Priscilla (2024)

Written for RAF News December 2023

Based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir, Sofia Coppola looks at the young wife of the ‘King of Rock’ in this beautifully languid biopic.

Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) is just a child when she meets Elvis (Jacob Elordi): she is 14, he is 24. They are in West Germany where Priscilla’s father is stationed as a United States Air Force officer, and where Elvis has been drafted to serve. Finding out that she is from Texas, he enquires after her, wanting the company of someone who reminds him of home.

This is 1959 and so Priscilla is already a fan, along with everyone else. Elvis doesn’t appear predatory, rather he is nervous, bouncing his leg uncontrollably and unable to hold eye contact. When the two become involved, it is not sexual to begin with, but it is abundantly clear that she is a child, a china-doll to dress up, and in fact ‘little girl’ becomes her affectionately ascribed moniker. Pulled into a world of rock and roll and hi-jinx with the icon of desire, the excitement is unlike any other. Back to her regular life as a school girl, the classroom is colourless by comparison. We see the indelible and rapturous effect that this relationship has had, and will continue to have.

Spaeny is perfect casting for the titular role. She manages to portray a childlike wonder alongside trepidation for things serious and adult, into which she is quickly slipping. Though their early exchanges are charged with a classical romance (the soundtrack borrowing from the period and contemporary music with great affect), the clear difference in size and frame keep you in mind of the gap between them. Jacob Elordi offers a charismatic Elvis with more subdued affectations, it is an intriguing performance that makes you lean in. As the story progresses, and their relationship intensifies, a darker side will be brought out by his affections for other women and pills.

Coppola is perfectly suited for this tale of young romance, and captures it with exquisite design. Dramatically, it feels restrained, and can quickly fizzle out. A true confectionery treat that is delicious but fleeting.

December 22, 2023 0

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

Written for RAF News November 2023

A fraught and complex marriage is put on trial when a man is found dead in front of his chalet having fallen from the attic. Discovered with a fatal head injury, it may have resulted from a knock during the fall; or maybe just before.

Although we see the moments around his death, we do not yet have the context. This will be drawn out in the courtroom, where the film spends most of its runtime. Sandra (Sandra Hüller) is a successful German novelist living in France with her partially-blind son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner), family dog Snoop, and until now, with her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) – but the relationship certainly had issues, as the prosecution will make evident.

Sandra is suspected of killing Samuel for various reasons: the circumstances around the incident itself, their history of violent exchanges, and going as deep as the resentments that they harboured for one another. The courtroom scenes are less stagey than is common in films. By comparison this feels conversational, almost intimate, but nonetheless pointed and combative. Witnesses are brought to the stand and cross-examined, but when evidence is presented, or an anecdote described, we see the moments play out. One particular fight is viewed almost in its entirety, and it feels painfully lived in.

The performances of the central cast are phenomenal. Samuel is only seen briefly in flashbacks, as someone struggling severely with work-life demands, whether he is suicidal or not will be debated. Daniel is 10 years old and witnesses the entire trial, every revelation fracturing the idea of his family. Sandra is the one in the spotlight, under scrutiny, her resilience almost working against her. The centre of the film, she enriches the text deeply though we cannot be sure if she is telling the truth.

Anatomy of a Fall is a riveting courtroom drama, expertly played.

November 3, 2023 0

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Written for RAF News October 2023

Martin Scorcese’s latest epic is a western about the exploitation and killing of Native Americans in early 20th century Oklahoma; a revisionist take on the Osage murders.

Based on the bestselling nonfiction book by David Grann, it follows dim-witted World War I vet Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he returns to his uncle’s cattle ranch looking for work, or more importantly, money. William ‘King’ Hale (Robert Deniro) has amassed his own wealth, but it is nothing in comparison to the First Nation locals who struck rich when they found that their land was sitting on an ocean of black gold.

Becoming the richest peoples per capita on Earth, it is not long before others start sniffing around and finding ways to part them from their riches – whether through robbery, insurance scams or marriage. The latter is suggested to Ernest by conniving Uncle Bill, matching him with Mollie (Lily Gladstone) as way to secure the inheritance of the ‘headrights’ to the oil money. Of course, there is Mollie’s mother and sisters to consider, but they are a minor inconvenience that can be fixed with a bullet or enough dynamite.

There is a great power in the storytelling, aided wondrously by the central performances, all presenting a deep contradiction or duplicitousness. Hale presents himself as a friend to the natives, speaking their language and established in the community, but underhandedly plotting their demise. Simpleton Ernest appears to genuinely love his wife and yet his loyalty to his uncle, or maybe his hunger for power, triumphs this bond repeatedly. Mollie, in a show-stopping turn from Gladstone, is aware of Ernest’s bad intention but allows him in anyway, her intentions cloaked behind an expression of constant restraint.

Killers of The Flower Moon presents a great American story of massacres and land snatching in the name of money and control – a saga that runs at just under 3 and a half hours, but somehow flies by – a true masterpiece.

October 13, 2023 0

Past Lives (2023)

Written for RAF News Sept 2023

Korean immigrant Nora (Greta Lee) has set up a life for herself in New York: a career, an apartment and a loving husband, but the sudden reappearance of her childhood sweetheart reminds of a deep connection to a time and place that she had left behind.

What might appear as a typical, contentious romantic drama with two suitors competing for the affection of the same woman, Past Lives is told with great realism and tenderness. There are no villains in this film other than circumstance.

Nora had moved from Seoul as a child, leaving Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) with whom she had become incredibly smitten, walking home hand in hand from school every day, their affection was innocent and uncomplicated.

12 years later and now an aspiring playwright, Nora scans social media for her old friend on a whim, discovering a message that he had sent in search of her. This reignites their bond, deepened now by maturity, but anchored to memory and nostalgia.

The interactions feel genuine, seeking to connect rather than impress or woo, their conversations are deeply heartening to witness. At this point in their lives, Korea and North America respectively, they are unable to travel and so communication is limited to patchy Skype calls. This is until Nora finally makes the decision to stop talking, feeling that the distance is too painful, and afraid of throwing away all that she has worked for to travel back to her home country.

Another 12 years later Hae Sung arrives in New York to visit Nora And her now husband (John Magaro). There is no cunning or covetous plan; all three people are aware of their situation, and in fact treat it with great emotional intelligence, but this doesn’t make the ordeal any less difficult.

Past Lives is a simple and realistic romance that is incredibly tender and heartbreaking.

September 8, 2023 0

Pinocchio A True Story (2023)

Written for RAF News July 2023

Pinocchio A Tue Story is a confused adaptation of the popular fairytale, a janky Russian animation that makes little sense, but has gained online notoriety for its particular American dubbing.

Evidently the story of Geppetto and his living doll have become public domain, and so we have had a number of versions released in the past couple of years. From Disney’s updated live-action with CGI, to Guillermo De Toro’s comic but darkly twisted stop-motion, and now this: a much smaller scale, no-thrills animation, that appears to be geared toward a much younger audience, and apparently those watching ironically for the memes.

The plot is much like the others, or at least it uses some of the same ideas (though notably excluding Jiminy Cricket or his growing nose). Pinocchio (Pauly Shore) is a wooden boy who comes to life and longs to see the world, along with his trusty talking horse Tybalt (Jon Heder) he joins a travelling circus and falls in love with the shifty proprietor’s daughter Bella (Liza Klimova). Now he wishes to become human so that they may share a love together, but her father’s schemes, and the thieving animals under his employ, threaten to interfere.

Despite being cemented into public consciousness through its many retellings, this instalment is pretty non-sensical, with drama arising out of nowhere and then being resolved just as casually. The score is generic whilst the animation is ropey and unexciting. The American dub is where the film has garnered much attention, largely due to Pauly Shore’s flamboyant delivery, causing a wave of TikToks celebrating the perceived sexuality of Pinocchio.

A suitably bizarre fate for this strange film, that isn’t nearly as funny as the reactions it has provoked.

July 7, 2023 0