stomach churn, setting the tone for the rest of the film. Throughout, we see the Höss family go about their daily lives. Banal acts such as getting ready for school, coming home, tending to your garden, having a meal, spending a family day by the pool, and sleeping safe and sound in your bed at night. The sorts of regular activities families will go through day after day. All the while, the audible sounds of gunshots, indiscernible orders, screams and cries for mercy, combined with the horrific sight of the Auschwitz chimney splurging out smoke as a result of the gas chambers being used. Yet these horrific sounds do not remotely faze the family in the slightest. They go about their lives while countless innocent souls have theirs ended in such an inhumane and callous manner. The sounds coming from the camp are deliberately kept out of sight but never out of the minds of the audience.

In what cannot have been easy roles for any of these actors to play, Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller’s performances are both chillingly effective. Friedel portrays Hoss as a man driven by the wellness and comfort of his family while being heavily invested in his disturbing work concerning the efficiency of the camp to please his superiors. Meanwhile, Hüller as the Höss household matriarch also shows a complete lack of emotion to the situation mere yards away from her house. She is far more preoccupied with attending to the flowers and plants in her garden and trying on clothes that belonged to Jews who were housed at the camp. Both their performances are frightening due to their complete indifference to the barbaric acts of violence being inflicted upon other human beings beyond their garden wall, simply because they didn’t acknowledge the people who were housed in those conditions as people at all. Their shocking coldness in the face of the unspeakable screams with furious urgency to the audience, particularly in a world which finds itself in a seemingly never-ending continuous trend of horrific violence being inflicted on people all over the world on a day-to-day basis.

The filmmaking on display is immaculate. Glazer’s use of extensive long takes illustrates the mundanity of the everyday life of the Hoss family, while Lukasz Zal’s stripped-back cinematography is devastatingly effective. Using only practical and natural lighting, the garden scenes exude the warmth of a plot of land filled with love and care. Yet, in the very same shot, the cold, ominous, and unforgiving presence of the concentration camp’s buildings lingers in the background and serves as a glaring reminder of the horrors contained within those walls.

The art form of cinema can so often be a place for audiences to have fun and enjoy themselves, but this is emphatically not one of those instances. Glazer’s intention is absolutely to horrify the audience, to chill them to their very core as to how people can sit idly by while horrific crimes are committed in broad daylight. As the old saying goes: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. Such appalling acts of depravity should be forever confined to our history books and museums, never to be repeated. However, as recent years have shown, unspeakable atrocities are being committed due to blind hatred, while bigotry is rearing its ugly head across the world. Glazer’s message rings loud and clear. We cannot and must not be complicit in the face of evil.

An unflinching analysis of the human complicity and apathy in close proximity to the unimaginable brutality inflicted on countless innocent souls that will get under your skin and not leave your mind anytime soon. In time, this will become essential viewing for all.

2020-2029, Film Review, London Film Festival 2023

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Posted on October 17, 2023October 28, 2023 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

© Apple Films, Paramount Pictures and Imperative Entertainment

Killers of the Flower Moon – Film Review

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Cara Jade Myers, Jillian Dion

Director: Martin Scorsese

Synopsis: Telling the true story of what became know as “The Reign of Terror” where a series of murders of members took place in the 1920s against of the Osage Native American tribe in the 1920s, sparking a major law investment investigation…

Review: The 1920s, or the Roaring Twenties, a period defined by economic prosperity across Western society where certain sections of the population gained enormous amounts of wealth. However, as history has shown us time and time again, for some people, the wealth they have acquired is somehow never enough. They are driven by insatiable greed, which as the trailer summarised is “an animal that hungers for blood” and will be willing to commit appalling acts of violence to obtain such wealth. It is this greed and corruption, as well as a series of brutal murders which forms the basis for the latest epic from one of cinema’s greatest living directors.

Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) returns to Osage County, Oklahoma after serving in the First World War. In 1898, the discovery of huge quantities of oil underneath the land belonging to the Osage Native American tribe instantaneously made them some of the richest people in the world. Yet, the possession of this wealth provokes the Caucasian members of the community to conspire against the Osage tribe, to swindle them out of this money so that the wealth can come to them. To that end, Burkart is persuaded by his ruthless uncle William Hale (De Niro), to marry Osage member Mollie Kyle, so that were anything to happen to Mollie’s family, the lucrative wealth of this oil money would be passed on to Burkhart, and by extension, Hale.

Based on the book of the same name by David Grann, the screenplay by Scorsese and Eric Roth frames its story from the perspective of the Osage people. We see through their eyes how the viciousness, corruption, greed, as well as white supremacy, drove people to systematically kill off the Osage community. As one Osage leader puts it “they’re like buzzards circling our people”. Over 206 enthralling minutes, the film combines the love story between Mollie and Ernest, the central plot to eliminate the members of the Osage community, and the ensuing Bureau of Investigation (BOI) inquiry into the murders.

Marking the sixth collaboration between himself and Scorsese, DiCaprio is excellent as Burkhart. On the surface, he comes across as a bit dim-witted and extremely naive. Yet, he is also ambitious and is spurred on by his uncle to do some truly terrible things all in the name of acquiring more wealth. Even though she could sense from the start what his ulterior motive was, the romance between him and Mollie is genuine and causes Burkhart to be severely conflicted about the plans his uncle has put in place. In what is De Niro’s tenth feature film collaboration with his long-time friend, he is thoroughly loathsome and reptilian as Hale. On the outside, he comes across as this charming and friendly soul towards the Osage. Yet, on the inside, he spouts white supremacist ideology which feels eerily reminiscent of modern times. It’s a scaled back performance in many respects, as he does not need to raise his voice to cause other characters, especially Ernest, to be immensely afraid of a deadly reprisal given the power he holds in the region. Both actors have become Scorsese’s muses over the course of his glittering career, and to see them act opposite each other in a feature film for the first time is a special sight to see.

However, both are outshone by the film’s heart and soul, Lily Gladstone’s Mollie. She initially displays a quiet and restrained performance, even as members of her family and the Osage are being killed. Yet, as the film progresses, that restraint turns into something much more potent and fiercer when it comes to seeking justice for those Osage members who have been cruelly murdered, which results in the Bureau of Investigation sending agent Tom White (Plemons) down from Washington D.C. to lead an inquiry into the murders.

Having been given the largest-ever budget on a Netflix film with his previous film, Scorsese has followed suit with his move over to Apple (with a reported budget of $200m) and the results are as immaculate as one would expect. The filmmakers worked extensively with the Osage tribe to ensure authenticity and were permitted to shoot in areas where the events depicted happened. Similarly, the length gone to recreate genuine Osage costumes, particularly the blankets, demonstrates the tremendous level of care which went into the production. It gives the Osage a community a voice which history has often tried to silence. Under the trusted eye of his regular collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker, the film’s editing is meticulous and keeps the film’s pace briskly moving along so that those 206 minutes whistle by, reinforcing the idea that no film is too long if it is paced correctly. Having served as cinematographer on his films since The Wolf of Wall Street, Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography is visually striking in capturing the Oklahoma oil fields bathed in sunshine and when required, shifts gear when it comes to the abject horror the Caucasian community wrought upon the Osage.

He might have now reached the age of 80, but for Scorsese age is clearly just a number. He continues to not let his age get in the way of producing stunning pieces of cinema which can shine a spotlight on an important piece of US history that should never be forgotten. It reminds the audience of the horrors and evils that can come with rampant corruption and greed, a lesson which still holds true in modern society. Cinemagoers across generations been able to watch a master at work for over 60 years, and for that, we can be immensely grateful.

An epic and all-encompassing rumination on the perils of rampant greed, the ugliness of white supremacy and the US’s shameful history when it comes to the treatment of the Native American people. Another stunning achievement from one of the best directors cinema has ever seen.

2020-2029, Film Review, London Film Festival 2023

The Holdovers (2023)

Posted on October 15, 2023December 24, 2023 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

The Holdovers – Film Review

Cast: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston,

Director: Alexander Payne

Synopsis: A prep school student must remain on campus over the Christmas holidays with his history professor and the school’s head cook…

Review: Christmas is a usually celebratory and special time of the year when families can get together, exchange gifts, relax and unwind after a busy 12 months prior. However, for some people, this may not be the case. For a multitude of reasons, they might not have anywhere to go. It is a difficult predicament at the best of times, particularly for anyone forced to spend the holidays at an educational institution, such as a boarding school. Such a premise on paper doesn’t sound like it would be ripe material for a heart-warming Christmas film, but the latest film from Alexander Payne is exactly that, a warm hug of a film and one that will surely cement itself as a staple of the holiday season every year.

It is Christmas 1970, and cantankerous classics professor Paul Hunham (Giamatti) at the Barton Academy in Massachusetts is tasked by the school’s headmaster to remain on campus to look after and supervise a select group of boys who have nowhere else to go, leaving them rather dismayed. Though when circumstances change and most of the students are allowed to depart thanks to one of their parents, it leaves only Paul, the school’s head cook Mary Lamb (Randolph) and the bright but troubled Angus Tully (Sessa) as the only people remaining on campus through the holidays, the latter duo having both recently lost close members of their family.

Right from the opening titles, which are recreated in the style of the 1970s, the audience is immediately transported into the spirit of the holiday season that gives you such a warm fuzzy feeling that very few times of the year could. The screenplay by David Hemingson, who based it on his own personal experience at a prep school, is filled with razor-sharp wit and humour, while also building poignant and emotional moments between its three main characters as they navigate having to spend the Christmas holidays in the one place they probably wish they could be as far away from as humanly possible.

Reuniting with Payne after they collaborated on 2004’s Sideways, Giamatti excels in a role that was almost certainly written with him in mind given he shares his name with his character. He is well aware that among the students, and even the faculty, he’s thoroughly despised for his strict approach to his job, but it doesn’t faze him at all and almost revels in it. His prickly attitude lends itself to difficult early moments between him and Angus, an unquestionably bright but troubled student going through a troubled moment in his life. To add insult to injury, he has been left behind by his family at the worst possible time. However as they spend more time with each other, the two build an unlikely friendship as they get to know each other’s past and understand the other’s perspective. It’s remarkable to think this is Sessa’s first screen performance and to act alongside Giamatti going toe-to-toe with a veteran of the industry, but he rises to this challenge spectacularly. Randolph completes the trifecta of magnificent performances as she brings warmth and heart to this group, showing compassion for Angus and his difficult situation, and rebuking Paul for his unnecessarily strict attitude towards Angus, all while grieving for the loss of her son.

If the opening titles weren’t enough to help set the scene and make the audience feel like they have time-travelled back to the 1970s themselves, the cinematography from Eigil Bryld beautifully captures the time period as if the filmmakers were using antique cameras and equipment to establish the 1970s setting. Similarly, the film juxtaposes the warmth and cosiness of the holiday season even in the midst of a place which is the antithesis of those two adjectives, while also capturing the cold depths of the Massachusetts winter. In modern times, films which are not part of an existing franchise, or not based on a book or already established source material are increasingly rare these days. As such they should be treasured like a special Christmas present, even more so considering the film contains one off the best insults you will ever hear on film.

Just as Christmas is one of the most joyous times of the year, The Holdovers is fittingly a joyous and emotional tale of three unlikely people coming together to unite in their grief while celebrating the holidays. A future festive classic.

2020-2029, Film Review, London Film Festival 2023

Saltburn (2023)

Posted on October 13, 2023October 13, 2023 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

© Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. MRC and LuckyChap Entertainment

Saltburn – Film Review

Cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, Carey Mulligan

Director: Emerald Fennell

Synopsis: An introverted Oxford University student is invited by a wealthy classmate to spend the summer at his family’s estate…

Review: There can be surely no finer way for a director to announce themselves as an exciting new voice in cinema when their debut is a powerful piece of storytelling which holds a mirror up to society and ignites a conversation. This is precisely what Emerald Fennell accomplished when her incredible directorial debut, Promising Young Woman, was unleashed onto the world in 2020/21. By putting sexual harassment and the extremely predatory behaviour of men towards women under a microscope, it earned her a well-deserved Academy Award for Original Screenplay, as well as landing nominations for Directing and Best Picture. After such richly deserved success, much anticipation followed as to what she would bring to the table with her follow-up. It is safe to say, here’s a director who is not afraid to really push boundaries.

Oliver (Keoghan) is a bright but socially introverted student who arrives at Oxford University in the mid-2000s. He initially struggles to settle in and make friends, but an act of kindness towards his wealthy aristocrat and extremely popular classmate Felix Catton (Elordi), helps Oliver to integrate himself into Felix’s circle of friends, much to the dismay of Farleigh (Madekwe), Felix’s cousin. Over the next few months, the two of them begin to form a close friendship which culminates in Felix inviting Oliver to spend the summer at his family’s extravagant estate, Saltburn, for a summer filled with extravagant parties, romance and a summer unlike anything Oliver has experienced before.

Over the years, and particularly since the Covid pandemic, films which put the class system under a microscope have been in plentify supply. Yet, while all of these films had a common thread of “eating the rich”, each delivered this message in an original and witty manner. They were full of sharp observations and satire towards the lifestyles of the rich and powerful. Fennell’s screenplay follows a similar theme with the opulence and the extravagance of those lifestyles on full display. Yet, as far as Oliver is concerned, it is not a case of casting a scowl and an angry stare at the affluence of his hosts. Instead, it is in fact a desire (bordering on lust) to integrate himself into that lifestyle, where would be willing to do anything he can obtain it.

After slowly but steadily building his name as an actor to watch in recent years, which culminated in landing his first Oscar nomination in last year’s The Banshees of Inisherin, Barry Keoghan delivers yet another memorable performance to add to an already impressive career. He starts off as a very timid student who seems petrified to come out of his shell. Yet as the film slowly progresses, he morphs and transforms into a very different character once he has a taste of the lifestyle enjoyed by Felix and his family. Speaking of the family, everyone is brilliant to watch, but the standouts are easily Felix’s parents Elsbeth (Pike) and Sir James (Grant). Both of them revel in their status as part of the elite while being snobby and condescending towards those they see as beneath them, and will fire off snide remarks at will towards people such as Oliver and Pamela, a far too brief but wonderful turn from Mulligan to reunite with her Promising Young Woman director.

With no shortage of striking and haunting religious imagery in her debut film, while effortlessly flipping between rom-com and revenge thriller, Fennell repeats this trick once again and demonstrates what a fearless filmmaker she is. This time around, she blends romantic drama, black comedy and psychological thriller into one big melting pot baked in the British summer sunshine. Furthermore, through the immaculate cinematography from Linus Sandgren the beauty of the titular estate while drenched in the warm summer sunshine is juxtaposed with an atmospheric and ominous presence, particularly at nighttime capturing a gothic horror vibe to the place. The clever use of the 4:3 ratio creates the illusion that despite its vast grounds, the Saltburn estate has much less privacy than one might expect.

The film is undeniably visually stunning, and Fennell deserves credit for once again being so daring in her storytelling. However, without getting into spoilers, the direction the story goes in is extremely provocative and twisted. It goes for shock value for the sake of it, rather than having anything of real substance to say the affluence of the 1% and fails to replicate her debut feature’s emotional gut punch that left audiences reeling. That being said, like its predecessor, it does close out on one hell of a needle drop which will likely leave said song stuck in your head for days on end.