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"Strange Way Of Life" /10/06/23/Picturehouse Clapham/13:10)     Silva (Pedro Pascal) crosses the desert that separates his ranch from the town of Bitter Creek on horseback. He's going to visit Sheriff Jake (Ethan Hawke), a friend from his youth, when both worked as hired gunmen. The action takes place in 1910, and the two men are in their fifties. Silva is of Mexican origin, a solid guy, emotional, elusive, a cheat, if necessary, warm. It's been twenty-five years since he last saw Sheriff Jake, blond, strict, cold, inscrutable, almost the opposite to Silva. That night, at the Sheriff's house, they eat a meat stew Jake has cooked, they drink, and they make love, all of it in abundance. The next morning, Silva wants the party to continue, but he finds a stony Jake, who's nothing like the man from the night before. This is the sequences that follow that orgiastic night in which both characters confront their past and their present in totally different ways. This is the heart of the story, the argument while they get dressed the following morning. In this argument, the ulterior motives are revealed, as well as the passion that they lived when they were younger, and that's still beating within them, even though Jake doesn't want to admit it once they are sober.   Jake has to go after a murderer who, according to an eyewitness, is Silva's son. And Silva has to intercede for him, trying to convince Jake that his son is innocent and that he should stop searching for him. All this, the sheriff’s duty as opposed to a father’s grief, mixed with reproaches and declarations of love from two lovers who haven’t seen each other in twenty-five years and who live their lives at opposite ends of the desert. These are the ten central minutes of the film. We still didn’t know what the story would be, or if there would even be a story, but the film gives voice to these two middle-aged, queer men who traditionally have remained silent in a genre like the western. The film is attracted by the idea of breaking that silence. "Brokeback Mountain" by Ang Lee is the closest Hollywood has come to telling a story about two men who love each other and talk about it, but the lovers in Ang Lee’s film are shepherds, so we don’t include the film in the western genre. There are westerns with gay characters, like "Warlock" by Edward Dmytryk. The script abounds in data about the passionate relationship between its two protagonists, Anthony Quinn and Henry Fonda, but no one talks about it even though their relationship is one of the axes of the film. This turns Dmytryk’s film into a strange western or one with a badly written script. The film is only understood if both of them are lovers, but that word is never mentioned.   It's a western filmed in a town built in Almeria for Sergio Leone as a set for his legendary dollar trilogy, with Clint Eastwood. The passing of time, fifty years of it, has given authenticity to the place, today being dusty and old. The typical artifice of what had been a film set fifty years ago had now disappeared. The film respects the rules of the genre without falling into any anachronistic temptation, except for the song at the beginning, with the voice of Caetano Veloso and the angelical face of Manu Ríos, which gives the film its title. In Sheriff Jake’s house there are several paintings by Maynard Dixon, one of the first artists, if not the first, to paint landscapes from the American West, with native Indians and cowboys. It's a discovery, his work possesses a coloring untypical of the time that brings it close to pop and at times to impressionism. There's also a portrait of the artist Lily Langtry, very famous at the start of the century, who actually made a silent film and whom Ava Gardner plays in "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" along with Paul Newman. The other great artist who appears on the walls of the ranch is Georgia O’Keefe, the Mexican landscape that hangs over Silva’s bed.   The film takes inspiration not so much from the reality of the time but from cinema, how actors were dressed in westerns between 1900 and 1915. If anyone wonders about Pedro Pascal wearing a green jacket, we remember "Bend of the River" by Anthony Mann, where James Stewart wears an identical green jacket. The film is also inspired by Vera Cruz (Robert Aldrich), specifically for the outfit worn by Silva's murderous son Joe. It's inspired by Burt Lancaster, all black. And Sheriff Jake, he's in a suit, with a vest and bola tie, like almost all the sheriffs in the Westerns we've watched. Kirk Douglas is one of the models, whether playing a sheriff or a card player, "Gun Fight at the OK Corral" or in "Last Train from Gun Hill", both by John Sturges. The male wardrobe has changed very little, the sheriff is always the most elegant, usually with a suit, waistcoat, the fabric of the waistcoat is the only thing that allowed you some fantasy, with shiny damasks, shirt and around the neck a bola tie. The rest of the male characters always wear a scarf around their necks, in different colours and patterns, a checked shirt and a waistcoat. The dresses of the Mexican prostitutes are inspired by "El Dorado" (Howard Hawks). Despite the fact that in Spain we have a great tradition of spaghetti westerns, more than a hundred were filmed in the 60s and 70s.   Written by Gregory Mann

This film was brilliant, but did it live up to the hype? I went into black panther expecting little, this is comparable to films such as Ant Man and Dr. Strange, both of which I was pleasantly surprised by, I feel this is because they were unknow, almost like underdog heroes when it comes to the MCU. For me black panther started off a little slow, granted it was necessary for the story development and did show off some of the power and gadgets they have to offer. The moment Michael B. Jordan made his appearance was where things started to get exciting. Seeing him playing the role of antagonist was amazing, the way that killmonger was played, in my eyes, was perfect, the way he looks, his story of vengeance, his attitude towards Wakanda and how he feels it develop the world. A great rival to the black panther and the Wakandan throne. Now, having praised the primary villain, I need to comment on Ulysses Klaude. The most useless character in this film... not at all needed. I understand he provided a bit of comic relief, and I’m not going to deny he was slightly entertaining but personally I would have liked to have seen more development of killmonger than Ulysses, thankfully he doesn’t last too long. Having said this, I do think that the casting featuring some of the better young talents featured in black mirror, Danial Kaluuya and Letitia Wright, was outstanding, when they were on the screen they stole the show. Shuri, played by Letitia, provided huge amounts of humour, but also showed how strong she and all the females of Wakanda were, very empowering. Martian Freeman, I’m not going to say a lot about him, however I think what they've done here is take a character who for the most part was disliked in Civil War, and made him much more likeable, just developing him a bit more. Even if I still can't get past the terrible accent. The special effects featured in this, in one word, outstanding. I think that they did a brilliant job of making this visually stimulating city, hidden under a mountain, showing Africa as we know it but having huge developments, sky scrapers and huge technological advancements. Despite there being these huge structures and it almost being like a first world country, they did a remarkable job of portraying the culture over there, from the costume design to the amazing sound track Having praised the actors and SOME of the characters, I still feel that this film was missing a lot, considering the film was over 2 hours long, not a lot really happened. and the first half was pointless because it was about Ulysses, a side villain, who end up dying anyway. After that pointless side quest the main story starts and just feels far too rushed. Everything happened over the space of about half an hour. I came out satisfied with this film, you don’t go into a MCU film expecting an Oscar nominated film, despite this film being nominated. It was fun, like all Marvel films and fitted into the Cannon quite well. I like Black Panther as a hero and look forward to seeing him in Infinity War. like a lot of films, it sometimes takes time to appreciate aspects you don't see at the time of watching, engrossed in the story. Like the amazing colours, music and effects it brings, not to forget how amazing the characters were. Sure, it lacked a bit of substance, but I can get over that by knowing how as far as visuals are concerned it was a masterpiece. If anything, id argue that this is underhyped, some people just can't reflect and see this for the artwork that is it. At the end of the day id give Black Panther 8/10.

I’m very skeptical about rape-revenge films – to what extent are they empowering? Do we really need to watch long everlasting minutes of rape to realise women are strong and will take their revenge? Personally I think that rape-revenge films should only be made if they are bringing something new to the table because we should not be watching rape just for the sake of it. Sometimes it feels that the sub-genre has grown popular for all the wrong reasons and therefore it is always curious to see what a woman filmmaker can do with the sub-genre. Coralie Fargeat’s “Revenge” has its share of contributions to the sub-genre and stands alongside Abel Ferrara’s “Ms. 45”, the Soska Sister’s “American Mary”, and Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle”. However, at the same time that Coralie Fargeat’s debut film is very good and has its clear merits and its share of social commentary, it also falls into some old/unnecessary tropes. Because of its popularity the sub-genre has been the subject of many studies and probably one of the most influential is Carol Clover’s chapter about rape-revenge films on her cornerstone book Men, Women and Chain Saws. She writes that even though the lines between feminist and non-feminist films are blurred, the core of the sub-genre is to portray the transformation of the character from victim to avenger illustrating the female self-sufficiency – mentally and physically. In addition to Clover’s studies, many authors have written that the turning point for the empowerment of the female character is the rape itself – which is problematic. Do women need to be sexually assaulted to become strong? I don’t think so and many films portray it differently, Fargeat’s film, unfortunately, falls into that. Jen (Matilda Lutz) starts the film as a Lolita archetype – wearing bright colours, pink earrings, lollipop in her mouth and having an affair with an older, married man. Jen is aware that Richard (Kevin Janssens) is married and this knowledge makes her a flawed three-dimensional character, which is positive and negative at the same time. Positive because we are all human and flawed, no one is perfect; and negative because, well, it is not the most ethical thing to do. Moreover, Jen is very sexual and sensual and at one hand it is important that the character owns her own sexuality, at the other hand the amount of close-ups we have of her behind is a little bit too much. Jen is powerless and completely alone and that is what makes the rape so infuriating – the men take advantage of the fact that Jen has no way to protect herself. One of the issues raised with the sub-genre is the violence during the rape – take Meir Zarchi’s “I Spit on Your Grave” for example, the rape scene is so long and so violent, and the same can be said about Gaspar Noé’s “Irréversible” where the scene is so raw and we feel the rape as we watch it. Fargeat managed to dodge that bullet by having the camera pull back during the rape, focusing on the character’s isolation rather than the violence upon her. This is interesting not only because it shifts from what we are used to see, but also because it is off-brand for a French extremist film – which makes it even bolder that Fargeat decided shoot the film that way. Moreover, during the revenge part of the film, Jen does not into a femme castratrice role that focuses on castrating the men as the ultimate revenge, which again provides its own share of problems, but she focuses on pain itself. In addition, although Jen is almost naked, her clothes have blended in with her skin colour and the blood and dirt mixed up turning into one colour, forming almost a uniform. Richard on the other hand, is naked during the “last battle”, shifting the gaze and the fetishism to his bloodied body. Jen’s revenge is so long and violent that Fargeat equates her film to the French extremism as seen in Claire Denis’ “Trouble Every Day”, Alexandre Aja’s “Haute Tension” and Pascal Laugier’s “Martyrs”. There is no such thing as too much blood. A good rape-revenge film swims in social commentary, and “Revenge” is no different. Kooyman once explained that rape-revenge films explore multiple binaries, such as city/country, civilised/uncivilised, men/women in order to explore the relationship between good and bad. In this film, the male characters are overflowing with male entitlement and that clearly paints them as bad/evil. He also wrote that the film ‘must indulge [in] misogynistic and patriarchal impulses in order to combat them’. The film opens up with Jen and Richard arriving at a house in the desert – a paradise for a love affair and for murder – no one around for miles. Two of Richard’s friends interrupt their getaway as they arrive early for a hunting trip. It is a non-spoken understanding that everyone is aware that Richard is cheating on his wife and no one seems to care. Jen’s attitudes (dancing, drinking, using drugs and playing around) and clothing are interpreted as an open invitation and Jen’s body is seen as fair game – everyone can have a piece of it. On the morning after, Richard leaves Jen with his two friends whilst he runs some errands and Stan (Vincent Colombe) makes a pass at Jen, but when she refuses he sees it as an affront against him. Stan does not take a “no” for an answer and rapes Jen, almost as a punishment for teasing him and turning him down. Stan and Dimitri (Guillaume Bouchède) both see it as a normal thing to happen and they are not afraid of Richard’s reaction (maybe a little bit). When Jen tells Richard about it, he confronts his friend but it is almost as if nothing happened, whilst when Jen confronts Richard about it he gets violent towards her and calls her a “whore”. In this point, the film portrays rape as a common denominator for those men and it brings about a group mentality that appeals to the sense of camaraderie where rape is seen as “male sport”. In the middle of the desert, Jen is left for dead with a birch piercing through her midsection. In a non-realistic way Jen manages to take the birch out and seeks revenge on her aggressors. Penetrated twice – first by the rape and second by the birch (phallic object, anyone?) – Jen crawls from the place she was left for dead and steps into the men’s territory. They are hunters, this is their sport, and it becomes a cat and mouse game. The film oozes with social commentary by the fact that the men are portrayed as the epitome of male entitlement, especially over women’s bodies – they see Jen’s clothes and actions are an invitation, instead of it being her way to express herself, and the second she rejects them and demand respect, if not from Stan, from her lover, they turn violent against her. They see Jen as an animal to be hunted and killed, and Jen by stepping into their territory seeks revenge without needing to lure them into a place where they feel weaker or in disadvantage. “Revenge” is almost a step forward from Katie Aselton’s “Black Rock” – not taking the merits from the latter. Jen rises to the situation and embraces her fate as she goes forward without looking back – she doesn’t flinch when she needs to use a gun, she even looks confident and familiar with it. She has no time to plan her revenge, she takes whatever comes and rolls with it. It is gruesome, gory, and violent. It is French extremism at its best. Whilst in the beginning of the film the desert landscape portrayed Jen’s loneliness, by the end it portrays the endless options for her to kill her perpetrators. Unaware of the force that is Jen, the three hunters find their comeuppance.

The phrase “refusing to refuse to look” comes from a study done by Brigid Cherry in 1999 that debunks a theory put forward by Linda Williams in the ‘70s that says that women refuse to look at the screen because of the horrific sight that horror movies provide. Williams wasn’t completely wrong when she said women didn’t like looking at their own victimisation and over sexualisation on screen, but that doesn’t mean that we need “to hide in our boyfriends’ shoulders” – as she claimed -, or that we can’t stand to look at gore and violence. The horror genre has always been controversial, and its duality comes from the fact that horror texts can be used in different ways. Whilst in the ‘70s and ‘80s horror was used to secure traditional roles within society and to warn teenagers of the dangers of sex and drugs, by killing off those characters who would indulge in one of those two, by a machete, a hook, a butcher knife, a trident, whatever was the killer’s weapon of choice; now, the horror genre is being used (once more) to shine a light on social issues, such as racism, mental health, and sexual freedom. To confuse a bit further, the role of women in horror presents an even more problematic perspective. Again, during the ‘70s and ‘80s female characters were represented as one dimensional characters that had to endure rape in never-ending scenes (I Spit on Your Grave, I’m talking to you) and overly horrific and unnecessarily nude death scenes, but now they are finally gaining their due respect. In the last years, the horror genre has become the only genre to treat women and men as equals – the amount of horror films with a female leading character is superior to any other genre. Women went from victims to survivors to protagonists and one of the main reasons for that evolution might be because of the chunk of attention given to the genre. With the rise of feminism and sexual revolution in the ‘70s, women started to look at films and look at the way they were being represented in the narratives, and thus the Feminist Film Studies was created, aimed solely in studying the place of women in films, both behind and in front of the camera. And due to the strong attention given to horror genre by academics, it didn’t take long for the genre to gain focus by the feminist film theorists. Feminist Film Studies was divided in two main paths – those films that were analysed by a feminist lens, and those that were made by women. With the attention centred in the role of female characters on screen, theorists begun to realise that the female characters weren’t really that important for the narrative as they didn’t drive the storyline forwards, instead they followed the male character who in turn, was the one to give meaning to the story. Female characters had one purpose: to be looked at. They were prizes for the male hero, they were the dames in distress who waited for her rescuer, and they were the ones who needed to be straightened (literally) after being corrupted by the lesbian vampire. Even the death scenes were different amongst female and male characters – the male characters would usually die with one blow or their death would occur off screen, whereas the female characters would have a longer death scene, with multiple stabbings, often in their naked and bloody bodies. With the conception of the Final Girl, the role of the female character started to gain recognition, and because the Final Girl would be the one in the end to resist all of the killer’s attempts in killing her, it became understood that she was strong and resourceful. But then the duality strikes again and the idea that the Final Girl reinforced the concept of “good girl lives, bad girl dies” was put forward. By analysing the reasons behind the survival of the Final Girl – the only one who didn’t have sex or didn’t use drugs – and how she survived – after a lot of screaming and the help of a male rescuer – the idea of the Final Girl became, like everything in the horror genre, hazy. Nevertheless, the recognition of the Final Girl’s recurring trope in horror films is important to understand the history of female characters in horror films, and with time, it helped to turn the genre on its head, by reappropriating the term as a feminist one. Scream was one of the first films to subvert horror tropes and create strong female characters that, above all, are human - three dimensional and flawed. The female characters in Scream are different in every sense: there’s the Final Girl who is strong and fights with the killer, many times killing them (becoming a slasher film to give the importance to its characters who survive each instalment, instead of having always the same killer and different victims); there’s the fame-seeking Journalist; the killers, the best friend, the sexy one, the nerd, but whichever their characteristic is they are never there for the sole purpose of being killed. They matter – they are lovable in their own screwed up way, they are defiant, which means that even though they die, it is not without a fight. After Scream, horror films have been challenging and changing themselves, but more recently, a film that shuts down the “sex=death” trope is It Follows that, with a female protagonist, provides a simple answer to survival: to have sex with as many people as possible. As important as it is to have the role of the female characters evolved, the growing presence of women behind the camera is helping to shape the genre. Women are writing themselves and they are creating believable characters, lovable and hated ones. They are showing that there isn’t one way to portray women because there isn’t one WOMAN, there are multiple identities and each needs to be recognised in cinema. Female filmmakers have long complained about the lack of role model for girls in horror films, throughout the years women have been silenced in film but now they are shattering the walls they were put into and breaking them alongside box office records (within and outside the horror genre). But the amazing thing about horror is that it allows filmmakers to create the unimaginable, and with that freedom comes endless possibilities for female characters. Women filmmakers are creating stories that are well known to girls, they are writing their own fears and giving a voice to expose the dangers of patriarchy and oppression, and they are also breaking taboos generally associated with girls, such as violence, pregnancy, open sexuality and professional/personal agency. To valid these advances, the films are being praised by critics and audiences, they are winning awards and ranking in “top films” lists. This is not a surprise because women have been fans of the genre since its beginning, and they are horror enthusiasts, thus they are familiar with the tropes of the genre. And therefore, by knowing what works and what doesn’t and by re-evaluating their place in the genre, they are able to create relevant films. In addition to the filmmakers and the characters, the fans should get their own appreciation since because of them and their hunger for new stories, festivals aimed at women filmmakers, as well as a whole month focused on women in horror are being created and allowing filmmakers to grow and explore more and more. A list of (some) filmmakers who have ventured or are venturing in the horror genre, and deserve recognition: Julia Ducournau, Kerry Anne Mullaney, Tara Subkoff, Ana Lily Amirpour, Doris Wishman, Jen and Sylvia Soska, Mary Harron, Katie Aselton, Jennifer Lynch, Kimberly Pierce, Sarah Adina Smith, Alice Lowe, Leigh Janiak, Karyn, Xan Cassavetes, Lynne Stopkewich, Stewart Thorndike, Marina Sargenti, Jennifer Kent, Kathryn Bigelow, Mary Lambert, Jovanka Vuckovic, Laura Lau, Amy Holden Jones, Claire Denis, Ursula Dabrowsky, Ann Turner, Tracey Moffatt, Donna McRae, Elisabeth Fies, Emily DiPrimio, Danielle Harris, Jackie Kong, Emily Hagins, Ingrid Jungermann, Anna Biller, Axelle Carolyn, Ruth Platt, Kate Shenton, Rachel Talalay, Shimako Satō, Stephanie Rothman, Katt Shea, St. Vincent, and Roxanne Benjamin.

If there’s one thing that can be said about the DCEU, it’s that their release schedule is very inconsistent. There was three years between Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman (2016), then over a year between Justice League (2017) and Aquaman (2018) and within five months of that film we now have this one to tide us over another eleven months until Birds of Prey (2020). The point I’m trying to make is the DC release schedule is as inconsistent as the overall tone for this cinematic universe. I personally loved the dark and moody approach they were going for in those early days, but with this and the last couple of movies, it’s clear they want to pretty much abandon the moodiness for a lighter tone akin to what Marvel usually has and by the end of this film, it’s clear they are not looking back. Shazam is without a doubt the most self-aware and child-like of the DCEU movies so far. Not in that it’s childish, but in the awe and wonder than comes from the main characters (probably because they are children/teenagers). The real joy of this film is the reminder of why superheroes and their stories are so enticing and timeless in that it presents it a simple story of hero versus villain and the joyous wish fulfilment of it all along the way. We’ve all had conversations about what kind of superpowers we would want and what we would use them for and here, kind of like Kick-Ass (2010), we get to see wonder of a young protagonist be blessed with being a superhero. Also note that both of these movies feature Mark Strong as the primary antagonist. Shazam follows a teenager named Billy Batson (Asher Angel) as he struggles to navigate life as an orphan, constantly running away to search for his lost mother. Once he is taken by foster parents (Cooper Andrews and Marta Milans), who are probably the coolest parents ever, he finds himself living with five other foster kids and attends the same school as them. While evading some bullies he finds himself transported to another realm where a dying wizard named Shazam (Djimon Hounsou) bestows him with all his powers, which transform him into an adult version of himself (Zachery Levi). He must then learn how to use these powers to battle Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong) who has gained some powers of his own, including the supervillain team of the seven deadly sins. The highest points of this movie are every time we get the adult Billy, played by Levi. Much like Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Levi is best known for comedy roles and that is quite clearly where his biggest strengths lie here as he smoothly makes that transition into this kind of universe. Of course not his first experience in a superhero landscape, see the first two Thor movies (2011 and 2013) and Heroes Reborn (2015-16). Unlike those projects however, here is a given centre stage and really able to show off his talent and play up exactly how we would feel as a kid who suddenly has all these amazing abilities. Asher Angel as teenager Billy is also good in the role, able to sell us the hurt of losing his family while simultaneously learning to love and accept his new family. Speaking of which the other five kids are all great, with Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy being the most prominent of the bunch and has good chemistry with both young and older Billy. What I found to be the weakest aspect of the movie is though, is Mark Strong’s villain. It might just be that I’ve seen him in so many villain roles and enjoyed seeing him play against type in the Kingsman franchise (2015 -), but here it seemed a little overplayed. He’s perfectly serviceable in the part and does a few good moments and gags, but ultimately he doesn’t get much to work with. This is a common problem for a lot of superhero movie villains so it’s one of those things you expect at this point. The seven deadly sins don’t do much outside of an early boardroom scene and the climax, but their designs are cool and they serve their purpose. Again this is by the far the most funny and brightly coloured of the DCEU movies. The colours on Shazam’s suit pop and the costume has a great design. This is a simple, fun origin movie with a lot of heart and effortlessly tells an engaging and relatable story about family and self-belief. The most fun and wonder comes from Billy testing what powers he has and the delight in seeing him harness them properly or the amusement in watching him discover that no, he can’t turn invisible. Not to mention we all know we’d totally use them to get back at a bully if we were back in school. Everything flows very nicely and story progression is so well paced that you’re at the start of the climax before you know it. It’s just a bit of a misstep that said climax starts maybe 30/40 minutes before the end of the movie and as a result feels like it drags a tiny bit. Despite a minor issue like that, which could’ve been ironed out with a tighter edit, Shazam is another great movie not only for DC, but for superhero movies in general. Unlike Aquaman though, it embraces the larger universe a bit more with Batman and superman cameos but not necessarily in the way you might think. Zachary Levi nails it as a teenager in an adult’s body with the ecstatic curiosity of not only what he can do with his powers, but what an adult can do too.

(Release Info London schedule; March 21st, 2018, Cineworld Fulton Road, 20:15) "Unsane" A young woman is involuntarily committed to a mental institution where she's confronted by her greatest fear, but is it real or is it a product of her delusion?   Making a startling trip into thriller territory with "Unsane", director Steven Soderbergh plunges audiences into the suspense and drama of Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy), a resilient woman, fights to reclaim her freedom even as she risks her own sanity. Scarred from the trauma of being stalked, quick-witted Sawyer has relocated from Boston to Pennsylvania for a new life. As her mother Angela (Amy Irving) misses her back home and her office job is hardly an ideal employment opportunity, Sawyer remains on edge following her two years of being terrorized. To consult with a therapist, she goes for follow-up treatment at 'The Highland Creek Behavioral Center'. Sawyer’s initial therapy session at the suburban complex run by clinician Ashley Brighterhouse (Aimée Mullins) progresses well, until she unwittingly signs herself in for voluntary 24-hour commitment. Unable to leave the premises, Sawyer finds herself in close quarters with previously committed hellion Violet (Juno Temple) and savvy Nate (Jay Pharoah), who's battling an opioid addiction. Sawyer expects to be out of 'Highland Creek' within hours. But once she catches sight of facility staffer George Shaw, she's terrified and then enraged, because she's convinced that Shaw’s real name is David Strine (Joshua Leonard) and that he's her stalker. But is it real or is it a product of her delusion? As none of the doctors and nurses believe she's in danger, and all question her sanity, Sawyer’s stay at 'Highland Creek' is extended indefinitely. Sawyer realizes that in order to survive she will have to battle her demons and fight her way out.   We meet Sawyer after she’s been through a traumatic experience; we’re starting our journey with her as she’s trying to restart her own life. Sawyer is a resilient person. She's strong physically, and is very clever. But she’s sort of an unfinished person, which is a weakness and a strength. Sawyer goes there trying to stabilize her life. But once a therapist uses legal authority to check her in for the one-week observational stay, Sawyer’s raging against the machine that's holding her against her will gives them enough bad behavior proof to justify their treatment of her. The character of Sawyer is very much expressive, emotive and wild. Some parts of the screenplay trod the line of being funny and hideous at the same time. "Unsane" is a cautionary tale, for all sorts of reasons. The element of mental health, and how we take care of people or don’t take care of people, in 'The Western World'. As we’ve seen in the world recently with women coming forward to tell their stories, Sawyer has to face people discounting her believability. We look at what that would do to one’s self-confidence, when no one around you believes you. The film depicts extreme acts, but also explores what it’s like to now have trust issues. The scene becomes one of the scariest in "Unsane", because it’s about how there's no going back once someone has invaded your life; Sawyer knows she's now subject to this possibility. That’s key to understanding Sawyer’s responses in the timeline of the story that follows. But, unless they’ve been through it nobody can ever understand what that does to you psychologically. That's demoralizing and terrifying. When Sawyer finds herself held at 'Highland Creek', Violet has already been confined there for a while. Violet welcomes her by trying to be the boss. Violet is a young woman who's unstable and needs care and help. She’s from West Virginia, and is white trash. She's very repressed back home and deeply wants to be loved by people. But whenever she has reached out, it has turned into her having to fight for survival; Violet has to fend for herself through violence, although she’s more of a danger to herself than to others around her. David has come to where he's when we meet him in "Unsane", a pretty dangerous place of obsessiveness, through very human experiences that he’s taken in differently than other people would. He's not a horror-movie villain. It’s all the more disturbing that there’s this bland guy and then you find out what he really is. Sawyer is coming out of a very traumatic past to start her life anew. He fixates on the notion that they should be together, that she’s the primary component which has been missing from his life. David has something missing in himself, but rather than try to fix himself from the inside out he becomes convinced that Sawyer is the solution. So her trauma follows her across state lines. While this can leave her vulnerable, by the end of the movie she's on her way to who she really is.   Ashley Brighterhouse, is climbing the corporate ladder. She runs 'Highland Creek' with an iron fist in a velvet glove, and she believes that people really do leave her institution better off than when they came in. She feels completely justified in her choices. She's driving herself forward in type-A ways that perhaps don’t consider the repercussions of some of her business strategies. Angela is a mom that everyone would like to have if they're facing this; she drops everything when she hears that her child is in peril, and will do whatever she has to do. When Angela gets that phone call, it’s almost like she can’t take in what’s being said, hearing about the oppressive situation that her daughter is in; she just jumps in a car and goes to help.  Is she or isn’t she? That's the question bedeviling the heroine of director Steven Soderbergh’s new thriller "Unsane", which will provide audiences with chilling moments. Viewers will find the experience doubly disturbing, since the movie’s contemporary setting and concerns render it, as a genre story rooted in the real world, and in something that’s possible; the chances of this happening to you're quite plausible. Having a female protagonist makes any story more dramatic; they've obstacles to overcome that men don’t always have to deal with. With a male lead, the stakes in the movie would not be as high and the level of vulnerability would be lower. In the culture that we occupy, the weight given to something a woman says is different than that given to something a man says, which plays into the central idea of "Unsane". And so Sawyer Valentini, facing her fears, clings desperately but firmly to her belief that she's sane even as she's being told otherwise. This film is placed in an interesting context of what's going on now in the health care industry. It's about a woman who's involuntarily committed into a mental institution, based on an actual account, and is locked up with her own stalker. Sawyer is a woman in a desperate situation and at critical points, she sees an opening that she can exploit. She acts the way she does not out of a moral choice but because if she does not act she will be killed. There are many shocking moments, noting that anyone seeing the movie should expect the unexpected. The story plays around frighteningly with the nature of perception, with how different the filter that we all see our lives through can be, given one’s past history and immediate circumstances.   Sawyer has a history of mental health issues, and is candid with a health care professional, which triggers activity for a system that profits in the short term from having people enter it on the terms it’s set up. The question is, does this approach benefit people who need help or does it benefit large health care companies? They make money off of what are, in a way, incarcerations. Maybe 'Highland Creek' is working for other people, but it doesn’t work for Sawyer. The key turn here comes with a boilerplate patient document that Sawyer doesn’t bother to read all of, as most of us wouldn’t, but there's a sentence in it that ultimately comes as a surprise to her, and her reaction to that guarantees she will be sucked into  a vortex. As she talks more, the hole just gets bigger and bigger.  "Unsane" is about being trapped in a situation where nobody will believe the truth, which heightens the feeling of captivity. The scenario of not being heard and not being listened to? There have been so many examples of this in the current climate, and what Sawyer goes through is one of anyone’s worst nightmares. In today’s society, people have their phones out all the time, filming everything; everyone can be a 'Peeping Tom'. Sawyer has been watched in a way that’s not at all romantic, loving, or kind. “As the story unfolds, we see how the system is failing Sawyer because she being held against her own will with someone she knows is a danger to her and to others. The powers of authority are very quick to call her crazy, and that’s also about money; it’s a bureaucracy and not a conspiracy, but it’s an abuse of power. It’s old-school genre about something modern.

(THE FEAST, 93 mins, Piccadilly Circus, Corner of Great Windmill Street and, Shaftesbury Ave, London W1D 7DH, United Kingdom, Release Date :19 Aug 2022 Certificate: 18 Director: Lee Haven Jones Starring: Julian Lewis Jones, Lisa Palfrey, Anne Elwy, Nia Roberts, Steffan Cennydd, Sion Alun Davies, Rhodri Meilir) "The Feast" A family gathers at their lavish contemporary home made of glass and steel in the Welsh mountains. They've little idea of what awaits them. The matriarch is hosting a dinner party with her politician husband on behalf of a businessman hoping to buy land in the area for mineral mining. Hosted at their luxurious new house, the family have a valuable mining venture at stake and the atmosphere is tense. Unbeknown to them the owners of a neighboring farm are the only other guests and will be charmed into selling parcels of their farmland. The family’s two adult sons are reluctant dinner party guests. One is a London hipster struggling with addiction issues and the other is a doctor training for an ironman event. The family’s values and beliefs are challenged by the arrival of the young woman they've hired to act as waitress for the evening. She brings a quiet, unsettling presence to the evening. Her presence forces the characters to face their shortcomings and question their relationship with the land they claim to belong to. And as the night progresses, she soon begins to challenge the family’s beliefs, unravelling the illusion they’ve created with slow, deliberate, and terrifying consequences. Cadi’s (Annes Elwy) influence grows in strength and the family’s behavior becomes increasingly extreme until they face the horror of what they represent and tragedy changes everything forever. On the face of it "The Feast" is a supernatural revenge horror that delivers all the thrills and spills that audiences expect of a genre film, the relentless slow burn of intrigue and suspense, the blood and gore. But as a cinematic piece it also functions on the level of parable. An allegory of sorts, it's a contemporary morality tale about the importance of being true to yourself and your community, and offers a stark warning against the consequences of greed and avarice. Rooted in the potent mythical tales of Wales where women are made of flowers and transform into animals, the film is singularly Welsh in tone but also universal in theme. Elucidating what Camille Paglia would refer to as the age-old battle between Culture and Nature, the film charts the struggle between those values that give structure and form to the world that Glenda (Nia Roberts) and Gwyn (Julian Lewis Jones) nhabit, society, wealth, progress, and the indiscriminate forces of nature as embodied by Cadi that challenge this world order. Moreover, thematically the film is preoccupied with the increasingly urgent issue of environmental sustainability, exploring how humankind exploits the land and abuses the earth. An environmental horror film with an eye to the ticking-clock of climate crisis. "The Feast's" horrifying, blood-soaked conclusion suggests that our fragile planet will sooner or later take revenge on humanity for the devastation we have caused. A meditation on family and history, greed and responsibility, identity and difference, the film intends to offer the viewer an intravenous injection of mood. Bringing together forensic performances, searing cinematography, a spine-tingling score and environmental politics. "The Feast" is a striking addition to the horror genre and a compelling piece of work that aims to blister the imagination and prick the conscience. Considering the film in it's context as a contemporary Welsh-language film, it also becomes a tale of the individual’s responsibility to tradition, history and a language that exists against the odds despite sharing a land border with England whose language has colonised large swathes of the world. Many who are unfamiliar with Wales will be unaware of the language’s existence but to those who know of the fragile cultural and linguistic ecosystem that exists in our small nation the film speaks keenly of the individual’s responsibility to sustaining a culture and language in the age of globalisation. Written by Gregory Mann

Hey, Sean, you got to see this. Look, this… this girl, you got to see what she can do. She has some crazy powers or something. Although this minimalist SF offers a rather disappointing outcome and they could have done more with the powers Alex (Stefanie Scott) has at a certain moment, this film is still worth watching. For the umpteenth time, it’s clear you don’t need a huge budget to make a fascinating film. A limited budget also means there’s no need to expect overwhelming special effects. Apart from moving objects with the help of a certain kind of telekinetic force and a few moving light points, there are not a lot of impressive effects. Yet another communication problem. This SF is best described as a mix of “Close encounter of the third kind” and “Chronicle“. And this mixed with a bit of teenage romance. Films about earthlings who come into contact with extraterrestrials are nothing new. It’s only recently that you could enjoy “Arrival” and “A quiet place“. The first one in which humans try to build a communicative bridge between man and strange aliens with the help of a linguist. In the second film, one avoids the unsightly space creatures and communicates as little as possible. The mutual conversations in “At first light” are also as good as absent. Here it’s limited to some floating points of light that dazzle you rather than say something that makes sense. An extraterrestrial romance. In most films where there’s such contact, adults handle this. In “At first light” the two teenagers Alex and Sean (Théodore Pellerin) are confronted with these science-fiction-like situations. There were more films in the past with kids meeting some kind of Martians. Just look at “E.T.” and “Super 8“. The nice thing about “At first light” is that it’s not only about a communication problem between humans and extraterrestrials, but also about a recurring love between the two protagonists. It’s quite clear that something went wrong between Alex and Sean in the past. Yet there’s still some affection between both of them. Certainly from Sean’s side. Despite the fact that his presence near Alex has a destructive influence on his physical constitution, he remains on her side. Diehard SF enthusiast. Don’t skip it. Perhaps the film is a bit too average when looking at the SF-part. So many will be disappointed. But the story itself is fascinating enough and it feels as if it’ll have a dazzling apotheosis. But this turns out to be absent afterward, unfortunately. Don’t expect a lingering denouement. And there’ll be unanswered questions after the film. That in itself isn’t so dramatic. There are more films like that. Nonetheless, this film still shines in one specific way. And that’s because of the admirable acting of the three young actors Theodore Pellerin, Percy Hynes White, and Stefanie Scott. In spite of its limitations, this film could be popular with a teen audience. Compared to “The darkest minds“, where teenagers also possess certain supernatural powers and you’ll witness some corny romantic developments, this was certainly way better. Not that there’s something new to discover in it or that it left a breathtaking impression. But “At first light” will stay longer with me than the silly stuff from “The darkest mind”. For the diehard SF enthusiasts, this film is highly recommended. My rating 6/10

https://youtu.be/oIQpwam-n4M

(Release Info London schedule; September 1st, 2018, Electric Portobello, 12:00) "Puzzle" "Puzzle" is a closely observed portrait of Agnes (Kelly MacDonald), who has reached her early 40s without ever venturing far from home, family or the tight-knit immigrant community in which she was raised by her widowed father. That begins to change in a quietly dramatic fashion when Agnes receives a jigsaw puzzle as a birthday gift and experiences the heady thrill of not only doing something she enjoys, but being very, very good at it. After years of concerning herself exclusively with the needs and wants of her husband Louie (David Denman) and sons Ziggy (Bubba Weiler) and Gabe (Austin Abrams), Agnes has found something that she wants to do. Stepping out of her domestic bubble to pursue her new hobby, Agnes meets Robert (Irrfan Khan), a wealthy, reclusive inventor who immediately recognizes her talent and recruits her as his partner for an upcoming world jigsaw tournament. Each day she spends out in the world, puzzling and conversing with Robert, takes Agnes further along on the road to a new understanding of herself and her strengths. With that understanding come new insights and an assertiveness that finds her speaking out on her own behalf and pushing back against the assumptions and routines that have until now defined her role in her family. Ultimately, Agnes will decide for herself what comes next. This is a story so rarely seen in film, one about a woman over 40 finding her true self. Agnes is a suburban woman who has spent her entire life attending to her father, husband, and sons until she discovers, in the most unlikely of ways, her own voice. It's about a mother who dotes on her husband and sons and didn’t get to live the life she would have liked to live. It's the idea of a woman who finds a way out of a world that keeps her very limited when she has all this potential. She has a real voice and ultimately makes choices that are first and foremost right for her, and not just for the people in her environment. The film reveals all these little gems about her as it progresses. She’s a believer in order and routine; running the household and tending to husband and sons as she tended to her widowed father before them; volunteering at church; cooking dinner for the family. A birthday gift of an iPhone bewilders her, she’s firmly in the analog world, but a gift of a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle absorbs her with unexpected delight. Agnes secretly thinks of herself as a mathematician; her mind silently whirs away beneath her placid exterior, and her flair with puzzles shifts this clamped-down part of her persona into gear. She's living the life she knows. And then as she discovers this unique talent that she has, a door is opened on a world that she didn’t know existed. Robert, is at a low point in his life when he meets Agnes. His wife has abruptly left him and he has given up on his career as an inventor, certain that his breakthrough discovery is all he will ever be able to achieve. Robert has closed his doors to everybody but he’s looking for something to engage him emotionally. When Agnes comes to his house, he’s not ready for a relationship at all. But he's drawn to her personality. There’s some distinct quality about her, which is very spontaneous. She has an intelligence and perceptiveness about the world. When they meet, she's in her shell, he's in his shell. Somehow, together, those shells are broken. If Robert falls in love with the unexpected side of Agnes’s character, her husband values her solid, reliable predictability above all else. Louie is a hard- working auto mechanic whose conception of family is the one he grew up with; the husband is the breadwinner, head of the family and sole decision maker; the wife stays home and tends to her husband, children and household. Louie has very strong ideas about what everyone's role in the family should be, and that's worked all right for him for twenty years. He’s a good guy, but there’s a lot he doesn’t understand about his wife, a lot he doesn’t understand about his kids. When Agnes begins standing up for herself and challenging his ideas, it shakes the foundation of everything that he's known, everything that they've had and been through. Initially, he’s very defensive and confused; it doesn't make sense to him. But then he has to regroup and reassess the situation and we see him begin to make changes. The character of Louie presents certain challenges as a man who loves his wife but has also failed to see her fully. Because he loves Agnes, Louie tries to change. And as much as we see his weaknesses, we begin to see a different Louie. Ziggy has always appreciated and connected to his mother. He's heartened by her burgeoning independence. Agnes is Ziggy’s best friend. They're so in tune with each other and they can read each other's feelings in a way that the rest of the family just doesn’t. When Ziggy sees Agnes becoming more confident and coming into herself, it inspires him to do the same thing. Younger brother Gabe is a bit spoiled and cocky, not only does he fail to lift a finger around the house, but he expects his mom to prepare a special diet for his vegan Buddhist girlfriend at the family dinner table. Gabe is trying to get outside of the family, and his girlfriend is helping him open up to new ways of thinking. Gabe is aware that his mom is very sheltered and giving her the iPhone is his way of encouraging her to do that for herself. To discover such a story in a screenplay as powerful as this is irresistible. "Puzzle" is adapted from the Argentine film "Rompecabezas" (Spanish for puzzle). The film’s sensibility is very Argentinian, but it has a universal story about a middle-aged woman who's been underestimated and taken for granted by her family. She discovers she has this talent for jigsaw puzzling and secretly enters a competition with a man she meets through an ad. The puzzles are the catalyst for figuring out her life and relationships and making choices. That’s something anybody can identify with. It's a very specific way to show a woman waking up and reckoning with her life. It’s small but it’s hers and it’s real. As singular as Agnes is, her story speaks to something universal. That idea of following your heart, of following your passion, and allowing yourself to be happy is something that will resonate with people. Everybody’s got their special gift, And not everybody is fortunate enough to find it or to recognize as a gift. Because it’s a simple thing, jigsaw puzzling, it’s not like the theory of everything or something that’s going to change the world. But Agnes certainly changes a few lives in the time that we see her in the film. She changes everybody in her life and changes her life. Life is random, but when you finish a puzzle you know you’ve made all the right choices. This wistful observation articulates the subtle lure of puzzles in this quietly surprising character drama. You think of jigsaw puzzling as something incredibly solitary and inward, something that pulls you into a smaller world, but in "Puzzle", this very solitary activity actually opens up the world for the heroine.

The air is moving. Fritz left a door open somewhere. Did the creators of “Trench 11” know that the film “Overlord” is going to be released this autumn? Or did they want to beat film studio “The Asylum” and be the first one to deliver a low-budget horror in which American and English soldiers face German zombies? The biggest difference with “Overlord” is the world war they’ve chosen. “Overlord” is about American marines after D-day in the 2nd World War, while “Trench 11” is situated during the 1st World War. So no Nazi Germany. No magic tricks from the CGI department. And another difference is the footage. Just look at the trailer of “Overlord” and you’ll easily notice that there’s a difference in the budget for the department “Special Effects” and “Computer Graphics”. Film producer “Carousel Pictures” doesn’t seem to have a CGI department. And in terms of special effects, it’s not all high-tech what you’ll see. It’s limited to practical effects (though excellent ones) and stop-motion techniques. Fancy a spaghetti Bolognaise? Watch this movie. In a strict sense, this isn’t really about zombies. You can call it chemical experiments that went out of hand. Somewhat like what happened in “Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies” where a chemical product for artificial snow was the cause of all the misery. What Lt. Berton (Rossif “son of Donald” Sutherland) and the group of American soldiers and English officers encounter in the underground tunnels of a giant German bunker in the forests of Argonne, are infected guinea pigs. Test subjects who underwent some kind of medical experiments, after which they changed into ruthless savages whose bodies are stuffed with wriggling spaghetti. A type of parasite that infects the frontal lobe of the human brain, causing the victim to lose his personality and no longer knowing the difference between right and wrong. The result is a few bloody confrontations with somewhat deliciously gross images. Exciting and funny at the same time. Maybe the bloody scenes look a bit cheap and old-fashioned (even though I like to see a bursting skull from time to time), yet they managed to create a threatening atmosphere. Of course, the location is something that’ll take care of that. Underground tunnels are suitable to provide dark, claustrophobic images. A creepy labyrinth full of corridors where you can encounter an insane mutation at every corner. So the tension is certainly present. And humor is also present at certain times. Even though I think this was not done on purpose. Like this conversation, for example: How do I know I’m not infected? What are the symptoms? Begins with fever. You become increasingly violent. How do you feel? I feel like blowing up something. That is a symptom Who’s more nuts? Reiner or Pronger? Unfortunately, the characters are a bit clichéd. You have another know-it-all, authoritarian superior (Ted Atherton) who doesn’t tolerate contradiction and keeps coming up with excuses or pronounces threatening language when exercising his authority. They are accompanied by a trio of seasoned American soldiers goosed up on adrenalin. While the English officers bring out an authentic English teapot, these gentlemen sniff a line of coke (or something similar) to enter the battlefield fearlessly and more alertly. The most colorful and atypical figure here is Sgt. Pronger (Jeff Strome). That facial expression shows how insane this war has made him. And then you have the German sadistic officer Reiner (Robert Stadlober) who is a fervent supporter of chemical warfare. A bit similar to Dr. Maru from “Wonder woman” or Red Skull against who Captain America fought. But Reiner is less machiavellistic. It’s not an extraordinary horror. But it’s not bad either. “Trench 11” won’t become an instant classic in Horror Land. But you can say a lot of positive things about it. Admittedly, some of the actors aren’t particularly overwhelming. And at times there’s silliness and there are some improbabilities (but most horror movies have that). I found the statement of Capt. Cooper (Luke Humprey) about the entire US Army (“Whatever Jennings is doing down here is important enough to secure the full cooperation of the American army. How else could he get a whole division down her?”) a bit strange. I suppose that a division from the American army consists of more than three soldiers. But despite these hiccups, I thought this war/horror film quite successful. My rating 6/10 More reviews here

"John Wick: Chapter 4" John Wick (Keanu Reeves) returns as the un-retired hitman uncovers a path to defeating The High Table, a council of twelve crime lords that governs the underworld’s most powerful organizations, and which has put a multi-million-dollar bounty on Wick’s head for his defiance. But before Wick can earn his freedom, he must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances around the globe that turns old friends into deadly foes. A new day is dawning in Wick’s world, new rules, new ideas, and new management, as personified by The High Table’s sadistic frontman, Marquis (Bill Skarsgård). But now, win or lose, Wick has a way out, Challenge the Marquis to single combat. If Wick prevails, The Table will honor its word and Wick will no longer have a target on his back. Whatever the fateful outcome, John Wick knows that he left a good life behind a long time ago. At the beginning of the film, everyone assumes Wick is dead. So, he could live happily ever after and be in peace. But no, it’s John Wick!  He can’t leave it alone; justice must be done. He kicks the global hornet’s nest, and every assassin in the world is after him. And he’s alone. In Chapter 4 the film wants to flip the paradigm of Wick on the run and have him go after The High Table. It’s the story of John deciding that he’s not going to run away anymore. Instead, he runs at The Table, which really puts an exclamation point on why people fear John Wick. The Marquis is the emissary of The High Table, the new sheriff in town. The Marquis relishes his deadly duties, way too much. His scorched-earth approach to finding Wick, along with his sadism and underestimation of Winston and, of course, Wick, may lead to the, tables, being turned on the Marquis. He’s off his leash, which means he can implement whatever he wants and whatever he thinks is necessary to get the job done. The character’s lifestyle exemplifies his power. In contrast to the Bowery King in underground Paris, The Marquis frequents glamorous locations, which his wealth and power have secured for him to enjoy. Caine (Donnie Yen) is Wick’s longtime friend, who must turn against Wick when The High Table threatens a family member. In many ways, Caine is an intriguing mirror image of Wick, a lethal figure who made an extraordinary sacrifice because he did what an assassin should avoid at all costs, he loved. For Wick, it's his late, beloved wife, who succumbed to cancer. For Caine, it’s his precious daughter, whose safety The High Table threatens in order to secure Caine’s services. Caine was close to John, back in the day. They share no personal animosity but do have in common several facets of their personality and work. One of Caine’s defining characteristics is his lack of sight. This initially gave Yen pause, as he had recently played a sightless character in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". He’s a blind martial arts master who can take on dozens of opponents simultaneously, so he must be very skilled. Finding that balance between being sightless and physically gifted was challenging. Caine as a mix between Steve McQueen and Bruce Lee. Winston is the owner of the New York Continental Hotel, which functions as a comfortable and safe venue for hired killers. When, in the second film, after Wick conducts business” on hotel grounds, killing a despicable adversary, he incurs terrible penalties and ends up with a price on his head. In the third film, Winston committed a shocking, if necessary, act against his friend, Wick, who had, after all, broken his establishment’s laws. But Winston may be Wick’s only hope when the cunning hotelier devises a strategy for the on-the-run hitman to finally be free of The High Table. Winston is always in control, and it’s interesting to see how he reacts when everything he values is taken away from him. He’s a suave figure when he enjoys all the vestments and services of the hotel, but when it’s stripped away, he becomes a far more dangerous man than we knew. In this story, Winston is a master of revenge and instrumental in shaping Wick’s only way out of a seemingly impossible situation. The supremely capable, dignified, and helpful concierge, Charon (Lane Reddick), is Winston’s right-hand man. There's a bond that transcends employer-employee and even friendship. One of the things that’s so interesting about Winston and Charon’s relationship is that it's so close. You get a sense that they’ve been together for many years, probably even before their tenures at the New York Continental. You feel there’s an affection between them, and this film confirms it. The Bowery King (Laurence Fishburn is the head of an underground intelligence network disguised as a homeless shelter. An underworld (literally) kingpin who, from his underground headquarters, heads an intelligence network designed to look like a homeless shelter. Now, he’s traveled to Paris, to be of service to Wick, as the latter faces the ultimate challenge. Bowery King is the character who most embraces the world of John Wick. He opens his arms and draws it all in. The Bowery King can be seen as Hades, the god of hell. Like Winston, he’s also a protector of Wick’s secrets. He’s the chef in John’s secret kitchen. Another martial arts master who, like Caine, has a long history with Wick, is Shimazu (Hiroyuki Sanada). Shimazu owns the Osaka Continental Hotel and faces the wrath of The High Table when he offers Wick safe haven at his establishment. John doesn’t have many friends left, but he has a brotherhood, steeped in friendship and sacrifice. John, Caine and Shimazu form a triangle: the assassin, Caine, who got out of the game but was forced back in to protect his daughter; and Shimazu, who also has a daughter he must protect. Shimazu will have to pay a price for his allegiance to John. Shimazu is maybe John Wick’s last friend. John had no place to go, but then he remembers his friend in Japan. Shimazu grew up with John and Caine; they were like brothers. They trained together. But when Shimazu had a daughter, he tried to transition to a more peaceful life until John Wick’s visit. For her position at the hotel, Akira (Rina Sawayama), Shimazu's daughter, is trained in etiquette and fighting. Her heretofore placid life there's turned upside-down when she learns that its New York counterpart has been demolished. Life gets even more complicated when Akira sees Wick sharing drinks with her father in the hotel’s rooftop garden. It's then Akira realizes that she really doesn’t have anything to lose. She knows Wick is a very dangerous man who's using his last defense and connection, her father. Another pursuer of John Wick is known only as the Tracker (Shamier Anderson), whose faithful and nameless canine partner is a Belgian Malinois. The Tracker makes a deal with The High Table but comes to realize it’s a Faustian bargain. Just by agreeing to their terms, he may have already lost. The Tracker is very tactile, from his notebook, in which he writes everything down during his search for Wick, to always carrying a sack, to his light, guns, clothing, and dog. The latter serves as a companion to, and extension of, the Tracker. Indeed The Harbinger (Clancy Brown) initiates both destruction, he brings The Table’s order to destroy the New York Continental, and death, as he presides over the final duel between Caine, and Wick. Wherever The Harbinger arrives, bad things happen. You do not want the Harbinger knocking on your door. Unlike Wick, the Harbinger is old. He limps and has scars. So, instead of being an assassin for that organization, he conducts its business. The story takes us out of New York City, where most of the previous films were set, and travels to Jordan, Japan, Berlin, and Paris. There are no less than 14 major action sequences, including a wild and epic chase through the streets of Paris. In John Wick’s fighting style, you experience his effort, commitment, and will. We see his never-give-up attitude; its style seems desperate and capable. Everything is on a bigger scale for this movie. Any individual stunt piece in this film could be the tentpole action piece for any other movie. In a world where there seems to be no escape for John, the film wants to show action in a slower way and deal with the emotional resonance. We go back to the core of the films, one man against another, with something huge at stake. In addition to the action, there's brotherhood and hope, and the film explores some emotional threads that were only hinted at in the previous films. "John Wick: Chapter 4" has huge sets and vistas. You get your popcorn, the theater's packed, you feel the energy, and audiences cheer as soon as John Wick comes on the screen. John Wick is an escapist ride and collective thrill for audiences. Written by Gregory Mann