The Dog Stars, One Night Only and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

 

There were mixed reviews for The Dog Stars, but I was sold on the combination of the director Ridley Scott movie and the appearance of one of my favourite actresses, Margaret Qualley. She is always great, but here she has very little to do. I'm never sure about the lead actor, Jacob Elordi, but then I could not think of a better actor to play a working-class hero. I had avoided knowing anything about the story, so I was surprised it turned out to be almost a zombie film. Here it's the survivors of a natural disaster who go wild. So it was the scenes that involved the main cast as survivors trying to exist that were the best. 

I liked the introduction to the movie as we follow Elordi through a deserted landscape and the township of Denver, a city gone to ruin. No dialogue, and for me, the best part of the film. Very, very different to what came out of the blue in that big set piece ending. The light and colour of Grand Junction assaulted the senses, so different from the earlier scenes. One review said, "It launches itself off the rails for twenty minutes." A huge contrast to the scenes of Colorado from the air in the Cessna. But it is disappointing when the landscape is better than the story and the script. 

I was pleased to see that I agreed with so much in the review in the Sunday Times. But then it was written by Jake Helm and not Tom Shone. But it was surprising that there is no review in Sight and Sound.

A wonderful New York setting for One Night Only lots of nice shots of the city in the day and night. Especially at the end, a big musical and dance number by the Little Red Lighthouse beneath George Washington Bridge. 

Callum Turner plays the owner of a pizza establishment, and Monica Barbaro is a singer. When she is forced to sing in front of a crowd, her initial reluctance turns into something special. Especially since the song is Yazoo's "Only You". Brilliant. While we were on the songs, I was knocked out when we heard Air Supply's "I'm all out of love". This was Alison's favourite band, having seen them twice in New Zealand.

This type of romantic comedy relies so much on the writing. Here it was first class; we were never bored. Written by Travis Braun and directed by Will Gluck, I liked how we see the main characters in alternate scenes and how they are going about that one night in the year. It's only in the second half their paths cross. And typical of the genre, they do not get on well. Doing everything not to be together. I liked how we followed their attempts to get together with those highly unsuitable partners. There are some great set pieces. 

The reviews were again quite mixed. Simran Hans in the Sunday Times Culture only gave it two stars. I thought it was far better, especially the writing that was punchy and smart. Again, a mainstream movie that is not reviewed in Sight and Sound. There were few in the cinema, especially as it was a wet bank holiday afternoon. Just a last note on the wonderful cinematography, enhanced by that 2.39.1 aspect ratio: an anamorphic widescreen format. It just looked brilliant. Go to CN Traveller for: https://www.cntraveller.com/article/a-new-yorkers-guide-to-the-pizza-places-bodegas-and-night-clubs-in-one-night-only.

 

I'm writing these notes having made sure I saw Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Marisma before reading the dedicated twelve pages (and front cover) in this month's Sight and Sound Magazine. The lead article was the main reason why I searched out (with difficulty) a showing locally. The film, though pretty gory, is actually a parody on the video nasties of the previous decades. So never to be taken seriously. Some of the special effects are gruesome, but the way it's filmed, it just seems ridiculous rather than anything else. There is all that stupid blood splatter from those rubbish movies of yesteryear, but when they are staged against poorly arranged scenery, they all just seem stupid. 

It's basically a two-person show. Hannah Einbinder plays Kris, who is hired to develop and direct "a lucrative origin story reboot of Camp Marisma". This is the fictional franchise of Camp Marisma that has spawned many sequels as they become more and more violent. (Thank goodness we never see these). It's Kris's dream job, as she is an obsessive of all the films in the series. Gillian Anderson plays Billy Presley, the young star of the original film that did so well. Yes, the original Final Girl, but now is far, far weirder. She had turned down parts in the sequels and then was forgotten. Here she is, forty years older, hanging out (is it her home?) at the deserted original set. 

When the two meet, we are in the best part of the film as they get to know each other. And what do they do? Billy digs out an old VHS copy of the original Camp Marisma that they (and we) settle down to watch. Kris has seen this many times in the past, but somehow this time she finds it troublesome. As one critic put it, "Collapsing the distinction between real and unreal." 

Peter Bradshaw, in his five-star review in The Guardian, said, "Gillian Anderson pulls off the trick of inventing an imaginary media phenomenon and treating it with complete seriousness". Then Blake Simons in Sight and Sound Magazine from two months ago said, "A film fit to burst with interplays and entanglements." And then about Billy: "a southern drawl and Schygulla-esque glamour". Whatever that is. And finally, it's "about more than a slasher film fandom"; Schoenbrun "wants us to get out of our heads and enjoy the ride"... "a whole world of visual pleasure and cinematic possibility". 

Yes, it's all quite bonkers, although it's a shame many critics were far less impressed. Me? I thought it was interesting, captivating and impressive, especially the two leads. It did make a huge impression and is quite unforgettable. Yes, it's erratic and messy, but is that deliberate?

A last note about the songs (as usual). Sade's "No Ordinary Love" used to be played and played in our house years ago. There is an instrumental version of The Temptations' "Just My Imagination" by Mark Maxwell and other tracks from Donna Lewis, R.E.M. and Counting Crows.