This was a really good week for movies with lots more on the horizon. The following four films are very diverse and interesting. Enjoy! J & J
Beast
This film is both interesting and confusing. Interesting because it is set in an English “island town” on Channel Island, Jersey. Confusing because the viewer is never clear who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
It is an impressive first feature by writer-director Michael Pearce.
Moll (played by Jessie Buckley) is 27, lives with her parents (mom played by Geraldine James) until meeting gritty Pascal (played by Johnny Flynn) who immediately fall in love.
It gets dicey after that and it is hard to tell what is really going on, i.e. crimes, heartbreak, who did what to whom…
It is rated R for violent content, language and some sexuality. It is listed as a Drama with a run time of 107 minutes. To my thinking the film should be titled Beasts, because there are many more than one!
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Adrift
Here is another story based on actual events. A young couple who meet overseas befriend an older couple who need help relocating their sailboat back to San Diego from Tahiti.
The title alone tells the next chapter where the young couple are confronted by a massive storm that inflicts injuries and catastrophic damage to the sailboat.
The primary actors are Shailene Woodley, best known for her performance in Divergent, as Tami and Sam Claflin, for his role in Hunger Games, plays Richard Sharp. It is both a love story and a survival drama.
It is rated PG-13 for injury images, peril, language, brief drug use, partial nudity and thematic elements. It is listed as a Drama, Romance. It runs 1 hour, 39 minutes.
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The Seagull
This is a film version of the Anton Chekov play by the same name. The lead character is actress Irina Arkadina played by Annette Bening in one of her best performances. That said as the story unfolds, it becomes increasingly complex, confusing, shifting from one drama to another. In total, it is a bit too much to absorb.
Nonetheless, the cast is impressive. Saoirse Ronan is the love interest of the son, played by Billy Howle as Konstantin. Corey Stoll plays Trigorin, the actor/writer close friend of the family. Elisabeth Moss plays a brooding friend of the family who marries another family friend played by Michael Zegan. Brian Dennehy plays the estate owner/brother and Mare Winningham is the estate keeper.
Audience and critic reviews are generally favorable. It is rated PG-13 for some mature thematic elements, a scene of violence, drug use, and partial nudity. No surprise the genre is listed as a Drama. The run time is 1 hour, 38 minutes.
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Mountain
Every once in a while a Documentary comes along with only a minimum narrative. In this story Willem Dafoe is the only vocal in the film. No worries though, it is also appropriately listed as “A Cinematic and Musical Odyssey”, performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra. It is an instant classic!
The result is a breathtaking series of images of mountaineers, ice climbers, heliskiers (skiers who jump out of helicopters), snowboarders, wingsuiters (folks who literally fly down a mountain in a body suit), and mountain bikers with parachutes.
Overall, the topic and scenery are stunning bordering on overwhelming. The film is not rated (there are some perilous sports actions, some injury images and brief smoking). Some scenes are intense. We do not recommend viewing for young children.
It is listed as Art House & International, Documentary with a 74 minute run time.
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