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Reviews
Dune (2021)
Interesting, often beautiful, not entirely effective editing, music or dialogue
Pros:
-Much of the cinematography is naturalistic, CGI well disguised, lighting often mesmeric. Selection of close-ups and dream sequence images seperate it from previous adaptions aesthetically - only slight problem is that Villeneuve's characteristic neutral greyish tones are in every scene - some occasional colour accents might have been good to highlight key moments.
-The vehicle design is fairly interesting, particularly the dragonfly copters.
-Action sequences are well designed, particularly the attack on the mine and the sandstorm.
-Actors generally performed well, although casting some Middle-Eastern or North-African actors might have helped lend it some more authenticity.
-Choice of locations were generally excellent e.g. The Wadi Rum for the populated rocky areas and Abu Dahbi's empty quarter for the dunes.
-Generally has a dreamy, fluid but alien quality which probably compliments the source material while giving it a facelift (reminded me a little of Ridley Scott's 'Raised By Wolves').
-Costume designs are top-class and appropriate for conditions.
-The giant sandworm is not fully unveiled until near the end of the film and is really beautifully designed - the sand dune effects compared very favourably with other desert based films from the last twenty years. Generally the film builds tension really well (but doesn't really do much with it).
-Some of the world building is very good - for instance the capital city of Iraqis looks like a cross between 1980's futurism and a desert city in ancient Mesopotamia e.g. Uruk.
-Weapons were nicely designed including the most convincing laser ray-gun I have ever seen in a sci-fi, with matching sound FX.
Cons:
-Although it's a two part movie, I'm not sure about the choice of end point for part one. Perhaps does not really qualify as a self contained film on it's own. As a story, its a slightly forgettable rehash of the rather good first episode of the 3-part TV show version.
-Sound design was patchy because of the often unnecessary imposition of booming, overbearing Hans Zimmer themes e.g. The battle scene. That said, the strange Imperial language/music, voice over sections and atmospheric sounds were nicely executed.
-Villeneuve's sci-fi seems to have an obsession with things that inexplicably float, which removes us from being immersed in an otherwise convincing physical scene.
-Villeneuve's interior sets seem to look very similar in his last three films. The aesthetic uniformity of it all is unconvincing. Different planets and cultures would have different architects.
-The elimination of most of the cultural research which Herbert used in the original text, to be replaced by a kind of bland, generic sci-fi world. The controversial Arabic & Persian Sufi mysticism content is mostly removed.
-The dialogue in the first forty minutes is clunky and exposition heavy, but does improve greatly thereafter, however there is a lot less of it. The main scriptwriter was the same guy who wrote Prometheus, which had terrible dialogue.
-As with Villeneuve's previous film, he introduces lots of characters as if they will play a key role, then they quickly disappear before any real developments unfold. He glosses over characters that were very interesting in the book.
-It feels like a three hour film that has had key scenes removed so character development suffers as a result.
The Giant (2019)
Skillfully made. Not for everyone.
It's telling that most of the negative reviews are by people who either didn't watch the film or didn't pay enough attention to review it fully. If you find a very ominous, sometimes slow and surreal style of film making repellant, simply don't watch it. Snarky non-reviews are useless. The film does in fact have a plot but the method of storytelling is non-linear or elliptical (deliberate gaps where you are supposed to jump to a conclusion by yourself).
The protagonist, Charlotte, is a 16 or 17 year old girl from rural Georgia. Her mother committed suicide around a year before the July events of the film which revolve around a group of teens who have just finished high school and like to drink/party, despite the looming spectre of "the giant", an unidentified serial killer who supposedly targets teen girls.
Charlotte was previously involved with an older boyfriend whom she met in 8th grade (~13 years old), Joe. It is heavily implied he is bad news (e.g. She dreams about being strangled and several friends warn her not to look for him) but she is still hung up on him and periodically fantasises about meeting up with him again - he abandoned her shortly after her mother died. She concludes he is, "Broken in ways I can't imagine." She drives around in the dark alone imagining he is still with her whilst glimpsing murder victims on their way somewhere in an identical truck. Charlotte comments that she can barely recognise him. He never appears in any scene with other characters, implying that he specifically haunts Charlotte during her fugue states. He pleads his innocence.
Charlotte visits her old home, dreaming about the day her mother hung herself and their final conversations. She loses time, sleeping for long periods and going missing from her friend group for days with no memory of where she has been. Her father, a state trooper struggles with depression and spends long hours out on the road. The summer air hangs heavy and thunderous rainstorms close in. The 35mm cinematography is very dark with highlights of neon colour or candle light, distorted and stretched during Charlotte's fugue states.
The story reaches a climax when Charlotte agrees to throw a birthday party for Olivia at the old house. Dialogue implies that they both witnessed Joe doing something bad exactly one year ago at a nearby location, down by the water where they swim. The gang drinks too much, become edgy, then rush out into the storm as if confronting the mythic "giant" figure in the dark. Charlotte is left alone with Joe, or a vision of Joe, appearing in the shadows. She struggles to decipher reality.
"I can't tell whether I remember it or whether I was dreaming."
"What's the difference?"
In Joe's final appearance he is badly beaten and bloody. His guitar mysteriously appears, linking back to a scene where his house is empty and his smashed car abandoned by a field of tall grass. There is a preceding scene which shows a candle lit vigil for a string of murder victims and Charlotte's father apologises to her for ignoring her before explaining that Daphne's boyfriend (Brady) has confessed to stabbing her 44 times while high, linking back to an early scene where Charlotte notices the couple together with their car covered in blood. Her father expresses despair at the pointlessness of the killing.
The ending, chasing after Olivia into the fields to be met by the shadow of the giant, implies that most of what we have previously witnessed is a sort of memory-dream fusion where Charlotte is stuck in a state of purgatory with various victims including her friends Daphne, Joe and Olivia. She comes to accept her exit from home, whether it is literal or into some kind of dream of death.
The giant, rather than a specific person, seems to be a grim reaper figure that looms over the town inspiring deranged acts of violence or nightmares. Various traumas merge into one dark landscape. Due to her unreliable and confused narration of the story, it is not clear what has actually happened to Charlotte, but if (similar to films like 'The Lovely Bones') she turned out to be the ghost of a murdered girl looking back on her life as it fades away, this would make sense. The unexplained aspect of the plot is probably there in order to encourage audiences to empathise directly with Charlotte and not attempt to rationalise her experience of a dark dream.
Mesnak (2011)
Authentic yet Innovative - a realist film rich with symbols
This beautiful film, sometimes comparable in style to Weerasethakul's "Uncle Boonmee" (2010) and Terence Malick's "The New World" (2005), is focused around a young French speaking indigenous man from Montreal who plays the role of Hamlet in a reinvented version of Shakespeare's play set in his family's hometown, which seems to be an Iroquian Huron logging town (only local Quebecois might recognise the dialect spoken such is its rarity now - the lead character did not understand it either). The landscape and mythology reminded me of a book I read about the Algonquian Mi'kmaq people, so I'm guessing there is some common mythology shared between different tribes. The director Durand is an experienced and intelligent theater director who has only recently moved into feature films. He is himself from the same ethnic group and has spent many years trying to promote indigenous Quebec culture, while also exploring various great playwrights' work. The film is set in the present day and explores present day themes concerning sex, drugs, gangs, parenthood in crisis, broken families, adoption, loss of identity and unrelenting corporatism/corruption. The erotic scenes have a sensuality and charge to them which can be good or disturbing, depending on who's involved in them - think of Hamlet's oedipal psychology for instance. It seems very different to other modern films which address these issues though because it deliberately places them in the context of a Shakespearean dramatic/philosophical structure and the rich imagery of indigenous mythology, in particular the Mesnak - sometimes taken as a symbol of pre-colonial north-America, but here the ancestral turtle spirit, which carries the memories and pain of the dead until justice is served. You could say the Mesnak is playing a similar role to the faun in Guillermo Del Toro's 'Pan's Labyrinth', but in the symbolic naturalistic style of 'Le quattro volte' (2010).
You will probably never have seen a Shakespeare adaptation like it, because it addresses the emotional and psychological aspects of that story head on, rather than fetishising the use of language and rigid structure. It often uses modern scenarios and filmic influences, such as an estranged and naive member of a family returning to his ancestral home, to recreate the dynamic that Shakespeare was trying to generate in his setting. There is exactly that subtle air of dread hanging over parts of the film, that you would expect from a Hamlet interpretation. Unlike most classically stylised thespian films, the relationships are all very well drawn and realistic, while allowing occasional surreal flourishes and memories influenced by local myth. The actors are professional and amateur, all performing excellently. Durand has exposed himself to critical snobbery by alluding to such a revered tradition in theatre and this makes the film difficult to categorise and therefore sell. If for no other reason, you should watch this film to appreciate the natural history of Canada and how people feel about their environment - the choice of shots and colours are all deliberately selected to enhance the beauty of people in nature.
The powerful connection between landscape and spirit contrasts starkly with the attitude of industrialists who attempt to barter with and bribe the tribal owners of the land, as if the forests and rivers were nothing but another commodity and tribal elders are CEO's. The social agenda of the film could be compared to films like 'Local Hero' by Bill Forsyth, 'The Last Wave' by Peter Weir or 'Samson and Delilah' by Warwick Thornton. The final sequence is one of the most beautiful and melancholy I have seen in any film and I'm not sure how they actually managed to film it safely.
Mesnak is the ghost of Canada's conscience and I believe that the art establishment's rejection of it, is exactly what we should expect for a work of truth in a complacent culture.