FILMxFIVE: Movies That Make Us Kind of Glad We’re Stuck at Home
by Dana Reinoos, Grants and Special Projects Coordinator
I think I can safely speak for all of us when I say that quarantine sucks. It’s an incredible act of community for us all to stay inside in order to avoid making each other sick, but after a few months and as summer arrives, it’s rough. Thankfully, there are always movies to get us through. While some might choose to try to see the world through film, others – myself included – are more inclined to remind ourselves that sometimes it’s good to stay inside. These five films will have you glad you’re not going spelunking, on spring break, or camping with your ex any time soon.
1. The Descent
(dir. Neil Marshall | 2005 | UK)
Available to stream on Amazon Prime and Hulu
In 2005, I was in college in Minnesota, and a major horror nerd. I simply could not wait for America to get its act together and release The Descent in theaters, so I ordered an expensive Region 2 UK DVD, waited weeks for it to arrive from overseas, and put it on one late night after coming home from a party. This was a mistake, as I didn’t sleep that day at all.
The Descent is the story of Sarah, a young woman who loses her husband and young daughter in a horrific car accident. A year later, Sarah’s friends take the formerly adventurous woman on a spelunking trip in the Appalachian Mountains in order to help her get back some of her old spirit. Unfortunately, the group immediately gets trapped inside the cave (those with claustrophobia will find a lot to stress out about here), and that’s not even the worst part...
A mixture of natural disaster and monster scares, The Descent convinced me never to go cave diving, ever (not that it was really a possibility, but still).
2. The Beach
(dir. Danny Boyle | 2000 | UK)
Available to rent on multiple platforms
In Danny Boyle’s first foray into the world of blockbusters, Leonardo DiCaprio, Virginie Ledoyen and Guillaume Canet play the progenitors of today’s Instagram travel influencers, young people on vacation in Thailand as a getaway from their lives in the west. A rumor about a hidden, idyllic beach, available only by swimming (and the home of a huge cannabis forest) tempt the young people to find the island. Successful, they meet the leader (surprise Tilda Swinton!) of a community of tourists who live on the island at the largess of the Thai farmers, but they must keep to themselves. Of course, these three newcomers bring trouble to paradise.
Not only is The Beach one of Danny Boyle’s (Slumdog Millionaire, Steve Jobs, Trainspotting) first moves into Hollywood filmmaking, but it also marks the film debut of Alex Garland, who wrote the novel the film was based on; Garland would go on to direct Ex Machina and Annihilation, more movies that make you want to stay inside by yourself.
3. Spring Breakers
(dir. Harmony Korine | 2012 | USA)
Available to stream on Netflix, Kanopy and Hoopla
2012 seems like an eternity ago now: James Franco in his prime with a group of young women (including Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens, shocking at the time) on the spring break of a lifetime – that is, if you count robbing a restaurant with squirt guns while high on coke a good time. The girls fall under the spell of Franco’s Alien, a Riff Raff-inspired creep who uses their naivety and their desire to be “down” to entangle them in his war with a local drug dealer. It ends in bloodshed, tears, and a Britney Spears singalong around the piano while wearing pink ski masks.
Korine’s movie can be a chore at times – how many times can you listen to Franco drawl Spraaaang Breaaaaaaaaaaak before it’s annoying enough to turn off? - but the audacity of the casting and the neon-drenched absolute shitshow the characters find themselves in makes it worth watching, in case you missed the beach.
4. Let the Corpses Tan
(dir. Helene Cattet & Bruno Forzani | 2017 | France)
Available to stream on Amazon Prime and Kanopy
A MFF18 Cinema Hooligante selection, Let the Corpses Tan is a French neo-western, a film in the tradition of European exploitation films from the 70s, mixing violence, sex, and double-and triple-crosses with directors Cattet and Forzani’s trademark close-cuts and obsession with textures. A bloody, fascinating film, Let the Corpses Tan takes place in the idyllic south of France, with clear blue water as far as the eye can see. Elina Löwensohn plays Luce, a mysterious bohemian writer who summers on the same small island each year. This year, however, a gang who just stole 500 pounds of gold bars is looking for a place to hide, and Luce’s island is ideal
Let the Corpses Tan is anything but straightforward, but if you’re in the mood for a complex mystery with a lot of bloodshed and a dash of eroticism, give it a try. At least it will make you glad you’re not in the south of France with threatening leather-clad men all around!
5. Pet Names
(dir. Carol Brandt | 2018 | USA)
Available to stream on Amazon Prime
To end on a very different note, Milwaukee-based director Carol Brandt’s poignant MFF18 selection Pet Names is streaming online and well-worth your time if you missed it at the Festival. Leigh, a grad student who has dropped out of school to take care of her sick mother, reconnects back at home with her ex-boyfriend Cam, eventually going on an impromptu camping trip that ignites old feelings.
Pet Names is a quiet, thoughtful film, and Meredith Johnson and Rene Cruz sparkle as Leigh and Cam, two young people afloat in the world, totally unsure of what to do next. As if that’s not enough, a fat pug named Chato steals every scene he’s in as Cam’s companion. And as beautiful and touching as the film is, isn’t going on a camping trip with your ex that you still have secret feelings for the worst idea in the world? At least we won’t be able to do that this summer.
Posted by: Tom Fuchs