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kate_klarwill
Reviews
Feud (2017)
Best opening sequence I've ever seen
Reminiscent immediately of the opener for Catch Me If You Can, this sequence kicks it right out of the park.
The set design is fantastic. And it just keeps on giving from there.
The costumes are fabulous. The blue/green ensemble Joan wears to her first day on set is breath taking. The scarlet cape + shift dress and ruby brooch with black pillbox hat outfit is really wanting a chapter of praise all to itself as is the Dior black gown Bette wore to dinner with Hedda.
The biggest disappointment is that it's taken me two years to discover this.
Gifted (2017)
Warm, brilliant, funny and heart wrenching
Having never seen any of the cast on film previously bar the extremely talented Octavia Spencer and Jenny Slate (who I love for her straightforwardness in every role) I was deeply impressed with the cast.
When all of the central characters are properly cast (that is, for their fit and gift rather than as a draw card for the studio) magic happens. This magic translates beyond the script, beyond the set, beyond the costumes and carries the story beyond the screen - in this case straight to my heart.
A simple yet complex story that carefully considers gifted children and what this means for them. Tom Flynn has delivered this perspective with insight, sensitivity and joy in equal parts. McKenna Grace was a perfect choice for Mary.
I fell in love with Mary in the opening sequence - you know those first five minutes when you know you're in a for a real treat, or the creeping realisation that whatever it is you're watching is a cast off from the Hallmark Slush pile. Gifted, in my highly unqualified opinion is most certainly the former.
It has it all: Humour, bullying, narcissism, class division, family law, the traditional concept of money equaling power, educational institutions stoked by the coals of smouldering egos and the most important point - gifted children are not freaks. While their gift may seem freakish - we need to be careful to nurture them as children, and to regard them as children with a gift, and not primarily as gifted.
Can highly recommend.
Breath (2017)
Warm and complex but...
Watched this last night and I will probably watch it again. Simon Baker adds a heartily complex layer to the thread of the plot. He is simultaneously likeable yet lost in grief and saltily true to himself. Pikelet is brilliantly cast as is Loonie. Pikelet triumphs as loveable rascal with extraordinary thirst for adrenaline and Loonie is perfectly matched as the best mate whose quiet truth, respect and innocence shine through immediately. And yet.
And yet the story unfurled so beautifully from the beginning, with no over-play of the plot but why the race to the finish? I needed a better ending. Not necessarily a happier one, just similar depth and connection to the conclusion as I had experienced up until the last ten minutes of the story.
Beautiful cinematography. Gorgeously shot. Great tension from moment to moment.