Hello readers,
In the last few weeks, I have seen a few interesting and entertaining films at the cinema including at the London Film Festival so here is my review. While summer blockbusters are over, the rest of the year promises interesting releases both at the cinema and on streaming. So when the autumn weather finally does appear, there will be lots to watch on the big screen or curled up on the sofa at home.
The Creator (2023)
If you’re looking for a film that covers current world issues, then The Creator hits right on the mark. Hollywood writers and actors are just coming to a close on a historic union strike over the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it means for their industries. Studios have already been using AI to create title sequences and there were talks of using it to generate written content and scanning an actor’s likeness for unlimited use.
The Creator looks at a world where AI was invented and integrated into society much earlier than it was in reality. Mankind begin to rely on AI for many household tasks, driving them around, factory work and running the digital space. A devastating nuclear bomb hits Los Angeles killing over one million people and sparking a war between AI and humans.
There are two types of AI, those who fully look like robots and those with human likeness’ having been given the faces of real humans. They are more complex and can do many jobs that humans do not want to do.
In the film we see Josh (John David Washington) with his wife, Maya (Gemma Chan) in an unspecified East Asian country. America has outlawed AI and forced it into hiding on New Asia where AI is still used for the police, farming and the robots are accepted by the people as citizens.
American soldiers attack and while escaping, a pregnant Maya’s boat is blown apart. Josh was actually sent undercover to get close to Maya and her father, Nirmata (The Creator) who made the advanced version – simulants and is rumoured to have made a weapon designed to kill all enemies of AI. Torn with grief for his wife and unborn child, Josh goes back to America to live a quiet life.
Five years later, the American army come knocking. Their new weapon, NOMAD has been launched and flies over the world, scanning and destroying any AI robots it finds. They know Josh is the best connection to Nirmata’s location and filled with hope that Maya is alive after some convincing footage, Josh joins them.
What happens next is an all out war between the Americans, New Asia and its AI friends. Josh finds out that Nirmata’s weapon is a powerful simulant in the form of a child. Together they journey New Asia seeking Maya.
I loved the universe that was created for this film and it really showed what could happen if AI was integrated into society. It was interesting to see the Americans as the enemies, particularly as this is an American made film but after reactions to other attacks on national soil, I am not surprised by their retaliation. I thought the bond between Josh and the child was emotional and this connection only deepens as the film’s plot develops. There was such a mix of technology and old traditions, especially in the small villages that made the film feel realistic and also hopeful that if AI ever becomes sentient in that way, society could integrate.
Watching this film in IMAX made it much more intense and I felt that I couldn’t look away. There was plenty of action scenes but the quieter scenes were poignant and added a lot of heart to the characters. I would definitely recommend watching this one in the cinema and it was a great start to the autumn cinema season. I give it 5/5.
Maestro (2023) – Netflix in December
Bradley Cooper directs and stars as Leonard Bernstein, a New York City conductor and composer from the 1950s, 60s and so on who is known for West Side Story and conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
We see his rise to fame from age 25 as a wannabe musician to a global success with many bows to his string in a lovely sprawling New York Estate. Leonard is eccentric with wild hair and an untameable energy that he pours into his compositions. He also has a variety of male and female lovers with no strong direction until he meets Felicia.
He falls madly in love as they both rise to success, her as a Broadway star. In the later years, with three adult children, Leonard’s discreetness about his relationships with men starts slipping and Felicia is diagnosed with an illness.
The use of black and white and musical elements in the first act of the film helped to demonstrate to the audience how playful Leonard was and never took life too seriously. He saw it as a musical where he could act in any way he wanted with no real consequences. As soon as he gets his taste of fame, conducting the Philharmonic, he realises that to reach a certain level of notoriety, he must keep up appearances.
His later years are in full colour with some very impressive prosthetics showing himself and Felicia (Carey Mulligan) age into New York arts royalty. Bradley Cooper played the character with a lot of depth that is uncovered as the film goes on. His whimsical and spontaneous nature is paired down in public and that is reflected as we only see his public persona as husband and father, rather than his gay affairs.
They come back on screen when he grows to be around 60, turning grey and having had such a successful career that he starts to not care as much as to who knows about his proclivities. Felicia is worried about the children finding out, particularly Jamie (Maya Hawke) who is particularly perceptive.
Carey Mulligan always plays a good role and rather than choosing to see her as the victim here – a wife whose husband would rather play for the other team – I think she has chosen her life and only starts to become intolerant of Leonard’s lifestyle when it endangers the family image and how their children would view their father. She focuses on her own career on stage and screen and keeps close bonds with Jamie and Shirley, Leonard’s sister (Sarah Silverman).
The tone of the film often felt frenetic with Leonard’s intense energy and dramatic conducting scenes, leaving him looking as though he had just taken a bath. One of the best scenes for me was when he is conducting a large orchestra and choir in a church. You can really see his passion for music and tell how his directions make the piece better.
There were many laugh out loud moments, for example when Leonard runs into David (Matt Bomer), ex-lover and now new father in the street with his wife and child and joyfully tells the baby, ‘I’ve slept with both your parents’ and then runs away in glee. The film does take on a sadder tone at the end but Leonard’s gift for music and lust for life pulls you through.
I thought this film was excellent and really captured the spirit of the New York Arts scene at the time and painted a full and varied picture of Leonard’s life. Though brilliant, he had flaws and those are not shied away from. There were some industry heavyweights producing the project including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg so there shouldn’t be any doubts in the quality of this film. It was amazing to see it on the big screen in the Royal Festival Hall at Southbank but if you haven’t managed to get tickets this year then the film will be coming to Netflix this Christmas along with a limited cinema release.
I give the film 5/5.
Priscilla (2023) – Mubi
While many people will have seen Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis that debuted last year to great reviews and Oscar nominations, we did not really see much of Priscilla Presley’s story in there. Sofia Coppola’s new film changes that.
Priscilla focuses on Priscilla’s relationship with Elvis and his treatment of her for the duration of their marriage. We don’t see anything of Elvis that Priscilla doesn’t see and most of the film is set at Graceland where Priscilla spends the majority of their relationship.
The story starts when Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) is 14 years old. Her father has just been shipped out to West Germany in the late 1950s and she is bored. She goes to the diner and does her homework but hasn’t made any friends. Another soldier, Terry and his wife invite Priscilla to a party at Elvis’ house as he likes to meet people from back home. Despite the 10 year age gap, the two hit it off.
Priscilla is thrilled that a star such as Elvis would pay attention to her and manages to convince her parents to let her go to another party at his house. They start a sweet courtship and share a kiss before Elvis goes back to America. Priscilla thinks of him for the next two years. When she is 17, Elvis rings her up and sends for her. She goes to Graceland but after taking a pill, passes out for two days.
Unable to be apart from her rekindled love, she manages to convince her parents to let her permanently move there as long as she enrols in a good Catholic school. Elvis treats her like a queen with gifts and trips to Vegas but begins to control how she dresses and her appearance.
Priscilla then hears rumours of Elvis being involved with his various co-stars in Hollywood. He denies it but also gets angry at Priscilla and sometimes violent with her when she questions his commitment.
To a modern and educated audience, the relationship looks basically like grooming. Priscilla falls deeply in love with a man that is a different generation to herself and also absent for two years but she does start to gain more control when Elvis falls down an alley of drugs and performing.
From what I have seen, Priscilla Presley though she left Elvis, still holds him in great contempt, recently celebrating the 45th anniversary of his death at Graceland, their former home. This film was based on her own book and she was a producer on the film so even if she does not hate him for what he did, she wanted to tell her side of the story and explain why she stayed so long.
The casting of the film was excellent, particularly as Cailee Spaeny looked so young and small next to Jacob Elordi as Elvis and his various friends/cousins that they hung around with at Graceland.
While Jacob Elordi may not receive the praise that Austin Butler did for his portrayal, I think he did a brilliant job with showing the side of Elvis that Priscilla experienced. Even with her, we see his charming persona that many women went crazy for. I think with the hair and the voice, he had more of a look of Elvis than Butler did but this film was not about him.
It was great to see Priscilla find her own life in LA towards the end of her marriage but with the time jump between the situations, it was hard to imagine how a young isolated woman would have found the courage to make new friends and flirt with her karate instructor, all with a young baby and married to the biggest icon on the planet.
Overall, I enjoyed the film but it did leave me feeling quite sad for the life that Priscilla wanted and could have had if Elvis had not been cheating on her and taking all the drugs. It was interesting to only hear mentions of the Colonel in this film whereas in Elvis (2022), he is the narrator and basically the main character of the story. Perhaps this was to show that Priscilla didn’t really know the influence that the Colonel had or the control he wielded over Elvis. There was one time when the Colonel suggested that Elvis take some time for himself and Priscilla stayed at Graceland waiting for him without questioning it.
Looking into the story, some parts were concertinaed for the film so events weren’t quite as shocking as depicted in the film but as Priscilla was involved, the film was very accurate and you could feel her feelings in every scene as they played across Spaeny’s face. It is clear why she won Best Actor at Venice Film Festival. I saw the Special Presentation at the London Film Festival and Cailee Spaeny was there and read a great message from Coppola. The film will be hitting cinemas on Boxing Day and streaming on Mubi sometime in the future. I give it 4/5.
Happy Watching,
Robyn
