Things from the Flood. By Simon Stalenhag. Translated by Martin Dunelind.
You are a young Swedish teen, growing up in the aftermath of a failed industrial project that may have opened a portal to another world, but the poisoned and destroyed landscape is your playground, and the agonies of adolescence find a comfortable home there.
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Rated Chronicle 8/10
This was amazing. There's a really honest and gritty feel to the high school environment in this that is sure to resonate with most teens, and there's also a kind of sincerity that comes across in the bonding of the three male protagonists. The first half really nicely sets these bonds up, while the second half serves to test the limits of friendship. This is sort of a twist on the standard 'mistreated boy gets powers and becomes altruistic' yarn that is often spun in superhero tales. In this there never is true redemption for the main antihero/protagonist and we're left to ask ourselves what life circumstances are truly insurmountable. Dane DeHaan (Andrew) does a masterful job playing a teen with too much on his plate and his acting really serves as the film's heartbeat and impetus. I enjoyed that by characterizing Andrew as a student with baggage who finds himself empowered, this movie serves as a lesson about security, violence, and the social conditions necessary for both. I personally would've loved to see a bit more about the backstories of the other two friends, though arguably they are present to serve as checks and balances. In terms of dialogue I thought this movie earnestness and borderline authentic. Some of it felt a bit forced and contrived, though what about adolescence isn't forced and contrived? The directing was pretty good, though the use of footage from the camera's perspective was a bit tiresome (and occasionally disorienting). The action and special effects were reasonably nice to look at and rarely got in the way of pacing. All in all this is a great story for the sci-fi/teen angst set and I sincerely hope there's a sequel.
Rated Elliot Loves 4/10
Not awful, but it's difficult to want to sit through. Redeeming moments are few and far between.
Rated Detention 8/10
Easily the most ridiculous amalgamation of a film I've ever seen, Detention presents some of the funniest parodies of the oft-mythologized 90s era and does so in hyper-kinetic fashion. Part slasher, part time-travel flick it holds as its primary setting the high school experience. It's an utterly nonsensical concept that somehow manages to be insidiously clever.
Rated A Quiet Place Part II 5/10
It's enjoyable but mostly forgettable. We do learn some new things about the creatures and I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing of the world-building especially where other people are concerned, but this needed to do more and with quicker pacing. It's great that it has something to say about young people and maturation but it doesn't do nearly enough to carry on the character development that was EXACTINGLY earned in the first film. A movie where Emily Blunt goes on to find her daughter and leaves the strange man to take care of her son and baby would've been a lot more interesting to me, but I also understand how that presents the potential for discontinuity. It is passable and holds things together, which is more than most sequels can so, so I really hope Part III builds on and expands the stakes. Give us more direct conflicts with and between humans, PLEASE.
