“Enys Men”
It’s been a notable year for slow horror, considering how Kyle Edward Ball’s “Skinamarink” turned its viral hype into a successful, however limited theatrical run, even if some people found that movie too slow or too visually dark to follow. A similar experience can be found—but with color possible from 16mm film and a Bolex camera—in “Enys Men,” which banks its dread on a claustrophobic and mighty slow experience. “Enos Men” is the latest from “Bait” director Mark Jenkin, who also wrote, shot, and scored this project about a woman who ventures through an unsettling (and fictional) Cornish island for miners. From its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, our critic Jack King compared the film to the likes of “The Wicker Man” and “Repulsion,” and all of elevated horror. Given the latter, when praising “Enys Men,” King wrote: “This is how you do it.” – NA [Read our review]
“How to Blow Up a Pipeline”
One of 2023’s most controversial movies so far had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and this spring, its title made marquees, and Google searches extra intense: “How to Blow Up a Pipeline.” The film is the second feature from Daniel Goldhaber, who previously took viewers on an existential trip through sex work with “Cam” and now digs into a book by Andreas Malm about extreme means for climate justice. “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” is a more narrative spin on that book’s ideas and tells of young people who want to make an explosive change. Goldhaber has gathered a cast of intriguing up-and-comers like Marcus Scribner, Forrest Goodluck, Jake Weary, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Kristine Froseth, and Lukas Gage. Reviewing the film out of its premiere, our Jourdain Searles praised the movie for how it “puts a spotlight on true heroism” while praising the “expert” editing by Daniel Garber and the “impressive practical effects that lend a bare-bones realism to the narrative.” – NA [Read our review]
“Infinity Pool”
Brandon Cronenberg continues confidently stepping away from his father David’s shadow with each memorable mindfuck of a movie, putting his own spin on body horror and the bourgeoisie. After having given us “Antiviral” and “Possessor,” writer/director Cronenberg traps us in a vacation with the world’s wealthiest. On a fictitious, third-world island, the wealthy can literally buy their way out of punishments, with an uncanny clone taking the death plenty in their place. This is typical business for people like Mia Goth’s sinister Gabi, who freely practices what can readily be called “murder tourism.” Gabi and her cronies are impulsive and destructive in the scariest way, horny to humiliate and indoctrinate fresh meat like Alexander Skarsgard’s James. In the actor’s most sensitive and spineless role yet, we follow Skarsgard into the abyss of the one percent’s hedonism. Cronenberg and cinematographer Karim Hussain pack this journey with unsettling depravity and trippy sequences, its strobe-lit bacchanals making the story’s moral horror all that more alarming and seductive. – NA [Read our review]
“John Wick: Chapter 4”
If it wasn’t already evident from the previous three movies, people come to “John Wick” movies primarily because of the action filmmaking, and not just the stars. Yes, Keanu Reeves kicks a supreme amount of ass while doing many of his own stunts in these samurai-inspired action bonanzas, but it’s the work of director Chad Stahlelski and his crew that gives viewers endless headshots, car hits, and cohesive edits to relish. The hunger by Stahelski and team for genre glory remains evident, as this movie constantly tries to one-up itself as our hero John Wick navigates hundreds of people who want to kill him. The set pieces, which turn the Arc de Triomphe and Sacre Coeur into playgrounds, are inspired and filled with equal ingenuity and knowing recklessness. On top of that, “John Wick: Chapter 4” continue’s the franchise’s way of being a martial arts all-star franchise, this time bringing in the hulking figure of Marko Zaror, the sidekicks of Scott Adkins (in a fat suit!), the speed of Donnie Yen, the grace of Hiyoyuki Sanad, and more. We’re still uncertain as to whether this is truly the end for Wick, but it’s a finale worthy of shooting in the Lourve. – NA [Read our review]
“Past Lives”
You would never know this was writer and director Celine Song’s first movie. A drama so impressive that six months after its world premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, it’s still one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. Divided into three chapters, the film follows Nora (initially Seung Ah Moon, then an incredible Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim as a child, Teo Yoo as an adult), two childhood sweethearts (or is that soulmates?) whose lives take different paths after the former’s family moves from South Korea to North America in the late 1990s. Song brilliantly captures how initial nostalgia over a Skype reunion between the two in their ’20s rekindles their genuine connection and the realization of what could have been when they finally meet in person a decade later. Standing on the sidelines is Nora’s husband, Arthur (new A24 staple John Magaro), a man who can’t ignore his wife’s feelings. The movie isn’t a fairy tale and Song never teases a happy ending. Instead, she frames a haunting snapshot of the road Nora and Hae Sung haven’t taken. A story where the pair realize the consequences of their childhood separation and try to find peace, knowing somewhere, a future life is waiting for them. – Gregory Ellwood [Read our review]
