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6/10
It's no tango...
9 July 2012
Margot (Michelle Williams) is a writer for travel and amusement brochures. She meets Daniel (Luke Kirby) at a medieval-era recreation site. There is sexual tension from the start as he encourages her to whip (harder!) a shackled "prisoner" at a staged public humiliation.

As fate (or, the screenplay) would have it, they share an airplane row, a taxi cab, and a street address back home in Toronto. It's not until the moment their cab reaches her house that the flirting ends and Margot informs Daniel, suddenly and reluctantly, of her 5 year matrimony to Lou (Seth Rogen). As she watches him enter his house (literally across the street) she lets out a deep sigh. She can see the whole story to come, and knows how it will end.

Because, that is just the type of person Margot is. Devoid of any direction, dependent on sex-as-self esteem, and unconcerned with the lives and needs of others around her. We can all be like that, sometimes, however.

Her relationship with Lou is chummy. They play pranks on each other, wrestle, and express love with statements of hyperbolic violence ("I just got a new melon-baller and want to gouge your eyes out"). She wants passionate sex free of baby-talk, but he seems uninterested or unable. They're very settled in. He writes cook books and has mouthwatering chicken dishes in the oven every night. He's a decent man, treats her great and obviously loves her.

She makes a point of seeing Daniel, who paints well and pulls a rickshaw for money (judging by his apartment, he apparently makes an absolute killing) She starts leaving the house at the same time he does. He appears at her pool aerobics. They end up at a bar. He talks dirty to her. She's into it, but always leaves suddenly before anything physical can occur. She can't cheat. At least, not while she and Lou are together. She'll see what she can do about that.

Michele Williams is a superb actress. Some deep emotions and sticky themes manage to creep up from the shallow surface, but overall the tone is overly serious, petty and slight, much like the character of Margot herself.
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First Winter (2012)
6/10
Hipster fever dream (sex, drugs and yoga)
30 April 2012
More cinematic hipster fever dream than apocalyptic thriller, First Winter (which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival) concerns a group of young city dwellers who retreat to an isolated country house to do (lots of) drugs, practice yoga, and have (lots of) sex. They suddenly find themselves without power after a humongous cloud black smoke appears on the horizon.

We take the film's word that getting back into town would be impossible (as it spends little time convincing us) and the characters food supply slowly disappears.

Current trends concern themselves predominately with "natural" and "sustainable" lifestyles. This film thrusts it's characters into a situation where they have to use these beliefs to survive. It doesn't shy from exposing the hypocrisy and shallowness of it's characters, either.

The film is beautifully shot, and contains some particularly captivating tracking shots and a mostly diegetic soundtrack. It also takes some unexpected plot turns, has some nice bits of humor, and contains an attractive mix of non-actors and trained.
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