What We Do In the Shadows (2014) Review

Title: What We Do in the Shadows 
Year: 2014
Director: Taika Waititi
Country: New Zealand
Language: English

Taika Waititi is a New Zealand film-maker with a tremendous amount of talent. Best known for directing one of my favourite superhero films; Thor: Ragnarok, he has also made the highest grossing kiwi film Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Academy Award Nominated Two Cars, One Night (2004)  and TIFF People's Choice Award Winner Jo Jo Rabbit (2019) Tonight I watched quite a unique horror-comedy from him called What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Follow the lives of Viago (Taika Waititi), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Vladislav (Jemaine Clement) - three flatmates who are just trying to get by and overcome life's obstacles-like being immortal vampires who must feast on human blood.

What We Do in the Shadows (2014) was such a critical success that an American version has been adapted as a television series for Fox. The show has been renewed for a second season in 2020. Waititi's film takes an overexposed sub-genre (vampire) gives it a hack format (MTV-like documentary) and turns it into comedy gold. The absurdity of their situation mixes well with slapstick, though the film would never have worked without all the actors playing their part like they're in a serious melo-drama. Every arguement, no matter how dumb, is played convincingly. 

The writing is brilliant- exploiting every monsters-of-the-night scenario - and dissecting every little vampire trope to its fullest extent. Vampires can only go into places if you ask them to come in? Sucks if you have to go into a bar. Vampires can stay the same age forever? Sucks if you were bitten when you were 12. "Going to lure some perverts tonight are we?" 

What We Do in the Shadows is great because it treads a fine line between comedy and horror. Its dark humour has no limits, though thankfully it doesn't try to find out as the film is fairly short. In addition to fine acting and a great script, the technical effects and production design are quite equisite. Though the subject matter is quite silly, the atmosphere of realism gives the film quite a lot of credibility. 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) Review

Title: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Year: 2019
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Country: US
Language: English

1969 was an intriguing year in the American landscape. The "Classic" Era of Hollywood has met its maker with the abominable Paint Your Wagon  whereas the fresh "New Hollywood" cinema was hitting new heights with Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider. The political strife of the time was met with a unique hippy counter culture that preached harmony and free love. Tarantino's vision captures all this nostalgia with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (1969). 

TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. Meanwhile Sharon Tate seeks to become a star & the Manson family grows in numbers. 

Tarantino's film is not without controversy; many feel like Bruce Lee's legacy was made a mockery of, that there's too much violence against women, and that the "twist" in the story is disrespectful to history.

In regards to Bruce Lee, I like that Tarantino took the air out of Lee's mystique. Lee has always been seen as an undefeatable hero who never handled any hardship. This film portrays the actor with an immense amount of humanity. We finally aren't pretending like he wasn't an outsider that didn't encounter racism in the Hollywood system. If Tarantino disrespected anything about Lee, it was his carefully constructed myth.

I like how Tarantino takes the air out of the Manson family's mystique as well. There are far too many documentaries that portray Manson as some sort of cunning crazed genius. In this film they're just gross hippies who dupe blind men. The violence against women, even though in real life they did kill a pregnant woman, is unsettling, but this moral ambiguity in regards to violence was certainly faithful for the setting. Watch Bonnie and Clyde (1967) or Wild Bunch (1969) for further proof. 

The "twist" in the story is meant to be a satire of classic Hollywood, wherin the Hays Code demanded a "happy ending" where the bad guy had his commupance. The "Once Upon a Time" in the title is not just there to look cute. I enjoy that Tarantino removed Tate from the horrific crime and allows Margot Robbie to play a person rather than a victim. Tate's legacy is intertwined with the Manson Family legacy (did anybody remember that she was an actress??) ...this film separates them. 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) is a fascinating film that defies history (since when is ANY Hollywood film historically accutate?) in attempt to deconstruct myths, humanize pop culture icons and take us back to when Cinema was great.