Movie Review: Jane Eyre (2011)

Genre: Romantic Mystery Drama  

Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga  

Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Judi Dench, Sally Hawkins, Imogen Poots  

Running Time: 120 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1800s England, a distressed Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) leaves the Thornfield Hall estate of Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender) and finds shelter with clergyman St. John (Jamie Bell). In flashbacks, Jane's story is revealed. She was an orphan when her evil aunt Mrs. Reed (Sally Hawkins) dispatched her to a grim residential school. Upon graduation, she became the governess at Thornfield, where she met kindly housekeeper Mrs. Fairfax (Judi Dench) and gradually fell in love with the passionate, brooding, and wealthy Rochester. But he not only harbours a dark secret, but may also be interested in marrying Blanche Ingram (Imogen Poots).

What Works Well: Writer Moira Buffini adapts Charlotte Brontë's classic novel with elegance, and packs Jane Eyre's many adventures into a brisk two hours. Drama, romance, mystery, danger, and passion mingle as Jane navigates each hurdle on her own terms, never losing sight of her worth and the basics of right and wrong. The central romance may lack sizzle but is held together by shadows of tragic pasts, and director Cary Joji Fukunaga relies on candlelight to emphasize mystery-filled interiors loaded with the presence of the unseen. Adriano Goldman's cinematography makes excellent use of the rugged and windswept English countryside. 

What Does Not Work As Well: Jane and Edward progress from verbal sparring to thorny romance in a hurry, and as Rochester's notional counterpart, Jamie Bell struggles to find the right tone as St. John.

Conclusion: This quest for happiness goes through foreboding chambers.

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: Blackbird (2019)

Genre: Dramedy

Director: Roger Michell

Starring: Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska, Sam Neill, Lindsay Duncan

Running Time: 98 minutes

Synopsis: Suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease), Lily (Susan Sarandon) has decided to end her life. She invites her family over for a final weekend reunion. Joining Lily and her supportive husband Paul (Sam Neill) are their grown daughters Jennifer (Kate Winslet) and Anna (Mia Wasikowska), Lily's life-long best friend Liz (Lindsay Duncan), plus Jennifer's husband and son, and Anna's girlfriend. The weekend features a mix of sadness, celebration, humour, and no shortage of flashpoints.

What Works Well: This remake of a 2014 Danish movie enjoys a stellar cast in top form, with Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, and Mia Wasikowska shining brightest. Director Roger Michell embraces the theatrical setting (most of the scenes take place at Lily and Paul's home), but the performances remain organic and subdued, capturing the awkwardness familiar from most family gatherings. Lily's life-ending decision casts the most obvious thematic shadow, but other issues are also explored, including a dysfunctional sibling relationship, murmurs of resentment between daughters and their mother, and a life-long friendship with a twist. Dashes of humour, brisk pacing, and idyllic cinematography add a quiet sense of quality.

What Does Not Work As Well: The sorrowful melodrama knob is steadily turned up in the final act, overwhelming more subtle family dynamics.

Conclusion: A reunion weekend enriched by the complexities of life - and death.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Double (2013)

Genre: Dramedy

Director: Richard Ayoade

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn

Running Time: 93 minutes

Synopsis: Simon James (Jesse Eisenberg) leads a sad, solitary, and almost invisible life. Even after seven years at the same job, his boss Mr. Papadopoulos (Wallace Shawn) does not know his name. Simon harbours a crush on work colleague and neighbour Hannah (Mia Wasikowsa), but lacks the courage to approach her. The charismatic and confident James Simon (also Eisenberg), who looks exactly like Simon, is hired at work, forcing the meek Simon to reassess everything about his life.

What Works Well: Director and writer Richard Ayoade's adaptation of the Dostoevsky novel features a Terry Gilliam-like askew society filled with bleak despair, where technology doubles down on the 1960s and police units specialize in investigating (and predicting) suicides. Or this may only be a reflection of Simon's inner irrelevance as a man drifting through life for no apparent purpose. Jesse Eisenberg acts opposite himself and invests in both the doormat and boot roles, gradually confronting realities about initiative and yields proportionate to actions.

What Does Not Work As Well: The pacing is slow, accompanied by a dark and gloomy aesthetic (often artistically pierced by sharp light). The death obsession is only partly mitigated by low-key moments of humour. Ultimately, the narrative is content with sowing confusion about the pathways enabled by personal accountability.

Conclusion: Intellectually stimulating, but happiest in the doldrums.



All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.

The Movies Of Mia Wasikowska

All movies starring Mia Wasikowska and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Kids Are Alright (2010)

Jane Eyre (2011)

Lawless (2012)

The Double (2013)

Maps To The Stars (2014)

Blackbird (2019)

The Devil All The Time (2020)

All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: The Devil All The Time (2020)

A sprawling multi-generation epic, The Devil All The Time is an intersecting drama engrossed in themes of faith, moral corruption, crime and revenge.

While serving in the Pacific during World War Two, Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård) has a harrowing encounter with a dying Marine. After the war Willard returns home to the rural West Virginia - Ohio border region and marries Charlotte (Haley Bennett). They have a son Arvin and Willard turns to religion to help combat his war-induced demons. His mother Emma (Kristin Griffith) had wanted him to marry Helen (Mia Wasikowska), who instead weds travelling fake healer Roy (Harry Melling) and they have a daughter Lenora.

Tragedies disrupt Arvin and Lenora's young lives and by 1957 they have both moved in with Emma to be raised as step-siblings. In 1965 Lenora (Eliza Scanlen) is suffering high school bullying due to her devout nature, while Arvin (Tom Holland) tries to protect her. Ahead of them are challenging encounters with sleazy Reverend Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson), murderous couple Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough) Henderson, and Sandy's brother, corrupt sheriff Lee Bodecker (Sebastian Stan).

An adaptation of the 2011 novel by Donald Ray Pollock (who contributes the narration) and co-produced by Jake Gyllenhaal, The Devil All The Time settles down for a captivating 138 minutes of fluid character-driven storytelling. Breathing deeply from the rustic milieu of small backwater communities where religious fervour obscures reason with startling outcomes, director and co-writer Antonio Campos conjures up overlapping arcs spanning 20 years in the lives of memorable people.

Evil intentions skulking within religious verbiage and outlaw acts stemming from good intentions are the combustible fuel mix. From the moment he stumbles upon a badly wounded soldier nailed to a battlefield cross, Willard then his son Arvin confront a succession of moral dilemmas where the wrong action may be the right thing to do. In a time and place with limited other resources, faith is the most readily available route promising some version of salvation, but here malevolence awaits, charlatans lurking to exploit the vulnerable.

With about 10 influential characters and numerous events to cover, Campos maintains a superb level of intensity by deploying brisk pacing, spikes of gore and a dash of cogent flashbacks to reveal fate's invisible hand at work. From an early 1945 scene at a diner where both Carl and Willard meet their future brides all the way to the final showdown in the shadow of a once-standing cross echoing back to the war, The Devil All The Time carries the sly winks of the past, present and future huddled together. 

The ensemble cast members share the screen time with laudable efficiency, exploiting their moments to maximum effect and quickly establishing inherent conflicts. Harry Melling is suitably unhinged as Roy, his spider jar trick a highlight only until he surpasses his own derangement. Robert Pattinson as a predator disguised as the new preacher in town emits a stench powerful enough to waft right off the screen, while Bill Skarsgård and Tom Holland convince as successive generations of the same conflicted man.

The Devil All The Time is also everywhere and in everyone, some souls succumbing, others resisting by perilously outflanking evil.



All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Lawless (2012)

A prohibition-era action drama based on real events, Lawless mixes violence with family bonds and local skirmishes for control of the illicit alcohol trade. As three brothers from rural Virginia face off against big city criminals, there are plenty of predicable elements but also some snazzy moments of excitement.

It's 1931, and brothers Forrest, Howard and Jack Bondurant (Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke and Shia LaBeouf) are among the more successful families independently manufacturing and distributing alcohol in rural Franklin County, Virginia. Forrest is the brains, Howard the muscle, and the youngest Jack is the driver, considered by Forrest to be not-yet-ready for the serious business of intimidation and deal-making. The brothers operate under a mythology of invincibility, partially justified by Forrest's war-time adventures. The local sheriffs are friendly and kept under control with a regular supply of booze.

Maggie (Jessica Chastain), a dancer escaping from the chaos of Chicago, offers her waitressing services to the Bondurants and initiates an across-the-room relationship with Forrest. Meanwhile, Jack starts to romantically pursue Bertha (Mia Wasikowaska), the local reverend's daughter. With plenty of money to be made in the illegal alcohol trade, the big-time gangsters move into the Bondurant's turf. Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) is sent in to do the dirty work of bringing the ragtag moonshiners under the control of Chicago mobsters. Forrest is the only producer who resists, leading to increasing levels of violence as Rakes tightens the noose of intimidation and Forrest lashes back.

Lawless is based on true events as described in the book The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant, Jack's grandson. Director John Hillcoat aims for a Bonnie And Clyde type vibe, with the Bondurants as 1930s outlaws to cheer for because they are likable rogues and everyone else is as bad or even more corrupt. To a certain extent the film succeeds as a romp on the backroads of the moonshine industry, with some wild but at least somewhat true episodes of throat slitting, broad daylight street gun battles, and ingeniously hidden distilleries pumping out unfathomable amounts of alcohol.

Fun as the adventures are, the film is also lacking in the necessary charm. Forrest is the closest Hillcoat comes to finding a compelling character, with Tom Hardy delivering an entertainingly gruff and mumble-filled performance. But about half way through the film his presence is sidelined for a long stretch, and the narrative momentum suffers.

The story is predominantly told through Jack's eyes, the least interesting of the brothers, and his moments of growth and development are both few and jarring when they happen. Jack's rather prolonged pursuit of Bertha fails to ignite.  Also disappointing is an underdeveloped role for Jessica Chastain as Maggie. She gets one good scene of proactive yet sensitive seduction, but otherwise settles firmly into the background.

What the protagonists may lack in flair, Special Deputy Charlie Rakes more than makes up for in over-the-top despicable smarm. Guy Pearce does not hold back in creating an easy-to-hate villain, from the ridiculous hair to the city slicker clothes and sniffy condescending attitude. The clash between Forrest and Rakes is a spicy collision between idealized rural honesty and exaggerated urbanite arrogance. Also adding some edge is Gary Oldman, who makes a couple of relatively brief but effective appearances as Floyd Banner, another well-financed gangster muscling in on the alcohol business.

The backdrops are provided by Benoît Delhomme's cinematography, and he creates a landscape only marginally disturbed by human settlement. Mountainous rural Virginia of the 1930s is a bleak, gray place, a comfortable home for the locals but relatively foreboding to outsiders, a perfect base from which an illegal industry can thrive.

Lawless achieves and maintains a middling level of engagement. Much like the moonshine itself, the quality varies by the batch but the underlying buzz is always there.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: The Kids Are All Right (2010)

A family drama with an intriguing premise, The Kids Are All Right has a high freshness quotient and strong acting talent to overcome a few vapid moments of self-absorption.

Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a middle-aged couple in a long-term relationship, raising two teenagers conceived with the help of the same anonymous sperm donor. The more assertive Nic is a doctor, while the more mild-mannered Jules is still looking for herself and dabbling in a landscaping business. Their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) has just turned 18, allowing her to seek information about her dad. Prodded on by younger half-brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson), the two kids track down Paul (Mark Ruffalo), who donated the sperm for both of them back in his younger, wilder years.

Except that Paul is still somewhat wild and young at heart. A free-spirited and unattached restaurateur, Paul quickly establishes a warm connection with Joni and Laser, hires the eager Jules to landscape his backyard, and Jules soon progresses to taking care of Paul's more intimate bedroom needs. Nic is the only member of the family not taken by Paul's charms: she has to deal with her kids falling under the influence of a man she never cared to know, and her partner having an affair.

Director Lisa Cholodenko, who co-wrote the script, maintains interest by creating an appealing love triangle and then allowing her three characters to tug at the corners. Cholodenko sneaks into the bedroom of Nic and Jules to capture the pillow talk that betrays the irritants inherent in all long-term relationships. Unknowingly, Paul charges into a family ripe for a crisis and tips the balance into bedlam, delicious to watch but painful to navigate.

The dialogue sometimes dips into oily "but what about my feelings" self-help territory, but the performances by Bening and Moore manoeuvre expertly around the icky spots. Bening carries in her eyes the tension of an overworked doctor supporting a less-than-focused partner, with more than a hint of a growing dependency on alcohol to dull the imbalance in the relationship. Moore is more vulnerable as Jules, an adult still uncomfortable with all the responsibilities that come with the title, more used to being taken care of than taking care of her life, and susceptible to Paul's easy-going attention.

Ruffalo breezes through the movie with the ease of a man gaining familial affections without earning them, while Wasikowska and Hutcherson both display the uncanny teenage ability to sort through messy situations more easily than the flustered adults.

The Kids Are All Right succeeds in portraying a gay relationship as subject to the same risks of turbulence as a committed heterosexual union, but ultimately rises above the obvious message and delivers a compelling character-centred drama.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.