As a variation on our Female Filmmaker Friday articles, our contributor Matt Fagerholm is offering his thoughts on three new male-directed films (plus one new female-directed series) all bolstered by their female leads. Enjoy!
Inde Navarrette in “Obsession”
Just last month, I had the privilege of speaking with actor Betty Gabriel about her astonishing scene in Jordan Peele’s “Get Out,” where her character battles to break free from her internal prison, seizing the control of her body away from her intruder. In many ways, that scene serves as a microcosm for what 26-year-old writer/director Curry Barker and his phenomenal leading lady, Inde Navarrette, have managed to pull off in their deeply disquieting new horror comedy. Whereas “Get Out” was—at its core—a scathing indictment of the racism woven into the fabric of our country and empowered by our POTUS, “Obsession” explores the horrific consequences of settling for something artificial. With unregulated AI being shoved down our throats in the name of greed, laziness and a rampant devaluing of humanity, here’s a film about a schmuck (Michael Johnston, excellent) so self-centered in his infatuation that he’d rather hold the woman of his dreams (Navarrette) hostage behind a grotesquely contrived mask than take the risk of asking her out. He’s the real monster of the movie, as evidenced by perhaps its most chilling scene, when the entrapped woman manages to cry for help while the demonic software controlling her brain is asleep. His response is not an apology, but rather, a whine about why she doesn’t have the same feelings for him. He has no interest in putting forth the effort to have an authentic relationship in his life, even as one is perpetually lodged in his peripheral vision. It’s not for nothing that the pouty frown his faux girlfriend snaps on when stricken with jealousy resembles the inhuman blankness of a sad face emoji. Such emptiness is all that artificiality can offer us, and our obsession with it will clearly be our undoing.
“Obsession” is currently doing boffo business in wide release.
Renate Reinsve in “Backrooms”
I suppose it makes sense that modern day twenty somethings have a remarkable gift for helming horror films, considering they came of age during a pandemic, routine school shooting drills and two terms served by the worst human ever to occupy the presidency of the United States. With Curry Barker’s “Obsession” currently breaking box office records, here arrives another debut feature from an even younger director who got his start on YouTube: 21-year-old Kane Parsons. His film is an expanded version of the creepy videos he made that went viral online, consisting of seemingly endless, dingy, labyrinthine interiors that have a Kubrickian eeriness about them. The ingenious production design alone by longtime Osgood Perkins collaborator Danny Vermette makes this picture essential viewing in theaters, yet like this year’s similarly entrancing yet less successful “Exit 8,” “Backrooms” makes the error of overstating its themes to the point where its magic starts to drain away. What ultimately saves the film is the mighty Renate Reinsve (on the heels of her Oscar-nominated performance in “Sentimental Value” and role in the Palme d’Or-winning “Fjord”), whose character of a frustrated therapist may be more central to the narrative than she initially appears. There’s a lot to read into how Parsons chooses to end the film, specifically with its very final shot. To say more, of course, would be criminal.
“Backrooms” opens today in mainstream theaters.
Lukita Maxwell in “An Autumn Summer”
My in-laws’ home in Michigan has been a vital sanctuary for my wife and I, especially during the quarantined months of the pandemic, when all the benefits of living in a city like Chicago were null and void. One of our favorite places we discovered on our nature journeys was the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive at Sleeping Bear, where beachgoers can slide down a vertiginous dune all the way to the lake, provided they don’t mind the formidable climb back up. My heart leapt up as soon as I saw that exact dune receive screen time in Jared Isaac’s gorgeously lensed last-summer-before-college outing. The film itself is admittedly overwritten and impossibly honey-hued, yet it does give actor Lukita Maxwell—as the male protagonist’s adolescent love—her first worthy big screen showcase to date. From the moment she materialized onscreen in the endearing Apple TV series, “Shrinking,” my first thought was, “Now that’s a star.” Her impeccable sense of comedic timing was as assured as the grounded nuance she gave to her character’s dramatic moments, which weren’t afraid of tucking in a laugh for good measure. She is as luminous as the picturesque Michigan locations in “An Autumn Summer,” and for anyone who wished she had more screen time in “Backrooms,” this slight yet lively slice of life is a good place to start.
“An Autumn Summer” will be released on digital platforms on Tuesday, June 9th.
Bonus: Ella Bright in “Off Campus”
After enduring the toxic male leads in such overpraised works as “Normal People” and “Marty Supreme,” how refreshing it is to see a series aimed at young adults in which the hunky lead is, in fact, a decent human being. Created by Louisa Levy and adapted from the book series by Elle Kennedy, this massively popular—and surprisingly thoughtful—college-set show stars Ella Bright in a wonderful performance as Hannah, an aspiring composer who’s stunned to find herself falling for a jock, Garrett (Belmont Cameli). The most talked-about scene of the first season takes place in its fourth episode, superbly directed by Samantha Bailey, when Hannah professes to Garrett that she isn’t yet ready to go “all the way,” as a result of past traumas. Garrett listens with understanding and empathy before suggesting an alternate approach to their sexual encounter. This leads to one of the most intimate, erotic and beautifully cathartic moments of television I’ve ever seen, all achieved without any onscreen nudity. I must also give a shout-out to one of my favorite actors, Julia Sarah Stone (star of Lindsay Mackay’s brilliant 2014 film, “Wet Bum”), who steals their scenes as a charismatic peer offering play by play commentary during Garrett’s hockey matches. Here’s hoping they get even more screen time in season two.
“Off Campus” is now streaming on Prime.
