Movie Reviews 4

 

Movie Reviews 4

If you enjoy strong performances from well-known actresses, check out "Mothers' Instinct" (2024), starring Anne Hathaway & Jessica Chastain. Notice where the apostrophe is, after the "s." The setup is that the two women are best friends living next door to each other in the late 1950s. Each has a young son, also best friends. The plot launches when a terrible accident claims the life of one of the boys. Most of the movie is an intense psychological study of how the two women cope with the accident. Here is where the movie is strongest, with outstanding performances by the two actresses. About three-fourths of the way thru, presumably either adhering to the book on which the movie is based or to broaden market appeal (or both), the movie shifts from psychological study to psychological thriller. That shift detracts from the emotional force of the movie and leads the viewer, after reflection, to question the plausibility of some of the plot details that occur near the end of the story. One imagines how the movie might have proceeded if it had remained a purely psychological study. But this is a relatively minor quibble. If you admire strong performances from women, this movie is well worth a look.

"The Delivered" (2019) was originally released as "Fanny Lye Deliver'd." Here's the IMDB blurb: "Fanny lives in an English farmhouse in 1657 when militant Puritans rule. Two fugitives with radical new ideas arrive. When the sheriff arrives, things deteriorate badly prompting Fanny to make drastic decisions about her life." Two things elevate this movie. First is the portrayal of everyday life under militant Puritan rule. Enforcers roam the countryside seeking anyone who doesn't toe the line, whereupon they mete out justice in the form of pain, suffering, and death with a gleeful lust that would make any Inquisitor proud. This is graphically depicted, with a dash of humor thrown in to take the edge off, a clever move by the director. Second is Fanny's complete change of worldview as the story progresses, brilliantly rendered by the British actress Maxine Peake. She begins as a dutiful Puritan housewife, treated harshly by her domineering husband (Charles Dance, who has made a career out of portraying disagreeable types), and ends as a fully liberated free-thinking woman, "delivered." Along the way, she comes perilously close to being sucked in by the philosophy (and practice) of libertinism, but at the edge of the cliff her good inner character reasserts itself and she rejects that path as no better than the dreary Puritanism of her husband. Not for everyone, but quite good.

"Club Zero" (2023) is a chilling look at the power of cultism. A new teacher at an elite prep school carefully grooms the students in her "Nutrition" class on the advantages of eating responsibly. Which turns out to mean eating less, which then morphs into eating nothing. Five students go all the way, qualifying for membership in "Club Zero." These students are literally lost to their parents who cannot comprehend what is happening. (To be fair, the parents are portrayed as hopelessly shallow.) All the requisites for cult mania are mercilessly portrayed: alienation, the need to belong, the need to believe in something that appears (at first) to be virtuous and beneficial, inadequate parenting. Mia Wasikowska is spot on as the cult leader who cannot understand how anyone could think that she is doing anything wrong. The only negative is the minimalist score which might drive you crazy, but if you survive that, then the rest of the package should scare the crap out of you if you view yourself as a responsible adult.