list.co.uk/fi lm Reviews | FILM
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER QUEEN OF EARTH (15) 90min ●●●●●
While the influences on writer-director Alex Ross Perry’s fourth feature Queen of Earth may be writ large, his extraordinary film is far from a meaningless pastiche. Perry draws on the styles and themes of Bergman, Polanski, Hitchcock and Allen to construct his own intense study of a faltering friendship. The film opens and closes with uncomfortable sequences of Catherine (a barnstorming Elisabeth Moss) shot, like most of the movie, in tight frames by cinematographer Sean Price Williams. Ensconced in the isolated lakehouse of her friend Virginia (a brilliant Katherine Waterston), Catherine struggles to get over a broken relationship and the death of her artist father before entirely unravelling.
With its intimate framing, jump cuts, eerie score and unsettling visual tableaux, Queen of Earth plays like a horror. At its heart, however, it’s a devastating story of depression and its impact. Perry has written the pair’s fractured dynamic with both sensitivity and brutal honesty and it’s rare to see a multi-layered, less-than-perfect relationship between two adult women taking centre stage. That this is realised so beautifully and has such an emotional impact, makes it a genuine, if gut- wrenching thrill. (Nikki Baughan) ■ Limited release from Fri 1 Jul.
HORROR THE NEON DEMON (TBC) 110min ●●●●●
Described by director Nicolas Winding Refn as an attempt to ‘make a horror film without the horror’, his tenth feature is supremely stylish and exceedingly silly, a bright, shiny bauble with a vapid centre. There are echoes of Lynch, Argento, Noé and Verhoeven, alongside the novels of Jacqueline Susann, in a flashy satire on the cult of beauty. Elle Fanning stars as Jesse, an aspiring model who arrives
in Los Angeles. Her youth and natural beauty turns heads, secures work and earns her the envy of older models. As Jesse makes a meteoric rise, she fuels the jealousy of her rivals who react in the most vicious manner.
The Neon Demon looks as stunning as a magazine shoot or an ultra expensive fragrance commercial. The screen is drenched in colour and the throbbing, electronic soundtrack and pulsating lights create a trance-like state, as if Jesse is a modern-day Alice. Unfortunately, Fanning slightly overplays Jesse’s simpering, deer-in-the-headlights appeal, while the film’s commentary comes off as laughably shallow. Its descent into necrophiliac sex and eye-popping gore is risible, as Refn seems determined to prove this is a dog-eat-dog business in the most literal way. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 8 Jul.
2 Jun–1 Sep 2016 THE LIST 73
MELODRAMA JULIETA (15) 99min ●●●●●
After the frisky, inconsequential I’m So Excited!, Pedro Almodóvar returns to what he does best: weaving complex tales around the ties that bind mothers and daughters. Julieta is very much of a piece with All About My Mother and Volver, but there’s a mellow, mournful quality to this melodrama as death and disappointment stalk his characters. Adapted from a trio of Alice Munro stories with the location changed to Madrid, it finds
brokenhearted Julieta (Emma Suárez) about to leave Spain for a new life in Portugal when a chance encounter brings news of her estranged daughter. A spark of hope is reignited and she decides to stay and write a memoir of what happened to her years before, beginning in 1989 when she was a young teacher (played here by Adriana Ugarte) meeting handsome Galician fisherman Xoan (Daniel Grao) on a train. She becomes his second wife, watched over by disapproving Mrs Danvers-style housekeeper Marian (Rossy de Palma). Happiness is hers for the taking but omens and warnings suggest it’s unlikely to last. Julieta has all the signature touches we have come to expect from Almodóvar, including
a dazzling colour palette and a seductive score reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann. The director doffs his cap to Patricia Highsmith, Greek tragedy and the heightened artificiality of late Hitchcock thrillers like Marnie: fans will be able to spot the references and savour the rich stew of lost opportunities, misunderstandings, rash judgements and crippling regrets. Despite a commendably modest running time, Julieta is heavy with plot and exposition; the end result is that not everything has room to breathe. It is a rare modern film that leaves you wanting more, and one that will almost certainly repay a second viewing. (Allan Hunter) ■ General release from Fri 26 Aug.
DOCUMENTARY WEINER (TBC) 96min ●●●●●
If a man’s fate is shaped by his name, disgraced US politician Anthony Weiner was doomed to be a punchline. His rise and fall, comeback and even more scandalous undoing are entertainingly akin to watching a slow-motion car crash over and over. Weiner was an up and coming Democratic party
star in 2011, a scrappy, impassioned man of the people. Then a selfie of his crotch appeared on Twitter. Initially, he was evasive but later ‘fessed up, apologised to his pregnant wife and vowed to go on until he was forced to resign. In 2013 he re-emerged,
pleading for a second chance as he announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York. Soon he was the improbable frontrunner in the race, and then . . . This film’s strength is also its weakness. Co-director / writer Josh Kriegman used to work for Weiner, hence the extraordinary access. The right questions are asked but they’re not pressed forcefully, the filmmakers presumably a mite too sympathetic and embarrassed to provoke, so that Weiner’s compulsions and lies are never satisfactorily addressed. A cautionary tale that is funny, sad, absurd and decidedly of our time, it’s definitely one for politics junkies. (Angie Errigo) ■ Selected release from Fri 8 Jul.