Tag Archives: Kristen Stewart

2020, Recent Reviews, Reviews

Underwater (2020): Familiar, but Enjoyably Tense

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Set on a drilling base at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, Underwater follows a crew of workers when something goes terribly wrong. Norah (Kristen Stewart; Personal Shopper) is a mechanical engineer that narrowly escapes a collapsing wing of the base and informs the others of the catastrophic damage. It appears that an earthquake has destroyed most of their base and its crew. As Norah and the others attempt to escape, they encounter anomalies that suggest they may not be alone on the ocean floor. The film is the first studio feature of William Eubank (Love), an indie sci-fi director, and he carries much of his style into the project.

Eubank is adept at creating tension. It’s immediately obvious that several of the crew are going to die, the questions are who, how, and when and Eubank keeps this guessing game interesting. Some deaths are predictable when characters venture away from the group, but other deaths can be swift and unexpected. There are plenty of jump scares, but few that feel cheap. There are moments of levity used to break the tension with T.J. Miller (Cloverfield) making sarcastic jokes in precarious situations, but these aren’t as annoying as they initially appear. Miller serves as an audience surrogate, pointing out the insurmountable danger they face that films often ignore. His jokes are usually only worth a chuckle, but they’re not to the film’s detriment.

The film’s influences are obvious.

The film boasts impressive visual effects. The sets have the unadorned look of an oil rig rather than a high-tech sterile environment and it adds to the realism, particularly when portions of the base collapse. Eubank uses the same contrasting speed-up / slow-down effect from his earlier films during explosive scenes to capture the power of the blasts and it provides some needed style. There are also interesting designs like the pressurized suits the crew wears to traverse the ocean. The suits could easily be mistaken for mech suits with their intricate, almost modular appearance. The designs of the sea creatures are mostly standard, but their quick movements and glowing eyes are frightening enough. The  best design is revealed towards the end when the film shows it still has a secret up its sleeve and is able to create a unexpected, but truly awe-inducing moment.

While the direction may be strong, it’s impossible to ignore the script’s unoriginality. The film is a cross between Alien, The Abyss, and The Descent with little original plot to add. It has the same blue-collar cast as Alien, the setting of The Abyss, and the creatures and claustrophobia of The Descent. The main crew has little development and the film seems more interested in its set pieces than its characters. Surprisingly, this was a beneficial choice. The lack of character focus allows the film’s strongest features, it’s visuals and direction, to shine. In the few moments when relationships and backstories are emphasized, the cast struggles with the lackluster script and do the film a disservice. It’s story is completely familiar but the film’s tense direction and visual flair are enough to make it an enjoyable ride.

3/5 stars.

2017, Recent Reviews, Reviews

Personal Shopper (2017)

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Olivier Assayas’s newest film was surprisingly the most divisive entry at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. After the screening, several critics booed the movie while others applauded. Despite the mixed reaction, most likely in response to the ending, it went on to win the award for Best Director. Personal Shopper is the second team-up between Assayas and Kristen Stewart after 2015’s Clouds of Sils Maria. Stewart plays Maureen, a personal shopper in Paris who happens to be a medium. Her twin brother, also a medium, recently died from a congenital heart disease they both share. They made a promise at a young age that whoever passed away first would give the other a sign from the afterlife so Maureen stays put in a job she hates, waiting for his signal.

Stewart delivers consistently strong acting. Her conflicted expressions display her fragile emotional state. Losing her twin brother was losing a part of herself and that mourning prevents her otherworldly explorations from becoming pretentious or irritating. During her day job buying clothes for her wealthy employer she shows her professional ennui without appearing whiny. Her character’s longing to reconnect with her twin brother and inability to move past with death are deeply sympathetic. Her previous experience working with the director has clearly benefitted her as she completely inhabits the role.

There is a certain amount of unintended silliness to the movie’s premise. It’s very easy for ghost stories to become laughable when attempts to connect with spirits are stilted and Personal Shopper occasionally veers into that territory. Large portions of the film feature Stewart texting the ghost that is supposedly stalking her which isn’t as foreboding as direct contact would have been. There are scenes when this type of communication is used effectively, like turning on your phone to see a series of progressively violent texts, but at times it makes the spectral world seem disappointingly mundane.

Stewart’s fearful attempts to make contact are the best parts of the film.

When Maureen is faced with meeting a ghost in person, the film is able to ratchet up the tension. As she explores an empty house or apartment looking for a signal from a spirit that may or may not be her brother, there is a palpable sense of dread because anything can be mistaken as a sign. Did someone leave that faucet on? Is it the wind that opened this door? Stewart’s performance hypersensitizes the audience to every irregular detail that could potentially be caused by supernatural interference. These scenes create the desired apprehension and show the potential of what the film could have been.

Personal Shopper is help back by its unfocused screenplay. Assayas splits the runtime across the intriguing ghost story and the fairly banal workplace drama. This prevents either aspect from being fully developed and actively harms the tone created in the ghost story. Maureen’s dissatisfaction with the menial tasks the make up her job and the demanding, inconsiderate diva she works for is relatable but consumes unnecessary screen time. Had Assayas been more decisive with his focus, he could have either made a compelling exploration of the afterlife or an interesting drama about a stifling dead-end job. Without a clear direction, Personal Shopper can’t succeed beyond Stewart’s committed performance.

3/5 stars.

2016, Recent Reviews, Reviews

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016)

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In 2012, Peter Jackson released The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D, displayed at 48 frames per second (fps). He, along with James Cameron, claimed that shooting at a high frame rate made viewing 3D a more stable experience and would prevent the headaches they sometimes cause. Here, Ang Lee (Life of Pi) brings us a film shot at 120 fps in 4K 3D. I was lucky enough to see the movie in one of the few theaters that are equipped to show it at its native 120 fps.

The film tells the fictional story of a Billy Lynn (Joe Alwyn), a young soldier who recently earned a Silver Star when caught on video leaping into the line of fire to save his Sgt. Shroom (Vin Diesel; The Fast and the Furious). Lynn and his team are invited to come on stage during a halftime show by football team owner Norm Ogelsby (Steve Martin; The Jerk) while they are temporarily back home for Shroom’s funeral. Along the way, Lynn reconnects with his sister Kathryn (Kristen Stewart; The Clouds of Sils Maria) and has a brief romantic encounter with a cheerleader.

The most immediate and striking aspect of the film are its visuals. The images are perfectly clean, without the slightest hint of grain or imperfections, and movement appears differently. The high frame rate means motions are almost too smooth. While initially jarring, the unique look quickly becomes acceptable. To Lee’s credit, the high frame rate significantly improves the 3D effect. Unlike viewing normal 3D films, where the images to separate when your eyes dart back and forth, here the 3D effect always holds constant and Lee uses it for impressively staged shots that take full advantage of the increased image depth.

Vin Diesel offers some sage advice as the spiritual Sergeant.
Vin Diesel offers some sage advice as the spiritual Sergeant.

The drawback to the image clarity is that it puts acting, good or bad, into stark relief. Lynn’s team has the back and forth expected from a tight knit group of young men, but the cheesy banter is made even more blatant by the visuals. The moments when an actor deliberately pauses before responding with a memorized quip are obvious and it makes the acting from the younger cast feel forced. The real standout is Garret Hedlund (TRON: Legacy) as Sgt. Dime. His loud, but incredibly eloquent and often hilarious diatribes convey his strength but also his love of his reports. Hedlund’s confident acting steals every scene and exemplifies the potential benefits of the shooting at this frame rate.

The film is at its best in scenes of action. Whether it is the fireworks of the halftime show or the deafening gunfire of battle, the film’s look is transportive. Normally, we look at films displayed on a flat screen. Here, it feels as if we are looking through the screen. In flashbacks of Lynn’s service, exploding buildings feel within reach and it makes every gunshot immediate. Lee smartly compares war scenes with the pyrotechnics of the concert to portray the effects of PTSD. The soldiers of Bravo squad leap at normal sounds because they are taken back their tour in Iraq. Using the strengths of his chosen medium, Lee is able to do the same to the audience.

Some have claimed that claimed that the format of the film is distracting and a step in the wrong direction. This idea is too narrow-minded to be correct. Using 120 fps will likely never become the standard. Instead it is a unique alternative that offers different strengths from the regular 24 fps we are used to. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk makes a strong case for the potential of the format, especially in action films. The increased image depth pulls in the eye and brings out details that would otherwise have been missed. While slightly diminished by some obvious acting, Ang Lee effectively uses the new technology to create heightened immersion into a character’s world and state of mind.

4/5 stars.

2016, Recent Reviews, Reviews

Café Society (2016)

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Café Society continues Woody Allen’s love affair with the past. While Midnight in Paris had him going back to the 1920s, here we have a glossy depiction of the 1930s. Jessie Eisenberg (The Social Network) plays Bobby, a young Jewish man from New York City who moves to Hollywood hoping that his successful agent uncle Phil (Steve Carell; The Office) will give him a job. Deliberately estranged from his family and career focused, Phil ignores Bobby for weeks until finally offering him work doing odd jobs. Since Bobby doesn’t know anyone in the city yet, Phil asks his secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart; Clouds of Sils Maria) to show him around town. Bobby soon falls for Vonnie and even though she clearly has feelings for him, she can’t reciprocate because she is already in another relationship.

The film is decidedly safe territory for Allen. The tropes are well worn with the characters almost prewritten. Bobby is Allen’s typical protagonist, meaning he is Woody Allen himself, but the performance is inconsistent. Eisenberg oscillates between his own shtick, the fast talking staccato phrases from The Social Network, to Allen’s self-deprecating nervous ticks. The standout performance is Kristen Stewart’s. Her anti-commercial attitude contrasts nicely with the materialist celebrities and big shots Phil socializes with and makes her the one down-to-earth person in a Hollywood filled with superficiality. The clothes she wears only add to her appeal and further distinguish her. The other characters are dressed in period appropriate clothing but Vonnie’s outfits, while perhaps overly twee, are more like a present-day fashion brand’s lineup of ’30s inspired clothing than something actually of the era. They add a modern twist to the old fashioned elegance. Vonnie’s combination of unique personality and looks make it only natural for Bobby to be so deeply interested in her.

Allen and Storaro take the "Golden Age of Hollywood" quite literally.
Allen and Storaro take the “Golden Age of Hollywood” quite literally.

The film leans heavily on its visuals. The famous cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now) lovingly recreates the era. This is Allen’s first film shot digitally and he and Storaro take full advantage of the format’s advantages when it comes to color correction. Scenes alternate between being shot in sepia tone and bathed in golden light from a sun that appears to be constantly at dusk. Does it make sense that everything seems take place before sundown? No, but it doesn’t matter. Their goal is to capture nostalgia and they achieve it. This artifice sometimes removes the scenes from any sense of reality, but is worth it for the gorgeous colors.

It’s the lack of emotional involvement that ultimately debilitates the film. There are brief moments when complications arise in Vonnie and Bobby’s relationship that entice, but most of the film is only engaging because of its visuals. Characters seem to be defined by quirky mannerisms rather than internal motivations. These idiosyncrasies can be momentarily amusing but aren’t enough to build any character depth. Even Vonnie, the film’s best and most fully developed character, eventually becomes like the other Hollywood socialites. Her previously attractive traits are gone and with them the film’s charm.  Like many of the stars at Phil’s parties, Café Society is visually attractive, unoffensive, and provides a few laughs, but isn’t substantial enough to stop it from joining the list of Woody Allen movies no one will be able to remember a few years from now.

3/5 stars.