Ready or Not

Movie Name: Ready or Not
Year of Release: 2019
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Starring: Samara Weaving, Andie MacDowell, Adam Brody, Mark O'Brien, Henry Czerny, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Bruun, Elyse Levesque, Nicky Guadagni, John Ralston, Liam McDonald, Ethan Tavares, Hanneke Talbot, Celine Tsai
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3
Watch it on Hulu

Synopsis and Review

"Ready or Not" is Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's sophomore directorial endeavor, following their debut with "Devil's Due". This film opened the doors for them to tackle two episodes of the "Scream" franchise (episodes 5 and 6). The film follows the story of Grace MacCaullay, who is about to marry Alex Le Domas, who is part of a wealthy family, one that has made their money on what started as board games business but eventually grew up to a much larger financial empire. Alex has been estranged from his family, but comes back to the fold and to the estate to have his wedding ceremony with Grace. Grace is a former foster child, and has no family of her own, but loves Alex and is happy to be along for the journey. She meets Alex's brother and sister and their spouses, Alex's parents and his aunt. After the ceremony, Alex's father Tony  explains that his great-grandfather Victor Le Domas made a deal with someone named "Le Bail" to build the family fortune. In exchange for doing so, a peculiar and unique tradition must be observed: at midnight of their wedding day, every new member who joins the family must draw a game card from Le Bail's puzzle box and then everyone must play that game accordingly. What Tony failed to reveal, is that whatever game is chosen, the family will then play it and kill the person who chose that game, or they will die themselves (the whole Le Domas family). Grace is surprised when she hears of the tradition, but decides to play along. She chooses "Hide and Seek", and while she goes off to hide from everyone, they all arm up with various killing devices, while Alex is kept in a room to avoid disrupting the game. However soon enough things start going askew.

"Ready or Not" is one of those films that promises a lot more than what it eventually delivers. While the film may initially promise a cat and mouse deadly game, with the hunted turning the tables on the hunters, the truth is, this isn't "First Blood", nor is it a feminist empowering statement. What we end up having is a rather anemic take on a powerful family with secrets, who must do horrible things, mostly with gusto, in order to stay in power. The film sadly never truly embraces the satire of the rich with little scruples who take a literal bite from those who serve them, nor does it ever embrace the savagery of the oppressed who decide to turn the tables and wreak havoc (and destruction) on the oppressors. What we end up getting in the end is a rather generic tale of a family with a dark secret, who is rather inept and playing the game, and a woman (always a woman as a victim) as the target who eventually escapes, but who never takes solid decisions of her own, even if those involve saving herself. The film never reaches the satire of Craig Zobel's "The Hunt", nor does it capture the blood drenched mayhem of Coralie Fargeat's "Revenge" for instance. Grace is in victim mode for the most part of the film, and while the character has some evolution, for the most part her characterization, much like all the characters of the film, are quite flat and ultimately one-dimensional. The cast tries their best to bring this film to life, but Andie MacDowell is ultimately the one having all the fun, with good support also coming from Henry Czerny and Kristian Bruun. Samara Weaving, herself such a talented performer, and a queen of these polished B-movies, deserves a better vehicle for her talents. The production team is unremarkable, which ultimately is a very suitable definition for this film: unremarkable and forgettable. 

Nine Lives

Movie Name: Nine Lives
Year of Release: 2005
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Starring: Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Sissy Spacek, Robin Wright, Amy Brenneman, Amanda Seyfried, LisaGay Hamilton, Kathy Baker, Mary Kay Place, Jason Isaacs, Stephen Dillane, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Miguel Sandoval, Elpidia Carrillo, William Fichtner, Aidan Quinn, Joe Mantegna, Dakota Fanning
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6
Watch it on Tubi

Synopsis and Review

After making his directorial feature debut with "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her", writer/director Rodrigo Garcia tackled a series of interesting projects, including directing episodes for HBO's "Six Feet Under", "The Sopranos", and "Carnivale". He also directed "Ten Tiny Love Stories" before releasing "Nine Lives", which once again premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, on its way to being nominated for a few Independent Spirit Awards. Much like his debut, the narrative of the film centers on 9 different stories/vignettes. The first one focuses on Sandra, who is in prison, and has a meltdown upon not being able to communicate with her daughter. The second vignette tracks Diana and Damian, who used to be in a relationship and connect once again while at the supermarket. Their connection is still very much alive, even though they've moved on and have other partners in their lives, and Diana is pregnant. The following vignette tracks the life of Holly who is unexpectedly visiting the home where she grew up, meeting her sister there. That house is triggering for her, since it's where her sexually abusive stepfather still lives. Another vignette has a couple, Sonia and Martin, visiting their friends Lisa and Damian in their new apartment. The tension between them is palpable and keeps escalating right in front of their friends. Another segment follows Samantha, a teenager living with her parents, who don't communicate much with each other. Her parents Ruth and Larry love her terribly, but her mother is going through a tryst with a widower, as Larry is wheelchair-bound. Another vignette focuses on Lorna, who is attending a funeral with her parents. It is the funeral of her ex-husband's wife, and he admits to his desire for her when they connect at the church. The final two vignettes also deal with mortality, firstly with Camille who is facing breast cancer surgery, and secondly with Maggie who is doing a picnic at the cemetery and talking to her young daughter, whom we suddenly realize has already passed away. 

I've mentioned it before, and will do so again. Creating films with mosaic-like narratives isn't the easiest task. Mostly because the more characters these writers (and in this case, also director) try to bring to life, the more challenging it is to capture one's attention. These characters end up having a very limited amount of screen time in which they have to create a connection with the audience, but also in that limited screen time illustrate an inner life, and whatever conflict/desire/ambition, they're currently going through. Paul Thomas Anderson was able to do so very efficiently and with a profound emotional connection in "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia". He focused on a set of characters, and took us on a journey with all them, peppering the events with humor, drama, thrills, and even ridicule. Rodrigo Garcia instead creates vignettes, which can be occurring all in the same time frame, and they may not, since some of these characters crossover to some vignettes, whereas others do not. What some of these vignettes come across however, in terms of perspective at least and some more than others, is at times very stage like. These vignettes and sequences feel very similar to short plays that are being put on to illustrate a topic, and not so much a character. Because every single narrative is so boxed-in, these lives that are illustrated in this feature, feel both enigmatic, but also artificial, since they ultimately leave more unsaid about who these characters are, more so than the topic they aim to illustrate/bring to life. The most theatrical of the vignettes is quite possible the one with Robin Wright and Jason Isaacs, whereas the most successful is the one featuring Glenn Close and Dakota Fanning, precisely because it feels authentic, lived in, of a mother living with the absence of a daughter taken too soon. How do you live with absence - you let memories envelop you and play a pillar of support as you keep living. It's an interesting film with solid performances, particularly by Glenn Close, Dakota Fanning, Kathy Baker, Joe Mantegna, Robin Wright, Sissy Spacek, and Mary Kay Place. The production team is solid, particularly Xavier Grobet's cinematography, Edward Shearmur's score, and Courtney Jackson's production design. It may not hit all the buttons, but it's definitely worth watching.

Anora

Movie Name: Anora
Year of Release: 2024
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Mikey Madison, Mark Eydelshteyn, Yura Borisov, Karren Karagulian, Vache Tovmasyan, Aleksei Serebryakov, Darya Ekamasova, Luna Sofía Miranda, Lindsey Normington
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
Watch it on Hulu

Synopsis and Review

After the well received "Red Rocket", Sean Baker landed the biggest hit of his career thus far with "Anora", which won the Palm D'Or at Cannes, followed by winning a barrage of other awards, including the Academy Award for best picture, director, screenplay, and editing, all for him alone. The film follows the story of Anora, or Ani as she prefers to be named, who is a stripper living in Brighton Beach, but working in a fancy club in Manhattan. She meets a young man by the name of Ivan, who also goes by the name of Vanya, who comes infatuated with her. Vanya is Russian and Ani can speak and understand Russian because of her family background. He hires her for several sex dates, and after a New Year's party, offers her $15,000.00 to spend a whole week with him. As it happens, Vanya is the son of a Russian oligarch, and has money to burn. During the week they spend together, they go off to Las Vegas with a group of friends, and Vanya proposes to her, since he does not want to go back to Russia, and confesses to Ani that he is smitten with her. While Ani is initially reluctant, she soon agrees and they elope at a Vegas wedding chapel. Upon returning to the NY area, Ani quits her job and moves to Vanya's mansion. The news of the wedding/marriage soon reach Vanya's parents, who go ballistic on him and on the people hired to keep an eye on him. Toros, Vanya's godfather, is livid and wants to get the marriage immediately annulled. Vanya in the meantime escapes the mansion, while Ani refuses any annulment. They decide to seek out Vanya and find a way to resolve the situation before his parents arrive.

I admit I've been a fan of Sean Baker's past feature films, particularly "Tangerine", "The Florida Project", and "Red Rocket". "Anora" is the first of his films that has left me baffled, because it has this hybrid tone which mixes a pseudo Hollywood romance with his particular quasi-documentary style approach, focused on people who are on the fringes of society, in this case a stripper/sex worker. My bafflement doesn't stem from the hybrid aspect of the narrative, but mostly from the fact that this long film tracks an array of characters trying to locate an individual with the sole purpose of annulling a marriage, with characters that lack development, emotional depth, or for that matter, interest. On all of his prior films, all his characters, even the ones who didn't have much development, have always created a desire to know more about who they are, where they come from, and where does the narrative will eventually take them. "Anora" on the other hand, has a few comedic moments, but aside from those, it consists of a long journey populated with uninteresting characters who are as shallow and superficial when the film started, as they are when the film ends. Granted, not every film has to be a philosophical discussion about the meaning of life, and not every film requires for characters to have emotional epiphanies, but this is one rare case where what is taking place is literally going nowhere. As an audience member you always want to be captured by the storytelling that is taking place, but this one is literally a narrative populated with emotionally underdeveloped characters who ultimately have very little to say about themselves, about their connections, and about the world they inhabit. The cast does a fair job with the material they have, particularly Karren Karagulian as Toros. The production team is solid, particularly Drew Daniels' cinematography. I'm puzzled how this film won Sean Baker all these awards, but hopefully this will grant him the funds and support to continue to do his storytelling that has, up until this film, been so fantastic.