The Drama
Friendships, sacred bonds and loyalties are put to the test in director Kristoffer Borgli’s (Dream Scenario) provocative new film, The Drama. Picture it: A wedding ceremony is one week away. The soon-to-be bride and groom, Emma and Charlie (Zendaya and Robert Pattinson), and their Best Man and Maid of Honor, Mike and Rachel (Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie), engage in a drunken, ill-advised game of “What’s the Worst Thing You’ve Ever Done?” Each person takes a turn revealing an embarrassing or compromising secret. What could possibly go wrong? The answer: A HELLUVA LOT.
Following a sobering confession by Emma, the group is left gobsmacked. Her confession is so unsettling it serves as an agent of chaos for the duration of this darkly hilarious, incendiary and thought-provoking narrative. Part comedy, part romance, part psychological thriller, Borgli’s screenplay aims to provoke and unnerve its audience while offering a thorny exploration of a uniquely American conflict. It poses the question: “What does it mean to truly love a person without conditions?” Zendaya and Pattinson give terrific, full-bodied performances in this combustible conversation-starter masquerading as a cutesy rom-com.
Is God Is
The instructions were simple: “Make your daddy dead. Real dead.” This is the straightforward directive an embittered mother, Ruby (Vivica A. Fox), gives her estranged twin daughters, Racine and Anaia (Kara Young and Mallori Johnson) on her deathbed. The twins and their mother (all bearing physical scars) are victims of a violent house fire ignited by their evil, maniacal father (Sterling K. Brown; referred to only as “man”). Hellbent on revenge, the twins embark on a violent, cross-country odyssey to face the “man” responsible for their collective trauma. One treacherous and deranged pit stop at a time, the twins come to realize that their journey to retribution must be paid for in hard-fought blood, sweat and tears.
Based on the award-winning play of the same name, director Aleshea Harris adapts her original source material with confidence and verve. Breaking free of theatrical restraints, the film is vividly alive, textured and cinematically thrilling. Young and Johnson have stunning chemistry. Fox and Brown are chilling, terrifying. Harris crafts a striking debut that echoes the early work of Tarantino and a modern twist on the classic “spaghetti westerns” of the ’60s and ’70s. By bringing the Black characters into the forefront of a historically whitewashed genre and honoring their righteous rage, Harris accomplishes something quietly radical.
Mother Mary
Hypnotic, haunting and visually sumptuous. Director David Lowery (The Green Knight) conjures up a rhythmic, bedazzled fever dream exploring celebrity culture and the cost of fame. Anne Hathaway stars as the titular Mother Mary, a larger-than-life pop sensation whose checkered past with estranged friend and seamstress Sam (Michaela Coel) threatens to upend her imminent comeback performance. Their serendipitous reunion unearths old wounds, dark revelations and the prospect of metamorphosis.
Those uninitiated in Lowery’s previous work may find themselves alienated by his abstract and ethereal sensibilities. Those familiar with his oeuvre will savor every delicious morsel. It has an eerie atmosphere that envelops and holds you in its grasp. Coel is the standout; she makes a meal out of every syllable, every glare, every gesture. Hathaway is also great—raw and vulnerable, always at risk of collapsing in on herself. The film is not without its flaws, as some of its ideas are muddled and obtuse, but as an experience it remains compelling and wondrous to behold. Also, the Charli XCX soundtracks SLAPS!
I Love Boosters
Gas prices are high. The cost of living is even higher. Making ends meets is less and less attainable. And yet millions of viewers tuned in to watch their favorite celebrities flex their wealth and haute couture at Jeff Bezos’ co-sponsored Met Gala. This is not material for my political soapbox, but rather an illustration of the amusing contradictions at play in Boots Riley’s (Sorry to Bother You) latest comedic satire, I Love Boosters. Featuring an all-star cast—Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Demi Moore and LaKeith Stanfield—the film follows a colorful crew of shoplifters whose mission to take down a voracious fashion mogul incites a grassroots workers’ strike.
Riley is a truly original and visionary writer/director who skillfully fuses complex, weighty and timely themes with bold and whimsical costuming and art direction. The entire ensemble is electric and vibrantly alive, which pairs well with Riley’s futuristic, absurdist world-building. This is a brilliantly funny satire, a scathing critique of capitalism/consumerism and a dazzling piece of technicolor eye candy. It has big ideas and even bigger imagination.
This article appears in deadCENTER Film Festival returns.