Frank

It seems like covering up Michael Fassbender’s face for an entire movie is killing the golden goose. Aside from his devilish good looks, Fassbender’s control and precision in facial expression has made him one of the most premier and versatile actors in our generation.  So while a bold choice to hide Fassbender in mask, it does little hide this quirky gem of a film.  

Inspired by the comic persona Frank Sidebottom, the film documents the fictional band Soronprfbs, featuring a gaggle of off-beat characters including the deliciously abrasive Clara (Maggie Gyllenhall, White House Down, Crazy Heart) and of course the titular, charismatic, and paper-mache-head doning Frank (Michael Fassbender, X-Men Franchise, 12-Years A Slave). A musician wannabe Jon (Domhnall Gleeson, Harry Potter Franchise, Anna Karenina), becomes enthralled by the peculiar yet brilliant methods of Frank and Soronprfbs and joins the band.  

“Frank,” much like it’s titular character, is quite the oddball and sure to draw a polarizing reception. A general audience can find comfort in the film aligning itself pretty recognizably within the “I’m in the Band” genre. It’s that familiarity that is sure to tether its audience to the film as it take strange and bizarre turns along the way. But the true rewards of the film lies in it’s biting script doused in black comedy. For those who have that acquired taste will be charmed and be able to feel the heartbeat that lies underneath a rather peculiar exterior.

We look at the Soronprfbs as outsiders looking in and as the film hums along we become attached to this group of outcasts. Director Lenny Abrahamson (What Richard Did, Garage) is able to deconstruct the caricatures that we initially see in these characters and reveal painfully vulnerable elements. Maggie Gyllenhall and Michael Fassbender perfectly encapsulate this sentiment in their performances with Gyllenhall playing a prickly cynic masking a romantic and Fassbender playing genius masking a humble artist.

The biggest flaw of the film would have to be it’s focus on Jon rather than the rest of the band.  While Soronprfbs represents everything we love about musical expression, Jon is the complete opposite. His petty and selfish attempts at stardom make him unsympathetic at best and leave us with less emotional heft from the film than we would have hoped for.  

It’s a celebration of weirdness and a fresh change of pace that’ll keep your cinematic noggin sharp. “Frank” is a challenging film, but still maintains it’s charm for those who will appreciate it. I know I’ll be itching for another viewing down the line as I relish the the chance to laugh and grapple with it once more. It’s certainly not going to please everyone, but that’s just something you’re going to face for yourself.  

Honeymoon

Great horror movies have been built around the idea that the person you spend the rest of your life with is a monster. Rosemary’s husband worked with the devil, and Jack Manningham gave us the psychological term “gaslighting.” These stories prey on that insecurity that deep down the person sleeping next to you isn’t who they appear to be.

It’s the element that makes “Honeymoon” so successful. As Bea (Rose Leslie, TV’s Game of Thrones) and Paul (Harry Treadaway, currently on TV’s Penny Dreadful) travel to Bea’s remote family cabin for their honeymoon they seem to be basking in post-marital bliss. But after Paul finds Bea wandering and disoriented in the middle of the night, he begins to wonder if something more than sleepwalking happened in the woods.

“Honeymoon” is peculiar, in that it seems to do too much telling, yet also not enough. Lights pass over them as they sleep, power flickers in and out, a rustling in the woods. I wish that first-time director Leigh Janiak had held back a bit more of the clues along the way as to what happened on that fateful night. Its developments of “The Body Snatchers” formula keep it engaging and gripping throughout, but it would’ve better served the secondary job of the film: penetrating the metamorphosis that so many people fear in marriage. But it’s nothing that can’t be chalked up to inexperience, since the movie barely needs the later horror developments at all. Suspense permeates the narrative, and even at its slowest the plot builds somewhere you can’t quite expect.

While you’re not certain you know exactly what happened, there’s enough (too much) telling being done to give you a pretty good idea. That’s where Leslie and Treadaway come in. Their performances manage to communicate the challenging reality of their situation in what is basically a two-person show. Leslie in particular, who deals with both the more demanding physically challenging moments, skillfully portrays the subtle and overt changes in Bea.

Like most thrillers the ending of “Honeymoon” might not please anyone. As a fan of thrillers (we’re talking watching even the crappy ones on cable just to get a fix) I know I was prepared to be disappointed, and like I said there’s certainly room for Janiak to grow. It’s kept vague enough to linger in the minds of audiences but overall it feels a bit rushed. It doesn’t fully satisfy the premise, but it’s more than enough newlywed nightmare to last me until “Gone Girl.”

Marvel Movie Mashup

Marvel films have been churned out at a breakneck speed. They’ve already moved on to the third tier Marvel heroes and multiple reboots. It was inevitable that they would circle round to making a sequel and milking each franchise dry. In this day and age, we have become accustomed to rather uninspired sequel fare. These films often suffer from oversaturating scripts with new characters, recycling plotlines, or mistaking confounding arcs for complexity. So color us skeptical whenever we fork over $11.50 for the latest addition into the Marvel canon.

However, we were pleasantly surprised by this year’s sequel offerings. Both Captain America: The Winter Soldier and X-Men Days of Future’s Past steer clear of any sort of sequel trappings and make for solid summertime spectacle.

The original Captain America was rather ho-hum, mirroring the titular character.  It’s difficult to spin a boy scout into a 3-dimensional character, where the divisions between right and wrong are clearly and predictably drawn.  

The Winter Soldier takes a grittier and more ambiguous approach. The Cap now has a darker outlook and with it a shaken moral compass, delving deeper into consequences of Captain America adjusting to the 21st century. What he once knew to be true is gone and he must now reconcile those inequities.

The film also demonstrates some smart writing by veering away from any expected campiness, instead grounding the script with a contemporary update.  The film plays more like a spy thriller than a superhero film; delivering self-aware humor with biting political commentary, making it more than your mother’s Captain America.  

Days of Future’s Past seemed, if you’ll pardon the pun, like a timebomb.  X-Men films had a hard enough time juggling large cast, let alone doing so across multiple timelines. However, the script is wise in not taking on too much and streamlining its narrative, focusing mainly on the development of the young Charles Xavier and Mystique.

Of course an X-Men film would be remiss without a tour-de-mutants, but it is handled in a way where our investment is logically placed with Xavier and Mystique. Providing fresh perspectives on the troubled and formative years of these two X Men icons, it provides enough compelling character development to keep the film humming along between the quirky wit and sleek action sequences.

While these films are far from perfect, they provide a nice break from usually bland and bloated blockbuster fare. They are able to couple dazzling action set pieces with keenly written scripts to keep even the biggest sequel naysayer quiet. So yes Marvel, keep the sequels coming. I mean they are bound to be better than Ant-Man.  

Captain America Poster Credit

X-Men Poster Credit

Notable Director Works: David Lynch

There are few directors who can properly contextualize and bridle the crazy-eyed horse that is Nicolas Cage. Enter David Lynch. Adapted from a 1989 novel by Lynch himself, Wild at Heart follows deeply in-love Sailor (Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern) who go on the run to escape Lula’s domineering mother.

To say they get into wacky hijinks along the way would be an understatement of Lynch’s knack for peculiar and outlandish plotlines. But in its own sweet and unusual kind of way, Lynch manages to make his own brand of romantic comedy, complete with Wizard of Oz allusions, speed metal, and Cage performing not one but two musical numbers in a snakeskin jacket.

Seriously, I mean just watch this clip:

In 1999, Lynch was approached about producing a new television show after the success of Twin Peaks. When the two hour pilot was rejected by television executives, Lynch took what he had an made it into a feature film: Mulholland Drive.

When a woman (Laura Elena Harring) suffers a head wound as she narrowly escapes an assassination attempt, she stumbles from the wreck to lower Los Angeles. She makes her way to an apartment where Betty (Naomi Watts) is staying. Together, the two women venture further down the rabbit hole to discover who each of them really is.

For any other director the open-ended aspect of a pilot might’ve made for a confusing film. And while the same could be said about Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, the dreamlike and twisty neo-noir gives the unorthodox feature an aesthetic to savour. It’s an absorbing journey that’s far less about the answers than it is about asking the questions.

Hello PD fans!

As you may or may not have noticed, Pulp Diction has experienced a drought over the last couple months. It wasn’t a lack of movies to review, but a lack of time on our part; we were busy defending the world from Godzilla and his minion of butterflies. Many thanks for sticking with us, or at least not unfollowing us! We’ll be providing new (and back) content for you really soon. 

-F&Z

P.s. If you want to specially follow or block the back posts, use the tag “Arrested Diction” 

Frances Ha

Summer movies usually equate to “popcorn” movies: these movies are easily digestible due to their very familiar themes and arcs, and can range from your run of the mill romantic comedy to your next comic book adaptation. It’s all a lot of fun, but as we roll into the end of July, these movies start to feel less cozy and just more mundane. However, as we still dwell in smash-hit summer and don’t want to quite plunge into arthouse autumn,  our appetites are wet for a change in perspective yet we still desire some easy watching. Finding that happy medium can be difficult, but it is perfectly balanced in Frances Ha.

The story follows an aspiring dancer Frances (Greta Gerwig, Damsels in Distress, To Rome with Love) desperately trying to get a grasp upon her life. As she sees her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner) begin to move on with her life, Frances scrambles to not be left in the dust.  

Much like other popcorn films, Frances Ha takes root in an already popular genre; quirkxplotation. With the success of shows like New Girl and the MPDG movement in general, Frances Ha fits into the mold of that jovial, off-beat personality that is so inviting to audiences. However, the film far from embodies the genre.

Co-written by Gerwig herself, Frances does live her life with whimsicality, but also carries much anxiety in her shoulders as the impending mortality of her youth hangs above her. Far from an MPDG, Frances graduates to a fully realized character with flying colors.

Director and co-writer Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Greenberg) heavily borrows both narrative and aesthetics from Truffaut’s 400 Blows and Woody Allen’s Manhattan. The black and white cinematography perfectly encapsulates the romanticism of the urban landscape as well as a nostalgic flare. Frances Ha also does not tether itself so a strict narrative structure, seeming more like a modern art photo gallery. While Truffaut and Allen were both masters of their craft, their arthouse aesthetics and high culture laden dialogue can made them alienating to a wider audience. Frances Ha does not fall victim to this flaw.

Frances Ha has a bit of an arthouse exterior, but the inner core hits the heart of universal themes: evolution of friendships, anxiety of adulthood, aimless sense of identity, and pathways to self expression. The film is quick and precise; cutting through the fat of any exclusionary practices.

Ultimately, the inviting quality was carried through by Greta Gerwig’s electric performance. Her enthusiasm and charm create an enjoyable film for a movie lover’s summer diet and makes it impossible for a viewer not to become invested in the trials of Frances. For any naysayers, you can just say “ha” to their face.            

The Flat

Months after his grandmother passes away, Arnon Goldfinger and his family climb the stairs to her Tel Aviv apartment, prepared to clear it out. While sifting through the odds and ends his grandmother accumulated in the 70 years since she left Berlin in the 1930s with her husband, Goldfinger’s grandfather, Goldfinger stumbles upon bundles of letters and a Nazi newspaper.

He finds out that his grandparents, who moved to Israel to escape the Holocaust, had a deep friendship with Nazi SS Officer Leopold von Mildenstein and his wife, and their relationship lasted not only through World War II but well after. As Goldfinger digs deeper to find how this incomprehensible association could survive, he learns more about trauma, denial, and his family’s past.

Early on, we’re told that von Mildenstein and his grandfather bonded over mutual Zionism, but this is unsatisfactory to Goldfinger, whose feelings stay largely guarded behind a neutral investigator’s face. Too quickly the movie begins to explore a slow-moving world of conjecture and justification.

As he interviews old friends and colleagues to understand the friendship his grandparents shared, it becomes clear that his understanding stems from a perspective perhaps too different than those he’s talking to: While he is intrigued by his family’s history as Jewish Germans, the people he talks too remember it too well. He is a third-generation German, too far removed from the traumatic incidents to inherently sense the things his interviewees suppress.

One the film’s strongest points is in its exposition of trauma and denial felt by World War II survivors. “The second generation didn’t ask what happened. You don’t understand, and I’m glad you don’t understand,” his grandmother’s friend says. The interviews start to clear the dust, and you begin to see the pattern of accepted silence and cocoons of Holocaust denial through earlier generations.

Despite weaving his own narration into the film, Goldfinger seems intent on remaining separate and objective from his family’s history. It’s sometimes hard to grasp the deep personal nature of his story when he insists on acting as an unaffected third party.

Goldfinger works to inject some personal relatability to the film through the interviews, but even that falls short when we’re left with cordial conversations that don’t advance much and confusingly give the feeling of a PBS special with the narrative of a home video.

There is a lot of exposition that ultimately reveals fewer clues than one might imagine. Coupled with the passionless reporting style, the result is that much of the film begins to feel long and tedious. When “The Flat” reaches the end of its journey, it’s clear that Goldfinger has meticulously researched his grandparents’ questionable political affiliations and denial, but his constant objectivity robs the narrative of any emotional punch. This prevents the evidence from really coming together; as a result, the film comes up short of what it could be.

The verdict: With a narrative as suppressed as the story it’s uncovering, the film falls a bit flat.

Big budgets do not mean great movies.  In fact, the film industry seem to have taken a page out of the Seattle Mariners book; huge payroll for little substance.  Story and character growth are bartered for eye-gouging CGI and over-pampered A-List actors.  Your Sister’s Sister rises above this frivolous mediocrity; giving us something honest and true.  With a paltry budget of $125,000, Sister is anchored by realism and humanity.  

Set in the Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Sister circles around Iris (Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada, The Five Year-Engagement), her best friend Jack (Mark Duplass, Safety Not Guaranteed, The League) and her sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt Rachel Getting Married, United States of Tara).  After a rough year of coping with his brother’s (and Iris’ former lover) death, Iris encourages Jack to retreat from the world at her family’s cabin.  Expecting isolation, he is unexpectedly greeted by Hannah, also seeking refuge after the collapse of her 7-year relationship.  After a bottle of tequila, the two engage in un-sober, sloppy sex; only to be greeted by Iris the next morning.  While the two hide the secret of the trist, Iris also confides in her sister that she has fallen in love with Jack.  The plot doth thicken.

Blunt, Duplass, and DeWitt astound as a trio.  The three engage in a waltz of secrets, carefully tiptoeing around questions and side-stepping glances.  Chemistry crackles between the actors, highlighted and elevated by simple, yet sincere dialogue.  Though at times the dialogue delves into the melodramatic, the trio’s commitment and believability remedy any raised eyebrow.  Their performances are uncompromising, showing tremendous vulnerability in a situation of such fragility that all bonds of sisterhood and friendship can unravel with a single tug.  Lynn Shelton (Humpday) captures natural and scenic beauty of the pine-fresh forrest and misty lake, forming an ambiance of wistful meditation and cathartic revelation.  Though at times melodramatic and a tad predictable, the combination of Shelton’s camera and Blunt/Duplass/DeWitt’s performances spellbind and prove that money doesn’t make good movies; dedication to truth and beauty do.                   

What are you NOT willing to answer???

Most math problems, how Zooey Deschanel is so amazing,and why Glee is still on the air. 

Other than that, we’re open books. 

What would you two argue are the top three movies of all time, and why?

Only three! That’s too much pressure.  Well there could be a lot of variations on this list since there are movies that I think are peaks of cinema, yet other films that are easy or fun to watch.  I love watching Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, and 500 Days of Summer even though they aren’t as technically proficient as a Welles or Kubrick.  That doesn’t make them worse movies, just focusing their attention on different aspects.  That said, if I were to pick just 3 movies, I would go with Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Vertigo.  A little generic, but they both shaped the way cinema has been made and few films can touch their cinematic poetry.  Citizen Kane is provides a kaleidoscope narrative structure combined with immaculate framing and scene-sculpting lighting; adding even more layers to an already complex narrative. For 2001, aside from stunning visuals, no films has contributed more to the use of sound and score alone as means of story telling than this film and it continues to astound and question the very concept of film making.  Vertigo maybe the most precise films ever made.  Every shot, note, and set piece contributes to a swirling motif of obsession; a theme that resonates loudly with poignancy and bravado. 

So that’s just our opinion; probably no more correct than the next guy’s opinion.  How about you; what do you consider the best films of all time?