Weekly Recap 17 | A Silent Voice, The Father & The Little Drummer Girl

Another week, another recap. The Oscars were on last night, and I must say I’m rather indifferent with the results. No outrageous picks for once, though I really need to see Nomadland now. Still, while I’ve been very bad at watching all the Best Picture nominees, I have been catching up very slowly, and I’ve finally found a film that has replaced Tenet as my favourite film from 2020, so you have that to look forward to. 

But starting off today’s episode is some Fincher. No wait, not Fincher, though he did go on to remake this film two years later. I’m talking, of course, about The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. I can see why Fincher remade this film 2 years later, since the style is already very Fincheresque. And if you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know what I think of Fincher’s films, because just like with every other film of this genre, the plot may be well written, but it’s long, dry and boring, with flat cinematography and shoddy editing. I don’t know why I keep trying to watch these kind of films, as I really just don’t enjoy watching them. Which is a shame since I do like detective stories in concept, but only when they’re larger than life; the verisimilitude of films like this just make me question the point of them. The performances are good I suppose, and some scenes are gripping, but as a whole this was a dreary experience. 

Next is another film drowning in realism, and that’s Steve McQueen’s first film – Hunger. This film has great performances – especially from Fassbender, who seems to be personally challenging Christian Bale for the title of most reckless dieter. The film is also really well written (when there’s words that is) as it’s inherently extremely political but always in a mature, unpreachy and unbiased manner, with most of the focus on the pain experienced by these people who – despite being criminals most certainly deserving to be imprisoned – are still human with their deep convictions. Even so, while the sheer brutality of some sequences was pretty captivating and hilarious (I know, I have a sick sense of humour), I was honestly just bored throughout. The myriad of unflinching one take shots might be great for drawing out the theatrical monologues, but their lack of movement just caused me to be disinterested. This was never meant to be a piece of entertainment, yet I still can’t help but wish it was better paced so I could properly appreciate the thin but poignant screenplay.

Winner of Best Foreign Picture now, with Vinterberg’s Another Round. I had high hopes for this one, since I’ve been dying to see it for a very long time now. And it was good, so don’t let the review that follows put you off watching it, as I do definitely think it’s worth the time. Mikkelsen gives a very good performance, the writing is overall pretty solid, and the inevitable tragedy is predictable but suspenseful all the same. Even so, whenever there wasn’t a focus on either the tense drama or entertaining drunk scenes, I found it rather meandering. A lot of it felt like padding for what is honestly a shallow premise without a compelling enough plot to grip me throughout, and I don’t think the downward spiral is presented as well as it could have been, since several plot points are either skipped over or not properly fleshed out. I feel the film lacked focus, but whenever it got a hold of itself then it was brilliant, with several excellent scenes that I just wish were tied together more cohesively.

I think a break from drama with some fun action is in order. And what better film than Nobody? After all, who can say no to John Wick with Saul Goodman? Obviously Bob Odenkirk isn’t anywhere near as good as Keanu Reeves, and the plot isn’t quite as thematically rich or expansive in its worldbuilding, but as a stand-alone film it’s still heaps of fun. An abundance of funny gags with what has to be the most Chekov Guns I’ve seen in one film, alongside some very nice creativity imbued into the fights and lots of lovely neon shots laced into the cinematography. This is technically my favourite film of 2021 though, so just like with Tenet, I really hope something better will come along and knock it off. 

This next one was recommended to me a while ago, so I’ve been very bad at not remembering to watch it. A Silent Voice is an anime film, and as much as I like certain anime series, I don’t normally find myself interested in these kinds of films to be honest. But I do regret not watching it sooner, since it was fantastic. I was hooked from the beginning, as the frames were bursting with character. The sheer cruelty at the start of this film is hilarious, so I wish even more time was dedicated to him bullying her, as it was a lot of fun to watch. But past the humorous introduction comes a main plot that is utterly beautiful. A story with no shortage of tears, with gorgeous animation and kinetic editing, the joy, sadness and frustration flourishing in this simple but sweet story. 

And now the final film of the week is the film I hyped up at the start. My personal Best Picture of 2020 is The Father by Florian Zeller. Oh my what a film this was. If A Silent Voice brought me to tears, then this was a full on flood, as there was never a moment I wasn’t personally invested in this depressing situation. Anthony Hopkins is always great, but here he truly excels himself, utterly convincing in his portrayal of a man descending into the abyss that is dementia, with all its confusions and contradictions (so yes, he definitely deserves that Oscar). Olivia Coleman also gives a phenomenal performance as the tormented daughter struggling to cope, her eyes constantly looking like how mine did at the end of the film. But the film doesn’t just convey itself through the strength of the performances, as Zeller effortlessly displays precisely how a deteriorating mind perceives reality, showing the story in such a way that our perception of time, faces and places also becomes disoriented, so that we are not just witnesses, but participants in the tragic deterioration of a mind, a life, and ultimately identity itself. It’s truly incredible just how much can be conveyed through editing and the power of raw emotion. This is one of the most heart-breaking films I have ever seen, so this really is an incredible directorial debut by Zeller, because while I hope to watch the rest of the Best Picture nominees soon, I have little doubt that this will remain as the pinnacle of 2020. 

That would be a pretty good place to stop, but I actually watched an entire miniseries last week. Not Doctor Who this time; instead, I watched The Little Drummer Girl. I only wanted to watch this because Park Chan-wook directed it – which is weird to say now since this doesn’t really feel like one of his films in terms of style – but I stayed for Florence Pugh’s phenomenal performance, the enticing drama, riveting plot, gorgeous scenery and Cho Young-wuk’s ethereal score. It’s probably best to go into this series completely blind, but just a heads up that this has nothing to do with drumming. In fact, it’s a kind of spy thriller, but it’s crafted with much more sophistication than the average venture into the world of subterfuge. With that said, it’s a real pity that each episode felt like a 2 hour long film though, because while they were good 2 hour long films and I wouldn’t complain if that was their real length, each episode was actually under an hour. The episodes – as well written as they were – dragged a lot, while simultaneously feeling like they were rushing several important plot points. Still, despite the abysmal pacing, I really did love so much that this had to offer. Most certainly a flawed piece of art, but Park is the kind of director that excels at making the flaws beautiful in their own right.