Only God Forgives- But this film?

I knew Only God Forgives was meant to be different to Drive (2011). Well almost, Ryan Gosling (Julian) is in it and fits into a revenge/ noir genre. But I’m still confused whether I enjoyed the film or not. Maybe it was Gosling’s acting, or the fact that Only God Forgives has been released so soon after Drive that everyone was only going to be compare the two.

Narrative wise, although it has been claimed pithy I think it is sufficient enough. Set in an underground boxing club that operates as an illegal drug / prostitution front, we see the death of Julian’s older brother Billy (Tom Burke) implied as a ‘bad’ person after he proclaims his interest in fourteen year old girls. Refusing the prostitutes on offer he eventually finds another to brutally kill. The cinematography is filled with red tones but loses its power when we are shown the bloody female corpse who seems to disappear in the shot. Enter Madonna mixed with Donatella Versace, Kristin Scott Thomas as the mother (Crystal) who visits Julian in Bangkok after hearing of her eldest son’s death. Although her costuming is hilarious, her character did add a bit of oomph to the narrative. Her phallic and incestuous representations are out of place and just like Billy’s statement about younger girls, they seems pointless. If this was delved into the characters psyche then sure, perhaps there would be a point, but instead it was litigious for the sake of it.

We also meet Thai policeman Litenatant Chang (Vithaya Pansringarm), known as “the angle of vengeance” who visits the father (Choi  Yan Lee) of the killed prostitute.  Chang advises Yan Lee to take revenge. Yan Lee does and shown what’s left of Billy’s mashed head, looking much like a scene from Irreversible (Gaspar Noe 2002). But unlike Irreversible we are only shown this by image, we are not given any real sense of the brutality of the act. Upon seeing what Yan Lee has done, Chang chops his arm off and informs him of his disapproval of his daughter’s prostitution.  Gosling’s hit men confront Yan Lee about the murder of Billy; he explains that Chang gave him permission to kill him. From then on it’s a gang war between the two. 

Only God Forgives does have a storyline, so to speak, but team that with heavy handed aesthetics, repeated karaoke scenes then it does get boring and conceited. I was more interested in tying up some loose plot points like what was Chang’s purpose? Why was he doing what he was doing? Pansringarm gave a good stance and disposition, but what was the point.  In much the same way, Goslings performance seemed like he was sending himself up, becoming his own parody only this time without the gold scorpion jacket. If you want a bit of clarity to this self reflexivity, please check out this clip, “Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal”.  I liked this clip a lot better than the film.

World War Z

 World War Z (Forester, 2013) opens in a very domestic setting, we meet Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) making pancakes for his wife Karen Lane (Mireille Enos) and children, Rachel (Abigail Hargrove) and Constance (Sterling Jerins). 50 year old Pitt, whose age I’m still coming to terms with, obtained the rights for Max Brooks’ World War Z (2006) in 2007 to be made into a film and hence created a main character. Brooks’ original narrative was simply a collection of individual experiences of the war between humans and zombies.

During the opening, we are also introduced to Gerry’s former United Nations identity but learn he has given this up to be close to his family. After his family are involved in some heavy traffic jam and the radio broadcasts the news of a rabies outbreak, its narrative quickly takes on a clear post- apocalyptic setting. Ben Seresin’s cinematography is reminiscent of Children of Men (Cuaron,2006) through sterile tones and as well as the use of deafening rings in moments of chaos. Interestingly, chaos is not just shown by the infected bodies, but in the franticness of the scavenging for food and medical supplies by the surviving humans themselves, as lawlessness quickly becomes the norm. Luckily Gerry’s former status enables him and his family to board a U.S Navy vessel in safety, however in somewhat of a twist he is blackmailed to either investigate the virus or his family will be kicked of board. Whether to stay with his family or to ‘man –up’, Gerry picks the later role taking him too South Korea, Jerusalem and Wales before he can be reunited his family. 

My only real misgiving with World War Z was the conventional and safe ending as Pitt becomes the clear hero and resolution to the Zombie narrative.  Having said that however, there are enough enjoyable moments that make World War Z above average, I particularly liked the use of the words “zombies” and “undead’ as factual information. It was also interesting to see a narrative comprised into two halves. The first, outside and militant focused with naturalistic tones reminscent of The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, 2008 ).While the later half was sterile and creepy, where the characters were stuck in a laboratory filled with fast zombies (quite the opposite to George A. Romeo’s Night of the Living Dead Kind). This diversity counteracted the times when the film lacked lustre in its narrative development, offering innovation to this zombie blockbuster.

Spring Break forever bitches

When I saw an image of James Franco as a ‘gangsta’ with cornrows and a set of grills, along with an ensemble of pretty girls, noted for Disney –esque roles, I was pretty excited to see Harmony Korine’s Springbreakers (2012).

Narrative wise, it’s about four college girls Selena Gomez (Faith), Vanessa Hudgens (Candy), Ashley Benson (Brit), and Rachel Korine (Cotty) planning their way get to spring break. With unsuccessful attempts in raising enough cash, Candy and Brit rob a restaurant wearing balaclavas, masculine voices, and realistic looking squirt guns and get the group to spring break. Adhering to appropriate spring break personas, the group indulge in sexual freedom and consumption. However, the narrative changes to a darker context leaving its MTV aesthetics and moves towards that of the Grand Theft Auto video game series. The girls are arrested and we meet rapper Alien (James Franco) who mysteriously pays for their bail, involving himself within the groups circle. Alien’s gang fuelled lifestyle scares Faith who goes back home, subsequently so does Cotty. However, Candy and Brit have a sexual relationship with Alien and ulterior motifs of their own.

Spring breakers is full on in a sense. Benoit Debie’s cinematography embraces projectile vomit, tits, booty, and crouch shots, I felt like I was watching Girls Gone Wild. But then there’s another side, their friendship. I found an ironically touching moment in Korine use of Britney Spears Everytime and made me draw a familiar connection to Sophia Coppola’s Somewhere (2010) juxtaposing postart Gwen Stefani’s Cool against her own independent trademark. Similarly, these songs enhance the heartfelt moment shared between a father and daughter, and in this case, friends. The girls and Ailen all sing along to Spears (at this stage the trio) wearing pink unicorn baklavas, cutaway bathers and guns all huddled around Aliens’ grand piano.

Playing true to Grand Theft Auto’s Vice City aesthetics with blinding 80’s neon filters and a gang war shoot, at no time does Spring Breakers disappoint but builds into something stronger when Candy and Brit’s embark on their final mission.

Warm Bodies

Like the star crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet, so too are Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer in Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies (2013). Paying clear homage to the tragic love story, the leads are known as R and Julie, with the difference being that our Romeo is a zombie and Juliet is part of some army intelligence division. The film gives a different perspective on the traditional zombie narrative and like District 9(Blomkamp 2009) there is the suggestion of the humans as the real evil and the zombies as the misunderstood outsiders. Warm Bodies opens through Hoult’s first person perspective; in his deadpan tone we get a taste of what it’s like to be a zombie, a world where communication is non descript and memories are lost.

Without being a spoiler, Hoult’s un-dead status is in jeopardy and about to be killed by the intelligence team lead by Julie. But, in a somewhat love at first sight moment R sees Julie and captures her. In a not so convincing reaction to being captured by a zombie, note defending herself, Julie is taken to his home at the zombie airport. Through Julie’s eyes we gradually see a different perspective of the un-dead which goes as far as ‘R’ spinning Gun’s and Rose’s Patience on his record player, in an attempt connect with both Julie and his own lost humanity.

Warm Bodies has enough cynical inklings to be better than average and has an innovated way of refreshing the oversaturated zombie genre. Apart from Julie’s hair being down and staying in the same lustrous condition from the moment we meet her (If you know Zombie Survival Guide, I’m pretty sure they mention to wear your hair up to avoid, well, zombies), I had no issues, as Warm Bodies does something new.

Martha Marcy May Marlene

 If you’re familiar with the series Portlandia you might have seen the skit ‘cult farm’ (series 1), where a couple order chicken and ask the waitress if the chicken was ethically treated, the waitress unfamiliar with such trivia suggests to visit the farm the chicken was raised. The couple do, but become involved in a cult community run by the farm’s male leader and many wives.  This skit sprung to mind while viewing of Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), directed by Sean Durkin. Although admittedly in a much darker context, we see a similar theme explored.

in an organic community, Marcy May (Elizabeth Olsen) is the name given by the disturbingly good, leader and tryant Patrick (John Hawkes), who strips her of real name Martha and any other identity. Patrick manipulates her into believing she is his favourite but like the other women, she is no more than a gendered body that hangs up clothes and cooks while the men do the physical labour and ‘share’ the women sexually. But Marcy May escapes this commune and hand held camera work reveals a shift in the narrative, moving from Marcy May to Martha.

 Martha is taken on board by her egocentric sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) and architect boyfriend Ted (Hugh Dancy). She spends the rest of the narrative at their grand holiday house three hours away from the commune. The different lifestyle confuses and challenges Martha, notably as to why their house is so big for only two people. Cutting from the past to the present, we see the different lifestyles accommodated, with naturalistic wide shots of the commune to the sterile cleanliness of the a picture perfect holiday home.

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a brilliant study of Marcy May and or Martha, who cannot differentiate between her past bad experiences in the commune and the current insecurities during time with Lucy and Ted. We learn that each of these dominate personalities(Patrick and Lucy) are as monstrous and self centred as each other and watch the gloomily tragedy that no one can truly wants to help Martha.

Somersault

Somersault (2004) focuses on 16 year old Heidi’s sexual exploration and longing for emotional closeness. The Australian film directed by Cate Shortland was a winner of 13 AFI Awards, winning in every category it was nominated. It stars Abbie Cornish (Heidi) and Sam Worthington (Joe), both pre –Hollywood.

After a confrontation involving kissing her mother’s (Olivia Pigeot) boyfriend (Damian de Montemas), Heidi leaves home in Canberra and escapes to the snow resort town of Lake Jindabyne. Eventually she meets Joe, a local farmer who finds it hard to communicate and yearns for his parent’s affection. This begins their casual and respectful relationship with each other. 

Heidi’s emotions become obsessed and narcissistic, in one scene Heidi uses a mirror to act in a pretend conversation with Joe and watch herself kiss ‘him’. It is a somewhat Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro, Taxi Driver 1976) moment, from this scene on her character is no longer the same. Even though locals are mesmerised by her beauty, we are aware of the gaze of a potential predator, others are scared and take advantage. Heidi first encounters sleazy shop owner Roy (Paul Gleeson), on the basis of employment after he sizes her up and without hesitation says no. They meet again in the latter half of the film at her co- workers house and he informs her of being a bad influence on her co-worker and the community of Lake Jindabyne. The scene suggests rape, cutting to a vulnerable Heidi taking a bath.

Somersault is a beautiful compelling film that is dark and enriching. Although I look at Heidi’s journey to have reached a sad conclusion, it was r­­eassuring she patches up her relationship with her mother. As we see Heidi looking out her mother’s car window in tears, it can suggest that she may have been ‘rescued’, but does not mean her past is now history. The film subjectively ends for you to decide how you foresee the life of this once confident woman.