The Eternals (2021) Review

Title: The Eternals
Year: 2021

Director: Chloe Zhao
Country: US
Language: English

When I saw the North American premiere of Chloe Zhao's Nomadland at Toronto International Film Festival 2020 I knew we had a new masterful filmmaker in the world of cinema. I told everybody I came across that Nomadland would win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and many months later my prediction came true.  She was so impressive that Disney decided to hire her for their epic film The Eternals. This was an outstanding feature as well. 

An unexpected tragedy forces the Eternals, ancient aliens who have been living on Earth in secret for thousands of years, out of the shadows to reunite against mankind's most ancient enemy, the Deviants.

In terns of representation, The Eternals delivers. Chloe Zhao made a film that represents women, poc & disabled people in a way that isn't demeaning or preachy. MCU has had trouble in the past with this;  the recent Shang Chi had an oddly racist joke about how bad Asian women drivers are perceived to be. I specifically loved the deaf character, Makkari (Lauden Ridloff), as her disability isn't made a plot point or "weakness" or "strength" (like Forrest Gump) or tie into her character at all, it's just part of her. I also love that the other characters adjust to her & she isn't made to compensate for them. This is refreshing to see in a big budget movie. 

The story is epic in scope, complimented by a remarkable score by Ramin Djawadi. The cinematography is often breathtaking; Chloe Zhao's masterful eye for cinematography means we get to see beautiful on-location landscapes that are often full of lush forests & foreboding mountains. This is a welcome change compared to Marvel's typical CGI soundstages. The Eternals' pacing is far slower than the typical MCU flick & this not only allows for such a rich story to unfold, but also for the characters to breathe & develop, 

The Eternals is not well liked among critics and MCU fans at this moment, likely because its style, tone and pacing is very different from the typical superhero flick. I see things differently & consider this to be the best Marvel picture I've seen so far. I absolutely love the director and I hope to see more of her films in the future. 

Noirvember #1: Night and the City (1950)

Title: Night and the City
Year: 1950
Director: Jules Dassin
Country: UK
Language: English

Director Jules Dassin knew he was about to be blacklisted in Hollywood due to the House of Un-American Activities Committee anti-communist witch hunts at the time, so he fled to London, where he made Night and the City (1950) for Twentieth Century Fox. I first saw this film 11 years ago for Michael Boyce's International Cinema class and I'm revisiting it now due to the commencement of Noirvember. Is the film as good as I remember it? 

A small-time grifter  and nightclub tout named Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark)  takes advantage of some fortuitous circumstances and tries to become a big-time player as a wrestling promoter.

Fabian, played as a slime ball by Widmark, is the classic film noir character; a tragic antihero that is doomed from the outset, driven by an ever increasing desire to get ahead in life. Dassin’s cinematographer Max Greene emphasizes the character's increasingly hopeless situation by shooting in claustrophobic dive bars & inescapable alleyways. 

Night and the City transforms a familiar London setting into an unseemly environment that perpetuates an atmosphere of dread. It's a sordid, alternate backdrop that easily reminds one of another great noir in The Third Man. Dassin's use of shadow and documentary-like realism made admirers of even his harshest critics. Love the story or not, one cannot deny its technical merit. 

Dassin's masterpiece is a film that improves with every viewing. Night and the City is a substantial creative achievement that deserves to be studied in every University that has a film studies major.