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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 07 June 2021

Given how much division and negativity exists in the world, there are times when a feel-good movie is just what you need to warm the heart, sooth the soul and lift the spirit.  That’s clearly the strategy behind Dream Horse, a British drama that draws from a true story and then milks it for all its worth.  So compelling is this underdog tale, it was previously the subject of a 2015 documentary that won an audience award at the Sundance Film Festival.

We begin by being introduced to Janet Vokes (Collette), a woman from a small, not-so-wealthy community in Wales who works by day as a supermarket checkout operator and by night as a bartender.  You can tell from her facial experiences that this isn’t the life she envisioned. Janet is tired of the same day-after-day routines and she’s looking for something to spice things up.

Her inspiration arrives in the form of a local accountant, Howard Davies (Lewis), who pops into the pub one night and talks about horse racing syndicates.  Janet decides to start one of her own and is able to convince an eclectic group of townsfolk, none of whom have owned a horse before, to chip in 10 pounds per week to cover the costs.  She raises the horse in a makeshift stable on her own property before transferring him into the hands of an experienced trainer to help prepare him for the track.  It’s not long until the prize money starts trickling in…

Dream Horse is so stuffed full of sentimentality that it’s almost impossible to consume.  It is as if writer Neil McKay (Mo, Appropriate Adult) is too scared to include conflict so as not to upset the audience.  When there’s a debate over the horse’s name, it’s resolved in 30 seconds.  When there’s an argument within the syndicate about whether to sell the horse, it’s quickly dispelled and everyone keeps on smiling.  When Howard’s wife validly probes his obvious gambling problem, it’s glossed over because he’s a nice guy and the horse is a success (his family even accompany him to the racetrack to help wrap up that plot point).

I’m not saying this shouldn’t be a feel-good movie.  The problem is that it’s trying a little too hard to be one.  It’s difficult to believe such a diverse group could be part of a syndicate for close to a decade and not have more issues than what is depicted in the film.  Other non-racing subplots, such as Janet’s frosty relationship with her introverted father, also feel like they’re given short shrift for similar reasons.

Despite the limitations of the screenplay, the film is still watchable thanks to the performances of the cast.  Toni Collette (Muriel’s Wedding) gives it everything as the passionate syndicate manager trying to give her life more meaning and purpose.  You’ve got to cheer for her.  The funniest scenes involve Janet and her fellow investees attending race meetings and making the most of their “owner” privileges (much to the chagrin of racing toffs).

If you’re someone who likes uncomplicated true stories and likes seeing good things happen to good people, Dream Horse should do enough to satisfy.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 17 May 2021

It has a chequered history but the best international feature film category at the Academy Awards still plays a big part in bringing non-English language cinema to the world’s attention.  To be eligible, the feature film must be produced outside of the United States and more than 50% of the dialogue must be non-English.  Perhaps the most controversial rule is that each country may only submit one movie.  This places a heavy burden on those involved with the selection process to ensure they pick the film with the best chance of success.

In France, the process is overseen by the National Cinema Centre and the panel consists of directors, producers, sales agents, and other knowledgeable film folk.  They come up with a shortlist of roughly five movies, meet with the respective filmmakers, and then decide on a “winner”.  Their selection for the most recent Oscars ceremony was Two of Us and while it didn’t make the final list of nominees (a tough ask given 93 countries submitted in 2020), it’s easy to see why it was France’s worthy submission.

Marking the feature film debut of Italian-born director Filippo Meneghetti, Two of Us explores a dynamic that we don’t often see depicted on the big screen – a same-sex relationship between two 60-something-year-old women.  Nina (Sukowa) and Madeleine (Chevallier) have been lovers for roughly 20 years but, worried about how society will perceive their connection, they’ve kept it hidden from everyone.  It’s particularly problematic for Madeleine who is scared of telling the truth to her two grown children (from a former marriage).

So how have they kept it a secret for long?  By becoming neighbours.  They share adjoining residences on the top floor of an apartment building and they freely walk back-and-forth across the corridor when they need to see each other.  If one of Madeleine’s kids decides to stop by, Nina can easily slip back to her place and no one’s the wiser.  It’s an arrangement that’s served them well but, with hopes of moving into their own combined place, Nina has been pressuring an apprehensive Madeleine to finally “come out of the closet” to friends and family. 

It’s at the start of the second act when a tragic event tears these two women apart (it’s best I don’t reveal too much).  The tone shifts, other characters enter the mix, and the emotional heart of this story resonates.  Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier are excellent in the lead roles and they will convince audiences of their love for each other.  Muriel Bénazéraf adds a layer of complexity with her scene-stealing performance as a caregiver with issues of her own.

The adage “sex sells” has been around since the 19^th century and it’s a major reason why characters in romantic movies (whether they be comedy or drama) tend to be young and good looking.  Meneghetti and co-writer Malysone Bovorasmy wanted to buck that trend and provide a love story that contrasts with “society’s obsession with youth and the perfection of the body.”  It wasn’t easy to secure finance (as it was seen as “non-commercial”) but I’m glad they stuck with their vision and followed this through.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 31 May 2021

When creating science-fiction movies about robots, the trend is to give them human-like qualities and follow one of two distinct paths.  You can make them friendly and loveable as illustrated by films such as WALL-E, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Iron Giant, Real Steel, Short Circuit, or you can make them villainous and world destroying as shown in The Terminator, Ex Machina, Transformers and The Matrix.

The reality is not quite so glamorous and action-packed.  Robots are changing our existence every single day but, instead of having to worry about being chased by a machine-gun wielding terminator, we are more likely to be affected economically through shifts in wealth distribution.  There are many jobs that will be taken over, if they haven’t already, by robots and artificial intelligence.

It raises an interesting theoretical question that I’ve often posed of friends – if our world reaches a point where almost every job on the planet is performed by a robot, what becomes of employment?  How can people earn a wage if there is no work for humans to perform?  Is there some kind of government welfare and if so, how is it funded and how is it disseminated?  Would it be subject to corruption and manipulation?

Writer-director Noah Hutton taps into these ideas with Lapsis.  It marks his feature-film debut (his background is in documentaries) and it earned him a nomination for best first screenplay at the recent Independent Spirit Awards (Andy Siara’s Palm Springs won the category).  Hutton describes it as science-fiction set in the “parallel present”.  It’s similar to the world we know today but with a few small differences to highlight thought-provoking themes.

The film’s protagonist is Ray (Imperial), a man in need of a well-paying job to help pay the pricey medical bills of his fatigued half-brother, Jamie (Howard).  Tipped off by a questionable friend, Ray becomes a contractor for a major global company that is laying high-speed network cables across the country.  It works in a similar manner to Uber.  Ray accepts contracts on his phone and once he’s hiked through forests and laid the cables, the company transfers money into his bank account.  There’s a catch though.  Robots are also performing the work and if they can do it faster, Ray doesn’t get a cent.

Lapsis has a lot to say about the gig economy, the diminution of unionisation, and the growing power of companies over individuals.  Hutton drew on his own experiences having worked himself as an independent contractor for the past decade and having to buy his own equipment and pay for his own health insurance.  What we see in the film may be over-exaggerated for comedic effect but it gets you thinking about the real world. 

Hutton frames the story as a dark comedy.  For example, there’s a great moment where Ray teams up with a more experienced contractor to slow the movement of a cable-laying robot that is on their tail.  You could look at this scene through a humorous lens and have a simple laugh about humans outsmarting robots.  However, on thinking about it deeper, you realise the only thing keeping Ray in a job is robot-sabotage and it won’t be long until he’s the one being outsmarted.

Lapsis is both strange and stimulating.  A great combination!

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 13 May 2021

Those Who Wish Me Dead serves up a formulaic hero story with not much subtlety or nuance.  Everyone is either 99% good or 99% bad.  A forensic accountant (Webber) has uncovered incriminating information that would rival the stuff Jeffrey Epstein took to his grave.  It implicates high-profile people who will stop at nothing to ensure it is never made public.

These villains aren’t the type to use bribes or light coercion.  They’ve already killed a renowned judge (making it look like an accident) and their next target is the accountant and his 12-year-old son, Connor (Little).  Sensing the danger, they’ve fled to Montana to hide out with a family relative (who just so happens to be a trustworthy local sheriff).

It’s at this point where Hannah (Jolie) becomes of relevance.  She’s a risk-loving smokejumper who, in the midst of bushfire season, has been posted to a remote watch tower described as a “20 x 20 box on stilts with no toilet”.  If we’re being honest, she shouldn’t be there alone.  Hannah recently endured a traumatic work experience and it’s clear, as evidenced by her dreams, that she hasn’t come to grips with what happened.

Hannah stumbles across the scared Connor in the wilderness and, after an outlandishly convenient lightning storm destroys all their forms of communication (the special effects aren’t great), the pair team up to hike back to civilisation and alert news outlets about the bad guys.  I’m not sure why Connor’s dad didn’t do this at the outset… perhaps because it would have been a 10-minute movie otherwise.

It’s rare to be saying this about an action-thriller but the best element of Those We Wish Me Dead are the villains.  The Tyler Perry cameo is a head-scratcher but I enjoyed the perspective of the two experienced hitmen played by Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Nicolas Hoult (The Favourite).  I’ll acknowledge the resources at their disposal are a bit far-fetched (private planes, hacking tech) but they’re smart guys and their detailed strategic discussions make for good listening.  They’re more interesting than the heroes and perhaps that’s why they’re given a similar amount of screen time.

The film boasts a cool local connection with Brisbane-born 14-year-old Finn Little (Storm Boy) showing off his talent alongside Oscar winning star Angelina Jolie (Girl, Interrupted).  It’s a role that requires much emotion and Little shows he’s up to the task.  The man shaping those performances is director Taylor Sheridan – the screenwriter responsible for Sicario and Hell or High Water.  This isn’t as strong as those two outings but it’ll find fans amongst those looking for an entertaining chase movie.

Based on the 2014 novel written by Michael Koryta, Those Who Wish Me Dead could have used more complexity but it’s still a passable action-thriller.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 20 May 2021

Released in 2018, A Quiet Place was easily one of the top 10 movies of that year.  It’ll be compulsory viewing to fully understand this follow-up.  If looking for an abridged summary, it was set in a world which had been attacked by alien grasshopper-like creatures who kill anything that makes a sound.  A four-person family had taken refuge in a small country home where every part of their routine had been altered so as to make as little noise as possible.  It was a fascinating premise which asked the question - could you go the rest of your life without making a single sound if your survival depended on it?

A Quiet Place: Part II picks up where the last film left off.  The Abbott family home has been destroyed and they’ve set off to find somewhere equally safe.  Their travels take them to a dilapidated factory which is home to Emmett (Murphy), an old family friend who has also spent the last year of his life hiding away in a well-fortified basement.  He’s now there alone given his wife recently passed away due to illness.

In the same vein as the original, director John Krasinski builds suspense through the lack of dialogue, sound effects and music.  There’s a scene where the family are hiking along a forest path and they must carefully consider each step to avoid the sound of crackling leaves and snapped branches.  It’s an intense sequence where cinematographer Polly Morgan (Lucy in the Sky) zooms in on their bare feet and lets the images do the talking.  It reiterates that silence is one of the most effective tools in making audiences feel uncomfortable.  

The film’s second half borrows from a well-used formula and splits the characters up to create more subplots and more tension.  A few parts are predictable but it still works.  Krasinski weaves the stories together, increases the tempo, and gives us a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller that will take your breath away.  The special effects and sound crews deserve similar praise in creating some of the creepiest aliens we’ve ever seen on the big screen.  Their hideous faces and piercing shrieks will not be easily forgotten.

Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance in the first film and, once again, she’s terrific as the resilient mother who will stop at nothing to protect her family.  The two likeable youngsters, Millicent Simmonds (Wonderstruck) and Noah Jupe (Ford v Ferrari), have more to do this time around and it’s cool to see their inquisitive/courageous characters develop into quasi-action heroes.

I’m normally sceptical of a sequel that relies on the same hooks and tricks as the original and while yes, that’s partially the case here, A Quiet Place: Part II is still exceedingly better than other action-thrillers coming out of Hollywood.