Welcome to the Dollhouse

 

Welcome to the Dollhouse 1995

• Director: Todd Solondz
• Seen by this director: Life During Wartime, Happiness
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Heather Matarazzo, Brendan Sexton, Daria Kalinina, Matthew Faber, Angela Pietropinto, Eric Mabius
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Brendan Sexton – Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri, Seven Psycopaths, The Runaways
• Why? Solondz
• Seen: 25 February 2024 

       Are kids really this horrible? Solondz’s films are always depressingly absurd but still…

       Dawn (Matarazarro) is an awkward, geeky, sullen kid, bullied at school and at home in a New Jersey white middle-class suburb, hopelessly and clumsily in love with a high school hunk (Mabius).

       It’s so depressing that it’s almost funny. Almost. Or maybe very. Or just painful.

       Todd Soldenz’s films are… Todd Solendz films. Unlike any in the known universe. I kind of hate them. And I kind of love them. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chronicle of an Escape

 

Chronicle of an Escape 2006

• Director: Israel Adrián Caetano
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Rodrigo de la Serna, Pablo Echari, Nazareno Casera and many others I don’t know
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? The subject
• Seen: 24 February 2024 

       Argentina 1977, military dictatorship, desaparcidas.

       Young Claudio (de la Serna), goalkeeper for a small football team, is arrested illegally by government forces, imprisoned, tortured, for week, then months.

       It’s a pity that the film glosses over the politics behind the story – essentially a fascist government hunting and hounding and kidnapping and killing leftist activists. Instead, Claudio is innocent, and yes, that happened too. But still.

       It’s a strong and well-done thriller based on true events and real people, but less thriller, less escape, and more politics would have made it even better. 

3½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Electric Life of Louis Wain

 

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain 2021

• Director: Will Sharpe
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough, Toby Jones, Sharon Rooney, Aimee Lou Wood, Hayley Squires, Stacy Martin, Phoebe Nicholls, Adeel Akhtar
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Benedict Cumberbatch – many, including Richard III
• Claire Foy – First Man, Breathe, The Lady in the Van, Being Human
• Andrea Riseborough – Birdman, Oblivion, Brighton Rock, Made in Dagenham, Never Let Me Go, Being Human, Happy-Go-Lucky
• Toby Jones – many.
• Sharon Rooney – Barbie, Sherlock
• Hayley Squires - I Daniel Blake
• Stacy Martin  - High-Rise
• Phoebe Nicholls – Fortitude, Downton Abbey, Prime Suspect, Shackleton, The Elephant Man
• Adeel Akhtar - Victoria & Abdul, Unforgotten, The Night Manager, River, Utopia
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: 23 February 2024 

       Electricity, cats, inventing and drawing very quickly are a few of Louis Wain’s (Cumberbatch) passions. He’s also quite daft, as well as responsible for his five sisters and aging mother. His angry sister (Riseborough) hires a governess Miss Richardson (Foy) who is clearly as daft as Louis. They fall promptly in love.

       The film is chaotic, striving to be whimsical and charming but I find it jarring. It tries to tell a tragic story – Louis is in fact mentally ill, possibly schizophrenic with horrifying nightmares – but its jolly tone contradicts that.

       In calms down in the second half and becomes more genuine.

       And, of course, the cats. Louis Wain is credited, through his lovely cat drawings, with making cats acceptable, even desirable, as pets. Thank you for that.

       But it’s still a bit hysterical for my tastes.     

 3½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beyond the Lights

 

Beyond the Lights 2014

• Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood
• Seen by this director: The Secret Life of Bees
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nate Parker, Minnie Driver, Danny Glover
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw – Summerland, The Cloverfield Paradox, Beauty and the Beast, Jupiter Ascending, Belle, Lost in Austen, Bonekickers, Doctor Who
• Nate Parker – The Secret Life of Bees, The Great Debaters
• Minnie Driver – I Give It a Year, Phantom of the Opera, Return to Me, Good Will Hunting, Grosse Pointe Blank, Circle of Friends
• Danny Glover – many.
• Why? Music
• Seen: 22 February 2024 

       Noni (Mbatha-Raw), a British rapper who just won a Billboard award, tries to commit suicide by jumping off the hotel balcony. Kaz (Parker), a cop with a dad (Glover) who has political ambitions for him, saves her and is ordered to cover it up, calling it an accident. Her manager and mother (Driver), who has been pushing her relentlessly since she was a child, increases the pressure to keep up her positive sex-goddess image.

       Predictably it becomes a love story but it goes a deeper than that. The anxiety of excessive fame, sexual exploitation in the world of pop music, parental ambitions, paparazzi madness, self-respect and identity. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Undine

 

Undine 2020

• Director: Christian Petzold
• Seen by this director: Transit
• Based on the book by: no
• Cast: Paula Beer, Franz Rogowski
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Paula Beer – Transit
• Franz Rogowski– Transit
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 21 February 2024 

       When Undine (Beer) is told by her lover that he’s leaving she tells him if he leaves she’ll have to kill him. She then immediately starts an affair with another man, Christoph, (Rogowski).

       According to IMDb it’s sort of based on a German fairy tale. It’s described as both fantasy and romance. Neither fairy tales nor romance are my cup of tea. Why half the film is of Undine giving lectures on the history of Berlin’s architecture and city planning is possibly symbolic but if so, it goes right past me.

       It’s a no from me. 

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regression

 

Regression 2015

• Director: Alejandro Amenábar
• Seen by this director: The Others, Tesis
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Ethan Hawke, Emma Watson, David Thewlis, Dale Dickey, David Dencik, Devon Bostick
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Ethan Hawke – many, including Hamlet
• Emma Watson – many.
• David Thewlis – many.
• Dale Dickey – many.
• David Dencik – No Time to Die, Chernobyl, Snömannen, Top of the Lake, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Män som hatar kvinnor, Upp till kamp
• Why? The cast.
• Seen: 19 February 2024 

       John (Dencik) is accused of sexually abusing his daughter Angela (Watson). The cop (Hawke) is investigating. A psychologist (Thewlis) tries hypnosis on him to prompt regression to open the door to his memories. Satanism has also been reported in the town.

       I’m not sure the world needs another film about Satanism but Hawke, Watson and Thewlis are always fun to see. The question is, why are they in this film? The point made about created memories is worth pondering on, however. 

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margaret Queen of the North

 

Margareta – Queen of the North 2021

•        Director: Charlotte Sieling
• Seen by this director: Bron
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Trine Dyrholm, Soeren Malling, Morton Hee Andersen, Jakob Oftebro, Magnus Krepper, Thomas W Gabrielsson, Agnes Rase, Annika Hallin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Soeren Malling – Kriget
• Jakob Oftebro - Snömannen, Bron, Kon-Tiki
• Magnus Krepper Djävulens jungfru, Bron, Luftslotten som sprändes, Flickan som lekte med elden, Tusenbröder
• Thomas W Gabrielsson - Bron, Fortitude, Äkta människor
• Agnes Rase – Midsommar
• Annika Hallin  - Min lilla syster, Luftslottet som sprändes, Flickan som lekte med elden, Män som hatar kvinnor
• Why? Scandinavian history
• 15 February 2024

 As a retired history teacher I’m well aware of the instrumental role Margareta played in the Kalmar Union of Sweden, Denmark and Norway in the 14^th and 15^th centuries. Like most monarchs she did some good and a lot of bad. I’ve never been a fan, and the trouble with this film is that monarchs don’t interest me. Unless they’re Shakespeare or Queen Elizabeth I.

       This is neither. It’s a handsome production but often boring. But the ending is dramatic and the acting is good.   

2 ½ * of 5

 

 

 

 

The Talented Mr Ripley

The Talented Mr Ripley 1999

• Director: Anthony Mighella
• Seen by this director: Breaking and Entering, Cold Mountain, The English Patient
• Based on the book by Patricia Highsmith
• Cast: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchet, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Davenport
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Matt Damon – Suburbicon, The Martian, Interstellar, Elysium, Contagion, True Grit, Invictus, The Informant, The Brothers Grimm, The Bourne Identity, Dogma, Saving Private Ryan, Good Will Hunting
• Gwyneth Paltrow – many, including Shakespeare in Love
• Jude Law – many.
• Cate Blanchett – many.
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – many.
• Peter Davenport – A United Kingdom, The Boat that Rocked, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Libertine
• Why? Recommended by my friend JS.
• Seen: 14 February 2024 

       It’s possible I’ve read this book. I know I’ve read something by Highsmith but I didn’t like it so I didn’t read any more. And I’m sceptical of this film but I like Jude Law and I usually agree with JS on films.

       The trouble is, I don’t much like Matt Damon. And there is evidently a reason why I didn’t like the book. The story does not appeal to me. Tom Ripley (Damon) is a poor nobody who weasels his way into the company of rich wastrel Dickie (Law) and his gang.

       This is another film that everybody in the world loves but me. Spoilt rich people and social climbers/scramblers just don’t interest me. I don’t find Tom Ripley charming, I don’t hope he succeeds. He doesn’t ‘wheedle his way into my sympathies’ no matter what my beloved Guardian says. Maybe a different actor would have been better but I doubt it. It’s just boring. And when it’s not boring, it’s unpleasant. Sorry, JS. 

2* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

  

Nope

 

Nope 2022

• Director: Jordan Peele
• Seen by this director: Get Out
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, Steven Yeun
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Kaluuya – Judas and the Black Messiah, Widows, Black Panther, Get Out, The Fades, Johnny English Reborn, Doctor Who
• Keke Palmer - The Trip to Bountiful, Akeelah and the Bee
• Michael Wincott – Seraphim Falls, Before Night Falls, Alien Resurrection, Dead Girl, Strange Days, Dead Man, The Crow, Romeo Is Bleeding, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, Born on the 4^th of July
• Why? Daniel Kaluuya
• Seen: 12 February 2024 

       OJ (Kaluuyah) and his sister Emerald (Palmer) are the only black trainers of horses for films. Their dad was killed six months ago by things falling out of the sky. OJ is not coping well; Em is hyper happy.

       I’ve heard that this is a weird sci fi film. Many reviewers hate it. Some love it. That makes me curious.

       Anyway, OJ thinks he sees a UFO. Em wants to get photos, sell them and get rich. So, yeah, it’s weird. But also funny, exciting, a bit spooky. I like it and I like directors who dare to make weird sci fi films. 

4 * of 5  

 

 

 

 

From Iceland to Eden

 

From Iceland to Eden 2019

• Director: Snaevar Sölvason
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Thelma Huld Jóhannesdóttir, Hansel Eagle
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Neither of them
• Why? Iceland
• Seen: 11 February 2024 

       Running from the police, Oli (Eagle) finds an unlocked door and enters the flat. He discovers an OD’d woman in the bathtub, Loa (Jóhannesdóttir) and resuscitates her. Her boyfriend is dead in the other room. Bad guys pound on the door and they run.

       Drugs, dreams, despair.

       This is not the Reykjavik Hal and I saw when we stopped off in Iceland some years ago. Of course we were not young drug dealers, being chased by cops and bad guys.

       Drugs are not cool, people. They’re very bad. But these two young Icelandic druggie protagonists are sort of endearing and I just wish they could make a better life for themselves.

       It’s been called an Icelandic Trainspotting. Could be. Whatever. The film is better than I expected and ‘Sleigh Ride’ in Icelandic gives it an extra hallucinatory *. 

4* of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Truman Show

 

The Truman Show 1998

• Director: Peter Weir
• Seen by this director: Dead Poets Society, Witness, Mosquito Coast, Gallipoli
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris, Noah Emmerich, Natasha McElhone
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jim Carrey – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Bruce Almighty, Peggy Sue Got Married
• Laura Linney – Genius, Jindabyne, Driving Lessons, The Squid and the Whale, Love Actually, Mystic River, The Life of David Gale, Dave, Lorenzo’s Oil
• Ed Harris – Cymbeline, Snowpiercer, Gone Baby Gone, Copying Beethoven, a History of Violence, The Human Stain, The Hours, A Beautiful Mind, Pollock, Glengarry Glen Ross, Swing Shift
• Noah Emmerich – Beyond Borders, Beautiful Girls
• Natasha McElhone – Ladies in Lavender, The Other Boleyn Girl, Solaris, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Miss Dalloway, Cold Lazarus, Karaoke
• Why? I remember it as good.
• Seen: Once before. Now 10 February 2024 

       Truman Burbank (Carrey) lives in a boring life with a boring but annoyingly cheery wife (Linney). He dreams of fleeing to Fiji, he remembers Lauren (McElhone), the girl he was in love with in college, even though they try to make him forget.

       They who?

       What he doesn’t know, what Lauren tries to tell him, is that ‘they’ are the ones filming him 24/7 and broadcasting his life for everyone to see. And everyone sees. His life is followed religiously by millions the world over.

       What’s reality? What’s TV fiction? How can we tell? What can we do about it?

       It’s an eerie, thought-provoking, even disturbing film. But fascinating. Even Linney’s incessantly manic smiles work better here than in other films.      

 4 * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Can Count on Me

 

You Can Count on Me 2000

• Director: Kenneth Lonergan
• Seen by this director: Manchester by the Sea
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Mathhew Broderick, Rory Culkin, Jon Tenney, Kenneth Lonergan
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Laura Linney – Genius, Jindabyne, Driving Lessons, The Squid and the Whale, Love Actually, Mystic River, The Life of David Gale, The Truman Show, Dave, Lorenzo’s Oil
• Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight, Now You See Me, Thanks for Sharing, Avengers, Shutter Island, The Kids Are All Right, Reservation RoadEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Matthew Broderick - Manchester by the Sea, Then She Found Me, The Music Man
• Rory Culkin – Igby Goes Down
• Jon Tenney
• Kenneth Lonergan – Detachment, Splice, Cadillac Records, Darjeeling Limited, King Kong, The Village, The Pianist, Bread and Roses, Liberty Heights
• Why? Mark Ruffalo
• Seen: 9 February 2024 

       Sammy (Linney) and Terry (Ruffalo) were children when their parents died in a car crash. Sammy is now a single mother working in a bank with a new boss (Broderick) who demands that she stops playing hooky from work to pick up her son Rudy (Culkin) from school. Terry (Ruffalo) is a drifter, recently out of jail. He comes for a visit. Sammy is delighted until she learns about the jail time and realises that Terry just wants money.

       He stays, though, and befriends Rudy. Clashes between the siblings start immediately. They love each other but their different life styles drive each other crazy.

       It seems that everyone loves this film, even the critics. Except me. I find it banal, small town white America. I like Ruffalo very much and he puts life into this stereotypical ne’er-do-well-but-loveable guy. Linney. Not my fave. She smiles too much.

       Sorry, just too trite for me. 

2 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lost Girls (Pojkarna)

 

Pojkarna (Lost Girls) 2015

• Director: Alexandra-Therese Keining
• Based on the book by Jessica Schiefauer
• Cast: Tuva Jagel, Emrik Öhlander, Louise Nyvall, Alexander Gustavsson, Wilma Holmén, Vilgot Ostvald Vesterlund, Mandus Berg
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Curious
• Seen: 8 February 2024 

       Three girls have been best friends since early childhood. They stick together against bullying and sexual harassment at school. They drink the nectar of an exotic flower which transforms them into boys.

       The concept is interesting, the young actors do a good job and the visuals are strong but the story lacks something. There’s a sense of not digging deep enough, like the film doesn’t know where it wants to go.

       But it’s a good start. 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrecked

 

Wrecked 2010

• Director: Michael Greenspan
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Adrien Brody, Caroline Dhavernas
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Adrien Brody – Detachment, Splice, Cadillac Records, Darjeeling Limited, King Kong, The Village, The Pianist, Bread and Roses, Liberty Heights
• Why? Adrien Brody
• Seen: 7 February 2024 

       A man (Brody) regains consciousness, trapped in a car wreck in a wild forest in the mountains. There is a dead man in the back seat. The driver has been thrown from the car, also dead. The man remembers nothing but is in pain and bloodied.

       Days and nights pass.

       A woman hiker (Dhavernas) finds him, gives him water and a nut mix. Nope, that was a hallucination. Others follow.

       Finally, in desperation and great pain he forces his way out of the car. He struggles to survive as his memory slowly returns of who he and the others are and what they have done.

       It’s very slow but the suspense grows as Brody makes good use of his many and varied acting skills. 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

Still Alice

 

Still Alice 2014

• Director: Glatzer and Westmoreland
• Based on the book by Lisa Genova
• Cast: Julianne Moore, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Julianne Moore – many
• Kirsten Stewart – Clouds over Sils Maria, Twilight, The Runaways, Welcome to the Rileys, Jumper, Into the Wilds, Undertow
• Alec Baldwin - A Star Is Born, BlacKkKlansman, The Aviator, Glengarry Glen Ross, Beetlejuice
• Why? Book and subject.
• Seen: 5 February 2024 

       Alice (Moore) is a renowned linguistics professor with a loving husband (Baldwin), also a professor, and three grown children (Stewart is the best). At the age of fifty she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

       The word strikes dread in all of us. No doubt we have all experienced dementia among friends and family members. We know it is tragic. The film doesn’t offer anything new except for Moore’s phenomenal performance, on a par with Anthony Hopkins, Julie Christie and others in films about dementia. Other than Moore and Stewart though, the film has a ‘disease of the week’ tendency. 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

Comedy Queen

 

Comedy Queen2022

• Director: Sanna Lenken
• Seen by this director: Min lilla syster
• Based on the book by Jenny Jägerfeld
• Cast: Sigrid Johnson, Oscar Töringe
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Good reviews.
• Seen: 4 February 2024 

       Sasha (Johnson) is 13. Her mother has committed suicide. Her father (Töringe) cries all the time. She decides to become a Comedy Queen to make him laugh.

       It’s not so easy. Her jokes are dismally unfunny and her classmates ridicule her. She shaves off her hair because she doesn’t want to look like her mother, who had beautiful hair. She’s angry. She refuses to cry. But she’s determined to make her dad laugh.

       Despite the heaviness of severe depression leading to suicide, grief and anger, it’s very close to being too sweet, especially the unlikely ending and using ‘Country Road’ by John Denver to bind daughter, father and dead mother together. That alone knocks a * off the rating. But Johnson and Töringe make it well worth seeing. 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

Bambi

 

Bambi 1942

• Director: Algar, Armstron, Hand
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: animated
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• animated
• Why? Childhood nostalgia
• Once before, about 65 years ago, Now 3 February 2024 

       If by some odd chance you do not know the story, Google or You Tube it.

       Baby Bambi is sweet, young Thumper is fun, the human hunters and their vicious dogs are villains. The romance is insipid, the songs painfully bad.

       What makes this a Disney classic is the beautifully artistic animation. That alone rates 5* but for the film as a whole: 

3 ½ * of 5  

 

 

 

 

 

Devil's Playground

 

Devil’s Playground (aka London Zombie Epidemic) 2010

• Director: Mark McQueen
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Danny Dyer, Craig Fairbass, MyAnna Buring, Jaime Murray
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Jaime Murray – Hustle, The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told
• Why? The title. Who can resist that?
• 1 February 2024 

       Unfortunately that’s not the original title, which is more the boring Devil’s Playground. I hope there are zombies, anyway.

       Well, there are, sort of.  But it doesn’t help. It’s boring and there are too many blah characters to care about any of them.

       And here I sit, having looked forward all afternoon to a lovely zombie film in my beloved London.

       Ah well, I didn’t switch it off. I glanced at the whole thing while scrolling through FB. Mildly entertaining. But Cockneys vs Zombies is a lot more fun. 

2* of 5  

 

 

 

Shakespeare connection: Jaime Murray is in The Taming of the Shrew Re-Told.

 

Antonia

 

Antonia 1995

• Director: Marlene Gorris
• Seen by this director: Mrs Dalloway
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Willeke van Ammelrooy, Jan Decleir, Els Dottermans
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Willeke van Ammelrooy – The Lake House
• Why? Possibly good
• 29 January 2024 

       At the end of the war Antonia (van Ammelrooy) returns with her daughter Danielle (Dottermans) to the farm in the rural Netherlands where she was born and raised. She is considered the outcast, the village black sheep but she is the one who defends and befriendsthe bullied and abused. She knows everyone’s old secrets and she doesn’t want a new husband.

       Narrated like a fairy tale by her great granddaughter, it is full of eccentric characters and pokes fun at the church, marriage, romance, traditional families. It’s funny, whimsical, touching and worth its Oscar for best foreign language film. Prudes don’t like it, it seems. 

4* of 5