Bugonia: Not sure what I was expecting as I went to the theatre to see this, but it wasn’t what I saw. Yorgos Lanthimos is not known for starightfoward storytelling, so I knew that this would be different. Some previous efforts of his have worked for me, like Poor Things, The Lobster or The Favourite. Others haven’t worked, like last year’s Kinds of Kindness. This effort stars Emma Stone once again, who won the Oscar for Poor Things, and Jesse Plemons, who was in Kinds of Kindness. The story builds upon a number of themes, and takes those themes and follows up with something that is quite over-the-top fantastic. Lanthimos is not subtle, but he makes you think and dig deeper as an audience. Seeing this literally will be a frustrating exercise. I cannot delve to much into the plot save for the basics which are established early.
Stone plays Michelle Fuller who is a high tech CEO who heads a company working on various advances in medical and other areas. She is driven, featured on national magazines, and hands on working on a new diversity campaign for her company.
Plemons plays Teddy who owns a farm in a remote part of the US. He lives there with his cousin Don, who follows Teddy closely as they work together. Teddy is the brains of the operation and he has a unique view of the world which has been shaped by his own direct experience with notably his mother, but also through research of stories and opinions on the internet. Teddy believes that something is strange, citing the situation with his own bee hives and the plight of bees, and he is planning on doing something drastic about it. He and Don decide to kidnap Michelle Fuller.
The story continues from there to its conclusion. Along the way, there are significant and substantial unexpected turns. For me, a day later I am still processing those twists. I have concluded that the themes that are touched upon include isolationism, incel culture, social media, truth vs fake news, conspiracy theories, technology moguls directing and shaping the world, extremism, political violence, global warming, climate change, indigenous people, evolution, survival instincts and many others. Although there was some laughter within the three-quarter full theatre, much of it was uncomfortable. It was NOT hilarious. In fact it was much more disturbing than funny. The pendulum swings within the story on who to believe are dramatic to say the least. This isn’t a movie for everybody. It is a physically demanding role in particular for Stone. Plemons has lost significant weight and I think he and Leo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another) are vying for the nomination for Most Greasy Actor in a film. Still he plays this with conviction and I was impressed. This doesn’t need to be seen on a big screen and will do quite well on the smaller screen. I didn’t leave the theatre, like Poor Things, and feel that the Best Actress award is given to Stone. I think that there are other performances that will take the spotlight, but this does not take away from the effort involved in bringing this movie to the screen. This was released on Halloween, and grossed $5.03M over the weekend. Movies don’t have to be all about box office, but the number does show you what the people are paying to see. I am glad that a Lanthimos is out there to stretch our minds and make us think rather than find a new way to re-do Anaconda, which is top of mind as the trailer with Paul Rudd, Jack Black and Thandie Newton was shown before this as a preview. Anaconda is a hard pass for me. Bugonia is worth a viewing.
La La Land: Back in my January 9, 2017 post, after watching the Golden Globes I had the following to say:
A quick sidebar about the Golden Globes last night. La La Land was nominated in 7 categories and won every one. It became the movie with the most Golden Globe wins ever. I have to say that I have little interest in seeing this homage to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, nor particularly in the whole musical on film genre. Best Picture Oscars have been awarded to Chicago and The Artist and other such films but for me they are not all that intriguing. I certainly do not need to see them on the big screen, especially in this instance with Golden Globe winner Emma Stone who I really don’t like much.
That was eight years ago, and I had chosen to stay away from this. But then in August 2017, I did manage to see this for the first time. My thoughts then were as follows:
The story is a simple one; aspiring actress is frustrated by the whole Hollywood scene, when she meets frustrated jazz pianist (Gosling) who wants to revive the dying jazz clubs and music. I did like the bright and colourful costumes and sets. They showed joy and positive energy when so much around us can be down and dark. There are a couple cute scenes. The music I felt was good, with some catchy songs. Still this didn’t excite me, and I wasn’t enthralled. I found the singing ability lacking, and in some cases hard to hear the voices of the leads. They aren’t singers. Not in a Russell Crowe or Peirce Brosnan horrible way, but not accomplished singers. And perhaps that is one of the frustrations, is that there ARE triple threats out there who can sing, dance and act. Ryan Gosling has confidence in what he is doing, it is true, but I don’t pretend that he is playing the piano. Some of it, yes but much of it is done by others I suspect. His dancing was competent but he wasn’t channeling Fred Astaire. It is a bit forced. Like the relationship between the leads. They don’t have electric chemistry together. Alison’s description about Emma Stone’s face is right on point. The math just simply doesn’t add up. She is not very attractive; she doesn’t have a killer body; she is not a singer as we have established; she is a decent actor. Her turn in Birdman as the daughter was one of her better performances, and garnered her a Supporting Actress nomination. She is quirky and simply just doesn’t do anything for me. That she WON the Best Actress award for this just floors me. If you have seen Elle, Isabelle Huppert who won the Golden Globe had a better performance. I suspect Stone won for her song performance when she auditioned for the movie in Paris, and that song about her aunt. Still I remain perplexed. In the end the romantic in me was not satisfied with the ending, but then again that was a twist that was to be expected I suppose. It made sense. There are paths that we all choose to take and they direct our lives and have consequences. The same holds true here.
I decided to re-watch this once again, as I had completely forgotten that I had seen it. Directed by Damian Chazelle this film won six Oscars, including Best Actress (Emma Stone), Directing, Cinematography, Music, Song and Production Design. It lost out to Moonlight for Best Picture. Ryan Gosling lost out to Casey Affleck. Watching this once again eight years later, I was initially wary about the opening number of the freeways in LA in a traffic jam. Despite that start which was Meh for me, the movie progresses into the main storyline is with Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling, and Mia played by Emma Stone. Sebastian is an accomplished jazz pianist who has ambitions of opening a jazz club in LA, despite the fact that it is recognized that jazz does not have a lot of young listeners and is fading away in popularity. He meets Mia who is an aspiring actress, struggling with auditions and her many roommates. All of them want to make it in LA. Upon meeting Sebastian, Mia confesses early that she “hates jazz”. Sebastian decides to explore that further by taking her to a jazz club so that he can explain the genre of music. Mia is in the early days of a relationship, but she thinks about her interactions with Sebastian. She dumps her boyfriend at a restaurant, and meets up with Sebastian to see Rebel Without A Cause, which she has never seen. They start to date.
The movie is split into seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter). We see the couple and how they look to support each other’s dreams. With encouragement, Mia takes Sebastian’s suggestion to write a play for herself and perform it rather than doing other people’s work. He chooses to entreat his former college buddy, played by John Legend, and play keyboards in his pop band. Jazz gets set to the side. The money is good and is a steady job. It is not taxing to his skills as a musician. Things happen and the fourth season shows the results of their efforts. There is a dynamic scene where Sebastian finds Mia and tells her about an audition that she has been invited to by a well-known casting director. The scene is effective in showing Mia’s struggles and how so many of these auditions have disappointed her in the past. She is tired of being hurt.
I was most impressed by Gosling, who played all of the music on the piano, from someone who was a beginner and took three months to learn all of the pieces, by rote (no reading music). This running contrary to my initial reaction that he couldn’t be playing the piano parts. Well I was wrong and he does an amazing job knowing this now. He worked with a coach two hours a day, five and six days a week. The results are incredible. Oh, and he also had to learn his lines, and do the choreography for the dance numbers! I can only marvel at that kind of commitment and talent. There were no hand doubles, no professional pianists filling in for Gosling. True, he is not a singer, but his dancing was very good and he is approaching triple threat talent. I also have to give credit to Stone. She embodies this role, and you can see the emotional toll that her struggles for success take on her. She also shows her connection with Gosling throughout. Add to this roles after this, like Poor Things where she won another Oscar, and she has grown as an actor. To say that Isabelle Huppert is more than a little unfair. So once again, I was wrong. The production design is first rate, and the music is an excellent accompaniment. The music and musical numbers add so much to this and give it an uplifting emotion. It is another character.
Some of the scenes are whimsical and dream-like as above shows (literally dancing in the stars). It is pure joy to see the two actors make it all look so effortless. If the aim was to introduce the movie musical back to audiences, then this does an excellent job. Funnily enough eight years later, not much more has happened in the musical form with notable exceptions like Wicked. Here, the audience cares for the two protagonists and lovers. We care about their stories, their sacrifices and support for one another. Sometimes things don’t always work out, and turn out as you might expect. Sometimes “giving all that you have got” for a dream means that there is nothing left for anything else. This story is an homage to LA as well and a fitting one. I wish that I had not been as stubborn about this, but I am glad that I came to my senses and re-watched it since I clearly didn’t remember it well. Seek it out if you can and enjoy in all that this movie brings to the screen. Old dogs like me can learn from past mistakes and attitudes and find new things to like about an older film. I note that I have seen a lot of Emma Stone this week.
Mondays With Robbie 