Hereditary

Hereditary (2018)

Starring Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne
Directed by Ari Aster
Written by Ari Aster
***This film is currently streaming via Amazon Prime***

Click here for my Letterboxd review

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The 33

The 33 (2015)

Starring Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mario Casas, Jacob Vargas, Juan Pablo Raba, Oscar Nuñez, Tenoch Huerta, Macro Treviño, Adriana Barraza, Kate del Castillo, Cote de Pablo, Elizabeth De Razzo, Naomi Scott, Gustavo Angarita, Alejandro Goic, Bob Gunton, and Gabriel Byrne

Directed by Patricia Riggen

**This film is currently available via HBO Now***

While I was mostly captivated while watching The 33 - the true story of a group of 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 days 2300 feet underground -- I was more entranced by the story as opposed to the film itself which feels too constrained by stereotypical movie tropes to really allow an emotional connection to the characters.  Director Patricia Riggen's film is admittedly hindered by a large cast of characters, but perhaps because of the abundance of possible stories, the movie never creates a visceral impact that I expected a film of this ilk to have.

The lead of the film is certainly Antonio Banderas as Mario Sepúlveda, a husband and father whose steadfast belief that they would be saved placed him in a leadership position with his trapped group.  Banderas does fine work here, but the film doesn't allow us to really connect with him in any way.  Sure, we get the requisite opening act in which we get a cursory overview and understanding of many of the lives of the miners before the fateful day, but these moments don't create a bond between the viewer and the characters.  Perhaps there's just too many people in play to really make this film work, or perhaps it would've fared better in the hands of different writers.

In addition to the darkness and oppressive heat 200 stories underground, The 33 also allows us to glimpse the troubles facing the rescuers and family members above ground.  Once again, there are too many pieces to the puzzle here for things to really click.  Riggen does a decent job of balancing both sides, but part of me wonders if the film would've succeeded if we'd never left the constricting confines of the miners' temporary habitat.  The 33 is undoubtedly an intriguing story and one that deserved to be told...I simply wish it was in a little better film.  It's not that what's presented is particularly bad, it's just a bit too generic for its own good.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Just a Sigh

Just a Sigh (Le temps de l'aventure) (2014)

Starring Emmanuelle Devos and Gabriel Byrne

Directed by Jérôme Bonnell

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Two people meet on a train to Paris and spend an afternoon talking and making love in Just a Sigh -- a film whose premise is anything but original, yet contains some seductively romantic moments as we find ourselves oddly invested in the film's outcome.

The film works best when Emmanuelle Devos and Gabriel Byrne share scenes together (or at least look longingly at one another) as, respectively, struggling fortysomething French actress Alix and British fiftysomething literature professor Doug.  Their quick, then more lingering glances across a crowded train ride to Paris set the stage for their romance and immediately create a palpable sense of sex appeal.  Unfortunately, the film attempts to flesh out Alix's life in particular -- the opening fifteen minutes feature her preparing for, then going to an audition; there's an odd ten minute diversion around the hour mark where Alix visits her estranged sister -- to no avail.  I'm assuming writer-director Jérôme Bonnell wanted to create a more natural approach to his two subjects by crafting a "day-in-the-life" style film, but when the film shifts away from the romance, it falls undeniably flat.

Obviously, for a film like Just a Sigh to work at all, there is a need for a connection to be felt between its two leads and that's certainly the case.  The build-up to the sexual consummation here is exciting and undeniably tangible with the love scenes between the two actors resonant and somewhat erotic despite the fact that nudity is doled out very tastefully and not at all gratuitously.  Devos and Byrne shine when they have scenes together.  It's just a shame the movie decides to branch out from their relationship because whenever it does that, it becomes a rather tedious bore.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+