The Patient

Steve Carell. Let's talk about Steve Carell for a minute. Full confession, I never watched "The Office." Well, I watched the first season of the original Ricky Gervais one but never went further. I did catch a few episodes of Carell in his version of "The Office" - a role from which I thought he would never really escape from or grow beyond (he did this from 2005-2013). Thankful I was wrong. 2014, the year after his stint at "The Office" ended, Carell did "Foxcatcher;" a memorizing film with Carell delivering a performance to match. "Foxcatcher" was a film, not just goofy comedy but something of art and Carell's performance was something for everyone to stand up and take notice of. Steve has kept making smart choices: "The Big Short," "Last Flag Flying," the heart retching "Beautiful Boy," "Vice," and Apple+'s TV show, "The Morning Show" (I loved this). So, this brings us to "The Patient," the new series streaming on Disney+. What's it all about? A serial killer, Sam (Domhnall Gleeson) wants to stop killing so he has chained his therapist, Dr. Alan Strauss (Steve Carell) to the floor in his basement to work through his issues. I was riveted.

The show dives deep into the Jewish psyche. I was raised in a secular household with Christian grandparents, so Christmas and everything that goes along with that has been on my religious field. Judaism, not so much. But I know enough to believe this show would be even more profound for my Jewish friends. There is a meditation here on death and guilt and there is powerful imagery of the Holocaust in dream sequences. It's also about family, Sam's relationship with his parents and ex-wife, and Alan's broken relationship with his son Ezra. Steve Carell has given one of his best performances on top all the smart ones he has given since leaving "The Office." Check into therapy and catch this new show on Disney+.  

Blonde

It blew me away. This might be the best film of 2022. What's it all about? Marilyn Monroe of course. But it's really about a girl named Norma Jeane (Ana de Armas - I will come back to her in a minute) who had a mentally ill mother and no father; so a girl with daddy issues invents and lives inside a character by the name of Marilyn Monroe. That's the movie, based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates. I was glued to it. As I type my little blog review, I have not one, but two Marilyn Monroe posters adorning my film nerd workspace. Marilyn has always been a tragic figure in my mind; someone who represents all the glitz of Hollywood and all the behind-the-scenes, suffering-in-silence that goes on in the land of studio make-believe. Again, this is the movie, all the suffering and anguish, the mental breakdown of Norma Jeane. Ana de Armas, who has been in both The Gray Man and No Time to Die, is far more than a pretty face. She gave everything to this performance and if she doesn't get an Oscar for it, well the Academy will have lost its way. And the look of this movie - it's like a newspaper collage of black and white, colour, dream sequences, quirky film techniques and styles; if that sounds arty, well it is. For me, it worked. I loved it. Andrew Dominik has crafted one of the best movies of the year. Catch it now streaming on Netflix. 

The Silent Twins

I have been accused by my friend Ross of enjoying films where the level of craziness in the protagonists is high. Well "The Silent Twins" does nothing to counter his argument; these are some of the craziest people I've ever seen (times two - they are twins!) and I really enjoyed this film. Enjoyed - maybe not quite the right word. I go to the movies for many reasons; often it's to have an empathetic experience or an emotional experience. "The Silent Twins" is a sad movie, horrific at times, and yet there is something extraordinary here; similar to "A Beautiful Mind"  - if you "enjoyed" that film, then you will experience something comparable. "The Silent Twins" isn't just about the mental illness of one person, but of two, identical twin sisters, June and Jennifer Gibbons. It was like they were two people with one personality - and growing up they would only communicate with each other. They lived in a world of make-believe, which is depicted in the film with the use of stop motion animation - it's this and other film fantasy sequences which make Agnieszka Smoczynska's film really something special. It is through their shared creative voices the twins are able to escape an almost self made prison. It's fascinating. Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance as June and Jennifer Gibbons are both fabulous. Catch this one in a rep cinema near you. 

Smile

“Smile” is bright enough to light up a theatre of horror movie fans even if it might not have brushing as hard as it could have been. What’s it all about? Similar to HBO’s “The Outsider,” Wes Craven’s “Shocker,” or recent horror hit, “It Follows,” we have a creature which moves from victim to victim assuming false identities and hiding in plain sight. In the case of "Smile" the creature stalks the next target as the last witness of the previous victim's suicide. The creature takes on different forms, reflections in mirrors, other people, relatives, etc. Its trademark, it's always smiling psychotically at its next potential victim. The next target is Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) after she witnessed a patient kill herself in front of her. "Smile" is a well crafted horror movie with a soundtrack which I adored. The score reminded me of great horror movie soundtracks of the 70s - "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "Shock Waves," and "The Exorcist." 2022 has given us some great horror movies, so there is lots to Smile about (see what I did there). With Halloween around the corner, go catch this one in a dark theatre as soon as possible. 

Vesper

In the world of film, most visions of the future look like inferior copies of "Blade Runner," "Mad Max," or a "Star Wars" ripoff. So it's pretty rare to get a bold new vision of the future; "Vesper" is pretty unique. What's it all about? It follows the story of Vesper (Raffiella Chapman) who lives in the wastelands outside of the wealthy citadel (where all the rich people live) with her bedridden father. She forages in the mud for edible roots and eats grub-slime soup. The world of "Vesper" is one which is dirty, wet, organic, and dismal. Vesper's world is a place where genetic engineering has run amuck; the closest film I've seen to something similar is Alex Garland's "Annihilation." Vesper communicates with her father with a flying google-home like device which kind of looks like an old apple computer with the guts of a pumpkin if you peek inside. Her father is like a droid sidekick as she sneaks about stealing seeds from her uncle (Eddie Marsan - he is a great character actor) in hopes of growing food. A ship from the citadel has crashed bringing with it a genetic designer and his daughter who seems to have a strange power to heal. "Vesper" has the organic sliminess of a Cronenberg film without being overly grotesque but it's just as smart. Catch one of the most original science fiction films to come out in decades, now on streaming services.