House of Gucci (2021) - Gaga slays as Patrizia Reggiani

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+ Best Period Movie of the Year + Best True-Crime Movie of the Year  

 

An expensively dressed cadre of top stars front this dark poster for Ridley Scott's House of Gucci

Patrizia is the opportunistic daughter of a truck company owner from Milan, who manages to hook the heir to the Gucci fashion empire. But her possessive, power-focused personality makes for a sour life for her unwitting law student beau.

 

House of Gucci is written by Becky Johnston (Under the Cherry Moon (1986)) and Roberto Bentivegna (El Otro Lado (2008, short)), based on the non-fiction book The House of Gucci: A Sensational of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed (2001) by Sara Gay Forden, and directed by British master filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Duellists (1977)), whose 27th feature it is. 

The colorful, tabloid media-qualified chain of events are served with a distanced, brisk touch and an ironic distance, an eye for the gauche and pompous in both the rough-diamond outsider, who turns out to be a scheming gold-digger, and the inflated egos at large in the Gucci family. This provides nice parts for Al Pacino (Two for the Money (2005)), a clownish Jared Leto (How to Make an American Quilt (1995)) as the family's black-sheep cousin, and Jeremy Irons (Eragon (2006)), who is especially good as the unlucky heir's (Adam Driver (The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018))) father. Salma Hayek (Grown Ups 2 (2013)) is fun in a small role as a psychic.

But the main act, of course, is Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born (2018)), who owns the film as Patrizia Reggiani. Patrizia has a temper, and she doesn't like to lose. A juicy role, where Gaga gets a chance to show her skills in plenty of outrageous, stylish, (including many bad taste extreme) outfits and wigs - as well as sunglasses and ski goggles, and hats! She is the main reason to watch House of Gucci, and she is on fire here as a ruthless and sometimes frightening woman.

The narrative moves without ever becoming very surprising, but it maintains an entertaining energy due to the performances and light grip on the material. There are no heroes in House of Gucci, which is peopled by deeply flawed, mostly self-serving characters, which makes it somehow very relatable I think. It is impressive work by the 82 year-old filmmaker.

Related posts:

Ridley Scott: 2021 in films - according to Film Excess 

The Martian (2015) - Scott and Damon triumph with hopeful sci-fi adventure  

Prometheus (2012) or, Even Then, Space Eggs Were Bad News
2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Robin Hood (2010) - R. Scott's grand film of the English legend 

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2008 in films - according to Film Excess 

Body of Lies (2008) - R. Scott's terror actioner is a fatiguing turkey 

2007 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2007 in films - according to Film Excess 

American Gangster (2007) - Great American - now black - gangster picture
A Good Year (2006) - Ridley Scott likes Provence

Matchstick Men (2003) - Great Cage job highlights entertaining Scott crime dramedy 

Hannibal (2001) - Grisly highlights in low-yielding Scott sequel 

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Gladiator (2000) - Experience the grandeur of the Roman Empire in Scott's dramatic masterpiece

G.I. Jane (1997) or, The Amazing Seal Woman! 

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Blade Runner (1982) director's cut - Visual extravaganza, great SF 

Top 10: Best future-set movies
Alien (1979) or, Space Eggs Are Bad News

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 75 mil. $

Box office: 93 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[House of Gucci premiered 9 November (London) and runs 158 minutes. Several directors and stars had been attached to the project since 2006. Shooting took place from March - May 2021 in Italy, including in Rome. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Encanto and holdover hit Ghostbusters: Afterlife, to a 22 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it has since spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4) so far, grossing 41 mil. $. It is set to release in 7 more markets in December, January and February, including Italy, Australia, South Korea and Japan. Reggiani and descendants of the Guccis, and designer/filmmaker Tom Ford, have all attacked the film in the press. Scott is set to return with Kitbag. Gaga does not have her next acting gig announced yet; Driver returns in 65 (2022). House of Gucci is fresh at 61 % with a 6.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of House of Gucci?

Lord of War (2005) - Cage thrives with a ghastly lead in Niccol's terrific, troubling war drama

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+ Best Villain of the Year: Nicolas Cage as Yuri Orlog + Best War Movie of the Year

Star Nicolas Cage chillingly recreated with multi-colored bullets on this menacing poster for Andrew Niccol's Lord of War

One of the world's largest illegal arms dealers and arguably one of the worst persons to touch its surface, Yuri Orlog is the subject of Lord of War.

Lord of War is written, co-produced and directed by great New-Zealander filmmaker Andrew Niccol (Gattaca (1997)), based on several real-life arms dealers and infected third world conflicts. Nicolas Cage (Army of One (2016)) is perfect as the fascinating and eerie title character; he throws himself bravely and fearlessly out on deep waters yet again here with a truly despicable role. In Lord of War, Cage gets solid backup from Bridget Moynahan (Battle Los Angeles (2011)), Jared Leto (Lonely Hearts (2006)) and Ian Holm (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)).
This societally critical war drama is shot and scored by filmmakers who seem to know their Scorsese, (the American master filmmaker seems a tangible source of inspiration for Niccol and Co.) 
The impact comes through irregardless: Lord of War is a strong and despairing (anti)war picture that makes its audiences alternatively laugh and cry.

 

Related post:

 

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Watch one staggering scene from the film here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 72.6 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.45 times its cost)
[Lord of War was released 16 September (USA) and runs 121 minutes. Shooting took place in New York, Utah, the Czech Republic and South Africa, including Cape Town, from August - November 2004. A Czech weapons dealer source supplied the production with 50 tanks, which were shipped off to Libya weeks later. The production bought 3,000 SA Vz. 58 rifles to stand in for Kalashnikovs, as they were cheaper than buying prop guns. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Just Like Heaven and holdover hit The Exorcism of Emily Rose, to a 9.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 24.1 mil. $ (33.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 8.3 mil. $ (11.4 %) and the UK with 4.3 mil. $ (5.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It also won a special recognition mention from the National Board of Review. Niccol returned with In Time (2011). Cage returned in The Weather Man (2005). Lord of War is fresh at 62 % with a 6.17/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lord of War?

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) or, Taking Life by the Horns

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A terrific still is the basis for this beautiful poster for Jean-Marc Vallée's Dallas Buyers Club



Dallas Buyers Club is the mostly true story of Ron Woodroof, a drug-toking hustler, electrician and rodeo cowboy, whose deteriorating health gets diagnosed as AIDS in 1985, where the doctor tells him he has a month left to live. Woodroof survives for another 7 years, taking experimental drugs to diminish the harsh effects of the virus and setting up a club for sick people to buy the unapproved (later illegal) drugs through him.

 
Matthew McConaughey (Mud (2012)) plays Woodroof in a physically demanding performance, (he lost 22 kg for the part), and may very well win his first Oscar in a few weeks for the job, (ed.: he did.) Jared Leto plays the transsexual Rayon, who becomes Woodroof's business partner and good friend, and Leto's physical transformation is as impressive as McConaughey's, (and Leto is also Oscar-nominated, (ed.: and also won!))

Jared Leto as Rayon in the film, when he still looks good

The third major role in Dallas is Jennifer Garner's (Juno (2007)) turn as a doctor whose sympathy gradually shifts from the hospital system to the alternative that Woodroof represents. Garner is once again wonderful, but she seems to stand in the shade of the physically transformative men in most reviews, which she doesn't deserve.
There is something painful in watching this movie, - and for me it wasn't the 'good' kind of painful. The lead and Leto's parts are deadly sick through the entire film, and we are in hospitals again and again. They are emaciated and look incredibly bad. Furthermore, Woodroof can be a stupid asshole.
He is fiercely disgusting in the way he leads his life, and he only distinguishes himself from his equally no-good hick friends, when he receives his death notice. AIDS is what makes him a redeemable character; the disease educates him into being a better person, which is in a way pretty terrible. What propels the character forward is his strong will to live and to help others to live.
SPOILER The few moving moments of the film were for me the scenes just before Rayon's death, when Woodroof finally stops throwing homophobic abuse at his closest friend.
I know it was part of the character they created for the film, but for me the distance between he and I became too big for me to get thrown over completely, once he (predictably) altered behavior.
The story of struggling with the DEA and AIDS-patients dying in droves every day is as interesting as it is depressing. Dallas Buyers Club does a good job of shedding light on the illness and the way it was treated (and not treated) at this point in time in the US (1985-1992). The desperation is palpable, yet didn't cut my heart in half. You may think this a compliment or not, as you like.
Dallas Buyers Club has obvious merits in its performances and strong handling of its story. It is not one of my favorites of 2013, and in the case of McConaughey, ironically, I think that he has starred in not one but two essentially better films in this Oscar-year that he is sure not to win an Oscar for, Jeff Nichols' Mud and Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, although his performance in this film is small. For AIDS-themed cinema with more impact try out How to Survive a Plague (2012), The Normal Heart (2014) and BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017).
Canadian director of Dallas Jean-Marc Vallée has also directed the gay-themed C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005), which isn't a perfect film, but which I personally enjoyed a great deal more than Dallas Buyers Club. He is already busy with his next film, Wild (2014), which stars Reese Witherspoon as a woman on a very long solo hike.

Meet the hero of Dallas Buyers Club, Ron Woodroof, in the trailer here

Budget: 5 mil. $
Box office: 33.2 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Dallas Buyers Club?
Did I miss anything crucial in my review?

Mr. Nobody (2009) or, Profound Film

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One visually engaging poster for Jaco Van Dormael's Mr. Nobody


I had been attracted to this film since its premiere some years ago, but only got to it now. I had build some expectations for it, since it seemed promising, based on its trailer, praise and unusual story.
The plot of Mr. Nobody is hard to explain, but its main character is Nemo Nobody, who is a 100-something year old man, the last mortal alive almost a hundred years into the future, when people have gained 'quasi-immortality'. He looks back on his life, as he's interviewed by a younger man. His life counts several lives, it seems, or several life-spans, because he sees possibilities of alternate versions of his life, - versions, however, that he has also lived, somehow. A key point in his life is at his parents' divorce in his childhood, when he is asked to choose between them. Later highlights are his different loves, and different deaths.
The first about 15 minutes of the film revels in just fucking with its audience by throwing 'bones' every which way; lead actor Jared Leto (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) dies in different ways; we are in the past; we are in the future, we are everywhere. Nothing makes sense. What is this, we think. Will it ever make sense?
The answer is: Sort of, a bit.
The film then goes on to tell its stories of the life of Nemo Nobody, going back and forth, but mostly ahead from childhood through first love and sex to later married life, a mentally unstable wife etc. etc. Unfortunately, I was fast bored with the film, and I really wanted to like it, but just couldn't.
Mr. Nobody has many problems. One is its outset ambition to contain everything in life in it. It seems like it wants to be a 2 ½ hour Bible. It's too much. There's no softer way to say it.
But probably its main problem is its unengaging characters. The film is littered with fickle female characters that never really charm or attain likability or much interest. But the film's main focus, of course, is Nemo, who is mostly in the form of Leto. Jared Leto is all over the place as Nemo Nobody:

He is a floating hobo.

He has about 100 different hairstyles.

But above all, he stares existentially at us in countless existential close-ups from existentialist Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael (Lumière and Company, documentary (1995)), who seems almost existentially obsessed with the actor/rock star's face.
This last problem marks my biggest issue with the film; not so much Leto's face, but that Nobody seems so hell-bent on being existentially profound in almost every single minute it runs. As if it wants us to see it as some kind of epiphany from start to finish. It's a bit like that guy at the party who is a bit too 'smart' for his own well-being; who has seen this documentary/read this article/heard this incredible speech, and now just can't shut up about it. And why can't we all just see and understand what he has seen? Experience is not that easy to share with anyone else, Dormael.
I know that this may seem horribly skeptical and unfair towards the film, which many people really love, but I was bored and annoyed with it through most of its long runtime.

The details:

Lovers of Mr. Nobody will especially hate my use of the next adjective that I will tentatively paste to a corner of the film:
Pretentious.
Not as pretentious as another awful time-twirler, Wong Kar Wai's 2046 (2004), but still a film that really requires patience to get through. As when, for no apparent reason, this guy shows up and is in all earnestness a doctor for Mr. Nobody:

It is reminiscent of films like Darren Aronofsky's airy, failed The Fountain (2006) and the hugely popular The Butterfly Effect (2004). But the better entry into this love-and-the-relativity-of-time sci-fi-sub-genre, (if we may call it that), would be Michel Gondry's excellent Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
On the positive side, speaking for Mr. Nobody, it does have striking visuals, and is an unusual, big production of a pretty ludicrous mix of ideas. It is always incredible when someone decides to pour this kind of money into something as strange as Mr. Nobody, (and obviously to most of us with no real chance to make almost anything of it back again), but at least Dormael has put all that money to obvious use here.
The film also has a lot of good music, although I was sometimes sorry to hear such good music in such a dubious film. Its use of  Mr. Sandman by many different artists is quite clever.
One positive experience I made from the film was that divorcées really should never allow themselves to ask their child to choose between them. They have fucked up, and they should have to make this impossible decision of where the child goes, and almost invariably make the wrong one, and suffer all the beatings for that decision from then on. The child is not the responsible party and therefore shouldn't get this unbearable responsibility.
Nobody was Dormael's third feature. He has not been hired since. Perhaps because Nobody, although receiving praise and recognition, was, financially speaking, a black hole. The future will show, using a very poor pun, if Mr.Nobody was the film that made Jaco Van Dormael a nobody.
Mr. Nobody will stretch your concentration with a plot about the relativity of time and every reality strand's inherent perfection. If you are into experimental science fiction and time-related philosophy, you may love it. But I found it a highly trying time to get through.

Related posts:

2046 (2004) or, A Shell of Art

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] 
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
 

The trailer for Mr. Nobody

Budget: 47 mil. $
Box office: Less than a tenth of its budget
= Financial disaster

What do you think of Mr. Nobody?
Can you name other unusual sci-fi movies that work better than this?