Movie Review: The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)

Genre: Psychological Drama

Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez

Starring: Billy Crudup, Olivia Thirlby, Michael Angarano, Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan

Running Time: 122 minutes

Synopsis: In 1971, Stanford University psychology professor Philip Zimbardo (Billy Crudup) recruits male student volunteers for a 2-week experiment. Some students are designated as prisoners, while others are assigned the role of guards, with an empty university building wing used as the mock prison. Within hours, guards including "John Wayne" (Michael Angarano) start to deploy psychological pressure and the threat of physical brutality, pushing Prisoner 8612 (Ezra Miller) among others to the breaking point. Zimbardo starts to lose perspective, alarming his psychologist girlfriend Christina (Olivia Thirlby).

What Works Well: Based on actual events, this is a stark and often harrowing exploration of human susceptibility. Guards succumb to power trips, prisoners take refuge in fight-or-cower self-preservation, and Zimbardo embraces illusions of grandeur. At the core are students who signed up for an easy $15/day, now trapped in a psychological and physical nightmare. The minimalist sets, mostly confined to administratively-coloured hallways, add to the surreal sense of detachment from reality.

What Does Not Work As Well: Zimbardo's background and his research objectives are glossed over, leaving the experiment unanchored. The prisoners and guards are never humanized outside the experiment, robbing them of transformation arcs, while Tim Talbott's screenplay is ultimately unbalanced, pulling hard towards outrage unsupported by the postscript.

Conclusion: An essential but still difficult-to-watch exposition of psychological frailties.

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Movie Review: Damascus Cover (2017)

A spy thriller set in the Middle East, Damascus Cover is an old-fashioned intelligence game of shadows riddled with distracting inconsistencies.

It's 1989, and the Berlin Wall is tumbling. In that city, Mossad agent Ari Ben-Sion (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) terminates a double-crossing operative feeding information to the Syrians. An Israeli agent in Damascus falls into the hands of Sarraj (Navid Negahban), the Syrian head of Mukhabarat. Fearful that Israel's entire Syrian spy network has been compromised, Mossad boss Miki (John Hurt, in his final role) dispatches Ari to Damascus to extract Angel, the highest ranking covert agent in the city.

In Damascus Ari adopts the identity of German rug dealer Hans Hoffman and cozies up to ex-Nazi-in-hiding Franz Ludin (Jürgen Prochnow), whose housekeeper can help with Angel's extraction. Ari also starts a romance with journalist Kim Johnson (Olivia Thirlby). Syrian military commander General Fouad (Igal Naor) is locked in an internal power struggle with Sarraj, and both men keep close tabs on Ari's movements.

An independent production adapting the book by Howard Kaplan, Damascus Cover dives into the intriguing world of spying and counter-spying in the world's most dangerous neighbourhood. The gimmick-free, human-centred high-tension drama of spies in hostile territory relying on their wits to survive is refreshing, and both the cinematography and locations convey the desired dour mood. But unfortunately too many other elements fall short, compromising the film's quality.

As played by a stiff Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Ari Ben-Sion silently screams "I am a Spy!" in every scene. Whether the fault of the actor or director and co-writer Daniel Zelik Berk, Ari's uncomfortable stance, useless narration and unwillingness to blend in erode credibility. Ari's careless bumbling around in Damascus, from romancing a journalist who can expose his identity (they first met in Jerusalem) to clumsily getting caught with Ludin's housekeeper, mark him as far from fit for purpose.

Many other plot points are clunky, including the contrived attempt to humanize Ari by providing him with a bland sob backstory (father died young; child died young). The entire old-Nazis-in-hiding subplot is appended for no useful narrative purpose except perhaps to make the Syrians look bad as ex-Nazi coddlers, and Ari's route to Angel through Ludin's housekeeper is a particularly convoluted mission path.

Of course this being a spy thriller most of the characters are not who they claim to be, and Damascus Cover gets better as more onion layers are peeled. While the exceptionally awkward action climax stumbles as badly as the rest of the film, the denouement is excellent in offering a glimpse into the realpolitik world of puppet masters. Damascus Cover blows its cover early and often, but does leave behind tantalizing shrouds of what could have been.



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The Movies Of Olivia Thirlby

All movies starring Olivia Thirlby and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

United 93 (2006)

Juno (2007)

Solitary Man (2009, uncredited)

No Strings Attached (2011)

5 to 7 (2014)

The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)

Chappaquiddick (2017)

Damascus Cover (2017)

Oppenheimer (2023)

Dumb Money (2023)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: 5 to 7 (2014)

A romantic drama, 5 to 7 explores a perfect love that just happens to thrive in the most imperfect of circumstances.

In New York City, Brian (Anton Yelchin) is a fledgling writer in his early twenties still waiting for his first publishing break. In front of the St. Regis Hotel he spots Arielle (Bérénice Marlohe), and it's love at first sight for both of them. Arielle is French and nine years older than Brian, which he does not mind. But with the relationship quickly turning serious, he is shocked when she reveals that she is contentedly married to diplomat Valéry (Lambert Wilson) and the mother of two young children.

Arielle educates Brian about the French custom of accepting affairs within marriage, as long as all parties are discreet and respectful, with the extramarital couple traditionally only meeting from 5 to 7 in the afternoon. Brian adapts to the concept, proceeds with the affair within the rules, and even gets to meet Valéry, his lover Jane (Olivia Thirlby), and Arielle's two children. The unusual arrangement completely rattles Brian's father Sam (Frank Langella), but his mother Arlene (Glenn Close) is more understanding. Brian's career catches a break, but as he falls ever so deeply in love with Arielle his delicate romantic arrangement starts to teeter.

Written and directed by Victor Levin, 5 to 7 benefits from exploring a romance with a few relatively original twists. While the New York City setting is familiar, Brian and Arielle navigate around differences in age and culture, her marital status and quite progressive views about the role of love and lovers in life. For long stretches Levin sustains interest not so much because of the love story, but because of where the romance fits into Arielle's life.

Despite the affair unfolding through Brian's eyes, Arielle emerges as a much more compelling character, and Bérénice Marlohe makes the film her own. Seemingly effortlessly, Arielle juggles the role of lover, mentor in affairs of the heart, wife and mother, and Levin succeeds in creating a captivating and stylish woman who can make a young man believe in alternative passion arrangements.

Less convincing is the concept of Arielle falling in love with Brian. Whatever charms the struggling writer possesses to turn the eye of a sophisticated woman are left off the screen, and Brian remains a rather whiny if infatuated young man. Anton Yelchin is dewy eyed but also miscast, unable to elevate the role beyond the star-struck American.

Brian's parents provide the comic relief and a contrast in bridges across the cultural divide. His mother Arlene is more than willing to give the liaison with a married woman every opportunity to thrive. His father Sam remains skeptical, barely tolerating Arielle's Frenchness, let alone the age difference and her marriage. Glenn Close and Frank Langella make for a fine married couple thriving in their eccentricities.

5 to 7 unravels in its final third, and the last 15 minutes are dominated by narration, Levin defaulting to describing rather than showing emotions. A great love can survive a lot, but it finally trips on a writer with too many words at his disposal.

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