Reviewing Films in Five Styles
Review 1: Journalistic Review
The Menu, directed by Mark Mylod, was released on November 18th, 2022 and stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, and Nicholas Hoult. The film parodies a very particular type of elitism in the gourmet food industry. The attentiveness each visitor experiences at the chef’s private restaurant on the island at first appears to be what elite foodies would expect for the price of entry. However, as the film continues, the specially created foods develop an invasive, ominous, and violent tone that is smart to the observer but horrifying to the diner. The atmosphere turns chaotic, yet the service remains intact. Much like other films that criticize the ultra-rich, the film shows how riches beyond comprehension corrupts people. The message becomes overbearing and blatant, yet remains humorous through the exaggerated behavior from the chef as well as the restaurant-goers. The cinematography from Peter Deming makes the private island appear improbably peaceful. The luxury atmosphere is established by the production design, and Mylod explored the space with overhead shots of both the cuisine and the restaurant floor. The sound design gives overlapping conversational fragments that allow the viewer to become immersed in the action while gradually raising the tension through the film score.
Review 2: Genre-Based Review
Bullet Train is a Japanese style action film directed by David Leitch with an animated style with abstract characters. The film was released on August 5th, 2022 and starred Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Bad Bunny. The script was inspired by a Japanese novel and the film’s plot, tone, and overall aesthetic is reliant on Japanese signifiers and cultural attitudes. The plot takes place on a bullet train hurtling across Japan. The characters are comic book-like, holding grudges against one another or are fleeing the consequences of past deeds. The characters are common action-type characters including hired killers or other violent criminals related to the world of crime. The characters have sentimental backgrounds that help move the action plot, coming from tragic pasts or are purely malevolent. The tone entailed with a classic Japanese action film along with winking black humor and exaggerated pulp. Characters are introduced with the typeface-on-screen-followed-by-flashback-montage style that is recognizable in the genre. Weapons and fists are used as the characters chase each other around, joking occasionally to establish the lighthearted theme juxtaposed to the violent action. The film establishes that these characters are tangentially connected, touching on themes of fate, luck, and karma.
Review 3: Formalist Review
Where The Crawdads Sing was released on July 15, 2022 and was directed by Olivia Newman and starred Daisy Edgar-Jones and Taylor John Smith. The film takes place in the ‘50s and ‘60s, which on the evidence seen in the film were uneventful decades for the American South. The themes of a brave woman growing up in rural America, surviving childhood abuse, and being wrongfully convicted of murder are tepid and restrained due to the use of cliches and expected dramatic beats. The film’s plot is bloated, creating a superficial feeling to major revelations and is forced to rush the falling action. The films’ pacing drags until the end, where the creators are compelled to speed by the twist in the conclusion, leaving the viewer feeling loaded with plot but unsatisfied with the final culmination. The film has a notion of social concern with a Southern Gothic hint yet is overall surprisingly mild in tone for a story about sex, murder, family secrets, social class, and power. However, the cinematography is strong with scenes depicting picturesque shots of Louisiana marsh and swampland. The strong sense of environment in the film creates a refreshing tactile element not seen in other recent films.
Review 4: Auteur
Nope is Jordan Peele’s third film, starring Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun was released on July 22nd, 2022. The film centers around sibling ranch owners who took over their deceased father’s ranch and their attempt to understand an unidentified flying object in the sky. Stylistically, the film feels in line with Peele’s other films, knowing exactly where to place the camera to emphasize the deep feeling of uneasiness. The intricacies of this tale are kept under wraps by the director, who unveils details slowly. This is common in Peele’s movies, as the viewer is forced to unwrap the story and understand it as the characters on screen are. While Peele’s other films may have been more overt in the way they portrayed their messages, Peele examines sensitive themes in Nope such as trauma, the beauty of practical effects, and how Hollywood can easily dispose of talent. However, Peele executes this with subtlety that is uncommon compared to his previous films. This makes the themes crucial to the plot without being overt in attempting to make a strong statement. Although this film may be Peele’s most theatrical of the three, its message may also be his most modestly delivered.
Review 5: Feminist/Psychoanalytic and Humanist Review
Don’t Worry Darling was released on September 23rd, 2022 and was directed by Olivia Wilde. The film stars Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, and Olivia Wilde. Through the lens of Pugh’s character, the relish of suburban bliss in an idyllic community soon turns into challenging the rigidity and isolation of the town that is designed to confine women to a system that strips them of their own personhood. The critique is focused on how the misogynistic, monogamous and mainly Caucasian society is viewed as idyllic. Women are pulled in two ways, and they must choose to stay in immobility and defeat, or accept the anger and fight. Alice was stripped of her autonomy and forced into the life of a suburban housewife without her consent and knowledge. The film portrays a vision of femininity that is predicated on preconceived notions of what is is to be a woman; it also emphasizes the dangers that await those who don’t exactly fit this image. While the film makes an effort to explore how patriarchal power can harm women, it neglects to acknowledge how structural inequality varies. Wilde takes on the POV of the oppressor for most of the film which makes the viewer feel comfortable in the world of the oppressor. When the viewer is taken out of that world, it creates feelings of betrayal and conceit as we were put in that position without our knowledge. This is to mirror the emotions that many women feel when being pushed into a life that perhaps they never felt truly comfortable with. Pugh eventually escapes, but there is no absolution. If Wilde is claiming that the film is a celebration of female pleasure, it certainly fails on that point, as all the pleasure the viewers witness is inside the framework of the male-structured society.
