Category: Culture

This House by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via Bristol 24/7.

Date Published:  Mar 14, 2023.

James Graham’s frequently funny play This House, directed here by Nik Partridge, is an excellent choice for Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS)’s latest production.

Seen through the lens of today’s unsteady politics, this play reflects on the hung parliament of 1970s Westminster. We watch the tension building as Labour and the Conservative party continuously fight it out for the ‘odds and socks’ votes (the Scottish, Irish, Welsh and Liberal parties).

At almost three hours, it’s a satire that will keep you on the edge of your seat both from anticipation and laughter – even despite knowing how it all shakes out in the end.

While the majority of the action is focused on the politics of the time, there are subsidiary plot lines involving personal relationships, mental illness, and planned sabotage.

And the thematic strand of potential devolution of Wales and Scotland from the United Kingdom is strongly resonant of today’s society, given the ongoing campaign for Scottish independence.

This isn’t lost on the audience, who erupt into laughter at a joke about not voting for the prime minister.

Ultimately, back in the 1970s, this vote for devolution costs Labour a big vote, allowing the Conservative party to file for a vote of no confidence in the Queen’s government.

There is humour woven throughout the play, but that’s not to detract from the compelling moments of beauty and sadness. Throughout, the deputy leaders from the two main parliamentary parties are shown to have a close relationship built on mutual respect. The narrative ends with a beautiful moment between the two, during which you could hear a pin drop – and which almost brought me to tears.

Given that the production comes from BOVTS students, it’s worth emphasising that technically, it’s quite a feat. The staging and lighting transitions are seamless; the movement sections beautifully choreographed; the 1970s costume design thoughtful and effective.

There are also some standout moments underscored by the clever use of music to build intensity, as well as live singing.

But it’s the acting that steals the show. The ensemble is superb, across the board – with many of them multi-roling and accent-switching with ease.

This House masterfully combines the laughter value of the satire with the intensity of politics. Happily, there isn’t a single moment where it lags; it is fast-paced with plenty of action throughout.

Even if you are not interested in politics, I can highly recommend this play. It represents some of the best acting performances I have seen on a stage.

A Hot Chocolate with Max Meadows

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 10th March 2023.

While Max Meadows has more disdain for the title of Indie Rock than coffee, he is as unfortunate as it is an Indie Rock Musician. 

If one were to meet him in person, the words whimsical, somewhat chaotic, and full of laughter come to mind. Not only is he talented at the piano, but he is also talented at erupting into laughter, so much so that you can hear him across the UWE Campus. He plays both the piano and the guitar, quite exceptionally, I may add.

Though he remarks that he does not take inspiration from other artists, I would describe his music close to The Smiths if they had more childlike wonder. While he can be seen as full of life at times, his music is much more relaxed and dreamlike, if I may use one of my favourite words: melancholy.

If you cannot tell from his music, Max Meadows is passionate about all aspects of art, whether fashion design, art itself or music. Before going into music, he considered a career in fashion, and maybe one day he will return to it. He designed the cover of his EP and “Sleepy Sally” while doodling in his notebook. If you can believe it, the cover is a drawing of Max Meadows himself before he had a moustache. Fun fact, he originally grew out the moustache as a joke for an 80s party, and has kept it ever since.

Not only is Max Meadows a songwriter, but he is also a poet. However, he has only shown me one Haiku, so the jury is still out on that. It is extraordinary and beautiful that his creativity clearly drives him when he writes a poem, rather than having a strategic plan before going into it, even though sometimes he doesn’t know if it will become a song. While some songs may originate from poetry, others come from wandering about the riverbanks and seeing a boat called “Lady Chloe”.

It is to be said that his interests are leaning towards film and away from poetry at the moment. When asked about possible future music videos, he vaguely replies that maybe after he has remastered his EP. Like anyone with a strong passion for art, he has an idea for music videos, but he has yet to determine how he will execute them. He is determined to one day reproduce his old EP now that he has learnt more about music production. He is driven to produce music videos for his EP once he learns more about camera work.

One day Max Meadows would also like to dip his toes into the genre of Jazz. He will probably have to learn more instruments first. Though he is a grade six alto saxophone player too. 

My favourite from Max Meadows’ “Candy Tide” EP is “My Lonely World”. It feels like being transcended into a dream. I will honestly be surprised if this does not make it into my Spotify wrapped. The melody feels like a warm or perhaps even a hot chocolate with Max Meadows. This song radiates the same warmth as the singer himself. The mixture between the soft sounds on the guitar, the playful sound of the piano, and the enchanting singing, along with the echoing effect of the voice on the track. The chorus makes the song relaxing, creating the feeling of home and safety.

Although, if you want a groovier vibe, may I suggest either “Candy Tide”, the EP’s namesake, “In a Dream” or “Nocturnal Love”. Stanley Ward on the drums makes “Nocturnal Love” very different from the rest of the EP, and it is beginning to be one of my favourites. Both “Lady Chloe” and “Lucy” mimic each other by the repetitive nature of the continuous singing of the names.

The most beautiful and perhaps, the best song on the album belongs to “Sleepy Sally”. It is a breathtakingly beautiful, yet a heart-aching song and the chorus will get stuck in your head for hours. Ironically the chorus keeps me up at night with it playing in my mind. 

Max Meadows’ “Candy Tide” is an EP that I would recommend as you stare at the ceiling with some dim lights on and just allow the music to flow through you.  

Barbenheimer: The Return of Cinema

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Editor-in-Chief.

Date Published: 20th October 2023.

The cinema industry has always been a rather fragile income, the boom of the industry came back during the Marvel releases taking the world by storm, however, this came crashing down as quickly as it began. COVID-19 meant the shutdown of cinemas everywhere, the closure of film sets, the holdings of productions and scripts. The question lingered if cinema could ever return to the state, it was before, income Barbenheimer. 

Whether it stems from the day of two brilliant directors, Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig, or the memes surrounding the day. Barbie grossed over one billion pounds with Oppenheimer slowly behind with nine hundred million pounds. Cinemas were packed with people going to see both films in the space of one weekend or even one day. Personally, I saw Barbie on Friday morning with a quick lunch break before watching Oppenheimer. While some may say this was a bizarre ordering, I respond with a question of I knew the likelihood of enjoying a Greta Gerwig film was much higher for me than Christopher Nolan. This does not discredit Nolan, moreover, I believe I need more time to process and think of Nolan’s film. I can openly admit that I am not quite sure what happened in Tenet. In comparison, I watched Oppenheimer three times during its cinema release and Barbie twice. 

Barbie by Greta Gerwig 

A beautiful story about motherhood, young girls growing up in a harsh world full of criticism, and what it truly means to be human.  

Compared to Oppenheimer I avoided Barbie trailers as much as possible, I wanted to fully experience the film for the first time in cinema. Barbie defined part of my childhood whether that was the animated Barbie films or playing with dolls. Whenever I felt sad, Barbie was something I could lean on even in private. There came a moment during my GCSEs when I and a friend needed something to lean on, the nostalgia of playing with Barbie dolls helped us whilst we studied for our exams. There is an interesting aspect of the film that girls grow up much quicker than boys, in this society we are expected to be more mature and take the high ground more often than boys. For a brief moment when I was in the cinema, I could finally relive a part of my girlhood that I had forgotten about and avoided. 

The protagonists exemplify that femininity is not a weakness and it encapsulates the beautiful nature of women’s friendships. 

Like Oppenheimer, Barbie separates worlds by cinematography techniques. In Barbieland, the lightning is always behind the Barbies and the Kens who are always centred shot. Whereas, in the real world, there is a range of shots and Barbie is no longer centred. This indicates the beauty of the Barbies and the harsh world that Barbie is adventuring into. 

Barbie is presented as a comedy, on average about fifty per cent of the jokes land, however, I can understand that not all the jokes are for my demographic but for the little girls that have the privilege to grow up in a world that has Barbie. While it is easier to praise Ryan Gosling for his role in Barbie as he plays a comedic relief, one must not overlook the acting skills demonstrated by Margo Robbie and America Ferrera.  

Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan 

I would label Oppenheimer as my favourite Christopher Nolan film, yes above The Dark Knight. Oppenheimer is a story about the struggle of furthering science and winning the war while addressing and evaluating the consequences of the atomic bomb. ‘They won’t fear it until they understand it. And they won’t understand it until they’ve used it’ which perfectly encapsulates the reasoning behind dropping the atomic bomb. 

I knew this would become one of my all-time favourite films when the soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson ‘Can you hear the music’ started while Oppenheimer was studying at Cambridge. This is during the first act, the colour grading for this part of the film is very interesting with the enhanced blue cold tones which highly contrasted to the browns and red tones in the final act. I cannot discuss the colour grading without mentioning the use of black and white during Robert Downey Jr parts. This is not the first time Nolan has used this technique to divide the narrative, he used this in Memento (2000) to show two sequences. One sequence follows Downey Jr closely in the cabinet, however, not used during the investigation of Oppenheimer. The black and white sequence shows the narrative the public had during the time of the nuclear bomb, while the colour sequence is Oppenheimer’s narrative and therefore has extreme bias. 

Cillian Murphy plays the role of Oppenheimer so extremely well that I can read every single microexpression and all the words that are left unsaid. Every single actor in this film brought everything they could into this.  

The film also holds my favourite cinematography sequence, the trial scene of dropping the atomic bomb, I felt my entire body and mind torn in half. The deafening silence during the sequence met with a loud explosion left goosebumps covering my body. 

Bibliography- 

Gerwig, Greta. Barbie. Heyday Films, 2023. 

Hughes, Mark. ‘Can ‘Oppenheimer’ Top $1 Billion Box Office? The Clock Is Ticking.’ Forbes, 2023. 

Murray, Tom. ‘Mattel’s earnings from Barbie movie revealed to be ‘more than double’ Margot Robbie’s’. The Independent, 2023. 

Nolan, Christopher. Memento. Summit Entertainment, 2000. 

Nolan, Christopher. Oppenheimer. Universal Pictures, 2023. 

Nolan, Christopher. Tenet. Warner Bros Pictures, 2020. 

Nolan, Christopher. The Dark Knight. Warner Bros Pictures, 2008. 

Past Lives: A Directorial Debut

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Editor-in-Chief.

Date Published: 6th October 2023.

As the credits roll, a bond is formed with everyone in the cinema as we all cry in disbelief at the ending and that’s when the laughter fights its way out as we cry. 

Past Lives (2023) is Celine Song’s directorial debut and follows two childhood friends Nora (played by Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (played by Teo Yoo). The story follows three main timelines that intersect throughout the film. The first timeline is follows Nora as her parents plan to migrate to Toronto, Canada and she is struggling with the emotions of leaving behind her childhood friend Hae Sung. In the second timeline, she has moved from Toronto to New York City and is twelve years later. She reaches out to Hae Sung and as they grow closer over the internet, she is struggling with the version of herself as a child and the version as a woman living on her own. The third timeline is twenty years later from when she left Korea and Hae Sung finally comes to the United States. 

The beauty and the idea of the film comes from in-yun which is a Korean concept that connections in this life stem from previous connections made in former lives. For example, the man you brush past on the train in this life is just a stranger but in the next life he could be more. Though this idea is introduced in the second act is played off as a means of seduction, in the final act it is brought full circle and ever so heartbreaking. 

There are certain cinematographic choices that really make the film for me.

The first act ends with Nora and Hae Sung separating by Nora going up the stairs to her house and Hae Sung going up the hill, this moment is mirrored in the third act when Hae Sung gets in the Uber and Nora goes up the stairs to her house with her husband sitting outside. Where in the first act neither child can fully express how they feel, in the last act Hae Sung gets his closure and Nora cries into her husband’s arms at the bottom of the stairs. This relates to the idea of past lives, that in this life Nora and Hae Sung just miss each other and cross over one another to different people. A different metaphor could also be extracted from Parasite (2019) directed by Bong Joon-ho in which the stairs are a metaphor for climbing up the social ladder. Hae Sung comments in the third act that he is unmarried as he is considered below the status of his current girlfriend and therefore, she will not marry him.

Another cinematographic choice that stood out for me is in the final act at the bar. This scene is referenced at the very beginning of the film as two outsiders discuss how the three people know each other (Nora, Hae Sung and Nora’s Husband). At first the scene is introduced as a wide shot to make the husband feel isolated from the conservation as the majority of it is in Korean, however, it changes to more intimate close-up shots. The cinematographer very purposely uses when the husband is and is not in frame.  Though most of the conservation is in Korean, by the general tone when the camera switches to the husband we can see he both understands that his wife needs to see Hae Sung and he acts maturely towards the situation.

Throughout the film, the two languages are used as barriers for Nora’s husband and for Hae Sung as they cannot express things clearly to one another. It can also be seen as them seeing different sides of Nora this can be expressed from Hae Sung’s line ‘you are someone who leaves but for your husband, you are someone who stays’. This moment shows when Hae Sung sees Nora as both the woman she has grown up to be and the girl he knew back in Korea. This idea of separation is also expressed through the husband explaining that Nora dreams and speaks in her sleep in Korean so there’s a part of herself he cannot reach or understand. This moment of finally understanding her could be represented when he’s waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her. 

The film overall is a slow burner as the audience becomes more emotionally engaged towards Nora and Hae with the last act of the film being a masterpiece. Personally, I would like a film to get better slowly than decline in quality especially in a world that’s growing more impatient with films. I found the slow building refreshing as it was important to build characters.  

Joon-ho, Bong. Parasite. Barunson E&A, 2019.

Song, Celine. Past Lives. A24, 2023.

A Gig with Wild Horse

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 19th May 2023.

Wild Horse consists of two brothers Jack and Henry Baldwin and their best friend Ed Barnes from a primary school in East Sussex. Since 2018, they have released four albums: ‘When The Pool Is Occupied’ (2021), “WE ARE IN AN IDENTITY CRISIS…BUT WE LOVE IT’ (2020), DANCE!! Like An Animal’ (2019), and ‘Sings About Last Night’ (2018).

Henry Baldwin and Ed Barnes started a band together during secondary school until Jack Baldwin was convinced by his brother to join while still in primary school. Jack was beginning to learn guitar, so it seemed like perfect timing. Jack jokingly claims he only learnt guitar, as his brother got all the attention at family parties, as he would play songs for the family. However, it all works in the end. Jack enjoys ‘being the centre of attention’, which is apparent in his stage presence when performing gigs. He is lively and joyful, and gets the crowd going.

While it is a cliché to say it’s better live, I mean that for this band, the lead singer Jack Baldwin puts on a performance to Matty Healy’s chaos and energy. Jack comments in his interview that ‘the 1975 are a guilty pleasure’.

‘When The Pool Is Occupied’ (2021)

The 2021 album ‘When The Pool Is Occupied’ is coherent and must be listened to from start to finish. The album’s ending resembles The Beatles’ Abbey Road’, the brilliance of ending an album with a short closing song, ‘Thank you (It’s Gonna Be Alright)’, but with a twist, they also begin the album this way, ‘Happy Love Songs’.

The album is introduced through a very raw song that is heavy on the keys. It perfectly follows into ‘Freaky Together’ until the drums are introduced into the song, which increases the song’s groove and picks up the beat. Jack belts out the vocals with a rougher undertone in their performance, and the music is catchy.

In comparison, ‘Pornstar Martini’ starts with a more classic rock vibe, and the singing is much softer. At the same time, ‘W.A.N.T’ is heavy on the guitar.

One of my favourites from the album is ‘Coffee In The Morning’, which feels like an authentic and raw song concept. It starts softly, with the keys and strong vocals. While most songs have the music at the forefront, the singing and lyrics take the spotlight for this song. Especially the way Jack belts out the lyrics, ‘I don’t know you, but I want to feel your skin on mine, welcome to the autumn time’.

Jack engaged heavily with the audience during the introduction of ‘Feel’.

Another one of my favourites is ‘Anxiety’, and the backing vocals throughout bring the song to life. The best part of the song is the electric guitar song, about 2 minutes and 20 seconds. The use of the guitar song without the lyrics over the top is almost what anxiety itself is like. Though the lyrics aren’t present, you can still hear them like an echo in your mind, almost like worrying thoughts.

Ed’s use of drummers throughout ‘Symphony of Broken Hearts’ creates an almost anxious feeling. The buildup of drums is an outstanding part of the song. The drums feel like a representation of a broken heartbeat combined with the use of keys, making a beautiful and painful heartbreak song.

‘Playin’ On My Mind’ and ‘Pray ’89’ feel like summery indie pop songs. Something great to blast on in the car on the way to the beach.

‘Confidence’ reminds me of a very 2000s aesthetic song. Perfect for getting ready to go clubbing or getting prepared to see Wild Horse at a gig.

‘Record Collection’ is currently on repeat for me, between this and ‘Joy Ride’. When playing this song, you can’t help but dance along. It’s the catchiest of the entire album. The outro with the guitar and the drums is pop perfection.

The album highlights the musical range of the band and the singing range of Jack Baldwin.

‘Cougar‘ got the most significant reaction from the audience. It also has the best beat drop of the singles.

‘Joy Ride’ was the best performance of the night from Wild Horse. It is undoubtedly my most played from the band. The melody scratches an itch in my mind, especially one minute in with the way Jack sings, ‘I can’t keep it together oooo’. All the instruments work together smoothly, while also keeping the sound interesting. With this song playing in the car or at a party, it would be hard to resist dancing to the groovy tune. The song begins slowly to ease you, then grows into a charming pop song. When choosing which song should be the next single, Jack replies that it’s a ‘gut feeling’ that he will look at some songs and ‘just know’.

Their new single, ‘Tangled‘, will be released on the 12th of May.

Lead vocalist Jack Baldwin writes most of the songs for Wild Horse. However, songwriting is only one of his many talents. He can also play guitar and keyboard, and is self-taught learning the saxophone. Jack tends to write demos for Ed and Henry to listen to; this helps the band choose songs to produce and record. Usually, the idea for songs comes from the guitar, but most recently, for Jack, it has come from ‘messing about on the keys.’

While drummer for most songs, Ed Barnes can also play the guitar. He plays the guitar on the song ‘Just About Enough’ from the album ‘When the Pool is Occupied’. He is a self-taught drummer who works out the drums for the song by working with Jack to play the guitar. Ed helps put the rock in the rock ‘n roll aspect of the music.

Henry Baldwin, the bass guitarist, learnt to play the guitar in year three and was one of the youngest in his school to learn an instrument. As the band progressed and the songs changed, Jack began singing a lot more, so Henry decided to step up as bass guitarist for the band. He also wrote many keys for the new single ‘Tangled’.

Half the reason for the band’s name is, of course, a reference to The Rolling Stones; all the band members would choose The Rolling Stones over The Beatles. The other reason is after Neil Diamond’s band ‘Crazy Horse’. They came up with the idea at eleven years old after a gig in the car.

When asked what songwriters inspired Jack Baldwin, he lists the typical ‘The Beatles… Noel Gallagher’, before finishing with ‘One thing I think Taylor Swift is a really good songwriter, I have a lot of respect for her… I love Taylor Swift’. Jack describes songwriting as an outlet, while Henry describes it as a sense of expression.

The most controversial question and the most subjective:

‘What genre would you describe your music as?’

Jack: ‘We fit somewhere between like indie pop, indie funk maybe.’

Henry: ‘But then we got a lot of classic rock elements in there… blues is in there as well.’

Ed: ‘I think we have a bit of a phobia of repeating the same thing more than once.’

The Reversal of the Love Story: (500) Days of Summer (2009)

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 24th March 2023.

From the director who simultaneously directed both the best Spider-Man and the worst Spider-Man film comes the rom-com of the decade, Marc Webb’s (500) Days of Summer. The film is non-chronological, so the audience watches the love story knowing it ends badly and cuts in between the present and the past. Hopeless Romantic Tom (Joseph Gordan-Levitt) meets non-commitment, manic pixie dream girl Summer (Zooey Deschanel) and believes she is The One he has been searching for.

(500) Days of Summer is a cautionary tale about the idea of finding the one. The whole concept is a selfish way of thinking, and it can only lead to disappointment. While the film implies that it is Summer’s fault the relationship didn’t work, it is the intense pressure Tom puts upon himself and Summer to be the one.

As no result of her own, Summer falls into the category of a manic pixie girl. She is seen in many films with a male protagonist. Examples include Scott Pilgrim vs the World (Edgar Wright), Her (Spike Jonze) and Paper Towns (Jake Schreier). The manic pixie girl is a reductive delusion created by the male fantasy of childlike playfulness, somewhat tomboyish but hot. If he likes cars, she is Megan Fox in Transformers. If he is uptight, she’s Jennifer Aniston in Along Came Polly, and if he wants The Smiths, she’s Zooey Deschanel.

The choice of The Smith songs is interesting, using both ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I want’ and ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’. The use of these songs sets up Tom as a hopeless, yet very needy romantic. It always mirrors the way Tom feels about Summer. Even though she clearly states she does not want a relationship, he doesn’t care, and he has placed her on a pedestal that she is now his home and reason for living.

The film’s colour palette also symbolises the failing relationship between Tom and Summer. In most of Tom’s scenes, he wears brown, which blends with his surroundings, whereas Summer predominately wears blue throughout, whether in a full skirt or just blue accessories.

Furthermore, 32 minutes after they have slept together, Tom has a dance number, and almost all the background dancers have some variation of blue. This could suggest Tom is both in Summer’s world, but as he still wears brown and beige, he does not belong in her world. This colour palette difference is most apparent at 47 minutes when they struggle to sleep. The warm tones of Tom clash with the cool blue tones of Summer. The expectations vs reality scene also uses the colour palette, and the expectations have more reds and browns in the background, as it is Tom’s fantasy.

The most phenomenal scene from this entire film is at 1:07:53 when ‘Hero’ by Regina Spektor begins playing, and the screen is split between expectations and reality shots. Using the song ‘Hero’ shows Tom believes he is the hero of this story, and that Summer is the villain by being engaged. Though the audience already knows that Tom is a hopeless romantic, this scene brings it hard to understand how much he has shaped Summer into being someone she isn’t, from small details of the expectations of an intimate dinner with red wine to the reality of a rooftop party with beer to the different people at the party. This infers that he doesn’t know all of Summer’s friends, as that doesn’t matter in his fantasy, and the red wine connotes a romantic side to Summer he has made up. Even the tiniest details in 1:09:32, the expectations have a shot of blurred lilies in the forefront, and the reality has roses. The moment the shot moves from expectations vs reality is when Tom sees the engagement ring. Marc Webb beautifully panels the camera from his face to circle around to his back to show Summer showing off her ring.

Similar to the expectations vs reality scene, there is a parallel at 13:45 and 57:46 where everything he loves about Summer turns into everything he hates about Summer. This implies Tom can easily change how he views things. Therefore, how he sees everything that happened with Summer is unreliable.

The directorial style reminds me of Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014) in using old Hollywood film reel shots, two parallel shots, and characters breaking the fourth wall with a particular use of black and white film shots. This directorial style can symbolise Tom’s mindset of hopeless romanticism due to romance and old films. The repeated shots at 1:10:00 are also very Wes Anderson style. Obviously, this film came before this mentioned Wes Anderson film.

The question the audience asks at the end when the Autumn count begins is whether Tom learnt his lesson. My theory is based on the first two minutes of the film. The narrator mentions Tom misread the ending of The Graduate by Mike Nichols (1967) and that he will also misread the ending with Summer. Instead of seeing his mistake of trying to find the one through shared interests, he sees it as misplacing the wrong girl as the wrong. If you haven’t seen The Graduate, in the last scene, Ben (Dustin Hoffman) and Elaine (Katharine Ross) escape Elaine’s wedding and are on the bus. Their facial expressions quickly change from happiness to melancholy as the doubts settle in.

In conclusion, (500) Days of Summer is a must-watch for all rom-com fans and hopeless romantics to rebalance themselves.

References-

Anderson, Wes. The Grand Budapest Hotel. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2014. 

Bay, Michael. Transformers. DreamWorks Pictures, 2007. 

Hamburg, John. Along Came Polly. Jersey Films, 2004. 

Jonze, Spike. Her. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2013. 

Schreier, Jake. Paper Towns. Fox 2000 Pictures, 2015. 

Nichols, Mike. The Graduate. Lawrence Turman Films, 1967. 

Webb, Marc. (500) Days of Summer. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2009. 

Webb, Marc. The Amazing Spider-Man. Columbia Pictures, 2012. 

Webb, Marc. The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Columbia Pictures, 2014. 

Wright, Edgar. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Universal Pictures, 2010. 

Art as a Lifeline: Comparing The Fabelmans (2022) to Dead Poets Society (1989).

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 6th March 2023.

While one may compare Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans (2022) to Damien Chazelle’s Babylon (2023), I suggest viewing it in the same light as Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society (1989).

Steven Spielberg’s latest film, The Fabelmans, follows a young boy who dreams of becoming a director and explores filmmaking’s beauty. The film also beautifully showcases the divide in the family between those who are logical, like the father, and those who are artistic, like the mother. While the mother is demonised throughout the film due to her affair with the father’s best friend and shows signs of mental illness, it is still clear that her love of music keeps her going through life.

Like Dead Poets Society, the father wishes his son to end this phase of art and find a real career. Unfortunately, both sons continue their love of art despite their father’s wishes, slowly destroying both relationships. Both films show that the artistic son looks to his mother for support and hopes to defend himself from his father.

Dead Poets Society follows a group of boys in a boarding school as they gain a new English Literature teacher that shows them the beauty of poetry: “We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute, we read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion”. When he went to the boarding school, this teacher was part of the Dead Poets Society. In following his footsteps, the boys decide to recreate this society. Each boy is presented with his lifeline of art.

Though it is clear from the first fifteen minutes that Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) wants more from life, he wants to continue with the newspaper, but his father refuses to do this as he should do something more meaningful. As the film continues with the influence of Professor Keating (Robin Williams) to follow his passion, he auditions for the drama production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream. When his father finds out, he takes him out of boarding school and informs his son that he will go to military school, as the behaviour is unacceptable. Neil Perry sees no other way out. In tragic symbolism, he places the forest crown from the play on his head and goes into his father’s office to shoot himself in the head. One may also infer that art could symbolise homosexuality, as the film closely follows his relationship with Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke).

Todd Anderson is presented as a shy kid, similar to Sam Fabelman (Gabriel BaBelle), who finds his voice through poetry. However, where his father discourages Sam in his pursuit of filmmaking, Todd’s parents seem absent from the film, only to arrive after Neil Perry’s death.

Both films also present art as a group-oriented activity between boys. While Sam is in Texas, his scout’s group joins in with his filmmaking. There is this beautiful moment Sam is directing a war-inspired film in the desert of Texas, where Sam gives a story to one of the lead boys. The scene is used to create emotion in the audience. As he ends the scene walking through the pretend dead bodies of the soldiers, the lead boy begins crying. Though this raw emotion of crying is not in Sam’s camera shot, only the audience of The Fabelmans sees this vulnerability. This could suggest how the patriarchy tells men how to behave and keep emotions down as they are viewed as feminine.

While The Fabelmans is generally a serious film with moments of beauty and humour taken from family interactions, Steven Spielberg breaks the fourth wall in the last scene. As Sam Fabelman is being interviewed and questioned by the same director that inspired him to make films, there is a lesson learnt about where the sun should be in shots. The director asks Sam to point out where the sun and light are coming from in the paintings in his office. It is observed that the sun should always be either at the top of the shot or from the bottom to make it interesting. As Sam Fabelman leaves the office, the wide shot of the street has the sun in the middle of the shot. There is this moment of hesitation and an undeniable movement to change where the sun is in the shot.

The Fabelmans ends on an uncertain note of whether Sam ever makes it as a director or not. The film takes place throughout his childhood to college years, whereas the Dead Poets Society only occurs at that time of year. Dead Poets Society begins with a ceremony for the new year and ends with the funeral of Neil Perry. As an audience, we do not know what happens to the boys after this life-changing year. However, in the most tear-jerking scene ever written, Professor Keating has been fired due to Neil Perry’s death. As he leaves, Todd Anderson stands on top of the desk and yells, “O, Captain. My Captain”. Slowly, the other boys begin standing at their desks to say goodbye to Professor Keating. This shows Professor Keating has done his job writing to make these boys think for themselves and express themselves through art.

References-

Chazelle, Damien. Babylon. Paramount, 2022.

Spielberg, Steven. The Fabelmans. Universal Pictures, 2022.

Weir, Peter. Dead Poets Society. Touchstone Pictures, 1989.

A Year in Film: 2022

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 10th February 2023.

Aftersun, directed by Charlotte Wells.

One of the best films of 2022 was Aftersun where Paul Mescal was nominated for his first Oscar for this performance.

Charlotte Wells’ debut feature film Aftersun stars Normal People’s Paul Mescal and rising star Frankie Corio. Sophie (Frankie Corio) reflects on her last holiday with her father, with the directional choice of old-school recordings here and there. This makes a stark difference between what can be perceived as Sophie’s faded memories and reality through the recorded footage. This is also the relationship with Paul Mescal’s character, who is the real him when he is not in the father role as he tries to hide his severe depression from his daughter. In many beautifully orchestrated shots, Sophie’s side has warm colours and lighting. In contrast, Paul Mescal has cold blue lighting to represent their mental mindsets and emotions.

Charlotte Wells uses reflection to produce unique shots creating an elegant effect. Though some might find the film slow-paced, as it slowly builds tension and they are waiting for something to happen and there is not a grand final. I found it beautifully paced and phenomenal. There was never a drop or break of the tension. It was only as they roll the credits that you understand how it ended. There’s so much pressure to have a big twist, but Aftersun does not do that, and for that, I love it even more.

The last fifteen minutes of this film are some of the most beautiful and heart-aching shots, with the soundtrack choice of ‘Under Pressure’ by Queen playing in the background. There is a mixture of shots blended into one. Paul begins dancing on their last night on holiday and he drags Sophie on the dance floor where they both appear happy and content.Then an image of Paul dancing in a crowded room with flashing lights which has been shown throughout the film but this time it is a continuous shot of Paul and the older version of Sophie. We can see the mental torment in Paul’s mind and his pain. This, paired with the holiday dancing scene, shows the intimacy between father and daughter relationships. I hold myself tight as I cry each time I watch it. It was so incredibly done.

Aftersun serves as a reminder to check on your loved ones, because you never truly know what is going on in someone’s mind.

This is Going to Hurt directed by Lucy Forbes and Tom Kingsley.

A perfect balance between comedy and tragedy with an overall cold and sorrowful tone in its use of blue and its simplicity in shots. If dark humour or sarcasm isn’t for you, don’t watch. This is Going to Hurt is a seven-episode mini-series based on a book by Adam Kay with some slight changes. It is a truly devastating look at how doctors, midwives, and nurses are treated in the NHS by patients, lack of funding from the government, and a massive gap in support. It also highlighted the stupidity of choosing what to do with your life at fifteen.

All the characters deserved better and were let down by the government. I would highly recommend this if you want to cry your heart out and have a laugh. The mini-series also brilliantly showed flawed characters; none are perfect, and all have unlikeable qualities. As the discussion around the importance of the NHS and funding is increasing, this film certainly can provide you with some insight.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, directed by Rian Johnson.

I would like to issue a statement:

Rian Johnson, I formally apologise and forgive you for the absolute mess that was Star Wars: The Last Jedi, because this film was enough for me.

Where Knives Out is a classic whodunit, Glass Onion aimed to be a satirical, campy, and fun detective story resembling Clue (1985). As a result, there was more of a build-up than Knives Out. However, the second and third act made it worth it. Glass Onion was more whimsical and group-oriented than Knives Out. Glass Onion takes place in 2020 on a Greek island owned by Edward Norton, who played Tyler Durden’s worse nightmare: an immoral, dumb, and money-hungry capitalist. Individuals have come to an island for a murder mystery only to turn it into a real-life crime scene.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, directed by Ryan Coogler.

Though I agree at some points that King T’challa was too noble, I’m not at all convinced that allowing Zumo and Namor to live are the same thing. After all, Zumo was just a man, and T’challa recognised the grief in Zumo’s eyes.

My favourite characters remained the Queen and M’Baku.

Overall, the film was rather slowed-paced compared to most Marvel films. Especially once you compare it with the first film. The superhero going for revenge, only to change their mind at the last-minute plot line is overplayed and tiring. It has already been done in this phase with Shang-Chi and Spider-Man. Arguably, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was much more hearbreaking and necessary for the story.

The comparison between the first and second films shows that Marvel is leaving behind its superhero comedic tragedies. If you would like a comedy, I suggest watching Thor.

There was many heartbreaking moments that brought tears to my eyes.

It is inspiring to many young girls, as this film is dominantly women. It presents the strength in women and finds this strength in emotions. Shuri puts off having too many emotions about her brother’s death, whereas the other women in the film were fuelled by power through their emotions.

Not Okay, directed by Quinn Shephard.

Zoey Deutch and Dylan O’Brien, sign me up! This film was a solid three-star film. Zoey, desperate for Dylan O’Brien’s attention (I mean, who isn’t), faked a trip to Paris, which quickly went wrong when a terrorist attack occured in Paris. Instead of admitting that she lied to get time off work or simply saying she wasn’t in that part of Paris, she lied by saying she was near the terrorist attack to get attention from work, her parents, and Dylan O’Brien. I personally would have said I post my stories much later so I don’t get stalked, but that’s just me. I liked this film. I understand the criticism that some jokes don’t land correctly due to the time difference, but I am okay with it. Overall, it’s an easy and interesting watch, Dylan O’Brien looks insanely hot, and this film criticises Gen Z’s use of social media. Against popular opinion, not every film needs to be a five-star or Oscar-worthy film to be good. I like bad films with good actors.

Don’t Worry Darling, directed by Olivia Wilde.

Florence Pugh is an incredible actor who I truly believe will be one of the greatest of this generation. However, Harry Styles fell flat at every turn of this film. It was simply a miscast. This film could have been one of my favourites of the year if Harry Styles could give some emotion. Florence Pugh gave the performance of a lifetime, whereas Harry Styles was monotoned. I enjoyed Olivia Wilde both as an actor and director. The failure of this film was not her directorial style, but a miscast. I felt it was an overly artsy film, created by a film student who got a big budget and wanted to be the next Jordan Peele. Despite this I found the concepts and cinematography enjoyable.

This film needed a lot of trimming in certain areas, as it wasn’t very clear overall with its intentions. Don’t Worry Darling was an attempt to mix Groundhog Day and The Truman Show. It jumped into the world without building a society or tension. The second act began with a transition from the mind control operation to Florence Pugh coming out of surgery as a doctor. This is where the film should have started.

Cretton, Destin Daniel. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Marvel Studios, 2021.

Coogler, Ryan. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Marvel Studios, 2022.

Forbes, Lucy and Tom Kingsley. This is Going to Hurt. AMC Studios, 2022.

Johnson, Rian. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Lionsgate, 2022.

Johnson, Rian. Knives Out. Lionsgates, 2019.

Johnson, Rian. Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Lucasfilm, 2017.

Lynn, Jonathan. Clue. Paramount, 1985.

Ramis, Harold. Groundhog Day. Columbia Pictures, 1993.

Sherpard, Quinn. Not Okay. Searchlight Pictures, 2022.

Watts, Jon. Spider-Man: No Way Home. Columbia Pictures, 2021.

Wells, Charlotte. Aftersun. BBC Film, 2022.

Weir, Peter. The Truman Show. Paramount, 1998.

Wilde, Olivia. Don’t Worry Darling. Warner Bros Pictures, 2022.

A Year in Horror Films.

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 27th January 2023.

It was a great year for horror, the return of the infamous Scream, the cost-of-living crisis, and well, Chris Pratt’s performance in Jurassic World. 

Barbarian, directed by Zach Cregger. 

My favourite thing in the entire world when you don’t watch the trailer is to play a game I like to call: Horror or Romance?  

Imagine this, Georgina Campbell arrives at an Airbnb where she is staying. Only to find that Bill Skarsgard is also there. The renter must have double-booked the Airbnb and now you are helplessly forced to share a house with the gorgeous, caring gentlemen Bill Skarsgard. 

Unless you have watched Andy Mushchietti’s IT, you might assume it’s a romance. 

If like me, you have seen IT a few too many times, you might have reason to believe Bill Skarsgard is the villain. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time he was on my screen. 

It is a monster in the basement horror. I don’t want to spoil much more. Watch it. If you want to watch one horror film from 2022, this is my recommendation. 

I love when films are divided into concrete acts. Others may disagree, they are allowed to disagree, but they are wrong. 

The first two acts show such originality in horror and are excellently acted. The second act includes Justin Long, which, if someone had told me I would have watched this when it came out. Justin Long does play a horrible person which the film seems to forget about. It sets up great social commentary in the second act, yet it never fulfils it in the third act. Even the third act sets up even more about class divide, money, and the police, however, it lets the audience think of its own commentary. 

Unlike Justin Long, there is no amount of money nor desperation for me to go into a basement the light is not working. Even further, he finds a secret door which he is chill with and then enters it which leads to tunnels. Justin Long is happyily exploring these scary and dark tunnels with his measuring tape. 

Horror films this year have taught me I am very afraid of naked elderly people. 

Scream, directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. 

The latest edition of Scream is directed by the same directors that brought Ready or Not, aka the best horror film I have ever seen. Although I did not have high hopes going into it, Scream has always been self-aware and it showcases interesting characters that we root for or begins to feel such betrayal.

Is it better than the original? It probably is; however, I love the first one like it’s my child. Though you cannot understand a lot of the characters if you have not seen the first, so it is one for the fans. 

Scream always combines the true beauty of horror: a group of teenagers being morons whilst a killer is on the loose, worrying about teenage drama and having original characters come back each time. 

X, directed by Ti West. 

Jenna Ortega is cementing herself as a scream queen in both her horror films this year. 

X combines the two types of horror. It is a combination of a typical slasher like Scream and a psychological eerie style similar to Ari Aster’s Hereditary or Midsommar. An old woman begins killing a group of young adults who are filming a film in her barn. 

This is Slasher with some nuance to keep the horror alive as it explores the patriarchal competition to pit women against one another with age and beauty. It also explores a new wave of feminism with sexual liberation and a similarity metaphor between violence and sex.  

Ti West does not aim for subtly in his metaphors nor drive away from the typical slasher execution. Many new slashers aim to try fresh and new ideas for Slasher films, even though the formula works. The collection of characters is not so complex nor 2D characters, the right amount to care what happens to them but are not afraid to lose. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, directed by Sam Raimi. 

It cannot be a Sam Raimi film without an eye shot, it is a must and I eat it up every time. Most people will know Sam Raimi for his Spider-man trilogy which is some of the best Spider-man films if it wasn’t for the last one. Yikes.  

The sequel of Doctor Strange with the hero turned villain Wanda Maximoff aka the Scarlet Witch. My main criticism is there was enough transition time from the Scarlet Witch in Wandavision to the villain of Multiverse of Madness. 

Wanda Maximoff wants to travel between the multiverse to find her children. For this, she needs power from a young girl called America, and Doctor Strange refuses for this to happen. Maybe I am a terrible person, but Wanda kills so many people just so Doctor Strange can protect one child, it doesn’t add up in my mind. 

Elizabeth Olsen gives a phenomenal performance, and it is visually beautiful. However, it could be improved if they leaned more into the horror features rather than the superhero conventions.  

This film would have made a better miniseries to really explore both the villainisation of Wanda Maximoff and the multiverses they travel in. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the film. I do love Benedict Cumberbatch. However, Elizabeth Olsen was the star of this film. Her line delivery was exquisite and powerful. 

The Menu, directed by Mark Myload. 

I could not care less if I tried. The metaphor is so blatant that I was bored, it is about how food critics have ruined the food industry which is about the film industry. 

I personally agree with Anya Taylor’s character just like the food I don’t need films to be ridiculously smart and needlessly confusing. I just need them to be good. Objectively it was not a bad film, subjectivity I wasted two hours of my life when I could have just stared at the ceiling in my room. That probably would have drawn more meaning from my life. 

To sum up, rich people go to a fancy restaurant and something bad happens. I, however, cannot believe this made me feel slightly sad for rich people. If you can stomach an over-pretentious film, then go ahead and watch it. I understand it is being overly pretentious on purpose but that doesn’t make me like it anymore.  

Aster, Ari. Hereditary. PalmStar Media, 2018.

Aster, Ari. Midsommar. B-Reel Films, 2019.

Bettinelli-Olpin, Matt and Tyler Gillett. Ready or Not. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2019.

Bettinelli-Olpin, Matt and Tyler Gillett. Scream. Paramount, 2022.

Craven, Wes. Scream. Dimension Films, 1996.

Cregger, Zach. Barbarian. 20th Century Studios, 2022.

Derrickson, Scott. Doctor Strange. Marvel Studios, 2016.

Mylod, Mark. The Menu. Searchlight Pictures, 2022.

Muschietti, Andy. IT. New Line Cinema, 2017.

Raimi, Sam. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Marvel Studios, 2022.

Raimi, Sam. Spider-Man. Marvel Enterprises, 2002.

Shakman, Matt. WandaVision. Marvel Studios, 2021.

Trevorrow, Colin. Jurassic World Dominion. Universal Pictures, 2022.

West, Ti. X. A24, 2022.

The Masculine and Feminine in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’

Skye Collacott WilliamsonLeave a comment

First Published via HUB Magazine when I was Culture Editor.

Date Published: 9th December 2022.

The film is set around Andrea Sachs played by Anne Hathaway who applies for a job with Runway despite her lack of inexperience in the fashion industry. She makes the point that, although she is not a fashion person, she is a writer and a hard worker. The beauty of this film is watching Andrea fall in love with fashion and her work.  

One might overlook the gender roles in The Devil Wears Prada, simply thinking it’s a feminine job role. While the job itself is in a feminine field, the opening credits of the film show the women getting dressed and putting on their high heels whilst their husbands lay in bed asleep as they are the breadwinners. The film shows women prioritizing a masculine stereotypical drive and career over the feminine stereotype of family and community. As seen in stereotypically ‘masculine’ films, take Fight Club and The Wolf of Wallstreet, the women are seen as living on coffee and cigarettes while they ignore meals. They are too busy making money and focused on their career. It gets to such an extreme point that Emily (Emily Blunt) ends up in a hospital due to her lack of eating. 

The film also portrays the importance of the fashion industry in terms of being proud of your sexuality and femininity. The Devil Wears Prada stars Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly, a powerhouse of a woman who is highly respected and determined. The film also portrays the masculine trying to take out the feminine, all the men except Stanley Tucci are after Miranda’s job and want to take her down. In fantastic brilliance, Miranda creates a list of models, designers, and photographers that will leave Runway if Miranda leaves. While Miranda is this powerhouse figure, there is a moment in the second act where she is vulnerable. She is dressed down and has no makeup on. This is where the audience acknowledges how strong a character Miranda is. 

The women in this film are powerful and will not take disrespect from the men. My main point of this film is the portrayal of Miranda as the villain. Personally, I think that role goes to Andrea’s boyfriend, Nate, played by Adrian Grenier. I believe that Nate is there as a stay in to show how Andrea develops as person and changes. Nate does not want Andrea to continue working at Runway and refuses to support her at every turn. I was worried at the end of the film that they would get back together. Thankfully the writers knew better and allowed Andrea to discover her new interests.  

The film also has an interesting portrayal of feminine friendships, the relationship between Emily and Andrea starts as a rivalry. Fashion and journalism are very competitive fields, yet Emily does help Andrea from time to time. At the end of the film there is a beautiful moment between Emily and the new assistant who is said to ‘have big shoes to fill’. I think it is intriguing that the film shows women supporting each other from a distance rather than obviously. My favourite moment of the entire film is at the end when Miranda and Andrea see each other again. Andrea smiles and waves at Miranda as she gets into a car, Miranda seems to ignore her, but we see the shot in the car when Miranda smiles. It is so simple yet brilliant. 

David Frankel’s directing style is very simple and at times too many montages. I love the montage of Miranda throwing jackets each morning onto Andrea’s desk. This sets up a parallel for the second act when she throws her jacket onto Emily’s desk to show that Andrea is now the first assistant and will be going to Paris with Miranda. Unfortunately, the other montages do not have this same pay off. 

The acting in this film is phenomenal and as it should be when it stars big names such Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt. 

My main problem with this film is the glamorisation of eating disorders. Especially when a film is aimed for young girls, the celebration of Andrea dropping two sizes from the first to the second act is wildly inappropriate. When there are impressable young people watching your film, you need to be careful discussing disordered eating, especially in regards in the fashion industry. While it is a prevailing problem, it could have been addressed differently. 

The Devil Wears Prada is one of the only films I would give five stars. I believe it is overlooked for two reasons. Firstly, it is a very feminine film with women on top and secondly it is a fashion film. I would describe it as a twenties coming of age film where you discover that your dreams are not rare. I have watched this film six times and I enjoy it more each time. 

Frankel, David. The Devil Wears Prada. 20th Century Fox Studios, 2006. 

Fincher, David. Fight Club. 20th Century Fox Studios, 1999.

Scorsese, Martin. The Wolf of Wallstreet. Paramount Pictures, 2013.