Movie Review Saltburn

Saltburn (2023) 

Directed by Emerald Fennell 

Written by Emerald Fennell 

Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Archie Madekwe 

Release Date November 17th, 2023 

Published November 27th, 2023 

Saltburn stars Barry Keoghan as Oliver Quick, an outcast at Cambridge University. Oliver is a scholarship kid from a middle-class family. He's a little awkward, a little shy, and doesn't make friends easily. When he meets Felix Carlton it's quite clear that Oliver sees Felix in a more than friendly fashion. He's practically falling all over himself to catch a glimpse of Felix and that makes sense, Felix is a young God. As captured by director Emerald Fennell, Jacob Elordi's Felix is among the most attractive human beings on the planet. 

Felix will also prove to be incredibly kind as when Oliver offers to help him with a broken bike wheel, Felix adopts the outcast as a friend and brings him into his popular Cambridge friend group. When Oliver proves to be a loyal and devoted friend, Felix returns the favor by inviting him to parties and introducing him to others. Eventually, when the holidays arrive and Oliver has nowhere to go home to, Felix invites him to Saltburn, the name of Felix's family property, a sprawling mansion in the English countryside. 

Oliver even gets the bedroom next door to Felix, connected by a shared bathroom. It's more than Oliver could dream of, though Felix seems unaware that Oliver has feelings for him that go beyond friendship. One person who does appear to be on to Oliver's romantic obsession is Farleigh (Archie Madekwe), Felix's best friend and a close friend of the Carlton family. Farleigh delights in needling Oliver, even as Archie seems to be holding more than friendly feelings as well. At the very least, both young men exhibit a fluid sexuality. 

Slowly but surely, Oliver weasels his way into the good graces of the Carlton family, removing obstacles like Farleigh, and earning the trust of Felix's parents, Lady Elspeth Carlton (Rosamund Pike) and Sir James Carlton (Richard E. Grant). If you haven't caught on that this is all part of a master plan hatched by Felix to break into a rich family, then you aren't paying very close attention. For all of Oliver's awkwardness and creepiness, he's not the wilting violet that he would lead you to believe. as Saltburn careens toward its unexpected ending, Oliver's duplicitousness comes to the fore in nasty, bitter fashion. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Dunkirk

Dunkirk (2017)

Directed by Christopher Nolan 

Written by Christopher Nolan 

Starring Fionn Whitehead, Kenneth Branagh, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan, Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy

Release Date July 21st, 2017

With The Dark Knight trilogy and Inception, director Christopher Nolan has ascended to that rarefied air of directors who can sell a movie with his name alone. Nolan now stands shoulder to shoulder with fellow relative newcomers J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon and the original superstar director, Steven Speilberg.

The proof comes with the release of Dunkirk, Nolan's latest film and one with a minimum of star-power, rough, non-commercial subject matter, and a World War II setting that has rarely been the home of four quadrant hits without the back up of major stars like Tom Hanks or John Wayne. If Dunkirk is to succeed it will be the director of Batman who makes it happen.

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media

Movie Review: The Banshees of Inisheren

The Banshees of Inisheren (2022) 

Directed by Martin McDonough 

Written by Martin McDonough 

Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan 

Release Date November 4th, 2022 

The Banshees of Inisherin stars Colin Farrell as a farmer named Padraic whose life is thrown into chaos when his closest friend, Colm (Brendan Gleeson), randomly decides that they are not friends anymore. Without explaining why, Colm refuses to answer the door when Padraic comes to call at the usual time to go to the pub. Later, Colm returns only to find Colm has left to go to the pub. He assumes this means they will meet for a pint but at the bar, Colm tells Padraic to leave him alone. 

Did Padraic get drunk and offend his friend? He doesn't think so but Colm won't say either way. Eventually, after prodding from Padraic's sister, Siobahn (Kerry Condon), and the local priest, during confession, Colm finally says what is going on. In a blunt conversation, Colm says Padraic is boring and conversations with him are a waste of time. Colm wants to spend what life he has left, however many years that is, building a legacy for himself by writing music and creating art and he can no longer afford to have Padraic wasting his time with nattering, inane conversations about farming. 

The story of The Banshees of Inisherin is set in 1923 on a fictional island off of the coast of Ireland. The tiny village is lined with rock walls and dirt walkways and roads. Everyone is in everyone else's business all the time. Gossip is trade on Inisherin and thus, the unexpected conflict between Colm and Padraic becomes a top conversation. As the story evolves and the sweet, naïve, and sensitive Padraic tries to reach out to his friend, things take a dark and darkly comic turn. I don't want to spoil any of the oddity of The Banshees of Inisherin, the strange and unexpected twists and turns, especially from Gleeson's Colm drive the second start of the third act of The Banshees of Inisherin. 

The Banshees of Inisherin is strange only because it's a story that isn't often told in movies, a story of male friendship and companionship. Director Martin McDonaugh is exploring the complex dynamic of masculinity and friendship in a sensitive and terrifically odd way. The character of Padraic is representative of a group of men who define themselves in their work, they keep their head down and they let the world happen around them. Colm, through his age and experience, is eager to be a man with a legacy, a man to be remembered. He wants to make things happen while Padraic just wants to have a pint with someone. 

The unique dynamic between these two men, one complicated and fraught, the other simple and resigned, is fascinating as much for the heart and soul that Gleeson and Farrell invest in these characters as it is for the unusual topic of complicated male friendships. I'm resisting assigning political metaphors to each character but that is certainly one reading. One man thinking of the future and a legacy, the other wanting the world to stay as it is. One man willing to go to extremes to push forward the other lost in despair at what is being lost. 

Read my complete review on Geeks.Media