The Unbearable Weight of Massive
Talent
Gillipedia Official Rating: Finally a film I can relate to
The only sentence you really need to
know about this film is this: Nic Cage plays Nic Cage. That’s right, Francis
Ford Coppola’s nephew himself plays the role he was born to play. We know him
from National Treasure, for his long hair in Con Air, and arguably
his most famous film alongside John Travolta in Face/Off. And there are
references to all of these and more. Nicolas Cage is also highly decorated; he
won an Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas and was nominated for what I think
was his best performance in Adaptation. And it’s the same absurd energy
that writer Charlie Kaufman brings to all his scripts (think Being John
Malkovich) that was brought to Adaptation. that is then carried over
to this film. Because beyond the films, Cage has also had a very well documented
personal life, and this movie is a celebration of it all. And it is glorious.
We follow Cage around Hollywood as he
is trying to land roles and find the comeback that he knows he’s destined for,
and at the same time we see him place his career above his family and financial
sensibilities. This leads to an offer from his agent (the great Neil Patrick
Harris) to appear at a rich superfan’s birthday party for $1 million. The
superfan is a suspected drug dealer, and naturally, Cage is recruited by the CIA
to infiltrate the estate to find information on a kidnapped politician’s
daughter.
The best way to describe this film is
if you ask the question, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Nic Cage…” and then however
you finish that question, there’s a decent chance it happens. Holds
conversations in his head with a younger version of himself (with some quality
use of deep fakes)? Check. Does LSD? Of course. Not only are there really
clever, funny situations the characters are constantly put in in this absurd
world, but the real reason this film works so well comedically is the running
gag aspect. Yes, it’s very meta and referential and wonderful for it, but from
a technical perspective, we’re presented with funny situations, and then they
are either given callbacks or built upon later on really effectively.
The superfan and suspected drug
kingpin is played by The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal. Where his character
in Wonder Woman 1984 was too hokey, I would honestly describe Pascal’s
performance as superb. He has this wonderful lightness to him that really makes
you feel like every time he stares at Cage, he’s mesmerized by this celebrity. And
even after the whole meta aspect of Cage, about halfway through the film, the
two of them decide to write a movie together. A script that is character driven
with an intimate relationship between the leads, only to give way to an
action-packed third act that doesn’t make too much sense but gives the film a
wider appeal. And yes, that’s exactly what we get out of this film and the
whole plot dealing with the CIA. The film is very self-aware, but where the
meta from The Matrix Resurrections felt contrived and forced, it fits in
snugly in this absurdity of a film.
Despite the CIA plot not meaning to be
realistic by any measure, it’s still kind of stupid at parts. I enjoyed the
whole direction of the film, but some might feel it wraps up a little too
neatly at its conclusion. These are nitpicks of what amounts to a film where
you can go in with little on your mind and leave very happy. It also inserts
some heart into the film a bit too late in the game, but there is still heart
and I really love the last shot of the film.
When doing research for this review,
it reminded me of just how extensive a career Cage has had in the industry.
There’s the bizarre, the phoned in performances, the dramatic roles, and true
classics that I hold in high regard. There are standout moments for better and
worse from his career, but there’s also so much to truly celebrate as well. And
since it is referential and I did watch this at a film festival, the audience
response was really well received for many of the jokes; it might not play
quite as well in a regular theater setting, but I’m confident it will still
appeal widely to audiences. And besides, IT’S NICOLAS F*CKING CAGE BABY
WOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Mad God
Gillipedia Official Rating: It’s a movie about, um, well, some err—eh… It look pretty?
Unlike the film above, Mad God
does not have wide audience appeal. For starters this is a stop-motion film.
There’s also not a single line of intelligible dialogue, and some of the images
are quite disturbing and gross. “Gill, tell me more!” You scream as you read
this review. I know, I know. Maybe this will catch your attention, and I mean
it when I say: This is one of the most beautifully grotesque films I have ever
seen.
Mad God is the passion from the
talented and creative mind of Phil Tippett who worked on the original Star
Wars, RoboCop, and Jurassic Park as an animator. As Pixar has
amped up to two films a year, Dreamworks is always putting stuff out, and
Universal is milking the minions for as much as they can possibly squeeze, Mad
God was a sporadic on-and-off again project over the course of 30
years—many being Saturdays of just a couple of people with a passion for the
artform. And while Pixar has the Triple-A caliber and resources to be
cutting-edge with technology, they still deal with budgets and serious time
restraints. Every single frame of this film is carefully crafted with the
upmost detail that can only be accomplished without the oversight of a timeline
looming over you. Every. Single. Frame.
The films that impress me the most are
the ones where I truly have no idea how they could have possibly filmed that. I
was in constant awe while watching this film. When I think of stop-motion, at
best I think The Nightmare Before Christmas. But at worst, I think of
the serious limitations in terms of camera placements, expressiveness, and framerate.
And from the lighting to the reflection in lenses to the truly dynamic use of
camerawork, I am speechless as to how this was possibly filmed. The sheer
amount of work and preparation involved blows my mind. And to top it off, when
you do have all the studio lights shining down on these stop-motion models,
that’s when all the textures and details shine brightest. There’s always
something to grab your attention, and even if your gaze isn’t in the vocal
point of the shot, chances are something in the background is also happening
that is equally as interesting. I can’t stress enough just how incredible the
craftmanship is of every environment and creature.
What came to mind for me while
watching this is a videogame called Little Nightmares. Beautiful and
frightening in design, this videogame also plays heavily with the associated
shapes and sizes we know of objects and creatures and messes around with those
in varying environments. Some of the more prominent characters in Mad God
may seem regular, but they are giants over creatures and still tiny in
comparison to others.
I want to take this time to reiterate
how disturbing this film can be. There’s some nasty stuff here. Be prepared to
see some innards, some outtards, very brief life cycles of disposable
creatures, lots of death, dismemberment, and things eating other things and
stabbing more other things. It’s a lot. It will make most queasy, and I would
venture the mast majority of people won’t enjoy this film.
So what is it about? Well, um, that’s
a great question. There’s not really a plot per say… And I do say. For a part
of a film we follow this miner looking guy go down to the depths of some sort
of Hell and watch the grotesque world around him. But there are a number of
other strange creatures we follow, none of which with any real purpose or goal.
Maybe there are some World War 2 themes going on? That’s honestly me thinking
aloud, possibly completely wrong. You could really say just about anything and
I’d be like yup, you got it—that’s what the movie is.
So taking the very abstract concept of
the plot into mind, this fits the definition to a T of an obscure arthouse
film. I stand by my statement that this is some of the most beautiful animation
I have ever seen. But it’s also hard to keep focus throughout the whole runtime
when there really is so little to go off for a story. It’s many fragmented
pieces in an overarching world, but it doesn’t come together, and there isn’t a
real lesson to be taught by its conclusion. From the very first shot with a sweeping
structure and operatic music reminiscent of possibly Ben-Hur, the film
has an incredible score and terrific use of sound effects. It’s nightmare fuel
and not at all dinner and a date material. It’s artwork no matter how you slice
it, but there’s simply not enough to grasp onto to rise above other animated
films. For the sake of your sanity, I don’t recommend watching this. Unless
maybe you’re Nic Cage on some LSD, then this movie for sure is a trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment