Documentary Review Lynch/Oz

Lynch/Oz (2022) 

Directed by Alexandre O. Phillippe 

Written by Documentary

Starring Amy Nicholson, Karyn Kusama, John Waters, Justin Benson 

Release Date Unknown

Currently Showing at Fantastic Fest 

I love a good niche documentary and topics don't get much more niche than the cross-section between the work of director David Lynch and the movie The Wizard of Oz. Director Alexandre O. Phillippe gathered together fellow filmmakers and critics and pondered the surprising number of ways in which David Lynch used The Wizard of Oz as a reference or a template within the stories he was telling. Whether it was something as crazed and exciting as Wild at Heart or something as somber and meditative as The Straight Story, visual or dialogue references to Dorothy, Toto, The Wicked Witch and, of course, The Wizard, can be found in the work of David Lynch. 

The brilliant critic Amy Nicholson delivers the first essay on the Lynch/Oz crossover, from the perspective of a historian and critic. Nicholson, a vibrant speaker and insightful podcaster is a terrific mind for a work that requires a strong voice and rigorous attention to detail. Nicholson notes a choice made in The Wizard of Oz to evoke the sound of the wind via chorus rather than a wind sound effect came back around when Lynch used a similar trick in, of all movies, Eraserhead. The specificity of this observation and Nicholson's poetic lyricism is lovely and thoughtful all at once. 

As much as I love what Nicholson brings to Lynch/Oz, the two best segments involve directors offering insights into a directors perspective on using homage and incorporating influence into their work. The witty and ingenious John Waters puts his typically acerbic wit on hold to gush about his directorial contemporary, Lynch and how he himself often referred to The Wizard of Oz both consciously and unconsciously. It's Waters who points out how a character acting as a gatekeeper to the goal of a protagonist relates to the gates of Oz and the goal of reaching the Wizard only to find just a man. 

Find my full length review of Lynch/Oz at Geeks.Media. 

Movie Review Jennifer's Body

Jennifer's Body (2009) 

Directed by Karyn Kusama 

Written by Diablo Cody

Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J.K Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Adam Brody

Release Date September 18th, 2009 

Published September 17th, 2009

Megan Fox is a beautiful woman who could coast through a very successful, if somewhat short, career if she chose. In fact, that is exactly what she did in her two biggest roles in the two Transformers movies. Her latest effort however, the horror film Jennifer's Body, requires a little more work than giant morphing robots.

Written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody this teen horror flick combines gore and humor in ways so complex some audiences won't know whether to laugh or recoil.

Megan Fox plays the Jennifer of the title. The head cheerleader and front runner for Prom Queen, Jennifer's one indulgence is her best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried). Needy is on a completely different stratosphere from Jennifer but since they were friends as very young girls, they've stayed close.

When Jennifer takes Needy to a local, small town bar the plot kicks in. A rock band on the rise, lead by the O.C's Adam Brody, see Jennifer as their ticket to stardom. After an accident nearly kills everyone in the bar, the band offers Jennifer a ride home and she nearly doesn't survive it.

After a bizarre night in which Needy is haunted by something looking like her best friend, Jennifer is back at school the next day looking better than ever. The only difference is, she's now a cannibal demon, a succubus who eats boys. After snacking on a football star and an emo wannabe, Jennifer sets her sights on Needy's nerdy boyfriend.

The confrontation is well built and plays out entertainingly enough with Seyfried easily holding the screen with Fox, even as Ms. Fox goes all demony. However, both actresses take a backseat to writer Diablo Cody's pop savvy dialogue and Director Karyn Kusama's curious horror/comedy tone.

Jennifer's Body doesn't really know what it wants to be. The movie is played for dark laughs as it keeps a lighthearted tone not unlike Cody's Oscar winner Juno. However, even as things are light and breezy Jennifer is eating people and leaving behind a bloody mess.

This mix of gore and humor could work if the film were a little nastier. More Mean Girls Less My So Called Life. That is Mean Girls if Rachel McAdams character were a man eating demon. The template is Heathers, the 1989 black comedy starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. That film had the guts to get mean and allow the actors to dig into the ugly sides of their characters.

Jennifer's Body is damn near good natured even as the body's pile up. The final confrontation brings the violence as it should but by then the film has already failed to compel. Too often Jennifer's Body falls back on the clever dialogue and insightful human notes of Diablo Cody. That was good in Juno but in a horror comedy we need something more.

We need atmosphere, a consistent tone and a scare or two. Jennifer's Body is sunny when it should be dark and flat when it should be sharp. It's often funny but grows awkward when it comes time for the scars. Too bad, there are some strong elements in Diablo Cody's script and a pair of stars who seem like they were capable of more.

Movie Review: Destroyer

Destroyer (2018) 

Directed by Karyn Kusama 

Written by Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi 

Starring Nicole Kidman, Sebastian Stan, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Bradley Whitford 

Release Date December 25th, 2018 

Published December 22nd, 2018

Destroyer stars Nicole Kidman as Erin Bell, a former undercover cop turned burned out homicide detective. We get two sides of Erin Bell, her life when she was promoted from a Sheriff’s Deputy to being an undercover operative embedded in a bank robbery gang, to today when Erin looks as if life has her thoroughly defeated. Oftentimes simply being de-glammed is enough to make us take notice of a performance but Kidman brings a genuine edge that goes beyond her looks and manner in Destroyer.  

We meet Detective Bell when she arrives in bad shape at a crime scene. At the scene, a body is laid out and Bell indicates she recognizes the corpse. Other detectives give us a strong sense of how Detective Bell is viewed by the rest of her department, they want her to leave the crime scene and let them handle it. That's likely because she looks as if she hasn’t slept in days and is in no shape to work. They have no idea how right they are. 

Destroyer was directed by the ingenious Karyn Kusama who is best known for her debut feature, Girlfight, about a female boxer. That film was notable in a similar way to Destroyer in that Michelle Rodriguez took a traditionally male character and invested it with a uniquely feminine toughness. Kusama is also known for the horror movie Jennifer’s Body which in recent months has been getting another look from critics who’ve taken note of the strong feminist themes that run throughout Kusama’s work.

This is notable in Destroyer in how Kidman is playing the kind of hard bitten, cynical character usually reserved for male protagonists. Detective Bell has faults that we’ve seen before in male characters but that get flipped around with it coming from a female perspective and it does freshen up the cliche a great deal. Kidman doesn’t play up any mannish qualities, it’s just that the specific traits of this character are usually assigned to men. 

It’s a fascinating performance and while I have focused too much on Kidman’s looks, I am doing so because her looks, the features, the worn, lived in, well-earned wrinkles and generally dishevelled look is an important part of this character. She's unvarnished for a reason, she’s given up on the basic comforts of life. Something so traumatic has happened that she’s turned most of her life over to either her job or to the hard drinking that helps to cope with the job and her memories, fears and shame. 

She’s also neglected her daughter, Shelby (Jade Pettyjohn) who appears to be headed down a wrong path, one all too similar to Erin’s. The relationship between Erin and her daughter has always been strained; Erin found out she was pregnant on the same day that Shelby’s father was killed in a gun battle. I won’t spoil the role that this played in Erin’s undercover work or the dark secret she’s hiding throughout the film but all of it coalesces into Erin’s dark story in devastating fashion. 

Toby Kebbell plays the main antagonist in Destroyer, a figure from Erin’s past whose return triggers a series of violent outbursts and leads to several bodies piling up. It’s a battle of wills with greed and revenge at the heart. Kebbell is a rather minimal presence physically in the film but his legend and his crimes hang over the entire story to the point where his appearances come to feel as if he is literally haunting Erin. 

It’s an exceptional and unique way to tell a revenge story. Destroyer is minimalist in story presentation with dialogue building Kebbell’s villain into a monster and Kidman delivering on making Bell desperate and feral like a cornered animal as she pursues him. The way the story plays out is a shocker and a real clever one. Pay close attention or you might miss a couple key details that play into the ending. I can tell you, it’s both satisfying and bleak. 

Destroyer is not a fun movie, it’s not an easy sit. The film is combative and pushy but Kidman’s performance makes it highly compelling. Kidman is Oscar-worthy not for her deglamorized look but for the grit that she brings to this character which combines vulnerability and street toughness into one of the most unique and yet familiar characters I’ve ever seen. It’s not just the novelty of a woman getting to portray characteristics typically assigned to male characters, Kidman makes Bell a uniquely fascinating figure, and for that, I recommend Destroyer. 

Movie Review: Aeon Flux

Aeon Flux (2005) 

Directed by Karyn Kusam

Written by Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi 

Starring Charlize Theron, Martin Csokas, Johnny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, Frances McDormand

Release Date December 2nd, 2005 

Published December 1st, 2005 

Aeon Flux was born on MTV's short lived but groundbreaking animation showcase Liquid Television. The short cartoons were brilliantly weird and entirely wordless. Our heroine was an anarchist in dominatrix gear making trouble wherever she went and losing her life at the end of every adventure. When Aeon Flux was given her own half hour show on the network the bizarre action extended to wildly esoteric, nonsensical dialogue, and kinky sexuality, all of which combined to make Aeon a cult legend.

The character seemed long dead when Hollywood finally came calling with a full length live-action film. Charlize Theron as the lead and hot indie director Karyn Kusama (Girlfight) both seemed like interesting choices. However, the most important thing was the script, which went ahead without Peter Chung the creator of the series. Without Chung's guiding influence, the film adaptation of Aeon Flux morphed into yet another sci-fi action adventure retread.

The year is 2415. Most of the world's population has been wiped out by some mysterious virus. There is now only one city left in the world where the last 5 million people on Earth reside. One man, Trevor Goodchild (Martin Csokas), has found the cure to the virus and has become a leader. With his brother, Oren (Johnny Lee Miller), Trevor has crafted a perfect society called Bregna.

Underneath the surface of this new perfection, a group of mercenaries, called Monicans, has sprung up to expose the lies hiding behind the veil of the Goodchild society. People have been disappearing randomly throughout Bregna and somehow the government is behind it. One of those missing is the sister of a Monican assassin named Aeon Flux (Theron).

Sexy and deadly Aeon is tasked with killing Goodchild, which it is thought will bring down the government and expose what happened to the missing citizens. However, when Aeon finally gets her chance to complete her mission, a flash of memory that links Aeon and Trevor prevents her from finishing the job and opens up another secret that threatens to blow the lid off of Bregna.

In looking at Aeon Flux and separating it from the television series, there are some appealing moments and solid sci-fi work. Director Kusama, with the help of cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh and production designer Andrew McAlpine, occasionally capture some terrific sci-fi landscapes. A scene where Aeon and a cohort scale the courtyard in front of a government building is an excellent action sequence and a visually imaginative sci-fi creation.

Praise also goes to costume designer Beatrix Aruna Pazstor who creates a sleek and sexy future wardrobe for Theron. While I would have loved to see what Pazstor might have done with some of Chung's designs from the series, she does a terrific job in creating some beautifully sexy and functional gear to adorn Theron, which I realize is not the most difficult job, but still well done.

Unfortunately the script and plotting of Aeon Flux fails the fine technical work. Writers Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi, ostensibly working from the framework of an episode of the TV show, craft an entirely unoriginal sci-fi story about cloning, the environment, and government corruption. Typical targets of a typical sci-fi movie, and typical is something that Aeon Flux should never be.

The brilliance of the series was to take on familiar sci-fi tropes and turn them on their ear with oddity, sexuality, and imagination. The film adaptation lacks all three. Even odder, however, is Kusama's decision to keep one minor detail of the television series: flat, monotone line deliveries. The series, one assumes, employed a flat, almost lazy approach to dialogue because it was never about what was being talked about. The movie is about something, the characters have a point to make and a goal to achieve, and when they approach their dialogue in this flat way they simply seem bored.

Watching Aeon Flux as a fan of the original series is like having teeth pulled without anesthesia. Gone are all of the elements that made Aeon Flux exciting. Gone is the wildly eclectic dialogue, the mixed sexuality, and the obtuse plotting. Granted those are elements that are anathema to most mainstream audiences but the reason to make Aeon Flux into a feature film was because of these elements. Taking away what made Aeon Aeon leaves one to wonder why make the film at all. Why not develop an original sci-fi character for Theron to play and leave Aeon Flux, and more importantly her small but loyal fanbase, alone?

Aside from the occasionally attractive visuals the one reason to see Aeon Flux is Theron. Getting her post-Oscar curse out of the way, like Adrien Brody (The Village) and Halle Berry (Catwoman) before her, Theron hopefully can put this behind her and get back to more interesting work, like her other 2005 effort, North Country.

Theron has had a most unique career. A pariah before her transformative Oscar-winning role in Monster, she suffered through far worse films than Aeon Flux. Garbage like Devil's Advocate, Sweet November and The Astronaut's Wife were a trial by fire for Theron, who responded well by making all of those films a distant memory in Monster. Aeon Flux should merely be another minor bump in the road for this terrific actress.

Movies like Aeon Flux are why people hate movie studios and the people who operate them. We know why Paramount made Aeon Flux, because it was easy to market through its subsidiary, MTV, which also happened to own the rights to the character. It's the laziest form of dealmaking and filmmaking. For the artistry and hard work that went into crafting it, Aeon Flux is just that much more of a disaster for the gutlessness that went into stripping the character of what made her unique.

Creator Peter Chung is still hoping to make a direct-to-video Aeon Flux animated film. After the annihilation of his work in the live-action arena, Paramount owes one to Chung and to the real fans of the real Aeon Flux.