SOUND OF MY VOICE Review

What grabs you about Sound of My Voice is not just the idea the film revolves around, but the fact that you don't necessarily know what or where exactly any of this is coming from and where it might be going. It is an ambitious film on a small scale. If you have seen the trailer then you understand the intrigue of what is going on here and you adore the tone for its subtle and scarce feelings it leaves you with. This is a brief but very precise film. It knows what it's going for and by all accounts it captures it perfectly. There is a mystery to the going-on's that can't hardly be described and there is an intelligence to the writing that at the same time makes us feel both calm yet inadequate. It is a strange feeling, but that kind of confusion, hesitation, and flat out mesmerizing effect is no doubt what director and co-writers Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling were going for. Marling, who is the new "it" girl for indie films after last year's underrated Another Earth does tremendous work here. This is an original and engaging film that not only proves you can make a good science fiction flick without green screens and space ships but that you can also make a film on a small budget that can blow you away. The film keeps you on the edge of your seat and at the end you really do want more. It is one of those movies you want to watch again as soon as it ends. You want to interrogate the film because you enjoyed it so much. It was truly an experience and for anyone that did in fact doubt Ms. Marling can surely now be silenced as she has proved herself more than a one cult wonder. This is a fantastic film and one that will likely be on my top 10 list at the end of the year. I can't wait to tell people about this movie. I'm still thinking about it. I'm still fascinated.

Peter (Christopher Denham) integrates himself into a
cult to prove their leader is a fraud.

It is no secret what this central character claims to be and so I don't hesitate in mentioning it here. In fact, this is the way the trailer gets you. It is how it clinches that unnerving feeling it has already instilled. It offers the promise of some kind of insight into a phenomenon that is either not possible or beyond our realm of comprehension in this time period. We follow Peter (Christopher Denham) and his girlfriend Lorna (Nicole Vicius) as they set out to expose an enigmatic young woman named Maggie who is amassing followers in her basement under the provision that she is from the future. Yep, that's right a time traveler. I'm sure if you've seen the trailer you already know how well this piece of information is used and if you have seen the film I'm sure you know how well this device is used throughout the story to speak for so much more. Both Peter and Lorna set out as documentary filmmakers intent on trying to expose Maggie for what she is whether that be a liar, a fraud, or more than likely a loon. They are brave in their attempts to delve into this cult and fearless in the solace that there is nothing truly bad that can happen to them. They are only getting in deep enough to pull the lid off the whole thing. At least, that is where we stand when the movie begins and we meet our two protagonists as they are secretly escorted to their first meeting with Maggie. Naturally, the more they learn about Maggie's world and the more their individual personalities begin to match the information they are receiving the line becomes blurred on what their objective really is and it makes them question one another. They are a loving couple, a pair in their mid-twenties looking for their spot in the world together, but by the end of the film Maggie has not just driven a gap between them she has possibly made them realize who they truly are. We don't know the truth of what is going on and we are never told flat out what to think. This is not only a point of frustration with the film, but it is of course what makes the whole thing so mind-blowing.

Maggie (Brit Marling) claims to be from the future and
has amassed quite a following who believe her.

What truly grabs you about the film though is in fact just what causes that rift between our heroes. That is the trick of the film, that is where the hook lies. It is within Maggie. We are as unaware of her charisma at the beginning as Peter and Lorna and are allowed to make our own assertions of her as we learn and watch her as they do. We are allowed to be captivated by her and we are allowed to be cautious. The fact the movie doesn't tell us what to think not only makes the plausibility of this feel all the more real, but it puts us in that always interesting realm of what would we do if we were in that situation. If this really were the circumstances we were facing would you believe Maggie? The answer to that will likely be a debate as the ending is purposefully ambiguous and leaves it open to your own interpretation. Several days after viewing the film I'm still not sure what side of the fence I land on. I've tried going back and watching trailers again, trying to revisit the evidence that we were provided. If anything all that I've come up with is that there are more plot points I want to examine and better understand on repeat viewings. The reason we become so involved though, the reason we indeed have such a debate over whether to believe the practical or the unbelievable is the unflinching performance of Brit Marling. Though a good number of folks were disappointed in her other Sundance offering Another Earth, I found it extremely engaging and full of questions and thoughts it didn't really know the answers to itself. There was nothing wrong with that, I found it a good meditation on the "what-if's" and Sound of My Voice operates in a similar sphere while giving us a more seductive central character. The film makes us believe in th epossibility of time travel because of Maggie's caring tone and forceful, commanding presence. She coaxes all of her followers and the audience into feeling what she wants and then lets us decide what we want to do with them where we want to take them and if we want to believe.

Lorna (Nicole Vicius) gets some shooting lessons from a
fellow cult member.

The whole feeling of being in the eye in the storm is what gives us as an audience the right to feel as if we are a part of what is going on on screen and that feeling, in these events, is what will make you talk about it and debate the ending on the way home. It is what I loved about the film besides the loveliness of the premise. I am so happy to see that Marling has a taste for the science fiction elements while grounding them in a very practical world. It is a look into what would actually might be going on if there just happened to be a time traveler in the reality of our world. It is almost more magical than watching sci-fi films with large spectacle and that day dream palette. There is something awe-inspiring about how simple this is while also being smart enough to leave it completely open for interpretation. I haven't spent much time on the performances, but they are all perfectly tunes as Denham proves a great anchor for this investigative aspect of the story that is going on while at times his voice is almost indistinguishable from that of Topher Grace's. Lorna is almost as equally captivating as Maggie despite not having the moments to lure us in. Vicius plays her with a subdued self-confidence that serves the character well in the final act of the film and shows a real arc. They are each able to find out who they are and we understand this as well with only the slightest of hints at their true character. We are all constantly changing, adapting, and being tested. It is not only a testament to the acting, but the script that exercises to a T that age old lesson of less being more. I still have not decided what I believe, whether Maggie is a fraud or not, and she is so varied in her representation it is unlikely I will ever decide to permanently go one way or another, but I love it and I can't wait to watch this film again to at least attempt to console myself with a more concrete conclusion.

SOUND OF MY VOICE Review

What grabs you about Sound of My Voice is not just the idea the film revolves around, but the fact that you don't necessarily know what or where exactly any of this is coming from and where it might be going. It is an ambitious film on a small scale. If you have seen the trailer then you understand the intrigue of what is going on here and you adore the tone for its subtle and scarce feelings it leaves you with. This is a brief but very precise film. It knows what it's going for and by all accounts it captures it perfectly. There is a mystery to the going-on's that can't hardly be described and there is an intelligence to the writing that at the same time makes us feel both calm yet inadequate. It is a strange feeling, but that kind of confusion, hesitation, and flat out mesmerizing effect is no doubt what director and co-writers Zal Batmanglij and Brit Marling were going for. Marling, who is the new "it" girl for indie films after last year's underrated Another Earth does tremendous work here. This is an original and engaging film that not only proves you can make a good science fiction flick without green screens and space ships but that you can also make a film on a small budget that can blow you away. The film keeps you on the edge of your seat and at the end you really do want more. It is one of those movies you want to watch again as soon as it ends. You want to interrogate the film because you enjoyed it so much. It was truly an experience and for anyone that did in fact doubt Ms. Marling can surely now be silenced as she has proved herself more than a one cult wonder. This is a fantastic film and one that will likely be on my top 10 list at the end of the year. I can't wait to tell people about this movie. I'm still thinking about it. I'm still fascinated.

SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMEN Review

The most disappointing thing about Snow White & the Huntsmen is the fact that it just wasn't as grand as it should have been. Period. There could be no more to this review than that and it would be understood what I thought about it and why I think it. That it were a disappointment and that it could have been more. This is a case of when a movie looks truly promising and epic in the trailers but ends up in the final product being something much closer to bland. It elicits no real response from the audience while telling a story we have all seen before without offering any real variance on it. The characters are there and some of them are greatly realized but the anchor of the film, that title character is anything but. The film looks gorgeous and first time feature director Rupert Sanders surely knows where to place his camera and how to create a large, sweeping landscape look like exactly that while allowing imaginative enough creatures to inhabit these lands. In many ways the film seemed to reference a Guillermo Del Toro type tone with its roots in fiction and a layer of weird added over it, but what falls short here is the storytelling. We know the story, the problem is not that but instead lies in finding a new, fresh way to look at it. There is certainly more than one way to approach a story and while Snow White & the Huntsmen is of course the more darker of the Snow White tales out this year and has a definite vision it lacks a singular voice. It lacks a hero we can really believe in.

Snow White (Kristen Stewart) readies herself to scare off a troll by,
get this, screaming at it. Somehow, it works.

Needless to say the real source of the problem here is none other than Kristen Stewart. I have wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, I really have. I even watched the first two Twilight films to try and give the series a shot but just couldn't go past that. I think Robert Pattinson certainly has a career outside of Edward, but things are beginning to look slim for Stewart. She seems much better when in secondary roles as in Adventureland and Into the Wild. I even enjoyed her in The Runaways and am anxious to see how she fares in the upcoming adaptation of Jack Kerouac's On the Road but here she just doesn't have the skill to handle it. She is supposed to be portraying the fairest of them all, a princess who in this version has some real fight in her and decides to take matters into her own hands. When going up against the concoction of a witch that Charlize Theron has devised you need someone who can portray those strong qualities with real vindication and Stewart is simply to frail and feeble an actress to go for it. Speaking of Ms. Theron, she certainly has outdone Mirror Mirror's Julia Roberts in every way of portraying the evil Queen. While in Roberts defense hers was a much lighter role, Theron has brought her A-game to the table and is resilient in her commitment to the over the top qualities of her character. When she commits to a trait she sticks with it and we see that play out through the whole of the story. In the beginning, that necessary bit of exposition, focuses heavily on the evil Queen known here as Ravenna and how she is on a quest to simply stay young, earn her immortality no matter what it takes. Her life-long mission doubles as a message about the role of women in society but then we forget about all that because the film decides to take long breaks from the Queen and focus more on the heroine who can't seem to make us care.

The Huntsmen (Chris Hemsworth) joins the dwarfs to try and help
Snow White defeat the evil Queen.

While I enjoy the idea of these fairy tales being turned into big live action epics, it goes without saying that all of them have fared pretty poorly in their transition. I didn't mind the Tim Burton take on Alice in Wonderland but I didn't necessarily care for it either. I didn't care at all for Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood attempt last year though it had plenty of talent going for it. Snow White & the Huntsmen is definitely the best out of the bunch, but again, that really isn't saying much. The Grimm inspirations are in place from the beginning as Ravenna takes over Snow White and her fathers kingdom. She kills her poor dad on their wedding night and locks the princess up in one of the towers. Ravenna is content with devouring young girls looks to keep her the fairest in the land while running the kingdom into the ground, that is, until one day the mirror has some different news to report. We find out the queen needs Snow White's heart to keep her forever youthful and immortal while allowing her to continue her reign as fairest of them all. Wouldn't you know on that same day Snow White decides she has it in her to escape. She does so and is chased into the dark forest by the Queens guards and albino brother with that pesky haircut. The Queen really needs that heart though and so she recruits the Huntsmen (Thor himself Chris Hemsworth) and sends him out to bring her back. We know he isn't going to bring her back, we certainly know they will fall in love but I do have to give the story some credit for allowing itself to not rely on the love aspect of this whole deal. Snow White and Thor team-up, meet the dwarfs and round up the refugee army led by Snow White's papa's old Duke (and his son who therein lies the love triangle) to storm the castle and kill the Queen. Sound familiar? It is and it is sometimes just as slow and sloggish as you might expect a two hour telling of that story to be, but alas it has its moments dammit!

Ravenna (Charlize Theron) talks to her mirror, mirror on the wall.

As in Mirror, Mirror one of the highlights here is certainly the set of the seven dwarfs. In this more serious version we have a regal group of actors portraying the helpful and prophesying companions. Bob Hoskins leads the crew as Muir who is the one real anchor of heart in the film. He allows us to see what Stewart should have been playing, what her character should represent rather than the awkward invert that Stewart is giving us. I hate to point the finger at Stewart so much as she might be a really cool chick who is just trying to do her thing the best she can, but she is the one who has chosen to take on this role. She knew if she had the chops to pull it off or not and she should have known her persona was not going to allow her the right qualities to play this character correctly. Take the job because you think you can give the best representation of the character not because it will add another hit to your resume. That is where I have the problem with Stewart, this has nothing to do with her public persona, who she is dating, or what the tabloids are saying; this is purely based on her range as an actress and I don't think she had what it takes to pull it off and I think she knew that too. It is clear when it comes down to that final rallying speech where you should want to stand up in the theater and join the fight. All I and everyone else in the screening could do was hold back laughter as she yelled her lines to the audience. Delivering not a shred of real emotion or genuine relation to the words she was saying. No, she was simply spouting her lines in a higher volume. There are plenty of reasons to see the film, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, Toby Jones, and Nick Frost all offer lovely supporting bits as the dwarfs and Hemsworth does his best with an underdeveloped cliche as well as the part about it looking amazing. The end no doubt is left open for a sequel and let us only hope that the studio decides to go Bond style on this potential franchise and casts another actress in the title role next time she decides to go all Joan of Arc.

   

SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMEN Review

The most disappointing thing about Snow White & the Huntsmen is the fact that it just wasn't as grand as it should have been. Period. There could be no more to this review than that and it would be understood what I thought about it and why I think it. That it were a disappointment and that it could have been more. This is a case of when a movie looks truly promising and epic in the trailers but ends up in the final product being something much closer to bland. It elicits no real response from the audience while telling a story we have all seen before without offering any real variance on it. The characters are there and some of them are greatly realized but the anchor of the film, that title character is anything but. The film looks gorgeous and first time feature director Rupert Sanders surely knows where to place his camera and how to create a large, sweeping landscape look like exactly that while allowing imaginative enough creatures to inhabit these lands. In many ways the film seemed to reference a Guillermo Del Toro type tone with its roots in fiction and a layer of weird added over it, but what falls short here is the storytelling. We know the story, the problem is not that but instead lies in finding a new, fresh way to look at it. There is certainly more than one way to approach a story and while Snow White & the Huntsmen is of course the more darker of the Snow White tales out this year and has a definite vision it lacks a singular voice. It lacks a hero we can really believe in.

THE HUNTER Review

Willem Dafoe has always been one of the more out of place actors in the Hollywood pantheon. His filmography certainly allows him the rights to sit with the big dogs (Spider-Man, Platoon) yet Dafoe the man has always chosen to skew a little closer to the outskirts. Over the years he has made several, and I mean several, indie and art house films that few likely saw. He seems to always find solace in playing characters that possess darkly eccentric sides to them. It is not only a staple of the actors persona but it has infused every character he has taken on. This is certainly one way to become an engaging and in many instances, provocative actor that lets the audience know that if he chooses to play a role there will certainly be some kind of mysterious intrigue about it and hopefully about the film as well. That seemed to be the case with his latest titled The Hunter. Based on a 1999 book from author and filmmaker Julia Leigh (Sleeping Beauty) the film tells a very simple and straightforward story that keeps its own rhythm and minds its own beats that in the end comes up feeling more boring than insightful. It is one of those small films that pulls you in with its engaging premise in the trailer and then as you watch the film you begin to realize what you saw in the trailer was every moment that was engaging and has now been spread over the nearly two-hour run time. Despite another engaging and invested performance by Dafoe the film itself cannot escape from under the weight it is burdened with.

Martin (Willem Dafoe) doesn't take well to the locals
after arriving in town for work.

What might that engaging story be you ask? Well, this is how they get you, fair warning. We are introduced to Martin (Dafoe) a mercenary posing as a scientist who is sent to the Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for a tiger believed to be extinct. So far so good? He is contracted by a mysterious company that is after the genetic material this animal produces (it has something to do with a toxin that can paralyze its prey). Mysterious and exciting right? When he arrives at his destination he becomes very well acquainted with the wife and two children of what seems to be his predecessor. The kids patiently wait on their father to return while their mother sleeps her life away knowing the truth. Are you completely sold? I was too. It has all the elements of a fantastic story, action, mystery, love, loss. How this ends up being one big borefest is beyond me but through thick or thin director Daniel Nettheim, known mainly for his TV work in his native Australia, prevails in focusing far too much on the dark brooding nature of the central character and his surroundings rather than squeezing every ounce of life out of the multiple plot lines he has going on. I am not saying a nice character study is a waste of time because it doesn't expose the action aspect of the title or flesh out the love story with steamy encounters. No, I want him to use his material wisely because it feels throughout he is actually trying too hard to hold back. He is trying to be too serious. The cinematography  is grand and the shots create a symbolic kind of pattern with a wonderful solemn score but all of this means nothing if the story doesn't keep us entranced.

"You said there weren't going to be any dinosaurs in
this movie Sam."

There are certainly moments in the film that keep us on the edge, hoping for more. Hoping that maybe this time the film might take off and really get going, but it never does. The Hunter just sits there and instead of developing into a narrative where we care what happens to Dafoe's Martin it instead follows the not too beaten path of not much happening. At all. I hate to come down on movies such as this because it is clear everyone involved was really trying to make a thought provoking piece of cinema that didn't fall into the traps of the predictable. I would like to have seen that movie had they not been afraid to tell this same story while not having to concern themselves about whether or not it would place the movie too far out of the genre, or the reputation it was trying to garner. It is as if the lines have been drawn so thick that to qualify as an indie/arthouse type film you can't have one too many bullets fired but you can certainly have an abundance of extended shots where the protagonist stares just off camera so long the audience should be able to read his thoughts. The tone I felt from the movie as the credits began to roll was one that was forced. It was as if I should like the movie, praise it even, simply because it didn't necessarily follow the pattern of a typical B-movie. The fact of the matter though is that I didn't really enjoy the film. I was bored the majority of the time, but I really wanted to like the movie. Besides Dafoe's committed performance there are a few surprises along the way in that Sam Neill shows up in a juicy little supporting role as does Frances O'Connor (A.I.) and it is a delight to see them take on such light parts in such a random film. In a weird way it compliments the tone just right. The performances are what hold this movie together. This is Dafoe's show though and no matter how many times I wanted to give up on Martin, I still had to see where this quest was taking him.

Lucy (Frances O'Connor) is trying to figure out her plac
in the world after the loss of her husband.

Where the story does end up going certainly isn't something you might see in one of those B-movie's but then again it isn't exactly revelatory to the point where we are truly surprised or taken aback either. Martin's quest for this elusive creature is certainly supposed to be some kind of metaphor for the relationships he begins to develop with the family and how they grow. That the companionship of those other human beings you care for and ultimately come to depend on in your life can sometimes be elusive as a...Tasmanian Tiger? I don't know. I'm not sure what exactly the film was trying to say, but I guarantee you that is the analysis someone who claims to have really dug the film will come out with. I guess I can be okay with that and I know it is not that animal specifically in terms of what it is but in terms of how it is believed to be extinct and that the writer at the time in her life when she wrote the book might have believed true love to be an extinct emotion. Something that people only make up to fool themselves into happiness. I get it and I'm certainly not going to criticize anyone who might be in a similar place and takes more away from the movie than I did. It's all relative as they say and no other cliched phrase could describe The Hunter better. A movie that is trying its darndest to escape every trace of those pesky little things. What the film can teach us though is that while it is always could to strive for originality and a new way of telling a story if the cliche applies that is probably because it's true. Embrace it for what it is because under all that brooding it might be what you truly are and there is nothing wrong with that.