“It Comes At Night”
Trey Edward Shults’ follow-up to last year’s masterful “Krisha” found the director slightly shifting gears. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, where an unknown entity is killing off humanity, “It Comes at Night” is the story of a man (Joel Edgerton) who will protect his family at any cost. The bolted, secure, but isolated home in which they live is disrupted when a desperate young family turns up seeking refuge from the undisclosed pandemic that has left most of the world’s population buried six feet under. What comes next is the definition of psychological terror as Shults creeps us, frame by frame, into a slow-burning web of dreadful horrors. Kelvin Harrison Jr, as Travis, the married couple’s 17-year-old son, steals the show (though Riley Keough, Carmen Ejogo and Christopher Abbott are terrific too) . He delivers an instinctive, sensitively rendered performance filled with the subtlest of physical details. He’s the eyes and ears to which we see this horrifying tale unfold. And so, you can certainly add “It Comes At Night” to the list of great indie horror movies that have been released the last few years.
“The Beguiled”
Sofia Coppola‘s “The Beguiled” was a searing slow-burner, completely jettisoning any of the original movie’s over the top sequences for her recognizable art-house, painterly images instead. Wise decision. Clint Eastwood‘s 1971 hasn’t necessarily aged like fine wine, but Coppola saw something intriguing in remaking it as a feminist fable and every female performance in it is great. Nicole Kidman, as the matriarch, is astonishingly subtle, but Elle Fanning and, especially, Kirsten Dunst stand out above the rest. Oh, the angst these two competitive women exude in trying to capture the Union soldier’s heart, as played by a sneakily deceitful Collin Farrell. It’s amazing how Coppola strips bare any of the conventions of the original and makes it her own unique statement. The drama divided critics and whitewashing controversy started brewing the middle of its release (no African-Americans featured in a movie, despite featuring in the novel), which didn’t help its narrative. But at the very least, its exquisite detail and ghostly Southern Gothicness makes for an alluring, nearly haunting, experience.
“Wonder Woman”
Perhaps no film in the summer captured the zeitgeist like “Wonder Woman,” DC Films‘ first winning super hero movie. Stripping off the dourness of “Batman V Superman” and featuring more playful, far-less-anguished sensibilities, “Wonder Woman” lit up the box office and galvanized a legion of young girls thrilled with a role model of agency and vigor. That alone is immense. Gal Gadot is the perfect Wonder Woman, magnetic and charismatic, the Israeli-born actress took the role of a lifetime and made it her own with a mix of heartfelt sincerity and humor. “Wonder Woman” flips the script with Chris Pine as the arm candy and supporting character, but perhaps is greatest strength is creating a movie about feminist power that doesn’t need underlying. Wonder Woman just happens to be female. You can thank director Patty Jenkins for all of it as she brings real flair to the action sequences, but never forgets that character is what must drive her story forward.
If they’re still in theaters where you live, now’s a good time to catch up. If not, keep an eye on them for DVD/Blu-Ray, VOD, streaming releases.