Two movies I’ve thought on, not entirely sure what to say about them, but inclined to think others here might find at least one of them of interest.
The Cured (2017): dir. David Freyne; starring Ellen Page, Sam Keeley
A zombie movie. An Irish zombie movie. A disheartened Irish zombie movie. With political overtones.
A plague created zombies and in its wake a scientist found a cure, though the authorities and most civilians are not truly confident in its effectiveness. The cured are kept in detention centers that look a lot like concentration camps until the authorities vet them and send them home. Once home they are supervised, essentially on parole with a military parole officer.
Those who weren’t infected are aware of what the cured did while infected and at least are wary of them, with many openly hostile. The cured survive by keeping their heads down and forming informal support groups. Senan returned home to his sister-in-law and nephew; his brother was killed by zombies after sending his wife and son away to a safer place. Senan has a menial job and tries to return to normal, but without much success; meanwhile other cured are not as content to wait for time to heal. Questions pile up: How much do the cured remember, if anything? How do you become “normal” after losing your agency, after being a walking, ravening appetite? Who can you trust? What side do you choose?
This is not an action-packed zombie movie; it is moody, thoughtful, carefully paced and less interested in gore and killing than in the consequences of the plague, how society contends with such a disaster and with those who have become outsiders? Also, how do outsiders contend with being outsiders, can resentment and even rage be pushed aside? What choices to you have? Because of that focus, the moments of violence may be more viscerally disturbing when they come.
Probably not for everybody, but worth a look-see if you’re interested in the permutations of zombie movies.
Compulsion (2016) dir. Craig Goodwill; starring Analeigh Tipton, Marta Gastini
I’m even less sure about this one. Compulsion is an erotic thriller and I’m not sure it’s a good one. Not having watched Eyes Wide Shut I can only guess that this has that movie as a working model, since some scenes appear to echo clips I’ve seen from Kubrick’s film. I think it somewhat succeeds though its scores on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes indicates others may not agree with me; perhaps it’s more derivative than I realize.
Sadie has published a successful novel based on her experiences with a cult devoted to erotic pleasure. And maybe to sadism. (Sadie. Get it? –Subtlety isn’t a strong suit, especially when overloading imagery implying erotic asphyxiation.) Oh, and maybe to murder.
Early on Sadie admits that she was carried away the last time with her former lover, Alex, and that’s why she left him and his coterie. Still, in spite of finding a stable new love, she craves the pleasures Alex provided as host for the “parties” his guests indulge in. When he reappears at a reading she decides to join him once again at an isolated villa (Really, Sadie? Come on! Haven't you ever watched a horror movie?), intrigued by his newest acquisition, Francesca. Francesca is an aspiring actress, in one scene offering Sadie a reading she used in her audition video and for which the end credits thank the Anais Nin trust. Sadie is smitten. She’s also drugged and so ensuing events are witnessed through a haze of passion, of drugs and alcohol, and possibly of impending madness.
This could have been a sleazy movie.
No. Wait. This is a sleazy movie and the only reasons to stick with it are the acting, the cinematography, the framing and filling of scenes; it’s one of the best looking sleazy movies I’ve seen, well-shot and well-edited. Meanwhile, I was baited to stick with it by the implication of something supernatural at work behind all the intrigue: Alx is intent on getting Sadie to admit how much she loves and needs the pleasures he provides, including but not limited to Francesca. But why? His speech indicates possessiveness but not love, and a kind of gamesmanship the triumph of which would make Sadie a trophy.
Analeigh Tipton is convincingly vulnerable as Sadie, able to convey Sadie’s intelligence, her wariness of her ex and his motives; she’s also twitchy enough to make believable Sadie’s addiction to the excitements and enticements of her ex’s offerings as well as calling into question the accuracy of her perceptions. As Francesca, Marta Gastini is believable bait for Sadie and also believable as her role in the proceedings expands.
What’s impressive, though, is the look of the movie: It’s a decadents’ dream. Early on a lingering overhead shot follows the car with Sadie along a night-time road leading to the villa hosting her ex’s party to reveal a huge, impressively lit castle-like structure, and after the scenes are filled with the villa’s background, the statuary, the paintings, the scrollwork and intricate molding, the curtains and vases and … and … just and. Visually the movie supports the sensuality the story calls for, even when the situation is dangerous. And when they get to the nitty-gritty the framing and lighting of late scenes effectively merge the sensuality with the threat of violence and destructiveness inherent in the unrestrained sensuality that the devotees are addicted to and that beckons Sadie.
It’s an interesting and I think effective transference to film of decadent imagery, but I don’t really know if it’s any good.
Randy M.