Category: Reviews

If you are or are not curious about what happens to us after we die, what happens to the shell we are currently housed, you will enjoy this film. Whether you are or are not religious, you won’t be able to hold back the laughs. Whether you are or are not a big fan of Matthew Broderick, you will be after watching how he manipulates the written word here to have you laughing at practically everything he says, even when he’s literally describing a rotting corpse! ‘To Dust’ is hysterical. Broderick is hysterical. See this wonderful dark comedy which for some reason is listed as a drama. At times it does seem heavy. Regardless, you’re anything but brought to tears in this yarn, unless it’s because of Broderick’s dry humor. It’s so dry that if the temperature goes up one degree more, the room may catch fire. Broderick’s not only skilled in the comedy division but he’s also charming as his character Albert takes the time to help Geza Rohrig’s (Son of Saul) character Schmuel, a pained Orthodox Jew who just lost his wife to cancer.

Though Schmuel has two young sons, he can’t move on. Not even for them. He’s tormented and needs to be assured of something before he’ll ever be able to embrace life, even his beliefs, again. At the beginning of the film, we see his wife’s body being prepared for burial. It’s washed, wrapped in cloth and put in a simple pine box. Thirty days after, he still can’t get over her passing. He’s assaulted with dark visions of his wife lingering on this earth, unable to be free. There’s a prologue when the film starts that explains to the audience a strong belief that he holds dear. This is, ‘Then the dust will return to the earth as it was and the spirit will return unto God who gave it.’ Now that she’s in the ground, as haunted with these terrible images as he is, he must know if his wife is becoming dust, has become dust already or if she ever will.

Not receiving help from his own community, he goes to the nearby community college and seeks advice from their science professor, Albert. Albert isn’t interested at first but feels strangely compelled to comfort Schmuel after Schmuel tells him that he’s sinning by even seeking his guidance. He wouldn’t be there but he fears for his wife’s soul. Albert helps with the best tool he can think of… a science book. Broderick gives a unique and humorous reading from the textbook that explains what the body goes through after death, along with the approximate time frame. As if we were all in school again, director Shawn Snyder’s has an ingenious idea to use a pig and time-lapse photography to show us the rotting flesh the science professor describes. Albert’s play-by-play is so subtle and flippant in tone that even though the dialogue is a man taking another man through the journey of a dead, decaying body, you can’t help but find it amusing. Now that’s art!

What happens next is hard to imagine. One person willing to help another in the way Albert becomes willing to help Schmuel is unbelievable but crafted comedically as to not be purely ridiculous, thus making the film even that more pleasing to watch. The stage for Schmuel’s growth is set. Soon everyone can go back to life as normal. Unable to easily appease the most curious man on the planet, Albert attempts to alleviate his concern by helping Schmuel with an experiment. Schmuel can no longer accept what’s in a textbook and must see for himself what happens to a body. Literally, SEE for himself. To the forest, they go. Months after they bury a stolen pig, the pair check in on the progress of the flesh of the pig as it turns to ash. He’s distraught to see that it’s discolored and swollen but there’s no trace of ash. Albert continues to humor him and listens to him, offers some scientific theory, while at the same time trying desperately to end their connection. But then he finds something in Knoxville, TN that they may have to explore. Something that may finally move this along. A corpse farm! Now it’s a road trip movie!

This film is indescribably psychotic and demented yet in an incredibly unique and fun way. It’s bananas and irresistibly entertaining. It’s impossible not to connect to one, if not both, of these characters. ‘To Dust’ is one to see.

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‘Untogether’ can be described as a film that’s, by several degrees, uninteresting, unrelatable, and almost unwatchable. However, the word ‘almost’ is important to remember here. After sitting through the first scene, a scene that has Dornan’s ‘Nick’ asking if he can complete his act of lovemaking in the face of Jemima Kirke’s ‘Andrea,’ I expected to ultimately like it less than I did. Her response, by the way, made it clear she didn’t know him enough for that action to occur… just yet. I’m not going to tell you that I liked the movie but rather summarize it by saying it does succeed in being unique. However, it’s the struggle for that uniqueness that also made it so frustrating to watch. Instead of taking the audience down a more structured path, the storyline was all over the place. What could have been flagged a triumph of a directorial debut for Emma Forrest, who also wrote the script, will instead be considered a veritable disaster. 

With Emma Forrest’s script, we’re given small flashes into several dysfunctional lives that aren’t defined enough to care anything about. It’s as if she’s telling a well-guarded secret but still trying desperately to hide it from her audience. By the time we learn what she’s kept hidden from us, it may be too late. We may have already developed some animosity for the way she controlled the flow of information and decided we’re not going to like the film. If you stick it out, it’s only to see how everything works out for Andrea but not necessarily because of any clearly defined genius on the behalf of the filmmaker. Yes. That’s a win for her writing because there are glimpses of reflection and deep contemplation with Andrea, but the real reason to stay is for the acting. Actresses and real-life sisters, Jemima Kirke and Lola Kirke, are magnetic and unforgettable.

We follow the friends-with-benefits relationship of Andrea, a writer who recently met (and enjoys time and sex with) Nick, the writer of a popular memoir. She’s attempting to get to know him better because he makes her feel safe. With the dispirited and dismal dialogue they share and the degrading sex they have, I can’t fathom Andrea being interested long… maybe he’s a phase. She’s young and excitable and, I’m happy to report, does eventually school Nick about how to love ‘em and leave ‘em. Using his celebrity, he likes to go through women as if they’re used tissue but he finds Andrea rather difficult to let go of. His character couldn’t get more self-centered and shallow, so he becomes shaken when she doesn’t play along like the others. Once you get to know her character, you revel in her strength and can’t believe she’d want anyone like him. Did she lose a bet? As I’ve mentioned, to his face there are times when she refuses to feed his narcissism, but when he’s not around, she can’t get the hot mess out of her head.

The set-up for her sister Tara (Lola) is bleak. So much so that it’s hardly worth mentioning. She’s with Ben (Mendelsohn), who worships her every move but instead desires David (Crystal), a rabbi who came into her spa for a massage. I feel compelled to mention that an unrecognizable Jennifer Grey plays his jealous wife, Josie. She too is a character this movie could have done without.

If you’d like to see competent actors deliver some thought-provoking and provocative lines of dialogue, it’ll take some patience on your part, but the movie will deliver on this front. You might want to watch this because you can’t fight the urge to see Dornan. If this is the case, you’ll be sad to learn that he covers his face with a thick beard that not only hides his beauty but doesn’t fit the character. He mumbles throughout the movie, as well, so I must congratulate Forrest on her choice of hiring the Kirke sisters. They save the film. At least she got things right with some of the casting.

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Think ‘All is Lost’ with less water and think ‘Castaway’ with a substantial amount of snow. Now hold that image and you have, ‘Arctic.’ The best way to describe it is by saying it’s the survival picture of all survival pictures. And the way Joe Penna shot the film made it feel incredibly realistic. In fact, allow me to pass on a word of warning… you’ll get chills watching it. This being the case, if you see it this weekend, bring an extra sweater. It helps. On more than one occasion you might feel the urge to cuddle up to something for warmth and for strength.

The survivor we’re getting to know in this film carves ‘SOS’ in the snow every day. He makes it large enough so his message might be seen by a plane passing over… if one ever does. We see that this man is named, Overgård (Mikkelsen). At least that’s what we assume his name is since that’s what the jacket he wears (provided it’s his) tells us.

There are no other survivors with him from what was obviously a plane crash but an indication he wasn’t alone when it went down. The poor man is freezing and he’s hungry. In one scene he manages to make Ramen noodles look like first-rate cuisine.

Overgård’s been alone for what looks to be about a month or two. Having escaped death so far, he definitely knows how to take advantage of all tools available to him. These are probably skills he’s learned in Scouts, his training at work or both. He seems optimistic and to be holding onto hope that he’ll be found but his eyes say that his spirit is starting to fade. The weather isn’t such that he would attempt to try and walk North and possibly to safety. Instead, he’s content to stay in the valley that he’s grown accustomed to until someone comes to his rescue. He has been innovative when it comes to catching fish and out of what’s left of the body of the plane, he’s made a little home. For what that might look like, think of the film ‘Alive.’ Better yet, don’t think of that one. Hopefully, he didn’t have to eat anyone at this point.

Once you get to know Overgård, you begin to wonder what led him to this moment. What has he already endured? Why hasn’t he been found? How long has it been? Does he have someone looking for him or is it possible there’s nothing for him to go back to? All of this is left to the imagination of the viewer and one of the reasons you’ll admire the film and the performance Mikkelsen (The Three Musketeers, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) gives. What he does with little to no dialogue is a noteworthy achievement. Overgård is tough but tender. He’s intelligent and innocent. He’s every hero you can perceive him to be while at the same time he’ll have you wanting to leap onto the screen and help shoulder some of his burdens in the hopes you see him saved. That moment finally comes. He has a chance to be rescued. One day a helicopter flies over and sees him. For this, you will be gleeful.

Hold on! You didn’t think you were going to get off that easily, did you?? No way. Due to a strong draft of wind, the helicopter is forced down. After seeing him so hopeful, it’s difficult to witness Overgård so crushed. Thankfully, this doesn’t last long because his training kicks into gear and he runs to the helicopter to see if he can help. The pilot is dead, but the female co-pilot is still alive. He gets the young woman (Smáradóttir) out and to his plane where he begins to nurse her back to health. She’s so severely injured that she’s barely hanging on but as he has had to for himself, he decides to be her rock. The helicopter proves to be a treasure of goodies. He retrieves a sled to pull her and a lighter and fuel for warmth. Desperate for company and delighted with his stash, he’s now sanguine toward making it until another helicopter shows. Surely someone will be coming after her, right? The supply from the wreckage should buy him more time until that help arrives. He finds a picture his nearly comatose patient has. From this, he learns she’s a mother. As time ticks by, he begins to realize how dire the situation is for his new charge. So far, he’s been willing to brave the cold, the polar bears and possible death for himself. But through her returning to her family, he finds a new reason to fight and decides he’ll make the trek to an outpost on foot.

As he pulls her along in the snow and ice, ‘Arctic’ gets more and more intense and unforgiving. Every possible danger there is to encounter, he manages to find. His struggle to get help will have you struggling in your seat. He’s located an outpost on a map and has established how long it’ll take to get there. He chooses a certain route but when it proves impossible with his haul, he resolves to take the longer, windier and more precarious path. With what he’s being exposed to, he begins to look like death but refuses to give up. I’ll leave you to wonder what happens next. 

Don’t wait for cable to see this movie. It’s thoroughly entertaining. The big screen lends help to the mood so see this at the theatre. Sound, as well as the soundtrack, are used to influence and manipulate you. You’ll respect what writers Joe Penna and Ryan Morrison have in store for you but rejoice in the fact that they didn’t stretch ‘Arctic’ out to two full hours as most films do today. This journey is hard to watch as it is, without it being stretched to the breaking point for no reason. ‘Arctic’ is a brilliant adventure so bundle up and see it tonight.