HEREDITARY

Toni Collette     Alex Wolff     Gabriel Byrne     Millie Shapiro     Ann Dowd

     The set-up for Hereditary is truly chilling—not too much to be unbelievable and just enough to make it plausible. The Graham family—father Steve (Byrne), mother Millie (Collette), son Peter (Wolff), and daughter Charlie (Shapiro) appear normal enough.  They live in a picturesque setting in a large old house in what looks to be a small town.  There are hints that strange things are going on in the scattering of dollhouses around the house (that will only become creepier later).  But also noticeable is something in Charlie’s eyes and behavior. For instance, she doesn’t say much, sometimes makes a clicking noise with her tongue, is seen drawing portraits of those around her incessantly, and once, we see her do something destructive to an animal as she casually eats a candy bar.     

     Millie’s mother has just died, and Millie wonders why she doesn’t feel like crying, but after she sneaks away to a grief-counseling group and her history tumbles out, we can see why.  Sadly, she feels a bit ashamed about attending, and keeps it from her family. Millie is an artist who is trying to meet a deadline for a project that involves figures she must paint so intricately, she needs glasses like jewelers and watch repairmen wear—just another touch to add to the eeriness of the story.  

     One evening, Peter asks to use the car to go to a party, although he presents it as a school function.  His mother gives him permission, making sure there will be no alcohol, and insisting he take his younger sister Charlie along.  This is one of the first set-ups typical of horror filmmakers—something that doesn’t make sense, but is needed for the plot later on.  That is, why would a mother force a teenager to take a 7 year-old to a social function when neither of them wants it? At any rate, they are compliant children, and they go along.

     This is where the movie takes a weird turn.  A tragedy occurs in which Charlie is killed, and the mother is not the same ever since.  This in itself is not unusual (no one is the same after losing a child), but in a horror story like this, the occult is introduced more overtly, where there were only hints before.  

     Millie’s chance (or not so much coincidental, as shown later) encounter with a member of the support group who hails her down at the shopping center, asks how she is doing, lets Millie know that she too has lost a son and grandchild, and gives Millie her address and phone number “if you need someone to talk to, because we all do.”  Millie makes light of this, once again, significantly, not telling her husband about Joan (Dowd) or the subsequent séance that she will experience in which Joan is able to conjure up her grandchild.

     After this, the film goes over the top in typical horror-film paths, introducing ever more fantastic events that have the audience gasping (or laughing, depending on individual perceptions).  Some of these scenes are effective (such as when Millie and Peter start to work on their issues—painful as they are.  But then, the turn is to more conventional horror motifs that have little to do with reality, i.e., Paimon, a king of hell, makes his appearance.

     This is a more than admirable first feature by writer-director Ari Aster, and one of which he can be truly proud.  His script and direction, the superb acting—particularly that of Collette—and the cinematography, music, and the rest of the crew make this a noteworthy film.  The music (Colin Stetson) and camera (Pawel Pogorzelski) are visible enough to be characters in being so present in telling the story even when no actors are present.  

Horror films come and go, but you should take notice of this one.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

LOUDER THAN BOMBS

Gabriel Byrne     Isabelle Huppert     Jesse Eisenberg     Devin Druid     Amy Ryan     David Stathaim

            Louder than Bombs refers to the needs of this family of males crying out very loudly—not with their voices, but in their actions/inaction.  The mother in the family, Isabelle (Huppert) is dead, and clearly, from the flashbacks, she had an emotional connection with each of the males, but we see little of the family all together.  The marriage was clearly troubled, but this is not a family to reach out for help.  Both sons are sorely in need of therapy as well.  It’s a heartbreaking story for a psychologist to see, recognizing how much they could be helped if they only knew how.

         Isabelle is an internationally recognized news photographer who is away from home a lot.  She is typical of those we hear about who get such adrenaline rushes from their work, it keeps calling them back and they cannot resist, no matter how high the risks to family (Think Jeremy Renner in Hurt Locker and Juliette Binoche in A Thousand Times Goodnight).  Isabelle’s husband (Byrne) is loathe to ask her to stop, even though he apparently sacrificed a promising acting career for the sake of his family.  He is now a schoolteacher.

        Jonah (Eisenberg), the oldest son, seems to have been closest to his mother, and their emotional exchanges show how much empathy he feels for her.  He also has rapport with his father, and they have meaningful conversations, although Jonah doesn’t confide in his father about his marriage, even when he is going through a difficult time with it.

       Conrad (Druid) is the most taciturn of all, seldom speaking to anyone, even the girl he has a crush on and walks home from a late-night party.  He certainly won’t talk to his father, and rushes away any time his father tries to talk with him.  Not surprisingly, his fantasy life is full of violence.

        Among all these people, so much is left unsaid—even when they’re in excruciating pain—it’s astounding.  These people are like ships passing in the night, and it’s hard to believe they’re under the same roof.  But of course, there are families like this; they’re not a figment of the filmmakers’ imaginations. 

       I like the way the film shows each of the main characters’ points of view to show how different realities can be constructed and to encourage empathy with all of them.  It illustrates the knowledge and sensitivities of Joachim Trier (writer/director) and Eskil Vogt (writer) about people and families. 

    Byrne has a history of expert renditions of soulful, informed characters (e.g., In Treatment) trying to reach people who are closed off to him.  Huppert is one of those consummate portrayers of characters that get under the skin (The Piano Teacher) and incite controversy (Amour).  Eisenberg is in a period where he is exploring all kinds of different roles, and here, he is skillful in showing an older brother with conflict in every realm of his life, yet coming across as sincere to everyone.  Perhaps the youngest—Devin Druid—had the most difficult challenge of conveying so much with so little dialog, similar to Leonardo DiCaprio in the Revenant.

     I congratulate Joachim Trier and his collaborators on bringing out once again the experience and repercussions of death—particularly one that is self-determined.  This may be in the context of an unusually repressed family, but aspects of it will ring true to almost everyone.

Reverberating repercussions of a death, something you don’t want to see but should.

Grade:  A By Donna R. Copeland

THE 33

Antonio Banderas   James Brolin   Juliette Binoche   Rodrigo Santoro   Lou Diamond Phillips   Gabriel Byrne   Naomi Scott   Bob Gunton 

           The statistics in mining are dismal.  Twelve thousand miners die in accidents every year across the world.  Owners and regulators are not held responsible for assuring their safety, as illustrated by the owner of the mine in this film based on a real event in Chile in 2010.  When one of the miners brings him one of many broken mirrors indicating that the mountain is shifting dangerously, the owner turns a deaf ear and tells him to get his men to work. 

        Sure enough, on this fateful day, after 33 workers are driven down 2300 feet, the mountain makes a major shift, resulting in huge quaking and debris falling down and bursting through the shafts.  Ultimately, 700 thousand tons of diorite gets wedged above the miners, trapping them.  When they look up, they can see it, and one says, “That was the heart of the mountain; she finally broke.”

      Fortunately, none of the miners are seriously hurt, and they’re in a space called “The Refuge”, which is supposed to have a radio, food supplies, and a ladder up to an opening.  But the radio doesn’t work; the ladder was never completed to the top, and the food is only enough to last three days, if that.  Of course, there is an immediate struggle over the food, with some ready to dive right in.  Even the one in charge, Don Lucho (Phillips) is inclined to give up.  In his 25 years in the mines, five have collapsed, and there were never any survivors.  He also knows from past experience that usually little effort is made to drill down to trapped workers.

       This is when Mario Sepulveda (Banderas) steps in to raise hope and reasonably argue that the food needs to be rationed and divided equally among all, telling them that if they don’t ration and they are rescued, they’ll all be dead anyway in a short time.  He’s persuasive, and the men allow him to apportion the food fairly over the whole ordeal.

       But will they be rescued?  Morale is not always a given; even outside the mine there are those who want to give up immediately or at each setback.  It’s the few who press on that make the difference, and one of these is a young government minister, Laurence Golborne (Santoro), who has received a strong appeal (as well as a slap) from the older sister of Dario Segovia (Juan Pablo Raba), Maria (Binoche).  Large numbers of family members hover outside the closed gates to the mine, refusing to leave until they get word of their loved ones’ fate.

      The minister involves the President of Chile (Gunton), news about the disaster is broadcast throughout the world’s networks, and three countries send powerful drills they hope will cut through the huge rock.  It’s thought that it will take eight days, and no one knows for sure that the men are even alive.  The challenge is first to locate The Refuge, and then direct a drill to the right place, compensating for the inevitable deviations the drills make as they go down.  One of the most dramatic scenes in the film is on the 17^th day when one of the drills finally breaks through (after nine of them broke) to the right place, and the miners attach a message to it that will be read when the drill is withdrawn, verifying that they are alive. 

       Sadly, the mission will be extended to the 62^nd day and additional equipment like a powerful magnet can be obtained before a cage can be send down to bring up the men one by one.

     Understandably with this many people involved in such treacherous work (there is always a risk that the drilling will cause the top of the mountain to cave in on the men inside), ancillary dramas take place both inside and outside the mine, guilt is rampant, relationships become uncertain, and competitions arise.  Director Patricia Riggen and her colleagues do a fine job in highlighting these, successfully giving us a break from the rigors and tension around the rescue.  We begin to learn enough about the townspeople that we really care about what happens to them.  We perhaps could have done without the drama of one man, his wife, and his mistress, but is was humorous.  Filming took place in two real mines in Colombia.

         Strong points of The 33 include balancing the substantial technical information with the dramatic vignettes, a well-cast group of actors (most notably, Banderas, Binoche, Santoro, and Brolin), music (James Horner), cinematography (Checco Varese), and demonstrations of how people change under these circumstances and learn from their experience and others’ insights.  It was clever for the director to require even the English speakers to have a Spanish accent.  That the miners, some of whom consulted on the film, were not apparently compensated adequately by the filmmakers detracts from its heroic story.  They have filed a suit, saying they were misled about the contract by their lawyers.  Many have continued physical and psychological after-effects that need ongoing attention.

        Many of us followed the Chilean mine disaster in the news when it happened, but this film gives us an inside look that is not only informational, but instructive in ethical conduct.

A well-balanced, insightful look at a major disaster.

Grade:  B+                             By Donna R. Copeland