Krampus

For F*** Magazine

KRAMPUS

Director : Michael Dougherty
Cast : Adam Scott, Toni Collette, Allison Tolman, David Koechner, Emjay Anthony, Stefania LaVie Owen, Conchata Ferrell, Krista Stadler
Genre : Horror/Comedy
Run Time : 98 mins
Opens : 3 December 2015
Rating : PG13 (Frightening Scenes)

This Christmas, the weather outside is far from the only thing that’s frightful. Tommy (Scott) and Sarah (Collette) Engel, along with their children Max (Anthony) and Beth (Owen), are gearing up for the annual torture that is their relatives visiting for Christmas. Sarah’s sister Linda (Tolman) arrives with her husband Howard (Koechner), their four children and Aunt Dorothy (Ferrell) in tow. They’re stuck inside with no electricity due to a ferocious blizzard. Tommy’s mother (Stadler) begins acting strangely, as she usually does around Christmas, and soon the family is terrorised by some particularly nasty uninvited guests. It turns out that Max has inadvertently summoned the Christmas demon Krampus, Santa Claus’ evil counterpart, and good cheer is not on the agenda.

            Krampus, the cloaked, horned figure from Germanic folklore who punishes misbehaving children during Christmas, has only recently entered American popular culture. Krampus seems like a natural antagonist for a film of the holiday horror subgenre and we’re getting two this festive season, the other one being a Canadian anthology movie called A Christmas Horror Story. Michael Dougherty, who helmed the acclaimed cult anthology horror film Trick ‘r Treat, wrote and directed Krampus. While he does ensure the film is tonally consistent and doesn’t stray too far into campiness, Krampus is far from the hearty Christmas meal horror fans have been hoping it would be.  

            The Krampus mythology is one that most American audiences wouldn’t be familiar with, and the inclusion of a slightly creepy German grandmother figure hints that the film will dive headlong into the trove of tales surrounding this dark anti-Santa. We do get a haunting animated flashback sequence, but there is very little that makes Krampus and his minions stand out from being run-of-the-mill horror movie monsters. There are some fantastic creature effects furnished by Weta Workshop, but apart from CGI gingerbread men attacking David Koechner with a nail gun, there aren’t any particularly inventive set-pieces to be had. The justification that is given for Krampus selecting this particular family as his target is quite flimsy, and the moral of treasuring one’s relatives in spite of how annoying they might be comes off as half-hearted. The film’s scathing opening sequence is set to Bing Crosby’s It’s Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas and depicts crowds violently jostling each other in a frenzy while Christmas shopping at a mall. It suggests a bitter satirical edge which is not followed up on.

            Scott and Collette play it straight and their steadfastness in refusing to wink and nod at the audience does help the material. Anthony, memorably loveable as Jon Favreau’s on-screen son in Chef, is a convincingly earnest good kid. While none of the performances are terrible, everyone here is a family comedy cliché: we have the harried mother who has to hold the fort when the relatives descend on her home, the teenage daughter who is never more than a minute away from rolling her eyes, the boorish uncle, and the belligerent, alcoholic grandaunt. Austrian actress Krista Stadler does lend the film some texture, keeping “Omi” from being a full-on “creepy grandma” type ala The Visit.

            The first half of Krampus has dysfunctional family members squabbling, the second half has said family members chased through the house by an assortment of Christmas-themed monsters and the ending is vague at best, a howl-worthy cop-out at worst. The Krampus legend has all the makings of a terrific horror flick, showcasing the dark side of a holiday that’s associated with commercialised cheeriness. There are some effective atmospheric touches, such as the incorporation of the already-kinda creepy Carol of the Bells into the soundtrack. At times, the film almost feels like it could be something in the vein of Gremlins, though it lacks the demented energy to reach that level. Unfortunately, Krampus doesn’t make optimal use of the legend and its PG-13 rating does somewhat hamper the scares it can provide.

Summary: There’s talent behind this horror comedy, but the rich, fascinatingly spooky Krampus legend is left largely unmined.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

Miss You Already

For F*** Magazine

MISS YOU ALREADY

Director : Catherine Hardwicke

Cast : Drew Barrymore, Toni Collette, Dominic Cooper, Paddy Considine, Tyson Ritter, Mem Ferda, Jacqueline Bisset, Frances de la Tour

Genre : Drama

Run Time : 113 mins

Opens : 5 November 2015

Rating : NC-16 (Some Sexual Scenes)

The course of true BFF-ship never did run smooth, and in this comedy-drama, Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore play best friends who weather thick and thin together. Milly (Collette) and Jess (Barrymore) have been the closest of pals since childhood, when Jess’ family moved from the US to the UK. Milly marries former rock band roadie Kit (Cooper) and the two go on to have two kids together. Jess settles down with construction engineer Jago (Considine) and the two are trying for a baby. A spanner is thrown in the works when Milly discovers she has breast cancer. As those around her, including Jess, Kit and Milly’s mother Miranda (Bisset) try to help out in any way they can, the time-tested bond between Jess and Milly undergoes considerable strain. Will the besties conquer all?

Miss You Already is adapted for the screen by Morwenna Banks from her own BBC Radio play. The radio play has a spoiler-tastic title, so we shan’t print it here (and don’t go looking for it if you haven’t seen the movie yet). It’s very easy to be cynical about Miss You Already – it’s a story about a cancer patient and her best friend and has drawn inevitable comparisons to the likes of legendary chick flicks Beaches and Steel Magnolias. Now, “chick flick” isn’t an appellation and it’s perfectly fine for a film to be made with the intention of getting its audience to get all misty-eyed. Director Catherine Hardwicke is cognisant of the pre-conceived notions one might go into Miss You Already with and attempts to walk the tightrope between subverting the tropes of the weepie movie subgenre and playing them straight. This is mostly successful. 

There is the great danger of the film coming across as a blatantly hokey “Lifetime movie of the week” affair. At the same time, one wouldn’t want it to be too bleakly mundane. Miss You Already does stick to many of the established traits of comedy-dramas centring on someone battling a terminal illness, but it carries nary a shred of self-importance and as such is easy to get involved in. The recent comedy drama 50/50 took a down-to-earth, gently humorous look at dealing with cancer, and while the situations in Miss You Already are more outlandish, the approach is along those lines. Many of the jokes do land, and the comedy functions as a way of cushioning the blow of the devastation that comes with a condition like breast cancer. It doesn’t feel like the film is forcing us to laugh at something that inherently just isn’t funny, and that’s a point in its favour. 

Miss You Already’s coup is its casting, since if Milly and Jess come across as actual lifelong friends, half the battle is won. Milly and Jess are distinct enough without being polar opposites; it’s a relief that the film doesn’t take the “one’s buttoned-up and the other’s a flighty free spirit!” approach. Collette does most of the dramatic heavy lifting and her performance is as entertaining as it is affecting. We get the sense that this is a woman who loves having fun and does have a real zest for life, so we’re rooting for her in spite of some very questionable decisions she makes. Collette’s comic timing is on point, and both she and Barrymore consciously avoid over-the-top joke delivery styles. Barrymore’s Jess is the more stable and dependable of the two, having to be the unwavering pillar of support throughout Milly’s ordeal and Barrymore is understated and appealing in the role. There’s even a reference to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, which this reviewer found especially amusing. 

Both Cooper and Considine make for fine significant others to Collette and Barrymore, with Considine in particular turning in what might the movie’s most realistic performance. Each has to “share” his wife with her best friend, but they become friends in the process and it is heart-warming to see them all hanging out together and enjoying each other’s company. Bisset, fabulous as always, is a complete and utter hoot as Milly’s feisty actress mother. 

Miss You Already is by no means a realistic movie – there’s a subplot involving Milly dragging a pregnant Jess along on a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Brontë Country, the setting of their favourite book Wuthering Heights. However, by the time the film closes in on the tear ducts, it has largely earned that and the characters feel sufficiently developed and relatable. Miss You Already’s formulaic aspects are easy to forgive, because director Hardwicke and writer Banks have mostly put them to good use. 

Summary: While partaking in its share of clichés, this story of two friends manages to be funny and moving thanks in no small part to enjoyable, engaging performances from its leads.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong 

Enough Said

For F*** Magazine

ENOUGH SAID

Director: Nicole Holofcener
Cast:  Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini, Catherine Keener, Toni Collette, Ben Falcone, Eve Hewson, Tavi Gevinson, Tracey Fairaway
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 93 mins
Opens: 7 November 2013
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)

          Over the years, “chick flicks” have gotten a bad rap. Sure, classics like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Terms of Endearment probably are considered chick flicks, but recent entries in this film genre headlined by the Katherine Heigls and the Kate Hudsons of the world aren’t exactly examples of quality cinema. Adjectives like “shallow”, “materialistic”, “frivolous” and “saccharine” come to mind. Well, if you’ve grown weary of films like that, Enough Said is the romantic comedy-drama for you.

Eva (Louis-Dreyfus) is a hardworking massage therapist who has found a new client in the form of Marianne (Keener), a poet. They form a friendship over the course of several massage sessions, and Eva notices that Marianne persists in speaking disparagingly about her ex-husband. Eva is a divorcee herself, and embarks upon a relationship with Albert (Gandolfini), an oafish but charming television history archivist. At the same time, Eva’s daughter Ellen (Fairaway) is about to leave for college, and Eva just doesn’t know if she can cope. She also inadvertently draws closer to Ellen’s friend Chloe (Gevinson), drawing the ire of her own daughter. Once Eva starts picking up on Albert’s little idiosyncrasies, their relationship begins to strain and Eva must get a grip not only as a masseuse, but in her personal life as well.

 

It’s always nice to see a romantic film with a cast that isn’t populated entirely by idealized, impossibly beautiful 20-somethings. Films like Something’s Gotta Give and last year’s Hope Springs that skew towards those of a certain vintage do indeed have something a lot of films about young, reckless love lack. In Enough Said, the characters tackle a mid-life romance from a place of experience, their struggles and foibles well-developed and immensely relatable. The film’s sweet, grounded nature makes it very palatable; there aren’t outrageous slapstick set pieces or wacky hijinks. A good part of the film is just people sitting on steps, talking – that’s even the image used for the poster.

Now, a movie consisting mostly of people sitting on steps and talking might sound boring, but Enough Said draws one into the relationships it depicts and proves entirely engaging, thanks to Nicole Holofcener’s screenplay and direction. Her films, which include Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing and Friends with Money, have garnered praise for their approach to romance and relationships. Evident in those films and very much so in Enough Said is Holofcener’s understanding of the feelings and concerns women face; something ironically lacking from a good deal of chick flicks.

A film of this sort live or dies by whether the audience is willing to accept its leads as a couple – no need for concern here. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late James Gandolfini are wonderful together. She handles the role of the funny everywoman with ease, putting on an array of hilarious expressions whenever a reaction to something is required. Gandolfini is probably best-known as the imposing Mafioso Tony Soprano, but he embodies the gentler, loveable Albert just as well. Albert isn’t the stereotypically “perfect” rom com leading man, but that definitely adds to the believability of the character and Gandolfini brings a lot of heart to the role. Quite touchingly, the simple dedication “for Jim” appears during the end credits.

Holofcener’s oft-collaborator Catherine Keener is also good as the poet Marianne. The character definitely has the potential to come off as snooty or unlikeable, what with her perfectly put-together home, penchant for growing her own chervil and, well, her being a poet – but Keener never plays that up and you’ll genuinely want Eva and Marianne to stay friends. Toni Collette is a hoot in her uncomplicated role as Eva’s friend Sarah, who doesn’t hide her disdain for sheepish, malapropism-prone husband Will (Falcone). The young actresses who round out the cast, including Tracey Fairaway, Eve Hewson and teenage fashion magazine editor Tavi Gevinson (who bears quite the resemblance to Scarlett Johansson) make for realistic teen characters, never overly sulky or insufferable.

Holofcener’s mastery of tone is also admirable. Oftentimes, romantic comedies tumble wildly into ungainly melodramatic territory. Here, the film’s dip into relationship troubles and empty nest worries doesn’t feel like an arm-twisting and even then, Enough Said stays a safe distance from being sappy and emotionally manipulative. Perhaps it helps that the film doesn’t fall over itself trying to “upend the formula”, and that it’s lovingly painted instead of scrawled on the wall by a cynic. The setup may sound rather sitcom-ish, some might perceive it as "mundane" and perhaps there is a predictability to the proceedings, but Enough Said emerges as one of the finest romantic comedies in recent memory.

SUMMARY: Subtle, sweet, honest, relatable funny and very well-acted by two convincing, likeable leads, Enough Said is also a terrific movie to remember the late James Gandolfini by.

RATING: 4 out of 5 STARS

Jedd Jong 

Mary and Max

Movie Review                                                                                                             31/3/11

MARY AND MAX

2009

Starring the voices of: Barry Humphries, Toni Collette, Phillip Seymour-Hoffman

Directed by: Adam Elliot

            Before the end credits roll, Ethel Mumford’s famous quote appears onscreen: “God gives us our relatives – thank God we can choose our friends”. The simple, heartfelt sentiment of a longing for meaningful friendship, understanding and an outlet to share is a huge driving force that makes Mary and Max a cinematic gem one finds hidden in the cave buried amongst heaps of awful movies – a gem one only finds every so often.

            The Narrator (Humphries) lays it all out: Mary (Bethany Whitmore as a child, Collette as an adult) is an eight-year-old Australian girl, bullied in school, mistreated by her kleptomaniac, drunk mother and neglected by her factory-worker father. She has no friends. Max (Seymour-Hoffman) is an obese, middle-aged New Yorker who has Asperger’s Syndrome. He has no friends either. When Mary finds the strange name “M. Horowitz” in a phone book and decides to write to him, it’s the start of an unlikely friendship spanning two continents and twenty years and enduring countless hardships.

            Directed, written and designed by Australian animator Adam Elliot, Mary and Max may at first seem inaccessible because of its arthouse sensibilities – there’s a misconception that claymation is only ever used to make either films for very young children, or bizarre adaptations of Kafka’s Metamorphosis. The delightfully whimsical style here is very comfortable, honest and real, raw emotions balanced with an appropriate sprinkling of black humour.

            To get an idea for the feel of the movie, take the heartbreaking opening sequence of Pixar’s Up and stretch that to 80 minutes. The movie’s childlike honesty belies a large range of very real and mature themes, making this not ideal for very young children, but something that older kids will appreciate. Danny Boyle’s film Millions, also about a young outcast kid making sense of life and the world at large, comes to mind.

            Unlike such claymation films as Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Mary and Max doesn’t derive most of its charm from being dark and grotesque. The characters feel so real that their appearances are the only thing remotely caricature-like. Through their letters to and fro, Mary and Max work through issues such as making friends, dealing with bullying and teasing, approaching relationships and so on. Just as Max mentors Mary, so the young girl has a thing or two to teach him. The film tracks as their lives progress, Max winning the New York lottery, Mary going on to study in university and get married, all the way up until they finally meet face-to-face in New York.

            I’ve known someone with Asperger’s Syndrome for a very long time, and being this person’s friend, I was surprised at how accurately the movie portrayed the disorder. Max decides that he likes being an “Aspie”, that there’s no point in finding a “cure”, and that it’s all about working around the anxiety attacks, sensory overload and social awkwardness that is part and parcel of the “syndrome”. Max finds solace in order, routine and comfort foods like his invention, the chocolate hot dog. “If only there was a mathematical equation for love,” he sighs.

           

            One feels as much for Mary as for Max, the young girl lacking the life experience, with tragedy and heartbreak heaped onto her. From having a school bully pee on her lunch, to being unlucky in love and unable to have a good relationship with her parents, let alone any friends, it’s hard not to immediately want to give the awkward bespectacled girl with the birthmark on her forehead a great big hug.

           

            I spent the whole movie fighting back tears – partly because of how genuinely moving it was, but also how happy I was that here was a wonderful film that had got everything right. While charming and beautiful throughout, the movie isn’t afraid to offer a real and unflinching perspective, and never once feels preachy or contrived. There are very few movies that can truly be called “life-changing” – this is one of them.

RATING: 5/5 STARS

Jedd Jong