Movie Reviews

Don’t Worry Darling Is Smooth, Competent, and Tedious

Published

2 years ago

September 5, 2022

Don’t Worry Darling Is Smooth, Competent, and Tedious

It’s clean, competent, and tedious.
Photograph: New Line Cinema

Arriving on the Venice Movie Pageant on a quickly rising tidal wave of poisonous buzz, Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Fear Darling is neither as dangerous as some are clearly hoping it will likely be, nor pretty much as good because it most likely must be to beat the general public relations nightmare its press rollout has turn out to be. Listening to all of the rumors of a troubled set, of actors falling out with the director, one may need anticipated a cacophonous, cobbled-together disaster. If solely. The movie is clean, competent, (largely) well-acted, and merely tedious.

Set in a fastidiously manicured, midcentury suburban utopia positioned smack in the course of a desert, Darling explores the rising self-awareness of a younger housewife, Alice Chambers (Florence Pugh), whose doting husband Jack (Harry Types) units off each morning with all the opposite males to a high secret job the place he works with what’s referred to solely as “progressive supplies.” There are overtones right here of the “secret cities” of the Manhattan Venture, the pre-fab residential communities constructed by the U.S. army through the growth of the atom bomb. The Chambers’ neighborhood is a part of one thing known as “the Victory Venture,” the place every thing is cleanly coordinated and regimented. The place males are women and men are ladies, the place steaks and cocktails are ready when hubby will get residence, and the place the characters are rewarded with a number of joyful children and/or a number of nice intercourse.

Clearly, one thing is deeply improper right here. The wives all wave their fingers in unison at their husbands. The boys drive off in gleaming, uniform, multi-colored automobiles into the desert. The ladies go to bounce courses the place they’re instructed, “There’s magnificence in management. There’s grace in symmetry.” On the radio, the voice of Frank (Chris Pine), the Victory Venture’s chief, gives forcefully said bromides resembling “You might be worthy of the life you’ve chosen.” Later, he’ll discuss how the enemy of progress is chaos. On the Venice press convention for the movie, Wilde and her solid talked about how regardless of the interval trappings of the film, it’s actually about right now. “The individuals we’re taking part in have been actual individuals in a world very a lot our personal,” Pine mentioned. He didn’t must say it. The film isn’t precisely refined on this level.

So, the place does a narrative like this go, when it’s apparent proper from the get-go that there’s something deeply twisted occurring below its surfaces? Cinema has already given us two variations of The Stepford Wives, to not point out motion pictures like Suburbicon and Blue Velvet and Pleasantville and any variety of different movies in regards to the corrosive underbelly of nice, old school domesticity. (There are a number of different reference factors one might cite for Don’t Fear Darling, however they might represent spoilers.) Motion pictures about utopias that develop into dystopias both must discover a solution to make their utopias initially compelling, or get issues rolling in such dramatic or deranged style that we are able to’t assist however be riveted by the characters’ journeys of discovery.

Don’t Fear Darling, alas, does none of these items. It merely asks us to observe as Alice slowly realizes that one thing creepy lurks throughout the Victory Venture, and that may get boring and repetitive after some time. Our protagonist’s rising consciousness comes by way of black-and-white visions of dancing ladies, in addition to concern for her next-door neighbor and once-close buddy, Margaret (KiKi Layne), whom we be taught misplaced her son out within the desert and hasn’t been the identical since. Sooner or later, whereas driving the Victory trolley that carries the wives to their every day appointments, Alice sees a airplane falling from the sky behind a mountain. She tells the motive force and needs to go assist. “I don’t go that manner,” he says, tensely. “That’s not my route.” This may need been a surprising second, however the group of Victory is so oppressively ordered and exact that it comes as little shock to us. So, we watch and bide our time as Alice expresses her shock, then units off into the desert on her personal. It’s by no means enjoyable when the viewers is so many steps forward of the characters.

The film, in its personal manner, capabilities just like the city of Victory itself. As a director, Wilde has a very good eye, and the movie’s many scenes of regimented grace have a pleasant visible pop. In her directorial debut, Booksmart, she used the story’s episodic construction to experiment with type and toss concepts on the display screen; the movie made a advantage out of chaos. Don’t Fear Darling makes a advantage out of orderliness, however that may solely go to date. We maintain ready for the film to shock us, to shock us. We maintain ready for the chaos.

Inside this framework, Pugh does nervousness and terror properly, and he or she makes Alice’s gathering anxiousness as convincing as it may be, even when the script fails to offer her all that many attention-grabbing issues to do. As Bunny, Alice’s shut buddy and wise-cracking, cocktail-guzzling den mom to the clique of Victory wives, Wilde herself appears to be having plenty of enjoyable. Pine makes for a uniquely charismatic proto-fascist cult chief; the movie receives a welcome jolt of power at any time when he’s onscreen. The weak hyperlink, sadly, is Types, who is just not with out expertise, however who fails to offer Jack the dimensionality or interior battle that the character clearly wants, particularly in gentle of the place the film finally goes.

About that: This type of image has been achieved sufficient occasions that at this level there are a number of off-the-rack explanations for what could be occurring. Our minds have been fucked sufficient occasions that the trendy mindfuck film has misplaced a lot of its energy to shock, particularly when it pronounces from its opening frames that it will likely be a mindfuck film. Finally, Don’t Fear Darling goes for a reasonably acquainted twist — a revelation that can probably have already flitted throughout many viewers’ minds as they watched the film. However the clarification weirdly winds up being one of many strengths of the movie, as a result of Wilde brings to it sufficient fascinating grisliness that the twist successfully reframes most of what’s come earlier than. In different phrases, it brings that little bit of chaos the film has been sorely lacking. Is it sufficient? Most likely not. But it surely’s not a complete failure, both.

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Movie Reviews

LOVE LIES BLEEDING Review

Published

5 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

13 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.