Reviews
Trap (2024)
M. Knight takes us to a concert for free
I am a big M. Knight fan. Not all of his films compare to his masterpiece The Sixth Sense, but I am usually really entertained by his quirky scripts. The Village and Signs are two of my favorites. Trap seems to be a film in three acts. The first part was at the concert which was interesting as the usual script was flipped and instead of seeing how the killer was tracked, the audience witnessed the killer manipulating law enforcement. Critics complained that the film was a showcase for his daughter, ok but she is talented and she was a strong feature. The second act was a cat and mouse between the killer and singer and like Signs, there was some good tension. The third part was the weakest. It seemed he rushed the ending just to finish the film. It was really conventional and quite lame. I hope it wasn't a set up for a sequel. Of course being from Philadelphia, i enjoy the local back drop. Shout out to a really strong male lead who was super creepy at the same time as being a cool Dad. The paradox of human behavior on display.
Leave the World Behind (2023)
Great Premise That Falls Way Short
What started out with an interesting premise quickly dissolved into a pseudo political commentary on present day America. Racial tension, conspiracy theories, the failure of commercial electric cars, dependency on electronics, anti-American global sentiment are just a fraction of this film's attempts to jam all modern problems into one catastrophic warning. It was exhausting and uneven despite the good cast especially Kevin Bacon who stole the show as the conservative survivalist. While people have been disappointed with the ending, I found it a bright spot in an otherwise dull attempt to duplicate the style of films such as Get Out. A tedious 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The Swerve (2018)
Depression Has A Face
I have seen many films depicting Depression and this one is one of the most realistic and graphic. Holly can go through her day as mother, wife, teacher, and daughter being so detached that it literally swallows her whole. When people suffer mental illness, they not only hurt those around them as exemplified in car crash, the mouse, her sister, her sons and finally her husband but they are betrayed by those who don't intercede and provide real help. Asking " are you ok" or " I'm worried about you" doesn't hope to address the severity of this illness but mental illness makes people feel very uncomfortable.
Compliance (2012)
Civics 101
As a History Teacher of High School Students I am saddened by the lack of basic civic knowledge not afforded to the characters in this film and subsequently the real people who they portrayed. Ignorance is so depressing. Also this situation reminds us the the famous Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgrim Experiments of the 1960's, how easy it can be for authority figures to take control of unsuspecting or passive individuals. This film is important to see and the graphic nature is vital to its message. Look what the citizens of Germany allowed to happen the the 1930's and the tragedy of the followers of Jim Jones to name a few examples.
Plac zabaw (2016)
Very dood direction, cinematography and symbolism
I usually don't like to read subtitles but the director actually spoke through the images on the screen. So much of human behavior is rooted in childhood experiences. Anger, poor self-esteem, loneliness all have their beginnings early on. How you negotiate these feelings is the journey. In those bleak streets of that Polish town hope for these lids was limited. This was seen in the symbolism ; The preoccupation with the bathrooms, the annoying fly, teasing the dog, the escalator , the foreshadowing as the townspeople in the streets were frozen, the escalating violence and I could go on. Perhaps one of the most interesting scenes was the end when the director moved from a prolonged distance shot to up close when the two boys looked almost normal as they began their summer vacation . You could spend hours discussing this film which is for me a measure of Art.