Cannibals Need Companionship Too In Rangy ‘BONES AND ALL’

November 23, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged André Holland, Arseni Khachaturan, Bones and All, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon Green, Luca Guadagnino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Taylor Russell 2 Comments

Sympathy for The Devil

Luca Guadagnino has made a career of sucking every last ounce of fat from the narrative bones of his projects. From his arthouse critical darling Call Me By Your Name, a sweeping pedophilic queer romance, to his celebrated – though gaudy and overwrought – remake of Suspiria, Guadagnino suckles on the teat of indulgence. This viewer has found Guadagnino’s style overtly lugubrious, feigning depth by overstaying his welcome, applying a Terrence Malick aesthetic template to otherwise intriguing conceptual pitches. This is no different in his latest adaptation, Bones and All, a cannibal love story that 100% should be my jam but wasn’t entirely. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘LIZZIE’

September 19, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chloë Sevigny, Craig William Macneill, Kristen Stewart, Lizzie, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

A killer isn’t born, a killer is made. Or so goes the phrase. If my hours spent to tuning in to “The Last Podcast on the Left” has taught me anything, it’s that the vast majority of serial killers come from deeply troubled homes. This is surely the case for Lizzie Borden. One of the most notorious female killers in history, the well-to-do Borden came from a respectable lineage, one of both prestige and prosperity. In Lizzie, the crumbs for a double homicide are laid inside a household that stewed dark impulses and nasty internal affairs. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘LEAN ON PETE’

April 9, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Andrew Haigh, Charlie Plummer, Chloë Sevigny, Lean on Pete, Magnus Nordenhof Jønck, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Steve Buscemi, Steven Zahn, Travis Fimmel Leave a comment

Scruffy name aside, Andrew Haigh’s deeply felt and heartstring-plucking Lean on Pete is a sorrowful spirit trip through America’s discarded backcountry where a boy wants desperately for belonging. Haigh’s emotionally draining adaptation of Willy Vlautin’s 2010 novel of the same name is of the traumatic animal movie ilk. Not for the weak-spirited, the film from A24 constantly tests the resolve of its protagonist, putting him in increasingly difficult circumstances. Even the life of the titular Lean on Pete, a racehorse on his last leg, lies under constant threat as his unsympathetic owner makes passing threats of sending him off to the glue factory with all the remorse of stepping on a bug. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘LOVE & FRIENDSHIP’

May 25, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chloë Sevigny, Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh, Emma Greenwell, Jane Austen, Kate Beckinsale, Love & Friendship, Morfydd Clark, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Stephen Fry, Tom Bennett, Whit Stillman, Xavier Samuel 1 Comment

In Whit Stillman’s sprightly and effervescently comical Love & Friendship, the Victorian era gets an uproarious facelift. Based on Jane Austen’s novella ‘Lady Susan’ (but going by the moniker of yet another Austen title), Love & Friendship is a frilly costume drama plump with acidic joviality and atypically boiling over with meaty guffaws. For those who typically avoid hifalutin, period piece fare, which Stillman’s picture appears to be from an arm’s length, expect to rather entreat with a tongue-in-cheek send up; a welcome vacation from formality and frivolity. His one-of-kind character piece is injected with barbed zingers, sharp witticisms and a tangy, irreverent touch, like a creampuff fluffed full with key lime paste but still absolutely delicious. Read More