3SMReviews: Wendy & Lucy

3SMReviews: Wendy & Lucy

I avoided Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy for years because I was a little too worried about the dog.* Having overcome my fear, I found another quality movie focused on a small slice of life. Michelle Williams brings another quality performance to a Reichardt film and the stakes are high for such a small story.

Cost: free from Multnomah County Library (my Kenton Library branch is very close to the Walgreens where this movie was filmed. There’s a lot of North Portland spotting for those in the know.)
Where watched: at home** in preparation for Filmspotting Madness best of the 2000s

*The dog is fine, I needn’t have worried.
**Matt was half watching. “Is this a crime or horror movie?” he asked when the movie started. I assured him it was neither, as even Kelly Reichardt’s film that involved crime was not a crime film. As the movie ended he said, “I kept waiting for her to be raped, or harmed in some way.” Though I did fear for the dog, I knew that the trouble for Wendy was not going to involve physical harm. That’s not Reichardt’s way. (Slight exception, Night Moves, though it makes sense in the context of that film.)

3SMReviews: The Gleaners and I

3SMReviews: The Gleaners and I

The Gleaners and I was my first Agnes Varda film and I suspect it won’t be my last, even though I don’t watch documentaries all that often. Varda examines gleaners–from those groups of women depicted in paintings, to the individuals who glean today in the fields, or on the city streets.* Varda sometimes wanders a little far afield from her topic, but her delight at all things made for a good movie and the information about produce wasted provides much to think about.**

Verdict: Good

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home in preparation for Filmspotting Madness 2019

*Given what they glean we might call them by more judgmental names.
**Yes I did just stop myself from typing “food for thought.”

Poster clipped from: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/les-glaneurs-et-la-glaneuse#pid=7038

3SMReviews: Ginger & Rosa

3SMReviews: Ginger & Rosa

Ginger and Rosa is a movie directed by Sally Potter and set in 1962 London. It’s full of 1962 stuff and run-of-the-mill adolescent stuff including questioning authority, ill-advised experimentation with alcohol, and sleeping with the wrong guy. It all unfolded in a predictable way, but I’m a fan of Elle Fanning and Christina Hendricks, and I’m always up for an Oliver Platt sighting.

Cost: free via Kanopy
Where watched: at home, because a New Year’s Eve double feature is the best way to end the year.

3SMReviews: Leave No Trace

3SMReviews: Leave No Trace

In Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace, Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie do more with less acting as a father/daughter pair living in a city park* This movie is Tom’s coming of age story as the discovery of their home-in-the-park sets her and her father into “real life” and wakes Tom’s typical adolescent yearning for something different.** Chock full of good, quiet acting by both leads and by a handful of smaller performances (Dale Dickey was particularly good as was Isaiah Stone**), this is a quiet movie of growing up.

Cost: $3.99 via Google Play because I didn’t get around to watching it when it was on Netflix.
Where watched: at home.

*Forest Park, in my own Portland, Oregon. It’s a huge park with trails for miles. This movie is based on a book that was inspired by the mid-2000s discovery of a father/daughter pair living in Forest Park. The story was well-covered by the local media and has stuck with me.
**Not that this leads to acting out like most teenagers would. This entire movie is full of small moments and subtle performances.
***Both actors were also in Granick’s very excellent Winter’s Bone

3SMReviews: Mean Girls

3SMReviews: Mean Girls

In 2004, Mark Waters gave millennials their seminal teen film with Mean Girls; I was interested in how it holds up 14 years later. When I watched this in 2004, I remember feeling like the movie’s resolution was a little too tidy, and I found the ending to be the same today. However, this movie gives us a lot of good stuff including its overall message and a ton of really great performances by women.*

Verdict: Good

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home as homework so I could listen to the Next Picture Show’s Girl World pairing of this movie and the Favourite.

*It was really fun to see women who are on my radar right now, but weren’t in 2004: Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Poehler. Plus I hadn’t put together that Lizzy Caplan–the go-to “weird girl” character of that time period–was also in Now You See Me 2. And I love Tim Meadows reactions.

3SMReviews: Juliet, Naked

3SMReviews: Juliet, Naked

In Juliet, Naked, Jesse Peretz crafts an extremely awkward romantic comedy and takes advantage of the facility of uncomfortable comic timing of Rose Byrne, Chris O’Dowd and even Ethan Hawke. It’s a great catalog of people in a middle-age place of stagnation and transition with one especially spectacular scene that takes place in a hospital room. I think this movie didn’t quite know what to do with the ending, and that felt a little bumbled, but other than those last five minutes, this was a very fun film.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: $1.50 from Redbox*
Where watched: at home

*I have been stalking this movie at Redbox since Thanksgiving weekend when I checked five different machines. It was always checked out.

3SMReviews: The Favourite

3SMReviews: The Favourite

Yorgos Lanthimos gives us the Christmas gift of three amazing actors in The Favourite and I enjoyed every moment of the characters’ slow-motion train wrecks. Aside from great acting and an intense story, there are amazing costumes* and a scene so good that it caused people in my screening to break into applause. Despite its drawing room appearance, this movie changes things up (like a traditional formal dance at a ball that morphs into all sorts of current dance moves) and is contemporary in every way.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: $9.00
Where watched: Hollywood Theatre with friend Kelly.

*The women look good in their gowns, but Nicholas Hoult really dazzles in his fancy dress and powdered face and wig.

3SMReviews: Dumplin’

3SMReviews: Dumplin'

Anne Fletcher’s does a great service in her movie Dumplin‘; she populates it with actors of all sizes.* But aside from that, she weaves a good story with enjoyable performances by Danielle MacDonald and the other friends of Willowdean.** While this movie is probably not one for the ages, it is the best at what it’s trying to do, which made for a delightful experience right now.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: Netflix monthly subscription ($7.99)
Where watched: at home

*Have you been to the mall lately? Or any gathering of normal people? We don’t look like any gathering of people in movies. I’d love to see the movie world look more like the real world.
**I was happy to see Odeya Rush, so very good in Lady Bird as the mostly vapid pretty rich girl. Harold Perrineau was also very good as Willowdean’s friend Lee. (And IMDB reminds me that he was a very good Mercutio 22 years ago in Romeo + Juliet!)

3SMReviews: Can You Ever Forgive Me

3SMReviews: Can You Ever Forgive Me

Marielle Heller achieves the ultimate in Can You Ever Forgive Me. She gives us a movie about an unlikable character* and provides us with enough details so we can feel sympathy and like that character. Part of the credit goes to the marvelous Melissa McCarthy, who excels in a person who can’t let anyone in, and feels love only for her cat.**

Verdict: Recommended
Consider also watching: Heller’s excellent The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Cost: $5.55 (though free due to gift cards)
Where watched: Regal City Center Stadium 12.

*A post-40, lesbian, fat woman to be precise.
**I also love that this movie was not about a total transformation of this very flawed character.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/can_you_ever_forgive_me.html

3SMReviews: Widows

3SMReviews: Widows
Poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2018/widows.html

In Steve McQueen’s Widows, I knew Viola Davis and Michelle Rodriguez were going to be good, and I was very happy to find out how good Elizabeth Debicki* and Cynthia Erivo were. I really liked how the movie was assembled, and how the jumps the narrative took kept me confused and trying to solve a puzzle.** The stakes felt very real and Daniel Kaluuya’s performance was also a treat.

Verdict: Recommended

Cost: $6.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst Theater with a ton of people over the age of 50.

*Debicki first caught my eye as Jordan Baker in the Great Gatsby, however, they did not play up her incredible height in that movie. I see she was also the very Golden Ayesha in Guardians II. Cynthia Erivo is new to me, and I hope to see more of her.
**This worked for me, though I can see how it might put some viewers off.