Two Netflix Originals. and One More
"I Am the Pretty Things that Lives in the House"
starring: Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, Bob Balaban, Lucy Boynton, Brad Milne, Daniel Chichagov
written and directed by: Oz Perkins
This is a horror film that borrows heavily from other psychological horror/thriller films and even books (re: Shirley Jackson). It reminded me of films like "The Haunting" and "The Others" as well as "The Shining" without giving too much away. It is a quiet, psychological thriller that begs you to pay attention and stick with it, even though the "big reveal" seems quite a bit obvious if you're a student of film or even if you've seen movies like this before. So, this is another Netflix-produced Original that could've hit it out of the park, but instead went for the obvious, easy hit.
Where the film works is in the disconcerting way it creates a very eerie atmosphere of supernatural terror within this house. Clearly the main character, played by Ruth Wilson in a very calm, quiet, and subtle way that works, is a very fragile being. It is not a fast-paced horror film, and there isn't much killing or death that occurs, much like the horror films we are used to as an audience.
This is a very minimalist film, keeping to one location and limiting its cast of characters to five. Although for the most part it focuses on only one of those characters: hospice nurse Lily (Ruth Wilson), an insecure young woman very much in the mold of THE HAUNTING's Eleanor Vance. She's just the sort who is ripe for falling prey to the spirits who are, as the film's opening narration informs us, the true owners of the house where Lily tends to dying horror novelist Iris Blum (Paula Prentis).
Nothing much happens, but you have to be okay with that to appreciate how the film works.
..........................................................................
"Asthma"
starring: Benedict Samuel, Krysten Ritter, Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Goran Visnjic, Dov Tiefenbach, Iggy Pop, Joey Kern, Gillian Zisner
written and directed by: Jake Hoffman
The "main" character, twentysomething Gus (played by Benedict Samuel), is a guy that wants to live in the past, who thinks he would've been better served as someone around in the '70s and '80s, but he is also a mopey, dramatic, self-pitying, trust-fund baby who is completely unlikable as a human being and that does not go well for the film. This is a character-study type of film (with Krysten Ritter along for the ride, as the sort of manic pixie dream girl- which is very unfortunate because her talent is wasted here). But, the thing with character-study films is that often times the main character is likable and you are rooting for change in them by the end. Gus just comes across as someone who wants to be an amalgram of all these other characters that have come before him, and thus done "it" better than him.
One logically assumes that Gus is a typically self-pitying trust-fund baby playing at being a fashionably dirty rebel loser, and that assumption proves true, but another early scene quickly changes the narrative’s stakes. Gus attempts to hang himself after painting his entire apartment in hues of ghost white, and Hoffman lingers on his near strangulation, emphasizing a close-up of the character’s convulsing feet as he gurgles out of the frame from above. It’s an astutely brutal moment, as Asthma needs this scene to steer it out of the realm of proffering smug, insulated faux-pathos. Gus is a poser, a dude in love with the romanticism of dying young as a tortured artist who can’t be bothered to create the art said romance requires, but his pain is real.
Gus commits a crime and goes on the lam with a beautiful woman. That woman, Ruby, is played by Krysten Ritter, who’s gorgeous in that somewhat socially estranged manner that will likely doom her to “saving” cinematic fuck-ups for at least the next decade of her career. Hoffman’s aware of the clichés inherent in this scenario, and he chafes at them—to an extent. Ruby is allowed to have pain as well, and she’s easily the most graceful character here, despite her essential, ultimate existence as the classic straight male fantasy of the perfect fusion of Madonna and whore.
This is a film that had potential, but it petered out pretty quickly and the characters just become exhausting. I will stick with watching Ritter in the second season of Jessica Jones!
..........................................................................
"When We First Met"
starring: Adam Devine, Alexandra Daddario, Shelley Hennig, Andrew Bachelor, Robbie Amell, Dean J. West, Tony Cavalero
written by: John Whittington
directed by: Ari Sandel
Full disclosure time (again)- Alexandra Daddario is absolutely effin' cute and beautiful- My crush-o-meter is at maximum overdrive when she smiles. On "True Detective" and "Texas Chainsaw 3D" it seemed like her physical attributes were on clear display and you couldn't tell if she was much of an actress. But, given the right material (re: rom-com and the like), she can actually fit well into the role designed for her. I saw her in a cute indie rom-zom-com "Burying the Ex" and now with this rom-com, she is perfect for the character. She is the definition of the girl you want to meet in the meet-cute that sets up all rom-coms.
Sure, at its core, this film can be seen as slightly offensively possessive- it's a dating Groundhog Day, the premise of which solely focuses on the idea that a man-child character gets to relive the same day over and over again just to get himself out of the friend zone with a girl he's been infatuated with (unhealthy, much) for the past 3 years.
The star of “Workaholics” leads the film as Noah Ashby, a jazz pianist who can’t get over the most memorable meet-cute of his life. Three years ago, Noah went to a Halloween party (dressed as Garth from “Wayne’s World”) and literally ran into a beautiful young lady named Avery (Alexandra Daddario) dressed as Geena Davis' character from "A League of Their Own." They chatted the night away, went to his piano bar, took some photos in a booth, and even went back to her place. In a possibly romantic moment, Noah leaned in for a kiss … and got a hug. He fell deep into the friend zone. Three years later, he’s attending Avery’s engagement party to Ethan (Robbie Amell) and getting drunk to hide his misery. Fate will intervene in the form of a magic photo booth that sends Noah back to that fateful evening and gives him a chance to rewrite his life with Avery over and over again.
This is another Netflix-produced Original that just seems like they are going through the motions and not really trying to put out actual original material that is really good. It's like they are now students in school who have settled for C-average material. Really unfortunate because they claimed the price increase in subscriptions was necessary in order to bring more Original things and if this is what they are using our money for, I beg them to do a bit better, and to stop recycling storylines.
starring: Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, Bob Balaban, Lucy Boynton, Brad Milne, Daniel Chichagov
written and directed by: Oz Perkins
This is a horror film that borrows heavily from other psychological horror/thriller films and even books (re: Shirley Jackson). It reminded me of films like "The Haunting" and "The Others" as well as "The Shining" without giving too much away. It is a quiet, psychological thriller that begs you to pay attention and stick with it, even though the "big reveal" seems quite a bit obvious if you're a student of film or even if you've seen movies like this before. So, this is another Netflix-produced Original that could've hit it out of the park, but instead went for the obvious, easy hit.
Where the film works is in the disconcerting way it creates a very eerie atmosphere of supernatural terror within this house. Clearly the main character, played by Ruth Wilson in a very calm, quiet, and subtle way that works, is a very fragile being. It is not a fast-paced horror film, and there isn't much killing or death that occurs, much like the horror films we are used to as an audience.
This is a very minimalist film, keeping to one location and limiting its cast of characters to five. Although for the most part it focuses on only one of those characters: hospice nurse Lily (Ruth Wilson), an insecure young woman very much in the mold of THE HAUNTING's Eleanor Vance. She's just the sort who is ripe for falling prey to the spirits who are, as the film's opening narration informs us, the true owners of the house where Lily tends to dying horror novelist Iris Blum (Paula Prentis).
Nothing much happens, but you have to be okay with that to appreciate how the film works.
..........................................................................
"Asthma"
starring: Benedict Samuel, Krysten Ritter, Nick Nolte, Rosanna Arquette, Goran Visnjic, Dov Tiefenbach, Iggy Pop, Joey Kern, Gillian Zisner
written and directed by: Jake Hoffman
The "main" character, twentysomething Gus (played by Benedict Samuel), is a guy that wants to live in the past, who thinks he would've been better served as someone around in the '70s and '80s, but he is also a mopey, dramatic, self-pitying, trust-fund baby who is completely unlikable as a human being and that does not go well for the film. This is a character-study type of film (with Krysten Ritter along for the ride, as the sort of manic pixie dream girl- which is very unfortunate because her talent is wasted here). But, the thing with character-study films is that often times the main character is likable and you are rooting for change in them by the end. Gus just comes across as someone who wants to be an amalgram of all these other characters that have come before him, and thus done "it" better than him.
One logically assumes that Gus is a typically self-pitying trust-fund baby playing at being a fashionably dirty rebel loser, and that assumption proves true, but another early scene quickly changes the narrative’s stakes. Gus attempts to hang himself after painting his entire apartment in hues of ghost white, and Hoffman lingers on his near strangulation, emphasizing a close-up of the character’s convulsing feet as he gurgles out of the frame from above. It’s an astutely brutal moment, as Asthma needs this scene to steer it out of the realm of proffering smug, insulated faux-pathos. Gus is a poser, a dude in love with the romanticism of dying young as a tortured artist who can’t be bothered to create the art said romance requires, but his pain is real.
Gus commits a crime and goes on the lam with a beautiful woman. That woman, Ruby, is played by Krysten Ritter, who’s gorgeous in that somewhat socially estranged manner that will likely doom her to “saving” cinematic fuck-ups for at least the next decade of her career. Hoffman’s aware of the clichés inherent in this scenario, and he chafes at them—to an extent. Ruby is allowed to have pain as well, and she’s easily the most graceful character here, despite her essential, ultimate existence as the classic straight male fantasy of the perfect fusion of Madonna and whore.
This is a film that had potential, but it petered out pretty quickly and the characters just become exhausting. I will stick with watching Ritter in the second season of Jessica Jones!
..........................................................................
"When We First Met"
starring: Adam Devine, Alexandra Daddario, Shelley Hennig, Andrew Bachelor, Robbie Amell, Dean J. West, Tony Cavalero
written by: John Whittington
directed by: Ari Sandel
Full disclosure time (again)- Alexandra Daddario is absolutely effin' cute and beautiful- My crush-o-meter is at maximum overdrive when she smiles. On "True Detective" and "Texas Chainsaw 3D" it seemed like her physical attributes were on clear display and you couldn't tell if she was much of an actress. But, given the right material (re: rom-com and the like), she can actually fit well into the role designed for her. I saw her in a cute indie rom-zom-com "Burying the Ex" and now with this rom-com, she is perfect for the character. She is the definition of the girl you want to meet in the meet-cute that sets up all rom-coms.
Sure, at its core, this film can be seen as slightly offensively possessive- it's a dating Groundhog Day, the premise of which solely focuses on the idea that a man-child character gets to relive the same day over and over again just to get himself out of the friend zone with a girl he's been infatuated with (unhealthy, much) for the past 3 years.
The star of “Workaholics” leads the film as Noah Ashby, a jazz pianist who can’t get over the most memorable meet-cute of his life. Three years ago, Noah went to a Halloween party (dressed as Garth from “Wayne’s World”) and literally ran into a beautiful young lady named Avery (Alexandra Daddario) dressed as Geena Davis' character from "A League of Their Own." They chatted the night away, went to his piano bar, took some photos in a booth, and even went back to her place. In a possibly romantic moment, Noah leaned in for a kiss … and got a hug. He fell deep into the friend zone. Three years later, he’s attending Avery’s engagement party to Ethan (Robbie Amell) and getting drunk to hide his misery. Fate will intervene in the form of a magic photo booth that sends Noah back to that fateful evening and gives him a chance to rewrite his life with Avery over and over again.
This is another Netflix-produced Original that just seems like they are going through the motions and not really trying to put out actual original material that is really good. It's like they are now students in school who have settled for C-average material. Really unfortunate because they claimed the price increase in subscriptions was necessary in order to bring more Original things and if this is what they are using our money for, I beg them to do a bit better, and to stop recycling storylines.
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