Chappie, Force Majeure, Leviathan, Mommy Reviews

Chappie

Dir. Neill Blomkamp

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Following his innovative, action-packed sci-fi apartheid-metaphor movie District 9, Neill Blomkamp disappointed many of us last summer with the lackluster Elysium, a film with an amazing premise, that the rich had fled the planet for a Halo-like spacecraft while the poor stayed on Earth, but was a mess on execution. Chappie marks yet another return to this kind of heavy sci-fi, "slum world" of Blomkamp's, and to be honest I was more expecting a repeat disappointment like Elysium. But despite its status among other critics, I actually ended up loving this movie. It's overloaded with themes (ideas about consciousness, the soul, survival, ego, business, etc), has a number of scenes that stretch believability, and some might be turned off by its close relation to other films (namely Robocop), but none of those things took away from the heart of story for me - the actual titular robot, Chappie.

The film takes place in a near-future Johannesburg, where the streets are policed by a robotic patrol force. Deon Wilson (Dev Patel) is the robotic scientist who first developed this "robocop," if you will, but is shut down by his boss, Michelle Bradley (Sigourney Weaver), when he finally cracks the code for true artificial intelligence. Breaking the rules, Deon steals a broken unit about to be destroyed so he can upload his AI program. But on his way back home, he's kidnapped by a group of gangsters who force him to program the robot to help them with a heist - thus "Chappie" is born, and under very complex circumstances. As he begins to learn, similarly to a child, Chappie is both the product of his "maker" - Deon - a positive role model, and his "mommy and daddy," the gangsters who train him. The result, to me anyway, was a fascinating look at how consciousness develops through this uniquely stylized sci-fi backdrop.

The film looks fantastic, and the CGI is so good on Chappie you can simply forget he's not really in the same place as his human counterparts. His voice and movements were captured from Blomkamp's go-to actor, Sharlto Copely, and it was simultaneously child-like, animalistic, and robotic. Chappie's features include two antennae that respond almost like cat ears, and two handles that act almost as a mouth and eyebrows, making Deon's creation feel like the perfect balance between an actually emotive being, but still a machine. I also thought the colorful gangster "underworld" was very offbeat and designed well (the "mommy" character seems right out of a comic book). Even the guns were unique and brightly colored.

The critics are blasting this one, with only 20% on Rotten Tomatoes, many claiming that the film is overstuffed with ideas and doesn't do anything with them. I've had that very thought about many films over the years (Jupiter Ascending being a recent example), but I don't think it applies here. The story is filled with ideas, sure, but remains simple at its core - it's a story about this robot "growing up" and learning about the world - and there weren't really any loose ends by the time credits rolled (plot holes, maybe, but no loose ends). Maybe I'm a sucker for this type of story (a scientist becoming the "father" of his/her experiment, i.e. Splice, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), but I found it fascinating, fun, legitimately exciting, and actually emotional (as cheesy as it is, the "Black Sheep" scene pulled at my heartstrings). Everyone has their own opinion, but I just don't see the hate, especially when the disappointing Elysium has relatively a high Tomato Score at 68%. I thought Chappie was a great return-to-form for Blomkamp, and proves to me that District 9 wasn't a "fluke."

Rating: A-

Force Majeure

Dir. Ruben Östlund

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Have you ever made a split-second decision that ruined your life? Force Majeure exposes what happens when a father makes a questionable George Costanza-esque decision when faced with the prospect of an oncoming avalanche during his family skiing trip. I won't say any more plot details to avoid spoilers, but I really liked this film, with its darkly comic insights on the fragility of relationships. The film is shot very exactly and compositionally, with many beautifully structured still shots of ski lifts and snowy mountains. I love watching the dismantling of "picture perfect" families in movies (I don't believe those exist - or should exist!), and Östlund captured this particular downward spiral in a strangely funny, wonderfully uncomfortable way. Can't wait to see what he does after this!

Rating: B+

Leviathan

Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev

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Nominated for the Best Foreign Film at the Oscars, Leviathan was on many a top-ten list last year. This Russian film is about a fisherman (Aleksey Serebryakov) whose land (that's been in his family for generations) is threatened by a corrupt, often-drunk mayor (Roman Mandyanov).  Although the film shows the level of dilapidation his land is under, it's still beautifully shot and you can get a sense of why he's so against letting it go. Leviathan is more or less an indictment against the Russian government, which doesn't seem to bat an eye at the requests of a "blue collar" worker, but even with a message I support, this movie was purely and simply boring. LONG stretches of this film felt to me like pointless excursions of poor Russians getting drunk and depressed. And even though it paints a negative portrait of the government, it doesn't exactly show our protagonist in a good light either. Serebryakov is also a mean drunk, and often hits his kid - which makes it difficult to "root" for him as the going gets tough. Maybe on a re-watch I'll appreciate it more, but this 2.5 hour long, mind-numbingly slow, religiously-toned anti-Putin put-down gave my eyelids a workout.

Rating: C

Mommy
Dir. Xavier Dolan
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One of my favorite movies of the past decade is World's Greatest Dad (RIP Robin Williams), which told the story of how a father deals with having a problem son. Mommy, a French-Canadian feature, may as well be a spiritual sequel called "World's Greatest Mom." Anne Dorval plays the titular "mommy" to her loose-canon, violent, but deep-down kind hearted son Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon). As a single parent, Diane struggles with Steve's unpredictable behavior, but their neighbor, Kyla (Suzanne Clément), mysteriously decides to help them. While the movie has a plot that sounds like a somewhat standard dysfunctional family drama, Dolan uses some ingenious cinematic techniques to really get you inside the mindset of Diane. He uses an extremely tight aspect ratio to frame his subjects, making the world seem very claustrophobic and almost imprisoning. With Steve pretty much taking over her life, Diane is almost like a prisoner of her world. But still, out of this tiny box on the movie screen comes very uniquely beautiful compositions that you'd never normally see in a traditional widescreen film (I don't want to go into examples to avoid spoilers!).

Mommy is one of the most powerful family dramas I've seen since the aforementioned World's Greatest Dad, and although at times the Kyla character's motivations eluded me, I really thought this was a fantastic film, with amazing performances, especially from Pilon, who realistically shows a troubled youth without going "supervillain-y," like in We Need to Talk About Kevin. What makes this movie all the more painful and emotional is knowing that deep down Steve is not malicious, but he clearly has some sort of mental incapacity to function normally. And Dorval completely won me over as a mother who can't help but love her son, even as he becomes dangerous to her. This is a fantastic film, and if you can, try to see it in a theater to get the full "aspect ratio" treatment!

Rating: A-

By the way, after seeing these films, both Force Majeure and Mommy were ROBBED of their spot on the Academy's Best Foreign Film category!