Kafkatesque ‘MEN’ Favors Allegory, Mood Over Plot

May 17, 2022 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged A24, Alex Garland, Horror, Jessie Buckley, Men, Paapa Essiedu, Rory Kinnear 1 Comment

Men? Meh.

If we feel pain, are we doomed to it? Writer-director Alex Garland’s latest film, Men, is plagued by this one idea: the cyclical, unwavering nature of pain and abuse. Jessie Buckley is Harper, a woman suffering. After a traumatic incident involving her former husband (Paapa Essiedu), Harper retreats to the English countryside to find some quiet away from the city and the life she shared with her ex. While she intends to give herself space for emotional healing, Harper instead finds an intrusive, hellish male community seemingly dead-set on breaking her down further. Events turns more weird, then utterly hellish. Read More

Zellweger Stages a Full-Throated Comeback In ‘JUDY’, A Sturdy Biopic That Doesn’t Quite Find Next Gear

September 23, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Andy Nyman, Biopic, Darci Shaw, Finn Wittrock, Jessie Buckley, Judy, Out in Theaters, Peter Quilter, Renée Zellweger, Reviews, Rupert Goold, Tom Edge Leave a comment

Fame is toxic. Particularly for the young. Ask River Phoenix. Or Lindsay Lohan. Brittany Spears. Macaulay Culkin. We’ve seen the tragedy of adolescent fame, one as old as the concept of fame itself, play out across history time and again. In Judy, the prepubescent bargain for fame opens the film. Flanked by a yellow brick road, a young Judy Garland (played by Darci Shaw) trades her songbird voice and every ounce of independence for the opportunity to be more than “just a mother” or another “office girl”. For the chance to be seen, admired, beloved by a nation. Unknowingly selling her soul to the devil of entertainment and damning herself to a challenging life of self-commodification, Judy is the OG tragedy girl struck down by fame’s cantankerous venom. Read More

SIFF ’19: ‘WILD ROSE’ A Fierce And Ill-Mannered Country Music Come-Up

May 28, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Reviews, SIFF, SIFF 2019, Tom Harper, Wild Rose Leave a comment

Featuring a star-making turn from Jessie Buckley, Wild Rose follows a recently released convict/songbird with Nashville dreams. Eyes will be superglued to Buckley who brings ragged life to a complicated deadbeat momma aspiring to be a country star in Tom Harper’s somewhat familiarly-written film that examines the shoals of starry-eyed aspirations and harsh real world realities. Fastened with warm, heartfelt soundtrack (performed with spellbinding beauty by Buckley) and with a solid foothold in semi-charmed redemption, Wild Rose is a white trash crowdpleaser that manages something new to say in a routine ‘star is born’ subgenre. (B) Read More

SIFF ’18 Capsule Review: ‘BEAST’

May 23, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Beast, Jessie Buckley, Johnny Flynn, Michael Pearce, Reviews, SIFF 2018 Leave a comment

This moody slow-burn from writer-director Michael Pearce is a psychosexual tone-poem of quiet desperation. On a reclusive island, Jessie Buckley’s misfitted Mal falls for Pascal (Johnny Flynn) who just so happens to be the chief suspect for a string of heinous murders perpetrated against the communities’ women. Pearce’s seductive romantic thriller plays a tantalizing game of cat and mouse, teasing the audience with an eerie soundscape and an off-axis visual palette. Buckley is a find as Mal, offering a full-charged performance and a different breed of leading lady. (B) Read More