The Novice

The Novice is a portrait of obsession, grit, and raw determination. Isabelle Fuhrman plays Alex, a freshman who joins the rowing team in her junior year at university. Nothing will stop her becoming the best rower on the team. Through, blood, sweat, and tears, Alex pushes herself to new limits. Isabelle Fuhrman has given us one of the most brilliant and powerful performances of 2021. Already overlooked by the Golden Globes - Oscars, get your head out of your golden ass and pay attention. Isabelle Fuhrman is a powerhouse. The Novice is the feature directorial debut from Lauren Hadaway; she has given us a stunningly good looking film. It's beautiful like a boat of rowers in perfect unison; this movie glides gorgeously along. And it subverts expectations - there are a few twists I didn't see coming. Catch a ride with The Novice on streaming services. 

The Power of the Dog

 This is a Jane Campion film. She has been busy with her series Top of the Lake for many years. This is her first feature in over a decade; it's a good good one. What's is all about? Benedict Cumberbatch plays hyper-masculine cow-wrangler, Phil and Jesse Plemons plays his softer bother, George. George marries Rose (Kirsten Dunst) and she has a teenager son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is artistic, sensitive and likely gay. Well it turns out that Phil, behind all that testosterone and cruelty, he's a repressed Brokeback Mountain cowboy himself. Phil is pretty nasty to Rose throughout the film and Peter, he doesn't like anyone being mean to his momma. You have to watch out for those quiet types. The movie may be slow but it's gripping. The ending may leave you surprised and confused, so pay attention, this is an astute tale of revenge. It's also one of the best looking films of the year and it has given us some of the best performances too. This one is already nominated for a Golden Globe best picture. It will be surely be nominated for an Oscar too. Catch it now on Netflix.   

C'mon C'mon

 

With the charm and black and white cinematic sensibility of a Woody Allen or a Jim Jarmusch film, C'mon C'mon offers us one of the most delightful films of the year. Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny, a radio journalist making an audio documentary about kids and what they think the future will hold for them. His sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann) recruits Johnny to look after her son Jesse (Woody Norman) while she deals with her mentally ill musician husband. The film is essentially the relationship between Jesse and Johnny. Johnny, even though his is making a radio piece about what kids think,  has no understanding of his own nephew. Johnny is a fish out of water when it comes to parenting and quickly learns all the highs and lows which come with the job - turn your back for a second and they are gone. Woody Norman who plays the kid is really a charming little guy and full of talent for improv. The film is full of authentic moments of both charm and melancholy. This one will be be making my list of the best films of 2021. Catch it on streaming services when available. 

The Feast

 This is the first feature for director Lee Haven Jones and it's something to behold. It's a horror film that Cronenberg would have been proud to have made - it's slow, aesthetically extremely cold, and creepy as fuck. If this doesn't sound like your bag, the The Feast is not for you. Also it's in the Welsh language, so subtitles to boot. For me, this is all good stuff. What's it all about? A wealthy family is throwing a dinner party and they hire Cadi (Annes Elwy) to help prepare the meal. Cadi, well she is one creepy freak for sure but the whole family is odd and everyone seem to have a strange fetish. Lots of kinking voyeuristic action takes place in The Feast, including the audience - the act of watching others in their private moments is both unsettling as an invasion of privacy but also perversely alluring to see what is really going on. Isn't that what film and books are though, keyholes into the lives of others? This little film looks great and it offers up a three course horror show. If you like your horror movies strange, mythical, and gross, then dig into The Feast on streaming services. 

Boiling Point

Like 1917 or Birdman, Boiling Point is a one shot movie, no edits or cuts; it's just one take (or at least that's what it's supposed to feel like). Anyway, for me, the gimmick usually gets old, but not in the case; for Boiling Point it just ramps up the tension. If you have every worked in a restaurant, then Boiling Point is must viewing - they have achieved a great feeling of authenticity; people have obviously put themselves through film school washing dishes and/or waiting tables - this stuff is spot on. The story revolves mostly around head chef Andy (Stephen Graham) and all he and his restaurant have going on. There is a lot on his plate (order up restaurant puns!) - from cranky health inspectors, a surprise food critic and a celebrity chef drop in, nut allergies, rude guests, bickering staff, lazy dishwashers, and the pressure of a full house, Boiling Point cooks right along. There was even a small moment between two pastry chefs in the back kitchen which had me of the cusp of tears. The movie is technically brilliant but also truly engaging. The entire cast is really fabulous - Vinette Robinson as Carly was a stand out. Make a reservation to watch Boiling Point when the opportunity arrives. It's a five star. 

King Richard

 Welcome to the next movie which will be nominated for Oscar's Best Picture. Based of the true story of Venus and Serina Williams and how their father helps turn them into international tennis stars. The story really is a remarkable one, Richard Williams (played by Will Smith - will he be nominated for this?) had five kids from his first marriage, two with his second and his second wife had three from a previous marriage. Richard's second marriage is what the film focuses in on, raising these five girls, Venus and Serina being his biological kids. He wrote out a plan, an 85 page plan, to turn them into tennis pros. The film portrays Richard poor, working as a security guard in the evening and training his daughters in the day in a scroungy ghetto of L.A., They practice tennis on a crappy court surrounded by bad-ass gangsters who like to talk smack. The whole movie follows the playbook of the underdog sports movie; so yes, it's a bit cliched at times but King Richard, well it delivers an ace down the center line. And I love to root for the underdog. Catch this on in the theatres or on streaming services. 

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

 

1969, a lot of crazy stuff happened in America that year. A lot of culture changes were afoot. The Woodstock music festival has a historic place in the consciousness of North American society, especially white society; largely due to the fact that the documentary Woodstock won the Oscar for best documentary in 1970. Everyone has seen it (if you haven't, more film homework for you). What I didn't know, what the world didn't know was100 miles away in Harlem, in New York City there was an almost all-black music festival known as the Harlem Cultural Festival - a festival that spanned over six weekends at fifty thousand people at a time. That's 300,000 people, a mostly all black audience, listening to some of the greatest black artists of the time (except for Jimi, he was at Woodstock) and nobody knows anything about it; well that is, until now. Summer of Soul is the documentary about this festival, it's place of relevance to the people who lived in Harlem, for those who attended, and those who performed. It's as culturally significant as Woodstock, both for the music and the fact that it was ignored. Ignored nor more. Summer of Soul is much watch viewing for both its importance in the place of history but also for the great music of  Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and Gladys Knight (to name some of the highlights). We get to see Stevie Wonder playing drums! Amazing! Catch this wonderful time capsule on Disney+ or in theatres if you can.