Turning Red - Cheap Thoughts

Puberty sucks. It sucks for everyone, the only thing that could make it infinitely worse is if you transformed into a giant monster at the sign of any strong emotion so…good thing teenagers don’t experience any of that. Turning Red is built on a lot of foundations that have come before in other Pixar/Disney films, a rebellious teenager who goes against her parents wishes for the sake of her own identity, face off against many obstacles, the main of which being their own internal dilemma taking a physical manifestation. Yet fewer Disney films take such an analytical approach to the subject matter as Turning Red does. The act of rebellion is not just an act for the sake of it, but it is one built up out of a burning desire to be one’s own person, even when that person goes against their own parents’ ideal version of oneself. Our main character Mei (Rosalie Chiang) is not necessarily lying to her parents in who she is, the part they see is still a part of her, but that active repression of her other side that she gets to be with her friends makes it an escape from a family that requires all the success but offers none of the trust. We were all different with our friends than we were our families, in some ways that felt more like the real version of us, and if that’s not something you relate to then really question what kind of childhood you had.

The film also allows Pixar to experiment more with their own animation style. Truth be told Pixar have always felt weightier and more realistic on their designs and animation. This has allowed for some truly breath-taking and impressive looking films but is limiting in the opportunities provided by the medium of animation. Turning Red is expressive, it’s rubbery, it’s exaggerated and all in the favour of creating one of (if not) the most visually hilarious films Pixar have ever made. It’s certainly a shame that the three latest Pixar films which all happen to be some of their most creative, smart and emotionally nuanced films have all been straight to streaming, when the inarguable cash grab that will be Lightyear still receives the theatrical release. Pixar are one of the few major studios that still make original features that appeal to broader audiences, it’s saddening to see their work be relegated like this.

Turning Red is going to mean a lot to a lot of people, it’s a subject matter that can be connected with and rarely gets discussed this deeply, and yet it never loses its sense of personal identity. In the broader scale this is a story of a teenager struggling with their identity between their friends and their family. On a personal scale it is still the story of a 13-year-old Chinese Canadian girl hitting puberty and anyone who can connect to any of those nouns, this is a unique experience of seeing themselves in a major motion picture, and no one can take that away.

-Danny

The Batman - Cheap Thoughts

There is always far too much to say about a Batman movie, contextualizing it within the grander scheme of the superhero genre, the DC (Sometimes shared) Cinematic Universe and just the Batman franchise as a whole is a very exhausting task. Despite often being portrayed as the darkest and grittiest of all the dark and gritty superheroes, Batman is possibly the most versatile in tone that you can get. There is room for all interpretations, for the realistic crime dramas of the Nolan films, to the gothic arthouses of the Burton films and the absurdist comedy of the 60s film or LEGO Batman. To describe one version as “understanding Batman” is a vague and unhelpful term, there is no one Batman, but there will always be another Batman.

The Batman offers up a delectable meal of a film, it is visually stunning in every matter, the production design of James Chinlund presents Gotham of a cesspool of corrupt power-hungry men forcing the crowded disenfranchised into a life of crime or poverty while also creating the exact world a Batman can both feed on and be needed for. Director Matt Reeves and DoP Greig Fraser know the importance of bringing a new angle to the character in a very literal sense by presenting the action from perspectives we have not scene before. Not quite as dramatic as Burton, or as realistic as Nolan, but a nice in-between point. The cast is all top notch performances but the highlights are easily Robert Pattinson in the lead and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, these two beautiful gothic drama queens who are as violent as they are horny, functioning on the same wave length making them arguably the best pairing of the two we’ve ever seen. The only exception to this stellar cast is sadly Paul Dano who seems to have fallen into the trope of thinking shouting at the top of your lungs is the same as character acting. Colin Farrell may be chewing the scenery, but at least he’s munching on the scenery for the film he’s in, Dano seems to think he’s in a very different film than everyone else.

Running at roughly 3 hours it’s easy for the film to become somewhat convoluted in its story, by which it seems the film begins by asking a question and by the end is answering a completely different one. Bruce Wayne is a non-existent character, he has committed himself fully to being The Batman, and it is that denial of this part of his identity that acts as the initial character arc set up, Bruce ignoring his Wayne heritage and the weight that legacy holds comes back to bite him, and yet this never goes onto be solved, despite many negative consequences coming because of it. Instead the film answers what the importance of Batman is, how he best functions and what his relationship is with Gotham…okay, but you didn’t ask that, you asked how important is Bruce Wayne compared to the Batman (Turns out, very important) and you didn’t give any kind of solution.

To discuss this film fully in detail would be both spoiler heavy and also require a lot of energy to discuss, so let’s just leave it at this. The Batman is a good film, it is however, just another Batman film. It does not do enough to prove why another interpretation was needed, and it becomes so indulgent in a mystery that ultimately did not matter that it does not earn its run time. It is a technically well-made film with great performances but loses itself along a very long path.

-Danny