ALL OF US STRANGERS

 

Jeri Jacquin

Currently on Digital and coming to 4K Ultra HD from writer/director Andrew Haigh based on Taichi Yamada’s Strangers and Searchlight Pictures is ALL OF US STRANGERS.

Adam (Andrew Scott) is living a very secluded life in his high tower apartment in London. A screenwriter, he spends his time writing and being alone until one night he meets neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal). A bit drunk, Harry tries to entice Adam to spend the night. Trying to be polite, Adam makes it clear he isn’t interested. The next day, Adam is off to visit Mum (Claire Foy) and Dad (Jamie Bell) who are happy to see him.

Coming back home he sees Harry again but this time he invites him into the apartment. There begins their passionate relationship. They talk about their families as Harry tells Adam that there is a disconnect with his own parents. Spending a night out on the town, they drink and dance their troubles away. After a fitful night of dreams, Adam tells Harry about his own parents and wants them all to meet.

But reality slowly makes its way to Adam and he holds on to the things he loves.

Scott as Adam is stunning in the role of a writer who is dealing with so much emotion in his life. Relying on his parents for support, he is trying to come to terms with the events of his life. When a love enters into the picture, it is just another piece of his life that is blissful but filled with intensity. Scott moves in and out of the story like his feet are not touching the ground. He flows so smoothly and I am with him every frame through joy and heartbreak. This is a stunning performance by Scott.

Mescal as Harry is the larger-than-life person that seems to awaken something in Adam. He is light, funny, charming and has no judgements toward Adam. At first glance, his character gives off vibes that even had me backing away a bit and that says everything about what Mescal’s performance brings. This character draws you in slowly, is too charming to be ignored and it is all Mescal.

Foy as Mum is supporting of her son and shows him love and understanding. She listens to how Adam is feeling and is such a calming presence for him. That is what Foy brings to the story, with the grace she has come to be known for (watch THE CROWN for another stunning performance) and the eyes of an old soul. Bell as Dad has a history with Adam that is a bit strained as clearly there are things that need to be said between them. I enjoyed Bell’s performance as a man who has a difficult time sharing his feelings.

Searchlight Pictures is responsible for such films as SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, THE SHAPE OF WATER and THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI. They have an extensive film library as well as documentaries, scripted series, and limited series. For more information, please visit www.searchlightpictures.com.

Bonus Features include Featurettes Roots of the Story – Uncover how the director blended his own personal story into the making of this moving film. Hear the cast and crew and learn how the filmmakers approached recreating the look and feel of the ‘80s, from the sets to the hair and clothing and Building Adam’s World – Discover how Adam’s isolated existence was shaped through constructed sets. Visit the locations of exterior shots and learn about the director’s choice to have Adam’s world feel real, and yet not quite real.

ALL OF US STRANGERS has won awards from the Valladolid International Film Festival, Montclair Film Festival, British Independent Film Awards, National Board of Review, Los Angeles Film critics Association Awards, Kansas City Film Critics Circle, and London Film Critics’ Circle.

This film is an emotional roller coaster from beginning to end with Adam at the helm. It is a story of loneliness, love, want of love and family. It is a powerful look at the complexity of life through the eyes of this haunted man. Director Haigh gives us nothing to hide behind when we feel as if there is an intrusion into Adam’s life. It is right before us and the emotion falls over us wave after wave.

Filmed beautifully with an amazing score, ALL OF US STRANGERS is insightful, complex, tender, and gauntlet of emotion. Might I suggest a box of tissue and someone to cuddle with as this moving piece of filmmaking doesn’t mind the teardrops nor our own family emotions mixing with Adams. In fact, I think it wants exactly that.

In the end – the paths to love are many!

THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN

 Jeri Jacquin

Coming from writer/director Will Sharpe, writer Simon Stephenson and Amazon Original Films is the unique story with THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN.

Louis (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an Edwardian artist and illustrator living in London who can in a moment’s notice create art work drawings of animals. Taking care of his sisters, he has to deal with the bossy and emotionally undermining sister Caroline Wain (Andrea Riseborough). When Sir William Ingram (Toby Jones) offers Wain a position of illustrating for his paper.

Accepting the position, he has time for little else. When governess Emily (Claire Foy) becomes part of the very busy household, it is the first time that Louis feels something so strong for someone outside his family. His world changes when he decides to marry the lovely Emily and they move into the country to be together.

Still taking care of his family in the city, Louis is continually working. When he and Emily discover a young kitten in their garden and name it Peter, something wonderful begins to happen. Louis finds inspiration and everything changes as the drawings become an instant sensation.

When Emily becomes ill, his life shifts once again. The emotional turmoil sends Louis through a period where nothing feels right. Even his theory about electricity going from person to person transforming them was not helping him or his sister who is eventually confined to an asylum.

His own personal spiral is filled with pain, anguish and cats.

Cumberbatch as Wain manages to, with ease, give his character the right amount of innocence mixed in the emotional instability. The pressures of being entirely responsible for a family, it is clear that there were issues in the family as seen with his own sister. When Cumberbatch is on the screen with Foy, something amazing happens. There is a spark that is joyous because Wain had the one thing he did not get at home – love and acceptance.

Foy as Emily is delightful, pragmatic and knows exactly what it is that her husband needs in the way of support. There life away from his family is filled with smiles, love and even laughter, especially when a little ball of fuzz makes its way into their lives. Treating Percy like a child, they lavish all the love and affection parents would.

Riseborough as Caroline has emotional issues of her own ranging from anger at her brother’s lack of financials to anger of his marriage to Emily and just general unhappiness with life. Consistently putting pressure on Louis, Riseborough does not pull any punches in her performance to the point of even having me wide eyes and jaw dropped.

Other cast include Jamie Demetriou as Richard Woodville, Indica Watson as young Felcie, Cassia McCarthy as young Claire, Sophia Di Martino as Judith, Taika Waititi as Max Kase, Dorothy Atkinson as Mrs. DuFrayne, Nick Cave as H.G. Wells, Daniel Rigby as Bendigo,  and Oliva Colman as the Narrater.

Amazon Prime offers television shows and original content included in its Amazon Prime subscription. Original programs such as CARNIVAL ROW, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, and THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL are hit shows. Coming soon is the next series with GOLIATH starring Billy Bob Thornton and it promises to another successful and intense series.

Wain did not only do drawings of cats, he also did country scenes and drew for Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News to The Illustrated London News. It was in 1886 that the later published a drawing called “A Kittens’ Christmas Party”. Over his lifetime he would illustrate children’s books and did work for magazines, papers and postcards.

Cumberbatch is able to capture the financial problems that Wain had throughout his life. Constantly exploited, he was unaware of the financial losses he would take because of no copyright. Even going to the United States, he was met with an audience who did not understand his way of thinking.

Eventually he would be hospitalized where he would spend his days trying to find the peace that had avoided him in life. H. G. Wells said, “he has made the cat his own. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves.”

THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN is beautiful done with costuming and set designs that adds to the story. Cumberbatch gives the performance of a man who had an amazing and stunning talent but hindered by a condition that clearly could not be accurately diagnosed or treated correctly.

Adding Foy into the mix, even if her performance could be considered brief, gives us a look at the life Wain could never have imagined for himself. These two on screen brought a chemistry that is mesmerizing to watch.

For anyone who knows the work of Wain or even loves cats – just remember that this is the man responsible for giving cats a homelife, for becoming more than mice catchers but instead becoming furry and purring members of our families.

In the end – he saw something no one else did.

 

FIRST MAN Lands on Digital - Coming to 4K and Bluray

Jeri Jacquin

Currently on Digital and coming to 4K UHD, Bluray and DVD from director Damien Chazelle and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is outer spaces’ FIRST MAN.

It is 1961 and Neil Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) is about to bounce off the atmosphere testing the X-15 rocket for NASA in the Mojave Desert. He is not as phased by that as he is the illness of his very young daughter Karen. Devastated, Armstrong turns to the Project Gemini and is accepted in the astronaut group.

Deke Slayton (Kyle Chandler) tells Armstrong and his fellow trainees Elliot See (Patrick Fugit) and Ed White (Jason Clarke) that the United States is behind in the space race. Their goal is to pull in front of the Soviet Union and Armstrong is all in. Wife Janet (Claire Foy) supports and prepares for the move to Houston.

Another tragedy hit Armstrong hard with the death of two friends while at the same time he is slated to command Gemini 8. After an aborted mission for Gemini and determined not at fault, Armstrong is selected along with Gus Grissom (Shea Whigham) and Roger Chaffee (Cory Michael Smith) for the Apollo 1 mission.

Once again tragedy strikes again and again as Armstrong is pushed back down the line. Finally, he is told that Apollo 11 will likely be the first lunar landing and Neil begins to withdraw form his family more and more. Janet has had her fill and tells him that it is his responsibility now to explain to their children what he is doing and why.

The mission isn’t without its rough patches but Neil Armstrong steps on the moon, has a moment of reflect and returns home to his family. Their, President Kennedy reminds us all that ‘we choose to go to the moon’!

Gosling as Armstrong gives a stoic performance of a man who spends years mired in tragedy. It seems he doesn’t see his own close calls with the same amount of deepness than he does with the loss of family and friends. There is so much hiding in this character that it was like waiting for Gosling to just burst out of his skin at any moment. Yet, he doesn’t but instead occasionally lets the steam out of the kettle and keeps everyone at bay.

Foy as Janet is a woman who clearly supports her husband but, at times, can not seem to get past the wall that Armstrong continues to build with every event in their lives. A strong performance that speaks out when she needs to and waits patiently when she must.

Chandler as Slayton sees what has happened to Armstrong yet embraces what he can do for NASA strongly. Chandler is an actor that can take any role and make it his own and in this film he once again proves his steadiness.

Other cast includes: Corey Stoll as Buzz Aldrin, Pablo Schreiber as Jim Lovell, Christopher Abbott as David Scott, Lukas Haas as Michael Collins, Brian d’Arcy as James Walker, Steve Coulter as Gunter Wendt, Ben Owen as John Hodge, Ethan Embry as Pete Conrad, John David Whalen as John Glenn and Ciaran Hinds as Robert Gilruth.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has just added an amazing film to their library and making it available for us all to experience and re-experience in our own home theatres. There are films of every genre available from scary to drama to family films. For more of what they have to offer please visit www.uphe.com.

The Bluray includes Deleted Scenes, Shooting for the Moon – Take an intimate look at the production of FIRST MAN and the collaborative relationship between Director Damien Chazelle and Ryan Gosling, Preparing to Launch – It’s difficult to believe that FIRST MAN is the first major feature film to tell the story of this Apollo 11, and Giant Leap in One Small Step – A heroic character study, FIRST MAN sheds light on all the hard working individuals that got us to the moon and back.

Also, Mission Gone Wrong – Watch as Ryan Gosling reenacts a test piloting sequence gone horribly wrong and see how he trained to nail the landing, Putting You In the Seat – Filmed in IMAX to show the vastness of the moon, find out all that it took to recreate the most famous moment in NASA history, Shooting at NASA – Hear from Ryan Gosling and Director Chazelle on how shooting at NASA brought unparalleled authenticity to FIRST MAN, Astronaut Training – Go behind the scenes of the three day boot camp each of the actors underwent prior to filming FIRST MAN and finally Feature Commentary with Director Damien Chazelle, Screenwriter Josh Singer and Editor Tom Cross.

 MOVIES ANYWHERE is the digital app that simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers. For more information please visit http://moviesanywhere.com.

FIRST MAN is filled with a cast that may seem like small roles but in this film, no role is small in telling such a big story. Although the film deals mainly with Neil Armstrong, it doesn’t forget those who also made the journey through the space program and their contributions to the space race.

The film also acknowledges how difficult the struggle was and the personal sacrifices that were made that allowed Armstrong to put his foot on the moon. That is important when telling the story of our space history and I appreciated it.

In the end – it was a pivotal moment in the history of mankind!

THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB: A New Dragon Tattoo Story

Jeri Jacquin

In theatres from director Fede Alvarez and Columbia Pictures is a continuation story of someone who finds herself once again as THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB.

Lisbeth Salander (Claire Foy) has once again become invisible although wanted by the police. Making it her goal to stop innocent people from being hurt, she manages to do so while faded into the background…but not for long.

She is approached by Frans Balder (Stephen Merchant) who has created a program called Firewall when he was a NSA employee. This program has nuclear codes all over the world and now believes that he created a monster that everyone else wants to control. He asks Lisbeth to retrieve it so it can be destroyed.

She agrees and gets inside the NSA’s computer as a horrified Edwin Neeham (Lakeith Stanfield), NSA security, looks on trying to stop it. He immediately locates where the hack has come from and leaves for Europe. Neeham isn’t the only one looking for Firewall as Lisbeth is attacked. She turns to Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason), the Millennium journalist and even though their relationship turned rocky, she trusts him. He discovers that a group of Russian criminals are after Firewall.

Keeping track of Balder, she also worries for his young son August (Christopher Convery) as who ever else wants Firewall would have no trouble killing him. Keeping him safe becomes important to Lisbeth even if her hardened shell is still in tact.

Blomkvist turns to Gabriella Grane (Synnove Lund), Deputy Director of the Swedish Secret Service to discover who the men are with the spider tattoos. She has her own agenda keeping an eye on Neeham who she believes is also looking for Lisbeth.

With the cat and mouse happening between she, the spider tattoo goons and Neeham, there is one person she never expected to see. Someone from her past who has picked up the mantel of a father who is responsible for how Lisbeth came to be – Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks).

Lisbeth Salander makes no exceptions for evil!

Foy as Salander gives a stoic performance in the role of a character that doesn’t show much emotion. Everything that she shares emotion wise is all in her eyes. With every plan you can see the wheels turning jumping the track whenever she needs to change gears. This is a far cry from her comfy life in highly successful series The Crown but that’s the point of growing as an actress – bowl cut your hair and don’t be afraid to jump on a motorcycle.

Merchant as Balder is a man clearly afraid that those who have Firewall are going to use it to harm more than protect. Balder’s role might not be a big one but it sets the story up for his castmate.  Convery as August is a young boy who is as smart as his father but that doesn’t mean his fate isn’t being determined but someone smart but psychotic. This character is like Lisbeth in that he keeps his emotions in check trusting that he will get home to his mother.

Stanfield as Neeham panics when he sees Firewall has been hacked and knows the only thing he can do is find out who took it and why. Neeham’s character is just as determined as Lisbeth but he has one obstacle. Lund as Grane is the SAPO and has already threatened Neeham with deportation if he tries to interfere with the investigation but trust goes only so far.

Gudnason as Blomkvist is thrilled to hear from Lisbeth because his feelings for her haven’t changed. At the same time, the journalist in him sees the potential of cracking open the mystery of what is happening by following Lisbeth forward. Hoeks as Camilla is the sister none of us wants to deal with. The history that Camilla and Lisbeth share is of two survivors of an abusive father – one turns to trying to save others while the other turns to destruction. Hoeks is completely disturbing in her portrayal and scenes with Foy are intense.

Other cast include Carlotta von Falkenhayn as a young Camilla, Vicky Krieps as Erika Berger, Cameron Britton as Plague, Andreia Pelic as Maria, and Mikael Persbrandt as Zalachenko.

Let me first get this out of the way, the Noomi Rapace is my Lisbeth Salander and in 2008 when THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO was released I could not have been more thrilled with the film. This was followed months later with THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE and months later with THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET’S NEST. This was the best three films I have ever seen and all released in one year proving that it is possible to make stunning films without two and three year gaps.

In 2011, the remake hit the theatres with Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and as much as I enjoy these two actors, I wasn’t thrilled with the film. I don’t mind saying it either, there was absolutely no reason to remake it and I could not get behind the choice for Lisbeth Salander.

The choice of Claire Foy as the new Lisbeth Salander has one thing in her favor, this isn’t a remake. Instead it’s actually more of an explanation of where this character came from and how the past is never far behind any of us. Foy captures bits of the 2009 Salander but clearly makes her own mark as well.

As for the film, I enjoyed it but also have to say that the plot was fairly straight forward and slightly predictable. I feel as if I’ve seen these plot points before in other films and wished there was more umph to it. The action is definitely something I would expect to see in the Millennium series and the film lives up to that most certainly.

Understand that with the death of the series creator Steig Larsson in 2004, the characters are picked up by David Lagercrantz. This is his first novel taking over the series and it was released in 2015. It is not an easy thing to bring in another writer to keep a series going because, and let’s be honest, they aren’t Larsson. That being said Lagercrantz manages to keep Lisbeth Salander alive by bringing her past forward for us all to understand. He also seemed to take great care in being true to the complexities created by Larsson

For those who love the Millennium series, this new story and film is interesting and full of action. Foy gives Salander new life and if they plan to continue the films, keep the stories fresh and the fan base will stay true.

In the end – the past never forgets!