4/5 stars

Being dead isn’t easy. In Dead Talents Society, a new supernatural comedy from Taiwanese director John Hsu Han-chiang, the afterlife is every bit as competitive and unforgiving as the land of the living.

Spirits must prove themselves worthy of becoming ghosts through a rigorous selection process of auditions and contests, and avoid being condemned to eternal damnation.

For one newly deceased young woman, played by Gingle Wang and known only as The Rookie, this comes as quite a shock and is a far cry from the eternal rest she expected to find on the other side.

Hsu’s film is a supernatural screwball comedy about making a life for yourself in the Great Hereafter. After dying under uncertain circumstances, our heroine finds herself wandering listlessly through the Underworld with her best friend (Bai Bai) when she learns that her place on the ethereal plain is far from secure.

All the other ghosts have worked hard to hone their craft as a spectral menace, developing a nuanced character and terrifying technique while cultivating a formidable urban legend for their manifestation in the land of the living.

Those who fail to establish themselves as a ghost of merit within 30 days are permanently disintegrated.

The Rookie finds herself flung into a punishing audition process, overseen by a formidably unforgiving jury, to secure herself a haunting licence. Laughed off stage, all seems lost, until she is taken in by a compassionate band of misfits who haunt a dilapidated, rarely frequented hotel.

While rarely conjuring any genuine scares, Dead Talents Society is a wildly imaginative, frequently hilarious and shamelessly feel-good tale of teamwork, friendship, self-belief and finding your true purpose, where death is not the be all and end all, but just the first step towards living your best life.

Film

Sing Sing
Director: Greg Kwedar
Black Bear Pictures, Marfa Peach Company and Edith Productions
In Theaters 08.16

There are many reasons why film and the performing arts have been a driving force in my life, one being that art has the power to take us anywhere. In the case of Sing Sing, the audience is transported inside a maximum security prison in New York, while the film’s characters use the stage to transport themselves out.

Inspired by the true story of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the film follows a group of inmates who are use theatre as a way to focus their energy and minds. A wrongfully convicted prisoner, Divine G (Colman Domingo, If Beale Street Could Talk, Rustin), uses his considerable skills as an actor and writer to create a safe space where the inmates can find a shared purpose, working alongside Brent Buell (Paul Raci, Sound of Metal), a playwright, director and activist who volunteers at the prison. As the the RTA closes a successful Shakespearean production,  they hold a meeting to discuss their next production. As a gruff new inmate, Clarence Maclin (who plays himself) joins the group, he suggests shaking things up with a comedy, and soon, the group is developing an original work entitled called Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code. The play will use the premise of time travel to bring cowboys, ancient Egyptians, Robin Hood, Freddy Kruegerand Hamlet together all in one unforgettable performance—if they can all get along and work together. While Maclin’s hardened demeanor and tendency to pick fights with others creates obstacles, both Brent and Divine G see potential for him to be an asset to the program as the program acts as an asset to him. Throughout the collaborative process, the inmates confront the decisions that led them to prison, and through the RTA, they challenge traditional notions of masculinity, reignite their imaginations and rediscover their capacity for joy and resilience. 

Sing Sing is a profound and beautiful film about creating the best of times in the worst of times and places, and director Greg Kweder (Transpecos) invites the audience to share in each cathartic moment with with both the cast of Sing Sing and the cast of Breakin’ The Mummy’s Code—which are made up in large part of the same people, as former inmates and members of the RTA play themselves in the film. While it has some heavy moments and never lets us forget where these men are, Sing Sing is a rare prison film that is more interested in finding joy and beauty than in hammering home the brutal reality of life in the worst place on earth. Kweder and his screenwriters assumed that their audience has a certain cineliteracy, and trusts that we remember the nightmarish moments of The Shawshank Redemption and don’t need to see them again for context. The low-key visual style affords the audiences a taste of being right there in thick of things while affording us the comfort of being able to step back and merely observe if we so choose, though the shared energy, determination and humor of this troupe of committed performers will make you feel swept up in the desire to be a part of something grand and meaningful more often than not. It most certainly doesn’t make you think “I wish I was in prison” for a moment, though it’s hard to watch the film and not think of yourself in these men’s shoes, and regardless of how they got there, there’s an undeniable feeling of love and respect for their unbreakable spirits and the ways in which they support each other.

Domingo is mesmerizing a Divine G, following up his Oscar nominated performance in Rustin with an electrifying portrayal of a man desperately trying to hold on to the things that make him human, and dedicating himself to keeping other from falling even as he walks the edge. Raci is the kind of actor who can communicate volumes with minimal words and even limited dialogue, and his presence as compassionate as it is commanding. Maclin is clearly the breakthrough discovery here, as an actor with no previous experience on camera who brings a smoldering intensity that brings Denzel Washington to mind, and while he’s likely to be relegated mostly to supporting roles on screen, he shows us inSing Sing that he will forever tower as a leading man in life. Sean San Jose (Another Barrio) as Mike Mike, Divine G’s roommate, and Sean Dino Johnson, another RTA member playing himself, provide transcendent moments of humanity and dignity that had me leaving the screening wanting to be a better person and to do more with my life.

After a few weeks of mediocrity and outright misfires, Sing Sing is a much needed injection of art and soul into the bloodstream of cinema, mixing heavy drama with humor and humanity. It’s a heartfelt plea for a society driven by empathy instead of apathy, yet it never surrenders to the urge to be manipulative or didactic. By simply holding the mirror up to nature, Sing Sing makes a powerful case for the importance of creativity and storytelling in all of our lives, and it’s a rejuvenating, hopeful and inspiring work that made me feel grateful to be alive. –Patrick Gibbs

Read more self-exploration film reviews here:
Film Review: Daddio
Film Review: Harold and the Purple Crayon

The twisted horror film Cuckoo finally arrived in theaters and we made sure to check it out.

I am always on the lookout for interesting horror films and Cuckoo has been on my radar for quite some time. There was something about the initial trailer for the film that was so unsettling I just had to know what this story was all about.

Cuckoo was directed by Tilman Singer and is set deep in the Bavarian Alps at a remote resort. 17 year-old Gretchen (Hunter Schafer) is deeply unhappy about having to live with her father and his new family and things only get more difficult as she begins hearing and seeing strange things all around her. Once she begins to investigate, it quickly becomes obvious that something very twisted is going on.

One area that Cuckoo particularly excels in is its ability to be unsettling. This is especially true in how the film utilizes sound. I’ve noted before that sound design can be a detail that makes or breaks a film, but it’s been a while since i saw a film utilize it so well. It was almost like the filmmakers were teaching the audience a language: at first the various weird sounds have no meaning and are somewhat confusing. But then, as the film proceeds into the second half, more information locks into place and the viewer is obliged to re-evaluate everything they’ve heard and what it actually meant.

From the opening scene of Cuckoo, it’s blindingly obvious that something is very wrong, but the film teases out the details in such a way that you’re led along from one horror to the next without getting so far ahead that you can see the conclusion before the director is ready to reveal that information.

Two performances that need to be highlighted are those of Hunter Schafer as Gretchen and Dan Stevens as the unsettlingly affable Herr König. Hunter completely blows it out of the water as the teenaged Gretchen, who finds herself completely in over her head and wants nothing more than to get away. It’s easy to empathize with Gretchen’s frustration as she’s trying so hard to be heard by her family, especially her father, but no one appears willing to listen. That makes her situation all the more stressful because there doesn’t appear to be any family safety-net for her to fall back on.

And then there’s Dan Stevens. Between his unhinged performance in Abigail earlier this year and his twisted turn in Cuckoo as Herr König, I may never be able to watch him the same way ever again. Dan Stevens possesses the unnerving ability to make you feel afraid without ever saying anything openly threatening. Even when he’s allegedly showing concern, it’s presented in a way that feels wrong, almost inappropriate. Once the story picks up in the second half, Stevens’ performance becomes one of the best parts of the film.

As for the overall story of Cuckoo, it is truly good when all is said and done. However, audiences will need to be patient as things don’t truly begin to pick up until the second act of the film. If the film has one weakness, it’s that the first act feels slightly scattered as we don’t yet have the later context clues to inform us what’s going on. Cuckoo is one of those films that will likely be easier to watch the second time around.

It could be argued that the film could use a hair more of exposition, i.e. what’s actually happening, but the thing with horror is that there is a fine line between telling the audience just enough to get by and ruining the suspense with too large of an info dump. It feels like the filmmakers erred on the side of caution with how much straight information the viewer receives, and that is probably for the best. While I personally would have liked a bit more, I also understand the desire to leave the audience wanting more.

Cuckoo is easily one of the best films to come out this summer. Fans of horror films who are looking for a scary experience that doesn’t retread the same old story will find plenty to love. Be sure to see it on the largest screen possible, it’s worth it.