More atmospheric than scary. But, that's good.

 

J.A. Bayona is in the news a lot lately because he is a key figure in the new Lord of the Rings series on Amazon. Depending on your point of view (expecting to love it, expecting to hate it, etc.) that might lead you to, or push you away from, this atmospheric thriller/horror entry set in a remote area of Spain.

I had seen this before and decided to watch again, and had the same reaction. When the kid disappears, what starts as a straight-up horror film morphs into a thriller. Or does it? The conclusion (no spoilers) reminded me of why I liked it the first time. I'm not giving anything away by saying this is a "surprise ending" story, like The Sixth Sense, or The Others. But the surprise comes pretty much out of Left Field.

The framing tale involves an Orphanage in a creaky old house on the Coast of Spain. Not the sunny, Ibiza coast in the Mediterranean, but the creepy Coast farther North, I think. A young girl is adopted out of this seemingly forgotten children's home, and years later she, her husband, and their adopted son return to try to turn the former Orphanage into a home for developmentally disable children.

But, as is said, the kid disappears, and sets in motion a frantic search, months of waiting, and, eventually, the desperate, trope-y hiring of a Paranormal expert to try to determine if the ghosts of dead children are haunting the house. Think Stephen Spielberg's classic Poltergeist, but in Europe.

What happens next, as I said, would spoil it if you plan on watching. If you love ghost stories, thrillers or horror films you many or may not like this mélange of all three. I know I did.

The Fluidity of Gender?

 

It is possible to ask whether a film can be "important" and also ask that it be well-made. It might even only be useful to ask the latter question, but, where "The Sound of Identity" is concerned, the former almost over-shadows the latter. But not completely.

TSOI is certainly important, as the documentary concerns the US debut of Trans Opera Singer Lucia Lucas in, of all places, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Full disclosure, lo these nine years I am a happy transplant to  this surprising city, and in rooting for it events like Lucia's role as Don Giovanni have a special place in my heart. Leaving that aside for a moment, I think the film is broadly important at a time when LGBTQ+ rights -- so hard won in recent decades -- are under attack. In particular in the same state where Tulsa is located.

And, it is well made. Despite some perhaps unnecessarily long sections -- the scene at a favorite Japanese Restaurant, Jinya, comes to mind -- the technical accomplishments of the film are solid. Camera work is very good, and overall the Editing works. There is a lot to cover in a film that is both about what it means to be Trans, and what it means to play Don Giovanni.

But ultimately TSOI is about Lucia, and Lucia is a special person. As with Trans people I have known, she is supremely self-confident to the point of having literally no (blank)'s to give what you think of her. Why would she, given the courage she has shown both in being true to herself and undergoing a very difficult transition. 

She is also not a bad singer, as the film shows in small, and large ways. Hearing her warm up and rehearse it is clear she is the real deal, which is not easy to be in the small and colloquial world of Opera. What is remarkable is her taking on one of the great roles in all of Opera, Don Giovanni. As is pointed out, Giovanni is the supreme example of "toxic masculinity" while himself having a fluidity to his gender that makes having a Trans singer attempt it all the more fitting, and ironic.

The build-up to the Performance is a steady drumbeat, involving the "PR" aspect of Trans, Tulsa, Mozart. At the same time Tulsa Opera is a business, and if they don't sell enough seats they will lose money on the Opera, regardless of how many Karmic points they score. Personal details like Artistic Director Tobias Picker's own history as a Gay man growing up with Tourette's Syndrome are very powerful. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

This adds a certain non-Operatic drama to the story which makes the overall effect of The Sound of Identity quite pleasing. No matter which way you net out on Trans rights, or even Opera, this is a well made documentary, and worth the watch. Currently streaming on Showtime Anytime.

When's that baby due?

 

Well, well well. I had read some fairly negative reviews of this mildly insane thriller from Ex Machina and Annihilation helmer, Alex Garland. And some reviews that proclaimed it "important" as a feminist "Get Out".

Yeah, it is something. Not sure what, though. Garland is a skilled film-maker, so, as a piece of film craftpersonship "Men" is solid, if not excellent. A perfectly self-contained story, set in a trope-y English country village, with good acting by Jessie Buckley and Penny Dreadful's Rory Kinnear. Its like a good Crème Brule or something.

But, did I want Crème Brule? Or, did I even want desert? The problem with "Men", if there is a problem, is that it appears to be a scathing (withering?) indictment of Toxic Masculinity, perhaps along the lines of the equally insane "Titane" by Julia Ducournau. Or a deconstruction of hetero-normative relations, like the moderately insane, and brilliant, "The Lobster" by Yorgos Lanthimos.

Buckley plays a youngish Londoner who has escaped to the Countryside to mourn (?) the death of her Husband. Said death is told in flashback scenes of increasing depth that attempt to frame the current story, which starts out creepy and just goes downhill from there.

She arrives at an English Country house owned and Airbnb'd by the buck-toothed Jeffrey, played with scenery-chewing relish by Kinnear. As Jeffrey shows our heroine around the home, he seems just a bit too familiar, a bit too awkward and way too toothsome.

The expressionist hair and makeup for Jeffrey pre-sages one of the more harrowing techniques in the film. All of the male characters -- the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker (no really, the bar owner, the priest, the cop, etc.) -- are all played by Kinnear. In order to not make that too obvious, each character has some over the top aspect of their appearance that seems to initially set them apart. With Jeffrey, the teeth. With the Priest, the hair.

This all becomes problematic when she encounters a young punk of a boy that seems to have had Kinnear's face painted on him with CGI. That is either very scary or very hilarious. And how you view that will largely determine how you judge "Men." The Third Reel asks the viewer to believe, in fact, that all of "the men" she has encountered -- and, who all seem to want to kill her -- are actually the same man.

Is this some fever dream as she wrestles with guilt over hubby's death (no spoilers)? Or, do quiet English villages actually feature, many worlds style, multiple versions of the same toxic male, who all want to kill our heroine? These questions, and more, may be fun to ask. Again, depending on your view of Garland's film.