Film Review: The Little Stranger

"There Is Something Inside This House That Hates Us..."

Based upon Sarah Waters' 2009 novel of the same name, The Little Stranger sees the return of critically acclaimed Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, a filmmaker whose previous venture in the form of Room garnered universal praise, including here at Black Ribbon, alongside a fully deserved Oscar win for Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson. With Abrahamson already being renowned for layered, thematic works of cinema which cut across a wide range of differing genres with ease, the same can be said for his latest venture, a dark, gloomy and overly Gothic portrayal of one man's venture into the life of a secretive family burdened with privilege and wealth, yet one haunted by the faint echo of death which seems to have canvassed inside their once prestigious home. Reuniting with Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) after their work together on the comedic oddity which was 2014's Frank, The Little Stranger does ultimately fail to live up to the excellence of Abrahamson's previous two ventures, with a sluggish pace and lack of real narrative push surprisingly making the Irish director's latest a real struggle for the most part, but with some rousing central performances and a fleeting number of creepy set pieces, The Little Stranger is still interesting enough to be seen. 

Whilst gothic cinema is always seeped in inspiration from timeless genre classics including the likes of The Haunting and The Fall of the House of Usher from the central macabre figure of the 19th century, Edgar Allan Poe, Abrahamson's movie utilises the genre conventions as a somewhat secondary device, with focus primarily on Gleeson's Doctor Faraday, a well-spoken and educated middle class local go-to whose envy of the Ayres family and their inherited fame and fortune has troubled and haunted him since childhood. With the movie latching onto Faraday's point of view, his attempts to embed himself into the life and love of Ruth Wilson's (Luther) Caroline leads him to unravel secrets and mysteries gently hidden within the confines of the Ayres family home, and whilst the movie only briefly contains elements of pure, spine-tingling horror, including a brilliantly constructed final act, these moments are undoubtedly the strongest of the piece, with the familial dramas and attempts at elongated character studies which make up the bulk of the run time agonisingly dull. With Wilson the standout performer of the piece, following on from her similarly creepy performance in the little seen Netflix chiller, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Abrahamson clearly knows how to get the best out of his performers but fails, this time at least, in managing to fine tune both the pacing and tonal inconsistencies of a piece which deserved to be more rewarding. 

Overall Score: 6/10

Film Review: Red Sparrow

"The Cold War Did Not End, It Merely Shattered Into A Thousand Pieces..."

Based upon the similarly titled 2013 novel by former Central Intelligence Agency agent, Jason Matthews, director Francis Lawrence reunites with long-term collaborator, Jennifer Lawrence (mother!), after their work together on the final three entries within Hunger Games film series with Red Sparrow, a sadistic spy thriller which attempts to blend the nihilistic approach of cold war paranoia with a Robert Ludlum-esque secret agent mystery narrative featuring Lawrence in the leading role as the Russian ballerina turned operative who is tasked with discovering a native mole who has been supplying the US with state secrets. With a lifeless, cold tone and a jaw-dropping exploitation sensibility which airs more on the side of advantageous leering regarding its' lead star than that of actual substance, Red Sparrow is a staggeringly misjudged and overly dull affair, one which although can be somewhat praised for attempting to present a more bolder and brutal by the numbers spy story, hashes it's early promise and comes across more as an overly disappointing affair with a, hold your breath, completely miscast leading lady. 

After sustaining an ill-fated injury which prematurely ends her career as a prestigious ballerina, Jennifer Lawrence's awfully accented Dominika Egorova turns to Matthias Schoenaerts' (The Danish Girl) Ivan Dimitrevich Egorov, her slimy, power hungry uncle who recruits her into the "Red Sparrow" programme and under the wing of Charlotte Rampling's (45 Years) Matron who attempts to teach her the ways of psychological, sexual and overly humiliating manipulation. With Lawrence being confined to direction which forces her to maintain a complete look of utter boredom and attempting to preserve a straight face during set pieces which give Fifty Shades of Grey a run for its' money, Red Sparrow suffers primarily from a key weakness regarding Lawrence's implausibility as a hard-edged Russian spy, and whilst her dodgy accent isn't the only one in the movie to induce sniggering fits of laughter, the film is made worse by being a key example of an obsession between director and leading star reaching astronomical levels, with the camera woozily ogling at the sight of its' leading star whenever she is forced to take off her clothes or engage in one of many terribly misjudged sexuality torture scenes. Whilst I am all for nudity and stylised violence when absolutely necessary, Lawrence's latest is one the most unnecessary gory examples of mainstream exploitation cinema I've seen in recent history, and when you through into the mix a yawn inducing underlying narrative about double-crossing agents and a resolution which is the definition of cop-out, Red Sparrow is indeed quite poor, even with a semi-decent Joel Edgerton attempting to save the day. 

Overall Score: 4/10

Film Review: Assassin's Creed

"We Work In The Dark To Serve The Light..."

We begin our descent into the year ahead in film with perhaps the most anticipated live-action video game release in recent memory. Beginning all the way back in 2007, the Assassin's Creed franchise was a spectacular addition to the gaming world, producing more and more content with each and every new release, resulting in enough worldwide popularity to garner an inevitable film adaptation. Whilst it has almost become clichéd to stamp every video game adaption as utter, utter tripe, the signs for Assassin's Creed were excitingly upbeat considering the talent on display at the heart of the film's production, with Snowtown and Macbeth director Justin Kurzel being a subverted, interesting choice to conduct the film's leading stars, stars which include the likes of Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, both of whom were so superb in Kurzel's blood-stained Shakespearean adaptation of the Scottish play back in 2015. As a fan of the original video game franchise, something of which I suspect will be the case for the majority of the films' audience, Kurzel's live-action adaptation is a solid, if rather grim adaptation of the famous series, one which is undoubtedly his own movie, a rarity in Hollywood these days, but something of which ironically both positively and negatively effects the final cut of his latest cinematic venture. 

When convicted murderer Callum Lynch (Michael Fassbender) is sentenced to death by lethal injection, he is swiftly captured by the mysterious Abstergo Industries who reveal themselves as a modern-day incarnation of the religious military order known simply as the Templar Order, a secret organisation who seek the lost Apple of Eden, an object of power which they believe will cure the violent ways of human race. Tutored by the the father and daughter duo of Sophia and Alan Rikkin, portrayed by Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons respectively, Lynch is asked to connect with his ancestor Aguilar, a member of the infamous Assassin's Creed, who is key to locating the long lost object of which the Templar's seek. For those privy to the narrative of the games, the storyline of the cinematic adaptation is pretty familiar, and whilst Kurzel's stamp on the movie is incredibly on-the-nose in terms of how unrelentingly grim and dark it is, both in literal and metaphorical sense, this particular notion does play a major factor in the overall feel of the films' appeal.

On the one hand, in attempting to create a much darker and less-mainstream movie than other video game adaptations in the past, Kurzel does deserve a level of recognition. yet on the other hand, it does ultimately result in a large portion of the movie being a tough nut to break, particularly I would have thought for an audience of the younger ilk of cinema-goers. What you have therefore with Assassin's Creed is an admirable if rather flawed adaptation of a fundamentally bonkers video game, particularly in a narrative sense, and whilst the film may seem a feat for those who have played the respective video games, Kurzel's vision is one of undeniable murkiness, something of which may indeed alienate both the young as well as those who have not previously had the association with the video games that many have had in the past. We start 2017 therefore with an enigma of a movie, but one which at least bears some form of positivity for the future of live-action video game adaptations.  

Overall Score: 6/10

88th Academy Awards: Best Actress

Best Actress

After last years' predetermination at the BAFTA's, with Julianne Moore winning the prestigious Best Actress award for Still Alice, a film that hadn't hit UK cinemas at the time of the ceremony leaving the choice of winner solely in the hands of preview-screened critics, the Oscar's soon followed suit and awarded Moore with her first award after many nominations for films such as Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights and Far From Heaven. Completing this years' nominations is a variety of talent ranging from rising stars to cinematic gems with each film definitely getting the vote of confidence from here at Black Ribbon, even Joy, the newest release from David O. Russell, which although features a riveting leading performance from Jennifer Lawrence has been regarded by many as a limp entry into the impressive canon Russell has already established, with The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook doing particularly well at the prestigious ceremony in previous years. Could his and Lawrence's success at the Oscar's continue this year? Let's ask the people in the know.

In the wise eyes of the bookies, Brie Larson is set to carry on her success at the BAFTA's with her being odds on to pick up the Oscar for Best Actress in Lenny Abrahamson's simply brilliant Room, a film which manages to carry the balance of the dark and the twisted yet ultimately proclaims itself as a life-affirming drama, featuring a world-class performance from young Jacob Tremblay who along with Larson brings the brilliance of the film to light, resulting in the rare occasion whereby I completely agree with the Academy. Sure, Cate Blanchett is rather flawless in Todd Haynes' Carol and Saoirse Ronan continues her streak of being perfect in every way possible (CRUSH INCOMING) within the beautiful Brooklyn, but Larson is the stand-out, pulling in a performance that those at the Oscar voting table love; no make-up and a lot of crying. It might just be the start of something magical. Cringe. 

Next Time: Best Director