The Damned

My View: The Damned  (2024)  R  The Damned takes place in 19th-century Iceland, where Eva (Odessa Young), a widow, runs a fishing station in a remote village. Eva and her fellow villagers see a ship sinking offshore in icy waters. Should they risk their lives in horrible weather and bring back survivors to share their last remaining food for the winter or let nature take its course? Whatever they do, their lives will forever be changed. People have often gone mad in insolation, especially in an unrelenting winter. Add in the lack of food, a demanding and physical job that isn’t paying off with the lack of fish being caught, and a culture where ghost stories are told around the table at night and folktales of ghosts and the dead are believed, and you get a situation ripe for horror. Director Thordur Palsson gives us a story of a group of men led by widow Eva, who are struggling to survive in harsh conditions, having such a bad time at fishing that they have to eat their bait. Odessa Young is the center of the film and plays Eva as a person with a big heart but who has the welfare of her men to consider with every decision she makes. Eva, when we meet her, is a person who is a damaged person suffering from the loss of her husband, and we see just how damaged she is when someone tells a ghost story around the dining table, and she is affected by the story to the core. With her, we see all that goes on in this story, where the tension continually builds as mysterious things happen in the group. Palsson does a spectacular job of setting up this scary story of a group of people who become under the spell of folklore combined with guilt to create a tale of scares and horror.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Damned Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever  (2024)  In the documentary Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, we follow tech millionaire Bryan Johnson, who is willing and able to do anything to slow down the aging process and extend his life beyond all the known medical limits. This is a fascinating look at what one person who has the money, resources, and time can do if they devote their entire life to extending it. To say that any of us would do this just to live longer is asking a lot. Bryan doesn’t have a life other than interacting with his assistant (given the title of Social Media Officer) and his soon-to-be college son. Bryan is relentless in his daily life, taking a mountain of pills, working out, eating vegetarian, and undergoing procedures that most doctors feel are either unnecessary or dangerous. I lost count of how many times a procedure was brought up that was tested on mice/rats but hasn’t been tested on humans. Bryan even flies to Honduras to get gene therapy. This is a therapy that has a ‘kill switch’ that can ‘shut down the gene’ if things go wrong. Isn’t this almost what every villain has done in comic books since the ‘60s? There is an interesting underlying factor in all this: Bryan was brought up Mormon and has cut ties with most of his family because of leaving the religion. Bryan hints he was an unhappy child/adult and seems to point to his religious upbringing and beliefs (he has kids and an ex-wife that he hasn’t seen since he left the church). Second is Bryan’s relationship with his son (who is about to go to college). While I love he has grown close to his son and wants to make up for lost time, I didn’t like that he allowed his young high school senior to do a bunch of Bryan’s lifestyle choices, including plasma trading. While you may learn a thing or two about aging and lifestyle, and it’s no accident that Netflix premiered this on New Year’s Day, a day when people try to go on self-improvement regimens, you may be like me and be a little creeped out by a man who wants to live as long as he can while not living a life.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Don't Die Website  Now playing on Netflix

Indiefest:  The Girl with the Needle  (2024)  R   In The Girl with the Needle, Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne) hasn’t heard from her husband in years after he left to join the fight in WWI. She becomes desperate and homeless, but all is not lost when she meets a woman named Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), who promises to help her if Karoline does something illegal and possibly dangerous. Karoline is a lost soul, just trying to survive in 1919 Copenhagen, and she keeps getting knocked down. Whenever things seem to be going her way, she gets knocked down again. Vic Carmen Sonne’s performance is both gritty and bold, giving Karoline a backbone that prevents her from completely succumbing to the misery. Shot in absolutely stunning black and white, the world that director/co-writer Magnus von Horn and cinematographer Michal Dymek have created is a stark one, where every corner seems to decay right before our eyes. Each scene creates a feeling of despair and growing suspense, as we sense something is not right but can’t put our finger on it. Karoline’s survival is the focus of the first half of this film. The film’s second half becomes more of a Gothic tale of suspense and mystery. In the end, it transforms into something entirely unexpected and shocking. The Girl with the Needle is a film that will have you on the edge of your seat, with an ending that will stun you. Be aware that this is a tough watch, not suitable for the weak-willed. Like Karoline, you will have to face tough times to reach the end of the journey.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  The Girl with the Needle Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

Indiefest:  The Seed of the Sacred Fig  (2024)  PG-13  The Seed of the Sacred Fig focuses on a family thrust into turmoil when Iman is appointed as an investigating judge in a high-profile case in Tehran. As political unrest erupts in the streets, Iman (Missagh Zareh) realizes that his job has put himself and his family in danger. Shot in secret by Mohammad Rasoulof, this is a film that shows us the growing anti-Iranian government movement (via actual YouTube videos) while centering on a family that slowly destroys itself. Iman has been given a job that could lead to financial success for his family, but he soon learns that the job is asking him to do things to protect the ruling government and throw away any chance of justice. Iman is given a gun to defend himself and his family from anyone who finds out about the rulings that he has made. That gun goes missing in the family home, and now Iman must find out who the traitor is in his own family, even if it means destroying it. The film plays out like a mystery thriller, as we follow the family as they try to stay together even though the world around them is falling apart. However, they can’t survive if their father has become judge and jury with his own children. The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a scary tale that is full of lies, accusations, and possible betrayals; all the while, the rights of women are being taken away right by the government, as seen on social media. It’s a remarkable film that, while it takes too long for the final act to come to a conclusion, is a moving portrait of both a country and a family that is being fractured by an iron fist. Where innocence/guilt is judged before even the facts can be determined.  My Rating: Full Price  The Seed of a Sacred Fig Website Now playing in select theaters. 

Indiefest:  Porcelain War  (2024)  R In the documentary Porcelain War we follow three people as they deal with daily life in Ukraine as the war with Russia rages on.  Slava Leontyev, his wife Anya Stasenko, and their friend Andrey Stefanov were forced to flee their homes in Crimea during the Russian invasion. They now live in a town in Ukraine near the border with Russia, which is regularly bombed. Before the war, Salva and Anya created porcelain figures, which Salva created, and Anya painted, and Andrey was a cinematographer. Slava and Andrey joined the army when the war started with Russia, wanting to defend the country that they love. Anya has stayed behind to keep the home fires burning (literally) and continues to paint her figurines. This documentary gives us two sides to living in Ukraine. We witness stunning images of pristine forests and pools where they swim, striving to find some peace in a world that has gone crazy. Always by Slava and Anya is a small dog named Frodo. These scenes are contrasted with scenes of bombings, firefights, and searching for mines. We often witness the soldiers fighting the enemy in horrific battle sequences out in the field. Throughout the film, we hear an incredible soundtrack from a band called DakhaBrakha that blends folk songs with the sounds of animals from the forest. Many times, one of the three will talk about their life, both past and present, as we see Anya’s work on the porcelain figurines come to life, illustrating scenes of what is going on in their country and their lives. We get to see how real people deal with a war up close and the spirit they show to continue the fight. Porcelain War is a film that explores the struggle to survive, utilizing art, love, and laughter to overcome hardship. Buildings can be destroyed, but the heart and soul of a people is a much harder thing to kill. As Slava says near the end of the film, ‘Ukraine is like porcelain, easy to break but impossible to destroy.’ My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Porcelain War Website  Now playing in select theaters. 

Forgotten Film:  The Landlord  (1970) PG  Elgar Enders (Beau Bridges) is a 29-year-old rich kid who still lives with his very wealthy parents (Lee Grant and Walter Brooke). Enders decides it’s time to go out into the world and make something for himself. So what’s a rich kid going to do but buy an inner-city apartment building in Brooklyn, with the intent of tearing it down and building something that his parents will be proud of? However, Elgar makes the mistake of getting to know his tenants, including a hairdresser, Fanny (Diane Sands), her husband, Coppee (Lou Gossett), who wants to overturn the government,  and a fortune teller, Marge (Pearl Bailey), who convinces Elgar not to kick everyone out. The first half of this film is your standard ‘fish out of water’ comedy, but it makes a turn about halfway through, as we find out that Elgar isn’t a good guy. In fact, he is a self-centered jerk. The film was directed by Hal Ashby (Oscar-winning writer of In the Heat of the Night (1967) and director of Harold and Maude (1971), The Last Detail (1973, Being There (1979), and Coming Home (1979), and it has some outstanding performances, including Lee Grant as Elgar’s stuck up mom, and Pearl Bailey, who is a delight in every scene she is in. The Landlord is a film that, while made in 1970, deals with racial disharmony, gentrification, and income inequality, making this a film that is still powerful today. My Rating: Full Price  Tne Landlord Info The film is available to buy on Amazon. 

Weird Credits: From the credits of The Girl with the Needle:  Stunt Horse

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: Love Me (2024) R  Here is the IMDB description of this movie “A post-apocalyptic romance in which a buoy and a satellite meet online and fall in love after the end of human civilization.” It just makes you want to watch this, doesn’t it? So what if I tell you that the buoy meets a satellite over the airwaves, starts communicating with each other, and decides to explore what it would be like to be human? The buoy picks Kristen Stewart as her avatar, and the satellite picks Steven Yeun. Better? And by the way, the film won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.  Love Me Website The film is in theaters on Friday, January 31, 2025. 

Until Next Time!