Essie Speaks - mostly about movies - but also of books, countries, life. Mostly movies though :) (Updated every weekend - sunday night latest ^-^)P.S. ALL THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION OF ITS WRITER - AND THAT WOULD BE ME!
I am ridiculously busy though. Close friends and my mother all agree that I am living the life of roughly three seperate people . Apparently none of them blog. Which is unfortunate. To be honest, I have barely had time to watch anything. And those I did see, I have barely had the time to review. My writing on other websites have suffered too, although I am clawing my way back... It is quite obvious to me that this is now more than a minor hiccup and more a reorganisation of my life. I crave your patience as I work out where everything goes in this brave new world. But in the meanwhile I do hope you enjoy this weeks review... Best, Essie
Oh boy, I
have been wanting to catch up with this bad boy for a while. This got chins
wagging back in the Oscar season, remember… First it was Steve Carells
unbelievable performance as the archetypal (real life ) crazy millionaire John
Du Pont. Carell, by and large known for his comic performances shot right to
the top of the Oscar nominations list with his performance, and incidentally
with his make-up. Or rather his make-up shot to the top of nominations without
him, it is after all a different category. Then there was the whole scandal
about Channing Tatum getting snubbed in the best supporting actor category. You
know shit just got awkward when even Mark Ruffalo who got nominated instead of
him openly says Tatum has been snubbed. And then, then there was the whole
matter with the real life Mark Schultz who withdrew his support from the film
shortly after its release. Having seen the film he was warned that the film
could potentially portray him as gay and strongly opposed to any such thing
being the case. Though to be honest everyone also noticed that Schultz was
rather opportunely pointing towards his own interviews and books he had
contributed to as an alternative source… Mmm… Anyway, you will recall it
definitely made its own fair share of ripples, not least because it actually is
– that old favorite of mine – a true story. A story of madness and murder – a favorite of
the general public too now you mention it! Oh and yeah, there is the odd bit of
wrestling thrown in…
David and
Mark Schultz are a brother team of great renown in the wrestling world. Both
are Olympic gold medal winners but David (Mark Ruffalo) is generally seen as
the superior talent and definitely a much better coach and trainer than Mark
(Channing Tatum) who is more hot-headed and definitely full of resentment at
not being able to escape his brothers shadow. It is for this reason that when,
seemingly quite out of the blue, he is approached by eccentric millionaire John
du pont (Steve Carell) he sees in his proposition an opportunity to finally
strike out on his own and succeed. The stakes are high- du pont wants to be the
coach of the American wrestling team that is sent to the 1988 Olympic games. He
wants David to be a part of it and to help coach the team. He will spare absolutely
no expense in doing so. For David, living alone in a tiny flat and living off
the American equivalent of pot noodles, it’s a whole new world… But it is also
the beginning of a relationship tinged with drug abuse, obsession and ambition
that will prove extremely destructive in more ways than one…
First of
all, let us get the most obvious bit out of the way. The wrestling. I cannot
stress enough that this is not a sports film. The wrestling is, in fact, almost
incidental – although goodness knows du pont himself would be very displeased
with that. This is a very insightful and fascinating look at obsession and how
it pushes people to react. Carell must have jumped for joy as an actor when he
got the part of Du pont – what a character! Basically a real life Norman Bates
(only with added millions of dollars and gigantic estate), Du pont – well into
middle age – is ruled by his mother Jean (played rather superbly by Vanessa
Redgrave) and deep down wants nothing more than to rebel against her. In his quest,
he has come up with a sport she would definitely disapprove of, and that would
set him apart from her (she breeds prize racehorses) and becomes completely
obsessed with becoming the best in the world at it – so he is not only
rebelling but in fact overshadowing her as he does it… And he has the resources
that enable him to not stop at anything to achieve this goal…
Then of
course there is the whole dynamic between Mark and David, the eternal story of
sibling rivalry. Both actors do a superb job of their parts. And I really don’t
care how much stick you give Tatum about the Magic Mike franchise – the man can
act. And boy can he move. I am not just talking about how good looking he is
(and let’s face it ladies and gents he is DAMN good looking) he just has a
talent of moving fluidly and looking damn good while he does it. The one piece
of criticism I will put across however is that the character of David is a
little too perfect. He seems to be the archetypal benign older brother, perfect
coach and father. I mean, I never knew the guy, maybe he actually was like
that. But I have a nasty suspicion that there is some level of whitewashing –
so to speak – going on in the light of, not to give out too many spoilers, what
happens next…
Foxcatcher
sustains a very robust level of tension throughout. It had me on the edge of my
seat throughout and the successful way it sustained the psychological tension
between this extraordinary and larger than life characters was a large part of
it. It is a wonderful study of the human
mind set against one of the most competitive strands of an already competitive
industry (professional sport). I personally found it both hair-raising and
thought provoking. And I promise you, you will, at the very least, get what all
the fuss is about…
I try to
stick to the tradition of watching a horror film or two on Halloween. Even if I
am busy, or ill (or both) that is my way of celebrating the holiday. In my
native Turkey we do very little to celebrate this holiday so that is where it
stops for me. I mean, I can always do with an excuse for watching horror films
and eating candy. The Evil Dead was my second film this Halloween. I actually
checked out the trailer at around 2.00 in the morning, in the dark. It gave me
the willies so I left it to the morning. Now those of you who know me in real
life will know I do not scare that easily so I was surprised at feeling nervy
at a trailer. But hey, I had already watched one really spooky film so I cut
myself some slack.
I watched
this big boy the next day, in broad daylight, with cats and people milling
around noisily outside my door. I was TERRIFIED. I am a grown woman and we are
talking cringing, pausing the film multiple times, hiding from the screen
behind my fingers, the whole nine yards… Sam Raimi, you sick, sick puppy…
Of course
horror fans will know that The Evil Dead is now officially one of the archetypes
of a specific type of horror film. You know, a group of young people end up in
a remote spot in the woods (more often than not they are renting a cabin though
God only knows why you would choose to vacation bang in the middle of a weird
forest all by yourselves but hey… Suspension of disbelief and all that. ) So
yeah, our group of young people come to a remote cabin that they are renting as
a relaxing vacation. But the whole thing goes south very quickly when they
discover a sinister looking study on demonology left by the previous occupant.
Nobody takes the study very seriously and it is read out loud to much hilarity,
however… Unbeknown to them, they have
woken a curse… And it is coming straight for them…
The Evil
Dead was one of those infamous films that was banned for years in some
countries, edited heavily in others and definitely became the stuff of legend
very quickly in all. What gets you in the gut is the absolutely brutal savagery
of the film combined with a rather masterfully created atmosphere. And the absolutely savage violence is
unrelenting, no holds barred and in a word, not tastefully done at all. It is a
complete battery on your senses and after a while you are just reduced to
staring at the screen in terror, unable to turn away – pretty much like
watching a train crash. The fact that the film was made in 1980 and that some
of the effects were very patently achieved with stop motion and play dough is
neither here nor there. Raimi seems to know exactly where all your primal fears
are and how best to abuse them. You literally have no escape…
And yet,
the overkill (literally) on violence does not make you glaze over after a
while. The film is intelligent and humorous throughout and keeps you oddly
engaged, which is not good news for your nerves if you are basically engaged
with a cabin full of murderous and bloodthirsty demons. Several tropes are noted and turned on their
heads as they go along – there is, for example a typical character who would be
the –last girl – in normal films. You know how it goes, the couples get plucked
off one by one, the last, pure (often white and single) girl survives, thus
making the film a hidden ode to the patriarcle system. Well we start off with
two couples and the sister of one of the boys –familiar enough. But then the potential
last girl is actually the first to be cursed, shortly after being raped by a
tree (no that was not a typo) I might add. The film studies student in me wants
to also make something of the fact that she gets trapped under the cabin in the
cellar for a good part of the film after she is transformed into a demon, you
know, repressed female sexuality and all that jazz. Especially since our last
boys girlfriend is used quite openly to tempt him into the demonic fold. I did
tell you that the film hits you at your most primal – and sex is, as we all
know, a large part of all that.
This is not
one of those horror films you put on just to giggle at the monsters and the general
lack of common sense prevalent in slashers and B – movies. It’s a good, old
fashioned corner stone. It’s an actual source. Its future incarnations have diluted
it on the way, this is true, but even all these decades later when you re-visit
the source, you find that electrifying and truly demonic energy present in all
its glory, ready to inspire your dreams – and nightmares…