🍿27: Titane

It's Salty Popcorn's 1st birthday! Celebrate with a review of Titane and a roundup of the best films of 2021 🥳

Dec 30, 2021

“I may be old-fashioned, but I thought murder was against the law.”
~ Strangers on a Train, 1951

Happy New Year (& Birthday!)

Salty Popcorn turned 1 yesterday and oh my has it grown! Thank you to everyone who has supported the first year of the independent micro-zine/newsletter by reading, sharing and even paying. No matter your level of support, SP wouldn’t have grown without you.

To round off 2021, let’s recap some of the best and most memorable films from the past year in a handy list of the top five:

The Last Duel | Ridley Scott’s first film of 2021 fell under the radar and has been overshadowed by House of Gucci, but it’s a fantastic period drama with some truly raw (though sparse) violence.

Judas and the Black Messiah | I was surprised how quickly the world (myself included) seemed to forget about this film, especially with the BLM movement and the fact that it won two of the six Oscars it was nominated for.

Minari | This is a beautiful film and although it’s not quite ‘feel-good’, it isn’t far off. The title and cast may give the impression it’s a foreign film and if that’s not your vibe then you’ll be glad to know there aren’t that many subtitles.

Sound of Metal | This film’s UK release was constantly pushed back as the producers wanted a cinema release and despite having waited eagerly for months, I was far from disappointed.

Another Round | When I look back on the best films I’ve reviewed for SP, this one is always the first to come to mind. At its heart, Another Round is a comedy but it explores some more serious themes that make it stand out against any other comedy I’ve seen in recent years. For the best experience, watch with a cocktail (or 10).

If you’ve not watched any of the five films above, I’d start with the bottom and work your way up - you won’t be disappointed. Though I’m also interested to know what your favourite film of 2021 was, so be sure to let me know in the comments.

Upcoming Releases

The House

UK: 14 January // USA: 14 January

As with movie news, there aren’t a whole lot of new trailers this week, but The House really caught my eye a couple of weeks ago.

This eerie-looking animation features the voices of Helena Bonham Carter, Miranda Richardson and Matthew Goode as it tells three separate stories all centred around the same house.

BigBug

UK: 11 February // USA: 1 February

From visionary French director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie) comes a new comedy sci-fi that sees a group of suburbanites locked in their homes (for their safety) by their household robots, while an android revolt rages outside.

Fact(s) of the week

In memory of the late Jean-Marc Vallée, the director of Dallas Buyers Club who sadly passed away on Sunday at the age of 58, it felt fitting to share an interesting fact about what is arguably his most famous film.

The budget for Dallas Buyers Club was so low that the makeup department was given just $250. Despite being so low, the film’s artists found a way to work with what they had and managed to bag the 2013 Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Review: Titane

Star rating:

3.5 (out of 5)

Where to watch:

USA: Apple TV ($6.99)

UK: Only in cinemas

Runtime:

1hr 48m

Director:

Julia Ducournau

Blurb:

For the sake of not offering anything more than the director intended, here’s the official synopsis: “Following a series of unexplained crimes, a father is reunited with the son who has been missing for 10 years. Titane: A metal highly resistant to heat and corrosion, with high tensile strength alloys.”

The review (NO spoilers):

From Julia Ducournau, the award-winning director of cannibalistic horror Raw, comes Titane. This surreal arthouse body horror, for which Ducournau won the coveted Palme d'Or in Cannes 2021, is not for the faint of heart.

Mark Kermode called Titane “an adult fairytale about love, rage and loneliness, that operates on a visceral level, employing outlandish physical metaphors to describe down-to-earth emotional truths.”

Despite Kermode’s praise and the fact that it won one of the highest honours in cinema, I can’t say I was blown away. Though that’s not to say that Titane doesn’t have its strengths.

For instance, Agathe Rousselle (a newcomer to the big screen) is fantastic as there isn’t a moment where the spell of her performance is broken. She lives through every twist and turn regardless of what the role demands of her.

This film will undoubtedly continue to divide audiences as it has critics (there are equally as many 5-star reviews as there are 1-star on Google), if you’re a fan of gruesome horror and enjoy (or can at least cope) with far-fetched imagery and metaphor then this will be right up your street.

Scroll down for The Critic’s Cut and to see what’s in the next issue.

If you liked Titane…

Possessor

2020 | UK: Amazon Prime (£2.49) // US: Apple TV ($3.99)

An elite corporate assassin, Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough), uses brain-implant technology that helps her control other people’s bodies and carry out high-profile hits.

This sci-fi horror is wildly original and while it’s not as disturbing as Titane (which is probably a good thing) its reality is much easier to believe.

Taking a slightly different approach, many critics are drawing parallels between Titante and David Cronenberg’s 1996 Crash, in which a group of people fetishise car crashes. If you’ve not seen it, that might also be one to add to your watchlist.

In the next issue:

Boiling Point

UK: 7 January // USA: 19 November (2021) | Watch the Trailer

The Critic’s Cut 🚨SPOILER ALERT🚨:

I’m not a huge fan of deep cinematic metaphors, so it will come as no surprise that with Titane, I struggled to accept Alexia (Rousselle) being impregnated by a car…

However, I did enjoy watching the relationship develop between Alexia and Vincent (Vincent Lindon) as he accepted her as his son and continued to love her unconditionally even as he realised she wasn’t.

While I was expecting a high-octane, sexy, dark, disturbing and murder-filled joyride, it was this blossoming relationship as both characters, broken in their own way, found what they needed in each other. The surprise of finding this almost-wholesome (and yet completely twisted) relationship is the greatest part of this film.

Salty Popcorn