Since it’s Halloween, I thought I would want to watch something on the ‘scary’ side. To be honest, I probably am not the best person to be writing about these films, as the genre just isn’t for me. It just doesn’t interest me, and as much as there’s a lot of things happening on screen when I watch them, I just get bored.
But I wanted to watch ‘The Witches’ because of Anne Hathaway, as I am always fascinated by her work. And she is fantastic here in this film. As The Grand High Witch, Hathaway is absolute perfection. She has crafted a real character, with a wardrobe to die for, and an accent that is post Melania Trump. She preens and coos and she is scary, but of course, as great as the character is, it’s all costumes and CGI to me. There real isn’t much humanity in there, but then why am I looking for some?
The plot is pretty standard witch fare. The first half of it worked better for me, as there was actual narrative. Th second half struggled to keep my attention, as it was more of the same – all soaring musical score and special effects. As I said, this is just not for me, and I surprised I was able to hang in that long
Julius Onah’s ‘Luce’ was adapted from a play by J.C. Lee, who also co-wrote the screenplay. The material is a powerful piece – one that makes you examine each of these characters closely – people are complex, you see, and people can be both be devil and angel. The film centers around Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr) who is a star student (Debate team, football hero, honors) who isn’t quite who he appears to be. Or does he? Complications abound whenhe submits an assignment to his teacher (Octavia Spencer) praising Frantz Fanon, who advocates using violence as necessary retribution. She has his locker searched and finds illegal fireworks there.
How does one fall in love with a fish? Elegantly, it seems. A lot of people have described ‘The Shape Of Water’ as poetic, and I do agree that it is the best word to describe Guillermo del Toro’s film. It stars Sally Hawkins as Elisa, who works as a janitress in some kind of scientific facility (something called OCCAM) Elisa lives a relatively normal life, hanging out with her next-door neighbor, watching old movies at the movie theater below her apartment, reenacting foot choreography from old musicals. There is a real old-fashioned wonderment in her existence, as she weaves her days in and out with her friend Zelda, played by Octavia Spencer (in a role she can do in her sleep)
Until one day a ‘creature’ arrives in said factory, and she gets attracted to it. There’s a subplot involving Americans and Russians fighting for said creature, and there are forces who fight to save the creature. And there’s a love story in the midst of this all. I was less interested in the former than the latter, and for me, the film is at its best when exploring the love angle of the two. the former plot line seems rote, while there is a a lot of humanity in seeing two elements falling in love. For sure, a lot of people would think that the love story would seem odd (A lot of people have described the film as weird) but for me, stories about love – in all forms and shapes, even water – towers above all.
It is not surprising that ‘Hidden Figures’ has been the Number One movie for the past two weeks, and is 2017’s first big box office hit. This movie tells three beautiful stories that make you feel good. Add to that three outstanding performances and really, it’s a surefire formula for success.
Luha Thoughts 