A Dark Song, The Nightingale, Fair Play, High Life, Beetlejuice

- A Dark Song [2017] - 76

A Dark Song is an interesting take on the “be careful what you wish for” narrative. It’s a film that deals with grief, anger, vice, and trauma, is mostly interesting, and almost entirely uncomfortable. It reminds me of a lot of things for various reasons: Lot 36 from Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities in tone and artistry, 2016’s The Void in the sense that it’s pieces are a little more interesting than its whole, and 28 Days Later in that it’s kind of raw and a little harsh. This was a ride I’m glad I took but definitely had to re-examine to write this blurb a week later. I think this is a very cool movie when examined as the debut work that it is and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Liam Gavin for more of these A24 adjacent projects.

- The Nightingale [2018] - 45 ~DNF~

I’m not a big fan of any movie that’s violent or graphic for the sake of being violent and graphic. Mix in that most of the violence is sexual violence and the film is nearly 2.5 hours long… I’ll pass. While I understand that The Nightingale is based on the very real colonization of Australia and the both literal and figurative rape of its peoples, I think some things are best left to documentaries rather than pieces of entertainment. I’d love to get some real, gritty history about these events even if it included highly produced and gruesome reenactments but, as a “film” this was just an absolute slog of an experience. I’ve given it one point for every minute I didn’t watch and half as many points as how long it should have been. Interesting historically, excruciatingly boring cinematically.

- Fair Play [2023] - 78

Along with God’s Creatures, Fair Play is one of the more unique screenplays I’ve seen this year. It’s one of those movies that I don’t think will be anyone’s favorite, but it certainly should be seen and listened to more than I suspect it will be. A film about gender roles in both relationships and corporate settings, professional and personal abuses, manipulation, and jealousy, Fair Play is an unsettling experience even for me… I can’t imagine how “too real” it is for other demographics. This reminds me of both Resurrection and Violation in certain senses while also having elements of Swallow, though I don’t know that it’s quite as powerful or visceral as either of the former. Regardless, this movie is worth your time and a great study of how to build something beautiful right before tearing it all apart.

- High Life [2018] - 71

Another movie I watched this week that was just too damn long. That said, in this case, High Life was also as beautiful as it was kind of boring. A great story conceptually, this film has elements of 2009’s Moon mixed with the backwards and jumbled storytelling of a Tarantino. I think that High Life’s greatest weakness was wanting to say too much over too long a time and co-starring Mia Goth [if you’ve seen her in one thing, you’ve seen her in them all] which, in a possibly intentional way, forces the audience to endure the same way that the crew onscreen has to. In a sense, that’s interesting and meta, but it mostly just serves to enthrall initially, and then lose steam as the film trundles along the vastness of space while slowly unfurling its mysteries. Granted, those mysteries are interesting and incredibly well shot and produced… there’s just simultaneously too many and too few of them. The whole journey would have been stronger by killing a few more of its darlings before take-off.

- Beetlejuice [1988] - 88

An 88 for 1988’s Burton masterpiece, Beetlejuice. It had been a long time since I’d watched this and it was one I always remembered fondly… so I figured I’d throw it on. While I do feel the need to dock several points for a lot of entirely inappropriate sexual humor [especially regarding a minor], the film does a good job of portraying the character perpetrating these jokes as entirely reprehensible and doesn’t glorify the practice in any way. Still, not a necessary angle to take. What is this, 35 years old or something? Anyway, aside from that, this movie is kind of astonishing honestly. Sets, costumes, make up, plot; there’s a reason that Beetlejuice has endured as a stable of the Halloween season for as long as it has. There’s no end to the creativity put on display here and nearly all of the effects hold up just fine even in 4k. Pair the incredible artistry [winning the Oscar for Best Makeup] with a soundtrack that I’m genuinely shocked wasn’t even nominated, and Beetlejuice truly earns its place as one of the greatest Halloween flavored films of all time.