The last week has been an exercise in moderation for me. I aspire to be the weeknight movie type, but something about sitting out in the sun for the two hours after work à la Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate, thinking about my life before it goes down, is often too precious to pass up. Naturally, this leaves time for little else. Maybe this leads to cancelling every plan for the weekend and instead spending any leisure time I have in a dark room surrounded by strangers, but everyone has their comfort.
I’m a little sad to be leaving this month in media behind? April was nothing short of living deliciously in the cinematic sense. Some substantial part of me is just not spiritually grounded enough to endure the upcoming months of IP wars and subsequent, obligatory capital ‘M’ multiverse discourse. But today we’re focusing on a completely different kind of multiverse. Welcome to the NCU because it’s Nick Cage’s Universe, we’re all just living in it. Consider this my April wrap-up, not comprehensive just the high notes, word to Mariah.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
I’m currently obsessed with the concept that even a split in time and space as we know it could not surpass or neatly resolve the struggles of generational trauma the way that actual conversation and a hug can. Ultimately, I love any story that is, at its core, about wanting to give someone a hug. Michelle Yeoh is at her funniest and most zany, with a healthy dash of unhinged. I was left wondering how jarring and probably fabulous it must feel to have moments of your actual life spliced into that of an alternate dimensional superstar. Mingled into the chaos of multidimensional war is a story not just about self, marriage, parenthood, or taxes, it’s all of those things.
Pastiche is easily one of my favorite things to be annoying about when it appears in popular works. R*bert Zemeckis has hitched his wagon to that horse so many times it’s criminal, but as the mind behind Death Becomes Her I’ll allow it. A single watch may not be enough to catch every bit of IP that runs through the veins of this film but even the more obvious bits are ingenious and decidedly worth all the discourse they’ve stirred. The best part of this film is that it is intrinsically more interested in the people whose story it presents and by design interrupts with these fractured, bent bits of genre exploration. Life is full of interruptions, growth is not linear, and the issues we incur are not easily mended. But at the center of a sort of suffocating nihilism, we can choose kindness. Nothing matters but in a sense everything does.
The Daniels have had my curiosity (see: Swiss Army Man) but now they have my attention. It’s a rare thing to create a film on par with the works it seeks to pay homage to, and in some cases even surpass them.
Also I think I need a No Way Home audience reaction edit for when the rock turns around and has googly eyes, someone make that.
The Northman
I’ve said my piece to God and to all of you about this moment in cinema, horse head and all. It vacillates between feeling like a Werner Herzog epic (see: Fitzcarraldo) and a nightmare with a unique, often unyielding voice fitting of Eggers’s ~oeuvre~ at this point. While the financials of it aren’t looking wonderful, time should treat his movie kindly, especially in the streaming sense. It’s well acted, aggressively researched, and not heavily concerned with being anything other than a classic revenge tale.
Someone on Twitter said Robert Eggers is just evil Wes Anderson and I really can’t stop thinking about it. Some pretty notable dramatic framing and exploration of greyscale in moonlight are definitely cause to be a little h*rny on main. Even in a film saturated with dirt and death, there’s a lot of beauty to be found in the landscapes, the forest scenes, the more celestial concepts, and a stark contrast between ideas entrenched either deeply in the earth or in the afterlife. Stretches of throat singing accompany the more customary warped soundscapes of Eggers’s works, along with sparse use of other instruments appropriate to the time period, creating a feeling of something breathing between the space of animals and humans living and dying. Very fun stuff.
While the morals of the story connect to something oblique to ~post-modern sensibilities~ it touches on aspects of human connection that are universal: the things we lose and the things we love. How do we honor what is sacred? How do we protect what is precious? The good stuff. Despite moments of sidestepped feminism and obfuscated matriarchal aspirations that the story clearly did not have time for, there is a lot to like about the execution of this work.
It feels egregious to be nice to any one white man more than once in a month, but it is a new month! Feel free to read my take on Alex Skarsgård’s performance in my full review from last week. I digress.
It will be between me and my god how many times I will have watched this film by the end of the year. At the end of the day, I love a period piece. And if there is one person who is going to give us that regardless of what we want, it is our guy Robbie.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
It feels necessary to note off the top that this movie has been on my radar for years, as it references one of my favorite mid-to-low tier Daniel Day-Lewis films, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. At first glance and with some consideration to his body of work, I figured a Nicolas Cage meta work would presumably linger somewhere between Being John Malkovich and JCVD; something cerebral about an actor down on his luck, complete fiction planted only in reality by some niche sensibilities. In preparation for this experience, I sought out a local expert on the topic (s/o Carlos Cooper) for a comprehensive list of Nick Cage classics that would give any layperson a master class on “nouveau shamanism.” In no particular order it came down to:
Vampire’s Kiss, Adaptation, Leaving Las Vegas, Mandy, Wild at Heart
While I instinctually feel a hole in the size of Con Air, I do believe these to be the movies most representative of what Nick Cage has brought to his field- something that he may call “mega acting” and we, the peak of entertainment.
This film was easily one of the safest films Nick Cage has ever made, which is not inherently a bad thing. Actors should be able to have fun, and it’s so clear that’s what this project is and intends to be. The conceit could have been stretched a bit further, but what it lacks in depth it makes up for with an endearing cast and an overly indulgent plot that is nothing if not delightful. Not necessarily a *spoiler* but the film opens with one of my favorite Nick Cage movie moments, set to the tune of “How Do I Live” by Trisha Yearwood (miss me with that Leann Rimes shit!!) which in a way represents a lot of what this film seems to value. It is acutely aware of the duality of man and myth, as well as the conversation that exists within the fandom itself about what Nick Cage has to offer to different audiences. The limit to being self-referential does not exist here.
Pedro Pascal has been that bitch since Season 4 of Game of Thrones, but I’m really ready for him to enter his silly and, dare I say, goofy era. Tbqh he’s giving Jack Black at times and I simply would like to see him explore that. One of his shining achievement in this film pays respect to Paddington 2, and I’ve never felt so deeply about any other single minute in art and media.
Does this film about Nick Cage playing Nick Cage make it into the top 10 of Nick Cage films? No <3 But that doesn’t mean it isn’t thoroughly enjoyable even where it falls short.
note: this was supposed to be a sunday letter, and then a monday letter etc., but given the general feeling of defeat and impending societal collapse there just hasn’t been an ideal time to share my silly little newsletter, which in its intent is a fun thing for me to do that hopefully in turn can make my friends happy. donate to abortion funds and be good to each other, we are all we have. feel free to comment with any of your favorite reproductive justice groups to do work with or to support. <3 love you all-