Babygirl, A Complete Unknown and The Room Next Door

 

She's far too thin. But Nicole Kidman is up for the role in this unrealistic relationship with a younger man. But she does make fun of herself with her character having Botox. And her outfits are something else. But as she is actually fifty seven and husband Antonio Banderas is sixty four, how come their children are just teenagers?  Young English actor Harris Dickinson gets a lot of positive reviews, but I always find him trying too hard. But as the object of Nicole's affection, that might be just right in a film that is the opposite of erotic. 

But Babygirl is far too long, twenty minutes could easily have been cut. But the songs are really good (except that one in the club that I found dreadful). There was the odd scene that reminded me of other movies like this one, particularly when Nicole arrives home to find her new young lover there enjoying a time with her husband and children. Tom Shone in his four star review in the

 Sunday Times tells us she is "cementing her status as Hollywood's boldest actress". He also thought "the film is served by it's actors sense of humour". Where was that? 

Jessica Kiang in Winter 2024-25 Sight and Sound Magazine talks about "the geometrics of desire are complicated by the power imbalance" between the two, but I found that the workplace dynamic was sacrificed for long, mostly awkward, scenes between them both. But good on Kidman for taking on this film, I guess that no other actress could have given it that seedy and silly performance.

Wow, so many songs, A Complete Unknown is more like a succession of music videos, but no less poorer for that. Because the story is familiar and not that interesting. So just a series of relationships and those songs, twenty three in all if you include those from Monica Barbaro's Joan Baez (deserves the Oscar) and a couple from Boyd Holbrook's Johnny Cash.( I used to own an e.p. of his). All listed on the internet. So many brought back memories for me. But of course it's Timothee Chalamet's Bob Dylan that sings the rest. And he is excellent. The most memorable scene for me typified the character. Later in the film he arrives unannounced at Joan's apartment and she finds him, in the middle of the night composing a new song on his guitar. Bang goes that relationship. Again.

Amazingly, these are Bob's mainly teenage years. From his first recordings of classic folk to suddenly in the studio recording his own material for the breakthrough album Freewheelin'. (No sign of him composing these or where?) Then onto his performances at Newport Folk Festival and the trappings of fame. The film pulls no punches in what an awful person he was, terrible to his girlfriends and only obsessed with his next song. 

The finale is a kind of twist on history, with Bob going electric at Newport. Nothing about how he always played his acoustic folk in the first half that was a feature going through to 1966, well after the film finishes. This was true for his performances in Manchester and London. It was at one of these that the infamous "Judas" came about and not at Newport. In fact I may have seen one of those concerts in May 1966 on an old black and white TV we had in our attic flat. It is a vague memory, but Bob was playing acoustic then. (I just wish I could remember when, at nineteen, someone took me to their friend's house where two young guys played fantastic acoustic guitars. Perhaps they became famous?)

I agreed with Tom Shone's five star review in the Sunday Times where he refers to Bob as "poet, prophet, trickster, troubadour, seer, jerk". (Especially the last). He, like me, thought that Chalamet was terrific as the surly Dylan. But not someone you could call a friend. 

I have seen most of Pedro Almodovar's films (or as the introductory title called him just "Almodovar"). Whether at the cinema or on DVD, (see reviews on this blog) they have all been in Spanish, except this new movie is his first in English. It stars two of cinemas great ladies in Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Basically a two hander that is very much theatrical and based upon the book by Sigrid Nunez and adapted by the director. The early scenes with Swinton going through chemo are quite intense and I was glad of the odd flashback.

However the second half of the film is based at this gloriously modern isolated villa Swinton hires for her ending. The brutalist Casa Szoke in Spain stands in for an upstate New York mansion. Typically high design from the director's team. Although they have not seen each other for a long time, Moore is surprised that Swinton wants her to join her there. She has doubts, especially as others closer to her friend turned her down. She should have known. I guess it's only because they have a mutual friend played by an excellent John Turturro. It's not actually assisted dyeing as Swinton wants Moore to not know about it, just be around. Even if her room is a floor down and not next door. 

Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian says it's " a dreamlike curation of people and places not entirely realistic". But very "Almodovarian". Nicolas Rapold in November's Sight and Sound called it "a nuanced meditation on mortality and friendship". I totally agree.

I included this note from the article in October's Sight and Sound Magazine:

Any new film from Pedro Almodóvar (now 75) would be of interest to me, but this one is his very first in English. The Room Next Door stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. Maria Delgado tells us that it is "an unsentimental melodrama" where most of the film is given over to these two marvellous actors talking about life. So "rooted in dialogue". She talks to the director and there are a couple of lovely stills from the movie.