On this page: MUCH ADO | NIGHT'S END | YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER

< < I N D I E S > >

Each actor is wonderfully at ease with the densely intelligent dialog, throwing off barbed lines to reveal deeper truths beneath sunshiny surfaces. Larcombe has a superb innocence as Hero, and later finds fiery strength in emotional conflict with her father (the excellent Saracen). This makes Hero's journey more pointed than usual. Meanwhile, the engaging Lucas and Jones trade sharp-edged insults, gleefully resisting romance until they can't. The entire ensemble is solid, with stand-out support from Behling (as rapscallion Borachio) and Emms (as irrepressable minstrel Balthasar).

The play's themes resonate strongly, grappling with identity and gender roles. And the tangled plot threads create a gripping structure that deepens our ability to identify with each character. Perhaps a more aggressive updating of the play and its language might have made it feel less like a film in a foreign language we only barely speak. We've seen plenty of word-faithful versions of this play in a range of intriguing settings. But properly adapting this beefy and riotously entertaining material would make its ideas even more transgressively important today.

themes, language, violence, sexuality

1.Apr.22 liff

With terrific screen presence, Walker is superb as a guy who is already a mess before anything starts happening around him. And since he hasn't been sleeping through the night, the sleep-deprivation is further eroding his perception and reactions. It's easy to identify with him as he only shops online and speaks with others only in video chats, which of course limits what he knows about the world outside. The supporting cast interacts with him through his laptop screen, stirring in plenty of lively personality touches.

Past issues emerge that add textures, including the fact that Ken lost his family and job due to problems with drinking. And now he's turning to alcohol to calm down. So as experts surround him and blind him with explanations of ghostly rituals leading to several macabre twists, the film builds a terrific sense that pretty much anything might happen next. It also makes the most of the screen-based interaction, leading to a properly nasty climax.

themes, language, violence

31.Mar.22

Doupe is riveting as the observant, curious, frightened Char, especially in her interaction with the mesmerising Bracken. Their mother-daughter connection is sharply well-played to bring out deeper issues between them in moments of both joy and inexplicable nastiness. So Char's growing confusion has added texture that makes it both chilling and moving. Because the film is so tightly shot from Char's perspective, everyone around her is depicted as enigmatic, which allows the excellent actors to add a complex range of details that continually add to the bigger picture.

To a teen girl, families are the scariest thing on the planet. With fiercely inventive writing and direction, Dolan creates a tone that invites the audience to see these events through Char's eyes, so everything that happens feels like a signpost leading her to some horrifying discovery. Indeed, where the story goes is gut-wrenching on several levels, cleverly reflecting real-life thoughts and feelings without diminishing the gnawing menace. Then as the story heads into its evocative freak-out climax, it carries a stronger gut punch than we expect.

themes, language, violence

7.Apr.22