Film Review of the Week

Western

Eddington (15)

Review: Politics is a grubby business in writer-director Ari Aster’s fourth feature, which continues a steady descent into madness from his impressive debut Hereditary via the gore-slathered terror of Midsommar and apocalyptic tragicomedy Beau Is Afraid. The New York-born filmmaker reunites with actor Joaquin Phoenix for a tonally haphazard portrait of small-town life set in May 2020 when paranoia percolated as communities came to terms with the impact of isolation, social distancing and the emergence of an invisible killer in their midst.

Eddington is a blackly humorous western thriller that pits two men of the people against each other in an increasingly acrimonious war of words, backdropped by divisive discourse, social media tribalism and the Black Lives Matter movement. An unwieldy 149-minute running time (nearly 25 minutes shorter, thankfully, than Aster’s previous picture) tests patience as much as a murky script that intentionally drags its heels until a fanciful final act explodes into life in a hail of furiously traded bullets. Phoenix’s controlled central performance is less showy than Beau Is Afraid and draws attention to the disjointed storytelling, which short-changes a starry ensemble cast including Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler.

Ineffectual small town sheriff Joe Cross (Phoenix) is openly resistant to the mask mandate implemented by incumbent mayor Ted Garcia (Pascal) in the New Mexico town of Eddington, arguing that it’s difficult to breathe through the face coverings in the sweltering heat. Ted is seeking re-election on the promise of economic prosperity from the construction of a data collection centre close to town. An embittered Joe puts his money where his unmasked mouth is by running against Ted in the forthcoming election, and the law man recruits fellow officers Guy (Luke Grimes) and Michael (Micheal Ward) to promote his manifesto to bewildered voters.

The political stand-off coincides with Ted’s son Eric Garcia (Matt Gomez Hidaka) and friends Brian (Cameron Mann) and Sarah (Amelie Hoeferle) answering the call of Black Lives Matter, bringing social activism to the streets and potential conflict with Joe and figures of authority. Meanwhile, the sheriff struggles to deal with his emotionally unstable wife Louise (Stone) and her mother Dawn (Deirdre O’Connell), who have been charmed by cult leader Vernon Jefferson Peak (Butler).

Eddington struggled to win my vote despite assured performances, impressive production design and a slickly staged night-time shootout that affirms Aster’s artistry behind the camera. It’s a slow and steady slog through civil liberties and conspiracy theories that is either unwilling or unable to articulate its points in a timely manner. Humour sporadically hits a target, including an emotionally manipulative election campaign video that registers as amusingly plausible in the current climate of romanticised Make America Great Again patriotism.

Animation

Grand Prix Of Europe (U)

Review: Director Waldemar Fast celebrates the 50th anniversary of Germany’s largest theme park with a turbo-charged animated coming-of-age story engineered around two lovable mouse mascots, Ed and Edda, who greet guests at the Europa-Park Resort. Conceived as a classic “undermouse story”, Grand Prix Of Europe takes Zootropolis and the Mario Kart video games into a chop shop and emerges with a madcap motor racing adventure bolted together with bare-bones storytelling, solid vocal performances and considerable heart.

Fast’s picture spices up the traditional auto race format by devising “traps, tricks and treachery on the tracks” that drivers navigate to reach the chequered flag and advance in the competition. Giant snowballs roll down mountains in the Swiss Alps and robotic tentacles emerge from the sea along the Italian coast to pummel cars into the asphalt. Despite this choreographed carnage, on-screen violence is minimal and there are no visceral thrills for back seat drivers in the audience.

By the time the championship reaches London and racers are swerving to avoid a demonic red bus, which chomps unwary competitors with razor-sharp metal teeth, jeopardy has applied the handbrake. Heroine Edda’s character arc is linear. Thankfully, arrogant rodent counterpart Ed, who bullishly asserts that “great drivers don’t need help,” learns a heavy-handed life lesson about friendship to provide a modest return on our emotional investment.

Edda (voiced by Gemma Arterton) works alongside her widower father Erwin (Lenny Henry) in their struggling amusement park, secretly dreaming of racing in the high-stakes Grand Prix Of Europe like four-time champion Ed (Thomas Brodie-Sangster). Erwin used to be a driver but since the death of his wife, he has lost his va-va-voom and there are debtors at the door, threatening to burn the family business to the ground unless he can settle the arrears within seven days.

To raise funds, Edda hand out flyers to the park at the launch of the 50th anniversary Grand Prix Of Europe masterminded by Cindy (Hayley Atwell). The excitable youngster takes a joyride in Ed’s car and the champion sprains his arm during the subsequent chase. Injury means instant disqualification so Edda, who resembles Ed while wearing a helmet, proposes that she drives in the three elimination races in France, Switzerland and Italy against menacing raven Nachtkrabb (Colin McFarlane) and cheerful Scandinavian bear Magnus (David Menkin) while he recovers.

Grand Prix Of Europe zigzags merrily across the continent “like a kid dodging broccoli at dinner time”, contriving mild conflict between characters that can be neatly resolved on the streets of the English capital. Rob Beckett provides mild comic relief as a motormouth parrot race commentator while supporting players like myopic fortune teller Rosa (Ayesha Antoine) are one-joke wonders. Ironically, Fast’s film is comfortably stuck in second gear.

Fantasy

The Life Of Chuck (15)

Review: In the opening scene of The Life Of Chuck, adapted by writer-director Mike Flanagan from one of Stephen King’s previously unpublished novellas contained in the 2009 collection If It Bleeds, a high school teacher tries in vain to engage his class with a verse of Walt Whitman’s poem Song Of Myself. “I am large, I contain multitudes,” recites the teacher. A student interrupts and Whitman’s words hang in the air, by design, and slowly reverberate through this unabashed tearjerker in three parts, recounted in reverse chronological order to withhold the waterworks and regrets until a sombre concluding chapter.

The end is the beginning, and vice versa, which feels apt for a film that ponders mortality and what happens (if anything) to the human spirit after death. Do we linger on this mortal plane, are we reborn in a different form as professed by some religions, or is our time finite, fleeting and painfully precious? Flanagan’s picture dances, quite literally, around those existential questions and only trips over its own nimble footwork in an anticlimactic final stretch when there are no tantalising mysteries left to answer because we have already filled in the narrative gaps with help from an omnipresent voiceover (Nick Offerman) that says too much.

Tom Hiddleston is luminous in the middle chapter, Buskers Forever, channelling the grace and athleticism of Fred Astaire through the exuberant and joyful choreography of Mandy Moore. The reverse chronology ‘begins’ with high school teacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) witnessing the demise of the internet and a series of natural disasters that herald the end of the world. He reestablishes contact with ex-wife Felicia (Karen Gillan) as various advertisements dedicated to accountant Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Hiddleston) materialise, thanking him for 39 years of dedicated service.

In flashback, we learn 11-year-old Chuck (Benjamin Pajak) was raised by his paternal grandfather Albie (Mark Hamill) and grandmother Sarah (Mia Sara). She ignites the boy’s love of dancing and he joins a Twirlers And Spinners class run by teacher Miss Rohrbacher (Samantha Sloyan) and impresses his crush (Trinity Bliss). Later, or perhaps earlier, a young woman called Janice (Annalise Basso), who has just been dumped by text, watches Chuck dance on the street to a drumming busker (Taylor Gordon) and she succumbs to the same intoxicating beat to join him for a euphoric boogie.

The Life Of Chuck repeatedly plucked my heartstrings but I remained strangely dry-eyed. Individual sequences are beautifully realised but there’s an emotional disconnect, particularly in the final chapter, I Contain Multitudes. Flanagan’s artfully constructed picture contains multitudes of ideas and a heartfelt appreciation for the connections we make with each other, even for a few minutes when preordained paths intersect. At some point, we are all going to face the music, so let’s dance.