Mid-September Streaming Gems, From ‘Mulan’ To ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’
We’ve rounded up four film picks for your consideration!
As the rest of the world slowly resumes some form of normalcy, and cinemas reopen, here in the Philippines, other than the SM drive-in (Pampanga, and now at Mall of Asia, as well), we’re still dependent on streaming to stay abreast of new releases.
Here are four picks for your consideration:
Mid-September Streaming Gems
Mid-September Streaming Gems
Mulan (Disney+)
You’ll need a VPN or some ‘connected’ friend to watch this. A victim of the global pandemic, this Live Action remake goes straight to the Disney service as a Premier choice; and while controversy has hounded this film since production began, I, for one, love the choices made. If the previous remakes showed an over-healthy reverence for creating frame by frame homages to the animated original, Mulan takes a different route, being merely inspired by the 1998 original. It carves its own path to being an action drama with themes of women empowerment, sisterhood, family, honor, and duty.
Mulan (Disney+)
Lui Yifei as Mulan, who does her own stunts, is great; easily hiding the fact that she’s actually 33 years of age. Donnie Yen (Commander) and Jet Li (Emperor), along with Gong Li (the witch/shape-shifting sorceress), provide able support, but never steal the thunder from Mulan. Viewers have reacted strongly to this release, either loving it or hating it. What I liked was that one could love the original, and watch this remake on its own terms and not treat it as a replication. It’s far from perfect, but I enjoyed the tonality, and would like to watch it on the big screen. Kiwi Niki Caro directs, and it echoes her Whale Rider (2003) indie release.
The Devil All the Time (Netflix U.S.A.)
A whole lot of female fans will be anticipating this Antonio Campos-directed film that drops on September 16, thanks to the powerhouse cast. Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Sebastian Stan, are just some of the names attached to this film—so that’s Spidey, the new Batman and Edward of the Twilight franchise, Pennywise of It, and Bucky of Captain America. But first of all, it’s got an 18+ rating, and they’ll be surprised by how these actors are all ‘stretching’ here, and have left their romantic lead and superhero personas at the sound stage door. This is a dark, depraved community that’s depicted, late 1950’s to early 1960’s rural Ohio, and it’s populated by sinners, perverts, grifters, and mean people operating from a shallow gene pool.
The Devil All the Time (Netflix U.S.A.)
Welcome to Knockemstiff, Ohio; and believe me, it’s a township you’ll want to avoid at all costs. It’s where religion is used as a prelude to pedophilia and fornication, where the seemingly charitable gesture of picking up a hitchhiker becomes an invitation to coercion and murder, and where even our good hearted avenging angel is a flawed character wearing blood-splattered clothes. Based on the novel of Donald Ray Pollock, the author has been enlisted to narrate, so I’d presume this adaptation has his blessings. It’s powerful stuff, but it’s harrowing and offers a dim view of humanity. Enter at your own risk.
Get Duked! (Amazon Prime)
The premise for this Scottish indie is a hoot. You put three juvenile delinquents with one earnest nerd, and set them on a Duke of Edinburgh-sanctioned orienteering adventure in the Scottish Highlands. Then throw in a band of aristocratic toffs who think nothing of culling the population to rid the stock of unwanted and deficient, vermin human beings. Think of a young Trainspotting meets Deliverance and The Hunt. And then throw in outrageous comedy that has much to do with the hallucinogenic properties of rabbit poo. It’s Get Duked, a golden calling card for writer/director Ninian Doff.
Get Duked! (Amazon Prime)
The young actor playing DJ Beatroot is hilarious—how he won’t answer unless you call him by his hip-hop stage name, and how he’s so crestfallen when his mate says he can’t see people chanting a vegetable at his future gigs. It’s Boyz in the Woods, and it’s got a smart script that mixed hijinks, adventure, and comedy, with a dash of social commentary. I loved this unassuming indie feature, and it gives us an inkling of the talent of the director and writer, a name to look out for in the near-future.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix U.S.A)
Charlie Kaufman directs and writes the screenplay for this adaptation of the Iain Reid novel. If you recall, Kaufman is best known for having written Being John Malkovich and The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; so we can expect this one to be an existential psychological drama about the inner mind and overthinking things. The premise has to follow a girl as she travels with her boyfriend to meet his parents on a desolate farm in rural America.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix U.S.A)
Jessie Buckley plays the girl, and she’s the most impressive character portrayal here, with Jesse Plemons playing her boyfriend. The weirdest parents one can find are played by Toni Collette and David Thewlis, and their over the top performances are a joy to watch. In typical Kaufman-fashion, this is a talkie through and through, introspective and short on actual action. Through Buckley, Kaufman displays his pet peeves, his influences, his favorite films and worst, over-rated ones, and jaded view of the world. Definitely not for everyone, and am just happy that Netflix somehow still manages to finance film projects like this one for a niche audience.
Photos from IMdB
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