drama – Page 7 – PopCult Reviews

Movie Review – Secrets & Lies

Secrets & Lies (1996)
Written and directed by Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh has presented us with some of the best British female film performances of the latter half of the 20th century. He has a troupe of performers, many of whom are fantastic actresses – Alison Steadman, Ruth Sheen, Katrin Cartildge, and Sally Hawkins. The crown jewel among them is Lesley Manville, but more on her in a later review. It doesn’t surprise me that a filmmaker can bring out such strong performances with actresses he’s been collaborating with for decades. The rapport they share must be as smooth as butter by this point. The even more impressive feat is when he can get that same level of performance out of an actress he’s working with for the first time. Secrets & Lies provides two of these performances and is one of Leigh’s finest achievements.

Movie Review – Naked

Naked (1993)
Written and directed by Mike Leigh

For those not alive in the 1990s, a specific element is difficult to recapture. Due to a simplistic view of numbers, many people felt doom & gloom over the fact that the calendar would one day soon start with “20” rather than “19.” It sounds quaint compared to today’s world, where nothing seemed entirely significant about “2020” until there was. I do think the Cold War fueled many of the anxieties of the 1980s and preceding decades, but with “communism defeated,” you’d think the children of the West would be enjoying an endless capitalist bacchanal. It wasn’t the case because capitalism was spiraling; it was a long journey from the edge of the sink to the bottom. Mike Leigh was feeling that gloom; the conservative Thatcher era in the UK had left so many people barely holding on by a thread, and with that economic crush, they were becoming nastier to each other.

Movie Review – Life is Sweet

Life Is Sweet (1990)
Written and directed by Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh could be seen as a director who makes funny little movies about British working-class people’s lives. That is true to an extent. However, there’s so much more happening under the surface of these films, which is Leigh pointing out to us how complex & nuanced lives we see as surface-level can be. Our lives are more complicated than someone like Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. We experience life more fully than them, as we are still in contact with what makes us part of the natural world: the struggle for survival. Being working-class in the West is very complex, as you’ve been afforded some distractions & escapes that people in the developing world can only dream of. Yet, you still experience regular anxiety over housing/bills/food/etc. Life is often complicated by our perspective and class position.

Movie Review – High Hopes

High Hopes (1988)
Written and directed by Mike Leigh

To see Mike Leigh’s name credited as the maker behind a movie is to signify something. It means you will be treated to some of the best conversations between very human, grounded characters you’ve ever heard. The story will be focused on the working class, with an even-handed mix of misery and mirth. The whole thing will be very British but not in the nationalistic sense; in the communal sense, British people living quiet lives with moments of drama in them. High Hopes was not Leigh’s first picture. Previously, he directed Bleak Moments (1971) with his second feature, Meantime, but he did not come to theaters until 1983. Because Leigh’s preferred method of working is to allow the actors to improvise dialogue during rehearsal sessions, the filmmaker had trouble getting financial backing. But with High Hopes, Leigh’s career finally kicked off in full, leading to a string of fantastic movies that continue to come out today.

PopCult Podcast – Seven Samurai/The Hidden Fortress

Akira Kurosawa is one of the greatest filmmakers to ever live and his movies have had a profound influence on the form. Today we talk about a group of ronin defending a village & the story of a princess in peril that should feel familiar.

Movie Review – Black Girl

Black Girl (1966)
Written and directed by Ousmane Sembène

I had never heard of this film until a few years ago. I didn’t learn the name of its writer-director, Ousmane Sembène (pronounced Oos-man Sem-ben), until last year. I have to ask why that is. Why do I know the names and filmographies of a whole host of directors, but if I were to be asked about African cinema, I would draw a blank? At most, I probably could have come with Neill Blomkamp, a white South African. But no indigenous African filmmakers? I should have known who Sembène was long ago; he’s considered the “father of African cinema” and has been named one of the greatest authors of that continent. The reason I didn’t know this person was because the society I grew up in is profoundly racist, and so someone like Sembène is seen as unworthy of attention.

PopCult Podcast – Perfect Days/Tokyo Story

Two quiet slice of life dramas get the spotlight this week. Wim Wenders finds poignancy in the life of a public toilet cleaner as he makes connections. Ozu delivers his humanist masterpiece with a quiet family epic.

Comic Book Review – Monica

Monica (Fantagraphics)
Written & Illustrated by Daniel Clowes

When I think of the great indie comics creators from my younger days, I typically think of three names: Charles Burns (Black Hole), Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth), and Daniel Clowes (Ghost World). Each artist has a distinct style, and their personality comes through in all their work. The common theme between them all is a bleak look at humanity. Clowes’ work, in particular, focused on the alienation of Generation X, whose identities were tied to ironic nostalgia and difficulty being vulnerable with others. But time has passed, and Clowes is no longer a young man. As good as his early work is, he’s matured into something incredible, and Monica is a perfect example of this sophistication.

PopCult Podcast – All of Us Strangers/The Iron Claw

We finally get to talk about two films from 2023 we have been so excited for. The first is a dreamlike queer fantasy about reckoning with the past so you can start living. The second is the tragic real life story of a professional wrestling dynasty.

Movie Review – Goodbye, Dragon Inn

Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)
Written by Tsai Ming-liang & Sung Hsi
Directed by Tsai Ming-liang

Since March 2020, I have only seen a single film in a movie theater, and that was here in the Netherlands. The dangers associated with COVID-19, not just death but permanent or even temporary disabling, just made the act of going to the theater simply not worth it. I’ve felt justified in my choice the more horror stories I hear from the States about people talking at full volume or scrolling through their phones during the movie as if they were in their own house. I would consider attending an art-house theater because the crowds would be smaller and more respectful. But even then, most of my film-watching life will be at home for the rest of my life. Before COVID, I visited the theater at least once every other week. But life is change, and we have to move on with it.