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Reviews
What Lies Below (2020)
Not bad - even interesting at times
Yes, it uses elements which have been used before: the Creepy Boyfriend; the Mom-With-Issues; the Hawkward Teen; Things from the Lake; and What is That Light. But they're put together in a fairly pleasing way, and what works is the small scale of the story and the gestures to cosmic horror which don't involve mega-monsters or spaceships.
Mena Suvari is always good as the perennially exuberant woman-child; Trey Tucker is believeably weird as the Could-Be-A-Giant-Lamprey with pretty eyes; Emma Horvath actually does come across as a massively hawkward teenager put in the awful situation of having a nympho mother and a potentially hot-stepdad.
The ending was interesting - not the usual cop-out bloodbath that you'd expect from the teen-ma-hot boyfriend triangle. It made you wonder about the sympathies we're supposed to direct towards the millions of species which will die in a world without freshwater.
It gave me echoes of H. P. Lovecraft, but I can't immediately think of which story.
Khoroshiy chelovek (2020)
Slow burn but well written and played
No spoilers here - it's revealed very early on that the killer is the local cop who's assisting the Moscow investigator. The grey, drizzly backdrop, corruption, toxic culture of masculine mentoring, and omnipresent alcohol are all brought clearly into play as the reasons for Ivan's devolution into a 50+ victim serial killer. For non-Russians it kind of plays to stereotypes about Russians being emotionally shut-down boozers, but since this is based on fact I'm not sure it's just a stereotype. Nikita Efremov does a really good job of making you both like Ivan AND want him to get caught because he's clearly a closet lunatic. Yulia Snigir is very good as the Moscow investigator and her troubled family background is realistic enough to make you buy the idea that a woman THIS beautiful could be a cop (and a minimally-supervised one at that). Nine episodes might seem long, but it's well worth it for the character and social portraits.
Suspiria (2018)
It's not THAT bad
Yes, it's long and it may not stack up against Dario Argento's original, but on its own terms it's not a bad film. I've seen much, much worse (Transformers, anyone?). It has an interesting use of dance and dance characters, make-up and some of the camera-work, and it says a lot about the kinds of places dancers inhabit, both mentally and socially. Tilda Swinton is great and even Dakota Fanning is right for this part - that is, as an empty shell who's used for nefarious purposes. In terms of the mid-70s vibe, it doesn't feel authentic, but it's an interesting film - give it a go if you're in the mood to watch dance. It's certainly no worse than Black Swan.
Mystery Road (2013)
A really stirring portrayal of life in the outback
Should be mandatory viewing for everyone who lives in Australia. I'm a fan of Aaron Pedersen anyway, but this was a really restrained portrayal of a character who's alienated from his own community and from his own daughter because he's an indigenous police officer. The problem of drugs in the outback is huge, and this does a great job of showing that it is part of the entrenched racism in most of Australian society. I was also impressed with the number of talented teenage actors - hopefully they'll do more in Australian film and TV. The plot's triple whammy of sexual exploitation, drug and alcohol abuse, and racism is balanced by beautiful cinematography which never lets the landscape overpower the characters. The shoot-out at the end is really tragic, and the lack of clarity about exactly what happens with the dysfunctional little family felt completely consistent with the rest of the movie.