Wuthering Heights: I read the Emily Bronte book back in high school in an Advanced English course. I had a vague recollection of it, but from the 1980s I remember more vividly the Kate Bush song, Wuthering Heights. This was released February 13th, looking to presumably find Valentine’s Day viewers, but it is already streaming on Crave. It did not do a very well at the box office. This movie stars Margot Robbie as Cathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff. I will note that the young Heathcliff is played by Owen Cooper from Adolescence fame where he was excellent as the troubled boy. Because of my fuzzy recollection of the book, the plot here is set in the late 1770s or early 1800s in Northern England on the moors of Yorkshire. There are two estates, the Earnshaw farmhouse and the Linton family home at Thrushcross Grange. Mr Earnshaw, the head of the household brings Heathcliff in as a boy to be raised on the estate. He already has a young daughter, Catherine and there is a maid about the same age, named Nelly (played by Hong Chau as an adult). Father is increasingly unpredictable and angry, but wishes for his daughter, as the times would dictate, to be with a partner who is at her station. Young Catherine is a spoiled, entitled, arrogant, nasty young thing. Heathcliff is a brooding, angry young man who becomes fixated on her. Although many will be thinking that this an epic love story, you soon observe that this isn’t the case.
This is a very dark story. Young Heathcliff is rebuffed by Catherine and the father-figure in his life. He leaves seeking to find his fortune and earning the love of the woman for whom he obsesses. There are plenty of stories like this. With his departure, Catherine chooses to marry in her class with Edgar Linton and puts on a brave face. Heathcliff returns as a successful man, and turns the world upside down.
A number of things were surprising to me about this version of the story. First at the beginning was a public hanging before the community where we see that (apparently) men when they are hanged (or hanging) have erections. Odd. The scene shows a community that is sexually repressed but also depraved. The execution scene then has various people being turned on by the spectacle. Later, I hadn’t expected all the cruelty from the characters. Catherine is an unpleasant human with no real redeeming qualities. Love is an acquisition for her which she can take as she pleases, and those who don’t do her bidding are quickly stripped bare. The love, as shown, is obsessive and unhealthy and when it turns Heathcliff most especially becomes a unfeeling beast, looking to humiliate others to impress the target of his affections. Nelly observes all of this and tries to counteract the actions of those principally involved. She isn’t successful. I have often said that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather indifference. Hate is a very powerful emotion and it is still directed at a particular person. Shared actions like vindictiveness, pettiness, cruelty, manipulation are used frequently to predictable consequences. In the book, Heathcliff was a dark skinned gypsy. Jacob Elordi is clearly not that. He is an in-demand actor who showed well in Frankenstein. Margot Robbie for me doesn’t have the range needed for the role, and her tears often seem to be artificial. As an audience member, I don’t cheer for Catherine to be successful, rather I can feel that she gets what she deserves. Heathcliff too being so over-the-top unhinged doesn’t gain any points either. There are numerous sexual images, and none of them are particularily seductive. Eggs are utilized in an odd way. There is a repeated trait of licking that is also uncomfortable. So in the end I will echo the reviews that were negative for this film. I didn’t like it. This isn’t the 1939 cast with Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff and Merle Oberon as Catherine. I don’t think that the more modern spin on this has added anything to the story.
Apex: This has been recently released on Netflix. It stars Charlize Theron as Sasha an adventure, adrenaline junkie who after a nasty experience climbing a rock face looks to explore a more remote area of Australia. As she enters the Australian Park, she is cautioned by the local ranger who notices that she is solo that he doesn’t recommend it in this area. He has a number of Missing Persons pictures on the wall. Sasha later stops at a gas station and supply centre where she runs into some locals, and also Taron Egerton. The locals do their best redneck creepy asshole impressions with her making her visibly uncomfortable. Men can be such assholes. Onward she goes. Her exploration is white water rafting by kayak by herself. She has a fun day on the rapids and sets up camp, being sure to put her food stuffs up a tree and securing other valuables. She wakes up to find that her stuff is missing. She heads out on a paddle for some assistance and runs back into Taron Egerton, who has a thick Aussie accent and is overly helpful, along with being somewhat socially awkward. The story continues with a deadly cat and mouse chase through the woods and mountains.
This is a movie that reminds me very much of Deliverance from the early 1970s. Further it has much the same look and feel as Meryl Streep’s The River Wild with Kevin Bacon as the creepy guy threatening Streep’s vacation. Edgerton reminds me of James McAvoy in Split. Odd and erratic behaviour. Edgerton challenges Sasha with a quote “you like danger”. He quickly and unnecessarily tells Sasha that he was her intruder, but he is making this a game. I will note that if someone fires a crossbow arrow at you, that you’ll never hear the arrow and you won’t be able to duck the arrow before it impacts you. Of course if the shooter is a lousy shot then you are spared. Another tip: if you are looking to dodge a crazy buck naked dude, and you have already successfully hidden yourself from him, I would suggest staying hidden and waiting until nightfall and then get away under darkness. Just an idea.
This didn’t suck. There were plenty of tense moments, and you can see that both Theron and Egerton have done plenty of preparation in climbing and extreme sorts to train for their roles. Of course I know that there are stunt doubles and CGI involved, but it was pretty well done in continuity. I have to admit that I am an active guy who likes new experiences and doing different things. I can say emphatically that the kinds of experiences that Sasha is seeking in this movie as a solo traveller are not interesting to me in the least. Give me well worn hikes on mountain trails in Patagonia or Switzerland and I am right there. Heck I will even jump out of the perfectly good airplane as a piece of cargo strapped to an experienced jumper. What I do not need are activities that risk life and limb, notably life. In Ecuador I was hiking the Mirador a la Laguna Quilotoa on the outer rim above the lake, and there were places near the edge on the crater with gravel footing that I wasn’t prepared to go alone. No free soloing for me. So this movie kept my attention. It has its moments. I think that there were enough creepy characters where you weren’t sure who the bad guys really were which added to the tension. I still don’t need to do this, or climb Everest or bungee jump ever, so it confirms that too.
Mondays With Robbie 