Newsletter: Indie Focus: Late-summer delights with ‘The Intervention,’ ‘Don’t Breathe’ and ‘Southside With You’
Hello! I’m Mark Olsen, and welcome to your weekly field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.
The drumbeat of fall movies, and awards season behind it, is upon us. As my colleagues and I prepare to head north for the Toronto International Film Festival in early September, with festivals in Venice and Telluride preceding us, we’re already seeing movies that have that prestige sheen to them and feeling the turnover.
But there are still plenty of movies coming out now, too, and good ones at that.
This past week we had an unexpectedly emotional Q&A with John Krasinski for “The Hollars,” which he directed and stars in. He spoke about the importance of the values of family both within the movie and to him personally. Plus, no surprise, he’s funny and charming, so it was a great night. Check events.latimes.com for more info about upcoming events.
‘The Intervention’
Actress Clea DuVall makes her debut as writer and director with “The Intervention,” a funny, earnest examination of the hard work of being in a couple and also the ease with which so many of us judge others rather than taking a real look at ourselves. It has a sparkling ensemble, which includes DuVall herself, alongside Melanie Lynskey, Cobie Smulders, Ben Schwartz, Jason Ritter, Natasha Lyonne and Vincent Piazza.
In his review for The Times, Robert Abele said, “In the case of actress Clea DuVall’s debut as writer-director, a four-couple stew called ‘The Intervention,’ there’s little in the way of relationship mishigas you haven’t seen before. But as an unfussy, dryly amusing and sincere look at men and women pondering emotional pivots in their lives, it’s plenty likable.”
In the L.A. Weekly, April Wolfe likewise noted, “It’s rare for films to capture what it’s like for a relationship to come to the brink, and then miraculously adapt to a new way of being, sometimes better than it was before, and other times just different. ‘The Intervention’ may not redefine the genre, but it’s a solid addition.”
I spoke to DuVall, Lynskey, Smulders and most of the rest of the cast. The process of making the movie actually made DuVall do a bit of self-examination.
“I definitely have become less judge-y, and I definitely have become more aware when I start to go in that direction,” she said. “To kind of pull back and look at people from a place of compassion and understanding and being in their shoes. Most of the time we can relate to other people if we try.”
‘Don’t Breathe’
As the follow-up to his debut feature, his version of the cult horror classic “Evil Dead,” filmmaker Fede Alvarez has crafted a horror-thriller deceptive in its simplicity and somewhat devious in its ability to reorient its storytelling to keep audiences off-balance. The new “Don’t Breathe” is a heist picture and home invasion story in which the thieves get more than they came looking for.
I spoke to Alvarez and Sam Raimi, a producer on the new film, about crafting a modern horror-thriller.
“What I love with horror is that it has that power, even with a small budget and simplicity,” said Alvarez. “It can take you to a level of emotion, a feeling that is so strong it gets people jumping in their seats, covering their eyes. They think they are threatened physically even though they know it’s a movie and nothing is going to happen. So I put audiences through very strong emotions, and I earn their money.”
And a special sidebar with horror recommendations from Raimi.
In his review for The Times, Justin Chang said, “The revelations at the heart of ‘Don’t Breathe’ are lurid and ludicrous in the extreme, but they’re also almost incidental — a quick, resourceful means of sustaining a lethal game of cat-and-mouse between predator and prey, and between filmmaker and audience.”
At MTV, Amy Nicholson said, “There’s one scene that crosses the line from visceral to crass, which cheapens the film. Otherwise, ‘Don’t Breathe’ is a small delight, like stumbling across a shiny silver dollar. Alvarez knows the size of his ambitions. He’s written one great ghoul, surrounded him with targets, and simply let him let rip.”
At Time, Stephanie Zacharek wrote, “Horror is pretty much the last refuge of filmmakers who want to practice old-time movie artistry in the style of Brian De Palma or David Cronenberg — in other words, using the camera to tell much of the story — while also reaching a wide, mainstream audience. “
‘Southside With You’
Writer-director Richard Tanne creates a fictionalized version of the 1989 first date between Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson, who would, of course, eventually marry and go on to become President and First lady of these United States. Much has already been written about that fateful date, that they went to see “Do The Right Thing” and ate ice cream, but “Southside With You” humanizes the moment and fills in some gaps.
In his review for The Times, Kenneth Turan said, “It can’t be ignored that this is a film that benefits from the audience knowing more than the characters twice over. We are not only aware that Michelle and Barack will end up together, we know that when Michelle tells him ‘you definitely have a knack for making speeches,’ it’s a broad hint of great things to come.”
In the Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips wrote, “Chronicling the first date of Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson on a day and an evening in the summer of 1989, the movie finds its rhythm as the date progresses. The actors, Tika Sumpter as Michelle and Parker Sawyers as the Sidley Austin Chicago law firm’s summer associate, act less and less and simply become who they’re playing, without undue emphasis on impersonation.”
In the New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote, “Mr. Tanne has clearly made a close study of his real-life inspirations, yet his movie is soon hostage to the couple’s history. His characters feel on loan and, despite his actors, eventually make for dull company because too many lines and details serve the great-man-to-be story rather than the romance.”
For The Times, Tre’vell Anderson spoke to the team behind the movie.
“When it first came out that we were doing the movie, it was kind of under the radar. It was like, ‘That could be cute,’” Sumpter said. “But I know how much especially black people love the Obamas, and especially Michelle Obama. So I knew that I had to get it right.”
‘The Hollars’
From a screenplay by Jim Strouse, with “The Hollars” John Krasinski has directed a warm comedy about family that shifts gears into being a warm drama about family before you know it. With an affecting performance by Margo Martindale, alongside Krasinski, Sharlto Copley and Richard C. Jenkins, the story shows a family refinding its center amid a health crisis.
In his review for The Times, Gary Goldstein said, “It’s tough to dislike ‘The Hollars,’ which is something director-star John Krasinski and writer Jim Strouse work overtime to ensure … Strouse’s deft script and Krasinki’s game direction upend a host of familiar moments in ways that are fresh and unexpected — if sometimes overly broad. The terrific cast doesn’t hurt.”
In the New York Times, Neil Genzlinger said, “Too much happens too quickly in ‘The Hollars’ for the story to be credible, but the film has some likable qualities, among them the fun of seeing actors in unexpected roles.”
Email me if you have questions, comments or suggestions, and follow me on Twitter @IndieFocus.
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