Several years ago, Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) experienced a startling and gruesome personal tragedy. Thanks to her type-A personality, she’s been able to rebuild her life and even has a successful “mommy vlog.” Then she meets Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) a fellow parent from her son’s class. Despite being different in every way other than having children, the two become best friends. One day, Stephanie gets a phone call from Emily asking for “a simple favor…” which whips her formerly uncomplicated life into a frenzy of mystery, lust, trauma and murder.
By Megan Hess
A Simple Favor (Feig, 2018) is anything but. Based on the Darcey Bell novel, it’s Nancy Drew (Fleming, 2007) mixed with Gone Girl (Fincher, 2014) and a splash of Game of Thrones (Benioff and Weiss, 2011). It’s best described using a Kanye West album title: a “beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy.” Director Paul Feig, who’s best known for Bridesmaids (2011) and the ill-fated, all-female Ghostbusters reboot, has found a profitable niche in comedy. However, other than I Am David (also based on a novel) in 2003, A Simple Favor is the most serious movie on his resume – and, coincidentally, one of the best.
Several years ago, Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) experienced a startling and gruesome personal tragedy. Thanks to her type-A personality, she’s been able to rebuild her life and even has a successful “mommy vlog.” Then she meets Emily Nelson (Blake Lively) a fellow parent from her son’s class. Despite being different in every way other than having children, the two become best friends. One day, Stephanie gets a phone call from Emily asking for “a simple favor…” which whips her formerly uncomplicated life into a frenzy of mystery, lust, trauma and murder.
The base storyline of A Simple Favor is meaty and twisty enough on its own that it would make a decent movie with almost any cast, but Kendrick and Lively make it impossible to see anyone else in their roles. Cutesy-awkward Stephanie isn’t anything new for Anna Kendrick – imagine her Into the Woods (Marshall, 2014) character as a mommy vlogger. Besides the Pitch Perfect trilogy and Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Wright), she’s made a career of earnest, enthusiastic women cleverer than they appear.
The one moment in Pitch Perfect that feels like something Stephanie – or almost any of Kendrick’s other characters – would do.
Blake Lively’s character is the total opposite: chic, cool, a little crazy. Lively’s made a career out of playing leggy blondes - in Gossip Girl (Savage and Schwartz, 2007) the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Kwapis, 2005) movies and more – but, unlike in Green Lantern (Campbell, 2011) or Café Society (Allen, 2016) she’s more than just pretty window dressing here, and thinking of her as such seriously underestimates her talent. (Saying any more than that would be venturing into spoiler territory.) She and Anna Kendrick have an authentic, compelling, sometimes homoerotic chemistry. Other than the two leads, the only actor whose performance really stands out is Andrew Rannells, who takes a break from Broadway for a catty dad cameo. (Emily’s husband, Shawn, is attractive but forgettable…although he does get to have a steamy sex scene with Kendrick.)
The one major critique of A Simple Favor (other than that it’s heavy on the profanity, which is a personal preference) is that it does its job too well. On its way to wrapping up, it gets so twisty that it’s a little hard to follow. However, an attentive viewer might bypass this problem – the film’s way of keeping the audience on its toes. If you want to skip the gore and guts this Halloween season and are looking for a psychological thriller, Feig’s contemporary neo-noir effort might be just what you need.
By Bill Friedell Have you ever heard the phrase, “it isn’t about the destination, but the journey”? You probably have, and it can certainly be applied to storytelling. It is a journey with a beginning with a destination: the end. This idea is paramount when it comes to understanding the twelve issue comic book Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons. When Watchmen debuted in 1986, the comic book medium had been around for fifty years, giving it time to develop its own storytelling techniques and tropes. What Watchmen did was showcase the uniqueness of what comic books can do. It is a comic book about comic books, or a metanarrative. This integral aspect of the story made the idea of adapting this story into other mediums. Specifically, movies. So how would a filmmaker go adapting Watchmen? In 2009, Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder, comes closest to capturing the spirit of the original comic with its opening credit sequence. Using film language to mimic the storytelling style of comics through the combination of montage and slow motion, it condenses of themes of the film in an artistically beautiful way and pays tribute to it’s comic book origins. In montage, images are assembled together so that they might explain an idea. In the case of Watchmen, the montage effect is used to give the backstory of the world by showing the rise of superheroes in the 1940s to the cataclysmic results in the 1980s. Juxtaposed with Bob Dylan’s “Times They are A’ Changin”, the opening credits portrays the passage of time and the decay of American morale. To make this montage, Snyder uses a technique seen throughout Watchmen, but is most skillfully used in the opening credits: slow motion. While in the bulk of the film itself, Snyder attempts to use slow motion as a way of bringing the comic panels. With time slowed down, the framing can become still enough to linger on an image (effectively remaking the panels themselves) but remains in motion and therefore cinematic. The best example of this is recreating the panel of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) being thrown out of his condo through the window. What makes this technique work well in the opening credits is the framing device of photography. If you notice, many of the shots in the montage are events being photographed by photographers: the heroes of the past and present together, the pictures taken of the forty’s heroes’ demises, among others. The merging of slow motion and on-screen focus of photography recall the still images of comics and the way they capture heroism and its downfall. In doing this, Watchmen’s most famous exploration of the medium is condensed: the idea of superheroes removed from fantasy. What if the superhero did emerge on the verge of World War II, but not just in[HL1] comics, but reality? What kind of effect would they have on America and world history? In the sequence of events, we see the glamor of superheroes punching bank robbers and taking pictures of their meetings and celebrations, but as the montage goes on, we see the superhero Dollar Bill (Dan Payne) shot dead as the result of his cape getting stuck in the bank door, punching the myth of the superhero in the gut. Silhouette (Apollonia Vanova), is kissing a woman on the day Japan surrendered as a sailor would heroically kiss, later paying off with the image of Silhouette murdered in her bed with her lover. Mothman (Niall Matter) is dragged off to be put in an asylum. Silk Spectre’s (Carla Gugino) marriage is shown to be unhappy and argumentative. The Comedian is revealed as the assassin of JFK. As America progresses, more darkness is uncovered, as shown through the intertwining of history and superheroes.By adding the JFK assassination, references to Russia and the Cold War, and the moon landing, Watchmen juxtaposes the fantastical with reality, showing you a backstory of a world hinted at in the book with supplementary material found at the end of each issue of the original comics. Using psychiatric reports, excerpts from autobiographies and newspapers, Watchmen uses this as a way of filling out the world’s history while also juxtaposing the comic book medium with other paper-based mediums. The photography motif is its play on other visual forms as well as the use of Bob Dylan’s song, where the combination of visual and sound creates film, thereby recreating that same juxtaposition the original comic did. While the opening credits create the past of the world it presents, it also establishes the next generation. Dr. Manhattan Billy Crudup), being the only hero in this world with actual superpowers, is connected to America’s positive aspects: the lunar landing and shaking hands with JFK. He is associated with power and accomplishment. But a hero like Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), alluded to with his card resembling his mask, is associated with brutality. The modern Night Owl is shown as an art piece by Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Cans, tying into the pop culture of the world and the commodification of the super hero. Even regal presence of Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), juxtaposed with the crowded slum visually establishes Ozymandias as his namesake: a conqueror modeled after conquerors of old, looking at his “subjects” which he wants to bring to the world. Opening credits can be more than courtesy to the cast and crew of the film. It can be a tool that can effectively and concisely distill the themes of the story. Most films now use end credits to do interesting artistic displays distilling the film experience like a highlight reel. For an example of this, check out the end credits for any Marvel Studios film starting with Iron Man 3 (Shane Black, 2013) and every proceeding film produced by them. Watchmen’s opening credits can only be at the beginning. Showing it at any other point, the information and context would be pointless. This tool in a filmmaker’s toolbox should not be forgotten or overlooked because of perceived impatience by an audience. You can paint an entire tone and mission statement for the audience and create a sort of movie within a movie at the same time. And with this tool, Zack Snyder finds a way to adapt his use of slow motion with the montage to create an ode to a genre that gained legitimacy because of its source material. Works Cited MOORE, ALAN. WATCHMEN. DC COMICS, 1986-1987. Snyder, Zack, director. Watchmen. Warner Brothers, 2009. Black, Shane, director. Iron Man 3. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2013 By Dylan Delaney Bohemian Rhapsody is the 2018 biopic of rock and roll legend Freddie Mercury and Queen. It captures their initial formation, and the years leading up to their famous Live Aid concert appearance in 1985. Queen fans or really anyone who has heard their popular hits are going to love this film. Not only does it bring them back to life, but it also tells the story behind how they came to be. Rami Malek’s portrayal of Freddie Mercury has been very well received considering the complexity of the character, and the skill level required to convincingly pull it off. Replicating Mercury’s unique demeanor and stage presence was no easy task. Malek said that he worked with a choreographer to master Freddie’s mannerisms and dance moves. The vocals were a combination of Malek’s and the original soundtrack. Malek has explained in interviews that he met Brian May and Roger Taylor, the remaining members of Queen, at Abbey Road Studio in London prior to receiving the role. He also took voice and piano lessons beforehand in preparation. The actual Queen members were involved with production, which added to the film’s overall authenticity. Another large attribute of becoming the character was his false teeth, which helped him understand that specific insecurity. Needless to say, he did a fantastic job. Music defines this entire film, and emotionally unifies the members of the group who “don’t belong together”. Most of the popular Queen songs are incorporated into the film. If they aren't literally sung, then they are played as background music. Given that the film is well over two hours long, they could only highlight their major hits. Seeing the unique behind the scenes process of how the songs came to be is fascinating, and makes you appreciate them even more. With any success story, there is always plenty of conflict. Controversy has surrounded the film related to how much attention would be paid towards Freddie’s sexuality. From the moment the trailer was initially released, only a brief shot of an intimate moment between him and another man was seen. Compare that to his relationship with Mary Austin, which is repeatedly shown, there was an apparent imbalance. Regardless, the film does a good job touching upon the various aspects of his career while still addressing other important areas. The final sequence of Live Aid concert is truly spectacular. Live Aid was global initiative meant to raise one million pounds for the hungry affected by the Ethiopian famine. Every little detail was recreated, down to the Pepsi cups on the piano. There are a few shots in particular that left my eyebrows raised. Experiencing the film in IMAX is also incredible, especially during all of the concert sequences. It is extremely immersive, and simulates the viewer as being a member of the crowd. From the fantastic visuals and performances, Bohemian Rhapsody beautifully recreates the iconic moments which shaped Queen's legacy.
Written by: Dylan Delaney Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2018/10/31/freddie-mercury-rami-malek-upbringing-helped-him-play-queen-singer/1819592002/ |
Archives
October 2024
|