Review: It Follows

The film opens with a girl rushing out of her house in the middle of the night in her nightgown, staring at her house in horror. A neighbor asks if she's okay; her father comes out of the house and asks if she's okay. She runs back into the house, comes back with her purse, and gets into her car, driving away. We next see her at the beach, leaving a message on her father's phone and waiting. Just waiting. We next see her dead.

What a opening to David Robert Mitchell's horror film, IT FOLLOWS. The scenes following are significantly slower, setting the scene in our protagonist, Jay's life, but we're already hooked.

Jay (Maika Monroe) is a pretty ordinary girl; she goes to college, and lives with her sister, Kelly (Lilli Seppe) and friend, Yara (Olivia Luccardi). Her childhood friend, Paul (Keir Gilchrist) keeps hanging around, clearly in love with her. But Jay has other interests: she's been dating Hugh, who is fairly new to the neighborhood.

But when Jay and Hugh have sex, everything changes. Immediately after the act, Hugh drugs Jay and explains that he has passed something on to her -- something that will follow her and kill her if she lets it catch her. This thing takes on different forms: sometimes people she's close with, sometimes complete strangers. And it is always walking toward her -- "Never be in a place with only one exit," Hugh says, "It's slow, but it's smart."



The premise itself is ingenious -- who would have ever thought of a paranormal STD? -- but the way it is handled is what makes the film. There are no gimmicks -- it is shot in such a simple way, adhering to its small budget without feeling cheap. There is an undertone throughout the film that taps into the nuances of sexual responsibility instead of stooping to the level of a pornographic slasher film -- we get real characters who deal with an issue in a realistic way. There are a few moments in which the characters' reactions may be a bit of a stretch, but overall it plays out pretty naturally.

Everything about this film makes it enjoyable. The acting is great, especially Monroe, who is instantly likable as the everyman. Even the soundtrack holds its own -- a Vangelis-inspired amalgamation of older horror flicks and video game music. IT FOLLOWS is a refreshing horror flick... definitely check it out this week at the Midtown Cinema!

Review: What We Do in the Shadows

It's about time that the world was gifted with another really good spoof, and that gift is clearly WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS: it's like The Real World for the undead, and it is beautiful.



For fans of FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, you'll want to check this film out -- SHADOWS was helmed by the same producers of the show, and hands out heavy doses of its characteristic humor. The mockumentary follows a group of four vampire flatmates -- Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Petyr (Ben Fransham) -- who struggle to keep up with modern life. Clement and Waititi have co-written and directed this delight of a spoof, creating the perfect concoction of dark and subtle humor. Vladislav, Viago, Deacon, and Petyr have an odd dynamic, the feathers of which are ruffled when Petyr tucks a new vampire, Nick (Cori Gonzalez-Macuer), into the fold. Nick is at first an unwanted addition to the house, not quite grasping the anonymity that the group has adhered to out on the streets; but he is able to add a youthful touch to their experience, and also introduces everyone to his best mate, Stu (a human who inadvertently balances out this motley crew of individuals with a tinge of bromance).

What makes the film so great is the sheer comic talent of those involved. There are a handful of absolutely masterful scenes in this film; but there's also more of a plot than you would expect -- not only will you get bombarded by clever humor, you will also really come to like these flatmates as they sort things out. And the attention is pretty evenly distributed between each character: they all have their own little quirks that make them immediately likeable. Not one of them fades into the background.

The film essentially segments into four different episodes. Herein lies the only negative comment that I can muster for this film: each episode does not transition 100% smoothly into the next. Often the segments are held together with title cards stating, "three months later" or "several months later" -- lazy attempts to quickly enter the characters into a new situation. But it's not a completely negative thing: I can very much see this film being picked up as a sitcom, in which case the transitions would not be as important.

Overall, it's a hilarious hour and a half, and well worth the watch. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS is now playing at Midtown Cinema!

Review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

There are many of you who raved about THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, and are excited for the second film. Me, I'm still getting over the fact that I keep reading the title as "Second-Best"... as suggested, the follow-up may fall a bit short.

The film's predecessor told the story of several British retirees who check in at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel -- a place which is advertised as newly restored, but in reality, the owner, Sonny (Dev Patel) is still fixing it up. But the charm of the hotel convinces the people to stay and live out their retirement.

Which leads us to the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: Sonny has his eye on an old rundown property with hopes to turn it into a second hotel to expand the business. He is in talks with an American financier, who says they will send someone to check out their current hotel to see their prospects. Framed by the wedding preparations of Sonny and his fiancee, Sunaina (Tina Desai), the film follows Sonny's struggle as the property he was looking is bought by somewhat of a rival acquaintance; it also shows the personal journeys of each resident of the hotel. Each resident has their own plot line (some a little more fleshed out than others): Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) co-manages the hotel while struggling with her own mortality; Evelyn (Judi Dench) must decide whether she wants to pursue a relationship with Douglas (Bill Nighy); Madge (Celia Imrie) must choose between her two gentleman lovers; and Norman (Ronald Pickup) may have accidentally put out a hit on his girlfriend, Carol (Diana Hardcastle). And then there's the man who Sonny believes is here to check out the hotel, Guy Chambers (Richard Gere), who falls in love with Sonny's mother (Lillete Dubey), and the woman who Sonny continuously ignores in favor of Guy, Lavinia Beech (Tamsin Greig).

For those who haven't seen the first movie, the follow-up gives a strong introduction for the characters... Unfortunately, the characters are the only source of vitality in the film. Other than a few quick truisms about life, the plot is stale and almost readily transparent. It also wraps up with a few cop-out plot points. The most relatable plot line is Douglas and Evelyn's relationship: Dench and Nighy give a completely natural performance together on screen, and it is also one of the few threads that doesn't get hammed up at any point.

The story has flaws, but it is entertaining. It is also, however, another bizarre case of slapping white faces over another culture's backdrop. Though Sonny and Sunaina's thread focuses on Indian citizens, the rest of the film focuses on retired white people -- some of whom interact with the culture, but some who indulge themselves only in ex-pat society. On the one hand, it's great that the film promotes living a little and not settling for the same old life, but on the other hand, it does a meager job at promoting the idea of stretching yourself, something which tends to be a pretty big theme in migratory stories.

All this to say, you will still have fun watching this film -- it won't be severely impactful, but it's decent. I'll leave you with the adage that is sprinkled throughout the film: "There's no present like the time". If anything, this flip-flopped statement is what you should take away from the film. THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is now playing at the Midtown Cinema!