“The only way to move is forward”

Films about the ability of a person to move back and forth in time are not exactly a rarity in cinema, with the concept of ‘second chances” working quite well in conjunction. Usually though, the concept is used in action films for the most part, which makes the family drama treatment Adrian Teh implements in “Reversi” a rather unusual one, for a number of reasons actually. 

Akid is a police negotiator who moonlights as a time traveler, an ability he inherited from his father, whose accidental death actually scarred Akid forever. And although his ability has helped him intensely at his job, with him managing to repeat failed missions, turning them into success, it also comes with a rub. Every time he goes back in time, part of his lifespan perishes. Eventually, Akid meets Sarah, an Aikido instructor, and the two fall in love. Soon they get married and even have a child, but tragedy hits Akid’s life once more. As he obsesses with changing the past in order to prevent the tragedy, two rather impossible options are presented and he is forced to make a choice. Eventually, the truth about his father is also revealed. 

Adrian Teh has come up with a very intriguing movie, as the aforementioned combination works quite well throughout the film, finding its peak after the tragedy. The message is also quite eloquent, in its metaphor: dwelling on the past makes no sense, the only way to move is forget and go forward. The way he presents this message, however, through time travel and intense repetition is quite smart, particularly since it also adds a sense of drama to the movie, which actually increases as time passes. Furthermore, the subtle comedy, which actually starts with the fact that the protagonist’s love interest is an aikido teacher, works quite well too, in entertainment terms.

These elements carry the movie from beginning to the finale; however, there are definitely moments when the whole thing falters. The repetition after the accident, for example, does get tiring after a point, even though it communicates the protagonist’s despair eloquently. It also stretches the movie to 140 minutes, which definitely overstays its welcome. Furthermore, the ending, and in general, the last part, although impactful in its revelations and dramatic premises, does move into melodramatic territory, with its tear-jerking approach not working particularly well. 

The characters on the other hand, are both well-written and well-portrayed. Beto Kusyairy as Akid is excellent in the way he carries his sorrow and guilt, while Shiqin Kamal as Sarah is quite convincing both in her initial feistiness and her later sadness. The chemistry between the two is also great, in one of the movie’s best assets. 

Danny Voon’s cinematography works well in the presentation of the various settings, without any particular exaltation. Chulat’s editing retains a mid-tempo that works well for the narrative, while a number of repetitious scenes are placed in a way that increases their impact and highlights the psychological status of the protagonist. 

Although it could definitely be brief, “Reversi” emerges as a smart movie that communicates its comments well, headed by the excellent characterization and acting.

Before tornado movies threaten to become a cottage industry, just remember that in spite of both the bad ones and the forthcoming plans for more that are being assembled on the drawing boards as we speak, the only one that ever reached blockbuster status was the 1996 action epic Twister. In the realm of tornado movies, we now have Twisters. Erroneous publicity misleads us to consider it a sequel, which it isn’t. In fact, Twisters has nothing whatsoever to do with Twister, aside from the fact that it consists primarily of the same computer-generated special effects and it also takes place in Oklahoma, where the Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein corn is no longer high as an elephant’s eye, but on its way to almost total crop destruction thanks to not one but an army of lethal, never-ending new twisters that seem to arrive every ten minutes, and the wind comes sweeping down the plain with pulse-pounding noise and life-altering force.  

There is also something of an obstacle-riddled romance, but nothing as interesting as the one in Twister. (You can’t improve on Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton, and only a fool would try.) The new female centerpiece is Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a lovely would-be scientist who grew up obsessed with weather, first shown in a prologue as a college student, placing some kind of gizmo inside the heart of a ferocious tornado in a dangerous project designed to record enough scientific data to give folks in the paths of devastating storms a better chance to prepare and run for their lives in advance of weather patterns. The research fails, killing three of her best friends who are blown away to Tornado Heaven, leaving Kate so depressed and disillusioned that she retires from studying the weather forever.

Five years later, she’s a meteorologist in a Manhattan research lab, safe and far away from the dangers of Oklahoma twisters. An old boyfriend named Jeb (Daryl McCarmack), one of the few survivors of the college tragedy five years earlier, appears suddenly and, for reasons known only by the screenwriter, talks Kate into returning to Oklahoma to track another deadly storm. Subplots about Jeb’s secret job working for a crook and a brief, aborted attempt to revive their stale romance are deleted fast between lightning flashes, ear-splitting wind tunnels and hail the size of billiard balls while Kate falls in with a new heartthrob named Tyler, played by drop dead Glen Powell, the fastest rising glamour-puss movie star since the young Robert Redford first appeared on the scene. The hot sparks between these two are leavened by their constant hostility. Kate and her crew aim to make a difference; Tyler is a storm tracker in it for excitement and adventure.  

References to the twister in The Wizard of Oz are annoying gimmicks inserted to inject some humor into the proceedings, including Tyler’s crew of storm chasers, with names like Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. But clearly, the only true wizards in Twisters are not in Kansas anymore—or Oz. They’re the fearless computer geniuses who have conjured up the fantastic special effects in this movie and made them work—the tractors flying through deafening decibel levels of howling wind and rain, the towns razed and obliterated by airborne trucks, barns, farmhouses, trees, chickens and even a rodeo. The thunderous effects they create would keep the Weather Channel in business for years.

The sets, lighting design, and computer-generated special effects are superb, enhancing the viewer’s fascination with the subject matter. By comparison, the humans in Twisters are so unimportant and so undeveloped they seem like interlopers. The one-dimensional plot is tedious and the charm, good looks and style of the two leads are the only elements of the film that try but fail to invigorate. There don’t seem to be any limits to Glen Powell’s charisma. Even his smile is in Cinemascope and Technicolor, and he can act, too—although the benign script by Mark L. Smith is so mired in technology about pollen counts, anchor funnels, velocity measurements and silver oxide, and Lee Isaac Chung’s mediocre direction is so camouflaged in technical obscurity that they don’t give Mr. Powell much of an opportunity to show what he can do. The love affair part of the film is so wholesomely family-oriented that it’s about as sexy as an algebra book. There isn’t even one single kiss. 

Fortunately, the action sequences are nothing bland or dull, adding up to a whale of entertainment. I guess my scoreboard reads: Twisters, 10. People: 0. In the end, Kate prepares to return to New York, Tyler wants to know when she’ll come back, and there’s evidence that a lot of unfinished business is waiting to be solved. Twisters 2, anyone?

From the nasty fun corner of our big screen entertainment menu comes Longlegs, the feel-spooked hit of the summer. Here, writer-director Osgood Perkins has cooked up a horror film which both nods to the tropes and beloved elements of form in the B-movie genre while injecting it with intelligent twists, a keen visual and place-conscious eye, and variations on the form.

Oh, did we mention a truly new and newly unnerving demonic villain in the man called “Longlegs?” This conniving, Manson-esque serial killer (or killer by proxy), with a mop-haired, pasty-faced madman countenance and confessed obedience to “Mr. Downstairs,” is creepily embodied by Nicholas Cage. Cage, also the film’s producer, doesn’t have to dig very deep in his thespian and psychological playbook to conjure up the required frightful eccentricity for the job.

An added attraction in the film is the unexpectedly nuanced and magnetic performance by Maika Monroe, born and raised in Santa Barbara and an actress who first made her splash in another horror flick, It Follows, a decade ago. In Longlegs, she is less a classic imperiled damsel-ish “scream queen” than a complicated character with a past, decoding an ugly crime pattern involving slain families, girls with common birthdays and demonic dolls. She plays an FBI agent on the Longlegs case, with a “half-psychic” awareness and connections to a harrowing past only slowly revealed through the film. Monroe is excellent as the presumed voice of reason amidst the anarchic narrative and in the face of Cage’s manic manipulations. But reason starts to get real personal as the film careens into its surprise final act.

As one last touch of a winking easter egg in the film (they know that we know some devil-ish fun is at work here), the end credits break with tradition by scrolling downward — aka hellward. Meanwhile, Marc Bolan sings “Bang a Gong,” circling back to a quote from the song in the film’s intro: “you’re a dirty sweet/you’re my girl.”

Longlegs is a thinking person’s horror outing, validating the notion that such presumably “lowly” genres as action and horror can also be containers for cleverly crafted and engaging cinema art. It may scare the bejeezus out of some viewers or impress those of us seeking out sneak attack art-making on the summer movie circuit. Or both. 

See trailer here.