The King Tide (2024)

There are many styles that fall into the genre of film making referred to as horror from the most viscerally physical to disturbingly psychological and everything in between. While I can appreciate many forms, the style that The King Tide falls into, is often my favourite. These are stories that make us feel uneasy less then "scared" or horrified, that explore through some sort of often fantastical metaphor, unnerving social phenomenon. They serve as warning, as catharsis, as processing of emotions. The King Tide, is the sort of story that makes us wonder and worry and perhaps reflect on so much. 

This is sort of a break out film for director Sparkes who truly shines here by beautifully filming his story and finding very efficient and naturalistic ways of building backstory and moving through the plot points necessary to weave his tale. It helps that he uses the gorgeous and foreboding coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and a cast of actors who come together so completely. This is the sort of story that could have devolved into a far more farcical cult like scenario a la The Wicker Man or Midsommer but Sparkes eschews that for a far more grounded and even, dare we say, relatable setting. His community are not a group of evil acolytes, but very real feeling neighbours who disagree on how to handle what they are dealing with. And this makes it even more unnerving. 

I appreciated that he didn't compromise on the ending. The final moments are very powerful and far more natural than where I worried the film would go to wrap things up more hopefully. Sparkes is a promising storyteller with another film coming right behind this one that also appears to be a very layered and complicated story. He has made a very watchable film that doesn't hand you a way to think but lets you reflect on a number of questions that might haunt you a bit after completing the film. This is why this sort of film is my preferred sort of speculative fiction. 

The King Tide

Starring: Frances Fisher, Lara Jean Chorostecki, Clayne Crawford, Aden Young

Director: Christian Sparkes 

Writers: Albert Shin, William Woods, Kevin Coughlin, Ryan Grassby

Challengers (2024)

An ending can make a movie. Challengers is solid from start to finish but it is that finish, an intense final few moments, which ratchet up the energy, a tense - awkward - erotic - exhilarating energy, to the point where it is almost unbearable. And then release... and emotion, afterglow. You see early on Zendaya's character describes a tennis match as a relationship, like having sex. And Challengers delivers a final climax that... well... you have to experience to believe. 

Challengers is about a messy and captivating conflagration of relationships. It is set over one single tennis match, with flashbacks to flesh out the backstory that got them there, and why every volley, every grunt, and every bead of sweat, has meaning. Kuritzkes and Guadagnino weave a complicated and enticing web between their three leads that is full of innuendo, passion, and subterfuge so that everyone is always just off their game. And it comes to this moment, this match, and three people who are interconnected so intimately. 

My main critique of Guadagnino's work is the way he almost always hides his queerness in metaphor. Challengers feels like this is breaking out, but never quite escapes. It is always bubbling just under the surface in way that implies a ubiquitous presence yet integration into all relationships. Sex is a part of each connection. Desire, lust, jealousy, security. Here Guadagnino's reluctance to let his queerness explode into the world provides a layer of meaning and commentary on the relationships between men, between male friends, that in many ways is more embracing of queerness than his gay love tragedy Call Me By Your Name. 

And so much of this film is about the screen power that Zendaya wields. She is a force that both commands her costars and the audience, but also finds quiet vulnerability in her brokenness. Certainly O'Connor and Faist are at the top of their game here, both delivering layered and meaningful portrayals of their characters and the energy between them, but it is Zendaya owning everything about this film that makes it all come together in all is delicious messiness.  

Challengers is, as you have likely heard, sexy. Yes Guadagnino lingers on his stars' bodies. He makes them grunt and sweat and look at each other like they can't look away. But it is more than just the bodies of the actors. It is the way he constructs their characters, their interactions, which always keep the level of sexual tension at it height. Challengers will make you need a cold shower because of the way it gets in your head. 

And then there is that ending. And all you can do is sit back in your cinema seat and breathe. 

Challengers

Starring: Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Writer: Justin Kuritzkes

Sasquatch Sunset (2024)

Mostly this bizarre and rather earnest story of a Sasquatch family worked for me. The only real downside for me was the humour which was often just about seeing Bigfoot fuck or take a shit in the woods. Not really that funny at all. But when the film instead focused on what life for a Sasquatch might be like if they were real, it was surprisingly moving. 

The film keeps a tight runtime and in doing so never overstays its welcome. Its story is concise yet effective as we follow these creatures, who are imagined as fairly intelligent primates if they had evolved in the mountains of North America, as they face the challenges of living in the wild, including the encroachment of humans into their world. We never see people (only their effects) but we see how human activity might have an impact on a species like this. 

I think the film's choice to use no dialogue what so ever was both smart and quite effective. It creates a real pathos for our characters as we watch them face life's challenges. The film lost me a bit when it was trying to be silly or even just trying to be uncomfortably and grossly accurate with its depiction of how non-human animals behave. But when it was about the Sasquatch and their way of life, I actually found it very compelling, especially Keough's performance. 

Sasquatch Sunset

Starring: Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg 

Directors: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner

Writer: David Zellner

Housekeeping for Beginners (2024)

A big part of what moved me so much while watching Housekeeping for Beginners the first time is what an excellent encapsulation of the magic and importance of chosen family, especially for marginalized people. So much of our culture is built around reinforcing biological connection as is much of our legal system. But for so many, especially those most vulnerable, biofamilies can be sources of abuse and even danger. Housekeeping for Beginners celebrates and spotlights all the mess, the drama, and the love that this kind of family can offer. 

Stolevski has quickly become one of my favourite directors with his verite style and way of bringing us intimately into the lives of his characters. Here we have a group of people thrown at us and are drawn into their beautiful and challenging mess so effectively, so rawly. By setting his story in his homeland of Macedonia, at a time when queer people and Romani people face real persecution, he shows us humanity and its vulnerabilities and connects us to that. 

That connection comes in the form of their relationships, some formed over time, some more recent, but all true and strong. There is a pureness to the way he tells stories and build characters that hits right for me. So much of what I watch in his films just feels so truthful. 

Housekeeping for Beginners is just a lovely movie filled with loss and pain and hope and is told in such a way that one just gets pulled in so completely. 

Housekeeping for Beginners

Starring: Anamaria Marinca, Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Vladimir Tintor

Writer/Director: Goran Stolevski

Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)

It is well known that Star Wars draws so much of its inspiration from 50s B-movie serials. Rebel Moon, which is said to have been originally conceived as a Star Wars story, embraces that aspect of the franchise whole heartedly. What he started with A Child of Fire continues on the same track with The Scargiver, a pulpy space opera with hyper-visual aesthetics. This is genre fiction at its most genre-y, a simple story that is meaty enough and its characters are recognizable but fleshed out. Rebel Moon is tribute to a different era of film making that is about immersing yourself in escapism and fantasy.

I believe mostly what will determine if you enjoy the Rebel Moon journey is whether you embrace the Zack Snyder aesthetic or not. His approach works for some and turns others off. His take on 7 Samurai is engrossingly entertaining and earnestly in your face. It might be too syrupy for some and perhaps not analytical enough for others. This isn't Dune Part Two with its complicated analyses of the structures of power. The themes in Rebel Moon are straight forward but not simplistic. There is an honesty in the themes of wanting to make right what you've done wrong that underlines the plot points in this epic. 

For me Rebel Moon was purely enjoyable from a visually pleasing approach and from a story telling angle, merging much of what I enjoy about popcorn cinema. There is room in my film cannon for the complicated and nuanced explorations of the human condition and for the simply inspiring adventures stories. And Snyder makes such beautiful movies that are pure entertainment. I'm down for more chapters if the team behind Rebel Moon plan to make more. 

Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver

Starring: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Staz Nair, Fra Fee, Elise Duffy, Anthony Hopkins, Cary Elwes

Director: Zack Snyder

Writers: Kurt Johnstad, Shay Hatten, Zack Snyder

Wicked Little Letters (2024)

You had me at Colman and Buckley. They teamed up before in the much more dour The Lost Daughter but this is a wickedly fun little story (based on real events) that is both hilarious and a strong comment on how women are treated. 

I laughed throughout this far more than I have at any movie in a long time and it is all rather joyously crowd pleasing. However it also hits home a strong point. The end scene featuring Colman laughing is both inspiring and rather disconcerting. You just have to see it to get it. 

Buckley and Colman, while both playing to type, transcend that and are just wonderful to watch. You don't want to take your eyes off them. Also really charismatic is Vasan in a somewhat scene stealing role (remarkable considering who she is acting opposite) which she pulls off with a subtlety and grace that is astounding.

Wicked Little Letters is the sort of movie slap a big fat smile across your face but never once compromises on telling a damn good story. 

Wicked Little Letters

Starring: Olivia Colman, Jesse Buckley, Anjana Vasan, Timothy Spall, Gemma Jones

Director: Thea Sharrock

Writer: Jonny Sweet

 

Sting (2024)

I love a good B-movie monster flick and Sting has all the right vibes. It's premise is simple yet deceiving interesting. It's monster is a clear and creepy threat, and the characters are given just enough backstory to make you care for them as they attempt to survive. It's decently gruesome and keeps the monster off screen and in the shadows so your imagination runs wild instead of ruining the creepy crawlies by showing us a half-assed looking creature. 

Yes Sting is mostly big creepy spider mayhem and that's some fun stuff, but it is also a lovely little story about a step-father showing what being a dad really means. Corr and Browne's connection is really touching and their comic book obsession makes this play right into the hands of a nerdy audience like me. The character work here, while straightforward, was honest enough that I was invested in their survival which in horror doesn't always happen.  

Sting plays into its B-movie bone fides and doesn't take itself too seriously allowing for some humour (especially in Fowler's awesome performance) to lighten the mood without diluting the heebie-jeebies. This does feel like it knows that it is following a certain playbook but it does so with such reverence for the genre and with enough fun and spooks that it is a fun watch. At only 90 minutes it doesn't overstay it's welcome and will make your skin crawl when you next see a spider.

Sting

Starring: Alyla Browne, Ryan Corr, Penelope Mitchell, Jermaine Fowler

Writer/Director: Kiah Roache-Turner