Thursday 14 March 2024

The Marsh King's Daughter (Neil Burger, 2023)

After spending her childhood with her father (Ben Mendelsohn), the man who held her mother (Caren Pistorius) captive, Helena (Daisy Ridley) has buried her past and built a new life with an unsuspecting husband (Garrett Hedlund) and child.


When her father escapes prison, Helena finds her new life upended. Paranoid of his return, and haunted by her memories, Helena tries to figure out a way to confront the ‘Marsh King’ before he finds her…



Rarely have I seen a movie with so much obvious potential that fails to fulfil it:


It has an intriguing concept, or a solid cast.


You could take it in so many directions: a character study, a suspense thriller, a straight-ahead thriller.


While watching this movie, I could not help feeling excited by the movie in my head - and frustrated by the one I was watching.


For a movie with a totally legible storyline, with identifiable character arcs and thematic intention, The Marsh King’s Daughter should work.


There is too much air in this movie - there is no sense of narrative momentum, no sense of tension or dread (either for the father’s literal return, or the title character’s fear of said return).


The movie takes so long to show its hand, and the journey is not that compelling.


The movie wants to deal with this idea of family, and the way parents influence us, but it never goes anywhere.


The third act is a by-the-numbers thriller set-piece which could have come from any movie. It features a couple of instances of Helena using her childhood hunting skills, but it has all been done before, and lacks the catharsis the filmmakers intended.

 

The acting by all is fine - Ridley and Mendelsohn are watchable, and Gil Birmingham brings some gravitas to an underwritten foster father figure.


Frankly I think I would have more to say about the performances if the movie was more sure of what it wanted to be.


Or even if it was just tighter. The movie seems unwilling or unable to figure out what is terrifying or potentially suspenseful about the story. 


If it was more of an unpretentious crowd-pleaser, it probably would be a little generic - but at least it would be clear in its intentions.


As is, The Marsh King’s Daughter exists in a weird middle ground of inertia. A pity.


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Saturday 9 March 2024

Drácula (George Melford, 1931)

Produced at the same time as the English-language version, this Drácula was intended for Spanish language audiences.


Longer than the English-language version, and in some ways more sophisticated - it explains some of the narrative jumps, and - particularly through the costuming - leans toward the eroticism the original only hints at.


While the script is essentially the same, the blocking and setting of the scenes are more varied, and the film benefits from a more dynamic use of the camera.


Part of the reason was due to the way the way this film was made: George Melford would review Browning’s rushes every day, and it is fascinating to juxtapose how different his version is. 


The acting overall feels more naturalistic - while he is not as iconic as Dwight Frye, Pablo Alvarez Rubio feels more human and pathetic as Renfield. Lupita Tovar (who passed away at 106 in 2016) is winning as Vera/Mina.


The one person in the cast who suffers in comparison is the lead: Poor Carlos Villarías does his best, but it is hard to shake Lugosi’s shadow.


One wishes they had gone for a more distinctive interpretation - he tries to replicate Lugosi’s glower and smirk, but it feels like cosplay.


My personal highlight was the Demeter sequence - it is not much longer than the Browning version, but it is far more atmospheric, as terrified crewmen stare at the camera (Dracula’s POV) while Reinfield cackles in the background.


As a film, the Spanish language Dracula is far superior to the Tod Browning version.


But it is based on the same source material, and suffers from a similarly stage-bound finale.


I would be keen to revisit the film without its more well-known predecessor in mind, but the film is so much more interesting as a study in contrast, as different teams of filmmakers tackle the same story.


Related


Dracula (1931 Anglo version)


Dracula (1979)


The Last Voyage of the Demeter


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Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)

By sheer coincidence, this is the version of Dracula I have seen the most.



I recorded it off the TV and remember watching it quite a lot as a kid. I cannot say I loved it, but at over 70 mins in length, it was an easy watch.


It has been almost 20 years since I last watched it, which gives me some distance from my earlier impressions.


Watching it after FW Murnau’s Nosferatu does it little favour.


But like the earlier film, it benefits from a remarkable, one-of-a-kind star.


The first half hour, the film has an eerie, understated power. Once the action is confined to the Seward’s residence, the film loses steam. 


A lot of the more supernatural elements are conveyed through monologue, recalling this version’s stage origins.


I have read different stories of the film’s production - there are rumours that Browning, for various reasons, was not significantly involved, and it fell to cinematographer Karl Freund to direct the film.


Whatever the real story, the film’s most iconic effects owe a lot to his work, particularly the close ups of a glowering Lugosi. 


Certain edits around violence add to the film’s dreamlike vibe - the brief scene of Renfield crawling toward the maid’s body and lowering toward her exposed neck is never referenced.


While stilted and ponderous, it is hard to take these elements as purely flaws - that stop-start pacing and lingering shots are part of the film’s atmosphere, drawing attention to the theatrical yet uncanny power of the main character.


Related


Dracula (1979)


The Last Voyage of the Demeter


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Wednesday 6 March 2024

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)

It's got Indiana Jones in it.



One of the signature movies in its director’s filmography, and one of the key texts of you are interested in action cinema, either as a spectator or a filmmaker, Raiders of the Lost Ark makes its seeming frivolity seem so easy.


Made by Spielberg following the commercial disaster of bloated farce 1941, there is an energy to Raiders, not just in his love of serials and James Bond, but a desire to economise.


Following a series of successes in which he went over-budget and schedule, Raiders was a bit of a last chance saloon for the director. Every frame is packed with tension and humour.


Every character is memorable and specific, defined by behaviour and action. 


The clarity of action is razor sharp - the truck chase is a brilliant example of cause and effect.


This action is bracketed with great comic beats - Marion taking a swig of the liquor pouring out of the barrel, Indy shooting the swordsman, Toht unveiling a sinister chain and stick contraption that turns out to be a coat hanger.


I have not watched it in years but it still carries a charge of excitement.  


Having watched more cliffhanger serials and being more aware of Humphrey Bogart’s filmography, the film’s sense of pastiche is more overt, but the film never feels like a facsimile. 


It is more than the sum of its influences - it feels like filmmakers taking their influences and elevating them, with an earnestness and sense of fun.


Famously cast as a last-minute replacement for Tom Selleck, Harrison Ford is so cemented in the role it is almost impossible to imagine anyone else under the hat. Exasperated, exhausted, always struggling, Ford’s Indy epitomises that mythic everyman quality that lies at the foundation of his star persona.


A dynamo of flinty, comic outrage, Karen Allen matches him as Marion.


On this viewing I was impressed by the villain, Belloq (Paul Freeman).


He tends to get overshadowed by Ronald Lacey as the villainous Toht, but Freeman is great.


Remorseless, self-satisfied and always a step ahead, or with another trick up his sleeve, he is truly Indy’s equal, his dark shadow (down to his white hat).


His motivation feels like a combination of pure greed and narcissism. He seems to be defined by a need to best Indy - including his desire to ‘possess’ Marion Ravenwood.  


The supporting cast are amazing: Not just future recurring players (Denholm Elliott and Jonathan Rhys-Davies) but even Alfred Molina as Indy’s treacherous sidekick in the opening sequence.


There is nothing much to say about Raiders - it has been copied and sequelized, but on this viewing, it is a beautifully pure and unique object.


Related






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Tuesday 5 March 2024

The Abyss - Special Edition (James Cameron, 1989)

When an American nuclear submarine goes missing, a crew of deep sea oil drillers led by Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) and his rig’s designer/soon-to-be-ex-wife Lindsey (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) are enlisted to attempt a rescue.


Shadowed by a mysterious Navy SEAL (Michael Biehn), the team finds their search for the submarine overtaken by something else down in the abyss...



While I grew up as a fan of James Cameron, I have no relationship with this movie.


I think I have seen the theatrical cut but I cannot remember much of the experience, so I cannot go into the differences with this 'Special Edition', which came out in 1993. 


From a pure production standpoint this movie is fascinating - so much of this movie is real actors interacting with large-scale underwater sets.


The central romance is cliche and maybe not as affecting as it is just functional.


Thank the maker for Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastriantonio. The actors had a tough experience making the film, and that strain comes through. But somehow they manage to make what could have been a slightly condescending relationship into something more alive.

 

I left the movie slightly underwhelmed.


Part of the reason is personal. I think my relationship with Cameron has changed. When I was a kid, he was a god.

 

Now I find my tastes have diverged - nothing against his work, but it does not speak to me the way it once did.


There is so much about this movie that I want to applaud.


The reveal of the computer-generated tentacle is still amazing. I have seen critiques of the alien effects at the climax, but I thought they looked great.


The themes are familiar Cameron territory now but feel more like a dry run for Avatar - a conflict between curiosity and a desire to learn, and dogmatic pursuit of singular goals.


Cameron’s single-minded villains are replaced by one Navy SEAL losing his mind and falling into paranoia and violence.


The film is pretty solemn, but there is a neat vein of humour running through the group’s interactions.


Some of the one-liners are obvious, but they felt like the kind of dad joke-adjacent lines these people would make. 


There are some surprisingly effective jokes - the reveal of Jammer (John Bedford Lloyd) behind the hatch, Lindsey telling Hippy (Todd Graff ) to not take her side after he derails her account of encountering the UFO. 


After two movies (or three, if you include Piranha II: The Spawning) where he had to work within tight budget constraints, The Abyss is the first James Cameron where he has room to expand on his obsessions (the sea, technology, man’s relationship with the world, the threat of militarism).


Whereas The Terminator and Aliens are in constant motion, moving efficiently through their narratives. The Abyss is not interested in momentum. 


This movie is the opposite - it is about pausing, thinking about one’s actions, especially alternatives to violence. 


Michael Biehn’s casting as Coffey almost feelings like a passing of the torch, from the lean, relentless, brutal action of Cameron’s early films, to the slower, more garish and emotionally open tone of the films which followed (True Lies aside).


The Abyss is the film where Cameron becomes shaggier, less interested in plot - and more interested in sitting in the worlds he has created.


The movie almost plays as the opposite of the Avatar movies in narrative structure, in that the key conflict is ended long before the movie is over.


While the characters have to defuse the bomb, the focus is on Buddy - the literalist - sharing his wife’s belief in protecting the entities in the titular location.


There is something off in the way the characters are written versus the way the actors play them that does not sit right with me.


I feel like I need to give the film another watch.


There is something unfinished about the relationship that I cannot define - there are times where their dynamic comes off as blue collar v remote intellectualism (a familiar theme of Eighties Hollywood).


It is more a conflict between practicality versus idealism, fear of the unknown versus curiosity about the same.


After spending the movie butting up against his wife’s beliefs, it falls to Buddy to convince the aliens not to wipe out humanity.


This movie felt like Cameron doing Spielberg - particularly the Spielberg of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.


While the climax does not carry the impact intended, there is something appealing about the film’s faith in the empathy and humanity of ordinary people.


Our protagonists work together and take comfort in, take care of, each other. Meanwhile, Coffey keeps to his own, and is eventually abandoned.


An important film in Cameron’s filmography, The Abyss is the hinge on which his career pivots. 


Not only is it influential on the rest of his filmography, it is also - despite its flaws - a fascinating peek into the filmmaker’s worldview.


Related


The Terminator


Avatar


Avatar - The Way of Water