A Fall from Grace
Grace (Crystal Fox) is a respected middle-aged bank employee who’s been arrested for murdering her hunky younger husband (Mehcad Brooks). Jasmine (Bresha Webb) is a young lawyer sent to get Grace to sign a plea deal — only to become invested in finding out the truth about what really happened. Let’s not mince words: this legal mystery thriller from writer-director Tyler Perry is absolute garbage. But in the best possible way. Reportedly shot over only five days, this movie has everything: filmmaking that feels rushed and sloppy, questionable acting choices by everyone involved (including legends like Phylicia Rashad and Cicely Tyson), dialogue that is totes atrosh. And I loved every awful second of it. This is not just a tacky soap opera — it’s an outright trashterpiece. We’re talking The Boy Next Door-level deliciousness here. Brooks, so charming on TV shows like True Blood and Supergirl, is here a nuance-free Jekyll-and-Hyde monster with an already-iconic quotable line: trust me when I tell you that no actor wants to perform a line as ghastly as “Ashtray, bitch!” — but Brooks’s delivery is the kind that lives on forever. You’ll be reenacting it then cackling fiendishly for, oh, the rest of your whole entire life. And that big climactic plot twist? You guys, it’s as stupid and trashy as you ever could have hoped for. Movies this delightfully bad don’t come along often, so make sure you don’t miss out.
Distributor: Netflix
Release date: Jan. 17, 2020
Grade: F/A+
The Marshes
A biologist (Dafna Kronental) and two male colleagues travel to a marshland in rural Australia, conducting water tests that will help them in their conservation work — only to find themselves being hunted by a bloodthirsty mythical Swagman. First-time filmmaker Roger Scott combines folklore with slasher elements, though his screenplay dumps its Swagman exposition rather clumsily and never quite develops these characters and their relationships enough for the viewer to care. Unnerving sound design and especially the film-elevating work of editor Jessica Mutascio combine to create a hallucinogenic state indicating that a character is in proximity to the Swagman — quite the contrast to the film’s otherwise naturalistic (and clearly low-budget) storytelling. A rare horror film where the scares happen in broad daylight. I appreciate Scott’s effort to put a uniquely Australian stamp on a well-worn genre, but this isn’t particularly compelling or scary.
Distributor: Shudder
Release date: Jan. 9, 2020
Grade: C
A Sun
Black-sheep younger son (Chien-Ho Wu) commits assault and is sent to prison. Golden-boy older son (Kuang-Han Hsu) struggles with the pressures of living up to his parents’ expectations. Mom (Samantha Ko), a hairdresser, dreams of opening her own salon. Dad (Yi-Wen Chen), a driving instructor, espouses a ‘carpe diem’ philosophy, though has never applied it himself. In this Taiwanese melodrama, filmmaker Mong-Hong Chung (Parking) details the tragedies and suffering that befall this family as each member grapples with their respective demons. Look, I found this absorbing and well-acted, but to be honest... I watched this a couple of weeks ago, and I’m still having difficulty finding anything interesting to say about it. I suppose I was impressed by Chung’s cinematography (yes, the director shot this himself), particularly during a nighttime sequence late in the film taking place during a torrential rain storm. Editor Hsiu-Hsiung Lai also did great work making this years-spanning narrative seem way shorter than its 156-minute running time (though this does feel like misery porn at times). I think the problem is that Chung’s thesis is ultimately nothing that special, and so I can’t help but shrug. Still, every character is well-written and complex, and this cast definitely delivers. This film might have inspired my least eloquent review, but I was emotionally invested and found it quite satisfying, and you probably will too.
Distributor: Netflix
Release date: Jan. 24, 2020
Grade: B-
37 Seconds
Lovely Japanese melodrama about Yuma (Mei Kayama), a young aspiring manga artist with cerebral palsy yearning for freedom from her over-protective mother, who sees her as a helpless child. Surprisingly middlebrow for a film that premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival (and then screened at Tribeca and TIFF) — first-time filmmaker Hikari favours bright lighting and an unshowy formal style that feels rather too safe and familiar. Aesthetically and tonally, this would fit right in with the recent era of young-adult weepies, a film of intense emotions and sprinkled with no shortage of soap opera plot developments. Kayama superb in her film debut — the wheelchair-bound actress carries every scene of this film, charting Yuma’s progress from mousy insecurity through her journey of self-discovery and sexuality. This is an enormously demanding role both emotionally and physically, and Kayama really sells every nuance. Strong work too from editor Thomas A. Krueger, helping Kayama nail diverse set pieces, from the thrill of a stressful escape to the absolute cringe of an attempted hookup with a male sex worker. Misuzu Kanno excellent as Yuma’s arguably abusive mother. Not exactly a great achievement in cinematic form, perhaps, but this story is written and performed with sincere emotional depth that I found quite moving.
Distributor: Netflix
Release date: Jan. 31, 2020
Grade: B
Troop Zero
Rural Georgia, 1970s. An unpopular preteen girl named Christmas Flint (Mckenna Grace) dreams of traveling to outer space. When a representative of NASA comes to Georgia to select a Birdie Scout troop whose voices will be recorded onto the Voyager Golden Record and sent into space, Christmas assembles a troop of local misfit girls — and Joseph (Charlie Shotwell), her effeminate best friend — to compete for that opportunity. Superb period costumes by Caroline Eselin-Schaefer and sets by Laura Fox, who create a very specific place and time that drips with sweat. British directing duo Bert & Bertie populate this world with a cast of characters who all resonate and matter, thanks to the quirky, heartfelt screenplay by Academy Award nominee Lucy Alibar (Beasts of the Southern Wild). Grace a fantastic lead actress; this is a finely etched character who snickers endearingly at anything that delights her, whose oddball sense of humour helps mitigate the constant bullying. Funny, layered performances as well by Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, and especially Viola Davis, as Christmas’s dad’s secretary who becomes her Birdie troop’s reluctant leader. When Christmas and friends finally perform for NASA at the Jamboree, the whole experience is so joyful and strange and chaotic and triumphant that I teared up. A wholesome family comedy with an unusually urgent message that your kids will benefit from: there’s nothing wrong with being a weirdo, because every one of us is a weirdo in our own way — and boy is it ever worth the wait when you finally find your people.
Distributor: Amazon Prime Video
Release date: Jan. 17, 2020
Grade: B
