Originally published in print December 2020.
Connor Howlett, Film Editor
Les Misérables
Les Misérables (Ladj Ly, 2019) is set in the Parisian commune of Montfermeil, and follows a team of three police officers in the Anti-Crime Brigade. Not to be confused with the musical, but not completely disconnected from its tale of inequality and injustice, the film is a searing critique of police conduct and the culture of silence that goes with the badge that the world has been made so aware of recently. Ly’s feature début combines the intense heat of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) and the multicultural specificity of Paris from La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995), as well as horrifically real police misconduct from both. It’s like watching a feature episode of The Shield (Shawn Ryan 2002-2008) that’s set in present day Paris. Every time an officer shows an inkling of guilt and humanity, and you’re pleading with them to finally make the right choice, the culture of silence makes them bow their heads. Effectively, this is a narrative that is familiar to us even if we are privileged enough for it not to be about us, or to have happened to people we care about. Yet, the elegance of its direction, cinematography, writing and performances make it undeniably memorable. It doesn’t wrap things up into a neat little bow of narrative closure at the end, but it’s shown you all it needs to for you to know what happens next. I left the cinema with a fire lit inside me, and that makes it my film of the year.
Les misérables is coming to Irish Netflix on December 31.
Saint Maud
In Saint Maud (Rose Glass, 2019), my favourite horror film released in Ireland this year, pious nurse Maud (Morfydd Clark) is sent to look after a dying patient, Amanda (Jennifer Ehle), a former actress, when what begins as care soon becomes obsession. It’s not the ‘cute’ obsession that certain weirdos fetishize from Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2003) at this time of year: Maud’s desire to save Amanda’s soul is unsettling to the core. What unsettles most is not so much the plot, but Maud’s character nuances as they develop in the script, as well as the hauntingly intimate cinematography that captures every subtle expression of Clark’s mesmeric performance. Neat, expressive set pieces add to the chills, as you begin to question the integrity of what you are seeing and whose perspective it is from right up until the very last frame. And what a spectacular final frame it is. Did God intervene?
Savvy Hanna, Deputy Film Editor
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hitmann, 2020) is a beautifully raw film that follows seventeen-year-old Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) as she attempts to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Her local sex health clinic in rural Pennsylvania challenges her hesitation to keep the pregnancy by showing her an anti-abortion video, and state law would require Autumn to get permission from her conservative parents for the procedure. She confides in her best friend and cousin, Skylar (Talia Ryder), who gathers the funds necessary for the two girls to travel to New York City by themselves so that Autumn can get the abortion without parental consent. The film manages to completely avoid the melodrama often found in teen narratives, instead providing an authentic portrayal of female adolescence. The scene that provides the film’s title is particularly gut-wrenching, as the camera holds on a close-up of Autumn while she answers personal questions before the procedure, and we get a brief but intimate glimpse into her past. The character-driven plot and terrific acting from the two young leads placed Never Rarely Sometimes Always as my favourite film at the Berlinale Film Festival, where it deservedly won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.
Never Rarely Sometimes Always is available to stream on Sky/Now TV.
Onward
Pixar’s latest film Onward (Dan Scanlon, 2020) had the bad luck of being released in the same month that the entire world shut down thanks to COVID-19, but the unfortunate financial results are no reason to dismiss this heartwarming animation. Onward is set in a world full of mythical creatures such as elves, centaurs, and pixies, where magic exists but has become obsolete. The plot focuses on teenage elf Ian (Tom Holland) and his older brother Barley (Chris Pratt), who lost their father shortly before Ian was born. On Ian’s sixteenth birthday, he is gifted a magical staff, a rare gem, and a letter describing a spell that can bring their father back for a single day. When the spell is only half successful, the brothers must go on a quest to find another gem and give Ian the chance to finally meet his father. The film has a wonderfully adventurous quality as the brothers are faced with exciting, and often hilarious, twists and turns on their journey. The sentimental finale would have anyone wiping away a few tears, and the film’s emotional core is particularly potent for those with a sibling of their own.
Onward is available to stream on Disney+.
And two to look forward to next year…
James McCleary, Deputy Film Editor
Another Round
This one is a bit of a cheat as it won’t be released in Irish cinemas for another month and a bit (I wonder what caused the delay), but it really is worth the wait. Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg, 2020) stars Mads Mikkelsen as Martin, a depressed, perpetually exhausted teacher who joins three of his peers in undertaking an unusual experiment; they will drink in secret all day, every day, to maintain an exact blood alcohol level and test their hypothesis that people actually function better tipsy than sober. As a premise, it could be chirpier, but in truth the film toes the line between the tragedy of these middle-aged men trying to reclaim their livelihoods and hilarious, frequently shocking moments of comedy. As much as Vinterberg wants you to cringe in terror every time Martin and his peers risk exposure, it is evident that his ultimate goal is to endear them to you. Things do inevitably take a turn for the horrific as the four teachers grow increasingly bold, but the journey there is full of the goofy, human details that they had been missing for so long. It’s a beautiful film, matching the majestic power of Mads Mikkelsen with a script that tests the full range of his performing ability. Provided you can get past that one inch tall barrier of subtitles (credit goes to Bong Joon-ho for those truest of words), Another Round is exactly the sort of cathartic shot of energy that I think everyone needs right now.
Another Round, at the time of publishing, will be released in Irish cinemas on February 5, 2021.
Black Bear
Black Bear (Lawrence Michael Levine, 2020) genuinely surprised me. As a hopeless addict to scrolling through Film Twitter, there have been fewer and fewer opportunities for me to see films completely blind over the past couple of years, especially ones with stars as close to my heart as Aubrey Plaza. For that reason, I won’t say a word about the plot except that it concerns three characters in an isolated cabin in the woods. Two of them are in a strained relationship, with the third being a flirtatious outsider staying in their guest room. Over the course of a night, the trio drink a lot of wine. Things get messy. In terms of genre, this film is virtually unplaceable. Though it is promoted as a drama/thriller with a black comic streak, I’m struggling to find a better word to describe it than horror. The claustrophobia of being trapped in an increasingly convoluted and brutal social scenario with strangers, of being an outsider feeling perceived, is prevalent in virtually every frame of the film, even if the question of which character is in fact the outsider can shift from minute to minute. Black Bear will keep you guessing and gasping in equal measure, intriguing and horrifying with a simple indie plot that rapidly rises to nightmarish heights. It is absolutely not for the faint of heart, but if for whatever insane reason you find yourself fancying a bit of quarantine-themed horror, this is the film for you.
Black Bear, at the time of publishing, will be released in Irish cinemas on March 5, 2021.
