Movie Reviews

‘A Couple’ Review: Frederick Wiseman’s Pungent Foray into Fiction

Published

2 years ago

September 4, 2022

‘A Couple’ Review: Frederick Wiseman’s Pungent Foray into Fiction

Actor Nathalie Boutefeu perambulates round an beautiful backyard in full bloom, reciting a monologue in French she cowrote along with her director, the phrases drawn from writings by Sophia Tolstoy, the spouse of novelist Leo Tolstoy (whose personal letters are additionally quoted right here). The result’s an expressive and shifting portrait of a tempestuous marriage, one informed with elan that feels wealthy in feeling even when its whole funds most likely wouldn’t have lined the price of croissants on a mean movie shoot in France.

That bald description would possibly counsel it’s a unusual programming selection for the primary competitors on the Venice Movie Competition except you knew that the movie’s co-writer and director is 92-year-old Frederick Wiseman, the American-born auteur who lives primarily in France now and has directed almost 50 movies in a storied profession. There’s one thing usually puckish and stunning that at this late, nice stage of his profession Wiseman ought to be making one thing that’s such an outlier in aesthetic phrases as this.

A Couple

The Backside Line

Small in scale, however wealthy in feeling.

Venue: Venice Movie Competition (Competitors)
Solid: Nathalie Boutefeu
Director: Frederick Wiseman
Screenwriters: Frederick Wiseman, Nathalie Boutefeu, based mostly on diary entries and letters written by Leo and Sophia Tolstoy

1 hour 4 minutes.

For a begin, at 64 minutes, A Couple is a mere slip of a factor, at the least in comparison with a few of Wiseman’s expansive, multiple-hour-long works, such because the 359-minute Close to Demise (1989) or Belfast, Maine (245 minutes, 1999) and At Berkeley (244 minutes, 2013). A Couple can be certainly one of solely two movies Wiseman has directed that consists nearly completely of an actor enjoying a task, the opposite being The Final Letter from 2002, a filmed document of a stage play he directed in Paris that was tailored from the Holocaust-themed novel by Vasiliy Grossman. Usually, his movies are documentaries and simply have folks “enjoying” themselves because it have been — or pictures of performers enjoying roles on stage in the midst of their work within the films Wiseman has made about leisure establishments like ballet and theatre corporations. Thoughts you, he describes his movies generally as “actuality fictions,” so this one is just some levels nearer to the fiction finish of the spectrum.

Nonetheless, even like a few of Wiseman’s longest movies, A Couple feels prefer it’s the best size to inform the story it wants to inform, and the result’s a surprisingly pregnant and weighty hour or so of leisure, thanks partly to Boutefeu’s intense, galvanic efficiency. The movie’s sole performer, she recites her strains with that educational precision that French stage actors are so recognized for, the diction pitch-perfect however by no means shedding contact with the emotional import of the phrases.

Wearing easy lengthy, black interval garments with a Russian-style floral scarf draped over her shoulders at occasions (there’s no credit score for a fancy dress designer, so presumably they’re all of the actor’s personal), she is first seen in a small room, writing on a sheet of parchment with an old style black crayon, underscoring the epistolary origins of the fabric. Principally her gaze rests off to the aspect in an unfocussed approach, as if Sophia have been speaking to herself, which makes the moments when she seems to be straight on the digicam with piercing pale eyes all of the extra placing.

This scene and one other set in an inside bookend the movie. The remaining principally observes Boutefeu’s Sophia strolling, speaking and generally sitting reflectively in tranquil locations in Jardin La Boulaye, a non-public backyard on Belle-Île-en-Mer, an island off the coast of Brittany. There are additionally pictures of waves surging across the rocky cliffs and crags of a seashore which look remarkably just like the seashore seen in Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Girl on Hearth. The totally different landscapes seen right here aptly mirror the totally different modalities of the Tolstoy marriage as described within the monologue, a mix of stormy, tidal uproars interspersed with stretches of home tranquility.

Wiseman and DP John Davey give the macro lenses a exercise with considerable close-ups of blossoms, together with lushly speckled rhododendrons, tumbling cascades of fleabane, gaudy gorse in such profusion you may virtually odor it wafting off the display. The sensuality of the floral imagery, coupled with Sophia’s circumlocutory description of her marriage’s intense flares of ardour (she’s an excessive amount of of a girl to speak straight about carnal relations) represents a reminder that flowers are principally crops’ intercourse organs. They get to face in for all the new lethargic intercourse the couple clearly should have loved (that they had 13 youngsters in any case, 9 of whom survived childhood) once they weren’t arguing with each other.

Certainly, the portrait that emerges from the phrases is of a wedding between an clever 19^th-century girl who possibly didn’t fairly grasp what she was letting herself in for when she married the mercurial Tolstoy. On the threat of creating a reckless analysis given I’m no psychiatrist, Leo feels like somebody affected by a bipolar dysfunction, susceptible to sudden temper adjustments, alternately intensely affectionate after which abruptly jealous, detached and even scornful of his long-suffering, bewildered spouse. Anybody who has ever been in a drama-packed relationship of any size will sympathize with Sophia’s torment, confusion and above all, seen exhaustion, particularly in the event that they’ve been with somebody who is actually married to their work.

Sophia quotes letters from Leo the place he talks of how the fictional worlds he lives in are extra actual to him than the one he really lives in along with her, which galls her even when she’s too meek and battered down by his patriarchal bullying. Had been this a narrative a couple of up to date couple, many viewers members could be rooting for her to depart him, however after all that was an nearly unthinkable selection within the time Sophia was residing. In spite of everything, divorce positive didn’t work out for the heroine of certainly one of Tolstoy’s best works, Anna Karenina.

Whereas the emotional content material is delivered adeptly right here and is universally understandable, some viewers would possibly lament that the movie appears so very distant from its Slavic roots, other than that aforementioned scarf. There’s actually nothing Russian concerning the panorama, the garments, and least of all of the French language spoken right here, which all feels distilled down from the supply to provide a singular however pungent essence.

Movie Reviews

LOVE LIES BLEEDING Review

Published

6 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a modern, vicious film noir. A lesbian woman named Lou is estranged from her vicious father Lou Sr. yet manages a decrepit gym he owns in their desert town. Jackie, a female drifter, arrives in town and engages in back-seat, adulterous sex with JJ, who’s married to Lou’s sister, Beth. Lou is instantly attracted to her when she flexes her muscles. The two women soon begin a tawdry sexual relationship.Beth winds up in a hospital when JJ viciously beats her offscreen. Jackie has been abusing steroids to build muscle. She flies into a murderous rage and brutally kills JJ. A string of double-crosses explodes. Can Lou bring down her father and his illicit crime machine? Is Jackie a serious love interest or a con artist?

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a modern-day, highly immoral, sleazy take on the film noir genre. It features a graphic lesbian relationship, numerous scenes of graphic violence, substance abuse, and abundant foul language. The movie has a twist-filled script, fast pacing and gritty performances, but it repulsed the vast majority of moviegoers at the box office.

(PaPaPa, HoHoHo, LLL, VVV, SSS, NN, AA, DD, MMM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Vicious, promiscuous, totally immoral movie filled with violence and sex, especially lesbian sex;

Foul Language:

At least 78 obscenities (including 65 “f” words), three strong profanities using Jesus Christ and a gross scene where a woman has to unclog a clogged toilet;

Violence:

Numerous people are shot in graphically bloody fashion with sickening wounds and shocking sound effects, woman shoots another woman in the head and causes blood to splatter all over the camera, woman beats a man to death, woman breaks that man’s jawbone wide open as she slams his head repeatedly into a table, abused wife is hospitalized by a particularly brutal yet offscreen beating that leaves her face severely bruised and swollen, another character tortures this woman by pressing hard against her facial injuries, woman shoots another man in a shootout then shoves the barrel of her gun into his mouth, takes the gun back out but smashes the gun into his face to kill him, and a woman is shown waking up from a seemingly fatal gunshot wound, but another woman chokes her to death and dumps her body in the desert;

Sex:

Graphic lesbian sex scenes, particularly showing oral sex, the sex is shown promiscuously on a one-night stand, and later another lesbian blackmails one of the lead lesbians into having relations with her (though this is only implied and discussed, not shown), movie opens with a man having forceful, adulterous sex with a woman from behind in the back of a car, and a lesbian sucks on her girlfriend’s toe;

Nudity:

Several lesbian sex scenes feature female breasts and buttocks but no genitals, another lesbian woman is shown standing with full rear nudity after an implied sex scene, and shirtless men are seen working out in several scenes;

Alcohol Use:

Adults frequently drink alcohol, with one scene showing a woman drunk;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

A woman smokes cigarettes frequently, a female bodybuilder severely abuses steroids throughout, leading to violent outbursts and her vomiting onstage in front of a crowd, and the steroid injections are shown in a sensuous fashion;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Lying, double-crosses, deception rampant throughout, with a dehumanizing use of violence.

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a modern-day, highly immoral, sleazy take on the film noir genre that centers on a graphic lesbian relationship, numerous scenes of graphic violence and an abundance of foul language. LOVE LIES BLEEDING has a twist-filled script, fast pacing and gritty performances, but should not be viewed by anyone.

The story centers upon a lesbian woman named Lou (Kristen Stewart), who is estranged from her vicious father Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) yet works managing a decrepit gym he owns in their desert town. Meanwhile, a female drifter named Jackie (Katy O’Brien) arrives in town and immediately engages in back-seat, adulterous sex with JJ (Dave Franco), who’s married to Lou’s sister Beth (Jena Malone).

The backseat liaison results in a job for Jackie at a gun range on the edge of town owned by Lou Jr. She’s just saving up money to finish a trip to Las Vegas for a women’s bodybuilding championship, and when she flexes her massive muscles, Lou is instantly attracted to her.

The two soon engage in a tawdry sexual relationship, but Lou’s happiness is abruptly halted when Beth winds up in a hospital after a vicious (offscreen) beating at the hands of JJ. Lou Sr. wants to keep it all in the family rather than report JJ to the police, which angers Lou greatly.

Jackie has been abusing steroids in order to build muscle for her upcoming competition, and flies into a murderous rage that results in her brutally killing JJ. When Lou and Jackie dump his body in an enormous pit in the desert outside of town, a string of double-crosses explodes as Lou Sr. is determined to find out who killed JJ and federal agents start asking Lou lots of questions about his potentially criminal enterprises.

Can Lou manage to bring her father and his illicit crime machine down? Is Jackie a serious love interest or a con artist using her for her own ends?

LOVE LIES BLEEDING has excellent performances from all of its cast, who bring a wide array of seedy characters to vivid life. Also, Director/Co-writer Rose Glass keeps the twists coming fast and furious throughout the movie’s bonkers second half.

Despite the technical skill with which it’s made, LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a movie that has literally no characters to support and no sense of legal justice – just brutal vigilante revenge meted out several times over. Even Lou becomes utterly reprehensible and heartless by the end, and the movie’s entire mood is demoralizing and dehumanizing.

Packed with graphic violence, sex and nudity and an abundance of foul language, LOVE LIES BLEEDING is utterly distasteful and a must to avoid for viewers of all ages.

Movie Reviews

Love Child (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Can Love and Sacrifice Keep Ayla and Paolo’s Family Together?

Published

14 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

Love Child (2024) Movie Review & Ending Explained: Can Love and Sacrifice Keep Ayla and Paolo’s Family Together?

Rom Coms, the ones that match the endearing and intelligent with equal fluency, have a scintillating flavor. The book of tricks to make a romcom sing and soar may have admittedly gone jaded and dog-eared. The crises of couples, dilemmas, and anxieties they have to battle have undergone dramatic changes in a fast-evolving world. Expectations vary with the decades, even as gendered rules haven’t dented much.

The urge to steal a leaf or two from every standard template Hollywood romcom is immanent in any new derivation. It becomes a constant tussle, hence, for a new film in similar spaces to eke out freshness and smarts. Jonathan Jurilla’s directorial “Love Child” (2024) has little to add or say anything genuinely sparkling. It’s a weary distillation of parental exhaustion and re-alignment, too silly to pass off what it views as clever self-reflexive remarks.

There are basic cardinal rules a romcom must ensure is upheld. Conflicts should ideally resonate across a demographic; humor needs to exist in spades. A helping of self-awareness goes a long way in establishing a winking playfulness. The best rom-coms sail through these assumptions with lightness and spryness.

Love Child (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:

Ayla and Paolo’s Journey of Love, Sacrifice, and Resilience

Ayla (Jane Oineza) and Paolo (RK Bagatsing) are young parents. Incidentally, the actors themselves are a couple in real life, who call the film a “free trial” to parenthood. Ayla and Paolo have been exultant about becoming parents but what awaits them is a whole lot of instability, fraught periods of testing faith in each other to weather the hardships of raising their child, Kali (John Tyrron Ramos) who is diagnosed with autism. It’s this diagnosis that opens the film and sends their lives into a tailspin. The two have fought with their families on several counts to realize their togetherness. Dreams have also been put on hold. Paolo is a filmmaker who desires to make it big but naturally meets resistance from his father, from whom he has cut loose.

They arrive in the Philippines to put up at the house that Ayla’s aunt has offered. They don’t have to worry about rent, an exponential anxiety hence taken care of. The first thing they get done is to enroll Kali at a school for children with support needs. They hope he can be addressed with due attention and be given proper time, nourished in a safe, loving, and understanding community.

How Far Will Ayla and Paolo Go to Secure a Future for Their Son?

Of course, things don’t go as smoothly. The money to raise the child is immense, formidable, and persistent. It’s no small task. To exacerbate matters, the couple has no savings to lean on. Ayla has just a small income from a virtual assistant job and Paolo has barely any gigs to draw a livelihood from in the Philippines.

At home back in Australia, opportunities were, at least, higher. Sources of supporting themselves stand a chance. The couple start a coffee cart as an added source of income. Even that isn’t enough. Customers are few. To run the cart is its own demanding affair that strains their purses more than they expected it to.

One night, Kali falls terribly sick. His parents rush him to the hospital, where medical expenses surge. Where will the couple find the money to foot the bill? They are at wit’s end. Pao assures Ayla not to worry. He’ll dredge out a way. However, when he is away scavenging for a source, Ayla already turns to her mother who lends her the needed money. He is angry with her because Ayla’s mother has been refusing to recognize Kali as her grandson. She tells him, if they waited longer, they’d be staring at an added day of hospital expenses.

Love Child (2024) Movie Ending Explained:

Do Ayla and Paolo find a way of raising their child?

Ayla and Paolo are compelled to employ specialized teachers and attendants for Kali. The cost of living becomes exceedingly high. How can they afford it? Ultimately, they edge toward the pained but necessary realization that they have to live apart at least for a while. If that’s the only way they can build a decent future for Kali, they can’t ignore it. What’s significant and decisive is both Ayla and Paolo are wholly committed to being there for Kali, no matter what it takes, as well as underscoring the need to go out and chase their individual aspirations.

Yes, she must pursue her dream of being a lawyer. The climax is a wistful one, with Paolo leaving for Australia where he would brush aside his bruised ego and accept his father’s job offer. He takes the marks of his wife and child, remnants of them he’d carry with him as he moves into an uncertain, yet hope-tinged future in Australia. They part ways with a promise of return. They know he’ll be back when the time is right and resources have accrued enough to carve for them a comfortable life together.

Love Child (2024) Movie Review:

“Love Child” lacks a fundamental, driving vitality and energy. It is only inconsistently curious and sporadic in its plunges into human indecision and the fear of failure. What is that projection we induce when we feel we are turning into reflections of our parents, a reality most horrific and to skirt clear? To encounter such a realization is depressing and upsetting.

The central pair of the film have to negotiate and move past reservations and a bundle of fears popping up. They are opposed to seeking the help of their parents, who have never sided with them in big decisions, but they also understand the need for a bigger family their child ought to have. Having just his parents wouldn’t suffice for Kali to rely on. For his sake, the parents have to look past their grudges and learn to forgive and let go of ill will.