Set almost entirely on a highway in a car where a man is coming home, the film revolves Ivan Locke as he talks with various people where his life starts to shatter by not just events around him but also things that would threaten his own career as a contractor. It is a film with a simple premise where a lot of it has Ivan Locke returning home from work as he talks to his wife, his two teenage sons, co-workers, and other people as things start to unravel during the course of an entire night as he is on a highway driving home. Even as he is on a highway driving where he also copes with the invisible ghost that is his father whom he’s had a tense relationship with as it adds to the drama. There are a lot of monologues and such that writer/director Steven Knight has written as well as a lot of dialogue that play into the dramatic tension as it adds to Ivan’s own plight.
Knight’s direction does have some style as it opens with Ivan overlooking a construction site, taking off his boots, and entering his car as it’s one of the rare shots of the film of Ivan outside of the car as his face isn’t shown. Shot on the M6 motorway from the middle of England to the borders of Scotland, Knight does use some wide shots to get a look into the locations yet much of the direction emphasizes on close-ups and medium shots to play into the action in and out of the car with cars passing by. Notably as there’s cameras in certain areas in and around the car that focuses on Ivan’s conversations on the phone as there is always a shot of a computer screen in the car’s dashboard. The car, that is the BMW X5, is a character in the film as it play into Ivan’s own sense of isolation as his life would unravel through each phone call whether it is his sons calling him about the football game, co-workers talking about an upcoming concrete pour, and other issues through the span of nearly the film’s 85-minute running time. Overall, Knight crafts a riveting and evocative film about a man coming home as he’s on the road having phone conversation as his life unravels.
Cinematographer Harris Zambarloukous does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography as its usage of low-key lights for scenes in the car and available light from other cars add to the tense atmosphere of the film. Editor Justine Wright does amazing work with the editing with the stylish usage of superimposed dissolves and jump-cuts to play into the rhythm of the drive and the drama that unfolds in the car. Costume designer Nigel Egerton does terrific work with the costumes from the sweater and shirt that Ivan wears as it play into a man who is of great importance but also falling apart. Hair/makeup designer Audrey Doyle does nice work with the look of Ivan as he becomes disheveled during the course of the film as his life starts to unravel.
Visual effects supervisor James Devlin does fantastic work with the visual effects as it is largely minimal bits as backdrops and such for a few of the scenes on the road. Sound designer Ian Wilson does excellent work with the sound in capturing the sounds on the road as well as the way phone conversations are presented. The film’s music by Dickon Hinchliffe is superb for its dream-like guitar work and bits of ambient synthesizer to play into the intensity of the drama.
The casting by Shaheen Baig is wonderful as it features the voice work of Alice Lowe and Silas Carson as a couple of people working at a hospital, Kirsty Dillon as the wife of one of Ivan’s co-workers, Lee Ross as a police official, Danny Webb as a political official, Ben Daniels as a co-worker of Ivan in Gareth, and Andrew Scott as Ivan’s assistant Donal who is trying to help Ivan with all of the shit that needs to be sorted out. Tom Holland and Bill Milner are excellent in their respective roles as the voices of Ivan’s sons in Eddie and Sean who are calling their father over a football game as well as the family drama that is unfolding. Ruth Wilson is brilliant as the voice of Ivan’s wife Katrina who receives some horrific news that acts as a source of chaos between her and Ivan. Olivia Colman is amazing as the voice of Bethan as a woman Ivan knows as she has news of her own that would add to Ivan’s unraveling world.
Finally, there’s Tom Hardy in a phenomenal performance as Ivan Locke as a contractor who is driving home as he calls many on his car phone where Hardy is restrained in some parts as well as getting upset that include these invisible conversations with his late father. It is Hardy in one of his great performance as a man that is trying to deal with the chaos of his life as well as cope with his own faults as it is just intoxicating to watch.
Locke is a sensational film from Steven Knight that features an incredible performance from Tom Hardy. Along with its ensemble voice cast, ravishing visuals, an eerie music score, and a simple yet chilling premise. The film is definitely a mesmerizing suspense-drama that follows a man driving home as he deals with phone calls where he copes with events in his life as they would unravel in the span of an entire night. In the end, Locke is a phenomenal film from Steven Knight.
© thevoid99 2021
Based on the short story by Neil Gaiman, How to Talk to Girls at Parties is the story of a teenage boy in the late 1970s who goes to party where he befriends a mysterious young woman who is revealed to be an alien. Directed by John Cameron Mitchell and screenplay by Mitchell and Philippa Goslett, the film is a genre-bending film that explores first love as well as identity during the age of punk in Great Britain. Starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, Matt Lucas, Ruth Wilson, and Nicole Kidman as Queen Boadicea. How to Talk to Girls at Parties is an exhilarating and whimsical film from John Cameron Mitchell.
Set in 1977 Britain during the age of punk, the film revolves around a young man who goes to a party where he meets a young woman unaware that she might be an alien as he introduces her to the world of punk and love. It’s a film that takes a simple premise of first love and identity as it is told in a stylistic manner that is set during the summer of 1977 where the Queen Elizabeth II’s jubilee is happening as a young teen in Enn (Alex Sharp) is a young artist trying to contribute to the world of punk by creating a fanzine with a couple of his friends in Vic (Abraham Lewis) and John (Ethan Lawrence). The film’s screenplay by John Cameron Mitchell and Philippa Goslett does play into the tropes of the coming-of-age storyline as well as the ideas of first line but there’s also some odd sci-fi moments as it relates to the young woman Enn meets in Zan (Elle Fanning) who is part of a colony of strange people as she is frustrated with their ideals until she meets Enn and his friends at the party that her leaders are hosting.
Zan’s encounter with humanity such as meeting Enn’s mother (Joanna Scanlan), dancing to soul music, eating pancakes, and other things do have elements of humor and curiosity. Notably as Zan also finds herself talking to her master PT Waldo (Tom Brooke) who would inhabit the body of someone near her in warning her about what she’s embarking. Still, Zan wants to learn about so many things as she turns to the punk leader Queen Boadicea as she is kind of this wild maternal figure for all of the young punks where she would encourage Zan to express her own feelings with Enn’s help. This would eventually lead to a conflict with the group of people Zan was with as well as those she met including Enn whom she has fallen for. It would play into the idea of individuality and humanity with Zan in the middle of this conflict as there are those that want to maintain this idea of perfection and being with these ideals also carrying some flaws in the same way that Enn’s own ideals have their own flaws.
Mitchell’s direction is stylish in the way he portrays 1977 Great Britain as well as setting it in the suburbs rather than the cities as much of it is shot on various locations in England in towns like Sheffield and suburban areas in London. While Mitchell would include some wide shots of the locations as well as some moments inside the clubs and the house where Zan and the people she’s with early in the film live in. The film opens with these strange visuals of six symbols that would represent a different colony of these mysterious visitors as Zan is part of a colony whose color is yellow and it then cuts to Enn waking up. Much of Mitchell’s direction is straightforward in terms of compositions in the way he frames the actors in a close-up or in a medium shot while he would infuse stylistic slanted shots in some scenes as well as stylistic shots that play into the frenzy of the punk rock scene.
While the meshing of sci-fi ideas and this grounded sense of drama in the punk rock world isn’t totally successful in some parts of the film. Mitchell does play into these ideals and their flaws as it relates to the third act where the punks and the aliens collide in this approach to absurd humor. Even as it would include a key musical moment in the film where Zan and Enn would sing during the second act as it play into not just the former finding aspects of herself but also the both of them connecting in ways that is indescribable in a surreal sequence. It would lead to moments in the third act as it would play into Enn’s future and how his encounter with Zan and the world of aliens and punk rock would inspire him. Overall, Mitchell creates a wild yet endearing film about a young punk who falls for a mysterious young girl in 1977 Britain.
Cinematographer Frank G. DeMarco does excellent work with the film’s cinematography from the usage of low-key and naturalistic colors for many of the daytime exteriors and interiors in the scenes at Enn’s home and in the many surroundings through a more stylish look in the lighting for the scenes in the punk club and at the home of the aliens. Editor Brian A. Kates does brilliant work with the usage of rhythmic cuts to play into the drama as well as some stylish slow-motion cuts for scenes to play into the sense of joy in some of the characters. Production designer Helen Scott, with set decorator Hannah Spice and art director Caroline Barclay, does fantastic work with the look of the punk club that Queen Boadicea lives and runs as well as the odd apartment and rooms where the aliens live at. Costume designer Sandy Powell does amazing work with the costumes from the clothes that the different aliens wear in their bright colors to the look of the punks to play into how outrageous both groups are.
Hair/makeup designer Sian Grigg does incredible work with the look of the aliens in their hairstyles and makeup as well as the look of Queen Boadicea and some of the punks as it’s a highlight of the film. Special effects supervisor Scott MacIntyre and visual effects supervisor John Bair do terrific work with the visual effects as it play into the film’s opening sequence as well as the musical performance that include this weird yet entrancing sequence that play into Enn and Zan’s love for each other. Sound editors Benjamin Cheah and Gregg Swiatlowski do superb work with the sound in the way music sounds live as well as the way objects sounds including some of the sparse moments in the film. The film’s music by Nico Muhly and Jamie Stewart is wonderful for its mixture of somber ambient music pieces along with low-key electric-folk music to play into some of the film’s dramatic moments while music supervisor Michael Hill provides a fun soundtrack of the music that was playing in the times from acts/artists such as the Damned, the Silvertones, Dub Specialist, the Dischords, A.C. Newman, the Velvet Underground, and Jamie Stewart as well as some original songs co-written by John Cameron Mitchell.
The casting by Douglas Aibel, Henry Russell Bergstein, Emily Jacobs, and Karen Lindsay-Stewart is marvelous as it feature some notable small roles from Lara Peake as a six-fingered young girl named Wainswain, Jed Shardlow as a PT Stella male, Nansi Nsue as a member of the same colony that Zan is in, Jumayn Hunter as a DJ who plays music at Queen Boadicea’s home, Joey Ansah as PT named Bob, Stephen Campbell Moore as a record executive at a show early in the film, Alice Sanders as a pink-haired punk girl named Spinning Alice, and Edward Petherbridge as the alien cult leader PT First as this cult leader who is eager for all of his followers and other leaders to follow everything he believes in.
Joanna Scanlan is terrific as Enn’s mother as a kind woman who helps Zan out with the ideas of womanhood while Tom Brooke is superb as Zan’s mentor PT Waldo as an alien who is concerned about Zan’s departure and her encounter with humanity. Abraham Lewis and Ethan Lawrence are fantastic in their respective roles as Vic and John as Enn’s friends who both have different encounter with the aliens as the former becomes sexually confused while the latter is in awe of the music he hears. Matt Lucas is excellent as PT Wain as a colony leader who wants Zan out of the group believing she is a threat to what she has known as he tries to stir up trouble. Ruth Wilson is brilliant as PT Stella as a colony leader that is known for sexual stimulation as she is a being that wants to seduce humans to great pleasure.
Nicole Kidman is great in her role as Queen Boadicea as a punk leader who is trying to run a club and seek out the next big thing where she isn’t fond of a lot of people but is fascinated by Zan who she sees as someone unique as it’s Kidman at her best. Alex Sharp is remarkable as Enn as a young punk who aspires to be an artist as he befriends Zan and introduce her to punk while dealing with his own issues relating to his father and his own self-being. Finally, there’s Elle Fanning in an incredible performance as Zan as a young woman who arrives on Earth as an American teenager who would discover the world of punk and the ideas of humanity as it’s a performance filled with a sense of energy, natural comic timing, and being fierce once she starts to sing like a punk as it’s one of Fanning’s finest performances.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties is a marvelous film from John Cameron Mitchell that feature top-notch performances from Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, and Nicole Kidman. Along with its offbeat premise, killer music soundtrack, and dazzling visuals, it’s a film that doesn’t play by the rules despite a few bumps in trying to mesh different genres. In the end, How to Talk to Girls at Parties is a remarkable film from John Cameron Mitchell.
John Cameron Mitchell Films: Hedwig & the Angry Inch - Shortbus - Rabbit Hole - The Auteurs #66: John Cameron Mitchell
© thevoid99 2018
Based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina is the story of the titular socialite, who is the wife of a statesman, who begins an affair with an officer in late 19th Century Russia. Directed by Joe Wright and screenplay by Tom Stoppard, the film is a look into the life of a woman as she tries to find love only to be ruined by her affair as Keira Knightley plays the title role. Also starring Jude Law, Aaron Johnson, Alicia Vikander, Matthew McFayden, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly MacDonald, Ruth Wilson, Shirley Henderson, Olivia Williams, and Emily Watson. Anna Karenina is a beautiful yet vapid film from Joe Wright.
Set in 1874 in Imperial Russia, the film is an exploration into the life of this aristocratic woman who falls for a cavalry officer where their affair becomes scandalous. Yet, the film is an exploration into many ideas of love as well as infidelity where the latter showcases a woman’s decision in being with this officer named Count Alexei Vronsky (Aaron Johnson) where they fall in love despite the fact that she’s married to a statesman in Count Alexei Karenin (Jude Law). Yet, Vronsky is notorious for wooing many women including Anna’s sister-in-law Kitty (Alicia Vikander) who is also pursued by Konstatin Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) who tries to deal with his ideas about true love and such. All of which is told in a very broad but messy story that doesn’t hold itself together.
Tom Stoppard’s screenplay has this narrative where there’s a lot of characters involved where it has this unique structure that would play Anna’s fall from grace. Yet, it has these other subplots involving her brother Stiva (Matthew McFayden) trying to help Levin while having his own extramarital affairs as well the stuff involving Levin. The first act explores Anna’s marriage to Count Karenin where it’s one where there’s not much communication yet there is love until Anna meets Count Vronsky. The second act is about Anna and Count Vronsky’s love affair and the scandal that it creates where Karenin becomes embarrassed. The third act is about Anna’s attempt to return to society where she is disapproved by those around her while her relationship with Vronsky starts to fall apart.
Notably as the script reveals a lot about Vronsky’s appetite for women which adds to Anna’s insecurities yet neither character become interesting as they have range of emotions that drags the story. Even as the script would shift into what Count Karenin is doing as he feels humiliated as well as the stuff about Levin who feels lost as he tries to comprehend all of the ideas of love. Notably as there’s people like Stiva’s wife Dolly (Kelly MacDonald) who isn’t sure about wanting Stiva back or Vronsky’s cousin Betsy (Ruth Wilson) whose appearances would raise questions about Vronsky’s devotion to Anna. All of which just adds to the messiness of the script as it gets to the point where there’s too many characters to follow and how important they are to the story.
Joe Wright’s direction is unique in the way he presents the story where he wants to go for something that is theatrical where most of the film is presented in a theater. A lot of which seems to play into a world that seems artificial and sort of removed from reality to portray Anna’s idea of the world where things aren’t cold and such. Even in moments of the film where some of the action takes place backstage or above the stage where people will freeze while she and Vronsky are moving. It all plays to that world where Anna and those around her seem to thrive in where there’s even a horse race that occurs on the stage where Anna is watching from the booth. It’s these moments where the idea of fantasy and reality would collide as many of the moments set in the Karenin home is a mixture of that.
There’s also moments where the fantasy is replaced by reality which plays into the Levin’s plight as he goes to the country to deal with some family matters as well as resigning to the fate that might happen to him. These are moments that are all interesting but it also adds to the confusing nature of the story where Wright wants to do both. It unfortunately creates this idea of style over substance where there’s all of this gorgeous imagery with some amazing tracking shots and moments where everything happens in one take. Yet, it doesn’t do enough to really engage the audience into the story despite its emphasis on the themes of adultery and love where its end result is a bit mixed. Overall, Wright crafts a very lavish but lifeless film about a woman’s affair that led to scandal and the loss of her identity.
Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey does fantastic work with the film‘s cinematography from the gorgeous look of the exterior locations to some of the lighting in the theater stage and some of its interior settings. Editor Melanie Ann Oliver does excellent work with the editing from the use of montages and fast-cuts for the dancing scenes as well as some smooth transitions for the fantasy-reality scenes. Production designer Sarah Greenwood, with set decorator Katie Spencer and supervising art director Niall Moroney, does amazing work with the set pieces from the look of the Karenin home to the look of the stage where a lot of the action occurs.
Costume designer Jacqueline Durran does brilliant work with the costumes from the uniforms that Vronsky wears to the many dresses that many of the female characters wear including Anna. Hair/makeup designer Ivana Primorac does dazzling work with the hair/makeup to complement the different looks of the many female characters. Sound editors Craig Berkey and Becki Ponting do superb work with the sound to capture the intimacy of the theatrical settings as well as the broad sound of the scenes set at the train station. The film’s music by Dario Marianelli is spectacular for its heavy yet effective orchestral score to play out the romance and drama while also using some low-key moments and some themes for the different characters including a humorous one for Stiva.
The casting by Dixie Chassay and Jina Jay is terrific for the ensemble that was created as it features some notable small roles from Holliday Grainger as a baroness friend of Vronsky, Michelle Dockery as a friend of Anna, Shirley Henderson as a disapproving madam at a scene late in the film, Raphael Personnaz as Vronsky’s brother, Oskar McNamara as Anna and Count Karenin’s son Serhoza, Alexandra Roach as the Countess Nordstron that Vronsky tries to woo early in the film, and Emily Watson in a chilling performance as the Countess Ivanova who observes Anna’s behaviors as she would eventually tell Karenin about what is going on. Ruth Williams is wonderful as the mysterious Princess Betsy who tries to get her cousin Vronsky to steer him away from Anna while Olivia Williams is excellent as Vronsky’s mother Countess Vronskaya who is very disapproving about her son’s relationship with Anna.
Matthew McFayden is fantastic as Anna’s brother Stiva who tries to deal with the chaos in his own life while helping out Levin. Kelly MacDonald is superb as Stiva’s wife Dolly who deals with her husband’s infidelity while helping out her sister Kitty to find love. Alicia Vikander is remarkable as Kitty as a young woman who is supposed to marry Vronsky only to lose herself in a whirlwind of many prospects while being courted by the more kind Levin. Domhnall Gleeson is marvelous as Levin as a young man who is in love with Kitty only to lose her to her more revered prospects as he tries to deal with his idea of love as well as his family who are dealing with their own troubles. Jude Law is amazing as Count Karenin as a man who is devoted to his service for his country while trying to make time for his family only to learn the truth about what Anna is doing as he tries to comprehend everything as well as make some decisions about what to do for his son.
Aaron Johnson is quite bland as Count Vronsky where Johnson doesn’t do enough to make his character interesting as he spend some of his time being aloof or doe-eyed where it comes across as very uninspiring to watch. Keira Knightley is pretty terrible as the titular character as she spends some of her time either overacting in some of the dramatic moments or just underplaying where she often wears a veil and gaze. It’s a performance that doesn’t allow Knightley to really do more for the character as it has her just being sad and confused most of the time though she’s more effective in the happier moments as it’s not one of her best works.
Despite its amazing supporting cast and technical work, Anna Karenina is a very disappointing film from Joe Wright. Due to the uninspiring leading performances of Keira Knightley and Aaron Johnson as well as Joe Wright’s emphasis on style over substance and Tom Stoppard’s messy script. It’s a film that had all of the tools to be something quite grand and engaging only to end up being dull and flat. In the end, Anna Karenina is a very underwhelming film from Joe Wright.
Joe Wright Films: Pride & Prejudice (2005 film) - Atonement - The Soloist - Hanna
© thevoid99 2013
