Loss, Later Life & Love: A Few Vague Movie Reviews

Demolition (2015) 

This is a movie about grief. A specific kind of deep, engulfing grief. 

Dialogue and plot are dispensed precisely. Characters' motivations or backstories are typically explained in a sentence or two. Many scenes are sequences of shots that provide a feeling, or a mood, or an ambiance, but what exactly is being expressed is up for interpretation. This creates a dream-like feeling. Or perhaps maybe a fugue. Time is passing but nothing is happening. 

Characters act in ways that people could, but don't.  They get too personal too fast and cross boundaries. They strain relationships right to the edge of their breaking points, and then, with a fairly simple gesture, seem to repair them. It keeps the movie interesting. At one point the main character (played by soft-eyed, big-browed Jakey Gyllenhaal), teaches a middle schooler how to shoot a handgun using himself (in a bullet-proof vest) as the target. He also writes a long letter about his dead wife to the customer service department of a vending machine company, which is actually how he ends up meeting the middle schooler. Eventually, there is a spectacular scene of a house being destroyed that made me google what year Rage Rooms became popular. 

When does this movie take place? I'm not totally sure. Probably in the early 2010s, but somehow it feels simultaneously recent and antiquated. Jakey owns a touchscreen cellphone, but also a home phone with an answering machine. An answering machine that people actually leave messages on. This is a post-9/11 world, but not that far post. People still get physical magazines sent to their actual homes. Chorded headphones are popular. You can be gay, but you will be punished for it. 

The ending was a little disappointing. It had really strong visuals that were undercut by an over-simplistic voiceover that wasn't needed to get the point across. And before that, there is a "touching" tribute to the dead wife, except we don't actually know anything about her as a person (to be fair, neither does Jakey's character, he tells us this) so the scene has the same emotional weight as watching an ad for a generic prescription medication. Listen, I don't mean to be harsh. But so much of this film operated in the less is more realm and I wish the ending had too. 

So, should you watch this movie? Do you like stories about people making U-turns with their lives? Do you want to watch someone let grief destroy and then rebuild them? Do many minutes of out-of-focus, or off-center, or reversed scenes appeal to you? Do you want to watch a movie that is saying something really true but also really undefined about grief? Well, then... maybe? 

Thelma (2024)

Is this movie a little mean to old people? Sometimes. Is it the funniest movie I’ve seen all year? Yes! ( I rarely watch comedies). Is it a bit touching and did I have tears in my eyes because of the phrase "oopsie upsies"?  Also yes. 

Parker Posey is excellent in pretty much everything she does but especially this. The set designs are incredible, the color grading is rich, the phrase "how can Zuckomborg let this happen" will be in my lexicon for at least the next two months.  Please go watch it right now, preferably with your parents and/or grandparents. 

*Bonus Review* Janet Planet (2023)

I know this movie takes place in Massachusetts but it just seems SO Vermont to me! It made me think about attention and childhood and GOD is every scene so pretty.