Loose Leashes Sink Awards Ships: Netflix's "Leave The World Behind" And "May December"
#251: "Leave The World Behind," "May December," "The Pelican Brief," "First Man"
Edition 251:
Hey movie lovers!
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This week: Netflix drops two of its awards plays on us, and both fall flat. But don’t worry, better movies are on the horizon! And I induct a new movie into my ultra-exclusive five-star club on Letterboxd. In this week’s “Trailer Watch,” a movie about the Culture Wars that might actually be dangerous.
Leave The World Behind
The first season of the TV show “Mr. Robot” is one of those pieces of storytelling that leaves you forever indebted to its creator. Giving director Sam Esmail a Netflix-sized budget and movie stars like Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke to work with, felt like a can’t-lose proposition. Instead, it’s yet another example of the streamer’s overly indulgent development pipeline, allowing talented filmmakers too much leniency to chase their flights of fancy.
Esmail, while a brilliant visual stylist with boundary-pushing ideas, admittedly has a bit of an avant-garde sensibility (I know this because of his semi-regular appearances on one of my favorite podcasts). Without the necessary checks and balances, he’s created a mystery story that’s all build-up and no payoff.
This manifests first visually, with fancy camera turns and excessive drone shots attempting to spice up what is essentially a small, contained drama and disorient the viewer. It works a little too well, as I found myself being taken out of the suspension of disbelief, a tough blow in a story that is science fiction (at least for now…).
Essentially, a family rents out an Airbnb on Long Island, only to be joined by the house’s original owner (Ali and Myha'la Herrold) during a blackout. It soon becomes clear the blackout is a cyber attack and eventually a slow descent into apocalypse, which comes out more like a liberal fantasy of a collapsing society in a post-Trump America. Tragedies compound without explanation, and characters are helpless to do anything about it.
The biggest tragedy is the lack of character development across a 2hr18min runtime. Characters slowly reveal themselves over time, but none of the dramatic events causes them to change in a meaningful way, slowing any forward momentum in the story. I found myself waiting for it to turn into a third act resolution. I’m still waiting.
The point of the movie, it seems, is that it doesn’t really matter whether people try to make a difference or allowing them to anesthetized by “bread and circuses” (in this case, the TV show “Friends,” which is a hilarious gag), because the forces working against them are unknowable and unstoppable. Forgive me for still having some hope!
Now, is the movie devoid of value? Of course not. I found Roberts’ performance somewhat erratic, but Hawke is great and Ali remains one of the most charismatic screen presences in the world. The movie works best as a thought experiment — it’s similar to Don’t Look Up! in that and many other ways, now that I think about it.
But if this movie, and May December below, were meant to be two of Netflix’s award plays this year, then I think they came up short. That said, I still have very high hopes for Maestro, which is out on the service Dec. 20.
(Sidenote: I’m sorry to be a bummer this week. I genuinely don’t like when I can’t recommend the movies I’m writing about, because it’s not as helpful for you all. Don’t worry! I’ve got three theater movies on the radar for next week that I have very high hopes for.)
Something New
May December (Netflix): Every year there’s one movie that comes along (past examples include House of Gucci or First Reformed), which I can acknowledge is quality and is made by a true filmmaker making artistic decisions and real intention behind his storytelling…in short, all the things I want out of a movie, and yet I actively dislike all of those decisions and end up strongly disliking the movie.
This year, that is this movie, which tells the story of an actress (Natalie Portman) sent to do research for a role by shadowing the woman she’s playing. The woman (Julianne Moore) was formerly a tabloid star for having an affair, and a child, with a 13-year-old boy, but now the two live together with a family 20+ years later.
The Ringer’s Bryan Curtis rightly identified this as closer to a journalism movie in its construction, considering Portman interviews secondary sources and observes her primary subject, and that’s good because any of the renderings of the art form of acting are incredibly pompous and silly. Maybe that’s the point? Sudden pops of dramatic music reminded me of the SNL sketch “The Californians” when all the characters crowd around the mirror, and the effect here had to be intentionally comedic in the same way. I wasn’t laughing. I also just struggle with Portman and Moore, both incredibly effortful actors playing incredibly effortful parts, so much so that the seams are showing on the story like it’s an acting class exercise. Again, we’re talking about director Todd Haynes here (I’m Not There, Carol, Far From Heaven), clearly he knows what he’s doing. It just didn’t work for me at all. I know this movie created some buzz when it dropped last week so I’d be curious if any of you all saw it and had a different opinion. Let me know!
Something Old
The Pelican Brief (1993, Pluto TV): Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington together in a movie. That’s essentially the entire pitch of this David Grisham adaptation about a law school student (Roberts) who accidentally uncovers a government conspiracy and gets hunted while a newspaper reporter (Washington) tries to uncover the story. It’s 70s paranoia in 90s’ overly polished style, from the genre’s foremost filmmaker Alan J. Pakula (All The President’s Men, The Parallax View). It’s actually kind of hilarious how many times the entire movie slows to a halt just to bask in Roberts’ smile and beauty, which is ironic considering she mutes her charisma for most of the runtime. I actually didn’t love this movie as much as it’s reputation, or even as much as a lot of other Grisham movies, but the floor on these 90s pseudo-thrillers is just so high. As far as cheesy dramas go, this one is pretty fun.
Something to Stream
First Man (FX Now): This was my No. 1 movie from 2018, and upon revisit, it joins the super exclusive club of five-star movies on my Letterboxd. You can read my full review HERE, but I was blown away by Damien Chazelle’s direction this time around. It’s an incredibly visceral experience, masking the depth of the storytelling underneath that nonetheless leaves and impression on a viewer in the end. It’s unlike any space movie that’s come before or since, and might be my favorite of the genre. I’ve also been overwhelmed lately by just how many Ryan Gosling movies I love (in recent weeks Fracture, Drive, A Place Beyond The Pines and this). Hard to deny he’s my favorite actor at the moment.
Trailer Watch: Civil War
It’s not often that a movie comes along that truly feels risky, but this movie is steering into the third rail of society by depicting the political culture war as actual violence. If they don’t pull this off, the movie feels like it could be actually dangerous for society. Or a total laughing stock, mocked by both sides of the spectrum. Even if it’s good, it’s likely to cause a firestorm from conservative media. You thought “The Hunt” was bad? That was nothing compared to what this movie has in store.
And yet, it might be awesome. Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) is a visionary director, and the cast is strong: Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman, Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny. I respect the fearlessness, but I’m just telling you now…it’s playing with fire.