Old (2021) - Utter failure

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An attractive woman's legs turn old, wrinkled and into bones on a beach on this poster for M. Night Shyamalan's Old

 

A beautiful family of four, who are, however, threatened by imminent break-up due to a still unannounced divorce, arrive at a strange vacation resort. A guide soon drives them to a remote, picturesque beach, where they and other vacationers start to age with record speed.

Old is written and directed by Indian-born American master filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan (Praying with Anger (1992)), whose 14th feature it is. It is an adaptation of graphic novel Sandcastle (2011) by Pierre Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters.

An attempt at a thought-provoking concept here instead results in 105 minutes of characters who cannot grasp the wild physical changes they are going through, which only register with reactive groans and yawns for the viewer, who is 0% invested in them. Old is a streaming-friendly, speedy narrative of the Lost (2004-10) type mystery genre, where a batch of insufferable, yelling, screaming, crying characters leave you apathetic and thirsting for the end credit roll.

22 year-old (at the time of shooting) Alex Wolff (Patriots Day (2016)) portraying a 6 year-old is also an experience I could have been without. Old makes you wonder if the once fantastic Shyamalan will ever again hit the nail on the head with a film.

 

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M. Night Shyamalan: Glass (2019) - Shyamalan buries past effort in ominous superhero nonsense 

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

The Visit (2015) - Shyamalan's creepy mini-comeback

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The Happening (2008) - Shyamalan's out-there, unsettling, undervalued sci-fi horror 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: 90.1 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.00 times its cost)

[Old was released 21 July (Belgium and 6 other European markets) and runs 108 minutes. Shyamalan received Sandcastle for Father's Day in 2017 and decided to adapt it. Shooting took place from September - November 2020 in the Dominican Republic. The film opened #1 to a 16.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2, #3) and grossed 48.2 mil. $ (53.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Russia with 6.2 mil. $ (6.9 %) and Spain with 5.6 mil. $ (6.5 %). Shyamalan returned with Servant (2019-22) and theatrically will return with Knock at the Cabin (2023). Gael García Bernal (No (2012)) returned in Maya and the Three (2021, miniseries) and theatrically in Z (2021, unreleased); Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread (2017)) in Frida (2021, short) and theatrically in Beckett (2021, VoD). Old is rotten at 50 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Old?

Mammoth (2009) or, Modern Life Misery

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Intimacy and depressive shell-shock appearance clash on this dropped-in-space poster for Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth

 

A nurse in New York has her hands in life and death situations at work, while her daughter is taught words by a Filipino nanny/maid who has two sons of her own, who miss her. The father in the New York family is off on a contract-signing job in Thailand.

Mammoth is written and directed by great Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson (Show Me Love/Fucking Åmål (1998)). The title refers to a mammoth ivory pen that the man receives in the film as well as a line from one of Moodysson's poetry collections: "Our Savior buried like a Mammoth."

The film starts alright, and one senses quickly that here is an emotional drama with high stakes involved. But the very Swedish family drama, relocated to New York, or so it feels, gets too labored and sharpened in that every story in Mammoth seemingly must move towards misery. At the same time Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy (2008)) and Gael García Bernal's (The King (2005)) lead couple, - who seem like the filmmaker's exponents for the competent modern day parents, who still feel lost in the world, (because they lack a resting-place in faith/religion), - are wearying. - Especially Bernal, whose character is thoroughly insufferable in Thailand, where he by turns lectures on (Swedish) equality philosophy, makes promises voraciously as some 16 year-old, gets what he wants and then takes off.

SPOILER The impact of a couple of the tragedies in Mammoth (a boy passes away in the hospital; the nanny/maid's son is raped in the Philippines) is also lessened, because we see them arriving in advance. Moodysson's well-meaning and often well-acted fate-crossing drama can with a bit of harshness be described as misery porn, and it also seems very inspired by Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's masterpiece Babel (2006), though it (also) lacks that film's striking visuals. Mammoth is overrated.

Moodyson presents the film here in a 2-minute clip

Cost: 10 mil. $

Box office: 2 mil. $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.2 times its cost)

[Mammoth premiered 19 January (Stockholm, Sweden) and runs 125 minutes. Shooting took place in Thailand, the Philippines, New York and Sweden from November 2007 - ?. Williams learned that her fiancee, star actor Heath Ledger had passed away in his sleep while filming Mammoth. The film opened #83 to a 4k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, its only release in the country, where it grossed just 9k $ (0.5 % of the total gross). The 3 biggest markets were Sweden with 1.5 mil. $ (75 %), Spain with 182k $ (9.1 %) and Finland with 113k $ (5.7 %). The film won a Guldbagge (Sweden's Oscar). Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. Moodysson returned with We Are the Best!/Vi Är Bäst! (2013). Bernal returned in The Limits of Control (2009); Williams in Blue Valentine (2010). Mammoth is rotten at 45 % with a 5.18/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Mammoth?

The Science of Sleep/La Science des Rêves (2006) - Good ideas buried in taxing whimsy, off romance

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+ Most Overrated Movie of the Year

A deliciously made, evocative, dreamscape-depicting poster for Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep

Stéphane gets a job at an office that makes calenders, and he falls in love with his neighbor, who refuses his advances and is very troublesome.

The Science of Sleep is written and directed by great French filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)), based on a bedtime story written by 10 year-old Sam Mounier.
Gael García Bernal (Babel (2006)) acts about as childishly as an actor can here, playing a character with a hard-to-believe, silly job across from Charlotte Gainsbourg (Nuremberg (2000, miniseries)), who is unattractive as the inexplicable object of his enamorment in this highly eccentric, goofy film.
The Science of Sleep has a few funny moments and ideas that it wins on for me. But overall it is a fairly taxing experience, because it is just too much, an accumulated feeling of too much overwhelms me when watching it. It awakens my private Franco-phobia, which beats red with much higher alarm at a cutesy whimsical French romance film like Amélie (2001). But The Science of Sleep is similarly unbearable for me.

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2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 15 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.5 times its cost)
[The Science of Sleep premiered 11 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. Shooting took place in France, including Paris. The film opened #25 to a 347k $ first weekend in 14 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #15 and in 243 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 4.6 mil. $ (30.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 3.7 mil. $ (24.7 %) and the UK with 1.2 mil. $ (8 %). The film won a European Film award. Gondry returned with 8 short and video projects before his next theatrical engagement with Be Kind Rewind (2008). Bernal returned in Soy tu Fan (2006, ministeries) and theatrically in Babel (2006); Gainsbourg in Golden Door/Nuovomondo (2006). The Science of Sleep is fresh at 70 % with a 6.62/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Science of Sleep?

The Limits of Control (2009) - Jarmusch hits career low with idea-bereft embarrassment

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+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

A 1970's styled poster for Jim Jarmusch's The Limits of Control

A suit-wearing foreign man lands in Madrid, Spain. Always well-dressed, day by day, he meets mysterious people and does mysterious things, following an inscrutable agenda.

The Limits of Control is the 10th feature from Ohioan master writer/director Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man (1995)). As an admirer of Jarmusch's body of work, one goes along for a while here with cool Isaach De Bankolé (The Fifth Patient (2007)) to a Madrid café, to zen atmosphere and hipster-philosophizing strangers.
The film becomes involuntarily comical, as Jarmusch introduces Paz de la Huerta (Nail Polish (2006)) as an eternally nude sex kitten, - whatever is he going with this element? And from there The Limits of Control walks into deeper and deeper waters of embarrassment and the mindnumbingly boring. Small fragments of ideas are drawn out under a guitar-milling soundscape, as an abundance of stars appear for someone they greatly admire despite his project lacking any real structure or backbone here.
Stagnant shots that idolize Madrid fill out repetitive scenes, which promote Jarmusch's musician-ishly thin, existential philosophies. The Limits of Control is a very vaguely spun, pretentious double espresso of sleep-inducing hipster porridge, which hurts to watch for Jarmusch fans, as it is his worst film up to its release.

Related posts:

Jim Jarmusch: 2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Broken Flowers (2005) - Hip search for son and self with Jarmusch and Murray
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) - Pleasant, precious vignette sit-down with some wonderful people    
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) - Whitaker serves ancient samurai justice in Jarmusch's cool treat   
Dead Man (1995) - Jarmusch's bold, poetic, rich Americana masterpiece 
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Down by Law (1986) - Jarmusch's jailbreak movie is an independent character gem

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 1.9 mil. $
= Uncertain - but almost certainly a flop, and likely a mega-flop
[The Limits of Control was released 1 May (USA) and runs 116 minutes. Shooting took place in Spain, including Madrid. The film opened #41 to an 18k $ first weekend in 3 theaters in North America, its 3rd biggest market, where it widened to 27 cinemas but never attained a higher rank, grossing 426k $ (22.4 % of the total gross). The biggest and 2nd biggest markets were Germany with 812k $ (42.7 %) and France with 302k $ (15.9 %). If the film was made on a small 5 mil. $ budget, it only returned 0.38 times its cost, making it a mega-flop. Roger Ebert gave the film a ½/4 star review, equal to its rating here. Jarmusch returned with Only Lovers Left Alive (2013). Bankolé returned in White Material (2009). The Limits of Control is rotten at 42 % with a 5.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Limits of Control?

No (2012) - Larraín's enthusiastic, fine film of Chile's 1988 No campaign

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+ Best Chilean Movie of the Year

The rainbow of the posters for Pablo Larraín's No doesn't signify a film about LGBT issues as could be thought but instead of a reality where marketing can color reality in a different color

After many year's hard dictatorship under General Pinochet, he issues a general election in 1988 to legitimize his rule. No follows one of the marketing men who work for the No campaign, which struggles to get the Chilean people to vote no to a continued future under Pinochet.

Gael García Bernal (Bad Education/La Mala Educatión (2004)) is very credible as the ad chief, and No provides an interesting look behind the scenes of the political ad campaign creation. Pedro Peirano (Old Cats (2010)) wrote the screenplay, based on the unpublished play El Plebescito by Antonio Skármeta (No Paso Nada (1980)), and Pablo Larraín (The Club/El Club (2015)) directed it.
The structure of the film is rather flat and consists for much of the time of characters who sit (and sometimes stand) and watch new segments on TV, along with us. On the positive side, No refrains from using clichés and insists on telling its story with a lightness and interest for the creative process behind the campaign, which is original.
The same can be said of the decision to shoot the film in 80s-faded video (technically called low definition 3/4 inch Sony U-matic magnetic tape), which is another curious detail about this fine film.

Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 7.7 mil. $
= Uncertainty
[No was shown at various festivals around the world, including at Cannes where it won the Art Cinema Award. It got nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar, losing to Michael Haneke's Amour (2012). It made 2.3 mil. $ (29.9 % of the total gross) in North America. Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were its native Chile with 1.2 mil. $ (15.6 %) and France with 0.9 mil. $ (11.7 %). No is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of No?

Casa de Mi Padre (2012) - Will Ferrell's weird, funny Mexican movie

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+ Silliest Movie of the Year

The retro-styled poster for Matt Piedmont's Casa de Mi Padre

Two Mexican brothers, one a successful drug dealer, the other a gullible, goodhearted moron, duel against villains, - some very very bad guys...!

The plot of Casa de Mi Padre is fast forgotten, to put it mildly. The film is a weird, Spanish-language western comedy that spoofs Mexican telenovelas, and for those who are game for it, it's a lot of fun. It is a campy patchwork of genres mixing and references (to films like The Wild Bunch (1969), El Mariachi (1992) and Mexican stuff that's unfamiliar to most audiences who aren't Mexican.) It blends old with new in deliberately crappy sets and effects, which makes it funny in a kind of obscure way. Besides Will Ferrell (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)), who learned his Spanish for the film in a month and is surprisingly good as a Mexican, Gael Garcia Bernal (The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)) as the villain and Efren Ramirez (Napoleon Dynamite (2004)) and Adrian Martinez (American Hustle (2013)) as Ferrell's friends are all funny.
Casa de Mi Padre is written by Andrew Steele (A Deadly Adoption (2015)) and Eva Maria Peters (Antikiller 2: Antiterror (2003)) and directed by Matt Piedmont (The Spoils of Babylon (2014), TV mini-series). - It's weird! - And fun!

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2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 8 mil. $
= Huge flop
[The film was shot in 24 days, and it premiered on 382 screens to a 2.2 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it grossed 5.9 mil. $ (74 % of the total gross) in its two month run. It did not play in many other countries, and Mexico was the biggest secondary market with a 2.4 mil. $ gross. The film reportedly spend 8 mil. $ on marketing, which is after the 6 mil. $ production budget. In this light, the film's commercial failure is much steeper.]

What do you think of Casa de Mi Padre?