As the Oscar season goes into full swing, I decided to
finally lend my attention to some of the potential heavyweights and contenders
that’ll come into play this season. Thanks to my AMC Stubs A-List subscription
(no, this isn’t sponsored), I was able
to take three of the acting hopefuls out in one feel swoop. All of them offered
something of value, some more than others, but all of them making great use of
their onscreen talent. Let’s have a look…
Can You Ever Forgive Me?:
In the early 90’s, autobiographical writer Lee Israel made
an illegal living out of forging letters from deceased writers and actors, and
then selling them to unsuspecting buyers. By estimation, she had sold off 400
of these documents, soon landing under the eye of the FBI, and then penning
down her outrageous story in her memoirs. Outrageous, but also very dark and
melancholy, as Can You Ever Forgive Me? relays to us, the viewer, every step of
miss Israel’s criminal history.
Largely owed to the keen intuition of director Marielle
Heller, best known for The Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me
walks a very fine line in presenting its central figure to the audience. Lee
Israel was well regarded for her knack for the autobiographical, often noted
for her ability to disappear behind her subjects, but herself falling into the
background as a complete unknown. So given such experience, it only felt
natural that Israel would be so able to perfectly emulate her subjects, that
only the most well-versed of experts would be so incisive about her
inconsistencies.
But that opens up something of a meta-quality to the film,
in that even with the film being heavily devoted to her, even her narrative
largely relies upon potential embellishment to drive her character, becoming an
oddity right alongside her deceased subjects. And there’s a reason that her
letters sold, because they were fascinating. It didn’t matter if they were
real, the story they told and the portrait they painted were rich in untapped
insight into a fragile subconscious, with her character in the film becoming
just as storied as her subjects. Despicable though she may be at times, the
film makes no quick judgments on her actions, showing her larger than life
crimes unfolding, and asking us whether or not we prefer the real vs. the
exaggerated.
And aiding this tremendously is the incredible central
performance from Melissa McCarthy, herself vanishing behind the veil of her
character. Her performance teems with incredible melancholy as her desperation
drives her further off the edge, downing her sorrows in her liquor and her
work, even as her confidence increasingly grows and leaves her vulnerable to
mistakes. But true to her comedienne roots, she also supplies the film with
much needed humor, often very dark and savage in its delivery. But speaking of
humor, McCarthy also features in a double act joined by Richard E. Grant, here
as an accomplice and confidant of Lee’s. Grant plays a much more reckless and
boozy side of the coin, delivering incredible camp and bravado of a queen,
whose greatest mistakes usually come from his willingness to live in the now,
and curse the consequences come tomorrow. Matched together, the two share an
effortless and irresistible chemistry, especially given their sexualities that make
them feel like kindred spirits, and
partaking in countless fits of laughter and bitter arguments as Lee’s schemes
begin to grow bigger and more endangering. Authentic or not, this is one
utterly captivating movie.
****1/2 / *****
Bohemian Rhapsody:
Despite the pedigree of its central figure, there’s not much
spectacular to Bohemian Rhapsody. Credit where it’s due, when it comes to who
to cast as Mercury, Rami Malek is simply a no-brainer. Even if the material can
undercut him, Malek throws his entire heart and soul into this performance,
single-handedly carrying it a majority of the time, as her perfectly emulates
the larger than life stage presence and enigma that is Mercury’s mind. Given
Mercury was the type of performer to make even those in the nosebleeds feel
like they were in the mosh pit, Malek throws himself into it with the same kind
of gargantuan gusto, pushing himself to his utmost physical limits, and playing
well to the strengths of Queen’s music. During the concert sequences of the
film is when Malek’s commitment truly shines, emulating Mercury with an eerily
uncanny ability, and clearly deserves better than the film he’s in.
Otherwise, this is the most safe, paint by numbers music
biopic you could possibly imagine. When separated from the craft of Queen’s
music, there’s never anything truly insightful into the lives of Queen, or the
people at their side. The film plays into every single biographical trope
imaginable, often truncating its facts into the barest bones approach, and
glossing over many of the most compelling features of these people’s lives. As
it is, when Malek has to take a back seat, the film utterly suffers for it,
becoming a dull exercise in progression as it sluggishly chugs its way through
a grinding second half, and has to play its very predictable beats in order to
get to the material you actually do care about. And that is unfortunate, given
the talented support on display, and one wishes that someone as extraordinary
as Freddie Mercury had a film just as extraordinary. This is the very
embodiment of adequate, but bland.
*** / *****
Beautiful Boy:
Sensitive, and yet uncompromising in its presentation,
Beautiful Boy tries to cut to the tender heart of its agonizing story, of a
young man crippled by addiction that stymies his life at every step, and the
family struggling to endure it. A very tough sit for its content, Beautiful Boy
is admirable in how it pulls no punches to the damaging effect experienced by
this young man, and by proxy the effects on his family. It’s tragic, but
adequately played in seeing how easily and quickly extended progress can
unravel, and that despite all the best efforts and love of the people around
you, it’s simply not always true to expect everything to be fine, that
sometimes that reach will completely fall on deaf ears, while also
acknowledging the struggle to walk away when made clears that every effort may
be for naught. While testing my patience and becoming pretty sluggish in its second
half, I was thoroughly kept hooked by the powerful family drama of the film,
and especially for its leading performances, especially Timothee Chalamet in a
heartbreaking turn as the meth-shooting figure of tragedy, progressively
lashing out at those closest to him as his withdrawal worsens.
**** / *****
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