🍿86: American Fiction
This week, three great trailers and an even greater fact for LOTR fans.
“You’re not really a writer unless people are reading your shit.”
~ The United States of Leland, 2003
Poor detectives…
A few weeks ago, a reader (shout out to Diana) reached out to ask why Poor Things hadn’t made our list of the best films (that we reviewed) during 2023. The reason? It’s only just come out in the UK! Diana said I’d love it — and they were right!
Poor Things is a supremely surreal comedy with visuals that are very Salvidor Dali-esque. I tend to turn my nose up at surreal cinema, but I’d give this film five stars, if I was reviewing it. It’s sad and profound, it’s disturbing and hilarious (Mark Ruffalo particularly — I’d watch it again just for him). I’d go so far as to say it verges on being a feel-good film, or some twisted version of one.
If you haven’t seen Poor Things yet, you must.
For the nights spent at home and not at the cinema, we’re coming to the end of Better Call Saul — a show we have thoroughly enjoyed. Considering almost everyone has watched Breaking Bad, I don’t think BCS gets the credit it deserves, at least not in the UK. If you’re a BB fan and you haven’t seen BCS yet, you will not be disappointed.
Speaking of ‘disappointed’, we’ve also been watching the latest season of True Detective… it’s quite dull, isn’t it? No matter how much I tried to like it (because I wanted to) we only managed three episodes before giving in to our loss of interest. What I am interested in is how a show with so much promise, has consistently fallen flat since its first season. The only exception may be the third season starring Mahershala Ali, but even that didn’t live up to the beginning.
Now for the headlines:
After 40 years in the making, a teaser image has finally been revealed for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. Read more.
Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell are set to star in Kogonada’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey. Read more.
Posters have been revealed for Alonso Ruizpalacios’s English-language debut La Cocina starring Rooney Mara alongside Raúl Briones. Read more.
Upcoming Releases
We Grown Now
UK: TBC // USA: 19 April
Set in Chicago in 1992, two wide-eyed and imaginative best friends — Malik (Blake James) and Eric (Gian Knight Ramirez) — traverse the city, looking to escape the mundanity of school and the hardships of public housing, when their unbreakable bond is challenged by a tragedy that shakes their community.
For anyone who saw Close (one of my favourite films of 2023) this film looks like it carries a similar vibe.
A Quiet Place Day One
UK: 28 June // USA: 28 June
The third instalment of John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place stars Lupita Nyong’o as ‘o’ in this spin-off prequel set in New York, right at the beginning of the invasion.
For any readers in the US, I’d love to know what happens when you follow the marketing call to action mentioned in the YouTube description for this video. Please let us know in the comments!
Text ‘BE QUIET’ to 929-202-SHHH (7444) or tap here to experience Day One HTTPS://PARAMNT.US/TEXTAQP
La Chimera
UK: TBC // USA: 29 March
Nominated for the Palm d’Or at Cannes last year, La Chimera is the story of young British archaeologist Arthur (Josh O’Connor) who finds himself adrift in Italy with a group of grave robbers.
Fact of the week
When filming The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the sound design team had the unique problem of trying to capture the sound of 10,000 Urak-hai (basically big orcs) to complete what is widely regarded as one of the best battle scenes in cinema: The Battle of Helm’s Deep.
At first, they tried recording a crowd of 50 people and digitally duplicating and layering the recordings on top of each other, but apparently, this didn’t feel quite right. So instead, the production team headed to the cricket stadium in Wellington and Peter Jackson managed to direct 25,000 cricket fans chanting in black speech (the language of Mordor) during halftime.
Here’s a short clip of sound designer Ethan Van Der Ryn talking about the scene. Just hit play and the video will start around the 2:50 mark:
Review: American Fiction
Star rating:
4 (out of 5)
Where to watch:
USA: Only in cinemas
UK: Only in cinemas
Runtime:
1hr 57m
Director:
Cord Jefferson
Blurb:
Monk (Jeffrey Wright) is a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment that profits from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, he uses a pen name to write an outlandish book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
The review (NO spoilers):
Nominated for no less than five Academy Awards, writer-director Cord Jefferson has hit a high note with his screen adaptation of the 2001 novel ‘Erasure’ by Percival Everett.
It is, in fact, a film of many firsts with Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Jefferson and composer Laura Karpman all being nominated for their first Oscars — not bad considering this is Jefferson’s directorial debut.
Karpman’s smooth jazzy score sets the tone for this upbeat but (slightly) melancholy drama-comedy — with emphasis on the drama.
While there are several laugh-out-loud moments, I wouldn’t call this a laugh-out-loud film. The humour is more subtle, and the story is much deeper than the trailer suggests. The core premise (of Monk’s joke-book) isn’t really what the film is about – it’s an important part of the plot, but this film is really about relationships, hypocrisy, envy and the state of the literary world.
If anything, Monk’s book, titled ‘My Pafology’, feels almost like a subplot, despite being the central narrative that ties everything together. Meanwhile, the relationships with his mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams), sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross) and estranged brother Cliff (K. Brown) are much more pertinent.
Things get pretty deep, and somehow Jefferson covers a lot of different ground, and does so without making the film feel rushed or lacking. Every subplot, every scene, and every line of dialogue feels carefully considered. There are no loose ends and nothing is unnecessary (which can often be the case when films try to do too much).
It’s a rare thing, for a film to balance being funny, poignant and topical, without having an identity crisis, but that’s exactly what American Fiction manages to achieve — and it’s this that makes it stand out as an Oscar-nominee, rather than a typical comedy. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing, is up to you.
Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.
If you liked American Fiction…
You Hurt My Feelings
2023 | UK: Prime Video (Free for subs) // USA: Paramount+ (Free for subs)
Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as Beth, a novelist whose longstanding marriage is suddenly upended when she overhears her husband (Tobias Menzies) giving his honest reaction to her latest book.
I’ve not seen this yet but it’s on my list and it’s got a great score among critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
In the next issue:
The Zone of Interest
UK: 2 February // USA: 15 December | Watch the Trailer
Great issue, Tom 👏 Many great recommendations here. I don't know which film I want to see more - "We Grown Now" or "You Hurt My Feelings". Both seems to be right down my alley.
P.S. Damn that LOTR fact blew my mind 🤯