“Hada committed suicide” – this WhatsApp sentence broke the hard news to some of her old school friends. Like all of them, she was 23 years old and although they had lost track of each other recently, they had been on the same basketball team since they were eight years old. Hada was the captain. Amid the emotional earthquake, her friends propose to pay tribute to her. The proposal is not received in the same way by everyone; each one has reasons for or against it. Among them, Sara is especially hurt because the last time she met Hada, she was in the audience, and she was performing a suicide on stage.
One of my favorite aspects of My Movie Starring Paul Dano is its blend of illustrations and dream sequences within its mockumentary structure. As the script is written, we are shown how the movie Bear Naked Amazonians From Mars looks in Herman’s head, with all its retro b movie campy charm.
The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.
“I’m always interested in exploring female fantasy, and the sexy witch is a loaded archetype that is simultaneously about men’s fears and fantasies about women, and women’s feelings of empowerment and agency. So whereas we are used to seeing the sexy witch or the femme fatale from the outside, I wanted to explore her from the inside.” - Anna Biller, on why she made The Love Witch
Even now, the well-established Snyder has yet to learn this as he continues to allow misguided decisions to convince him that his projects hold the same kind of intelligent and emotional weight. Army of the Dead is a tonal mess, one that never decides what it’s trying to be, and, for all we know, doesn’t want to decide.
Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, with an economy of language, but a world of expression, weave us inside this futuristic tale of how your “one true love” may exist in the future in Benjamin Cleary's 'Swan Song.'
The 100 imagines a future where humanity's overcome some of its most pervasive forms of prejudice—only to create new ones.
