There are two innovative bits of cinema I've been watching over the past week. Each deserves attention as works of art, but also as pieces that authentically put women and minorities to the fore of a genre in which they have been all too often absent or exploited.
The first is Netflix's Dutch horror series, Ares. Ares follows the biracial and poor Rosa's initiation into an elite college fraternity with connections to the highest circles of Dutch society. The portrayal of the the way in which elite groups draw in their members, separate them from their families and values, make them complicit in the group's guilt, foster predatory competition, and ultimately claim to offer absolution from the corruption through radical loyalty to the group works as well for cults and political factions as it does for honors colleges and classics programs. I can't speak to how it actually portrays race and gender in Holland, but I can affirm that this is what it feels like to be an Xer or a Millennial of any privilege or standing in the current United States. Everyone is guilty, and every filthy and compromised power structure is offering a way to become clean that ends with the same old-blooded, white men and their chosen coterie of second-class token women and minorities on top.
The second is a film that deserves far greater recognition than it got: Annihilation. I can't speak to the book on which the film is based, but I can say that this is first and foremost a wonderful updating and critical intervention on H.P. Lovercraft's The Color Out of Space. As always, Natalie Portman commands respect in her performance and forces the viewer to accept her radical assertion of personhood even in the most dehumanizing and potentially exploitative moments of the film. Even more important, however, is that this is a science fiction film whose entire ensemble is composed of women in a way that feels completely natural and organic to the story. I have little contact with military culture, but I have spent some time around academics, and particularly female academics. From an outsider's view, at least, the women of the film dress, speak, and most importantly struggle in a way that perfectly matches what I've seen. This only becomes apparent, however, upon reflection and highlights what I think is the film's chief triumph. Whether it's feminism, body horror, stunning visuals, or flamboyant cinematography, everything in this movie is full-throttle and unapologetic and yet at no point does it feel inauthentic or contrived. I think that is because all the films explosive powers are united and focused toward it's unusual and unnerving theme: The Human Will to Death.
Anyhow, if you have a strong stomach and don't mind having to occasionally look away if the movie is worth it, these two films are worth your time.
The first is Netflix's Dutch horror series, Ares. Ares follows the biracial and poor Rosa's initiation into an elite college fraternity with connections to the highest circles of Dutch society. The portrayal of the the way in which elite groups draw in their members, separate them from their families and values, make them complicit in the group's guilt, foster predatory competition, and ultimately claim to offer absolution from the corruption through radical loyalty to the group works as well for cults and political factions as it does for honors colleges and classics programs. I can't speak to how it actually portrays race and gender in Holland, but I can affirm that this is what it feels like to be an Xer or a Millennial of any privilege or standing in the current United States. Everyone is guilty, and every filthy and compromised power structure is offering a way to become clean that ends with the same old-blooded, white men and their chosen coterie of second-class token women and minorities on top.
The second is a film that deserves far greater recognition than it got: Annihilation. I can't speak to the book on which the film is based, but I can say that this is first and foremost a wonderful updating and critical intervention on H.P. Lovercraft's The Color Out of Space. As always, Natalie Portman commands respect in her performance and forces the viewer to accept her radical assertion of personhood even in the most dehumanizing and potentially exploitative moments of the film. Even more important, however, is that this is a science fiction film whose entire ensemble is composed of women in a way that feels completely natural and organic to the story. I have little contact with military culture, but I have spent some time around academics, and particularly female academics. From an outsider's view, at least, the women of the film dress, speak, and most importantly struggle in a way that perfectly matches what I've seen. This only becomes apparent, however, upon reflection and highlights what I think is the film's chief triumph. Whether it's feminism, body horror, stunning visuals, or flamboyant cinematography, everything in this movie is full-throttle and unapologetic and yet at no point does it feel inauthentic or contrived. I think that is because all the films explosive powers are united and focused toward it's unusual and unnerving theme: The Human Will to Death.
Anyhow, if you have a strong stomach and don't mind having to occasionally look away if the movie is worth it, these two films are worth your time.
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