The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid in theaters
The Little Mermaid is more enjoyable than Disney’s “live action” Lion King remake — due to having actual human and humanoid characters to break the weird uncanny valley of nonstop CGI animals, as well as a vibe that does read more fairy tale than baroque nature documentary. This is a collection of different emotional responses that aims to keep grandeur and accessibility in a weird balancing act. It doesn’t replace its 1989 animated precursor (there’s simply no way it could), but it accompanies it, engaging in a dialogue about how our perceptions of classic fairy tales evolve over time. The 1989 version was also a very different animal from the original Hans Christian Andersen story, so there’s a history for changing perspectives. Halle Bailey as Ariel is a superb choice, with an expressive voice and a commitment to the role, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula puts her ankles into it, showing proper respect to both Pat Carroll’s original take on the character and the late Divine’s inspiration of the character. (Though if you’ve seen Ts Madison’s version of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” online or Lizzo’s audition tape, you are certainly allowed to trip out on those possibilities, because all three women do impeccable work.)
There’s some disconnect between the human performers and the “realistic” CG critters with human voices. (Flounder in this film is kind of off-putting from a design perspective.) Also, seagulls can’t breathe underwater (though whoever recognized that Awkwafina kind of is the Buddy Hackett of the 2020s deserves a raise of some sort). And if we’re addressing the big issues, Jonah Hauer-King’s Prince Eric doesn’t get to make that much of an impression. And there’s the whole fact that these live-action remakes are a means of extending copyright and also screwing over the initial screenwriters. But considering what a mess the 2019 Lion King shook out as, this is a pleasant enough and strange endeavor. Excising “Les Poissons,” however, is some bullshit.
Love to Love You, Donna Summer streaming on Max
Blessed with an abundance of primary-source footage shot by icon/disco diva/cautionary tale/former Nashvillian Donna Summer, this documentary is revelatory and unconventional. Even when the audio is in talking-head structuralist mode, we’re seeing so much that is new (to us), giving us ongoing contexts in the life of a performer who approached every song as an actress, creating new points of reference with each chorus and not letting us see any further. Summer’s daughter Brooklyn Sudano is co-director, and we are able to see so many of these moments in which Donna Summer was simply allowed to be, and it’s never less than fascinating. Yes, Love to Love You, Donna Summer addresses the controversy that ultimately crippled her career with the queer community (and honestly could have gone further with it — The 700 Club would show Summer off like a trophy during her later years), and no, there’s not enough Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte. (Summer co-wrote all of her 1975-1980 hits with them.) But anyone looking to the legacy of Donna Summer and the possibilities of what disco could become should watch this immediately.
The Yellow Night streaming on Tubi
Every year, there are a lot of film festival finds that never make it past that stage, living in the ephemeral spaces of viewers who just happened to catch something at the right time. The MVP of the 2020 Chattanooga Film Festival, The Yellow Night is an exquisite Brazilian nightmare that vibes like a collision between April Fool’s Day and Last Year at Marienbad — taking a bunch of city teens to a remote island family estate where scientific experimentation and preternatural geography have unlocked … something. Perhaps it’s the vibe of those early pandemic days of porous cosmic boundaries, or maybe just the weird shifts in the way this story unfolds, but this is one of the great horror films of the decade. (Four words: abandoned water park timeslip.) Director/co-writer Ramon Porto Mota is one to keep an eye on, equally versed in unspeakable scientific schisms and what the Pet Shop Boys called total teenage destruction. Someone at Tubi is doing The Work in making sure this film is seeable.
Malum now available via video on demand
Writer-director Anthony DiBlasi reworks his remarkable 2014 thriller Last Shift into something bigger but also much less effective. Riffing on Assault on Precinct 13, Malum finds a young second-generation policewoman helping decommission a police station and uncovering some unfortunate history involving a raid on a cult compound and some questionable ethics. Malum has more money and some exceptional gore (respect to Sierra and Josh Russell), and its mysterious cult leader is exponentially more effective than the sub-Manson version of King Paimon we encounter in the first one. But Last Shift has genuine menace and fear in it (and it’s a great way to study creating tension in the frame), making subsequent viewings all the more rewarding. That said, DiBlasi’s work is always worth checking out.
The Hole in the Fence via video on demand
Expertly made and infuriating to such an extent that you may want to walk out of your own living room, this Mexican drama takes a Lord of the Flies scenario and blends it with Pasolinian moral triage and unfettered Haneke cruelty. An annual church-affiliated retreat for the children of the elite reveals itself as the way by which power meticulously eliminates empathy and kindness out of younger generations, and it’s as bleak and viscerally unpleasant as you might imagine. Though fictional, no aspect of Joaquin del Paso and co-writer Lucy Pawlak’s film feels outside the realm of possibility, and if nothing else, it will leave parents rightfully suspicious of the rich and the church.
Fast X in theaters
Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes is the best gay villain since Taylor Negron’s Mister Milo in 1991’s The Last Boy Scout. Sadly, no Rita Moreno/Helen Mirren girlfight. Yet.
