The Beguiled

Writer/Producer/Director Sophia Coppola’s The Beguiled is a beautifully shot (Cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd), beautifully designed (Production Designer Anne Ross), wonderfully costumed (Stacey Battat) drama with fine performances by Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Elle Fanning, Kirsten Dunst and Angourie Rice. 

 

However, Coppola’s story left me cold.  

Farrell, a wounded Union soldier, turns up a woman’s school on Confederate turf.  He is taken in and healed, but causes sexual tension among the young women and, ultimately, losses a leg for his actions.  And, that’s for starters.

Colin’s character had no particular interest for me, so I really didn’t care what happened to him.  And, only the youngest of the girls at the school were worth caring about either.  So, I wasn’t beguiled.

I give The Beguiled a 3 out of 5.

The Bad Batch

Writer/Director Ana Lily Amirpour’s The Bad Batch is a dystopian horror story in which society’s miscreants are branded and put into a desert zone where their stronger confreres use their body parts for food.

 

The main character, Arlen, (Suki Waterhouse) losses her right arm and lower right leg in the opening minutes and shows a lot of spirit in making it to an area called Comfort where she could have had a reasonable existence under the ruler played by Keanu Reeves. However, she opts to go back to the dark side with the head cannibal (Jason Momoa).  They take along young Honey (Jayda Fink), presumably in case they’ll eventually need a snack.

Seriously, the only thing of value in this nonsense is the work of Cinematographer Lyle Vincent, who had to work under the harshest conditions of heat, wind and sand possible.

Unless you’re into human barbecue, this is one to skip.  I give it a 2 out of 5.

The Book of Henry

Director Colin Trevorrow’s The Book of Henry is a wonderful coming-of-age story, not about the children in the film, but about a mother played by the superb Naomi Watts.

Watts plays the mother (Susan) of two sons, the precocious and brilliant Henry (Jaeden Lieberher) and the shy Peter (Jacob Tremblay).  

At age 11, Henry is the adult in the family, handling the finances and building a fortune in stocks, while the flighty Susan works as a diner waitress with her friend Sheila, brilliantly played by Sarah Silverman.

When Henry discovers that his next-door neighbor, a police chief (Dean Norris), is abusing his step-daughter (Maddie Ziegler), he devises a plan to save the young girl.

Writer Gregg Hurwitz has written an excellent script and Editor Kevin Stitt has done a super job of stringing together Cinematographer John Schwartzman’s images.

I give The Book of Henry a 4.5 out of 5.